Author: Denise

My name is Denise and I love good food, but enjoy preparing it more. I spend a good portion of my free time searching recipes, experimenting in the kitchen and coming up with tasty creations. Some of my other favorite things are my pets, family, friends, traveling (especially to tropical destinations and Paris), the beach, music, movies, and shopping, to name just a few ;)

Holy Guacamole!


Love guacamole? Me, too! Here is an easy, but tasty dish you can whip together in about 10 minutes.

Ingredients

  • 3 avocados – peeled, pitted & mashed
  • 1 lime, juiced
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup chopped onion
  • 3 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
  • 2 plum tomatoes, diced
  • 1 tsp minced garlic
  • A pinch of cayenne pepper
  • 1 to 3 chopped serrano chiles (optional)

Directions

  1. In a medium bowl, mix together the avocados, lime juice and salt – mash well.
  2. Add in the onion, cilantro, tomatoes, garlic and cayenne pepper.
  3. Best to refrigerate for 1 hour, but can be served immediately.

 Avocado tips:

Use Hass avocados, the brown, wrinkly kind, for guacamole. They’re especially rich & creamy. Buy avocadoes that are slightly soft, but not squishy. Ripen in a paper bag with a banana or an apple at room temperature. Store ripe avocados in the fridge for 2 or 3 days.

BBQ Beef Brisket


The Lawrence Family Beef Brisket ™ This wonderfully delicious recipe has been in our family for ages and if you do meat, then I highly suggest you try this out. If you would like to make this in a crock pot, you can simply throw all of the ingredients into the slow cooker and cook on low for about 9 hours. Ingredients

  • 5 lb 1st cut beef brisket
  • 16 oz can cranberry sauce with berries
  • 8 oz tomato sauce (I use Hunt’s)
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 pkg Lipton’s onion soup mix
  • 3 tbsp sugar (optional)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 325.
  2. In a large pyrex dish, combine the cranberry sauce, tomato sauce, water, soup mix and sugar (if using) and stir well.
  3. Add the brisket, flat side down, and cover with heavy-duty aluminum foil.
  4. Cook for 4 hours & baste twice while cooking.

Note: one of my family members likes to sear the brisket for 5 minutes on each side prior to cooking.

Feeling Crabby? Great, soup’s on!


Here’s a simple, yummy recipe for Crab Bisque.

1 can condensed tomato soup
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup chopped onions (optional)
1 1/4 cup of milk (you can also use heavy cream for a thicker consistency)
1 can (4.75 oz) crabmeat
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
Salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste

Saute onions in olive oil for about 5 minutes, set aside. In a sauce pan, stir the soups and milk together until blended well & smooth. Add the sautéed onions & rest of the ingredients and heat until steaming (do not boil).

I like mine with a bit of a “kick”, so add about 8 hearty dashes of hot sauce.

Got Sauce? Now You Do!


Here’s a quick, easy & delicious recipe for pizza/pasta sauce that doesn’t require cooking.

Ingredients

  • 1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • 1/2 tbsp oregano
  • 1/2 tbsp basil
  • 1/2 tsp rosemary, crushed
  • 1 tbsp sugar

Directions

  1. Mix tomato paste, water & oil – mix well.
  2. Add the rest of ingredients and let stand for several hours to let flavors blend.
  3. If you’re short on time, you can heat the sauce in a small saucepan.

A Light Take on Hollandaise Sauce


I don’t know about you, but I’m all about sauces! Here’s a tasty, light version of the traditional Hollandaise sauce you can use on your eggs benedict or veggies.

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp Butter
  • 3/4 cup Buttermilk*
  • 1 tbsp Cornstarch
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • Pinch Cayenne Pepper
  • 1 Egg
  • 1 tbsp Lemon Juice

* If you don’t have buttermilk, take 1 cup of milk and add 1 tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice to make sour milk, let stand 5 minutes.

Directions

  1. Melt butter in small pan, then set aside.
  2.  Whisk 1/4 cup of buttermilk, cornstarch, salt & cayenne pepper in heavy, medium saucepan until smooth.
  3. Whisk in egg and remaining buttermilk.
  4. Set pan over medium-low heat and cook the sauce, whisking constantly until mixture comes to a simmer.
  5. Cook, whisking an additional 15 seconds.
  6. Remove from heat and whisk in lemon juice and reserved butter.

Note: I like to add 1 tbsp dijon mustard or honey dijon to add a little more flavor.

Enjoy!

1 g fat / 17 cal / 1 g carb / 1 g protein per tbsp

Meat & Veggies on a Stick


Build a Better Kebab

The very nature of a skewer—lean meat or fish interspersed with a variety of fresh vegetables and maybe brushed with a simple low-calorie, high-flavor sauce—all but guarantees healthy eating. Best of all, kebabs take just a few minutes to assemble and the potential for deliciousness is limited only by your imagination. Try one of our suggested kebab perfections (at left), or thread your own lean-and-mean masterpiece (at right). Now stop drooling and go fire up the grill!

Rules of the Skewers

Step 1: Soak wooden skewers in water for at least 20 minutes before loading them up. The moisture will prevent the wood from catching fire and scorching your dinner.

Step 2:  The protein you’re cooking will determine the size of the produce on your skewers. Shrimp and scallops cook quickly, so fruits and veggies should be cut smaller. Chicken and pork take time to cook, so pair them with larger chunks.

Step 3: You can marinate the loaded skewers in sauce before grilling—up to two hours for meat, but no more than 30 minutes for seafood. Or simply brush the sauce onto the food before grilling and at least once during cooking. Whether the food has been marinated or not, it’s always great to finish the kebabs with a light sheen of fresh sauce just before bringing them to the table.

 Step 4: You want a medium-hot grill—not so hot that it chars the food’s outside before cooking the inside, but hot enough that the food’s surface will fully caramelize.

article from Women’s Health Mag (David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding)

Haricot Verts aka “OMG, Insanely Delicious Green Beans”


Besides having the traditional Green Bean Casserole at Thanksgiving, I used to overlook green beans when thinking about making a side dish to accompany my main course. Well, that has changed now. These tantalize my taste buds to the extreme. I know… it’s just a vegetable, but in my opinion, these are out of this world. Try ’em for yourself and let me know!

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp teriyaki (can use regular or a flavored one… I use an extra tbsp Soy Vey Island Teriyaki)
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • 1 1/2 lbs fresh green beans
  • 1/2 c red & orange bell pepper strips
  • 1/3 c thin onion slices
  • 1/2 c whole cashews
  • 2 tbsp sesame seed oil

Directions

  1. In a small bowl, stir together the teriyaki sauce, honey & butter.
  2. I prefer to steam the green beans over boiling them as it keeps a lot of the nutrients, but you can do either.
  3. In a skillet, heat up sesame seed oil, then saute the bell peppers and onions for 5-10  minutes (or shorter if you like them crispier).
  4. Add the beans, cashews and lemon juice.
  5. Saute for a couple of minutes, then add the teriyaki-honey sauce and toss gently.
  6. Saute on low for another 5-10 min to blend all of the flavors together.

As a side note, I paired this with my grilled orange-and-bourbon salmon.  ENJOY!!!

Grilling & Beer


If you love to grill and are a meat eater, then this tip will be most helpful when you fire up that grill next time.

To keep meat moist & add flavor while roasting or grilling with a closed grill, place an open can of beer over the hottest part of the fire. The beer will boil and saturate the air inside the grill with water vapor, beer flavor and the alcohol!

My recommendation is to consume close to 1/2 of the can before placing on the grill. A win-win situation!