Paella...yum!

PAELLA

I made this paella with my sister Claudia and it was the best I ever had!!

Barbecue University by Steven Raichlen
Serves 6
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 chorizo sausages
1 chicken, cut into 8 pieces
Coarse salt (kosher or sea) and freshly ground black pepper
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/4 inch strips
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 ripe tomato, seeded and cut into 1/4 inch dice
1/4 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
3 cups Valencia style rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 teaspoon saffron

5 to 6 cups hot chicken stock or water
12 littleneck clams, scrubbed
12 mussels, scrubbed
1/2 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 pound squid, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch rings (or more shrimp)
1/4 cup cooked green peas

You'll also need: a large paella pan.

 Place the paella pan on top. Add the olive oil and preheat. Add the chorizo and fry until browned on all sides, 2 minutes per side. Transfer the chorizo to a foil pan. When cool enough to handle, cut crosswise into 1 inch pieces. Season the chicken pieces on all sides with salt and pepper. Add them to the paella pan and brown on all sides, about 2 minutes per side.Transfer the chicken to the foil pan.

Remove all but 2 tablespoons fat from the pan.Add the onions and bell peppers and sauté until lightly browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic half way through. Add the tomatoes and half the parsley and cook for 1 minute.
Add the rice and saute until the grains are shiny, 1 minute. Add the wine and bring to a boil. Add the stock and saffron and bring to a boil.Simmer the rice, uncovered, for 15 minutes, adding stock as needed to keep them moist. Stir in the chorizo and chicken and cook for 5 minutes. Add the clams and mussels and cook for 3 minutes.Add the shrimp and squid. Cook the paella until the rice is tender, the clam and mussels shells have opened, and all the ingredients are completely cooked. Correct the seasoning, adding salt and pepper to taste.
Just before serving, sprinkle the paella with the cooked peas and remaining parsley. Serve at once.



Traditional Apple Pie

So Thanksgiving is coming up and I'm thinking of what to cook for this festivity. I was thinking of making pie or cream chesee, so I decided to go online to search for the best apple pie recipe there is. I came accross Tyler Florence from Food Network. It seems so easy to follow. I will add the vanilla ice cream as a side.

FYI- this is my first pie!! I will add pics later.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup shortening (recommended: Crisco)
• Ice water
• Filling, recipe follows
• Serving suggestion: warm with vanilla ice-cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a medium-mixing bowl cut the shortening and salt into the flour by hand or with a pastry blender hands until it's the texture of cornmeal. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of ice water over the mixture and mix just until the dough is moistened. Repeat by adding 6 to 8 tablespoons water (one at a time) until all the dough is just moist. Take care not to over mix.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Divide the dough in half and roll into a ball. Roll 1 ball into a circle to fit a 9 to 10-inch pie plate. To transfer the pastry to the pie plate, wrap it around a rolling pin and ease it into the pie plate. Be careful not to stretch the pastry. Trim it even with the edges of the pie plate. Add the apple filling into the pastry lined pie plate. Make sure they are laying flat. Cut butter into small pieces and put on top of the filling.
Roll the remaining pastry into a 12-inch circle. Place on top of the filling. Trim off 1-inch beyond the edge of the pie plate. Crimp the edges as desired. Cut slits to allow steam to escape when baking. Sprinkle a little sugar and cinnamon over the pie.
Cover the edges with foil to prevent over browning. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes, or until it is golden brown. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Filling:

• 1/2 cup to 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 6 to 7 cups apples cut into thin slices (recommended: Green Golden and Jonathans)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons butter

In a medium bowl combine the apples, with the brown and white sugar. Add flour, cinnamon and continue mixing until they are well coated.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings

My oven roasted chicken!

Hi everyone!

We had company over and I decided to make an oven roasted chicken and came out great. I took the recipe from Ina Garten from Food Network. I got a lot of compliments from this recipe. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 (5 to 6 pound) roasting chicken
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 large bunch fresh thyme, plus 20 sprigs
• 1 lemon, halved
• 1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise
• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted
• 1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced
• 4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks
• 1 bulb of fennel, tops removed, and cut into wedges
• Olive oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, 20 sprigs of thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top.
Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables.

this was a great recipe!

Our new baby girl.... Leilah Alexa Flores

Dear friends and family,

On August 30th we welcomed our gorgeous daughter Leilah Alexa. She was 6lbs and 10 oz and 19 3/4 inches long.She also came 3 weeks early as her sister Lara. She has been a doll besides the no sleep and the constant breast feeding, I feel I dont get much done around the house. The great thing is that I have my mother and aunt to help and with a toddler, it all seems a big chaos.
Leilah is now a month old and Lara has gotten used to her. She wants to bath her, play with her and gets upset when she cant do it on her own. She takes care of her as if she were her own. It's all too cute. I hope they become the best of friends.

"She is your mirror, shining back at you with a world of possibilities. She is your witness, who sees you at your worst and best, and loves you anyway. She is your partner in crime, your midnight companion, someone who knows when you are smiling, even in the dark. She is your teacher, your defense attorney, your personal press agent, even your shrink. Some days, she's the reason you wish you were an only child." Barbara Alpert

A new chapter.

Well, it's been a long time since I blog about me. I decided that I should start blogging on the new events in my life, my passion for cooking, creativity, redecorating and the journey to find myself. 
I hope this becomes a great therapy and hobby for me. I'm excited to give this a try and actually stick to the blog, since I tend to never finish anything I start (this is something my husband would definitely agreed on). 
We are half way 2010 but I believe I still have time to fulfill many resolutions. Who said that resolutions were only meant to be started at the beginning of the year?!
Good luck to me!

Here is a beautiful poem for a great start:

TOUCHED BY A BUTTERFLY

Dear butterfly,

Majestic monarch of the sky,

holder of universal secrets and reasons why,

color my canvas, touch my heart before I die,

to live in joy, teach me how never to say good-bye.

As you flutter by, you hear me sigh,

things missed because I forgot to try,

on your serene beauty I can rely,

oh what celestial magic you do supply.

Once you did struggle to be free,

you turned your life around to show me,

amazing my angel how you heard my plea,

you've cocooned my mind so I can see.

Lets fly together both as one,

and sore beyond time, once upon,

our silken wings God has spun,

Souls entwined, our infinite journey has just begun.

Michael Levy

I'm a Margarita Martini...

MARGARITA MARTIN You are a full on partier, with a good deal of sass and spunk. You're always friendly and welcoming - and very tolerant of obnoxious drunks. You should never: Drink and dance. The pictures will be everywhere the next morning! Your ideal party: Is loud, with good music and fun drinking games. Your drinking soulmates: Those with a Dirty Martini personality Your drinking rivals: Those with a Classic Martini personality

What Flavor Martini Are You?

I'm the Goddess of Water....

What are you a Goddess of? - (with anime pics)

The goddess of Water. You can be calm, collected, and fluent at times, but can change in an instant into a raging ball of fury. Just like ocean storms, you leave no survivors in your path and you do not tolerate nonsense in dire situations. You are most likely the "peacemaker" of your group of friends and people can always count on you to hear their side of the story. You enjoy time with friends, just not ALL the time. You could survive without friends, but you wouldn't be able to last forever. You need company and so if you were the Water Goddess then you would go to the ocean, a river, or a lake and you would spend time with the animals that live there. Since you are a Water Goddess, you power is the ability to breathe underwater, which gives you the perfect hiding place from enemies.
Take this quiz!

Quizilla

Today and Common Sense.....

How many times have we asked ourselves, if this is where we wanted to be, if this is what we wanted to do, and most of all..... if we are happy?
The answers are in ourselves.... I think that if we are loyal not only to ourselves but to the world, we can make this a better place by spreading our positive energy to everyone.
The world reloves around us, we laugh, we love and we enjoy every moment in life. For instance, sharing this blog with all of you is incredible.... it helps to reflect on ourselves...

-----------Thought of the day.........

According to the Webster's Dictionary:

Com'mon-sense' -adj. Good sense or practical judgment.

Further insight on Com'mon-sense'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_sense