Oven-Crips Black Bean and Corn Flautas

This recipe interested me b/c the flautas are baked and not fried. This means they are ~healthy~ and I can eat 30 of them.

Also, it's called Oven-Crips. Maybe b/c it's actually supposed to say "Crisp," but more likely because the recipe was developed by blue bandana-wearing gang members.

This goes great with sour cream and homemade guacamole. For an easy version, just mash up some avocado with salt, pepper, and lemon juice. For a complicated version, chop up some onion, tomato, and cilantro too. Maybe some garlic and jalapeno too. Remember to leave big chunks of avocado. This is key.

This is a recipe for vegetarian flautas, but vegetarian anything is gross so I'd add shredded chicken.


Ingredients

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (about 2 tsp.)
• 2 15-oz cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 cup prepared salsa
  
• 1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
• 12 6-inch corn tortillas

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425F. Coat 2 large baking sheets with cooking spray.
   


2. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Cook onion 3 to 5 minutes, or until soft. Add garlic, and cook 1 minute, or until translucent.


3. Stir in beans, chili powder and 1 cup water. Reduce heat to medium low, and simmer 10 minutes, or until most of liquid has evaporated. Remove from heat. Mash beans until mixture is thickened but still chunky, and some beans remain whole. Stir in 1 cup salsa and corn, and season with salt and pepper. Cool.


4. Spoon 1/3 cup black bean mixture down center of tortilla. [Add optional chicken] Roll tortilla around filling, and secure closed with toothpick. Set on prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining tortillas and black bean mixture. Bake 6 to 10 minutes, or until tortillas are browned and crisp.

Prosciutto-Wrapped Pork chops

Made this on Thursday for dinner. Fast and easy! I think I might have went overload on the thyme, as it's a pretty strong and distinctive herb, but the pork still came out yummy. Prosciutto is a lot better than bacon. I think bacon usually overpowers any dish and makes the whole thing taste like a giant strip of bacon.

My only complaint - I wish pork chops were more fatty. Fatty = high cholesterol and delicious.


Ingredients

• 2 (5 to 6 ounces each) boneless pork loin chops
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 2 Teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 4 slices of prosciutto, (about 2 ounces total)
• 2 Teaspoons olive oil
• Lemon wedges, for serving (optional)

Directions

1. Season pork chops with salt and pepper. Sprinkle thyme leaves over each, pressing, to help them adhere to the meat.
   
2. Wrap prosciutto slices around middle of each chop, like a belt; press ends to seal.
3. In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Cook chops until golden brown and cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes per side.
   
4. Serve chops with lemon wedges, if desired.

orlando bloom is good and dirty

is it orlando bloom? is it johnny depp? does it matter?

(it's orlando, btw)

Pound Cake

a

mmm poundcake. i admit, the only poundcake i've ever had was store-bought Sara Lee. *ashamed* this will be my first attempt at home-made poundcake.

i actually love eating it cold and with a glass of milk. i like dipping it in the milk until it's soggy and then smushing it in my mouth.

another delicious way to eat it is to toast it in the oven for a couple minutes until the outside is slightly and crispy. serve it with a scoop of vanilla icecream and some fresh berries. yum!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 12 Tbs. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. almond extract (optional)
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature

Method

1. Preheat an oven to 325°F. Lightly grease an 8 1⁄2-by-4 1⁄2-inch loaf pan, preferably glass, and dust with flour.
2. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt until blended.
   
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter, sugar, vanilla and almond extract on medium to medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition until just blended.
   
4. Sprinkle half of the flour mixture over the egg mixture and stir until both are just incorporated.
   
5. Stir in the sour cream, then sprinkle with the remaining flour mixture and stir until evenly distributed.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and tap gently on the counter to even out and settle the ingredients. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 70 minutes, or longer if using a metal pan. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes.
7. Run a thin knife around the inside of the pan, invert the cake onto the rack and lift off the pan. Let cool.

Other delicious variations to try!

• Omit the almond extract and stirring in 1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest, 2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice and 1 Tbs. poppy seeds
• If you like almonds, add the optional almond extract and sprinkle sliced almonds on top before baking.
  
• Top the slices with fresh fruit

Tiramisu

Tiramisu is one of my most favoritist desserts. SMUSHY GOODNESS. GOOD tiramisu is when espresso is bitter, the lady fingers are so soaked that they're mush, and the cream tastes almost like nothing - i hate really sweet tiramisu.

I love baking desserts, but never even considered attempting to make tiramisu. It just looks complicated. There are LAYERS.

I was wrong.

Tiramisu is easy to make? Seriously? Seriously. You don't even need an oven! The only hard part is having to wait until the next day to eat it. The wait is totally worth it though. SMUSHY GOODNESS.



Ingredients

• 3/4 cup sugar (more or less, depending on taste)
  
• 2/3 cup dry Marsala wine
• 8 large egg yolks
• 3 (8-oz) containers of mascarpone cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup chilled whipping cream
• 1 1/4 cups freshly brewed very strong espresso coffee (instant is ok)
• 1/2 cup Kahlua (or dark rum)
• 1 1/2 packages of lady fingers (about 24-30 biscuits)
  
• 2 1/2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup bittersweet or dark chocolate shavings

Method

1. Whisk sugar, Marsala, and egg yolks in medium metal bowl.
   
   
2. Set bowl over saucepan of simmering water (don't allow bottom of bowl to touch water). Whisk constantly until mixture thickens, about 4 minutes. Remove bowl from over water. Cool completely, whisking occasionally.
   
   
3. Using electric mixer, beat mascarpone in another medium bowl just until smooth. Fold mascarpone into Marsala mixture.
   
   
4. Using clean electric mixer, beat whipping cream in large bowl to soft peaks. Add mascarpone mixture to whipped cream and fold together.
   
   
5. Mix coffee and kahlua in medium bowl. Completely submerge 1 biscuit in coffee mixture for 1 second; shake off excess liquid. Place biscuit in bottom of 8 cup (12x9 inch) oval or rectangular dish. Repeat with enough biscuits to cover bottom of pan, trimming biscuits if necessary.
   
   
6. Spoon half of mascarpone mixture over biscuits, spreading to cover. Submerge remaining biscuits 1 at a time in coffee mixture and arrange atop mascarpone mixture. Spoon remaining mascarpone mixture over biscuits, spreading to cover.
   
   
7. Sift the cocoa over the tiramisu, covering completely.
   
   
8. Cover tiramisu with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Before serving, with a vegetable peeler or sharp knife, make dark chocolate shavings and sprinkle over top

ORLANDO

my god.



bringing sexy back? yes please.

love the hair. it's channeling a bit of david beckham and jude law. not a bad thing.

Anthropologie Alphabet Bangle

Letter Bracelet



These are crazy cute. They immediately caught my eye when I first saw them in the stores a couple months ago. Each bracelet is covered in what looks like different pieces of paper w/ your letter of choice in different fonts. Brilliant. However, I could not justify spending $38 on a wooden bracelet. I briefly thought about how I could recreate one on my own (print out the letters? glue them on? do i need wood glue? how does one lacquer something?....).

That lasted about 30 seconds.

But now they're on sale!

Vendor: Anthropologie
Price: $19.99

Seared Tuna

Made a sashimi dinner (tuna, hamachi, salmon) for me and the bf last night, complete with miso soup and seaweed salad. delish! i'm so domestic, it's ridiculous. Also, I like eating fish because it makes me feel like I'm being ~heathy~ and thus, skinny.

On a whim, I decided to try making some seared tuna, just to mix things up a little bit. It might have been a little heavy on the pepper, but i really like pepper so i thought it was yum. Turned out surprisingly well. Everything is estimated since I didn't really measure anything.

Ingredients

• 2-3 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pinch of kosher salt
• 1-2 tbsp white and/or black sesame seeds (optional)
• Sushi-quality Ahi tuna steaks
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

1. On a plate spread the sesame seeds (optional), black pepper, and salt. Press each side of the tuna steak onto the black pepper mix.

2. Place a cast iron skillet over high heat. Add oil, and when pan is very hot, place the tuna into the pan, pepper side down. Cook for approximately 30-45 seconds on each side. As the tuna cooks, the red meat will become whiter. Once you have all sides, the tuna will be almost raw in the middle, thus seared.

3. Slice the tuna and arrange on a plate.