Holiday Appetizers, 4 Ways

Hello everyone, so I have a big cold atm, I can't upload anything since I can't speak properly (I have a man voice hahaha) so I'll write the blog post. December has been a weird month for me, I quitted my job this month because of several reasons and now I'm focusing on other things like my YouTube channels and I'm starting a programming course on January... so as you can see I've been busy haha. I'm full of ideas and project I hope I can figure a way to do everything I'm planning xD Anyway, I thought I would be able to upload this video before Christmas but it was impossible but better late than never, right? So let’s go to the recipe!!!

Bread with toppings

Ingredients

• Bread
• Topping of your choice

Process

• Using a stencil or a cookie cutter, cut the shape that you want from a piece of bread (you can use any type of bread).
• To decorate them just use your imagination, I used some mashed avocado, cheese and tomatoes to decorate the trees. Cream cheese for the snow flakes and some cilantro sprigs. For the boots I made two versions one sweet and salty with jam and cheese and other salty using chopped tomatoes and cheese. These festive appetizers are really simple to make and look nice and you can use the idea for a baby shower or another special occasion.

Artichoke and Spinach Dip

Ingredients

• 1 Small Onion
• 5 Artichoke Hearts
• 150 gr Spinach

Process

• Chop the onion and the artichoke hearts in tiny pieces and the spinach roughly.
• Stir fry the onion, once it is translucent add the artichoke and spinach, stir everything together and cook until the spinach has soften.
• Add the Greek yogurt and stir, finally add the mozzarella and the parmesan cheese.
• This dip is actually pretty healthy it has a lot of veggies, and I didn't use any cream, I tried to keep it on the low fat range.

Jam and cheese pinwheels

Ingredients

• Puff Pastry
• Jam
• Cheese

Process

• Cut a sheet of puff pastry into smaller squares (I made mine of 15 by 15 cm squares but they were hard to work with, so I suggest you to make them bigger).
• In the center of the squares put a piece of brie cheese, then make four cuts from the corners to almost the center. Then grab one of the sides of the triangles and place it in the center, on top of the brie piece (since mine where little I had to put a toothpick in the center to keep the shape).
• And that's how you make a pinwheel, then put them in the oven, just follow the instructions of the package.
• Let the pinwheels cool down and finally add some jam on top.
• This appetizer is really cute and also delicious, the combination of cheeses and jams is endless, I used tomato jam and it matches perfectly with the brie, although If I had known I would have used an stronger cheese in this case, since there is more dough than cheese, so the brie flavor gets a little bit lost, but they were good anyway.

Plantain and Guacamole

Ingredients

• Plantain
• Guacamole
• Cilantro leaves

Process

• Cut the tips and then make a cut along the plantain, then remove the skin with your hands
• Cut the plantain into pieces of 2 centimeters long.
• In a saucepan add a drizzle of vegetable oil, and fry the plantain until it is soft.
• Flip them over so they can cook evenly.
• Once they are still warm smash them softly with something flat.
• After smashing them all, place some of your favorite recipe of guacamole on top, then just to make it fancier add a cilantro leave, and that’s it.

Mock Risotto: Three different ways

Hello everyone, when I was just married my husband and I had some "issues" with the food hehehe. Since I'm the only one who cooks, he had to get used to my ways… I was used to eat white rice without anything, that’s the way my mom cooked, but his mom was all about adding some veggies to the rice, so he just got used to what I had for him, otherwise I would give him this look ¬.¬ hehehe,. Anyway a long time has passed since then and I have got a lot better in the kitchen, a few year ago I discovered risotto and I felt in love with it, normally I don’t cook real risotto, mostly because I don’t eat a lot of white rice (TMI I gets me constipated) but I enjoy creating mock risottos that can be done using brown rice. Anyway I don’t want to bore you so here are three mock risotto recipes.

Ingredients

Pumpkin and Mushroom

• 150 gr Rice (regular or brown)
• 5 Mushrooms
• ½ Onion
• ½ Cup of pumpkin purée
• 2 Tbsp Greek yogurt
• 2 Tbsp Parmigiano Cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste

Process

• Peel and cut the onion in tiny pieces.
• Using a paper towel wipe the dirt off from the mushrooms. Then cut them into cube pieces of 1 cm.
• Add some olive oil to a pot and sauté the onion, once it is translucent add the mushroom and cook them.
• Once they are soft add the rice and mix, add a pinch of nutmeg and now add the water just to cover the rice.
• While the rice is cooking, mix some pumpkin purée with greek yogurt and grated parmigiano cheese, mix everything together and set aside.
• Once the rice is fully cooked, add the pumpkin mixture, mix everything together and serve. This risotto is just perfect, add some basil on top and you will know what heaven is.

Tomato, basil and caramelized onion

• 150 gr Rice (regular or brown)
• ½ Onion
• A little honey
• 1 Garlic
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste
• 2 Tbsp Parmigiano Cheese
• ½ Tbsp meat extract (I used Bovril)
• ¼ Cup Greek yogurt
• Basil

Process

• Peel and cut the onion in pieces of 2 by 2 centimetres.
• In a pot sauté the onion, put the heat on low and sauté until the onion is golden brown, once it is golden brown add little amounts of water and stir occasionally until the onion has a brown color, finally add some honey to caramelize it.
• Remove the onion from the pot and set aside.
• In the same pot add a little bit of vegetable oil, add the minced garlic and stir fry it lightly. Now add the tomato paste and the meet extract and mix everything together.
• Add the rice, mix and add water just to cover the rice. While the rice is cooking it will lose water so we are going to be adding more when needed.
• Cut the basil into tiny pieces and set aside.
• When the rice is fully cooked add some yogurt to add creaminess and a touch of sourness and also if you like you can add parmigiano cheese
• Now that the rice is fully cooked, add the chopped basil and the caramelized onion, mix very well and there you have it another delicious mock risotto.

Artichoke and Eggplant

• 150 gr Rice (regular or brown)
• ½ Onion
• 4 Small to medium artichokes
• ½ big or 1 small eggplant
• ½ Cup White wine
• ¼ Cup Parmigiano Cheese

Process

• Cut the stem of the artichokes, and remove all of the leaves, then cut the heart in half and then remove the choke or beard, remove it using a knife carefully.
• Then put the hearts in a pot and add some water to cook them. Once they are slightly soft cut them in tiny pieces and set aside. Remember to save the water in which we cooked the artichokes.
• In another pot cook the eggplant until it is really mushy, remove the excess water and set aside.
• Cut the onion in tiny pieces. And then sauté it with a little olive oil.
• Once it is golden brown add the artichoke and sauté it a little.
• Then add the rice, the cooking water from the artichokes, the white wine and water just to cover the rice and cook until it is done. Add some salt to taste
• In a blender or food processor, purée the eggplant and then add it to your rice, if you want you can also add some parmigiano cheese, and it's done.