Lavash Bread Pizza

Servings: 4
Ingredients:

Sauce:
1 can of tomato sauce
olive oil
1 can of tomato paste
oregano ti taste
sugar to taste
salt to taste
4 pieces of lavash bread
mozzarella (pizza blend of cheese)
approx. 1/2 onion
8 cloves of garlic (use as much as desired)
3 small green chilis


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a pan or use pizza stone. To make sauce cook tomato sauce, tomato paste and olive oil. Add some oregano, salt and sugar to taste. Cut onions and use a garlic press. I like garlic so I used approx. 3-4 cloves of garlic for 2 of the pizza's. I used small green chilis for the other 2 pizza's. Heat the pizza in the oven for approx. 15 minutes or until the crust turns brown.

Mexican dessert - Fried Ice Cream

Fried ice cream seems like an oxymoron. Opposites attract and the combination is delicious.
There are many ways to make fried ice cream. You can use tortilla which I think is fitting for a Mexican dessert. You can also use cereals such as corn flakes, cinnamon toast crunch. Be creative there are so many cereals and flavors of ice craem out there and you can use different types of bread. I choose to use bread. I had cinnamon bread lying around in my kitchen that I really wanted to use up and I thought it would taste great.

Ingredients:
Slices of bread
Ice cream
saran wrap or foil (I used foil)
cinnamon (optional)
vegetable oil
flour
sugar
egg substitute
butter
milk

For the batter I looked up the recipe for the proportions. The recipe I looked up makes 30-35 fried ice cream so BE SURE to use a measurement converter. I substituted Ener-G for the eggs. I did not use orange extract, instead I put a dash of cinnamon. I used butter pecan ice cream, be creative with the ice cream.

Put the ice cream in between the slices of bread and mold it into a ball, use a knife to cut around the edges and take the crust off. Freeze in saran wrap or foil till it is hard/frozen. Roll the frozen ice cream-bread in the batter. Make sure the oil is hot and be careful when you carefully place the batter covered ice cream into the oil. Fry until the batter starts turning light brown.

If you are not using bread make the ice cream into balls and freeze them. Roll the balls in batter and than roll them in a cereal of your choice. For example use coco pebbles and use strawberry ice cream. You can add chocolate powder to the batter instead of cinnamon as well.

Yigandes Me Spanaki - Greek Spinach, Bean and Feta Casserole

Yesterday I made a Greek dish (Yigandes Me Spanaki) Spinach, Bean and Feta Oven Casserole. I used Nancy's recipe at about.com. Its a healthy side dish. I added carrots for some color and sweetness. I used lima beans instead of yigandes beans but would love to try yigandes beans as well. I did not have fresh dill so I used rosemary and thyme which tasted great. This could also be a great filling for a pita sandwich.

Guasacaca - Venezuelan Salsa

This salsa is a colorful alternative to mushy guacamole. It is very simple and quick to make. I got this recipe from Kathy. I made some modifications. I used a red onion, orange pepper instead of green pepper and 3 tbsp of a hot salsa instead of hot sauce. This salsa taste really fresh and perfect.

Ingredients:
2 avocados
1 medium red onion
2 tbsp lemon juice
3/4 cup of cilantro
1 medium tomato
1 orange pepper
salt to taste
3 tbsp hot salsa

Braziliian Vegetable Curry

Brazilian food includes manioc (yucca), black beans and rice. Each region of Brazil specializes in a type of cuisine and is influenced by a certain region. Brazilian food has been greatly influenced by African and Caribbean countries and like the Caribbeans rice and beans are traditional dish in every Brazilian household. While I was cooking the vegetable curry, the smells and flavors reminded me of many cuisines. The coconut in the curry reminded me of Thai food. The chickpeas, onion, garlic and tomatoes reminded me of Indian food. This dish is rich in flavor and hearty. There is a lot of room to be creative.


I got this recipe from pinkcherryblossom, recipe. I made some modifications. I used yucca since it is a Brazilian staple. The yucca taste delicious in the gravy. I could not find coconut cream so I used coconut milk. I also used ginger powder instead of the root. I added very little curry powder, I did not want to overpower the flavors but just 1-2 tsp for such a large quantity of food gave the dish a lot of depth. I added extra garlic 3 cloves instead of 2. I did not roast the vegetables since I did not have that much time but I did cook most of the liquid out. I will make sure I have enough time to roast it next time. Roasting it will give it an interesting texture especially since I have added yucca to the dish. I served this with flour tortilla and ate it like an Indian curry. It was delicious!!

Servings: approx. 6

Ingredients:

• 1 yucca (manioc)
  
• 2 red onions
  
• 1 eggplant
• 2 red peppers
• 1 can chickpeas
• 3 garlic cloves
  
• pinch of ground ginger powder
• 1 red chile, deseeded (I used a medium-hot Jamaican chile)
  
• 2-3 large chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 cup of coconut milk
• 4 tbsp cilantro
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• pinch of curry powder

Yucca is a very tough root and takes a while to boil. Start by boiling the yucca until the water starts turning a pink color or poke the yucca with a fork to see if it is slightly tender. It will not be as tender as a boiled potato, it will cook in the sauce later.Chop eggplant and red pepper.

Using a food processor mix the garlic cloves, chile, ginger powder and onions. Cook this sauce mixture in a separate pot.

Spray a wok with cooking spray and saute the vegetables, yucca and tomatoes. Cook off the excess water so it is not too soupy.

Add the sauce mixture to the wok along with curry powder and salt to taste. Add the chickpeas, coconut milk and cilantro. Occasionally stir the vegetable curry and allow the flavors to simmer for about 10 mintues on low-medium or until excess liquid no longer remains.

Low Sugar "Peach Cobbler" Parfait

A quick and low sugar dessert that I made up one night. I decided to enter it in the original recipe round-up.

Servings: approx. 2

Ingredients:
2 peaches
whipping cream or cool whip
graham cracker crumbs (granola or cereal)
butter peacan ice cream (no sugar added)
splenda to taste (I used 1 tbsp of baking splenda)
1 cap of lemon juice
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon


In a blender, blend peaches, butter pecan ice cream, splenda, lemon juice, nutmeg and cinnamon.
If you are using whipping cream, use mixer until whipping cream has peaks. Layer the peach mixture on the bottom of the glass. Add graham cracker crumbs, whipping cream and another layer of peach mixture. Alternate as much as you like.

Korean Noodle Stir-fry

This recipe was inspired by Susan's recipe, check out her blog.I loved how she cooked the tofu in the sesame oil, soy, water mixture. I could never get my tofu to brown the way it did after I followed her method. I followed her recipe to a good extent but I did make some modifications.

I used vermicelli noodles instead of buckwheat soba noodles. I checked at all my local groceries stores and nearby asian market, unfortunately I could not find the hot pepper paste. I think I will have to go to Korea Town in New York City to find it. I used Korean BBQ sauce instead. I also used more garlic, used scallions instead of onion and added some chilli garlic sauce. Finally, rather than using sugar to add some sweetness I added some general tsao's sauce (I know its not korean but it added the right sweetness).

Servings: approx. 4

Ingredients:

1 package of vermicelli noodles
8 ounces firm tofu
1 tbsp soy sauce mixed, 1/4 tsp sesame oil and 2 tbsp water (to cook tofu)
2 medium yellow squash into cubes
1/2 bunch of scallions
2-3 bok choy cut in thin slices
4 cloves of garlic minced
1 cup mung bean sprouts
1-2 tbsp of korean bbq sauce (add according how spicy you want it)
1/2 tbsp of chilli garlic sauce
3 tbsp water
1 1/2 tbsp of general tso's sauce
1/4 tsp sesame oil

Boil water and cook the vermicelli for approx. 6-8 minutes, check the instructions on the package for cooking time. Once it is cooked drain, rinse in cold water and set aside.

Heat up a wok and use cooking spray. Once heated add tofu and sesame oil, water, soy sauce. Cook until the tofu browns. Once the liquid has cooked off set tofu aside.

Add cut squash, scallions and garlic and cover for a few minutes till squash looks tender. Add the bean sprouts and cover for about a minute. Add the bok-choy and cover until the bok-choy looks wilt but is still green. Finally, add the korean bbq sauce, chilli garlic sauce, general tso's sauce and soy sauce to taste. Allow for vegetables to simmer in the sauces for about 5 minutes. Finally add the tofu and noodles.