Chocolate Pots de Creme

Chocolate Pots de Creme

In keeping with my theme this week of putting an adult twist on popular foods loved by kids, I decided to make a pudding that you will love as much as your little ones do. Warning, do not make a double batch of these ( it makes 4-5 servings), because you will eat them all. Moderation is key! I had to fight my husband and my daughter for my own serving, that is how amazing these are! But try not to eat all 5 servings, at least not in 1 sitting.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook rime: 5 minutes
Total time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
4 ounces of 60% bittersweet chocolate--chopped
3 egg yolks
1 cup of heavy cream
1 cup of milk
3 tablespoons of maple syrup or sweetener of your choice
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon sea salt

Directions:
Place the chocolate in a blender. Whisk the milk, 1 cup cream, egg yolks, granulated sugar and salt in a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the spoon and almost boiling, 5 to 6 minutes.  Pour the hot mixture over the chocolate in the blender. Put the top on the blender and blend until combined and smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of the blender as needed. Divide the chocolate mixture among ramekins or small cups. Refrigerate until set, about 2 hours. Enjoy!

Artisan Prosciutto Tomato and Basil Pizza

Okay I admit it, I'm lazy and don't feel like cooking most days. But if I gave into my impulses to not cook, I'd likely starve. When I'm feeling especially lazy I take out a pre made pizza dough and  the most basic jar of tomato sauce I can find and make pizza. I love pizza and I feel like it gets a bad wrap because of all the frozen pizzas out there. Rightfully so too. Frozen pizzas lack the flavor of fresh ones, and no matter what you add to them, they just cannot compete with a fresh hot  homemade pizza. Pizza also doesn't have to be just for kids, with the right toppings you can take a plain pizza dough and turn it into something that is sophisticated and grown up without too much effort. This recipe is a great example of that. Start with a great Proscuitto, I get mine at my Whole Foods deli. They slice it fresh, on the spot. The fresh basil in this is also a must, dried just doesn't bring the flavor you need for this, so don't take the shortcut unless you absolutely have to.


Prep Time: 3 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
1 whole wheat Pizza dough,
1/2 cup of organic tomato sauce
Proscuitto 1/4 of a pound
1/2  cup of fresh basil leaves
1 cup mozzarella cheese grated
1 tomato sliced

Directions:
Preheat your oven according to the instructions on your pizza dough. Dust a working surface with flour, and roll out your pizza dough. Try to get an even thickness, shape doesn't really matter. Top with a generous amount of tomato sauce, then add cheese, tomato slices, basil and lastly the Proscuitto .

Put it in the oven on either a pizza stone or a foil lined cookie sheet (make sure you spray it with a little oil) until the dough is golden brown, about 10-12 minutes. Slice and enjoy!

What are some of your favorite pizza toppings?  Follow and like me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/lazygirldinners 

Amara's Indian Fish Fry

Amara's Fish fry

I've had many Indian style fish fry's in my life, but this particular one carries special meaning for me, because it is a recipe that was taught to me by my mother-in-law. Like many mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationships ours didn't begin easy. But our relationship turned into a relationship filled with deep love, admiration, and mutual respect. Our relationship was hard in the beginning because my mother-in-law had such a deep love for her son. It was hard for her to take a second seat to me, but the truth is she didn't have to, my husbands heart is, and was, big enough for both of us to be in it. You could see the mutual love they had for each other upon every meeting. Every time my husband entered his moms presence, she would beam with joy! The whole room would light up from her smile when she saw him. I've never met a man who was as close to his mother as my husband was to his mom. He's a better man, a better husband, and a better father because of that love. I will always be thankful to her for that. One of the things I loved doing most with my mother-in-law was cooking. We didn't cook together that often, because she wanted to cook for me and my husband not with us. She especially loved cooking for my husband, and he loved eating her food. He would often call me to come over and have dinner with them, while we were dating, and when I arrived there would be this massive meal just for the 3 of us. This recipe is simple in every way, but it's delicious, and more importantly dear to my heart.

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Servings: 2

Ingredients:
1 lb of white cod, cut and cubed
2-3 teaspoons of ground turmeric
3 tablespoons of safflower oil for frying
Sea salt to taste
1 tablespoon of chopped cilantro
4-6 Lemon wedges

Directions:
Heat the oil in a cast iron pan. Season the cod with sea salt, then lightly dust all sides of the cod with the turmeric, and place into the hot oil.

Cook for 3-4 minutes on both sides, remove from oil, and serve with lemon wedges and cilantro, enjoy!

Ground chicken Larb--the ultimate lettuce cups

One of my favorite Thai meals, besides Crab fried rice, is Larb! It's light, refreshing, and so flavorful. It literally makes my taste buds do a happy dance with every bite. This recipe is a great way to use any ground meat that you have, but it works especially well, with chicken and pork. If you have never tried Larb before, then your taste buds are in for a real treat!

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Total time: 15 minutes

Servings 8-10 lettuce cups

Ingredients
1lb of ground chicken
1/2 cup of green onion chopped
1 clove of garlic chopped
1/2-3/4 cup of fresh mint leaves
1/3 cup of chopped red onions
1/4 cup of chopped cilantro
Sea salt to taste
1 cup of shredded cabbage
1/2-1 teaspoon of chili pepper flakes or more if you like
1 head of romaine lettuce, or butter lettuce, leaves removed and cleaned to use as cups

Larb Dressing:
4 Tablespoons of fish sauce( available at any store in the ethnic food isle)
1/3 cup of fresh lime juice
2 cloves of garlic chopped

Directions:
In a small bowl add the ingredients for the dressing, mix well and set aside.
Season and brown the ground chicken with the red onions and garlic. Once the meat is browned pour out any excess liquid, then add in the green onions, half of the mint, chili pepper flakes, and the dressing. Cook for 1-2 minutes then turn off the heat.

Spoon the meat mixture into the lettuce cups, top with remaining fresh mint, shredded cabbage, cilantro leaves and enjoy!

Crab Taco's with yogurt lime cilantro sauce

How lovely would it be to come home and have a dinner that you don't have to cook? Well my friends this is your lucky day! This a recipe that doesn't involve any cooking. It has been so hot here that the last thing I want to do is to turn on my stove to cook. So this week when I went shopping I concocted a meal plan that would allow me to do as little cooking as possible. My meal plan thus far has been quite genius not to mention delicious! I can't wait to share some of the recipes with you, but first these no cook taco's.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 0 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients Taco filling
10 ounces of fresh lump crab meat steamed
1/2 teaspoon of cumin
1-2 teaspoons of Lime juice
Sea salt to taste
1/2 cup of Shredded carrots
1/2 cup of shredded cabbage
1/2 cup of diced tomatoes
1/3 cup of chopped fresh cilantro

Ingredients for lime cilantro yogurt sauce
1 cup of Greek yogurt
Juice of half a lime
1 clove of garlic chopped
Sea salt to taste
2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro

Ingredients for pickled red onion
1 red onion sliced thinly
1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar
1 cup of water
1 tablespoon of sugar
1.5 teaspoons of kosher salt

Directions yogurt sauce:
In a small bowl add all the ingredients for the yogurt sauce, mix well and set aside.

Directions for pickled onion:
In a medium bowl whisk the salt and sugar into 1 cup of water, until the salt and sugar dissolves, add in the vinegar and onions and let sit at room temperature for at least 1 hour. Hint you can do this the night before you need to use the onions.

Directions for Taco:
In a medium bowl, mix the cumin and lime juice with the crab meat. Warm corn tortillas and add the crab, top with cabbage, tomato, carrot, pickled onion, cilantro, and some of the yogurt lime cilantro sauce, and enjoy!  How easy was that?

What is your favorite no cook meal?

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Nut and fruit snack bars

I love Kind bars, but they can get a bit pricey at almost $2 a pop. I know how easy these type of bars can be to make, so I decided to make my own. The only real work involved is mixing the ingredients. The great thing about these is that you can use your favorite nuts and dried fruits. I happened to have some Hawali dates that I got from the farmers market, so I added those, and some raisins. You can add whatever you have, and make these your own. These are a great snack, I usually have one for breakfast, or a afternoon snack. You can't really go wrong with these since they are pure protein and fiber.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Total time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
1 cup of Organic almonds chopped
1/2 cup of organic sunflower seeds
8-10 dates chopped
3 tablespoons of organic raisins chopped
3 tablespoons of unsweetened coconut flakes
1/3 cup of brown rice syrup, or honey

Directions:
Add all ingredients to a medium size bowl and mix well:

Spread mixture out evenly onto a lightly greased foil lined 9 inch pan:

 Bake on 325F for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes, just long enough for it to cool, but not completely cool. After ten minutes, cut into bars, and let cool completely before eating. If you use honey after cooling place in the refrigerator, so that the bars set completely.

Parchment paper meals

These last two weeks have been unbelievably busy for us. I've barely had time to think, let along blog and cook. In addition to that it has been extremely hot here, too hot to cook. Turning on my oven when my house is already 100 degrees in the shade is not my idea of fun. Luckily I have a countertop convection oven. I use it all the time, especially for hot days and quick meals like this one. Our staff Nutritionist Justice De La Torre is the queen of these Parchment paper meals. She sent me over a picture of one of her meals and so I had to try it out for myself. You can put any type of fish in this that you'd like! I have done this with fresh sardines, salmon, and tilapia with great success! You literally put every thing in, fold the parchment and bake for 10-12 minutes and dinner is done. This is perfect for a quick cook meal on a hot day.

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time :10minutes
Total time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
2 tilapia fillets
1-2 tablespoons of Olive oil
3-4 Onion rings per piece of fish
2-3 slices of Bell pepper per piece of fish
3 cloves of garlic sliced
Lemon or lime slices

Directions:
Place the fish on top of parchment paper, drizzle with oil and season with sea salt.

Top with onion, garlic, bell pepper and lemon or lime slices. Fold the parchment into an envelope, Bake on 425 F for 10-12 minutes.

 Serve with a nice green salad, or throw some squash in like Justice did and you have a complete meal.

What do you make for dinner when it's too hot to cook?

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How to make butter

A few weeks ago I was baking and 4 steps into the 6 step process, I realized that I had run out of butter. Bummer, yes, but rather than toss what I already had, I started to look for alternatives. As I scanned my bare cupboards my resolve to forgo tossing my  mixture was fading quickly. I had all but given up hope when I closed my refrigerator. Then my brain processed what my weary eyes had just seen...a full bottle of heavy cream! Whoo hoo hope was alive again, and my baked good was saved, because inside that glass bottle was everything I needed to make fresh homemade butter!!! Whenever I make things like this I'm always reminded of how easy homemade things are to make. I think everyone should make butter at least once in their life. After you make this you'll probably wonder why you never tried to make it before now. It's that easy!

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Total time : 15 minutes

Ingredients:
2cups heavy whipping cream
Sea salt to taste (optional)

Equipment needed: blender

Directions:
Pour the cream into the blender:

Blend on high until the liquid in the cream separates from the butter. This took about 3 minutes with my Vitamix, but it takes longer in a regular blender. Here are some pictures of the process.

After the water separates and it looks like the below picture, place the butter in a fine mesh strainer and press out as much water as you can.

Once you've pressed out all the water, place it in a bowl and salt it if you care to:

 If not place it on parchment paper, roll it, or mold it however you'd like, place in an airtight container and refrigerate. Note some people rinse the butter with cold water to remove any remaining buttermilk. This helps to prevent the butter from going rancid too quickly. I didn't do it, but I used my butter immediately. Also if you'd like to make a compound butter, just add your ingredients in with the salt before storing. I made a garlic lemon butter the recipe is below


Ingredients for lemon garlic butter
3 Tablespoons of soften butter
1 clove of grated garlic
Zest of one lemon
2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice
Sea salt to taste