Caramel Popcorn with Almonds and Coconut Flakes

Coconut Caramel Popcorn

You didn't think that I would let Halloween pass without a giving you a recipe for a delectable goodie did you. Okay I almost did. It's been a busy week for me and I haven't had much time to devote toward taking pictures for the blog. But, I rallied, and summoned the rest of my energy to make this popcorn for you guys. I'm selfless what can I say:-). If you're looking for something chewy and soft, similar to a popcorn ball, then this is not the recipe for you. This recipe is more like the popcorn you'd find in those large tins people give you at Christmas, only this is 1000 times better.


Cook time: 30 minutes
Servings: 6 cups

Ingredients:
1/4 cup of Organic non GMO popcorn
3 Tablespoons of Coconut oil
1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons of Almonds
1 cup of Organic Sugar
4 Tablespoons of grassfed butter
3 Tablespoons of Organic Corn Syrup
1 teaspoon of Sea salt
1/4 cup of water
1/4 cup of coconut flakes (optional)

Spray a large baking sheet with coconut oil. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
Add popcorn kernels and 3 Tbsp. coconut oil to a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Cover and cook over medium-low heat, shaking frequently. You will start hearing the corn pop after a few minutes—keep cooking until there’s a gap of about 5 seconds or more between pops. Immediately remove the pan from heat and pour the popcorn onto the prepared baking sheet. Add the almonds.
In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, butter, corn syrup, and water. Place over medium heat and cook, without stirring, until the mixture is a light caramel color, about 10 minutes. Add the salt and stir to combine. Pour the caramel over the popcorn and almonds.

Place the baking sheet in the oven and cook until the caramel becomes thin and shiny, about 10 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and with a rubber spatula, fold the popcorn and Almond to coat with the caramel. When the caramel hardens, you'll know it because the popcorn mixture will be harder to move, return the baking sheet to the oven. Repeat this process as many times as necessary to completely coat the popcorn and Almonds with caramel and until the caramel has darkened to a dark amber color. I did this 5 times checking on the popcorn and tossing it, in 3 minute intervals. On my 4th turn and check I added the coconut flakes. I just sprinkled them in and gave good toss.

Once you remove the popcorn, let it cool for 2-3 minutes, then break up the popcorn into bite-size pieces. Let cool completely. It will last two weeks stored in an air-tight container.

What's your favorite Halloween treat? 

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Almond Milk--How to make Almond Milk

Raw Almond Milk

I have made a lot of nut milks, in my life, so I would be untrue to you if I didn't share at least one of  my recipes for them with you. We don't drink cows milk in my house, so nut milks have been a great alternative for us. I have tried my hand at making almost every milk alternative out there, from soy milk to hemp milk, I've tried it all. The truth is that once you make one, you can just substitute the seeds or the nuts, and you can make them all. The only exception to that rule is soy milk. For soy milk things get a bit more complicated, because it has to be heated to a certain temperature, for it to be safe for consumption. Luckily for us all someone invented the soy milk maker. I have one and I love it! The one I have also allows me to make raw nut milks. Personally I prefer to use it only for making soy milk. My blender does a better job at making the nut milks. For this recipe, you'll need a either a nut milk bag, which you can purchase here,or at Whole Foods, or cheese cloth. I've used both, and they both work well, but it becomes a bit expensive if you make nut milks a lot, to keep buying cheese cloth. The nut milk bags are reusable and more user friendly for this purpose.

Ingredients:
2 cups of raw almonds, soaked in a bowl of water overnight, then drained and rinsed
4 cups of water
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract (optional)
sweetener of choice (maple syrup, agave, 4 dates) (optional) to your taste.

Equipment:
1 cheese cloth folded  into 4 layers
Blender, or food processor

Directions:
Add raw almonds to a bowl and add enough water to cover them,  then refrigerate overnight.

 Drain and rinse the soaked Almonds and add them to the blender, along with the water, vanilla extract and sweetener if you're using them.

Cover the blender and blend on high for 2-4 minutes, depending on how high powered your blender is it could take more or less time. Blend until a milk forms and the almonds resemble a fine grain paste.

 Place your nut milk bag, or  folded cheese cloth over a large bowl, and pour the blended mixture into the bag or cheese cloth to strain it, squeezing until all the liquid is out and what is left behind is fairly dry almond pulp.

Place the milk in an air tight container like a mason jar, and refrigerate for up to 5 days. You can add cocoa powder and have chocolate almond milk, or leave it plain. Whatever you choose to do, this milk is delicious. You can use the left over almond pulp too! If you spread it out on a cookie sheet and place it in the oven on 175- 200F to dry it out, what you get is homemade almond meal. You can bake muffins, make pancakes, and a number of other delicious baked goods with it.

What is your favorite milk alternative? Have you ever made it at home?

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Smoked Paprika Lime and Garlic Chicken

Smoked Paprika Lime & Garlic Chicken

One of my favorite Mexican restaurants serves this super yummy and tangy chicken with paprika and lime. As always I love to try to recreate my favorite restaurant meals in my own kitchen. Let's face it, it's not always convenient to eat out, especially with a toddler who doesn't like to sit for an hour with her hands in her lap. This chicken dish can be made with just parts of the chicken, you don't have to use a whole chicken. I used two kinds of paprika, but if you only have one kind use that.


Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook  Time: 45 minutes
Total time: 50 minutes

Ingredients
1 Tablespoon of paprika
1 Tablespoon of smoked paprika
2 large cloves of garlic grated or pasted
Sea salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
The juice of two limes
Handful of cilantro
Two tablespoons of oil

Directions:
In a bowl mix the garlic, paprika and oil into a paste, then rub it into the skin of the chicken. Season the chicken generously with salt and pepper. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 425F degrees  for 45 minutes to an hour until the bird is cooked through. Remove bird from the oven, pour on the lime juice and sprinkle with cilantro. Serve and enjoy! It's tangy with a kick from the smoked paprika!

Turkey Chili

Turkey Chili

Chili is another one of my favorite winter weather comfort foods. On a cold blistery day, nothing is as warming as a hot bowl of chili. As a private chef my chili was a favorite amongst my clients. I made so many variations of this recipe and everyone is fantastic. If you want to use something other than ground turkey in this go right ahead. I've done this with ground chicken, beef, venison, and even textured vegetable protein(TVP) for my vegetarian friends, all  variations work for this. If you are using TVP 1 cup will do in this recipe. I add it in at the point where I add the meat in the recipe.  I'm not a big fan of TVP because I would rather use something not so processed. But I will say that I have served TVP chili to unsuspecting friends and family and they didn't realize that it was not meat! It actually tastes like ground meat.

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
1 15 ounce can of organic kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 ounce can of organic pinto beans, drained and rinsed
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 15 ounce can of organic tomato sauce
1 pound of ground turkey
1 cup of water
3 tablespoons of olive oil
4 tablespoons of ground cumin
Sea salt to taste
Black pepper to taste

Directions:
Heat the oil in a pan, add onion and garlic and cook until onions are translucent. Add in cumin, and cook for 2 minutes. Add in ground meat, season with sea salt and black pepper. Cook until meat is brown. Add in tomato sauce, water, and beans. Stir well, cover and cook for 10-15 minutes,  it's done when the mixture thickens a bit. Serve with a dollop of sour cream, and enjoy.

Peruvian chicken soup

Peruvian Chicken Soup

As a little girl I could count on my mom offering me 3 things when I was sick, saltines, ginger ale, and chicken noodle soup. Chicken soup is every moms go to meal when there is a sick little one in the house. It's the perfect meal for almost any ailment, soothing for soar throats and upset tummies.  It is like a bowl of love, with the ability to heal anyone, one spoonful at a time. This particular recipe is my take on a chicken soup I have at my favorite Peruvian restaurant. It is everything that most people love about chicken soup, but the fresh cilantro brightens it up a bit. I use my pressure cooker to cut out spending hours in the kitchen making this. I am able to get a ton of flavor in this soup in half the time it takes to make this without the pressure cooker.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes
Total time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:
1lbs of chicken legs (I prefer making soup with the bones in, it lends more flavor to this)
8-10 cups of water
7 celery ribs chopped
3 medium potatoes cubed
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 medium onion chopped
2 cups of fresh or defrosted frozen spinach
Sea salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
3 tablespoons of olive oil
Handful of  cilantro

Directions:
Season the chicken with sea salt and black pepper. Heat the oil in the pressure cooker. Add the chicken and brown on both sides.

Add in the onion and garlic, toss, and cook for 3 minutes. Add the water, make sure the chicken is fully covered with water. Bring to a boil, close and lock the pressure cooker according to the manufacturers instructions. Cook for 30 minutes undisturbed. Turn off the fire. Depressurize your pressure cooker according to the manufacturers instructions. Remove the bones and any skin on the chicken. This shouldn't be hard to do, the meat should fall off the bone at this point. Turn on the fire, Add in the potatoes, and celery, close and lock the pressure cooker according to the manufacturers instructions. Cook for another 7 minutes undisturbed. Turn off the fire and depressurize the pressure cooker according to the manufacturers instructions. Remove the lid, add in the spinach and cilantro, mix well, then serve. You can add noodles to this if you'd like. You can also make this without the pressure cooker, just cook the chicken for 45 minutes to an hour, then add the potatoes and celery and cook for another 15-20 minutes, before adding in the cilantro and spinach.

What did your mom give you to comfort you when you were sick?

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No cream Creamed Corn

Creamed Corn

One of my favorite things in the world is creamed corn. I remember at 5 years-old requesting it as a meal. My mom always bought the canned Del Monte brand, back then you could buy 4 cans for $1. While other kids were begging for cookies and their favorite brand of cereal, I was begging my mom for cans of creamed corn. I, of course, don't eat the canned version any more, the preservatives alone keep me away from that stuff. Not to mention that it is extremely difficult now a days to find organic corn, let alone corn that is not genetically modified. Fortunately, I'm lucky enough to have a local farm in my area, where I can buy organic and non GMO fresh corn. If you have never tried making fresh creamed corn without the cream, then you're in for a treat! It's just as delicious as creamed corn with cream. The key to making this creamed corn, is a shallow cut.

Prep time: 5 minutes
cook time: 12 minutes
Total time: 15 minutes

Ingredients
4 raw fresh corn cobs husks removed
1 tablespoon of butter (optional)
1/4 cup of water

Directions:
Place the corn inside of a sauce pan, it helps to cut the bottom end of the corn so that you have a flat surface to work with. Cut down the sides of the corn, again the key here is to cut shallow, you really only want to cut the tops of the corn kernels. Once you have cut down all sides, slide the knife back up the cob in the opposite direction.

Be careful of splatter here, it can get messy. Continue to run the knife back up the cob until the cob is dry and all the corn and milk has been removed.

Place the pan over medium low heat, add the butter and allow it to cook for 3 minutes.

Add the water, note if your corn had a lot of moisture you do not need to add all of the water, add as much as you'd like, lower the heat to simmer, and cook covered for another 7-10minutes. Serve and enjoy!

What was your favorite childhood food or snack?

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Thai style ground chicken and green beans

Whenever we go out for Thai food my husband orders one of two things, ginger chicken or, green bean chicken. He absolutely loves these two dishes, and rarely ventures out to try anything else on the menu-- unless venturing out is tantamount to him taking a few bites of my dish. I love ginger chicken, but I have yet to ever try this green bean dish that he loves so dearly. However, the ever ambitious girl that I am in the kitchen, decided to try to recreate this dish for him at home the other night. I can not say whether or not I hit the mark on what he has in the restaurant, but this dish definitely hit the mark for me! I loved it! My husband did too. He said "Mmmm...this is delicious" after every bite. You can substitute any ground meat that you choose in this dish.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minute
Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:
1 lbs of ground chicken
2 cups of chopped fresh green beans
1/2 cups of green onion chopped
2.5 Tablespoons of low sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup of cilantro chopped
1 teaspoon of grated ginger
2 cloves of garlic chopped
1 tablespoon of flour optional
1-2 teaspoons of chili pepper flakes
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 cup of water
Sea salt to taste.

Directions:
Heat oil in a skillet. Add ginger, onion, and garlic, and saute for 1 minute, stirring so that the ginger and garlic don't burn. Add in the ground meat, cook until browned. Add in the soy sauce, toss, then add in the flour if using. Toss again, add in the green beans, and water, cover and cook for 5-7 minutes, or until the green beans are fork tender. Remove from heat, add cilantro, serve over brown rice, and enjoy!

What restaurant meals have you had success recreating at home?

Strawberry ice cream with Chocolate Balsamic Fudge Sauce

Despite the fact that almanac says that Fall season has officially arrived, the weather here in Southern California continues to mimic Summer weather with temperatures in the 80's. I decided to make ice cream, and since my daughter loves everything that involves strawberries, I decided to make strawberry ice cream. Since you could google any number of strawberry ice cream recipes, I wanted to make my recipe original and a little bit more sophisticated, so I came up with this balsamic chocolate sauce.  I absolutely love balsamic cream sauce, especially drizzled over strawberries. Talk about an easy dessert!  It absolutely doesn't get better and easier than pre made balsamic creamdrizzled over fresh strawberries! If you don't have a bottle of balsamic cream in your pantry definitely run out and get one, but first try this fudge sauce. The first time I tried to make this sauce, I burned the vinegar, so be forewarned that this isn't one of those recipes, that you can put on the stove and walk away from. You really have to watch the vinegar, because it can go from perfectly fine to burnt in a matter of seconds. With that said this is pretty easy to make once you get past reducing the balsamic vinegar. I decided to use Organic corn syrup in this recipe. It's not one of my favorite things to use, but I didn't want a sauce that would get hard once it touched the cold ice cream. The corn syrup prevents it from doing so. If you want a crackling hard sauce then by all means leave out the corn syrup. The corn syrup that I is used is Organic, and it is not High Fructose corn syrup--big difference, so make sure you don't get the latter, read the bottle!

Prep Time: 1 minute

Cook Time: 7-10 minutes

Total time: 11 minutes

Ingredients for Chocolate Balsamic Fudge sauce:

3 ounces of bittersweet dark chocolate (I used 60%)

1/2 cup of a good balsamic vinegar

2.5 Tablespoons of maple syrup or a sweetener of your choice

1 Tablespoon of butter

2 Tablespoons of organic corn syrup

Ingredients for ice cream:

1.5 cups of organic milk

2 cups of organic cream

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1cup of chopped strawberries

3/4 cup of maple syrup or sweetener of your choice

5 egg yolks

Directions for sauce: 

Add the balsamic vinegar to a sauce pan, and bring to a boil. Once boiling lower the heat to simmer and cook until the vinegar thickens and reduces by half. Turn off the fire, add the chocolate corn syrup and butter and whisk until smooth. Serve with the strawberry ice cream, or just some fresh berries.

Directions for ice cream:

 In a sauce pan heat milk, vanilla extract, and 1 cup of cream and maple syrup to just below a boil-- do not let boil! Turn off the fire, slowly add 1 cup of the hot mixture to the egg yolks whisking so that the eggs don't scramble. Slowly whisk the egg mixture into the hot mixture still in the pan. Immediately add the remaining cream to the pan and turn the fire on to medium low. Stir the mixture
until it thickens and coats the back of the spoon. Turn off the fire, and pour the hot cream into a bowl to cool. Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature, then follow the directions for making ice cream according to your ice cream makers manufacturer.

Green beans with turmeric and mustard seeds

One of my husbands favorite veggies is green beans. I could serve him green beans every day for a year, and he would never get tired of them. The problem is that I would get tired of green beans, and I'd get tired very quickly.   This recipe is one of my favorite ways to eat green beans. It's simple, it's quick and very delicious!


Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 15minutes
Total time: 20 minutes

Ingredients
1 lbs of fresh green beans, you can use frozen but make sure they're defrosted
1 teaspoon of black mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon of ground turmeric
4 tablespoon of olive oil
Sea salt to taste


Directions:
In a cast iron skillet heat the oil along with the mustard seeds and turmeric, when the seeds begin to pop add in the green beans, cook for 10-15 minutes, allowing the beans to brown some and loose most of the water in them. Add salt toss turn off fire, serve and enjoy!

What is your favorite green bean recipe? Follow and like me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/lazygirldinners

Salmon Sorrentino

Salmon Sorrentino

This week has been so hectic on the work front for me, so I apologize for not posting a recipe sooner, but sometimes life really does get in the way of me posting. One of my favorite types of restaurants are those hidden gems nestled within a quaint neighborhood. For some reason the city that I live in is scattered with exactly those types of restaurants. Literally there is a home lined street and at the end of that street is a restaurant. The locals here love these little gems and know exactly where they are. So there is little fear that any of these restaurants will actually ever go out of business. We have this amazing little Italian Cafe near our house, and one of my favorite things on the menu there is Salmon Sorentino. All the elements in the dish speak to me. I love the saltiness of the kalmata olives, and the brininess of the capers, they all work together perfectly in the cream sauce. This recipe is my version of the restaurant version.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Total time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
1lb of salmon
1 cup of heavy cream
1 clove of garlic chopped
3 tablespoons of capers drained
1/2 cup of kalmata olives
5 basil leaves chopped
2 tablespoons of olive oil


Directions:  Add oil and garlic to a frying pan and cook until you can smell the garlic 15-20 seconds. Add in cream, salmon, olives, and capers, cook for 7-10 minutes or until salmon is cooked through. Add in basil, turn off fire and enjoy on a bed of pasta, or spinach, or with some steamed veggies.  If you love this, you will probably love my recipe for Chicken with Lemon Caper Cream Sauce

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