Shortbread Calaveritas

I did these as a project with my young students after talking about Día de Muertos and it was so much fun!

Basic shortbread cookie.

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 cup butter
2 cups all purpose flour

DIRECTIONS:

In a bowl, mix room temperature butter with the sugar on low speed.
Slowly incorporate the flour. The mixture will look dry but keep going, it will come together.

flatten to 1/4" and cut out your cookie shapes (aprox 20 large cookies 5"x3")

Cook at 300F* for 30 min and move from cooling rack immediately, don't leave them on the baking sheet.

Basic Icing.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup confectioners sugar
3 teaspoons of milk
vegetable coloring

DIRECTIONS:

Mix milk and sugar and add more milk until you get the right consistency. Be sure to add drops at a time! Very little liquid goes a long way with this kind of sugar :)

Separate in batches and add a couple of drops of color.

Paint your Calaveritas and remember to use as many colors as you want :)

Roasted Salmon w/ mushrooms and truffle oil

From "my Life Runs On Food" with my little twist.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 lb. salmon; cleaned and seasoned with 1 tsp. truffle oil, sea salt, fresh black pepper, crushed red pepper, lemon juice
1 green garlic; thinly sliced or 1 to 2 minced garlic cloves
10 oz. white button or bella mushrooms
1 tsp. truffle oil
A generous drizzle of olive oil
Sea salt, crushed red pepper, and fresh black pepper; to taste

Dill

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Butter an 8x8x8-inch baking dish.
3. Toss mushrooms, garlic, olive oil, sea salt, and peppers together in the baking dish.
4. Layer salmon on top of the mushrooms.

5. Drizzle the top of the Salmon with Truffle oil and sprinkle dill to cover all the fish.
6. Depending on the thickness of the salmon, bake for 10 to 20 minutes until tender.

Serve with roasted potatoes

Super easy Creamy mushroom chicken

Super easy!

INGREDIENTS:

1 Chicken breast
1 tbsp Olive oil
8 Cremini mushrooms, sliced
1/2 Small onion sliced
1/4 cup broth
1 tbsps of Cream cheese

DIRECTIONS:

Cook/boil the chicken breast (my favorite way is pressure cooker for 15 min) with a "bouquet garni" & salt. Once cooled down, shred and reserve.
In a skillet, heat the Olive oil and add the onions, once translucent (1-2 min), add the sliced mushrooms and broth and cook for 2 min on low heat. Add the chicken, and when everything is hot (3 min) add the cream cheese and turn off the heat. Mix well and serve.

This is served with roasted rosemary carrots and bamboo rice.

Lentil soup (Pressure Cooker)

From Food.com

This recipe is really really easy and came out great!

INGREDIENTS

1/2 large onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup dry lentils, rinsed and picked
2 bay leaves

DIRECTIONS

In your pressure cooker, sweat the onions and garlic in the olive oil until the onions are translucent.
Add the carrots and celery and saute for a minute or two.
Add the ground cumin and stir well (I used crushed cumin seeds)
Add the vegetable broth, lentils, and bay leaves, close the pressure cooker, and bring up to pressure.
Cook for 20 minutes.
Open the pressure cooker via the quick release method (see your cooker's owner's manual!) or let the pressure come down on its own.
Remove the bay leaves.
Season with salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.

Roasted Cauliflower w/ Lemon caper vinaigrette

I have to start saying I'm not a fan of cauliflower but made this way or as skinny mashed, I love it!

From thechew.com

INGREDIENTS

For the Cauliflower:
1 head Cauliflower
1/4 cup Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
Lemon Caper Vinaigrette (see recipe below)

For the Lemon Caper Vinaigrette:
1 cup Olive Oil
1/3 cup Capers (chopped)
1/2 bunch Parsley (chopped)
1/2 cup Lemon Juice
1 tablespoon Lemon zest
1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
Salt and Pepper

DIRECTIONS:

For the Cauliflower: Drizzle cauliflower with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roasting a whole head of cauliflower makes for a great presentation. Roast in a 350 degree oven until golden and tender, approximately 35 to 45 minutes. Drizzle with vinaigrette.

For the Lemon Caper Vinaigrette: Whisk all ingredients together. Remember to zest lemons before juicing them. Season to taste. 

Serve this dish as a side or a vegetarian entree.

Zucchini & carrot salad w/Feta Cheese

From Pinterest w/ some tweaks

INGREDIENTS:

1 large raw zucchini
1 medium raw carrot
salt
Pepper
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar

DIRECTIONS:

Wash zucchini and carrot and peel them.
After peeled, keep going with the peeler trying to make long stripes, add salt, pepper, vinegar, Olive oil and sprinkle with some Feta Cheese.

Serve chilled.

Manchego a la Mexicana

From: Ricardo Bailon

VERY VERY VERY easy breakfast!

INGREDIENTS:

1 very thin sliced tomato
1/4 very thin sliced onion
1 sliced serrano chile
1/2 cup stock (chicken, beef, etc...)
6 slices 1/4'' thick of Manchego cheese (serves 2)

DIRECTIONS:

In a large skillet fry the onion on some olive oil, once it starts getting translucent, add the serrano and stir for about 1 min, then add the tomato and the stock and let simmer on low heat until the sauce thickens, the tomatoes are blended in and add salt to taste.
When the sauce has the consistency you want, add the Manchego slices and cover for about 1 min.
Don't wait too long or the cheese will melt all over the sauce, it has to be soft but able to take out of the skillet.
Once served, pour some sauce over the cheese and add some refried beans on the side and flour tortillas.

Best Chipotle Sauce and Tilapia

Best & easiest Chipotle Sauce!

Here with Tilapia, but can be used with pretty much every meat, fish or poultry.

INGREDIENTS

• 
  
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro (You can use 2 frozen cilantro cubes)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 canned chipotles in adobo
• 1 tablespoon of low fat mayo
• 1/3 cup skim milk
• salt to taste
• 4 tilapia fillets

DIRECTIONS

Preheat broiler.

Put all the ingredients in a tall container and use an immersion blender until smooth.

Grill fish until just cooked through, 6 to 9 minutes.

Put fillet on the plate and then pour the sauce on it.

Serve with wild rice and tomato salad.