Recipes Archives - Tech Life Magazine

Traditional Holiday Recipes | Favorite Hispanic Soups

It’s time to celebrate the holidays with favorite latino soups. Whether you are latino or not, making a traditional soup is a great way to learn and celebrate latino culture, traditions and history.

My favorite traditional recipes include Caldo de Pollo, Caldo de Res and Red Chicken Pozole. Caldos served with condiments are full meals. Just add tortillas and your ready to enjoy and celebrate Hispanic Heritage with your favorite soup.

Caldo de Pollo – Chicken Soup – Chicken soup truly warms your soul. A great way to welcome guests to your home or welcome neighbors into the neighborhood.

Caldo de Res – Beef Soup – With ingredients like fresh cilantro, carrots, bright orange carrots, cabbage, green beans and a medium Chayote your Beef soup will be flavorful and hearty. A perfect soup to celebrate Hispanic Heritage month.

Pozole – Red Chicken Chile Pozole – Pozole is a a soup to make when you are celebrating a special occasion.

Buen Provecho!

Filed Under: Food, Hispanic Heritage Month, Holiday, Recipes Tagged With: hispanic heritage month

Traditional Holiday Recipes | Marshmallow Rice Krispies Fruity Treats

Author Eva Smith

Spice up the Holidays with a colorful and fun treat. One of my favorite treats is a spinoff of the original marshmallow treats. The bright colors make them so bright and edible. The recipe is very easy to make and takes about five minutes to prepare. It is a great way to quickly make a treat for the special occasion or for the special last minute celebration. Whip them up and viola! you have an instant party. Just make sure you have another person in the room to ensure you don’t eat them all by yourself. They really are that good.

Ingredients

3 teaspoons of butter

1 package (10 oz) of marshmallows

3 cups rice krispies

3 cups fruity pebbles

Preparation

1. Add butter to saucepan and melt over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted.

2. Add rice krispies and stir. Add fruity pebbles and stir until well coated. My recipe uses 2 cups of fruity pebbles and 4 cups of rice krispies. However, you can modify the recipe to suit your needs and tastebuds.

3. Using a buttered spatula, spread mix over a 13x9x2 pan or waxed paper and spread evenly.

4. Place in refrigerator for 1 hour or until cool. Cut into 1 1/2 squares. Best if served same day. Prepares 20 squares.

Buen Provecho!

Filed Under: Food, Recipes, Spring Recipes Tagged With: fruity krispie treats, fruity marshmallow treats, marshmallow treats

Red Chile Chicken Pozole Recipe | Pozole De Pollo Con Chile Rojo

Author Eva Smith

Pozole is a traditional Mexican dish made with hominy, meat, chile sauce and garnish. The soup has a historical background as well. During the Aztec periods, maize was very sacred and only eaten as part of a community ritual. The dish was also mentioned in historical Spaniards books. The recipe has changes significantly, especially the meat used, but hominy remains the main ingredient of the dish.

Today pozole is served in all restaurants in Mexico with pork as the staple meat. In the US the soup is only served during the Christmas, New Years, Three Kings Day and weekends. It is a time consuming recipe, but certainly worth the time. Most traditional recipes make the recipe with pork or beef. However, I prefer to make my recipe with chicken as a healthier alternative. The soup is also served with cabbage, red radishes, oregano, onions and lime.

We recently celebrated several milestones in our family: An engagement, Three Masters completions, Attendance to a UC, Attendance to USC, Attendance to Graduate school and most of all the blessing of being surrounded by family to celebrate it all. It was a great and memorable celebration to look back at the previous year and look forward to the opportunities the new year has to offer.

The next time you want to celebrate a major milestone in your life consider making Red Chicken Pozole.

Red Chicken Pozole Recipe

Ingredients

2 cups Red Chile Puree Ingredients
Find Recipe Here

Pozole Ingredients
12 pieces of chicken legs & thighs
1/2 onion
3 garlic cloves
4 tablespoons salt
105 oz can of Hominy

Garnish Ingredients
6 limes
2 bunches of cilantro
3 bunches of red radishes
1 chopped red onion
1/4 thinly sliced cabbage
2 tsp oregano

Preparation

1. Place Chicken in large pot. Add garlic cloves, onion, salt and 18 cups of water.
2. Bring water to a boil for about 30 minutes or until chicken is tender. Keep chicken fat in the pot to add flavor.
3. Add red chile sauce to pot and bring to a boil.
4. Add hominy and bring to a boil.
5. Serve pozole in a bowl with tortillas and your preferred garnish. Serve with love.

Buen Provecho!

Filed Under: Food, Heritage, Hispanic Heritage Month, Latino Heritage, Lifestyle, Recipes Tagged With: chicken pozole, pozole, red chicken pozole

Authentic Mexican Red Chile Sauce Recipe

Author Eva Smith

Red Chile sauce is a time consuming recipe, but once you master the recipe you can use it just about anything you want to add red chile sauce to. I use red chile sauce to make enchiladas, chile con carne, tamales, Pozole, menudo and chilaquiles. After you learn to make an Authentic Mexican Red Chile Sauce you will never buy the red sauce in the can again. The best part about this recipe is the freshness, savory flavor and homemade touch.

Recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 bag dried ancho chiles (10-12 chile pods)
1/2 bag guajillo chiles (10-12 Chile pods
5 garlic cloves
1/2 large onion
5 cups water

Yields:

4 1/2 cups Red Chile Puree

Preparation:

1. Rinse and remove seed & veins from chiles. Keep seeds & veins for extra spicy salsa.

2. Add chiles to hot water

3. Bring to boil for 20min until they change color. Let cool slightly.

4. Purée chiles in blender with 1 cup of water chiles were cooked in.

5. Use colander to separate pulp from the skin. Depending on size of colander you may need to do this a couple times.

Buen Provecho!

Filed Under: Food, Heritage, Hispanic Heritage Month, Lifestyle, Recipes Tagged With: Mexican Cuisine, Red Chile Sauce, Red Chile sauce for enchiladas, Red Sauce for Pozole

Sweet Pineapple Tamales | Tamales De Dulce

Author Eva Smith

We look forward to cooking tamales every year in our home. It’s a family tradition to gather around the table with all the prepared ingredients and assemble tamales. Everyone in our family participates in the tamale assembly, also known as a Tamalada. Whether you are relative or neighbor just stopping by, you become a part of our family when we make tamales in our home. It’s a way for us to check in with each other, talk about family memories during the year, act silly and make new memories. Our most popular family tamales are the Mexican Chicken-Pasilla Tamales, but our favorite dessert tamales are the sweet tamales made with crushed pineapples and sugar. The sweet pineapple tamales also known as “Tamales de dulce” are also my husband’s favorite! You have to get your tamales as soon as they are done when we cook them. Otherwise, they will be all gone. Sweet Pineapple Tamales Recipe Ingredients:

2 package corn husks
5 lbs of prepared masa
3 cans of crushed pineapples with pineapple juice
2 cup of raisins
2 cups white sugar

Method:

Remove debris from corn husks and soak in hot water for 1 hour.
Mix 2 cans crushed pineapples, 1 1/2 can pineapple juice, 1 cup sugar, prepared masa by hand. Make sure to taste the dough periodically as you mix the dough by hand. You may need to add additional sugar to taste, as the sugar will lose some of the sweetness during steaming.
To assemble tamales: Drain cornhusks, remove any red corn silk, and stack. Lay 1 cornhusk flat, smooth side up. Place about 2-3 tablespoons of masa mixture on the bottom half of the cornhusk and smooth with the back of a large soup spoon. Add 3-5 raisins in the middle.
Locate the long side with a 2 inch space with no masa. Fold that over, slightly overlapping the other side so the edges of the dough meet. Wrap the extra husk around the back. Then fold the broad end over the top and then the longer narrow end over the broad end.
Create strips of husk by cutting or tearing 1/4 inch lengths off of some of the smaller or unusable husks. Use these to tie across the middle of the tamales to hold the flaps down.
Set tamales upright in a steamer. You can buy large steamers made just for this purpose. You may have something else you can use to create the same effect. The key is to have a small amount of boiling water on the bottom of the pot and a colander or mesh of some sort to keep the tamales away from the water.
Let Simmer for about 60-90 minutes.

Serve warm & with love.

Buen Provecho!

Filed Under: Food, Heritage, Hispanic Heritage Month, Holiday, Latino Heritage, Lifestyle, Recipes Tagged With: Pineapple Tamales, Sweet Tamales, Tamales, Traditional Mexican Food

Dulce de Leche Cream Custard Recipe

Author Eva Smith

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post in partnership with Coffee-mate. However, all opinions are my own.

One of my favorite recipes to make during the Fall is Dulce de Leche Cream Custard. I serve it as a light dessert after a meal, as an afternoon with tea or as a delicacy with warm milk in the evening. It brings welcoming aromas of a bakery into our home and reminds me of my mothers baking. It is also the perfect multi-purpose recipe that can be used to make pastries. It’s one of my go to recipes because the possibilities with Dulce de Leche Cream Custard are endless.

Coffee-mate recently introduced new flavors that capture the natural flavors of Dulce de Leche and Chocolate Abuelita and are a wonderful way to make traditional recipes with ease. In addition to using it to add delicious flavors to my coffee, I also use it to make my favorite Holiday recipes.

I used Coffee-mate’s Dulce de Leche creamer to make Cream Custard and it is amazing! I have developed several recipes, but this by far is one of my favorites. It’s is my favorite ingredient for mult-purpose recipes. To make sure I have enough for the entire family I made 3 batches of Dulce de Leche Cream Custard and stored a batch in a container for future use during the week.

Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup Nestle La Lechera Dulce de Leche Coffee-mate
1 cup milk
2 egg whites
1 egg
1/4 cup cornstarch (maizena)
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions *

1. In saucepan stir in Coffee-mate La Lechera Dulce de Leche Creamer, milk and egg whites. Bring to boil over medium heat.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together egg whites and egg. Stir remaining sugar and cornstarch; then stir the mix into egg until smooth. When milk comes to boil, pour it into bowl while mixing. Return mixture to the saucepan and slowly boil, stir constantly to prevent so curdle or scorch on the bottom.

3. Remove from heat and pour into container(s). Refrigerate until chilled before using.

*To make the perfect custard you need to stir continuously.

Giveaway

To celebrate the special occassion, Cofee-mate has offerred to give one of my readers 2 coffee-mate full value vouchers, $25 VISA, Coffee-mate Coasters, Coffee sleeve and a beautiful custom-made mug from Crafty Chica!

The Giveaway prize is valued at $60. You have the opportunity to win by participating in the giveaway below:

Filed Under: Food, Heritage, Hispanic Heritage Month, Lifestyle, Recipes

Cooking With Chef Alejandra Schrader’s Seasoning Blends and Curried Cauliflower Recipe

Author Eva Smith

I recently attended Chef Alejandra Schraders’s Seasoning Blends launch. It was a gathering of fellow chefs and friends who support and enjoy Alejandra’s healthy cooking. We tastes several meats, vegetables and small plates made with love and her delicious seasoning blends. I really enjoyed the savory flavors of the Curried potatos, Cocoa-Mom Dark Seasoned chicken and curried Cauliflower Alejandra made with her natural seasoning blends. The Seasoning Blends contain non GMO organic spices and are made with high quality ingredients in Los Angeles, California. Alejandra was inspired to create the spices by her love of global cuisine, bold flavors and healthy cooking.

If you are looking for a healthy nonGMO alternative to generic spices you purchase in the stores consider buying Chef Alejandra’s Seasonings and enjoy the natural flavors of global cuisine with every dish.

To celebrate the special occasion, Chef Alejandra also shared her secret Curried Cauliflower recipe with me to share with my readers. Make sure to visit the store and Cook Global Eat At Home for more delicious recipes, including the Cocoa-Mom Dark Seasoned chicken. I’m looking forward to making healthy cuisine with Alejandra’s Seasoning Blends!

Chef Alejandra Schrader Seasoning Blends

Un abrazo with Chef Alejandra!

Chef Alejandra making Nothing but Love Tostadas!

We loved Chef Alejandra’s Cocoa-Mom Dark Seasoned chicken

Chef Alejandra’s Signature Sachon Roasted Beef Sandwiches made with Love!

Thank you Chef Alejandra for a Superb meal!

Chef Alejandra’s Curried Cauliflower Recipe

Ingredients

1 head cauliflower
½ medium brown onion, chopped
¼ cup golden raisins
2 tbsp Alejandra’s Gingerlove Curry
3 tbsp coconut oil, melted
Coarse sea salt
Black pepper

Preparation

Preheat oven at 425° F

Cut cauliflowers into florets. On a large, rimmed baking sheet plate cauliflower, onions, raisins, Gingerlove Curry, coconut oil. Toss to coat evenly; season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Roast, tossing occasionally, for about 30 minutes until cauliflower is tender but still firm and edges are a bit crispy (you may leave for additional time to achieve desired level of doneness.)

Chef Alejandra’s Healthy Tip:

Get your cauliflower ON! This hearty vegetable is delicious and I’ve also learned that it provides a great deal of nutrition–from omega-3s and vitamin B to antioxidants like vitamin C and manganese. Oh, and It is also known for its anti-inflammatory properties and for helping with heart disease and cancer.

Spicy does not mean hot. Spices will help enhance the flavor of your food and will also provide plenty of good stuff like disease-fighting antioxidants. Spices can make cauliflower a rock star, infusing this mild dish with flavors that you will love!

¡Buen Provecho!

Filed Under: Entertainment, Events, Food, Heritage, Hispanic Heritage Month, Latino Heritage, Lifestyle, Recipes Tagged With: Chef Alejandra Schrader, Cooking Healthy, Curried Cauliflower Recipe

Sweet Jalapeno Habanero Pepper Jelly and Walnut Brie Recipe

Author Eva Smith

I love making Sweet Jalapeno Habanero Pepper Jelly and Walnut Brie. Brie is one of the most delicious gourmet cheeses that you can eat plain at room temperature with fresh bread or with a cheese plate to provide multiple options when entertaining. Every year during the holidays I bake brie with nuts, jelly and a hint of pepper. However, this recipe is delicious anytime of year.

You can make the pepper jelly yourself or purchase it at a local market. I recommend buying the Brie at a market with gourmet cheeses or a store that specializes in Wine and Cheeses. I also recommend you bake the Brie on a baking stone for best results.

I have developed several Baked Brie recipes over the years, but by far this recipe is always a crowd favorite. This is a great recipe to bring everyone into a room or introduce guests at a gathering. It is the perfect conversation starter and also very easy to prepare. I recommend preparing the recipe in advance and baking it about 15 minutes before serving.

Sweet Jalapeno Habanero Pepper Jelly and Walnut Brie Recipe

Ingredients

1/2 cup walnuts
1/4 cup jalapeno habanero pepper jelly
1 round of Brie (about 4 inches) or 1 8oz slice
1 french baguette

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Chop walnuts into small pieces with food chopper.

2. Cut the Brie side-up into two 1/4 inch slices and place on baking stone. Combine Jalapeno Harbanero Pepper Jelly on top of Brie and sprinkle walnuts on top.

3. Cut french baguette into 1/4 inch thick slices. Arrange the baguettes around the brie. Bake for 10 minutes or until baguette slices are golden brown and brie begins to melt. Remove from oven and lightly mix melted brie cheese, jelly & nuts. Let stand about 5 minutes before serving.

Buen Provecho!

Filed Under: Food, Recipes Tagged With: brie, Pepper jelly, Sweet Jalapeno Habanero Pepper Jelly and Walnut Brie

Easy Chicken Enchilada Recipe

Author Eva Smith

Disclosure: This is part of a supported campaign with Chef Merito. However, all opinions expressed are my own.

Over the years I’ve inherited many recipes from my mom and tias. My all time favorite recipe, next to my moms tamales are my tias enchiladas. As a child I would watch my aunt make her spicy red enchiladas and vowed to make them just like her some day. I was so enamored with her recipe I asked her to make her special enchiladas for our engagement dinner. It ended up being a huge event with a cooking lesson and her enchiladas served as our reward. My auntie makes her recipe real spicy with hot red chiles. As I got older, I learned the recipe and modified it with a mild red chili sauce instead of a spicy sauce. I also experimented with green chiles and white sauce enchiladas.

I recently discovered Chef Merito seasons. Chef Merito is the official season of the Los Angeles Dodgers and has created spices to season chicken, carne asada or grilled chicken. One thing I also love about the products is that it makes cooking easy. Each Chef Merito recipe such as its carne asada seasoning, adobo marinade and achiote paste was personally created in the kitchen of Plinio Garcia Sr. The company is now run by a two generations of the Garcia family members. They also have authentic mexican marinades in a bottle to save a lot of time with the preparation. My favorite seasoning is the Chicken seasoning because it makes poultry taste good and adds a great flavor to seasoned grilled chicken. It also helped me prepared this easy Enchilada recipe in less than 30 minutes!

Can’t wait to try Chef Meritos seasoning to all my other favorite mexican recipes. The possibilities are endless.

Chicken Enchiladas Recipe

Ingredients

1 Chicken breast
2 Tomatoes
1/2 Onion
2 Cloves of Garlic
8 Corn tortillas
2 Tablespoons of oil
2 Teaspoons Chef Merito® Chicken Bouillon
2 cups of Water
1/2 Pound of Shredded Cotija Cheese
1/4 Pound of Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1/4 Pound of Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1/2 Pound of Sour Cream
4 Tablespoons of Chef Merito® Adobo Costillas Norteñas

Preparation

Sprinkle chicken breast with 2tsp. Chef Merito® Chicken Bouillon Boil chicken in a pot with enough water to cover the breast. Until fully cooked. Once it is cooked and cool, shred the chicken breast.

In a blender mix: 2 tomatoes, 1/2 onion, 2 garlic cloves, along with 4 tbsp. Chef Merito® Adobo Costillas Norteñas in 2 cups of water and blend.

In a separate pot add the 2 tbsp. of oil, add the sauce and cook until it starts boiling (simmer 20 minute).

Place sauce in a dish and dip the tortillas one at a time. In a separate dish, stuff tortillas with the shredded chicken; fold in half or as a “taquito”.

Pour the sauce on top of the “taquitos” and drench to taste.

Add cheddar cheese and mozzarella cheese.

Place in 375 degree oven for 15 minutes. Cool.

Add cream, cotija cheese to taste.

For additional recipes and tips, visit Chef Meritos website at www.ChefMerito.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/chefmerito or Twitter at www.twitter.com/chefmerito.

To celebrate, Chef Merito has provided one of my readers with a gift basket. Please follow the instructions to enter to win:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Filed Under: Food, Recipes, Tech Tagged With: Chicken Enchilada Recipe

Homemade Strawberry Lemonade Recipe

Author Eva Smith

It’s warm again in our home. During the spring and summer I’m always looking for creative methods to hydrate and make a lot of use of my Breville Juice Fountain duo juicer. Creating homemade juice with natural fruits is one of my favorite pastimes. I love the taste of strawberries and put them on everything from pancakes, crepes, oatmeal and cereal. Most recently I started experimenting with strawberry recipes and created a recipe with fresh strawberries and organic lemons.

I used a Breville Juice Fountain duo to make the delicious beverage at home. I’m in love with this Home Tech gadget! If you do not have a juicer you can also use a blender to puree the fruit. For this recipe I will use a blender.

Strawberry Lemonade | Agua Fresca de Fresa y Limon

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar
1 cup water
1 pint fresh strawberries
1 cup fresh lemon juice (6 -8 lemons)
6 cups cold water
6 cups ice

Directions

In a saucepan over high heat, mix together water and sugar until sugar dissolves and it becomes a clear syrup. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Place the strawberry into a blender. Cover, and puree until smooth. Strain through a fine mesh sieve. Place the lemons into a blender. Cover and puree until smooth. Stir in 6 cups of cold water, the lemon juice and stir. Add clear syrup. Divide the ice into 12 glasses, and then top with the lemonade. Gently stir before serving.

For lemonade with pulp do not strain lemons and strawberries after blending. Add club soda to make fizzy lemonade.

Buen Provecho!

Filed Under: Food, Recipes, Spring Recipes, Summer Recipe Tagged With: lemon recipes, organic lemons, strawberry lemonade