I saw this Crockpot Spaghetti Squash, Meat, Tomatoes recipe on Instagram the other day, and I just had to try it! It’s essentially spaghetti squash bolognese, and I love some spaghetti bolognese. It’s something Mom used to make all the time when I was growing up.
Spaghetti squash is one of those things I mean to try but never have gotten around to it. Add to that an Italian flavor and the ease of using my slow cooker, and there was no way I could pass this up. I’m finally going to find out what spaghetti squash is like, and I’m so chuffed!
This crockpot spaghetti squash, meat, tomatoes recipe is an easy & healthy one-pot meal. Spaghetti squash, your preferred ground meat, tomatoes cook together in this tasty recipe that can be tailored to your liking.
Recipe Author: Shannon Epstein at Fit Slow Cooker Queen Get the recipe
The Ingredients
My pre-shopping kitchen check showed me I had several items for this recipe on hand. My pantry had Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and cooking oil. That left me with 4 items to shop for, and they were all easy to find.
Since I have never made anything with spaghetti squash, I wasn’t sure my usual grocery store would carry it. But I did check online before I went, and they had it whole and halved. I chose a whole squash, as you can see. It was 4.39 pounds and cost me $6.54 (1.49 per pound).
I always tell my husband what’s on the menu each week, and I ask him to choose which meat to use. He was all for ground beef. I had some ground turkey in the freezer, but I went with ground beef. It’s just tastier. But I did make this recipe again with the second half of squash and the ground turkey. Both versions were great!
Spaghetti squash, ground beef, vegetable oil, black pepper, salt, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, onion powder, and canned diced tomatoes
The Process
The beauty of using a slow cooker is that it does a lot of the work for you. There is little or no time spent standing at your stove.
Prepping & Cooking
This Crockpot Spaghetti Squash, Meat, Tomatoes did have a few minutes at the stove to brown the meat. I used my largest skillet and had it done fairly quickly. Tip: The pan and all that meat were a little heavy, so I used a colander to drain off the fat and juices. It’s so much easier on my wrist!
A 12-inch skillet was large enough to brown the ground beef all at once
I had the ceramic crock next to the sink, so it was easy to pour the meat right in. I had been working on prepping the other ingredients while the meat browned, but I didn’t have them all done when it finished.
It took me a few more minutes to get the spaghetti squash cut in half and seeded. I’m not gonna lie: it wasn’t easy to cut it in half even with a sharp knife. Tip: My serrated bread knife actually worked better for this job than my chef’s knife. But I did manage to get it done, and scoping out the seeds and whatnot was easy to do.
Halving the spaghetti squash was tough, but it was easy to seed with a spoon
Finally, I was ready to assemble my meal in the slow cooker. I began layering on the ingredients in the order listed and finished with the squash. lt was ready a mere 2 hours later. Pretty fast for a slow cooker!
Finishing Up
While it cooked, I thought about how I was going to get the spaghetti squash out of the slow cooker to shred. Tip: In the end, I used 2 pairs of tongs to place it onto a plate covered in paper towels. The paper towels kept the squash from moving around as I scraped out the flesh with a fork. It was like buttah, so it only took me a few minutes to scrape and mix it back in with the meat and tomato mixture.
The cooked spaghetti squash as so soft I was able to scrape the flesh out with a fork
Timing
This recipe lists 10 minutes of prep time, 4 hours of cooking time, and a total time of 4 hours and 10 minutes. I came in way below that because I chose the shortest cooking time.
The recipe gives the option of 2-3 hours on high or 4-6 hours on low. I simply adore that as it makes my life easier when I’m struggling! Here’s how my time was spent on my Crockpot Spaghetti Squash, Meat, Tomatoes:
16 minutes to prep
2 hours to cook
4 minutes to shred and mix
2 hours 20 minutes total
My prep time was a total of 20 minutes, and I’m sure that was because I struggled with having the spaghetti squash. It was a new experience, so I think that’s to be expected.
Next time I will go with the packaged spaghetti squash half to speed things up, make it a little easier, and reduce waste. I’m not sure what I would do with the other half under normal circumstances, and I would hate for it to end up in the trash.
You know what? I’m still in the mood for Italian after that exquisite Orecchiette with Mushroom Thyme Sauce from last week, but I feel like it’s too soon for another pasta dish. Besides, there’s more to Italian cuisine than pasta (but I do love pasta!). A quick search of my Pinterest boards and I found the perfect recipe, this Italian Toasted Veggie Sandwich. It’s layers and layers of Italian flavors like pesto, eggplant, and sun-dried tomatoes. It even includes a recipe for homemade focaccia bread, and I have always wanted to try making it. Let’s give this one a go!
A deliciously hot pressed Italian style toasted vegetarian sandwich filled with freshly made pesto, spinach, roasted eggplant, mozzarella and sundried tomatoes. Perfect for a lazy weekend brunch, or a casual lunch for guests!
A quick search of my pantry, and I found that I didn’t have any ingredients for this recipe. Not a single one! I did have everything I needed to make the focaccia bread, but just barely.
Although I had to shop for all the ingredients, I was able to find them at my usual grocery store. The basil was the type that came in a 1-ounce plastic clamshell, and I wasn’t sure it would be enough so I bought 2. One ended up being just enough.
To cut costs, I switched from pine nuts to slivered almonds for the pesto. I’ve always made it with pine nuts, but they were $8. The same size package of almonds was half that, and peeling is part of the slivering process. It worked out great!
My store has good grated parmesan in the deli department, so I went with that to save myself some work. The only thing I had a small issue finding was the julienned sun-dried tomatoes. The only type they had was labeled “with herbs”. Sun-dried tomatoes are powerful on their own, and I didn’t notice a difference in flavor.
Focaccia bread, eggplant, basil, extra virgin olive oil, julienned sun-dried tomatoes, slivered almonds, garlic, mozzarella cheese, and grated parmesan cheese
The Process
I made this Italian Toasted Veggie Sandwich recipe into a twofer by making the focaccia bread with it. Or before it. You’ll find a link to it in the notes section of the recipe.
I tested the recipe with no additional herbs and wrapped it tightly to use the next day. Well, that didn’t happen, and I’m sad to say the loaf went moldy.
I had to make another loaf of focaccia, but it wasn’t difficult at all. In fact, this is the easiest bread recipe I have ever made! And this time I added some leftover thyme leaves from that orecchiette dish I mentioned earlier. Plus I added some Maldon sea salt flakes. So good!
Homemade focaccia bread (link in sandwich recipe’s notes)
Making the Sandwiches
The actual sandwich kicks off with slicing up the eggplant. Then it’s brushed with olive oil and roasted on a sheet pan for 25 minutes. Tip: So easy, but I would peel it and give it a shake of salt next time. The peels tended to come off by themselves in the first few bites, and the eggplant needed just a little extra flavor.
Sliced eggplant brushed with olive oil
While the eggplant did its thing, I worked on the rest of the prep. A bit of slicing, measuring, etc. The real “work” was making the pesto, and my mini-prep took care of that. Mostly.
I pulled the leaves off the basil stems because I’m picky like that. Then I added the ingredients to my mini-prep and gave it a whir. It did great on everything but the garlic clove. I had to pick it out, press it, and return it to the bowl to mix it in. Tip: Making the pesto was quick, but I would mince or press the garlic first.
The mini-prep couldn’t handle a whole garlic clove, so I pressed it and put it back in
I was able to get everything finished before the eggplant was done, so I was ready to make my sandwich right away. This was a messy one, but it was worth it!
First, I added plenty of pesto and a handful of spinach to the bottom layer of focaccia. Then I piled on the toppings in the order listed. It was a slice of eggplant, folded, slices of mozzarella, sun-dried tomatoes, more pesto, and the top piece of bread.
Grilling the Sandwiches
I thought about buying a sandwich press for this recipe, but I just don’t have the space to store another appliance. Plus I’m not sure how much use I would get out of it. Instead, I decided to get a cast-iron sandwich press, complete with ridges to make grill marks.
It was less expensive and will be much easier to store. In the past, I have tried pressing sandwiches by using a heated cast-iron skillet on top, but it wasn’t too successful. The skillet was too heavy to easily balance it on top of a sandwich, and this press is much lighter.
I began pre-heating my sandwich press and grill pan in the last 5-10 minutes of the eggplant’s cooking time. Both were ready to go as soon as I needed them, and I toasted the sandwiches one at a time. They were very full but not too hard to manage. the grill marks on the top were very faint despite preheating, but it did the job well enough. Tip: Next time I would grill the sandwiches upside down so the heat from the pan can melt the cheese a little better.
As I was getting the sandwiches ready to photograph, I looked over at the extra eggplant. I couldn’t just leave it! I added another to each sandwich, making 4 layers of roasted eggplant each. They were super tall, and I’m glad I didn’t try to toast them that way. I’m not sure I could have managed to get them in and out of my grill pan without them falling apart.
Timing
This Italian Toasted Veggie Sandwich recipe lists 10 minutes to prep, 30 minutes to cook, and a total time of 40 minutes. I came in just under that. Here’s how my tie was spent:
A while back I was looking over my calendar and noticed today was National Strawberry Cream Pie Day. I’ve had strawberry pie, but I have never had a Strawberry Cream Pie. That sent me to Pinterest to search for a recipe. It turns out there are many versions of strawberry cream pie. I read through a few, got hungry while I read, and settled on this version. It sounds a lot like a strawberry cheesecake, and I have a lot of fond memories of that from my childhood. But is it the same thing? there’s only one way to find out, and that means I need to do some baking!
There’s no shortage of fresh berry flavor packed into this scrumptious Strawberry Cream Pie! A flaky butter pie crust is paired with a light and creamy filling, chopped strawberries, a sweet strawberry glaze and fluffy homemade whipped cream.
Recipe Author: Lindsay at Life Love and Sugar Get the recipe
The Ingredients
This Strawberry Cream Pie recipe includes a link to a homemade pie crust recipe. That meant I had to show for the pie and pie crust ingredients. A quick kitchen perusal as I made my shopping list revealed that I had a few ingredients on hand. They were all easy-to-store pantry basics like all-purpose flour, powdered, sugar, cornstarch, salt, and vanilla extract.
That left me to shop for heavy whipping cream, unsalted butter, cream cheese, granulated sugar, and fresh strawberries. All of the ingredients I needed were easily found at my usual grocery store. They even had a special on strawberries! It was 3 16-ounce (1-pound) packages for $10. I estimated I needed 3 packages for this recipe and bought a 4th for the decorations and as a just-in-case kind of thing.
Strawberries, cream cheese, heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, butter, granulated sugar, all-purpose flour, cornstarch, vanilla extract, and salt
The Process
I split making the pie crust and filling over a few days. Some of it was optional, but I love being able to make things ahead when I can. Could it be made in a single day? Probably, but I hope you’re an early riser!
I also had some difficulties with this one, so it was an unusual pie-making experience for me. I’m including the whole saga and all the times at the end. This one was a doozy, but I loved the end result!
Making the Strawberry Puree
When I read over the recipe, I didn’t see a pause that would give me enough time to make the strawberry puree. I decided to make it the day before baking, along with the pie crust dough.
The concept is simple: puree the berries in a blender then strain out the seeds. I put 2 cups of strawberries into my blender, almost an entire 1-pound container. Once they were pureed, I strained them through my large mesh strainer. The mixture dripped through very slowly, so I used a large spoon to stir it and speed things up.
Unfortunately, lots of strawberry seeds made it through the mesh, so I had to re-strain it with my fine mesh strainer. That one is designed for cocktail making, so I had to do it in several batches.
I used a pestle to push the strawberry puree through a fine mesh strainer
This time I switched the spoon for a wooden pestle (as in mortar and pestle), and it worked a treat! I used a gentle twisting-pushing motion to push the liquid through. I knew it was done when the seeds turned into a thick paste. Then I dumped them out and did more batches until I was done.
Imagine my dismay when all that work turned into only 3/4 cup of strawberry puree! I added the remaining strawberries from the container plus a few more from another. Five minutes later, I had the remaining 1/4 cup of puree. I put it into a sealed container and refrigerated it until I was ready to make my strawberry cream pie.
In the end, I’d say I ended up using 3 cups instead of the 2 noted in the recipe, but that wasn’t very unexpected. Strawberries vary in size, and their shape makes them hard to measure when they are whole. I completely missed the weight noted in parentheses and probably should have used that instead.
Making the Pie Crust (Take 1)
This Strawberry Cream Pie didn’t include the crust, but it did link to a separate Flaky All-Butter Pie Crust recipe by the same author. I decided to use that since I have a good. amount of experience making homemade pie crusts.
Since I have made pie crusts before I expected this part to go fine. It didn’t. Well, making the dough went fine, but baking the crust turned out to be a disaster.
I used a French rolling pin to roll the pie dough into a 12-inch circle
Everything went according to the instructions, although the dough was a bit dry. I had to add an extra tablespoon of ice water to it before it would hold together. Then I divided it into 2 discs, wrapped them in plastic, and refrigerated them overnight. This recipe makes enough dough for a double-crust pie, so I planned to freeze the extra.
The next day, I began rolling out 1 of those discs. The recipe says to place the dough between 2 pieces of parchment, and I thought that was a great idea. It would be less messy and easier to get the rolled-out dough into the pie pan.
Rolling out cold dough was a test of strength and endurance. The recipe doesn’t say how large the dough needs to be, but it does specify the pan’s dimensions. Based on that, a 9-inch deep dish pie pan needed the dough to be 12 inches around to account for the sides and edge.
I pricked the dough with a fork and added ceramic pie weights before blind baking
I finally managed to get the dough rolled out, and it took a lot of effort. First, I removed the parchment layer on the top. Then I put my hand underneath the bottom layer and flipped it onto the pie pan. I managed to get the edges crimped nicely, poked some holes in the bottom with a fork, added the pie weights, and put it into the oven.
Twenty minutes later I pulled out a shrunken mess. I’m guessing it’s because I sprayed the pan with canola oil, and that allowed the dough to slip into the bottom. The recipe didn’t say to spray or grease the pan, that was my own doing.
The crust edges shrank and fell into the pan
Making the Pie Crust (Take 2)
I still had the second disc of dough, so I had another chance. I did have to wait for the pie pan and weights to cool completely—I gave it an hour. Then I washed the pan to remove the canola oil and redid the crust.
The second piece of dough had come to room temperature, so it was much easier to roll out. I didn’t time it, but I had this crust ready in less than 10 minutes. I put it in the oven for 20 minutes and sat and waited very anxiously to see if this time would be a success. And…
No joy. It did the same thing as the first batch and the sides sank into the middle. I’m guessing it’s because the dough wasn’t cold and was instead at room temperature. I was out of butter and patience at this point, so I had hubby pick up a ready-made frozen crust.
I was in the middle of beating the whipped cream for the filling when the first pie crust came out of the oven (Step 3). It was good that I hadn’t mixed it into the cream cheese. I wrapped up the bowl of cream cheese and refrigerated it until the next day. Darn it, I had to toss out the whipped cream, but I had enough to make more so it was okay.
I finally figured out why the pie crust failed!
Update 11/22/23: I was reading another pie recipe and noticed it called for the pie pan, crust and all, to be popped into the freezer before baking. I did some more research, and Martha Stewart, Sally's Baking Addiction, and King Arthur Flour all agree the rolled-out crust needs to be chilled 15-30 minutes before it is baked to prevent it from slumping into the pan like mine did. They all have excellent tutorials with plenty of photos, too!
Making the Filling & Glaze
Since I stopped in the middle of making the filling, I had to let the cream cheese and sugar mixture come to room temperature. While I waited, I let the pie crust thaw and pre-heated the oven. Both took 20 minutes. Then I pricked the crust with a fork and blind-baked it according to the package instructions (for 11 minutes). Tip: Don’t skip the pie weights! I left them out because they weren’t mentioned in the directions on the package and the crust bubbled a little.
Once the crust had cooled, I whipped the cream cheese mixture in my stand mixer to freshen it up. I also mixed up more whipping cream to get me to the point where I left off the previous day. Things went very smoothly this time. I folded the cream cheese mixture with the whipped cream, filled the cooled pie crust, and refrigerated it while I made the strawberry glaze.
The glaze went quickly since I had made the strawberry puree the day before. I stirred it together with some sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan until it thickened. Then I poured it out of the hot pan into a shallow dish so it could cool on a wire rack. Tip: The wire rack wasn’t required, but it allowed air to circulate underneath the container so the glaze cooled faster.
That gave me plenty of time to stem and slice the strawberries. The instructions say to use 3 cups or 380 grams of strawberries. I used 3 cups, but I also weighed them and they weighed 514 grams. But more is better, right?
I’m not completely sure. I couldn’t fit all of the strawberry glaze into the pie. I only had a few bites left, but I really packed it on! The pie had to chill for 4-6 hours, so I wrapped it well and refrigerated it overnight since it was late in the day.
The filling soaked into the edges of the pie crust and turned them pink
Decorating My Strawberry Cream Pie
In order to finish up my Strawberry Cream Pie I needed to make the whipped cream, pipe it onto the pie, and add a few halved strawberries. This part wasn’t too difficult, and I had it done in about 10 minutes.
I had to be strategic about placement because overfilling the crust with strawberry glaze caused the crust to absorb some of the pink liquid. I’m not the greatest decorator, and while I intended to hide the stained crust I didn’t quite do that. My nerves always take over when I have to decorate baked goods, but I don’t think I did too badly, though!
I tried to hide the edges of the crust with whipped cream
Timing
As I mentioned, I used 2 recipes for this one: Flaky All-Butter Pie Crust plus Strawberry Cream Pie. Although the crust was a total failure, I did complete all the steps for making it. The Strawberry Cream Pie recipe also mentions blind baking the homemade crust in Step 1, so it’s hard to separate the two recipes.
I am going to use the times for the pie with a homemade crust in my final rating, but I will also list the times for the pie with the frozen crust. I’m going to list the times for the pie crust alone, the pie with homemade crust, and the pie with frozen crust.
Flaky All-Butter Pie Crust
The pie crust listed 15 minutes to prep, 1 hour to chill, and 1 hour 15 minutes total. Here’s how my time was spent on it:
16 minutes to prep the pie crust
14 minutes to roll out the dough
9 minutes to place in pan and pinch edges
20 minutes to bake
39 minutes total (not including time to chill)
I refrigerated my pie crust overnight, and the recipe doesn’t include time to roll out the dough and add it to the pan (that’s mentioned in the Strawberry Cream Pie recipe). Blind baking for 20-25 is optional, and the times were mentioned in the last step but not included in the total time either. The only time I can really compare is the prep time, and I came within 1 minute of that.
Strawberry Cream Pie with Homemade Pie Crust
The Strawberry Cream Pie recipe listed 45 minutes to prep, 40 minutes to cook, and 5 hours 30 minutes total (including time to chill). Step 1 of the Strawberry Cream Pie recipe mentions rolling out the pie crust dough and blind baking it, so I’m including those times in this list:
14 minutes to roll out the pie dough
9 minutes to place dough in pan and pinch edges
20 minutes to blind bake crust (time to cool unknown—I didn’t bother since it was a fail)
13 minutes to make cheesecake filling and fill pie crust
8 minutes to make strawberry glaze
25 minutes to cool the glaze
9 minutes to slice the strawberries for glaze (while glaze cooled)
3 minutes to mix the glaze with sliced strawberries and add to pie
4 hours minimum to chill (I chilled mine overnight)
10 minutes to make whipped cream and decorate pie
5 hours 42 minutes total (used for the time rating)
This method put me a little bit over the total time listed, but not much at all. I’m sure it was because I refrigerated the pie dough overnight. It was so cold that I had a lot of trouble rolling it out the next day.
Strawberry Cream Pie with Frozen Pie Crust
Again, the Strawberry Cream Pie recipe listed 45 minutes to prep, 40 minutes to cook, and 5 hours 30 minutes total (including time to chill). I chilled my pie overnight, so I’m using the minimum time for chilling listed in the recipe. I’m also including the times from the frozen pie crust instructions in this list (they were spot-on):
20 minutes to thaw the crust and preheat the oven
11 minutes to blind bake the crust (cooled during filling prep)
13 minutes to make cheesecake filling and fill pie crust
8 minutes to make strawberry glaze
25 minutes to cool the glaze
9 minutes to slice the strawberries for glaze (while glaze cooled)
3 minutes to mix the glaze with sliced strawberries and add to pie
4 hours minimum to chill (I chilled mine overnight)
10 minutes to make whipped cream and decorate pie
I am going to use the times for the pie with a homemade crust in my final rating.
That’s exactly the total time listed on the pie recipe!
Have you ever heard of orecchiette pasta? It’s a new one for me, and I only know about it after finding a package a while back. The name literally translates as “little ear”, and the name is due to their ear-like shape. This shape is made by indenting the pasta over the thumb to make a small divot. That little dip in the pasta is supposed to be great for holding creamy sauce, and that’s exactly how I’m going to try it. I was surprised to find so many orecchiette recipes on Pinterest, but this Orecchiette with Mushroom Thyme Sauce recipe won out. It has bacon, so how could I turn that down? Let’s give it a try!
This Orecchiette with Mushroom Thyme Sauce features pasta coated with a creamy, flavorful sauce – and it’s easy enough to make for a weeknight meal!
The whole reason I’m making this Orecchiette with Mushroom Thyme Sauce is that I found a package of tri-color orecchiette at Home Goods a few months ago. They’re a great source for unusual pasta! Larger grocery stores might also have it (I haven’t looked), and you can always find orecchiete online. I also think small shells would work, but I haven’t tested the theory.
The rest of my pre-shopping check showed me I only had a few ingredients. They were basics like cornstarch, butter, kosher salt, and black pepper. My regular grocery store had the ingredients I needed, so no extra trips or special orders were needed for this recipe.
Orecchiette pasta, sliced button mushrooms, half and half, grated parmesan cheese, cornstarch, kosher salt, black pepper, fresh thyme, milk, butter, and thick-cut bacon
The Process
Things begin with boiling the orecchiette and frying up 6 slices of thick-cut bacon. As you can see, I got the bacon, shall we say, extra crispy. I wasn’t paying attention because I was prepping the other ingredients. One second it was fine, and the next it was on the burnt side.
I like to think that I got the bacon extra, extra crispy LOL!
The bacon still worked, believe it or not, so I forged ahead. I drained the grease into a heat-proof container like this bacon grease jar and started on the mushrooms. That meant adding a little bacon grease back to the pan, some butter, and then the mushrooms.
I bought sliced mushrooms to save time. They all fit into the pan, but there was no way to fry one side and flip them. Instead, there were a few layers deep, so I did the best I could. They shrank as they cooked, so there was a little more room in the pan than what you see in the photo.
A 12-inch skillet barely had enough room for the sliced mushrooms
The orecchiette finished while the mushrooms were cooking, and I drained it and set it aside. I continued with the sauce in the skillet, and it all went smoothly and according to the instructions. It wasn’t long before I had a lovely cream sauce simmering away on my stove.
The cooked orecchiette expanded some but kept its shape
Once the sauce finished, I added the orecchiette to the pan and stirred carefully. I used a 12-inch skillet, and it had just enough room for everything. A large saute pan might have worked better. The high, straight sides give it more room and help keep things in when stirred.
A 12-inch skillet was just large enough for this recipe
Timing
This recipe lists 5 minutes to prep, 25 minutes to cook, and 30 minutes total. I went over that at 40 minutes, but I wasn’t able to break that down. I began this recipe by cooking the bacon and pasta and I prepped while I cooked. It made separating the time impossible.
I’m not sure where the slow-down happened. It may have been overcooking the bacon, but that doesn’t explain the 10-minute difference. It may just be that I’m a slow cook because everything seemed to go smoothly, and I didn’t have any trouble following the instructions.
Way, way back in 2018 I tried making Vietnamese coffee myself. The recipe was called Spiced Vietnamese Coffee with Sweet Vanilla Cream. I loved the recipe, but it used cold brew coffee instead of hot coffee made with a traditional Vietnamese coffee filter or phin. Cold brew is good, but there is no comparison to the real deal. I’m going to try an authentic Vietnamese Yogurt Coffee (Sua Chua Cafe) recipe, and I even invested in a phin. Well, I’m not sure invested is the right word since it was only $12, but you get the idea. Anyhoo, let’s see what this recipe is like!
Vietnamese Yogurt Coffee (Sua Chua Cafe) is a tasty and unique Vietnamese drink. It has a perfect combination of sweetness and tartness with an addictive coffee aroma.
Recipe Author: Sophie at Delightful Plate Get the recipe
The Ingredients
This recipe doesn’t require many ingredients. It’s just ice, water, coffee, sweetened condensed milk, and Greek yogurt. I had the water and ice, so 2 down 3 to go. Not a long shopping list at all.
The blog post for this recipe was full of tips, and that included brands of coffee and sweetened condensed milk. It mentions a few Vietnamese coffees and an American coffee that’s easy to find: Cafe du Monde Coffee with Chicory. Now, I love that brand, and my usual grocery store sells a 15-ounce can for around $9.
But I wanted the real deal for this recipe, so I ordered a tin of Trung Nguyen Premium Blend Coffee when I ordered the phin. A 15-ounce can was $11, so not much more than the Cafe du Monde.
I bought the sweetened condensed milk locally. Carnation brand was $3.39 for a 14-ounce can. And last, a 32-ounce container of Cabot Plain Greek Yogurt was $4.99.
Water, plain Greek yogurt, ground coffee, and sweetened condensed milk
The Process
Although I have never used a phin to brew coffee, this recipe wasn’t difficult at all. I began with the coffee since it takes the longest to make.
I simply filled the phin with ground coffee, gently twisted down the filter, and balanced it on a small glass. Then I added 1 tablespoon of hot water to let the coffee grounds bloom for 20 seconds. Then I poured in the rest of the water, added the top, and let the coffee drip into the glass.
Using a phin to brew the coffee
While I waited for the coffee to brew, I mixed up the Greek yogurt and sweetened condensed milk. That was quick and easy to do in a minute or two.
The coffee was still dripping, and I expected it to take 4 minutes or so. Mine ended up taking more like 6 minutes. I think I twisted the inner filter down too much. I did experiment with it over the next few days, and my coffee brewed faster with a very gentle twist of the filter.
At last, the coffee was ready, and I assembled my Vietnamese Yogurt Coffee (Sua Chua Cafe). This recipe makes 3 servings, so I had already put about 1/3 of the yogurt mixture into a 16-ounce glass. I assumed the coffee would also be divided the same, but there just wasn’t very much of it. It took 1/4 cup of water to brew it, and I’m sure some ended up soaked into the coffee grounds.
After a little deliberation, I ended up using all of the coffee for a single serving. It was strong coffee, but I only had a couple of teaspoons of it. The coffee melted the ice as I stirred, and I ended up with a creamy dreamy coffee treat.
Crushed ice and coffee layered over a mixture of plain Greek yogurt and sweetened condensed milk
Timing
This recipe is a quick one! It lists 5 minutes to prep, 5 minutes to cook, and 10 minutes total. I came in at exactly that even though my coffee took longer to brew than what the instructions said. I love that my results matched what I expected! And I love that this is something I can do in the morning for a quick treat with caffeine all in one.
My husband and I have wanted to try ratatouille for a long time. In case you’re not familiar with it, ratatouille is a French summer vegetable stew made with eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper, and tomato. It’s often shown as neat rows of thinly sliced vegetables neatly arranged in a shallow dish. What I didn’t know was it can also be made with chunks of vegetables in tomato sauce, which is how I envision a stew. This Spicy Ratatouille Brunch Skillet is made the latter way. Plus it adds some hot sauce and eggs for good measure.
I’m a huge fan of spicy food, and I love the extra protein the eggs add since it makes vegetable dishes more filling. I love the idea of vegan meals, but I find they don’t stick with me as long as meals with meat, fish, or eggs. Of all the proteins, eggs at least keep things vegetarian, so they’re a great compromise for me.
I have made a couple of similar recipes in the past. If you like eggs and vegetables be sure to check out my Turkish Menemen and Mexican Baked Eggs posts. They were both very tasty ovo-vegetarian meals with different spice palettes. Let’s find out if I’ll be adding this Spicy Ratatouille Brunch Skillet to my favorite recipes along with the two I just mentioned!
This ratatouille skillet is one of the easiest and most impressive brunch dishes you’ll make. It takes minimal effort and has so many layers of wonderful flavor.
Recipe Author: Natasha at Natasha’s Kitchen Get the recipe
The Ingredients
I did a quick check as I made my grocery list, and I only had a few ingredients. Of course, they were staples like salt, pepper, olive oil, and, of course, Tabasco sauce.
I had to show for the rest of the ingredients which were lots of fresh vegetables, a few canned items, and eggs. All easy to find at my regular grocery store. Or almost any grocery store I would imagine.
I did buy an extra eggplant and 4 zucchini. Since they were on the small side, it was hard to envision how much they would make once they were chopped up. I ended up using 1 eggplant and 1 1/2 zucchini.
I also bought a dozen eggs in case I broke one while I was making my ratatouille. They did have half dozen packages, but I wanted to be safe since it’s so easy to break a yolk.
Eggs, baby spinach, chicken broth, olive oil, sea salt, pepper, tomato sauce, Tabasco sauce, zucchini, eggplant, diced tomatoes, red bell pepper, yellow onion, and garlic
The Process
I have always had it in my head that ratatouille would be difficult to make. All those photos of super thinly sliced vegetables arranged so neatly looked so perfect! I wasn’t sure if I would be able to achieve that. This recipe was loads easier since the vegetables were just chopped and diced. I do that all the time!
And that’s exactly how I began this recipe. I peeled and chopped 1 whole eggplant to get 4 cups. By the way, peeling was just a personal preference, and I do it if the eggplant skin seems thick because it’s chewy when cooked. Yuck!
Chopped eggplant, zucchini, pressed garlic, diced onion, and chopped red bell pepper
Next came the zucchini, and I used 1 1/2. I didn’t peel those, but I did square the sides to get the cubes even. That removed most of the peel. I finished the vegetables by dicing 1/2 red bell pepper and 1 onion then pressing 2 garlic cloves.
The vegetables needed to cook for 10 minutes, so that gave me time to finish the prep work. It was mostly just opening cans and measuring out a few things. Tip: By the way, I did not drain the canned diced tomatoes. The recipe doesn’t say to, and the liquid helped create the sauce.
During this time I broke the eggs into small prep bowls. I loved doing it this way instead of breaking them directly into the pan and hoping the yolks didn’t break. Somehow I managed to get all 6 into the bowls with no broken yolks, so everything was ready to go when the vegetables finished.
The rest of the process went very smoothly. I mixed in the remaining ingredients as instructed. I tasted the mixture before I added the eggs, and it was so good! There was plenty of spice with that distinctive Tabasco flavor, but I could still taste the vegetables. I decided not to adjust the seasonings.
Adding the Eggs
I cracked the eggs into prep bowls before adding them to the skillet to make sure the yolks didn’t break
Then I used a large spoon to make divots in the vegetable mixture to add each egg. The ingredients say to use 6, but the instructions list 5 to 8. That made me worry I would not be able to fit all 6, but they fit perfectly. I used a 12-inch cast-iron pan and started on the outside edge. I worked around the pan and placed the final egg in the center.
Lastly, I tucked some spinach leaves in between the eggs before covering the pan and letting the eggs steam. The instructions say 6-8 minutes, but my eggs were done over-easy in 5 minutes. In other words, the whites were set and the yolk was runny—perfect for dipping bread into, which is exactly how I served this dish.
I served my Spicy Ratatouille Brunch Skillet with freshly baked crusty sourdough bread
Will the tomatoes damage cast iron?
According to America's Test Kitchen, they will not, but there are some caveats. First of all, your cast-iron pan needs to be well-seasoned. If it isn’t, your food will probably end up with a metallic taste. Acidic food can be cooked for a short time in a cast-iron pan before that happens. Also, be sure to remove the food from the pan as soon as it finishes cooking. And if you’re still not sure? You can always use another type of pan.
Timing
This recipe lists 10 minutes to prep, 20 minutes to cook, and 30 minutes total. I went a little over that, but not by too much. Here’s how my time was spent:
I have been eyeing this Dulce de Leche Chocolate Cheesecake Bar recipe for a long time. I have made dessert bar recipes before, but this looks like the granddaddy of them all! It has layers of Chocolate, cheesecake, dulce de leche, and a cookie crust in one dessert. What?! My only hesitation is the calories it must have. Well, I’m eating a lot of salads for the next few weeks to make up for this one because I have finally given in and tried it out. Let me tell you all about it!
A creamy, decadent version of chocolate cheesecake with an oreo crust, thick dulce de leche, perfectly whipped chocolate cheesecake and a silky chocolate ganache on top!
Recipe Author: Cade and Carrian at Oh Sweet Basil Get the recipe
The Ingredients
I checked through my kitchen before I went to the grocery store and found a few of the ingredients. I had cocoa powder, vanilla extract, granulated (white) sugar, and light brown sugar. I found everything else at my regular grocery store, but I did have a few questions.
First, the ingredients listed “1 can Dulce de Leche”. I couldn’t find it in a can, so I bought a 14-ounce bottle. It was odd since I have bought it many times and it has always come in a small can. When I got home, I was able to check and the regular can is 13.4 ounces. I ended up spilling some of the bottled dulce de leche, so I think the size difference worked itself out.
Next, I wasn’t sure how much “1 package Oreos” was. I bought the store brand, and it was a 15.5-ounce container. Name-brand Oreos come in 3 sizes: 13.29, 18.12, and 25.5 ounces. I was hoping the author didn’t mean the largest size! What I bought worked out just fine, but I would recommend the middle-sized 18.2-ounce container if you choose the name brand.
Tip: I bought my semi-sweet chocolate as chips so I wouldn’t have to chop it before melting it in a double boiler. It’s a real time-saver!
Dulce de leche, Oreo cookies, eggs, German chocolate, vanilla extract, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, semi-sweet chocolate, light brown sugar, heavy cream, unsalted butter, and cream cheese
The Process
These Dulce de Leche Chocolate Cheesecake Bars have 4 layers of deliciousness:
Oreo cookie crust
Dulce de leche
Chocolate cheesecake filling
Chocolate ganache topping
I’d say the cheesecake filling was the most work, but it really wasn’t all that difficult. It just took the most ingredients and tools out of all the layers.
Making the Cookie Crust
Like any layered, dessert, this one started at the bottom. The first step is to line a 9'x13' baking pan with foil and spray it with cooking oil spray. Tip: The foil still ended up sticking to the finished dessert bars, and it could be hard to remove all the pieces. I’m wondering if sprayed parchment would have worked better, but I haven’t tested it.
But back to making the crust… My microwave has a melt setting, so I put the butter in and worked on the cookies. After a few seconds in my food processor, the whole package was ground up with cream fillings and all.
I used an old-fashioned wooden spoon to mix the cookie crumbs and butter together before pouring them into the prepped baking pan. Tip: I used a metal measuring cup with a flat bottom to press the crust into the pan. It gave a neat appearance, consistent thickness, and was less messy than using my hands.
Making the Oreo cookie crust
Making the Cheesecake Filling
I prepped the cheesecake filling while the cookie crust baked and cooled. The cheesecake goes over the cookie and dulce de leche layers, but the cookie layer needs to be completely cooled first. That gave me more than enough time to prep the cheesecake layer.
This layer was a combination of sweet German chocolate with semi-sweet chocolate. It starts with melting the two together in a double boiler. Tip: It’s not easy to tell when the chocolate begins melting without stirring it, so keep an eye on it the entire time.
Once the chocolate was melted and set aside, I mixed up the cream cheese in my stand mixer with a paddle scraper. It didn’t eliminate the need for scraping with a spatula down the sides, but it helped.
The instructions guided me through combining and mixing the filling’s ingredients. The chocolate cheesecake filling was mixed up and ready to go into the pan before I knew it!
I used a paddle scraper attachment to mix up the cheesecake filling in my stand mixer
Adding the Fillings
The crust had cooled while I made the filling, so it was ready to go. The first layer of filling is the dulce de leche. Super easy since you just add it straight from the can, right? Not quite…
I bought my dulce de leche in a plastic bottle. It was so thick I wasn’t sure I would be able to get it all out of the bottle. My solution was to warm it a little in the microwave to make it easier to pour. I’m not sure, but I think I set it to 30 seconds on 80% power.
Dulce de leche spread over the baked Oreo cookie crust
My little trick almost became a disaster when the bottle began melting and tipped over during the final seconds. thank goodness I watched it the whole time in case it bubbled up and overflowed! I caught it right away and only lost a little dulce de leche. And, I’m happy to say, that it poured out of the bottle easily.
After that, I simply spread the cheesecake filling over the dulce de leche and returned the pan to the oven for 30 minutes more. The center was very jiggly when I removed it! I wondered if it could possibly set once it cooled, but it sure did. The recipe says to allow 4 hours, but I let mine set overnight in the refrigerator.
Adding the Ganache
The final layer was the chocolate ganache. To make the ganache, I warmed the heavy cream and then poured it over some semi-sweet chocolate chips to melt them. Then the melted chocolate and cream are whisked together to make a semi-hard chocolate frosting.
I let the mixture cool for 5 minutes before pouring it into the baking pan. It was easy to spread evenly over the cheesecake layer using a silicone spatula. The final step was to return the pan to the refrigerator to let the ganache set for an hour.
Tip: I left the pan uncovered while the ganache set. I didn’t want to risk any moisture accumulating on the lid and making drip marks on the ganache.
Cutting and Serving
Once all these layers were refrigerated, they were a little tricky to cut. I used a chef’s knife and wiped it down after each cut to keep things as neat as possible. The ganache did crack a little, but it was fairly minor. And let’s face it, this is an ooey-gooey messy dessert!
It’s not mentioned in the recipe, but the photos had white sprinkles. I decided to sprinkle my Dulce de Leche Chocolate Cheesecake Bars with just a touch of Maldon sea salt flakes, and OMG! It was the perfect foil to all that sweetness!!
Timing
This recipe lists 30 minutes to prep, 30 minutes to cook, and 4 hours of inactive time, for 5 hours total. Here’s how my time was spent:
8 minutes to prep the crust
28 minutes to prep the cheesecake filling *
30 minutes to bake
4 hours to cool
13 minutes to make and apply the ganache
6 minutes to make ganache
5 minutes to cool
2 minutes to spread
1 hour to set the ganache
6 hours 19 minutes total
It seemed like I went way, way over the total time until I checked over the recipe again. I assume that inactive time is cooling, and that tracks with the time needed to set the cheesecake filling. It doesn’t seem to include the 1 hour to set the ganache topping at the end, though. Including that final cooling time would bring the listed time to 6 hours and that seems more likely.
* I let the crust bake for 10 minutes then cool while I prepped the cheesecake filling
Since I just made those Korean Gochujang Ribs, I thought I would follow it up with another Korean recipe. I found several on my Pinterest boards, but most were main courses and side dishes. There were plenty of delicious-looking sides and salads, but then I scrolled past this Hotteok (Sweet Korean Pancakes). Decision made! These small pancakes are a popular Korean street food that’s filled with nuts, spices, and brown sugar. They sound so good, and I need to give them a try!
Homemade dough stuffed with brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and walnuts and cooked until warm and gooey on the inside.
Recipe Author: Danielle Wolter at Went There 8 This Get the recipe
The Ingredients
As usual, I started planning this recipe by rooting around in my kitchen for ingredients I already have. I had several things like flour, sugar, salt, butter, cooking oil, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In other words, most of the ingredients. Yay!
I had to buy the yeast, milk, walnuts, and rice flour. I knew my usual grocery store would have the first 3, including pre-chopped walnuts, and I was so pleasantly surprised to find they also stocked rice flour. A 24-ounce bag of Bob’s Red Mill was about $6. I have plenty left over, so I need to find a way to use up the rest. Not sure what that will be just yet, but I’m sure it will be posted here!
By the way, the type of yeast isn’t listed with the ingredients. It is specified as “instant dry yeast” in the notes section, so you might miss it. However, I loved the other tips in the notes, and I found them very helpful as I made my Hotteok.
Flour, butter, cooking oil, rice flour, chopped walnuts, sugar, brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, instant yeast, and milk
The Process
Making hotteok has 4 main parts:
Making the dough
Making the filling
Assembly
Cooking
Making the Hotteok Dough and Filling
This recipe takes a while to complete since the dough needs time to rise. It’s mostly inactive time, so you aren’t standing in the kitchen for all that time. The dough was super easy to make, and I did it by hand. I’m sure it could have been mixed and kneaded in a stand mixer, but I wanted to stick to the instructions.
Once the dough was mixed and kneaded, I covered it with a tea towel and put it into my microwave to rise. And no, I didn’t microwave my dough LOL! I keep my house on the cool side, and the dough needs a warm space to rise.
A warm spot by a window is ideal, but I don’t have that. Instead, my go-to trick is to warm a ceramic mug of water in the microwave. Then I move it into the corner, add the covered bowl of dough, and close the door to create a warm space for the dough to rise. Problem solved!
The dough takes 1-2 hours to rise, so I had more than enough time to mix up the filling while I waited. And do the dishes. And read a little! I checked on it after an hour, and it had doubled in size by then.
Making the filling
Assembling my Hotteok
Ok, the easy part is done, and now the work begins! I’m not the greatest baker, and I equate anything involving dough with baking. It gives me some anxiety, to say the least…
Dividing the dough wasn’t too difficult, but I did give it a couple of tries to get it into 8 even-ish pieces. Rolling out, filling, and pinching the dough went pretty smoothly. At least after the first one. My new silicone baking mat gave me the perfect non-stick surface for this step.
The recipe says to add 1 tablespoon of the brown sugar-walnut filling to each piece of dough. That’s what I did, and it seemed like just the right amount. I was just able to pinch the dough closed without breaking it most of the time.
I did roll the first ball of dough too thin, though, and the walnuts made holes when I flattened it into a pancake. And those holes resisted all attempts to pinch them closed! Every. Single. One.
I spent 5 minutes—almost half the entire assembly time—trying to fix that one pancake and finally gave up. It ended up ok, though you could tell it was the throwaway of the bunch. In the end, I’m wondering if I should have kneaded the dough more when I first made it. This dough was very slack/soft and overall delicate.
Rolling out and filling the dough
Cooking my Hotteok
So, the time to cook came around. I added 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil to my 12-inch non-stick skillet and let it preheat. I was only able to get 4 of the Hotteok into the pan at once, and the 1st batch seemed to take longer to cook/brown than the time listed despite preheating it well.
The problem, I think, was they soaked up most of the oil. The 2nd batch seemed to cook up nicely about 45 seconds per side and looked much less oily. Next time I will try adding half the oil per batch so the first ones don’t soak it all up.
I added 1 tablespoon of water at the end of each batch and let the hotteok steam with the lid on. As you can see from the main photo, I didn’t get that gooey filling like there recipe’s photo, but assure you I did get all the taste!
Timing
This recipe lists 5 minutes to prep, 10 minutes to cook, 1 hour of dough rising time, and 1 hour 15 minutes total. Here’s how my time was spent:
8 minutes to make the dough
1 hour to rise
2 minutes to make the filling (done during rising time)
11 minutes to assemble
8 minutes to cook
1 hour 27 minutes total
I’m not surprised I went over the time listed since I’m not used to the techniques in this recipe. About 5 minutes of that was me trying to fix the holes in my first hotteok, so I think I did pretty well as far as the time.
I went shopping the other day and happened to notice a freezer full of baby back ribs. Mmmmm ribs went through my mind then and when I passed that freezer on a few subsequent trips. I Had to find a recipe for ribs! A short search later, and I found one that not only sounded good but didn’t require grilling outside. This summer’s heat has been brutal, and I’m sure my poor air conditioner will back me up on that! These Korean Gochujang Ribs can be made in the oven or slow cooker and finished in the oven or on the grill. I chose options that kept me inside, and I don’t regret it!
Korean gochujang ribs are a spicy twist on a classic favourite. So easy to make as barbecued ribs, in the oven or slow cooker.
Recipe Author: Ayngelina at Bacon is Magic Get the recipe
The Ingredients
I had a few things on hand like brown sugar, salt, pepper, ketchup, and gochujang paste. I used the gochujang for the first time when I made a Korean squid stir-fry, and I have kept it on hand ever since. It’s so good!
That left me to shop for the rest of the items, and they were all at my usual grocery store. I found a 3-pound rack of ribs for $22. Tip: The package was labeled “pork loin back ribs”, but that’s just another name for baby back ribs.
Baby back ribs, rice vinegar, gochujang paste, ketchup, ginger root, brown sugar, onion, garlic, salte, and pepper
The Process
This recipe was written in a way that was easy to follow, for the most part. I did have a couple of minor hiccups, but nothing insurmountable.
Making the Sauce
It began with the sauce, which was such a good idea. I got the fresh items prepped and then began cooking in a medium saucepan.
Things started off with a little sauteeing and seemed to be going well. Then I noticed the ketchup from the ingredients listed wasn’t mentioned. I kept re-reading the recipe to make sure. The 1 cup of ketchup from the ingredients list just wasn’t there.
I chose to add it in Step 5 with the rice vinegar and brown sugar. It seemed to work just fine because I ended up with a nice sauce once I finished.
Preparing the Ribs
I prepped the ribs while the sauce simmered on the stove. The silverskin was still on them, but it was a little difficult to see since it was so thin. But the exposed fat on the wider end was a dead giveaway that the silverskin had been peeled away.
To remove it from the rest of the rack, I used the tip of a paring knife to lift the silverskin from the narrower end. Once I was able to get a good grip, I just peeled it off.
Removing the silverskin from the underside of the ribs
Cooking the Ribs
I chose to make my ribs in the oven, so I placed them into my largest casserole dish. The rack had to be squeezed in since I didn’t have a larger dish, but it all worked out.
Next, I filled the dish with enough water to come halfway up the ribs. And once the sauce was cooled and blended, I generously brushed it over the top. Finally, I put on a layer of parchment paper followed by a layer of foil before they went into the oven for 2 hours.
Basting the ribs in a large casserole dish with water
As you can see below, the ribs didn’t look too different when they came out of the oven after 2 hours. I wasn’t surprised since they had been covered and still needed to be finished. That usually crisps and/or browns.
So I turned up the heat to 425℉ and placed the ribs onto a sheet pan. Tip: I should have lined it with foil before adding the ribs, but I didn’t foresee the baked-on mess I would end up with later.
I had so much sauce left that I decided to brush on another layer before the sheet pan went into the oven. It wasn’t part of the recipe but it felt right.
After cooking in the oven for 2 hours
The ribs came out of the oven 20 minutes later, and they weren’t much darker than when they went in. I wasn’t expecting that, and I was a little disappointed. They didn’t look like the ribs in the recipe’s picture, and, unfortunately, I forgot to snap a photo for you.
Tip: To get the rich brown color and char, I had to broil the ribs. I let the oven’s built-in broiler heat on high for 2 minutes, then I put them underneath for 2 more minutes. They got a crispy char, but the low setting would have been best. They were just a little too crispy for my taste, but that was all on me, not the recipe. The meat inside was still nice and juicy.
Timing
This recipe lists 20 minutes to prep, 2 hours to cook, and a total time of 2 hours and 20 minutes. That doesn’t seem to include the time listed to cook the sauce (20 minutes) or the time to bake the ribs on a baking sheet (18-20 minutes). If I add those, the total time is 3 hours.
I went a little over that since I chose to bake the ribs on the baking sheet for the maximum time (20 minutes) and put them under the broiler. Here’s how my time was spent:
17 minutes to prep the sauce
20 minutes to cook the sauce
7 minutes to blend the sauce and prep the ribs
2 hours to cook in the casserole dish
20 minutes to transfer to a baking sheet and raise the oven temperature to 425℉
I have been eyeing this Mango Margaritas with a Turmeric Chili Twist for a long time, and I finally got to try it! Because what else would I make after Salmon Ceviche with Mango? A mango margarita doesn’t sound very unusual, but add some chili and you get my attention. I do love some hot and spicy everything! But the turmeric twist made me go hmmmm. I’ve never heard of adding it to a margarita or any other cocktail for that matter. So what would it be like with all that mango, lime, and chili? Let’s find out!
These Mango Margaritas spice things up a bit with a delicious turmeric simple syrup and a sprinkling of Tajin chili seasoning. They can also be frozen and taken to-go on picnics.
Recipe Author: Megan Wells at Meg is Well Get the recipe
The Ingredients
All I had in my pantry for this recipe was sugar. I had to shop for everything else, and that meant a couple of extra trips. But my go-to store had almost everything like the limes, frozen mango, fresh oranges, and Tajin seasoning. There were a few flavors of the Tajin, and I chose the Clasico.
I looked for fresh turmeric (it’s usually with the ginger), but I couldn’t find it where I normally get my groceries. Instead, I had to make a run to Fresh Market for the turmeric root. Tip: I used about (5) 2-inch pieces of turmeric to make 1 cup once it was peeled and diced.
My usual grocery store doesn’t have a liquor store attached, so I expected to make a separate trip for that. I chose a mid-range silver tequila for $11.
Tip: It’s not on the list of ingredients, but you will need a fresh mango to make the garnish in Step 2. In a pinch, you can thaw a few chunks of frozen mango under running water.
Silver tequila, frozen chunks of mango, lime juice, turmeric root, orange juice, Tajin seasoning, and sugar
The Process
This Mango Margaritas with a Turmeric Chili Twist is a two-parter. It includes making simple syrup flavored with turmeric and then blending the cocktail. And, of course, a rimmed glass to serve it in along with a mango garnish.
Making the Turmeric Simple Syrup
Simple syrup is easy enough to make, and I have done it many times. This one was flavored with fresh turmeric root, so there was a little extra work involved.
Turmeric is in the same family as ginger, so I tried to peel it with a spoon the same way I do with ginger. The turmeric skin seemed a little tougher, so I ended up switching to my vegetable peeler.
Once the turmeric was peeled, I diced it into small pieces and added it to a small pot with water and sugar. I let the mixture come to a boil, then I turned it down to low and let the syrup simmer for an hour. When it was done, I strained out the diced turmeric and let the very intense yellow syrup cool before bottling and refrigerating.
Tip: Fresh turmeric will stain your fingers and almost anything it touches. Gloves are a good idea while you handle it.
Peeling and dicing the fresh turmeric root to make the Turmeric Simple Syrup
Making the Mango Margaritas with a Turmeric Chili Twist
I made my margaritas the next day. The recipe begins with rimming the glasses. It’s not difficult, but make sure you really wet the rims to get the Tajin seasoning to stick.
Next was the mango-Tajin garnish. I happened to have a fresh mango leftover from the ceviche recipe I mentioned above. Just core a mango, cut it into chunks, and spear them on a couple of cocktail picks. Give the spears a sprinkle of Tajin, and voila!
Rimming the glass with Tajin chili-lime seasoning
The actual cocktail was probably the easiest part. I got out my electric juicer and juiced 3 limes and 1 orange for the juice. Then I added all the margarita ingredients to my blender, blended thoroughly, poured the mixture into the prepared glasses, and added the garnishes. The recipe calls for an extra sprinkle of Tajin on the surface of the drinks, but I missed that part.
Timing
This recipe doesn’t list preparation, cooking, or total times, so I’m not counting time in my final rating. I did keep track while I made everything, and this is how my time was spent:
15 minutes to prep the turmeric simple syrup
1 hour to cook the syrup
7 minutes to make 2 mango garnishes
5 minutes to blend and our 2 margaritas
1 hour and 27 minutes total
That doesn’t include time for the syrup to cool. I left mine on the counter to cool enough to bottle and refrigerate it until I needed it (overnight in this case). I didn’t time that, but I’d say it was about 30 minutes or so while I did the dishes.
I love ceviche, but it’s not something I get to eat too often. When I ran across this Salmon Ceviche with Mango recipe, I started wondering why I don’t make ceviche more often. It’s so simple and full of healthy things, and hubs and I both like it (he’s picky about fish). Yet the only ceviche recipe I have tried at home is the Strawberry Shrimp Ceviche Cocktail from way back in December 2021. I have been keeping an eye out for a sale on fresh salmon, and I found it this week. I found a nice big fillet for $30, and I decided to treat us to some homemade ceviche. Let’s find out if this South American-East Asian fusion recipe is as good as it looks!
Try this out-of-the-ordinary ceviche twist—salmon with mango and jalapeños. This ceviche has a wonderful flavor and is a perfect appetizer served with tortilla or plantain chips for scooping.
Recipe Author: Brett Moore at The Spruce Eats Get the recipe
The Ingredients
All I had on hand for this recipe was soy sauce. That meant shopping for everything else, and things went well at my regular grocery store. I found all the produce, mirin, and chips.
They also had salmon fillets, but no skinned and porioned fillets. I wasn’t too fussed about that since they are more expensive than buying and skinning a fillet myself (sometimes as much as twice the cost!). Instead, I bought a large fillet and used the skills I learned in this tutorial on how to skin a salmon fillet. It only took a few minutes to do with a sharp fillet knife.
Salmon fillet, mirin, mango, cilantro, soy sauce, lime juice, orange juice, lemon juice, red onion, jalapeno peppers, and plantain chips
A Note About Eating Raw Fish
Quality seafood for ceviche is an absolute must for this recipe as ceviche isn’t cooked with heat. Fish, like any meat, can carry bacteria and parasites that are a risk to your health. That risk can be lessened, but it is always there. Buying good seafood from a trustworthy source, storing it properly, and eating it within a day are all good ideas.
Looking for sushi- or sashimi-grade fish is a great idea. Seafood with that label is deemed safer for raw consumption. While it’s an unregulated term, these grades are usually processed and frozen immediately after being caught as this type of seafood is meant to be eaten raw.
You might be asking yourself why I am recommending frozen seafood. Isn’t fresh best? Not necessarily. Freezing can kill bacteria and parasites, so it’s a good idea when you are not cooking it. But bear in mind that this is an unregulated term, and even with the greatest caution there is no guarantee that the fish will be 100% safe.
The Process
Ceviche isn’t cooked with heat. Instead, it’s cooked in a citrus juice marinade. To prepare it I skinned my salmon, chopped it into bite-sized cubes, and did a lot of juicing. Thank goodness I have an electric juicer! I ended up needing the juice of 3 oranges, 2 lemons, and 3 limes.
Marinating the salmon in a mixture of freshly squeezed orange, lemon, and lime juice
The salmon had to marinate for 20 minutes to 1 hour. I chose a time in the middle and marinated mine for 40 minutes.
Prepping the Remaining Ingredients
Forty minutes gave me more than enough time to prep the other ingredients, mix the dressing, and even clean up a bit. All of the slicing and dicing could have been accomplished with a chef's knife, but I had a couple of gadgets that made it even easier.
First, I used my mango corer to core and halve the mango in mere seconds. Then I was able to dice and slice the fruit away from the peels. I try not to buy single-purpose gadgets as my storage space is limited, but I’m glad I bought this one—I actually use it a lot, and it’s a real time-saver.
Coring a mango
The other helpful gadget was my chili pepper corer. I used it to cut off the tops, seed, and core 2 jalapeno peppers in less than a minute. Then I was able to cut them into thin strips and then into small pieces.
Once the fish finished marinating, I drained it and dried it on a paper towel-lined plate. I also patted the top surface of the fish with paper towels to make sure it was really dried off. Then I mixed it with the other prepped ingredients and the dressing and gave it all a good stir before serving the ceviche in small dishes with a bowl of plantain chips.
Drying the marinated salmon with paper towels
Timing
This recipe lists 40 minutes to prep, 20 minutes to marinate, and a total time of 1 hour. I came in just a hair under that. Here’s how my time was spent:
This Chimichurri Chicken Sandwich is something I found recently, and I have been dying to give it a try. I love chimichurri, but I never made it at home until I started this blog. Now I can’t believe I ever bought it because homemade chimichurri is quick, easy, and tastes so much better than store-bought! I have posted a few recipes with chimichurri on steak, chicken, and even Chimichurri Potato Salad, but never on a sandwich. And I’m kicking myself for not thinking of that! Chimichurri on a sandwich sounds like the perfect condiment. Let’s find out if it’s as good as I imagine it is!
My favourite chicken sandwich. It’s loaded with crispy chicken thighs, a delicious chimichurri sauce, red peppers, avocados and rocket. You’ll love it!
The list of ingredients for this recipe isn’t very long, but my pre-shopping check of my kitchen told me I only had 2 ingredients: red wine vinegar and caster sugar. That wasn’t a surprise since this sandwich is loaded with fresh ingredients.
I’m not sure if you can find them in the bread aisle, but I didn’t even look for ciabatta bread there. I went straight to the bakery and found freshly baked and pre-sliced ciabatta.
I have learned the hard way to read the list of ingredients and the instructions as I’m doing my kitchen check. That’s because recipes occasionally don’t list all the ingredients—sometimes they are only mentioned in the instructions.
Tip: This recipe also needs salt, pepper, and olive oil. They’re pretty standard items, but I thought I would mention that just in case.
Chicken thighs, roasted red peppers, arugula (rocket), ciabatta bread, oregano, garlic, red onion, caster sugar, red wine vinegar, flat-leaf parsley, red chili pepper, and Haas avocados
The Process
The recipe begins with making the chimichurri, but I decided to switch things up. First, I deboned and seasoned the chicken thighs. I looked, but I couldn’t find skin-on boneless chicken thighs. Once you try it a few times, deboning chicken thighs is quick and easy to do. I like to buy bone-in meat to save money since the more processed meat is, the more expensive it is. Deboning 4 chicken thighs only took me 3 minutes, but I have had a lot of practice.
Frying the chicken thighs in a cast-iron skillet
I loved that the instructions included a tip on how to get crispy chicken skins by placing them into a cold pan. I used my 10' cast-iron skillet, and it had just enough room for 4 chicken thighs. The first side (the skin side) took 9 minutes including time for the pan to warm up and cook the chicken.
Once the chicken was frying I moved on to the chimichurri. That was just a bit of chopping and stirring, though my chili pepper corer did come in handy. And remember the olive oil I mentioned in the last section? This is when I needed it. I used plain old olive oil, not extra virgin, by the way.
Prepping the chimichurri ingredients
The chicken and chimichurri finished one after the other. The timing was perfect! the chicken had a couple of minutes to cool while I sliced the avocado and toasted the bread. Then it was time to pile everything onto the ciabatta, snap a few photos, and give this one a try. Spoiler: It was incredible!!
One thing to note, though, is I only used 1 chicken thigh per sandwich. The ciabatta bread I bought wasn’t big enough for any more than that. But I made sure to pile on as many toppings as possible to make up for it!
Assembling my Chimichurri Chicken Sandwiches
Timing
This recipe lists a total time of 30 minutes, and it isn’t broken down into prep and cooking time. I made up for that and broke down each major step. Here’s how it went:
4 minutes to debone and prep the chicken
14 minutes to cook the chicken
13 minutes to make the chimichurri
5 minutes to toast the bread and slice the avocado
2 minutes to assemble 2 sandwiches
38 minutes total
I went a little over that, but not by much. Deboning the chicken wasn’t a step in the recipe, so I’m not including that in my time rating below. That takes the total time down to 35 minutes and bumps it up half a star.
