Jis Bannana/Banana Smoothie

 $5 BUCK FOR A SMOOTHIE?  NOT!!

I

Smoothies are great anytime of the day. Here's a quick, easy and delicious recipe. It's recession proof too. Let get started.

Ingredients

1 banana

1 cup of milk

2 tablespoons of sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (optional)

5-6 cubes of ice

blender

Recipe: yielding 1 serving

Add banana, milk, sugar, ice cubes, and vanilla extract into blender. Blend for 1 minute. Pour into drinking glass and enjoy!   

FYI:  You can get creative by adding in other fruits like kiwi's, strawberries, orange slices,  raspberries, blueberries, etc. You get the idea. 

 Random fact: Banana's have components that are naturally radioactive.

Cucumber, Tomato and Feta Cheese Salad

Ingredients

1/2 cucumber (roughly chopped (peeled optional))

1 small tomato (chopped)

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of black pepper

1 shallot (sliced, finely)

1 tablespoon of feta cheese

1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, white wine vinegar

3 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

1/2 lime (juiced)

1 chive (chopped)

In a shallow bowl add in cucumber, tomato, pepper, shallot, vinegar, and olive oil. If you are serving the salad immediately add in salt, lime juice and feta cheese. If not serving immediately, adding in salt to early will cause water to be released from veggies resulting in a soggy salad. And the feta cheese will start to soften also. Add in the salt and cheese right before serving.

 

FINISH PRODUCT!!!!

Patat Fris/Fried Sweet Potatoes

 While visiting my girlfriend, Judy, last weekend her husband suggested that we fry some of the sweet potatoes they had on their kitchen counter. I haven't had fried sweet potato in such a long time, i figured why the heck not. So, we made some. Didn't have much to take a picture of because we kept eating them before we finished making the entire batch and I almost forgot to take a picture.

Ingredients

2 sweet potatoes (peeled and sliced)

4 cups of water

1 tablespoon of salt/ 1 tablespoon of sugar

1 lime (sliced and juiced)

4 cups of vegetable oil

deep fryer

2 sheets of paper towel

Add the water in a medium sized bowl with sliced lime and lime juice. Peel and slice potato and let soak in bowl for 5 minutes. Turn deep fryer on and add oil.

Sweet potato soaking in water with limes

Remove sweet potato but do not discard liquid. Add salt to the liquid and set aside. Separate slices into batches for easier frying then add in first batch. Fry until a light golden brown and set aside on paper towels. Once all the batches are done soak each batch for 30 seconds and re-fry until a golden brown color, roughly 1 minute each batch.

Garnish with pikliz and enjoy!

Fried Turkey/Coden Fris

Ingredients

1. 3 lbs of turkey steaks
2. 2 limes (cut in half and juiced)
3. 1 tablespoon of vinegar
4. 1 tablespoon of salt
5. 2 teaspoons of black pepper
6. 2 tablespoons of Epis
7. 3 cups of water
8. 3 to 4 cups of vegetable oil
9. deep fryer
10. 2 Sheets of paper towel

How to clean Turkey

In the sink, cut turkey steak in half, remove veins or any loose skin; then rub with limes. Rinse in cold water and in a medium sized bowl add lime juice, vinegar, salf, epis and black pepper. Mix thouroughly with hands and let marinate for 30-45 minutes.




Recipe

In a saucer pan, add water and turkey marinade and boil until tender. Once tender turn on deep fryer and add oil. Separate turkey from liquid and set aside. Place turkey meat into batches for easier frying. Once the oil is hot add turkey batches and fry until golden brown. Set aside on layered paper towels and repeat process. Garnish with Pikliz and use liquid for dipping or rice and plantain.

Griot/Fried Pork

Fresh Griot with Bannan peze

You asked for it, well, here it is! Griot! Griot! Griot! Griot is basically pork shoulders cut into cubes/pieces, marinated and deep fried. Griot is a very popular dish and best paired with bannan peze (Fried and smashed plantain illustrated above), pikliz with diri kole (beans and rice).

Ingredients

3 lbs of pork shoulder (cut into cubes/pieces)

3 cloves

2 garlic cloves

1/4 cup of parsley

1/2 cup onions

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons black pepper

1/4 cup green pepper

paprika

2 lime (cut in half & juiced)

1 or 2 habanero peppers
3 to 4 cups of water
4 to 5 cups of vegetable oil
deep fryer
2 sheets of paper towel

How to clean and Marinate Pork

Blend habanero pepper, parsley, onion, cloves, garlic and paprika into a paste with about 1 tablespoon of lime juice, then set aside. In the sink, rub pork with limes rinse with cold water. In a meduim sized bowl, add pork, lime juice, paste of ingredients and mix with hands. Cover and refrigerate for 45 minutes to 24 hours.

Recipe

In a saucer pan, add water, marinated pork and boil until tender, probably 30-45 minutes. Heat oil in deep fryer. Separate pork for liquid and set pork aside, do not discard liquid. Separate pork into batches for frying and fry until a light dark brown color. Set aside on paper towel. Once all the batches are completed you can used liquid as sauce for the rice or fried plantain. Garnish with pikliz and enjoy!

Pwason Fris/Fried Fish

 

Red snapper is a very popular fish; especially in the Caribbean. This fish it's known for it's beautiful color and delicious sweet taste. The best way to pick out a good snapper is to make sure the eyes are clear, non-cloudy and bright red skin that fades towards the belly to ensure freshness.

Ingredients

2-3 large Red Snapper Fish

3 limes (cut in half, juiced)

3 cups of water

2 tablespoon of salt

4 cups of vegetable oil

1 tablespoon of black pepper

1 habanero pepper (optional)

2 1/2 cup of all purpose flour

deep fryer

How to clean a fish

In the sink, scale the entire fish by using a butter knife scrapping against the skin of the fish. Be careful or you may have a mess of scales all over the place. You can click on this link how to gut and scale a fish for a more detail instruction.  Once scaled hold the fish downward, using a knife cut a fish open and remove guts and gills. Continue process with the remaining fish. Rinse off with cold water, slice slits in fish (Optional: cut in half). Rub limes against fish, both inside and out.

Recipe

In a medium sized bowl add lime juice, gutted and scaled fish, water, habanero pepper cut in half or whole and salt. Cover with saran wrap, refrigerate or let sit at room temperature and soak for 1 hour. In a saucer plate, add 1 cup of flour, pepper and 2 teaspoon of salt. Mix, mix and mix.

Heat oil in deep fryer. Coat fish with flour and add to hot oil. Fry until golden brown.





Source: www.about.com

Ji Karot/Carrot Juice

I love carrot juice. Every time I have a glass of carrot juice, it reminds me of when I was on vacation in Haiti. Every morning my aunt would make me and little brother fresh carrot juice. Let me tell you it was delicious!

We have all heard the saying that carrots are good for your eyes and it's true. Carrot are also great for your skin, hair, nails, liver, teeth and bones. The best way to pick carrots are based on the color, the darker the color of the carrot the better and it contains more beta-carotene; which has all the vitamins and antioxidants.

Some people may be thinking, carrot drink is more like a shake and not a juice. But, this is not your regular ole' store bought carrot juice drink. This juice is sweet, delicious and hmmm hmmm good.

Ingredients

13-14 carrot sticks

1 can evaporate milk

4-5 teaspoons of sugar

1 juicer/blender

1 mesh strainer

small pitcher

1 cup of ice

Recipe servings 3-4 cups

If using a blender you will want to remove the skin, cut the ends and cut the carrots into smaller pieces before placing into the blender, rinse carrot and juice. Once you have juiced all the carrots, take the carrot juice and strain twice to ensure that the carrot bits have been completely removed.

In the pitcher, add carrot juice, the full can of carnation milk, sugar and mix thoroughly.  Refrigerate or serve with ice.


Source: www.wisegeeks.com

OMG, Haiti Needs Our Help!!! by Dwight Howard

I came across this article written by Dwight Howard on his recent visit to Haiti. In this article, he talks about his brief experience and how the people continue to live in tents on the streets among rubbish and a demolished city. Indeed this country needs help, but where is the aide!

I still have family living in Haiti and there is a lot of work needed to be done, but it's not being done quick enough. I pray that God has much more in store for the people living on the island of Haiti.

Click on the link below to read this article written by Dwight Howard on his blog.

OMG, the people of Haiti need our help!!!

Carimi Buzz Video

Stovetop Cleaning 101:

Cooking all these delicious dishes are great. But what good is making good food, if every time you turn the stove on your burner gives off smoke or your kitchen smells like smoke because you neglected to remove those darn pieces of rice that fell underneath the burner or neglected to wipe the burner. I have some simple steps on how to get your stove top squeaky clean.


Now, I've done a lot of research to find the most efficient way to clean my stove top without wasting my entire morning and not having a nasty smell afterward. What I've found is that purchasing de-greasers and specialized formulas for removing grease did not work for me. Good ole baking soda or Ajax's grainy texture is fantastic and ideal for the task at hand with some elbow grease saved me time and energy.

THIS APPLIES TO ELECTRIC STOVES

Supplies: 

1 sponge
dishwashing soap
heavy duty scratch pad/Brillo pad
1 cup of baking soda/Ajax
Some ole fashion elbow grease
1 kitchen towel
1 small bowl
3-4 sheets of paper towel

Make sure the stove is off and all burners are all off/ Remove any pots, burner covers, kitchen mittens, etc. Place the individual burner trays in the sink and drown with baking soda and a couple tablespoon of water until the baking soda is a paste like consistency. Let soak for 1 hour to 24 hours. The longer it soaks the easy it is to clean.

Cleaning burner trays:
Add a couple drops of dishwashing soap to damp sponge and set aside. Take an individual tray and Brillo pad with a couple drops of dishwashing soap and scrub, scrub and scrub. Adding in more baking soda when needed. Once tray has been cleaned, rinse baking soda off, wash with sponge, rinse off soap and set aside upside down on cleaned kitchen towel.

Cleaning burners:
Using a soapy sponge, wipe each burner. Then rinse the sponge off and re-wipe the burner. Then place burner on kitchen towel.

Stove top:

Depending upon how burned the food is on your stove top, sprinkle on baking soda, a little bit of water and using a brillo pad scrub/scrub brush, scrub and scrub. Adding in baking soda when needed. Once cleaned. Take a sheet of paper towel wipe away the baking soda. If Take a soapy sponge and clean and wipe where ever that brillo pad touched. Rinse away all the soap from the sponge and wipe the soap of the stove completely.

If you have a newer stove you are able to left the stove top to clean under it. If not, you may have to stick you hand inside with a soapy sponge to clean any fallen or burnt food.Using a soapy sponge repeat the last two steps mentioned above. Hence, depending upon how much burnt food there is you may have to add baking soda and water and use a scratch pad.

Benefits

• Sanitary
• No burnt smell
• Heat distributed more evenly
• Quicker heat to burners
• Less mess to clean
• No embarrassing stove tops

Voila, a clean stove top!

Bannan Bouye a Zey/Scrambled eggs with boiled plantain

This is a delicious dish and can be eaten any time of the day. In some parts of Haiti, boiled plantain is eaten with boiled eggs. Some people may call this a poor man's food because it's inexpensive, while others enjoy the combination of the eggs and boiled plantain. Either way, today we are having good ole scrambled eggs, hmmmm. Enjoy this quick, easy and affordable dish.

Ingredients: Servings 1

• 2 eggs
• 1/8 cup of onions (optional)
• 1 bowl
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt + a couple pinches of salt for eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon of vinegar/1/2 lime (juiced)
• 1 plantain
• 3 cups of water
• 1/2 tablespoon of butter

 Plantain: cook time 20-30 minutes

Rinse plantain then, cut the ends of the plantain. Cut in half then using a knife place a split down the middle. In a saucer pan, add water, lime juice, salt and plantain. Cook until tender. Once tender, remove from water, remove skin and using a butterknife, softly scrap top layer. Discard outer layer then cut the ends off and place on plate. Slice into desired pieces.

Eggs: cook time 2-4 minutes

Once plantain are done heat butter in a small frying pan on medium temperature. Add onions and cook until almost clear. (Optional: In a separate bowl, crack eggs then beat) add eggs into frying pan then sprinkle in a couple pinches of salt. (FYI: don't scramble eggs to much/hard because you want the eggs to maintain some moisture, because the plantain may be a little dry). I like mine soft scrambled. Cook for 2-3 minutes and garnish over plantain. 

Bannan Bouye/Boiled Plantain Part 2:

Ingredients:

4 cups of water

1/2 lime

1 teaspoon of salt

saucepan

1-2 plantain

Wash plantains. On medium temperature add lime juice, water and salt. Then cut ends of plantain (Optional: you can cut in half) then using a knife slice down the middle of the plantain and place into water. Boil plantain until tender.

Once tender, remove from stovetop and place into sink. Add 2 cups of running water into pot allowing some of the hot water to  drain out. Then remove and discard plantain skin. Using a butter knife softly scrap down the plantain, removing top layer and discard. Once done place plantain on plate. Repeat with remaining plantains and enjoy!!!

Nickenson Prud'homme-Zanmi

Beautiful song. Enoy...

Sauce Pwa/Bean Puree

recipetrezor.com

Some of my early memories of beans is of my mother feeding bowling of sous pwa (bean puree) to my baby brother. This is one way to eat beans or you can eat it accompanied with rice, alone as a soup garnished with sour cream or even with some bread. Beans are a great source of protein, fiber and iron.

Ingredients

ifoodtv.com

1-2 cups of raw beans (red or black) or
      {For semicookers: 1 can}
1 garlic clove
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of thyme
1 teaspoon of pepper
Blender
10 cups of water
Mesh strainer
1 Bay leaf
1/4 cup of vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon of Adobe seasoning (optional)

In a saucepan, add beans,4 cups of water, salt and boil until beans are soft and edible. Pour 1 cup of cooked beans into blender and add 1 cup of water. Be sure to add garlic clove and puree for 2 minutes. Place mesh strainer over bowl and strain puree then discard whatever is left in strainer. In a saucepan on medium temperature, pour in puree, 1 1/2 cup of water, oil, remaining beans, add thyme and bay leaf.

Cook on medium temperature for 5 minutes and remove bay leaf. Add Adobe seasoning and cook on medium low temperature for an additional 5 minutes allowing sauce to thicken. Add more water if you want a thinner sauce.


VOILA SAUCE PWA!!!

Beef & Braised Spinach/Vyen Bef, Epina, diri blanc a sous pwa noir



Warning: The smell will have your neighbors knocking on your door because it smells so gooooood.

Beef and green go so well together. Surprisingly, there are 3 different types of spinach. Not to mention, Spinach is high in nutritional value ranging from iron, calcium, fiber, zinc, vitamin A, D, E and the list goes on. Today dish will be a simple braised spinach with beef chunks, hmmmm. My bf loves this dish.

Let's get started.

Cleaned and marinated beef chunks

Ingredients:

1 1/2lbs of stew beef chunks
1 sour orange (sliced in half and juiced)
1 tablespoon of vinegar
1 tablespoon of salt
2 garlic cloves (crushed)
2 tablespoon of epis
1 tablespoon of pepper
1/4 cup of parsley (chopped)
1/4 cup onions (chopped)
1/4 cup of vegetable oil
2 cups of boiling hot water
20oz of spinach (2 pre-packaged bags)





How to prepare the beef:

In the sink, rub beef chunks with oranges then rinse with hot water. Drain then add vinegar, orange juice, salt, epis, pepper, parsley, onions and mix with hands. Let marinade for 30 minutes to 24 hours.

Recipe:

In a large/medium sized 5 or 6 quart pan, heat oil at high temperature. Drain marinade from beef and set aside, the add chunks to hot oil and brown (Tip: do not brown too much, meat will get tough). Once browned add marinade and spinach, then cover the pot. Check back in 5 minutes, stir and lower temperature. Spinach will be done once it turned to a dark green color. Serve with rice or boiled plantain.

Pickled Habanero Pepper

Disclaimer: This is deliciously hot and you will be coming back for more.

Ingredients

10-12 habanero pepper

1 cup of vinegar

1 cup of orange juice (freshly squeezed)

1 tablespoon of salt

1 tablespoon of black pepper

1 tablespoon of Adobe seasoning

6 cloves

1/2 onion (sliced and cut in half)

32oz glass jar

Take 6 habanero peppers and cut in half. Add in all the remaining peppers, onions, vinegar, orange juice, seasoning, salt and black pepper. Shake and refrigerate for 4 days before using.

Pikliz*

Pikliz is a combination of pickled shredded cabbage, carrot, onions, shallots and habanero peppers. Some people refer to this as Haitian coleslaw with a lot of kick. Normally pikliz is eaten with Griot (Fried pork shoulders), Tassot (Fried beef strips), fried plantain or any fried root. It's really spicy and goes great with fresh fried dishes.

Ingredients

4 cups of pre-packaged coleslaw or
           1 1/2 cup shredded cabbage
           1 1/2 cup shredded carrot
           1 cup shredded red cabbage
1 small shallot (thinly sliced)
1/4 cup onion (thinly sliced)
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 lime (juiced)
1 teaspoon of adobe seasoning
1 glass 32oz jar
4 large habanero peppers (thinly slice 3 & cut 1 in half)
1 pair of tongs
3 cups of vinegar/white wine vinegar
4-6 cloves


RECIPE:
In a medium sized bowl add in cabbage, onion, adobe seasoning, salt, lime juice, pepper, habanero peppers and vinegar. Mix with tongs, then add ingredients into jar and pour in vinegar mixture. Refrigerate and let sit for 24 hours before eating (TIP: let mine sit for 1 week before using, this allows veggies to sit and taste so much better).

Haitian Art

Haitian V vs. MTA Candy Hustler

 
  This video of Haitian V is hilarious!!!!

Diri ak vegetab/Vegetables and Rice

 RICE, RICE AND MORE RICE.

 We Haitians love to eat rice. Rightfully so, rice is versatile and can be easily paired fish, meat and poultry. You can have it alone, as a desert or in a soup. It's a great source for carbohydrate for fast energy and provides benefits for high blood pressure and heart disease; not to mention, it's inexpensive, contains fiber and it's low in fat. However, a good cook will tell you that making rice is not an easy task and takes a lot of practice, if you are not using a rice cooker.  When you are done making your rice it should be nice and fluffy. Let's get started.

Ingredients

2 cups of white long grain rice

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup of mix vegetables (thawed and drained)

1/8 cup of onions

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of pepper

3 cups of chicken broth/water

1 small saucer pan

1 tablespoon of butter

On medium heat, heat saucepan and add oil. Once oil is hot, add 1/2 cup of vegetables and onions fry for 2 minutes. Add remaining veggies, chicken broth, salt, pepper and allow water to come to a boil. Once the water begins to boil wash the rice and add to pan. Stir and allow the water to evaporate. Once evaporated stir rice completely and add in butter, then cover the pan. Reduce temperature to medium low and rice should be ready in 20-25 minutes or once rice is fluffy and not grainy.



Benefits of Rice: www.oohoi.com

Sauce Poule- Chicken & Gravy

This simple recipe is a traditional Haitian quick go-to dish. Poule an Sauce is basically Chicken and gravy. Everyone usually has chicken in their freezer, pair that with a few staple ingredients from the pantry and it all comes together. Putting the chicken in the oven makes this dish easy, healthy and finger licking good!

hmmmm hmmmm goood.

Ingredients

1 lbs of chicken

1/2 onion (sliced)

1/2 green pepper (sliced)

1 tablespoon of Lowry seasoning salt

1 tablespoon of butter

1 habanero pepper

1/2 chicken bouillon cube

3 cups of chicken broth

1 tablespoon of pepper

2 tablespoon of epis

3 limes (sliced in half and juice) 

3 1/2 cups of boiling hot water

8x8 baking dish

aluminum foil

1/2 cup olive oil

1 garlic (crush)

1 tablespoon of tomato paste

1 tablespoon of flour

Recipe:

Clean chicken and remove any access fat, rub each individual chicken pieces with limes. Discard limes and drown in hot water for 30 seconds. Rinse with cool water and place chicken in a medium sized bowl.  Add lime juice, epis, bouillon cube, salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly with hands, cover with saran wrap and let marinade in refrigerator for 1 to 24 hours. 

Preheat oven to 415 degrees. Completely cover baking dish with aluminum foil (TIP: this makes it easier for cleaning), drizzle with 1/4 cup of oil and place chicken pieces inside dish then in pour marinade. Place in oven and turn the meat over once it has achieved a golden brown color. Once golden brown on both sides remove from oven. In a preheated saucepan on medium heat and add remaining oil and fry crushed garlic and tomato paste for 2 minutes, pour in 1/4 cup of chicken broth and add flour. Make sure flour and tomato paste has completely dissolved and then add remainder of chicken broth, habanero pepper, green pepper, chicken and remaining sauce from baking pan. Let cook for 5 minutes, add onions, pepper and stir in butter. Lower temperature and cook until onions are clear. 


VOILA,  POULE AN SAUCE!!!

Braised Oxtail. Queue Boeuf

As crazy as the idea of eating a cow tail is, it's quite delicious when prepared correctly. To many here in the States, some may consider it a delicacy, but in the West Indies eating this part of the cow is part of the norm. You can either cheat with a crock pot or braise the meat the old fashion way. It's best served on a bed or rice and beans, just thinking about it makesg me hungry, lol. Let get started.

Ingredients

Marinated oxtail

2 lbs of oxtail
1 sour orange
1/4 cup of orange juice
1/4 cup vinegar
3 tablespoon of epis
1 tablespoon of Lowry seasoning salt
1 tablespoon of pepper
1/2 baby cabbage (optional)
2 large potatoes (peeled and cut into cubes)
1 carrot (sliced)
1 onion (chopped)
3 garlic cloves (chopped and minced)
8-10 cups of water/beef broth
1/4 cup of olive oil
2 habanero peppers
1 beef bouillon cube (optional)


In the sink, lightly scrub oxtail with our oranges. Rinse oxtail with cool water, then in a medium size bowl, pour vinegar, orange juice, epis, salt, pepper and bouillon. In a large/medium pot pour in oil and add oxtail and marinade. At this point, you stir and cover, every so often you will go back and watch to see if the liquid has evaporated, if so add 1 cup of broth/water, stir to ensure nothing is sticking to pan and continue process until meat is tender. Cook time 1 hour 30 minutes. Once meat is tender add in 2 cups of broth/water and add in carrots, potatoes and cabbage.  Allow veggies to cook and add onions, Serve once veggies have tenderized. VOILA!

Apren Netwaye Vyen/ Cleaning Chicken 101:

How to Clean Chicken

Cleaning chicken is very important and require more than just paper towels and a simple rinse of cold water. In the Haitian culture, before you can go anywhere near the stove, one must first learn how to clean chicken and learn the importance of cleaning chicken.


Ingredients

2 lbs of raw chicken
3 limes (sliced in half, juiced) or
1/2 cup of vinegar
3 cups of boil hot water
1 large bowl




Cleaning the chicken includes one removing skin (optional), excess and visible fat and any remaining chicken feathers, if any. Some people like to remove the heal of the chicken, yes the back heal, which is located right behind the drumstick. while others do not really care about it being there. This is a great method to prevent any bacteria such as salmonella.

Once the fat has been removed, you can cut slices into the thighs, breast and drumsticks to allow the marinade to penetrate inside the meat. Take sliced limes and scrub the meat, once completed place individual pieces into a bowl. Take hot boiling water and pour into bowl and let sit for 30-45 seconds, making sure that every piece of meat is drowned by the water. Drain and rinse with cool water, examining and ensuring that there is no excess fat remaining. Drizzle with lime juice and season.

Freshly cleaned and marinated chicken

Veyn Kodenn/ Smothered Turkey Necks

"Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all." Harriet Van Horne

Turkey are traditionally eaten primarily during Thanksgiving here in the States, but Turkey meat is great all year round; especially, Turkey Necks.I remember in my freshman year, I made this dish for a study mate and he ate it all up. After eating every piece of meat off his plate he asked me, "So, what was that?" I laughed and said that was a turkey neck. He told me, had he'd known it was a turkey neck he wouldn't have eaten it but it was the best turkey neck he had eaten. 

 

Here's my recipe for smothered Turkey Necks made easy.


Recipe

1lbs of turkey necks
2 tablespoon of Epis (click on link for recipe)
1 tablespoon of salt
1 tablespoon of pepper
1 bouillon cube
1 large onion (sliced)
1 cup of cooked sweet peas
1/2 cup of olive oil
5x8 pan
3 limes (sliced in half and juiced)
1 tablespoon of thyme
2 bay leaves
1 cup of chicken broth
1 tablespoon of butter
1 tablespoon of tomato paste

In a clean sink, rub turkey necks with limes and rinse of with cool water. In a medium size bowl, add turkey necks, lime juice, bouillon cube, pepper, salt, thyme, bay leaves and epis. Mix thoroughly with hands and let marinade sit in fridge for 1 day. 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees, in 5x8 pan pour 1/4 cup of olive oil in pan with turkey necks and marinade. Place into oven, checking periodically to turn turkey necks over to brown. Cooking time 2hrs max. Once meat has been finished discard bay leave. On medium heat in a medium sized frying pan add remainder of oil and fry tomato paste then add sweet peas and let fry for 2 minutes. Add turkey necks, broth, remainder of sauce left from 5x8 pan and add sliced onions. Make sure tomato paste has completely dissolved then add butter. Let cook for a few minutes and enjoy.

Sardines, Sardines & more Sardines!!!

This is my quick and easy go to meal when I am either do not have time or when I am not in the mood to cook. This dish is my brother's, husband and uncle's favorite, probably because it takes less than 15 minutes to make and it taste great.

thedailygreen.com

I am well aware that Sardines are not for everyone, but if you are into semi-cooking then this one is for you.

best served with white rice

Recipe
1 small frying pan
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
1 teaspoon of butter
1/2 onion (sliced)
1 habanero pepper
3 tablespoons of oil
1/2 teaspoon of thyme
1/4 lime juice
1 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of Adobe seasoning
1/2 cup of water
15oz can of Sardines
1 garlic clove

Let's get started...

Medium temperature heat oil in frying pan  and fry tomato paste for 2 minutes, then toss in crush garlic clove. Once garlic clove has cooked for 2 minutes add water then sardines. Add salt, pepper (slice open if you are not afraid of the heat), lime juice, salt, thyme, seasoning and butter. After 4 minutes add sliced onions and let cook until clear. Discard habaneros pepper and enjoy.


VOILA, DELICIOUS SARDINES!

Sardines are best paired with rice, potatoes, boiled plantain or any boiled root.

Rhum Connoisseurs

www.barbancourt.net

Barbancourt Rhum is the official rum of Haiti. Originally created in 1862 by Dupre Barbancourt, a Frenchman, this rum is the authentic taste of Haiti. Made primarily from sugar can juice, Barbancourt is revered as one of the best rum's in the Caribbean and continues to distill rum from the island. Barbancourt has been awarded 5 stars for it's rich and smooth taste, not to mention distills five different variations of rum.

A taste of this five star rum will have you coming back for more, that's if you can handle it!

Credits: barbancourt.net

Empanadas anyone?

Empanadas are delicious snacks or breakfast pastry treats. These delicious stuffed bread pastry's make an ideal treat if you are on the go.  You can find meat filled empanadas, cheese filled empanadas, fruit filled empanadas and even veggie filled empanadas. Empanadas are Spanish originated and I love them; especially with a nice cup of cafe con leche (coffee and steam milk).

Fresh baked empanadas

My biggest concern whenever I buy an empanada is that there is never has enough meat in it, so I decided to make my own empanada filled with just enough meat to my liking.

Recipe (10 Empanadas)

1lbs of turkey meet (ground)
1 package of Goya turnover pastry (can be found in frozen section at local supermarket)
1 egg
1 tablespoon of flour
1/4 cup cilantro (optional)
1/2 onion (diced)
1/2 green pepper (diced)
1/2 chicken bouillon cube (optional)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup of tomato sauce
1 tablespoon of Lowry seasoning salt
1 tablespoon of pepper
1 tablespoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
 
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In medium sized skillet add ground turkey, onions and peppers. Cook turky meat until browned, drain any excess fat then add tomato sauce, paste and season with seasoning salt. Sprinkle the pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg. The meat will take on the color of tomato sauce. Sprinkle on bouillon cube and allow meat to cook then set aside once the sauce has thickened and allow to cool for 5 minutes.

Using a large surface or cutting board, sprinkle on a little bit of flour and place pastry puff on board. I went over board with the flour. These pastries are small, just spoon the meat onto pastry and fold. I stuffed mine until they were full, lol. Seal pastry edges with fork by pressing down then prick the top of pastry with fork to allow air out while baking. In a small bowl, crack egg and separate egg yolk then brush empanada with egg yolk for color. Bake on cooking sheet until golden brown. 

Voila, delicious empanadas!

Emeline Michel - Flanm

   
                          www.emeline-michel.com

Emeline Michel - A.K.I.K.O.

   
                                  www.emeline-michel.com

Last weekend we went out dancing and one of her songs came on and it brought back to my childhood. I can remember visiting my siblings in Haiti, eating a fresco and hearing this song for the first time. Not to mention, I Emeline Michel is so beautiful.

Getting to know New York...

"One belongs to New York instantly, one belongs to it as much as five minutes as in five years". Thomas Wolfe

Central Park

One of the oldest suspension bridges in the U.S., Brooklyn bridge.

This 30 year old park is beautiful.

Going to see some friends and family in Brooklyn.

hubby

Me and my hubby at Bryant Park

 Our few days in New York went by so quickly, there is so much to see and do, but not enough time to do it all. Can't wait to go back. All in all...