Monday, October 17, 2011

Ti Marche/Flea Market

RiverArts Festival Farmers Market in Jacksonville
Went to a wedding this weekend in Jacksonville, Fl. The wedding wasn't scheduled until Saturday afternoon, so my hubby and I had to find something to do. Driving around the historical dowtown area we found a local farmer's market filled with local produce, handmade, homemade goodies and of course food...I was in heaven.


Me, shopping.


Baby and hubby


Found a local Caribbean Vendor, Oxtail with Rice and Beans

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Te Jenjam/Ginger Tea

source

Ginger has a lot of healing properties. It has been linked to building one's immune system, aiding with stomach pain, migraines, nausea and help with digestive issues. Soon after I had my daughter, I was constantly being told to drink ginger tea every morning for the sake of settling my stomach, bloating and building my immune system. With just a dab of honey, you too will get addicted to this spicy energizing tea. Just don't over do it.


Ingredients

1 ginger root
3 cups of water
grater
sugar or honey (added to taste)

Grated ginger root




Please wash the root before anything. Using a spoon peel off the skin of the root. Then grate the root completely. Once grated you should have stringy and juiced consistency. You use a sealable tea bag to steep into hot water or just spoon in 2 to 3 tablespoons of shredded ginger into 3 cups of water boiling water. Once water comes to a boil lower the temperature and let steep for 5 minutes. If you are adding the shredded ginger into boiling water be sure to strain before drinking. For a creamier texture add in some milk/cream and vanilla. This combination is a creamy, sweet and spicy tea.


Lastly add sugar or honey to taste and enjoy. Place the remainder of the fresh grated ginger into a sealable container and store in the refrigerator for future use. You can even freeze it. This tea is even better during the winter.


Enjoy!

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Bannan Duece/Fried Sweet Plantain

 
Fried Plantain with pikliz




                                   Ingredients



  • 1-2 Semi ripe plantain (Not the green plantain) 
  • 1/2 cup of vegetable oil
  • 1/8 cup of pikliz

 Yielding 2-3 people

In either a frying pan or a small sauce heat the oil on medium high. While oil is heating, rinse plantain and cut the end off. Then using the knife slice down the plantain from top to bottom. The peel the skin off the plantain. Since this plantain is softer the skin should be easy to remove.





 Once the skin has been removed, cut the plantain into diagonal slices.



Repeat process with second plantain and place into hot oil. Be sure to watch the plantain and turn often because it cooks fairly quickly. Once plantain is cooked remove from oil and drain on paper towel. Repeat process and serve with pikliz. 


Bannan deuce avec pikliz

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Long Day, then have some bouyon!

Bouyon/Beef Stew


Mwen renmen bouyon! I love beef stew! Who wouldn't love a hearty stew after a long day of running errands to rejuvenate your energy tank. My stew is easy and will require little effort because all the work will be done via slow cooker. Plus it's filled with  goodies and delicious short ribs.


I just used what I had in the fridge and but you can take out what you don't like in this recipe and add what you do like such as cabbage, corn, plantains, leeks, mushrooms, etc. You get the picture, just get creative and have fun making a great dish.

Serving 2-3 people

Ingredients 

2lbs of short ribs
1/2 to 1lbs of stew beef chunks
1 malanga
1 large potato
1 yuca (frozen)
1 bonita
2 can of beef stock
1 tablespoon of flour
3 tablespoons of salt
1 tablespoon of pepper
1 tablespoon of epis
1 tablespoon of thyme
1 teaspoon of seasoning salt
2 garlic cloves
1-2 carrot sticks
2 sour oranges
1 large crockpot
1/2 tablespoon of tomato paste (optional)
2 celery sticks
1 bag of spinach
1 cup of cilantro
1/8 cup of parsley
1/2 cup of watercress
1/4 cup of onion chopped
2 celery sticks
1 large garlic clove


All veggies need to be washed. Roots will need to be cleaned, peeled and chopped.

MEAT PREPARATION:

Rinse and cut the oranges in half. Juice the oranges and pour juice into slow cooker saving the oranges for beef preparation, click on link for instructions on how to prepare beef prior to cooking. Prepare the beef in a medium size bowl, add the beef chunks and ribs then remove access fat and cut beef chunk into bite size pieces.

Once the beef has been prepared, lightly steamed add into crock pot and add in salt, pepper, 1 can of stock, epis, thyme, garlic, onion, tomato paste, 1 chopped celery stick and seasoning salt. Let cook on low, if you all day, or medium/high temperature, if you have a few errands to run,  cook until meat is tender (This may take 3-4 hours, its a slow cooker). Remove meat once brown but do not allow meat to get too tender because it will fall apart if left in too long. Add in peeled and chopped bonita, malanga, potato, and  thawed yucca. These don't take too long to cook. At this point, you can add in the last can of stock. Once the the veggies are cooked add the chopped celery, chopped carrots, washed spinach, cilantro, watercress, parsley and cooked meat into the pot. Mix, stir and let flavor come together.

Serve in 30 mins to an hour. Salt to taste, if necessary.


This recipe is ideal if you don't have the time to sit and wait for the bouyon to cook. It'a filled with lots of nutritional veggies, vitamins and it has ribs.

ENJOY!!