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#StopFoodWaste: Stale Bread

Like your boss's lame jokes, bread has a way of getting old FAST.  Thankfully there are lots of things you can do with stale bread besides throw it out. My favorite way to use a loaf that's seen better days is budin de pan,  Puerto Rican bread pudding. Traditionally budin is made with white bread, but you can and should use any bread you have on hand. I remember my mother mixing hot dog buns with hamburger buns, an old croissant and the butt of a wheat loaf into one of her budins. It came out amazing! There are hundreds of recipes for bread pudding but they all have a [...]

2017-12-19T00:37:24+00:00By |#StopFoodWaste, Desserts, Recipes, Uncategorized|0 Comments
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#StopFoodWaste: Pickle Juice

An empty pickle jar is a TREASURE. You can use the left over juice to quick pickle other cucumbers or soft veggies like radishes, green beans and garlic. You can even pickle hard boiled eggs! My favorite way to use pickle juice is to slice an onion and put it right in the jar to soak up all that yum. These onions are great on sandwiches, burgers, hot dogs, you name it. My soundtrack for this preparation is Skankin' Pickle's I Missed The Bus. Americans waste over 40% of the food that comes into our homes. Be a part of the solution and #StopFoodWaste. Don't miss the bus! Join me [...]

2017-12-19T00:37:24+00:00By |#StopFoodWaste, Appetizers, Fruits & Veggies, Recipes, Uncategorized|0 Comments
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#StopFoodWaste: Jam Jar Dressing

As far as I'm concerned jam's whole razon de ser is to be in my belly.  Which is why when I'm faced with an almost empty jar I don't waste it. I use it to make an unforgettable vinaigrette. Jam dressing is as crazy easy as the first question on Celebrity Jeopardy.  All you need is 3 parts oil, 1 part acid, herbs, spices and BOOM. I had an almost empty jar of peach apricot jam and paired it with balsamic vinegar and the most amazing extra virgin picual olive oil. Hollywood and I found Rio Bravo Ranch olive oil at the Atwater Farmer's Market. The family behind it has [...]

2017-12-19T00:37:25+00:00By |#StopFoodWaste, Fruits & Veggies, Recipes, Sauces|0 Comments
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#IslandFlavor: Coconut Milk Panna Cotta

Is there a flavor that takes you home as soon as it hits you? For me it’s always been coconut. I grew up on my grandparent’s finca, a farm where dozens of coconut palms lined the beach. Just thinking of those palms swaying gently in the breeze warms my skin. It doesn’t matter that it’s March and I’m walking around the house in a puffy jacket. In Puerto Rico the humble coconut has status and that status is #NationalTreasure. There are as many uses for it as there are selfies on Instagram. You can build with its husk. Its oil makes you prettier. More importantly its flesh tastes amazing with [...]

2017-12-19T00:37:25+00:00By |Desserts, Recipes, Uncategorized|0 Comments
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#IslandFlavor: Sweet Plantain Ice Cream

Undoubtedly when I tell someone that I’m Puerto Rican the first thing out of their mouth is “You don’t look Puerto Rican.” I always act surprised and say “Oh? And what does a Puerto Rican look like?” (OK maybe not always. Sometimes I just grit my teeth and use my inside voice.) In case you didn't know, Puerto Ricans are the “Everything Bagel” of race. We're descended from our island’s native Taino Indians, the Europeans that came over in search of gold and the African slaves they brought with them. We come in every color, shape and size. I have cousins with lovely cinnamon skin while I am jincha (slang [...]

2017-12-19T00:37:25+00:00By |Desserts, Fruits & Veggies, Recipes|6 Comments
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#IslandFlavor: Cheater’s Chicharron

In Puerto Rico we have a town nicknamed Pork Rind City and lechoneras that line a whole highway. Pork crackling is our drug. In any given plaza you will find cart after cart overflowing with chicharron. So many that it’s hard to imagine any pigs on the island have their skin intact. My mother loves crackling so much that Thanksgiving 1985 was almost ruined when one of my aunts nabbed the coveted piece of crunchy skin on the pernil before it had been served. When my mother made the discovery (as she went to sneak a piece for herself) she spit out “How could you!” in a tone of disgust [...]

2017-12-19T00:37:25+00:00By |Appetizers, Proteins, Recipes, Uncategorized|8 Comments
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#IslandFlavor: My Abuela’s Café Colao

One of my very first memories is of sitting in my Abuela Alicia’s tiny apartment in San Juan. I was five years old and the roar of the highway just outside her window was a sort of soundtrack to her morning routine. The cars honked angrily as she prepared her café colao the same way she had ten thousand times before. I would watch, mesmerized, as she held the well-worn mesh strainer over her coffee cup and let the coffee slowly drip out. Abuela would take these moments to talk to me about some of the challenges that I would face in life. The biggest of which would be surviving [...]

2017-12-19T00:37:26+00:00By |Drinks, Recipes|17 Comments
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