It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Yes! Its Christmas time! Can you hear my excitement with all my exclamation points!!!

I am the world’s biggest Christmas fanatic. The obsession gets worse and worse every year. I am not afraid to say it. I’m kind of not in denial at all. I mean seriously, any reason I can find to hang out with family and friends and cook all day? Count me in.  I am so privileged to have been able to decorate two Christmas trees this year. Therefore, I feel I deserve a Christmas tree decorating award and no I will NOT post pictures of them, I’m not sure you’ll want to see them, like at all hehe. The lights + Christmas trees + love + Christmas music = happiness for me.

 Moving along to this mouth watering recipe, if I haven’t said this before well now you’ll know that my mom is from Puerto Rico. A lot of my recipes basically come from there. I learned this recipe from my mother dearest. She is pretty awesome (Just had to throw that in there). It’s a fried plantain formed into a cup filled with chicken and delicious spices. Why is it so mouth watering? You get the full package with this recipe. You get the crunchiness of the fried plantain and you get the delicious spices from the savory sauce of the chicken making a beautiful explosion of flavor in your mouth. Can you picture it in your mind now? That’s what I was aiming for.

 

This dish is fun to make with family and friends. While one fry’s, the other mashes the plantain into a cup. Pretty cool huh? I know. I tried my best to show the process step by step. If for whatever reason you get confused please let me know and I will help you out.

I want to take time to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! I hope everyone can spend this very special time with your loved ones. Once again thank you for all of your support and love! The Cook It Girl family is growing and it’s the best Christmas gift a girl can ever ask for. Merry Christmas!!!!!

May 19^th,2013, was my last post. It’s been WAY too long. Like seriously it’s been forever. There have been lots of changes and a lot of planning in my life and now I know that I can’t go another couple of months without blogging ever again. With that being said, here is a simply coconut shrimp stew recipe which goes great over rice!

Funny thing is, I don’t eat anything that swims. My taste buds have something against seafood. I wish I Loved it because it looks so good. My boyfriend on the other hand could eat seafood every day if you let him. Therefore I made this recipe for him.

Just because you don’t like something doesn’t mean you can’t cook it. If you don’t like shrimp but everyone else around you does, there are simple instructions to cook it. To my understanding people will eat shrimp cold and with no flavor at all! I have to have flavor in everything I cook, so cooking shrimp, although I don’t like it, seemed pretty easy.

 I used pre-cooked shrimp. They come in a small bag with the tail still attached.  As you read the recipe you will see that you do not leave the shrimp cooking for long. Why? Because then they become very chewy, like rubber. That’s a big no, no for seafood lovers. Because these shrimp are already cooked all you have to do is let them hang out in the pot for about 5 to 8 minutes. That’s it! Simple and easy.

Garlic and Lime are shrimps best friends. Throw in a lot of both and you’ll create a party in someone’s mouth!

I’m so glad to be back at this cook it girl thing. Ready to take over everyone’s kitchen with awesome recipes and ready to connect with all my readers! Thank you for love and support!

Now let’s get to cooking!

 

I am currently in class, covering my ears while the professor talks his life away.

KIDS STAY IN SCHOOL

Now that I’ve got that off my chest, let’s talk about Moro De Habuchuelas. English? Rice with beans together in a beautiful blend of savory spices.

Let me stop! I can’t honestly talk to you all like this! Let’s be real, Moro De Habichuelas is the bomb diggaty! This dish is typically found in the Caribbean’s but of course the United States got a taste of this amazing rice and you can find it in pretty much every state! And if you can’t find it already made, then here is the recipe!

 

Moro De Habichuelas gets most of its flavor from the sausage, ham or bacon you fry up in the begging of the recipe. The Sofrito and the seasoning get soaked up by the rice giving you a savory treat.

Feel free to use the beans that come in a bag. I just use the canned beans because I’m extremely lazy at times and it takes way too long to make the other ones. I heard something about leaving the beans soaking in water over night so they can soften and yup not my..thing. So on that note, let’s move along. Try to taste the water of the rice while you go. The water should always be more seasoned than expected. Why? No, it’s not just because I like over seasoned food, but because the rice soaks up the water and it needs enough salt to taste um, what’s the word? Exquisite! I’m really trying here, can you tell?

 

Back to this very Hispanic dish, you can use this side dish with meats or chicken. Whichever choice of protein you use, make sure it has a sauce and I promise the Moro with the sauce of the meat or chicken will have your taste buds singing. By the way, it took me a few MAJOR fails to make this rice when I started to learn how to cook. So, some advice? Don’t panic! It will come out perfect, just follow these easy instructions. I BELIEVE in you.

How is everyone’s spring break? I was off from work but not school! I know it sucks big time. What college you know doesn’t have spring break? Oh wait, mine. I spent lots of time with the people I love and cooked a little bit too much. Never mind too much cooking doesn’t exist! Cooking is the shit! Now go get your cook on!

All I can say is “OH MY GOD” whenever I make this amazing recipe! I love to make new recipes and invite my loved one over to my house so everyone can try them. Yup I’m that girl. Can I keep such a delicious recipe to myself? I think not. I HAVE to share this with you guys.

I have tried my share of different waffle recipes and this one kicks all other waffle recipe’s butts! It’s moist in the inside and literally crispy on the outside. Like really? Yes.

The buttermilk is what does the trick. If you don’t have a waffle maker, save up to $15 and go to your nearest walmart or target and purchase one. In other words, I paid $15 for mine and it’s been nothing but good to me. If all else fails, borrow one! You need these waffles in your life.

While I post this recipe I’m currently watching the FUNNIEST movie ever. Cop out? Tracy Morgan and Bruce Willis? I’ve seen this movie about 50 times and never get tired of it. Same way I can guarantee that I’ll make this waffle recipe 50 times until my boyfriend has had enough hehe.

What’s in your agenda today? Yes, some people still use them, like maybe me. Scratch off everything out and go make these waffles. You will make everyone’s eyes pop out there head when they take a bite. The first time I had them I was so confused as to why they tasted so good and every one at the table just look at each other in amazement. You have to make them to understand what I mean. GO MAKE SOME WAFFLES!!!

Pancakes! Really!? Who doesn’t love them? I’ll take this time to speak for the majority of us, and say out loud I FREAKING LOVE PANCAKES!

Not only do I love them but I can also eat them at any time of the day. It can be 8 o’clock in the morning or 12 o’clock midnight and you will find me in the kitchen getting my pancake grove on!

Funny thing is that I have a story behind pancakes. It goes a little bit like this; Once upon a time there was a young little cow by the name of Ambar and she LOVED her best friend Aunt Jemima. Ambar never wanted to try to have new friends like pancakes from scratch from down the street, she was actually scared to even try to talk to her till one day she decided to kick her fears to the side and try! She made pancakes from scratch and lived happily ever after, the End!

At least that’s how it goes in my head.

These pancakes are super easy, I mean extremely easy. Are you listening right now!? If so, go march into your kitchen and whip up this recipe, and pretty please tell me how they came out or you can just send me some through mail!

By the way, believe it or not I am currently blogging while my science professor is talking his life away .Ugh. Any who’s, getting back to the scrumptious buttermilk pancakes, YOU need to try this recipe! The pancakes come out fluffy, filled with flavor and once you pour syrup on them, boy oh boy you will be loving it! Yes, you have to buy buttermilk or make it yourself( which I have yet to try to make) but its sooooooo worth it!

You might think this recipe sounds a bit absurd but it is SOOOO good!

I grew up eating these scrambled eggs with pretty much everything. Who does them the best? Why my mother of course! But luckily I am able to share this delicious recipe with you all.

Scrambled eggs doesn’t get so much love because, well, their kind of plain most of the time. Unless you are adding ham or turkey, its pretty much salt and a scrambled egg!

Fear not my friend; I have a scrambled egg solution for your taste buds.

Adding a tad bit of mayonnaise makes the difference. YES. I said MAYONNAISE! Personally, I dislike mayonnaise very much. The texture grosses me out BUT just because I don’t like it alone doesn’t mean I can’t like it deep inside a certain dish. These scrambled eggs will make your guest stop and guess what’s in it. Give it a chance and you’ll see how amazing it taste.