Banana Chocolate Chip Bread 03/14/2010
Ginger was very gracious to share her Banana Chocolate Chip bread recipe, now who has some ripe bananas I can use. Tip: To ripen bananas fastr but them in a brown paper bag and put them somewhere dark. Banana Chocolate Chip Bread 1/3 cup of Earth Balance butter 1/2 cup sugar (I leave this out) 2 cups flour 2 tsps. Baking powder 1/2 tsp. Baking soda 2 medium ripe bananas (I often put in 2-1/2 or 3 bananas) 1/2 cup soy or rice milk 1 tsp. Vanilla 1/2 cup chocolate chips 1/2 cup of finely shredded coconut (optional) Instructions Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease loaf pan with butter or oil (I use little muffin tins). In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar (or just the butter if you aren’t using sugar). Mix in with a spoon, flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Add mashed bananas, soy or rice milk and vanilla. Mix until batter is moist and sticky. Gently fold in chocolate chips. Pour batter into loaf pan (or muffin tins) and bake for 15-18 minutes or until top is golden brown and knife comes out clean. (I make little tiny (2 bite) muffins and they are great to take with you for a snack.) Add Comment Lunchbox Makeover! 10/02/2009
What to put in Amare's lunch box today, P & J sandwhich. It ended up being a week of P & J sandwhiches. He didn't mind he is an easy to please kid. Put a pear and a cheese snack in his bag and he's off to school. I thought to myself, how can I "Gourmet Diva" his lunch, good enough for a kid and maybe even parents will enjoy. Chanie mention that her daughter loves Nutella. I heard about it, but never tired it, it remind me of marshmellow fluff family. LOL Ill pick up a bottle of it and give it a try. I came across this "Strawberry and PB Crepes" Recipie. I'm thinking of mixing in some Nutalla with the peantbutter Ill post more enteries on the Lunchbox Makeover. Strawberry PB Crepes Spread a 9" store brought crepe with 2 Tbs. peanut butter and top with 1/4 cup of chopped strawberries. Roll up crepe, trim off ends and cut log into 1" slices. Nutrition Per Serving 125 calories; 9g Fat Dear Gourmet Diva: Need more Veggies 09/22/2009
Dear Gourmet Diva, Do you cook vegetarian meals or meals that will help you loose weight? Sincerely, I love my veggies Boston Dear veggie lover in Boston, Congrats on trying to eat healthier. Before I type any more I must make this disclaimer “I'm not a doctor nor do I play one on TV” ( I always wanted to say that). Please see a doctor before altering your diet. With that said. It takes discipline to be a vegetarian (I love a good steak every now and then) Also the assumption is that you will loose weight if your vegetarian, I have seen some big vegetarians. Watch out for the pasta and rice. When people think about being a vegetarian, they think all they can eat is tofu and salad. So wrong, there are so many options out there you can try. It depends on how adventurous your taste buds are. I included two recipes for you to try. One if you need something simple and the second is if your up for a taste bud challenge. If your not in the mood to cook, try going to a Japanese or Indian restaurant its easy to find a vegetarian dish to try. Houston's has a great veggie burger, also Haley House in Roxbury, MA. Vegetarian Planet: 350 Big Flavor Recipes for Out of This World Food Every Day by Chef Didi Emmons who is the owner of Haley House. Or better yet, call me, hourly rates do apply. Ratatouille (Did you see the movie?) Serves 4 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 medium onions, cut into wedges 2 medium zucchinis, cut into squares 1 small red pepper cut into squares 1 small yellow pepper cut into squares 2 cloves garlic, crushed 1 medium eggplant, halved 1 can (14 oz) canned tomatoes, crushed ½ teaspoon dried basil or oregano leaves freshly ground black pepper Directions: 1.Heat the oil in a large, heavy – based pan and cook the onions over medium heat for 4 minutes or until soft. Add the zucchinis, peppers and garlic, stir for 3 minutes. 2.Cut the eggplant in chunks and add to the pan with the tomatoes, basil or oregano and pepper; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer and cook, covered, for 15 – 20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. 3.Enjoy For the adventurous, I tried this dish this weekend and it was great and its also “RAW” (def - no cooking of food) Sweet and Spicy kale w/Tangerine Salsa (Submitted by Sharon) Tangerine Salsa Ingredients 4 Tangerines (or you can substitute w/Tangelinos, Mangoes, or Peaches), peeled, sliced, and seeded 1/2 Red Bell Pepper, chopped finely 1Tbsp minced fresh ginger 1Tbsp Hoisin Sauce 3 Stalks of scallion 1Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro 1 Tbsp lime juice (freshly squeezed) 1/2 tsp fresh Habanero (or you can substitute w/jalepeno) pepper, minced and use the flesh but remove and discard seeds and ribs. * I suggest you coate fingers w/olive oil before handling peppers. _Gourmet Diva – dont place fingers near eyes once you do this you will BURN them. 1 dash of Chinese 5 Star Seasoning (also called Chinese Five Spice powder) Directions Combine ingredients into each other gently. cover and refrigerate an hour before serving. Greens 3 bunches of Dinosaur Kale (also called Lacino) 1Tbsp olive oil 1/2 tsp of Celtic or Himalayan Salt After washing Kale chop finely and add olive oil and pinch of sea salt to bowl. Massage Kale and leave to sit for an hour or more. Sweet and Spicy Marinade 3 Tbsp Nama Shoyu or Soy Sauce 3 scallions thinly chopped 3Tbsp Agave 1 lime juiced (optional...helps in the absorption of Vit C in Kale) 1Tbsp Toasted sesame oil 1Tbsp black sesame seeds 1/2tsp Chinese mustard powder (or wasabi powder) pinch of Cayenne to taste Mix marinade ingredients together and then pour into Kale bowl. Toss and serve. Try eating w/ripe Avocado Kitchen Coaching: Creme Brulee French Toast 09/02/2009
I get a text at 8:09am from Suzzette “Almost there”, I'm thinking “What, oh no, wait shes almost an hour early”. Lucky I was up since 7am, I threw on a t-shirt, jeans and my Janeen St. Louis earings ready to go. I met Suzzette Turnbull (SOM '03) when she was the associate director of the MBA Program at Simmons School of Management in Boston. In addition to her duties as the associate director, she also was an advisor for the Women of Color Club, where I was the co-chair of the student group. Suzzette and I became reacquainted after she moved to Florida over Facebook. I learned that she had the entrepreneurial bug and started Valentine Consulting of South Florida,LLC (www.solutionsmavens.net). Valentine Consulting provides business solutions for small business. One of her areas of specialty that resonated with me was social media design (ie how to integrate, twitter, facebook, myspace,YouTube,etc). I took one of her classes and was able to see the benefit of “tweeting”. Follow me at(www.twitter.com/thegourmetdiva) I learned about twitter and facebook from Suzzette, so it was only fair that I teach her something. Today we made crème brulee french toast. (Recipe below) Work, Life and Cooking Balance... At first I was upset that Amare interrupted the Kitchen Coaching session. Thinking to myself, I'm trying to make this video as professional as possible and then you hear the loud “Bam, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy can you help me”. I realized this is my life, this is a lot of peoples lives, its reality. On traditional cooking shows they film in a controlled environment. Does Rachel Ray help kids do homework in her 30 min show (humm maybe thats why she can get her meals done in 30 minutes) , Does Bobby Flay have to answer his Blackberry while doing a throwdown? Have someone on the Food Network create a show called “Real Life Cooking Challenges”, I'll gladly host it. Gourmet Diva Tips for dealing with Real life challenges: Kids: Have them help you out in the kitchen to keep them occupied. It helps them be comfortable in the kitchen as well. If they don't like to cook, then tough, you like to eat right?! Work: If you can turn the phone off, there is nothing like getting caught up in a conversation and your meal goes array. Do you have any tips to help deal with “Real life”? Crème Brulee French Toast (recipe courtesy of Epicurious.com) Ingredients 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter 1 cup packed brown sugar 2 tablespoons corn syrup an 8- to 9-inch round loaf country-style bread ( I used Challah bread, you can find at Shaw's or Stop and Shop) 5 large eggs 1 1/2 cups half-and-half 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 teaspoon Grand Marnier 1/4 teaspoon salt Directions In a small heavy saucepan melt butter with brown sugar and corn syrup over moderate heat, stirring, until smooth and pour into a 13- by 9- by 2-inch baking dish. Cut six 1-inch thick slices from center portion of bread, reserving ends for another use, and trim crusts. Arrange bread slices in one layer in baking dish, squeezing them slightly to fit. In a bowl whisk together eggs, half-and-half, vanilla, Grand Marnier, and salt until combined well and pour evenly over bread. Chill bread mixture, covered, at least 8 hours and up to 1 day. Preheat oven to 350° F. and bring bread to room temperature. Bake bread mixture, uncovered, in middle of oven until puffed and edges are pale golden, 35 to 40 minutes. Serve hot French toast immediately. Gourmet Diva Tips to Perfection: 1. Make sure you whisk the eggs, half and half, etc throughly, you dont want to see clumps of egg yolk 2. Its a very sweet french toast, you do not have to add syrup to it. 3. Dont have Grand Marnier – use orange juice 4. This recipe works great with any type of loaf bread (I heard croissants don't work though) Kitchen Coaching: Grilled Shrimp 08/26/2009
Dj Whutevva is a great example of an entrepreneur, doing what he loves for a living. DJ Whutevva Aka "The Young Lion" has been requested at concerts for artist such as Wyclef, Mary J Blige, Good Charlotte and Mobb Deep. We met last year at a cookout in Boston and bumped into each other recently at an event in Toms River, NJ of all places. Now a year later we are back at the annual “Best D*$M Cookout Ever” in Roxbury, MA, hosted by A.T.L. This is the first time it took more than two takes to make the video. I hope you all enjoy the bloopers. Make sure you catch him NYC Power 105.1 on Fridays from 2am – 4am (I need to call someone to get him an earlier slot in the day – I'm a morning person). If your out of town you can listen on http://www.power1051fm.com. Also make sure you download his new mixtape right here for free. http://www.facebook.com/l/;limelinx.com/files/170b9dc0ddb1d9766f11a664da3ee144" “It's like love on a stick!” That was an interesting way they described the grilled shrimp. If you need a personal chef, feel free to call! Grilled Shrimp 2 pounds of shrimp(Peeled and devained) Marinade 2 tablespoons sesame oil 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce 1 tablespoon of fish or oyster sauce 2 teaspoons honey ¼ cup minced scallions 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger 1 teaspoon ground black pepper few drops of Tabasco sauce Directions: 1) Rinse shrimp and pat them dry with paper towels 2) Mix the marinade ingredients together in a small bowl 3) Place the shrimp in a shallow dish or plastic container and pu the marinade over them 4) Cover and marinade for 1 to 2 hours in the refrigetaor turning once 5) Prepare grill (or you can put in oven to broil) 6) Remove the shrimp from the marinade 7) Soak skewers in water to prevent burning 8) Skewer shrimp and peppers 9) Grill them about 4 to 6 inches away from the heaat for 2 minutes on each side or until pink and cooked through. Serve immediately Fried Rice that wont make you feel bad 08/19/2009
    People come in to your life for various reasons. Veronica Chapman's name was brought to my attention by two totally different people. “She's doing things in Boston”, “You should link up with her she's business minded like you, she may be able to help you out”. I reached out to Veronica to tell her about the concept of “Gourmet Diva”. She wrote back a very thoughtful response: “...You know how people have lingerie/Tupperware/etc type parties? - I'm thinking you can host events where people can come and learn how to prepare desserts or dishes for their significant other, etc.. since everyone seems to be on the grind these days and a home cooked meal is a novelty.... They bring the main groceries, you provide the spices, and they pay for your guidance... It's a bit out there but I would pay for something like that if I were trying to impress someone and had no skills. Even if I had skills in the kitchen I would still come since your value proposition is that you "never make the same dish twice." Most people only know how to make baked chicken and spaghetti, poorly! - LOL!” ** She doesn't know me from a whole in the wall and was able to be on the same wavelength I was on..innovative, out of the box thinking. I like her! A month later I end up in Veronica's kitchen. She wanted to experiment with a fried rice recipe. She knocked it out the boxx (get it!) . Most of the meals I cook are an experiment, I call my kitchen the lab. Here are a few tips on how to make experiments “Go right”: 1.Read the recipe before you start to cook! You want to look for areas where you may have difficulty. There is a difference between tsp and tbs! 2.Line up all the ingredients before you cook. Its hard to run around your kitchen looking for something and then your food burns 3.Don't be afraid to change the recipe a little, Veronica added carrots to the rice 4.Eat and see what you may want to change in the future. 5.Relax have fun Behind the sceens: 1.Her shoe broke just before taping. 2.Soyaki from Trader Joes is a must have in your kitchen ** Don't worry I'm working on the “How to woo your boo with food” Class. Yang Chow Vegetarian Fried Rice Here is a vegetarian version of the classic Chinese dish that traditionally includes shrimp and ham. If you have cooked rice in the fridge, this meal is ready in minutes; the rice needs to be cold so the grains won't stick together when stir-fried. Once you've tried this, you'll make it a habit to cook extra rice to have leftovers to use in this recipe. Yield 6 servings (serving size: about 1 cup) Ingredients 2 tablespoons canola oil, divided 4 large eggs, lightly beaten and divided 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided Dash of salt 1 3/4 cups thinly sliced green onions, divided 2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger 2 garlic cloves, minced 5 cups cooked short-grain rice, chilled 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 (10-ounce) package frozen green peas, thawed 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro Preparation Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add half of eggs; swirl to coat bottom of pan evenly. Sprinkle with 1/8 teaspoon pepper and dash of salt; cook 3 minutes or until egg is done. Remove egg from pan; thinly slice, and set aside. Wipe pan clean with a paper towel. Heat remaining 4 teaspoons oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 cup onions, ginger, and garlic; stir-fry 30 seconds. Add remaining eggs and rice; stir-fry 3 minutes. Stir in half of egg strips, remaining 3/4 cup onions, remaining 1/8 teaspoon pepper, soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and peas; cook 30 seconds, stirring well to combine. Top with remaining egg strips and cilantro. Breakfast Hash 05/28/2009
I'm back from the Soul Siesta in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. I enjoyed eating rice and beans and fresh fish everyday, but I needed to get back to my 'healthy eating' regimne and I decided that I was going to cook a breakfast Hash that I saw on the "Cooking Yourself Thin" TV show. | ArchivesDecember 2011 CategoriesAll |
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