Simple Delicious Pasta Salad

An easy weeknight side dish perfect for warm weather days, or picnics. This recipe is good for picky eaters too, as there are no tomatoes or olives present in the salad, and it's not too salty or vinegary.

1. Boil pasta according to the package instructions. It's best to use minimal additional salt as the dressing already contains the perfect amount. When the pasta has finished boiling, drain the remaining water and set it aside.
2. Meanwhile, whisk or stir together mayonnaise, mustard, sugar, vinegar, black pepper, cayenne, and garlic powder; taste before adding salt, then taste again. The dressing should taste just a little bit too salty, since it needs to provide flavor for an entire pound of pasta. Once the dressing is seasoned to your preferences, set it aside.
3. Use a food processor to mince the onion, pepper, and celery until fine. It's best to mince each vegetable individually to avoid over-encumbering the food processor. Place your minced vegetables in a large salad bowl.
4. Add the drained pasta to your salad bowl followed by dressing,  gently stir until everything is thoroughly combined. Taste for salt and pepper.
5. Serve and enjoy! Feeds a lot, and even better the next day.

Simple Sugar Syrup

When a recipe calls for simple syrup this is how you make it:

1 cup white sugar
1 cup water

Heat sugar and water in a saucepan until simmering. Use for homemade lemonade, iced tea, sauces and lots of other yummy foods.

Tender Asian Roast Pork

You can use these pork chunks marinated with chinese flavors in everything from salad to fried rice. An inexpensive pork shoulder will melt in your mouth beautifully with this marinade. This marinade works well when making Chinese Roast Chicken as well.

Ingredients

1 lb boneless pork shoulder cut into bite sized chunks

1 teaspoon oyster sauce

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 drop sesame oil

1 teaspoon honey

1 teaspoon black pepper

Combine all ingredients. Place pork in a sealed container and marinate for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 250 F

Place marinated pork on a aluminum lined pan, or one with a rack. Place in oven.

Slow roast pork for 2 hour, after the first hour is up check to see if juices run clear.

Pork should be tender and delicious. If not browned to your liking turn the broiler on for 5 minutes at the end of the cooking time until pork is browned.

Serves about 3.

Try dicing the roasted pork and using in this easy pork fried rice recipe.

How To Hard Boil Eggs The Right Way

If you overcook an egg when boiling it, it gets a sulfuric taste and dark green ring around the yolk. Yechh! Peeling eggs are much harder if they are farm fresh! Eggs a few days old are best, your supermarket's eggs are probably a few days old when you buy them. If you absolutely must use eggs hatched the same day you plan to hard boil them then steam for 20 minutes instead of boiling. They should be easier to peel that way, if they still aren't put in the fridge for a day and they should be fine.

Preparing perfectly cooked hard-boiled eggs are a snap if you follow these simple steps:

1. Put eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water.
2. Set heat on high and let water slowly come to a boil.
3. When water is at a hard boil remove pan from heat and let sit for 12 minutes.
4. Cool by pouring cold water into the saucepan or by setting the eggs on ice.
5. Store in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Enjoy!

Simple Hearty Omellete

Ingredients

4 eggs, cracked open and lightly beaten
half small onion chopped fine
1/4 bell pepper chopped fine
1/4 cup tomato diced (optional)
1/4 cup diced ham
1/2 cup cheddar cheese (or whatever cheese you love)
a dash of salt and pepper
1 tbsp butter

Combine all ingredients except butter and cheese.
Melt the butter in a small frying pan under medium heat.
Pour egg mixutre into the frying pan.
For the first 30 seconds likely stir contents of the pan while the eggs are still wet.
Sprinkle cheese all over omellete.
Let egg cooks till cheese is melted and egg seems 90% cooked.
Use a spatula to carefully fold omellete in half.
Transfer to a  plate.

Eat and enjoy!

Healthy and Moist Baked Chicken

Ingredients

5 tbsp olive oil
juice of 1 lemon, lemon halves reserved
2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp pepper
4 cloves garlic minced
3 sprigs thyme leaves
2 bay leafs
1 onion quartered

Preheat oven to 350 F
Mix oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, garlic, and thyme in a bowl, smashing in a mortar pestle would be even better.
Spread mixture under the skin of the chicken breast, thighs, legs, and back, being careful not to tear the skin, as it is protecting the garlic and herbs from becoming burnt and bitter.
Use your hands to generously rub the butter all over the outside skin of the chicken.
Put squeezed lemon halves, bay leafs and onion inside the cavity of the bird.
Place chicken breast side down in a roasting pan lined underneath with potato slices if you really wanna get tasty with it, or you can put the chicken straight in the pan.
Bake in the oven for 45 minutes before turning chicken over breast side up.
Bake for 45 minutes more or until juices run clear.

Serve and enjoy this delicious meal.

Easiest Slow Cooker Pasta Meat Sauce

Throw everything into the slow cooker when you leave for work, and come back to the most amazing italian scent in your home. It's like cooking all day without having to stand there!

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef

1 onion chopped fine

1/2 bell pepper chopped fine

2 cloves garlic minced

a sprig of thyme

1 bay leaf

1 cup tomato or your favorite pasta sauce

1 cup Parmesan or your favorite cheese

Dump everything into the slow cooker. 

Set slow cooker on high.

Step away from the machine and go have some fun.

In 4 hours check on meat, if not as tender as desired go for another hour or two.

Right before serving stir in cheese.

Serve over boiled pasta.

Feeds 3.

Easy Authentic Homemade Sofrito

So much better than the store bought ones, this recipe will add that extra something something to all your dinners.

Blend 3 green bell peppers, 1 red bell peppers, 2 onions, 1 whole head of garlic cloves, and a bunch of cilantro or culantro... 

....and that's it!


Blend it all until it's like chunky salsa, not completely liquified.
You can freeze extras of this for a longgg time, and use it in almost everything.
Freezing in a convenient ice cube tray is the true puerto rican way, for 1 tbsp of sofrito use 1 ice cube.

Crisp n Tasty Healthy Salad

Ingredients

4 cups of any combination of : lettuce (roughly chopped) tomato (sliced or chopped) cucumber (sliced thin) spinach onion (sliced extremely thin) carrot (slices thin)

1 lemon sliced in half

2 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Drizzle a tbsp or so of olive oil into the big bowl you're going to serve the salad in. 

Squeeze half the lemon on top of the oil. 

Sprinkle in a little salt and pepper. 

Place vegetables on top. Repeat steps 1 through 3. 

Serve and enjoy, the salad should be perfectly dressed!

Feeds 2