Showing some love.....

Avocados are falling all over South Florida this time of year and my mom's trees is loaded.  Every morning she collects what has fallen during the afternoon and night before. The subdivision where my mom lives and where I grew up is called Avocado Heights, and everyone had a tree in their backyard and my family loved them.  We called them avocado pears.  We ate them everyday, with our meals, with a little salt and pepper.  We threw chunks of them in our salads.  We even smashed them up and made a mask for our faces, not to mention for guacamole.  They are a fruit you know.  These are of the Persea Americana family.  The three basic families are Mexican, Guatemalan, and West Indian. 

Anyway, I knocked on my neighbors door and when she opened it the smell of what she was cooking for dinner overwhelmed me.  It was one of my favorite smells in the whole wide world, not kidding!  I gave her the avocados and she was thanking me and I was just telling her how wonderful her house smelled and asked her what she was cooking.    A little while later I heard my door bell ring.  There she was offering me this plate of wonderful food that she had cooked for her family for dinner.   My mouth started watering when she handed me the plate of food.   I was soooooo delighted.   Pork, beans and rice, and yuca with onions and typical Cuban flavors.......and with a couple slices of avocado.......well what more can I say?  Just look at this!!!!  She was really showing me some love, and I took it.  Actually I kind of grabbed it and thanked her with all of my heart.

I have to say that my favorite way to eat avocado with with Cuban food, namely beans and rice, or chicken and rice, or black beans and rice, and on and on........I wish you could smell this!!!!!!

This lovely lady can cook!!!!  I look forward to taking her more avocados!!!!  Hint, Hint!!!!!!!

I Wish You Love,

Joyce

George's beautiful, delicious, awesome Lasagne!!!!

Mama Mia!!!!!

This Lasagne was delicious the first day, but the second day it was outrageously delicious!!!!

You need about a pound of ground chuck and a pound of mild Italian sausage.

One package of Lasagne cooked per instructions on the box.

One pound of whole milk mozzarella cheese (we shredded it ourselves).

One triangle (approximately 8 ounces) of fresh Parmesan cheese (shredded).

Add a 1/2 cup of Extra Virgin Olive oil to your pan and brown the ground chuck until no longer pink, remove and set aside.

In the same pan brown the sausages on all sides.

George's favorite jar of sauce is "Prego Traditional". He used one jar,(2lb.13oz.) and about a cup of Merlot wine.

Put the ground chuck back in the pot along with the sausage and start cutting the sausage in pieces with a big spoon like this.

Add some red wine(about a cup) and reduce.

Now add your spaghetti sauce to the meat bring to a boil and let it simmer for 15 minutes.

In a large bowl mix one large Ricotta cheese with one egg and about a half a cup of fresh diced parsley, and salt & pepper to taste.

Put some of the meat sauce on the bottom of your Lasagne pan, then a layer of Lasagne to cover the bottom, overlapping is fine. Please don't look at the mess we made.

Next add a layer of meat sauce and then a layer of the Ricotta cheese.

Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top of the Ricotta like this, along with a little Parmesan.

Now you start all over layering the Lasagne.

The meat sauce.

And the mozzarella.

And finally the rest of the Parmesan. Bake at 325 degrees until bubbly and cheese is melted and a light golden color.

The antipasto included lettuce, tomato, sliced Genoa salami, Provolone cheese, Manzanilla olives, Pepperoncini, salt and pepper to taste and topped with Extra Virgin olive oil and apple cider vinegar.

He made "heat and serve" dinner rolls and immediately after they came out of the oven he topped them with fresh chopped garlic, Extra Virgin olive oil, and freshly shredded Parmesan cheese.

We enjoyed this meal and hope you enjoy it too.

Mangiare ed essere felici!

I Wish You Love,
Joyce

Pot Roast

This was one of the best tasting pot roasts that I have ever made. I really haven't cooked them much. I looked at a lot of recipes to get ideas and ended up making it my own kinda way with what ingredients I had on hand. I learned to make the gravy from Emeril's recipe. I read that covering tightly was important so that the meat will come out moist and tender. The potatoes were just perfect.


Ingredients:

One 2 lb. boneless chuck roast
1 medium onion sliced into rings
1 beef bouillon cube
1/3 cup of all purpose flour
1 cup of water
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
4-5 medium potatoes peeled and cubed
Salt, pepper & garlic powder

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Rub the roast with salt, pepper and garlic powder. In a heavy skillet with oil covering the bottom, brown the roast on both sides. Take it out of the skillet and set aside. In the same skillet add flour to oil and cook until it is chocolate brown. You may have to add more oil to thin it out a bit. When it is chocolate brown add onions and cook until soft. Add water, beef bouillon, salt and pepper to taste. Stir your gravy with onions, add more water if needed, enough to come up the side of the roast but not cover it. It will thicken as it cooks. Return the roast to the pan and top with the potatoes, don't push them down, just place them on around the meat, they cooked perfectly and were not too soft.
Cover tightly and bake 3 hours.
Serve with your favorite vegetable.
Biscuits go very well with this dish.





I Wish You Love and Comfort Food For You and Your Family,

Mimi