#mushroomsauce

http://gorgeousborges33.blogspot.com/search/label/RECIPESHey guys! Tonight, I had a really late dinner but it was delicious that it was worth the wait! I made salmon, asparagus, mashed potatoes, shrimp and a really good mushroom sauce that I just discovered! It was so good, that I am almost bursting at the seams right now because I ate wayyyy too much. So tonight, I am going to blog about the sauce!

You will need:
4 tablespoons of butter
garlic
1 pound of mushrooms (you can use however much you need depending of number of people eating. You can also use whatever kind of mushrooms you like, I chose shiitake.
8 medium scallions
1/4 heavy cream
salt
pepper
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1/2 cup dry white wine

Start by melting 4 tablespoons of butter and then add the garlic once butter is melted. Cook over moderately high heat until fragrant. Add the mushrooms and then season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook until the mushrooms have released their liquid, about 5 minutes. Stir in the scallions and cook uncovered over high heat, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 5 minutes. Add the wine and boil for 1 minute then add the veggie stock and cream and simmer for 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Super easy and really good! Even though I ate this with salmon, potatoes, shrimp and asparagus tonight, I realized it would also be really good to eat over pasta! You should try it!

SHARE:

2 comments

#homemadepizza

http://gorgeousborges33.blogspot.com/search/label/RecipeFor an early lunch today, I decided to make homemade pizza. I chose to make pizza because it is so easy to pack up the extra slices to take to work and eat during my lunch break. Pizza is also really good to eat for leftovers the next day. I didn't feel like going to the store today so I topped the pizza with whatever I had in my fridge. I also used pizza dough that is already made. I've tried to make my own pizza dough before and it was so hard and almost impossible for me to shape into a perfect circle. If you can master making your own pizza dough, then more power to you because it's so hard!

You will need:
pizza dough (I used the one that is pre-made)
whatever kind of sauce you would like
whatever kind of cheese you would like
whatever else you want to put on it!
olive oil (optional)

This recipe is probably the most simple recipe that I have posted, especially if you are using pre-made dough. All you have to do is put the sauce on the dough, (I used pesto sauce) and then top with whatever you would like. I used mozzarella cheese, mushrooms, pine nuts, and buffalo chicken! I used the directions on the pizza dough to cook it, so I put it in the oven at 450F for 15-18 minutes. Once I took it out of the oven, I drizzled olive oil on the crust to make it a little more moist. This pizza ended up being so good! 

SHARE:

1 comments

#mobydick

For lunch today my friend and I thought we would venture on down to the Santa Barbara Wharf. It was such a nice day today and soooooo hot! My friend and I wanted to be as close to the water as possible and hoped for a nice breeze to cool us down while we ate. Although there are many great restaurants on the wharf, we chose to eat at one of Santa Barbara's hot spots called, Moby Dick. Moby Dick is known for it's seafood at affordable prices. Not to mention the amazing view!

For lunch, I ordered linguine with clams in a white wine sauce. It was so delicious and the perfect refreshing seafood meal on a HOT day!

SHARE:

1 comments

#cadiz

Tonight, my fiancé and I went on a double date to one of the best restaurants in Santa Barbara called, Cadiz. My favorite part of Cadiz is the atmosphere. It makes you feel as if you are dining in Greece or Spain, it's amazing!

Cadiz has a bunch of things to choose from on their appetizer menu and they suggest that you order a lot of appetizers and share them since they are small bite plates. For appetizers we ordered their bruschetta and their diver scallops. Both of which were delicious! I am such a sucker for scallops, I eat them wherever I go! But my favorite dish of the night had to be the bruschetta. It came on toasted grilled country bread (it reminded me of Texas toast!) It had housemade ricotta smeared on top with slices of avocado on top of that and was topped off with crushed pistachios. SO GOOD!

For my entree, I chose a halibut dish with asparagus risotto and parmesan cream. It was delicious. I can't wait to go back and get it again!

For dessert, I ordered the blueberry cheesecake parfait. It was the perfect ending to the perfect meal!

SHARE:

0 comments

#mushroomsoup

As I have said before, soup is my favorite thing to eat. Soup is even better, in my opinion, when mushrooms are involved because mushrooms are my absolute favorite thing to eat and cook with! I found this mushroom soup recipe about a year ago and I make it every few weeks. It is soooo good.

You will need:
2 cups fresh mushrooms, chopped finely (I use the white cap mushrooms from Trader Joe's)
1 tbsp olive oil
minced garlic
1 tablespoon of butter
1/2 tablespoon of thyme
1 cup chicken stock
1 tablespoon flour, diluted
salt
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan. Add butter and lightly saute garlic on medium heat. Add in mushrooms, thyme and Worcestershire sauce. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes or until the moisture from the mushrooms disappears. Add in chicken broth. Stir occasionally until broth boils, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add diluted flour in, and stir constantly until the mixture thickens. Then, add milk and heavy cream and bring to a simmer. Serve hot!

I garnished my soup with a bay leave and pepper.

I will admit, that this recipe is a little more advanced than the ones that I have previously posted, but, if you take the time for this soup, you won't regret the time you spent making it! It is too good to pass up!

SHARE:

0 comments

#sweetpotatognocchi

Today for lunch I made Sweet Potato Gnocchi from Trader Joe's. I love this gnocchi so much and it is so quick and easy to make (since it is basically already made!). All you need to do is add water and heat it up! This is perfect for students living the busy college life, like myself. So far today I have been cramming a lot of homework in before I have to go to work, so I was looking for something fast and simple for lunch and this hit the spot!

This gnocchi is cooked in a butter and sage sauce that is to die for! Sometimes, I make my own pasta on the side and add it with the left over sauce to make the bag last longer.

Next time you are at Trader Joe's, check it out and buy some! Super cheap and super simple!

SHARE:

0 comments

#butterbeer

I am a huge Harry Potter fan so I thought I would share one of my favorite recipes with you, butter beer! I got addicted to having butter beer when I went to Harry Potter World in Orlando, FL. a few years ago. When I got home from that trip, I found this recipe on pinterest and it is actually really good!

You will need:
2 liter cream soda
2 tablespoons of butter extract
2 teaspoon of rum extract

Drop the two extracts into the liter of cream soda and rotate to combine. Set that aside and then make the cream topping!

Cream topping-You will need:
1 7oz container of marshmallow cream
1 cup of whipping cream
1 teaspoon of rum extract

Add all items of cream topping together in an electric mixture and combine until smooth.

Pour butter beer into a glass (I used my butter beer souvenir glass :) and then drizzle with cream topping (Warning: drizzle the cream topping SLOWLY otherwise it will explode like the picture shown below)

I absolutely love this recipe, mostly because it has to do with Harry Potter but also because it actually tastes really good! Enjoy!

SHARE:

1 comments

#losarroyos

Today for lunch my fiance' requested Mexican food so I suggested my favorite Mexican food restaurant in Santa Barbara called Los Arroyos. I am just getting over the flu and still don't have enough energy to go out so we got it to go instead. Los Arroyos was one of the first restaurants that I ever went to when I moved to Santa Barbara 5 years ago and I've been addicted ever since!

My fiance' ordered the taquitos dorados with chicken. I have never tried this until today and it is so good! I might have to get it next time!

He also order one crispy chicken taco, which I suggested to him because I looove their tacos!

I usually order an entree when I eat at Los Arroyos but I haven't gotten my appetite back yet so I only ordered a side order of black beans and rice with some chips to dip it in. Even though it was a small dish, it was so tasty that I ate the whole thing!

Definitely check out Los Arroyos when in the Santa Barbara area! You won't regret it!

SHARE:

0 comments

#stuffedshellswithmarinasauce

Today I decided to make a rather large meal for lunch (I'm planning on saving some and also eating this for dinner as well). I am starting to recover a little bit from the flu and I was in the cooking mood so I made Spinach Stuffed Shells with Marinara Sauce. I found this recipe about a year ago and I've loved it ever since!

You will need:
jumbo shells
garlic
olive oil
cherry tomatoes
basil
salt
pepper
2 cups ricotta cheese
marinara sauce
shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg
spinach
parmesan cheese

I didn't put measurements on the list of ingredients because you can pretty much use however much you want of everything. First, make pasta shells in boiling water, you want them to be a little undercooked because eventually you will be putting them in the oven to cook more. In a separate pan, heat up marinara sauce with cherry tomatoes, basil, salt, pepper, olive oil and garlic. Simmer this on low for about 15-20 mins. (I always add a little bit of sugar to my marinara sauce, sounds gross, but it makes it taste sweet!)

Next, preheat oven to 375F. In a large mixing bowl, mix together ricotta, egg (beat the egg before hand), spinach, mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Once the shells are cooked and cool, fill each shell with about 2 tablespoons of the ricotta mixture. (Make sure the shells are COOL! I learned the hard way that they are HOT and will burn your fingers!) Place stuffed shells in a large baking dish, covering the bottom of the dish with some of the marinara sauce. Once all the shells are stuffed and placed on the baking dish, cover them with the rest of the marinara sauce. Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Then uncover foil and bake for an additional 5 minutes. Once done, you may garnish with more sauce if you have any left over. Enjoy!

SHARE:

0 comments

#pascucci

As you know from my last post, I haven't been feeling well today so I've been stuck in the house all day trying to get better. I was craving food from one of my favorite restaurants in Santa Barbara called Pascucci, so I decided to order delivery from there. (Thank god for delivery!) Pascucci is known for it's delicious garlic bread. The aroma of the bread fills the entire street that Pascucci is located on and it always draws me there when I am downtown shopping! The two dished that I ordered tonight are my favorite and I get them almost every time I go.

I ordered the dish called, Milano. It comes with shrimp, roasted garlic, cream sauce, sun dried tomatoes and spinach linguini.

For a side dish I ordered the Marsala Mushrooms. I love mushrooms, so I usually order them wherever I go, but these ones are my favorite! I like to take the garlic bread and dip it in the juice once I have eaten all the mushrooms!

If you are ever in Santa Barbara, I definitely recommend this restaurant because it is so good and very reasonably priced! The ambiance of the restaurant is also so cute, you feel like you are in Italy!

SHARE:

1 comments

#bakedzucchinifries

Hey everyone! I'm feeling a little under the weather today and I have a very strange appetite, so I was craving some delicious baked zucchini fries! I've tried this recipe once before and it was so good that I thought I would do it again! Once again, as all my recipes are, it is quick and easy and uses very few ingredients!

You will need:
3 small zucchini or 2 large
1 cup of panko breadcrumbs
2 tbsp of Italian seasoning
salt
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
2 eggs

Warning: this recipe is a little messy!

Before you start, preheat your oven to 425F and line a cookie sheet with foil and lightly spray with cooking spray. Cut off each end of the zucchini and then cut the zucchini in half and then lengthwise, then cut that half in half. Stack the planks on top of each other and cut into strips. Lightly sprinkle strips with salt. (You can cut these in whatever which way you would like!)

Now, combine panko crumbs, Italian seasoning and shredded parmesan cheese. In another bowl, whisk the two eggs together. Then take each zucchini strip, dip it in the egg first and then the bread crumb mixture. Set them on cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 mins or until lightly browned. You can dip these in marinara sauce or whatever you would like. Enjoy!

SHARE:

0 comments

#grilledcaesarsalad

This recipe was a little hard for me to wrap my head around. A grilled salad doesn't sound too appetizing. But, nonetheless, I gave it a shot because it looked really easy (and you know how I love an easy recipe!) And to my surprise, it was really good! A caesar salad is so simple and by grilling it, it makes it a little more fancy! I don't have a grill, nor do I trust myself cooking anything on a grill, haha, so instead, I used my stove!

You will need:
romaine lettuce (however much you would like)
olive oil
caesar dressing

Start by lighting brushing olive oil on the romaine lettuce. Put it in a hot pan on the stove and let it grill for about 3 minutes or so, turning it over every half of a minute. You can grill this for as long as you would like depending on how brown and grilled that you want your salad. Once done, put romaine of plate, drizzle dressing over it and garnish with salt and pepper! Enjoy!

SHARE:

0 comments

#baconandeggs

Happy Easter! In the spirit of this holiday, I thought I would make some candy bacon and eggs! When I first saw this recipe, I fell in love with it because it is SO cute and looks super easy! You also don't need too many ingredients, so it is budget friendly as well!

You will need:
white chocolate chips-melted in the microwave in a microwave safe bowl.
M&M's-pick out all the yellow ones
pretzel sticks

Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Blob a bit of the melted white chocolate on the wax paper about the size of a quarter. Put a yellow M&M in the center of the chocolate blob with the logo down (to make it more like a realistic egg!) Break the pretzel sticks in half and put them along side the egg. Once finished with a few of these, put in the refrigerator to chill for about 20-30 minutes and you are done! This is perfect for an Easter brunch snack!

SHARE:

0 comments

#thelark

Here in beautiful Santa Barbara, we have so many good restaurants to chose from. I have many favorites but one that particularly sticks out to me is called The Lark. The Lark is a very hip and new age restaurant. The decor makes you feel like you are in the middle of the city in San Fransisco. Although living in Santa Barbara is wonderful, it's still fun to feel like you can escape normal life for a night. I went there the other night with some friends and another really cool thing that the restaurant does is serve things "family style". Meaning, they bring a large assortment of a certain dish, place it in the middle of your table and you and your friends scoop a portion on to your own individual plates. I like this idea because you are able to try more on the menu by ordering more than you normally would of an appetizer, entree, etc. since you are sharing with multiple people.

My group and I started out with a cheese board which came with sultana and onion marmalade, apricot mostarda and sour cherry membrillo. (Basically, just really tasty things to eat with cheese!)
To add to that, we also started with Lane Farms Organic Lettuces which came with dungeness crab, avocado vinaigrette, roasted pistachio and meyer lemon. These plates were delicious! I loved the combination of the dungeness crab and pistachio!

*Excuse the pictures being kind of dark. Once again, I am not the best photographer :/

Our next course, was my favorite thing on the menu, the herb roasted diver scallops! They are SO good! They come with grilled pork belly, crispy sweet potato, radish, smoked jalapeno and tangerine. If you are ever in the area, I definitely recommend this restaurant! It's one of the best!

SHARE:

0 comments

#dinner/dessert.4.18

Hey guys! Once again, I've been too busy with school and work to go out to eat so I'm going to blog about my dinner tonight! I loved those asparagus that I made in my last post so I ate those tonight, along with pasta and honey salmon! I loooove salmon so much and I found this recipe on pinterest and it is delicious and so easy! I was a little scared because I've never been good at cooking meat but this recipe was so simple to follow that it turned out great!

You will need:
1/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon dried basil leaves
salt
pepper
salmon

You can use whatever size salmon you would like. Since I was only cooking dinner for myself tonight, I bought the smallest size salmon they had at the store. Whisk together all the ingredients in a bowl. Place raw salmon on tin foil on a cookie sheet. Spoon the honey mixture over the salmon. Fold the sides of the tin foil over the salmon, covering completely and sealing the packet closed. Place in a preheated oven at 375F and bake for 15-20 mins or until cooked through. I was terrified to under cook mine, so I baked it for about 25 mins.

I added the asparagus that I cooked the other night and pasta with parmesan cheese and butter.

For dessert, I chose a recipe that I have been dying to try! I call it banana s'mores!

You will need:
bananas
chocolate chips
mini marshmallows

Keep the skin on the banana and slice down the middle. Put banana on tin foil on cookie sheet.

Stuff bananas with as many chocolate chips and marshmallows as you'd like! I think next time I am going to use more marshmallows! Then place in a preheated oven at 375F for 15 minutes. Serve hot and scoop the middle out with a fork or spoon and enjoy!

SHARE:

0 comments

#dinner.4.16

Hey guys! I thought I would blog about my dinner tonight. Apparently, I have a cheese craving today because everything I made tonight includes cheese! The first recipe I am going to write about is a white bean soup. As I've said before, no matter how warm it is outside, I am always in the mood for soup. It warms my insides and makes me feel relaxed, I love it!

The ingredients you will need are:
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 tablespoon of butter
1 onion, diced (I use onions and carrots that are already diced at the store! I get them at Trader Joes and it saves so much time!)
2 large carrots, diced
4 gloves of garlic, pressed (I used minced garlic from a jar that I bought at the grocery store to make life easier)
2 teaspoons of Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon of cracked pepper
2 cans of white beans
2 cups of chicken stock

This recipe is super simple because all you need to do is add the ingredients together and let it simmer. Start by heating olive oil and butter together in a large pan on the stove. Once hot, add diced onions and carrots. Let those sautee' for about 5 minutes and then add garlic. (If you want, you can add other veggies, like celery or something else that you like). I used garlic that is already minced from the grocery store. I added about 2 tablespoons (I really love garlic!) but you can add however much you want! Once the garlic becomes aromatic, add the Italian seasoning, white beans and chicken broth. Then let simmer for about 40-45 minutes. Half way through the simmer process, I scooped out some of the white beans and blended them in a blender and then put them back in the soup in order to make the soup thicker. If you don't have a blender, you can mash the beans with the back of a fork or spoon. Mash as many beans as you'd like in order to create whatever thickness you want for your soup. Once the simmer process is over with, I garnished with parmesan cheese and pepper and it's done!

The second part of my meal was parmesan roasted asparagus. This is the first time that I have ever baked asparagus in an oven, so I was a little skeptical at first but it was so good that I don't think I'll ever cook them any other way from now on!

The ingredients you will need are:
asparagus (however many you would like)
olive oil
salt
pepper
parmesan cheese

As I have said before, I have an obsession with garlic salt and truffle oil so I added those ingredients in as well. All you have to do is mix all the ingredients together and coat the asparagus with the mixture and garnish with parmesan cheese. Then place asparagus on a cookie sheet, preheat your oven to 350F and let cook for 10 minutes. Yes, only 10 minutes! Or until cheese is a little browned. And they are SO good!

For the third and final part of my dish tonight, I decided to spread brie cheese on baked crostini. I bought the costini and brie at Trader Joes.

This brie has wild mushrooms in it and it is super tasty!

Warning: these crostini's are addicting!

I spread the brie cheese on the crostini and then drizzled honey on top.

As you can tell, I had quite the feast tonight and it was so good that I recommend these recipes to anyone! They are so simple and take little to no effort at all. And also, as you can tell, I am not the healthiest eater but this dinner was so good that it was worth it!

SHARE:

0 comments

#jalapenopoppers

At first I thought this recipe was pretty disgusting but regardless, it looked fun so I thought I would give it a shot. And just a warning, do not eat this if you have a sensitive stomach! I'm not gonna lie, compared to my other posts, it was definitely a process to make these, but well worth it!  I had a few people eat the batch that I made and I got great feedback! I think this is the perfect recipe for a weekend BBQ or Superbowl Sunday.

The ingredients you will need are:
10 jalapenos peppers
10 bacon slices, cut in half
10 mini sausages or smokies (20 if they are small)
1 cup of cream cheese
1 cup grated monterey jack cheese
1tsp chipotle powder
2 shallots, minced

First, slice the jalapenos lengthwise and use a spoon to remove the seeds. Then, mix the cream cheese, monterey jack cheese, chipolte powder and minced shallots. Fill out the hollowed peppers with this mixture and place one sausage on top.

Next, wrap bacon around the jalapeno. If the bacon does not stay properly, use a toothpick to hold it in place.

Preheat your oven to 425F and place jalapeno poppers in for 20-30 minutes or until the bacon is browned.

These are soooo good and I recommend this recipe to anyone! Once again, it's really simple and a great snack!

SHARE:

0 comments

#bellavista

Last night my fiance' and I went to dinner at a restaurant called, Bella Vista. Bella Vista is a restaurant located at the resort, The Four Seasons Biltmore in Santa Barbara. It is super nice and I absolutely love their decor! (and their super comfy chairs!) We decided to sit outside because it was such a nice night and the view of the ocean and sunset was spectacular.

My fiance' and I decided to have a 3 course dinner. I started with a lentil soup for my first course, angel hair pasta for my second course and then a halibut special for my third course. Although everything was amazing, the angel hair pasta was out of this world!

 As I've mentioned before in a previous post, I'm addicted to truffle and I put it in almost everything, so of course I ordered the angel hair with black truffle, garlic, herbs and butter. The delicate angel hair made this dish very light and not too heavy (often times noodles and butter can be very heavy to eat). The black truffle oil was mixed within the pasta and then garnished with shaved truffle on top. If you are ever in the Santa Barbara area, you should definitely stop at this restaurant! I highly recommend it and even though it is in a very nice resort, it isn't super expensive!

SHARE:

0 comments

#lasagnasoup

I can't sleep right now and I'm craving my favorite recipe, lasagna soup, so I thought I would write a post about it! Ever since I was little, I have been a huge fan of soup. It's the ultimate comfort food for me so I find myself pinning soup recipes on pinterest all the time. My favorite recipe that I have found so far is this delicious lasagna soup. The best part about it (besides tasting so good!) is that it is super easy! It's very hearty and the leftovers last a few days so it also saves money as well!

The ingredients that I used were:
1 can of petite diced tomatoes with garlic and olive oil
1lb of ground beef, cooked and drained
15 ounces of your favorite pasta sauce
1tsp of Italian blend seasoning
2 cups of beef broth
1 cup of water
1 1/2 cups of cooked pasta
Parmesan cheese

First, I browned the ground beef and drained it. Then I added most of the ingredients together and with the ground beef: diced tomatoes, pasta sauce, broth, water and Italian seasoning (I used a little more Italian seasoning than what the recipe called for). I also recommend adding more water if you prefer more broth. I let this simmer for about 15-20 minutes. During that time, I cook the pasta. Once the pasta is ready, I mix the pasta in with the soup and it's done! And delicious! Oh, and don't forget to garnish it with Parmesan cheese! Super simple and easy recipe which are my favorite types of recipes! Enjoy!

SHARE:

1 comments

#quinoacapresesalad

Hey guys! I've been working so much lately, that I haven't really had time to go out and enjoy dinner and write a post about it, so I thought I'd try a pinterest recipe at home this week. The recipe that I chose is a quinoa caprese salad. I chose this because it's quick and easy to take to work for a snack during my half hour break, not to mention super tasty!

The ingredients that I used were:
quinoa
cherry tomatoes
mozzarella balls
dried basil
garlic salt
truffle oil

The original recipe does not call for garlic salt or truffle oil, but I thought I would add a little extra taste to mine. Not to mention, I add garlic salt and truffle oil to almost everything that I eat! The recipe also says to use plain mozzarella balls but I love the marinated ones from Trader Joes, so I used those instead.

The recipe is super easy which is good because I don't consider myself to be the best cook, so it's pretty hard to screw up :) Basically, all it takes is to cook the quinoa and chop the tomatoes and mozzarella balls. I mixed those all together then sprinkled dried basil, garlic salt and truffle oil and it's done! Enjoy!

SHARE:

0 comments

#bistrobythebeach

 I am new to this whole 'blog world', so bare with me!

For my first blog post, I thought I would write about the restaurant that I currently work in. It’s called the Bistro and is definitely one of the best restaurants I have ever worked in! The food is so good and I absolutely love my coworkers, not to mention the amazing view that I get to enjoy 8 hours a day!

The entrée dish that is one of our most popular dishes is our halibut.

This is kind of a bad picture because in person it looks much more appetizing! (I'm not the best photographer). The halibut is pan seared and sits on top of something called ‘fregola’, which is similar to couscous. The salsa on top of the halibut is a mixture of chopped up capers, green olives, onion, celery and garlic. The green liquid around it is basil oil. This dish is absolutely delicious and is my favorite! If you are ever in the area, you should definitely stop by and try it!

SHARE:

0 comments