My aunt came to visit us one day and she brought us 10 pounds of Green Bell Peppers. Believe me… that week we ended up eating everything with bell peppers. At the end of the week we had a few of them left so I decided to make some stuffed bell peppers. Every time I’ve made stuffed bell peppers I’ve made them with green, but next time I’ll try the red ones for sure… I’ve made some alterations to the recipe, but nonetheless it tasted great!

INGREDIENTS (adapted from FoodWishes)

For the sauce:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 cup chicken broth
2 cups prepared marinara sauce, or other tomato sauce
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, optional

For the Peppers:

2 pound lean ground beef
2 cups cooked rice
1 cup finely grated “real” Parmesan cheese (Parmigiano Reggiano)
1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley
4 cloves garlic, minced very fine
1 can 10-oz diced tomatoes
2 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
pinch of cayenne
4 large green bell peppers

• Since I made this recipe using 6 bell peppers, I multiplied the recipe by 2/3 to make it enough for 6. 

First you’re gona caramelize the onions a bit with some olive oil. Then you’re gona take out HALF of the onion and put it in a bowl. 

Add the chicken broth, tomato sauce, balsamic vinegar and red pepper flakes to the half of the onion you caramelized

After that the sauce is done so pour it into the baking dish. 

Parsley

Add the Ground Beef, Parsley, garlic, diced tomatoes, salt, pepper, cayenne ( this is the bowl that has the other half of the caramelized onions)

Add the cooked rice and cheese. Here I used brown rice and the Mexican cheese blend (That’s all I had, sorry)

Mix it all together and you get this!

Get your peppers ready. Wash them and cut them in half, take out all the seeds and membranes. 

Stuff the pepper with the mixture and top it off with more cheese. Set the peppers on the sauce. 

cover it with foil, 375 degrees F, for 45 minutes covered. Then take out the foil and bake for 20 minutes. 

After you take it out, spoon some of the sauce over the peppers. If you noticed that one of the peppers is gone. That’s because I ate one RIGHT AWAY and totally forgot to the take the final picture. So I had to take it AFTER I ate it. hehe =) 

-A

Spicy Korean Cold Noodles is a comfort food for me. If you like Kimchi, then you’re gona LOVE this dish. Not only is it easy to make but I always seem to have the ingredients. So here’s the deal, I don’t know the EXACT measurements for this recipe, so I’ll try my best to make this work. The way I made it became good enough for 2 servings. 

INGREDIENTS:

• Oriental Style Noodle
• Kimchi
• Korean Chili Paste
• Sesame Oil
• Sesame Seed
• Sugar
• Salt
• Water

These are the Noodles I used (Ignore the butter that’s next to it lol)

Boil some water and add the noodles until they’re cooked

Set the noodles aside and run it through COLD water. 

Chop up some Kimchi and add it to a bowl (if you have some Kimchi juice in the container, add some of that too)

• You’re gona mix about a cup of water and 2 TBSP of sugar and add it to the kimchi mixture. 
• Then add about a TBSP of the Korean Chili Paste (you can add more if you want it to be really spicy)

Add some salt, and sesame seeds

Add about 2 TBSP of the sesame Oil. (Most of the taste comes from the sesame oil and the chili paste)

Mix everything together!

Combine the mixture with the noodles. and TA-DA!!!!

-A

In December, Ray’s cousin’s wife’s sister threw a huge party at her house, and everything was just amazing, especially the food. So I decided to snap some pics because it was just so pretty hehe

Fruit, crackers and cheese platter (CHEESE WAS AMAZING)

Appetizer table

Tomato & Mozzarella Cheese skewer

Nuts Bowl

Watermelon Platter

Pineapple Platter

Salami, cheese, tomato, grape platter

Food Platter

More platter!

A table of yummy platters!

Piggie

So I ended up not taking LOTS of pics, I ended up eating instead. lol 

-A

Hey Y’all… I’m not gona lie, I’m pretty mad at myself for going on so long without posting anything about food =((((((, my badddd! So I’d like to say, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year! <3 

So there was a post a bagelwich I wrote back in November and I told you guys it was the BEST BAGELWICH I’ve ever had! It was in San Diego, CA at the shop called Big City Bagels, and I fell madly in love with their “5th Avenue” bagel, and I claimed it to be the BEST BAGELWICH ever…. So I was craving it and decided to make an exact replica of it! and trust me….. it was DELICIOUS. The ingredients are so simple yet I’m confident in saying this is the best I’ve ever had. I ALMOST feel guilty for not having shared with anyone O.O…. almost! But here it is….

The Ingredients I’ve used are:

• Cheese Bagel
• Onion and Chives Cream Cheese
• Avocado
• Bacon
• Muenster Cheese
• Tomato
• Turkey 

So I basically combined everything together ending with the Cheese on TOP and put it in your oven toaster (VERY IMPORTANT STEP). If you don’t have an oven toaster then use your oven. At last I came up with this!

I don’t know how to tell you guys how amazing this tasted. It made me miss San Diego so much, but I’m glad I didnt have to drive all the way there just to get this… Try it, it was pretty legen…..*wait for it*……. dary! 

-A

That’s right…. Brazilians not only have the amazing all you can eat Churrascaria (Brazilian Barbecue), they also are known for their PIZZAS! Growing up in Brazil, I had the pizza buffet at least once a month. It’s so cheap and delicious! And now all you Americans (including myself) can devour in these delicious pizza right here in LOS ANGELES! I found a place called BELLA VISTA Brazilian Gourmet Pizza restaurant in CULVER CITY. and It’s a Brazilian All You Can Eat pizza place! 

How it works: All you do is show up, sit at a table and wait there until the pizza comes to you! The servers walk around the restaurant with pizza on their platters and they ask you what kind you want. 

Whatever Brazilian restaurant you go, you MUST ORDER the GUARANA drink. It’s the Brazilian popular soft drink. The best one there is out there is called ANTARCTICA GUARANA. But anything other than that will be good enough. And don’t forget to serve over ICE!

From left to right:
Margherita: Mozzarella, parmesan cheese, basil, tomato
Frango com Catupiry: Chicken, Catupiry (Brazilian cream cheese), corn
4 Cheese: Mozzarella, Catupiry, Parmesan, Provolone *THIS ONE IS THE BEST!*
 

Strogonoff: Beef Strogonoff, potato sticks
*I forgot what the other one was*
 

Portuguesa (This is a Brazilian Classic): Ham, green peas, egg, black olives, fresh onions, mozzarella 

Calabreza: Calabreza smoked sausage, mozzarella, onions
 

Another portuguesa
Palmito: Hearts of palm, mozzarella, green olives, oregano
 

Cilantro’s BBQ Chicken: BBQ Chicken, Cilantro, mozzarella, red onions

yummy Caesar Salad

Abobrinha no Pesto: Zucchini, parmesan, pesto sauce

Baiana: Calabreza smoked sausage, malagueta peppers, hearts of palm, mozzarella, onions, green olives. 
 

They have dessert pizza too! And its DELICIOUS!!! MUST TRY!!!!

My favorite is the Brigadeiro com Morango: Chocolate and condensed milk and strawberries. 
 

More dessert pizza
Banana com canela: Mozzarella, banana, cinnamon (also delicious!)
Romeu e Julieta: Mozzarella and guava paste (yummy!!!)

I know that the dessert pizzas sound like weird… i thought so too when I ate here, but when I tried it… omg…. LOVED IT!!!!

They also have an outside patio!

-A

Shabu Shabu is one of my mom’s favorite dishes. Not only is it SUPER DUPER healthy, but it tastes DELICIOUS. The number 1 thing I hate about Shabu Shabu restaurants is that they charge SO FREAKIN’ much! And trust me, it should not cost that much…. I KNOW. But I guess I can’t keep complaining because when you go to Steakhouses and they charge you $35 for a 8 oz ribeye steak when you KNOW Costco sells 3 12 oz Ribeye steaks for that same price! *sigh. But anyways… Shabu Shabu is actually extremely easy to make, it’s just a bit of time consuming. All the cutting and washing vegetables. But i think it’s super fun to eat! For those of you who don’t know what Shabu Shabu is, then you should either google it, or try to get an idea from this post. 

First you’re gona need a portable stove top and place this in the middle of the dinner table. 

You’re gonna fill the pot with your favorite stock (chicken, beef, fish, plant, etc). I used fish stock (my mom made this stock from scratch, she just boiled those tiny korean anchovies for about 10 minutes, and it turned out like this), then we added some green onions just so we can get that oniony flavor. 

It is definitely NOT shabu shabu if you don’t have these sauces. These sauces are ESSENTIAL to this type of food. You’re gona need GOMA SHABU (which has a creamy sweet texture), and PON SHABU (it has the consistency of soy sauce, but it tastes semi-sweet and flavorful)

You’re gona add whatever vegetables you like. The bottom we have Korean Cabbage (the type we make kimchi from), and the green stuff I dont know what it’s called. But any green veggies will work… maybe not lettuce… 

then we got more thinly sliced green onions, and 2 types of mushrooms. 

Then of course the star of the show.. the meat! This is basically thinly sliced brisket. If you go to the Korean or Japanese Market, it might just say Shabu Shabu meat, but technically it’s just very thin brisket. 

Throw in whatever vegetable and meat you want in the hot pot, and let it cook for a bit, NOT TOO LONG THOUGH. Don’t add everything all at once! 

We used disposable plates here because it had the 2 side parts and one main part. So it was easier to separate the sauce and the boiled stuff

We also had shrimp and noodles that we threw in the hot pot. Eat everything with the sauce! 

hehe tiny mushroom

After we were done with all the meats and vegetables we added rice to the pot and made porridge! The stock becomes so delicious at the end, because it absorbed all the flavors from the shrimp, beef and vegetables. I know it all sounds like too much, but this is the best part! I also added eggs and dry seaweed to this and it became an amazing porridge!

-ENJOY!

-A

Happy belated Thanksgiving y’all. On November 11, it was Ray and my 2 years together! And as part of the gift I decided to bake him some Pumpkin cupcakes! He’s been nagging me to bake them for quite some time now (Jk honey, you didn’t nag…. that much) This was my first time making anything pumpkin related, and they actually came out pretty good! and of course I had to make the Classic cream cheese frosting to go with it. And everything here is homemade! I have a weird thing against making boxed baked goods. Unless Im really in a hurry or dont have the right ingredients. 

I ended up giving Raymond 11 cupcakes. Because it was 11-11-11 <3

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Cream Cheese Frosting

Click on the link if you wanna know the ingredients and how to make them!

One of the things I hate about Chinese restaurants is that they charge SO MUCH for freakin’ egg rolls! And sometimes theyre not even specific, I don’t like paying so much for an egg roll especially to find out it was all veggie-tables !!!!! Homie please… One day I was craving egg rolls really bad, so I went to the market and got some stuff to make the egg rolls. First of all, most of the ingredients I already had, I only had to buy the egg roll wrappers. So every egg roll is different, you can put WHATEVER you want. I dont care what the recipe says, or what your friend’s Chinese mother says, I put WHATEVER I want in here. (but be realistic, dont go and put in like.. gummy bears or something)

INGREDIENTS (This is what I put, but I use different things every time)

• Ground Pork (1/2 lb)
• Carrots (one)
• Onion (one)
• Mushrooms (a handful is all I had)
• Green Onions
• Salt/pepper (To taste)
• Soy Sauce (Just a bit)
• Garlic (I think I used like 4 minced)
• One egg to close the end of the egg rolls

You’re gona cut and set everything up and mix them until they look like…..

THIS! And you’re gona add your remaining ingredients like the salt/pepper, soy sauce, and you can add other sauces too, like fish sauce, etc. 

You’re gona thaw your egg roll wrapper and line them in a board and place your filling like this. From there, you’re just gona roll!!! Youtube it if you don’t know how!

I ended up making about 40 egg rolls. 

Since I don’t have a deep fryer, I just filled up a pan with some oil and fried them on medium high. So Remove them when the inside is cooked ( I took one out and opened it to see if the meat was cooked)

I think the best way to eat an egg roll, is with sweet and sour chili sauce! 

Enjoy!

-A

There is no such thing as taking a trip to San Diego and NOT go to Extraordinary Desserts! This place has beautiful looking desserts and they taste amazing too! But I do think they look prettier than it tastes. This store has 2 locations, one on 5th avenue and the other on Union Street. Ray and I Should’ve gone to Union street, because that’s the better bigger one. But we ended up going to 5th avenue instead. Nevertheless, they had amazing desserts. 

Strawberry shortcake. We’re getting this one next time! yumm

We got the one in the middle the very left. It was a white chocolate cheesecake with shaved chocolate on the side and top and blackberries

It was so delicious! we were so full we ended up eating this the next morning instead! it was still good! so many flavors. 

If you’ve been here, whats your favorite?

-A

Now if you ever see a dessert with plants growing out of it, don’t be alarmed!. You probably just picked up an extraordinary dessert. Unfortunately, this plant does not give it any extraordinary powers or flavors. It just magically raises the price. I would have liked going to the one on Union that has a greater selection, but maybe next time! I thought our cake was good, but even cheesecake factory has a tastier white chocolate raspberry cheesecake. Attention: no plants were harmed in the eating of this cake. 

-R