Welcome Baby Tortilla Sushi to the World!

I pinned this the other day and after a quick trip to the market with one of my real-life blogger friends, Elaine, I decided to try it out. Look at how cute this is!

It's like tortillas and sushi got married and had this delicious baby! That sounds a little weird but it's amazing, fresh, crunchy, and a great idea for lunch or dinner!


Here's what I used:
4 Tortillas (ours were on the small side but whatever you've got will work!)
2 Chicken Breasts, poached (I poached mine a few days ago in chicken stock with a little curry powder seasoning)
1 Cucumber, sliced into matchsticks (seeds scooped out)
2 Large carrots, sliced into matchsticks

For the Cream Cheese:
A couple Tbs cream cheese
Fresh herbs, like dill or basil
1 garlic clove minced
S + P

Mix everything for the cream cheese together (if you have scallions on hand, I'd include them too!). Spread a decent amount on each tortilla, all the way to the edges. The cream cheese acts as the glue to the "sushi."

 

Shred your chicken (you can also use ham or turkey slices, or make it totally vegetarian and use lettuce, or any other veg you have onhand!) Layer the shredded chicken, with the cucumber on top of that, and carrots all the way on the top. Make sure it's all lined up in the middle of the tortilla.

Then wrap the tortiallas as tight as you can. Cover them with plastic wrap and stick them in the fridge for an hour (or as long as you can wait!). Then slice them in half and slice each half in half again!

So fresh and tasty! I love this and will definitely make it again, it'll make such a fabulous lunch at work!

Eat At Home Tonight - Summer Gazpacho

Savor the summer and the fresh veggies with this fresh and cool summer soup!

Check out my video with my gazpacho recipe to hear what is so great about chilled soup!

And what's maybe even the best part of making a gazpacho is the leftovers! It is the perfect light lunch or even a super-healthy starter to a dinner (that takes less than 10 minutes to make!). But if you do end up having any leftovers, you can turn your gazpacho into a marinara sauce in a snap. Or my personal fav? Pour your gazpacho over a little vodka, add a pickle and a celery stick to your glass and you've got the best brunch drink ever - Bloody Mary's! Try this one out and let me know what you think!

The PERFECT Bowl

Hubby is gonna be so happy tonight. So, I literally JUST joined Pinterest and I know it's taken me forever but I was honestly scared that I'd get addicted to it and now I really know why! So when I saw this recipe for Laksa (using only 5 ingredients), I thought it'd make the perfect lunch.

So, I made it as described but when I tasted it, I thought it was really missing a few things. So this is my Thai Coconut-Malaysian Laksa Noodle Bowl!



Here's how I made it and what you should use:

3/4lb (350g) noodles (rice, spaghetti, whatever!)
1-2 Tbsp Thai green curry paste
1 large can (1 1/2 cups) coconut milk
2 cups of boiling water (chicken, vegetable, or beef broth could be substituted)
2 cups mixed chopped vegetables (I used red and green pepper and zucchini)
1 clove of garlic
1 Tbsp freshly grated ginger
handful fresh basil leaves
handful of chopped scallions
Juice of 1 Lime
Soy Sauce (to taste)

This is a super quick meal to make too! Boil your pasta or noodles or whatever you're using. Then heat up a little bit of vegetable oil on high heat in a saucepan. Add the Thai curry paste to it and stir fry for about a minute. Then add the coconut milk and boiling water. At this point, I put in my ginger and garlic to flavor up the broth. Once it starts boiling, toss in your veggies and leave them for about 2 minutes. Your noodles should be done by now so put them in a bowl and pour your broth and veggies over the top. Tear up some basil leaves and place them on top of your noodle bowl along with the chopped scallions. I squeezed the lime juice right over my dish at the last second.

It is literally perfection in a bowl! I like to eat mine with about half the broth sort of ratio to the noodles but you can eat it straight soupy. It's so fresh and delicious and it's one of those foods that just make you feel so happy! Happy food makes for a happy wifey :)

P.S. This is the best hangover cure ever!

The Best Broccoli You'll Ever Have

 

Ah, summertime, time for cold, juicy and crisp watermelon, burgers and hot dogs, potato salads and...broccoli? It might not seem like it's the 'right' time for broccoli, but to me, there is always a right time for broccoli. Especially when it tastes this amazing! This is officially, the best broccoli you'll ever have in your life. After you try this, you'll be wondering to yourself, why was I ever eating boring steamed broccoli before, or covered in cheese, or why you might have thought you didn't like it before. This broccoli is delicious and almost meaty in flavor and I will admit, it's happened twice in the past 2 weeks that I've devoured a huge serving of these (that I expected to have for me and Tomislav both but I couldn't wait to eat it because it's that good!)

Here's what you need:

- Broccoli (1 big crown or 2 small ones, or even a bag of the frozen stuff)

- 3 Cloves of Garlic, thinly sliced

- Olive Oil

- Lemon zest of 1 lemon (or half of one if it's really big)

- Juice of half a lemon

- 3 Tbsp Parmesan cheese

- Handful of basil leaves, torn (optional)

- Salt and Pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (About 220 C, I did it at 200 though bc my oven is a little wonky). Either cut your broccoli florets, if you're using fresh broccoli (which is the best option) and I like to use the stalks in stir-fries then, so you can save the stalks, slice them up and put them in a container for later. If you're using frozen broccoli (when you're moving, you try to eat everything from the fridge, so a bag of frozen broccoli made for not only a perfectly acceptable, but an addictively delicious lunch!) try to defrost the broccoli as much as possible, just to get as much of the moisture out as you can. 

Then, place the florets in a single layer on a big baking sheet. Take your sliced garlic and put it all over the broccoli, so almost very piece has garlic on it and then drizzle everything with olive oil. Put a little salt and pepper over the top and send it in the oven for 20-25 minutes for fresh broccoli and 30-35 minutes for frozen until some of the florets have browned.

Take the broccoli out of the oven and grate the lemon zest over the top of the broccoli, then squeeze the lemon juice. Finally, put the parmesan over the top of the broccoli and if you have basil, tear up some leaves and toss them about.  Serve immediately, devour instantly.

This stuff is absolutely addictive. You're gonna love it and you have to try it! This will, without a doubt, be the best broccoli you've ever eaten. Enjoy!

Summer Meal (without the grill) That Tastes Better than McDonald's

I'm obsesssssssssssssed! OK, so I'm kinda totally obsessed with cooking. I've been thinking a lot about what else I can do it because it makes me happy and relaxed, and I love to eat. I just have the urge to try something out but I'm so scared of it, I don't know why. And I'm the one who always says, if it scares you, then you should probably do it, because that's what makes you feel alive! And I really have to do it now because I've got time off now. Soooooo...I'm anxious to try new culinary adventures. I want to put a collection of recipes together, I want to try making some more of my Mom's food, and I'm really trying to work up my courage to trying out working in a kitchen at a restaurant.

So there, now that I've said it, maybe it will give me some more courage to go for it and do it!

I made these cheeseburgers (my first time making my own burgers!) and they came out so freaking juicy and delicious. I looked up what makes McDonald's burgers taste so good and besides using weird MSG chemical flavorings and stuff, it seems they season the meat with a lot of onion powder. My research prevailed because my cheeseburgers tasted even better than McDonald's and I know exactly what went in them because I made them myself! The other best part was that I made them indoors, because we live in an apartment and don't have a grill (or indoor grill pan), so I just made them on a pan. Perfect and easy!

For 2 Burgers I used:

About half a pound of ground beef (I would've used turkey if I had it!)

Salt & Pepper

A pinch of paprika and oregano and lots of onion powder

I brushed a bit of oil on the pan and put it on medium, I formed the beef into 2 burger patties, flattened them out (they puffed up a bit though during cooking!). I placed them on the pan and set the timer for 3 minutes. After 3 minutes, I put the slice of cheddar cheese on top (thank you Lidl Croatia, for now having cheddar cheese in your store!), and set the timer for 2 more minutes and put the lid on top of the pan. The burgers were perfectly cooked and juicy, and the cheese melted so nicely!

I got some buns from the bakery and since I know my hubby loves extra cheesiness, I spread the bottom bun with some spreadable cheese (triangle - like Laughing Cow type), put onions, a slice of tomato, and pickles on top and a little ketchup on the top bun. It was so delicious, I'm ready for more burgers. There's nothing more "American Summer" than burgers and as much as I like cevapi, I do love my burgers. (Also, just realized this might be my least-vegetarian recipe ever. For a veg burger I love, try this one!)

I served it with some crispy, crunchy, sweet and tangy coleslaw. Super super easy, I didn't even grate this cabbage myself! I just got already grated purple and green cabbage (in bags) from the supermarket. I thought I had carrots at home but we were out so I just used a little more than a pound of shredded cabbage. I dressed it with 2 Tablespoons of Sunflower Oil, 2 Tbs of sugar, and 5 Tbs of red wine vinegar. Mixed up the dressing, poured it over the cabbage and let it sit for at least an hour (in the fridge) for the coleslaw to really meld together and dress all of the cabbage. It's even better the next day so you can make the coleslaw the night before you make your burgers! I served the leftover coleslaw with cheesesteaks we had last night. Yum!

The Best Recipe You Thought You Knew, But You Don't!

Tomislav begged me to share this with you all because it literally has changed our lives in the kitchen. It seems so basic and simple but most people go the wrong way about it. Here is how you can make PERFECT hard boiled eggs, every single time.

You want them perfect, not rubbery, delicious and gorgeously yellow? Of course you do! Follow these simple instructions and I SWEAR you will be eating hard boiled eggs all the time! Here's what you need to do:

Step 1: Put the eggs in a pot and fill with cold water just an inch above the eggs.
Step 2: Bring to a boil.
Step 3: After it's at a rolling boil, TURN OFF THE HEAT and set the timer for 17 min!
Step 4: Leave the eggs

After 17 minutes are up, drain the water and either put the eggs in an ice bath to stop cooking or just pour cold water over the eggs and you will literally have the best eggs ever! They are so perfect for breakfast, or slice them up for sandwiches, or chop them for salads! Amazingly perfect eggs, every single time!

My egg wasn't sliced the best way, but you can see I made a fantastic Euro-style open faced sandwich with cheese, cold cuts, cucumbers, and my amazing hard boiled eggs! Look at how orange the yolks are - doesn't get better than that!