Daily Loaf

When thinking of recipes to make to post on the site, I rack my brain looking at food magazines, and foodie sites and blogs for inspiration. But I’ve come to find, through trial and error, that my best looking and tasting dishes are almost always done as a spur of the moment thing.

I especially love a challenge, like trying to make a meal with what I’ve got in the refrigerator or pantry- sometimes working with plain and boring items, and sometimes very interesting ones. Which leads me to how I made this meal.

Picture the scene: I’m over at my boyfriend’s house trying to make dinner last week and he hadn’t stocked up on groceries in awhile (typical). I go through the pantry and refrigerator, scavenging and turning on my creative juices to come up with something for a well-balanced meal. I’ve got these basics- frozen chicken breasts (thank goodness he buys a ton when they’re on sale), rice, asparagus (luckily, still pretty fresh) an onion, and a green bell pepper. Protein, starch, a green vegetable, and garnish- perfect. Lucky for him, he’s dating a foodie with culinary degree and a flair for thinking on her toes when it comes to meal time. So I grabbed a packet of Sazon Tropical seasoning and a bottle of Mojo marinade I’d stashed over there for times like these (also easy to find at your local grocery store and great pantry staples) and a bottle of white wine, got out the tools and got to cooking. Read the rest of this entry »

Soon after moving to Tampa, I discovered a whole new world of Cuban food.
Tampa has a large Cuban community and their food is a staple in this town. Growing up, I had never heard of chicken and yellow rice, cafe con leche, deviled crabs, plantains, etc. I was missing out on a whole bunch of yummy food.
So if you are Cuban, I am sure this is not the authentic way to make Roast Pork with Black Beans and Yellow Rice, but my way still tastes damn good (and it tastes like the Cuban restaurants). Read the rest of this entry »