Coco's Kitchen - featuring The Cast Iron Diva!

I have been scouring through blog after blog today, looking for inspiration. What started out as a fun task to get some unique recipes for the week, has turned into an "OMG" what have I let myself in for, moment!  The blogs I have viewed today are so wonderfully put together, the layouts, and of course the recipes. Wonderful people with wonderful ideas and expertise, it is all so incredible. These food blogs are so far beyond anything I am doing at the minute that I have to admit, I am very intimidated and find all of this kinda scary to say the least. Should I even continue, should I even bother? I took a deep breath and a break and did some soul searching, along with a nice cold glass of Baileys on the Rocks! Whew...amazing what a little alcohol and some space can do lol! I decided to stop looking through blogs and look for some inspirational quotes. I don't know if you have noticed, but quotes feature big time on my blogs. So I came across this one and thought, h...

  Creamy Asparagus Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes Pastas By: Melanie Barnard Here is a dish that looked very delicious and not too complicated to make, I hoped! Love Pasta, love Boursin Cheese, and Asparagus, come one whats not to love! This is a dish I definitely had to try. As we are meat eaters in our family, I thought it would be a nice twist to add some meat. So I pulled out a pack of vacuumed sealed grilled chicken I prepared last week, and let that defrost so I could add to the pasta later. So proud of myself that I had this chicken already prepared, from the nights that I cooked up batches of meat for later use; so it really does work lol! Check out my food ramblings for food preparedness! A Girl Guide is ALWAYS prepared! OK these are the ingredients. 1 box farfalle (bow-tie pasta) 2 cups diagonally sliced thin asparagus (1 inch) 1 (5.2- to 6.5-oz.) pkg. garlic and herb spreadable cheese, such as Boursin 3/4 cup drained sliced oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes 1/...

Well tonight I decided to make Jalapeno Meatball Sliders and I have to say they where very easy to make and according to my “In-house" Tester, they where delicious. I totally recommend making these as they are easy and will go down a treat.    What you will need: 1 lb of Ground Beef 80/20. Of course you can use Sausage/Chicken/Turkey. 1 Cup of Breadcrumbs, store bought or home made, I made my own. 1 Large Onion. 2 Jalapeno peppers seeded. 1 Cup of grated Pepper Jack Cheese. 1 Egg if large, 2 if not. 1 can of Fire Roasted Tomatoes. 1 Tsp of Tomato Paste. 2 Tsp of Olive Oil. 1 packet of any rolls that you like for your sliders.   You can use any spices you like and any amount. I used a tsp of the following:   Onion Powder. Ancho Chili Powder. Chili Powder. Paprika. Salt and Pepper to taste.     Normally I mix all my ingredients together in a large bowl but tonight I blended everything accept the meat, in a Ninja Master Prep just for th...

It was a gorgeous Sunday today and I was quiet industrious. As I was feeling good, I decided to be proactive and get a start on dinners for next week or the following, whichever. Just handy to have items ready in the freezer for those days you just can't be bothered.   I got some Ground Beef and Chicken and was all gun ho! I prepared the Ground Beef dinners and our dinner for tonight, then decided to leave the Chicken till tomorrow, whew! Good intentions and all that! For the Ground Beef dinners, I cooked up some Burgers stuffed with cheese, some Meatball sliders and also some Tostado meat. My "in-house taster" loves Tostados and we have to keep'em happy don't you know! Once cooked and cooled down, I used my handy FoodSaver handheld and vacuum sealed the lot and popped them in to the freezer. Bingo Bango, done and dusted. As for tonight’s dinner, I couldn't be  as.., sorry, couldn't be bothered doing the whole "Sunday Roast" production, too n...

YOU MIGHT BE A CAJUN IF:..... Watching "Wild Kingdom" inspires you to write a cookbook. Follow along for an Awesome Red Beans and Rice recipe. Here is what I did, and this is what you will need. Ingredients: 2 Stalks of Celery. 1 Big Onion. 2 Green Peppers (I used Jalapeño Peppers for extra spice instead). 2 Cloves of Garlic (I used a heaped Tbsp of minced Garlic instead). 1 Stick of Butter. 1 Ring of Spicy Sausage of your choice (I used a pack of Hot Links instead). 2 Cans of Red Beans. 1 Cups of water. 1-2 Cups of Long Grain Rice. (Cups depends on how many your feeding). Spices to me listed later. I chopped the "The Trinity" of vegetables and sautéed them in butter in my deep Cast Iron Skillet until Onions where translucent. Then I added the 2 cans of Red Beans, liquid and all. I added the 1 cup of water and then turned up the heat to medium. I added the Hot Links taking the skins off, messy but worth it. I like Hot Links skins on or off, all good either wa...

Please be advised that I have been updating this blog and in the process, "Tex Mex Night" was inadvertantly reposted, so apologies for that. Bare with me as I am finding my way a little at a time.

Tex Mex is a big favorite in our house hold and so I thought what the heck, tonight I will go all out and try make everything from scratch. As I have just started this blog tonight AFTER I cooked dinner, I did not take pictures but I will in future so bare with me. Its all a work in progress as are my culinary skills! So I will use stock photos where possible for now, where fitting. So earlier in the day, I got two boneless breast of chicken out that I had defrosted and I butterflied both of them. This made it much easier to cut in to thin strips. When I was done cutting the chicken up into strips, I placed them in a container, and added the following, mostly eyeballing as I went. You can use a plastic seal bag too if you like. Whatever works best for you. Chicken Marination: 3 tbs of lemon juice and 3 tbs of lime juice - Enough to coat the chicken when all the spices are added. 1 tsp of Paprika. 1 tsp of Chili. 1 tsp of Cayenne pepper. 1 tbs of Ancho Chili Powder. 1 tsp of Garlic p...

Well isn't it always the way; you get all these great ideas from all these wonderful bloggers out there and then you get bogged down and don't know what recipe to try next. Such was the case tonight. I was so pumped up about trying something new and had narrowed my list down to about four different "Desert/Sweet" type recipes, that by the time I went shopping, got home, sorted everything out, I was like "what have I let myself in for" lol! So I went with the easiest on my list, (remember I am very much new to all of this) and so decided on making Peanut Butter Cups! The great news about this recipe for me was that if I messed up, oh well, simple enough for a Do-over! Plus, as I have already purchased all the ingredients for the other recipes, I can tackle them at my leisure without all the pressure! This is supposed to be a fun adventure for me after all. So I hope you enjoy. This really is super easy and so yummy! Go on, have a go and see for yourself. I...