Chef Cristian's Cinco de Mayo Recipes
www.tampabaychef.com
Each year on May 5th, Mexicans everywhere celebrate the Battle of Puebla, where an unlikely defeat of the French army took place on May 5th in 1862. For Mexicans, it's a testament of their history, strength and perseverance. For the rest of us, it's a day to acknowledge our friends south-of-the-border by drinking Modelo beer, tequila, and partaking in delicious Mexican food - or more accurately, Tex-Mex food.
I decided to make two Mexican-themed recipes for my "Cinco de Mayo" cooking segment on the Good Day Tampa Bay show (Fox 13). Below are the recipes.
Taco Puffs Recipe
Although it sounds like a cool high school nickname, Taco Puffs are an easy appetizer that I put together for my cinco de mayo party. They are simply, ground taco meat, or chili rolled up with cheddar cheese inside a puff pastry sheet, cut into pucks and baked until puffy and golden brown. They are then topped with fresh salsa or pico de gallo, guacamole, and fresh chopped cilantro.
Ingredients:
- Cooked, seasoned taco beef OR leftover chili
- Shredded Cheddar Cheese
- Guacamole
- Salsa
- Fresh cilantro
- Pepperidge Farms puff pastry sheets (each box has 2 sheets. Each sheet yields about 9-12 puffs)
Instructions:
1. Thaw the puff pastry, but keep it cold. Roll it out flat and spread chili or taco meat along the middle (a 3-4 inch wide area). Sprinkle with cheddar cheese and roll up tight. Pinch seams.
2. Cut the roll into inch-thick pucks. Place pucks onto non-stick baking surface.
3. Pre-heat oven to 400. Bake taco puffs for 20-30 minutes just until the puffs puff up and get golden brown.
4. Put them on a serving platter or tray, and top with a spoonful of salsa, guacamole and sprinkle with fresh chopped cilantro. Enjoy with an ice-cold Corona, or accompany with my next recipe below.
Tequila Snow Cones "Raspados de Tequila"
The word "raspado" in Spanish means something scraped. It's very common in latin america to go out on the street and find a vendor with a cart selling "raspados". The vendor will have a block of ice from which he will scrape ice shavings which he will serve in a paper cup and top with flavored syrups, and usually, sweetened condensed milk.
I decided to use my snow cone maker that I got at Wal-Mart for $10 to make an icy, refreshing dessert for Cinco de Mayo.
Ingredients:
- Ice
- Sugar
- Sweetened condensed milk
- Fresh lime juice
- Fresh mint for garnish
Equipment:
- An ice scraper, an electric snow cone maker, or a hand-crank snow cone maker.
- Martini glasses or paper cones (fancy or casual!)
Instructions:
1. For each portion, shave 1 cup of ice.
2. Mix shaved ice with 1 spoonful of sugar, 1 spoonful of sweetened condensed milk, 1 to 2 spoonfuls of lime juice. Put in a martini glass.
3. Pour 1oz of tequila over the ice and garnish with a sprig of mint. Enjoy!
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
body cleansing foods and recipes
Summer Food Reset
By: Chef Cristian Feher
www.tampabaychef.com
Disclaimer: I ain't no doctor, nutritionist, or dietician. The following statements are my unqualified opinions only and do not supersede those of your doctor. Just so you know.
With summer just around the corner we all want to fit into those bathing suits - well I don't, I just buy bigger size trunks. But I'm sure you do! So, I've compiled this article to help you on your way.
I get to meet all sorts of people. And very often, I come across health, nutrition, and fitness experts with whom I interchange information and strategies with. Below are some ideas to give your body a break, and point it back to a healthy direction.
Drink your vitamins and enzymes. Your body is a big chemical plant - it does all sorts of things with chemicals. Hormones send messages, acids break things down, and vitamins and enzymes are essential to processing foods into useable energy. When you take vitamins in pill-form, you're doing the work for your body. And eventually the body will lose its own ability to get vitamins and enzymes out of the foods that you eat. Not a good scenario. To avoid this, you want to provide your body with the raw materials, so that it can leach out and manufacture its own vitamins out of the foods that you feed it. The best way to do this, is to make fresh, healthy juices with a juicer.
Without getting into too much detail, here are the vegeteables that can supply your body with vitamins and enzymes: Any dark leafy greens, citrus fruit, ginger, beets, carrots, apples, pineapple or papaya (enzymes). Run these through a blender and have yourself a power-breakfast! Mix a little spirulina in there to complete all the food groups.
Avoid sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and preservatives. Why? Because you don't need them. They make you fat, burn your body out, and decrease your body's ability to make its own energy from actual food. You may find that it can take weeks to recover from a high-sugar diet, but don't worry. Your body's ability to make energy will start working again and you'll start to have energy once more.
Allergies can make you fat and tired. The most common food allergies are: gluten (wheat), corn, soy, dairy, and peanuts. Take them out of your diet for just 2 to 3 weeks and you may notice how good you feel (and look). To find out if you're allergic to any one of them, simply add them back into your diet one at a time and notice how you feel after eating them. If you're good, keep eating them. If they make you feel tired, head-achy, bloated, etc.. Eliminate them from your diet.
Exercise. Yes. What are you eating for if you're not exercising? Food is fuel. Use it or store it, the choice is yours. Many experts encourage people to "rebound" on a trampoline, jump rope or take part in any activity which makes your body bounce. This is so that your lymphatic system (the system that cleans your cells and organs) flows quickly. Since your lymphatic system does not have a pump (like your vascular system), it requires gravity to help move the impurities out of your body. Exercise speeds up your lymphatic system tremendously. This helps keep you healthy and helps you to lose weight.
You don't need to be a vegan. Seriously. Your body is happy to eat animal meat, and thrives on it. I've never met a vegan I couldn't beat in an arm wrestling competition!
Meat protein, along with vegetables, a little exercise, and non-allergenic carbohydrates make a strong, healthy body.
By: Chef Cristian Feher
www.tampabaychef.com
 |
| Click HERE to watch the video |
With summer just around the corner we all want to fit into those bathing suits - well I don't, I just buy bigger size trunks. But I'm sure you do! So, I've compiled this article to help you on your way.
I get to meet all sorts of people. And very often, I come across health, nutrition, and fitness experts with whom I interchange information and strategies with. Below are some ideas to give your body a break, and point it back to a healthy direction.
Drink your vitamins and enzymes. Your body is a big chemical plant - it does all sorts of things with chemicals. Hormones send messages, acids break things down, and vitamins and enzymes are essential to processing foods into useable energy. When you take vitamins in pill-form, you're doing the work for your body. And eventually the body will lose its own ability to get vitamins and enzymes out of the foods that you eat. Not a good scenario. To avoid this, you want to provide your body with the raw materials, so that it can leach out and manufacture its own vitamins out of the foods that you feed it. The best way to do this, is to make fresh, healthy juices with a juicer.
Without getting into too much detail, here are the vegeteables that can supply your body with vitamins and enzymes: Any dark leafy greens, citrus fruit, ginger, beets, carrots, apples, pineapple or papaya (enzymes). Run these through a blender and have yourself a power-breakfast! Mix a little spirulina in there to complete all the food groups.
Avoid sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and preservatives. Why? Because you don't need them. They make you fat, burn your body out, and decrease your body's ability to make its own energy from actual food. You may find that it can take weeks to recover from a high-sugar diet, but don't worry. Your body's ability to make energy will start working again and you'll start to have energy once more.
Allergies can make you fat and tired. The most common food allergies are: gluten (wheat), corn, soy, dairy, and peanuts. Take them out of your diet for just 2 to 3 weeks and you may notice how good you feel (and look). To find out if you're allergic to any one of them, simply add them back into your diet one at a time and notice how you feel after eating them. If you're good, keep eating them. If they make you feel tired, head-achy, bloated, etc.. Eliminate them from your diet.
Exercise. Yes. What are you eating for if you're not exercising? Food is fuel. Use it or store it, the choice is yours. Many experts encourage people to "rebound" on a trampoline, jump rope or take part in any activity which makes your body bounce. This is so that your lymphatic system (the system that cleans your cells and organs) flows quickly. Since your lymphatic system does not have a pump (like your vascular system), it requires gravity to help move the impurities out of your body. Exercise speeds up your lymphatic system tremendously. This helps keep you healthy and helps you to lose weight.
You don't need to be a vegan. Seriously. Your body is happy to eat animal meat, and thrives on it. I've never met a vegan I couldn't beat in an arm wrestling competition!
Meat protein, along with vegetables, a little exercise, and non-allergenic carbohydrates make a strong, healthy body.
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