5th Recipe: La Jolla Groves Inspired

This recipe reminds me of my childhood. La Jolla Groves food is comfort food with a new kick– especially their soups so I feel like this recipe is perfect. I also took a cooking class from the chef at La Jolla Groves and he gave some great tips on how to cook soup. 

The recipe I am going to share with you is my mom's vegetable soup. My mom has made this my whole life and it was the first thing I cooked myself when I left for college. We call it vegetable soup but we do add some beef in it. You can have it either way! 

This recipe will serve 6-8 people and trust me, you will want the leftovers!

For the recipe you will need: 

1/2 -3/4 lb round steak

1 Tblsp oil

1 Onion

2 big potatoes

several carrots 

1 zucchini

1 can of corn

1-2 beef bullion

1 qt bottle of V-8 Juice

You can take out the vegetables you don't like and you can add more vegetables if you like!

First you heat up the pan then add oil and saute your onions. 

After the onions start to brown add the meat and brown that. Add salt and pepper to season.

Then add the cut up vegetables. A tip I learned from the cooking class was to fully cook all the vegetables before adding the liquid. It is called sweating the vegetables and it gets rid of the raw flavor.

Once the vegetables are cooked add the V-8 juice then add 2 cups of water to cover the vegetables. Then add one or more beef bullion cubes. ( Taste and see if you need more than one)

 Let simmer a little longer then it is ready to serve!

A good side with this soup are some nice warm rolls. This soup is perfect for a cold winter day and I love how colorful it is. This is one of my favorite soups and I love how well all the vegetables blend together and how hearty it is. It is a super easy recipe and it is a great way to get your daily dose of vegetables. 

Never a Bad Fish

The next restaurant I am going to write about is Mama's Fish House in Maui, Hawaii. It's located on the North Shore and if you are ever in Maui you need to pay Mama's Fish House a visit! This restaurant has the best fish I have ever tasted in my life, most likely because all the fish is caught that morning. I have been craving it ever since I  left Hawaii.

The venue is very open with a great view of the ocean along with a cool sea breeze. Mama's is very authentic and relaxing and even through it's medium sized  it's very quite so you can really have a good conversation with your party. Even though the menu is mostly fish everybody will find something magnificent.

 The Decor is very tropical and it displays the true beauties of the Island.

The food is beyond amazing! Each bite of everything we ordered was just bursting with flavor. You'll want to have a bite of everyone's meal. I wanted to lean over to the table next to me and tell

them to order what I got because it was mind blowing. 

We started out with some bread and a tomato bisque compliments of the chef. It was in a small cup and you sipped it directly from the cup. It was a bright reddish orange color and as soon as it touched my lips the creamy richness hugged my tongue. It was very delicate and as soon as I tasted that, I knew I was in for a good meal. I only wish the bowl was bigger

The appetizer I ordered was the Maui Onion Soup. This soup literally melted in my mouth with all the rich but light cheese and onions. Some of the other appetizers we got were an onion and tomato salad which was super fresh and crisp. We also got some sashimi that really brought out all the delicate flavor in the fish. 

The fish I ordered was the Onaga which is Red Hawaiian Snapper. It is the lightest fish and it was prepared the lightest. It was so fresh and it fell apart in my mouth that after my first bite I wanted to order another one to take home for later. It was savory and packed with flavor but wasn't fishy at all. It was the best fish I have had ever hands down!

The whole meal was amazing and the dessert only added to the grandeur. It's called  the Polynesian Black Pearl. When they brought it out it was so stunning I didn't want to eat it. After the first bite I couldn't stop. It was rich but not heavy and very creamy and smooth. It was one of those desserts that you would want to lick the plate if you weren't in public. 

This is a must visit restaurant and I can't wait to go back. Everyone needs to experience this food once in their lifetime. 

1st Recipe: Malawi Inspired

I choose to do pasta this week because of the pasta dish I ordered at Malawi's. Their pasta was simple but elegant and that is what I wanted to try to create this week.

This week the recipe we decided to try was called Pasta with Zucchini, Bacon and Parmesan. I found it on the Food Network website which is where I usually get all my new food recipes from.

It is a very simple recipe but it is packed with flavor and will make you go back for seconds and thirds. As you will see in the pictures I also made a soup. This soup is called Roasted Pear- Butternut Soup with Crumbled Stilton and you can find it on the Food Network website.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/eating-well/roasted-pear-butternut-soup-with-crumbled-stilton-recipe/index.html

This pasta recipe takes 10 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook. It will serve 6 people.

For this recipe you will need:

-1 pound penne rigate pasta
-4 ounces bacon, sliced into 1/2 pieces
-2 large zucchini, diced
-1 cup reserved pasta water
-3/4 cup very loosely packed, finely grated Parmesan cheese
-salt and pepper

Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water to al dente. Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water. Return the pasta to the pot and set aside.

In a large saute pan, add the bacon and cook until the fat is rendered and the bacon is crispy. Add the zucchini and cook until it starts to soften. 

Place the cooked pasta over low heat. Add the reserved pasta water, cooked bacon, zucchini and the grated cheese. Toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve immediately.

This is a very simple recipe and it only takes 30 minutes and pasta is great for next day leftovers.

These next couple pictures are of the soup I made and the finished product.

Something I did to make the presentation a little more exciting is put my soup in dessert shooters. This makes the soup a fun appetizer but you still save room for the main course. 

This recipe is fantastic and would recommend it to anyone who was looking for a good pasta dish! When my husband and I make this again I think I we'll try adding garlic or onions to it to really play with the flavor.  It's already delicious but I really want to add my own spin.  I can't wait to continue trying new recipes with my husband.