Mother's Day Mexican Fiesta

Last year my brother, sister, and I made an impromptu Mexican fiesta for Mother's Day. Everything turned out to be amazing so this year we decided to continue the tradition, but really plan it out. My brother did most of the researching but we both put the menu together. Sabrina and I did all the food shopping while Jesse stayed home to plant the lilac bush we bought my mom for Mother's Day. (Side note: For as long as I can remember, this has a been a favorite of hers - I'm surprised it took us so long to get her one of her own.) Anyway, I don't have pictures of all the individual things we made but here's the table and then tell you all what there was.

Not pictured - we started the afternoon off with a giant bowl of guacamole and a huge dish of sangria. When it comes to guac, I've found that the best way to make it is to mix in a few spoon fulls of the salsa of your liking into some mashed up avocados. Then I add in some roasted jalapenos, garlic, and salt. The sangria was made with two bottles of Spanish roija wine, sprite (zero), a few shots of brandy and cut up lemon, lime, apple, orange, and handful of strawberries.


DINNER

• Salad: baby arugula, baby spinach, mango, corn, and toasted pecans. For the dressing we combines olive oil, apple cider vinegar, juice of 2 limes, chili powder, and cayenne pepper - mmm!
• Yellow rice
• Beans
• Grilled zucchini, mushrooms, red peppers, onions, and jalapenos all marinated in tequilla, lime juice, and cilantro.
• Chicken breasts and skirt steak both marinated in an asada sauce (I WILL post the recipe for this sauce that we made, because it was TOO DIE FOR, just need to find it).
• Corn tortillas and whole wheat tortillas

And it was a make your own fajitas :) Everything was amazing and Mexican fiesta has officially become a tradition at the Toledano house for Mother's Day!

Well, I suck

As Jen previously mentioned, I too have been totally slacking on the updating. It's not that I haven't been going out or cooking, just busy I guess. Jen talked about a new restaurant in Montclair that she went to called Tosca - and when I was home a few weeks ago, my sister and I went there. Have to say that we had a GREAT experience. Brought a nice bottle of wine (red of course), shared a salad (unfortunately no pic, but it was superb), and then each had a main course. Sabrina opted for the salmon with veggies and potatoes, and while I do not like fish AT ALL, she said that it was great. She really raved about the mustard sauce that came with it.


I decided to keep it simple and went for the spicy salami pizza. This was phenomenal! The middle of the pizza was a little soggy, but with such thin crust, that tends to happen. Other than that, it really was very good. I definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone who's looking for Montclair eats.


That same weekend while I was home, we decided to make some spinach artichoke dip on Sunday afternoon. This really has become a family favorite of ours, especially because it is low fat and very easy to make. Ingredients include: 14 oz artichoke hearts drained and finely chopped, 10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained, 2/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, 3/4 cup light mayo, 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, and 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder. Mix all the ingredients together and spoon into a 9 inch baking dish. I usually sprinkle on some extra shredded mozzarella cheese on top to give it that brown effect that I love. Bake this for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees and serve with blue corn tortilla chips or whatever you'd like :)

Sorry blog, I've neglected you.

I need to apologize. I haven't been blogging. And I've definitely been cooking and dining out, so I have no excuse!

Since my last post, I've been to a few restaurants in Montclair, so I'm going to do a quick assessment of each. They weren't bad experiences, but they also weren't as unreal as Culinariane, so I don't think they need their own blog post.

Tosca - Tosca is a new restaurant in Montclair, on Church St. It's next to the movie theater, so it's a great option for dinner and a movie. Dinner here was very nice. I think they're still a work in progress and learning to handle the Montclair weekend rush. I had a linguine puttanesca. The sauce was delicious - one of the better one's that I've had. And my stepdad, an Italian food connoisseur, agreed. The problem was the linguine. It was very al dente. Everyone at the table had mixed experiences as well. I think they're still working on their pasta dishes, but I wouldn't rule this place out. It has serious potential! I've heard great things about their pizzas, so that's what I'll be ordering next time.

Trattoria Rustica - As far as I know, Rustica has been on Bloomfield Ave. for quite some time, but somehow I haven't been. The restaurant is very simple inside, a little rustic decor, and when I went, it was virtually empty. Granted, it was a weeknight and about 6pm (Yes, I was striving for an early bird special). For dinner, again, I had puttanesca sauce. This time I asked for it with whole wheat penne. Pathetic, I know, but I'm trying to watch the waistline. The food was good. The service was good. The price was good. Overall, just good. Would I go back? I'm not sure. With all of the other options in the area, I can't see it happening. But they did give me a $10 off coupon for next time, so that may help. Maybe I should apply for Extreme Couponing.

Gencarelli's - My aunt has been begging me to try Gencarelli's for a while, but somehow it never happened. I recently bought a gift certificate on Groupon [$20 for $40 worth of food] and it expires in May. So, I finally went. I was pleasantly surprised. The decor was very nice and the service was phenomenal. Our waitress couldn't have been any sweeter and one of the owners came by to check on us. That might have been because my aunt is a regular, but I'll still give them the credit. We shared a tapenade crostini for an appetizer which was delicious. For dinner, I had eggplant/zucchini parmesan. It came with a side of pasta. The sauce was a little tart and when I brought home a doggy bag for Pete, he agreed. But, the eggplant/zucchini was really tasty! I loved the combination, which I've never had. I think I'd go back to Gencarelli's. My one thought is that it's overpriced. It's in the same price range as Osteria Giotto (my favorite), and to be honest, it's just not there.

So, that's what I've been up to lately. I've been cooking a lot too, but I'll save that for another posting. Happy Thursday!

Culinariane, Montclair!

For the past few months I've been dying to try Culinariane in Montclair. Finally, I made the reservation far enough in advance that we were able to go this past Saturday night. Let me preface this by saying - We're critical. My boyfriend and I love food, love eating out and we've been to some great restaurants. We have high standards. This exceeded them!

Culinariane is truly a treat. It's not inexpensive, no liquor license and it's not on the "main drag" in Montclair. And somehow it is still packed. A true testament to how delicious the food is.

We started off with two appetizers -

• Crab, Papaya, Potato Napoleon, Pickled Habañero, Cilantro Cream
• Cornmeal Crusted Oysters, Horseradish Cream, Micro Greens

Both were great! I'm not a huge fan of oysters, but these were phenomenal. The cornmeal crust was great. The crab dish was not what I expected. I envisioned a "stack" but this was more like refined nachos. So good!

For dinner, we went with:

• Pan Seared Sea Scallops, Forest Mushroom Ragout, White Truffle Oil, Mushroom Syrup
• Australian Lamb Top Sirloin, Pea Puree, White Asparagus, Parmesan Fondue, Mint Pistou

I couldn't try the lamb because I gave up meat for lent, but my boyfriend loved it. The plate was cleaned. I tried the pea puree, asparagus and mint pistou - all great.

The sea scallops were fabulous. We both had never eaten scallops with a truffle sauce ... usually have had them cooked much lighter. They were great! And so were the mushrooms.

For a dessert we shared - Lemon Meringue Martini, Vanilla Wafer Crust, Cherry Surprise. It was the perfect refresher after a heavy dinner.

All in all, this place was an A+ and I would go back in a heartbeat. The service and decor was just as great as the food. This is a special place - perfect for an anniversary or birthday! You won't be disappointed.

http://culinariane.com/

Chiptole Chicken

Every day I receive emails from different websites to recipes. Most of the time they're nothing special, but once in a while I find something that looks great and I save it for future use. Yesterday I was home in Wayne and we were trying to decide what to make for dinner, when I remembered this recipe for chipotle chicken and sweet potatoes - SOLD! So we went food shopping, stocked up on the ingredients and were ready to cook dinner. First thing we did after preheating the oven was cut up all the sweet potatoes into the one inch cubes like the recipe calls for and arranged them along the bottom of a pyrex dish.


Then we made the marinade for the chicken. All the ingredients seemed a bit odd to me at first glance but as I started adding them in and smelling it, I knew it was going to be good. I then coated all the chicken breasts in the sauce and covered them on a plate to soak while the potatoes were cooking a bit. After I let the potatoes cook in the oven for about 20 minutes, I took it out and placed the chicken (that was in the marinade this whole time) right on top of the potatoes.


Put it back in the oven at 350 degrees for another 20 minutes and dinner was ready. Pretty simple dinner that was one of the most delicious meals ever. The final product is below but I didn't get a picture of my place because it was too good not to start eating right away! When I make this again, I think I'll cook the potatoes and the chicken separately, because I like my potatoes nice and crispy, and although these were amazing, not crispy enough for my liking.

My first pasta masterpiece!

Yes, you read correctly - MASTERPIECE. Let me explain. I've made pasta before. And I've made some great pasta dishes before. But nothing like this. This was perfection. My boyfriend had NO complaints, no suggestions... He even went for seconds!



I'm not one for measurements, so you'll never see that in any of the recipes I blog about, only desserts. Cooking isn't a science. It's an art. And it's supposed to be fun, not stressful!

To start, I cooked about 5 garlic cloves and 1/2 yellow onion in EVOO on low-medium heat for about 5 minutes. Then I threw in a can of diced tomatoes (un-salted, always) and one can of whole/peeled tomatoes that I previously blended to make it "saucier." I let that cook on medium heat for about 30-45 minutes, enough for the tomato sauce to cook down. If not, canned tomatoes will taste slightly bitter.

Then I added a handful of spinach, 1 cubed yellow squash, 1 cubed zucchini, and one can of cannellini beans. Turned the heat down to about a 4 (Yes, I unfortunately have an electric stove) and let it cook for about 20 minutes.



When it was finished, I turned the heat off and tossed in 1 lb. of whole wheat pasta and mixed it together. Sprinkle with some cheese and you have yourself a delicious dinner! And healthy!

Also, I'm a big fan of Bethenny Frankel's "Use what you have" motto. If you didn't have one of these vegetables, use a different one. I found some spinach and randomly threw that in. That wasn't in my original idea. Just go for it and be creative!

Where to Start?

Well I guess the answer to this would be PIZZA! My favorite pizza I ever made was the first time I tried making it on the BBQ last summer. Simple, whole wheat crust (99 cents from Trader Joe's) with marinara sauce and fresh mozzarella. One thing I did differently that really gave it a nice kick was when I oiled up the dough before I put it on the grill, I added in some red pepper flakes and oregano. Anyone who knows me, knows that I love my food super-spicy. I also put the flakes on the sauce before I added the cheese. When using fresh mozzarella to make your own pizza, always make sure to pat it dry. They naturally have a lot of water, and it tends to soak out when its cooking and then you end up with watery pizza. And VOILA! This was one of my first pizza's and was definitely the best. Shape wasn't perfect, but oh well. Served with a little side salad and a glass of wine on a summer night and it was perfect!