Romy Raves

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to a super fun swanky night out called Ladies Night In LA with Chef Marcela Valladolid (the adorable chef and hostess of the Food Network’s Mexican Made Easy). This classy top notch event was hosted by Sauza Tequila along with several other fabulous LA Bloggers @MintCool @SugarJones @laflowers @deblavdas and was designed to gather a great group of LA Bloggers to eat, drink, be merry and learn about how fabulous and versatile Sauza Tequila is.

The night began with a private car pick-up (so there would be no drinking and driving) and then arrival at Elizabeth’s home (@MintCool) for a live web cast and Q&A with Chef Marcela. We watched her make an assortment of delicious Margaritas and dishes utilizing Sauza Tequila with finesse and skill. Marcela is super sweet, genuine and a very skilled chef and she proceeded to make four different and delicious Margaritas throughout the night as well as five other dishes that showcased the tequila.

Being a foodie with a diverse palate, what surprised me the most during the evening was how delicious, versatile and smooth Sauza Tequila is and how much tequila adds complexity and depth of flavor to a variety of dishes. This experience truly shifted my old school perspective about tequila being harsh and strong, to it being food friendly and enjoyable to eat and drink. I found it refreshing to learn that tequila can be used to make festive and creative drinks and dishes for the holiday season. Marcela was so masterful, the food was so tasty and inspired, and the Sauza Tequila was so smooth that I think I have found some surprising new additions to my holiday recipe line-up.

My hands down favorite recipe of the night was the Warm Winter Margarita, a delicious warm mulled spicy cider beverage with a little kick. Perfect for cold winter nights by the fire–You are going to love it!

Warm Winter Margarita

Serves 4

Ingredients:

28 oz apple juice

1 cinnamon stick

2 cups dried fruit of your choice

2 tbs granulated sugar

6 oz Sauza ® Silver Tequila

Combine apple juice and cinnamon in a heavy pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove cinnamon stick carefully. Add sugar, dried fruit, and tequila. Mix well. Serve warm. Dee-lish!

My second favorite dish of the night was the best brussel sprouts I have ever tasted in my life, and that is saying alot cause I absolutley adore brussel sprouts. These were perfectly cooked, full of creamy spicy flavor and just heavenly! As you can see they were such a hit, I captured this pic after they were almost gone!

Brussels Sprouts in Morilla Cream

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 pounds brussels sprouts. halved

1 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup roasted sunflower seeds

3 scallions (white and pale green parts only)

1 morilla chile, stemmed, seeded, and very thinly sliced

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Salt and pepper To Taste

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large heavy saucepan over medium high heat. Add the brussels sprouts and stir for 1 minute to coat them with butter. Add the broth, cover, and simmer for 7 minutes, or until the brussels sprouts are tender. Uncover and continue to simmer for 4 minutes, or until all of the broth evaporates. Transfer brussels sprouts to medium bowl.

Melt remaining 1 tablespoon of butter in same pan. Add the sunflower seeds, scallions, and chile and saute for 2 minutes, or until the nuts are toasted and chile is tender. Stir in the cream and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, return the brussels sprouts to pan, and toss to coat them with the cream. Season the brussels sprouts to taste with salt and pepper.

Enjoy & Happy Holidays!

Disclosure: Sauza Tequila sponsored this fun evening, they provided private car service, delicious food, tasty drinks and then they gifted us with Sauza Tequila and Marcella’s Cookbook Fresh Mexico: 100 Simple Recipes for True Mexican Flavor. While I had a great time and really expanded my culinary repertoire, I made no promises about writing about this experience or raving about the product.

Greetings My Beauties! Sorry I have be remiss in writing regular posts lately, but as you know I have been traveling for most of the summer, plus I have the little guy home for an extra week (Thank You LAUSD Budget Cuts!) which definitely makes it hard to stay focused and write. In addition, tonight is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year and I have been busy cooking and prepping for our yummy dinner. I thought you might enjoy sampling a couple of new tasty holiday recipes, whether you celebrate or not. Below are some new holiday recipes that I am testing out, let me know what you think.

Honey Cake This is a warm brown colored cake sweetened with honey and the perfect hint of spice. It’s yummy, warm and comforting. It is often eaten as dessert during the New Year festivities. FYI-I made this cake this AM and even though I sprayed generously it stuck to my fancy Star of David pan, and my wonderful hubby and son decided to make another one before I got home so I wouldn’t be upset (isn’t that sweet of them ), but low and behold, it stuck again! Well now, we have TWO, not so pretty but super yummy honey cakes, guess its gonna be an extra sweet, but not perfect New Year? 

1   Box Yellow Cake Mix

1/2   Cup Honey

1   Teaspoon Cinnamon

1/2   Teaspoon Nutmeg

1/4   Teaspoon Ginger

2   Tablespoons Oil

3   Eggs

1   Cup Coffee

Mix all of the above ingredients together thoroughly, pour into a bundt pan and bake at 325 for 1 hour.

Yummy Apple Noodle Kugel I describe kugel as a the Jewish comfort food akin to the all American Mac ‘n Cheese. A kugel is typically a casserole of noodles, eggs and sometimes sweet and other times savory additions. Below is a recipe for a sweet kugel, that is super easy, tasty and the perfect representation of apples and honey for a sweet new year. Kids love this one. Word of warning: kugels are yummy but dense and filling, so beware

1   Package of Wide Egg Noodles

4   Eggs, beaten

1   Cup Sugar

3/4   Stick Butter, melted/softened

1   Can Comstock Apple Pie Filling, diced into small pieces

1  Tablespoon Cinnamon

2  Teaspoons Vanilla

Raisins, if desired

Preheat oven to 350. Boil noodles per package. Combine drained noodles with the rest of the ingredients and pour into a greased 9×13 pan. Sprinkle cinnamon on top. Bake for 45 minutes.

Eat and Enjoy!

And to those of you that celebrate, Here’s to a Sweet, Spectacular, Healthy and Properous New Year!

This Fall I was invited to a wonderful event for lifestyle bloggers–an afternoon of learning about healthy eating strategies from celebrity lifestyle and fitness guru Kathy Kaehler. Kathy created this wonderfully simple concept called Sunday Set-Up where you buy and prepare all of your healthy meal ingredients on Sunday and have them ready to go during the week when you are crazed, busy, tired and likely to make the wrong food choices. I love this uber simple lifestyle concept and have been using it since the Fall, and now I would like to share it with you. 

Kathy created Sunday Set-Up to help busy moms (and other uber busy peeps) make daily meal prep easier, healthier and more practical. Instead of stressing about how you are going to pull together healthy and tasty meals night after night, this program is your plan-ahead solution. The idea is that every Sunday you “set-up” your meals for the week by shopping for your ingredients over the weekend and selecting, then prepping foods that can be made into a week’s worth of recipe ingredients.

According to Kathy, “Sunday Set-Up is a great way for me to be organized. I get all of my food at the farmers market or grocery store on the weekend, wash it all, cut it up, and put it into containers. It just became a habit for me, and then I started sharing my strategy with clients and moms that I know. I eventually turned it into a program.”

Kathy feels that, “Families today rely too much on take-out and ordering-in. Our children are not learning how to prepare healthy meals. By implementing Sunday Set-Up into your routine, you will save money, eat better, eat healthier, feel more energized, gather as a family more often, and you may even lose some weight.”

Sunday Set-Up is as easy as 1-2-3:

1. On Saturday or Sunday afternoon, take your kids and go shopping at your local farmers market or grocery store, picking up the freshest ingredients possible. Try to be as ‘green’ as possible by making a point of buying seasonal, local, and organic ingredients (they tend to be the most vibrant and taste the best too!) Also, bringing the kids gets them excited and invested in the healthy eating process. Click HERE to see Kathy’s Sunday Set-Up Shopping List.

2. On Sunday, chop and cook the ingredients necessary for a week’s worth of meals and snacks. This includes vegetables, rice, pasta, beans and chicken/protein. And to add a little yummy inspiration to the mix, here are two of my favorite, super easy and delicious recipes that Kathy made with us at this event: Kathy’s Kale (ridiculously addictive) and Salsa Rice and Black Beans

3. After the preparing and cooking, store the fixings in clear glass containers (Kathy introduced me to Snapware Glass Lock Containers and I absolutely LOVE them–durable, leak proof, easy to see your food and aesthetically pleasing) and place them at the front of your refrigerator. That way, you will be excited about all of the mix and match possibilities for meals and healthy snack options.

That’s It! Simple, Easy, Inspired, Yummy and Healthy! Thank You Kathy for conceptualizing such a brilliant modern day program that can really impact lives in such a positive way.  So, what are your healthy lifestyle choices? Any quick and easy tips for eating healthier? Please post and share your tips and ideas.

Halloween is without a doubt one of my most favorite holidays. I love the chill in the air, the shift in mood, anything and everything that has to do with witches and all things pumpkin. I absolutely adore pumpkin! I love the warm orange autumnal color, I love the way it tastes in food, I love the smell of pumpkin and cinnamon baking together and I love the naturally active antioxidant properties that pumpkin has as a skincare ingredient. Given my affinity for this seasonal fruit, I have decided to dedicate all of my blog posts this week to Pumpkins and Halloween.

Here’s what I have in store for my lovely ghouls this week: Today, I will share some of my favorite pumpkin recipes; On Wednesday, I will rave about some of my favorite pumpkin skincare products; and on Friday, I will post a fabulous Halloween Giveaway contest so that you can have a chance to score some Halloween treats of your very own. I hope you enjoy this week of wicked treats and keep coming back for more!

Below are links to some of my favorite pumpkin recipes, along with a little insight into why I like each of them. I am sharing these recipes because they are delicious, inspired and full of pumpkiny flavor. Give them a try and let me know what you think, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. And as a favor to me, PLEASE share your fab pumpkin recipes in the comments section of this post, I am always looking for new pumpkin recipes to add to my collection.

Pumpkin Dip
from Cooking Light October 2003
This is one of my all time favorite, super easy, delicious and healthy pumpkin snacks. I often serve it as a seasonal appetizer that takes no time to prep and always gets rave reviews. And it is especially delicious with the most insane, knock-your-socks-off with flavor apples of the season: Honey Crisps (the best apple on the planet!!!!!) If you haven’t tried these delicious babies yet, run to your local market and taste the perfect blend of sweet, tart crunchiness for yourself.

Ooey Gooey Pumpkin Cakes
from Paula Deen, October 2008
This cake is ridiculously good, super indulgent, and a memorable dessert. It kinda reminds me of a molten chocolate cake but made with pumpkin instead. Dee-lish!

Pumpkin Pie Biscotti
from Southern Living January 1996
I love biscotti! It’s tasty, crunchy, great for dipping in your favorite beverage and relatively healthy because it is made with very little oil. This pumpkin version is super tasty and perfect for the fall season.  I like to add dried cranberries to mine, dip half of the biscotti in melted white chocolate, then wrap a handful in a pretty cellophane bag and tie them up with cranberry colored wire ribbon. I give these tasty morsels to friends as gifts around the holidays and have gotten nothing but compliments.

Pumpkin Baked Ziti
from Paula Deen, October 2008
I haven’t tried this recipe yet, but it sounds so insanely good (and budget friendly) that I just had to share it! I am making it for my guests who are coming over for Halloween this weekend. This recipe has all the ingredients and flavors that I love to combine with pumpkin, so it is sure to be a hit. Let me know what you think!