Author: Marlee And Christie

Traditional Carne Asada

~ Marlee And Christie ~ Leave a comment

Today feels like the perfect BBQ weather, so we give you the perfect food accompaniment: Carne Asada! Grill it up with a chilled beer in hand (We like Modelo) and you’ve got it made.

If you don’t have a grill you can always use a grill plan like this.

Traditional Carne Asada

Traditional Carne Asada

Traditional Carne Asada 

Ingredients

  • 2 Tablespoons Carne Asada Seasoning*
  • Juice from one Lime (fresh)
  • 1/2 Cup Orange Juice
  • 1/2 White Onion (Thinly Sliced)
  • 1 Bunch Cilantro (Chopped) *Optional*
  • 2 Pounds Skirt or Flank steak

*Equal parts: salt, garlic powder, sugar, paprika. Dashes: Cumin, oregano, black pepper, cayenne pepper. ( You can use what’s leftover as a season salt for anything else).

Step 1: 

In a small bowl, mix together lime juice, orange juice, seasoning and cilantro.

Step 2: 

In a shallow dish, place the carne asada and onions down. Cover with the marinade making sure to coat both sides of the meat. Cover and place in the fridge for a minimum of at least 45 minutes.

Remember the longer you allow it marinate, the more flavor the meat will have.

Step 3: 

Thirty to forty minutes before you plan on grilling your meat, remove from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature.

By doing this, the meat will cook more evenly.

Traditional Carne Asada

Step 4: 

Grill over medium heat for about 2-3 minutes per side. Allow to rest for five minutes before slicing and enjoying.

Eat with tortillas and all the fixings or just by itself! Just enjoy it!

Traditional Carne Asada

Friendiversary

~ Marlee And Christie ~ Leave a comment

We’ve been best friends for 14 years as of today. We met in September of 2001. We were paired up as buddies, and my job (Marlee) was to show Christie around the school.

The rest is really history ( a long and crazy one) but here we are fourteen years later, writing, making movies, being generally awesome. It’s a slow start, but we’re so glad to be sharing our food blogging journey with you.

sisters

Stay tuned for more recipes and friendship!

Coconut-Curry Corn Chowder

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Coconut-Curry Corn Soup

It’s raining in LA!

For one day, and one day only we have what feels like real fall weather (or at least to LA standards) and we are going to use that to our advantage and post this delicious and warm chowder recipe.

Today’s recipe is perfect for any rainy or fall day. You can make this chowder, curl up with a good book (or movie) and enjoy the warm comforts that a hearty chowder can bring you.

What’s great about this chowder? It’s all made in one pot and you don’t even have to really think about it. You throw everything into the crockpot and let her go and 4 hours later BAM! It’s magic!

Coconut-Curry Corn Chowder

Ingredients

  • 3 bags of frozen corn
  • 2 cups of yukon potatoes, diced
  • 1 red pepper, diced
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 large chipotle pepper, minced
  • Juice from 1 lime
  • 14 oz. can of fire roasted tomatoes
  • 4 cups of chicken or veggie stock
  • salt & pepper
  • 1 tablespoon
  • 1 can of coconut milk
  • diced avocado (garnish on top)

Step 1:

Add 2 bags of corn, potatoes, red pepper, onion, chipotle pepper, lime juice, fire roasted tomatoes, stock, and salt & pepper to a crock pot. Mix. Cook on HIGH for 4 hours.

Step 2:

While the crock pot pool party gets started, we’ll make the coconut corn cream to thicken the chowder. In a saucepan, place the coconut milk and remaining bag of corn and curry. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Let it simmer for 20 minutes.

Step 3:

Let coconut corn cream cool a little before blending in smaller batches, probably 2-3 batches. Pour into crock pot and let the chowder party commence!

Coconut-Curry Corn Soup

Coconut-Curry Corn Soup

Adapted from Joyful Healthy Eats!

Pro Baking Tip #6: More Bacon Bits

~ Marlee And Christie ~ Leave a comment

IMG_7533

If you didn’t already know, we love BACON. Bacon is the best and bacon goes with almost everything.

A few months ago, we gave you a recipe for the perfect Bacon, which was made in an oven. But right now, it’s WAY TOO HOT to even think about turning on the oven, so pan fried bacon will have to suffice.

The reason we’re not a fan of pan fried bacon, is most of the time once you put the bacon in the pan it shrivels up and you feel like you loose half of the bacon because it shrinks!

The mistake that most people make when pan frying bacon is that they turn the heat up way too high therefore shrinking the bacon and you lose all the bacon-y goodness.

Our solution to this problem is making sure the bacon goes into A COLD PAN first. And cooking it LOW an SLOW.

Sure, it takes longer, but in the end you have more bacon and everyone is happy.

So remember, the trick to perfect bacon in a pan:

  1. Start your bacon in a COLD PAN.
  2. Keep the heat between low and medium low.
  3. Cook until done.
  4. BAM. Perfect pan fried bacon…every time!

IMG_7532

P.S. you know you’ve cooked your bacon properly when the fat literally melts in your mouth!

S’mores Ice Cream

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S'mores Ice Cream

While all the other cities are cooling down for fall, LA is heating up for our normal fall heatwave (we call it second summer, if you didn’t melt already…here you go). And because it’s still so hot, we’re giving you more ice cream!

It feels hot enough to roast a marshmallow in the outside air, so we thought we’d make S’mores ice cream. S’mores remind of us summer and camping. Two things we aren’t terribly found of, but we do like chocolate, graham crackers and a gloriously toasted marshmallow.

We know it seems intimidating, but making ice cream is totally worth it. Machines aren’t that expensive, especially on Amazon, and once you find a recipe that works (like all of ours) you will be Ice Cream-Making Wizards!

If you really want to be fancy, you can lightly toast the marshmallows before you add them in Step 6. 

S'mores Ice Cream

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 Cups Half and Half
  • 1/2 Cup Bakers Sugar
  • 1 1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
  • 2 Large Eggs
  • 1 Cup Heavy Cream
  • 1 Jar Marshmallow Fluff (7 oz)
  • 1 Sleeve Graham Crackers (Crushed in to pieces)
  • Mini Marshmallows (Half a bag)
  • 1 Cup Chocolate Chips

Step 1: 

In a large sauce pan, combine the half and half and sugar over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, remove from heat and set aside.

Step 2: 

Beat the eggs until light and fluffy, about three minutes.

Step 3: 

Very slowly, pour about half of the heated half and half mixture into the eggs whisking constantly. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and place on the stove over medium-low heat.

Step 4: 

Next, add the heavy cream and marshmallow fluff and stir until smooth. When the mixture has thickened and coasts the back of a spoon remove from the heat and transfer to glass jar.

Step 5: 

Allow to cool to room temperature then transfer to the fridge for at least 12 hours.

Step 6: 

When cool, make according to your ice cream makers manufactures instructions. During the last five minutes of churning, slowly add the crushed graham pieces, marshmallows and chocolate until combined. Transfer to a freezer safe container and let firm up for at least three hours, then enjoy!

S'mores Ice Cream

Our First Seasonal Pumpkin

~ Marlee And Christie ~ 2 Comments

One thing that really helps you in the kitchen, is nice cookware. Our wonderful neighbor gave us a Le Creuset pot yesterday because it didn’t “fit” his new kitchen. We gladly accepted.

Jack the Pot

Isn’t he beautiful? We named in Jack, the Pumpkin King. Since it’s September and basically everyone goes crazy for pumpkins, we thought we would honor that with our new pot.

We think every young cook needs a beautiful Dutch Oven. They hold their heart beautifully and they’re excellent for making sauces, stews, basically anything.

Easy Oven Pulled Pork

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Easy Oven BBQ Pulled Pork

It’s a long weekend! And the last thing you want to worry about is slaving away in a hot kitchen. We have a super easy and delectable BBQ Pulled Pork, and the best part? You don’t need an smoker or a grill. All you need is an oven!

We love BBQ Pulled Pork, and this recipe is great because there isn’t much you have to do. Rub the pork down and cook that bad boy and that’s it. While you party, the oven does virtually all the work for you!

Easy Oven BBQ Pulled Pork

Easy Oven Pulled Pork 

Ingredients 

  • 1 3 to 5 pound pork shoulder/butt
  • 1 Bottle of your favorite BBQ seasoning
  • Garlic Salt
  • 1 1/2 Cups Orange Juice
  • 1 to 2 Cups BBQ Sauce
  • 1 Large Lime

Step 1: 

Rinse and dry your dry pork shoulder using paper towels.

Step 2: 

Squeeze your lime over the pork and sprinkle the entire pork with about half the bottle of seasoning and a smidgen of salt. Don’t forget to rub the seasonings into the pork, give the pork a mini massage before you let it sit overnight.

Try and let the pork marinade OVERNIGHT to get the most amount of flavor. 

Step 3: 

About an hour before you’re ready to put the pork in the oven, take the pork out and let it come to room temperature.

Step 4: 

Preheat the oven to 500°F.

Step 5: 

While the oven is heating up, mix together the orange juice and 1 cup of BBQ sauce in a large roasting pan.

Step 6: 

Place the pork shoulder in the roasting pan, and using a brush, brush the  pork with the remaining BBQ sauce.

Step 7: 

Cook the pork in the oven for 20 minutes.

Step 8: 

Remove the pork from the oven and turn the heat down to 300°F, and cover the pork. Cook for 5 to 6 hours or until the pork is tender and falling apart. Shred using two forks (or your hands if cool enough) and serve with your favorite BBQ sauce.

Easy Oven BBQ Pulled Pork

Easy Oven BBQ Pulled Pork

Salted Crack Ice Cream

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Salted Crack Ice Cream

Remember when we we made Salted Chocolate Caramel Crack? Well, we liked it so much, that we decided to make a ice cream with it. And let us tell you, the results were absolutely fabulous!

This ice cream is definitely addictive and will please just about everyone!  Seriously though, once you make your own ice cream, it’s really hard to go back to store bought. Sure it’s a little more difficult, but knowing what you’re putting into your body is so important these days.

Salted Crack Ice Cream

Salted Crack Ice Cream

Ingredients

Step 1: 

In a large sauce pan, combine the half and half and sugar over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, remove from heat and set aside.

Step 2: 

Beat the eggs until light and fluffy, about three minutes.

Step 3: 

Very slowly, pour about half of the heated half and half mixture into the eggs whisking constantly. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and place on the stove over medium-low heat.

Step 4: 

Next, add the heavy cream and stir until smooth. When the mixture has thickened and coasts the back of a spoon remove from the heat and transfer to glass jar.

Step 5: 

Allow to cool to room temperature then transfer to the fridge for at least 12 hours.

Step 6: 

When cool, make according to your ice cream makers manufactures instructions. During the last five minutes of churning, add the broken up Salted Chocolate Caramel Crack and continue to thoroughly mixed. Transfer to a freezer safe container and allow to set up for at least 4 hours.

Salted Crack Ice Cream

Salted Crack Ice Cream

Salted Crack Ice Cream

Salted Crack Ice Cream

Pro Baking Tip #5

~ Marlee And Christie ~ 1 Comment

BACON

baconheart

BACON! Something you’ll see a lot of here in our blog. Over the summer, we’ve been to a couple BBQs where we’ve encountered a big mistake, HUGE! The misuse of added bacon nuggets to everyday bbq food, mostly hamburgers.

You CANNOT add raw bacon to your raw hamburger meat and expect it to cook properly. You will end up with a cooked burger and little nuggets of Trichinellosis, also called trichinosis! That’s just gross.

The way we do it is:

  1. Place packet of bacon in the freezer for 10 minutes. This makes the bacon easier to cut, otherwise it will just squish around your cutting board.
  2. Cut bacon into little pieces.
  3. Put the pieces into a cold pan and turn on the heat. Low and slow will give the best result.
  4. Now you can mix the cooked bacon pieces into the raw hamburger meat before cooking.

This tip also applies when baking, remember to always cook your bacon first! Trust us! We have your back.

ENJOY!

Salted Caramel

~ Marlee And Christie ~ 2 Comments

Salted Caramel

It’s still too hot here in LA to be in the kitchen, so for today’s recipe we have a almost foolproof Salted Caramel. We’ve come across so many caramel recipes and they never turn out right, but this one, this one is AMAZING.

We’ve made this caramel multiple times and every time it’s perfect! We think it has to do with the warmed cream that you pour over the sugar and water. We promise you this recipe is nearly foolproof and everyone can make it!

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
  • 1/2 Cup Water
  • 1 Cup Heavy Cream (Hot)
  • 2 Tablespoons Salted Butter
  • Fleur De Sel Salt

Step 1:

In a medium sauce pan over high heat, dissolve the granulated sugar and water. Stirring constantly.

During that time, if the sides of the pans have sugar that start to crystallize, use a pastry brush dipped in water to remove the crystallized sugar.

Step 2:

Continue cooking until the sugar starts to turn a deep amber color. As soon as it starts to turn, remove from the heat, immediately.

Step 3:

Very carefully and slowly, pour the hot cream into the sugar mixture whisking/stirring constantly. Don’t be alarmed when this mixture starts to bubble, just keep stirring.

Step 4:

Next, add the butter and a pinch or two of the fleur de sel salt. Stir until smooth. If desired, add 1/2 teaspoon or so of vanilla extract.

Step 5:

Move to an air tight container, and allow to cool before placing in the fridge.