Simple Bruschetta

This is super simple to make, but so delicious! I make bruschetta all the time, because I love tomatoes and bread. If you are for any reason trying to avoid bread, you can still enjoy the bruschetta on some whole wheat crackers, or another similar product.
For the bruschetta, you will only need:
tomatoes
fresh basil
olive oil
salt and pepper
To make the bread, I only use garlic and some more olive oil. The type of bread is french or ciabatta, cut crosswise or lengthwise, or any way you prefer.
Firs start boiling some water. Also, preheat your oven to 350. In the meantime, slice your bread and then rub a peeled clove of garlic on each slice. Then put a few drops of olive oil and arrange them on a baking sheet. Place in oven and toast for about 15 minutes, just until they are brown and toasty. During these 15 minutes, place the tomatoes on a bowl and pour the boiling water on them, let them stand for only about 1 1/2 minutes. Take the tomatoes out of the water, peel them and chop them up. Add torn pieces of fresh basil, add olive oil, and then salt and pepper to taste. If your tomatoes are sweet you dont want to ruin that wonderful flavor with a lot of salt, so only put a little bit. A bruschetta should not be salty. Take the bread out of the oven and serve next to the bruschetta, as you see here in my photo.

A few notes about the previous recipe...

I forgot to mention that I used Pink Grouper, but you can use any kind of grouper you can find. Also for the vegetables I made a dip as you can see in the photo. It was 3 tbsp. mayonnaise, 1 tsp. paprika, and the juice of one large lemon.
I am also including the rest of the photos here because I could not upload them all at once. Please leave comments, or email me with any questions.

Skewers of Grouper and Mixed Bell Peppers, plus Grilled Veggies, Yum!!

Even if you don't have an outside grill, or you don't even have an outside(like me) you can still make grilled meats and veggies indoors. A lot of us live in apartments, and the good news is, that as long as you have a grill pan, you can prepare the following recipe. Just make sure and open all your windows and maybe even the door (as I have to do) when you start grilling.
You will need:
1 lb grouper
3 bell peppers (one red, one green, and one yellow)
1 bunch scallions
1 pint cherry tomatoes
3 mexican or italian squash
1 bunch asparagus
Olive Oil, of course!
Garlic powder or garlic salt
Salt and Pepper
Oh yeah, and also a few skewers, about 8

Start by soaking the skewers in water for 20 minutes, or for however long it takes you to chop the vegetables. Cut up the squash and peppers into long slices. Remove the ends from the asparagus by snipping them off, and then cut each one in half crosswise. For the scallions, remove the wilted ends and also remove the roots. The cherry tomatoes should stay whole. Save some of each color pepper aside for the grouper skewers, and add the rest and all the other vegetables to a bowl. Then toss them all together with some olive oil, salt, pepper, and a little oregano. Set them aside. Then, cut up the grouper into big chunks or large cubes. (see photo). Cut small squares of the saved bell peppers and arrange them in the skewers as you see in the photo. Sprinkle them with garlic powder or garlic salt and some pepper. Then brush them with olive oil. Heat the grill pan and then start grilling! The fish should not take very long to cook, maybe just 5 minutes on each side.

Deviled Eggs

Eggs are a good source of protein,and though the yolk contains cholesterol, it is still something that can be enjoyed, once in a while, in moderation. This is a very simple way to make deviled eggs. It is the way I do it anyway, but you can add anything you want (that will compliment the egg flavor, of course) to the yolk mixture. Herbs like marjoram also go nicely with eggs, but this herb should be used sparingly, as its flavor is pretty strong. Another idea is to add a little bit of minced pickled cucumber (relish), or just try your own idea, it's just eggs, what could go wrong, right? Here's the recipe I use:
Ingredients:
5 organic eggs
chives
paprika
mayo and yellow mustard
salt and pepper

Method:
Boil the eggs for about 10 min. until they are hard. Then cover them in cool water and let them sit there while you chop the chives. Chop the chives very small, about half a bunch should be enough, put them in a bowl. Then start peeling the eggs. Cut each egg in half and remove the yolk and place in the bowl with the chives. Place the egg halves and arrange them in a plate or platter that you will serve them in. With a fork, start smashing the yolks and stirring them together with the chives.
Now add two tablespoons mayonaisse, and 1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard, some pepper, a little bit of paprika, and a little bit of salt (please watch the salt here, it really needs very little!)Then mix everything together and you should get a sort of paste that you will now spoon into each egg as shown in the photo. Finally, sprinkle each egg with a little more paprika and you are done!

My Favorite Potatoes

I just love potatoes! And who doesn't? One of my favorite ways to make them is to cook them along with some tomato, onion, and a little bell pepper (have you noticed how much I use these three ingredients?). Chop a little bit of each of these, heat olive oil in a pan and then add it all and cook for about three minutes. Add the chopped potatoes, add some garlic salt, pepper, and a little water. Stir it all together and then cover them. The water will produce steam that will cook them. They should be done in just 15 minutes.

TOMATADA

In El Salvador, tomatada is eaten often. It can be served at any time of the day, and it goes well with beans, eggs, potatoes, anything really. I eat it very often too. We add veggie dogs chopped up because we are always looking for ways (delicious ways!) to increase our protein intake. You can add regular hot dog wieners if you are not vegetarian, or you can just make it without.

You will need three main ingredients only: Tomatoes, onion, and green bell pepper. Depending on the size of the tomatoes, you could use anywhere from three to six or seven, half an onion, and half a green bell pepper. Chop everything up and then heat some olive oil in a shallow pan, add the onion and pepper first, then add the tomatoes and the chopped hot dog if you are using it. Add some salt and a little bit of dried oregano. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for about 15 minutes, until everything is soft and the tomatoes have disintegrated completely. Enjoy with rice, and tortillas or bread, and anything else you'd like!

Simple Green Beans and Cilantro Rice

This combination is a real favorite of ours. I just recently started making the rice this way, after my grandma taught me to add the cilantro. The result is fantastic! The beans are very simple. I just cook some chopped tomato and white or yellow onion first, and then add the beans, stir them a little bit and then add a little water, cover them, and let the steam cook them until they are tender. This should take about 12 minutes or so. The rice is cooked the regular way you cook rice, then when it starts to boil, add the chopped fresh cilantro and stir a bit, and continue to cook your rice the way you always do. Don't forget to add a little (just a little though!) salt.