In the kitchen with Elise

What goes with what? I have had people ask me. "Well okay, I have made my main dish, my chicken, my beef or whatever else but how do I know what it goes with?" There is no right or wrong answer to that question. But there are tips that might help you match your food better. So that the tastes may blend well together. Your side dishes are the foods that complement the dish. They are not the main course.  What I like to do when organizing my meal is always include one starch and one vegetable. A starch could be any type of pasta, rice, potato or sweet potato And then add any type of vegetable you enjoy eating. (The more the better) It also adds life and great color to your food. Look at how the vegetables liven up these dishes My Basic Guidelines Beef - Potatoes, veggies ( rice is also a great combination) Seafood - pasta, veggies (rice and potatoes also are great with this) Pork - Rice, veggies Chicken - rice, veggies (also g...

In all my entire breakfast for 2 people, took about 15 minutes to make. My Strawberry and Banana milkshake 1 banana 3 strawberries 1 teaspoon sugar 1 cup milk just mix it in the blender until smooth and there you go. (Very tasty, healthy and filling) My Bread,Egg,Spam and Cheese Sandwich 1 egg 1 slice cheese A few slices of spam (or bacon) your choice bread (I used honey wheat bread) 1/2 teaspoon canola mayonaise I first took my 2 slices of bread and speed a little bit of canola mayonnaise on them (I use canola mayonnaise because it is healthier but any mayonnaise will be just fine) then I took my spam and fried it in a pan with no butter (It has its own oils just like bacon) until crispy. I like it very, very crispy. ( regular bacon is a substitute for the spam they are very similar) Then I took my egg and with a fork mixed it in a little bowl with a pinch of milk, garlic salt and pepper just for that added flavor. Then I scrambled my eggs in the...

Is your kitchen Upgraded??? Have you seen my before an after pictures for my kitchen remodeling that only took $20 to create?                                                                     Quick B4 picture View my older post from November 29th titled 'Stepping into my Kitchen' for the drastic kitchen transformation pictures. The small details in your kitchen count... After changing my kitchen little by little I started adding small decorations and items to give it a finishing touch. Like in this picture you can see that I covered up the 2 holes in the wall behind the trash can with sheet rock. I also bought a silver garbage can to replace the plastic white one that I had and bought a sliver dish rack to replace the white plastic one. In this picture you can see that I added red seat cushions to ...

Meet 'Tyson' my dog, a Sleep-A-Holic by nature. He loves 2 things in his little life; to eat and to sleep. The thing is that he can do that, he's a dog and has nothing else to do with his day. Why am I bringing up this point? Many people don't cook because of laziness. Instead of waking up just a few minutes earlier in the mornings to cook breakfast they would rather sleep a little more and then just grab something quick and easy on the go.  Is that You????? Don't let laziness, kill you (literally). Take care of your health, even if it means investing a few more minutes a day in your kitchen and not in your bed.

I have come across many people who struggle with their weight. Lots of people either want to loose weight, eat healthier, be healthier or are what I consider a 'skinny, fat person' Which is a person who seems to be in shape on the outward appearance but when it comes to their inner health. It is very bad. We need to watch our eating habits, not only in order to loose weight if that is your case but also in order to survive and be productive.  One way to do that is to count the amount of calories you eat per day. Go here  http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/calories-goal.php and follow directions in order to know how much is a healthy amount of calories that you should be eating per day. Once you have figured that out. You should eat just that. Everything that you put into your mouth should be accounted for. Just as in your finances (If you are on top of it...) You don't just recklessly spend money without knowing where it goes right? If you do, you very qui...

There are salads and there are SALADS... This is something that can be used as a side dish to your meal, or as the main course. Don't make a boring salad, spruce it up a bit. Add all the good stuff. For lunch or an afternoon snack one day try eating an 'Extreme salad'. I myself am not a great fan of salads. I am not the type of person that goes to a restaurant and orders a salad. No,No not me. I go for the good stuff :  ) But once in a while it is great to eat. But I'm not just talking vegetables and starve the rest of the day. Nor, suffer through every bite. I'm talking an extremely delicious salad that you cannot get enough of. Here I made a salad using Romaine lettuce, shredded carrots, diced cucumbers, diced strawberries, diced cheese and (you cannot see it in this photo but I also added croutons and chicken pieces on the spot when it was time to eat; because croutons tend to get mushy if you leave them in the salad. You have to add it at the t...

The most important part to any recipe is the seasoning. Think about it. You can have anything, it can look so delicious but when you bite into it and it is overly salted, or the opposite,no flavor at all. You hate it... You want to spit it out, and regret eating it  Right? Seasoning you food properly is a must.  My suggestion is: When it comes to the part of the recipe for seasoning. Think... Lightly spinkle your seasonings on the food. You don't want to have a heavy hand and just pour (assuming it will be okay) and you don't want to basically pretend you are seasoning and hold back just putting mere dots on your food. Seasonings that I ALWAYS have in my kitchen cabinets are salt, black pepper, lawrys all purpose seasoning, fresh garlic,garlic salt, onion powder and olive oil. If you have other things that is great as well. But for me I rotate between these NATURAL seasonings. All of my seasonings DO NOT contain MSG. which is found in things like sazon, chicke...

Is the chicken you are eating clean or dirty? Did you clean it, or did you just jump straight to seasoning? The proper way to cook chicken is to firstly clean it because chicken is very slimy and if not properly cleaned gives off a bad/weird flavor when cooked. This is the very first step to cooking it (regardless of what part of the chicken it is: breast, thigh, drum, whole, whatever) Some people prefer to leave the skin on the chicken. I personally like it better without the skin. Plus the skin is more fattening. But either way is fine.  Remove the skin by peeling it off with a knife, and cut off the excess fat from the chicken. Then poke various wholes in the chicken. (This help so that when you season, the flavor won't just sit on top but instead go inside the meat)(How to properly season your food coming up tomorrow) Put all of your chicken in a bowl as you are cleaning it and throw just a little bit of vinegar, wine or lemon juice on it (this cuts strai...

Scrumptious, delicious and oh boy so yummy... Try something new for your breakfast. What do you eat in the morning? Same thing all the time? Nothing at all? Did you know breakfast is the most important meal of the day? Because it provides you with the nutrients and energy you need to continue strong with your day. So treat your self to an enjoyable breakfast with these home-made french toast. eat them with pancake syrup and even sometimes with bacon and eggs as well. For those who don't know what it is. It is sweet and comparable to pancakes or crepes.  All you need to pull this off is bread, eggs, sugar and cinnamon Here I chose to use pecan bread. But I always do it with regular sliced bread and it comes out great. Take a big bowl and mix together about 4 eggs, 2 tablespoons sugar and  3/4 teaspoon cinnamon.  Then take your bread and dip it completely into the mixture Then Get a frying pan and put a little butter on there. Put it on the stove on medium-...

Want something junky and delicious? Try these fried banana balls.  Remember when I mentioned my spoiling bananas in the other days post?  Well I had lots of spoiling bananas so I made the banana cake and then a few days later made these banana balls.  Have you every tried fried dough at the carnival or fair? Well this is very similar but with mashed bananas included for added flavor. Try it.. This is a quick and easy to make junky food. It takes about 10 minutes in total to make. And has very little ingredients. Ingrediants 1 1/2 cup flour 1 egg 1 cup sugar 1 tsp baking powder 1 cup water 2 mashed bananas Mix all the ingredients together until smooth. Then in a very small pot fill it  almost half way with regular oil (Not olive oil). Turn the stove on  to medium heat and Preheat the oil for about 5 minutes before you start cooking your banana balls. (You want the oil to be hot).  Once hot take your mixture into regular tablespoon fills...