In the kitchen with Elise

From time to time, I suggest you clean your fridge and oven thoroughly. You can't just clean around the kitchen but not inside cabinets,fridge, oven, microwave etc. It doesn't have to be on a weekly basis but maybe 2 times a month. Organize yourself so that when you are cleaning, for you to completely remove everything and clean the fridge and freezer. Wash out the drawers, clean the sections, behind the draws (every corner and crevasse.) Throw away the foods that are not being used or foods that are spoiling and reorganize your fridge neatly. After all this is where you store your food. It needs to be clean and organized. You don't want it to look like this. Do you? I didn't think so. So practice having the habit of doing this, not only with your fridge but with everything else in your kitchen. Don't just counter clean. Deep clean. God Bless

A key point to cooking or baking anything is to be creative. Play with color, style, taste, placement. Try using anything edible to decorate your dish and make it very eye catching. Remember this: Before anyone eats an actual dish, they actually eat it with their eyes. Which means, before even tasting your meal, you have already decided whether you want to eat it or not by how it looks first. (So make your food stand out first, then worry about the taste) How many times have I fell for this trap. I can remember loads of times when I bought something just because it looked delicious but then when I tasted it. I hated it. But what caused me to grab it and put it in my mouth. The looks... On the contrary, how many times have I not even wanted to touch a dish. Didn't matter how good everyone says it is. But if it looks disgusting and sloppy (sloppily prepared) I won't even touch it. Much less put it in my mouth. So work on this. God bless

For breakfast yesterday I made regular pancakes but decided to have fun with it. Just like I often mention to add color to your food as well as customizing it to the way you like. It's your food; so who says it has to look or be 1 way. I made pancakes and added blueberry and pecans to the mixture. Then on top, instead of putting regular syrup. I put strawberry jam, sliced bananas and whipped cream.  Ohhhhh My it was delicious... Here are other things that can be added, you can add anything. Including the all delicious CHOCOLATE. Have fun, not just with your breakfast but with everything.

I made this yesterday and my husband loved it. It was a bit different from how we normally eat our shrimp. It was very flavorful and had a light kick of sweet. really good dish. I served it with rice and corn. Mediterranean  style Shrimp Coconut 1 Pack shrimp 7oz coconut cream  1/4 cup water 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro garlic, onion and pepper chopped 2 carrots cut into shrimp sized chunks With my fire on medium high ; I put a little oil in the pot and sautéed together my onion, garlic, pepper and carrots together for about 2 minutes until it is all golden add just a little bit of salt (Very little for taste). Lower the heat  a bit. Then I add in my coconut cream and water and let cook for about 12 minutes. Just until the sauce thickens a bit. Then add in your shrimp and cook together for about 5 minutes. It will thicken nicely. Once it is at a nice thicker sauce turn off the fire and add in you cilantro and mix.  Thats it. Your ...

This recipe is so unique. Yet delicate,  neat, delicious and a wonderful tiny finger food. It is like a personal sized lasagna. In each shell like cup there is every ingredient that makes up a lasagna. Be creative. Stuff your shells with whatever you want. The great thing about this is it requires very, very little meat.So it is cheaper to make. I made 26 pasta shells with about 1 cup of minced meat. I've done these pasta stuffed shells about 10 different ways. I have done it with shrimp inside and a white cream sauce, I've done it with chicken, I've done it just with ricotta cheese and spinach, done it with cottage cheese instead of ricotta, done it with ground beef like this one and many other ways. How It's Done 1 Box Pasta Shells (sold in your regular grocery store,almost every store has them. I have bought them before in London and in the U.S. you just need to search on the pasta isle. They are normally easy to find) Very little meat (use as...

Ingredients 1  (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple in light syrup, undrained 1 cup   vanilla ice cream   2 tablespoons   cream of coconut Crushed ice Combine all the ingredients (Except for the ice) in the container of an electric blender; cover and blend until smooth. Then add enough crushed ice to reach 4 cups; cover and blend until smooth. Pour into glasses, and serve immediately. There you go, quick and easy, decorate as you want. Here it is decorated with fresh pineapples and a cherry

Hi, Check out my newly designed Blog.  Play around with the new Tabs up top. Get to know more about me and this blog. Then Let me know what you think... By the way have you ever had the chance to put in your email address on the right hand side where it says "Follow By Email" in order to get these posts straight to your email?  Read the 1,2,3 steps on the right hand side and put in your email for these daily posts. Have A great Day. God Bless

Making fresh juice... Here I made some fresh homemade 'Iced Tea' literally. Something that I pay $3 for per gallon I made for about 40 cents.  All I did was boil a pot of water and add fresh tea and sugar to it. Until the flavor was to my liking. (There is no way to tell you how much sugar to add. As you add it try the flavor to see if you need a little more.) (Just dip 1 to 2 tea bags in the already boiled water for about 4 - 5 min. then remove it quickly; if you leave the bag in for too long. Your tea flavor will  be extremely strong. Some people like it like that I don't...) Once that is done set it aside to cool. Once it is cool enough refrigerate your tea for a few hours for it to be iced cold.  A great refreshing drink  You can use different kinds of teas as well for a flavorful Iced Tea. Try to use peppermint (if your bold enough), peach tea, raspberry tea, lemon tea (for the courageous), regular english tea, green tea, honey and ginger tea ...

Best mouth watering cheesecake on earth, for my faithful members!!! Enjoy!!! Mom's delicious cheesecake Crust 20 Graham cracker pieces 3 tbsp melted butter or margarine Cheesecake filling 3 blocks of cream cheese (room temperature) 1 cup sugar 3 eggs (room temperature) 3/4 cup sour cream 1 tbsp lemon juice Preparation Preheat oven to 325'F, spray an 8 inch round pan with a non stick cooking spray. Then make the crust on the bottom by crushing the graham cracker pieces and mixing it with the melted butter. Press then together and spread it on the bottom of the pan to form a crust (If you would like to make this on the sides as well, feel free) . In a large bowl, mix with your hand mixer, the cream cheese (one at a time) with the sugar. Add the eggs in one at a time and mix. Now with a wooden spoon or any other kitchen utensil, stir in the sour cream and lemon juice. Pour the filling over the crust. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes then remove from oven and let ...

For a chocolate lover like myself. This cake is a dream come true. Very simple, yet has that Oooeey Gooeey chocolate dream like frosting.  If you follow the directions on my November 7th post titled 'Cake Decorating (Part 1)' or my  January 26th post titled 'Spoiling Bananas' you can bake the actual cake. But the Oooeey Gooeey dream like frostings  Made with 2 ingredients.   1 can sweetened condensed milk, chocolate powder All you do is mix in a pot the 2 ingredients; the condensed milk and the chocolate powder on low heat. You need to constantly stir with no breaks in between because it can easily burn. Keep stirring on low heat for about 10 minutes until you see it noticeably thickened. Then use it as you dreamy!!!!! cake frosting. Normally what I do is sprinkle shredded white chocolate on top to have that extra chocolate flavor. But this time I sprinkled coconut on top to make it different. Sooooooo yummyyy.  Really. A Must try recipe...

Here is what was made in the video. Find out how by watching. Here we go friends. Step by step instructions on how to cook this entire delicious meal. I cooked it in about 30 - 45 minutes. The meal is Mama's chicken, couscous and corn All you need is: chicken thigh or drumstick 2 tbsp tomato sauce onion, pepper, garlic couscous (I show you on the video what it is) corn wine or vinegar lemon 5  main ingredients to cook this entire meal. Try it... Enjoy