My last recipe of How To Make Tamales was posted up just a couple days ago. I’ve tried to be pretty consistent with my recipe posts and I think I’ve done a decent job with it. I noticed that I’ve been doing a lot more family style dinners lately and to be honest, I’m okay with it.

Easy Shepherd’s Pie Recipe

Shepherd’s pie was not really a recipe that I grew up eatting too much of as a child. It was a dish that I grew fond of in my adult years after eating it for the first time during a pot luck. My husband and I later tried to replicate the recipe ourselves from home with pretty decent results. Not really sure what I can say I like most about the shepherd’s pie. The savory filling, the potato crust or the light feeling I get while eating it.

I like to consider today’s recipe of the shepherd’s pie to be a bit basic. Throughout the years, I’ve noticed that some variants of it doesn’t include peas or has corn instead. While I do love corn, I don’t think I enjoy this recipe as much without peas in out. If you’re not a fan of peas, then I welcome you to try it out with corn instead.

Preparation

You’ll want a basic potato peeler for peeling the potatoes with. Another thing you’ll also need is a large casserole dish to bake the entire shepherd’s pie in. This recipe feeds 8 so you’ll want something that can hold all of the ingredients in. I recommend something between 12 and 13 inches and somewhat deep. Make sure you also have a sauce pan (I have this cast iron one by Bayou Classic!)

One other smaller thing you’ll need is a pot to boil your potatoes in. Once you have all of your cooking tools ready, you’re ready to begin!

How To Make Shepherd’s Pie Cooking Instructions

Dowan 13 inch Baking Casserole Dish

Bayou Classic Cast Iron Saucepan

Cooking Instructions

1.) The first thing you’ll want to do is peel your potatoes to start. After you’re done peeling the potatoes dice them. They don’t have to be super small, but no more than half an inch for each piece. Place them in to a medium pot and boil water on high for about 10 to 15 minutes or until the potatoes are soft enough to crush. *Note: You can start making the meat filling while the potatoes are cooking.

Mashing the potatoes

2.) Place half and half as well as the butter in to a saucepan and heat for around 2 minutes. You may also put the half and half with butter in the microwave. If you’re using the method, place them in to a microwaveable dish and microwave for 30 seconds.

3.) Start mashing the potatoes and pour in the melted half and half with butter, salt, pepper and egg yolk. Mash the potatoes and ingredients until smooth.

Preparing the meat filling

4.) Preheat your oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.

5.) Heat olive oil in the sauce pan over medium high heat. Place onions and carrots in the saucepan and cook for 3-4 minutes.

6.) Add ground beef, salt and pepper to the mixture and cook until golden brown.

7.) Sprinkle cooked meat with all purpose flour and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add beef broth, tomato paste rosemary, thyme and worcestershire sauce to the mixture and combine ingredients by stiring together. Bring mixture to a boil and cover. Lower the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until sauce in mixture thickens.

8.) Add peas to the mixture and combine ingredients together.

9.) Pour the cooked mixture in to your casserole baking dish in an even layer. Top the mixture with the potato filling. Place in the oven and bake in the middle of the rack for 25-27 minutes or until the potatoes are golden brown in appearance.

10.) Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes on a cooling rack before serving. Enjoy!

I also have some awesome framed kitchen and recipe wall art that you can purchase directly on the site. Decorate your kitchen with some of my very own illustrated recipes in the link below!

Delicious Pork Tamales Recipe

Hope you guys enjoyed my mac and cheese recipe last week. Today, we’re gonna be delving in to something a little different. I grew up in a Panamanian-Carribbean household, being raised by my mother.  With that said, beef and pork tamales with pilaf rice was a regular dish in my household. Shredded pork tamales were my absolute favorite! The meat was always a little more tender than the beef variant, although I could safely say that I appreciated both kinds.

Although my husband and I enjoy tamales for dinner from time to time, we’ve always found that we end up making more tamales than we can eat between the two of us. I tend to save this recipe for when relatives come over since it yields a lot. You’re free to scale the amount of tamales you’d like to make, but this typically gives you about 30-34 tamales. Worst comes to worst, hubby and I end up saving some for leftovers the next day or we end up sharing the remaining tamales with friends that visit.

Today, I want to introduce to you guys a really delicious tamales recipe. The best thing about tamales is that they are not only delicious, but they are super affordable as well! This is a great recipe for family’s on a budget since all of the ingredients are very inexpensive. You may have some of the ingredients in your pantry already.

Preparation

The main component in this recipe is a large cooking pot. You’re going to want a really big pot for steaming your tamales in. I recommend this one steaming pot by Norpro personally. In all actuality, any large sized pot will do the trick.

Shredded Pork Tamales Cooking Instructions

Norpro 4-Quart Steamer Cooker

Cooking Instructions

1.) In a large cooking pot, submerge the corn husks in warm filtered water. Soak the husks for around 30 or so minutes or until the husks are soft.

2.) Combine corn masa, baking powder, salt and cumin in a large bowl. Mix ingredients together using a whisk. Add oil and broth in to the mixture and mix ingredients with a hand mixer or stand mixer. 

3.) Cover the masa dough with a paper towl and refrigerate for the time being.

4.) Add cooked shredded pork in a bowl and combine with salsa. Mix ingredients to use for tamale filling.

5.) Remove soaked corn husk from the pot and place on a cutting board or other flat surface. Spread corn masa on to the husk. 

6.) Add your filling to the center of the masa. You’ll only need to use about a tablespoon of the filling for each tamale.

7.) Wrap the corn husk with the dough inside. Start folding the corn husk in half long ways. I have provided an image to give a good idea of how to fold each tamale. 

8.) To keep the tamales in place, you may tie the tamales with baking string or with skinny pieces of corn husk. Add water to the bottom of the large pot and add a steaming rack above it. Place your tamales in to the steaming rack. Steam tamales for about 30 minutes or until the masa is solid and fully cooked.

9.) Remove tamales from steamer and serve. I like to put extra salsa on top of my tamales. This is a personal taste thing, but it is honestly so bomb and delicious if you do try it! Enjoy!

Baked Mac And Cheese Recipe

Growing up, my family didn’t really have a lot of money or resources. I distinctly remember eating a lot of boxed mac and cheese in my youth, think Craft brand folks! While I can appreciate the occasion lazy meal of boxed mac and cheese or hamburger helper, I will always prefer whole ingredients 9 out of 10 times. I know this has been said before, but there is nothing like a wholesome, homemade meal. Oven baked mac and cheese is far superior to the stuff you can get in the box. Let’s just keep it real here!

I don’t think I had oven baked mac and cheese for the first time until home economics in highschool. In class, my group was tasked with making a full thanksgiving meal from and baked mac and cheese was one of the menu items. To be honest, after eating my first bite of this mac and cheese, I instantly thought ‘where has this been all my life?’ Since that day, I almost always baked my mac and cheese as opposed to just boiling it over the stove.

By the way, if you haven’t seen my last recipe post for How To Make Chicken Noodle Soup, you can find it here!

Preparation

The first tool you will need in your arsenal is a decent sized cooking pot. This pot from Cook N Home is affordable and does the trick, so if you don’t already have one, you can pick this up at Amazon. You will also need a 3qt sized baking dish for when we get to the oven portion of the recipe. You’ll want to make sure that your dish is oven safe, glass or pyrax. Lastly, you’ll need a way to melt and combine ingredients, I recommend a small saucepan for this. 

Baked Mac And Cheese Cooking Instructions

Cook N Home Nonstick Stockpot with Lid 10.5-Qt

Bovado USA 9″ x 13″ Inch Glass Oven 3Qt Baking Dish

Cooking Instructions

1.) Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Coat the baking dish with olive oil and set aside.

2.) Boil water in a large cooking pot and add elbow pasta. Add salt to the water for additional taste. Cook pasta according to the directions provided on the package.

3.) Using a sauce pan, melt butter at medium heat. Combine flour and milk, pour the milk in slowly while whisking. Cook until the mixture is a thick consistency.

4.) Remove from heat and add half the grated cheese (cheddar and gruyere) to the mixture. Stir until cheese is melted.

5.) Remove pot from heat. Drain the pasta and combine with melted cheese in to the pot. Stir until ingredients are fully combined.

6.) Add mac and cheese to baking dish and top with the remaining shredded cheese. Bake in the oven for 15-17 minutes or until golden brown. Serve hot and enjoy!

How To Make Chicken Noodle Soup

Learn How To Make Chicken Noodle Soup with me! It’s almost soup season so this recipe was definitely something that we needed!

This recipe on How To Make Chicken noodle soup features all original art created by me! If you’re new to my blog, one thing you should know is that I love food and art just as equally! If you like coloring pages, then you’ll love these food and recipe based coloring pages. You can find them here or in the link below. My coloring pages are great for children and adults of all ages. I have something in my shop for everyone who loves a good coloring page!

Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe

Chicken noodle soup is one of those highly celebrated recipes that we can all remember having back in our youth. I remember my mom preparing it for me and my sibblings whenever we’d fall ill with a cold or flu. No matter how sour my tastebuds were when I’d get sick, my mother’s soup could somehow still penetrate my taste buds. The flavorful chicken broth and seasoned chicken breasts were the two things I could recall most clearly in that soup!

Today, I’m going to be sharing with you not only this awesome recipe that got me through the worst of sicknesses. But I will also be showcasing yet another illustrated recipe which can be found just to the left of my writings!

Preparation

This recipe serves 8 so as you could imagine, you’ll want to use a large cooking pot if you plan to do the full serving amount. If you don’t already have one, there are some really affordable and decent stock pots on Amazon that won’t break your bank. Allow yourself about an 1 to 1 1/2 hours to prepare your soup. It’s a super easy recipe but when you account for prep and cooking time, I wouldn’t say it’s a quick one!

Chicken Noodle Soup Cooking Instructions

COOKSMARK 11-Inch Copper Griddle

Cooking Instructions

1.) Dice onions, celery and carrots and place in bowls.

2.) In a large stock pot, melt the butter at medium-high heat. Add the diced carrots, celery and onion to the pot and stir together with butter until tender. Stir in garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes or until fragrant.

3.) Pour chicken stock in to the stock pot and stir. Add bay leaves, salt and pepper with whole chicken breasts to the pot and bring to a boil. Cover the pot and simmer for 35-40 minutes or until chicken is cooked. 

4.) Remove chicken from the pot and allow to cool. Shred the chicken and place in to a bowl.

5.) Stir in chicken and cooked egg noodles in to the stock pot of soup. Cook on medium-high for 7-8 minutes or until noodles are tender. 

6.) Add chopped parsley to the pot as well as salt and pepper to taste. Squeeze lemon juice and stir. Serve hot and enjoy!

How To Make French Toast

If you want to learn How To Make French Toast, just keep reading! I took the time to illustrate and write up the recipe for it today!

This recipe on How To Make French Toast showcases artwork made by yours truly! If you’re new to my blog, one thing you should know is that I love food and art just as equally! If you like coloring pages, then you’ll love these food and recipe based coloring pages. You can find them here or in the link below. My coloring pages are great for children and adults of all ages. I have something in my shop for everyone who loves a good coloring page!

Easy French Toast Recipe

Well folks, I think it’s safe to say that I’m on a breakfast kick once more! It seems just like yesterday since I’d posted my recipe and illustration for crepes and avocado toast. Yet, here were again, with a very simple to follow recipe for French Toast! This is a recipe that I absolutely couldn’t go for too long without doing. Admitedly, there are a lot less steps to this than the crepes recipe.

As I mentioned in past posts, I really would like to stick to easier recipes if I can. If you care to know why I do this, it’s partially because there are a lot of people I know in life who still can’t cook. As of late, I’ve been inclined to believe that this is a pretty common issue in our current era. So much to do, so little time! I might as well help with the time part since I can!

Preparation

To start, you’re going to need a decent sized griddle to cook your French toast on. A skillet works as well, but a large sized grittle is preferred if you’re cooking more than 1 or 2 slices. Here’s a link to the griddle I use when I make French toast as well as when I cook for family when they’re in town.

Next thing on the list is going to be a good old whisk. This should be obvious enough. It’ll be needed for combining all of your ingredients together in a mixing bowl. With that, I think we’re ready to begin!

French Toast Cooking Instructions

COOKSMARK 11-Inch Copper Griddle

Good Grips Balloon Whisk

Cooking Instructions

1.) In a medium bowl. Beat 4 eggs using a whisk. Combine milk, beaten eggs, cinnamon, vanilla extract, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl.

2.) Coat your griddle or skillet with butter and heat at medium-high temperature over the stove.

3.) Once the butter is heated, dunk a single slice of bread in to the egg and milk mixture. Make sure both sides of the bread are coated in the mixture before placing it on the skillet. 

4.) Cook the bread for about 3-4 minutes or until golden brown. Flip the bread on its other side using a spatula and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Transfer cooked bread on to a plate. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until all of the bread slices are cooked

5.) Serve with maple syrup and fresh fruit if you’d like. Enjoy!

Delicious Hot Chocolate

Just want to start this out by saying I hope you enjoyed my homemade crepes recipe. I had a lot of fun writing and illustrating for it and am happy to have been able to share it that with you guys. Today’s recipe is going to be first the drink based post I’ve made on this blog. The weather has begun to shift here where we live so I wanted to start posting some of my favorite fall and winter drink recipes.

There’s just something about hot chocolate that makes my heart smile. Even more so if it’s homemade, there’s just that extra bit of love in it than the stuff that comes out of the box! Before we begin, allow me to just walk you through some of the supplies you’ll be needing for this hot chocolate recipe!

Preparation

The primary tool needed for this recipe is going to be a sauce pan. Allow me to take a moment to divulge to you all how wonderful it is to have a full set of cast iron pots and pans! I personally have this cute saucepan right here from Bayou Classic. It’s not incredibly big but it’s deep enough for cooking and melting sauces with.

Your second tool for this recipe is going to be a whisk. I don’t think I need to go over what this is used for! With that, I think we’re finally ready to begin making our recipe!

Hot Chocolate Cooking Instructions

Bayou Classic Covered Cast Iron Sauce Pot

Good Grips Balloon Whisk

Cooking Instructions

1.) In a medium sized bowl, add cocoa powder and sugar. Combine ingredients using a whisk.

2.) Using a saucepan, add milk as well as the bowl of dry ingredients. Add in the unsweetened chocolate and vanilla extract, whisk ingredients together. Place the pan over medium heat on the stove and bring to a slight boil, stirring continuosly.

3.)

Stir until the chocolate pieces are completely melted. Once all of the ingredients are melted together, set the pot aside to cool. Serve hot chocolate with marshmallowes if you desire.

How To Make Stuffed Peppers

Here’s a classic recipe for How To Make Stuffed Peppers from your home kitchen. Keep reading to see the recipe and illustration to go with it!

This recipe on How To Make Stuffed Peppers features some of my own original artwork! In case you didn’t know, my love for art is just as strong as my love for food! If you like coloring pages, then you’ll love these food and recipe based coloring pages. You can find them here or in the link below. My coloring pages are perfect for children and adults of all ages so there’s something in my shop for everyone!

Stuffed Peppers Recipe

If you can’t already tell, I’ve been on a roll with getting more blog posts out there. My issue is not only finding the time to write them up, but also making the art for them! My last two recipes for avocado toast and quesadillas were released within days of one another, so I’m trying to do the same here.

Before I really got in to cooking, I’d always considered stuffed peppers to be more ambitious and intimidating than other recipes. But when I learned how to prepare them, I found that they are not at all difficult to make! I tried to make this recipe as easy to undestand as possible, even for a novice cook. There are several different ways of preparing a stuffed pepper, but I decided to go with the classic style with the peppers up right.

Preparation

The three main components needed for this recipe are going to be your oven, a good quality skillet (AKA Cast Iron if you know me) and a rice cooker. I use the Yum Asia Sakura Rice Cooker, but most any one will do for this recipe.

Rice Cooker: Yum Asia Sakura

If you don’t have a rice cooker, a good ol’ fashioned cooking pot will do the trick. Just be sure to read the instructions on the rice for pot cooking.

Stuffed Peppers Recipe Instructions

Instructions

1.) Be sure to have your rice prepared. Cook rice according to the directions provided on the package. Chop the removed tops in to small pieces and place them aside on a plate

2.) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

3.) Grab the 4 bell peppers and cut in to the step part of each vegetable at the top. Remove the tops of each pepper and clean them out thoroughly.

4.) In a skillet, cook the meat on medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the chopped onions and chopped bell pepper tops in to the mixture and cook until golden brown. Pour in the cooked brown rice, diced tomatoes and garlic as well as the tomato sauce and cook for 2-3 minutes or until hot.

5.) Put the peppers in to a baking dish and pour the cooked mixture in to the peppers.

6.)Pour the leftover tomato sauce on top of the peppers.

8.) Cover the stuffed peppers with aluminum foil and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Remove the foil and add cheese to the top of the peppers. Bake in the oven for an additional 15 minutes or until cheese is melted.

*Small tip for the baking

If you like to have the cheese melted on the pepper, you should add it on top before baking it completely. Alternatively, you may sprinkle the cheese on after if you do not want to melt it. To add an additional baked quality to the peppers, you can pre-bake them for about 5 minutes before stuffing them and placing them back in the oven. I do like an extra baked stuffed pepper from time to time.

Avocado Toast With Eggs Recipe

This recipe will be drastically different from the last one of Chicken Quesadillas. Whether you’ve had avocado toast before or if you’ve ever wanted to try it, today’s recipe will show you just how! The illustration to the left includes some of the ingredients you will need for the recipe. I know my first couple of recipes included labels for each of the ingredients but I’d like to think the illustrations are obvious enough. On to the preparation! 

Preparation

I should first mention that making avocado toast is quite easy. But since some of the ingredients used in the recipe are perishable, it all comes down to the order in which you make it. The main appliances you will need for this recipe is either a toaster or a toaster oven like the one here on Amazon. Alternatively, you can use the broiler of your oven as well if you have neither of these things. With that in mind, I think we’re ready to start cooking!

Avocado Toast Recipe Instructions

Instructions

1.) Place the two pieces of bread in to your toaster or the oven and set the time and temperature to the level you prefer for toast. Once the toast is ready, place them to the side for now.

2.) Slice the avocado in half and scoop up the inner part of the avocado in to a bowl. Mash the avocado using a fork. Mix in the chili flakes as well as a tiny pinch of salt if you prefer.

3.) Prepare your eggs in a cast iron frying pan. Avocado toast is served best with either poached eggs, sunny side up or scrambled. All preparation styles are delicious and the choice comes down to you in the end.

4.) Grab your slices of toast and spread the avocado on to each slice using a butter knife.

5.) Top your toast with the egg you just prepared. You may also add sliced tomato as a final topping to your toast as well for additional flavor. Enjoy!

*Small tip for the bread in this recipe

 There are several types you can use include wholegrain and sourdough, but I personally prefer French bread. Wholegrain bread works better for toasting than French bread though. If you plan to experiment with the bread you use in this recipe, I suggest oven broiling the bread or using a toaster oven over using a basic toaster.