New York Chica

I have a confession to make – I’m a Latina and I love food! 

I can’t help it. I love to taste and experiment with foods from other cultures and countries.  I love all types of foods from all over the world. What can I say, I’m a big time foodie! My top favorites are Italian, Chinese, Jamaican, Irish and Indian food.  My husband’s brother-in-law is Irish and his mother is one of the best cooks I know and the sweetest women you’ll ever meet too. She loves to cook and can make a mean Irish Soda bread, stuffing, Guinness Cake (with a whole bottle of Guinness beer!LOL) and of course, Shepherd’s pie. She even taught me how to make those delicious recipes but the one dish that I continue to make in my home is Shepherd’s pie, but with a Latina flair! And my kids LOVE it!

It’s really easy to make and the best part is that you can sneak some veggies into your child’s meal too.

Here’s what you need:

5 pounds of potatoes (Russet or Idaho works great for mashing)
2 pounds of lean ground beef
1 bag/box of frozen mixed vegetables (corn, carrots, green beans, peas)
1-2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour (it depends how thick you want it)
2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of tomato paste or sauce – which ever you have on hand.
Seasonings that you would use to season meat.  I use a packet of sazon, adobo, pepper, cilantro, sofrito, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, oregano. (I like my foods well-seasoned )

Steps:

Peel and cut potatoes as you would for mashed potatoes. Dont’ forget to place the potatoes in cold water. You don’t want your papas (potatoes) to be hard on the inside.

While the potatoes are boiling, Brown the meat in a pan and add seasonings while you are browning it. I think if you season the meat while it browns, it makes the meat more flavorful because the seasonings has time to marinate with the meat.

Drain the meat if it’s too greasy.  Add your flour by sprinkling it over the meat. 

Stir. Then add your paste/tomato sauce.  Add the veggies and mix it around. 

Place your meat/veggie mixture into a casserole dish and set aside.

When the potatoes are done, drain it and place them back into the hot pot.  Add your ingredients that you would use for mashed potatoes. I use warm milk, butter, cream cheese and mayonnaise.

Once the mashed potatoes are done, place the potatoes over the meat & veggie mixture and place it in a preheated oven set to 350 degrees for 30 minutes and voila! You’ve got dinner.

Serve it with some dinner rolls and a nice salad and you’ve got yourself a well-balanced meal for you and your family.

Buen Provecho!! Happy Eating!!

Here we are once again - The Three Musketeers. Me, Dad and my sister.

I found this picture just a few days ago. I really don’t remember taking this picture but I’m so happy I found it. I must’ve been 12 or 13 years old so it was probably in 1989. I wish I could remember taking this photo but I can’t. At least I have the photo to prove it!

From our family to yours, hope you have a fantastic holiday!

It’s hard not to like Martha Stewart.  You’re bound to buy something that has her name written on the package.

Why?

Because she is everywhere and she can decorate your whole house with her line of EVERYTHING!  Believe me, she has some great looking towels, tablecloths, curtains, bedspreads, kitchen stuff, bedroom stuff -  the list can go on and on and on.

Today, I received an email from Sirius radio that I wanted to share with all of my readers.  Since Thanksgiving is just around the corner, there’s lots of planning going around for almost every family.  If you don’t have any ideas of what to cook, I have a special treat for you all.

Thanks to Martha Stewart, click HERE to download a free Thanksgiving Hotline Cookbook filled with recipes from the most famous, top chefs around.  You’ll find recipes for Soups & Starters, Sides & Salads Turkey & Entrees, Desserts, Wine, Liquor and Entertaining.

That pretty much sums it up for all your Thanksgiving needs and much more!

So go check it out, save it on your computer and start planning your menu!

***On Sirius radio, you can hear Martha on Channel 112.

August 18, 1994

That is the date my father passed away.  15 years ago. I still can’t believe he’s gone.  No one knew it was coming; it was a very sad surprise. He died exactly one week after we came back from Orlando, Florida. A vacation he planned for a couple of years for my sister and I.

After his sudden death, the whole family was stunned.  We couldn’t help but wonder why he died so suddenly.  It turned out after his autopsy, he had diabetes.  No one knew.  He probably didn’t know either but I knew something was wrong when we were in Florida.  He was urinating all the time.  That was not normal for him.  Being that he wasn’t taking the needed medications to live, his organs disintegrated.  He had no chance of living.

It still seems like yesterday.

People say it’ll get better but it doesn’t. You learn how to deal with it but that’s it. The pain will always be there, no matter what. I go about my day but when I think about him, that’s it! The tears automatically come rolling down without any warning.

My father was a good man, the best father and an all-around great person. His heart was huge and people that knew him agreed.  He had many friends, family and associates.  If someone needed his help, he was always there to help out.  No matter what.

That was the kind of man he was.

I miss that about him.

I also miss him.

Enjoy the  few of many photos I have of my Papi.

*There’s more to this tribute but I couldn’t handle the memories. It’s just too much. After all these years, I still can’t believe the pain feels so fresh.  Hopefully I can continue his tribute for his birthday, September 16th.  Until then, enjoy your loved ones because life is too damn short not to.

Happy Easter everyone.

I am exhausted from yesterday’s trip to the city. We were at Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and it was FANTASTIC!! We loved it. My kids are already asking me when we can go again.

I have tons of posts to write and I don’t even know where to start. I’m just overwhelmed but I’ll get there. Kids are back to school on Tuesday but hopefully I can start before.

So please stay tuned because I have a giveaway (I know it’s so late), a review (& tons of pics to share) about the 1-800Flowers Mom Event (I had a ball) & the Circus review (We took so many pics).

Thanks for being patient. I will have those posts up on my site this week.

Until then, have a great day!! Even if you don’t celebrate Easter.

Lately, I have been totally addicted to Bakerella. She has the most amazing cupcakes, cake pops and goodies you could ever imagine.  I wish I was there to taste each and every goodness. So since I can’t be there, I tried to be Ms. Bakerella for several hours and made this:

(Cake Pops)

and this:

(Cupcake Bites)

It took me about 4 hours from start to finish.  It wasn’t that difficult to make but since it was my first time making them, it took awhile.  It was a lot of work but also a lot of fun.  She makes it easy because she has great tutorials.  I think I’ll make these again real soon.

I decided to make these scrumptious treats especially for my sister’s 28th birthday yesterday. I wanted to surprise her with these treats. She had planned to take the day off so she can relax but I wanted to cook her dinner, make her cupcakes, make her the cake pops & the cupcake bites and bring it to her for her very special day.  At first, I felt like I was imposing her relaxing day but she can relax another day, right? I won’t be able to see her for two weeks because she’ll be away on business.

Anyway, when we got there, she had no idea I was bringing any food or even a cake so she was definitely surprised and happy we were there. Good thing because I thought she would be a little upset being that I didn’t call her to let her know I was “stopping” by.

She was indeed very happy we were there.  It was like the “party” came to her.  It was my grandmother, my mom, my other two sisters and us (me and my 3 kiddies).  We had a blast.  Talking, eating, goofing around, surfing the web and eating some more.

Overall, it turned out to be a great day. We all had a wonderful time celebrating my wonderful sister’s birthday.  She’s a great person, great friend, and of course the best sister in the world!! I wish I could give her the world because she’s that great!

Hope you had fun Jess ! Love ya!

Oh my, what a week it has been so far.

Yesterday was a very long day.

My husband got into a car accident on the Taconic State Parkway due to a very big ice patch.  He told me that the roads were very slippery and cars were sliding everywhere.  In fact, that was the second accident at the very same spot.

So, needless to say, it has been very stressful; especially for him.

I’m so relieved and happy that he’s ok; no injuries at all.  The other person that was also involved is trying to lie to the insurance company and say that he was hurt because of the accident after he told the state trooper he was fine.  I can’t believe that.  There will always be people trying to sue someone.

My goodness!

Anyway, now we’re dealing with Geico (which is a great car insurance) and all the good stuff that go along with claims so this week will be very busy.

Wish me luck!

~

I have a dilemma.  I have a 4 bedroom house, which is nice for a family of five but there’s one bad thing about the 4th bedroom.  The bad thing is that you have to enter the 3rd. bedroom to get into the last bedroom (as you can see in the picture), which is the master bedroom.

Before I had my 3 daughter Nessa (her nickname), it wasn’t a major problem because it was used as a den/computer room. Now that my little princess is here, it’s her bedroom.  She’s turning 4 in March and I think she’s old enough to share a room with her (almost) 10 year old sister Missa (her nickname) and make that room a den again.

Now here is where the problem is.  Missa does not want to share a room with her sister.  She claims that her sister will touch all of her things and make a huge mess.  Well, when I was her age, I had to share a room with my sister who’s also 6 years younger than me like they are now. It wasn’t the greatest thing to deal with but we both survived.  We also had no choice.  We lived in a two bedroom apartment.  So even though we really didn’t get along when we were kids, we are as close as two peas in a pod now.

Anyway, I know we’re growing out of this house little by little but we’re not going anywhere; not anytime soon.  Maybe that will change in the future but who knows.  To be honest, going through my daughter’s room in order to go into my bedroom is becoming a big pain in the butt.  It wasn’t much of a problem when she was a baby because we were right there whenever she made a weird sound.  Now that she’s older, there are toys everywhere.  We could hardly walk into our bedroom without stepping on a toy or two.  My husband and I are really getting tired of that.

So, what do you think? Are we being unfair putting them together in one room?