Sweet Summer Mango Guacamole

As I'm certain I've mentioned in many of my previous posts, the food writing course that I took during college has sparked countless food inventions, this blog being one of them. But probably the tastiest ideas, in my experience, have come from my foodie friends. During one of our weekly Monday samplers, my good friend Heather prepared Mango Guacamole for our 13 member class- and I've been salivating for it ever since. I' ve asked her for the recipe several times, but have lost it . . every single time. Out of sheer embarrassment over the tenth misplacement, I decided enough was enough- and I made my own.


This side dish is probably one of the quickest, healthiest, and cheapest starters to whip up. The mangos give a hint of sweetness that juices up the smooth buttery taste of the avocados. The first time I tried this, I added 1/2 diced chili pepper (seeded), and experienced one of the most horrific and uncomfortable sensations when I accidently touched my lip after touching the chili pepper. I wish I had video taped my reaction because I'm sure it was entertaining to observe me crouching in the corner of my kitchen, crying, as my mom rotated ice compresses to cool off my lips. It only lasted for five minutes or so, but the burning heat from the pepper was something you couldn't pay me enough money to experience again. Soooooo- the second time I chose to forego the chili pepper and added a few sweet peppers.

This guacamole has a much sweeter edge than the traditional zesty mexican style guacamole. It might work well to substitute pineapple for the mango, or any fruit. You are essentially replacing tomatoes with the fruit. Enjoy!



Sweet Mango Guacamole

3 Avocados (pitted)
1 large mango (diced)
1/2 diced red onion
about 5-6 sweet peppers
dash of minced garlic
dash of garlic salt
(optional) a few squirts of lime juice

Toss everything into one big bowl and beat with a mixer until smooth

Favorite dipper options : sliced peppers or multigrain Tostito chips

Buffalo Bites

Personally, I never really got into the whole buffalo craze. It's probably because I have a severe aversion to spicy foods. I can’t grasp the interest, just as I can’t see the fascination with sour foods that make my face squish up and twist and turn as it tries to make sense of what that tang is doing to the inside of my cheeks.

But most people I know, and most people close to me love all things buffalo- namely: my brothers. They love buffalo wings, buffalo bites, buffalo chicken sandwiches, and I think they would eat anything if it was buffalo flavored. Since they're generally on my case about my failure to appease their tastebuds, I figured I would give buffalo bites a try.

Here's my recipe:

2 lb. chicken breasts (I bought boneless/skinless)

1.) cut the chicken into whatever size you'd like your bites to be.

2.) marinade in any Italian dressing

3.) sauté them on the stove (takes about 15 -20 minutes for them all to cook through)

Chunky Blue Cheese Buffalo Sauce: (some of the extra spices/condiments I just eyeballed)

1/2 cup Frank's Hot Sauce

1/3 cup butter

1/2 cup dried blue cheese

2 tbsp. white vinegar

a few drops of honey

a few sprinkles of garlic powder

a few drops of ketchup

This specific recipe is for mild sauce. If you want to make it Hot sauce or REALLY Hot sauce just slightly increase the amount of hot sauce.

After whisking the buffalo sauce, pour it over the chicken bites and you're all set!

Quick Roasted Shrimp and Vegetables

Shrimp cocktail has always been a staple appetizer to any Holiday meal on both my mother and my father's side. Sometimes it seems like a competition as to who can find the biggest and freshest jumbo shrimp. After awhile, though, I began to try different ways to eat shrimp. Now, I generally throw it on the stove, or weather permitting, I toss it on the grill. But yesterday, the salad I ordered for lunch came with "Roasted Shrimp." The roasted, or baked shrimp tasted so delicious; much juicer and flavorful than any shrimp I've sauteed or grilled before. (Certainly more tasty than shrimp cocktail) I realized that I have never attempted to roast shrimp in the oven. After trying it tonight, however, I may never cook shrimp any other way. It's also quick, easy, and relatively mess and fuss free.

What I love about this meal is that you can cook an entire meal, vegetables, sides, whatever, at the same temperature, in the same oven, for the same amount of time. That way you don't have to be jumping from pan to pan or microwave to oven. You can toss one pan of vegetables and one pan of shrimp in the oven, set the timer, and go about your business instead of finding different things to occupy you in the kitchen.

First, preheat your oven to 450. Take two separate baking pans and lay a long piece of tin foil on top each one. (This cuts at least some of the annoying pan scrubbing during clean up) Use any vegetables you like, I chose broccoli, mushrooms, and onions. Drizzle olive oil, sea salt, and whatever type of seasoning you're in the mood for. I used rosemary and garlic for this meal.

I whisked together olive oil, sliced garlic, and drizzled soy sauce in a small bowl. Then place (fresh, peeled, and defrosted) shrimp in a big bowl and pour the marinade over the shrimp. Lay the shrimp on the tin foil and if you want you can drizzle any extra dressing over the shrimp.


Bake both the shrimp and the vegetables for 8-10 minutes. The shrimp will taste like you slaved over it for hours. The vegetables will taste equally as delicious. I love the little burnt edges on the broccoli, and the olive oil and spices make the onions taste almost caramelized.




Enjoy !

ABC Grilled Cheese

I could smell the bacon from half way across our huge adjoining backyards. The smell became stronger, saltier, and greasier as I inched closer to her back patio door. I knew that when I opened that screen door I would be able to see my Grammy standing over the stove. She cooked it the right way, the real way, the old fashioned way – fried on the stove. She introduced me to the taste of bacon, the way it should taste, crispy, salty, and sinful.

As soon as I walked through the door, I would be able to spot her small white frying pan sitting idly on the back right burner with a can of bacon grease in an old Folgers tin coffee container that she would set aside the pan. If I couldn’t already smell the bacon, I would know from edges of the white paper towel that poked out of the black lid that there was some fresh bacon waiting to be ravished . . . by me. I loved to sit on a stool aside the marble island just far enough away from the stove that could watch the bacon sizzle and crackle as it crisped and sparked grease in her frying pan.

My extensive obsession with bacon can sometimes be an an embarrassing era for me revisit. I don't really care to publicize a past obsession that generally reminds people of pigs. But, if it gives me a chance to talk about my Grammy, I'll talk for hours. And you can be certain that I will tell you about her Grilled Cheese and Bacon sandwiches.

I still turn to Grilled Cheese and Bacon as my comfort food. This recipe is something I ache for it’s so delicious. Ironically though, I started to use Turkey bacon instead of regular, it makes the sandwich a little less filling and gives it an airy, light taste. This is my ABC sandwich: Avocado, Bacon, and (Brie) Cheese


ABC Sandwich
2 slices of sourdough bread
A few thin slices of Brie cheese (to taste)
½ avocado, sliced thin
3 strips of bacon (substitute turkey bacon is welcomed!)
2 small frying pans
Pam spray or 2 tablespoons of butter

1.) Heat a buttered or “Pam’d” frying pan on medium as you butter one slice of the bread leaving the other slice to go facedown on the pre buttered pan.

2.) Lay brie cheese on one slice of bread and close the sandwich with the other slice

3.) Lay on the frying pan and cook on medium for about 6 or 7 minutes or until browned. Flip and do the same on the opposite side of the sandwich

4.) While the sandwich cooks on one frying pan, cook three slices of bacon (again turkey if you prefer) in a smaller pan on high. Fry until golden brown, flipping the bacon from one side to the other as a few times while it cooks.

5.) Once the sandwich begins to evenly brown, and the bacon becomes evenly cooked, place both on a separate plate.

6.) Open the top of the grilled cheese and place the turkey bacon and the avocado slices evenly inside, close, slice and enjoy.

Craving Spring - Spinach Vegetable Salad with Garlic Pesto Dressing

Mother Nature gave Philadelphia a little spring weather tease yesterday, and of course, I gave right into her by tossing aside my boots and my coat and replacing them with flats, a sweater, and a light scarf. I could smell fresh air and experienced a little too much excited anticipation of the warmer months to come. (Note: I purposely ignored the sporadic piles of white snow that sat stubbornly atop the grass around campus) But, what this weather REALLY made me think of is the richly colorful, delicious food that I love to throw together during the spring weather.

In keeping with my spring fever, I decided to make this salad for dinner tonight, hoping to bring a little color and good feeling to an ordinary Tuesday in February. I wanted it to look lively and vibrant, and taste light, and a little zesty.

The Salad

2 cups of baby spinach
2 sliced fresh peppers - I chose a bright yellow and orange
1/4 cup sliced red onion
a handful of fresh sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup feta cheese
teaspoon of capers

The Dressing

I tried this tonight for the first time and I already think I should bottle and sell it!

1/4 -1/2 cup EVOO
4 thinly (really thinly) sliced peeled garlic
2 tablespoons pesto
dash of sea salt
a few dashes of ground black pepper
a dash of olive juice (just drizzle a little from a jar of green olives)


If you wanted to make this into a more filling meal, or make it the main course, I would toss some grilled chicken or grilled shrimp into the mix. Otherwise, this salad would make the perfect starter salad, or a fun meal to enjoy for lunch-- while outside of course!

Team Burke Beach Barbecue

The greatest reward for me as an up and coming ( ?! maybe!?) chef is seeing people not only enjoying my food, but also appreciating each other's company just as much if not more than the actual meal. Despite both of these joys, there exists an even more exciting gusto, a treat that comes from cooking WITH other people, especially with my sensational cousins.

The extended Burke Family just returned from our annual two weeks in Avalon, New Jersey. I was blessed with fifteen first cousins all of whom are more like siblings to me than cousins, and we get along swimmingly. Last Tuesday we held the first annual "Kids Cook Dinner" night (maybe someday the adults will realize that the "kids" average an age of 23).

I am totally one for quick and easy, (yet interesting) meal preps. However, when working with several cooks, it's important to create a moderately tedious and task oriented meal to prepare. This is one of the reasons why we chose a meal that would require several small tasks, such as chopping, skewering, and marinating, so that everyone could like play a part in the preparation.

The girls volunteered the better part of our beach morning and decided ventured to the food store to buy all the ingredients: chicken, skewers, veggies, marinade, and salad mixings.

For dinner, we really wanted to choose a meal that could accomodate most, if not all of our family's taste buds. The Burke family are pretty simple eaters. Although this does not make me adore them any less, it does drive me a little nuts to endure a few weeks without any kitchen creativity. I usually start craving something weird like seaweed salad. Just kidding. . . or am I?


We spent the morning skewering the chicken and the vegetables, which really takes patience, despite the simplicity of the task. As far as how much meat and veggies to buy, I like to average about 1/4 lb. of meat per person. Just multiply that by how many people you plan to feed. We calculated 7 lbs of chicken for about 26 people (we were missing a few team members that night).


In keeping with the summer theme, we decided to choose multicolored vegetables. We picked colorful peppers (green, yellow, red, orange), mushrooms, squash, and onions, although you can really pick any vegetable. You can expect that each person will eat one or two skewers. We skewered the vegetables alternating kind and color. One pepper can spread out along at least 8 skewers, or 4 if you put 2 peppers on each skewer. You can do all preparation early in the day and let it sit during the afternoon. Another reason why this is the perfect beach meal!

Later on, when the boys saw that some grilling needed to be done, and some beers needed to be opened, they just had to lend a hand. Cousin Patrick, the lean mean grilling machine, manned the grill. We all kept him company as we listened to music provided by my brother, Joe. However, the grill started to flame. Luckily it became a team effort and my dad came to the rescue.


Neither the barbacue and teriayki chicken skewers, nor the fresh grilled vegetables came from my Kitchen Whimsy- mind. However, this meal needed a blog-post because recipe sharing is not the only thread to link cooks. Rather, there exists a universal truth that governs all cooking laws. That truth is the reality that no meal can ever be totally rewarding and inspiring for a cook unless it brings together smiling faces, and warm conversation. That was what we all felt on that Tuesday night.

Taste of Greece in . . . Scranton?

One thing my college roommates and I never disagreed on was whether or not to crack open a new bottle of wine, always white wine, never red. However, once I graduated and moved home for the summer, I retured to life in the household of a Mamabear who loves her glass of wine, always red, never white.

So I got to thinking about a small dish I could make to help me really enjoy a glass of red wine. Frankly, I would turn into a addict if I started buying bottles of white wine for myself becuase no one at home drinks it but me.

A few nights ago, I was eating some green olives out of the jar, per usual, and I noticed that the slight bitterness of the olive didn't go so well with my glass of white wine. I poured a little sip of red wine and became instantly captivated with the perfect compliment that the merlot gave to the aftertaste of the olive.

I fished through my cabinet to see what kinds of ingredients I had lying around. I found a can of kidney beans, which I thought I might beable to use, I found some black olives, and I found a small can of capers. I began to place myself back a few summers to when I studied in Greece, back to where stores smelled of specialty wine and balsamic, and the natives loved olives ALMOST as much as me. I attempted to bring those memories into this kitchen and try to create something fantastic.

So, I started to open the cans I placed on the kitchen counter, drained them, and dumped them into a big bowl. I drizzled EVOO and a few dashes of balsamic.

And then I discovered a can of chickpeas.

Thanks to my good friend, and fellow food blogging junkie Molly Porth, , who brought the fried chickpea to life, I recalled how wrapped up I became in the chickpea after she shared her fried creation with our Food Writing Class.

So, after mixing in that can of chickpeas, I hit jackpot.

What I love about this dish is that the beans make it filling enough to eat as a meal, or serve as just a small appetizer, AND it's cheap and quick to make. It would have cost a total of 9 dollars to buy all of the ingredients, and takes under 5 minutes to toss together.

My dad put a few scoops on his plate with his london broil and ate it by itself. My mom and I opened a new bottle of Merlot, and paired the "dip" with Garlic Panetini Pita Chips. http://www.newyorkstyle.com/newyorkstylepanetini.php


Here's the recipe:
1 cup of chickpeas
1/4 cup of kidney beans
1/2 cup of sliced blackolives
1/2 cup of sliced green olives
1/4 cup of tinly sliced red onion
1/4 cup of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
few dashes of balsamic
tablespoon of capers (drizzle in some of the caper juice as well).

I'm convinced that the special ingredient in this dish is the caper juice. It's a little salty, but really REALLY superb.

enjoy!