Delicious Flan (Spanish Egg Custard) Recipe

Years ago when I lived on the island of Guam, I went to Ben & Yans (a local Philippine restaurant) and was shocked when I saw the price of one slice of flan. They wanted $8 per slice (and there's 8 slices in a pan). I asked why it costs so much and the waiter said it's “homemade.” I told him it was too expensive and I didn't order any. But I went home and made my own flan the next day for $5 total. So, my kids called my homemade flan “The $64 special” (eight slices times $8). Caramelized sugar tastes so delicious in my flan recipe. Forget that artificial topping that comes in a Jell-O box. Caramelized sugar is the real deal and you'll love it! It's very unique and simple to make.

Ingredients:

• 1 can evaporated milk
• 1 can condensed milk
• 5 whole eggs
• ½ cup of sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• a pinch of salt
• 1 ½ cups sugar (for the caramel). Lately I've been using 2 cups, as I like extra caramelized sugar in every bite.

Preparation:

Stove Top Caramel - Melt 1 ½ cups sugar in a non-stick pan, over low heat. Keep your eye on it. If it burns you will have to start over. It just needs to melt that's all. Using a non stick pan will cause the caramel to just slip off the pan when pouring - easy to clean later. As the caramel melts, stir gently until it is all liquidized, but don't let it burn (see below how to caramelize sugar).

Immediately pour the caramel into a non-stick metal pan (or cupcake pan) and swirl it around to cover the bottom and sides. I pour it all in the pan (or a little amount in each cupcake pan) at once and then use a metal spoon to spread it to the sides. You may actually want to melt two separate batches of sugar, so you can just fill 6 of the 12 cupcake holes at a time. This way you won't be so rushed, trying to work quickly before the caramelized sugar solidifies. You'll have to be quick because once the sugar starts to cool down you can't work with it anymore. Again, please be careful because melted sugar is extremely hot!

Flan - Blend all ingredients until completely mixed. I use an electric mixer on high. Pour the flan mixture into the caramelized pan. The caramel should have cooled down before you pour the egg mixture in it.

Set the mold in a broiling pan (baño de María). Cook in a 350º oven for 45 minutes. At 30 minutes check to see if it's getting too brown on top - if so cover loosely with foil. If you don't have a double-broiler, you can simply use a larger baking pan filled with water, and then put the smaller baking pan with the flan in it. However you do it, you must cook the flan pan in water, or else the caramelized sugar will stick to the pan like supper glue.

Please make sure to bake the flan in a double-boiler or another baking pan with water, because if you don't (and I've made this big mistake), the flan will burn in the pan and you'll have to throw the pans away! You can't put the flan directly into the oven. I have a big rectangular baking pan with 2" sides. I put the flan into an 8" round pan, and then float that inside the big pan filled with regular tap water. You might need to cook the flan for an hour or more, until you can insert a fork and pull it out dry. If your flan starts to get too dark (I like it dark on the bottom), you can lay a piece of aluminum foil over the flan while it is baking.

Test the flan to see if it's done by inserting a knife in the center. If the flan is still soft, let it cook longer until a knife inserted again comes out clean. Remove from the oven carefully and let it sit on the counter until it cools. Then cover with foil and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

To serve, lay a plate on top of the mold, carefully flip over and slowly lift the mold off.

Detailed Instructions On How To Caramelize Sugar:

Caramelizing plain white sugar is quite an experience if you've never done it before. However, once you've done it, it's as easy as can be.

The first time I melted sugar the sugar turned black and I slowly backed away from the stove. After the black caramel cooled I lifted the entire pot by the spoon (which became a handle stuck in the solidified sugar...lol). The spoon was locked in the burnt sugar. What a mess! My heat was too high. So, please don't make that same common mistake, keep your heat low. If you do burn your sugar, just reheat the pot and then pour out the burned sugar. You haven't ruined the pot.

The proper way to caramelize sugar is to keep the heat low. For the first few minutes the sugar will stay white and it will seem like nothing is happening, but be patient and DON'T raise the heat. After a few minutes you will see some bubbles here and there, especially around the sides. Don't stir the sugar yet. Wait until you see several bubbles. If you stir it too soon, it just may clump on the spoon. (But if it does clump, don't worry, just let it heat up more and it will all liquefy.) By waiting, it will be easier to start stirring. Just gently stir the sugar, working it around, until all of it has caramelized into a delicious looking golden color. IT'S HOT, SO BE CAREFUL. Once the sugar is completely liquefied, it's done! Don't burn it! If you want a toasted flavor, then cook the sugar some more, but watch it carefully because it burns quick.

WARNING: Melted sugar is hot like melted glass. It's not as dangerous as glass, but you can get burned very badly. Make sure there's no kids playing under your feet, no running pets or anything that you can slip on. You don't have to panic, but you do need to work fairly quickly because the sugar cools fast and gets hard. Just pour the sugar into either a cupcake pan, or one big non-stick baking pan. I've used both, whatever I have on hand. Use a metal spoon to work the sugar up the sides of the pan. You've got about 30 seconds to work before it hardens. Let it sit and cool for at least 20 minutes before adding the mix to the pan.

Helpful Preparation Tips:

Let the caramelized sugar cool in the pan for about 10-15 minutes before pouring your mixture into it. This is just to make sure that the sugar has set to the sides of the pan. Add the mixture into the pan. Then allow it to sit on the table for about 2 or 3 hours to cool down before putting it into your refrigerator overnight. If you put it into your refrigerator right away, the warm flan will raise the temperature in your refrigerator. I once made two cheesecakes and a flan and put them into the refrigerator for 12 hours. Instead of the cheesecakes being nice and cold, they weren't chilled because I had put the warm flan into the refrigerator also (and it raised the temperature for several hours).

Also, I've learned not to flip the flan until the next day, because half of your delicious caramelized sugar will remain stuck in the baking pan. So what I do is firmly place a flat plate with raised sides (because you don't want the caramelized sugar to leak all over the place). Place the plate on top of the flan and then fairly quickly turn it over.

Make sure to hold the plate (or whatever) firmly, so your flan doesn't slip out onto the floor. I made flan today and actually used my cookie baking sheet to turn it over. It's flat and has a slightly raised edge. The idea is to turn the flan over today, so tomorrow when you remove the pan, after being refrigerated overnight, the pan will come right off and all the caramelized sugar will stay on your flan. Emmm!

Caramelized sugar tastes great over fried bananas in butter with some brown sugar and a little vanilla extract. Serve with French vanilla ice cream! Em, em good!

Delicious Guacamole Dip Recipe

This is a healthy appetizer, and goes along great with any Mexican dish such as tacos or enchiladas. Avocados are rich in vitamins and minerals. My kids love this. I prefer the yellow corn tortillas in a big bag to go with this dip.

Ingredients:

• 
  4 to 5 avocados, chopped finely (I like the Haas brand)
• ⅓ medium size onion, chopped finely (I prefer yellow onions, but some people like red onions)
• 2 Tbsp fresh diced cilantro
• ½ can Ortega green fire roasted chilies
• 1 tsp crushed garlic (2-3 garlic cloves. I use a garlic hand press)
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp lime juice (or lemon juice)
• ½ to 1 can (14.5 ounce) drained fire roasted tomatoes (or 1 large diced up tomato)
• ¼ tsp fresh ground pepper

Preparation:

Put all the ingredients into a big bowl and then mix together with a spoon or by hand. My kids like extra tomatoes, so I use the whole can of fire roasted tomatoes. You may also want to use the entire can of Ortega chilies, but I prefer about half. The dip is great at room temp, but even better if chilled for an hour or two in the refrigerator.

Avocado Nutritional Information:

Avocados are a surprisingly complete food, with fourteen minerals to stimulate growth, including iron and copper for your blood. The sodium and potassium in avocados keeps your body chemically balanced, and their low sugar content and absence of starch make them an ideal fruit for diabetics or hypoglycemics (choose small slices throughout the day to keep your sugar balanced). Vitamins in avocados include A, several B-complex, C, and E, as well as phosphorus and magnesium. They’re also a great source of antioxidants like vitamins E and C.

Because of their density, avocados, like bananas, are filling. But they are also a perfectly digestible slow-burning fuel, making them ideal for replenishing nutrients for athletes. They’re a great source of fruit oil and digestible fats, and they make excellent and healthy dips for raw vegetables. When blended with fruit, they make particularly nutritious baby food.

Avocados are also called alligator pears because of their shape and the color of their skin. The four hundred varieties of avocado are found throughout Mexico and South America. After planting an avocado tree, you’ll have to wait two to three years for it to bear fruit, but it’s worth the wait.

Picking And Preparing Avocadoes:

A perfect avocado is hard to choose in the store; because they go so quickly through ripeness into over ripeness, you’re better off picking slightly unripe ones and letting them ripen on the counter with your bananas. Ideal avocados to purchase are dark green and hard, and they brown slightly and become slightly soft to thumb pressure as they ripen. Remove the flesh by cutting the fruit in half lengthwise. If you twist it open from here, the large pit easily comes out of one side, and all you have to do is twist it out of the other side with a knife.

Replace butter with avocado spread, or use avocado dip and raw vegetables to replace your chips and ranch dressing.

Deviled Eggs

Just a nice quick recipe that is easy to make and tastes great. When they were young, my kids liked to help make this recipe. Try them both and taste for yourself.

Ingredients:

• 
  12 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and cut lengthwise
• 1 TSP bacon bits
• 4 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon dry ground mustard
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• ½ cup mayonnaise
• ½ tsp celery salt
• ¼ tsp fresh ground Pepper (which is about 12 turns on my pepper grinder, but each grinder is different).
• Paprika to sprinkle over eggs

Preparation:

Cut hard-boiled, peeled, eggs lengthwise into halves. Place egg yokes into one bowl and egg whites into another. Using a spoon, mix all ingredients except paprika into bowl with egg yokes. Using a spoon, place filling back into egg whites, and then garnish by sprinkling paprika on top. Deviled eggs are great as is, but even better if chilled for an hour or two in the refrigerator (cover with plastic wrap to preserve flavor).

60 Minute Bread Rolls Recipe

These are really great tasting soft rolls.

Recipe Ingredients:

• 
  1 cup milk
• 1 cup water
• ¼ cup margarine
• 4-5 cups all purpose flour
• 3 T sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 pkgs. active dry yeast

Preparation:

Combine milk, water and margarine in a small bowl. Microwave for a couple minutes until liquids are very warm to the touch, about 120 degrees. Add dry yeast to warm mixture, stir, and allow to sit for about 5-minutes.

In mixer bowl, place 3 cups of the flour, along with the salt and sugar. Stir until well blended. Add the warm milk mixture and then blend by hand. Gradually begin adding the remaining 1 to 2 cups of flour, until the dough is firm.

Knead dough a few times, place in a large greased bowl, allowing dough to rise in a warm place for about 20 minutes. Turn out, and divide into rolls. Place bread rolls in a warm place and allow to rise for another 20-30 minutes. Bake in a 425 degree oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. I sometimes brush the top of the rolls with soy milk before placing into oven for flavor.

Once removed from oven, brush with butter while still warm to produce a nice soft crust.

Helpful tips:

Here are some helpful hints for successful bread baking: Using liquids that are above 130 degrees will kill the yeast in your dough, so be careful. Liquid should feel very warm to the touch, but not burning hot.

Yeast that is old will not rise, but yeast can be stored indefinitely in the freezer. When you buy yeast at the store, simply pop it in your freezer until you need it.

If you want a shiny, brown crust simply brush the crust of your dough with beaten egg whites before baking. Coating the crust with butter after baking produces a nice, soft, buttery flavored crust. Emmm.

Not sure if your bread is done? Tap the crust; if it sounds hollow, it's done!

And last but not least, be sure that your pans are well greased to avoid sticking to the sides.

Delicious Homemade French Bread

This is an authentic tasting French bread that is easy to make. The following recipe makes 2 long loaves of French bread. If you have a smaller oven, or just want to make one loaf, then only use HALF of the ingredients.

Recipe Ingredients:

• 6 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 (¼ ounce) packages active dry yeast
• 1 ½ tsp. of salt
• 2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/ 45 degrees C)
• 2 egg whites
• 2 Tbsp. water
• 1 Tbsp. cornmeal
• butter or Pam cooking spray to grease bowl

Preparation:

In a large bowl, combine warm water with yeast, stir, and allow to sit for a few minutes. Add salt and stir. Stir in flour one cup at a time until thick enough to work by hand. On a lightly floured surface, knead dough to make a stiff dough that is smooth and elastic. Knead for about 5 minutes. Knead by pressing on the dough, then folding over and pressing with the heel of your hand. Shape into a ball. Place dough into greased bowl, also grease top of dough, and cover. Let rise in a warn place until doubled.

Punch dough down and divide into half. Roll each half into a large rectangle. Fold dough over, lengthwise, to form loaves. Place dough, with seam facing down, onto greased baking tray sprinkled with cornmeal. Moisten ends of bread loaf with water and seal. Taper ends. Lightly whip the 2 egg whites with 2 Tbsp. of water and brush onto loaves. This will give the bread a golden glazed brown texture while cooking. Cover with a damp cloth and allow bread to rise for an additional 30-45 minutes. The process of allowing the dough to rise gives it a more delicious flavor and a better bread texture when done.

With a sharp knife, make 4 or 5 diagonal cuts about 1/4 inch deep across the top of each loaf. Bake in a preheated 375° F (190° C) oven for 20 minutes. Brush again with egg white mixture. Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes. If necessary, cover loosely with foil to prevent over browning.