Sazón Cooks: Mexican Party Dip

My beautiful cousin Caty turns 23 today and for her birthday bash I've made a quick and simple dip: Mexican layer dip. The dip combines the best of all things Mexican - cheese, beans, guacamole, sour cream and salsa! Below you'll find the ingredients and directions. Pair the dip with tortilla chips and you'll have an instant favorite at the party. I promise you, the dip will be gone in no time!

Happy Friday and Happy Birthday Caty!!

Ingredients:

• 1 - 16oz jar of sour cream
• 1 - 16oz can of refried beans
• 1 jar of salsa (medium spicy is the best!)
• 1 packet/jar of guacamole (if making from scratch, which I highly recommend, use 2 avocados, 1/2 of a chopped tomato, 1/2 of a chopped onion, salt, lime juice to taste and a teaspoon of cilantro flakes)
• 1 bag of shredded cheese (Mexican blend is the best)

Directions:

1. Start off with a deep pan (approximately 9 x 13)...the pan will really vary on what dish you'd like to use.
2. If you have fresh avocados, make your own guacamole (or at least my simple version of it)! In separate bowl, cut up the 2 avocados and mix with salt, lime juice, chopped up tomatoes, chopped up onion and cilantro. Make sure the mixture is mushy...and looks like guacamole!
3. The trick to the Mexican layer dip is....you guessed it...layers! Start with a layer of refried beans, then guacamole, then sour cream, then salsa.
4. Top off your last layer with cheese...and lots of it!

Enjoy!

What's Hot -- Food Trends

First blackberries, and then acai. Now they are both being upstaged by the hibiscus? Yup, you read right. Hibiscus may be the new food trend. With a sweet-sour taste, and packing antioxidants and anthocyanins that help fight damage caused by free radicals, this flower is all the rave. The petals are used to make beverages, which have been pretty popular in the Caribbean, Mexico, West Africa and Egypt. Now the hibiscus is making its debut in the United States.

Check out hibiscus-flavored products such as OOBA (you can find it at Whole Foods), Klass drink mix (check out Wal-Mart), Jarriots Jamaican Soda and Trader Joe's Dried Sweetened Hibiscus Flowers.

Picture courtesy of OOBA

Hostess with the Mostess: The Ultimate Bar

I just received the latest issue of Everyday with Rachel Ray -- one of my favorite magazines -- and inside was an article about how to plan for and stock the ultimate bar for parties. One important tip that I found handy for calculating how much liquor to buy -- plan on 1 1/2 drinks per hour per person. Also, don't go broke trying to serve every type of alcohol in the pantry -- it's super trendy to serve one or two signature drinks, plus wine and beer.

See below the "essentials" that every fabulous hostess should have in her bar. . . I hope it makes planning your next party easier!

THE ESSENTIAL MIXERS:

• Orange juice
• Cranberry juice
• Soda
• Tonic
• Optional: Pineapple juice, tomato juice, grenadine

THE ESSENTIAL LIQUORS:

• Vodka
• Gin
• Rum
• Whiskey
• Optional: Tequila, vermouth

Image Credit: Everyday with Rachel Ray website

Hot Dogs and Cereal???

What's the weirdest food combination you crave? Ice cream and spaghetti? Rice and eggs? Peanut butter and fried chicken? Today at lunch, a colleague of mine told me about a weird food dish that she loved as a child -- hot dogs and cereal. After almost dying of laughter, I couldn't help but wonder what other weird food combos (that people really eat) exist.

We wanna hear from you -- what's your favorite weird food combination?

What's for lunch?

Everyday we go through the same thing at work, "did you bring anything for lunch?" After an hour of back and forth, we usually end up heading somewhere to pick up food and come back. The killer with eating out is never knowing if what you eat is actually good for you. Now, we won't have that problem! A new website, www.goodfoodnearyou.com, let's you plug in your zip code to find the healthiest food choices near you before you get in the car. The site currently offers nutritional info for more popular restaurants (i.e. food chains, etc)...but according to them its a work a progress...so soon they'll be able to add more local favorites. Check it out and let us know what you think.

Sazón Cooks: Chicken Mushroom Sauté and Pasta

The girls came over on Monday for our weekly Heroes night and I whipped up an easy meal using a recipe for mushroom sauce (I got it from my mama). The recipe is called: Chicken Mushroom Sauté and whole wheat pasta...not overly original, but definitely practical.

The dish was a hit...or at the least the girls told me so! It was super easy to make and done within 45 minutes or so. Below you'll find the ingredients and some instructions. Also, I topped off the meal with a banana on the side...there's nothing better than adding a ripe banana to any meal!

Have some recipes we could try out? Send them our way...I have a few more weeks of Heroes to go....

Enjoy!

Ingredients (4 servings):

• 1 packet White Mushrooms
• 1 Shallot
• Half a white onion
• 1 teaspoon of minced garlic
• 5 Chicken cutlets
• Vino seco (cooking wine; eye ball it...I used about a cup in total)
• 1/2 a box of Whole wheat pasta (my fave is rotini), cooked per box instructions
• Garlic salt (what can I say, I LOVE garlic)
• Spray Olive Oil (staple for the kitchen!!)

Directions:

1. Take the chicken cutlets and chop into chunks (about 4 chunks per cutlets); season with garlic salt.
2. In a heated skillet (medium heat), begin to brown the chicken.
3. While chicken is cooking, chop up the shallot, onions and minced garlic; start to sauté in a separate heated skillet (medium to high heat) . Start adding vino seco to the sauté.
4. Check on your chicken! Make sure that the chicken is cooking thoroughly (no pink!)
5. Once onions begin to get soft, add in the mushrooms; sauté until mushrooms are soft; continue to add vino seco so that there is enough sauce in the mix (fyi, as you sauté , the liquid will begin to reduce).
6. Add the cooked chicken to the mushroom sauté sauce.
7. In a bowl, combine the Chicken Mushroom Sauté with the cooked, whole wheat pasta. As you combine, add a little bit of olive oil to the mix.
8. Voila, dish is done...enjoy...with Parmesan cheese...and of course, a ripe banana!

Abuela's cooking...que rico!

There's nothing like a good, home cooked Cuban meal consisting of bistec palomillo, yucca with mojito and black beans with rice (yes, we Cubans double starch at EVERY meal). While many of us carry family recipes from generation to generation, sometimes it is nice to be able to look up a quick recipe just to make sure you're getting it right. If you're looking for a good Cuban recipe book, then "Cocina Cubana" by Raquel Roque is the one for you. The book features more than 350 recipes with easy to follow steps to help you become a cooking version of your Abuela in no time.

Photo: Amazon.com

Soul Food in NYC

I absolutely love the city of New York -- you can always find great food, great people and a great bar nearby. Although I came to city for the work, I figured I'd play just a bit. . .I don't have a schedule - just 48 hours to have a good time.

In day one of my trip, a girlfriend of mine introduced me to this quaint restaurant in Brooklyn called Ruthies. Everyone who walked in the restaurant knew Ruthie, a seventy-five year-old black matriarch who clearly turned her cooking for the family into a popular neighborhood restaurant. She knew everyone that walked in the restaurant, and the wait for food. . . .let's just say that the food was worth the wait.

I had smothered chicken with seasoned rice and collard greens. . . and all of it hit the spot. It was all well seasoned and the gravy was on point. My friends had salmon cakes, catfish, shrimp, black eyed peas and more. Let's just say like real good soul food always does. . . .we were sleep within a hour. Oh, and the best part of my meal was the cornbread. I'm pretty sure Ruthie sprinkled a bit of brown sugar on the top - just the right touch for my sweet tooth!

If you happen to make your way to Brooklyn, check out Ruthies Southern Soul, 96 Dekalb Avenue in Brooklyn.

Happy Friday and welcome!

While Nikisha's out in NYC (celebrating our team's PR Week award win!!), I thought I'd start telling you all a little bit about us...

We're two PR girls with a secret passion for cooking our made-up versions of tradional Cuban and Bahamian recipes..and also experimenting with new ones. We've also been known for being "hostesses with the mostesses"...and any party we have is never without a "tequila station." While we aren't professionals, we've scored a few compliments here and there...so thought it would be fun to share with you our stories of cooking and entertaining with Sazón and Soul!

Visit us often for new recipes we'll develop (out of pure inspiration or whatever we have in the pantry), tips for throwing the perfect shin-dings (big or small), our rave (or not so good) reviews of restaurants and bars and anything that inspires us on the daily.