Puertorican Rice (arroz con gandules)

3 T olive oil
1/2 cup fresh or frozen Sofrito - recipe in blog under seasonings/sauces
1 packet Sazon Goya - con culantro y achiote (can be found in latin markets. orange box)
1 T salt
3/4 can tomato sauce
1 can gandules w/water (also found in latin markets)
4 cups rice
5 cups water

coat bottom of large caldero (pot) with olive oil. add sofrito, tomato sauce, fry up for a few minutes to combine. add gandules with water from can, and rice, salt, and water. Bring to boil. then turn on low, cover and simmer for 20 min. making sure to keep the lid tight.

Broiled Asparagus

This recipe is super easy and a nice twist for asparagus - my favorite veggie. It comes out tender on the inside and kind of crispy on the ends - yum!

1 bunch of asparagus
olive oil
salt
pepper

heat oven to broil. Arrange aparagus on a cookie sheet..ends pre cut. drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Broil for aout 10 minutes...checking often to prevent burn.

Sticky Carrot Pudding

So...I've been bugging my mom to send me her recipe for carrot pudding..it's a family recipe and is devine..she has procrastinated beyond belief..like a few years. So I decided to look for a similiar recipe and I found this one. although it doesn't compare to my moms, it was really good in a different sort of way...almost closer to carrot cake and the toffee sauce was incredilble ..I might have to substitute the sauce out for my moms.

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup raisins
1/2 cup boiling hot water
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teasoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cardamon
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 cup packed brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup finely grated carrots
1/3 cup nuts (whatever you have on hand)

Preheat oven to 350. lightly butter 8 ramekins
soak rasins in hot water until plump, about 15 min, drain. Whisk together flour, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, and pepper, set aside. Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 min. Mix in eggs, 1 at a time. Mix in vanilla, Reduce speed to low. Mix in flour mixture. Mix in carrots, nuts and raisins. Pour into ramekins filling to 3/4 full. Bake on a baking sheet until just set, about 30 min. Transfer ramekins to wire rack and let cool slightly, turn puddings into dishes. top with toffee sauce.....

Toffee Sauce:
1 stick unsalted butter
1 vanilla bean
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups packed dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

melt butter in med saucepan over med heat. open and scrape vanilla seeds out of bean. add seeds, add bean, . Whisk in cream, sugar and salt. Bring to a boi, reduce heat to med-low. simmer stirring occaisionally, until mixture is thickened, about 5 min.