5 Star Foodie Junior: Stir It Up and Aloo Pies

Welcome to the February edition of 5 Star Foodie Junior, a series of monthly posts that feature my daughter learning how to cook in the kitchen. Featured this month is Aloo Pies, a recipe that we found in a fabulous book Stir It Up.

5 Star Foodie Junior:

Mommy and I have been reading a special book together called "Stir It Up". This book is about a girl who works in a family restaurant with her dad and her grandmother. Her name is Anjali, and she came to America from Trinidad and Tobago. She loves to cook. Her dream is to have her own Food Network show.

We were reading through the book when we found the recipe for Aloo pies. Aloo pies are hot pan-fried pastries popular in Trinidad and Tobago, similar to samosas. These pies can have different fillings like a spicy potato, onion, and garlic mixture.



To make aloo pies, first we mixed the flour, salt, and baking powder together, added water, and kneaded the dough.



Then, we formed balls of dough, about 2 inches large.



Next, we made the filling. We mashed the potatoes with hot sauce and salt.



We fried onions, garlic, and tomatoes, and then added the potato mixture and cooked it some more. Then, we let the filling cool.



Then, we flattened out the balls of dough until it was shaped like a pancake.



We placed a spoonful of filling onto each round of dough.



We folded the dough round in half, and pinched the ends together. Then, we flattened the pastries carefully.



Finally, we fried the aloo pies in oil until golden brown.



The aloo pies were absolutely delicious!





There are many other recipes in "Stir it Up", such as Coconut Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies, Red Bean Pudding, Easy Curry Chicken, Shrimp Burger Pitas, and Coconut Sweet Bread. Also, there are cute pretend recipes for Be Who You Are Bread, Ambition, Redemption, and Success. Stir It Up is a fun book to read!

5 Star Makeover Roundup: Beets

This month we celebrate beets as our theme ingredient for our monthly 5 Star Makeover Cooking Group. Thank you to all the participants and my co-host Lazaro for your hard work and creativity! Please, enjoy looking through all the wonderful creations and don't forget to click on the title link to check out the recipes and more details of all the dishes.

If the Lady of Shalott Were a Dish (Or Beets with Barley Risotto & Seared Scallops)

by Faith, An Edible Mosaic

Golden Beet + Plantain Empanadas with Smoky Rum Glaze …and Raw Red Beet Salad with Plantain + Roasted Golden Beet Dressing

by Joan, Foodalogue

Duo of Beet Sorbets and Goat Cheese Beet Fritters with Honey Foam

by Natasha, 5 Star Foodie

Beetroot Shikai Maki with Shiitake Mushroom and French Bean Filling

by Maya, Foodiva's Kitchen

Apples With Beet Hummus and Mint Yogurt Sauce

by Evelyne, Cheap Ethnic Eatz

Momos in Beetroot Pastry

by Laura, Silk Road Gourmet

Yellowfin Tuna Crudo with Couplet of Beets

by Lazaro, Lazaro Cooks!

Resplendent Baby Golden Beet Salad

Baby Candy Stripe Beet Fettuccine, Beet Syrup
by Lori Lynn, Taste With the Eyes

Mini Beetroot Crepes Stuffed with Arugula, Goat Cheese & Ground Pistachio

by Trix, Tasty Trix

Roasted Beet Hummus

by Jessica, Cajunlicious

Beet Salad with Apples, Quinoa and Goat Cheese

by Kelly, The Pink Apron

Beet Gnocchi

by Deana, LostPastRemembered

5 Star Beet Salad

by Priscilla, She's Cookin'

Chocolate Truffle and Beet Mousse Candy Cups with Red Wine and Beet Juice Reduction

by Alisha, The Ardent Epicure

Roasted Beet Pasta with Beet Gnocchi, Cream Cheese, Poppy Seeds

by Angela, Spinach Tiger

Beet Purée and Fruit Salad w/Caramelized Onion & Ginger

by Bren, Flanboyant Eats

Pearl Couscous Beet Salad

by Marisa, Cook's Book

Duo of Beet Sorbets and Goat Cheese Beet Fritters with Honey Foam

The sweet and colorful beets are at the peak of their season right now and we have chosen to highligh this ingredient as a theme for this month's 5 Star Makeover.



I personally love beets and use it frequently in my cooking. You will find quite a few dishes with beets on my site such as Sesame Crusted Cod with Beetroot Cream or Beet Cranberry Horseradish Mousse among others. All of the dishes that I have made with beets so far are savory. So I have decided to make a dessert for my 5 Star Makeover entry, Duo of Beet Sorbets and Goat Cheese Beet Fritters with Honey Foam.



This dessert contains three different components. First, I have prepared the sorbets, one with red beets and the other with golden beets. To make the sorbets, both beets were cooked until tender first. Then, the red beets were combined with cranberry juice, red wine, and sugar in a food processor, while the golden beets were mixed with sugar, apple juice, and white wine. After freezing, both sorbets had a lovely texture and taste, with the red beet sorbet having a brighter bolder flavor while the golden beet sorbet was a lot more delicate.

The goat cheese beet fritters were prepared much like the method used in Sweet Goat Cheese Grape Fritters I have made in the past, with the beets grated into the batter. The colors came through beautifully and the crunchy panko coating was very nice.

A final finishing touch was a honey foam. I reserved some of the water from cooking the beets and mixed it with honey and lethicin with my immersion blender.

The resulting dessert featured a wonderful contrast between temperatures and textures, with the smooth cool sorbets, crunchy hot fritters, and a delicate airy foam. It was definitely a success.



I can't wait to see the dishes that my fellow 5 Star Makeover group participants made! Tune in on Friday to check out the roundup!

Quinoa Salad with Beets, Asparagus, and Goat Cheese

Last night, I made a very special dish for the 5 Star Makeover monthly event coming up next week, and I had leftover ingredients so I have decided to use them up in a quinoa salad for our dinner today. This salad is healthy and nutritious, and is very easy to put together.

1. Cut your cooked golden and red beets in bite-size chunks.
2. Roast asparagus (sprinkled with salt and olive oil) and cut it in bite-size chunks.
3. Mix cooked quinoa with beets, asparagus, and crumbled goat cheese.
4. Season with honey-ginger dressing, which is simply prepared by whisking honey, fresh minced ginger, red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper).

This salad can be served warm or at room temperature or chilled. This is a perfect quick and delicious light weekday dinner!

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's been a very busy winter season, and I'm sure my readers have noticed that I have been posting a little less than usual, and my blogger friends know that I haven't been doing as much blog reading either. I hope that I can get back into the full cooking and blogging mode very soon.

Today, I wanted to wish all my readers and friends Happy Valentine's Day! Though I don't have a dish to share myself, I would like to highlight an amazing collaboration post that my best friend Lazaro and our newest 5 Star Makeover Group member Natalie @ FoodAtick have prepared for this special holiday.

Sugar Coma Dessert Pizza - go to FoodAtick to get all the details

Ginger and Curry Beef Blintzes

Blintzes are one of my favorite dishes to make and eat. Typically, the filling is sweet ricotta, but growing up we also had our savory blintzes filled with ground chicken or mushrooms.

Recently I have received a sample of Prescott Frost ground beef, so I decided to use it in a filling for blintzes. Prescott Frost Beef is organic, USDA Certified, grass-fed beef that is delicious and offers nutrients such as Omega-3 fatty acids, resulting in numerous health benefits. I flavored the ground beef with ginger and curry and prepared it together with potatoes and peas. The ginger and curry beef was terrific by itself and served as an excellent filling for the blintzes. In addition to ground beef, I also got samples of Prescott Frost sausages which I used to make a simple appetizer paired with smoked Gouda cheese.

Product Review: More Than Gourmet Sauces

More Than Gourmet is a company that makes classic French stocks and sauces in the old world tradition. Only the highest quality fresh ingredients are used to produce these sauces. All the sauces and stocks are authentic, flavorful, and rich. They are also very easy to use in every day cooking.



I have received samples of five products: Classic Roasted Chicken Stock, Classic Mushroom Stock, Classic Roasted Turkey Stock, Classic French Demi-Glace, and Classic Reduced Brown Stock. With the Classic Reduced Brown Stock, I've made a Maple Reduction sauce to accompany the roasted duck quarter.

The process of making the sauce was very simple. I combined the package of Glace de Viande Gold, or reduced brown stock, with 1 cup of water, brought this mixture to boil and cooked it to reduce to about 1/2 cup. Then I added 1/4 maple syrup and cooked the sauce for a few more minutes. This maple reduction was very flavorful and an excellent sauce for the duck.