how to make an ice cream sandwich
Read MoreSPICY MARGARITA RECIPE || FOOD+LIFESTYLE PHOTOGRAPHER NICOLE LEE
I am totally obsessed with limes at the moment. Maybe it has something to do with their green color, and my gravitation towards it since everything is mostly brown here in Arizona. Since I had so many limes left over from my last project I was inspired not only to make good use of them, but there is something about the fact that it is still 100 degrees out side, which calls for a nice cold margarita. Right?
When I usually make my margaritas, I use Patron, and their Patron Orange Liquor. But I wanted to mix it up this time and try something new. This time I tried out OLMECA AlTOS 100% Agave Plata Tequila and it’s rated at 96 points. Let me tell you it’s amazing, so smooth! You have to try it out. As well as Cointreau instead of the patron, the outcome is a refreshing heavenly cocktail that you keep coming back for more.
SPICY JALAPENO MARGARITAS :
For the recipe: this yields 2 margaritas ( double if making more, cut in half if making one at a time)
You will need :
- 1 cocktail shaker
- 2 cups of ice, 2 lowball glasses , (mason jars work wonders)
- 2 jalapeno's
- 4 0z 100% clear Agave Tequila ( OLMECA ALTOS is what i would suggest!)
- 1.5 oz Cointreau
- 1-2 limes
- Lime juice sqeezer
- knife
METHOD :
Slice the limes in half set aside. Slice the jalapeños into round quarters, its up to you how spicy you want your margarita, so add as many as you'd to your cocktail shaker. Then squeeze in 1 half of the lime juice, add in about 1 /2 cup of ice, and all of the tequila and cointreau. SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE! Place the rest of ice into the two glasses and pour the margarita over the ice and drink immediately. ENJOY!
Note: Its up to you how much lime, or jalapeño you want your margarita to taste like, so your free to get creative and mix it up just the way you like!!
CHEERS FRIENDS !!
-Nicole
this Recipe was adapted from the lovley Bethenny Frankel's Skinnygirl Margarita : www.bethenny.com
COINTREAU : http://us.cointreau.com/lasoiree/
OLMECA ALTOS TEQUILA : http://www.altostequila.com
Basic roast chicken recipe, with lime and herbs
These days I have been desperately yearning to get back to basics. Basic life, basic food basic fashion, I gravitate towards them like a magnate. These things above all others give me certainty. Certainty, that I can accomplish the little things in life.
See we moved across the country from Charleston, SC back to my hometown of Phoenix Arizona. (My husband and three children that is.)(Let me be frank and say I don’t do well with change. In fact I am a bit of a control freak, who doesn’t like the feeling of being out of control, so for me this was a big deal. ) Oh and we bought our first home, and the kids started a new school. In some ways it’s a lot of firsts for all of us.
I never thought in a MILLION years I would buy a house, let a alone in Phoenix. When I was in high school I had big, I mean BIG dreams to leave, and make it somewhere. Somewhere like NYC. I mean right? Who doesn’t want to live there? That’s where everybody goes to make it big. In fact that is the only place to go??…NOT. No! But that is what I told myself. In my head New York was way “cooler” than dusty desert town of phoenix. Instead life carved a different path. So I chose to embrace it. Go with it. With the unknown, walk towards it become its friend.
Life of course can become chaotic at times. Especially with moving across the country, I will not sit here and tell you its been all daisy’s and roses. What I will tell you is that I made a choice. See I had two options in front of me, to choose anxiety and stress, which leads to multiple crying episodes. Or option 2, to push through. To push through the change, to walk into the unknown and know it was going to be okay. That it’s going to be okay with whatever the outcome. To know life really is out of our control, and being content in that. To know that we don’t have to break down to get there. Guess what? The best part, Pushing through feels like you WON the race. You find yourself in this random high. Then you feel like you can take on the world and you make it to the next place. Which Life is much easier and well things work out. Like a LOT!
“Small baby steps lead you toward the big steps which then before you know it your walking on your own” – (from the movie "What about Bob")
There might not always be stillness or certainty in life, but what I do know is you can accomplish a simple basic chicken recipe. So lets do this. Cheers Folks.
Enjoy and Happy Cooking!
Basic Roast Chicken Recipe, With Lime and Herbs:
What you will need:
- Roasting pan, cast iron skillet, or ceramic deep baking dish
- 1 whole (preferably organic ) Roasting Chicken
- 2-3 limes
- 2 garlic bunches
- Spices: salt pepper, fresh Oregano
- Cutting board, Carving Knife, tea towel
- An Oven
- Avocado Oil (or any other HIGH HEAT OIL Will work! ) About 1 -2 tbsp
- Twine
For the Recipe:
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. While that is warming up, wash and dry your chicken set aside. Slice the limes in half. As well as break apart and smash your Garlic. Set aside. Take your oil and cover an even layer over the bottom of the pan. Then place your chicken breast up inside. Tie the chicken legs together with your twine. After you finish stuff your bird with one whole lime and one whole bunch of garlic.
Take your oregano break apart with your hands and sprinkle over the chicken. Then squeeze your other lime all over your bird. After this add the rest of the oregano, cut limes, garlic to the pan next to the chicken. Take oil and lightly sprinkle over the top. If you desire add pepper.
Place the chicken into the oven. Cook for about 25-35 min at 425 degrees, then turn down the oven to 350 and continue to cook for another 60 min. If your bird is larger you will need to add additional time to the cooking.
nce it is golden brown, and you don't see any raw or pink , take it out. Take it out of the dish and place on a the cutting board for 15 min!!!! I am shouting because it will I mean will dry out if you cut into it too soon!! So let it REST !!
Once its rested, add salt and pepper to taste then enjoy!!
Vegan Strawberry Coconut Ice Cream Recipe -
vegan strawberry coconut ice cream recipe
Read MoreGluten Free Blueberry Waffles - Saturday Breakfast
Saturday Breakfasts are somewhat of a staple around here. Saturdays are for sleeping in, big breakfasts and being lazy. Right? Here is a simple gluten/ milk free recipe, that takes no time to make and honestly tastes like the real thing ( filled with Gluten). Recipe below images!
Happy Tuesday Friends!
-Cheers
Nicole
Recipe for Gluten Free Waffles ( makes 8)
INGREDIENTS:
- 3 Bowls, whisk , ladle, measuring cups, waffle iron
- 1 1/2 cups Gluten Free All purpose flour ( BOBS REDMILL IS THE BEST! )
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 Tbsp RAW Honey or RAW SUGAR
- 1 tbsp Oil
- 3/4 Soy, Almond, or coconut milk depending on preference
- 4 Eggs Separated
- tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 cups Blueberries
- 2 cups bananas
To Make :
- Pre heat waffle iron
- In one large bowl place all the dry ingredients together set aside
-In the other bowl place 4 egg whites and the vanilla, whisk this together until it forms into a fluffy form, making stiff peaks.
- In another bowl, combine the dairy free milk, yolks, and oil. Whisk these together. Then add in the dry ingredients to this mixture. Once combined fold in the fluffy egg whites with a spatula. Once combine, you can add in blueberries, chocolate chips bananas whatever sounds good to you!
- Place mix on the waffle iron using the ladle and should finish in about 3- 5 min. Golden brown is what you are looking for.
- Place the finished gluten free waffles on a place lined with parchment paper to soak up the grease, also the parchment paper will keep the waffles warm while the others cook.
Top with powdered sugar and enjoy!
Dinner for two - Charleston food photographer Nicole Mendicino
Date night. I am having trouble digesting the date night concept. What is date night? Is it shared meal, dress up, putting your best foot forward to please one another for one night only? Why can’t relationships be as simple as doing life together, walking side by side with each other? Maybe always being your best self all the time instead of once a week during date night.
Call me crazy, but I kind of hate the idea of “date night”. The pressure to come up with something adventurous, find a baby sitter, go out, to then end up at a restaurant that is so loud you can’t here yourself think, which leads to pressure of coming up with something interesting to chat about. In the end you sit across from your partner on this forced evening both thinking “we should have stayed home, made dinner and watched Zombies attacking each other on the T.V. I just think the idea of one night a week to make sure to connect with your partner seems odd. Why not be connecting all the time? It doesn’t mean you have to spend every waking hour with one another. But there has to be more than date night to a relationship.
Relationships feel as though they are based off fairytales and sometimes I think that this whole date night thing is right along side it. Do you know what I am talking about?
The prince, the night in shinning armor, saving the girl, the damsel in distress. The prince rescues the princess, his one true love. Disney did a great number on me with those stories. Now it seems all of us women and men have certain expectations on how the other should be, should look should act like. Then what? I mean after prince charming rescues you, because as women we sure can’t rescue ourselves. (“Right”) Now what? What do you do after the prince rescues you? Fairytale Wedding, Fairytale love, so on and so on. Then you have a wonderful few months. All of a sudden the birds stop chirping. The music fades. Shit gets real. The prince doesn’t seem like a prince anymore, the damsel doesn’t need rescuing, so now what are you supposed to do?
Have kids? Go on date night to spice it up?
Lets take a few steps back now from all the pink lace and tool. Lets take a break from Date night. Lets start at the beginning. It’s a very good place to start. (Cue Julie Andrews from the sound of music.)
What attracted you to that person in the first place? How did you act when you first met them? Did you poop in front of each other? I’ll bet you didn’t. You were the best version of yourself! Everyday. You wanted the other person to like you. You thought his jokes were funny and laughed. Like REALLY Laughed. He didn’t open the doors for you or maybe he did either way you didn’t mind. Date night wasn’t a thing, hang outs, road trips just fun being together, enjoying each other. That is where the love is. So what gives? Lets say you go back to that and do those things all the time. How would that change things? Maybe give being your best self a chance, EVERYDAY. What does that look like? No excuses here, the kids aren’t getting in the way, the job isn’t. It’s a choice.
Relationships are actually quite simple but yet we complicate them by putting pressure on the other person to get what we want. That’s messed up. Or forcing things like date night so I can feel like my partner is pursuing me like Prince Charming pursuing his damsel. Say WHAT?
I have a crazy Idea. Do life together. Be partners to each other. Find what it is you liked about each other in the first place. BEE YOURSELF! I’m no expert here. I am a little awkward, maybe a lot awkward at times. I’m not an expert on love. But what I do know is He is No prince Charming, I am no Cinderella and we don’t need date night. Normal boring life is much more exciting, I’d take dinner for two at home watching Zombies attack anytime over a forced anything.
MENU :
Black Rice With Garlic and Cilantro
What you will need:
Wild Black Rice - You can find this at your local grocery store. Cilantro, Garlic about 1 clove. Salt.
Follow directions on package for rice, use a rice cooker or stove top to make . It will take the longest so make sure to throw the rice in the pot first before prepping the other food. Also add salt to the rice while it cooks. About a 1/2 teaspoon is enough.
Alaskan Salmon with Garlic, Lemon, Olive Oil and shallots.
What you need:
- 2 Wild Alaskan Salmons Fillets, 1 lemons, 1 bunch of garlic (4 cloves or 5 depending on how much you like garlic), High quality Olive Oil, 1 Shallot, salt and pepper.
-To Make :
Preheat oven or toaster oven to 400 degrees
Prep a baking pan with Olive oil or Non stick cooking spray. Clean the Salmon Filets, smash garlic (keep shells on) with a knife, slice lemon, and shallots. Place the Salmon on the baking sheet, place smashed garlic, lemon, olive oil, pinch of salt and pepper on top of the Salomon Filets.
Then bake for 10 min. You will know when the fish is done by placing a fork over the top, if the salmon piece are sliding off, the color has gone from bright pink to pale its done. Also Fish cooks very fast and will keep cooking once you take it out of the oven. Over done the fish will be gummy or tough when you are eating it.
Radish Spinach Salad with Goddess Dressing
What you will need :
-3 0r 4 Radishes, Fresh Spinach , Lemon, Cilantro, Garlic, Olive oil , Lemon, Lime, Bragg Liquid Aminos, Vegenaise or Mayo works great. Salt and pepper. Ground Ginger or Fresh. A bowl, whisk, knife. mortar and pestle.
For the Dressing: Roughly chop the Garlic, Cilantro, place in the mortar and pestle add a pinch of salt, and ground ginger to the mix and grind up until combined into a paste. Set aside.
Cut the lemon and lime in half. Set aside.
In a bowl Mix together about a tablespoon of Olive oil, tablespoon Vegenaise, teaspoon liquid Aminos, Squeeze in the cut lemon. (use the whole thing, then add in about Half of the lime) Add in the cilantro, garlic mix. With a whisk throughly mix all together. Add salt and pepper to taste. As well as more olive oil, lemon juice if too acidic.
Slice the Radishes and Place in a bowl with the spinach.
Add Dressing and toss together.
That is simple meal Dinner for two. Enjoy.
Cheers,
Nicole
Mom Fail // Nicole Lee - Photographer
How did your weekend go?
Lots of Drama around here, three bloody noses, numbers of meltdowns, with the exception of some beach time. This is how everyone else’s weekend went right?
This weekend was Dramatic. I mean Really Dramatic. First our oldest Jacob (5yr) was playing teenage ninja turtles in the backyard then proceeded to hit our middle child Asher (4yr) in the face with a large stick, which made him bleed heavily in the face. Then we had another blood in the face incident, which I will get to later.
So Asher comes screaming and crying into the house, blood all over his face. I have two options; succeed by the good mother. Or massively fail and drop the ball. The way I see it is: A. I am supposed to stay cool calm and collected. B. Lets face it I am horribly terrified when it comes to seeing blood, ANY type of blood. When my sister used to get vaccines I would cry in pain for her while she took it like a man. Why I always had the weird obligation to feel other people’s pain is beyond me. Maybe it’s anxiety? Maybe I am crazy? Both are equally relevant. Mom Fail #1.
So our middle child comes into the house screaming bloody murder. Here I am. This is my moment to be soft mom, not cold-hearted mom. So I take him and tell him it’s going to be okay although I want to throw up but try to hold back the vomit because I am being STRONG MOM.
He survives, the blood stops. I clean the wand with tea tree oil. I get it in his eye. The screaming continues. Mom Fail #2.
Finally the ordeal is over. We proceed with having a fantastic day at the beach, followed by long naps when we get home. (Fist pumps and high fives here)
It is Sunday. Ryan and I are talking together in the living room. The kids are playing in the kitchen. I hear a large thud followed by crying, followed by me rushing into the other room. There is Stella with blood down her face. Here is another moment where it would be good to be soft, I grab her, which then proceed to think, “its time to ruin your shirt and hold her tight”. (Are these normal thoughts?)
So I ruin the shirt and again stop the bleeding. She fell off the chair and hit her face.
That’s a lot of blood for someone who doesn’t like to see it.
Finally the kids are settled in bed its about 10:30pm Ryan and I are watching cooking shows on Netflix. (Chef’s Table, check it out) All of the sudden we hear a huge thump followed by screaming. We jump up, Ryan first then me. Stella walks out of her room with the biggest bloody nose I have ever seen. I grab her, try my best to comfort her and then proceed to check her out, make sure its not broken, or cut or whatever. As I am investigating I find a huge piece of what looks like “Bone” coming out of her noise. I grab it. I am feeling squeamish again, maybe even a little queasy, why? Stella is the one in Pain, not me. Why am I feeling as though I may vomit? (Maybe I should get this checked out.) I tell Ryan lets look up what to do I think we should take her to the ER. Which we never do! We are the parents who wait it out. But the blood, I mean this looks serious!
We get her cleaned up, the bleeding stopped. Put the “bone “ into a class jar. Get her into the Car and Ryan takes her to Urgent Care. I am shaking, I run into the bathroom, and vomit. TMI? (I know I went there.) I clean myself up. Mom fail #3.
I call Ryan and ask him how it’s going. He said its going well they just finished. Wow that was fast! The doctor said it was a piece of Rice, What? Yes, actually 2 pieces of rice dried and stuck together.
You are kidding me? We both start laughing. This is hilarious and ridiculous all in itself. Our 3 year old chose to stick to large pieces of rice up her nose which the impact of the fall caused her to bleed horribly and it wasn’t a piece of bone in fact it was RICE.
The doctor also informed my husband that there is actually no way she could have broke her nose because children aren’t developed fully yet. Well doc good to know. That’s why we pay you the big bucks. I ‘m too dumb to tell if its bone or rice up my child’s nose, and you need to inform me otherwise. Mom fail #4
Dramatic? Yes, necessary? No.
I guess we all have moments where life gets messy. Mine seem to happen on a weekend basis. Maybe the kids would be better off at school full time it seems like they are doing better in the care of their Teachers!
Cheers Friends
Nicole
Asher - Portraits - Nicole Mendicino /
Motherhood is the most “interesting” thing. I got pregnant with my first child when I was just 21. I mean it was my birthday and 3 weeks later I found out that I was pregnant. Now to be honest, reacted instead of feeling warm and fuzzy all over. I cried a lot. Then I took 3 pregnancy tests and went to the doctor and didn’t believe it was actually real until she confirmed it.
Yes I am that person. The person who didn’t know what to do with the information in front of me, so freaking out seemed like the best option at the time.
The problem was that it really interfered with my plans. I was taking film photography classes at college along with some other art classes and thought well shoot, what am I going to do now. In fact I may have said “ oh sh*t what am I going to do?” So I dropped the classes because I didn’t want my child to have 3 heads from the chemical exposure.
At that time I was newly married, trying to figure out what I was doing with my life, still caring for my father and thought to myself how am I going to bring a baby into all of this? Now to be fair I always wanted children, I always wanted marriage. But that was when I turned 30 not at 21. The plan changed. I hate when plans change.
So back to motherhood, I will have to say I’m no natural mother. Do you know what I am talking about? The women who just know everything, what nappies are, what diapers are, how to breastfeed, when to breastfeed, how to parent, how to be a soft mother and nurture your child. I have some AMAZING friends who are like these women. That the things in motherhood come natural to them, or maybe it just seems that way to me.
I studied motherhood like it was a photography class. Except half the books were contradictory to each other. So at times it just made learning how to be a mom more difficult. The worst part was I thought I had to give everything up. Photography, fashion, being myself, boy was I wrong. I swore and still may never buy a minivan, but at least now I understand why people purchase them. (They’re so roomy)
The day I stopped calling motherhood a Job I was free. It’s a choice.
It’s a choice to show up everyday even if you don’t have all the answers,
It’s a choice to be kind and nurturing
Loving
Listening
To breastfeed or not to breastfeed
To be consistent, I mean with everything. If you say no, mean it.
It’s a choice to HAVE FUN, Be playful
It’s a choice to take a moment before reacting to ALL THE Paint on the WHITE Walls.
It’s a choice to take time for you and not feel guilty.
It’s a choice to work, or stay home (no judgments here I did both)
It’s a choice to admire and think your KIDS Rock
The best part I learned these things. These simple things that honestly have made parenting much better than I have ever imagined. They didn’t come natural, because although Motherhood may be “natural” to some, everyone is learning. Everyone has to start somewhere.
Cheers Friends
-Nicole
not so perfect gluten free / dairy free chocolate chip cookie recipe
Today I had a plan for having an amazing blog post about how I succeeded in making some really awesome gluten and butter free cookies. (I was saying Dairy free butter guess eggs are dairy.) The problem is I lost my CF card reader, which means all the rad images are on my CF Card and not on my computer. The plan failed ha. But instead of just blowing off the blog post I really wanted to push through my frustration and perfectionism, still giving you the recipe.
Lately life has been a bit of a roller coaster, making grown up choices and juggling working on my photography business and 3 kids, and food allergies.
What’s been the hardest at times are not my food allergies or even the children. Its finding out I have thyroid problem and is acting up not doing its job. Leaving me depleted and difficult at times. Lets just say its a vicious , vicious cycle. If you stress then your body reacts. Then your tired and so on.
Instead of going to the dark side, letting fear and anxiety control my every waking breath. I have been choosing something else. New tools if you must. I realized that instead of let something like the fact that I couldn’t find my CF card reader really get the best of me I take a few steps back and think how can I make this work. How can I push through and problem solve.
There used to be a time in my life where I trained myself to cope a certain way, and well I have been through a lot of life situations where that may have been necessary but now what I am realizing more than ever is I don’t need to cope anymore. I don’t need to put on a shield of armor ever day and go out to battle.
I honestly never thought that day would every come. Its not as easy as saying ‘I had a come to Jesus Moment” Or The Lord Saved me”. Over the past few years I have been dealing with “My crap” My past, my baggage whatever you want to call it. Facing it head on, teaching myself through therapy new tools. (Yes I said Therapy.) Which has been the best thing since the invention of Pizza. I mean Its beyond freeing and wouldn’t be here today if I hadn’t done it. Or still doing it from time to time.
Learning to let things go, being my best self through love and kindness. Digest that for ten seconds. It sounds easy but I don’t think I actually knew what the definition of actual kindness was. Do you?
So here we are back at the start. I was certainly excited to say the least about these cookies. They are chocolaty, gluten free goodness that every once in awhile it’s good to spurge and have one.
Give them a try, if you have any gluten free tips leave a comment I am still new at all this Gluten free baking!
(These images were with my iPhone and made some minor adjustments in Photoshop)
For the Recipe:
What you will need:
Pre- Heat the oven to 375 degrees
(a toaster oven works great too! )
2 large mixing bowls
Either an electric mixer, or hand mixer ( ex. Spatula works great)
A pan lined with Parchment paper, or a mat
Timer
A Knife to Chop the bar of chocolate
Ingredients:
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp gluten free / corn free baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon (or more or less to your liking )
2 cups gluten free organic rolled oats
3 cups Gluten Free Flour (I use bob’s gluten free 1/1 mix )
1 package vegan Chocolate chips
1 bar 65% cocoa organic chocolate (dairy free)
2 eggs (room temp)
1 cup Earth balance soy free vegan butter (room temp)
1 cup raw honey (semi melted, melt in microwave if needed)
1 tbsp organic molasses
1 tsp Madagascar Vanilla
Method:
In one bowl Mix all of flour and baking powder and soda together and set aside.
Then in a separate bowl cream together the butter eggs, honey, molasses, vanilla , until smooth and creamy. When it looks smooth and creamy add in your flour mixer at low speed.
Cut up the chocolate bar into chunks big small however you choose.
When the flour is no longer visible you should have a dough, this is when you add in the 2 cups of Gluten Free Oats, Make sure to mix it in by hand and take off the kitchen aid stand if using one.
Then add the chocolate chips. I usually taste it by now, see if It needs more of something.
Place a about a tablespoon amount onto a lined baking sheet and bake for 10-15 min, I flatten them down right when they come out of the oven. This way they aren’t just round puff balls.
Remove and let cool on a stand for about 10 min.
Also If you don’t want to make the entire batch I freeze the dough in the freezer or bake all the cookies and freeze those!
Enjoy! Happy Baking Friends.
-Nicole