T.W.O.

Turkey Lettuce Wraps with Homemade Spicy Peanut Sauce

Published on November 11, 2014November 10, 2014 by T.W.O.2 Comments

Standing in the fresh produce section and thinking to ourselves, what shall T.W.O. make for dinner tonight?! Well, it’s November and the weather in Southern California is 85 degree so all these Fall recipes didn’t sound appetizing in this heat. We walked down the aisles and decided on lettuce wraps. Random? Maybe! It was a good choice though for this warm night. Below is a simple recipe for those “what to cook nights?” that will have your family wanting seconds.

Turkey Lettuce Wraps with Homemade Spicy Peanut Sauce

Ingredients:
– red leaf cabbage
– ground turkey
– crimini mushrooms
– 2 cups rice noodles
– white rice (cooked)
– 1 cup shredded carrots
– 3 cloves garlic
– 1/2 Maui sweet onion, chopped
– 2 Tablespoon cayenne pepper
– 1/4 cup green onions, diced

For the Spicy Peanut Sauce:
– 1/2 cup Justin’s Peanut Butter
– Juice from 1 lemon
– 1 clove garlic, minced
– 1 1/2 Tablespoons sriracha
– 2 Tablespoons almond or cocnut milk
– 1 Tablespoon reduced sodium soy sauce
– 1/4-1/2 cup hot water (depending on desired consistency)

Directions:
1. In a pan sauté the onions and garlic. Add the ground turkey. Cook until done.
2. While the ground turkey is cooking, prep the peanut sauce. Mix all the sauce ingredients together in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth. Add more or less water depending n desired consistency. Set aside.
3. Cook the rice noodles as directed. Set aside.
4. Chop the green onions and wash the cabbage.
5. Assemble the lettuce wraps with the noodles, turkey mixture and top with the peanut sauce and green onions. Add the white rice to the plate.

Happy cooking!

Pomegranate Guacamole

Published on October 30, 2014October 28, 2014 by T.W.O.1 Comment

What’s trending these days? #everythingFall Right? Well T.W.O. is doing just that in our kitchen. Today we are featuring a classic dish, guacamole, and “Fall’in” it up with pomegranates. The pomegranates add a bit of sweetness, tang and crunch to your classic guacamole recipe. Grab your avocados and lets start chopping.

Pomegranate Guacamole

Ingredients:
– 4 small avocados or 2 large
– ½ – ¾ cup POM POM pomegranate seeds
– 1 teaspoon garlic powder
– 4 Tablespoons lemon juice
– 2-4 Tablespoons Tapatio (pending on preference of spice level)
– Krazy Salt
– Pepper

Directions:
1. Remove skin and pit from avocados. Place in a bowl.
2. Add garlic powder, lemon juice, Tapatio, salt and pepper. Mix well.
3. Carefully mix in the pomegranate seeds. Plate and serve with your favorite meal, snack or by itself.

Crunchy Pumpkin Cranberry Granola

Published on October 28, 2014October 27, 2014 by T.W.O.Leave a comment

Greek yogurt and fruit is a very common breakfast for T.W.O. But lately, this dish has been missing something- crunch! So since it is Fall (even though the weather doesn’t feel like it in California!), we decided to add some Fall flavor to granola! This recipe is so simple and yet so flavorful! The best part about it too is that it is healthy, gluten free and full of nutrients to help start your morning off right. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Crunchy Pumpkin Cranberry Granola

Ingredients:
– 3 cups rolled oats
– 2 tsp ground cinnamon
– 1 tsp ground allspice
– 1 tsp ground nutmeg
– ½ tsp ground ginger
– ½ cup pure maple syrup (or agave/honey)
– ½ cup pure pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)
– ½ cup applesauce, unsweetened
– 2 Tbsp brown sugar
– 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
– 1 cup dried cranberries
– ½ cup pumpkin seeds (optional)

Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine the first 5 ingredients (oats through ginger) and set aside.
3. In another bowl, combine the next 5 ingredients (maple syrup through vanilla) with a whisk.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry. With a spatula, combine thoroughly before folding in the dried cranberries and pumpkin seeds.
5. Spread evenly on the baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes, stirring frequently.
6. Cool completely before storing.

Santa Barbara Public Market

Published on October 21, 2014October 20, 2014 by T.W.O.1 Comment

A couple weekends ago T.W.O. headed to Santa Barbara for our sister-in-laws baby shower. Before the shower we stopped in at the Santa Barbara Public Market to check out the scene and experience it for ourselves. We weren’t disappointed! It’s a great public market with a variety of vendors-meat, cheese, baked goods, health foods, olive oil and wine! It’s reminded us of the Ferry Building in San Francisco-smaller scale version.

Check out some of the scenes from our visit! Can’t wait to go back for lunch!

T.W.O. Pictures from the Shower!

Grandmas + Mom-to-be

Auntis + Mom-to-be

Harvest Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Published on October 16, 2014October 15, 2014 by T.W.O.Leave a comment

Harvest Salads are officially in season and you know what that means? Turn on those ovens and start to roast your vegetables! Exchange your strawberries for dried cranberries or pomegranate seeds and add some candied pumpkin seeds. It’s like a party salad – so much fun! Since everyone has their favorite harvest salad ingredients, T.W.O. decided to focus on how to perfectly roast your vegetable – specifically sweet potatoes. It’s an easy recipe that will add so much flavor to your salad without a ton of work. Grab your apron and let’s start roasting!

Ingredients:
– 2 sweet potatoes, washed and cubed
– Olive oil
– Sea Salt
– Pepper
– Cinnamon
– Nutmeg

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 415⁰F.
2. Wash and cut the sweet potatoes into small cubes. Place in a bowl.
3. Season the potatoes with olive oil, salt, pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix well.
4. Place sweet potatoes on a cookie sheet that is lined with parchment paper.
5. Put into heated oven for 25-30 minutes, flipping the sweet potatoes at 15 minutes.
6. Remove from oven. The sweet potatoes should be a little brown and slightly crispy.

T.W.O. included the following in their salad:
– Baby Romaine
– Pomegranate seeds
– sugar coated pumpkin seeds (from Trader Joes)
– BBQ Honey Glazed Chicken Breasts*
– Granny Smith Apples
– baby heirloom tomatoes

*BBQ Honey Glazed Chicken recipe is coming soon to the blog. Stay tuned!

Seared Ahi Tuna Steaks

Published on October 14, 2014October 13, 2014 by T.W.O.Leave a comment

Seared Ahi Tuna Steaks

Ingredients:
– 2 Ahi Tuna Steaks
– 1 large lemon
– 1 Tablespoon cayenne pepper
– ¼ cup soy sauce
– 1 teaspoon garlic powder
– Pepper
– Krazy Salt

Directions:
1. Put the ahi steaks on a plate. Marinate with lemon, cayenne pepper, soy sauce, garlic powder, pepper and salt. Set aside and let sit for 15 minutes.
2. While the steaks are marinating, pre-heat barbeque.
3. Place the steaks on the barbeque over medium heat and cook for 4 minutes on each side.
4. Remove steaks for heat. Slice and plate with your favorite side dish.

A London Inspired Outfit

Published on October 9, 2014October 8, 2014 by T.W.O.Leave a comment

T.W.O. is traveling to London in a couple months and we can’t wait to explore the city and taste the food. We are also looking forward to getting some new outfits for the trip. Check out what we have on our shopping list.

Hat // Sweater // Pants // Scarf // Booties

Chicken Enchiladas with Homemade Hatch Chile Sauce

Published on October 7, 2014October 1, 2014 by T.W.O.2 Comments

Taco Tuesday? How about Enchilada Tuesday!?!? Yes! Hatch chilies are in season, so T.W.O. decided to make a homemade enchilada sauce. And boy did we turn up the heat! Hatch chilies compliment the chicken and pepper jack cheese nicely. Grab your apron and lets start cooking!

Chicken Enchiladas with Homemade Hatch Chile Sauce

Ingredients:
– 1 ¼ pounds hatch chilies (poblano chiles also work)
– 3 Tablespoons olive oil
– 8 cloves garlic, chopped
– 2 teaspoon salt
– 1 teaspoon ground pepper
– 3 ¾ cups reduce-sodium chicken broth
– 10 corn tortillas
– 2 cups shredded pepper jack cheese, shredded
– 3 cups shredded cooked chicken*
– 4 Tablspoons cilantro, chopped
– 1 cup crimini mushrooms, diced
For garnish:
– 1 avocado
– sour cream
– cilantro
– lime
*T.W.O. shredded a whole rotisserie chicken

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to a broil. Make sure the racks are positioned in the middle of the oven.
2. Places the hatch chilies on a baking sheet lines with foil and broil for about 15 minutes, turning them halfway through.
3. Remove from the oven and reduce heat of the oven to 400°. Once the chilies are cooled, pull the skins off and remove the steams and seeds.
4. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the chilies and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 2 minutes and then add 1 ¼ cups chicken broth. Bring the mixture to a simmer and let reduce for 10 minutes.
5. Place the chile mixture into a blender and blend on low until the mixture starts to look like a pesto. Set aside.
6. In a bowl mix together the shredded chicken, mushroom and cilantro. Set aside.
7. Using the same skillet, add 2 ½ cups chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Dip each tortilla in the hot broth to moisten and place on a baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining 9 tortillas.
8. Add 2 teaspoons of cheese to each tortilla and the chicken and mushroom mixture.
9. Roll them up and place in a 9×13 baking dish, seam side down.
10. Pour the chile sauce over the enchiladas, leaving the edges exposed. Top with the remaining shredded cheese.
11. Bake in the middle rack for 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Once melted, turn the oven to broil and cook until the cheese is brown.
12. Remove from the oven and let sit for about 5 minutes. Serve and garnish with cilantro, avocado, lime and anything else your heart desires!

Cheers,

Arugula Salad with Sliced Green Apples

Published on October 2, 2014September 28, 2014 by T.W.O.1 Comment

T.W.O. created this Arugula Salad to complement their surf and turf dinner. It’s a simple recipe that includes green apples and shaved parmesan reggiano cheese with a homemade lemon dijon vinaigrette.

Arugula Salad with Sliced Green Apples

Ingredients:

– 6 cups arugula
– ¼ cup lemon juice
– ¼ cup white vinegar
– 4 Tablespoons olive oil
– 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
– 2 green apples, diced
– 1 cup shaved parmesan reggiano cheese
– 2 teaspoon garlic powder
– Salt
– Pepper

Directions:
1.Add the arugula to a bowl. Thinly slice the green apple and add to the lettuce. Top with shaved parmesan.
2.For the dressing: mix the olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Make sure all the ingredients are mixed well.
3.Once the dressing is done, add to the salad mixture. Toss and serve!

Shrimp Cocktail

Published on September 30, 2014September 30, 2014 by T.W.O.Leave a comment

For the month of September, T.W.O. decided to think outside the box and serve non-cheese appetizers. It wasn’t hard to come up with ideas and we can’t wait to keep sharing them in future posts! In this post, T.W.O. created a shrimp cocktail for some special guests. It’s an easy, light dish that everyone (seafood lovers) can enjoy. No recipe required, its just all about the prep and showcase. Here are a couple tips for your next shrimp cocktail.