Blue

It's Wednesday, so technically this post should be about a man, but there's just so much of Channing to enjoy that we thought we'd let him be for another week. Oh, Channing... What? Oh, sorry. We were daydreaming again. 

Amongst the various types of food we sisters enjoy, desserts are a big part of them (let's be honest, all categories are a big part for us). We know sweets are good in moderation and lately, we've been trying to explore a healthier side to our treats. As usual these days, Pinterest has come to our rescue! We came across this frozen snack last week and had to try it immediately. We were not disappointed and encourage you to try them yourself!

Frozen Yogurt Blueberries

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 1 tbs honey
• 8 oz package of fresh blueberries

Preparation

Make room in your freezer for a cookie sheet and line it with wax paper(the sheet, not the freezer). In a small bowl, mix the Greek yogurt and honey until even and well combined. Using a spoon and your well-washed fingers (original recipe suggested toothpicks; man up and use your hands!), add in a few blueberries in the bowl at a time and coat well with the yogurt mix. Place the coated blueberries on the baking sheet, spaced so that they don't touch and freeze together. Once all of the blueberries are coated, put the cookie sheet in the freezer for an hour at least. And if your name is Mariana, ask every 15 minutes if they're ready yet.

After an hour, each blueberry should pop right off of the wax paper. Enjoy right away or place into sandwich bags and put in the freezer to enjoy later.

Warning: They do start to melt pretty quickly so we recommend eating them right out of the freezer. Please note, this does not mean we think you should stand in your freezer and eat them. We do however think we are very funny. We hope you do too.

Don't forget your music and don't be blue eating these tasty treats!

Bon appetit. Buen provecho. Bluuuuueeee...


Mariana and Paula

A Poem for Channing

It dawned on us today that we've never blogged about our dear Channing Tatum and found this to be ludacris and unacceptable. So today, in honor of this beautiful, gorgeous man, we wrote him a poem.

Ode to Channing

Channing, you are our favorite boy

Everything about you brings us so much joy

 

There is no need for you to ever wear a shirt

We couldn't stay away, even if you were covered in dirt

You make us swoon whether you're in a suit

or on the beach

We'd love you in the rain, 

 

as long as you're always within our reach!

 

We loved Step Up, The Vow, and the like...

But we really cannot wait to see Magic Mike!

We'll see you ladies at the movies!

Bon appetit. Buen provecho. Cha-nning!

Mariana and Paula

Summer Girls

Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer around the country, but here in Tucson our spring is over as soon as it hits 100 degrees (you know, in April). So when summertime hits, what do you crave? Fresh vegetables and light, citrus flavors. Oh, and cheese. Because we all know by now that these Vazquez girls live by one rule: you can never go wrong with cheese. So in the spirit of summertime, we bring you a sassy little summer sidedish that can accompany just about anything.

Asparagus with Lemon Zest and Gorgonzola

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch of asparagus
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup crumbled Gorgonzola
• Zest of half a lemon
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste

Preparation:

First, break off the bottom tips of the asparagus; they'll break off naturally where they should. Then, chop the asparagus spears into thirds and place in a bowl. Add olive oil, salt, and pepper and toss.

Heat a pan over medium heat and add asparagus. Sautee until the spears are tender but still crisp. Remove from heat and let cool while you prepare your accompanying dish.

After they cool, add the zest from the lemon. You can also add a little lemon juice if you'd like. Toss the Gorgonzola in and serve! (The original recipe called for feta, so you can also try that. We were skeptical at first of the pairing of the lemon with the Gorgy, but it actually worked really well, so we recommend it!)

This dish can be paired with just about anything. We made burgers and had the asparagus instead of fries and it was delicious! This is also a perfect dish to take with you to a summer party or on a picnic, since you don't have to worry about keeping it warm. Add a little music to take you back, and you'll be ready to face the heat!

Bon appetit. Buen provecho. We think it's fly...

Mariana and Paula

Some Day My Prince Will Come...

(To be read in the best English accent your little inner mind can conjure)

In honor of the Queen of England's Diamond Jubilee this week, we thought it would be very fitting to dedicate this week's Hungry for Men Wednesday to the royal family.

First in line in this royal post is the handsome Prince William.

Look at that smile and those sweet baby blues! No wonder Kate was swept right off her feet! And who could forget that fairytale wedding to Kate? She is such a sweet girl, so we could never steal William from her. We will however, gladly steal her incredible wardrobe! The Vazquez sisters are now on the hunt for a great pair of bright colored jeans in hopes that we will look as lovely as Kate does and not like a pair of loons in crazy colored pantaloonies...

But we digress!
Let us return to the matter at hand, shall we? On to Prince Harry!

Now there's a sexy ginger if we ever saw one! That wild unruly hair, flushed red cheeks and carefree smile... He has his rebellious side, drinking when he was under age (who didn't?) and fight with the paparazzi (who wouldn't!), but he has grown up a bit since then, and certainly grown into his good looks! He's a man with honors now, serving as Captain in England's Army Air Corps and he's a prince...What more could a girl want? Maybe some abs. A nice pair of royal abs...

We hope you've enjoyed the special royal edition of the Man Hunger.

Bon appetit. Buen provecho. And good day to you, sire!

Mariana and Princess Paula (A girl can dream right?)

Last, But Certainly Not Least

 Marshall Eriksen

You've just been lawyered.

Bon appetit. Buen provecho. Marsh-mellow!

Mariana and Paula

Come Original

We've mentioned before that cooking and food are part of our culture. Not just because we're Mexican, but because we're Vazquezes... Vazquezi...Vazquezeseses? You get the point. We grew up on delicious home cooked meals. Our mom makes amazing Mexican classics and our dad loves to invent and is particularly fond of Italian food. This particular dish is a Vazquez original recipe, first thought of by our father and perfected by the entire family. So now we share it with you and we know you'll love it! (And if you don't, please seek help. There's something seriously wrong with you).

Pasta Brie

 

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. Spaghetti
• 3 roma tomatoes, cut into medium cubes
• 1 medium white onion, coarsely chopped
• 7.5 oz Brie cheese, cut into cubes about ¾ inch wide
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• A bunch of basil, chopped. Reserve some whole leaves for garnish
• ½ cup dry white wine (Ex: Sauvignon blanc)
• Grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper

Preparation

Put the spaghetti to cook in a pot of boiling salted water. Keep checking on the pasta while your prepare the rest of the recipe. We want the pasta to be al dente when we mix it with the sauce.

While pasta is cooking, heat a small amount of olive oil in a large pan. Add in the chopped onion and sautee for about two minutes, then add the garlic. Cover the pan and let cook until the onion becomes transparent, stirring as needed so it does not stick or burn. Add in the white wine and turn the heat up to high to evaporate the alcohol in the wine. Add a dash of salt and pepper, then cover and let it sit over low heat.

Just before the pasta is al dente and ready to be strained, add in the cubes of Brie cheese, diced tomato and chopped basil to the onion and wine. Let ingredients sit until the cheese melts. When the pasta is ready, set aside one cup of the water before straining. You can use this in the sauce if you need to moisten it up a little.

Strain the pasta and add it to large pan with the sauce, mixing gently until all of the ingredients are well mixed and the pasta is evenly coated. It should have a pretty creamy constancy with the melted Brie cheese so add some of the pasta water here if you need to. Add in some grated Parmesan cheese and any more salt or pepper to taste.

Lastly and most deliciously, serve up the pasta, making sure your scoop up some of the sauce that may have settled to the bottom of the pan so that there is equal yumminess on each plate. Sprinkle with some more Parmesan cheese, garnish with a little basil leaf and enjoy! Oh and don't forget to serve yourself glass of that white wine and play a little music.

So what do you think? Since this is the first original recipe we post, you have to let us know if you try it out and how it went!

Bon appetit. Buen provecho. Brie!

Mariana and Paula

The Quinoa Song

We're sure many of our lovely Hungertons have discovered the wonder that is Pinterest. You can just get lost for hours looking at the many great pins from friends or even random users and being inspired by all that Pinterest has to offer. One of our favorite things to look for here are yummy new recipes to try out! Paula came across today's recipe through a pin from her favorite blonde, Miss Jessica W. It's a great recipe filled with lots of bright colors and is a refreshing dish for the hot days of summer! The original recipe came from The Diva Dish and we made a few adjustments to enhance the tastiness of this recipe.

Summer Quinoa Salad

Salad Ingredients

• 1/2 cup dry quinoa
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 can garbanzo beans, drained
• 1 can black beans, drained
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, cut in half
• 2 avocados, diced
• 2 cups spinach
• 1/2 bunch of cilantro
• 1/4 cup purple onion
• 2 small cloves garlic

Dressing Ingredients 

• Juice of 2 lemons
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 2 tsp. dijon mustard
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. honey
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation
Place the quinoa in medium saucepan and add the vegetable broth. Let it soak in the pan for 15 minutes, then bring to a boil over medium-high heat. When it comes to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook for about 20 minutes, stirring periodically. Once almost all of the liquid has been absorbed, remove from heat and cover.

Finely chop up the spinach and cilantro and place in a large bowl. Then, finely dice the onion and garlic and add into the bowl with the greens. Add in the quinoa, drained garbanzo and black beans and mix well.

In a separate bowl, whisk together all of the dressing ingredients until well incorporated. Add the grape tomatoes and diced avocado to the salad, then pour the dressing over the salad and mix until combined. Serve up and enjoy!!

Note, if you think you might end up with leftovers, add in the avocado to each portion so that it doesn't turn black in your salad.

Not only is this quinoa salad a tasty treat, it is also very healthy. With the quinoa for grains (technically it's a chenopod... Google that shizznick), beans for protein and the greens, tomatoes and avocado for veggies, you just can't go wrong! It also leaves a guilt-free conscience that will feel inclined to have a little dessert. Go ahead on!

As for your music... well let's just say, only the internet and YouTube could bring us this little gem.

Bon appetit. Buen provecho. Quiiii-Noa!

Mariana and Paula

Still Hungry... But for Ted!

How I Met Your Mother offers a plethora of men for more tastes than one can shake a stick at (thank you thesaurus for that one!). While some of us enjoy the seductive awesomeness that is Barney, others enjoy the hopeless romantic charms of Theodore "Ted" Evelyn Mosby.

Ted has sparked a movement. Romantics around the world have professed their love to their objects of affection, inspired by Ted's determination to find love. Women desperately swoon over men who are willing to express their emotions, watch Star Wars regularly, design buildings, and wear red cowboy boots.

Fact: the CDC reports that the sales of yellow umbrellas have increased by 450% since the first season of HIMYM. The Wall Street Journal noted a shortage of red boots last year. And the FBI is currently investigating the suspicious rise in Google searches and Amazon purchases of blue French horns. Why you ask?

Why else?

Bon appetit. Buen provecho. Pull a Mosby!

Mariana and Paula

Sangria Wine

We've mentioned our lovely Biggest Loser get togethers before, and this week, we were in charge of the refreshments. Enter a time-honored Vazquez tradition: SANGRIA!

Ingredients

• Ice
• 1 cup white rum
• 5 key limes
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 bottle red wine
• 1/2 liter of sparkling water or club soda
• Chopped fruit (watermelon, pineapple, berries, apple, pear, grapes)

Preparation

In a small saucepan over medium heat, mix sugar and water, stirring constantly until sugar is dissolved. Let cool. This creates a simple syrup which you'll use to sweeten the sangria.

Put a significant amount of ice in a large punch bowl. Add rum and shimmy to "burn" (that's what our father calls it, we don't know what it actually means, but do it). Add the juice of the five limes. You may want to have a couple more on hand in case you need to add more later. Slowly stir in the simple syrup then pour in the bottle of red wine and the 1/2 liter of sparkling water.

Chop as wide of a variety of fruit as you would like. This time we used watermelon, pineapple, and frozen berries, making it slightly tropical and delicious. Sangria often includes red apples, pears, and/or grapes, so you really can't go wrong. Mix the fruit into your yummy punch, serve in a tall glass, and enjoy!

Warning: Pace yourself! Although tasty and refreshing, it can be sneaky. Especially the rum-soaked fruit. Mmmm... rum-soaked fruit.

As always, here's a little music to accompany your sipping (or downing as the case may be).

Bon appetit! Buen provecho! Why is the rum always gone!

How We Met Barney

First things first... we made the most AH-MAZING sangria yesterday! Look for the post soon :) But in the meantime, let us talk about the wonder that is Barney Stinson.

Now, for those of you who watch How I Met Your Mother, you may think, "Aw, I love Ted!" But ladies, in case you haven't realized it yet, Barney is where it's at. We've paid homage to the man's theories before, but we felt it necessary to also showcase the man himself.

On the outside, Barney is a womanizer and nothing more. However, if you continue to watch you'll find that Barney is also witty, smart, funny, and very sweet. Oh, also, he's awesome. In fact, when he's sad, he stops being sad and is awesome instead. True story. And when he blows his nose, it's just because it was overflowing with awesome and he had to get some of it out. In short, we have an awesome, hilarious man, who's also not too hard on the eyes:

What's not to love?

On a side note, we do understand that Neil Patrick Harris is gay. But have you seen how absolutely adorable he is with his hubby and their twins?

Love!

Bon appetit! Buen provecho! Legen... Wait for it-hope you're not lactose intolerant cause the next word is... dary!

Mariana and Paula

Hungry for Drake

We would say that one of the best parts of the return of The Man Hunger is the return of Hungry for Men Wednesday.  So let's get right to the point, shall we?

 
Oh, Drake... You can't tell us that his way with words and rhymes paired with that sexy pout doesn't make the room start feeling a little bit warmer all of a sudden!

We first fell in love with him during his true Canadian days, starring as Jimmy in Degrassi. Even at such a young age, we could see his potential to be a heartthrob.

And of course it only got better when we paired those sultry lips with that sexy voice. How could anyone resist such a man?! We certainly all know that Mariana can't resist a hot man in a peacoat!

Finally, we leave you with the gorgeous spark that set fire to this week's sexy obession of Drake. Just close your eyes and imagine him serenading you, telling you he'll take care of you...

(It's okay if you hit replay about 5 times. Paula sure did!)

Bon appetit! Buen provecho! YumYum!

Mariana and Paula

Always Coming Back

So as you may have noticed, we haven't blogged in about 6 months. What can we say? We just kinda slacked off... But in the spirit of spring and Easter, we bring you the rebirth of The Man Hunger! And really by 'rebirth', we just mean we're going to start making an effort to blog again. Aren't you excited?!

On this lovely Easter day, we decided to make a nice brunch for our family. Didn't want to get too complicated but wanted to try something new. So here is the yummy menu for our Easter brunch!

Easter Brunch

Spinach & Ham Quiche | Rosemary Potatoes | Fruit Salad

Spinach & Ham Quiche

Ingredients

Crust:

• 1 cup flour 
•  1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup olive oil or canola oil
• 1/4 cup cold water

Filling:

• 6 large eggs, beaten
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• Salt and pepper
• 1 cup fresh baby spinach, packed
• 6 oz Canadian bacon, diced and sauteed
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
• 1 9-inch glass pie plate

Preparation
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Crust:
Mix the flour and salt in a medium bowl with a fork. Then in a separate bowl using a whisk or fork, beat the oil and water to thicken. Add the liquid mixture in to the flour and mix until well incorporated. Press the dough into the pie plate, making sure it is evenly distributed and that there are no holes.

Filling:
Mix the eggs, heavy cream, salt and pepper in a blender for about 1 minute until well combined. Then layer the spinach, Canadian bacon and cheese and repeat. Slowly pour the egg mixture over the top, letting it settle in between all of the ingredients.

Carefully place in oven and bake for 35-45 minutes, until the egg mixture sets. Let cool for a bit then slice and serve!

Rosemary Potatoes

Ingredients

• 6-8 red potatoes
• Olive oil
• 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary
• Coarse salt
• Pepper

Preparation
Wash the red potatoes thoroughly and remove any bad spots. Dice into approximately 1 inch pieces. In large pan, heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil and add potatoes.

Take two of the rosemary sprigs and remove the little leaves by running your fingers down the sprig in the opposite direction of the leaves' growth. Chop finely and add to the potatoes. Throw in the other two sprigs whole (for the aroma and taste). Add a couple pinches of the coarse salt and pepper to taste.

Turn the heat to low and cover the potatoes, turning them occasionally. Cook until the potatoes are soft. If they're cooked all the way through but not browned on the outside, you can uncover them, turn the heat up, and finish browning them. Remove the two whole rosemary sprigs before serving.

Fruit Salad

Ingredients and Preparation
You can really go wrong with fruit salad, so just purchase fruit that you like and in as wide of a variety as you want. Based on our taste and what was on sale, we used strawberries, pineapple, and pears for this. Chop fruit into bite-size pieces, toss in a bowl, and serve.

Note: If the fruit is tart, you can drizzle a little honey over the fruit and toss. A little goes a long way and will give the salad a touch of sweetness.

Easter brunch was served with mango or traditional orange juice mimosas, with strawberry slices dropped into each glass (and another strawberry for garnish).

So there you have it Hungertons! We're excited to be back and hope you're happy to hear from us again. We're also looking forward to re-starting Hungry For Men Wednesdays... oh, hot men, how we've missed you!

We hope you all had happy Easters, if you celebrated!

Bon Appetit! Buen Provecho! We're baaaack!

Mariana and Paula

PS - You didn't think that we forgot your music, did you?!