Sweet Potato “Goguma” Green Tea Latte

When my friend Michael asked if I wanted a “Goguma Latte” at All About Cha Tea in Oklahoma, my exact response was “a gogu-what?”

Per usual, I agreed to try something new, because what’s there to lose, right?

Michael promised me the drink was delicious… and he was NOT lying!

Goguma lattes are also known as Korean Sweet Potato lattes and generally consist of sweet potato puree, milk and sweetener, with the option of adding green tea or espresso for a little kick of caffeine!

After experiencing the amazingness of the “Goguma Latte” in Oklahoma, I attempted to find a coffee shop in San Diego where I could purchase the delectable beverage on a regular basis.

I googled, yelped, binged and nothing, no goguma latte’s to be found, so I did what I do best, I went into the Little Leopard Book kitchen and made my own!

Ingredients (makes 1 latte)

• 1 cup cooked sweet potato (app 1 small sweet potato)
• 1 1/2 cups milk (coconut, soy, almond or regular)
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 green tea bag (or 1 tbsp green tea powder)

Begin by pureeing the cooked sweet potato and milk in a blender.

Add the mixture to a small pot on the stove over high heat then add the honey.

Next, bring the mixture to a boil.

Once the latte comes to a boil, add the sweet potato mixture to a mug with the green tea bag.

Remove the bag after 3-4 minutes then dust the cinnamon on top.  I attempted a heart shape… got kinda close

I then spotted a few pistachios left from my Pistachio Basil Crusted Tilapia and decided to crush a couple up and sprinkle them on top! Adds a little color, flavor and crunch, but totally optional

I hope you’ll trust me, like I trusted my friend Michael, and try this delicious Korean favorite at home!

*Leftover cooked sweet potatoes are perfect for this recipe! As mentioned in the ingredients list above, 1 small sweet potato equals about 1 cup. If cooking the sweet potato specifically for this recipe simply place the sweet potato in a 350° oven for 45 minutes or until soft to the touch.  Allow to cool, peel, then puree!

Green Chili Avocado Salsa

This “awesome sauce” has become so popular that I decided it needed it’s own page on LLB!

I originally made this salsa to go on top of my Sweet Corn and Chicken Tamales. Yes, salsa, not sauce.  I recently learned from an amazing Mexican Chef  that the difference between salsa and sauce is salsa is not cooked and sauce is cooked. If you already knew this then pin-a-rose-on-your-nose smarty pants!  If you didn’t, there was your fun fact for the day

Needless to say my roommates immediately named this salsa “Awesome Sauce” completely contradicting what I just told you! They were right though, this SALSA is AWESOME!  I’m not bragging here because there was really no culinary skill involved, I just got lucky!

After the 4 hour long tamale making process I realized I had completely forgot about making a salsa or sauce to go on the tamales so I just started pulling stuff out of my fridge and throwing it in a bowl! The result:

Little Leopard Book Photo Shoot Spring 2013

I’m so excited to share my favorite images from the Spring 2013 LLB photo shoot with Kenneth Ruggiano!

Kenneth is responsible for the amazing images you see around LLB’s social media pages which came from the very first Little Leopard Book photo shoot almost exactly a year ago. I was so excited when the opportunity arose to work with him again!

The first look was very special for me because the dress is one that my Mom wore in the 70s!

I’m lucky enough to have a Mom with timeless style and I was extremely proud to wear her dress in the shoot!

The next look is basically what you will find me wearing on a daily basis in the kitchen: leopard jeans, t shirt and neon green apron, gotta have that pop of color!

I’m actually kind of obsessed with this apron I found at World Market the morning of the shoot!  It’s going to be so fun for summer BBQ’s!

We then moved the shoot outdoors to catch me in one of my favorite places: at the grill!

Then it was back inside to mix up some more cupcake batter while showing love to my favorite NBA team, the OKC Thunder!

Thunder Up!

Next, we grabbed a couple images while I wrote out my dinner menu on the awesome Hanging Wall Menu I created!

This look was very special to me because it included two of my most prized possessions: the original Little Leopard Book and my Grandma Meme’s crystal bell.

When I was a little girl my Meme always let me ring the bell when dinner was ready.  I took such pride in letting everyone know it was time to eat!  When we lost her a couple years back, I asked my Dad if I could have the bell so that I could continue on my tradition of ringing the dinner bell in her honor. Every day I look at the bell and remember the amazing woman she was and all that she taught me about cooking, food, life and family!

As the sun began to set on the LLB photo shoot, we grabbed one last look with a very special Little Leopard Oven Mitt, given to me at Christmas by my Dad!

And that’s a wrap!

Thanks so much for checking out the images from our shoot!  It was such a fun day and I’m so excited to share the pictures with you all!

I will be selecting one of the above images as the new default LLB homepage photo!  I’d love to hear which one is your favorite!

Cheers and Happy Cooking from LLB

Pistachio Basil Crusted Tilapia

After spending an amazing weekend with the California Farm Water Coalition touring farms throughout the Coachella Valley I returned home with a large over-flowing box of food!

One of the contents in that box was a bag of pistachios the coalition had gifted us when the weekend began from their friends at Pioneer Gold Pistachios.

I decided to quickly put those delicious pistachios to good use!

I chose to use sweet limes that I picked myself at Seaview Farms to coat some fresh, flakey tilapia, then crust the fish in the crushed pistachios with fresh basil.  While the recipe was simple, it was totally packed with flavor and so delicious!

Ingredients

• 1 lb fresh tilapia
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 sweet lime (or lemon)
• 1 cup pistachios
• 1/4 cup fresh basil
• 1 tsp olive oil

Begin by sprinkling the salt and pepper on both sides of the tilapia.

Next, squeeze the sweet lime over each piece of fish, flipping and covering completely.

Allow to marinate in the juice while preparing the pistachio crumb mix.

Place the pistachios and basil into a small food processor and blend.

Place the mixture in a shallow bowl then coat each side of the tilapia.

Heat the olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat, then add the tilapia to the skillet.

Be sure the skillet is not too hot or the crust will burn before the fish is cooked through.

Cook for 3-4 minutes per side, or until the fish is light white and flakey.

Garnish with extra sweet limes and basil (if so desired)!

Serve as the main dish with fresh veggies for a gluten-free and paleo dinner.

Or serve on top of Three Cheese Basil Raviolis with Kale Pesto, like I did!

Either way, this dish is seriously scrumptious!

♦ Gluten Free Option: This recipe is gluten-free.

♠ Paleo Option: This recipe is paleo.

♥ All pottery seen on the littleleopardbook can be purchased by visiting www.longaberger.com/muffetbond or e-mailing keepsakebl@sbcglobal.net.

Guest Post: Dad’s Famous Captain Crunch Fried Chicken

With my super busy schedule in the new year, I decided to bring on a couple of guest bloggers to help keep LLB packed with consistent, new, delectable recipes!

My Dad was an obvious choice for a guest blogger, he is the man that taught me how to cook after all and he learned from the best, my Grandma Meme!

We’ve cooked up some feasts together over the last couple of years!

But the one recipe of my Dad’s that I have never been able to re-create at his level is his famous fried chicken! So maybe it’s not considered “famous” by most peoples definitions, but amongst my friends and family, it’s famous!

Everyone gets so excited when I come home, because they know that means a big family dinner with “Poppa Bond’s Famous Fried Chicken”!!

I do feel it should get some level of fame after our beloved OU Sooners added a pic of the chicken to their favorites on Twitter this November!

Now that you know how very famous this chicken is, lets get to making it!

Ingredients (makes 12 strips)

Take the chicken out of the milk one or two strips at a time, roll in the flour until well coated,  place in the egg wash and coat the strips well then roll in the cereal.

Next, gently place the chicken strips into the oil.

Be sure to not cook the chicken at too high of heat or it will burn because of the sugar in the cereal. Only flip the chicken once in the skillet or it will get too greasy if it is flipped back and forth. I usually lift up one corner and see how it looks before I flip it.

Cook the chicken for about 4-5 minutes per side in the skillet.

Once the chicken is golden brown, place the strips onto a platter with a paper towel to soak up some of the oil. I only use about an inch of oil in my skillet. The oil should be about half way up on the chicken when it is in skillet.

Continue on until all of the chicken is cooked.

When I’m home we like to serve this chicken with Mashed Potatoes and Hot Corn!

Thank you so much to my amazing parents for putting so much time and effort into the beautiful pictures and presentation of the dish! I’m so excited to share this and many more of Poppa Bond’s “famous” recipes in the near future!

♥ All pottery seen on the littleleopardbook can be purchased by visiting www.longaberger.com/muffetbond or e-mailing keepsakebl@sbcglobal.net.