Author: Elisa Beltran

Elisa Beltran is a student at Ventura and Oxnard College and currently works at a Radio Station as a Traffic Coordinator. She is working on earning a Social Media Marketing degree and a Paralegal Studies Degree. Elisa received a Bachelor's degree in Sociology and a minor in Business Management from California State University Channel Islands.

Categories
Mother's Day Cook-off

Cóctel de Camarón Recipe

Every year for my birthday my mother always makes me one of my favorites, Cóctel de Camarón, which is a Mexican Shrimp Cocktail. For all of my brothers birthdays and I she asks us what we want to eat and makes us our favorites. From all of my brothers, I am the only one that likes it besides my mother and my father.  

Every time for my birthday that she’d prepare the Cóctel de Camarón it was us two eating it together. I like to add Valentina on mine to add some spiciness and more delicious flavor. I also like to grab a saltine cracker, some people like to eat it with tostadas and dip it in the Cóctel de Camarón, bite it and eat some Cóctel de Camarón. I love the flavor of the shrimp with the avocado and cucumber. Just by thinking about it, my mouth waters, so let’s get started with the recipe. 

🄸🄽🄶🅁🄴🄳🄸🄴🄽🅃🅂:

For the Cóctel de Camarón:

  • 1 pot 
  • 1 bowl
  • 1 pound large uncooked shrimp 
  • About 3 cups of water for cooking the shrimp
  • ½ of a ketchup bottle
  • 2 cucumbers diced
  • 1 chile serrano diced
  • 4 small tomatoes diced if large then 2 tomatoes
  • ⅓ cup of a diced white onion 
  • ½ of  a cilantro chopped
  • 3 large avocados diced
  • Juice of 2 lemons 
  • Salt to taste
  • Saltine crackers or tostadas

To Serve:

  • Original Premium Saltine Crackers or Tostadas
  • Ladle
  • You can choose from the below:
    • Plate
    • Glass Cup
    • Wine Glass 

Optional:

  • Valentina or Tapatio Hot Sauce to taste

🄳🄸🅁🄴🄲🅃🄸🄾🄽🅂:

  1. Wash the shrimp, peel, and clean them if did not buy them peeled or cleaned
  2. Then add 3 cups of water to the shrimp in a pot
  3. Add salt to taste to boil in a pot in medium heat until cooked and they are soft and turn pink
  4. Once the shrimp is boiled to a good pinkish color and soft, let it cool  (do not drain you will need the water)
  5. Dice cucumbers, chile serrano, tomatoes, onion, cilantro, and avocados 
  6. In a large bowl, combine all of the diced ingredients which are: cucumbers, chile serrano, tomatoes, onion, cilantro, avocados
  7. To the pot of shrimp add the ingredients from the bowl
  8. Add lemon juice with half of the bottle of Ketchup 
  9. Taste for salt, if needed add more 
  10. Serve with saltine crackers or tostadas

And there you have it, you can use a ladle or regular spoon to scoop some in a plate, a cup or to make it even fancier in a wine glass. Now, take a bite of a saltine cracker with some of the Mexican Shrimp Cocktail and enjoy! Make it as many times as you like!

Categories
Culture & Student Life

Tips For An Organized and College Debt Free Life

Description: Tips to stay or start to be organized and use those same tips to be able to find resources to graduate debt free from college/university.

For other tips and content take a look at these links:

VC Social:  https://vcsocial.biz/

My social media accounts:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iamelisabeltran

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamelisabeltran/?hl=en

WordPress: https://elisabeltranphotography.wordpress.com/

Scholarships/Grants:https://www.collegeboard.org/ https://www.fastweb.com/ https://www.cafebustelo.com/en/scholarship https://vccf.org/scholarships/ https://venturacollegefoundation.org/scholarships/

FAFSA: https://fafsa.ed.gov/

CA Dream Act: CalDreamAct.org

Tips For An Organized and College Debt Free Life – VC Social

Categories
Food & Beverage

🅈🅄🄼, 🅈🅄🄼, 🄵🄻🄰🄽!

Growing up we’d get invited to birthday parties and when it was time to cut the cake, every time there would be something different paired up with the cake. There would either be some Mexican Jello or flan on the side with the cake. I remember the day I tasted flan for the first time I knew I no longer wanted Jello with my cake. However, I came to learn every flan is made differently, tastes differently, yet still so good. 

One day at my cousin’s birthday party I got some flan and it was amazing. I loved it, so I decided to ask my aunt where she bought it from or who made it. Turns out she had made it, you never know what other skills family members have until you’re taken by surprise. You know when you love the taste of a food so much you want to eat it often, daily if possible? Well I loved the flan so much I asked her to give me the recipe so I could try to make it. She taught my mom and I how to make it. So here we are now, I am sharing this recipe that I learned not that long ago. 

This flan can be paired up with cake on the side or by itself. You can make it for birthday parties, work lunches, even for the holidays for dessert. The best part is it is easy, not too costly, and you can find the ingredients in most stores, in fact you might even have some now in your kitchen. Let’s get started.

🍧 𝐼𝓃𝑔𝓇𝑒𝒹𝒾𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓈: 🍧

  For the top/caramel part: 

  • 1 Cup Sugar 

  For the flan:

  • 1 Tablespoon of Vanilla Extract
  • 1 Spoon of Coffee 
  • 5 Eggs
  • 1 Condensed Milk (Nestle Lechera 14oz)
  • 1 Evaporated Milk (Nestle Carnation 12oz)

  To prepare:

  • 1 Plate
  • Spatula 
  • Blender
  • 1 8-Inch Round Cake Cooking Pan
  • Medium Saucepan 
  • Shallow Baking Dish
  • Aluminum Foil 
  • Water

🍧 𝓓𝓲𝓻𝓮𝓬𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓼:🍧

Make caramel (top part golden color of flan)

  1. In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt sugar with a spatula, you can increase heat until liquified and golden/caramel color.
  2. Once melted carefully pour the caramel(sugar) into the 8 inch round cake cooking pan and coat the pan with the sugar on the bottom of the pan, and on the sides (most of it should be at the bottom). Let this cool for 5 minutes. 

In the meantime let’s make the flan:

  1. Add the 5 eggs, condensed milk, evaporated milk, 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract, and 1 half spoon of coffee to a blender. Blend for 20 seconds until smooth.
  2. Pour the mixture of the eggs, condensed milk, evaporated milk, vanilla extract, and coffee in the pan with the melted sugar(the 8 inch round cake cooking pan). 
  3. Place this pan in a bigger shallow baking dish (can use any big pan as long as you can add a water bath and won’t overflow). Fill the dish with water halfway on the outside of the pan. 
  4. Place it on the stove. Cover flan with aluminum foil. Leave it on medium low heat for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until you see the center jiggle. 
  5. Remove the pan(flan) from the dish(water bath), remove the foil, and let it cool for about an hour.
  6. After the hour, refrigerate overnight (at least 4 hours) before serving. 
  7. Next day or when ready to serve, check that it hasn’t stuck to the pan, place a plate on top of the flan and flip it so that the caramel/golden side is on top.

And there you have it, cut out a slice, and taste. If you like it as much as I do, make it a second time, a third time, as many times as you’d like. Enjoy some Flan!