Hello!!

Just a quick post to say Hi and that we got here safe and sound! The airplane trip was nice and calm, everything went well, and now it is just a matter of getting used to the three hour difference.
The weather is nice and warm here, Hooray to summer!! If only it would stop raining for a bit... but being in the warm continent is already great!
The family keep us busy all the time, and although I wanted to post a picture today, I wasn´t able too, I simply forgot to bring my camera... I cannot believe I forgot it, but at least my sister has one and I am going to borrow it soon!!
I made a dessert for today and if it comes out pretty I will snap a pic and post the recipe to share here with you! Oh yes, even away from home I manage to find a friendly kitchen to have some fun, and of course keep my cooking skills sharpened!
Ana

Yummy Bread!

I definitely haven't posted enough this year, and I truly miss posting here, but things did go a little crazy this past few weeks around here and I barely had time to sit and plan my menus and figure out the recipes I wanted to try. Plus, since we are going for a few weeks we had to enter the mode "eat what is in the fridge before we leave" and our meals has been quick and simple, but tasty nonetheless!
And although I didn't post much, I just had to come here and give you all a Hello and a quick post before we leave tomorrow, because I know I won't be able to post anything in the next few days.
So, here comes a very simple and quick recipe, which I made not just because I had ham and cheese in the fridge, but also because it looked pretty and delicious at Valentina's blog, which got it originally from Silvia's blog Doce Casinha.
This is a recipe that comes from Silvia's mother in law, and let me tell you, the lady does have great taste! The dough was super easy to work with and after baked it turned into a nice light and fluffy bread, very pleasant to eat. Both my husband and my son loved it, I made half the recipe and got about 5 nice "rolls" filled with ham, cheese, a bit of oregano, and sun dried tomatoes, so be prepared because the whole recipe provides a nice yield.
I didn't know how to properly name the bread, I have so much in my little head going right now that I couldn't think of a way to describe this sort of filled and rolled bread in English, so I am sorry... any suggestion will be appreciated! I guess it is sort of a "Stromboli", right? (not really sure though)
Thank you both so much, Valentina's for pointing me to Silvia's nice blog, and of course thanks Silvia for sharing your great family recipe with us all!!
I used ham and cheese, but the combinations for fillings here are as varied as can be. I bet it would be also good with turkey and cheese, or even spinach and ricotta/some other cheese, yum! (I am planning to try different fillings when I came back from Brazil!)
You know a good recipe when it is very forgiving and let you adapt with the ingredients you have in your own "in-need-to-clean-fridge"!!
Enjoy, and see you all soon, from the sunny and "full of family" Terra Brasilis!!
Ana

Oh, and if you would like to take a peek, the original recipe is posted in Portuguese here.

Silvia's Mother In Law Bread

About 2 pounds all-purpose flour (more or less depending on your dough)
3 eggs
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup oil
14 grams active dry yeast (2 packages)
2 cups warm water
Salt to taste

For the filling I used shredded mozzarella cheese, pieces of ham, and some sun dried tomatoes that I soaked in some warm water to plump up. I also sort of seasoned my filling with a little bit of salt, pepper, and dried oregano. But use your imagination, because there are definitely other combinations that would taste great here!

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water, add the sugar and let sit for about 5 minutes. Add oil, eggs and salt and mix well. Little by little add the flour until you get a nice workable dough that doesn't stick to your hands. Put dough into a clean bowl and let it rise until it doubles in volume (1 to 2 hours).
Open dough into a rectangle, sprinkle with your filling of choice and roll it like a cake roll. Brush top with egg wash and bake at 350 until golden on top.

First Post of the Year + A “Flousse” Recipe + News!

Wow, it is my first post this year and it is already January 11^th… oh My!
I am sorry I haven’t posted in this much time, because I really do miss sharing my recipes and reading your comments here.
I have certainly not stopped cooking, we actually went out to eat this year just once, and no, we don’t do take out at our home. So yes, I have been cooking! The thing is that I haven’t made many new recipes and most of the time I have been whipping up our meals very creatively based on what’s in the fridge and pantry, so no actual recipes but some tasty stuff for sure!
Then comes the news: we are going to Brazil! Yay, my son is more than happy and ultra excited to go! My husband decided he reeeeeally wanted to go last week, bought tickets and we are going next week. Can you believe it? Well, I still cannot, it was everything decided at the very last moment, and although I am definitely happy to go I am not really sure about the sudden aspect of deciding thing. I am a person who likes to plan things, which obviously my dear hubby is not. But then again, we are happy to be visiting the family!
So, besides school starting back, taking care of life, and figuring out what to take on our trip, I have also been dealing with a leak problem in our fridge. Oh boy, it seems things like to happen all at once, doesn't it?!
My house is a bit messy right now, but It seems things are getting under control, I believe the fridge problem has been resolved, so now we just have to keep an eye on it to make sure everything is really fine. I was glad we found out this problem while we were still here and now hope everything will get fixed before we leave!
After the introduction about what is going on around here, I present you the first recipe I am posting this year, which was actually made in 2006, but are the intentions that count, right?!!

So, you read the title and now might be asking: “Flousse?”
Oh yes, you didn’t read it wrong, after all a combination of "flan" with "mousse" could only end up in a "Flousse”, right?
This one was a basic culinary creation of a “blog-friend”, Dadivosa! She posted a couple of flousse recipes already and this was the first one we tried (other ones are on the endless “to-try list”). And, I must mention here that it was deeply approved at our home!!
Both my husband and my son had seconds on dessert this weekend, plus the husband really commented on the flavors of this one, something he doesn't usually does, unless it is one of his favorite desserts (usually sweet condensed milk pudding or a very sweet dessert, he likes his sweets!).
The making of this flousse is super simple, easy to the core, and the flavors you get are huge. Really, the blackberry flavors come through in a way that it fills your mouth with the creaminess of the yogurt and a deep berry flavor from the fruit, very yummy!
I used a mix of blueberries and blackberries for the sauce I made on top, which was simply frozen fruit cooked with a bit of water and some sugar. I cooked it for just a few minutes, until the fruit became soft and the sauce thickened a bit. Pour over the flousse and enjoy!
Dadivosa, thanks for this light and flavorful dessert! Did I mention it is light?? Oh yeah, extra points for the flousse! This would be a perfect dessert for the summer months, but we enjoyed it even though it is a bit cold outside. Well, who can resist a flousse?
Ana

Recipe by Dadivosa. You can see the original recipe, which was posted in Portuguese, here.

Blackberry Flousse

1 package blackberry jell-o
250 grams (1/2 pound) frozen blackberries
12 grams unflavored gelatin
5 tablespoons water
2 cups plain yogurt
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons Splenda sweetener, or sugar to taste.

Put the frozen blackberries and the 1 1/2 cups water in a small pan and heat over medium heat just until the fruit becomes soft.
Hydrate the unflavored gelatin in the 5 tablespoons of water in a small pan, let stand 5 minutes. Put pan over low heat and warm it up just until the gelatin is completely dissolved, but don't let it boil. (You can also put the gelatin and water into a glass bowl and warm it up in the microwave).
In the blender add the warm fruit with the water, the dissolved unflavored gelatin, the blackberry jell-o
(The powder), and the sweetener of choice. Whiz the mixture until well mixed and there is almost no noise coming from the seeds. Add the yogurt and blend a little more to incorporate. Taste and adjust the sugar if necessary. Pour mixture into a gelatin mold, or into individual cups and put in the fridge to cool and set up. Note: you can pass the mixture through a sieve when pouring it on the molds. But just like my friend Dadivosa, I too enjoy to have the little seeds throughout my flousse; it adds a very interesting and pleasant (in my opinion) contrast to the creaminess of the dessert. And no one else seemed to be bothered by them here at my home.

Serve with sauce of choice, or even a chocolate ganache I only though about this when I was eating my piece... it should be good to pair the flousse with chocolate, right? What do you think?