A Happy, Happy Day!

It was my birthday yesterday and I could not let my 28th celebration go by without a little treat, right? I felt like I should have actually baked a cake for myself, but after a few kitchen disasters over the weekend I just decided to relax, stepped out of the kitchen, and went out to enjoy my day with the husband and Matheus!

We started the day with a yummy pancake breakfast filled with fruits, honey, yogurt and milk! Matheus loves pancakes for breakfast and asked if I could make some for my birthday. Sure, easy and simple enough, he was happy and I even more to have breakfast with both of them! (it is sometimes hard for the three of us to sit down together for breakfast on weekdays...).

I even got a few gifts too, cute ear rings and necklace that my mom sent from Brazil (Thanks mom!) and a "new camera" from my boys! Our camera was not behaving nicely lately so my husband heard my complains and got us a new one, this way, according to him, I can be happy taking my food pictures!

And since it was "My Day", the Husband said I could pick wherever I wanted to go for lunch, and I chose the "Foster's Market"! It is a little far from our home (about 30 minutes) and not a place we go often, in fact it was my second time there. The place's owner is Sara Foster, who is the author of a couple of cookbooks that I have and loooooove. Besides the Cafe's cool atmosphere, my main reason to pick this place was simply because the food is healthy and delicious! Everything is freshly made there, everyday; they have salads, sandwiches, and the best soup I have had in a restaurant, really yummy!
We had wraps, sandwiches and soup, and although yesterday they didn't have the soup I wanted the one we tried was very flavorful too.
I left the camera in the car so I can't show you the food, but I managed to take a picture of the outside before we left. As I said before, nothing fancy, but really good food! (and that is what I am all about!)

The Foster's Market:


















After lunch we went strawberry picking! So much fun, and the berries are the best you can get, super fresh, ultra sweet and juicy! Gotta love strawberry season, huh?!!









And, to finish it all, of course we had to sing happy birthday and blow out a candle. As it is with most kids, Matheus cannot picture a birthday without a cake, so I ended up making cupcakes, which were surrounded by the wonderful strawberries and his favorite party treat: brigadeiros! Chocolate and strawberries together, how could we go wrong??!












You know, I got older but also a lot happier! My husband and my son were amazing at making my day as good as could be! Thank you guys, I love you both more than anything!
Happy Birthday To Me!!!
Ana!

After reading such good reviews and seeing the goodies that Joe from "Culinary in the Dessert" made, I just had to check out the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking book from the local library. And I am so glad I did!
The book is awesome, full of baked goods, from muffins to tarts, pies, and all sorts of yeast breads. It even has an assortment of cracker recipes, including my favorite: graham crackers!
And the best thing about this is that all, and I mean ALL the recipes are made with whole grains, yay! I am the BIGGEST whole grain fan!
I loved the book, need to return it this week, and am already talking the husband into getting a copy for me so that I can try all the recipes I marked on the library book. Even if I had renewed it 3 times, it would not be enough time, there are tons of my very favorite: oat recipes! (I have even gotten oat and barley flour in order to try some of the recipes in the book!)
The first recipe I tried was an absolute hit at our home. First imagine me, opening and checking out recipes from a baking book, what could I possibly go look at first?? Muffins, of course!!!
I am not sure how this would be called a real muffin, as to me its mixing method is not as a muffin making should be. However, these Sour Cream Muffins were sooooo delicious that after the first bite the way it was made didn't even matter anymore to me.
They were stated as being very versatile in terms of flavoring and additions you could incorporate to the batter, and at my first trial I already put its adaptability to the test.
These were made by creaming butter and sugar, adding eggs and incorporating the rest of ingredients rather than how a "usual" muffin would be done (separately mixing dry and wet ingredients, adding wet to dry and mixing just until everything is wet enough, never minding a few lumps here and there). This different process resulted in a sort of coffee cake batter, more dense and compact, the opposite of how a muffin batter would look like (more loose and "lumpy")
But even though it was different at first, the end result was a super nice and tender muffin, the flavor was delicious, even with the simplest ingredients it called for.
We just loved the muffins! They had the greatest texture and tenderness to it, plus the right amount of sweetness.
I divided my batter in two and added chopped frozen cherries to half of it and toffee bits to the other half. Both came up delicious and tasty; the husband liked the cherry muffins, and me and Matheus were all about the toffee bits ones. Oh my, I can't say how good they were!
I found a bag of toffee bits in my pantry that I have bought a while ago in order to try in baked goods and decided to use for this muffins. It was the happiest idea ever, the muffins were incredibly tasty and delicious, plus I think that the toffee flavor totally complemented the flavors in the batter.
As we were eating the last two toffee bits muffins for breakfast the other day, Matheus asked if I could make more of them as those were the best toffee bits muffins he ever had!(it was his first time eating the toffee bits!). Then I said, of course, and that I could try adding the bits to our favorite oatmeal muffin recipe since I didn't have any sour cream on hand that particular day, I barely finished saying that and he stated "Oh no mommy, you have to make this recipe, these are the best"!!! Is he cute or what?!!! I mean, the muffins were good, really good!
I bought sour cream today to make this again, and just had to come here and share the recipe with you. Really delicious, it seems these are jumping to the top of our list!
The recipe says that letting the batter rest for one hour may provide even better results, I didn't have the time and ended up just letting it rest for about 20 minutes.Truly, I can't imagine these being better than they came out, so I might even try the 1 hour in the fridge thing next time to see if it makes such a difference. Oh, and my change for this one was to use 3/4 cup sugar.... and they were plenty sweet for us!
Enjoy!!
Ana

Sour Cream Muffins
(Adapted from the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking)

2 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups any fruits you might like, fresh, frozen or dried.
Sugar for sprinkling (optional)

Grease muffin tins, reserve.
Mix together the flours, baking powder, salt and baking soda, set aside.
With a mixer cream butter and sugar until creamy and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time while beating. Add vanilla and sour cream, beat until all incorporated. Add dry ingredients mixing just until the batter is smooth. Fold in fruits and refrigerate batter for one hour.
Preheat oven to 375 F. Scoop the batter into the muffin cups, sprinkle tops with coarse sugar if desired and bake for about 22 to 26 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Quick transformation...

Before: cute baby roma tomatoes that simply screamed my name in the store.... they looked so pretty!









After: baby cuties were stuffed with creamy goat cheese and topped with a mixture of bread crumbs, grated Parmesan, parsley and olive oil. A couple of minutes under the broiler and we got deliciously yummy warm tomato gooeyness, and a crispy cheesy top!










Ana!

Yellowish veggies...

Not just pretty, but full of flavor too! I have been experimenting with curries and every time I make it I love it more!!
I usually am not able to eat this type of food outside our home due to the spiciness present in restaurant dishes (my stomach ulcer just cannot handle it...), but since it can be so yummy I try to make it at home, using spices at a level where I can eat without any side effects.
For this one I used a lot of vegetables and one of my favorite foods: chickpeas! I sauteed onion and garlic, added a can of chickpeas and chopped veggies that where hanging around in the fridge (zucchini, carrots, red peppers, and some spinach leaves), sauteed them a little more; next came curry powder, cumin and tumeric - I just love the yellowish color it gives to food, makes it look soooo yummy and happy!!
I also add some vegetable broth to make a little sauce, season with salt to taste and serve over brown rice. Yum, no, double yum!
It was delicious, and everyone at home agreed!!
Ana

Yum...

Lunch today was simple but so good... baked halibut (seasoned with salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon juice) on top of brown rice, a few leaves of steamed spinach, topped with sauteéd tomatoes, onions and garlic, served with roasted asparagus. Again, YUM!!
Ana

Strawberry Tarts

As promised, I am back to share the recipe with you! It may look difficult, but making these little tarts is not too hard, you just have to program yourself and set some time to complete the process. Not complicated, but you need to wait until the crust is cool to add the filling and also make sure the custard filling is completely cool before adding the jell-o on top (or it will not set up properly, besides being absorbed by the creme and crust).
I have other recipes but this time decided to try one I found at Cybercook's discussion forum, which was posted a while ago by Bell Ricci.
The only thing I would do differently next time I make would be trying to reduce the sugar amount in the crust. I didn't have any difficulties with the dough, except I think it was way to sweet for my tastes. It came out crisp and beautiful, and with no cracks at all. I really liked the crust and working with it, it was certainly worth trying the original recipe the first time around, and for the next trials I may just try making it less sweet.
If you enjoy sweet desserts, then absolutely do it as the recipe says. It was sweet for me, but my husband loved it and said it was perfect! Go figure!
The filling was easy to make and very delicious, just the custard with the strawberries alone would already make a yummy dessert - something to keep in mind if you don't want to bother with the crust...
My sister loves Strawberry Tart and I was thinking about her all the time while making and enjoying these treats. I wish she could be here to taste it with us... Well, if she comes during summertime then I may make these again! This is for you sister, love and miss you much!!
Ana

Strawberry Tart
crust:
3 cups flour (don't put it all at once, you might need less than this)
100 grams butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl until it forms a dough. (It might seem a little dry, but don't worry, it will magically come together while it rests in the fridge, really!!) Shape dough into a small disc, wrap it with plastic and put it in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 (180C).
Using your fingertips, press the dough into a 9-inch (24 cm) tart pan or pie plate. Make it as even as possible, trying to not leave the bottom too thin.
Bake the crust for about 10 to 15 minutes. Keep an eye on it so it doesn't get dark. Remove from oven and let cool. Meanwhile, make the filling:

Custard Filling
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups (500ml) milk
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until it reaches a boil and the cream thickens. Let it cool a bit and then pour it over the cooled crust. (you might want to cover it with plastic wrap directly in contact with the surface of the cream so it won't form a crust - or simply don't bother with that, remove the "top skin" with a spoon and set it aside for yourself, it is yummy, and yes, I do love the skin on puddings too!!)
Let the filled crust cool in the refrigerator for a while.

Wash, stem, and halve enough strawberries to put on top of the crust. Fit as many as you want, making any pattern you like. Be gentle so the strawberries don't "squish" into the creme. Put tje tart in the fridge while you prepare one box of Strawberry jell-o according to the package directions. Put jell-o on a bowl and park it in the fridge. Let it cool down and set up until it reaches an "egg white" consistency. Keep checking constantly after about 20 minutes so that it won't set to hard. You still want it to be pourable, not too thick, but not too liquidy that the crust would absorb it. (I hope you guys can understand what I mean... if not, please contact me and I will certainly help!)
Carefully pour the jell-o on top of the strawberries in the tart. Do this very slowly, using the help of a spoon if needed, so the jell-o doesn't overflow. Alternatively, you might want to spoon it on top of the tart, instead of pouring it directly. Do whatever feels more comfortable for you. I pour when making bigger tarts (using a spoon to smooth it out and get the jell-o in between the fruit) and spoon it when making "mini" ones, which was the case this time I made them.
Put the tart in the fridge and let cool until the gelatin is set on top. A few minutes more and it will be ready for dessert.
Enjoy!!

Yield: 1 big tart, or several small ones, depending on the size of your mini pans. I was able to make 6 small tarts using half recipe!


Want a bite?!

Happy Easter Everyone!!!
The best of wishes and lots of yummy chocolate eggs to all of you today!
Ana

PS: this was our "easter dessert"; recipe to come... I promise!

Inspirations!

Lunch yesterday was inspired by two recipes I have seen and marked to try.
The first one was a vegetable couscous topped with zucchini ribbons that I once saw at my Cooking Light magazine! You can see the original recipe here.
I made couscous and used the ribbons idea, but nor I followed the recipe neither used the same ingredients. For my dish I used whole wheat couscous, chopped yellow bell peppers, tomatoes, and the pieces left from the zucchini when I could not manage to get more ribbons out of it (oh yes, no waste around my kitchen!). I sauteed the vegetables with olive oil, chopped onions and garlic, and added them to the couscous, which I simply mixed with boiling vegetable broth and let it sit covered for about 5 minutes before the broth was absorbed and I was able to fluff it up with a fork. To round the flavors up I added a tablespoon of butter and a few shakes grated Parmesan and incorporated it all.
This couscous was so delicious that it seemed we could not get enough of it. By the way, I think couscous is my new favorite, you can fix it up so many different ways, it tastes good, AND it takes about 5 minutes to make, you can't get much better than this!! I guess we will be turning into a couscous family around here!!! (Can't wait to try it in salad versions during summertime!)

The next dish I made was inspired by Fernanda's recipe for Halibut Supreme, that she posted here in Portugues, but that she actually got from this website, and it is in English version.
You will have to excuse my picture, as it was not as pretty as Fernanda's, but I have to say that the taste was delicious! We gobbled this up in no time and everyone enjoyed the flavor and yummy "meaty" texture of the Halibut.
For this one I omitted the bacon and used a layer of sliced onions on the bottom of the dish, which got very soft and created a delicious sauce underneath the fish, the Husband loved the sauce. And since I don't usually have sour cream in the house I used Greek yogurt in its place. I haven't tasted the sour cream version, but ours was good enough to be repeated this way!
Thanks Fernanda, for the yummy idea!










And finally, just to add a little more veggies into our plates and because I wanted to eat peas... I simply cooked some sweet green peas with mint for an extra flavor. I love the way mint compliments the pea flavor, it is so good! Next time I will chop up the leaves (I used them whole this time) so I can get more of a "minty" flavor to them. After cooking them in water I drained, added a tablespoon of butter and seasoned with salt. Simple but yummy!










It was a colorful and healthy meal we all enjoyed, pretty good, huh?!!
Ana!

Fish Cakes

After a few days with some sort of stomach virus acompanied of lots of nausea and absolutely no desire to eat, I started to feel better and yesterday went to get some fish in order to make a yummy looking recipe from Fernanda's blog Chucrute com Salsicha. The recipe called for halibut, but unfortunately they did not have any fresh ones at the market and I ended up coming back home with a few tilapia fillets instead.
I did get some fish, but it sure was not the one I wanted, so I decided to make something else and save Fernanda's recipe to make with halibut as soon as I can get my hands on some fresh and good looking fillets. (After getting the fish it seemed I wasn't actually in the mood for it, has it happened to you before?)
Since fish is very perishable I needed to find some good recipe to make with my fillets before the went bad. So, I went for a search and easilly found a recipe that will most definitely be repeated at our house.
Matheus has been asking me to make crab cakes (he has never had it, and neither have I), so I decided to look for something similar in order to satisfy his cravings in some way, even though there were no signs of crab meat near my house.
I found a recipe for Fish Cakes and decided to make it for our dinner today. What a happy choice it was!
The recipe is super easy to make and the end result were very nice and fluffy cakes with a subtle fish taste and delicious creaminess from the potatoes used in the dough.
Matheus loved the cakes, as did the husband, yep, it was a success!
I did cook my tilapia fillets in order to make these, but I believe this is a wonderfull recipe to use when you have leftovers fish around. I can see this being made with most kinds of white fishes, and even with salmon - which would probably give these a nice pinkish hue.
I may even try making these using crab meat instead of the fish, as I was very fond of the potatoes and the texture it provided, plus it doesn't have any mayonaise in it, which I absolutely cannot stand.
All in all a great recipe, nice and simple with great flavor to boot!
We had ours with some steamed carrots and ranch dressing or as Matheus calls it: "dipping sauce", oh, and Matheus had the idea of having some ketchup with it too. I know it may sound odd, but it did tasted good! :o) (not really gourmet as some tartar sauce would be, but not bad either!)
I made half of the recipe and got 6 nice sized cakes; I used Tilapia and red skinned potatoes on mine (cooking both in salted water to impart more flavor - to the fish water I also added the juice of half lemon), everything else was done per the recipe. By the way, this great idea came from the wonderfull blog Simply Recipes. Thanks Elise for another delicious recipe!!
Enjoy!
Ana

Fish Cakes
(Adapted from Elise's recipe at "Simply Recipes" food blog)

1 lb of white fish fillets
2 medium-sized baking potatoes (or 4 red or yellow potatoes)
1 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 Tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 eggs, lightly beaten
Grapeseed oil, or other high smoke point oil such as canola oil, for frying

Boil and mash the potatoes, set them aside.
Boil the fish until it flakes easkly. Drain and flake the fish with a fork.
Mix the flaked fish, the potatoes and the rest of the ingredients together well by hand. If the mixture is too crumbly, add another egg. If too sticky, add more bread crumbs.
Form the mixture into cakes and fry them on medium high heat in a skillet coated with oil.
Makes 12 fish cakes. Serves 4-6.

It was a Soccer Party!!

I still can't believe my "baby" already turned 5, but the party sure was fun! Matheus' birthday was yesterday and we had a party for him at the place he practices soccer. It was great, the kids had a blast running around and kicking balls. One of the coaches was there and kept them busy and laughing for the entire time.
Matheus loved it, he was so happy, and of course so was I! The cake was his idea, a soccer field, and let me tell you, the kids loooooved it!
It was my first attempt with fondant, and I believe a very successful one. I got some tips with a friend that is used to making cakes like this and didn't have much problems. The fondant was actually easy to work with and I had so much fun making the cake, coloring and rolling the fondant. It took me a while to get everything done, but it was so worth it!
I loved and even told my husband that one day I will work with this type of thing. I had the best time doing it, and can you imagine getting paid and having this much fun??? I can just dream about it!
The cake itself was a recipe for chocolate cake that I first made when I was in Brazil, and I have actually mentioned this recipe here. It has the basics ingredients in it, simple method of preparation, but the result is outstanding. I loved this cake from the moment I tasted the batter the first time I made. Simple but yet delectable, rich chocolate taste with just the right amount of sweetness to it. Everyone enjoyed it and I even got some requests for the recipe from some of the mom's, how cool it that??!
So, here is the recipe for all of you who would like a taste of my little soccer cake! I am also including the ganache that came with the recipe originally, you can use it to fill and cover the cake if desired. This cake covered and filled with the ganache was one of the best chocolate cakes I have ever had, yumm!!
Enjoy!!
Ana

The one piece leftover from the cake (the kids really liked the cake, everyone wanted to touch it and even the little guys on the top were taken home as souvenirs!!)











Cocoa Cake with Chocolate Ganache
(Adapted from the book "Cozinha de Estar" by Rita Lobo)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cocoa
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
200 grams butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup milk

Ganache:
400 grams semisweet chocolate
2 cups heavy whipping cream

For the cake
Preheat oven 350F. Grease and flour a round cake pan (it can also be baked in bundt or rectangular 13x9 pans).
Sift the flour, cocoa, salt, and baking powder, set aside.
With the mixer beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, and keep beating to incorporate.
On low speed, add flour mixture alternating with the milk. Do this in three additions, starting and ending with the flour. Mix everything just until well incorporated.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake at 350F for about 40 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cake cool completely before filling and covering with the ganache.

For the ganache:
Put cream on a sauce pan and heat until it reaches a boil. Remove from heat, add chocolate and let it rest for about 10 minutes. Gently mix the chocolate and cream mixture until all the chocolate is melted and the ganache is uniform. Pour mixture in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it cool in the frige for about 30 minutes, or until it has a good consistency to be applied to the cake.


Since I had fondant leftover I decided to make a second small cake. It turned out kind of cute, didn't it??!

Arancini Balls

I made these last week and they were sooo good that I already want to make them again! I actually almost cooked a lot more brown rice than usual at the beginning of the week just to have some leftovers for this! :o)
These Mozzarella-Stuffed Arancini were delicious, creamy and gooey from the mozzarella on the inside and crusty on the outside, yes, the outside got incredibly crispy. I was amazed with the results, as were the husband and Matheus, they both loved it too and there was no leftovers after dinner on that day! Yum!
Arancini is a Italian savory concoction; rice balls stuffed with cheese and usually made with leftover risotto. I made this one with brown rice, but if made with aborio rice (or risotto rice) it would certainly be even better, and probably even creamier. I don't know if this recipe is true to its origins, but is definitely one worth trying. Also, Arancini are normally fried, but these were just how I like, going directly to the oven, they came out great and I loved them being made this way too. You may save some calories, and in my case, some stomachache too.
As usual, I adapted the recipe accordingly to what I had on hand, but nothing too major that would alter the end results so much. First, I used leftover cooked brown rice that I had on the fridge instead of cooking some instant rice as the recipe calls for, second I used grated Parmesan instead of Romano and omitted the green onions (didn't have), and finally, I used some regular mozzarella, as I didn't have any marinated ones around. I sort of eyeballed the amount of rice and halved the recipe. And even though I changed the recipe a bit they still came out great!
Easy and delicious, simple to make and to put together when you have rice and marinara sauce hanging around. We enjoyed this a lot, hope you like it too!
Ana











Mozzarella-Stuffed Arancini
(Adapted from Vegetarian Times, February 2007)

1 1/2 cups instant brown rice
4 green onions, divided
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/3 cup grated Romano cheese
2 cups breadcrumbs
16 marinated fresh mozzarella balls
Olive oil for drizzling
Marinara sauce for serving

Combine rice, 1 green onion, garlic and 3 1/2 cups water in a saucepan. Boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 15 to 20 minutes, or until rice is soft and slightly sticky. Remove from heat, remove green onions and let cool.
Preheat oven to 425F. Line a baking sheet with foil or use cooking spray. Chop remaining green onions.
Fold eggs, parsley, cheese and onions into rice. Spread the breadcrumbs on a plate.
Place about 1/4 cup of the rice mixture in the palm of your hand, shape it into a ball around one mozzarella ball. Roll your arancini in the breadcrumbs and place them on the prepared baking sheet.
Drizzle the balls with olive oil (alternatively, you can use the oil from the mozzarella marinade for this) and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until browned on the outside.
Warm marinara sauce and serve with the arancini balls, garnish with parsley if desired.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

With kids around celebrations always call for cookies, right?!
I made these cookies using the simple and delicious sugar cookie recipe that you can find clicking here. This is the easiest sugar cookie recipe I have made, you don't even need to chill it!
I colored it green by adding gel food coloring while beating the butter and sugar, it was the first time I tried coloring cookie dough and found my idea to be very effective as I didn't end up with a huge mess as previously happened to me. (food coloring can be messy and I certainly didn't want a green hued kitchen!)
Fun to make and to eat too! It yielded a lot of cookies, to bring to the teachers and to share with coworkers, plus we got some nice green smiles as a reward!
By the way, can you tell I used 4 little hearts in order to make each cookie? Yep, it took a while but I got it done, and now I promised myself I will finally go ahead and buy one of those "multi-cookie-cutters-kit", and hope there is a shamrock one in between those for the years to come! :o)
Ana

Ps: I promisse I will be back posting, I made a yummy recipe this past week!

It felt like valentine's day again...!!

Ratatouille Tart

The moment I saw this recipe I knew I had to try it. Oh my, this was SOOOOO good! I have no words to describe how tasty and yummy this tart is!
I made it today for lunch and just had to come here and post the recipe to share with you guys.
Cornmeal-Crusted Roasted Ratatouille Tart is full of delicious vegetables that are slightly roasted before the tart is assembled, which makes them moist and gives the tart a rich taste at the same time.
Super good, seriously, I looooved this recipe! The cornmeal crust was simple to make and very easy to work with, plus it was delicious! The corn taste complemented the vegetables really well, it was almost as if corn was another veggie in there; the crust was crispy all over, even on the bottom. Pre-baking the crust ensured it turned out crunchy and not soggy, even though the vegetables were nice and moist. Oh, and the recipe says to use a food processor, but since I don't have one I made my dough by hand and it turned out great (again, so yummy!!!).
Matheus loved this as well and even asked if I could repeat the recipe again this weekend! Yay! If I have everything on hand by Saturday, then why not, right?!!
As usual, I followed the recipe but made a few alterations based on what I had at home, but this time they were very minor changes: I used a mix of leeks and onions instead of shallots, and added some garlic to this sauteed onion thing; also, fontina cheese was used instead of mozzarella, and since I did not have fresh basil I sprinkled the veggies with a dried Italian herb mix. Oh, and for the crust I used 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, and will do it again, as the crust turned out very flavorful this way.
I don't believe my changes were too significant in terms of altering the flavors at the end as the major ingredients were all in there, but I am pretty sure this would taste even better with the fresh basil in it. One thing I did was to sprinkle a bit of salt on each layer of veggies, before adding the remaining ingredients on top, just to make sure that each layer would get the proper amount of seasonings.
We really enjoyed this recipe today! It is perfect for a light lunch, although after 3 pieces I ended up not feeling as light as I should!
Enjoy!!
Ana











Cornmeal-Crusted Roasted Ratatouille Tart
(Recipe by Ellie Krieger)

Crust:
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
1/3 cup whole-grain pastry flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons canola oil
3 tablespoons water

Filling:
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon olive oil
2 shallots, thinly sliced (about 1/3 cup)
Cooking spray
1/2 pound thinly sliced eggplant rounds (about 1/3 medium eggplant)
1 zucchini, sliced into 1/8-inch rounds (about 8 ounces)
3 medium tomatoes, sliced thinly
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 ounces shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup shredded fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

For the crust:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Combine cornmeal, pastry flour, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to incorporate. Add butter and oil and pulse about 20 times, until mixture resembles small pebbles. Add water and pulse until mixture forms a loose dough. Remove dough from processor and press into bottom and about 1/8-inch up the sides of a 9-inch tart pan with a detachable rim. Press aluminum foil into the bottom and sides of the pan on top of the dough and weigh down with uncooked rice or pie weights. Place tart pan on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and remove rice and foil. Return to oven and bake for an additional 5 minutes, or until no longer shiny and wet. Remove from oven and let cool.

For the filling: Increase the oven to 400 degrees F. Heat 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a nonstick pan over medium heat; saute shallots until soft, about 5 to 6 minutes. Spray 2 baking trays with cooking spray. Arrange the eggplant, zucchini and tomato slices on the trays in a single layer and brush with the remaining olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, and roast the vegetables until soft but not browned, about 15 minutes. Remove the vegetables from oven and cool.

Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Lay the eggplant slices in 2 layers on the bottom of tart; cover with 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese and some of the shredded basil. Add the zucchini and shallots, top with another 1/3 of the mozzarella and basil, then the tomatoes. Top with rest of the mozzarella cheese and the Parmesan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until cheese is melted and vegetables have further wilted. Remove from oven, let cool for 5 minutes. Serve warm.

Ice Cream Torte

This was one of the goodies I made while visiting my family on our last trip to Brazil. It is a very creamy and yummy molded ice cream dessert that went very well with the hot days we were getting while there. Everyone really enjoyed this treat, so I thought I would share it here with you all!
Yummy and creamy (and sweet too!), a sweetened condensed milk ice cream sort of concoction, what is not to like about this one, huh?!! Make it soon or save the recipe for the summer, whichever is the case I am pretty sure most people will like this too!
Enjoy!
Ana

Ice Cream Torte

1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream, chilled (for those in Brazil, use a can of very cold “crème de leite”)
3 eggs, yolk and whites separated
18 tablespoons water
8 tablespoons chocolate mix (such as Nesquick) – you can use cocoa if you prefer
2 tablespoons sugar

First of all, melt about ½ cup sugar in a small saucepan under low flame until it turns into caramel. Carefully pour the caramel on a bundt (those with the hole in the middle) pan, moving it around so that the caramel coats the bottom of the pan completely.
Set the pan aside, and while the caramel sets up put the sugar, water, and cocoa (or chocolate powder of choice) in a small sauce pan and cook over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Let boil for 1 minute, remove from heat and pour the chocolate sauce over the caramel on the already prepared bundt pan. Put the bundt pan in the freezer.

To make the ice cream: In a saucepan mix together the condensed milk, the milk, and the 3 egg yolks. Cook it over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until it reaches a boil. Remove from heat and let it cool (don’t worry; it will be sort of a thin mixture).
Meanwhile, beat the egg whites until soft peaks, gradually add 4 tablespoons of sugar and keep beating until stiff peaks are reached.
As the first mixture has cooled, mix into it the heavy cream and then fold in the egg white meringue, carefully mix the two together until everything is incorporated.
Pour this ice cream mixture into the prepared bundt pan and return it to the freezer. Let it freeze at least for 4 hours. When ready to serve, take the pan from the freezer and let it defrost a little (about 10 minutes should be enough), or you can set the bottom of the pan on some how water, just so that it will be easy for the ice cream to be released from the pan. Invert the pan onto a platter to unmold the ice cream and serve.

Note: I tried to explain the method of preparation for this dish but I am not sure I was clear enough, so if you have any doubts please contact me and I can try to explain better. It is not difficult to make!

Stuffed Peppers

It sounds funny, but I believe that almost everyone who cooks on a frequent basis has a recipe for stuffed peppers. I am one of those and I have got to say that I literally threw my old recipe away after making this version last week.
I liked it a LOT and was not the only one to give it five stars at our home. Matheus loved it and made sure I saved the leftovers for him, and my husband could not stop saying that this was definitely a good recipe that I should save and make again.
Yay, lunch that day was definitely a success!!
And the recipe is simple to make, not much fuss and you have yourself a very nutritious and delicious meal in no time! (not counting the baking time, of course...!)
I loved the idea of using bulgur in the filling, it gave the meat a great taste and texture as well. And the addition of spinach and zucchini added a bonus of veggies and vitamins to the dish.
I sort of followed the recipe and made my own alterations, but and am posting the original one here for you all.
The things I did different was to use ground Turkey instead of beef, and I adapted the quantities for the three of us, making 4 stuffed pepper halves (1 was saved for Matheus to have the next day!!). Also, I used my favorite pasta sauce for the tomatoes part (just poured the sauce over the peppers had been stuffed), and added about 1/4 cup of tomato sauce to the meat mixture as I didn't want the filling to be too dry (although the zucchini does add some moisture to it too!).
I also blanched my peppers for a couple of minutes, just to make sure they would be on the softer side after baked, and they came out just perfect for us, husband even mentioned that (yes, he really liked the recipe too!). And since I had boiled some water, I dropped a little ball of meat mixture in it to cook, just so that I could taste the seasonings and see if it had enough salt and spices in it. Easy to taste and help you adjust the seasonings to your like.
We had ours with brown rice since it was cold outside and we wanted a nice homemade meal to warm us up, but I am pretty sure a green salad on the side would also be great with this.
This was definitelly the best stuffed pepper I have had (Husband said that too!), and it will be repeated here for sure. And if you end up trying, I hope you like it as much as we did!
Enjoy!
Ana

Greek Style Stuffed Peppers
(Recipe by Ellie Krieger)


1 pound lean ground beef
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 medium zucchini, coarsely grated (about 2 cups)
1 small onion, minced (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup bulghur
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 red bell peppers, halved lengthwise, cores and ribs removed
2 (14 1/2-ounce) cans low-sodium stewed tomatoes, finely chopped
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese ( I used goat cheese which was what I had on hand. It was delicious with goat cheese!!)

Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a large bowl combine the beef, spinach, zucchini, onion, bulghur, egg, oregano, salt and a few grinds of pepper. Mix until thoroughly combined.
Arrange the pepper halves cut side up in a 9 by 13-inch baking dish and fill each pepper half with the meat mixture. Pour the tomatoes over the peppers and sprinkle with the feta cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake until the meat mixture is completely cooked and the peppers are tender, about 25 minutes longer.
Yield: 6 servings.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

As with other holidays Valentine's Day has also turned into something more commercial than anything else, plus everyday is supposed to be a time for showing our fondness for the closest ones. However, who doesn't like celebrations, and being remembered by getting a lovely card?
There is always room for some love, and a heart filled day is certainly always welcome at our home!
By the way, the little hearts on the picture above were some croûtons I made to have with our "romantic" fondue dinner for three (we all love one another, so why not include Matheus in the fun, right?!), so yummy and cheesy, just perfect for the cold days we have been getting lately! (You can get my favorite fondue recipe here)
Ohh, and look what I got from my dear husband, he couldn't have gotten me a better bouquet!
I love him SO MUCH!!
Hope you all had a great and lovely time today too!
Ana

Guess what?!
A couple weeks outside my sweet home and guess what was the first thing I whipped up in my beloved kitchen??? Muffins, of course!
I have said it before, and don't get tired of repeating, I love muffins!! It is so easy and quick to make it, and you can fill them up with all sorts of yummy and healthy things, what is not to like!?!?!
Two days after we got home I just had to make something and whipped up a batch of Apricot Muffins for breakfast! They turned out really good, not very sweet just as we like, and the apricots were just right on, smooth texture and the right amount of fruity sweetness to the little cakes. I got a little inspired when making them and decided to throw in some white chocolate chips I had in the pantry and let me tell you, the white chocolate complemented the apricot flavor really well, I would certainly add the chips when making these muffins again.
They were delicious warm right out of the oven, however they got a little on the dry side after sitting for a day. We had them the next day with a warm glass of milk and it was no problem at all, just as good, but warming the muffins before eating is actually a good idea... I just didn't do it because we are still microwaveless.
Oh, and besides providing us with a nice whole wheat breakfast treat, the muffins also gave me a chance to try my little silicone muffin cups, which by the way worked perfectly well!!
Ana











Whole Wheat Apricot Muffins
(Adapted from Cooking Light)

1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons grated orange rind ( I omitted, didn't have at home)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup finely chopped dried apricots
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 375 F.
Lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flours, sugar, orange rind, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk; make a well in center of mixture. Combine buttermilk, butter, vanilla, and egg; add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Fold in apricots.
Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 15 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Remove muffins from pan, and place on a wire rack.

We are back home, but a little piece of our hearts is still in Brazil...
It is not easy to come back, every time is the same thing, sad, the goodbye at the airport is hard, and then we get home and there is this huge feeling that we are already desperately missing our family that stayed behind...
But, life is going on, now and here, so we have to take a deep breath and keep going, happy and more than anything, strong.
The trip to Brazil was great!!! We had a ton of fun, spent our time exclusively with our family members, and ate a lot of yummy Brazilian foods!
We brought back with us not only a bag full of Brazilian goodies that will help us stay connected for the months to come, but also a lot of good memories from the awesome time we had there!
It was sunny and warm, the peak of summertime. We went to the pool, had lots of fresh fruit juices, ice cream, and even had time to go fishing with my dad, as you can see above!
This time though I didn't cook much... 21 days was definitely not enough to do all I wanted to, but it certainly was fun. I made a few things while there, some I photographed, but a few others I forgot... including two yummy cakes that I will definitely make again here at home and share the recipe here for sure.
And talking about pictures, here are some of them:

This is a dessert that is as easy to make as it is delicious to eat! It is called "Torta de Sorvete" or Ice Cream Pie, a creamy summertime concoction that everyone enjoyed!









These little cookies brought us back wonderful memories as we sat down to eat them with some coffee. It is a recipe from my grandmother that I haven had in many years... You need real cream from cow's milk (called "Nata" in Brazil) to make them. Nowadays not many people have fresh cow's milk, so it is hard to collect the "nata", but one of my aunts has a cow in her farm and saved some for me so we could make these delicious "Nata Cookies" again! Ohhh, how much I miss my grandma...









One of my Dad's favorite desserts (after Rice Pudding!), Bread Pudding, Brazilian style of course!









Another great moment of my stay in Brazil was a few days before I returned, when I met Karen (from Kafkanapraia) and Miki (from coisascabecagorda). It was super cool! I loved meeting them, they were very nice and we had a great time talking and eating all the delicious things they made! Miki made a wonderful fruit salad with gelatin and vodka that I could not stop eating and can't wait to make myself, and with so many cookies and cakes I didn't even get a chance to try Karen's great looking cocoa cake, which I will also make here at home soon!
Miki was a great host and Karen was such a delicate girl; I had the best time that afternoon learning more about two of the many friends I made through my beloved Kitchen Space!









And can you believe that besides all the yummy goodies I even got little gifts!?! Aren't they really nice?!?!
Thanks Karen and Miki for such a nice time! I just can't wait to go back to Brazil and see you both again!









All in all we had a wonderful time in Brazil, among family and friends, what else can you ask for right?!!
Today I went back to the kitchen and already whipped up two new recipes that turned out really good and will certainly be posted this week to come, and I will also post a few of the recipes from the pictures above! By the way, I have them in both languages, so if my Brazilian friends want them in Portuguese, just let me know!
Ana

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.