Chocolate cashew brownies for another budget-friendly Easter

Close to paying bills and getting up early in the morning to go to work nothing makes me feel more like an adult than realizing that time really flies – saying it out loud every so often basically turns me into my grandmother. :D

Days ago I thought about what I would make to celebrate Easter this year and I remembered these chocolate cookies – when I searched them on the blog I was surprised

Mayo marinated roast chicken

I have told you that I am a very visual person and that beautiful food photos get my attention instantly, and a while ago I found out that my husband is just like that too. :)
Now, every time I see something delicious on a magazine or cookbook I immediately show him the picture – that has made my life so much easier! :)

I was reading Bon Appétit the other day and saw this insanely golden

Bolo de fubá (Brazilian corn flour cake) - the first recipe I made in life

Most of you already know that I started cooking at a very early age – it was purely out of necessity, but it became a true passion over the years. The first recipe I ever learned how to make was this corn flour cake, or “bolo de fubá”, and it was my great-aunt Angelica who taught me how to make it – she would then after that cake teach me how to cook all sorts of food, mostly by phone. <3

I

Pesto and cheese rolls and family traditions

Yesterday I started thinking about family traditions and how some of them go from one generation to the other, sometimes without us even noticing.

My brother and I have become much closer since my nephew was born, and that brings me a lot of joy. So on weekends we are inevitably all together, either they come to visit Joao and I or we visit them – I love that. It reminds me of when I was

Chicken fajitas with homemade tortillas

I always think about how much my understanding of food has changed over the last decade or so – I feel grateful for how much I have learned after I started writing this blog, back in 2006.

Back then, I had already been cooking for seventeen years, for at the age of 11 I was already cooking dinner for 5 people every night. But after the blog I have come to learn dishes I had never heard of

Clementine posset

As much as I try to make new things in the kitchen, I have another priority: not to waste food, not even 1 ounce, if possible at all. It is not always possible, and I fail miserably sometimes, but I keep on trying.

Last week, when I placed the tangerine cookie dough logs in the fridge, I looked at the zested clementines and decided to make something tasty with them. I also had some cream in

Clementine spiced cookies

I think one can say I am addicted to baking cookies – as you have probably noticed already – and for a good while now slice and bake cookies have been my favorites: they are easy to make and the uncooked dough can spend some time in the fridge or in the freezer waiting for the right moment to be baked.

Even though the dough can be kept for a good while before baking, I hardly ever keep it

Short-cut Curry Puffs

This is my short-cut way of making curry puffs as I don't have lots of time to spend in the kitchen. Edda wanted me to make curry puffs for her, and I remembered I used to make curry puffs while I was in my early 20s and people loved it.  I didn't have the recipe anymore but I remembered I only used flour, salt and butter I think.  I loved my keeper flaky pie crust recipe and it had all the ingredients that I remembered, hence I set out to try this flaky pie crust recipe for my curry puffs.

The skin is flaky when deep-fried as well.

As how did I come out with the short-cut curry puffs?  When I cooked a big pot of curry chicken with organic red potatoes, I took some of it without the gravy and keep it in the freezer.  When I have the mood or time to make curry puffs, I defroze the curry chicken potatoes the night before and then cut it into smaller pieces.  Then, I used my food processor to make the flaky dough.  After that, just wrap it and then deep-fried it in my newly acquired deep-fryer.  Viola!  Just like the name implied, this curry puffy skin was flaky.  Just toast it in a toaster oven to have a warm curry puff the next day.

You can also individually freeze these uncooked curry puffs and then put it in a Ziploc freezer bag and deep-fry it as needed.  In this case, you can have curry puffs anytime you desired.  It is great to invest in a deep-fryer, it makes deep-frying so much easier for me.  I especially love to deep-fry firm tofu in my deep-fryer and had it with my noodle soup, so good!

One bowl chocolate cake for my nephew

Up until two years ago my apartment was a home of two adults with no kids: glass objects here and there, pointy drawer handles… Now, there are safety nets on the balcony and on the windows and the glass objects get moved to a very high shelter every time our favorite visitor – my baby nephew – is around.

My husband and I went from not knowing we had any cartoon channels on the cable TV to

Crispy Shrimp Chili Shrimps Fried Rice

This was one of my lazy lunch.  I had to eat and I have no food in the refrigerator.  Luckily I always make sure my refrigerator has eggs, frozen veggie and frozen shrimps.  Hence, this shrimps fried rice to the rescue.  Shrimp is easy to thaw and with some leftover rice, fried rice is an easy one dish meal.

I found the Malaysian's Spicy Tiny Shrimp Sambal by Mama's Delights at the Denver's Asian market so of course I had to buy it regardless of the price tag.  I couldn't be choosy when they were none to begin with right?  This sambal added a little spice and fragrant to the fried rice and we really enjoyed it.

I cooked this very easily, just add the spicy tiny shrimp sambal, soy sauce, salt, a little sugar and finish it off with white pepper.