Chayote, carrot and white bean soup

Days ago I was watching a clip about the last Berlinale in which there were a few interviews with directors and actors, and that included The Lost City of Z cast.

There was a lot – A LOT – of screaming when Robert Pattinson hit the red carpet and I truly cannot understand why someone would go crazy over him like that while Charlie Hunnam was on the very same red carpet. :)

That made me think

Brazilian carrot cake waffles with chocolate glaze

One of the childhood memories I most cherish is the image of my mom in the kitchen baking cakes – she was a hell of a cook but was also famous for her sweet treats.

The two cakes I remember the most are the chocolate cake and the carrot cake – the Brazilian carrot cake, with chocolate glaze: oh, so delicious (there is a recipe here for those of you not familiar with it).

One day I got myself

Chocolate granola to make breakfast even more delicious

I know that for those of us who like to cook making things from scratch is actually fun and does not feel like a burden, but even for those who are not very fond of cooking I would recommend making their own granola – the difference in quality is huge, you have complete control over the ingredients (especially sugar) and can tweak flavors as you wish, creating delicious types of granola.

I

Toasted Coconut Chia Seeds Cake

Coconut toasted coconut cake, so yummilicious.

I had a vision and I made this cake and it was so divine!  When I told my Edda about my vision of this cake, she gave me the look that it was not going to be good, she said I don't like coconut cake.  Oh well, as it turned out she really loved it and had few pieces after it was cooled.  I asked her, this is really good right and she said yes and please don't share it with anyone.  Hahaha....she wanted the whole cake for us!  As usually I would share half of the cake away.  

Super fragrant and super moist coconut chia seeds cake!  The chia seeds gave it a little crunch when biting into the moist cake.

This creation is so unexpectedly delicious that I decided to keep the recipe within my family.  Who knows, I might decide to sell some of my bakes in the future!  As for now, this is priceless!

Broccolini and gorgonzola risotto

As I was choosing and editing the photo for this post I started to think of how and when I became such a great fan of risottos and… I could not remember. I can’t remember when I first tried risotto or which flavor that was, and I can’t remember when I first cooked a risotto myself either.

I usually have strong memories linked to my favorite foods, but not this time – I have no recollection

Plum and almond crumble and the end of "Girls"

After I binge-watched Girls while sick with the flu last year I could not help but continue watching the show even though Hannah got on my nerves most of the time – I sometimes wonder if the writers are trying to create the most stupid character in the world of the TV shows.

On the other hand, Elijah and Ray were my favorite characters of the show. :)

So I watched all the seasons, up to the

My Bolognese sauce, as per my husband's request

I started blogging about food in 2006 (sometimes I find it hard to believe I am still here, to be honest) and for years now many people have written to me to tell me they learned how to cook with me (Brazilians, since I write in Portuguese, too). Every time I read the emails I feel joy in my heart, for I know how liberating learning how to cook can be – it was for me.

So here we are, almost

Matcha Yogurt Cake

I remembered I made yogurt cake before and it was pretty good.  A co-worker gave me a big tub of Brown Cow vanilla yogurt so it gave me an opportunity to make this cake again.  I told her I am going to make a yogurt cake and give it to her.  She didn't know we can use yogurt to make a cake hence just had to let her try it herself I guess.  I decided on the Matcha flavor just because I liked it. This is another one bowl and a whisk recipe that I liked very much.  Easy and not a lot of things to wash later.  This cake is best the next day, a soft and moist cake with vanilla and matcha flavors.

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Mushroom Tuna Thin Spaghetti

I created this recipe just because I had to really use up the organic button mushroom that I bought few days ago.  I also saw 4 canned of tuna in waters that I would have to use before it expired in 2018.  I know tuna was good in spaghetti with a little lemon juice added, so this was the best way to use up my tuna and mushroom.  I stocked up some Non-GMO thin spaghetti, spaghetti and linguine when it were on sales the last time.  I bought 2 bottled of Non-GMO spaghetti sauces too for the really lazy moment or quick fix.  I figured my elder daughter should be able to boil a package of spaghetti and heat up a bottle of spaghetti sauce for herself and little sister if needed to.  Perhaps I need to make some meat balls and freeze it for their convenience.

Oh yeah, if you have noticed my recipes recently, I liked to use both the Himalayan pink salt and sea salt together.  I thought in this way I would get the best of the 2 different minerals that were found in these 2 different salts.

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