Stir-fried Sweet Potato Noodle

Baked Crispy Potatoes

While I was browsing my Instagram, I saw a recipe of a delicious looking baked crispy potatoes that I wanted to try.  I used red potatoes and added Parmesan cheese to mine.  I paired it with baked Salmon and roasted asparagus and rainbow carrot to complete the meal.

This baked crispy potatoes was so crispy and delicious and my daughters couldn't stop raving about it and wanted me to make more.  I am going to make more for Christmas and this time pair it with brown butter chicken breast with mushrooms.  I am going to share my version of the crispy potatoes for my own record.  Try it and be amazed!

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Pesto Chicken Sausage Broccoli Penne

Hello my readers, it has been a while since I last updated my blog.   Sorry, I have been pretty preoccupied lately.  Today, I would like to share this easy and delicious penne pasta recipe with you.  My girls totally loved it and told me, mom this is really good.  Hahaha...what a compliment and I guess that's what a cook were looking for in the end, that's to make the eaters satisfied with their meals.  I used Costco's organic chicken sausages and organic frozen broccoli for this.  Non-GMO penne from Sprouts and Costco pesto sauce.  I added some butter to fry the sausages and broccoli, and then I added the cooked penne and some water, mixed well.  Then, I added the pesto and dried parsley flakes, mixed well.  Season with some salt and black pepper.  Serve hot and enjoy!

Yogurt passion fruit cake

I have not posted on this blog in such a long time I wonder if there is still anyone around. Life is hectic and I no longer have time to write each recipe in two different languages, therefore I have focused on my blog written in Portuguese (and even there I have not been able to post regularly).

Cakes are probably my favorite thing to bake and that is why I bring you a cake recipe today,

Home-cooked Meal

I finally got some break and free to cook dinner for my girls again.  And because I started cooking and have more free time now, I also get to update my blog more often.  The above was just one of the dinners that I made at home.  I made some Korean radish side dish the other day with a round radish that I had.  I also loved to have some Korean fish cake in the freezer whenever it was on sale.  It was easy to defroze and can be easily whipped up in a meal, or threw it in soup.  Always needed to make sure we have plenty of vegetable in our meal, so a plate of bok choy was a must.  And some chicken to create a balance meal.

School has started for my girls.  With the school starting, it also mean I will have to prepare 2 lunch boxes for my girls, one for middle school and one for high school.  My daughters preferred to take home lunch instead of eating school lunch as she told me school lunch was really gross (which was fine by me because I preferred them to eat organic and non-GMO food).  Well, more work for me as I liked to prepare hot lunch instead of cold lunch, but whatever works.  Hence, I always scouting at Costco for any offer that I could make into a quick lunch box for my girls.  Stock up when it was on sales and think ahead so that I could steal an extra 10 minutes of sleep.  I also like to make the hot lunch the night before so that I could just heat it up in the microwave before putting the food into the thermos or kept warm lunch box container.  Here, to the new school year and may my two daughters adjusted to their new school environment smoothly and successfully!

Seafood Thai Green Curry

I just realized that I can buy a really good quality organic frozen broccoli at Costco.  I used to buy frozen broccoli at the local supermarkets and it was fulled of stems instead of the florets.  While browsing through Costco, I came across the organic frozen veggies station and decided to give it a try.  To my utter surprise, the frozen organic broccoli was all florets, no stem at all!  And it was so fresh and beautiful, furthermore, it is organic!  What best can I ask for!  Next time I am going to try other frozen organic veggie as well.

The above is my lazy one dish Thai green curry meal.  Just go buy some Thai curry paste and put it in your freezer and it will last you for a long time.  Furthermore, anytime you can just whip up some lazy one dish meal to feed your family.  The brand that I am using is Mae Ploy and you can find it in any of the Asian supermarket.  Enjoy!

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Baked Teriyaki Chicken

Just one of those days that I have to think of what to cook for dinner again.  I am switching to working part-time now so I have more times to spend with my girls as well as cook a healthier home cook meal for them.  They loved it of course because they missed it when I have no time to cook for them at all.  I miss my own cooking as well because I used all the best ingredients for my home cook meal and I know what I put in it.  Whereas, you have no idea what stuff they put in in a restaurant that served you.

Anyway,  trying out this Teriyaki sauce recipe posted by Taste and Tell.  Not bad at all.

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Braised Chicken with Frozen Tofu and Shiitake Mushrooms

Have you tried the frozen tofu before?  If not, give it a try because I strongly recommended it!  It works best with extra firm or firm tofu.  Just wrap it in foil and in a Ziploc bag and freeze it for at least 2 days or up to a year.  When you want to use it in any of your dishes, just defroze it in the refrigerator overnight.  When defroze, squeeze out the water as much as you can before cooking.  I normally used it in braising meat or chicken and the sponge like texture with soak up all the braising flavor.

This dish is actually kind of spicy because of the dried chilies, but you can freely omit the dried chilies for a more child friendly dish.

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Quinoa, carrot and mozzarella fritters

It took me a while to get on the quinoa bandwagon (I don’t really know why), but after I did I started making fritters with it quite often: with a salad they become a delicious and light lunch or dinner.

Here I have combined quinoa with other tasty ingredients such as carrots, mozzarella and olives – their saltiness goes really well with the sweetness of the carrots and the mozzarella. However

Brownies with white chocolate and raspberries

I think that whenever inspiration fails me when I want to bake something I bake brownies: I can’t think of any other baked good that is a hit with pretty much everyone I know. Not to mention that I absolutely love brownie batter: when I could still eat dairy I would always leave some batter left in the bowl for my own moment of happiness while the brownies were in the oven. :)

The brownies I

Peanut butter and chocolate chip bars

Lately I have been using peanut butter as a way of increasing my protein intake: I buy the natural type made with roasted peanuts only and add a spoonful to smoothies and such.

That reminded me of these bars I made ages ago, when I bought natural peanut butter for the first time. The jar seemed to last too long and I wanted to make something delicious with it. These bars are easy to put

Beef and ricotta meatballs

Meatballs are a big hit at my house and you will find some in my freezer whenever. They constantly become a quick weeknight dinner paired with salad – I do that quite often.

My go-to meatball recipe is this, but after seeing the wonderful Nigel Slater making burgers with the addition of ricotta I thought I would give it a go with meatballs: they tasted delicious and were incredibly light in

Lentil soup with crispy salami - waiting for fall to come

Summer here is over, however someone forgot to tell Mother Nature about it: the weather continues to be hot leading to uncomfortable nights for those who like me do not own an air conditioner at home.

While I look forward to cooler days and nights, I felt like sharing with you one of my favorite soups, sort of like Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams: maybe if I post soups on the blog, fall will

Chocolate Whipped Cream Frosting

My girls wanted to make their own birthday cake this year and they wanted a chocolate cake with a chocolate frosting.  So, I went back to use my trusted moist chocolate cake from Pusiva that I had made for Edda's 1st. birthday party.  I wanted a not too sweet chocolate whipping cream as the frosting for the cake and I played around with the recipe to come out with this.  It was a really good frosting so I had to pen it down here so that next time I know where to find it.

I made this 2 layers chocolate cake (with the help of my girls) with Nutella filling in the middle and chocolate whipped cream.  My girls decorated with some chocolate chips as well.  Overall, a very delicious chocolate cake I might say.  Very satisfied with the result.

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Cornmeal, coconut and marmalade cake

I bought Ottolenghi’s beautiful book ages ago and if I am not mistaken the first recipe I made from it was the semolina, coconut and marmalade cake – it is delicious and the recipe yields two cakes: you can enjoy one while making other people’s day better sharing the second loaf.

One day I wanted to make this cake again, however I did not have any semolina at home. I decided then to use corn

Rye chocolate chip financiers

Financiers are one of my downfalls: petite, delicate, but full of flavor, they are a great way of using leftover egg whites. I have been trying to make them using olive oil instead of butter, but the texture was a bit off, so more tests are necessary.

The recipe I bring you today is from ages ago (when I could still eat butter) and it is delicious: the rye flour makes the financiers a little

Orecchiette with courgette and goat’s cheese sauce

This food stylist wannabe got crazy when she saw yellow courgettes in farmer’s market for the first time – until then I had only seen it on books, magazines and food TV shows. Of course I brought some home and immediately thought of something tasty and visually beautiful to make with it.

For this recipe I used red onion so I could have a nice color contrast, however after that day I made this

Simple breakfast bread (dairy free)

I wanted a bread recipe I could make sandwiches with, turn into toast for breakfast, and do everything we do with packaged white bread. I no longer buy that and most of the homemade versions I found called for milk or butter (or both). I thought of making Kim Boyce’s oatmeal bread, which is delicious, replacing the butter with olive oil, but the making of that recipe is not as straightforward

Pasta with onion and tomato sauce and the change in my cooking habits

I was talking to my husband the other day about how my cooking and baking have changed in the past year or so: I don’t bake as much anymore (lack of time + my lactose intolerance) and I also don’t test so many new recipes as I used to. Sometimes I flip through my books and magazines and the photos make me drool, however, I have been feeling the need of eating dishes I am familiar with.

I keep

Loaded potatoes with spinach, cheese and bacon

I work for a Swiss company and this week several of my peers from Switzerland have been asking me about/wishing me a good Carnival – it is funny because I am not a Carnival person (they do not know that), but I do enjoy the days off (Netflix, here I come!). :)

To me these loaded potatoes are perfect for lazy days: just a handful of ingredients, easy prepping, and delicious results. My versions

Vegetable tagine and some planning in the kitchen

There are times when work is pretty intense (like last week, for instance), and something I have been doing for those times is to have ready or almost ready meals in the fridge or freezer – it makes a huge difference. Planning is, indeed, everything.

Meatballs, tomato sauce, pesto sauce, soups, beef stews – these have been my usual suspects lately. Now I will add one more dish to my list:

Lemon and raisin oatmeal cookies

Days ago I was thinking (again) of certain ingredients and why they are so hated: aside from coconut and cilantro, I can’t think of anything that divides people as much as raisins do – at least here in Brazil. Every December there are hundreds of memes on Facebook and Twitter of either people saying how much they hate raisins and begging others not to add them to the Christmas dishes or people

Panzanella with a Spanish touch - perfect for the weekend

I remember the first time I made panzanella at home: it was a revelation. Who could have thought that a salad made with stale bread would be so delicious? The Italians, of course. :)

As much as I love Italian food – half of the blood in my veins is Italian, after all – I have added a couple of Spanish touches to my panzanella: crispy chorizo, chickpeas, sherry vinegar in the dressing. The

Banana muffins with cashew nut streusel

Usually making baked goods with bananas is not easy at my house because my husband and I like the fruit so much we end up eating all the bananas before they get ripe enough for baking. However, when the weather is too hot (as it is currently) they get ripe overnight – these muffins are a great way to use them up.

I developed this recipe a long time ago, when I was still working on the book

Flourless chocolate peanut cake

This morning I joked on Instagram that this week feels like it lasted 45 days already – I am completely exhausted and very happy it is Friday. \0/ To celebrate it, I bring you a recipe that is perfect for the weekend: a moist, delicious and almost creamy chocolate cake, to be served with whipped cream or ice cream.

This cake is similar to this one, which is also gluten free, however it is more

Roasted garlic pecorino focaccia

I can say that after the lovely Ina my favorite Food Network presenter is Rachael Ray – she is fun and her food always looks good – even though most of the times her portions look too generous to me. :)

She constantly says how much she loves garlic and I always relate to that: I have a heavy hand with it comes to adding garlic to my food and usually double the amount requested in recipes (

Black Forest self-saucing pudding to start 2018

Happy New Year, everyone! :)

I haven’t posted anything new on the blog for quite a while, even though I have several great recipes to share with you: my workload last December tripled and I was working like crazy in order to get things done before taking a few vacation days. I had also promised myself that on those vacation days I would not seat in front of a computer and I am proud to have