Chocolates again

Long title for this post. A friend, Jessica, came with her daughter Reina and her boyfriend Jorge to learn how to make chocolate lollipops and filled bonbons. 

We made two types of filling: strawberry and arequipe (milk caramel).

Jessica brought two silicon lollipop molds. One for her, one for me. They are easier to used than I expected, being used as I am to my beloved polycarbonate molds.

The chocolate wasn't the highest quality, something happened and it got muddy, we just mixed the milk caramel filling with it and grounded peanut, then made balls and rolled them on chopped peanut. Didn't look so good but they do taste fine.

With the left over chocolate made strawberries topped with chocolate (yummy!!!)

Here's the whole batch.

And then we had a little sweet snack, tea made with the dried strawberries mixed with black tea. We needed a lot, my guess is that it'll be better alone or mixed with green tea instead.

Guess who sat first at the table??? Yep, kids lol

I'll have to post the bonbons tutorial... Until then, bon appetit!

Dehydrating

Hi! I've been experimenting with my Nesco Harvest Food Dehydrator. Since I shouldn't have much coffee or tea, due to my fibrocystic breast condition, I want to make my own blends out of herbs and fruits. 

I found out that dehydrating herbs is quick and easy, but something to have in mind is that they are better dehydrated one type at a time, because they will shrink and fall through the the trays. The first time I ended up with some herbs mixed up. Yesterday I was drying the fruits and had a free tray so decided to dry some parsley, since it spoils so quickly. But I wasn't smart enough to put the tray on the bottom. The fruits have some parsley sprinkles in them lol

I like the fact that the fruits and herbs don't loose their natural color. Look how red the strawberries and red bell peppers still are:

How green the parsley is:

The yellow in the oranges:

And the pink guavas:

Well, the color is neat, but the taste is wonderful, it's concentrated. Now just have to experiment with root vegetables... And better storage options, this will be consumed on short term so I'm not worried, but I'd like to start dehydrating and storing season products, so I won't have to buy they extra expensive when they're out of season.

Happy cooking everyone!

Cookies for a celebration

We're celebrating at the school's library, it's Language and Book Week. My little contribution is a bunch of cookies...

The recipe is so simple, they're ready in about twenty minutes (preparation and all). To make them mix 100 gr of unsalted margarine, 100 gr flour, 50 gr cornstarch, 50 gr confectioner's sugar, when the dough  is compact (without over working it), flatten it to disc with a roller, cut it with cookie cutters. Bake it at 150º F until golden brown. Cool on a rack and then sprinkle with confectioners sugar.

That's the basic recipe, you can add any dry flavor of your choice: instant coffee, cinnamon, lemon grind, grounded nuts... 

Tomorrow I'm starting a seminar on chocolate, we'll learn to prepare and make bonbons and such. Don't worry, I'll spread the knowledge.

Very hungry day

I'd been working a lot, even got a volunteering job a few days a week in the afternoon. Sometimes I have to skip lunch, ouch! 

I got very hungry on Saturday, you know, housework plus the paper work I have to  take home from school... Maybe that's just an excuse, but my lunch was delicious lol

Regular pasta became extra healthy with two sauces, bologna and spinach. Bologna has ground meat, seasoned with Worcestershire sauce. garlic, onion, sea salt, basil, oregano and a bay leaf, of course, tomato and tomato paste; the fancy touch is a couple of olives in it. The Spinach sauce is super easy, just cook the spinach leaves a couple of minutes on a little boiling, salted water, then remove, let set and put it on the blender with a couple of peeled garlic gloves, half an onion, pepper and pecorino cheese (you can add a little milk and cream cheese to get a softer taste). Sprinkled with olive oil and pecorino (yep, like it way better than Parmesan).

Then there's the salad. Tomato, cucumber, apple, celery, lettuce, red bell pepper with a youghurt sauce, made with plain youghurt, goat cheese with herbs, thyme, sea salt and pepper.

Dessert was sweet plantain. Boil the plantain, cut in thick pieces, with sugar, grounded cinnamon and cloves. Water should only cover the plantains, so it thickens and make a nice syrup.

Yum!!!! Happy cooking!

Trying to eat pretty again

Long time, no posts. I'm back. These past few days I've been compelled to make "pretty food" again. The good news is that I'm renting a nice new place just for me :)  Here's lunch.

The rice has capers, olives, carrot, cilantro, garlic and a bit of curry. shaped with a Tupperware rice mold, but I think a cup has the same effect.

Made a very simple tomato-cucumber salad to go with it.

The flowers are made of ground chicken, seasoned with garlic, a bit of ginger, pepper, salt, cilantro and red bell pepper. The center is an olive.









 I shaped them with a rice ball maker from my new bento gear from J-list.

The dessert is home made chocolate ice cream, just made a thick chocolate beverage and froze it.










Bon appetit!

Smoked pork chop

When someone cleaning, dusting and sorting stuff to throw and give away, well, is a fact that she or he might get hungry, enough to want a hot meal that cooks quick. Yeah, I forgot to mention that "someone" also has to cook if she (me) wants to eat.

I don't know why the Lord made me this way, but I'm sure happy He did lol Yep, I could have fried the thing and eat it. Instead, came up with a fancy sauce... Sweet and sour sauce, a tbs of cane sugar, ginger, pepper, pinch of sea salt and half a glass of water poured over the chop after is was fried (with just a ts of olive oil and butter). Then threw in sliced red apples.

De Breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner

As a side dish made a simple salad with lettuce, mint leaves, currants, sliced red apples and shallot. For the dressing a bit of sea salt, freshly ground pepper and olive oil. A few tiny casabes (indigenous yucca bread, but a gourmet version) were the perfect companion because they are a bit bitter.

She (me) the tired hungry creature found it satisfying, delicious and a must repeat recipe. Hardly ever drink alcohol, but this time a raspberry wine was a great choice.

Enjoy your meal!

Change

My dear but neglected food blog will have to change for two reasons: one, I don't have a home for now, at least not my own, all my kitchen stuff is packed up, can't use the kitchen to do the photo tutorials I intended; second, my camera is not working so well, that means I can't shot many pictures at once, therefore the photos have to be kept to a small number.

Today with Sue's birthday present, my new bento rice molds, made a vegan meal.

De BL&SD

Sushi rice filled with carrot, onion, garlic, cilantro, parsley and red bell pepper (boiled with a pinch of sea salt) and soy meat. The rice was cooked in water with some condiments (blended so they would be very small), parsley, cilantro and ají dulce.

De BL&SD

Making the soy meat is very simple, just fried some garlic, shallot, parsley, cilantro, ginger, red bell pepper, "ají dulce" (capsicum chinese), with half a teaspoon of sea salt, dash of freshly ground pepper and two teaspoons of curry, then add the soy meat (previously hydrated for 20 minutes in boil water) and some tomatoes, also two teaspoons of tomato paste. Cook it for about fifteen minutes over low heat, let it set for 5 minutes, then add the vinegar (I don't have the special one, just mixed 6 tbs of vinegar, one tbs sugar, half teaspoon sea salt).

I was yummy! Even dad, a declared carnivorous asked for a second plate...

Tomorrow, Smoked pork chop.

Bon appetit!