Happy Easter with a mug cake

Hello people!!!  I've been quite busy, sewing classes everyday after work. But this Holy week I got to stay home a few days. So I decided to experiment with food.

Made a vegetable aspic, just dissolved a 33 gr flavorless gelatin with 2 cups of boiling vegetable stock, added carrots, beets and at the top (which will be the bottom when is out of the mold)  sautée watercress with garlic, onions, cilantro and red bell peppers.

Then a simple rice, with cilantro, red bell peppers and turmeric. And ground chicken patties, made with garlic, onion, cilantro, salt, black pepper, ginger, curry and olives filled with red peppers. 

Afterwards I was craving for something sweet, found mug cakes on a food site and experimented with one of the recipes. That's how this  baked chocolate mug cake was done. I made it with my own ingredients and what I had on my pantry: 

5 tablespoons rice flour + 2 tablespoons cornstarch.

5 tablespoons sugar.

3 tablespoons Chocolisto  (a chocolate beverage mix).

3 tablespoons corn oil.

1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract + 2 1/2 tablespoons  berries tea (liquid, iced, no sugar).

1 egg (it was frozen, my fridge was too cold lol).

Mixed it all with the Braun because the egg was frozen. Used a small springform mold to bake it, sprayed with easy bake nonstick spray  and sprinkled it with a bit of flour. Baked it about 15 minutes at 180º F on the oven. Didn't use the microwave because I wanted the crust to be golden. Was afraid of the result, thought the inside could end up being gooey but it was nice. And the chocolate with the berries tea   was a wonderful combination...

To everyone:

Christmas present ahead

Hello!!! Christmas is around the corner, so for those of you who want to give thoughtful presents without spending a whole lot of money, I'm giving you a pdf with three recipes you can use to make them (or for sale and earn a few extra bucks), my personal present for you all. It features: molded sugar, easy cookies and bonbons!!!

Download it here. Enjoy!!!

What to eat during a power outage

We had a power outage on Sunday. It was rainy and cold,  I wanted something warm for dinner but my stove is electric. Then I decided to experiment with my candle operated fondue set, yep, a whole dinner heated on a single candle.

First I heated the leftover tea. It took ages, it was on the fridge.

Then I heated the bread. It was easier since the pan is so thin.

Then made a mock fondue. First step, butter, a garlic clove, dehydrated parsley an fresh ground pepper.

Second step, turkey breast ham.

Third step, yellow cheese, mine is Uruguayan.

Then it melts all together and is ready to eat. Good thing is that I was a good housekeeper the day before and had guava marmalade, carrot and orange marmalade and red bell peppers in a jar (cooked with vinegar and sugar). 

It took a lot of time but worked out fine at the end and I have to admit it was fun. Of course in case of an emergency, it's not very practical. I will get  a mini gas cylinder in case I have another black out like this one. Back in 1991-1992 with the political situation here in Venezuela, we had a hard time, there were riots and people have to be on lines sometimes overnight and for a long time just to get some food and to refill their gas cylinders. Which address me to another subject, my stock pile, I'm building it back up, it's hard because I must help mom and she always seems to be out of  something. We're having elections again, and past time we had the riots I was fine, because I had enough food on my pantry so I didn't need to go out and wasn't involved in all that nonsensical situation. 

As we say in Venezuela ¡Buen provecho!

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!