Our First Italian Bread

...came outr like this! For the first time I managed to bake some good bread. I bought some envelopes of yeast to make some bread to go with the ribs and there was one envelope left. I searched the Internet and found this easy and yet delightful recipe. The result was just like the italian loaves of bread we buy in the bakery. I served them with my homemade strawberry jam, made with just 1 package of strawberries, washed, and some confectioner's sugar. Good way to celebrate an afternoon at home!

Italian Bread

from here

Ingredients:

700g flour
10g  salt

1 envelope (10g) Active Dry Yeast
400ml Cold Water

Directions:

In a large and deep bowl, lay the flour and the salt and mixture. Add the yeast and, little by little, the water. Knead the dough until it is no longer sticking to your hands. Cover the dough with a moist kitchen cloth and let it rest for 15 minutes. Knead again and make small balls. Put them in your baking pan and let it rest for more 40 minutes. Bake in preheat 200oC oven for about 40  minutes or until it's light brown.

Tuna Cakes

Everyday I try to enter a new post in the blog, but there's always something happening to stop me doing it. But today I'm determined to share with you this delicious -and easy - recipe, from Tati. I made this cake in the occasion of Marcelo's birthday, because one od my grandpas doesn't eat chicken. That's why I decided to go with these cakes! The recipe is wonderful and the ingredients are nothing but the usual! Grandpa approved it!

Tuna Cakes

from here

Ingredients:

2 potatoes, boiled and mashed

1 can tuna, drained

1/4 onion, chopped

1 clove of garlic, chopped

1 tbsp flour

1 tbsp olive oil

Salt

Directions:

Combine the ingredientes and make little balls with the dough. Press the balls so that there can be a larger surface in contact with the baking sheet, making your cakes look golden. Take them to preheat oven in medium heat for 20 minutes, turning the cakes areound in half the time.

Chicken Breast with Mustard Sauce

Well, my house is a total mess and we have no courage to fix this! That's why I've been so absent lately. But I came by today just to share with you a recipe that I should have made along time ago - it's simple and really, really good. I always have plain yogurt in my fridge, but never know what to to with it. Finally I got something that is worthed! I'll be back whenever I can with more time to leave comments and post!

Chicken Breast with Mustard Sauce

Ingredients:

5 halves of chicken breasts

1 cup plain yogurt

3 tbsp yellow mustard

1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce

Salt

Directions:

Fry the chicken breast with 1 tbsp butter and set aside. In a small bowl, mix the yogurt, the mustard and the worcestershire sauce and salt to taste. Take the sauce to the microwave for about 30 seconds and pour it over the chicken. Decorate the dish with chopped scallions and serve with some braised carrot and zucchini.

Marcelo's Birthday Cake

Friday was my younger boy's birthday. He just turned 2 and is really into the Cars movie and characters. So, me and my husband decided to m ake a theme-cake for him. The first time he looked at his cake, he couldn't stop saying 'car' all over the place. Even though mine and my husband's parents are away, we decided to have a small celebration - and so we invited my grandmas and grandpas and my brother-in-law to come have with some fun with us. And it was really nice, at least Marcelo was happier than ever!

Party Cake

from here

Cake Dough

Ingredients:

6 eggs

2 cups sugar

3 cups flour

1 tbsp baking powder

200 ml water

100 ml oil

Directions:

Beat the egg whites until firm and, without stopping, add the yolks. Keep beating and add the sugar until it turns into a smooth cream. Boil the water and the oil and pour into the cream, beating quickly (about 5 seconds). Turn off the stand mixer and add the flour gently, beating with a fouet or spoon. Bake the cake in medium oven until the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

*As I used 2 20-cm diameter baking sheets, I made one recipe, divided it in half and added half a  cup cocoa powder to one of the cakes.

 

Assembling the Cake:

For the filling, I used chocolate paste and coconut paste. Then I covered the cake with a thin layer of whipped cream and froze it while preparing the frosting.

 

PS: The grass on the cake is not that beautiful because we had some problems with the sugar, that didn't dissolve properly. So, when decorating with the plastic bag, it opened a bigger whole than the one we had opened before.

Barbecue Baby Back Ribs

Actually I'm posting this recipe before many others that have been awaiting. I just could not resisit to post this juicy falling off the bone delicious barbecue ribs. They were so simple to make and tasted so good that I could not postpone this post anymore! I did not like baby back ribs until last Sunday, when I prepared this dish. My husband always ask for baby back ribs when we go to american/australian restaurants. I mean always. So I decided to make it for them, and also for our dear friends Bill and Ju. I hope you guys enjoy it!

Barbecue Baby Back Ribs

Ingredients:

2 kg baby back ribs

2 bottles barbecue sauce

Olive Oil

Salt

Directions:

Season the ribs the day before with olive oil and salt. The next day, boil the ribs for about 10 minutes. Get the ribs arranged in a baking sheet and coat them with the barbecue sauce. Cover the ribs with aluminum foil and cook in the oven, in low temperature, for about 2 and a half hour, pouring more barbecue sauce every once in a while. Take off the oven and serve with baked potatoes.

Baked Potato

Ingredients:

5 large potatoes

Olive oil

Cheddar Cheese

Mozzarela cheese

Chopped bacon bits

Scallion

Sour Cream

Directions:

Wash the potatoes and pierce them with a fork. Coat with some olive oil and take them to the microwave for about 6 minutes. As they are cooked, cut a line in the middle, where you're going to insert the filling. Fill them with mozzarela, cheddar, bacon bits, sour cream and scallions, respectively. And just anejoy this delish dish!!!

No-Bake Cheesecake

Today I'll post a recipe I said I would post a while ago - the no-bake cheesecake. It's really simple and reminds me or a cream pie, quite different from the real cheesecake, besides the consistence, which is not the same too. I really could say that I liked more this kind of cheesecake, since the sourness of the cream cheese is not really noticed at all. The main flavour here is the whipped cream. Just woderful combined with my homemade strawberry jam!
 

No-Bake Cheesecake

from here

Ingredients:

Graham Cracker Crust:

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup margarine, softened
1/4 cup sugar
 
Filling:

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup heavy cream, whipped
1 (12.5 ounce) can cherry pie filling (or other filling of your choice)

Directions:

Mix together graham cracker crumbs, margarine, and sugar in a bowl until well incorporated and crumbly. Press into a pie plate, going up the sides as much as possible. Beat together the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl until smooth and spreadable. Whisk whipped cream into cream cheese mixture until smooth. Pour cream cheese into prepared crust. Smooth the top with a spatula, and refrigerate until firm, about 2 to 3 hours. Spread the cherry pie filling over the top, and refrigerate until serving.

Banana Farofa with Herb Buttered Steak

Fortunately all the hurry is over - at least for a while. I'm engaged on some new plans, hoping they will work! Today I'm posting a recipe that I've always wanted to make, but never had the chance. I bought a beautiful bunch of bananas last week to make this recipe, and, after I made it, the other bananasstarted getting kind of rotten. So I had the idea of making this farofa (which is a delicious couscous-like mixture in which, instead of the couscous, we use manioc flour, very common around here). The herb butter was also an idea that worked out really well with the farofa!

Banana Farofa

Ingredients:

1 banana, sliced

3 tbsp butter

1 and 1/2 cup manioc flour

2 tbsp chopped onion

Salt

Directions:

In a saucepan or a deep frying pan, heat the butter and add the onions to fry for about 2 minutes. Slowly pour the flour and mix it well. Put the salt (not too much, the farofa is not to be salty) and the slices of banana,  incorporating gently so they won't break or mash.

 

PS: The secret for a moist farofa is the butter. The more butter, the better.

Herb Buttered Steak

Ingredients:

Fresh herbs (I used basil, thyme and salvia)

2 tbsp butter

8 steaks

Salt

Directions:

Wash the herbs and tear them with your hands. Add the butter at room temperature and mix them well with a fork. Smear the mixture on the steaks, season with salt and grill immediately.

PS: The herb's flavor is very subtle, goes really well with the banana sweetness. You can use any kind of fresh herb.