Hearty Chicken Soup - Canja de Galinha

One of my fondest memories of my childhood was being in my mother's kitchen. She raised 10 children in a small Brazilian town,  and most of our food came from our own backyard, fresh and simple food.

Cooking ingredients back then were much simpler and limited, nowadays we have one recipe with many variations, and this is good, but I'm not a sophisticated cook I like to stick to the basics, I just like to eat good and easy to prepare food. Like many Brazilian dishes, specially from Minas Gerais, Canja de Galinha is an influence from Portugal, and it's one of these dishes that take me back to my mother's kitchen.

From generation to generation it has been believed that Canja de Galinha is excellent for the sick and convalescing as a nutritious and comforting dish, and that's the dish my mother cooked anytime one of her children was sick. She likes to make this soup using boned and skinless chicken tights, but I used chicken breast because that's what I had on hand.

Hearty Chicken Soup - Canja de Galinha

♥ 350g skinless and deboned chicken breast

♥ 1 cup white rice

♥ 1 cup fresh peeled and cubed carrots

♥ 2 tbsp olive oil

♥ garlic, onion, ground pepper, salt to taste

♥ fresh scallion and parsley to taste

First things first. The chicken needs to be washed as well as the rice, I like to squeeze some lime juice on the chicken, pat dry with paper towel.

Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat, and sauté the onion until translucent. Add the garlic and sauté it for about 30 seconds, place the chicken breast in the pan and fry it until it's not pink anymore, stirring occasionally.Add the scallion and parsley and pre-heated water to cook it. Cover the pan, reduce the heat and cook it until tender, approximately 12 to 15 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the pan and cut into large chunks or shred it (both ways are equally yummy).

Return the chicken to the pan, add the carrots and rice and more pre-heated water, and cook it uncovered on low heat to reach a creamy consistency.

Bon Appétit!

Spring is in the air...

... but snow is still on the ground. 

In Brazil, like everywhere on earth, there are four seasons but the season changes are not as dramatic as it is in Connecticut. Here, when Spring approaches I do feel re-energized, like I am awakening from a long sleep, it's a time to start over and to make new projects. 

While it's still early to start my new projects for the backyard, it's time to get crafty and bring pretty Spring touches to my home, and the best room to start is at my craft space. Here I keep bits and pieces of things that inspire me.

I had this idea for a string jar to place a bakers twine inspired by the talented Jasna Janekovic.

Have a good Monday tomorrow

Gluten Free Treat - Pão de Queijo

My family has a bakery and the house I grew up in was on the second floor of it. Oh, how good it was to smell the aroma of freshly-baked bread three times a day. Usually people in Brazil don't buy bread at grocery stores, bakeries are all over the place, and thus fresh bread. But this recipe is not a bread recipe, not a pastry one either. I really can't find an English word to try to explain it, once I heard cheese puffs and I think that's close enough to refer to our beloved pão de queijo. If I were to translate literally, it would be cheese bread.

Pão de queijo, cheese bread, cheese puffs, it does not matter how you call it, they are a delicious gluten free treat, it's love at first bite! 

Brazilians eat pão de queijo with coffee, at barbecues, or as a snack, plain or with fillings.

Cheese Rolls - Pão de Queijo

♥ 1 cup whole milk

♥ 1/2 cup vegetable oil
♥ 1 tbsp salt
♥ 500g sour tapioca starch (also known as cassava flour)
♥ 3 eggs
♥ 200g mozzarella  100g parmesan

Prepare oven to 350°F.
Bring to boil the milk and oil over medium heat.
Place the tapioca flour in a large bowl and pour the boiled ingredients (while still hot) over it, and mix everything together with a wooden spoon.
Add one egg at a time to the dough mixing well.
Add the cheeses and knead until the mixture is not sticking to the hand anymore.
Roll into ping-pong size balls and space them about two inches apart in parchment-lined baking sheet and bake them for about 30 minutes or until lightly golden.

Pão de queijo is better warm, but cold is delicious, too. It does not taste its best on the next day, so if you want you can roll some balls, put in a bag and freeze them. They can go straight from the freezer to the oven.

Traditionally, pão de queijo is made using a semi-firm cheese called Minas which is difficult to find in America, I found that parmesan and mozzarella are good substitutes.

This video can give you a better idea on how to achieve the right dough consistency.

Bon appétit!

DIY Painting on Porcelain

I've seen so many beautiful diy to personalize plain porcelain dishes I felt I wanted to give it a try. According to these tutorials you can write, doodle,or draw on porcelain dishes to customize them. Some of these tutorials recommends porcelain markers, others sharpie permanent markers, because I have some many sharpies at home I decide to try the sharpie method.

Here's is how this method works: draw on the dish surface and bake it for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Make sure to place it on a cool oven, then turn on the heat. After 30 minutes, turn off the oven and let it cool before removing the dish. 

If you make any mistakes while drawing, just wipe it off  with some glass cleaner or acetone (I used acetone).

I have to confess, my drawing skills, if I have any, are not that good, so instead of drawing on freehand I used pretty adhesive stencils I found at Michaels, but I like so much this diy that I want to try it again, and next time I'm going to draw, or doodle my own design to personalize some dishes.

These technique can be applied to porcelain plates, vases, mugs, teapots, and so on, but as Sharpies are not non-toxic markers do not use this technique on dishes that will come in contact with food, and remember that these dishes should be washed by hand only and avoiding abrasive detergents.

Another thing, these pictures were taking before I baked the dishes, as I was trying to take advantage of some light we had this morning, but after I baked them the colors faded a little bit, so next time I try this diy I'll use pebeo porcelain marker which is said not to fade.

I had this little embossed vase and I had the idea of painting the embossing with the markers. I like the result, I think it looks cute.

If you decide to try this technique to create something unique and cute, I hope you have as much fun as I had. Have a great week ♥

Beet Banana Smoothie

Making smoothies is always simple, isn't it? It's just a matter of choosing which ingredients to use, and the possible combinations are endless. I have enjoyed making fruit smoothies for a long time, but for a while now I've been experimenting adding some vegetables to the mix. 

You see, I don't like vegetables much, in fact I don't like them at all, maybe some spinach, green squash and tomato, even though scientifically speaking, a tomato is definitely a fruit.

Don't get me wrong, I don't eat junk food much either, as I matter of fact I started eating some junk food after I moved to America. In Brazil, at the time I lived there, junk and fast food was rarely part of our diet, now with globalization they are everywhere, and this is scary.

Before I would never eat beet, a vegetable rich in fiber and antioxidant pigments, now beet is part of my weekly diet as I've decided to add it to my smoothies, and to make my smoothies even more potent I usually add some whey protein. This simple recipe is a great choice for a snack or a meal replacement, and it's deliciously healthy.

Beet Banana Smoothie

♥ 1 cup milk (I like organic 2% milk)

♥ 1 banana

♥ 1 tbsp powdered beet

♥ 1 tbsp vanilla whey protein

Place all ingredients in a blender, if you like add some ice, and blend until smooth and creamy. 

The powdered beet and whey protein I use for my smoothies are from Dan's Essentials, a great source of whole-food products online.

What's your favorite smoothie mix?

I'm curious, please let me know.

Orange is the New Black

I like the change of seasons, but I don't like the winter in the northeast, the cold, the icy and snowy roads, the short days... if it were only for a couple of months I think I could enjoy it, but it lasts for so long... The sunless days make me want to sleep and eat like there is no tomorrow, and I see myself being dragged out of my bed every morning to a world where I can't find inspiration even to dress a nice winter outfit, but yesterday... yesterday was different. What a nice day we had, it felt like Spring. The temperature rose to almost 49 degrees and the sun shined all day long. I felt like brighten up my home with pops of color and fresh flowers to welcome a season that finally is not so far away.

I had so much fun taking pictures of these lovely orange tulips, but I had just one small problem, I could not figure out where to put them. Should I put them in the living room? Maybe in the dining room, humm... I'm not sure, I think I'll keep them in the tv room...well, it really doesn't matter, wherever they are they put a smile on my face. Aren't they dreamy?

ps.: I know the title of this post is not too original, but I think is very appropriate . By the way, I can't wait to starting watching season 2.

Brazilian Chocolate Truffle - Brigadeiro

This is my version of my favorite candy - Brigadeiro, an incredibly delicious and easy to make sweet treat. The first time I ever cooked in my life I made Brigadeiro, I was only thirteen. I don't know anyone in Brazil who does not like them.

Traditionally Brigadeiro is made using only three ingredients, but lately I have seen recipes online using ingredients I would never dare to use to make it. Well, I'm going to keep making Brigadeiro the way I learned from my mother. I think is the simplicity of this recipe that makes it so special.

Brigadeiro

Makes about 35 candies

♥ 1 1/2 tablespoon cocoa powder

♥ 1 can of sweetened condensed milk

♥ 1 tablespoon of salted butter

♥ lots of chocolate sprinkles

Mix the condensed milk, chocolate and butter in a saucepan and cook over medium-low heat stirring constantly until the mixture becomes thick and shiny and starts to pull away from the bottom and sides of the pan. Remove from the heat and immediately pour the mixture into a plate greased with butter. The mixture needs to be cooled off completely before being rolled into small balls. It can be cooled off at room temperature, but a good trick is to refrigerate it for about one hour to make rolling easier. 

Place the sprinkles in a shallow bowl. Lightly rub some softened butter on your palm hands, and using a teaspoon scoop out the chocolate mixture and roll it into small balls between your palms.  Coat each ball with chocolate sprinkles and place them in small paper candy cups like the ones found here.

Brigadeiro should be rolled solely in good quality chocolate sprinkles, but as I made this batch for Valentine's Day, just for fun I rolled one in colorful non-chocolate sprinkles.

Looking for more delicious sweet treats? You can find it here.