P-ART-Y

Venezuelan Christmas Recipes: A compilation from the best Venezuelan Food Bloggers

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 22:35:00 +0000

December is here and with it my favorite season of the year, Christmas!!! I love the holidays for many reasons: my family, friends, christmas trees and lovely decorations, and for all the wonderful opportunities to get together and enjoy some great home cooked food, traditional rich and delicious recipes that we get to eat, sometimes, only once a year.

Back at home in Venezuela, we start the eating and the cooking pretty early during the season. I certainly have a list of my favorite recipes and have shared some with you throughout the years. My christmas table will not be complete without some Hallacas, a delicious juicy Pernil (Pork shoulder), Pan de Jamón and of course a Quesillo for dessert.

This year, some of my friends and great Venezuelan bloggers out there got together to bring you a compilation of the best Venezuelan traditional dishes for the Holidays. We have everything from appetizers, entrees, sides, desserts and even drinks - somebody mentioned Ponche Crema (our Rum punch version)?

I am very excited to share with you the links to all these delicious dishes, they are waiting for you!

Let the cooking begin!!!

Contributing bloggers:

Dariela de Mami Talks

Enriqueta de Savoir Faire

Maria de Cocina y Recetas de Venezuela en La Casita de Maribri

Maybelline de Naturalmente Mamá

Oriana de Mommyhood's Diary

Rory de Mamá Contemporánea

Tiffany de Living Sweet Moments

Let me know if you try any of them, how do they turn out?

Recipes:

My Poor Man's Pesto: Easy, inexpensive and equally delicious to traditional Pesto

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 03:51:00 +0000

I love August as it is normally the time a year when my garden plants reach maturity and I get the fruits of my labor, literally!! Two days ago, I went to water my container plants and the basil was looking so beautiful that I immediately got a Pesto craving. (Pesto is the main reason I grow Basil)

As you may know, traditional pesto can be quite expensive to make and also to buy. The main ingredients like pine nuts and fresh Parmesan cheese are not only pricey but also not something the majority of households have in their pantry. That is way I created my own "Poor Man's Pesto", not only this is much cheaper to make, it is equally delicious (if not more) and it can easily be done with ingredients you are likely to have at home - so you can satisfy your cravings straight away and not have to wait until the next time you go to the store.

So next time you feel like having a really good pesto, here is what you need:

Ingredients:

Fresh Basil leaves- enough to fill your whole blender (approx. 5 cups)
2 to 3 cups of extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp of chopped garlic (store bought or fresh)
1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese (like Kraft)
1 cup of nuts (Pecans and almonds work great!)
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 medium size mason jar

Preparation:

Remove basil leaves from their stems and wash thoroughly. Put in a blender. Add the nuts, garlic and cheese and start your blender.

Slowly, pour the olive oil while the mix blends, you may need 2 or 3 cups depending on the consistency you desire. Stop pouring once it gets to the texture you like. I like my pesto thick and pasty so I use a bit less than 2 cups of oil. If you like it runny, just use more oil.

Stop the blender, taste it and add salt and pepper to taste. Blend, Immediately put the mix in your jar and cover the pesto with a thin layer of olive oil before closing the jar. The pesto oxidizes fast and turns brown if you leave exposed to air. The layer of oil stops this a little. If yours turns brown, don't worry, the taste is unaffected!!

Your pesto is done. You can pour it over pasta, spread on sandwiches, toss it with salads and many more delicious dishes. It will last about 2 weeks in the fridge.

This is how my daughter likes it - with home made Mac & Cheese

Enjoy!!

Healthy and Easy Dessert Pizza: A recipe from The Chicago Botanic Garden Executive Chef

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 01 Aug 2014 02:36:00 +0000

Earlier in the week, my mom, my kids and I went to the Chicago Botanic Gardens to attend a media event about their edible gardens. It was a splendid morning, the day was nice and cool, perfect to enjoy time outdoors in probably the most beautiful garden in Chicago!

We started the day with a tour of the Fruit &Vegetable Garden guided by their resident horticulturalist Lisa Hilgenberg. She took us and the kids through all the beds and explained the different varieties of fruit and vegetables they had.

The kids had a lot fun playing at their outdoor kitchen and learning about healthy eating. They sorted common vegetables into baskets according to what their edible parts were: fruits, roots, stems, seeds, flowers, etc. Did you know that a potato is not a root? It is a tuber, which is really an enlarged stem!

Once they were done playing, Chef Michael Kingsley, the garden's executive chef, gave the kids a demonstration on how to make dessert pizzas and we got to try his fabulous Zucchini bread. These were a couple of samples of their Cafe's updated Sprouts Meals menu - they put a healthy twist on kid's favorites.

The kids enjoyed their pizzas, here is how to make them:

Start with a baked pizza dough base, spread some almond butter, cover with as many fresh fruits you have available and sprinkle with grated coconut flakes!! Easy right?

My kids were wondering if we could come up with another alternative to the almond butter. This was the first time they tried it and they were not 100% sure about the taste ( I liked it though). As you know, I like to play with recipes a lot and give them my own twist. So if you have some picky eaters, here are some other options that the kids want me to make for them. I agree with them, I think these are great options too!!

Nut butters: Instead of almond butter, try different nut butter alternatives like peanut butter.
Nutella lovers: Instead of almond butter, put Nutella and use only bananas and strawberries as the fruits.
Cinnamon swirls: Use peanut butter, fruits and sprinkle with cinnamon and icing sugar instead of coconut.

If you do not have ready baked pizza dough, I am sure they will be as delicious on pita bread too.

Let me know if you try them. I am sure you will love them all!

The Rose Garden at The Chicago Botanic Gardens: Which one is your favorite?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 30 Jul 2014 02:34:00 +0000

There is so much to see and enjoy at The Chicago Botanic Garden that it is impossible to write about it in just one post, so I will be sharing with you a series of posts of my favorite spaces within the garden. About a month ago at the end of June I was lucky to visit the gardens for the first time. One of the perks of having a blog is that you get cool invitations to a variety of wonderful places. The team at the gardens, have been exceptionally generous and have invited me and my family to enjoy a couple of events this summer.

Today I was extremely lucky to be able to bring my mother and my kids to the gardens. My mother's favorite flower is the rose. I remember last month when I walked into the Rose Garden, my mother was the first person that came to my mind. I wished she was there. I started photographing every single flower and sending them all the way to Spain so she could enjoy them as much as I was enjoying them. Today, she got to see the roses with her own eyes - it was precious. My wish came true!!

The Rose Garden is a walled garden, almost oval in shape. It has a great fountain (The Rose Petal Fountain) at the back over a big lawn.

A circular path takes you around the area and as you walk you get to enjoy the 150 different varieties of roses they hold. There are roses of all sizes and colors. I took photos of some of my favorites. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

Which one is your favorite? This is mine.

Admission to the garden is free, but you must pay a parking fee of $25 per car if you go by car. (Cook county residents get a discount). However, if you join and become a member, you will enjoy free parking for a whole year, discounts to exhibits, the cafe and many other benefits. If you ask me, it is so worth it!!!

A magical visit to the Chicago Botanic Gardens!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 01:57:00 +0000

Oh yes!! I have found the most amazing vegetable garden at the Chicago Botanic gardens. I was so lucky to have been invited to the gardens to see the preview of a flower show. On my way in I noticed that the gardens had a vegetable garden, I could not resist to visit it before going home and I was not disappointed.

The Regenstein garden has all the vegetables that you can dream off arranged in such beautiful harmony. A walk through the rows of vegetables and fruit trees reveals lots of great facts and ideas that you can replicate in your own home garden. I am full with projects that I want to do, like a wall garden. I just now need to find the time.

The entry to the gardens is through a nice bridge over the main pond. As soon as you step on the bridge, you can see a couple of designed beds that adorned the entrance. These beds contained cabbages, leeks, corn, basil amongst other things.

Once in the gardens I headed directly to my right where some raised beds were in full show. I love the way they were combined and the wonderful ideas to plant cucumbers. I also loved the many handwritten signs with tips and ideas for the gardeners. Here you have some of the best ones of this section.

At the end of this section they were some cold frames holding several variety of onions as well as some beds with herbs. Check out the recipe for Herbs de Provence!! awesome signs!

Continuing to my right I found myself in front of a wall garden. I truly liked this idea and would love to make one in my house.

The next session resembled more of a field. They have a nice lot with garlic, tomatoes and at the back some sunflowers.

There were a couple of interesting climbers at the end of the field. Some were Hops, I loved to see that they were a bine not a vine. I did not know about this distinction.

In the middle of the garden there is a open kitchen in where they hold cooking shows. Just outside, there is a typical kitchen garden - similar to what I have outside my house in the front of my house.

The rest of the beds contain perennials and some varieties of asparagus, onions, and some other plants. These beds are rotation beds in where they rotate the crops every 4 years.

The garden also contains some tree crops and some composting ideas as well as some sustainable options for planting different crops together so they can benefit from each other.

The end has a lovely path with grapes and vines all over the place and one of my favorite walks. I hope you get the chance to visit this magical place one day. I certainly want to go again during the season to see how it changes.

Cream of Orange Peppers and Zucchini Soup: My version of my wedding soup

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 25 Jun 2014 04:23:00 +0000

Today I was inspired by a couple of orange peppers that have been in my fridge for a couple of days. I found them on sale at the grocery store and I had to get them as they were so pretty. The color was so vibrant and they surely stood out from the more common red and green varieties. I did not know what I was going to do with them then, but today I knew... a version of my wedding day dinner soup.

Many years ago, I got married in Edinburgh, Scotland. We had a fabulous, small reception at a restaurant called The Witchery by the Castle. Our starter was Cream of Yellow Peppers Soup. This is my version, made with orange peppers. I have to say the flavor was almost identical to what I remember, and maybe even better. This is a healthy version of the traditional creamy soups that are normally made with cream, butter and thickened with flour. It only took me 25 minutes to make. Want to try it?

I thought so!

Ingredients (serves 4):

2 Orange Peppers (you can use yellow too)
2 Zucchinis
3 cups of water
3 tsp of chicken bouillon powder
3 tbsp of powdered milk
Fresh basil
Salt, Pepper and Nutmeg to taste
4 tbsp grated parmesan cheese to serve

Preparation:

Cut the orange peppers and the zucchini into chunks (I made mine medium size, the smaller you cut them the faster they will cook).

Place them in a pot with enough water so they are not fully covered, if the water covers them your soup will be too thin. Add the bouillon. Set the pot on high heat and boil until the vegetables are tender. Approximately 15 to 20 minutes.

Half way through the time, add about 4 to 6 basil leaves to the soup.

When the vegetables are tender, place the soup mix in a blender. Always be very careful when blending hot liquids, never fill more than half of your blender with hot liquids and always start to blend with the lowest setting and increase the speed as you blend. Add the powdered milk and blend until smooth.

Put the soup back in the pot using a sieve to remove any bits from the skin of the peppers. Season to taste with pepper and a pinch of nutmeg. Use salt if needed (I did not).

Your soup is ready. Serve with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese and a sprig of basil.

Enjoy!

PS: These peppers were so cool that I had to take the seeds.... you will see them in my garden soon!

When life gives you ripe bananas, make smoothies!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 19:08:00 +0000

Nobody, and I truly mean nobody eats bananas in my household once they go too ripe and get little black spots. But that does not mean they go to waste.... For us it means something even more yummy!! Smoothies!!! I always have some frozen berries in our freezer, strawberries made the cut this time!!

So here is the recipe to make this deliciously healthy banana strawberry smoothie. Your kids will love it and they will not even know they are drinking something that is actually good for them!!

Ingredients (makes 4 tall glasses):

2 ripe bananas
1 cup of frozen strawberries
1.5 cups of milk

Optional ingredients: You can add honey, or agave syrup but honestly this is sweet enough as is. The other nice thing to add if you have it is yogurt, just replace some of the milk with it.

Preparation:

Peel your bananas, cut them in chunks and add to your blender, pour the rest of ingredients and blend until smooth! You are actually done.

Serve immediately and top with whipped cream is you wish.

Today I had a little left over Kefir, so I added that to mix. You can also use frozen raspberries, blueberries or a mix. The possibilities are endless. Happy mixing!

Enjoy it!!!

Soap Clouds!!! A quick and fun experiment to do with the kids.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 04:32:00 +0000

I have been wanting to do this experiment for a while, but somehow always managed to forget as life goes by. So imagine my great surprise when I found my new #influenster box #TLCvox box on my door and saw that it had a bar of Ivory soap on it. I had no more excuses and new I had to do this with the kids. I think Ivory soap is the funnest soap you can buy. Do you know that it also floats? Yes it does, best thing ever in a bath.... no more looking for missing soaps under the water.

But you are reading this because you want to make some fun clouds rigth? this experiment takes only seconds and it will certainly entertain your kids.

All you need is a bar of ivory soap, a piece of wax paper and a microwave.

First you need to decide whether you want a huge cloud or a small one - The reason I ask that is so you can use as much of the bar as you want. I wanted a relatively small one so I cut a small piece of the bar to do this. You can certainly use that whole bar and enjoy 100% f the fun!!!

Put the piece of Ivory soap on top of the wax paper on the microwave (the wax paper will prevent it from sticking to the microwave plate - I did not have wax paper so I used regular white copy paper today).

Close the door and start your microwave for 2 minutes (you won't need this long but it is always good to run the microwave longer than needed so you can manually stop it when the cloud is done)

Once the microwave starts you will immediately see the bar of soap transforming into a cloud right in front of your eyes. Stop the microwave when the soap is fully fluffy - you will see only cloud and no soap.

And that is it! The cloud is ready to be admired, uhhh and wowed by your kids.

The cloud is sturdy but if you press it too hard it will break. After the kids played with it, we put it in the bathroom counter. We will be breaking little pieces of cloud to wash our hands for a few days!

Did you like this experiment? if so let me know in a comment and I will try to get more fun experiments like this one to lighten up your summer!!!!!

How to make a kit-kat and M&M's cake?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 05 Apr 2014 23:41:00 +0000

I have been meaning to post about this M&M and kit-kat cake for a long time. I have been fascinated about the simplicity and sophistication of the cake. You do not need to be a cake decorator to achieve this look and believe me there is nobody that will not enjoy this yummy treat. So next time that you have to do a cake in a hurry, impress your guests with an M&M and kit-kat cake.

The cake below was for my daughter's gymnastics' coach wedding. She wanted something fun and simple to celebrate with the girls. The girls loved it!!!

To decorate this cake, you will need:

2 round cakes of different sizes - you can bake them or you can buy them, your choice!
Enough kit-kats packages to go around both cakes (how many depends on how big your cakes are)
M&M's in the color of your choice (for this one, I separated the blues and browns from several bags)
1 cup of Icing (you can buy a tub or you can make it - click for my recipe)
Ribbons in the color of your choice

To start, open your kit-kat packages carefully as not to break the chocolates.With a sharp knife or an X-acto cut the kit-kat in half vertically so you end up with two pieces of 2 chocolate bars each. Then you are ready to assemble the cake.

Place the larger of the 2 cakes on a cake plate or holder and cover it with a medium thick layer of frosting - the frosting does not need to be perfect as it will be covered completely with the kit-kats and M&M's. Once the frosting is applied, carefully place the kit-kats to the edge of the cake making sure you leave no holes in between each piece. The kit-kats will stick to the cake because of the frosting. When you are done, take a ribbon and carefully tie it around the cake to hold the kit-kats in place.

Take your second cake and carefully place it on top of the first cake (if you want to do a single layer cake, skip this step). Repeat the step before by placing the kit-kats around this cake too and finish by wrapping it with your ribbon. To tie the bows, first do a double knot as tight as you can to hold the cakes in place and then do a bow like you will do to tie your shoelaces.

Once the chocolates are in place, fill the top of both cakes with M&M's. If you have a cake topper, put it on top of your cake, and that is it!!! you are done!!!

Easy ha?

Colleen's Easy Quesadillas with a twist! The secret? Avocados!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 00:03:00 +0000

As you know I love avocados, so when Avocados de Mexico and Latina Blogger Connect asked me to write a sponsored recipe with their avocados I jumped at the chance! In fact I already had the right recipe in mind, a twist on my friend Colleen's quesadillas.

Last week we went for a get together at Colleen's house. We went shopping prior to the party and when she said she wanted to eat quesadillas I kept steering her towards the Mexican cheese and she kept telling me that she only needed cheddar.... it turned out she was right - these things were delicious. I decided to make them today for a snack and I added some avocados de mexico to the mix and they were even more fantastic! which is no surprise really I think avocados are just like bacon, every thing taste better with them on it!!!

So here is the recipe for the easiest yummiest quesadillas! do not be fooled by the simplicity of it - sometimes the simplest of the recipes are the most delicious!

I am sure many of you have the grill going all summer long, one of the cool things bout this recipe is that you can either grill the quesadillas or do them in a pan, I will explain you how.

Ingredients:

Tortillas (I use corn, Colleen uses flour - they are both great)
Cheddar cheese
Tomatoes
Avocados de Mexico
Fresh jalapeños - optional
PAM cooking spray

Grate your cheese, cut your tomatoes, avocados and jalapeños in slices and be ready to assemble.

To assemble:

Put cheese, tomatoes, jalapeños and avocados on one side of an open tortilla, fold the tortilla and spray PAM on both sides. If you are grilling it, then fold it tortilla on the grill and hold to close with your grilling tongues for a few seconds. Turn around in about a minute or when the tortilla is nice and toasted. It is done once crunchy on both sides (couple of minutes).

To do in a pan, heat your pan on medium fire. When hot, place 2 folded quesadillas and flatten with something like a heavy pan (I put one pan on top of another). When nice and crispy on one side turn and repeat on the other side and you are done!

You can eat the quesadillas with a dollop of Mexican or sour cream, a little salsa and some good all guasacaca made with yummy avocados off course!!

Enjoy!

Tip: How to easily remove the pit of an avocado: Cut your avocado in half with a knife. Take a knife with a wide blade and carefully tap it on top of pit. Twist he knife and the pit will just cleanly release from the avocado - voila!

BTW is you have nice avocado recipes you can upload them to the recipe page of Avocados de Mexico and while there you can search for other yummy recipes too. They have recipes from all sort of people from Rick Bayless to mine!!

PS: This is a sponsored post made in collaboration with Avocados de Mexico and Latina Bloggers Connect. All facts and comments are my own and the recipe is based on my friend's Colleen's!

Pasticho de Berenjenas: Venezuelan Eggplant Lasagna Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 30 May 2013 01:54:00 +0000

Disclosure: This is a compensated post in collaboration with California Milk Advisory Board and Latina Bloggers Connect. All facts and recipes are my own.

I have been asked by the California Milk Advisory Board to make a recipe showcasing their fresh products and as you know me, I love cooking and dairy is my favorite food type so I did say yes without a doubt! The first recipe that came to my mind was Pasticho de Berenjenas or Venezuelan Style Eggplant Lasagna. I love this recipe, not only because it was the first recipe that make me like eggplants when I was a child, but also because it is very low in carbohydrates! And off course it has a lot of cheese and milk!!

This recipe is for about 8 to 10 portions and it is ideal for family gatherings like graduations, birthdays, etc. or if you like it, you can cook the whole thing and have some left overs for the next day. I am a true believer that some dishes taste better the next day - this one certainly does!

I hope you like this recipe as much as I do.

Ingredients (serves 8):

350gr of ground beef (you can also use Turkey but I prefer beef)
2 medium eggplants
2/3 cup of finely chopped onions
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 tbsp butter
1 cup of grated Real California Milk mozzarella cheese (You can use more if you like)
1 cup of finely grated Real California Milk Parmesan (You can use more if you like)
3 cups of Milk
4 tsp of chicken bouillon
4 tbsp corn starch
1/4 tsp salt and more for sprinkling over eggplants
2 tsp of Worcester Sauce
1 tbsp ketchup
1/2 tsp cumin
3 tbsp of chopped fresh oregano
1 bay leaf
1/4- 1/2 pound of sliced ham or turkey (I used turkey)
Black pepper to taste

Preparation:

This dish is basically made by layering eggplants, 2 sauces (a red and a white), cheese and ham into a lasagna. It is very simple but takes a little preparation to make all the individual pieces before the assembly!

Eggplant: Eggplants can be bitter if not prepped properly. In order to reduced the bitterness we need to sweat the eggplants. With a sharp knife cut the eggplants longways into thin slices (about 1/8 of an inch).

Place the slices on top of a clean paper towel, sprinkle with a bit of salt, put another layer of eggplant slices, cover with salt until done.

Cover all the eggplants with another paper towel and place a heavy object like a chopping board or a pan. Leave until eggplants are needed.

This is how they look after a few minutes - notice the paper towels are wet.

Pre heat your oven at 375F

Red Sauce: Your red sauce is a meat sauce similar to a carbonara. In a pan, put the butter and the onions and let them cook until browned a little.

Take about a third of the onions out of the pan and reserve. Add the beef and garlic to the onions in the pan and cook until meat is browned.

Add the can tomatoes and the spices (2 tsp bouillon, cumin, Worcester sauce, bay leaf, ketchup). Cook at medium heat for about 5 to 10 minutes, stirring every so often ( while waiting cook the white sauce).

Add the fresh herbs, stir and turn the heating off. This sauce should not be runny.

White sauce: The white sauce is similar to a béchamel. Start with the fried onions you kept aside from the red sauce, put then on pan.

Add the 3 cups of milk, 1/4 tsp salt and 2 tsp of bouillon. Cook at low heat for a about 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

In a container, put the 4 tbsp of corn starch, take a cup of the warm milk and mix it in with a whisker. It will get thicker.

Pour the milk/corn starch mixture into the pan and stir until it thickens. Add pepper to taste. Remove from heat.

Layering the dish: Use a Pyrex rectangular dish. Mix the cheeses together and set aside.

Pour a little of the white sauce and spread evenly at the bottom of the pan.

Put a layer of eggplants, then another thin layer of white sauce.

Cover with a thin layer of red sauce.

Cover with a layer of cheese.

Then put a layer of ham/turkey and start all over again with a layer of eggplant.

Repeat the process, reserving enough eggplants, white sauce and cheese for the last layer. The last layer should be eggplant, enough white sauce to cover the whole thing and cheese.

Put the dish in the 375F oven for 30 minutes. Raise the oven temperature to 400F and cook for another 30 minutes.

Your dish is ready and should be piping hot!!

Enjoy it!!

This dish was very special as I used 2 Real California Milk Cheeses. You can tell they are Real California by looking at the seal on the label.

I did nor know this, but California is the country’s leading producer of Hispanic dairy products and the #1 dairy state in USA.

Many California dairy products are sold nationally - I found mine on my regular grocery store on the cheese counter. What I like about them, is not only the superior taste but also the fact that 99% of California dairies are family-owned.

If you want to learn more about Real California Milk - just follow them in Facebook.

Disclosure: This is a compensated post in collaboration with California Milk Advisory Board and Latina Bloggers Connect. All facts and recipes are my own.

Inside Out Salted Buckeyes: Latino Style!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 03:01:00 +0000

Today, I was inspired by my daughter. She got a cooking book from the library at her school and wanted to make a dessert with me. She chose buckeyes as she loves peanut butter. I am familiar with the all American treat but decided to do it my way... with Latino style!

I love the way chocolate and sea salt complement each other and I know many of us Latina cooks fuse traditional flavors with American ones. So while my daughter likes peanut butter on her toast, I like dulce de leche in mine - so why not combine the two. So that is how I came up with my Inside out salted buckeye. That perfectly combines the flavors of peanut butter, dulce de leche, and salted chocolate!

Ingredients (makes 24):

1/2 cup of Peter Pan Peanut Butter - Crunchy
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp dulce de leche (Cajeta)
3/4 cup of sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt

For the chocolate

1/2 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp of for syrup
sea salt

Preparation:

In a mixer, combine your peanut butter, butter, dulce de leche, vanilla extract, and salt. Add sugar a 1/3 of a cup at time and blend for a while (5 minutes) until the sugar has dissolved completely and the mixture forms a dough.

Make small balls (slightly bigger than a marble) and put them on a tray covered with parchment paper. Put in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to 1 hour.

Once the balls are chilled. Melt the chocolate, butter and corn syrup on a double boiler (simply put a metal bowl over a pot with boiling water). Mix until you have a paste.

While the paste is warm (be careful not to burn yourself), make a small chocolate ball and place on top of the peanut butter balls. squish it and flattened a little to make the "eye" and sprinkle it with a couple of grains of sea salt.

Once all the balls are done - placed them back on the fridge - and keep refrigerated until ready to eat - this will keep their consistency.

Enjoy!

Cachitos de Jamón: A Venezuelan tradition - Easy recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 02:18:00 +0000

My kitchen smells like Venezuela now! It smells of childhood memories and happiness. All because I am making cachitos for the second time in 2 days! Cachitos de Jamón, which are these delicious semi sweet breads filled with a mixture of chopped ham that are a must have in every Venezuelan bakery. I used to have them for breakfast quite often and they were also delicious in the afternoon.

Yesterday I was reading facebook and a friend of mine published a recipe for Cachitos. The recipe is from a lady called Ceci E. I immediately jumped on it as Cachitos are one of these things that you think only bakeries can do - but that is wrong! These cachitos are soooo good and so easy!

As usual I did change the recipe a little - particularly as the original recipe is for 32 cachitos! I know I love them but we could never eat 32 cachitos in one go!

So here you have it a little piece of Venezuelan heaven!

Ingredients:

2/3 tbsp yeast
1/4 cup of sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup of melted butter
1/3 cup milk
2 cups of flour
2 eggs
400 gr ham (I used this ham from my deli that has bacon on it and mixed it with normal ham)
1 can of deviled ham (optional)
PAM cooking spray

Preparation:

Mix the yeast with 1tbsp of sugar and 1/4 of a cup of warm water. Let it rest until it bubbles - about 5 to 10 minutes.

In the meantime, mix the wet ingredients together. In a bowl whisk the milk, the rest of the sugar (save 1 tbsp of sugar for later), 1 egg, the salt and the butter. Make sure the butter is not too hot and that you mix it a little at a time or you will get scramble eggs!

Once the yeast is ready, add to the liquid mix. Add the flour a cup at a time, whisk the first cup and knead the second cup by hand for about 8 to 10 minutes or until the dough is soft and it does not stick to your fingers. Make a ball with the dough, put in the bowl, cover it with cling film and a kitchen towel and leave on a warm place (I put it in my oven) for 2 hours or until it doubles in size.

While waiting, prepare the ham mixture. Cut all your ham into pieces as small or big as you would like. I like mine pretty small as it reminds me of the traditional ones. Put the ham pieces in a bowl and mix with deviled ham to your liking (I used about half of a big can) - this step is optional. Again I used it as it truly gives the cachitos that taste of "panaderia" or bakery made taste!

Once the dough has doubled in size - break it into 2 balls. On a flat surface covered with a little flour, roll one ball with a rolling pin into a thin circle. With a knife or pizza cutter, cut the dough into 6 slices like if it was a pizza - you will end up with 6 triangles (if you want small cachitos cut into 8 and for large ones cut into 4 triangles). Do the same with the second ball of dough.

Take one triangle at a time and roll it over so it gets even thinner. Put a a little more than a spoonful of ham mixture at the wider end of the triangle. Gently fold the two corners inwards to stop the ham from falling of the cachito when baked, then gently roll the cachito.

Put then in an oven tray sprayed with PAM, brush them with a mixture of one egg and 1 tbsp of sugar. Cover the tray with cling film and leave them rest for about an hour. Leave space between the cachitos as they will almost double in size.

Pre heat your oven at 350F - Brush the cachitos again with the egg and sugar mixture and bake the cachitos for about 15 to 18 minutes or until slightly brown on top.

Remove the cachitos from the oven and let them cool a little on a rack (if you can resist not to eat them!!). Eat them warm. You can reheat the cachitos on your oven during the day.

I prepared a tray of cachitos and left them on the fridge at night. I them baked them first thing in the morning for breakfast - my son loved them so much I had to make a second batch!

Easy Easter Eggs: Silk Tie or Wax dye- Which ones you like better?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 03:47:00 +0000

Are you painting Easter Eggs today? This is the first year that we are painting eggs for Easter. Growing up in Venezuela, Easter was a very serious holiday, we did not have eggs or bunnies. When I moved to the US I got to learn the fun American traditions of the Easter Bunnie and the great eggs - chocolate and otherwise. So every year since then we have been collecting chocolate eggs every Easter Sunday, and yesterday we made our first Easter colored eggs.

I wanted to do cool eggs that were colorful and easy at the same time. I searched the internet for ideas and through several sites I found that silk ties can be used to make great Easter eggs. I also found out that you can use candle wax to make intricate designs on eggs using the color pellets that come in the store bought Easter eggs painting kits. Here are the instructions for the 2 different methods - they are both very easy.

Silk Tie Easter Eggs

Materials:

100% silk ties in vibrant colors - reds and browns work better - I bought mine at Goodwill for very little money.
Raw eggs
Wool
Vinegar
PAM cooking spray

Cut a square piece of silk from the tie that is big enough to cover the egg.

With the right side of the pattern touching the raw egg, wrapped the egg on the silk.

Use the wool to complete wrap the egg until you do not see the silk.

Boil the egg for 20 minutes in water with a few spoons of vinegar. Boil like colors together - but do not mix them as the color will run.

Take the egg out and let it cool down.

Once it is cool, unwrap the egg and let it dry.

Once dry, spray the egg with PAM cooking oil, rub the oil all over the egg and clean the excess oil with a paper towel. You will have a beautiful unique shiny Easter egg!

Candle wax Easter egg

Materials:

Easter Egg painting kit
Hard boiled eggs (Boiled for 20 minutes - let cool)
Candle
Plate

Prepare the paint as instructed in the kit. Take your hard boiled egg and light your candle. On top of a plate, let the wax from the candle drip over the egg in pattern of your liking.

You will be layering paints on the eggs from light to dark. Dip the egg in the lightest color and let it sit there for a few minutes. Take out and let the egg dry on the carton. Once dry, put more wax on the egg in a pattern of your liking, dip the egg on the next color. Repeat this process until you have dipped the eggs in as many colors as you like - By the end, your egg will almost be fully covered with wax. Let the egg dry.

Once dry, carefully peel off the wax with your nails, you will reveal the beautiful layers of color on your egg! voila!

Pollo en Salsa Verde: An easy and spicy chicken recipe!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 04:34:00 +0000

My friend Laura and her mom make this marvelous tamales verdes (filled with chicken in salsa verde). I happened to have one of them this week and could not resist but to ask her about the chicken. She told me it was the easiest thing to do. You just take some tomatillos, blend them with Serrano peppers and garlic and cook it. Then add the chicken. That was all! (and yes that is the way we Latina girls share our recipes - no quantities, no cooking times, really no much explanation)

So today, I felt like doing the chicken sans the tamales. And am I glad I did! it turned out so good! Here is what I did.

Ingredients:

2 Chicken breasts
6 medium size tomatillos
1 Serrano pepper (more if you like it hotter)
3 garlic cloves
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Peel and wash the tomatillos until they are not sticky anymore. Cut the tomatillos into four pieces, keep aside.

Wash the Serrano pepper and cut it in half, remove seeds if you want a milder sauce (leave them for more spice), keep aside.

Peel the garlic cloves. Put the garlic, tomatillos and pepper in a blender (I used my Ninja blender), and blend until very smooth. Keep sauce.

Heat the olive oil in a pan. Season your chicken breasts with salt and pepper and pan fry them for a few minutes on each side until they are nice and brown.

Add the tomatillo sauce, season with more salt and pepper to taste. Close the pan and cook at medium heat for about 10 minutes until the chicken is done and the sauce darkens a little.

Your chicken is done - and the sauce is oh so yummy!!! You can serve this chicken with rice, or if you are on the Dukan Diet - just eat it like that, on its own.

Tip: Make sure you blend your sauce very well. I use my Ninja blender because it has 3 blades and I feel it does a great job of not leaving any lumps there. Ninja's are so cool. Check them out:

The Best Ever and Oh So Easy Scottish Shortbread Recipe!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 04:50:00 +0000

One of my favorite Scottish desserts is with no doubt shortbread cookies. They melt in your mouth and have that buttery taste that leaves you yearning for more. Yes that is right - I bet you cannot eat only one! What is even more amazing is how easy it is to make them and how delicious they are. These are for sure the best ever tasting shortbread cookies I have ever had!

Ingredients:

100 gr of sugar
2 sticks of butter (8 oz)
250 gr flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder

Preparation:

Pre heat the oven at 325F

In a mixer, beat the butter until it goes fluffy. Add sugar and mix again until sugar is completely dissolved - a few minutes.

Add the flour, salt and baking powder to the butter mixture.

With your hands mix it gently until it forms a soft dough. Do not over work. Refrigerate for 5 to 10 minutes so you can work it without the butter melting.

On flour dusted surface, roll the dough until it is about 1/4 to 1/5 thick. Use a cookie cutter and put the cut cookies on a greased tray.

With a fork, pinch holes on the cookies. Bake for about 15 to 18 minutes or until the edges are slightly brown but not too much.

When you remove then from the oven they will feel soft. Be careful and put them on a rack to cool down.

Your cookies are ready! Yum yum!

Pan de Queso Recipe: Brazilian Cheese Bread Balls

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 05:17:00 +0000

Pan de Queso is one of my favorite little breads ever. I first tried them in a Brazilian restaurant in NYC and got hooked on then. I often go to $40+ a head Brazilian BBQ places just so I can have these wonderful balls of gooey chewy cheese and tapioca bread, some chimichurri sauce and a nice steak. It has never occurred to me to make them as I thought it was going to be difficult.

I went to one of such Brazilian restaurants with my girlfriends last weekend and ate so many of these breads they were laughing at me - I was truly hugging the bread basket not allowing the waiter to remove it. Even as we were exiting the restaurant, I did ask the manager if he could please give me some breads to take home (which he did) - I mean it I do love the little balls of magic!

So when I was wondering through the isles of a Latin supermarket in Miami yesterday, a thought came to my mind and I quickly ran to the flour isle and started to read every single bag. And there it was, the yuca (tapioca) flour, the wonderful main ingredient of the pan de queso! not only that, the bag had a recipe on the back. I also noticed in such bag, that this flour is so low in carbs that it can hardly be called flour. I was sold! I got 3 bags and headed to my hotel. I dreamt of fluffy crunchy cheese balls all night long.

Today the experiment began - I set up to make the balls, thinking it was difficult and gratefully realizing that they are so easy to make that I now regret the hundreds of dollars I have spent throughout the years going to Brazilian restaurants to eat them. Here is my take on the recipe from the bag (yes I know I had to change it):

Ingredients (makes 16 pan de queso balls):

1 cup of yuca flour (Tapioca flour)
1 cup of grated Swiss cheese (you can also use white cheese)
1 egg - beaten
1 tsp corn starch or baking powder
a pinch of salt
2 to 3 tbsp milk

Preparation:

Pre heat the oven at 375F and put a pizza stone in it (optional - you can do this on a greased baking tray). Mix the flour and the grated cheese in a bowl, add the corn starch, the beaten egg and a pinch of salt (if you are using a salty cheese do not use salt) - mix again. Add 1 tbsp of milk at a time and knead the mixture until it forms a dough. Make small little balls of dough.

Remove the pizza stone from oven, spray it with PAM (cooking oil spray) and quickly place the balls on the stone. Put the stone in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes until golden. Your house will take the aroma of freshly baked bread. When done, take the balls out of the stone and into a rack. Eat them right away.

They will be nice and crispy on the outside and chewy and gooey on the inside! ohh so good.

While I was waiting for the balls to bake I made a nice broccoli cream of soup. The perfect combination!

Knight in a night: A homemade Knight costume

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 19:53:00 +0000

Last night at 7pm I get a text from my husband telling me our boy needed a medieval costume to go to school this morning! A what? by when? seriously?

This morning my boy went to school dressed up like the most handsome knight I have ever seen, thanks to a few common crafts items, my Christmas tree decorations, an old helmet from when he was at kindergarten and the love and creativity of his mami.

Here is how I did it:

Picture this - I get home after receiving said text at around 8pm and found my boy crying in bed, so sad because he did not have an outfit and his friends were going to laugh at him. Oh dear I could not make that happen. I told him that it was going to be OK, that I would figure something out. I am not sure if he believed me and to be honest - I had no clue what to do.

I went to the internet, google medieval costumes, shields, helmets, you name it and got myself a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do or better said what I COULD do with stuff lying around in my house. I got my pink basket and went "shopping" room by room. I am pleased I am a "do not through this out" person because you never know when you will need it for a craft project!

I have found the following:

A piece of red fleece material from some blankets I made last year
Several remnants of fleece material in various colors
A round silver cardboard cake base/board from a previous birthday
Lots of ribbons from my Christmas decorations including a silver one that looked just like chain mail - yeah!
Some used yellow folders
Iron on letters in gold
Sharpies
Aluminum foil
Glue, scissors....
My son's under armor pants and long sleeve t-shirt from his outdoor soccer outfit
Black socks and gloves
My son's skying balaclava mask

My bag of goods for my knight

The first thing I did was the shield as I was quite excited with my cake base find. I researched some shield designs and meaning and found a cool symbol that was put on shields to let people know you were a "first born son" so got to work on the design of the shield and the symbol.

My son wanted something with a lion, so I drew a lion on a white piece of paper with pencil. Then I outlined it with a black sharpie.

With the yellow folder, I made a cardboard shield. I painted the lion red, cut it and glue it to the yellow shield. I got some gold paper ribbon and glue it to the edges of the shield to make it more regal. My husband made 4 wholes on the cake board and put some string to make a handle. Then I glued the shield with the lion to the cake board.

I cut 2 circles from the folder, painted them red and glue the iron on letters of my son's initials on it. The circles were then glued to the board too. I covered the back of the cake board with foil and the shield was done!

Now on to the robe - this was the scary part for me as you know I cannot sew at all. I took the red fleece and cut a big rectangle to go over his shoulders. I folded it in half and with scissors I made square cuts to the bottom of the front and the back and a slit on the top for the head.

With some cream/gold fleece I made cross - just literally cut it and glued it to the red robe. I had some blue ribbons from my Christmas tree and I stapled them over the robe to make a design. (my son did not like them so they were removed in the morning very quickly)

The last details: I had a foam sword with a green handle that I simply covered in foil to make it silver. The belt was made with silver mesh ribbon from my Christmas tree and the helmet well it has been on our basement for years from an old outfit my son had in kindergarten.

Put it all together and voila! we got ourselves a knight in a night.

I laid the outfit out on his bedroom floor and went to bed. This morning I was pleasantly woken up by an excited and oh so happy 8 year old jumping on my bed, giving me cuddles and telling me I was the best mom ever!!! ohh so priceless!!

End of Year Resolution: I should not buy useless stocking fillers!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 05:45:00 +0000

I am not sure if you have ever thought about this, but stocking fillers give me conflicting emotions. On one hand, I think it is kind of fun for the kids to open lots of little gifts, but on the other hand, I get tired of the little useless toys that the kids play for a whole 5 minutes and then discard forever!! Think about it, you could spend around $15 in useless stocking fillers that the kids will get bored of in less than 10 minutes.

So this year I made a resolution of making sure that we only buy useful stocking fillers. It all came to me when we started bringing out the decorations from the basement. I noticed that the whole lot of fillers from last year was there in one of the boxes... unused... so that was it! no more, we will get useful stuff this year.

Today after work I headed to my local walmart to get my mum and my auntie some stockings as they are coming to spend Christmas with us (I can't wait) I have not had Christmas with them in about 5 years. Also, this is the first time we are having Christmas in my house so I thought it would be nice for them to have their own stockings. I found 2 nice ones for them.

I also looked for some fillers for their stockings - I found some nice candles that I know they will love.

While there I had my eyes opened for ideas for the kids too. I was on the toothpaste isle when I noticed these cute Colgate Holiday packages for only $6. They have a toothpaste and a toothbrush and they come with Dora, Sponge Bob and other characters. I know my kids will love these as they are so into Sponge Bob right now - they literally watch it everyday. This is the perfect gift for their stockings. It is useful, good for them and fun too. I bought one package for each kid.

I am also going to add a little hourglass counter so they know to brush their teeth for 2 minutes at a time. I wish the pack had some dental floss so they could get the whole routine in one go. I will get that one too. I was going to but I had to run out of the shop to make my gymnastic class!!! I will let you know later which other fillers I end up getting!!

On the stockings they go!

“I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Colgate. #CBias #HolidaySmiles #SocialFabric” all opinions are my own.

The shopping madness is over!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 03:58:00 +0000

New castle and new dress too!

One of the things about the thanksgiving weekend is shopping! We take advantage of Black Friday and buy all the stuff we need for the next year - really! we get the Christmas list, the birthday present list, clothes, shoes and jackets for the kids, my husband's toys (electronics, cameras and the like) and some stuff for me too. By the end of the weekend, we get our basement so full with bags is kind of crazy.

We normally divide and conquer. I get to go to the first round of shopping on Thursday while my husband gets the kids to bed. Once I am back, he does the second round at 4 am. This is normally when we get the toys and hide them in the basement not to spoil the kids' surprise. On Friday at around 10am we go clothes shopping - this year we went with the kids as they are now all enough to choose their own stuff.

All through this crazy times, my baby could only think of one thing. The castle we got last week for her birthday - which I am glad to say, it took care of her birthday present for this year. So with that, the shopping for the season is over.

Now we need to get our Christmas tree and wrap all the presents. The first one to be wrapped is the Disney castle that although officially not a Christmas present, it will be on our tree alongside all the birthday presents for my girl.

It is quite funny, since we got it, she has been staring at it for the longest time. She has read and explained to me all the details of the stuff she is sooo looking forward to finding inside on her birthday. She showed me Cinderella's slipper on the staircase and a frog prince hidden there too. She is also looking forward to adding the little mini tea set to her collection of tea cups!

Mom please.... let me open it before my birthday!

I found a frog

And Cinderella's slippers

Tomorrow, I will have one last check at walmart.com to see if there is any other Disney princesses stuff - I guess to take advantage of Cyber Monday. I hope they have nice things on sale! For more pictures check in google+ - curious? click here.

Did you do any shopping this weekend?

“I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™and Disney Consumer Products, Inc #CBias #SocialFabric - all comments are my own.

Shopping with my girl is totally awesome!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 05:44:00 +0000

You may think this is funny, but ever since my daughter was born I have been waiting for the day we could go shopping together. Call it a girl thing -that is OK, but I have been very much looking forward to spending endless hours at the mall with my baby! Well I think this year it finally happened, she is officially now big and mature enough to endure the crazy hours perusing aimlessly through store after store. She is now interested on what we are going to buy, vs. the typical answer I used to get: "can we go home now? this is boring... I am tired.... etc." I do still get those from my boy, so yes it is a girl thing and I love it!

It all started about a month ago, I needed to get her nice black shoes for her piano recital. Normally, I would just go and buy the shoes myself, but recently she has been very particular about her clothes. Not liking many of the outfits I have been buying, I have had to do many returns :(. So I said to her: I am not planning to go back to the shoe shop because you do not like the shoes I buy for you. This time you are coming with me and choose for yourself" Inside I was so excited, my girl and I were going shoe shopping! We had so much fun we ended up with 3 pairs of shoes and a pair of boots!!! all needed of course.

So great was the experience, that I promised her to go shopping for her birthday present this year (again triggered by last year's face of "really mum, you got me that?"and the return to the shop journey that followed after) - I mean really, you will think she is a teenager and she is only turning 7 next month!!

So for her birthday, we had some ideas of what she wanted "Toys mum, clothes are not birthday presents - you need to get me those no matter what" Seriously, where do they get such comments from?

We have been eyeing the toy catalogs that come in the mail and some Disney stuff have been getting her attention. I heard about a new free Disney augmented reality app called The Royal Ball, so we downloaded that too so she could try different outfits and see some cool carriages from the Disney Princesses- Click here to find it. She played with it for a while (it is so cute) so she decided she wanted something with Cinderella on it.

We headed to our local Walmart - they really had the best toy prices. She was ready to go and to direct me masterfully to the toy section!

Once there was the "decisions, decisions time". It was so cute and fun, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing her running through the isles: "Mami, look at this! and this! and that!..... The Disney princesses have so much stuff out there it is amazing. You tell me something you like and I can find it for you! From lamps, to even battery operated cars! Unfortunately we did not find the Cinderella stuff we thought of buying, but we did find Sleeping Beauty magic mirror: Mirror mirror on the wall, tell me who is the most beautiful of all.... and by the way tell me which toy to get because there are so many options!

So we looked at bikes- she did like this one a lot, but it is very similar to her current bike and she will have to wait until the spring to ride it.

Hula Hoops- hmmm a little too difficult

Hello Kitty stuff - cool, but remember clothes do not count!

We also found a Tinker Bell guitar!ha ha! great find - we did get this one. She likes music a lot so I think we will give it a go.

and finally we saw it... the toy... the one... the needed... the wanted... (the oh dear it is so big and heavy, that maim cannot carry it, let alone put it on the cart!!) She looked, and looked and skillfully told me all the features it has, that it comes with 50 pieces, that it is 3 foot tall (well I could guessed that by the side of the box!), that dolls were not included (hint with a "remember to buy the dolls" smile) . So we were done! mission accomplished, we do have her birthday present: The Disney Princesses Ultimate Dream Castle!!!

#DisneyPrincessWMT

I hope she enjoys playing with it as much as I enjoyed shopping it with her!

BTW, I may still buy that Cinderella carriage at walmart.com and will wrap it up for Christmas! I also took many more pictures and put them in google+ - curious? click here.

“I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™and Disney Consumer Products, Inc #CBias #SocialFabric - all comments are my own.

New Zumba Wii game - I can't wait.....

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 04:45:00 +0000

I was told today by my Zumba instructor that there is a new Wii game for Zumba that targets your core (read abs... awesome!) I came home rushing and found it online. It could not come at a better time as winter is almost here and it is getting really cold to walk in the mornings.

Last year I danced a few pounds off with the Zumba 2 Wii and I was about to do the whole things again. Instead, I am buying the new one this weekend as an early Christmas present to moi!

Here are some links to some Zumba games in different platforms - I hope you like them too!

Happy Día de los Muertos

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 05:49:00 +0000

El Día de los Muertos on November 1st and 2nd is celebrated in a few Latino American countries. I have been looking at some really cool photos, videos and altars and got inspired to have my own make up celebration. So Happy Día de los muertos everyone!

Want to do the make up yourself?

You will need some face painting colors, including black and white, a fine brush, a nice mirror and some flowers.

Start by painting your face white leaving empty circles around your eyes.

Fill the eye circles with a color that you like - I chose blue.

Do a ring of contrasting color around the main circle (pink) and with a fine brush, draw lots of black petals around them.

With the same black, draw a mouth (straight line across your face with a few horizontal lines across your lips to represent teeth). Do also nice black swirls anywhere you like.

Decorate the rest of your face with flowers, hearts, dots and swirls in fun vibrant colors.

Wear your hair to your liking but do not forget to put some nice flowers around your hairdo!

You are done!

Here are some face painting ideas and colors for you. Click on image for details:

Easiest ghost mini cupcakes ever!!! works on mini muffins too!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 04:58:00 +0000

These are by far the easiest Halloween inspired cupcakes ever! you can make these little ghosts in no time at all. Kids love them and they look fantastic!!! don't you agree?

Ingredients:

mini cupcakes or mini muffins - I got chocolate chip mini muffins this time
whipped cream in a can like Reddi Wip
chocolate chips

Directions:

Take a mini cupcake and with the can of whipped cream do a swirl in the shape of a cone. Put chocolate chips for eyes. Add an extra one for a mouth if you like (I prefer to do just eyes). That is it! I said it was easy no?

The ghost do look lovely on a cake stand or a cupcake stand. Here are a few options I found that are lovely. Click on the image to learn more.

If you decide to make your own cupcakes and need to carry them to a different location, make sure you have a nice cupcake carrier so they do not get ruined. Do not decorate the ghosts until you are ready to display then as the whipped cream will go flat during transportation.

Here are some carriers I found that will do the job nicely for you - click images for details.

Happy decorating!

Easy Measurement and Oven Conversions for International Recipes

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 20:17:00 +0000

As a Venezuelan who used to live in the UK and currently lives in the US, I have lost count on how many times I have had to translate and convert measures on recipes and food packaging alike! My mother will give me recipes in liters, but my measuring cups are in oz. I share recipes with my cousins back home and they do not get it when I say: "use 1/2 lb of meat" and don't even talk to me about oven temperatures! Celsius or Fahrenheit? if your recipe and your oven do not agree on that answer you need to convert once more. So I decided to write this post to help all of you out there that like me struggle with recipes from all over the world!

Oven Conversions

Liquid Measures Conversions

Dry Measures Conversions