Kitchen Corners

Moodboard | White Kitchen Trinkets

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 12:34:00 PST

Happy extra day of the year. Today I let myself indulge in wishful thinking. Today I thought about buying stuff! I pride myself on not caring for new things, but that's because I used to live in a place where finding cool used things and even free things was easy. That place is called the United States of America. Also in the United States of America a lot of new things are cheap, which is why people buy so much and then give perfectly useful things away, no problemo, to Goodwill and hence why used things is so accessible.

But today I'm in the mood for new things. Pretty things. I mostly want to buy things I don't need, just things I find pleasing to the eye. Things to make my kitchen a little more pleasing to the eye.

Today I'm in the mood for

// Eat Me small artwork
// medium off white bowl
// Spinning Top Tea set
// Marimeko Oiva White Serving Pot

Birthday Heart Cake | A guest post with the Mr.

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 06:30:24 PST

This is the heart cake I made for Damaris' early Birthday. This is also a long post but making the cake took the better part of my Sunday so I guess it makes sense. On Sunday we celebrated Damaris' birthday early to include her mom, sister, and nephew who were visiting. A week earlier Damaris sent me the link to the Heart Cake from I am Baker with instructions on how to make it and said that this cake was all that she wanted for her birthday, no presents, nothing else. It sounded like a good deal. Our relationship works like this, if Damaris tells me exactly what she wants I will almost always get it for her. Sometimes I might even surprise her by acting like I forgot what she told me she wanted. If she makes me guess what she wants then I will mostly get it wrong.

The first step here in Itacare was finding a round cake pan. The two round pans we have are small pizza size and not cake size. This was the hardest step and I had to check every supermarket in the city to find one kind of large 24cm (9.4inches). This seemed just a little bit bigger that an 8 inch pan but that is misleading. (The math goes like this. pi(3.14) times the radius of the circle squared = area of a circle, thus 8 in= 50.25 sq inches and 9.4 in= 70.24). This means I would have had to make one and half recipes but I ended up making two because I just did the math now.

I made one recipe and baked two layers and then decided to make another recipe and bake another two layers. I have all the recipes written out for you at the bottom of the post. If you have more than one cake pan this process is made a lot easier because you can bake more than one at a time. But surprisingly the cheapest and only aluminum pan in the city worked like a miracle and with a little butter and flour the cakes just popped right out without even waiting for them to cool.

Before you decide to make it realize that this is a lot of cake. Three full sized cake recipes in order to make one mega-cake. After I baked all of the cakes I took a nice long walk to let them all cool down. This makes them easier to work with. You can also freeze them if you have a freezer that works.

So you stick together two cakes to make the bottom and the other two to make the top. You might want to level the cakes to do this although I didn't because I put the curved part of the cake onto our curved plate and the other curve was cut off when I hollowed out the middle. Another curved part was the top of the cake and the fourth layer wasn't that curved to begin with. Make two halves of the cake by frosting and making two two layer cakes.

On the bottom cake you carve the bottom part of the heart which is basically a cone carved out. I measured around the edge (4 cm from the edge) and the center of the cake with a ruler to make sure that the cone is centered which is essential for the design to look good when you put the cake together.

I also measured the top part (4 cm from the edge) to make sure that the two sides would meet up. To carve out the top part of the heart you start in the center to make a cone and then carve out the sides to make the top part of the heart until it looks like the picture below. Use a spoon to scoop out some of the insides.

Next you get a red velvet cake that you made and mix it up with a cup of cream and sweetened condensed milk. Then you mix it with a fork and pack it in the top of and bottom of the cakes in the spaces that you carved out. Pack it down good so there is no empty spaces, especially because this is going to be the main structural part of the cake.

The next step is to put the top and bottom of the cake together. Do this carefully. And in the end you should have something that looks like this with the red velvet cake in the middle.

Next you should frost the whole thing. There are probably some good tutorials somewhere on the web to do this nicely. This is perhaps the best looking cake I've ever frosted so most of you probably know how to do this better than me.

The long cake frosting spatula helps a lot.

Then lo and behold, you cut it open and get this amazing heart shape in the middle of your cake.

Here are the recipes for you.

White Cake
(printable version)
(although it turned out yellowish because I used egg yolks. The original post used a box white cake but then posted a recipe with eggs in it which means you will end up with an off-white cake. If you want it white you might want to stick with a box recipe or use another recipe without egg yolks. But this is the recipe I used)

Makes 4 eight inch round cakes. Double the recipe for 4 slightly larger 9.24 inch round cakes.

1 cup butter (softened)2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

The original recipe had a bunch of different steps and order you do things in but I don't really believe in all of that. So here's what I did which is easier.

Cream the butter, sugar, eggs, and milk together. Add the dry ingredients together and mix so that there are no obvious lumps.
Prepare pans with by greasing the inside of the pan with a thin coat of butter or margarine (not oil) and then lightly flour (1 tsp of flour) them. This is essential to get the cakes to come out easily and is probably one of the most important steps. If you haven't made layer cakes before find a video that shows you how to do this right.
Fill up four pans, or one pan four times and bake each for 20-25 minutes until you have four delicious round cakes. They are ready when you insert a toothpick or knife and it comes out clean (without batter on it).

Red Velvet Cake
(printable version)
Makes one large cake (9" by 13" rectangle pan more or less but the pan size doesn't matter). I don't really like red velvet cake but I was just following instructions. If you don't care about the color then make a dense chocolate cake which will probably taste better. But here is the recipe I used

3/4 cup butter3 large eggs
2 1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
6 tablespoons red food coloring
3 tablespoons unsweetened baking cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cream the butter, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and red food coloring together.(The original recipe called for 6 tablespoons red food coloring which I didn't have. I used a whole bottle of red and then threw in the bottle of pink for extra measure but it still basically looked like a chocolate cake. It probably didn't help that I used brown sugar instead of white sugar because we ran out and some extra cocoa for good measure. That's probably why it ended up brown. If you have more ingredients and are better at following directions you will probably get a nice red cake for the heart.)
Add the cocoa, salt, flour, and buttermilk together.
Mix the cider vinger and baking soda together in a separate cup and then add the mixture to the cake batter. Mix it all up until the big lumps are gone and put it in a greased and floured pan.
Bake for 30-40 minutes but keep an eye at it because every oven is different.Its ready when a knife or tooth pick comes out clean.

Buttercream Frosting
(printable version)
Makes enough to frost a huge cake and then some left over.

1 cup butter or margarine, softened
6-8 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla

Mix the butter with four cups of the sugar until creamy. Add the milk and mix well. Sift the sugar if it is lumpy because you live somewhere with lots of humidity.
The original recipe called for colorless vanilla to keep the frosting white. I left it out because I can only get the colored stuff here. Either way.
Gradually add the rest of the sugar until it is thick enough that is won't run and still thin enough to spread well.

Poppyseed to Pumpkin

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:09:11 PST

After two lines appeared on my pregnancy test we were able to confirm what we already suspected - I'm pregnant! We are all over joyed. My mom, my sisters, and my nephew who were all visiting us from Sao Paulo last week and were able to be here when I took the test.

After coming to the sad realization that we were not going to be able to adopt last year we decided to try and get pregnant. If all goes well we'll have a new addition in the beginning of November. We'll be returning to the U.S in September. The last 2 times I was pregnant I was either working on my undergraduate thesis or my graduate thesis. I'm really excited to be in Brazil during the majority of this pregnancy where I have a lot of help, a lot of time, and access to all the foods I normally crave when I'm pregnant.

The kids are also really excited and of course they're asking lots of questions. Their first questions was "how big is the baby right now?"

Baby Center has a very cool slideshow called poppyseed to pumpkin which shows how big the fetus is at every week, starting at 4 weeks when you are able to confirm you're pregnant. The kids watched the slideshow at least 10 times.

Can you guess at what week the baby is when it's the size of a heirloom tomato?

My Birthday is a Comin!

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 21:30:53 PST

My birthday is in exactly one week. I am just as excited about turning 29 as I was about turning 5, or 6, or 10. For as long as I can remember the thought of getting older thrills me. I like that each year I live I travel more, I eat more, I meet new people, I experience new things. Yesterday Christian's grandmother celebrated another year of life. She is now in her 90s. There is so much to celebrate about her life. I hope one day I get to be in my 90s too.

I plan to never outgrow birthday cakes, or streamers, birthday hats, or presents. The plan is to get older and enjoy it and to celebrate it every chance I get.

// polka dot garland // cake stand // straws // pennants //

A Brazilian Birthday Party

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 05:10:26 PST

Brazilian birthday parties are a big deal. The decoration revolves around the cake table, with mini rolled up fudge balls (brigadeiros) covered in sprinkles and other little treats.

Rosita had her first Brazilian birthday party last month.

Rosita was born in Italy. A little over a year ago she moved to Itacare with her father who married a native of Itacare, a wonderful hear dresser, and my sweet friend. Rosita's step-mother wanted to throw Rosita a birthday party fit for a princess. Here are the pictures from Rosita's special day.

Have you ever been to a Brazilian style birthday party, if so what did you think?

p.s. Speaking of party did you know the whole country is in one big party right now? It's Carnaval!

Morro de São Paulo

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 09:57:52 PST

This year was my turn to plan our Valentine's Day celebration, so I planned a little getaway to an island off the coast of Bahia. Have you ever heard of Morro de São Paulo?

272 km from Salvador Bahia is an island called Tinharé, and Morro de São Paulo is one of 5 villages that make up Tinharé.

The only way to get to the island is by boat or by private plane, and since cars are forbidden to enter the island the only mode of transportation is by tractor, bikes, horses, or carriages. We took the carriages. We also walked a lot.

The beaches are very different form Itacare, where we currently live. Because of the reefs you get these warm natural pools that form during low tide. We did some snorkeling and saw some amazing fish. Christian saw a black fish with bright blue dots. I saw a fish that was transparent, with big bulging eyes. Does anyone knows the names of these two mysterious fish?

During the colonial period, Tinharé was often under attack either by the French or by the Dutch, due to it's distinct geographical location. The Portuguese build forts in Tinharé in order to keep the enemy from advancing into Salvador Bahia, which at the time was the capital of Brazil. There were many battles fought in Morro de São Paulo. Did you know the Northeast of Brazil was under Dutch rule for 24 years?

The Fort in Morro de São Paulo dates back to 1630. There are old rusted cannons just laying around and big ornate pieces or what I think could have been an old fountain. Exploring the Fort was our favorite, that and spending time together of course.

I'm putting more pictures of our trip on my Facebook page. Do check it out, there are some cool old fountains, and quite a bit of historical monuments all surrounded by beautiful beaches. If you come to Brazil and you have the chance to visit Morro de São Paulo here are some things to consider,

//Food//

Oh right you like to eat. Well so do I and we were not disappointed. The Villa has everything ranging from traditional Bahiana food to Sushi. There are also brick oven pizzarias, a Mediterranean bistro, and small bakeries where you can get a quick bite. There are plenty of restaurants as well as little beach shacks that sell fried seafood, and of couse pastel. On our first night there we went to Bianco e Nero, a very nice Italian place. If you want a fancy sit down dinner, with great ambiance, and good steak this is the place to go. Living in Itacare, another tourist town, we've seen so many eateries open and close just in the short 6 months we've been here. I can't guarantee that Bianco e Nero will still be there when you or we get a chance to go again, but from what I saw you'll have plenty of options to choose from.

Another thing to consider is that Brazilians eat dinner late, anywhere from 8pm-11pm. Most hotels, or pousadas, and even hostels offer breakfast. Here is what a breakfast from a pousada looks like, it's pretty big and perfect if you eat gluten-free because a lot of food in Bahia is made from tapioca. Then grab a late lunch at the beach and dinner at restaurant and you'll be good to go.

//Places to Stay//

Morro de São Paulo is separated into 4 beaches. the first two are close to the Villa and close to the little harbor where you'll come in. These two beaches have hotels and pousadas (bed and breakfast) ranging from $500 a night to $50 a night. The first and second beaches are a good place to stay if you want to be close to the restaurants, the night life, and pretty much all the action, including some cute shops. Third beach is a little more quiet, with a handfull of places, and 4th beach is farther away, very quiet, with ocean view pousadas and pousadas that are tucked away in the jungle, with a short walk to the beach.

We stayed in 4th beach at a very cute pousada called Vila Mato Verde. 4th beach is beautiful and every time we went to the beach there was hardly anyone there. It's also a nice walk from 4th beach to 1st beach. If you don't want to walk you can always take the carriage, a horse, or a bike. Vila Mato Verde had a large 2 bedroom chalet with a full kitchen. There was a family from Denmark staying there with two young kids. If you're traveling with kids check around because I know a lot of pousadas have this set up.

// Things to do //

We took one full day to just walk around, see the historical sites, and visit the different beaches. I think we saw everything except the colonial theater.

If you're looking for something more adventurous you can zip line down to the beach. This picture was taken from where the zip line starts. It's a total of 340 meters long. Here is a little video. Just watching this makes me a bit queasy. I don't love heights. But I do love snorkeling. Plenty of places to snorkel and also dive. There are snorkeling, diving, wind surfing, and surf board rentals everywhere. You won't be bored.

// Getting to Morro //

If you fly into Salvador Bahia you can take a 2 hour boat ride. Boats leave from Mercado Modelo. There's a boat leaving at least every 2 hours during the low season and every hour during the high season. If you're coming from the south of Bahia then you'll need to either drive or catch a bus up to Valença, and from there you'll catch a boat to Morro. Boats leave every 1/2 hour.

// Other resources //

Here are some other webistes that can help you plan your trip

// Rota Tropical
// Morro de Sao Paulo Travel
// Trip Advisor
// Zulu

Have you ever been to Morro de São Paulo? Is this the type of place you'd like to visit?

What Breakfast in Bahia Looks Like

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:15:40 PST

When people ask me what a typical American breakfast is like I say pancakes, eggs, bacon. You know. But if you come to my house I'll probably just feed you cold cereal.

People ask what breakfast is like in Bahia. If you come to my house breakfast is just a paozinho (small French bread), some juice, and fruit. But, if you want a traditional breakfast it's more than that. It's fruit and a lots of things made from tapioca.

It's seriously, delicious.

1- Pao de queijo - small cheese breads made with tapioca flour. Easy to make, I promise.
2- Cuscuz de tapioca- tapioca couscous made with coconut milk and fresh shredded coconut.
3- Bolinho de estudante - deep fried tapioca couscous sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.
4- Banana da terra frita - fried plantains, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.
5- Rabanada - Basically, deep fried French toast.

It's like Christian says, most things are way better fried and if you add sugar and cinnamon it's a win.

We were able to eat well in Morro de Sao Paulo.
Tomorrow I'll show pictures from our trip.

Strawberry Twix

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:20:49 PST

I wanted to make something pink for Valentine's Day and I wanted to make something decadent. So I made Twix. I saw a Twix bar recipe on King Arthur Flour Recipes and went for it, tweaking it here and there. For one thing I didn't want normal caramels, I wanted pink gooey strawberry flavored caramels. I also wanted bite sized twix, I'm into bite sized things. But if you like Twix bars and you don't want any of this bite sized nonsense don't let me hold you back, this recipe works for a full on chocolate bar as well. Also, if you want to skip the chocolate and just eat the shortbread with strawberry caramel I say go for it.

If you make these over the weekend, they'll still be totally good come Tuesday when you want something sweet and something pink to eat and to share.

I hope you have a great Valentine's Day. Early Monday morning, before Enzo and Maria wake up Christian and I will be on our way to Morro de Sao Paulo, an island 4 hours from our house where cars aren't allowed to enter. We'll be getting around on a carriage, doesn't that sound romantic? We'll be there for a couple of days celebrating our Valentine's Day and 9 years of having met. We're excited for a mini getaway. I'll be sure to take pictures, from what I hear Morro de Sao Paulo is pretty darn beautiful. You can follow my Instagram feed for pictures and Facebook and Twitter for updates. When I come back I'll post pictures. I hear the food there is excellent.

Also, I want to thank everyone who entered the $100 ProFlowers giveaway. I loved reading your comments about what you love in your significant other. I'm so glad that so many of you are with the best person you can be with, the right person for you. I know I am. I'm thankful for that every single day.

Strawberry Twix
makes 2 dozen full sized candy bars
(printable version)

You can use a mixer or you can use your hands. Mix the butter, sugar, and vanilla. Then add the flour and mix until the dough comes together, looking like this.

Next put the dough on top of a prepared cookie sheet, and press the dough down, spreading it with your hands as much as you can.

Next roll out the dough with a rolling pin. A cute dollar store metal water bottle works too, because where is a rolling pin when you need it right?

Prick the crust with a fork and also cut the dough into bars. Bake at 300*F for 35 minutes.

After the crust cools prepare the caramel layer.

In a small saucepan melt the caramel and cream over low heat. Then pour over the cooled crust and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

After the crust with the caramel has been refrigerated, flip on the other side and finish cutting into bars. The lines that you made before you baked the crust will be there, making it easy for you to cut.

Melt the chocolate over medium-low heat and dip the bars into the melted chocolate. Let it cool before cutting into bite size.

How Kids React to An Empty Plate

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:48:55 PST

This is great a comercial for a great cause. I love how the kids reacted, their cute faces, and their adorable Spanish.

If you don't speak Spanish here is what they have witten in the end "In a world where we have the capacity to feed double its population 3,5 million children still die because of mal nutrition each year. We need to learn. Visit www.experimentocomparte.org "

Something to think about for sure.

5 Easy Valentines you Can Make with your Kids

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:51:29 PST

Today baby Maria did not take a nap so we did the only sensible thing a tired baby and a tired mama was left to do, we ate sugar. We laid down on my bed and we sucked on lollipops. She had one and I had one. Hers I decked out with a pink moustache just because I thought it would be funny, and it was!

Specially when this started happening.

Last year I made heart-shaped gluten-free alfajores and turned them into lollipops. They were awesome, and delicious, and mega-time consuming. If you have the time you should totally make them. If you don't here are some ideas for quick and easy Valentines you can make with kids, even tired kids.

Moustache Lollipops // draw a moustache on pink card stock paper (or any color you want) cut it out, make a small hole, stick the lollipop through and BAM(!) your two year old will have a very cute moustache, all in 30 seconds. If you want nice even moustaches, or even a handlebar moustache perhaps, then go to freemoustache.com for free printables.

A School of Fish // I know and you know that Swedish Fish is one of the greatest candy ever. Kids know that too. So for a total classroom success use printables that say things like "I'm glad we're in the same school" and add it to a baggie with some Swedish Fish.

Wrap Up a Candy Bar // If your kindergartner is like my kindergartner than you probably have a bunch of pictures right now laying around your house. Enzo loves drawing pictures. Currently he's into drawing castles. Instead of ~~throwing away~~ saving the pictures, you can reuse your child's pictures as wrappers for individual candy bars. Then all you have to do is use some pretty ribbon to tie a bow around the whole thing. Enzo loves giving his pictures away so this would be something he would really enjoy. If they don't want to use their pictures as wrappers you can make these robot valentine's, I bet they'd like that. And if you want fancier wrappers I would go for these.

3-D Valentine's // I'm pretty sure you've seen this before, no? Those were the original lollipop-picture valentines and they were a hit specially once Design Mom made them too, then they became THE thing to make. This is still one of my favorite crafts ever. I've used it many times. I've even used it as a party favor for Enzo's birthday. You can also make it with chocolate if lollipops aren't your thing.

Valentines Popcorn Snack // Popcorn is such a great snack and a great alternative to all the excessive candy. If you want to tone down the sugar a bit try putting some popcorn in a baggie with a few red and pink M&Ms. I'm thinking something like this.

Less than a week before Valentine's Day. Have you started making valentines yet? What are you thinking of making?

Maggie Austin Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:56:44 PST

I have a crush on pretty cakes. I can't make one to save my life and truth be told pretty does not always translate into delicious. But I am sure these taste delicious, they must, though I would probably cry a little if I had to cut one of these into slices and ruin it's perfection.

Guess what Maggie Austin, the creator of these cakes was before turning into a pastry chef. A ballerina of course. Just look at all that frill, doesn't it remind you of tutus? I think these are the prettiest cakes I have ever seen. They are so girly, so gentle. And no Maggie Austin does not only turn tutus into cakes, she also turns polished stones into cakes, and artwork you would frame and hang on your wall into cakes. Her portfolio is amazing.

Does your heart go pitter-patter for pretty cakes too?

$100 gift certificate to ProFlowers and Shari's Berries Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:30:24 PST

A holiday that promotes giving each other sweets, flowers, and a kiss or two?! Have I mentioned that I met Christian at a Valentine's Day dance? Oh, just 100 times already? No matter, here is the story again. I met Christian at a church Valentine's Day dance on February 15th. It was called The Last Chance dance. There is more to the story but I'll save it for laters.

For nows I want to give you something. How about I give you $100 to spend at ProFlowers and/or at Shari's Berries? You can buy a dozen red roses and a full dozen gourmet dipped swizzled berries and still have money left over for something more. And yes buying yourself some pressies to show yourself how much you are loved is totally legit. In fact it's encouraged.

ProFlowers is great. I've used them in the past and have had a great experience. Their Valentine's Selection is beautiful, as expected, but my favorite are their plants. I'm a total sucker for plants and I am so loving the succulent heart garden.

I doubt I need to say anything about Shari's Berries. Just look at their homepage and drool. If your guy isn't into flowers or plants get him anything from this shop and I bet he'll be stoked.

And because everyone should win something, ProFlowers is offering a special 20% off on entire order (with no minimum required) to Kitchen Cornes readers, just go here. For a 20% off at Sheri's Berries go here.

To be entered in the giveaway leave a comment telling me at least one thing you love in your significant other (yes, I am a hopeless romantic) and if you don't have a significant other (yet) then tell me one thing you love in your fairytale future significant other. What you've never played this game before? I used to do it all the time before I met Christian. Example: I love that my future husband, the one I haven't met, plays the guitar and sings. For the record Christian does neither, but I love him anyway.

The Prize: $100 gift code to be used at ProFlowers and/or Sherri's Berries. Must have a US mailing address.

To Enter: Leave a comment below telling me one thing you love about your significant other or about yourself.. +1 more comment: You can get more entries by becoming a Kitchen Corners' Follower using Google Friend Connect on the footer of the blog. Leave an additional comment telling me that you're following.

+1 more comment: By subscribing via RSS or email to Kitchen Corners' feeds. Leave an additional comment telling me that you've subscribed.

+1 more comment: Follow me on Facebook and/or Twitter. Leave an additional comment telling me that you're following.

+1 more comment: Share this giveaway! Sharing buttons are right below this post. Just leave a comment telling me how you shared.

Giveaway closes: Midnight Thursday February 9. The winner will be randomly selected, contacted via email, and announced on Friday February 10.

-------------------------
this giveaway is now closed. the winner has been randomly selected. Congrats to ky2here.

Adobe Photoshop Cook

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 06:35:04 PST

Isn't this video so fun and creative. It's the perfect reminder that I need to brush up on my Photoshop skills. Today I started homeschooling myself. The time has come to learn how to finally use my Adobe Creative Suite. I decided to go with Lynda.com. Yesterday I signed up for my membership and so far I've watched 15 minutes of a 2 hour course. I thought about starting with the 17 hour course but that seemed way too daunting.

Do you know what finally made me do it? Picnik. My favorite online photo editing site is shutting down in April. That means I have until April to learn a thing or two.

I've been putting it off because I just don't have the time. Last month my mom and my cousin was visiting and then this month got even crazier with homeschooling and we're getting visitors again in two weeks. But we're getting visitors again next month, and the month after that, and if I keep putting it off it will just never happen. You know what I mean?

Do you use Photoshop? If so are there any websites you recommend with tutorials?

A Day in The Life

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:17:51 PST

7:00- Chris slips out of bed, grabs his surf shorts, his surf board, and is off. I make sure Baby Maria doesn't wake up. We've had 3 rough nights in a row with her having a fever, coming in to our bed, and waking up multiple times a night.

7:15- Enzo wakes up, goes to the living room to read, Maria is starting to wake up. I go and grab her a bottle.

7:30- It starts raining hard outside. Enzo comes in to my room. I can tell he's scared of the storm. He's finishing up Prince Caspian and wants to read it out loud to me and Maria. Yes! I love it when he agrees to read-out-loud because then I can help him with the words he normally skips over.

8:00- Chris is back from surfing. He hops in the shower. Maria follows him. On average she takes 3 showers a day. She likes taking showers with everyone in the house. Enzo stays reading with me and now our kitty, Cacau, is cuddling with us too.

8:10- Chris drops off a baby bear on the bed and volunteers to make biscuits and eggs for breakfast. Maria is still pretty warm. I think she has a low fever. She complains that her ears hurt. Enzo goes off to do something else. I get my iPod quickly check my email and Facebook and then spend a good 10 minutes on Instagram checking out all the pictures on #FEBPHOTOADAY. I also make sure to check in on my friend Rocio's, feed. Her grad school applications are due today.

8:45- I quickly get myself ready and the kids ready.

8:48- We eat breakfast. Iris wakes up and joins us. I love it when Iris is home in the morning. She's so fun and so great with the kids. We have a long breakfast as a family.

9:26- Iris starts on the dishes. Enzo starts homeschool. First up is math. He does his math drills, a series of addition, subtraction, multiplications, and division. Enzo looks at a math problem, does a couple of laps in the living room while screaming out numbers, and then comes back and writes his answers on his notebook. He gets every single answer right. He is able to think better when he's moving. How in the world will he adjust to sitting down next year when he goes to school?

9:56- We get a delivery. I recently purchased a bunch of books from The Book Depository because they have Free Shipping Worldwide. The books are all for homeschool. The first book arrives today, it's a sticker book about Knights. Enzo is in Heaven. I try to convince him to work on his Kumon multiplication workbook but he wants to see his new book. Fine. Meanwhile Maria grabs the iPod and starts playing Starfall. I come sit next to Christian and we check out the news together on his computer, we mostly look at current political news. I quickly get depressed.

10:12- Time to get Enzo back on track. We work on measuring his bean plant and logging the information down in his journal. Maria is still being entertained by the iPod. She plays a little bit more Starfall, then listens to music on her favorite App.

10: 35- Too much iPod for the Baby. I decide to involve her on Enzo's current Read It, Write, It, Draw It book. I tell her she can help with the stickers. I'm thinking the whole thing will take 10 minutes tops. It takes almost an hour. Enzo is super frustrated because Baby Maria is not putting the stickers Exactly. The. Right. Way.

11:20- We figure out a sticker-putting-system where everyone is happy. It took us way to long. I'm over the whole activity. Enzo wants to looks at his new book. Maria is putting left over stickers on my phone. I check my email on my iPod. One new email from Christian. Mind you, he's been sitting next to me working on his computer while I work with the kids. His emails always make me smile. I think he could tell from our last homeschool activity that I needed a smile.

10:30 - I try to help Christian with some online Paypal issues. No luck.

10:36- Enzo starts on his Portuguese language workbook. Maria wants to do her "homeschool." Christian and I help her with her Kumon workbooks while the other person is talking to Paypal customer service over skype. Maria loves her workbooks and always feels so proud of herself. We practice cutting, pasting, and folding. And yes, she got her nails done yesterday.

12:00- Maria starts playing with her toys. I start making lunch. Enzo works on writing then joins me in the kitchen while I give him a spelling test. Lunch is ready. We sit down to eat. The kids eat left over pasta and Chris and I eat left over rice and beans.

1:00- My favorite hour of the day, Gil arrives. Gil comes over every day and does magic to our house. She cooks. She cleans. And my kids adore her. I adore her too. Today she brought her 8 year old son to play with Enzo. Huzzah!

1:30- I take Maria to the doctor. She's acting fine but is still complaining about her ears.

1:40- I arrive at the public clinic. I don't have many options here for private doctors so we go to the public clinic, which is fine except that today is busy, there are tons of people and only 1 doctor. I sign us in and head out to run some errands - buy new undies for Maria, go to the ATM, and do a quick supermarket run.

2:15- I come back to the clinic, as expected they haven't called us yet. Luckily my friend is there with her newborn. We sit and talk. Maria is surprisignly mellow. She loves sitting next to baby Valentina.

4:30- We leave the clinic. Maria is exhausted. And they still haven't called our name. We leave without seeing the doctor. My friend leaves without seeing the doctor. I feel worse for my friend.

4:40- We're back home. Maria is happy to be back with the boys. Why didn't I just stay home with her?! Going to the clinic was such a bad call. I cut up some watermelon for the kids and help Gil make dinner - potato lasagna.

5:15- Gil leaves. Dinner is in the oven. Christian is home. I am ready to do something fun. We decide to go to the beach.

6:00- Dinner is done and we leave it in the oven. We walk to the beach. Christian hangs out with the kids while I go running.

7:00- We make our way back home.

7:30- After everyone is showered dinner is served. As soon as Maria looks at her plate she says "I don't love this food. I want food that I love." Enzo also complains. The usual. I tell Enzo he needs to be grateful, blah, blah, blah and that he is going to eat his dinner, period. Enzo takes one bite and says "This is delicious." No comments. I turn to Maria and tell her the exact same things I told Enzo. She still protests and refuses to take a bite. I get a book and I start reading it to her to distract her. Christian spoon feeds her and she ends up eating everything on her plate.

8:00- We read scriptures, I hug the kids goodnight and tell them I have to work. I sit down on my bed with my laptop and make a mental to-do list. Christian starts reading to Enzo and Maria comes and hangs out with me. Then Enzo comes and hangs out with me. As usual I don't get started on work until much later and as usual by the time I do get started on work I'm too tiered to get much done.

8:47- Christian has the kids in bed. After putting the kids to bed Christian goes and washes the dishes. I try to work on a post for Inhabitots but I end up chatting with my web Designer, Ana from Blog Milk. I love talking to Ana. She sends me a new Design for my Facebook Page profile picture.

9:30- I start watching the new Glee episode while editing pictures.

10:20- Christian and I watch the Volcom Pipe Pro together. I watch and blog at the same time, but mostly I just watch. John John Florence is amazing. His last wave... holy smokes!

11:10- Iris is home from work. We talk about her day and our day. My eyes are starting to shut. Christian is still working on his field notes. I'm ready for bed.

11:30- Christian is typing away. Iris and I hang out a bit. She tells me not to watch the new Rihanna video. I watch it anyway. I hate it. Totally should not have watched it. I love the song, why did she have to make such junk video. O.K I am so ready for bed.

0:00- Lights out!

---------------------------

One of the questions I get asked the most is, "how do you spend your time?" If you think I get to cook all day and blog you are wrong. I documented my day yesterday to show you today what my life is like. Yesterday I hardly cooked at all and didn't take a single picture with my camera. It's hard to say, what an average day looks like because there are no average days, every day is a little different. The truth is that every phase is a little different, or a lot different. Yesterday part of Christian's email read

...I appreciate the support that you're giving me during this year here in Brazil, putting some of your own goals and work on the side. I also love how much time our family has to spend together during this time and really appreciate all of us being able to be together all the time. I appreciate how much support you give me for school and work but also for surfing and the things I like to do...

I also love that right now our little family gets to be together so much. I love that I get to homeschool Enzo. I never thought I would like homeschooling but I love it. I love that our time is so flexible, that Christian works from home, that most things are a short walk from our house. I love that my sister is living with us. I love that we have a maid. I recognize that this is a phase, a good phase, but still just a phase. Come September I'm sure my Day in The Life will look completely different. The thing is that my writing and Christian's research and the kids' homeschool is a family affair. We're in it together. Christian and I are used to change, we're used to our schedules flipping on it's head every couple of months. We're so used to it we pretty much expect it. But we do it together, and that's all that matters.

Granola for Valentine's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:58:07 PST

Baby Maria is sassy to the core, and from what I hear most toddlers are. However, she does have lots of good things going for her including being the queen of affection. She loves giving hugs and kisses and telling you over and over again that she does in fact love you very, very, much. She also loves giving gifts. Ever since Christmas Baby Maria has played gift giving daily. Today she put my iPod in a tuppaware and gave it to me as a gift. Whenever our belongings go missing we pretty much expect to receive it back at some point packaged by 2 year old hands and delivered as a present.

If Baby Maria were to give you a Valentine's Day gift she would probably give you my iPod. But since I'm pretty fond of my iPod I'm encouraging her to give something else, something she loves very much.

Baby Maria would eat a bowl of yogurt with granola at every meal if we let her. Wait, let me take that back, Baby Maria pretty much does eat yogurt and granola at every meal because even though we don't let her she has proved herself much more stubborn than either of her parents.

So if Baby Maria were to give you a gift she would give you granola because she loves eating it, she loves sharing it, and the best part is that she loves making it.

Granola is a great recipe to make with kids. Here is Exhibit A. Exhibit B is a detailed recipe I wrote for Inhabitots that has step by step pictures and a fool proof method to not burn granola. This recipe will yield lots of granola which means lots of pressies to give.

If Baby Maria gave you granola would you be her Valentine?

Family Friendly Pasta Salad | Day 31 of 31 Days of Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:47:15 PST

I thought I'd end this month of salads with pasta salad, the only real salad both of my kids will eat. Pasta salad is the ultimate family friendly salad recipe, don't you think?

I can't believe we're already 31 days into 2012 and that tomorrow is February. I am so excited for February. I get to celebrate 9 years of having Christian in my life. I get to celebrate Carnaval in Brazil with my mom, my older sister, and my nephew Bruno, all coming out to visit us for a week. I also get a new niece and a new nephew due any day now. Then it's March and I'll turn 29 and start the countdown to 30. Crazy. There are lots of good things to look forward to, but mostly a lot of good things to appreciate now.

I want to thank all of my guest bloggers, my friends, who wrote a salad post this month on Kitchen Corners. Thanks for giving me a bit ( a lot, because I know it takes a while) of your time to create something tasty for Kitchen Corners. I also want to thank my readers who have been supportive, who have left comments, pinned, tweeted, Facebooked, Stumbled, etc and have helped make this month a great one.

To the moon and back thank you.
xx
Da

Family Friendly Pasta Salad
(printable version)
serves 4

250 g cooked Farfalle (Bow Tie) pasta
1 large tomato, seeded and diced
1/2 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 large carrot, peeled and shredded
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Olive oil and salt to taste

Mix the cooked pasta with the diced veggies and cheese. Drizzle olive oil and season with salt. Serve cold.

Day 1- Green Papaya Salad
Day 2- Avocado and Mango Salad
Day 3- Eggplant Vinaigrette
Day 4- White and Green Salad: Escarole, Pear, Avocado
Day 5- Salpicao
Day 6- Grated Raw Beet Salad
Day 7- Poppyseed Salad Dressing
Day 8- Orange, Honey, & Coconut Dessert Salad
Day 9- Quail Egg Salad
Day 10-Radish Salad
Day 11-Apple, Parmesan, and Pesto Salad
Day 12-BLT Quinoa Salad
Day 13-Poke Salad
Day 14-Spinach Salad
Day 15-Simple Tropical Fruit Salad

Day 16-Chinese Chicken Salad
Day 17-Brazilian Fruit Salad
Day 18-Cold Cabbage Salad
Day 19-Four Bean Salad
Day 20-Italian Potato Salad
Day 21-Tri-Tip Salad
Day 22-Side-Dish as a salad
Day 23-Candied Pecan Salad
Day 24-Mango Salsa Salad
Day 25-Arugula with Yogurt Dressing and Granola salad
Day 26-Great Ingredients to add to Your Salad
Day 27-The Leftover Salad
Day 28-Endive and Spinach Salad
Day 29-Bulgar Wheat Salad
Day 30-Napa Cabbage, Asian Pear & Carrot Salad

Napa cabbage, Asian Pear and Carrot Salad | Day 30 of 31 Days of Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:25:10 PST

Napa Cabbage, Asian Pear & Carrot Salad

I can't believe January is coming to an end. I could not have done this month of salads without the help of all my guest bloggers, how fantastic they all were! Today our last guest blogger Mary, The Food Librarian, is here to show us how to make a napa cabbage salad. The Food Librarian was one of the first blogs I ever started reading. I love that we've been blog friends for so long. You can also follow her on twitter and Facebook. Thanks Mary.

Hi! I'm delighted Damaris asked me to guest post a salad this month. I've been following Damaris for years and remember meeting her at the first BlogHer Food with teeny tiny baby Maria in her arms. Although we only had that brief meeting, I know she is a friend I can turn to for inspiration and wonderful updates of her lovely family. Wishing you and yours a wonderful 2012 filled with yummy salads! - mary the food librarian

This simple salad combines Napa cabbage, toasted almond silvers, Asian pear, carrots and sesame seeds. Have you seen the Julienne Peeler? It comes in handy making nice carrot julienne strips.

I'm a big baker but love salads. My favorite salads combine vegetables and a bit of sweetness. Asian pears are perfect because they have a great crunch and don't brown like regular apples. Pick up some Asian pears when you see them in the farmer's market!

Napa Cabbage, Asian Pear & Carrot Salad
(printable version)

4-5 cups Napa cabbage, sliced
2 carrots, peeled and julienned
1 Asian pear, sliced
Sliced almonds, toasted and cooled
Sesame seeds to garnish

Dressing:
3 Tablespoons vegetable oil such as canola
2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 teaspoon sugar
Salt & Pepper

Bulgar Wheat Salad | Day 29 of 31 Days of Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:05:07 PST

Bulgar wheat is a little like magic. Unlike cracked wheat, bulgar wheat is pre-cooked and so it requires minimal cooking time when preparing it. A quick soak in boiling water will do the trick. Bulgar wheat is also very filling which is great if you're trying to make a quick nutritious salad that will stick to your stomach for more than 5 minutes.

Today I made two bulgar wheat salads, one sweet with oranges, walnuts, soft white cheese and honey and another savory with tomatoes, gorgonzola, olives, onions, and cucumbers.

The most traditional salad that uses bulgar wheat is Tabbouleh salad, native of Lebanon, where the bulgar wheat is used more of a garnish than as the main ingredient.

Today I was feeling hungry so I wanted the bulgar wheat to be the main ingredient and everything else to be more of a garnish.

There are a few ways to prepare bulgar wheat. If you're doing a small quantity you can just rinse the bulgar wheat out in several changes of cold water until it fluffs up. If you're doing a bigger quantity, more than just a few tablespoons, than soak 1 cup of bulgar wheat in two cups of hot water and let it stand for 10 minutes. You can also add 1 cup of bulgar wheat to 2 cups of boiling water and stir for 2 minutes before removing it from the heat, then let it sit for for 4 minutes. No mater what method you use make sure you drain the excess water.

Sweet Bulgar Wheat Salad

(printable version)

serves 4

1 cup prepared bulgar wheat

2 oranges peeled, seeded, and sliced into cubes

1/4 cup slices soft white cheese

1/4 cup crushed walnuts

honey to taste

Gently mix all of the ingredients in a medium bowl minus the honey. Add the honey when the salad is ready to be served.

Savory Bulgar Wheat Salad

(printable version)

serves 4

1 cup prepared bulgar wheat

2 teaspoons olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1 tomato, diced

1 small cucumber peeled, seeded, and diced

1/2 of a medium onion, peeled, shredded

olives to taste

gorgonzola to taste

vinegar (optional)

In a medium bowl season the prepared bulgar wheat with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Add the diced tomato, cucumber, onion, and olives and gently mix. Sprinkle the gorgonzola on top and drizzle with vinegar.

Endive and Spinach Salad | Day 28 of 31 Days of Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 09:18:05 PST

Kara and I met at church when we lived in Santa Cruz. She and I connected over food and parenting. She is the mama to two beautiful little girls, Ada and Lola. Kara is a total sweetheart, and didn't make fun of me for not knowing anything about American football when we watched the superbowl together at her house, and she also didn't seem to mind that I devoured all the snacks she had made. You can follow her on her blog, Kara in the Kitchen for some tasty recipes and also on Facebook.

Hello Kitchen Corners readers! I am so excited to be a part of Damaris' 31 days of salad. I first met her when my family and I moved to Santa Cruz. I'd been wanting to start a food blog for a while, and when I found out that she had one, I told her so. She said, "Do it!" So I did. And here I am, almost one year later -- cooking, baking, and blogging away. I hope you all enjoy this salad, it is my own re-creation and combination of two salads that I love. Let's start off with the correct pronunciation of endive. It's on-DEEV, not on-DIVE. My French-speaking husband says so. Plus, doesn't it make you feel refined? "I'll have the ondeeeev salad, please." So fancy.

Endive & Spinach Salad

(printable version)

2 endives

2 handfuls baby spinach

1 apple or pear, thinly sliced (optional)

1 oz. walnuts, chopped

1/4 c. Craisins

1/4 c. blue cheese crumbles

In a medium bowl, toss endives, spinach, and apple. Sprinkle with walnuts, Craisins, and blue cheese crumbles.

For the Creamy Mustard Vinaigrette

1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon stone ground mustard

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

Combine ingredients and puree using an immersion blender, food processor, or blender. Serve atop salad and enjoy!

The Leftover Salad | Day 27 of 31 Days of Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 09:16:05 PST

Today I cooked for a total of 1 minute. I made a salad using leftovers. I do that a lot actually. I don't make elaborate meals every day. In fact most days our meals are simple, repetitive, reliable. Things I know the kids will eat. Basically we eat a lot of rice and beans.

It's not everyday that dinner is center stage. Usually dancing in the living room is center stage. Or building a fort, or going to the beach, reading books, those sorts of things. And then when we need a break we sit down as a family, give thanks to God for our food, our life, our family, and we eat, we clean up, and we go right back to where we left off.

Today my 1 minute of cooking was the 1 minute I needed to assemble this salad.

I didn't even bother to make any for the kids or for anyone else. It's rare when I get the chance to do that. Usually someone needs me. But at that exact moment everyone was fine. They were either dancing or cuddling.

I use leftovers on salads pretty often. It's easy to throw some black beans on top of some arugula and quickly slice some tomatoes. These are my favorite kinds of salads actually. There's something psychologically satisfying in using leftovers.

Today, no recipe. Just a quick hi.

p.s Enzo and Iris were dancing to the tune of this little gem when I snapped that shot. If you need a little song to carry you over to the weekend I think that song will do the trick.

xoxo

Great Ingredients to Add to your Salad | Day 26 of 31 Days of Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 09:10:55 PST

I met Marie last year in Mexico at Food Blog Camp. She introduced me to two very addicting things - the game Angry Birds and the books The Hunger Games. Marie is super fun. She's also super smart and a great writer, photographer, and cook. You have to check out her blog Meandering Eats. You can also find Marie on Facebook and Twitter. Thanks Marie your your great post.

I recently visited my sister-in-law to celebrate her baby shower. She's been telling me that pregnancy can be rough, but at least the clothes are comfortable. Loose dresses, empire-waisted tops, and pants that look like everyday jeans or cordoroys (and fit like them), but are equipped with elastic waist bands. To my husband's dismay, I may have explored the possibility of buying a pair of these pants. Clearly, I'm in need of a few weeks of cleansing salads to get myself back into shape.

So, when Da asked for a guest post, I was happy to oblige for the sake of a swift kick in the non-elastic-waisted pants. Yet, at the latter part of a month of salads, I was a little stumped as to an interesting salad recipe. I thought I'd talk a little about my favorite salad ingredients. Some can add a few calories, but they also add a lot of flavor, which helps me stick to a healthier regimen. One of the best ways to bring lots of flavor, but not a lot of crud, to a salad is to make vinaigrette. Store-bought salad dressings tend to have a lot of sodium, fat, and other unhealthy ingredients, so making your own ensures control over what goes into the salad. I like Mark Bittman's super-simple vinaigrette and scale the ingredients down for a single serving in a jar. Put the lid on, take it to work, and shake it up when I'm ready for lunch. Dried fruits, like cranberries, raisins, or currants, are fantastic additions whether or not fresh fruit is available. I find that dried fruits pair excellently with nuts. Pictured above are pistachios and candied walnuts.

On the other hand, we're extremely lucky here in California to have fresh fruit year-round. In January, citrus is the most common, but so are apples and pears. I love adding fruit to a salad. Healthy, simple, and a sweet contrast to the saltier dressing. Also, fruit can be added to the vinaigrette. Think about raspberry vinegars or lemon oils. Cheese is an excellent topper, but too much defeats the point of a salad. I love a simple chevre and for more flavor, mixed in dukkah seasoning. The dukkah is smoky and nutty, which works perfectly with tart goat cheese.

Root veggies like beets and fennel taste fantastic. I like to roast them and I know some like to add the raw fennel fronds to salad. One of my favorite salads is arugula, roasted beets, grapefruit, chevre, and another favorite topping: fresh mint. Top with a simple vinaigrette and it's a salad that is flavorful and filling. In the summer, add pine nuts and swap out the grapefruit for watermelon. Salads like these keep me out of the maternity-wear stores... although those elastic-waistbands are still extremely tempting.

Arugula with Yogurt Dressing and Granola Salad | Day 25 of 31 Days of Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:21:03 PST

Since our month of salads is coming to an end I'm feeling a little daring and willing to expose some of my salad secrets. I love salad with granola. Please don't think I'm weird, because I promise you arugula and granola go so, so, well together.

Arugula (or as the British call it, rocket) is my favorite leafy edible green, which is strange because I'm a total wimp when it comes to hot spicy food, and arugula is a bit spicy, just a teeny bit. But I love how my mouth tingles when I eat it, and I love how crunchy and refreshing it is all at the same time. Add some yogurt dressing and some granola and you've got yourself a great salad.

Arugula with Yogurt Dressing and Granola
(printable version)
serves 2

Arugula, enough for 1 small salad bowl (I personally like using hydroponic arugula)
1 tablespoon plain yogurt
1/2 tablespoon lime juice
2 tablespoons granola

Gently rinse out and dry the arugula. Mix the yogurt with lime juice to make the dressing. Gently toss the arugula with the dressing and add the granola on top.

Mango Salsa Salad | Day 24 of 31 Days of Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:15:44 PST

The first time I had mango salsa was on my wedding day. My brother-in-law Danny made a big bowl of mango salsa to serve at our reception. There's a little wedding video (gosh where is that by the way?) and about 5 minutes of it is Christian eating mango salsa. I think the whole video is like 7 minutes long.

Another fact - In Brazil it is very untraditional to eat avocado in savory dishes and even more untraditional to eat mangoes in savory dishes. We've made mango salsa a couple of times here in Bahia and my little sister won't even come near it. More for us!

And yet another fact- I call mango salsa mango salsa salad because to me salsa calls for tortillas which is something I don't normally have whereas salad can be an anytime deal.

I love eating mango salad with fish, and fish is something we have plenty of here. And I love eating mango salsa with fajitas, something we don't get much of.

But when we do it looks like this.
And it tastes so good.

And then the next day when the tortillas are gone, because they go quickly, salsa becomes salad again. I eat it plain, or with white rice and some fried fish. Seriously, one of my favorite salads ever.

Mango Salsa Salad
(printable version)

3 medium sized ripe, but firm, mangoes, peeled, seeded, and cut into cubes
1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/3 cup lime juice
1/2 of a red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste

In a small salad bowl combine all of the ingredients and gently toss.

Candied Pecan Salad | Day 23 of 31 Days of Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:16:46 PST

Today my friend Natalie Norton is going to show us how to make a candied pecan salad. Natalie says she's not a cook, but if you've ever met Natalie you know that Natalie can be anything she wants to be. She is exceptional. She is inspiring. She is so authentic. I love her work, the photography, the writing, the resources. She is pure, pure, fantastic. You can also follow her on twitter and Facebook.

First things first, I'm not a cook. I'm not a chef. I'm not a baker. . . person. BUT it's not because I'm not good at it, and it's certainly NOT because my mom didn't fight me tooth and nail trying to teach me basic proficiency. I don't know the right way to chop an onion, I never follow a recipe and I eyeball everything (I use my tablespoon measure for shoveling peanut butter into my mouth, what?). One thing I do know?? What.tastes.like.Heaven. And this salad is IT, with a capital I * T.

Candied Pecan Salad

(printable version)

Ingredients (all to taste)

Grapes (substitute crasins if you'd like)

Feta Cheese (substitute blue cheese if you prefer)

Red Onion

Candied Pecans (don't know how to candy a pecan? easiest trick EVER. see directions at the end of this post.)

Dark Leafy Greens (or spinach)

Dressing 1 Packet Good Season's Zesty Italian (don't try any substitution, Zesty Italian will win, hands down)

Prepare dressing according to recipe on the packet and then add 2 TBSP (if you're into measurements or something) sugar Shake, shake, shake, pour, toss, serve, swoon.

Then, if you want to win wife, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend of the year, you wrap it up with a bow and take it to your love who's working late. Yes, that's my plan, and since you can't see the note, you should know, it's addressed to "Sexy Face" (because he totally has one).

Be sure to whip up some extra candied pecans to munch on, because they're HEAVENLY. Speaking of which. . .

How Natalie Candies A Pecan

printable version)

(Alternate title: the ghetto version of the real way to candy a pecan, but it still works perfectly well, so why go to all the trouble of doing it any differently?)

1. Place pecans in frying pan over medium heat (stirring regularly—they burn so fast, be sure to pay attention).

2. Once the pecan begins to give off fragrance, sprinkle a couple of spoon fulls of sugar (appx 1 TBSP depending on how many pecans you're making) over the nuts.

3. Change to LOW heat and stir, stir, stir until the sugar crystalizes.

4. Place on a plate to cool (or they'll all stick together).

5. Serve (read: stuff your face full of every last one and then make another batch for the salad).

Enjoy!

xx! Natalie Norton

Day 16-Chinese Chicken Salad
Day 17-Brazilian Fruit Salad
Day 18-Cold Cabbage Salad
Day 19-Four Bean Salad
Day 20-Italian Potato Salad
Day 21-Tri-Tip Salad
Day 22-Side-Dish as a salad

Side-Dish as a Salad | Day 22 of 31 Days of Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Damaris @Kitchen Corners) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:00:53 PST

Let's chit-chat a little. First, how was your Sunday? My Sunday was great, we went to church, Chris and I gave talks (glad that is out of the way), and then I came home and took a 4 hour nap. Second, do you ever use a classic side-dish recipe and call it salad? I do all the time. Beets with Orange is an example of this. I like making this recipe and serving it warm, as a side dish. Then the next day I like to take it out of the fridge and serve it cold and call it salad. Sometimes I cut the beets and oranges into smaller pieces, put it in a bowl instead of a round dish, maybe season it a little more, and have myself a salad.

Cooking isn't so much about inventing, but more of re-inventing. Instead of giving you a new recipe I wanted to give you some new ideas today.

Here are 5 side-dishes that could easily be turned into/called a salad

// Tomato and Basil Bruschetta - Bruschetta is awesome. It's so quick to make and always so refreshing. Bruschetta is usually served on top of bread and used as side-dish or appetizer. Yeah, ditch the bread. Ditch the bread and you've got yourself a vinaigrette, which could easily be served as a salad. I love vinaigrettes by the way.

// Lemon Roasted Potatoes and Artichokes - So you know that beautiful Italian Potato Salad we shared on Friday? Well that is my favorite way to eat potatoes, other than french fries. French fries always wins. I like classic potato salads with mayo but I l.o.v.e potato salad with olive oil and vinegar, no mayo. So for this lemon roasted potatoes and artichokes I would serve it cold, add a tiny bit more olive oil, some vinegar, and cherry tomatoes and fresh Mozzarella and call it a salad.

// Roasted Balsamic Brussel Sprouts - I miss brussel sprouts so much. Last year, when brussel sprouts were the cup cake version of side dishes, I probably made brussel sprouts at least a couple times a month. I've never seen brussel sprouts in Brazil, I don't even know the Portuguese name for brussel sprouts. Regardless, I still love brussel sprouts and think they are the bomb. I love them warm. I love them cold. Mostly I love them cold though. I would recommend making these, letting them chill overnight in the fridge, then cut them into 4ths, add some shredded pastrami, cherry tomatoes and turn it into a salad.

// Marinated White Beans - White bean salad is my mom's favorite type of salad, maybe because it's so easy to make. What I like about this dish is that she uses canned beans. Do I prefer un-canned beans? Of course, who doesn't I'm sure she does too. But when you're short on time just open up a can of beans and vamp it into a salad. No excuses. In fact, here is another white bean salad recipe that looks just as delish.

// Green Bean Bacon Bundles - O.K make this, because green beans and bacon go so well together. Except ditch the bundle. Just make the green beans and the bacon, cut both into small pieces, toss it with some Italian dressing and Bam (!) salada.

Are there any side dishes you like to revamp into a salad? Do share.

Day 16-Chinese Chicken Salad
Day 17-Brazilian Fruit Salad
Day 18-Cold Cabbage Salad
Day 19-Four Bean Salad
Day 20-Italian Potato Salad
Day 21-Tri-Tip Salad