So, what's next?

Next week we are going to have to take it easy since life outside this blog is eating us alive...We will be sharing with you our newly learnt Spaghetti and Meat Balls recipe. It is delicious and it will feed you for three days. You can also make meat ball sandwiches on ciabatta bread for lunch. Yummy!

Keep visiting our blog,

Ana & Ana

Egg Pudding (Portuguese Flan)

This is a traditional Portuguese pudding usually prepared to celebrate a special occasion. We bring this dessert with us every time we have a potluck. We have been practicing the recipe for years now, so it is easy to make. This recipe may seem easy, but trust me on this, it takes a while to get the hang of it.

 Et voila! The is the last course: the egg pudding! Our signature dessert.

Ingredients:

For the caramel:

• 6 table spoons of sugar
• 3 table spoons of water

For the pudding:

• 1cup of milk
• 7 eggs
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 tbsp of flour

 
Directions:

For the caramel:
In the mold itself (see a picture of our very old flan pan we brought with us from Portugal 10 years ago) add the sugar and water. Put the mold on top of the oven on high-medium heat. When the sugar starts turning into a light golden color, give it a little shake and get ready to remove it from the heat. You will know when the caramel is ready as it shows a nice dark brown color.

Remove from the heat and roll the caramel around the sides and center of the mold. The goal if to cover the inside of the mold with a even coat of caramel. Be very careful as the caramel is extremely hot. However, if you wait for it to cool off you will not be able to coat the entire mold and the pudding will not unmold properly.

For the pudding:
In a large bowl mix the sugar with the flour until you cannot see any traces of flour. Add the eggs one by one, and use an electric mixer to mix everything very well. Add the milk and mix again.

Finally:

Pour the pudding mix into the caramelized mold.

 Place the mold (with a tighten lid) in a larger pan and add water to come a little bit less than halfway up the sides of the mold. Cover the larger pan. Let it boil in high-medium heat.

As soon as the water starts boiling, bring the heat to medium low and let the pudding cook for 30 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the pudding comes out clean).

Cool in room temperature. Then place it in the fridge for about 3 hours. Unmold the pudding in a deep plate so it can hold the caramel. Enjoy!

Pork Chop with Orange and Cranberry Sauce

This is a recipe that is easy to follow and very fruity. The pork, orange and cranberry make a wonderful combination. It goes well with steam rice and boiled vegetables (brocolli or green beans). This is the second dish of our three-course meal.

Ingredients:

•  4 boneless pork chop (cut thin)
• 2 garlic cloves diced
• 1/4 cup of dark beer
• 4 slices of orange
• 1/2 orange
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1 table spoon of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of butter
• pepper

Directions:

Place the pork chops in the center of a deep plate. Add the salt, pepper, and garlic. Toss gently to blend. Add the beer. Cover the dish and put it in the fridge. Leave the pork chops in this marinate for at least 5 hours (preferably overnight).

In a large skillet melt the butter and add the olive oil. Stir gently and add the pork chops. Save the marinate and leave the chops frying in medium-high heat for 5 minutes (turn them around). After that bring the heat to medium-high and pour the marinate into the skillet along with the juice of half an orange. Stir gently and let the pork chops cooking for more 10-15 minutes (make sure that the meat is well-done-- it should not be pink when you cut the chops in half).

Serve hot with steam rice and/or toast (or croutons), more orange slices and homemade cranberry sauce. If you like, you can also serve with bolied vegetables (brocolli or green beans).

Cranberry Sauce

It is now time to prepare the cranberry sauce to go with the pork chops. Carnberry sauce is not just for Thanksgiving (even though we bought fresh cranberries really cheap right after Thanksgiving). We made a bunch of cranberry sauce this past Thanksgiving and stored it in the fridge in glass containers.


Ingredients:

• 1 cup of granulated sugar
• 1 cup of water
• 4 cups of fresh cranberries
• orange peel

Directions:

Wash and pick the cranberries. In a large saucepan bring the water and sugar to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add cranberries and orange peel, return to a boil. reduce heat, simmer for about 10 minutes until the cranberries burst. After the cranberries burst, we leave it simmering for an additional 10-15 minutes as we like the sauce thick.

Remove from heat (remove the orange peel). Cool completely at room temperature and then chill in the fridge.

Green Soup (Caldo Verde)

We are a little behind this week, but still on time for a three-course meal. Here is the first dish: the green soup (or Caldo Verde) -- the most traditional Portuguese soup.

Ingredients:

• 6 large white potatoes
• 2-3 bunches of kale (or collards green)
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1 chourizo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorizo) sliced
• 1 table spoon of extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

The most difficult part of this recipe is to prepare the kale: wash thoroughly each of the kale leaves, roll them into large cigar-shape rolls and slice them really thin (0.2 inches slices) with a sharp knife. Wash it again and set aside.

On a large pan put the potatoes (peeled and washed) and salt. Cover the potatoes with water and let it boil for about 20 minutes. Puree the mixture with an immersion blender or any other blender (be careful for not burning yourself). After the puree is ready add the chourizo, kale, and olive oil. Bring it to a boil again for 10-15 minutes (when the soup starts boiling bring it to a medium-low heat) or until the kale is tender.

  

Serve it hot. Enjoy!

Next week...

Hmmmmmmmmmmm . . . What should we have this week? Oh I know!
How about a  three course-meal ? Sounds good, right?! Hope you like it.

First dish: Caldo Verde
Kale (or collards green) and potato soup with chourizo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorizo). This is the most traditional Portuguese soup. We enjoyed it during New Year!

Second dish: Pork Chop with Orange and Cranberry sauce

A pork dish with a citrus twist and a great cranberry sauce recipe.We have it anytime we feel like a tasty dish.

Pork chops marinate for at least 5 hours (preferably overnight).

Cranberry sauce.

And the meal ends with a sweet dessert that is going to be a surprise!

Stay tuned.

Ana & Ana

Meat and Potato Casserole (Empadão de Carne)

This is an easy dish, but takes a little bit of time to prepare because we like our mashed potatoes made from scratch. It takes time, but tastes delicious. This is a light dish that goes very well with a green salad.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium diced onion
• 3 cloves of minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice
• 1 pound of extra lean ground beef
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 10 large white potatoes
• 2 table spoons of butter
• 2/3 of cup of milk
• sea salt
• pepper
• 1 beaten egg
• black olives for garnish
  

Directions:

First prepare the ground beef:

In a large skillet (medium heat), put the olive oil, onion, garlic. Let it cook until the onion is golden and soft. Add the beef, 1 teaspoon of salt and a dash of pepper and let it fry for a few minutes in high-medium heat. As soon as the beef looses its pink/red color, add the lemon juice and bring the heat to a medium-low. Leave it cooking, stirring ocasionally, for 7 minutes. Put the ground beef aside.

Then prepare the mashed potatoes:

Peel, wash and dice the potatoes. Put the potatoes in a large pan and cover them with water. Add 3 teaspoons of salt and bring everything to a boil. Let it boil in medium-low heat for about 15 minutes (until the potatoes are soft; you can try them with a fork). When the potatoes are cooked, drain all the water from the pan. Let it cool for 5 minutes and then with a fork, mash the potatoes. Put the mashed potatoes back in the pan, and add the butter, milk and a dash of pepper over low heat. Mix everything carefully and thoroughly for a couple of minutes.

Now, you just need to assemple the dish:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a pyrex dish with butter. Cover the bottom of the pyrex with a thick layer of mashed potatoes, then on top create another layer with the ground beef. Finally cover the beef with another layer of mashed potatoes. Spread the beaten egg on top of the mashed potatoes and garnish with olives.

Bake for 20 - 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve immediately.

Our Chili Recipe

This is an adpation of the traditional Portuguese beans with meat (feijoada) dish and the chili recipes we have learned in the US. We did give a twist to the chili recipe by adding collards green. This is the perfect dish for a cold winter day...and there are plenty of these around here.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of 96% lean fresh beef
• 2/3 cup of water
• 1 can (15 oz.) of tomato sauce (we like 100% natural Hunt's)
• 4 cans of dark red, red or light red beans (15 oz. times 4)
• half od a bunch of fresh collards green cut into small pieces
• 2 teaspoons of sea salt
• pinch of pepper
• 2 1/2 teaspoons of cummins
• 1 large onion diced
• 2 garlic cloves diced
• 1 chourizo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorizo) sliced (replace with smoked sausage)
• 3-4 tablespoons of extra vrigin olive oil
• 3 carrots (medium size) cut into thin slices

Directions:
In a large pan, add the onion, garlic, chourizo, carrots and olive oil. Cook everything in medium-high heat (keep mixing it) for a few minutes until the onion turns gold and soft.

Add the beef, salt, pepper and cummins and let the beef fry for a couple of minutes. As soon as the beef losses its pink/red color add the water, tomato sauce, beans and collards green. Let it boil. After that, let everything cook in medium-low for 45-50 minutes. If the chili looses the water too quickly add a little bit more. Make sure to stir it a few times, while it cooks.

Serve hot with some steamed white rice on the side (or a nice slice of toasted bread). Enjoy!

Tiny Meat Cakes (Bolos de Carne)

This is a delicious recipe. In Portugal we use to buy this cakes at the bakery, but here in the US we make our own. They taste exactly the same, and make a wonderful snack and appetizer.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium diced onion
• 3 cloves of minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice
• 1 pound of extra lean ground beef
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt
• a dash of pepper
• cilantro (as much as you like)
• 1 package of puff pastry sheets thawed (we like Pepperidge Farm -- you can find it on the frozen food section)
  

Directions:

In a large skillet (medium heat), put the olive oil, onion, garlic. Let it cook until the onion is golden and soft. Add the beef, salt and pepper and let it fry for a few minutes in high-medium heat. As soon as the beef looses its pink/red color, add the lemon juice and bring the heat to a medium-low. Leave it cooking, stirring ocasionally, for 7 minutes. Let the meat cool off.

Next, take the puff pastry sheets and cut them into rectangle-shaped pieces (each sheet can be cut into 4-5 rectangles). Put a teaspoon-full of the meat on one of the sides of the the rectangle. Then take the other side and fold it over. This makes one tiny cake. Keep doing making the cakes until you run out of pastry.

Put the cakes in the oven for the amount of time it says on the puff pastry package (12-17 minutes).

What's Next?

Last week we had a lot of healthy and delicious recipes! Now this week we will have some dishes that we absolutely love. So we hope you like all the yummy recipes!

We will present a series of dishes made with ground beef: our chili recipe (with a collards green twist)

Tiny Meat Cakes (Bolos de Carne) easy to cook with pre-made puff pastry.

And Meat and Potato Casserole (Empadão), our favorite!

We hope that you enjoy them all!

Ana & Ana

Penne with beef and garbanzo beans

This is a traditinal Portuguese dish that we make mainly during the winter. It is very satisfying and comforting. It makes a big batch and serves up to 6 people. You also can bring it to work, just microwave it and you will have a delicious lunch.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion diced
• 2 garlic cloves diced
• 2 tablespoons of extra vrigin olive oil
• 1/2 pound of 96% lean fresh beef (stir fry cut)
• 1 chourizo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorizo) sliced (replace with smoked sausage)
• 3 cups of penne
• 1 can of garbanzo beans - 15.5 oz
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of sea salt
• 1 cup of water
• pinch of pepper
• cilantro for garnish
  

Directions:

In a large pan, add the onion, garlic, chourizo, olive oil. Cook for a few minutes until the onion turns gold and soft.

Add the beef, salt and pepper and let the beef fry for a couple of minutes. As soon as the beef losses its pink/red color add the water, penne and garbanzo. Let everything cook in medium-low for 15-20 minutes. If the pasta looses the water too quickly add a little bit more. Make sure to stir the pasta a couple of times, while it cooks.

Garnish with cilantro.

Salmon with green beans

This is our first fish dish. We are posting it late just because this has been a crazy week. In our family we all love fish, but it is hard to find fresh fish where we live now. So because salmon is the easiest to find, we get it very often. This is our favorite salmon recipe.

Ingredients:

• 4 salmon filets
• 3 garlic cloves diced
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt (coarse) for the salmon
• 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt (coarse) for the green beans
• 1/2 teaspoon of lemon pepper
• 2 thin slices of lemon
• 1 cup of milk
• 1/2 pound of green beans
• 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter
• cilantro and oreganos (fresh or dry) for garnish

Directions:

Place the filets in the center of a deep plate. Add the salt, pepper, garlic and lemon. Toss gently to blend. Add the milk, which should cover the salmon. Cover the dish and put it in the fridge. Leave the salmon in this marinate for at least 5 hours (preferably overnight).

In a large skillet, add the olive oil and butter and let it melt and blend together. Add the salmon filets (do not add the marinate to the pan, just dicard it) and let them fry for at least 25 minutes in medium-low heat (turn the filest once, after the first 12 minutes). We like to put a lid on the skillet to keep the heat inside and make sure that the salmon is fully cooked.

At the same time boil the green beans in water and salt for about 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.

When the salmon is ready, add the boiled green beans, cilantro and oreganos to the skillet where the salmon is frying, and leave everything in the skillet for a couple of minutes.

Serve hot.

Pumpkin Soup

Fall and winter soup... variation replace pumpkin with carrots and/or sweet potatoes.

Ingredients:

• 6 cups of water
• 2 teaspoons of sea salt
• a small white onion diced
• 2 medium size potatoes diced (you can use more potatoes if you want the soup thicker)
• 3 large carrots diced
• 2 cups of pumpkin diced (or replace with 2 cups of carrots diced -- about 3-4 more large carrots diced)
• half of a small white cabbage sliced in thin slices
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

Peel, clean, cut and wash the vegetables before putting them in the pan. The freshest the vegetables the tasteful the soup. No canned vegetable will work. Bring the water and salt a boil.Add the vegetables. Let it boil for 20-30 minutes in low-medium heat.

Puree the mixture with an immersion blender or any other blender (be careful for not burning yourself). After the puree is completed add the olive oil and bring it to a boil again for 5 minutes.

Serve hot with a piece of toast or some other type of bread.

Breakfast Pita Pockets

This is a low-cal option for breakfast or a light lunch. It taste delicious and is very nutritious. We love to eat them for breakfast or bring them to school for lunch.

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil
  
• 1/2 of a small red onion chopped
  
• 1 red bell pepper chopped
  
• 1 cup of drained, rinsed canned black beans
• 4 eggs
• 1/3 a cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
• 4-6 pita pockets cut in half
• salt and pepper

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over a medium-high heat. Cook the onions and peppers until onions are softened and peppers are slightly charred, about 8-10 minutes (onions and peppers were previously washed and diced into small cubes). Add the black beans and cook until warmed through, another 3-5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and transfer to dish.

Whisk the eggs together and add in the cheese. Heat the remaining olive oil in the skillet and reheat the skillet over a medium heat. Reduce heat to low and add the eggs & cheese, scrambling until cooked through, about 3-4 minutes. Put the eggs and vegetables mixture inside the pita while hot (you can warm the pita pocket for 10 seconds in the microwave first). Enjoy!

Grandma Chicken Soup (Canja)

This is a typical Portuguese soup, easy to make and very nutritious. Perfect for a cold day. You should give it a try, especially if you like chicken.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups of water
• 1 chicken breast
• 1/2 cup of soup shape pasta (we use Barilla orzo or pastina; or short-grain white rice, if you cannot find the soup pasta)
• 1 tsp. of sea salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

In a pan put the water, salt and the chicken breast. Let it boil and after that simmer for 10 minutes. Take the chicken breast out and cut it into small pieces. Put the chicken back in the pan. Add the rice or "massa estrelinha" and the olive oil. Let it boil again and cook in medium-low eat for about 15 minutes.  It serves 2.

Next week in "whatcha u cooking?"

After over 10 dessert recipes it is time make some low-cal dishes. Some may not be low-cal, but savory and tasteful. Here is a sneak peak:

Monday: Grandma chicken soup

Tuesday: Breakfast pita pockets

Wednesday: Pumpkin soup (there is pumpkim again!)

Thursday: Salmon with green beans (our first fish dish)

Friday: Penne with beef and garbanzo beans

Review of the week

This week the pumpkin was the queen. Even though it is not Halloween, we have frozen a few pumpkins that we bought at the farmers' market in October so we could use them over this so so cold Winter. So this week we had pumpkin bread and pumpkin pie (even though pecan pie is our favorite) and we definitely used much of our pumpkin reserve.

Next week we will have a surprise recipe that also uses pumpkin (and yes, we do love pumpkin). Stay posted!

Snicker Doodles

This recipe is delicious! They end up coming out as little tea cookies. Snicker doodles are great with a nice steaming hot cup of tea and the remote in your hand on a cold day outside. We enjoy these very much ...hope you do to!

Ingredients:

• 2 3/4 of a cup of all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 1/2 a cup of granulated sugar
• 1 stick of unsalted butter at room temp.
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons of sugar
• 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon

Directions:

Mix together the flour, salt, and the baking powder in a bowl and set aside

Use an electric mixer (or a wooden spoon) to mix together the 1 1/2 cups of sugar and butter until smooth.

Put the eggs in the sugar+butter mixture and mix all together slowly until smooth.

Add the dry mixture to the sugar+butter spoon by spoon.

Put the batter in the fridge until hard enough to handle with, preferably all night.

Once the batter has hardened take it out of the fridge. Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees F. Roll the batter into little balls and put them on a baking sheet covered with wax paper.

Make the coating: Mix the sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle it on to the balls of batter before put them into the oven. Bake in the overn for 8-10 minutes.

Pumpkin (or Sweet Potato) Pie

When we first came to the U.S. we were intrigued and amazed with all the pies we had the opportunity to taste. Here is our interpretation of the pumpkin pie. You can use this recipe anytime throughout the year (especially if you have fresh pumpkin stored in your freezer): anytime you feel like pie in a cold and stormy winter day. Hope you enjoy it.

Ingredients for the crust:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 stick of butter (room temperature)
• a pinch of sea salt

Directions for Crust:

Sift together flour, sugar, and salt. Place the stick of butter on top and cut it into the flour using a pastry cutter (we use two knives and slash away). Slash away until the texture is like coarse sand. Continue working it with your hands until you can pat the dough into a ball. Put the ball of dough into the refrigerator to chill for an 60-30 minutes. Press it into an 10 inch pie pan with your fingers until it is even and fairly smooth.


Ingredients for the filling:

• 1 1/2 cups pumpkin or sweet potato (bolied, drained and mashed)
• 3 eggs beaten 
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 3/4 tsp. sea salt
• 1 2/3 cups undiluted evaporated milk (it is about a can of evaporated milk)  

Directions for the filling:

First you need to boil the fresh or fozen pumpkin (or sweet potato) for 10 minutes (we buy, peel and cut the pumpkins in October and stock our freezer for the winter). Drain thoroughly and mash it roughly with a fork.

In a large bowl combine the mashed pumpkin (or sweet potato), beaten eggs, sugar, spices, and milk. Beat until well blended, preferably with an electric blender or with an electric mixer. Pour this mixture into the pie shell and bake in a preheated 375 degree oven, for 55 minutes. Cool before serving, and garnish with whipped cream (if you like). 

Homemade Pecan Pie

Pecan pie is one of our favorite American pies, but it seemed utterly difficult to make. After some research on some old cooking books from the public library we came out with our own interpretation of pecan pie recipe. After tasting this pie you will not want store-bought pecan pie anymore. It is addictive!

Ingredients for the crust:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 stick of butter (room temperature)
• a pinch of salt

Directions for crust:

Sift together flour, sugar, and salt. Place the stick of butter on top and cut it into the flour using a pastry cutter (we use two knives and slash away). Slash away until the texture is like coarse sand. Continue working it with your hands until you can pat the dough into a ball. Put the ball of dough into the refrigerator to chill for 60-30 minutes. Press it into an 10 inch pie pan with your fingers until it is even and fairly smooth.

Ingredients for filling:

• 2 cups of roasted pecans (put one cup at a time in the microwave for 1 minute; they will taste just like they were roasted)
• 1 cup of white corn syrup (we use corn syrup substitute: see recipe below)
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 1/3 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1/3 a cup of melted butter
• 3 eggs

Directions for the filling:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine the eggs, brown sugar, corn syrup substitute, butter, and salt until well blended. Pour the filling into the pie crust. Top it with the roasted pecans. Bake for 50-55 minutes.

Light corn syrup substitute:

• 2 cups of granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup of water
• 1/4 teaspoon of lemon juice
• a dash of sea salt

In a saucepan combine all ingredients. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer ad put cover on it for 3 minutes to get sugar crystals off the sides of the pan. Uncover and cook for  more a few minutes (it should look like store-bought corn syrup). Stir often.

Makes almost 2 cups. You can store the remainder in a cover container at room temperature. It will keep for about 1 month.

Pumpkin Bread

In October we stock our freezer with fresh pumpkin that we use throughout the fall and winter. This is one of our favorite recipes, for breakfast or dessert. It is easy to make and nutritious too as it has tons of fresh pumpkin.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2  teaspoon unsalted butter
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 1/2 cups pumpkin (boiled, drained and mashed)
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Directions:
First you need to boil the frozen pumpkin for 10 minutes (we buy, peel and cut the pumpkins in October and stock our freezer for the winter). Drain thoroughly and mash it roughly with a fork.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 6 by 9 inch loaf pan with the butter and sprinkle it with flour and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until yellow a frothy. Add the vegetable oil and sugar and whisk to combine. Add the pumpkin and mix well.

Sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, baking powder into a medium sized bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and, using a wooden spoon, mix just until blended (be careful not to overmix).

Pour into the prepared loaf pan and bake until risen and golden brown, about 60-90 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the middle should come out clean. Remove the loaf pan from the oven and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Turn the bread out onto a wire rack, setting it right side up, to cool completely before cutting (sometimes we cut it still warm, as we like it...)

Variation: we use this same recipe with zuchini as well. It is really good if you have fresh zuchini available.