It has been a bit crazy around the house lately.  I am loving the new addition to the family, my little baby boy! He is a lot of fun.  My parents were visiting from Brasil, so you can just imagine all the cooking that went on.  Here is one of the recipes we made recently.  Hope you enjoy it!

Esfihas

1 c milk

1 egg

1/2 c oil

1 T sugar

1 t salt

1 T yeast (I used the instant dry yeast)

Flour until the dough is soft and stays together. (it was about 3-4 cups or so of flour. I just add until it forms a dough)

Mix it all together, then make small balls (or big ones depending on the size of esfihas you want)

Open the dough flat into a triangle.

Fill with the meat filling (recipe bellow) or any other filling you may like.

Close the dough into a triangle shape.

Brush with egg wash and bake for about 20 minutes at 350 F or until golden brown. This recipe will be around 40 small esfihas.

For the meat filling:

1 lb ground beef

salt

pepper

2 tomatoes (diced)

1 diced onion (diced very small, or you can shred it)

2 T ketchup or tomato paste

4 small potatoes (shred them using the cheese shredder)

drizzle oil

1-2 limes (drizzle juice on top)

Mix it all together and fill the bread with this mixture.

If you would like you can also make esfihas abertas (open esfihas). Follow the recipe until you turn them into balls, then open them into a circle, leaving the sides a little thicker.

Fill (meat, or cheese) and Bake.

YUM

This was a cheese filled one topped with a bit of fresh salsa!

This is one of the most refreshing juices I remember from Brasil.  I also love the combination of the smell of the pineapple and the mint leaves.

1 1/2 c pineapple cut into chunks (tip: you can freeze the pineapple and have it ready for any time you want)

1 c cold water

1 T sweetened condensed milk

2 fresh mint leaves (you can use more if you want more mint taste)

Sugar to taste (I prefer to sweetened my juice with the sweetened condensed milk. Unless the pineapple is not sweet enough, I do not use any sugar)

Add all ingredients in a blender, and blend until liquid.  Strain the mixture and serve.  I like to decorate the cup with swirls of sweetened condensed milk, 2 cubes of ice, then pour the juice and add a couple leaves of mint! This will make about 2 cups of juice.

So refreshing… YUM

A couple weeks ago, a friend and I got together to bottle some peaches. We also made peach honey and we loved it.  I had a variety of plums at my house and we just weren’t eating them.  So, I figure I would try to make some plum honey and see if it worked out.  I really enjoyed the taste and texture.  It is a very good spread for breads. Also, if you thin it out, it makes a great glaze for cakes and such.

First you will need a bunch of the fruit; in this case plum. Wash and cut them. Boil with a little bit of water and about 1/2 cup sugar.

Let is boil until most of the fruit turns into a mush.  Then strain it to obtain the juice.

Make sure to scrape the bottom of your strainer.

Measure the amount of juice you have and pour it into a sauce pan.  Bring it to boil on medium heat and add 1/2 of the amount of juices of sugar (ex if you had 2 cups of juice, add 1 cup of sugar).  Cook until it starts to thicken. Mix constantly.

Keep mixing often until it gets very thick.

You can now pour into jars and process the jars, or just keep jars in the fridge.

YUM!

I love Artichoke and I wanted to experiment with different ways of cooking artichoke.  I tried 5 ways.  I liked them all, but I have to say my favorite was baking the artichoke.  Here is a summery of my adventures with artichoke:

Basics:  Before you start, make sure you trim the artichoke.  Cut just a little bit of the top and trim the leaves a bit. Then wash it well under cold water.  If you are going to use the artichoke as a serving dish you may also want to trim the bottom so it stands well. If you don’t need it to sit then go ahead and peel the outer side of the stem. The stem is a continuation of the artichoke heart so cook it and enjoy it.

Boil:  In a large sauce pan, bring water to boil. Add a little salt and add artichoke. Cover and boil it for about 45-50 minutes.  It will be done when you can insert a knife in the bottom of the artichoke easily. If your artichoke is small, keep an eye on it. You don’t want to over cook it.

Steamed:  Just like any other vegetable. Add a little bit of water to your pan, using  a steamer, steam your artichoke until a knife can easily be inserted in the bottom of the artichoke.

Baked:  I separated the leaves a little bit and seasoned the artichoke with 1 t rock salt, 2 t garlic powder and a little drizzle of olive oil.  Then I wrapped it in foil.  I used 2 sheets of foil to make sure it was nice and closed.  Bake in a 350 oven for about 1 hour.  It is just like baking a potato.  It will be done when a knife can go on the bottom of the artichoke with ease.

Microwaved :  Using a microwave safe dish, microwave your artichoke for about 10 minutes on high.

Grilled:  Cut the artichoke length wise.  Either steam or microwave it for a couple of minutes just to soften it a bit.  Take out the choke (as you can see on the picture). The choke is the fuzzy part.  Then season it (olive oil, salt and lemon juice) take it to your grill.  Grill the artichoke (cut side down) until they get a good color and are nice and tender.

How to eat it: Now the best part right???  Serving an artichoke for company is very nice. It is healthy and it looks very fancy!  To eat it, just pull the leaves out and scrape the bottom with your teeth.

You can serve it in place of tortillas with your favorite dips, or  you can serve it with melted butter. YUM!!! It is also delicious by itself. After you are done with the leaves, you will get to the artichoke heart.  This is the middle of the artichoke. It is nice and soft. You usually see this part used in cooking.  Just take the heart out and cut it into fourths.  Then scrape the fussy part of the artichoke (called choke) and discard it.  Now you can chop the rest and use in your favorite dish. I love to add it to pasta sauces, make a hot artichoke dip or just eat it by itself. It is so good!!!

I love leftovers. One of the main reasons why I love them so much is because I can go back and recreate! This recipe is an example of that.  I had a little bit of puff pastry left and what do you do with that?  Definitely not throw it away… so here it is! Twisted Bread Sticks, yum!

Puff Pastry (they are so good you may use the whole sheet)   For this recipe I had about 1/4 of a sheet of puff pastry

2 t garlic powder

2 T Parmesan cheese (or any other cheese of your liking)

Spread half of garlic and half Parmesan in one side of pastry, press the mixture with your fingers.  Turn pastry over and repeat. Cut into strips. I used a pastry cutter.

Now twist them gently.

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until they are nice and golden!

1 can of whole water chestnut
Sliced bacon

Wrap each water chestnut with a piece of bacon. (if the water chestnut is not too big, you might be able to cut the slice in half or even thirds)  Secure it with a tooth pick.

Bake at 350 until bacon is done (about 20-25 minutes, just until crispy).

 Sauce is ketchup and brown sugar (equal parts) pour on top and bake for another 10 minutes.  Some times I only add sauce on half of the pieces and then warm up the rest of the sauce and serve on the side. Here is the final plate: 

These are so good!