Recipes
Panaderia’s are the closets things to bakery heaven in my opinion, but then again I was brought up visiting these establishments since birth. When my parents would take me to visit relatives we would go by the Panaderia. When people were coming over we would go to the Panaderia, on the weekends, guess what, Panaderia.
I don’t visit these bakeries as much anymore, so when I walked into one locally here in Houston, TX, it pretty much took over my senses. My eyes, my nose, everything. I could not focus on what my friend was saying at the time. I was completely overwhelmed by all the display cases that held some very fragrant baked goods. I did the only think I could and clicked away on my phone and took some pictures of the cool space.
I love the whole process of collecting my pan dulce at the Panaderia. You walk around with a round flat tin pan and a pair of tongs. When you see something you like, you grab it and place it on your pan. Before you know it, your pan is piled high and your wondering who the hell is going to eat this.
If you get a chance and you can visit one in your area, you must. The beautiful Panaderia in these pictures is called El Bollio Bakery, located at:
2517 Airline Drive
Houston, TX 77009
I made fresh Pico de Gallo today and it was so good. Seriously, the aromas alone when making this is almost enough to satisfy. I actually went to the grocery store today and got all the ingredients to make pico de gallo. It is one of the easiest things to make on earth, but I don’t really spend much time in the kitchen, so this deserves a blog post.
Every holiday I visit my family, and most of them include homemade pico. My family is really good at cooking and getting everything together, so when I help it is with dishes like this. Throw in a mini-chopper and I am very happy to oblige.
If you have never made fresh Pico de Gallo, DO IT. Salsas in restaurants and store bought fresh/ready-to-eat pico can be good, but does not compare to your very own. So when your in the mood for chips and dip, bbq, or need something to go along side your Spanish rice, this is perfect.
Try it out and make your own concoction. Size of tomatoes, hot and spicy, with lime or without. Anyway you like, just do it, your kitchen is going to smell fabulous!
Ingredients:
2 ripe tomatoes
2 jalapenos (depends on hot you like it, start with one)
1/4 yellow onion
1 clove of garlic
1 lime
1 handful of cilantro
2 pinches of salt
I use an electric mini-chopper and throw in tomatoes and cilantro. Once it is chopped and looks diced, empty out into a large bowl. Next up, chop up the jalapenos, onion, and garlic. Remember on the jalapenos if you don’t want it too hot, you can take out the seeds. Squeeze lime juice and add salt to taste. Stir it up, chill, and eat! Serves a few.
So we totally broke out the Margaritas and Johnny Pacheco music on Cinco de Mayo.
Margaritas have such a magical relaxing effect that puts me in a great state of mind. Even a virgin rita can lower the blood pressure a bit. It is the perfect way to end a long day, or start the weekend. Since we all have our preferences and styles. My vibes say a good Margarita needs to look more white/yellow and not really green at all. Those neon green Margaritas are about as authentic as neon green Key Lime Pie.
Texas has some of the best Margaritas in the world. But where did this drink come from? I have always heard that it was created by Margarita Sames (she is in the above picture), self-described socialite from San Antonio, Texas. As “the legend” goes, before Christmas 1948, the group of friends challenged Margarita to create an exciting cocktail.
Having grown up in France, Margarita was familiar with Cointreau and living in Acapulco she was very familiar with tequila. Margarita credited the creation of the drink to her famous friends John Wayne, Fred MacMurray, and Lana Turner for helping her perfect it. Soon news spread about the Margarita to bartenders around town.
Margarita’s Sames Recipe:
One part Cointreau
three parts tequila
one part lime juice
served over ice.
Garnish your glass with at thick rim salt!
Of course the drink has deviated a bit over time, and most of the Margaritas I get at restaurants these days come out of something that looks like an Icee machine. But we still make them at home, and here is one of our favorite and easiest frozen Margarita recipes. Enjoy!
The Legend of Mole & Cinco de Mayo
Cinco de Mayo (5th of May) commermorates the victory of a ragtag band of Mexican soilders led by General Porfirio Diaz over the French at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. Puebla is a very important place in the history of Mexican Food. It is said that Mole was invited there.
The legend is that a group of local nuns wanted to make a special meal for a bishop traveling through town. Using their minimal store of seeds and herbs, they concocted the rich spicy sauce called mole that is now a vital part of the Mexican kitchen, frequently served as part of a traditonal Cinco de Mayo.
Here is a great version of the Chicken Mole dish that we love! Try it out and let us know what you think.
And who doesn’t need that these days!
This is one of my small indulgences that is a real treat. They are called carmel wafers or “stroopwafel ”. They originate from Gouda (think cheese) in the Netherlands. A stroopwafel (syrup waffle) by defination is a waffle that is made from two thin layers of baked batter filled with caramel. My favorite one is by Daelmans.
They are great with a mug of warm coffee.
All you have to do is take the carmel wafer out of the package, put it on top of your coffee mug to warm up the carmel on the inside. After about 2-3 minutes (depening on how hot your coffee is) the carmel wafer is ready to eat.
The uses are endless
I have used them to make ice cream sandwiches, topped them with mousse and fruit. I have even layered these wafers in cakes and crumbled them for toppings. They also make a great addition to a gift basket filled with goodies.
Front of package
Back of Package
Warming up!
For the Mom 2.0 Summit we are giving out over 250 boxes of the Italian Wedding Cookies. So if you would like to make these at home or if you had a box and are now addicted like the rest of us here is the recipe!
Makes 80 Cookies
Ingredients:
1 1/2 Cup(s) Unsalted Butter (use the european butter since it has less water content)
3/4 Cup(s) Confectioners’ Sugar
1/4 Teaspoon(s) Salt
1 1/2 Cup(s) Finely Ground Almonds
6 Teaspoon(s) Mexican Vanilla Extract
3 Cup(s) All-Purpose Flour Sifted
1/2 Cup(s) Confectioners’ Sugar for rolling
Preparation:
Preheat the over for 325 degrees
Cream butter in a bowl and gradually add confectioners’ sugar and salt
Beat until light and fluffy
Then add almonds and vanilla
Gradually add the flour and mix well
Shape into balls using about 1 teaspoon for each cookie
Place on ugreased cookie sheets, and bake for 15-20 minutes – Do not brown
Cool slightly, then roll into the confectioners’ sugar
You can also sprinkle or dust colored sugars over the cookies
Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. For the last 2 Halloweens we have been sticking to a Harry Potter/ Hogwarts theme that has been a lot of fun. I love having people over to the house and cooking up some amazing treats to share. My Menu for the festive night begins with a Baked Brie that is to die for, then my Minestrone Soup Recipe that has been handed down for generations that I call my Witches Brew for this night.
I also make yummy Halloween Sandwiches that I bake into the shape of snakes, and then we make Chocolate Frogs out of candy frog molds and Pumpkin Pasties that are delish. I also make a Cake with Nutella frosting and decorate it with candy corns or you can have a baker decorate one up for you like I did for my son’s Harry Potter Birthday Party.
The best part about following a theme is being able to transform your home into it.
For the Harry Potter/Hogwarts theme
I use anything that looks gothic or like it belongs in a castle. I also have props to help me out like white owls, silver birds, the sorting hat, Professor McGonagall’s hat, wands and the nimbus 2000. With those props I set them up around the house and it makes for a beautiful transformation.
Can you believe it has already been 10 years since Harry Potter was released!? Scholastic hosted an all-day readathon to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Here are some pictures from the event. Harry Potter 10th Anniversary
Moist Banana Bread Recipe in the middle of Chaos
Carrie Pacini : Wednesday 17 September, 2008 : Recipes
Here’s the scenario:
Hurricane Ike comes through your city and does some serious damage to everything around you.
Now you are without power and are staying with family that does have power. Kids are out of school for the entire week and some. (which means they are going crazy)
This morning my mom says “we have an entire bowl full of bad bananas” so I had a thought. What do you do when life gives you bad bananas? Well, you turn it into Amazing Banana Bread and share it with those around you.
So that is what we did! We turned bad bananas into wonderful moist banana bread in the middle of our chaos.
If you would like to join us in making some banana bread try out this Banana Bread Recipe by Kim and share it with those around you. It’s the little things like this mean so much.
PS – We used evaporated milk instead of buttermilk. You could also just use milk if you have it and add 2 extra eggs.
Coming up with different things to cook that are quick and easy can sometimes be a challenge. I decided to look at some of my recipes that are easy and “Mash” them up into a new recipe!
Definition of Mashup = taking 2 independent things and combining them to make 1 new thing. This term is used in technology in regards to mashing up 2 appllications to make a new one. So I decided to apply this “Mashing Theory” to my cooking to create easy fun dishes.
For example I took one of my Cherry Tomato dishes and mashed it up with a Chicken Dish and came up with a Cherry Tomato & Chicken Sauté that is awesome and easy.
I also took one of my favorite Creamy shrimp dishes from my mom and decided to use it 
on an appetizer plate along with Brie, Gruyere, and Rosemary Potatoes with whole wheat crackers. Everyone really loved this combination since it has more going on than just the cheese. The Creamy Shrimp is also great on a toasted baquette with the Rosemary Seasoned Potatoes. So give it a try and look at what you can mashup!
This all started for me with the Italian Wedding Cookie recipe at age 5. This is an amazing little cookie that you can do so much with. Growing up in a Italian family this cookie was used for bridal showers, baby showers, and Christmas parties. I am sure we could fit it into Easter if we tried. The recipe always stayed the same for each occasion, but the shape of the cookie changes.
For a bridal shower you would make the cookies in the shape of wedding rings and join them together. Then for baby showers you would make them into pacifiers, and for Christmas you just make the shape of a ball to resemble snow. You could also make them into snowmen and snowwomen as well. This cookie is timeless and you don’t need any fancy ingredients to make it happen.
But wait….the Italian wedding recipes don’t stop there!
There are so many more you should discover. My mom for example created an Italian Wedding Cake Tea. It is really good and doesn’t even need sugar so if you are a tea drinker try it out.
Our family favorite is the Italian Wedding Cake, which is to die for! We love this cake and make it for special occasions like birthdays and sometimes even Easter. Then there is the Italian Wedding Cake Martini which is fun to serve at bridal showers or bridal cocktail parties.
I love the Italian Wedding Soup which is perfect for a chilly day. The soup has nothing to do with vanilla, almond, or pineapple. The name Italian Wedding Soup came from the mistranslation of Italian language, minestra maritata, which means to go well together as in vegetables and meat “marry well together” hence Wedding Soup. A good friend of mine, Katherine Druckman, was inspired by all the Italian wedding recipes, and created the Italian Wedding Ice Cream recipe! I hope these recipes inspire you to create your own wedding theme recipe. I would love to hear about it.
Below are the recipes from OpMom.com:
