StonyField:recipes:Yogurt Biscuits

 I just received this recipe in my mailbox. Cannot wait to try it and thought of sharing it as it seems easy and delicious. I will make these for Thanksgiving and will let you know how they come out.

StonyField:recipes:Yogurt Biscuits

Cream of turnips

INGREDIENTS

6 medium size turnips thinly sliced
1.5 liter of chicken or vegetable stock
 flour
2 sticks of butter
1 cup of milk

DIRECTIONS

1. Slice all of the turnips into thin slices
2. Pass them through flour
3. Warm up the butter in a pot and add the turnip slices until they are a little translucent
4. Add the chicken stock and let it simmer until turnip is totally soft.
5. Put it in the blender to create a smooth cream.
   
6. Just prior to serving add a little cream or milk

Stuffing for Turkey

I have been debating this year on how to make the stuffing. Thanksgiving is an American tradition that I married into. After reading various recipes both from the States as well as traditional ways of stuffing a Turkey back home. I decided to create a marriage of both cultures. This is the first time I am doing such so I have no idea how it will come out. Now that our camera is finally working again I will make sure to take photos throughout the process and document it then upload it onto this posting.

INGREDIENTS

1 loaf of bread (I like to buy a French Boule or a Peasant Italian bread two to three days prior to it and let it dry)

2 cups of Port wine (please buy Portuguese Port wine!)

2 soup spoons of olive oil

1 cup of chopped onions

6 cloves of minced garlic

2 cup of diced celery

1 cup of raisins

1 cup of ground chourico

1 cup of diced ham

1 cup of chopped prosciutto

the giblets from the turkey (make sure to boil them in water and a pinch of salt for about 40 minutes and use the broth for the gravy)

1/2 cup of chopped black olives

1 table spoon of thyme

1 table spoon of rosemary

1 table spoon of sage

2 cups of chicken stock

2 eggs

salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl cut the bread into pieces and soak it in the Port wine. Leave it aside
2. In a large sauce pan add the olive in and bring it to medium high heat
3. Add the chopped onions, garlic and celery, stir it for five minutes or until golden
4. Add all of the meats and keep on stirring for the first 7 minutes
5. Reduce the heat to a medium low and add the raisins, black olives and herbs and stir for about 5 more minutes
   
6. Add the broth and let it simmer for about 20 minutes
7. Remove it from the heat and add the bread
8. Once well mixed add the eggs and mix it well for the eggs not to cook throughout the process
9. Pour the mixture into a deep oven safe dish (I like to use my Portuguese Terracotta dishes
10. Put in in the oven at 325 degrees for about 20 minutes
    

Turkey Gravy

Let me start by saying that this recipe is not that different from Ina Garten at Food Network. To view her recipe, click here. The reason I love this recipe is that it is very easy to make it and extremely yummy!

INGREDIENTS

2 soup spoons of olive oil

1 table spoon butter

2 medium size chopped onions

2 cloves of chopped garlic

1/4 liter of stock from boiling turkey giblets

1/4 liter of chicken stock

1 cup of Turkey drippings

1/3 cup flour

1 soup spoon Port wine

1 soup spoon of heavy cream or creme fraiche

salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large pan bring olive oil to heat then add onions and garlic
2. Let then simmer for about 10 minutes in low-medium
3. Remove pan from heat, add melted butter and flour
4. mix it well until flour becomes doughy and unsticking from pan
5. Put it back over heat and slowly add chicken and giblets stock as well as turkey dripping. Keep on mixing well
6. Add the Port wine and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Do not worry if not all smooth
7. Put it in blender to create a smooth texture, then put it back into the pan for 5 more minutes of simmering
8. Taste it and add salt and pepper to taste
   
9. Just before serving add the heavy cream
   

Pumpkin bars

This is a recipe from a dear friend of mine from Iowa. As usual though I did change a few things to my taste. This is a fun recipe to do with your kids and even an awesome present for them to take to their teachers. Enjoy!


INGREDIENTS

4 organic eggs

1 cup of brown organic sugar

2 cups of organic whole wheat flour

1  15oz. can pumpkin

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup canola oil

DIRECTIONS

1. Beat the eggs slightly
   
2. Add the sugar, pumpkin, cinnamon and oil
   
3. once nicely blended, add the remaining ingredients until getting a smooth paste
   
4. Grease a 15x10 pan and add the paste
   
5. bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes (I always start to check it with a toothpick by the 20th minute to make sure it does not dry up)
6. Let it cool prior to adding the frosting
   

Frosting
8 oz. fat free cream cheese
1/2 cup margarine soften
1 cup of fine or powered organic brown sugar
2.5 tsp vanilla extract


Mix all ingredients until smooth. Add the frosting over the cooled pumpkin bars.

Cannot wait for Thanksgiving

Even though this year we will not be spending it with family, it will be just us here at home and a family friends of our, originally from the NE. Luckily the very next day we will have an amazing couple friends of ours joining us too. She has been one of my very best friends since Iowa. We talk almost daily and I enjoy reading her stories as she is a great writer. Enjoy her stories her her blog.

So going back to Thanksgiving. Every year I try different recipes, different combinations. As of now this is the menu which is yet to be finalized:

• Organic turkey from a local farm that we will be leaving in a brine for 24 hours (water, salt, molasses, honey, olive oil, soy sauce, lemon slices, LOTS of garlic, chillie peppers, peppercorn, bay leaves, dry thyme and onions). We will be smoking the bird
• Mashed potatoes with lots of garlic, bacon pieces, egg yolks and cheese (am thinking in trying it out with a Portuguese cheese called Queijo da Ilha), then just before serving broiling it for a little while
• Sweet potatoes (still have to figure out how I will prepare them)
• Green beans sauteed in garlic with shitake mushrooms
• Pumpkin bars (recipe from another dear friend from Iowa)

I will be posting all these recipes within these coming weeks and adding photos as we will be preparing these meals.

Chicken in soy sauce

Here is a very simple recipe, if I remember correctly totally made up by both my sister and I when we were in our teens. I believe we were still in our teens, or at least I was!

INGREDIENTS

1 wholechicken cut into small pieces

3 cups of soy sauce

1 cup of lemon / lime juice

Foil paper

DIRECTIONS

1.  In a bowl add both soy and lemon juice together
2. Insert the chicken pieces and let them marinate for a minimum of 6 hours
   
3.  Cover it and leave it in the fridge
   
4. Cut the foil into squares in such a way to put each piece of chicken inside it.
   
5. In each piece of foil put a piece of chicken and some of the sauce and close it in papillon
6. Put all the pieces wrapped in foil into a pirex
7. Place the pyrex inside the oven at 375 for about 35 to 40 minutes.
   

Serving suggestions
My personal preference is to serve it with plain rice. But also very good with pasta or mashed potatoes.

Black Olive Dip

After surfing for its history I finally found out the origins to this paste in a Portuguese Blog. This is originally from the South of France and just within a few decades did it start spreading throughout Europe. The original past is only olive oil and pitted olives. I quickly realized that even though exquisite, it may be a little strong for most people, therefore below you will find my adaptation which seems to be more of a hit!

INGREDIENTS

2 cans of pitted black olives
1 clove of garlic
2 soup spoon of extra virgin olive oil
a pinch of oregano
1 tea spoon of mayo
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Add all ingredients but the mayo into a blender
2. Once a smooth paste, add the mayo and mix it with a spoon
3. Serve as a dip or on top of crackers
   

SUGGESTIONS

Something that goes very well is a slice of boiled egg on top of a cracker with a dab of this Olive paste on top.

Why is it so important to share cooking with your children

Ok, so this is not a recipe but a topic very dear and close to me.

Growing up, I have the very best memories in spending hours helping and learning how to cook with my Mother, my Grandmother and some of the helps they had.See? My grandparents had a farm just outside Lisbon. Actually in the exact spot of a now very well known train station (Gare do Oriente) designed by Calatrava for the Lisbon World Expo 98. Here is a link where you can view amazing photographs of the Fare as well as the whole Expo are.

So going back to my childhood. Each time we would visit my grandparents we would run around all over the farm, play with the chickens, pick up eggs, vegies, get ourselves all dirty by eating amazingly sweet blackberries. I would also venture myself into the kitchen where Maria would spend her days coming up with amazing meals along with my Grandmother. One thing about Maria was, she would NEVER throw leftovers away. She would always figure out something else to make with them. When still a toddler, she would allow me to sit in one of the stools and I would spend hours there, with my arms crossed and resting on a marble table top checking every movement she would do, every spices  she would add and looking forward to her allowing me to sample her cookings.

As I grew a little older she started to allow me to help her. But watch out, I HAD to do exactly as I was asked, or else! well... or else I was forbidden to enter the kitchen for a while! What I recall the most of my Grandmother's and Maria's cookings were the soups, ahhh those soups, with the fresh vegetables from the farm, and the holiday meals. Christmas meals were a true feast and I will soon be sharing some of those as the holidays approach.

Back at home with me Mother and sister, we would all be involved in helping in the kitchen. Due to the fact we traveled and lived in various countries, we would not only cook traditional Portuguese foods but also adapted some to the likings of each culture and learned many from each place.

Today, with two daughters, I try to involve them as much as possible in the kitchen. I started by introducing them to strong tastes from an early age, so to avoid them being picky eaters. That of course does not mean they do not go through phases and decide not to like this or that from time to time! Soon I will create a posting on baby food.

R., my oldest loves to help in the kitchen. At 11 she already makes a killer chicken curry, a bbq sauce (she will not share the recipe!) to use on pork or chicken, amazing smoothies which are often her breakfast as well as other more typical meals. C., the little one, well for now she enjoys playing on the kitchen floor with the onions, potatoes, etc, She bites them, which actually ends up facilitating peeling the onions. Throughout the process of cooking I make sure both girls keep on trying the food and R. already has a palette sensitive enough to let me know what else to add.

The best part of this is their interest of trying something new and my knowing the day they will start their own lifes, they will know hoe to cook for themselves!

Linguini With Shrimps and Veggies

Here is a recipe I made up once I had a few veggies to finish up.

INGREDIENTS

1 pound of frozen raw shrimps
3 small zucchini in thin slices
4 roma tomatoes cut in cubes
1 package of portabella mushrooms cut in four
a bunch of cilantro
3 cloves of minced garlic
1 medium chopped onion
olive oil
salt/pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. In a pot pour water and enough salt as if to taste ocean water. Add about 10 cilantro stems. Once the water is boiling add the frozen shrimps
2. Place a pan on high with 4 soup spoons of olive oil
   
3. Add the chopped onion, a few cilantro leaves and minced garlic and let it turn golden
4. Lower the heat to let it simmer
5. Add the zucchini and the mushrooms, mix from time to time
6. Once almost cooked add the tomatoes and let it simmer 5 more minutes
7. Remove the shrimps but keep the water in the pot
8. Double the amount of water and a little olive oil to the pot and bring it to a boil
9. Pour the pasta in
10. While the pasta is cooking remove shrimp shells and add the shrimps into the pan.
11. Once pasta is cooked, drain it then mix it with the veggies and shrimps
12. Add a few more cilantro leaves on top of the pasta once in each plate
    

SUGGESTIONS

You can substitute the zucchini and mushrooms for any other type of vegetables.

Spinach and chick peas soup

Here is another soup. As winter is approaching rapidly, I love making soups as they warm you up. This is a typical Portuguese soup I grew up with. Every time I made it here in the U.S. everyone loves it kids included especially if you add some pasta such as macaroni.

INGREDIENTS

2 cans of chick peas
2 bags of frozen spinach
2 soup spoons olive oil
1 clove of minced garlic
1 chopped small onion
1.5 liters of chicken stock

DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium size pot add a soup spoon of olive oil, garlic and onions
   
2. Golden garlic and onions, then add the chick peas and spinach
3. Add the broth and let it simmer for 20 minutes
4. Just before serving add another little bit of olive oil, but do not boil it

SUGGESTIONS

You can eat it as is, or put it in blender to make a cream. Also fantastic is you add some left-over pasta.

Sopa de abóbora - Portuguese pumpkin soup

Here in the States people use mostly pumpkin for carving or the cans for pumpkin bars or pies. Back home we do a fantastic soup. Being the season of pumpkins and if you still have pumpkins left-overs from Halloween, here is a recipe to use your pumpkins instead of throwing them in the trash, then you can discard the rest into your compost pile. Due to its sweetness this is a favorite amongst children even the little ones. My tween will even go to the fridge next day and drink it cold!

INGREDIENTS

1 pound of peeled pumpkin
4 cups of milk
1 liter of chicken or vegetable stock
1 soup spoon of olive oil
1 soup spoon of butter
2 peeled and chopped onions
2 cloves of garlic
a few leaves of parsley
salt/pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Remove skin from pumpkin as well as all of it hairs
2. Cut the pumpkin into medium size pieces
3. In a medium size pot, add a little olive oil and bring it to medium heat
4. Add the chopped onions and garlic as well as the parsley
5. Add the pumpkin and the chicken stock
   
6. When well cooked (when you can easily pinch the pumpkin with a fork) remove them from the water and put them in a clean kitchen towel
7. Still inside the towel, try to rub the pumpkin so all water is removed and pumpkin is being mashed
8. Bring it back to the pot and add the 4 cups of milk
9. Stir everything together and if needed to thicken the soup, mix a little flour and milk then add it to the soup.
10. If need be use a blender to create a nice creamy texture.
11. Just before serving add the butter.

SUGGESTIONS

Once soup is in a bowl add a little cream over the soup
Add croûtons
Add a few parsley leaves

Spicy cheese and meat dip

This is my own interpretation of a dip recipe from an old colleague of mine in Iowa!

INGREDIENTS
1 bar of velveeta cheese
1 pound of lean ground beef< 1/4 pound of ground chourizo 2 cans hot rotel 1 can of no beans chili 1 soup spoon of jalapeno peppers 4 cloves minced garlic 1 medium chopped onion 1 package of taco seasoning chip scoops

 DIRECTIONS

1. Set crockpot to low
   
2. Pour all ingredients of the cans
3. Cut the velveeta cheese into cubes and put into the crockpot
4. In a pan, add the chourizo, garlic, onions and ground beef
5. Lightly brown all the ingredients
6. Add the taco seasoning
7. Once the meats are well cooked add it to the crockpot
   
8. Leave it on low until cheese is all melted and all ingredients are well mixed together
9. Pour in as many jalapeno slices as you want

Serve with scoops chips

Simple recipes from around the world

For a long time now I have been meaning to start a blog with all of the recipes I not only grew up with as well as all those I just come up with, whether inspired by something I read or going through my pantry, fridge, freezer and any leftovers I can find. Usually that is when I have fun.

Rare is the day I do not love preparing a full meal for dinner even after a full day of work. This is My time.. to relax, to enjoy what I do, to be creative, etc. Even though lately I have a little one crawling around me.

I am always saying that when I grow up I will be a chef. It may still happen one day, meanwhile though I enjoy cooking for others. I believe it has to do with the family I grew up in. Food and meals was always an important part of our lives.

Also due to my Father's career, we not only traveled a lot as we entertained a lot, so there again food was the main focus!

Even as a student living in a typical dorm at Pratt, I would cook. Some would call my room grand central station. Somehow everyday around the same time I would get a few visitors, who wondered by and checked what I was cooking. Quite a few would thank me by bring me groceries, which I turn I would make up some new cookings. Since, Kevin (my husband) calls the kitchen, my lab. And indeed it is. there is always something going on there, some experiment, some marinade, some weird mixture of smells!

Being from Portugal, most of my food always starts with good olive oil, garlic and cilantro. Just those ingredients alone fill a room, no - a house with that warmth home cooking smell. Some people prefer the sweet smell of cookies or a pie, I prefer the garlic and onion!

Now as I add recipes, you will notice there are not that many deserts. That is because I just do not have much of a hand for deserts. Maybe due to the fact I like to experiment and with baking it is most of the time a precise art! I do however follow some of the soup recipes I will be posting as those have family generations of perfection.

Hope you will all enjoy this venture I am embarking and hope for many comments and hopefully I will inspire some of you to spend a little more time in your kitchens!

Spicy Wings

Photo taken by Benny Sieu from the Milwaukee Sentinel

This is a recipe everyone usually loves and I guess I am well known for!

INGREDIENTS

2 pounds of wings
2 sticks of melted butter
6 cloves of minced garlic
a hand full of minced dried red chilly peppers
3 soup spoons of lemon juice
1 soup spoon of kosher sea salt

DIRECTIONS

• Wash the wings and dry them
• In a bowl mix all other ingredients
• Spread the wings in an oven-safe dish and brush the sauce over them
• Put the tray inside the oven at 375° for about 15 minutes
• Put the oven at low broil until wings are nice and golden - this can take 20 to 40 minutes, depending on each persons oven.