How did you get so big?

And no, I´m not talking about my hips, I´m talking about Phoebe. I´m still trying to figure out how she managed to go from 1 pound to 64 pounds in just a year, and from adorable puppy to adorable adult dog… or semi-adult really, especially if we take her behavior into account.

But anyways, she turned 1 on Xmas day, and we celebrated in style, birthday hat and all. But before you all kill me and call animal services, I swear I didn´t make her wear that just to laugh at her… well, yeah, that did play a part, but it was mainly because my older brother (the one that´s visiting from Spain) says he hates dogs (oh yeah, can´t figure that one out either), so he complains about how spoiled Phoebe is and everything. So my younger brother and I decided it was a good idea to tease him by buying Phoebe a bday hat and sing her Happy Birthday, and oh yeah, it worked like a charm, though he didn´t get so annoyed really, it was more of a mix of “can´t believe my eyes” and “this is hilarious”.

So this is a photographic journal of Phoebe´s first year, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

My very own magic mushrooms

Phew! That was close! I´m barely managing to get my Yule log (also known as Buche de Noel in French and Brazo Gitano in Spanish) done in time for posting… in fact, at this point, I haven´t even tried it, I just know it looks pretty, I´ll tell you if it tastes good later tonight.

I´m delighted I got to make the recipe because it´s a great example of what the Daring Bakers are all about. I mean, there was no other way I would be piping meringue to make mushrooms… oh yeah, those mushrooms you see there are literally handmade, and I love them, in fact, they might be my favorite part out of the whole challenge, even though they do require a bit of extra patience. But I just can´t get over their cuteness, so they are worth the meringue-sticky-Marce they created.

For the filling, instead of using the same buttercream used for the frosting, I halved the frosting recipe and went with a simple combination of whipped cream and fresh cherries for the filling because yep, it´s summer around here la la la la la la But I´m a bit worried about how the cherry flavor will work with the coffee in the buttercream because the coffee flavor was more pronounced than what I had originally thought… hopefully, it´ll mellow out in combination with the other elements.

So all in all, I think the recipe isn´t too complicated at all, and it´s one of those things that are bound to impress a few people if you bring it to a dinner party. And of course, if you decide to go lazy and don´t want to tackle the whole thing, just do the mushrooms! They might not be magic in a trip-inducing sort of way, but they sure look pretty!

For the full recipe, visit Ivonne´s blog (our other host and Daring Baker mom, Lis, should have her post up soon), and for hundreds of other takes on the Yule log, check out the Daring Bakers blogroll, you are bound to be impressed.

After the cookies are gone…

Oh yeah, I have been caught amidst the craze that is Christmas and the approach of the new year as well. But the good news is that I´ve been receiving plenty of work lately, which being a freelancer means more money for my pockets and for the trip I´m making to the US in April (more on that later.)

And the increase in my workload hasn´t stopped me from hanging out with my friends and family: especially since my dear friend Jenny was moving back to Seattle and leaving Buenos Aires, and my older brother Javier, who lives in Spain, is here for a visit. So off I went to enjoy springtime in the city before it got too hot (as in, days like today where the farthest I´m willing to go is my own patio before the sun goes down.) This past Tuesday I also got to enjoy the last show of two music legends: Serrat and Sabina, which was a true blast.

And the cooking hasn´t stopped either. Granted, I´m not cooking as often either, but I do have plenty of material to write about here, the problem is there has been little time to sit and write, and, to be honest, sometimes I don´t feel like sitting in front of the computer for an extra hour or so after being tied to the desk for most of the day.

But today was the day, and it was time to break my unanticipated break from blogging. And since everyone is going to be stuffing their mouths full with cookies and pies soon. I decided that it was a good idea to share a great recipe for something a bit healthier: homemade granola.

I got Heidi´s book a few months ago and this was the first recipe I decided to tackle. And I certainly didn´t regret my choice for one minute. It´s got tons of grains, subtle yet charming flavors and even making half a batch, it yields quite a bit, so I got to enjoy it for over a week.

Heidi uses tropical flavors, but I didn´t want to go in that direction, so I omitted the grated coconut and coconut oil, replaced the tropical fruits with apricots and plums, and added a touch of sesame to the mix.

So by the time you are done reincarnating the cookie monster, prepare some homemade granola, enjoy it with a bit of yogurt and a drizzle of extra honey, and wipe off your guilty feelings while indulging in something delicious and seriously filling.

(PS: The Daring Bakers challenge is due either tomorrow or Sunday, but I´m not sure I´ll be able to make the deadline this month, so as Truman would say: “In case I don´t see you, good afternoon, good evening and good night”, or in my case, Merry Christmas!)

Grain-ola (adapted from Super natural cooking by Heidi Swanson)

makes about 10 cups (I halved the recipe and still had plenty)

4 cups old-fashioned or quick-cooking rolled oats
3/4 cup unsalted raw sunflower seeds
1 cup walnuts or macadamia nuts, chopped into halves or quarters (here I went with almonds instead)
1 and 1/2 cups assorted sulfur-free dried fruits (she used tropical fruits because she added shredded coconut to the mix, I used dried apricots and plums), chopped
Grated zest of 2 oranges
3/4 cup raw mild-flavored honey
1/4 cup oil (she used coconut oil, I didn´t have any, so I went with corn oil and about a tablespoon toasted sesame oil instead)
sesame seeds, 2 tablespoons (optional since this is my own addition)

Preheat the oven to 300°F and set aside 2 rimmed baking sheets.

Combine the oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, dried fruits, and zest (and sesame seeds if you are using them) in a large bowl. Heat the honey and oil in a small saucepan over low heat, whisk to thoroughly combine, then pour over the oat mixture and stir until everything is well coated.

Divide the mixture between the baking sheets and spread into a thin layer. Bake, stirring every 10 minutes, for about 40 minutes, until toasty golden brown. Cool completely, then store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Buenos Aires in bits and bites IV

Today we are starting with the “bites” section.

Here is some delicious ice cream from Persicco (I had white chocolate and something called tarta di limone, which is basically a deconstructed lemon meringue pie.)

Modern Palermo:

Older, and definitely more charming, Palermo:

Art, trying to resist the war against time and the weather:

The hilarious sign of an eye doctor for pets:

And a bit of cheap philosophy to mix things up a little bit:

(The translation would be “Are you the player or the piece?”)

For the previous posts, see I here, II here, and III here.

Frutillitas

Do you guys remember Strawberry Shortcake? Well, she was Frutillitas in Argentina, which would be something like Fresita in most of the Spanish-speaking world (Frutilla meaning strawberry, the shortcake part was eliminated, because, believe it or not, there´s no tradition of eating something like strawberry shortcakes here.)

Yes, I do know that´s terrible, but what can I say?, sometimes we Argies are quite blind to sweets without dulce de leche in them.

But since I´m not as close-minded as some and I love me some strawberries with cream, and adding a shortcake to the mix could only make things more enticing (plus, I used to love Frutillitas, I even had a sticker album back in the day! hahaha)… I decided to give them a try.

So I called the one and only Jenny to come by for a movie and some strawberry shortcakes one rainy afternoon, and you know, when you have the right type of friends, they never think even for a second of refusing offers like that.

I made the shortcakes while Jenny was browsing my ever-growing collection of cookbooks and deciding on which movie to watch… which did lead to my distraction and to a little mistake on my part: I forgot to brush some cream and sprinkle some sugar on the shortcakes until I had already put them in the oven, which led to my opening the oven 2 minutes later, and I think could be the reason why the shortcakes didn´t really rise much.

But I wasn´t going to be phased by that, instead of slicing the shortcakes, I put one in the bottom and one in the top, and voilá… I think Frutillitas would be proud of me!

You say potato…

Oh yeah, here we go again, it´s Daring Bakers time… you are thinking butter and sugar by the pound, right? But no, no, no, never assume we are going to do the same old thing.

This time, we are using no sugar and just a spoonful of butter, which as you know, in Daring Baker terms, is pretty much non existent. Not only that, we are going savory!

My hips, for one, are releasing a big sigh of relief… but they might have celebrating too soon, because it´s not as if we are doing salads or anything, we are doing bread, potato bread to be more specific, which happens to be a vegetable, so I think it´s all good (stop laughing, don´t argue with my logic!).

Anyways, on to the recipe. Our amazing hostess, Tanna, chose a wonderfully flexible potato bread recipe and gave us tons of room to be creative, including toppings and flavorings, and the choice of using from 6-16 ounces of mashed potatoes depending on our bread-baking experience. I used around 14 ounces and boy was it sticky, especially after I added chopped onions to the dough, but nothing some flour and patient kneading can´t fix.

And the end result was definitely worth it: very moist bread with a nice crumb, which was good plain as a sandwich bread or for breakfast, and awesome as a blank canvas to go crazy with toppings and flavorings.

My choices: 1 loaf plain topped with sesame and sunflower seeds, and 2 loaves with chopped onions (chopped a bit earlier and squeezed), parmesan cheese and chopped basil inside and topped with a nice layer of parmesan cheese.

And that´s another great thing about the recipe, you get tons and tons of bread you can use as a focaccia, dinner rolls or whatever you want, so you can slice your leftovers and freeze them like I did, so the kneading definitely pays off since in my world, nothing beats homemade bread… and with summer approaching, that´s going to get hard, even for bread junkies like myself.

But before putting on your cutest apron and getting up to your elbows in wet dough, check out the amazing creations of my fellow Daring Bakers (I know, we are a tiny group!), and check out the recipe at Tanna´s blog.

Cinnamon buns… second helpings

Just when you thought you had seen all there was to be seen in terms of cinnamon rolls, Lis comes to the rescue with a knock-off of the famous Cinnabon rolls.

You know, just in case we needed an extra bit of butter and sugar… and of course I was ready, summer just around the corner and all. And I have to say, I don´t regret it for a single minute.

First of all, chatting to the girls on yahoo while we did a bakeathon around the world was hilarious, even though some of the gals couldn´t make it (the whole group was comprised of Lis, Helene, Sara, Kelly, Laura Rebecca, Chris and Mary). I mean, it isn´t every day that you get to compare notes in real time with bakers all over the world… with different confidences and even curses towards yeast thrown in for good measure.

And the recipe itself was quite easy (except for the frosting I didn´t really get right, I blame it on being Argentinian, which means I hadn´t tried or made a cream cheese frosting before), and the rolls were even yummier than Reinhart´s… I know, I didn´t think it was possible either! I´m so sorry, Peter, I did cheat on you. But you see, they did tempt me with brown sugar, a generous amount of cinnamon and a profusion of butter… what was I to do???

If you want to do a comparison yourself just in time for Christmas prepping, here´s Reinhart´s recipe and Lis has the recipe for the cinnabon knockoff.

See you on Monday with the Daring Bakers challenge.

Forestry

Tarts are definitely one of my favorite dishes. They are just so versatile! And they marry two of my biggest food loves: doughs and veggies, oh and cheese, so that makes 3.

So when I heard this moth´s Waiter, there´s something in my… was going to be about topless tarts, I was good to go, since it gave me the perfect excuse to try a brioche-like tart dough I had seen on tv and use up some broccoli I had in the fridge.

Now, this dough is just awesome, but it has quite a bit of butter for a savory tart dough, so it´s something for a special occasion, like movie nights with the girls (a weekly get together with some of my friends I was hosting last week, the link is the blog Sole put together with the movies we see, reviews and such.) It´s way easier to disregard a bit of butter when you are chitchatting! I also made an addicting peach cake with cardamom, but more on that later.

As for this tart, I loved it, all of it, the tender yet crunchy dough and the broccoli-rosemary-cheese filling I invented. Plus, it looked adorable, kinda like a little forest.

So I hope you give it a try, either to the whole thing or to one of the components. And check out the roundup of Waiter… next week to get tons of ideas of what to do with a bit of dough and some filling.

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! (but check back soon because I´ll be posting something tomorrow and we have the Daring Bakers challenge on Monday).

 

Milanesas, reloaded

Some people are a very bad influence on me… like food bloggers leading me to hell in a path of gulletry, and my younger brother, who does just that but in person, which is even more dangerous.

Case in point, his genius idea of making a pizza stuffed (yes, stuffed) with milanesas, which happen to be one of our national food obsessions, but are actually breaded slices of beef.

It´s like a giant pizza sandwich filled with milanesas, mozarella, parmesan cheese and tomato sauce. He got this idea from something similar he had in a bar and he needed my help making his dream come true. And who am I to deny him? you know, I´m just selflessly trying to make people happy… stop snickering, I´m telling you, there was nothing in it for me… no, of course I don´t like pizza!

Sometimes, when you make over-the-top dishes, you can feel a bit guilty, but that so wasn´t the case here. If anything, it made me happy and completely proud of our fattening concoction. In fact, I´m adding this dish to my rotation for dinners with friends or family gatherings because this one is a real crowd pleaser, and it´s not even that time consuming if you already have your milanesas ready to be cooked in the freezer.

And since I think no one in their right mind would resist to a slice of this pizza (even though the night pictures don´t show it in all its glory), I´m gonna be taking this dish to Peabody´s housewarming party, since I´m sure it´s going to be full of sugar-ladden treats, and there needs to be something savory to start with. If this doesn´t make a good house-warming gift, Peabody, I don´t know what will!

(Recipe after the jump)

Drum roll…

Ladies and gentlemen, we finally have a recipe index! It´s right above the photo header with the dripping dulce de leche. And while it´s not ordered alphabetically or anything, it does have different sections to keep things useful, so I hope you like it.