Pork Loin with Port Shallot Sauce #SundaySupper

It turns out that I like to be challenged when it comes to recipes and themes. Just a normal dose of inventiveness, let´s not get carried away. 
SundaySupper does that often and today is no exception. Our host is lovely Amber of Mama´s Blissful Bites, and we´re cooking with 5 ingredients or less, not counting salt and pepper. A simple theme, but I needed some brainstorming to come up with something worth posting that I would actually make for myself on a regular basis. I decided to do a savory recipe. Pork loin with port shallot sauce to be exact. A welcome change from the mostly sweet posts that invaded this blog in the last two months. I´m a baker at heart, not a cook.

Coffee White Chocolate Nut Blondies - a guest post for A Culinary Journey

Are you staring at these wonderful wedges? They are one of my favorite blondie recipes, full of white chocolate chunks, hazelnuts, pecans and of course coffee. A flavor I´m completely in love with when it comes to baking.

Today I can be found baking and sharing over at a favorite blog, A Culinary Journey, the home of Chef Dennis. There´s a fat chance you never visited his site, but if that´s the case, I will make this short and concise. Go over, read my guest post and then spend the next hour roaming around his posts. You will be happy you did and I will still be here when you come back. You will come back won´t you?

Say hi to Chef Dennis for me. He´s a great blogger and has some of the best social media posts travelling around this virtual space we call our second home. Go!

Almond Butter Balls

I think we have to talk about toasted nuts. Sometimes, when I have the time and frame of mind, I spend a lot of time toasting, skinning and stashing nuts in my pantry. All types, but mainly almonds and walnuts which I toast lightly, and hazelnuts which, in my opinion, are almost useless if they´re not toasted. Have you ever tried an un-toasted, skin-on hazelnut? Yeah, not good. If in doubt, this hazelnut loaf will make it clear.

Double Pumpkin Walnut Bread with Maple Glaze

I went out and bought two big butternut squashes today, baked them, mashed them, let them drain a long time, and put them in my refrigerator. I now have pumpkin puree (though technically I don´t, I have butternut squash) to bake a lot of things. A lot.

I still had some left from a few days ago when I finally made my first recipe using fresh mashed pumpkin. So far I´ve made this double pumpkin loaf, some pancakes with added chocolate and loaves of walnut pumpkin bread, the real one involving yeast.

Daisy Cake

Since yesterday I officially welcomed Autumn with an apple cheesecake, I think it´s only fair that I also welcome Spring, you know, given the fact that I did welcome spring this past Friday in real life. But the ghost season I share with my virtual friends is opening multiple flavor avenues I never would´ve tried on my own anytime soon. Like baking with pumpkin for the first time, a post that I will share with you this week. So right now, I feel I have the best of both seasons.

Why I choose this lemon cake to celebrate today is right there in the title. Daisy and yellow. What could be more emblematic of spring? Though I don´t think my cake pan is the real daisy pan, it is flower-shaped. 

Apple Cheesecake #SundaySupper

The change of season is being celebrated around the Sunday Supper table with apples. It´s the ultimate autumn (I had a very proper british schooling as you can see) fruit some may say. Together with pears and pumpkins they guarantee lazy summer days are over. I welcomed spring a few days ago, but apples are good all year round.

Today´s event is hosted by Cindy and she put together a most wonderful virtual apple festival.  Our Sunday Supper group is getting so big, you have an astonishing amount of fantastic apple recipes to choose from. 

Isn´t that amazing? I think so too. 

Over the last few years I developed quite a crush for cheesecake. My favorite recipe has no flour, an ingredient I find to be misplaced as part of the cheese mixture. With the right oven temperature and baking time, there´s no need to add any starch. I have not posted many cheesecakes though except for that one with  oreo cookies and the ricotta tangerine one, which would be banned from this category by many since, technically, it´s not a cheesecake in the way we all know, that is, that it´s most prominent ingredient be cream cheese. But on with our apple cake.

Ricotta Chive Bread #12Loaves

I don´t know if I can say I woke up very early or that I didn´t sleep, just napped during the first hours of the night. When you go to bed at 1am and wake up at 3am and realize that you completely lost your sleep, go downstairs, of course sit in front of your computer and go about your night like it´s the morning, what definition applies? Probably the one that let´s you all see how crazy my mind is these days, how I´m not kidding when I say I have a parallel life during the night hours. Although that applied to actual sleeping nights, last night goes to show my point.

Anyway, let´s say the day started early, very early. By 9am I was ready to have lunch and by 6pm ready to go to bed again. Neither happened. But, I got a lot of baking done. In the wee hours of the morning, with no phones ringing, no deadlines, just silence on a rainy day, a lot can be accomplished in the kitchen.

Chicken Basquaise - FFWD

This recipe for our French Fridays with Dorie group was really easy to make and quite familiar.

This is what is known here as Portuguese Chicken, a casserole dish with peppers, tomatoes and a coarse paprika called pimentón. It´s one of our traditional type of sauces, not only for chicken but also red meat or pasta. I can see now why the name, since it comes from the Basque region. We have a very strong Spanish heritage, so it´s no surprise I´ve seen this combination of flavors since I was a kid.

Zucchini Raisin Bundt Cake with Cinnamon Streusel #BundtaMonth

I believe one of the greatest appeals of a bundt cake is that it´s simple. Even when it´s studded with whatever and has a glaze on top, it still can be considered simple. Take the same cake and bake it in layers and take the glaze and use it for filling and frosting and it´s not a simple cake. I rest my case. There´s something about them.

There´s a new group in town. Of course it´s a mad-about-bundts group. The brainchild of Lora and Anudhara, two lovely, lovely bloggers who continuously bake one goodie after another.

The Bundt a Month is obviously about this hole-in-the-middle cake, the one forever immortalized by this movie when they put a plant to cover the hole. Even if you never saw that film, you´re not in your right mind if you´re not attracted to this simple cake. And probably shouldn´t keep on reading if you never had one. I don´t think we can be really friends. I mean that. I´m very serious about my love for bundt cakes; there´s enough proof in this little blog of it, whether it´s maple walnut, chocolate kahlua or banana bourbon.

Whole Wheat Loaves - TWD

My love affair with yeasted bread is extensive and has gone on for decades. The type of sandwich bread we are making today is an absolute keeper.

The group choose Whole Wheat Loaves from Baking with Julia, the book we´re baking our way through for our Tuesdays with Dorie group. A wonderful recipe by contributing baker Craig Kominiak.

This is as easy as whole wheat bread can get. Very similar to the one I make all the time, which I´m sad to part with, but this one is better because oil is used instead of butter, and honey instead of sugar. A bit healthier and practically the same flavor and texture.

Chocolate Cinnamon Flan #SundaySupper

Hola Méjico! Happy Independence Day! We have a celebration and there´s no stopping today´s Sunday Supper table. Our theme is, of course, mexican food and you won´t be able to stop eating and drinking with your eyes. I can guarantee that. Our host today is the wonderful Heather from Girlichef.

Flan is such a traditional dessert here, it was a no brainer when I had to choose a recipe. And chocolate flan made with condensed milk was on my bucket list,  so it was time. A little cinnamon stick to infuse the chocolate milk and I was on my way to end the celebration with a great, custardy, tasty dessert.

Spiced Pear and Chocolate Handpies

Twenty something years ago I would´ve spent most of the last two weeks clad in a bikini, soaking up every bit of sun I could, growing dry hair and freckles. That´s how good the weather was. And it´s still winter, though not for long. Nowadays, I´m more concerned about a freckle turning into a suspicious mole thus, I will be a pasty winter white for some time still. But, I can finally say spring is here. Flowers everywhere, their colors livening up the front lawns and parks, kids in their bikes, dogs running around, short sleeves, sitting outside sipping coffee with friends. Life is looking good.

Spiced Apples and Pears - FFWD

There are recipes that are good because of their simplicity. I think this spice-poached apples and pears is one of them. It´s Friday again, time for another recipe from the book Around My French Table for our FFWD group.

As I was peeling the fruit while the syrup was simmering, I had a contented feeling of peacefulness and wonder for the simple things. Fruits and spices do that for me. They remind me of the primal aspects of food and of myself in relation to the food. It connects me to my passion for it.

Lemon Blueberry Crumb Cake

There are some flavors that work year round and on every occasion. Lemon is one of them. This recipe was my first choice for the cookout a few Sundays ago, but eventually strawberries won.

What´s very interesting is that it´s a coffee cake made with oil. So it comes together really fast. The last month I´ve had a lot of work-related changes going on. Good ones. And they inevitably bring changes in my everyday life. So unthinkable things happened, like I was not able to post the upside down cake for TWD last tuesday, the horror, I know. Recipes like this lemon blueberry crumb cake keep me going and happy in the kitchen. And a food blog with easy, scrumptious recipes for coffee cakes is always welcome I think. This one certainly fits the bill.

Ham and Mushroom Handpies #SundaySupper

It´s Tailgating time. Whatever that means. I totally understand the concept, as it was perfectly explained to me by my fellow supperers, but the name still baffles me. It is a funny name. And a great excuse to make, serve, eat and share all that greasy, spicy, saucy, cheesy, fried, finger-licking food you feel bad eating all the time. Well, now is the time. No one will judge because we´re all sporting sticky fingers and extra napkins.

Today, our Sunday Supper table, hosted by Lane, meets sports. And sports meet food. And food meets hungry, fanatic, loud people around whatever kind of ball has your heart. The closest I came to american football was ages ago, when Joe Montana was the man of the moment (remember that?). I lived near SF for two years and of course couldn´t avoid talks about the 49ers even if I wanted to.

Chocolate Apple Crisp

This is the perfect dessert for a day like today. Rainy, humid and just plain ugly. Comfort food is a must. I walked a lot and half of the time under a light drizzle that eventually made my shoes make a squishy, watery noise and my jeans be soaked up to the knees. At first there´s a faint feeling of humid feet and, before you know it or are smart enough to grab a cab, you look like a poor soul, wet hair sticking to your forehead, the most diverse leaves and twigs clamped to your pants and the disbelieving looks of passers-by that can´t quite place why you ended up in such a state. It´s not like I´m a teenager anymore, I don´t look cute in such a sorry state.

The funny thing is that I kind of enjoyed my ride, knowing I was walking back home, to a nice shower and a bowl of chocolate apple crisp.

Eggplant Tartine - FFWD

I´m mad about eggplants and tartines, so I was enthusiastic about this recipe. To use a roasted eggplant slice as the base for an open sandwich of sorts is a great idea.

The recipe is for our French Fridays With Dorie group and comes from Around My French Table.

Well, let´s be polite and say this turned out to be unappealing. The idea is perfect, especially because it omits the bread, which is an essential part of the tartine I know, but I find those type of substitutions very interesting.

My problem was with the topping. A lot of ingredients, which are very common, but I seldom have them together in my kitchen at all times, and a rather bland result, particularly since I had to make a trip to the supermarket.

The eggplants are roasted with olive oil, salt and pepper. Then a fresh mix of tomatoes, onion, garlic, celery and capers (which I couldn´t find so I omitted them) with some vinegar (I used sherry) and oil are spooned over the roasted slices. Finally they are topped with cucumber ribbons (which I´ve eaten more times this past few months with the group than the rest of my life). I put the cucumber before the tomato mix. 

Dulce de Leche Crepes

I thought that if you had bought some dulce de leche because you badly wanted to make alfajores, which you should really since they´re that good, I might as well give you another easy recipe to use the rest of the jar. Especially if you have leftover crepes. What? You don´t? Well, you should remedy that also, immediately. Even if you already used the sticky jam to make brownies or chocolate wafer cake, you certainly bought a new jar, having caught the dulce de leche bug that will never leave your system. As you can see, my feelings for this sweet milk jam are serious.

Alfajores - a guest post at Family Foodie

This guest post is really a treat for me. The idea of sharing one of my heritage recipes with Isabel, from Family Foodie and her audience, is something to get me excited. She and I met through the incredible movement she started to bring people around the family table, called Sunday Supper. Of course, if you´re reading this, you probably know about that. And you know what a positive, warm person she is. It comes through in her blog.

So I wanted to share something that would talk about my background and my kitchen today. This recipe is for alfajores. If you´re not familiar with the name, it´s a cookie sandwich. Two cornstarch cookies held together with a good dose of dulce de leche.

Please go over to Isabel´s blog, enjoy all of her great recipes, especially her heritage Portuguese ones; I know you´ll become a fan.
Of course I hope you make and enjoy this recipe for alfajores, you won´t be disappointed.
Thanks again Isabel for taking the time to share this post, and to all of you for taking the time to read it.

Strawberry Tart + White Sangria #SundaySupper

This whole Sunday Supper brings a lot of different memories. The theme today is cookout recipes, since it´s Labor Day in the US. Our worker´s holiday is May 1, one of the two days in the whole year (the other being Jan 1^st) that even shopping centers close.

Do I need an excuse to come up with summery recipes? Of course not, especially since the last days have been amazingly sunny and warm.

Since the strawberries at the market were surprisingly sweet and fat,  I decided to make my grandmother´s strawberry pie. It´s simple but full of flavor and has a delightful syrup on top made with the strawberries´ own juices. She was a very travelled and worldly person, and baked double crusted apple pies and curries when nobody else did here. Her recipe uses sour cream with sugar, which results in a tangy cream and doesn´t require whipping. I changed that a bit because I had mascarpone in the fridge, and we all know how quickly that goes bad. If you don´t like to use gelatin, a few teaspoons of cornstarch can be added to the juices and cooked until thick. Either way, the flavor will come from fresh strawberries and that always beats artificial-flavored jello.