Author: foodjules

Tonight, at Lilliana’s elementary school, we are having an International Festival with food, crafts, music and entertainment from around the world. It’s going to be a blast. I am going to LOVE eating all the food, especially the Spanish, Indian, Italian and Portuguese and everything else for that matter! 🙂 Today is officially my last day of the cleanse and I will begin eating again. Well, I already did eat a couple of those pasteis de nata that I made, fresh out of the oven but who can resist those?

I made Pasteis de Bacalhau (fish and potato fritters) and Pasteis de Nata (custard cups) to represent Portugal. These two items are a staple in Portuguese cuisine and so very, very, very delicious. (I’m not biased, of course) Made with all natural/organic ingredients, no preservatives in these pasteis!

This was my first time making Pasteis de Nata. I made the dough from scratch and the filling and they were both fairly easy but a lot of work! I’ve been in the kitchen making these two dishes from 9am and it’s now almost 2pm! But, I have to admit, it was a lot of fun and quite an accomplishment to make the Pasteis de Nata. I’m looking forward to watching everyone enjoying them tonight. That will make me very happy!

Lucas was my official taste tester for both dishes and he LOVED them so I’m hoping they will be a hit with the kids tonight. No pizza for any of the kids at Lilliana’s school tonight, they need to eat all of this delicious food that parents spent time, energy and money making for them! After all, it is an INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL!

Now, it’s time to go outside and enjoy this beautiful day with Lucas. One question for all of you, what am I going to do with the leftover custard?

We discovered a new favorite soup tonight, Corn Chowder! The kids loved it and so did Mike, yum. So tasty and so hearty, you can’t go wrong! We served it with a side salad and some delicious Spinach and Cheese Bites.

 

The kids and I have been busy cooking this week…. yesterday, we made cod fish bites. The kids had fun dipping in flour, egg and bread crumbs. They ate them all up before I could take a photo. We ate them with a slice of broccoli and cheese quiche for dinner.

Today, Lucas and I made chicken empanadas. I love, love empanadas. I tried to save some time by buying the already made pie crust that you just unroll but it wasn’t worth it. It cost $3.79 for the Pillsbury Pie Crusts and it was only enough dough to make 24 small empanadas, which sounds like a lot but only uses up half of the chicken filling. There is still lots of filling left over so now I’m going to make my own pie crust to finish it up. Besides, the ingredients in the Pillsbury crust are horrible with bleached flour and partially hydrogenated lard as well as other strange ingredients and preservatives. I was hoping to find a natural/organic alternative at Whole Foods but no such luck. I’m open to any other ideas for a natural/organic dough alternative that I could just unroll.

In the meantime, I just made my own pie dough, courtesy of Martha Stewart, and it only took me 5 minutes in the food processor and used only 4 basic ingredients, flour, salt, sugar, butter and ice water! Here is her recipe for Pate Brisee (Pie Dough).

Well, for tonight’s dinner, we’re having some beautiful Swiss Chard with a homemade garlic and tomato sauce mixed with Barilla Plus spaghetti. So easy to make, so delicious and so very good for you. Swiss chard is a leafy green, similar in taste to spinach but even better. Swiss Chard is packed with vitamins, beta-carotene, potassium, fiber and iron. It’s also rich in phytonutrtients like anthocyanins. It is awesome, you have to try it out.

Talking about food, cooking food, eating food… it always gets my mind off other matters in life. Food is fun, food is delicious, food is exciting, food is simply wonderful.

I love food, especially Portuguese food. Since my husband is vegetarian, I don’t cook it as much as I’d like, basically because most of Portuguese cooking involves meat or fish. But, that is about to change!

I’m going to start with dessert, which is always the best place to start! I’m going to attempt making Pasteis de Nata, which is a traditional Portuguese dessert. These are delicious, soft puff pastry cups filled with custard. The recipe is three pages long so let’s hope that they turn out as yummy as the ones we buy at the Portuguese bakery. I will showcase these pastries at Lilliana’s International Festival next week, along with some Pasteis de Bacalhau.

My father has a reputation for making the best, Rissois de Camaron, which are Shrimp Turnovers. I’m going to “steal” the secret recipe from him and attempt to make those soon too. These are really, really, the best Rissois ever. Ask any of my friends or family. I just hope I can make them as good as he does, or at least up to par.

Lastly, I’m going to learn to make the all-time classic, Carne de Porco a Alentejana (Pork with Clams and Potatoes)… Let’s get cooking!