Food, cooking, life and delicious recipes

A molcajete is a Mexican version of the mortar and pestle tool made from volcanic rock. You could almost certainly come across it on sale in just about every Mexican street but it is a bit tougher to come by elsewhere.

Why do you use it? Well, with the help of molcajete you can mash and grind various foods. One of the better known is guacamole.

Like the guacamole itself molcajete also comes from the Aztecs. As said it really is made out of vesicular basalt and is produced in 1 piece. It typically has three legs and looks something like this.

What exactly is cool about molcajete is that the volcanic rock from which it can be made from is genuinely rough and is therefore a great grinding surface. Because the rock is full of tiny bubbles which are continuously worn down the molcajete interior stays sharp. The other consequence of this really is that molcajete not surprisingly can never be definitely appropriately cleaned. It carries the taste of all previous meals :) which is cool for that added one thing for your guacamole.

Apart from that you can also use it for cooking (not so substantially) and serving dishes because it stays warm for a definitely long time.

Is guacamole greater if it's created in molcajete that in a blender or an ordinary ceramic bowl?

It undoubtedly is additional authentic but in terms of taste you may have to choose your self.

Guacamole is regarded as one of the tastiest and healthiest dips that anyone can prepare at home. Did you know that avocados - the most crucial component - are considered a superfood? If you are looking for guacamole recipe check out writers blog, which is also the original source of this molcajete article.

We all know banana bread - it is that yummy, moist sweetbread that we make out of those nasty old black over-ripe bananas. “Don’t throw these bananas away!” - turn them into banana bread instead. 

First Banan Bread Ever?

Banana bread recipes started appearing in cookbooks around 1930s. Banana bread is not an actual bread mainly because you use baking soda instead of yeast. The mixture does not form dough to be kneaded and then set aside to rise, just a thick batter. Since it is so easy to make it is more and more popular. It is the most common in cafes in Australia where it is served at breakfast. 

There are several distinct variations of this uncomplicated recipe, like healthy banana bread, or this banan bread recipe etc... Here is a classic version of homemade banana bread but before we start maybe one more thing about bananas - they are actually pretty good for you and your health. You can check out their nutritional value here.

Homemade Banana Bread Ingredients 

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups of flour
• 2 ripe bananas
• 1 tablespoon buttermilk

Directions 

1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. Place peeled bananas in a small bowl and mash them with a fork. Stir in buttermilk and set this aside.

3. In a larger bowl mix together the butter and sugars till they are fluffy.

4. Add the egg and beat until nicely blended.

5. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon into a bowl.

6. Alternate adding the dry ingredients plus the banana mixture for the butter and sugar inside the mixing bowl. Start with the dry ingredients and end with the dry components and generally beat completely.

7. Coat a 9” by 5” loaf pan with cooking spray. Spoon the batter into the pan and spread it out evenly.

8. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes. The bread is done when is dark golden brown. Insert a toothpick directly in to the middle and if it comes out clean, the bread is done.

To make this banana bread recipe a bit different you can also add some other fruits to the recipe. the main difference is that you must always mash the bananas but leave other fruits in pieces and spread them out evenly throughout the batter. Fruits that you can use are for instance blueberries, peaches cut to pieces, cherries and all sorts of other fruits. Just experiment. You can also use dry fruits if you like.

That's it - enjoy!

I have thrown myself into juices recently. Well...not really recently, actually it was like 3-4 years ago when I got my first juicer. Homemade juices are one of the best things that you can do yourself. And healthiest. The only pain in the ass is cleaning your juicer after you are done making the juice. Modern juicers are a bit easier to clean but still. 

The best thing to do is to clean the juicer right after you are done with juicing. This was you can clean it only with some water and fruit bits won't stick to juicer parts but will flush off easily. 

My favourite juice?

Well - its a mix. Its a mix of pineapple juice, orange juice and banana.Try it, its easy to make and these fruits are a match made in heaven. This is the best juice I had tasted so far and you only need a few everyday fruits. 

How much?

1 pineapple

2 oranges

1 banana

How to make it?

Cut the pineapple in half.

Juice on half and juice both oranges.

Put pineapple and orange juice in a blender.

Add the other half of pineapple and banana.

Blend.

You're done!

Enjoy!

This stuff is amazing :). As I said here I am currently surfing in Portugal and this is one of the things why I love this place. Pasteis De Nata are Portugues egg and cream pastries also called Pasteis de Bellem. They are amazing :) if you come to Portugal try them. I'll try to make 'em when I get home and I'll post the recipe here if all goes well :D

Uh....it's been a while. My life got turned upside down....it's hard to grasp it's over. 

Well...

Maybe some sugar cookies can turn things around. Probably not :) but here it goes anyways...

So what do we need to make sugar cookies at home? First we need a recipe. There is this site dedicated to sugar cookie recipes but it's still kind of empty. I will post a recipe here. So to the ingredients...

I'm sorry if this post is a bit messed up..so am I.

Ingredients

• 250 grams granulated sugar
• 250 grams powdered sugar
• 250 grams butter
• 250 milliliters vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 tea spoon vanilla
• 1 tea spoon salt
• 1 tea spoon cream of tartar
• 1 tea spoon baking soda
• 1 1/4 grams flour
• extra sugar for pressing cookies (use can usered and green for Christmas cookies)

Instructions

1.      Pre heat oven to 375°F (or 175 degrees C).

2.      Cream together the granulated sugar, the powdered sugar, the butter, and the cooking oil. Beat in the eggs and the vanilla.

3.      Add dry ingredients, (the next four ingredients) and mix to incorporate. Roll dough in to small balls about the size of a quarter. With a heavy bottomed crystal vase with a decorative bottom, or other cookie press, dip in sugar to coat well. Smash each ball of dough so they are spread out and flat. Leaving an imprint and sugar. Bake in a 375 °F (or 175 degrees C) oven for 10 minutes, until the edges just start to turn slightly brown. Do not bake too long. Cool sugar cookies on the baking sheet briefly then transfer to wire rack to cool the rest of the way.

They are light and fluffy like cotton candy. Oh...did you know that you can make candy out of potatoes? LOL. These cookies are very tasty, but one suggestion would be to add frosting. However this would make them even more unhealthy. They could come out of the oven rather ugly - looking. The dough is delicious, though. These cookies are made with the best ingredients and are not for those watching their weight. These would make a perfect gift for those "once-a-year" Christmas gifts. But always read the recipe several times. Gather ingredients. Gather necessary equipment, including cooling racks. Ready ingredients. Prepare the pan, such as the greasing and the flouring. Reread the recipe. Pre heat the oven. Measure the needed ingredients. Mix ingredients according to recipe specifications. Place baked good in oven. Clean kitchen and put away ingredients. Baking is so much more enjoyable when you are prepared..

Oh well...

till next time.

Did I already post a recipe for mashed potatoes? Can remeber but I guess it doesn't hutr to make anotherone.

Where do mashed potatoes come from actually? There are those that believe they were invented in France as the result of a potato recipe competition. But no matter where their origins, no Thanksgiving dinner in America would be complete without fluffy homemade mashed potatoes drenched in turkey gravy.

Ingredients

• 2.5 kilograms potatoes
• 250 millilitres sour cream
• 200 grams cream cheese
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Let cream cheese warm and soften enough to be used.

2. Peel and boil 4 to 6 medium – size potatoes for 20 to 25 minutes or until tender when pierced with the tip of a knife.

3. Drain potatoes in a colander, return them to the pot they were boiled in and shake over medium heat until the potato pieces are dry and mealy.

4. Puree potatoes by passing them through a food mill or potato ricer, by whipping them with an electric mixer, or by mashing them with a potato masher or heavy fork. Work out lumps as best as you can.

5. Add all other ingredients you are intended to include.

6. Add salt and pepper to taste – be careful with the amount. It is healthy to use less salt.

8. When ready to use take out of refrigerator and bake at 325 degrees for an hour, covered. After ½ hour baking take out and stir. Recover and bake the other 1/2 hour.

This is also cool if zou have leftover mashed potatoes and want to warm them to serve them again. On the other hand there are all sorts of leftover mashed potatoes recipes that can turn your mashed potatoes into a whole other meal.

It's been a while since ther was a cool recipe posted here so here we go - pumpkin bread! It's not even close to pumpkin season...actually there are some leftover hard dried up pumpkins still lying around but they are not that good for pumpkin bread. But you can used canned pumpkin puree. Or you can try and make banana bread. Banana bread is pretty similar to pumpkin bread.

Anyway... still, I felt like posting this pumpkin bread recipe so here it goes:)

Pumpkin Breat Ingredients

• 900 grams all - purpose flour
• 750 grams white sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 tea spoons salt
• 1 tea spoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teas poon ground cinnamon
• 500 grams solid pack pumpkin puree
• 150 ml water
• 250 ml vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 120 grams chopped walnuts (optional)

Instructions

1. Grease and flour three loaf pans. You can use small, medium or large ones. The presented calculation is going to need two large loaf pans and three medium ones. Now you can pre heat oven up to 350 degrees F (or 175 degrees C).
2. Measure the flour, the sugar, the baking soda, the salt, and the spices into a large bowl. Be careful to be large enough to include all of the ingredients needed for the pumpkin bread. Stir to blend. Add the pumpkin, the water, the vegetable oil, the eggs, and the nuts. Beat until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake for approximately 1 hour.

So good and moist. It is very easy and unique delicious. You can put everything in a bowl at once and to mixe the ingredients of the pumpkin bread. So this recipe is highly recommendable for beginners at the kitchen. The pumpkin bread could be a bit too sweet for  your tastes, so the suggest is making it with a little less sugar, then using half brown sugar, and half white. A little vanillia would also work well. The extra spice is going to give it wonderful flavor.  It is a pretty good recipe, and can be made with canned or fresh pumpkin. 120 grams raisins may be substituted for the nuts (the equal quantity). You would have never had a more moisty piece of pumpkin bread in your life and every body is going to want me to make them one.

The nutrition information for pumpkin bread

• calories 275,
• total fat - 11.9 grams,
• cholesterol 35 milligrams,
• sodium, 312 mg, 
• total carbs 40.1 grams,
• dietary fiber 1.3 grams,
• protein 3.4 grams. 

If you want something more healthy then try this healthy pumpkin bread recipe. It's a cool way to make you pumpkin bread better for you...

This is sooo funnny, there is a whole song about apple pie. It goes something like this:

Apple Pie

I'm a squishy squashy piece of Apple Pie,

and I make your tummy feel so very fine.

Serve me hot or serve me cold, or even serve me "a la mode."

I'm a scrumptious piece of yummy apple pie.

Verse 1.

Your Mommy makes me every Friday evening,

she sprinkles all the sugar on the dough.

She folds in all the apples and the cinnamon,

and when she's through she lets me lick the bowl.

Verse 2.

After you have had your beans and chicken on a plate;

after you have had your milk, and when it's getting late.

Suddenly you realize, that time is slipping by,

and it's time to eat that squishy squashy pie..

Verse 3.

Every bite is chewy and I'm crunchy and I'm gooey;

my pie crust is so flaky to the taste.

I'll disappear but have no fear, tomorrow I will reappear...

I'm so scrumptious that I'm much too good to waste.

Why Listen To Music?

I have found this definition: "Music has become a part of people's everyday routine. People listen to music starting right from their home to public buses, temples, shopping malls and all along the way till their workplace. Music helps people to forget and overcome the burden of their work and feel refreshed. For example, a manual worker who spends his whole day doing the monotonous job may become bored of his job, which will eventually result in decreased productivity. But by listening to music during his work, he can keep himself afresh and do his job in a enthusiatic and better manner.Many employers realizing the importance of music that it will increase the productivity, allow their employees to listen to music while they do their work. People working in software companies can be cited as an example."

Why Apple Pie :)?

You should listen to this song while you are baking apple pie, I bet it will taste better. I wanted to post a simple apple pie recipe today but this funny song got me totally distracted so you can follow the recipe link where you will find plenty of ways to make apple pie.

Until next recipe - enjoy!