pao de queijo

In the next three weeks I will be eating a lot of pao de queijos

because today I fly out to Brazil.

I mean Brasil.
Ready? Set- Eat!

I'm so excited about having a nice big slice of Brazilian pizza with hearts of palm on top, pastel, sugar cane juice, churrasco, and Sao Paulo style sushi. You would too if you there there. 

I wish you were there.

Wouldn't that be so fun? We could go out to eat together and we could go to the beach. Oh, so fun. I'll be in Sao Paulo for a week and in Bahia (Northeastern part of Brazil) for 2 weeks. I'll post when I can so you can get a taste of Brazil via web. I know it's not as satisfying, I'm sorry. However, while you enjoy the last bit of your summer in the Northern hemisphere you can make a really easy Brazilian recipe right there in your kitchen.

Meet pao de Queijo. Actually it's pão de queijo and that "a" with the squiggly thing on top is a beast to pronounce. Here, you can listen to it and practice while you wait for these to come out of the oven.  

A pao de queijo is a Brazilian cheese bread. It's made from tapioca starch and parmesan cheese and it's super good and hard to have just one.

O.K, so this is what you need to find somewhere somehow you need to find Sour Starch or ask for Yucca starch. The Mexican or Latino markets should have it. If you can't get find it I'll bring you back some.

So now the recipe or as we say in Portuguese receita   (By the time I come back you're going to be fluent)

Pao de Queijo
(printable version)

• 1 packet (500 g) of sour starch
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 3/4 cup oil
• 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons salt

1. Preheat oven to 350*
2. Add the milk, eggs, sour starch, oil and salt in a blender and mix on high until it is smooth.
3. Add the parmesan cheese and baking powder and mix until well incoorporated (about 10-15 seconds)
4. Pour the mixture in a muffin tin, about 3/4 full.
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
6. Serve warm.

Can't wait to show you pictures of my favorite eateries. Can't wait to be there!

See you soon.

ps. My wonderful friend Tricia shared this recipe with me. If you read Portuguese you need to check out her blog.

Solving Your Kitchen Problems One Giveaway at a Time {insulated lunch bags}

This week's giveaway is so time appropriate considering that we had 101*F degree weather this week. My goodness. It was the first day of school for a lot of the kids in our town and they were roasting. The entire summer has been mild but as soon as school starts, BAM! HOT! 

MaddieKay Handbags is offering one handmade insulated lunch bag for a Kitchen Corners reader. The bags are cute to the core and functional to boot. 

I seriously am loving the size of these. I can fit lunch for Enzo and I and a bottle for Baby Maria all in one bag. 

Or, it can just be a bag for a kid to take to school. That's fine too.

To enter the giveaway visit MaddieKay Handbags and tell me which lunch bag is your favorite by Midnight PST September 2nd. Winner will be announced next Friday. Make sure your comment links back to an e-mail address so I can contact you, ok? O.K. And if you want some extra chances to win you can follow this blog, subscribe, twitter, tweet, and all that beautiful jazz.

Good luck

and have a lovely weekend

soaking up the rest of the summer.

post-edit: Irene is the lucky lucky winner. 

Testing out Alaska Seafood Cod {and a cooking video, oh my}

It's not everyday we get to eat

sustainable seafood from Alaska.

But this week we did! I was so fortunate to have Alaska Seafood ship frozen cod right to my doorstep along with a beautiful seafood recipe book, recipe cards, and material on their work. I was so excited about the recipe cards and even more stoked that it was cold. It had come in the same cooler as the frozen fish so the recipe cards felt like paper thin ice cubes. It made me grin big.

Alaska Seafood represents all of Alaska's sustainable seafood industry. Their work is incredible and their fish is pure quality. 

Alaska teamed up with Foodbuzz to send food bloggers frozen fish so that we could test out the COOK IT FROZEN! technique. We received the fish for free (who's your lucky gal?!) and then proceded to cook the fish using our own recipes along with the COOK IT FROZEN! technique.

It was a great combo. 

My tried and true fish recipe is tilapia with pesto cooked in grape juice. It's so easy and so fast. Let's be honest, though, cod is a better fish but I'm usually scared to saute it in a pan because of it's thickness it would just take too long. So whenever I make cod I usually just bake it.

But the folks at Alaska Seafood coached me through the process of making my favorite fish recipe with my favorite fish; pan seared cod in pesto sauce. Their printed material and pan searing video was key to making this dish a success.

And it was!

Want to see?

and a special thanks to Foodbuzz, Alaska Seafood, and my friend Drew for his videography skills.
Go team go!

star wars lunch box

The ship has landed.

Actually, it was just the UPS truck

but it brought THIS

This, my friend, is a vintage style Star Wars lunch box, and if that wasn't enough it has sandwich cutters inside. Enzo will be eating Darth Vadar shaped sandwiches for school lunch which seriously has to be the coolest thing around.

What did you bring for lunch today Enzo?

"an apple, a string cheese, Darth Vadar and Millennium Falcon"

My kid is going to be rockin' the preschool scene!

My husband initiated me into Star Wars when I was pregnant with Enzo. We watched them all. It was destiny for Enzo to have this lunchbox. Thank you Williams-Sonoma for sending this to Enzo and thinking of him as he embarks into every day school.You guys are gems!

* No I had not watched Star Wars before I met Christian. Excuse me for being Brazilian and occupying my screen time with soap-operas. I have, since then, repented.

**If Star Wars isn't your thing, fear not! I am super excited for tomorrow's lunch bag giveaway.

stay put bowls

are my favorite!

This stay put bowl and cutlery set was such a good idea.

Baby girl wants to be a big girl. She wants the spoon when we try to feed her so we give her an extra to hold, which inevitably leads to the game. The one game where parents always loose. You know, the one where they drop something and you pick it up, and they drop it again and squeal in delight and you pick it up, and they drop it again and you bump your head on their high chair as you're bending down for the 14th time. I've played that game before with my first child and now with the second I'm just not in the mood. 

I'm liking the new game a lot more. It's called sticking the stay put bowl and cutlery sets on the table and watching baby Maria enjoy her food. 

Smart products make me happy.

making vietnamese spring rolls {thoughts on international cooking}

It's pathetic how I cook the same things over and over again.

They may have different names

but in the end it taste a whole lot a like.

When baby Maria was born my next door neighbors from India brought enough to feed our small family of 4 and our entire extended family, for many days. It was a post-partum feast. I have been to Indian restaurants before, but this was a whole different level of cooking. The textures and spices blew my mind, and my tongue. A lot of it was too spicy for my wimpy tongue, but I couldn't stop eating it.

I'm scared to try and make foods with ingredients that I've never heard of before on my own. So I jump to the ocassion when someone is willing to teach me. This weekend one of our other neighbors taught a vietnamese cooking class at the community center, like  20 yards from my house.

It was so simple to assemble. I'm sure that If I tried making it all from scratch I'd have a harder time. Noodles are tough to get right.

Isn't it funny how packages from other countries just seem so much more stylish? I mean, check out that green. I could wear that green.

Christian wore his crazy aloha shirt. I love that aloha shirt. I think he was trying to flirt with me. It's like, you put food in front of us in a setting that is not home and we instantly pretend like it's a date. "This totally counts as a date right?" Sure, I mean, our baby is here but who's even watching her? 

I want to learn how to make these on my own and then make them! I want to learn how to make Vietnamese-everything-food, and I want to make Thai food as well, oh and definitely Indian food. I want to basically make more than just my repertoire of brazilian/American food.

Where should I start?

baked spaghetti and mozzarella

Everyday Food

is king!

Martha Stewart's recipes really work for my family. I don't know what it it about them but we just click. Is it the simplicity of ingredients? Is it how fast everything takes? Is it how clear the recipes are written out? Is it that she plans out weekly menus and gives you an organized grocery list and would take your hand and help you stir just-so if she wasn't too busy being in NYC? 

YES!

My friend gave me a subscription for Everyday Food magazine last Christmas and in case she's wondering if she got her money's worth the answer is yes. I read every single page Mariko, and try out every single recipe except the naughty alcoholic ones. We all know Martha has a naughty side.

But the girl can cook! 

This is my variation of  Martha Stewart's baked spaghetti and mozzarella recipe that came out in the September 2010 Everyday Food issue (I teach undergraduates, I'm a stickler for citing sources, heck I should give you the MLA version of this citation)

Baked Spaghetti and Mozzarella

(printable version of this recipe)

• 2 cans whole peeled tomatoes (28 ounces each can)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves smashed and peeled
• 3/4 pound spagetti
• 2 cups diced mozzarella
• Italian seasoning
• salt

1. Preheat oven to 400*
2. Set a large pot of salted water to boil.
3. In a food processor, pulse tomatoes until chopped.
4. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high and add garlic and cook until fragrant.
5. Add tomatoes and bring to a boil.
6. Add Italian seasoning and salt to taste.
7. Cook until sauces starts to thicken
8. Meanwhile, cook pasta for 5 minutes. Drain pasta and return to pot.
9. Add tomato sauce and half of the mozzarella and toss to combine.
10. Transfer mixture to a 3-quart baking dish and top with remaining cheese.
11. bake until cheese is golden. About 20-25 minutes.

Solving Your Kitchen Problems One Friday at a time {giveaway and inspiring links}

Reusable sandwich bags 

are my favorite.

It's back to school baby! Well, for some people it is. We still have a month left of vacation, we're not complaining. That doesn't mean we're not gearing up and getting amped for school either. Enzo will be starting pre-k in the fall and for the first time he'll have somewhere to go every single weekday. Yay! I mean...so sad. I'm conflicted. Christian is also gearing up for another school year, his 22nd year. 

School is fun!

Packing lunch is also fun and I'm going to run a series of giveaways to help you help them (the kids) be more sustainable. Plastic baggies are a waste. There I said it, now excuse me while I go outside and hug my favorite redwood tree.

Solution: Reusable sandwich bags. Ohhhh ahhhhh beautiful.

HarrietsHaven offers handmade reusable sandwich/snack bags that I personally think are exquisitely charming. It's made from natural cotton and lined in muslin. Completely washable. Completely cute. 

I want the ladybug for me 

You can get one too. 

Actually you get two. 

HarrietsHaven is offering two reusable sandwich/snack bags for one of my readers. So much kindness!

Details, Details

Visit HarrietsHaven shop and pick two of your favorite bags. Then come back here and leave a comment telling me which two are your favorite by Midnight PST Thursday August 26th. Winner will be announced on Friday August 27th. Make sure your comment links back to an e-mail address or write your e-mail in your comment. 

For extra chances to win you can become a follower, like on facebook, follow me on twitter, subscribe, tweet, post, facebook, etc... and leave me an extra comments to let me know. Just don't get exhausted. It is after all the weekend!

Yay!

Congrats to Rachel for being the winner. Hope you enjoy your bags.

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Other lovely and inspiring things I found this week were...

This bean mosaic. I love the little things.

Avocado salt and pepper shaker. I want one.

Ice cream cone balloons is just one of those good ideas. Found via oh happy day

This eating fruit with salt post was awesome. I'm glad I'm not the only one who puts salt on my watermelon. 

This Guava suffle post was also awesome. 

Oh, and you're gonna love this story. So once a week I write a food column for the local newspaper. This week I posted my corn cake with guava paste recipe and right on the first line I say that we call corn bread, corn cake in Brazil because it has a lot of sugar. AND THEN the recipe was printed in the newspaper missing one very important ingredient. THE SUGAR. I forgot to add the 1 cup sugar that the recipe needs.

 Oh the e-mails and comments I got! Luckily the online version got changed. You can check it out here.

good times. 

fish wrapped in bacon

I feed my family fat so that if we go down

we all go down together

Except for baby Maria who is one month short of her first birthday. Let's keep her litte heart un-clogged at least till then. Instead of the fish wrapped in bacon she had fish steamed with green beans; no salt no butter. Don't feel too bad for her though, she can make a party out of anything. 

As for the rest of us bacon-eating-people, we savored the grease to our heart's content. It even tasted good with mozzarella and honeydew. High-five for skewers!

But hold that thought.

Don't think about the skewers just yet. Focus on the fish. This will take you tops 15 minutes to make. Wrap bacon around fish and broil for 10 minutes. In recipe terms...

Fish Wrapped in Bacon

(printable version of this recipe) 

yields 8 medium sized pieces- serves 2

• 2 large fillets of talapia cut in fourths. You need to have 8 pieces total.
• 8 strips of bacon

1. Turn oven to broil
2. Raise oven rack so that it's 3 inches away from the broil
3. wrap a slice of bacon around each piece of fish and place on a cookie sheet that has sides so the grease won't drip.
4. Broil for 8-10 minutes
5. Remove and serve warm.

The broiler is like that high school friend you once had. You were tight but you always had to watch your back because the moment you forgot about her she back stabbed you big time.

I've been back stabbed by the broiler many-a-times. Once in Hawaii making garlic bread and then 10 times again after that, making garlic bread. Basically the broiler will cook your food very fast so just stay close and watch for it. One minute it's raw and the nest it's burnt. Stay on the safe side and boil for less time than you need to then turn off your oven and lower the fish to the middle rack just so it stays warm.

Really, you can't mess this up.

and if you want you can even cut the pieces in half, throw in some honeydew, some fresh mozzarella, and put it on a skewer.

Now you can give me that high-five.

post-edit: just to be clear the melon and cheese does not go in the broiler. the end.

what fruits are safe to introduce to my baby?

Champagne grapes

equals

baby['s] grapes.

I recommend introducing these as soon as you find them in your supermarket. These tiny seedless grapes were a total find on my Saturday afternoon market run. Baby Maria loves her fruit and these are perfect for her tiny fingers to grasp. Just wash and serve. None of this cutting and then still freaking out that she might choke. 

Sometimes people ask me if such and such thing is safe to feed their 8 month old. The answer to that question is "yes, no, maybe so." First, I am not a nutritionist. Second, I don't follow too many rules. Third, even if I do follow food restriction rules in North America it all goes down the drain when I go to South America, where fruits are different and other restrictions are the norm.

I stated feeding baby Maria strawberries when she was 7 months. Some people like to wait until they're 1 year. I gave Enzo mangoes for the first time when he was 7 months and he had a horrible allergic reaction. I thought I had ruined him for life. Nope, not yet at least. When he was a little of over 2 years old someone feed him mangoes and he was fine. 

This is my rough guide on fruits that are safe to feed babies 6-12 months. I like the "wait three days rule" before introducing a new food but normally I do a "wait 1 day rule". My personal experience has been that if a certain food gives my kids an allergic reaction, even a mild rash, or an upset stomach I will know within 24 hours. However, as a parent do whatever feels most comfortable to you.

schedule for introducing fruits during baby's first year

6 months or older

pureed avocados

pureed bananas

pureed papayas

pureed pears

strained apricots

cooked peaches

cooked prunes

cooked plums

7 months or older

cooked apple

strained apricot

watermelon

8 months or older

chopped apricot

chopped cantaloupe

chopped honeydew

plums

quartered seedless grapes

champagne grapes

9 months or older

chopped bananas

chopped avocado

chopped cherries

chopped

slices of plums, apricot, peaches

strawberries

blueberries

black berries

raspberries

12 months or older

pineapple

mangoes

citrus fruits

Are there any other fruits your baby likes to eat and if so when do you recommend introducing it?

solving your kitchen problems one tip at a time

This kind of thing is totally what I ask Christian to buy me for Christmas. I'm a list and a menu planner maker. I have notebooks where I write out my weekly menus and I spend a good hour making shopping lists and organizing it according to which supermarket (costco, whole foods, trader joes, new leaf, safeway, etc) I am going to buy it from and where it's located inside the supermarket.

I'm so anal about lists and meal organizing you'd think my whole life was one big organized... life. Nope. Hardly, actually. My lists are all over the place. I start one notebook than misplace it and start another. It's o.k though, the process is fun.

These notepads are everything I've ever wanted in a notepad. They're practical and good looking and available in pretty colors. I choose....green.

Modernemotive is a fabulous little shop with fabulous prints, not just food related prints, but ALSO food related, which is why I'm smitten with them. They are also kind and generous and are offering my readers  a 15% discount until Tuesday August 17th NOON EST on all of their items. Just enter the coupon code "kitchencorners" at checkout. Make sure to contact the seller before hand if you have multiple items you want to ship to the same address so as to combine the cost of your shipping.

Kitchen Problem: lack of organization
solution: modernemotive notepads
fun: enter coupon code "kitchencorners" for 15% off
date ends: Tuesday August 17 NOON EST

Go forth and plan!

***********************************************

Other things that caught my eyes this week:

The food photography on this blog, heck the whole blog, is simple and intimate and I'm loving catching up on all her posts.

It's great when food bloggers get involved with their communities and promote social change.

Christian makes killer sandwiches. I'm encouraging him to enter this contest.  HELL-O $25,000!

The NY times post A Breastfeeding-Guru Who Uses Formula soothed my soul. Did I tell you that baby Maria hasn't had one drop of breast milk for the last 6 days? More on that next week.

For now I'm planning on catching up on some much needed sleep.
Have a lovely restful weekend.
xoxo

baby's first bento

and first exposure to Engrish

(It's o.k baby bear, my grammar is nothing to boast about either!)

Baby Maria got bento-ed today. 

Because we were in a hurry. 

Because she was taking a nap when Enzo and I were having lunch. 

Because Enzo could not wait one second longer to get to the pool. 

So I packed her a baby lunch and made her first bento to take with us to open swim.

If you're familiar with bentos, Baby Maria's lunch will be totally underwhelming to you. Keep in mind that she is 10 months old and only has 3 teeth so everything has to be kindda plain and kindda small. 

Menu:

tiny quesadilla triangles

very soft pieces of chicken

small pieces of strawberry

small pieces of cantaloupe

She thought everything was very delicious. 

She told me so herself, in plain Engrish.

tiny potatoes with furikake

I like to refer to them as batatinhas (baby potatoes)  in Portuguese.

I also call baby Maria batatinha

maybe that's why I like them so much.

Trader Joe's calls them teeny tiny potatoes, which is cute too. You cal all them whatever you like, as long as you agree that delicious is their middle name.

Tiny potatoes are small round yellow potatoes that have a very soft skin and a buttery flesh. I grew up eating tiny potatoes. My grandma makes it to accompany quail eggs. She seasons both with olive oil and salt and we much on them throughout the afternoon. Good times.

I spotted tiny potatoes at Trader Joe's about 3 months ago and have been buying them regularly. I rinse them off than cook them in a pot of boiling water until they're soft, maybe 10 minutes. enzo doesn't like potatoes unless they're fried. Boo. Baby Maria, on the other hand likes these a lot. They fit perfectly on the palm of her little hands and the skin is so soft I'm not worried about it being a chocking hazard.

Recently, I've been experimenting with different seasonings. JFC - Nori Fumi Furikake (Rice Seasoning) 1.7 Oz. is the best. It's salty and a bit crunchy so it gives the potatoes a fun texture. 

As soon as I drain the potatoes I lay them on a large plate and spread butter on top. The butter melts quickly and helps make the furikake stick. 

Then I eat.

easy dinner party

Two hours prep time start to finish.

Bam!

Part-ay

Dona Emilia, my friend's mama who is visiting from Brazil, had a birthday yesterday and Chris and I hosted the party. I love throwing parties for friends, specially good friends because if they need a glass of water they go and get it themselves. And everyone laughs, at everyone else. 

I came up with a simple menu the night before. I wanted something elegant but not too time consuming. Sundays are a day of rest except when it's not, and usually it's not. We're busy getting ready for church in the morning then we're back from church at 3:00pm famished. We had our guests over at 5:00 so we only had 2 hours to cook everything and it went very smoothly. Christian was even able to clean the bathroom before everyone arrived. Which is a very very god thing he did.

Berries are classic. They're pretty and easy to serve. We had an assortment of blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries with a big bowl of homemade whip cream with cinnamon on the side.

I made an asparagus-gruyere tart using Martha's recipe. This is the second time making this tart. It does not disappoint and it's seriously easy. Just bake a sheet of puff pastry at 400* for 15 minutes than remove from the oven and add 2 cups shredded gruyere cheese and asparagus and bake for an additional 20 minutes. Puff pastry is king! People think you're a total chef when you use puff pastry even though you just got it from the frozen section of Whole Foods.

I also served chicken salad on homemade buns. I like the easy rolls recipe because it's moist. Please don't make chicken salad used canned chicken, unless you really have to. 

If you cook 2 lbs of seasoned chicken breasts (skinless and boneless) in a dutch oven at 350* for 40 minutes with 1/2 cup water and some italian seasoning you'll get really soft and tender meat that just pulls apart. I like to mix it with a little mustard and a tiny bit of mayonnaise and a lot of grapes. The grapes are for Enzo.

Did you have a fun weekend?

What was on your menu? 

Solving Your Kitchen Problems One Giveaway at a Time {poster from Keep Calm Shop}

I found the Keep Calm Shop this week in an attempt to spruce up my kitchen decor. You see, I have these little frames on top of the window with cute backgrounds and an inspiring word like "gratitude". I'm totally sick of it. Who wants to read "gratitude" every day? No. I want to read "keep calm and eat cake" every day. That's what I want to read.

What would you like to read every day?

The Keep Calm Shop  is offering one of my readers a 8x10 poster to spruce up your kitchen. You pick the poster and you pick the color. Awesome. I know.

Rules:

• Open to everyone including international readers. 
• All you need to do is visit the Keep Calm Shop and leave a comment on this post telling me which poster is your fave. If you win you'll get the poster you choose in your favorite color. 
• For extra entries leave a comment telling me all the extra fun little things you do like follow this blog, follow me on facebook, twitter, twitter this giveaway, post about this on your blog, subscribe, cook me a meal, babysit my kids, wash my laundry...you know, the usual.
• Giveaway open till midnight PT Thursday August 12. Make sure your comment links back to an e-mail address.
• One comment will be chosen at random. The winner will be contacted via e-mail and announced here next Friday.

Keep Calm and Comment.

xoxo

post-edit: Congrats to LindyLouMac. You won.

******************************************************************************

oh, and because I want to leave you with something even if you don't win the giveaway here are some of my favorite links this week. Awesome, as in awesome to infinity and beyond, recipes and a garden post.

Peanut Butter Cookie Cups and White Chocolate Buttercream via Cookies and Cups 

I love white chocolate and I love peanut butter so this recipe is going to get made very soon around here

Buttery Croissants and Pains au Chocolat via Jolts and Jollies

My favorite things about this post was a comment that someone left "Now do you feel like you can climb mount Everest?" Because, seriously, who makes croissants from scratch?

more from the garden via jon and kim's excellent adventures

The baby kale picture is adorable.

On Sunday I'm hosting a Birthday party. 

I'm excited. I hope the weather is nice so we can eat outside garden party style.

If not, we'll just cram inside my small apartment.

That's o.k too.

Have a fun weekend.

Food Photography with Jonathan Canlas

I remember looking at Jonathan Canlas' work on line for the first time and being completely mesmerized. Today he shares some simple tips for improving your (and mine) food photography.

Totally useful.

Totally doable.

Thanks Jon.

For my food photography, I need to get in close.  This will either require a lens that allows you to focus really close or a macro lens.  Macro lenses are large, bulky and quite expensive.  So, I use my normal lens (50mm 1.4 on a 35mm camera with no crop factor or full frame sensor) and just use close up filters which are like macro filters that just screw on the front of my lens.  It allows me to get in REALLY close.  They are super inexpensive and very easy to use.  The plus filters come in sets of +1/+2/+4 and depending on the size of your lens filter thread, run anywhere from $45-$70 for the set shipped on Ebay.  I have the HOYA brand.  But Tiffen is good too.  

Also, if you notice all food magazines, almost all of the food is shot backlit to give depth to the food.  So, I position the food on the table to be backlit by the window in our kitchen.  You want the food to have shape to it and lighting is a big part of making food look not only edible, but delicious.  

I also try and use a really limited depth of field and focus right on what I want the viewer to see.  I don't want everything in focus so I camp out at fstops that give me limited depth of field.  Be aware that with the plus filters, you are limiting your depth of field even more.  

I am no food photographer by any means, but by following these tips, you can take photos that look like they are from a magazine without the studio set up and whistles and bells :).

For more of Jonathan make sure to visit his blog 

Jonathan Canlas Photography.

Crispy Cheese and Salmon Sandwiches

 Crispy cheese is the bomb.

Period.

You know when you make a quesadilla and the cheese oozes out of the sides and then it melts in the hot pan and gets crispy? That crispy cheese is like gold in our family. We all fight over it.

So, as an intelligent human being I've decided to end contention around here and just melt cheese on a skillet until crispy and then break off the pieces and stuff it in sandwiches. I make sure to evenly share with each member of the family, except for baby Maria who only has 3 1/2 teeth.

Crispy cheese is great with salmon sandwiches and salmon sandwiches that are shaped like sail boats are great for kids. 

Making salmon is so easy. I just don't make it as often as I'd like because I'd break the bank. However, when we do make it it's always a success.

Don't really know how to make salmon? No problem, you can see my post on the little foodie where I show you how to do it in less than 15 minutes.

triple chocolate cookies

Triple chocolate cookies are perfect

with a glass of cold rice milk

or cow's milk (if you have that kind of stomach)

and some screen time on the side.

Our weekend was relaxing with a series of unexpected mellow events. On Friday the kids went down early enough for Christian and I to do what we do best when they're asleep...eat sugar.

I wanted chocolate chip cookies but Chris wanted something richer. He modified a brownie cookie recipe found in the best cookie cook book ever; Cookies! A Cookie Lover's Collection and came up with his triple chocolate recipe. 

If clouds were made out of chocolate they would taste like these cookies.

Triple Chocolate Cookie

(printable recipe)

yields 2 dozen cookies 

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 squares (30 g each) unsweetened baking chocolate, melted and cooled
• 1/4 cup unsweetened baking chocolate powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

1. Heat oven to 350* 
2. In large mixing bowl combine sugar, oil, eggs, melted chocolate, chocolate powder and vanilla.
3. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended.
4. Add flour, baking soda and salt.
5. Beat at low speed until soft dough forms,
6. Stir in chocolate chips.
7. Drop dough by heaping spoons unto cookie sheet.
8. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

So we ate these cookies and we watched Dune (Christian's pick), which was surprisingly entertaining. I really thought the main dude was going to die in the end, I kept closing my eyes.

On Saturday we watched old Friends episodes (my pick) and ate more cookies. I wanted to find the one where Monica wants Pheobe's grandmother's chocolate chip cookie recipe and later discovers it's identical to the nestle toll house recipe. Classic. 

On Sunday we ate cookies... and brownies, and ice-cream. We shared with our friends and our cousins who came for an unexpected visit.

Today is Monday and the cookies are gone

and we have work

and school

and swim lessons

and appointments

not much relaxation in sight...

until next weekend.

I hope your weekend was just as good and I hope your weekdays a little less busy than mine.