Brazilian Tapioca

This is Annie. She is 17 years old and has her own tapioca stand and her head on the right place. During the day she goes to school and in the afternoon she makes tapioca flour, which is incredibly labor intensive. At night she sells her lovely tapiocas. I miss her. I miss her tapiocas, specially the ones that were filled with bananas and sweetened condensed milk with a touch of nutella.

Below you'll see cute Annie preparing tapioca. This is how tapioca is made and commercialized in
Brazil, kind of like a calzone with delicious awesome filling.  The one below has sun dried meat and cheese and tomatoes. Yum, my favorite.

Enzo loved going to her tapioca stand, as did baby Maria. Enzo always had the one with cheese and ham and baby Maria got the chicken and cheese. Christian would immediately go for the sweet ones. I don't blame him, that's why I always had two.

a walkthrough of the new template

Here we are at a a new Kitchen Corners look. For those of you who are newbies I hope you stay a while and enjoy the site. For those of you who have been to Kitchen Corners before I hope you find the new template much more user friendly than the old one.

I always get mad when I've been reading a blog for a while and the blogger straight up changes the template on me. "What is up with that? I was so comfy with the other look". Please don't get mad at me. I love you so! 

Since starting Kitchen Corners almost 3 years ago the blog has had many changes. It went from being called "Within the Corners of my Kitchen," (yuck, what a long name) with the url being kitchencorners.blogspot.com to then being called Kitchen Corners when I was finally able to buy the domain kitchencorners.com (sorry cabinet making people who went out of biz, the previous domain owners). The blog was a space where I wrote about food and radio documentaries, which was the focus of my MA thesis. Then I started posting about my family. Then I just posted recipes. Then I started mixing it up and making it more flavorful. Now it is this, a space where I get to write about feeding my family while sharing ideas and finds on home cooking. 

The left column shows a list of topics that I write about. Click on one and a new page will open showing a list of previous posts I've written on that topic. This is meant to help you navigate the site better. I have almost 500 posts to archive and I'm slowly doing it. So check often to see what's new on each column.

The theme of this blog is home cooking. I focus on cooking for and with kids because as a parent everything I do revolves around my children, including the way I cook. However, I'm a firm believer that kids should eat what their parents eat so with that in mind my recipes are meant for everyone and anyone who cooks at home and enjoys flavorful dishes that are easy to make. If you click on the "HOME RECIPES" tab you'll get a list of my recipes.

and if you like a post and want to share it here is how...

at the bottom of every post you'll see these links. I know many of my readers commented on how much they liked the Facebook button I had on my previous template. The buttons here will add the post to Facebook and other sites as well.

On the right side you'll see new ways to connect with me. I love receiving e-mails from you. I really do and I appreciate your feedback and suggestions. You can also subscribe via RSS or e-mail. You can also join the facebook page which is my personal favorite way to interact with my readers, other than comments. Also, starting November 1st I will be putting private advertisement on my blog. If you're interested in becoming a sponsor visit my advertisement page for rates. 

Woah so much information.

Sorry.

I know the blog is intuitive and you probably didn't need all this but I'm just a teeny-tiny bit overjoyed to have a new design. It's been a long long process with uncountable hours put into it, mainly from my incredible designer Ana from Live and Enliven Designs. If I could I would send her on a month long cruise around some beautiful part of the world where she would get massages every hour on the hour and not have internet access, this way she wouldn't feel obliged to respond to my 20+ e-mails a day. I feel like I've gained a friend and a therapist/self-esteem coach throughout her redesigning Kitchen Corners. If you need a new blog design you should hire Ana. Trust me! If you don't need a new blog design you should hire Ana. Double trust me!

on to food blogging....

baked sandwich with Nature's Pride bread

Baked sandwiches are one of my all time favorite meals to make for the fam. It's hearty. It's relatively quick. Everyone eats it. WIN!

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program I received a free coupon for a loaf of Nature's Pride Bread. I've shared a baked sandwich recipe before but I think this one wins the prize. The bread makes all the difference and I loved using Nature's Pride potato bread. And I am not just saying that because of the free coupon, so stop that!

Seriously, I'm a huge-o fan of potato bread. I usually get the hiccups while I'm eating it. Weird no? It's so doughy and dense, I love it. This baked sandwich kind of felt like a lasagna only way easier to make.

Baked Ham and Cheese Sandwich
(printable version)

• 12 slices potato bread bread
• 2 cups Alfredo sauce
• 1 cup cream cheese
• 8 slices cheddar cheese
• 8 slices thick cut ham
• freshly grated Romano cheese
• 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350*
2. Place the Alfredo sauce on a large casserole pan with the Italian seasoning and salt and pepper to taste. 
3. Place the slices of bread inside the casserole and make sure the bread absorbs the sauce well.
4. On another  casserole pan layer a slice of bread, cream cheese, a slice of cheddar cheese, a slice of ham and another slice of bread. Repeat a second time and add Romano cheese on top. 
5. There is enough to make 4 large sandwiches.
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes until cheese if fully melted. 
7. serve warm.

sew long ziploc giveaway

I'm still in reusable baggie mode. Most of your kids have been back to school for a while but today was Enzo's first day at his new preschool. So fun.

Sew Long Ziploc is one of those beautiful etsy shops sewing to make a difference.  A quick read on this shop.

Our reusable sandwich and snack bags are here to help you go green while saving money on plastic bags and adding some pizazz to your lunch bag. :) These bags are great for lunches, snacks on the go, travel bags or just about anything!

Each bag is made with 100% cotton and lined with water proof nylon fabric and sealed with a sturdy strip of velcro to keep all of your goodies secure and fresh.

One Kitchen Corners reader will win a reusable snack bag of their choice. Visit Sew Long Ziploc and come back and leave me a comment by telling me which baggie is your fave. For extra entries you can follow, tweet, facebook, or subscribe. Just make sure you leave me a comment so that I know.


Giveaway will close on Thursday September 30th. Winner will be announced and contacted via e-mail next Friday.


Good luck
and
have a fun filled weekend.

Chinese chicken salad {project food blog challenge number 2}

Or should I say Er? Is that how you even say the number two in Chinese? If you're Chinese and you're rolling your eyes I'll take that as a no. If you're Chinese and you read the recipe below developed by Ina Garten (something tells me she's not Chinese) and you roll your eyes again I'll take that as a hint that this recipe is not authentic. I get it.

It's just that I love the taste and texture of Chinese food but have never made it before. I don't use sesame seed and soy sauce much in my cooking.

But I should.
Because it gives such a nice flavor
And it's not so exotic that my picky Enzo won't touch it.

Challenge number two for Project Food Blog is to make a classic dish from another culture. I had to find something new but also something that my family would eat. Ina Garten's Chinese chicken salad did the job.

Food Photography with Adam Palmer

Hi Kitchen Corners readers,

My name is Adam Palmer. I am a brother in law to Damaris and I am a wedding photographer out here in beautiful Hawaii. I wouldn't consider myself to be an expert food photographer but I've seen and shot a lot of good food between the 50 or 60 weddings I've been shooting a year for the last 10 years and all the great stuff Damaris whips up in the kitchen when she's back in Hawaii. Here are 3 tips that came to mind when Damaris invited me to guest post on her blog.

       • Tip 1- White balance. The first thing that is critical to making food look as delicious on the blog as it does when it's right in front of you is to get the white balance right. All kinds of light has a different color to it that our eyes naturally remove. Have you ever noticed how when you've been wearing colored glasses for a while your eyes tend to adjust and revert back to natural colors after about 10 minute or so. Your eyes are always removing the color from light in all types of scenes. Traditional bulbs look really orange, energy saving CFLs look green, direct sunlight is very neutral but open shade or window light is very blue. To get your food to look just right you need to start by adjusting the white balance on your camera to remove any unwanted color from the light.

       • Tip 2- Exposure compensation. The second tip to get those colors in your food to really show up is to play with the exposure compensation. You can see from my photos that I like it light and colorful. Cameras are always trying to adjust the scene to get an even representation of the light. If there is a bright background to the photo (such as a white plate, a window lighting the scene, or a piece of sky behind you, the camera will darken the whole scene to even out the brightness. Try brightening up the scene with your cameras exposure compensation setting. I find 80% of my food photos look better with plus one or even two stops of exposure compensation. Shoot two or three at various levels to test it out.

       • Tip 3-- Dealing with the depth of field. When you are shooting close up you are going to be dealing with very shallow depths of field. What that means in plain english is that you will have just a narrow portion of your picture in tack sharp focus. This effect can be quite pleasing if you pay attention to exactly where you want the focus to fall. Aim the center of your camera at the one thing you want in focus and press the button half way down. Then with your finger still halfway down on the button move your camera until you have the picture composed the way you like it and press the button all the way. Practice that 4 or 5 times with each food shot because you'll find it's quite an art to getting the focus exactly where you want it to land. If you really want crisp focus from the front to the back of the dish you have two options. The first is to move back a bit and crop in later. The closer you get to the food the shorter your usable range of focus its. Your other option is to use the smallest aperture you have available which will also mean probably needing a tripod.

I hope this helps. I post general photography tips at http://adamapalmer.blogspot.com. From time to time I also have fine art print giveaways. You can see my Hawaii wedding photos http://www.adamapalmer.com


Adam A. Palmer Photography
www.adamapalmer.com


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Adam is a wonderful photographer and so fun to be around. If you're ever in Hawaii give him a call. He takes beautiful wedding pictures and family portraits on the beach that will blow your mind. He's also a great person to talk to about food. He knows all the good places to eat on the island.


Thanks Adam for the tips, so useful!

about cacao

In a couple of hours I'm going to be driving through cacao plantations to make my way to the airport (4 planes later I'll arrive in San Francisco). I will miss being surrounded by this magical fruit. I'm going to miss Brazil so much.

As a tribute to cacao I wrote an article for the Santa Cruz Sentinel titled Loving all Things Chocolate Straight From the Source, go check it out!

Bahia taught me how to eat well

Taking a nap after lunch is a basic human right. Many of the beach huts have this setup where a hammock is placed next to every table. People eat and then they take a nap right there on the beach.

Eating is not a private event, and it shouldn't be. Strangers come up to you, they sit with you, you sit with them. You share a meal or a juice and you make a friend. Nothing adds more flavor to a meal than good company.

Part of eating is experimenting with new flavors and ideas. This guy who walks around the beach with his little metal pan and heats up coal so as to roast a big cheese stick and entice you into eating crispy on the outside and melted on the inside cheese is a genius!

Enzo loves cheese stick, the kind that's wrapped in plastic and strings it's way into his mouth. But let me tell you, he LUVS the roasted on the beach stick cheese even more and is begging me to make this at home for him using the store bought string cheese we always have in our fridge.

We're leaving tomorrow with a tummy and a heart full of wonderful memories and tastes.
Thanks Brazil for feeding us so well.
xoxo Damaris

free dishtowel apron tutorial: perfect for a kid apron

This dishtowel apron tutorial is exactly what I was looking for. It is the most basic apron tutorial I've found, it doesn't even require a sewing machine, and I've been looking long and hard for something like this.

Enzo outgrew his pink hello kitty apron. I know! So sad! I've been searching for a boy-apron for him and the very few out there are over $30. I don't even spend that much on an apron for myself and I'm a total apron junkie.

I have dishtowels a plenty so as soon as I get back and unpacked I'm setting out to make him an apron.

found via The Apronista

ps. If you're into aprons and sewing then you'll love this roundup of 24 free apron patterns. In my next life I'm going to learn how to sew. You'll see.

a chocolate birthday cake and a recipe exchange

This weekend we celebrated baby Maria's birthday. Cooking on vacation has it's hardships but also it's perks. At home my stand-up kitchenaid mixer is my sidekick. It's hard being on vacation without my entire kitchen. The flip side of this, is that there are less dishes to wash and things become way more simplified. I've been using cake mixes a lot, which are surprisingly really good. I've been using the ingredients I can find and not stressing out about the ones that are only in abundance in the Northern hemisphere (peanut butter and chocolate chips, for example).

On Friday Enzo and I made a chocolate cake for baby Maria with doce de leite crème filling. It's so fun seeing Enzo cook. All the time I've spend with him in the kitchen teaching him how to mix and cut really paid off on Friday when he quickly cut all the chocolate into small pieces and whipped up the cake batter as I threw directions his way. I think his enthusiasm and love for his little sis were the ingredients that made the cake turn out awesome.

A couple hours before serving the cake I would of called it anything but awesome. I was contemplating sending it to cake wrecks, I think it would of made it there no problem. When cutting the cake batter in half then adding the filling then adding the top half back on we had a little accident. The cake collapsed when Christian and I were putting it back together quit chaotically. 


I borrowed a mixer from a neighbor to try and make whip cream. It was so kind and generous of her to let me use her mixer but it did not do the job, at least not in the way that I had envisioned. The cream turned into runny liquid. I added doce de leite to try and make it more stiff but the doce de leite also turned into liquid. I poured the liquid crème on top of the cake and drizzled milk chocolate and white chocolate crumbs on top. It looked pretty bad. I didn't really care because I knew baby maria wouldn't care, so I put it in the freezer to see if the crème would stiffen just a little. 

After dinner we brought some new friends over to celebrate and got the cake out and it looked so much better than a few previous hours before. The crème filling and the crème topping froze and it looked and tasted like doce de leite ice cream. I had also put chocolate chunks in the cake batter and that really made it taste good. Needless to say the cake was a total success. Baby Maria loved it too.

Chocolate Birthday Cake with Doce de Leite
(printable recipe)

● Chocolate cake mix
● 2 cups chopped milk chocolate

● 1 cup chopped white chocolate

● 3 cups table cream
● 1 cup doce de leite

1. Make the cake mix batter as directed in the package.

2. Add one cup of chopped milk chocolate to the batter and stir.

3. Bake as directed in the cake mix package.

4. While the cake is cooling whip 2 cups of table cream with ¾ cup doce de leite.

5. Once the cake is completely cooled down carefully cut it in half (horizontally) so as to be able to put the filling.

6. Spread the doce de leite crème filling on top of the lower half of the cake. 

7. Carefully add the top half and place it in the fridge to prevent the crème filling from melting.

8. Whip one cup of table crème with ¼ cup doce de leite. Spread it in top of the cake and sprikle one cup of chopped milk chocolate and 1 cup white chocolate on top.

9. Put in the freezer for a couple of hours, until the top crème mixture is hardened like ice-cream.


Today I'm excited to share this recipe as part of Studio Surface Recipe Swap. I can't wait to see what other recipes come my way. Check out the participants and let me know which recipe you like.

Michelle from Studio Surface

Ana from Live & Enliven

Estelle from Under a Pink Moon

Bianca from Bink and Boo

Damaris from Kitchen Corners

Suzie from Cupcake Monkey

Susan from House of Brinson

Also, today is the day that that Project Food Blogger goes live and voting begins. Have you read my challenge numero uno post? I'm having fun with this contest and I love reading people's posts and profiles, such an inspiring bunch. I hope you'll join the fun by casting your vote and sharing on facebook and twitter. You can click on my button on the left and the first one that should appear is my post. If you trouble let me know and I can give you more directions. I'll keep you updated if I make it to the second round. Crossing my fingers (and my toesies).

$35 gift certificate to cookware.com giveaway {for the little foodies in your life}

Today my baby Maria celebrated her first birthday and to keep the party going I'm giving away a $35 gift certificate to cookware.com, my favorite online store. Usually I'm on there checking out luscious dutch ovens that I lust after but today the focus was on wooden kitchen toys. We have a small collection going in our home and I'm thinking of adding a few more items that I think baby Maria would like.

Here are a few favorites, all under $35.

Can you tell I have a crush on Plan Toys?

 I love their kitchen collection

This giveaway is open to everyone and you don't have to use your gift certificate towards toys, I'm just encouraging it because of baby Maria's birthday and the prices for kitchen toys on cookware.com is seriously better than anywhere else I've seen. But if you want to use it towards a shinny new dutch oven I wouldn't blame you either. After all adults need kitchen toys too.

Giveaway rules:

• prize: $35 gift certificate to cookware.com
• enter: by following this blog! In the bottom of my blog you will see the follow button. This week I'm tweaking things up a bit and I'm encouraging you to follow my blog because I have a couple fun changes coming your way and I wouldn't want you to miss it. If you're an old follower leave a comment telling me and if you're a new follower, WELCOME! Leave me a comment saying hi and your name so I can find you and say hi back.
• extra: for extra chances to win you can tweet and/or facebook this giveaway and then come back and leave an extra comment.
• giveaway closes: Thursday September 23rd midnight PST. 
• Winner: one follower's comment will be chosen at random and the winner will be announced and contacted on Friday September 24th.

good luck

and have a fun filled weekend.

post-edit: congratulations to Talisha for winning this giveaway.

Project Food Blog {challenge numero uno}

Foodbuzz is having a fun online competition called project food blog with close to 2,000 contestants. Isn´t that crazy to the core? Did you even know there were so many food bloggers out there? I find it absolutley delightful that there are so many of us cooking and writing and licking our fingers as we go.

For challenge numero uno I need to tell you why I have what it takes to be the next food blog star.

Easy.

Does blogging while stiring a pot of beans and changing a diaper count? Gross, I know but that is the story of my life. I fell in love with food blogging close to three years ago, when my son was still a baby and my current baby wasn´t even a thought. I fell in love with the refuge it gave me while completing a demanding MA thesis and the joy it brought me as I documented my son´s life through food and cooking.

I am a mother first and a blogger second.

Now I am a mother of two and my cooking happens with my kids in the forefront. Literally. My 4 year old helps me cook and my 1 year old helps me have more things to clean up when I´m done cooking. I am constanly thinking about what meals I can make that will accomodate everyone´s needs and what cooking techniques I will use that will keep eveyone safe (I only deep fry when my baby is asleep) and will free me up quickly to get back to my kids.

My blog is an account of the recipes I create: tasty does not equal time consuming.

My cooking is a fusion of Brazilian and American food and my writing reflects my roots and my quest to learn more about new cultures and pass that knowledge and taste to my children. I didn´t marry someone from Hawaii for nothing. My husband and I travel a lot between the paradise beaches of the pacific and the incredible beaches of the Atlantic and we eat our way through both with our small kids in two.

I´m a foodie-mom-bogger. Feeding my kids is my source of inspiration and watching them grow in health is my reward. That´s why I enjoy sharing my recipes, documenting our eats through photography, posting about smart kitchen products, and kitchen toys, and holding weekly giveaways because you can never have enough reusable lunch bags.

I blog with my mouth full while taking care of my kids
and I love it.

feeding my kids street food

People have asked me if I'm scared to eat street food, mostly if I'm scared to feed street food to my kids. We've been going to the beach daily and eating street food daily, so I guess the answer is no. My kids are crazy about the ocean. Baby Maria goes right in, get's tumbled, gets rescued, and then proceeds to go right in again. She should be scared but she's not. Likewise, maybe I should be scared of street food but I'm not, I plunge right in specially if it sounds delicious. Yesterday a guy sold me warm pastels that were filled with plantains and cinnamon. I ate it right in the water. Do you know how luxurious that is?

The day one of us gets sick you'll be the fist one to know. 

I'm hopping that day is far into the future.

I wouldn't want our fun to be cut short.

People who sell street food are pretty awesome, specially the ones who sell at the beach. Those folks are extra great and I always want to give them a hug because they make my life as a parent so much easier. As soon as we get to the beach Enzo is hungry even when we go right after lunch, which is always.

The kid swims for a couple minutes and then is instantly asking for a snack. Corn on the cob has become a recent favorite. He takes a bite then runs back in the water, then runs out takes another bite and continues this way until we leave. I pay $1 for the corn, the same as I would a bag of processed corn chips.

I would rather he eat corn on the cob than chips anyday.
I trust the street vendor guy who has "show do milhão" written on his cart and who misspelled "Deus é fiel" (god is loyal) on the other side of his cart than I do large coorporations who make snacks, snacks that I would otherwise have to buy to feed my hungry swimmer.

mess free and stylish menu board

I think this dedo board designed by Gonçalo Campos made from faux fur is lovely. It would make a wonderful menu board, specially for a child learning to write simple words such as "pizza" and "cookies" (Enzo's ideal dinner). It would also be wonderful for me, since it's  doesn't create a puddle of chalk powder on my floor.

Time to ditch my old chalk board.

found in Design*Sponge

free shopping list print {guest post with Ana of Live and Enliven}

Ana is a wonderful blogger and graphic designer with a great sense of style and functionality.

She's also a mom.

She knows what's up.

Thanks Ana for sharing your talent with us today.

Hello everyone!

I'm Ana Degenaar of Live & Enliven and I am far more than thrilled to be guesting here because Damaris is my Home-cook heroin!. I bet you agree with me on that.

I am here to share one of my free printables and I chose this one because it has truly transformed my grocery shopping trips. I used to make my lists the night before shopping but some how, at least 90% of the times I forgot something that was vital to my week meal plan.

These "All out of" prints are fantastic! I keep them in the kitchen or pantry door and while I'm cooking or organizing I can just check the item I'm missing. I also added a section for medicine, personal care and miscellaneous which has helped a ton.

Find the PDF HERE / The document is a letter size color sheet - you can print it at home.

Hope you like them and that you find them useful!

Thanks so much for having me, Damaris!
xo

sugar cane juice

I asked Enzo if he wanted some garapa, sugar cane juice, and he said no because it wasn't sweet enough. He makes up strange facts, much like his father, when he's uncertain of things. I showed him the sugar cane and said "Enzo this is where sugar comes from and I'm offering you to drink sugar juice, trus me it is definetly sweet enough."

He still said no.

Silly Enzo! Sugar cane juice is so good specially cold with some fresh squeezed lime. As a kid this is what I had every Saturday at the farmer's market with my grandma, along with pastel.

Here is a short video to show you how the juice is extracted from the sugar cane.

I wish you were here.

I'd share my garapa with you in a heart beat.

cooking on vacation is all about improvisation

Our tiny rental has a tiny kitchen with a tiny stove and even tinier oven. It took four people yesterday to light up the gas oven. I was determined to make a cake even if it has to be mixed by hand in a metal cooking pan with very few ingredients.

I bought a cake mix and improvised with the ingredients so I could give it more flavor. I used the Dona Benta cake mix. Dona Benta is the Brazilian version of Betty Crocker. Coincidence that both starts with a the letter B? I think not. I mean, I don't know but both mixes are probable the exact same so hopefully this recipe will work for my American readers as well.

The mix calls for three eggs and 3/4 cup cold milk. I substituted the cold milk for 1/2 cup strawberry yogurt and 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk. I don't have a measuring cup so I just poured one yogurt caontainer in the mix and measured the sweetened condensed milk in the empty yogurt container. I figured it was 1/2 a cup. Cake mixes are forgiving so if it's a little more or a little less than actually 3/4 cup it will turn out fine. The real difficulty was getting the yogurt cups away from baby Maria. Did I mention that we brought very little toys? She drags these things around the house as if they were race cars. I'm amazed at how few things we actually need to have fun.

Anyway, I baked for 30 minutes at medium heat and after it cooled off I drizzled some more yogurt and sweetened condensed milk on top. It was such a hassle to get the oven to work I wanted to maximize my efforts by making it as sweet as possible. Heck, if we're having dessert than we're having DESSERT.

I was happy with the results. 

We'll possibly make it again on Friday for baby Maria's first birthday.

We're also improvising on the feeding front. No high chair means feeding baby Maria on the stairs. She sits for about 10 seconds and then crawls away leaving crumbs all over the floor. I don't really mind since the place we're staying in is so tiny it takes about just as long for me to sweep the floor.

Hooray for vacations.

Mother Earth's Children; the frolics of the fruits and vegetables book

I recently found the online version of Mother Earth's Children and I seriously can't stop reading and smiling. This wonderful book from 1914 is pure delight. How can you not love this?

I want to read it with Enzo and try to convince him to give yams a try. Not sure he'll go for it but he will love the read. I think he'll find the temperament of the produce amusing.

Have you ever seen this book before? I'm going to have and search ebay for a copy.
Good thing for online archives. You can find the entire version of the book and read and even print it out for personal use. Thank you Beyond the Curtain for introducing me to such a delightful read.

Waste Not Saks Giveaway

One woman with two kids and a career as a pediatrician sets out to green the planet

one reusable sandwich and snack bag at a time

Actually it's close to 8000 reusable sandwich and snack bags in just over a year of production.
Waste Not Saks is a hit and one of you will win a reusable bag of your choice.

Visit the shop and come back here telling me which baggie is your favorite by next Thursday September 16.

For extra entries tell me one way  you're successful at reducing waste when packing lunch. I'm thirsty for ideas on ways to green up my kitchen practices. And for even more chances you can leave an extra comment for all the extra things you do like follow this blog, like Kitchen Corners on facebook, follow me on twitter, tweet this giveaway, facebook this giveaway, and all that good stuff.

One comment will be picked randomly and the winner will be announced next Friday September 17 on this post and contacted via e-mail. Good luck.

Did your kids go back to school this week?
If so I hope you have a fun and restful weekend.

post-edit: The lucky winner is Jasmine. 

easy after school snacks

five recipes selected with my kids in mind

all from the lovely Martha's back-to school series

.

1. banana yogurt smoothie with polka dots: It's recipes like these that makes Martha the genius that she is. Seriously painting polka dots with a paint brush and raspberry jam is awesome to the moon and back
2. cinnamon tostada: I've made this before and it never fails. We like to dip in greek yogurt.
3. popcorn balls: this is more like dessert than a snack but whatever. Enzo is always asking us to make sweet popcorn, and we do!
4. snowflake quesadilla: I forgot how fun and easy this recipe is. In fact your kid could make the snowflake themselves.
5. frozen fruit salad : Enzo is not a huge fan of frozen fruit but my teething baby can't get enough.

Do you have a favorite easy snack that you like to make for your kids?

docinhos

If you've been to a Brazilian birthday party or wedding (maybe even funeral) you've probably had a brigadeiro which is a small chocolate fudge ball rolled traditionally covered with chocolate jimmies.

Unless you're my cousin, in which case you roll your brigadeiros on gold powder and serve them alongside other fabulous bite sized sweets that fall into the category of what we call docinhos.

That above is my sister, Ca. 

We had a really good time at my cousin's wedding.

My goodness!

Below are mini chocolate cups with strawberry jam inside.

I know!

And these little white pretty things 

were miniature coconut flans.

and the green grapes covered in some form of sweetened condensed goodness was heaven.

All of these treats have sweetened condensed milk as either the first or second ingredient.

It's a Brazilian thing.

I can make a mean brigadeiro and many other types of docinhos

but they never look this fancy!

Do you pack lunch for your kids or let them eat the sloppy joe from the cafeteria?

One of my favorite blogs

was featured on the NY Times

because of this awesomeness of a post.

Have I mentioned that Enzo will be starting preschool in a couple of weeks?

An every day preschool?

Only a million times?!

I have back to school on my brains because really it's not back to school for us it's first time school. We're sending Enzo off to school. He's going to a wonderful preschool, one that he's been on the wait list for 3 1/2 years. He's 41/2, you do the math.

When we found out he got in the first thing I asked the director was about the food. The second was the curriculum. They have a chef who makes lunch for the kids. All ingredients are local and organic which means that I am not planning on packing him lunch. Snack maybe, but not lunch. We feel very lucky that he got in and luckier that they're conscious about what they feed the kids. All this may change if a) Enzo decides that he hates the food and b) if Christian threatens to throw away all the cute bento boxes I've accumulated for Enzo's school days that will not be put to any use.

I grew up eating school lunch. I was a total free lunch kind-of-student. Breakfast too. I have a love hate relationship with school lunch. I loved the super sweet banana bread wrapped in foil and hated the milk only option. Do they still do that? Is there soy or rice milk now?

When I was in 6th grade I wrote a letter to the mayor of Chicago telling him that I did not like the school lunch. He wrote back! No joke. He not only wrote back but he notified my school that I was to be on the planning committee each month and help schedule the meals for the month. It was a great experience. It made me realize that the cafeteria ladies have little to work with, therefore they are NOT to blame and it's not nice to blame them. 

My parents worked a lot, all the time. They couldn't even think about packing a lunch. Luckily I wasn't alone and seriously have no recollection of any of my peers bringing sack lunches. 

What about you, did you grow up eating school lunch?

and now do you pack lunches for your kids?

Brazilian pastel {and other news}

is absolutely

without a doubt

my favorite food.

I know I've posted about pastel before. It's just that I can't get enough of this crispy fried dough with super salty filling. 

Pastel is  a savory dish usually sold at the farmers market. It's a thin pastry that envelopes some kind of savory (typically savory, sometimes there are sweet pastels too) filling. Most common fillings consist of cheese, ground sausage, ground beef, and Christian's favorite the Especial, which is the everything pastel

The Especial is a meal, my favorite meal. The deep friedness falls into the category of automatic deliciousness

My mama took us to her new favorite pastel joint. It took forever to get there and was super crowded but totally worth it. I loved spending time with my mom and sisters in Sao Paulo. It was 6 days too short! Now I'm in the Northeastern part of Brazil in the beautiful state of Bahia. We arrived yesterday and will stay till the end of the month. Today I had fried fish right on the beach. Heaven.

Speaking of fish did you see my post about Alaska Seafood in which I share a cod recipe via video? VIDEO! What was I thinking? I blush every time I watch it. Anyway... my post along with 11 other posts about Alaska Seafood is being featured on Foodbuzz.  There are some great fish recipes for you to check out. Please visit the page and vote for your favorite post. The winner gets to go to the Foodbuzz festival for free (yup. yup)! Of course I want you to vote for me, of course! But...don't feel too bad for me if I don't win. The process was fun regardless, and the cod was excellent.

Hope all is well in your side of the world.
Hope you're having fun and eating some delicious food
and if you're in Brazil lets get together for some pastel.