Marci's Village

Forget about perfection!

This morning I woke up really excited about a Brazilianmoms meeting at Danielle's house. She just recently came back from a trip to Brazil and we all had missed her when she was away. This is Dani, by the way:

 
I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to share my "bolo de fuba cremoso" (creamy cornmeal bread). My kids don't really like it but we Brazilians do, so I make it only when I can share it with friends. 

As I was getting ready to get the dish out of the oven I glanced at the recipe one more time and realized I had not added ANY sugar to it. It calls for one and a half cups of sugar (!) and I had added zilch, none! As I cut the cake I debated if I should throw it away or bring it to the meeting and ask for help to try to savage it. I tried to console myself by thinking that this would be a great opportunity to be flexible and not fret about perfection.

My dear friends came to the rescue and suggested sprinkling some powdered sugar on it. It worked! (or so they said -- you know, Brazilians are too polite sometimes...).

Now, the get-together: we had breakfast and lunch there and just could. not. stop. talking. God, I love these women! Thank you for allowing them to be in my life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are a couple of recipes from today:

Creamy cornmeal cake (bolo de fuba)

5 eggs

4 cups milk

1 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups sugar -- optional -- just kidding!!

1/2 cup cornstarch

2 1/2 cups "fuba" - I haven't tried making it with cornmeal, but I guess that would be an option.

100 g sweetened coconut flakes

2 Tbsp melted butter

1 Tbsp baking soda.

In blender mix everything but the cornmeal. Place cornmeal in a large bowl. Add the mixture to the cornmeal. Mix it well by hand, then divide the batter into two equal parts and mix each batch in blender again until creamy. Place in greased 9x13 baking dish and bake it at 350 degrees until no longer soft in the middle.

Breakfast Quiche

This recipe was originally made by Silmara. Today Milene made it for us, so any questions can be directed to the two ladies.

Ingredients:
 
1 crust
6 slices bacon, crisp, crumbled
5 beaten eggs
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, sredded
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tablespoon flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 tablespoon grated onion
 
Pie Crust
 
1/2 cup softened butter
3 oz package softened cream cheese
1 1/4 cup flour
 
In a bowl beat butter & cream cheese. Stir in flour. Refrigerate 1 hour. Roll out to make crust. Bake @ 450 for 8 min.
 
In a separate bowl, mix eggs and milk, salt and pepper w/a beater. Place cheddar cheese and 1 tablespoon flour in baggie and toss to coat. Add cheese, bacon and onion to beaten eggs and stir.
Pour into cooked pie shell. Bake @ 325 for 35-45 min. or until knife inserted comes out clean.

I promise that in the future I will take pictures of the recipes I post here.

A Brazilian recipe

A friend of mine asked for the recipe, so here it goes:

 

SALPICAO (saw'peek'aw)

[Chicken, ham, and cheese salad]

 

Ingredients:

2 whole chicken breasts

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 pound ham (I use about 3/4 of a ham steak)

1 cup cheddar cheese

1 cup muzzarella cheese

4 oz green olives

4 oz black olives

2 apples

1 15-oz can "Peas and Carrots"

1 cup raisins

6 oz mayonnaise

1 7-oz bag potato chips

 

1. Rub garlic powder, salt and pepper on chicken breasts. Heat olive oil in frying pan. Cook chicken until no longer pink in the middle.
2. Cut chicken breasts in very small cubes. Set aside.
3. Cut ham in small pieces. Set aside.
4. Cut cheddar and muzzarella cheeses in small cubes. Set aside.
5. Slice green and black olives. Set aside.
6. Peel, slice and cut apples in small cubes. Set aside.
7. In a large bowl mix all above ingredients. Add peas and carrots, raisins, and mayonnaise.
8. Break potato chips. Mix them gently together with all other ingredients.

Enjoy!

On the menu Tuesday

• White rice

• Chicken stuffed with sauteed zucchini, red peppers, red onions, and asparagus - baked in the oven. Munster cheese on top. Delicious!

 

On the menu

I've decided I'm going to post our dinner menu/plans every day. I've been going through a phase when I feel good about making dinner for family almost every evening. In the future, when I hit a phase where my creativity in the kitchen hits a low, I can always come back to these meal plans and search for inspiration.

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Yesterday:

• White rice

• Beans

• Sausage

• Broccoli

Today:

• Breaded pork chops (they turned out really tender),

• Day-old rice - mix about 4 Tbsp of tomato sauce (from a can), some shredded cheddar. Heat mixture up in the oven (low temperature) for about 30 minutes. It turned out really good!

• Edamame

• Green Salad

• Boiled egg - for Maya, who doesn't like pork.

Tomorrow:

• We are going out to dinner, and Grandparents are babysitting. I'll leave my Cheesy Penne Bake ready for them.

Cheesy Penne Bake

1 lb. ground beef

¼ cup chopped onion

1 jar spaghetti sauce

1 ½ cup penne pasta

2 T butter, melted

1 T flour

¼ t salt

1 c evaporated milk

1/3 c water

1 c Italian blend cheese

2 T grated Parmesan cheese

Brown ground beef and onion. Add spaghetti sauce. Simmer 10 minutes. Cook penne according to directions. Mix penne and sauce. Melt butter in saucepan, stir in flour and salt. Add milk and water. Cook over medium heat until slightly thickened, stirring constantly. Add ½ cup Italian cheese and Parmesan cheese, stir until melted. Stir half of pasta mixture in bottom of 9x13 dish. Top with all of cheese sauce. Add remaining pasta and remaining ½ cup Italian cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

 

Pao de Queijo (Cheese Rolls)

Hi friends,

 

I'm not sure how to add this to a separate column. I'll play with that later. For now, here's the recipe for those who asked.

 

Ingredients

1 bag (14 oz) Tapioca flour

3 eggs

1 ½ cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 cups shredded mozzarella or other white cheese (Monterey Jack, Italian, Cotijo)

2 tsp salt

Parmesan cheese

 

1) In a blender, mix the eggs, milk, oil, cheese, and salt.

2) Put the tapioca flour in a separate mixing bowl.

3) Pour the mix into the tapioca starch and mix well with a wooden spoon.

4) Pour the mixture into lightly greased muffin pans. Sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese on top of each roll.

5) Bake at 350 degrees Celsius for 20-25 minutes or until golden.