by Camila | Oct 9, 2017 | Breads and Quick Breads, Recipes, Uncategorized
Pão de queijo is very traditional in Brazil, where I come from. It’s a gluten free cheese bread. Pão means bread and queijo means cheese. We eat it for breakfast, as a snack during the day or with our afternoon coffee. It’s everywhere. At every bakery, supermarket, coffee shop, at the table at your grandma’s house. There’s even a fast-food chain dedicated to it. Hot and freshly baked is how you want to enjoy these babies. They can be eaten a few hours after baking as well, but they start to lose quality as they sit. If you’re eating a day old pão-de-queijo you should probably toast it first but honestly, you will hardly ever have that problem as your leftovers will probably be nonexistent. I’ve been living in America for over 5 years and pão-de-queijo is still one of the things I miss the most about Brazil, right after my family. It goes: 1)my family 2) pão-de-queijo 3) my friends (sorry, guys!). I can still have pão-de-queijo here in the US, I make it all the time, since I can’t just walk into any establishment and buy it. I make a big batch and freeze them so anytime I want some, or have company coming over, I throw some in the oven for a quick and delicious snack. It’s gluten free because it’s made with manioc flour- sour or sweet, though I prefer the sour. Sometimes I buy the manioc flour on amazon, we call it polvilho azedo and amazon sells a Brazilian brand. But in all reality, tapioca flour does the trick just fine and it’s easier...
by Camila | Sep 30, 2017 | Breads and Quick Breads, Dairy Free, Desserts, Recipes, Snacks
Muffins! Do I have your attention, now? Yes, muffins got your attention! Because they are super delicious! One of men’s best creations. Muffins are best friends with coffee and pretty much the reason why I even bother getting out of bed some days. Here’s my proposal, do an experiment, make a batch of muffins and bring to work, or right before your spouse comes home. See how much love you are going to get for bringing muffins into people’s lives. I’ve been doing it for years. I am not ashamed of getting people’s affections through baked goods, specially muffins, since that’s the hot topic. Muffins are mini joy cakes. They are supposed to be fluffy and sweet, but not overly sweet. They are usually accompanying a cup of tea or coffee, or if you are my husband, milk. Loved by most, desired by all. Nobody has ever said no to a fresh baked muffin standing right in front of them. Even your friends with egg allergies or on a diet. They can totally be a part of the love-sharing with these eggless, sugar free muffins. So my advice to you is to go ahead and bake some of these whole wheat muffins today! Or tomorrow! Fill your house with the smell of love and baked goods! It will be worth the 15 minutes you’ve spent making these! Seriously, only 15 minutes. Could be 10 minutes. This recipe calls for applesauce. If you use store-bought applesauce, it will be 10 minutes to put this together. I make my applesauce from scratch because it’s so dang easy and delicious. I...
by Kami | Sep 28, 2017 | Breads and Quick Breads, Gluten-Free, Recipes
Get ready for a moist, sweet, and crumbly gluten-free banana bread recipe! I must admit gluten-free recipes take me a few tries in order for me to find the perfect texture. I didn’t think I would be able to create an easy gluten-free banana bread recipe since I had several failures. It was either too gummy OR it had too much liquid and wouldn’t bake evenly leaving the middle completely undone and doughy. SO frustrating! However, after several attempts, I think I perfected it! Hallelujah! Have you adjusted to having kids back in school yet? My husband and I are newbies will the whole school routine. My oldest daughter has successfully finished her first month of all-day kindergarten AND although tired when she gets home, she’s loving it. One of her favorite parts is school lunch. She’s always coming up with new suggestions and ‘surprise’ requests for her lunches. Well, this girl loves her bread and decided to add this banana bread and gluten-free option to her lunch. It was a hit! I didn’t have the heart to tell her that her little brother and I gobbled up pretty much the remaining loaf when the bread was hot out of the oven. Can we all agree baked goods right out of the oven will ALWAYS be the best way to devour them? Spread a little softened butter over the top and…. oooh eeeh! I can’t stop eating. Oh… I forgot to share the best part! This is gluten-free SUGAR FREE banana bread! No sugar other than honey or maple syrup, my friends. I’ve become a wimp with white refined...
by Kami | Sep 26, 2017 | Breads and Quick Breads, Breakfast, Dairy Free, Recipes
Oooh… I love me some warm, fluffy, sweet, and light easy banana pancakes! I like to sneak in health to my recipes. I don’t think it’s a secret at this point although I usually keep ingredients a secret from my innocent, hungry family. Poor souls! They never know how healthy they are actually eating. Muaaaahhhhh (my evil laugh… that’s my evil laugh). My favorite meal, breakfast, is my first opportunity to fill their tummies (I have little kids, okay? Don’t judge my word chose.) with some nutrients. I’m all about comfort foods and is there a better comfort food than whole wheat banana pancakes? You may not be a fan of whole wheat, but that’s because you haven’t tried whole wheat pastry flour yet! It will change your world. I pretty much love anything with banana especially warm banana-bread-like baked goods. Have you tried my banana muffins? I make them probably once a week. There a big hit here. Well, I just transformed these delicious muffins into banana whole wheat pancakes. SO home recipes for banana pancakes can sometimes be tricky. You have to pick the right temperature on your griddle and also know the signs when your pancakes are ready to flip. You want to set your griddle to a little lower temperature (300 F to 325 F) and also look for when your pancake starts to slightly bubble. Then flip that baby! Once you’ve flipped the pancake, you want to watch for the slight raise in the middle of your pancake. Once you see the slight rise through the whole pancake, they’re ready to be devoured! Can you see the...
by Lisa | Sep 19, 2017 | Breads and Quick Breads, Breakfast, Recipes
It’s fall, which means pumpkin is everywhere! If you can add pumpkin to a recipe people are doing it! For this pumpkin waffle recipe they not only have the delicious pumpkin taste, but include other healthy ingredients like chia and flax meal. I don’t use any refined sugar, I use honey to sweeten them! And the nutmeg gives it subtle spice flavor. Yummy! Now that I live in southern NM, fall is a little different. This year I am trying to grow my own pumpkins! I am also trying to make lots of yummy treats that others have always shared with me during this time. Baking and sharing food is such a wonderful blessing. Although it will take a little longer to get cold and the rainy season is mostly behind us (it primarily rains during summer here because of the monsoons), I still look forward in anticipation of the holidays, all the yummy fall foods I get to make and the sweater weather that will be here eventually! My dad will call me soon with the lively accounts of the annual hunting trip, and tell me of all the wonderful food they ate and that I missed out on! I will also get to see the leaves change color because we don’t live too far away from a beautiful forested area! Fall is so wonderful! As a side note, have you all ever preserved leaves? If you gather up a bunch of beautiful yellow, orange and red leaves, stick them in a mixture of one part glycerin and two parts water for a few days. Then dry them...
by Camila | Sep 13, 2017 | Breads and Quick Breads, Easy Recipe, Recipes
Let’s do this! Today you’re going to make homemade whole wheat flour tortillas and you will love it! It’s simple, anybody can do it! It’s so much better than anything you’ve ever bought at the store. I make this 3 or 4 times a month, because we really love tacos at my house. This is the best whole wheat tortilla recipe I’ve ever made, and I have experimented with quite a few. It’s 5 simple ingredients and about 1 hour of your day between making the dough, resting it, rolling and cooking, which isn’t bad at all. Even faster if you have a tortilla press. You can find some really cheap ones on amazon, around 12 dollars! A bargain! I usually roll mine out by hand. I like the rustic look and shape, it screams homemade. About the flour, this recipe I bring to you today calls for 100% whole wheat, but you can sub any or all of the flour for all-purpose. I do like to combine both sometimes because it gives the tortilla a nice color. But you do you, my friend. Use whatever flour suits you. It will be delicious, regardless! These tortillas will keep for a few days in the fridge, well covered in plastic. If we have any leftovers, I like to cut them into triangles and bake them or even fry them, if I’m feeling particularly naughty with my calorie consumption. But that’s once in a blue moon, they are really delicious simply baked. Cut them into triangles, mix them with a splash of olive oil, a sprinkle of salt, pepper, paprika, garlic...
