Monday’s with Mami – Strawberry Apple Puffed Sensation

By On · 12 Comments

Get ready, this is A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa’s strawberry week. With so many freshly picked strawberries from turtle farm, I did the best I could to eat them fresh and use them up in homemade recipes before freezing what was left. With so many strawberries to use, I decided to make a sweet jelly filled topping for puff pastry! light and flaky sweet sensation! Enjoy!

Strawberry Apple Puffed Sensation

Ingredients

  • 3 small apples sliced (I used organic fuji apples, so sweet!)
  • 1 cup whole strawberries cut into quarters
  • 2 tbls butter or if you like a hint of coconut, coconut oil.
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1 recipe puff pastry

For the topping

  1. In a small saucepan add the sliced apples and 2 tbls butter over medium heat. Bring to a sizzle and cover for 10 minutes or until soft. (This will add natural pectin to the sauce creating a light jelly)
  2. Add the quartered strawberries and honey and mash until the strawberries and apples break down and a yummy sauce has been formed. Heat for an additional 5 minutes.

For the dough

  1. Cut off a piece of puff pastry
  2. Roll out your puff pastry to 1/8 or 1/4 of an inch.
  3. Cut out 5 inch circles.

  4. Bake at 425 for 7 minutes.
  5. Top the circles with the strawberry/apple topping
  6. Bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes or until the patries are golden.

Hojaldre (Puff Pastry Dough)

By On · Add Comment

Puff pastry is extremely popular in Spanish cooking. It’s used for desserts and with meat or fish fillings for main courses or tapas.

The recipe below is from one of my Spanish cookbooks by Penelope Casas, The Foods and Wines of Spain. It’s an easy and foolproof method adapted by the one and only Julia Child. (One of my favorite chefs of all time!) This is a recipe that can be made and stored in your freezer.

Hojaldre, (Puff Pastry)
Makes 2 3/4 pounds

Ingredients

  • 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup cake flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 6 1/2 sticks chilled unsalted butter
  • 1 cup iced water
  1. Mix together the all-purpose and cake flours. Stir in the salt
  2. Cut the sticks of butter in half lengthwise, then in half again, lengthwise. Cut into 1/2 inch cubes and add to the flour mixture.

  3. Rub the cubes of butter between your fingers to flatten them into flakes, combining them at the same time with the flour.

  4. Refrigerate the mixture 10 minutes. The butter must be kept firm throughout the process.
  5. Add the cold water and stir until the dough roughly holds together. (The dough will still be chunky and by no means look like a tightly formed ball of dough.)
  6. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface.
  7. Pat into a rectangle about 18 inches long and 8 inches wide.
  8. Sprinkle the top of the dough with flour and fold one side over the top, then fold over the other side.

  9. Lift the dough, flour the work surface again, flour the top of the dough, then roll out with a rolling pin to the previous size, making the folded sides the width and the open sides the length.
    Remember, all of this must be done rapidly – if the butter softens, refrigerate briefly.
  10. Fold up a second time in the same manner, roll out again, then repeat 2 more times, flouring surfaces as necessary and ending with the dough folded.
  11. Wrap in plastic wrap or parchment paper and refrigerate for 40 minutes.
  12. Roll and fold twice more, and the dough is ready to use or to store for future use in the refrigerator or freezer.

6 Years and Counting

By On · 8 Comments
Gabe and Diana
June 28, 2003


Our traditional Mexican posed picture for my Tia Esther and Tia Helen :)

I really cannot believe we’ve been married 6 years and together for 10. Marriage bliss? Heck No! Joy in my marriage? Definitely! It’s been a long 6 years. Years of self evaluation and change. We are definitely not who we used to be 10 years ago. Skateboarding punks who thrived on the social scene and late night skate seshs! 10 years, 2 kids, 2 dogs and 7 chickens later, I still couldn’t imagine being married to anyone else. To be quite honest, God is perfect and knew who was supposed to be my leader and father of my children. He gave me Gabe as the perfect gift to lead me through the rest of my day’s. Who else would put up with my locavore antics and silly backyard chicken dreams. My husband, that’s who. He took the time to build me a chicken coop, raise my garden beds and encourage me through it all. He is also there to steer me back to Christ when I tend to overlook him and get caught up in my oh so many crazy hobbies. He is also the most amazing father I could have ever asked for. He loves his boys so much and alway’s takes the time to teach them things, read with them, laugh with them, wrestle and attack Mama! Of course he’s alway’s encouraging them to climb and jump and be boys which I swear is going to lead me to a heart attack one day, lol! I’m sure all of my friends that know Gabe can agree that he is genuine, real, loving, helpful and a man of God. He is alway’s there to encourage me in my faith! So on this day, I just wanted to reflect on God’s perfect gift and thank him for sending me my babe. Thank you Jesus!

A song Gabe likes to sing to me
I want to grow old with you by Adam Sandler

Yummy Pancakes and Foodbuzz Fun!

By On · 12 Comments


Breakfast for dinner, you can’t go wrong with that! At my home we’ve been using Paul’s Grains 7 grain pancake/waffle mix. Easy to mix, healthy and the kids love it. Make sure and check them out. What are your favorite breakfast for dinner ideas?

This week I was also able to go strawberry picking at Turtle Farms in Granger, Iowa. A local organic CSA. What are your favorite u-pick farms?

Aren’t they pretty!! They also gave me garlic scapes for free. HMMM?? Garlic Scape Pesto?

I’ve again been having so much fun on foodbuzz and cannot believe the amazing collection of recipes. As you can tell, I’ve added a world widget on my blog. It’s so fun to share and learn from so many different nationalities. My palate is developing by the day!

Below is an addition to my cultural foods blog list. Again, if you have a cultural food blog or if I’ve missed any that you know of, please share :)

Dil Se… – Traditional Recipes from India. This gal is so cute and shares her family recipes.

My Columbian Recipes – Authentic Colombian recipes with beautiful photos.

I love flavour, me! – Traditional Portuguese Recipes. Ruth has such great recipes that she shares from her family.

Life Loves the Curious – Traditional Thai food from a sweet woman named Pixie.

Everythings Herbed – Traditional Philipino food.

Arabic Bites – Authetic Arabic Cuisine.

Hummingbird Appetite – Traditional Korean Recipes.

The Winter Guest – Miriam’s cuisines and photos are inspiring from Madrid, Spain.

Eat Like Athena – Amber blogs about Mediterranean food.

Next week I’ll be sharing recipes for Traditional Spanish flan and tapitas using homemade puff pastry! Have a great Thursday and happy cooking!

Freezing Greens

By On · 7 Comments


At this past Saturday’s Farmer’s Market, I was given a huge bag of turnip greens. Yeah for vendor friends!! I thought they would be perfect for rich stews… in the Winter. Time to start preserving and filling my deep freeze. Below is a quick recipe on how to blanch and freeze your greens.

Freezing Greens

Many plants are used as greens. The most popular are mustard greens, turnip greens, collard greens, spinach, kale and Swiss chard. Bok choi, baby pak choi, dandelions, and beet greens are increasing in popularity.

What You’ll Need

  • 2 large pots
  • A colander (optional)
  • Ziplock Vacuum Bags
  1. Clean your leaves. Look over them closely for insects. Cut or tear out tough stems and midribs; compost or feed to the chickens.

    I cut the leaf around the tough stem to where my index finger is pointing.
  2. Blanch. Greens mus be blanched, or heated, before freezing. This is an important step because if greens are not blanched properly, they will lose their fresh flavor quickly in the freezer. It also wilts the greens, making them easier to pack.


    To blanch, place your greens in a colander or loose in a big pot of boiling water. When the water returns to a boil, start counting your blanching time. Make sure to agitate your greens so they heat thoroughly.

    Blanching Time:
    Collard greens – 3 minutes
    Other greens – 2 minutes
    Very tender Spinach leaves – 1 1/2 minutes

    After blanching, your greens should be a vibrant green
  3. After blanching, cool greens in ice water, drain and package in ziplock vacuum bags or pint jars and freeze.

Monday’s with Mami – Homemade Mexican Beans

By On · 4 Comments

I know, I know… I had promised Spanish flan for today’s Monday’s with Mami, however, with the sun shining most of this weekend and Father’s Day, I spent my time outside with the family. I promise, I’ll have that post up for next week ;) So, I decided to post my Mexican style homemade beans recipe and I don’t think this recipe will let you down. This is definitely not a Spanish dish but being part Mexican I also know a few traditional recipes passed down from my Mexican grandmother (About Me).

Most people when they think Mexican beans they probably think refrieds made from pinto beans at a fun and loud Mexican restaurant where you are served a mountain of chips and salsa a ginormous margherita and you have your sizzling meal in front of you five minutes after ordering. Sound familiar?

These Mexican beans are far from that. I’ve found that the best Mexican beans first of all come from Mayo Coba beans. I learned this from a fabulous, small, authentic Mexican restaurant in my neighborhood called, Mariana’s. Mariana is the owner and chef. You won’t find chips and salsa at her restaurant and her food is amazing! Everything from taqueria style tacos, sopa de albondiga’s, to pozole and homemade menudo. It’s rich, slow and delicious. I alway’s went to her place because of her beans. I finally asked her what her secret was and she told me that it’s all about the Mayo Coba bean.


Homemade Mexican Beans, Crockpot Method

I’ve found that using a crockpot to slowcook my beans is my preferred method. A foolproof way to creamy tender beans.

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups Mayo Coba beans (found at your local Mexican store, La Tapatia)
  • 2 quarts water
  • 2 tbls pork lard
  • 1 medium white onion, chopped
  • 1 large sprig epazote (optional, found at your local Mexican store)

  • Salt to taste
  1. Spread the beans on a baking sheet and check for stones or beans that you wouldn’t want to eat.

  2. Pour the beans into a large pot, pour in 2 quarts of water and bring to a rolling boil. The beans will float to the top. Pour into crockpot.
  3. Add the lard or olive oil, onion and, if using, the epazote.

  4. Cook 5 – 6 hours on high for the beans to become tender.

That’s really it! So simple and yummy. As you can tell, I did not soak my beans. Here’s a quote taken from Rick Bayless, Mexican Everyday.

To Soak or Not
Mexican cooks don’t soak beans because they know that throwing out the soaking liquid isn’t a very good idea. It doesn’t do much to make them more digestible (only a steady diet of beans helps with that), and it makes the beans turn out pale in color and flavor.

I eat these beans as is. However, a couple variations would be..

  1. refried – After the beans are slowcooked, put them into a skillet. Add some water and mash them with a potato masher.
  2. Mexican Chile Beans – Refried beans plus added Mexican Chorizo Sausage!! So good!!

Buen Provecho!