Happy Tuesday, everyone!  I hope you had a great evening.  Today’s recipe is Guava cake!  I love guava and cheese pastelitos from my local bakery back home in Miami.  It’s a huge Cuban treat to have with breakfast or even for a snack.  I was homesick and intrigued when I came upon this recipe and it was quite a treat!  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Breakfast: Fab Fruit Salad

Lunch: Spaghetti with Artichoke

Snack: Graham Crackers

Dinner: Ropa Vieja

Dessert: Guava Cake

Guava is a tropical fruit.  The word Guava means “pomegranate” in Latin.  Guava tastes sweet and gives off a scent less faint than a lemon rind but still pleasant. It is considered a super fruit due to it being rich in dietary fiber.  it typically grows in tropic climates (like Florida).

Apple Guava Fruit

Ingredients

• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup guava pulp
• 1/2 cup guava nectar
• 3 cups cake flour
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Grease and flour one 13×9 inch pan.
3. Sift together flour, nutmeg, soda, cinnamon, and cloves.
4. In another bowl, mix together guava pulp and juice.
5. In another bowl, cream together butter and sugar.
6. Add eggs, one at a time.
7. Add flour mixture and guava mixture alternately to creamed mixture.
8. Pour batter into prepared pan.
9. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30-35 minutes.

Enjoy!

Happy Friday, everyone.  It’s Berry season! So a raspberry pie with vanilla ice cream is the perfect treat for a summer day.  Have you considered starting a berry garden? It’s a lovely afterschool activity to do with the kiddies to wind down from the day and you will literally get to enjoy the fruits of your labor!  Go to your local florist for startup plants.  Here is the menu!

Breakfast: Banana Crumb Muffins

Lunch: Cuban Chicken Soup

Snack: Whole Grain Toast with Nutella

Dinner: Pinapple Glazed Chicken

Dessert: Raspberry Pie

Raspberry Pie

Ingredients

• 1 quart fresh raspberries
• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 8 teaspoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca
• 6 tablespoons water
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie

Preparation

1. Mix together raspberries, sugar, cornstarch, minute tapioca and water
2. Mix and let sit while you make your pie crust
3. Put berries in bottom crust,
4. Put 4 – 1 tablespoon pats of butter on top.
5. Put on top crust and crimp edges.
6. Make slits in the crust to allow the steam to escape.
7. Bake at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for 15 minutes.
8. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and bake for 45 minutes.

Enjoy your evening and your weekend!

October ’10 – Week 3

Breakfast: Cereal with Fruit and Milk

Morning Snack: Puppy Chow

Lunch: Chicken Quesadillas

Afternoon Snack: Banana Bread and Mango Lassi

Dinner: Fettucine Alfredo with a Green Salad

Dessert: Ice Cream

Recipe of the Day:

Puppy Chow

I love this stuff, and so do kids! When I was little, I used to buy  baggies of it for a quarter at the bazaar at my grandmother’s church. It’s a truly addictive snack. This recipe is very simple and great fun for kids to help out with. Make up a huge batch of this for your next party or get-together, everyone loves it. (*Orange text indicates simple steps that kids can do!)

Ingredients:

9 C Chex Cereal
1 C Chocolate Chips
1/2 C Peanut Butter
1/4 C Butter
1/4 t Vanilla
1 1/2 C Confectioner’s Sugar

Directions:

Prepare the cereal into a large bowl. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Pour chocolate mixture over Chex cereal, then pour everything into a large plastic bag or plastic tub. Add powdered sugar and shake well to coat.

Spread mixture evenly on wax paper and let cool, then watch it disappear!

October ’10 – Week 3

Breakfast: Oatmeal with Fruit and Nuts

Morning Snack: Banana Bread and Mango Lassi

Lunch: Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

Afternoon Snack: Fresh Fruit and String Cheese

Dinner: Chicken Fajitas

Dessert: Ice Cream with Chocolate No-Bake Cookies

Recipe of the Day:

Chocolate No-Bake Cookies

My late Mother in Law used to make these cookies for my husband when he was little, and they’re still his favorite. Every once in a while, late at night, when we’re craving something sweet, we’ll whip up a batch of these. We always add coconut to ours because we love it, but they do not traditionally contain that ingredient and it may be omitted. We also do ours with crunchy peanut butter for the texture. These are a favorite in the summer because they don’t use the oven!

Ingredients:

2 C Sugar
4 T Cocoa
1 Stick of Butter
1/2 C Milk
1 C Crunchy Peanut Butter
1 C Sweetened Flaked Coconut
1 T Vanilla Extract
3 C Quick-Cooking Oatmeal

Directions:

Bring the sugar, cocoa, butter and milk to a boil in a heavy saucepan. Add the peanut butter, vanilla, coconut and oatmeal. Let boil for one minute. While still hot, drop tablespoonfuls onto a baking sheet or tray covered in waxed paper. Place in fridge. Let cool completely before eating.

October ’10 – Week 2 – Tuesday Dinner/Dessert, Wednesday Breakfast

Few things go together better than peaches and ginger. Bring them together in harmony with plums and cherries in this crisp of stone fruits. It’s perfect warm from the oven in the winter months, or eaten cold in the summer with a huge scoop of ice cream. (*Orange text highlights easy steps that kids can do.)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 C AP Flour
1 T Cornstarch
1 C Sugar & 1/4 C Sugar, kept separate
1/3 C Brown Sugar
1 T Ground Ginger
1/4 t Salt & 1/4 t Salt, kept separate
2/3 C Butter, cut into pieces
3 Peaches
3 Plums
2 C Cherries
1 t Vanilla Extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°. Pit and slice the cherries, plums and peaches.

In a large bowl, combine the first measurements of flour, sugar, and salt, plus the brown sugar. Using your fingers, work the butter into the dry mixture, until it forms crumbles the size of large peas.

In another bowl, combine fruits, ginger and vanilla. In a smaller bowl, combine the second measurements of sugar, salt, plus the cornstarch. Combine this with the fruit and toss.

Heap fruit mixture up high in a 9×13″ baking dish. Cover the fruit with the crumbly topping, being sure to fit it all around the top, and pinching with your fingers if necessary to seal in the edges.

Bake for an hour, or until fruit is tender, juices are bubbling, and the topping is golden brown. Tent with foil at any point through the baking process if you feel the topping is browning too darkly.

October ’10 – Week 2 – Dessert (M & T.)

This cookie, much like the orange clove shortbread from last week, are among those that keep me happy until the Christmas baking frenzy finally rolls around. Besides, it’s always good to practice recipes before you have to bake them for friends and family, right? The spicy-sweet cookies are sophisticated and genius with a cup of hot orange spice tea. (*Orange text highlights easy steps that kids can do.)

Ingredients:

1/2 C Butter, Softened
1 C Sugar
1 lg Egg
1/4 C Molasses
1 t Vanilla Extract
2 C AP Flour
1/4 C Dark Cocoa Powder
1 1/2 t Baking Soda
1/4 t Salt
1 t Ground Ginger
1/2 t Cinnamon
1/4 t Ground Cloves
1/3 C Chocolate Chips
1/3 C Candied Ginger, diced
1/2 C Baking Sugar, for rolling cookies in before baking

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375° and grease a cookie sheet or line with parchment.

In a large bowl, mix first 5 ingredients together until creamy and light. Using a whisk, sift together remaining ingredients, (except for the baking sugar,) until evenly distributed and chips and candied ginger are coated in a dusting. Add dry ingredients to wet, mixing until incorporated.

Form dough into balls about 1″ across and roll in baking sugar. Flatten slightly as you put them on the cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, and allow to cool completely.

October ’10 – Week 2 – Snack (S, M, W, T, S.)

Never fails. At some point toward the end of the summer, my freezer becomes spontaneously full of blueberries and the next thing I know, I’m baking these bars. I fell in love with the particular blueberry oat bars that Starbucks carried once upon a time, and this recipe is the closest I’ve found to that same berry perfection. They’re a little chewy, a little crumbly, and moist and sweet all through the center. Carry one with you to work to have with your late-morning coffee. So worth it. The thickness and baking time of these bars depends entirely on what size pan you use. The recipe calls for the use of an 11×7, but if all you have are a 9×13 or an 8×8, adjust the baking time for a thicker or thinner bar, just checking it as you go. (*Orange text highlights easy steps that kids can do.)

Ingredients:

1 3/4 C Quick Oats
1-1/2 C AP Flour
3/4 C Brown Sugar
1/2 C Nuts, chopped (I prefer almonds with blueberry, but you might choose something else.)
1/2 t Baking Soda
1/2 t Salt
3/4 C Butter, melted
2 C Blueberries, fresh or frozen doesn’t matter
1/2 C Sugar
3 T Water
2 T Cornstarch
2 t Lemon Juice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350° and grease your baking dish.

In a large bowl, mix oats, flour, brown sugar, nuts, baking soda and salt. Add in the butter, mix by hand until crumbly. Reserve aside 1 cup the mixture; press the rest onto the bottom of prepared dish and bake  for 10 minutes.

While that’s baking, combine blueberries, sugar and water in medium saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil, simmer 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Combine cornstarch and lemon juice, mixing well. Stir slurry into blueberry mixture. Cook, stirring, about 30 seconds or until thick.

Spread blueberry mixture over partially baked base. Sprinkle with reserved oat mixture, pressing down into blueberries slightly.

Bake 18 to 20 minutes, until topping is golden brown and the blueberries are bubbling. Let cool completely before slicing.

October ’10 – Week 1 – Dessert (W, Th.)

The delicate spice and flavor in these cookies just screams Christmas! to me, but they’re pretty good any time of year. Of course, being me, I always jump the gun and start thinking my Christmas thoughts now, in October. Putting together a batch of these is usually enough to tide me over until the real cookie baking grind begins! (*Orange text highlights easy steps that kids can do.)

Ingredients:

3/4 lb Butter, softened
1 C Sugar
1 t Vanilla Extract
3 1/2 C AP Flour
1/4 t Salt
1/4 t Ground Cloves
1 Orange, zested
1 T of Orange Juice, reserved
2 T Melted Butter
1 C Confectioner’s Sugar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°.

In a large bowl, mix together the butter and 1 cup of sugar until they are smooth. Add the vanilla, clove and orange zest. Sift in the flour and salt. Mix until the dough starts to come together. Dump out onto a floured surface and form the dough into a solid, flat disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least a half an hour.

Roll out the dough to about 1/2″ thickness and cut, either with a knife into squares or rectangles, or use a biscuit cutter to make rounds. Place the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the edges just begin to brown. Allow to cool completely.

Whisk together orange juice, butter, and confectioner’s sugar. Glaze cooled cookies, using a spoon or pastry brush, and allow glaze to set before eating.

October ’10 – Week 1 – Monday Dinner/Dessert

It’s October. The kitchen is overflowing with apples. Oh my goodness, who could ask for more than this recipe? Apple crisp is the very best way to let fall flavors shine, and it’s immediately a comfort to have in your tummy. This is also another one of those recipes that “becomes” baby food so easily just by mashing it with the back of a fork or dumping a spoonful in to a food processor- crisp topping and all! My apple crisp always calls for vanilla, which most don’t. It’s my secret that adds just a hint of warmth and richness. (*Orange text highlights easy steps that kids can do.)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 C AP Flour & 1 T AP Flour, kept separate
1 C Sugar & 1/4 C Sugar, kept separate
1/3 C Brown Sugar
1 t Cinnamon
1/8 t Nutmeg
1/4 t Salt & 1/4 t Salt, kept separate
2/3 C Butter, cut into pieces
8 C Peeled Apples (I prefer a combination of tart Granny Smith, and Honeycrisp, Fuji, Gala, or any other sweet pink apple) cut into slices or large chunks
2 T Lemon Juice
1 t Vanilla Extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°. In a large bowl, combine the first measurements of flour, sugar, and salt, plus the brown sugar and cinnamon. Using your fingers, work the butter into the dry mixture, until it forms crumbles the size of large peas.

In another bowl, combine apples, vanilla and lemon juice. In a smaller bowl, combine the second measurements of sugar, flour, salt, and also the nutmeg. Combine this with the apples and toss.

Heap apple mixture up high in a 9×13″ baking dish. They’ll collapse as they bake. Cover the apples with the crumbly topping, being sure to fit it all around the top, and pinching with your fingers if necessary to seal in the edges.

Bake for an hour, or until apples are tender, juices are bubbling, and the topping is golden brown. Tent with foil at any point through the baking process if you feel the topping is browning too darkly.

Serve with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, a drizzle of heavy cream, or just straight up.

October ’10 – Week 1 – Sunday Dinner/Dessert

I call this recipe fast pudding, but the truth is, it’s rather a mousse. I’ve been tweaking it for who knows how long from an old favorite recipe of mine from Nigella Lawson’s cookbook Nigella Express. Her recipe is as simple as it is gorgeous, but knowing me, I always have to mess with things! My husband loves coconut more than anything in the world, so I’ve been making this recipe in a manner not quite the same. (*Orange text highlights easy steps that kids can do.)

Ingredients:

1 C Toasted Coconut Marshmallows, chopped up
1 T Butter
1 C White Chocolate Chips
1/2 Pint Heavy Cream
1 t Coconut Extract
OR:
3 T Coconut Rum (optional, if making for adults!)

Directions:

Put marshmallows, butter, chocolate, and water in a heavy saucepan. Put the saucepan on the stove over low heat to melt, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

In a separate bowl, whip heavy cream and extract (or rum) together with an electric mixer or by hand, until soft peaks form. Gently fold marshmallow mixture into whipped cream until well incorporated.

Spoon into 4-6 dessert bowls and serve immediately.