Feijoada, Brazilian Black Bean Stew

 Are you as excited for the Olympics as I am??? If you know me, you know that I don't watch sports AT ALL. But when it's time for the Olympics, I'm glued to the TV for two weeks. I love all of it! The ceremonies, the victories, the lifelong dreams, the backstories, and of course I love learning about the culture of the host city. When I learned that the Olympics were going to be held in Rio, I immediately started researching Brazilian recipes. I decided to go with their national dish, which is this delicious and hearty black bean stew called Feijoada (pronounced fay-ZHWA-da).
 Now, I have to confess, I had never heard of it, I've never cooked Brazilian food, and the closest I've ever been to Brazil was when I went to a Brazilian restaurant. But from what I understand (and correct me if I'm wrong) this is one of those dishes that has as many versions as there are home cooks. Everyone has a family recipe, which of course is better than any other. This is clearly Brazilian comfort food at its best! I just like the fact that it's another delicious stew to add to my repertoire. You put the pot on the stove, let it simmer all afternoon, and the whole house smells amazing. 
 I made this for my family's Opening Ceremonies party (in which everyone brings a different International dish), but you don't have to have a party to make this. Just pick a Sunday when you know you'll have a few hours at home and let it simmer all day. I promise you'll be glad you did!



1 lb dry black beans
a few glugs of olive oil
1 lb boneless pork, cut into chunks
1 lb beef cubes
2 large onions, chopped
3 or 4 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb carne seca or corned beef, cut into chunks
1/2 lb sausages, such as chorizo or Italian sausage
1 lb smoked sausage, such as linguica or kielbasa
1 smoked ham hock or shank
3-4 bay leaves
Water
1 6 oz can tomato paste
Fresh parsley or cilantro
sliced oranges


 Pour boiling water over the black beans and let them sit while you prepare the rest of the stew.
Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat and brown the pork. When it has browned, remove the meat from the pot, set aside. Do the same thing with the beef cubes, removing them from the pot after browning. Now add the onions to the pot. Brown them, stirring occasionally, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Add the garlic and stir well. Add the beef and pork back to the pot along with the other meats and the bay leaves. Add just enough water to cover. Cover and bring to a gentle simmer. Let it simmer for about an hour. Drain the black beans from their soaking liquid and add them to the stew. Simmer gently, covered, until the beans are tender, about an hour and a half. Add the tomato paste, and stir well. Continue to simmer, uncovered for about another hour or until the meat begins to fall off the ham hock. Serve over white rice with a sprinkle of fresh parsley or cilantro and a few slices of fresh orange. A classic side dish would be sautéed collard greens, if desired.


Tips:
The key to this dish is having lots of different meats and letting them simmer for a long time. It also lends itself to using whatever kind of meats you like. It's basically just a lot of pork and beef, leaning a little more on the pork side. Do you like things spicy? Use a spicy sausage to flavor your stew and serve it up with some hot sauce. You could also add some crushed red pepper. 
Full disclosure, the addition of the tomato paste is not authentically Brazilian, but I found several recipes that include it, so I went with it. I've also seen recipes that use different kinds of beans, white beans, etc, but from what I understand, black beans are classically used here.
I didn't add any salt at all because there is quite enough from the corned beef, the ham hock and the smoked sausage. Just sayin!

Double PB Blondies

 Can I just tell you how much I love brownies? Like seriously, I love love LOVE them. So anytime I can find a recipe for a dessert square with a delicious fudgy brownie texture, I'm in heaven. So what's a blondie, you may ask? Well usually it's a non-chocolate kind of a brown sugar sort of butterscotch or vanilla version of a brownie. But in this case, it's peanut butter! I was kind of in the mood for something rich an chewy and sweet and salty, and then my friend Brittany mentioned "rifling through the peanut butter section of my website" and I thought Oh! Peanut butter blondies!! So I found a recipe and tweaked it ever so slightly. The result? Exactly what I was looking for! Sweet and salty, rich and fudgy, just like a regular blondie, only DEFINIELY peanut buttery. And as my niece Kristin always says "The peanut butterier the better!"
 So here we are. You should definitely have some ice cold milk on hand for these babies. If you're a PB lover, you seriously need to give 'em a try! Yum.

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
2 cup light brown sugar
2 large egg
1 tbs vanilla extract
1 cup peanut butter
3/4  tsp salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup peanut butter chips (plus more)


Preheat oven to 350ºF.
 Line an 9x13 baking dish with parchment paper and lightly grease with cooking spray. Set aside.
 In a large bowl, combine the melted butter and light brown sugar. Mix thoroughly. Add in the eggs and vanilla extract. Mix in the peanut butter until well incorporated. Sift together the salt and flour, then add to the peanut butter mixture. Fold in peanut butter chips by hand. Evenly spread the batter in the prepared baking pan. Sprinkle an extra handful of peanut butter chips across the top, if desired. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

 Tips:
Using the parchment paper is definitely the way to go here. Not only will your blondes lift right out of the pan, but also your blondies will look so much nicer with perfectly clean knife cuts and your pan won't get ruined!
Be sure to add the salt. It's absolutely the key to this recipe's success! I added 3/4 tsp of kosher salt, but you could even push it just a tiny pinch more. It's the salt that makes it taste peanutty!
For a little burst of color, try using Reese's Pieces instead of the peanut butter chips! And if you simply MUST have chocolate, add some chocolate chips or M&Ms!

Joey's Easy One-Pot Pasta

 This is one of those recipes that has been circulating around the interwebs for a while now. It seems there are several versions, and they're all very similar. Martha has one, Southern Living has one, and on and on. My problem with many of them is that they only use 12 ounces of pasta instead of the full pound. It's fine. I get it. If you add the full pound to your skillet, it won't all fit with the rest of the ingredients. But who cooks only 12 ounces? I don't know about you, but I always cook the whole pound. So I figured, why not just use a bigger pot??? Seemed like a no-brainer to me. My next issue with the other versions is that it doesn't really go very far. I mean, I wanted it to be enough to feed 4 people. So, I figured, let's add sausage to it! That'll help stretch it a little. And that's exactly what I did. And do you know what? It turned out perfectly!! It tasted great, everyone had plenty to eat, and I even had enough leftover for lunch the next day. And it's so easy, you just keep adding things to the pot! Simple! So you should definitely keep this recipe your repertoire. It's ready in less than a half hour so it's perfect for any weeknight dinner. It's also a great menu option for an easy casual dinner with friends. I got RAVE reviews for it. You will too! Definitely a keeper!


8 Italian sausage links (I used chicken sausage)
1 medium onion, roughly chopped

1 lb pasta (I used linguine)
12 oz cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2-3 tsp chopped fresh oregano leaves
2-3 large sprigs fresh basil, chopped
5 cups water
1 cup Parmesan cheese

Slice sausage into bite sized pieces and place in a pot along with the chopped onion and a few glugs of olive oil. Cook and stir over medium heat just until the sausage is slightly browned and the onions are cooked down a bit. Add all of the remaining ingredients except for the cheese.

Cover pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a low simmer and keep covered and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes or so. Cook until almost all liquid has evaporated. Add the cheese and give it a good toss with the pasta. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with more cheese and a few more chopped fresh basil leaves over the top. 

Tips:
Feel free to use any kind of sausage you like. Pork, chicken, turkey, sweet or hot,  even Chorizo or Andouille. Any kind will work! Not a fan of sausage? Just leave it out! That makes it even easier. You just throw everything right into the pot, bring it up to a boil and then simmer as directed. Done.
You can use vegetable broth or chicken stock instead of water, but water works just fine.

Strawberry Ricotta Cake

Ok, I know, I know. I've been posting a lot of strawberry recipes, lately. What can I say? I love strawberries! The Strawberry Cupcakes, the Strawberry Cream Cheese Cobbler, the Mixed Berry Bundt Cake. All fabulous, I must say. But here's the thing: Sometimes I plan for a month of one ingredient (you know, like, the way I always do a month of pumpkin recipes in October), but this time I really didn't plan for a month of strawberries. It just kinda happened. And by the third week, I figured, ok, well, I guess I might as well go with it! So here we are again with another fabulous strawberry recipe.
 I found it on a website called Liz the Chef, and I believe it was a tweaked version of a recipe she found in Bon Appetit magazine. Of course, I couldn't leave it alone, and I tweaked it even a little bit further, so this is my tweaked version. It's delicious and moist  and it's so easy, you don't even need a mixer. I also like the fact that it makes a simple one layer cake, which is perfect if you're not feeding a crowd. So now we can add this to our fabulous strawberry repertoire. And why not?! More is more! Enjoy!


Nonstick baking spray
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups whole milk ricotta cheese
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 1/2 cups strawberries, hulled and quartered, divided
confectioner's sugar (optional garnish)


Preheat oven to 350ºF.
Spray a 9x2" round baking pan with baking spray*.
Using a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
Using a medium-sized bowl, mix together the eggs, ricotta, vanilla, and lemon zest until smooth.
Fold into dry ingredients until just blended.
Add the melted butter, stir, then gently fold in 1 cup of the berries.
Pour batter into cake pan and scatter remaining berries on top.
Bake until golden brown or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, about 45-50 minutes.
Allow to cool in pan 20 minutes before turning out on a plate. Garnish with confectioner's sugar and serve.


 Tips:
*Be sure to use BAKING spray, not just regular vegetable oil spray. The baking spray has flour in it and takes the place of greasing and flouring the pan.
The lemon zest gives it a bright flavor, but if you're not a fan of lemon, you can just leave it out. On the flip side, if you LOVE lemon, then go ahead and add the zest of a whole lemon instead of just a 1/2 tsp. You could also use orange zest in place of the lemon. YUM!
I bet this cake would probably be AMAZING with blueberries, or any combination of berries!

Mixed Berry Bundt Cake

Every summer, it seems that I do most of my shopping at local produce markets. Yes, I love the comfort of winter's stews and soups and casseroles and gratins. But in the summer, I always find myself craving lighter and fresher meals. I guess the warmer weather makes me think of all the fresh fruits and veggies grown from local farms in my area. (Seriously one of my favorite things about living in the Garden State!)
 So I recently made a huge batch of bumbleberry jam, (which was FABULOUS, btw) and I had quite a few berries leftover. Hmm.. what can I make with them? Sure, I could make a pie, or a Strawberry Shortcake, but I wanted something new. Oh! How about something light and no-fuss that I could bring to an all-day rehearsal for the show I'm currently doing? A bundt cake! Yes, That's the answer. And off I go, looking for the right recipe. Well, it didn't take me long to find THIS one. It's from Williams-Sonoma, and it's PERFECT! It's simple to make, I already had all of the ingredients on hand, and it's absolutely delicious. And it was just the thing to bring to my rehearsal, no plates or utensils needed, and everyone could just grab a slice at any time throughout the day whenever they wanted. Everyone loved it! It would also be fabulous with a citrus glaze drizzled over it for any special occasion or even just an afternoon tea. Maybe next time I'll serve it with a little bit of the bumbleberry jam that I made! Boom.


5 eggs
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
20 Tbs. (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room
  temperature, cut into small pieces
2 Tbs. kirsch or other fruit liqueur
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
Pinch of salt
3 1/2 cups raspberries (divided)
1 1/2 cups blueberries or blackberries
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting (optional)


 Preheat an oven to 325°F. Butter and flour a Bundt pan. In a large bowl, blend the eggs and granulated sugar. Using an electric mixer, beat in the butter and liqueur until fluffy. Add all but 2 Tbs. of the flour and the baking powder and salt, and beat until well incorporated and no lumps remain. In another bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups of the raspberries and the blueberries with the remaining 2 Tbs. flour. Toss to coat the berries evenly with the flour. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the berries into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a wooden skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let the cake cool in the pan for 20 to 25 minutes. Unmold the cake onto the rack and let cool completely. Fill the center of the cake with the remaining 2 cups raspberries. Dust the cake with confectioners' sugar.

 Tips:

I listed the recipe the way Williams-Sonoma did, but I didn't do it exactly the same.
For one, I didn't have raspberries, I had strawberries. So I just diced them up to about the same size as the other berries. I also didn't serve mine with two cups of berries in the center. So be sure you only put a total of 3 cups of berries in the cake batter. I say this because I almost threw all 5 cups of berries into the cake and then realized that 2 of the cups were intended for garnish. Whew! That was a close one. Serves me right for not READING the entire recipe as I'm making it. LOL ah well. Live and learn.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Cobbler

 If you're one of my faithful readers, you know that I'm always searching for new red, white, and blue recipe ideas for July 4th. It's just how I was raised. On the 4th of July, you wear red, white, and blue, you cook red, white, and blue, it's just what you do! So anyway, I happened upon this recipe, I guess it was maybe a year or two ago, and just never got around to posting it. It was from a Youtube channel called Hands That Cook. (Actually, the woman who is doing the cooking in the video said she got the recipe from the internet, but like I always say, since she's the one who gave it to me, then she's the one who gets the credit!) It's really SUPER easy, so a novice cook can whip this up in no time. Like, seriously, you don't even need a mixer! And if you serve it with whipped cream and blueberries, Boom, there's your red, white, and blue! It's the perfect thing to bring to a BBQ, and I KNOW your friends and family will thank you for it! Enjoy!


1 stick butter, melted
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 lbs strawberries, cleaned and hulled
4 oz cream cheese


Heat oven to 350ºF.
Pour melted butter in a 9x13 pan. Set aside.
Whisk together all other ingredients except cream cheese and strawberries.
Pour batter over melted butter. Do not stir.
Arrange whole strawberries in one layer.
Dot with small chunks of cream cheese over top.
Bake 45 minutes or until golden and set.
Serve with whipped cream and blueberries, if desired.

Tips:
The pan I used was just a tiny bit smaller than a 9x13 pan, but it still worked beautifully. Just use as many strawberries as you can fit in one layer in the pan.
I'm sure you can use this recipe for any fruit you like! How about peaches? Or blackberries? Or maybe a combination of fruits like raspberries and blueberries! OH how about chunks of fresh pineapple?? I bet they'd go great with the cream cheese. YUM. I'm gonna have to give that one a try!

Strawberry Cupcakes

 For years and years, I've looked for a go-to recipe for strawberry cupcakes. Many recipes contain strawberry gelatin as their main source of strawberry flavor, but I wanted something that uses FRESH strawberries. I'm not saying that the Jello cupcakes aren't good, and yes, I'll probably try them at some point, but I still wanted that fresh strawberry flavor that you just can't get in a box.
 So when my friend, Denise, asked me if I would bake strawberry cupcakes, I thought "ok, let's figure this out once and for all." I did some searching and found Sprinkles' recipe (which is the name of the first cupcake bakery, founded by Candace Nelson.) Actually, I googled to see if Martha Stewart had a good recipe and found that this is the recipe she uses. I figured if Sprinkles' recipe is good enough for Martha, then it's good enough for me. So I went with it. Turns out, they were a HUGE hit! I think "outstanding" was the word Denise used! They were really simple to make, and the icing that goes with it is absolutely amazing too.
 So I think it's safe to say this is now my go-to strawberry cupcake recipe. I can already tell I'll be getting many more requests for this one! You should definitely try 'em!

2/3 cup whole fresh strawberries

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp coarse salt

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 stick butter

1 cup sugar

1 large egg 

2 large egg whites

Strawberry Frosting




Preheat oven to 350ºF.
Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners; set aside.
Place strawberries in a small food processor; process until pureed. You should have about 1/3 cup of puree, add a few more strawberries if necessary or save any extra puree for frosting; set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
In a small bowl, mix together milk, vanilla, and strawberry puree; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly add egg and egg whites until just blended.
With the mixer on low, slowly add half the flour mixture; mix until just blended. Add the milk mixture; mix until just blended. Slowly add remaining flour mixture, scraping down sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary, until just blended. Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Transfer muffin tin to oven and bake until tops are just dry to the touch, 22 to 25 minutes. Transfer muffin tin to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool completely in tin before icing.



Tips:
I usually like to tweak a recipe here and there to suit my own tastes, but this recipe needs absolutely no tweaking at all. It's perfect just as it is. For deliciously moist cupcakes, be sure not to overbake them.
I garnished each with a whole strawberry so there would be no question of what kind of cupcakes they are. Just sayin! They look awesome, don't they?
I wonder how this recipe would work with other berries. Maybe blueberry? Raspberry? I'll definitely give them a try and let you know how they turn out!
Yes, the strawberry frosting is fabulous, but you could also do cream cheese icing. That would be FABULOUS!