We’re getting a head start on this celebration. Believe me, we don’t need an excuse to celebrate with these recipes! Mexican cuisine has always been an important part of our family’s food history. I hope you enjoy viewing some of our favs and give them a try. Search our Mexican Food for more!
Taquitos
Wedding Cakes
Shredded Beef
Enchiladas
Tortilla Soup
Chicken & Chile
Plain Beans
Albondigas Soup
Enmoladas
Tres Leches Cake
Salsa
Chorizo & Eggs
Even the best Peanut Butter Cookies might not convert easily to adding jelly. And that is what happened here! But still in the mood for Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies? I tried another simple recipe that’s been around a long time. You’ve seen it and might have even tried it with a candy kiss. It was a very popular holiday cookie in the day … hmm, about 35 years ago. Yep, it still hangs on because it’s pretty tasty. I’ve simply rolled the dough in chopped peanuts instead of sugar and added jelly before baking. Love the change up! First let me include this recipe pictured here. It wasn’t a total fail and I have some suggestions for a better outcome.
Did I say Picnic! The perfect dessert for the backyard barbecue. Yes, this is a doctored cake mix. But I have all the secrets to give this cake a homemade taste. Have you noticed the chocolate cake mixes are the most difficult to conceal that box taste. Even brownie mixes have that telltale taste. This is easily resolved by using a yellow cake mix and adding the cocoa, (better quality, I would bet). Here’s the other issue with box mixes … They have become smaller in weight. Now every recipe you have using a cake mix is thrown off. The recipes might work but only sorta … texture is different and the overall cake size is smaller.
So, if you can find a 18.25 ounce box mix for this recipe you are ahead but if not, here is something you can do. First, what is the size of your cake mix? Most likely 15.25 ounces instead. You are now 3 ounces off. Here are some choices:
The Perfect Solution
Buy two box mixes. With the second box mix contents measure out 3 ounces by your kitchen scale. Add this to your first box mix contents and save the remainder of the second box for your next cake. One extra box will provide enough additional contents for 5 recipes … if converting to 18.25 ounces from a 15.25 ounce box. Does this make sense?
Almost Perfect
You say you don’t have a kitchen scale. Neither do I. You can pour all the ingredients of the second box into a large multi-cup measuring cup and divide this measured amount by five. Then use this 1/5 as the amount to add to the ingredient shy box mix.
Stretching Perfection
First, there are approximately 2 tablespoons in a liquid ounce. How does that help us? It doesn’t! That’s trying to convert weight into a liquid measurement formula. OK, that understood, in my reading I have found, according to King Arthur Flour, 1 cup of all purpose flour is equivalent to 4.25 ounces weight. And since one cup is equivalent to 16 tablespoons then every tablespoon is .26 ounces. And if we use this math then 10 tablespoons would be equivalent to 3 ounces or close, 2.6 ounces. (Other reading I have found a claim that 6 tablespoons of all purpose weigh 1.75 ounces. Closer yet, .29 per tablespoon. I think we’re good.) How does this work with cake mix ingredients? Is cake mix equivalent in weight to all purpose flour? Probably close enough. But let’s take it a step further. How about just adding 10 tablespoons of all purpose flour to your 3 ounce shy cake mix and forget buying the extra box of cake mix that may end up wasted anyway. There you go!
Here, too, is another SMORE recipe for those days you’re not into a whole cake. Or it’s raining outside, Oven S’mores.
Soup that pairs nicely with Portuguese Sweet Bread, Portuguese Meat Bread or Rustic Cornbread. Or no bread at all! If you’re concerned about the bitterness of turnip greens in this soup it’s pretty much without need. With the little bit of meat, olive oil and vinegar the greens are pretty tame. Let’s not totally take away the characteristic of this vegetable. Piquant can be a good thing.
Backyard chickens are busy this time of year. With the extra eggs I opted to bake this delicious Portuguese Meat Bread, a meal in itself with a little side of greens or green salad. My choice as a side today with my Portuguese Turnip Green Soup … coming up next!
This bread is rich in eggs & butter! What this means to bakers? This recipe requires extra time to rise … about 2 hours. Plus, it’s a little sticky during kneading.
It’s a forgiving recipe and certainly worth the effort because the outcome is amazing.
The potatoes are being popped into the oven for a 25 minute reheat. Another great potato recipe for family or company. Just like a baked potato fully loaded. Add what your family likes on a baked potato and you can’t go wrong. I added our favs: butter, sour cream, cheddar cheese and chives.
So-o decadent! Great over a tenderloin roast or your favorite barbecued or pan seared steak. Fast and easy too. I used Gorgonzola cheese just because. Use your favorite blue cheese. This is a no fail. Promise. Sauté the sliced mushrooms with garlic and butter or just add them (mushrooms and garlic) to your melted cheese and butter and forget the sauté. Up to you!
Let’s see. What else can be enhanced by this sauce? Vegetables, pasta, rice!
But did I say pricey! Save this for a special occasion because a tenderloin roast can cost. This one was $22 a pound and weighed just a little over 3 pounds. Enough to serve 6 generously. A delicious cut of meat you don’t want to ruin. So, if your guests are into medium well or well cooked meat you may want to skip this.
This was served with a blue cheese and mushroom sauce. So delicious.
A salad and potato dish complete the meal. Yes, the slices are a bit thin … about 1 inch. Can you imagine this roast is for 6? 3 pounds! We might be carnivores … This was even too much beef per serving for us. Keep your guests’ appetite size in mind when purchasing this cut. Leftovers are good but not ideal here.
It absolutely works! The little terra-cotta pizza oven I bought at Cost Plus World Market is worth it. Now 40% off too. Start the fire, let it burn for 15 minutes to reach a peak temperature, bake pizza in two minutes. Amazing!
Choose your favorite pizza toppings and add them to this amazingly quick and easy pizza dough. In fact, I would say this is a no fail pizza dough recipe. Yep, while at World Market I picked up this great pizza recipe book, Patio Pizzeria by Karen Adler & Judith Fertig. Lots of good and delicious ideas. I decided to try their simple “Classic Pizza Dough” with slight variations. It was pretty near perfect. They did suggest ’00’ flour for wood burning ovens … providing a thinner crust. But I used bread flour as the original recipe suggested and it worked well. In fact, the recipe was to make four 6 inch size pizzas. I found it made four 8-9 inch pizzas instead … It was easy to stretch out with semolina flour dusted on the working surface.
It was fun using this method of cooking. Just have the right wood for your oven, small enough and safe to use with food. I like the idea of a pizza stone and I didn’t have any trouble removing the pizza when done. When transferring onto the heated stone the pizza dough should be resting on a cornmeal covered surface. This helps tremendously. I had the pizza resting on a large wooden paddle covered with cornmeal and lifted/slid the pizza onto the heated stone with a 6 inch round spatula. Worked perfectly.
This may take away any thought about me being pretentious. I’ve been wanting one of those super duper expensive outdoor pizza ovens for years. You know, the kind that costs thousands. I might even be able to kinda afford one. But instead I opted for this $100 Cost Plus World Market version. This little terra-cotta oven looks like it will hold up for some years. Wonder how the pizza will bake. Will it be crispy and perfect like I perceive it would be if baked in one of those pricey ovens? We shall see!
Don’t be fooled by my outdoor stove. It’s only providing a little more height than the original pizza oven stand. Yes, I’ll be burning wood inside the pizza oven to heat it up. I’m going to include a pizza stone inside as well. The online reviews of this wood burning oven were 3+ out of 5 (best). (Most reviews were 5’s but one review was a 1 because the oven arrived broken.) One particular criticism was the lack of a crispy crust. Although this could be secondary to the heat of the oven, the crust recipe and who knows what else, I’ve opted for the pizza stone. Wish me luck!
The 1930’s Wedgwood stove was my grandmother’s. She used it for many years to cook all our favorites. Try her Portuguese Beans with Linguica or her Portuguese Marinated Pork. My brother has great ambitions for me to fix up grandma’s stove. I was actually thinking of using it in the yard for plants. Oops!