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Delicious food always brings a smile to someones face. So all you food lovers out there JOIN ME every FRIDAY before 10 pm, may it be a simple snack, a gourmet dinner, or a cooking tip It will be up on my blog. Hope to bring a smile to your face with my delicious recipes. Don't forget to subscribe :)

Cucumber Salade

Cucumber Salade

100 calories

serving 1-2

Ingredients:

Pinch of pepper

1/4- tsp salt

1/2- tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3/4- tbsp lemon juice 

1/2 of 1- garlic clove

Peel your cucumber, then chop it up in very thin slices. Put in the salt, pepper, garlic, lemon, and olive oil, mix it up well. Taste it to make sure theres enough salt and pepper to your liking. 

Enjoy!!!

Substitutes: instead of lemon juice- you can use apple vinegar, instead of olive oil- you can use regular canola oil. 

Tips: This recipe takes about 5 minuets and it is very easy. It can be served with anything, and is great for hot summer days. The calories that I posted above is how many calories mine came out to, it might not be the same for you, it all depends on the ingredients that you use.

Brazilian White Sauce Lasagne Bolognese

Brazilian White Sauce Lasagne Bolognese

serving 6 - 8

Ingredients: 

18 oz (2 boxes)- oven ready lasagna

16 oz- mozzarella
25g- Basil

Bolognese Sauce

1 tbsp- salt

1 tbsp- pepper

3/4 cup- onion

4- minced garlic cloves

2- tomatos

10g- italian parsley

2 lb- ground beef

22.5 oz (1 1/2 cans)- tomato sauce

White Sauce

1 tbsp- salt

1/2 tbsp- pepper

 6 tbsp- flour

3 tbsp- butter

1/4 tsp- nutmeg

4 & 1/2 cups- milk

1 tsp- dijon white wine mustard

Before starting: Please remember to include dijon mustard it is listed under ingredients, but I forgot to include in the above picture.  I also want to mention this recipe takes anywhere from 2 to 3 hours depending on how fast of a cook you are. I recommend to separate the recipe into 2 to 3 days. I will explain how you can do so at the end of the recipe under tips. 

Chop up the tomatoes, basil, parsley, onion, and mince all the garlic groves. 

Make sure the tomatoes and onions are cut in tiny small squares and when chopping the basil make sure there not to small.

 bolognese sauce 

(look under Bolognese sauce ingredients for the amount of each ingredient)

In a tall frying pan place 2 tbsp of oil, minced garlic gloves, and onions. On medium to low heat, stirring at all times. 

Let the ingredients cook for 1 minute or until it looks something like the picture above. Then add in the tomatoes and let it cook for another minute. Stirring at all times.  

Add in the ground beef, salt, and pepper. Cook it for about 6 to 10 minutes on high heat, stirring occasionally. Keep in mind its okay if your meat creates water and it's not really frying.  

Add in the tomato sauce and parsley. 

At this point your bolognese sauce is almost ready make sure to taste it for flavor. The 1 tbsp of salt and pepper is only to start out with, you may need to put more. Place a lid and lower the heat to low, let it cook for about 5 to 10 minuets or until it start boiling. Once it starts boiling go ahead and turn the fire off, and your bolognese sauce is ready.

White Sauce

(look under white sauce ingredients for the amount of each ingredient)

In a tall frying pan place the butter, onions, and minced garlic gloves, on medium heat.  

Cook it for about 1 minute. Stirring at all times.

Add only 3 & 1/2 cups of milk.

Place the rest of the milk in a cup with the flour. Stir it really good taking out all the clumps.

Place the cup of milk thats mixed with flour with the other milk thats cooking. Add the nutmeg, mustard, salt, and pepper. On a medium to low heat make sure to stir at all times. Be careful with the nutmeg and the mustard, they have really strong flavors which could possible over power the other flavor.

After a while the white sauce will thicken, you want to make sure its REALLY thick. If your sauce is not really thick you might need to get another tbsp of flour mixed in with a little bit of milk, and put it in the sauce. If your sauce tastes like flour or has no taste, you might need more salt and pepper, nutmeg or mustard. PEASE be carful with the nutmeg and mustard to not put too much as this can over power the other flavor. If your sauce clumps up, like mine did, use a blender to take out all the clumps. keep in mind that when you use a blender it will make the sauce thiner thats why before using the blender make sure your sauce is nice and thick and tasting exactly how you want it to. 

Place out all your ingredients to start building your lasagna. Pre- heat your oven to 350 º F

(My Pan Size L: 12 1/2in W: 8 1/2in H: 2in )

The pan size that you use does not really matter because you can always use two if you need to, just try not to use one thats too big. I did write the size of mine above. You want to start out buy placing a layer of white sauce on the bottom. 

Place a single layer of lasagna sheet on the bottom of the pan. Its okay if there's space in between like mine because they expand when cooked.

Place your bolognese sauce with some mozzarella for your first layer. 

Go ahead and do not be scared to use your bolognese sauce and your white sauce as much as you want when building your lasagna, because you have plenty. On the other hand be careful to not use all your mozzarella inside because you need enough to cover the top. 

Then place the white sauce with mozzarella and basil leaves. 

Those are the two layers of lasagna all the way until you reach the top of the pan. You should have about 7 layers. 

layer 1- ONLY white sauce on the bottom 

layer 2- bolognese & mozzarella 

layer 3- white sauce, mozzarella, basil

layer 4- bolognese & mozzarella 

layer 5- white sauce, mozzarella, basil

layer 6- bolognese & mozzarella 

layer 7- White sauce & cheese ONLY

When you reach layer 7 which is the last layer you want to pour the rest of your white sauce on top,on  the sides, and all over your lasagna. Cover the top with the rest of your mozerella. 

Cover with an aluminum foil.

Place it in the oven to cook for 30 minuets, when its done un cover it and let it cook for another 15 minuets. 

ENJOY!!!

Substitutes: To make sure this recipe is healthier you can always light butter and oil, make sure you buy meat that has less fat, low fat mozzarella, and either 1% or 2% milk. I used 2% milk but you can also use whole milk. This recipe is really easy because you can use any type of ingredient and it would not really change much of the flavor, any type of tomato sauce, milk, mozzarella, butter, parsley,  or flour. It douse not have to be exactly what I have on the ingredient picture.

TIPS: If for some reason you do not have a lot of time to do this recipe from start to finish you can break it down into 2 to 3 days, which I do recommend. Day 1 make sure all your ingredients are chopped and ready for cooking on the next day, day 2 make both of your sauces and  leave it in the fridge, and day 3 put together your lasagna and place it in the oven. You can also make your lasagna a week prior to the date your going to serve it, as long as you place it in the freezer, and on the day your going to serve it just keep in mind it might take more then 45 minuets to cook. I personally have not done that yet so I don not know how it would come out, but Im pretty sure that it would taste just as good and look just as good.

If you have some white sauce left over you can always save it and pour it on top of some chicken with mozzarella, or make some spaghetti and use it as the sauce. If you have some bolognese sauce left over you can save it and eat it with anything really, rice, mash potatoes, or spaghetti.  If your wondering what I used to decorate my lasagna on top, I  put some thyme leaves which gives it a really nice flavor. When it comes to decorating your plate you can use anything really, even basil and parsley if you want.  

Garlic Lemon Chicken

 Garlic Lemon Chicken

Serving 6-8  

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken breast

3 to 5- minced garlic gloves

3 Tbsp- extra virgin olive oil

1 Tbsp- italian parsley 

lemon juice (from 1/4 of a lemon)

lemon peel (from 1 lemon)

1/2 Tbsp- oregano

1/2 Tbsp- sea salt 

Once you have gathered all your ingredients cut the chicken in 8 very then slices. If you like your meat thicker you may want to use an extra 1/2 pound of chicken. Make sure to chop up the italian parsley, and to use a grater to grate 1 lemon for your lemon peel. 

Gather all the ingredients in a small bowl to create a paste.

 

Equally distribute the paste through out all your chicken breasts.

Marinate your chicken with the paste by spreading it all over and softly padding it with your hands. 

Almost Ready :)

Once your done you can place all the chicken in a small bowl and place it in the fridge for a few hours, so the chicken will absorbe the seasoning, or you can go ahead and fry it or grill it right after marinating it. Make sure when you fry or grill the chicken you never want to leave it to long frying or grilling because it takes all the juice out of the chicken and makes the chicken hard.

Substitutes: instead of sea salt- you can use regular salt, instead of olive oil- you can use butter or regular cooking oil , instead of lemon- you can use lime

Tips: Keep in mind when substituting any of the ingredients it will change the taste. For those of you who are on a diet and do not want to put the olive oil you can reduce the amount for less calories. If for some reason any of the ingredients that I used do not sound appealing to you what you can do is put less or more of what ever you like for it to taste more of how you like it tasting.This is a very easy and quick recipe and you can serve this with almost anything rice, pasta, or a salade. 

Bon apetite!!!  :)

A little about me :)

A little about me 

To let you know a little about me I need to start way back when I was a little girl. As a little girl I remember always waiting anxiously for the delicious Brasilian food that my grandma would cook. Every Sunday afternoon I would look forward to eating with my entire family as we all sat down to enjoy my grandma's cooking. Growing up I have always been around not just any food, but deliciously good food, passed on from many generations. As the years went by not only was I enjoying my grandma's cooking but my moms baking as well. So now at age twenty I find my-self loving to cook and bake.  Which is where I love to dedicate all my time when I get a chance to squeeze it into my busy schedule. I have no experience other then the experience I have gained over the years from watching and helping my family cook. I know many different ethnic recipes, because my family is very diverse. I have Germans, Italians, Portuguese, Yugoslavians, Mexicans, Americans, and Brasilians in my family.  That is why I decided to write a food blog were I hope to share all the wonderful recipes I have learned. 

HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOY!!!!