Delicious and Groovy Tie-Dye Cake Recipe

I am one of those people that will come up with any excuse to bake something. I love sweets and baking of all kinds and I especially love trying out new recipes. So when the boyfriend was coming for his first ever visit to the United States, I thought that was as good a time as any to bake a cake. Not just any cake thought ... a tie-dye cake!

It is a pretty straight forward recipe and can be done using and white cake box mix, if you want to go the simpler route (which I did in this case). The only disclaimer I have is that you will have lots of dishes to wash after this is done.

Ingredients:

White cake batter

Food coloring

Lots of bowls and spoons

9 inch circle cake pans (2-3)

Icing of your choice

First, follow whatever recipe you have chosen, whether it be from scratch or from a box, for white cake.

Now, comes the fun part. Separate the batter evenly into 6 different bowls. This is where you will add the food coloring: (This is just a guideline you can mix however you feel looks best)

 Red - 15 drops of red food coloring

 Orange - 2 drops of red and 9 drops of yellow

 Yellow - 10 drops of yellow food coloring

 Green - 5 drops of yellow and 2 drops of blue

 Blue - 10 drops of blue food coloring

 Purple- 5 drops of red and 6 drops of blue

Next step is to start pouring the batter into the pans (make sure you spray them with no stick ahead of time). Some people like to now separate each color into two bowls, because they are perfectionists. You don't need to do that. Going in rainbow order, pour half of the red batter into the first pan, give it a few seconds to let it spread. Next half of the orange directly on top of the red, again giving it a few seconds to spread. Continue in that order until you get to purple. Now in the second pan, do the same but in reverse order starting with purple, blue, green and so on. Don't try and manipulate the batter just give it time to spread on its own. 

  * I used a measuring cup to divide each color in half. I think pouring half the batter directly from the bowl would be easier

Bake at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes or you pass the toothpick test.

Finally layer the cakes and ice them with your choice of icing. I chose chocolate funfetti icing, because I believe funfetti makes everything better.

Don't let the amount of dirty dishes overwhelm you (I like to follow the whoever did the baking doesn't do the dishes philosophy). This cake will be a hit no matter what occasion you bake it for. 

  

Have you ever tried a more difficult recipe like this? Were you successful?

Two Simple Savory Empanada Recipes

Empanadas are a South American staple. They are eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner. The typical flavors in Paraguay are beef, chicken, ham and cheese, and corn. You may find a shop that has branched out and added some other flavors, but, that isn't as common. To say I grew accustomed to eating empanadas while living in Paraguay is an understatement. I love them! We used to joke that empanadas are the Paraguayan sandwich, and I'm not a huge sandwich person, but I do love me an empanada. The whole time I was down there I kept dreaming up recipes I could make for my family when I got home and had access to more ingredients. So now, I have two simple filler recipes for you. You can make home-made dough too if you would like, but, making empanadas is a whole day kind of process so I cut a lot of time out by cutting circles (as large or as small as you want) out of store bought pre-made pie crusts.

 

Cheesy Creamy Chicken Empanadas

2 cups of cooked/shredded chicken

1/2 cup of taco/mexican shredded cheese

1/2 cup of monterray jack shredded cheese

1/2 cup cream cheese: softened

1 medium red onion: chopped

1 red bell pepper: chopped

2-3 garlic cloves: finely chopped

2-3 tablespoons of taco seasoning

salt and pepper

hot sauce - to your taste

Saute the onion, red pepper and garlic. Once finished mix with remaining ingredients in large bowl. Take an empanada circle, using a brush wet the edges and now depending how large your circle is add about a spoon full of filling to the middle. Fold in half and us a fork to press the edges closed. Place all prepared empanadas on a baking sheet. Brush tops with olive oil. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with sour cream.

Sausage Pizza Empanadas

1 lb. ground sausage

1 medium onion

1 red bell pepper

1 green bell pepper

1/2 cup tomato sauce

2-3 garlic cloves: finely chopped

2-3 tablespoons oregano

salt and pepper

shredded mozzarella cheese 

Cook sausage, onion, peppers in a frying pan. Once cooked most of the way add the tomato sauce, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper. Once fully cooked, let filling cool down completely. Take an empanada circle, using a brush wet the edges and now add a pinch of mozzarella cheese and depending how large your circle is add about a spoon full of filling to the middle. Fold in half and us a fork to press the edges closed. Place all prepared empanadas on a baking sheet. Brush tops with olive oil. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with sour cream.

Empanadas are great for lunch or dinner. But they also make a great dish for this weekend for your Labor Day celebrations! 

Have you ever tried an empanada before? What did you think?

Rosemary Butter Cookies

When it comes to deserts just give me some chocolate drizzled on chocolate with chocolate stuffed inside and more chocolate sprinkled on top. However, a couple years ago I was at a 4th of July party where there was a desert bake-off. Being a good judge I had to test all the desserts, you know so I could be impartial. There were brownies, double chocolate chip cookies, fudge, it was a chocolate lovers dream however, to my surprise my favorite dessert that day were the Rosemary cookies. 

Rosemary cookies, sounds weird I know. But, let me tell you they are amazing. Now, I have finally found a recipe that lives up to the memory. I recently made them for my boyfriend, he is a chocolate aficionado like me, but he couldn't get enough of these sweet and savory treats. You can find the recipe in Martha Stewart's cookbook, Cookies. These cookies go great with milk, or nice warm cup of tea or serve them up at your next party and I guarantee they'll be a hit.

Rosemary Butter Cookies:

- 1 cup butter
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2.5 cups of flour
- fresh rosemary
- salt

Step 1:
First, mix together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Then add the vanilla and egg. Finally mix in the rosemary, salt and flour. (I found it best to chop to the rosemary a bit, the whole stems tended to get stuck in my teeth)

Step 2:
Next roll the dough into a log from. Put in the freezer for 30 minutes to an hour or until firm.

Step 3:
Finally, Martha Stewart's recipe said to brush with egg white and then dip in sugar. But, I found even with out the egg white the sugar stuck to the sides of the cookies. Your call. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until the edges turn golden.

Have you ever tried a new recipe, something different than you typically eat, and love it?

Delicious Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

The weather is starting to really cool down here in Paraguay. With that came a serious craving for tomato soup and grilled cheese.  I usually just buy my tomato soup at the grocery store, but, that wasn't really an option here so I thought I'd give it a try, and, then I saw some beautiful red peppers at the store, so I thought I would add them too. 

Ingredients:

- 3 medium size tomatoes

- 1 onion

-1 red pepper

- 1 carrot

- 3 cloves of garlic

- 6 tablespoons tomato paste

- 1 tablespoon olive oil

- salt & pepper

- fresh basil 

- 1 cup chicken broth

- 1/2 cup milk

Directions:

- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

- Cut onion and tomatoes into wedges. Remove seeds from tomatoes. Chop carrot into small pieces and cut red pepper into even slices and remove seeds.

- Cut garlic, it doesn't matter how big or small.

- Place all veggies on cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper. Put in the oven for 40-45 minutes, until veggies are tender, lightly browned and roughly half their size. Remove and set aside.

- In a large pot, over medium-high heat, add chicken broth, tomato paste and roasted veggies. Add salt, pepper, basil and bring to a low boil. 

- Reduce heat and let simmer for 10 minutes. Then use blender or food processor to puree (to your desired thickness level)

- Return to pot and add milk. Cook for 5-10 minutes on medium heat.

Serve with Grilled Cheese. Will keep for a several days in the refrigerator. Enjoy!

Super Easy Chicken Curry Recipe!

If you have ever lived abroad before you know that feeling when you crave a special dish or food and then you realize that getting it or making it will be a difficult task. I've come to realize too, that for me, missing food from the USA or the easiness of getting food is one of the hardest parts of living in another country. However, it has also been an eye-opener too.

The other night I was craving Curry some kind of bad. So I decided to give it a try and make some myself, which I'd never actually done before. I went on a search for coconut milk (which you can occasionally find in Paraguay) but, with no luck. I also thought I had curry powder before I started ... which I didn't. But, that is one thing I've learned from cooking here is that it no need to worry it will usually all work out. So if you ever want to make Chicken Curry and don't have all the ingredients here is the recipe for you!

Ingredients:

- Chicken ( I used 2 thigh/breasts, but if you have access to boneless chicken breasts 3 or 4)

- 1 or 2 diced onions

- 1 potato cubed

- 4 cloves of garlic

- 2 tablespoons of butter

- 1 cup coconut flavored yogurt

- 3 tablespoons of peanut butter

- Cumin, red pepper flakes, ground ginger, ground coriander (if you have tumeric or mustard seed add that)

-  I included "condimento de pollo" because it had some curry in it

First cube potato (and chicken), dice onion and garlic.

Next, melt the butter and add curry (or other spices)

Then add the coconut yogurt and peanut butter.

Set aside the sauce and cook onions and garlic on a low heat until onions are transparent.

Then add the chicken and once it is cooked lightly add mixture to the sauce along with the potatoes on high heat until it simmers, then turn heat on low and cover. Let sit for 30 minutes or until potatoes are soft.

Finally, when finished serve over rice. (And add a little Argentine wine to your taste!)

Hope you all enjoy! I sure did!

Cooking in Paraguay.

One of my favorite things to do is cook for other people. I'm not really a big fan of cooking for just myself, that is boring. So two years in my campo house have seen some pretty interesting meals that have stemmed from the lack of desire to cook.

But, when I have the chance to cook for other people I love it. However, cooking in Paraguay comes with its own set of challenges. Basically everything has to be made form scratch. You don't realize how easy it is in the States to be able to buy most of the ingredients for meals. In this country I've learned how to make so many things that I would have just bought from the store back home; things like bagels, pizza, pie crust, yogurt, buttermilk, and the list goes on and on. So my adventures in Paraguay have led to some pretty interesting concoctions.

      

                                      

Home-made pizza crust, brownie, banana icecream, bagles, and a perfect example of working with what you have, a giant quiche!