Herbed garlic sauce and Sea dip

Wazzup yooo?? Hehehe, sorry…

Well, as I promised in the previous post, now I’m sharing with you some secrets for a great party. Everybody loves some great salsa or a creamy dip to have with some toasts or chips so here are some of my (and my guests ;)) favorites.

I made up this version of garlic sauce because I became a fan after having a pita at Joshua’s, and then my friends became fans after trying mine, they got like eyes wide opened staring at me a bit scared a bit amazed and as it is a reaaaaaalllllyyyyy easy recipe I think you’ll just have the same reaction from people J just try it.

Herbed garlic sauce

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 3/4 skim milk
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Beat all ingredients until well mixed and foamy. Let it cool before serving.

My tip is doing it the night before and DON’T ADD ANY OTHER SPICE or it will burn your tongue!!

This sea dip is an improvement of the common tuna paste, it’s really tasty and you’ll just want to eat it directly from the bowl… I speak for self-experience…

Sea dip

Ingredients:

• ½ cup canned tuna (drained)
• ¼ cup sea fruits
• 1/3 cup light cream cheese
• 2/3 cup mayonnaise

Directions:

1. Stir all the ingredients until smooth.

As you could see both recipes were basic preparations, great for when you’re just out of time and ideas J enjoyyy!!

Triple chocolate muffins

Hello cuties ;)!! I feel like I am remembering you that I’m in holidays in every post and I really hope that doesn’t bother you… but guess what? I’m in holidays! So last week I invited some friends over, ordered some pizzas, unpacked some chips but I shore had to do something on my own. So besides some lovely dips that I will share with you later, I did the most chocolaty muffins ever! I couldn’t even tell if they came from heaven or from underneath because they were so heavenly good but they were SUCH A TEMPTATION! Migohsss…. My girls were like “Jesus, I want to have another, but I’m just so full!!!!!” Yeah they liked them.

These muffins are chocolate flavored plus they have chocolate chips, white and milk, mixed in. In the recipe there are milk chocolate chips, but I used dark, it’s also really good… Who knows? Maybe next time I’ll use the three! Just making shore next time I won’t eat so much uncooked batter… Oh Rita…

Triple chocolate muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 cups chocolate cut into pieces
• ¾ cup milk (you’ll need more)
• ¼ cup butter
• 2 + 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1 cup chocolate powder
• ¼ cup sugar
• ¾ cup warm milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup hot water
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 390ºF and place 24 liners in the muffin tin.
2. In a small pan set over low heat melt the chocolate pieces with butter and the first ¾ cup of milk.
3. Mix the flour, baking soda, chocolate powder and sugar.
4. Beat the egg with the warm milk and the vanilla.
5. Add the egg mixture to flour mixture, stir to combine, then add the chocolate mixture, stir again and finally add the hot water and stir until smooth.
6. Involve the chocolate chips and spoon the batter into the muffin tins filling them almost until the top.
7. Bake for 10 minutes then reduce the oven temperature to 360ºF and bake for another 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

This recipe is great, it’s not too difficult (actually it’s kind of easy) and in a short time you’ll have the perfect muffins for chocolate lovers! They’re really good, I’m missing them right now… Have fun!

Orange rolled pie

Hello again!  My family has a really nice tradition of Sunday lunches at my place (my parent’s but ok). Usually some nice barbecue or a huge pan of heaaavvyy Portuguese food like “feijoada” or “favada” or “ervilhada” (various bean stews). Last weekend we stood for some grilled codfish and I baked the dessert as usual.  This time I chose a kind of typical Portuguese dessert inserted in the conventual bakery (sweets created by nuns in convents). I “invented” the translation for English and named it orange rolled pie, it is really moist, almost like a pudding, and it naturally gets a very sweet syrup and it is baked as a sheet so that it can be rolled up. It’s reaaaallyyy good!

Orange rolled pie

Ingredients:

• 2 big oranges (you’ll need rind and juice)
• 1/3 cup butter
• 8 eggs
• 1 + 1/4 cup sugar (+ for sprinkling)
• 1/2 tablespoon flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 390ºF and prepare a 1 inch deep baking sheet (grease it with butter and line parchment paper, again greased)
2. Grate the rind of the two oranges and take their juice, gather both in a small bowl.
3. In a microwave-safe bowl or in a small pan melt the butter
4. Briefly beat the eggs and the sugar (in the lower speed) then add the melted butter, orange grind and juice, beat for a while then slowly stir in the flour and baking powder. (the batter should be reeeaaalllyy liquid)
5. Spoon the batter into the baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, place on a clean surface a clean dishcloth and sprinkle it with sugar.
7. The pie will be really moist but it will be cooked when it is solid and golden-brown on top, be careful not to burn the edges.
8. Remove it from the oven and immediately turn it over the prepared dishcloth. Remove the paper and roll the pie by pulling one edge of the cloth over itself, it should be thin so it will naturally get rolled.

This recipe is quick to make but maybe a little bit difficult especially the part of taking it out of the baking sheet and rolling it up, it is needed practice. Anyway I really liked the result so I wish you good luck because everyone will LOVE IT J Enjoy!

Shrimp & Bell pepper stir-fry

Hi everyone! So until now I have only shared with you sweeeeeet sugary recipes, so today I decided to give you something for lunch. Not give you, give you but give you the idea hehehehe, sorry…

OK, my mom is a very busy woman and now I am in holidays so I can prepare a nice lunch for us both. The other day I was looking for something to grill but then I saw some frozen bell-peppers and a package of shrimp and I was like: “LET’S MAKE NOODLES!!!!!”

Yeah I grabedd a few more things and the result was DEL… (Wait for it)… ISHIOUS! (Yes, I’m a fan of “How I met your mother” ;) )

Shrimp and bell pepper stir fry

(Serves 2)

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon ginger root sliced (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon hot pepper (seedless) sliced thinly
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 1/3 cup sliced onion
• 1 cup bell pepper sliced (mix red, green and yellow)
• 1 cup shrimp
• 1 1/2 cup leek
• 1/3 cup grated carrot
• 1/2 cup canned soy beans
• 1/3 cup canned sliced mushrooms
• 3 cups pasta (after cooked)  (I used fettuccine because its large but rice noodles would also be nice)
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Cook pasta as package instructions and drain it.
2. In a wok (set over medium heat) heat the olive oil with the ginger root, hot pepper and garlic, when it's hot add the onion and bell pepper.
3. Let the onion and peppers soften for a while then add the shrimp, when they’re half cooked add the leek and carrot.
4. Low the heat and cover the wok with an appropriated top and let it sweat in there for a while only shaking it. 
5. When the leek is soft, add the soy beans and mushrooms, let them soften (again) and then add the pasta and the sauce. Make shore everything is well mixed and temper with salt and pepper. Serve warm.

This is actually a very healthy low-fat recipe and has the bell pepper which is a very good for your health. It is very tasty, easy and fast to make and you’ll get loaded!

Thank you for reading and enjoy!

Nutella filled muffins

Hi again! So here I was wondering if two posts in the same day would be too much, but then I was like: “noooo, you really need something to fill your blog” hehehe…

OK so, picking up again that lovely pool party, as we were too many for one single pan of brownies I also did some amazing molten chocolate centered fluffy perfect muffins. (and I could add some more positive adjectives…) And once again my friends ate them all, but this time it was really them, I only ate like one because this was the second time I made this muffins and the first had been just the day before for a nice family day at the beach… 

 It was weird because I made the double of the recipe but instead of yielding 24 muffins I only got enough batter for 23... (wtf right!?)

Yeah and so as an odd number would be stupid (and as the last one also got smaller) I had a cute idea and put a tiny paper flag in the 23º muffin and gave it to my mom. Admit it, it IS cute.

(the flag says: "For mommy because she is beautifull!")

Nutella filled muffins

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 + ¼ cup flour
• 1/2 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg                   
• 1/2 cup warm milk
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 cup Nutella

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 390ºF and line a muffin tin with 12 liners.
2. Melt the butter in a microwave-safe bowl or in a small pan.
3. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
4. In a separated bowl beat the egg with warm milk and then stir in the butter.
5. Add the egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until smooth, then add the water and beat for a while. The batter should be fluid but not too liquid, if you wish don't add all of the water.
6. Spoon the batter into the muffin tin but only 2/3 of its capacity then add 2/3 teaspoon of Nutella to each muffin.
7. Bake for about 12-15 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle (be careful not to reach the Nutella ;)) comes out clean.

Once again this is a really simple, easy and quick to make recipe, this muffins are good at room temperature and they will last for a week in a box (if you don’t eat them before)

They are good for breakfast or  for a snack with some tea or milk J Enjoyyyy!!!

Oreo Funfetti Brownies

Hey peeps! What up?

Today I bring you a nice recipe for brownies, this time, topped with Oreos and rainbow sprinkles (Omigoshhh).

I made them a week ago for a pool party at a friend’s place and there was nothing left of it… Seriously, my friends loved it so much that they asked me to make them for another dinner party last Saturday (yeah cause were young and in holidays so we party a lot ;) jkd). This time for my mom’s happiness there was like two pieces left heheh…

Well I have to admit that I was kind of the one that ate most of the pieces but who cares they were so d… good! They really taste like chocolate and they got just the perfect amount of moistness right before gooiness (which can be hard because brownies sometimes get dry if well cooked) but these were just sugary goodnessssssss… Humm…

The original recipe asked for cocoa powder but I only had chocolate powder, which is only 32% cocoa and mostly sugar, so I kind of change the quantities in the original recipe. It was adapted from the blog Sing for you supper.

Oreo funfetti brownies

Ingredients:

• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups chocolate powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon espresso powder (optional)
• 1tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 8-10 Oreos, chopped
• Rainbow sprinkles (about 1/4cup)

 Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9” x 13” pan.
2. Beat the eggs with the chocolate, salt, baking powder, espresso powder and vanilla until smooth.
3. Meanwhile, in a saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the heat briefly, don’t let it start bubbling, just until it is shinny. Add it to the previous mixture and stir until combined.
4. Slowly add in the flour, again stirring until smooth. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Top with chopped Oreos and sprinkles. 
5. Bake for about 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let it cool before cutting.  Serves 12.

I delighted myself liking the bowl and having the last Oreo in the package (:o). It's a really simple recipe easy and quick to make with the everyday ingredients (lol but I did not had cocoa...). They are good at room temperature but you can refrigerate them if you wish, I kept those pieces left in a Tupperware in the fridge and they are still awesoooomeee. Have fun and good luck trying it out!

Gettin' started

Hey everyone! First off all thank you for reaading my blog, I hope you’re enjoiyng what you see. Now let me introduce myself:

My name is Rita and I live in Lisbon, I LOOOOOVEE to cook but expecially to bake and I love to do it for my friends and family. I found my passion for the kitchen a few years ago when my aunt offered me a cookbook for children at Christmas.

First I did some pancakes that got really oily, and burned and maybe one or two were eatable, then I did some chocolate muffins that got really dry but well, my mom loved them both so it was a good start :D.

Now I already consider me a chef (lol). After a lot of practice, cookbooks and printed recipes from the internet everyone loves my cooks.  Sometimes I even make up my own recipes or change stuff in the recipes I’m following, last Christmas my mother gave me a cooking journal were I can write my own ideas

I created this blog precisely to share my experiences in the kitchen and leave some nice ideas for your own cooks. I named it “cook it 2 share” because I really think that the best part in cooking is giving what we make for others to try and listening to those wonderful “oh this is great! You should give me the recipe!” and I guess it says it all…

If you find the text on the images weird it’s okay because I not only live in Lisbon I was born where and I’m a Portuguese native speaker, so, I apologize if you find something miswritten or not making sense (and I thank you for letting me know).

Now I hope you like my recipes and try them out, also leave some comments about how it went and have fun! :D