Flourless Banana Bread

I have a sweet tooth in this phase of my life. A few years ago I couldn’t care less about sugar, but since I moved to America I crave for it. I don’t blame America, if I’m being honest, I think that my palate has change so much in the last months and this is one thing that has changed as well.

In order to keep a health lifestyle I am always searching simple solutions about food. I try to eat ultra-processed foods as little as I can. So when I saw this Buzzfeed Tasty video I was shocked! How come we can do cake with only two ingredients? I was mesmerized.

I tried it. It works. I baked on a muffin tray and add some cherries as well. Delicious.

As the days were passing by I wondered if I could use the same technique with banana. Today I finally took some time to try the idea and I am so happy with the result.

Of course I added a few more ingredients: cinnamon, walnuts, baking powder and agave. I think the baking powder is useless here, since we use whipped egg whites. But since I didn't test it yet, I listed on the recipe.

Another plus about this recipe: it is totally FODmap diet friendly! Not with the agave, but you can swap it for your preference sweetener, or don’t do sweetener at all since the banana is already sweet enough. Suggestions: glucose or maple syrup.

FODmap diet friendly. Low carb. Low sugar. And delicious!

INGREDIENTS

2 rippen smashed bananas
4 eggs - whites and yolks separated
1 tablespoon agave (or glucose/maple syrup - for FODmap diet)
3 tablespoon chopped walnuts
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

INSTRUCTIONS

Pre heat the oven at 350F. Whip the egg whites. Mix the smashed bananas with the egg yolks, cinnamon, agave and baking powder.

Gently, mix 1/3 of the egg whites into the banana mix. Add the other 2/3. Always very slowly to no break the bubbles of the egg whites. Pour the batter in a greased the muffin tray. Spread the walnuts on top of the muffins. Bake for 25 min or until the top is golden.

Just to be clear: I am not against carbs or sugar. Not at all. I just want to enjoy the most the foods around. I like to eat. A lot. But I like to eat healthy as well. That doesn’t mean that once in a while I’ll not eat a nice dessert. The thing is: I try to save these moments for something that really worths the calories. And I don’t blame myself later. I am always looking for balance :)

Fish Kibbeh

Believe it or not but kibbeh is something very common in Brazil. I think it's because back in the day people from Lebanon went to my country and we loved their food. Actually we have a lot of Middle Eastern food restaurant across my country, one of the most famous fast food chains is inspired by its kind of food. So you figure.

This week my husband and I decided to do a cleaning on our fridge. I am always writing and posting about it here because I think it's a necessary thing to do before going to the supermarket and fill your cabinets and refrigerator. This way you ended up wasting a lot less and consuming what you bought before. Also I think this is great for my creativity - it's a simple exercise: I have to work with whatever is left and deliver an awesome meal for my family.

Yesterday I saw some fish and seafood and decided to do a hot stew with coconut milk and black. Check it out here. I had half tilapia fillet left for my lunch today and since I saw Rita Lobo's fish kibbeh on her Instagram, I decided to do my version of it.

I had some quinoa on the fridge, so instead of bulgur I went for it. I know it's not the same thing at all, but you know necessity is the mother of creativity and this was my case. I had onions, garlic, mint, parsley and lemon juice. I just mixed everything together and wait for the result.

First I chopped a bit of white onion and garlic. Do you have a bowl at home that you use to whisk things and now is looking very old? Note to myself: do not buy white bowls anymore (they are not even pretty!).

Next I just had to cut the fish to put it on the mini food processor. If you think that I am going to use my big one you are mistaken. I think my mini device could process a whole fillet if it was the case.

Fish, parsley, mint, one garlic clove, salt, olive oil and pepper.

Then I mixed the "fish paste" with the chopped onion and garlic, add the quinoa (already cooked) and transferred everything to a glass container (with olive oil on it). The oven must be preheated at 350F (180˚C). Splash a bit of olive oil on top and cover with foil. Let it cook for about 15 minutes. Then I turned the broil mode for about 4 minutes.

I had some white rice left and some arugula, shredded carrots and tahini sauce as well. For the rice I add some fried garlic and for the salad I mixed everything and topped with walnuts. Done.

Salad, fish kibbeh and garlic white rice.

In the meantime I was also doing some meal prep for dinner - I roasted half an eggplant with onion and garlic on the oven - since it was already on. Today we will have baba ganoush as side for dinner. As I said: no food will be wasted in this house!

Four summer salads

Since I moved here to USA I've become a season person. I started to pay more attention to the seasonal changes, and not only the weather, but the mood, activities and food, of course.

Most of the time is cold in NYC, or not so hot. But on summertime things are different. I also noticed that my body has some different needs now: during the cold weathers it wants something hot - like braises, soups, roasts... But on summer it goes light, like the fish, for example. And salads. I've been very creative about this now since I can't have the same salad everyday. In my country by salad most of the times we mean lettuce, tomato and onion. Here in America I noticed that instead of onion people usually puts cucumber, and I am not even going to start to give my speech about this vegetable, since you can read my thoughts about it here. (and yes, you should eat your vegetables, and try to eat it more than once, in different preparations)

Now I want to share my ideas and inspire you to create your own salads, and share with the world if something that you create is really good! Here it is:

Spring mix salad

So, I think I'll not be very creative on the names, but my first salad is just the doomed spring mix. I read articles about this and it seems like almost nobody likes them. But let's thing about the spring mix being a way of avoiding some good leaves to go straight to the trash. Let's try to look to this bright size. I know that it can't hold up dressing, that's why you should serve it on the side and let people decide the amount of dressing that goes on the plate. I am not a fancy restaurant, so I will defend the spring mix.

INGREDIENTS

3 cups pf Spring mix leaves
1 cup of shredded carrots
½ chopped fennel
Fennel frond (to taste)
⅓ cup feta cheese
¼ cup walnuts

INSTRUCTIONS

Put everything together on a big bowl and mix it.

Simple, huh? For the dressing I like to go with the classic combination: lime + olive oil+ salt + pepper. Sometimes I add 1 minced clove of garlic as well.

Cauliflower couscous

This was a request from my husband. If think he had this at work and wanted to have again at home. I have to admit that I was a little bit afraid of doing it, but everything went well. First because I am not a big cauliflower fan. But as my vegetables post says: "try in different ways" I was very optimist about this. Kind of, because once I tried the cauliflower rice and hated it. But maybe it was my own fault, since I cooked it and also I wasn't REALLY that open to this flavor. So I decided to give it a second chance. And I am glad I did.

INGREDIENTS

½ cauliflower
2 cloves of garlic
½ sweet onion
½ sliced zucchini
10 grape tomatoes
10 basil leaves
Salt (to taste)
Chili flakes (to taste)
Olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS

Pre-heat the oven at 350 F (180˚C). Place zucchini on the olive oil and then transfer it to a pan sheet with parchment paper. Leave space on half of the pan for the tomatoes. Cut the tomatoes in half and pour it in a mix of salt, chili flakes and olive oil. Then transfer to the sheet pan with the inside turned up. Place the pan sheet in the oven for 20 minutes - turn the zucchini side on the half. In a food processor place the cauliflower florets and chop it (you can use either the razors or the shredded blade for it).

Fresh and delicious!

Strawberry vinaigrette

I saw this recipe on a Brazilian TV cooking show once and since then I was intrigued by its flavor. In my country we usually have a classic vinaigrette sauce, specially for barbecue, made with green bell peppers, tomatoes, onion, garlic, olive oil, vinegar plus some herbs and spices. Nothing fancy, but very, very popular. But this is a much fancier version. Also is a low FODmap diet friendly, since I did some changes on the original recipe.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup strawberries
1 tomato
¼ fennel
½ cup olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Fennel frond (to taste)
½ teaspoon salt

INSTRUCTIONS

Wash the strawberries and the tomato. Starting by the strawberries, take off the green part and slice it in half, them cut in strips and then in cubes. Take off the tomato seeds and cut it in cubes. Cut the fennel in cubes as well. In a bowl mix everything together and start adding the olive oil, balsamic vinegar and the salt. Take it to the fridge and put the fennel fronds on top of it before serve for a fresh taste.

Quinoa Mexican Inspired

I absolutely love Mexican food. Last time I was there I only had pizza and soda. First because I was a vegetarian and so afraid of trying new things, even the veggie friendly ones. But still, I love it. In Brazil I only had the TexMex version of it, but here in NYC I've got a bite on some authentic dishes, or something really close to it. Sometimes I try to bring a bit of these flavors home. I think the Mexican cuisine is so fresh and perfect for the summer. Since it's a country full of coast (did you know that it's possible to reach the coasts at the same day? I mean, if you have a lot of money, of course!) we can understand why their food is fresh, but they have their heavy side as well.

Since I am doing salads here, my inspiration was something light. Let's go to the recipe!

INGREDIENTS

½ lbs clean shrimp
½ cup of quinoa
1 corn on the cob
1 radish
1 roma tomato
½ red onion
1 lime
5 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper (to taste)
2 garlic gloves

INSTRUCTIONS

Put the quinoa on a pan with 1 cup of water and a pinch of salt. Cover the pan with a lid and let it cook on medium heat until it gets soft. Meanwhile, cover the corn on the cob on plastic wrap and take it to the microwave for 4 minutes on high power. Let it rest and let it cool down. Slice the radish with a mandolin, then cut it into thin strips (or use the julienne blade). Cut the tomatoes in half, take off the seeds and chop it into cubes. Also do cubes with the red onion. Put the shrimp on a bowl and let it sit on a mix of garlic, ½ lime juice, salt and pepper for 5 minutes. Stir fry the shrimp with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Mix all the other ingredients in a bowl and season with salt, pepper, olive oil and lime juice. Add the shrimp and devour everything!

Summertime: the fish season

It's officially summer! After a long period of cold temperatures I must confess that I was pretty anxious for a little heat. Also I was in the urge for some salads, dressings, smoothies and fish!

Don't be surprised. I know I can have fish all year long and etc. But to me fish = summer. It's light so just perfect for the season. I noticed that on summer I eat much less than on autumn/winter. I think it's because of the heat and also I am drinking more water than in the cold season.

Back to the fish, this week my husband I decided to dine on a restaurant. I had a workshop about ancient grains that afternoon and I tried this amazing cavatelli in a shellfish ragout, a recipe by chef Vito Gnazzo from Ill Gatopardo. I was mesmerized by the flavors on it and craving for more fish that day. I suggested us to go to Kittery.

As I entered the restaurant I knew what my order would be: mussels! It was about time already to have this delicious dish. But my husband took a little time on the menu, and finally he chose the Pecan Trusted Trout. Now, let me say that I looked to the trout on the menu and my mouth watered! I was happy with his decision (and mine as well).

The trout was pan seared, with sweet potato puree and sautéed spinach on the side. I took a bite of the fish - DELICIOUS. Then I took a bite of the sides, and finally I took bite of everything together. By this moment my world exploded. All this flavors together were amazing! But I had my mussels, my passion fruit mojito and the company of my beloved man. So I was pretty happy.

On the next day I hit the Greenmarket and bought some flounder. I wanted fish again and more than that: I wanted to recreate my husband's dish from the day before. So I alsobought sweet potato. And can I just add that sweet potato is something new on my life since I just started to each it regularly last autumn? Moving on... I wanted to add my own flavors on this dish. So I seasoned the fish with lime, pepper and Trader Joe's onion salt.

I cooked the sweet potato on the microwave: wash, poke holes on it with a fork or knife and wrap it on wet paper towel. Put on the microwave for 3 minutes. TA-DA!!! Then I took the potato from the peel, put it on the food processor and add a splash of coconut milk and salt. Done!

For the spinach I sautéed with garlic, sweet onion and cremini mushroom. The spinach has a lingering bitter taste that can overpower the dish, and this I felt on my husband's dish on the restaurant. My tip is to add something acid, like lime juice, and don't overcook it.

I was very pleased with my final result and version of the restaurant dish. I wish now that I took a picture of their dish to compare though.

Sweet potato puree with coconut milk, sautéed mushroom and spinach and pan seared flounder.

Eat Your Veggies

I think everybody grew up listening this catch: "eat your veggies, dear". Our moms (and dads!) used to try to make us eat this health food, and sometimes they failed miserably. I've been thinking about this specially because I know I was a terrible kid - super picky about my food. I wanted hot dogs and French fries all the time. Worse: I wanted chocolate sandwich cookies, Coke and chips for life. I could live on this for many days, for sure.

I have this memory of my mom doesn't letting me get off the table until I finished my green beans. Of course that nowadays I just hate it. But I must admit that I haven't tried this yet. I am 28yo and still afraid of some vegetables. In the same time I have to congratulate myself because since I started cooking for real my eating habits has changed a lot. In the past years I've added much more vegetables to my diet and I am trying to embrace everything, to try everything more than once to see if I really like something.

That's the secret: try it. More than once. Cook things using different methods and seasonings. Try a new recipe using that ingredient that you don't like so much. Start by doing it with things that you love, like bacon or cheese.

A few years ago I tried to eat broccoli. I know that for some people this green vegetable isn't appealing at all. I used to see it on cooking shows and fell disgusted by it. Many years ago I did a recipe with vegetable meat (soy) and broccoli, and my boyfriend hated it - he only told me this years later. Poor thing. Today I know that I can do an awesome broccoli.

My favorite way to do it? Roasted! Like most vegetables Roasting is my favorite cooking method for sure. It's so democratic - almost everything turns up good when roasted. I think thats because this method brings the best of the ingredient. When you do this right, it can bring the most moist, succulent, smokey flavor. Also you can play with the seasoning: change as you like it.

For this broccoli I used:

INGREDIENTS

1/2 broccoli bouquet
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
dried oregano (to taste)
red chilli flakes (to taste)
1/4 lime juice
3 garlic cloves

HOW TO DO IT

First I washed the broccoli florets. In a bowl mixed all the ingredients and then placed the florets. Let it marinade for about 5 minutes. Pre-heated the oven at 350 F (180º C). In a sheet pan did put some parchment paper and sprayed olive oil. Then I placed the florets. I poured the rest of the marinade on the broccoli because I didn't want to waste that amazing flavor. I placed the sheet pan on the oven for 15 minutes. And that was pretty much it. Almost zero work for a delicious broccoli.

Here are a few suggestions of marinades for you to try and also some vegetables suggestions:

MARINADES

lime + garlic + olive oil
orange + Sriracha + olive oil
teriyaki sauce + sesame oil + rice vinegar
balsamic + garlic + dried oregano + olive oil
ginger + lime + olive oil
taco seasoning + lime + olive oil
garlic + hazelnut oil + rosemary

VEGETABLES TO TRY

zucchini
tomatoes
peppers
potatoes
radishes
asparagus
green beans (I'll try it, I promise)
artichokes
squashes
onions
brussels sprouts
cauliflower
okra
etc...

Think about a vegetable that you don't like, then try it at home! Season it, put in the oven and try! If you don't like this way, try another. And if after a few attempts you didn't like either way, that's ok. At least you tried. To finish, here's my dish for the day: white rice, a simple salad (green leaf lettuce, onion and radishes seasoned with lime, oregano, salt, pepper and olive oil), grilled flounder and the roasted broccoli :)

Truffles Obsession

Yesterday I had the pleasure to attend an event at International Culinary Center about truffles with Sabatino Tartufi and Wood and Fire chef Pasquale Abbatiello, who did an amazing truffle risotto, talked about risotto techniques and also told us this story about he won a risotto contest at ICC when he was a student there.

Truffles are mysterious and sexy. We learned about this fairy tale about them:

“An old lady needed help and reached for this man who was peeling potatoes. The lady saw that the man was nice and kind and started to help him peeling the potatoes. As they talked, she discovered a lot of good things about this man. Then she reveled herself as a fairy and grabbed a few potatoes and transformed them into truffles as a reward for his kindly gesture with her. The man had three kids, but they weren’t kind as their father: they were bad and spoiled. Some years later the fairy came back as the old lady again, but this time she wasn’t welcomed for the man’s kids. Because of that she put a spell on them: they were transformed into pigs and she took the potatoes again and buried them under the ground. The pigs were doomed to hunt the truffles for the rest of their lives.”

Truffles have always been revered and date as far back as 1600B.C. These special funghi are known as the "diamonds of the earth". Truffles have this unique flavor and can be paired with a lot of ingredients, They are expensive because they grow wild - truffles are located on the root of certain living trees and have a symbiotic relationship with the trees. If you don't remember the Biology classes, let me clarify that for you: there's mutual beneficial for both parts. The most common trees that form truffles are Oak, Hazelnut and Poplar.

In the demo they also talked about how truffle can infuse eggs, oils, potatoes... If you have this jew on your hands, put it wrapped in dry paper towel and the thing that you want to infuse inside the container with the truffles. That's it.

There are about 200 species of truffles. But just some species are truly admired:

Black Summer Truffle (Tuber Aestivum Vitt)

Skin has a black, rocky outer layer. Flesh rangers from white, off-white, to beige in color. Season: May - September

Black Burgundy (Tuber Uncinatum)

Similar in appearance to Black Summer Truffle, but flesh is slightly darker, more beige in color. Season: September - November

Black Winter Truffle (Tuber Melanosporum)

Dark, rough exterior, but not as coarse as Black Summer. Flesh is black with white marbling. Season: November - March

White Truffle (Tuber Magnatum Pico)

Can also be referred to as Alba truffles. Skin is fragile and smooth. Flesh ranges from pale cream to brown pinkish with white marbling. Season: October - December

By the end of the workshop, we tried the amazing Truffle Risotto made by Chef Pasquale. He just shaved a Black Summer Truffle on a plain risotto base made using onions and butter, then the rice, Pinot Grigio wine and chicken stock. In the end he added a lot of Parmigiano-Reggiano and more butter along with the truffle.

Also we had a dessert: a little toast with Brie cheese and thyme with truffle zest and honey infused with the truffle. A-MA-ZING!

I was very surprised and happy because also we got a bag of goodies:

I left the ICC auditorium filled with happiness and joy!

I would like to thank the ICC crew for having me and for the opportunity to attend this event.

Spinach Rice

My goal with this blog is not only give recipes - the internet is already a full library of them. You can Google anything you want and there is a recipe for it. My goal is to inspire people to eat more at home, to know what they are putting inside their bodies, and also to avoid waste in a smart way.

So yesterday I went to the supermarket (Trader Joe's, I love you!). I bought a lot of things because I was out of so many things - specially some super necessary staples and vegetables that are a wild card for me.

I already knew what I was going to do for dinner. Something that tastes like my childhood: sausage and potatoes, cooked on the pressure cooker. I even called my mother to learn how to do it in the way that I liked it. But I need something else, a side. Rice? Yeah, but I already had the potato. I needed more vegetables here as well. So I opted for brown rice. I prefer the white, but sometimes I go for this option, specially when I am having potatoes. But just the brown rice wasn't enough. So I remembered this TV show that I saw once that they did a rice with broccoli. It was a green rice, the host called it "Hulk Rice". I felt in love for this idea. So I decided to do it with spinach. But not stir-frying the spinach, I did a juice, using my homemade stock.

All I need was my stock made out of the leftover bone, a cup of baby spinach, a pinch of salt and one garlic clove.

Then I decided to pass it on the strainer, I didn't want the fibers and garlic pieces, just the juice. Again: best decision I've made. I think this process made my rice light on the spinach garlic taste and very colorful.

All I can see in this image is the mess behind the juice being poured on the strainer. Sorry (not sorry)!

I did about 1 cup of rice. So of course I needed more water to cook it. Since I did not let my rice rest on water (this is the wisest thing to do - let it sit on water for about 8 hours so it will cook in about 15 minutes, with less water. Also it neutralizes phytates - which helps other nutrients to be better absorbed (check the link!).

In the last minute I decided to add some quinoa because why not, right? I actually wanted to do more food because I was thinking of the future me and future me wanted to eat this on lunch.

I added a little more salt, cumin, garlic powder and the olive oil of the garlic confit and let it cook. In the process I was thinking about doing this with carrots, for an orange rice, and beets, for a pink rice. There are a lot of possibilities, right? Not just for the colors, but flavors as well: basil, chives, olive, pepper...

I was very happy with the result, both color and flavor were amazing. To be honest my husband didn't realize that he had this for dinner - here we eat in the dim light. And he liked it. So it's an extra point for this idea/recipe.

I would like to add that yes, I had this for lunch as well. With the leftover fish and a leftover salad!

Spinach rice, Milanese tilapia (made with my homemade breadcrumbs) and cabbage salad with orange vinaigrette

Just to be clear: I don't have a spinach obsession. Yes, I usually have it on the fridge, I like to hide this veggie on my sauces, meats, juices and smoothies. It's healthy, right?

Do your own stock - with scraps

A lot of people who cooks already knows that stock adds a layer of flavor to the dish. There are a few kinds of stock and each of them is used for specific combinations: vegetables, mushroom, meat, chicken, turkey, fish...

Generally, stocks contain four essential parts:

Flavoring ingredient: meats
Liquid: mostly water, but you can also use remouillage (a kind of stock made of bones that have already been used once to make a stock - it's clearer and weaker)
Aromatics: herbs, black pepper
Mirepoix: the famous combination of carrots, celery and onion

But my focus here is to explore the stock made using food that otherwise would be wasted. I am talking about ends, tops, peels, stems, leaves, bones. Carrots, broccoli, onions, celery, mushrooms, cauliflowers, garlic, potatoes, spring onion, cilantro, parsley... These (and more) are all the ingredients that I used for my stock. Also I had some turkey bones frozen from last Thanksgiving.

My stock was a little bit dark. If you want something clear, this is not appropriate. But generally, for what I cook, this stock is really good. I used a Ziplock bag a left it in the freezer, and as I was cooking I store all my peels, stems, tops and ending on this bag. One day, when it was full, I made the stock. Put everything together on a stock pan, water until everything is covered, some black peppercorns and let it cook for about 1 hour. Then I divided into containers to be frozen and others to be used right away.

Turkey stock made with vegetables scraps.

The real deal here is that you can keep this bag frozen for six months. So you have all this time to collect food that otherwise would go to the trash. Why not repurpose everything and make something that will actually save some money? Plus it's homemade, so you know all the ingredients and everything that is going to your dish. In other words: healthy food.

Resting in my freezer right now. Waiting to become a treasure for future recipes.

Right now I have some frozen on my freezer. This recipe gave me 4 containers - about 2 liters of stock. So I have a lot of it for sure! And I already have a bag on freezer with chicken bones and vegetables scraps being filled up for the next batch.

Also, I would like to add that some of these days I bought a rib steak, with the bone. Then I used the bone to do a broth using only water. I wanted to do this way because I could use for my dog food and I was a bit lazy at the time to add carrots and celery - but this is something you could do. Since dogs can not have pepper and onion, I would skip this ingredients, but the rest is safe for them (but ask your veterinarian before giving anything to him/her, ok?).

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Brownie with Coffee

I had some coffee from the breakfast waiting to go down the sink this morning. But, I can't live with myself anymore knowing that I wasted food without even thinking about something to do with it.

Even tough it is Sunday I still had time to go to the kitchen and do something sweet for the weekend - this is a new tradition in this house: we have to have something sweet to bite during the weekends. A delicious new tradition to be honest.

I was out of chocolate bars or chips, but I had cacao powder. Butter, eggs, sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon and the coffee. The happiness recipe for sure.

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons of unsweetened cacao powder
1 1/4 unsalted butter sticks
2 cold eggs
1/2 cup flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
A pinch of salt
A pinch of cinnamon
1/2 cup (leftover) coffee

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat the oven to 325°F (180°C). Line the bottom and sides of a baking pan with parchment paper - I used an 8-inch square baking pan.

In a heatproof bowl put the butter. Bring it to Bain Marie and let it melt. Then combine the cocoa and then the sugar and mix it with a whisk. Pour the coffee and whisk everything together. It should be warm enough that you can dip your finger on it - with no harm (please)!

Melt the butter in Bain Marie.

Add the cocoa powder and mix it.

Add the sugar and whisk everything together.

Pour the coffee...

Whisk until thick.

Let it sit on the counter for a few minutes to cool down a little bit. Add the cinnamon and the salt. The cinnamon will enhance the chocolate and the salt will enhance all the mixture. It's just a pinch, anyway.

A pinch of salt and cinnamon to enhance the flavors.

Now it's time for the eggs! After the batter has cooled down a bit, you can add one at a time. Pour one egg at time and stir vigorously after each one. The batter will look thick and very shiny. Now we can add the flour. Using a strainer to make the flour lighter and easier to stir. Also it prevents lumps on the batter.

Add one egg each time. Whisk.

Use a strainer to prevent lumps on the batter and make the flour lighter.

Bye, lumps!

Mix everything!

In the end I decided to add some cacao nibs, just to add a bit of crunchiness.

I also spread some cacao nibs on the top:

Put it on the oven for 25 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the center of the brownie, if it emerges slightly moist with batter, it's ready!

Let it cool. And then serve!

I really don't know how to cut perfect squares...

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Breadcrumbs from leftovers

This last weekend I have attend Zero Waste Food, a conference about how we produce a lot of food and don't consume it, so we need to reimagine and repurpose all these thing that is been wasted.

I am not a fan of waste in general. In fact I started this blog because this is one of my missions: to inspire people to cook more with minimum waste. You can not imagine the amount of food that goes to trash at homes around the world. We buy, we don't plan and the it goes to landfills. We think that once it goes to the trash, is not our problem anymore. Guess what, it is. Not only because when you throw food away you are expending your money (it's like you're literally throwing your money on the trash can), but it's not sustainable.

So, yesterday I decided to clean my fridge. Of course I had to throw somethings out, unfortunately. I am not perfect and I wish I was so had everything planned for that food that went to the garbage. But I was also proud of myself. Because I did not threw a lot of things as I used to do. Some of it was already "recycled food" - when I write this I mean: food that was already transformed into another meal and consumed. It was the leftovers and they were really bad, not ok for consume. But on my freezer I found a some bread. I was planning to do croutons for soup, but guess who: spring is here and soup is not on my plans any time soon. But I could do breadcrumbs. The ready to use that I have on my pantry is almost gone and I planned to put this item on my groceries shopping list for next week. Well, now I don't need this item anymore.

Everything start with frozen breads - put them in the oven for about 20 minutes at 350F (180º C)

So today as I used the oven for our breakfast I took this opportunity to start my breadcrumbs. Just throw it on a pan, with parchment paper and let is defrost and also toast a bit. The bread must be really dry, and I wanted it to be a little bit toasted as well. I let it sit for about 20 minutes. Then waited for it to cool down outside the oven and threw it on the food processor with a bit of salt and spring onion. I didn't want to put a lot of flavor here because in the future and I want season it according to my recipe - I can do gremolata, pesto, chicken Milanese (or fish or steak), some gratin... A lot of options, and I can season it as I wish.

Put it on the food processor and let this appliance do its work!

The magic (and satisfaction) of homemade breadcrumbs.

I am so satisfied with the result!