Bomb Oatmeal cookies

As much as I would like to be I am not much of a baker. I do keep trying and some things work and some do not. The other day I decided to make oatmeal cookies. the recipie was really easy. I got it from the Joy of Baking. I love this website. They have so many things that look so yummy and they have lots of info and pictures.

I started by letting my 3/4 cup butter sit and warm to room temperature which did not take long and added my cup of brown sugar. I got to use my "new to me" electric hand mixer. This is actually my late grandma's and I love the idea of baking treats with the same equipment that she did. Any way....
I whipped the butter and sugar and added 1 egg and 1 teaspoon of vanilla and mixed gain.

In a 2nd bowl I put 3/4 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda, salt and cinnamon. and mixed them together. I then added that to my wet ingredients. I would have added nuts, raisins or dried fruits but I did not have any and they were still great.


after mixing the dry ingredients with the wet I added 3 cups of oats. I did not have any parchment paper or even spray for the cookie sheet so I just tried my luck. They did not stick to bad.

I used a 1/4 cup scoop and made little balls and then pressed them slightly. They turned out great. They were really tasty. I cannot wait to make them again.

Mango, pineapple sorbet with tequila and orange liquor

May I just say first of all, that I really want an ice cream maker. Ever since keeping strict track of the money we spend on things and at each store I have noticed a few things. One is that the ice cream at the store (which is the cheapest place to buy ice cream) has gone up from 35 pesos for about a liter to 40 pesos and I am sure that it will keep going up as the town continues to grow and populate. The 2nd thing I have noticed is that ice cream is our number one treat because it is so hot here. This is the one that I want... I think it will be so much fun to make a bunch of fruit sorbets. I mean... we have no shortage of cheap fruits here and the need for cool treats.

Anyway...

This palate cleanser was an idea that I had based on a restaurant that I went to twice in Paris, La Truffiere. It was one of those magical restaurants that you sit and eat at for hours. I went there once during the summer of 2000 and then again for Christmas Eve 2001. Both times were a truly unforgettable dining experience. Well, in between the fish and meat course they serve a palate cleanser. This was on both occasions an icy sorbet that contained liquor to help prepare you for the next dish.

Yesterday I was cutting some pineapple for some sweet and sour chicken I was making and the pine apple was to the point of almost done. Still a good pineapple but not the kind you want to eat plain. I had some mangos that were the same way. I decided to give a sorbet a try.

So yesterday I scooped out my over ripe mango and blended it in my trusty mini chopper and then did the same to the remaining half of the pine apple. I mixed the chopped fruit with a few splashes of orange liquor and a splash of tequila as well a cup or so of water.

I put it all in a tupperware dish and put it in freezer. After many hours I went and took it out and stirred the more frozen parts into the middle. Even at this point it was looking and tasting really good. I put it back in the freezer to harden over night. I figured that it would be a perfect snack for the next day which has already proven as I sit here at 10:30 am... that it is going to be a VERY HOT day.

But... alas... my husband came home from work last night and ate it all. can you believe that?!?!?! He assures my that it was very good. What a punk ass. Oh well. I am not really mad, although I would have loved to at least try it. I made it to be enjoyed... and it sounds like it was. But it did make so excited to try another one. What a great way to use all those fruits that are past the point of good raw.

This time I will hide it in the back of the freezer so the hubby cannot find it! :)

Caramelized Fried Plantains w/ shredded coconut

At the fruiteria we bought some tiny little plantains. The kids and I were in the mood for something sweet so we came up with this recipe. It has all things I like so I was sure that it was going to be good.


I started by putting some flour, brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. After cutting the bananas (we did some length wise and other simple circles) we coat the bananas with the flour mixture.


I threw some butter in a pan and let it melt. I then threw in some brown sugar and then added the coated bananas. I let them cook pretty long so they had a nice brown color. I added shredded coconut and some more brown sugar to the tops of the bananas.

After a little while I flipped the bananas and let them cook on the other side. Once they were good and brown and a little crispy I put them on a plate to cool. The carmel on the bananas cooled and made a sort of hard shell.

It was so good to bite into and then get to the creamy banana on the inside. This would be very good on ice cream or in a crepe. But I liked them as just a bite sized treat. The kids also loved them. But then again, how could not love plantains, brown sugar, butter and coconut!

Chocolate fondue

I am sorry for the long delay. I thought that this recipe was already here, oh well.

The chocolate fondue could not be easier. It was simply a pot of water, a bowl, some heavy cream and hershey's kisses. We would have used just chocolate chips or a bar, but we could not find anything like that. Those are the weird things that we seem to not be able to find. Anyway.



I also got the first yield from my garden... yep, 1 whole radish. Granted, it was good. But still, hopefully more grows soon. The corn has gotten bigger and the pumpkin is HUGE!!!!!

Baking for the first time- Mandarin Bars

Okay. So part of this whole adventure is working with the fresh fruits and veggies around me and working within the parameters that are simply parts of living in this area in Mexico as well as the limited amount that we have rebuilt our household with. So when I decided for some reason that it would be a good idea to bake something, the follow through was not thought through. SO yesterday was Thanksgiving in the USA. And I did not really notice or miss it (probably because it is 85 degrees and sunny- it does not seem like late November to me.) Anyway. The day before and the day of I started to get a lot of emails about Happy Thanksgiving and what everyone was doing with their families. And then I really started to miss it. For several of the past many years I have cooked the vast majority of the food for Thanksgiving. SO it was very strange not to cook this year. So I set off to try to find the things that I would need to bake lemon bars and pecan squares.

Well, okay, no brown sugar- just standard (sort of brown) and super refined (white) But the brown sugar is more like sugar cane or sugar in the raw then the brown sugar I am used to. Then there was no powdered sugar, no baking soda, oh yeah... and no lemons.

So here is what I came with.
First I had to "powder" the sugar myself by putting it in my little food chopper. - That did not work that well. Then I had to sub mandarins for lemons. When it came time to zest the lemon... I realized... I do not have a zester. Luckily I have a lot of time and a serrated steak knife. To say the least, that took a while.


When it came time to make the dough for the bottom, I started by using my little chopper in place of an electric mixer. That might have worked if my mixer could hold more then 4 cups. So I just mixed it with my hands. They say that you can really put your emotions into food and I guess it makes sense that you have to get your hands on it.

At the end, I still did not have powdered sugar so I caramelized a little sugar to put on top--- well that was just a bit burnt so I will not do that again.


After the whole adventure there was no way that I was about to make the pecan squares. I still had to clean the kitchen. This is not an area that you can leave any thing sugary out and about. Oh, I forgot, I do not have my baking dishes here so I baked this in an omelet pan. Hehehe. We use what we have.