Inside the Mind of Isadora

Tag Archives: cooking


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Gluten Free Recipe – Clementine Cake

Gluten Free Recipe – Clementine Cake

The temperatures have been in the 60’s at night and 70’s during the day.

I’ve been enjoying this splendid weather. In fact, I may have spring fever.

I sat outside this morning, with my coffee, listening to the birds chirping and admiring my bougainvillea bush that is in full bloom.

Instead of writing, I’ve been doing some spring cleaning. I’ve been purging my kitchen of unused items and food from my pantry. I do this twice a year. It keeps my pantry tidy and it helps our local food bank. 

I’ve always enjoyed baking. I don’t bake too often because I’m gluten intolerant. I haven’t enjoyed some of my favorite baking recipe because of it. In fact, I’ve begun to dislike sweets. 

On Pieces of Starlight, blogger Carol Carlisle, posted a gluten free recipe called Clementine Cake which looked quite good. I decided to try the recipe today. 

My helicopter hubby watched as I made the cake. The spatula never reached the sink. He was making happy sounds as he licked every little bit of batter. 

As soon as the cake cooled down, he dug into one of them. He needed to be stopped as he was ready to cut the 2nd one. I received rave reviews despite a few mistakes or; perhaps, my personal adjustments.

Below are the steps and the recipe. Enjoy … 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

Ingredients 

Mix the eggs, sugar for 5 minutes

then, add cooked clementine oranges

The batter is ready for the baking pans.Mistake: the ground almond go into the batter mix

Add ground almonds to mix

Into the oven they go @350

For some reason, my batter was able to fill 3 pans.

An 8” pie pan, a 10” spring pan and a 6” pie pan.

The recipe is for one 8” spring pan. Mmmmm … more yumTime to take the cakes out of the oven and place on cooling racks.

 

Something went wrong when removing the cake from the pans.

You can see a bit of crumbling going on.

A few clementine slices to hide the cracks in two of the cakes.

I added powdered sugar on the third one for a change of taste.

There is a glaze I did not do.

I like my food without a lot of sugar.

I wasn’t sure if it was going to be too sweet. 

I made a cup of tea to enjoy with the clementine cake. My hubby grabbed the cake on the white dish and escaped to the patio to enjoy. My version turned out to be more like a light pudding cake. Hubby is awaiting patiently for his next slice of cake after dinner tonight. But, I think it will be tasty with tomorrows breakfast coffee. Time to hide the cakes. 

Thank you Carol for sharing your receipe.

Hope you’ll try this recipe. It’s truly a yummy tasting cake and very easy to make.

Enjoy, Isadora 😎

Gluten Free – Clementine Cake

375 grams of clementine (5 small)

6 eggs

1 1/4 cup of white sugar

2 1/4 cups ground almond

1 teaspoon of baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Butter and line a 8” – 9” spring form pan with parchment.

Poke each clementine 3 or 4 times with a knife. Put the clementines in a bowl with a microwave safe cover or plastic wrap. Cook 3 – 4 minutes. Cool slightly then dump the clementines (whole) in a food processor and process until smooth.

In a large bowl beat eggs and sugar until light colored and double in volume (about 5 minutes)

Add chopped clementines and mix well. Then add the group almonds and baking powder. Mix until combined.

Pour mixture into a pan and bake 45 minutes (test with a skewer or cake tester.

Cool in the pan on a rack. Once cake is cold, remove from the pan. and pull off parchment.

Glaze and add candied clementines to decorate.

Glaze …

2 cups of confectioners sugar

3 tablespoons softened butter

1/2 cup of clementine juice.

Candied Clementines …

3 clementines

2 cups of sugar

1 cup of water

Slice the clementines very thinly.

Put sugar and water in a heavy bottomed pan on medium heat. Stir in sugar until dissolved.

Add clementine slices and simmer on low for about 15 – 20 minutes.

Pull clementines from the sugar mixture and place on parchment paper or slipat  until cool.


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Pasteles – A Traditional Puerto Rican Christmas Recipe

PR_Pasteles_photograph[1]

Recently a Puerto Rican restaurant opened in the next town from where I live. Hubby and I stopped in for lunch. The food was outstanding. We asked if they made traditional Christmas foods. When we heard they did we ordered these delicious pasteles. I’ve posted this recipe before but thought there might be someone adventurous who would like to try and make them. Enjoy ….

Pasteles aren’t appealing to the eye but delicious to the palette. There are as many pastele recipes as there are cooks. The recipe changes according to what is grown in the particular region. This is the one I am familiar with. Making and serving pasteles at Christmas time is a Puerto Rican tradition. Its hard work, but well worth the effort. There’s always a gathering of family members for the long and tedious work. As many as 50 to 100 pasteles are made at one time while traditional Christmas songs are played and the adults drink lots of coquito (look for this post).They hold up well in the refrigerator and can be frozen. As a child each one of us had a task. I do not make them but do enjoy eating them when they are available at restaurants or while vacationing on the island of Puerto Rico. They’re only available during the holidays. Pasteles were originally made for the traveling “Parranderos” (carolers). These were people who traveled with their instruments through town on the back of a flatbed truck singing and playing festive songs. Along the way, they would stop at homes where an invite would provide a little coquito and pastele. It was nourishment to help the travelers as they continued on their journey of spreading Christmas cheer. Everyone would laugh and dance as they played while sharing in the true meaning of giving. Having grown up in Brooklyn, New York, I had never experienced this. However, during the one year I attended school in Puerto Rico I learned about these traditions. It showed me another way to celebrate Christmas.    2017©written by Isadora DeLaVegaPastele

Recipe:

Prep Time: 3 hours

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 4 hours

Ingredients: STUFFING

2 pounds diced pork

4 ajíces dulces (small sweet peppers)

1 small onion

2 tablespoons recaito

4 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon adobo

1 tablespoons oregano (dry flakes)

1 bay leaf MASA DOUGH

4 pounds yautía

6 green bananas

1 tablespoon of salt

achiote oil

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

WRAPPING:

40 banana leaves (cut into approx. 10 in X 5 in rectangles)

20 Pieces parchment paper (cut into approx. 8 in X 4 in rectangles)

20 Pieces of kitchen string (Cut into 18 inch. lengths)

Preparation:

PART 1 – MAKE THE STUFFING

1. Brown the pork pieces in a pan.

2. Add the rest of the stuffing ingredients.

3. Cook until the pork is no longer pink inside.

4. Set aside and let cool.

PART 2 – MAKE THE MASA DOUGH

1. In a large bowl, peel and grate the yautía and the green bananas together.

2. Stir in the salt and enough achiote oil to moisten the dough and add a little color.

You are now ready to assemble and wrap the pasteles.

PART 3 – WRAP THE PASTELES

 1. Set the dough aside and prepare a work surface to assemble and wrap the pasteles. If you have friends helping you, set up an assembly line.

2. Follow my step-by-step guide to assembling and wrapping pasteles.

3. Set aside the pasteles you are going to eat right away. You can freeze the rest.

PART 4 – COOK THE PASTELES

1. Bring a stock pot of salted water to a boil. There should be enough water to cover the pasteles.

2. Boil the pasteles for 1 hour.

3. Unwrap the pasteles before serving.

Serves: Makes about 20.


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Deviled Eggs

The weekly photo challenge is ‘Order.’ If you’d like to see the photos I selected for my photography blog click here.

While seaching for the photo challenge, I came across this deviled eggs photograph. I remembered I had a recipe from a few years back. The deviled eggs are in perfect order. I thought I’d add the photograph and recipe here. Summer is upon us. If you’re going to a cookout or merely having cocktails with friends this a a tasty appetizer for you to serve.

Recipe Ingredients:
eggs ( brown or white )
mayonnaise
mustard
sea salt
pepper (white)
garlic
red peppers in olive oil ( optional )
green or black olives ( optional )
tow teaspoons or smaller spoon and a serving tray

Preparations:
Place eggs in cold water in a pan on the stove on high
When they are at a rapid boil cover and shut off heat
Let stand

In a small food processor – put the mayonnaise, mustard, salt, pepper, garlic – pulse lightly to mix

Peel and cut eggs in half – remove the yolk and put into food processor

Pulse mixture until creamy – if you prefer – you can leave it slightly chunky

Place egg whites halves on serving tray

With on teaspoon gather your mixture – with the other teaspoon slide mixture onto egg whites from the first teaspoon. Fill to capacity.

Garnish with slivers of red peppers in olive oil or black or green olives.

~~~~~

*****I’m sure you’re wondering why I haven’t given you the quantities for each item in the recipe. It turns out my Dad taught me how to make these deviled eggs. He was a cook in the army. I’m not sure if he made them during the time he was cooking in the service. Can you imagine how many deviled eggs his quantities would have to be? When I would ask him for the amounts, he always said, “All good cooks taste as they go along”.

Enjoy,

Isadora 😎


by 6 Comments

Pasteles – A Traditional Puerto Rican Christmas Recipe

PR_Pasteles_photograph[1]

Pasteles aren’t appealing to the eye but delicious to the palette. There are as many pastele recipes as there are cooks. The recipe changes according to what is grown in the particular region. This is the one I am familiar with. Making and serving pasteles at Christmas time is a Puerto Rican tradition. Its hard work, but well worth the effort. There’s always a gathering of family members for the long and tedious work. As many as 50 to 100 pasteles are made at one time while traditional Christmas songs are played and the adults drink lots of coquito (look for this post).They hold up well in the refrigerator and can be frozen. As a child each one of us had a task. I do not make them but do enjoy eating them when they are available at restaurants or while vacationing on the island of Puerto Rico. They’re only available during the holidays. Pasteles were originally made for the traveling “Parranderos” (carolers). These were people who traveled with their instruments through town on the back of a flatbed truck singing and playing festive songs. Along the way, they would stop at homes where an invite would provide a little coquito and pastele. It was nourishment to help the travelers as they continued on their journey of spreading Christmas cheer. Everyone would laugh and dance as they played while sharing in the true meaning of giving. Having grown up in Brooklyn, New York, I had never experienced this. However, during the one year I attended school in Puerto Rico I learned about these traditions. It showed me another way to celebrate Christmas.    2014©written by Isadora

Pastele

Recipe:

Prep Time: 3 hours

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 4 hours

Ingredients: STUFFING

2 pounds diced pork

4 ajíces dulces (small sweet peppers)

1 small onion

2 tablespoons recaito

4 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon adobo

1 tablespoons oregano (dry flakes)

1 bay leaf MASA DOUGH

4 pounds yautía

6 green bananas

1 tablespoon of salt

achiote oil

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

WRAPPING:

40 banana leaves (cut into approx. 10 in X 5 in rectangles)

20 Pieces parchment paper (cut into approx. 8 in X 4 in rectangles)

20 Pieces of kitchen string (Cut into 18 inch. lengths)

Preparation:

PART 1 – MAKE THE STUFFING

1. Brown the pork pieces in a pan.

2. Add the rest of the stuffing ingredients.

3. Cook until the pork is no longer pink inside.

4. Set aside and let cool.

PART 2 – MAKE THE MASA DOUGH

1. In a large bowl, peel and grate the yautía and the green bananas together.

2. Stir in the salt and enough achiote oil to moisten the dough and add a little color.

You are now ready to assemble and wrap the pasteles.

PART 3 – WRAP THE PASTELES

 1. Set the dough aside and prepare a work surface to assemble and wrap the pasteles. If you have friends helping you, set up an assembly line.

2. Follow my step-by-step guide to assembling and wrapping pasteles.

3. Set aside the pasteles you are going to eat right away. You can freeze the rest.

PART 4 – COOK THE PASTELES

1. Bring a stock pot of salted water to a boil. There should be enough water to cover the pasteles.

2. Boil the pasteles for 1 hour.

3. Unwrap the pasteles before serving.

Serves: Makes about 20.


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Cheesecake Anyone ???

Cheesecake -Strawberries.web
Do you see the mark of a slice cut in the cheesecake?

Here’s the reason …. my family was sitting in the living room waiting, with bated breath, while I set the table for them to come and have dessert. I left the room to get my camera for a quick photo snap of the finished cheesecake when someone – no one will fess up to the crime – started to cut the cake. Obviously, they didn’t want to wait any longer.

You won’t either once you bake one of these delicious cheesecakes and have a slice. It is extremely rich and thick. A small slice will be very satisfying. But, you’ll still want to have a 2nd helping. Enjoy … !!!!

if you’re gluten intolerant this is the recipe for you. There’s no flour in the recipe. The graham crackers crumb at the bottom of the pan can be eliminated. 😍

Nanny’s Italian Cheesecake

Ingredients:

4 – 8 oz. pkgs. of cream cheese
1/1/2 cups sugar
1 stick of butter
1 – 16 oz. container of sour cream
2 tablespoons of cornstarch
1 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon of vanilla
5 eggs
Spring baking pan

Preheat oven to 375 F ****** 190.6 C

Keep cheese, sour cream and butter at room temperature for 1 hour.

Mix all ingredients together – except eggs – beat well.

Add eggs in one at a time. Do not add the next egg into the mix until it’s throughly mixed. To avoid egg shells in your mix break the egg in a small bowl then add to the mix.

Pour into a well greased spring pan (melted butter or spray butter).

Place spring pan into a roaster pan and place on your oven rack. Now, your roaster pan to 1/2 the level so that the spring pan is sitting in the water.

Bake for 1 hour.

Rremove from oven … let cool thoroughly … refrigerate overnight before serving.

Enjoy … !!!!

Options:
You can add fresh vanilla beans instead of bottled vanilla.
You can add lime juice or vanilla instead of lemon juice.
You can add stevia instead of sugar.
You can add melted chocolate or swirl the chocolate in the mix.

Decorate your cheesecake with fresh strawberries, blueberries, sprinkle confectioners sugar or leave it plain.

Graham Cracker Mix:
1 1/2 cups of graham crackers
5 teaspoons butter
2 tablespoons of sugar

Melt butter, add pre-mixed graham cracker / sugar that you’ve mixed together. (The graham crackers can be place in a small lunch bag and hammered into crumbs or use a small electric chopper)

Blend well … spread on the bottom of the spring pan. To create an even level use your close fist to tap down mixture down.

Refrigerate 1 hour – now, add the cream cheesecake mixture.

Option:
To have a truly gluten free cheesecake do not add graham crackers to your pan.

Option 2:
You can use ginger snap cookies instead of graham crackers if you want to change a different taste.

*****A friend gifted me this recipe in a lovely card, 20 years ago, along with the cheesecake when she came to a over dinner party I was having. I have been baking it for years and have never had a disappointed comment upon tasting. It’s a family recipe from her aunt. With her permission, I have posted it here. Enjoy !!!

9673136346_3946b09591[1] - Copy

Every Tuesday, Frizz, offers the ‘A to Z challenge’. He’s walking us step by step through the alphabet. This week is the Letter C – to join in