Hello Dolly Bars

This recipe was originally posted on my Thoughtful Eats column at the Woburn Patch.

Ingredients

1 sleeve of Honey Graham Crackers (about 8 or 9)

4 tbsps of melted butter

¾ cup of chopped hazelnuts

1 cup of butterscotch chips

1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup of shredded coconut

1 small can of sweetened condensed milk

cooking spray or parchment paper

This makes enough for a 9 X 13 or 9 X 9 baking pan, depending on how thick you want the bars. 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Add the graham crackers to your food processor. Pulse until there are no chunks left and you have perfectly ground graham cracker crumbs. In a separate bowl, add the crumbs and the melted butter. Mix thoroughly.

Take your baking pan and spray with cooking spray. If you prefer, you can use parchment paper for easy lifting and clean up. Add the graham cracker-butter mixture to the bottom of the pan and press and spread until it covers the bottom of the pan. Don’t worry if it’s a little loose.

Now it’s time for the layers! Sprinkle the hazelnuts, butterscotch chips, semi-sweet chocolate chips and shredded coconut one at a time creating layers. Take the can of sweetened condensed milk and drizzle all over the top evenly.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until it’s lightly golden brown on top. Remove from oven and let cool for 15-20 minutes. Loosen the edges with a knife and cut into squares. Enjoy!

Birthday Dinner at Casa Portugal - Take Two

Last year Carlos took me out to dinner for my birthday. My choice restaurant was Casa Portugal in Inman Square (Cambridge, MA). This year? It was Casa Portugal again. The difference? This year he also gave me a new camera as a birthday present (along with a fabulous mini photo studio, more on that to come). So the pictures I took of our dinner came out far better than last year!

To start off, Casa Portugal always serves black olives, in a traditional Portuguese Olive Dish complete with  a section for the pits, as well as a basket of broa, Portuguese corn bread, and bread rolls. Always so delicious! Carlos went straight for the bread rolls until I reminded him that he should be eating the Broa instead. Broa is very common in Portugal but is a rare treat here in the states.

Of course I had to have some Vinho Branco da Casa (House White Wine) with my Broa.

There were only two other couples when we arrived but when we left the place was packed!

We had some romantic moments of course.

Carlos asked me what he got last time he was there. I reminded him it was the Febras Grehladas (Grilled Pork). It comes in a spicy garlic sauce and is served with traditional Portuguese potatoes, rice and vegetables.

He was so hungry he couldn't wait to dive in!

My absolute favorite dish to get at Casa Portugal is Arroz Mariscada (Seafood Rice). It's a pot of rice with a tomato-wine broth which is topped with a half lobster, clams, mussels, shrimp, squid and scallops and served with a side of potatoes. OH MY GOD it is so delicious. My parents and I used to go to a seaside restaurant in Aveiro, Portugal and we would always get a family sized order of Arroz Mariscada. I have fond memories of this dish. This particular pot, although for one person, was too much food for me but I tried to eat as much as I could.

I tried not to let anything go to waste!

We couldn't finish dinner without ordering some traditional Portuguese chocolate mousse. The Portuguese have some secret talent for making chocolate mousse. It's so delicious. 

Every bite is...

ectasy!

I was so glad to be able to celebrate another birthday with a superb dinner at Casa Portugal! It definitely made me nostalgic for Portugal.

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

This recipe was originally posted on my Thoughtful Eats column on the Woburn Patch.

Ingredients:

2 overripe bananas, chopped

½ cup of sour cream

2 eggs

1-2 tsps of vanilla

1-1/4 sticks of butter (10 tbsps) melted and cooled

2 cups of flour

½ cup of sugar

1 tsp of baking soda

1 tsp of baking powder

a dash of salt

1 heaping cup of milk chocolate chips*

Cooking Spray

*I recommend Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Chips

This makes 12 medium-sized muffins.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, add your chopped bananas. With a handheld mixer, blend the bananas until it looks like the consistency of baby food. Add the sour cream, eggs, vanilla and cooled melted butter and mix again with your mixer.

In a larger bowl, add your flour, sugar, baking soda & powder and salt. Mix then toss the chocolate chips in the flour mixture. Add the banana mixture and fold it into the dry ingredients until thoroughly incorporated. Don’t over mix. Mix only enough so that you no longer see flour.

Take a medium-sized muffin tin and spray with cooking spray. Spoon in the mixture into each well evenly. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until they are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean. Let cool for a few minutes but enjoy warm. You can always zap these in the microwave for a few seconds if you refrigerated them. Enjoy!

A Dominican Feast for Thanksgiving

Carlos and I headed to my parents house for Thanksgiving lunch. We dressed up in our best.

I asked my mother to cook a Dominican meal rather than a traditional American Thanksgiving. Carlos and I have a Thanksgiving lunch with my parents and a dinner with his family and frankly that's a lot of Turkey and fixings for one day. I'm not a big fan of the traditional Turkey dinner so it was great to mix it up.

A nice big pot of beans. My mom makes it with onion, carrots and bacon. Delicious!

A big pot o' rice. It is Dominican after all.

Slow cooked beef with peppers and olives.

My mom also cooked a Turkey breast and filled the cavity with stuffing.

I'm on a Pescatarian diet (which means I don't eat meat or poultry just fish and seafood) so my mother baked a Cod & Potato dish that has tomatoes. It's so delicious! Technically that's a Portuguese dish but who is counting?

Carlos tucked in his tie and was ready to eat!

There's my mom, the chef.

Even on my Pescatarian diet, I was a little lenient. I had the beans even though it had bacon and I had some stuffing with gravy. But I skipped the beef and Turkey. Carlos had plenty for the both of us.

My mom outdid herself and served up some homemade Baklava for dessert. Again, not Dominican. So far this is a Dominican-Portuguese-Greek-American feast!

We had some pumpkin pie along with the baklava.

Today is my birthday but yesterday we celebrated. Here is my birthday cake! Overall, it was a great Thanksgiving. I'm glad my mother cooked up the feast that she did. I'm so grateful for my family, for Carlos and for my life. 

How was your Thanksgiving?