Lemon and Ginger Cake

Just one more month is missing!!
There is such an excitement in our house, kids don't speak about nothing else but Christmas. They already did advent calendar, letter for Santa is almost ready (even they wake up every morning and remember to add 'just one more thing' to the list {*smile}) and I am thinking abut our dinner menu...

I know what are you going to say.. there is still a month to go, but since I want to make presents or buy some handmade once..there is a lot of preparations left.
I just want to enjoy every single Christmas detail without any rush!!!
This lemon and ginger cake is perfect for Christmas morning with coffee or tea.

Lemon and Ginger Cake 
(adopted from Sweet Paul Magazine)

225g softened butter
250g sugar
4 large eggs
zest and juice of 3 lemons
 360g flour
3/4 ts baking powder
1/2 ts salt
2ts ground ginger
100g sour cream
50g candied ginger
1tbs iced sugar

Preheat the oven to 175C. In the bowl of a standing mixer cream sugar and butter until pale. Add eggs, one at a time, Mix in lemon zest. Add sour cream. In a separate bowl whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, ground and candied ginger. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture. Pour batter into the greased pan and bake for 50-60 minutes or until the toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. In the meantime make juice of 3 lemons and mix with icing sugar,heat. When you take a cake from the oven , immediately put hot lemon juice over and leave to cool.


 

Hokaido Pumpkin and Ginger Soup

Last week we had am unexpected visit.
Mean Mr. Virus came again.
We were not prepared for this visit. We tried everything , all natural methods, to defend ourselves .For some of us it was enough, for me it was not. After days of trying to deal with Mr. Virus I put white flag out, and called Mr. Antibiotic for help.
So..now when Mr. Virus is almost leaving our house, I wanted to share a secret. There was one thing that helped us passed this last day..Mrs. Soup. She was so comforting, hot and tasty. Our bodies craved for her.
One of them I liked most ,and you can call her for help in case Mr. Virus visit you also.

Hokaido Pumpkin and Ginger Soup

1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium hokaido pumpkin ,cleaned and sliced
1 small ginger root, peeled and grated
1 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced
1 tbs olive oil
1l vegetable stock
1ts ground cumin
50 ml coconut milk
salt and pepper

Put onion,garlic, ginger, potato, pumpkin, ground cumin, salt, pepper and stock in a large pot and leave to cook in a covered pot. Cook for 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Puree soup with blender and add olive oil and coconut milk. If needed, add more water and adjust seasoning.

Ginger and Chocolate Biscotti

I always thought that doing something for the second time is easier but, in this case, it wasn't. A lot of testing, baking, opinion searching until, finally, I didn't make the decision which cookies will be the next one.

When I made that decision and chose the recipe, another phase came... Label design, where I had again Ana's big help.

The final phase was more difficult... label printing. Maybe I was just unlucky, but this phase lasted for more than a month...

*****

Sempre pensei que fazer alguma coisa umaa segunda vez seria mais fácil mas, neste caso, não foi. Muitos testes, cozeduras, opiniões, procura até que, finalmente, não decidi sobre quais seriam as próximas bolachas.

Quando tomei essa decisão e escolhi a receita, veio outra fase... Desenho da etiqueta, onde tive novamente a grande ajuda da Ana.

A fase final foi a mais difícil... impressão das etiquetas. Talvez tinha sido apenas azar, mas essa fase durou mais de um mês...

But, as they say, all the work was worth! I was so happy when I saw the first package of my Chocolate and Ginger Biscotti! I really hope you will be also.

My Chocolate Chip Cookies are for all the family, but these ones are more for adults. They are crunchy, perfect with tea or coffee and I love the mix of chocolate and ginger.

I am telling you... they are the real treat! {*smile}.

They are going to join the Chocolate Chip Cookies on the shelfs of organic supermarkets Miosótis and Biocoop, but you can also order them directly from me.

*****

Mas, como se costuma dizer, todo o trabalho valeu a pena! Fiquei tão feliz quando vi o primeiro pacote dos meus Chocolate and Ginger Biscotti! Eu espero realmente que vocês também se sintam.

Os meus Chocolate Chip Cookies são para toda a família, mas estes são mais para os adultos. São crocantes, perfeitos com chá ou café e eu adoro a mistura de chocolate com gengibre.
Digo-vos uma coisa... são o verdadeiro deleite! {*smile}.

Eles vão juntar-se aos Chocolate Chip Cookies nas prateleiras dos supermercados biológicos Miosótis e Biocoop, mas podem também encomendá-los directamente a mim.

Pistachio,Ginger and Chocolate Biscotti

It's August, kids are on school vacations and my older one is spending time with me. Translated it means 'I don't have time for experimenting new recipes!!!' {*smile}. I do cook, and play with her, do picnics, go out, have bicycle rides and have a great time... but I'm time limited, so I had to go back to the recipes that I know to make from scratch and that I am really used to. These Biscotti is one of them, and they feel so good in the afternoon when I make coffee for myself and sit to rest for 5min...

Tomorrow we are going to be part of Feira Rural do Parque das Nações and I am really happy for it. So.. if you are not in the mood to make these biscotti you can visit our stand and get some there {*smile}.

Have a great weekend... and don't forget to participate in the giveaway!!!

Estamos em Agosto, as crianças estão de férias escolares e a minha mais velha está a passar um tempo comigo. Traduzido, significa que 'não tenho tempo para experimentar novas receitas!' {*smile}. Eu cozinho, e brinco com ela, fazemos piqueniques, saímos, passeamos de bicicleta e divertimo-nos bastante... mas tenho o tempo limitado, por isso tive de voltar para as receitas que eu sei fazer a partir do zero e que estou realmente habituada. Estes Biscotti é uma delas, e são tão bona na parte da tarde, quando faço um café para mim e me sento para descansar 5 minutos...

Amanhã vamos fazer parte da Feira Rural do Parque das Nações, e estou realmente feliz por isso. Portanto... se não estiver com vontade de fazer estes biscotti, pode visitar o nosso stand e comer algumas lá {*smile}.

Tenha um óptimo fim-de-semana... e não se esqueça de participar no sorteio!

Pistachio and Ginger Biscotti

If I go to some place to have a coffee and I get it with some kind of small present (biscotti, cookie, chocolate,...) well,... I immediately become a big fan of that place.
As a client, I love to be spoiled like that. Unfortunately it doesn't happen often.

I love to have a good cappuccino with 'something' and, at home, I always do this for me.
Now I have some backup of these great pistachio and ginger biscotti (recipe from ottolenghi) for my coffee time.

Se eu vou a algum lugar para beber um café e recebo com ele algum tipo de pequeno presente (biscoito, bolachinha, chocolate,...) bem,... fico imediatamente uma grande fã desse lugar.
Como cliente, adoro ser mimada assim. Infelizmente isso não acontece frequentemente.

Adoro beber um bom cappuccino com "algo" e, em casa, faço sempre isso para mim.
Agora tenho algum backup destes fantásticos biscoitos de pistachio e gengibre (receita Ottolenghi) para a minha hora de café.

Chocolate and Ginger Biscotti

I made a decision… I will make a badge saying "I am not Portuguese and I mix Desculpa and Desculpe" just to avoid confusions…
I know it may sound strange but there are some Portuguese words that I can’t tell the difference… like Desculpa and Desculpe, or Avô and Avó…
The other day, I did something wrong and, when the 'victim' called my attention to it, I said "Desculpa"… and that caused a hysteric attack… and at the end of it I just said... "but I am not Portuguese… I am really sorry".

Well… to forget the incident, when I came home with Hana, we started to make these great biscotti, which Diana sent me the recipe some time ago… and we almost ate them raw… the dough was so good!!! But I must admit, the biscotti were even better after baking… and, when we ate them, we forgot about that lady screaming on me… nothing else mattered {*smile}


Tomei uma decisão… vou fazer um crachá a dizer "Eu não sou Portuguesa e eu misturo Desculpa e Desculpe" apenas para evitar confusões…
Eu sei que pode soar estranho, mas existem algumas palavras em Português que eu não consigo distinguir… como Desculpa e Desculpe, ou Avô e Avó…
No outro dia, eu fiz algo errado e, quando a 'vítima' me chamou a atenção, eu disse "Desculpa"… e issso causou um ataque de histeria… e no final disse… "mas eu não sou Portuguesa... peço imensa desculpa".

Bem… para esquecer o incidente, quando cheguei em casa com a Hana, começamos a fazer estes fantásticos biscotti, cuja receita a Diana me enviou há algum tempo atrás… e nós quase comemos a massa crua… era tão boa! Mas tenho de admitir, os biscotti ficaram ainda melhor depois de cozer… E, quando os comemos, esquecemos a senhora a gritar comigo… nada mais importava {*smile}

Banana, Chocolate and Ginger Bread

I have to admit... my ignorance about certain subjects is so big that, when I have to face it, I feel sorry for not knowing anything about that exact subject. But life is like that... learn with our own mistakes.
I will give you an example:
Some time ago I noticed the candied ginger in my organic supermarket and, curious as I am, I bought some to try. I went out of the shop and felt an instantaneous need for something sweet. I looked at the bag and the only thing I thought that was sweet was ginger (ignorant me). So, I took one, had a bite... and felt my mouth on fire, in desperate need for water. It was such a scene...

So... this candied ginger was resting in my kitchen storage for SOME time until the other day in A homemade life, I found a recipe that took my attention: Banana, chocolate and ginger cake. So, I gave it a try, being prepared for surprises this time.
I didn’t let anybody at home try it before me. I wanted to check if everything was OK with the cake... and I was positively surprised. I think ginger lost its 'hotness' and cake was moist with full chocolate & ginger flavour.

Tenho de admitir... a minha ignorância sobre certos assuntos é tão grande que, quando me apercebo, sinto pena de não saber nada sobre o assunto em questão. Mas a vida é assim... aprende-se com os nossos próprios erros.
Vou dar-vos um exemplo:
Há algum tempo reparei no gengibre cristalizado no meu supermercado biológico e, curiosa como sou, comprei algum para experimentar. Saí da loja e senti uma necessidade instantânea por algo doce. Olhei para o saco e a única coisa que pensei que fosse doce foi o gengibre (ignorante). Então, tirei um, mordi... e senti a minha boca a arder, a precisar desesperadamente de água. Deve ter sido um espectáculo...

Portanto... este gengibre cristalizado ficou a descansar por ALGUM tempo no meu despenseiro até que, no outro dia, no A homemade life, encontrei uma receita que me chamou a atenção: bolo de banana, chocolate e gengibre. Decidi experimentar, desta vez estando preparada para supresas.
Não deixei ninguém experimentar lá em casa antes de mim. Queria cerificar-me de que estava tudo bem com o bolo... e fiquei positivamente surpreendida. Acho que o gengibre perdeu o seu ‘calor’ e o bolo ficou húmido e cheio de sabor a chocolate & gengibre.