Fried Dough ...

Also, known as Malassadas or Filhoses.

When I saw that Helen of Tartelette and Peabody of Culinary Concoctions were hosting the first ever Fried Dough Fest, I knew I had the perfect recipe! L.s' mothers Malasada. The first time I ever had one was not with L. but instead over in Honolulu at Leonards. I fell in love ... who could resist fried dough, stuffed with coconut cream! I love them so much that I eat them twice if not three times a day when I am over there; nothing like stuffing oneself before stuffing yourself into a swimsuit! Then I met L. and found out he was Portuguese and from San Miguel Island, where these morsels orginated - what a lucky girl was I, a hunky guy who's mother could make these for me or better yet teach me how to make them, then I could stuff myself silly full of fried dough!

They are really pretty simple to make. A easy yeast dough that you let rise for a couple hours, heat up some FAT and fry baby, fry, then dust them with a little sugar! Remember, not to think about your diet as you are inhaling them, because one is never enough!

If life gives you Lemons ...............

make pie! Jen, from The Canadian Baker, was our hostess this month and she challenged us with making a Lemon Meringue Pie. This was my first time making a Lemon Meringue Pie and I even got L. to help out - we actually had a lot of fun doing it together! We made it for a dinner party we had a couple weekends back and our guests loved it. We loved it so much we made, it again, the next day and then again the following weekend!

We did use our lemon of choice which is the beautiful Meyer. As well I do not own a pie pan so we used a tart pan. The pastry dough was light and flaky and the filling was a beautiful shade of yellow and had just enough pucker! Meringue well you just can not go wrong with any sort of meringue. The first two pies came from the same recipe and unfortunately, once you cut into the pie it was more like floating islands on lemon soup - great flavor though. The second time around, we cut the water down but it was still rather runny. The flavor was so fantastic that it really did not matter to us nor our guests!

Want a taste of the drool fest click the blue link!

Super Woman ....

Not sure who I think I am today ~ maybe all of your inspirations have done this to me! Baking Portuguese masa, French macarons (3 flavors), Hummus, making homemade yogurt (which is really easy & super tasty) and baking some Zucchini bread (old family recipe)...all in this 20 Sq. Ft. kitchen! As well as the usual living stuff: errands, house-work, laundry, my job, yard work, breathing ...... Stay tuned!

This Week .................

....... is all about creating a flavor explosion in your mouth from what we have on hand - I won't be able to get to the grocery for a few more days this week!