Cochas - a yummy twist

I have not had time to bake or cook much since we got here with work and all, and I have been feeling the need to create so yesterday I woke up, sent S on an errand to buy breakfast, and ignored the kids while I whipped up a batch of Conchas.
For those of you that have never eaten or heard of Conchas, Conchas are a typical Mexican sweet bread that are covered with psychedelic neon sugar frosting either in pink, yellow, brown, or white. Typical flavorings include strawberry (strawberry flavored milk powder), pineapple, chocolate(powdered chocolate milk mix), vanilla. So I set out to make the bread and do at least the vanilla and chocolate, but I also wanted to experiment because I can never leave well enough alone.
I found this great recipe for Conchas on the site La Cocina De Lesley. I am reposting it here with my changes:

Ingredients:
Sponge 

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 packet instant or quick active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup very warm water

Dough 

• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1.5 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
• 3 cups flour

Topping

• 1 cup powdered sugar plus up to 1 cup extra for those pieces that are too sticky
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 tablespoon diced/pulverized cocoa from a log from Antigua(substitue cocoa powder if you have it)
• 1 tbsp fresh mint chopped finely
• 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
• rind from 1/2 a tangerine
• 1 tsp orange extract

Directions:

Mix all ingredients for the sponge in your mixing bowl, and let sit a min of 15 minute (if you are like me, you will forget about the sponge and it will sit for 45 minutes - it's OK!). Look for small bubbles to show that the yeast is working.  While the sponge is sitting and bubbling away, put the milk in the dough section in a pan with the butter. Warm up slightly until butter is mostly melted - do NOT boil. Then, remove it from the heat and add it to the proofed sponge(the already bubbled yeast mixture). In a small bowl, mix the egg, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. Add this to the sponge along with the flour.  Mix away.

 

I noticed that my mixture was too dry, so I added more milk which really helped. After the dough mixed for like 6 minutes, it became  nice ball that was elastic and not sticky so I took the dough hook out and let the dough sit in a corner and rise.

My helpers?

MEANWHILE.... make the topping. Add 1 cup powdered sugar and the flour and butter to a bowl. Use you potato masher or dough cutter to cut in the dough. Then add the vanilla and use your fingers to mix the mixture until it looks a little bit like wet sand.  At this point you ant to separate it into three pieces and add your flavorings. To one piece add the chocolate, mint leaves, and peppermint extract. To another piece, add the orange peel and orange extract - also to this one you can add food coloring if you wish. Work the ingredients in with your fingers - add more powdered sugar as necessary to keep the topping from being a sticky mess. Once everything is well mixed, put it in the fridge to chill.

The dough should be nice and doubled by now, but it could take up to 90 minutes to rise. Once the dough is risen, cut it in half, then cut each half into about 6 -7 pieces. Roll these into ball shapes and set on a greased baking sheet to rise again. I think I needed to let mine rise a bit more, but at this point the kids were going crazy with lack of supervision so I had them help and didn't get a full rise in.  

Preheat your oven to 350

Take your topping out of the fridge and cut it into either 4 or 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and flatten with your hand to the size of the top of the concha. Cover each dough ball with the topping and cut pretty design into the topping. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes until slightly browned.

Yes people, that is a knife and my kids like to eat flour.

These were very delicious, I would recommend eating them the day they were made, but you can always save them for another day. I like dunking them in my coffee.  

The Summer of Ice Cream!

Pure ingredients

It seems like in years past each summer has had a theme. Last summer was jams and jellies. This summer has been ice cream!  When I was little my Dad made homemade ice cream every once in a while.  I don’t know why he didn’t make it more often, but I do remember that we had an old White’s Mountain hand cranked ice cream maker. It was the kind you had to put rock salt and ice into.  Maybe we didn’t make it more often because my Mom didn’t like the egginess of homemade ice cream, or maybe because finding rock salt on the island was hard back then.  Who knows, but I do remember being sad when Hurricane Hugo destroyed it.

The secret to tropical ice cream!

A few years back, my Dad got a new Cuisinart ice cream maker that was electric and had a freezer bowl. It was genius! He started making ice cream again, and since he usually had an excuse to make it when we came for dinner, it became tradition for A to tell him what flavor to make. He started making Cinderella and Ariel ice cream….. what is that exactly? It’s vanilla ice cream or almond flavored ice cream that has been dyed the appropriate color to match the Princess in question’s dress. Hence blue ice cream for Cinderella and pink or red ice cream for Ariel.  My niece L also got into and started asking for Aurora ice cream, and then later Pocohantas ice cream. I am sure that is Disney got a hold of this site, they would make an even larger fortune!

Mixing

Anyway, I have an attachment for my Kitchen Aid stand mixer that promises to make ice cream. I tried it once and it worked marginally. This summer, I was determined to figure it out and make it work!  So, I experimented – a lot J

Tricks to using a KA ice cream attachment in the Caribbean:

1.     FREEZE your bowl for at LEAST 5 days.

2.     Chill in the freezer your cream for at least 2 hours before you mix it into your base

3.     After mixing your base, CHILL for 2 days in fridge or FREEZE for 8 hours.

4.     Start mixing as EARLY in the morning as possible(5 am is NOT too early in this case)

5.     Cover your KA with a fluffy bath towel while it is mixing.

6.     Once mixed and soft serve consistency, place into metal or ceramic bowl and put back into freezer at least overnight

7.     Eat with friends and family outside while admiring the lingering heat of the day

Basic ice cream recipe:

1C whole milk*

1C sugar

2C cream

4-6 egg yolks(large)

flavoring

*The more whole the milk you use, the creamier the ice cream

Scald milk and sugar in pan. Beat yolks in separate bowl. Add scalded milk to yolks once milk is slightly cooled. Mix continuasly so yolks don’t cook.  Return to stove top and stir until the mixture coats the back of your spoon. Once it is thick and coats spoon, mix into super chilled cream, add flavoring and chill in fridge or freezer.

Some notes: If you are using whole flavorings like mint leaves, cinnamon, rosemary, etc steep those in the scalded milk for at least 30 minutes then rewarm milk and add to yolks after removing flavoring(or not – your preference)

Some of our favorites this summer were:

Mango and Morita Chili

Rosemary, Blood Orange Olive Oil, and roasted Pepitas

Chocolate Decadence with Cocoa Nibs

French Vanilla

Mint Chocolate Chip with real mint leaves

Mamey, Cinnamon, and Piloncillo

Mango

Mamey

I have a few other flavors up my sleeve but will not tell you about them just yet!

We enjoyed this summer’s theme. Did your summer have a food theme?

Beautiful Food

Nopalitos

Yesterday, we had some friends over for brunch. Normally, this isn't that big a deal for us, some eggs, some bagels, some lox, coffee, mimosas, etc.  Well, yesterday was different. These friends that we had over were none other than my food idol - The Crucian Contessa (check out her blog, you will see what I mean) - and her equally well versed foodie  husband. After I invited them over, I started sweating bullets... What was I going to make? Would this ultimate paragon of food excellence like it? Would I "f" it up? AARGH!! WHAT had I done???!!!?? So, after I picked myself up off the floor and grew a backbone again, I started planning.....

Chiles Moritas

I decided to make a dish that I love, but is way labor intensive. A dish that I have only discovered in the last 12 years, a dish that would highlight our Mexican roots and the influences that Mexico and its many native cultures have played in influencing my food palate.  Now, living here has it's challenges when it comes to meal planning, but somehow, there must have been divine approval on my plans because I found EVERYTHING I needed at my first two stops - AMAZING!

The Menu:

Nopalitos

Huevos Motulenos

Roasted potatoes with onions, green, and red bell peppers

Bacon - more for the kids than anything

Mango Flan

Mamey

Mamey fruit in a market in Mexico

So, I KNOW the Potatoes and the Bacon are just not typical Mexican food, but my Irish husband could NOT fathom a brunch without potatoes. Also, C could eat a side of bacon by himself and knew it was in the fridge and had been hounding us for Bacon for DAYS!!!

Pinto Beans

Anyway, I started prepping on Saturday by chopping, making my salsa for the Huevos Motulenos, and made the Mango Flan.  My house smelled like Mexico, the aromas that surrounded the bubbling pots, the oven and just the kitchen in general were memory invoking. When I was roasting and parboiling tomatoes and garlic it felt like I was in Merida in theYucatan. The scent of the cooking Flan took me to Christmas at home with my parents and making Pine Nut Flan. The dried Morita chiles that were reconstituting on the counter top filled the kitchen with a deep smokey chile flavor that rested on your tongue and made your mouth water.

homemade tortillas
that A helped make

On Sunday, I got up and finished cooking the beans, making corn tortillas(with the skilled help of Ms. A), and chopping ham and cheese. Once it was all done and the platters were prepped, it was time to wait for our guests.  We played with the kids, watched the Olympics, and just enjoyed our morning - especially when A and C decided to play with his toys in the living room and ACTUALLY played NICELY!!!  So once the Contessa and her Count got to our home,  I started frying tortillas and plating and explaining flavors as best I could as the Contessa's attention was divided between myself and C who has decided that he wants to be the Contessa's child and not mine.

Nopales or cactus paddles

I am very proud of myself for making such a fabulous meal with 2 kids, I am proud of my hubby who followed directions and made the potatoes, and the eggs as I just can NOT make sunny side up eggs to save my life, and I am super proud of my children who not only sat nicely during the meal but also spoke well and articulately and entertained themselves for most of the brunch.  I am especially proud that my Mango Flan earned a "Vicious" from the Contessa :) I love her, she made my day.

Thank you Contessa and Count for coming over, allowing us to entertain you, cementing our friendship, sharing stories, and eating our food.  Also a BIG thank you for dealing with the constant interruptions from C and for being such a good sport at eating some wildly crazy food.

So, if you haven't had friends over yet this summer, do it. Brave the heat and spend the morning in the kitchen, whip up some good food and have some friends over for good times. It's what life is about.

Huevos Motulenos - yum!

Watermelon! (Foodie post)

photo from superstock.com

I love watermelon, but living here we just don't buy it very often. Why? Well, because usually it is tasteless and super expensive.  Usually it prices out between $1.19 - $1.69 a pound. I have a hard time justifying that expense when I know the end product isn't going to be any good.

photo from food.com

On Saturday, we happened to stop by the Farmer's Market in LaReine to look for Mamey(I'll tell you about that some other day), and one of my agriculture friends mentioned that there was a farmer with AMAZING watermelon.  Now, I don't know about you but when an Ag person tells me some fruit or veggie is amazing I take heed. So I sent A of to buy a small watermelon as usually we just end up throwing most of it away.  When A came back she was empty handed BUT she was followed by the farmer carrying a HUGE, HUMONGOUS watermelon. I wasn't too happy as I figure we got taken - after all , who sends an almost 9 year old buy melon on their own and expects to get a good deal? So we loaded that monster into the car and $15 poorer drove away to pick up our CSA. What was included in the CSA box last week from Sejah Farms? MORE watermelon. At this point I was starting to regret even buying the first melon.

Turns out it was a good thing we bought the first one. C devoured ALL of the melon we got from Sejah Farm while we were at the farm stand.  Once we got our sticky boy back home, I unloaded the beast and chopped him open. We used half to make Agua de Sandia - a refreshing water melon drink, ice pops(about 12) and ate some. The other half I chopped up into slice and chunks. By Sunday afternoon we had no more watermelon left! That was not only the BEST watermelon I have ever had, but the fastest to disappear in our house EVER! Viva local, fresh, organic watermelon!

photo from ourbestbites.com

Now to go early and grab an even bigger monster this week!

Attempting Unschooling.....

UnSchooling?!  WWHHAAT???  

I know, that was my first thought, when I heard about unschooling.  I will admit, I thought, “Oh those parents are too lazy to try to teach their children. They just let them sit around, watch TV, and do nothing." and "How are they ever going to be able to do anything with their lives?”  Yes, I was biased, and too immature of a homeschooling parent to even consider the benefits.

Let’s back up a second here.  

Homeschooling is teaching your child at home what they might learn while at a public or private school. IE: Reading, writing, math, science, social studies, etc.  It is taking their education in hand and teaching them yourself instead of having someone else do it.  It has its benefits and its drawbacks. It allows you as a parent to see exactly what your kid is learning and help them to learn in a way that works best for them.  That said, there is the potential to abuse homeschooling, and not teach your children what they need to know, or to do such a bad job at it, that they are way behind because you just didn’t care enough to do it right.  Of course, the flip side is that you are the most awesome teacher in the whole world and  your child turns out to be a genius and grows up to be a mad scientist who speaks 10 languages, reads, writes, and dreams in dead languages, and discovers that the origin of man was truly as it is written in the Bible because he got to interview God.  I like to think that I am an awesome teacher, but that my child is normal and that she will just be smart and happy enough to be comfortable in her own skin and will know how to help herself learn new material in order to be able to pursue her own dreams to the best of her ability.

Aislin has been prospering as a homeschooled student. Her reading and comprehension levels are WAY up, her math is up, her knowledge of science (chemistry and biology) are up, etc.  So why change a good thing?

Well, we decided a while ago, that if we ever got to opportunity to put Aislin in school again, we would make her the eldest in her class rather than the youngest, as she had been.  So, going with that thought we made the decision that since she has completed all the second grade work from last year, and is halfway through her third grade work, we would give workbooks, and 3^rd grade "lessons" a break and do real life experiences.  Some of the experiences she wants to learn from are pretty interesting, and all her own choices.  She wants to see how Jan Mitchell makes her glass plates, volunteer at the animal shelter, figure out how to classify corals, understand our local history and why chaney is what it is, "do" marine biology as it pertains to our marine environment, learn more about sushi and cooking in general, learn about rocks, crystals, and minerals, learn about farming, etc. 

I figure that unschooling is about letting kids learn about what interests them, and providing them with as many primary sources as possible to make that learning successful. So, with that in mind, I am going to set up interviews with key people, field trips, find books on those topics, and really get down and dirty with Aislin and what interests her.  Of course, since I am slightly A type, when I want to be, it will be planned, and it will be in an orderly manner.  She WILL keep reading and doing math; and she will learn about stuff that many kids her age do not get to explore in an in depth manner at such a young age.  Hopefully this will serve her well later in life, and give her some good memories of the fun side of learning.

I will have to keep you all posted as to how it goes, but if you are reading this, and you have any skills that can help us in any of her topics of interest, email me :).  If I know you have those skills, never fear, I will be calling you!  It could be as simple as lending us a book, or talking to Aislin after she reads some books on the topic, or hosting a field trip, or even putting her to work to give her hands on experiences.

Let the Unschooling begin!