Azoresgal~Life on an Island

Panna cotta is Italian for “cooked cream.” It is exactly that, a cooked mixture of cream, sugar and gelatin and it's a very easy dessert to make. The flavors for panna cotta are endless, spices,tea even herbs can be steeped in the cream to infuse flavor. Panna cotta is velvety sweet, creamy, decadent  and is great on its own, but even better topped with fresh fruits or a sauce.  I hope you give it a try, it's perfect for any occasion, and your family and friends will love it! 4 cups (1-quart) heavy cream 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped* 2 1/4 teaspoons unflavored powdered gelatin 3 tablespoons water Strawberry Coulis for serving (recipe below) Instructions In a medium saucepan, combine the cream, sugar, vanilla bean and seeds. Bring the mixture just to a simmer over medium heat. (when it starts to steam) Simmer for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and steep for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small b...

"Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability." - Sam Keen  One of my favorite quotes, and perfect for the middle of August, when not a heck of alot is going on around here. Well not unless you count the swimming, the grilling, the entertaining or the drinking on the patio! This has been one of our favorite drinks this summer. I love a good gin & tonic, it is actually one of my favorite drinks. Now imagine adding summer ripe strawberries and fragrant mint. Trust me it is a winner, you will not regret making it. So go and grab the ingredients, and make yourself some Strawberry Mint Gin & Tonics. While your at it, clear your agenda for the afternoon....and just be lazy...go on..it's the respectable thing to do! 2- 3 large strawberries, stems removed and halved 1 tsp. sugar 4 small mint leaves 1 1/2 oz. gin 1 lime wedge 4 - 6 oz. tonic water Place strawberries, sugar, and mint in a mason jar or tall glass. Muddle to combine. Add gin and...

 It's that time of year again -- strawberry season ! Our strawberry patch is once again in full swing, every evening we bring in a basket or two. I am once again freezing what we don´t eat fresh, for jams and jellies. Yesterday however, the little voices inside my head, told me to make strawberry shortcake. I am so glad I listened to the voices ! These were amazing, sweet strawberries and cream sandwiched between melt-in-you-mouth shortcake biscuits.  So delicious, they taste like summer on a plate! Very easy to make, and that´s a good thing because they vanish quickly ! 2 cups flour 1 Tablespoon baking powder 1/2 tea salt 2 Tablespoon sugar 1/3 cup cold butter 3/4 cup milk whipped cream sliced strawberries with a bit of sugar ( to your taste ) Sift the dry ingredients together, and then cut in the butter until it looks like coarse crumbs.  Stir in milk lightly with a fork (or your mixer) until the dough pulls away from the bowl.  Flour yo...

 This is one of my favorite recipes, I have had for atleast 15 years. It is hand written on a tattered and yellowing page in my very old cookbook. I haven’t made it in such a long time and I’m wondering why since it’s SO good. It is a great coffee cake, very pretty and it tastes great too. For variety, you can use your choice of pie filling in place of cherry pie filling, strawberry or blueberry. The glaze is optional, but yummy, I did not add it today, as I was out of icing sugar. I hope you try it, you won't regret it. Enjoy your weekend ! 3/4 cup milk 1 tablespoon lemon juice 2 1/4 cups flour 3/4 cup white sugar 3/4 cup butter 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 egg 1 teaspoon almond extract 1 can (19 oz.) cherry pie filling 1/3 cup sliced almonds Glaze (optional) 1 cup powdered sugar 2 tablespoons milk 1/2 teaspoon almond essence Directions: Combine milk and lemon juice. Set aside. Combine flour and sugar in food pr...

So many lovely things growing in our vegetable garden. This year I am really excited about the arugula ! Seriously really...really excited ! I don´t know why we never grew it before, instead of buying it at the grocery store. The seeds are so very tiny, it is quite amazing to see them transform into leaves, so quickly.Just need to pick them everyday, while they are small, otherwise, the peppery flavor gets stronger.Our strawberries are coming in as well, not to many at a time, as they are all new plants this year. But I was over the moon to be able to put these two together, and make a wonderful litttle salad. handfull of strawberries, rinsed, hulled, and sliced 1 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 bunch arugula, washed, dried, and trimmed 1 green onion sliced handfull of walnut halves salt and pepper to taste In a small bowl, whisk together tablespoon balsamic vinegar with the olive oil and salt and pepper. To the strawberries, add vinaigr...

Gosh, maybe I am wanting fall to arrive, a cobbler and a crisp within days of each other !! Well I won't pull out the sweaters just yet, but it is my favorite season...just saying. In my freezer I had a bag of blueberries, and a bag of strawberries from last years crop. I decided to mix them together, for this berry crisp. I used the recipe for the Strawberry Crisp , from last year. I still used the 4 cups of strawberries, and just added the small bag of blueberries, not worrying about the extra fruit to much. xo, Diana

Please don't hate me,  we picked a ton of strawberries from our garden today, here is yet another strawberry recipe. Sorry ;) 15-20 strawberries, chilled 1 package mascarpone cheese 2 Tablespoon confectioners/icing sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract Wash and dry strawberries. Remove leaves and use a small knife to make an X-shaped cut across the bottom of each berry. Using your thumb carefully pull appart tips to create space for filling.  In a bowl, wisk together mascarpone cheese, sugar and vanilla until fully blended together. Scoop contents into a ziplock bag and snip off a small corner to make a disposable pastry bag. Gently squeeze the stuffing into each strawberry . If you wish top with a sprinkle of chocolate shavings, even just garnish with a sprinkle of cinnamon for color. These are addicting, please don't say I didn't warn you ;) Enjoy,xo Diana

Right now we have so many strawberries in the garden, that it's hard to come up with something to do with them everyday. Eating them chocolate covered , although delicious, cannot be done every day. Remember the movie Forest Gump, and the shrimp scene with Bubba : Bubba: Anyway, like I was sayin', shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, stir-fried , deep fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that's about it. Well , that´s how I feel about the strawberries, something has to be done with them, so yesterday, I made a Strawberry Crisp. It was sooooooooo good, and not fussy to make. Give it a try when you can. Strawberry Crisp ...