Azoresgal~Life on an Island

Springtime is in full force here, and you can really see it in the vegetable garden. The spring onions and the rhubarb are growing tall, the new potatoes will be ready to harvest soon. The cabbages are looking lovely, and the pumpkins are already showing signs of a good crop to come in the autum. Snow peas are ready for picking, and so is the lettuce and the arugula. Amazing how the garden is all fresh and new again. We are already eating plenty of salad around here, because everything tends to grow at the same time. Now the wonderful Mr.G, bless his heart, will eat his salad, with just olive oil and vinegar if need be. Uhhmm, me not so much, I need a dressing, drizzled all over my rabbit food  salad. Enter this quick, and delicous sweet balsamic vinaigrette, it is better than anything you can buy pre-bottled. It is tangy and sweet and will add extraordinary flavor to the simplest of salads. Trust me, you will want to eat salad for lunch and dinner, that can´t be a bad t...

 If you love  salty/sweet combinations – these cookies are for you ! The cookies are chewy with big chocolate chunks and  topped with a sprinkling of sea salt.  The combination of flavors are wonderful together!  If you are worried about the salt, you don´t have to add it, you will still have a great cookie! 3/4 cup white sugar 3/4 cup packed brown sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup butter 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 200 grams semisweet chocolate chopped// 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips coarse sea salt for sprinkling on top 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 2. In medium bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Stir with fork so all ingredients are mixed. 3. In large bowl, combine sugars, and butter. Mix until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth and fluffy. 4. Add 1 cup of dry ingredients at a t...

Made this for dinner tonight, it´s really, really good. This one is a keeper for a couple of reasons, it is easy to make, comes together quickly, and it’s delicious. The heat of the curry powder, and the delicate coconut milk, give this dish such wonderful flavor.  While it cooks, and simmers away, it smells heavenly. My family absolutely loved it, the kid's even asked for seconds! If this were just for hubby and I, I would have added some chopped cilantro, right at the very end, but because not all our kids like cilantro, I sprinkled it on our individual plates. I served it with basmati rice, but can just imagine how great jasmine rice would be perfect here too! 1 kilo boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into small pieces  salt and pepper to taste  4 tablespons vegetable oil (to begin) 2 tablespoons  yellow curry powder (use red for more heat) 1 small onion, thinly sliced or finely diced 2 cloves garlic, crushed 1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk ...

Bôla de Carnes, is a traditional Portuguese bread, it´s a savory quick bread, that has all sorts of cold meats, leftover meats, or deli meats added to it. I also like to add some cheese to it, just because it can´t hurt !  This is one of my favorite things to make to take on a picnic, or to serve at parties, but it´s also really handy, when you don't know what to make for dinner! This was the case for yesterday, the day got away, as sometimes it does, I knew I had leftovers for Mr.G, but wasn´t quite sure what to make for the kids, when I remembered this. There are many versions for this, and for the most part they are made while using "the force ", no recipe, just eyeballing it. When there is a recipe, the common measure used is a "chavena" known to you and I as a coffee cup/mug, and yes it is a legit form of measurement! You can make this in two different ways, the first is as a cake, with all the cold cuts chopped in, and poured into a tube pan. The second wa...

                                                                                           “A mother is a person who seeing there are only 4 pieces of pie for 5 people… announces she never did care for pie” -Tenneva Jordan.

If you live on love Pinterest like I do, I am sure you have seen these dainty little pastries on there. They really are visually stunning, but even better is they are delicious. A combination of sweet, flakey and crunchy.  The sweetness comes mostly from the apple, making them a nice light dessert.  We thought they were best eaten warm , out of the oven, although they were still lovely at room temperature. Don’t be scared to bake these, they are really easy to make, I promise, pinky swear . 1 sheet Puff Pastry, thawed ½ lemon lemon juice 3 red apples, cored and sliced very thin ( I used pink lady)  appricot/peach preserves ( I used fig) cinnamon powdered sugar Preheat oven to 375º// 190c Spray muffin 6 muffin tins with cooking spray. Fill a medium bowl with water and squeeze the juice of ½ lemon into the water. Cut the apples in half and core. Slice very thin with a mandolin or knife. Put into lemon water and microwave for 3 minutes until...

 This is such a great and easy way to make breakfast! I have been making these all week long, and it has been a great big hit, Mr.G has really enjoyed them. Truth be told, I have too, shocking I know, as there is no butter, cream or chocolate in the recipe! All kidding aside, breakfast is a very, very important start to your day, and hello can we talk about Chia seeds ??! So good for you ( google it ) and so amazing in this, they poof up in the milk, and make it nice and thick. I love that it's so quick to put together, the night before, pop them in the fridge and in the morning, you have no excuse not to have breakfast. I made some during the week with blueberries, but my favorite has been with sliced bananas , kinda sorta tastes like a bananas foster, well kinda sorta... wink...wink ! Go on give them a try, I promise you will like them ! Ingredients ⅔ cup oatmeal (150ml) 1 tbsp chia seeds 1 tbsp brown sugar/ maple syrup/ sweetner of choice 1 tsp cinnamon 3/4--...