Azoresgal~Life on an Island

Yesterday,I had my wonderful girlfriends over for lunch. I am blessed to know these fantastic women. I love our lunches, they start early, and almost always run late into the evening. There is always incredible food, chilled Rosé, lots of conversation, some tears, and plenty of laughter. It is a great pleasure to cook for them. I found this recipe a couple of weeks ago, and knew as soon as I saw it, I wanted to make it for our the next time we had lunch together. It is divine, creamy, rich, delicious !




INGREDIENTS:
FOR THE CRUST
16 Oreo cookies
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

FOR THE FILLING
1 cup heavy cream
8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup creamy-style peanut butter
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Place the Oreo cookies into the bowl of a food processor and pulse into fine crumbs. In a small bowl, combine cookie crumbs and melted butter and stir.
2. Evenly divide the crumbs between your individual serving dishes/p…

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 vinaigrette, arugula, green onio…

If it's wrong to eat Clam fritters cold out of the fridge, for breakfast, than I don't want to be right ! I made these wonderful, crispy , fluffy, fritters yesterday, in the afternoon. Oh my goodness why have I not made these before ? They are lovely with a little lemon juice, and served with a salad. Hope you give them a try !









1 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1⁄3 cup clam juice (reserved from clams)(or water)
1⁄4 cup milk
1 tbsp. melted butter
Pinch cayenne
2 tbsp. finely chopped fresh parsley
2 1//2 cups clams, coarsely chopped (canned,or fresh, or frozen)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Vegetable oil


1. Sift together flour, baking soda, and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Whisk in eggs, lemon juice, clam juice, milk, butter, and cayenne, whisking until batter is smooth. Add parsley and clams, then season with salt and pepper. Mix well.
2. Add vegetable oil to a heavy skillet, to a depth of 1⁄8", and heat over medium he…

DELICIOUS! Sweet, tangy and crisp. A very satisfying salad. So very easy to make, and oh so versatile. Everytime I make this salad, someone always asks for the recipe. It is fantastic for BBQ's and picnics, there is no mayo involved, so no worries about spoilage. You can add in any other veggies and nuts you like. Carrots, snow peas, almonds. Want to make it a complete meal, add in grilled chicken breast, or shrimp. You cannot mess this up. Win, win everytime ! I will be honest I almost always double the dressing, but have left it as a single dose. So as not to scare anyone, adding more dressing will be up to you !











1 small head cabbage or 1 (16 ounce) bags coleslaw mix
3 green onions, sliced diagonally
2 (3 ounce) packages ramen noodles, with seasoning packet
1 small red pepper finely diced

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons white vinegar
1 packet seasoning mix




Thinly slice the cabbage, add into a large bowl.
Next add in the sliced green onions, and the finely dice…

Why is it the best salad ?? Because it all came from our garden ! Directly from the soil, to our table, I cannot not tell you how excited I get about this ! It is so wonderful to go out there, and see everything growing, this year we even have Arugula ! Mr.G takes such great care of our garden, and it shows ! It truly is a labor of love, and then to be able to make a fresh, organic green salad from it all, is just amazing.

This one is incredibly easy, there's no reason not to make it ! Puff pastry, ham, and cheese...see...EASY ! These are so yummy. Promise. Now go and make them !







puff pastry sheet
 thinly sliced ham
 grated  Cheddar Cheese
one egg yolk plus a little water for egg wash combine the two and whisk together

*** you really can fill these with any combination of cheese and deli meats & add anything else you like


Pre heat your oven 220/425

Roll out your puff pastry and put a layer of the  ham followed by the grated cheddar cheese on top.

Now roll it up like you would a carpet and cut into pieces, large or small. Place on a baking tray, lined with parchment paper, then brush with the egg wash.

Bake  until golden brown, (about 20 mins.) take out and cool on a rack. That's it !

A mother holds her children’s hands for a while, but their hearts forever...






xo, Diana