Back in the day, my colleagues and I would go out for a holiday dinner at one of our local Brazilian Churrasco . You know the ones, where you sit down and the servers come out with delicious swords of beef, chicken, and pork? Lord we loved that place, and we often referred to it as a ‘meat faucet’. With that said, the servers would bring out these awesome cheese rolls, rice, and beans. The bread, the bread is all I have to say. I could have been happy just with the bread! If you never had these tender cheese rolls, well now is your chance. The ingredients are way too simple, and the real trick is to use tapioca flour.
I wish I would have made a double batch of these Pao de Queijo as once my kids got a hold of them, well they were pretty much gone in minutes.
Brazilian Cheese Bread – Pao de Queijo
Let’s get started.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup Tapioca flour
1 whole egg, beaten
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup of grated cheddar cheese
cooking spray
muffin tin
grated parmesan cheese, optional
Trust me, it does not get any better than these cheese breads. If you want, you could brush a bit of garlic butter, a gentle brush and enhance them even more.
Start by preheating your oven to 360 degrees.
Next, spray the inside of your muffin tin with cooking spray.
Toss the ingredients inside of a mixing bowl, folding, and mixing until you have a nice batter. Keep stirring for about 5 minutes. If you have a mixer, with bread attachment, feel free to use it, on low-medium speed.
Once you have a nice batter, fill each muffin tin up to about half way, maybe 2-3 tablespoons of the batter.
Place the tray in the oven, and cook for about 20-25 minutes, or until the top is a nice light-golden brown. Carefully remove, and get ready to dig in.
Slip the Brazilian Cheese Bread out of the tins, place on a plate, grate with parmesan cheese (optional) and grab one really quickly, and watch them be gone in about 2 minutes.
Soft, warm, cheesey. Sounds like me in a couple of ways; at least the warm and cheesy part. Anyway, hunt for tapioca flour, and get this bread started. Next, figuring out where to find the meat sword!
I’m a big fan of the weekend. I’m most certainly everyone is as well. I mean what is not to love love about the weekend, whether it be a lazy Sunday morning, or the fact that you simply do not have to rush to get to work, only to repeat that routine Monday through Friday. Weekends are important to me just for the simple fact that we can unwind, figure things out on a slower pace, and cook great food.
This past weekend was no exception. As my kids slept in (that seems to be the thing with them now; literally sleeping in to around ten in the morning), I decided that I would make a great use of some leftover zucchini bread I had made. Granted, I pretty much know my kid’s breakfast routine, whether that is a few chocolate chip pancakes, or a spread of nutella on toast, to the classic box 1 or box 2 of random cereal, but when I’m home, I like to make them something warm, and on the stove. As my kids love French toast, I decided I would take a spin on the classic, and see how making zucchini bread French toast would turn out. It turned out awesome!
To a bowl, add the eggs, milk, cinnamon powder, and light brown sugar. Beat, and beat well.
On medium heat, add a large skillet, and add about one tablespoon of unsalted butter, and let it melt. Swirl it around.
Take a slice of zucchini bread, and be careful as the bread should be on the moist side, and dunk it into to the egg mixture, making sure to coat all sides.
Zucchini Bread French Toast
Cook for a few minutes, on each side, or until the egg mixture is cooked through. Remove, and repeat.
Serve immediately with syrup or powdered sugar.
My daughter, who loved the zucchini bread in the first place, loved this French toast. It was moist, had that great note of cinnamon, and was balanced with her powdered sugar and syrup. Yes, she uses both. My son on the other hand, and the one who was skeptical of the zucchini bread in the first place as he could see some grated ‘vegetable’, got into this thing and took it down!
If you are looking for something to do with your leftover zucchini bread, give this one a shot. It’s a great, moist, and delicious take on a breakfast classic. Hope you enjoy!
To a bowl, add the eggs, milk, cinnamon powder, and light brown sugar. Beat, and beat well.
On medium heat, add a large skillet, and add about one tablespoon of unsalted butter, and let it melt. Swirl it around.
Take a slice of zucchini bread, and be careful as the bread should be on the moist side, and dunk it into to the egg mixture, making sure to coat all sides.
Cook for a few minutes, on each side, or until the egg mixture is cooked through. Remove, and repeat.
I told you that currently my garden is just getting out of control. That’s a good thing, and as uneventful as my life has been, it is a real joy to head back and tend to it, and to pick a handful of vegetables on a daily basis. Besides the tomatoes and cucumbers, zucchini has been in abundance. I’ve given some away to family and neighbors, and I’ve made an interesting zucchini baba ghanoush, but there is more on my counter. My daughter is always itching to make something, and that’s when it came to me to have her make some zucchini bread, not only to keep her busy, but zucchini bread is delicious!
Zucchini Bread Recipe
To me, zucchini bread is a strong competitor to banana bread, and in all honesty, I may like it better.
Let’s get started.
Ingredients:
2 whole, medium sized zucchini, grated
3 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 whole eggs
2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup canola oil
Cheesecloth, or kitchen towel
You have options here if you want to add anything else into your batter. You can add nuts, dried fruits, or chocolate. I go plain so make sure I can please everyone at the table.
Start by grating your zucchini. You could throw them into a food processor if you want as well, but the grating works pretty good and keeps my kids busy.
Take the grated zucchini, and place all of it into a cheesecloth, or kitchen towel. Have you ever seen how much water gets extracted from zucchini? It’s crazy.
So once you have the zucchini wrapped up, give it a spin, and begin squeezing as hard as you can. Keep squeezing. Take a break, catch your breath, and squeeze some more. You want all of the liquid extracted. Discard the juice, and set the zucchini to the side.
How to make Zucchini Bread
Next, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter, or use cooking spray, and lube up your bread pan, and set it to the side.
Next, get two bowls out. One for dry ingredients, and one for wet ingredients. To one bowl, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg, salt, and cinnamon. To the other bowl, beat the eggs, then add in canola oil, vanilla extract, and plain and brown sugar. Mix to combine both, then pour in the dry into the wet, add the zucchini, and gently stir to make a batter.
Place the bread pan into the oven, and bake for about 45 minutes, or until when you insert a knife into the middle and it comes out clean. Once clean, remove from the oven, and let it cool to room temperature.
If you are wanting a bit of glaze, like I did, take a bit of powder sugar with a bit of brandy (hey, I’m from Wisconsin), and drizzle that over a slice.
Delicious? Yes, very delicious. Was my daughter happy? Heck yes. If you have an abundance of zucchini, give this one a try. It’s a real winner, and a great snack. Hope you enjoy!
You have options here if you want to add anything else into your batter. You can add nuts, dried fruits, or chocolate. I go plain so make sure I can please everyone at the table.
Start by grating your zucchini. You could throw them into a food processor if you want as well, but the grating works pretty good and keeps my kids busy.
Take the grated zucchini, and place all of it into a cheesecloth, or kitchen towel. Have you ever seen how much water gets extracted from zucchini? It’s crazy.
So once you have the zucchini wrapped up, give it a spin, and begin squeezing as hard as you can. Keep squeezing. Take a break, catch your breath, and squeeze some more. You want all of the liquid extracted. Discard the juice, and set the zucchini to the side.
Next, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter, or use cooking spray, and lube up your bread pan, and set it to the side.
Next, get two bowls out. One for dry ingredients, and one for wet ingredients. To one bowl, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg, salt, and cinnamon. To the other bowl, beat the eggs, then add in canola oil, vanilla extract, and plain and brown sugar. Mix to combine both, then pour in the dry into the wet, add the zucchini, and gently stir to make a batter.
Place the bread pan into the oven, and bake for about 45 minutes, or until when you insert a knife into the middle and it comes out clean. Once clean, remove from the oven, and let it cool to room temperature.
If you are wanting a bit of glaze, like I did, take a bit of powder sugar with a bit of brandy (hey, I’m from Wisconsin), and drizzle that over a slice.
I don’t know about you but our vegetable garden is off the charts right now. Tomato plants are taller than I am and blooming like you won’t believe. We’ve picked our share of beans, peas, broccoli, napa cabbage, and berries. It’s a real pleasure to head to the yard every day and harvest what we can, and then prepare a meal with fresh produce. To me, there is nothing more satisfying than that, and I wish I had more land to plant four times the amount that we already have. With that said, it’s tomato season and that means a few things, but one important one. That is it’s BLT season, and I love that season. The BLT screams summer time grub to me, and as I love the basic BLT, I also love changing it up a bit. This is where the ultimate BLT comes into play. This BLT has avocado, and a great garlic hummus that holds everything together.
The Ultimate BLT Sandwich
Let’s get started.
Ingredients:
2 slices of thick cut bread, lightly toasted
3 slices of Nueske’s (or your favorite) thick cut bacon, cooked
1 cup lettuce, chopped
1 whole avocado, mashed
1/2 cup hummus
4 slices of your favorite tomato
salt and pepper to taste
Super simple sandwich, and that’s what I love about this one, well, that and everything else that goes into it.
Start by smearing hummus on one piece of the lightly toasted bread. Smear the mashed avocado on the other slice of bread.
Top the hummus with the lettuce, then the bacon, then the tomato slices.
Bacon Lettuce Tomato Avocado and Hummus Sandwich
Top with the sliced bread with the avocado smear, smear down, and then give a gentle push on the sandwich, binding all of the ingredients.
Now dig in. Open wide on this one. That lightly toasted bread gives great texture to the sandwich. Your bites include everything you want in a sandwich. Light garlic flavor from the hummus, and the creaminess of the avocado pairs so well with the awesomeness of the smokey bacon. This is a true winner of a sandwich. Try adding the hummus and avocado smear to your next BLT, and make it the ultimate BLT sandwich. Hope you enjoy!
