Chile con carne

Another great recipe tonight from Paloma de la Rica for cold winter days. Mind you the other day I was in Strasbough and froze to death. This recipe is awesome for winter days.

All you need is:

-400 grs of mince.
-1 red pepper.
-1 green pepper.
-3 cloves of garlic.
-1 onion.
-1 can of 800 grs of diced tomatoes.
-400 grs. of red beans.
-1 teaspoon of sugar.
-1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon.
-salt and black pepper.
-4 cayenne pepper.
-some oregano.
-some garlic powder.

-1/3 cup of espresso coffee.

-some corn (optional)

STEPS:

1. Dice up the red pepper, green pepper and the onion and the garlic, I do it all in the same pot (unlike this photo shows).
2. Throw it into the saucepan until it all becomes soft.
3. Add the meat and then you will have migas of meat.
4. In a deep pot, put the diced tomatoes and throw all the spices, sugar, pepper, cayenne pepper, oregano, garlic powder, etc...and add the beans. Add the expresso coffee cup! yes you read right, coffee is such a wonderful ingredient, it will make the chili taste amazing, but be very careful and do not add too much or it will overpower the whole thing.
5. Add the meat with the veggies and let it all simmer for at least 30 minutes. Season with salt, sugar, more oregano, etc.
6. Voila, done! a great dish, accompanied by rice. 

Great recipe. I made mine pretty spicy and loved it and my Bible study too. By the way...it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

American Meat Loaf

Yesterday it was election day in the US!

So whether you are feeling suicidal or elated by the results, try out this awesome american recipe and gather some loved ones around you to share dinner.
So my american friend Amy brought to our B. Study this awesome dish that I want to share. My kind of recipe, good, easy and fast. Loved it. I love americans and their creativity....like Starbucks and their amazing marketing, on the left.

Of course I needed to try it:



INGREDIENTS:
-500 grs. of hamburger meat.
-3 eggs
-200 mil of ketchup or 1/2 american cups.
-1/2 onion chopped.
-30 crackers.
-salt and lots of black pepper.
-garlic powder.

STEPS:

-Mix it all up.
-Set it on a loaf pan and spread ketchup on top of it all with a spoon, like with icing on a cake.
-Bake it in a loaf pan in 170 degrees for an hour.
This is such a gret recipe, perfect for when you dont have time to make works of art, but will make you look like you actually know how to cook.
Great to serve with salad and bread.



So friends, cheers to America, democracy, creativity, dreams and great great recipes that they make up!

Carrot Cake - Tarta de zanahorias

An awesome carrot cake that is so easy and so works!!!!!!!!

I've been meaning to post this one forever but never got to it, but thought, next time I do it, I will post it.

I did it for my birthday and brought it to work and also did another one for my Bible Study. EXITO ROTUNDO, as we, the spanish say.


INGREDIENTS:
-225 grs. of flour.
-2 teaspoons of baking powder.
-2 teaspoons of grounded cinammon.
-1/2 teaspoon of salt.
-250 mls of sunflower oil.
-200 grs. of sugar.
-3 eggs
-4 carrots.
-2 handful or 60 grs. of wallnuts.

And for the icing:
-125 grs of cream cheese.
-75 grs of butter.
-100 grs of sugar.
-1 teaspoon of vanilla essence.

STEPS:
1. Mix eggs and sugar with a hand mixer. Important, not by hand because you need to get a nice emulsion.

2. Now add the oil, little by little and mix with hand mixer. Do it carefully because it can split, like it happens with mayonnaise. I had to throw a whole mix away because of this.

3. Now in another bowl, place the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Mix them all together.

4. Now add the dry ingredients to the wet ones.

5. Now grate the carrots and add and stir, and the same with the walnuts.

6. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and then set it on the medium tray to 175 degrees. Leave it for about an hour in the oven until a toothpick comes out dry.
7. Leave the cake outside and let it cool off before adding the icing. 

8. For the icing, mix the cream cheese, butter and sugar. I cut the sugar of the original recipe in half because it was way too sweet for my taste, but the original recipe says you should do 250 grams. Way too sweet....perhaps for american taste. (YES THIS IS TOTALLY RIGHT!!! I followed the original recipe and it was a disaster with so much sugar)

9. You can also add another layer of frosting in the middle of the cake, to make it more glamourous. And of course, top it off with something fancy and fallish decoration.

I hope you enjoy it. 

Copyright: Paloma de la Rica, your recipes are just amazing from another world and they ALWAYS work...thank youuuuuu you make our lives better.