This is what I call a nice "teaser" - another way for you guys to come back soon.

July 12, 2011 by Monica in Family Cookbook

I know, that posting has been sporadic as of late.

I got nobody to blame, but myself. Because my kitchen has been on fire. How on fire? Well I have 4 recipes that have been made, photographed and now they are sitting waiting for the post to go along with it.

Count this post as a teaser of what is to come in the next few days.

You are welcome.

We will start with my one of my favorite recipes from my mother. Her stove top meatloaf, yes you can make meatloaf on the stove - its easy, its fast and the end results the best meatloaf you have ever tasted.

Trust me on this.

Then this past weekend Tom and I were all set to have a Paella party. I been itching to make paella for a couple of months now, maybe because there is a brand new “paellera” pan sitting on my kitchen shouting “USE ME!”. And after much planning we finally decided this weekend was it… except, the weather gods had another thing planned and instead sent us 8 days of non-stop rain.

EIGHT DAYS!

Frittelle Di Semolino Dolce - Sweet Fried Semolina Snack

July 01, 2011 by Monica in Appletizers & Snacks, Desserts, Family, Family Cookbook, Sweets

Today, I started to clean my home office and came across a box and inside I stumbled unto my old recipe notebook that I started when I was twelve years old during one of my visits to my paternal grandparent’s home. When we moved to the states, my sister and I would travel during the summer months to visit them in Venezuela. And during one of those visits, I decided that I would start writing my Nonna’s recipes, so I could bring them back and make them.

As I opened the old falling apart yellow notebook, memories rushed back at me

Golden Carrot Cake with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

May 01, 2011 by Monica in Baking, Decorating, Desserts, Family Cookbook, Sweets

I really don’t know if this will count towards my Heavenly Cake bake-a-long. Mainly because I adapted so much of this recipe at the end, I feel like I actually ended up doing something totally different than the original.

Talk about inspiration.

The background of this cake is simple. One of my best friends birthday was coming up. Her boyfriend, who is an avid cook like me, sent me an email and asked me if I be willing to bake her the birthday cake. At the same time this was happening I was already thinking of offering my baking services to the cause. I love when the universe works all of these tweaks and everyone ends up getting what they what.

After a bit of investigating efforts of the boyfriend, we narrow it down to her favorite cake being carrot cake.

Which was perfect for me, since I had not baked the carrot cake when it was in rotation, so again win-win.