The smell of good things to do

It looks like there are a few changes coming up on the horizon and that feel sooo good!
I love starting the year with the idea that a new life is indeed something possible.
For now all i can say is that life keeps on going and things a really busy but I jut feel lucky!!

Just because I'm talking about good things I thought I would post something really nice and comforting...
I loooove these brigadeiros (brasilian chocolate fudges), they are a most definitely must have on any kid's party in Brasil - any of my nieces would probably make a naughty comment if they've attended a birthday party brigadeiroLESS. So simples to make and so delicious to have they take me straight back to my childhood and therefore,  back to my sweet sweet home...haven't had any of it for a while and these pics are from a day when I made some for a work colleague that was going on maternity leave.

BRIGADEIRO

1 can of condensed milk (Carnation milk but be careful, not the evaporated one, it has to be condensed)
1 to 1 and 1/2 tbsp of cocoa (it depends on how strong and dark you like your brigadeiro, you can use hot chocolate powder here as well instead of cocoa)
1tbsp of butter

just mix everything in a saucepan (not a very thin one or the bottom will burn) keep on stirring over medium heat until just before boiling point and you can see the bottom of the pain (like when making fudge)

you can also make it on the microwave, just mix everything in a tall microwavable glass dish and cook in medium power for about a minute...then for about another 3 to 5 minutes but stopping every now and then when the fudge rises, to mix it up again and it will go down.

NOW...you can just eat it with a spoon, which is what I used to do when I was a teenager and had a really bad craving for something sweet. OOORRR yo can leave it to cool and roll little balls then cover then with chocolate sprinkles... aren't them cute???

trying new things

I've known for a while that wholegrain (wholemeal and wholewheat) bread and pasta are meant to be a lot better for you than the normal processed white flour stuff  however to this date, I haven't yet found a good wholegrain pasta that I could actually say I liked and since I love pasta, that was a big issue for me.
A few weeks ago I found on the Tesco's website this brown rice penny from Dove Farm and thought that could be a good idea since I've used quite a few products from this brand and had good results so far.
EASIER SAD THAN DONE I did order the pasta at least 4 times and this weekend was the very first time they actually had it in stock, just as well as i was already thinking of ordering the stuff straight from the Dove Farm website.
My goal today was to make a nice ragu type of sauce to go with the brown rice pasta and I have to say, it came up a treat!

Sauce


250g mince beef (I usually buy mince with less than 12% fat and still drain it after browned but on this sauce I think the little fat makes a difference) - a good option here if you don't have the meat at home is to open some sausages skins and blend the meat on the food processor or use turkey meat which will make your meal even healthier!
1 stalk of celery - cut julienne
1 onion, medium oo large - cut into small cubes
2 carrots - cut julienne
1tbsp of ramp seed oil
1/2 a tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp tomato pure
2 slices of red jalapeño
3 cloves of garlic
3 orange bell peppers - cut into cubes
salt, pepper and oregano to taste

150g of brown rice pasta and Parmesan cheese to top it

pass the carrots and celery sticks as well as the jalapeños and garlic through the food processor and reserve -  I do that because I don't have a slow cooker, also it's a great trick when you just want to cook a quick meal - fry the onion on 1tbsp of oil until soft then add the carrot and celery mix and stir to combine, fry for about a minute then add the mince meat. Once the meat is brown add the bell pepper and fry for another minute before add the chopped tomatoes, mustard and tomato pure - I like to run a bit of water on the tin where the tomatoes came from and add to the sauce. Turn the heat down and leave it to seamer.
on the meantime bring a saucepan of water - with a spray of oil and a bit of salt - to boil and add the pasta, cook for 5 to 7 minutes (that was the instruction on the package but it cooks too much so next time I'll probably cook for 4 minutes then leave it to rest so it doesn't go too soft).
Add at least a ladle full of the pasta water to the sauce then drain the pasta and transfer it to the sauce pan where you a cooking the sauce and leave it there to cook for another minute. That will allow the pasta to really suck up the juices on the sauce
Serve it topped with coarsely shredded Parmesan cheese. And well, what can I say? ENJOY IT!!!

the gap

last July i went back home for holidays and when we came back things were mad. I was already thinking about finding a new job but that became a necessity since I was working very little and the pay, therefore, very little as well, really, not enough to pay the bills.
so back from the beautiful hilly Belo Horizonte I had to look for a job whilst trying to juggle the finances.
Mid October and I found something, not the job of my dreams, not with events as it was meant to be, not the best pay but enough and, most definitely, the worst hours but the company was good and my credit card statement was haunting me in my dreams.
All that to explain why is it that I haven't posted for months as the new job is really busy and is taking most of my time. For months I didn't even cook much, ended up putting on about 2 kilos because of take aways and late meals, it really isn't easy to find energy for good housekeeping after a 48 hours work week filled with late night finishing.
In came December and no matter what, Christmas will always be my favorite part of the year, so I've invited a friend, came up with the menu, done the shopping and made sure to have a lot of fun during my first proper time off since July.
One of my dearest friends is living in Dublin for a while, to study English and came over for her first trip to London and to spend Christmas and new year's with us, it was great. Lost of food and lots of drinks...certainly I've put on about 1kg during those 2 weeks but who doesn't?
I got a lot to catch up on here but I thought I'd start with a great find we've done on Christmas eve:

We had gin and we had tonic but during my very busy week I forgot to get us some lime so I've used the Clementine we had to come up with a new Christmas drink - December Gin and Tonic!!!

1 shot of gin - I love Gordon's but I'm sure the will be even better brands out there

1/2 a small Clementine cut into wedges

a few drops of Clementine juice

ice and tonic to top it up - i use slim line tonic just coz I'm a girl but be my guest and go wild!!!