Yogurt cake (gâteau au yaourt)

I recently started reading the book: "Bringing up Bébé" by Pamela Druckerman. In Portuguese it is called "Crianças Francesas Não Fazem Manha".   Aaron heard about it on an NPR radio show and my mom heard it discussed all over the Brazilian news (it is very popular in Brazil right now).   I decided to buy it and it is sooo good.    The author is trying to figure it out the secrets of French child rearing since the French kids are so well behaved, sleep through the night, and eat gourmet food :).  What a dream!    Aaron has been taking french classes in the community college and also he has been cooking a lot of French food lately, we are definitely embracing French culture a lot.

In the book, the author describes how French children have a tradition of baking cakes with their mommies on Saturdays.  The first cake they learn is called "Yogurt cake" or "gâteau au yaourt". It is a fun cake for children because they get to use the empty yogurt containers as measuring cups.  French parents appreciate it because it teaches children to be independently follow a set of instructions.  We decided to try it out this past Saturday and have our son Sam bake his first cake at 3 years old!  He was even excited to clean up after himself.



The igredients



"Mão na Massa"

Sam is so proud

Voilà

The kids loved the cake

Recipe from the book:

 

 Igredients:

  2 (6oz) containers of plain yogurt (keep containers for measuring the other ingredients)

  2 eggs

  2 containers sugar

  1 tsp vanilla

  Just under 1 container of vegetable oil

  4 containers flour

  1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Preheat oven to 375F

Use vegetable oil grease a 9-inch round cake cake pan or loaf pan

Gently combine the yogurt, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and oil.  In a separate bowl, mix the flour and baking powder.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients; mix gently until igredients are just combine (dont' overmix).  Bake for 35 minutes, then five minutes more if cake doesn't pass the knife test.

Enjoy!

Galette Bretonne Crepe Recipe (Breton style buckwheat crepes)

When we were in Quebec in the summer of 2011, Aaron and I had these amazing crepes in the main Montreal market, Marche Jean-Talon.  It is called Galette Bretonne, from Brittany, France.   We purchased them from this little cozy place and we found a table outside.  Of course, since Aaron is a chef by heart, he had to replicate the crepe on an ordinary day in February of 2013.

Sam likes to help papai shredding the cheese



He does such a good job!



Galette Bretonne Crepe

We also had a sweet crepe for desert made with nutella and bananas, which we were too busy eating and not photographing! Aaron did such a good job!

Galette Bretonne (Breton style buckwheat crepes)

These are the salty and savory crepes from Brittany that we had in Marche Jean-Talon in Montréal, Quebec.

Ingredients

For crepes:

2 eggs beaten

1/3 cup water

2/3 cup buckwheat flour

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 quarter teaspoon salt

2 tablespoon melted butter

For filling:

Good quality organic egg, Poached, (one for each galette)

Sautéed spinach

Emmentaler, Swiss or other similar cheese (shredded)

Thin slices of Jambon de Bayonne (or any Spanish or Italian style dry ham)

 How to make

Gently mix all the crepe ingredients to make a thin batter.  You can make this up to a day ahead of time and keep in a sealed container in the fridge.

Premeasure the amount of batter than will thinly coat the size of pan you are using.  A fairly large frying pan should work well, as these tend to be large crepes.  Heat the pan and some oil until it is moderately hot.  Pour in batter and swirl pan to evenly coat in a thin layer.  When one side becomes firm and starts to brown in spots flip over using your hand (be careful as they are delicate, a rubber spatula will help).  Remove from pan when other side cooks.  Repeat until out of batter, recipe should yield 4 large crepes. 

To fill the crepe, add shredded cheese, spinach and ham while it is still hot from the pan. Fold over edges to form a little purse and top off the open area with the poached egg.  Break yolk at table before eating, and enjoy.

Thanksgiving 2012



The family went to Columbia for Thanksgiving this year.  We got up early and got there for breakfast.  The boys were very excited for "Thanksgiving". Aaron's mom made an amazing Pecan cake/Christmas roll and a potato cheese casserole for breakfast.



Christmas Roll - Pecan cake made by Aaron's mom

Boy's place setting for breakfast

 The boys did a lot of crafting with aunt Meghan, they had such a good time.  It was a relaxing day  as it can be, and Aaron and I even grabbed a movie (Argo-Awesome!).  We also scored a deal on a vacuum cleaner on black Friday!



Final product!

Aaron's mom does a very good job setting up the table for thanksgiving, the table was beautiful:

Kid's place setting

Adult's place setting

The meal was delicious.  Sam did not try the turkey this year, maybe next year.  Noah really enjoyed the meal. We had turkey, lobster, stuffing, noodles, sweet potatoes, potato casserole, cranberries, and pies.

Happy Thanksgiving 2012!

Spaguetti Fridays

We started this new tradition on having spaghetti on Fridays.   Aaron is always cooking awesome dishes and one day I just requested spaghetti.  Of course, since he is a chef by heart, he made Spaghetti alla puttanesca. It is amazing and we are trying to have it on every Friday.

  Ingredients:    

·         1 package of spaghetti

·         1 tablespoon capers

·         1 can of anchovies

·         Garlic

·         1 Large can crushed Italian Tomatoes

 

      




Sauté garlic and anchovies in olive oil, add crushed tomatoes and simmer until broken down, add salt,pepper, red pepper flakes, and capers……put over the spaghetti and will be ready to serve.

        

We added salad and fresh bread:

Look who loves Spaghetti Fridays!

Noah -22 months