Winter Break in Las Leñas, Argentina

My two boys and I just came back from our vacation in Las Leñas, Mendoza, Argentina. 

I filmed a little vlog while we were there, somewhere in between snowboarding lessons and snowball fights. I think that the structure of a "What I Ate Wednesday" brings the perfect excuse for vlogging. Plus I was staying at a hotel that had a great cuisine so I felt like I had to document it.

Helsinki Grill & Bar made our trip a lot more enjoyable. The food is really delicious there, and I fully recommend this place if you ever visit Las Leñas in Argentina. Just don't forget to order tiramisu for dessert! 

I hope you enjoy the video, and the view!

5 of my Argentinian Food Recipes

If you check out the Food section of this blog you will see that I'm a bit of a foodie, and enjoy food a lot! I have a few videos and blog posts on the subject, and today I'm talking about Argentine Empanadas, 

Dulce de Leche,

flan, 

and a special spinach tart that kids love.

I also talk about a mouth watering cheese platter that combines fruits, honey and different cheeses, that is a savior kind of a deal when it comes to having people over.

 In this video I explain how I feel about these foods over a delicious cup of coffee with milk ( cafe con leche) and cookies, of course. 

Have you ever tried Empanadas? What about Dulce de Leche? 

Benefits of Ginger Tea

Near the end of  my weekly vlog I lost my voice! I woke up Friday morning with "that" voice and continued with my day as usual. However, little did I know that the woman that sells my kids school uniforms would be the one who'd help me with the cure! She told me that ginger tea was considered a natural remedy to get your voice back. Did you know? I didn't!

So, off I went to get my ginger tea. 

As I type this post, I'm happy to report that my voice is almost fully here! So I guess it worked.  

That's the scoop for today's post. If you are curious about how "that" voice sounded (not good) it's all at the end of today's vlog... Have a great week!

Do you know of any teas that help with other ailments? 

Lemon Pound Cake Without Butter

A few weeks ago, my youngest boy invited friends over.  I wanted to bake something for them, so I browsed through my recipes.

I found an orange pound cake recipe, only to realize a few minutes later, that I only had one orange left in the fridge. Oh, well. After pondering between the possibility of either running to the greengrocer or using lemons, which I did have, and luckily lots of them, I decided to go for a lemon pound cake, using the same recipe.

The results were equally delicious and very, very lemony. It's clearly a lemon lover kind of pound cake. Me! Are you one of us?


For this very easy-to-make cake you will need:

8 cups or 120 ml Canola Oil 
1 cup or 200 grams Granulated Sugar
2 cups or 250 grams Self-Raising Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
3 Eggs
Zest and juice of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour loaf pan.

In a bowl combine sugar, oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, and eggs, one by one. To that, add sifted flour and baking powder. Mix/beat until smooth. Pour batter into loaf pan. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a knife  or a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let the cake cool and then turn out onto rack. Wait for the cake to cool completely, and then add glaze. 

*For the lemon glaze you will need: Read below why glaze is not in this photo.

2 cups confectioners' sugar
4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Stir sugar with lemon juice. Done!


*The original orange cake recipe called for more oranges to make a syrup so I used lemons instead. The result was not sweet enough. Although I loved it, the little ones did not! The cake part, they loved. The lemon syrup was the problem area with not enough sweetness for little people. :) So, I decided that next time I make this cake I will be adding lemon glaze on top, in place of lemon syrup. Much sweeter...

Has this happened to you? Have you ever started a recipe and found later on that you didn't have all the ingredients? What did you do?

P.S. The most delicious lemon brownies ever.

How To Make Carrot Cake

I made this cake for my birthday recently - that's how much I like this recipe -. However, you may already know, but something happened that day that prevented us from eating this absolutely delicious cake. Long story short, I can't wait to make it again soon.

I got this recipe from Belén Canalejo at Balamoda.net. She is a lovely, Spanish, fashion & lifestyle blogger and vlogger who has four children: three boys and a girl. If you are looking into brushing up on your Spanish skills, have a look at her YouTube channel. This is the video in which she explains how to make this exact, same cake. She is warm, real and fun. I'm pretty sure you'll like her too.  

For the cake, you will need:

Dry Ingredients

2 1/2 cups or 300 grams sifted flour
1/2 tsp  baking soda
pinch salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp powdered ginger
2 tsp powdered cinnamon
  

Wet Ingredients

1 1/4 cups or 250 grams granulated sugar
1 cup or 230 grams mild olive oil
4 medium eggs


Add these two after blending the dry with the wet

3 cups or 250 grams grated carrots
1 cup or 100 grams nuts


For the icing and filling, you will need:

18 ounces or 500 grams cream cheese
5 ounces or 150 grams unsalted butter
15 ounces or 450 grams icing (aka powdered or confectioner's) sugar 

Sift dry ingredients in one bowl. In a mixing bowl, mix the wet ingredients.  Fold dry ingredients into the wet and blend well. Fold in grated carrots and nuts.

Grease and flour a cake pan. Pour the batter in it and bake for between 30 and 47 minutes depending on your oven. Belén said 47 minutes but in my oven the cake only needed 25 minutes. So, check on the cake when you reach minute 25, just in case.

While the cake is in the oven, make the filling. Beat butter with powdered sugar and cream cheese. I would add 1 Tbsp of vanilla extract next time. Refrigerate it until needed.

Once the cake is done, let it cool completely. Then, carefully cut it into two layers. With a spatula, evenly spread about half of the filling, or the amount that you wish, on the bottom layer. Then, center second layer on top and spread the remainder of icing to cover top and sides of cake.

I sprinkled 2 bars of processed chocolate on top to decorate. You can grate chocolate too, if you prefer. 

Do you like carrot cakes? Have you ever baked one? How's your recipe different from mine? I'd really like to know (as usual).

Thank you for reading.



P.S. How to make a cheese plate + video  and Healthy (er) blueberry muffins recipe