Pao de Queijo (Brazilian Cheese Rolls) (Gluten-Free)

Prep time: Very easy

Source: Adapted from Our Best Bites

Two or three years ago, I made this recipe as the original instructions indicated—using cheddar and parmesan cheese. Neither Mahon nor I were especially blown away by them, and I never made it again. Last summer, we went for the first time to Tucano's, a local restaurant chain that serves Brazilian churrascuro (grilled meats & veggies) and fell in love with their pao de queijo. In trying to figure out why we'd loved the Tucano's rolls so much more than the ones I'd made a few years before, I did a bunch of research and found that most of the recipes online call for only parmesan, rather than parmesan and cheddar. Although I was skeptical that parmesan could be the cheese in the Tucano's rolls, which are very mild-tasting, we decided to give it a try and adapted the recipe from Our Best Bites to use only parmesan. To our surprise and TOTAL delight, we had hit on exactly the right cheese! Our rolls were even better than the ones at Tucano's, since we ate them straight out of the oven and they were incredibly fresh and light. I'm embarrassed to say that between the two of us, we downed the whole batch in one night!

1 large egg

1/2 c milk

1/4 c canola oil

1 cup tapioca flour (also called tapioca starch)—don't substitute this! Every recipe I read agreed that the tapioca flour is what makes these rolls unique and authentic.

1/2 t kosher salt

1/2 cup grated (fresh) parmesan cheese
Any other desired spices for topping

Preheat oven to 400. Grease two mini muffin tins and set aside. In a blender, add all ingredients except cheese and blend until smooth. Add cheese and pulse 2-3 times. Immediately pour into your prepared muffin tins. (We found that filling them 1/2-2/3 of the way worked the best, though the batter is thin and tends to pour faster than you expect!) You can top with a sprinkle of extra cheese, a bit of kosher salt, or any other herb or spice you'd like! (Rosemary is also DELICIOUS.)

Bake 15-20 minutes or until the rolls have puffed up (they will puff quite a bit!) and are just barely golden on top. Ours took exactly 15 minutes. According to the original recipe, the yield varies depending on how full you fill your muffin cups; we ended up with about 20.

Serve immediately. These made a great companion to a meal of Black Bean Soup (also a Brazilian recipe originally from OBB!).

Cream Cheese Won-Tons

Rating: 4 stars

Prep Time: Easy

The other night while making eggrolls, we had several pasta sheets left over after the eggroll filling was all gone. Rather than stick them back in the fridge, I decided on the spur of the moment to imitate an appetizer we had had at (where else) Panda Express once—cream cheese won-tons. They were very easy, and the cream cheese went surprisingly well with the fried wrapper. We dipped them in soy sauce and the zing of the sauce was a great complement to the mildness of the cream cheese.

Eggroll wrappers cut in fourths (or won-ton wrappers)

Cream cheese

Canola/veggie oil for frying

Scoop a small dollop of cream cheese into the center of each won-ton square. Wet fingertip with water and dab on opposite corners of square. Bring opposite corners together and push to seal. Do the same thing with remaining corners. (Essentially, you're trying to draw all four corners into the center and seal the sides. You'll end up with a neat-looking little package.) Alternatively, if you're using won-ton wrappers, you can wrap them according to the directions on the package.

Fry in oil over medium heat, or when oil pops when water is dropped in, but isn't smoking much. Drain on paper towels. Serve with your choice of dipping sauce.

Lemon Cheese/Paneer/Queso Fresco

So this is my new thing: making cheese. Because I haven't yet invested in things like rennet and cultures, I've been limiting myself to a very simple "lemon cheese" (also called "paneer" in India and "queso fresco" in Mexico). You can also make it with vinegar, if you don't have lemon, though I haven't tried it yet. The cheese is VERY simple and incredibly delicious. Serve this next time you need appetizers for a party and I can assure you, you will wow everyone!

1 quart whole milk

1/4 cup lemon juice (I used the kind from a bottle)

Salt

(Any other desired herbs/spices)

Line a colander with cheesecloth OR loose (clean) cotton. I just used cotton—in fact, I recommend it for this cheese, since it has small curds. If you use cheesecloth, use 2 or 3 layers to make sure the curds don't slip through. If you want to save the whey from your cheese, set the colander inside a bowl so that the bowl will catch the whey when you strain the cheese. (Whey is apparently really healthy and can be used in baking. I don't honestly know much about it, except that every cheese recipe I've seen has talked about saving the whey!)

In double-boiler (if you don't have a double-boiler, find a metal or glass bowl big enough to sit on top of one of your existing saucepans and use that!) heat milk over medium heat, stirring frequently, just until milk begins to have frothy bubbles around the edges and in the middle (DO NOT let it boil). For those with a thermometer, this is really anywhere between 100-180 degrees. As soon as you start seeing these frothy bubbles, remove the top part of your double boiler (pot or bowl, as it may be) and set on a hot pad on the counter. Let it sit for 15 minutes; it will maintain a temperature of over 100 degrees this whole time. Once the 15 minutes is up, pour lemon juice into milk and stir it all up with a spoon. You will start to see the milk thicken and separate almost immediately. Stir for a few minutes until the milk is fully separated—you will see stringy white curds and watery yellow/green whey. Once milk is separated, pour into lined colander. (Because I use cotton and not cheesecloth, I let the cheese sit in the colander for 3-5 minutes so it's not still swimming in whey when I hang it.)

Once most of the whey is strained off, gently draw the corners of your cheesecloth/cotton into the center and tie them together with a string. Hang the string from something in your kitchen (I use a kitchen cabinet knob; I've also seen pictures of people using their sink faucet), with the whey bowl underneath to catch the drips. Let your cheese drain 30-60 minutes, depending on whether or not you want a creamier or a dryer texture. (Using my cotton, I let my cheese drain for 60 minutes and it is perfect—creamy and spreadable, but not quite as creamy as, say, cream cheese.) If you are going for crumbly queso fresco to use in Mexican recipes (it's great on top of refried beans!), let it hang 2 hours.

Once the cheese is done draining, gently untie your bundle and scrape the curds into a bowl. At this point, if you want savory/salty cheese, add salt to taste. (Err on the side of too little, as the salt flavor will get stronger as the crystals dissolve and the cheese cures.) You can also add in any other herbs/spices/flavorings that you'd like to at this point. Once everything is mixed in, take the back of a spoon and press the cheese gently into the bottom of the bowl so that it is one cohesive unit, rather than a lot of loose curds. Cover and refrigerate for at least a few hours; the cheese is best the next day, after its flavor has had a little time to mature, but about 3 days down the road it loses flavor. For queso fresco, don't press the curds into the bowl - just stir in the salt and let them remain loose and crumbly.

Enjoy! It's SO easy and SO delicious! I also think it tastes a little bit like chevre goat cheese, which I love.

Whole Wheat Crackers

Rating: 5 stars

Prep time: Easy

One of my favorite snacks of all time is saltine crackers with cheese and some fruit. I don't usually buy crackers, though—they're cheap, but even cheap things add up, and they're so not good for you! I never seem to be able to justify spending a few dollars on totally empty calories. However, I'm trying to work on having more quick snack-friendly foods in my house, and so I decided to take a shot at making my own crackers. There are tons of basic recipes floating around on the internet. This is the one I used—it's super easy and very customizable. You can add herbs for a savory snack, or honey or sugar for a sweeter cracker. I also want to try adding some parmesan cheese sometime. The options are endless! I put sesame seeds on top of mine, because I love sesame seed crackers, but next time I would add them in the beginning with the flour because they do have a tendency to fall off the dough! 

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups white unbleached* flour

3/4 t salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2/3-3/4 cup water

Salt for sprinkling

Other desired herbs or spices

Preheat oven to 350. In medium bowl, mix flours and salt. Mix in oil and water with wooden spoon. I found that after the oil and water were mostly integrated, it was easiest to use my hands to knead the rest of the dough together. Knead for a minute or two; dough should be supple but not sticky or wet to the touch.

Divide into 3 sections. On lightly floured surface, roll dough out as thinly as possible. Transfer to cookie sheet (it sounds difficult, but it was actually pretty easy to pick the dough up and slide it onto a sheet). Repeat with other two balls. If you don't have three cookie sheets, you can do them in batches in the oven. Using a fork, prick a few holes in each cracker.

Using pizza cutter or pastry roller, score or cut crackers (my original recipe said just to score them, but I honestly didn't think it made any difference whatsoever) into desired shapes. I just did squares and rectangles this time, but you could also use a cup to cut round crackers—next time I have to do a snack plate for a party, that's my plan! Sprinkle salt over dough. Bake for 10-15 minutes; when the outside edges of the dough start to turn golden, your crackers are done. The longer they bake, the drier they will be; we thought that the best time was when just the edges were golden, so the crackers in the center were still a little more moist (but crunchy). Let cool. If you scored before baking instead of cutting, break crackers along scored edges. Enjoy! They are delicious with cheese and like I said, this recipe is VERY customizable.

*This recipe is fine for bleached flour too. I always use unbleached because it's typically the same price, contains more of the wheat protein, and doesn't have as many harmful additives. 

Southwest Eggrolls

Rating: 5 stars
Prep Time: Medium


These Southwest Eggrolls are a lot like the ones you get from Chili's.

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1/2 large bell pepper, chopped

1 can (or equivalent) black beans

1 can (or equivalent) corn

2 large chicken breasts, boiled and cubed

2-3 generous handfuls fresh baby spinach (or 1 package frozen)

1 package won ton wrappers OR soft taco size flour tortillas (if you do tortillas, you will need toothpicks as well)

Spices (see below)

Vegetable oil for frying

In a large skillet (and I really do mean large!), sautee onions and peppers in butter until lightly browned and tender. Add beans, corn, chicken, and spinach. Season to tase—I use Emeril's seasoning blend, which according to this recipe has paprika, salt, garlic powder, black pepper, cayenne pepper, onion powder, oregano, and thyme. Cook on medium-high heat until all ingredients are hot and spinach (if fresh) is moist and wilted. Remove mix from heat. In skillet (I usually empty the filling into a bowl, rinse the skillet, and reuse it) heat vegetable oil with your stove set to just above medium heat. You want enough oil so that it will cover at least 1/2 of your wrapped eggrolls. (Oil will pop a lot when it is ready to use.) While oil is heating, fill won ton wrappers or tortillas with filling. Won ton package will tell you how to seal the wrappers; if you are filling tortillas instead, use toothpicks to keep them closed. Once oil is hot, place sealed eggrolls in skillet. Fry until lightly browned on each side; remove with tongs and let drain on a plate covered with a paper towel.

Serve hot. For a dip, mix equal parts Ranch dressing and salsa. Enjoy—these are seriously addicting!