Gracias a Generacion El Colombiano!

inedible bandeja paisa!

This little dish is a bandeja paisa.  Bandeja paisa is the classic main dish from the coffee-growing region of Colombia, the historical Antioquia.  

It's a truly phenomenal amount of food:

steak

beans

rice

chorizo

fried plantain (patacon)

fried egg

chicharron (imagine a super-thick cut bacon, with the pork rind still attached, super pork!)

avocado

and an arepa (a thick corn patty that's somewhere between a thick tortilla and flat cornbread)

In short: an express ticket to a food coma.

We're so excited to be featured in today's style supplement of El Colombiano (a major newspaper in Colombia!), Generacion.  Muchas gracias y bienvenidos a todos!

My husband is originally from Medellin, Colombia, and we go to visit his family each year.  I became instagram friends with a Colombian foodie, Claudia Arias (foodies are the best people!), and the rest is history.

~Jessica

Click on the image to read the article. (It's in Spanish.)  The article is available digitally only to subscribers, unfortunately, so I can't link to a direct url.

Carrot cake oatmeal

Ever since I ran across the recipe for carrot cake oatmeal on Oh She Glows, I've been obsessed with making it!  As one of our instagram followers commented, "dessert disguised as breakfast" is always a win!

Here's my tweaked version of carrot cake oatmeal.  I always make enough for two servings, so I can share, or have a helping today and another tomorrow morning when the flavors completely meld and reach new heights of awesome.

Plus, this is a fantastic recipe if you have just had your wisdom teeth out, and need some really, really delicious mush to help get you through. Just thoroughly blend everything except the greek yogurt and maple syrup in a food processor or blender before cooking.

If you use gluten-free oats, this is a gluten-free recipe. The original recipe on Oh She Glows is a dairy-free vegan version.

Carrot cake oatmeal
makes 2 generous servings

1 cup shredded carrots (about 1-2 medium-sized carrots)
1/2 c rolled oats
4-5 pieces crystallized ginger, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
2 tbsp ground flax seed
1 cup milk (I like whole milk, you can sub in almond, soy, etc. to taste)

topping for each serving
4 oz plain Greek yogurt (I love Wallaby brand, and Fage 2% is a close second)
1-2 tbsp pure maple syrup

Directions
1. Mix together all of the ingredients, except for the toppings.  Microwave one portion at a time for about 1 min 30 seconds, stir, then another 1 min 30 seconds til fluffy and cooked through.  Or you can heat while stirring on the stovetop til you have a fluffy warm mixture.

2. Top each serving with the Greek yogurt and drizzle with the maple syrup.

3. Enjoy a surprisingly healthy dessert for breakfast!

Colombian buñuelos and miguelucho for Christmas!

In Colombia, it's traditional to have buñuelos, which are fried cheesy dough balls made from yuca and corn starch- not to be confused with cornballs, as made famous in Arrested Development ;).  These savory goodies are accompanied with something sweet on the side, either natilla or miguelucho, both variations on caramel with coconut.  Equally delicious, and totally different textures.  As a bonus, these goodies are also gluten-free.

Both sweets are best made with panela, which is unrefined cane sugar, which is just reduced cane juice that still has all the molasses intact and is a really rich caramel flavor.  I highly recommend it in place of white or even brown sugar- tasty stuff that you can easily find at your local Latin market or even the Hispanic foods section of your grocery store. It comes in fairly solid blocks- crush or chop it to make it easier to dissolve.

Miguelucho (thick caramel sauce with coconut chunks)

4.25 cups (1 liter) whole milk

juice from 1 citrus fruit (tangerine, clementine, or lime)

1/2 lb panela

1/2 small coconut, chopped into small pieces

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp cinnamon

pat of butter

Yield: about 60 tsp of finished sauce, enough for 60 buñuelos.

1. In a wide-diameter stock pot, heat the milk and citrus juice over medium heat.  Add the panela and make sure it's completely dissolved.  The panela and juice will gently curdle the milk, so it should look just a tiny bit chunky.

2. Stir in the vanilla, cinnamon, coconut chunks, and pat of butter.

3. Stir continuously (I recommend having some company for this part! Or at a minimum some fun holiday beverages and music to keep you entertained), keeping the mixture on a gentle boil/ simmer to reduce it.

4. Keep reducing the mixture until you have about 1/5- 1/4 of your original volume and it's quite thick and sticks together.  This step can easily take an hour.

5. Turn out the mixture onto a dinner plate to let it cool.  It should be about 1" thick on the plate and look pretty caramelized.

Buñuelos

2 boxes buñuelo mix (we usually use Goya brand)

2 lbs quesito or cuajada (if you can't find these traditional cheeses, queso fresco is a good substitute)

2 eggs, fork-beaten

1-2 cups milk (start with 1 cup, then add up to another to achieve a nice moist consistency)

4-6 cups vegetable oil, for frying

1. Mix the buñuelo mix together in a bowl.

2. Heat the oil in a deep saucepan over medium-low heat.

3. Make a miniature buñuelo as a tester- something about the size of a marble- and drop it into the oil.  The dough should be surrounded by tiny bubbles and float when the oil is the right temperature.

4. Make balls of dough that are about 1 1/2" diameter (ping pong ball size), and drop them into the oil and fry the buñuelos.  They spin themselves in the oil, which is fun to watch!  Remove when they're golden brown, and pat them dry with a paper towel.

5. Enjoy them warm with the miguelucho!