Beef filled Crepes

I am so blessed to have a heritage that allows me, and my family, to enjoy a myriad of different dishes from different ethnic cuisines.

As you may know, I was born in Mozambique in the East coast of Africa.  When the independence happened in 1974, just a month after I was born, we temporarily moved to Rhodesia, now known as Zimbabwe, and then onto Portugal.  Mozambique was a Portuguese colony, so I am Portuguese but I also have Brazilian on my father's side, my great grandfather and grandmother and their ancestors, were all Brazilian.  Goodness!!!

From Portugal, to South Africa where I spent most of my childhood and then I married my American husband and have lived in the States for the past 22 years.

So as you see, I have a lot of influence of different cultures around me, which makes for a constant array of dishes from Portuguese, to Brazilian, South African and American.  Not to mention the Italian, Chinese and Mexican food which I love so much, so yes, a plethora of different food is at our disposal.

The recipe I bring you today is Brazilian.  Super easy to make and a dish I think your family will enjoy.

Beef filled Crepes

Ground beef
1 medium onion, diced
2 medium tomatoes, diced
2 tablespoons tomato puree
1 tablespoon Garlic paste
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Parsley
Media Crema

For the crepes:
2 eggs
1 cup of milk
4 tablespoons oil
1 and a half cups of flour
Salt to taste


Add a little drizzle of olive oil to a skillet.  Add in the garlic and onion and cook over medium heat until the onion is translucent.  Next, add in the ground beef and cook until brown.  Once the meat has released all it's liquid and starts to fry, add in your tomato, tomato puree and stir to combine.

Cook over medium heat for a few minutes, until tomato is tender.  You may need to add in a little water.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  I always add parsley, but if you don't like it you can omit it.

Next goes in a small can of Media Crema.   Mix well, and take off the heat.

For the crepes, you can use the recipe I'm giving you or your favorite crepe recipe.

Make the crepes, allowing 2 for each person.  As I make them, I set them on a plate and roll them up, to keep them warm.

When done, fill each crepe with a bit of the beef filling.

Put a little of the beef mixture on the bottom of a casserole dish.  Then as you fill the crepes, set them in the baking dish.  When done, take any leftover beef filling and spoon over the crepes.  Sprinkle on some shredded cheese and bake at 375 for 5 to 10 minutes until cheese is melted.

Serve immediately!!!

Caramelized Banana Upside Down Cake

Basically, I have a ton of bananas that I bought for baking.  Some of them are going to make some Banana Jam, and if you've never tried that you don't know what you're missing.  Go check out the recipe over here.

I didn't want to make banana bread, I think that's been done to death.  No offense to banana bread, but if there's one thing this quarantine time has taught me, is that everyone and their mother is currently eating and baking them, and I'm a bit sick of seeing it everywhere LOL

My 17 year old son loves caramelized bananas, and any kind of banana cake, so I figured a caramelized banana cake would be the way to go.

I used the recipe for my grandfather's simple vanilla cake, and just made a quick caramel to hold the bananas in place.....if that makes sense.

Let's just bake and I'll show you.

Caramelized Banana Upside Down Cake

Simple Vanilla Cake
Sliced bananas
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water


In a small saucepan, mix the water and the sugar until sugar is dissolved.  Turn the heat to low, and let the mixture turn into a syrup.  I don't stir it, I just let it sit until it starts turning a nice golden brown.  Don't turn the heat too high or it will crystallize.

Once done, pour into a spring form pan.  Mine was a 9 inch.  Take the sliced bananas and make a layer over the caramel.

Take the vanilla cake batter, and slowly pour over the bananas and caramel.  Bake at 350 for about 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Pull cake out of the oven, place over a cake plate and carefully invert.  Remove the side and bottom of pan.  If any bananas stick to the bottom, just scoop them out and pop them back on the cake.

That's it.  Simple, easy and soooo yummy.

Homemade Strawberry Shortcake

I was at the grocery store on Friday and the strawberries were pretty inexpensive, only $2.99 a punnet.  I grabbed two because not only do we love strawberries on their own, or sprinkled with some sugar and dipped in whipped cream, but strawberry shortcake is one of those simple desserts that is perfect for warm weather.

Usually I would buy the packs from the supermarket, you know the ones with the already made shortcake?  But here's the thing, homemade is always better and I find the ones from the store get a little rubbery and chewy over time.

So I went on a hunt for a simple recipe that would produce flaky yummy shortcake, and as always, Sally's Baking Addiction came through.  I can't stress enough how much her website has changed my baking life.  There is not one single recipe that I have tried that didn't turn out right.

Now, let's make some shortcake.  I am only sharing the shortcake part of the recipe because that is all that I used.  But if you're wanting to make the full recipe including preparing the strawberries and making your own whipping cream, please head on over and check out the full recipe on Sally's site.

Homemade Strawberry Shortcake

Adapted recipe from: Sally's Baking Addiction

3 cups (375g) all-purpose flour* (spoon and leveled)
1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons baking powder (yes, Tablespoons!)
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (180g) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
1 cup (240ml) cold buttermilk*
2 Tablespoons (30ml) heavy cream (or buttermilk)
coarse sugar, for sprinkling



Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C). Mix the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl or in a large food processor. Whisk or pulse until combined. Add the cubed butter and cut into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter or by pulsing several times in the processor. Pulse until coarse crumbs form. If you used a food processor, pour the mixture into a large bowl.

Pour buttermilk on top. Stir everything together until just about combined– do not overwork the dough. The dough will look like shreds and be very crumbly. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and gently mold it together in a ball using your hands. Gently flatten until it is evenly 1/2 inch thick. Cut into 3-inch circles. Re-roll any scraps until you have about 12 biscuits.

Arrange in a 10-inch cast iron skillet or close together on a lined baking sheet. (Make sure they’re touching.)

Brush the tops with 2 Tablespoons heavy cream (or buttermilk) and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake for 15 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown on top. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before assembling.


Slice the biscuits in half and layer with strawberries and whipped cream. Serve immediately.