This is a great sandwich for a light supper. The olive cheese is very flavorful and it balances out with all the vegetables in the sandwich to give it a little punch… and also make it more filling.  I used crab meat, but you can make with sliced chicken or turkey ham.  Lets face it, sandwiches are dull, so if I want to get away with making a sandwich to serve my husband for dinner, I have to try to make it with as many ingredients as I can. Even use seasonings in it.  After a long day you don’t want to sit in front of two pieces of bland bread with ham and mayo, do you? A nice tomato soup would be a great accompaniment for this sandwich.

Pita Bread Sandwich with Olive-Cheese

Serves: 2
A Foodies’ Original Recipe

Ingredients:

2 pita breads
½ cup cream cheese
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
Chives, finely chopped (about 2 tablespoons)
10 green olives, chopped
6 Romaine lettuce leaves
1 Tomato, sliced
A few slices of cucumber
Chicken or crab slices
Dried basil leaves and pepper, as seasoning.

Procedure:

1. Slice open the pita bread.
2. In a small bowl, mix the cream cheese, mayonnaise, chives, olives, salt and pepper. (use salt sapringly, remember the olives are salty)
3. Spread this mixture inside both pita bread halves.
4. Arrange lettuce leaves, chicken or crab meat slices, tomato, cucumber.
5. Sprinkle with pepper and basil

Enjoy.

My parents traveled quite much while I was growing up, and during the last 10 years, they both had the pleasure to visit Brazil. One thing that they always brought back with them was an instant mix to bake Pão de Queijo. This is a very chewy cheesy bread, that we all love. Last year, I went to São Paulo for a few days to work, and the supermarket that I went to on my only day to walk around the city, had sold out! I’ve been looking for a recipe to prepare it… I finally found one!

Pão de Queijo (Brazilian Cheese Bread)
From Simply Recipes
Yield: 24 mini muffins

Ingredients:
1/3 cup olive oil
2/3 cup milk
1 1/2 cups tapioca flour, (yuca flour)
1/2 cup Queso Fresco, grated
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease a mini-muffin tin.
2. Put all of the ingredients into a blender (or food processor) and pulse until smooth. You may need to use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the blender so that everything gets blended well. At this point you can store the batter in the refrigerator for up to a week.
3. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until all puffy and just lightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool on a rack for a few minutes.
4. Eat while warm or save to reheat later.

Notes: I’ve tested the recipe several times, and I’ve found that tastes great with Queso Fresco. You can substitute the 1/2 cup of Queso Fresco for 1/4 cup of Parmesan Cheese and 1/4 Mozarella Cheese, either way you get a great Pão de Queijo at the end!

Edith shared this recipe with me, and be both decided to try it. She used the bread flour that the recipe calls for and I used all-purpose flour. The results were not that different.  She had a more compact solid bread, and mine was a bit crumbly and seemed to be a bit spongier.  The consistency of this bread is not as we expected it to be, like bread.  It doesn’t have the consistency of cake either, but it was delicious. You can add walnuts, or almonds to it if you want. The first picture is my rendition of the bread, made with all-purpose flour and the second one is Edith’s version with bread flour.

Chocolate Bread
Recipe from David Lebovitz
One 9-inch (23 cm) loaf

Ingredients:

3/4 cup (180 ml) whole or low-fat milk, heated until just tepid
1 envelope active dry yeast (1/4 ounce, or 2 1/4 teaspoons)
6 tablespoons (75 g) sugar
4 tablespoons (55 g) butter, salted or unsalted
3 ounces (85 g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoon instant coffee or espresso powder (optional)
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 cups (280 g) bread flour
1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

3/4 cup (3 1/2 ounces, 90 g) chocolate chips or coarsely chopped bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup (70 g) toasted pecans, walnuts, almonds, or hazelnuts, coarsely chopped (optional)

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the milk. Add one tablespoon (11 g) sugar, then set aside in a warm place for 10 to 15 minutes, until bubbles form on the surface.
2. While the yeast is activating, in a small saucepan, melt the butter and 3 ounces (85 g) chocolate over a pan of barely simmering water. Stir occasionally, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove from heat.
3. Once the yeast mixture is frothy, mix in the remaining sugar, the instant coffee (if using), the egg, vanilla, and sea salt.
4. Stir in half the flour and cocoa powder, then the melted butter and chocolate, then the remaining flour mixture, stirring until well-incorporated. If using a stand mixer, attach the dough hook and beat for five minutes, until smooth. If making by hand, mix vigorously with a flexible spatula for the same amount of time. The dough will seem quite moist, resembling sticky brownie batter when ready.
5. Cover the bowl and let rise in a warm place for 2 hours.
6. Butter a 9-inch (23 cm) loaf pan.
7. Stir in the chopped chocolate and nuts, if using. Then use a spatula to fold the dough over on itself in the bowl for about thirty seconds, then transfer it to the buttered pan, pressing a bit to spread it to the corners. Let rise in a warm place for one hour.
8. Ten minutes before you’re ready to bake the bread, preheat the oven to 350ºF (175ºC.)
9. Bake the bread for 35 to 40 minutes, until it feels done and sounds hollow when you tap it. You can stick an instant-read thermometer in the bottom if you’re unsure; the bread is done when the temperature reads 180ºF (82Cº).

Moonstruck (Cher and Nicolas Cage) is one of the movies my mom and I used to watch together, if it was on TV, we had to watch it because it was one of our favorite films.
It’s a story about love, and family bonds. But what I also find so endearing about the movie aside from the storyline and characters are the scenes in which the family sits together to discuss anything and everything around the dinner table sharing food and drink.
In the movie there is a scene with Cher and Olympia Dukakis, she is standing by the stove with a cast iron skillet and is preparing two pieces of bread with the centers removed and an egg frying inside, with a side of roasted red peppers.
So, as a tribute I give you my version of these eggs.

Moonstruck Eggs

Serves 1

Ingredients:

1 slice of whole wheat bread, the middle cut off with a cookie cutter
1 tablespoon butter
1 egg
Tomato sauce
Green onion, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Once the skillet is hot turn down the heat to medium, add the butter. Once the butter has started to bubble add the slice of bread.
2. Let it brown for about 3 min. Turn it over and then crack the egg inside the bread’s hole, season with salt and pepper.
3. Let is cook for about 3 minutes, and then carefully flip it over.
4. Let it cook 2 minutes more, and serve.

I like to add some homemade tomato sauce and finely chopped green onion on top.