He also mentioned how for him it doesn’t matter if you pass the sugarcane through the Trapiche on the same day, in his experience the sweetness remains the same even if you process the caña the next day to make raspadura.

La Raspadura, our Panamanian Gold: hopefully you will fall in love with it as much as some of us have.

Quick Recipe!

I prefer my popcorn warm and if you do too have your caramel ready before you prepare the popcorn.   I must add: that this caramel is a bit wet so be prepared to get sticky sweet and salty fingers!

Ingredients:

4-5 Cups of Popped Popcorn
1/3 Cup of some tasty fat (coconut butter/oil, butter, margarine)
1/3 Cupf of Raspadura thick Syrup (how to make it click here) Dark Amber Maple Syrup or Coconut Agave Nectar works well too.
1/2 Cup of Toasted Cashews
1/4 Cup of Toasted Unsweetened Coconut Flakes
Salt to Taste

Directions:

1. Heat up the syrup in a pan and when it starts boiling turn off the heat and add the fat little by little.
2.  Stir continuously and add a generous pinch of salt.  If the caramel gets too cold, warm it up again in low heat.
3. Once it’s all mixed, add the coconut flakes and cashews.
4.  Stir up, and add in parts the caramel in a big glass bowl along with the popcorn. Make sure you do it in parts to choose the right amount of caramel you want in your popcorn.
5.  Add another pinch of salt to have a more dramatic sweet and salty taste.

NOTES:
1.  Serve immediately and watch out and don’t your tongue!
2.  Add Cayenne Pepper for a Sweet n’ Salty n’ Spicy Caramel PopCorn.

Oats Juice
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Chicha de Avena

Follow this recipe and others Wellness Weekend by Ricki Heller (click here)
This is a refreshing and healthy drink for hot summer days.  It’s  great for breakfast, or as a dessert depending on the spices and amount of sweetness you add to it.  When I was in high school I would always purchase either this chicha or an orange-raspadura juice (raspadura: raw cane sugar).   Chichas (natural juice + water + sugar) are always available around street food vendors and restaurants.  The empanada and hot dog cart vendors specially carry several chichas sold at 25 cents.

You can also use this drink to make cocktails and like I mentioned before, desserts.  (I plan to make an oats/peanut Cheesecake, let’s see how it goes!
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Esta bebida es refrescando y saludable, excelente para días calientes de verano.  Es buenísima para desayuno, o de postre, dependiendo de las especias y dulzura que le agregues.  Cuando yo estaba en el colegio siempre compraba esta chicha o la de naranja con raspadura.  Estas chichas están disponibles en los restaurantes y los carritos de comida.  Especialmente los carritos de perros calientes y de empanadas venden chichas a 25 centavos. 

Overnight soaked raw oats
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Hojuelas de avena remojadas de la noche a la mañana

Ingredients:
1 cup of oats
1 1/4 cup of water
1 3/4 cups of unsweetened almond milk
1/2 cup of Raspadura Syrup (I wrote on this Hibiscus Limeade Recipe, how to make Raspadura Syrup)
1/4 tsp of ground cinnamon and allspice

Directions:
– Soak oats in water overnight in an air tight container inside of the fridge
– Pour the milk, add soaked oats, spices and raspadura syrup in the blender. Blend for 1 minute or until the consistency you prefer.
– Keep refrigerated in a pitcher and serve cool.
– Sprinkle nutmeg and serve with a stick of cinnamon for a cute touch!

Overnight soaked oats
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Avena Cruda remojada

 Spices
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Especias

Ingredientes:
1 taza de hojuelas de avena
1 1/4 taza de agua
1 3/4 tazas de of unsweetened almond milk
1/2 taza de sirope de Raspadura (Aquí escribí como hacer el sirope de raspadura en esta receta de Chicha de Saril / Agua de Jamaica)
1/4 cucharadita de canela molida y pimienta de Jamaica

Instrucciones:
РRemojar las hojuelas de avena en agua, trasnochada en un envase tapado hasta en el refrigerador hasta la ma̱ana siguiente.
– Licue la leche, avena remojada, especias y el sirope de raspadura. Licue por un minuto o hasta que tenga la consistencia que prefiera. 
– Mantenga refrigerada en una jarra y sirva fría. 
– Polvoree nuez moscada y sirva la chicha de avena con una raja de canela para darle un toque diferente.

Blender with almond milk and oats
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Leche de almendras y hojuelas de avena en la licuadora

Spices, Raspadura and the blended oats
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Especias, Raspadura y la avena licuada

 Chicha de Avena!

 Served it in a cold glass and sprinkled nutmeg on top
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Servida en un vaso frío y con nuez moscada espolvoreada encima

Sundays gives me sweet and sour feelings, it makes me think a lot about the things I want to do that I didn’t get to do on Saturdays and at the same time I think to myself ‘heck tomorrow is Monday so I want to do nothing today’.  Today has felt different and I’m sure the fact that it isn’t freezing cold outside has a lot to do with it.  I played tennis and started the day with a fruity shake so I was hoping to not ruin the ‘healthy’ approach, yet I also enjoy my non-so-healthy meals on weekends.  I know it’s not good to reward yourself with food, but if you have met me for even a few hours in life, or read my tweets, or even looked at my instagram, by now you should know that I love food, and lots of it.

The other day on Twitter a friend shared her meal, and it had Kale Chips in it, she told me how easy in 9 minutes you can bake them, drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper.  I did the same thing, I used purple kale, removed the thick stems and broke the leaves with my fingers, drizzle the oil and 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, salt and fresh pepper and yes, it was that easy!

Before I placed the kale inside of the oven, while pre-heating at 375F, I got my Lemon/Limeade going on, then reserved in the fridge.   Sliced my Sweet potatoes in cubes and put inside a deep dish, covered in plastic and cooked in the microwave for 5 minutes.  Sliced the Onions and used some leftovers cooked mushrooms to add once the onions were sauteed in the pan.  The Kale inside of the oven now, while my other pan is hot enough to drop my burger patties, cooked them with 1/2 tablespoon of coconut oil.  Removed onions and mushrooms from the other pan, reserved in a plate and then added more coconut oil into the pan to sautee my now soft sweet potatoes. Removed burgers from the other pan and then toasted my bread with oil left in the pan.

This post isn’t about sharing a recipe since there was a lot going on and I didn’t actually take the time to write anything, I took pictures as the dishes were ready to eat, and since the boy was very hungry I only took a few shots!

Though this menu is completely vegan I have to share with all of you that I’m not a vegan anymore.  If anyone has a question please feel free to post under the comments, tweet, post on facebook, email, no faxes please! : )  just kidding.  Anyways I wanted to share this with you and if a recipe I post isn’t 100% vegan I’ll always try to share suggestions for substitutions.  I’m not sure I’ll be blogging more details on my change of diet, but for now I thank everyone who has supported me through this journey, I wouldn’t change it for a bit and my life is much better thanks to it.

Now I need to finish some of the fruit leftover and I’m already planning dinner, because it is a Sunday after all!

Peace.

Oven Baked – Kale Chips

Sweet Potato Home Fries

Crispy Veg Burger w/ Sauteed Mushrooms & Onions

Fresh Mango & Papaya Chunks

Cuando compres Plátanos maduros debes asegurarte que tienen algunas pintadas negras en la cáscara y que no tengan rasgos de verde, al menos que planees utilizarlos después), también revisa que no estén demasiado suaves, aunque un poquito suave está bien para esta receta.

Casi todos los días mi mami cocina plátanos maduros, los hierve, hornea, fríe o los hace en tentación, incluso recuerdas la receta del ¿Piñón? (haz click aquí). Así que los plátanos son parte de mi menú semanal, sí claro que tienen azúcar, sin embargo son bajos en sodio y altos en vitamina A, potasio y fibra!

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When you buy Sweet “yellow plantains” you want to make sure they have black spots they don’t have any green around (unless you are not intending to use them right away), make sure they are not too soft but a little soft it’s ok for this recipe.

Almost everyday my mom cooks them either boiled, steamed, baked, fried or in temptation, or remember the Piñón Recipe? (click here) So plantains are part of my weekly menu, yes they have sugar but they are very low in sodium are high on Vitamin A, Potassium and fiber!

Los días que ando de apuro le abro con un cuchillo de un extremo al otro que no se pase de la mitad y lo pongo en alto en el microondas de 2 – 3 minutos, le puedes mojar un poquito si no deseas que se te seque el plátano.  Créanme este paso agiliza tanto el proceso para esos días de cenar algo luego del trabajo, y también evita el exceso de uso de mantequilla y azúcar.

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The days I’m in a hurry I open the plantain with a knife from one side to the other making sure it won’t go more than the half inside the plantain, place it in the microwave for 2-3 minutes, you could sprinkle some water inside the cut to avoid it gets too dry.  Trust me this step will make it faster so it will be helpful those days that you come tired after work, and also it helps you avoid too much usage of butter and sugar.

Corta los plátanos en tajadas bien gruesas y no muy diagonales (esto ayuda a que más plátano tenga contacto con la sartén y así puedas tener más superficie tostadita.

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Cut the plantains in very thick slices and not too diagonals (this will help the plantain to make more contact with the pan and that way will have more browned surface.

Como puedes ver una vez la mantequilla empieza a derretirse es donde agrego los plátanos.

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As you can see once the butter starts melting is where I add the plantains.

Después de unos minutos empiezan a dorarse y sacar los plátanos será cuestion de gustos ya que muchas personas les encantan sus plátanos en este punto.

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After a few minutes they start getting golden, and this is a matter of taste since for many people they love their plantains just as you can see these ones.

Disminuir un poco la temperatura una vez los plátanos tengan el color que buscas.

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Lower the heat a little once the plantains have the brown-golden color you are looking for.

Estos plátanos tienen el color que estaba buscando, excelente.

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These plantains have the color I was looking for, great great.

Ahora que ya están doraditos les agrego azúcar morena, raspadura, canela y una pizca de sal.

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Now that they are golden enough I add the brown sugar, cane sugar, cinnamon and dash of salt.

Y así es que se verán al final, si no se hubiesen cocinado en el microondas previamente, tomarían un poquito más de tiempo y estarían más oscuritos y eso está totalmente bien, es cuestión de disponibilidad que tengas para cocinar.

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And this is how they will look at the end, if you wouldn’t have cooked them in the microwave previously, they would take a little longer and will probably be darker which is fine, it’s just a matter of time you have available =)

Aquí están los dichosos plátanos en tentación son un filete de corvina y un arroz con coco y guandú, tenemos varios sabores aquí y esa gama hace que el plato esté completo.

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Now you can look at them pretty plantains in temptation with corvina filet and coconut-guandu rice (guandu is Green Pigeon Peas), this has several flavors and that makes a complete dish.

¡a comer!