Appetizers are a must at every party! We love this caponata because it’s easy to prepare. If you also love dishes like that, you should also try our Warm Lentil Salad, Seven Layer Mediterranean Dip, Muhammara and Baba Ghanoush. An easy eggplant antipasto! It took me a long time to like eggplant. And, to be honest, to this day it is not something I love. Unless it is eggplant caponata!...

Love classic sandwiches? Make sure to also check out my Bacon Egg and Cheese, Croque Monsieur and Muffuletta. You know that corned beef I shared last week? Here it is! In Reuben sandwich form. I bet you saw that coming, didn’t you? Because who in their right mind would go through the trouble of making corned beef and not save some to make the ultimate corned beef sandwich? But who invented the Reuben?...

This post is sponsored by the NY Beef Council. I consider myself to be a conscious carnivore. I’ve eaten beef my entire life and I really enjoy it. However, I used to feel weird every time the subject “beef production” would come up, and I would avoid it like the plague! So I decided to face my fears and took my family to visit a few beef farms to start learning about beef production, since there is a lot of misinformation out there....

Now that it’s socially acceptable to talk Christmas, I can finally tell you how excited I am for Christmas this year. ??? So much so, that I’ve been baking like crazy and bringing my holiday goods to work, trying to get everybody else as excited as me! We all went through a lot at work recently, so I figured we need some cheering up. And what better way to send your problems away than eating a lot of delicious cookies?...

This post is sponsored by Nuts.com but my rate will be donated to a local food pantry. Merry Christmas! (Or Happy Holidays if you don’t celebrate Christmas.) I hope y’all are having a wonderful time among loved ones. We had family and friends over for Christmas Eve yesterday – following Brazilian traditions – and it was beyond special. Great food and even better company! Today we are having a quiet day at home, opening gifts from Santa and just enjoying our little girl’s first Christmas....

This post is sponsored by The Spice Hunter® and includes tracking links. For more information about tracking links and how to opt out, please visit All About Do Not Track prior to clicking any links found in this post. I have a soft spot in my heart for Moroccan cuisine, with its vibrant colors and flavors! I am not a connoisseur by any means, and I still have a lot to try and learn....

(Today’s post is sponsored by Florida Keys & Key West.) It’s snowing today here in the East Coast. ? And what does a Brazilian girl that can’t wait for Spring do? Plan her next tropical vacation, obviously! Yes, yes, I’m perfectly aware that I just recently came back from Brazil. But I just can’t help picturing myself in one of those beautiful beaches in Key West. Palm lined streets, a distinct mixture of cultures, home to a strong seafood scene and a tantalizing fusion of cuisines....

Let me start this post by saying I’m in no way a BBQ sauce connoisseur! I know there is a world of barbecue sauces out there and I still have a lot to explore. But, so far, I can confidently say this is the best BBQ sauce I have ever tasted. And it’s 100% made by moi! Not that that’s a huge feat, on the contrary. It takes less than 15 minutes on the stove and no special skills required....

You will soon notice that I am beyond obsessed with this Ham and Cheese Quiche. I simply cannot stop eating it and I’m probably at my 3rd slice just today! I’m afraid Tim will get home from work and there will be none left… ? Oh, who do I think I’m fooling? I am not ashamed AT ALL. I could eat this whole quiche by myself, decline to share it with the Pope and still not feel guilty!...

This post is sponsored by RUBBERMAID®, however, all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. My to-do list seems to be growing faster than my ability to tackle it. I feel like I’m constantly trying to catch up with life and that’s so exhausting! Eating healthy is one of the things I struggle with when life is this busy. People assume that us, food bloggers, are always eating amazing gourmet meals....

This is one of my favorite cocktails! The one I can never resist. It is like drinking a boozy coconut milkshake. If you’ve ever been to a Brazilian beach kiosk, or a Carnaval party, chances are you’ve encountered a Batida de Coco. Not as popular worldwide as our caipirinhas, but equally delicious and tropical! But before I teach you how to make it, I feel like it’s my duty to warn you that Batida de Coco is known for being extremely dangerous, as it is always the case with sweet blended cocktails....

Every Easter, my family would get together for the long weekend. We would usually go to my aunt Renata’s weekend house in Indaiatuba on Thursday – which is a 45 min drive from São Paulo – and stay there until Sunday. It was usually 20 of us: grandparents, parents, brother, aunts, uncles and cousins! A lovely weekend full of love, laughter, good food and amazing drinks! We also exchanged gifts: huge chocolate eggs with surprises inside, which are very popular in Brazil....

If you’re a fan of authentic Italian recipes, make sure to also check out my Bolognese Pasta, Chicken Cacciatore and Amaretti Cookies. A satisfying recipe for pasta fagioli soup! Growing up, my grandmother would often make a soup with short pasta and beans as a way of using leftover beans. Hearty and filling, we would gobble it up until we saw the bottom of the bowl. And instead of stopping there, we would use bread to soak up whatever liquid was left until that bowl was shining like new!...

I am a huge fan of Middle Eastern recipes. While this dukkah is a new addition here on the blog, my Baba Ghanoush and my Kibbeh are really popular! This post is sponsored by iHerb. All opinions are my own. If you haven’t heard of dukkah, you are in from a treat! Ever since I tried it for the first time, I decided I had to recreate it. Yes, you can buy packaged dukkah at many stores, but it is so much better when it’s homemade....

Growing up, breakfast revolved around 3 main ingredients: black coffee, french bread and butter. Other types of food were occasionally appreciated, but if bread, coffee or butter were missing… boy, oh boy… not a good start to the day. Especially because we would have to deal with the fury of the dragon (my mom’s bad mood!) for the rest of the day. The bread of choice? Any type of french bread: usually little french rolls that are sold in any neighborhood padaria (Brazilian bakeries that specialize mostly in bread) or french baguettes....

Make the holidays even sweeter by gifting this delicious and festive hot cocoa mix to your loved ones! Tick tock! Christmas is fast approaching! Have you bought all the gifts yet? No? Are you desperately searching for easy edible gifts that you can do-it-yourself? I got ya! This Hot Cocoa Mix is the answer to your quest! Just combine all the ingredients, transfer to a mason jar and decorate with festive ribbons/twine/tags and voila, a perfect Christmas gift....

Are you intimidated by French cooking? I’m not! And it’s not because I’m better than you. On the contrary! I crash and burn a lot until I master French dishes. But I decided earlier in my cooking journey that I wouldn’t be afraid of cooking anything. After all, what’s the worst that could happen? Taste bad? Fall apart? As long as I don’t burn the house down – or destroy something expensive, like my Le Creuset pots – it’s all good....

Leading a low carb lifestyle is much easier when you have tasty treats available for when your sweet tooth strikes. Believe me, I’m talking from experience! The first time I had GD (gestational diabetes), I struggled with finding food that I could eat that wouldn’t raise my blood sugar. Because of that, I ended up falling off the wagon quite a few times and, consequently, feeling guilty and as if I was harming my unborn child....

As soon as I heard we were getting a snow storm, I ran to the grocery store to buy the ingredients to make Pörkölt. I usually don’t need an excuse to crave beef stew, but cold weather simply asks for it! There truly isn’t anything as comforting as sitting by the fire with a bowl of stew. As it’s the case with most stews, Pörkölt is a simple dish, delicious not because of its complexity in cooking, but for the amazing rich flavors – coming predominantly from the smoky earthiness of the paprika – and the tenderness from the slow cooked beef....