Things I am thankful for

First of all, I want to say sorry to anyone still reading my blog. I have not posted anything in ages. I'm not blaming anyone, except maybe Farmville and Yoville on Facebook:P

I know I've promised paraguayan recipes, but I wanted to post on something else today: things I am thankful for.

My family, first of all. My three girls and my wonderful husband. My three sisters and my Mom and Dad!

My friends, some living in my village, some close, some far, some new, and some old.

My home, food on the table, grapefruits on the trees, a fresh haircut (I can see, without having to lift up my bangs!), green grass growing in front of my home, good walking shoes, an mp3 player filled with country music, a working sewing machine, a new printer, a cold terere, maybe some chocolate....

Whenever I started "schlimming" (nagging or being ungrateful)about my life, please remind me of this list! We have so much to thank our Lord for, and all we sometimes do is want more.

I finally got around to going on a walk yesterday, and the sunset was awesome:

P.S. Cindy does not have the swine flu in this picture. It was taken at a field trip to the hospital, where we all had to wear a facemask.

Sopa Paraguaya

This is the second recipe I'm posting in my little series of traditional dishes of Paraguay. One of the most known dishes is a soup thats not a soup. I heard the legend how this dish was first created and will paste the story I found in Wikipedia here:

"The most accurate and most credible historical fact has Don Carlos Antonio Lopez (according to Paraguayan historians, the founder of the Paraguayan State, governor of his country between 1841 and 1862) and one of his cooks (called "machú" in Guarani language) as main characters.
It is told that the great governor, a really obese man, liked the "tykuetî" or white soup elaborated with milk, Paraguay cheese (fresh cheese), egg and corn flour.
One day, on an involuntary mistake, the machú put too much corn flour to the mixture. Near the noon, she found herself with two problems: first, that wasn’t the base mixture for the tykuetî; and second, she didn't have time to start over the process, or replace the favorite dish with another. So, showing off a decided attitude, a mix of fear and wit, she poured the mixture on an iron container and cooked it in the "tatakua" (the Guarani word for "hole of fire", a rustic oven made of clay and adobe), from which she obtained a solid soup. Don Carlos, after tasting it, found it very delicious and immediately named it "sopa paraguaya".
In some places it is also called "Paraguay Soup"."

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sopa_paraguaya) Thanks, Wiki!

Now, my favorite recipe for this delicious cake-like bread.

Sopa Paraguaya

1/2 cup cream

1 small onion, diced

1/2 cup flour (I sometimes use a flour/corn flour mixture)

2 tsp. baking powder

2 cups grated cheese (fresh, if you can get it)

4 eggs

1 can of corn ( if you like to have a moist cake, put the juice in too)

1 1/2 tsp salt

Put all of the ingredients into a blender and blend for a while. Pour the mixture into a 9"x13" (or a little smaller) greased baking pan and bake at low heat for 45 minutes. Turn off the oven and leave the oven door slightly open and let the sopa cool down for about an hour.

This bread is great for eating with soup or like we do with a barbeque. Or just make it for a light lunch or supper! Hope you try it and like it.

A bunch of pictures from the craft show

I hope you are not tired of all the chatter about the craft show, but i wanted to let everyone interested know, that I posted an album full of pictures on facebook. Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=112214&id=612481936&l=0cff5ebd22

I'll be posting a new recipe in the next few days. I have the last meeting of the craft show gang tonight, and a ladies meeting with speaker tomorrow afternoon. Hope everyone has a great week!

Correction on the recipe

I just found out, that madioka-starch is called tapioca flour. I think you could probably get it in specialty food stores in the U.S.

Recipe for Chipa

One of my blogging friends asked me about typical paraguayan dishes. So I decided I would post some recipes of some of my favorites.

The number 1 traditional food of Paraguay would be Chipa.

In the streets of the capital city, Asuncion, you can see traditionally dressed women selling their delicious, fresh homemade chipa. I like to make a slightly different recipe, where you drop the dough into little muffin tins and bake them. Whoever knows me or has followed my blog for a while, knows that I hate the feel of cornstarch or mandioka starch on my hands. The way I make them, you don't even get your hands dirty:)

Muffin Chipa

1 cup milk

1/2 cup oil

1 cup grated cheese

2 eggs

3 cups mandioka starch (this is NOT the same as cornstarch) (also known as yucca flour, i think)

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

Put the milk, oil, cheese and eggs in the blender, blend until smooth. In a larger bowl mix together (with a large wooden spoon) the starch, salt and baking powder. Pour in the liquid ingredients and stir through until combined. Into lightly greased muffin tins, pour or if the mixture is too hard, spoon in the dough until the tin is 3/4 full. Bake at medium heat for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

These are best eaten fresh from the oven, but also freeze well. You can pop them into an oven for reheating if you want.