Gimme some “headspace”

123456789As on my journey towards “Make This Year Your Year”  one of the changes I wanted to make was to create a more peaceful mind set. My goal is to have more control of my mind where I do not “overact” in certain situations. For example: traffic anger.

I came across this article on The Verge (www.theverge.com) that discussed about this new app for meditation. It is call “Headspace” (image below) and honestly it has helped me a lot.

It gives a free 10 day trial period. I have completed the beginning 30 days and currently able to decide where I want to focus on for the next 30 days. You get different packets that you can choose what is your next area of growth. So far I can say it has helped me a lot to not over react and have more of a sense of peacefulness.

If you are interested on this journey I highly recommend it to you!

✌️out & happy Tuesday! 💋

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White Sangria Mood

Happy weekend to everyone!! There is nothing better than a sunny Saturday barbecue by the pool! Of course we must have alcohol, so here is a recipe I found of white sangria. It is my favorite! It is very simple to make, you barely taste the alcohol, and is the best alcoholic beverage for a hot summer day.

What you will need:

1 cup of sugar

1 1/2 cups of water

2 cinnamon sticks

5 mint leaves

2 green apples

1 pear

1 peach

1 cup of peach juice

3 limes (thinly sliced)

2 bottles of white wine (whatever you prefer, I use Sauvignon Blanc)

1 bottle of apple cider

Preparation

Put in a pot the sugar, water, cinnamon sticks, and mint. Place it on the stove at medium heat/temperature. Stir it once, bring it to boil and immediately remove it. Set aside to cool. Chop your fruit thinly (look at image below) except for your lime place it in a serving bowl. With a strainer place the syrup you did with the sugar etc. in your bowl. Add the wine, then the pear juice. For serving put ice, then your sangria, put a slice of lime and a splash of your apple cider. Enjoy! 🙃 (always drink carefully)!!

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Baked Buns 

For today’s baking post dish I wanted to share my recipe for burger buns. I was able to find this recipe at http://www.aseasyasapplepie.com I loved her take at this traditional bread but I have done my own twerks to the recipe.

Hope you guys enjoy & happy Saturday! 😊

You will need:

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup hot water

2 7/8 T butter (I use salted & room temperature)

7 T sugar * I like my bread sweet, if you don’t you can put whatever amount you want (ex: 2T)

1 tsp salt * If you do not put 7T of sugar you can skip this step

4 cups AP Flour

3/4 tsp yeast and less than 1/2 tsp sugar *

*for the yeast you put the dry yeast with the tsp of sugar and add a little bit of water so it covers the yeast and sugar. Set it aside and let it rise while you prep the rest of your ingredients. (See image below)

On a mixer with the hook tool you first put the flour, sugar, and salt. Mix it a little on slow and add the room temperature butter. Mix it for a moment and slowly add your yeast with the milk and water. Mix it at medium speed for 5 minutes. If your dough looks dry it is okay let it mix and everything will incorporate (see image below). When ready remove the hook and just knead it for a moment. Remove it from mixing bowl, make it round and place it on a round container. Cover it until it has doubled in size. Once it has reached the desired size (see image below) make small balls or the size you want your buns to be. Place on a sheet pan with parchment paper and brush them with milk. Let them rise for 1 hour and once ready (when you put your finger and the dough comes back) brush once more with milk and bake at 350 F or 175 C for 10 minutes or until golden.112345678910111223456789101112

 

 

 

 

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And so it begins 

One of my goals for 2017 was to be more relaxed and react to challenges with a more “balanced” manner. For this I had to start meditating and doing yoga. For the meditating part there is a very cool app I read on an article on http://www.theverge.com; I will share it on a different post.

For the yoga part I started one on one lessons, as I had no idea about Yoga, and wanted to get more personalized ones.

This week was my first week of Yoga and I am completely hooked! If you can I highly recommend you to do it! As it allows you to relax and be on the road to more inner peace

Below are some pics of the outfit and my post workout faces I guess 😳 🙃

 

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Monday Soulful Baking

Hello everyone! For today’s post I am sharing a special recipe. It is a typical savory pastry from where I am from. We call it “Rollo de Queso” or “Cheese roll up” though it is not so much of a roll up as it is the dough flipped to the center. This recipe is very special as it was my great grandmas but my mother did some twerks to make it better!

Hope you guys enjoy! 👅

You will need:

Dry Ingredients

3 cups AP Flour

3 tsp baking powder

Wet Ingredients

100 gr of butter

3/4 cup of sugar

3 egg replacement* or 4 egg yolks

1/2 Kilo of white cheese* or any other cheese you prefer

1 tsp olive oil

1 tsp milk

Milk to what your dough needs (maybe 1/4 cup)

*for the egg replacement we use for each egg

1 tsp baking powder

1 T olive oil

1 T water

*For the white cheese, the one we use back home is very salty so for the one you find in the U.S. you can add 1T kosher salt

*For the white cheese if you are not using the eggs you add 1tsp olive oil and 1 tsp of milk. If you are using eggs, you add the egg whites to the cheese leaving some behind for the paint brush of the roll up

Preparation

Sift the dry ingredients and set aside. On a mixer soften the butter (see image below), add the sugar and once everything mixed together start adding the dry ingredients. You add some milk whenever your mixture is too dry. Once everything is mixed together you divide the dough in fours. With a roller you extend the dough and add the cheese in the center (see image below) you fold it and brush it with milk or egg whites. Bake it at 350 F or 175 C for 15 minutes or more. Enjoy!

PS: they don’t look too beautiful but I swear the taste is 👌

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First Food Post: Eggless Vanilla CupCakes:p

I have always loved baking as a hobby, ever since I was a little girl. I have specially enjoyed baking for my family. Recently my mother developed food allergies to chicken, eggs, and some more. As she always enjoyed pastries I decided to be “creative” in the kitchen and create baked goods she could enjoy! The result were good! I always wanted to share these recipes. If you can consume eggs all my recipes can be changed for that.

Today’s food post is one of my mother’s favorites “Vanilla Cupcakes”

The recipe is very simple you need:

Wet Ingredients 

1/2 package of butter

3/4 cups of sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 egg replacements or eggs*

1 cup of milk (if you use eggs it may be less)

Dry Ingredients

2 cups of AP Flour

2 tsp baking powder

*For the egg replacement you use:

1 tsp of baking powder

1 T of olive oil

1 T of water

Side note: You can replace up to 3 eggs no more.

Preparation

Turn on your oven at 350° Fahrenheit, 170° Celsius. Sift the dry ingredients then set them aside. On a mixer soften the butter until is almost liquid (see image below). Then add the sugar. Mix some more. Add the vanilla extract.  Slowly add the egg replacement you prepared ahead. If you use eggs add one by one. Mix it until unified (see image below) Set your speed to low and slowly mix between adding the dried ingredients and the milk. Once everything has been added and mixed (see image below) place it on any type of mold you would like. Bake for 15 minutes or more.

If you are vegan you can replace the milk with any vegan alternative, a good option I have tried has been coconut milk. Also you can replace the sugar with any alternative you want.

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Make This Year Your Year

Here we are in 2017 and finally I have decided to take on challenges I have wanted to take on for many years. One of those is to finally start a blog. I want this space to portray areas of my life; posting things that scare me, fascinate me, or I love. The purpose is to share my experiences as I want to make this year my year :)!

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