Pan de Jamón (Ham Bread???)

This is a typical Christmas dish in my home country.  Bakeries start selling them around mid-November and it is a hit!  I have lost count of how many of these I have bought.  I learned how to make them while I was still in Venezuela, but since I could find them everywhere there was no real need to go through all the work.  Now I am extremely glad to have learned how to make them when I could.  I have been making them for over 3 years (I started making them in Spain since they were too expensive to buy there) and my brother is expecting his Christmas gifts so he can munch on them!  I just sent him this picture to tease him and got an immediate answer!

If only I could sell them... hmmm... I bet I would make a lot of people happy if they knew where I was and I knew how to find them.


It is filled with ham (I like them with turkey ham), raisins, bacon and olives. One loaf is approximately 14 x 3 1/2 " and weighs over 1 1/4 pounds.  They are usually made with California raisins, but I found this nice raisin medley that makes them even better.

Doesn't it look yummy? You have to see my kitchen. It's full of flour and loaves of bread. Yummy!

Today Is a Busy Day - Cooking once and eating 6 days.

I have not blogged in a few days. I have been busy running errands. I have still not yet caught up with all the extra things I had to do back and forth with the 1 month move. I am almost done with errands, yet others have been piling up.

I have decided that today is going to be jewelry and cooking day.

The Cooking Part:

This first picture is of my messy kitchen. I cannot clean it up until after I finish baking my rice cake. I like to cook and cleanup immediately, that way I do not even notice that I have cooked nor have to clean too much as I do when I let laziness overpower me and cleanup later on.


So far I have already made some black beans which are still in the express cooker as you can see.

A savory rice cake is in the oven as I write. Have you ever had leftover rice? You can use it right away for a savory rice cake, or freeze it and use it in a couple of weeks which is what I did. I had made some sort of vegetable paella that I just made into this rice. Do not forget to put as many things as you like in the blender (salt, chives, powder onion, or onion soup garlic, etc....) one or two eggs and some flour if it is too watery.

I like to bake it in the lower part of the oven the 1st 20 minutes and then on top so that the cheese can grate. You know it's ready if you stick a knife into it and it comes out dry.

It has taken me so long to put this first part of my posting today ready that the rice cake has been already in the oven for 40min at 37 F and just needs to be broiled 2 more minutes to get the cheese melted and brownish.

Now look at the broiled Rice Cake, doesn't it look yummy?

I also have some pineapple and teriyaki chicken simmering in the fridge. This chicken's future is to be baked later this evening.

Hopefully I am cooking for at least three days this week and freezing 3 more days.


Today's lunch will be a salad and a bowl of black bean soup with cheese and a little bit of butter milk (this is the way we eat them in my home town).


Tomorrow's lunch will be the teriyaki chicken that I plan on putting in the oven this evening, salad and rice cake.

I am still not used to having bigger dinners than lunches, so you could make this for dinner instead.

I'll blog separately for the planned jewelry part of my day.



Cheese Bread

I love to bake bread.  Even more, I love the smell that invades the house when baking.  I do confess that even though I know how to kneed and bake from scratch, my bread machine does a super great job.  It is easier and helps me bake more.

My hubby wanted something fun to eat, and I know bread is always fun, and what better than bread & cheese together.

I need to buy a big bread knife.  I am just reluctant to use the one I have here after I had to get my finger stitched when it decided to cut my finger instead of the rebellious loaf of bread.

Oat Cakes - Low Glycemic Index (GI) Recipe (English and Spanish)

I have been eating low GI foods for a while.  I just feel that our bodies do not need all those refined sugars and flours.  They might be tasty, but they do a lot of damtage to our bodies.  But I will not get into this. Here is the recipe my friend Z. so generously gave me.

Ingredients - Ingredientes

• 1/4 c ground Oat flakes (you can grind them in the blender) - 1/4 taza de Avena molida
• 1/4 c cottage cheese - 1/4 taza de queso cottage, cuajada o ricotta
• 1/4 c egg beaters or egg whites - 1/4 taza de claras de huevo o producto sustituto de huevo liquido

Optional - Opcionales

• 1 TBS Flax Seed - 1 Cucharada de semillas de lino o linasa
• 1 TBS Gogi Berries - 1 Cucharada de bayas de goji
• 1 Splenda bag - 1 sobre de splenda o edulcorante
• few drops of olive oil - unas gotas de aceite de oliva

Preparation - Preparación

Put the oatmeal, egg, cheese and splenda bag in a bowl and mix them with a whisk
Colocar la avena, el huevo, el queso y la bolsa de splenda en un recipiente y batir con un batidor de mano

You will have a thick batter.  Add the optionals: flax seeds, goji berries and mix together
Quedará una mezcla pastosa y densa.  Agregar los ingredientes opcionales: semillas de lino o linasa y bayas de goji

Put a little bit of olive oil in a non stick pan and spread it with a paper towel
Colocar las gotas de aceite de oliva en un Sartén antiadherente y esparcirla con papel de cocina

Pour the batter into the pan and spread it carefully.  Remember, it is a thick batter

Colocar la mezcla en la sartén y esparcirla con cuidado.  Recuerda que es una mezcla gruesa

This is how it looks

Asi queda

You can put sugar free maple sirope on it and enjoy your low GI breakfast!