Vegan Beer & Almonds Risotto

Recipes, Rosh HaShanah, Shabbath, Shabuoth, Sides, Sukkoth / Hannah Abreu

A few weeks ago I made proper risotto for the first time, and today I bring you the results: A delicious, easy, vegan with Gluten Free option Beer & Almonds Risotto!

The inspiration behind this Beer & Almonds Risotto

Back in march this year, we went to Portugal, and after spending the whole day walking and exploring the city of Lisbon, we had a lovely dinner under the stars. On the menu, one dish catches my attention: Almond Risotto.

When I saw that perfectly cooked, creamy and absolutely delicious risotto, my mind immediately took me back in time to when I was twelve. The time when we met Tio Mario (uncle Mario, whose real name was Mario Autore).

Tio Mario was an old man that lived in our building, originally from Napoli, Italy. Everyone’s perception was that Tio Mario was just a difficult man. He barely talked to anyone, and he didn’t have family and friends in the country.

After a few weeks, my mom realized they had met before, back when my mother was studying at university. He was a restaurant owner, his restaurant was near the university and my mom went there often. That realization evolved into instant connection. That old, lonely man started cooking for us every week, we started visiting often, to the point that if we were not at home, we were with Tio Mario. We soon became family.

Endless pastas… and, risottos

The first thing we tried from Tio Mario, was pasta! Now you know my little secret: my appreciation for pasta recipes comes from those memories. My LOVE for culinary arts was also born and grown since the day I met Tio Mario, because he not just started cooking for us, but when I told him I wanted to be a chef, he soon welcomed me into his kitchen, and became my mentor.

Endless kind of pastas, risottos, pasta, sauces, snacks and desserts, became part of our lives and memories, alongside our newly added family member! 🙂 He was 84 by the way!!

Check out the perfect companion of pasta with tomato sauce! The Ultimate Vegan Meatballs

The inspiring picture

Few weeks ago, on a random day, I was thinking of Tio Mario and I thought of the risotto we had back in Lisbon. When I saw the picture I captured after the one of the risotto, the idea hit me. I didn’t have white wine so I would make BEER & Almonds risotto 😛

I don’t know why I was so intimidated by the idea, because it ended up being so easy to make! You just need to start with the right rice, risotto rice , and you have won half the battle.

How to Make Beer & Almonds Risotto

To make this Beer & Almonds Risotto, I started by dry-roasting some silvered almonds on the pan, until they were light golden brown and fragrant. Once they were done, I set aside, added some olive oil to the pan and sauteed some shallots.

Once the shallots were fragrant and translucent, I added the risotto rice and this is when the fun starts. You start by adding the alcohol, seasonings and the stock, stir and stir, until the ingredients transform into a yummy, creamy al-dente risotto.

It would have not been possible for me to have a great Beer & Almonds Risotto without Gennaro Contaldo’s fantastic tutorial on how to make Risotto Bianco.

Sometimes it saddens me that Tio Mario passed away four years after we met him. It also saddens me that I don’t remember all the names of the dishes, or the flavors of many. Despite that, I keep his memory alive, and every time I cook or see any resemblance of Italian gastronomy, I think of my beloved Tio Mario.

When you make this recipe or any other from the blog, use the tag #kasheribbean. And, don’t forget to follow on instagram and pinterest to keep up with our easy recipes from us and the blogosphere!

Do you have food memories that you cherish? I bet you do!! Never take them for granted and express your gratitude and love for them on every possible opportunity! Until next time! 😉

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Overnight Sweet Crescent Rolls {No-Knead, Dairy Free}

Breads & Doughs, Recipes, Shabuoth, Sukkoth / Hannah Abreu

Today we are making fantastic, delicious and super easy Sweet Crescent Rolls.

While I was cleaning the house the other day, I found one of my old recipes notebooks and noticed I’ve tried to make crescent rolls at least 6 times, but the annotations were unfinished. Apparently, they didn’t have the ideal fluffy texture and the distinctive aroma (I honestly don’t know exactly how to describe) so, I guess after a while I forgot about it.

So, I feel very happy to share these this Sweet Crescent Rolls in today’s post, because even though it may sound intimidating, they ended up being so easy to make, and I will tell you all about this foolproof recipe.

Are you looking for more Shabbath-worthy recipes? Click here

Flour, sugar…

These Sweet Crescent Rolls are made with flour, yeast, brown sugar, vegetable shortening, eggs, water and salt. I am still working on a vegan version, that hopefully I can share soon, but still, it is clear that these Sweet Crescent Rolls are not healthy food.

For this recipe I use vegetable shortening because I wanted to have a setamí (parve) product, but you can substitute butter if you prefer. I haven’t use coconut oil for this recipe.

I used bread flour because it is a yeasted product and have quite a lot amount of fat and sugar. If you use AP (all purpose flour) for this, it will be too soft to handle. Of course, all AP flour differ in terms of the protein content, so, some brands of AP flour may work, while others won’t work so well. If you ever try with AP, please let us know the details of your adjustments, and the brand of flour you used in the comments section below 😉

For the yeast, I used instant yeast, so if you just have on hand baker’s yeast (which is the same as fresh yeast) keep in mind that you need to triple the amounts.

How to make Sweet Crescent Rolls

As the title says, these are overnight sweet crescent rolls, so, this recipe take time to develop in texture and flavor. It has also the plus factor that you don’t have to knead anything.

What you really need for this recipe, is a plan and schedule, so that you prepare the dough with plenty of time (26-28 hours before the time you plan to bake) and have fresh, out of the oven crescent rolls for breakfast. Nom nom!

After the dough has rest for 24hrs, the final dough should be 1000gr or very close. Divide the dough in half, lightly flour the surface, roll, cut into triangles and shape into crescents.

To shape the sweet crescents rolls, take one triangle and stretch the wider side. Then, roll towards you, making sure the end tip is tucked underneath. Place on a baking sheet, at let rest for 3-4 hours, or until double in size. Then, bake in a preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, or until is light golden brown on top.

What would you serve these Sweet Crescent Rolls with? I will definitely pair with classic hummus or babaganoush. If you think of another dip to pair these babies with, let us know in the comment section below. And, of course, don’t forget to share pictures with the hashtag #kasheribbean, when you make this recipe. Follow up on instagram and pinterest to keep up with other quick and easy recipes, meals ideas and travel posts!! Until next time! 😉

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Creamed Potatoes {Vegan, GF}

Passover, Recipes, Shabbath, Shabuoth, Sides / Hannah Abreu

One of the easiest side dishes on the planet: Yummy Vegan Creamed Potatoes. Versatile, kid-friendly, delicious and also budget-friendly. There’s nothing that can go wrong with this dish.

This is another one of those recipes that has been waiting to be published for months. I first came out with these Vegan Creamed Potatoes one ereb shabbath, when I needed that “little extra” because I felt something was missing for the Shabbat dinner. I quickly thought about what can be done with what I had on hand, and that was it.

My husband says it is obvious I have ancestry from eastern and central Europe, because I love my potatoes, lol. I mean, they are just so versatile. Am I right? 😛 If you love potatoes as much as I do, also check out our super easy Lemony Potato Salad. I will eat those two dishes every other day if I could!

As I told you already, this Vegan Creamed Potatoes are extremely easy to make. Just gather your ingredients, boil the potatoes for a few minutes (This is what I like to do so I don’t end up with raw potatoes and dried sauce, but I guess you can do this if you have a mandoline), mix the ingredients for the sauce, cook a bit on the oven, and voila! Creamed Potatoes ready to enjoy! 🙂

Let’s talk about the ingredients…

Simple ingredients. Great results

For the Vegan Creamed Potatoes you’ll need just a handful of ingredients: coconut milk (Do you realize already I love coconut?), nutritional yeast, mustard, nutmeg, some flour and a touch of salt and pepper.

Those few ingredients will give you a delicious white sauce that you will use to dress up the humble potatoes.

This particular time I used mini potatoes, that I cleaned well before boiling for about 10 minutes. I left them whole and with the skin on for this occasion because I was out of time, and also because I wanted to give another look to these Vegan Creamed Potatoes, but you can also peel the skin off and slice to make like a more traditional scalloped potatoes dish.

Nutritional yeast + mustard + nutmeg, is a key combo for this recipe. I find that these 3 ingredients combined add a subtle but fantastic flavor to this dish. I hope you like it as much as I do.

If for any reason you want to make this paleo-friendly, use tapioca starch instead of cornstarch, and you are good to go.

What would you pair these Vegan Creamed Potatoes with?? Let us know in the comment section below and don’t forget to share pictures with the hashtag #kasheribbean, when you make this recipe. Follow up on instagram and pinterest to keep up with other quick and easy recipes from us and the blogosphere!

Until next time! 😉

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Happy 1st year of blogging!

Uncategorized / Hannah Abreu

Today we celebrate our 1st year of blogging! Yay! 🙂

I literally can’t believe how time flies! I feel it was yesterday when I sat down and spent hours starring at the laptop screen. In front of me, I was just one click away of the uncertain-but-fun world of blogging. And, here we are!

Well, I actually just lied a little, because Sister Bliss Diary saw the light as a Blogspot blog, a few months before we decided to move to WordPress and be 100% owners of the blog. I consider those months to be more like a rehearsal. I was personally exploring what can be done and trying to get comfortable first with the technical side of being a blogger. When I made the decision to finally move to a self-hosted blog was exactly one year ago!

From setting up a blog, brainstorming, cooking up recipes, taking pictures, writing a “SEO friendly” posts and everything in between, blogging has definitely been a great learning experience.

These are 5 things I’ve learned on this 1st year of blogging…

5 Things I’ve learned on this year of blogging

Starting a blog is not difficult.
What is really challenging is to maintain it. But, if you love what you do and you believe in it, you can do it!
Blogging takes a lot of time and effort.
When I started out I thought blogging was just about writing “the post” and taking a picture for “that” blog, hit publish and have fun. Surprise! I also needed to plan my grocery shopping and recipes to match the upcoming posts, I needed to take “good” pictures (that alone is a work in itself! and I still have a lot to learn), I needed to do some basic editing, I needed to take SEO into account while writing, I needed to share on social media (because no one will read posts they do not know exist! ha!) and most importantly, I needed to “socialize” with other bloggers in my field as well as potential readers, without being all day starring at my phone, all that while managing what I felt was already a hectic mom and housewife life. Phew!
Photography is fun, but is also technical.
“Arts” is something I grew up exposed too, but it doesn’t come easy to me. I don’t feel I have that “artistic eye” or that I am “creative”. Because of this, I feel it takes double the effort (and is one of the reasons why I keep my pictures very simple, with just a white background and minimum props and styling), but I still love it! This blogging journey has taught me there is a lot more art to discover.
Blogging can be therapeutic.
Before blogging, my most efficient therapy and stress reliever was bread baking. For more than a decade, kneading a dough by hand was miraculously healing of the worst emotions, now I can say I have too therapies 🙂 Baking + Blogging 😀
Even when I think “nobody will read that” or “that is not interesting for a blog post”, there are still people out there who will read the and let me know that they like what I do.
It is so weird! Throughout this blogging journey I have found myself many times arguing inside that a particular post is not good enough, the picture is not good enough, the lightning… and so on, and those exactly have become the most popular! Go figure!

What can you expect from now on?

The idea of sharing easy kasher recipes has always been the main goal of Sister Bliss Diary, but throughout this year it has been evolving from “whatever easy recipe pop up into my head” to a work in progress of Domineterranean recipes :); because these two cooking traditions represent who I am: Dominican + Sephardic.

Since Sister Bliss Diary started, our focus has been Food + Travel + Lifestyle, and I have to say, it has been difficult to keep up with the travel and lifestyle part. I find it challenging to move around and tell where I go or what I do, but you can expect to read more about the highlights of my trips, and a bit more about the things I do as a mother on a daily basis. Apart from that, you can expect curated posts and judaism related posts, specially close to the special occasions and holidays.

Since SBD started, I had the idea of also posting in spanish. I asked over instagram stories and according to the poll, the majority thought this wasn’t really necessary, so we are sticking to the english, at least for now.

Finally, (and this one is very exciting!) in the upcoming months you can expect a name change. Yup. You read that right. We are in constant evolution , and we believe that to grow bigger and better, we need a name that reflects that change and what we are about even better. So, stick around if you want to know when the proper time comes! Yay!