Quinoa Chia and everything else that will get stuck in your teeth Granola Bars

It’s been ten months since my last blog post. Forgive me reader (singular on purpose…Hi Mommy!) for I have just finished a massive one year renovation of my home, and was simultaneously training to climb Kilimanjaro (summited August 10th! Can you we say hell yeah!). But I am back in my home, Kili behind me and reenergized to share some of my favorite recipes with you.

Let’s talk granola bars. The store bought ones deserve all the bad rap they get. They really do. They are loaded with sugar, contain barely any fiber, have negligible protein and let’s face it are so antiquated since the advent of the ubiquitous protein/energy bar. But here’s the deal, if made by you they can really pack a nutritional punch because you get to choose what you want in them. The basic formula is: Continue reading

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Thai Inspired Mahi (or Halibut or Cod)

We love to eat fish, but as I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts, not having a grill makes it necessary to find fish recipes that can be made in the oven or broiler. Also, not wanting to spend my entire life in the kitchen leads me to discard those recipes that require too much planning and prepping. I found this recipe on Yummly. If you’re not familiar with this website well then you’re welcome and I’m sorry. You think Facebook and Houzz are a time suck? Yummly is a WHOLE other dimension. Continue reading

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Flycakes Fancy Fruit Salad Syrup

Picture this: You’re at a dinner party and the hostess places a fruit salad on the table, or you’ve brought one to a friend’s house as your healthy contribution to the night and all of a sudden you hear a sound. What is that? It kind of sounds like a stifled yawn. I’ll tell you what it is, it’s the sound of eyes rolling at the thought of another boring-ho-hum-who-really-wants-fruit-for-dessert-but-I-have-to-pretend-to-like-it fruit salad.

The recipe I am about to share elevates the usually completely average dessert to a whole other level and it really couldn’t be easier. It’s basically a tricked out (dare I say sexy) simple syrup that works gorgeously on mixed berries, melon, sliced oranges, grapefruit, pineapple chunks, even kiwi. So you know the peeled and prepared fresh fruit you buy at Whole Foods? Pick any of them, put them in a pretty bowl and pour this concoction over the fruit. Done. Continue reading

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Bye Bye Aunt Je-mi!

I’m a bit embarrassed to confess that until very recently, I outsourced my pancake making to Aunt Jemima. And then, hearing reports from my son that my mom (his ‘abuela’) makes him pancakes from scratch every sleepover morning, I decided to rethink my lazy ass approach to pancake (or griddlecakes) making.  It’s a simple, time-tested, tasty and old fashioned recipe borrowed from the classic Fannie Farmer Cookbook. The toughest step in the recipe is melting the butter; that’s how easy this is. Buh-bye Auntie J! Continue reading

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Juniper Ridge Granola

Granola… Such an innocent little word. It conjures up images of wellness, hiking, backpacking, yoga, and hippies. I’m sure many of you already know this but it’s also a densely packed calorie BOMB. One cup of this seducitive little grain delivers between 200 and 400 calories depending on the recipe. Unless you’re planning on running a marathon that day, it’s hard to justify consuming that many empty calories/sugar/fat for breakfast. If you have the self control to measure out a couple of tablespoons to sprinkle on your yogurt, then granola is a great option but many of us don’t have that self discipline and end up eating way more calories than we want to. Personally, I’d rather save my calorie chits for my evening mezcal.

Enter my mother in law. She and her husband live 20 miles outside Santa Fe, New Mexico on nine acres, surrounded by piñons, junipers, lone buttes and the siren cry of coyotes in the evening. It’s a magical place that lends itself to trail running and fitness. My father in law loves granola, is a triathlete and therefore consumes and burns an insane number of calories a day. So rather than buy granola in the supermarket (the nearest being 30 minutes away) which is loaded with calories and also costly my MIL started making it herself. Here I’ll share her granola recipe perfected over the last decade and lovingly stripped down to a delicious, healthy, crunchy, just sweet enough version:  Continue reading

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City Steak, Country Steak

Summer is here and I am stewing in “outdoor grill envy”: that resentful feeling when your friends post photos of perfectly grilled steak, burgers, tuna steaks and peaches and you’re stuck in your apartment with only a broiler to cook with.

I am going to share with you two simple flank steak recipes that work just as well under the broiler as they do on an outdoor grill. So you urban dwellers: put your bathing suit on, pour yourself a glass of rosé, crank up the heat, light some citronella candles, broil this steak and pretend you’re grilling outdoors. Who cares what your neighbors think?   Continue reading

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Turkey Bolognese

In Italian restaurants I am always tempted by those bowls full of stick to your ribs Pasta Bolognese that I see being delivered to tables around me. I don’t eat red meat often, well maybe never, so  I played around with some classic Bolognese recipes and over time came up with my version of it using ground turkey instead of beef. It’s quick, easy, yields a lot and freezes beautifully.  Continue reading

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About Flycakes Kitchen

I was born in Argentina, spent the first ten years of my life moving around South America, and then arrived in Manhattan in the winter of 1975 to an East River that was frozen solid. Quite a shock from the balminess of Punta Del Este. I speak Spanish fluently and have a deep attachment to the foods of my childhood. Time spent sitting across my Abuela’s kitchen table watching her make apple strudel with dough so thin I could see her fingernail color, influences my cooking to this day.

I’m a wife, mom, daughter, sister, aunt and consider myself a loyal, empathetic, thoughtful and attentive friend. I smile a lot, laugh loudly and never forget a birthday. I love my birthday, your birthday, everyone’s birthday and expect others to celebrate their birthday and my own like we’re all still six years old. I exercise every day and consider it a non-negotiable appointment I make with myself. Thankfully, I’m married to a man who feels exactly the same way and we rely on each other to get our asses to the gym on those days when the excess of the previous night (probably mezcal) is weighing us down.

My diet is far from perfect (I have a profound love affair with m&m’s and Nestle Crunch) but I try every day to take a long term view on my life, health, diet and the choices I make. I think the recipes I share reflect that balance: healthy, nutritious and simple meals followed by a little indulgence. Until recently, I considered myself a free lance pastry chef and I still very much enjoy that work but what I’ve come to understand is that desserts and sweets are a small part of my life and more importantly mine and my family’s diet. I’ve always felt very strongly that if we’re going to eat that dessert it better be the best tasting, explode-in-your-mouth-with-flavor sweet and it should be made with the purest and wholest ingredients. Ingredients that our bodies will recognize. Bring on the butter, sugar, eggs, and flour but deliver it  in such a way that ONE serving will scratch that itch.

Our son understands the importance of being active and when you live in a city with limited access to the outdooors, encouraging your kid to move can be a challenge. Our decision to spend our summers in Vail, CO is how we compensate for a school year in the city. Does he still play video games and eat crap every once in a while? Of course! But he spends the bulk of his time running, biking swimming, hiking, and playing sports and he is very aware that crap doesn’t count as food.  I strive for balance in my life and I’m trying to teach our son to self-regulate so that he can begin to make good choices in all aspects of his life starting with understanding the difference between ice cream truck ‘ice cream’ and an artisanal batch of gelato.

Flycakes Kitchen is about living life in balance. Finding it, mantaining it, and coming back to it when we’ve lost it.

Enjoy and always let your taste buds soar.

Hugs, Maria

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My Sweet Mama’s Lemon Cake

I loved being pregnant. I mean REALLY loved being pregnant. I was that annoying, always smiling, belly rubbing, eye roll inducing, soaking it in kind of pregnant gal. Maybe it was the three miscarriages that came before, and maybe it was that I was so completely flipping grateful that THIS WAS IT, that my life long desire to be a mother was actually going to be fulfilled.

Those 40 weeks were some of the happiest of my life despite the 17 weeks of torturous 24 hour nausea and despite the twice self administered daily heparin shots. I was high, high, high on hormone marination. And just as soon as I got pregnant, I craved lemon and completely lost my appetite for chocolate.

You know the Starbucks Lemon Loaf? The one with that little coating of hardened lemony sugar glaze? I lived for that but being the crazy vain disciplined bitch that I am, I only caved twice. Yes, twice. In 9 months! So, every time I see that lemon cake, or smell lemon it brings me back to the blissful days of incubating my little boy. This lemon cake is my mother’s recipe. It’s simple, lemony, delicious, kicks Starbucks’ Lemon Loaf’s processed ass and wait for it…it’s made entirely in the food processor.  Continue reading

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You’ll-never-buy-it-in-a-jar-again Tomato Sauce

As much as I love cooking, I am here to tell you that there are certain products I will NEVER make from scratch and will shamelessly continue to buy from a store because let’s face it, they are just so good. Spending hours in the kitchen replicating the original gives you bragging rights yes, but it also inspires people to want to punch your smug face and it will NOT taste better than the original.  So, peanut butter, mayonnaise, sriracha (sorry GP), Oreos, Ritz, Mallomars, Graham Crackers, flour tortillas, are perfect the way they are. Move on people.

But if there’s one product that with just a teensy bit of effort can be improved tremendously it is TOMATO SAUCE.  Now, listen readers and listen carefully. If you are having one crazy military operation kind of day and jarred tomato sauce is all you’ve got, then by all means heat that sucker up, boil some pasta and call it dinner. It certainly beats the drive thru at McDonalds or KFC. This is a no judgment zone. Continue reading

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