Spring Strawberry Layer Cake in a Glass

This light and fresh strawberry layer cake is a perfect healthy indulgence for the sunny spring days!

This light and fresh strawberry layer cake is a perfect healthy indulgence for the sunny spring days! This no-bake dessert is inspired by traditional Slovenian dessert prekmurska gibanica. Click to find the whole recipe or pin and save for later!

First thing that comes to my mind when I think of spring is fresh fruit. Strawberries and cherries to be exact. Red is one of my favourite colours. So passionate and warm. So for this spring dessert the choise was quite obvious – strawberries. 

A few weeks ago first slovenian culinary & lifestyle magazine Redegunda asked me to make a reinterpretation of a traditional Slovenian dessert. Now, if you recall me mentioning that Slovenian cuisine is mostly heavy with lots of carbs and fats, you’ll imagine it’s not easy making a light dish. I took traditional Slovenian dessert prekmurska gibanica (which is delicios by the way!) and made it into a lighter fresher and healthier dessert that you can make very quickly with almost no cooking.

This light and fresh strawberry layer cake is a perfect healthy indulgence for the sunny spring days! This no-bake dessert is inspired by traditional Slovenian dessert prekmurska gibanica. Click to find the whole recipe or pin and save for later!
This light and fresh strawberry layer cake is a perfect healthy indulgence for the sunny spring days! This no-bake dessert is inspired by traditional Slovenian dessert prekmurska gibanica. Click to find the whole recipe or pin and save for later!

Prekmurska gibanica is a layer cake has 4 layers, with phyllo pastry between them:

  • poppy seed layer
  • cottage cheese layer
  • wallnut layes
  • apple layer 

I kept the four layers, but changed the ingredients quite a bit. Instead of cottage cheese I used honey and greek style yoghurt. I replaced wallnuts with hazelnuts and almonds and roasted them to make a crumble. Since it is almost spring I ditched the apples and added some fresh strawberries. That’s it. Soooo simple, but even more delicious 😀 Plus, you can showcase your lovely glassware!

This light and fresh strawberry layer cake is a perfect healthy indulgence for the sunny spring days! This no-bake dessert is inspired by traditional Slovenian dessert prekmurska gibanica. Click to find the whole recipe or pin and save for later!

Now let’s enjoy the Easter holidays, get the dishes dirty and have a strawberry layer cake!

Tag #useyournoodles so I can see your beautiful UYN creations. Also, stay in touch on Facebook and Instagram or subscribe to get the recipes directly to your mailbox ♥

This light and fresh strawberry layer cake is a perfect healthy indulgence for the sunny spring days! This no-bake dessert is inspired by traditional Slovenian dessert prekmurska gibanica. Click to find the whole recipe or pin and save for later!
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SPRING STRAWBERRY LAYER CAKE IN A GLASS

Course Dessert
Keyword dessert in a glass, layer cake, quick dessert
Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Servings 6 desserts

Ingredients

HAZELNUT LAYER

  • 75 g hazelnuts
  • 45 g ground almonds
  • 20 g butter
  • 50 g / 3 TBSP honey
  • 1 tsp dried thyme

POPPY SEED LAYER

  • 145 g ground poppy seeds
  • 100 g / 6 TBSP honey
  • 180 ml milk

STRAWBERRY LAYER

  • 300 g strawberries

YOGHURT LAYER

  • 400 g Greek-style yogurt
  • 65 g / 4 TBSP honey

Instructions

Hazelnut layer

  1. Chop the hazelnuts coarsely. In a skillet fry chopped hazelnuts, ground walnuts, butter, honey, and thyme for a couple of minutes, until they become golden. Stir every 10 seconds. Remove from the heat and stir for another minute, then transfer the mixture to a big plate and lay it out evenly. Wait until it cools down.

Poppyseed layer

  1. Boil milk and pour it over poppy seeds. Add honey and mix well.

Strawberry layer

  1. Cut strawberries into very small pieces of approx. 0,5 cm.

Yogurt layer

  1. Add honey to yogurt and mix well. If you are using crystallized honey, melt it over a saucepan of simmering water.

Assembly

  1. Take six 2 dl glasses and divide half of the poppy seed mixture on the bottom. Continue with half of the strawberries, yogurt, and hazelnuts mixture. Continue with the other half of the mixtures.

  2. Serve immediately or cool in the fridge and serve later.
This light and fresh strawberry layer cake is a perfect healthy indulgence for the sunny spring days! This no-bake dessert is inspired by traditional Slovenian dessert prekmurska gibanica. Click to find the whole recipe or pin and save for later!

Guinness Caramels With Salted Peanuts

St Patrick’s day is coming closer and we’re making yummy gooey Guinness caramels with salted peanuts. If you don’t know what to snack on while drinking beer – sweet or salty – you can have have both! 

Use Your Noodles - Guinness Caramels With Salted Peanuts

With St Patrick’s Day just a couple of days away I thought I’d share these gooey Guinness caramels with you. Before I decided I want to do something sweet with Guiness I’ve never made caramels before. Experimenting and lots of tasting has brought me to this amazing recipe.

Beer… A few years ago Slovenia has known mostly lagers. You could get Guinness and a couple of other non-lager beers, but that was it. Now it’s like spring here with new beers blooming all over the place. Which is kind of nice, because I was getting tired of the same old same old. Now there’s so much to choose from, but for these caramels Guinness is the right choice.

With the rich caramel flavour it enhances the sweetness of the caramels and adds just a little bitterness. Peanuts and salt add another layer and the saltiness bring out even more sweetness. I know it sounds strange, but caramels without salt don’t do it for me.

Use Your Noodles - Guinness Caramels With Salted Peanuts

Before trying for the first time I was a bit scared. I was sure I was going to fail. But making caramels is actually unbelievably easy. There’s not even any doing, there’s mostly waiting 🙂 So don’t be scared like me and go for it!

If you don’t have a clip-on candy thermometer I suggest investing in one, it’s not that expensive and candy-making will be so much easier and precise.

But if you don’t have one and still wanna make some delicious Guinness caramels you can do it without the thermometer and test if the caramels have reached the hard ball stage with the water test. 

Use Your Noodles - Guinness Caramels With Salted Peanuts

Now, let’s do this 🙂

Imaginary-glass-full-of-Guinness-caramels cheers!

Tag #useyournoodles so I can see your beautiful UYN creations. Also, stay in touch on Facebook and Instagram or subscribe to get the recipes directly to your mailbox ♥

Use Your Noodles - Guinness Caramels With Salted Peanuts
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GUINNESS CARAMELS WITH SALTED PEANUTS

Course Dessert
Keyword chewy caramel, soft caramel
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
Cooling time 1 hour
Total Time 2 hours

Ingredients

  • 2 cups / 0.44 l can Guinness
  • 80 g butter cubed
  • 80 ml whipping cream
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup unrefined sugar or brown sugar
  • 1 tsp fine salt
  • 100 g roasted and salted peanuts

Instructions

  1. Butter the sides and the bottom of a 25×18 cm (10×7 inch) pan and line it with baking paper.
  2. In a saucepan (2 l or more) reduce Guinness over medium-low heat to 1/2 cup. This will take about 30 minutes.
  3. Add butter and melt completely. Add whipping cream and sugar. Stir until well combined.
  4. Place in a sugar thermometer. Don’t stir from this point on.
  5. Over medium-low heat cook until the temperature reaches somewhere between 118 °C and 121 °C (245 °F – 250 °F). This will take about 25 minutes or more, but keep an eye on the caramel all the time, because at the end the temperature will rise quickly.
  6. Remove from heat immediately.
  7. Stir in salt and peanuts and pour into the baking tray.
  8. Refrigerate for an hour.
  9. With a sharp knife cut into desired size pieces.
  10. Store at room temperature.

Notes

Keep in mind that when the sugar starts heating it will expand to two or three times the volume, so adjust the saucepan size. But don’t use a saucepan that’s too large, as your thermometer will not be submerged and won’t show accurate temperature. If you double the recipe, adjust the pan!
I cut my caramels into 3 cm squares and wrapped them into 10x12cm baking paper pieces.

Use Your Noodles - Guinness Caramels With Salted Peanuts

Turmeric Falafel Wraps + Wholegrain Spelt Tortillas

Fresh and healthy lunch with lots of colours to fill our daily rainbow – turmeric falafel wraps! And my favourite recipe for homemade wholegrain spelt tortillas!

Use Your Noodles - Turmeric Falafel Wraps

It’s March!!! Hmmm, it’s been March for more than a week, but my brain just grasped that.

Ah, I love March. Why? Because I start growing my veggies from seeds. I first tried it three years ago and  I produced some tomatoes, but the plants were looking a little sad and small. Last year, though, it’s been incredible. I’ve produced toooo many tomato plants (not enough space in the garden) and added bell peppers and chilies. The summer was unbelievably sunny and warm and we had a gazillion of homemade tomatoes and chilies. No complaints here. I’ve grown bell peppers in a container on my balcony near lice infected parsley and cilantro, so imagine the disappointment. Hopefully, this year the bell peppers will join the growing madness 🙂

Okay, now. Let’s get to the recipe!

Use Your Noodles - Turmeric Falafel Wraps + Wholegrain Spelt Tortillas
Use Your Noodles - Turmeric Falafel Wraps + Wholegrain Spelt Tortillas

I’m going double recipe today. Wholegrain spelt tortillas that you can use like regular white flour tortillas and a beautiful bright yelllow turmeric falafel.

What I love about these wraps – besides the obvious deliciousness 🙂 – are the colours. Colourful food makes me smile. If you like them use the sides that I used in this recipe or choose whatever coloured veggies you like. But choose a variety. Reds, greens, purples, yellows… Whatever you find, toss them in!

Use Your Noodles - Turmeric Falafel Wraps + Wholegrain Spelt Tortillas

We’re making a tahini sauce to go with falafels. If you’re a dishwashing maniac like me, stop right now! By dishwashing maniac, I mean insanely washing every dirty dish that I see while I’m cooking. I hate washing dishes after the meal, I’m not crazy 🙂 My point was, there’s no need to wash the food processor after making falafels. Just add the ingredients for the sauce and the liquid will clean it up. Yep, we saved a little time right there 🙂

Use Your Noodles - Turmeric Falafel Wraps + Wholegrain Spelt Tortillas
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TURMERIC FALAFEL WRAPS

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings 4 people

Ingredients

FOR THE FALAFEL BALLS

  • 2 cups cooked chickpeas
  • 1 handful parsley
  • 6 cloves garlic
  • 1 small onion
  • 2 tsp ground coriander seeds
  • 1 tsp ground caraway seeds
  • 1 tsp ground turmeric
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • salt to taste

FOR THE SAUCE

  • 1 handful parsley
  • 4 TBSP tahini paste
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1/4 big medium-hot chili
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 2 TBSP lemon juice
  • black pepper to taste
  • salt to taste

TO SERVE

  • 1/4 medium-size red cabbage
  • 1 big carrot
  • big handful parsley
  • 1 TBSP lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup salted pistachios
  • medium-hot chili slices to taste
  • 8 wholegrain spelt tortillas approx. 15 cm

Instructions

  1. If you are making homemade tortilla wraps (recipe below), make the dough beforehand and leave it to rest while you make the falafels.

Falafel balls

  1. Preheat the oven to 200 °C and line a baking tray with baking paper.

  2. Pulse all ingredients in a food processor until well combined. It should have an almost creamy texture with some small crumbs.
  3. Divide the mixture into quarters. With slightly wet hands, form six balls from each quarter. Wash your hands if they get too messy, otherwise, the mixture will start sticking to them.
  4. Place the falafel balls on the baking tray and bake them for 20-25 minutes or until just slightly golden. These falafels are very delicate, so treat them carefully.

Sauce

  1. In a food processor or a blender combine all ingredients and pulse until the mixture is smooth.

Sides

  1. Chop red cabbage and carrot into thin slices and drizzle them with lemon juice. Chop pistachios and parsley coarsely.

Wraps

  1. Divide the dough into 8, roll them and cook them 30 seconds each side.

  2. Serve falafel balls with sides and tortillas while they are hot.
Use Your Noodles - Turmeric Falafel Wraps + Wholegrain Spelt Tortillas
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WHOLEGRAIN SPELT TORTILLAS

Course Appetizer, Side Dish, Snack
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Resting time 30 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Servings 8 tortillas

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cup wholegrain spelt flour
  • 1/4 + 1/8 cup lukewarm water
  • 2 1/2 TBSP olive oil
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda

Instructions

  1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl, then transfer it to a flat surface and knead it for 5 minutes.
  2. Cover with plastic foil and leave it to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
  3. Divide the dough into 8 balls, flatten them with the palm of your hand and roll them out on the lightly floured surface to 15-20 cm in diameter.
  4. Don’t stack the rolled tortillas or they will get soggy.
  5. Brush off excess flour. Cook on a griddle or big pan over medium-high heat for about 30-second each side. If flour starts to accumulate in the pan, wipe it off with a paper towel.

Need more ideas for colorful lunch recipes? Here they are:

Rainbow Cabbage Soup

Spicy Pea Soup

Millet And Carrot Salad with Creamy Almond Dressing

Turkish Chicken Feast

Use Your Noodles - Turmeric Falafel Wraps

PRINT THIS TURMERIC FALAFEL WRAP AND WHOLEGRAIN SPELT TORTILLA RECIPES AND MAKE YOUR PERSONALIZED USE YOUR NOODLES COOKBOOK

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Use Your Noodles - Turmeric Falafel Wraps + Wholegrain Spelt Tortillas
Use Your Noodles - Turmeric Falafel Wraps + Wholegrain Spelt Tortillas

Teriyaki Eggplant With Plum Wine

This scrumptious, flavor-filled teriyaki eggplant is going to wake up your taste buds. 

Use Your Noodles - Teriyaki Eggplant With Plum Wine

Teriyaki Eggplant. We are going Japanese today. Well, not exactly. I’m not gonna lie. This recipe is not a super authentic teriyaki recipe. After all the star of the dish is eggplant instead of meat of fish.

But it is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And the next day for breakfast, lunch… I think you get the point 😀

Use Your Noodles - Teriyaki Eggplant With Plum Wine

Teriyaki is actually a method of cooking in Japan, but here we know it more as a type of sauce mainly made with soy sauce, sake, mirin and sugar. Teriyaki is made by marinating or basted meat or fish wit teriyaki sauce and then grilled, roasted or broiled. This gives the dish a nice shine, which we all like, right?

You could basically use whatever veggie you like. To me eggplant is one of the most meat-like vegetable there is. If you’ve never grilled it outside in the summer, please try it, you won’t regret it. 

One of my favourite thing about this recipe is adding plum wine. Aaaah, the smell 🙂 I’m giggling, from the alcohol in the air. No, really, I’ve tried making eggplant with soy sauce and teriyaki sauce, but adding plum wine was a winner for me.

Use Your Noodles - Teriyaki Eggplant With Plum Wine

On the more personal note, I’m busy making promo material for the new dance show we’re making with my lovely fellow ladies from Tribal Bizzare Dance Troupe. It’s gonna premiere in May. We had our photoshoot more than two weeks ago and now I finnaly have some time to work on those photos. Happy me.

Now, let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work!

Tag #useyournoodles so I can see your beautiful UYN creations. Also, stay in touch on Facebook and Instagram or subscribe to get the recipes directly to your mailbox ♥

Use Your Noodles - Teriyaki Eggplant With Plum Wine
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TERIYAKI EGGPLANT WITH PLUM WINE

Course Appetizer, Main Course, Side Dish, Snack
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings 6 people

Ingredients

  • 2 big eggplants
  • 1 big onion
  • 4 TBSP coconut oil + extra if necessary
  • 3 TBSP sesame oil
  • 3 TBSP plum wine
  • 3 TBSP teriyaki sauce
  • chopped parsley to taste
  • chopped chili to taste
  • salt to taste

Instructions

  1. Chop onion and eggplant into 1 cm cubes.
  2. In a big pan fry onion on the coconut oil until it gets translucent.
  3. Add sesame oil and eggplant. Fry for 5 minutes or until the eggplant is soft. Add extra coconut oil if necessary.
  4. Add teriyaki sauce. Stirring all the time, fry the eggplants for 2-3 minutes until they get a nice golden color.
  5. Add plum wine and cook until the liquid has evaporated. Remove from the stove and add salt if necessary.
  6. Top with chopped parsley and sesame seeds and serve hot with cooked rice.
Use Your Noodles - Teriyaki Eggplant With Plum Wine

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Use Your Noodles - Teriyaki Eggplant With Plum Wine