30 minute recipes Archives - Page 2 of 2

Roasted Strawberry Rhubarb Crêpes

April 26, 2019

These roasted strawberry rhubarb crêpes with homemade chocolate and hazelnut spread are the perfect way to celebrate spring.

When it comes to breakfast, I can’t stay away from crêpes. I love how delicate they are, but also offer so many options to eat them. One thing I have yet to try with crêpes is a crêpe cake. Have you ever made one? How was it? I can imagine it being AMAZING!

This recipe is not a cake, but it is just as delicious.

It is already rhubarb season, how about that? I’m super excited and need to figure out new ways to use the rhubarb from the garden. I’m also anxiously waiting for the first strawberries to show up. It’s going to be a while for the ones in our garden to grow, but I expect some locally grown strawberries in the next couple of weeks. Can’t wait! I wanna make more of these strawberry rhubarb crêpes 🙂

My favorite crepe filling is definitely chocolate! I’m generally not a very chocolatey person, but I definitely become one when it comes to crêpes.

Because of that, I’m adding a very simple and super quick recipe for a hazelnut and chocolate spread, so basically homemade Nutella. YAY! You can easily substitute it with any chocolate spread you like or simply melted chocolate.

So why roasting rhubarb and strawberries? First, not a fan of raw rhubarb. I don’t mind the taste but I’m not a fan of the crunch. And also, I don’t like it in combination with chocolate. Second, have you ever tried roasted strawberries? Or roasted rhubarb for that matter? When they get roasted the sugars caramelize and give them a flavor kick! I also add a bit of honey before roasting, mostly because rhubarb needs some extra love.

So there you have it. Delicious tender vanilla crêpes, homemade chocolate and hazelnut spread and delicious caramelized roasted rhubarb and strawberries.

These vanilla crêpes with roasted strawberry rhubarb and homemade chocolate and hazelnut spread are the perfect way to celebrate spring.

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Roasted Strawberry Rhubarb Crêpes

Course Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine French

Keyword crepes

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Resting Time 30 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

Vanilla Crêpes

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
3 tsp sugar
1 1/4 cup milk
3 tbsp cooking oil
1 tsp vanilla seeds
extra cooking oil for greasing the pan

Chocolate and Hazelnut Spread

1/2 cup ground hazelnuts
50 g dark chocolate
3 TBSP cooking oil
1 TBSP honey
pinch of salt

Roasted Rhubarb and Strawberries

100 g rhubarb stems
100 g strawberries
2 TBSP honey
1/2 tsp vanilla seeds

Instructions

Roasted Rhubarb and Strawberries

Cut strawberries in quarters lengthwise. Cut rhubarb into chunks approx. the size of strawberry quarters. Drizzle with honey and sprinkle with vanilla seeds. Mix well and roast in a preheated oven at 180°C for 10 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let cool.

Chocolate and Hazelnut Spread

Place all ingredients in a food processor and mix to get a smooth spread.

Vanilla Crêpes

Mixing by hand: In a bowl, mix flour, sugar, salt, and vanilla. In another bowl mix milk, oil, and eggs. Add half of the liquid mixture and mix well to get a paste. Add the rest of the liquid and mix well. You will get a quite watery batter. Perfect for making thin crêpes.
Using a blender: Place all ingredients into a blender, adding the flour last. Mix until you get a smooth batter.
Leave the batter to rest for 30 minutes. You can store it in the fridge and use later.
After the batter has rested, heat a pan over medium-high heat. Once it is hot use a paper napkin or a brush to cover the pan with oil as thinly as possible.
Add the batter to the pan according to the pan size.
20 cm pan – about 3 tbsp of batter
25 cm pan – about 1/4 cup of batter
30 cm pan – about 1/3 cup of batter
The first crêpe is usually a tester to see how hot is the pan and how much batter you need for one crêpe.
Pour the batter in the middle of the pan and quickly rotate it to cover the whole surface. Almost immediately the edges will start to brown. That’s when you take a spatula and go around the edges to release the crêpe. After the crêpe surface has set (meaning there’s no glossy uncooked batter) turn it around with a wide spatula or by tossing it in the air. Cooking the first side should take about 30-40 seconds. Leave the crêpe to cook for an additional 10 seconds on the other side.
Repeat for the rest of the batter.
Stack the crêpes on a plate.
Serve warm with chocolate and hazelnut spread and roasted strawberries and rhubarb including the liquid from the roasting.

White Chocolate Panna Cotta With Hibiscus Raspberry Sauce

February 7, 2019

A smooth creamy white chocolate panna cotta is always a crowdpleaser especially with some hibiscus raspberry sauce on top. One of the easiest desserts that everyone will love.

I’ve been thinking about Valentine’s day recipe that would be easy and quick to make, look pretty and be super yummy. The first thing that popped into my mind was white chocolate panna cotta! I wanted to make it a little extra so I experimented with adding white chocolate to it and it turned out even more delicious than I thought it would.

Lately I’ve been drinking so much hibiscus tea. I used to hate teas that were acidic, such as hibiscus, rose hip or any fruit teas. Since we’ve been sick a lot lately we drink a lot and I really mean A LOT of tea. So we were experimenting and trying out new ones. I went for hibiscus one day and I grew to love it! It was an inspiration for the sauce I made to pour over the soft white chocolate panna cotta. I added raspberry purée to make it more fruity. I love how it adds freshness and fruityness to the whole dessert.

A few tips for making any panna cotta:

The easiest way to serve it is in jars. That way you don’t have a mold to remove.
I do like the look of panna cotta shaped in all kinds of shapes. If you are using a mold there are a few tricks that will help take the panna cotta out. You can spray a thin layer of neutral tasting oil over the inside of the mold before pouring panna cotta in. Alternatively (if the mold is not to complex) you can run a knife along the edges of the mold to release it. The method I prefer to use is soaking the mold in hot water after panna cotta has already settled. The reason why I choose this option over the others is because I seem to get the nicest shape this way without any extra oil on the surface. But that’s just my preference 😀

Looking for more Valentine’s day dessert ideas. Here’s one I love – Dried Fig and Blood Orange Tart

5 from 1 vote

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White Chocolate Panna Cotta With Hibiscus Raspberry Sauce

Course Dessert

Cuisine Italian

Keyword panna cotta, pudding, white chocolate panna cotta

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Resting time 3 hours

Total Time 25 minutes

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

White Chocolate Panna Cotta

500 ml heavy cream
120 ml full-fat milk
100 g white chocolate
4 gelatine leaves
30 g caster sugar

Hibiscus raspberry sauce

1/2 cup boiling water
2 hibiscus teabags
1/4 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup raspberry purée

Instructions

White Chocolate Panna Cotta

Place heavy cream, milk and caster sugar in a pot and bring to a simmer just until the sugar melts. Don’t let it boil! Remove from the stove,
Meanwhile, soak gelatine leaves in cold water as instructed on the label.
Cut white chocolate into small chunks or grate and add to the pot. Mix well until chocolate has melted. Add gelatine and mix again until the gelatine has dissolved.
Pour into jars or molds and immediately place in the fridge to cool down. Leave to set for 2-4 hours before serving.
Meanwhile, prepare the sauce. Steep hibiscus tea in boiling water for ten minutes. Discard the tea bags and add caster sugar to the tea. Cook tea over medium heat until it reduces to half it’s volume.
Add raspberry purée and mix well. The sauce will thicken when it cools.
Pour sauce over panna cotta before serving.

Welcome Baby Chocolate Buckwheat Cookies

May 4, 2017

The most delicious chocolate buckwheat cookies with wholegrain spelt and buckwheat flour and a tropical twist.

Hi guys!

I’ve been away for a month occupied by he hardest but the most rewarding job. On April 5th a little baby boy Jernej came to this world and turned our lives upside down. I never knew I could ever love someone as much as I love my baby. Kissing his forehead, massaging his super tiny feet, loving every unconscious smile when he’s sleeping and caressing his soft cheeks…

Although I’m loving every moment spent with him, I never imagined how exhausing and rewarding caring for a newborn is. After a month, I can easily say it was the toughest month of my life, although full of tears of happines and love, it was also filled with frustrations and self-distrust. Total respect to all the moms that have survived this introduction period keeping a clear mind! Saying that, my baby is sleeping well and is not fussy at all, I can’t imagine that being different…

When I came home from the hospital I was missing moving and doing whatever around the house. Lying in bed all day is totally not my MO, so I baked some cookies while Jernej was sleeping and took some photos. I named them Welcome baby chocolate buckwheat cookies 🙂 To welcome the cutest baby boy to this world <3

I love having a batch of cookies ready for the sweettooth moments of mine and my husband’s. We LOVE cookies! I’m surprised I don’t have more cookie recipes on the blog. I’ll have to change that, right?

What I love about butter cookies is, that they are super simple and you can make them in a food processor. They take no time whatsoever, but they taste sooo good! And if you make them with wholegrain flours you add so much nutritional value. In this recipe I used wholegrain spelt and wholegrain buckwheat flour, but you can easily use plain flours.

Lately I became a huge fan of unrefined cane sugar. It’s not a sugar we usually use in baking, so when I first tried it I became obsessed immediately. If you want caramelly taste without making caramel, cane sugar is the solution. I’m telling you, it makes a big difference.

Although plain buckwheat cookies are incredible, they are even tastier with some chocolate and coconut. Plus they look so pretty, don’t they?

I’m out of these cookies and now I’m waiting for elderflowers to bloom to make some Elderflower Cookie Bites with Raspberries.

Having a lot of work and being exhausted by the continuous feeding and diaper chaninging, I can’t promise I’ll be posting as often as I did before the baby, so bare with me. I’ll get the hang of it and will start posting weekly as soon as I can.

The most delicious chocolate buckwheat cookies with wholegrain spelt and buckwheat flour and a tropical twist.

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Welcome Baby Chocolate Buckwheat Cookies

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 32 cookies

Ingredients

2/3 cup wholegrain spelt flour
2/3 cup wholegrain buckwheat flour
50 g unrefined cane sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla seeds
1/4 tsp baking soda
80 g butter
4 TBSP water
dark chocolate
coconut flakes

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180 °C.
Add all ingredients into a food processor and pulse until they form a ball.
Divide the dough in half, half it again and so on, until you get 32 identical pieces. Form bals with your palms.
Place on a baking paper lined baking tray and bake for 15 minutes or until golden. Move them to a wire rack and leave to cool down for at least 10 minutes.
Melt chocolate over a saucepan of simmering water. Dip the bottom half of the cookies in the chocolate and coconut and place on a pre-cooled tray lined with baking paper. Leave in the fridge to set.

Refreshing Vanilla Strawberry Iced Tea

March 30, 2017

A refreshing spring vanilla strawberry iced tea – perfect combination of rooiboss tea, vanilla and strawberries. Keeps you cool and hydrated during sunny spring days!

I’ve made this delicious drink last week while baking the strawberry cake for my birthday. My birthday is on March 22nd and it just happens that that’s also World Water Day. I love that! I love water! Water is also my absolute favorite drink in the entire world, besides tea. I don’t actually know anyone who would drink as much tea as I do.

I’m gonna be honest with you – tea can get boring at times. Adding fruits and some ice will do the trick though. Makes it refreshing and adds a bunch of vitamins to your drink. Since I was already making the strawberry cake last week I figured why not make a strawberry iced tea. I had a ton of strawberries anyway.

Lately, I’ve been obsessing over rooibos tea, which I find so nice and sweet with a slight vanilla flavor. Besides my daily three cups of raspberry leaf tea this is the one tea I drink the most. Since it’s getting quite warm over here, I’m drinking it cold. And GUESS WHAT it’s a perfect match for strawberries. It really is! And since I’m loving the mild vanilla flavor in the rooibos, I added more vanilla, ‘cuz WHY NOT?

Yay, my favorite refreshing iced tea was born 😀

Let me know if you try it and think the same!

Regarding the prego belly. It’s still here and the baby is still very and I mean VERY lively. Doesn’t seem to want to come out any time soon, but we never know. I’m hoping for April 1st!

Seems like the last month my sweet cravings have gone over the roof. I’m eating more junk than ever and feeling so so regretful about that. I should probably stop feeling like that, because it doesn’t really do much good. I still eat junk if I feel like it. Okay, I’ve kindda managed to keep myself away from nutella. Kindda… I make pancakes for breakfast just to have an excuse to eat Nutella. Otherwise I have like five slices of bread with butter and honey for breakfast. Okay, honey is now bad, but the amount of honey is. Trust me five slices full of dripping honey is too much. But I guess the cravings will go aways eventually 🙂

Did I mention there’s honey in the strawberry iced tea? Of course there is, duh 😛

I’ve also managed to do some gardening. I’ve tranfered my little tomato seedlings to bigger pots, so they’ll have enough room to grow. The truth is, we have to buy tomatoes by the middle of July, sometimes even more. It’s seems so unfair. I’m looking at the growing plants for months before the tomatoes go red. It always seems like the wait is way too long, although totally worth it. Okay, I’m babbling. I’ll stop now.

That’s all for now! By the time I post another recipe I might be writing with one hand full of baby cuteness. If you don’t hear from me for a while, you know what happened 😉

A refreshing spring vanilla strawberry iced tea - perfect combination of rooiboss tea, vanilla and strawberries. Keeps you cool and hydrated during sunny spring days!

5 from 1 vote

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Refreshing Vanilla Strawberry Iced Tea

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

250 g strawberries
600 ml water
4 tsp red rooibos tea
2 TBSP honey
1/4 tsp vanilla seeds (from one vanilla pod)

Instructions

In a big saucepan boil water and add red rooibos tea and steep covered for 10 minutes. After the tea has finnished steeping strain it into a big jug.
Uncover and leave to cool.
Meanwhile, remove strawberry stems and discard. Place the strawberries in a blender and make a smooth purée. If you prefer your purée to be without the tiny pits, strain it through a fine strainer.
When the tea has cooled down to almost room temperature add honey and mix well. Add strawberry purée and vanilla, mix well and pour into glasses filled with ice.

Bacon Wrapped Prunes With Herbed Feta Dip

November 10, 2016

Indulgent finger food for the best party you’ll ever throw, but not without these crispy bacon wrapped prunes and a decadent herbed feta dip!

Yay, finally sharing this recipe with you!

I’ve been making it for a while now, but never got around photographing and posting it. But with the holiday season slowly arriving, I felt like, I owe you this recipe, because – yes, I’m gonna say it – it’s amazing. It’s dried fruit wrapped in bacon. Who wouldn’t love that?! 🙂

There’s a little story about how I got to this deliciousness. It happened on our honeymoon a little over two years ago. I know many people decide to go to some perfect tropical beach for their honeymoon, but we decided to make a road trip through Europe. We made over 2500 km in 16 days and saw soooo many things and sights. One of them was the lovely town of Kaunas in Lithuania. It gave out the vibe of still being stuck in the old time with all the old communist monuments and decaying facades, but that actually gave the town a really special character.

Anyway, convinced that the nightlife would be pretty much non existant we headed to the center of town. Well, we were dead wrong. It was vibrant and lively with all the people siting in the restaurants and pubs, drinking, eating and having a blast. Looked so fun that we had to join. For the first time ever we tried mulled beer. Delicious, btw! We also tried some finger food. Among other we had tiny packets of prunes wrapped in bacon that were filled with some kind of nuts. That was such a clever and incredibly delicious appetizer! Soft and chewy, but crispy on the outside and in the middle. Clever, I’m saying. I’ve been making my own version ever since.

I’m in love with this presentation, with the tree springs, holding together the bacon wrapped prunes. There’s another story behind that.

I usually spend New Year’s Eve with friends in a cabin somewhere in the wild (sometimes not so wild). One year we decided to throw a fancy dress-yo’self-very-pretty kind of New Year’s Eve party. These pretty bacon wrapped prunes were a must! Of course, we were not at home and we didn’t have toothpicks that would hold the whole thing together so we headed to the garden and cut some tree springs and solved the problem. Easy 😀 They looked so much better than with good old toothpicks. Don’t you think they look festive?

In case you are like me – always in need of some dip, here’s a recipe for a simple feta dip with fresh herbs. I used parsley and chives, because that’s what still growing in the garden, but you can add whatever you’ve got on hand.

Go ahead, try them out on the side of some mulled mandarin juice! I sure will 🙂

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BACON WRAPPED PRUNES WITH HERBED FETA DIP

Course Appetizer

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 30

Ingredients

BACON WRAPPED PRUNES

30 prunes pitted
15 thin bacon slices
25 g almonds chopped finely
1 tsp olive oil
2 tsp ground sweet red pepper

HERBED FETA DIP

100 g Feta Cheese
60 g Greek-style yogurt
a bunch of herbs I used parsley and chives, chopped
pinch of pepper

Instructions

BACON WRAPPED PRUNES

Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Heat a pan over medium-high heat, then add chopped almonds. Roast for a minute, until they start smelling sweet. Remove from heat and add olive oil and ground sweet red pepper. Toss around to coat the nuts and set aside too cool a little.
Cut bacon in half.
Fill the prunes with nuts and wrap them in bacon, securing ends with toothpicks.
Place them onto a baking paper-lined baking tray and bake for 12-15 minutes or until the bacon gets golden and crispy.
Best served hot.

HERBED FETA DIP

Combine all ingredients in a food processor, to get a smooth dip. Keep in the fridge before serving.

Mulled Mandarin Juice

October 27, 2016

Easy to make from scratch warm autumn mulled mandarin juice!

I really hope y’all love mandarins as much as I do. They’ve been my main food these days. A nasty cold decided to haunt me, but I was prepared…

With tons of mandarins. I mean I probably ate a few kilos of them. And I’m not exaggerating at all! I’m feeling much better now and ready to bring you another awesome recipe.

Inspired by mulled wine and apple cider, I decided to give warm drinks a little twist. I’ve added mandarins to those two drinks before, but never tried cooking mandarin juice on its own. And man, I’m sorry I didn’t!!

Don’t get me wrong, I love mulled apple cider, but it needs lots of lemon to reduce the sweetness. Well, not mandarins. Especially the sour ones. Which are my favorites, btw 🙂 There’s just a little honey or any other sweetness necessary in this recipe, or if you prefer sour drinks like me, you can omit that.

Now that we got this straight, let’s talk spices.

Cinnamon, cloves, ginger, peppercorn and star anis. That’s what I used. It’s basically what I usually used in mulled drinks, sometimes I play with flavors and add someting new, but being ill and all, I wished for something very homey and familiar. Something to make me feel like a little baby 😀

And it made me so happy I just had to share this recipe with you. I have a feeling mulled mandarin juice is gonna be my everyday drink now. Since being pregnant means, I have to be careful with what kinds of teas I drink, I was also out of warm drink options. This will be perfect to spice things up.

A little secret. I have a feeling rum would go awesomely with mulled mandarin juice, so if you can drink alcohol, try adding it after cooking. And let me know how it was 😛

I want to hear everything about your other favorite winter drinks in the comments below.

And if you want to boost your immunity, so you don’t get a cold like I did, try some Immune-Boosting Elderflower Turmeric Tea.

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MULLED MANDARIN JUICE

Course Cocktail

Keyword non-alcoholic drink, warm drink

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

600 ml 3 cups freshly squeezed mandarin juice (from about 1 kg of mandarins)
600 ml 3 cups water
2 cinnamon sticks
10 cloves
4 slices of ginger
10 peppercorns
2 star anises
1-2 TBSP honey or another sweetener optional

Instructions

Add all ingredients to a pot and place over high heat. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to low heat. Cook for 20 minutes.
Remove from heat and serve hot.

Pesto Pasta Salad with Crispy Bacon

July 27, 2016

There is no summer without a pesto pasta salad topped with a dash of crispy bacon!

Omg, I can’t believe I haven’t made a pasta recipe yet!!!

Banging my head against a wall right now…

I’m like the hugest fan of pasta in any shape or form. Ok, I’d probably choose any pasta over fettuccine, not fan of those – except homemade!

Today we’re making a freaking pesto pasta salad with crispy bacon, folks! And we’re making homemade pesto. How exciting is that!

I never, never, never buy pesto. It’s the easiest thing you can make, why buy it. I even have a trick for winter, when there’s no fresh basil. Every year I try to keep some basil in a pot in the kitchen over winter, but it ALWAYS dyes. 🙁 Boo hoo!

SIMPLE LONG-KEEP PESTO

So here’s the quick tip. Make a simple oil and salt only pesto at the peak of the season. Combine basil leaves with some salt and oil in a food processor and chop it up. It keeps in the fridge for over a year, but you’ll really need to be generous on salt otherwise it can spoil quickly.

That’s also my prefered metod of preserving basil. The taste is much more genuine than the dried one.

So, I want my salads to be fresh with loads of veggies, but there always have to be a goodie. Without an exeption! You know, the piece of feta cheese that’s basically the only reason you’re even eating a Greek salad. Or the pickle you’re dying to fish out of a Russian salad. Or apples in my delicious Millet and Carrot Salad with Creamy Almond Dressing. You see, every salad needs a goodie.

And here it’s CRISPY BACON!

I’m pretty sure my husband loves me more on days when I serve him bacon 🙂

It’s a perfect salad to serve at a picnic. It’s got pasta, tomatoes, bell peppers, mozzarella, pesto and bacon.

Refreshing but filling…

Who wouldn’t love that?!

Not only is this pasta salad super simple and obviously SOOO delicious, but it’s also vibrant and beautiful!

How awesome is that, right?

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PESTO PASTA SALAD WITH CRISPY BACON

Course Salad

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 6

Ingredients

PESTO (~3/4 CUP)

big handful basil
3 TBSP almonds
60 g parmesan
2 cloves garlic
olive oil
pepper
salt

PASTA SALAD

500 g whole grain pasta
basil pesto
500 g cherry tomatoes halved
2 yellow or red bell peppers chopped
150 g small mozzarella balls halved
100 g bacon
juice of 1/2 lemon
olive oil
salt
pepper
basil leaves for garnish

Instructions

Pesto

Combine basil, almonds, parmesan, and garlic in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add olive oil one tablespoon at a time and mix until smooth. You'll probably need around 8 tablespoons. Season with salt and pepper.

Pasta salad

Bring a large pan of salted water to a boil and add pasta. Cook until al dente and rinse under cold water.
Place bacon strips into a large skillet and cook over low heat. When the meat starts to get dark red turn the stripes around with tongs. If there’s too much grease in the skilled, spoon it out. The bacon is done when it’s dark red on both sides. Move the stripes onto a plate covered with a paper towel and wait a couple of minutes until it crisps up. Then use your hands to break it apart into small pieces.
Put the pasta in a bowl and add the pesto. Mix it well.
Add tomatoes, peppers, mozzarella, half of the bacon, and lemon juice and mix well.
Season with salt and pepper and add a drizzle of olive oil if necessary.
Top with remaining bacon and basil leaves.

Cherry, Brie & Bacon Grilled Quesadilla

June 9, 2016

Are you ready for a seriously delicioius sweet and salty grilled quesadilla?

Use Your Noodles - Cherry, Brie & Bacon Grilled Quesadilla

Spending time outside was a big part of my childhood. It was the time, when we didn’t have computers. And even when we got a second hand computer, it only had two games – Prehistorik and Prince of Persia.

Instead of playing those two (totally awesome) games, I prefered hanging out the kids from my street. I lived (and still do) in a street with almost no traffic, which meant the parents let us run around like crazy all over the place.

Our favourite game was hide-and-seek. We’d wait until it got dark and then played it. Much harder, much more exciting!!! 🙂

A simple recipe for the perfect grilled quesadilla with cherries, gooey brie and bacon for a summer barbaque party.

During the day, we played cards. We even invented our own games or even make our own board games 🙂 I still have some stacked somewhere in my closet!

A big part of spring/summer days on the street was hanging ut in our cherry tree. No treehouse necessary, just an old wood board placed between two branches and we got our fun.

The cherry tree is still majestically standing in front of the house. No kids hanging on it, but it still produces the best cherries around.

Sorry neighbours… 🙂

Grilled quesadilla with cherries anyone?

Today’s recipe is dedicated to the delicious sweet red cherries from that very tree. And they are in season now 🙂

I stuffed them in a quesadilla!

I never order quesadilla in a restaurant. Why? Because it is always too small (I eat a lot!) and overpriced. But I love it so much. So I made these cherry quesadilla with brie, bacon and arugula. I added some crushed chilli for spiciness and balsamic vinegar for acidity. And that’s it!

It is gooey, smokey and sweet. Can it even get better? Oh, yeah. It is spicy too 🙂

You can pop it on the grill, while you’re having a barbaque party. I assure you, everyone will thank you 🙂

Let’s get this bbq party started!

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CHERRY, BRIE & BACON GRILLED QUESADILLA

Course Appetizer, Main Course

Keyword tortilla

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 2 people

Ingredients

8 small tortillas
200 g cherries
200 g brie
60 g /12 slices bacon
a handful arugula
chili flakes to taste
balsamic vinegar to taste

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 175 °C and line a baking tray with baking paper.
Deseed the cherries.
Place deseeded cherries on one half of the tray and bacon on the other. Make sure there’s a little space in the middle.
Roast for 10 minutes or until the bacon gets golden and crunchy.
Place brie, bacon, cherries, arugula, and chilly flakes on a tortilla and drizzle with balsamic vinegar. Top with another tortilla and press down.
On a grill or in a grill pan, grill for 2 minutes each side, until they get golden and grill marks are visible.

Also try these recipes at your next bbq:

Simple Fish Sliders With Roasted Garlic Sauce

Homemade Tomato Ketchup

Grapefruit-Lime Cocktail with Ginger and Rosemary

April 14, 2016

A cold grapefruit-lime cocktail with ginger and rosemary to take you to your favourite beach!

Use Your Noodles - Grapefruit-Lime Coctail with Ginger and Rosemary

Have you ever sat down in a nice cozy chair on a sandy beach somewhere far far away, having a waiter bringing you a cocktail whenever you ran out of the previous one. If your answer is YES – you’ve got my admiration and a bit of jealousy 😉 . I haven’t done that yet, but it is on my THINGS-TO-DO-BEFORE-I-DIE LIST. Until then, I’m making my own coctails, or if I’m feeling extra adventurous, I’ll go out and order a mojito!

This cocktail I’m showing you today is not a mojito, but it also contains white rum. Yum, right?

Well, being a fan of sunny days and cold drinks, it’s kinda hard to watch out of my window. You guessed it right – it’s raining. Blah…

Luckily, I have a whole fridge of these delicious grapefruit-lime coctails in my fridge.

Let me tell you, where the hidden trick is. It’s all in the ginger and rosemery syrup. It’s a syrup that you can prepare in advance and keep in the fridge for a week, so you’ll have it on hand, whenever you feel like having a drink. It’s a pretty simple syrup. You boil the water with ginger and rosemary let steep and add some honey.

I’m not a fan of super sweet cocktails, unless that’s because of the actual sweetness of the fruit. I normally use honey or unrefined cane sugar, because I love how they make everything taste caramely.

Why do I love this recipe so much? Because it is as delicious in a mocktail version as in the one shown in the recipe. Simply omit white rum or replace it with sparkling water and you got yourself an everyday treat!

Are you thirsty already? I sure am! 🙂

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GRAPEFRUIT-LIME COCTAIL WITH GINGER AND ROSEMARY

Course Cocktail, Drinks

Keyword mocktail, pink grapefruit cocktail

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

GINGER AND ROSEMARY SYRUP

a big chunk of ginger ~30g
10 small rosemary stems ~10g
4 TBSP honey

GRAPEFRUIT-LIME COCKTAIL

2 cups freshly squeezed pink grapefruit juice
1 cup lime juice
1 cup ginger and rosemary syrup
1/2 – 3/4 cup white rum
abundance of crushed ice

DECORATION

4 stems of rosemary
a slice of pink grapefruit cut in quarters

Instructions

Ginger and rosemary syrup

Cut ginger in thin slices and vigorously roll rosemary between your hands. Place them in a small saucepan and add 1 cup of water. Cover and bring to a boil, then remove from heat and leave to steep for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes add honey.

Grapefruit-Lime Cocktail

Pour grapefruit and lime juices in 4 glasses. Add ice, almost to the top of the glass. Pour over the ginger and rosemary syrup, and white rum.
Decorate with stems of rosemary and slices of grapefruit.

Notes

The recipe for the syrup is for 4 glasses. If you are making a batch, you can multiply it.
Mocktail version: Omit the white rum or replace it with sparkling water.

Teriyaki Eggplant With Plum Wine

March 2, 2016

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 😀

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.

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!

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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

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

PRINT THIS TERIYAKI EGGPLANT WITH PLUM WINE RECIPE AND MAKE YOUR PERSONALIZED USE YOUR NOODLES COOKBOOK

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Homemade Tomato Ketchup

February 25, 2016

After you see how easy it is to make tomato ketchup at home, you’ll never want to buy it in the store again. It takes so little time and almost no effort.

Use Your Noodles - Homemade Tomato Ketchup

I used to be a ketchup addict and I mean every word. I could eat it on bread without anything else until my mouth was burning from all the sugar and acid. Then one day I realised that it is actually junk food, so I stopped eating it. But of course, pretty soon I was craving it again, so I decided to make my own using whatever was in my pantry.

There are a lot of different ketchup recipes out there, from the ones that only use garlic and onion, to the ones that use a variety of spices. There are some that use fresh tomatoes, to the ones that use canned and dried tomatoes. This recipe is using lots of spices and tomato purée, because I want ketchup to be done in mintues. When I need my ketchup, I need it immediately! 🙂

For me the key ingredient in homemade tomato ketchup is clove. It adds a deep, sweet aroma. But, you really need to be careful, because too much of it can make your ketchup tarty.

The trick here is to leave the tomato purée uncovered while it is cooking, so it can thicken quickly. And you’ll want to stir it constantly, otherwise you’ll have a messy kitchen and you can get burned.

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HOMEMADE TOMATO KETCHUP

Course Side Dish

Keyword condiment, dip, fish spread

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

700 g tomato purée
2 TBSP lemon juice
1 TBSP balsamic vinegar
2 bay leaves
1 tsp salt
2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg to taste
pinch of black pepper to taste
3-4 TBSP honey

Instructions

Put the tomato purée in a pan and add the rest of the ingredients except honey.
Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat for about 25 minutes or until the ketchup has thickened to about two thirds.
Remove from the heat and leave to cool for about 5 minutes, then add honey and stir well.

Notes

Keep in mind that ketchup will thicken a little when it cools down and it will taste sweeter.

PRINT THIS HOMEMADE TOMATO KETCHUP RECIPE AND MAKE YOUR PERSONALIZED USE YOUR NOODLES COOKBOOK

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Millet and Carrot Salad with Creamy Almond Dressing

January 7, 2016

Millet, carrots, beets, apples and some greens. What else would you need in a salad? Oh yeah, a creamy almond dressing with some fresh chillies. Enjoy my millet and carrot salad!

Use Your Noodles - Millet and Carrot Salad with Creamy Almond Dressing

Happy New Year! I took a short break from my blog during the holidays, but now I’m back.

We abandoned our pretty decorated home to spend some crazy holidays with our friends in a mountain cottage near Velika planina. For my non-Slovenian readers: If you ever come to Slovenia it is absolutely necessary to go see Velika planina. In the late spring I like to rent a cottage up there together with my friends and spend a few days off in the stunning nature. This year we were lucky to be there when the shepherds were bringing cows up to the mountain. It’s a very ineresting day. You can see cows walking on their own from the valley and shepherds bring cows up on their trailers. It’s a very lively sight! Plus I love this place for picking wild herbs.

Millet and Carrot Salad with Creamy Almond Dressing

Me and my husband absolutely love millet. And by love I mean can’t go without it. So I created this beautiful millet and carrot salad with a nice and creamy spicy almond dressing. For an additional kick and sweetnes I added beetroot and apples and fresh baby salad leaves for some freshness. It’s a quite filling salad, perfect in this winter weather.

Note that the beetroot in this recipe is raw. I know many people don’t like raw beetroot, but if you slice it very thinly it doesn’t have such a powerful earthy taste. I happen to love the earthy taste, but if you are sure you can stand it, you can roast the beetroot before adding it to the salad. Just wrap it in foil and bake for an hour at 200 °C (400 °F). See more instructions on The Kitchn.

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MILLET AND CARROT SALAD WITH CREAMY CASHEW DRESSING

Prep Time 25 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

MILLET AND CARROT SALAD

1 cup millet
2 cups water
1/4 tsp salt
1 big carrot
1 medium-size beetroot
2 medium-size green apples Choose a juicy and sour type. I’m using Granny Smith.
4 handfuls baby leaf salad like lettuce, chard, rocket or any other

CREAMY ALMOND DRESSING

1 cup almonds soaked overnight
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup water
1 tsp chopped chili pepper I’m using a bigger medium-hot chili pepper
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Instructions

SALAD

Boil 2 cups of water and pour it into a small pot. Add millet and salt and stir. Set your stove to low heat and cover the pot. Leave to cook for about 15 minutes, checking every now and then, but not stirring. If the millet is still not tender to add a little more boiling water and cook a few more minutes. When it is soft remove from the heat, transfer it to the serving plate or bowl, and leave to cool a little.
Meanwhile, prepare the dressing (Instructions below) and cut the carrot and beetroot into very thin slices. Cut apples into 1 cm cubes.
When the millet has cooled a little, mix in carrot, beetroot, and apples. Top with fresh baby salad and dressing.

DRESSING

Rinse the almonds.
Put lemon juice, water, chili pepper, salt, and black pepper into a blender and mix until the dressing is smooth and creamy.

Notes

You can do the same dressing with any other nuts. I like almonds and cashews because they are sweet and go really well with millet.
If the millet is hot when you add the baby salad leaves, they will wilt, so make sure it is warm or even cool.

Holiday Detox Smoothie

December 24, 2015

Holidays are knocking on the door and so are the overfilled dinner tables. We’ll definitely be in need for this detox smoothie after. Plus it has two layer, two colours, two flavours!

My thirty year old oven is broken. I figured it out last night, when I was baking potica nut roll. I guess I should have figured it out a month ago when I was baking bread for 3 hours and it way barely done. First two poticas turned out baked, but not exactly like they should be. Luckily my mom lives right below, so I managed to bake the last one perfectly! I had a perfect evening with my husband, baking, singing Christmas songs and finishing our Christmas presents.

Most of us are probably burried in Christmas baking and preparing for the holiday meals with our families. And forget a little, that we’d need a proper vitamin boost. What we need is a detox smoothie. I’m not a huge fan of green smoothies. If I need a dose of vitamins I usually make a salad. But here’s a green smoothie in combination with a pink one, that I really love.

The green layer is lime and banana smoothie with spinach and the pink one is raspberry and beetroot smoothie. First one is sweet and the second one a bit sour and fresh. Lovely combination for the overeating days that are coming. This one is filled with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. It will make your stomach happy after eating all the heavy food. And it will keep your immune system in check!

This recipe calls for nut milk. I make nut milk like this lovely lady here. Sometimes I want a even creamier milk, so I use less water. You can use any nut milk you like, regular milk or water.

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HOLIDAY DETOX SMOOTHIE

Yields 4 cups (2 cups red and 2 cups green smoothie)

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

RED LAYER

1/2 cup beet juice
1/2 cup nut milk I’m using almond
300 g fresh or frozen raspberries
4 tsp coarsely chopped ginger
1/2 tsp turmeric

GREEN LAYER

1 1/2 cup nut milk
juice of 4 limes
200 g frozen or 4 cups fresh spinach
4 TBSP avocado
1 banana
4 dates

TOPPINGS

raspberries
chia seeds
sunflower seeds
lime peel or grated lime zest

Instructions

Put all the ingredients for the red smoothie in a blender and mix it until it is smooth.
Pour the smoothie into glasses.
Repeat the same with the green smoothie. If you are using fresh spinach, you might need to add extra milk or water.
Pour the green smoothie over the red and add the toppings.

Notes

There is no need to clean the blender between the two smoothies, just scrape it out thoroughly.
If you don’t own a juicer, peel one big beetroot and slice it into chunks. Put it in a blender, add enough water for the blender to mix it. Add the water gradually so you don’t get over thinned juice. Filter it the same way as the nut milk.

Turkish Chicken Feast

December 15, 2015

Turkish Chicken Feast is a light and fresh dinner. Sumac covered soft chicken wings with a vibrant green salad with pomegranate and feta cheese and a yogurt dip topped with pomegranate syrup. And done in less than 30 minutes!

Turkish Chicken with Salad and Yoghurt Dip

In my student years I lived in Turkey for four months. I made lots of close friends there and most of all I ate good. And a lot! Together with my friend Sanja I was writing a blog about our adventures there. You can find my blog here. It is in Slovenian, so sorry to all of you who can’t understand (Quick tip: Google can help you).

Tukish food is all about veggies and meat. My roomate was vegetarian and she had difficulties eating out. There is meat almost everywhere, not in huge amounts, but it is there. I am missing Turkish food so much, that I dedicated my Sunday lunch to Turkey. I’ve actually failed, because I haven’t made any excessively sweet dessert. I’m gonna leave that for another occasion.

This recipe is not a traditional Turkish meal, it was only inspired by some of the best Turkish ingredients.

Use Your Noodles - Turkish Chicken Feast

This is my Turkish chicken feast. Sumac covered chicken with a feta, pomegranate and baby leaf salad. Two most common types of meat you can find there are lamb and chicken. I’m using the delicious chicken wings. Turkish people like to eat yoghurt on the side of meat, so I’m going to do the same. But I’ll serve it a bit differently.

Sumac is a spice that comes from the berries of a bush that grows mostly in Mediteranean countries and is a typical spice in the Middle Easter cuisine. It is a bit sour, but very aromatic and fruity and can be used in many ways. In this recipe I’m gonna use it to marinate my chicken.

Other unusual ingredient is pomegranate syrup. It has two versions. A more purified syrup called Nar Ekşisi and a cheaper syrup called Nar Ekşili. I’m using Nar Ekşisi and love it! I highly recomend buying one or making one at home. Use it in a salad dressing, in meatballs, in yoghurt. So many choices. Let’s start cookin’!

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TURKISH CHICKEN FEAST

Course Main Course

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

CHICKEN

20 top parts of chicken wings ~1 kg
2 tsp sumac
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp black pepper
1 TBSP salt
4 cloves garlic
1/2 cup olive oil

DIP

200 g Greek-style yogurt
1 TBSP pomegranate syrup

SALAD

4 handfuls mixed baby leaf salad like lettuce, chard, rocket or any other
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
120 g feta cheese
2 TBSP sunflower seeds
zest of 1 lemon

DRESSING

juice of 1/2 lemon
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
2 TBSP dried or chopped fresh mint

Instructions

Combine sumac, cayenne pepper, black pepper, salt, garlic, and olive oil in a big bowl and add chicken wings. Rub the spices in and make sure you get it all around. If you have time, let it marinate in the fridge for half an hour, if not that’s fine. Heat a large pan and add the chicken wings. You don’t need to add any oil, there’s oil on the chicken already.
Turn the chicken every minute for about 15 to 20 minutes.
Meanwhile combine lemon juice, olive oil, black pepper, salt, and mint in a salad bowl.
Don’t forget to turn the chicken every minute.
When chicken is done, move it to a serving plate and finish your salad. Add the salad leaves to the dressing and mix well. Serve it on a plate and top with pomegranate seeds, feta cheese, sunflower seeds, and grated lemon zest over.
In another small bowl serve yogurt and top it with pomegranate syrup. Mix just a little bit, to get the marbling effect. Use it as a dip for the chicken.

Pear Smoothie with Tapioca

December 1, 2015

This morning bowl is a combination of pear smoothie with ginger, tapioca pearls in coconut milk, fresh pears and pumpkin seed oil.

Use Your Noodles - Pear Smoothie With Tapioca

I remember the first time I tried tapioca. It was in a Chinese restaurant. They served chilled coconut milk with tiny jelly pearls in the bottom. Everyone else was disgusted by this, but I was in heaven. For a long time I didn’t know what that was. Then, one day, I found a bag of tapioca in our shopping mall, still not knowing what that was. It looked interesting, so I bought it and at home I googled tapioca. Well, that was a revelation. It was the same jelly thing I tried in the Chinese restaurant. Imagine me glowing like a Christmas tree over a bag of tiny bubbles.

And the good thing about tapioca is, you can do it in a lot of different ways. In this recipe, I cook tapioca in a small amount of coconut milk, so I get a quite sticky but very sweet pudding. I’m serving it on the side of a pear smoothie with coconut milk and ginger. Its freshness and spiciness goes woderfully with the sweetness of the tapioca pudding.

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PEAR SMOOTHIE WITH TAPIOCA

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

PEAR SMOOTHIE

12 small pears
2 cups coconut milk
2 tsp maca powder
2 tsp vanilla seeds
4 tsp grated ginger

TAPIOCA PUDDING

6 TBSP tapioca pearls
2 cups coconut milk
TOPPINGS
4 small pears
2 tsp sunflower seeds
2 tsp crushed flax seeds
2 tsp coconut flour
2 tsp pumpkin seed oil

Instructions

Boil the coconut milk on medium heat, add tapioca pearls, and continue cooking and stirring on medium heat for 15 minutes or until the pearls become translucent.
Meanwhile, mix all ingredients for the pear smoothie in a blender. Add ginger gradually, so the smoothie won’t be too spicy and blend it. When it is done put it in the serving bowl.
Cut the 4 pears for topping in 1/2 cm slices.
When tapioca pudding is cooked, place it over the smoothie, add slices of pear and sprinkle with sunflower seeds, flax seeds, coconut flour, and pumpkin seed oil.