Longer recipes Archives - Page 3 of 5

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.

Print

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.

Pan-fried Brussels Sprout & Chicken Gyoza

April 4, 2019

These delicious Brussels Sprout & Chicken Gyoza with a dipping sauce are so delicious, you won’t be able to stop eating!

Happy Thursday guys! Hope you are all having a great week. It’s been wild here this week. I was a busy week for me. Besides being sick I have a ton of projects and my son is turning 2 tomorrow so I have to think of a delicious egg-free cake and make it tomorrow.

I’ll make just a teeny tiny cake for him and maybe a bigger cake for Sunday when all the family comes 🙂 Or maybe my mother-in-law will make one. She makes great cakes! So plans for the weekend. Birthday party, obviously, and a photoshoot with some amazing burlesque dancers on Saturday. It’s gonna be fun, I’m sure!

No matter how busy, I always like to make some dumplings. I love all kinds… veggie, meat, fish, you name it, I’ll eat it 🙂

So today I’m making a combo thta I love very much – pan-fried Brussels sprout and chicken gyoza dumplings with a yummy dipping sauce.

These delicious Brussels Sprout & Chicken Gyoza with a dipping sauce are so delicious, you won't be able to stop eating!

Okay, I’m always intrigued by the origins of the dish. Since I ate similar dumplings in a Chinese restaurnt before, I was wondering what’s the story behind gyoza. Here it goes…

Gyoza originated in China as dumplings called Jiaozi. Those became very popular in Japan after the WWII when soldiers brought back the story about Jiaozi and wanted to recreate it. Gyoza was born and it can be filled with all kinds of fillings.

In general there are three types of gyoza – pan-fried, cooked and deep-fried. My favorite – pan-fried called yaki-gyōza.

If you are wondering what’s in these wonderful satchets, let me explain. Besides chicken and Brussels sprouts, there’s also spring onion, garlic, ginger, cilantro and soy sauce. The filling is very easy to make and if you have no time you can always go and buy the wrappers.

But trust me when I say, the wrappers are not difficult to make at all. It does take some time, but you can take it as a meditation. For me working with dough is always a great way to relax and be alone with my thoughts.

Did I tell you about the dipping sauce. I love soy sauce based dipping sauces. The first time I ever tried it, was when I made some spring rolls a long time ago and wondered where I should dip them. They needed some sauce. And I love dipping sushi in soy sauce (probably too much) so the idea was born because of that. I added some lemon juice and freshly chopped chives and to this day I love the sauce so much! Of course, later, I found out that soy sauce based dipping sauces are very common. And for a good reason.

I’m pretty sure you’re all waiting to get to the recipe by now. So here it is!

Print

Pan-fried Brussels Sprout & Chicken Gyoza

Course Appetizer, Main Course, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine Japanese

Keyword dumplings, gyoza, potstickers

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

Gyoza Wrappers

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup water
1 tsp salt
potato or corn starch to prevent sticking

Gyoza filling

200 g ground chicken
100 g shredded Brussels sprouts
1 small onion chopped
1 spring onion chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 thumb size ginger peeled and chopped
1 TBSP cilantro chopped
2 TBSP soy sauce
2 TBSP cooking oil

Dipping sauce

2 TBSP soy sauce
1 TBSP lemon juice
1 TBSP sesame oil

Extras for decoration

chopped cilantro
chopped spring onion greens
sesame seeds

Instructions

Gyoza Wrappers

Add salt to the water and mix until it has dissolved.
Sift the flour into a large bowl.
Add water to the flour and mix with a rubber spatula. If necessary, add a tablespoon of water.
Transfer the dough to the work surface and knead the dough for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes the dough will be much softer. When it is done, cut it in two.
Shape each half into a long log, about 3 cm in diameter. Wrap each log with plastic wrap. Let it sit for 30 minutes.
After the dough has rested, cut each log into 20 pieces and cover with a damp cloth. Roll out each piece so you can cut out a circle with an 8 cm cookie cutter. If the dough rolls back, wait a few seconds, then cut out the circle. Sprinkle with some starch to prevent the wrappers from sticking. Save the scraps under the damp cloth and use them to make more wrappers.

Gyoza filling

Heat up a skillet and add 1 TBSP cooking oil. Saute the onion until golden, then add garlic, ginger and the white part of the spring onion. Saute for a minute or two. Remove from the pan and let cool for a few minutes.
Add this mixture to ground meat, chopped green parts of the spring onion, cilantro and soy sauce. Mix to combine.

Making Gyoza

Run a wet finger around the edge of the gyoza wrappers. Place a teaspoon of filling in the center and Fold the wrapper in half and seal the edges by pressing with fingers. This will create a simple dumpling. If you want the edges to look more artistic, there are a lot of good youtube videos to show you how to do it.

Cooking Gyoza

Place dumplings in a heated skillet with 1 TBSP cooking oil. Fry for 2-3 minutes or until you get the nice deep brown sear on the bottom.
Add 1/3 cup water per 6 dumplings and cover. Cook for 7-8 minutes. If the water runs out, you can add more one TBSP at a time.

Dipping Sauce

Combine all ingredients to make the dipping sauce.
Sprinkle the dumplings with chopped cilantro, spring onion greens, and sesame seeds. Serve with the dipping sauce.

Kale and Radicchio Quinoa Salad

March 24, 2019

This healthy Kale and Radicchio Quinoa Salad is a Winter favorite at our house. With fresh kale and radicchio, quick spring onion pickles and feta cheese I’m sure it will be in yours too.

Today’s recipe is inspired by all the delicious Winter leafy produce that is still available although the long-awaited Spring has arrived. This salad is loaded with some of my favorites like kale and radicchio.

A lot of you have been asking me to share more quick lunch recipes. So here’s another one. And the great thing about it? It’s meant to be cold so it’s super easy to take with you to work! Yay 😀

Alight, so here’s the deal. I usually make quinoa warm and throw in some roasted veggies when I need to take lunch with me. So it occurred to me I should make it a dish that’s meant to be eaten cold in the first place. Like a salad. And whoa, was I right! You should see my husband’s reaction to this kale and radicchio quinoa salad. He was super excited. Who wouldn’t be, just look at these colors!

The best part of this salad is the quick spring onion pickle. It literally takes a few minutes and you can make a bigger batch so you can use it on other dishes as well. In this recipe, I use the pickling liquid as a vinaigrette. Since I cook chunks of beetroot with the spring onion the dressing has a beautiful vibrant pink color. And this salad is all about color.

Print

Kale and Radicchio Quino Salad

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

3 cups quinoa cooked
5 big kale leaves chopped finely
1/2 radicchio (I used Chioggia variety, but others can be used as well), chopped finely
50 g feta cheese crumbled
2 TBSP sunflower seeds
parsley for topping

Quick Pickled Spring Onions

2 spring onions white parts, sliced into 5mm strips
1/4 small beetroot chopped into 4 chuncks
4 TBSP apple cider
2 TBSP water
4 TBSP caster sugar
salt to taste

Instructions

Quick Pickled Spring Onions

Add all ingredients to a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Let cook for about 5 minutes. Remove beet chunks and cool before using as a dressing.

Kale and Radicchio Quino Salad

Mix cooked quinoa, chopped kale, chopped radicchio, feta and pickled spring onions with the pickling liquid. Mix well.
Sprinkle sunflower seeds and chopped parsley on top.

Pink Grapefruit Gin and Tonic

March 21, 2019

Turn a classic gin and tonic into a delicious gin cocktail by adding pink grapefruit and aquafaba for a fabulous delicate foam.

Yay, it’s Spring! I’ve been waiting for it for such a long time. I say that’s a good enough reason to have a cocktail. Are you with me?

Today’s the day for a very refreshing and just a little fancy pink grapefruit gin and tonic. Secret ingredient – aquafaba. It adds such a delicate foam and also such a flavor. I just recently discovered aquafaba and I’m in love. If you never tried it, please do. It will rock your world. I made meringue a couple of weeks ago and it’s pretty fabulous. I might even prefer it to the egg white meringue. Still deciding, they are both so good!

How to make the beautiful foam?

The trick to getting the beautiful foam from aquafaba is to use a cocktail shaker. A mason jar works as well, although it requires a bit more shaking, but you can get the job done 🙂 Funny story. After the photoshoot, I saved the cocktail so me and my husband would drink it in the evening. The foam was almost gone by the evening so I wanted to shake the whole thing a bit. But totally forgot that the cocktail also includes tonic. Hello, bubbles! And hello, explosion! You can imagine the rest. Luckily I had enough so we could both have a sip or two. And a mess to clean up 😛

Guys, tomorrow I’m turning 31! In the morning I’ll be baking a cake for myself 🙂 Oh who am I kidding, I’ll probably bake more than one. Don’t judge 😀 We’ll have some friend and family over for the weekend so I need to equip myself with some goodies. I’ll probably also bake my plum apple galette. It is a big hit at my house.

Have a great weekend and cheers!

5 from 1 vote

Print

Pink Grapefruit Gin and Tonic

Course Cocktail, Drinks

Keyword cocktail, gin and tonic, pink grapefruit cocktail

Prep Time 15 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Servings 4 servings

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

1/2 cup gin
1/2 cup tonic
1/2 cup grapefruit juice freshly squeezed
1/4 cup + 2 TBSP aquafaba
ice

Ginger syrup

1/4 cup water boiled
1/4 cup honey
thimbs size ginger peeled and roughly chopped

Instructions

Ginger syrup

Pour boiling water over chopped ginger and cover. Let steep for 10 minutes, then uncover and leave to cool for five minutes.
Once cooled a bit add honey and mix until honey dissolves. Leave to cool completely and refrigerate before making the cocktail.

Pink Grapefruit Gin and Tonic

Pour gin, grapefruit juice, aquafaba and ginger syrup in a cocktail shaker and top with a handful of ice. Close the lid securely. Shake vigorously until you see foam on top.
Pour into four glasses and serve immediately.

Tahini Bundt Cake With Kiwi Glaze

March 14, 2019

Make this tahini bundt cake to wow everyone with a new exciting flavor! Plus a sweet kiwi glaze on top. What can be better?

It’s Saint Patrick’s Day on Sunday, so I have a little treat for you guys. A tahini budt cake with a very delicious kiwi glaze. It has to be something green, right?

I used the last of our homegrown kiwis for this glaze. I love having kiwis because they hold very well during the Winter. Leave it in a cold place and they’ll be good until Spring. Isn’t it great to have some homegrown fruits available during the Winter?

We don’t have a huge garden but it’s better than nothing. In fact, you don’t need a lot of space to grow your own food. Even a balcony works for a lot of produce. My mission this year is to expand the garden to my balconies. I have two, one facing East and one facing West, so I can have some produce on one and some on the other, depending on what each plant prefers.

Let’s get back to the tahini bundt cake.

I love any kind of bundt cake really. But tahini bundt cake is so special I’m wondering if it is my favorite so far? Probably yes! Every bite is so full of flavor. I made this cake with oil, not butter. We all know butter adds amazing taste but oil in cakes adds softness and keeps the cake moist for a longer time. This time I added olive oil, instead of plain vegetable oil, because it adds such a nice flavor and goes so well with tahini.

Even when I make my own tahini paste I use olive oil. It just makes it taste so much better! Trust me, it’ GOOD 🙂

Okay, I’m ready to share the recipe. Are you excited? I sure am! And Happy Saint Patrick’s Day everyone 😀

Print

Tahini Bundt Cake With Kiwi Glaze

Course Dessert

Keyword bundt cake, cake

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Resting time 15 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients

Tahini Bundt Cake

2 large eggs room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup tahini paste
3/4 cup milk room temperature
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla seeds

Kiwi Glaze

3 small ripe kiwis
3/4 cup icing sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream

Instructions

Tahini Bundt Cake

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Grease a 6 cup bundt cake pan with butter or cooking spray.
Place the eggs and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat together at high speed until the mixture gets fluffy.
Add oil, tahini paste, and milk and mix at medium speed just to combine.
Add baking powder and vanilla seeds and mix on medium speed again just to combine.
At the end add flour and mix on low speed to combine.
Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and leave the cake in the pan. Cover with a cloth and leave to rest for 10-15 minutes. This will make the cake come out easily.
Remove from the pan and leave to cool down before glazing.

Kiwi Glaze

Blend kiwis in a blender. Pour the pureé in a bowl and add icing sugar. Whisk until well combined. Add heavy cream and mix again.
Pour the glaze over the cooled tahini bundt cake

Eggless Doughnuts With Orange Cream

February 28, 2019

What better way to celebrate the Carnival season but with some fluffy and soft eggless doughnuts with orange cream.

Only 5 days to Carnival. The fun starts today with ‘Fat Thursday’ as we call it. Like in other places, it gets really festive during these five days. People dress up, they go out and celebrate at processions, and of course they eat. A LOT!

Not sure about other places, but doughnuts are a big part of the Carnival in Slovenia. Each family has its own secret recipe and its favorite fillings. My mom is the one in charge of making doughnuts every year. She’s the true doughnut Yoda of the family. For years I was eating her doughnuts and never tried to make my own. This year, I decided it’s time to change that.

As you know, if you’ve been following me for a while, my son’s allergic to eggs so I’m always on search to find good eggless solutions for common foods. So why not make eggless doughnuts?

Recipes like these rarely turn out great in the first attempt but this one was spot on after the first try. It was fluffy and so incredibly soft. An stayed that way even the second day. We ate them all in a day but I always leave a bit to test how something tastes and looks the next day. These held really well which can sometimes be a problem with eggless pastry.

Since it’s still citrus season I also made an eggless pudding cream with some mandarine and orange zest to fill those delicious doughnuts. I made vanilla pudding cream, but you can play a bit here and add some cocoa powder in as well. Hmmm, I might try this as well! 😀

Do you have a ton of oranges on spare? Trust me, you’re not the only one 🙂 Why not make a delicious Dried fig and blood orange tart?

Print

Eggless Doughnuts With Orange Cream

Course Dessert

Keyword doughnuts

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 12 doughnuts

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

Eggless doughnuts

500 g plain flour
6 TBSP sugar
3 dl milk lukewarm
1/4 cup butter melted
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 pack dried yeast
1/4 tsp salt
pinch of turmeric
zest of 1/2 lemon

Orange Pudding Cream

250 ml milk
15 g corn starch
zest of 1/2 orange
zest of 1/2 mandarine
1/2 tsp vanilla seeds or vanilla extract

Instructions

Eggless Doughnuts

In a small bowl mix dried yeast 1 dl of warm milk and 2 TBSP of sugar. Cover and let sit for 5-10 minutes so the foam starts to form.
Meanwhile, combine flour, sugar, salt, lemon zest and turmeric in a big stand mixer bowl.
After the yeast has started to foam add it to the flour. Add the remaining lukewarm milk and mix on medium speed for a minute.
Add oil and melted butter and mix for 10 more minutes od medium-high speed.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave to rise in a warm place for about an hour or until the dough doubles in size.
After the dough has risen roll it out on a lightly floured surface to about 2.5 cm thick (without kneading it whatsoever). Use doughnut cutters to cut out circles or use a knife to cut any desired shapes.
Leave the doughnuts to rise for about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat the oil to 140°C. A good indicator the temperature is perfect is to check with a wooden spoon. If little bubbles start to form around the spoon handle the oil is ready to go.
Place doughnuts top side down in hot oil, but prior to that brush away the flour. A lot of flour will burn your oil and it will not be re-usable. Fry the doughnuts for about 3 minutes covered. When they turn golden, turn them around away from yourself, so you don’t burn yourself! Fry for about 3 more minutes on the other side uncovered.
Transfer the doughnuts to a plate covered with paper towels to drain the excess oil. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool.

Orange Pudding Cream

Mix corn starch with 50ml of milk to form a lump-free paste.
Bring the remaining 200ml of milk to a simmer and add the starch mixture. Whisk continuously until the pudding has thickened to a very think mixture. Cover and leave for 10 minutes to cool a bit.

Filling the doughnuts

Pierce the crust of each cooled doughnut with the piping tube and pipe a little pudding into each doughnut. Do not whisk or stir the pudding when transferring it to the piping bag or it will go runny.

Roasted Orange Chicken

January 31, 2019

Tender roasted orange chicken marinated in orange juice and soy sauce served with roasted potatoes is a quick and easy dinner recipe everyone will love.

Hello guys! I have an exciting new recipe

A lot of people have told me lately that they look for quick lunch and dinner recipes that are healthy as well. I always loved anything roasted, more so lately with my son keeping me busy. Anything that can be prepared in advance and doesn’t take a lot of my time is super handy.

I made this roasted orange chicken last week and I love how it turned out. I need to make something quickly with a few ingredients I had in the fridge. You really don’t need a lot of fancy ingredients to make a fancy meal. Doesn’t this look fancy? Trust me, no fancy ingredients were added. Oranges are the not-so-secret ingredients that add such a nice color and make it looks like you worked your but for the meal 🙂

The marinade ends up making the most delicious sauce and adds so much flavor to he chicken. Wanna know the best part? I took me less than 10 minutes to prepare before tossing into the oven and relaxing!

The whole family was sick the past month and a half. It’s been only a few days since we’re actually all okay and we’re hoping it ended. There’s nothing less fun but being home with a sick kid or being sick yourself or even worst both of you sick. We weren’t able to go out for more than a few minutes a day and we were FREAKING OUT!

We were drinking lots of elderflower turmeric tea and eating a ton of soup! And finally got better… fingers crossed.

To be honest, a lot of the time I wasn’t even able to cook anything even slightly decent. Thank god for my mum, we were crashing her lunches a lot. Parents rock, right? I hope my son says that about me some day!

Print

Roasted Orange Chicken

Course Main Course

Keyword chicken, roasted chicken, roasted potatoes

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 2 people

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

500 g chicken thighs (approx. 2 chicken thighs)
400 g young potatoes
1 orange cut in slices
1 whole garlic bulb
1/2 TBSP soy sauce
2 TBSP freshely squeezed orange juice
1 tsp ground garlic
1/4 tsp crushed black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 TBSP olive oil
salt to taste
10 thyme springs

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 190 °C.
Combine together soy sauce, orange juice, ground garlic, crushed black pepper, cayenne pepper, and 1 TBSP olive oil. Pour over the chicken thighs and let sit until you prepare the potatoes.
Cut potatoes in 2 cm chunks and drizzle with 1 TBSP olive oil and add salt to taste. Mix well.
Place potatoes in a baking tray and add chicken thighs skin side up. Add orange slices and thyme springs.
Roast in the preheated oven for 50 minutes.

Double Chocolate Blackberry Ice Cream Sandwiches

August 31, 2017

Double chocolate blackberry ice cream sandwiches are a perfect ice cold refreshment for the hot late summer days!

Finally back to blogging. I took a little time of to go to the seaside and spend more quality time with the little one. He was sick a lot this past month and we’re all trying to beat a cold right now. A cold in the summer, that’s new! And awful :/

Since I’ve posted the last recipe my baby has started eating solids. I couldn’t stand looking at his big sad eyes watching us munch over whatever was on the table and the poor thing didn’t get anything. Well, turns out he’s a natural. He never once spits out food and although he doesn’t eat much, he likes everything we give him. Gotta love a good eater 🙂

I could talk baby stuff all day long. You know when people can’t shut up about what their baby has acomplished lately, what she’s eating, how she’s the best in every single way. Well, I’m one of those people right now. I get them now. My old self would hate me so much, but yeah once you’re a parent you can’t do differently 😛
I’m gonna shut up now and go to the good stuf – the blackberry ice cream sandwiches.

It was kindda hard to get some blackberries. Apparently it’s not a good season this year. But anyways I had this reciipe in my mind for a while now and I did find some, so I could try it. Actually the recipe would work with any berries for that matter. But blackberries are in season now and they are freakin’ delicious! And so are the blackberry ice cream sandwiches.

The cookies are chocolate shortbread, so they might seem too crumbly, but once they are chilled in the freezer, they absorb some moisture and they become softer. Just as I remember ice cream sandwiches from my childhood. I had them often, but they don’t seem to be very popular over here these days. Strange.

I’m gonna be quick today and finish while I still have some peace and quiet 🙂

If you want another simple ice cream recipe check out n o churn melon sorbet with basil, it’s one of my favorite summer refreshments!

Have a good one folks!

Double chocolate blackberry ice cream sandwiches are a perfect ice cold refreshment for the hot late summer days!

5 from 1 vote

Print

Double Chocolate Blackberry Ice Cream Sandwiches

Servings 20 sandwiches

Ingredients

Blackberry Ice Cream

600 g blackberries fresh or frozen
1 1/2 cup unrefined cane sugar
1 tsp vanilla seeds
2 eggs
1 cup whipping cream
pinch of salt

Chocolate Cookies

225 g unsalted butter
1/2 cup icing sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla seeds
pinch of salt

Decoration

150 g semi-dark chocolate
bee pollen

Instructions

Blackberry Ice Cream

Heat blackberries, sugar, salt and vanilla seeds in a big sauce pan. Bring it to a gentle boil and cook until the volume has reduced to half. Pass the blackberry mixture through a fine mesh to remove the pits. Leave at room temperature to cool. Then transfer to the fridge until you do the rest of the recipe.
Place eggs in a heat proof bowl. Boil water in a sauce pan and place the bowl over it. The water should simmer and not touch the top bowl. Leave water to simmer on medium while whisking the eggs for 15-20 minutes or until it starts to thicken and get pale yellow. Place the eggs in the fridge for 15 minutes to cool.
Whip the cream to stiff peaks.
Once everything had cooled use a spatula to mix eggs into blackberry mixture. Carefully incorporate whipped cream. Place in an airtight container and freeze for about four hours or until the ice cream is firm, but not completely frozen.

Chocolate Cookies

Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a baking sheet with baking paper.
Whip butter and icing sugar until fluffy and pale yellow. Add flour, cocoa powder, vanilla seeds and salt and slowly incorporate it in the whipped butter.
Roll the dough 5mm thick and cut out 5cm circles. Move them to the baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack too cool.

Assembly

Once the cookies have cooled and the ice cream is firm enough to scoop. Use an ice cream scoop to fill ice cream between two cookies. Other option is to use the cookie cutter. This way place the cookie to the bottom of the cookie cutter then fill it with icecream and cover with another cookie. Plase in the freezer while melting the chocolate.
Place chocolate in a heat proof bowl. Boil water in a sauce pan and place the bowl over it. The water should simmer and not touch the top bowl.
Dip assembled ice cream sandwiches into chocolate and sprinkle with bee pollen.
Freeze until firm.

Spicy Goat Cheese Pesto Pizza

July 6, 2017

Italian flavors with a twist in one delicious spicy goat cheese pesto pizza loaded with fresh cherry tomatoes, mozzarella and black olives. I could eat this pizza every day!

Wow, the summer this year. I can’t complain. Sunny weather, nice breeze and Aperol spritz in the evenings – what else could I wish for? The baby is sleeping very well so far, during the night as well as the day and his playtimes are getting longer. Finally! I absolutely love singing to him with his curious eyes on me all the time 🙂

In a couple of days we’re heading for some much needed vacations beside a beautiful lake under the mountains. Even though we love the seaside, we’re more of a lake and river type of swimmers. We love the sunny beaches and the waves by the sea, but hate the salt. The place we’re going to is quite isolated with just a couple of vacation houses nearby. So hopefully we’ll get some peace and quiet.

Okay back to the recipe. I have a ton of basil in the garden. A couple of years ago I sowed an entire bag of seeds in one small pot and it turned out the best idea ever. Why? Because you can start picking basil as soon as it starts growing leaves. Of course it’s way too crowded and I pick the whole plants in the begining to decrowd the pot. I leave some to grow into big bushy plants.

Basil was the whole inspiration for this recipe. I love pesto esecially with basil. I tried making it with goat cheese and it is seriously delicious. Add some mozzarela, tomatoes and olives and put all of them on the best pizza dough and you’ve got a treat. I included an amazing and very easy pizza dough recipe, but you can use your own. My whole-grain spelt dough would work just as well.

This pizza dough rises slowly in the fridge for a day and it is the best pizza dough I’ve made to this date. In fact most pizza places will make the dough in advance as well. Slow rise at low temperatures makes the dough nice and elastic, so you can strech it out very thinly. I didn’t do this with this pizza, but I love making it super thin for my tomato sauce pizza only. Which reminds me… I should totally share the recipe.

Second thing with making your pizza dough perfect is high temperature. Although I sometimes bake it at 230°C only, to make it more bready. Again look at the photos, the dough turns out looking something like that. If you crank up the temperature you’ll get an even crunchier crust. One thing I always do is place the baking tray in the oven when I turn it on, so it heats uo nicely. A pizza stone would be an even better option, but I don’t have one (yet) 🙂

I’ll stop babbling and get to the recipe. Have a lovely day you guys!

Italian flavors with a twist in one delicious spicy goat cheese pesto pizza loaded with fresh cherry tomatoes, mozarella and black olives. I could eat this pizza every day!

5 from 1 vote

Print

Spicy Goat Cheese Pesto Pizza

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

Pizza Dough

4 cups bread flour
1 1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 sachet of yeast (7g)
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt

Goat Cheese Pesto

1 cup chopped basil
30 g mild goat cheese
20 g parmesan
3 TBSP pine nuts
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp chilli flakes
3 TBSP olive oil (or more if necessary)

Spicy Goat Cheese Pesto Pizza

pizza dough
goat cheese pesto
400 g mozzarella
500 g cherry tomatoes
100 g black olives
2 tsp chilli flakes
basil for decoration

Instructions

Pizza Dough

Mix all ingredients in a stand mixer or by hand. Knead for about 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and soft, but not sticky.
Slightly oil a big bowl with at least double the volume of the dough. Leave the dough rest in the bowl covered with plastic wrap for about an hour or until double the size.
Knead again and return to the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and save in the fridge for 24 hours. Be sure to use a large bowl, because the dough will continue rising in the fridge!
Remove from the fridge, divide the dough into four an knead again to for four balls. Cover with a cloth and leave at room temperature at least an hour before using the dough.

Goat Cheese Pesto

Place all ingredients except basil into a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add basil and pulse for a few more seconds.

Spicy Goat Cheese Pesto Pizza

Preheat the oven to 230°C or preferably as hugh as your oven goes leaving the baking tray or pizza stone in the oven. If using pizza stone make sure you leave it in the oven long enough to be extremely hot.
Uncover the dough, but don't knead again from this point on. Use a small amount of flour to spread the dough into a desired shape. In this recipe form a 20 cm circle with a thick edge.
Spread basil pesto over the thin center of the dough and cover with sliced or pulled-appart mozzarella. Top with cherry tomatoes, black olives and chilli flakes.
Bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes depending on the thickness of the crust.
Decorate with more basil leaves before serving.

Lime Poppy Seed Elderflower Cake Roll

June 9, 2017

This poppy seed elderflower cake roll is a delicately light spring tea-time treat.

It’s finally here and almost over – the season of elderflowers. I’m in heaven! The smell of those amazing flowers everywhere I go..uhm, so good!

I was thinking about making a cake with elderflowers, but then I changed my mind and challenged myself to make a elderflower cake roll. Weird, but I’ve never made a cake roll. My mum makes amazing cake rolls, so why even bother 🙂 She gave me her cake roll sponge recipe and I tweaked it a little and make a delicious elderflower mascarpone filling. I added lime and poppy seeds to the sponge to make the basic recipe even more yummy 😀

Thanks mom for this super simple recipe!

There are actually (at least) two ways you can scent your filling with elderflowers.

Cooking the cream: That’s a faster way, but it involves cooking. You place elderflowers in a pot and cover it with cream. It needs to cook for about 10 minutes, but the cream should not boil.
Infusing the elderflowers in cream. This method takes longer, but you infuse the eldeflowers in cream and leave it in the fridge for one day and the cream will get a nice scent of elderflowers. So no work at all.

Both of this methods are simple and basically give the same delicious result 🙂

I made elderflower panna cotta a while ago and used the first method, because you’re cooking cream anyway. Panna cotta was sooo good, you should definitely try it! Use a basic recipe and cook the eldeflowers in the cream for ten minutes. Together with some fresh strawberries it’s an amazing no bake dessert for the hot days 🙂

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

This poppy seed elderflower cake roll is a delicately light spring tea-time treat.

Print

Lime Poppy Seed Elderflower Cake Roll

Ingredients

Lime Poppy Seed Sponge

1/2 cup sugar (100g)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour (80g)
4 TBSP ground poppy seeds (20g)
6 eggs
zest of one lime
juice of 2-3 limes

Elderflower Cream Filling

500 ml whipping cream chilled
250 g mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup honey
2 TBSP lime juice

Instructions

Lime Poppy Seed Sponge

Separate eggwhites from the yolks and beat them until they form a firm peak (When you turn the whisk upside down eggwhites should hold, but the tips should fold back.)
Add sugar and beat for a minute or two.
Add egg yolks and beat them in.
Add flour, poppy seeds and lime zest and use the lowest setting of the mixer to fold it in or use a spatula and do it manually.
Transfer the mixture to the baking tray and bake for 10 minutes.
Remove from the oven. Place a clean tablecloth on a flat surface and place the baked sponge on the tablecloth top side down, leaving the baking paper on. Roll in the cloth.

Elderflower Cream Filling

Cold method: In a big bowl cover elderflower heads with whipping cream and leave to infuse for 24 hours in the fridge. After 24 hours run the cream through a fine sieve to remove the elderflower heads.
Warm method: Place elderflower and cream into a pot and cook on low heat for ten minutes. Don't let the cream boil! Leave to cool to room temperature, then remove the elderflower heads and leave in the fridge overnight.
Both methods:
Whip the cream just befor entirely firm.
Use a fork to cream the mascarope cheese.
Add mascarpone and honey to the whipped cream and use the lowest settng to incorporate it in the whipping cream.
Add lime juice and use a spatula to mix it in.

Assembly

Once the sponge is cool unroll and carefully remove the baking paper.
Juice 2 -3 limes and use the juice to soak the sponge.
Frost with elderflower mascarpone cream and tighly roll.
Leave in the fridge for an hour for easier cutting.

Cherry Braised Beef Brisket With Creamy Mashed Potatoes

June 1, 2017

This cherry braised beef brisket is incredibly tender and comforting. When served with some creamy mashed potatoes it makes a perfect dish for the rainy spring days.

We are actually having very hot days for days now. It almost feels like summer, so I’m only wishing for rainy days. Don’t get me wrong, I love summer and sunny days, but the heat came way too quickly, I’m not prepared! Well, at least I get to wear some nice summer dresses and I get to diss the socks, which I hate 🙂

Okay, our cherry tree is again full of cherries, we can’t eat them all, they ripe so fast. We’re making juice for the winter and save some in the freezer. Besides we eat tons of them every day and I’m not complainig. Who doesn’t love fresh cherries?

Even though I L.O.V.E. cherries in desserts and drinks, I’m also loving how wonderfully they complement savory dishes. Remember the Cherry, brie and bacon grilled quesadillas? So yummy!!

Me and my husband absolutely love braised beef and when we got hold of a nice piece of brisket with ribs we couldn’t resist but adding some cherries and some lovely herbs from the garden to some classical braising veggies, like carrots, onions and celery. Result… AMAZING!

Seriously. It’s not like you can tell there are cherries in the dish besides the pieces of cherries, obviously. But they add such a nice sweet flavour. I can’t get over it, I’m doing this dish again for the whole family this weekend.

Since this recipe takes 6 to 7 hours to make, we started cooking at five in the morning. Luckily we wake up at that time anyway to feed the baby 🙂 I’m guessing we’ll be braising more now that we’re waking up at night 😉

One more thing that’s completely unrelated. I’ve been on the best treasure hunt since I’ve started shooting food. My friend is cleaning her grandma’s old apartment so she invited me to go and take a look if there’s anything I’d need for my photography. Well, I found a huuuuge bag of goodies 🙂 I’ve even used some of them in this photoshoot. I know I’m bragging, but I can’t help it 😉

Have a great day you guys!

This cherry braised beef brisket is incredibly tender and comforting. When served with some creamy mashed potatoes it makes a perfect dish for the rainy spring days.

Print

Cherry Braised Beef Brisket With Creamy Mashed Potatoes

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 7 hours

Total Time 8 hours

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

Cherry Braised Beef Brisket

1 kg beef brisket
400 g cherries depitted
2 big carrots
2 onions
2 celery sticks
5 cloves garlic
3 rosemary springs
a handful of basil
5 thyme springs
1 l chicken stock
salt
black pepper
cayenne pepper

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

8 medium sized potatoes
200 g butter room temperature

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 140°C.

Cherry Braised Beef Brisket

Season the brisket generously with salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper.
Sear all sides of the brisket on a hot skillet with a splash of oil for about a minute or two.
Move the brisket to a plate.
Cut carrots, onions and cellery into 1 cm chunks.
In the same skillet sweat the carrots, onions and cellery for about 10 minutes.
Move the brisket and the vegetables to a baking tray and add cherries, garlic, rosemary, basil and thyme and add the stock.
Bake in the preheated oven for 6 to 7 hour or until the meat gets very tender and almost falls apart. when sliced.
Remove from the oven and move the meat to a plate. Cover it with tin foil. Meanwhile use a hand mixer to thicken the liquid. You can mix all of the liquid with vegetables, or you can keep some vegetables to be seen in the sauce.

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

Cook potatoes in salted water until tender. Start with cold water! Cooking time depends on the size of potatoes.
Remove the skins and add butter. Mash with a masher until creamy.

Macerated Strawberry Chocolate Cake

March 22, 2017

This strawberry chocolate cake with honey macerated strawberries and chocolate rhubarb truffles is perfect for any celebration and is super easy to make and so yummy.

So, guys, it’s my birthday!

I only have one more year before I enter a new decade.

My wishes for me:

Cook more delicious foods and try lots of new combination.
Be the best mum to my precious baby, that’s still hiding in my belly.
Love every moment with my husband and our little one.
Take time for my friends and also for myself.
Continue being happy and positive.

Enough about me, let’s talk CAKE!!!

I couldn’t resist but making something chocolaty with strawberries and cream. Anyone else anxiously waiting for fresh straberries from the garden? We have a few strawberry plants and I can’t wait for them to grow fresh little fruits.

I’m not a big fan of heavy cakes, with heavy buttery fillings. That’s why I love using whipping cream in cakes. Remember the chocolate hazelnut pavlova? I think it makes cakes light and fresh, especially if you add some fresh fruits. I used plain whipping cream without sugar or anything, but you can add a little icing sugar or some vanilla.

This sponge is rich and decadent on its own and doesn’t need a heavy filling anyway!

The sponge I used in this strawberry chocolate cake is one of the best if not the best chocolate sponge I’ve ever tried. The amazing recipe is by Add A Pinch. I changed it just a little, so I’m posting my version of her delicious recipe. The recipe contains a little less sugar and the layers are thinner so they can hold the light whipped cream filling. Seriously you need to try either my or her version, both are yummy!!

Now, about strawberries. Have you tried macerated strawberries, yet? They are simply the most delicious thing. Adding a little honey makes them obviously a little sweeter, but brings the juices and creates a lovely sauce. Imagine that over icecream.

Um, de-li-cious!!!

I was feeling a little playful with this cake, so I made some chocolate rhubarb truffles. Super simple, but so good! They are made of sponge and rhubarb jam only 😀 Last year we had loads of rhubarb so I tried making my own rhubarb jam and I’m telling you I’m making it again this year.

I made this cake a day ahead, but it’s already half gone and it’s not even noon on my birthday 😛 Luckily I have my mum making me more sweets today!

This strawberry chocolate cake with honey macerated strawberries and chocolate rhubarb truffles is perfect for any celebration and is super easy to make and so yummy.

5 from 1 vote

Print

Macerated Strawberry Chocolate Cake

Total time includes cooling time.

Sponge recipe adapted from The Best Chocolate Cake Recipe Ever recipe by Add A Pinch. Link in the text!

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 2 hours

Ingredients

Chocolate Sponge

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cups cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla seeds or vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Honey Macerated Strawberries

200 g fresh strawberries
2 1/2 TBSP honey

Chocolate Rhubarb Truffles

chocolate sponge from one of the 7 inch tins
rhubarb jam (or strawberry jam) (40g jam per 100g sponge)

Other

300 ml cold whipping cream

Instructions

Chocolate Sponge

Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Butter four 7 inch baking tins.
Add flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt to a stand mixer bowl and whisk through to combine.
Add milk, eggs, vegetable oil and vanilla seeds and mix on medium speed until well combined.
Change mixer speed to low and slowly add boiling water to the mixture. It will get quite liquid, but that's what makes it moist and rich in the end.
Pour the mixture into four baking tins and bake for about 25 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean.
Leave to cool in the baking tin for 10 minutes then remove form the tin and leave in a cool place to cool completely. Once it is room temperature, you can place it in the fridge to continue cooling.

Honey Macerated Strawberries

Thinly cut strawberries and place them in a bowl. Add honey and mix well, so the honey coats all strawberries.
Leave to macerate in the fridge until you are ready to assemble the cake, but at least an hour.

Chocolate Rhubarb Truffles

Take one cooled chocolate sponge and use your fingers to turn it into crumbs. Add 40g rhubarb jam per 100g of sponge and incorporate it in the crumbs. Shape 1 cm balls using the palms of your hands. The mixture shouldn't be too sticky, but moist enough to hold the shape of a ball.
Place in the fridge until you are ready to assemble the cake.

Assembling The Strawberry Chocolate Cake

Whip whipping cream until it forms stiff peaks. Place it in a piping bag with a round or a star nozzle.
Place one sponge on a serving tray and pipe one layer of whipped cream in the middle, leaving one centimeter of uncovered sponge at the edge. Pipe small balls of cream one centimeters away from each other on the edge. Place chocolate rhubarb truffles between the cream balls.
Top with one third of honey macerated strawberries.
Continue in the same way for the remaining two layers.
Refridgerate for at least an hour before serving.

Pull-Apart Chicken Spanakopita (Greek Spinach Pie)

March 16, 2017

This chicken spanakopita (Greek spinach pie) is the best comfort food I can imagine for spring. Hearty and rich, flavored with cheeses, leeks and chicken, but also loaded with fresh spinach. And to top it all, it make s a perfect early picnic dish, since it is pull-apart. I don’t think anything could make me more excited right now.

You all know by now, how excited I get when I see spring starting to blossom. If I’d have to choose I’d say winter is my favorite season, but there’s something magical about early spring. The thing I love the most is to go out in the forest and pick fresh new wild foods. By now I’ve already picked the earlies small fragrant leaves of wild garlic and I’m waiting for more spring goodies to start growing.

I didn’t use wild garlic in the recipe, although it would fit in just perfectly.

Since we’re talking about wild food, I’d love to know your spring wild food favorites? 😀

Chicken Spanakopita

I love anything wrapped in phyllo dough or even making my own phyllo dough. Okay, I cheated with this one, I bought it 😉 But whenever I have time I make my own. It makes a huge difference. If you have the chance to find freshly made phyllo dough in your local food market, buy it. Your dishes will go from great to awesome.

I mean it!

Spanakopita is originally made without meat and in layers of phyllo dough. I added chicken for some extra flavor and to make my hubby happy 😀 I figured why not make it easier to serve and make it more like individual böreks. Imagine if börek and pie would have a baby, it would look like that! Wrapped in mini rolls and served without cutting.

The ingredients are pretty basic but delicious each on it’s own. For sure, spinach is the hero of the dish. And you can get amazing fresh baby spinach in spring in any food market. I like combining it with leeks, since it makes the food so incredibly sweet and fragrant. The combo with feta, chicken and nutmeg is so good.

To hold it all together, I made a ricotta, egg and cream mixture and poured it over the rolls. This also makes the pie dense and creamy in the bottom, but the top stays crunchy. So make sure you dont pour the mixture all the way to the top.

It might no be a traditional spanakopita, but it is just as delicious and the main ingredients remain feta and spinach.

With some extra foodies 😉

These would be awesome at a picnic party or any party for that matter. They take a little time to assemble, but the cooking process is sooo simple. Since it is quite rich, you can actually feed up to about 8 people with it, if they are not huge hungry men 😉 or me!

This is by far my favorite spring pie and I’d serve it with spring strawberry layer cake in a glass following as dessert.

Picnic menu, done!

A glass of roasted peach and strawberry fizz to go along and you’re good to go 🙂

This chicken spanakopita (Greek spinach pie) is the best comfort food I can imagine for spring. Hearty and rich, flavored with cheeses, leeks and chicken, but also loaded with fresh spinach. And to top it all, it make s a perfect early picnic dish, since it is pull-apart. I don't think anything could make me more excited right now.

Print

Pull-Apart Chicken Spanakopita

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 55 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes

Servings 6 people

Ingredients

Chicken Spanakopita

16 sheets phyllo dough
300 g chicken breast 1cm cubes (or use leftover chicken)
1 small leak cut into quarter lenghtwise and thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic finely chopped
500 g fresh spinach (or frozen and drained of excess water)
200 g feta cheese crumbled
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 cup olive oil

Egg Mixture

2 eggs
60 g ricotta cheese
60 ml whipping cream
a generous pinch of salt

Instructions

Egg mixture

Mix all ingredients for egg mixture together with a fork or a whisk, to get a smooth creamy texture.

Filling

In a preheated skillet roast chicken breast cubes with a tablespoon of olive oil for a minute or two until they get golden.
Add leaks, garlic and spinach and cook uncovered for about a minute or until the spinach cooks down. I you're using baby spinach this will take a minute, older spinach takes two to three minutes. If there is any excess water in the skillet drain it before filling the pie otherwise it will get soggy.
Remove from heat and add feta, nutmeg and black pepper. Mix well and set aside.

Assembly

Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Line a 23 cm (9 inch) cake mold with baking paper.
Lightly coat one pyhloo sheet with olive oil, cover with another phyllo sheet and coat with olive oil again. Over the long edge of the dough spread one eight of the filling about 4 cm wide. Roll the dough to get a long roll. Now roll this into a snail shape and place it in the cake mold. Repeat until you've used all the sheets. I like to start placing the rolls on the sides first and add the last one in the middles, since the last one usually has less or more filling than the others. This makes the pie look more even.
Coat the tops with more olive oil and bake for 20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and pour the egg mixture over the baked rolls.
Return to the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes.
Remove form the oven and wait for 5 minutes before removing the rim. Be careful, it's still hot!
Serve warm or cold.

Antioxidant Packed Blueberry Matcha Smoothie

March 9, 2017

This blueberry matcha smoothie is full of antioxidants and a perfect energy boost for the morning. It’s a delicious healthy vegan, dairy free and gluten free green smoothie with blueberry mash. So good!

I’m getting so excited about spring and can’t wait for everything to go green. We’re already able to waste our time outside in nothing else but a sweater. Remember my love of balcony life. Well, here it is! I can almost smell spring 😀 Winter this year sucked, almost no snow… I mean it was cold, which is okay by me, but no snow. Come on, that’s just unfair!

Yeah, yeah, I’ll stop complaining 😉

This spring will bring a new little cuddling creature to our life, so there’s really nothing to complain about. Only one more month to go, but I’m hoping sooner 🙂 Can’t wait to meet you little baby! These past 8 months went by really fast, I got very attached to my big belly and the very intesnse baby kicks. I’m begining to think this baby will be a kickboxer or something. I remember reading about having to count kicks if the baby is not moving enough and then I think is there also something like kicking too much?! Probably not 🙂

Back to the recipe!

With the spring knocking on the door, the season of some new green leaf veggies is starting and I’m able to add them to my green smoothies. I got hold of some really nice fresh spinach last week and I couldn’t resist to make a delicious smoothie for breakfast. There are still some frozen wild blueberries in the freezer, which I love for breakfast. In the winter I heat them up and pour over the pancakes with some yogurt. Yum!

Ok, ok, back to the smoothie. So I named this drink matcha smoothie, because I added a little for some nice morning tea feeling. Mmm, cozy 🙂 I don’t know why exactly, but for me drinking matcha – in any form – is like a warm hug. Even if I drink it cold.

I couldn’t resist but adding some lime juice to this almost-spring-celebrating smoothie. Delicious! 🙂 It’s sweetened with honey, which you probably already know is my favorite sweetener 🙂

Now I’m anxiously waiting for strawberries, especially wild strawberries to make strawberry layer cakes and elderflower to make some cookies. With a little bit of luck, the baby and I will be well enough by the time those two are in season and we’ll be strolling through forests searching for these beauties 🙂

And now here’s the recipe, finally. This matcha smoothie is packed with antioxidants and contains a bunch of cashews and an avocado so it will leave you fed for a while. Cheers!

Antioxidant Packed Blueberry Matcha Smoothie. This blueberry matcha smoothie is full of antioxidants and a perfect energy boost for the morning. It's a delicious healthy vegan, dairy free and gluten free green smoothie with blueberry mash. So good! | www.useyournoodles.eu

5 from 1 vote

Print

Antioxidant Packed Blueberry Matcha Smoothie

Total Time 5 minutes

Servings 2 people

Ingredients

1 cup cashews soaked overnight
2 cups water
1/2 avocado
50 g spinach (or a big handful)
4 tsp matcha powder
juice of 1 1/2 limes
2 TBSP sunflower seeds
3 TBSP honey (or other sweetener for vegan version)
1 cup blueberries

Instructions

Mix everything except blueberries in a blender until smooth. If the smoothie is to thick add more water.
Place blueberries in two glasses and mash them gently with a spoon or a mortar.
Pour the green smoothie over mashed blueberries and enjoy!

Crunchy Mocha Frozen Yogurt with Date Caramel

February 23, 2017

This creamy mocha frozen yogurt with mocha puffs and date caramel combines a perfect cup of coffee with some cocoa and dates in a form of frozen dessert. Breakfast or dessert, it’s up to you! A little extra thing is the recipe for mocha cocoa puffs, which you can add to your morning cereal bowl.

Welcome to breakfast heaven!

If you thought a cup of coffee was necessary in the morning, wait until you try this. It’s freakin’ mocha frozen yogurt with some extra mocha puffs and date caramel on top.

It’s so decadent and indulgent, but not unhealthy, which is what I love in a good breakfast. Don’t we all?

So, the whole thing started because I needed a refreshing cereal breakfast, that wasn’t the boring milk and cereals. I though icecream. That’s indulgent, but using yogurt is probably a smart decision. I thought mocha flavor would be an awesome addition to frozen yogurt, so I made these lovely coffee bean shaped mocha puffs. Yay, you can eat them with good old milk too, isn’t that a nice touch? Keep them in a dry place in your pantry and have them at hand for whenever you feel a coffee rush.

It totally became my personal morning coffee. You probably already know I don’t drink coffee and when I do it’s decaffeinated. So are these mocha puffs, but you can make them with caffeine, no problem!

I love serving the mocha frozen yogurt in these crazy cool mugs by Polonapolona. They are the cutest and they love their morning coffee served with a a bang 😀

Oh, did you notice the caramel drippings? This is the date caramel, the easiest thing to make in the entire world and so so delicious.

Like like lick-the-sides-of-the-cup awesome 😀

And absolutely necessary on a heaped cup of this goodness.

So, baby update.

I’ve been doing some last shopping for the baby, which is very tiring, since I’m not much of a shopper. What I do is, write a paper with all the stores and what to buy where and then head out. I compare prices online to save time spent in the actual shop. Don’t get me wrong, I love market shopping, but fluorescent lit stores are horrible. If it’s a special foods, fabric or furniture store, then it’s fine, I get distracted. Everthying else is just a big pain in the you know what!

Okay, enough complaining. The good thing is, I think I’m actually well prepared for the arrival of the little one. Some minor thing are missing (like the crib – not minor :P), otherwise we’re good if the baby accidentally surprises us.

Okay, back to food…

What would I do to eat this every single day for the rest of my life. Um… I should totally do that!

Print

Crunchy Mocha Frozen Yogurt with Date Caramel

Total Time 6 hours

Servings 6 people

Ingredients

Frozen Yogurt:

1 kg Greek style yogurt (about 4 cups)
5 TBSP honey

Mocha Puffs:

3/4 cups almond flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour (or whole grain flour)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
4 tsp instant coffee
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1/4 cup honey
2 1/2 TBSP butter , melted

Date Caramel:

1 cup dates , roughly chopped
1 TBSP nut butter (I like almond or cashew butter)
3/4 cup water
pinch of salt

Instructions

Mocha Puffs:

Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with baking paper.
In a food processor mix all dry ingredients: almond flour, al-purpose flour, cocoa powder, instant coffee, baking soda and salt. Add honey and butter and pulse until a ball forms.
Make little balls with palms of your hands using three quarters of the dough. The remaining quarter of the dough and flatten it on the baking paper to about 5mm thick. Add the balls to the baking paper and use a spoon handle to make little dents in the middle of the balls and make them look like a coffee bean. You can leave them round as well.
Bake for 6-7 minutes, keeping a close eye to what’s happening in the oven. The puffs burn very easily. Take them out when they are still a little soft but firm. They will harden as they cool down.
Break apart the flattened baked dough when it has cooled down. You can leave some chunks. You’ll use that to mix in the frozen yogurt.
Keep the coffee shaped puffs in an airtight container.

Frozen Yogurt:

Mix yogurt and honey in a blender and transfer the mixture to an airtight container. Freeze for about 3-4 hours, mixing the yogurt with a fork every 30-45 minutes.
Add it back to the blender and mix well to get a smooth texture. At this point the mixture will get a bit runny again, but that is fine. At this point add the broken coffee puffs and fold in the frozen yogurt.
Transfer it back to the container and freeze until you like the consistancy, probably about 2 hours.

Date Caramel:

Soak dates in water for 10 minutes, then add a pinch of salt and mix them in a food processor. If you like your caramel more runny, add a little more water.
The caramel keeps in the fridge for at least 2 weeks.

Assembly:

Take frozen yogurt out of the freezer when it’s the right consistency or 30 minutes before serving if it’s fully frozen. Scoop up in serving bowls and top with mocha puffs and date caramel.

[This post was kindly supported by Polonapolona. I was provided some mugs for this post. No other compensation was received.]