7-Day Healthy Eating Meal Plan

7 Day Healthy Eating Meal Plan January 2019

Hey guys! Happy New Year 🙂 I hope you have a nice celebration wherever you were. I was sleeping on my couch until ten to midnight with a sore throat. And went to bed half an hour later. So not the most exciting New Year’s Eve Party. Hopefully, it doesn’t get more serious than that. For that reason, I definitely need to make my meals a touch healthier than they were in December. To be honest I ate much fewer sweets this year than I used to so transitioning to the traditional healthier January food won’t be as hard. But I’ll still benefit from some healthy food.

If you are like me you revisit your eating habits every once in a while and the New Year revisit is probably the most common one. I prepared a 7-day healthy eating meal plan full of healthy recipes for breakfast, lunch dinner, and a dessert or a snack. If you are familiar with my blog you know I like colorful seasonal ingredients and that’s a part of what’s making these recipes healthy. Even if you don’t stick to this healthy eating meal plan you can include some other dishes that include a lot of fresh vegetables and fruits.

Are you ready to eat some YUMMY healthy food with me for a whole week or stretch it to the whole of January or the whole year. It’s really not that hard if you’re not too hard on yourself and enjoy an occasional cookie or cake. Noone is perfect. But trust me if you include more fresh produce in your diet you will feel so much better!

May 2019 be the best year and challenge you to do new exciting things!

7 Day Healthy Eating Meal Plan January 2019

Monday

Breakfast

Creamy Beet Dip with Herbed Buckwheat Flatbread

Lunch

Teriyaki Eggplant With Plum Wine.
Serve with cooked wild rice.

Dinner

Cherry Braised Beef Brisket With Creamy Mashed Potatoes


Dessert or snack

Antioxidant Packed Blueberry Matcha Smoothie

7 Day Healthy Eating Meal Plan January 2019

Tuesday

Breakfast

Flourless Green Pea Fritters

Lunch

Popped Beans and Steamed Broccoli Salad

Dinner

Simple Fish Sliders With Roasted Garlic Sauce

Dessert or snack

Peach and Celery Ice Lollies

7 Day Healthy Eating Meal Plan January 2019

Wednesday

Breakfast

Morning Raspberry Oats

Lunch

Turmeric Falafel Wraps + Wholegrain Spelt Tortillas

Dinner

Pull-Apart Chicken Spanakopita (Greek Spinach Pie)

Dessert or snack

Kiwi Yogurt with Mini Simit Grissini

7 Day Healthy Eating Meal Plan January 2019

Thursday

Breakfast

Black Sesame Covered Chewy Turmeric Bagels. Serve with cream cheese and smoked salmon.

Lunch

Pesto Pasta Salad with Crispy Bacon

Dinner

Shredded Chicken Enchiladas With Homemade Enchilada Sauce

Dessert or snack

Holiday Detox Smoothie

7 Day Healthy Eating Meal Plan January 2019

Friday

Breakfast

Crunchy Mocha Frozen Yogurt with Date Caramel

Lunch

Roasted Broccoli & Cauliflower Mole Tacos

Dinner

Pumpkin Risotto with Goat Cheese, Pancetta & Cranberries

Dessert or snack

Spring Strawberry Layer Cake in a Glass

7 Day Healthy Eating Meal Plan January 2019

Saturday

Breakfast

Cherry, Brie & Bacon Grilled Quesadilla

Lunch

Pumpkin Soup with Balsamic Glazed Onions

Dinner

Turkish Chicken Feast

Dessert or snack

Double Chocolate Blackberry Ice Cream Sandwiches

7 Day Healthy Eating Meal Plan January 2019

Sunday

Breakfast

Sardine Pâté + Wild Garlic Sandwiches

Lunch

Pizza Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Dinner

Autumn Harvest Pulled Chicken Sandwich with Homemade Apple BBQ sauce

Dessert or snack

Coffee Pudding

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

Shredded Chicken Enchiladas With Homemade Enchilada Sauce

These shredded chicken enchiladas are my absolutely favorite enciladas. The recipe is super easy and it even includes a homemade enchilada sauce that’s made with little effort in only 15 minutes.

These shredded chicken enchiladas are my absolutely favorite enciladas. The recipe is super easy and it even includes a homemade enchilada sauce that's made with little effort in only 15 minutes.

I can’t believe tomorrow’s Christmas already. Hasn’t December just begun??

I had plans to do some thorough house cleaning plus some more baking and decorating, but my son’s been home all week long with a cold and an ear infection. Although I can do some cleaning with him around and helping, there’s just no way I can do it in detail. Still, it was fun having him at home, we haven’t had the whole day to ourselves since he started kindergarten.

These shredded chicken enchiladas are my absolutely favorite enciladas. The recipe is super easy and it even includes a homemade enchilada sauce that's made with little effort in only 15 minutes.
These shredded chicken enchiladas are my absolutely favorite enciladas. The recipe is super easy and it even includes a homemade enchilada sauce that's made with little effort in only 15 minutes.

We’re making plans what to eat during holidays. Me and my husband are huge fans of Mexican food. So I’ve made a recipe for chicken enchiladas with a homemade enchilada sauce. The recipe is very easy! We usually end up making too many so we eat them again next day for breakfast. Okay, I admit, maybe we make too many on purpose 😛

We have a favorite Mexican restaurant and we used to only order beef enchiladas there. We’re crazy about beef! Then one evening we decided to try chicken enchiladas. I guess we always order them with chicken ever since. They use cabbage in the filling and it just goes so well with chicken and the tomato sauce. So that was the inspiration behind this recipe.

For the filling you can use leftover chicken, because we all know big Christmas dinners leave us with a ton of leftovers. I hate throwing food away and love recipes that transform those into something very delicious.

These shredded chicken enchiladas are my absolutely favorite enciladas. The recipe is super easy and it even includes a homemade enchilada sauce that's made with little effort in only 15 minutes.
These shredded chicken enchiladas are my absolutely favorite enciladas. The recipe is super easy and it even includes a homemade enchilada sauce that's made with little effort in only 15 minutes.

I hope you are having wonderful holidays and I wish you peaceful and loving moments with the ones you love!

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

Shredded Chicken Enchiladas With Homemade Enchilada Sauce

The BEST chicken enchiladas, hearty but full of veggies!

Course Main Course
Cuisine Mexican
Keyword chicken enchiladas
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 4 people

Ingredients

Chicken enchiladas

  • 8 corn tortillas (20cm/8inch)
  • 1 cooked and chopped chicken breast (leftovers can be used)
  • 1/4 cabbage head
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 1 onion
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 400 g mozzarella (shredded)
  • 1/3 cup pomegranate arils
  • 1 lime
  • 1 avocado (cut into thin slices)
  • chopped coriander

Homemade Enchilada Sauce

  • 800 g canned tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup pomegranate juice (or cranberry juice)
  • juice of half a lime
  • 1 TBSP peanut butter
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 fresh chilli
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Homemade Enchilada Sauce

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

  2. Place all ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. Let simmer for 10-15 minutes or until it thickens a bit.

  3. Use a blender to make a smooth sauce.

Chicken enchiladas

  1. Thinly slice cabbage and onions. Cut red bell pepper in small chunks and grate carrots. 

  2. In a skillet sauté onions, cabbage, carrots, and red bell peppers. When they soften add garlic and sauté for another minute.

  3. Place the sauteed vegetables in a big bowl and add shredded chicken breast, half of the shredded mozzarella and 1/3 of enchilada sauce (or more if the mixture seems too dry). Mix well and divide into eight parts. Use each part to fill one tortilla and roll them o keep all ingredients inside.

  4. Add 1/3 of enchilada sauce to the bottom of the baking pan. Place rolled tortillas on top and pour the remaining 1/3 of enchilada sauce over the tortillas. Add the other half of mozzarella on top and bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese is golden.

  5. Use pomegranate arils, avocado, lime and coriander as garnish. Serve warm.

These shredded chicken enchiladas are my absolutely favorite enciladas. The recipe is super easy and it even includes a homemade enchilada sauce that's made with little effort in only 15 minutes.

Whiskey-Spiked Mulled Ginger Beer

It’s drinks like these mulled ginger beer with a hint of whiskey that create the Christmas atmosphere.

It's drinks like these mulled ginger beer with a hint of whiskey that create the Christmas atmosphere.

Hi guys! It’s been too long since I’ve written here. I’m not gonna bore you with a ton of details. If you want to see what’s been keeping me away from my blog, you can check my personal IG. You’ll see my little elf growing up, keeping me busy and on the move. He’s such a nice little boy an I love how he enjoys helping us in the kitchen or anywhere else for that matter. He loved to pick veggies from the garden in the summer. His favorite veggie for picking: green beans. Current obsession: baking cookies, dancing and playing with puzzles. One particular puzzle ALL DAY LONG. We’ve had to fix it multiple times it’s in such bad condition. 

It's drinks like these mulled ginger beer with a hint of whiskey that create the Christmas atmosphere.
is

This was just a really short version of our life right now. And I’m so excited about the upcoming holidays. We’ve got the tree up, lights are on, decorations are up, we just need a drink to keep us warm. We’re all about spicy. Even the kiddo doesn’t mind a little heat. 

This whiskey spiked mulled beer is not for kids, but be sure to check the recipe notes for a non-alcoholic version that’s safe for kids 🙂 I want my kid to be able to eat and drink with all the rest of the family, so I try and make dishes and drinks that he can enjoy too. We’ve almost entirely banned eggs since he’s allergic and you’ll probably see a lot more egg-free recipes in the future.

Okay, let’s head to the recipe. I’ve tried mulled beer when we stopped in Lithuania on our Eurotrip honeymoon. It blew my mind. Who’d have known cooked beer would be so good. After that, I tried bad ones too and I can tell you choice of beer matters a lot. I’m making mulled ginger beer, but you can use others as well. Just make sure the beer is not too hoppy and bitter because this will reflect in the mulled beer. 

It's drinks like these mulled ginger beer with a hint of whiskey that create the Christmas atmosphere.
It's drinks like these mulled ginger beer with a hint of whiskey that create the Christmas atmosphere.

If you need more drinks to keep you warm during the cold winter you may want to try my Mulled Mandarin Juice or homemade Hot Chocolate.

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

Whiskey-Spiked Mulled Ginger Beer

It’s drinks like these mulled ginger beer with a hint of whiskey that create the Christmas atmosphere.

Course Cocktail, Drinks
Keyword beer cocktail, easy recipe
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Servings 6 people
Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

  • 1 L ginger beer
  • juice of 2 oranges
  • peel of one orange
  • 4 cinnamon sticks
  • 6 slices ginger
  • 4 rosemary springs
  • honey to taste
  • whiskey to taste

Instructions

  1. Add ginger beer, orange juice cinnamon sticks, ginger slices and rosemary springs to a pot and bring to a simmer. Let simmer for 5-10 minutes then remove from heat and add honey.

  2. Pour in mugs or heat-proof glasses and add whiskey to taste.

Notes

Non-alcoholic version: omit whiskey and use non-alcoholic ginger beer

It's drinks like these mulled ginger beer with a hint of whiskey that create the Christmas atmosphere.

Mango Margarita Smoothie

Who doesn’t love a simple refreshing margarita smoothie with mangos? I sure do!

Who doesn't love a simple refreshing margarita smoothie with mangos. I sure do!

Hey, it’s been a LOOOOOONG time. Way to long. 

I’ve missed posting here so much. I’ve kicked myself in the rear end this week and made a plan for a few future recipes. Hopefully, I can see them through! Baby Jernej is not so little anymore. He’s standing on his own now, crawling all around the place, exploring the world and filling our hearts with all kinds of joy. If you wanna see what’s going on in our personal life head on to my personal Instagram account

Who doesn't love a simple refreshing margarita smoothie with mangos. I sure do! Who doesn't love a simple refreshing margarita smoothie with mangos. I sure do!

And now to the recipe. Today is National Margarita Day and I made a non-alcoholic mango margarita smoothie.

I’d say cheers, but it’s long gone.

There’s something about mangos in smoothies. Puréed mangos give such a nice smooth texture to drinks. They are one of my favorite fruits to put in smoothies, besides avocados. All due to the texture. Okay, and flavor too 😀 What are yours?

Since becoming a mom, maintaining a healthy diet has been so hard. The biggest problem for me is forgetting to eat, which I find super weird and annoying. And that’s why recipes like this are super important… Simple, easy and done in no time. I’m planning on sharing a few other recipes suitable for mom’s with little time to prep and also for little kids to enjoy. Btw, baby J tried the mango margarita smoothie and he approves 😀

Who doesn't love a simple refreshing margarita smoothie with mangos. I sure do! Who doesn't love a simple refreshing margarita smoothie with mangos. I sure do!

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

Mango Margarita Smoothie

Total Time 5 minutes
Servings 2 servings
Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

  • 1/2 mango (chilled)
  • 3 oranges (chilled)
  • 2 limes (chilled)
  • salt for garnish

Instructions

  1. Peel mango and juice oranges and limes and blend all until smooth.

  2. Run a lime wedge around the outside of a glass and dip the rim in some salt for garnish and taste. Pour in the smoothie.

Who doesn't love a simple refreshing margarita smoothie with mangos. I sure do!

Double Chocolate Blackberry Ice Cream Sandwiches

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

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 🙂

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

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.

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

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 no churn melon sorbet with basil, it’s one of my favorite summer refreshments!

Have a good one folks!

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

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

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. Whip the cream to stiff peaks.

  4. 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

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a baking sheet with baking paper.

  2. 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.

  3. 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

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. Dip assembled ice cream sandwiches into chocolate and sprinkle with bee pollen.

  4. Freeze until firm.

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

Sparkling Basil & Blueberry Float

A perfectly refreshing and comforting non-alcoholic summer drink – sparkling basil and blueberry float.

A perfectly refreshing and comforting non-alcoholic summer drink - sparkling basil and blueberry float.

How’s summer been treating you so far?

So far, we’ve had increadible hot weather and we finaly managed to get some vacations. We love going to the lakeside. We spent a week at the amazing lake Bohinj. I dare say it’s one of the prettiest places in Slovenia. The lake lies right under the mountains in a national park. It’s amazing to see the slopes of the mountains end at the lake shore and see the most perfect sunset behind the peaks all while swimming in the cold (but no freezing) water.

Our friends with two kids joined us there. The kids had so much fun and us adults had a lot of beer. Omg, this sounds like we were neglecting our kids, but I asure you we weren’t. Beer was necesary to beat off the heat. And the uncountable wasp attacks. Anyway, it was a great vacation, minus wasps!

A perfectly refreshing and comforting non-alcoholic summer drink - sparkling basil and blueberry float. A perfectly refreshing and comforting non-alcoholic summer drink - sparkling basil and blueberry float.

Coming back home, we stepped right into the blueberry season. Not the wild ones, those are gone for a while. But they would work just as well if not better in this recipe. 

Anyway, the frost completely damaged our blueberry flowers and there are barely any blueberries. My parents-in-law have a lot, though. Luckily their blueberries survived the frost 🙂

I was thinking about making another drink recipe. I haven’t done one in a while and it’s about time to have one for the summer heat. I remember seing a ton of float recipes on Pinterest. I’ve never really tried one, but I was sure vanilla ice cream and blueberries would make an awesome summer float. So I made a simple recipe, that’s both a refreshing drink and an awesome dessert. Who wouldn’t like that?!

A perfectly refreshing and comforting non-alcoholic summer drink - sparkling basil and blueberry float. A perfectly refreshing and comforting non-alcoholic summer drink - sparkling basil and blueberry float. A perfectly refreshing and comforting non-alcoholic summer drink - sparkling basil and blueberry float.

Again my obsession with basil. I swear it’s in all my food these days. There’s just so much of it. And I like how delicious it tastes in sweet recipes. Blueberries and basil – a spot on combination. My new favorite! No really, it’s that great. You need to try the recipe ASAP.

Combine all of that with lime juice and a creamy bourbon vanilla icecream and you get the tasteiest, most delicious blueberry float. I actually saved some from the shoot in the fridge and they were just ass good the next day. Vanilla icecream turned into a creammy fluff and kept the bubbles from sparkling water right in the drink. It was just as yum the next day. Who would have thought 😀

 

A perfectly refreshing and comforting non-alcoholic summer drink - sparkling basil and blueberry float.A perfectly refreshing and comforting non-alcoholic summer drink - sparkling basil and blueberry float.

I feel like my posts are getting shorter and shorter, but I really need to get some sleep. I’m writing this while baby is two hours in his night sleep, so I only have a few more hours to get some proper rest. He usually wakes up at half past one or around two and after that it’s a gamble. He might sleep well, or he’ll move in his bed (sleeping or not). I can’t really sleep while I hear him moving, so I’m looking forward to him getting his own room in about two or three months. He’s actaully quite a good boy as far as sleeping goes, but I wouldn’t mind a full eight our sleep. Haven’t had one in four months.

We’ll I’ve kept my babbling way too long.

Off to bed now!

Good night folks and happy Friday in a couple of hours!

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

Sparkling Basil & Blueberry Float

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

Blueberry Purée

  • 3 cups blueberries
  • 3/4 cup cane sugar
  • 3/4 cup water
  • juice of one lime
  • 10 big basil leaves

Sparkling Basil & Blueberry Float

  • blueberry purée
  • 400 ml sparkling water
  • juice of two limes
  • 8 scoops bourbon vanilla ice cream
  • frozen blueberries or crushed ice

Instructions

Blueberry Purée

  1. Place all ingredients into a skillet over medium heat and let simmer for 5 minutes.

  2. Purée cooked blueberries and the liquid in a food processor and let cool at room temperature. Refrigerate before serving if preffered.

Sparkling Basil & Blueberry Float

  1. Fill four small glasses with blueberry purée, place frozen blueberries or crushed ice over. Pour over lime juice and sparkling water and top each drink with two scoops of bourbon vanilla ice cream.

A perfectly refreshing and comforting non-alcoholic summer drink - sparkling basil and blueberry float.

Spicy Goat Cheese Pesto Pizza

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!

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.

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!
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! 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!

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.

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!

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) 🙂

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!

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

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

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

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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!

  4. 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

  1. 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

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. Bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes depending on the thickness of the crust.

  5. Decorate with more basil leaves before serving.

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!

Mini Lemon Balm Rhubarb Bundt Cakes

Mini lemon balm rhubarb bundt cakes are amazing. No other words to describe them. They are delicious melt-in-your-mouth mini treats.

Mini lemon balm rhubarb bundt cakes are amazing. No other words to describe them. They are delicious melt-in-your-mouth mini treats.

Folks, it’s officially summer! We’ve been having unbelievably sunny and hot weather for weeks so it feels like it’s already mid-summer. I’m keeping myself cool with loads of strawberry drinks like roasted peach and strawberry fizz and strawberry vanilla iced tea. Thank god for our garden, producing all those delicious fruits. And thank god for the mini rhubarb bundt cakes. They make these hot June days so much easier!

I’m spending so much time outside in the shade with my little baby. I love dressing him in the cute summer clothes and seing his bare feet. I could eat them up! He’s growing so fast, I can hardly keep up. He’s becoming more aware of the world and things around him, giving us the most precios smiles and giggles. I could watch those all day long.

Mini lemon balm rhubarb bundt cakes are amazing. No other words to describe them. They are delicious melt-in-your-mouth mini treats. Mini lemon balm rhubarb bundt cakes are amazing. No other words to describe them. They are delicious melt-in-your-mouth mini treats. Mini lemon balm rhubarb bundt cakes are amazing. No other words to describe them. They are delicious melt-in-your-mouth mini treats.

Okay, back to the recipe.

I swear guys, these mini bundt cakes are incredibly tender and light. Rhubarb gives them such a nice sour note and the lemon balm makes them deliciously citrusy. I added a lemon drizzle to make those flavors stand out even more and make it super light and refreshing. They are my new summer crush. Sorry hubby, you’ll just have to deal 😛 

The recipe is not a dense sponge recipe like for a regular bundt cake. It is more of a cupcake type of sponge. I should maybe call them cupcakes, but I love my new mini bundt cake molds which my mum gave me, that I just had to use those for the shoot. Call them cupcakes if you want 🙂

Mini lemon balm rhubarb bundt cakes are amazing. No other words to describe them. They are delicious melt-in-your-mouth mini treats.Mini lemon balm rhubarb bundt cakes are amazing. No other words to describe them. They are delicious melt-in-your-mouth mini treats.

I feel like I’m being real brief these past few posts. I’m still ajusting to the fact that my free time is pretty scarce these days. 

I hope you all have the best start of the summer!

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

Mini Lemon Balm Rhubarb Bundt Cakes

Servings 12 cakes

Ingredients

Sponge

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour (250g)
  • 1 cup sugar (120g)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup sunflour seed oil
  • 200 ml plain yogurt
  • 1 tsp vanilla seeds
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 sachet baking powder (12g)
  • 1/2 cup lemon balm finely chopped
  • 150 g rhubarb finely chopped

Lemon Drizzle

  • 1 1/2 cup icing sugar
  • 2 TBSP lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup lemon balm roughly chopped

Instructions

Sponge

  1. Preheat the oven to 170°C. Lightly grease mini bundt cake molds. I used 12 80ml bundt cake molds.

  2. In a stand mixer beat together sugar, eggs and oil.

  3. In a bowl mix flour, vanilla seeds, ground ginger, ground cinnamon and baking powder.

  4. Add flour mix to the egg mixture spoon by spoon.

  5. Add yogurt, chopped lemon balm and mix until the mixture is smooth and even.

  6. Add rhubarb and use a spatula or a big spoon to mix it in.

  7. Use an ice cream scoop to fill the molds to about 3/4 full.

  8. Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes, until the toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in the molds

Lemon Drizzle

  1. In a mortar bash the lemon balm with 1 TBSP of lemon juice to get out as much lemon balm juice as you can. Use a fine sieve or gauze to squeeze out the liquid. Discard the solids.

  2. Add 1 TBSP lemon juice and the lemon balm liquid to the icing sugar and whisk until smooth.

Decoration

  1. When bundt cakes are cooled to room temperature, remove them from molds and decorate with lemon drizzle.

Mini lemon balm rhubarb bundt cakes are amazing. No other words to describe them. They are delicious melt-in-your-mouth mini treats.

Lime Poppy Seed Elderflower Cake Roll

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

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!

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

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

  1. 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.
  2. 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 🙂

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

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

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

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

  1. 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.)

  2. Add sugar and beat for a minute or two.

  3. Add egg yolks and beat them in.

  4. 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.

  5. Transfer the mixture to the baking tray and bake for 10 minutes.

  6. 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

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. Both methods:

  4. Whip the cream just befor entirely firm.

  5. Use a fork to cream the mascarope cheese.

  6. Add mascarpone and honey to the whipped cream and use the lowest settng to incorporate it in the whipping cream.

  7. Add lime juice and use a spatula to mix it in.

Assembly

  1. Once the sponge is cool unroll and carefully remove the baking paper.

  2. Juice 2 -3 limes and use the juice to soak the sponge.

  3. Frost with elderflower mascarpone cream and tighly roll.

  4. Leave in the fridge for an hour for easier cutting.

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

Cherry Braised Beef Brisket With Creamy Mashed Potatoes

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.

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?

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.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.

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.

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.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.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.

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 😉

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.

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!

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

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

  1. Preheat the oven to 140°C.

Cherry Braised Beef Brisket

  1. Season the brisket generously with salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper.

  2. Sear all sides of the brisket on a hot skillet with a splash of oil for about a minute or two.

  3. Move the brisket to a plate.

  4. Cut carrots, onions and cellery into 1 cm chunks.

  5. In the same skillet sweat the carrots, onions and cellery for about 10 minutes.

  6. Move the brisket and the vegetables to a baking tray and add cherries, garlic, rosemary, basil and thyme and add the stock.

  7. Bake in the preheated oven for 6 to 7 hour or until the meat gets very tender and almost falls apart. when sliced.

  8. 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

  1. Cook potatoes in salted water until tender. Start with cold water! Cooking time depends on the size of potatoes.

  2. Remove the skins and add butter. Mash with a masher until creamy.

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.

Flourless Green Pea Fritters

These soft and fluffy flourless green pea fritters with seasonal herbs make the most delicious healthy breakfast.

These soft and fluffy flourless green pea fritters with seasonal herbs make the most delicious healthy breakfast.

I’m ending this wonderful week with these fluffy green pea fritters. It’s really been a great week. The baby gave us his first real smile. He’s smiled to everyone in the family at one point during the week. I couldn’t imagine how exciting that milestone was before it happened. The most wonderful thing 🙂 Now I’m looking forward for more and more of these cute teethless smiles and the sparks in his eyes.

He’s been letting us sleep during the night enough not to feel tired during the day, although I do take at least one short nap with him during th day. It’s just so cozy lying next to him and feeling him next to me while I’m sleeping 🙂

These soft and fluffy flourless green pea fritters with seasonal herbs make the most delicious healthy breakfast.

Okay, let’s head to the recipe. I’m very excited to share it with you. I’m a huge fan of pancakes, I make them at least once a week for breakfast, but they are usually sweet. I wanted to make a savoury recipe for easy and quick pancakes, that I’ll be able to prepare while taking care of a newborn. And it really is that simple.

The batter is made in a food processor or a blender and the pancakes take only a few minutes to cook. So perfect! There’s a little cottage cheese for extra creamines and flavor and rolled oats to bring it all together. Since so many herbs have started to grow, I’ve also added some from the garden and the forest. I used wild garlic and chives, but you can add whatever you can find in the garden, like mint, basil, thyme, oregano… So many yummy variations 🙂

And I realised that they are also super delicious cold, so they’re perfect for picnics 🙂 Hoping for lots of those these summer. ‘Cuz who doesn’t love picnics, right? We’re going on one today. Yay!!

These soft and fluffy flourless green pea fritters with seasonal herbs make the most delicious healthy breakfast.These soft and fluffy flourless green pea fritters with seasonal herbs make the most delicious healthy breakfast.These soft and fluffy flourless green pea fritters with seasonal herbs make the most delicious healthy breakfast.

I’ve been working on this recipe before the baby, when we’ve had a new roof window installed. I had to test the new light source for photography. I like it so far. A bit different than the straight side light, but just as interesting. What do you think?

These soft and fluffy flourless green pea fritters with seasonal herbs make the most delicious healthy breakfast.These soft and fluffy flourless green pea fritters with seasonal herbs make the most delicious healthy breakfast.

Have a great weekend you guys!

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

These soft and fluffy flourless green pea fritters with seasonal herbs make the most delicious healthy breakfast.
5 from 1 vote
Print

Flourless Green Pea Fritters

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Servings 15 fritters

Ingredients

Green Pea Fritters

  • 1 cup peas (if using frozen, thaw and drain before making the fritters)
  • 1/2 cup roled oats
  • 1 cup parmesan cheese grated
  • 1/2 cup cottage cheese
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • a handful seasonal herbs (wild garlic, chives, basil, thyme...), coarsely chopped
  • salt
  • black pepper

Sauce

  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 2 TBSP lemon juice
  • zest of 1/2 lemon

Instructions

Green Pea Fritters

  1. Place all ingredients in a food processor or a blender and mix until the batter is uniform.

  2. Fry spoonfulls of the mixture on preheated frying pan with a little oil for 2 minutes on each side or until golden.

Sauce

  1. Place all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk. 

  2. Serve with warm or cold fritters.

These soft and fluffy flourless green pea fritters with seasonal herbs make the most delicious healthy breakfast.

Welcome Baby Chocolate Buckwheat Cookies

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

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…

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

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

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?

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

  1. Preheat the oven to 180 °C.


  2. Add all ingredients into a food processor and pulse until they form a ball.

  3. Divide the dough in half, half it again and so on, until you get 32 identical pieces. Form bals with your palms.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

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

Refreshing Vanilla Strawberry Iced Tea

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

 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!

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

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.

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

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 😉

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

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
Print

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

  1. 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.

  2. Uncover and leave to cool.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

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

Macerated Strawberry Chocolate Cake

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.

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.

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. 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.

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!

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.

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.

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. 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.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.

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!

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

This 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

  1. Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Butter four 7 inch baking tins.

  2. Add flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt to a stand mixer bowl and whisk through to combine.

  3. Add milk, eggs, vegetable oil and vanilla seeds and mix on medium speed until well combined.

  4. 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.

  5. Pour the mixture into four baking tins and bake for about 25 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean.

  6. 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

  1. Thinly cut strawberries and place them in a bowl. Add honey and mix well, so the honey coats all strawberries.

  2. Leave to macerate in the fridge until you are ready to assemble the cake, but at least an hour.

Chocolate Rhubarb Truffles

  1. 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. 

  2. Place in the fridge until you are ready to assemble the cake.

Assembling The Strawberry Chocolate Cake

  1. Whip whipping cream until it forms stiff peaks. Place it in a piping bag with a round or a star nozzle.

  2. 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.

  3. Top with one third of honey macerated strawberries.

  4. Continue in the same way for the remaining two layers.

  5. Refridgerate for at least an hour before serving.

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.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.

Pull-Apart Chicken Spanakopita (Greek Spinach Pie)

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.

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? 😀

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.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.

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.

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. 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.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.

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 😉

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.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.

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.

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

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

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

Filling

  1. In a preheated skillet roast chicken breast cubes with a tablespoon of olive oil for a minute or two until they get golden.

  2. 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.

  3. Remove from heat and add feta, nutmeg and black pepper. Mix well and set aside.

Assembly

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

  2. Line a 23 cm (9 inch) cake mold with baking paper.

  3. 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.

  4. Coat the tops with more olive oil and bake for 20 minutes.

  5. Remove from the oven and pour the egg mixture over the baked rolls.

  6. Return to the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes.

  7. Remove form the oven and wait for 5 minutes before removing the rim. Be careful, it's still hot!

  8. Serve warm or cold.

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.