Wednesday 15 March 2017

Vegetable wok with chicken tenders and rice - recipe

Today I tried to use up some of the things I had in the freezer. I had a bag of frozen wok vegetables and a few chicken tenders. Together with soy sauce and rice that are always available at home, it was a piece of cake to put them together to this delicious wok meal. Quick dish that don't require alot of work as the vegetables were already cut, which is nice. Here it goes.

Ingredients:
A bag of frozen wok vegetables
Few chicken tenders
Rice
Oil
Soy sauce
Seasoning: ground ginger, paprika, curry powder, cumin, salt pepper

Method:
1. Cut the chicken tenders in bite sizes and fry in a pan with few tbsp of oil. Add some curry powder and salt to taste. Once golden brown set aside.

2. Fry the wok vegetables in oil in same pan on medium/high heat. Add the seasoning and few drops of soy sauce. Once done, set aside.

3. Cook the rice according to the package. Add some seasoning. I used ginger powder, curry, turmeric and few pods of cardamom.

4. Once everything is cooked, serve it all together, rice, wok vegetables and finish with the chicken. Add more soy sauce. It was really good and full of flavours. Nothing authentic, still wonderful and filling. 



Enjoy!

Berry pie with vanilla icecream

Often when hubby is asked to buy stuff, he buys many of the same category to safeguard from getting told of in Case he buys the grown item. Instead of puff pastry he bought pie dough. Oh well, no in harm in that. It is always nice to find new items to experiment with in the kitchen. 


So before the pie do experied, hubby reminded me to use it up. I had frozen berries and vanilla ice cream in the freezer. So I thought let's make a nice dessert.

Ingredients:
Bought pie dough
Frozen or fresh berries, blue berries and strawberries
Ripe pear
Vanilla sugar
Vanilla ice cream 

Method:
1. I rolled out the dough and placed it in an oven form. All excess dough I cut in long strips. Then I cut the berries in thin slices. I put the pear slices first and then the blueberries and strawberries. Sprinkled over the vanilla sugar to taste, roughly 2 tsp. 

2. I folded down the pie dough from the form and added the strips of the leftover. It almost covered it all. Then baked the pie in the oven for about 40 minutes at 180 degrees. I took out once it was golden brown.

3. To be served with 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream. It was so tasty. The pie was not to sweet so it was perfect with the ice cream



Enjoy!

Tuesday 14 March 2017

Spagetti with this lovely cheese sauce and toscan dip spice blend works heavenly together. Today hubby craved a white pasta as he was tired of the red pasta he declared. So we made up a version together. He cooked the spaghetti, I explained that we needed to make a cheese sauce so he grated cheese. After max 30 min, it was all put together. The taste is so rich and flavourful, thanks to this lovely dip blend. I bought it from the oil and vinegar shop.
Ingredients:
Spaghetti, boiled according to package
2-3 tbsp oil
2 tbsp flour
1-2 cup grated cheese
1 cup milk
Toscana dipper spice mix to taste
1 tsp grated nutmeg
Salt and pepper
Olive oil to taste

Method:
1. Boil the spaghetti according to package, drain it and sprinkle over some of the spice mix.

2. Add flour, oil and milk in a deep pan and mix well to prevent flour to become lumpy on medium/high heat.

3. Add the cheese and mix well until it has melted and the sauce thicken a bit. Add salt, peppar, spice mix to taste. 

4. Once sauce is done, mix it with the spaghetti and sprinkle some dried herbs over and some grated parmesan cheese over. You will love this rich, yet simple vegetarian meal, I promise!


Enjoy!

Monday 13 March 2017

Basbousa (semolina and coconut) cake - recipe

When I visited a friend who got a new baby she served us this delicious cake. It was home made and very tasty. I said you should not have gone trough the trouble and made a cake, you must be tired. But she shared her secret with me and I have to admit, it was one of the easiest cake recipes I have seen and baked. All you need is a glass!



The cake is named Basbousa, a famous Middle Eastern cake that is drenched in a sugary syrup. But I find it to sweet so I simply serve it as is without any syrup. This semolina cake should be tried, as both young and old have approved it every time I make it. Use the same glass to measure the ingredients.

Ingredients:
1 glass oil, 1 glass semolina, 1 glass natural yogurt, 1 glass coconut, 1 glass sugar,

1-2 tsp vanilla,
1 tsp baking powder,
2 eggs
Almonds

Method:
1. Break the eggs on a bowl and add the sugar and mix well. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix slowly so that everything is incorporated well. You can also add few drops of orange flower water to add more flavour if you want, but I don't add it.

2. Coate the cake form well in oil and coconut flakes, so that it prevents the cake from sticking to the form, once it is done.



3. Add the dough to the oven form and put almonds on top. You should think of squares, where each should have one almond in it, to measure the distant between the almonds.

4. Bake it in the oven (180 degrees) for roughly 30-40 minutes until golden brown.

5. Once it has cooled down put a kitchen paper under so that all excess oil is removed from cake, when you cut it. It is a very light and fluffy cake, that just melts in your mouth.



Enjoy!

Guacamole with creme fraiche - recipe

I bought a net of avocados at Lidl thinking baby will like it. But he spat it out no matter what I mixed it with. So I forget them in the fridge. After few days I saw them and decided to use them up. They were perfectly ripen and perfect for a guacamole. To make it a healthier option, I used crisp flat bread instead of tortilla crisps. Equally yummi!


Ingredients:
4-5 small ripe avocados
2-3 tbsp creme fraiche
Handful chopped fresh parsley
1 ripe tomato, chopped
Juice from 1 lemon
Seasoning to taste: salt, garlic powder, cumin, paprika

Method:
1. Cut out the avocado flesh and mash it with a fork in a wide bowl. Press the lemon juice over it, to prevent the avocados to become brown. Add the creme fraiche and mix well.

2. Chopp the parsley and tomato finely and add it to the bowl. Season it with the spices to taste. Mix well and cover with plastic foil and keep it in the fridge.

3. Serve with crisp flat bread or tortilla chips. I made the flat bread crispier by putting it in the toaster for few seconds. Be careful not to burn it though.

Enjoy!


Wednesday 8 March 2017

Homemade hot chocolate

When you thought that it is time to remove all winter clothes and shoes, the weather suprices us with 20 cm of snow during the night. Oh well, the smile on toddler's face in the morning when he looks out through the window, so worth it. But I had to treat myself to a nice hot cup of homemade chocolate. Super easy!!


Ingredients:
Roughly 1-2 dl double cream
4-5 dl milk
2 tbsp kakao powder
2 tsp sugar
Season of choose: I chose a sprinkle of vanilla powder and ground cardamom

Method:
Mix everything in a sauce pan on medium heat until well mixed and piping hot. Don't let it boil though. Gives enough chocolate for two cups in case you like to share it. 

I enjoyed it with a nice cheese sandwich ;)

Enjoy!