Tuesday 28 August 2018

Healthy ginger, carrot and apple shot - recipe

Now that the summer is over, it has been raining nonstop and we are already getting infected by colds. I can feel in my nose that the cold is just about to begin. Although by now it is too late not get the cold, I have decided to make some ginger shots to prevent getting ill. Today I made one using apples and carrots. It was very juicy and sweet as I added honey. I thought lets begin easy with these shots.


Ingredients:
1 carrot
2 apples
1 tbsp honey
Pinch of turmeric powder 
1 inch fresh ginger
1 lemon juice
water

Method:
1. Peel the ginger, carrot and apples. Put them in a food processor with rest of the ingredients and blend until it looks like baby puree. You will need to stop few times to scrape down the sides. Add water to taste to make it more watery and to make it easy for the next step.




2. Once everything is finely blended, pour the thick juice through a fine mesh strainer. This is how much juice I got afterwards. Put the juice in a fridge.


3. Enjoy a nice ginger shot with a bit of a kick. I did feel much better afterwards. Will most likely continue make more shots for me and hubby.


Enjoy!

Sunday 12 August 2018

Purslane tzatziki yogurt dip - allotment recipe

Purslane! Finally I found the name of this green plant that we use in our delicious Kurdish perpina yogurt dip. The Swedish name is portlak. Took me ages to find the name, I used search words such as edible succulent, as I find them looking like succulents. 
Anyways, I know now that the name o this deliciously peppery plant is purslane. In some places it is a weed but not in Sweden. Here, we grow it in the allotment. So here is another allotment recipe that we have been using non stop during the summer as it is lovely to serve chilled with bread to dip in it. 


Ingredients:
1onion
2 small cucumbers
2 tbsp chopped mint
2  cups of chopped purslane
garlic powder
dill
parsley
salt

Method:
1. Chop the onion, cucumber and purslane and mix in a bowl.
2. Add the seasoning to taste and see if anything is missing, then add more.
3. Serve it as a side dish, or simply with toasted bread.



Enjoy!

Thursday 9 August 2018

Salmon baked with creme fraiche - recipe

We quite often eat rice with some sort of stew or curry at home, because that is the kids favourite  food to eat. But we all know we need to eat fish too. My favourite way of eating fish is to cook it in the oven and serve it with boiled potatoes. That is what this recipe will be about. Baking salmon fish with a lovely creme fraiche sauce in the oven.

Ingredients:
4 salmon fillet
1 pot of creme fraiche
6-7 boiled potatoes
steamed vegetables
cherry tomatoes
herbes de Provence
paprika powder
salt and pepper


Method:
1. Put the salmon fish fillets in an oven dish. mix the creme fraiche with the herbs and spices and pour it over the fillets. Place halved cherry tomatoes on the fillets as well. Bake in the oven at 200 degrees for about 30-40 until cooked through and golden.

2. Serve it with boiled potatoes and steamed vegetables such as broccoli, carrots and cauliflower. 



Enjoy!

Tuesday 7 August 2018

Guacamole my style - Recipe



If I can think of one craving that I had during my last pregnancy, it must be the guacamole. My goodness, I ate it several evenings per week. It was my and hubby's go to snack. So easy to make once the kids were asleep, and lovely to serve it chilled with tortilla crisps. When it comes to recipes such as guacamole, I always tend to mad my twists to it. Here is my take on it.



Ingredients:
2 ripe avocados
2 tomatoes
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp Greek yogurt
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 mild green chilli
lemon juice
salt and pepper


Method:
Chop up the tomatoes and parsley and add to a bowl. Scoop up the avocado and mash it lightly with a fork in same bowl. Add the lemon juice to prevent it from getting brown. Mix and add the yogurt as well as the seasoning to taste.

Put it in the fridge to chill for 15 min and serve it with tortilla crisps.



Enjoy!


Sauteed chard and sugar beet leaves with eggs - allotment recipes

I am trying to eat more healthy and cutting down on many bad food habits as well as cutting down on meat. So I am trying to use up a lot of the greens we get from the allotment. This is a recipe that is very dear to me as it was given to me by my mum. She used to make this dish for us during our long Saturday breakfasts at home. It is a very common Kurdish breakfast dish. 

 


The recipe is very basic and easy to make. Yet it fills you up and can be made any time during the day. In fact, it was my dinner today. I used chard and sugar beet leaves as well as onions from my allotment. The taste is so much better when you use organically grown vegetables. I am starting to incorporate more and more from the allotment. We grow many different greens and vegetables. I am hoping to increase the number of vegetables next year.  If we don't get hold of chard or sugar beet leaves, we generally use spinach leaves in this recipe.


Ingredients:
chard leaves and stalks
sugar beet leaves and stalks
1 onion
3-4 eggs
salt and pepper
paprika and curry powder

 Method:
1. Chop the onion and the leave stalks. Fry them with a few tbsp of oil on medium heat until soft and golden. Add the chopped leaves and season well.



2. Once everything is fried well, add the eggs and mix. Taste and see if more seasoning is needed.



3. Once everything is well cooked serve it with flat bread. Or just eat as is. You will definitely make it many times. It is a very nice and different option to the everyday omelette. The chard taste is mild and almost sweet, not bitter at all.


Enjoy!



Tuesday 31 July 2018

Green salad - allotment recipes

Here is my first, very simple allotment recipe. This salad may not seem to be anything out of the ordinary when it comes to a green salad, but to me it is very special. I truly can say that when you use fresh vegetables and herbs that have been organically grown, taste so much better than any nice shape ones from the supermarket.

In this salad I used following allotment items:
mild green chillies
mint leaves
fresh thyme
parsley
cucumber

Only store bought items where olive oil, tomato and iceberg salad. I also used some Italian salad seasoning and pomegranate molasses to make it tangy.



This salad was great on its own. But I was super hungry and asked hubby to make his super yummy humus. He simply jazz up all items in a food processor: can of chickpeas, 3 tbsp tahini, 1 tbsp greek yoghurt, paparika powder, garlic powder, salt, and olive oil.

I served it all together with flat bread and olives. Can you see how much I love everything olive!!






Enjoy!

Herbs and vegetables from our allotment

A big dream me and hubby share, is to be able to grow our own herbs and vegetables one day, in our own garden. Since that dream seems some what far away at the moment we have decided to make our dream come true buy getting an allotment!

We love every day spent in our allotment, although it is hard work and long hours. But what a great way to spend our lovely summer together, not to mention, the great joy it brings to our kids.

I have harvested following vegetables from our allotment and cant wait to make different dishes and recipes using them.

These lovely chard has been used when we make dollma (iprax) together with wine leaves. We generally chop of the leaf stalks and fry them with onions and eggs for a lovely breakfast. I also put them in the bottom of my pot when i cook the dollma. it prevents it from burning and are delicious to eat this way.


Then I harvested some mint, which is great in many things, esp salads. Same with cucumbers, they are crunchy and leave that dry taste in your mouth. To me that is a sign of a great cucumber. The very mild chillies also ended up in my salad, as well as being chopped up and put in almost any stew, chilli or soup that I recently made.


The plant to the left is what we call Tolik in Kurdish. I still have not figured out what the name is in English. It has pink and purple flowers and a beautiful shaped leaves. We generally chop it up and fry it with onions and eggs for breakfast. Cant wait to make all of these lovely dishes.


Monday 25 June 2018

Pastry baked salmon - recipe

I love salmon with potatoes. But whenever I find a new recipe with a new twist, I like to try it, to add variation to how we make salmon at home. This time, I was checking Instagram and saw their quick food videos. One clip was showing how to make pastry baked salmon. So here I have simply tried to follow along.



Ingredients:
Three pieces of bone free salmon fillets
1 ready pastry roll
1 mozzarella cheese ball
1 onion
1 handful of fresh spinach leaves
2 tbsp creme fraiche
spices: fish mix, mix of herbs, paprika powder, garlic powder to taste

Method:
1) Roll out the pastry dough in a baking dish covered with baking paper.
2) Lay on it the salmon fillets
3) Gently fry the onion, the spinach leaves together with creme fraich, season with the spices.
4) Add the filling on top of the salmon and top it with the mozzarella slices as shown below:


5) Cut the dough as per picture. Lay one slice of the dough at the time to form a braid. Brush it with oil and sprinkle some dried herbs on top. Bake it in the oven for 45 minute at 180 degrees.




Enjoy!

Potato salad - recipe

I often like to eat salads for dinners. To make it more filling I add potatoes. Here, I have tried to make a summary and light salad, yet filling and one that goes very well with chicken or steaks. I do it often when it is time for BBQ. But this time the actual salad was enjoyed on its own. 


Ingredients:
4-5 potatoes
half cup creme fraiche
handful radishes
1 chopped spring onion
handful chopped herbs such as basil and mint
2-3 tbsp dijon mustard
salt and pepper
garlic powder
paprika powder


Method:
1) Boil the potatoes and let cool down.

2) Chopp the herbs and vegetables.

3) Mix the creme fraiche with the mustard and add the spices to taste.

4) Chop the potatoes into cubes and mix everything in a bowl. Let the flavours mix nicely in the fridge for about 30 minutes before serving it.


Enjoy!

Vegetarian Feta Cheese Quiche (pie)

I once made this feta cheese quiche pie. But I can't find my own recipe any where :). But here is step buy step photos of how I made it. I do remember it was very delightful though. I always serve my pies with a fresh green salad.










Enjoy!

Garlic bread with tomato and mozzarella

A nice late evening snack is this garlic bread with tomatoes, mozzarella and herbs. I buy the bread that has cuts in it and simply fill the cuts with tomato and cheese. I also add some fresh basil and parsley leaves, from my balcony herbs. I grill it in the oven for about 20-30 min in 200 degrees until golden brown. Becomes really good and gooey with melted cheese. 


Egg and avoccado sandwich

My favourite breakfast at the moment. Boiled egg on a toasted bread with avoccado spread. Just sprinkled with paprika powder and black pepper. Yum


Vegetarian pasty made with baking powder ( piroger) - recipe

Today I made vegetarian pasties. The dough was really fluffy and easy to make as it did not need any yeast. I simply used Anna Marias recipe. I loved the taste and thought I should make more for picnics. Here I served it will salad and hummus.



Dough ingredients:
8 dl flour
3-4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 dl milk
100 g butter

Filling:
3-4 boiled potatis
Frozen vegetables: peas, corn, paprika
1 onion

Spices: paprika powder, cumin,garlic powder, curry, salt and pepper to taste

To make:
1) boil potatoes. Dice onion and fry them with the frozen veggies on midium heat. Add the spices. Once semibrowned add chopped boiled potatoes. Add few tbsp water and let fry and steam for roughly 20 min on low heat. Let cool.

2) Mix flour, baking powder and salt. Cut the butter in pieces and mix it. Add the milk and form to a dough.

3) Roll out the dough and cut out circles, 15 cm in diameter. Fill the dough and fold the circle.  Pinch it well so it does not open. I made it like a braid. Bake in oven for 10-15 min in 220 degrees.




Enjoy!