Yummy food over a busy weekend

It's been a busy bank holiday over here full of celebrating, cooking, eating, laughing, playing and more.
First, it was my 13th wedding anniversary which always involves a special meal and a nice bottle of something bubbly.
The very next day we celebrated my sister in law's birthday in a very nice Italian restaurant.
But that's not all, the day after, our youngest child turned four and that was a busy and exciting day for all of us.
Here is some of the food we enjoyed over the weekend!

Classic hummus in a company of a fresh french radishes 

300 gr cooked chickpeas

1 Tbsp tahini

juice of half lemon

3-4 Tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

Place all ingredients into a food processor and blended until smooth.

Store in a glass jar in fridge up to 3 days.  

Baked squash with roasted veggies 

serve 4

1 butternut squash 

vegetables of your choice: peppers, courgettes, onions, broccoli 

cooked kale or fresh rocket leaves 

pumpkin seeds

salt and pepper

olive oil

Cut the squash into half, don't need to peel it.

Using a knife make a cross cutting at the top, season with salt and pepper and brush it with some oil.

Bake the squash up side down on 180 C for 30 minutes, then add the vegetables and turn the squash over.

Roast everything for further 20 minutes or until the veggies are done.

In a meanwhile, cook the kale and dry-roast the seeds.

Cut the squashes on half lengthwise and serve with the veggies sprinkled with seeds.

 

Strawberry cake 

200 gr fine flour

90 ml oil, I use coconut oil, melted

300 gr fresh strawberries 

2 eggs

90 gr brown sugar or 4-5 Tbsp honey

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla exstract

milk if needed

Place 200 gr fresh strawberries into a blender and blend until smooth.

Chop up the rest of the strawberries.

Place the wet ingredients in a large mixing bowl, whisk all up, add the dry ingredients and a splash of milk if cake mixture is dry.

Add the chopped strawberries and pour the mixture into a bottom loose cake tin, size 20 cm across.

Bake the cake for 20-25 minutes on 180 C.

Serve with custard and some fresh strawberries.

Peanut butter cookies 

220 gr spelt flour

1 tsp baking powder

4 Tbsp peanut butter

2 Tbsp coconut oil

4 Tbsp honey or maple syrup 

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract 

pinch of salt

50 gr chopped nuts, I used pecan 

50 gr currants 

Melt the coconut oil, add the peanut butter and set a side.

In a mixing bowl, place the dry ingredients, add cooled oil and butter mixture as well as the egg.

Mix everything using a wooden spoon.

Add the nuts and currants.

Scoop out a medium size cookie dough, form a cookie with your hands and place it onto a baking tray.

Repeat until you use all the dough.

You can make a pattern on the top, using a fork.

Bake the cookies for 10 - 15 minutes on 170 C.

 

Breakfast blueberry cakes

350 gr self-raising wholemeal flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

150 gr fresh or frozen blueberries

2 eggs

200 gr plain yogurt

100 ml oil

zest and juice of half lemon

1 tsp vanilla extract

100 gr mashed banana

4 Tbsp honey

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a bowl.

In a separate bowl whisk the eggs, add the yogurt, oil, zest and juice of lemon, vanilla, honey and mashed banana.

Fold in the dry ingredients followed by the blueberries.

Spoon the mixture into a muffin tin ( buttered ) for 12 muffins and bake for 25 - 30 minutes on 200 C.

Get them out as soon as they are baked and cool them down a little bit before eating. 

National Vegetarian Week

For Vegetarian week I have selected these three recipes for a reason. They are really quick meals to cook,  they have Alkaline fresh ingredients that nourishes my body, energize me and make me happy at the same time....

Spring on a plate:

serve 4

3 courgettes made into noodles 

250 gr small tomatoes, halved 

2 cloves garlic, minced

200 gr cottage cheese 

olive oil

salt and pepper

fresh basil leaves

Place the cheese into a sieve or colander to drain off the liquid.

In a big non stick pan heat up a big splash of oil.

Add the garlic followed by the courgettes and the tomatoes.

Sprinkle some salt and pepper and stir for a bit until the tomatoes get wilted.

Add the cheese and fresh basil leaves.

Serve immediately!

note: If you don't have a spiralizer you can grate the courgettes.

Pick me up soup:

serve 4

2 handful fresh kale or broccoli florets

2 spring onions

1 clove garlic

1 potato

200 gr frozen peas

4-5 cubes frozen spinach 

oil

salt and pepper

In a big soup pan heat up some oil, add the minced garlic and almost immedietely add the fresh greens, followed by the potato cut into a cubes. 

Add one litre of water, stock cube if you are using or just add salt.

Cook for 8 minute.

Add the frozen veggies and cook for 2 more minutes.

Taste, add some more salt and pepper if needed.

Blend the soup until smooth.

Before serving add some extra virgin olive oil.

Energy balls:

In a food processor place:

100 gr ground almonds

4 Tbsp desiccated coconut

2 Tbsp sunflower seeds

2 Tbsp goji berries

2 Tbsp peanut butter

1 tsp cinammon 

1 Tbsp ground flax seeds

2 Tbsp honey or maple syrup

Blitz all the ingredients until smooth and add 2 Tbsp cold water.

Blitz one more time.

Form 10 to 12 balls using wet hands.

Store the balls in a fridge.

Stalls from my last visit to Borough Market 

Finger lickin open wraps

I've got a big thumbs up for this mid-week veggie dinner from my family. Super looking and super tasty wraps made with simple ingredients in no time at all ....

You will need:

1 big-ish sweet potato, grated
1/2 cup of dry soya mince
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 sliced onion
1 sliced red pepper
 one handful cooked chick peas ( optional )
oil
salt and pepper
2 tsp chipotle paste or any other chili paste
 8-10 corn wraps
 parsley for topping

cheese ( optional )

Place the grated sweet potato into a big plate, add the dry soya mince, garlic, chipotle paste  and salt and pepper.
Set a side.
Heat up a medium size cooking pan, add a big splash of olive oil and stir in onion and pepper.
Add the soya/sweet potato mixture, stir it all up, add 400 ml of water, put the lid on and cook the mixture for 15 minutes. Add the chick peas if you are using it.
Stir often, add more water if the mixture is dry and potato is not cooked.
In a separate frying pan, heat up the wraps - each wrap goes in a dry pan for a minute, each side.
Form a taco shapes while they are still warm and fill them up with the filling. 
Sprinkle some parsley or cheese if you wish, I like to keep mine vegan.

Thanks for reading! I would appreciate any comments or suggestions from you.

Gomashio

Gomashio is a condiment widely used by those who follow macrobiotic and vegan diet. It is incredibly good for you. Calcium- rich sesame seeds and magnesium- rich sea salt, great for bones, nervous system and digestion. Taste amazing on top of any cooked grains or vegetables.
It's been a regular condiment in my diet for the past seven years and I still love it!

Ingredients:

18 tsp sesame seeds

1 tsp sea salt

You will need a mortal and pestle for this recipe.

Heat a non stick frying pan.

Add the salt and stir it often until the salt is really dry, about 2-3 minutes.

Pour the salt into a mortal / bashing dish and grind to a fine powder using the pestle.

Set a side.

Rinse the sesame seeds in a fine strainer.

Place the seeds in the same dry pan and toast over medium heat until the seeds puff up a little.

Add the sesame seeds to the mortal and grind until the seeds are 80 percent crushed.

Transfer the gomashio to a glass jar with lid and keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

note: Limit you consumption to about 2 teaspoon a day, otherwise you will get too much salt in your diet.

Gluten-free breads / loaf with sweet potato

Best gluten free bread recipe ever. This is my twist - by adding olives, sun dried tomatoes and spring onion makes this bread tasty and delicious. By also adding sesame seeds gives a nice crunch and extra nutritional value.
I have repeatedly baked this bread successfully which means all the family were happy until they realised that it also contained olives! By baking it in muffin tin you can add olives to half the breads and leave the rest without. Job done, everyone is happy! 

Ingredients:

2 medium size sweet potato

60 ml oil

170 gr gluten-free flour ( I used rice flour)

2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

2 chopped spring onions

chopped 3-4 sun dried tomatoes

few olives

Peel and cut into cubes the sweet potato.
Steam it for 15 minutes or until is very soft.
Set a side to cool down.
Mash it together with the oil, the eggs, previously whisked and add the flour together with the baking powder.
Add the veggies if you wish as well as the sesame seeds.
Bake it in a loaf tin or in a muffin tin for 20 - 25 minutes on 190 C