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Iceberg - Feta - Beet Root Salad

Super-simple Iceberg - Feta - Beet Root salad today for lunch! Spring is around the corner, or so it seems, and I crave fresh salads! For this I used 100g of Iceberg salad greens, 170g of cooked beet root, cut into spaghetti, and 100g of Feta cheese, cubed. I could have used the light Feta to make a fit version (less fat). I seasoned it with a teaspoon of olive oil. One serving is 400kcal, 24g Carbs, 18g Protein, 26g Fat

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Gnocchi

How to you like gnocchi?

I like them with a cream and bacon sauce, my husband with brown butter dipped in a cinnamon-sugar mix.

Here is the ground recipe for 4-6 servings of gnocchi, which is super easy:

- 1kg potatos, boiled, skinless, and mashed - 300g all-purpose flour - 1 egg

How to:

- Mix all ingredients together - Take a handful at a time and make a long "worm" thick as your thumb - Cut it into pieces about the size of your thumb fingernail - When you are done making the gnocchi, put some salted water to boil in a pot - Throw in the gnocchi and take them out a soon as they surface - Ready! Use the sauce of your choice and enjoy!

Tips&Tricks

The gnocchi dough should be a little sticky but not too much. If it's too sticky add some flour. After you cut them it's best if you put them on something wooden (like a cutting board) so that the wood absorbs some humidity.

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Crêpes

Very french, very good, and very versatile! You can eat them sweet or savory, make a cake, bake them in the oven. Here is my ground recipe for the crêpes. 

Ingredients for 12-15 crêpes:

- 500ml whole milk - 250g all-purpose flour - 3 eggs - 40g butter, melted

How to:

- Mix the butter with the milk - Mix the eggs into the flour - Add the milk and butter little by little, while whisking, until you used up all the milk - Let the batter rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes ....30 minutes later - Heat up a non-stick pan with low borders (about 22-24 cm diameter) or a pan made especially to cook crêpes into - Fill half a ladle with the batter and quickly make circular moves to spread the batter as thinnly as possible - When you see small bubbles in the surface it usually means your crêpes is ready to be turned - Cook the other side for about a minute and set aside - Continue until batter is finished

Tips

Spreading the batter in the pan with a crepes spreader makes it very easy, but it’s not necessary. Enjoy!

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Gugelhupf

This German Cake has always facitnated me, and with the new cake tin set I bought, this form was included, so I decided to try to make one. I also had some leftover buttermilk I needed to use and I found a recipe that fit perfectly from the quantity. I went for the basic one, just a plain cake with chocolate frosting. Needless to say, it turned out far more palatable then expected!

Ingredients:

- 300g all-purpose flour - 200g sugar - 250ml buttermilk - 250ml seed or olive oil (whichever you prefer) - 5 eggs - 1 package of instant yeast - 2 packages of vanilla sugar

How to:

- Preheat oven at 170°C- Mix all ingredients together, the order is casual- Once the batter is nice and smooth, pour into the greased Gugelhupf tin (either with a geeasing spray or with butter and flour).- Bake for 60 min (if the top starts to become to dark cover it with aluminum foil or turn the oven down to 150°C) - After it cooled a little, you can turn it and it should pop out.- Now you can either decide to use the icing you like or dust it with confectioner's sugarEnjoy!

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Chicken with Soy-Honey Sauce with Rice and Broccoli

When you want asian food, but home-made and healthy!

Ingredients for 2 servings:

- 100g rice - 250g broccoli - 300g chicken breast, cut into pieces - 25g honey - 25ml soy sauce - 45ml water - 5g corn starch - 1tsp sesame seeds

How to:

- Cook the rice according to the package- In the meantime put the broccoli to boil in a pot of boiling water for about 7-8 minutes- Cook the chicken pieces in a non-stick pan with a little water- For the sauce, mix together the soy sauce, corn starch, honey, and the water- Add the sauce to the pan of chicken and let simmer for about 10 minutes in medium-low heat, until the chicken has absorbed most of the sauce- Serve the chicken, sprinkled with sesame seeds,, togethere rice and broccoliEnjoy!

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Apple Cake

Lots of apples, no butter , and it stays soft for the whole week.

Ingredients:

- 3 apples - 3 eggs, room temperature - 100g sunflower oil (or other seed oil without as strong flavor) - 70g full fat yoghurt, natural or vanilla flavored - 160g sugar - 220g all-purpose flour - 1 lemon, zest and juice - 1 package (16g) instant dessert yeast - cinnamon, just if you like it

How to make the apple cake:

Cut the apples into thin slices, pour the lemon juice on top, and sprinkle some cinnamon if you like it. Let sit while yoi prepare the batter

Mix the eggs and the oil with an immersion blender for about 1 minute, add the yoghurt and mix for another minute until smooth and creamy

Put the sugar in a bowl and mix it with the egg-oil-yoghurt mix

Add the flour, the yeast, and the lemon zest. Mix until the batter becomes smooth.

Preheat oven at 180°C

Pour the batter in a 24cm tin, either square or round (or any other shape with similar diameter), covered with baking spray, butter and flour, or baking paper

Decorate on top with the apple slices and bake for about 50-60 minutes

Enjoy!

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Pound Cake

Also know as Sandtorte in Germany and Torta Sabbiosa in Italy, is a very delicate cake, yet buttery and rich!

Ingredients:

- 225g butter, room temperature - 150g all-purpose flour - 150g corn starch - 225g sugar - 4g instant yeast - 4 eggs - 1 package of either lemon or orange zest

Accessories:

- ring cake mould (angel cake mould if you double all ingredients) - hand mixer or kitchen machine

How to:

- Preheat oven at 180°C- Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl except for the sugar- In another bowl mix the sugar and the butter until smooth. You can use a hand mixer or a kitchen machine.- Incorporate one egg at a time, making sure the batter is smooth, before adding another egg.- Add the dry ingredients in small amounts into the butter-sugar-egg mixture.- When nice and smooth, pour into the tin and bake for about 40 minutes (bake a little longer if you doubled all ingredients)- Let cool down and sprinkle with confectioner's sugar!Enjoy!

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Chicken Thight Cooked in Orange Juice with Basmati Rice!

Who doesn't need a shot of vitamin C with these cold and windy weather? So let's eat oranges and tangerines with our main course as well!

Ingredients for 4 servings:

- 8 chicken thighs, without skin - 2 oranges, juiced - 3 tangerines, juiced - 1 lemon, juiced - 1 grapefruit, juiced - 3-4 tbs flour - 30g butter - shot glass of Marsala

How to:

- In a pan with high borders put in the butter to melt - Flour the chicken thighs and put them in the melted butter - Leave a few minutes to roast in each side at medium heat - Pour the shot of marsala on top and let the alcohol evaporate - Pour in the citrus fruits juice and let cook for about 10 minutes with the lid on at medium-low heat - Turn the chicken thighs, leave the lid open and cook another 10 minutes, until the juice becomes a sauce Prepare the rice as instructed on packaging. Enjoy!

Notes

This dish is perfect to prepare earlier and reheat later on. Rice is best made fresh.If the juice is still too juicy, add some corn starch or flour to make it more creamy, a tea spoon at a time.If you have a slow juicer use that to get the most out of the citrus fruits.

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Egg  Wraps with Smokes Salmon

Egg wraps with smoked salmon and low fat cream cheese and peas spread - a quick and easy lunch packed with protein and healthy fats!

Per serving 335kcal Protein 29.8g Carbs 5.2g Fat 21.4g

Ingredients for 2 servings:

- 3 eggs - 10g olive oil - 100g smoked salmon, sliced - 40g frozen peas, thawed - 75g low fat cream cheese - salt & pepper

How to:

- Beat the eggs with the oil- Heat up either a big pan (diameter 28cm) or a smaller one (diameter 18-20cm)- If you are using the big pan, pour in half of the eggs, if you are using the smaller one, pour in a quarter of the eggs.- While the egg wrap cooks, blend the peas with the cream cheese- Once throughly cooked, set aside and cook the rest of the eggs- Divide the cream cheese spread depending on how many wraps you made, put the salmon on top and wrap!Enjoy!

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Brie & Bacon Quiche

This quiche is a newly discovered recipe I though of when I had to empty my frige after christmas. It turned out so good, I had to make a few more times!

Ingredients for the shortcrust pastry (pasta briseé):

100g butter, very cold

200g all-purpose flour

50g ice-cold water

1 pinch of salt

Or you can buy the pastry ready to use!

Ingredients for the filling:

1 slice of brie cheese

100g bacon, cooked, crunchy and shredded

5 eggs

200ml heavy cream

150 - 200g cheese that melts (Butterkäse, Galbanino, butter cheese, mozzarella)

How to make the pastry:

Put into a food processor with blades the flour, the slat and the cold butter and mix for a few minutes.

Add the ice-cold water and mix for another 2 minutes until the ingredients form a ball of dough.

Make a nice ball with your hands, cover it with transparent tinfoil and put it into the fridge for about 40min.

How to make the quiche:

Preheat oven at 180°C

Roll out the pastry and put it into a round tin and make holes with the fork

Cook the bacon until crispy and shred it. While waiting for the bacon to cook, cut all the cheese in pieces.

In a bowl whisk the eggs with the cream and a little pepper if you like.

First put on the bottom the cheese you choose, then the bacon, and on the brie.

Pour the egg mixture on top and bake in the over for about 40 min, until the crust becomes golden.

Enjoy warm!

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Butter Tea Cookies

Fast to make and they keep for a few month in an air-tight container. Bonus: they are perfect to eat while drinking tea.

Ingredients (makes 30-40):

200g butter, room temperature

80g confectioner's sugar

1 package vanilla flavouring

1 package lemon zest

1 egg

300g all-purpose flour

Accessories:

Cookie press!

How to:

Taks out the butter from the fridge 1h before using it (or put the butter into the microwave for 30-40 sec at 600 Watts)

Mix all other ingredients, except for the egg and the butter, into a bowl

With either a hand mixer or a stand mixer with flat beater hook, incorporate the butter little by little and then the egg and mix until batter is smooth

Preheat over at 180°C

Put the batter into the cookie press and press the cookies onto a tin with nothing on it.

Bake for about 11 minutes

Enjoy!

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Crema Pasticcera

Crema Pasticcera 😋 (or crème pâtissèrie or confectioner's custard) is a traditional Italian custard for many different desserts. It has a rich taste and it can be used to fill "cannoncini", make "torta della nonna" or a "crostata di frutta".

Here it is presented as an easy dessert in a glass with layers of savoiardi cookies, topped with fresh fruits.

Ingredients:

750ml whole milk

225g sugar

3 eggs

1 egg yolk

35g corn starch

30g all-purpose flour

Lemon zest of one lemon

How to make the custard:

Pour the milk into a small pot and add the zest.

Let cook with medium-low heat until it nearly boils, then switch of the heat.

In a bowl mix together the eggs and yolk and the sugar.

Once the sugar it completely absorbed by the eggs, add the flour and the corn starch and mix well.

Now pour a very little quantity of the hot milk into the egg-flour-sugar mixture and mix.

Once it’s well incorporated, put the milk back on the hob switched on, on medium low heat, and pour the whole egg-flour-sugar mixture into the pot with the milk while stirring.

Keep on stirring until it becomes a creamy thick texture (about 10-15 min).

When ready let it cool in a wide plate, like a glass tin, covered with tin foil.

When cool, use however you like or eat with a spoon

Enjoy!

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Pumpkin Flammkuchen

This is a German dish that is called Flammkuchen. I like to call it German pizza when I explain what it is, but it's thinner and doesn't have tomato sauce or mozzarella on it. Instead it has some kind of sour cream. This is a fall variation with Pumkin, Feta cheese, and walnuts and needless to say, super-yummy! Let’s get started!

Ingredients (tin size 30cmx40cm):

For the dough:

180g all-purpose flour

1 tbsp dry yeast

80 ml lukewarm water

pinch of salt

For the topping:

100 g crème fraîche/ sour cream

1/2 Hokkaido-pumpkin

40 g broken walnuts

100 g feta cheese

How to prepare Flammkuchen:

Mix flour and the yeast. Put the salt into the water and add the water to flour-yeast mixture. Kned the ingredients until you have a smooth dough.Mehl und Trockenhefe in einer Rührschüssel mischen. If the dough feels to dry add water, if too wet add more flour.

Leave covered with tinfoil or a kerchief for about 1 hour, until the dough doubled it's size.

Preheat oven at 225°C 

Cut the half of the pumpkin into thin slices

With a rolling pin flatten the dough the size of the baking covered tin.

Put the sour cream on top and the pumpkin slices

Bake for 15-20 minutes.

In the meantime break the walnuts and crumb the feta

When the Flammkuchen is ready, put the feta and the walnuts and serve hot 

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Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love chewy chocolate chip cookies and it’s really hard to find them outside of the US (unless you want to buy them at Starbucks or Donkin’ Donuts, which I don’t).

This recipe makes perfectly chewy chocolate chips cookies. I got the recipe from the foodblog chiarapassion and I will repost the recipe here in english.

Hope you’ll enjoy these cookies as much as my family!

Ingredients to make 22-24 cookies (about 40g raw dough each):

240g all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp corn starch

1/2 tsp salt

170g butter, melted

150g brown sugar

100g sugar

1 egg, room temperature

1 egg yolk, room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract

90g chocolate chips 

90g chocolate chunks

Accessories:

Hand whisk

2 bowls

2 large tins

A spatula

An ice-cream scoop or table spoon

How to make the cookies:

Whisk together the brown sugar, the white sugar, and the melted butter

Add the egg, the egg yolk, and the vanilla extract and whisk for about 30 seconds

In the second bowl put together all of the dry ingredients (flour, starch, salt, baking soda) 

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix with a spatula, for about 1 minute, until smooth

Add the chocolate chips and nearly all of the chocolate chunks, leave some aside for decorating

Cover the bowl with tinfoil and put into the fridge for at least 3 hours

Three hours later...

Preheat oven at 175°C

Put baking paper or a silicone mat on the tin 

Use the ice-cream scoop to make tiny balls of dough (about 40g each) and flatten them only slightly. They will become more flatter while baking

If you use a regular spoon, just weight the first piece and make similar size for the others

Leave into the fridge until the oven is ready

Bake for about 12-14 minutes

When you take the out of the oven, press some of the chocolate chunks you have left on top and leave cookies in the tin for another 10 minutes to cool

Notes:

If you don’t find chocolate chunks, you can roughly cut a piece of dark chocolate into chunks

You can use the microwave to melt the butter, 30 seconds at 800-900 Watts are enough

They are good to keep in an airtight container for about 2 weeks

Enjoy!

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Torta della nonna - Grandma’s Pie

This pie is an italiann classic pie and it has a very simple, comforting taste. It can be done in two different variations: one has shortcrust patry on the bottom only, one has shortcrust pastry on top as well. I like them both and do them both ways, it depends on day, I guess! I know you want to get started now so find below the recipe!

Ingredients for the shortcrust pastry for the bottom only:

If you want to do the top as well, just double the ingredients:

1 egg

100g butter, fridge-cold

225g all-purpose flour

80g sugar

Lemon zest of one lemon

Ingredients for the crème pâtissière (or confectioner's custard):

750ml whole milk

225g sugar

3 eggs

35g corn starch

30g all-purpose flour

1 egg yolk

Lemon zest of one lemon

To decorate:

25-30g pinenuts

confectioner’s sugar for the top

Accessories:

Hand-mixer or food procesor with whisks and dough hooks

Food mixer with blades

26cm diameter springform tin

Rolling pin

How to make the shortcrust pastry:

Start by putting the flour and cold butter cut into pieces into the food mixer with blades and mix it, until the flour resembles sand.

Transfer the sandy mixture into a bowl where you can use the dough hooks and add the sugar, the zest, and the eggs.

Mix first with the hooks and then with your hands to have a smooth dough.

Make a ball shape and flatten it slightly, cover it in transparent tinfoil, and put it into the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare the custard.

How to make the crème pâtissière (or confectioner's custard):

Pour the milk into a small pot and add the zest. Let cook with medium-low heat until it nearly boils, then switch of the heat.

In a bowl mix together the eggs and yolk and the sugar.

Once the sugar it completely absorbed by the eggs, add the flour and the corn starch and mix well.

Now pour a very little quantity of the hot milk into the egg-flour-sugar mixture and mix.

Once it’s well incorporated, put the milk back on the hob switched on, on medium low heat, and pour the whole egg-flour-sugar mixture into the pot with the milk while stirring.

Keep on stirring until it becomes a creamy thick texture (about 10-15 min).

When ready let it cool in a wide plate, like a glass tin, covered with tin foil.

How to put together the pieces to make the pie:

Preheat over at 160°C

Cover the tin with some butter and flour

Take the shortcrust pastry from the fridge, put some flour on your working surface and on the rolling pin and start rolling out the dough

When it’s big enough, about 33cm diameter, put it into the tin.

You can cut the borders even with a sharp knife or leave it as is.

Make some whole on the bottom with a fork

Pour over the crème pâtissière (or confectioner's custard)

Bake for about 50 minutes.

Once ready and cool, put the pinenuts on top and the confectioner’s sugar

Enjoy!

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Focaccia

Focaccia is one of those things you can only eat in Italy and it’s espacially tipical in Liguria, one of the seaside regions. 

Focaccia can be eaten plain, at the table together with bread or alone as a snack, but you can also experience it with prosciutto and mozzarella!

It is not difficult to make, but as for every leveaned baking good, it takes quite some time - do ideally you make it in the afternoon if you want to eat it for dinner. 

Focaccia also tastes good reheated with the grill mode in the oven. 

Let’s get our hands dirty!

Ingredients:

15g salt

400ml water

25g fresh brewer's yeast

2 ts of sugar

600g Manitoba flour (or other high gluten content flour)

140ml Extra-virgin olive oil

coarse salt

Accessories:

Oven tin about 60x40cm

A hand-mixer with dough hook or a food processor with a dough hook

A silicon brush

How to make focaccia:

Dissolve the salt into lukewarm water and pour into the food processor bowl, add the sugar

Add 40ml of the olive oil and and half of the flour

Mix until you have a smooth fairly liquid dough

At this point, add the yeast and mix for two minuted

Add the other half of the flour and mix until the dough is smooth and fairly sticky

Pour 50ml of olive oil into the tin 

Put the dough on top of the oil and brush the top of the dough with some of the oil on the tin

Put the dough to rise for about 1-1:30h until it has doubled the size at about 30°C - you will have this temperature if you switch on the light in your oven

After the dough has risen, use your hands to spread the dough and make it tin size, making sure there is still oil underneath the dough

Brush more oil and add some coarse salt on top and let it rise at 30°C for another 30min

After that, use your fingers to press into the dough and make the typical focaccia holes

Add the rest of the oil on top and let it rise for the last time, again 30mins at 30°C

Now it’s finally time to put the focaccia into the oven!

Preheat oven at 200°C, and while it heats up, sprinkle the top of the dough with some lukewarm water

Bake for about 15 minutes in the upper part of your oven

Let it cool down until warm before eating!

Notes:

You can keep it for about days, it tastes super good reheated!

If your don’t have time to make the dogh on the same day, you can just put it into the fridge before baking. When you want to bake it, remember to first make the dough to room temperature before baking.

Enjoy!

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Pumpkin Risotto

Pumpkin Risotto: Seasonal and just soooo good! Recipe is for risotto as main course, if you eat it as first course, reduce rice of 20g per portion.

Ingredients for 4 servings:

320g of arborio or carnaroli rice

300ml of vegetable broth

Half hokkaido pumkin or spaghetti squash (300-400g)

30g of butter

200g of cooking cream 15% fat (heavy cream will do just fine)

3-4 Tb of parmesan

How to:

Peel and cut the pumkin into pieces and let cook in water for about 20 minutes

Drain the pumkin and blend it into a puree

Put the pumkin puree into a pot on medium high heat on the hob and add the rice

Add all the broth, better if hot, and start stirring

Put on a timer for 18 minutes

Cover pot with a lid and let the rice cook, stir every 3-4 minutes

When there are about 7 min of cooking left, add the cream and keep on stirring

Once the rice finishes cooking, switch off the hob, add the parmesan and the butter in thin slices on top, and let rest for 3 minutes

Stir once more and serve with some parmesan on top 😋