Healthy food – Page 3 – Love… to cooking !

Warm Pumpkin Salad with Spinach and Feta !

Nostalgia in reverse, the longing for yet another strange land, grew especially strong in spring.
Vladimir Nabokov

Ingredients (2 servings):
– 1 Hokkaido pumpkin (Red kuri squash)
– 125g fresh baby spinach
– 150g Feta cheese
– 35g pine nuts
– salt and black pepper
– 1 tbsp olive oil for frying pumpkin

Dressing ingredients:
– 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Method:
1 Preheat the oven to 180C
2 Wash pumpkin, halve and de-seed it
3 Bake the pumpkin for 30-35 minutes at 200C and let it cool down
4 Peel the pumpkin and cut into 1.5cm cubes
5 Wash baby spinach and let it dry itself
6 Cut feta cheese into 0.5-1cm cubes
7 Fry pumpkin cubes in olive oil for 4-5 minutes at medium heat
8 Put the salad ingredients on the plates as follows:
8.1 Baby spinach
8.2 Warm pumpkin cubes
8.3 Sprinkle with salt and black pepper
8.4 Feta cheese cubes
8.5 Pine nuts
8.6 Sprinkle with balsamic vinegar
9 Enjoy !

Spinach Pancakes: perfect for Sunday breakfast !

The best portion of a good man’s life: his little, nameless unremembered acts of kindness and love
William Wordsworth

Pancakes ingredients (8-10 pancakes):
– 200g fresh spinach
– 300ml Kefir
– 2 eggs
– 7 tbsp wheat flour
– 3-4 tbsp olive oil
– 2 tsp sugar
– 1/2 tsp salt

Serving ingredients:
– 30ml acacia honey
– 20g Feta cheese
– a few raspberries

Method:
1 Wash spinach and squeeze it in a colander to get rid of extra water
2 Mash spinach in a puree with an immersive blender or in a food processor
3 Combine spinach puree, flour, Kefir, eggs, olive oil, sugar & salt: mix well until smooth
4 Pre-heat a non-sticking skillet with a small amount of olive oil (we need extra oil only for the first pancake!)
5 Fry pancakes until golden at medium heat 1-2 minutes each side
6 Serve the pancakes with Feta cheese, acacia honey and raspberries
7 Enjoy and have a great sunny Sunday !

Side note: These beautiful guys might be capricious as many beautiful creates are… That is why it is important to choose the right heat level when cooking them, but after a couple of failures you will be on the right road to their hearts 🙂

Broccoli Soup with Cream Cheese Tartines: quick and healthy lunch !

The robb’d that smiles, steals something from the thief;
He robs himself that spends a bootless grief.
William Shakespeare

Soup ingredients (2 servings):
– 1 medium or 2 small broccoli heads
– 4-6 baby potatoes
– 1 small onion
– 400ml vegetable or chicken broth
– 1/2 tsp salt

Tartines ingredients:
– 6-8 pieces of Ciabatta
– 100g cream cheese (e.g. Almette)
– 1/2 bunch chopped chives
– 1/4 tsp black pepper
– 4-8 cherry tomatoes for decoration

Method:
1 Soup:
1.1 Cut the washed broccoli with stalks & the peeled potatoes into 1-2cm cubes
1.2 Chop the onion as well. Yes, I often do this in sunglasses 😉
1.3 Put the vegetables into the boiling broth and cook for 15 minutes at medium heat
1.4 Add salt and blend the soup until smooth
2 Tartines:
2.1 Combine cream cheese with chopped chives and black pepper: mix well
2.2 [Optional] Bake slightly brushed with olive oil Ciabatta slices at 200C for 5-7 minutes. Let them cool down.
2.3 Butter the cheese mixture on the Ciabatta slices
2.4 Decorate with the cherry tomatoes halves
3 Serve and enjoy!

Salmon with Quince and Rice: quick and delicious lunch !

See, see how the sun has moved onward while we talked. Nothing can stop it in its course.
Eiji Yoshikawa

Ingredients (2 servings):
– 180g salmon
– 2 fresh quinces
– 120g white rice mixed with wild rice
– 3 garlic cloves
– 2 tbsp butter for cooking quinces
– 1tbsp olive oil for cooking salmon
– a few sprigs of parsley for serving
– 1/4 tsp salt
– 1/4 tsp black pepper

Method:
1 Salmon:
1.1 Wash salmon and absorb extra water with paper towels
1.2 Chop garlic cloves
1.3 Cook it for 4-5 minutes each side until golden in olive oil
1.4 Add chopped garlic cloves to the skillet 2 minutes before salmon is ready
2 Quinces:
2.1 Wash quinces and de-seed them
2.2 Slice quinces into 0.3-0.5 cm width pieces
2.3 Melt butter in the skillet
2.4 Stew quince slices for 15 minutes in butter at medium heat
3 Rice: boil it per instruction in salty water
4 Serve cooked salmon and quinces over the boiled rice: season with salt & pepper and decorate with chopped parsley
5 Enjoy!

Perfect Saturday Breakfast: Yoghurt, Raspberries with Toasted Oats and Nuts

He found himself wondering at times, especially in the autumn, about the wild lands, and strange visions of mountains that he had never seen came into his dreams.
J.R.R. Tolkien

Ingredients (2 servings):
– 300ml natural 3.8% yogurt
– 250g fresh mashed raspberries
– 60g oats
– 30g chopped cashew nuts

Method:
1 Wash and mash fresh raspberries until smooth
2 Toast (dry fry, no oil) oats and chopped cashew nuts until golden for ~2-4 minutes
3 Arrange in the glass: natural yogurt, mashed raspberries, warm toasted oats and nuts. Repeat.
4 Serve and enjoy !

Quick Healthy Breakfast: Yoghurt, Blueberries, Toasted Oats and Cashew Nuts

No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face.
John Donne

Ingredients (for 2 servings):
– 400ml natural yogurt
– 200g fresh blueberries
– 80g oats
– 40g chopped cashew nuts

Directions:
1 Toast oats and chopped cashew nuts ~2-4 minutes until golden at medium heat (no oil, no butter)
2 Sprinkle washed blueberries over the yogurt
3 Sprinkle warm toasted oats and cashew nuts over the yogurt
4 Enjoy and have a great day

Delicious Garlic Toasts with Goat Cheese, Hazelnuts and Grapes !

The reason for the unreason with which you treat my reason, so weakens my reason that with reason I complain of your beauty.
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Ingredients (for 6 toasts):
– 6 slices rye bread or baguette
– 100g creamy goat cheese
– 2 garlic 🧄 cloves
– 24 red grapes 🍇
– 12 hazelnuts
– 50g corn salad for serving
– 6-7 sprigs green onions for serving
– 1-2 tbsp olive oil for toasts

Directions:
1 Toast rye bread slices with or without olive oil
2 Rub upper part of toasts with garlic
3 Butter goat cheese on the toasts on the garlic side
4 Sprinkle the toasts with sliced hazelnuts, halved grapes and chopped green onions
5 Serve with corn salad and enjoy !

Spanish Soup Salmorejo: perfect for hot days !

With a few flowers in my garden, half a dozen pictures and some books, I live without envy.
Lope de Vega

Salmorejo ingredients (2 servings):
– 🍅🍅🍅 500g fresh tomatoes 🍅🍅🍅
– 50g-100g ciabatta or baguette crumb (soft part)
– 2 garlic cloves
– 1 tsp salt
– 1/2 tablespoon white wine vinegar
– 50ml olive oil Extra Virgin

Serving ingredients:
– 100g chopped ham
– a few basil leaves

Directions:
1 Wash tomatoes and remove the green middle part
2 Combine in a bowl tomatoes + ciabatta crumb (add 100g crumb for a thick soup and 50g for a light one) + garlic cloves + salt + vinegar + olive oil: mash everything with a food processor or blender until smooth
3 Serve the soup with chopped ham and fresh basil leaves ! Enjoy !

Notes:
1 This soup will not leave you indifferent 😉
2 Tomatoes, olive oil & garlic quality are essential for the taste!
3 Put the soup in the fridge for 1 hour before serving if you prefer to have it cold 🙂

Red Bell Peppers Stuffed with Beef and Pearl Barley !

Numai daca vremea ar sta locului am putea vedea lamurit ce este etern
Mihai Eminescu

Ingredients (for 4 stuffed peppers):
– 4 red bell peppers
– 450g minced beef
– 90g pearl barley
– 7 small tomatoes 🍅
– 1/3 bunch dill
– 1 small onion (to adda flavour to the broth!)
– 1 teaspoon salt
– 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
– 100g sour cream for serving

Directions:
1 Pre-cook pearl barley: boil for 12 minutes, then drain extra water
2 Mix minced beef with chopped dill & pre-cooked pearl barley & salt and black pepper
3 Wash red bell peppers, carefully remove the top part and de-seed
4 Stuff well red bell peppers with the meat mixture 🙂
5 Wash and cut tomatoes into 1cm cubes, peel small onion: put cut tomatoes and an onion into a large pot
6 Carefully put the stuffed peppers to the same large pot with the tops from bell peppers One can put them either horizontally or vertically, the main point is to be able to cover them with the water afterwards.
7 Add to the pot water to cover all the peppers: cook at medium heat for 40 minutes, but evacuate the onion from the pot after 10 minutes of cooking 🙂
8 Serve with sour cream and half a soup ladle of broth !

Tomato, Mozzarella and Fresh Basil Sandwiches !

Strange fits of passion have I known:
And I will dare to tell,
But in the Lover’s ear alone,
What once to me befell.
William Wordsworth

Ingredients (for 4 open sandwiches):
– 4 slices Ciabatta (yes, Italian bread is essential, otherwise all is lost!)
– 3-4 fresh tomatoes
– 125g Mozarella
– 10g pine nuts
– fresh basil leaves

Directions:
1 Rinse and dry basil leaves
2 Toast a little Ciabatta slices
3 Toast pine nuts until golden (no oil! no butter!)
4 Wash and slice tomatoes
5 Lay on the Ciabatta pieces: basil leaves, mozzarella slices, tomato slices, pine nuts
5 Sprinkle with a few drops of olive oil
6 Enjoy !

Very Green Zucchini Pancakes with Sour Cream Sauce !

… everything I felt a connection with a rectangle of framed sunlight was dominated by a single passion. If my first glance of the morning was for the sun, my first thought was for the butterflies it would engender.
Vladimir Nabokov

Pancakes Ingredients (for 6-7 pancakes):
– 450g zucchini
– 2 eggs
– 250ml milk
– 150g wheat flour
– 1 tbsp 🌻 oil (in batter) + 1/2 tablespoon 🌻oil for frying
– 1/2 tsp sugar
– 1/2 tsp salt
– 1/2 bunch parsley

Sour cream sauce ingredients:
– 1/2 bunch dill
– 200ml sour cream

Directions:
1 Peel zucchini, grate them, place grated zucchini in the colander, cover with a plate to let them drain for 1 hour
2 Chop parsley and dill
3 Prepare a batter: combine milk+flour+sugar+salt+🌻 oil+eggs: mix well and whisk until batter is fully combined
4 Mix in the batter chopped parsley together with grated zucchini
5 Preheat a non-sticking skillet with a little bit of 🌻 oil (no more oil will be needed!)
6 For each pancake pour 1 soup ladle of batter into the skillet
7 Cook pancakes until golden ~2 minutes on each side
8 Make sour cream sauce: combine sour cream with chopped dill
9 Serve !

Adjarian Chirbuli (eggs in spicy tomato-walnut sauce) !

There was a huge moon over the western mountains, and it made the city seem even more mysterious and old, and the great black castle on the ridge stood out in front of the moon.
John Steinbeck, A Russian Journal

Ingredients (2 servings):
– 4 eggs
– 1 cup (1 cup=250ml) tomato sauce (pure tomatoes!)
– 1 chili pepper
– 40g chopped walnuts
– 1 chopped onion
– 3 chopped garlic cloves
– 1 tsp salt
– 1/3 tsp black pepper
– 1/2 parsley bunch for serving
– 1/2 tbsp olive oil for cooking

Method:
1 Chop onion & chili pepper and put them into the first bowl
2 Chop garlic & walnuts and put them into the second bowl
3 Chop fresh parsley and put it into the third bowl
4 Pour some olive oil onto a skillet and set the medium-low heat
5 Transfer chopped onion & chili pepper on the preheated skillet: cook for 5 minutes
6 Add tomato sauce, salt, chopped garlic & walnuts into the skillet: cook for 3 minutes
7 Carefully pour the eggs into the tomato-walnuts sauce (prepare holes for them in there with a spatula right before pouring in eggs): cook the eggs for 5-10 minutes
8 Serve hot with black pepper, fresh parsley and lavash or flat bread !

Buckwheat pancakes with Gruyère, Ham and Egg !

When the first fine spring days come, and the earth awakes and assumes its garment of verdure, when the perfumed warmth of the air blows on our faces and fills our lungs, and even appears to penetrate to our heart, we feel vague longings for undefined happiness, a wish to run, to walk at random, to inhale the spring.
Guy de Maupassant

Batter ingredients (for 5-6 pancakes):
– 1/3-1/2 cup buckwheat flour
– 2 tablespoons wheat flour
– 1/2 egg
– 1 cup water (might be less or more, depends on buckwheat flour)
– 1 pinch salt
– 40g butter for frying

Filling ingredients (for filling 5-6 galettes):
– 5-6 eggs
– 80g ham
– 100g grated Gruyère cheese
– a few sprigs of green onions

Method:
1 Combine batter ingredients, mix them well and whisk until the batter is uniform
2 Grate Gruyère cheese, slice ham and put them in a fridge for a while in 2 bowls
3 Cook the pancakes
3.1 Melt butter in the skillet and pour ~1/2 cup of batter in it
3.2 Cook 2-3 minutes on one side and 1-2 minutes on another side
3.3 Repeat 2.1-2.2 for the remaining pancakes 🥞
4 Cook 5-6 eggs (as many as a number of pancakes you made) in a separate skillet with the melted butter, put them on a plate covered with a lid to keep them warm 😉
5 Warm up the pancakes in a frying pan with some melted butter and add in the middle of them the following levels:
5.1 Sliced ham
5.2 Grated Gruyère cheese
5.3 Cooked egg
6 Put the cooked galettes on the plates, and fold over their four edges
7 Garnish with chopped green onions & black pepper
8 Serve immediately and enjoy !

Hint:
Do not try to replace water by milk or butter by oil otherwise all the charm will be lost! 🙂

Cauliflower pancakes with Roquefort-garlic sauce !

Sitting with her on Sunday evening — a wet Sunday evening — the very time of all others when if a friend is at hand the heart must be opened, and every thing told…
Jane Austen, Mansfield Park

Pancakes ingredients:
– 1 cauliflower head cut into florets
– 2 eggs
– 3 tablespoons wheat flour
– 1/2 teaspoon salt
– 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
– 4 sprigs green onions
– 1-2 tablespoons olive oil for frying

Roquefort-garlic sauce ingredients:
– 200g sour cream
– 40g Roquefort cheese
– 3 cloves garlic
– a few branches chopped parsley

Method:
1 Wash a cauliflower head and separate into florets
2 Boil the cauliflower florets in salty water for 10 minutes, then drain water
3 Mash the cauliflower florets with eggs, flour, species, finally mix in chopped green onions
4 Line a plate with paper towels to put there pancakes afterwards to get rid of extra oil
5 Put some olive oil on a skillet and set the medium-low heat
6 Put 1 tablespoon of cauliflower batter for 1 pancake on a skillet and flatten with a spatula (my 29cm diameter skillet allows cooking 3-4 pancakes simultaneously)
7 Cook pancakes for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden, then transfer them onto the paper towels
8 While cooking pancakes, make a Roquefort-garlic sauce: mash grated garlic with sour cream, Roquefort cheese and chopped parsley
9 Serve cauliflower pancakes hot with fresh baby spinach, chopped green onions and Roquefort-garlic sauce !

Spinach Fatayer: serving ideas !

You would not enjoy Nietzsche, sir. He is fundamentally unsound.
P.G. Wodehouse

Spinach Fatayer Dough ingredients:
– 1 cup (1 cup=250ml) wheat flour
– 1/4 cup warm water
– 3 tbsp olive oil
– 1/2 tsp salt

Spinach Fatayer filling ingredients:
– 120g fresh baby spinach
– 1/2 small chopped onion
– 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
– 2 tbsp lemon juice
– 2 tsp olive oil
– 1/2 tsp salt
– 1/4 tsp black pepper

Method:
1 Preheat the oven at 220C !
2 Combine flour+salt+warm water in a bowl: knead the dough well for 5-6 minutes
3 Make a filling: combine chopped spinach & onion & walnuts & oil & salt & pepper
4 Divide dough into 8 equal pieces and form balls out of them
5 Roll out each ball into a 8-10cm diameter circle: put 2 teaspoons of a filling in the centre of each circle
6 Lift up ends of each circle to the centre to form with your fingers rhombuses-like Fatayers 🙂
7 Put the Fatayers on a baking paper: bake for 15 minutes at 220C
8 Serve with a vegetable soup (see Leek-potato soup recipe here) or black coffee !

Healthy Banana Oatmeal Muffins !

“I don’t feel very much like Pooh today,” said Pooh.
“There there,” said Piglet. “I’ll bring you tea and honey until you do.”
― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

Ingredients (for 10-12 muffins):
– 90g oat flour
– 120g ripe bananas
– 75g quark or cottage cheese
– 2 tbsp sugar
– 4g Vanilla sugar
– 1 egg
– 1/2 tsp baking soda & 1/2 teaspoon vinegar
– 1/2 tsp cinnamon
– 1/4 tsp salt

Method:
1 Preheat the oven to 180C
2 Dough: mix all ingredients in a bowl (baking soda+vinegar at the last step)
3 Pour the dough into a buttered muffin form
4 Decorate muffins with oat flakes and bake for 30-35 minutes at 180C
5 Serve with Kefir or black coffee

My first rye bread !

He had only just had break fast, but he thought a cake or two and a drink of something would do him good
J.R.R. Tolkien, Hobbit

Ingredients (small portion like on photo):
– 115g rye flour
– 120g wheat flour
– 155ml water
– 7g salt
– 5g sourdough

Method (27 hours):
1 Knead a dough from all the ingredients in a bowl, put under a damp cloth. The dough is ready when it can be easily removed from the edges of the bowl.
2 Leave the dough in the bowl covered with the damp cloth for 24 hours. Stretch and fold the dough every 6-8 hours
3 After 24 hours stretch and fold the dough one last time, then carefully shape the ball out of it
4 Roll the dough ball in the flour and put it into another well-floured bowl
5 Preheat the oven to 250C
6 Put the bread in the oven in the baking pan with a lid (without a lid, the bread gets too crusty) and bake in three steps
6.1 with a lid for 10 minutes at 250C
6.2 with a lid for 30 minutes at 230C
6.3 without a lid for 10 minutes at 230C
7 Take the bread out of the oven and let it cool before you cut it

Grapefruit Vanilla-Mascarpone dessert !

All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered.
Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

Ingredients (2 servings):
– 2 grapefruits
– 200g Mascarpone
– 50ml 33% cream
– 2 tbsp sugar
– 4g Vanilla sugar
– 6 Savoiardi biscuits

Method:
1 Crumble Savoiardi biscuits in a bowl
2 Make Mascarpone cream: mix Mascarpone + 33% cream + sugar
3 Peel grapefruits & remove membranes: cut each grapefruit slice in 3 pieces
4 Arrange in the glass the following layers:
4.1 Savoiardi crumble/ Mascarpone cream/ grapefruit pieces
4.2 Repeat 4.1 until the glass is full with the colorful layers, then serve !

Red Bell Pepper Soup with Pistachio !

As for the ball, it is quite a settled thing; and as soon as Nicholls has made white soup enough, I shall send round my cards.
Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice

Ingredients (2 servings):
– 2 large red bell peppers
– 6 baby potatoes
– 1 small onion
– optional: 60ml 33% cream
– 400ml water or chicken broth
– 0.5 tsp salt
– 25g green unsalted raw pistachios
– green onions for serving

Method:
1 Roughly chop peeled potato, de-seeded bell peppers & onion
2 Finely grate pistachios
3 Boil potato in a broth for 5 minutes
4 Add bell peppers & onion, simmer for another 10 minutes
5 Add (optional!) 33% cream to the soup-to-be, transfer to the blender, puree until smooth
6 Garnish with chopped green onions & grated pistachios

Rye-bread tuna sandwiches !

Ce fut le temps sous de clairs ciels…
Paul Verlaine

Ingredients (2 servings):
– 130g canned tuna fish
– 120g Almette or another soft creamy cheese
– 1/2 chopped onion
– 1/2 finely chopped dill bunch
– 1 teaspoon lemon juice
– 1 teaspoon mayonnaise
– pinch of salt & a bit of black pepper
– 6-8 triangle slices of rye bread
– one sprig of green onions for serving

Method:
1 Prepare tuna mixture = tuna fish + cheese + chopped onion + chopped dill + mayonnaise + lemon juice + salt + pepper
2 Cut rye bread into triangle slices and toast them if you prefer them toasted 😉
3 Put the tuna mixture on the slices, enjoy it and have a great Sunday !

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