Pancakes!

Hey guys,

This week it was Pancake Tuesday!!! I love this day soo much. I could have it everyday or at least every Tuesday haha!
Anyway, I am pretty used to making crepes, but since it's called "pancake" I decided to make pancakes this year, and oh boy did I go crazy!
Here's the recipe ;)

What you need for the batter:

-3 eggs
-250 g flour
-130 ml milk
-1 tea spoon baking powder
-salt
-sugar
-vanilla extract

• First divide the whites and yolks into two different bowls.
• Mix in the flour and milk with the yolks. Add the baking powder, a little bit of salt, 2 table spoons of sugar, and a little bit of vanilla extract.
• In the second bowl whisk the whites until they form stiff peaks, and then gently add into the mixture in the other bowl.
• Heat your pan on a medium heat.
• Pour some of the batter on the pan and fry for couple of minutes. Meanwhile add your favorite topping. When you see the edges starting to turn golden, flip the pancake and continue frying until golden.

As toppings we used raisins, coconut, pineapple, grated chocolate and banana; but you can pick whatever. I used these simply because they were all in my cupboard and I felt like it would be great to try the different flavor combinations....totally worth it by the way! Oh and by the way I served some of them with jam, but you can totally go for maple syrup or Nutella or whatever :)

Enjoy your cooking! :)

Kristina❤

P.S I got inspired at Jamie Oliver's site, but I changed it a little to make it more sweet. :)

Baked Buckwheat with white yoghurt and vegetables

Hey guys,

Today I want to share another recipe. I think it's quiet easy to prepare + healthy + tasty....the best possible combination!

Whenever I leave Slovakia to go back to Dublin, I always take few bits'n bobs that are simply not available in Ireland or just very rare and expensive.
Anyway buckwheat is one of them. It's quiet widespread at home, but for some reason I haven't found it anywhere here just yet!

So here we go...

What we need:
-buckwheat
-chopped tomatoes in tin
-sweet corn and peas
-egg(s)
-salt,black pepper,garlic
-white yoghurt
-spring onions, cucumbers, tomatoes
-cheese

• We cook the buckwheat in the water, the same way as rice but a bit shorter.
• Add some salt, black pepper, garlic and the chopped tomatoes and cook a little longer until all the water has evaporated.
• Add in the sweet corn and peas and then one egg (or 2 eggs in case you're cooking for more people)
• Put the mixture into the casserole, and bake in the oven at 190°C and bake until the egg has turned white and is no more liquid-like.
• Grate some cheese (whichever you like) and spread it on top of the baked buckwheat mixture and put it back to the oven until the cheese melts and turns a little brown.
• Serve with white yoghurt and fresh vegetables!

It's really delicious, so go ahead and try it ;)

P.S the fresh taste of cucumbers and spring onions reminds of summer...agh how I wish it was summer already!

Kristina❤

Peanut butter & Toblerone cookies

Hey guys,

this weekend I was supposed to do some more essay writing, however it would have been a sin not to use the free time to prepare some new delicious yummies.
For a longer time I wanted to try and prepare something using the peanut butter, and the combination of peanut butter and cookies in one seemed just right for this weekend.
So here we go :

What we need:
-1/2 cup softened butter
-1/2 cup (in my case a tiny bit more) peanut butter
-1 cup brown sugar
-1/2 cup white sugar
-2 eggs
-2 tablespoons water
-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
-2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
-1 teaspoon baking soda
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-120 g (or more) Toblerone

• Preheat oven to 190°C 
• In a large bowl mix the flour, baking soda and salt.
• In the second bowl mix the butter, peanut butter and sugars until smooth. Then mix in 1 egg at a time, water and vanilla extract. Once smooth, mix in the flour mixture.
• Chop Toblerone chocolate (not too small and not too big pieces) and carefully fold in the mixture.
• Finally, using the tablespoon, make little mounds 4cm apart onto ungreased baking sheets.
• Bake for around 14 minutes, or until the edges are golden.
• Allow the cookies to cool down for a minute before removing.
• Bon Appetit!

It's a really easy recipe, so you better try it! :P

Kristina❤

Tomato Pasta

Hey guys,

As I have mentioned it in the previous post, I was pretty busy last week, enjoying my time off college!
I don't know if you know couchsurfing.org , but it is an amazing project getting together people from different countries and cultures, exchanging their life experiences and stories. So far I have only hosted some people, but I really can't wait to couch surf myself sometime soon, hopefully :D
Anyway, last week I hosted a couple from New Zealand and Australia, that met while traveling across Europe (now that's a proper love story!).
We had an amazing time last week, couchSurfers got to see a little bit of historical day-time and fun night-time Dublin.
What I want to share with you today, however, is just a simple recipe of an extremely delicious Italian food that my housemate prepared as her 'cuisine debut' for our full house feast!

What we need:
-pasta
-1 tin of chopped tomatoes
-fresh tomatoes
-fresh basil and garlic
-spices: oregano, black pepper, chili pepper
-parmesan

• Cook the past according to the instructions on the packet
• Put the chopped tomatoes into another pot and start cooking them. Add pressed garlic and all the spices, depending on how much you want it to be spicy or garlicky :P Then add the few fresh tomatoes, chopped onto smaller pieces and cook all together until you fell like its ready :)
• Serve the pasta with the prepared tomato sauce, grated parmesan and fresh basil.

It's really easy and extremely delicious... Bon Apetito!

Kristina❤

Veggie risotto

Hi everyone,

today I wanna share with you the recipe for my very favourite food, veggie risotto. I am a big meat lover, but this risotto really got me and I can not stop eating it.    

What we need?

brown rice
tofu
cucumber
aubergine
pepper
leek
champions
sharlot
garlic
soya sauce
... or you can use vegetable you prefer :)

Add caption

This recipe is so so easy!At first cook rice or you can use rice from previous day. I personally prefer brown rice. Then mix everything together on the pan. But most important thing is to add soya souce all the time during preparation, so the whole risotto would have this yummi soya taste (you know, soya rocks!). Cook it 10-15 minutes on the pan, it depends on the cooker, this mine really sucks. In the end add this precooked rice and don´t forget to add soya sauce! Cook it 4 more minutes!
 

And voila!  Bon apetite!

xoxo 

Veru 

Pesto Spaghetti

Hey guys,

today I want to share a recipe with you.
This year I decided that I will try to cook healthy and cheap food as much as possible, in order to achieve a much better life (healthier + tastier), ha!
It`s not like I didn't like cooking before, it`s just that I never felt like I had enough time to cook, and then clean up!
I was always a huge fan of Jamie Oliver and when I saw his new book called Jamie`s 15-Minute meals, I just couldn't resist and I ordered one for myself (here, which by the way is much cheaper than in bookshops)! The recipes are as always amazing, and most of them are pretty easy :)

Anyway, as my first experiment I decided to prepare Pesto Spaghetti.
Just to be clear, I didn't fully follow Jamie`s instructions, so I am going to describe the way I prepared my delicious meal.

Pesto Spaghetti (Serves 4)

Ingredients: 320g dried spaghetti
                    200g green beans
                    200g broccoli
        
        Pesto: 75g almonds
                   big bunch of fresh basil leaves
                  1 clove of garlic
                  2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (I used more....maybe 5? I wonder how Jamie does it!! )
                  50g Parmesan cheese
                 1 lemon

- Prepare dried spaghetti according to instructions on the packet.
-Meanwhile I prepared the pesto by putting the almonds, basil leaves, squashed garlic, olive oil, Parmesan cheese and the lemon juice into the mixer and mixing them until smooth. As Jamie says you can always check the balance of the flavors and add what needs to be added. (By the way my pesto took a bit longer since the mixer was revolting and wasn't working how it should have. :D )
- In another casserole I boiled water with a pinch of salt. Then I put in the beans and broccoli to cook.
-Put the cooked spaghetti into a bigger bowl and mix with pesto.
-Add beans and broccoli and toss together.
-Finally serve on a plate sprinkled with a few more fresh basil leaves, Parmesan cheese and fresh tomatoes.

Bon Appetit!

Kristina ❤

The Ingredients

Voilà