Broccoli Summer Salad

 Okay so that broccoli could taste so good has been a big surprise today when I made this salad. But yes it can! this salad was so good. I made it ONLY because I wanted to make something crazy healthy cause I have been eating sooooooooo bad lately, so much crap. Anyway, wow, it was so good. Sweet, sour, with a kick, crunchy....marvelous salad and not hard, the only hard part would be toasting the almonds in the grill for 5 minutes.

INGREDIENTS:
-2 heads of broccoli.
-100 grams of toasted almonds.
-125 grams of cranberries.
-1 small red onion.

For the dressing:

-1/2 cup of buttermilk,

-1/3 cup of mayonnaise.

-2 tablespoon of cider vinager.

-1 tablespoon of sugar.

-3 tablespoon of shallots.

-1 pinch of salt.

-some pepper.

STEPS:

1. Slice up the broccoli in small bits, really watch the video of Deb because it is a great explanation. Add the chopped broccoli to a bowl.

2. Now chop the onion in small bits and add half to the bowl.

3. Toast the almonds for 5 minutes in the grill, they are so good if you do this, really.

4. Now chop up the cranberries, so much better if you chop them.

5. Now add all the ingredients for the dressing and add the rest of that red onion and the finely chopped shallot and stir well.

So so good. I had no idea you could get so much pleasure out of eating broccoli you all.

Rustic Easy Chocolate Cake

I think everyone should be able to make an easy chocolate cake. And I needed one,  so this one of Deb Perelman seemed pretty easy and not like some of those 3 hours chocolate cakes out there....like come on, 3 hours????  Deb just always makes cooking seem like a walk in the park.

So this cake was good although not "ball knocked out of the park", nope. But decently good. So I though I would write it here just in case I would make it again.

INGREDIENTS:

For the cake:

-85 grams of butter (room temperature)
-145 grams/ 3/4 cup  of light brown sugar.
-2 tablespoon/25 grams of white sugar.
-1 large egg and a yolk.
-3/4 cup/175 ml  of buttermilk.
-1 tsp/5 ml of vanilla extract.
-1/2 cup/41grams of cocoa powder.

-1 cup/125 grams of flour

-1/4 tsp of baking soda.

-1/2 tsp  baking powder.

-1/2 tsp of salt.

For the frosting:

-55 grams of dark chocolate, melted and cooled.

-1&1/2 cup of powdered sugar.

-1/2 cup/115 grams of butter softened.

-pinch of salt.

-1 tablespoon of whole milk.

-1/2 tsp of vanilla.

STEPS:

1. Before you start this recipe make the buttermilk and remember to take out the butter of the fridge.

2. Beat with a hand mixer the butter and sugar until it is combined well. 

3. Now add the egg, and the egg yolk, and beat at high.

4. Now add the buttermilk and beat.

5. Now add the baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt and beat.

6. Now add the flour and cocoa powder and beat.

7. Now bake at 175 degrees for 30 minutes. The dish can be 20x20.

Now for the frosting.

1. Melt the chocolate and let it cool off or it will ruin the texture of the frosting.

2. Now mix the softened butter with the powdered sugar and beat with the hand mixer.

3. Now add the chocolate, vanilla, salt and beat high.

4. Now add the milk and beat high.

Spread the frosting onto the cake! it is a generous amount of frosting, maybe too much. 

Verdict: not bad at all. Sprinkle it for a happy look and enjoy. I mean: who does not like a piece of chocolate cake even if it isn't the best??? 

"Grilled" Kebabs

Kebabs are such a wonderful thing to eat in summer. They are tasty, soft...and not hard to make. I found this recipe in Kitchn and wow, I was impressed. So friends the key is yoghurt. Yep, this is the ingredient that will soften your chicken and give it that juicy kebaby tender taste. And guess what, you do NOT need a grill. Nope, just a normal frying pan.

INGREDIENTS:
-600 grams of chicken or turkey (I prefer thighs)

-3 peppers of different colors.

-200 grams of mushrooms.

-1 big white onion.

-wooden kebab sticks.

For the marinate sauce:

-2 cloves of garlic crushed.

-1 medium lemon.

-1/4 cup parsley.

-1 cup of yoghurt.

-2 tsp of salt.

-1 tsp paprika.

-1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes.

-a splash of oil.

STEPS:

1. Prepare the youghurt marinate, basically dump everything together and whisk well.

2. Now cut up your chicken in kebab pices and add the chicken to the bag and leave it in the fridge for a day or at least 1 hour.

3. Now cut up the vegetable in bits and now start creating the kebabs! this is the hard part really because you need to assemble them.

4. Once you finish just fry them! turn them slowly in medium fire. Char them a little without burning them.

These are really good. This recipe is great fantastic basic recipe. I will come to this again and again. 

Caesar Pasta Salad

 I have loved this salad this summer! It is so filling, tasty and refreshing. I would like to say that it is dead easy too, but it is not dead easy, perhaps easy but not dead easy. Still I think it is worth making it. The original website called it the greatest matrimony of pasta and caesar salad and I think it is well put.

INGREDIENTS:

For the salad:
-400 grams of pasta.
-4 lettuche hearts.
-2 cups of cubed chicken.

-1 cup of croutons.

For the dressing:

-2 tsp dijon mustard.

-2 tablespoons of lemon juice.

-2 tsp of worcester sauce

-3/4 cup of mayonnaise.

-2 tsp of minced garlic.

-1/3 cup of parmesan cheese.

-50 grams of anchovies cut up in bits (optional)

STEPS:

1. Boil the pasta, cut up the lettuce, the chicken in cubes.

2. While the pasta is boiling prepare the cruttons, season them with salt, garlic powder and rosemary (this is optional).

3. Now prepare the sauce. A no brainer mix everything together. I added anchovies but Kenton hates them so I made two dressings.

It's so good you all! the lettuce is a gread addition that adds so much crunch, it is awesome this salad, super refreshing. Pretty happy to have made this because I wanted to learn to make this salad but seemed like a waste of time without the heavy carbohydrates.

 

Yoghurt Popsicles

Summer!  Like the 38 degrees type! wohooo!

These popsicles are so good and easy, perfect for summer. Every week I try a different combination but so far these are the best. Some recipes call for cream but I think with greek yoghurt it is more than enough creaminess. This recipe makes 6 decent popsicles.

INGREDIENTS:

For the berries type:
-1 and 1/2 cup of greek yoghurt.
-1 and 1/2 cup of frozen berries.
-5-6 tablespoons of honey.

For the banana type:

-2 bananas mashed

-1 banana cut up in small bits.

-1 and 1/2 cup of greel yoghurt.

-2 tablespoons of honey.

-2 tsp vanilla.

STEPS:
1. Mix yoghurt and honey in a bowl.
2. Now add the berries and stir.
3. Place in the popsicle molds and freeze for  24h.

That's it. More pictures coming cause this one is pretty bad. But the ones from Boston Commons pretty great.

Amish Pea Salad

 This recipe's charm is more the name than the flavour let's be honest,,, a dream recipe. The key to this recipe is to have ingredients that actually taste like something, so get a nice strong cheese, a nice ham and peas that taste like peas! This is real key. Oh and bacon, let's be honest, everything is better with bacon in life. It is an easy salad, perfect for summer.

INGREDIENTS:
-500 grams of peas.
-125 grams of strong cheese in cubes.
-4 slices of bacon.
-1/4 cup of mayonnaise.
-1/2 cup of ranch dressing
-1 tablespoon of chives.
-1/4 tsp of black pepper.

-250 grams of turkey in cubes.

There are no steps to this salad other than cube everything up, fry the bacon add dressing and toss around, and decorate with pretty parsley. The peas can be even added frozen. 

         

Mint Greek Meatballs

 My goal this summer is to not turn the oven on. So I have needed some ideas. This recipe is not too hard and pretty tasty and it gives you ideas about what to do with mince, my eternal dilemma, how to cook mince. The star of the show is the mint, so good! 

INGREDIENTS:
-700 grams of mince.
-3/4 cup of breadcrumbs.
-1 egg
-1/2 red onion diced.
-3 garlic minced cloves.
-some parsley.
-15 leaves of fresh mint chopped.
-1 teaspoon of dried oregano.

-1/2 tspoon of salt.

-1/2 cup milk.

-1/4 cup of flour.

-2 tablespoons of olive oil.

STEPS:

1. What can I say? no steps, just mix everything together. Add breacrumbs if you need more until they become sturdy.

2. Fry them for 10 minutes. Turn them around every few minutes in medium fire.

That's it. Serve with yoghurt sauce, tomatoes, cucumber, rice. Very good for summer.