Mother´s Day Pasta Salad

Nothing special about this pasta salad, other that I made it on Mother´s Day. 

- Pasta of your choice
- courgette thinly sliced and raw
- mackarel fillets
- boiled egg
- walnuts
- black sesame seeds
- grated parmesan cheese
- chili olive oil
- white pepper
- salt

Chop the large pieces of the ingridients and mixed all together, drizzle with oil, pepper and cheese. 


(Sorry no photo, I was too hungry and I gulfed it down before I even reached for the camera!)
;-)

Energetic & healthy yoghurt

A non-baking alternative to the energy bars recipe that my friend Giorgia tells us about here. (Pshhh, a little secret: read why she is running too, it's a very worthy cause!!!)

• Crushed tea biscuits ("galleta María" style, for Spanish readers)
• Chopped ripe banana
• Chopped strawberries
• Almonds
• Walnuts
• Raisins
• Greek yoghurt
• Honey

Following this order, layer  the ingredients on individual bowls. 
Refrigerate until it's time to eat. 

Rice salad

Boiled rice
Boiled carrots, diced
Boiled egg, cut into pieces
Mackerel or tuna fillets
Mayonnaise
Herbs to decorate


Mixed all in a bowl & serve

It was so yummy & I was so hungry I forgot to take a picture!!!!
Sorry!
;-)

Cold tapas

A group photo - compliments of Pau

Avocado & Crab

Avocado, mashed

Garlic, crushed

Salt & Pepper

Served on toasted bread or crackers

A drizzle of chilli olive oil

Crab sticks, torn length-wise to decorate

Dates & Walnut

Cut length-wise to remove the stone

Fill in with cream cheese

Decorate with a quarter of a walnut

Shredded lettuce to decorate the plate

Cheese & Quince

Cheese

Quince jelly

Served on toasted bread or crackers

Parsley to decorate

Salmon Eggs

Boiled eggs cut in half

Smoked salmon mixed with the egg yolks and mayonnaise

Grated carrot to decorate

Tuna & Red peppers

Tuna mixed with soft cheese

Cooked or tinned red peppers cut in slices to decorate

Served on toasted bread or crackers

Enjoy!

Warm chichen & potato salad

Pan fried chicken
Left over boiled potatoes in cubes
Cherry tomatoes
Cucumber
Sweet corn
Sunflower seeds
Cheese
Avocado

Toss all the above ingredients together & drizzle with olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. 

Courgette muffins

When I read the title of the recipe I had the same reaction than when I first heard of carrot cake. I thought: "really?"

But since I have learn that I should give new flavours a go. So I did. 

I used as base recipe my friend's Zuri from AZ Atelier's. But I didn't have nutmeg and I skipped the sugar. Zuri's muffins are a sweet version. Mine are savoury. With a twist. 

Thanks for the inspiration, Zuri!

Ingredients:

2 cups of self-raising flour

1 courgette roughly chopped

2 teaspoons of grated lemon zest

3/4 of a cup of milk

1 egg

a chili, chopped

a pinch of salt

Instructions:

Mix all the ingredients, pour into the muffin molds and bake on a pre-heated oven... you know the drill. 

You can eat them on their own, or with a bit of butter, or with ham and cheese... the possibilities are unlimited! Yum!

What will your twist on the courgette muffins be? Share it, please!

Papaya & ham salad

I saw a similar idea on the web and I thought? Mmm, sweet & salty? But I thought, I have been eating ham & melon for years, haven't I? So why not try another fruit?

As usual, couldn't be bothered with writing down the exact recipe. 
So this is my own version...

• Papaya
• Ham (parma, serrano... any cured type)
• Cheese (of your choice, edam in this case)
• Walnut
• A drizzle of olive oil (chili infused in this case)

Mmmmm, nice & refreshing for these hot summer days!!!!

If you like salads, try these also:

• Calabrese meets prawn cocktail salad
• Chicken and walnut salad

Carrot & ginger jam

I looooooooooooooove carrots. So when they are cheap I can't help myself and I buy them. Unfortunately I usually end up dumping half of them because they go off quicker than I can eat them. Despite of my love for them.

This time, however, I was determined not to let this happen. I decided to look up for things to do with them. I also had also bought some fresh ginger in my quest to expand the range of foods I eat as part of my New Year's Resolutions.

So I searched for carrots and ginger recipes on the web. Et voilà: carrot & ginger jam, of course! D'oh! Carrots are naturally sweet and although I was shocked the first time I heard about carrot cake, many, many years ago, jam somehow made sense now.

So I decided to give it a go. I found different recipes on the web that had more or less ingredients, so I went along with what I had & I did my best. Here it goes:

Ingredients:
- carrots
- ginger
- orange
- brown sugar
- cinnamon stick

Instructions:
Peal & chop the carrots. Boil them until soft & drain.
Juice the orange and grate the ginger. Add together with the rest of the ingredients to the boiled carrots.
Cook on low heat, stirring to avoid the mix getting burned.
Let it cool down.
Filled the jars and put them in a bigger saucepan with water, bain-marie style.

Let it cool down.

Eat as you like: on toast, as a yogurt topping, as pastry filling... let your imagination fly!

Bacon & feta sandwich

Bread (brown,with seeds, cereals, anything you like but as healthy as posible)
Bacon (preberably smoked, as thinly as possible)
Cheese (feta in this case)
Tomato
Onion
Salt
Pepper
Parsley

The wrong omelette

Ok, ok, it was supposed to be an omelette but it didn't go according to plan. Still, one of the best non-omelettes I had in my entire life.

Pitty that it was too dark to take a decent picture, even with flash... Mmmm, I'll have to cook it again some other time.

Ingredients:
- green asparagus & pumkin flowers (both fresh from the Finca Tres Peñas stall in the Tahiche market)
- onion 
- garlic
- eggs
- oil (in this case I used my own juniper infused olive oil)
- salt & pepper

Instructions:
wash and chop all the veggies
pan fry them in oil
add the garlic crushed or finely chopped
beat the egg
add the fried veggies to the egg and mix well
put it back in the pan, adding a bit of oil if required
if it doesn't stick, try it in omelette form
if it doest, just keep mixing until it takes a "scrambled" texture & it doesn't burn

You can eat it on its own or on toast or with rice.

Butternut squash, potato & sweet potato soup

eh.... do I need to say more?

peel, chop & boil until it gets soft with enough water that it will have a "soupy" consistency, rather than a "mashy" one

add salt, pepper, butter and herbs to your liking

serve & eat!

(sorry not photo this time!
let your imagination run wild!)

Ingredients from my ecological basket of F&V from Finca Tres Peñas

Quick and easy gazpacho (cold tomato soup)

Ingredients:
cucumber
(*) tomatoes
(*) green pepper
salt
sugar
vinegar
pepper
parsley

... and in the rush I forgot to add the stale bread! I didn't add the traditional garlic either, as I need to meet a few people shortly afterwards... made up for it by adding a bit extra pepper!

I didn't have time to refrigerate it either, but veggies were on the fridge, so they were cool enough.

Wash, peel and chop the veggies
Pour into the food processor and blitz
Season to your taste
Serve and enjoy this refreshing and healthy drinkable cold soup!



(*) ingredients from my ecological fruit & veg home delivered basket

Traffic light smoothie

Ingredients:
kiwi
(*) strawberries
(*) pear-melon
 milk

Wash, peel, chop and blend the fruit with the milk.
Enjoy!


(*) ingredients included my home-delivered ecological basket

Banana muffins

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of self-raising flour (saves you having to buy baking powder & soda)
1/2 teaspoon salt
(*) 3-4 ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup brown sugar (it adds a different -nicer- flavour & crunchiness than white sugar)
1 egg
1/3 cup butter, melted

Preheat the over at 250-300 degrees
Melt the butter in a saucepan
Peal & mash the bananas
Add all the ingredients, except the flower & mix well
Add the flour & mix well
Pour the mixture into the containers - I love these silicone ones, non sticky, easy to wash & store!
Bake for 15-20 minutes depending on the size of the containers

This recipe made 8 small muffins + a second batch with 2 more medium ones still baking as I write!

Mmmm, banana muffins for breakfast, anyone?


(*) ingredient included my home-delivered ecological basket

Chicken salad

Left over homemade chicken kiev (*)
2 types of lettuce (lollo rosso and normal lettuce)
beetroot
carrots
basil

wash and cut the lettuce
wash, peel and dice the beetroot and the carrots
dice the leftover chicken and warm it

tossed it all together
garnish it with chopped basil, olive oil and a pinch of salt


(*) ingredient not included my home-delivered ecological basket

1,001 veggies soup

green asparagus
dark green courgette
carrots
green pepper
leek
red cabbage
beetroot
tomatoes
onions
spinach
... and / or any other veggies that you find laying around, for that matter!!!! 
I know, it's not literally 1,001 :-)


wash, peel & chop
boil in salted water
blitz

serve with a dash of cream (optional)

              *      *       *
           
It didn't look to good while cooking...

 

but it tasted fastanstic and I had some left-overs to freeze - very convinient for again! 

Related articles suggested by Zemanta:

• Soup for the Soul
• Shut Up and Eat Your Damn Vegetables!

Strawberries, papaya & banana milkshake

ehmmmm, self explanatory!


Wash, peel & chop as required
Add cold milk
Blitz


Serve & drink... enjoy!

Related article suggested by Zemanta:

• Health Benefits of Papaya

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Smoothie

Banana
Carrot
Kiwi
Grounded cereal  of your choice (flaxseed & goji berries in this case)
Milk

Peel & cut fruit into small pieces
Add milk & cereal
Blend
Drink!

You might add the fruit juice of your choice instead of milk.

Pilau rice

Sliced carrot into very thin sticks.
Melt butter in the pan and fried the dry rice on it, adding the carrot sticks.
Before the rice starts to burn, add the chicken stock (see chicken stock sort-of-recipe).

The rice should be ready when the stock is consumed.

Serve as a base ingredient of your favourite stir-fry meat or fish. In  this case, I used strips of pork.

15-Jan-2012 menu & sort-of-chicken stock recipe

Breakfast: cereals

Lunch: Fish (pollack in this case) pan fried with herbs & soya sauce; carrot & courgette soup

Dinner: Roasted poussin (small chicken would do too) stuffed with lemon & roasted onions and red peppers

Washed down with a glass of white wine

Sort-of-chicken stock recipe:
With the carcass & roasted skin of the poussin, I made "poussin stock" (ie. chicken stock) by boiling the remains. Now I have my very own stock! See stock recipes for, emmmmm, stock recipes)