Banana and oats pancakes with fruits and maple syrup - no flour

the guilt free yumminess.

Ingredients

(for about 8  12cm diameter pancakes)

2 cups of oats

1/2 cup of regular milk ( I used almond milk) 

1/2 cup of yogurt

2 eggs

a pinch of salt

a pinch of cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla paste

1 mashed banana

2 -3 tablespoons of coconut flakes

1 tablespoon of chia seeds ( optional )

How it`s made 

1. Beat the eggs with the mashed banana.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients one by one and stir well. 

3. Leave it to rest for 15 minutes.

4. Prepare 2 nonstick pans and wait until they are hot ( important step) but not smoking.  With a big salad spoon form your pancakes and flip them after you see some bubbles forming.

Enjoy them with fresh fruits, yogurt and maple syrup. 

Fattoush with grilled aubergines and toasted hazelnuts

Amazing mix of textures and a nice contrast between sourness and sweetness.


Ingredients
(serves 2 persons)

1 aubergine
1 pita toasted and crumbled ( the original recipe calls for fried pita, but I made the lighter version)
half a pomegranate
6-8 cherry tomatoes
1 red bell pepper
1 carrot
a handful of toasted hazelnuts
escarole  or any other type of crunchy leaf
Dressing :
minced garlic  - a quarter of a clove
lemon juice  from 1 lemon
olive oil

sumac and dry mint

How it`s made

1. Cut the aubergine in fine stripes. Grill them over high heat and leave them to cool. Add a splash of balsamic vinegar and some minced garlic. Toss everything.
2. Place the rest of the ingredients in a bowl.
3. Just before serving prepare the dressing by shaking the olive oil, lemon juice and garlic in a small jar with a lid. Pour the dressing and sprinkle generously with sumac and mint.

Sweet potato, avocado and Kalamata olives salad

A light yet hearty salad, perfect for lunch.

Ingredients 
(serves 2 persons as a full meal)

1 bag of mixed salad leafs ( I used a mix of radicchio, lolo and escarole)
1 avocado sliced
1 handful of cherry tomatoes
2 sun-dried tomatoes  kept in olive oil
about 12 Kalamata olives
100 gr feta cheese
2 sweet potatoes  (about 600 gr)

Dressing : 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, 1 teaspoon of the sun dried tomatoes oil.

How it`s made

1. Peel and slice the sweet potatoes. Preheat the oven at 175 C. Put the potatoes in a bowl, sprinkle them with some salt and pepper. Add about 1 teaspoon of olive oil and toss. Add 2 tablespoons of grated Grana Padano and toss. You can skip the last step, but it will add lots of flavor. Bake the sweet potatoes in an oven  paper  covered tray for 20 minutes or so.
2. Finely chop the sun-dried tomatoes and the Kalamata olives. Crumble the feta cheese.
3. Mix everything in a bowl and prepare the dressing in a small jar with a lid. Shake the dressing as you would do with a James Bond Martini.
4. Right before eating, toss the salad and dressing.

Roasted peppers stuffed mussels

A time consuming dish if you are using fresh uncleaned mussels but the result makes it worthwhile. Or you could just use a jar of already roasted peppers and frozen, cleaned mussels.

Ingredients 
(serves 2 as a light dinner or 4 as a starter)


- 600 gr of fresh mussels
- 2 hungarian peppers
- 1 slice of 2 days old bread - toasted and crumbled
- 1 or 2 spoons of roasted, crushed pine nuts
- a few dashes of Worchestershire sauce
- a few dashes of Tabasco
- 2 tablespoons of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- parsley - chopped
- lemon
- black pepper

How I made it?

1. Roast the peppers. They are ready when their skin has black blisters. Put them in a bowl and cover with cling film; in about 5 minutes you can easily peel them of the skin.
2. Clean the mussels ( remove the beards, any barnacle and discard the opened ones if they do not close when you tap them).
3. Cook the mussels in a hot skillet. Just mix them with a sliced clove of garlic and a splash of white wine, put the lid on and wait for 3-4 minutes, until  most of them are open. Throw out any that do not open.
4. Remove the mussel meat and reserve the big shells to fill.
5. In a bowl mix the  finely chopped roasted red peppers, chopped mussels, crushed pine nuts, the toasted bread crumbs, worchester sauce, tabasco, lemon juice and black pepper.
6. Fill each shell, place it in a tray and sprinkle with a bit of parmesan.
7. Put them under the hot grill for about 3-4 minutes.

Low fat banana cake with dried cranberries

Ingredients

• 3 bananas
• 125 g full fat yogurt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 100 g dried cranberries
• 3 eggs
• 80 ml light olive oil
• 110 g brown sugar
• 270 g flour
• 50 g coconut flakes 
• 70 g walnuts
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• a pinch of salt

1. Preheat the oven to 160 C. 

2. With a fork, mash the bananas an then mix in the yogurt, the baking soda and the cranberries. Set aside.

3. In another bowl, beat the eggs, add the sugar and the oil, slowly mixing through. 

4. In a third bowl, sift the flour and then stir in the coconut, walnuts, baking powder and the salt. 

5. Line a loaf tin with parchment paper or grease it with some oil. 

6. The final step : mix all the wet ingredients together ( the first two bowls ) and the pour everything into the flour bowl.  With a rubber spatula, fold in the batter by scraping the sides of the bowl. Because it`s a quick bread batter, it is very important not to over mix it. It should result a quite lumpy and thick batter. 

7. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake it for about 45-50 minutes. As soon  as a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake, comes out clean, it`s ready. You don`t want a dry cake. 

The end result it`s a delicious moist cake, not too sweet and a little tangy from the cranberries. 

Lamb steak with peas, feta and garlic mint sauce

Ingredients

400 g lamb steaks
salt, paprika, pepper
100 ml rose wine

for the peas:
300 g peas ( fresh or frozen )
75 gr crumbled feta
fresh lime juice

for the mint sauce:
half a garlic clove
4 sprigs of fresh mint
lime juice
half a teaspoon of brown sugar
extra  virgin olive oil


How it`s done?
1. Boil the peas for about 7 minutes if frozen.
2. Brown the  seasoned lamb steaks ( rub them with the salt, paprika and pepper) in a pan with some cooking olive oil. Set the heat to a high level to obtain the nice brown. It should take 2 minutes for each side. Next, deglaze with the rose wine, making sure you scrape all the goodness from the pan.  After 3 minutes take out the steaks and let the wine reduce.
3. Meanwhile prepare the mint sauce. With the help of a pestle, a mortar and a hungy  boyfriend, crush the garlic, sugar and mint and pour from time to time some olive oil.
4. When they are ready, drain the peas and tip them in a bowl. Add the feta cheese and the lime juice and toss them.
5. At last, take the lamb steaks back in to the pan and make sure the glaze is covering all sides.

Enjoy it with a glass of rose cabernet sauvignon and  good company. :)

Cocoa banana cake drizzled with coffee icing

What to do in such a lazy Sunday afternoon?

Well...  baking a banana cake seemed like pretty good idea. I got my inspiration from a   BBC Goodfood website recipe, but I adapted it to my taste and expectations. The original recipe called for chocolate chips, sugar and a chocolate sour cream frosting. I wanted to keep it light so this is what I came up with : 

Ingredients for a normal plum cake tray:

120 g white flour

55g whole grain flour

100 g brown sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

3 eggs, two of them separated * yolks and whites

2 large very ripe bananas * when they have the black dots on them, they are perfect for banana cake

100 ml sunflower oil

50 ml milk

vanilla extract

rum extract

for the icing:

4 tablespoons of powdered brown sugar ( you can make it yourself with the help of an immersion blender )

1  tablespoon of instant coffee

2 tablespoons of milk 

How to prepare it :

1. Heat the oven to 160 C. Line a loaf tin with parchment paper.

2. Mix the flours, cocoa, sugar and baking powder. 

3. In another bowl mix the pureed bananas with one egg, two egg yolks, oil, vanilla and rum extract and milk. 

4. Beat the two remaining egg whites until they form soft peaks. 

5. Slowly fold in the dry ingredients into the banana egg mix. Even slower, fold in the beaten egg whites, taking care of not to overwork the batter. You want to trap inside the batter as much air bubbles as you can. 

6. Everything goes is in the tray and the tray in the oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes or just until a wooden skewer comes out dry from the middle of the cake.

7. While the cake is cooling down on a rack, prepare the icing. Mix all the ingredients, adding more powdered sugar if necessary until you form a paste. Drizzle it over the cake and wait for another 10 minutes for the icing to get stiff. 

Enjoy! 

Pistachio coated chicken with cucumber yogurt garnish

La cererea spectatorilor si fanilor :), am revenit cu o reteta foarte simpla, de regim cu rezultat gustos, cum v-am obisnuit pana acum.

Ingrediente pentru 2 persoane:

4-500 grame de piept de pui, curatat, taiat fasii
1 albus de ou batut spuma
100 de grame de fistic curatat si pisat
1 lingurita de boia dulce de ardei
un pinch de seminte de chilly
3 linguri de parmezan ras
1 lingura de ulei de masline.
sare, piper
2 castraveti
1 iaurt gras
oregano

Preparare:
Se incinge cuptorul la 180 de grade C.
Pieptul de pui se spala, se usuca bine bine cu un servet de hartie si se da cu sare, piper.
Fisticul pisat se amesteca cu boia, chilly, parmezan si ulei de masline.
Se da pe rand fiecare bucata de piept de pui prin albusul batut spuma si dupa in amestecul de fistic * ca la snitele. Pe o tava tapetata cu hartie de copt se aseaza frumos fiecare bucata de pui fisticuita.

Se da la cuptor pret de 30/40 de minute, sub supraveghere atenta pentru ca trebuie sa intorci bucatile de pui, cam pe la jumatea timpului de coacere. Dupa ce le-ai intors, se mareste putin focul sau si mai bine, se da cuptorul pe optiunea grill. Tot secretul e sa nu se usuce prea tare carnea si sa obtinem o crusta crocanta si delicioasa.

Castravetii se curata de coaja cu un peeler de legume. Cu aceleasi peeler, se taie fasiute subtiri pana dam de seminte. Partea cu seminte nu o folosim, mai ales ca atunci cand nu sunt in sezon, centrul castravetilor e destul de amar. Se sareaza si se lasa 10 minute, pana mai lasa niste apa. Se scurg castravetii de apa, eventual se pot asezona cu niste otet si ulei de masline, iar deasupra punem o lingura de iaurt grecesc si se presara oregano.

Arome mediteraneene pentru gusturi fine. :D