Delicious veggie and egg “risotto” / “Arroz” de ervilhas e espargos com ovo escalfado

Before this recipe I just to say that my Yoga classes and going super well, I’m so happy I can’t quite believe it…Every class is now sold out and I was given an extra class and maybe some more will be added after if needed. I’m so grateful and happy that everyone that comes to my classes are enjoying it, they are such a lovely bunch, couldn’t really ask for more ❤

This dish came to me after I remember my sister commenting on a dish a friend of her made, he was from Turkey, but I am not sure if it is a traditional dish or not. She told me that he used to make rice with little pasta shaped like rice, and that kind of got stuck in my head and I remembered it a couple of days ago and decided to give it a go, my way. I have to say that the result ia absolutely fantastic, and that is saying a lot from a person that LOVES rice like me, I eat it like 7 times a week.

It is very quick and simple to put together. Chop 1 onion and i clove of garlic and cook it in olive oil and add fresh chili and a bay leaf (it is important because of the savory flavor that gives it), when they start to get a bit of color, add a splash of white wine and let it cook off the alcohol. Add 1 fresh and chopped tomato, 1 cup of frozen garden peas and some asparagus. Add around 300grs (allow 100grs per person) of the little pasta and and quite a bit of water, enough to cover and have a couple of centimeters above the pasta. Season to taste with salt, black pepper and some turmeric. Crack open 1 egg per person , it will be nice and poached when the pasta is cooked. Cook for around 10m or until cooked and creamy (the pasta is not meant to be al dente, but not in a paste either. And above all, enjoy it, it’s amazing if I may say! ❤ ❤ Ah! And this meal comes easily at way less than 1 euro each, maybe like 70 cents, and I only use organic eggs and good quality vegetables.

Ola a todos 🙂 antes de vos dar esta receita que é mesmo saborosa e rapida, quero sò fazer um update das minhas aulas de Yoga, porque ando mesmo contente. Tenho tido bastante sorte e por isso estou muito agradecida 😀 mas acho que nao é tudo sorte, porque eu preparo-me muito e procuro sempre aprender mais e mais. Mas de qualquer maneira, as minhas aulas tem estado sempre lotadas ultimamente e isso deixa-me mesmo feliz. E’ bom saber que as pessoas que vem fazer a aula comigo se sentem bem e gostam do meu estilo 😉 Ate me deram mais uma aula extra e tudo! Eheh mas agora falemos de comida..

Lembrei-me de fazer esta receita porque a minha irma um dia contou-me que um amigo dela Turco fazia um arroz muito bom, mas que em vez de usar arroz usava aquela massinha da canja, os pevides. E quando vi a massa no supermercado, decidi comprar e fazer. E’ uma receita super rapida, facil e saudavel 😉

Picar 1 dente de alho e 1a cebola e deixar alourar em azeite, adicionar 1 malagueta sem sementes cortada e 1 folha de louro (indespensavel), quando começar a mudar de cor adicionar vinho branco, so um bocadinho e deixar evaporar. colocar 1 tomate fresco bem madurinho coratdo aos pedaços, 1 caneca de ervilhas congeladas e aspargos (se tiverem, eu usei congelados que aqui em Italia nem sempre se arranja frescos), adicionar 100grs de massa por pessoa, eu fiz 300grs para ter uma refeiçao extra para quando estiver mais preguiçosa 😉 adicionar agua suficiente para cobrir a massa e ficar uns 2 dedos acima da massa. Adicionar pimenta preta, sal grosso e açafrao das indias se tiverem. Abrir 1 ovo por pessoa na agua mesmo, para ficarem escalfados. Cozinhar durante uns 10 minutos, ou até a massa ficar cozidinha. Na minha opiniao, para este prato nao quiz massa al dente, mas tambem nao em uma papa, deve ficar cozida e cremosa. E sirvam com uma salada e bom apetite! Espero que experimentem e gostem ❤ Esta refeiçao fica facilmente a menos de 1 euro por pessoa, eu uso sempre ovos bio e ingredientes de boa qualidade.

Lots of love,

Sandrina xx

Chocolate banana icecream, oh so vegan! / Gelado de banana e chocolate, sem leite, sem açucar

Jealous much? Tonight’s dessert banana and chocolate ice cream with cinnamon ❤ Just blend as many frozen bananas as you want, I think I used around 3 for this baby. I added 1 teaspoon of dark chocolate powder, no sugar added and cinnamon too. Healthy and soooo good! Added on top pecan nuts and some chia seeds. When I do my veggie and fruit shopping I always check if they have really ripe bananas , which they sell for like 1 euro a kg, which in Italy is good and when I arrive home I peel them , cut in slices and freeze for wonderful #nicecream 😉

Hoje estava com vontade de algo doce e decidi fazer um gelado de banana, ja tinha bananas congelas e cortadas e adicionei uma colher de chà de chocolate em pò e canela (e um bocadinho de leite de arroz para ajudar a triturar). Decorei com chia e pecans. Qunado compro os meus vegetais e frutas no mercado pergunto se tem bananas muito maduras, que normalmente vendem baratinho porque ja ninguem as quer, aqui em Italia eles comem as bananas meias verdes, yuckiess e quando chego a casa, descasco as bananas, corto-as as rodelas e congelo. Assim quando me da vontade faço um geladinho destes ^_^

Lots of love,

Sandrina

Salads, Salads oh so many salads! / Inspiração para saladas

I love salads, I eat salads during the whole year, but my palate changes with season, so if maybe in summer I eat a whole lettuce in my salad, when it gets colder I prefer apples, fennel, beetroot and other things. I will leave a few pictures just for inspiration. Salad does not need to be boring or tasteless, add some nuts and seeds too, to boost nutritional value and change texture! The thing I don’t change much is my salad dressing : extra virgin (cold extract) olive oil, pink salt, black pepper, oregano and organic apple cider vinegar, it’s sooo delicious I can’t explain. If you like a creamy salad dressing just add tiny bits of avocado and as it kind of melts it makes the dressing so amazingly creamy. What are your favorite salad ingredients?  ❤

Alguma inspiraçao para saladas, cà em casa comemos saladas o ano todo, vamos variando os ingredientes dependendo da estaçao. Se no verao comemos tanta alface e tomates (moro em Italia, como kilos de tomates que eu adoro!), quando esfria o tempo gosto de erva doce, beterraba, maça, cenouras etc… As saladas nao tem que ser aborrecidas e sem sabor, toca a adicionar frutos secos e sementes tambem para aumentar o valor nutricional e sabor! Eu tento comer sempre metade do prato de alimentos crus para ajudar a digestao e para fornecer vitaminas. O que eu nao mudo sao os meus temperos : azeite extraido a frio, sal rosa, pimenta preta, oregaos e vinagre biologic de maça. E um pequeno truque é adicionar abacate em pedaços pequeninos e grandes, os pequeninos desfazem-se e fazem com que a salada fique cremosa.

Quais sao as vossas saladas preferidas?

Lots of love,

Sandrina xx

Spaghetti squash “aglio, olio e peperoncino” garlic,oil and chili / Abòbora esparquete com azeite, malagueta e alho <3

Have you ever tried spaghetti squash?It’s type of pumpkin that when baked and forked out (you use a fork to take the flesh out) it resembles spaghetti and can be eaten as such! It’s wonderful. I always read about it on american blogs and was always soo curious but it’s not easy to find in Europe, but at last I found it in Italy, surprise, surprise as they are not even huge fans of pumpkins…This was my 1st time ever trying it, it’s really easy just cut it i half and scoop out the seeds after grease with olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Turn it upside down, flesh down and bake it for 50m at 220 degrees, or until soft at touch. Once you take it out, let it cool for a few minutes and with a fork take out the squash.
You can add anything you like to it, any pasta sauce. I added some more olive oil, salt, fresh chilies and black pepper. I served it simply with purple sauerkraut and cucumber salad. What do you think, do you love it, or not so much? 😀

Jà provaram abòbora esparguete ? Como o nome indica é um tipo de abòbora que quando cozinhada assemelha-se à massa esparguete e pode ser utilizada em vez da tal, aumentando assim o consumo diario de vegetais e é claro, muito mais saudavel! Jà tinha ouvido falar muito especialmente em videos/blogs americanos, mas pela Europa nao se sente tanto…Por isso fiquei mesmo contente quando encontrei esta variedade aqui em Italia e nao hesitei em experimentar.Preparei esta semana pela 1a vez e gostamos muito. A preparaçao é tambem muito facil. Cortar a meio a abòbora e retirar as sementes com a ajuda de uma colher. Colocar um fio de azeite, pimenta preta e alho em pò (ou outras especiarias que prefiram). Colocar a parte da polpa para baixo num tabuleiro de ir ao forno e assar durante 50m a 220 graus ou até ficar mole ao toque. Com a ajuda do garfo retirar a polpa da abòbora da casca e sairà aos fiozinhos. A esta massa vegetal pode-se adicionar qualquer molho desejado, eu simplesmente coloquei azeite, sal rosa e mais um bocadinho de pimenta preta e malagueta fresca. Servi com sauerkraut roxa e salada de pepino.Espero que experimentem e me digam que tal 😉

Lots of love,

Sandrina

Back with vegetarian pasta dishes and some life updates, Yoga related!

Hello! I know it has been sooo long, but I have a good excuse this time! I trained to become a Yoga teacher and started working straight away 😀 I feel so blessed with the opportunities i have been given here in Italy..

Besides my teaching time in the beach during all summer I was working 3 days a week in my other half parents restaurant, so that took a lot of my time too, and it was exhausting.

We had a proper summer 3 months of sunny 35 degrees, actually i couldn’t take it anymore, after living so many years in London it will take awhile to get use to . As I was alone most part of the summer I really couldn’t justify cooking fancy food, or cook at all…I mainly ate salad from my garden, eggs, cheese, fruit and all the veggies you can eat raw 😉 It was quite healthy and refreshing actually.

But now I’m settling back in my routine and actually did a proper planner of my days, so they don’t go idle (watching series and instagram eheh) and I am back into the kitchen, when I a not practicing Yoga or teaching classes ( I still don’t have that many, but hopefully they will increase) or studying (which I tend to do a lot).

So I decided to pack a few pasta dishes, some vegan and some vegetarian, they are mainly for inspiration as they are very simple and quick to make, so we cannot use the excuse that healthy recipes take long time or are hard work. And pasta is healthy, just eat in moderation, with really good fresh ingredients and you are ready to go, and if you _really_ want swap regular pasta for wholewheat or quinoa or brown rice pasta, I don’t as I eat very once in awhile, may 3 times a month, as I am a rice kind of girl 😉

Enough of blah blah and let’s look at this delicious dishes, if I may say :

This is a really easy fresh pasta dish (which you just boil for 3 to 4 minutes) Mixed with a simple sauce of white beans, cherry tomatoes, good quality olive oil and some parsley ❤ Delicious and super healthy and quick, Can be done under 15 minutes.

This is the old school Pasta with Peas that is part of Italian tradition, I added some carrots because I had one laying around, the original is without but I love my veggies and I think it gave a nice sweetness to the dish. This is a one pot dish, so even better, it takes around 20m beginning to end. Fry onion and garlic in olive oil until soft and add fresh chilies to taste, add the carrot chopped as small as you can so it cooks really fast and let it be here for 5 minutes, add a touch of white wine (optional, but if used wait a couple of minutes before adding another ingredient). Add the peas, stir for another 2 minutes and add half a cup of tomato sauce (passata, good quality). If you would like add half an organic vegetable stock cube and some black pepper. Add boiling water to this mixture, enough water to cook the pasta and have some sauce left. You can add little by little too if you are not sure. Season with sea salt, and serve as soon as the pasta is ready ( to 10 minutes).

Hope all is well, and get used to see me often now! Have a lovely day/night depending on wherever in the world you are ❤