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

Full Of fiber purple bread / Pao roxo rico em fibras

Versao Portuguesa mais abaixo 🙂

Full Of fiber purple bread:

I’m back, hope you all are healthy and happy, I had an amazing long holiday, really needed, I’m again full of love heart emoticon Today’s recipe is purple bread, made with Black rice flour (which I blended at home, but if you don’t have you can use any other flour, and if you like the flour try sub a bit of the water for beetroot juice, should work).

– 200grs of sourdough starter (if you don’t have just use 100ml of water and 100grs of flour and use 2 packets of instant dry yeast instead of 1 like I did)
– 700grs of whole wheat flour
– 100grs of black rice flour (or as i said above another one)
– 100 grs of chickpea flour
– 100grs of oats
– 500ml of warm water (it will depend on the flours used so just beware of texture)
– 7grs of dry yeast
-1 tablespoon of olive oil
– 1 teaspoon of raw sugar
– full and of sunflower seeds and another full hand of linseeds

Mix it all well for 3 to 4 minutes until it combines, should form a ball easily, if it is a bit sticky is fine. Let it rest for 2 to 3 hours covered. Knead the bread. Line and oil a tray. Form small buns and let it cool for another 1 to 2 hours. Bake at 200C for 60 minutes. Enjoy 😀

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Pao roxo rico em fibras:

Depois de 1 mes de ferias maravilhosas venho com energias nenovadas e com o coraçao cheio de amor ❤ .Espero que todos estejam bem e saudaveis smile emoticon A receita de hoje é de um pao caseiro integral roxo, super bonito, para dar esse efeito usei farinha de arroz preto, que para alem de dar uma cor unica ao pao, é mais rica em nutrientes que a farinha de arroz normal ( eu moi em casa o arroz ate virar farinha, mas se nao tiverem o processador, podem usar outra farinha e se quiserem a cor podem substituir um bocadinho de agua porsumo de beterraba 🙂

– 200grs de pao velho ( nao conheço outra traduçao, embora esta nao seja muito correcta- sourdough starter)- podem substituir por 100ml de agua morna e 100grs de farinha à escolha, mas devem dobrar o fermento utilizado.
– 700grs de farinha integral
– 100grs de farinha de arroz preto (ou conmo explicado acima)
– 100grs de farinha de grao de bico (aumenta a proteina no pao)
– 100grs de aveia
– 500ml de agua morna (vai depender das farinhas, tenham atençao a textura e adicionem devagar)
– 7 grs de fermento seco activo (ou 2 pacotezinhos se nao usarem a massa velha)
– 1 colher de sopa de azeite
– 1 colher de cha de açucar nao processado
– uma mao cheia de sementes de linhaça e outra de girassois

Misturar tudo muito bem durante 3 ou 4 minutos ate formar uma bola sem dificuldade, pode estar um bocadinho pegajosa, mas nao demias(nesse caso adicionar um bocadinho de farinha). Deixar crescer durante 2 ou 3 horas tapado num sitio nao muito frio. Depois colocar papael vegetal na travessa grande de ir ao forno e colocar um bocadinho de azeite. Fazer bolinhas do mesmo tamanho ( fiz 20) espaçadas por 2cm entre si. Deixar descansar por mais 1 ou 2 horas. Assar a 200C durante 1 hora. Bom apetite 😉

Vegan pumpkin soup with little pasta/ Sopa de cabaca/abobora e pevides

Versao Portuguesa mais abaixo.

As you know we portuguese like our soups, and this one is a great one! Pumpkin and little pasta Soup 🙂
Cook 3 medium carrots with 2 medium to big potatoes (if you wash them very well, no need to peel them),300grams of pumpkin puree or pumpkin cubes, 1 onion and 2 cloves of garlic in a bit olive oil for 5 minutes. Add water around 5 or 6 cm above the chopped veggies, add salt, black pepper, turmeric (1 teaspoon), paprika and let it cook for 20 to 30 minutes (until soft). Blend until you get creamy consistency (if it’s too liquid you can let it cook for another few minutes until it thickens or just add a bit of potato starch.
Add 1 cup of peas, 5 or 6 blocks of frozen spinach (or a whole fresh bag) and half a cup of little pasta, I used the oval one, my favourite. Let it cook for a further 15 minutes and serve with bread, wholesome one preferably. Bon appetit 🙂

Sopa de cabaca e massinhas de canja
Aqui em casa o jantar e’ quase sempre sopa, tento variar de acordo com os vegetais disponiveis durante o ano, mas a base e’ sempre parecida 🙂 Nada melhor que sopinha de Inverno!
Numa panela colocar 2 colheres de azeite com 3 cenouras medias, 1 cebola, 2 dentes de alho,2 batatas grandinhas( tudo cortado em pedacos pequenos, se lavarem bem a batata e coura nao e’ necessario descascar), 300 gramas (+/- nao faz grande diferenca) de pure de cabaca/abobora ou cabaca aos pedacinhos e deixar cozinhar uns 5 a 10 minutos. Adicioar agua, 5 ou 6 centimentros acima dos vegetais. Temperar a gosto com sal, pimenta preta, pimentao doce e acafrao das indias (se houver, e’ mais pela qualidade medicinal que pelo sabor) e deixar cozer durante 20 a 30 minutos, ou ate todos os elementos estiverem bem cozidos. Passar a sopa ate obter um creme. Se estiver demasiado liquida, deixem cozinhar mais um bocadinho e acaba por evaporar, ou adicionar 1 colher de maizena e e’ mais rapido. Se estiver muito densa e’ so colocar um bocadinho de agua.
Colocar 1 taca de ervilhas congeladas, espinafres frescos ou congelados (5 ou 6 cubinhos congelados ou umas 400 gramas de fresco, fresco deve ser adicionado uns 5 minutos antes de estar tudo feito) e 1/2 taca (ou mais se desejarem) de pevides (massa de canja) e deixar cozinhar durante 15 minutos ou ate a massa ficar al dente.
Tirando o Caldo verde qual e’ a vossa sopa preferida? 😉

Best Dal / Dahl ever! Delicious lentils dish :) Estufado de lentilhas

Versao portuguesa mais abaixo 🙂

Best Dahl ever! But before just let me know that I finally bought my camera on amazon, so from next week no more bad quality pictures, yay! Now on to the recipe, this dish is amazing, really tasty and filling, can be eaten with bread, rice or by itself, it can be made heavier or lighter according to the amount of fat used. I kept mine quite low. This dish requires a few spices, but you can always adapt to suit your taste or pantry. This recipe serves 3 if served with rice, or 2 (that eat a lot, like me) if by itself.

-250grs of brown lentils soaked overnight (or yellow, red or black, but adjust cooking time)
-200grs of black beans,or kidney, white… (have been previously soaked and cooked but you can use either canned ones or just soaked like the lentils)

In a pressure cooker, fry 2cm of fresh ginger with 3 cloves of garlic, both finely chopped in a little olive oil, when the garlic starts to have a bit of color add the lentils and the beans and cover them with water ( not a lot, I wanted a thick dahl) maybe 3 to 4 cms above the lentils.Add 1 teaspoon of black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of paprike, 1/2 teaspoon of chili flakes and sea salt to taste, bu don’t be too shy, otherwise it will be bland. Cover the pan and cook for 30 minutes, if after this you think they are under cooked, just let it cook other 10m.

On a frying pan fry 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds with 1 teaspoon of nigella or black seeds, when it starts to kind of pop add 2 cloves of garlic,1 large onion, 1cm of ginger and half a fresh chili, everything finely chopped, add a pinch of salt, let cook down for 10m. Add 2 tablespoons of tomato paste and let it cook for another 5 to 8 minutes, stirring often.

Once the lentils are cooked (you can mash it a bit with a spoon or not, up to you), add the tomato/onion paste to it and cook for 5 m and serve. I can’t describe the party in my mouth ;D
It may look long, but if you do both at the same time, you will have this epicness in 35 minutes. Enjoy x

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Dahl e’ um prato tipico da India, Paquistao, Banglades, etc e consiste de um estufado feito com lentilhas e /ou feijao, e bastantes especiarias. Acompanhado normalmente por arroz ou pao. Se nao tiverem estas especiarias podem sempre usar as que tiverem por casa, mas diria que e’ mesmo necesario pelo menos o gengibre, o chili e os cuminhos. Este prato ‘e super saboroso, acolhedor, perfeito para uma noite mais fria ❤ Esta receita serve 3 pessoas com arroz ou pao, ou so’ 2 comiloes como nos 😉

-250grs de lentilhas castanhas (ja demolhadas durante a noite, tambem se pode usar outra qualidade de lentilhas, mas tem que se ter cuidado com o tempo de cozedura)
-200grs de feijao preto ( omeu ja estava demolhado e cozinhado, mas pode estar so demolhado, ou tambem se pode usar de lata. E tambem se pode variar a qualidade do feijao)

Colocar numa panela de pressao um fio de azeite, 3 dentes de alho e um pedacinho de 2cms de gengibre, ambos muito bem picados. Quando o alho ganhar cor adicionar as lentilhas e o feijao e agua suficiente para cobrir, talvez uns 3 ou 4 dedos acima das leguminosas. Adicionar 1 colher de cha’ de curcuma(acafrao das indias), 1/2 colher de cha’ de pimenta preta, 1/2 de parika ou pimentao, 1/2 de chili seco e sal marinho grosso a gosto, nao colocar pouco,pouco senao ficara’ desenssabido. Tapar a panela e deixar cozinhar durante 30m em lume medio. Usar o senso comum, se nao estiver cozinhado tapa-se e cozinha-se durante mais uns minutos.

Numa frigideira, colocar azeite , 1 colher de cha’ de sementes de cuminhos (ou po’, mas a semente tem mais sabor), 1 colher de cha’ de sementes de nigella (ou pode-se substituir por sementes de coentros, ou po’ ou fresco, ou por 2 colheres de sementes de cuminhos, tambem se pode juntar louro). Quando as sementes comecarem a fritar adicionar uma cebola grande picada,2 dentes de alhos,um bocadinho de gengibre fresco por volta de 1cm e meia malagueta, tudo bem picado e uma pitada de sal (pouco, so para ajudar a cebola a caramelizar), deixar cozinhar durante 10m, quando a cebola estiver translucida adicionar 2 colheres de sopa de pasta de tomate (nao e’ polpa, aquela mais concentrada) e deixar cozinhar por mais 5 a 8 minutos.

Quando as lentilhas estiverem bem cozidas, adicionar esta pasta ja feita de cebola e especiarias. Deixar cozinhar durante 5 minutos e servir. Espero que experimentem pois e’ delicioso! Parece bastante longo, mas nao e’, se for feito ao mesmo tempo em 35m estara pronto o prato 🙂 Bom apetite x

Fall jams, falafel and other stories… Update on my new Italian life! :)

A few months have passed since I made a proper post, but it had to be this way. Had so much to do during summer, it flew by almost without a notice. So I left London and moved to Italy where I worked really hard during summer, 10 to 12 hours a day without days off, so that meant no summer for me 😦 but it’s ok, no hard feelings… After that my other half and I had to go back to London by car (with a stop in Switzerland where he has family) to ring back all our things, specially mine as I was living in there for 8 years, so imagine the amount of crap I accumulated 😉 It was very tiring the trip, but really wonderful to see all my friends and sister ❤

Anyway, it took me a long time to get internet in our house, but now it’s all working good, so I can update my blog more often. I did update Instagram and facebook as it requires less bandwidth..

A note on Italy so far, I love the country, it’s wonderful full of colours and flavors and nice people AND bad bureaucracy….omg…it takes ages to do anything and it’s very frustrating but if we keep calm and be patient at some point things happen, which is the most important thing..

Regarding my food , lately we have been eating even less meat and fish than before, for our health and for our wallet too. Choosing high quality over quantity. And nowadays, more than ever before, I make everything from scratch as I have the time and we are given so much produce by my new family 🙂  And I do have a small allotment with fruit trees, and I want to start planting a few things too, if anyone knows any tips for beginners I would appreciate!

Onto some food now :

Figs, walnut and seeds jam Very easy recipe just cut in 4 500gr of fresh figs. In a pan add a heaped teaspoon of cinnamon, the figs, 2 tablespoons of pure maple syrup or honey( I used maple), a dash of water, 4 dates cut in 4 ( or maybe another tablespoon of sweetener of choice) and let it cook in low heat for 20m. Check for liquid content if its too dry add a bit of water ( I needed extra and I had organic apple juice at home so I used that, but water is just fine). Mix 2 tablespoons of mixed seeds like flax, sesame, poppy and let it cook for a further 5m. Chop 10 walnuts and add to it at the end ( when it’s not cooking anymore). Let it cool and put it in some jars. I leave 1 out and freeze the rest. As it doesn’t have any chemicals it last around 1 week in the fridge. It’s so lush!! Sweet and amazing. Over bread, yogurt, pancakes, oatmeal…so many options..

Here is a link for a bread recipe of mine :

Adventures!

And one for pancakes :

Yes, pancakes 🙂

Persimmon, apple and chia jam :

6 ripe gooey persimmons

2 apples

2 TBS of organic brown sugar

1 TBS mixed spice like cinnamon,cloves, nutmeg, cardamon, but more cinnamon!

1TBS of chia seeds

3 TBS of apple puree, not really necessary but I had some open

add a bit of water if needed

Cook for 40 to 60m until very soft and blend, if it’s not thick enough just add a bit of tapioca or potato starch (1 teaspoon is enough) just to thicken it a bit 🙂

From my garden.. we have figs, rosemary, persimmons or khaki, tomatoes and onions 😀

Presents from the south of Italy, what more can I say??

For the Falafel : soak dry chickpeas for at least 6 hours. On a food processor mix the drained chickpeas with raw garlic, onion, parsley, cumin, chilli powder, turmeric, salt , black pepper and a bit of olive oil. Don’t over process. Fry or bake I have been on a spice kick, like to try new things. What is your favourite spicy dish ?

The rice is a normal plain rice cooked with garlic and olive oil. The cabbage was kind of steamed with chili flakes and garlic, chinese inspired 🙂

Raw tropical tart / tarte de frutas tropicais crua! Gluten,sugar,dairy free

Fruit pie recipe / Receita para a tarte de frutas:

What’s not to love about a guilt free treat? So yummy and good for you!

Base : 1 cup of nuts, 15 dates, 1 handful of oats, blend until it sticks together, if not add more dates. This makes a thin crust if you prefer a thick one double the portions! And freeze for 1hour.
Filling : 4 small bananas ( 2large), 1 mango, 1 vanilla pod ( extract if you don’t have). Blend, when it becames a pulp add the coconut flakes/dessicated. Add this to the frozen base and freeze for a couple of houts. Defrost for 20m and cut into slices and serve!! Keep the remains in the freezer ♡ hope you enjoy it 😉

Uma sobremesa/pequeno almoço delicioso e sem sentimentos de culpa, vai fazer com que brilhemos de dentro para fora! 🙂

Para a base usei 1copo de nozes ( amendoas, castanhas do para, o que tiverem em casa) , 15 tamaras, 1a mao cheia de aveia e triturar ate ficar tudo unido, se nao ficar numa bola adicionar mais tamaras. Congelar durante 1a hora.
Recheio : 4bananas pequenas ou 2as grandes, 1a manga e triturar. Juntar o coco seco. Colocar a mistura na base ja congelada e retornar ao congelador por mais 2horas, deixar descongelar por 20minutos e cortar a tarte em fatias, servir bem frio. O restante guarda-se no congelador! Espero que provem pois e deliciosa. A minha trituradora nao é muito poderosa mas serve bem ❤

 

Portuguese fish cakes and spelt salad with vegetables

 

Tonight’s dinner was a mix of very healthy with tasty portuguese food  Fish cakes Portuguese way with stir fry kale and leeks (with garlic and chili) and spelt salad (with rocket, sweet peppers and cherry tomatoes). For the fish cakes you will need salted fish that has been soaked in water for a few hours, around 250g(cut into small pieces), mix in 5 eggs, 1 onion (finely choped) and lots of parsley, add white flour until it becames a thick paste but not too thick (try around 1 cup). Fry until golden brown. Cook the spelt in low heat for 1 hour. Add raw veggies to the salad and add lemon, salt, pepper and olive oil. So very tasty! Spelt makes you feel full for longer and is a whole grain.

O jantar de hoje foi pataniscas de bacalhau com alho frances e couve salteada( com alho e chili) e salada de espelta com tomates cereja, rucula e pimentos vermelhos. Para as pataniscas demolhar 250 g de bacalhau durante algumas horas e desfiar, adicionar uma cebola picada, 1 maos cheia de salsa, 5 ovos e suficiente farinha para obter uma massa consistente. Fritar ate ficarem douradas de ambos os lados. Cozinhar a espelta durante 1 hora em lume muito brando, adicionar os vegetais crus e temperar com sal, pimenta, limao e azeite!  Espelta sacia rapidamente e durante bastante tempo.

 

Beautiful Semolina Cake!

Yesterday I had friends coming over for dinner and I choose to do a semolina cake, I bought a big pack of it this week. I saw a recipe on a blog that sounded really nice, it’s from 1891 –  “La Scienza in Cucina e l’Arte di Mangiar Bene”  Italy by  Pellegrino Artusi.

The original recipe :

1 quart (1 liter) whole milk

3/4 cup (130 g) fine semolina

3/4 cup (130 g) sugar

3/4 cup (100 g) blanched almonds (whole)

1-1/2 tbsp (20 g) butter (unsalted)

4 eggs

grated zest of 1 (organic) lemon

1/8 tsp (.5 ml) pure almond extract (or to taste)

1 pinch of salt

Confectioners’ sugar to sprinkle on top

 I changed quite a bit the recipe, I used almond meal, as it is much easier than using a blender to do it. I used mainly honey, just 1 spoon of sugar. I used more semolina and more milk ( semi skimmed),  so I would have more quantity, but I kept the same amount of eggs. This cake is very difficult to get wrong as it does’t raise. My cake didn’t came out as creamy as the original one and I prefer this way, because I want to pair it with plain yogurt and berries.

Method :

Bring the milk to the boil with the lemon zest ( I added some peel as well ) add the semolina and cook it for 8 minutes. I felt it was too dry so I added more milk. Add the almond meal and keep stirring, never stop otherwise you will have lots of lumps ( as soon as you put in the semolina). When it cooks for a further 2 minutes put the honey/sugar and combine, and at the very end the butter.

Set aside until it cools down a bit. Beat the eggs and sieve them, once you do this add them slowly to the mixture, it will make it light and beautiful. At this moment I got a bit scared that it was too liquid and I added a touch of plain white flour. If you want a more creamy finish don’t add anything to it.

Grease the pan and put the mixture in it. I used a regular square one.

The oven should be pre heated at 180 C or 350 F , and bake it until golden brown on top. The original recipe called for 45 m , which I did, but I think it’s a bit too much, I would go for around 35 m and check with a spaghetti if it’s cooked or not.

Once cold I cut it into squares, drizzled with honey and put some blueberries and plain yogurt . It’s a very refreshing and light dessert, believe me. It was the perfect thing to finish a Portuguese roast dinner! Everyone really liked it! So I am proper happy! Give it a try you won’t regret it  😉

Blueberries : super high antioxidant capacity, it means that they help to protect tissues against oxidative damage, like cigarettes and alcohol. This type of damage is associated with almost every disease, from ageing to cancer. Best way to be eaten with a little yogurt as the fats increase the absorption of the antioxidant chemicals.

Take care xxx

Source : http://bakinghistory.wordpress.com/2007/08/04/semolina-cake-torta-di-semolino/

Lentils stew, tasty and on a budget!

Yesterday I was busy doing my new facebook page —  https://www.facebook.com/fionabluerecipes , add me if you have an account there 🙂 — and my other half was away, so for dinner I wanted something quick, healthy and not very expensive to make. This was I came up with :

 

Ingredients :

1 can of organic lentils

1 can of tomatoes

2 organic carrots

Kale

Spinach

Onion

Garlic

Olive oil

Bacon ( always optional)

Spices : Paprika, oregano, salt, black pepper, red chilies, parsley.

Method :

Cook garlic, onion and parsley with olive oil, until soft. Add the tomatoes and let it cook for 10m, add spices and a bit of water/wine if necessary. To this add the lentils and let it cook for a further 5m. The spinach and kale need no more than a couple of minutes, so do it at the very end. If your version has bacon, I would add it with the onion.

Always remember to wash your vegetables well. A bit of vinegar when washing is said to help cleaning them.

Had the stew with a piece of rye bread that I baked in the afternoon, was really nice, filling and not too heavy. It produces an amazing gravy, which I love, so if you are like me, you are in for a treat!

Benefits of kale :  Helps with high cholesterol. It has a very high level of sulphur based compounds, which help to increase cells ability to process and break down potentially cancerous chemicals. There is a long accepted link between the consumption of cruciferous vegetables and reduced risk of cancers ( ex : kale, broccoli, cauliflower, cress, cabbage, bok choi, rocket and many more!)

So remember to top up on this every time you can 😉

Enjoy xx