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 ❤

Vegan mushroom bolognese sauce / Molho bolonhesa com cogumelos e sem carne

Quick tip : Change the meat for mushrooms and make a delicious bolognese sauce <3Just clean the mushrooms and put them in a food processor and it’s done. Cook your sauce as you would normally #‎vegan‬ and so delicious,! Mix it with pasta or serve on top of rice/bulgur/quinoa…

ideia rapida e saudavel de hoje, que tal trocar a carne picada por cogumelos picados no molho de bolonhesa? 😉 E’ so colocar os cogumelos na trituradora e fazer igualzinho ao que costumam fazer, fica maravilhoso. Uma opçao vegana que ninguem se vai importar! Servir misturado com massa, ou em cima de arroz, quinoa ou bulgur. Bom apetite 🙂

Curried Bulgur and Mediterranean Bulgur / Bulgur com caril e Bulgur ao estilo mediterranico

I have to say I forgot about Bulgur wheat, until my dear friend Sandra made it when I was visiting a couple of weeks ago, since I came back I already cooked it twice, the curried bulgur it’s her recipe (I didn’t really ask so some things might be mixing 😉. I also made Mediterranean style bulgur, they are both very delicious indeed., they may look similar, but believe me, they taste very different! 🙂

For the bulgur use the rice technique : 1 bulgur for 2 water. Fry some onion and garlic in olive oil and add the bulgur salt and water and let it cook for 30 in low heat plus leave the lid on for a further 5 to 10m or until fluffy.

Choose your veggies of choice and chop them finely I used carrots, red peppers and zucchini and peas (just for the 1st). For the 1st recipe you fry the veggies with olive oil, onion and garlic, tomato passata ,paprika, chili and curry powder until soft. When all is mixed add some feta on top.
For the Mediterranean add the veggies plus some parsley and chopped sun dried tomatoes and fry in olive oil onion and garlic until soft. To spice it up I added chili oil (very hot) and a lot of fennel seeds.Mix the Bulgur with the veggies.I added some rucula, soft greens, linseed and sunflower seeds. ❤

P.S. Finally found an amazing restaurant with a vegan buffet, I’m seriously in love! If you live in Italy it’s in Rimini and it is called Bio’s Kitchen

Ja me tinha esquecido o quanto eu adoro bulgur! A minha querida amiga Sandra lembrou-me e ja fiz 2 receitas esta semana. A de Caril é dela e fiz tambem uma receita ao estilo mediterranico.

Para fazer a bulgur, fazer como se estivessem a fazer arroz, ou seja por cada medida de bulgur usar 2 de agua. Eu gosto de fritar cebola e alho em azeite e depois colocar a bulgur, agua e sal e deixar cozinhar com tampa durante 20 a 30m, depende da bulgur e depois com o fogo apagado mas com a tampa deixar absorver o resto da agua, durante mais uns 10m .

Escolher os vegetais : eu usei cenouras, pimentos vermelhos, courgette e ervilhas (so para a primeira), cortar bem fininhos e fritar em azeite, alho e cebola. Para a 1a receita os temperos sao sal, paprika, pò de caril , malagueta e polpa de tomate. Quando os legumes estiverem cozinhados, mas nao demais, misturar bem com a Bulgur e adicionar queijo feta.
Os temperos da 2a receita sao malaguetas picadas (usar bastante, sal, pimenta e muitas sementes de erva-doce, adicionar tambem se possivel tomates secos ao sol cortados aos bocadinhos (ou fresco se nao houver) e bastante salsa. Quando pronto misturar com a Bulgur e adicionar sementes de girassol, de linhaça, e agriao e rucula, servir quente ou frio, otimo para marmitas tambem! Embora tenham um aspecto parecido o sabor é completamente diferente e podem usar os vegetais que desejarem. Bom apetite x

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 😉

Banana and chocolate muffins / Bolinhos de banana e chocolate

This is an update on this post : https://fionabluerecipes.wordpress.com/2014/03/03/best-ever-vegan-banana-bread/

Banana and Chocolate Muffins:
Who wants some healthy muffins? My banana bread recipe makes beautiful muffins. The good thing about this recipe is that you can change around the ingredients and it always comes out well. The original recipe is vegan but I’m giving indications for the picture version 🙂

-100grs of self rising flour ( you can mix white and other like rye or wholemeal, if you don’t have self rising you can add yeast like I did)
-200grs of barley or oat flakes (or just 100grs of oats plus some more flour)
-4 big mashed bananas ( or like I did 2 mashed bananas plus 100grs of natural whole yogurt and 50grs of apple sauce)
-1 cup of raisins (you can omit, this time I didn’t put it)
-5 tablespoons of maple syrup or raw sugar
-2 big tablespoons of melted coconut oil(or other oil) (if using yogurt no need for oil, but you can add 1 big tablespoon of peanut butter)
– 1 cup of cacao nibs or dark chocolate pieces

For the muffins I used the () version I also chopped 1 banana and mixed through the batter.
Just mix all the ingredients together and bake at 180C for 40 minutes, but check always as it varies.

Versao Portuguesa :

Bolinhos de Banana e chocolate preto

Se quiserem fazer um doce saudavel este fim de semana, podem fazer o meu “pao” de banana em formas para cupcakes e fica delicioso! Esta receita é super versatil, podem variar os ingredientes e fica sempre bem, ja fiz esta receita imensas vezes e quase sempre uma versao diferente e gostam sempre 🙂

-100grs de farinha para bolos (desta vez misturei farinha de bolo branca com farinha de centeio)
-200grs de flocos de cevada ou de avena (ou 100grs de avena mais 100 de farinha)
-4 bananas grandes amassadas ( ou 2 bananas amassadas + 100grs de yogurt branco + 50grs de aqueles potinhos de puré de maça ou simplesmente 150grs de iogurte ou queijo fresco)
-1 taça de passas (ou como fiz desta vez 1 banana cortada aos pedaços)
-5 colheres de sopa de xarope de acer or açucar escuro
-2 colheres de sopa de oleo de coco derretido (ou outro) – se usarem iogurte nao ha necessidade para adicionar oleo, mas podem adicionar 1 colher de sopa de manteiga de amendoim como eu fiz, que da um sabor bom.
– 1 taça de cacao cru ou pedacinhos de chocolate escuro

Misturar tudo bem misturado e assar a 180C durante 40m, mas tem que ir prestando ateçao pois varia de acordo com fornos e formas 🙂
Bom apetite x

Vegan pasta with cherry tomatoes,fried peppers and nuts/ Massa com molho de tomate cereja, pistachios e pimento frito <3

English Version:

Last week my sister came to visit, lots of love 😀 so I didn’t cook much, as we were out a lot. We had a lot of fun, went to see some fantastic caves with salt formations inside, went ice skating and to see some castles and amazing landscape, god bless Italy 😉 And tonight my other half and I are going to check out this voluntary work to see if it’s a good fit, really hope so, as I have been looking for awhile. This institution is quite small and they help people and animals in need.

So, for today’s recipe: 2 people eating well or a small leftover

1 packet of pasta (for gluten free you can use corn or rice pasta, vegetarian can use fresh pasta, just cook according to time in the packet) I used around 300grs

1 can of cherry tomato sauce (the one with whole tomatoes not passata)

1/2 small onion

2 cloves of garlic

5 fried peppers (the long ones,sweet, already fried in olive oil, I had mine frozen as I did a big batch and froze in little portions)

handful of cashews and pistachios

handful of rucola/arugula/rocket leaves

splash of white wine/ salt/pepper/paprika/pinch of turmeric/dry oregano/fresh basil leaves/fresh chili chopped (or whatever you have at home/fancy)

Boil the water for the pasta, add sea salt and cook pasta. meantime..

Fry the onion, garlic and peppers together in olive oil until the onion is cooked and with a light color, add a splash of white wine and let it cook for a couple of minutes. Add the can of tomatoes and spices and let it cook while the pasta is cooking(if necessary add a bit of water from the pasta so it doesn’t get dry). When done add most of the rocket but leave a bit to put on top. Drain pasta and mix it into the sauce, let it cook for 1 minute and dish up. add fresh rocket and nuts on top. If you are not vegan you can shave some cheese on top, but it’s so tasty that it doesn’t need ❤

Lots of love,

Sandrina

Portuguese Version:

A minha irma veio visitar-me na passada passada por isso nao fiz nenhum update por aqui, para dizer a verdade mal cozinhei, so uma sopinha, porque estavamos sempre fora. Andamos a ver grutas com formaçoes de sal, castelos a patinar no gelo e comer muita massa e pizza 😉

Hoje a noite vamos ver uma instituiçao para começar a fazer voluntariado para ajudar pessoas necessitadas e animais abandonados, hoje vamos falar de coisas praticas, pois nao estamos muito disponiveis no verao por causa de trabalho, espero que nao seja um problema!

Mas vamos là a receita: serve 2 pratos bem cheios ou entao sobra para uma marmita pequenina

300g de massa (para ficar sem gluten podem usar massa de milho ou arroz, se nao forem veganos tambem podem usar massa fresca, como quiserem, mas sigam o tempo de cozedura do pacote)

1 lata de tomates  cereja em molho (se nao houver uma normal, mas nao usem ja em creme pois por norma usam tomates ja passados do seu tempo)

1/2 cebola pequena picada

2 dentes de alho picados

5 pimentos doces fritos em azeite daqueles longos, eu por norma tenho conglado em porçoes pequenas, pois é uma maneira facil de adicionar sabor aos pratos

mao cheia de castanha de caju e pistachios (ou o que tiverem por casa)

mao cheia de rucula

um bocadinho de vinho branco/ sal/pimenta/paprika/açafrao das indias/oregano seco/folhas de basilico/malagueta fresca (ou as especiarias que tiverem por casa, mas mais associadas ao mediterraneo para este prato)

Ferver a agua para a massa, colocar a massa dentro e sò depois o sal, cozinhar a massa e entretanto fazemos o molho.

Fritar o alho, a cebola e pimento tudo junto, ate a cebola ganhar uma cor,adicionar o vinho e deixar evaporar durante 2 minutos. Adicionar a lata de tomate e especiarias (ise começar a ficar seco adicionar agua da cozedura da massa, este molho nao é muito seco). Quando a massa estiver cozida,adicionar metade da rucula ao molho e guardar o resto para por por cima. Escorrer a massa e misturar no molho e deixar cozinhar durante 1 minuto e colocar nos pratos. Juntar a rucula e as nozes por cima, se nao forem veganos podem adcionar um bocadinho de queijo ralado por cima, mas realmente nao é necessario pois é mesmo saborosa!

Bom apetite,

Sandrina x

Video recipe – classic and chocolate peanut butter / Video receita de manteiga de amendoim classica e de chocolate :)

Want to know how easy it is to make peanut butter? Just check out my new video 🙂

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0jqSHzuMJQ

Como fazer manteiga de amendoim, normal e de chocolate no meu novo youtube video ❤

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2b48dP1DHU