Half-buried eggs

Hi everyone! I hope you are having a great week, I've been really busy this week, that's why I didn't upload anything yesterday (I'm sorry), better late than never, right? Today I'll show you a vegetarian dish that has a lot of things that I like a lot, veggies, mashed potatoes and eggs hehehe, lets see how to make these half-buried eggs.

Ingredients (for two)

Mashed Potato

400 Potatoes
Butter
Milk
Salt to taste

For the veggies

1 Cup cubed zucchini
1/2 Cup diced carrot
1 Small diced onion
1/2 Cup of green pepper
1/2 Cup of green peas
1/2 Cup of corn
1 big or two small minced garlic clove
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tsp Italian seasoning
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

1 Egg!

Process

• First we are going to peel the potatoes and then cut them into chunks. In a pot at high heat cook the potatoes with enough water to cover them and a little salt.
• Now let’s prepare all the veggies, since the carrots need to be peeled lets do that first. Then cut the carrots, the zucchini and the green pepper into sticks and then dice them. Also chop an onion in small pieces.
• By this time the potatoes should be soft, remove the excess water and then mash the potatoes, then add some milk, butter and salt to taste. I know that in America you make your mashed potatoes with a light consistency, but try to make it denser.
• In a skillet, add some olive oil. Once it’s hot add the onion, and stir fry it a little bit and then add the minced garlic. Stir fry until it is translucent and then it’s to add the carrots. Stir fry for about 1 minute, and then add the pepper, stir fry a little bit and then add the zucchini, once it is soft, add the corn and the green peas. Stir fry until everything is soft and now we are finally going to add the some extra flavours. I used some tomato puree, Italian seasoning and black pepper and salt, but you can use whatever you want of course. Mix everything together and then add half a cup of water.
• In an oven safe dish add the veggie mixture and spread it evenly. On top of that add the mashed potatoes, and spread it along the dish, in the centre of the dish make a hole and this is why I told you to make it denser, because if it’s too light you will not be able to make a hole. Once your hole is done, put and egg inside it. And now to the oven it goes at 180 ºC until the eggs are done. Let it cool for about 5 minutes and its ready to be served.

Artichoke Pie

Hi everyone today I wanted to share with you a vegetarian meal I tried last week,I found it in an old book of recipes and it was really good. I have to warn you though, if you don't like artichoke nor cauliflower this is not your dish. But if you like them then definitely try it!

Ingredients

• 12 Artichokes
• 1 Cauliflower
• ½ Cup of dry shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• 1 of Olive Oil
• 1 Cup of white sauce (béchamel)
• Salt to taste

Process

• Lets start by removing the leaves of the artichoke, this can be a little tedious so if you want
  to use canned artichoke hearts that's fine.
• Remove the green bottom part of each artichoke.
• In a pot add enough water to cover them, put the heat o high and cook them until they are slightly soft.
• While the artichokes cook, let's prepare the cauliflower, cut it in half, and then remove the core, then break it into pieces of big size.
• Put them in a pot, add water and cook them until they are soft, the softer the better.
• Strain the water from the artichokes and let them cool, so you can cut them without scorching your hands.
• Do the same with the cauliflower. With a spoon, remove the centre of the artichoke, in theory we should eat this part, the texture is hairy and not that appealing.
• Then cut the artichokes into slices.
• In a skillet add some olive oil, and stir fry a minced garlic, then add the artichokes and stir fry them until they are slightly brown.
• Now lets prepare the cauliflower cream. Using a blender or something similar, process the
  cauliflower until a cream is formed, if you want you can add some salt.
• By this time the artichokes should be slightly brown, put them in a pie dish. Flat them and now add the cauliflower cream. Spread the cream evenly and then add the white sauce on top, spread it evenly and finally add some shredded parmesan cheese on top of the pie.
• Place it in a preheated oven at 180 ºC until the surface is golden brown.
• Let it cool a bit and it is ready to be served, if you want to cut slices that keep their shape you will need to let this it for a while, maybe a day in the refrigerator and then reheating it.

Cream Soups: 3 Different veggies!

Hello people, so here in Barcelona we are not used to this cold temperatures hahaha, atm it's really cold outside (9 ºC) so it's time for soup recipes!! I love eating veggies but let's be honest, eating salads with this weather is not appealing, so instead I'm eating more veggie soups. One of these soups has been in my mind for a really long time, it has been bugging me and bugging me and finally I created it and it turned out to be just as I imagined it in my head, so I'm really happy for that I hope you like it as well.

Ingredients

Leek Cream Soup

• 4 Leeks
• 2 Small-Medium size potatoes
• Olive Oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Cream
• Grated Parmesan cheese

Pumpkin Cream Soup

• 1 Onion
• 1 kg  Pumpkin
• Salt
• Pepper
• Cream
• Nutmeg

Beet Cream Soup

• 2 Beets (preferably precooked ones)
• 1/2 Onion
• 1 Large Carrot
• 400 mL Coconut Milk
• Salt

Process

Leek Cream Soup

• Start by removing the ends of the leek. Cut the leek into slices and set them aside.
• In a pot add a drizzle of olive oil, once it is hot add the leek and cook it until it is soft at low heat with the lid on.
• While the leek cooks peal the potatoes and cut them into medium size pieces.
• Now add some pepper to taste to the leeks and add the potato pieces.
• You can either use a chicken stock cube and then add some water or use regular chicken stock
• In both cases make sure you add enough liquid to cover the potatoes.
• Once the potatoes are soft turn the heat off and using a hand blender, process everything until it becomes a purée.
• You can also add some cream, grated parmesan cheese and other things to give it more flavour.
• Adjust the consistency if it is too thick by adding some water.

Pumpkin Cream Soup

• In a pan add a drizzle of olive oil and once it is hot add one chopped onion.
• While the onion cooks, cut the pumpkin in half and then remove the seeds you can discard them or toast them and eat them later, that's up to you.
• Then peal the pumpkin I recently discovered that is much easier to do this with a peel cutter, it does the job really well actually.
• Cut the pumpkin into medium size pieces and set them aside.
• By this time the onions should be translucent and soft so now add the pumpkin and cover them with water, stir a little bit and cook it on high heat until the pumpkin is completely soft.
• Now using a hand blender or a regular blender, purée everything together. You will get a creamy but light consistency.
• If you want you can add some cream, pepper, salt and nutmeg to taste. You should try the nutmeg, it goes really well with pumpkin.

Beet Cream Soup

• In a pot add a drizzle of vegetable oil, once it is hot add the chopped onion, to add more flavour we are going to barely caramelize it, so let it get brown and add water if necessary, we don't want it to be burn.
• Then add the carrots and add water just to cover them up. Cook until the carrots are soft and then add the precooked beets.  If you want to use fresh beets add them with the carrots and cook them together. Now add the coconut milk and turn the heat to high and wait until it boils.
• Turn the heat off and use a hand blender to blend up everything together.
• Finally add some salt to taste and it is ready to be served.

Brussel Sprout: 3 Delicious Ways

Hello there everyone! I know that there are not so much Brussel sprout fans out there... but I'm one of those weirdos hahaha. I know that they are little bit bitter but I like that and there are a couple of other ingredients that make a great couple with Brussel sprouts. The following recipes are really great, believe me, my husband is a proof of this hahaha he doesn't like Brussel sprouts and he eats them when I make this recipes, so give it a try!!

Ingredients

Sweet, salty and nutty Option

• 500 gr Brussel sprouts
• 125 gr Ham
• 1 Apple
• 20 gr of walnuts
• A little grated cheese of your choice
• Drizzle of olive oil

Earthy Option

• 500 gr Brussel sprouts
• 5 Small potatoes
• Butter
• Rosemary

Orange flavour Option

• 500 gr Brussel sprouts
• 1 Cup orange juice
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1/4 Tsp Ginger powder
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 Tsp minced garlic

Process

• For all the three recipes remove the root of the brussel sprouts, discard the outer leaves and then cut the sprouts in half, do the same with the rest of the brussel sprouts and set aside.

Sweet, salty and nutty Option

• First we are going to chop an apple in small pieces
• Then cut a piece of turkey ham into cubes.
• Now in an oven safe dish put the apple and the ham together with the brussel sprouts.
• To add some crunchiness add some nuts, for this dish I prefer walnuts
• Now add some grated cheese of your choice (I suggest you to put a strong flavour cheese this way you put less and get more flavour).
• Add a little bit of olive oil and mix everything together.
• Finally cook it in a preheated oven for about 40 minutes at 200 ºC (400 ºF).

Earthy Option

• Cut the potatoes into medium size pieces.
• Put them in a pot at high heat. Be careful to not overcook the potatoes, we want them to be firm and not fall apart, moreover they don't need to be fully cooked because we are going to put them in the oven.
• When the potatoes are semi-cooked put them in a oven safe dish  together with the Brussel sprouts and put a little bit of butter, rosemary and salt for more flavour, mix everything together.
• Finally cook it in a preheated oven for about 40 minutes at 200 ºC (400 ºF).

Orange flavour Option

• In a sauce pan add some vegetable oil, and stir fry the brussel sprouts until they are soft, if the they start to stick to the sauce pan add some water to help them fully cook and put a lid so they cook faster.
  In a bowl add the orange juice, the ground ginger, the sugar and the soy sauce and mix everything together.
• Once the brussel sprouts are cooked transfer them to another place and use the same sauce pan, add some vegetable oil and then stir fry a minced garlic, once it becomes fragrant add the orange mix, and then add the brussel sprouts to the sauce pan.
• Meanwhile mix some water with corn starch.
• When the sauce starts to bubble add the corn starch mixture and stir until the sauce thickens. Now it is ready to be served.

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

Hello lovelies!! Autumn is finally here to stay and I'm so excited to make all those recipes I love from this season!! Here in Catalonia we eat a lot of sweet potato and chestnuts during autumn and since we don't have this ingredients available the rest of the year I put them in a lot of my recipes, so basically I become a sweet potato and chestnut lover during this season!! The problem with sweet potato is that it's too dense and in some recipes it works greatly but in others I prefer to use pumpkin, pumpkin has a similar taste to sweet potato but it's lighter. When I started to think about this smoothie I was tempted to make it with sweet potato, but then I changed my mind and I finally came up with the recipe I'm going to show you now, I hope you like it!

Ingredients

• 2/3 Cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 Cup rolled oats
• 1 Cup milk or substitute
• 1/3 or 1/4 banana (depending on the size of the banana)
• 1/2 Tsp cinnamon powder
• 1/8 Tsp vanilla extract
• 1/8 Tsp ginger powder
• A pinch of salt
• Sweetener

*Depending on your ingredients (homemade or canned pumpking pie for example) the smoothie might be too thick, adjust it by putting more milk.
*Don't skip the pinch of salt when I tried it,

Procedure

• It can't be more easy than putting everything inside a blender and pushing the button hahaha!

Here you have the YT video:

Mexican salad

Hello everyone and welcome to the first entry of this blog :) I'm starting with a mexican salad, not like a real traditional mexican salad, it's just a salad with Mexican flavours. This salad was meant to be a light dinner with everything you need to finish your day. It has a base of lettuce, and then typical mexican ingredients such as corn, black beans, avocado, onion and tomatoes. Black beans provide us with carbohydrates, proteins and fats, while corn only give us carbohydrates and avocado good fats. If you want to add more proteins then add a water canned tuna, just remember to drain the excess water. The salad dressing is just a combination of lemon/lime juice and olive oil, some cumin powder and salt and if you like spicy food you can add a little bit of cayenne pepper or tabasco. This recipe is really easy to put together so you don't have to expend a lot of time preparing it, I hope you like it!

Ingredients

• Lettuce
• 140 gr Corn
• 1 Cup of cooked black beans
• 1 Avocado
• Some cherry tomatoes
• 1 Chopped onion

Ingredients for the dressing

• Lime or lemon juice
• Olive Oil
• Cumin powder
• Pepper
• Salt
• Optional: chilli powder or tabasco

Procedure

• Cut the lettuce with your hands, or if you prefer with a knife.
• Chop the cilantro into medium size pieces.
• Put the cilantro inside the bowl with the lettuce and then add the corn, and then the beans.
• Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and add them to the salad.
• Add the chopped onion.
• Cut the avocado in half, and remove the seed by hitting it with a knife and then twist the knife to loosen the seed from the meat. Now, just cut the avocado horizontally and vertically and then scoop the meat with a spoon.
• In a bowl, squeeze a lime or lemon. Then add some olive oil, some salt and pepper to
  taste and some cumin powder, you can also add some pepper and chilli powder or tabasco if you like spicy food. And that's it there you have this delicious Mexican salad.