Healthy sugar free crumble

Hi everyone! I hope you are having a good week, mine has been a little tough since we have a heat wave right now in Barcelona and I hate hot weather >_< Anyway, I have been trying to make fresh and light recipes, but even cooking is an impossible mission, being near the oven or the stove is horrible. The worst part is that my go-to breakfast, which is oatmeal is a no no with this weather, and I don't like cold. One thing that I have been enjoying are crumbles, I don't mind eating them cold and I make them the night before, the downside is that I have to bake them but I try to be as far from the oven while I do that hehe. I have been experimenting with an old crumble recipe that I had, trying to make it healthier, so I used date paste instead of sugar and put way less fat. It turned out very good, it sweet, it has a good texture, a little crunchy and filling, I cant ask for anything else hehe. I hope you like it!

Ingredients (2 servings)

For the crumbles

• 3/4 Cup oats
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 Tbsp vegan or nut butter
• 1/4 Cup date paste

For the filling

• 1 Tbsp flour
• 1 Tsp cinnamon powder
• 1/4 Tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 Tbsp of water or lemon juice if you prefer (keep in mind that you add lemon juice you will need to sweeten this to balance the sourness)
• 1 1/2 Peaches

Process

• Cut the peaches into wedges and place them in a bowl.
• To the peaches add the rest of the filling ingredients and mix everything together, place the mixture in a oven safe dish, you can make this in one dish or in individual ones. Set this aside while we prepare the crumbles.
• In a bowl add the oats, the whole wheat flour and the butter of your choice, mix with a fork and if necessary with your hands. Then add the date paste and mix very well it is easier if you use your hands.
• Add the crumbles on top of the peaches.
• Preheat your oven at 190 ºC for about 15 minutes and then bake the crumbles for about 30 minutes.
• After that let it cool and add some topping if you like, ice cream would be a good idea with this hot weather :p

Date paste

Hi everyone, so as you may know I have been trying to minimize my animal product consumtion, one of the easiest was milk, but eggs and honey... that's an issue. In most of my baking recipes I use honey, honey is twice as sweet as regular sugar (in volume), so you get more sweetness with less calories, and that's awesome, but honey is an animal product so I'm lowering its consumption. I came up with this idea the day I made ma'amoul cookies. I hope you find it useful and you like it!

Ingredients

• 150 gr dry dates
• 150 gr water

Process

• Place the dry dates in a bowl and add hot water.
• Let them cool completely
• Place the dates together with the liquid in a food processor and process them until a paste is formed.
• Transfer the paste to a pot and cook it stirring constantly until the volume reduces to a half a cup container.
• That's it!

Red lentil Kibbeh (kofta)

Hi guys! today I have and easy and healthy recipe you will love during summer. Kibbeh is a dish from the middle eastern cuisine, they are traditionally made with minced meat onion and bulgur, but they can also be made with legumes, so I though I could use red lentils, but of course if you can't find them use another type of lentils.

Ingredients

• 1 Cup of red lentils
• 1 medium size onion 
• A bunch of parsley
• 3/4 Cup of fine bulgur 
• 1/2 Tsp pepper paste 
• 1/2 Tsp paprika
• 1/2 Tbsp ground cumin
• 2 +1/4 Cups of water 
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• Salt to taste

Process

• First we are going to wash the red lentils, rub the lentils gently with your hands and then discard the water, repeat this process six to seven times until the water comes clear. 
• Once the lentils are clean put them in a pot and add the water and cook them for 20 minutes. 
• While the lentils cook, prepare the onion and the parsley, chop them and sauté them with olive oil in a saucepan until the onion is translucent.
• By this time the lentils should be cooked, now lets add the spices, the paprika, the cumin powder and the pepper paste, mix everything together and add the bulgur, ad some salt to taste and mix.
• Finally add the onion and parsley and mix very well and let the mixture rest for 40 minutes so the bulgur gets well soaked.
• After that time shape the kibbehs to its traditional shape, if it's too difficult, just make balls, and that's it if you want you can also deep fry them, but they are really good just like that.
• Serve together with a lettuce, tomato, chopped parsley, green pepper and cucumber salad, for the dressing use lemon juice, olive oil and salt.

No-meatballs

Hi guys! Today I'll show you how to make some delicious no-meatballs with lentils and seitan with a earthy and tasty gravy! This recipes is packed with proteins so nutritionally speaking you will not miss your meat!

For the no-meatballs

• ¼ Cup wheat flour
• 1 Tbsp maggi sauce (or soy sauce)
• 3 Tbsp water
• ¼ Tsp garlic powder
• ¼ Tsp smoked paprika
• 1 Cup of cooked lentils
• 2-3 Tbsp chopped parsley
• 2 Slices of whole wheat bread
• 1 Tbsp tomato puree
• 1 Minced garlic clove
• Olive oil
• A little flour

For the gravy

• 1/2 Cup green peas
• 1 Minced garlic clove
• 1 Small chopped onion
• A little flour
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste
• A little flour
• 6 Hazelnuts and 6 Almonds
• Olive oil

Process

• First we are going to prepare the seitan, of course if you have store bought seitan you can skip this sept. In a bowl put the gluten flour, then add the maggi sauce (or soy sauce) and 3 the water. Then add some garlic powder, smoked paprika and mix everything until you get aweird texture dough. Put that in a pot and cover it with water and cook for about 20 minutes on medium-high heat.
• Put the gluten in a container to process it until it has a consistency similar to ground beef. In a bowl, put the lentils and smash them roughly, then add the chopped parsley, the bread in tiny, some tomato paste, the seitan and finally the minced garlic. Mix everything together until a homogeneous paste is formed, taste it to see if it needs salt.
• Now check the paste's consistency, make a ball and if it’s too soft, then add some flour, I added maybe two tablespoons until I got a good consistency, but this will depend on how much water your lentils and your seitan had at the beginning, make another ball and check the consistency again to see if it's right.
• Now that we have the balls, we need to fry them using olive oil, flip them and brown them evenly.
• In a pot cook the green peas, and cook them.
• Finally let’s make the gravy in a saucepan add a drizzle of olive oil, and stir fry the garlic, quickly and before it gets burnt add the onion, stir fry it until translucent and a little golden brown and then add the tomato paste, if it is too dry add a little water and continue stirring until the paste is well distributed.
• Now to make the sauce thicker, add some flour stir and transfer this to a container to be processed together with the cooking juice from the green peas and also some nuts. Process everything until a gravy consistency.
• Put the gravy in a pot, add a little cinnamon powder, a clove and the no-meatballs, also don’t forget the green peas, stir and serve!

Sun-dried tomatoes, shiitake mushrooms and brandy pasta sauce

Hi everybody, lately I've been eating more pasta, maybe once or twice a week (I used to eat 0 pasta a week haha) So i have some sauces for you guys, last week I made one that I didnt except to be that good. So I defenetly thought I should show you how to make it.

Ingredients

1/4 Cup of brandy
6 Shiitake Mushrooms
6 Sun-dried tomatoes
400 gr crushed tomatoes
1/4 Cup heavy cream or substitute
1 Medium size onion
1 Garlic clove

Process

The first thing we are going to do is to chop all the mushrooms, the sun-dried tomatoes and the onion into small pieces.
Then in a sauce pan sauteé the onion until translucent, and then add the garlic and sauteé until fragrant.
Add the tomatoes and the mushrooms and sauteé until soft. Then add the crushed tomatoes and cook until the sauce thickens, then add the heavy cream and the brandy. Cook until it has a sauce consistency (not light nor thick).
Add some salt and pepper to taste and if the sauce is sour add a little sugar!
Then you just have to cook the pasta and serve!

Zucchini pie

Hi guy, today I have a delicious recipe for you! Its a simple zucchini pie with goat cheese and black olives, I hope you like it!

Ingredients

• 1 round shortcrust pastry
• 2 zucchini
• 1 small onion
• 75 gr of goat cheese
• 30 or so black olives

Process

• Follow the package instructions to bake the shortcrust.
• Chop the onion into tiny pieces and the zucchini into slices.
• Sauté the onion and then add one of the zucchini and cook until they are very soft kinda mushy, add some salt and pepper to taste and then puree them using a food processor.
• Sauté the other zucchini until it's slightly soft and golden brown.
• Put the onion and zucchini pure on the baked shortcrust. Decorate the surface using the zucchini slices and then on top of that the cheese in small pieces and the black olives.

Carrot hot dog

Hi everyone today I'll show you how to make a carrot hot dog, yeah it is a recipe a little bit weird hahaha, I saw this on social media it is a vegan version of the hot dogs and I liked the idea and I tried it and it turned out really good so I made it my way with my spices and sauces to give it an extra flavour. Lets go to the recipe!

Ingredients

• 4 Carrots
• 4 Hot dog buns
• 1 Cup of water
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp maggi sauce
• A pinch of chili powder
• 1/4 Tsp cumin powder
• 1/2 Tsp paprika
• 1 Tsp miso paste
• 1 Tbsp sugar

Process

• We are going to chop the ends and then peel the carrots.
• To give them a more sausage-like appearance we are going to round the ends of the carrots, this is easier with a peeler but you can do this with a knife.
• Once you are happy with the shape of all your carrot sausages, then it’s time to cook them.
• Obviously carrots don’t have sausage flavours, besides the meaty flavour sausages also have spices so we are going to add different spices and flavours to the water where we are going to cook and marinate the carrots.
• First lets cover the sausages with water I used a little bit more than a cup. Then add the soy sauce, the maggi sauce, the cumin powder, the paprika, a pinch of chili powder, the miso paste, the sugar and some garlic.
• Cook the carrots until they are firm but soft when you poke them with a knife. Let them rest until they are cool if you want you can even keep them in the refrigerator until you want to eat them.
• To eat them add vegetable oil to a pan and fry them, be careful because since they are wet with the marinade the oil will go crazy as you can see here, I suggest you to first put them in the pan without any oil, wait until they get a little dry and then add the oil. Of course you can make them without frying them but I thought they would be closer to the real thing if they were.
• Since we added sugar to the marinade you can also add more on top of the carrots to get a better caramelized surface.
• Once the carrots are ready we are going to put them in the bun, and now we can add our favourite toppings.

Romesco Sauce

Hi everyone!! How is it going? I hope you are all doing well, I'm a little bit sad because the holidays are over :( but at least tomorrow is Friday again :) Today I'm going to show you how to make a sauce that you can use in any dish. This sauce is from Catalonia, and here we eat it traditionally together with calçots, which are a kind of spring onion. The combination of calçots and romesco sauce is awesome, but I have discovered that romesco sauce goes well with a lot of earthy ingredients like potatoes and meat, so I use it whenever I can, actually a few weeks ago I showed you a Buddha bowl that had romesco sauce in it. Believe this sauce is heaven and since it is made with olive oil and nuts it is healthier that mayonnaise for example. I hope you try it!

Ingredients

• 1 Kg ripe tomatoes
• A whole garlic bulb
• 300 gr of unsalted and roasted almonds
• 100 gr of unsalted and roasted hazelnuts
• 5 Dried red peppers
• 1 Litter of olive oil
• White wine vinegar and salt to taste

Process

• Put the tomatoes and the garlic bulb in an oven plate and put them in a in a preheated oven at 250ºC for about 30 minutes.
• Remove the stem from the dried red peppers, and also take away the seeds. Rehydrate the peppers with hot water and boil them for 10 minutes at high heat.
• Peel the almonds and the hazelnuts. If you can't peel them, placed them in hot water for about 10 minutes, then they will peel easily.
• Now that the peppers are rehydrated, remove the meat from the skin with a knife, and also take away any seeds. Place the meat together with the nuts.
• At this point the tomatoes and the garlic bulb should be ready. Peel the tomatoes and the garlic, this should be an easy task. Place the tomatoes and the garlic together with the nuts and the pepper meat.
• Finally using a food processor, process everything together with olive oil. First add 250 mL of the oil, process until a paste is formed and then add the rest of the oil.
• Some people prefer it thinner and others thicker so adjust the amount of oil to your taste.
• Let the sauce rest for about 24 hours and then add salt and vinegar to taste, add them little by little so you don't get a sour and salty sauce.

Hummus

Hi guys! I'm on holidays at the moment in Bilbao (north of Spain) so I don't have time to explain a lot about this recipe, I'll just say three things: easy, healthy, delicious that's the simplest way to describe hummus :)

Ingredients

• 1 Cup of cooked chickpeas
• ¼ Tsp paprika
• ¼ Tsp cumin powder
• 1 Tsp lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp tahini
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 Garlic clove

Process

• Remove the skin from the chickpeas, it is not necessary to do this with al the chickpeas.
• Put all the ingredients in a food processor together with a couple tablespoons of water and process everything together until an homogeneous paste is formed.
• You can add other flavours to this recipe like avocado, basil, beetroots, etc.

Salads perfect for spring

Hi everyone, I have been in a salad mood lately, at least here in Barcelona we are having some nice and sunny spring days and I guess I'm just bored of the winter food and I just want to jump on the fresh and light food we eat during spring and summer hehehe. So today I will show you three options for everyone, one is for omnivores, another one for vegetarian and the last one for vegans :) I hope you like them.

Blue cheese and raspberry dressing salad


Ingredients (1 serving)

• Lettuce
• Apple
• Blue cheese
• Rasperries
• Maple syrup

The amount are up to you ;)

Procedure

• Cut the apple into the shape that you prefer
• Cut the lettuce in medium size pieces
• Cut the cheese into tiny pieces
• Smash the rasperries and some maple syrup to cut the sourness
• Mix all the ingredients togethers and there you have this awesome salad, this is more like a side dish salad, not a main dish.

Fresh tuna salad (1 serving)

Ingredients

• 60 gr of dry pasta
• A few black olives
• 80 gr Tuna
• 3 Celery Sticks
• 1/2 Avocado
• Cilantro
• Lime/lemon juice
• Salt to taste

Process

• Cook you pasta al dente, then drain it and let it cool completely.
• Cut the celery into small pieces.
• Cut and avocado in half and scoop the meat from one of the halves. Process it together with some lemon juice, coriander leaves and salt to make a paste.
• In a bowl put together all the ingredients mix and there you have a fresh and delicious salad full of nutrients, it is also pretty healthy thanks to the healthy fats of the avocado and the tuna.

Potatoes and broccoli salad

4-5 Small potatoes

A good amount of broccoli

1/4 Onion

Some nuts or croutons

4 Tbsp of lemon juice

1 Tbsp of olive oil

Salt to taste

Process

• Boil the potatoes until they are cooked, don't let them get too soft, use small potatoes for better results.
• Using the steam from the potatoes steam the broccoli this way you will get a vibrant green coloured broccoli and it will be cooked but not mushy.
• Wait until the potatoes and the broccoli are fully cooled down.
• In a bowl put together all the ingredients and enjoy!

Veggie burger

Hi sunshine!! So I've been trying to eat less meat and I've always be curious about veggie burgers. Once I tried a quinoa burger, and I didn't like it, extremely dry... augh horrible. I've also tried a polenta burger... it wasn't that dry but it lacked texture... so I thought I could make my own, It couldn't be so hard, right? So I watched a couple of videos, read some recipes also went to serious eats... and tried some ideas... and this is the final results, let's go to the recipe then ^^

Ingredients

• 150 gr of shiitake mushrooms
• 1/2 Onion
• 1 Cup + 1/4 Cup Kidney Beans
• 2 Tbsp of miso paste + 2 Tbsp of water
• Salt, pepper, paprika and garlic powder to taste
• 2 Tbsp flaxseeds
• 1/4 Cup cooked quinoa
• 1/4 Cup bread crumbs + 1 Tbsp
• 1/4 Cup water
• Optional: marmite and maggi sauce to season the mushrooms

Process

• Cut the shiitake mushrooms into slices and then into cubes.
• In a saucepan add a little bit of vegetable oil and cook the shiitake until they are soft, then add your favourite spices, I added garlic powder, paprika, black pepper and salt. Then to give it an extra flavour I added miso paste, but first I diluted it a little bit with water. Add the miso to the shiitakes and mix, you can also add Maggi sauce or marmite if you have some.
• Now add a little bit more of oil to the saucepan and sauté the onion, you can do this in the same saucepan, cook until it is translucent and a little golden brown.
• Now rinse the kidney beans to remove the starchy liquid that comes with them. I used kidney beans but you can use any other kind of legumes.
• To bind all the ingredients together, we are going to prepare a paste with water, a fourth of a cup of beans and the flaxseeds, process everything together and set aside.
• In a bowl put the kidneys beans, and smash them lightly with a fork, then add the onion, the shiitake mushrooms, the paste, and the cooked quinoa, and mix very well, since it is too wet we are going to add some bread crumbs.
• Depending on the size of your buns, divide the mix into 6 or 4 portions, and then give them a patty shape.
• Finally fry the veggie burgers, since all the ingredients are cooked you don’t need to wait until it is cooked in the centre, just wait until they are golden brown and then flip them over.
• And that’s it now make your burgers with your favourites ingredients, tomatoes, lettuce, onion, pickled cucumbers... and so on :p

Rainbow Smoothies

Hi everyone!! Spring is already here (at least in Barcelona)!!! I'm so happy to go back to my spring clothes, I don't like to wear layers of clothes in winter, but in spring I just use one or two and that's it hehe. Well clothed things aside, what about the spring foods?? I love all seasons when it comes to food, but the good things is that I can go back to eat smoothies, yaaayy!! That's why I made 5 different recipes of smoothies all of them with different colours and different ingredients, I hope you like these 6 colourful smoothies.

Before the list of ingredients I'd like to explain some of the ingredients I'm using in this recipes.

Flaxseeds

Flaxseeds are one of the best foods you can eat, they have a ton of fibre (2.3 gr) which is good for digestions and to feel satisfied after a meal. It also has a good amount of good fats 28.7 grams of the total 42.2 grams of fat that flaxseeds contain are polyunsaturated, and that's really good. These polyunsaturated fats are the omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, since western culture eat too much oil which is full of omega-6 fatty acids we need to compensate eating more omega-3 fatty acids, and flaxseeds are awesome for that, they have 22813 mg of omega-3 and 5911 mg of omega-6 and that's awesome :) they also have a good amount of proteins (18.3 gr). All the data is per 100 grams of flaxseeds.

Turmeric powder

In theory this one has a lot of benefits and all of them come pretty much thanks to the antioxidants in it. I don't know a lot about antioxidants, and the studies seem to not be 100% sure about their benefits, I don't think that this is a cure for everything, because on the internet they say it's like the holy grail and can treat even cancer... that's a very foolish thing to say in mi opinion. I think antioxidants are good, but not that good.

Purple sweet potato or ube

Ube is a great source of vitamin A, and vitamin C, magnesium and potassium. It also have fibre which can help with digestion. As all purple coloured foods ube has anthocyanin, which is an antioxidant and therefore it has all the good benefits from them. Again I won't go all crazy about the antioxidants because we don't know their benefits for sure, but at least berries and ube taste great :)

Raspberry Smoothie (I couldn't get vibrant red, so hot pink it is)

1/2 Cup coconut milk (unsweetened)
1 Orange
1/2 Banana
1 Cup raspberries
1/4 Cup rolled oats
1 Tbsp flaxseeds
2 Tbsp dry shredded coconut
Sweetener

Energy: 421.6 Kcal

Carrot Smoothie (Orange)

4 Medium size carrot cut into chunks
1 Cup almond milk
1/2 banana
5 Walnuts
1/4 Cup rolled oats
1/2 Tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 Tsp Cinnamon powder
Sweetener if you like

Energy: 346 Kcal

Mango Smoothie (Yellow)

1 Cup coconut milk (unsweetened)
1 Mango cut into chunks
1/2 Banana
1 Tsp turmeric powder
1 Tsp flaxseeds
2 Tbsp dry shredded coconut
1/4 Cup rolled oats

Energy: 369,5 Kcal

Pear Smoothie (Green)

3/4 Cup almond milk
2 Small pears (the juicy kind)
1/2 Banana
10 Pistachios
1 Tbsp flaxseeds
1 Tsp matcha powder
A handful of spinach
Sweetener

Energy: 375 Kcal

Chocolate Smoothie (Brown)

1 Cup of coconut milk (unsweetened)
2 Tbsp cocoa powder (defatted if possible)
1 Orange
1 Banana
90 grams silken tofu
1/4 Tsp vanilla extract
1/4 Tsp ground coffee
Sweetener

Energy: 330 Kcal

Purple Sweet Potato Smoothie (Purple)

100 gr Purple sweet potato
1/2 Banana
3/4 Cup cooked quinoa
1 Cup coconut milk (unsweetened)

Energy: 376.6 Kcal

Process

Toss all the ingredients into a blender and process everything together, enjoy!!

Buddha Bowls

Hi everyone I don't know if you have seen any Buddha bowl, but I loved the idea when I saw it on Pinterest. Since it has some rules it is easy to make a dish that has all the micro and macronutrients that you need, so I think it is a very good idea to keep healthy eating habits without having a lot of knowledge about nutrition. In theory Buddha bowl should be vegetarian, because lots of Buddhists are vegetarian, but I think that since vegetarians have veggie burgers... why don't we meat eaters can have Buddha bowls :p That's why today I'm going to show you how to make three different Buddha bowls so you can get some ideas to make your own or make the same that I make, I hope you like it!

Recipe #1 Mexican meaty Buddha bowl

Ingredients (1 Person)

• 100 grams of lean beef
• 1/2 cup of corn
• 1/2 cup of cooked black beans
• 150 gr of white button mushrooms
• 1/2 Tomato
• 1/4 Onion
• 1/4 Avocado
• 50 grams of yogurt
• Chopped cilantro
• Lime
• Salt and pepper to taste

Process

• The first thing we are going to do is to wipe the dirt off of the mushrooms using a paper towel,
  let's remove the roots, and now cut the stem and the mushroom into 4 pieces. Stir fry the
  mushrooms until they are cooked and a little golden brown.
• Let's prepare a pico de gallo, in a bowl put together some chopped tomatoes, chopped onion and cilantro, add some salt and pepper and something to spice it up, I used some cayenne pepper.
• Since I didn't want to add more fat I didn't used oil to cook the meat. I just placed it in the grill
  at high heat to get a nice crispy crust. Then I cut it so I could eat it without using a knife.
• Process together the yogurt, avocado, cilantro, little bit of lime juice and a pinch of salt and the dressing is ready!
• Time to place everything in the bowl. First the black beans, the corn, the mushrooms, the pico de gallo we made, the meat and of course the dressing.
• This bowl is kind of a mix of a lot of things, it has fresh and earthy flavours so is the best of both worlds hehe. In this case I didn't use a grain per se, but it was because corn and black beans already have complex carbohydrates so I thought it was redundant to add another source more.

Recipe #2 Earthy Buddha bowl

Ingredients (1 Person)

• Half medium sweet potato
• 100 gr of chicken breast
• 1/2 Cup brown rice
• 150 grams spinach
• Half a zucchini/Courgette
• Romesco Sauce

Process

• Put the sweet potatoes in a pot with plenty of water and cook them, do the same with the chicken breast.
• Prepare the brown rice.
• Cut the zucchini into cubes. In a sauce pan put a little bit of oil and stir fry the zucchini until it is soft but not too soft, we want it to be firm.
• Remove the zucchini and in the same saucepan without adding any more oil add the spinach,
  and cook it until it gets wilted.
• The sweet potatoes should be ready by this time, so peal them, cut it in half and then into
  chunks. You can cut the chicken breast into slices or as I did here into cubes.
• And now we just need to assemble our Buddha bowl. Finally I added a Romeo sauce, this sauce is made with nuts, tomato and olive oil and it's delicious and compliments really well this dish.

Recipe #3 Easy Vietnamese flavoured Buddha Bowl

Ingredients

• 3/4 Cup of basmati or jasmin rice
• Pickled daikon and carrots (if you don't have this you can use just fresh carrots)
• Half a cucumber
• Mint leaves
• Cilantro leaves
• 1/4 Cup roasted cashews and pistachios nuts
• Hoisin Sauce

Process

• Here I used basmati rice since it has a floral fragrance, then add some pickled daikon and carrots if you don't have this just use fresh julienned carrots.
• Add a bunch of cubed cucumber they will add a lot of juicy freshness to this dish.
• In this case the source of proteins and healthy fats comes together in the form of nuts, some roasted cashews and  pistachios
• To make it more fragrant I added some mint and coriander leaves.
• Finally I added two tablespoons or so of hoisin sauce, you can find this sauce in any oriental market. If you can't find it you can use peanut butter and maybe reduce a little bit the nuts.
• This this is all about crunchiness, freshness and fragrances.

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.

Oven Baked Falafel

Hi everyone, so lately I’ve been trying to eat less meat and I thought I could make some falafel, but I don’t really eat deep fried things, so I made this falafel recipe in the oven, adjusting the ingredients a little bit.

Ingredients

• 1 Cup home cooked chickpeas.
• ¼ Cup chopped cilantro
• ¼ Cup chopped parsley
• ⅓ Cup chopped onion
• 2 Big or 3 small garlic cloves (minced)
• ¼ Tsp cumin powder
• ¼ Tsp Paprika
• Salt to taste
• ½ Tsp baking powder
• Little Olive Oil

Process

• Chop the cilantro in tiny pieces and do the same with the parsley and the onion.
  Divide the cup of chickpeas in half and place one of the halves in a bowl and the other half in a food processor.
• Process the chickpeas with a little water to form a paste similar in consistency to hummus.
• Using a fork, smash roughly the chickpeas we placed in the bowl (we don't want this to be a paste, we want it to have texture). Add the minced garlic, the cilantro together with the parsley, the onion a little cumin powder, paprika, and the baking powder and some salt. Mix everything together and add the chickpeas paste and mix very well until it’s very well combined
• Now form six equal balls using your hands and place them on an oven plate covered with oven paper. Flat the balls, if they lose their shape, shape them like a patty.
• Finally brush them with a little olive oil. Bake the falafels on a 190 ºC preheated oven for about 10 minutes. After those 10 minutes, remove them from the oven, flip them over (they might stick to the paper, so if you want to use wax paper, or something better go ahead!), brush them again with a little olive oil and return them to the oven and bake for another 10 minutes.
• You can eat them just like this together with a salad for example, or you can make a falafel sandwich using pita bread, onion, tomatoes, lettuce and a delicious yogurt sauce.

Veggie Cupcakes

Veggies on cupcakes? You might be thinking... this girl went nuts hahaha, I love to use vegetables in baking, because... why not? Beets are actually sweet like carrots and carrots have their own cake, why not beets? I was a little bit disappointed though… in my mind I saw these beautiful red and bright coloured muffins coming out of my oven, and what did I find? Brown coloured muffins… I know I used whole wheat flour... I know that red coloured things normally get brown in the oven… but I’m a dreamer and I dreamed about my red and bright muffins!!! Anyway I must say that even though this muffins are not the sexiest, they definitely are beautiful on the inside, they are very very moist and I think if you add some tablespoons of cocoa powder you will have an amazing chocolate cake batter.

Ingredients

• 1 Cup whole wheat flour
• ½ Cup coconut Oil
• ½ Cup Milk
• 2 Eggs
• ½ Cup honey
• 1 Tsp baking soda
• 1 Tsp cinnamon powder
• 1 Tsp vanilla extract
• ½ Cup of grated vegetables (cucumber, beets or carrots)
• 100 grams of apple purée
• 50 grams of chopped walnuts

Process

• Mix all the dry ingredients together (whole wheat flour, baking soda and cinnamon powder).
• Put the eggs in a bowl and whisk them with energy. Then add the rest of the wet ingredients (coconut oil, milk, honey, and vanilla extract).
• Combine the dry ingredients mixture and the liquid mixture together. Then add the apple purée and the chopped walnuts, mix very well and divide the preparation into 3 equal portion.
• To each portion add the three different veggies.
• Bake at 190 ºC for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Let them cool and eat them ;)

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.

Zucchini Stew

Hi guys! At least here in Barcelona the weather has been quite good the last days, yesterday we even had 17 ºC, but you know... I'm still in the mood of comfy food... so I made this recipes that my grandma used to make for me. It's a chilean recipe called "guiso de zapallo italiano", guiso is stew and zapallo italiano is one of the spanish words for zucchini or courgette. One thing that I have noticed at least in the occidental countries is that in times of shortage, people tended to save everything they had, and of course one of those things was bread. Nowadays we toss dry and hard bread leftovers, but it wasn't an option back then. Many recipes such as the Spanish "migas" or this zucchini stew were made in those times... and frankly they are really good! specially if you combine the essence of these dishes together with the ingredients we have on hand nowadays. Last year I uploaded this recipe on my other channel and I though it would be nice to share it with the English spoken world :) So here it is, I hope you like it as much as I do.

Ingredients

• 1 Chopped Onion
• 1 leftover bread
• 400 gr of minced beef
• Milk or water
• 5 medium size Zucchini or Courgette
• Salt and Pepper

Process

• Rehydrate the bread using either milk or water, the amount depends on the bread, just make sure it rehydrates completely.
• In a pot stir fry the chopped onion until translucent with a drizzle of either vegetable. Then add the minced beef and stir fry until it is cooked. Add some salt and pepper to taste.
• Add the thinly slices zucchini, turn the heat to low and put a lid over the pot.
• Wait 10 minutes and check if there is still water on the bottom of the pan, if so put the lid back on.
• Wait another 10 minutes, by this time the volume of the zucchinis should have reduced by half, mix the zucchini together with the meat until is well combined, and cook it until the zucchinis are mushy.
• Add the rehydrated bread and one egg, stir everything together and that’s it.
  Serve with a little cheese on top.

Week Meal Plan #1

Hi guys! I love to do week meal plans, this saves you time, money and stress, so I'll be sharing with you my own week plans. I know that there are a ton of week meal plans on YouTube, I like to watch them but the problem is that I don’t like some things about them. For example some of them make the same meal for every day of the week and I am a person who gets bored easily so I can't do that. Another thing is that some recipes are not good reheated, or they can get spoiled in a few days, for example reheated risotto is disgusting.

So, what I’m planning to do is to give you some recipes that are just as good as when they were made (or even better) and also some tips to help you save time, you won't have ready to go meals, but you will only spend 20 minutes to cook your dinner after that long day at work.

Here is a pdf with the week meal plan, organized by the days of the week. The ingredients, the step by step recipes and also son tips to storage your food. And also some pictures from my Instagram ;). Week Meal Plan - PDF

And here is the video where I explain the week meal plan in detail.

Sandwich: 3 Delicious ways

Hello everybody!! Following with the series of three recipes, today I'll you one 3 of my favourite sandwich. All of them have different flavours and are delicious! Sandwich is my go-to meal, they are easy to make and you can use almost anything to make them, so I just look inside my fridge and pantry and put whatever I have in the bread.

Let's start with the most easy of the three sandwiches, this one has salty and sweet notes, it
is fresh an crunchy and also smoky thanks to the smoked salmon! It has a quite exotic taste, even dough it's really easy to make.

Ingredients

• 2 Slices of bread
• Coleslaw
• Pineapple
• Mayonnaise or Greek yogurt

Process

• To the coleslaw add the pineapple, some mayonnaise or Greek yogurt and mix everything together.
• Put a good amount of the pineapple coleslaw on the bread and then on top of that put the slices of smoked salmon.
• That's it!!.

Next we are going to prepare a tuna sandwich! This one has a sea and citric taste and I go back to
it every time I want a tuna sandwich. As you can guess by the ingredients this one is very refreshing.

Ingredients

• Can of tuna
• Mayonnaise and/or Greek yogurt
• Julienned Onion
• Cilantro
• Lemon or lime juice
• Lettuce
• Half an avocado

Process

• Add some mayonnaise and/or Greek yogurt to the tuna, mix and set aside.
• Smash the avocado into a purée and set aside.
• Add some chopped cilantro to the onion, then add some lemon or lime juice and a little bit of salt and then set aside.
  Now assemble the  sandwich. Spread the mashed avocado on the slice of bread, then to the same with the tuna, on top of that add the onion and finally some lettuce of your choice, and that's it there you have.

I've saved the most delicious sandwich for the end, this one is more time consuming, but it is
worth it by all means.This one is amazing, I was actually drooling while I was editing the video java, so yeah it is really good, all the ingredients come really well together the soft taste of the brie cheese with the sweetness of the chili sauce is awesome, the onion and meat contribute with their unique flavours and the bitterness of the spinach gives it a little touch of I don't know what... but I believe the sandwich is a whole with the presence of spinach.

Ingredients

• 600 gr of Beef
• Onion
• Spinach
• 1 Minced garlic
• Brie/camembert cheese

For the marinate

• 1 Tbsp Soy sauce
• 1 Tsp Sesame oil
• 1/2 Tsp Worchester sauce
• 1 Tbsp Sweet chilli sauce
• 1 Minced garlic

Process

• First we are going to thinly slice the meat across the grain, to that we are going to add some soy sauce, sweet chili sauce, sesame oil, and a little bit of Worchester sauce and also minced garlic. Mix everything together, the best way is to make this with your hands. Now marinate the meat for an hour.
• While the meat marinates slightly caramelize the onion, in a sauce pan add a drizzle of vegetable oil, add the julienned onion, and cook it until it is slightly caramelized, with this I mean it has to have a brown colour but still be crunchy on the inside, basically this is done by stir frying the onion at
  high heat.
• Remove the onion from the pan and add the meat, cook it until it is done.
• Remove and cook the spinach, don't forget as I did to add a little amount of minced garlic, stir and cook until the spinach is soft.
• Now lets assemble the sandwich, first add some brie or camembert cheese, you can add as much cheese as you like, the more the better actually. Then add the meat, once again as much as you like, on top of that put the onion, and then the spinach. Finally if you like sweet chili sauce add some
  on top.

This one is amazing, I was actually drooling while I was editing the video java, so yeah it is really good, all the ingredients come really well together the soft taste of the brie cheese with the sweetness of the chili sauce is awesome, the onion and meat contribute with their unique flavours and the bitterness of the spinach gives it a little touch of I don't know what... but I believe the sandwich is a whole with the presence of spinach.

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 sauce for pasta

Hello guys, I hope you are having a good beginning of the year I'm surely having a good time I have a lot of ideas for the channel/blog, so I'm pretty exited haha. Anyway I know that autumn is over but I just love this recipe, I made this a long time ago for my other channel and with time I've made this version that is easier to make has almost the same flavour and less calories! So lets go to the recipe :)

Ingredients

• 2 Cups of pumpkin pure (I used butternut squash)
• 150 gr spinach
• 350 gr Chicken breast
• 50 gr feta cheese
• 1/8 tsp of Nutmeg
• Salt and peppers to taste
• Pasta

Process

• Peel and cut the onion in tiny pieces.
• Then in a pan add a drizzle of olive oil, and stir fry the onion until it is soft
• Meanwhile, cut the chicken breasts in tiny pieces, I know that this is time consuming but I find that this way you get a more homogeneous sauce, actually if you want you can use minced chicken.
• Now add the chicken to the pan and while it cooks, chop the spinach roughly.
• To give it a little more flavour add some nutmeg
• Add the spinach to the pan, give it a stir and wait until the spinach has soften.
• Now add the pumpkin puree and stir everything until it is well combined.
• Finally add the feta cheese and give it a good stir to distribute it evenly throughout the sauce.
• If you want to make this sauce even better add a little bit of turmeric powder if you have some.

Eggplant parmigiana

Hello everyone! Let's start this year with a delicious and simple recipe, it's like a lasagne but using eggplant. This recipe has almost no carbohydrates in it, so if you are interested in this type of recipes you can use it, although if you want to lose weight I would recommend you not to do that, but anyway that's none of my business hahaha. I hope you had a wonderful time during the holidays and now let's go to the recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 Eggplants
• 1 Onion
• 800 gr of tomato crushed or sauce
• Basil
• 250 gr Mozzarella cheese
• Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Bay leaves
• Olive Oil

Procedure

• Peel and cut the onion in tiny pieces.
• In a saucepan add a drizzle of olive oil, once it is hot add the chopped onion and stir fry it until it's translucent.
• Add some pepper to taste, the bay leaves and finally the crushed tomato. Stir until everything is well combined and wait until the tomato is cooked, add some salt to taste and a little bit of sugar to balance the sourness of the tomatoes.
• While the sauce cooks, cut the eggplant into slices of as much as 0.5 cm.
• Put a thin layer of the sauce in an oven safe dish and then place the pieces of eggplant until the whole surface is covered, then place a layer of the sauce on top of the eggplant, then add the mozzarella, distribute it evenly and then do the same with the basil leaves, finally add some Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and repeat the process.
• Once the dish is filled to the top, bake the eggplant parmesan in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for about an hour, in the last ten minutes turn your oven grill on so the top part can get golden brown.
• Simple delicious and full of Italian flavors!