Holiday Appetizers, 4 Ways

Hello everyone, so I have a big cold atm, I can't upload anything since I can't speak properly (I have a man voice hahaha) so I'll write the blog post. December has been a weird month for me, I quitted my job this month because of several reasons and now I'm focusing on other things like my YouTube channels and I'm starting a programming course on January... so as you can see I've been busy haha. I'm full of ideas and project I hope I can figure a way to do everything I'm planning xD Anyway, I thought I would be able to upload this video before Christmas but it was impossible but better late than never, right? So let’s go to the recipe!!!

Bread with toppings

Ingredients

• Bread
• Topping of your choice

Process

• Using a stencil or a cookie cutter, cut the shape that you want from a piece of bread (you can use any type of bread).
• To decorate them just use your imagination, I used some mashed avocado, cheese and tomatoes to decorate the trees. Cream cheese for the snow flakes and some cilantro sprigs. For the boots I made two versions one sweet and salty with jam and cheese and other salty using chopped tomatoes and cheese. These festive appetizers are really simple to make and look nice and you can use the idea for a baby shower or another special occasion.

Artichoke and Spinach Dip

Ingredients

• 1 Small Onion
• 5 Artichoke Hearts
• 150 gr Spinach

Process

• Chop the onion and the artichoke hearts in tiny pieces and the spinach roughly.
• Stir fry the onion, once it is translucent add the artichoke and spinach, stir everything together and cook until the spinach has soften.
• Add the Greek yogurt and stir, finally add the mozzarella and the parmesan cheese.
• This dip is actually pretty healthy it has a lot of veggies, and I didn't use any cream, I tried to keep it on the low fat range.

Jam and cheese pinwheels

Ingredients

• Puff Pastry
• Jam
• Cheese

Process

• Cut a sheet of puff pastry into smaller squares (I made mine of 15 by 15 cm squares but they were hard to work with, so I suggest you to make them bigger).
• In the center of the squares put a piece of brie cheese, then make four cuts from the corners to almost the center. Then grab one of the sides of the triangles and place it in the center, on top of the brie piece (since mine where little I had to put a toothpick in the center to keep the shape).
• And that's how you make a pinwheel, then put them in the oven, just follow the instructions of the package.
• Let the pinwheels cool down and finally add some jam on top.
• This appetizer is really cute and also delicious, the combination of cheeses and jams is endless, I used tomato jam and it matches perfectly with the brie, although If I had known I would have used an stronger cheese in this case, since there is more dough than cheese, so the brie flavor gets a little bit lost, but they were good anyway.

Plantain and Guacamole

Ingredients

• Plantain
• Guacamole
• Cilantro leaves

Process

• Cut the tips and then make a cut along the plantain, then remove the skin with your hands
• Cut the plantain into pieces of 2 centimeters long.
• In a saucepan add a drizzle of vegetable oil, and fry the plantain until it is soft.
• Flip them over so they can cook evenly.
• Once they are still warm smash them softly with something flat.
• After smashing them all, place some of your favorite recipe of guacamole on top, then just to make it fancier add a cilantro leave, and that’s it.

Mock Risotto: Three different ways

Hello everyone, when I was just married my husband and I had some "issues" with the food hehehe. Since I'm the only one who cooks, he had to get used to my ways… I was used to eat white rice without anything, that’s the way my mom cooked, but his mom was all about adding some veggies to the rice, so he just got used to what I had for him, otherwise I would give him this look ¬.¬ hehehe,. Anyway a long time has passed since then and I have got a lot better in the kitchen, a few year ago I discovered risotto and I felt in love with it, normally I don’t cook real risotto, mostly because I don’t eat a lot of white rice (TMI I gets me constipated) but I enjoy creating mock risottos that can be done using brown rice. Anyway I don’t want to bore you so here are three mock risotto recipes.

Ingredients

Pumpkin and Mushroom

• 150 gr Rice (regular or brown)
• 5 Mushrooms
• ½ Onion
• ½ Cup of pumpkin purée
• 2 Tbsp Greek yogurt
• 2 Tbsp Parmigiano Cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste

Process

• Peel and cut the onion in tiny pieces.
• Using a paper towel wipe the dirt off from the mushrooms. Then cut them into cube pieces of 1 cm.
• Add some olive oil to a pot and sauté the onion, once it is translucent add the mushroom and cook them.
• Once they are soft add the rice and mix, add a pinch of nutmeg and now add the water just to cover the rice.
• While the rice is cooking, mix some pumpkin purée with greek yogurt and grated parmigiano cheese, mix everything together and set aside.
• Once the rice is fully cooked, add the pumpkin mixture, mix everything together and serve. This risotto is just perfect, add some basil on top and you will know what heaven is.

Tomato, basil and caramelized onion

• 150 gr Rice (regular or brown)
• ½ Onion
• A little honey
• 1 Garlic
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste
• 2 Tbsp Parmigiano Cheese
• ½ Tbsp meat extract (I used Bovril)
• ¼ Cup Greek yogurt
• Basil

Process

• Peel and cut the onion in pieces of 2 by 2 centimetres.
• In a pot sauté the onion, put the heat on low and sauté until the onion is golden brown, once it is golden brown add little amounts of water and stir occasionally until the onion has a brown color, finally add some honey to caramelize it.
• Remove the onion from the pot and set aside.
• In the same pot add a little bit of vegetable oil, add the minced garlic and stir fry it lightly. Now add the tomato paste and the meet extract and mix everything together.
• Add the rice, mix and add water just to cover the rice. While the rice is cooking it will lose water so we are going to be adding more when needed.
• Cut the basil into tiny pieces and set aside.
• When the rice is fully cooked add some yogurt to add creaminess and a touch of sourness and also if you like you can add parmigiano cheese
• Now that the rice is fully cooked, add the chopped basil and the caramelized onion, mix very well and there you have it another delicious mock risotto.

Artichoke and Eggplant

• 150 gr Rice (regular or brown)
• ½ Onion
• 4 Small to medium artichokes
• ½ big or 1 small eggplant
• ½ Cup White wine
• ¼ Cup Parmigiano Cheese

Process

• Cut the stem of the artichokes, and remove all of the leaves, then cut the heart in half and then remove the choke or beard, remove it using a knife carefully.
• Then put the hearts in a pot and add some water to cook them. Once they are slightly soft cut them in tiny pieces and set aside. Remember to save the water in which we cooked the artichokes.
• In another pot cook the eggplant until it is really mushy, remove the excess water and set aside.
• Cut the onion in tiny pieces. And then sauté it with a little olive oil.
• Once it is golden brown add the artichoke and sauté it a little.
• Then add the rice, the cooking water from the artichokes, the white wine and water just to cover the rice and cook until it is done. Add some salt to taste
• In a blender or food processor, purée the eggplant and then add it to your rice, if you want you can also add some parmigiano cheese, and it's done.

Overnight Oats

Hello guys, how is it going? Lately I've been loving foods in season, right now persimmons and pomegranates are in the groceries, so I've been eating them a lot. I use persimmons as jam, because the texture is similar and also because they are 100% natural :). Pomegranates are not my favourite, not because of their flavour but because of the time you spend getting the seed out of the fruit, so I don't use them that much. When I made this recipes, figs were also in season unfortunately these fruits are expensive in comparison to apples and bananas, so I can't eat them as much as I would :( but anyway maybe you are lucky and can get them more often. I hope you enjoy this combinations and try to make them at home :)

Ingredients

• 1/2 Cup of rolled oats
• Milk (any kind) to cover the oats
• 2 Tbsp of yogurt (regular, Greek, soy yogurt, coconut yogurt, etc.)
• 1 Tbsp Chia or flax seed

To give your overnight oats more flavour add whatever you want, I usually add chopped pineapple, banana, apple or any fruit that I like/have. Also some spices like mint, cinnamon, vanilla extract can  be added. To sweeten it up you can use whatever you prefer, sugar I you don't mind it or some natural alternative like honey or maple syrup of you are like me just use artificial sweeteners.

Procedure

• You can make this on a jar or a bowl, that's up to you.
• The night before you eat your overnight oats, put half a cup of rolled oats in a container.
• Then pour some milk over the oats just to cover them.
• Add the yogurt and the chia or flax seed.
• Give it a good mix or a good shake if you are using a jar (of course don't forget the lid).
• Next morning add your favourite fruits, some classic combos are: pineapple and dry shredded coconut, apple or banana and cinnamon powder. The options are endless :)

Banana Pancakes

Hello everyone I hope you are doing great this week, today I'll show you how to make some really easy to make banana pancakes, enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 Mashed banana
• 1 Egg
• 1/4 Cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 Tsp cinnamon powder
• 1/4 Tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 Tsp baking powder
• A splash of milk or water if necessary

Process

• Mash the banana really well
• Crack an egg in a bowl and whisk it.
• Add the mashed banana and mix it with the egg.
• Add the whole wheat flour, mix until everything is well combined.
• If you want to add a little bit more of flavour add the vanilla extract and the cinnamon powder.
• Depending on the size of the banana and the egg you will need to add a splash of milk to adjust the consistency, the consistency should similar to the one of normal pancakes.
• Finally to get a more spongy pancakes add the baking powder.
• Using a paper towel spread the oil through out the pan.
• Add some of the batter to the pan and when the bubble start to pop on the surface then it is time to flip the pancakes over.
• Then wait about half a minute and remove it from the pan.
• Finally you can add some fruit and maple syrup on top.

How to make Narutomaki

Hello everyone, I'm not a big fan of fish, I used to analyse fish at my previous job so I had enough fish, I didn't eat it but I had to smell it and work with it... so yeah not a big fan. The only time I'm happy to eat fish is when I eat ramen, one of the most iconic ingredients of ramen is a fish cake and it's called Narutomaki (that round think with a pink spiral in the middle). Unfortunately finding this ingredient can be challenging, so as I am a resourceful woman I thought... if I can't find it I'll make it!! And that's how it began hahaha, I made my first narutomaki with a traditional recipe, but I didn't like it, it wasn't like the industrial narutomaki... So I did some research and found more recipes I tested them and the one I liked the most is this one, I hope you like it

Ingredients

• 200 g fresh white fish
• 6 g salt
• 6 g sugar
• 6 g mirin
• 1 egg white

Procedure

• Remove the skin of the fish and any fat
• Rinse the fish under cold water.
• Squeeze the fish with your hands to get rid of any excess water.
• In a food processor or something similar, put the fish, together with some salt, sugar, mirin and an egg white.
• Process  everything together until an homogeneous paste is formed.
• Divide the paste in two.
• Use one of the halves and spread it over plastic wrap to create a 19 by 15 cm rectangle.
• Then with some pinkish red food coloring, dye the other half of the paste (you can use some beet juice to create this color).
• Put a second layer of pink paste over the first layer, leaving one centimetre at the bottom and at the top of the rectangle free.
• Roll the fish cake, roll it carefully but tightly so you don't get air pockets.
• Put the roll into a steamer and steam it for about 15 minutes.
• Let it cool.

Here you have the video

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

Hello everybody I hope you are having a wonderful week, this week I'm doing overtime at work so I'll upload another recycled video from my other channel (A pinch of star). I always go back to this recipe when I want to have something satisfying, warm and full of flavour. This recipe is delicious but also pretty healthy, it has quinoa which is a grain with a fair amount of protein and almost no fat, veggies (onion and peppers) which have lots of vitamin C and some lean meat for more protein. Anyway I hope you like it.

Ingredients

• 3 Red bell peppers
• 2 Garlic cloves
• 1 Onion
• 1 Carrot
• 2 Tbsp italian seasoning
• 1 chicken stock cube
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 Cup of cooked quinoa
• 1 Can of crushed tomatoes
• ½ Kg of lean beef
• 1 Tsp tomato paste (optional)
• Parmesan cheese (optional)

Process

• Clean and cut the peppers in halves, remove the seed and the inner White meat.
• Put the peppers in a pot, with hot water and boil then until soft but firm.
• Peel and cut the onion and the carrot in tiny pieces
• In a saucepan put a Little bit of vegetable oil and sauté the onion until translucent.
• Add the carrots and then the beef and mix.
• Add the chicken bouillon and break it so it can be mixed well.
• Add the minced garlic, the salt and pepper to taste and the Italian seasoning, mix everything together and stir fry until the beef is fully cooked.
• Add the pureed tomato, mix well and stir fry 5 minutes.
• To add a little bit more of taste you can add concentrated tomato
• Finally add the quinoa and mix everything together.
• In an oven plate putt he pepper halves and putt he filling inside. Don’t be shy put as much as you can.
• You can put some parmesan cheese on top before putting the pepper inside the oven.
• Put the peppers in the oven at 190 ºC with both burners on for about 15 minutes until the cheese is melted and golden brown.

Here you have the video

Healthy Pizza

Hello everybody, today is a holiday here in Spain and it's raining so I'm thinking about drinking a cup of tea right now hehehe. Today I ate some lentil stew and for dessert chia pudding, you can see a photo on Instagram if you like: https://www.instagram.com/tinyhealthykitchen/

Anyway today I'll show you how to make a healthy pizza!! Pizza can be healthy if you use a dough made with some whole wheat flour, add veggies, add proteins, don't get crazy with cheese and eat the right portion, everything is about the balance :). Let's go to the recipe!!

Here you have the pdf to download it and print the recipe: Healthy pizza

Ingredients

Pizza dough (for four medium size pizzas)

• 300 gr White flour
• 300 gr whole wheat flour
• 11 gr active dry yeast
• Warm water
• 1 Tsp salt

Basic ingredients for a margarita pizza

• 2 Tbsp. Tomato puree/paste/sauce
• Olive oil
• Parmesan cheese
• 60-70 gr Mozzarella cheese
• Few basil leaves

Other toppings

• Whatever you like

Process

• In a bowl put together the two kind of flours add salt and mix.
• Dissolve the yeast in warm water and mix very well until completely dissolved.
• Pour the yeast mixture on top of the flours, mix everything together with the spoon and then with your hands.
• Knead the dough for at least 10 minutes.
• Let the dough rest for about 3 hours in a warm place to double or triple in size.
• If you want to frost the dough divide it four, wrap each portion with plastic wrap and put it in the freezer. Defrost it 4 hours before eating or overnight in the fridge.
• Use your hands or a rolling pin to stretch the dough.
• Put a layer of tomato puree/paste/sauce on the dough, then a drizzle of olive oil, some parmesan cheese, the mozzarella, the cherry tomatoes and the basil
• You are free to put whatever you like on the pizza.
• Cook the pizza in a preheated oven at 220 ºC for 7 to 10 minutes.

Here you have the video