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.