Mozart balls

This is a type of sweet that we have had in my family every Christmas since I was little. They've always been my favourite of all the special sweets you make for Christmas in my family.

Ingredients
200 g almond paste
125 g nougat
150 g chocolate (dark or milk, I used both)

1. Cut the nougat and almond paste in 20 equally big pieces. Push them together and roll them to small balls.

2. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over boiling water.

3. Put the balls in the chocolate and make sure they are completely covered in chocolate. Put them on a plate on the side.

4. Once all the balls are covered in chocolate, put them in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Wrap with bacon and quinoa

Maybe not the most exciting dish but oh so simple. Barely involves any cooking; you just need to cut up some things and mix it all together. I made a little sauce to have with it because I thought it would be a bit too dry otherwise.

Ingredients
2 dl quinoa
1 red onion
1 avocado
10 (approx) cherry tomatoes
120 g bacon
2 tortillas

yoghurt
garlic
salt and pepper

Cook the quinoa according to the packet and let it cool. Cut the bacon into pieces and fry it. Let it drain on some paper towel. Cut the red onion and avocado into small pieces. Cut the tomatoes in half. Mix bacon, avocado, onion, tomatoes and quinoa. Crush the garlic into the yoghurt and add some salt and pepper. Warm the tortilla in the microwave for a few seconds. Fill the tortilla with the bacon and quinoa mixture and serve together with the garlic yoghurt.


I also figured out what we're gonna have for New Year's Eve. It's going to be a bit of work but hopefully it'll turn out good and it'll be worth it.

Chorizo stew

I found the inspiration for this dish at tasteline.se but I modified it a bit. It was tasty but I think I should've used a different kind of chorizo.

Ingredients
400 g pre-cut vegetables
1 garlic clove
250 g chorizo
400 g crushed tomatoes
400 g kidney beans
pinch of chili powder
salt and pepper

Fry the vegetables and garlic for a few minutes. Cut up the chorizo to smaller pieces and add this to the vegetables. Add the tomatoes, kidney beans, chili powder, salt and pepper. Let it all simmer together for about 5-10 minutes.

Pasta with smoked salmon in a creamy sauce

I felt like doing something creamy with smoked salmon so I came up with this recipe. It turned out to be a success and it's very simple.

Ingredients
pasta
150 g smoked salmon
400 g pre-cut vegetables
1,5 dl cream
½ tsp sambal oelek
½ tsp paprika powder
salt and pepper

Boil the pasta according to the instructions on the packet. Fry the vegetables in olive oil for about 5-6 minutes. Add the cream, salmon, sambal oelek and paprika powder. Let it get warm and season with salt and pepper. The salmon is quite salty itself so go easy on the salt.

Picture of the delicious avocado salad with low GI

A couple of months ago I made a salad with avocado, egg and bacon: http://hannasfoodetc.blogspot.com/2011/10/dinner-31-10-2011.html

Today I decided to make it again and this time I took a photo of it, so here you go.

Easy individual apple pies

Ingredients
4 apples
20 g butter
0,5 dl sugar
cinnamon
two sheets of puff pastry

Cut the apples into chunks. Melt together the butter and sugar on low heat until the sugar melts and you get a caramel sauce. Add the apples and cinnamon and let them simmer together for a few minutes. Cut out big enough circles of the puff pastry. Put the apple mixture in small serving dishes and put the puff pastry on top. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes on 225 degrees.

Coq au vin à la Bowen

Ingredients
500 g chicken
1 large onion, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, finely diced
150 ml white wine
200 ml chicken stock
50 g plain flour
50 g bacon, diced
10 shallots
baby carrots, pre-cooked
bay leaf
thyme
parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Fry onion and garlic on low heat in butter or oil for a few minutes. Flour the chicken together with some salt and pepper and brown this in a separate pan. When browned, add this to the onions and pour over chicken stock, wine and herbs. Cover and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the bacon and shallots by frying them off in a pan. Add them to the pot after the 30 minutes and let simmer together for another 10 minutes. Add the carrots a few minutes before serving in order to heat through. We served it with mashed potatoes but it also goes well with roast potatoes or even rice.

Thai almond pork

This has been one of our favourite dishes since we started looking into cooking without wheat and dairy.

Ingredients
1 1/4 pounds pork tenderloin, thinly sliced
1½ tbsp coconut oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 tbsp almond butter
½ cup coconut milk
1 chili
1 tsp fish sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
1 broccoli head
2 capsicum
1 tsp grated ginger

Mix almond butter, chili, fish sauce, sesame oil and coconut milk together until smooth. Put the broccoli and the capsicum in a non-stick wok together with 1/4 cup of water and cook on medium-high heat for about 6-8 minutes. In another pan, fry the onion and ginger in the coconut oil until onions begin to brown. Add the pork and cook for another 3-5 minutes.
Once the pork is brown, add the pork, onion and ginger to the wok and pour in the almond sauce. Cover with a lid and let it simmer on low for about 10 minutes.

Fish soup

Ingredients
300 g leek cut into slices
2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp curry powder
4 dl crushed tomatoes
10 dl water
2 fish stock cubes
500 g potatoes, cut into chunks
200 g carrots, cut into chunks
400 g white fish, cut into chunks
creme fraiche
dill
oregano

Fry leek and garlic together with butter in a pot. Powder the curry powder on top and let it all fry for about one minute. Add tomatoes, water and stock cubes. Add potatoes and carrots. Let the soup boil for about 20 minutes or until the vegetables are soft.
Add the fish and the dill. Let it simmer until the fish is white and firm, this takes about 5 minutes. Serve with some creme fraiche and sprinkle over some oregano.

Pan-fried tilapia with garlic flavoured kale

This is one of those recipes that I found on the internet and I thought "oh, that sounds nice and healthy". I've now been pushing this recipe from day to day because I thought that it sounded a bit boring and a bit too healthy for those days. However, I now had to cook it since I already bought the ingredients and the expiry date was today. It turned out it's not so bad and it a very light meal. I added some lemon squeeze on the top of it and that makes it really good.

Ingredients

about 500g kale (I'm using packed and already chopped)
125g unsalted butter
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
80ml olive oil
35g plain flour
about 550g tilapia fillets, skin off

Heat butter and extra virgin olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Add garlic and chilli, then cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until fragrant. Add kale, season with salt and pepper and toss to coat. Cook for a further 10 minutes until tender.
Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Season the flour and use to coat fillets, shaking off excess. Cook fish for 2-3 minutes each side until golden.