Zucchinipasta with the tastiest tomato sauce

I found this recipe on tasteline.se and I thought I had to try it. I modified it a little bit by serving it hot and adding some chicken and spinach.

Ingredients
serves 3-4
2 tomatoes
150 ml sundried tomatoes
1 red capsicum
2 garlic cloves, peeled
½ red chili
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tsk dried oregano
1 tsk dried basil
salt and pepper to taste
1 onion
½ capsicum
200 g cooked turkey/chicken
1 handful spinach
400 g zucchini

Cut the tomatoes and the capsicum in chunks and put them in a food processor together with the peeled garlic cloves, the chili, sundried tomatoes, olive oil, oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Mix until a somewhat smooth consistency.

Slice the zucchini with a potato peeler so that you end up with thin slices (alternatively you can use a mandolin and julienne it). Place them in a colander and toss with plenty of salt. Leave the zucchini to sweat excess water in the sink for about 20 minutes.

Dice the onion, capsicum and turkey/chicken. Drizzle some olive oil in a pan and add the diced onion. Cook for a couple of minutes, then add the capsicum and cook for another few of minutes. Once the onion and capsicum are soft, add the tomato sauce and let it simmer on low heat for about 5-10 minutes. Then add the chicken and spinach and let it simmer for another 5 minutes.

While your sauce is simmering rinse and drain the zucchini and make sure to get rid of as much salt as possible. In a separate pan, heat up some olive oil and sauté the zucchini on low heat until it is heated through (normally takes a few minutes). Serve the sauce on top of the zucchini and enjoy!

Almond milk

Almond milk seems to be the new thing and I was curious to see how it is to make it yourself since it seems like the ones you buy in the store have a lot of unnecessary ingredients in them. So I found a recipe on paleoaustralia.com and it was really easy to make.

Ingredients
250 g natural almonds
1 l cold water
2 pitted dates
1 tsp vanilla extract

Place all ingredients in a blender and mix until it becomes creamy. Strain through a sieve and transfer to an airtight bottle or container so that it'll keep in the fridge. Lasts for about 4 days.










After straining it you get left with some wet almond meal so I decided to make a smoothie with this and banana, a shot of coffee, some of the almond milk and ice. I just put it all in the blender until mixed thoroughly. Decorate with some cocoa powder and almonds.

Really good banana pancakes

I was amazed by how good theses pancakes where when they only contain 2 ingredients (in the original recipe). I added two more ingredients for some extra flavour and texture.

Ingredients
makes approx 20 small pancakes
2 ripe bananas
4 eggs
3 tbsp shredded coconut
½ tsp vanilla

Cut the bananas in pieces and mix to a purée in a food processor. Add the eggs, coconut and vanilla and mix to a batter. Heat a frying pan and fry the pancakes in some coconut oil on medium heat. Enjoy with some fruits or your choice of topping.

Chicken slaw

So I got the inspiration for this dish from http://everydaypaleo.com. I love dishes that involves putting every ingredient together in a big bowl and just mix it up. Then you can easily just eat it with a fork. No fuss. Might not be very glamorous but oh so delicious. I roasted my chicken myself because I had the time but you can buy a precooked chicken as well.

Ingredients
(serves 4)
½ chicken, diced
2 cups cabbage, thinly sliced
1 carrot, thinly sliced or grated
½ zucchini, thinly sliced or grated
½ capsicum, thinly sliced
½ red onion, thinly sliced
½ cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp paprika powder
a pinch of cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients together and serve with some fresh salad leaves or some other vegetable of preference.

Bbq mince patties with green salad

Found this recipe on taste.com.au and thought it could be a nice twist to normal mince meat patties and they turned out really well.

Ingredients
(makes about 6 patties)
500g beef mince
3 green onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 small carrot, peeled, grated
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
Baby spinach
Avocado
Cucumber
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix together the beef mince, onions, garlic, carrot, egg yolk and barbecue sauce. Shape mixture into patties, about 2 cm thick. Put them on a plate and cover with plastic wrap. Put in the fridge for 30 minutes.
While the patties are in the fridge you can prepare the salad by cutting the vegetables and dress it with the oil and vinegar. Fry the patties in some olive oil on a medium heat.

Balsamic chicken with braised cabbage and bacon

It's been a while now and I'm currently in Sydney, Australia. I have not been able to cook that much good food here yet since I'm not really sure where to find all ingredients but I'm getting a bit closer so today I decided to make a Paleo recipe. The Paleo lifestyle has been on hold for us for a while now because of the move but slowly we'll pick it up again. I found the recipe for this on http://everydaypaleo.com/ and the Paleo Recipe book. Enjoy!

Ingredients
serves 2-3
Balsamic chicken
2 chicken breasts (each cut in half long way)
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves of crushed garlic
2 ½ tbsp wholegrain mustard

Braised cabbage with bacon
1 cup chicken stock
3 slices bacon, cut up into bite size pieces
thyme
½ medium green cabbage, finely sliced
2 tbsp butter
salt and pepper to taste

Rinse off your chicken breasts and season both sides with salt and pepper. Put them in a plastic bag and add the balsamic, extra virgin olive oil, mustard and garlic. Close up the bag and massage the chicken in the bag to ensure it all gets coated evenly. Put in the fridge and let marinade for as long as you want; the longer the better. Fry on medium heat in a frying pan with a little bit of olive oil and brown on both sides. Once brown; turn down the heat, add a bit of the marinade, cover with a lid and let reduce it down. Make sure to stir occasionally and cook until the chicken is no longer pink on the inside.
Bring the chicken stock, bacon and thyme to a boil in a pot. Add the cabbage, boil for 5 minutes and then reduce to a simmer until the cabbage is just tender. Add some extra stock during the simmering process if it seems to have reduced too much. Add the butter, salt and pepper.

Smoked salmon with sweet potato salad

A very simple dish which doesn't need much preparation at all.

Ingredients
1 sweet potato
1 handful ruccola leaves
½ avocado
1 tomato
2-3 slices of smoked salmon
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Peel and chop the sweet potato to slightly bigger pieces. Roast in the oven on 200 degress for 10-15 minutes. Let them cool. Chop the avocado and tomato into pieces and mix this together with the ruccola.
Mix the ingredients for the dressing in a bowl and pour over the salad.

Mince meat gratin à la Provence

Found this recipe on tasteline.com. I modified it a little bit by using beef mince instead of pork because I like beef better. A really easy and perfect midweek dinner.

Ingredients
serves 3-4
400 g mince meat
2 garlic cloves
½ leek
1 red chili, seeds taken out
olive oil
salt and pepper
oregano
thyme
1 tbsp paprika powder
250 ml cream
1 zucchini
2 tomatoes
grated cheese

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
Finely chop the chili and garlic. Cut the leek in thin slices. Fry the mince meat in the oil and when it gets some colour add the leek, garlic and chili. Fry until the leek is soft, then add the paprika powder, oregano, thyme, salt and pepper. Add the cream and let it simmer for about 2 minutes. Pour the sauce in an ovenproof dish. Slice the zucchini and tomatoes in slices and put these on top of the såsen. Pour over the cheese and some more oregano. Cover the dish with some aluminium foil and cook on the lowest shelf in the oven for about 20 minutes. Take away the foil and move the dish to the middle of the oven and cook for another 10 minutes.

Blueberry pie with coconut

Found a recipe with low GI and without added sugar so I decided to try it. It was supereasy and tasted really good. The recipe is from a Swedish website but I adjusted it slightly: http://www.tasteline.com

Ingredients
serves 4
500 ml blueberries
2 tbsp honey
400 ml dessicated coconut
2 eggs
40 g butter

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Put the berries in an ovenproof dish. Drizzle over the honey. Whip together the eggs and coconut and sprinkle the mixture over the blueberries.Shave over the butter and bake in the oven until the coconut mixture gets golden brown, approximately 10 minutes. Serve with some whipped cream.

Chicken teriyaki

A Japanese classic. Found the recipe in one of my mum's magazines and the result turned out to be quite nice.

Ingredients
serves 4
800 g chicken fillet (preferably thighs or breast cut into smaller pieces)
2 tbsp grated ginger
2 garlic cloves
½ finely chopped chili
4 tbsp mirin (Japanese rice vinegar)
75 ml soy sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp potato flour
1 tbsp sesame seeds

Peel and finely chop the garlic. Mix mirin, soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, garlic and chili in a plastic bag. Add the chicken pieces and make sure all are covered. Let them marinate for about 15 minutes.
Take out the chicken pieces from the marinade and fry them in some oil in a frying pan. Put the pieces in a pot instead, pour of the marinade and add 100 ml water. Simmer under lid for about 40 minutes. Mix the potato flour with 2 tbsp water in a separate bowl. Add this mixture to the pot and let it boil. Sprinkle over the sesame seeds and serve with stir-fry veggies and some rice (if wanted).

Hanna's sweet potato moussaka

I've never made moussaka before and I'm pretty sure this is not really the way to make it but I wanted to try and make my own version of it using sweet potato. Not really sure if it can even be called moussaka but that's the only name I could come up with.

Ingredients
serves 3-4
400 g mince meat
1 onion
1 capsicum
1 garlic clove
200 ml passata
cayenne pepper
oregano
paprika powder
salt and pepper

125 ml cream
150 g grated cheese
25 g butter
extra cheese for topping

1 sweet potato, peeled
1 eggplant

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
Chop the onion, garlic and capsicum finely. Fry off in some olive oil for a few minutes. Then add the minced meat and let it get brown. Add the passata together with all the spices and let it simmer together for about 5-10 minutes. While it's simmering; add the butter and the cream together in a separate pot. Let it get warm, then add the cheese and let it melt. Cut the sweet potato and eggplants into slices about ½ cm thick.
Grease an ovenproof dish with some butter. Add a layer of the meat sauce, follow with the sliced aubergine, then add one thin layer of the cheese sauce. Put on the rest of the meat sauce, then the sliced sweet potato and last finish it off with the rest of the cheese sauce and top off with some extra cheese. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes.

Breakfast bake

I wanted to try something else to have for breakfast other than the usual eggs and bacon or pancakes. So I found this recipe which we decided to try; Paleo Breakfast Bake. I put a little bit of whatever I had at home in it.

Ingredients
serves 3-4
6 eggs
3 beef sausages
3 slices bacon
1 onion
½ capsicum
1 tsp paprika powder
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp turmeric
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
Fry off the sausages and the bacon for a couple of minutes. Let them cool.
Put all ingredients in a bowl (including the sausages and bacon) and fold gently to combine everything.
Pour into a greased oven-proof dish.
Bake for 45 minutes.

Cauliflower mash

Something I've heard of lately but I've never tried was mash made from cauliflower. Yesterday we tried it and had it together with a nice steak and a few greens beans. It was really, really nice and super easy to make.

Boil the florets of a cauliflower head until soft; about 10-15 minutes.
Drain the water.
Add a big nob of butter (or however much you want) then mash using a hand mixer until smooth.
Add in some cream (I only used about 2 tbsp since I thought the mash was already quite soft).
Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Very easy, very tasty and a perfect alternative in order to have a low carb meal.

Home-made raspberry jam

I've started wanting to make condiments and sauces lately. I don't really know why but I think it has something to do with the fascination of how easy it actually is to make something that you normally would just buy in a jar and the flavours are much fresher and better. Then I also think I feel as if I've accomplished something buy making it myself. And everytime you open the fridge, there's that pretty jar without labels and preservatives. Today I decided to make some jam to go with my English muffins/scones.

I found the recipe on http://www.mommypotamus.com

Ingredients
makes about 240 ml/1 cup
480 ml/150 g fresh raspberries
120 ml honey
2 tbsp lemon juice


Coarsely mash the raspberries with a potato masher. Transfer the raspberries to a heavy bottomed sauce pan. Bring the fruit to a simmer and cook down for a few min. Add the honey, stirring well to combine. Continue to simmer the mixture for about 15-25 min stirring every once in awhile to keep it from burning. In order to know whether it's ready or not, keep a close eye on the mixture, stirring more frequently toward the end of the 15 min. It will then begin to thicken pretty quickly and as you are stirring, draw a spatula through the mixture and you can see that before it is ready, the mixture fills in the space created very quickly. As it becomes ready, it will fill the space in more slowly, leaving an open space for a few seconds as it slowly fills in. Leave on the heat until you get the consistency you want. Keep in mind that the mixture will thicken even more after it cools though. Remove from the heat, stir in the lemon juice and let it cool.

Marinated chicken with balsamic ruccola and cucumber tossed in lime vinaigrette

They had thin chicken filets on special in our supermarket this week so I decided to make a simple marinade for those and then just have some veggies with it. I wasn't very good with measuring the ingredients to the marinade so I'm afraid you will have to taste your way to it. The marinade shouldn't be too runny so don't put too much olive oil in.

Ingredients
Chicken marinade
paprika powder
turmeric
cayenne pepper
garlic powder
salt and pepper
olive oil

Mix all the spices together in a grinder, add the olive oil bit by bit until it becomes smooth. Put the chicken in a plastic bag and add the marinade. Let it sit in the fridge for at least a couple of hours.

Balsamic veggies with ruccola
½ zucchini, sliced
1 red capsicum, diced
1 onion, sliced
150 g ruccola
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
olive oil

Fry the onion and capsicum in some olive oil. Add the zucchini after a couple of minutes and fry for about 5 minutes. Add the ruccola together with the balsamic vinegar and let it fry together for a couple of minutes.

Lime vinaigrette
3 tbsp lime juice
½ tsp Dijon mustard
180 ml olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Combine the lime juice, mustard, salt and pepper in a blender. Slowly add the olive oil until it's all combined.

Thinly slice some cucumber and put in a bowl. Add some vinaigrette and put in the fridge for a bit. They almost taste like pickled cucumbers.