I don’t know about you guys, but me…this time of the year…it means baking.
I was reorganizing and taking a look at my Culinary Tuesdays and came up with the idea to share with you guys my three favorite sweet recipes of the blog. I will bake some new stuff and share with you the process really soon, but meanwhile…let me indulge you with some fun recipes that you can cook this holiday season and share with your friends and family.
There is a magical thing about pies that make me happy every time I bake them. I love making the Paleo version, the sugar-free one and also the gluten-free pie, but today I want to share with you three delicious recipes I found on Pinterest that I am excited to bake for my loved ones. I tried to look for the «healthy» version of the pies, you’re welcome.
1) Lighter lemon meringue pie (you can find my version of the lemon pie here)
The first time I tried this recipe it came out pretty awful. Really, it did. It tasted like… well it tasted nasty. So I changed some ingredients and now I am happy with the results.
After it was ready, I cut the pieces into tiny squares and kept them in the fridge in an airtight container. They last approximately 3-4 days. When I was ready to eat them I tossed them for a couple of minutes in the oven. You can make mini sandwiches! They are low carb too.
Ingredients:
– 1 cup cooked cauliflower rice. (Make the cauliflower rice as in this recipe. Make sure to drain all the water with a cloth.)
– 2 egg whites
– 1/4 cup flax food
– 1/4 cup almond flour
– 1 tbsp. ground oregano
– 1/2 tbsp. garlic powder
– Pinch of salt and pepper
Pretty cool right? 🙂
Directions:
– Pre heat the oven at 450 degrees. Mix everything in a bowl and using your hands, pat out your flatbread on waxed paper.
– Bake until the edges are brown. It depends on your oven, but I usually leave it in the oven for about 30-45 min.
I crave pizza all the time. I have it from time to time but not as often as I would love to. I found many recipes to substitute normal crust with cauliflower crust and I told you guys I would try some of them in this post.
One small warning: your kitchen is going to smell nasty when you are boiling and draining the cauliflower…but it will be all worth it at the end!
Here is the recipe I followed from «Eat.Drink.Smile».
I changed a little the toppings. I drained the cauliflower «rice» and put it in a clean cloth. You have to squeeze all the liquid out. I also didn’t use the microwave I just boiled my rice with enough water and a bit of salt. After many crusts gone wrong, I learned that it comes out pretty crunchy when you drain all the water from the cauliflower.
So let’s begin!
This recipe came out the day that I didn’t have the complete list of ingredients to my mom’s lentil recipe. So I improvised with the ingredients I did have at home and it came out pretty good. This dish is healthy and low-fat.
Ingredients:
– 1 cup lentils (I wash them two times)
– 6 cups water
– 1/2 tomato
– 1 medium carrot
– 1 medium purple onion
– 3 garlic cloves
– 5-6 bay leaves
– 1/2 teaspoon cumin
– 2 tablespoons olive oil
– Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
– Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot on low heat. Chop the tomato, carrot, onion and garlic. Saute your chopped vegetables for 5 to 6 minutes.
– Add the salt, pepper, cumin and bay leaves. Then pour the water and the lentils. It takes approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes for the lentils to be tender but it always depends on the kind of lentils you are using.
– The trick is to stir occasionally and taste them. Some people like to add more water to make the soup watery and some like their lentils dense so they can pure them. It all depends on you.
I made this pie for my birthday. It didn’t last a second after the «happy birthday» song. You should know that you need some time to bake this because it is divided into three different processes. I have to say this is one of my favorite desserts so that is why I learned how to bake it.
Ingredients for the crust:
– 150 gr butter (room temperature)
– 1 3/4 cups flour
– 1 whole egg
– 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
– 1 teaspoon sugar
– 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions:
– Pre heat oven to 375 degrees.
– In a bowl mix butter, eggs and vanilla extract. Slowly add flour, sugar and cinnamon. Mix with your hands until you have a firm ball. Spread in a pie pan and pinch the crust several times with a fork.
– Bake for 15 minutes or until the crust gets golden. Let cool.
Ingredients for the filling:
– 1 can condensed milk
– 3 egg yolks (save the egg whites for the meringue)
– 1/2 cup lemon juice
– 1 tablespoon lemon zest
Instructions:
– Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and pour over the already cooled crust. Now it’s time to make the meringue.
Meringue ingredients:
– 3 egg whites
– 3/4 cup confectioners sugar
– 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
Instructions:
– In a bowl mix the egg whites and slowly add the confectioners sugar and the cream of tartar. Make sure you electric mixer is grease-free and very clean because the meringue will not come out as expected. Mix until your meringue form nice peaks. Pour the mix into a piping bag and decorate your pie as desired.
– Bake for 15 more minutes or until the meringue gets brown peaks.
Enjoy!
Let’s talk about eggs. Eggs are a fantastic source of protein and they keep me full all morning. I used to have only the egg whites but after a long debate with my doctor, now I eat the whole egg. Just one a day, not more because they do trigger my migraines.
I used to have plain scrambled eggs everyday. Now, I vary how I cook them. There are tons of different ways to eat them but I will share with you my top three.
1) Eggs a la coque. My mother used to give them to me in a cute little pink egg holder. I use to love them as a kid and I still do until this day. Carefully drop the eggs with a spoon in boiling water for 3 minutes. If the egg is cold add an extra minute. Normally, they are served with bread, but I have them with asparagus or any other veggie.
2) Sunny side up. I use a teflon pan and spray a little PAM. Always works.
3) Fritattas. Sometimes I eat them plain with some herbs and other days I throw in some veggies. Here you can find my recipe for baked zucchini mint frittatas.
What is you favorite?
I enjoy cooking for others. There is something unique and special about making food that other people enjoy. The expression on someone’s face when they like the meal I am serving is priceless. (They also have a specific expression when they don’t like the food, but we are not going there.)
So today I gathered some recipes and came together with a nice gluten-free menu for a dinner party. I am definitely going to try this and I will let you know how it turned out.
Menu
– Coconut curry
– Grilled rosemary and garlic salmon served with roasted polenta with avocado and radishes
– Sugar-free lemon curd mousse
Coconut curry recipe and photo thanks to Minimalist Baker:
Grilled rosemary and garlic salmon recipe and photo thanks to Fake Food Free:
Roasted polenta with avocado and radishes recipe and photo thanks to Dishing Up The Dirt:
Sugar-free lemon curd mousse recipe and photo thanks to the blog Nemacreditoqueesaudavel (the english version of the recipe is at the bottom of the post.)
Enjoy!
This is one of my to-go recipes: easy and quick. All you need is four ingredients plus salt and pepper to taste: zucchini, mint, onion and eggs. Yes, that simple. Sometimes I have them for breakfast and other times for dinner with a salad. It’s versatile and delicious. No oil, dairy-free and gluten-free.
Ingredients (serves 6 mini frittatas) :
– 1 medium zucchini (I used a yellow zucchini)
– 1/2 onion
– 6-8 fresh mint leaves
– 6 eggs (if you prefer you can use 3 whole eggs and 3 whites)
– Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
– Grate the zucchini and sprinkle some salt. Leave in a strainer for about 20 minutes. This will drain the water from the zucchini so your «fritatta» doesn’t become watery.
– Whisk the eggs, chop the onion and the mint leaves and add to the egg mixture. Sprinkle some salt and pepper. Whisk until all ingredients are mixed together. Pour into small muffin tins and bake at 350 degrees F. for 20 minutes. (You’ll know that they are ready when the edges get golden.)
Buon appetito!
This year the Catholic and Orthodox Easter are the same day. So celebrating my mom’s Greek traditions I want to share with you the recipe to the typical Greek Easter cookies called «Koulourakia». This sugar cookies are normally served with Greek coffee in the afternoon. You can add some sesame seeds or you can skip them as I did.
I followed this recipe from the Food Network and was really pleased with the results. Since I am on a limited diet, I just had just one cookie and let me tell you it was good. Really good.
Kalo Pasxa! (Happy Easter!)
Instagram is by far my favorite app for sharing pictures. That been said, I also love to take pictures of what I am about to eat. Some people find this annoying, some do it too, both of them are valid points of view. I really like to eat colorful foods and I always try to make it a healthy choice.
Today I have selected my favorite «Instafood» pictures from my Instagram page to share with you.
You have no idea how much I get excited when I think about Greek food. It takes me back to my childhood where my Yiayia (grandmother) used to cook for me and I could eat anything I wanted. Nowadays I have a very limited diet but I sometimes ask my mom to cook for me some of her special dishes.
What I love about Greek food is how many vegetables are used in the recipes and I have learned to eat them all since a little girl. I did get my green on a daily basis and I still do.
I want to share my favorite Greek foods. I will try to make some of these recipes for the blog. I searched the web for some accurate recipes but stumbled upon Greek webpages. Not a good idea. So I looked further and found english alternatives for this recipes.
1) Tzatziki. This is a wonderful yogurt-cucumber dip that can be served next to a Greek salad or with roasted lamb.
http://fedandfit.com/2013/02/19/homemade-tzatziki/
2) Obviously the Greek salad. This was the first recipe on my blog. It’s easy, colorful and fun. You can serve this next to meat or chicken. You can also have it as a main dish if you wish to keep it simple.
http://thegoldenlimoncello.com/2014/01/21/fresh-and-simple-greek-salad/
3) My mom still cooks this at least once a month. I love to have it for dinner or lunch. It is a good way to eat your protein and vegetables at the same time. I present you the eggplant Moussaka.
http://www.feastingathome.com/2013/03/rustic-eggplant-moussaka.html#.UcT9fpzpyYs
4) It is very difficult to find tender grape leaves to make this recipe, but once you do, it becomes heaven. Dolmathakia are stuffed grape leaves with rice.
http://greek.food.com/recipe/dolmathakia-stuffed-grape-leaves-306903
5) I left dessert for the end. My mom and my grandmother make semolina Halva all the time. My mom sometimes makes it sugar-free for my sister. This recipe is a combination of simple ingredients that taste like heaven.
http://www.mygreekdish.com/recipe/halva-greek-semolina-pudding-raisins/
I hope you try some of this recipes! Kali oreksi! (Bon appetit)
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