Cheesy stuffed eggplant

   Stuffed eggplant is one of my go-to recipes when I don't know what to cook. It's easy to make and really delicious. This time I found a new cheesy recipe here and I tweaked it a bit to make it my own :D It's sooo cheesy and sooo good that it was worth sharing! So let me tell you how I cooked it:

Ingredients for 4 servings:

- 2 medium eggplants

- a medium white onion

- a small carrot

- 2-3 medium tomatoes

- 400g minced meat (I used pork but you can use a mix if you prefer)

- 2 cloves of garlic

- 2 tsp salt

- a pinch of fresh pepper

- 1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

- 200g grated cheese (of your preferred choice)

- 30 ml oil

Steps:

1. Cut the eggplant into 2 lengthwise including the tail.

2. With a spoon, remove the eggplant core, but leave a layer of about half a cm. Sprinkle with salt and set aside. You will see that a brown liquid will accumulate.

3. To make the stuffing, dice the eggplant core, the tomatoes, the onion and the garlic and grate the carrot on a small grater.

4. Put the oil in a pan, add the onion and the carrot and quickly cook in the pan, over high heat, for 2-3 minutes. 

5. Now add in the minced meat. Let it cook for 10 minutes.

6. Add the diced tomatoes, diced eggplant, salt, pepper and garlic and let everything simmer for another 10-15 minutes. At the end, add the parsley.

7. Preheat the oven to 200 C, fire up and down in electric ovens, medium to maximum fire in gas ovens.

8. By now the eggplant halves have softened and the bitter liquid came out. Wash them with running water and dry them well with napkins.

9. Place the eggplant halves in a baking tray, add the stuffing and then generously sprinkle the grated cheese on top.

10. Pour a cup of water in the tray and then cover it with aluminum foil, but make sure it doesn't touch the eggplants (I used toothpicks for this). 

11. Put the eggplants in the oven to tan ;)  Bake them for 40 min, then take the tinfoil off and let the melted cheese brown for 5 more minutes. 

Bon appetit! :D

Fluffy buns and braided bread

   I found this recipe during the pandemic when everybody started making their own bread. I needed a good recipe and I saw it in a friend's pictures. She made braided bread and I was in love! It looked so good! So fluffy and such an elegant braid! So I decided to make my own bread using that recipe and I have to say that after 2 or 3 other recipes, this one was the first that worked! It looks amazing and it tastes just as amazing! What did the trick for me was using the kithen machine instead of kneading the dough by hand. This is the result of my bread:

 

   Today I want to present to you another option using the same recipe: buns for home made burgers or just buns if you like them more than regular bread (I do). I used half of the regular recipe for making 4 buns and the whole recipe for making 2 braided loaves of bread. Pick whichever you like best! :)

Ingredients for 4 buns or a loaf of braided bread (double the quantity for two loaves of bread):

- 300g 000 type flour

- 200g of milk

- 25g butter 82%

- 8g of salt

- 7g sugar

- 10g fresh yeast or 3g dry yeast

- an egg for glazing

- poppy seeds and/or sesame seeds for decoration

Steps:

1. For making the dough, mix 175g of flour (the rest comes later), the sugar and yeast.

2. Put the butter and the milk in a small pot over low heat (I chose 3) until the butter melts in the milk.

3. Mix the 2 compositions and beat the dough with the mixer for 5 minutes until it blisters.

4. Add the rest of the flour and the salt and knead the dough with the kitchen machine hook for about 5 minutes. Of course, it can also be kneaded by hand but you need lots of force in yor hands and enough patience to knead for about 10 min.

5. Let the dough rise in a large bowl until it doubles in size. Cover it with a bag and place it near a source of heat. 

For the BUNS:

6. After the dough rose, in order to have even buns, you will need to weigh the dough. You will have around 550g of dough and you will need to divide it into 4 parts of aprox. 135g and then form the four buns. 

7. Place the dough balls in a tray lined with baking paper and let them rise for another 30 minutes under a bag or a kitchen cloth.

8. Half way in, preheat the oven at 170°C.

9. After the 30 min passed, beat an egg and carefully brush the buns. Add the seeds on top.

10. Bake for 30 min at 170°C (for electric ovens use the function up + down + ventilation or the middle floor for gas ovens).

11. Let the buns cool down before cutting them. Bon appetit!

For the braided BREAD:

6. After the dough rose, in order to have an even braid, you will need to weigh the dough. You will have around 550g of dough if you use the half recipe and you will need to divide the dough into 3 parts of aprox. 135g. 

7. Cover the 3 dough balls with a bag or with a kitchen cloth until you take them out and process them one by one. 

8. Stretch each dough ball into a rectangle of about 30 × 20 cm and then roll the dough as tight as possible into a roll. That way your bread will have a beautiful shape.

9. Then roll the dough roll (I know, it sounds funny:P) on the table until it reaches a length of approx. 40 cm. Do the same with the rest of the dough. 

10. Join the 3 rolls at one end and start braiding the dough. Place the roll on the left tightly over the one in the middle, then the one on the right over the one in the middle. Work tightly and evenly. At the end join the 3 ends and your braid is ready.

11. Place the braided bread in a tray with baking paper and let it to rise for another 30 minutes, also under a bag.

12. Half way in, preheat the oven at 170°C.

13. Beat an egg and carefully brush the braids. Add the seeds on top.

14. Bake for 30 min at 170°C (for electric ovens use the function up + down + ventilation or the middle floor for gas ovens).

15. Let the bread cool down before cutting it. Bon appetit!

Apple and cinnamon waffles

   If you wake up to a dreadful rainy day and you want to make it better, then do yourself a favor and have this dish for breakfast! It will turn your day around! What could be better than crispy waffles with apple, cinnamon and some hidden walnuts and then a beauuutiful blanket of cream and berries and a silky maple syrup on top? Are you drooling yet? Good, cause here's the recipe:

Ingredients for 4 waffles:
- 125g butter
- 40g sugar
- grated lemon zest from one lemon
- 2 eggs
- 125g flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- aprox.120 ml lukewarm milk
- one big apple
- a handful of chopped walnuts
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 Tbsp rum essence

Topping:
- cream
- berries (or any other fruits you might prefer)
- cinnamon
*Optional: maple syrup or honey

Steps:

1. Mix the cubed apples with cinnamon, sugar, rum and chopped walnuts and let this mixture stand for a while.

2. Beat butter until frothy and add the grated lemon zest and the eggs.

3. Mix flour with baking powder and stir it into the eggs, turn by turn with the milk.

4. Finally add the apple-walnut-mixture.

5. Top your waffles with cream and berries or any other fruits you might prefer and then pour some maple syrup or honey on top. Bon appetit! :)

Summery avocado chickpea salad with chicken skewers

   It's summer, so you might want to try a light dinner. I have the perfect idea! It's a new recipe from "Yum and yummer" recipe book written by Greta Podleski. Super healthy and super nutritious! I love all Greta's recipes! :) 

Here it goes:

Ingredients for 3-4 people:
Salad:
- 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 1/2 cups peeled, diced cucumbers
- 1 1/2 cups halved cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 cup minced or thinly sliced red onions
- 1 medium avocado, diced
* my addition: a can of corn (God knows how much I love it :D)

Dressing:
- 2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp olive or sunflower oil
- 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 Tbsp minced fresh dill
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp pure maple syrup or liquid honey
- 1/4 tsp each sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Skewers:
- I bought marinated chicken skewers from Lidl, but you can marinate your own with chicken thighs or chicken breast

Steps:
1. In a large bowl, combine all salad ingredients, being careful not to squish the avocados.
2. Whisk together all dressing ingredients in a small bowl or measuring cup.
3. Pour over salad and mix well. Taste and add more salt and pepper if you like.
4. Grill your chicken skewers.
5. Serve immediately. Bon appetit! :)

Sour cherry brownie bundt

   What do you first think of when I tell you ”sour cherry dessert”? My answer: always a brownie. I just love love loooove chocolate desserts so it's understandable why I chose to bake this for International Chocolate Day a few days after I had picked my own sour cherries :D 

   I found this recipe online on a Romanian blog I follow quite often for new ideas. It always delivers and I'm never disappointed. Today I chose to bake this brownie in a bundt pan because I wanted a smaller quantity and I also wanted it to be pretty. So? Shall I tell you how to make it? Don't worry about the many steps, it's actually quite easy to make, trust me! :D

Ingredients 

*I used half of the original recipe for this bundt, but if you want to bake a whole rectangular 35 x 25 cm pan, double the quantities

- 3 eggs

- 100g sugar

- 25g dark chocolate

- 25g butter 82% (and some butter for the bundt pan)

- 15g cocoa

- 40g of flour

- a pinch of salt

- 1 packet of vanilla sugar

- 300 g pitted sour cherries

Steps:

1. First of all, preheat the oven to 170C with ventilation (medium stage for gas ones). Then melt the chocolate and butter on bain marie (bowl placed over the pot in which the water boils). Leave to cool.

2. Separate the eggs. Beat the egg whites well with a pinch of salt. (You can use an electric mixer like I did.)

3. When the foam is hard, add 100g of sugar and continue beating until you get a hard, dense and shiny foam (if you turn the bowl over your head, the foam doesn't fall on your head :P).

4. Mix the yolks separately with 100g of sugar and vanilla sugar. Mix until you get a foam. 

5. Add the melted chocolate and butter (which has cooled a bit and no longer burns) and mix until smooth.

6. Sift the flour and the cocoa through a sieve. It's very important to do this if you want a perfect, fluffy brownie.

7. Add the flour and cocoa over the egg yolk and chocolate mix.

7. Then gradually add the egg white foam and mix lightly with a spatula. Be careful not to crush the egg whites. 

8. Spread butter all over the inside of the bundt pan so that your brownie won't stick when it's ready.

9. Pour the composition into the bundt pan and smooth with a spatula.

10. Place the sour cherries on the dough one by one. Mix them with the dough slowly, using a spatula. If you don't want sour cherries in your bundt, you can leave them on top. I like mine to be all over the brownie when I bite into it :D

11. Put the bundt in the preheated oven at 170C (heat up + down + ventilation) respectively the middle stage in the gas ovens. Bake the cake for 25 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 150C and bake it for another 15-20 minutes.

12. When it's done, let it cool for a bit, then turn your bundt upside down and ta-ra! Here's your cake!

13. Serve with ice cream! Yummmmmm! 

Bon appetit! :D

Oreo Chocolate Strawberry Cake

   You know that moment when you see videos of uber delicious recipes online that you drool at by just looking at them and then you dream them at night until you put them into practice. This recipe is one of those :))

   I think I can pretty much sum it up into: Oh My God! I haven't tasted something this good in a while! I really expected it to only look good in a video and that's all, but this time it also worked wonders in real life too. Might have helped that I followed this recipe closely so I used good quality chocolate and the exact amounts as specified. Either way, YOU GO TRY IT! It's Dana approved!:D

Ingredients for 10-12 servings:

Crust

330g Oreo cookies

110g butter, melted

Chocolate Filling

200g milk chocolate

100g bittersweet chocolate

200 ml heavy cream

Topping

300g fresh strawberries

chopped nuts (almonds, pistachios, etc) - optional

Steps:

1. Place oreo cookies into the bowl of a food processor and blend until crumbs form. 

2. Add melted butter and pour over the crushed cookies. Process until evenly moistened. 

3. Press cookie mixture with the back of the spoon and your fingers where necessary  into the bottom and edges of a rectangular 5x14 inch (12 x 36 cm) tart pan or a regular round tart pan. 

4. Freeze until you prepare the filling, just for few minutes.

5. In a small saucepan, place cream over medium-low heat for a few minutes to get hot. No boiling or simmering needed. 

6. Remove from heat, pour over chopped chocolate and let rest for 1-2 minutes. 

7. Stir until dissolved.

8. Pour chocolate filling over oreo crust. 

9. Top with fresh strawberries and chopped nuts.

10. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight before serving.

Bon appetit! :)