Magical 3 ingredient chocolate mousse

   First off, the marshmellows are just for visual effect if you want your recipe to be super duper healthy ;) That being said, I never thought I would say this but IT WORKS! Chickpeas water makes a great mousse! Man, that still sounds super weird. I was possibly one of the most reluctant people ever when I saw THIS recipe since I absolutely love my mascarpone chocolate mousse recipe, but I like challenges, especially healthy ones, so I tried it and I can say it's really delicious! It tastes like a really airy veeery chocolatey mousse! And it's also vegan, gluten free and it only has 3 ingredients, so... here it goes!

Ingredients for 2 full cups/glasses:
- 140g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa)
- 240ml chickpeas water (from 400g can of low-sodium chickpeas OR home cooked chickpeas)
- 20g/1 big Tbsp of sugar (OPTIONAL, it depends on your taste)

Steps: 

1. Break the chocolate into smaller chunks and melt it very slowly over a water bath. It’s important to do it slowly so that chocolate doesn’t overheat. Once the chocolate has melted, take the bowl off the water bath and place it on a kitchen towel to cool down a little.

2. Open your tin of chickpeas and drain the chickpea water into large glass bowl. The bowl and the utensils you’ll use to whip the chickpeas water need to be completely grease-free as even the tiniest grease residue can prevent aquafaba from reaching stiff peaks. One 400 g tin should give you 240 ml of chickpeas water. Reserve the chickpeas for another use, like a salad or burgers.

3. Using an electric egg whisk, whip the chickpea water into stiff peaks – this is super important. The best way to check if you have achieved stiff peaks is to invert the bowl with whipped chickpeas water. If it slides down even a tiny bit, you are not there yet – keep on whipping until it does not move at all. I used an old, hand-held whisk and it took me about 15 minutes to get stiff peaks. The good news is that (as opposed to egg whites) chickpeas water cannot be overwhipped.

4. OPTIONAL STEP: Once you reach stiff peaks, start adding sugar, bit by bit, whipping the whole time. If sugar has caused the stiff peaks to perish, whip the mixture until you get stiff peaks again.

5. Check that the chocolate has cooled down sufficiently – it should not be warm to the touch or else chocolate may seize and you will end up with grainy mousse. Gently fold melted chocolate into whipped chickpeas water using a silicone spatula. Do not worry if your fluffy mixture deflates once the chocolate has been added – that’s perfectly normal. By the time you’ve added all of your melted chocolate, the mousse MAY have more of a pourable consistency. Mix well. 

6. Divide the mixture between the cups/glasses. Gently stir the mixture between putting it into individual glasses as a bit of melted chocolate tends to drop to the bottom sometimes.

7. Put glasses into the fridge for minimum 3 hours for the mousse to set. I tend to chill mine overnight and it’s perfectly set and fluffy each time. Bon appetit!

Mediterranean Cajun Chicken Drumsticks

   I know, spring has passed and now summer is here and it looked like I abandoned you guys. Not true. I just had some pretty intense couple of months and no OMG recipes to share, but fear not, the day has come for yet another OMG recipe!
   My motto with this blog was that I would only share brilliant recipes people MUST try. Not OK, not pretty good, not average but absolutely delicious recipes. You'll probably say you can't always find OMG recipes and you're right. That's why, I prefer quality over quantity. I'd say it's a pretty good trade-off, right?

   Now let's get started! This recipe was inspired by a delicious one made by my wedding godmother consisting in baked chicken drumsticks and cherry tomatoes. I forgot all the rest, but thank God cooking means improvising because creativity is exactly what made this recipe come together into a mouth watering feast! I just finished eating it and I still have its aftertaste in my mouth! Such an amazing, rich sauce, tender meat, plump baked tomatoes, sweet pepper and onion and then... there's the fresh telemea. Oh My God! You really REALLY must try it!

Here are the ingredients for 2 servings:

- 600g of chicken drumsticks (5 pieces)

- a pack of Cajun Marinade from American Week @ LIDL (you can still find it in stores, so rush!) or a simple cajun rub with pepper, garlic powder and some oil

- a red pepper

- 2 medium red onions

- about 8 cherry tomatoes

- a big piece of  fresh "telemea de vaca in saramura" from Delaco (It MUST be this one! It's absolutely addictive!) - foreigner friends, sorry, you don't know what "telemea" is since it's a purely Romanian type of cheese, but you can replace it with Feta cheese with no problem

Reference photos:

 

Even if it says it's enough for 350g of meat, believe me, it will do just right with 600g as well.

        Delicious!

Steps:

1. Cover the chicken drumsticks in decadent marinade and leave them soaking overnight (if you have time), otherwise, just put the marinade on the chicken and let it sit for a few minutes.

2. Put a bit of oil in a cooking tray.

3. Cut the red pepper in long stripes, then Julienne the red onions.

4. Add the pepper, onions and cherry tomatoes in the tray. Just randomly sprinkle them around.

5. Add the marinated chicken on top of the veg. Casually sprinkle a bit more oil on top of everything. 

6. Cover the tray with aluminum foil then put the whole deliciousness in the oven for 45 min at 220ºC. 

7. Cut the fresh telemea while you're smelling the amazing flavour coming from the oven.

8. Plate your dish: chicken, veg, fresh telemea and plenty of that amazing brown sauce! Mmmmm! Bon appetit!

Pea Puree and Halloumi Toast

   If anyone was still wondering, it's now official: pesto and halloumi are my latest obsessions! :D So when I found this beautiful breakfast/brunch/lunch recipe on Teo's Kitchen's website I knew I had to try it :) I previously had some bad experience with pea puree but I am very happy I gave this recipe a chance. I'll just say this: garlic and mascarpone will ALWAYS make a recipe better! Long live Teo and her great recipes! Now go try it yourself! :D

Ingredients for 4 toasts (and leftovers):

- 200g frozen peas

- 40g olive or sunflower oil

- a clove of garlic

- 10ml honey

- 40g mascarpone

- salt and pepper to taste

- 200g halloumi cheese

Steps:

1. Boil the peas in salted water until they are soft.

2. Drain the water, then add the peas in a blender together with the garlic clove, oil, mascarpone,  honey, salt and pepper and blend everything until you form a nice looking green paste. You can add more salt and/or pepper if you feel like it.

3. Cut the halloumi in 2 on its length and put it in a grilling pan for a couple of minutes until it's nice and golden-brown on both sides. Then cut it into stripes after you take it out of the pan. 

4. Make some toast and then assemble your meal: toast, pea puree and halloumi on top. Bon appetit! It's deliiicious!

Umami Halloumi Salad

   Guys, you REALLY have to try this salad! It's sooooooo delicious that I barely just finished eating it and I knew I needed to share the recipe with you as soon as possible :)

   We found this absolutely amazing, mouth-watering salad in a Greek restaurant (makes sense, doesn't it?) in... Munich! Yep, Munich! Because why would you only try sausages and sauerkraut while in Germany? When I saw it on the menu and I noticed it contained halloumi cheese I knew that was my salad! I can't even find the right words to explain how it tasted... every bite was heavenly! 

   What is this halloumi cheese, you ask? Just the most umami and amazing cheese in the world (and that comes from an avid cheese lover!)! Wikipedia says: "Halloumi /həˈluːmi/ is a Cypriot semi-hard, unripened brined cheese made from a mixture of goat's and sheep's milk, and sometimes also cow's milk. It has a high melting point and so can easily be fried or grilled." I found out about it in Greek Week at Lidl (of course!) and I fell in love with it ever since! I even have a picture of it on the fridge :))) I know, wacko but so not sorry! :D

   Back to present times, I really wanted to reproduce the salad I tried in Munich back at home and today was the day! (I realized Metro has the halloumi cheese full time so I didn't have to wait for another Greek Week at Lidl.) It's so easy to make and sooo tasty! Mine turned out just as amazing as the one I ate at that Greek restaurant in Munich so why not try making it yourself? Ready to explode with pleasure? :D

Ingredients for 3 servings:
- 2 medium tomatoes, roughly sliced
- 2 medium cucumbers, roughly sliced
- 1/4 red pepper, sliced
- 1 small red onion, julienned
- around 10 seedless olives, cut in half
- 250g chicken thighs (or chicken breast)
- 400g halloumi cheese (you can do 300g too)
- salt, pepper, lemon pepper, chili flakes, to taste
- a bit of oil

Optional: garlic bread on the side and balsamic vinegar on top ;)

Steps:

1. Cut all the veggies very roughly (don't worry about an exact dimension, you want to feel that tomato when you taste it with the halloumi cheese). Add them all to a bowl, mix then add a bit of salt, pepper and oil to finish the veggie salad.

2. Cut your chicken into strips, add lemon pepper and grill until fully cooked.

3. Cut the halloumi cheese in half on its length (otherwise it's too thick to grill). Then grill it until it becomes brown on both sides. Take aside and cut into strips.

4. Plate your salad: veggie salad at the bottom, chicken strips and then halloumi cheese on top. Bon appetit!

P.S. Original salad from Munich:

Brazilian Chicken Stir Fry

   We found this recipe on a website that was recommended to us (www.tablespoon.com) for its amazing recipes and we curiously decided to try it out especially because of its wild combinations that we thought would never work in 1000 years :))) Like who in their right mind would mix soy sauce, coconut milk and tomato paste and expect that to taste good?! And then try adding some pineapple and some chicken to the mix! Crazy, right? Crazy delicious, I'll tell you what! You GOTTA try this Brazilian recipe! Oli modified it a bit, so here's what we used in the end:

Ingredients (for about 2 servings):
- 1 tsp cumin and 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup coconut milk
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste
- 4 Tbsp sesame oil
- 250g chicken thighs or breast, diced
- 2 medium bell peppers, sliced
- 1 hot pepper, diced, seeds removed
- 1 cup pineapple, diced
- 1 Tbsp fresh ginger
- 2 cloves garlic, grated or minced
- 1 cup black beans
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- about 130g egg noodles

*tsp = teaspoon, Tbsp = tablespoon

Steps:

1. Mix together the cumin, pepper and chili powder. Separately, mix together the soy sauce, coconut milk and tomato paste. Yes, it DOES work!

2. Toss the chicken with a drizzle of soy sauce (kind of like a quick marinade) and then leave it in a bowl.

3. Heat a wok with 2 Tbsp of sesame oil. When it's hot, throw the chicken in it, then remove it when it's cooked. 

4. Add another Tbsp of sesame oil to the wok, then add the bell peppers and the hot pepper. Stir fry for about 3-4 minutes, then add the pineapple, ginger and garlic. Cook until the pineapple starts to caramelize.

5. Sprinkle the spices over the veggies and cook for 1 more minute. Add the soy sauce mix and return the chicken in the wok. Continue cooking until the sauce has reduced and coats the chicken (for about 3 minutes). Add the black beans and remove from heat then add the cilantro.

6. Cook the egg noodles in boiling water. 

7. Serve the stir fry over the egg noodles. Bon appetit!

Creamy Sun-dried Tomato Pesto Pasta

   We tried this recipe once before from Tasty (thank God for pages like that, otherwise we'd be out of ideas frequently) and we loved it! It attracted me because it had sun-dried tomatoes in it and I just adore those! :D I'd eat them every day if I could :D But then again, too much is too much...

   The original Tasty recipe had asparagus in it but this time I decided to use zucchini instead as a cheaper option. Aaaand since I wanted to be creative and make it a bit more filling I also added some chicken and some mozarella bocancini. That's the beauty of cooking! You can start from a simple recipe and then tweak it and make it your own :D The tweaked version was sooooo yummy I already can't wait to try it out again! 

Ingredients (for about 3 servings):

- A shallot, diced

- A pesto jar (again, Barilla is strongly recommended)

- 6-7 sun-dried tomatoes, julienned

- A medium zucchini, peeled*

- 200g mozarella bocancini

- 250g chicken thighs, diced

- Grill seasoning to taste

- 100g cooking cream

- About 200g pasta (we used Fettuccine)

Steps:

1. Boil the pasta with a bit of salt.

2. Chop the chicken, then season it with some grill mix.

3. Cut your shallot and sun-dried tomatoes, then peel all the zucchini lenghtwise with a peeler until you obtain a lot of very thin zucchini slices.

4. Cook the shallot and the chicken together in a pan until the chicken is about 80% cooked then add the zucchini slices and keep cooking them until the zucchini reduces and the chicken is cooked through. 

5. Add the sun-dried tomatoes, the pesto and the mozarella and stir for a bit, then add the cooking cream (to make it creamier).

6. Add the cooked pasta and keep stirring to coat the pasta in sauce. Serve immediately with cracked pepper on top. Bon appetit! :)

In case you want to try out the original Tasty recipe, here's a video: 

Fluffy Pancakes with Fresh Fruit

   What can sound better than delicious pancakes for a Sunday breakfast? I found this recipe on Teo's Kitchen and I really wanted to try it out because the pancakes looked super fluffy! And they don't even contain eggs! I replaced the frozen berries with fresh fruit and I added the Saskatoon syrup we brought from Canada for extra zing :D You can use Maple syrup instead. Mmmm, delicious!

Ingredients for 2 servings:

– 250g flour

– a small bag of baking powder

– 1 tsp salt

– 1 tsp sugar

– 350ml milk

– 50g melted butter

– ½ vanilla bean

– your favorite fresh fruit (I used banana, apple, kiwi, orange and strawberry)

- Saskatoon syrup or Maple syrup

Steps:

1. Combine the milk, the melted butter, the sugar and the vanilla bean seeds in a bowl or in a blender. 

2. Add the flour, salt, baking powder and keep mixing until you form a dense batter.

3. Heat up a pancake pan, add a tiny bit of oil so that the batter doesn't stick, then keep adding half a ladle of batter forming round shaped pancakes. Cook the pancakes for about 1 minute on each side until they're nice and golden brown. 

4. Dice the fruit.

5. Stack some pancakes up, then add the syrup and the fruit on top. That's all! Bon appetit! :)