How many time has finding yourself with some roasted chicken leftovers that no one wants to eat happened to you?

Once I made those meatballs and since then my kids keep asking me to make them again and again.

Just put boneless chicken, dried apricots, walnuts and parmesan cheese in the food processor. With wet hands, form the meatballs and then either bake them in the oven or fry on the pan.

The meatballs are so tasty, eaten warm or cold. Serve them with salad, or add some rice as a side dish if you prefer. Then if there are going to be a few left ( which never happens in my family ) just make a nice sandwich. I like them the best with just lettuce salad, but you can find your own way of serving it.

So, no eggs, no flour, just 4 ingredients and you will have a completely new dish on the table. And most importantly no food waste. Have a wonderful lunch.

Are you perhaps a fan of figs  ?

Many primates eat figs, but none of them is able to make lovely dishes with them.

Sandwiches, salads, all kind of deserts, to stuff meat, make a jam and eat with pattées… Let your imagination run wild, with figs you can hardly go wrong.

No matter if you love them fresh or dry, it has a lot of nutritional benefits. Eating half a cup of figs has as much calcium as drinking half a cup of milk. Ounce for ounce, figs have more fibre than prunes and more potassium than bananas.

Dried figs are an excellent source of minerals like calcium, copper, iron, manganese, selenium and zinc – all important for healthy red blood cell formation, as well for cellular oxidation. So, when fresh figs are not available, try soaking some dried figs in water for a few hours and blend into a sweet and creamy fig pudding or add to your favourite smoothie. 

Figs have a 55%natural sugar content, making them the sweetest of all fruits. No wonder that the fig tree is a symbol of abundance, fertility and sweetness. Aside from being able to replace sugar with fig puree, it can also replace fat in baking. Furthermore, figs naturally help hold moisture in baked goods, keeping them fresher.

Not necesserly related to cooking facts, but here are some interesting informations regarding figs.

• Fig trees have no blossoms on their branches. The blossom is inside of the fruit! Many tiny flowers produce the crunchy little edible seeds that give figs their unique texture.
• Figs are harvested according to nature’s clock, fully ripened and partially dried on the tree.
• Many believe it was figs that were actually the fruit in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, not apples.
• The early Olympic athletes used figs as a training food. Figs were also presented as laurels to the winners, becoming the first Olympic “medal.”
• In Roman times figs were considered to be restorative. They were believed to increase the strength in young people, to maintain the elderly in better health and to make them look younger with fewer wrinkles.

And remember, the fig tree is wise, so eating those fruits helps us to make wise choices in our lives.

I wish you to enjoy these delightful fruits 😊

For today, here is one of my latest moussaka – roasted pepper and amaranth moussaka.

If you still haven’t noticed moussaka is one of my favourite dishes. It is easy to make and there are plenty of combinations. It could be a vegetarian dish, too. You can add rice (or any grains) and the meat you like. In the end, you can just beat a few eggs with any cheese leftovers, sourcream or oat cream, pour it over, put into the oven and there you go.

My favourite thing about it is that it always looks golden brown and it smells so good. If you already have peeled roasted pepper,  then half job is done.

Now the only thing you need is to saute some onions, add salt and the spices you like. When the onion is nicely glazed add garlic and mincemeat. In a separate pan fry the amaranth for about 10min, drain well and add to the mixture. You might need to season the mixture again.

In a bowl beat 4 eggs, salt and the cream you have chosen. You can use just milk as well.

Now it’s time for layering. Slightly oil the baking tray. Lay pepper, then mince mixture. I had some white sheep cheese so I’ve just sprinkled some over it. Then pour 1/3 of the egg mixture. Repeat the layers. Finish with pepper.

To finish it off – a simple crumble for the top. My kids say this is the best part. Melt some butter and stir in breadcrumbs ( I use a gluten-free option). Sprinkle generously over the mousaka.

Bake covered in the preheated oven at 200°C for a half an hour, then remove the cover and let the crumble become a lovely golden brown colour.

You can make it a few hours before, just switch the oven off and leave the mousaka inside. It will stay nicely warm. Serve with salad or greek yogurt.

I invite you to make your combination of this lovely dish.

You can message me with how it turned out.

Can’t wait to share tips with you.🥰

It might looks like mud, but in fact this nettle soup is very tasty and healthy above all.

If you can get some freshly picked young nettle leaves  don’t miss the chance to make this soup.

Start by frying some onion olive oil. Add salt and spices you like. Nettle has strong taste and it goes well with spices such as turmeric and paprika. Stir well, let it fry for a minute and add blanched nettle leaves. Stir, pour over beef stock and cook for about 20-30 minutes ( depends how young the leaves you’ve got are). Remove the pot from the heat. Use a stick blender to puree the soup. Return to the heat, season to taste and add rice/oat milk or fresh cream.

Note to be careful, fresh nettle leaves sting , although it is believed to be good for rheumatism.

I prefer to wear gloves, but you can try without them if you want😉.

These might not look like your regular lemon bars because we didn’t use white flour and white sugar but despite the colour being different they still taste delicious. Here’s how you make them.

In a bowl mix 260g of flour, 150g of butter and 30g of sugar until the dough looks crumbly. Press it down in an ungreased dish and bake for 20min at 180°C. In the meantime mix 60g of flour, 90g of sugar, 4 eggs, a tsp. of vanilla essence, the zest of two lemons and the juice of one. When your dough is done, pour the mixture over it and place back in the oven four 15min.

And they’re you have it, lemon bars full of flavour. If you want the lemon to be less prominent you can always use the zest of just one lemon. Or just add two drops of lemon essential oil.

Those bars you can also make with other citrus zest as orange or lime 🍊🍋