My carrot and potatoes cheesy soup

When I was considering having kids nobody explained to me that when you are a mother you can’t be sick, your kids don’t care if you have a high temperature and you feel like crap or if your cough is not making you sleep and you feel like crap. Guys I do feel like crap in case it wasn’t clear LOL, flu and bronchities are giving me some hard days so I am on soup mode, I hope you will like this one.

What you need:

6 large carrots
4 medium potatoes
2 veggie stock cubes

1 cup of milk (I use semi skimmed)

1/2 cup of grated Gruvyere cheese

EVO oil

Croutons (I make my own ones)

Grounded black pepper

How to do It:

Peel the carrots and potatoes and boil them in enough water with 2 veggie stock cubes.

When these are ready blend the veggies, add milk and cheese and blend again.

Serve with croutons , a drop of EVO oil and grounded black pepper.

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My tuna,onion and tomato pastry

I had this pastry on my mind for a bit but didn’t have much time, it’s so simple to make and taste amazing. My daughter Isabel when she tasted it gave me a thumb up and she said ”TOP”. She sometimes makes me feel like I am some kind of chef,I am glad I can make my family happy and feed them with things they like. I hope you will try this and love it.

What you need:

3 large onions

1 and a half cup of passata

1 cup and a half of canned tuna

1 sheet of puffy pastry

2 tablespoons of capers (optional)

Salt

Oregano

Black pepper

How to do it:

Peel and cut the onions in small chunks and cook it in 3 tablespoons of sunflower oil until soft.

Add the passata and let it cook for about 20 minutes,add salt, sprinkle of oregano, capers, tuna fish and black pepper. Stir well and place the mixture in the middle of your puffy pastry. Cook for about 25 minutes at 200°C in a hot oven.

My spicy burger sandwich

I just noticed that everytime I try to plan a table for two in my house after we put the kids to bed it just never happens,they either don’t want to fall asleep, go to bed but they are up one minute after, they have to poo or throw up!! I tried to make these sandwiches for me and my husband for the past two days without success so tonight for some unknown reason my kids were quiet and angelic (a real miracle LOL) and they gave me the time to make these, I hope you will try it and love it.

What you need:

(These quantities are for 1 sandwich)

1 large burger (a veggie burger would be amazing too)

2 slices of whole wheat bread

A handful of baby spinach

Red onion finely sliced

2 slices of smoked provola

2 tablespoons of Newmans own spicy cajun sauce

How to do it:

Cook your burger adding just a little bit of salt, add 1 tablespoon of spicy cajun sauce on one of the bread slices, add the provola, the burger, the other slice of smoked provola, baby spinach,onions and another tablespoon of spicy cajun sauce. Place the second slice of bread on top and cut your sandwich in half.

I served it with half avocado seasoned with salt and black pepper.

My summer rice salad

Hola amigos, I am back after been away from my blog for such a long time, I need my days to last longer then 24 hours and I need a vacation to unwind a little. Did you all go somewhere nice? I am getting ready to leave for a nice long trip with the family but before I go I wanted to post this recipe as it’s not summer if you are not eating my rice salad LOL!

I really hope you will like it.

What you need:

2 and a half cups of rice

2 cups of black olives

2 cups of sliced pickled gherkins

2 cups of sliced pickled artichokes

2 cups of canned tuna (I use natural one)

1 cup of sliced roasted peppers (I make it myself but didn’t post the recipe yet)

2 cups of cooked peas (just boiled)

Oregano for seasoning

EVO oil

Salt

How to make it:

Boil the rice is salted water, once its cooked (not overcooked!) drain the water and let it cool down.

In a large bowl add all the veggies and the tuna fish. Season with oregano,add salt and EVO oil,keep it in the fridge and serve it cold. P.S the next day you make it it’s even better 😊

My carrot and pumpkin soup

If there would ever be an award for the worse food photos, I am sure I would easily win LOL I always say I would love to take a few lessons to make better photos but my free time is very very little so guys, excuse these but it doesn’t matter if looks ugly, it matter if it tastes good…I am just trying to convince myself haha.

Anyway this was my craving since Monday, I hope you will make it and love it.

What you need:

5 cups of diced pumpkin

3 cups of sliced carrots

1/2 cup of fresh cream

A few cumin seeds

Fresh grated ginger

Water

EVO oil

Salt

Black pepper

How to do it:

Boil the sliced carrots,once they are soft add the pumpkin and keep on boiling until it’s soft. Add the cumin seeds, EVO oil, a little bit of fresh grated ginger, salt and pepper. With a blender make it all smooth, add fresh cream, stir well and serve it with crutons.

My brussels sprouts gratin

Do you like brussels sprouts? If you don’t we can’t be friends…..just kidding, my husband hates them and we are best friends but I wishhe could appreciate this dish I made today, the good thing is that there is more for me!! This dish is so simple and tasty, you need a good cheese though, I used an Italian cheese called Asiago but you can’t get it everywhere, I am sure Cheddar could work great also. I hope you will like it.

What you need:

6 cups of brussels sprouts

1 garlic clove

3 tablespoons of EVO oil

1 cup of diced Cheddar cheese

Dry oregano

Grounded black pepper

Salt

How to do it:

Boil the brussels sprouts in salty water, once ready drain them and cut them in half. Place them in a large bowl, add EVO oil, oregano, grounded black pepper and a crushed garlic clove. Mix well, place the veggies in a baking dish,cover with diced Cheddar and grill for 10 minutes.

My lobster pasta

Happy new year!!! I hope you are all ready for a great year full of fun and new recipes, I cooked this dish on new years day for the family, my husband Mark (Wahlberg of course!!) was pretty excited as lobster is considered aphrodisiac…then I made real clear that I ain’t no Rhea Durham so he better remember nobody here is going to have another baby! LOL I hope you and Mark Wahlberg will like it.

What you need:

2 lobsters

2 shallots

20 cherry tomatoes

1 glass of white wine

Pasta for 4 people 

4 tablespoons of EVO oil

Salt

How to make it:

In a large pan put the oil and the shallots finely chopped, cook for a couple of minutes, add the lobsters cutted in two and add the glass of wine. Cook on a high flame until the wine dries,it should take only a few minutes,don’t overcook the lobsters.

Now remove them from the pan and place them on a plate. Add the cherry tomatoes that you previously peeled in the pan,add salt and cook for 40 minutes to 1 hour on a low flame. 

Cook the pasta in salty water,once ready drain it and add it to the pan, cook for a few minutes. Serve the pasta with half lobster on top.

My pink vol-au-vent

In the 80’s this was so popular in my house (for the records back then I was just a little girl LOL), I haven’t made this in ages as to me this was so vintage and I thought maybe people wouldn’t appreciate it. So this Christmas I wanted to make an experiment and these big boys were on our table….it was a success, my family loved them and I hope you will love them too.

What you need:

8-10 vol-au-vent

Fresh prawns (you would need 3 for each one)

1 cup of mayo

1 carrot

Half cup of ketchup
How to do it:

Boil the prawns and peel them once they cool down. Mix in a bowl the mayo and the ketchup sauce. Peel the carrot and make some sticks. Fill each vol-au-vent with the mixed sauce, 1 carrot stick and place 3 prawn inside. Serve cold.

My Scottish shortbread biscuits

Every morning on Christmas day we eat shortbread biscuits, my daughter Isabel loves them so much,she called them Santa’s biscuits as she believes he makes them for us. This year I didn’t get them on time so I made them myself, these will always remind me of my youth, when I was living in Scotland and I was such a crazy party girl, feels like it was very long time ago, hey I am not so old I think, I just don’t party like I use to do, I am sober most of the time (LOL) and I take my make up off before going to bed. I hope you will like this recipe and that you will visit Scotland because it’s beautiful!

What you need:

2 cups of plain flour

1 cup of soft butter

Half cup of sugar

How to do it:

Mix sugar and butter with a fork until you get a uniform constintency, add the flour and work with your hand until it’s all mixed together.

Leave the biscuit dough in the fridge for half an hour to cool.

Cover the baking tray with greaseproof paper, place your biscuits (I made them round this time) and cook for 15 minutes at 180°C 

My creamy veggie soup with garlic croutons

 

Here we go….I have sore throat, sore bones, runny nose and watery eyes, I wanted to spend my day in bed feeling sorry for myself but instead I’ve decided to dust myself up and went to my office, my mantra was “you are fine, you got nothing that some red lipstick can’t cure” . My day was a good one but right now I feel that I need a bowl of this soup and a hot bath to get over this cold….Can someone please feel sorry for me?? 

What you need:

2 cups of spinach

2 medium potatoes

 1 zucchini (courgettes)

2 medium carrots

1 celery stalk

1 small onion 

2 slices of whole bread

EVO oil

2 cloves of garlic

Salt
How to do it:

Wash, chop and cook the vegetables in water. Once ready use a blender to make it creamy,add salt and EVO oil.

In a pan put some oil, cook the slices of bread, once ready rub the garlic cloves on both sides, cut into cubes and add it to your soup.