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Hibiscus Poached Pears with Vanilla and Pink Peppercorns

November 15, 2019

An easy but really fancy dessert like this hibiscus poached pears is guaranteed to amaze at any party!

An easy but really fancy dessert like this hibiscus poached pears with vanilla and pink peppercorns is guaranteed to amaze at any party!

Hey you! Do you know what’s today?

It’s our anniversary! YEP, Me and my blog celebrate our 4th anniversary 🎉 Even though we spend a year and a half apart we got together last year and now we’re besties again!

I’ve got some cool stuff to share for this special occasion. First, we have this amazing fancy-schmancy recipe, but we’ll get to that in a minute.

And now to the news, I couldn’t wait to share it with you!!! I’ve been asked so many times lately if I teach 1-on-1? So no I officially opened 1-on-1 online coaching sessions for everyone who wants to learn food photography and food styling with me. Besides online coaching, I also offer in-person workshops for everyone close to Slovenia or willing to travel. So if you’re interested in any of these topics hop on to my workshops page.

Okay, now that we’ve got this out of the way let’s focus on these hibiscus poached pears. Who’s with me? 🙋

You know me, I love simple desserts. Okay, I love the complicated ones too, but I’m over the moon when a dessert (or any dish for that matter) is AMAZING but it takes like no effort at all. Well, this is this dessert. Sounds real posh, but trust me no skills are needed at all!

Lots of poached pears recipes require poaching in wine and that’s delicious too, but hey, nothing wrong with choosing a different path every once in a while. Especially if you’ve got kids!

What you’ll need for these hibiscus poached pears is:

firm pears
dried hibiscus (loose or in a teabag)
a vanilla pod
some pink peppercorns, and
honey

I served them on vanilla yogurt (you can have vegan too), but if you feel like making some homemade vanilla custard, that’s awesome too.

I’m not going to keep you from the recipes much longer, just a few quick tips and we’re on.

Tips to cook amazing poached pears

If possible use pears that are firm and not too ripe. If they are too ripe, they might fall apart and not look as pretty. They’ll still be good, though.

Turn the pear halves around every once in a while so they have an even color and they cook more evenly.

That’s it! So so simple!

Let’s cook!

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Hibiscus Poached Pears with Vanilla and Pink Peppercorns

Course Dessert

Keyword poached pears

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 8 servings

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

4 firm pears
4 cups water
4 hibiscus teabags (equals 4 teaspoons loose hibiscus flowers)
2 TBSP honey
1 vanilla pod
8 pink peppercorns
4 cups vanilla yogurt
chopped nuts for topping

Instructions

Place all ingredients but pears in a pot large enough to fit 8 pear halves and bring it to a boil. Let simmer for 5 minutes, while you prepare the pears.
Halve pears and remove skins and pits.
Add pears to the pot cover and cook for 20-25 minutes turning them around every 5 minutes so they get cooked evenly.
Remove the pears from the pan and cook the liquid for another 10-15 minutes, to reduce it to a desired consistency.
Serve with vanilla yogurt, reduced sauce (or vegan vanilla yogurt) and some chopped nuts.

Iced Beetroot Chai Latte (+ Warm Verison)

October 10, 2019

Treat yourself with an iced beetroot chai latte – a perfectly refreshing and fragrant autumn drink!

Even though it’s getting quite cold here, I still love me some cold drinks. Let me tell you a little secret. This drink is actually delicious warm as well as cold. I can’t decide which one is better but I decided to go with the iced version for this post since I just love seeing some ice cubes in a drink. They are so photogenic 🙂

So what is it?

This iced beetroot chai latte is a perfect mixture of earthiness from beetroot juice, herbal flavor from rooibos tea, spiciness from chai spices, sweetness from honey, and creaminess from milk. I don’t drink a lot of milk, it doesn’t do me well, but I make exceptions once in a while. Or I use any nut milk, which works beautifully in this recipe.

I realized I don’t drink enough beetroot juice, although I love it. So I was messing around a while ago, mixing it with some spices and teas that I love in this cold cold weather and this came out. I’m a huge fan of rooibos tea. I didn’t know it went so well with beetroot, but it’s truly a brilliant combination.

I love using beetroot in both savory and sweet dishes in the cold months. I love it grated and fried with onions as a side dish and I also love the chocolate beetroot cupcakes. I can’t get enough of them! I wanna know what you love to make with beetroot? Let me know in the comments!

On a different note, I realized that it’s been a month since I posted a recipe. I have something special coming up and hopefully, I can reveal it to all ya in a week or two! If you don’t wanna miss the big new regarding food photography be sure to subscribe to my photography mailing list and you’ll get the info right in your mailbox.

5 from 1 vote

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Iced Beetroot Chai Latte

Warm version in the notes.

Course Drinks

Keyword beet iced latte, cold drink, iced latte

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Servings 4 servings

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

3 cups beetroot juice
1 cup water
2 rooibos tea bags
1 cinnamon stick
5 cloves
5 peppercorns
5 ginger slices
2-3 TBSP honey
1 cup milk (or nut milk for vegan version)

Instructions

Boil the water. Remove from the heat and place two rooibos tea bags, cinnamon stick, cloves, peppercorns and ginger slices in the boiling water. Cover and let steep for 10 minutes. Strain the liquid, add honey and let cool.
Once the infusion is cooled, add it to the beetroot juice and mix well.
Pour into 4 glasses and add milk and ice cubes.

Notes

If you want to make a warm beetroot chai latte, cook the infusion as in the instructions above. Once you’ve strained the liquid add it to beetroot juice and cook just until it starts to simmer. Add honey, pour into cups and add milk.

Creamy Chard And Fennel Soup

August 28, 2019

Super easy and quick recipe for delicious healthy chard and fennel soup. Creamy and sweet!

I hope you’re all feeling great and excited about slightly (but really just slightly) cooler late Summer days! These are my favorite. The weather is great and the produce this time of year is just perfect. We’ve been eating a lot of corn lately (mostly cooked, but I have plans of grilling it one of these days) and whenever we can, we make the cream cheese tart with tomatoes and other veggies that I posted last week.

Tomorrow I’m meeting my dear friends from Story On A Plate blog and we’ll prepare something sweet with plums. I love Kristina and Mateja, the girls behind the blog. Both so creative and the nicest people. But I’ll let you know more about what we’ll be making next week. Make sure you subscribe, so you don’t miss this!

Let’s focus on this beautiful soup…

We’re growing fennel for the first time this year and honestly, I can’t believe we haven’t tried it before. They are so easy to grow and do I need to mention how pretty they look in the garden?

I’m not a huge fan of raw fennel, but I love it when it’s either cooked or roasted. It loses its strong anise-like taste and becomes very sweet, perfect for a late Sumer soup.

We also grow lots of green leafy veggies including chard. I love how these match the sweet fennel with their earthy flavors. If you don’t have chard on hand, you can replace it with spinach or arugula.

A quick story…

After I made this soup, I gave it to my two-year-old son to try for dinner. He ate the whole bowl. I cooked fish and some potatoes to eat after the soup (which he absolutely loves). Instead of eating potatoes and fish, he asked me to pour him more soup. He ate three full bowls of this soup!

It’s either the soup or I’m lucky to have a kid who loves veggies. I’d like to think it’s both 🙂

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

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Creamy Chard And Fennel Soup

Course Appetizer, Side Dish, Soup

Keyword chard soup, fennel soup, soup

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 4 servings

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

1 medium-size fennel bulb
1 small onion
200 g chard (about 5 cups whole leaves)
1 medium-size potato
2 cups boiling water
1/4 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste
seeds for garnish (pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds…)
olive oil for cooking and garnish

Instructions

Clean the fennel bulb to remove dirt and cut in quarters lengthwise. Thinly slice each quarter.
Peel and cut the onion in half and slice thinly.
Peel and wash the potatoes. Cut into 1 cm (1/2 inch) cubes and leave to rest in cold water.
Wash the chard. If there are any bigger leaves, cut away the stems. You'll be cooking those separately.
Add a tablespoon of olive oil to a hot pan and add sliced onions and fennel. Sauté for 10 minutes or until they turn golden. Make sure to stir now and then to prevent burning.
Drain the potatoes and add them to the fennel and onions. Add the separate stalks from the chard at his point too. Add boiling water and cover the pan. Reduce the heat to low and let cook for 10 minutes or until the potato is fork-tender.
Add the rest of the chard, cover and cook for two to three minutes. Remove from the heat and pour everything in a blender. Add heavy cream, salt, and pepper and blend until the soup is smooth and silky. Add more boiling water if necessary.
Garnish with some olive oil, heavy cream, and seeds. Serve warm.

Vegan Cherry Almond Ice Cream Sandwiches

June 27, 2019

Wrap your hands around something wonderful with this vegan cherry almond ice cream between two delicious almond chocolate cookies.

Can you imagine Summer without ice cream? Hmmm… I can’t, even though I wasn’t always a huge fan of ice cream. I think I talked about it in one of my old posts.

Now, I can’t imagine how I’d survive the Summer heat without ice cream at least once a week.

Since I don’t have an ice cream machine I always make a no-churn version and I even have a little trick to make a no-churn ice cream creamy with no lumps of ice.

How do I make my no-churn ice cream smooth?

I’ve come to the conclusion that the best way is to blend the mixture again after it has frozen halfway through. I mix with a spoon once after an hour. Then, after another hour I take the ice cream out and mix it again in my blender. This mixed the ice crystals that form at the edge of the container and make it nice and smooth again. Then I return it back to the freezer and leave to freeze until done. Honestly, I think the consistency is super similar to the machine made ice cream. I’m all about gadgets, but who’s got the place?!

I created this recipe in collaboration with Tereza from Teresamisu. If you missed the last recipe we created together, here is our delicious Vegan Pea And Asparagus Pie.

We decided to use sweet cherries as the base for the recipe and start from there. Tereza is known for creating healthy dishes and a lot of them are vegan. So I was totally on board with trying to make vegan ice cream but my first thought was NO COCONUT. I love coconut, don’t get me wrong, but I hate to see sooooo many vegan ice cream recipes based on coconut milk. I was thinking there’s a way to make delicious ice cream without it, for sure. So cherries got me thinking. Almonds are the first thing that came to mind and man I’m glad I went that way!

Oh and btw, I have a coconut ice cream recipe in store for one of the next posts 😉 but that one is meant to have a coconut flavor!

This is basically a marzipan ice cream. I like marzipan and if you love it too, you are going to love this cherry almond ice cream sandwiches!

Tereza created the recipe for the cookies and guess what? She also used almond butter without us even discussing the recipe. Talk about soul sisters 🤣

You know what, I’m not gonna blab for much longer. Let’s just get to the recipe. Happy beginning of the Summer, everyone!

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Vegan Cherry Almond Ice Cream Sandwiches

Course Dessert

Keyword ice cream

Servings 5 ice cream sandwiches

Author Anja Burgar & Tereza Poljanič

Ingredients

Cherry Almond Ice Cream

1 cup medjool dates (about 10 medjool dates), pitted
2 cups almond milk (500ml)
1 cup almond butter (250ml)
2 cups cherries (350g), pitted
2 1/2 TBSP cane sugar

Almond Cookie

1/2 cup maple syrup or honey for non-vegan version
1/4 cup almond butter, peanut butter or tahini (90ml)
3/4 cup walnuts (or any other nuts), blended into a flour (90g)
1 1/2 cup cup buckwheat flour (150g)
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 TBSP cocoa powder

Instructions

Almond Cookie

In a bowl, mix up maple syrup and almond butter until fully combined. Mix in ground walnuts until fully combined. In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda and raw cacao. Add it to the almond mixture. The mixture will be thick and sticky so it’s best to use your hands.
Roll out the dough and use a cookie cutter to get the desired shape. Make small dents on the surface of the formed cookies for decoration if you wish.
Place the tray in the fridge for 30 min while you pre-heat the oven to 175°C.
Bake for 10-12 mins. Remove the biscuits from the oven, transfer them to a cooling rack and let them cool down completely before assembling the sandwiches.

Cherry Almond Ice Cream

First, make the cherry jam. Place pitted cherries and cane sugar to a blender and mix until smooth. Pass the mixture through a sieve and discard the solids that remain on the sieve. Place the cherry juice in a small pot and bring to a simmer, then let simmer for 10 minutes. Let cool at room temperature.
Then prepare the ice cream base. Add dates and half of the almond milk to a blender and mix until smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until smooth.
Transfer the ice cream mixture to a loaf pan or small baking tray with high sides. Freeze for two hours, mixing once after an hour. After two hours scoop out the half-frozen mixture to a blender and mix until smooth. This way you get rid of big lumps of ice.
Transfer half of the mixture back to the same pan, then add half of the cherry jam and use the
backside of a spoon to make some swirls. Place the rest of the ice cream mixture on top and add the rest of the cherry jam. Repeat the swirling and freeze until scoopable.

Assembling The Sandwiches

When the ice cream is frozen enough to form scoops make large scoops and place them over cookies. Cover with another cookie. Place ice cream sandwiches on a tray and save in the freezer.
Leave them at room temperature for 15-20 minutes before serving.

White Chocolate Panna Cotta With Hibiscus Raspberry Sauce

February 7, 2019

A smooth creamy white chocolate panna cotta is always a crowdpleaser especially with some hibiscus raspberry sauce on top. One of the easiest desserts that everyone will love.

I’ve been thinking about Valentine’s day recipe that would be easy and quick to make, look pretty and be super yummy. The first thing that popped into my mind was white chocolate panna cotta! I wanted to make it a little extra so I experimented with adding white chocolate to it and it turned out even more delicious than I thought it would.

Lately I’ve been drinking so much hibiscus tea. I used to hate teas that were acidic, such as hibiscus, rose hip or any fruit teas. Since we’ve been sick a lot lately we drink a lot and I really mean A LOT of tea. So we were experimenting and trying out new ones. I went for hibiscus one day and I grew to love it! It was an inspiration for the sauce I made to pour over the soft white chocolate panna cotta. I added raspberry purée to make it more fruity. I love how it adds freshness and fruityness to the whole dessert.

A few tips for making any panna cotta:

The easiest way to serve it is in jars. That way you don’t have a mold to remove.
I do like the look of panna cotta shaped in all kinds of shapes. If you are using a mold there are a few tricks that will help take the panna cotta out. You can spray a thin layer of neutral tasting oil over the inside of the mold before pouring panna cotta in. Alternatively (if the mold is not to complex) you can run a knife along the edges of the mold to release it. The method I prefer to use is soaking the mold in hot water after panna cotta has already settled. The reason why I choose this option over the others is because I seem to get the nicest shape this way without any extra oil on the surface. But that’s just my preference 😀

Looking for more Valentine’s day dessert ideas. Here’s one I love – Dried Fig and Blood Orange Tart

5 from 1 vote

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White Chocolate Panna Cotta With Hibiscus Raspberry Sauce

Course Dessert

Cuisine Italian

Keyword panna cotta, pudding, white chocolate panna cotta

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Resting time 3 hours

Total Time 25 minutes

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

White Chocolate Panna Cotta

500 ml heavy cream
120 ml full-fat milk
100 g white chocolate
4 gelatine leaves
30 g caster sugar

Hibiscus raspberry sauce

1/2 cup boiling water
2 hibiscus teabags
1/4 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup raspberry purée

Instructions

White Chocolate Panna Cotta

Place heavy cream, milk and caster sugar in a pot and bring to a simmer just until the sugar melts. Don’t let it boil! Remove from the stove,
Meanwhile, soak gelatine leaves in cold water as instructed on the label.
Cut white chocolate into small chunks or grate and add to the pot. Mix well until chocolate has melted. Add gelatine and mix again until the gelatine has dissolved.
Pour into jars or molds and immediately place in the fridge to cool down. Leave to set for 2-4 hours before serving.
Meanwhile, prepare the sauce. Steep hibiscus tea in boiling water for ten minutes. Discard the tea bags and add caster sugar to the tea. Cook tea over medium heat until it reduces to half it’s volume.
Add raspberry purée and mix well. The sauce will thicken when it cools.
Pour sauce over panna cotta before serving.

Roasted Orange Chicken

January 31, 2019

Tender roasted orange chicken marinated in orange juice and soy sauce served with roasted potatoes is a quick and easy dinner recipe everyone will love.

Hello guys! I have an exciting new recipe

A lot of people have told me lately that they look for quick lunch and dinner recipes that are healthy as well. I always loved anything roasted, more so lately with my son keeping me busy. Anything that can be prepared in advance and doesn’t take a lot of my time is super handy.

I made this roasted orange chicken last week and I love how it turned out. I need to make something quickly with a few ingredients I had in the fridge. You really don’t need a lot of fancy ingredients to make a fancy meal. Doesn’t this look fancy? Trust me, no fancy ingredients were added. Oranges are the not-so-secret ingredients that add such a nice color and make it looks like you worked your but for the meal 🙂

The marinade ends up making the most delicious sauce and adds so much flavor to he chicken. Wanna know the best part? I took me less than 10 minutes to prepare before tossing into the oven and relaxing!

The whole family was sick the past month and a half. It’s been only a few days since we’re actually all okay and we’re hoping it ended. There’s nothing less fun but being home with a sick kid or being sick yourself or even worst both of you sick. We weren’t able to go out for more than a few minutes a day and we were FREAKING OUT!

We were drinking lots of elderflower turmeric tea and eating a ton of soup! And finally got better… fingers crossed.

To be honest, a lot of the time I wasn’t even able to cook anything even slightly decent. Thank god for my mum, we were crashing her lunches a lot. Parents rock, right? I hope my son says that about me some day!

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Roasted Orange Chicken

Course Main Course

Keyword chicken, roasted chicken, roasted potatoes

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 2 people

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

500 g chicken thighs (approx. 2 chicken thighs)
400 g young potatoes
1 orange cut in slices
1 whole garlic bulb
1/2 TBSP soy sauce
2 TBSP freshely squeezed orange juice
1 tsp ground garlic
1/4 tsp crushed black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 TBSP olive oil
salt to taste
10 thyme springs

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 190 °C.
Combine together soy sauce, orange juice, ground garlic, crushed black pepper, cayenne pepper, and 1 TBSP olive oil. Pour over the chicken thighs and let sit until you prepare the potatoes.
Cut potatoes in 2 cm chunks and drizzle with 1 TBSP olive oil and add salt to taste. Mix well.
Place potatoes in a baking tray and add chicken thighs skin side up. Add orange slices and thyme springs.
Roast in the preheated oven for 50 minutes.

Whiskey-Spiked Mulled Ginger Beer

December 18, 2018

It’s drinks like these mulled ginger beer with a hint of whiskey that create the Christmas atmosphere.

Hi guys! It’s been too long since I’ve written here. I’m not gonna bore you with a ton of details. If you want to see what’s been keeping me away from my blog, you can check my personal IG. You’ll see my little elf growing up, keeping me busy and on the move. He’s such a nice little boy an I love how he enjoys helping us in the kitchen or anywhere else for that matter. He loved to pick veggies from the garden in the summer. His favorite veggie for picking: green beans. Current obsession: baking cookies, dancing and playing with puzzles. One particular puzzle ALL DAY LONG. We’ve had to fix it multiple times it’s in such bad condition.

This was just a really short version of our life right now. And I’m so excited about the upcoming holidays. We’ve got the tree up, lights are on, decorations are up, we just need a drink to keep us warm. We’re all about spicy. Even the kiddo doesn’t mind a little heat.

This whiskey spiked mulled beer is not for kids, but be sure to check the recipe notes for a non-alcoholic version that’s safe for kids 🙂 I want my kid to be able to eat and drink with all the rest of the family, so I try and make dishes and drinks that he can enjoy too. We’ve almost entirely banned eggs since he’s allergic and you’ll probably see a lot more egg-free recipes in the future.

Okay, let’s head to the recipe. I’ve tried mulled beer when we stopped in Lithuania on our Eurotrip honeymoon. It blew my mind. Who’d have known cooked beer would be so good. After that, I tried bad ones too and I can tell you choice of beer matters a lot. I’m making mulled ginger beer, but you can use others as well. Just make sure the beer is not too hoppy and bitter because this will reflect in the mulled beer.

If you need more drinks to keep you warm during the cold winter you may want to try my Mulled Mandarin Juice or homemade Hot Chocolate.

5 from 1 vote

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Whiskey-Spiked Mulled Ginger Beer

It’s drinks like these mulled ginger beer with a hint of whiskey that create the Christmas atmosphere.

Course Cocktail, Drinks

Keyword beer cocktail, easy recipe

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 10 minutes

Servings 6 people

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

1 L ginger beer
juice of 2 oranges
peel of one orange
4 cinnamon sticks
6 slices ginger
4 rosemary springs
honey to taste
whiskey to taste

Instructions

Add ginger beer, orange juice cinnamon sticks, ginger slices and rosemary springs to a pot and bring to a simmer. Let simmer for 5-10 minutes then remove from heat and add honey.
Pour in mugs or heat-proof glasses and add whiskey to taste.

Notes

Non-alcoholic version: omit whiskey and use non-alcoholic ginger beer

Mango Margarita Smoothie

February 22, 2018

Who doesn’t love a simple refreshing margarita smoothie with mangos? I sure do!

Hey, it’s been a LOOOOOONG time. Way to long.

I’ve missed posting here so much. I’ve kicked myself in the rear end this week and made a plan for a few future recipes. Hopefully, I can see them through! Baby Jernej is not so little anymore. He’s standing on his own now, crawling all around the place, exploring the world and filling our hearts with all kinds of joy. If you wanna see what’s going on in our personal life head on to my personal Instagram account.

And now to the recipe. Today is National Margarita Day and I made a non-alcoholic mango margarita smoothie.

I’d say cheers, but it’s long gone.

There’s something about mangos in smoothies. Puréed mangos give such a nice smooth texture to drinks. They are one of my favorite fruits to put in smoothies, besides avocados. All due to the texture. Okay, and flavor too 😀 What are yours?

Since becoming a mom, maintaining a healthy diet has been so hard. The biggest problem for me is forgetting to eat, which I find super weird and annoying. And that’s why recipes like this are super important… Simple, easy and done in no time. I’m planning on sharing a few other recipes suitable for mom’s with little time to prep and also for little kids to enjoy. Btw, baby J tried the mango margarita smoothie and he approves 😀

Who doesn't love a simple refreshing margarita smoothie with mangos. I sure do!

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Mango Margarita Smoothie

Total Time 5 minutes

Servings 2 servings

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

1/2 mango (chilled)
3 oranges (chilled)
2 limes (chilled)
salt for garnish

Instructions

Peel mango and juice oranges and limes and blend all until smooth.
Run a lime wedge around the outside of a glass and dip the rim in some salt for garnish and taste. Pour in the smoothie.

Cherry Braised Beef Brisket With Creamy Mashed Potatoes

June 1, 2017

This cherry braised beef brisket is incredibly tender and comforting. When served with some creamy mashed potatoes it makes a perfect dish for the rainy spring days.

We are actually having very hot days for days now. It almost feels like summer, so I’m only wishing for rainy days. Don’t get me wrong, I love summer and sunny days, but the heat came way too quickly, I’m not prepared! Well, at least I get to wear some nice summer dresses and I get to diss the socks, which I hate 🙂

Okay, our cherry tree is again full of cherries, we can’t eat them all, they ripe so fast. We’re making juice for the winter and save some in the freezer. Besides we eat tons of them every day and I’m not complainig. Who doesn’t love fresh cherries?

Even though I L.O.V.E. cherries in desserts and drinks, I’m also loving how wonderfully they complement savory dishes. Remember the Cherry, brie and bacon grilled quesadillas? So yummy!!

Me and my husband absolutely love braised beef and when we got hold of a nice piece of brisket with ribs we couldn’t resist but adding some cherries and some lovely herbs from the garden to some classical braising veggies, like carrots, onions and celery. Result… AMAZING!

Seriously. It’s not like you can tell there are cherries in the dish besides the pieces of cherries, obviously. But they add such a nice sweet flavour. I can’t get over it, I’m doing this dish again for the whole family this weekend.

Since this recipe takes 6 to 7 hours to make, we started cooking at five in the morning. Luckily we wake up at that time anyway to feed the baby 🙂 I’m guessing we’ll be braising more now that we’re waking up at night 😉

One more thing that’s completely unrelated. I’ve been on the best treasure hunt since I’ve started shooting food. My friend is cleaning her grandma’s old apartment so she invited me to go and take a look if there’s anything I’d need for my photography. Well, I found a huuuuge bag of goodies 🙂 I’ve even used some of them in this photoshoot. I know I’m bragging, but I can’t help it 😉

Have a great day you guys!

This cherry braised beef brisket is incredibly tender and comforting. When served with some creamy mashed potatoes it makes a perfect dish for the rainy spring days.

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Cherry Braised Beef Brisket With Creamy Mashed Potatoes

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 7 hours

Total Time 8 hours

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

Cherry Braised Beef Brisket

1 kg beef brisket
400 g cherries depitted
2 big carrots
2 onions
2 celery sticks
5 cloves garlic
3 rosemary springs
a handful of basil
5 thyme springs
1 l chicken stock
salt
black pepper
cayenne pepper

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

8 medium sized potatoes
200 g butter room temperature

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 140°C.

Cherry Braised Beef Brisket

Season the brisket generously with salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper.
Sear all sides of the brisket on a hot skillet with a splash of oil for about a minute or two.
Move the brisket to a plate.
Cut carrots, onions and cellery into 1 cm chunks.
In the same skillet sweat the carrots, onions and cellery for about 10 minutes.
Move the brisket and the vegetables to a baking tray and add cherries, garlic, rosemary, basil and thyme and add the stock.
Bake in the preheated oven for 6 to 7 hour or until the meat gets very tender and almost falls apart. when sliced.
Remove from the oven and move the meat to a plate. Cover it with tin foil. Meanwhile use a hand mixer to thicken the liquid. You can mix all of the liquid with vegetables, or you can keep some vegetables to be seen in the sauce.

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

Cook potatoes in salted water until tender. Start with cold water! Cooking time depends on the size of potatoes.
Remove the skins and add butter. Mash with a masher until creamy.

Flourless Green Pea Fritters

May 19, 2017

These soft and fluffy flourless green pea fritters with seasonal herbs make the most delicious healthy breakfast.

I’m ending this wonderful week with these fluffy green pea fritters. It’s really been a great week. The baby gave us his first real smile. He’s smiled to everyone in the family at one point during the week. I couldn’t imagine how exciting that milestone was before it happened. The most wonderful thing 🙂 Now I’m looking forward for more and more of these cute teethless smiles and the sparks in his eyes.

He’s been letting us sleep during the night enough not to feel tired during the day, although I do take at least one short nap with him during th day. It’s just so cozy lying next to him and feeling him next to me while I’m sleeping 🙂

Okay, let’s head to the recipe. I’m very excited to share it with you. I’m a huge fan of pancakes, I make them at least once a week for breakfast, but they are usually sweet. I wanted to make a savoury recipe for easy and quick pancakes, that I’ll be able to prepare while taking care of a newborn. And it really is that simple.

The batter is made in a food processor or a blender and the pancakes take only a few minutes to cook. So perfect! There’s a little cottage cheese for extra creamines and flavor and rolled oats to bring it all together. Since so many herbs have started to grow, I’ve also added some from the garden and the forest. I used wild garlic and chives, but you can add whatever you can find in the garden, like mint, basil, thyme, oregano… So many yummy variations 🙂

And I realised that they are also super delicious cold, so they’re perfect for picnics 🙂 Hoping for lots of those these summer. ‘Cuz who doesn’t love picnics, right? We’re going on one today. Yay!!

I’ve been working on this recipe before the baby, when we’ve had a new roof window installed. I had to test the new light source for photography. I like it so far. A bit different than the straight side light, but just as interesting. What do you think?

Have a great weekend you guys!

These soft and fluffy flourless green pea fritters with seasonal herbs make the most delicious healthy breakfast.

5 from 1 vote

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Flourless Green Pea Fritters

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes

Total Time 10 minutes

Servings 15 fritters

Ingredients

Green Pea Fritters

1 cup peas (if using frozen, thaw and drain before making the fritters)
1/2 cup roled oats
1 cup parmesan cheese grated
1/2 cup cottage cheese
2 eggs
1/2 tsp baking powder
a handful seasonal herbs (wild garlic, chives, basil, thyme...), coarsely chopped
salt
black pepper

Sauce

1/2 cup sour cream
2 TBSP lemon juice
zest of 1/2 lemon

Instructions

Green Pea Fritters

Place all ingredients in a food processor or a blender and mix until the batter is uniform.
Fry spoonfulls of the mixture on preheated frying pan with a little oil for 2 minutes on each side or until golden.

Sauce

Place all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk.
Serve with warm or cold fritters.

Refreshing Vanilla Strawberry Iced Tea

March 30, 2017

A refreshing spring vanilla strawberry iced tea – perfect combination of rooiboss tea, vanilla and strawberries. Keeps you cool and hydrated during sunny spring days!

I’ve made this delicious drink last week while baking the strawberry cake for my birthday. My birthday is on March 22nd and it just happens that that’s also World Water Day. I love that! I love water! Water is also my absolute favorite drink in the entire world, besides tea. I don’t actually know anyone who would drink as much tea as I do.

I’m gonna be honest with you – tea can get boring at times. Adding fruits and some ice will do the trick though. Makes it refreshing and adds a bunch of vitamins to your drink. Since I was already making the strawberry cake last week I figured why not make a strawberry iced tea. I had a ton of strawberries anyway.

Lately, I’ve been obsessing over rooibos tea, which I find so nice and sweet with a slight vanilla flavor. Besides my daily three cups of raspberry leaf tea this is the one tea I drink the most. Since it’s getting quite warm over here, I’m drinking it cold. And GUESS WHAT it’s a perfect match for strawberries. It really is! And since I’m loving the mild vanilla flavor in the rooibos, I added more vanilla, ‘cuz WHY NOT?

Yay, my favorite refreshing iced tea was born 😀

Let me know if you try it and think the same!

Regarding the prego belly. It’s still here and the baby is still very and I mean VERY lively. Doesn’t seem to want to come out any time soon, but we never know. I’m hoping for April 1st!

Seems like the last month my sweet cravings have gone over the roof. I’m eating more junk than ever and feeling so so regretful about that. I should probably stop feeling like that, because it doesn’t really do much good. I still eat junk if I feel like it. Okay, I’ve kindda managed to keep myself away from nutella. Kindda… I make pancakes for breakfast just to have an excuse to eat Nutella. Otherwise I have like five slices of bread with butter and honey for breakfast. Okay, honey is now bad, but the amount of honey is. Trust me five slices full of dripping honey is too much. But I guess the cravings will go aways eventually 🙂

Did I mention there’s honey in the strawberry iced tea? Of course there is, duh 😛

I’ve also managed to do some gardening. I’ve tranfered my little tomato seedlings to bigger pots, so they’ll have enough room to grow. The truth is, we have to buy tomatoes by the middle of July, sometimes even more. It’s seems so unfair. I’m looking at the growing plants for months before the tomatoes go red. It always seems like the wait is way too long, although totally worth it. Okay, I’m babbling. I’ll stop now.

That’s all for now! By the time I post another recipe I might be writing with one hand full of baby cuteness. If you don’t hear from me for a while, you know what happened 😉

A refreshing spring vanilla strawberry iced tea - perfect combination of rooiboss tea, vanilla and strawberries. Keeps you cool and hydrated during sunny spring days!

5 from 1 vote

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Refreshing Vanilla Strawberry Iced Tea

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

250 g strawberries
600 ml water
4 tsp red rooibos tea
2 TBSP honey
1/4 tsp vanilla seeds (from one vanilla pod)

Instructions

In a big saucepan boil water and add red rooibos tea and steep covered for 10 minutes. After the tea has finnished steeping strain it into a big jug.
Uncover and leave to cool.
Meanwhile, remove strawberry stems and discard. Place the strawberries in a blender and make a smooth purée. If you prefer your purée to be without the tiny pits, strain it through a fine strainer.
When the tea has cooled down to almost room temperature add honey and mix well. Add strawberry purée and vanilla, mix well and pour into glasses filled with ice.

Antioxidant Packed Blueberry Matcha Smoothie

March 9, 2017

This blueberry matcha smoothie is full of antioxidants and a perfect energy boost for the morning. It’s a delicious healthy vegan, dairy free and gluten free green smoothie with blueberry mash. So good!

I’m getting so excited about spring and can’t wait for everything to go green. We’re already able to waste our time outside in nothing else but a sweater. Remember my love of balcony life. Well, here it is! I can almost smell spring 😀 Winter this year sucked, almost no snow… I mean it was cold, which is okay by me, but no snow. Come on, that’s just unfair!

Yeah, yeah, I’ll stop complaining 😉

This spring will bring a new little cuddling creature to our life, so there’s really nothing to complain about. Only one more month to go, but I’m hoping sooner 🙂 Can’t wait to meet you little baby! These past 8 months went by really fast, I got very attached to my big belly and the very intesnse baby kicks. I’m begining to think this baby will be a kickboxer or something. I remember reading about having to count kicks if the baby is not moving enough and then I think is there also something like kicking too much?! Probably not 🙂

Back to the recipe!

With the spring knocking on the door, the season of some new green leaf veggies is starting and I’m able to add them to my green smoothies. I got hold of some really nice fresh spinach last week and I couldn’t resist to make a delicious smoothie for breakfast. There are still some frozen wild blueberries in the freezer, which I love for breakfast. In the winter I heat them up and pour over the pancakes with some yogurt. Yum!

Ok, ok, back to the smoothie. So I named this drink matcha smoothie, because I added a little for some nice morning tea feeling. Mmm, cozy 🙂 I don’t know why exactly, but for me drinking matcha – in any form – is like a warm hug. Even if I drink it cold.

I couldn’t resist but adding some lime juice to this almost-spring-celebrating smoothie. Delicious! 🙂 It’s sweetened with honey, which you probably already know is my favorite sweetener 🙂

Now I’m anxiously waiting for strawberries, especially wild strawberries to make strawberry layer cakes and elderflower to make some cookies. With a little bit of luck, the baby and I will be well enough by the time those two are in season and we’ll be strolling through forests searching for these beauties 🙂

And now here’s the recipe, finally. This matcha smoothie is packed with antioxidants and contains a bunch of cashews and an avocado so it will leave you fed for a while. Cheers!

Antioxidant Packed Blueberry Matcha Smoothie. This blueberry matcha smoothie is full of antioxidants and a perfect energy boost for the morning. It's a delicious healthy vegan, dairy free and gluten free green smoothie with blueberry mash. So good! | www.useyournoodles.eu

5 from 1 vote

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Antioxidant Packed Blueberry Matcha Smoothie

Total Time 5 minutes

Servings 2 people

Ingredients

1 cup cashews soaked overnight
2 cups water
1/2 avocado
50 g spinach (or a big handful)
4 tsp matcha powder
juice of 1 1/2 limes
2 TBSP sunflower seeds
3 TBSP honey (or other sweetener for vegan version)
1 cup blueberries

Instructions

Mix everything except blueberries in a blender until smooth. If the smoothie is to thick add more water.
Place blueberries in two glasses and mash them gently with a spoon or a mortar.
Pour the green smoothie over mashed blueberries and enjoy!

Sparkling Pomelo Ginger Shandy (Virgin And Not So Virgin)

February 16, 2017

This sparkling pomelo ginger shandy is a nice refreshing drink with a little kick of spice, perfect for lazy sunny late winter days.

What do you do when you can’t have booze? Make something out of beer.

Yeah, yeah, I know many of you will say beer without alcohol is not beer at all and you might be right. Some of them taste…hmmm. How should I put it? Miserable.

But when you’re pregnant and can’t have alcohol, trust me, it’s much easier to like non-alcoholic beer. Some brands make very good ones, but I’ve also had one that tasted like a chewing gum. Uhm, not so good!

Well, it was about time to make another drink recipe, since it’s been a while now. I’m all about citruses during this winter. I don’t think I’ve eaten so many oranges and mandarins at any point in my life and a big squeeze of lemon in a glass of water is a total must. I haven’t had any pomelo, so I thought I’d put it in a sparkling beer drink with some spicy ginger and have a pomelo ginger shandy.

Pomelo is such an awesome fruit, it’s sweet like a grapefruit, but doesn’ have the bitterness, which is great for a beer drink, since beer is already bitter.

On top of all the pomelo juice, the ginger gives the drink a little heat and warms you up 🙂 That’s why I love ginger!

And pretty much everything about this drink 😀

This pomelo ginger shandy is such a nice refreshing drink for the lazy days leading to spring, sitting in the sun on a balcony wrapped in a warm blanket. Listening to bird singing starting again, such a lovely time. I’m getting sentimental.

Our balcony life (yeah, this should totally be a title of a movie) is gone during the winter, but when the sun starts to become warmer and the days get longer, we start hanging out on the balcony again. During the spring and summer it’s where we eat, play board games, read and do pretty much everything. Like, who needs the indoors, anyway?!

So, I’m very happy with the longer not so freezing cold days 🙂

And I’m happy to have this non-alcoholic drink, which can also be alcoholic, whatever you prefer. It’s a great way to pimp up your favorite beer and add some fruitiness 🙂

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Sparkling Pomelo Ginger Shandy

Prep Time 5 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

Servings 2 people

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

Simple ginger syrup

4 TBSP cane sugar
3 TBSP grated fresh ginger
1 TBSP pomelo zest
2 TBSP lemon juice

Pomelo Ginger Shandy

500 ml pomelo juice (juicing described in the instructions)
500 ml lager beer (alcoholic or non-alcoholic)

Instructions

Simple ginger syrup:

Add all ingredients to a mortar and make a smooth paste.

Juicing pomelo:

Pomelo is a big fruit and it's hard to juice it on a regular juicer. I peel the pomelo and remove the thin white skins, then blend it in a blender for a minute or two and use a nut milk bag or a tea towel to squeeze out the juice.

Pomelo ginger shandy:

Mix together pomelo juice and simple ginger syrup, pour into glasses and add beer.

Popped Beans and Steamed Broccoli Salad

January 19, 2017

Whoever says comfort food can’t be healthy, has obviously never tried popped beans and steamed broccoli salad with toasted spicy nuts and lemony mustard dressing. Hungry anyone?

Whoever says comfort food can't be healthy, had obviously never tried popped beans and steamed broccoli salad with toasted spicy nuts and lemony mustard dressing. Hungry anyone?

Hey, hey! We’re having broccoli today.

Hmmm, the rhyme was unitntentional, I guess I’m feeling poetic 😛

I have a habit of steaming broccoli instead of roasting them. I dunno, I think it’s because of the vivid green color it keeps. Plus, it’s quicker 🙂 I was thinking what would go well in a steamed broccoli salad and then I remembered a Jamie Oliver show from a while ago. Can’t even remember the recipe, but I know he roasted the beans on a pan until they started popping. I tried those before and they were great. So, it sounded like an awesome idea to add them to the broccoli. Turnes out it was the right decision and with some added chopped parsey, pomegranate seeds and spicy nuts this makes a perfect winter salad.

The best thing about this salad is, it can be both a warm or a cold salad. For a warm salad, you dress it while everything is hot, for a cold salad, you rinse the broccoli with cold water after steaming and then decide if you want the beans and nuts to be warm or not. It’s up to you!

I’m seriously obsessed with mustard dressing. Although I’m normally not a fan of mustard as a condiment, it’s so amazing if you use it as seasoning.

This dressing is probably the one I use most on daily basis, because it’s super simple and mustard gives it an extra depth and richness. It works really well with bitter winter salads like radicchio.

So, some updates on what’s been going on in my life lately. We’re starting to prep more seriously for the baby. Yep, barely starting. I mean we have bought some things, made some and we’re getting lots of second hand stuff from friends, but we still have sooo many chores until I can really say, now we’re ready. We still have 10 weeks, but you never now, when the baby might surprise us. Oh, I have to tell you about the cutest little pants I’ve sewn. They are the cutest, but I’m affraid the fabric is not strechy enough and they’ll probably be to small to fit even a newborn. Luckily, I’m stacked with fabric and I’m making new ones 🙂

Ok, enough baby talk!

Besides all the baby preparations, we’re also starting to prep for the new dance show that we moved from Spring to Autumn, because of… well, baby. Yesterday, I started making my part of the coreography. You can imagine a big belly and a fast dance + some floorwork. It was fun, but also very chalenging!

Great, your all updated now, so let’s start cookin’!

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POPPED BEANS AND STEAMED BROCCOLI SALAD

Course Salad

Keyword bean salad, broccoli salad, healthy, quick

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Servings 4

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

STEAMED BROCCOLI SALAD

1 big broccoli
1 cup cooked red beans if you’re using canned, rinse well before cooking
3 TBSP mixed seeds sunflower seeds, sesame, black sesame…
1 tsp crushed chilli flakes
1 tsp ground garlic
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
a bunch of parsley chopped

LEMONY MUSTARD DRESSING

5 TBSP olive oil
3 TBSP lemon juice
1 TBSP mustard
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper

Instructions

Steamed Broccoli Salad

Cut the florets away from stems and cut them into bite size chunks. Cut the thinner stems into 1 cm chunks. Peel the thick main stem and cut it into 1 cm cubes.
Boil a little water (about a finger’s width) in a steaming pan and add the steming basket. Place the stem parts of broccoli into the steaming basket and the florets on top. If there are any leaves from broccoli place them right at the top. Cover with a lid, reduce heat to low and cook for about 5 minutes or until you can easily pierce the broccoli with a fork, but it’s still vibrant green. Be careful, because broccoli can go from vibrant to brownish color quickly.
If you prefer your broccoli to be cold, rinse immediately under cold water to stop it from further cooking. If you’re serving it warm, just remove from steamer and let it drain.
In a bowl mix together garlic and chilly flakes.
Heat a big skillet over medium-high heat and add beand and half of the garlic and chlli mixture. Cook them for about 4-5 minutes, tossing every now and then. Once you see most of the beans open, add the nuts and toss every now and then for a minute. Remove from heat and add the remaining garlic and chilli mixture.

Lemony Mustard Dressing

Beat all ingredients together with a fork.

Steamed Broccoli Salad

In a salad bowl, mix together broccoli, parsley, 2/3 of beans and seed mixture, 2/3 of pomegranate seeds and dressing. Top wih the remaining 1/3 of beeans and seeds and the rest of pomegranate seeds.

Sober Festive Sangria

November 24, 2016

I love non-alcoholic festive sangria, especially when it tastes like winter with all its beautiful mixed fruits and Christmas spices. It’s the easiest thing in the world to do and you can prepare it ahead of time.

I love a non-alcoholic festive sangria, especially when it tastes like winter with all its beautiful mixed fruits and christmas spices. It’s the easiest thing in the world to do and you can prepare it ahead of time.

Anyone up for a festive drink?

I know, I know, it’s not Christmas yet, but we’re slowly getting in the mood. I’m already making plans for Christmas baking and seeing some lovely Christmas market. Oh, I love those! I’m not a fan of crowded places, but Christmas markets are an exception. They don’t really make sense if you’re there all alone. The great thing about them is the smell. The smell of spices and sugar accompanied by Christmas lights and friends.

I don’t know if you guys remember, but I’ve been angry about Christmas stuff being in the stores and on the streets way too early in one of the last years post. I’m over it this year… can’t really wait for December to come with all its perks.

So super excited about the almost festive time I made this very simple festive sangria with pear juice. If you prefer apple juice, that’s fine, use it. Or make it half-half. It’s not really a stick-to-it-100% type of recipe, you can totally make it your own. I’m using pear juice because I love it and I don’t drink it that often. It’s kindda hard to get in the stores, so juicing fresh pears is often the only way to go. I cheated this time 😉

Alcohol lovers, there’s none in the recipe, but if you’re up for a boozy version, you can try adding wine or some fruit liqueur.

Now, obviously there are winter spices in here! OBVIOUSLY. You can’t go without 🙂

I added some cinnamon sticks, star anises and cloves for that Christmasy feel and some ginger and peppercorns for a nice spicy kick. I just realised there probably aren’t many thing I don’t put peppercorn in, some baked goods and some cocktails, otherwise it’s there. All the time. It’s getting worse with the pregnancy, I simply can’t eat anything witout it. And apparently, I can’t drink it either. Remember the Mulled Mandarin Juice. You can find those there, too 🙂

You might think I’m crazy, but they actually make a big difference, so please please don’t leave them out. Or at least don’t tell me 😛

The fun thing about this recipe is, you make it a day ahead and when you’re ready to party, take it out of the fridge, add some sparkling water and you’re on 😀

I love simple and quick recipes!

I love non-alcoholic festive sangria, especially when it tastes like winter with all its beautiful mixed fruits and christmas spices. It’s the easiest thing in the world to do and you can prepare it ahead of time.

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SOBER FESTIVE SANGRIA

Course Cocktail

Keyword cocktail, mocktail

Prep Time 15 minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

3 cups pear juice
2 cups sparkling water
2 pears
2 apples
2 oranges
1 pomegranate
3 cinnamon sticks
3 star anises
6 slices of ginger
1 tsp peppercorns
5 cloves

Instructions

Slice pears, apples, and oranges into 3mm slices or chunks as big as you like.
Remove seeds from the pomegranate.
Place all fruit, cinnamon sticks, star anises, ginger, peppercorns, and cloves in a big bowl or a jar and pour over pear juice.
Keep in the fridge for at least 5 hours or overnight.
Before serving to add cold sparkling water.

Tag Archive for: gluten free

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Hello!