Marzipan hearts in dark chocolate

Whatever you want - chocolate is the answer ;) And when it comes in a combination with marzipan what can be better?!

I couldn't keep aside when the shelves of the supermarkets are packed with a wide range of Christmas sweet-stuff. So I decided to make the most popular sweets at home.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome Marzipan hearts in dark chocolate!

Actually marzipan is made of almond paste. There are different types of it. For example, Niederegger Marzipan is produced from fine raw marzipan paste (100%). Lübeck Edelmarzipan (fine marzipan)
is produced from raw marzipan paste (90%) and added sugar (10%). Lübeck marzipan is produced from raw marzipan paste (70%) and then processed with an added sugar content of 30%. Marzipan for consumption is produced from 50% raw paste and 50% sugar. Marzipan has a very interesting history and was used firstly as a medical treatment of course;)  The first Europeans to indulge in marzipan were kings and rich people. It has been reported that Queen Elizabeth I of England, who lived from 1533 to 1603, was addicted to all things sweet. Sounds familiar? :)

Yes, we love sweets and chocolate. I will tell you even more. It is a good treat when used in moderation. Moreover - when made at home using the best ingredients. Choose dark chocolate. Its healthier than any other type and contains even such vitamins and minerals:
- Potassium
- Copper
- Magnesium
- Iron.

Dark chocolate is good for your brain. It also contains several chemical compounds that have a positive effect on your mood and health. Phenylethylamine (PEA), discovered in dark chocolate, is the same chemical your brain creates when you feel like you're falling in love. PEA encourages your brain to release endorphins, so eating dark chocolate will make you feel happier.

Tip! 
By dark chocolate I mean those bars that contain more than 70% of cocoa.

Making sweets is quick and simple. You will need a  special form. Choose the one you love the most. Mine makes 12 heart-shaped sweets. The quantity of the ingredients may vary according to the form you have. To make 12 marzipan hearts in dark chocolate you will need:

Ingredients:
100 g dark chocolate (mine contains 85% cocoa)
60 g marzipan

Divide marzipan mass into 12 parts and form 12 balls. Melt the chocolate in a small saucepan at a medium heat. Fill 1/3 of every form with melted chocolate, put one marzipan ball into every form and then pour the rest of the chocolate so that every form is full.

Put your form into a fridge to cool down if you are in a hurry or let it cool down at room temperature.
Here they are: sweet, smooth with delicate note of marzipan.... And the mood goes higher and higher!!!! Yummy!

Have a sweet day! Hugs and kisses!

Colorful autumn roasted veggies

Rainy autumn, sleepy mood and pure laziness?... Give me "Five" :) Cause you're not alone.

Another autumn day inspired me to color my life on my own. And why not?! This is a wonderful season when we can enjoy plenty of local vegetables. Pepper, carrot, zucchini, celery, beet, Brussels sprouts, red onion... And that is just a part of the list. Why should we roast them? Because it doesn't take a lot of time from you. The roasting process brings a little bit of natural sweetness into the veggies and makes their flours more intensive. So don't even hesitate because the sweet-sour taste of roasted warm autumn veggies will cheer you up for sure. And the final scene when you take them out of the oven... Full of pleasant scents and so colorful.. Mmmmm... Have no more words. Let's act, my dear!

Ingredients:

1 beet

1 little zucchini

1 red pepper

8 Brussels sprouts

1 red onion

1 carrot

1 celery rib 

4 tbsp olive oil or any other you prefer

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp honey

salt, pepper

1 tsp dried herbs (or a couple of fresh basil, parsley, oregano leaves)

1 tsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp white wine vinegar

Tip:

The good thing about roasted vegetables is that you can cook this dish every season and use veggies you like the most. The one thing is that vegetables should be cut into pieces of the same size. And remember: the smaller the size - the quicker they are ready.

Preheat the oven to 200° C. Wash the vegetables, peel them if its necessary. Cut into the pieces of approximately similar size. Put them into a baking pan (I have a non-stick, otherwise sprinkle the form with oil) and drizzle with 2 tbsp of the oil you've chosen. It can be sesame oil, peanut oil... Switch your fantasy on ;) Don't make a lot of layers, we don't need crowding here.

Now add a little bit of salt and pepper. Not too much!!! 

The oven is ready. Put your baking pan into the oven for 15-20 minutes. My baking pan was pretty, and yours? Let me know in the comments below :)

Watch the veggies meanwhile. They may get brown edges.

- If they're becoming brown too fast, the temperature is too high for them. Take them out.

- If after 20 minutes they still look raw leave them for another 5 minutes.

- If some of the edges are golden, the veggies look a bit softer than raw they are ready.

Prepare a sauce to open all of the tastes. Mix 2 tbsp of olive oil, lemon juice, honey, salt, pepper, dried herbs (or fresh), soy sauce, white wine vinegar. Pour the sauce over the warm vegetables so that they soak a little of it and open the pureness of their tastes.

A perfect healthy side dish, a great snack or whatever you like is ready.

Enjoy and let me know how did you color your day:) 

Provencal salmon with fresh salad

As we all know fish is a very important part of our healthy nutrition. As a major source of healthy omega-3 fats fish and other seafood is also rich in vitamin D and selenium, high in protein and low in saturated fat. Its well-known that consuming fish is good for the heart and blood vessels. I've also read that eating approximately one to two 100 g servings of fatty fish a week—salmon, herring, mackerel, anchovies, or sardines—reduces the risk of dying from heart disease by 36 percent. Women who are or may become pregnant, nursing mothers, and young children should also eat fish except of shark, swordfish, king mackerel, or tilefish (sometimes called golden bass or golden snapper) because they contain high levels of mercury.

That is why I decided to present you my favorite variation of fish recipe. I've chosen a piece of salmon fillet without bones. If you have children I would strongly recommend you to cook this part of salmon because it contains no bones and therefore is not dangerous for them. This portion of fish is enough for 2. That means, that one serving consists of 150g of salmon.

So grab the ingredients and lets get fished ;)

Ingredients:

300 g salmon fillet
salt and pepper
1 tsp butter
3 leaves romaine
2 tomatos
1 champignon
1/4 green pepper
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp honey
2 tsp herbs la provence

Tip! 
A lot of cooks recommend that fish should be cooked at high temperatures for a short period of time. As the time depends on how thick the fish is you can use the following rule: for every 2 cm of the fish add 10 minutes.

Cooking fish doesn't need a lot of preparations or time. Wash the fillet under cold water. Soak it with a paper towel, add some pepper and salt. And of course 1 tsp of herbs la provence. Put it away for about 10 minutes. If you want to make all preparations in advance you can do this step earlier and just keep the fillet in the fridge until you decide to cook it.

Preheat the oven at about 200-220°C. Meanwhile lets make a perfect crust. Put butter into a frying pan and preheat it. Bake the fish 1-2 minutes from each side until it has a tasty crispy crust. Than put the fillet into the oven and bake another 10-15 minutes (check the baking time using my Tipp! above).

While the fish is in the oven chop vegetables and prepare a salad dressing.
Wash vegetables. Chop the romaine leaves, tomatos, pepper, champignon. Yes, I use a fresh champignon. It tastes very good in a salad;)

For a dressing mix thoroughly white wine vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, honey and herbs la provence. Add some salt and pepper as well. And the salad is ready;)

Take the salmon out of the oven and serve with a fresh salad.
Enjoy a main dish full of healthy vitamins, omega-3 fats and protein.

Such a dinner will make your day!
Bon appetit ;)

Cook your food - explore and enjoy

The process of cooking is the main link in the food chain: between the point of buying the ingredients and the moment of eating the fresh-made dish. Therefore cooking is the most important phase if you do care about your health and the health of the people you are cooking for.

Nowadays people prefer to buy some staff full of harmful conservatives than to cook clean meal with simple ingredients. Others have someone to cook for them which seems quite a good idea;) But not affordable for the majority.

Just think about it. If you cook your food you choose the ingredients. Of course you want the best for you and your family. That is why you will probably buy rather a nice fresh piece of meat than a no-idea-what-it's-made-of Cordon Bleu in a department of frozen food. You will not use additives. You will not cook junk food. That's quite messy everyday. You will not use the cheaper replacement as you are cooking for yourself and not for thousands of consumers. As a result you have healthy home-made food on your dinner table. The more love you invest, the healthier your family will be.

I often hear replies like "I don't have time for cooking" or "Oh no, it takes so much time. I'd better eat somewhere out or buy hamburger on my way". Wake up! We always find time to post our selfies on Facebook or search for some information in internet. Cooking connects us with our bodies. The time you're investing in it will come back in the form of good health, strong relationships in your family and positive thinking of your children. Cooking can be a good way to spend your time together with your children or partner.

Mark Bittman in his article "Kitchen Little" (May 7, 2013; New York Times) wrote "Cooking is not so much a matter of right or wrong but of learning what you like." and I totally agree with every single word. The whole phase of cooking allows you to combine tastes and flavors that you like, find out new combinations, forms and colors. And you will see that the field for your creations is endless.

Cook your food.
Explore and enjoy!

Spirali with chick'n chilli con carne

Pasta-pasta-pasta!
Some people would say "And so what?! Its just pasta...Nothing special". NO WAY! And I can prove this if you try the next recipe.

There are days when I just have to eat something hot'n'spicy. On one of those days I decided to make a chilli con carne version of pasta with chicken. Chilli con carne (a spanish dish) is usually made of beef and has a lot of variations nowadays. Therefore I thought :"Why not to cook it with chicken?!".
And here is the result of my experiment.

To try this you should prepare:

125g spirali or any other kind of whole wheat pasta of your choice
250g chicken breast, cut into small cubes
1 large onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
2 cloves garlic
3/4 cup canned Kidney Beans
1/2 cup canned sweet corn
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp chili powder (or 1 chopped chilli)
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 1/2 cups water
1 tbsp olive oil
fresh parsley and black olives to serve

In one pot boil the needed amount of salted water and cook pasta according to the instructions on the package. Mine was cooked al dente.

Meanwhile heat a saucepan with some olive oil and fry chicken cubes until they are golden all over. Add chopped onion and carrot, reduce the heat and cook for about 4 minutes. Add diced tomatoes, tomato paste, beans and sweet corn, pour water and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat, add the spices and cook another 20-30 minutes. In the end add chopped garlic, mix it all and cover the saucepan with a lid.

Serve spirali al dente with chick'n chilli con carne, some fresh parsley and black olives.

A protein-energy bomb is ready.

By the way did you know that the main benefits of chilli are:*Prevention of cancer spread

*Weight loss assistance

*Anti-bacterial property

*Immunity boost

*Pain relief

*Prevention of diabetes

*Prevention of stomach ulcers 

But remember the main rule - everything in moderation!

I wish you a good'n'spicy day. Take care :)

Cheesecake with pear slices - low-fat and sugarfree

I barely know a person who hates cheesecakes. And the one who adores them is me:) As I'm crazy about healthy lifestyle I've practiced a lot to make a perfect healthy cheesecake: delicious, low-fat, high-protein and just perfect.

Here it is: the queen recipe of cheesecake.
The ingredients are quite simple:

3 middle-sized bananas
100 g almonds
30 g butter
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 vanilla pod, seeds scraped
1 vanilla pudding powder
1/3 cup raisins
1000 g low-fat cottage cheese
3 eggs
1 sweet pear

Tip! Most of the recipes are full with an enormous amount of sugar and empty calories. Therefore I've searched for healthy substitutes to make pies and other bakery a part of my healthy lifestyle. More information about the substitutes you will find in one of my following articles.

Before we start we have to preheat the oven to 180°C. Then take a 20-cm spring form and brush its bottom and sides with melted butter. For the crust make almond flour. Place almonds inside a food processor, coffee bean grinder or blender. Pulse until you get a fine, grainy consistency. In a bowl mix almond flour, butter and 1 mashed banana. If you want to have a sweet crust you can add some extra sugar of honey. Press the mixture into the bottom of your form. Bake it 10 minutes until the color is golden-brown.

In another bowl beat the cheese with 2 mashed bananas. Add vanilla pudding powder to ensure the smooth texture. Then add into the mixture raisins (previously soaked in the hot water), honey, cinnamon, vanilla seeds. If you want to check if it's enough sweet for you this is the moment to do it;) Add 3 whole eggs and mix it all thoroughly. Pour the filling onto the base. Peel the pear and cut it into slices. Decorate the cheesecake with pear slices. Cover the form with aluminium foil and bake in the preheat oven 15 minutes. Then decrease the heat to 150°C and bake another 50-60 minutes. 10 minutes before the end take the foil off and let the cheese become golden-brown.

Let the cheesecake cool down (I know its hard, cause it smells so good:) and take it out of the form.

Make a break and enjoy. A perfect combination with a home-made hot chocolate or a latte macchiato.