Fresh Basil Pesto

No idea what to cook? Trying to do something new but in the end failure? Here is what guaranteed pimps your everyday nutrition plan - fresh home-made basil pesto. Just think about the richness, spiciness and freshness you get when you make it at home. And all in all - 5 minutes. So you just HAVE to try :)

 Ingredients:
 2 cups basil leaves
80g Parmesan (Parmigiano Reggiano)
2 tbsp pine nuts
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves
salt, pepper
*water if needed for consistency

Step 1
Prepare all the ingredients. Wash basil, you will need only the leaves. On a hot pan golden the pine nuts for more flavour.

Step 2
In your food processor mix all the ingredients and blend them until smooth but not creamy consistency. I find it really cool when pesto has these small chunks which intensify the flavour. If you see that the mixture is not coming together, add a bit of water. Or if you don't mind additional fat then add more of extra virgin olive oil.

Step 3
There is actually no step 3 :) Now you can enjoy the fresh pesto of your own preparation. It is well combined with tomatoes, or just pasta or the classic Caprese salad. Just go ahead and be creative.

 Look at this amazing pic with all the ingredients you need. Pin it to your Pinterest board and enjoy anytime :)

From home-made to gourmet there is only one step. So stay with me not to miss it :)

Easy Ginger Bread Christmas cookies

Ho - Ho - Ho ! ! ! Merry Christmas, my dear gourmets! Wishing you to open new tastes, flavors, people, cities and places every day. Because this brings us new emotions and encourages us to explore further.

We are closer to new year than ever and this has its own charm. Only four days left to enter new chapter of our lives. According to Ukrainian tradition Santa brings us presents on the 21st of December every year. So in comparison to all Germans who have already packed and granted the presents, in Ukraine it is all to come. Therefore I believe a good ginger bread cookies recipe will make only a magic addition to all the presents you are gonna pack. Or at least fulfil your house with an irresistible scent of upcoming party.

 Ingredients:

150 g white flour

120 g whole wheat flour of your choice

100 g butter (for vegan version may be replaced by coconut oil)

70 g brown sugar (or 100 g rice syrup)

4 tbsp honey

1 egg

1 tbsp Christmas spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, anise)

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

Take butter out of the fridge about an hour before you plan to bake so that it is room temperature. 

Preheat the oven to 175°C. Mix butter with sugar (or rice syrup) and honey. Add an egg and mix well. In another bowl combine all the dry ingredients: flours, spices, salt. Then add dry ingredients into butter-egg-mix. Roll the dough to 2-3 mm thickness on a lightly floured surface. Cut it with cookie cutter of your preferred form. I used stars and hearts this time. 

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes. Let cool on baking sheets 2 minutes. Cool completely (about 30 minutes).

I packed them into small bags. They can be a nice present or just delicious addition to your tea time:)

Have a wonderful start of the year and enjoy the holidays!!!!!

Almond cake with raspberry

In my everyday life I keep up to my healthy nutrition plan. But there are those days when my heart and stomach demand something "forbidden". There're called "cheating days" and I even recommend to include them once a week into your life and let yourself relax. Today is a Valentine's Day. Even though I'm not a big fan of having one day of LOVE in the whole year, I prepared a special recipe for you today. Mainly to remind you that we're all special and our efforts are worth to do when afterwards we get a enormous portion of satisfaction.

Ingredients:

225 g flour
100 g ground almond
150 g butter
70 g brown sugar
2 tbsp raspberry jam
3 eggs
1/2 cup ice cold water
200 g raspberry
1 tbsp sugar powder
salt

First step is to prepare a dough. This type of dough is to be prepared very quickly and the trick is - all ingredients should be cold. Using a kitchen blender mix flour, 90 g of cold butter, 1 egg yolk, 40 g of sugar, sprinkle of salt and 2-4 tbsp of ice cold water. If you don't have a blender, you can use a knife to mix it all quickly together. Then put the mixture on a working surface and form a ball. Cover it with a food film and place into fridge for half an hour.

Meanwhile let's prepare a filling: mix rest of butter (melted already) with sugar. Add ground almond, rest of eggs. Mix thoroughly.

Tip!
The filling we use in this cake is a good choice for little tarts as well. So keep it in mind and even though it is well combined with raspberry, you can stay creative and try also other combinations - apples, pears, etc.

Preheat the oven to 180° C. Once the dough is cool enough, pat it into the mold with removable bottom and form a cake's bottom and sides using your fingers and palm.
Spread raspberry jam on the dough and form a thin raspberry layer. Pour the filling onto the raspberry layer and put into the oven for 25-30 minutes.

When the cake is ready, let it cool down for a while, remove the mold sides and decorate it with fresh raspberries and sugar powder.

Now you are ready for a special day. Spend it with someone special.

Lovely Valentine's Day!

Bon Appétit :)

Hand-made tasty present from Santa - ginger cookies

The decorations are ready, everyone is crazy shopping and preparing. New Year is so close.
Unfortunately, we sometimes face a problem when looking for presents. Wrong color, size not available, too expensive, too simple... One big headache. And I can cure it. Well, maybe not truly me, but tasty home-made cookies - definitely!

No special ingredients, you will probably have all of them ready-to-go:

100 g butter
1/2 cup honey
2 tbsp sugar (*optional)
1 egg
1 cup white flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

In a saucepan heat first three ingredients; butter, honey and sugar.

Tip!
I would say that the amount of sugar can be reduced as honey adds the sweetness. Especially use this advice if you want to cover the cookies with chocolate glaze afterwards.

Stir the mixture all the time and make sure that the mixture doesn't boil. Put aside to cool for a while. Meanwhile in a bowl whisk together both types of flour, spices and baking powder. Add a half of dry ingredient mixture into warm sweet honey-butter composition. Mix thoroughly, then add in second half and an egg.

Cover dough tightly with plastic wrap and chill in fridge for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 190° C. Prepare the cookies-forms. Take dough out of the fridge, roll it so that it is less than 0.5 cm thick. Cut different shapes of the cookies.
Bake them for 7-9 minutes, or until cookies get golden-brown edges.

Let them coll down and cover with sugar powder.