Normally, I don't make much of a dough pastry, other than different types of healthy muffins for my daughter. For a long time, I was looking for a recipe for the really soft and dummy-proof dough which is easy enough to make and which I can then fill with salty or sweet stuffing. Also, I am not to good with making pretty shapes so I was looking to find something I can shape easily with no special pastry tools.

I found this great pastry recipe, I tried to make it four times with different stuffings to make sure I can recommend it to you guys with confidence. This pastry is made with milk and egg whites. I tried to make it with vegan substitutes and the pastry came out equally soft.

The quantity of pastry in this recipe yields about 16-18 rolls, depending on how small you cut it. I went with golf ball size pastry ball to form each roll.

HOW TO CUT THE DOUGH

In order to get the rib form of the roll on top, roll out each golf ball size pastry chunk into a rectangle and place a bit - 2 teaspoons of filling (fresh cheese, cooked ham, and mozzarella; jam; Nutella etc.) on one far shorter end of the dough rectangle, roll the sides so the filling doesn't leak out while baking.

On the other end of the dough, rectangle cut 4-5 lines with a very sharp knife but stop before the edge. Roll the dough from the filling side towards the cut side tucking the sides in as you go. At the end twist the form inwards a bit to form a roll.

This is my go-to recipe for homemade bread. My family loves it and asks me to make it often. It is truly dummy proof recipe so if you have never made bread before, you can start with this recipe with no fear of failing.

I got this recipe from Croatian cooking facebook group which I follow, the recipe author's name is Rajka Sunajko and it has become legendary for how easy and simple it is to make, it tastes like old school grandmas bread baked in clay and it stays fresh for a couple of days.

This bread is crispy from outside and soft from inside. The most important parts of the preparation process are:

1. Leave the bread dough to rise for a minimum of 4 hrs, ideally overnight.
2. You should not forget to use the clay or glass casserole dish with a cover and warm the whole empty dish together with the oven before adding risen dough to it.

I hope that you enjoy making and eating this bread as much as I do!

I found this recipe when searching for a cookie recipe I can make using essential oils, more specifically peppermint oil. I absolutely love chocolate and peppermint mixture, my favorite holiday drink is Starbucks peppermint mocha, my daughter seems like also enjoys the mix of the cool and sweet so this recipe will I see already, become our family's holiday staple.

Another positive thing is that it is ridiculously easy to make and quite quick. It takes about 15 minutes to mix the dry ingredients together, separately wet ingredients and then combine the two.
I made 24 cookies in two batches of 12 cookies out of this mixture and it was baked on 190C or 375F for 12 minutes each batch.

The cookies will be soft when you take them off the oven, that is ok. Let them rest for a few minutes before placing them on a plate. They are deliciously fudgy, not too sweet, a perfect treat with morning coffee or tea. Store them in this box for up to a week. They can also be frozen and defrosted.

Important note, do not put more than 3 drops of edible essential peppermint oil, three drops are more than enough for the whole dough mixture. Measure the essential oil in the small spoon and then add it to liquid ingredient mixture.

INGREDIENTS 

Dry ingredients:
1 cup (236 g) of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of organic cacao powder
pinch of salt
1 tsp of baking soda

Wet ingredients:
1 flax egg (vegan version) or regular egg for non-vegan
1/2 cup of vegan butter or regular butter for non-vegan
3 drops of peppermint edible essential oil (I used Dottera oil)
3/4 cup of dark chocolate chopped in small chunks (I used 70% dark organic chocolate with pollen)
1 cup of organic coconut sugar (brown sugar or other substitutes you are using)
1/2 tsp of white vinegar (important to react with baking soda)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 190C / 375F.
2. Mix with a spoon dry ingredients together in medium size bowl.
3. In a separate, medium-size bowl beat together butter with coconut sugar (or sugar of your choice) until well combined. Add egg and mix well for 2 minutes until you get a thick batter. Add vinegar and peppermint essential oil, mix to combine.
4. Spoon together with wooden spatula dry and wet ingredients until completely combined in the compact mass. Add dark chocolate chips/chunks and mix to combine.
5. Prepare a baking dish covered with parchment paper.
6. Form little balls out of the batter using your hands and place them without pressing on them with 1-2 cm in between on a baking dish.
7. Bake for 12 minutes on 190C / 275 F.

Let cookies cool on a drying rack for 2-4 minutes before moving them or eating them, although our first batch didn't last that long! :)

Enjoy and if you make these, please let me know how you liked them in comment bellow! :)

My daughter will eat pretty much anything in muffin form so I am trying out loads of sweet or salty muffin recipes, trying to make them as healthy as possible. This is by far our family favorite sweet muffin.

If your family won't eat all 12 on the same day, you can keep these cover in the airtight container in the fridge for up to 3-4 days of freeze and defrost when needed.



Recipe source: Crafty Cooking Mama (with my own changes to make it healthier)

Useful tools to have:

     

If you search my blog for fish recipes salmon will come up most often! Other then white fish like sea beam (orada/dorade) baked in the oven salmon is the type of fish I feel most comfortable making as I made it so many times and on so many ways I know it will always come up great, also, it is the quickest and easiest to make which is always a bonus right? :)



How often do you prepare fish?

Bon appetite and please let me know if you have tried it and how you liked this recipe!

Citrus salmon salad is one of my favorite quick and easy weekday lunches. I usually eat lunch between going to the gym and my last few office hours before picking up my daughter from school so I only make dishes I can prepare and eat within 20 minutes.

This salad is rich in omega 3 acids, nutrients and vitamins so it is an ideal post-workout meal and it will certainly not leave you hungry. If you are missing carbs in this meal you can also add a handful of whole grain pasta to it.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 orange
• 2 small or 1 big avocado
• 9.5 oz smoked salmon
• 3 handfuls of arugula salad
• 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves (optional)
• 1/4 cup fresh dill leaves

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
• salt per taste

DIRECTIONS 

1. Wash orange with baking soda and water ideally and set the zest aside. Cut the orange ends and peel the rest of the orange peel off, slice the orange into thin slices and set aside.
2. Add olive oil to the zest and then add the lemon juice. Add salt to taste and whisk the dressing well.
3. Mix the arugula, fresh mint and dill leaves together, add orange slides pour the dressing over the mixed salad.
4. Arrange the smoked salmon pieces over the salad.
5. Cut the avocado into large chunks and add it to the salad, gently mix ingredients with salad spoons and serve immediately.

Voila, ladies and gents! Enjoy your salad made in quick 5 min :)

Quiche is my go to dish for dinner very often, I make some kind of quiche every week and serve it with cream soup and salad. I kind of consider quiche french version of pizza :) as pizza was actually a poor men's meal where they preety much made a dough and used the fridge leftovers as toppings as many or as little they had.

HOME MADE QUICHE DOUGH

I often make my own dough for quiche (bigger quantity) and then I freeze it and use it when I want to make a quick and healthy 30 min meal but store bought quiche dough or puff pastry can work good as well. The beauty of quiche is that you can tweak it to be richer in ingredients or as simple as you want. Depending on your food preferences you can make it with or without meat, with eggs or egg substitute, heavy cream (milk/coco/soy) or regular milk to make it light and fluffy.

Here is the quick, healthy and easy recipe:

INGREDIENTS

4 eggs
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 tbsp chopped green onion
4 oz chopped smoked salmon
1/4 cup (60g) crumbled goat cheese
1 cup (236 ml) cooking cream or whole milk (I use soy cream as alternative)
2 tbsp fresh dill (I also used dry spice when didn't have fresh)
1 pack frozen puff pastry or quiche dough (or use this recipe to make it on your own)

Optional:
2 shakes of Tabasco hot sauce

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven on 375F / 180C.
2. Spread the dough in silicon quiche dish and poke it with a fork. Use aluminum foil and raw beens as a weight and bake the dough like this for 15 min. (Don't throw away beans you can reuse it next time you bake quiche).
3. Whisk together in a bowl eggs, cream, salt and Tabasco (optionally).
4. When dough baked, take it out of the oven but leave the oven on, remove the foil with beans, poor the egg mixture into a baked dough and dot with salmon pieces and goat cheese crumbs, add fresh dill and green onion on top.
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes on 375F/180C. Let cool for 10 minutes and serve.

This is one of my favorite salmon recipes! If you try it, let me know how you liked it in comments.

After almost a year of eating everything Anabela started to be a picky eater over Summer. As I am adamant to keep her eating veggies and proteins well so I found alternative ways to get all that good stuff, vitamins, minerals and proteins into her without forcing her to eat what she doesn't want to - I packed it all into bite size mini muffins.

As a member of various mommy facebook groups and curious mom cook who likes trying new recipes (which are super quick to make) I tried a whole lot of recipes given by moms, nutritionists and cooks throughout the vastness of internet platforms, forums and Pinterest, after Anabela tried the prepared muffins I tweaked each recipe here and there to make it more healthier or more toddler taste buds friendly and I came up with 10 quick, easy and healthy recipes for your fussy eater toddler.

Before listing out the recipes I listed some useful kitchen tools and gadgets which are not mandatory but are super useful for preparing these muffins, although most you can prepare by using just fork, 2 mid size bowls, baking pan and the oven. :)  The tools listed will make preparation quicker and cleaning after much easier as it all goes into dishwasher and voila, you are done!

All of the recipes are within 8-30 minutes preparation range.

Bellow I am listing some good substitutes in case you want to replace (or omit) any of the ingredients:

• White/brown sugar can be replaced by honey/maple syrup  - for every 1 cup of sugar, substitute 1/2 to 2/3 cup honey and reduce oven temperature by 25F
• To avoid egg -measure 1/3 cup applesauce for each egg you are substituting for
• You can replace white flour with integral flour or you may substitute oats for up to one-third the amount of flour called for in the recipe
• To replace butter for coconut oil - measure coconut oil in a one-to-one ratio and substitute it for butter

As I had issues with my stomach most of the Summer and had to eat exclusively cooked food with no spices and no nothing (think 6 months old kind of meals) I got craving today to prepare a healthy, berry, low sugar version of my favorite recipe - Mrs. Deb's banana bread.

This delicious dessert is kids friendly and it stores (well wrapped) on home temperature so you can have a great breakfast treat for several days.

My daughter Anabela absolutely loves this strawberry version of banana bread and for her I make it with coconut or all wheat flower and low fat greek yogurt.

INGREDIENTS

Dry Ingredients
1 3/4 cup (414 g) all purpose flour (coconut or all wheat)
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Wet ingredients
1 egg
1 cup ripe mashed banana (about 2-3 bananas)
1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted and cooled
1/3 cup (79 g) packed dark brown sugar or coconut sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup (59 g) nonfat plain greek yogurt
2 tablespoons unsweetened almond/coconut milk

Spoon in last
3/4 cup (178 g) strawberries
1/4 cup (59 g) raspberries/blueberries or strawberries
1/2 cup (118 g) unsweetened coconut
2 tbsp chia seeds

DIRECTIONS 

Generally I love trying new recipes, my only condition is that they are healthy and that I can prepare them in under 45 minutes (with pre-made or purchased dough). However, during Summer even in air-conditioned apartment it gets unbearably hot standing by the stove or oven to long.

Since my family loves quiches and since we had plenty of fish and poultry past week I decided to go with meat free Sunday lunch and prepared this easy and light zucchini pie with vegetable soup and fresh salad. My whole family loved it including Anabela who can eat all of these light and healthy ingredients.

I did however made the dough myself which took few minutes longer but you can also use purchased pie dough no problem and get the same result quicker.

INGREDIENTS

4 zucchini
3 eggs
2 onions
2 oz grated Parmesan cheese
1 purchased pie crust (defrost earlier if you purchased frozen crust)
1/2 teaspoon well chopped fresh rosemary (fresh herbs make huge difference)
1 and 1/4 cups milk (if you like more condensed you can use cooking cream)


Herbs & Olive Oil Pie Crust

1¼ cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
¼ cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
½ cup very cold water
½ teaspoon fresh thyme, leaves only
1 to 2 tablespoons freshly grated cheddar

Crust Directions

1. Combine the flour, salt and olive oil and mix in food processor for about 5 seconds. While the food processor is still on, slowly pour the very cold water over the flour and keep running until the pastry begins to come together, after about 7 to 8 seconds. Do not over mix it!

2. Add in the thyme and grated cheddar cheese and pulse just a few times so that the thyme and cheddar become incorporated into the dough.

3.Put the the dough on to a floured work surface, knead just a few times, gather to form a ball and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before rolling it out.

4. Preheat your oven to 400 F/200 C. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll out on a lightly floured work surface.Transfer dough to a pie plate, gently pressing the olive oil pastry into the pie plate.

5. Prick the dough with a fork and bake it for about 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and lower the oven temperature to 375 F/ 180 C.

DIRECTIONS

1. Slide zucchini and onions as thin as you can (without peeling the zucchini, just wash it really well). Place the sliced vegetables in a large bowl. Sprinkle with 1tbsp of salt. Cover with plastic wrap and keep refrigerated for at least 1 hour up to over night not more.

2. Preheat oven to 350°F/180 C. Unroll purchased pie crust or homemade one into 11 inch quiche dish and press hard in the bottom and sides of previously oiled dish. Stab it around with fork all over.

3. Take zucchini and onion out of the fridge and squeeze out excess liquid with clean hands. Arrange vegetable slices in quiche dish.

4. In separate bowl, lightly beat eggs, milk, cheese and fresh rosemary. Season with salt and pepper. Pour over zucchini and onion slices.

5. Bake 45 minutes or until top is light golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes before serving with salad.