Tag Archives: food blog

Coconut Cheesecake (flourless)

  Hello guys! How are you doing these crazy days? Hope you stay home, safe and healthy. Sometimes I forget about this coronavirus situation, that I stay home not because it’s quarantine and lockdown but because I decided to bake something and spend time home…  I’d love to drive somewhere and discover a new coffee shop and sit there over a cup of aromatic flat white… I miss the beach, I miss paddling in the sea I want to go to the nearest supermarket without wearing face mask and gloves, and buy a freshly baked bun there and eat it on the way back I want to go to the park with my little one and run and play with a ball there… I miss everything, I miss the world. Sigh.
  I hope this will end soon somehow, and we will able to do whatever we enjoy doing.
Coconut_cheesecake
A few months ago I’d wrote that this cake with sweet dried cherries will be tastier… but today, today everything is different. I know it’s difficult for someone to come by to Russian tvorog but if you’re lucky to find pure one – use it, better 5-9%. I make tvorog myself: boil a large quantity of plain yogurt (or 3%-kefir/soured milk). As another great alternative for tvorog, Bulgarian and Cypriot cottage cheese works well, or Ukrainian is much the same.
Coconut_cheesecake (flourless)
Moreover, if you don’t have enough coconut flakes, keep them to sprinkle the cake top, or even don’t use it at all, and use plain white flour in the cake batter. Now you can see – that this cake recipe is very simple and can be adopted very easily. Don’t miss this incredible and tasty cake! Hope you will make it soon. Stay safe guys!
Coconut_cheesecake-(no flour)

Coconut Cheesecake (flourless)

  • Servings: 4-5
  • Difficulty: very easy
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*dried cranberries are also good
What you’ll need
400g tvorog/cottage cheese
70g white sugar
4 egg yolks
2 tbsp dried cherries, optional*
1-2 tbsp dried pineapple cubes, optional*
100g unsweetened coconut flakes
4 egg whites
a pinch of salt
How to make it
  1. Whisk tvorog with sugar and egg yolks.
  2. Fold in dried fruits, if using, and coconut flakes.
  3. In a separate bowl, slightly beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until soft peaks. Carefully fold into batter.
  4. Line the baking tin with paper, grease and pour in the batter.
  5. Bake in preheated 180C oven for 40 minutes.
  6. Allow to cool in the tin for some time and transfer to the serving plate. Sprinkle with some coconut flakes, if desired.
Enjoy!

Cauliflower rice

Hi, guys! Somewhere hot days are already over, in other places heat is still on and summer doesn’t want to give up. It’s also unbearably hot in Dubai, but all shopping malls and cafes are air-conditioned here and that’s a true life-saver. Despite the hot days I prepare and eat a hot dish once a day, and today I want to share a simple recipe on how to make cauliflower rice — tasty and healthy alternative to regular rice.
Have you ever taste it? Don’t be skeptical and trust me — you will love it. It is delicious! Adding few ingredients to the plain and for someone tasteless cauliflower and you will get absolutely another vegetable — tasty and aromatic. Cauliflower rice is very easy to cook a low-carb dish, moreover, it’s rich in fiber and how popular to write nowadays — gluten, dairy-free, and vegan (of course if served without any poultry). 
Cauliflower rice with fried turkey tenders
All you need — just blitz medium-size cauliflower florets in a food processor or cut with a knife or grate (in that case it’s more time-consuming) until chopped into tiny pieces. Then sauté with aromatic olive oil, season well and serve by itself as a quick lunch or dinner. For not vegan alternative add some fried turkey or chicken tenders. Enjoy!
Cauliflower rice
 I suggest preparing a good amount to enjoy this healthy meal for a few days. Cauliflower rice sometimes is also called couscous, click to check out my “cauliflower couscous with shrimps” recipe.
Cauliflower rice with capsicums and tomato

Cauliflower rice

  • Servings: 2-3
  • Difficulty: easy
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Tip1For extra crunch: add nuts — roasted almond flakes or silvered; or seeds — sunflower or pumpkin seeds.
Tip 2For non-vegan option: season turkey or chicken stripes/tenders with salt, pepper and mix dry herbs (Italian blend is good), drizzle with oil, leave to marinade, then pan-fry or grill and serve immediately with cauliflower rice.
What You’ll Need
1 medium cauliflower/400-500g
2 tbsp EV olive oil
1 large red onion
2 small capsicums, different colors preferably 
1 medium tomato or 1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp sugar
1 garlic clove, minced
1/3 tsp oregano
1/3 tsp marjoram
some fresh thyme leaves, or 1/3 tsp dry
1/3 lemon, juice 
spring onion and/or parsley, chopped
freshly ground sea salt and white pepper to taste
 
 
How to Make It
  1. Wash and roughly chop cauliflower. Using a food processor, blitz cauliflower florets into small/rice-size pieces, but not pureed.
  2. Cut onion, capsicums, and tomato into small cubes.
  3. In a large frying pan, heat oil and fry onions over medium heat until slightly golden. Add capsicums cubes and tomato or tomato paste along with sugar. Fry for 5 minutes more.
  4. Add garlic and herbs and fry for 1 minute more.
  5. You may skip this step and add cauliflower to the vegetables. At this stage, I prefer to transfer all fried vegetables to a bowl and put a side. Then I add cauliflower to the same pan with some more oil and saute it. Afterward, I return vegetables to the cauliflower rice and saute all together for extra few minutes. 
  6. Add cauliflower, stir a couple of times, cover with a lid for 5-6 minutes. Remove the lid, return back vegetables and continue to saute for 10 minutes more or until cauliflower rice just begins to brown.
  7. When it’s ready – add lemon juice and season to taste. Sprinkle with fresh herbs.
 
Enjoy!

Leftovers wholemeal galette

 If you could have a look at my freezer you would found there a disc of shortcrust pastry. It’s very handy to have one there, so once you don’t know what to cook or unexpectedly a friend decided to come over, you can prepare a nice tasty galette (or mini quiches, click here for the ideas) in almost no time. Tip: make a couple of crusts ahead, shape into discs (it takes less space in the freezer and then easier to roll out) and freeze. For the filling you can use almost whatever you can find in your fridge or even freezer, wether it is savory or sweet stuff. And another tip: freeze roasted or boiled chicken, deli ham leftovers; or if you bought too many fruits and berries, clean and cut them and freeze as well.
 This time I had a roasted chicken and gammon leftovers, I combined both. Gammon was a bit dry, so probably I won’t use it next time. But the chicken tasted quiet nice, especially mixed with lots of leeks sautéed in a butter and few cherry tomatoes. Some cream cheese (on any other cheese) on top makes this delicious wholemeal galette only better.
Leftovers Wholemeal Galette
If you fancy to try sweet galette click here. Cherry one!  😉

Leftovers wholemeal galette

  • Servings: 4-6
  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients 
Wholemeal shortcrust pastry
100g wholemeal flour
100g plain flour
120g butter
1-2 tbsp iced cold water
Filling
roasted chicken leftovers
leek, sautéed in butter&oil
few cherry tomatoes, cut into halves
2 quill eggs (1 egg yolk separated), optional
some cream cheese
S&P to taste
Method
  • For the pastry combine ingredients, shape into a disc and keep in the fridge for 30 minutes, or freeze until needed.
  • Roll out the pastry into 2-3mm thick disk, arrange filling. Pour over slightly bitten eggs, if using. Dot with creame cheese. Fold in the pastry edges. Brush with remaining egg yolk.
  • Bake in preheated 180C oven for 30 minutes.
Enjoy!
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