Tag Archives: healthy recipe

Sunday Breakfast

I think, breakfast is one of the most important meal of the day. I never miss breakfast; even if I woke up at 12 or 1pm – I prefer to eat something from breakfast category whether it’s mushroom kasha or sweet pancakes.

I know that lots of people skip breakfast or have only coffee and sort of to-go bar; some say they are not hungry enough, or another reasons are lack of time or motivation. But eating breakfast can help you to wake up, to boost your energy and metabolism. Moreover, experts say that people who eat breakfast tend to have a lower risk of many health issues. Breakfast should be around 30% daily calories intake. So, skipping the breakfast leading to seek out higher calorie food later in the day.

Thus, I decided to start a series of ‘Sunday Breakfast’. Why breakfast? – that you’ve read above. Why Sunday? – because it’s usually weekend, no need to hurry – you’ve got plenty of time to prepare any breakfast you/your family like. I’m going to post breakfast recipes that I’m cooking and enjoying. And I’d be more than happy if you share with me your breakfast ideas and recipes; if you decided to take part in this series – send me links to your posts or articles in the internet with your favourite morning meal. You can also write recipes and send me by email, so I could choose a suitable for me and taste them.

Let’s begin a healthy way to start the day, especially if you haven’t had a breakfast for a long time!

I’m quite sure that almost everyone loves zucchini fritters. We call them oladii/oladushki in Russia, that means small pancakes (have a look another recipe by clicking here). These zucchini oladushki are more healthier, because I used fine oats instead of plain flour and fried them almost without oil. As you can see from the photos: they are served with fried quail eggs, which can be substitute with regular ones; herbs add a nice and aromatic touch – to wake up your senses!

Zucchini oladushki with fried quail eggs

Sunday Breakfast: Zucchini Oladushki

Servings: 2
Difficulty: easy
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*I didn’t use salt, because I used parmesan which is salty itself, but you can add some salt if needed.

**If zucchini oladushki don’t stick to your frying pan- omit the oil.

Ingredients

1 large zucchini, grated

few spoons of fine oats (or wholemeal flour)

*3-4 tbsp grated parmesan

3 quail eggs or 1 regular egg for the zucchini mixture

2 tsp lemon juice, optional

2-3 tsp fresh thyme leaves (or 1 tsp dried)

1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves

freshly ground black pepper to taste

**1-2 tbsp olive or sunflower oil for frying

quail eggs for serving, as much as you like

some grated parmesan for garnish, optional

In a bowl, combine all ingredients, except oil. Heat the oil (if using) in a frying pan on medium-high heat. Using a tablespoon pour a spoonful of the mixture into pan, making oladushki/fritters, fry for a 2 minutes on each side.
Keep zucchini oladushki in a warm place: put them in warm 50C oven or cover with foil. Meanwhile, fry quail eggs (you may use the same pan).
Top oladushki with fried quail eggs, sprinkle with parmesan if desired.

Enjoy your breakfast!

Summer Salad with strawberry

I’ve been preparing and eating salads at home almost every day. I can have a salad as a light dinner, or snack during the day. Salads is classic and great way to calm down raging appetite instead of eating various high-calories snacks. This salad is all about summer: refreshing and light, bright and tasty. Perfect food for hot summer days!

Summer Salad with strawberry

Servings: 2
Difficulty: easy
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Next time I’ll add some sliced almonds for the crunchy note.

You can use arugula instead of spinach.

Tangerine has a sweet-tart taste, you can sub it with orange or clementine.

Ingredients

baby spinach, as much as you want

1 medium fennel bulb, thinly sliced

5-7 strawberries, sliced

1-2 tangerine

2-3 radishes, thinly sliced

some chopped fennel fronds for garnish, optional

Dressing

zest of one tangerine

1-2 tsp finely chopped mint

1 tsp runny honey

1 tbsp lemon or lime juice, or more if needed

1 tsp white balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

sea salt, freshly ground white pepper to taste

Preparation

Wash spinach, let it dry, arrange onto a serving plate.
Cut peel from tangerine. Using a knife to cut out the segments, letting them fall into a bowl along with the juice.
Add strawberries, fennel, tangerine segments and radish to the spinach. Toss together gently.
For the dressing, in a small bowl, combine all ingredients, stir well, adjust salt, pepper and lemon juice to your taste. Pour over the salad.
Garnish with chopped fennel, if using.

Enjoy!

Summer salad with strawberries, tangerine and fennel

Arabic Mezze

While I’m enjoying the time in my home-country, in Dubai is the month of Ramadan. It’s one of the important months for Muslims; during the month they are fasting (no food or drink) during the daytime. Traditionally, it’s normal to brake the fast with dates before Iftar. Iftar includes buffet tables with a large variety of dishes.

Mezze is a selection of small dishes, appetizers served before the main course in many countries like Turkey, Lebanon, UAE, Syria, Greece, Cyprus. There are vegetarian, fish or meat mezze. Arabic-style mezze platters often include marinated olives, fresh herbs such as mint and zaatar, labneh (thick yogurt), halloumi cheese, kofta (meatballs) and many others. I guess, almost everyone is familiar with classic hummus – pureed chickpea dip. I do like this tasty dip, it’s wonderful with roasted chicken or lamb kofta, or simply with bread. But this time I made unusual hummus -with roasted red bell peppers and pomegranate molasses; it turned out so delicious! I served the hummus with Arabic pita bread, olives and baked halloumi cheese.

Halloumi cheese is another tasty appetizer, which is pretty popular in Middle Eastern cuisine. Baked halloumi with touch of honey and thyme makes wonderful snack. Serve it warm with bread or salad.

Arabic Mezze: Roasted red pepper hummus & Baked halloumi

Servings: 4-6
Time: 1hr
Difficulty: easy
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Roasted red pepper hummus

Adapted from BBCFood

Ingredients

2 large red peppers

1 tbsp olive oil

1 shallot or 1/2 small brown onion

1 small garlic clove, chopped

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp paprika (plain or smoked as you like)

1 can (400g) chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2-3 tbsp fresh chopped coriander

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp orange juice

2 tsp pomegranate molasses (or add more lemon juice)

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

sea salt and freshly ground black/white pepper, to taste

Preparation

Cut peppers into halves and place them onto lined baking tray under the grill for 15 minutes, or roast covered in foil in preheated 180C oven for 30 minutes. Remove their skins.
In a small frying pan, heat olive oil, add onion and fry over medium heat for 3-4 minutes, add garlic and cumin and saute for a minute more.
In a food processor, add peppers, fried onion, paprika, chickpeas, coriander, lemon and orange juices, molasses if using and pulse several times. Add extra virgin olive oil, and blend again. Season to taste.
If you want to make the hummus thiner, add a couple of tablespoons of water.
Serve with Arabic bread, pita, crackers or your favourite bread.

Baked Halloumi

Ingredients

200g halloumi cheese

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp liquid honey

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp black sesame seeds

Cut halloumi into slices. Place onto baking tray lined with baking paper or foil.
Mix all other ingredients. Pour over cheese.
Bake in preheated 200C oven for 10 minutes or under the grill until just begin to brown.

Vegetable Tian

The first time I saw a layered vegetable dish, I couldn’t took took my eyes off the screen. It was so colorful and gorgeous! So, I did some research and found out that it’s called ‘tian’. Tian originated in Provance region of France and owes its name to the earthenware shallow dish in which it’s cooked in the oven and then served. It’s also can be describe as a gratin but in the Provencal style. I love such simple and delicious bakes, and I’ve already made various gratins but they are topped with breadcrumbs or cheese, so all its beauty is almost fully covered. I was lucky to buy some yellow zucchini (most of the time its price much higher compare to green ones) and made a beautiful tian! I had such a fun composing it, arranging vegetables slices in layers. 🙂

After making, baking and eating I came to the conclusion that tian is a wonderful and full of flavour dish, which is simple and fun to prepare! And one more note: the more colorful the vegetables – the more attractive the appearance of the tian. 😉

Vegetable Tian

Time: 1hr 30mins
Difficulty: easy
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Potatoes take the most time to cook, so if you want you may parboil potato slices or totally omit it.

Ingredients

yellow or/and green zucchini

eggplants

tomatoes

small potatoes, optional

olive oil

a pinch of dried basil and thyme

sea salt and ground pepper to taste

some grated parmesan or pecorino romano cheese, optional

Wash all the vegetables, clean the skin off the potatoes. Slice finely.
Grease a shallow dish with olive oil, arrange vegetable slices. Sprinkle with herbs, drizzle olive oil, and season generously. Cover loosely with foil.
Cook in preheated 180C oven for 40 minutes. Remove foil, sprinkle some cheese if using and cook uncovered for further 20-35 minutes or until the vegetables are soft.
Serve warm as is or as a side dish to meat.

Enjoy! ❤

Russian buckwheat kasha with mushrooms

Buckwheat has always been a popular grain in Russia. It was brought in 7th century from Greece and soon became extremely popular. Buckwheat was new and unknown grain in Russia, so it was called “Greek grain” or shortly “grechka”. It’s not a surprise why buckwheat was very beloved in old Russia: peasants called it “mother”, they grown it in a large amounts, so it was cheap and affordable grain. Moreover, it’s cooked quickly and has a high nutritional value – a plate of buckwheat kasha (porridge) for breakfast can keep you full for a long time. Buckwheat porridge was a favorite meal not only among peasants, it was also cooked for upper classes but with plenty of butter or sour cream.

Nowadays, there are lots of recipes with buckwheat, it’s cooked with milk and eaten for breakfast or as a side dish for meat like beefstroganov. Buckwheat porridge with fried onion and mushrooms is a popular dish in Russia, especially during the Great Lent when grains, vegetables and mushrooms become the main foods.

Hope all lovely bloggers partying at Fiesta Friday will like this Russian buckwheat porridge, it contains vitamins, healthy organic acids and oils! Enjoy! 🙂

Russian buckwheat kasha with mushrooms

Servings: 2
Time: 30-40mins
Difficulty: easy
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During the Great Lent or for vegetarian option omit the butter or substitute it with any veg.oil

Ingredients

200ml buckwheat

400ml water

1 tsp butter

1 Tbsp sunflower or other veg.oil

1 large onion, chopped

200g mixed mushrooms (or 400g frozen), chopped

25-30g butter

salt, pepper to taste

fresh chopped parsley, optional

Wash buckwheat, put it a thick-bottomed or iron-castle pan, fry on a low heat without any oil for 2-3 minutes. Add water and good pinch of salt. Bring it to boil on a medium heat, then reduce the heat to low, add a teaspoon butter and simmer for 17-20 minutes or until all water will be absorbed. Don’t stir buckwheat during the cooking. When it’s ready, take the pan off the heat, cover with lid and few kitchen towels, let it rest for 5-10 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan, add onion and fry for few minutes. Stir in mushrooms, season to taste and fry on a medium-high heat until mushrooms are ready.
Stir the mushroom mixture and butter into buckwheat. Sprinkle with parsley, if desired. Serve warm as a main dish or side dish to chicken, stewed meat or sausages. Enjoy!