It was one of those days, when I was absolutely exhausted, hungry and cold (yes, cold! Summer in Denmark is a rather abstract expression). The inside of my fridge was staring at me with the ironic look of a small piece of turkey ham, eggs and some milk. Obvious sign that I really need to go out and buy some groceries. And I cannot use the fact that it is raining as an excuse anymore. It has been raining for the last week. Non stop. 

After taking out the turkey ham and eggs out of the fridge I attacked the freezer and found some spinach. Lucklily I tend to buy a lot of frozen vegetables and fruit, almost as if I was preparing to survive a month without leaving my apartment. It happens to be very useful. 

Equipped with some of the basic ingredients I started to heat up the frying pan, look through various spices and to finally prepare some dinner. After no more than 30 minutes I was already finished and I my dinner turned out really tasty.

Ingredients

500-700 g of frozen spinach leaves

3-4 shallots

a small pack of turkey ham 

(I used a ready one from the store, but I think chicken would also be fine here)

gluten free pasta

eggs (1-2 for each portion)

dried garlic

salt

pepper

dried parsley
coconut oil for frying

Preparation

1.Boil some water for the pasta, and cook it following the instructions from the package. I used gluten free pasta.
2. In the meantime, warm up the frying pan and put some coconut oil on it.
3. Fry the cut shallots until they turn golden, then add the spinach and fry it together for a longer while. Add the spices (dried garlic, salt, pepper, tiny bit of chili pepper). Mix together and fry, then put aside for a moment.
4. Cut the turkey ham into small pieces and fry it well. I didn't use any oil to do so, but it required some more mixing while the ham was frying, to avoid burning it. Once it is fried, put aside.
5. Finally put some oil on the frying pan and break the eggs on it. Add some salt and pepper and fry for a moment.
6. On the plate, put some pasta, shallots with spinach, the turkey ham pieces and finally cover it with the fried egg. I spreaded some dried parsley all over the dish to get even a better smell and taste.

Birthday cake! (Gluten Free + lactose Free)

For my boyfriend's sister birthday I decided to try something new. Even though we had a gift ready, I thought that I'd like to prepare something special. Personally, I believe that spending hours in the kitchen and then sharing a meal together with others shows how much we care about them. And I love spoiling my loved ones with food. It can be an early morning sandwich with a favourite smoothie or a special dinner by which we can sit for hours, talk and laugh.

Having spent days on going through many food blogs, different recipes and pinterest pictures I got extremely excited about baking a proper birthday cake. With layers, frosting, candles and decoration.

I must admit this was my second trial of making a cake with many layers and frosting all around. The first one..., lets just say was not as good as I hoped :). The cake base itself was fine. The recipe I got thanks to a Polish blogger (lisia-kawiarenka.blogspot.dk) made my life so much easier, and better! The sponge cake is simple, does not require many ingredients and most importantly I had no troubles with cutting it or shaping nicely so that the whole cake had a desired shape and looks. The frosting is another story....
Without much thinking I decided to prepare a butter based frosting. Not only did it seem to look nice but I also hoped it will taste fine. Nothing like this! I turned out nicely looking (more or less... ok, less!). But the taste was just terrible in my opinion. Very, very heavy.
So I looked through my fridge and decided to go with another approach. I used a light cream cheese and combined it with a smaller amount of butter and powdered sugar. This time the result was great.
In the end the cake turned out to look nice and taste really wonderful. Of course with more practise I hope to be better at the decorating part... My kitchen looked interesting after I was finished with covering the cake with frosting!

Ingredients

Sponge cake (16 cm baking form)

3 eggs

130 g of sugar

0,3 cup of corn flour
0,3 cup of potato flour

Frosting
300 g of cream cheese (lactose free)
150 g of butter (lactose free)
3/4 cup of powdered sugar

Additional
Fresh strawberries
Dried raspberries for decoration

Preparation

Sponge cake

> Preheat the oven to 160-170 degrees, then cover the bottom of the baking form with baking paper. (Sides should not be covered)

> Separate egg whites from egg yolks. Start mixing the egg whites until they get thick. Gradually add sugar and then the egg yolks (one by one, while mixing). Keep mixing until the batter is smooth.

> Add flour to the batter and mix together either using a spoon or with a mixer at the lowest speed.

> Pour the batter into the prepared baking form and bake for 30-40 minutes. (Avoid opening the oven door while baking)

> Once the cake sponge is ready, take it out from the oven and carefully throw it (in the form) down to the table from the height of approximately 50-60 cm. This will make the cake flat and well shaped. (Although it sounds a little bit confusing!)

Cream and Frosting

> Beat the butter until it is light and creamy. Then add powdered sugar and keep on mixing until it gets smooth. Beat in the cream afterwards and put the ready mixture in the fridge for a while. It will thicken and get more stiff, which makes it easier to distribute it on the cake afterwards.

> Spread a thin layer of the cream on the cake layers using a spatula. Refrigerate for around 15 minutes. Optionally put some freshly cut strawberries in the middle of each sponge cake. (Avoid putting them close to the edges, as this will make it hard to cover it with the frosting in the end.)
Afterwards spread the remaining frosting all over the cake.

> Decorate with fresh fruit, or dried decorative fruit, as I did.

Gluten free Apple Pie

Spring is finally on its way. Every day is getting longer and the sun drops by through the windows. I am finally more energetic and eager to experiment a little bit in the kitchen. It is so much nicer to do so, without heavy jumpers on... :)

This cake is very simple. Again. I don't like complicated recipes. Also, as I have recently moved in to a new city and a new apartment, my kitchen equipment is rather poor. Although I am working on it:)

Simple, tasty and quickly disappearing. That's how I would summarise this cake. Everybody enjoyed it and by the look of how quickly it was gone, I think I was left with no doubt. 

Ingredients

800 g apples

1 cup of rice flour

2/3 cup of amaranth flour

1/3 cup potato flour

2/3 - 1 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon of baking soda

2 teaspoons of baking powder (gluten free)

80 ml rice oil (could be olive oil too)

lemon zest (from 1 lemon)

juice from 1 lemon

125 g of natural yogurt (lactose free)

125 ml of milk (lactose free)

a pinch of salt

 Preparation

> Peel the apples, cut them into smaller pieces (squares) and put into a bowl

> Add the juice from a lemon together with the lemon zest to apples

> In another bowl, mix all the dry ingredients and after that add milk, yogurt and oil. Then mix again.

> Add the apples to the rest of the ingredients and stir them in.

> Put some baking paper in the form, oil it and strew some bread crumps (gluten free).

> Pour the dough into the baking form and cover with 2-3 tablespoons of brown sugar

> Bake in 180 degrees, for around 60 - 70 minutes

Enjoy!

Warming soup for early spring days

Even though it's already spring (yes.. I know it's just been one day:) ), there still are these cold days when I can only dream of a warm tea and a blanket. Not only do I feel the need to stay cosy and warm, but also I am not eager to spend hours in the kitchen preparing dinner. This recipe is a real blessing. It takes just a moment to prepare and the result is just perfect. The soup will warm you up and give you the energy, which is so needed when the rain hits the windows and the temperature outside drops again.

Ingredients

3-4 carrots

2 parsleys

2 onions

1 cup of red lentils

1 kg of potatoes

3-3,5 liters of water

oil for frying

4 bay leaves

pimento

salt

pepper

oregano

dried parsley

marjoram

 Preparation

> Peel the onions, cut them into smaller pieces and mix with a blender

> Peel the carrots and parsleys and grate them

> Peel and cut the potatoes into small squares

> Pour some oil into the pot and fry the onion first. Then add carrots and parsleys and fry them together for around 10 minutes, until they get softer.

> Pour the water into the pot, add potatoes and lentils and salt and boil it for around 15 minutes.

> In the end, turn of the stove, add all spices and leave the soup resting for at least 10 minutes so that the tastes blend together. Serve hot and enjoy the warming taste!

(Optionally you can also add some bacon/ham. Simply cut it into small pieces and fry for a moment, then add to the soup and boil together so that the tastes mix. I believe all men will become fans of this particular version!)