Look what i've found!!

As you may know i love cooking and i love trying new recipes. I also read a lot of blogs from all over the world and one of my fav is Picky Palate. She has always great recipes and it all seems yummy. But in the US they use other kind of measurments, cups instead of gram of ml.

But look what i've found!!:

Yes, cups!! Here at our supermarket!!

And i wanted to use them right away!! so i decided to try a recipe i received by mail.
I have register at a website where you can have one time pen pal. It's called Postcrossing. You send  a post card to a stranger and you get postcard from a stranger in return! I receiced one with a recipe for a pie.

And this is the result!!



I think it's nice! We are going to eat it tomorrow as my mom is at my place this weekend!!
I'll let you know ;)

Cooking wednesday: Couscous salad with smoked chicken

Hi there!

I'm back, it's been a few weeks since i wrote something but it was kind of busy here ;)
Tonight i have made a couscous salad from the Light Koken magazine of July. It's a magazine available in Holland, with only healthy and skinny recipes which fit all kind of diet (low carb, diabetic...). I like it very much, they write about food but also mindfulness, sport, different diets available and so.

So for tonight i choose to make the Couscous salad with smoked chicken. The original recipe is for 4 persons but as i'm alone tonight I only used the half (i can take the leftovers tomorrow for my lunch).

The ingredients:
100gr of couscous
25 gr of dried raisins
1 big spoon of cashews
75 gr of mais
1/2 cumcumber
1/2 oinion
1 coffee spoon cinamon powder
1 coffee spoon curry powder
50 ml skiny yoghurt
salt and peper

1. Cook the couscous as mentioned on the package. Then add the raisins.
2. Meanwhile, combine the chicken cubes in a bowl, the cashew nut, corn, the cumcumber cubes, onion, cinnamon, curry and yogurt. Mix the cooled couscous chicken mixture. Transfer the couscous salad to taste with salt and pepper.

Then it's time to (guilt-free) enjoy!

Meanwhile in the garden the raspberries are growing (thanks Jacco and Gerda ;) )

Cooking wednesday! potatoe & fennel casserole

Hi there!

As i told last week i wanted to use my free wednesday as a cooking wednesday.
I was already think about it all week: what should i do?? So far i only placed baking things so i decided to make a dish this week.
But then, what kind of dish? I bought the Jamie Oliver magazine monday and there i found it!!
A potatoe fennel casserole! i love fennel, it's fresh and i like the anise taste of it.

We are lucky to have our own dutch version of the Jamie Oliver magazine. I love Jamie Oliver, he's cute, british, can cook and give you the idea that's easy :) I have quite a few of his books but i haven't tried one of his recipes until now.

Of course i had to make some adjustments as i couldn't found some sort of cheese. I also halved the ingredientz, the recipe is mad for 8 person but still it tasted good!

so this is what's needed:

- 1 fennel
- 450 gr sliced potatoes
- 100gr parmesan
- 50gr rasped cheese
- 2 steaks ( added to complete the meal)
- 1 oignon, sliced
- 3 cloves of garlic, sliced
-1 branch of thyme
- 35 gr of butter
- some olive oil




Here it's how it goes:
- start the oven on 180 degree
- cook the sliced potatoes for 3 minutes
- slice the fennel in thin slices and cook it for 2 minutes
- in a frying pan fried the thin sliced garlic with the butter and oil until it's golden
- put a layer of potatoes (about the half of it), then the half of the oignons,the half of the fennel, the thyme, the cheese and the garlic
- put another layer of potatoes and the rest of the ingredients.
- on top of it put some rasped cheese
- foil the dish with aluminium foil and set in the oven for 30-45 min (according to your oven)
- then take the aluminium foil out and set it again in the oven to let the cheese melt and gril.

Enjoy!!

if you have a good tip on the recipe, let me know ;)

Cooking wednesday: the start of it!

Hi there,

Sinds last week i worked less at the office which gives me some time to discover what my hobbies are and experience it.
As i like cooking in general and baking in particular, i've decided that i will have a cooking wednesday!!

Starting today, which is also my birthday!! YEAH!!

And last time i asked you what your favorite birthday cake was and i had no answer!! :( Which didn't help me make a choice for today.

So i baked all my favorites:

- the chocolate cake, the strawberries cake and the cheesecake!

what's your ultimate birthday cake??

Hi all!

It's almost my birthday and the last two years i've always make a cheesecake, the years before it was always a chocolate cake.
But this year i want to try something new!

So i was curious to know what's your ultimate birthday cake!!
Let me know and inspire me!! :)

Raspberry muffin à la Coeur de sucre

Delphine from Parfums de Gourmandises has a theme for the month of May: Cupcakes May.
She has already made 3 differents cupcakes for this month and i was charmed by her Raspberries cupcake.

Here are mines:

I've made them for Hubby and i but also for my friend who's jut became a mother. She liked my cupcake ;)

As i will have some free times coming weeks i hope to post more often on what i've baked, cooked, sewed and gardenned ;)

See you very soon!!

Last chapter on garden construction and more....

Our backyard is ready!!! Last weekend i've planted all my tomatoes, cucumber, eggplants, letuce and strawberries in my veggie garden.
Monday Hubby and I also placed the bright white gravel which is the finishing touch of our backyard.

We are happy!!

Last month Hubby and i went to Italy for the first for the holidays and we had found a nice  (as it seemed) hotel in Toscany. Our destination was Montecani Terme, north of Toscany  and later on we would drive southern to Chiancachino. The nature there was beautiful as it was green and all was blooming

 But we had to acclimate to different way of living, like lousy breakfast in the hotel, the different kind of coffee and that in Italy a lot of things are a bit hidden. But the coffee is really good there and the food and gelato's are great!!

And we were lucky to have sunny weather!!

Ciao!!