Yummy focaccia (with greek feta and oregano)

My favorite 3 ingredients (dough, feta and oregano) all in one recipe! And who can resist in a good focaccia in any case? If you share the same values ;) go for it! Of course, we are open minded here, feel free to adapt to your own favorites! 

Fresh (not fried) Spring Rolls

Easy, healthy, colorful fresh spring rolls from my daughter.

Just right for the Tet Nguyen Dan, the Vietnamese New Year that is on 10 of February this year. 

Adapt it to your prefernces and Enjoy! 

Ingredients

Carrots, cucumber, avocado, lettuce

100gr of rice noodles

12 rice papers

500gr fried chicken bites or shrimp (here chicken)

Procedure

• Cook the rice noodles according to the description in the package.
• Slice the vegetables (carrots, cucumber, avocado), cut the lettuce in pieces.
• Pour lukewarm water in a big plate and soak one by one each rice paper for 5sec (has to be still quite stiff). Do not let it get soft as it will tear while wrapping. 
• Add the filling on each rice paper according to family preferences: for example, some lettuce and a mix of vegetables, rice noodles and chicken or shrimp. Here, we had several variations as you can see in the photo. 
• Wrap each rice paper tightly and arrange in a presentation plate. Not too close as they will stick easily to each other.
• Serve with any dipping sauce (sweet or salty) like soya or peanut sauce. 
  

  
  

Eat immediately or if not used avocado, store for a couple of days in the fridge (wrapped individually in storage wrap).  

French chocolate king cake (Galette des rois au chocolat)

You know those days that you have the crave to bake a cake but not enough of an ingredient? 

This is one of those days that I wanted to bake a french king cake (my original recipe) but missing some almond powder. So, the idea to try for once a chocolate version seemed very inspiring and one deeeply appreciated from the youngsters here :) 

I had 100gr of almond powder instead of 140gr, so I replaced the 40gr missing with cocoa powder.

I encourage you to try it!

*Not knowing how it will turn out, I did not use the egg yolk on top, which was not bad either although it was missing some sparkle, so better not to skip :)

Cinnamon Rolls NEW RECIPE

New Year, new recipes :)

Vivian's daughter is cooking too and thanks to her I found a better recipe for Cinnamon Rolls that is a SMASH. What an amazing feeling to be outperformed by your children! To all the ones out there that just cannot resist to anything cinnamon flavored. Enjoy!  

My 2023 Christmas recipes

 Merry Xmas with my recipes! To be shared with your dearest!

Melomakarona, Kourambiedes, Stuffed Turkey, Xmas Swiss roll, Ekmek kadaif, 

Stuffed mushrooms, Mini pasticcios, Pavlova and Xmas pudding. 

Mascarpone - nutella cake

Here's an old recipe updated from a minimalistic cake to a gourmet one: Chocolate cake with mascarpone & nutella filling

Just double the dose of the filling and use to cover and decorate it. As simple as that.

One of out favorite to celebrate among family new sucesses!

 

Stuffed mushrooms

Stuffed mushrooms!

Here's a nice idea for a starter to serve with some nice wine next to the fireplace. Just replace the wine with some softer non-alcoholic version for me :) like a scented water where you have let infused several citrus fruits (nice idea for a new recipe btw). 

Cookies with white Wine

Have some left over white wine and do not know what to do with? I have you the recipe for!

I have indexed it here as Greek Easter cookies but you can improvise and do what ever you want with it.

Yesterday we went crazy and did a mix of various shapes like Christmas, Halloween and striped ones. We had lots of fun doing them with family, not to mention eating them :) 

PS: Better be a dry white wine though.

What to cook in October?

My top recipes for October that the weather starts to get chilly and rainy (at least in my region :) not to mention spooky because of Haloween!

• Butternut squash soup
• Croziflette, savoy specialty!
• Greek ravani (moist cake with semolina)
• Coconut "Ravani"

Super yummy all of them! 

Let me know what you think in your comments.

 

Homemade Pretzels (twist it baby!)

This is THE best recipe to prepare the saltiest soft pretzels! Look no further, my hubby tested it and we are sharing it here. Enjoy!  

Hubby is bringing tasty trends at home thanks to his travelling, here's another one that we are crazy for: 

• Kurtos Kalacs or chimney cakes

Ham and swiss cheese bread/cake

Having friends coming over? Looking for a fast meal? Are on a diet and instead of baking a sweet cake you came to your senses and decide to bake a salty one? Then this recipe is for you. Here we have just loved it! What's the secret ? The swiss cheese (aged Gruyere) that makes all the difference :)

Bake this salty cake that you can either cut in cubes and serve it with toothpicks as an aperitif or serve it with a salad and have a full and tasty meal! 

Other ideas: 

• Tomato-mozzarella-oregano cake
• Feta & dried tomatoes cake
• Aperitif or cocktail hour flower