Vivian is cooking... simple but delicious!

I had a crave for cookies today, not the usual ones with chocolate chips, but with hazelnuts. I searched for a recipe and I share today the one that I ended up to make. We all in the family, found them delicious and ate most of them extremely fast :) Unfortunately, I made a tiny mistake and put some more milk that I think that made the cookies to spread a little bit more. I will try again soon with the right amount of milk and will come up. Enough talking, start baking :)

In several countries people cook stuffed tomatoes, find today how we cook them in Greece that is extremely healthy and at the same time very tasty. Home will smell amazingly nice and you won't be able to resist!  Again a recipe that will make happy all vegetarians out there :)

A traditional greek recipe that is healthy and full of taste, that might be of interest to all vegetarians out there! Beans have to be extremely fresh and you see it of you break one with your fingers in half and it's crunchy.

This is definitely my recipe :) Suddenly, today, a weird idea stuck in my mind... I decided to make muffins but not my usual recipes. The inspiration of the day was to put nectarines and perfume them with cinnamon! Somehow, this combination made me dribbling :) And once I have an idea on my mind, I have to turn it to reality... So, find the result of my inspiration, that it was a nice surprise. I would like to hear your opinion in case you might dare to try it!

It's mother's day in France that we live, today, so I will share with you some of the gifts "cooked" by my kids. First, because I am so proud as they are made with lots of love and second, because I found them quite artistic so I hope that you might like them too :) All mothers out there, you know of course deep down our best gift, but schuss.... do not reveal it! The idea of the gift on the photo of your left, is of my daughter's teacher, a quite classic one.  The difference is, that the teacher explained to the kids that they have to make something so nice that mothers would love to keep it :) And I have to admit, that my daughter did really her best ! (I profit, to thank of course the teacher for the initiative!)

Weather is extremely cold today in our place, although it should be the beginning of the summer... As you can imagine, I came up again with the idea of a soup :) Not any soup, but one that has everything, meat for proteins and vegetables for vitamins. It will warm your heart, in days like this one, that you wake up end of May and face snow in the mountain...

Who does not like chocolate? If you add banana also, and put both in a muffin, then you will have the perfect combination to make your day :) Find here, how to make fast and simple this version of muffins. Do not forget to leave me your comments at the end! For the allergic ones, I have the alternative  vanilla muffins  :) or just simple chocolate muffins !

I will share today with you, one of my favorite recipes, the "tyropitakia"! "Tyropitakia" are small cheese pies made with feta and there are various recipes to make them. The most known recipe is the one with pastry "filo" but today, I will give you the recipe that has a dough made with yoghurt and which is my favorite one. They are delicious! If you end up falling in love with them like me, double the ingredients to make them last longer as they tend to disappear immediately coming out of the oven :)

When we refer to greek fast food, we think immediately of "souvlakia". Souvlakia , for those that do not know them, is pieces of meat in a skewer that we cook in the bbq or grill. If you happen to visit Greece, you can try souvlakia everywhere, as there are many fast foods that serve them. But, I will reveal today, the way that I make them as it is so easy to make them and they are sooooo delicious that it's a pitty to wait to buy them :) The most difficult part, is to keep the meat tender and moist after cooking, and trust me, my way succeeds !

Vivian is not only cooking, she is also ... gardening! Actually, I love gardening and for me, I have told you already, is like cooking. You mix the ingredients and you wait for the result. In gardening, the ingredients are the plants, and the result is the flowers or the synthesis that comes up. Few years ago, I started a project in my garden. I wanted to make a free floral fence on one side of the garden, the most important actually, the part that our living room is looking at. It took me almost 2 years of reading various books, web sites, blogs on gardening and designing how this fence should look like. And from time to time, we were going with my kids and buy a plant that we have finally decided to choose. It was a big time, as immediately after we were starting the planting part, which was a quite hard task (I have to admit that dear hubby was helping with the most difficult ones :) But we were so happy every time that we were adding one to our collection... Last year, this p

Summer is approaching, so fresh salads like the ones with tomatoes are more and more in the menu. I will try to list here various versions to make a salad with tomatoes. This post will be updated from time to time... Today, get 2 versions: 1. The easy greek salad :) with tomatoes, cucumber, feta, salt, oregano, olive oil 2. The easy italian salad :) with tomatoes, mozzarella, salt, oregano, olive oil

(updated version with raspberries) The most basic recipe for muffins. Easy to make, muffins are perfect for breakfast or an easy desert as it takes only minutes from beginning to the time that you will taste them. Start with this recipe and from time to time I will update with more variations. This one will charm you with it's vanilla flavor, so simple but delicious :) My favorite moto ... For the ones, that need to have chocolate everywhere, try my  Chocolate-banana muffins  !

Find today a soup that it will be a nice surprise to your taste :) It's the principle of meatballs with some rice, but in the form of a soup. Finish touch, an egg-lemon mix that adds this extra, that boosts the recipe! Ingredients For the meatballs: 500 gr minced veal meat (I like to add some porc also) 1 minced onion 1 egg 2 tablespoons of rice salt, pepper, olive oil minced parsley some flour For the soup 2-3 potatoes 2 carrots 1 egg juice of a lemon salt, pepper 1/2 cup of olive oil Procedure F ill 1/3 of a casserole with water and let it boil. Add the potatoes and the carrots cut in small pieces, season with salt, pepper and add some olive oil.   Mix well the ingredients of the meatballs.  Form the mixture in small balls and roll them in the flour. Put them in the (almost) boiling water (slowly, to avoid burning!). Let it cook in medium heat for about 40 minutes. Let it cool. A few minutes before serving, whisk th

Nothing easier and impressive like this! This "recipe" is the result from a brainstorming some years ago with my husband to find something easy and tasty, for the buffet of a party that we were organizing. The result is more than rewarding. See how to make these feta or sausage rolls that you can use them for a buffet, for breakfast, for an afternoon snack, a picnic, ... It's so easy that you can literally leave your children do them for you, like my daughter did today and my even younger son did several times in the past. They will be so proud and everyone will be happy to eat them eventually! No need to say that it's the first thing that disappear in our party buffets :) Ingredients 1 package of french puff pastry 4 sausages (or feta cheese and 1 egg) optionally, 1 beaten egg to give a nice color on top Procedure Cut the pastry in 16 parts like in the photo. If you prefer sausages, cut each one in 4 parts to make 16 pieces. If you prefer the feta cheese,

Like lemon? Then you will get addicted with this lemon rabbit (like Rogger Rabbit :) stew seasoned with oregano. Ingredients 1 medium rabbit, cut in parts 3 carrots 1 onion, minced 1 lemon (the juice) salt, pepper, olive oil, oregano Procedure Wash the rabbit parts and pat them to dry in kitchen paper. Fry them in a low casserole with olive oil. Once the meat parts are done from one side, turn them and add the onion also. When they are done also, pour the lemon juice and add the carrots cut in slices, the salt, pepper and the oregano. Leave for a minute. Add water until the food is almost covered. Cover and cook for about 30 min in the pressure cooker or an hour until the meat is tender enough. Serve with potato puree and a simple greek salad (tomatoes, cucumber, feta). Enjoy!

Once again a classic recipe, that is tasty, but takes really minimum time to prepare... Children love simple tastes, thus will love this one and it's a safe choice if you're puzzled what to cook them today :)      Ingredients 1 chicken (I prefer BIO) 5-6 potatoes 1 lemon (the juice) salt, pepper, olive oil, garlic Procedure Put in a dish for the oven (I like to use one with a cover) the chicken in the middle, surrounded by the potatoes cut in pieces. Add the salt, the pepper, the olive oil and the garlic cut in small pieces. Pour olive oil on top all over, the lemon juice and add enough water to almost cover the potatoes. Cover your dish and put it in the oven (180C, fan) for about 1h30. The last 15 min, uncover and let food get a nice golden color.  Your food is ready! Serve with a nice feta-tomato salad like in the photo below.

Fish and chips? Noooooo.... Fish and broccoli! We keep our healthy habits in this blog :) Find today a nice combination that takes almost no time to prepare, it's delicious and keeps you in shape :) What more to ask? Ingredients 3 sea breams or any other fish that goes to the grill broccoli olive oil salt, lemon juice Procedure Wash the fish and the broccoli. Put the fish in a dish for the grill like on photo. Add some water underneath. Pour some olive oil on top of the fish and put the in the oven with grill for about 10 min. Once they get a nice color, turn them and let them again about 10 min. Your fish is almost ready! In parallel, cut the broccoli branches and put them in a small casserole covered with water to boil for about 6 min. Then, turn off the heat but leave the casserole until the fish is done. Serve the fish with the broccoli adding on top salt, olive oil and lemon juice. Your dish is ready!