Healthy Way of Traditional Slovenian Cake "Potica"

It's easter time! For most of you that means lots of colored eggs, ham, spicy horseradish and all other treats that goes with it. Here in Slovenia we also make this special cake, called Potica. It's usually made for Christmas and Easter. The most tipical one is made out of walnuts, but there are many other ways to prepare it - with hazelnuts, tarragon, poppy seeds, coconut ... I usually make "potica" with hazelnuts, walnuts and chocolate. But this time I've decided to prepare it differently - more healthy and yet tasty.

So how have I managed to do that? Actually pretty easy - easier and faster than the ordinary one. I haven't used any yeast, so I didn't have to wait for the dough to rise up, so everything was made within 2 hours. I have used flours and nuts that don't acidify our body and have basicity effect on our body. I haven't used any sugar, I've substituted it with ahorn syrup. I also haven't used regular butter, I've taken coconut butter instead.

For all "potica" fans that would like to try out something new, healthy and yet delicious, here is the recipe:

Ingredients for the dough:

- 125 g wholewheat spelled flour

- 125 g regular spelled flour

- 250 g kamut flour 

- a pinch of salt

- lemon peel (from 1 lemon)

- 80 g coconut butter

- 3 Tbsp ahorn syrup

- 250 ml almond milk

- baking powder of tartar

Ingredients for the filling:

- 200 g of ground hazelnuts

- 200 g of ground almonds

- 200 ml almond milk

- cinnamon

- 2 Tbsp coconut oil

- a cup mixed of raisins and cranberries

- 3 Tbsp ahorn syrup

- pinch of rum

Preparation:

First combine all ingredients for the dough together - mix it well with "dough adapter" on your mixer. Put the dough on the table and roll it out. It should be pretty thin, around 2-3 mm thick. 

Then prepare the filling. Soak a cup of cranberries + raisins in water for 10 minutes. Then pour the water out and add some rum. Combine hazelnuts with almonds and coconut butter and mix a bit. Bring almond milk to boil and cover nuts with hot milk, mixed together with ahorn syrup. Add cinnamon and cranberries with raisins and mix it well. Spread the filling over the dough, leaving an inch free on the sides of the dough. Then roll the dough (help yourself with the table cloth) together.

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Prepare the baking pan - I've used two oblonged baking pans but you can use whatever you like. Cover the pans with baking paper and put "potica" in it. When the temperature in oven is ready, put potica in it and bake for around 1 hour until the crust is golden-brown.

I have a rabbit watching over my potica, so there will still be some left for tomorrow's festive Sunday. 

Happy easter everyone!

Seabass and Spinach with Pine Nuts and Raisins

Today I was in a mood to make something different for lunch again. Luckly I was all alone and was able to prepare everything without anybody bothering me. I enjoy that a lot, since I can do it the way I want it and have all the time I need to prepare it perfectly.

I've decided to go for seafood since it's been a while when I've last eaten it. So I've prepared seabass and a special spinach with pine nuts and raisins. Strange combination you'd say and before you start with "eew, I don't like raisins", I have to admit I don't like them much neither, but they turned out really good in combination with spinach and pine nuts. As a salad I've chosen rocket and prepared it with tomatoes and grated cheese. It was fresh and just right to go with seafood lunch. After delicious lunch we've enjoyed with nicely decorated coffee and muffins that were left from Women's Day. :)

Ingredients for 4 persons:

- 4 pcs seabass

- 6 cloves of garlic

- parsley

- rosemary

- 2 lemons

- 2 tomatoes

- 500 g spinach

- 50 g pine nuts

- 50 g raisins

- salt

- pepper

- nutmeg

- 2 tbsp of coconut oil

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 190°C. Prepare a baking pan and put baking paper in it. Chop a bit of parsley and 3 cloves or garlic and put them a little bit inside each seabass. Add also a bit of rosemary and salt to each seabass and put them in baking pan. Put them in oven and bake for 20 minutes on each side.

Meanwhile put spinach in a large pot, pour water over it and bring it to boil. Leave it on medium heat for 5-10 minutes and then put the water out. Cover raisins with hot water and let it rest for 15 minutes. Then pour the water out. In a big pan sauté pine nuts for 2 minutes (without adding oil). Then put them aside. Put 2 tbsp of coconut oil in pan and add 3 choped cloves of garlic. Sauté for 2 minutes and then put the garlic out. Add spinach to oil and sauté for 5-10 minutes covered with lid on low heat untill the water evaporates. Then add pine nuts and raisins, a bit of nutemeg, pepper and salt and mix it. 

When the seabasses are ready, put them out of the oven and on the plate. Give a bit of spinach, sliced tomatoes and lemons on each plate. Serve and enjoy your meal!

Oat Flower Muffins For Women's Day

Happy women's day to all my lovely ladies! We all know how good we are and how men can be thankful for having us, right? ;)  My morning started very lovely and nice. Chocolate flowers with a cute note from my parents were waiting for me.

For that special occasion I've also decided to bake something very special for all my  ladies. Of cource I've consider it to be very tasty, delicious and healthy at the same time.

Mission accomplished! I've made oat muffins for the first time and added no sugar, only a bit of honey and the sweetness came out from different kinds of fruit. To make it more girly, I've put them to pink silicone muffin cups and sprinkled with strawberries. Since women's day is all about flowers mine muffins also looked like little flowers. My ladies liked them a lot. And I'm sure you will too. So go ahead and try it! ;)

Ingredients for 12 muffins:

- 300 ml whole wheat spelt flour

- 300 ml rolled oats

- 2 bananas

- 250 g strawberries

- 1 egg

- 2 tbsp coconut oil

- 150 ml vanilla yoghurt

- 2 tbsp honey

- 1 baking powder

- vanilla seeds

- cinnamon

- ground ginger

- creamcheese

- 1 tbsp powder sugar

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 175°C. In a big bowl combine egg, liquid coconut oil, honey, vanilla yoghurt, mashed bananas and mix it well. Then add flour, oats, baking powder a bit of cinnamon, ground ginger and vanilla seeds (that you have mix before in a separate bowl). Stir all together very quickly just to make it moistened. Then add sliced strawberries and mix again so they are well spreaded. Put silicone (or paper) cups in muffin pan and add your butter with a tablespoon into 12 cups. Put it in oven and bake for around 20 minutes.

Wait until they cool. 

Take creamcheese and add a tbsp of powder sugar. Stir it. When muffins are cooled, cut heads off the muffins with a knife (be careful so they don't tear apart). With a flower shaped cookie model cut out flowers or circles from the muffin heads. Put a tsp of creamcheese in the middle of each muffin, then put the "cut-out" head on top and decorate with pink and chocolate balls. Enjoy and share them! :)

5-Minutes Quinoa Porridge

So here's another post about breakfast. And be sure, there are still some to come in next days, since I'm very in an experimetal-breakfast mood lately. 

So today something about my new creation: 5-minutes quinoa porridge. Why 5 minutes? Well acctually it has two meanings.

1.) It will take you only 5 minutes to prepare this delicious meal.

2.) 5 minutes and it's gone. Every little thing in it is so tasty, crunchy and melts in your mouth so you just wanna go for more. Well you have 5 minutes to enjoy it. ;)

Back to the point of this post. I bought quinoa last day since I've read many positive facts about this cereal. One of the things that convinced me the most are listed here:

- gluten free, so you can digest it easily

- complete protein, again much +++ for athlets

- reach in fiber, magnesium and iron, great for non-red-meat lovers

- low in calories and fat, that means hurray for all women :)

Many people make quinoa for lunch as a substitution for rice or as an add-on for salads. Well I've made it differently. For breakfast. With milk. And not just any milk, I've chosen almond milk. For the first time acctually, but it was worth it. It tasted sooo good and without additional sugar the sweetness was just right. 

For the porridge I've decided to add more ingredients than usually so my breakfast would be rich and that it would keep me full for a longer time in work. I must say it was successful. I've added a bit of banana, some cranberries, macadamia, coconut and strawberries to my porridge and it turned out perfect. Even my boyfriend agreed. So here is the recipe for all who want to try something new in the morning that will take only few minutes of your morning time, but will make you smile all day long. ;)

Ingredients for one person:

- 240 ml almond milk

- 40 g quinoa flakes

- half of banana

- few dried cranberries

- few macadamia nuts

- 1-2 strawberries

- coconut flakes

- vanilla seeds

- ground ginger

- cinnamon

Preparation:

Put almond milk together with cranberres in a pot and add a bit of cinnamon, vanilla seeds and ground ginger. Bring it to boil and add quinoa flakes. Mix a bit and put it to medium heat. Meanwhile mash half of banana, cut strawberries to slices and crush few macadamia nuts. After 3 minutes your porridge is ready. Add mashed banana to it and mix it. Put it in a nice cup, add macadamia nuts and strawberries on top and spring it with coconut flakes. Enjoy your breakfast!