Creamy Pasta Salad with Greek Yogurt Feta Dressing

Pasta dishes have always been my favourite ones. It's because pasta is extremely versatile and you can think of thousands of yummy dishes to make with it. One of my latest experiments was this creamy pasta salad. What is good about it, is that despite being amazingly delicious, it is also healthy. The dressing is made with greek yogurt instead of mayonnaise.
P.S. it is even better the next day after being refrigerated overnight. Enjoy!

Creamy Pasta Salad with Greek Yogurt Feta Dressing

200g ditalini pasta, cooked and drained
1 can sweet corn
1 large tomato, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 red onion, sliced
55g (handful) of black olives, halved
1/2 head lettuce (Iceberg), chopped
75g mixed baby leaves, chopped
salt & pepper

Greek Yogurt Feta Dressing

100g Feta cheese
300g/ (a little more than 1 cup) greek yogurt
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp dried dill
1 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp white pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp lemon juice

1) In a large bowl, combine together all the ingredients for the salad. Set aside.

2) For the dressing, combine all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse to make a smooth paste. Alternatively, you can simply put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix everything by hand.

3) Pour the dressing onto the salad and mix until evenly distributed. Keep in refrigerator.

Recipe by collecting memories

Ho Ho Cake

Ho Ho Cake

Cake
210g/3/4 cup + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
220g/1 cup granulated sugar
44g/1/4 cup + 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp instant coffee powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp Salt
120ml/1/2 cup milk
60ml/1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
120ml/1/2 cup boiling water

Cream Filling
300ml/1 1/4 cups milk
40g/5 tbsp all-purpose flour
220g/1 cup granulated sugar
113g/1/2 cup butter

Icing
250g/2 cups powdered sugar
113g/1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
84g/3 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
2 tbsp milk
2 tbsp hot water
1 tsp vanilla extract

Cake: 

1) Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Grease and flour 23x33cm (9x13inch) pan.

2) In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, cocoa, instant coffee powder, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, mix together milk, oil, egg and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ones and beat on medium speed with mixer until well combined smooth.

3) Slowly pour in the boiling water. Pour the batter into prepared pan. Bake 30-35 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake completely.

Cream filling: 

1) In a small saucepan, combine together milk and flour. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens (5-8 minutes). Cool to room temperature.

2) With a mixer cream together sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add the cooled milk mixture. Beat on high speed for 7 minutes. Spread onto the cooled cake and refrigerate until set. 

Icing: 

1) In a large bowl, beat together powdered sugar, butter and melted chocolate until smooth. Add milk, boiling water and vanilla extract and beat a few minutes (at least 5) until very fluffy. Spread icing over cream filling.

Recipe adapted from here.

Farro Bake

Here's another proof that healthy food can also be delicious. I like all kinds of grains but farro is among my favourites. 
This farro bake is very simple and maybe that's why I like it. The two bright flavours you basically taste is parmesan and tomato sauce. That's why I suggest using homemade tomato sauce. If it contains basil, oregano, onion, garlic - even better! If using simple tomato sauce, feel free to add herbs like dried oregano or basil. Just be sure you sprinkle enough Parmesan on top!

Farro Bake

1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
¼ tsp salt
300g/1 ½ c pearled farro
225g/1 cup tomato sauce (preferably homemade)
600ml/2 ½ c vegetable broth
60g/1 1/4 cups Parmesan cheese, divided

1) Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Prepare 20x20cm/8x8" silicone baking pan or lightly grease a metal pan.  

2) In a large saucepan, heat olive oil. Add onion, salt and garlic and bring to medium-high heat. Cook onions until they start to turn translucent. Stir occasionally. Add farro and cook for another minute. Add tomato sauce and vegetable broth. Stir to combine. Bring to a simmer and then remove from heat. Stir in 1 cup of the Parmesan cheese.

3) Transfer the mixture into the prepared baking dish and cover with foil. Cut a few slits in the foil. Bake for 45 minutes, removing the foil when it's almost done just to let the top darken. Remove from oven and sprinkle remaining cheese on top.

Recipe adapted from here.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

Everybody's searching for the best chocolate chip cookie recipe. To me the best cookie is large, thick, chewy in the center and has a lot of chocolate chunks in every bite. Well, these cookies have all of those features! I have made very similar cookies before, and I have also tried chocolate chip cookies which contained oats and were as thick as these were, but what makes these "perfect cookies" perfect, is cornstarch. Yes, only two teaspoons of cornstarch make all the difference! It makes cookies soft and chewy. But I think even cornstarch is not the most important thing to make cookies perfect. I have made chocolate chip cookies many times in my life and I realized that the most important thing is not to overbake them. It is a must to turn off your oven when they still look a little bit underbaked. Also, chilling is very important too! Chilled cookie dough doesn't spread that much and the result is thicker cookies. So be patient!

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

170g/3/4 cup butter, room temperature
150g/¾ cup brown sugar
55g/¼ cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
250g/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
220g semisweet chocolate chips

1) Cream together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until combined.

2) Mix together flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. 

3) Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and blend. Stir in chocolate chunks. 

4) Chill the cookie dough for at least one hour in the refrigerator. Take out of the refrigerator, form the balls, place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

5) Next day, take the chilled cookie dough out of the freezer and let stand at room temperature for 5 minutes until you preheat your oven to 180C/350F. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the edges are slightly golden. Let cookies set on the pan for five minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Recipe adapted from here.

Coffee Cupcakes

I couldn't remember when I made cupcakes for the last time and it was a great excuse to try coffee flavoured cupcake recipe which has been in my to-bake list for a long time already. This recipe is a keeper! The muffins came out moist, soft and as delicious as I expected. It is a good dose of coffee because both the cupcakes and the frosting have coffee inside. If you are a coffee addict like me, this is the recipe you've been looking for.

Coffee cupcakes

250g/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
120ml/1/2 cup boiling water
2 tbsp instant coffee powder
60ml/1/4 cup milk
113g/1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
110g/1/2 cup white sugar
100g/1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs

1) Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F).

2) Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

3) Combine together instant coffee powder and boiling water. Let cool and mix in the milk.

4) In a large bowl, beat butter, white and brown sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the coffee mixture, beginning and ending with flour.

5) Divide the batter among 12 muffin liners. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the centres comes out clean, about 20-22 minutes. Let it cool in the pan for a few minutes, then transfer to cooling rack and cool completely before frosting.

Coffee buttercream

113g/1/2 cup butter, room temperature
190g/1 1/2 cup confectioners sugar, sifted
2 tbsp instant coffee dissolved in 2 tablespoons of boiling water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp milk (optional)

1) Beat butter and instant coffee mixture on high speed until light and fluffy.

2) Reduce speed and add confectioners sugar in 2-3 additions. Beat until incorporated. Add vanilla extract. If the mixture looks too thick, add one tablespoon of milk. Beat until you reach the desired consistency.

3) Frost and enjoy! 

Cupcake recipe adapted from Martha Stewart.