Vegetable Stew

This is an easy, heartwarming and delicious stew which is perfect for cold, windy winter evenings. I wasn't a fan of lentils but in this stew they taste perfectly and makes the stew rich. What is more, this is really easy to make. I recommend using a pressure-cooker but of course every pot will work. It will just take more time to cook. You may vary on the amounts of ingredients. I think next time I'd add some more mushrooms and tomatoes (mine were small). It's up to you!

1 tbsp oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves gralic, chopped
1 carrot, cubed
10 medium mushrooms, cubed
5-6 tomatoes, chopped
100g lentils
1 eggplant, cubed
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground sweet paprika
500ml vegetable stock

Heat the oil in a large pressure-cooker. Add onion and saute for a few minutes. Add garlic, carrots, spices and some vegetable stock and cook for another few minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for 35-45 minutes until all vegetables are fully cooked.

Enjoy!

Creamy Avocado Pasta

It's a quick, simple and delicious dish. Perfect for the days when you don't have time for preparing stews or casseroles. I really enjoyed this but I regret I didn't have any fresh basil. I believe this is an essential ingredient for this pasta and dried basil can't replace the fresh one.

Yield: Serves 1

1 medium sized ripe Avocado, pitted
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp kosher salt, or to taste 
1/4 cup Fresh Basil, (I used 2 tsp dried basil because I didn't have any fresh)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 serving your favourite pasta

1. Cook your pasta according to the directions.

2. Meanwhile, make the sauce: place the garlic cloves, lemon juice, and olive oil into a food processor. Process until smooth. Now add in the pitted avocado, basil, and salt. Process until smooth and creamy.

3. When pasta is done cooking, drain and rinse in a strainer and place pasta into a large bowl. Pour on sauce and toss until fully combined. Serve immediately.

Creamy Lemon Crumb Squares

 

 

I am so happy that I've discovered these bars! Buttery base, creamy in the middle and crunchy on the top these bars are amazing. The lemon flavour isn't too sweet or too tart. You must try these! I promise, you will not be disappointed.

Ingredients:

1 ⅓ cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup/113g butter, lightly softened

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup oats

1 can (14 ounce/397g) sweetened condensed milk

½ cup/120ml lemon juice

zest of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

Mix butter and brown sugar until well combined. Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Add oats and flour to butter/sugar mixture and mix to combine. Press half of oat crumb mixture into the bottom of a 20x20cm pan. 

Mix together condensed milk, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Spread onto the bottom layer of the crumb mixture. Mix the other half of the crumb mixture and knead together with your hands so that the butter that you added gets incorporated then crumble on top of lemon layer but don’t press.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

Allow to sit on counter for 30 minutes after baking. Refrigerate for couple of hours or overnight and cut into squares.

Serve cool. Makes 16.

Snickerdoodle Blondies

This recipe was added to my huge "to bake" list long time ago and luckily yesterday I discovered it again. And I have no doubt - this is gonna be a keeper! Despite the fact that I don't even want to know how many calories these blondies contain according to the amounts of butter and sugar... Anyway! Dare I say that they're worth every calorie. And the best thing about them is that these beauties are  r e a l l y  chewy!! So, so chewy. And the smell coming out of the oven when they are baking conquers you completely. Well, I think I've said enough. 

P.S. I decided to create a page of my blog on Facebook. It's quite empty now but I really hope that in time it will become a very important part of this blog and a space to share and discuss the delicious food! So if you'd like to like me on Facebook, here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/collectingmemoriess.

Snickerdoodle Blondies
2-2/3 cups (333g) all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
2 cups (400g) brown sugar
1 cup (225g) butter, room temperature
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Lightly grease a 22,5x32,5cm baking pan.

2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

3. Beat together the butter and brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time; beat in the vanilla. Keep beating the mixture until fully combined. Reduce the speed and fold in the flour mixture until just combined.

4. Spread the dough evenly into the pan. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and sprinkle over the top of the batter.

5. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the surface springs back when gently pressed. Cool completely before cutting.

Yield: 24 blondies

Pumpkin Pie

Happy birthday to my blog! It has been a year already since I started collecting memories. I am so happy to have created this recipe and photo collection which will be further increasing. I also want to thank you for reading my blog and leaving lovely comments which make my days much better! 

And here's the new recipe! A delicious pumpkin pie. The recipe (I couldn't remember where I found it) called for store-bought crust but I made my own. I took the recipe of the pastry from Flan Patissier recipe and only added 1/2 tsp of cinnamon to it. 

Pumpkin Pie

15 oz/(425g) canned pumpkin (I made my own by boiling and mashing fresh pumpkin)
2 tbsp light butter, softened
3/4 cup/160g light brown sugar
1/2 cup/120ml milk
1 large egg
2 large egg whites
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 frozen pie crust sheet (or make homemade as I did, the recipe from Flan Patissier crust)

1)  Preheat oven to 180°C.

2)  Prepare the crust, according to the directions.

3)  Place pumpkin in a large bowl. Add light butter, and mix well. Using an electric mixer, mix in brown sugar, milk, eggs, egg whites, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until mixture is smooth. Pour filling into unbaked pie crust.

4)  Bake 60 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Serve with whipped topping and enjoy!