Salmon and egg brunch salad

I have been wondering whether there is more traffic accidents on Friday than on any other day. At least based on my limited experience of living out in the countryside and driving to work for the last seven or eight months or so, it seems that on Fridays there is always an accident somewhere along my route. And with the weight of traffic being much heavier on Fridays anyways, it makes the trip home last forever. It is so frustrating to see all the routes turn red in an instant on Google Maps when people fill up the alternative routes once the main dual carriageway is blocked. The road infrastructure in this country is so incapable of sustaining the weight of traffic. We will have a brand new A14 in say 10 years or so, but it isn't much comfort right at this minute when the only option to get to work in a sensible time is leave home no later than 6.20 am in the morning. And even at that time I rarely get to do 70 on the A14 for long stretches at a time. 

Traffic has become one of my pet peeves, how people are so hell-bent on "Me, Me, Me, I need to get through here quickly" and no thought on the big picture of how your behaviour affects the traffic flow in general. When I lived in Cambridge and could walk everywhere I barely noticed the traffic jams, although they were always there. But they didn't touch my life in any way. Now, it's just such a gamble every time I look at Google Maps before leaving work. Is that red stretch on my route bad enough that I should take the alternative, longer route? I used to try and logically plan my choices, but I have learned that here the traffic situations change in an instant and looking at maps before leaving work amounts to no good, as by the time I have reached the car park there is another accident out there somewhere and another route is blocked. People, be careful out there! Everyone gets home quicker if we have some patience and don't do idiotic and stupid manoeuvres that cause high risk situations to occur. Ok, stepping off the soap box now. But promise me you will drive carefully!!! 

Ok, on to the main star of today's pos. This salad is a great healthier alternative to your usual salmon and poached egg muffin. Perfect for a delicious lunch or weekend brunch. Loads of flavour, healthy fats and protein along with several of your five a day. As easy to make for one, or scale up and make for a bigger party.

Salmon salad (for one):
big handful of mixed greens (I included spinach)
cucumber, chopped into sticks
handful of cherry or plum tomatoes
2 slices of smoked salmon
1 boiled egg
2 tbsp mozzarella pearls

For the dressing:
1/2 tbsp cider vinegar
1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tbsp finely chopped dill and chives
black pepper

The howto:
Pile all salad ingredients onto a plate. Mix the ingredients for the dressing, pour over the salad. All done! Can food get any faster than this?

The verdict:
I like to make my salads with lots of things in them. The lettuce and cucumber are there just for the background whereas the main stars of the show are always something delicious like chicken or smoked salmon, and some cheese too from time to time. Salmon and egg is one of my favourite salad flavour combinations. Healthy fats from the fish and lots of protein from the egg. Also, the right way to eat a salad is to eat the lettuce and cucumber first, and then leave all the goodies to finish with. I should maybe start assembling the salads upside down, with all the filling at the bottom and the greens on the top to make it easier to eat in my preferred way... Although that wouldn't make a very pretty photo now would it? 

Steak and warm kale salad

I am less than a week away from my summer holiday in the sun. A multitude of maxi dresses have been eBayed and I'm hoping my huge sun hat will arrive in time. I need to nip by Boots for some sunscreen and some other summer necessities tomorrow, other than that I should be more or less good to go. Although I'm hoping all I will be needing is a toothbrush, a bathing suit and a few dresses.

I should start packing soon, as we leave on Monday. Incidentally we are having some of the Culinary Consultant's family over on Sunday for a BBQ (this was agreed on before the summer holiday had been booked, have to admit the timing is not optimal). And I need to make the whole BBQ menu dairy free... oh deary (or dairy, hehe) me, I have no idea how to make a dairy free pudding. Anything I can think of has milk or butter. Maybe Eton mess with coconut cream instead of whipped cream? Or a nice dark chocolate sponge cake with oil instead of butter? I shall have to turn to my dear friend Pinterest to figure this out. At least doing dairy free BBQ should be quite easy. No cheeseburgers though... And I am thinking of having a salad station where everyone can make their own salad, bowls of ingredients like lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, feta, onions, sweetcorn, chorizo and whatnot. I just want to make it as easy as possible. And I'm happy the Culinary Consultant will be left to clean up the mess while I jet away to sunny Cape Verde. So expect an update on Cape Verdian food coming up!

Today's recipe is perfect for a quick and easy weeknight dinner. It takes less than 15 minutes to prepare if you multitask preparing the warm salad and cooking the steaks, and it will help you get rid of those last few leftover handfuls of spinach and kale. I always have a bit of kale left and never a good idea what to do with it.

Steak and warm kale salad (serves 2):
2 steaks of desired size
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion
150 g mushrooms
2 big handfuls of kale
2 big handfuls of spinach
1 clove of garlic
salt, pepper

The howto:
Slice the onion and mushrooms. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan, and cook the onions over medium heat until starting to soften. Increase the heat a bit and add the mushrooms. Let cook for a few minutes. Add the kale, and cook until starting to wilt. Add the spinach and finely choppped garlic. Toss well, season to taste and cook for another minute or so. 

Cook steaks to desired doneness. Let rest in foil wrap for a few minutes before serving with the warm salad.

The verdict:
This was something I just tossed together from the left overs in my fridge. I had a few traditional, "cold" salads over the weekend, and with the weather all overcast and chilly today I thought I rather have a warm salad instead. And it turned out rather nice even if I do say so myself. The kale was still a bit crunchy and the flavour of garlic came through really well. The Culinary Consultant, who is back from his weekend of debauchery also enjoyed it, although I served him some boiled potatoes with butter and mint to make it a bit more substantial. And I might just have had one or two of those potatoes when I tidied up after dinner. Leftover calories don't count! 

Summer strawberry and avocado salad

The Culinary Consultant is out and about for the weekend, and I am enjoying the rare treat of having the house all by myself. Which is great, except in the night when there are lots of weird noises and the house seems strangely big. Which is silly but I heard some noises from the neighbour's driveway last night, but it sounded like they were in our driveway, so I had to get up and close the window to feel safe. Of course closing the window would protect me from anything bad happening. And I get to watch as many romcoms as I like. Not a single movie with any shooting or violence. I'm burning through Netflix. Note to self though, I should probably learn to use the Xbox so I could watch my movies on the TV instead of the computer. Oh well, first world problems, eh?

One major benefit of being home alone is I can make all the salads I want. Today I made a summery strawberry and avocado salad for lunch. I have been going through punnets of strawberries as if there is no tomorrow. For dinner I have an idea for something vegetarian, which you will hear all about if it turns out reasonable. And tomorrow there will be another lunch salad! I probably should not mention the half tub of Ben & Jerry's I had for dessert after lunch...

Strawberry and avocado salad (for 1):
a handful of mixed greens (I like to include spinach)
cucumber
1/2 avocado
4-5 strawberries
1 tbsp finely crumbled feta
2-3 tbsp balsamic vinegar

The howto:
Prepare the balsamic reduction. In a small saucepan, bring the balsamic vinegar to a medium heat making sure it doesn't boil, and keep on the hob until reduced to about half of the original volume and slightly syrup-y. While the balsamic is reducing, slice the cucumber and cut the strawberries into quarters. Place the ingredients on a plate, and drizzle with the balsamic reduction. Enjoy with a slice of fresh bread.

The verdict:
This is such a quick and easy lunch, and it's ridiculously delicious. It only takes a few minutes to throw together so it's perfect to maximise your time out in the wonderful summer sun. The salty feta, soft avocado and sweet strawberries just go so well together. And the balsamic reduction is perfection! 

Chimichurri tomato salad with halloumi

It's been a while since my last post. It wasn't supposed to be that long... Life got a bit hectic this week. All good hectic, but no time for crafting, cooking or blogging. I saw friends, did pilates, and I can't even remember what I did on Tuesday and why I didn't have time to blog then, but it was something I'm sure. I was so tired last night I couldn't even be bothered to plan the weekend's cooking so we are going to have roast chicken this weekend. Again. Sigh. I am a failure as a food blogger! However, this morning I had a browse through the blogosphere and found this amazing recipe for chimichurri tomato salad on Tartelette. It looked so amazing that I had to try it out immediately!

Our own tomato season is still far away, although the tomato plants in the greenhouse are growing at lighting speed and a few flowers have already been spotted. Luckily the tomatoes in the grocery store have started to look red instead of that pale orange-y colour they have been all winter. So I bought myself a bunch of tomatoes and picked the herbs for the chimichurri right out of my own garden for this refreshing salad which is exploding with taste. The original recipe consists of the salad served with battered halloumi. I thougth I would keep it a bit healthier and just serve the halloumi lightly grilled without the panko crust, but hop over to the original blog post for a look for the crusted alternative.

Chimichurri tomato salad with halloumi (serves 2 as main or 4 as appetizer):
For the chimichurri:
1 cup parsley
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
4 cloves of garlic
1/3 cup chives
juice of one lemon
1/4 cup olive oil

For the salad:
1 lb (450 g) tomatoes
1/4 to 1/3 cup chimichurri
1/2 red onion
1 cup micro greens
1 lb (450 g) halloumi

The howto:
Take all the ingredients for the chimichurri and blitz them in a food processor until finely chopped. For the salad, slice the tomatoes and finely slice the onion. Mix all ingredients apart from the halloumi. Slice the halloumi into thick slices and pan fry over medium heat for a few minutes per side until it has turned golden. Serve immediately.

The verdict:
This is a super easy and quick salad. I think the chimichurri which is exploding with flavours from the parsley, chives and garlic goes really well with the salty halloumi. I served the salad with a bit of bacon on the side as well to appease the meat-eater in the house (and we had a few slices of bacon which needed using up so I thought why not). I was afraid that the combination of the salty bacon and halloumi would be to much, but it was well balanced by the strong flavours of the chimichurri and the sweet tomatoes. I can't wait to make this from my own tomatoes, which will be even more sweeter than the store bought ones. 

I have to admit, the measures in the recipe above are directly from the Tartlette recipe. When I made my salad, I couldn't be bothered to measure anything, just used what I thought would be a good amount of the ingredients and made a serving for two (I used 3 big red tomatoes and 4 medium sized yellow tomatoes, 2 cloves of garlic, 125 g halloumi and the rest of the ingredients to taste). If you have any chimichurri left after making the salad, it keeps for a day or two in the fridge and goes great with grilled beef

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Goat's cheese salad and vinaigrette

Today I had my last penultimate day at work. As in, the last penultimate Tuesday. Tomorrow I will have my last Wednesday, followed by my last Thursday and so on. And in exactly one week from this moment, I will have started my eight day holiday! I have so much planned for that holiday, I was supposed to have a lazy holiday and do absolutely nothing, but turns out I have already booked a place to a career event, hairdresser, optician, and I will try to clean the house from top to toe, maybe re-organise the kitchen cupboards, and definitely try to sow some seeds in the greenhouse, although it might be a bit too early in the year for that. But I'm hopeful for an early, long and sunny spring. Oh wait, I forgot I live on this godforsaken island, I bet we will have icy hail and subzero temperatures all through to early May just for spite. And one thing I will definitely do during my holiday is cook. I will cook something every day, and try to fill the freezer with homecooked meals we can eat during the weeks to come. I have a bit of a food planner, let's see what happens, maybe I will spend all of my holidays on the sofa playing Civilization and serving microwave meals... 

Of all the salads in all the world, I think I like the goat's cheese salad most. Or maybe Caesar salad. Or possibly a nice tuna and pasta salad with pesto... but the goat's cheese salad definitely makes the top five. It's fresh and crunchy but the cheese brings lovely creaminess and makes it a bit more filling. It's a perfect lunch or light dinner, or a perfect side for a meaty dinner. It's not really a complicated recipe, but sometimes just seeing food ideas is great and will get you eating something you haven't though about for a while. This salad definitely deserves to be eaten every now and then. And today's recipe is not just one recipe, in fact it's a three in one!

Caramelised onions:
1-2 onions
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp sugar per onion
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Goat's cheese salad (serves 2):
Mixed greens (I think goat's cheese salad definitely has to contain rocket)
1/3 cucumber
12 cherry tomatoes
4 tbsp caramelised onions
100 g goat's cheese

Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette (stolen from Martha Stewart):
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/4 cup (60 ml) extra virgin olive oil
black pepper and salt to taste

Start by preparing the caramelised onions. Peel and chop 1-2 red onions. In a frying pan, heat up about a tbsp of olive oil and a tbsp of butter on medium heat. Add the onions and let cook until starting to soften. Add a pinch of salt, and about 1/2 tsp sugar per onion. Continue to cook on medium heat for about 30 minutes, until the onions are soft and dark. While the onions are cooking, don't stir them too often so that the onions start to brown a little and lightly stick to the pan. If you stir the onions too often, they won't caramelise as well. If the onions become really dry towards the end and stick to the pan, add a few teaspoons of water. When the onions are dark and soft, add a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and stir to get the dark sticky stuff from the bottom of the pan to dissolve and add extra flavour.

While the onions are caramelising, prepare the vinaigrette by mixing all ingredients in a small bowl. Taste and add honey, vinegar or salt to balance the flavours.

Divide the greens onto two plates. Slice the cucumber and slice the tomatoes in half and divide between the two plates. Add caramelised onions and the goat's cheese on top. Drizzle with the vinaigrette.

The verdict:
Fresh greens and creamy goat's cheese, what's not to love. I don't think I there is too much to say, it's a salad, it's tasty and refreshing and really easy to make. The onions take a bit of time and patience, but are dead easy and cook to perfection while you prepare the rest of the salad. I like to serve the salad while the onions are still warm to make it a semi-warm salad.

Super quick salad for busy DIY evenings

I'm not a DYI person. I just decided that. The last three nights have been spent washing walls. Yes, me and a sponge and walls. Two bedrooms and a living room in three nights. I am counting my blessings that New Home didn't need any improvement at all. We just moved our stuff in and got on with business. But the bachelor pad is another story. Once we got most of the stuff out of there, it was clear it needed a bit of sprucing. Well, more like major sprucing. So we have spent every evening this week after work cleaning and preparing for painting. I know it's only going to be for a few days, probably this and next week. But it's a lot of work. When I get back home I pretty much fall into bed. But hopefully the apartment will be finished soon enough and normal life can resume.

As a result of spending all my nights in DIY hell, I have learned some surprising things. Such as the fact that you can actually freeze tomatoes whole. Our wonderful little greenhouse is pumping out tomatoes at light speed, and I had great plans of cooking my own tomato purée, crushed tomatoes and basil and tomato passata, but after getting home all dirty and sweaty after a night of DIY cooking is the last thing on my mind. So I perused the Interwebs and learned that in fact you can freeze tomatoes whole. Obviously you don't want to eat them raw afterwards but they still retain their lovely summery flavour when you use them for cooking. So I have harvested each day's crop of tomatoes and shoved them in the freezer. Along with some gooseberries I picked today as we got home a tad earlier than usual. Apparently they too can be frozen whole and then used for a crumble.  Perfect, as I love a good crumble.

Today's recipe is a result of what we happened to have hanging around. It doesn't look like much, but it turned out so incredibly good that I had to share it here. Sometimes the combination of pretty ordinary ingredients just work out perfectly. I didn't particularly measure any ingredients, just went with it, and you can adjust everything to taste.

Weekday dinner pasta salad (serves 4-5):
4 cups cooked pasta
2/3 cucumber
300 g cherry tomatoes
1 yellow sweet pepper
1/2 red sweet pepper
2/3 cups olives
2 tins of tuna (in oil of course...)
3-4 heaped teaspoons of chilli pesto (or more if you like a bit of kick in your salad)

The howto:
This isn't all too complicated. Chop up your cucumber and peppers, mix everything together. Dinner is served!

The verdict:
My photos just keep getting worse and worse. In my defence, I'm not entirely sure where my camera is right now, and I only snapped a pic of this salad after having a few mouthfuls (right out of the bowl I'm embarrassed to admit) and it was just too good to not include here. However, I was also ravenously hungry and there was no way I was going in search of my camera, not to mention trying to take a good picture. After all, it's pasta salad. How photogenic can that be? So the long and short of it is... it's quick and easy to make, you can whip it up in minutes (if you have pre-boiled pasta, if not, in a few minutes plus however long it takes to cook the pasta) and it's so delicious you will be looking forward to lunch the next day just so that you can have some more. I'm sure it's the fiery pesto that is the secret ingredient, it goes perfectly with the tuna. Go figure, but I swear it's the truth! 

A small salad and big frustration

I try really hard to focus on all the good things in life. Right now I have so much to be happy about. The sun is shining, I will soon (soon is a relative concept) be in my own home, have my own kitchen, my own garden and my own craft room. Ok, so the home, kitchen and garden obviously are only half mine, but what I mean is that they are ours, but it's so annoying when people speak 'we' talk all the time. Anyhows. Today I just have to vent. I am so frustrated I seriously don't know whether to laugh or cry. I know from time to time you get bad customer service, and even the most recommended companies will have some dissatisfied customers. So usually when I get bad service I just try to get over it. But this just broke the camel's back. So the story goes like this...

We were supposed to pay our deposit (10%) of the house on Friday. I tried, but my online bank will only allow me to transfer a certain amount of money per day, which is a bit less than the deposit. So I transferred that on Friday, thinking I will transfer the remaining small sum on Saturday and be done with it. Now, on Monday evening, I still can't use my online bank as it claims I'm going over my daily allowed limit. I have made at least 5 phone calls to Natwest, and today I have been chatting to their advisor for over an hour. The result of all of this? I was told there is nothing they can do, and hopefully it would all clear for tomorrow. Which was the same I was told on Sunday, and it hadn't cleared this morning, so I'm not all too hopeful. But the worst thing? When I suggested to the online "customer service" person (more like customer non-service) that it's a bit frustrating that my online bank won't actually allow me to do any banking she hung up on me. Or whatever the chat equivalent to hanging up on someone is. Good thing we have an appointment with another bank later in the week, we were going over there to chat about opening a joint account, but seems like right now not only will there be a joint account, I will also move my business over there from CrapWest. I'm just so incredibly frustrated as this again sets back all the business with the house. The moral of the story? Never ever sign up with Natwest, they are useless.

But then onto nicer things. The sun is shining, and that is great (as long as you aren't in a train for many hours without air conditioning). We have finally got our little sliver of summer over here on the godforgotten island. I just hope this is how August will be, so that I get maximum benefit of my new garden. Assuming we have been able to pay the rest of the deposit and actually been able to move. Whoops, let my mind get all negative again, bad bad mind! I have certainly noticed that the hot weather has affected my appetite, I crave crisps and ice cold coke (as in coca-cola, just making a point...) and can't even think about eating proper hot food. Did you check out my recent tzatziki and potato salad hybrid? Well, this is another ridiculously simple salad which you could prepare as a side for a barbecue, which is exactly what I did. 

Broccoli and tomato side salad (serves 3-4):
1/2 head of broccoli
2 large tomatoes
1/2 small red onion
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp black pepper

The howto:
Steam the broccoli until slightly softened but still al dente (really, don't let it go soft, you want it to be nice and crisp and not soggy at all). Chop to desired consistency. Also chop the tomatoes, and finely chop the onion. Mix olive oil, balsamic and pepper, and toss with the salad. I'm pretty sure adding a herb like parsley or coriander would be really good, too!

The verdict:
Obviously, this is not the most original recipe out there. But it was a really nice side with all of the other things we had going. BBQd chicken, sweet corn and sweet potato. The salad was crunchy and refreshing. I made it a few hours ahead to give it some time to marinate, I think the onion is nicer that way when it has a bit of time to absorb the oil and vinegar. I also warmly recommend trying the mango-mayo salsa type sauce with you BBQ, it's really nice with chicken, and would probably go great with pork as well.

Card of the day:
This is yet another one from the archives as I'm still in crafting exile. I expect I will start dreaming about crafting any night now. I'm also worried because the only outlet to my crafting needs is buying more crafting stuff on ebay. Which I really can't afford... And I'm afraid soon I'll go crazy with the new Stampin' Up catalogue as well. But until then, maybe looking at this picture will sooth my soul a bit. Or not. 

These are four cards I made using Tim Holtz distress inks and the Kanban butterflies stamp. I stamped using different coloured inks and markers: the top left stamped using Walnut stain and embossed using clear embossing powder, the top right one Vintage Photo for the text and markers Barn Door, Victorian Velvet and Spiced Marmelade for the butterflies, bottom left text using Antique Linen for the text and Broken China, Bundled Sage and Victorian Velvet markers for the butterflies, bottom right was stamped using Tim Holtz clear embossing ink and clear embossing powder. For the backgrounds, I used different distress inks and applied with blending foam and an applicator tool for the backgrounds as follows: top left: Worn Lipstick, Spiced Marmelade, Peeled Paint and Vintage Photo around the edges, top right Worn Lipstick and bottom right is the same as the top left with some Broken China thrown in there for good measure. The matting was done using papers from the Dovecraft Back To Basics III pack, some which I stamped on using the Hero Arts Flourish stamp. The brown paper on the bottom right one is from my stash. The sentiments are from my trusty Hobbycraft General Sentiments set, apart from the Big Day! which is from another set which I can't identify at the moment. I finished by adding some gems and ended up with quite a summery set of cards.

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When tzatziki met potato salad

I was ecstatic earlier in the week when I thought we would possibly be moving in a couple of weeks. Well, I was wrong as usual and seems like the move will happen either the last weekend of July or first weekend of August. I simply cannot understand how everything can take so long, and I don't have the patience for all these delays. I need to get into a proper home, this bachelor pad is driving me mad. And I do realise these are first world problems, I should be happy to have a job and a roof over my head. But I can't really bake anything properly here as most of my kitchen stuff is packed in boxes and there is no room to unpack the boxes. And I'm going crazy as there is no space for crafting. I swear, once I get my craft room up and running I will be spending every spare moment in there. I have so many new stamp sets to try out, not to mention my Tim Holtz Distress paints which I ordered in late May as a birthday present to myself, and still haven't been able to try out. 

Another thing I will be happy to get rid of is the grocery store around the corner. Admittedly, it's super handy to be able to pop by whenever you need something, but at the same time, it is way too easy to stop by and get something when you get a craving. Last week, we had the fridge full of proper food but it was too hot to eat warm food, so instead I just popped by the grocery store every evening to get some bread and then ate way too much bread for supper. Not good! Moving out to the middle of nowhere should at least stop me from doing that! Today it's really warm again, not that I'm complaining (too much), but I couldn't bear the thought of warm food so I whipped up this refreshing and really easy summery salad. It's the love child of a one night stand between tzatziki and a potato salad.

Tzatziki potato salad (serves 2):
4 potatoes
1/2 cucumber
1/3 small onion (or a few scallions)
3-4 tbsp greek yoghurt
a handful of mint leaves
a pinch of salt
(garlic)

The howto:
Peel potatoes and chop into bite size cubes. Boil until soft but still firm. Let cool. Cut cucumber into thin strips (I slice first and then cut the slices into strips) and finely chop onion or scallions and garlic if you are using it. Also finely chop the mint. Mix all ingredients. Serve with a thick slice of garlic bread, I also added tinned tuna and a hard boiled egg to make a meal out of it. 

The verdict:
This salad was pretty much created because I felt eating tzatziki for lunch all on it's own was somehow wrong. Adding potatoes not only made it feel more like an acceptable meal, it also made it a bit more man-friendly and the culinary consultant seemed happy with the meal. I loved the salad, the yoghurt and mint make it so fresh and summery. Apart from the time it took to boil the potatoes, throwing this salad together took no more than a few minutes. I didn't add any garlic to the salad, as I was serving the meal with a slice of roasted garlic bread, which in itself is really garlic-y. But if you are serving the salad with regular bread, a clove of finely chopped garlic is a great addition.

Friday quickie

Funny how it feels like the end of a five day working week, although technically I've only been to work for two of those five days. But still, every Friday deserves to be celebrated with good food, enjoyed while chillaxin' on the sofa and watching Gilmore Girls. One of those shows you don't want to watch if you are trying to lose weight, as they just keep on eating. All the time. And still stay looking like stick insects. Of course, analysing it more closely, you actually never see them eating anything, apart from taking a tiny little nibble from that huge pile of pizzas, burgers and chinese takeaway. Then they just leave the rest. Which of course explains the whole stick insect thing...


Well, not that I would ever aspire to being a stick insect anyways, but I did end up doing a salad this Friday. I stumbled across this recipe when I was browsing Pinterest yesterday. Actually, I'm not quite sure how I managed to end up with a salad recipe, as I was browsing baking ideas and cupcakes. Oh yes indeed, now I remember, I ended up following a link to these maple-bacon doughnuts and then looked around this wonderful blog called How Sweet It Is, and stumbled upon the salad recipe. It was perfect, because I had some left over watermelon and left over feta which needed to be used up. And I love quinoa. And I thought I would try to eat something healthy. Of course, I followed it up by eating half my weight in chocolate, so I don't think having a salad made much impact on the healthiness of my diet today. But I loved the salad recipe, as I would never have thought of combining watermelon and feta. I've only made a few minor changes, otherwise it's pretty close to the original I linked to above.


Watermelon and feta salad with quinoa (serves 2):
85g quinoa (dry weight)
1/2 veggie stock cube
400g watermelon
30g basil
100g feta 
1 lemon

The howto:
Cook quinoa with the stock cube according to the instructions on the pack. Let cool. Chop watermelon and basil, combine with cool quinoa and crumble in the feta. Squeeze the juice from the lemon and toss. I served with prawns I fried in a hot pan for a few seconds, as they needed to be used up. Works fine on it's own without the prawns as well.


The verdict:
The salad is very refreshing, really great for summer. Too bad it's raining and miserably cold outside... I could imagine eating this outside in the sunshine. Of course for that, I would have to move somewhere where the sun actually shines. The UK right now feels like one of those places where the sun don't shine, if you catch my drift... Ok, so back to the salad. I love sweet and savoury combinations, so the combination of watermelon and feta was really appealing to me. And I wish there was some way to transfer scents online, the combination of watermelon, basil and lemon is just heavenly, and still lingers in my apartment as I write this. Another recipe I will be sure to return to.

The perfect threesome

This is one of the recipes from the blog Kauhaa ja rakkautta I was writing about earlier. What I love about food blogs is how they give you great ideas you would never think of trying yourself. The idea of seasoning fruit with peppers, then roasting it and eating in a salad would never ever have crossed my tiny little brain. Good thing there are others out there with bigger brains. This is a super quick meal to prepare, perfect for the evening when you get home from work or the gym and feel too tired to cook. Just slice up the fruit quickly and toss in the oven and take a relaxing shower or whatever you usually do when you get home while the fruit is roasting and filling your apartment with a wonderful smell. Preparing the dressing takes less than a minute, and tossing it all on a plate takes even less than that. Take your time to enjoy.

Fruit and goat's cheese salad (serves 2):

Spinach or other green leafs like rocket, watercress or a mix of all

1 pear

1 apple

1/2 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil

100g goat's cheese

pine kernels

cayenne pepper

black pepper

For the dressing:

2 tbsp extra virgin olive or rapeseed oil (I used lemon infused extra virgin rapeseed)

juice from half a lime (or lemon)

1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard

black pepper

a pinch of salt

1/2 tsp agave nectar (or honey)

The howto:

Slice the pear and apple in about cm thick slices, place on a roasting tray and lightly brush with oil on both sides. Sprinkle with cayenne and black pepper and roast in a 175 degree oven for 20-25 minutes, or until fruit look golden and start to wrinkle around the edges. When the fruit is almost done, toss in a handful of pine kernels to roast with the fruit. While fruit is roasting, mix all the ingredients for the dressing, season with salt, pepper and agave to taste.

Make a bed of leafy greens on the plates, pile on the roasted fruit, pine kernels, goat's cheese and drizzle dressing on top.

The verdict:

The threesome of pear, goat's cheese and lemon is absolutely unbelievable. Once again, my grasp of the English language is not strong enough to come up with suitable adjectives so I have to settle for *Oh* *my* *god*. The roasting brings out the sweetness of the pear, and it meets the kick of the cayenne, the smooth creaminess of the goat's cheese. Then there is the lemon to finish it all off. Simply perfect. A salad doesn't get much better than this. I'm so happy I made two servings, so I get to have this for lunch tomorrow.