Chocolate Salami

Neighbours can be a pain in your life, but if you got the right ones they can be like a second family. There are different kinds of neighbours: the ones to whom you go to when your are missing a cup of flower or an egg, the ones you avoid in the supermarket aisles, the ones you wish nice day to and that's it, and the ones you go to when you need a friend.

As we have been moving a lot, we have also met all kinds of neighbours. That is ok, because for me the real neighbours are back in my hometown are I know they are the best! 

I remember eating this chocolate salami at my neighbours house all the time and now I got the recipe from them. It is an easy and delicious recipe, perfect for all the chocolate lovers. Kids love it too!

Ingredients:

3 eggs
125g butter
200g sugar
150g powdered cocoa
400g Marie cookies
Splash of Port wine

Heat up the butter until melted and cool down for a couple of minutes.

Use an electric beater to beat the sugar and the eggs, until it's creamy. Reduce the speed and incorporate the butter and then the cocoa powder. Add a splash of Port wine and mix well. 

Lay some of the cookies on a kitchen clothe and break them using a rolling pin or a wooden spoon. Add the pieces to the chocolate mixture and mix using a spoon, so that the cookies get a little bit wet. Keep adding the cooking pieces until the mixture is solid enough to be molded.

Lay a piece of alumina foil on the kitchen bench and transfer the mixture onto it. Roll the foil to make a sausage like shape and close the ends like in a candy bar.

Refrigerate for at least 2h. Slice and serve.

Notes:

The cocoa powder can be replaced by a mixture of cocoa and chocolate powder (for drinks). 

Other kinds of alcohol can be used as well.

Tuna Salad

Does some food speak to you? Some does to me. This salad speaks summer to me. Wherever I eat this, I feel I'm in my hometown, in my parents backyard, enjoying a summer meal, under the dawn light. I don't know how to explain it... it just speaks to me...

Ingredients:

5 tomatoes

1/2 onion

2 eggs, hard boiled

1 can of tuna (in natura)

Olive oil

Salt

Slice the tomatos and the eggs, and transfer into a bowl. Add the tuna and the onion in thin slices. Season with a drizzle of olive oil and salt. Mix all the ingredients and set aside for at least 10 minutes, to develop the flavours. 

This salad is best served with fresh baked bread. 

Light Chicken Fusilli with Yoghurt Sauce

Recently, I came across a story of determination and courage that inspired me. 

Once upon a time, a girl got tired of being overweight and started thinking thin*. More than thin she wanted to be healthy, and to be able to move more and better, and as everybody else, she wanted to be happy! Her determination was so great that she did it, rather fast I would say, by exercising a lot and eating healthy. A lot of people think that healthy food has no flavour and it's boring but I strongly disagree. 

With this story in my mind I was also determined to create something different, tasty and healthy, just by using simple ingredients I had in the fridge. The result was approved by both here. What about you? Are you thinking thin?

Ingredients (serves 2):
250g integral fusilli
150g chicken breast
1 carrot
50g peas, cooked or frozen
1 low-fat yoghurt
1/2 orange, juiced
2 garlic cloves
Olive oil
Salt

Chop the chicken breast in cubes and put in a plastic container. Chop the garlic finely and add to the chicken. Add the orange juice and a pinch of salt as well. Mix everything with your hands, cover the container and refrigerate for 30 to 60 minutes, to marinate.

For the yoghurt sauce, chop a clove of garlic finely and add to the yoghurt. Season with salt and drizzle with olive oil to taste. Mix well and taste. Correct seasoning if needed. Set aside for at least 10 minutes, to develop the flavour of the garlic in the yoghurt.

When the marinate is ready, peel off the carrot and slice it in thin slices using a mandolin. 

Cook the fusilli in salted water until it is al dente. 

Heat up a drizzle of olive oil in a non-sticky frying pan, and add the chicken. Cook for about 8 minutes, tossing now and then, until the chicken is almost cooked through. Add in the carrots and the peas and cook for another 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the yoghurt sauce. Serve on top of the pasta.

Notes: If you are a garlic lover add some extra to the sauce. 

If you don't have a mandolin just slice the carrot as thin as you can. If it's a bit thicker it might take longer too cook, so add it to the chicken a couple of minutes before. 

*You can read the full story here, written by the brave girl herself. It is in Portuguese though...

Banana Ice Cream - the easy way

Did you know that bananas contain a bunch of good nutrients for our body? Yes, of course, who doesn't!

But did you also know that ripe bananas can act as anti-cancer agents? 

Japanese scientists found that the black spots formed on the bananas, as they mature, contain a substance called TNF (tumour necrosis factor), that can combat abnormal cells. The degree of anticancer effect depends on the ripeness level of the bananas, so the more dark patches the banana contains the higher its immunity enhancement quality. (source here)

Should we then start eating black bananas? No, there is an easier way. Let's make ice cream out of them!

Besides all that, as the bananas ripen, their starch is broken down into sugar, meaning they taste sweeter at this stage and you don't even need to add extra sugar to the ice cream. Therefore, not only are we using those bananas that don't look so good anymore, but we are also eating a healthy delicious ice cream that protects us against cancer. It can't get any better, can it?

Ingredients (4 portions):

6 ripe bananas
20ml of cinnamon liqueur
2 tbsp of powdered cinnamon
10 Maria cookies

Peel off and roughly slice the bananas. Put the pieces in a container and freeze for 2-3h. 

When frozen, transfer the banana into a food processor and mix until it's soft and creamy. Add the liqueur, the cinnamon and the cookies and process for a few more seconds. 

Transfer to a container and freeze again, for about 4-5h. If you freeze for longer stir it now and then, to avoid the formation of ice crystals.

Serve cold with a drizzle of liqueur and a cinnamon stick as decoration.

Notes:

Depending on how mature the bananas are the ice cream colour will change. If your ice cream became less dark than desired, just leave it for 30-60 minutes in the refrigerator before freezing. The oxidation will be faster and you will get a darker colour.

This recipe was inspired by Sami, from the blog Sami's Colourfulworld. Find her recipe here!