How to make your fruit salad more scrumptious by adding 4 simple ingredients

You might not believe this, but in the past few years I've been asked so many times what I “spike” my fruit salad with in order to make it so good and tasty, that I thought of sharing the answer on my blog because maybe someone out there might be interested in knowing my “secrets,” too.

Actually, I've never thought my fruit salad could have raised so much curiosity and I was happily surprised by all the interest shown by my friends/guests.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I'll tell you right away that there's nothing SOOOO special about my fruit salad. I mean, I don't use any particular ingredients that come from Mars (even if this would be awesome...maybe dangerous, but awesome) or from some far exotic island...I simply use Moon dust, unicorn tears, and some drops of dew collected from a four-leaved clover at 5 in the morning during the summer solstice . :D

Ok, ok...let's get back to reality. :) What I simply add to a normal bowl of mixed fruit is some cinnamon, some pecans or walnuts, some raisins, and the juice of ½ lemon. :)

To make the fruit salad you see in the picture I used the following ingredients:

2 Peaches

2 Kiwis

1 Apple

1 Pear

1 Banana

2 teaspoons cinnamon

some pecans

some raisins

juice of ½ lemon

If you are asking yourself if I made a mistake and I forgot to add sugar in the list of ingredients, I can tell you that there's no mistake. :) The acidity of the lemon increases the sweetness of the fruit; therefore, there's no need to add sugar and extra calories to something which is already good and tasty as it is. :) I know many people who add 1 or 2 tablespoons of sugar to their fruit salad, and you are free to do so if you have a sweet tooth and prefer your fruit salad to be more sugary. :)

Oh, just one last thing: before adding any raisins, make sure your guests like them, otherwise you'll be very disappointed like it happened to me when I served some fruit salad to my little cousin. She refused even to try a small bite because she spotted a few raisins and removing them from her bowl didn't help to change her mind. :(

So, take advantage of this season, indulge in mixing all fruit you can put your hands on, and enjoy your scrumptious fruit salad. :)

Spelt Strawberry Shortcake with Coconut Whipped Cream

Strawberries, strawberries, sweet juicy strawberries!

This is definitely the perfect season to enjoy this delicious fruit. Don't you think so?

Today's recipe is a classic with a little touch of originality given by the coconut whipped cream. Good for those who don't have any problems with lactose and would like to try a new combination, and a happy suggestion for those who are lactose intolerant like my husband.

In the list of ingredients, you'll see I used low-fat goat butter and low-fat goat milk, but if you don't like goat dairy products or if you are also intolerant to that, you might think of substituting the got milk with low-fat lactose-free milk or vegetable milk, and the goat butter with any kind of low-fat vegetable products...but please, please, please, don't use vegetable products that contain palm oil...try to think of our orangutan friends and avoid using palm oil...please. :)

If you are not lactose intolerant, simply use low-fat cow butter and skimmed cow milk. :)

INGREDIENTS:

400 g (4 cups) fresh strawberries, sliced in 4 parts

250 g (2 cups) spelt flour or all-purpose flour

100 g (1/2 cup) brown sugar

75 g (1/3 cup) cold low-fat goat butter

90 g (170ml or 2/3 cup) skimmed goat milk

1 egg, slightly beaten

3 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ lemon, juice

A package of coconut whipping cream ( 200ml/ 1cup)

BAKING DIRECTIONS:

Preheated oven: 350ºF/180ºC

Baking time: 30 Minutes

Cut each strawberry in 4 pieces, squeeze the lemon, add the juice to the strawberries, and set aside.

Some people prefer to add some sugar to the strawberries so that they get more sugary and juicy. I find strawberries good as they are, but choose what appeals to your taste the most.

If you'd like to add sugar, then add 100g (½ cup) to the strawberries and let them stand for at least 1 hour, so that some juice will form and you can wet your shortcake with it.

In a bowl, mix flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Add butter to the dry ingredients and cut it in tiny little pieces using a fork or a pastry blender. Keep on blending until the butter combined with the other ingredients will look like coarse crumbs. Add the egg and milk and stir just until all the ingredients are mixed.

Transfer the quite thick batter into a buttered and floured 24 Ø cm/9-inch cake pan and spread it evenly.

Bake ca.30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Place the cake on a rack and let cool before slicing it in 8 parts. Cut the slices in half, pour some strawberry juice on the cake (if you added some sugar to the strawberries and some juice formed), fill the slices with strawberries and whipped cream, and top the filling with the other half of the slices.

If you'd also like to serve your shortcake on a dish decorated with some cute ducks and their footprints, why don't you take a look at my store on Etsy...:)

Grilled Zucchini and Bell Pepper with Feta Cheese

A Touch of Greece...is the way I like to call it.

This is definitely one of my favorite recipes and I have to thank the Flotte Karotte Team who delivered it to me with the weekly crate full of organic food.

Every time I make it, the intense and strong aroma of the thyme and rosemary mixed with the Feta cheese create such an incredible taste that I almost have the feeling of being in Greece. I love Greek cuisine and I could prepare this dish over and over again without getting tired of it. My husband likes it, too, and he's not even a big Feta cheese fan, but I have to admit that the herbs play a really huge role here. :)

Originally, the recipe says to slice the vegetables and roast them in a pan with some oil. I prefer to grill them and add some olive oil before putting the casserole in the oven. This way, I have the filling the vegetables remain more crunchy and the taste is more distinct. I know, the preparation can take longer if you grill the vegetables instead of just dumping them in the pan, but I think you'll taste the difference. :)

INGREDIENTS:

2 large zucchini

2 large red bell peppers

200 g low-fat Feta cheese (more or less a package)

1 Tsp rosemary, fresh or dried

1 Tsp dried thyme leaves

Black pepper

Olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

Preheated oven: 400ºF/200ºC

Baking time: 20 Minutes

For 3-4 people if used as side dish, for 2 people if served as main dish.

Cut the zucchini and bell peppers in slices not too thin. Grill them on a grill pan for a couple of minutes, but don't over grill, they still have to remain quite crisp. Crumble the Feta cheese at set aside.

Then, cover the whole bottom of a casserole with some slices of zucchini, spread some Feta cheese all over the zucchini, and sprinkle everything with some rosemary and thyme. I'm normally very generous with rosemary and thyme and I double their doses because I really like their taste. But many people don't like thyme that much, so I suggest you to stick to the basic instructions and change the doses after the first try if you think you can dare to use more spices. :)

After this, lay some slices of bell pepper all over the ingredients you previously put on the casserole, then some Feta cheese, sprinkle some rosemary and some thyme all over, and go on like that with another layer of zucchini, Feta cheese, and bell pepper until you finish all your ingredients. You should end with Feta cheese on top. Sprinkle the top with some rosemary and thyme, grind some fresh black pepper, and add some olive oil.

Put the casserole in the preheated oven and bake for ca. 20 minutes.

Usually, I don't add any salt since the Feta cheese is pretty salty itself. I suggest you NOT to add any salt during the preparation. You might add it later if you think it lacks salt.

Enjoy your Greek zucchini and bell pepper . :)

Omelet with Bear's Garlic Brie Cheese

Oh boy! What was I thinking this morning when I decided to clean every single inch of the house?!?!?! Probably, I stayed too long in the sun yesterday! :(

Just when my stomach started begging for food I realized I had been cleaning for almost 5 hours!!! All of the sudden, I had the sensation of having boiled spaghetti instead of two arms and the energy of a worm that had just won a marathon. At this point, you can imagine that my last thought was cooking, but I was very hungry and I didn't feel like having some yogurt or fruit. So, I came up with this idea and I hope it can help you, too, if in an insane future you'll ever find yourself in the same physical condition. :)

I think omelet is always a good and easy alternative suitable for any moment of the day, perfect for those moments in which one doesn't want to spend too much time in the kitchen and has squishy spaghetti instead of two arms. :)

In this recipe, I used Bear's garlic Brie because it was the only cheese I had, but please feel free to use any kind of cheese you fancy for your omelet and combine it with the salad or fruit you prefer. This is just what I came up with according to the food I had in my fridge. :)

INGREDIENTS:

4 eggs (2 eggs for each Omelet)

100 g Bear's garlic Brie cheese (sliced)

200 g strawberries

A small honeydew

Some salt & pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Beat two eggs in a bowl until fluffy and then add some salt and pepper to taste. Pour the eggs in a nonstick skillet pan, or if you use a normal skillet pan remember to oil its bottom with some olive oil (just a bit...I normally pour some drops of oil and then I spread it all over with a rubber spatula) before pouring the eggs into it.

Spread the eggs evenly all over the bottom of the pan and cook until the bottom of the omelet turns lightly brown. Put some slices of Brie on one half of the omelet, run the spatula all around the omelet in order to detach it well from the pan and then fold it in half. Wait a few seconds and remove it from the pan when the cheese starts melting.

Cut the honeydew and strawberries into pieces, serve them with the omelet, and enjoy!!! :)

How to make stamps at home

Let's have fun making some personalized and probably unique stamps. This is a very simple way to make stamps at home that allows everyone to create his/her own stamps without using super duper materials and get a first approach to the whole process of making stamps.

Just some months ago I attended a course on how to make comic books and during the course the teacher also showed us how she makes her own stamps using a particular rubber sheet and some special tools suitable to cut rubber very easily. I found it very interesting, but at the same time, a bit complicated. First of all, I looked for that kind of rubber sheet everywhere without good results. I also wrote the teacher of the course I attended asking her the name of that material and where I could find it, but I never received an answer. :/

So, I thought of trying with some materials I had at home and the result wasn't bad...not professional, not extraordinary, but nice. :)

This is what you need:

• Crazy glue
• An eraser (old or new, it doesn't matter, but make sure its surface is flat)
• I sharp cutter
• A pencil or pen
• Any mini paper craft punch/stencils (not extremely necessary since you might even want to draw the subject yourself)
• A wooden or plastic cube (this is also optional as long as the eraser is pretty thick)

I used a footprint-shaped paper craft punch just because I didn't like the foot I drew and I wanted to be more precise, but, as I previously mentioned, it is not necessary...you can simply draw it without using a “guide”. :)

Draw the subject you'd like to transform into a stamp on the surface of the eraser and cut the whole external perimeter of your subject.

After this, cut all the extra rubber around your figure away. At this point, if you have a drawing that doesn't need to be cut inside, too, ( I suggest you start with something easy that needs to be cut only on the outer area) you are basically good to go. :)

If you have a plastic or wooden cube or whatever else on which you'd like to glue your self-made rubber stamp, you might need to remove some of the extra rubber which is below your drawing, and make the base of the stamp thinner - as shown in the last figure. Now, glue your stamp on the wooden cube and enjoy your new stamp.

In this figure, you can see that my layer is pretty thin, it's about 3mm, but feel free to leave a thicker layer.  

If you don't have a little surface on which to glue the rubber stamp, you can leave the eraser as it is , but remember to use a thick one, so that you can hold it quite well when you use it.

I hope you have fun making your own stamps and I also hope to find the rubber sheet I told you about pretty soon and come back with a more “professional” tutorial. In the meantime, I just wish you a good time in making as many stamps as you like. :)