Mother's day pancakes

It's Mother's day today in Sweden. I sent my mom a "Happy Mother's day" card on Wednesday, hopefully it got there in time!
To celebrate Mother's day, but without a mother present to celebrate with, I made "real American" pancakes for breakfast.

I used to make these pancakes for brekkie almost every weekend when I was younger. Don't know how I managed to stay so slim back then.....


American pancakes
Makes about 10

3 3/4 dl flour
1 ½ tsp baking POWDER
2 tbsp sugar
2 eggs
60 g melted butter
2 ½ dl milk
pinch of salt

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl.

2. Crack the eggs into the flour mixture.

3. Pour in the melted butter and the milk.

4. Mix thoroughly to dissolve any lumps.

5. Set to rest for 20 minutes.

6. Add a tiny nob of butter to a medium to high heated pan. Use about ½ dl of batter for each pancake. Do not flip the pancakes until small bubbles appear on the surface. Stack the cooked pancakes on a plate, cover with a clean kitchen towel to keep them warm.

7. Serve with strawberry jam.

På svenska
Morsdagspannkakor

Another BBQ

To celebrate the long weekend, yay for Pentecost(!), we decided to have another BBQ last night. It was just the two of us, but that didn't stop me from cooking up a small feast of goodies from the kitchen.

Rocket salad, with home grown rocket. Also made a vinaigrette from 1 part balsamico, 3 parts olive oils, splash of lemon juice, salt & pepper.

Grilled potatoes. I actually bought these ready made, and to tell you the truth the weren't all that tasty. The potatoes were very hard, even after 30 minutes on the grill, the instructions read 20-25 min. I am trying the second packet today, but instead of putting them on the grill, I'm oven roasting them.
(Can report that the potatoes weren't all that much better when done in the oven. I'm definitely staying clear off store bought roast potatoes).

Pepper marinated pork fillet. I simply put the pork fillets in a plastic bag, poured in about 4 tbsp ground black pepper, and let them marinate for 4 hours in the fridge.

Lazy girl's Paella

I am starting to hate this diet we are on... All we get to eat is chicken and rice, and ground meat and whole wheat pasta... It's starting to bore me stiff. I long for some fish, some meat that is not ground to a disgusting-looking mess, and lo and behold, potato. I normally hate potatoes, I hate the texture and how it doesn't really taste of anything, and just seems to grow in my mouth into a disgusting mash... Maybe this is due to too many over-boiled potatoes in Swedish school cafeterias? The only kinds of potatoes I like are, mashed potatoes, oven-roast potatoes, and new potatoes, but only the small new potatoes. I love new potatoes, especially how we eat them in Sweden during the summer months, boiled with a few twigs of dill tossed into the water, served with a side of sour cream and chopped chives. YUM! Try it!

Yesterday I made what I have chosen to call "Lazy girl's Paella". It was really easy and went down a treat, most of my foods seems to go down a treat, which I guess is pretty awesome, come to think of it!


Here's how you make
"Lazy girl's Paella"
- diet version (with a cheat as no Paella is complete without some seafood)
Serves 2

140 g cooked rice
8 raw tiger prawns, peeled and de-veined
1 large chicken breast, cut into bit-size pieces
½ onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 pinch saffron, I don't want to call what I used Saffron though. Even though it said saffron on the packet, it was more like something coloured orange with food colour.
½ dl water, or vegetable stock
1 dl frozen peas
lots of frozen broccoli
1-2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
chili salt, pepper

1. Sauté the onion and garlic in a hot pan. Add the bits of chicken (seasoned with chili salt and pepper) saffron and water/stock.

2. When most of the water/stock has evaporated and the chicken seems almost done, add the vegetables, rice and prawns and stir through so everything mixes well. At this point, lower the heat just a tiny bit and leave the paella until the rice has formed a fine crust at the bottom of the pan, just like on an authentic paella.

Sprinkle with some chopped parsley and serve.

Enjoy!

På svenska:
En lat flickas Paella

Nu finns även dessa recept på svenska:

Thailändska räk"bollar"
Köttbullar
Spagetti med köttfärssås á la Angélica

My "garden"- revisited

My garden has morphed into... a garden. Might sound a bit strange, but with the poor excuse of a garden I had to work with, I must say I am happy with how it turned out. Now I just wish I had some grass to relax on in the sunshine. I only have the cement patio, which my landlord tells me will be paved sometime soon..., and some ugly plastic garden furniture that came with the apartment.

The garden part is great though, I love my pots filled with herbs and veggies. Maybe I should stop calling it a garden, when all it really is is a herb garden?

Check out the photo. I have arugula, flat leaf parsley, basil, radishes, coriander (planted the roots that came with the coriander twigs I bought at my local Asian shop), sugar snaps, spring onion, and wild strawberries (I found the w.s plants wild in the forest on Saturday).


I do not just grow things in my herb garden, I also grow things on my kitchen counter. And no, it's not mould, but garden cress. It so easy, and so very tasty. I also tried growing bean sprouts, or actually I tried growing lentil sprouts, and it worked out well, however it wasn't what I was aiming for, I was aiming for bean sprouts... Does anyone know which beans are used for bean sprouts? The garden cress on the other hand is all I I could ever ask her. I sat in the sun the other day, on my ugly patio, and had a snack made from crisp bread and garden cress, read a book, and enjoyed the sunshine.

Pesto-filled chicken breast with mushroom rice

Day four on the diet, my boyfriend's already lost 1 kg, so we must be doing something right!

Pesto-filled chicken breast with mushroom rice
Serves 2

2 chicken breasts
2 msk pesto

1-2 cloves garlic, grated

salt & pepper

250 g fresh/frozen mixed mushrooms

200 g cooked rice

1. Heat your oven to 210 C fan. Mix the pesto and garlic. Cut the chicken breast, lenghtways, but not all the way through so you create a pocket. Fill the pocket with the pesto. Season the chicken breast with salt and pepper. Fry for 5 minutes on each side in a pan. Then transfer the chicken breasts to an oven-proof dish and place it in the oven for 20 minutes or until the chicken juices run clear.

2. While the chicken is in the oven, fry the mushrooms in the same pan you fried the chicken in. That way you can get all those delicious bits off from the bottom of the pan. When the mushrooms are almost done, tip in the rice, and allow to heat through.

Serve the chicken on a bed of mushroom rice. Sprinkle with spring onion.

Enjoy!

Chicken Tandoori Skewers

Third day on a diet... This does not look very healthy, but it is according to Mr. Personal trainer's instructions: 1 chicken breast, 100 g rice and vegetables.

Chicken Tandoori Skewers
Serves 2

2 chicken breasts

2 tbsp Tandoori masala

1 tsp corinader powder

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tbsp oil

1 cup rice

1 ½ cup water

salt

1. Cut the chicken breasts into bit size pieces. Pour the spices in a plastic bag, add the chicken and the oil. Marinate in the fridge for anything from 30 minutes to overnight.

2. Atleast 30 minutes before you plan on grilling the chicken skewers, soak 6 wooden skewers in water.

3. Heat the oven to 210 C.

4. Place the rice into a sauce pan, pour in the water and add some salt. Bring to the boil, lower the heat to very low and allow to simmer under lid for 17 minutes. Take off from the heat, remove the lid and steam to 5 minutes. Fluff the rice with a fork.

5. While the rice is cooking, grill the marinated chicken on the skrewers until they are done.


6. Serve the skewers on a bed of vegetables and 100 g of rice per person.

Meatballs

My boyfriend's personal trainer has put him on a diet, and I have decided to try and follow the same regime. We'll see how well I do, I am absolutely sure that I will be the one who crumbles and falls first. Thankfully, Saturdays are "eating days" which means that we can eat "normal" food instead of following the diet. Can't wait for Saturday!


Meatballs
Serves 4

400 g ground pork/beef

1 dl bread crumbs
½ red onion, finely chopped

1 tomato, finely chopped

1-2 clove garlic, grated

1 tbsp dried mint leaves

2 tbsp milk

salt & pepper

(These meatballs can be used as either part of a main course or as part of a platter of starters).

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Shape the mix into small balls. Fry in a non-stick pan using no oil. Drain off any excess fat on kitchen paper. Serve with pasta and a tomato sauce.

Enjoy!