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Busy? Us too! Do this quick workout to burn 100 calories fast!

Busy? Us too! Do this quick workout to burn 100 calories fast!

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Peking Duck Pancakes

When you prepare Peking Duck, apart from cucumbers, spring onions and Hoisin sauce, you also need special pancakes to serve the dish. If you don’t have time, you can buy them in a Chinese food shop. But if you don’t have such a shop nearby, you can make the Peking Duck Pancakes at home. They are pretty easy to prepare, you will only need some time as they are made from a dough and require rolling. The good thing is they can be rolled and fried in pairs (see the instructions below) so the process can be speeded up.

INGREDIENTS (for approx. 24 pieces):

225g flour plus extra for dusting,

5 tbsp boiling water,

6 tbsp cold water,

sesame oil.

METHOD:

1. Put the flour into a big bowl, make a well in the center, pour the boiling water and mix it with the flour.
2. Gradually add the cold water and stir the mixture with a wooden spoon until everything is well combined.
3. Work the dough (with your hands) for approx. 5 minutes, then cover with a damp cloth and leave to rest for 20 min.
4. Dust a surface with a bit of flour and roll the dough into a long “sausage”, cut it into 20-24 pieces and roll each piece into a flattened ball.
5. Pour a bit of sesame oil into a saucer.
6. Dip one flattened side of the ball in the sesame oil, repeat with a second ball and put together the oiled sides of 2 balls.
7. On a lightly floured surface roll the merged 2 balls into a 12cm in diameter pancake.
8. Fry it on a small non-stick frying pan on both sides for a very short time (they shouldn’t even start getting brown spots).
9. Repeat with the rest of the balls.
10. When pancakes are cool enough to handle, separate each one into 2 thin pancakes (you will see on the edge where both are merged and gently pull them apart starting from that point).
11. Keep them covered in the fridge till needed or they can be prepared earlier and frozen.

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Spinach and Pineapple Smoothie

Having tried (and fallen in love with) the Banana and Spinach Smoothie, I decided to experiment with different combinations of ingredients so that I could enjoy this drink as often as possible, but without getting bored with it. I still used spinach but I replaced coconut water with apple juice (preferably, you'd use a natural one without any sugar added). 

When it came to deciding about which fruit I was going to use, I chose a pineapple- an excellent source of Vitamin C and manganese as well as a very good source of copper which, combined with some other nutrients, make pineapple a very healthy fruit. Its main health benefits include improved digestion, boosted immune system (less colds, infections, etc.) and antioxidant protection that helps against some types of cancer as well as improves the look of skin (reduces wrinkles, improves skin texture and fights damage caused by sun and pollution). I cannot imagine a tastier way of looking after my skin then having this wonderful smoothie!

P.S. If you would like to make this smoothie even more nutrient packed, add chia seeds.

INGREDIENTS (for 1 portion):

50g spinach,

1500ml apple juice,

150g pineapple,

1 tbsp chia seeds (optional).

METHOD:

1. Place all the ingredients except for the chia in a blender and process till smooth.
2. Stir in the chia seeds, if using.

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Fish Pie with Prawns

I am surprised that this Fish Pie recipe hasn’t turned up earlier on my blog. My whole family loves it and I have been making it for years as it is so delicious. It is a bit of a cheat’s pie since it uses garlic and herbs cream cheese as a base of the sauce so the flavor of the pie is sorted right from the start.

This pie can be prepared a day earlier and just baked when needed. That is why it works really well when you know you will not have time to prepare dinner the next day but you still want to serve something really tasty really quickly. So as soon as you are in your kitchen after being away from home, you can put this dish to the cold oven, put the temperature up and bake it for 40 minutes. In the meantime, you can cook some vegetables to serve it with, lay the table and get everybody gathered at the table for a delicious meal. Really convenient when you are short of time.

INGREDIENTS (for 4 portions):

800g potatoes, peeled and cut into equal sized pieces,

50g butter,

200ml milk (plus 3-5 tbsp optionally, if the potato puree is too dry),

2 tsp cornflour,

150g garlic and herbs cream cheese,

400g white fish, cut into bite size portions,

200g prawns (cooked or raw), shelled and cleaned,

salt and pepper.

METHOD:

1. Cook the potatoes in salted water till they are soft.
2. Preheat a fan oven to 160 Celsius degrees.
3. When the potatoes are cooked, add butter and mash them well, check the seasoning.
4. Pour the milk in a frying pan, add the cream cheese and gently melt it on a medium heat.
5. Add the fish, raw prawns, salt and pepper, stir and cook for 2-3 minutes. If you are using cooked prawns.
6. Transfer the fish to an ovenproof dish and cover everything with the mashed potatoes; decorate, if you wish and put to the hot oven for approx. 30 minutes until the top is nice and golden. If you prepared the pie in advance and kept it in the fridge, put it to the cold oven and then turn the oven on. You will need an extra 10-15 minutes.

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Gingerbread Spiced Apple Cake

Although gingerbread spice is more associated with winter, this cake is great for any season of the year. Firstly, it uses ingredients that are cupboard staples. Secondly, it is very easy to prepare. Thirdly, although it has to be in the oven for approximately 1 hour, that’s actually good news as it only means that your home will smell wonderful for even longer. And lastly and maybe most importantly, it is delicious!

The gingerbread spice works really well with apples that additionally make the cake moist without being doughy. And the demerara sugar and honey, that are mixed and spread on top of the hot cake, create a very tasty, slightly crunchy topping. The only problem with this cake is that after you have one piece, you immediately want to have another one.

INGREDIENTS:

180g softened butter,

200g dark muscovado sugar,

3 eggs,

300b plain flour,

3 tsp baking powder,

 2 tsp gingerbread spice mix,

1 tsp cinnamon,

300g apples, peeled, cored and cut into 2-3 cm pieces,

3 tbsp clear honey,

3 tbsp Demeraar sugar.

METHOD:

1. Preheat an oven to 140 C (fan oven) and prepare a loose bottom round 23cm cake tin: line the bottom with parchment paper and grease the side.
2. In a food processor beat the butter and sugar for 2 minutes until soft.
3. Add the eggs, beat for 1 minute longer.
4. Add the flour mixed with the baking powder and spices, and process till combined.
5. Add the apples, stir well and transfer to the prepared tin, smooth the top.
6. Bake in the hot oven for 60-70 minutes.
7. Let it rest for 5 minutes, Mix the honey and the demerara sugar and spread on top of the hot cake.

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Chinese Cabbage Salad [vegetarian]

A few weeks ago we had some friends over for dinner. I was planning to make a Peking duck for the main course, and I knew what dessert I was going to make, but somehow I was stuck with a starter. I wanted to make a light salad without any meat or seafood, as having duck for main was already very meat-y. And this was when I realized that I had probably never made a Chinese salad fulfilling these requirements. I looked through some books and finally, I found a recipe that seemed just right.

In the book, a regular cabbage was used, so it had to be blanched after it was shredded. I decided to use a raw Chinese cabbage instead. The salad was very refreshing and light, just as I wanted it to be. And it was indeed a perfect starter for Peking duck!

INGREDIENTS (for 4-6 portions):

2 tbsp vegetable oil,

5 shallots, halved and thinly sliced,

5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced,

0.5 chilli, thinly chopped,

1 Chinese cabbage (weighing approx. 0.5 kg), shredded,

2 tbsp coarsely chopped roasted peanuts,

Dressing:

2 tbsp fish sauce,

grated rind of 1 lime,

2 tbsp lime juice,

120ml coconut milk.

METHOD:

1. On a medium size frying pan warm up the oil, add the shallots, garlic and chili, and stir fry on a medium heat for 12-15 minutes until the shallots are brown (but not burnt).
2. In a bowl, mix the dressing ingredients.
3. Pour the dressing over the cabbage and stir very well.
4. Transfer the cabbage onto a big serving dish, and sprinkle the top with the fried mixture and the peanuts.
5. Voila!

This recipe is based on a recipe from "The Complete Wok and Stir-Fry Cookbook"

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Vegetable Salad [vegetarian]

Although I realize that outside my country, this salad is often called 'Russian Salad', here we all know it as 'Vegetable Salad'. It was the most popular salad in Poland for many, many years. No party, celebration or social gathering happened without this dish. Even preparing this salad was a bit of a social occasion, as it was always made in big quantities and very often, at least 2 people were cutting the vegetables and chatting while they were doing it. I remember from my childhood that the women from my family were always cutting the vegetables very thinly because we believed that if the cubes were too big, the salad would not taste as good as it should ;) Nowadays, I actually prefer the salad not to be made of such tiny pieces. It still tastes great, but the preparation doesn’t take as long as it used to in the past.

What I also like about this salad is that you end up with a great by-product – good quality vegetable stock that can be used as a base for many different soups. Obviously, it also works the other way around: you cook the stock that you need and then you use the vegetables to make the salad. Whichever way you are going to do it; you will enjoy the two results!

INGREDIENTS (for 4-6 portion):

4 carrots, peeled,

2 parsnips, peeled,

0.25 celery (approx. 200g), peeled and cut into 2 pieces,

1 small leek*,

1 celery stalk*,

2 apples,

3-4 sour gherkins,

1 tin green peas,

3 tbsp mayonnaise,

salt and pepper.

METHOD:

1. Put the carrots, parsnips, celery, leek* and celery stalk* to a big pan, pour 1-1.5l of water, add salt and pepper and bring to boil.
2. Lower the heat and cook the vegetables until they are tender (approx. 20 minutes).
3. Take the vegetables out from the stock, cool them down.
4. In the meantime, cut the apples and sour gherkins into 0.5-1 cm cubes. After you chop the gherkins, make sure to squeeze out the liquid.
5. When the cooked vegetables are cool, cut the carrots, parsnips and the celery into the 0.5 -1cm cubes (the celery stalk and leek can be discarded).
6. Put all the chopped vegetables, apples and gherkins to a bowl, add the mayonnaise, seasoning and stir well.

* optional, required only if you are making the stock as well.

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Banana Blondie with Chocolate [gluten free / vegan*]

My adventure with cooking really started with baking in my early teens. That is why it is difficult for me to imagine never eating cakes. However - since I know that cakes are better for your taste buds than your waistline - I try to test out healthier options where plain white flour is replaced by wholemeal or by almond flour. If possible, I also swap butter for healthy oil (e.g. rapeseed, though it doesn’t always work due to its strong smell), and I always try to use less sugar.

So I was extremely happy when I came across a recipe for blondies that neither requires butter nor flour. To make it vegan, I made some additional changes and at the end the cake turned out great: moist and fudgy. 

I know you may be skeptical about cakes without eggs, flour or butter. And I agree that they taste differently. But differently doesn't always mean bad. So even if you are one of the people thinking that vegan cakes are not really for you as they are “too healthy”, I think you will be nicely surprised.

* The cake is 100% vegan if you use vegan chocolate.

INGREDIENTS (for 16 small pieces):

2 bananas,

120g rolled oats,

1tsp baking powder,

40g demerara sugar,

60ml maple syrup,

150g smooth peanut butter,

1 tsp vanilla extract,

100g coconut cream (the thick part of the coconut milk that collects on top of a tin),

40g chopped chocolate (if the cake has to be 100% vegan, use vegan chocolate).

METHOD:

1. Preheat the oven to 200C (180C for fan ovens) and line a 14x24cm (or similar small) baking tin with parchment paper.
2. Put all the ingredients except for the chocolate to a food processor and process till smooth.
3. Add the majority of the chocolate pieces to the batter and stir.
4. Pour it into the prepared tin, smooth the top and sprinkle with the rest of chocolate.
5. Put the tin to the hot oven for 20-25 minutes.
6. Enjoy!

This cake was inspired by Cafe Delites recipe.

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Spinach, Ginger and Banana Smoothie

I must admit that only recently I started making smoothies but I am already asking myself why I have waited so long?! Smoothies are a great way to very quickly have a delicious and packed with nutrients drink or – I would even say – light meal:

very quickly – because it takes literally a few minutes to put all the ingredients to a blender and process them till they are smooth,

delicious – because there can be so many different combinations of ingredients that surely everybody will find something to their liking,

packed with nutrients – because smoothies are made of fresh vegetables and fruit that are full of everything that is good for us, and finally

light meal – they are pretty filling so you can easily have it for healthy breakfast or even replace another meal with it, especially if you had (or plan to have) a heavier lunch or dinner.

The below combination of ingredients works beautifully and I am pretty sure that even somebody who is not keen on spinach will enjoy this healthy smoothie.

INGREDIENTS (for 1 portion):

50g spinach,

1 banana,

200ml coconut water,

juice from 0.5 lemon,

0.5 tsp grated ginger.

METHOD:

1. Put all the ingredients to a blender and process on high for 1-2 minutes until you have a smooth drink.

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