Romantic Egg on Toast

This is a perfect idea, if you want to surprise someone with a nice breakfast plate on a weekend morning. It's really egg on toast, but jazzed up with some peppers, basil and great presentation... Easy and super delicious! :-)

Serves 2

Ingredients:

- 2 pieces of toast
- 2 red bell peppers
- 2 eggs, cracked open in ramekins or coffee cups
- 4-5 basil leaves, chopped
- 2tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste

Process:

- Slice the bell peppers into rings. Cut the top of the pepper off so the stalk falls off and leaves a nice hole.
- Over a medium heat pour the olive oil in a skillet and place the pepper rings in. Carefully slide the eggs into the pepper rings and cook slowly. To speed up the cooking time, cover with a lid.
- Toast the bread, place the egg on top, season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle the basil leaves.
- Cover it with the pepper lid and enjoy!

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Autumn is here!! So, what a better way to get into the spirit than a hot cup of Pumpkin Spice Latte.
Now, since I am not a big fan of getting coffee from a coffee house (at least not everyday), I decided to whip up my own recipe and enjoy a delicious homemade cup of latte... Easy, breezy and much more cost-effective :-)

To make the pumpkin pie spice batch you'll need:

- 1tbs cinnamon
- 1tsp ginger
- 1/2tsp nutmeg
- 1/2tsp cloves
- 1/4tsp allspice

Save this in an air-tight container and keep it for whenever you want to make anything with pumpkin flavour. Now, let's make some lattes :-)

Serves 2

Ingredients:

- 1 cup coffee, hot
- 1 cup milk, warm
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

 Process:

- Put the milk, sugar and pumpkin pie spice in a blender or a food processor. Blend for about a minute or until frothy. You could also do this by hand, using a whisk.
- Pour the frothy mixture in a mug, add the coffee, sprinkle a little bit of pumpkin pie spice on top and enjoy!

Eggless Vegetable Fried Rice

I decided to make fried rice without eggs. I think this way the dish is lighter :-) The secret to a perfect plate of fried rice for me is having the correct ratio of rice* to vegetables (1:2). So, I used that and it turned out just as I wanted it. I used the typical frozen vegetable mix (carrots, broccoli, peas, cauliflowers and celery), but you can use fresh vegetables, too.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

- 1 cup cooked rice

- 2 cups frozen vegetables, defrosted

- 1 medium-sized onion, finely chopped

- 3tbs olive oil

- 5tbs soy sauce

- 1tsp ground ginger
- 1tsp allspice (optional)

- salt and pepper to taste

Process:

- In a hot skillet or wok, add the oil and when it's piping hot add the veggies, onion, salt, pepper, allspice and ginger. Keep stirring.

- When the onion has softened, start adding the rice little by little, while constantly stirring.

- Add the soy sauce and stir. Give it a try to check for seasoning, adjust and enjoy!

* If you have the time, make the rice one day or a few hours in advance and keep it in the fridge. The warmer the rice is, the more sticky the dish will be.

Lemon and Thyme Roast Potatoes

Not sure whether I've made it clear that roast potatoes are pretty addictive, but to me... YES, they are!! :-)
I've tried a few different flavours so far, but this was the first time I thought of adding some lemon to my roasties. So now it's definitely a new go-to recipe.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

- 1kg potatoes, peeled and cut into bite sized chunks
- 1 lemon, squeezed
- 5tbs olive oil
- 4tbs water
- 1tsp dried thyme
- 4 bay leaves
- a pinch of sugar
- salt and pepper to taste

Process:

- Preheat the oven to 200 C degrees. Mix all the ingredients (except the potatoes) in a bowl.
- Place the potatoes on a non-stick baking dish and add the rest of the ingredients. Give them a good toss so everything is coated.
- Place in the oven and bake for about 50-60min or until the potatoes are golden brown and crispy. Baking times will vary depending on how big the potato chunks are. Make sure you toss them every 15min, so they get evenly roasted. Enjoy!

Lemon & Basil Pasta

I love using fresh herbs! Basil is probably my favourites and if I had enough on hand, I would probably use it every day :-) So since the plant I have in the kitchen was growing pretty quickly, I decided to make this pasta dish and it turned out pretty nicely.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

- 500g pasta (any shape or size you have)

- 25-30 basil leaves, finely chopped

- 1 lemon, squeezed

- 1 garlic clove, minced

- 6tbs olive oil

- salt and pepper to taste

- parmesan cheese to taste, grated

Process:

- Boil the pasta according to the package instructions. Drain, but don't rinse.

- Put the pasta back in the pot and add the rest of the ingredients except the cheese and a few basil leaves. Give it a good toss.

- Add the cheese, taste for seasoning and adjust. Sprinkle the few basil leaves on top, give it a gentle toss and enjoy!

Potato and Onion Rosti

I love potatoes! Roasted potatoes are probably my favourite... But since I wanted to switch it up a little bit, I made this for dinner tonight and it's probably one of the best comfort meals out there... Especially on a rainy and gloomy day. I served it with crispy sausages and egg, but you can serve it with anything your heart desires. So here it goes:

Serves 2

Ingredients:

- 4 large potatoes, peeled
- 1 medium-sized onion, finely chopped
- 6tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste

Process:

- Cut the potatoes in half, place them in a pot of boiling water and boil them for 5min. Drain and let them cool.
- In a bowl grate the potatoes and season them generously with salt and pepper. Mix them well.
- Place a skillet over a medium high heat, pour in some olive oil, add the onion and sauté until soft. Then add the potatoes and using a fish slice flatten and let them cook. Flip every 3-4min until they have a crispy skin on the outside.
- Cut it into pieces, serve with your favourite side dish and enjoy!

Pizza Quesadilla

Ok, so you really don't need a recipe for this. It's one of those meals that came from leftovers. I made pizza last week and since I had some pizza sauce, olives and cheese left, I decided to make some pizza quesadillas. My pizza sauce contains passata, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper and of course this is all to taste. But you can use any pizza sauce you prefer.

 Serves 2

 Ingredients:

- 4 flour tortillas
- pizza sauce of your choice
- grated cheese of your choice
- sliced olives of your choice

 Process:

- In a large skillet on a medium high heat place a flour tortilla, spoon as much or as little pizza sauce on one half of the tortilla and sprinkle some cheese and olives.
- When the cheese starts to melt, flip the half without any sauce on top, grill on both sides until the tortilla is golden brown and crispy and enjoy!

No Yeast Pizza

After figuring that I have leftover tomato sauce, cheese, sausage and olives in the fridge, I thought: PIZZA! But then I realized I didn't have any yeast. So, since the idea of having pizza for dinner was stuck in my head I decided to research some no-yeast pizza recipes online. It seems like there are thousands of those, so I decided to give my own spin on it and I've gotta say it turned out amazingly delicious.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

- 1 3/4 cups self raising flour*
- 1/2 cup lukewarm water
- 3tbs olive oil
- a pinch of salt

Process:

- Place all ingredients in a bowl. Mix until the mixture becomes doughy.
- Put the dough on a generously floured surface and start kneading. If the dough is too sticky, sprinkle some more flour and keep kneading until it's no longer sticky.
- Wrap it in cling film and let it rest for 30min. This will make it more manageable.
- Preheat oven to 200 C degrees.
- Roll the dough to a desired pizza size, transfer it into an oiled baking dish and brush it with olive oil. Bake it for 5min.
- Put your toppings on, then bake it for additional 15min or until golden brown. Enjoy!

* You can use plain flour also, but make sure you add 1tsp baking powder so the dough rises.

Sausage and Spanish Rice Burritos

Having spent years in California, I had Mexican food once or twice a week. It's one of the best comfort foods and the best part is that you can put pretty much anything in a crispy tortilla and enjoy it. So here is how my burrito dinner went...

Serves 2

Ingredients:

- 6 flour tortillas
- 100g sausage, thinly sliced
- 2 bell peppers, roughly chopped
- 1 chili pepper, finely chopped (optional)
- 1 cup uncooked rice
- 1 3/4 cup water
- 1tbs butter
- 1/4 cup tomato sauce
- 1/4tsp cumin
- salt and pepper to taste

Process:

- On medium high heat melt the butter, add the cumin powder, stir and add the uncooked rice. Stir for about a minute until the rice is coated, and add the tomato sauce and water. Bring it to a boil, season with salt and pepper, then put the heat to as low as it can go, cover it and let it simmer for 20min. Fluff with a fork, set aside and keep it covered to stay warm.
- In a skillet dry fry the sausage on a high heat. When crispy set aside.
- In a food processor place the bell peppers, the chili pepper and blend until it becomes saucy. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
-  Warm up the tortillas in the microwave or in a skillet on the stove. Spoon some of the crispy sausage, rice and pepper sauce in the middle. Fold the sides and then roll it to get a burrito. Enjoy!

Beef Cannelloni

I love cannelloni and I happened to have a few begs of bechamel sauce in the fridge so I thought I should give this a try. I like using the no pre-boil pasta because it seems like it's easier to handle. Here is what I did:

Serves 2

Ingredients:

- 22 no pre-boil cannelloni tubes
- 800g minced beef
- 600g bechamel sauce
- salt and pepper to taste
- cheddar and parmesan cheese to taste

Process:

- Preheat your oven to 180 C degrees.
- Season the beef with salt and pepper and mix it around so it's seasoned all over.
- Fill the cannelloni tubes with the meat.
- Spoon a little bit of the bechamel sauce on the bottom of the baking dish, place the cannelloni tubes and cover them with the rest of the sauce.
- Sprinkle parmesan cheese, then cover with cheddar cheese.
- Cover the dish with a piece of aluminium foil and bake for 20min. Then uncover, put the heat up to 200 C degrees and bake for additional 10min.
- Let it cool for about 10min and enjoy!