May 19, 2013

Almond Rhubarb Crumble (sugar- & flour-free)

Today is a World Baking Day so it was a given I would bake something but I am being a little bit of a baking rebel. As you might know I am the worst person to follow recipes (hence this blog) so instead of taking a challenge from the website I just baked a rhubarb almond crumble that I have been craving the entire week.

Ingredients
500g rhubarb
100g tagatose (I used NuNaturals)
120g ground almonds
20g ghee (clarified butter)
20g coconut oil
20g sliced almonds

Method
Chop rhubarb into chunks the length of your thumb. Put in a saucepan with 60g tagatose. Simmer covered on a low heat for about 5 minutes. Transfer the rhubarb into a baking dish (medium sized).
In a bowl, rub the ground almonds, ghee, coconut oil and remaining tagatose until you have a crumbly topping. Cover rhubarb with the topping and put in the oven for about 15 minutes.
In a pan, dry roast sliced almonds until golden. Sprinkle over the rhubarb crumble for serving.

Posted by Princess Misia & filed under CAKE, DESSERT, Lactose-free, Sugar-free. This post has no comments yet.

May 9, 2013

Sweet Potato & Smoked Paprika Chips

The combination of sweet potato and smoked paprika has become a little bit of an obsession for me, I admit, but it’s just too good not to keep coming up with recipes that match those two. Homemade chips are amazingly easy to make but so much healthier and more delicious than the ones bought in store.

I played with a few stylings of the chips and ended up with two I really liked. I usually keep the styling consistent but I couldn’t decide which one I wanted to use so I am posting both. I’m curious to hear your thoughts on whether you like the first or the second styling better!

Ingredients
2 sweet potatoes
Pinch of smoked paprika
Pinch of sea salt
1tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Method
Preheat oven to 200C. Clean sweet potatoes and slice them as thin as you can with a knife (you can also peel them if you . In a small bowl, mix olive oil and smoked paprika and toss the potatoes with it.

On two baking sheets, arrange the potatoes in a single layer. Bake for about 20-25 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes to make the chips crispy!

Sprinkle with sea salt and enjoy!

Posted by Princess Misia & filed under Paleo, SNACKS, sweet potato, Vegetarian. This post has 3 comments.

May 5, 2013

Homemade Lemonade!

There is nothing better than a homemade lemonade! On spring days like today, when sun is shining and temperatures reach 20ºC, I put lemons, berries and mint into a big jar of water and make a very subtle natural lemonade to enjoy outside! Also perfect for picnics if you already started the picnic season!

Ingredients
125g strawberries, trimmed
3 lemons
bunch of fresh mint
1l water

Method
Fill jar or water can with water. Juice one lemon into the water. Slice 2 remaining lemons. Add strawberries, mint and lemon slices into the jar and put in a fridge for at least 1 hour (if possible more). The water will take over the taste of the fruit and mint and will make a delicious delicate lemonade. If you’re a sweet tooth, feel free to add honey!

Posted by Princess Misia & filed under Drinks, picnic. This post has 5 comments.

May 1, 2013

Whole 30: Balsamic Strawberries with Mint and Pistachios

Being a sweet tooth, I knew that going on the Whole30 challenge meant I will be experimenting a lot with fruit. I honestly thought it was going to be much more difficult now I wasn’t able to use my beloved spelt flour and stevia but it turns out that I just opened my heart (and mouth) to a completely new set of flavor combinations and my balsamic strawberries are definitely a good example of it. I’ve made balsamic strawberries before but never with nuts and mint and it was those two that have made this snack just perfect.

Ingredients
200g strawberries, cleaned, trimmed and sliced
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
5 big mint leaves, chopped
25g crushed pistachios

Method
Mix strawberries with balsamic vinegar and put in the fridge for 20 minutes. Take out, add chopped mint and crushed pistachios and enjoy!

Love,

Marta

Posted by Princess Misia & filed under DESSERT, Lactose-free, Sugar-free, Wheat-free, Whole30, whole9. This post has 3 comments.

April 28, 2013

Whole30: Apple Almond Bake with Raspberries!

You thought desserts during the Whole30 program were forbidden? Or impossible to make with no flour, sweetener or sugar? Nah hah! I have made an ah-mazingly delicious apple bake and trust me I did not miss sugar nor flour (nor did my husband surprisingly). My mom is coming over today from Poland so being good daughter I have been baking the entire morning. Since I can’t have any of the ‘regular’ cakes, I have decided to give it a try and make one that fits with my Whole30 regime. And it worked out. Better than I thought. Woot woot for a happy Sunday!

Ingredients
3 apples, peeled and cut in cubes
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp organic almond butter (unsweetened)
100 ground almonds
25g ghee, cold
handful of raspberries (or other berries)

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C. In a small bowl, mix apples with cinnamon. In a small baking dish arrange the apples.
In another bowl, mix ground almonds, ghee and almond butter. Crumble the mixture over the apples and put in the middle of the oven. Bake for 35minutes. Remove from the oven, let cool for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with berries and enjoy!

Love,

Marta

Posted by Princess Misia & filed under DESSERT, Sugar-free, Wheat-free, Whole30, whole9. This post has 12 comments.

April 25, 2013

Whole30 Challenge + Leak & Sweet Potato Oven Frittata

Last week I started my new job and I decided it was also a good time to start with the #Whole30 challenge. After reading “It Starts With Food” book, I have been trying to find a good time to do the program but there was always something that came up, mostly travelling, which prevented me from committing to anything for entire month. Now I’m on day ten and the only challenging part will be my birthday trip to Venice.

Whole30 is basically a 30 day nutritional reset, designed to help you restore a healthy metabolism, heal your digestive tract, calm systemic inflammation and put an end to unhealthy cravings, habits, and relationships with food. Note, it’s NOT a diet (but yes, you’ll probably lose a few pounds). It’s based on Paleo eating but is a little more restrictive – long story short what you’re eating is fruit, vegetables (except for legumes), eggs, sea food, fish, chicken and meat for the carnivores, olive oil, coconut oil, some nuts and seeds, water , tea and coffee (black). Very important – sweet potato is allowed!

Even though I have been eating healthy for the past millions of years, I have been feeling tired a lot and needed something to improve my digestion. Whole30 challenge was exactly what I was looking for, I’m on day 10 and I feel like a new person. My energy level is back on track, I haven’t had any cravings at all. And the best thing is, I’m never hungry. The frittata is the first Whole30 recipe I’ posting but there will be more – I promise!

Ingredients
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 bit sweet potato, peeled and cut into small cubes
2 shallots
2 leaks (white part), sliced
6 organic eggs
1 tbsp chopped chives
Salt & pepper

Method
Heat oven to 180°. In a medium oven-safe frying pan, heat coconut oil over medium heat. Cook shallots, potatoes and leaks undercover for about 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Beat eggs in a small bowl with salt and pepper and pour over the veggies. Sprinkle with chives. Cover the pan with an aluminium foil and bake for 20 minutes in the oven. Take out the foil and bake for another 10-15 minutes.

You can serve with a salad on side.

Love,

Marta

Posted by Princess Misia & filed under Lunch, Main Dish, Whole30, whole9. This post has 3 comments.

April 21, 2013

Princess Misia Adventures in Bordeaux!

I was recently taking a week off before I was going to start my new job and after all the traveling in the last months, I was determined to stay home and do pretty much nothing. Everything was going according to the plan until I got an email from BelgianWino asking if I was interested in joining my fellow foodblogger Kristof on a four day Bordeaux wine tasting adventure. I’m not much of a drinker in general but one beverage I definitely appreciate is wine. So hellz to the yes, sign me up (I guess I am just not meant to be doing nothing).

We visited Bordeaux in what is called ‘en primeur’ week. For those who are not familiar with the happening, it’s the time of the year where everybody rushes to Bordeaux châteaux to try the precious nectar of the year before. Unbottled. From the barrel.

Straight from the airport, we rushed to Château Pape Clément, one of the oldest documented histories of any estate in the region, where we were able to catch a glimpse of the characteristics of 2012 vintage by trying close to 50 wines (=heaven). Even though the Château Pape Clément wine is one of the best we have had, many of the less pricey wines we’ve tasted were really delightful and will definitely find their way back onto my table.

At night we hit the town to taste some of the Bordeaux sweetness (thank you Sweet Bordeaux), followed by a scrumptious dinner and bars many of them serving the 2012 vintage. It’s where we found out that our guide, Benoît-Emmanuel Trocard, is a wine maker himself and his gigantic bottles of wine can be found all around the city’s bars.

Friday morning started with a class at the L’Ecole du Vin de Bordeaux situated in the Bar à Vin (which has pretty much become our ‘local hangout’) where we learned more about the region, the grapes, the terroir and ended the class with a scent recognition exercise that we failed miserably.

My favorite part of the trip was a visit to Château de Fontenille owned and run by Stéphane Defraine – a Belgian wine maker living in the region. “Being a winemaker is a life, not a job”, said Stéphane who bought Château de Fontenille in 1989 and have dedicated his life to making it a success.

His Bordeaux wines (including his very special Magic 7 wine) were wonderful but it was the passion for what he does, his and his wife’s implausible hospitality (and maybe their three cats) that made it into an unforgettable experience.

After we worked hard helping with the process of bottling wine (ok, maybe not sooo hard), Stéphane gave us a fortaste of wine blending followed by a homemade feast prepared by his wife. While enjoying the fromage, pain and vin, we shared stories on our shared passions, food and wine.

On Saturday, the sun was shining and it was a perfect day for Printemps des vins de Blaye – food and wine festival in the Citadelle de Blaye! A full day of wine tasting, workshoppin’, boat trippin’ and enjoying spring (which let’s be honest, have made us wait for itself for-freaking-ever). But the best part of the day was wine blending workshop where we got to make our own wine, have it bottled, labeled with our own brand (woot woot for Princess Misia wine) and take it home!! Stay tuned as I might invite one of you for the grand opening (of the bottle).

Before leaving Bordeaux on Sunday afternoon, we strolled around this beautiful city and did what I love to do most when I’m travelling- visited a local market. There is just nothing better to get to know a local way of life and local produce than the local market.

À la prochaine,

Marta

Posted by Princess Misia & filed under TRAVELS. This post has 4 comments.

April 10, 2013

Grated Sweet Potatoes with Smoked Paprika

I took out my grater when we were making carrot cakes for the Clean Closet catering event and I can’t seem to stop grating! Luckily as otherwise I would not have discovered this simple but oh so delicious dish! If you’re a sweet potato addict like myself and don’t mind a dash of smoked paprika, I can promise you are going to love it!

Ingredients (2 portions or 1 if you’re really hungry!)
3 sweet potatoes, peeled and grated
1 tsp smoked paprika
Pinch of herb salt
3 tbsp olive oil

Method
Heat olive oil in a large frying pan on medium high heat. Add the grated potatoes and sprinkle them with smoked paprika and herb salt. Baked for 4 minutes, stirring every 20 seconds. Cover the pan with a lid and bake for another 3 minutes.

Serve as side dish or do what I do and just eat it!

Hugs,

Marta

Posted by Princess Misia & filed under Lunch, Side dish, Vegetarian. This post has 7 comments.

April 9, 2013

Healthy Dessert Buffet for Clean Closet Event!

When Vanessa from Vanevalentine asked me if I wanted to cater a healthy dessert buffet for 200 people with her – the only thing I could answer was: CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! I was even more thrilled when I found out about the event’s concept. Organized by Liesbeth from Candy & Treats, Clean Closet is a place where girls can sell their quality second-hand clothes. Food and shopping? That’s all the convincing I needed.

After spending the entire Saturday in the kitchen calculating, cutting, shredding, mixing, stirring and baking (my oven has passed the ultimate test with hours and hours of continuous work!) we ended up with the following sugar-free and wheat-free dessert menu:

Banana Cake with Douwe Egberts BLACK Coffee (thank you DE!)
Carrot Raisin Cake
Apple and Cinnamon Muffins
Apple and Raspberry Cakes
Walnut Brownies
Raspberry Cheesecake Bars

All desserts were sugar-free thanks to the products of NuNaturals which both Vanessa and I regularly use in our cooking!

Our desserts were served with hot & cold tea – courtesy of Gingerlove and Tao.

The crowd seemed to enjoy the desserts and we were happy to see familiar faces at our dessert bar including Amaury from amoorie.be, Charlotte from Scene by C and Petra from Sprinkles on a Cupcake.

As we all know, we can’t only live on desserts, no matter how healthy they are, so luckily our food team included Jean-Baptiste – the owner and chef behind the Keep on Toasting food truck! I have been excited to try his already famous croqs made with spelt bread for a while now and this was a great opportunity not only to stuff myself with them (yep, I had 3!!) but also to experience the food truck from the other side. What I love about Keep on Toasting menu is that it’s partly crowdsourced from customers and if you let Jean-Baptiste know beforehand you are coming over and you have food restrictions like gluten – he will make sure to have gluten free bread ready for you! Check Keep on Toasting website for more info on where you can try his delicious croqs!

As requested by you girls, I am sharing the first recipe from the event:

SUGAR-FREE WALNUT BROWNIES

Ingredients:

150g spelt flour

250g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa)

250g lactose-free butter

3 eggs

1 tbs baking soda

1 tbs baking powder

20 drops NuNaturals cocoa bean extract

100g NuNaturals tagatose

Handful of walnuts, chopped

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Melt the chocolate ‘au bain-marie’. Add butter and stir occasionally till melted.

In a bowl, mix tagatose, stevia and eggs. Stir in the melted butter and chocolate mix. Add spelt flour, baking soda and baking powder and stir till well combined.

Line a square baking tray with parchment paper and pour the mixture into it. Sprinkle the batter with walnuts and bake for 20 minutes.

Big hug,

Marta

Posted by Princess Misia & filed under Events. This post has 12 comments.

April 5, 2013

Asparagus & Goat Cheese Tart

Sping means asparagus! Since it’s still way too cold outside for this time of the year, I am making up for the lack of spring outside by the plentiful of spring in my kitchen! Asparagus is one of my favorite spring vegetables and it definitely makes for an amazingly tasty savory tart with lots of goat cheese and a spelt flour crust. Serve it with a fresh salad and you will have a wonderful lunch for this weekend (yaay! it’s Friday already – happy weekend my friends!)!

asparagus & goat cheese tart_princessmisia.com

Ingredients
110 thin green asparagus or asparagus tops
140g creamy goat cheese
1 egg
250 g spelt flour
1 tsp salt
60 ml olive oil
120 ml ice cold water
Baking spray

Method
Lightly oil the tart tin with baking spray. In a large bowl, mix together the spelt flour and olive oil. Slowly pour the ice cold water and mix everything using a fork until well combined. Knead it together until it forms a ball. Do not over knead. Wrap the ball into foil and put into the refrigerator for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Roll the dough out onto a clean, floured surface into a rectangle. Use a knife to keep the edges straight. Lift the pastry gently and transfer it to the baking tin.

In a pan, bring water to boil and cook asparagus for 3 minutes. In a bowl, mix goat cheese and the egg and pour it over the dough. Arrange the asparagus on top of the cheese mixture and bake the tart for about 35-40 minutes. Leave to cool slightly and serve warm.