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Heartwarming chicken tomato soup with brussel sprouts

By Rasa Pelham on January 22, 2015 in Healthy, Lunch or Dinner, Recipes, Winter Warmers

When it is so cold outside it’s difficult to stay on diet. You just want to stuff yourself with food and roll into bed. Can you relate? Or maybe it’s just me! But I did find a solution to it! A soup! Soups based on broth (not chowders, purees, or cream soups) have an extremely high water content yet can be filling and warming. Here is a chicken soup that originally started as a stew but have been modified sooo many times and now it’s just a soup (a very lovely soup). I hope you like it ;-). CHICKEN TOMATO SOUP WITH BRUSSEL SPROUTS

1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 carrot, pealed and grated
2 celery sticks
a knob of butter
1kg chicken drumsticks
1.5l-2l chicken stock
8 tomatoes, chopped
1 large potato, pealed and cubed
200g brussel sprouts, pealed and sliced
salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat a knob of butter in a large pan and add the onion, garlic, carrot and celery. My granny used to always say that fried carrot in butter gives that sunny colour in soup… awww!

2. Add the chicken drumsticks and stir until coated in butter as well.

3. Add the stock and bring it to the boil.

4. Add tomatoes, potato and brussel sprouts. Simmer everything slowly for up to an hour, on the low heat with the lid on.5. Once all cooked, have a quick taste to check the seasoning, pull the meat from the bone (unless you want to eat drumsticks whole) and serve.Enjoy!

Rasa xoxo

Seaworld in patterns

By Rasa Pelham on January 20, 2015 in Inspiration, Pretty patterns for crafts, Travel

One of the ways to get inspired to be creative is to look around you (especially in nature). At least this works for me! When we were visiting Florida it was hard to find something cultural or a place in nature. All you could find in Kissimmee is a lot of Amusement parks (I might love them one day when we have kids, but I hate them now)! So I ended up visiting the one with the least rides and more nature. In Seaworld I focused on texture colour and shapes. And this is what I got!

Some patterns I have painted myself after being inspired by all those underwater colours! I hope you feel inspired today and look around you when you go outdoors! And you can find patterns everywhere, even better than the ones I found in Seaworld :-).

Rasa xoxo

The Kennedy Space Centre and Cocoa Beach

By Rasa Pelham on January 17, 2015 in Daydreaming, Travel

Anyone who knows me or anybody who reads this blog regularly are probably aware that I love love the seaside (or the beach). I don’t have to have palms in it, but I certainly like some white sand dunes with a small amount of greenery in it. I like that, because it feels like unfinished canvas where I can imagine something colourful.

I also dream to go to space. In fact I share this dream with Joni. Maybe not exactly the same way, but this random dream of mine is the first thing that got me interested in Joni (in case I forgot to mention, he is an Aerospace Engineer). So why am I talking about Cocoa beach and Kennedy Space Centre? What do those two have in common? Well…my two major dreams (to open a cafe and go to space) don’t go together either, but I still have them and I know it sounds crazy, but I think I have them for a reason.

Same with the Kennedy Space Centre and Cocoa Beach, they sound random, but geographically close. They even share some history together! During 60’s this beach town was populated by many people involved in America’s space program. So basically this is where astronauts would come and rest when they are not in space! How amazing is that!Don’t you think that this car tyre imprint on the sand looks a little bit like the foot steps found on the surface of the moon!?Loved this Kennedy Space Centre star globe fountain with my reflection in it! Cocoa Beach in the fog look sort of dreamy… I hope I got the attention of some of the cosmic dreamers (or seaside lovers) out there ;-)

Rasa

Biscuits or scones?

By Rasa Pelham on January 15, 2015 in Lunch or Dinner, Recipes, Savoury Delights, Travel, Winter Warmers

We recently have visited States and I finally had a chance to taste a biscuit… for breakfast, with the gravy!!! What? If you come from America than this might not be that surprising to you. But here in England biscuit has a complete different sense and purpose. It even looks different! The biscuit that I had in States reminded me of scone that we have over here. Maybe we don’t eat scones with the gravy, but we certainly have cheesy types as well. I must admit eating the biscuit with gravy inspired me to try and marry the scone with the soup! Not just any soup, but the most british one: broccoli & stilton soup.I of course tried to determine the differences between american biscuit and british scone, but did not found that many. Although the ingredients are practically identical, the scone recipe might call for buttermilk, oatmeal or even barley (especially the most traditional recipes). So I guess the choice is yours how to call this baked delight ;-).I often bake these basic type of scones, because they are that basic that you can add any flavour you want to them. You want them sweet = add a 1-2tbsp sugar and handful of dried sultanas, you want them cheesy = add any cheese you want! I replaced butter with coconut oil, just because I believe that make the scones feel a little bit less naughty. And it works every time! Oh, I just love the consistency and the benefits of the coconut oil!

BASIC COCONUT OIL SCONES

150g flour
1 tsp baking powder
45g coconut oil
30ml milk (can be substituted with coconut milk)
1 medium egg (or add another 25ml of milk if you want to keep it even more basic)

1. Mix all the ingredients together (mix flour and baking powder separately first) until everything combines well and shapes non-stick dough.

2. Roll the dough 1 cm thick and by using cookie cutter cut the dough into the circles.

3. Bake the scones for about 10-15 in the preheated 180C oven. Enjoy!

Rasa xoxo

Our holiday in Florida

By Rasa Pelham on January 13, 2015 in Travel, Updates

Well… this was mainly my holiday as we were flying to Florida for Joni’s conference so I had loads of time on my own. Not my perfect type of holidays, but I appreciated the opportunity and I am glad I grabbed it as I did (with both hands :D). What I enjoyed the most is the change of weather from frosty England to sunny beach!DAY 1: To begin me and Joni had first two days together. So we visited what mattered most, the Kennedy Space Centre. We both dream about going to space: me mostly for experience and Joni just loves the technical part of it (he is an Aerospace Engineer after all). If you are into experience as much as me I would really recommend Shuttle Launch Experience! I like tasting different flavours of Ice-cream wherever I go. This time I tried this pretty root beer float, which was probably not a right choice for me. I think root beer has a very acquired taste and I am… well… not quite acquired to it (this was my first time trying this type of drink!). The other ice cream I have tried was freeze dried Ice-cream (otherwise called Astronaut ice cream). It may not feel like eating an ice cream, but it was certainly an interesting experience! DAY 2: While Joni had a chance to take an extra super special tour at Kennedy Space Centre, I decided to explore the beach. Cocoa Beach was the closest and it certainly made my day! I spend a day in the sun lying on the sand dunes (tiny to compare to Lithuanian sand dunes though) just relaxing and reading a book (a head start on my new year resolutions!). DAY 3: I wasn’t sure what to do with myself that day. Though I will check out the town, but have been told that there is nothing to be found. I humbled myself and checked out the SeaWorld (least commercial amusement park in Kissimmee). I am not quite keen on all those “parks” and my beloved beach is not an easy place to get to without the car. However I did like the aquariums with the underwater world (will post more pics soon!). DAY 4: A shopping day. I know I know, I generally don’t do much shopping (at least for clothes)! I promised myself long time ago that I would make my own clothes all by myself (well, except shoes maybe), but it turned out quite a fun day! I bought so many things for Joni. Who knew that shopping for menswear can be that much fun!?

DAY 5: With a little bit of planning ahead I managed to squeeze in another day of beach! Yey! This time it was a Clearwater Beach which suppose to be a better beach to compare to Cocoa Beach. However Cocoa Beach has that rustic appeal that I love so much more than clear water and very very white sand. Ok, I did like the sand better in Clearwater beach. I think that sand may even be whiter and finer that the sand in the Lithuanian Beach. Which is quite odd, because Lithuanian beach have really fine slightly beige sand. Anyway, still another enjoyable day! I hope you did not mind that I shared…

Rasa :-)

Sister hats!

By Rasa Pelham on January 10, 2015 in Crochet, Knitting, Outdoors, Winter Warmers

I was so super happy to get a sister last year! When you’re the only girl in your family getting a sister is a big deal. So when it came to deciding on what gift to give to Nicola a little lightbulb lit up and I started making these cute pom-pom hats so that we would both have something matching(not identical though! That would be a bit weird..). I needed a good hat as my old one had had its days and Joni’s hats… well… they did not quite make a fashion statement. Unfortunately we did not have a chance to take a pic of us together with these hats, but we did spend a day shopping and while we shopped these hats were very useful for spotting each other in the crowd! I hope you like these hats as much as we did. You can find the pattern and instructions for them here. Just so you are aware, you will need knitting, crochet and pom-pom making (real easy!) skills to complete this project.Good Luck!

Rasa xoxo

Lithuanian seaside in winter (minus the the snow)

By Rasa Pelham on December 29, 2014 in Lithuanian, Outdoors, Travel

We are back from Lithuania and I could not wait to share the highlights with you. My favourite place in the world still lies on the Lithuanian seaside, in Kuršių Nerija National Park. However this time I was hoping for snow. Why? Because snow on the seaside looks unusual and I like unusual things! Anyway, maybe I will catch the snow next year?

Getting to any destination begins with a journey and ours started with a ferry. I love how there is no other way to get to the other side than the ferry (unless you travel via a Russian enclave)! You basically get transferred to the other side while sitting in your own car. How amazing is that!Walking through the forest to get to the sandy beach feels fairytale like. However I found these squirrel trail signs hilarious :-D. And who thought we could find ready decorated Christmas tree in the middle of the forest? Trying to make sand angels (I somehow think snow angels are better). I hope you enjoyed your Christmas and getting ready for 2015 ;-)

Rasa x

Evangeline’s birthday cake

By Rasa Pelham on December 17, 2014 in Cake decorating, Errors, Let's Celebrate!, Sweet Treats

This cake that I baked for Evangeline’s birthday almost two weeks ago was received with the “awww…” wow!” and “that’s amazing” praises. Little did the know that this cake did not come out exactly how I imagined! I was experimenting with baking cheesecake on the top of the sponge (something like this). I took two of my favourite recipes and combined, the cheesecake unfortunately went under the sponge. I guess I will have to do more experimenting in the future! CHOCOLATE SPONGE & VANILLA CHEESECAKE WITH THE CRANBERRY TOPPING

(for the sponge)

50g dark chocolate
55g butter
100g golden caster sugar
1 egg
2tbsp milk
2tbsp yogurt
70g plain flour
2tsp baking powder

(for the cheesecake filling)

400g soft cheese
120g caster sugar
1 tsp cornflour
3 eggs
vanilla seeds scraped from one pod
1/4 tsp lemon juice or white vinegar

(for the topping)

200g cranberry sauce
300g fresh cranberries
50g sugar

1. First make a chocolate sponge cake mix. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, then remove from the heat and set aside.

2. In Another bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the rest of the ingredients gradually (including melted chocolate) and mix to combine. Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking pan.

3. Next, make a cheesecake filling. Place all the ingredients into the bowl or large measuring jug and mix everything well with the hand processor (I find this method the quickest!). 4. Pour in the cheesecake mixture on top of the sponge cake mixture. Pop the baking tin into the preheated 170C oven and leave there to bake for about an hour or hour and half. The cheesecake has to be not too wobbly!5. While cheesecake is baking, prepare the cranberry topping. Put cranberries, sugar and cranberry sauce into the small saucepan. Heat everything and mix until the sugar dissolves and cranberries bruise slightly.

6. Once cheesecake is cooked and cooled top it with the cranberry topping and let it set in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

7. Decorate this cheesecake with biscuits. I used some melted chocolate as a glue!A nice ribbon holds everything in place and it makes the cake look so cute!You can dust the cake with some icing sugar, but be warned! This lovely frosting effect does not last very long time :-( Enjoy cake decorating :-)

Rasa xoxo

12 days of overnight porridge

By Rasa Pelham on December 12, 2014 in Break-the-fast, Healthy, Lithuanian, Winter Warmers

I am not always a morning person and very often I just prefer to snooze instead of having more time to eat breakfast. And I do LOVE breakfast! But since I have tasted overnight porridge at grannies, I have started experimenting with different types of grains for a simple morning breakfast. My mum also makes porridge a lot and I did grow up on that type of breakfast. And porridge does’t just stop with oats! You can also use barley, rice, quinoa, buckwheat and many more. I only tried out few and I am really glad I did. I feel much more organised when I prep my breakfast the night before :-).

And this is how my lovely warm porridge breakfast journey went:

Day 1: I have mixed steel cut (pinhead) oats with 3 parts of water (1:3 ratio) and added a pinch of salt. Next morning I added yogurt, mixed berries, seeds and honey. The best oats ever!Day 2: It’s a spiced apple morning. The night before I have added one cored and sliced gala apple into 1:3 ratio oats (you can try other apple types, but if you pick a cooking apple such as bramley or granny smith then your porridge might need some sugar). I also added some ground cinnamon together with the pinch of salt. This also came out wonderfully well! I had it with some yogurt and honey :-).

Day 3: I don’t know what came to me, but I got attracted by the idea of adding spinach into the porridge (crazy, I know!). I have seen this “green monster” overnight oats recipe and I just wanted to try it in porridge form. I mixed oats with almond milk, added chopped banana and some frozen spinach. Little did I know that in heat banana discolours and spinach turns all khaki. So if you can guess, we could not eat it, even if it had a wonderful banana aroma…

Day 4: Another unlucky day. I decided to try out rice pudding grains, so I mixed 1/2 cup of rice with 3 cups of almond milk as I would with oats. Turns out rice requires more liquid when slow cooked, so rice burned in the slow cooker by the next morning!

Day 5: I mixed 1/2 cup pudding rice with 4 cups of almond milk.The consistency turned out great! Served it with cherries, yogurt and almonds. Although I think this would be soooo nice with some condensed milk and cherries. But then this would be a pudding, not a breakfast. But maybe pudding for breakfast is not that unacceptable?

Day 6: This time I used a regular milk instead of almond milk and mixed it with some molasses. I suggest you don’t do it! It’s too rich while maple syrup would compliment this sooo much better. Anyways sliced banana and pecan nuts are good match! Don’t you think?

Day 7: I used my mum’s recipe. I finely chopped 1/5 butternut squash, added 1/2 cup rice, 1/2 cups raisins, 4 cups of milk, 1tbs sugar and pinch of salt. It’s lovely just as it is as it has sweetness of it’s own! Day 8: Tried out barley grains today! But not pearl barley, but the flaked ones. We usually have them savoury in Lithuania, but decided to have sweet this time. I mixed 1/2 cup barley with 2 cups of water and a pinch of salt. In the morning I had it with some yogurt, pouched pear, honey and some poppy seeds. I loved pouched pear, even if I don’t like pears in general!

Day 9: Decided to have barley the traditional way: savoury! In Lithuania we usually add fried onions and carrots on top of cooked barley porridge. But I wanted to keep it simple and healthy! So I added some butter (butter has lots of goodness in it!!) and sprinkled with some chopped carrot and cucumber. Indian or moroccan spices go really well here too!

Day 10: tried out quinoa. I have mixed quinoa with 3 parts of water (1:3 ratio) and added a pinch of salt. Next morning I added yogurt, chopped pineapple, seeds and honey. I found quinoa tasting dry and a bit bitter. Day 11: Went all Christmasy! I mixed 1/2 cup quinoa and 2 cups of milk with some dried cranberries. Next morning I added a little bit more milk, pecan nuts, clementines and maple syrup. It was fab!

Day 12: Had the best of all! I mixed 1/4 cup steel cut oats, 1/4 cup quinoa and 2 cups of milk. In the morning I had it together with cherries, extra milk and some maple syrup. It was quite filling indeed!So I tried overnight porridge with steel cut oats, rice, barley and quinoa. I loved oats the best. No wonder it’s the most popular. But I guess it is nice to have some variation sometimes. I really hope you found this inspiring!Enjoy healthy breakfast running up till Christmas :)

Rasa xx

My favourite mulled wine recipe this year

By Rasa Pelham on December 8, 2014 in Christmas waiting, Drinks, Winter Warmers

I lost the count how many mulled wine glasses (or bottles) I drank this year. Many many glasses for sure! That’s because I like mulled wine very much. So of course I have experimented with it a lot. Because I don’t always have ready mulled wine in hand, I often make my own when in need. I have been inspired by Jamie Oliver mulled wine recipe this year. I came up with very smooth and thick mulled wine because of that. It almost taste like a spiced jam! JAM MULLED WINE

2 clementines, cut in half
2 handfuls of mixed berry mix (frozen works well)
100g sugar
3 cloves
1 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
1 bottle of red wine (I like merlot most)

1. First heat sugar with clementines, berries and spices. Mash clementines and berries so the juice come out and the sugar dissolves in it.

2. When everything dissolves, pour the wine in. Heat further till it warms but does not boil (you want to make sure that alcohol does not evaporate!). Pour the mulled wine into the glasses and enjoy Christmas!

Rasa xoxo

Soda bread baking

By Rasa Pelham on December 2, 2014 in Homemade, My Daily Bread

I always try to bake my own bread, but to be completely honest here I don’t get to do that very often. Who has the time to wait for at least 3 hours? I guess I could be more organised and think in advance when bread is need for dinner. But that is not always possible either. Thanks to the Irish, there is a quicker solution for home bread baking. Soda bread as the title suggest uses baking soda instead of yeast, therefore the rising process is faster. So no waiting time! Great! Over a week ago I baked these little soda bread buns for dinner (we had burgers) that had spelt. You see, I really wanted to try Leatheringsett Watermill spelt flour! WHOLESOME SODA BUNS makes 8-10 buns

250g spelt flour
250g strong white flour
10g salt
4tsp baking powder
150ml milk
150ml yogurt
1 egg, whisked
seeds of your choice (optional, I used sesame seeds)

1. Combine all the ingredients in the bowl (except egg and seeds) and kneed briefly to make a dough. 2. Divide the dough into 8 or 10 balls. Place them on a baking tray and cut a cross in the top f each bun. Brush some whisked egg on top and sprinkle with seeds.3. Bake these buns in preheated 200C oven for about 20 min until they sound hollow when tapped on the base. 4. Let the buns cool for few minutes before enjoying them ;-) .Have a lovely week!

Rasa xoxo

Savoury oat breakfast (leftovers for lunch)

By Rasa Pelham on November 13, 2014 in Break-the-fast, Healthy, Lunch or Dinner

As you know, my favourite meal is breakfast. In fact I love it so much that I sometimes have it for lunch as well! These oat fritters have been introduced to me by my dear friend Vicki. We used to have this type of breakfast every time I used to sleepover at her place (good old days!). This is diffusion breakfast between porridge and classic fry-up as it taste a little meaty. Very good vegetarian recipe from Vicki’s mum!VICKI’S MUM’S SAVOURY OAT FRITTERS enough for 2-3 brunch lovers

2 cups basic oats
1 egg
3 shallots, finely chopped
1 tsp moroccan or cajun spice
1.5 cups (375ml) boiling chicken stock
1-2tbsp coconut oil (or any other oil if you prefer)

1. Mix all the ingredients (except oil) together into sticky oat mixture.2. Heat the oil in the pan and then spoon the mixture in, leaving gaps in between. Fry the fritters while occasionally turning them over to ensure they cook on both sides. 3. Serve with cream fresh and tomato salad!Enjoy!

Rasa xoxo

Our weekend at Grannies (in Cley-next-the-Sea)

By Rasa Pelham on November 11, 2014 in English, Travel

Just came back from long and wonderful weekend in Cley-next-the-Sea. As promised I brought back more pics from this beautiful countryside (more pics than I could handle in fact!).

Breakfast did not always look like this. I had a hearty fried breakfast Saturday & Sunday but tried this overnight porridge on my last morning there and I absolutely loved it! Granny cooks this porridge in a low temperature oven, which makes the porridge taste heavenly. I will be experimenting with this in my slow cooker as I have bought myself steel cut (pinhead) oats to try this out!Going for a walk, beyond the Cley Windmill this time :-)Although Clay Windmill is no longer used for milling, we also visited Leatheringsett Watermill where I was able to get some flour. How exciting! So looking forward to baking with traditionally milled flour!Walking through the Marshes is a must do in Cley-next-the-Sea! We walked till Blakeley village this time!Loved the outdoor reclamation yard! Bath tap anyone? And vintage & antique shops/fairs….Got inspired by this crochet edge antique table cloth. I so could make this myself!

I could not help myself but buy some buttons (they just looked too cute!!!).

On the way back found some interesting bugs (that’s unlike me to look for them, but this one might be useful someday :D). And some blackberries!Some work done around Grannies house…

After all this, I am ready to face a week :)Have a wonderful week everyone!!!

Rasa xoxo

Autumn vegetable risotto

By Rasa Pelham on November 5, 2014 in Autumn, Lunch or Dinner, Winter Warmers

Since november is a last month in autumn, I though I will make something special and heartwarming. This autumn vegetable risotto is the best risotto I ever made (and I made quite many in my lifetime). I picked roasted root vegetable for the topping and that went like a dream with goooeeey risotto.AUTUMN VEGETABLE RISOTTO

3 carrots, sliced
4 beetroots, pealed and chopped
1 large parsnip, pealed and sliced
1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp chopped fresh sage
pepper and salt to taste
olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
300g risotto rice
200ml white wine
700ml chicken (or vegetable) stock
20g butter
70g parmesan cheese

1. First make the vegetable topping. Place all chopped/sliced vegetables into the oven proof dish. Sprinkle everything with garlic (reserve one for the rice) and herbs, season it and drizzle it with olive oil. Bake it in preheated 200C oven for 30min. 2. Meanwhile cook risotto rice. Fry the onions and remaining garlic clove in the pan with generous mount of oil. Then add rice, continue frying for a minute until rice become sort of transparent and then pour in the wine.

3. Now reduce the heat and add the stock gradually while stirring the rice constantly. This process should take about 15min or so. Every time you add some stock just wait until everything becomes thick again. At the end of this process the rice should be cooked and nice!

4. At the end add butter and some grated parmesan cheese into the rice and let it rest. Remove roasted vegetables from the oven and serve it with rice.

Enjoy!

Rasa xoxo

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Archive | Blog

Heartwarming chicken tomato soup with brussel sprouts

Seaworld in patterns

The Kennedy Space Centre and Cocoa Beach

Biscuits or scones?

Our holiday in Florida

Sister hats!

Lithuanian seaside in winter (minus the the snow)

Evangeline’s birthday cake

12 days of overnight porridge

My favourite mulled wine recipe this year

Soda bread baking

Savoury oat breakfast (leftovers for lunch)

Our weekend at Grannies (in Cley-next-the-Sea)

Autumn vegetable risotto