Yummy food over a busy weekend

It's been a busy bank holiday over here full of celebrating, cooking, eating, laughing, playing and more.
First, it was my 13th wedding anniversary which always involves a special meal and a nice bottle of something bubbly.
The very next day we celebrated my sister in law's birthday in a very nice Italian restaurant.
But that's not all, the day after, our youngest child turned four and that was a busy and exciting day for all of us.
Here is some of the food we enjoyed over the weekend!

Classic hummus in a company of a fresh french radishes 

300 gr cooked chickpeas

1 Tbsp tahini

juice of half lemon

3-4 Tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

Place all ingredients into a food processor and blended until smooth.

Store in a glass jar in fridge up to 3 days.  

Baked squash with roasted veggies 

serve 4

1 butternut squash 

vegetables of your choice: peppers, courgettes, onions, broccoli 

cooked kale or fresh rocket leaves 

pumpkin seeds

salt and pepper

olive oil

Cut the squash into half, don't need to peel it.

Using a knife make a cross cutting at the top, season with salt and pepper and brush it with some oil.

Bake the squash up side down on 180 C for 30 minutes, then add the vegetables and turn the squash over.

Roast everything for further 20 minutes or until the veggies are done.

In a meanwhile, cook the kale and dry-roast the seeds.

Cut the squashes on half lengthwise and serve with the veggies sprinkled with seeds.

 

Strawberry cake 

200 gr fine flour

90 ml oil, I use coconut oil, melted

300 gr fresh strawberries 

2 eggs

90 gr brown sugar or 4-5 Tbsp honey

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla exstract

milk if needed

Place 200 gr fresh strawberries into a blender and blend until smooth.

Chop up the rest of the strawberries.

Place the wet ingredients in a large mixing bowl, whisk all up, add the dry ingredients and a splash of milk if cake mixture is dry.

Add the chopped strawberries and pour the mixture into a bottom loose cake tin, size 20 cm across.

Bake the cake for 20-25 minutes on 180 C.

Serve with custard and some fresh strawberries.

Peanut butter cookies 

220 gr spelt flour

1 tsp baking powder

4 Tbsp peanut butter

2 Tbsp coconut oil

4 Tbsp honey or maple syrup 

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract 

pinch of salt

50 gr chopped nuts, I used pecan 

50 gr currants 

Melt the coconut oil, add the peanut butter and set a side.

In a mixing bowl, place the dry ingredients, add cooled oil and butter mixture as well as the egg.

Mix everything using a wooden spoon.

Add the nuts and currants.

Scoop out a medium size cookie dough, form a cookie with your hands and place it onto a baking tray.

Repeat until you use all the dough.

You can make a pattern on the top, using a fork.

Bake the cookies for 10 - 15 minutes on 170 C.

 

Breakfast blueberry cakes

350 gr self-raising wholemeal flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

150 gr fresh or frozen blueberries

2 eggs

200 gr plain yogurt

100 ml oil

zest and juice of half lemon

1 tsp vanilla extract

100 gr mashed banana

4 Tbsp honey

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a bowl.

In a separate bowl whisk the eggs, add the yogurt, oil, zest and juice of lemon, vanilla, honey and mashed banana.

Fold in the dry ingredients followed by the blueberries.

Spoon the mixture into a muffin tin ( buttered ) for 12 muffins and bake for 25 - 30 minutes on 200 C.

Get them out as soon as they are baked and cool them down a little bit before eating.