Bea’s favourite pasta with tons of green pesto!

1a
The past few weeks were like a whirlwind in my usually calm life.

Me and my husband went to London for two amazing events,Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year and UK Blog awards. Both the same week (!). We met fantastic people, made great memories, drank too much prosecco and danced on Trafalgar Square. OK. Only I danced as Darek watched my crazy moves and couldn’t stop laughing! No. it wasn’t my typical shy bop with moving from one leg to another, slowly swinging my arms on the sides. It was the kind of wild dance I do in the kitchen when no one is looking! Probably even wilder than I thought, because the police(!!!) went up to my husband asking him who I was!!! Can you really get arrested for expressing your happiness in public? Let’s just hope there is no video floating around the internet, otherwise I’ll have to leave the country!

But don’t you just love London? Trafalgar Square. Tuesday night. DJ and a dancing group of happy people. (Pretty obvious who the dancing queen was!) This city has a vibe!

It was brilliant and I’m over the moon that my photograph of Polish pierogi came second in Food Bloggers Category in Pin Lady Food Photographer of the Year and that Bea’s cookbook was Highly Commended at the UK BLOG AWARDS.

…..However the hangover wasn’t so exciting at all!!!…..

Talking about whirlwind…there is something else too….we’ve had a puppy!!!

daisy

She is the sweetest and most charming thing in the whole world…..that turns into tornado within a split second.
She loves gardening. I dig the plants in, she digs them out and madly wags her tail like it it’s the best game ever.
She loves to play hide and seek. She hides socks everywhere abound the house (I found a few in the garden too!) and you have to look for them, which might not be so funny if you are in a rush and you end up leaving the house wearing not matching pair.
Ohhh and she is really into food too! Literally. Her mouth lands in the food, the second you leave the plate unattended. Not to mention that she drank all the beer from the slug traps!!! (Have you ever heard of those traps? Us neither! But we trying every internet hack to get rid of them before they eat the whole garden! Any tips welcome!)

And really, she makes us roll on the floor with laugher and I just love the way she expresses her happiness with the whole body. (Just like me when I was dancing on Trafalgar Square!)

1-horz

Right, let’s talk about food a little bit. It’s a food blog at the end of the day, not a blog about cute dogs nor about my dancing skills 😉

So here is my favourite comfort food recipe. Pasta with tons of green pesto! Hell yeah! I’m totally addicted to it!

When it comes to pesto I am a masochist. I get out the sharpest knife and chop…. Chop…. Chop. …Chop…. It’s like a therapy. Plus it’s much cheaper J Of course you can use food processor too. No judgment! I use it from time to time too 😉

I’ve tried all different ingredients in this dish, whatever I had in the fridge but I always go back to those few, simple ones I love here the most: courgettes, olives, macadamia and pine nuts and super juicy yellow tomatoes. It tastes A M A Z I N G !

2a
3a

RECIPE:

Serves 4 big portions:

For basil pesto:

1 large bunch of basil
1 clove of garlic
40g pine nuts
30g Parmesan, finely grated
freshly ground black pepper
a small pinch of freshly grounded sea salt or any of your favourite salt
50-60ml of good quality extra virgin olive oil

Chop basil and pine nuts finely and place them in a medium bowl along with parmesan. Bash the garlic with the wide, blunt part of the knife and then chop it finely and add to the rest of the ingredients. Add black pepper, salt and olive oil. Mix with a spoon.

When I use a food processor I prefer the texture of the pesto much more when I place the basil, garlic, pine nuts and grated Parmesan in a bowl first. Whizz the ingredients until fine and then I add the rest of the ingredients : grated Parmesan, salt, pepper and olive oil and mix them all together with a spoon.

For the dish:

350g fresh pasta
4 courgettes
200g green olives
200g  yellow tomatoes
100g macadamia nuts
a handful or two of pine nuts
good quality olive oil
a handful of grated parmesan
fresh basil leaves

Boil the pasta in slightly salted water with a spoonful of olive oil. Drain, pour some cold water through it and place back in the pan. Add the pesto and mix it in well so it covers the whole pasta.

Pour some oil in a pan, heat it up and add sliced courgettes, cook until soft.( I like mine with a little bit of crunch). Add them to the pasta and heat it up slightly. Take it off the heat again and add the rest of the ingredient: olives, halved tomatoes, macadamia and pine nuts. Sprinkle with some grated Parmesan and fresh basil leaves and ENJOY!!!

Bea xxx

Raw chocolate pudding(Healthy,super easy and the most delicious!)

IMG_0016 e
I’m sooooo thrilled to share this recipe with you that I literally can’t sit up calm,I feel like screaming and shouting,dancing and jumping,all at the same time 🙂 (what makes writing this post pretty awkward!).

Ohhhhh!!!GUYS!!!!THIS RECIPE is a stellar!It’s like all my chocolaty dreams came true the minute my taste buds sampled this pudding.It tastes so naughty,it’s almost impossible to believe that there is not even a tiny gram of naughtiness in it.Yep!That’s right!Perfect chocolate pudding made only with healthy,wholesome ingredients.Insane,right?

It takes minutes to whiz it in a blender(Another bonus!),unless your blender is old and decrepit(like mine),but you are too sentimental to replace it(like me)If this is a case,mash the bananas with a fork before you add the rest of the ingredients,otherwise it might be difficult to blend 🙂

The recipe comes from Green Kitchen Stories.I can’t get over how amazing these guys are!I just changed the proportions a little bit.

Right,enough has been said.Take a look at the photos,while I’m scoffing another bowl of this awesome mousse 🙂 Enjoy xxx

IMG_0054 xdxd m
IMG_0046 c m
IMG_0058 b m
IMG_0022 d
RECIPE:

serves 2

INGREDIENTS:

2 large bananas (ripe)
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tablespoon smooth almond butter

PREPARATION:

Whiz it in a blender until smooth and try not to eat it all straight away 🙂

Top it with:unsweetened cocoa powder,dark chocolate flakes,favourite nuts and fruits(I don’t normally buy raspberries in February but I couldn’t resist them for this shoot) 🙂

NOTE:

Almond butter gives the thickness to this pudding.If you feel you’d prefer it to be a little thicker just add additional tablespoon of it.

If your blender is similar to mine-old and decrepit and you are very sentimental and it’s still working,you might want to mash the bananas with fork first,otherwise it will be difficult to blend 🙂