How do you like red cabbage? Did you know it has cancer-preventing benefits? It is easily digested and acts like a soothing cloth for the stomach, helping with many gastrointestinal conditions, constipation or the very annoying irritable bowel syndrome. This beautiful purple leafy plant is filled with vitamin C and will give you 56% of your vitamin C only consuming 1 cup of it a day, so as a result your immune system is boosted by increasing the amount of white cells in your system in order to fight infections and other bacteria.

At the same time, a cup of red cabbage contains 33% of your daily intake of Vitamin A and 28% of Vitamin K, this last one will help you lowering your osteoporosis and cancer risks! This delicious red cabbage is well known as well for reducing inflammations and stopping the growth of cancerous cells by inhibiting certain enzymes while at the same time helps your body to recover and repair the damage caused by the carcinogens.

Now that we're all set knowing all the benefits this beautiful plant has to offer us, I will show you today a way to enjoy it! There are endless recipes and salads with red cabbage but today we are making steaks!

Ready?

☂ 1 medium red cabbage, sliced

☂ 1 tablespoon of olive oil per steak

☂ sea salt

☂ chilli powder

☂ paprika powder

☂ sesame seeds

☂ oregano

☂ fresh basil

☂ black pepper

1. Preheat your oven 200 Celsius degrees. Prepare a baking tray lining it up with baking paper.

2. Cut the fresh cabbage in slices. Arrange and fit in the baking tray.

3. Spread 1 tablespoon of oil per slice. Add the spices to all slices.

4. Bake for aprox. 15-20 minutes. Check on them so they don't burn.

Enjoy right away alone or with your organic ketchup or even a spinach-mushroom cream you can easily prepare (I might upload another recipe for this).

Isn't it delicious? Can you imagine this IN A VEGAN BURGER? I can! And so I will do today!

The other day I made a batch of cookies for some friends and family and I thought I would share the secret recipe to these perfectly soft and moist chocolate cookie dough. This is the typical American chocolate chip cookies dough recipe... meaning that I did not intend to make it "healthier" in any way. If you want the real thing you will need to sacrifice some calories and some extra hours in the gym but I think it is totally worth to have these for special occasions or whenever you feel you need something to cheer your cheat-Sunday up.

Before starting with the recipe I need to add that the baking time plays a very important factor in the moisture of these cookies. When you bake them, do not overbake them, please. Otherwise they will not remain chewy nor moist. You need to get them out strictly between 7-9 minutes. Even if they still look quite pale, the bottom is golden and the inside is done, they will just need to get out of the oven and rest for 30 minutes or so and you will see how they are indeed well baked, not over baked, chewy, soft and just...heavenly good. So please, remember this. Be careful with the baking.

☂  8 tablespoons salted butter (you do can choose a low fat one)
☂ 100 g white granulated sugar
☂ 50 g brown sugar
☂ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
☂ 1 egg
☂ 192 g All purpose Flour
☂ 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
☂ 1/4 teaspoon salt
☂ 200 g Bar of Karl Fazer Milk Chocolate (or any other milk chocolate), cut into little pieces

1. Preheat oven 170 Celsius degrees. Line a tray with a baking paper sheet. Cut your chocolate bar into little pieces resembling chocolate chips.
2. Melt the butter in your microwave.
3. In a medium sized bowl, add the melted butter and the sugars. Mix them well until soft and creamy with your mixer.
4. Add vanilla extract and the egg and only mix for 5-8 seconds. If you over do it, your dough will be stiff.
5. Now add the sifted flour, baking soda and salt. Mix all together until incorporated.
6. Add your chocolate chips. Mix well until these are well incorporated in the dough.
7. Divide the dough into 8 precise pieces with your spatula. This way will be easier to make all cookies same size.
8. Make balls and place them on the baking tray until you use all the dough.
9. Bake at 170 Celsius degrees for 7-9 minutes. These should still look pale and fairly soft (the bottom will be already golden).
10. Enjoy after 30 minutes of cooling.

Perfect for parties, little gifts if you use some cute packaging and delicious for any morning breakfasts or brunches. Enjoy!

The other day I was talking to my friend (she happens to own a YouTube channel) and she recommended me a (vegan)vegetarian recipe, very easy and simple to make with basic ingredients and with a twist. So she asked me if I could do it and "review" it. Was a little bit of a struggle to get the sweet potatos because it seems people get crazy shopping food and supplies before the weekend so we didn't find any potatos at the local market but yesterday I made sure to have all ingredients and had this rolling today!

Gluten Free / Vegetarian / Vegan

☂ 150 g cherry tomatos cut in halves

☂ 250 g sweet potato (I used a fairly small one)

☂ 3 medium sized carrots

☂ 2 garlic cloves

☂ 1 white onion

☂ small piece of ginger

☂ 1,5 tablespoon olive oil (for frying)

☂ 1 teaspoon sweet paprika

☂ 1/2 teaspoon of mild smoked paprika (optional)

☂ 1/2 teaspoon salt

☂ 4 glasses of water

☂ Almonds, nuts to sprinkle, or, as I used leaf parsley, black pepper and smoked paprika

1. In a medium sized pan, fry the little cubes of onion until tender, add the minced garlic, and cherry tomatoes cut in halves. Roast well until fairly tender. Do not burn the garlic or onion because the taste might turn bitter.

2. Add the carrots and sweet potato cut in medium chunks (so they boil faster) alongside with the piece of ginger that you need to grate.

3. Add the paprika. Add 3 glasses of water and let boil covering the pan.

4. Once veggies are tender (you can try with a spoon), retire from heat, wait until it cools a little and get your blender and blend the soup until is completely creamy. Add salt according to your taste.

5. Serve warm with almonds and nuts on top or, as I did, with some fresh parsley, black pepper and paprika.

Enjoy!

The other day I was downtown running some errands and I stopped by Starbucks to get the first PSL of the fall this year. I remember not being a huge fan because of the amount of sugar content and well, because the taste of cinnamon was overpowering. I never felt the taste of pumpkin spice in the Starbucks PSL, however I liked it. I love cinnamon and I like lattes and cappuccinos (otherwise I am not a coffee drinker, nor lover).

But yesterday I had some free time in between studying Finnish and decided to make the real deal and show it to you here. It's just like having a bite of the pumpkin pie!

Now, making the syrup is the most important thing in the PSL. The other thing is just doing a regular shot of espresso or your favorite cappuccino without sweeteners.

For the Pumpkin Pie Spices (Add to a small container and mix all together - voilà!):

☂ 3-4 teaspoons of ground cinnamon (depends how much you love it)

☂ 2 teaspoons of ground ginger

☂ 2 teaspoons of ground nutmeg

☂ 1,5 teaspoons of ground allspice

☂ 1,5 teaspoons of ground cloves

☂ 1/2 teaspoon of ground cardamom

For the Pumpkin Spice Syrup (add these to a small saucepan, whisk them together over medium high heat until it thickens a little for around 5 minutes, reduce heat and whisk for other 3 minutes, retire from stove, place in sealed jar. You can keep this mix in the fridge for a month):

☂ 1 cup of water

☂ 133 g brown cane sugar (2/3 cups)

☂ 1/3 cup of pumpkin puree (bites of pumpkin blended well)

☂ 1 tablespoon of the previous Pumpkin Pie Spices

☂ 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

For the final latte/cappuccino:

☂ 3 tablespoons of hot espresso

☂ rest of warm milk

☂ 3 tablespoons of the Pumpkin Spice Syrup

☂ whipped cream as topping (optional - but the Starbucks PSL has it!)

☂ a pinch of Pumpkin Pie Spices to sprinkle over the whipped cream

1. Add the hot espresso, the milk, the Pumpkin Spice Syrup, top with whipped cream if you wish and sprinkle some Pumpkin Pie Spices on top.

Enjoy!

I like to call these the fall gingerbread cookie dough. The other day when doing it the house had an incredible smell because of the mix of spices and the sweetness of the carrots. Yum! Today I want to share this recipe with you and hope you will get to enjoy it soon along with a cup of tea by the candlelight reading your favorite book.

These are healthy and clean and will completely satisfy your sweet craving!

✔︎ 1 grated carrot (medium size)
✔︎ 100 g oats flakes
✔︎ 90 g all-purpose flour
✔︎1,5 teaspoons baking powder
✔︎ 1,5 teaspoons cinnamon
✔︎ 1,5 teaspoons ground cloves (optional)
✔︎ pinch of salt (to set the flavors)
✔︎ 2 tablespoons of melted coconut oil
✔︎ 1 egg at room temperature
✔︎ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or a pinch of vanilla sugar
✔︎ 50 ml maple syrup/honey/ginger syrup

1. In a bowl, place your oats, your flour, the spices, the baking powder and salt.
2. Mix them and blend them so the oats flakes break and transform into instant oats.
3. In another bowl, place the coconut oil, the egg and the vanilla extract or sugar.
4. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together.
5. Add the grated carrot by folding in the previous mixture. If you find it difficult, add a little more coconut oil. It helps the dough to be less sticky and more manageable.
6. Make a ball out of the dough, wrap it in plastic foil and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
7. Preheat your oven to 180 Celsius degrees. Prepare a baking sheet with paper.
8. Get the dough out and with a teaspoon take little scoops and make little balls. Place them in the baking tray and press them down with your fingers until they are flat (1,5 cm thick, for instance).
9. Bake them for 12-15 minutes and check on them now and then. Get them out when you see they are still a little soft. Not much. You want them to be chewy.
10. Let cool on the rack and serve with tea, coffee or milk.

Enjoy, #helsinGEEKs!

Did you know that thyme is a natural antiseptic and that is currently used in the production of Listerine (the mouthwash)? The oil of thyme has been of precious in the past for its antiseptic purposes acting as a bandaid over a cut or lesion and, thymol, aside from fighting bacteria it goes also against fungi. Have you ever tried thyme tea? Next time you have a bad cough make yourself a cup of this magnificent herb!

Today however, I have used thyme in both fresh and dry forms for my dish. I fixed a salad and roasted some veggies. Easy right? Well, I made sure to add the flavor with the thyme, delicious!

✔︎ A handful of dates
✔︎ Salad cheese / Feta cheese
✔︎ A pinch of onion powder or add fresh onion slices
✔︎ Sesame seeds
✔︎ Spinach
✔︎ Ice Salad
✔︎ Olive oil
✔︎ Borges Raspberry Vinegar
✔︎ Pinch of sea salt
✔︎ Half of a handful of fresh thyme

✔︎ 2 medium sized Sweet Potatos
✔︎ 5 medium sized Carrots
✔︎ Sea salt
✔︎ Dried thyme
✔︎ Dried savory

Served with a boiled egg with dijon mustard and freshly ground pepper.

1. Preheat oven 200 Celsius degrees and line a tray with parchment paper.
2. Peel the sweet potatos and carrots and slice them. Place in a bowl. Add oil.
3. Toss the veggies with sea salt, dried thyme, dried savory and a pinch of black pepper.
4. Place in the oven for 20 minutes or until cooked.
Meanwhile...
5. In the same bowl you tossed the veggies, add your washed spinach and ice salad.
6. Add a little salt, crumble the cheese, add the sesame seeds, pinch of onion powder or onion slices, and diced dates.
7. Toss with olive oil (or your favorite oil) and the Raspberry Vinegar by Borges.
8. Serve the dish meatless accompanied with extra protein from an egg, for instance.

Enjoy!

I had some polenta left in the kitchen from the last time I made cornmeal and decided to give there a try as I've never tasted corn dog, the original american version. So, today for dinner we prepared few of these with a spinach salad and some pepperoni pepper.

Serve this with ketchup and if you really like it, with mustard.

✔︎ 128 g flour
✔︎ 128 g polenta
✔︎ 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
✔︎ 1/2 teaspoon salt
✔︎ 2 eggs
✔︎ 2 tablespoons of melted butter
✔︎ 240 ml milk
✔︎ 4 sausages / nakki (in Finland)

1. Preheat oven to 180 Celsius degrees. Prepare a muffin tray with muffin cups.
2. In a bowl add polenta and flour, the salt and baking powder.
3. In another bowl add the melted butter with the eggs and the milk. Mix until well combined.
4. Add the liquids to the dry ingredients bowl. Mix until batter is smooth. Taste and add more salt if needed.
5. With an ice-cream scoop, take batter and add to the tray until you fill as many as you can (this recipe makes around 10 muffins.
6. Cut sausage pieces and place them in the center of the muffins.
7. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden.

Enjoy! Hashtag your result #helsinGEEK! Serve them with turkish yoghurt and the pepperoni peppers or as I had them with a salad alongside.

This deliciousness has been the star at dinner today. I can't wait to make it again! Total success even for the skeptical! If you like goat cheese' intense flavour and the break of sweetness that the grapes give it, or, let's put it easier: If you're into cheese platters, make this.

✔︎ 1 portion of pizza dough (If you don't have your own, drop a comment below and I can share mine in the next post)

✔︎ Organic ketchup or tomato sauce (I also have a recipe for this, drop a comment to request) to spread

✔︎ 3 fine slices of cooked turkey or you can use some prosciutto

✔︎ grated cheese (I used low fat cheddar Oltermanni)

✔︎ 1 pack Chèvre cheese (goat cheese you best like) to sprinkle all over the dough

✔︎ 25 wine red grapes, seedless

✔︎ Fresh basil

✔︎ Olive oil to sprinkle

✔︎ Oregano

✔︎ Black pepper

1. Preheat your oven to 200 Celsius degrees.

2. Prepare a tray with baking paper.

3. Spread the dough on the tray and use your fingers to mold it.

4. Add your organic ketchup or tomato sauce for pizza, sprinkle pieces of slices of turkey or prosciutto all over the pizza dough. 

5. Add the grated cheddar cheese. Sprinkle the goat cheese all over the dough. Be generous because this is what it's going to give your pizza most of the flavour.

6. Take your grapes and wash them. Cut them horizontally in halves and add them to the dough slightly pushing them in the dough.

7. Sprinkle a little olive oil and some oregano.

8. Cut some fresh basil and add it.

9. Add a pinch of black pepper.

10. Bake for 15-20 minutes until borders are crusty and golden.

Enjoy!

Today's dinner was a traditional Hungarian gulyás I got done myself with some home-made easy dumplings. I haven't had this in a long while and as I was chatting with my mother she mentioned how I used to love the dumplings when I was a kid.

✔︎ 400 g beef cut in cubes
✔︎ 200 ml tomato sauce
✔︎ olive oil
✔︎ 2 onions
✔︎ salt
✔︎ black pepper
✔︎ sweet paprika
✔︎ pinch of smoked paprika
✔︎ 2 glasses of water

✔︎ 4 tablespoons of flour
✔︎ 1 egg
✔︎ pinch of salt
✔︎ 50 g butter (room temperature or quickly in the microwave - do not melt completely)

1. Cut the onion in little pieces, place a deep pan on your stove with some oil. Add the onion and close after add the meat that has been cut in cubes. Cook well and add water so the meat cooks throughly. Add tomato sauce (if it's too sour add a little sugar and salt), paprikas and black pepper. Add water again and cook for 15 minutes so the meat turns tender.
2. When ready, try the meat with a knife and see if the meat is tender enough. Retire from heat and set aside.
3. Boil some water in a pan with a pinch of salt. Meanwhile,...
4. In a bowl add the butter, egg and flour and mix well together.
5. With a teaspoon take pieces of the mix and drop in the boiling water. Do this with all the flour mixture.
6. Leave them boil for 10 minutes.
7. Retire from heat, strain the dumplings and add to the goulash stew. Mix together.

Enjoy! This is a really tasty dish from Medieval Hungary that has travelled Europe up and down, dishes like this are typical especially in Scandinavia and even Iberia (some resemblance dishes). They are usually enjoyed with a glass of an alcoholic beverage, in Hungary, with pálinka, for sure.

How the dumpling looks like inside. Delish!

Try it and let me know! Hashtag #helsinGEEK so I can see your delicious recreations!

Recently I've tasted the Sporty Feel Lidls Raw Protein bars and when I got to make these cookies today out of boredom and a sweets craving, I was surprised how much they were resembling these raw protein bars! Fortunately these cost way under 1 euro to make and they are delicious, healthy, quick to make and bake and home-made!

✔︎ 1 banana
✔︎ 1 cup coconut flakes
✔︎ half a teaspoon of cinnamon

1. Peel and mash the banana in a bowl.
2. Add the coconut flakes and mix until combined.
3. Add the cinnamon and mix.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes at 180 Celsius degrees.

Enjoy with your morning milk or afternoon warm tea this rainy fall!

Enjoy and don't forget to hashtag me #helsinGEEK in Instagram if you recreate these! 

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This is what happens when it's rainy outside and when all the weather news say "Finnish summer to end". You get depressed only by the thought and your body instantly responds defending: "I need chocolate! I need a lot of chocolate!". Well that's what happened today and this was the result...

Makes around 11-12 muffins

✔︎ 128 g All Purpose Flour

✔︎1/2 teaspoon baking powder

✔︎ 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

✔︎ 1/2 teaspoon salt (to enhance the chocolate flavor)

✔︎ 64 g cocoa powder

✔︎ 201 g white granulated sugar (or substitutes - let's be honest, we're already naughty enough)

✔︎ 113 g butter at room temperature

✔︎ 2 eggs

✔︎ 118 ml of instant coffee (prepared by you with the 1 or 2 teaspoons of coffee you have on hand)

✔︎ 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract (optional)

✔︎ 12 Ferrero Rocher that have been frozen in the freezer for 4 hours

✔︎ 12 Ferrero Rocher (not frozen) if you want to decorate

1. Preheat your oven to 180 Celsius degrees.

2. Prepare your muffin tray with the muffin cups.

3. Prepare your instant coffee and use only 118 ml of it for the mix. Let it cool.

4. Mix together sugar and butter until creamy, add eggs and vanilla and mix. 

5. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder and the 118 ml of instant coffee and mix until everything is well combined and the batter is smooth.

6. Using an ice-cream scoop or a spoon, place a little batter on the muffin cups, place a frozen Ferrero Rocher in the center and cover with more batter to hide completely the Ferrero R.

7. Bake the muffins for 15 to 20 minutes in the oven at 180 Celsius degrees.

Serve when chilled. Perfect for desserts, teatime or just a cheeky breakfast with some milk. If you want to get extra naughty, add a layer of Nutella on top of them and sprinkle some almonds. Nutella is the same hazelnut cream these Ferrero Rochers are made of. I swear!

Enjoy!

Click the picture to read more >> Today it's going to be a rather quick post. I just remembered those childhood cozy evenings when grandma was preparing this corn meal dish served with sweet onion, a little salt and sometimes sausage or little pieces of oven cooked beef steak.

I would like to introduce you to "Pulmentum" as the Romans called this corn meal dish. It's supposed to be a substitute for bread and can be eaten as I mentioned before or accompanied by a good thick soup though as with bread, everything works with it. It's really easy to make and takes few minutes. 

Depending on your preferences you can make it more liquid or steady as the one I did (I like it when it's steady so I can cut it and serve it in an easier way, plus is not that messy and it tastes the same).

✔︎ 270 g Maize Flour

✔︎ 500 ml water

✔︎ 2/3 teaspoon of salt

✔︎ 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil (sunflower or olive oil)

✔︎ Turkish yoghurt to serve

1. Get a deep enough pan and heat the water, oil and salt.

2. When it's warm enough but not boiling yet, start adding the maize flour little by little and always stir. It's extremely important to stir constantly because the mix might boil soon and small particles of the mixture might jump on you and burn you. If you stir you will avoid this.

3. When you reach the desired consistency (you can add more maize flour during the stirring process or you can wait until it thickens at its max) get out of the heat.

4. Serve in a plate, make a hole in the center and add Turkish yoghurt blended with a little salt and pepper. Add some fresh sweet onions with a little salt to taste.

Have you ever tried this dish? It's quite common in Eastern Europe and fairly common in France, as I've heard. Would love to hear if you have any variations!

Tag me in Instagram and Twitter at #helsinGEEK with your recreations! Leave a comment down below if you wish and have a lovely rest of the evening!

Click the picture to read more >> It has been some time since the last update. This is going to be a recipe I've just came up with inspired by my last visit to the Swedish History Museum's exhibition "Meet The Vikings". I loved it there and I recommend you to everyone that wishes to see and know more about the Vikings. The exhibition is going on until 23rd of August and afterwards you will only be able to get a guided tour through the Viking side of the museum until 30th of August, so you better rush if you're visiting Sweden any time soon! You can check for more info here.

And going back to this simple yet filling dish! The story goes like this: I have way too many potatoes from the mökki! Needed to make something with them (well I still have some!) and decided to tender them and decide later what to do.

Started to put together pretty simple ingredients and here we have the result!

✔︎ Potatos

✔︎ Salt, pepper, parsley, satureja (optional, but gives a lot of flavor)

✔︎ Sunflower or Olive oil

✔︎ 3 glasses of water

✔︎ Cheese Cream (I've used this)

✔︎ Grated Cheese

✔︎ 250 g Chicken Breast

✔︎ 1 onion

1. Heat the pan with the oil. Wash and peal the potatos, place them in the pan and add the spices.

2. Add the water.

3. When the water gets absorbed, add the cream.

4. Add the grated cheese at the end of cooking so it melts in the pan with the potatos.

5. For the chicken, heat the pan and add the onion slices and leave until they get soft.

6. Add the chicken and spice simply with salt and pepper. Fry.

7. Put the dish together serving both of them. Add some fresh parsley for more taste.

Enjoy!

If you recreate this recipe, I would love to see the result! So make sure you hashtag me in Instagram #helsinGEEK

Click the picture to read more >> Today it's quite cloudy over the west-north side of Helsinki, so I've decided to stay in and try baking an oldie! Lucky me I had all the ingredients and I am pretty sure you do it too! We woke up quite late around lunchtime and decided to start the day with a late brunch. So gathered all my ingredients together and got myself up to a challenge! Try to do a Banana Bread Starbucks copycat. I am not sure if you've ever tasted Starbuck's Banana Bread but it's often sweet and quite moist and compact.

Well I thought about it and wanted to give it a little twist! Since the only vegetable oil we have is Coconut Oil, I've decided to add very few sprinkles of coconut flakes inside the dough also a little bit more of the walnuts that the original Starbucks loaf used to have.

And these are the results!

As for the recipe, follow the instructions below.

Preheat oven to 170 Celsius degrees before starting with anything.

✔︎ 1/2 cups Stevia

✔︎ 1/2 cups of Coconut Oil

✔︎ 1 Egg

✔︎ 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

✔︎ 2 tablespoons Milk

✔︎ 3 ripped Bananas, peeled and mashed

✔︎ 1 teaspoon coconut flakes

✔︎ 2 cups of All Purpose Flour

✔︎ 1 teaspoon Baking Soda

✔︎ 1 pinch Salt

✔︎ 1/2 cups Walnuts, chopped (plus some extra for topping)

1. Mix Stevia with Coconut Oil, 1 egg, a little vanilla extract, milk, and ripped bananas (previously peeled and mashed) and coconut flakes. Combine these good.

2. Add to the previous combination: all purpose flour, baking soda, a pinch of salt (1/4 of a teaspoon) chopped walnuts. Mix everything together until well combined.

3. Add the formed dough to a loaf pan and sprinkle on top some chopped walnuts and press them slightly in the dough.

4. Bake for 35 minutes and try the loaf after 30 minutes or so by sticking in a toothpick.

Get the loaf out of the oven and let it sit for some minutes to cool off. Serve it at teatime, breakfast or with delicious vanilla sauce to add a little sweetness. 

Decided to try this recipe out?! Hashtag me in your results #helsinGEEK in Instagram or Twitter! I would love to see your results!