Pita souvlaki

Before I moved to Sweden, I already knew that I would not be able to find a specific pita wrap we make in Greece, called "pita souvlaki", or "souvlaki", depending on where you live in Greece. Other countries seem to offer the alternatives of "gyro" and "gyro wraps" or "kebab" or plain souvlaki without the pita. As by request of all friends abroad who have visited Greece and loved pita souvlaki as much as Greeks do, and because I can't live without this, here is my recipe for pita souvlaki!

Time you'll need to make this: 90-120min
Difficulty level: easy


Ingredients (for 2 wraps):

-2 slices of pita bread - in Sweden, I buy something very similar called "Polarkaka Original". You will most certainly be able to find pita bread (or something very close to it) at a big store. I will post a recipe for homemade pita bread in the future, once I get to experiment on it.
- 2-3 chicken leg fillets. Alternatively, pork meat or soy meat (vegetarian version) can be used.
- one plate of any type of potatoes you fancy - for this time, I used frozen, chopped potatoes and had them done in the oven, because pita souvlaki is supposed to be a "fast food", and you shouldn't need to spend too much time preparing it, but I would recommend homemade potatoes, if you have the time to do it. You can use this recipe of baked potatoes, but remove the skin and cut them longer and thinner instead.
- salt
- pepper
- grill spices mix
- powdered garlic
- oregano
- olive oil
- mustard
- mayo (not light, just this once!)
- curry
- one tomato (optional)
- one onion (red or yellow, according to your preference, optional)
- baking sheets (4)

Kladdkaka

I decided to try a Swedish dessert after being prompted by Henrik, so here is my own version of the famous "kladdkaka". I followed the wonderful recipe from Susanne's recepten.se, and made some changes to fit my own tastes, or correct some mistakes throughout the making. Henrik, being a fan of the dessert, verified that it was very tasty, so I trust his opinion! Here's how it was done:

Time you'll need to make this: 40-60 minutes
Difficulty level: easy

Ingredients (for 6 small portions):
- 2 medium sized eggs
- 100g butter (I use vegetable butter) - and if you feel it's not enough while you make the cake, have some olive oil aside (4-5 spoons), it works great as a substitute
- 2,5dl brown sugar (I would go for 2dl, even)
- 1 spoon vanilla sugar
- 3 spoons cocoa powder
- 2dl all-purpose flour
- 1 packet of whipped or double cream
- 1 packet of frozen raspberries
- 1 spoon of powdered sugar

You will need a cake form - as it is suggested in Susanne's recipe, it should be about 20cm in diameter. I only had a round one with a hole in the middle available (used most often for other sorts of cakes), but I baked it there without an issue.
I also found it necessary to have an electrical mixer, but I suppose you can manage it with mixing it yourself, and get some good arm exercise at the same time :D

Tuna spread sandwich

Of all the fish spreads, I love tuna the most. Makes great sandwiches or wraps for lunch, light dinner or a snack during the day or at work. This is a really quick tuna spread, where you use canned tuna. I recommend the tuna in water, so that you can add your own, healthier oil in the mix instead. You can add veggies of your preference, but I think lettuce and cucumber are the best choices with tuna!

Time you'll need to make this: 10 minutes
Difficulty level: easy

Ingredients (for 2 sandwiches):

-2 whole wheat, flat pita breads
- 1 can of tuna in water
- 2-3 spoons of olive oil
- salt
- pepper
- oregano
- powdered garlic
- 2 big spoons of mayo light
- 3-4 lettuce leaves
- 1 cucumber, sliced
- 1 boiled egg (optional)

Lentilballs - revised!

Recipe updated after I tried a different mix! Also, reduced cooking time by 30 minutes, and requires no frying!

If you're looking for another way to cook the very nutritious lentils, are vegetarian or simply want to try a healthy alternative to meatballs, then you've reached the right recipe :D I had seen mentions of "lentil meatballs" on the Internet, but never tried them. As usual, I don't follow recipes as they are, so I made my own version, which turned out very good (for my tastes, at least). This needs some time to make, so make it on a day that you have spare time. I promise it's worth the try!

Time you'll need to make this: 1 hour
Difficulty level: medium

Ingredients (for 16 lentilballs):

- brown lentils (half a packet)
- salt
- 3 laurel leaves
- 3 cloves of garlic
- olive oil
- tomato juice (half a packet)
- black pepper
- veggie broth (1 cube)
- oregano
- breadcrumbs (2-3 spoons)
- ground parmesan (optional)
- melting cheese (optional - I use gouda light) - 4 slices, cut in pieces of 4 each
- water

Sponge cake with chocolate buttercream {Dobos torta}

''Dobos torte or Dobosh, a Hungarian sponge cake layered with chocolate buttercream and topped with caramel was invented by the famous Hungarian confectioner Jozsef C. Dobos in 1884, who aimed to create a cake that would last longer than other pastries in an age when cooling techniques were limited.'' Source-Wikipedia

Kinder cake (the best cake ever) :)

This is one of my all time favorite cakes. Easy to make, rich in taste, creamy and really nice. Not too sweet. Perfect combinations of ingredients. I changed original recipe that I got from my mom and adapted it very well to my taste :) and that means basically less butter, less sugar.
The cake is big, 12 pieces at least. Baked in 26 cm cake mold.

Oven omelet

I love eggs and I love omelet. I have been trying to find a healthier alternative for it (like it is with poached and fried eggs), so I experimented with making an oven omelet. It turned out delicious and extra puffy! I have used turkey in this version, but you can remove that for a vegetarian alternative, without missing anything much in the taste.

Time you'll need to make this: 30 minutes
Difficulty level: easy!

Ingredients (for 2 portions):

- 8 eggs
- 3 cherry tomatoes
- 1-2 light green peppers
- 2 slices of turkey (optional)
- 5 spoons of melting cheese mix (I use ground parmesan and gouda)
- salt
- pepper
- oregano
- powdered onion
- rosemary

Homemade mashed potatoes - updated

I used to be a manic on mashed potatoes made from dried potato powder. I would literally eat this at least 5 times per week, for like 5 years of my life. Since that time, my cooking has apparently advanced (and became significantly healthier), so nowadays I make homemade mashed potatoes, that taste amazingly (according to other sources as well :D)! Here's my recipe: 

Time you'll need to make this: 40 minutes
Difficulty level: easy!

Ingredients (for 2 portions):

-2 big potatoes
- olive oil
- veggie broth cube
- salt
- black pepper
- turmeric
- oregano
- butter
- low fat milk (about 1 small cup - optional)
- low fat melting cheese or parmesan, ground
- a clove of garlic
- water

Apple strudel

Delicious apple strudel. Easy to make for everyday or special occasions in any time of the year.

Quick sponge cake

This is a basic sponge cake recipe that you can easily find on the Internet, but I made a couple of changes and additions :) The result is a normally sweet (not too sweet, not too bland) and it can go well with breakfast or coffee break!

Time you'll need to make this: 60 minutes
Difficulty level: easy!

Ingredients (for 8 pieces):

- 6 eggs
- 1 cup of cake (self-rising) flour (my cup = 20 spoons)
- 1 cup of brown sugar
- 3 spoons of drinking chocolate powder or cocoa powder
- 1 spoon of ground coconut
- icing of your preference (I used apricot jam with no added sugar - just natural fruit sugars)
- a bit of butter

Fast fruity combo

You can eat this fruit combo as is, or add cereals or oatmeal and make it a full breakfast, a healthy dessert or a light dinner! The coconut on the fruits is simply delicious :)

Time you'll need to make this: 5 minutes
Difficulty level: easy!

Ingredients (for 1 portion):

- 2 bananas
- 2 tangerines
- 1 teaspoon of cocoa or milk chocolate powder
- 1 teaspoon of ground coconut
- a cup of oatmeal or cereals (optional)

Golden cream sauce

Here's another sauce that you can use for several dishes - I tried it with pasta, a usual :D But it can also go with meat or potatoes! I used powdered mushroom soup as an alternative to full mushrooms, that I can't easily digest. Either the soup powder or corn flour will achieve the required density for the sauce.

Time you'll need to make this: 15 minutes
Difficulty level: easy!

Ingredients (for 2 portions):

- 1 carton of cooking cream light
- 2 cloves of garlic
- either 2-3 spoons (or a small baggie) of powdered mushroom soup, or a few canned mushrooms + a spoon of corn flour
- 3 green peppers
- olive oil
- 1 broth cube (veggie or chicken will do)
- oregano
- black pepper
- turmeric powder
- a shot of white wine

Mini pizza snacks!

Hello friends! It's been a long time since I posted any recipe, so I bring you a very easy and fast recipe, ideal for parties:

Mini pizza snacks

Quick Pink Sauce

This is a quick and simple pink sauce using salami :) I tried it with pasta but it can also be used on potatoes or as salad dressing.

Time you'll need to make this: 15 minutes
Difficulty level: easy!



Ingredients (for 2 portions):

- 2 slices of salami
- salt
- dry basil
- 1/3 carton of tomato juice
- 1/2 carton of cooking cream light
- half a shot glass white wine
- olive oil

Raffaello

The best home made recipe for Raffaello that you will ever taste.
Easy to make. Tastes delicious. 

Small breakfast combo

This is a quick and easy small breakfast combo that I tried, which combines both sweet and salty tastes, and that you can also eat as a snack or light dinner :)

Time you'll need to make this: 10 minutes
Difficulty level: easy!

Happy New Year potatoes

We tried this mix with Henrik for the New Year's table, and we found it too good not to be shared :D So here is another version of the pepper potato snack that I had previously made. This time, we added prosciutto and parmesan and the result was festively delicious! Here's how to do it:

Time you'll need to make this: 40 minutes
Difficulty level: easy!