My First Online Cooking Game Available Now

After a few months of hard from from Chris over at e-cooking games, my very first online cooking game featuring one of my old-time favorite Creamy Sunroot Soup recipe has finally been published and is available online now for free :-)

I have been playing various games over at e-cooking games for months now and I can say that they are very silly, but heaps of fun :-) I was therefore very honored when Chris asked me for a permission to turn one of my recipes into a cooking game.

I came up wth this soup, as it looks nice, it is simple to make and has so far pleased everyone that came over to have a spoonful.

Chris then worked for about two months and just yesterday he shoots me a mail to check out my game:

To play this awesome game, click on the above soup cartoon or click here :-)

I am really happy and grateful, thanks Chris for all your efforts. I love it and so hope that everyone else will :-)

T&T - Zlamushka s Spicy Kitchen

I am very sad to announce that I had to passed on my Tried And Tasted event, as I completely lacked the time to keep it up and running on a regular basis. The good news is that it reached a very good and responsible owner Lakshmi of Kitchen Chronicles.

And right after I have done that Lakshmi decided to host my blog as the Blog of The Month. I am so humbled, happy, excited and also a bit nervous. I hope you like my recipes and that they come out exactly the way you wish for them to be :-)

Do let me know if you have any questions or comments.

The details for the event are over at Lakshmi blog. There are 15 more days to go...

One of the reasons why I got so busy lately is my little adorable kitten Piku. I am so happy to have her, she is my little cuddly sweet heart :-)

Now that I re-read the post, it turned out to be a very happy one, even thou it started with me being sad.

Chicken Soup

... for the soul.


I have been sick with flu for more than a week now - not fun! The weather here in Denmark has been really moody and it is slowly getting on my nerves. Spent more time in the kitchen, though, which made me happy :-)

Chicken soup was one of the dishes I decided to make immediately. As a sick person, you need a lot of warm fluids and this one is just what I am talking about - just like my mum used to make :-)


CHICKEN SOUP:
(Kuracia polievka)

• 2 chicken breasts*
• 2 carrots
• 1 parsnip root
• 1/4 celery bulb
• 1 onion
  
• 1 bunch fresh parsley
• salt
• black pepper

* NOTE: My mum puts chicken intenstines into the soup instead of breasts. It is a great way of using chicken leftovers. If using, boil the intenstines first (for abt 40 min) and then towards the end, add the chopped veggies.

Clean the breasts and pat dry. Wash and peel the root veggies and cut into big bite-sized pieces. Peel and halve the onion. Organize the parsley into a buquet and tie a piece of thread around it.

Bring about a litre of water to boil together with the meat and veggies. Throw in the parsley buquet and cook on low heat until the carrots are soft.

Take the chicken pieces out and break into smaller pieces. Put back to the soup, adjust salt and pepper to taste.


Done :-)

Jamie Oliver´s Carrot Cake with Nuts

I love carrot cakes. I love the crunchiness of its carrots and the nuts, its spices, slight sourness, hm... everything. I have about 20 carrot cake recipes that i actually tried.

Jamie Oliver's Carrot Cake is one of the bestest. I made it at least 10 times already, because it is easy to make and you would really have to try hard to mess it up. I have my own version (recipe below) that I really enjoy. So today, I felt like making it again and while looking for the recipes, I realized that this one never left its post-queue. Well, here it is - belated summer ode :-)

Another summery day at work when thing are just dragging their feet and as half of the office is on vacation, there is not much better to do than eat cookies and cakes :-)
Oh well, it might be a bit exaggerated, but summers ARE slower than winters. So while waiting for other colleagues returning all happy and tanned from their fancy vacations, I decided to bake another cake (the third of its kind this summer) for the few left in the offices.

I am now in process of moving out of my apartment and so for the very last time, while I was browsing through my soon-to-be-ex room mate´s cookbooks (thanks girl ;-), I ran into my all-time favorite - Jamie Oliver. Having tons of carrots in the fridge and a few other leftovers, this cake seemed to combine it all - festiveness of the looks an simplicity of ingredients.

So while I am looking forward to my new kitchen, you guys enjoy my version of Jamie Oliver´s:

CARROT CAKE
(Gulerodskage)

• 250g butter, room temperature
• 250g sugar (preferably brown, I used white)
  
• 5 eggs
• juice and zest of 1 orange
• juice of half lemon
  
• 170g sieved flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• pinch salt
  
• 50g chopped almonds
• 120g chopped walnuts
• 1 tsp cinnamon
  
• pinch ground cloves
• pinch ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 285g grated carrots

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Whisk the butter with the sugar. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and whisk in the yolks, one at a time. Add the orange zest and juice, lemon juice, followed by the flour, baking powder and spices. Add the chopped nuts and carrots. Mix well.

Whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until foamy. Add the foam to the cake, mix in carefully. Pour the cake batter into a baking tray and bake for about 50 minutes. Let cool down completely before serving.

It was very moist and juicy - yums, the cake disappeared in a second :-)

Japanese Seaweed Carrot Salad

A lovely warm salad that has so much taste and texture, I ate a whole giant bowl on my own :-) And I should not be laughing because since I decided to eat really simply and modestly during the Christian Lent period, I should not be stuffing my face with nothing.

Anyway, I am not Christian and this salad has not more than 120 kcal per portion, so I guess it wasnt such a big sin!

Lovely, here it is - my new winter favorite:

SEAWEED CARROT SALAD:

• 1 dl dried arame seaweed
• 2 carrots
• 225g broccoli florets
• handful walnuts
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1/2 tsp sunflower seed oil
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp apple juice

PLace the arame saweed into a bowl and cover with water. After 10 minutes, strain and drain through colander.

In the meantime, cut the carrots into matchsticks. In a saucepan, bring 1/2 litre water to boil and add the carrots. After 2 minutes, add the broccoli. Drain and set aside. The veggies should not be mushy, but still crispy.

In a separate bowl, mix all the remaining ingredients and pour over the veggies and the seaweed.

Serve with rice, with fish or as we did - with mashed Jerusalem Artichoke & Potato Purée.

Chinese Veggie Stir-Fry

Are you also like me browsing through cookbooks in the morning trying to figure out what to do with your leftovers and preferably without too much fuss? There are plenty of ideas here at BurntMouth.com on how to use up leftovers and this one is no excpetion.

It is said that bright orangey colored foods encourage appetite and provide our bodies with lots of nutritious elements. Depending of course which veggies you end up using, you should in any case end up with plenty of vitamins.

CHINESE VEGGIE STIR-FRY
（中式炒菜）

• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp apple juice
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
  
• 1 onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 cm long ginger root
• 2 cup ready to cook veggies (chopped or in matchsticks)
• 2 tbsp sunflower seeds
• 1 tsp sesame oil

In a small bowl mix together the soy sauce, cornstarch, vinegar, sugar and the apple juice and a teaspoon of the oil. Set aside.

In a wok, heat the rest of oil and fry the sliced onions, chopped garlic and chopped ginger. Add the veggies and stir-fry ofr about 5 minutes stirring constantly.

Add the sunflower seeds and after a few seconds, the mixed dressing. Cook through and take off the heat. Serve with rice.


I had mine with brown rice pulao and some really nice home-made seaweed chips.

Universal Tomato Pasta Sauce

Anyone who runs a lot is advised to eat plenty of "easy carbohydrates". Pasta with tomato sauce is strongly encouraged, especially the night before a marathon.

Regardless if you are a runner, a busy mother or just a poor student, past with tomato sauce must come in handy. Low in calories and easy to make, you will never get tired of it. With this one, you can make a whole bunch and then add different ingredients when re-heating. You can of course use different types of pasta, too. Great, isnt it?
TOMATO PASTA SAUCE:

• 2 onions
• 3 cloves garlic
• 3 tbsp oil
  
• 5 tomatoes
• 6 sun-dried tomato halves in oil
  
• chilli flakes
• 1 tsp sugar
• salt, pepper
• fresh herbs
  

Chop the onions and garlic and sauté in heated oil. Add the chilli flakes and sugar and sauté until the sugar caramelizes. Add the chopped tomatoes and the chopped sun-dried tomatoes. Bring to boil, lower the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the salt, pepper and chopped fresh herbs and continue simmering for another 10 minutes.

In the meantime cook the pasta as per instructions and serve with the sauce.

Now here comes the fun part. You can add just about anything to the ready made pasta sauce. Here are a few examples:

- garlic fried shrimps
- flaked pecorino cheese (Pasta Arrabbiata)
- roasted aubergine and grated parmesan cheese (Pasta Alla Norma)
- fried meat balls (Pasta Alla Bolognese)
- chopped olives (Pasta Alla Putanesca)

... or nothing. Here is the one I made recently - with shrimps...