One cup of water and lemon a day...

It's the morning after New Year's Eve or, as some people would say..The first day of 2014! I'm honestly feeling quite sluggish due to the ridiculous amount of sugar I have allowed myself to eat throughout the holidays and especially in the past two days as the weather outside was pretty grim and I chose to snuggle on the couch instead, with my boyfriend, watching Harry Potter and eating all kinds of chocolates and cookies my parents have sent from Italy..

So this morning especially (I actually do this every morning but today there's a giant need of such drink..) I warmed up my water and squeezed the juice of almost half a lemon (you can squeeze more but I find it too strong for me) in it and sipped it slowly while enjoying the view outside my window.

Now, the reason I am telling you this is because I am sure I am probably not the only one feeling this way today and water and lemon first thing in the morning is a fabulous way of stimulating your liver function so we can detoxify our body from all the nasty toxins, on top of that, lemon contains the wonderful vitamin C which boosts our immune system and is wonderful for our skin!

So my suggestion to you for 2014 is to get your body to wake up the right way by preparing this super quick drink as soon as you get up. Here's to your healthy 2014!

Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas is my favourite time of the year, I love absolutely everything about it : fairylights in the shops and Christmas lights hanging all over town, Christmas music playing everywhere, roasted chestnuts and hot chocolate with whipped cream...I just had to write a Christmas Post!

We moved house a couple of months ago and now that we are settled we thought this would be the perfect time to do a small house-warming and celebrate Christmas with our closest friends before everybody left town to go see their families.

As I'm currently studying nutritional therapy I tried to cook lots of delicious food that was also filled with fabulous nutrients, most of my friends. On the menu my guests found:

-Carrot and coriander soup 

-Sweet potatoes with sweet paprika, cinnamon, mediterranean herbs and pink himalyan salt

-Quinoa with roasted brussel sprouts, portobello mushrooms and pomegranate

-Raw vegetables with hummous

-Homemade sausage rolls with fennel seeds, sesame seeds and parmesan (a treat for me a some of my omnivore friends)

 and our sweet treats were

-Coconut flour and raw cacao chocolate softies (gluten and dairy free)

-Oatmeal raisin walnut and dark chocolate cookies (as party favours)

-Nigella's chocolate mousse (naughty treat but oh so gooood)

On top of all this, my wonderful friends Paula and Sara brought a gigantic plate with many cheeses and crackers and decorated with beautiful and delicious red grapes.

To drink: My absolute favourite, a spiced apple juice from Chegworth Valley. I warm it up and it smells like Christmas in a mug! 

Lots of tea lights in the room, Christmas music playing, my lovely friends and boyfriend and delicious food. I was the happiest girl in the world.

Now, as I posted all the pictures on facebook and Instagram I got a few requests regarding a couple of recipes so here they are:

This quinoa salad has been adapted from the original recipe created by Deliciously Ella, I have mentioned her before on Foodolina as I am a massive fan, she has lots of mouthwatering vegan recipes that are also gluten and dairy free. I highly recommend checking her website out.
This salad was massive success with both my vegetarian and omnivore friends, I highly recommend it!

QUINOA WITH ROASTED BRUSSEL SPROUTS, PORTOBELLO MUSHROOMS AND POMEGRANATE (adapted from Deliciously Ella)

2 Cups of Quinoa (make sure you rinse it properly before hand)

500 gr of Brussel sprouts cut in half (washed and trimmed and outer leaves taken off)

3 sliced Portobello mushrooms (gills gently scooped out and top cleaned with a damp kitchen paper towel)

1 garlic clove

1 handful of chopped parsely

seeds of 1 Pomegranate

A little squeeze of lemon juice (optional for the quinoa)

Mediterranean dried herbs to season the sprouts (but you can use any herbs you might prefer)

Oil and lemon juice with a pinch of pink Himalayan salt (or sea salt) and pepper as a dressing

First put your brussel sprouts in a tray and add 1tbsp of extravirgin olive oil, the dried herbs and a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix it up and pop it in the oven for 30 min at 200C/ 392 F/ gas mark 6. Just mix them up again after 15 min to make sure the roast evenly.

In the meantime put your quinoa in a pan with a little coarse salt and boiling water from a kettle and a sprinkle of lemon juice for taste (which you'll take down to a simmer) for 12 minutes. The original recipe calls for 30 minutes but I personally prefer my quinoa with a bit of consistency rather the totally soft.

Once cooked, just drain and leave to cool.

Grab a pan and add 1 1/2 tbsp of oil and 1 garlic clove chopped teeny tiny and leave it on a medium/low heat for about a minute, make sure you move the garlic around so it doesn't burn. Add your mushrooms and stir every now and then for about 5 minutes, after 4 minutes add your parsley and stir (the smell coming from the parsley will be just incredible). Ad a little salt and pepper to taste and turn off the heat.

Grab your favourite bowl and add quinoa, mushrooms and sprouts. Take your pomegranate and cut in half then hold one half with the seeded side on the palm of your hand and "spank" the hard outside bit of the fruit with a wooden spoon (no jokes please..hihi). Your seeds will start falling on to the salad between you fingers, just spread them around and mix.

As a dressing i simply put 3 tbsp olive oil and the juice of 1 lemon in a little pot, added a pinch of salt and pepper and shook the whole thing then added it to the salad. Serve it up!

OATMEAL RAISIN WALNUT COOKIES WITH DARK CHOCOLATE (and a lot of cinnamon)

I quickly baked these cookies and packaged them as party favours for my guests to have a little something to take home (or enjoy ON the way home...). It always makes me feel so happy preparing little foodie presents for my friends!

This recipe was adapted The Martha Stewart. You know you can't go wrong with her recipes. In my case though i had to cater for a friend who's allergic to gluten AND dairy so I had to swap a couple of ingredients around.

Here's my dairy free version (and with a larger amount of cinnamon as I am totally addicted to it):

4 1/2 cups oats (divided, as you'll use them at different times). Use gluten free if needed.
2 tbsp cornflour
1 tbsp cinnamon ( i told you i'd use a lot! But you can reduce the amount if you wish)
1 tsp gluten free baking powder
1/2 tsp hymalaian salt (or sea salt)
3 tbsp coconut oil (melted)
1/4 cup organic coconut palm sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
50gr 85%  chopped dark chocolate (or use chocolate chips)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat your oven at 350F, 180 C or Gas Mark 4.
Put 1 1/2 cups oats in a food processor till you get a fine meal. Grab a bowl and and add your oat flour, corn flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Mix it up.
In another bowl whisk your eggs,sugar (I used an electric mixer) and coconut oil. Add vanilla and mix again.
Add the oat mixture you made in the previous bowl mixing slowly. Fold in the last cups of oats, walnuts, chocolate and raisins.

Line a baking tray with baking paper, grab a spoonful of mixture and roll into a little ball than squish a little before popping it onto the tray. Keep going till you finished your mixture. You might need two trays depending on how large they are.

Bake 15-18 minutes. Let cool and Merry Christmas!

I wish all of you a beautiful Christmas filled with delicious food, happiness and laughter and hope all your dreams may come true in the New Year...

Love,

Foodolina.

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Inspiration from Rome...x

Last week, my boyfriend's parents came around for lunch and his mom cooked the most amazing chicken roast..so good and so abundant that we had chicken leftovers, perfect to use for meals during the upcoming week. This leftover chicken salad brings me back to Rome when I was studying acting years ago. There was a little restaurant just across the road from out theatre studio and they served this delicious salad which I couldn't get enough of!

You'll already have your leftover chicken so basically all that's left to do is assembling the pieces baby!!!! Let's go!

INGREDIENTS

1 cup Leftover chicken pieces 

1 bag mixed leaves salad

1/2 cup crunchy corn 

1/2 cup raisins

1 tbsp extravirgin olive oil

1 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar ( you can put less if you wish but I love it so much)

Salt and pepper to taste

First things first, pop your raisins in a small bowl and cover with hot water, leave to get soft and plump for a couple of minutes while you assemble the salad. Choose a salad bowl and put your leaves in, followed by the corn, chicken and drained raisins.

Dress with the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Mix it up, sit down and enjoy!x

Butternut Squash a' la Kitty.x

This recipe is dedicated to my friend Kitty, one of the loveliest girls I know.
She seems to like butternut squash so this one's for her.
I love autumn, the colours, the new beginnings, Halloween..So many incredible reasons to be smiling, but mostly : IT'S SQUASH SEASON!!! All the wonderful shapes and sizes and colours at the farmers market bring me so much joy...And believe it or not, this year was the first time I actually roasted my own squash. I know, it's crazy.But we just moved to this wonderful new house with a proper oven in our cozy kitchen  and I thought the time had finally come.
So I went and bought two lovely  delicata squash and made some autumnal magic..now, this is a recipe that you can prepare even if you have a superbusy life I can assure you, all I have been doing for the past three weeks is working on my essay but these beauties were roasting while I studied, the sauce took 10 min to cook and the polenta about 1 min.Not bad ah?
Give it a try and you won't regret it. Happy Autumn to you all!!!

INGREDIENTS

2 small delicate squash
1 cup of gluten free instant polenta ( but you can use regular one)
3 organic tomatoes
10 small organic chestnut mushrooms
A little pic
A pinch of nutmeg
A drizzle of extravirgin olive oil

Preheat your oven at 190c, gas mark 5, 375F.
Wash the outside of your squash, cut the top and bottom and place it vertical on a cutting board and slice it in half  lengthwise.Make sure it's nice and stable before you make the cut and put your weight on it. Scoop the seeds out from both halves, sprinkle with a little nutmeg and place with the inside part facing down on a roasting tray. Cover the tray with foil to keep the heat inside and make the squash delicious and soft then go back to study ( in my case..) or do anything else you need to.
Your squash will need about 40 minutes.
10 minutes before taking them out of the oven, dust and slice your mushrooms,wash and slice your tomatoes and put everything in a pan with a little olive oil and salt and pepper on a medium heat.just stir the vegetables every now and then and in 10 minutes your sauce will be ready!

2 min before your sauce is done just boil water in the kettle and then use 1 mug and a half of boiling water and add to that half a mug of polenta while storing slowly, add salt and pepper.

Take the squash out, turn them with the inside part up and add a little polenta and the tomato and   muhrooms sauce on top of that.
Serve ideally with some lovely greens as a side. Buon Appetito!

Xxx

Valentina

The Healing Post.x

Hi everyone!

First, let me apologise for the length of time that has passed since my last post..Over a month. Shocking.

I have been pushing myself a bit too far I guess between working my normal job and as an actress, studying to prepare for my first day at uni (now been and gone) and desperately trying to find a new home as me and Patch will be leaving our current one next week (still looking by the way, so should you know of any 1 bed in Crystal Palace....). A lot to take in.

The final blow hit me about 10 days ago, I had just worked non stop for 7 days, done my first weekend at uni which I found very overwhelming and then flew to Rome the morning after for an acting job.

Even though I absolutely loved being in Italy, getting the chance to see my best friends and working with some wonderful people, I also managed to catch some kind of virus but still the show had to go on, so I pushed my body through 4 performances and then collapsed at the airport on the way back.

The reason why I am telling you this is because I am always very good at telling my friends to take care of their bodies, mind and spirit but turns out I obviously didn't quite listen to my own words.

Yes, I have always eaten a pretty healthy diet, unfortunately taking the time to relax and breathe wasn't as high a priority on my agenda lately as I thought I was too busy for that but let me tell you, now that my body has decided to go into reboot mode, downtime has shot up to first place in the chart.

The diagnosis at the ER was acute gastroenteritis which means I basically haven't been able to eat almost anything for the past week and since I heard that lots of people are getting sick out there, probably due to the weather or maybe the very same bug I caught..I thought I'd share with you what I DID manage to eat and made me feel better while recovering. Maybe it  might help you a little.

The first 24 hours i literally couldn't handle anything so I had one lemon tea (kindly offered to me by my ER doctor) and little sips of water throughout the day.

Then I moved on to rice and corn crackers. They literally saved me life. I couldn't even smell anything remotely sweet or with a bit of flavour and these were savoury but not too salty and the perfect consistence.

And now the Italian heritage comes in. My next stop was Fette Biscottate. I'm not sure what they'd be called here in the UK, toasted mini bread?Here's a picture to make your life easier..

The can be subtly sweet and in Italy we have them for breakfast with jam or Nutella or dipped in our caffelatte...Mmmmm..

 I bought mine from an Italian deli here on Northcote Road and they fed me for the next couple of days, first two every couple of hours (my stomach has shrank ridiculously, so a bit of food at regular intervals...), plain or maybe dipped into a camomile to make them mushy and easier on my stomach.

then when i felt a bit bolder, i had them with some mashed avocado on top.

And a couple days later I added some smoked salmon on the avocado. So good.

It felt incredible to finally have something tasty after all these days..

Now, avocado has played a big part in my recovery as it was easy for me to digest and full of nutrients and good fats and since I have lost a lot of weight that it exactly what I needed.

Just make sure you get ripe ones because there's nothing worse than a hard tasteless avocado.

Here's how I quickly prepare my Magic Avocado Mash:

1 ripe avocado

Juice of less than half a lemon

Pinch Himalyan or sea salt

1/2 tbsp extravirgin olive oil

A little ground pepper to taste (optional. i didn't have it while ill but on a regular day I'd definitely have it on top)

Spoon the avocado flesh in a bowl, add the remaining ingredients and mash with a fork till smooth.

Spread on Fette Biscottate or Dark German Multi seeded bread (another of my favourite things when on a normal diet) and add toppings of your choice or just eat like that.

As for keeping hydrated, I could only take little sips of room temperature water for the first couple of days, then I started with slowly sipping on a cup of hot water with a squeeze of lemon in the morning and if I felt that food wasn't going down too well or started to give me pains I would quickly prepare my Healing Ginger Tea. This fresh tea has helped me through cold and nausea so far so here's the recipe:

1 thumb size piece of fresh ginger root

1 tsp manuka honey

1 squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Peel and slice the ginger and boil it for 15-20 minutes. 

Pour it in your favourite mug (leave out the ginger bits!) and add honey and lemon. Stir, breathe and enjoy.

A few other things I built up to after all the dry foods were steamed spinach with a little olive oil and a pinch of salt or boiled courgettes with that same dressing. Everything back to basics in order to give time to my stomach to heal.

I'm still on the mend but slowly and surely moving towards full recovery which makes me oh so happy. 

Before I leave you though, please make sure you understand that everything in this post is what worked for me and that everybody is different so these are ideas you could try but it doesn't necessarily mean they are going to have the same effect on you.  

The main thing is for you to listen to your body because nobody knows it better than you.

Have a beautiful weekend everyone!

Love, 

xxx

Valentina

Mi Cocina Es Tuya (my Kitchen is your Kitchen)

We are moving house and we are now looking for a new place to start again..

And we actually found the loveliest area called Crystal Palace Triangle.
It's 15 minutes from where I live now in Clapham but it looks like a cute village in the countryside and there's a wonderful sense of community. 

People smile a lot here, actually TALK TO EACH OTHER and are very helpful should you need anything.

One of the best things though is the fact that you won't find many big chains shops here, there's a big Sainsburys and that's pretty much it.

All the shops, delis, bars and restaurants are indipendent, quirky and orginal.

Cafe Latino is one of them.  

A little Venezuelan Cafe I fell in love with yesterday at lunchtime. LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT.

As we were walking past, I read the sign saying "Mi Cocina es Tuya" which, as you already learnt from the title of this post, means My kitchen is Your Kitchen. 

That's how I feel when I have guests over, they need to feel at home in my kitchen.

It needs to be a warm, comforting place filled with friends, food and laughter.
And this tiny gem of a Cafe reflects all that. 

3 tables for four and two tables for two people. Good things come in small packages right?

Colourful, decorated with Venezuelan Flags and pictures of this beautiful country..Latin music to lift your spirits and incredible home cooked food.

Your hosts, Alexis and Mary will take really good care of you.

Alexis offered us a taste of their fresh smoothies when we popped in for information before lunch and as I'm Italian and genetically prone to talking a lot, we started chatting about his Cafe, his origins and much more.

Meeting someone with such positive energy and happy to chat made me feel right at home.

I had never tried Venezuelan food before and my oh my was it delicious!

I tried my first AREPA, a gluten free hot bread that is made with maize and that is served with various fillings, you can choose from shredded beef, chicken and more..

I had it instead of rice in my Pabellon de Carne, a platter filled with an incredibly flavourful shredded beef, black beans and fried plantains.

My drink of choice: a refreshing Guava Smoothie.

Patch chose Asado Criollo 2. A Venezuelan Roast Beef served with chips (he wasn't sure he'd like plaintains but I made him taste mine and he soon discovered that he did!)and salad.

Both meals were absolutely incredible and if we hadn't been so full we would have also ordered their Churros with Chocolate. That's ok though, I'm moving here, plenty of time to come back especially when the weather gets cold and dip those little doughy fried strips in a mug of hot chocolate and bring the biggest smile to my face!

Oh, did I mention this wonderful Cafe is totally affordable too? Not bad ah?

Here's their menu should you want to take a look...
They also offer vegetarian and gluten free options.

I'm always a little proud when I discover a tiny hidden treasure not enough people (me included) knew about and thanks to this Blog I get the chance to let you all know that if you find yourself in Crystal Palace, you should definitely head to Cafe Latino and enjoy some Venezuelan vibe and mouthwatering home cooked food.x

Quinoa Stuffed Round Courgettes

Every Sunday morning I head to the Brixton Farmers Market to do my weekly grocery shopping.
I love it there, I can always talk to the farmers and be sure my veggies won't be covered in nasty pesticides.
Last week I found some beautiful round courgettes which I had never tried so I was seriously excited and got the three prettiest ones!
I also bought some lovely cherry tomatoes and an aubergine and here's what I did when I went in my kitchen...x

INGREDIENTS
3 Medium/Large Round Courgettes (I had 2 Green and  a gorgeous Yellow one)
1 Pack Cherry Tomatoes cut in half or quarters
1 Small aubergine chopped in small cubes
2 Garlic Cloves chopped teeny tiny
Feta Cheese to crumble on top
Dried Mediterranean herbs
1/2 Cup chopped walnuts
1/2 Cup Quinoa
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper to season

Preheat the oven at 180 C, gas mark 4, 375 F.

Wash your courgettes then pat them dry.
Cut the top off but don't throw it away! It's going to become their little hat :)
Scoop out the inside of the courgettes, chop it and keep in in a bowl to the side.
Drizzle the inside and outside part of these little veggie bowls and season with salt and pepper before placing them in the oven with their tops on for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, rinse your quinoa and pop it in boiling water (remember to put some coarse salt in it) for 10 minutes.
As the quinoa cooks you can  grab a pan,  drizzle with extravirgin olive oil and add garlic, tomatoes, aubergines and the inside of the courgettes. Cook on low/medium heat for 15 minutes stirring every now and then, should it become too dry while cooking just add a little water.
When the quinoa is ready, drain it and leave it to cool.
By this point your kitchen should already be smelling heavenly and your pan should be filled with soft delicious veggie mix. Add the quinoa and walnuts to it, mix it up for a minute and take off the heat.

When the 30 minutes have passed take your courgettes out of the oven and move them face down on a plate layered with some kitchen towels to absorb the extra water that will have collected inside them.
Time to stuff them!!!!
It's all about layers baby. First some crumbled feta on the bottom, then some quinoa filling, then more feta and filling again and top up with a little more feta on top.
Place under the grill for about 5 minutes (or just till your feta goes a little golden), then take these beauties out and add their little hats before serving.

Cute and delicious, hope you'll love them as much I did.x