Queensday 2009: a day that started festive but ended in drama...

Today is a national holiday in The Netherlands, called Queensday. On this day we celebrate the Queen's birthday and the Royal family always visits one or two towns in Holland. I was suppossed to post for CEiMB, but I won't. As I am writing this post I am watching the television in shock. I never thought that anything like this could happen here in my peaceful little country. I don't quite know how to discribe what I'm feeling, I'm baffled.

Today an attack on the the Royal Family took place in Apeldoorn. A car drove through a crowd watching a parade involving Queen Beatrix and her family, killing four people and seriously injuring at least 13 others. The car crashed into a monument, barely missing the open-topped bus carrying the royals. Dutch officials said the driver, who was seriously hurt in the crash, appeared to have acted deliberately. The only thing known about the man, is that he is a Dutch national aged 38.

This is a picture of the car with the driver in it,
on the background you see the open-topped bus carrying our Royal Family.
Source: http://www.nu.nl/

My thoughts go out to the victims of this attack, both the deseaced and injured, and their family and friends.

Tuesday again, where did the time go?? Almost totally forgot about TWD this week. I made this one pretty last minute, like last evening! When I first started to bake I baked everything pretty much last minute, on tuesdays actually, but that made me feel rushed and sometimes I wasn't able to finish the recipe on time. So I decided to bake ahead of time: so normally I would have baked next weeks recipe last weekend. But somehow everything got scrambled up the last few weeks.

This week Kim of Scrumptious Photography picked Chocolate Cream Tart for us to make. Kim is a wonderful cook/baker with an amazing talent for photography, I go to her blog on a weekly basis just to look at the gorgeous pictures she takes of the food she bakes. Yum!

The crust is easily put together, this is my sort of crust! Throw everything together, no rolling: just divide evenly in the pan and pop into the freezer for a little while before baking. Easy peasy!I had some doubts about the chocolate cream however, mainly because the recipe looked really similar to the one for the banana cream pie which I didn't like. Also somehow I had run out of semi-sweet chocolate, so I had to use milk-chocolate. I did taste a bit of the chocolate cream after it had cooled (about a teaspoon): Oh My God, this stuff is addictive!! I absolutely loved this!!!

I made 4 mini-tarts and I'm taking them all to work today, since we don't have a fridge at work and it's been extremely warm for the season I won't add the cream on top as I'm afraid it will turn bad. Today I'm starting a week of Weight Care to jump start back into weightwatchers mode and I decided that I won't be trying this, so I'll get report later on whether or not the coworkers liked this one. Check out what my fellow TWD-ers thought of this tart here.

Sunday the recipes for May were posted over at TWD and now I know that May is going to be great!! Apart from my visit to Disneyland Paris and a daytrip to Paris I have these tasty recipes to look forward to:

May 5- Megan of My Baking Adventures chose Tiramisu Cake on pages 266-268.
May 12- Babette of Babette Feasts picked Tartest Lemon Tart on page 336.
May 19- Kelly of Baking with the Boys selected Fresh Mango Bread on page 45.
May 26- Beth of Supplicious decided on Chipster-Topped Brownies on pages 94 and 95.

Taste & Create XVIII - Mirch Masala - Asparagus Spaghetti

This month I decided to join another interesting cookgroup: Taste & Create.
I had seen this event over at Grumpy's Honeybunch and instantely fell in love with the idea of Taste & Create: it’s whole purpose is to create a community of bloggers who test each others’ recipes and share links. Every month you send an email to let Nicole from For the Love of Food know that you'd like to participate that month, she makes pairs and then you select one (or more) recipes to recreate from the persons blog that you're paired with.

This month I'm paired with Superchef of Mirch Masala. Superchef is a very talented cook that has a lot of Indian recipes on her blog. My intention was to go ahead and try to recreate one of the lovely Indian dishes, but time flied this month and before I knew it it was time to post. As I was in a hurry today I made this easy-to-prepare pastadish.

I really enjoyed it, it was put together very quickly and very tasty. It gave me a chance to use my leftover spinach from the CEiMB-recipe. I absolutely loved it: the way the egg-parmesan mixture coats the pasta that makes an ordinary sauce completely absolete. Go here to check out Superchefs pasta. To see what the other creators made, visit Taste & Create.

Asparagus and Spinach Spaghetti with Garlic,
Basil and Parmesan Cheese

250 grams Spaghetti

300 grams Spinach

4 cloves garlic, minced

8-10 stalks of Asparagus, cut into 1 inch length

1 egg, beaten well
1/2 cup, grated Parmesan + more for garnish

a few basil leaves, chopped finely

a handful of sweet cherry tomatoes, halved

2 tbp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

salt and pepper, to taste

Cook the pasta as per package instructions, drain and keep aside.
In a sauté pan, heat the olive oil and sauté the asparagus, spinach and garlic.
Add the spaghetti to it and toss well.

Meanwhile, mix the egg and the grated parmesan in a bowl and keep aside.
Remove the sauté pan from the heat and then add in the egg-parm mix to it.

DO NOT add this mix while the pasta is on the stove as this will only scramble the eggs.
This way, the eggs cook enough in the heat of the pasta and forms
a nice smooth sauce with the parmesan.

Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Toss in the cherry tomatoes and serve with the basil leaves and
more grated parmesan as garnish.

CEiMB: Balsamic Chicken with Baby Spinach

Well, it's Thursday today and we all know what that means: Craving Ellie in My Belly. And I am especially exited about this weeks pick. Guess why.... Because I got to choose a recipe!!! It was really difficult to decide on one recipe, 'cause The Food You Crave by Ellie Krieger is filled with wonderful dishes.

I eventually selected Balsamic Chicken with Baby Spinach and Couscous. Chicken is one of my favourite meats to cook with, simply because it's so versatile and I love both spinach and couscous allthough I would never have thought of putting them together in one dish.

Since I wasn't able to find baby spinach, I simply used normal spinached: it just needed a bit more time in the pan than indicated. It took about 15 minutes to cook and I really enjoyed it! I loved the combination of the tomatoes with the balsamic vinegar. This dish is perfect for one of those nights where you don't feel like cooking, but still want to eat a healthy and tasty meal and it will definetely be made again by me!

Check out what my fellow Ellie-istas thought of the chicken here!!

Balsamic Chicken with Baby Spinach and Couscous

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 (8-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved
8 ounces baby spinach
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup low-sodium canned chopped tomatoes with juice
2 cups whole wheat couscous, cooked

Directions
Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and heat. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the chicken and cook about 4 minutes per side, or until cooked through and juices run clear. Remove the chicken and set aside.

To the same pan, add the spinach and cook just until wilted, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Lower the heat to medium and add the balsamic vinegar and chicken broth to the pan and stir, scraping the bottom of the pan to remove any browned bits. Add the tomatoes, bring to a simmer and cook 3 to 5 minutes.

Place the couscous in a serving bowl. Top with the spinach, chicken and balsamic-tomato sauce.

TWD: Four Star Chocolate Bread Pudding

This week we made Four Star Chocolate Bread Pudding for Tuesdays with Dorie. The recipe was picked by Lauren of Upper East Side Chronicle and it was another first for me: I had never had Bread Pudding in my life.

Unfortunately I must say I wasn't really crazy about this one... The finished product didn't look very appealing, it sort of looked like dog food to me. I doubted the staleness of my brioche, I think it actually passed the staleness stage allthough it wasn't moldy yet. Finally I got over my aversion and tasted the pudding.

I thought it tasted okay, but unfortunately I must say this was not my favourite Dorie-recipe so far. Some people thought the pudding was soggy, but mine was actually quite dry. Maybe I overcooked it? Since I was making miniatures I only put them in the oven for 25 minutes. The pudding was very easy to make, but I don't think that I will make it again. I guess I'm simply not a bread pudding type of girl....

Check out what my fellow TWD-ers thought of the Four Star Chocolate Bread Pudding and stay tuned for next weeks Chocolate Cream Tart!!

Dreaming....

Do you guys ever dream so vividly that you think it's actually real? And do you remember your dreams? I would love to know what my dreams mean. Sometimes I dream that my teeth are falling out, apparently that means

I hadn't remembered eny of my dreams for a while, but last night I had the strangest dream that was really vivid. During the dream I had this feeling of being happy and content. So here's my dream:

I was at an event with a friend where I spotted this cute guy (someone I've actually seen several times around work at lunchtime but never talked to.) One moment later I'm standing outside on the parkinglot on my way home. As I get in my car I see the cute guy getting in his car (some sort of oldtimer), and for a long time I drive right behind him (somehow he's taking the same route that I have to take).

Suddenly I'm actually in his car, it's a white cabrio and we're on a road where there's a meadow without a fence around it on one side of the road and a hill on the other side of the road. In the meadow is a beautifulwhite horse with pink/purple spots on it, this horse jumps in front of the car, so I'm scared that we will hit it. But the horse it very fast so we miss it. As soon as the horse is on the hill it turns around and jumps back to the meadow, with a short stop at the backhood of the car, the horse does this several times...

Moments later I'm in some sort of gymclass with three or four kids, playing and having fun (I'm still an adult), the guy is there too, I want to show him something so I turn around and then I wake up.....

I can't figure out what this dream actually means, so if any of you have some suggestions I would love to hear them!

The Winner of my big 3-0 Cookbook Giveaway!!

Yep, it's time for me to choose a winner for my giveaway!! I asked people for ideas for the high tea/afternoon tea that I'll be hosting for my 30th birthday on the 5th of July. It's still a couple of months away, but I like to plan ahead for special occasions like this one!


I received some great ideas:

• Steph of Obsessed with Baking suggested some lovely Cream Scones with Cranberry and Orange
• Marie of A Year from Oak Cottage entered a scrumptious Golden Jubilee Cake
• Liz of Cake of Death came up with the idea of making huge, gorgeous chocolate-covered strawberries.htm
• Kathleen of Cuisine Kathleen presented me with yummy Rugelach
• Shelby of The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch gave me a wonderful recipe for the perfect cucumber sandwich
• Gabe's Girl brought in the cute idea of mini versions of a tomato pie

As you can imagine it was very difficult for me to choose only one of these tasty suggestions: they all sound so wonderful! I had difficulties deciding on a winner because all of the entries are sooo different. Normally I prefer sweet over savoury, but in this case I loved each and every suggestion. But since I only had one cookbook to give away I did have to pick just one.....

I finally decided on a winning recipe and before I tell you who has won I'll tell you why this is the winner.... :

1. This recipe is supereasy to make.
2. This is a crowd-pleaser: out of all the entered recipes this is the only one that would actually be eaten by everyone that I will invite to my tea party because it doesn't contain any ingredients that someone won't eat.

So.... The winner of this cookbook is: Shelby of The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch! Congratulations!!

CEiMB: Lamb Stew with Orange

It's already Thursday again! Time flies when yoy're having fan and boy have I been having fun the last couple of days!! First of all I had an extra day of work because of Easter, second of all we've been having great weather since just before Easter: degrees were up in the twenties (I'm talking Celsius here guys!!). Last year we had snow at Easter!!! Third of all I had a lovely day off yesterday with 23 degrees Celsius and was typing this post with my laptop actually on my lap while enjoying the sun and trying to get a bit of colour on me.

Ow and last but not least: it's Secretaressedag today here in Holland!! Secretaressedag was first introduced in the United States in 1952 to recognize the work of secretaries, administrative assistants, receptionists, and other administrative support professionals. It is held anually on the Wednesday of the last full week of April, it's better know as Administrative Professionals' Day over in the U.S.A.

Flowers for Ms. Pieters!! ~ Put them on my desk!!

Here in The Netherlands it was introduced on the 20th of April 1989, when I was still in primary school and is held on the third Thursday of April. The company I am currently detached to treats all their secretaries to a really nice dinner every year, so guess what I'm doing tonight.....
No, not that!!!! ( I know, a dirty mind is a joy for ever!!)

But let's get back to the reason why I'm writing this post: it's Thursday again and so it's time for another great recipe of Ellie Krieger. Farah of Confessions of a Novice Baker picked a wonderful recipe for us this week: Lamb Stew with Orange. This would be a first for me: I had never cooked with lamb before. As soon as I went looking for lamb in my well-stocked supermarket I knew I was in trouble: the lamb looked soooo fat and I don't do fatty meats, it was also terribly expensive: 250 grams were about six euros!!



I decided to pay the local turkish butcher a visit, over there I got 250 grams of lamb for only 270 grams, it was lean and he also cut it into pieces for me. I'll be visiting that butcher more often, as I also bought a piece of veal and some ground beef and aonly spent about 5 euros!!!




The stew was easily prepared and left on the stow to stew for about 90 minutes while I went on to create other great recipes, such as previously posted Amaretti Chocolate Torte for TWD and some really tasty Quintuple Chocolate Brownies for my dad.






The stew was served with some mashed potatoes and shared with my dad an boy did we enjoy it!! It was absolutely cooked to perfection and I loved the combination of the somewhat sweet orange with the lamb. This one's a keeper!

I halved the recipe and had 3 portion: 6,5 WW Points per serving!





Farah thank you so much for picking this recipe, I really enjoyed it (and so did my dad)! Check out what my fellow Elie-istas thought about this weeks recipe over at CEiMB, here you will also find information on how to join this great group. Up next week is my pick:
Balsamic Chicken with Baby Spinach and Couscous!!

Apple Cranberry Phyllo Turnovers

This week I had some apples leftover, despite my baking frenzy during Easter weekend. Or maybe I should say because of my chocolate inspired baking frenzy..... A while ago I bookmarked this lovely recipe from Foodnetwork for Apple Cranberry Phyllo Turnovers. The recipe was by Elly Krieger, so I knew it would be a healthy choice and I actually had all the ingredients at hand, so on I went to make it.



These were absolutely delicious, they are a bit healthier than your normal turnovers because the are made with phyllo pastry instead of puff pastry which contains lots more butter. I really liked the combination of the tartness of the cranberries with the sweetness of the apples (I used Golden Delicious instead of the Granny Smith). These are best on the day they are made, the next day the phyllo pastries had lost a bit of its crunch....




I guess the phyllo pastry is sold a bit smaller here that in USA, because I only managed to make 3 turnovers out of 3 sheets. In totall I made 9 turnovers (3 WW Points per turnover) and had some leftover filling. No worries: I didn't throw out the remaining filling. I actually folded two tablespoons of leftover mascarpone in the leftover filling and had a delicious sinfull dessert while the tunrovers where in the oven. Yum!!! Ow, one last reminder: today is the last day to enter my giveaway!!



Apple Cranberry Phyllo Turnovers

4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4-inch slices (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pinch ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 1 tablespoon cold water
6 sheets phyllo dough, thawed
3 tablespoons canola oil
4 ladyfinger cookies, crushed, divided
Cooking spray

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large nonstick pan cook the apples, cranberries, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg over medium heat stirring occasionally until the fruit is tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in the cornstarch mixture and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes, until the juices in the pan thicken. Set aside to cool.

Lay a sheet of phyllo onto a large cutting board and brush the dough with oil. Top with a second sheet and brush with oil. Sprinkle half the crushed cookies on top. Add another sheet of phyllo and brush with oil. Cut the phyllo into 4 long pieces.

Put a small mound of the apple mixture about 1-inch from the bottom of 1 section and fold the phyllo over the mixture into a triangle-shaped pocket. Continue to fold to maintain the triangle shape so a turnover is formed. Repeat with the other 3 sections. Repeat the whole process again with 3 more sheets of phyllo so that you wind up with 8 turnovers. Be sure to reserve a little oil to brush the top of each turnover.

Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray, place the turnovers on the sheet, brush the tops with the remaining oil and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until nicely browned. Serve warm.

TWD: 15 Minute Magic - Chocolate Amaretti Torte

Holly of Phe/MOM/enon chose our TWD-recipe for today: the 15 Minute Magic - Chocolate Amaretti Torte. This torte was easy to assemble: it only took 15 minutes to make the torte and get it in the oven. I wanted to make half the recipe and thus create two four-inch tortes instead of one big torte. However I made one mistake: I forgot tho halve the recipe.... Hahahah! I found this out after I filled the two torte-pans and had some batter leftover. I filled a muffintin with this and ended up with 6 muffin-size tortes too!




The four-inch torte, pre-glazing

After topping the tortes, big and small, with the glazing and popping them into the fridge I started making the optional almond cream. I whisked the cream untill I had soft peaks and then proceeded to add the confectioners sugar and the almond essence to the cream. When I started to mix the almond essence with the cream, disaster struck: the cream curdled.... :(
So I served the torte with a crumbled amaretti on top.

The muffin-size torte

The torte tasted good, but to me it wasn't the best of Dorie's recipe.... The outside of the torte was dry (pre-glazing ofcourse), but the inside was still nice and moist.
In total I had 14 portions, which would be 5,5 WW Points per portion.

My giveaway is still open until the 16th of April!!

Happy Easter everyone!!!

Here's my picture of the day: my cat Senna was mesmerized by somerhing she saw outside, I'm still not quite sure what it was.....

I saw these gorgeous eggs over at The Barefoot Kitchen Witch and had to make some myself, so here they are. If you're interested in how to make these, go here where Jayne explains how to colour these eggs. The other eggs are simply store-bought

Pasta Salad with Gorgonzola and Pesto

I had a real early start this morning: I was wide awake at 5 am. After some useless attempts to get more sleep I got up at 5.30 and was on my way to work at 6. Surprisingly I wasn't even the first to arrive at work around 7 am: there were already 10 cars in the garage!

Spring has finally arrived: today it was 23 degrees Celsius here in Holland, not the best day to be spent in the office.... So when I came home from a long day at work and the sun was still shining outside, the last thing I wanted to do was spent another hour in the kitchen. Here's what I came up with: a lovely pasta salad with gorgonzola and pesto.

To celebrate the arrival of spring I have decided to change the deadline for my giveaway: you still can enter untill Thursday April 16, which is also Secretary Day here in Holland. If you would like to enter, everything is explained here. Tomorrow we're supposed to have another wonderful day with 22 degrees Celsius. Lucky for me I made lots of salad, so guess what I'll be having for dinner tomorrow......

Pasta Salad with Gorgonzola and Pesto (2 servings, 7.5 WW Points per serving)

200 grams penne (uncooked)
60 grams gorgonzola, diced
10 cherry tomatoes, quartered

1/2 cucumber, diced

1 shallot, finely diced

1 tbsp pesto

1 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Cook the pasta untill al dente. Cool the pasta a bit under running cold water. Put all the ingredients into a bowl, add salt an pepper to taste and mix well. Enjoy!

Today I also wanted to share this with you.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lata1T8cwUY

This is one of my favourite songs at the moment. The song is called 'Sweet Goodbyes' and it's by Krezip. This is actually the last song on the last album from Krezip, this album is on my wishlist. Krezip have been performing for the past 12 years and have unfortunately decided to quit. My friend Ingrid (a huge fan of Krezip) and I were lucky enough to be able to get some tickets for a concert last December, it was amazing.

CEiMB: Salmon with Sweet & Spicy Rub

First of all I want to remind y'all that the deadline for my giveaway is midnight Dutch time tomorrow, so if you would like to win a cute little cookbook with typically Dutch recipes (written in English) go here!!!

This weeks Craving Ellie in My Belly is fishy.... I don't do fishy.... Okay, that's me exaggerating just a little bit. I eat absolutely no sea food and very little fish, I'm simply not the biggest fan. I do eat some salmon or tuna every now and then, 'cause I know it's real healthy and good for you.

Pam of Lobster and Fishsticks chose Salmon with Sweet & Spicy Rub and boy am I happy she did: this was an amazing dish, I will eat salmon more often now!! I loved the way the sugar and the chilipowder worked together, yum!!! Defintely another dish that I will make again! So thanks Pam for picking this one!

I decided not to make the lentil dish the salmon is normally served with, but served it with green asparagus and mashed potatoes. Instead of cooking the asparagus I went for a wonderful stirfry with red pepper, shallots and garlic. A perfect combo!! The salmon is 7 WW Points per serving, the stirfry is only 0,5 WW Points, believe it or not!

Go here to find out what my fellow Ellie-istas thought of the sweet and spicy salmon.
The recipe for the salmon can be found over at Pam's, here's my recipe for the stirfry:

Asparagus stirfry (2 servings)
500 grams asparagus
1 tbsp olive oil
1 red pepper
2 shallots
1 clove of garlic
salt and pepper to taste


Cut of the end of the asparagus, wash them and slice them into threes. Heat the olive oil in a pan at medium heat and add the asparagus. Dice the red pepper and shallots and add them to the asparagus, cook untill the red pepper and shallots are soft. Squeeze the garlic clove above the pan and cook for a bit more, add some salt and pepper to taste.
Enjoy!!

TWD: Banana Cream Pie

Amy of Sing for Your Supper picked Banana Cream Pie for this weeks TWD-recipe. I was excited, because this was a pie that I had actually made before and although it was a different recipe now I would have something to compare it to!

Last October I made my first Banana Cream Pie, that time it was for CEiMB and Heather from Randomosity and the Girl picked it.

For the pie I took the easy way out and bougth some puff pastry shells. The custard came together very easily: it did start to curdle just a bit, but that was soon solved by with some quick whisking action. After cooling down the custard was a bit too thick, so I thinned it by whisking in some cream as suggested in the P&Q.

This pie tasted okay, but I thought this custard tasted a bit too sugary/cinnamonny/eggy..... I'm not quite sure what it was that made me hesitant..... My dad loved it though!!. I actually preferred the one that I made last October, if you want to give that one a try, go here for the recipe!

Curious what my fellow TWD-ers thought of the Banana Cream Pie?? Check out the blogroll here!

Ow and one last thing: enter my giveaway (I know: another giveaway!!!), deadline is April 10th midnight Dutch time!!!

Mushroomragout with baked potatoes

A while ago I made this Weightwatchers recipe, it tasted great but next time I make it I'll probably add some chicken to the ragout and use a little less currypowder. But other than that it was really tasty!

Mushroomragout with baked potatoes (1 serving; 6,5 WW-Points)

salt and pepper to taste1

100 gm potatoes
1 tsp paprikapowder
1 tbsp sour cream
1 tsp Olive oil
4 drops worcestershire saus
1 tbs parsley Peterselie
1 dash currypoeder
1 tsp flour
125 ml milk, skimmed
30 gm grates cheese, skimmed
1 clove garlic
1/2 onion
250 gm mixed mushrooms

Clean the mushrooms and slice them. Dice the onion and the garlic. Cook the mushroom, onion and garlic in 2 tbsp of water. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the milk and stir in the cheese. Mix the flour with 2 tbsp of water and mix in with the musrooms. Let this mixture thicken a bit, while stirring. Bring to taste with the currypowder, parsley and worchester.

Slice the potaroes. Heat the oil and bake the potatoes until they're nicely browned. Add some pepper, salt and paprikapowder to taste.

Serve the mushroomragout with the potatoes and sour cream. Enjoy!

P.S. Don't forget to enter my giveaway!!! (Deadline April 10, midnight Dutch time)

The big 3-0 combined with a giveaway!!

Update: deadline for this giveaway is now Thursday April 16th, 2009!!!

As lots of you already know (because I keep mentioning it here on my blog) I'm turning thirty this summer: the big 3-0. I've been trying to come up with nice ideas on how to celebrate this with my friends and family. One of the things I really like to do is have a high tea, or an afternoon tea as some of you might name it. So I thought about going somewhere with my friends to do this, I'm looking for a nice place here in Holland.

For my family I thought I could make my own tea party, since I have no experience on how to do this I'd like some ideas. Last month I gave away a nice Dutch cookbook, but I still have one left: Dutch Cooking - The New Kitchen ~ a surprisingly seductive cookbook (written in English) with all the traditionally Dutch dishes our parents used to make, adjusted to this time: less fatty and with lots of fresh vegetables. The book is filled with recipes for the best stews, soups, vegetarian dishes and salades. The lovely old-Dutch dessert have also been included!! (Paperback)

This giveaway is going to be simple: I'll ask you a question and the answer I like best will get the cookbook. I'm willing to send it all over the world! Feel free to spread the news about this giveaway amongst your friends! Deadline for entering the giveaway is Friday April 10 2009 midnight Dutch time!

So here's what you have do to win: in one comment

• tell me your favourite recipe suitable for a high/afternoon,
• explain why this is your favourite recipe and
• provide me with a link to this recipe (this is so I can try your recipe ofcours ;) )
  

P.S. Don't worry Marie, Steph and Peggy: I won't forget about my Pay-it-Forward Giveaway-winners, but I still have to finish the gifts!

WW: Spaghetti with Broccoli-Cheesesauce

As promised, here's the pasta dish I served with yesterdays Buffalo Chicken Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing:

Spaghetti with Broccoli-Cheesesauce (serves 1)

1 onion (I used a red onion)

1 pepper (I used half a red pepper and half a yellow pepper)

1 tsp olive oil

150 ml vegetable stock

60 gram boursin cuisine light (similar to Philadelphia cream cheese with herbs & garlic)

salt, pepper and currypowder to taste

150 grams whole weat pasta

150 grams boiled broccoli rosets

10 grams grated Parmezan

Dice the onion and pepper and cook them in the olive oil. Add the vegetable stock. Stir in the boursine cuisine light and add salt, pepper and currypowder to taste. Stir in the boiled pasta and broccoli. Sprinkle with the parmezan.

7 WW Points per serving. Enjoy!!

CEiMB: Buffalo Chicken Salad

Time flies when you're having fun: another Thursday had arrived and I'm happy it did, 'cause that means it's time for Craving Ellie in My Belly!!

This week AJM from You Eat Now got to pick the recipe, she selected Buffalo Chicken Salad. The recipe can be found here.

I must admit, when I saw the list of ingredients I had some doubts about this recipe. You see I love hot sauce and I love blue cheese, but simply couldn't imagine that those two would taste good when combined in one recipe.

Boy, did Elly prove me wrong!!! I decided to make this salad as a side dish with some great pasta with broccoli and cheesesauce (recipe will follow tomorrow) and served it yesterday when a friend came over for diner. We loved it! The dressing is perfect: the taste of the blue cheese (I used gorgonzola) is not too strong and the chicken is a great addition! Yum! Another recipe that I'll be making again!

Ow.... Only 3 WW Points per serving and about 1,5 for the side dish!! By the way, so far I lost 4 kilos in one month :) And if you would like to join CEiMB, go check out this site!