Zucchini Nut Bread

I love this recipe and this year I tried to make it myself and I was very pleased on how it turned out! :)












You will need:

2 cups Flour
cinnamon
1 Tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 Tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
Vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
1/2 cup shredded apple
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup coconut flakes

Mix everything in a large bowl, incorporating the zucchini, apple, walnuts and coconut for last.
Bake in preheated oven at 350 F for about 1 hour. Enjoy! Buon Appetito!

La Dolce Yummy Sparkling Vita Featured on The Ladies Who.com

La Dolce Yummy Sparkling Vita is growing... Check out the website www.theladieswho.com under the lunch section! Click on the link below!

Sbrisolona Ricotta & Nutella by our friends at La Dolce,Yummy, Sparkling Vita | Lunch, Recipies | The Ladies Who...

Delicious Cupcakes from Crumbs, NYC

During last year trip to New York City, Rachel took us to the best cupcake place ever!

Crumbs is a little place situated on one side of Bryant Park. The presentation of each cupcake was just amazing... for all tastes! The flavor of each one we had was incredible! Soooo yummy! If you happen to be in that area of NY you might want to stop by! Enjoy! :)

Crispy Eggplants - Melanzane Impanate

I wanted to show you an easy but yet delicious way to cook your eggplants! My Lovely nanny Tata makes the best! In fact, this picture was taken at my nanny's in Sardinia (Italy).

You will need:

a couple of eggplants (Depending on how many people you are having over)

bread crumbs

a couple of eggs

some flour

Vegetable oil (Or any kind of oil you use to fry)

Cut the eggplant in thin slices. To have a nice breading coat, you will need to dip each slice first in the beaten eggs, secondly in the flour, after again in the eggs, and finally in the bread crumbs. Fry them and place them on some paper towel sheets, so that they will eliminate the excess oil.

Sprinkle some salt on top and enjoy! They are so yummy! Buon Appetito!

PS: you can do the same with zucchini!

Pecan Pie

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! Today to celebrate this holiday I wanted to show you one of the many delicious things that are going to be part of our thanksgiving super dinner... Pecan Pie! I always bought this delish desserts, but this year I wanted to make it myself and I am very proud of the result!


All you need is:

Pie Crust
1-1/3 cups of Pecans
3/4 cup corn syrup (Light or dark)
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
4 Tbsp melted butter
1 Tsp Vanilla extract
3 eggs
Preheat the oven at 425 F and cook the pie crust for 15 minutes, until golden. (Remember to make some holes in the pie crust with the fork, so it wont rise... or if you prefer put some aluminum foil with dry beans)
In the mean time, just mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl, adding the chopped pecans for last. Pour the mixture in the pie crust and bake at 350 F for 45-50 minutes. Enjoy! Buon Appetito!

Warm Spinach Dip

I am so happy to share with you this great and super easy recipe for a yummy warm spinach dip!
All you need is:

1 pack cream cheese ( 8 Oz)
1/2 cup Mayo
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1 pack spinach

In a bowl beat the cream cheese and the mayo. Add Parmesan, spinach and mozzarella.
Put in the microwave for 4-5 minutes. Serve with pita chips, bread, or anything you like. Enjoy! Buon Appetito!

Hamburger Art in Amsterdam

Here is a picture I took in a restaurant of Amsterdam. Thanks to Chris & Mariska for hosting us in the city and taking us around! Such a magical and sparkling city!

When ordering a burger I wasn't expecting such a creative presentation! The flavor was as great as the presentation was! Yummy!

Phyllo Cups

If you need a great appetizer idea for a party or the holidays, stay tuned for this fancy recipe!


All you need is:

Phyllo cups
Brie cheese
Fig Preserve
Prosciutto

Just place the phyllo cups onto a pan with a baking sheet. Place a piece of brie cheese and a little bit of fig preserve... bake in the oven accordingly to the Phyllo cups instruction box, or until everything starts to melt. Now you could simply place on top pieces of prosciutto and serve, or if you prefer you could toast the prosciutto and then add it to your cups. Enjoy! Buon Appetito!
PS: If you don't find the already made phyllo cups, just buy some phyllo dough sheets and layer them until you create some little cups. Bake them in a muffin pan, so that they will get the cup shape ;)

Sbrisolona Ricotta & Nutella

This delicious recipe is called Sbrisolona, which means crumbly cake in Italian. It's a typical dessert from the north of Italy and this time I wanted to make it with ricotta, nutella, and chocolate chips. Of course you can make variation of it: vanilla custard, fruit jam, berries, etc...

• For the crumbles you will need:

2 1/2 cups Flour
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp white sugar
7 Tbsp butter
1 egg
1 lemon zest
1 yeast

Mix the flour with the butter (room temperature), sugar, lemon zest, and yeast. Create a crumbly texture and pour half of the crumbles into a greased and floured pan. The rest of the crumbles will serve as the cover layer for our cake.

• For the filling you will need:

16 Oz Ricotta cheese
1/2 cup white sugar
Nutella
Chocolate chips
sugar powder to decorate

In one bowl mix the ricotta with the sugar. Now separate the ricotta in 2 bowl. In one bowl mix the ricotta with nutella (As much as you like). In the other bowl mix the ricotta with the chocolate chips. At the base put a layer of the ricotta and nutella mixture, and as a top layer, put the ricotta with the chocolate chips. So you will have two different color layers... I put too much of the ricotta and nutella and you can barely see the white ricotta with chocolate chips :) As a final top layer you will have the crumbles. Bake in preheated oven at 350 F for 35-40 minutes. When cold sprinkle some powder sugar on top. Enjoy! Buon appetito!

Peanut Butter & Jelly Fritters

This is a very fun way to make your usual Peanut Butter and jelly sandwich. You will need some white or whole wheat sandwich bread, Peanut butter, jelly and vegetable oil to fry. Just make some rounds out of the sliced bread. Spread some Peanut butter and jelly on top, leaving some space from the edges. Place another slice of bread on top and pinch firmly with your fingers, sealing the 2 bread slices. Now fry the until golden brown. Drain them on some paper towel sheets and sprinkle with some powder sugar on top. Enjoy! Buon Appetito!

Ciambella

Ciambella is a traditional Italian Ring cake that can be made in a variety of ways: yogurt, chocolate chips, ricotta, and so on. This is a picture of a simple and basic ciambella that was taken in Sardinia, Italy, and this wonderful masterpiece was made by Inna! Thank you Inna!

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1/2 cup white sugar (150 gr.)

1 cup flour (300 gr.)

1 glass of milk

1 glass of vegetable oil

1 lemon zest

1 packet of yeast

Mix everything together working the batter until smooth. Pour the batter in a greased and floured pan, and bake for 30 minutes at 340 degrees.

Enjoy! Buon appetito!

Slow cooked BBQ Pulled Pork

Last night I was very excited of trying my new Crock pot for the first time! I wanted to try the recipe for the BBQ Pulled pork I fell in love with during my trip to Birmingham (Alabama).


What I used was:

Pork tenderloin, Salt, pepper, onions, a little bit of extra vergin olive oil and Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce.

Just place a little bit of olive oil in the crock pot and some onions. Rub your pork with salt pepper and BBQ sauce. Place the pork in the Crock pot and top it with some more onions and BBQ Sauce. Cook on low for 6-7 hours.



I came back home from class and smelled this wonderful aroma of BBQ Pork! I love my crock pot! It's like somebody is cooking for me while I am away! I made some potato rolls sandwiches with it, and also some lettuce wraps topped with mozzarella cheese... delicious! Enjoy! Buon Appetito!

Garlic & Cheese Biscuit-Burgers

When I don't know what to cook for dinner, I start to open my pantry and look around, hoping to find some inspiration. That is how I came up with this delicious recipe! I had a bag of Betty Crocker Garlic and cheese biscuits mix, some ground beef, lettuce, and bacon. So I started by baking the biscuits. While they were cooling down for a couple of minutes, I cooked the seasoned mini beef patties with chili powder, salt, pepper, and oregano. Then I grilled the bacon too. After preparing my stuffing on the side, I cut the biscuits in half and started layering them inside. First a layer of mayo, a piece of lettuce, the burger, a piece of cheese, 1 pickle, the bacon, mustard, and ketchup. They were so yummy! Enjoy! Buon Appetito!

Crostata di Frutta - Fruit Pie

Ciao Everybody!

I wanted to share with you one of my favorite Italian desserts... Crostata di frutta, or fruit pie in English. This is a perfect summer desserts since it's served cold right out of the fridge! Yummy!

Ingredients for Pie crust:

1-1/4 cup of flour

1/2 cup white sugar (150 gr.)

1/2 cup powder sugar

3 yolks

2 tbsp cold water

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

Mix everything together and when you form a nice ball of dough place some plastic wrap around it and let it cool in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

When the dough has cooled down, roll it and cover the whole surface of a pie pan.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Ingredients for the custard (Crema pasticcera):

4 yolks

1/2 liter of milk

2/3 cup of white sugar

1/4 cup flour
Lemon zest

1 tsp Vanilla extract

Bring the milk and the vanilla to a boil. In a separate bowl beat the yolks with the flour and the sugar until smooth. Pour the yolks cream into the boiling milk and continue stirring until it reaches the desired consistency. Set the custard aside and let it cool down.

Once cool, pour the custard into the pie crust and start decorating with the fruits that you've picked for your pie.... you can chose whatever you like! As you can see this time I used: kiwi, Maraschino cherries, peaches, strawberries, bananas.

To get a shiny look for your pie, get a bag of gelatin for pies, follow the instructions on the bag and pour it right on top... it will prevent the fruit to get brown and it will give it a yummy and shiny look! Enjoy!! Buon Appetito! :D

Creamy Chicken & Mushrooms

Here is a recipes for my HCG friends and non... this recipe is actually delicious even when you are off the maintenance of your diet!


In a pan sautee olive oil, onions and chicken cut in chunks... keep on until everything starts to brown. Now add the mushrooms. Cook until everything starts to get a nice brownish color. Adjust salt and pepper. Turn off the stove and add 2 Tbsp of sour cream. Here you have it! A fast and delicious recipe! Of course when you are off your diet you are more than welcome to add some pasta to this dish! Enjoy! Buon Appetito!

Pasta alla Carbonara

This is one of my favorite pasta dishes! Pasta alla carbonara can be made with your favorite kind of pasta... in this case I picked Spaghetti! ( This recipe makes 4-5 portions)

Start to sautee the olive oil with onions and the pancetta (I used 4-5 thick slices cut in little cubes, until golden brown.

Cook the package of pasta. In a bowl beat 4 eggs, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and a tbsp of milk. When the pasta is ready, throw it in the pan where the pancetta is and mix everything over low heat. Pour the egg batter over pasta and remove from heat. Don't let it cook too long, otherwise instead of a creamy texture you will have scrambled eggs! :)

Sprinkle some more Parmesan on top and serve with love ;)