Stuffed Button Mushrooms with Garlicky Rice Noodles

Yum! Yum! I'm a huge mushrooms fan! I love their texture and how they can easily replace meat in your diet. High in proteins and low in calories, they're just perfect for anyone who wants to maintain a healthy lifestyle! Portobellos are my favorite because they're easy to cook and have a really a soft texture. 

Easy and diet-friendly, this recipe can be made by anyone. The stuffed mushrooms can be served as a main or side dish or even a party appetizer! The rice noodles are also really healthy and super-fast to cook! Just put some boiling water over them and they'll be ready in no time! The sauce although must have a strong flavor or else they'll be pretty tasteless.

Hope you'll like this recipe!  

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Vegetarian Serbian Rice Pilaf

Sorry for the long break dear foodies! I had lots of exams recently and no time for cooking. I made this recipe especially for those of you who are always on the run and want something healthy to eat. This recipe is ready really fast and feeds 8 people!  

What other ingredients do you use for rice pilafs? I love rice and I'd like to try different recipes as well.

Tips for cooking rice pilafs: How do you know how much water you need to add? Easy! 3 times the amount of rice.  It’s a 1:3 ratio. Also, boil the rice only for a couple of minutes then remove from heat and cover with a lid. This way it will absorb all the water and you’ll never have to worry again about burning the rice.

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Brown Rice Mushroom Pilaf

This is one of my favorite dishes. I love everything about it, texture, flavors, you name it. It is so simple and yet so tasty. I usually eat this with a big bunch of chopped parsley on top because I’m such a parsley lover and this combination seems perfect to me.

Another great thing is that it doesn’t take much time to make; you just throw there some ingredients and let the fire to its job. Unfortunately I don’t have as much time as I’d like to spend in the kitchen and I know that most of you are in the same situation as I am, that’s why I want to show you simple, quick and healthy recipes.

Do you know other brown rice pilaf recipes? I only tried it with mushrooms or chicken (when I wasn’t vegetarian). Do you think that this will work with other veggies as well but still maintain its smooth texture?

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Traditional Romanian Polenta

This is such a simple recipe and yet it can be modified in so many ways to create new and even more delicious recipes. This is the basic polenta with just 3 ingredients: water, cornmeal and salt. I often eat polenta instead of bread because it is much healthier and also it contains a higher amount of fibers.

Studies have shown that by eating polenta we fight against diabetes, liver and even respiratory diseases. Eating polenta also helps us prevent obesity and thyroid diseases. Cornmeal has many great benefits but we should choose only the organic non-GMO version because this one does not contain additives and other bad substances .

Most times I use polenta as a side dish but it can also be a main dish if you add more ingredients like chopped onion, parsley, tofu etc. In future posts I will show you ways to incorporate polenta in different recipes and also how to make this dish more flavorful. Until then enjoy this traditional Romanian dish known worldwide!

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Mashed Butter Beans with Tomato Sauce

This is an easy recipe that can be used as a side, appetizer or even a main dish. Because this recipe is high in fibers and low in fat and sodium, it is recommended for those of you who are on a diet trying to lose weight.

What I like most about this recipe is that it is also very versatile; you can add a carrot instead of celery, which will give the beans a beautiful orange color or you can change the sauce, for example tahini paste will be delicious if served on top of these mashed beans. Feel free to try an combination you like.

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Autumn in a plate - Oven Roasted Vegetables

I love roasted vegetables; so easy to make, so simple and yet so delicious. Of course raw vegetables are a lot healthier than cooked ones but sometimes you just need a hot meal right?! Anyway this dish is very healthy, low in calories, low in fat and also low in sodium, diet friendly and it is very filling too.

Did you know that unlike other fruits and vegetables, where nutritional content such as vitamin C is diminished upon cooking, processing of tomatoes increases the concentration of bioavailable lycopene. Lycopene in tomato paste is four times more bioavailable than in fresh tomatoes. For this reason, tomato sauce is a preferable source as opposed to raw tomatoes. If you don't know, lycopene is a powerful antioxidant and it has been considered a potential agent for prevention of some types of cancers.

Another great thing about this recipe is the combination of tastes and textures: sweet and salty, crunchy and soft...amazing! I also love the colors; the potatoes look like they were painted! It’s like having autumn in a plate!

Try it!

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Boiled Potatoes with Onion and Rosemary

 

 I wanted something cooked but cooked fast and the word “potatoes” popped into my mind. I have about a sack full of baby potatoes from my boyfriend’s parents garden so I have to eat in this week a lot more potatoes that I usually eat, because I don’t want them to spoil.  This dish was very tasty! Potatoes are great in general, but the combination with onion dipped in paprika was just perfect. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.

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