Shrimp Appetizer

I have another shrimp recipe ( having posted my Shrimp Fettuccine recipe a few weeks ago) that I am excited to share with everyone. I like to make this as an appetizer or even as a light dinner. I'm only here in Portugal for one more month so I want to explore the cuisine of this beautiful country. Shrimp is an ingredient that every portuguese kitchen uses. You can have shrimps as a starter or even as a main dish. I think people will love today's recipe, because the shrimp, the tomato, the garlic, the coriander and the lemon go great together. In the future I'd like to try to taste and make other kinds of sea food and I'll try to share these experiences with you guys. 

INGREDIENTS:

500g shrimps

4 cloves of garlic

8 cherry tomatoes

coriander leaves

lemon

Optional: 

white wine

Peel the shrimps ( buy frozen raw shrimps if possible) ( you can buy pre peeled to make this step easier ) and set it aside in a bowl. Chop up the garlic, the tomatoes and the coriander leaves. Take a big frying pan, put some oil in it and then fry the shrimps with the garlic on a high heat. When the shrimps have turned pink ( they are done very quickly and you don't want to overfry them , because they will harden and lose their lightness ) you can add the tomatoes, coriander and squeeze some lemon juice in it. Add a splash of wine (this step is optional) as well. Season with salt and pepper and you can serve it with toasted bread or baguette.

Definitely try to make these shrimp appetizers and share them with family and friends. Take a picture of it and tag me on instagram or twitter.

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Sweet and salty salad

I believe that every restaurant should have at least one good salad on their menu. I am so happy whenever I go to a place that actually makes for example a good caesar or salmon salad. There is a place close to my house with good food and a beautiful view of the ocean. Recently I tried one of their salads. It was the perfect combination of sweet and salty and it was just different from the regular ones. There is fruit in it which makes it fresh and some nuts so it has some crunch in it. 

I wanted to upload this recipe last week, but unfortunately, my camera didn't want to cooperate, so I remade it one week later. I'm so happy that finally I can share this with you guys.

INGREDIENTS: 

salad mix

mango 

queijo fresco ( This is a protuguese cheese, which can be replaced with mozzarella.) 

walnuts

dressing:

olive oil

honey
salt and pepper to taste

Just like for my other salads, I like to give the ingredients, but not the measurements, because when it comes to a salad it is completely up to your taste how much you want to add from the different ingredients. 

Put together all your ingredients and then make the dressing. You put just honey on it, but if you make it with olive oil, then be sure to use mainly honey and just a bit of olive oil so it doesn't dominate the flavour. Whip the dressing up, and don't be afraid to taste! :)

If you try out this unique salad recipe, then take a picture of it and tag me on instagram or twitter.

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An Easy Treat

Today's recipe could make life easier for a lot of people. Especially for those, who don't like to spend a lot of time in the kitchen, but when they have family or guests over they have to prepare a little something. I have a really good and easy recipe that you should try if you find yourself in this situation. Basically it is puff pastry with a filling of your choice like nutella or marmalade... Also I want to show you how you can make this pastry look like you've bought it in a fancy bakery. 

INGREDIENTS: 
1 or 2 packs of pre-prepared puff pastry 
marmalade (blueberry, apricot,...)
powdered sugar 
chocolate sauce 

Dust your woking surface with a little flour and place the pre-prepared puff pastry on it. With a sharp knife cut same sized rectangles and then put nutella or marmalade(I used blueberry and apricot) in the center of one rectangle and place another one on top of that. Take a fork and start pressing down the edges. Place these on a baking pan (first put baking paper on the pan) and on 180 °C or 356 °F bake them for 12 minutes. When they are done dust powdered sugar on the ones with marmalade filling and you can put some chocolate sauce on the ones with nutella filling.

I hope you like this recipe and it makes your life easier. If you try to make it, then take a picture of it and tag me on instagram or twitter.

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Guilt Free Banana Cookies

Lately I've been experimenting with recipes that are healthy but at the same time delicious. Guilt free desserts are big challenges for me. I love eating desserts after my meals, it is just a habit of mine. I think you need a little something that keeps you going when you study or work all day and for me that little something is a dessert. When I am on my diet (when I say diet I don't mean like an actual diet. I mean the diet that I have created for my self for healthy eating, the one that I am following and that suits me and my life style, my body...) I usually have fruits for dessert, but there comes a time when you've had enough of fruit and you want something more filling and satisfying like a banana cookie! :)

I made these cookies and I am in love with them, because they don't have added sugar, only the the sugar in the banana and they taste like banana bread, which I love.

INGREDIENTS: 

1 ripe banana 

3 tablespoons of butter

5 tablespoons of flour

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder 

cinnamon (the amount that suits your taste) 
optional: 

raisins 
dark chocolate

These make about 4 smaller cookies(but you can obviously double or triple the recipe) 

Preheat the oven to 180°C (356°F) and cover the baking pan with baking paper. Put the banana and the butter in a bowl and mash them with a fork. Mix together the flour, (you can add more flour depending on how soft and gooey you want it to be) the baking powder and the cinnamon in a separate bowl and then stir in the banana mixture until it forms a batter. If you want this really quilt free you just leave it like it is, but if you want to spice it up a little then you can add raisins or dark chocolate chips if you are making these for kids. (This adds some extra calorie) Put it in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until the edge is golden brown. 

I hope this recipe helps you when you crave something sweet, but you don't want to feel bad after eating a cookie. If you try this out, then take a picture of it and tag me on instagram or twitter.

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Tromba Rija

Two weeks ago we decided to take a family road trip and we went to two beautiful towns named Óbidos and Alcobaça. It was such a nice day, because we got to walk around the towns, talk, have coffee, relax and also we ate dinner at a very special place.


First we went to Óbidos, where I have been before, but I was about 9 years old, so I only remembered a few things. I loved this place, because you can see the castle and walk on the big wall that surrounds the whole town. The houses are painted white and have different coloured stripes on the sides. This makes the streets so colourful and lovely. Also I was amazed by all the different flowers and trees. We found a little antique book shop where we spent about 30 minutes looking around and also we ended up buying a few books. I bought a portuguese cooking book which has beautiful big pictures in it and I am thinking about trying one or two recipes. I think it is better to go this time of the year, because it is not crowded by tourists, it is just quiet and you can really see how the local people live there.
  

The beautiful view of Óbidos

The red and blue striped houses

The antique bookshop 

Then we went to Alcobaça where we saw the Alcobaça Monastery that has a beautiful church and a garden inside of it. We had coffee in front of the Monastery, but then it was time for us to go to the restaurant that we have picked for that night.

Alcobaça Monastery

The restaurant Tromba Rija

This little trip was a few days before my father's birthday and we knew we were going to celebrate it with the whole family on the actual day. But we wanted to take this chance and have a little mini celebration. In the antique shop my father saw this book that was called "10 best restaurants in Portugal" and he read about this place called Tromba Rija in Leiria. Lots of guide books recommend to try it. The book said that the owners of this restaurant grow all the ingredients for the meals in their own garden, soo we were expecting a farm. It turned out to be this little restaurant in the middle of a small town with 5 or 6 tables which was a quiet and intimate place. The owner lady was serving us with the help of a waitress. The walls were covered with thank you notes from people who loved the food and the place. On the menu it said that the restaurant had been open for 51 years. 

The owner lady started by showing us to our table an then explaining how the whole dinner was going to be. This was a "degustacão", which means that they serve you a whole range of the typical food of the region. 

First we had three courses of appetizers like bread with butter, tuna and olive oil, clams, shrimps, cooked chestnut (which was so good I'm going to try making them myself), local melon with ham ... 

There was also a table full of different cheese that we could try before of after the dinner.

Next came the main course which was duck flambé with arrugula and rice. The duck was so soft and heavenly and the arrugula matched it perpectly. 
Then they brought a fruit plate full off fresh and delicious fruits like mango, pineapple, grapes, strawberry and kiwi. 

When we finished, we went to the dessert table where we could try different desserts like an apple cobbler, arroz doce, chocolate pudding, passionfruit pudding... All of them were so good and I wanted to eat more and more, but I was so full. :)

Then they brought diferent nuts and a tradicional drink called Amêndoa Amarga that is an almond liquor that they put in the freezer so when you drink it it's iced and also they squeeze a little lemon juice in it. We liked this drink so much that the next day my parents bought a bottle and we've put it in our freezer. Everything that we ate was amazing and by the time we finished we were so full that we couldn't move, but none of us had any regrets!

My family and me at Tromba Rija

I love going to different restaurants and trying interesting and new food so this night was very exciting for me. I also like sharing these experiences with you guys. This place was definitely a memorable one and I really do recommend it to anyone who visits Portugal and loves to eat A LOT! 

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