Instagram November

Do you have a same feeling as I do? I feel like November passed in a blink of my eye, and we are already in December thinking about Christmas.

November is my favourite months, not just because it is a month of my birthday but also because I think it is a time where natural changes are most obvious.
Colours change completely , days are shorter , sky has amazing colour..I love November !!
This is how my November looked like:

Follow my daily inspirations on Instagram.

Red Bean Soup

 

If you ask me about typical Bosnian dishes, my list would definitely include read bean soup.

I could bet that average Bosnian family eat this soup at least once a week during the winter.

 

It's name can fool you, it may be a soup but in a same time it is a meal...eaten with cheese and bread , you don't want nothing else but that.

I remember , as a kid, I use to dive small bits of bread in the soup and I loved taste of soaked bread.

 

My mum doesn't use carrot and green leaves, but I though it would be nice to have them and I like this version.

 

Red Bean Soup

2l water
3 cups soaked red beans
1 onion, finally chopped
4 cloves garlic
1/2 chorizo, cut into small peaces
1tbs salt
1/2 tbs red paprika
1tbs olive oil
2 carrots, cut into cubes
2tbs spelt flour (or what flour)
2 handful of green leaves (spinach, rocket, chard, mizuna)

Put water, beans, onion, garlic, chorizo, salt, paprika and olive oil in the big pan and cook on a medium-high heat for around 1 hour or until you see that beans are tender and cooked.
Take garlic cloves out.
Take some liquid from the soup and mix with flour, stir into the soup. Add green leaves and cook for more 10 minutes.

Tips: If you see , during the cooking, that there is not enough liquid in the soup feel free to add some water.

Working with Sara

Sara came with the spring.
She sent me a really cute mail introducing herself and her work and I just couldn't resist and had to meet her in person. We met, drank lemonade, spoke a bit and I knew this was a beginning of good and long lasting relation.

I had some small projects I wanted to do with her and I am so happy I did. She was really professional and I loved her style.
Here are some of the things Sara did for me and I hope to show you more in the future!!

{Photos and Video by Sara Dávila Evangelista}

Lemon and Ginger Cake

Just one more month is missing!!
There is such an excitement in our house, kids don't speak about nothing else but Christmas. They already did advent calendar, letter for Santa is almost ready (even they wake up every morning and remember to add 'just one more thing' to the list {*smile}) and I am thinking abut our dinner menu...

I know what are you going to say.. there is still a month to go, but since I want to make presents or buy some handmade once..there is a lot of preparations left.
I just want to enjoy every single Christmas detail without any rush!!!
This lemon and ginger cake is perfect for Christmas morning with coffee or tea.

Lemon and Ginger Cake 
(adopted from Sweet Paul Magazine)

225g softened butter
250g sugar
4 large eggs
zest and juice of 3 lemons
 360g flour
3/4 ts baking powder
1/2 ts salt
2ts ground ginger
100g sour cream
50g candied ginger
1tbs iced sugar

Preheat the oven to 175C. In the bowl of a standing mixer cream sugar and butter until pale. Add eggs, one at a time, Mix in lemon zest. Add sour cream. In a separate bowl whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, ground and candied ginger. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture. Pour batter into the greased pan and bake for 50-60 minutes or until the toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. In the meantime make juice of 3 lemons and mix with icing sugar,heat. When you take a cake from the oven , immediately put hot lemon juice over and leave to cool.


 

Dinner to remember

As you probably know, last week I made 40.. and that my friend is a great reason to celebrate.
I wanted to have a dinner with people that make part of my daily life, once that are there when needed, with whom I can share good and bed news.
Since the beginning I knew I wanted to make it at Chef Nino, cosy and beautiful place that has a special place in my hart. Anna and Nini said yes immediately and since then they were so cool about making all my wishes come true {*smile}.
Their place is so pretty and I knew I don't need to do some extra decorations, but I wanted just some small personalised touches..and here enters Rita, with her great style and amazing work.
I just loved, loved, loved what she did (go here to see more).

These 3 ladies made my dream come true and I am so thankful for all they did. It was such a great dinner and night to remember!!!!

Autumn Inspirations

Cold days arrived finally and I just want to spend days in the house baking and cooking.
I crave for a comfort food ,are you the same?
In case you do I wanted to share few of my pinterest inspirations, some of the dishes I am planing to try in following days.
 Hope you find them interested also.

{Light veggie soup topped with goat cheese by Kwestia Smaku}

{Plum Tart by Nicole Franzen and Camille Becerra}

{Tzatziki, feta, dried tomatoes and arugula by Kwestia Smaku}

{Orange cardamom yogurt cake by Five And Spice}

{Rice Loafs by El Invitado de Invierno}

{Peach and berry gingersnap crumble by Kimberley Hasselbrink}

 

My friend Maja's Cookies

Maja is a very good friend, one of those people you know almost all the life.
She is a part of lot of my memories..happy and sad ones, a person with whom we can spend hours together without speaking a word. We though the same way, we loved a same things.

Now we live more then 3000km away, and we speak from time to time, exchange mails, see each other when I go back home, but even if we try hard, we are not there for each other, we don't exchange our daily experiences and I must admit by the time we got apart....

Some time ago she sent me a recipe for these beautiful cookies and I though they were great.I wanted to share recipe with you..but what I would like most is to share them with my friend Maja while having a long conversation about all that we could remember, important and unimportant things.

Orange and White Chocolate Cookies

80g butter
1 orange
70g sugar
300g flour
1ts baking powder
100g white chocolate
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Put the butter, sugar, juice and zest of orange and chocolate in a bowl and melt it in a bain-marie.
In the other bowl mix flour and baking powder.
When chocolate mix is ready, gently add an egg and fold in dry ingredients.
If mix is still sticky add a bit more flour.

Make small balls with your hands, place on the baking sheet and gently press them. Bake for 10-12min (they have to stay white, don't let them change the colour).
If you like , sprinkle some icing sugar over the cookies and they are ready!!


 

P.S. These cookies make a great Christmas present. Tie them with twine and place in box, put your imagination working {*smile}

My weekend

Hello there!!
After a week of celebrating {*smile} , I am back... with a bit of hangover from being center of attention .
So...after all of the excitement I just wanted a calm weekend, and what is better then visiting one of my favourite places.

Hope you had a nice one too!!!

Welcome to the circus

There is something special about our partnership with De Alma e Coração.
Besides the happiness and good mood that is always present , Rita always come to me with a challenge. And believe me, I do love challenges.

Latest challenge was a dessert table for a special wedding.. a different one, a 'circus wedding' .
I knew this included a lot of planing and work but I was so crazily happy about it.
Here you can see some of the photos with cookies I made for kids and if you are curious (and I am sure you are), you can see more HERE.
Enjoy!!!

{Party:  De Alma e Coração}
{Photos: Rodrigo Cardoso - De Alma e Coração}

In the mood to celebrate

I am entering the last week of my thirties and I am in the mood to celebrate.

I want to celebrate every single success or failure, every happy and sad moment, with all of you who cross my path.
I want to celebrate with M. and kids, want to celebrate with friends, with the ones that have their share in my daily life and I want to celebrate with you, who are always here, supporting me in my life change.

So... there is no celebration without a good chocolate cake. But, since I can't have that, I came up with this crazy good beetroot and carob cake.
Beetroot gives it moist and carob gives it a chocolaty taste, and there is a lot of lemon whose acidity gives that special touch.

My celebration cake!!

*****

Estou a entrar na última semana de meus trintas e estou com vontade de comemorar.

Quero comemorar cada sucesso ou fracasso, cada momento feliz ou triste, com todos os que cruzam o meu caminho.
Quero comemorar com o M. e as crianças, quero comemorar com os amigos, com os que têm a sua parte no meu dia-a-dia e quero comemorar com vocês, que estão sempre aqui, a apoiar-me na minha mudança de vida.

Então... não há celebração sem um bom bolo de chocolate. Mas, como não posso ter isso, criei este bolo incrivelmente bom de beterraba e alfarroba.
A beterraba dá-lhe humidade e a alfarroba dá-lhe um sabor achocolatado, e há bastante limão cuja acidez dá aquele toque especial.

O meu bolo de celebração!

Carob and Beetroot Anniversary Cake

175g spelt flour
1ts baking powder
75g carob flour
250g sugar
250g cooked beetroot
3 eggs
200ml olive oil
1ts vanilla extract
zest and juice of 1 lemon

Preheat your oven to 180ºC. Mix the dry ingredients in a big recipient, spelt flour, baking powder, carob flour and sugar.
Place the beetroot, olive oil, vanilla extract, lemon zest and juice and eggs in a food processor and process until creamy.
Slowly add the dry ingredients to the beetroot mix and mix well.
Place in a prepared tin and bake for 50-60 min.

*****

Bolo de Aniversário de Alfarroba e Beterraba
175g de farinha de espelta
1 colher de chá de fermento em pó
75g de farinha de alfarroba
250g de açúcar
250g de beterraba cozida
3 ovos
200ml de azeite
1 colher de chá de extracto de baunilha
raspa e sumo de 1 limão

Pré-aqueça o forno a 180ºC. Misture os ingredientes secos num recipiente grande, farinha de espelta, fermento em pó, farinha de alfarroba e açúcar.
Coloque a beterraba, azeite, extrato de baunilha, raspas e sumo de limão e os ovos num processador de alimentos e misture até ficar cremoso.
Lentamente, adicione os ingredientes secos à mistura de beterraba e misture bem.
Coloque numa forma preparada e leve ao forno durante 50-60 minutos.