Strawberry & Nutella Waffle Popsicles

Have I mentioned how much I adore frozen yoghurt popsicles? They're my favourite go-to healthy snack, and yet they feel so indulgent. It's like eating ice cream without the guilt.

One of my absolute favourite recipes is my own Strawberry & Nutella Waffle creation. It includes everything you'd put on a waffle, only in popsicle form. They're so much fun to eat and are perfect for satisfying any chocolate and/or sweet cravings.

Ingredients:

6-8 strawberries

2 cups yoghurt (full-fat or 2%)

Maple Syrup

Waffles

Nutella

What you'll need:

Mixing bowl

Popsicle molds

What you do:

1. Thoroughly wash your strawberries and chop them into very small pieces.

2. Mix about 2 cups of yoghurt with as much Nutella as you wish. While you do this, you can be toasting your waffles.

3. When your waffles are ready, cut them into small pieces and mix them with the strawberries, yoghurt and Nutella drizzling as much maple syrup as you like over the mixture. You can also use honey.

4. Once the mixture obtains a nice consistent colour fill your popsicle molds and pop them in the freezer for about 4 hours.

Voila! The beauty of this recipe is that you can add as much or as little of each ingredient as you like. And just think of all the magical combinations you can make!

 Photos edited using the Mara Lightroom preset from A Beautiful Mess.

Do you have any wonderful popsicle recipes to share?

Pancakes (from scratch)

What's a Sunday without some pancakes? I got ahead of the game by making a whole batch yesterday and freezing them to eat for breakfast for the rest of the week. I also couldn't wait to use the authentic Canadian maple syrup sent to us by a good friend over there.

I've never made pancakes from scratch before (I always use Bisquick ready-made mix), so I woke up ready to scour the net for a good 'from-scratch' recipe.  I found Nigella Lawson's take on the fluffy American pancake and, based on the reviews, I decided to give it a go.

To be perfectly honest, I wasn't too pleased with the results. They were tasteless (even though I added a touch of vanilla essence to a couple of them) and rather rubbery. 

I might try Jamie Oliver's recipe next, but until then, I'll be eating these bad boys for the rest of the week. However bad they might be, they're still the best darn breakfast food there is.

Oh, and for those of you living in Athens, I am beyond thrilled that pancake house, Melinikon, will be opening up in Kolonaki on November 27! Finally - pancakes in Greece!

Do you have a tried and tested 'from-scratch' pancake recipe? I'd love to hear it!

Pinterest Desserts

1. French Toast Donuts via Bakingdom // 2. Red Wine Chocolate Cake via Smitten Kitchen // 3. Cranberry and Orange Cinnamon Rolls via Annie Eats // 4. Funfetti Cake Batter Fudge via Pursuit of Hippieness // 5. Giant S'mores Cookies via My Baking Addiction

Since I joined Pinterest, oh way-back-when, my most active board has been the Indulge board.  No prizes for those who've guessed that this board is home to all things sugar and spice and everything nice!  

I'm also addicted to the iPhone app Foodgawker where my eye tends to gravitate towards those pictures of the sweeter variety.  
 

I can personally vouch for the Red Wine Chocolate Cake as I've made it so many times now and it's always such a hit with everyone.  It's definitely got that WOW factor.

You can follow me on Pinterest here.

What's been making your mouth water lately?

 

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The Gift of Mustard

 1. Daddy Cooks Cranberry Chardonnay 2. DeLouise Fils Champagne Mustard 3. Gourmet Maple Bacon Whipped Mustard 4. Rayes Mustard Gift Pack 5. Dean & Deluca Tarragon Meyer Lemon Mustard 6. Edmond Fallot Burgundy Mustard 7. My Friend's Mustard Spicy Brown Ale 8. Edmond Fallot Blackurrant Dijon Mustard 9. Prissy's of Vidalia Onion Mustard 10. GG's Sweet & Spicy Mustard

The fall time somehow always makes me think of mustard.  It must have something to do with the autumnal colour of it.

I've always thought fancy mustards, jams or chutneys make great gifts and I think I may be giving them out this holiday season.

Do you have any yummy holiday gift suggestions?

*****

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An Autumnal 3 Course Meal: Ready to Go!

It was hubby's birthday last week and I thought I would treat him to a nice homemade romantic meal at home.  In London, I would often return from work to a gorgeous 3 course meal he'd planned throughout the day (he's a sweetie like that!) and he's been going on at me for a while now about me doing the same for him (see, I'm not as romantic as he is).  So what better occasion than the day of his 33rd birthday?  

I often struggle to find all the recipes in one place for a 3 course meal.  Luckily, this time, I was completely inspired by Autumn.  I found a couple of gorgeous pumpkins and decided to plan my meal around those.  Behold below the results of my 6-hour day's hard work! Click through the titles to get to the actual recipes.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to take any pictures, so all the pictures are from the sites where the recipe was found except for the soup which is credited to its source.

Roasted Tomato and Pumpkin Soup with Roasted Pumpkin Seeds and Grilled Cheddar Croutons

Picture from The Mother Nature Network

Click here for how to roast pumpkin seeds.

You can even serve this dish in a bread bowl but I was too chicken to try it!

Gordon Ramsey's Traditional Beef Wellington with Creamy Potatoes au Gratin accompanied by a nutty Italian Salad

Picture and recipe from BBC Good Food

Click here for how to make the Potatoes au Gratin.

Pumpkin and Chocolate Mud Cake (with added spice) and Cream Cheese Frosting

  Picture and recipe from The Guardian Life & Style

Click here for how to make the Cream Cheese Frosting

I added a bit of cinnamon, nutmeg and even chilli to the chocolate mixture as I thought it would compliment the pumpkin and it worked a treat!
  
Happy week everyone! If you have any interesting Autumnal recipes to share, please do! 

*****

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Time for Breakfast!

Remember how I said America knew how to do breakfast?  Well, I wasn't kidding! I probably consumed a grand total of 50 pancakes out there - hands down my favourite breakfast.  That's not to say we didn't come across other mouthwatering delicacies including eggs benedict and the hubby's fave, huevos rancheros.

Have a gander at some of the yummy breakfasts we took in....

*****

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Yummy Christmas

Calorific.

My best friend is coming over from Cyprus for the holidays and has invited a whole bunch of us over on Christmas Eve for rack of lamb and board games.  We're all bringing something to add to the buffet so I'm torn as to which one of each of the below savoury and sweet options I should make and bring.  Click on the pictures to be taken through to the recipes.

SAVOURY

Creamy Potato Gratin from Nigella Lawson at The Food Network

Pumpkin Soup with Chili Cran-Apple Relish from The Food Network

Cheese Reindeer from Cute Food for Kids

SWEET

Chocolate Raspberry Liqueur and Rum Truffles from GoMakeMe

Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes from Darla at Bakingdom

Eggnog Custard Pie from The Food Network

Which combo would you go for?

*****

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Oh Nigella!

How do you cook the way you do and look the way you do?

If you have not yet heard of Nigella Lawson I urge you to look her up immediately.  she's the author of How to Be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking and creator of some of the most delectable, mouth-watering, calorie-infused gastronimic delights.  And all this whilst looking like hotness just got hotter.  A successful business-woman (according to Wikipedia she's worth 15million GBP - EEP!) and mother of two she is definitely one of my absolute role models.

The lady you see before you is 51!!  And she eats whatever the heck she wants! What does that tell you?

She recently guest-edited an issue of UK's weekly free magazine, Stylist, gracing their cover dripping in salted caramel (I would!). 

The Nigella Issue

You absolutely MUST check out her interview inside as well as her 10 exclusive recipes for the magazine.  Some of my faves are: Spinach and Coconut Soup, Pork Steak with Port and Figs and Nutella Cheesecake.

 You can read the whole issue of Stylist here.  And don't forget to sign up to their daily dose of goodness, Emerald St.

Do you have any awesome female idols? Please share!

*****

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Happy Sundae!

That is all!

"Any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel is preposterous.  He or she is like a person who has put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae."

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (American Writer)

Source

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Yum Yum: Putanesca Pasta

Upping my wifely duties once more.

Pasta Putanesca a la this recipe on The Food Network.  Yum. Yum.  It's basically anchovies (even though I used tuna), tomato sauce and olives.  Add juice of a whole lemon, lots of garlic and dashes of tobasco sauce.  It'll make it just the right amount of tangy and spicy. 

It's so quick too! I had it all served up within 30 mins.  Perfect meal to make out of what's left in your cupboard.

Serve it up with some garlic bread and you're golden.

Source

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Yoghurt Sponge Cake

Delish.

So yesterday was my birthday.  And what did I decide to do (other than work my little tushie off)?  Yes, that's right: I did what I'm starting to love more and more doing - I baked!

One of my favourite healthy dessert combos is yoghurt, walnuts and honey.  Very Greek and supposedly an aphrodisiac (hubba hubba).  I had lots of all of those things hanging around and decided to look for a recipe for a cake with yoghurt in it.   And thus I stumbled upon this recipe for a Yoghurt Sponge Cake by beautiful, Spanish Irene at Cream & Crumble.  The recipe worked a treat! So simple and super quick.

I decided to sweeten it up with some cream cheese frosting (recipe here: divine), crushed walnuts and a drizzle of Greek honey.

I followed Irene's recipe to the T and it came out moist, not too sweet and utterly delicious.

And that is the story of my birthday cake!

Picture taken by me and my new Instagram app. Woop!

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Maria Loves...Stickmen and Denmark

Deary me.

Deary, deary me.  I missed a post yesterday.  Oh the shame! Oh the horror! I've committed a blogger's sin.  That's fine.  I'm cool with it because that means today's post is extra super special as I've got a whole host of things I'm loving that I'd like to share with you.  I'm afraid your weekly pink-love injection will have to wait until tomorrow...

Read on and enjoy your Friday!

* I loves me some travelling and I sure do loves me some 5* holidays.  But sometimes, the supposed 5-starredness of a holiday doesn't meet your high expectations.  Enter concierge.com who have put together a list of  how to make the cheaper holiday experience BETTER than the more expensive one. Hallelujah!

* Iwannagothere.com is kinda like the younger, cooler, hipper version of Tripadvisor.  People who've travelled to or live in the destination will recommend hot spots and things to do as well as great boutique hotels. It's still in it's early stages, meaning the numbers of tips and hotels doesn't come anywhere near to that of Tripadvisor but the more we spread the word and the more people use the site, the better it'll get.  If you don't want to be overwhelmed by choice, this is the place to go.

* I love the Sugar and Charm blog and the more I read it, the more I wish I lived in a country home with a vast, luscious, foresty backyard where I could entertain my guests al-fresco.  The wedding and event designers have put together their top tips on Being a Charming Hostess.  I dare you to read these and NOT instantly start making plans for your next dinner party.

* Gala Darling always come up trumps.  The other day as I was perusing her blog, she mentioned this awesomest of AWESOME sites, 8tracks.com.  It's kinda like Spotify in that people put playlists together and you can listen to them - whatever.  But the beauty of this site is that you don't need to download anything and it's also a lot prettier to look at.  The members write great and oh-so accurate descriptions of their playlists and they will play one after the other without you having to do anything.  It has become my background soundtrack for when I'm working.

* Ingenious or gross, I don't know!  But take a look at the Grossest Billboard Ever for the new film Contagion (in cinemas in the US now and in the UK October 21).  It's got people talking, it's got people feeling, it's got people reacting - job done!

* Continuing in the marketing vein, check out these 10 Big Brands That Stopped Being Cool.  Absolutely fascinating!  I remember when Nokia phones were all the rage. And the truth about the Marlboro Men is positively fascinating.  It makes you wonder what brands today will stop being cool in the not-so-distant future...any thoughts?

* If you, like me, like to look at endless pretty pictures of glorious food (it's almost as good as actually eating it...almost) then have I got the site/app for you!  If you haven't discovered Food Gawker yet you are in for one heck of a treat!  Download for your iPhone or just visit the site, but you will never be lost for pretty pictures of the sweet & savoury stuff.  Click on the pictures and you'll be taken through to their original blog post and recipe (all the pictures are taken from blogs).  There's also the crafting and DIY equivalent, Craft Gawker.

* I am totally and utterly smitten with this Draw a Stickman site.

* The mister and I have been discussing places we'd want to move to if the situation in Greece gets any worse than it is now.  Lately, I've been loving on Copenhagen.  How could I not after reading the below entry on Wikipedia and reading this post of Joanna Goddard's 

"Copenhagen has repeatedly been recognized as one of the cities with the best quality of life. It is also considered one of the world's most environmentally friendly cities. The water in the inner harbour is clean and safe for swimming. 36% of all citizens commute to work by bicycle. Every day, they cycle a combined 1.2 million km.^"

It's consistently in the top 10 (if not top 5) happiest countries lists (as seen here and here) and has the highest standard of living in the world.  Other Scandinavian countries like Sweden, Finland and Norway are also frequently at the very top of these lists. 

Watch below for some audiovisual Denmark-ian love.

Source

Have an awesome weekend!

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Maria Loves...CAKE!

Things I love Thursday (and every day!)

So I couldn't think of my list this week.  It might be because I've spent A LOT of my time looking at droolsome pictures of baked goods.  So, I thought: THAT could be the thing I'm loving this Thursday. Click on the beautiful shots I collected on Pinterest to be taken through to their recipes. 

And if you lick your screens, that's ok.  I don't mind.

Red Wine and Chocolate Cake from Smitten Kitchen

Cream Cheese Banana Nut Bread from Bake or Break

Key Lime Tarts from Emily at Cupcakes and Cashmere

Pumpkin Cupcakes and Candied Pecans from Sugar and Charm

Blueberry Yoghurt Pancakes from Smitten Kitchen

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Fall with Honey

Mix some honey into your autumn.

I've had loads of National Honey Board emails come my way since I last posted about honey and I'd like to share with you some of my favourite recipes from those emails.  Watering mouths at the ready...

All credit for pictures and words go to the National Honey Board.

HARVEST PUMPKIN MUFFINS

(makes 12 muffins)

Start your day off right with these delicious muffins sweetened with honey. Honey acts as a humectant and retains moisture in baked goods, which results in an incredibly soft, moist muffin. And because of its antimicrobial properties, honey gives baked goods a slightly longer shelf life. Who knew one ingredient had so much functionality?

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine, softened
• 3/4 cup honey
• 1 egg
• 1 cup solid pack pumpkin
• 1 cup chopped toasted walnuts

In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg; set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat butter until light; beat in honey, egg and pumpkin. Gradually add flour mixture, mixing until just blended; stir in walnuts. Spoon into 12 greased or paper-lined 2-1/2 inch muffin cups. Bake at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove muffins from pan to wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

HONEY ICED TEA

(makes 10 servings)

There’s nothing more refreshing than a glass of iced tea, especially when it’s sweetened with honey! Because honey is 17% water, it dissolves quickly and easily in most beverages. Plus, since honey is slightly sweeter than granulated sugar, you can use less honey to achieve the same level of sweetness.

• 1 quart boiling water
• 12 tea bags
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 quart cold water
• Mint sprigs, if desired

Add tea bags to boiling water and allow to steep 3 to 5 minutes. Remove tea bags and add lemon juice and honey. Stir to combine. Add cold water and refrigerate. Pour over ice cubes in tall glasses. Garnish with mint if desired.

HONEY MACAROON DESSERT PIZZA

(makes 6 servings)

This is a terrific dessert to make with your kids – easy (and fun!) to make, loaded with fresh fruit and kissed with honey’s sweetness. To see a video demonstration of this recipe, visit our YouTube Channel here!

• 1 cup whipping cream
• 3/4 cup honey
• 1 tube (10 oz.) refrigerated pizza dough
• 1/2 Tablespoon butter, softened
• 1/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut, lightly packed
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds, lightly toasted
• Whipped cream, for garnish
• Fresh fruit, such as berries, for garnish
• Mint sprigs, for garnish

Whisk together cream and honey. Reduce over medium low heat by about 1/3, until mixture thickens and develops a light caramel color. Reserve. Shape pizza dough according to package directions. Spread butter over pizza shell. Sprinkle with coconut and almonds. Drizzle with reserved cup honey mixture; spread gently with a rubber spatula shell. Bake at 450° F until crust is lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Cool to warm or room temperature. Cut into 6 wedges. Garnish with whipped cream, fruit, and mint sprigs.

SMOKED HONEY ICE CREAM

(makes 1 1/2 - 2 cups)

If you want to make a fancy, melt-in-your-mouth (literally) dessert for your friends, this is the recipe for you. The smoked honey gives this sweetener an even deeper flavor profile while also giving the ice cream a smoother mouthfeel. Ice creams using honey generally have a lower freezing temperature, which results in an ice cream free of grainy ice crystals.

• 5 eggs
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup milk
• 1 vanilla bean, split
• 1/3 cup smoked honey, or to taste*

To prepare ice cream base, beat eggs and sugar together in a bowl; reserve. Combine milk and heavy cream in a saucepan; scrape vanilla seeds into mixture, then add whole vanilla bean. Bring to a boil. Immediately reduce heat to low. Temper egg mixture with a little of the hot liquid. Slowly whisk tempered egg mixture into the saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Cool. Remove vanilla bean. Pour ice cream base into ice cream maker, following manufacturer’s instructions for freezing. Add smoked honey after the mixture begins to thicken. Notes: Yield will depend upon the amount of air a particular ice cream maker incorporates into the ice cream. *Smoke honey over pecan chips at a low temperature for about 1-1/2 hours.

HONEY BERRY WAFFLE SANDWICH

(makes 4 servings)

• 1-1/2 cups fresh berries, divided *
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 1/3 cup honey
• 8 frozen waffles, toasted

Purée 1/2 cup berries in a blender or food processor; set aside. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add honey and bring to a boil; simmer 2 to 3 minutes, then add berry purée. Continue to simmer 2 to 3 minutes more until syrup thickens slightly. Set honey syrup aside and keep warm. For each serving, place 2 waffles on plate. Top one waffle with 1/4 cup fresh berries. Drizzle with 1/4 of syrup and top sandwich with remaining waffle. *Raspberries, strawberries and blueberries work well.

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