Food to Crave for: Nutella croissants

A friend of us, Giulio, visited us for some days and on his last day here I prepared a nice breakfast :)

What's my favourite chocolate? Nutella of course!! and I have prepared some mini croissants filled with it!

Only thinking about Nutella makes my stomach do this:

Simon´s cat 

This is what I brought at the breakfast table:

It's very easy to make and they are delicious. You only need:

Nutella

1 Egg 

Puff pastry dough (either homemade or store bought)

Caster sugar 

:::STEP 1:::

Cut some long triangles and spread some Nutella on the triangle.

:::STEP 2:::

Roll the mini croissant ffrom the larg side to the small one

:::STEP 3:::

Place the mini croissants on a oven tray, spread some egg on them and bake for 15/20 minutes at 150C/300F.

:::STEP 4:::

Place the croissant on a plate and scatter some caster sugar

:::STEP 5:::

ENJOY! :)

Next time I will add peanut butter or some crashed almonds - What do you like in your croissants?

Until next time,

Daniela

Food to Crave for: Baked Aubergines [with Cous Cous and Apricots]

It's been long since I've posted about food and recipes, but today is the day!

As you know I love aubergines and I absolutely like to cook them {and eat them as a consequence}.

Today's dish is Baked Aubergines with cous cous and apricots ;)

They were yummy!!! I wasn't sure about the apricots, but the final result was delicious.


They can be served with tzatziki cream, but since "somebody" had eaten all the greek yoghurts I had to improvise and made a feta cheese salad with cucumber and mint.

Ingredients:

1 aubergine
50 gr (2 oz) cous cous
1/2 onion {chopped}
1 garlic clove {crushed}
50 gr dried apricots {chopped}
2 table spoons of chopped mint
2 table spoons of chopped parsley
2 table spoons Parmesan cheese {grated}

some of the ingredients

Proceedings:

Cut the aubergines in half, brush them with olive oil and place them on a baking sheet. I have made some cuts in the flesh, this way it was easier to scoop the pieces out:

 

 

 

Cook them in a preheated oven at 200C ( 400F) for 30 minutes. Scoop out the flesh and reserve the skins.

skins

just scooped out :)

In the meanwhile, place the cous cous in a bowl and pour the boiling water. Cover for 5 minutes and then fork through.

Heat some oil in a frying pan ( nonstick preferrably) and fry garlic and onion until golden. Add the apricots, cous cous, parmesan cheese, erbs and salt and stir through.

Spoon the mixture into the aubergine skins and return them to the oven for 10 minutes:

ready to be baked

If you want to serve them with my salad, You can mix : feta cheese, cucumber, chopped mint, olive oil, salt and a bit of black pepper - I didn't check the quantities but you can "guessestimate" ;)

...Ready for my stomach!

Buon appetito!!!

Until next time,

Daniela

Organised places, Organised minds: Drawer Organising tips

Hello!

It's time for a session of:

Today, I want to share with you how I have organised clothes in our 4 drawer dresser:

Ugh..I need to seriously decorate my bedroom!

I personally have many clothes, but Stefano isn't kidding anybody!

Let's start from the shirt department:

Daniela's drawer:

everything in its place

On the left I have organised plain T shirt - the once I use in the house or for outdoor activities -  and also shirts with longer sleeves [10 points to whoever spots my refash shirt here ;)], while on the right and central side I have organised my shirts by color - I am not OCD but this way makes it quicker to pick the shirt I need! 

I try to fold them as neat as possible so they won't get any crease!

Stefano's drawer:

Look how organised Stefano is! I am proud of him :D

He owns a million sport shirts but they are neatly folded - I still don't understand why he needs to have 4  [yes 4] identical shirts of his favourite football team....at least they're folded right?

Let's move to the underwear department:

Daniela's drawer:

 I bought these boxes from Ikea, and they are perfect organisers. I always had messy underwear drawers but this time it's perfect! I no longer lose any sock, and everything is folded and easy to find.

Stefano's drawer:

I'm afraid Stefano buys so many socks because I always make one sock disappear!

Stefano decided he didn't need any box and succeeded in organising his underwear drawer pretty fine! Mind you - it's mainly socks in there, that's why it was easy! ;) 

How do you organise your drawers? Do you have any trick? If you want to share them with me, leave a comment!

Until next time,
Daniela

DIY Decorative Door Wreath

I must admit I do feel a bit patriotic lately  but this shouldn't come as a surprise if you only had a look at my entrance door wreath! ;)

I've seen many beautiful wreaths on Pinterest and I made one for myself - simple yet nice! I hope you like it!

What you need if you want to make a decorative wreath :

- hot glue gun;
- 40m of twine;
- 1 Polystyrene ring (I used one of 25 cm Æ)
- 1.5/2m of ribbon - the pattern you like ;)

I have seen many pins talking about using pipe insulation since it is cheaper - I would stick with my polystyrene ring because it doesn't bend or crease, but if you want to use pipe insultation,you better follow The Penny Parlor's suggestion!

Back to wreath instructions:

Glue the twine cord around the ring like this:

In the process I had left some white spaces due to the form of the ring - I adjusted everything by overlapping some cord like this:

After you've covered the whole ring, you can choose how to decorate your wreath, I have made a simple bow like this:

via Pinterest

and glued it to the wreath.

I used the remaining ribbon as a hanger for the door :

I hope I have inspired you a little!

Until next time,
Daniela

Back Home: Holidays in Puglia!

I'm back to routine! I have spent 10 days in my hometown in South Italy..unfortunately the days passed by fast and I'm back in Spain and at work :(

I come from a small town in south Italy called Sava - Here:

We visit my place every summer because we have one of the most beautiful beach resorts in Italy! The water is warm and cristal clear and the beaches are white and sandy!

Also, food is delicious, and since Stefano and I are good gourmets, we have had loooads of food ----which reminds me: I've made the 30 days challenge but then left for Italy and gained 3 kilos..(sigh sob)

How have the holidays gone?

Well.. It's nice to be back home. As soon as we landed in Brindisi, I've realised how much I missed that beautiful piece of land. I am fine in Spain, but there's no place like home, right?

Hello!

This is the beach of San Pietro in Bevagna - that's where I have spent my summer days since I was a small child.. I miss it already!

Port of Otranto

This is Otranto - I have never seen another port with that clear and beautiful water...and you? Otranto also has a nice city center full of souvenir shops! I was on a shopping spree!! yay!

Stefano was pretty impressed by the Cathedral in Otranto - the cathedral has a beautiful mosaic on the floor representing the genesis but, if you walk further, you will find this:

I must admit it does looks a bit creepy..

The relics you see behind the altar belonged to 831 martyrs of Otranto who were killed in a mass execution when they refused to convert to islamism, back in 1480 when the city of otranto fell under the turkish/ottoman force.

Back to places and lands now:

Santa Maria di Leuca's Caves

Santa Maria di Leuca is located at the really last tip of Puglia, the most southern east place of Italy.

If you visit Santa Maria don't hesitate to get a trip by boat and visit its famous caves ;)  They are gorgeous!

view of Santa Maria di Leuca

I decided I want to learn old traditions of my family and region, so I can bring them with me anywhere I go.

A typical homemade pasta made in my region is orecchiette.

Granma and I

My grandmother makes the best orecchiette, and I am not saying this only becase she is my grandmother - her orecchiette are requested by a ridiculous number of people ;)

I got her to teach me how to make them - I still have to practice many years if I want to reach her perfection!

I didn't take any picture of dishes and food.......... that's because I want to prepare them myself and share the experience here on the blog :P

prrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Until next time,
Daniela