TIP! This recipe is suitable for vegans 🙂

Ingredients

(serves 2)

250g of frozen raspberries
2 ripe bananas
1 avocado
30g of Agave Syrup (alter to your sweetness level)
50ml of Almond Milk

Decoration

Mangos
Dragon fruit
Chia seeds

You can use whatever you like for the toppings. I chose to use these ingredients as they have a very ‘fresh’ taste to them. I added the chia seeds for extra health benefits, which will also keep you full for longer. You can alter this however you like, but I recommend you try it like this 😉

Instructions

Cut the avocado in half, and remove the seed. Use a spoon to remove the skin from the avocado.

Chop the banana into pieces and measure the almond milk using a measuring jug. Separate 30g of agave syrup (around 2 tablespoons).

Put the raspberries, avocado, banana, almond milk and the agave syrup into the blender.

Start blending until it is smooth. This usually takes 1 minute.

If it is too thick, add some more almond milk to the mixture. Blend the mixture further until it is completely smooth.

Separate the mixture into portions and begin decorating.

TIP! You can use this recipe as a healthy dessert-like treat. The tip is, don’t use banana in the recipe! It gives a fantastic ‘kick’ but you won’t be able to eat a whole bowl of it as it has a very powerful taste! It is however the perfect little treat. Think of it as a healthy ‘sorbet’. Put it in a regular size glass and there you go. Thank me later!

P.S. We want to know how you get on!

If you try out our Fresh Summer Smoothie Bowl Recipe, please tag us on Instagram @greeneyedtravellers so we can see what you come up with! 🙂

The post Fresh Summer Smoothie Bowl Recipe appeared first on Green Eyed Traveller.

Souvlaki Pita Dough Recipe

Ingredients

3 cups of flour
1 cup of hot water (not boiling)
2 teaspoons of dry yeast
2 teaspoons of salt
Extra virgin olive oil

Additional

You can add a bit of thyme or Majoram in the dough for extra flavour.

Instructions

Mix the hot water and the dry yeast and stir which a whisk until the yeast is dissolved.

Add the flour, salt and olive oil to the water mix.

If you have a mixer, let the mixer spin on half speed for about 5-6 minutes until you get a smooth dough.

If you need to work the dough by hand, knead the dough for about 5-7 minutes, until it is smooth and elastic-like. Add more flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking to your hands or work surface, but try not to add too much. It is better to use too little flour than too much. If you get tired, stop and let the dough rest for a few minute before finishing kneading.

Clean the bowl you used to mix the dough and rub it with a little olive oil. Set the dough in the bowl and turn it over a few times until it’s coated with oil. Cover the dough with a clean dishcloth or clingfilm and let the dough rise until it had doubled in size. This usually takes around 1 hour in a room temperature area.

Remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a lightly floured surface. Slowly deflate the dough by gently pushing on it.

Divide the dough into 8 pieces and gently flatten each piece into a thick disk. Using a floured rolling pin (or a left over wine bottle if you don’t have a rolling pin), roll one of the pieces into a circle, 8-9 inches wide and about a quarter inch thick.

Lift and turn the dough frequently as you roll it to ensure the dough doesn’t stick to your counter top. Sprinkle with a little extra flour if it is starting to stick If the dough starts to spring back, set it aside to rest for a few minutes, then continue rolling. Repeat with the other pieces of dough.

Drizzle a little bit of oil in a hot pan. Put a rolled-out pita in the pan and bake for about 30 seconds, until you see bubbles starting to form. Flip and cook for 1-2 minutes on the opposite side. Flip again and cook for another 1-2 minutes to toast the other side. You will see brown spots forming.

Home Made Double-Cooked Chips

Ingredients

500g Potatoes
Oil
Water
Salt

Instructions

Put a pan of water on the stove to boil.

Peel the potatoes and cut them into even slices. Once you have cut them, place them in a bowl of cold water. This will remove the starch from the potatoes.

Rinse in cold water for around 1 minute.

Place the potatoes in the boiling water for 1-1.5 minutes. Quickly remove them and put back into a bowl of cold water. Once again, rinse them in cold water for around 1 minute to clean the remaining starch. Make sure the potatoes are cold.

Once they are cold, put them back into the boiling water for another minute. To check that they are ready, you can touch (with caution) one of the potatoes. If the outside is beginning to feel a little soft, they are ready to be removed from the boiling water.

Place the potatoes into a bowl of cold water once again, rinse dry and place in the freezer inside a plastic container. The potatoes need to be completely cold before you deep-fry them. Leave in the freeze for at least 40 minutes.

If you have a deep-fryer, set the temperature to 160 degrees. If not, put 500 ml of oil into a pan and wait until it is very hot.

Dry the potatoes so they are fully dry. Remove any ice/water before cooking.

Place the potatoes into the hot oil, and fry until you see any kind of colour emerging. Once you spot this, take them out of the oil and place on a tray with paper towels. This will soak up the oil. Put in the tray into the freezer.

From here, you can store the potatoes for another day, or take them out as soon as they are half-frozen.

Deep fry them at 180 degrees (or in a very hot pan) until they are golden brown.

TIP! This sounds like a lot of work, but it is easier than you think. The chips also taste INCREDIBLE when you cook them in this way. It is definitely worth it!

Tzatziki Sauce Recipe

Ingredients

500gr Greek yoghurt
30ml lemon juice
2 minced garlic cloves
1 large cucumber
Table spoon fresh dill
Table spoon fresh mint
Salt
Pepper

Instructions

Dice the cucumber into little cubes. Sprinkle with a table spoon of salt to draw the water out, and put it in a s strainer. To help drain the water, put a plate on the cucumber and leave in a clean sink for about half an hour.

Put the cucumber, dill, mint, garlic, lemon juice and some pepper in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Add to the yoghurt and mix.

TIP! Taste before adding extra salt.

Salad Mix

Cucumber
Cos Lettuce
Parsley

Add to taste.

Why Should You Try Our Mouth Watering Souvlaki Recipe?

Who doesn’t like a big stodgy meal every now again? Not only is this dish made with a delicious, and incredibly tasty homemade pita, it is also filled with homemade chips, complimented by a fresh and crisp salad and topped with a smooth and minty sauce. This dish is the perfect creation and I take my hat off to the Greek people for this one!

The post Try Our Mouth Watering Souvlaki Recipe appeared first on Green Eyed Traveller.

TIP! Suitable for Vegans

Ingredients

500 gr frozen blueberries
1 avocado
Almond milk
30 gr agave nectar (syrup)

Use your imagination for the presentation.

Method

Put the blueberries in the blender and add some almond milk, the avocado and agave syrup. Make sure to use an avocado or the mixture will not thicken.

Blend until smooth. If you want it to be a bit smoother you can add some more almond milk.

Our blueberry smoothie bowl is decorated with some edible flowers, shredded coconut, strawberries and a few blueberries.

You can use whatever ingredients you like however!

This recipe is SO simple, yet tastes amazing! It is also a great way to get in all your daily nutrients in one go.

Let us know how you get on in the comments below 🙂

The post Delicious Vegan Smoothie Bowl Recipe appeared first on Green Eyed Traveller.

While we were in Rome, I ate a total of 5 tiramisu’s in just 2 days. For me, Tiramisu is the perfect dessert (it is actually my favourite dessert of all time). The creaminess of the mascarpone, bitterness from the espresso, combined with the chocolate and sweet, sugar ladyfingers = pure perfection.

Ingredients

250 gr cream
75 gr sugar
500 gr mascarpone
200 gr espresso
250 gr ladyfingers biscuits
4 egg yolks
50 ml amaretto
Cacao powder

Instructions

Add the cream and a spoonful of sugar into a bowl, and whisk it together until it is thickened.

Separate the egg yolk from the whites.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolk with the rest of the sugar until thickened.

Carefully mix the mascarpone into the egg yolk mix.

Once that is done, slowly add the mixed cream into the bowl with the egg yolk and mascarpone.

TIP! If you beat it too hard, the cream will turn into butter and all the air will leave the mix so be careful.

Mix half the espresso with the amaretto on a oven tray. Put the ladyfingers in the mixture and soak them until soft.

Put half of the mascarpone mix on top of the ladyfingers. Then soak more ladyfingers in a bowl and put them on top of the mix to create layers. Continue until the mixture is finished.

As a finishing touch, sprinkle some cacao powder on top!

Put the tiramisu in the fridge for a few hours to settle.

Done!

The post How to Make A Delicious Tiramisu appeared first on Green Eyed Traveller.

In between the little streets of Rome stands the famous Trevi Fountain. Tourists, and even locals, gather daily to throw spare change into the fountain, making a wish.

As with all tourist areas, there are 100’s of restaurants, charging higher prices than anywhere else. Being smart travellers, we walked a couple of streets down from the fountain and of course, found a few restaurants offering the same meals for way cheaper. We had a meal deal at Mannozzi restaurant for 13€.

Mannozzi’s Meal Deal

The deal consists of a pasta dish to start such as Carbonara, Bolognese, etc. It’s strange in Italy that they eat this dish as a starter, as they are not small portions and are really heavy. I would never normally choose to eat pasta before a main course. The pasta arrived and it was cooked beautifully. Al dente, and bursting with flavour.

The main course was a choice of Chicken, Veal or Pork with fried potatoes. The main course was a a let down in comparison to our starter. The meat was quite tough and the friend potatoes were very oily. We didn’t enjoy the mains.

For dessert, it was of course, Tiramisu or homemade icecream.

Once again, the tiramisu tasted amazing. The Italians are known for this speciality and do not disappoint.

We wouldn’t recommend eating at Mannozzi, as the quality of the main course was very poor. There are many restaurants in Rome serving a much better meal.

Via della Panetteria, 14, 00187 Roma

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The restaurant was just across the road from our hotel with about 36 seats. It is obviously a family-run business, by the warm welcoming and homely feel inside. We were immediately made to feel comfortable. It is an Italian-styled restaurant, with reds, greens and whites decorated on the walls. Simple looking decor but with amazing food!

There was a huge menu to choose from with lots of variants of home-made pizzas, pastas and antipastos. Everything in the restaurant is made from scratch. You can tell by the colour of the pasta as it has a vibrant yellow colour to it. Even the ice cream is homemade.

Charlotte ordered a pasta dish called Porta Castello, the same name as the restaurant. We wondered whether it was their signature dish so wanted to try it. The pasta came with cherry tomatoes, rocket and gorgonzola cheese. The tagliatelle was perfectly cooked al dente, with just the right amount of gorgonzola within the sauce. The cherry tomatoes and the rocket gave the overall dish a taste of freshness. The gorgonzola didn’t overpower the entire dish, which is an easy mistake to make. The whole dish was the perfect balance.

I was very jealous!

I chose to order a pizza (of course). It came with ham, olives and egg.

The pizza base was so amazingly thin. It was perfectly crispy on the outside but still moist in the middle. It needed a little bit of salt to bring out the extra flavour but overall it was a delicious pizza. One of the best I’ve had.

Charlotte fancied a dessert and ordered a White Truffle (name on the menu) hoping for a chocolately surprise. It turned out to be a scoop of vanilla ice cream with amaretto sauce. It was not what we were expecting but it was still great! The homemade ice cream makes a massive difference with a creamy texture and a subtle hint of vanilla!

Porta Castello definitely has our vote, and we recommend this restaurant to anyone in Rome!

Largo di Porta Castello, 28, 00193, Roma

The post Review of Porta Castello, Rome appeared first on Green Eyed Traveller.

This dessert is a typical Austrian and Bavarian dish.

Below I have outlined the ingredients for and how to make each part separately; the dough, filling and vanilla sauce.

Ingredients

Knodel dough

350 gr flour
7 gr dry yeast
50 gr sugar
125 ml milk
1 egg
50 gr butter
10 gr vanillasugar

Filling

50 gr plum compote
10 ml rum
Vanilla sauce
1 vanilla stick
150 ml cream
150 ml milk
60 gr sugar
3 egg yolks

Vanilla sauce

1 vanilla stick
150 ml cream
150 ml milk
60 gr sugar
3 egg yolks

Poppy seeds mix

50 gr poppy seeds
50 gr icing sugar

Before we start, buy a steam pan!

Or do it the creative way;

Put your oven on 150’C before you start making your dough. When you’re almost ready to put your dough in, put water in the kettle and bring it to the boil. Put the boiling water in a oven tray and put it in the oven. Put the oven on 98’C and wait 5 min.

Then steam your knodel dough in the oven.

Instructions

Knodel dough

Get the flour, yeast, sugar and vanilla sugar and mix them on your work spot.

Make a circle out of the the flour and pour the milk in the middle so it doesn’t go everywhere. Add the egg and butter in little circle and slowly start mixing. When it is all mixed, work the dough until it is ready.

Put in a bowl with a little flour so it doesn’t stick to the bowl.

Cover with wet towel.

Leave for 30 minutes to rise

Now roll into a sausage shape, and cut in 6 pieces.

Filling

Mix the plum compote with rum. Get a piece of dough and form it into a flat circle. Fill it with the plum compote and make it into a ball. Do this with all of them.

Put them on baking paper and let them rise for 15 min.

If you have a steaming pan, bring water to the boil and steam the dough for 15 min.

If you don’t have a steaming pan, be creative. Don’t think I can’t do this, it’s really easy. Make sure you have your oven prepared on 150’C. Now boil the kettle, and put the water in a oven tray. Quickly put the tray in the oven and close. Now put the oven on 98’C and leave for about 5 min. Get the dough in the oven and steam them for 15 min.

Well done you made your own home made steam oven!
You don’t need a expensive steam oven when you can make your own!

Vanilla sauce

Cut the vanilla stick in half, length ways. Remove the black bits from the pod.

Add the cream, milk, vanilla pod and 1 spoon of sugar in a pan and boil.

Mix the yolks with sugar in a bowl and until the sugar is dissolved.

Put the boiling hot cream mix on the eggyolk mix and mix well!

Get the mix back in the pan and on a low heat and stir constantly. Don’t go away because it will turn in to scrambled egg in seconds if you leave it.

Cook until it thickens slightly and take it off the heat. Keep stirring for about 2 min because the heat from the pan is still in the mixture.

Poppy seed mix

Put the poppy seeds and icing sugar in the blender and mix it. Put the knodel in a deep plate, serve it with hot vanilla sauce and sprinkle with poppy seed mix.

Done!

The post An Austrian Delight – How to Make Germknodel appeared first on Green Eyed Traveller.

Walking through the streets of Rome by night is a must do! The little alleyways are lit up with fairy lights, there are 100’s of Italian restaurants that are filled with locals gossiping about their day. Pizzas, pastas and salads on their tables with bottles of red wine – oh, what a fab culture!

We walked into L’insalata Ricca because of its name ‘The Delicious Salad’. Charlotte was a bit sick of eating pizza and pasta and fancied some refreshing food.

Guess what we ended up ordering…? PIZZA.

Charlotte decided she wasn’t hungry and I never wanted salad in the first place! There were many people around us eating salads however, and they looked delicious, filled with generous amounts of ingredients. I did regret my decision for a moment, but then my pizza arrived.

I ordered a Quattro Formaggi pizza which is made with Mozzarella, Gorgonzola, Red Vane, and Parmesan. This pizza is to die for.

I am Dutch, so naturally I am a huge fan of cheese. Pizza + 4 types of cheese is literal perfection for me. The pizza was huge, with a thin base and so rich in flavour. It was very moist, with melted cheese covering the entire thing, but still with a crispy crust.

I also ordered half a litre of red wine which only cost 4€.

L’Insalta Ricca – Another Cheap Meal

In total, we paid 8.5€ for the pizza and just 4€ for the wine, resulting in another extremely cheap meal.

I was stuffed, tipsy, and probably one of the happiest men in Rome!

I would definitely recommend going to L’Insalata Ricca. Whether you want a delicious pizza, or wish to eat something a little less heavy, they have an extensive salad selection so something to suit everyone.

Piazza del Risorgimento, 5-6, 00192 Roma 

The post Review of L’insalata Ricca, Rome appeared first on Green Eyed Traveller.

Tapas is famous in Spanish cuisine for being small plates of food, usually shared between a group of people. We ate in many restaurants, but also had homemade versions at home.

Below I have outline a few seafood based dishes.

Garlic Prawns

 Famously known as Gambas al ajillo. Garlic prawns make for a fabulous starter or side dish.

Ingredients

200 gr prawns
4 cloves of garlic
olive oil
salt

*Prawns: We all know that fresh prawns are 10x better than frozen products, but we also know that not everyone has 1 million in their bank account. So if your buying frozen prawns just like me, don’t be ashamed of yourself, its all okay. One day you’ll buy fresh ones.

Instructions

Let the prawns defrost in cold water for a few hours before. I bought a packet that is sealed so I can put the prawns in it and place it under the water. If you put the prawns in water without a sealed packet, all the flavours from the prawns will transfer over to the water, the colour will change and the structure will be weak.

Cut the garlic in really thin slices. Like really thin!

TIP! If you don’t want the garlic taste to much like…. garlic… cut them 30 min before you want to make the garlic prawns, and soak the garlic slices in cold water. While doing this, mix them around a few times so all the slices have a change of letting that garlic taste go.

If you do this, dry the garlic slices with a towel and fry them on a low heat in a decent amount of garlic oil.

If you like garlic like I do, just fry them on a low heat in a decent amount of oil with the garlic. It is best to fry them in a frying pan.

Fry for about 1 minute, and put all the oil and garlic in a bowl.

Dry the defrosted prawns with a towel.

Put the pan you fried the garlic with back on the stove. Add a little of your home made garlic oil in and put the fire on 100%. Next add the prawns and fry them until brown.

Add the remaining garlic and oil to the pan and heat up. Add some salt and your done!

How to Make Tapas Seafood Dishes

Spicy octopus

Pulpo a la Gallega is an octopus dish with a little kick. It is famous in Galicia but has been spread across the entire country.

Ingredients

1 octopus
( I suggest you to buy a frozen octopus, this way you will avoid having to tenderize it by hitting it against the rocks or front door!)
1 large onion
Spanish sweet or hot paprika (depending on your taste)
Water
Extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

Take the octopus out of the freezer 48 hours before. Put it in a big bowl in the fridge so the water it releases doesn’t leak all over your fridge.

Rinse it under cold water to clean.

Fill a large pot (the bigest one you have) with water and the peeled onion. When the water starts to boil, grab the octopus and ‘scare’ in the boiling water. Grab the octopus by the head and put it and out, 3 to 4 times. You do this to prevent the skin of falling off.

Boil the octopus for about 45 min over medium heat. Prick the octopus from time to time to check how hard the octopus is. You’ll feel after time the octopus getting softer.

When the octopus is done put it on a platter and cool.

Cut it in pieces and sprinkle with paprika powder.

Done.

How to Make Tapas Seafood Dishes

Deep fried baby squid

Baby squid is way better than your typical calamari rings! The whole squid is deep fried and has so much more flavour than the rings.

Ingredients

Packet of baby squid
Salt
100 gr plain flour
1 lemon

Instructions

The baby squid is hard to get in the regular supermarket, so you’ll have to make some effort and visit the nearest Chinese shop and ask for them, or some sort of Asian shop will do.

Defrost them the morning you want to make them. Leave them all day on a plate in your kitchen out of the fridge. I know, its scary to leave seafood out of the fridge for so long but you need the amount of time to defrost the baby squid. If you leave them in the fridge they wont defrost at all.

If you have a deep-fat fryer, your life is to easy. Turn the deep-fat fryer on, and wait till its on 190 C*

If not, buy 1 L of sunflower oil (don’t think for a second to buy olive oil because it will taste like sh*t) and heat up in a frying pan. Put a good layer of oil in the pan, about 2/3 fingers thick. (2/3cm)

Put the flower in a bowl with the some salt.

Dry the baby squid and put them in the bowl with flour, cover them completely with flower and take them out. Take them in your hands and make a bowl with your hands. Sake a few times so you get rid of all the left over flour.

Fry in the hot fried pan until they are brown.

When they’re brown you put them on some kitchen paper to get rid of all the oil.

Put a little salt and lemon on them.

Done!

If you like Tapas as much as I do, check out my other blog post about making Tapas dishes. There’s something new for you to try!

The post How to Make Tapas Seafood Dishes appeared first on Green Eyed Traveller.

St. Peter’s Basilica is in the heart of Vatican City which is a very popular area for tourists. It is unusual to find cheap deals in these particular areas, but this restaurant offered just that.

The deal consisted of either a Pizza or a Pasta dish, followed with either a Tiramisu or a Crème Caramel and a drink of your choice. The drinks included red or white wine, a beer or a soft drink.

We wanted to see what the standard of food was like for the price, and quite honestly we weren’t expecting much.

Ciao Restaurant

Most people were sat indoors in the warmth but we fancied something a little different. It was lovely to sit outside in the small, cobbled street of Rome, people watching while we ate our lunch.

We ordered a Lasagne and a Proscuito Pizza, a glass of wine and 2x tiramisus.

The meal can only be described as “Cheap and Cheerful”. Just like a good old English Pub meal, but an Italian version.

We were served a simple, small pizza, half the size of the pizzas in most other restaurants we ate in. It was however topped with a generous amount of ham, rocket and cheese, but lacked in flavour. Charlotte ordered a Lasagne which tasted nice but was presented very poorly.

The glass of wine was average and the Tiramisu was very small in size. Enough for an after meal bite but not big enough for a standard dessert.

This restaurant could improve greatly in a number of areas if they spent a little more money to increase the quality of food (and increasing prices), and spent the time getting to understand their ingredients and flavours. The food was more than edible, it just lacked flavour.

We can’t complain for a meal at that price.

At the end of the day, we would recommend eating here to anyone looking for a cheap meal in Rome, but if you are wanting to experience the true meaning of Italian cuisine, visit Ristorante di Porta Castello.

Borgo Pio, 146, 00193 Roma

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