Naturally flavoured water


It has never been a problem for me to have my 8 water glass a day. I do not need to remind myself to drink water,quite the contrary.
Wherever I am, I have a mug or a glass, or a bottle that I drink along the day.
This late summer I decided to give a note of flavor and color to the water. Actually, this is an idea you can use whenever you miss summer.
And, on top of it, a very simple test with an idea that also brings color to the table, becoming a table center piece effortlessly.


All you have to take into account is that water really gets flavored, so keep that in mind when combining it with your dishes.
It is not exactly an infusion, not that much, but you will notice the taste for sure.
These photos are two of the bottles I prepared at the same time and got to photograph, but you can really do almost as many combinations as you like.


I prepared some water with cucumber and lime, which is perfect for starting your meal, with a salad, gazpacho or the like, as cucumber and lime add a refreshing touch the water.


And to continue, or take in the afternoon, or really, when you want, there is the other one which has raspberry and basil. The raspberry gives it a touch of acidity, basil puts the perfume.

The preparation could not be simpler and you could not have a more dramatic result with less effort. What about you, what do you put on your late summer water?



Naturally flavored water

With lime and cucumber

Ingredients

1 liter of mineral water (so it has no taste of its own)
1 cucumber (there will be letfovers)
1 lime

Directions

Thoroughly wash the lime and cucumber, dry. With a mandoline or a vegetable cutter, cut the cucumber thinely, lengthwise. You will need 6 or 8 will of these, depending on how intensely flavored you like it. Cut the lime into quarters. Put ingredients in a wide-necked bottle that can go to the fridge and fill with water.
Leave in the refrigerator at least 12 hours, preferably 24.
Serve with plenty of ice.




With raspberry and basil

Ingredients
1 liter of mineral water
2 handfuls of raspberries (in my case, frozen.)
Fresh basil leaves.

Preparation

Wash the basil and cut the stems, leaving the whole leaves. Put the basil leaves together with raspberries in a wide-necked bottle that can go to the fridge, and let it rest to absorb flavor (and color in this case) between 12 and 24 hours. Serve with plenty of ice.

Green asparagus and strawberries salad


This recipe should be called "How to enjoy seasonal products in a minute, resulting in a spectacular flavor and without complication". It is, in fact, my own wish of puting spring into a dish what made this salad to work so well. I love green asparagus. It is true that now you can find them most of the year on the shelves of the supermarket, but when their season arrives, my mouth waters just thinking of their taste grilled. Strawberries are also around, covering all the selves as their season is so short, but so intense.  So, now strawberries and asparagus are at their peak, and you have no excuses to make this salad in a couple of minutes. I guarantee you will not leave you indifferent. Moreover, the strawberries with their sligthly acid flavor work well in salads, so even if you want just add some strawberries to your lettuce, you will change your salad and it will become a really spring salad.
Ensalada de fresas y espárragos con queso feda

Strawberries and asparagus salad with feta cheese

Ingredients

A bunch of asparagus
A handful of strawberries
Feta cheese
Extra virgin olive oil
Coarse sea salt or salt flakes

Ensalada de fresas y espárragos con queso feda

Preparation.

Clean the asparagus, cut the hard part of the stem. Wash them thoroughly and blanch in a pan of boiling water for 20 seconds. Go through the cold water to stop cooking. Dry and grilled. Add salt.
Wash and cut strawberries. Dry them well.
Place asparagus on a plate, spread over strawberries and finished with crumbled feta cheese. Dress with a splash of extra virgin olive oil.

Apple, pine nuts and raisins salad


I warn you from this moment. I have made a little discovery and I'm persistent. From now on you are going to find here more than a salad with fruit. Yes, I know I am not discovering the wheel. But what can I say: I have discovered many possibilities in these combinations. The principle was simple. This competition for cooking with apple made me start with this idea, and then one thing leads to another, a spring that is playing peek-a-boo, like a baby, hiding just behind her hands pretending to have disappeared, and it began to get out delicious combinations: simple, clean, and very, very tasty, to change the typical green salad for other quite different.

The best thing about this salad, no doubt, was the dressing. I had tried other times with a yogurt-based dressing, but until today it had not be so successful. I believe that twist is in a really good extra virgin olive oil, and-strangely enough- in using non-fat yogurt. Yes, I know it may sound strange, but non-fat yogurt has less flavor and makes the dressing be much better.

There are no excuses for you not to try this salad, simple but absolutely delicious to start a meal. If you serve the slices back on top of each other, with the apple shape, I assure you will have a remarkable dish with nearly no effort. few simple things you seem more appetizing.

Apple, raisins and pine nuts salad.

(Ingredients per person)

1 apple
Raisins
Pine nuts

For the dressing (for 2-3 people)

1 non fat plain yogurt (125 grams)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
Salt
Black and pink pepper

Preparation

Thoroughly wash and dry apples. Discourage, cut into thin slices and dip in a bowl of water with a squeeze of lemon juice until ready to use, so they do not get dark.
Pass the pine nuts for a pan. No need to add oil. The fat of the nuts will be enough. Toast lightly.
Prepare the vinaigrette by mixing the yogurt with the oil, vinegar, salt and peppers. Test and rectify if necessary.
Place apple slices on a plate, preferably, trying to reassemble the apple. Add raisins and pine nuts to each dish and dress with vinaigrette. Serve the remaining sauce separately.

Cinnamon chocolate walnuts


Smells have an evocative capacity much more powerful than any other form of memory. A song, a phrase, a picture, can bring back memories, but a scent transports you to the moment itselft. It fills your brain, forcing you to close your eyes. You breath deeply and you think you are living back those memories. It happens to me specially with cinnamon. Smelling a bit of cinnamon instantly transports me to endless afternoons of games that ended with a rice pudding or homemade custard, and a huge smile appears in my mouth, exactly the same kind of smile that appears now.  I had not tried to combine cinnamon with chocolate and nuts before but for sure it is a winning combination. I wanted to try this recipe since I saw it in  Green Kitchen Stories, a   wonderful vegetarian blog. I  only added cardamom, and I think it just improves the combination. 


Cinnamon chocolate nuts 
 
200grams walnuts
100 grams dark chocolate
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1 tablespoon cinnamon (powder)
1 tablespoon  unsweetened cocoa powder


Preparation
Melt roughly chopped chocolate in a bowl over steaming pot of water on medium heat Add cardamom, stir on heat until melted and smooth. Toss the walnuts a few at a time in the melted chocolate, and transfer onto a parchment paper or a silicon sheet  to cool.
Mix cinnamon and cocoa powder in a small freezer bag. Toss the set chocolate covered nuts in the powder until evenly coated.