Helena Out and About

I was very bored today and I decided to go to the kitchen to cook my sorrows. I decided to make these polenta starters with bacon and Parmesan cheese. So I started by grilling two slices of bacon and chopping them in very tiny bits. Bacon must be chopped very small, otherwise when you try to cut the squares they will fall apart. After that you cook your polenta as per instructions but first fry one slice of bacon chopped. Once it is cooked, add some garlic powder olive oil and chilli powder and let the garlic brown, should take around 10 seconds.Add hot water and polenta and make sure you get a hard consistent. dough. -1st cooking pull into so I just cooked for five minutes. Spread into a square box and before it cool down add the two slices of chopped bacon and press so they stick to the dough. When cool down great some Parmesan cheese and cut into squares.Grill until the cheese has melted and the bacon is toast the bacon.Serve with cocktail sticks while hot.

I absolutely love this Brazilian traditional sweet! Normally this condensed milk Chocolate are coated in small chips of chocolate but I prefer other sort of coating so I decided to use some honey cornflakes that I had at home and also some coconut. They are super easy to make they look delicious and everyone loves it. I prefer to make small ones and I enjoy using different ingredients to coat the sweets, So they look nice and also we can get different flavours With the same base. Ingredients: • One can of  sweetened condensed milk • 3 tablespoons of chocolate powder • 1 tablespoon of butter Preparation: Mix all the ingredients in the pot in the medium heat.Keep staring for around 10 minutes.When you run the wooden spoons in the middle and it leaves a path that means they are in the right point to be taken out of the heat.Transfer to a plate previously greased with butter without salt. When cold put some butter in your hands and roll little bowls of chocolate mix.

If life give you hard figs make dried fig jam! That is just what I have done one I’ve received some dried figs that unfortunately were a little bit too hard to bite. I decided to make some fig jam, That was a very good idea because It’s less sweeter than the ones we buy and it was also a way to avoid wasting the figs. They taste delicious with the right bread that I normally make. Ingredients: • 400 g of dried figs • 2 cups of water • 170 g of white sugar • Juice of half a lemon • One cinnamon stick (optional) Soak dried figs into cups of boiling water for around 10 minutes so they get pumped up. Mix sugar and figs in a pot and stir until sugar starts melting. At the water the cinnamon stick and a few drops of lemon juice. Let it cook for around 40 minutes in a very low ear. After 40 minutes they should be soft but if not just use a blender. Blend but leave a few chunks that actually taste very good when you spread the gym on your bread or toast. Store in jars and enjoy

I always thought that making bread was a task for superpowered people. But I was wrong because if I can make bread anyone could do. The first time I made bread was not long ago.I found a recipe online and I followed it but the result was not quite what I was expecting so I decided to repeat the recipe but change a few things. And since then I’ve been making my own recipe and I absolutely love it. So what I need for my bread is: • 350 g of rye dark flour • 200 g of white Strong flower • 7 g of dried Yeast • 1 tablespoon of sugar • 250 ML of water • 30 Ml of Olive oil Mix all the ingredients and then need for abou hi t 10 minutes on the plane surface splashed with a bit of oil. Place it back in the bowl and cover with clingfilm and Let it rest for about 45m to 1h. After that time shape into a bloomer Without working much the door so the air doesn’t go away. Place on a tree with parchment paper and cover with a wet towel and let it prove for another hour. Make two or three c

This is another one of my favourite starters or finger food for when I have family and friends around .It can be done as sort of emergency starter, when people just arrive with short notice, or you can prepare in advance and leave it in the fridge until you serve it. As I don’t like to eat food straight out of the fridge, I recommend that you leave it 10 minutes at room temperature, so it will be at a perfect temperature.It is not expensive at all, and hardly you will find someone who doesn’t like it. OH, and it’s quite healthy too!You just need some cubes of feta cheese, you can even use low fat, same pitted olives * I recommend you using tasty ones like Kalmata* and tasty cherry tomatoes cut in three pieces, or just halves, if they are too small. Then just drizzle with a few drops of good olive oil and some oregano. As the cheese and olives have salt you don't need to add more.

What I love about this finger food or starter, is that is quite healthy, very easy to prepare, looks great, and can be prepared in advance so you don’t need to be stressing yourself preparing your starters right when your guests arrive. It works for adults parties and children’s events. You can also do it without figs if you don’t have them, or use one of these orange coloured melons to get different colours and different looks. The most important is to make sure that you choose a sweet melon, and dried figs that are soft when you bite. So basically, all what you need is to make little balls out of the melon, using a kitchen tool for that effect, stick it on a toothpick with a little bit of Parma ham on top, and then add a little square of chopped dried fig. You can prepare in advance and just cover with clingfilm and leave in the fridge. Take it out 10 or 15 minutes before serving so it’s not too cold.Cheap and cheerful!