Vanilla oatmeal sponge cake with stevia

     Seven months ago I had a baby. I haven't been able to use my pre-pregnancy jeans yet, but I am actively working on it and getting closer every day. That's why our today's post is about diet baking. As we did when we talked about microwave baking (in our microwave instant cheesecake) we believe we are talking about substitutes of the real thing. They are nice, but never as nice as a good unhealthy sweet. If eaten in moderation they can be part of a healthy diet though. 

     As we did when we cook our oatmeal cookies we have decided to use whole oats. It is our favourite cereal and it has numerous proven health benefits. It is gluten free and it can be part of a celiac disease diet (although in this case you have to be sure the oats were not processed in the same premises than wheat or rye). To go a little bit further we cooked it sugar-free, using stevia, which is a very popular natural sweetener. We give the equivalent in sugar, just in case you want a "real" sweet. 

     So this is our new video, dedicated to people who are trying to get in shape, or simply stay healthy. 

And here you have the recipe:

Puy lentils salad with butternut squash and goat cheese

     We are still cooking summer recipes in Cuukinando. We love beans in general at home and in the summer we like eating them in salads. I tried this combination (lentils with butternut squash and cheese) in an Italian restaurant some weeks ago and I loved it, so I decided to do something similar at home. Maybe it is not exactly the same salad, but I would say it is every bit as good as that one was.

     We have roasted the butternut squash in the microwave, so it is a really fast dish to make. It is really colourful and full of vitamins and it tastes yummy. We will repeat for sure. Will you try it? Just check our video:

 

     This is the recipe:

Pasta-less Lasagna

     We come back today with a recipe that everybody loves: Lasagna. In this case, we have substituted the pasta for courgette, and we can guarantee that if you try it, you won't miss it! 

     If you prefer the conventional lasagna you just need to substitute the courgette for pasta. Our version is healthier and low-carb, but the flavour is just as good as the original one... believe us! We have used our microwave bechamel sauce in the recipe. 

     Cooking lasagna is always time consuming, but so much worth it. As you have probably already realized, in Cuukinando we believe that homemade is aaalways better. 

    We hope you like it! 

Instant Mug Microwave Cheesecake

      Have you ever seen a mug recipe? They seem to be kind of fashionable these days. For instance, the instant chocolate mug sponge cake is very popular. We have to confess that we have eaten it a couple of times... We were eager to experiment today, and at the same time, we were in the mood of a cheesecake. This post is the result of that combination. 

     The truth is that this kind of cakes never taste like the "real ones" but the amount of effort, and above all, time that you need to cook them are just not comparable. In this recipe we literally mixed the ingredients in the mug and cook them for under two minutes in the microwave. Just perfect for a treat or a sweet craving! 

     Do you fancy trying it? Just watch our video... 

     The recipe:

My mother's paella

   We have a special guest today in Cuukinando: our mother, and she came to cook for us the most famous Spanish recipe: Paella! 

     Our love for food and cooking at home has its origin in our mother. And before that, in her father (our grandfather) but we were not lucky enough to meet him. This is the paella version we have always had at home,what we would call a typical Sunday lunch. It is, of course, our favourite version. We are 5 brothers and sisters at home, and some of us prefer it with beef, pork.. or like this one, with chicken. But as you can see, we prefer meat paella. There are probably some differences with the traditional way of cooking paella. You can cook the first steps in a pressure cooker, to have a quicker version. 

     Oh, and don't be afraid of burning it! The burnt paella is called socarrat, and we all fight at home to eat it. 

     This is the way my mother learnt to cook paella, the way we learnt from her and this is the way we are sharing with you today. My mother's paella.