Muesli

This delicious homemade muesli recipe is easy to make and customize with your favorite blend of ingredients.

One of the things I remember noticing when we very first moved to Barcelona was the notable absence of granola on the shelves. And instead…boxes upon boxes of muesli! ♡

Over the years, Barclay and I have come to really love this healthier, oil-free, no-sugar-added alternative to granola. It’s rich in protein and nutrients, sweet but not overly sweet, and easy to customize with your favorite blend of oats, nuts, seeds, dried fruit and spices. Most of the brands of muesli that we find sold in stores here are completely raw, but we love toasting the oats, nuts and spices to bring out their best flavors and make the muesli extra crunchy (or “creusli”-style, as they say here.) And while muesli is definitely a bit of a change from granola, I’m telling you, this simple mix will grow on you quickly. We now understand why Europeans love it so much!

I also love that there are so many fun ways to eat muesli. You can serve it cereal-style (cold with milk), hot oatmeal-style (warmed with milk or water), overnight oats-style (soaked in milk or water or fruit juice overnight) or — my personal favorite — parfait-style (layered with Greek yogurt and fresh berries). Toppings are of course always welcome, such as fresh or frozen fruit, a spoonful of nut butter, or a handful of chocolate chips. And if you find that you’d like your bowl to be a bit sweeter, just add a drizzle of honey or maple syrup on top. Delish!

So whether you’re new to muesli or you’ve been enjoying it for years, I thought I’d pop in today and share our family’s current favorite homemade muesli recipe with you. We’re always tinkering around with this recipe and adding whatever ingredients we happen to have on hand, but this is the basic idea…and it’s delicious! (more…)

source https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/muesli-recipe/

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Couscous Salad

This simple couscous salad is made with loads of fresh veggies, chickpeas, herbs, feta and a zesty lemon dressing. Feel free to add in some grilled meat or seafood if you’d like too.

There are many virtues I could point out about this simple, fresh and flavorful couscous salad. But the most notable one for me is this:

I genuinely get so excited to eat the leftovers the next day. ♡

As someone who rarely looks forward to working my way through tuppers full of leftovers in our fridge, I have to say that this salad is so tasty that I typically make a double batch just to be sure that we have extras for the week ahead. It’s loaded up with many of the usual Mediterranean salad suspects — tender couscous, crisp fresh veggies, chickpeas, sun-dried tomatoes, toasted pine nuts and tangy feta cheese. But I love adding in an extra helping of fresh herbs to brighten it up (highly recommend mint and parsley), and the cumin-sumac-garlic lemon dressing and that brings it all together is perfection.

Feel free to add in an extra protein (such as chicken, shrimp or salmon) if you’d like or play around with whatever other veggies, cheeses, or nuts you happen to have on hand. It’s one of those recipes that is endlessly flexible, so make it your own. And save some extras for me! ;)

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source https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/couscous-salad/

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Campari Spritz

A classic Campari Spritz is quick and easy to make with 3 ingredients and refreshingly bubbly and bittersweet.

When it comes to spritzes, Aperol always seems to get all of the glory.

But I’m Team Campari all the way. ♡

I much prefer its stronger, less-sweet, and deliciously complex bitter flavor in this famous bubbly cocktail. And when paired with a good dry prosecco (or — sorry, Italy — we usually make ours with cava here in Spain), a splash of club soda, and a slice of fresh orange, this gorgeous ruby-red cocktail can be ready go in just a few minutes. It’s always so refreshing and delicious!

Barclay and I actually keep a few mini-bottles of cava stocked in our bar cart at all times, ever since we discovered that they are perfectly sized for two spritzes. But whether you’re making an individual drink, or a whole round for a gathering, this classic cocktail is always so quick and easy to make and such a winner in my book.

Let’s make some spritzes!

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source https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/campari-spritz/

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Rainbow Peanut Noodles

This rainbow peanut noodles recipe is made with colorful fresh veggies, your choice of noodles, and the most irresistible peanut sauce. Delicious served warm or cold!

If you’ve never tried my rainbow peanut noodles before, it’s time! ♡

I’ve been making this Thai-inspired peanut noodles recipe for nearly a decade now. And while the gorgeous rainbow of colorful veggies here always make this dish a showstopper at gatherings, there’s no denying that everyone falls in love with these noodles for one simple reason — that insanely irresistible peanut sauce. It’s perfectly balanced with the most delicious blend of sweet, savory, (slightly) spicy, tangy, nutty flavors and has this magical way of convincing even the pickiest eaters to enjoy a wide array of veggies.

I’m also a big fan this recipe because it’s easy to make and endlessly flexible. Serve these peanut noodles hot or cold, as a side dish or entrée, with or without meat, using whatever favorite noodles and veggies that you happen to have on hand. If you feel like adding in a protein, I’ve found that shrimp, chicken, steak and tofu mix in especially well here. I’m also especially partial to using these noodles for weekday lunch meal prep, making a big batch over the weekend and then portioning the extras into tuppers for the week ahead. And I’m telling you — the flavors in this sauce just get better and better as the week goes on.

I’ve updated the notes below to include new options for how to customize the noodles for gluten or, yes, even peanut allergies. Plus I’ve also added in suggestions for other fun ingredients (mango! Thai basil! fried garlic!) that you’re welcome to toss in too.

So round up your favorite colorful veggies and let’s make some peanut noodles together!

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source https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/rainbow-peanut-noodles-recipe/

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Ginger Peach Crisp

This ginger peach crisp recipe is made with a warm ginger-vanilla peach filling and topped with a crispy almond oat topping.

Does it get much better than a hot bowl of peach crisp and a melty scoop of cold vanilla ice cream on a summer day? ♡

My go-to ginger peach crisp recipe is one of those summertime faves I look forward to all year long. The moment that fresh, ripe, juicy peaches finally arrive on the scene, we turn on the oven (ever so briefly) to bake up a hot and bubbly pan to serve after dinner as the evening sunshine lingers. Then any leftovers are — of course — absolutely happening for breakfast the next morning. But once you finish up one pan, somehow another gathering always has a way of popping up that calls for one more batch, followed by more peachy breakfasts, followed by one more batch…and the delicious cycle keeps going. I mean, once you get going with this ginger peach crisp, why stop?

I’m especially partial to this particular recipe because it’s quick and easy to prep, it’s naturally gluten-free and vegan, and the addition of fresh ginger makes all of the flavors here absolutely shine. It’s also a very flexible recipe, so feel free to sub in different kinds of fruit, nuts or seasonings that you love best. And if you really want to go decadent, I also sometimes serve this peach crisp drizzled with my favorite bourbon caramel sauce, which our friends and family absolutely adore.

So round up a few pounds of peaches while they’re still in season, and let’s bake up a delicious crisp together tonight!

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source https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/ginger-peach-crumble-recipe/

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Currently

Happy August, friends!

Teo and I are comin’ to you live kiddie-poolside this morning from our back terrace, where we’ve been splish-splashing around (or as they say in Spanish, chapa chapa) multiple times a day lately to try and beat the heat.

Not gonna lie, our first summer with a toddler here in Barcelona’s beautiful-yet-severly-lacking-in-green-spaces city center has definitely had us missing the grassy backyards and modern playgrounds and easily-accessible swimming pools that we always used to take for granted back in Kansas City. But I feel like we’ve made some good headway in learning the tips and tricks of urban parenting here in Barcelona lately, especially using our new baby bike seat to adventure to more kid-friendly spaces around the city. And we’ve done what the locals do and escaped a few times to the Costa Brava with friends, which is always a welcome breath of fresh air and great chance for kiddos to run wild. There’s no doubt now that our little guy is being raised with very different kinds of summers here than we had in the Midwest growing up. But I have to say, this one overall has been incredibly sweet.

From watching Teo’s sheer delight biting into a fresh peach for the first time as the juice dribbles down his chin, to splashing through the adorable chaos that is baby swimming lessons, to putzing all around Barcelona together with his new patinete (scooter), to playing with countless new friends (in baby Spanish, extra cute) during our daily playground routes, to teaching him to build his first tiny sandcastles by the sea…all of the summer toddler “firsts” this year have been even cuter than we could had imagined. We’re also now card-carrying zoo members who frequent the Barcelona Zoo multiple times a week, partly because Teo is obsessed with the giraffes and Pedro the Rhinoceros, but mainly because the it’s one of the few shaded green spaces in the city center where kids can run around safely without traffic. And during this year’s record-breaking heat wave, lol, shade is everything.

Another surprise highlight of our summer has been getting to host two guests here in our home from Ukraine — a mother and her 14-year-old daughter — while they have been awaiting paperwork for their temporary protection visas here in Spain. We all knew very little about one another (mainly just names and ages) before they arrived. But it turns out that these two couldn’t be more wonderful, and our time together has been such a gift to our little family. Getting to sit around the table together in the evenings and eat together and Google Translate galore and laugh and tell stories and learn more about one another’s lives has just been so special. And I’ve especially loved the time we’ve spent together in the kitchen introducing each other to traditional Ukranian dishes (love love their buckwheat soup) and American dishes (the 14-year-old wanted to learn how to make a layer cake, so we decorated one with alllll the sprinkles, which was the literal sweetest). It’s going to be so emotional to say goodbye today as they bravely take off for the next stage of their journey in Poland. But we are just so grateful for this summer together and know for certain that these two will be part of our lives for many years to come.

Anyway, on the traveling note, we’re actually headed to Italy today for the month of August and couldn’t be more excited. But before we leave town, I wanted to pop in with a few updates and just say hello. ♡♡♡

Wherever in the world this may find you today, I hope that you’re doing well. And especially during these final days of summertime, I hope that you’re bringing home that extra watermelon, squeezing in a few final swims, lingering in the evening light a bit longer, and saying yes as often as possible to summertime hangs together with those you love. Life just feels like it’s moving so quickly lately, and the world around us is getting so heavy, and cultivating moments of joy seems to be more and more like one of the most helpful, human things we can do right now. So as Mary Oliver says, whenever that joy can be yours, “Don’t Hesitate. Give in to it.”

Wishing you all the end-of-summer joy and sunshine and peaches that you can find today. And without further ado, here’s the latest from our corner of Barcelona.

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source https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/life/currently-34/

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