And just like that, Summer is slowly coming to an end… I thought to end this month of August with incredibly easy to make and super tasty sweet treat, Roasted plums and yogurt dessert! But first I would love to hear from you! How was your Summer, have you had an opportunity to rest and relax, get away from all the stress we all have been through in the last 6 months?
How I spent my Summer…
I spent about a month in my hometown Dubrovnik with my family, trying to switch off as much as possible and de-stress focusing on present moment and little everyday things. I did some shoots for a client but mostly I spent my days reading, enjoying long evening walks, going to the beach with my sister, niece and nephew… Sometimes my mum would join us too so that was really nice! Specially because she had a hip replacement surgery just before this pandemic hit us so it was so lovely to see her walking again and being pain-free.
Spending time with my loved ones and not thinking about what tomorrow will look like, that was just what I needed after the stressful period of lock down, earthquake in Zagreb, having jobs cancelled due to pandemic etc… But I don’t want to ‘talk’ about that now, let’s focus on the positive and all that we can do to help us go through these challenging times the best we can.
My ways of dealing with stress and anxiety…
I’m sure all of you have your ways of dealing with stress and uncertainty. But let me just share some of mine:
- being present ‘here and now’, focusing on the moment and not thinking too much about the future
- finding pleasure in simple everyday things like having a cup of coffee and watching the clouds or going for a walk and feeling the fresh breeze on my face
- when I start to feel down, anxious and ‘heavy’, it helps me to not fight those feelings but accept them and keep telling myself they will pass as they did many times before
- talking about what burdens me with the people I love and trust, it’s such a wonderful thing to know that you can say anything about what you feel without being judged!
- giving myself credit for all the difficult things I went through in the past and for still managing to keep my joy and excitement for life, for little pleasures, for beauty around…
Ok, I think that’s it for now and we can start talking about desserts! š Ā I hope you find these little tips helpful and if you want to chat about it you can always leave me a comment or write me an email. I’m here for you!
The most simple and yet so tasty dessert…
Have you tried roasted plums yet? If you haven’t, you simply have to, trust me! In case of plums, roasting them makes them so much better and tastier, in my humble opinion. Specially when they are roasted with spices like cinnamon and vanilla and sweetened with coconut or brown sugar. I already have a recipe for roasted plums on the blog, you can find it here!
This recipe couldn’t be easier and I’m not sure if we can even call it a recipe. That’s how simple it is! For that reason, don’t focus on quantities as you can adjust them depending on how many portions you are making. Also you can adjust as per your taste, more yogurt or less yogurt, sweeter yogurt or less sweet and so on…
I made it for my family (7 portions) this Summer and everybody loved it.. Well, I had to adjust it for my little nephew who is very particular about eating fruit so I made him a special version with cocoa and more crushed cookies instead of plums, not bad either! š So, the recipe will be for two portions but as I said, feel free to adjust it as you wish…
Recipe in English:
- For roasted plums:
- 8-10 plums, washed and cut in halves
- 1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped or 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp coconut or brown sugar
- 3-4 tbsp water
- For other layers of dessert:
- 1 cup natural Greek style yogurt
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tbsp crushed biscuits (I used digestive biscuits) + some more for decoration
- Start by roasting plums.
- Preheat oven to 200 C / 392 F.
- Arrange halved and pitted plums in a baking dish in single layer.
- Sprinkle the plums with coconut sugar, vanilla seeds, ground cinnamon and 3-4 tbsp water.
- Roast until plums get soft, about 20-25 minutes.
- Cool slightly while you prepare the rest.
- Stir in maple syrup into the yogurt.
- Crush biscuits.
- Make dessert by layering first some crushed biscuits at the bottom. Pour a little bit of juice from the roasted plums on top of the biscuits.
- Arrange the roasted plums on top of the biscuits.
- Put a layer of maple syrup sweetened yogurt on top of the roasted plums.
- Arrange few more roasted plums on top.
- Sprinkle with some more of crushed biscuits.
- Enjoy cold or at room temperature.
Recipe in Croatian / Recept na hrvatskom:
- SASTOJCI
- Za pecene sljive:
- 8-10 sljiva, opranih i prepolovljenih
- 1 stapic vanilije, sastrugati sjemenke ili 1 zlicica vanilin ekstrakta
- 1 zlicica cimeta
- 1 zlica kokosovog ili smedjeg secera
- 3-4 zlice vode
- Za ostale slojeve deserta:
- 1 salica grckog jogurta
- 2 zlice javorovog sirupa
- 2 zlice smrvljenih keksa tipa Digestive + jos malo za dekoraciju
- PRIPREMA
- Najprije ispecite sljive.
- Zagrijati pecnicu na 200 C.
- Rasporedite prepolovljene sljive po pekacu oblozenom papirom za pecenje.
- Posipajte sljive cimetom, vanilin sjemenkama ili ekstraktom i kokosovim secerom, po dnu 3-4 zlice vode.
- Pecite 20-ak minuta dok se sljive ne smeksaju.
- Ostavite da se hlade dok pripremate ostalo.
- Umijesajte javorov sirup u jogurt.
- Smrvite kekse.
- Slazite desert tako da na dno stavite smrvljene kekse. Po njima polijte malo soka od pecenih sljiva.
- Slozite pecene sljive na kekse.
- Stavite sloj zasladjenog jogurta na sljive.
- Dodajte jos par pecenih sljiva na vrh.
- Posujte s jos malo smrvljenih keksa.
- Posluzite hladno ili na sobnoj temperaturi. Dobar tek!
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I am always looking for new recipes. Love all your recipes!
Thank you! I’m happy to hear that! š