Walnut-Cinnamon Stuffed Figs

Dried figs are a staple in Greece, and one thing you can do with them is stuff them with nuts&cinnamon. This is also a traditional sweet [I can't take credit for the idea], but you don’t really find them ready stuffed easily. Sometimes they sell them at tourist souvenir shops.
Anyway, I never like plain dried figs, but when I tried the stuffed ones…They were amazing! Cinnamon and walnuts are a perfect match with figs, so I decided to try my hand on this traditional sweet. I also added a bit of agave to the stuffing, for sweetness and moisture, because the traditional ones are usually drizzled with honey. So here is a recipe you can try at home. Stuffing dried figs is a bit challenging though!

-10 whole good quality dried figs
-3/4-1 cup walnut halves
-3 tbsp agave syrup, or to taste depending on the sweetness of figs and bitterness of walnuts.
-2tbsp cinnamon [again adjust to your taste, but it should be strong]

With a sharp knife make an X incision on the bottom of the figs, and with a small melon scooper try to remove as many seeds as you can taking care not to tear the skin of figs.
Grind walnuts on blender as much as you like them [chunkier, or more powder-y] and mix the walnuts with cinnamon and agave.
Start stuffing the figs with a spoon until they are plump! Now you are ready to eat them! Oh, and they are raw!
Place them in a pretty bowl in your kitchen and snack on them every time you feel the need!

Sour Cherry Leather

Fruit leather, or fruit roll-ups is usually sold as a candy, with lots of sugar in it. I used to love the commercial strawberry roll-ups, but found that they were really unhealthy, so I decided to make my own version of fruit leather. Its so easy to make that I wonder why I havent done this before. All you need is loads of your favorite fruit, a blender, baking sheets and an oven or dehydrator.
This sour cherry leather is tart, sweet and addictive! I used frozen sour cherries[they were really cheap],agave syrup as a sweetener, a dash of vanilla and some drops of lemon juice. If for any reason you cant use a big amount of one fruit to make fruit leather, you can always use some apples as a base, which is what they also do in commercial fruit roll-ups, that are later flavored with various fruit flavors.
But since I found these sour-cherries so cheap, I decided to make pure sour cherry leather!

You need:
-2cups frozen and thawed [or fresh] sour
-1/2 tbsp lemon juice
-1/4tsp real vanilla extract
-5tbsp agave syrup

Puree sour cherries with agave nectar in blender. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Prepare a baking dish [I used the big flat one that comes with the oven] with baking sheets, spray with canola oil or other bland tasting oil. Pour mixture and with a spatula spread on the surface to make a thin layer[1/4 to 1/8 inch]. Set oven at 50 C or 120 F and let dehydrate, until the surface of leather is not sticky.[approx.4 hours]. Remove fro oven, roll it up with the baking sheets and cut in portions. Enjoy plain, like the candy, chop it up and use in salads or cut strips and make fruit sushis for parties! Whatever, just use your imagination!
You can also do this with a dehydrator, if you have one available!

Raw Enoki Spring Rolls

I love spring rolls, but I try to avoid deep fried food cause its so not healthy. Especially when you eat out where its not only deep fried but the oil is used multiple times…Again, and again and again…and in some cases this is also the oil that they fry sausages, meatballs, chicken nuggets and so on. But that’s irrelevant to my recipe so I wont continue.

I found fresh Enoki mushrooms in Greece, which is like impossible along with other ‘weird’ ingredients like lets say vegan cheese. Im referring to them as weird because around here, if you say you are a vegetarian- not even vegan- most people act as if you are saying something completely crazy and stupid!! And then their next question is : But you eat chicken, right? Again, im not talking about my recipe…

So enough with all that. I bought my fresh enoki mushrooms and went straight home thinking about what i was going to make. I have been wanting to make a healthy spring roll recipe, so this was perfect. These spring rolls are amazing, even without dipping sauce. I actually prefer them plain and I think they are much nicer than the fried ones now that its getting hot!! Also perfect for party finger food! This recipe is using the Vietnamese rice wrappers and the filling is what I though would go nice with my Enoki’s. Its also a piece of cake to make them~!

You need :

-round rice paper for Vietnamese summer rolls

-2 big carrots grated

-1 cup grated cabbage

-100gr fresh Enoki mushrooms

-1 leek chopped in stripes

-1 tsp soy sauce

( Vietnamese rice papers)

Put washed enoki mushrooms in a bowl and add 1tsp of say sauce. It really brings out their flavor. Now you have to have next to you a round plate, filled with warm water. There you will soak you rice papers one by one for 1 minute until they are soft. When the first paper is ready, take it out of the water and place it on a bamboo mat (if you own one. It just helps to get rid of the excess water) and press it LIGHTLY with a towel. Now you mushrooms, leeks, carrot and cabagge in a line on the rice wrapper horizontally to you a bit lover than the middle of the paper, Lift the tip closer to you over the filling and roll it up tightly like that:

Your first spring roll is ready!Now soak another rice wrapper and repeat. Repeat process until you finish your ingredients. This will make you around 10 spring rolls. Cut each spring roll in the middle. ( so it makes 20 pieces) and serve with sauce!