Category: Blog EN

  • Green vegan pesto with fresh herbs

    Bear leek (EN), daslook (NL), Bärlauch (D). We see it more and more in the ‘wild’ here in Holland and luckily, in Germany, it is not rare to see entire fields of the ‘big leaf garlic’. My mother and her beloved Hans grow it in their vegetable garden so I had the opportunity to bring some with me for dinner.

    This pesto is perfect with basil (the traditional pesto herb) as well. Just use whatever the season brings!

    I love making vegan pestos. Simply use green leafy herbs or vegetables, add nuts or seeds such as walnuts, pumpkin, pine or sunflower seeds, olive oil and a little bit of raw garlic (not too much!).

    For this pesto, I used bear leek, spinach, parsley, walnuts, olive oil and water (just enough to help it ‘run’ in the machine). The quantities/ratios don’t really matter! Just try what you like: more green, or more nutty. It all tastes wonderful.

    By the way the herb chopper that comes with your stick blender (staafmixer) is perfect for making pestos.

    Next blog: this pesto in a delicious oven veggie dish!

  • Vegan bacon alternative

    I used to love the taste of crunchy bacon. Now that I eat mostly vegan, I truly don’t fancy the pig aspect so much anymore. But the chewy, crunchy, salty part… yum! I’m always open to suggestions for that.

    I have experimented around trying to come up with good alternatives and what has worked best so far, is two things: 1) crushed almonds, salted and fried. They taste great and are very healthy but miss the chewy part. Enter number 2): soy chunks!

    Eew, you say? Yeah I know. And it sounds even more horrible in Dutch: sojabrokken. But get over it and bear with me. When you think about it, spekjes/bacon are not really that appetizing either.

    Without further ado, here comes the recipe. It’s not culinary; it’s simple what it is: a great vegan alternative for crunchy, chewy, salty bacon:

    Vegan bacon alternative

    4-6 cups of soy chunks
    1 cup extra strong & salty vegetable or mushroom stock
    4-6 tablespoons of oil (suitable for baking)

    • Mix oil and stock.
    • Add soy chunks.
    • Mix well and wait until all fluid has been absorbed. (While soaking, there might be a smell which some people associate with dog food. Don’t worry; that won’t be there in the end result.)
    • Spread out on a baking tray in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes at 180 degrees celsius, or until light brown and crunchy.
    • Check regularly.
    • Add salt if desired.

    This is great on salads, as a soup topping, on stamppot (a Dutch dish), with potatoes, in a vegan pasta carbonara (sorry Italians), on sauerkraut, beans, etc. You can store them in a jar in the fridge for a few days. Enjoy!

  • Blood orange & coconut chia pudding

    Delicious and simple.

    (You can make this recipe with plant-based milk and coconut ‘yoghurt’ OR use 1 can of organic fairtrade coconut cream without emulsifier. Use the coconut water from the can for the pudding and the thick cream from the same can for the topping.)

    Ingredients:

    For the chia pudding

    2 tbs chia seeds
    120 ml plant based milk of choice (oat, coconut, soy, rice etc all work well) OR coconut water
    1 blood orange (normal orange works as well)
    1 large ts sweetener (agave syrup, honey, sugar etc)

    For the topping

    Coconut yoghurt OR thick coconut cream
    Piece of blood orange
    Mint leaves

    Equipment:

    Blender or immersion blender (Dutch: staafmixer)

     

    Preparation:

    Use a sharp knife to cut first the top cap, then the bottom cap off the orange and then around the flesh, removing only the peel. Scrape orange leftovers from the peel with a teaspoon if you’ve cut too much off.

    Take the pieces apart, remove the white thingy in the middle and add the orange pieces together with the milk or coconut water and sweetener in your mixing glass or blender.

    Roughly blend those three ingredients together using a blender or immersion blender (Dutch: staafmixer).

    Now add the mixture to the chia seeds, stir well and put in the refrigerator. The seeds will soak up the moisture and swell, thickening and gelatinizing the mixture to a delicious pudding. After 1 hour, stir again. After another 30 minutes or more (you could also keep them overnight) take out of the fridge, add coconut yoghurt or thick cream, top with orange and mint… Yummy!

    Delicious!

  • Sweet potato stuffed vegetables

    A perfect example of a vegan dish which has everything you need in a healthy diet. Vegetables, legumes, nuts: fibers, vitamins, healthy carbs and fats. Different textures ensure a rich meal experience!

    3-5 small sweet potatoes
    1 cup red lentils
    1 zucchini
    1 sweet long pepper
    2 handfuls of cherry tomatoes
    Italian herbs
    1 tbs tomato paste
    1 handful cashews
    Salt & pepper
    Olive oil

    Pierce all cherry tomatoes with a knife and put in the oven at 150 C. 

    (For a deeper, more complex and stronger taste, cut and fry onions and garlic until golden brown before adding the sweet potato and lentils. We are cutting back on onions though and this still tasted delicious without them!)

    Trim the rough ends off the sweet potatoes, leave the rest of the peel on. Cut in small pieces, add washed red lentils, dried herbs such as Italian herb mix or bruschetta verde, tomato paste and salt. Boil in water until the lentils and sweet potatoes are soft and the water has been mostly absorbed (add water when too dry, boil longer if too wet). Press to a nice purée using a fork, big spoon or purée utensil. Taste and add herbs or salt.

    Half the zucchini’s and sweet peppers lengthwise. Using a teaspoon, scrape the softer flesh from the inside of the zucchini. Cut the scrapings in pieces and add to the sweet potato mixture. 

    Now stuff the zucchini and peppers with the sweet potatoe mixture. Lay next to the tomatoes on the baking tray, turn the oven up to 180 C and bake for about 25-30 minutes. 

    Chop or break a handful of cashew nuts and add to the vegetables during the last 5 minutes of baking time.

    Serve with the cherry tomatoes, vegan green pesto, black pepper and olive oil.

  • Potato crush… crunch!

    Or, as the Italians would say: PATATE SCHIACCIATE. But that second word looks pretty daunting so I’ll leave it at potatoe crush, because that’s what happened to my beloved when he had his first bite yesterday: he fell in love. Whether with me (the cook) or the potatoe – let’s say it doesn’t matter. Love is love.

    Potatoe crush recipe

    1. Clean potatoes, do not peel and cook until almost or just done.
    2. Preheat oven to 180 C
    3. Place potatoes on baking sheet and moderately crush with a glass or mug
    4. Drizzle with baking oil – don’t hold back, about a teaspoon each 😉
    5. Sprinkle with paprika powder or potatoe spices, salt and black pepper
    6. Put in the oven for 20-25 minutesKudos for this recipe go to @cottoaldente on Instagram – check him out!

    I had them in the oven at 230 C for 12-15 minutes and that worked out perfectly as well.

    These are really good! Enjoy :).

  • Beetroot & blueberry smoothie bowl

    I tend to have food phases, where I eat lots of the same type of food for some time, then move on to something else, and return to it some time later.

    A while ago I was eating about 500g of fresh tomatoes with roasted pumpkin seeds every morning.

    Now, it’s red smoothie bowls. The basic recipe: a basis of cooked beetroot, berries and an apple. Sweeten with dried fruits or a piece of banana. Top with banana, pure cacao and more fruits.

    I buy the ingredients from the store; beetroots precooked and berries frozen. This way, my meal is ready to go in a matter of minutes.

    It’s a great feeling starting off my day with half the daily recommended dose of fruits and veggies already down! (And, tip for parents: my 2-year old daughter loves smoothies too!)

    Red beetroot blueberries smoothie bowl:

    • 2 cooked red beetroots
    • 2 handfuls of frozen blueberries
    • 1 apple
    • 3 dried apricots, prunes, or dates (more or less to taste)
    • 1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds (nuts work as well)
    • Optionally: 1 tablespoon flax seed if you need extra fiber
    • Just enough water so that your blender will run smoothly

    Cut the larger ingredients in blender-suitable pieces and… go!

    Top with whatever you have in stock, more fruits, cacao, crunchy muesli, oats, nuts or seeds.

    Pro tip: add Yogi Tea Curcuma Chai spices by cutting open the tea bag 😁.

    Enjoy!

     

  • ‘We do not need a pandemic to #movethedate’ (maar het helpt wel)

    “In 2020, the pandemic-induced lockdown measures around the world slowed human activity down. As a consequence, the date of Earth Overshoot Day – when humanity has used as much ecological resources as the planet’s natural ecosystems can regenerate in the whole year – was pushed back to where it stood some 15 years ago (a conservative 24 days later than in 2019.) The global Ecological Footprint shrank year-over-year, but it was not good news because it came at the tremendous cost of a global tragedy that impacted millions of lives.”

    Bron: https://www.footprintnetwork.org/appeal-2021/, 30 januari 2021

    Heb je wel eens gehoord van Earth Overshoot Day? Dat is de dag in het jaar dat we met z’n allen de grens bereiken van wat de Aarde in één jaar aan grondstoffen kan regenereren. In 2020 is die datum 24 dagen opgeschoven (in de goede richting) dankzij de wereldwijde lockdowns, die zorgden voor minder mileubelasting, naar 22 augustus.

    Precies, alles wat we ná 22 augustus hebben verbruikt, is overschot. Meer dan de Aarde kan opbrengen. Roofbouw.

    De aanleiding voor die lockdowns was natuurlijk de corona-pandemie. De pandemie die een symptoom is van de onbalans die we als mensheid creëren door de Aarde uit te buiten. En zoals ik dat ook wel uit mijn eigen leven ken: op overbelasting volgt noodzakelijkerwijs rust (want je kán niet meer zo verder), en die rust is weldadig.

    Ik kan wel huilen als ik de plaatjes zie uit India of China van luchten die in geen jaren meer zo helder waren. Corona maakt eens te meer duidelijk: HET MOET én HET KAN.

    Welke lessen kunnen we leren uit onze collectieve rustperiode? Wat willen we behouden en hoe gaan we verder vanaf hier?

    • Ik heb geleerd hoe zeer me het welzijn van de Aarde aan het hart gaat.
    • Ik heb meer oog gekregen voor lokale projecten, bijvoorbeeld via Transition Towns.
    • Ik ben me verder gaan verdiepen in permacultuur.
    • Ik heb genoten van het burencontact dat floreerde.
    • Toen in de eerste lockdown mijn klussen stilvielen, heb ik een online cursus gelanceerd (Impact met je passie: websites voor wereldverbeteraars). En mede dankzij die actie lopen nu in de tweede lockdown (2020-2021) mijn websiteklussen ongebreideld door.

    Ik heb de waarde van online in de praktijk zien door alle initiatieven van onder meer zangers en workshopleiders die hun werk bleven delen, online vaak zelfs voor een groter publiek dan offline, en door mijn eigen grotere bereik met mijn websitewerk.

    En oh wat heb ik offline gemist, bijvoorbeeld toen we ‘solliciteerden’ naar een plek in de tinyhouse-Ecowieck in Ewijk en onze misschien-wel-nieuwe-buren en werkgroepgenoten alleen op een scherm konden zien. Maar ook toen we besloten in Duitsland te blijven en van allebei mijn zusjes de verjaardag misten.

    Wat ik zelf doe? Ik woon ‘tamelijk tiny’ met een huishouden van drie op 40 (binnenkort 50) m2. Ik eet grotendeels veganistisch (af en toe kaas en vis), lokaal en uit eigen tuin. Ik werk voor wereldverbeteraars met een positieve bijdrage en help hun impact vergroten. Ik ben lid van een politieke partij die het welzijn van de Aarde boven de kortetermijnverlangens van mensen stelt. Ik koop bijna alles tweedehands: kleding, meubels en apparatuur. Als ik vlieg, compenseer ik de klimaatbelasting van mijn vlucht via Mindful Flights. Ik begeleid mensen in het vergroten van hun bewustzijn door adem- en lichaamswerk. En ik deel erover via mijn blog.

    Is dat allemaal genoeg? Nee. Doe ik ook nog dingen die schadelijk zijn, zoals autorijden en vliegen? Ja, of misschien. Maar wat corona ons heeft laten zien, is dat we samen zo veel meer kunnen bereiken dan gedacht. Dat een andere manier van leven mogelijk is en dat er nieuwe kansen en mogelijkheden voor het grijpen liggen. En het heeft ons een kijkje in de toekomst gegeven: schone luchten. Lege snelwegen. Vakanties in eigen land. De nabijheid van je eigen gezin. Genieten van het hier en nu. Kansen creëren uit noodzaak. Het kan. En het moet.

    “So go #MoveTheDate. World and national leaders, influencers, decision makers in the public sphere or in business, local actors, community organizers and members, let the world know what you are doing to support the long-term success of humanity and ensure your own. Let us know how we can support you. Ask us how you or your organization can support the movement to keep spreading the word and fueling action (hint: translators welcome!). Let’s talk. Together, let’s design our future.”

    #MOVETHEDATE

     

  • Wholewheat bread with pumpkin seeds, raisins & banana

    I love bread, especially wholewheat with lots of seeds. Really good bread tastes best with only olive oil and salt, some salted butter or even just as it is.

    At my daughter’s kindergarten, they bake bread with the kids every day. As soon as my daughter comes in, she is handed a piece of dough and she starts rolling her bread of the day herself. It is such a beautiful sight to see all the 2- and 3-year olds knead their own little buns and make all kinds of shapes (snakes ans snails are favorite). It really calms them down as well. It’s nice to knead. That’s still true for grownups, by the way.

    I felt inspired to start my own starter dough for sourdough bread. I spend a lot of time in Germany, where bread is still made with sourdough in stead of yeast and ‘bread enhancer’ (yuk!), as has unfortunately become practice in The Netherlands. But this is not meant to be rant.

    I started a sourdough as soon as we landed in Germany for a couple of months, enjoyed the delicious bread here for a week or two or so, then checked my belly and – oh. Bread. I love bread, but it really makes me bloat. No idea why. I am not convinced gluten are bad per se, nor carbohydrates, nor yeast or sourdough bacteria – I just know that bread makes my belly grow and I look like I’m 5 months pregnant.

    Exit sourdough. Not worth the effort of feeding a dough every couple of days and keeping the bacteria balance in check, if I end up never eating the bread.

    But I still love bread, and will bake my own every now and then. I use ready made, store-bought wholewheat bread mix. Perfect for the occasion and my lifestyle. Thank you, Koopmans & co.

    This bread is sweet, rather healthy and very special due to the banana surprise. Really delicious!

    Wholewheat bread with pumpkin seeds & banana

    For 3-4 big buns

    Cut 2 bananas in the middle once lengthwise and once crosswise, so that you have eight long pieces of banana.

    Mix and knead the bread as indicated on the box.  Add raisins to taste (I like to add a lot). Divide into 3-4 portions and let the dough rise. Then roll out the dough portions and fold each in three (as indicated on the box), but add a banana piece in each fold and sprinkle with pumpkin seeds and cinnamon (again, I like to add a lot 🙂 ) before folding over. Each bun is now folded in three and has two pieces of banana folded in.

    Leave to rise again and bake in the oven as indicated.

    Yum!

  • ABC-smoothie bowl (Apple, Beetroot, Carrot & more)

    I’ve had this smoothie for breakfast almost every day in the last two weeks. Temporary crazes are part of my life :).

    This healthy red smoothie recipe is based on (and an extension of) the famous ABC (apple-beetroot-carrot) juice, but leaves in all the fibres that are important for a healthy sugar digestion.

    I love starting my days with fruits & veggies. The fats in nuts and seeds help the body absorb the many nutrients better, so be sure not to skip those. Figs are added for taste and sweetness, needed because the red fruits (at least the frozen ones that I use) are rather sour. Add more or less of those as you like.

    This smoothie (breakfast) bowl is great with toppings such as banana, berries, oats, pumpkin seeds and a bit of crunch. In this case, I used a 1/2 – 1 tablespoon of chocolate crunchy muesli bits, but raw cacao nibs would work as well.

    Without further ado, here is the recipe:

    ABC-breakfast bowl (Apple, Beetroot, Carrot & more)

    Serves 2-3

    1 apple,
    2 red beetroots, cooked (the pre-cooked ones from the shop are perfect)
    1 carrot, medium sized,
    ginger to taste (I use about 1/2 thumb size)
    2 big tablespoons red fruits (fresh or frozen)
    3 figs,
    2 tablespoons of pumpkin seeds,
    water enough to let your blender mix smoothly, and not more so that the smoothie stays thick.

    Toppings:
    Bananas, pumpkin seeds, crunchy muesli, cacao nibs, berries and whatever you fancy.

     

    Enjoy!

  • You are not vulnerable

    The joy when you were five and got a new bicycle.
    The shock when you broke your arm when you were eight.
    The thrill of your first kiss on your fifteenth birthday party.
    The pride of your promotion at the age of 26.
    The intense heartbreak at 30 and the excitement when you fell in love again, a year later.

    And so on.

    There was one who witnessed it all, still and unmoved.
    Who witnessed how you cried, and simply were there.
    Who didn’t have a scratch when you were shattered.

    Look back. Remember? It was you yourself.

    Who you are is not everything you go through. Not what you feel about it. And certainly not what you think about it.
    Who you are, deep down, is pure consciousness.
    That is what we all are fundamentally, and it is one.

    Indivisible and timeless. Your indestructible core.

    So You are not vulnerable. If you know yourself for what you really are, then you cannot be hurt.
    Not even if you die.

    Can you experience grief? Yes. Can you also get sick, suffer a great loss, make a fool out of yourself, get robbed, have an accident or break your other arm too? Hell yes.

    But if you know that You can handle that, then you can feel with every fiber in your body, fight with all your strength and if you don’t want or need to, embrace the new reality with all your love. Then you are free.

    That is not being vulnerable, that is choosing to live fully.

    That’s not to say your balance can’t be fragile at times. That the bucket cannot overflow. That you cannot burst out in anger and that you do not sometimes stay in bed from despair. But that’s all what you do, not who you are, and it’s caused by what you believe about yourself.

    Who you are, deep down, is strong, complete and joyful. It can handle anything. That is true about you.

    Do you feel vulnerable? Gently observe your feelings and thoughts and be aware that someone is watching, still and unmoved, in love.

    Your true I.

    Comments are very welcome.