Category: Food

  • Gele curry met spinazie en kikkererwten

    Klaar in 15 minuten, met maar 5 ingrediënten (plus water en bakvet).

    Giet een blik kikkererwten af, spoel ze met water en bak ze aan in olie tot je ze hoort ‘poppen’. Prak ze grof in de pan met een stamppotstamper of de onderkant van een glazen fles.

    Voeg een blik kokosmelk, een theelepel (of twee) bouillonpoeder en een eetlepel gele currypasta toe. Roer en verwarm.

    Voeg ca 400g verse bladspinazie toe en warm door totdat deze is geslonken.

    Serveer in een kom. Nóg lekkerder de volgende dag.

  • Oven vegetables in pesto sauce

    I love using the oven: it’s so easy to just mix all the ingredients and have the oven work it’s magic. Especially since I became a mother :).

    Here, I had a big tray of cut veggies: bell pepper, broccoli, zucchini, and mushrooms. I added some oil and salt and baked them for 30 minutes at 180 until they were tender and almost done. As you bake the vegetables, they will release fluid. At the end of the 30 minutes, I mixed in a delicious homemade pesto (but yours can be store bought of course) with the fluid and together with the oil they made the perfect, creamy, fresh and green sauce.

    Not a strict recipe but more a ‘this is how I do stuff’. Hope it helps.

    Enjoy!

  • 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!

  • 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!

     

  • 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!

  • Chocolate Mango (beans & carrots!) No-Bake Cake

    Yesterday was my birthday. I spent the whole day in the kitchen before moving all the dishes over to my mom’s place who had graciously offered to host the family birthday party. It was a perfect day with some of my favorite people :).

    This no-bake cake consists of 3 layers plus a fruit topping. It is very dense- rich and filling, so be sure to serve tiny slices. The layers should be distinct in taste: fruity for the top and robust, full and indulgent for the chocolate middle layer.

    The beans make for a thick, fudgy chocolate cream. Be sure to add plenty of vanilla to get the richness that cacao deserves. Also, vanilla creates a sweet sensation so you’ll need less dates. You won’t taste the beans, I promise! People have been amazed at how well this works and… beans are good for you!

    The crunchy muesli makes for a great dough, especially the nuts one thanks to the healthy fats in there which make it rather buttery, but vegan and good for your heart! We happened to have two kinds of crunchy and it worked out great but if you have only one (preferably the nuts), that will work as well.

    I have only roughly estimated the amounts, I’m sure that when you’re in the kitchen getting your hands dirty and tasting lots (yay :P), things will sort themselves out.

    Recipe for Chocolate Mango (beans & carrots!) No-Bake Cake

    1. For the bottom layer:

    1-2 cups crunchy muesli with 4 red fruits
    dates to taste
    1-2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

    2. For the chocolate layer:

    3-4 cups nut crunchy muesli with nuts
    2 cans of cooked black beans (rinse well)
    1 cup of cacao
    10-20 dates
    1 tablespoon vanilla
    2-3 tablespoons coconut oil
    pinch of salt

    3. For the carrot layer:

    1-2 cups crunchy muesli (either nuts of red fruits)
    2-3 carrots
    pieces of mango
    lemon juice and (part of) rind

    4. For the fruit layer:

    150-200 gr frozen mango pieces (or fresh if you’re in the right climate)
    handful of blueberries

    For layers 1, 2 and 3: for each layer separately, combine the ingredients in a food processor. Taste and adjust to improve taste and consistency. They should be sticky, sturdy and chewy.

    Press the bottom layer in the bottom of the cake form. Use a spoon to smoothly spread the mixture. Next, add in the chocolate layer. And finally, add in the carrot layer.

    Top off with a full layer of fruit, which you lightly press into the carrot layer. Enjoy now or refrigerate until shortly before use.

  • Raw tomato and bell pepper gazpacho

    Raw tomato and bell pepper gazpacho

    One delicious daily dose of veggies in a cup 🙂

    1 tomato
    1/2 bell pepper
    1 small garlic clove
    4 basil leaves
    1/2 teaspoon dried Italian herbs
    1 sundried tomato
    1 date
    1 tablespoon of sunflower or pine seeds, or nuts
    Salt
    Extra virgin olive oil
    Lemon juice

    Simply blend everything together with about 1/3 the volume of water, add salt, extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice to taste… enjoy!

  • Kale chips

    Kale chips

    If you have never tried these, please do! So simple and delicious. And healthy! Great for iron. Just go easy on the salt.

    Massage the kale with a few drops of vegetable oil, then spread the kale out in one layer on your oven rack lined with parchment paper.

    (It is very tempting to make loads of this healthy snack but you need to be sure not to ‘heap’ the kale; the water inside the leaf needs space to evaporate or it will only steam/cook.)

    Sprinkle with salt and bake for about 10 minutes at 180 degrees or until the sides start to brown. Be careful not to let them burn.

    You may choose to only use salt or play around with special flavorings like curry powder, garlic or pimento.

    I used pre-cut kale from a bag, which makes for really small chips. Better even would be to use fresh leaves and cut along the stem (or mid section) of the leaf to get bigger chips.