Tag: salad

  • Chick pea and apple side salad with tahin

    Chick pea and apple side salad with tahin

    Combine chick peas, thinly sliced celery stalks, apple and capers in a bowl. Add olive oil, pepper, salt and lemon juice to taste.

    For dressing, use 2 parts white tahini stirred with 1 part water, grated lemon rind, olive oil, salt, pepper, thinly cut celery leaves and chopped olives.

    Great with couscous, roasted bell peppers and pumpkin!

  • Almost-raw quinoa salad with rhubarb

    Almost-raw quinoa salad with rhubarb

    A deliciously fresh, tangy quinoa salad, light and filling.

    We’re used to eating rhubarb sweetened, boiled even to soften it up. But this celery like pink stalk can also be eaten raw and then it has a nice bite and nicely sour, tangy taste, perfect to complement more earthy flavors!

    A beautiful Summer dish (which is when you’ll find rhubarb on the markets), perfect for vegans because it contains proteins and healthy fats from different sources: green peas, pumpkin seeds and quinoa.

    The lemon zest goes together so nicely with the peas and olive oil, wow! You’ll want to remember that combo.

    While you’re preparing green peas, make some extra and watch out for my green peas ‘hummus’ recipe, coming soon ;).

    1. Rinse and prepare 1 cup of quinoa following the instructions on the packaging.
    2. Steam half a cup of green peas until nicely creamy with a gentle bite.
    3. Toast a handful pumpkin seeds in a pan until fragrant.
    4. In a bowl, mix two teaspoons of lemon zest with a good gulp of extra virgin olive oil and a spoonful of nut oil, such as walnut or pumpkin seed oil and a teaspoon of honey.
    5. Finely cut beetroot, fennel and rhubarb totalling one half to 1 cup.
    6. Mix everything together. Let sit for some minutes to let the flavours combine. Add salt, lemon juice and pepper to taste.
    7. Serve on a bed of velvety green leafs lettuce and sprinkle with more olive oil.

    Enjoy <3

    PS: If you like rhubarb, try my rhubarb smoothie or breakfast bowl recipe!

  • Spicy Salad with Wasabi, Onion and Black Pepper

    Spicy Salad with Wasabi, Onion and Black Pepper

    Isn’t it amazing how the body seems to instinctively know what it needs?

    This salad has lots of avocado, and also raw onion and wasabi peanuts. That’s not something I usually eat, but as it turns out wasabi and onion help open up the sinuses! And that’s something I could really use yesterday.

    Wasabi’s strong effect on the nose, together with the raw onion and black pepper, will help you smell and breathe again and the spicy kick will definitely boost your energy levels :). Also, I’ve read that wasabi helps fight infections in the mouth, throat and nasal cavities.

    Recipe for Spicy Salad with Wasabi, Onion and Black Pepper

    It’s so simple: just toss together two handfuls of chards (or any other green leafy vegetable), 1 or 2 avocados (in chunks), 1 small raw onion and a good handful of wasabi peanuts (get them in the Asian store). I also added tomato chunks and cranberries because that’s what I had in store. It would also be great to add cucumber, sesame and soy beans or green peas.

    Create a salad dressing out of olive oil, a few drops of sesame oil, salty soy sauce, a spoonful of sake and a teaspoon of honey. Or just sprinkle with olive oil and freshly ground black pepper if you like to keep it very simple – yet tasteful.

  • Super Green Salad with Avocado, Sprouts and Nuts

    Super Green Salad with Avocado, Sprouts and Nuts

    I’m really happy to have a naturally healthy taste for food. Sometimes I’ll hear people say: “Wow, I could just die to have a hamburger right now!” That’s not me. Nothing about the juices of dead animals exploding in my mouth from in between two rubbery buns really excites me in a pleasant way. Sorry if that just grossed you out ;).

    Craving snacks

    However, I do quite often crave sugary or fatty foods, such as candy or crisps. But I’ve also noticed that when I indulge in eating those for a somewhat extended period of time, my energy levels go down, I move less, eat more of the quick-fix stuff and my immune systems grows weak.  That’s why I made a list of wholefood snacks which are healthier alternatives that I like to eat. Here’s a few examples:

    Sweet wholefood snacks:

    Dates, figs, cranberries, dried mangos, tomatoes with honey (try it!), smoothies, coconut with bananapulp, yoghurt with muesli and fruits, tahin with a squeeze of lemon and honey, chiaseeds with coconut milk and mint, bliss balls, homemade heavenly raw chocolate.

    Savory wholefood snacks:

    Olives, cherry tomatoes, soybeans (edamame) with seasalt, freshly roasted nuts with pepper & salt, gado-gado (steamed veggies with peanut sauce), raw veggies with hummus or egg salad.

    Bell’s Palsy: healed!

    I had to remind myself of this list when I came down with Bell’s Palsy (a partial facial paralysis) about 6 or 7 weeks ago. I’m very happy to report that the symptoms have (almost) completely gone! The whole experience has given me some very valuable lessons and insights, though, and I may write some more about that in the future. For now, I’ll just quickly share a few basics that I have since implemented back into my life:

    Eat healthy foods, go out for a walk every day and just relax.

    That’s it. Go easy on yourself. Don’t stress. Keep moving, lightly. And treat yourself to nice salads :).

    Salads like this one and the ones I’ve been posting lately will help build your immune system and energy levels by providing lots of essential nutrients. So go on, treat yourself to a healthy plate full of crunchy goodness.

    Here’s an article by Health & Fitness Shops listing 13 health benefits of avocado specifically.

    Recipe for Super Green Salad with Avocado, Sprouts and Nuts

    1 big handful of rocket
    1 big handful of baby spinach (or any other green leafy veg)
    1 handful of sprouts (homemade or bought in the store)
    1 avocado (in chunks)
    1 handful of nuts (my favorites are pistachios, almonds and pecans)
    Olive oil, to taste
    Salt & pepper, to taste

    Just toss everything together and enjoy. To increase the volume, you could add thinly sliced cabbage. Also great to use as a veg tortilla wrap stuffing. Super nice with sour creme/crème fraiche!

  • Pear, Cranberry & Pecan Salad with Blue Cheese

    Pear, Cranberry & Pecan Salad with Blue Cheese

    The Dutch word for yummie is lekker. Remember that one, you’ll hear and use it very, very often should you ever spend some time in The Netherlands!

    With us, yumminess may apply not only to food, but also to a pleasant experience, touch, music, activity, the weather, space, atmosphere and practically anything else. Basically, we can call anything that is pleasant, good, or nice lekker.

    This  very lekkere salad is made with organic vegetarian Dutch blue cheese, which I found at the local supermarket. I just recently found out that at least in this local AH store, they sell quite a few vegetarian cheeses. Hurray for them: lekker bezig!

    Vegetarian cheeses are made using non-animal-derived rennet. Conventional rennet is derived from the lining of the inside of the stomach of mammals, and most commonly from the fourth stomach of young calves (source). Lekker dan.. [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][insert sarcasm sign here]

    If you don’t like blue cheese, just leave it out or substitute for another kind of cheese.

    Recipe for Pear, Cranberry & Pecan Salad with Blue Cheese

    It’s very easy as well: mix together a handful of white cabbage (sliced) and a handful of dried cranberries. Toss in a bowl together with soms baby chard leafs, a handful of roasted (possibly salted) pecan nuts, and a handful of pear slices (1 pear). Add a few pieces of blue cheese and drizzle with olive oil.

    And now… lekker eten![/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

  • Sweet & Spicy Carrot Beetroot Salad

    Sweet & Spicy Carrot Beetroot Salad

    Ahhh yes this one is a classic, fun to make and a big winner – probably because of its nice warm flavors.

    I bought the ingredients already sliced in julienne. If you want to do it yourself, a julienne cutter comes in very handy.

    Recipe for Sweet & Spicy Carrot Beetroot salad

    serves 4, as a side dish

    • one handful of raw carrot, en julienne
    • one handful of beetroot, en julienne (raw or cooked, i used cooked)
    • ginger syrup, two tablespoons
    • Chinese five spices (fennel-pepper-cinnamon-coriander-anisseed-mixture)
    • handful of raisins
    • handful of seroendeng (Indonesian dried coconut & peanut mixture) *
    • dried chili flakes
    • sesame seeds (i may have added some hemp seeds as well..)
    • greens to decorate, such as diced peppers or coriander leafs
    • some oil, sesame or sunflower for example

    Toss everything together. Let sit for 10 minutes (or more) so that the tastes can all combine nicely.

    Enjoy!

  • Favorite foods in India – quick impression

    Favorite foods in India – quick impression

    Funnily, here’s a very non-typical impression of the food we ate in India. Not representative, because there’s a big one missing: CURRIES. In the land of curries, i managed to not photograph any of them. Bad foodie.

    Coconut

    Shown: Drinking coconut water through a straw. After you’ve drunk all the juice, you go back to the seller and he’ll chop the coconut further. Using one of the chopped coconut pieces as a spoon, you can scoop out the fresh, blubbery coconut meat.

    Thali

    Then, very important: thali (small amounts of curries, dhals and condiments to go with white rice and/or breads such as chapati). So niiiiice! There are many restaurants where they ‘just’ offer one or two or three choices of thali. It gets served on a metal plate with small cups or on a banana leaf and you eat it using only your right hand. It’s an art and we mastered it very quickly.

    Salad

    And finally, shown: salad. Aaahhhh salad. Every few days, we’d find a place where they served them ‘continental’ style. Be it plain lettuce, avocado and tomato, or maybe cabbage, carrot and raisins – my belly was sooo happy. You know, all those curries are delicious but they are also thick with unidentified mixed onions, garlic, spices, ghee (fat) and sugar. I just yearned for raw, freshly cut veggies which were just, and no more than, what they were: veggies.

    Missing: curries

    NOT SHOWN: all the wonderful, spicy, versatile curries we had. Man, so many curries. One dish per person was usually enough for us (we shared almost all of them). I don’t know how i managed to NOT take ANY curry pictures! It’s crazy.

    Flex

    Spelling, in India, seems to be not taken very seriously. If it sounds somewhat alike, that’s good enough. So you end up eating becked omblets or plane porege. Heck, why not? This girl took a nice menu shot:

    mennu-kochin-300x295

    http://www.chhavisachdev.com/2011/03/30/omblet/.

  • 3 easy ways to get your daily dose of veggies

    3 easy ways to get your daily dose of veggies

    Eating 2 pieces of fruit and 200 grams of veggies every day is easy!

    1. Morning Smoothie

    Blend 1 apple, 0.5 banana, 0.5 stem of celery, 5 mm slice of ginger, handful of green leafy vegetables and a piece of fennel or broccoli with orange juice. Mix until smooth… and there you go! It’s only morning and already you’ve had most of your daily vitamins!

    [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_dropcap]Tip[/fusion_dropcap]For a full-breakfast smoothie, add some muesli. Many health food stores sell gluten-free muesli as well.

    2. Lunch Salad

    I like to take a big handful of green leafs (spinach, rocket salad, watercress for example) and drizzle with olive oil. Add pepper and salt and it’s already a treat. Add nuts or sprouts, cottage cheese and avocado and this is a delicious full meal.

    3. Supper Soup

    Cut veggies, cook onions and garlic in a pan softly until just starting to brown and then add the vegetables. Add a bay leaf, maybe also tomato pulp or chunks and water. Simmer until the veggies are just soft and use the (hand) blender to make the soup smooth.

    [/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_dropcap]Tips[/fusion_dropcap]For chunky soup, take some chunks out before you blend the rest of the soup.
    Do you like Asian food? Cook curry paste with the onions and garlic and add coconut milk.
    For a deluxe, extra velvety soup, blend it all and pass the soup through a siff, pressing it through with the round side of a spoon.

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