Asian flavoured winter salad

This is one of my typical throw together what you have salads. It only contains 5 ingredients but packs a punch both in flavour and in health benefits.

In terms of health, as many of us have heard since childhood spinach makes you strong. Well it's true, spinach is one of those nutrient dense greens that we all can benefit from eating often. Adding a little lemon juice will add in the uptake of the iron in the spinach. Did you know that sesame seeds contain more calcium then milk?! Coriander contains high levels of iron and stimulates digestion.


Ingredients serving 2:
1/2 head of radicchio
two large handfuls of baby spinach
1 avocado
handful of coriander
1-2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Asian flavoured dressing:
juice from 1 lemon
2 tsp tamari or other japans soy sauce
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp cold pressed extra virgin sesame oil
1 tbsp cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
*optional 1/3 minced garlic clove

1. In a dry pan on a medium heat toast the sesame seeds. They are ready once you smell them and they start to pop out of the pan. Allow to cool.
2. Wash and dry the spinach and raddichio. 
3. Slice the raddichio thinly and place in a bowl, add the spinach. 
4. Halve the avocado and with the skin on slice lengthwise and across essentially making cubes, then using a spoon scoop out the flesh and add to the salad bowl. 
5. Finally add the washed, dried and chopped coriander leaves. 

For the dressing - Place all the dressing ingredients except the oil in a jar, or glass, close the jar with a lid and shake or use w fork to whisk the ingredients if you using a glass. Once the ingredients have mixed and the mustard dissolved then add the oils and shake/stir till you get a thick emulsion.

You can serve this as a side dish, or eat as a light lunch.

Coconut flour pancakes

I am well aware that I have posted multiple pancake recipes at this point. Perhaps you're catching onto my love of these dense, yet fluffy, sweet and inner child pleasing pillows of heaven.

I recently discovered coconut flour so I decided to give it a go on my favourite breakfast item. I can tell you it was a success! The coconut flour has a certain graininess or perhaps better explained as a rougher texture than regular flour. However it brings lots of moisture and fluffiness in place of the denseness other flours can give. The great thing is it's gluten free and full of good nutrients (to read more on nutrients see my post on zucchini bread).

Ingredients for 4 pancakes:

2 eggs
2 dl coconut flour
1,5 dl oat flour
pinch of salt
1,5 tsp baking powder
2,5-3 dl oat/nut/soy/dairy milk
1 tbsp coconut oil, melted

optional - 1/2 tsp cinnamon or cardamon or zest of lemon or lime (perhaps even orange could be nice)

1. Begin with mixing the milk and eggs till combined
2. Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and add to the milk egg mix. 
3. Heat pan and melt the coconut oil, add to the batter. Keep the pan and the left over coconut oil and when you know the pan is hot, but not searing hot, using a soup ladle or dl cup scoop out enough for each pancake into the pan. Make sure there is room for the pancake to ooze a little to each side. Turn down the heat. Allow to cook on the first side for approx. 2-3 minutes, then flip and allow for the same time on the other side. If you touch the middle of the pancake it should feel bouncy, if not allow to cook further on a low heat. 

Serve the pancakes with your choice of berries and or fruits, maple syrup or honey, nuts or seeds. My favourite always remains slices of banana, blueberries and or raspberries and toasted walnuts topped with a good splash of maple syrup. 

White bean vegetable broth

During the late spring and summer I am all about salads. During the winter and part of autumn and early spring I am all about soups. This is a kind of warm salad in a soup form. Lots of vegetables in a veggie broth, simple, clean and crisp flavours. Real feel good food, that will leave you feeling really healthy, light and at the same time full. Great for a damp, rainy summers day.

Essentially you can use any veggies you happen to have at hand. I love the large white beans, but you could replace for any other prefer type of bean. You could also leave out the bean entirely if you want a lighter version.

Here are the ingredients I used, serves 4-6:

2 dl large white beans*
1 medium onion
1 medium courgette, chopped into bite size
1 sweet potato, chopped in to bite size
2 celery stalks, sliced
6 cherry tomatoes, halved
6-8 shiitake mushrooms (or any other mushrooms)
1/2 head of broccoli
1/2 chilli, deseeded
1 veggie stock cube
500 ml water
handful of fresh (wild/baby) spinach
handful of fresh flat leaf parsley
1/2 tbsp coconut oil (unflavoured kind) or other frying friendly oil
salt and pepper, to taste

to serve a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

* I like to soak my beans over night (8hrs) and then cook them in place of using tinned. Somehow I feel this is the healthier path to take but if you don't have the time or same feeling as I do feel free to use tinned.

If you choose to soak and cook your beans, then soak the beans the night or day before. Boil them before adding to the soup, this large white bean takes about 1 hour to cook through, sometimes longer. I like to add a bay leaf for added flavour. 

1. Fry the chopped vegetables (hold the tomatoes, parsley and spinach) in oil of your choice in a soup pan. You want to bring out some of the sweetness and flavour of each veg. I tend to begin frying the harder ingredients like the potato, broccoli, onion and chili. Once they have had 2min frying I will add the softer ingredients. You want each vegetable to have softened slightly without browning. Add more oil if the pan starts to feel dry. 
2. Now add a pinch of salt and some fresh pepper and then crumble in the stock cube and add the water. Bring to a boil and lower to a simmer. 
3. Add the beans and cherry tomatoes. Allow to simmer for 15-25min. Depending on how much bite or softness you want your veggies to have. Taste, add a little more slat or pepper if you like. 
4. Before you portion the soup out place a few leaves of spinach in the bottom of each soup bowl, add the soup and then top with the chopped parsley and a drizzle of olive oil. 

Forgotten Parsnip Soup

I often feel that parsnip is one of those vegetables often forgotten. Which s a shame as it packs such a flavoursome punch.

Parsnips are high in soluble dietary fibre, which means they are good for your digestion. They also contain a relatively high count of folate, which is a type of B vitamin. Folate is used by your body for the nervous system, creating blood cells and for synthesis of DNA and RNA. Parsnips contain good amounts of potassium. Needed for the maintenance of your bones, blood pressure, heart and smooth muscles. Last but not least parsnips contain the all essential vitamin C.

This soup only really only consists of:

- 2 parsnip
- a pinch dried chili
- one stock cube
- water

All you need to do is:

Peel and chop 2 parsnips into chunks
Place the parsnip in a pan and add 5dl water
crumble in a stock cube (vegetable or chicken)
Add a pinch of dried chili flakes
Bring the ingredients to a boil, lower the heat and allow to simmer for 20-30minutes, without a lid. Until the parsnip is soft. Then blend. Taste, add salt or pepper is desired.

Serve with a little drizzle of olive oil, a good slice of bread with your favourite topping and dig in.

Luscious Ratatouille for the New Year

I think it's safe to say we are all looking at upping the anti on healthier food after this seasons over indulgence. This recipe was inspired by good friends of mine. This dish, ratatouille served with millet is a great way to kick off your healthy eating in 2015. The trick to this dish is to have cook the veggies in batches, so they have time to soften and become lusciously creamy in texture.

Millet is a grain, that can easily substitute for rice, couscous or even be used in place of oats in porridge. It's a great source of copper, heart healthy magnesium (studies show it helps asthma, lowers cholesterol and reduces the frequency of migraine attacks) and bone promoting and cell repair phosphorus (along with calcium phosphorus makes up the matrix of bones and is integral to building blocks of DNA, nervous cells and fat metabolism).

Another great attribute of millet is that it's gluten free!

If you want to add some protein to the dish you could add some beans, which is what I did.

Ingredients needed, 4 servings:
1 medium aubergine* roughly chopped
1 large courgette roughly chopped
2 medium or 3 small white onions roughly chopped
1 red paprika de-seeded and chopped
1 yellow paprika de-seeded and chopped
1 green paprika de-seeded and chopped
1  tinned cherry tomato or 6-8 fresh cherry tomatoes + 1 tinned tomato
optional - 1/2 dl white or red wine
approx. 2 tbsp cooking oil**
salt & pepper
2 minced garlic cloves
2 dl millet
3 dl water
drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
optional - top the final dish with fresh chopped herbs; thyme, basil, dill, parsley, coriander
optional - 1/3 vegetable stock cube

* I have noticed that the thinner, longer aubergines have much more flavour than the bigger, rounder aubergines. So if you have a choice between the two go for the skinny long ones.

**I prefer rice oil as it can tolerate high temperatures but you can also use olive oil.

1. Begin by softening the half the chopped onions and aubergine in 1 tbsp oil, sauté on a low heat for about 8 minutes. You will notice the aubergine tends to soak up a lot of the oil, so add more if it looks dry, throughout the process. Then add the courgette and sauté for another 5-8 minutes. You want this batch of veggie to get soft and shiny, not browned and crisp rather melted, if that makes any sense. 
2. Place the aubergine, onion, courgette mix in a bowl to the side. 
3. Add a little more oil to the pan and add the rest of the onions and the chopped paprikas. Sauté on a low heat for about 8 minutes. Again you want the soft, shiny not crisp browned result. If you feel the pan gets dry add a little more oil. 
4. While the onion paprika mix sautés you can put the millet on the boil. Place the millet and water in a pan and bring to a boil, then lower to a slow simmer. You can add a 1/3 of a stock cube to the millet to enhance it's favour. The millet is usually done within 12 minutes. Allow it to cool slightly, then as with couscous, its best to get it clump free by adding a little drizzle of olive oil and carefully, using a fork, loose up the grain in the pan. 
5. Once the onion paprika mix has reached the soft, sing stage, add the aubergine, onion, courgette mix, salt and pepper and then the wine. Allow the wine to cook off (approx. 1 minute of cooking with the veggies).
6. Add the tinned tomatoes (and cherry tomatoes if you aren't using tinned cherry tomatoes). Also add the minced garlic. Allow to come to a slow boil and lower the heat to a simmer. Allow to cook for another 20-40 minutes. The longer you allow to cook the better the flavours will come together. If you have decided to add beans add pricked beans to the last 10minutes of cooking. 
7. Serve the ratatouille onto of the millet and add some fresh herbs if you like. A little end drizzle of olive oil never hurts either. 

Broccoli, feta and hempseed pasta

This dish just created its self. I happened to have the ingredients and then they just came together and if I may say so myself it's a real tasty dish.

Broccoli is one of the those staple ingredients that we all need to eat lots of. It's also one of the veggies we don't have to spend extra money on buying biologically grown! The main health benefit of this humble veg is it's detoxifying ability. Believe it or not it's better for you steamed than raw, as your system can better utilise it that way. Another great benefit is that broccoli can help rebuild your vitamin D deficiency, something most of us here in the both have. Broccoli contains high levels of both vitamin K & A. Vitamin K is needed for bone formation and is needed for blood clotting. Vitamin A is among others supportive of vision.

Ingredients, serves two portions: 

1/2 head of broccoli

1/3 fresh chilli 

2/3 block of feta 

Zest from 1 lemon (preferably non waxed bio lemon)

1-2 tbsp hemp seeds 

2 tbsp cold pressed extra virgin olive oil/cold pressed sunflower oil 

salt and pepper 

between 150-200 grams dried pasta 

1. Put your pasta water on to boil. 
2. Wash the broccoli and halve. Using one half, tear of chunks from the main body of the broccoli. Slice the stalk into strips. 
3. Wash the lemon and zest into a bowl, add the oil and salt & pepper. 
4. Toast the hemp seeds slightly, this brings out their nutty flavour, allow to cool and then add to the oil. 
5. Deseed the chilli, try not to touch and if you do wash your hands. Don't rub your eyes. Add to the oil mix.
6. While the pasta cooks steam the broccoli. I prefer mine to have a bit of a bite to it, so I take it out while its still a bit hard because it will continue cooking when taken off the heat. Add to the oil and mix. 
7. Add the cooked pasta and then add the cubed feta. Season and enjoy! 

Orange is the new green - Carrot, Lentil soup

This is not a fancy soup, it's very a straight forward yet filling and nutritious soup. Only 5 ingredients and water are required. You can use fresh herbs to change the flavour profile.

You might know that carrots are healthy but why? Well it's because they contain a nutrient called carotenoids (named after carrots), which is a type of vitamin A. Carotenoids can be found in all orange, yellow and deep green veggies and some fruits. Carrots health benefits are perhaps best known for their benefit on eye health. That's due to the carotenoids, which is also an antioxidants  and has anti-inflammatory properties. So get your orange on.  Start adding more color to your meals, orange is the new green!

Ingredients soup to fill 4 medium sized bowls:
- 4 medium sized carrots
- 1 dl red lentils, rinsed
- 1 veggie or chicken stock cube*
- 1 medium sized yellow onion
- drizzle of cooking oil
- fresh herb choices; 2-3 sage leaves, 2-4 stalks of dill, small handful of parsley, a few leaves of rosemary
- 5-6 dl water

*Make sure to use a stock cube that isn't loaded with extra salt or other ingredients you don't recognise or can't pronounce. This includes any E numbers.

1. Begin by peeling and chopping your carrots, and onion. Keep the carrots at a 3cm size while the onion 1cm cubes.
2. In a pan large enough to hold the soup add a little cooking oil, and the onions and carrots. Fry on a low heat for approximately 4-5min. If you choose to use sage, the chop into thin slivers and add to the last few minutes of frying the onions and carrots. 
3. Then add the rinsed lentils, stock cube and water. Bring to a boil and then turn down so it's simmering. 
4. Leave to simmer for 30minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper if you find necessary.  Then blend in a blender. 
5. If you have chosen another herb than sage, then chop it to a desirable size, and add this to the blended soup. And serve. 

A simple dinner or lunch with lots of goodness in it.

Hearty marinated red beets, falafel and tahini dressing

And I am addicted...to marinated red beets. Thank you to my friend Hanna for introducing me to this simple yet so tasty way of preparing one of this seasons top layers.

So here is a quick summary on red beet's and their nutritional benefits; They are detoxifying due to their high antioxidant content and their anti-inflammatory capacity. Their red colouring has much to do with these benefits. The longer you cook, steam or roast the beets the more of their nutritional value is lost. The best is to eat these raw but as winter approaches I tend to levitate towards warm food.

This way of marinating red beets can be used for various dishes. Hanna even recommends them in a sandwich with grilled halumni cheese or even feta, yum! I bet it will blow any burger away.

Ok so here it is, the marinade:

- 2 red beets (cooked or steamed)
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar (or white/red wine vinegar)
- a generous pinch of salt
- 1/2 tbsp ground cumin

That's it! Whisk the marinade together and then add your cooked/steamed red beets while still hot and  mix around. Allow to sit for 10-30minutes.

As for the rest of the dish, I served the red beets with falafel, a mix of millet and quinoa (they have about the same cooking time, so I just cook them in one pan), spinach and the tahini dressing.

The tahini dressing is simple:

- 1,5 tbsp tahini paste/butter
- 0,5 tbsp water
- juice form 1 lemon
- 1 tsp tamari alternately soy sauce
- small drizzle of honey or maple syrup

This dressing is also awesome drizzled over steamed broccoli or cauliflower or a soba noodle salad.

Simple vegetable broth

I love soups during the autumn, winter and spring and come to think of it also during the summer. Soups are so versatile, thick, broth like, chunky, smooth. I love using what ever I have available to make a new soup. The season dictates the vegetable content and beans, lentils, and other proteins can add heartiness and a filling aspect.

For this soup I happened to have some beautiful French flagole beans, Chinese cabbage and sweet potato.

Ingredients for a soup of 5 large servings:
1 yellow onion
1 courgette
3 dl 8 hour water soaked beans
6 halved cherry tomatoes
2 celery stalks
1 sweet potato
1/3 fresh chilly fruit
1/3 Chinese cabbage
1,5 bio stock cubes (make sure they don't contain lots of E numbers and other un-natural preservatives)
500 ml water
salt & peper

1. Begin by cooking the flagole beans for 30min, unless you decide to use tinned beans then you can skip this step. The beans need not cook fully through as they will continue to cook in the soup.
2. Peel and chopping the onion, into cubes. 
3. Chop the celery stalks into bite size chunks, and chop the chill finely. 
4. Place the onion and celery in a large soup pan and fry with cooking oil. 
5. While frying the onion and celery, peel the sweet potato and chop into cubes. Cut the Chinese cabbage into larger chunks, each individual layer of the cabbage will loosen and separate in the soup so cutting large pieces initially are better. 
6. Once the onion has softened and glazed over, add the other chopped vegetables and then pour over the water and crumble the stock cube in. Allow to simmer for 20-30minutes. You want the beans to retain their from and the vegetables to have gone soft not completely mushy. Season to taste. 

I served this soup with a Dollop of pesto but it doesn't necessarily need it. It's a very mellow soft tasting soup that ends with a certain sweetness. 

Chunky vegetable green lentil chorizo soup

I love having some 'basic' vegetables at home because it allows you to make up loads of new recipes playing around with new ingredients, spices and ultimately flairs and textures and the basic veggies make it so much easier cause they are the silent pillars to these dishes. Also these silent players make it possible to throw a new dish together without having to do a major shopping tour. This soup came from 'use what ya got' and I had green lentils and a small piece of dried chorizo sausage and my basic veggies (celery, onion, paprika, carrots, fresh chill). 

This dish can be made vegetarian* by replacing the chorizo with smoked paprika powder and smoked tofu. 

Here is what you will need: 

1/2 fresh chili 

1 dl dried green lentils (or puy or beluga lentils) 

2 stalks of celery

1/4 celeriac or 1/2 parsnip

1/2 medium red, yellow green paprika 

1 yellow onion 

2 medium sized carrots 

600 ml water

1 vegetable or chicken stock cube

salt, pepper

drizzle of cooking oil 

1. Peel the carrot and roughly chop
2. Peel and chop the onion
3. Wash the celery stalks and chop into bite size, do the same for the paprika only chop into a slightly larger size as this cooks through faster than the rest of the veggies.
4. Peel the celeriac or parsnip and chop roughly
5. Slice the chorizo into as thin slices as you possibly can, this component is all about extracting all the yummy flavours of the sausage. 
6. Wash and drain the lentils. 
7. Drizzle the cooking oil into a large soup pan and fry all the vegetables for a few minutes, just slightly softening the onion and celery. Season with salt & pepper*. 
8. Add the lentils, chorizo, water and stock cube to the pan and bring to a boil slowly. 
9. Allow to simmer on a low heat for somewhere between 35-45 min. You want to have the lentils cooked through but not too mushy.

* If you decide to go vegetarian this is when you add the smoked paprika power. Allow the frying process to continue a moment longer so that the spice has time to open up and coat all the veggies. 

Going Dutch meshing stampot and hutspot

Here we go, as far I might know I could be stepping over a non written dutch law by combining the stampot with hotspot...well all i have to say to that is, it turned out good, real good. 

For those of you that know nothing of either stampot or hotspot basically both are mashed potatoes mix with onions, sour kraut, bacon or carrots and parsnip (I think). Well, I meshed these up and added peas and skipped the bacon. 

I have also made this mesh with kale and sweet potato. Also works really well. 

You can serve this mash with lightly fried or steamed fish or a tofu burger or as I did with a traditional Dutch rook worst (smoked sausage), biological/ecological meat of course. 

Serves 4: 

4 medium potatoes 

1 medium sweet potato

1 medium parsnip or 1/3 celeriac

1 small or half a medium shallot onion 

1,5-3 dl sauerkraut (amount depends on how much you like this stuff)

1 dl frozen peas

2 medium sized carrots 

salt and pepper

pinch of nutmeg

60 grams butter

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 

1-2 dl water

Optional: Sliced kale which should be added to the last step of making the mash (step 5 below) so as not to cover cook. Also fresh parsley is nice to mix into the mash at the end. 

1. Peel the potatoes and parsnip/celeriac and slice into cubes of approx. 2x2cm. Place in a pan and cover with water, bring to a boil and lower the heat and cover with lid. Cook till the potatoes, parsnip/celeriac are soft. 
2. While the potatoes cook, peel the carrots and chop into cubes of 1/5 cm approximately. 
3. Chop the shallot onion finely. 
4. Take out the frozen peas and allow to thaw, even if they are still partially frozen when added to the mash they will thaw during the heating process. 
5. Place the sauerkraut in a pan with the water, this is to make sure the sauerkraut will not burn. Place on a low heat. Add the diced carrots. 
6. Once the potatoes are done you need to move fast, you want to use the heat from the boiled potatoes to melt the butter and slightly cook the onion. But first you want to use a whisk or other utensil to 'mash' the potatoes, this before you add the butter. Once all has been mashed add the butter and onions. Mix with a whisk blending everything into a smooth mash.
7. Season with salt, pepper and some nutmeg. 
8. Now add the peas. 
9. Drain the sauerkraut and carrots and add to the mash, now mix with a spoon and place back onto a low heat. Drizzle the olive oil into the mash and mix. Taste, add more butter if you think it needs a little more richness. If you think it too dry add a splash of milk (dairy, rice, or almond as long as both the last mentioned are not sweetened!).
10. Serve with your choice of fish, tofu, sausage or perhaps even a meat stew. 

Yellow Lentil Turmeric Soup

This is a really simple soup. Just throw all the ingredients into a large soup pan and cook and viola! Filling and healthy, could it get any better?

Turmeric is one of those spices that is up there on the super food list. Among other things it has strong anti-inflammatory properties.

Ingredients for 6 servings:

2 carrots
2 stalks of celery
1 dl yellow lentils
1 dl brown/orange (mountain) lentils - this could be replaced with regular brown lentils
1 tbsp tumeric
1 onion
1 red or green paprika
1 vegetable stock cube
1/2 tbsp coconut or other cooking oil
500 grams water
salt + pepper

1. Begin by chopping up all the ingredients. Then fry off with the turmeric and oil in a large soup pan. 
2. Once the vegetables have been softened slightly and the turmeric covers all add the water and stock cube. Bring to a boil and then lower heat to a simmer. Allow to simmer for 30min. 
3. Taste the soup after 30 min, add salt + pepper and allow to cook for another 10min. 
4. The consistency you want at the end is smooth without using a blender. 

Lentil, Raw Fennel, Smoked Trout Salad with a grilled lemon

I love dishes like this, simple yet so tasty, with endless possibilities for variety. You can exchange lentils for beluga or puy lentils, you can use chicken, smoked turkey or tuna even a fried egg to replace the trout. The fennel can be replaced by stewed leek or raw paprika. The only ingredient I would not swap out would be the avocado as it gives that creamy texture that no other ingredient I know.

Ingredients for 2:

2 files of smoked trout
1 whole lemon
1/2 fennel bulb
1 avocado
2 dl brown lentils
drizzle of cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
2 stalks of fresh dill
1 stalk of celery
1 stock cube (veggie or chicken)
Approx 3,5 dl water
salt + pepper

Cooking the lentils is much like cooking risotto, instead of boiling them in water, use a stock cube mixed in a can of water and add small amount of water to the lentils while they simmer on a low heat.  This will give lots of flavour to the lentils as well as reducing the lentils from bursting and loosing their form.

1. Boil the water and add the stock cube, mix to dissolve the stock cube. 
2. place the lentils and 1 dl water in a pan and bring to a simmer. Cook the lentils as you would a risotto, keep adding water once the water has reduced and the lentils start to look dry. 
3. Slice the fennel bulb in half down the length. The slice the fennel thinly horizontally. 
4. Wash your lemon. Heat a grill pan, sprinkle water over the pan to, you want the water to sizzle. Then half a lemon and place both halves with the open inner side face down. Leave on a mid heat for 3-4min. You want a scortched lemon. Place the lemon halves to the side. 
5. Halve the avocado and scoop out the flesh and slice into cubes. 
6. Divide the lentils between two bowls, adding half the fennel, celery and chopped dill to both. Mix. 
7. Then add the half the avocado to each. 
8. Top with the smoked trout. 
9. Finally drizzle some cold pressed olive oil over the top and salt + pepper. 
10. Squeeze the lemon juice over the top. 

Smokey Vegetable Broth Soup

Yes it's been a while. I am sorry for that because I have missed this creative outlet. Anyhow I am back and I intend to continue posting frequently.

This is a soup that has a smokey flavour to it bringing warmth and feel good. It's a great lunch or dinner option during autumn or winter as it's based on late autumn/winter veggies. You could adjust the vegetables according to your own preference. I chose these as I like this combination and flavour.

Soup for 4: 

1/2 Celeriac

1 medium sized sweet potato

1 red + 1 green paprika 

1 whole leek 

1/2 fennel bulb

12 cherry tomatoes (I buy them on their stalk as this usually gives them more flavour)

500 ml water

1 tbsp coconut oil 

1 vegetable stock cube

1/2 tbsp smoked paprika powder

salt + pepper

fresh flat parsley to serve

drizzle of cold pressed olive oil

1. Begin buy peeling the sweet potato and celeriac, this is best done with a knife and you will loose a lot of flesh not much to be done about that sadly. Chop both these into approx. 2 cm cubes.
2. Wash the fennel bulb and paprikas, chop into approx. 2 cm cubes. This soup is best with chunky veggies. 
3. Slice down the length of the leek and open up the layers so that you can wash away any dirt that has collected. The chop into 2 cm slices. 
4. Add the coconut oil to a large pan and the some paprika powered and all the veggies, lightly fry the veggies for 2-3min.
5. Then the water and the stock cube. Stir and allow to simmer on a low heat for 20minutes. Then taste and salt and pepper. You want soft veggies and a light broth. 
6. Serve with a small bunch of parsley and perhaps a drizzle of cold pressed olive oil. 

Sprouted beans, quinoa and beet salad

This is a luke warm, healthy feeling, autumn salad. Packed with good nutrients and fibers. The nice thing with this salad is you can vary it using carrots instead of red beet, coriander in place of parsley. You can add roasted nuts, like walnuts pr pine nuts or pecans. Feta can be added or avocado for a touch of creaminess. Protein such as smoked tofu, tempeh or tinned tuna or fried chicken file.

Also the dressing can be exchanged simply by replacing various vinegars with the tamari sauce.

Ingredients for 2 people:
1 red beet // 2 medium carrots
1/2 endive
handful fresh parsley
2-3 stalks fresh dill
1,5 dl quinoa
Sprouted beans

Dressing:
Juice form 1/2 lemon
1 tbsp tamari sauce
1 tsp dijon mustard
1,5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

* Sprouted beans can be brought at general health food stores. These can alternately be replaced with other sprouts or even non sprouted cooked beans.

1. Wash the red beet or carrots Cook the red beet or carrots till al dente. Keep the skin on. Drain and cool by running under cold water. You want it warm but not steaming hot. Once cooled slightly you can easily peel off the skin of the red beet. Chop into bite size.
2. Cook the quinoa as per the instructions on packaging.
3. Slice the endive into bite size pieces.
4. Chop the dill and parsley.
5. Now mix all the ingredients for the salad in a bowl.
6. For the dressing first whisk the mustard, lemon juice and tamari. Once combined add the olive oil.

Butternut squash sage soup

Sage is one of those herbs that is underrated, and one of which I never use. However, it's full of flavour. Soup for the soul.

1 butternut squash
1 veggie or chicken stock cube
2 sage leaves
600 ml water
salt & pepper
1 medium yellow onion
2 tsp coconut oil (flavourless)
salt & pepper
pinch of dried chilli

1. Dice the onion and fry in the coconut oil. Add the pinch of dried chilli and the sliced sage. Fry till onion has begun to soften. 
2. Peel the squash and cut into 3cm cubes and add to the frying onion mix. Fry for a couple of minutes. Basically this allows all the flavours to combine or rather marriage. 
3. Add the water & stock cube and bring to a boil then lower heat to a slow simmer.
4. Boil for around 20min. Till the squash can easily be poked through with a fork or knife. 
5. Blend to make a smooth soup. You can add a little more water if the soup seems to thick. If the soup is too thin then allow the soup to continue boiling on a low heat for another 10-15min. 
6. Season with salt & pepper and taste, add more sage if you want a stronger flavour. 

Mushroom risotto

Risotto has always been a favourite of mine. This is a winning dish every time. Wild mushrooms are in season now, making them extra flavourful. I love to add wild rice to give an added layer of texture and crunch. I also happen to know that this rice is also full of antioxidants and other healthy stuff.

I recently learned that mushrooms are the only vegetable/fungus that contains vitamin D and calcium!

Ingredients needed to serve 4
- 400 grams of mixed mushrooms (preferably wild mushrooms)
- 3 dl aborrio rice
- 1 dl wild rice or black rice (yes there is a difference between the two)
- 1 medium onion
- Salt and pepper
- 1 mushroom or chicken stock cube
- pinch of dried oregano
- knob of butter
- knob of coconut oil (make sure it's a flavourless version) or any other cooking oil
- 300 grams parmesan (you could also do half parmesan and the other half pecorino)
- 1 dl dry white wine
- 2 dl water to cook the black or wild rice
- 4-5 dl water for the aborrio rice

* Optional; fresh chopped parsely, drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, tiny squeeze of lemon juice.

1. Cook the black or wild rice according to it's package instructions. Once cooked, drain and set aside. 
2. Boil the aborrio rice water and add the stock cube to it, stir to dissolve the cube. 
3. Grate the cheese. 
4. In a frying pan on a low heat allow the mushrooms to sweat out their water content. This is done in a dry pan with no fat or oil. The trick is to keep the heat on low. Once all the moisture has come out and partially evaporated add the butter and 'fry'. Add salt & pepper and finally the dried oregano. Set aside. 
5. Dice the onion and fry in the coconut oil till soft and glazed, 3-4min. Add the rice and fry for half a minute. Then add the wine and allow to evaporate. Stir continusly to avoid sticking to bottom of the pan. 
6. Once the wine has evaporated to 1/3 of it's original quantity add the stock water, slowly, 1/2 dl to start with. Stir. 
7. Add more stock water once the rice has started to soak up the initial stock water. Continue this process, adding the stock once the rice looks 'dry' while stirring. 
8. Towards the 15minute mark taste the rice; if it's still got a hard middle then keep adding stock and stirring for another 3 minute, taste again. The aim is to have a slight 'al dente' bite without it being under cooked. 
9. Once the rice is done add the parmesan and stir, allowing the cheese to melt into the rice. Then add the black or wild rice. 
10. Finally plate the risotto and add the mushrooms. 
11. I like to finish off with some chopped parsley and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and even a tiny squeeze of lemon juice. 

Easy breezy pasta salad

This pasta salad comes from a good friend of mine. Her recipe, my take.

Ingredients needed for 4 servings: 

200 grams fresh parmesan

1 ball of buffel mozzarella

1 dl roasted pine nuts

8-12 ripe cherry tomatoes

5 dl pasta - I used whole wheat fusseli but any other macaroni pasta shape would do too

handful of fresh basil

1 spring onion

good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil 

salt & pepper

1. Put on a pan of water to boil for the pasta. Add a little drizzle of olive oil to keep the pasta from sticking. 
2. Grate the parmesan. 
3. Chop up buffel mozzarella into cubes
4. Cut the tomatoes into fourths or halves and add them to a bowl large enough to fit all the ingredients.
5. Slice the basil and spring onion finely and add to the bowl as well as salt & pepper and a good drizzle of the olive oil. Mix. 
6. Boil the pasta according to the package instructions, I always try mine 1 min before the recommended cooking time as I prefer my pasta al dente and hate mushy pasta. 
7. Sieve the pasta and run cold water over it to cool it slightly. 
8. Add the pasta to the bowl and then the cheeses and the pine nuts. Mix. Taste, add more seasoning if you like & then eat!

Pesto Salad

This is one of those salads where I just use what I have in the fridge. The key ingredients here is the soft boiled egg, avocado & the pestos dressing.  YUM!!! I am truley a pesto freak. Can't get enough of it, same goes for my mum &

sis. We love to pill it on and down our food in it.

The rest just needs to be some basic salad ingredients. I happened to have some left over seaweed (no idea what the name for it is..it's salty & crunchy and needs to have a quick, blanch - dip in boiling water). 

So here is the recipe - salad for 1:

1 fresh biological egg (this will make a difference to the taste)
1/2 avocado
1 tbsp black olives (kalamata or other strong flavored olive, again this will improve the flavor so don't get the cheap-o tinned version)
1/3 cucumber or 2-3 radishes
3-4 cherry tomatoes
Salad leaves - I used water cress for it's slightly peppery flavor
* optional seaweed "sticks" (sorry cannot find name for this...) it is not essential to the salad so don't go crazy trying to find it.

for the pesto dressing:
1 tight handful of fresh basil leaves
1/2 tbsp roasted pine nuts
2 roasted walnuts
3 smoked (unsalted) or roasted almonds
NUTS- you could also just choose to use 1 type of nut which could save you on shopping & effort. I just have all at home always so for me it's an easy choice.
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp parmesan (for pesto & pasta I use more parmesan but this is a dressing and needs to be loose)
salt & pepper
juice from 1/2 lemon (this to add acidity and loosen up the pesto making it more fluid to pour as a dressing)

1. * this first step is only for it you choose to add the seaweed to your salad. Heat a small sauce pan of water. Once it boils add the seaweed sticks. Pull the water off the heat immediately and fish out the seaweed. They just need a quick 'dip', blanch in cooking language. Pour into a sieve and then rinse in cold.
1/2. In another pan place your egg and cover with water. Bring to a boil then lower the heat to a simmer. Time the cooking - the egg needs max 7min but no less than 6min. Be precise.
3. While the egg cooks, place all the ingredients for the pesto in a blender, blend and then taste. Add more seasoning or nuts or cheese if you feel the need. Just remember this is not a thick paste it's supposed to be a dressing.
3. Check your egg time. Slice your cucumber/radish, avocado and tomatoes.
4. Plate the a handful of salad in a bowl and add the cucumber/radish, avocado, tomatoes ontop.
5. Once the egg is done, rinse for a minute under cold water to stop it from cooking further.
6. Now place the seaweed atop the salad, the drizzle the dressing over the top and finally half the egg and sit it on the top.

Leek & onion soup

Leek & Onion soup, much like French onion soup really. And just as delicious. Of course the original French onion soup is made with beef stock which gives it the deep sweet flavor. This soup does not have that same deep sweet flavor as I used chicken stock, you could also use vegetable keeping it strictly vegetarian.