She's back, en hoe! Havermoutcrackers voor een verantwoorde snack.

RECEPT

Ten eerste, mijn excuses voor mijn afwezigheid! Ik ben de laatste maanden druk geweest met school, waardoor het blogger er een beetje bij in is geschoten. Wel heb ik nog steeds veel foto's en recepten verzameld. Ik heb daarom besloten om vanaf nu de meeste blogs in het Nederlands te schrijven. Dit zorgt ervoor dat ik sneller even wat tijd vrij kan maken om een recept online te gooien.

Nou, dat hebben we gehad. Terug naar waarvoor we hier allemaal zijn, lekkere recepten! Vandaag maakte ik havermoutcrackers en ik vond ze te geniaal om niet te delen! Helemaal verantwoord en ideaal als tussendoortje. Je zou het zelfs als lunch kunnen eten, want ze vullen als een gek.

Wat heb je nodig voor ongeveer 8 crackers
100 gram havermout
100 gram noten- en zadenmix
30 gram sesamzaad
100 ml water
Snufje zout

Bereiding
Voeg alle ingrediënten samen en laat een half uurtje staan. In het begin lijkt het nog waterig, maar na een half uurtje is dit water opgenomen door de havermout.

Verwarm de oven ondertussen voor op 175 graden.

Stort het mengsel op een bakplaat met bakpapier en maak het zo plat mogelijk.

Bak minimaal 25 minuten en laat ze 30 minuten afkoelen. Bewaar ze vervolgens in een luchtdichte doos.

Dan heb je een paar heerlijke crackers die je ongeveer 3 dagen kunt bewaren. Erg handig! Het beleg kun je vervolgens zo gek maken als je zelf wilt, zowel hartig als zoet. Ik heb ze vandaag belegd met kipfilet, veldsla en cherrytomaatjes en met pindakaas en plakjes banaan. Je zou ook kunnen kiezen voor huttenkase en gegrilde courgette. Ook lijkt me kipfilet met avocado héél lekker.

Heb je nou nog meer creatieve ideeën voor het beleg, dan hoor ik ze graag! Voor nu: duik die keuken in en ga lekker aan de bak. Succes!

Project pesto part 3: a tomato, mozzarella and pesto lunch

RECIPE

Today I will post the last recipe with pesto. It was fun while it lasted, but I ate all my pesto in 3 dishes! The last recipe is a lunch dish. I actually LOVE this lunch, I eat it a lot. I like it so much because it is warm, easy to make and of course... delicious! I love the classic combination of tomato, mozzarella and pesto.

What you need for 1 person
1 tomato
1/2 sphere mozzarella
1 ciabattina
PESTO!

Look at the beautiful colors!

How to make it
Cut the bread in half and put the pesto on each part. Slice up the tomato and mozzarella and put it on each half. Put the halves together and put it under the grill (sandwich toaster).

I served it with a cold glass of water with some mint leaves in it, but you can also serve it with one of my smoothie recipes. Bon appetit!

Project pesto part 2: Endive with mashed potatoes and bacon

RECIPE

Today starts a new week, so I will share with you another 'pesto-recipe'. It's kind of good weather in the Netherlands, even though I was longing for a dish with endive. I never liked it when I was a kid, but last year I tasted it again and since then I actually LOVE it! I like to experiment with the recipe and so arose my 'endive-pesto dish'. This is another tip for you guys: pesto is a great way to use as a seasoning for all kind of dishes. This is exactly what I used it for in this dish, because I used no salt or pepper. Only the homemade pesto.

What you need for 1 person
3 or 4 medium sized floury potatoes
150 g endive
100 g bacon
2 tablespoons homemade pesto

How to make
Peel the potatoes and cut them into small pieces so they will cook faster. Boil them in water with a little pinch of salt.

Bake the bacon in a frying pan without oil or butter in 5 minutes until golden. Drain on a paper towel, but keep the fat in the pan.

Mash the potatoes and add the fat of the bacon. It gives a great taste to the mashed potatoes, and now you don't have to add any butter or oil anymore. 

Add the endive, the pesto and the bacon and cook for another 3 minutes.

This is the first time I made this dish this way. But I have to say, it's really the best endive stew I ever ate! The pesto gave the taste of this dish so much depth, I highly recommend it!

Project Pesto part 1: Vegetable spaghetti from carrots and zucchini

RECIPE

Wednesday I introduced Project Pesto. As promised I will share with you my first 'pesto dish'. Yesterday I wanted to make a very healthy meal, just because I felt like it. I also had enough time to cook. And believe me, that is what you need for this dish. What an awful lot of work! But I have to say, it was really worth it. What a great way to replace carrots and zucchini for pasta, so delicious! I read about this meal very often, but in every recipe I noticed that they used a special machine to make the 'pasta'. Of course I don't have this machine. But I just knéw I could make it without the machine. (Note: if you do have the machine, it's totally NOT a lot of work!) I used carrots and zucchini, just because I had them at home. You can also use a lot of other vegetables for this 'pasta'. The same is true for the tomatoes. If you have other vegetables in stock or when you just don't like tomatoes that much, use them. You can also add chicken or some other kind of protein if you like. Be creative!

What you need for 1 person
2 carrots
1 small zucchini
1 large tablespoon homemade pesto
7 cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon pine nuts

How to make it
Cut the carrots and the zucchini in very small strips. Let them simmer in a frying pan for +/- 8 minutes. I don't like overcooked carrots, so I've put the carrots and the zucchini in the pan at the same time. If you like your carrots more cooked, then you can put the carrots in first for +/- 4 minutes and put in the zucchini later.

Toast the pine nuts in a frying pan without oil or butter in 3 min. until golden. Let it cool on a plate.

Cut the tomatoes in half and put them in the pan together with the carrots and zucchini. Bake at high heat for about 2 minutes.

Then add the pesto, Parmesan cheese and the pine nuts until everything is warm and mixed well.

Bon appetit!!

Project Pesto

INSPIRATION / RECIPE

Like I wrote before: I know how difficult it can be to cook for yourself when you live alone. Today I made fresh pesto genovese. Just because it tastes so much better than pesto from a jar! But pesto is a great example for something you just can't make for a meal for one person. Result: pesto overload. But that gave me an idea. In this post I will share with you my pesto recipe like i made it today. In the following posts these next days I will show you recipes where you can use your pesto, because I don't like to waste food. I will call it: Project Pesto.

When you don't like to eat something with pesto everyday (this is never a punishment to me!), I have another little tip for you: freeze the pesto into ice cube trays. This way you can grab an 'ice cube' every time you want to make a meal with pesto. Believe me, there is never an excuse to not make pesto yourself!

What you need
4 tablespoons pine nuts
50 g Parmesan cheese
1 clove of garlic
30 g basil
30 g rocket
+/- 12 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

How to make it
Toast the pine nuts in a frying pan without oil or butter in 3 min. until golden. Let it cool on a plate. Grind the pine nuts, cheese and garlic in a food processor. Add the basil, rocket and the oil and grind briefly to pesto (if it's too thick, add a little bit more oil). Season with pepper and salt (to taste).

"Project pesto, to be continued..."

Thai beef salad

RECIPE

Because I live alone, I know how difficult it can be to make a good meal. Some meals are just impossible to make for 1 person. Generally I manage to do so, but when I want to eat that kind of meal I just invite some family or friends. This way you kill two birds with one stone: you make them happy ánd you can eat something you normally can't make for yourself. A good example for this kind of meal is my Thai beef salad.

I really love this meal because it's full of veggies and fruit. It's also nice to eat, because there are cold pieces (veggies, fruit and peanuts) and warm pieces (beef and sugar snaps). I like to eat it the way it is, but you can also make rice as a side dish.

What you need for 4 persons
1 red onion
1 lime
brown sugar
soy sauce
1 cucumber
1 avocado
1 mango
300 g beefsteak
200 g sugar snaps (peultjes)
peanuts
coriander

How to make it
Cut the onion in thin slices. Make a dressing with the lime, sugar and soy sauce (I don't know the exact proportions. Just taste it and add a little bit more lime, sugar or soy sauce to taste. It has to taste a little sour and salt, not too sweet. This is the seasoning for the whole dish so make sure you make enough). Add the onion to the dressing. Because of the sourness of the lime, the onion will 'cook' a little bit.

Cut the cucumber, avocado and mango in pieces you like.

Cut the beefsteak in thin pieces en stir-fry them. Boil the sugar snaps.

Add everything to the onions. Finally, add peanuts and coriander to taste (I don't like a lot of coriander, it has a very specific taste).


Go on and cook this 'salad', make your loved ones happy!

Lunchtip: smoothie with kiwi and banana and toast with brie, honey, walnuts and rocket

RECIPE / INSPIRATION

I'm a bit busy today so I don't have a lot of time to write a long story. But I thought this was a good opportunity to show you that, even when you are busy, you can still eat a healthy and delicious lunch!

I'm gonna start with my smoothie. I bought some delicious ripe kiwi's today and I immediately wanted to use them. I often make a smoothie with banana so I decided that I was just going to add the kiwi to this recipe. Take a look at what I put in the blender:

What you need for 1 glass
1 kiwi
1 banana
1 tablespoon of chiaseeds
1 tablespoon of ground coconut
+/- 250 ml almond milk

Just put everything together in the blender and mix it up! I often use almond milk as fluid, but if you don't have it in stock you can also use water. The result was great. As expected the kiwi gave my smoothie a little hint of sourness and freshness. Delicious!

I wanted to eat something quick but also extraordinary, after all it´s Sunday! So I looked in my fridge and saw brie and rocket. I always have honey and some nuts in stock so that were the perfect ingredients for my lunch.

What you need for 1 portion
1 slice of bread (this can be any bread you like or have in stock)
+/- 50 g brie
honey
1 small hand of rocket
1 small hand of walnuts (I guess 3 or 4 whole walnuts)

How to make it
Turn on the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Then siege the bread with one layer of brie and drape some honey on it. Put it in the oven until you see the brie is melted (+/- 8 minutes). The bread is a little bit crunchy now as well, I like that. Then put on the rocket and the walnuts. If necessary, add a little bit more honey to taste.

So, that was my quick but even though delicious lunch for today. Doesn't it look good? It sure as hell tasted good! I hope you see that even if you're in a hurry, you can always make a delicious AND healthy lunch for yourself!

Most delicious tuna ever in Barcelona!

INSPIRATION

In yesterday's blog I already told you about my trip to Spain last week. We went to the Costa Brava, so of course we visited Barcelona.

It was a bit cloudy in the morning that day, so we decided that this was a perfect moment for a city trip. But when we arrived in Barcelona (we went by train, very cheap in Spain unlike in the Netherlands!) the clouds disappeared and the sun was shining. Lovely! We didn't want to go to the Ramblas, we wanted to discover the neighbourhood around this very busy street. This went very well and around 3 o'clock we discovered a restaurant we liked. This was where we wanted to eat that evening. At least that was the plan... Because at the time we were hungry we (of course) couldn't find the restaurant anymore! We walked for one hour and everytime we knew we were close, but it was impossible to find it. At one moment we spotted another restaurant we kind of liked, but we were so hungry that every kind of food would please our bellies. 

The restaurant was called Gilda. We learned that the restaurant was famous for its typical Mediterranean cuisine mixed in an original way with Belgian ingredients. They are also the only restaurant in the Barrio Gótico where you can find various Belgian draught beers (i.e. Stella Artois and Leffe). Very original! It was very hard to choose, but eventually we took lamb and tuna. I will share the picture with you, because then you will see how delicious it looks. And believe me, the taste was even better!! 

Menu
This is how we read these dishes on the menu:

• Rack of New Zealand lamb with mashed potatoes prepared with tandoori masala and chimi churri
• Tuna Tataki wrapped with sesame seeds with sepia pasta and market vegetables

So if you ever go to Barcelona, consider to go to restaurant Gilda! I'm sure they won't disappoint you and the price is also not that high.

Welcome foodies!

RECIPE

Today is the day I start blogging. It was a big step for me. But my friend Jolanda asked me several times to start, so here I am!
Last week I went to Spain for a holiday. Eight days long I was enjoying a lot of delicious food. But not always as healthy as I wanted. So when I came home I wanted to eat a lot of healthy stuff. I'm used to eat healthy, and not only because I think it's good for you, but also because I really like vegetables and fruit. So this morning I decided to make a good start and make myself a healthy smoothie!

I would like to share the recipe with you, because it's SO good!

What you need for 1 glass: 
60 g raspberries
60 g blackberries
+/- 250 ml almondmilk
1 tablespoon chiaseads
1 tablespoon ground coconut
1 tablespoon gojiberries

How to make it
Just put all the ingredients together in a blender and mix, easy as that! Be easy on the almondmilk at first, because when it's too thick you can add a little bit more almondmilk.

Enjoy!