Things to Try Thursday -16/05/13

Hej. I just handed in my (hopefully last ever) individual piece of coursework. It ended up 30 pages long (double spaced and including references, but still) and was quite a pain. First I didn’t know what to write and then I ended up having to cut out 1500 words. Fun times. Now I’ve “only” got a piece of group coursework, a group presentation and three exams left and then I’m done with uni (19 days to go!). As last week, I didn’t have time to actively look for recipes, so here’s just a couple that I came across and thought  were worth sharing. Have you come across anything that you think you have to try out this week? If you have, please share it with me in the comments.

SAVOURY

♚ I  did already try these and they were absolutely scrumptious and sooo healthy (did you know that nori sheets are actually really good for you?) – Nori Rolls 

♚ I love recipe that effortlessly combine healthy and delicious – Chickpea, Spring Onion, Kale and Panzanella Salad

♚ I love roasted any veg soup, so this is definitely my sort of thing – Vegan Roasted Cauliflower Soup

♚ Yummay – Oregano Roasted Brussel Sprout Salad with Pomegranate

♚ I may have told you this before, but I for one am always up for a quesadilla – Crispy Mushroom Spinach and Avocado Quesadillas

♚ A healthy version of an alfredo sauce – Pumpkin Fettuccine Alfredo

♚ A Burrito filled with my favourite vegetable in the whole world? Yes please – Sweet Potato Burrito smothered in Avocado Salsa

♚ Detox seems so much more doable, when it looks this pretty  - Warm Detox Veggie Tower

RECIPE: Quiche with Chargrilled Asparagus, Roasted Broccoli and Marinated Feta

Hejhej. How’s everyone doing? I thought I’d finally post another recipe for one of the dishes I made in the first week of the #VegBoxChallenge. I’ve always loved Quiches (my mum makes a delicious one) but I don’t feel like I have enough quiche in my life, so I was really happy when I came across a good recipe that was 1) a quiche and 2) would make use of two of the vegetables from my box. Well the original recipe wouldn’t have, but I thought it was a pretty straight forward substitute. Because I made some changes and because I promised to blog more recipes where you can use the marinated feta from this recipe, I thought I’d quickly blog about it.

RECIPE: Quiche with Chargrilled Asparagus, Roasted Broccoli and Marinated Feta

♘ Preheat the oven to 200°

♘ Make the pastry. I used the recipe from here (but it’s in german, so I’ll take you through it).
Mix 130g of flour, 20g of parmesan, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 65g of butter (cold), 1 egg and if you like some herbs and knead it into a dough. Then shape it into a ball, wrap it in cling film and put it in the fridge for 30min.

♘ Break off the woody stalks of one bundle of green asparagus, cut the asparagus into 1cm bits and fry the pieces in a griddle pan in a little bit of olive oil. When it’s cooked, sprinke with a tiny bit of salt.

♘ Cut one head of broccoli into little florets. Marinate in a little olive oil, salt, pepper and oregano.

♘ Spread the florets on a baking tray (covered in silver foil) and roast until it’s cooked and crispy (around 10 minutes)

♘ Whilst this is happening, roll out the pastry, then put it into a springform pan (you don’t need to grease it). Once the broccoli is cooked, put the springform pan in the oven and bake until slightly browned at 170° (I didn’t put anything on top to keep it down, and probably should have done, but still worked fine)

♘ Make your egg mixture: Separate two eggs. Whisk the egg whites until they’re stiff, and mix your (slightly cooled down) broccoli and asparagus, approximately 150g marinated feta (see this recipe), another tablespoon of grated Parmesan, and 75g soured cream with the egg yolk.

♘ Gently fold in the whisked egg whites

♘ Fill this into your springform pan with the pre-baked pastry and bake for another 20 minutes until lovely golden brown.

♘ Enjoy!

Things to Try Thursday – 09/05/13

First of all, sorry that I’ve been really slow with posting the recipes I promised to post, uni is kind of taking over everything at the moment (less than 4 weeks now though wohooo and oh my god I can’t believe it’s actually nearly over and I have to go join the real world).
I know there’s not too many recipes this week, but my deadlines next week really take priority at the moment, so I couldn’t spend time actively looking for recipes. I thought it’d be nice to quickly post the ones I just came across anyway. If you have anything that you think would be great to try, please leave me a link in the comments.
This week is more about what I would like people to make me to get me through my last couple of weeks of uni. Any volunteers please drop me an email

SWEET

♔ Do I even need to say anything? Salted Caramel Brownie Milkshake hello!!

♔ These look incredibly comforting - Strawberry – Sour Cream Scones with Brown Sugar Crumble

♔ Love me a good Frozen Yoghurt - Rhubarb and Raspberry Ripple Fro Yo

SAVOURY

♔ Trying to ease from cookies and biscuits for breakfast to kale (not for breakfast, but you know I’m talking general), but taking it very slowly with something that has both butter and kale in its name - Brown Butter Spaghetti with Baby Kale and Roasted Butternut Squash

♔ There’ll be another aubergine in my veg box tomorrow, so this recipe got my attention: Aubergine Rollatini

♔ I love anything Coriander-Lime – Coriander and Lime Chickpea Salad

RECIPE: Roasted Broccoli Salad with Cranberries

Today just a quick recipe (again one I used for the #VegBoxChallenge last week). This one is very strongly inspired by the wonderful Jennifer from milkandhoney. She made broccoli slaw with buttermilk dressing, which I thought looked absolutely sublime. But due to

♧ not wanting to get my food processor out
♧ Daniel having a nut allergy, so almonds are unfortunately a no-no
♧ Me not being the biggest fan of sour cherries

I made a couple of changes, so I thought I’d show you my version on here too, because I absolutely loved it! There are a lot of delicious recipes on milkandhoney, so I suggest you all go and have a look .

RECIPE: Roasted Broccoli Salad with Cranberries
♧ Cut 1 head of broccoli into little florets
♧ Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan. Once it’s hot, add the broccoli, a pinch of salt and dried oregano
♧ Keep it on heat for about 10 minutes or until the broccoli is crispy and cooked
♧ In the meantime, make the dressing. (You need buttermilk, greek yoghurt, sugar and apple cider vinegar)
♧ Finely chop 1/2 red onion
♧ Mix the dressing, the red onion, the broccoli, a handful of dried cranberries and a handful of croutons and there you go.

I thought this was absolutely delicious, so thank you Jennifer

Week 2 Veg Box Challenge – The Box

So after I showed you yesterday what I did with all my wonderful veggies last week (link), here’s the contents of my box this week:

So, who’s got some lovely ideas what I could do with all this beautiful veg for me? Please share them in the comments

RECIPE: Delightful Butternut Squash Pasta with Sage and Caramelized Onions

Last week, we decided we wanted to make Squash Wellington again (recipe here from sorted food), because we absolutely loved it last time we made it (you need to try it, it’s divine), but being into the #VegBoxChallenge etc, I wanted to make sure we also use the other half of the butternut squash for another meal. So whilst Daniel was training away at his Kung Fu class, I decided to try and come up with a delicious, creamy pasta dish, without actually using any cream (get me!). And well, we liked it, so I thought I’d share it on here. (I didn’t tell Daniel I hadn’t put in soured cream (as planned) and he didn’t notice, so that’s got to show that it’s tasty without it, right?)

RECIPE: Delightful Butternut Squash Pasta with Sage and Caramelized Onions

♠ Preheat your oven to 200°C
♠ Cut your (peeled) upper half of a butternut squash into little cubes
♠ “Marinate” the cubes in a little olive oil, salt and a pinch of cayenne pepper
♠ Put them on a baking tray and in the oven for approximately 30mins (or until they’re cooked, it might take less or more time depending on your oven, you can tell they’re cooked by that they’re really easy to squeeze and turn into puree without applying much pressure)

In the mean time, get on with your sauce
♠ Cut one white onion into thin slices, chop half a chili and a small handful of sage
♠ Heat 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan, when it’s heated up, add the onion
♠ Add just over 1 teaspoon of vegetable stock powder, the chili and the sage
♠ When it starts to catch, add a generous splash of water. Let it cook off and repeat this procedure until your butternut squash is cooked. Honestly it’s worth it! 
♠ When the butternut squash is cooked, put your pasta on. 
♠ Add a generous splash of balsamic vinegar to the sauce
♠ Turn the heat off and add the butternut squash cubes, as well as 2 tablespoons of Greek Yoghurt to your sauce
♠ Puree with a hand blender and serve with the pasta and plenty of grated Parmesan (or a vegetarian hard cheese alternative)

Note: The photo of the dish also includes roasted chickpeas, but they really didn’t add anything, so I didn’t include them in the recipe. I also would not recommend using the pasta I used, it just doesn’t cook in any sort of reasonable amount of time. Just a tip, you know. 

 

Love Food Hate Waste

Image from http://england.lovefoodhatewaste.com/content/about-us-2

Hello folks, today I’d like to introduce you to a website. Everyone should have a look, it’s truly great, but it will be especially helpful to those lovely people who have decided to join me in the #VegBoxChallenge. The website I’m talking about is Love Food Hate Waste (a name that represents a sentiment very close to my heart).

The concept is simple; it’s all about showing you ways to indulge in food whilst reducing the amount you waste, i.e. exactly what I’m trying to achieve with the veg box challenge. There’s everything you need from planning your portions right to how to use up gone-wrinkly vegetables (for which you can simply search by ingredient, and the website shows you great ways to use them up. Even if you don’t have anything particular to use up, the recipes are definitely worth having a look at).

There’s tips how you can store food so it lasts longer and tips how you can get things to ripen quicklier (like Avocados). The website itself has a great user interface and is incredibly informative. Have a look and let me know what you think

The Veg Box Challenge – Join Me (and a little Give-Away)

Aloha! We all like a little challenge every now and again, don’t we? So, I’ve got an idea, here’s the deal. Keep reading, there’s a little cheeky give away at the end!

On Monday I’m starting my (hopefully) last term of my Bachelor. To me the start of a new term at school or uni is like new years day for other people, it’s a day of resolutions. Now, I don’t really want to loose weight or anything (just eat healthier), but I do want to reduce the amount of food waste I produce, eat more seasonally and try out  more new things in the kitchen.

One thing I find really inspiring is getting a weekly vegetable box. You get a random selection of different vegetables and you’ve got to come up with ways to use it. Pretty fun right? Anyway, I thought making a thing out of this, i.e. The Veg Box Challenge, would make me more motivated to actually use everything in the box, because you know I want to make the impression that I’m really cool and know how to transform the strangest vegetables into something that tastes utterly divine, rather than like someone who forgets their veggies in the bottom shelf of the fridge. So by putting a little more pressure on myself and by making it more fun, I’ll hopefully be able to reduce food waste, eat more seasonally and try out new things in the kitchen. I will blog about how I found delicious ways to use everything in my box – fingers crossed. Anyway, most importantly, I’d love you to join me! Let’s make #TheVegChallenge a thing! Let’s have a friendly competition around who comes up with the most delicious seasonal veg dishes. It’s so simple! Getting involved is easy, and you can participate whether you get an actual veg box or not*!

Here’s how it works:

♣  Start by posting the contents of your box
♣ Get creative with whatever ingredients you find in it
♣  Blog about what wonderful uses you found for every single veg

(Whether you want to do this in 1 or 2 blogposts a week is up to you! You could for example share how you used last week’s vegetables in the post, where you share which ones you’ve got for the following week)

* If you don’t get a veg box, you can still join in with all the fun! Just buy seasonal veg and share how you used it, using the hashtag #VegBoxChallenge. (I know pretty unconventional to have the “*” link to something on the middle of the page, but you know, I clearly don’t play by anybody’s rules hehe)

Anyway back to my point, I would love you to join me. If you do decide to join me, please let me know by commenting on this post and I will link you on here, so it’s easy for everyone to follow other people’s progress. Oh and if you like, please use the banner at the top of the page on your blog!

I’m very exited about this : ) For now, the challenge is set to run for 8 weeks. Week 1 starting on Monday the 15th of April with everyone individual’s start date obviously depending on when during the week they get their veg box/do their big shop. The last week then will finish on the 9th of June.

P.S. If you’re interested in subscribing to a veg box, but don’t know where from: I get mine from Abel and Cole and have been more than happy so far, it’s always super fresh and gets you to try new things ( I get the small gourmet box), and sometimes you even get a free milk with it (literally the nicest milk I’ve ever tasted).

GIVE AWAY

Source: http://www.abelandcole.co.uk/small-gourmet-box

I’m giving away one £20 voucher for fresh vegetables from Abel and Cole, which gives you a wide choice between boxes and a little extra to to try one or two other things from their shop. All you have to do is comment on this post, ensure you enter a valid e-mail address and answer this question:

♣ If you could only eat one vegetable for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?

The Give Away closes on Friday, 19th of April at midnight UK time.

How many teaspoons are in a cup?

Measure Up Kitchen Conversion Chart by Shannon Lattin from (Click photo to get to source)

RECIPE: Thai-flavoured Sweet Potato Chowder

I made soup yesterday. Aaaaaaaaand it actually turned out delicious. Like surprisingly tasty! It’s definitely my new favourite soup, which doesn’t come as a surprise, because it’s built on the idea of my previous favourite soup combined with this one, which is a variation of Nigella Lawson’s Chowder with Asian Flavours. Anyway the idea is to add Thai/Asian flavours to my already dearly loved sweet potato soup. Try it, honestly it’s probably my favourite recipe on here so far! The recipe is for 3-4 people.

♠ Preheat the oven to 190° C
♠ Peel one large (or two regular) sweet potato(s) and cut it in little cubes (like 1cm x 1cm roughly)
♠ Marinate them in a little olive oil, cayenne pepper, and salt (don’t go crazy with the spices though, there’ll be plenty of other flavours in the soup!)
♠ Spread the cubes evenly on a baking tray and bake for 20-30min (until they’re slightly crispy on the outside and wonderfully soft inside). Whilst this is happening, get on with the base of your soup:
♠ Bring 1.25l of vegetable stock to the boil in a big saucepan
♠ Add 1 leek (cut into thin slices) and cook for 10 minutes
♠ Add 1 can of coconut milk, 1/2 chopped red chili and bring to the boil again, then turn off the heat and mix in a generous handful of chopped up fresh coriander
♠ Once the sweet potato cubes are done, mix them into the soup and blend it all together
♠ Add 1 small tin of sweetcorn, a bunch of spring onions (chopped into thin slices) and the juice of a lime (taste as you go, anything between half a lime and a whole lime should do the job depending on how citrus-y you like it) and serve with some nice Baguette.

Enjoy If you make it, please let me know how you like it!