Curried chickpea and broccoli burgers

I'm usually not a huge fan of the ready-made vegan burgers you can find, although not always easily, in shops. With a few exceptions, they don't taste of too much in my opinion. Still, there are days when a nice burger is exactly what I feel like. Well, no worries, as they say in Australia ;) A few months ago I got a fantastic book that has plenty of great burger recipes: 'The Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet'. The book has 101 vegan burgers recipes. Some of them require ingredients which might be a bit difficult to get, for example textured vegetable protein (TVP), while others use easily available and affordable products, such as, well, vegetables ;), rice, nuts, oats or various flours. The below recipe contains vital wheat gluten flour, which in Belgium I usually get at Bio-Planet. It can also be bought online.

Curried Chickpea and Broccoli Burger

(for 6 to 8 burgers)

2 cans (or 840g) of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 tbsp. minced garlic

2 tbsp. tahini paste

1 tbsp. sesame oil

1 tsp. green curry paste (I didn't have any at hand, so I used the yellow curry powder, 1 tbsp., and cayenne pepper, 1/2 tsp.)

1/2 cup (or 72g) vital wheat gluten flour

salt and pepper

1 cup (71 g) broccoli florets, steamed (I simply put them for a few minutes in boiling water) and chopped

oil, for frying (optional)

I increased the amounts by 50%, which gave me 10 burgers. I used more garlic and more broccoli than the recipe suggests.

In a bowl, combine the chickpeas, garlic, tahini, oil, curry paste (or powder), flour, salt and pepper. The recipe suggests mashing everything together using your hands or using a food processor. I definitely didn't manage to mash too much with my hands ;) I used a blender, leaving part of the mixture unblended, to have some whole chickpeas in the burgers. Then add the broccoli and combine. If the dough is too wet, add some more flour. If it is too dry, add some more oil (mine was just right). Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.

Now you can either fry the burgers, 4-5 minutes per side, or you can bake them. I hate frying ;) That's another reason why I like this book - most of the burgers can be baked in the oven as well. The recipe suggests baking them covered with a foil tent to keep the moisture for 15 minutes on each side at 180°C, until firm and beginning to brown. I baked mine under the foil tent for at least 25 minutes on each side. I was very positively surprised to see that they kept their shape really well and remained very moist. I served them with some homemade whole-wheat buns, ketchup and various vegetables. They were really delicious!

Vegan curry pancakes

I have to admit that this was my very first attempt at making vegan pancakes, except form the sweet breakfast ones. That's why I'm so happy it was a success ;) They were really delicious and surprisingly easy to fry. I will be experimenting with other types of flour, but the dark wheat/buckwheat combination has worked really well. I added a spoon of corn flour as a binding agent, I'm sure potato flour would also do the trick. I have a feeling that a pancake period has just started in my kitchen ;)

Batter (I got 9 pancakes out of it, the last one being quite small ;)

150g whole wheat flour

150g buckwheat flour

1 tbsp. corn flour

1 tsp. salt

2 tbsp. curry powder

250ml soy milk

500ml water

Filling:

2-3 tbsp. olive oil

1 onion, chopped

5 garlic cloves, minced

3 medium leeks, sliced

250g mushrooms, chopped

450g frozen spinach 

250g tofu, crumbled

Mix all the dry batter ingredients, add the soy milk and approximately half of the water and start blending with a mixer. Gradually add the remaining water, until you have reached the desired pancake batter consistency. You might need to use more water than 500ml (I added some extra water when the first pancake turned out a bit too thick). Mix until the dough has little bubbles of air in it. Heat up a pancake pan, brush it with a bit of olive oil (just once) and fry the pancakes on both sides.

You can use any filling you want, preferably not sweet, though ;) I fried the vegetables mentioned above on some olive oil, then added the tofu and spices - salt, pepper and chili powder to taste. I put the pancakes with the filling on a baking dish and baked them for 10 minutes at 180°C. I served the hot and crispy pancakes with a super-fast tomato salsa (a can of chopped tomatoes or tomato passata mixed with minced garlic, salt, pepper and dried thyme, heated up in microwave).

Tomato, red lentils and smoked chili soup

Winter this year has been exceptionally warm and well... boring! It's more like a typical Belgian autumn, in fact, dark, rainy and windy. The last couple of days it has started to get colder, though. All that is still missing is some snow finally... Today after a very nice long run in the forest I really felt like a hot and spicy soup tonight. And so I decided for a slightly different tomato soup - with red lentils for extra thickness and some chilean merquén spice for a hot smoked flavour. Fast, easy to make and really delicious!

Tomato and red lentils soup

(makes 6-8 servings)

3 tbsp. olive oil

2 medium onions, chopped

8 garlic cloves, minced

3 cans of diced tomatoes, 400g each

140g tomato paste

250g red lentils, picked over and well rinsed

2-2.5L vegetable bullion, depending on the desired thickness

1-2 tsps. merquén spice (a mix of dried and smoked Chilean chili seasoned with cumin, coriander and salt)

0.5-1 tsp. ground cumin

0.5 tsp. salt

chopped fresh parlsey or coriander to garnish

In a large pot heat up the olive oil, add the onions and garlic, fry for 5 minutes at a low-medium heat. Add the canned tomatoes and tomato paste, cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the bullion and the lentils, cover and cook at low heat until the lentils are soft, 20-30 min. Add the spices, simmer for 5 more minutes  and serve with chopped fresh parsley or coriander and a thick slice of fresh bread.

Spaghetti with eggplant and tomato sauce

This recipe is a modified version of the ‘Eggplant Spaghetti Bolognese’ from the Whole Foods Market website:

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/2843

I use their recipes very often, mostly through a very nice app for iPhone and iPad. You can search for recipes by ingredient, or a combination of ingredients that you have at hand, using filters such as ‘vegan’, ‘vegetarian’, ‘sugar conscious’, ‘low fat’, ‘gluten free’, etc. Other filters include the type of course and category, e.g. ‘make ahead’, ‘no cook’, quick and easy’. The app allows you also to create a shopping list directly from the recipe, then you can just delete the ingredients you already have. All in all, I find it very, very useful and so far all the vegan recipes I have tried have worked out great. I highly recommend it!

Here is my today’s version of the recipe. The first time I made this dish I didn’t have any almond milk and I have continued to do it this way. I might try adding it once to see how the flavor changes, but it works out great without it. 

I have to admit it made a lot of food, I would say 8 portions, so you might want to modify the amounts a bit. In fact that's the only problem with the Whole Foods Market recipes, I don't find their serving sizes very accurate - the original recipe says it serves 8, while in fact I even doubled some of the ingredients and I think now it might serve 8. Or maybe we simply eat much more ;)

1.5 cup red wine

2 small onions, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

8 cloves garlic, minced

2 small eggplants, chopped (I didn’t peel them)

250g dark champignons

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 yellow bell pepper, chopped

1 tbsp. dried rosemary (as I forgot to buy fresh…)

3 cans chopped tomatoes

4 tbsp. tomato paste

2 cups vegetable broth

Cayenne pepper and freshly ground black pepper to taste

½ tsp. salt

5 tbsp. chopped fresh basil

Whole wheat spaghetti

Bring the red wine to simmer in a large pot. Add the onions, carrots, celery, 6 garlic cloves and cook over low/medium heat until most of the wine has evaporated. Add the eggplants, mushrooms, bell peppers and rosemary and cook for a few minutes, stirring frequently. Add the vegetable broth, remaining garlic (I always save some garlic to add at a later stage of cooking sauces or soups, but don’t do it if you don’t like a more distinct garlic flavor), tomato paste, canned tomatoes, cayenne, black pepper and salt, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and add half of the basil. Cook the spaghetti, drain, stir in the sauce and serve with the remaining basil.

My vegan Bailey's

I used to love Bailey's before going vegan. And while my love for other 'old times' foods, e.g. cheese, quickly faded away or turned into a 'how could I ever eat that?' feeling, my affection for Bailey's has stayed. Usually I am very much against trying to make vegan substitutes of non-vegan dishes. Why would I ever want to eat something that's supposed to taste like a cow or fish? I'd rather not, really, even if it's 100 percent vegan. But in case of Bailey's I see it differently, the only non-vegan ingredient is cream, which isn't the dominant taste in the drink as such. So I thought I would give it a try and make my own vegan version of it. I had a look at some online ideas, I compared them with my own memories of the taste, and here's what I came up with:

Vegan Bailey's

1 cup creamy coconut milk (I used 'extra creamy coconut milk' from Santa Maria) 

1 cup coffee

1/2 cup Irish whiskey

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3 tbsp. agave syrup (I think brown sugar would also work)

Blend all the ingredients at high speed, pour over ice and serve! Easy, right? ;)

It tastes great! The only difference is the consistency, the original is a bit thicker. I think it this could be achieved with coconut milk creamer, but that's unfortunately very hard to get here. But the taste for sure makes up for this little difference.

Cheers :)

Seitan piccata with white wine and caper sauce

This is my favorite seitan recipe. It is very elegant, perfect for serving for guests, yet it is pretty simple and not very time consuming. It comes from The Candle Café Cookbook.

Seitan piccata with white wine and caper sauce

(serves 4 to 6)

6 seitan cutlets

whole wheat flour, for dredging

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup diced shallots

1/2 cup diced onions

1 tsp. chopped garlic (I used more, 4 cloves)

1/4 cup drained capers (I used double the amount)

1 cup dry white wine

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 cup vegetable broth

2 tbsp. unbleached flour (I used whole wheat flour)

4 tbsp. soy margarine (I used 2)

1 cup chopped parsley

1 tsp. salt

freshly ground pepper, to taste

Dredge the seitan cutlets in the flour. Heat up 2 tbsp. of olive oil and fry the seitan, until crisp and golden brown on both sides. Put the seitan aside. Heat up the remaining olive oil in the pan. Add the shallots, onions, garlic and capers, sauté and stir until softened. Add the white wine and cook until reduced by half. Add the lemon juice and cook until the sauce is reduced a bit more. Add the broth and the flour. Bring to boil and then simmer for 1 minute. Stir in the margarine, parsley, salt and pepper. Pour over the seitan cutlets and serve.

I usually prepare the seitan and sauce (without the parsley) earlier and then just add the parsley to the sauce, put the sauce over seitan in a flat baking dish and heat it up in the oven just before serving. This way you can prepare it in advance. Today we had it with oven baked potatoes with fresh rosemary and cucumber-sesame salad. It also tastes great with roasted root vegetables and rice.

Lentil soup with lemon and garlic

Let's face it - after a really beautiful and warm autumn in Brussels, the winter is just around the corner. It is getting colder and darker every day. But so far it hasn't been raining too much and that itself is a reason to be happy ;) I have to admit that this is the time of the year when I don't always feel like preparing some elaborate and time-consuming dishes on weekdays. Often after coming home from work I prefer to lie on the sofa with a good book or go for an evening run, rather than spend a lot of time in the kitchen (which on the other hand I very much enjoy at the weekends). But I still like to eat, and I like to eat nice. Soups are a fantastic solution here, as I usually make enough to last for three days. Then we have them with dark break or rolls with some nice vegan spread on top. A fast, but super delicious and super healthy dinner.

Today I made one of my favourite soups: lentil soup with lemon and garlic from The Complete Book of Vegan Cooking by Tony and Yvonne Bishop-Weston:

(serves 4; I post the original recipe here - I doubled the quantities)

3 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 celery sticks, chopped
1-2 carrots, sliced

4 garlic cloves, chopped

1 potato, peeled and diced

250g red lentils, well rinsed

1 litre vegetable stock

2 bay leaves

1-2 lemons, halved

1/2 tsp ground cumin, or to taste

cayenne pepper or Tabasco sauce, to taste

ground black pepper

lemon slices and chopped fresh flat leave parsley (I used regular parsley), to garnish

Heat the olive oil in a large pan, add the onions and cook for 5 minutes. Add the celery, carrots, half the garlic and the potato. Cook a few mintues until they begin to soften. Add the lentils and the vegetable stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer under cover for about 30 minutes. Add the bay leaves, remaining garlic, half the lemons and cook until the lentils and vegetables are tender (10-15 minutes). Remove the bay leaves (I also removed the lemon halves, blending them later didn't really appeal to me...). Squeeze the juice from the remaining lemons into the soup and stir. Blend the soup, season with the cumin, cayenne pepper or Tabasco. Heat up the soup again, pour into bowls and serve garnished with chopped parsley and lemon slices.

And yes, it tastes as good as it looks ;)

Curried potato-spinach soup

Yet another great recipe from the Candlé Cafe Cookbook. Perfect for a chilly autumn evening.

I modified the quantities a bit - I used a whole onion instead of a half, 4 garlic cloves instead of 2, I added one sweet potato and more spinach.

Curried potato-spinach soup

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 tbsp. curry powder

1 tsp. fennel seeds (I ground them in a coffee mill)

1 tsp. ground coriander (as above, I ground whole coriander seeds)

1 tsp. turmeric

1 tsp. ground cumin

1/4 tsp. cayenne 

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 celery stalk, chopped

4 medium potatoes (in the recipe Yukon Gold), peeled and chopped

1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped

1 cup chopped cauliflower florets

3 quarts (2.8L) vegetable broth

2 large handfuls of spinach, rinsed and coarsely chopped

1-2 tbsp. sea salt to taste

chopped cilantro for garnish

In a soup pot heat up the olive oil over medium heat, add the onion and all the spices. Fry until the onion becomes translucent. Add the garlic and celery and sauté for a few minutes, until the garlic becomes fragrant, but be careful not to burn it. Add the potatoes and cauliflower, mix them well with the spices. Add the broth, bring to boil and simmer until the vegetables are tender (about 40 min). Add the spinach, remove from the heat and set aside to cool. Blend the soup, then reheat, add salt to taste, garnish with cilantro and serve!

Roasted Roots

The original recipe for this delicious side dish comes from The Candle Café Cookbook, one of my all-time favourite cooking books. The authors are the owners of Candle 79 vegan restaurant in New York. I used a bit more vegetables and garlic, I also made more marinade. Here is the slightly adjusted recipe:

Roasted roots (serves 4 as a side dish)

2 medium carrots, cut into 2 cm pieces

3 parsnips or root parsleys, peeled and cut into small chunks

2 beetroots, peeled and cut into small chunks

2 yams or sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into small chunks

2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced

3 tbsp. olive oil
3 tbsp. tamari or shoyu soy sauce
pinch of dried basil, oregano, thyme
freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Place the vegetables on a shallow baking sheet. In a small bowl combine the olive oil, soy sauce, herbs, pepper and salt, mix well. Pour over the vegetables and mix well. I do it with my hand, in fact sometimes I put all the marinade ingredients directly on the vegetables and mix. It saves time and a bit of washing up ;) Bake until tender, it usually takes about an hour.

Grapefruit and pear juice with a kick

This is my attempt to recreate a juice from the Saf Restaurant and Bar at Whole Foods Market Kensington. Both shopping for some vegan ingredients hard to get in Belgium and a lunch at the restaurant are a must for me every time I am in London. I wish they opened one in Brussels, but so far my requests have been ignored... ;)

The rather unexpected ingredients in this juice are flaxseed oil and cayenne pepper. They do give it quite a kick ;) Flaxseed oil (otherwise known as linseed oil) contains Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids, both needed for our health. Still, the juice will also taste great and be very refreshing if you don't like flaxseed oil, which has quite a special taste, or if you don't like the idea of a spicy juice altogether. Either way, if you like grapefruits and feel like a bit of help to wake up in the morning, go for it :)

Ingredients for 1.5L of juice:

6 grapefruits, peeled
6 pears (I use conference)
1lemon, peeled
a piece of ginger
1 tsp. flaxseed oil
a pinch of cayenne pepper (a very small pinch ;)

Juice all the fruit, then add the oil and cayenne pepper, mix well, pour into glasses and enjoy!

Vegetable curry with quinoa

Vegetable curry with quinoa (serves 4-6)

2 tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tbsp. freshly grated ginger
1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp. ground cumin
2 tbsp. dry coriander
1 pack (375g) firm tofu, cubed
800g frozen vegetables (mine included green beans, carrots, zucchini, red peppers, onions, cucumbers, broccoli, green peas, vegetable bullion, green olives, powder garlic, pepper, basil, oregano, thyme)
2 cans chopped tomatoes
Salt, pepper, cayenne pepper or chili
½ cup sunflower seeds
2 cups quinoa
A bunch of parsley, chopped, for serving

This is a very simple and fast recipe I came up with for dinner today. Usually I serve curries with rice, but it actually worked really well with quinoa. I think thanks to the quinoa the dish feels quite light, but at the same time it is actually filling. Very healthy and very tasty, nothing more I could want from a nice dinner ;)

Heat up the olive oil in a wok and fry the onion, garlic and ginger for a few minutes. Add the balsamic vinegar, cumin, coriander and fry for another 2-3 minutes, add the tofu and fry until it’s well covered in the garlic/ginger/spices mixture. Add the frozen vegetables and cook over low-medium heat for about 10 min, then add the canned tomatoes, sunflower seeds, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper or chili. Cook until the vegetables are done, but still crispy. In the meantime prepare the quinoa according to the instructions on the package. Serve the vegetable sauce over quinoa, topped with chopped parsley.

Fruit salad with basil

We are still on Sardinia, enjoying the beautiful late summer. Today it has been really hot and after a long biking trip, I felt like something light and refreshing. I simply combined all the fruit I had at hand with some chopped fresh basil leaves, lime juice and maple syrup. A very nice dish on a hot day! Last time I made it, we had it as dessert and then the following day I combined the leftovers with some mixed greens. It turned out to be a fantastic side salad to the grilled tofu, eggplants and zucchini we had for dinner.

Fruit salad with basil

1/2 small water melon
1/2 melon
1 orange
2 peaches
1/2 small pineapple
a handful of chopped basil leaves
juice of 1/2 lime
maple syrup to taste

Kamilla's signature sandwiches ;)

I love sandwiches. There are many combinations of vegetables I like using as toppings, but for sure a classic one for me is tomatoes and avocados. A simple but delicious combination which I discovered during my trip to Chile and Argentina in January/February this year. It started with a few hotel breakfasts, where I quickly realized that the usual options include toasts, jam, ham, sometimes cheese, some great fresh fruit, at least ten types of cakes and absolutely no vegetables, which is what I would normally have with the bread in places where no other vegan options are available. So I started bringing my own tomato and avocado for breakfast ;) I would also use this easy to prepare combination for my road trips sandwiches. And those I ate a lot of, as we covered hundreds of kilometers by car every day. In a way I feared I wouldn't be able to look at avocados and tomatoes after coming back to Brussels, but that wasn't the case, it's one of the things I seem not to be able to get bored with. I just wish the vegetables I buy in Brussels reminded more of the South American ones ;)

Some of my favourite choices for other ingredients to go with the avocado/tomato combination are listed below. The tofu is optional. I often keep some marinated tofu slices in the fridge, but they all taste great without it as well:

- hummus, mixed greens, tofu, tomato, avocado, salt, pepper
- any vegan bread spread, tofu, tomato, avocado, salt, pepper
- hummus, vegan 'ham' slice, tomato, avocado, salt, pepper

Right now I'm on Sardinia, where the tomatoes and avocados are just so divine that it would feel like too much of a waste not to eat plenty of them every day. Below just two examples of some Sardinian interpretations of my tomato-avocado sandwich:

a slice of durum semolina bread with sundried tomatoes, vegan sundried tomato spread, mixed greens, tomatoes, avocados, salt, pepper, chili powder

a slice of durum semolina bread with sundried tomatoes, grilled tofu, tomatoes, avocado/grilled zucchini, pepper

04.09.2011 - update ;) A friend of mine from Denmark sent me a recipe and photos of his version of the avocado/tomato sandwiches. They for sure look fantastic! I have never tried artichoke pesto, but I will definitely see if I can find it in Brussels once I'm back, so that I can also try this very tasty looking combination. Thank you, Kim!

Brown bread or toasted white bread, some artichoke Pesto from Irma, tomatoes, avocado in slices, basil leaves

Breakfast pancakes

After a long break, I finally pulled myself together and so here comes a really delicious recipe for vegan pancakes, ideal for a lazy weekend breakfast ;)

Ingredients:

½ cup buckwheat flour

½ cup spelt flour or all-purpose white flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

1 tbsp. cinnamon

1 cup soy milk

¼ cup vanilla soy milk (or rice milk instead of both types of soy milk)

1 tbsp. lemon juice

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp. agave syrup

2 bananas, sliced (I used frozen banana pieces that I keep in the freezer for making quick smoothies, I just defrosted them by putting the plastic bag with the bananas in some hot water)

Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl mix the wet ingredients and the banana pieces. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and mix together. Heat a nonstick pancake pan over medium-high heat and pour a portion of the batter, the amount depending on how big you want the pancakes to be. Cook until the underside is lightly brown, then flip to the other side. Repeat until you have used all the batter. I served them with some mango and peaches, agave syrup and extra cinnamon. They are absolutely delicious, I will for sure be making them often.

Mango and tomato salad

This is another invention I came up with after returning from a holiday and realizing there isn't much food at home. I had never tried to combine mangoes and tomatoes, but it tastes really good. I think it would be even better with some fresh corriander and maybe some avocado slices. Next time!

1 ripe mango, cubed
3 tomatoes, cut into wedges
1 tbsp dried basil
salt
pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar

Mix all the ingredients in a salad bowl. I served it with potatoes with dried rosemary, salt and pepper, garlic cloves (peeled) and red onions (cut into wedges), all baked in the oven.

Beetroot, strawberry and pineapple juice

Ever since I discovered that my local supermarket has strawberries at 1.5 euro for 500g, I have been a regular customer ;) Of course they don't taste as good as the 'real' stuff in June, even though for a few years now I've had an impression that strawberries are just not what they used to be... Still, I love them and I have not only been eating a lot of them, but also juicing them a lot. The idea to combine beetroots and strawberries in a juice started as a purely esthetic consideration about the colour I would get out of this mix. Well, the colour is fantastic, red with a bit of purple shades, but what's more important, the juice tastes great. Especially if you like the taste of beetroots, of course ;) In fact the beetroots taste is not very strong, very much overwhelmed by the strawberries and the pineapple, but if you 'hate' beetroots (like my husband ;), it might still be too much. I love it.

1 pineapple, peeled and chopped into chute fitting pieces

500g of strawberries, washed

500g of packed, pre-cooked beetroots
half a lime, peeled

Juice everything trying not to make too much beetroot juice mess ;)

Sundried tomatoes, basil and tofu quiche

400g silken tofu
375g firm tofu
10 sundried tomatoes (if you use the ones in olive oil, drain them first, if you use dried ones, put boiling water over them for a few minutes, then drain)
1 yellow pepper, cut in stripes
1 red onion, cut in wedges
1 can of artichoke hearts, drained and cut in halves
5-7 cloves of garlic
a bunch of basil
10 cherry tomatoes, cut in halves
a pack of puff pastry
pepper, salt, chili to taste
olive oil

Preheat the oven to 220°C. Place the yellow pepper and the red onion on a baking sheet coated with olive oil, roast them in the oven for about 10 min. At the same time, or when the vegetables are ready, bake the puff pastry for about 15 min, until it turns light brown.

In the meantime place the sundried tomatoes, silken tofu, half of the firm tofu, garlic, basil (leaving aside a few leaves) and two spoons of olive oil in a food processor and blend until smooth. Crumble the remaining half of the firm tofu into the mixture, add salt, pepper and chili to taste. Put the tofu filling into the pre-baked puff pastry bottom, arrange the cherry tomatoes, red onion, artichokes and yellow pepper on top. Bake for another 25-30 min. Garnish with the remaining basil leaves. Serve with a mixed greens salad (I used mixed greens, green olives, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, olive oil and balsamic vinegar)

Strawberry and pineapple juice

I love strawberries and can never get enough of them. So when I came across the idea to use them for juice, I thought is was brilliant and I had to try it. I chose pineapple as the other main ingredient, as I thought this combination would give a great sweet and creamy juice. And it did. An addition of lime breaks the sweetness a bit and makes the juice fantastically refreshing.

I think the best recommendation for this recipe is my husband's reaction when he tasted it: Wow, this is for sure one of your masterpieces ;)

Strawberry and Pineapple Juice

1 pineapple, peeled and cut into chute fitting pieces
500g of strawberries, washed (I left the green leaves)
2 apples (Royal Gala)
1 lime, peeled

First juice the pineapple pieces and strawberries (pineapple, a few strawberries, pineapple again and so on), then the lime and finish with the apples. Enjoy!

Spinach and tofu quiche

1 pack of puff pastry

350g of fresh spinach, rinsed

400g of tofu, crumbled with a fork (I used silken tofu, but I think regular would work as well)
1 red onion, chopped
1 leek (white part), sliced
6 cloves of garlic, crushed
salt, pepper, nutmeg, fresh thyme to taste
olive oil

Fill a medium quiche pan with the puff pastry and put it into the oven heated up to 210°C for about 5 min, just until it begins to become a bit brown. Remove from the oven.

Heat up the olive oil in a large frying pan, add the onion and leek. Fry for about 5 min on low heat, until soft. Add the garlic, fry until fragrant. Add the spinach and cook on medium heat until all the water has evaporated, then add the tofu, salt, pepper, nutmeg and thyme, mix well. Cook for about 10 min, stirring frequently. When all the ingredients are well mixed and all the liquid gone, transfer into the pre-baked puff pastry bottom, spreading evenly. Bake for 15-20 min, until the top becomes slightly brown. Take out of the oven, let it cool for a few minutes and serve with a fresh salad. I used a mix of green leaves, cherry tomatoes, sunflower seeds with olive oil, balsamico, salt and pepper.

Blood orange, pineapple and carrot juice

6 blood oranges, peeled

1 large pineapple, peeled and cut into chute fitting pieces

500g of carrots, well washed, unpeeled

1 lime, peeled

1-2 cm of ginger

A very nice and very refreshing juice. If you prefer yours to be more sweet, use less lime or skip it altogether.