fresh ginger tea

what you need:

• 1.5l hot/boiling water
• a thumbsized piece of ginger
• the juice of half a lemon or honey (or both ;) )

what you do:

• peel your ginger; now I like to put mine on a toothpick and let it sit like that, other people like to chop it up, it's up to you!
• mix lemon juice and hot water, add to your ginger
• add honey if you want to
• you don't have to use lemon AND honey, the tea tastes really good just using one of them too
• you can re-use your one piece of ginger a couple times!

Ginger tea has a lot of benefits, I'm only going to name a few of them here. First of all, it stimulates the blood flow, which warms you up from the inside and helps protect you from getting a cold. Furthermore, it facilitates the digestion, detoxicates and rejuvenates.

It's the most effective when you feel nauseous, have a cold, stomach pain, flatulences, or need help losing weight. 

guacamole

what you need:

• 1 ripe avocado
• lemon juice
• 1 hard boiled egg (optional)
• 1 small tomato
• 1/2 onion
• 1 garlic clove
• pepper, salt 

what you do:

• mash the avocado
• add a dash of lemon juice (it keeps the mash from getting brown)
• chop egg, tomato, onion and garlic finely
• mix it into the avocado mash
• season with pepper and salt (I even added some chilli)
• you can enjoy guacamole as a spread or use it as a dip for nachos etc.

Credits for this recipe go to my mom, thank you! I love it!

quick and easy partysnack: salmon crêpes

what you need: 

• crêpes...dah! here's my all-time favourite crêpes recipe
• cream cheese; I like to use the ones with pepper or herbs, but I can imagine that something more fancy like tomato&chilli would be really tasty too!
• smoked salmon; in case you don't like fish, smoked ham tastes also really nice in this combination, try Serrano or Parma ham!

what you do: 

• fry the crêpes, if you have enough time, give them a moment to cool down a little
• spread cream cheese on them, don't hesitate to be generous ;)
• lay out the smoked salmon on top 
• roll up the crêpes and slice them in about 3cm thick pieces
• you can serve these treats at a BBQ, at a nice evening with drinks and friends or as an amuse-gueule before dinner!

tiny antmuffins

what you need:

• 300g flour
• 150g sugar
• 1 packet vanilla sugar
• 1,5tsp baking powder
• 300g soft/melted butter
• 300ml Advocaat
• 50ml orange lemonade (juice is fine too)
• chocolate sprinkles
• 4 eggs

what you do:

• I usually start baking by measuring all the ingredients I need, this makes the following process a lot easier and quicker!
• in case you're using soft butter, start by stirring it until you get a smooth consistency
• add sugar and vanilla sugar, little by little, and keep stirring until you don't hear any crunchy noises anymore
• add the eggs and mix them in, you should have a smooth and bound dough by now
• mix flour and baking powder, sieve and add them, also little by little, to the dough
• tip: whenever you're making a dough, make sure to add the flour (almost) at last. Stirring flour for too long gives the dough a really weird consistency and may even ruin the whole cake!
• add Advocaat, lemonade and chocolate sprinkles and blend them in
• in case you don't like alcohol or kids are eating these muffins/the cake too, you can substitute the Advocaat with some more lemonade/juice
• now you can fill the dough into whatever baking dish you like (don't forget to oil it first!); I actually used a silicone mould, which is called Moul'flex by De Buyer, which is for teeny-tiny muffins. I really like this mould because there's no need to oil it before usage, the muffins are super easy to remove and they are cute and tiny ;)
• depending on the baking dish you are using, this should take between 10-40 minutes on 180°C
• to let the muffins cool down, I put them on a grill, this way the air gets everywhere

fresh and springy quinoa salad

what you need (for a mid-sized bowl):

• 200g quinoa
• 1 cucumber
• 1 bell pepper
• 2 tomatoes
• about 200g (sweet) corn
• lemon(juice)
• tomato paste
• spring onions, parsley and chives
• pepper, paprika powder
• I also added chilli, but that's just me

what you do:

• cook quinoa according to packaging
• in the meantime, chop up the veggies
• when the quinoa is done, let it cool down a little
• mix it together with the chopped up veggies and add the corn
• add the juice of two or three lemon slices and quite a bit of tomato paste
• last but not least, go nuts with the spices, I mean it! the quinoa itself isn't exactly a firework of flavours, so you really need to add a lot of spices and herbs
• blend it all together and if you have the time, let it sit for an hour or two
• I topped mine of with some extra parsley and chives
• eeeeenjoy!

spicy potato carrot soup (clean and vegan!)

what you need (for 1-2 people):

• 2 big carrots
• 1/2 onion
• 3 big potatoes
• pepper, chilli flakes, herbes de provence, paprika powder
• water
• oil

what you do:

• chop up the onion, peel and chop potatoes and carrots
• oil the pot, add onions
• fry them for a short while
• add potatoes, carrots and enough water to cover the veggies (at least!)
• add all the spices, especially loads of pepper
• if you really need to, you can add a little salt
• let the whole thing simmer for about 10 minutes
• puree, add some more water if you need to
• put it back in the pot and reheat it quickly
• enjoy!

spaghetti carbonara (alternative)

what you need (for 2 people):

• 250g spaghetti
• 2 eggs
• a small piece of Parmesan cheese
• pepper, salt, nutmeg
• a dash of lemon juice
• half a mid-sized onion
• about 150g bacon
• rapeseed oil

what you do:

• cook pasta according to packaging
• in the meantime, chop up the onion
• oil a small pan, add bacon and onion
• start frying
• take a small bowl or cup, add the eggs
• grate some of the cheese into it
• add lemon juice, pepper, salt and nutmeg
• stir this mixture really really really really REALLY well
• drain the spaghetti
• add bacon, onion and egg-mixture while the pasta is STILL HOT
• blend it all together really well
• I topped off mine with a little fresh black pepper
• enjoy!

blueberry pancakes

what you need (for about 7 pancakes):

• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 packet vanilla sugar
• 40g sugar
• 185 ml buttermilk (regular milk works too)
• 200g (spelt) flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 150g blueberries

what you do:

• melt the butter
• put eggs, vanilla sugar and sugar into a bowl and whisk them until they're creamy
• add melted butter and buttermilk
• blend them in
• mix baking powder and flour and sift it
• add to the rest and whisk again (you should end up with a pretty thick and sticky dough)
• oil your pan 
• put some of the dough in your pan, add the blueberries
• fry pancakes from both sides at mid-heat
• enjoy ;)

Note: the pancake in the back is not burned ;) I had too many blueberries left and ran out of dough, so I just put the berries in there which turned the dough purple, that's why :)

What I ate Wednesday

For breakfast I made a smoothie out of a banana, a kaki, quite a bit of oatmeal, a handful of flaxseed, some multivamin juice and water. 

For my lunch I prepared some bread with cheese and grabbed two mandarins. Here you can see just one of my sandwiches, but I actually had two of them ;) I prepared both my lunch and my breakfast in the evening before, which was pretty nice. This way I could just grab all of it and run out of the house.

I had my first dinner pretty early in the day. I heated up some leftovers from the day before, which was some pasta-broccoli-casserole. 

Since I was up pretty late studying, I granted myself a second, really late dinner. I guess this dish is a German one, we call it "Strammer Max". It's bread with butter, some ham (usually raw/smoked) and fried egg, sunny side up. Usually it's served with pickles, but I didn't have any so I chopped up a tomato. 

What I ate Wednesday

For breakfast I took a pomegranate apart. I put most of it into a bowl, added some plain yoghurt, flaxseed and honey. The rest of it went into a bowl with some fruity muesli and milk.

For lunch I actually bought something today. I went to the café we have on campus and bought a big sandwich with ham, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, carrots and a honey-mustard dressing. The sandwich is quite large and not too expensive.

When I finally came home today I still had A LOT to do so I quickly made some pasta with tomato and fennel for dinner. Click here for the recipe.

stuffed and baked tortilla wraps

what you need:

• tortilla wraps (about 2 for every person)
• different kinds of vegetables, for instance: corn, tomatoes, bell peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, leek, etc.
• tomato sauce (optional)
• grated cheese (about 200g)
• a little oil

what you do:

• lay the wraps out flat
• clean, peel and chop vegetables 
• spread them in the middle of the tortillas and wrap them up
• in case you're not using any sauce, you would want to oil the casserole dish you're using
• place wraps in the dish, (cover with tomato sauce) and cover with whatever veggies you might have left and grated cheese
• bake in preheated oven at about 200°C until the cheese is melted
• I sprinkled mine with a little salt, pepper and tabasco!

What I ate Wednesday

For breakfast I made a smoothie out of a banana, a pear, some water, flaxseed and cinnamon. Didn't look pretty, but was definitely tasty! Additionally I had some bread with nutella. Shame on me, I know, whatever...:D

Since I knew I was going to be running around all day I packed my lunch to go. I made some sandwiches with ham and cheese, cut up a cucumber and threw in some cherry tomatoes I had left over. 

Later that day my friend and I made some chocolate muffins with cherries, ohhh yum! The recipe is my brother's, I'll post it and some pictures this weekend.

As a late and small dinner we had asparagus soup, and of course I forgot to take a picture. I'm sorry, I'm really not good at this! But I guess everyone has seen asparagus soup before so it's not that bad...

classic tomato sauce

what you need (for about 300g pasta):

• 2 tomatoes
• 1 onion
• 250ml sieved tomatoes
• sugar, pepper, salt, basil, oregano
• a little oil

what you do:

• peel and chop onion, chop tomatoes rather finely
• oil pot and add onions, fry them for about 2 minutes, add tomatoes
• let that simmer for a couple of minutes, add sieved tomatoes
• season with sugar, pepper, salt, basil and oregano
• if you like you can purée the sauce but I never do because I don't mind some little chunks
• now you can either leave it like that or if you want to go fancy there are a lot of different things you can add
• here are some of my favourites: olives (black or green), mozzarella, Parmesan, feta, artichoke, garlic or ginger (I recommend frying that at the same time as the onion), tabasco/sambal oelek, fennel, zucchini, broccoli, lemon juice,...just go nuts with it!
• serve with whatever pasta you like and enjoy!

What I ate Wednesday

I overslept today so I took my breakfast on the go. It consisted of 2 bananas and 2 kiwis, which I ate on my way to university and during my first break. 

After classes I went to a friend's place where we made A LOT of soup. It kind of felt like a soupy day and two more friends were going to stop by, so yes, we actually made three pots of soup. I posted the recipe for this soup a while ago, we just changed it up a little bit by adding some celery root.

Later today I had some fries as a naughty snack. I forgot to take a picture of them but honestly, I was outside, it was dark, you wouldn't have been able to see anything anyways...

tagliatelle with spinach, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes

what you need (for about 3 people):

• 250g tagliatelle
• 2 cups of spinach
• about 10 mushrooms
• a couple of cherry tomatoes
• a slice of lemon/ a little lemon juice
• pepper, salt, some oil
• a little cream/milk

what you do:

• cook tagliatelle according to packaging
• wash and chop up mushrooms, wash spinach and remove possible stems, wash and chop up tomatoes
• oil small pan/pot, add mushrooms
• fry them shortly, add cream/milk
• add in spinach leaves
• season with lemon juice, pepper and salt
• let the sauce simmer until spinach is done (when spinach is done, the mushrooms should be too)
• drain tagliatelle, serve with sauce and top off with cherry tomatoes
• tip: some freshly grated Parmesan goes well with this too!

What I ate Wednesday

For breakfast I had a smoothie made of a banana, a kaki and about 0,4l water. Those who follow me on Instagram might have seen this one already.

As lunch I had some pasta and veggie sauce out of tomatoes, carrots and bell pepper. It was so good I had 2 more servings! :P

Because of my big lunch I had a kind of small dinner, at least compared to what I usually have. I made two sandwiches with tuna, cucumber, tomato and mozzarella. Hmmmm-yum!

quick breakfast

what you need:

• 1 apple
• 2 tbsp plain yoghurt
• 1 tbsp flax seed
• 1 tbsp oatmeal
• honey (optional)

what you do:

• chop up apple into a bowl
• add yoghurt, flax seed and oatmeal
• if you like add a little honey and blend

This may seem like a really small breakfast, but trust me, the flax seed and oatmeal are going swell and fill up your stomach. Depending on how much you usually eat in the morning and on your preferences, you can always adjust my measurements to what you like.

Plus, you can always change up the fruit, for instance I tried this with pomegranate as well and it was really yummy!

What I ate Wednesday

 For breakfast I made porrdige, added some flaxseed into it and topped it off with almonds, hazelnuts, a mandarin and honey.

As an afternoon snack I had a smoothie made of 2 bananas, 1 kaki and 1/2l of water.

Additionally I drank 2l of tea and 1/2l of water with a sip of orange juice.

I got home late last night from my trip to Germany. I took a remote bus to get back home and it took forever! Usually I need about 4-5 hours for that trip but yesterday it took me almost 8 hours! I was completely wiped out when I got home and still am a little today. I didn't really feel like doing anything, especially cooking, so I didn't eat a whole lot today.
BUT I'm going to make up for the lack of posts lately and am looking forward to it! Hope you are as well :)

tomato-fennel-sauce

what you need (for 2 servings):

• 4 tomatoes
• 1 fennel
• oil
• 1 shallot
• basil, pepper, sugar, salt
• a little cream (optional)

what you do:

• chop shallot and tomatoes finely
• fry shallot in a little oil and add tomatoes
• add pepper, basil, salt, sugar and cream and let that simmer
• chop fennel in the meantime and add to the sauce
• let that simmer until fennel is done
• serve with whatever pasta you like

 

fried vegetables, tomato-millet, feta and dip

what you need (for 2 people):

• 1/4 cup millet seed
• 1 bell pepper
• 1 tomato
• 1/2 zucchini
• 3/4 cup water
• oil
• sambal oelek or chilli
• 50-75g feta
• for the recipe for the dip, check this post
• tomato paste, papper salt

what you do:

• boil the water, add millet seed
• cook it for about 5 minutes, then turn down the heat and let the millet soak
• in the meantime, wash and slice zucchini and bell pepper
• wash and cut tomato into wedges
• slice feta
• prepare dip
• oil the pan and add about 1 tsp of sambal oelek, depending on how spicy you like it; if you don't like spicy food you can just skip the chilli
• fry zucchini, bell pepper and tomato until they get a nice, slightly brown color
• mix the soaked millet with quite a bit of tomato paste, pepper and salt
• serve with vegetables, feta and dip