Easy mixed salad

I had this salad the other night for dinner. It takes about 5 minutes to prepare :)  I bought the salad mix on the market, yumi yumi, so delicious :)

We shared this portion within 2 people.

What will you need:
salad mix: 
- 3-4 cups of mixed salad
- 1 medium avocado
- 2 medium tomatoes
- 2 tbsp sunflower seeds
- 1 cup of whole, green olives

dressing:
- 1 tbsp hemp seed oil
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp sweet mustard
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 1.5 tbsp homemade hummus (optional)
- salt and pepper

1. Toast the sunflower seeds in a pan on medium heat, until they become golden brown. Remove from heat.
2. Wash all veggies, cut the tomatoes and avocados. Mix all ingredients for the salad mix and add the toasted sunflower seeds.
3. Mix everything together for the dressing in a small bowl and pour it over the salad mix. Massage the dressing in the salad (I like to do this step with my hands :)

Enjoy :)

Pink raw swirl cake

Hi all. Isn't this cake pretty? I find it very nice with the swirls. I have tired the swirls the first time :) It is very easy, I will describe it in the recipe.
I made this cake a long time ago, when we still had roses in the garden, but I wouldn't mind having a piece now :) how about you? :)

What will you need:
Crust:
- 2 cups walnuts, soaked for 3-4 hours
- 1 1/4 cup Medjool dates, soaked for 30 minutes
- pinch of salt
- a bit of pure vanilla

Filling: 
Cashew "cheese":

-1 3/4 cup cashew nuts, soaked for 3-4 hours

- 2 tbsp raw honey

- 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted

- pinch of salt

- 1 tbsp lemon juice

- 1 frozen banana
- 3/4 cup Medjool dates, soaked for 30 minutes
- approximately 1/2 cup rice milk (or any other plant based milk)

Berry filling: 
- approximately 1/2 cup rice milk
- 120 grams of frozen mixed berries
- 1 tbsp coconut oil, melted 

Method:

1. Place the walnuts for the crust in a food processor and pulse until a coarse meal is formed. Add in the dates and process until you have a sticky dough. Press the dough firmly into the bottom of either a cake or pie form. Transfer the crust to the freezer to set for approximately 30 minutes.  
2. Meanwhile, prepare the cashew "cheese" filling. This is done simply by placing all the ingredients into a high speed blender and blending until you have a very smooth and creamy paste. If you don't have a blender, don't worry, you can as well use the food processor. However, I find that processing the cashew with all other ingredients in a high speed blender gives even a more creamier texture.
3. Pour 3/4 of the filling over the crust, distribute evenly using a spatula or by shaking the form side to side. But not too much shaking here ;)
4. Add the berry filling ingredients to the remaining cashew "cheese" in the blender. Blend until smooth. The berry mix should have an ice cream texture, it shouldn't be too watery.
5. Take pieces of the berry filling with a spoon and place it over the cashew  "cheese" (which is still liquid), leaving spots of the cheese filling visible.
6. Take a wooden stick and start mixing the berry filling into the cashew "cheese" simply by making little circles all over the cake. Go crazy :) This will mix the two layers together nicely.
7. Place the cake to the freezer and freeze for  3-4 hours. Cover, and freeze overnight. 
8. Take the cake out from the freezer 15-20 minutes before serving. 

Enjoy :)

Easy green smoothie

Hi all.  Here is a simple green smoothie recipe. Great for breakfast or on detox days :) 

What will you need:
- 1 sweet apple (I used Topaz apple)
- 1/2 cucumber
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- 1 handful of lettuce
- 200 ml water
- 250ml almond milk
- stevia, if needed

Put lettuce and cucumber to a high speed blender together with water and almond milk. Blend on high until smooth. Add chia seeds, apple and stevia (if used). Blend until all well combined and texture is smooth. 
Enjoy :)

Sweet potato mung curry

Hi there :) This time I have for you a very easy curry recipe. Again, I am not an expert on curries (I hope one day I will learn it properly), but I like how this dish turned out :) And I love curry, so I gotta make it at home :) You can eat this curry as it is, or together with rice or flatbread.

What will you need: 
- 1 cup mung beans - soaked at least for 12 hours 
- 3 medium sweet potatoes

- 2 tomatoes

- 1 red onion

- 2 cloves of garlic
- 200 ml coconut milk

- 1 cm ginger (or 1 tsp ginger powder)

- 1 tsp turmeric

- 1 tsp cumin powder

- 1 tsp curry leaves

- 1 tsp masala powder

- 1/2 tsp spicy curry powder
- salt, according to taste
- 1 tbsp olive oil, or coconut oil (if you are not vegan, you can use ghee) 

1. Start with washing the sweet potatoes and tomatoes. Cut them into cubes.
2. Chop the garlic into small pieces, dice the onion and grade the ginger.
3. Heat the oil in a medium size pan and add the onions. Sauté for a few minutes until onions become translucent.
4. Add garlic and ginger and sauté together with the onion for a few minutes.
5. Add cumin, turmeric, masala, curry powder and curry leaves. Sauté for 30 seconds.
6. Add the tomatoes and cook for about 3-4 minutes.
7. Add sweet potatoes and mung beans. Add water so that it just covers all ingredients.
8. Bring to boil then turn the heat to medium. Cover and simmer for about an hour.
9. Check if mung beans are cooked. Add coconut milk and salt and bring to boil once again. Turn off heat. 
10. Serve on a bed of brown rice or flatbread. Garnish with cilantro. 

 

Enjoy :)

New years banana pancakes

Happy new year to everyone. I haven't been posting for a while, because I was away for the holidays. I hope you had a wonderful time with your friends and family:) We have started our new year with these cute little pancakes in our brand new pancake pan, which we have received for Xmas :) I guess my family already knows, that we are pancake addicts :P

here is what you will need:
- 1 cup of spelt flour
- 1 cup of oat-bran (oats cut very thinly)
- 2 cups of rice milk (you can use as well mineral water or any other plant based milk)
- 1 ripe banana
- 1 tsp pure vanilla
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp cardamon (optional)
- a pinch of salt
- pinch of nutmeg 
- 2 tsp baking powder (phosphor free)
- 1 tbsp sugar beet syrup (or maple/date syrup)
- date syrup, banana and walnuts for topping

1. Start with mashing the banana with a fork.
2. Combine gradually all ingredients in a mixing bowl and add the mashed banana.  
3. Leave the dough to sit for 10 minutes, so that the oats can soak up the liquid. Add mineral water or plant-based milk, if the batter gets too thick. The batter should be fairly thick, but thin enough to drip from the whisk.
4. Coat a skillet pan with a bit of coconut or olive oil and heat it up to medium heat.
5. Take a part from the dough and pour it to the skillet making a circular form.
6. Cook the pancakes on medium until little bubbles are formed and outer edges become golden. Flip the pancakes and cook until golden.
7. Top with date syrup, walnuts and bananas :)

 

Enjoy :)

Pumpkin soup with Mr. and Mrs. pumpkin

Autumn is all about pumpkins :) I love their beautiful colours, and variety. In Switzerland there are stands with lots of pumpkins from small to big, for decorating or eating. One can stop by anytime, pick up a pumpkin and leave the money in the money box. I find this trust in Switzerland great, I don't think it would work in many other countries :)

Pumpkins are easy to prepare and give delicious meal for the whole family :) I like to roast them or make a soup out of them. Using warming spices such as nutmeg, cumin, cloves gives a warming, comfy and comforting feeling.

What will you need: 

- 1 medium pumpkin

- 1 tbsp coconut or olive oil

- 3 small onions

- 2 medium sweet potatoes, cubed

- 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

- 3-4 cm ginger, finely chopped

- 1/2 tsp turmeric

- 1/2 tsp cumin

- 1/2 tsp coriander

- 1/2 tsp white pepper

- 1/2 pumpkin pie spice (optional)

- 2 tsp curry

- 2 tbsp sea salt

- about 3 cups vegetable stock

- a pinch of nutmeg

• First, cut the pumpkin into half, then remove the seeds with a spoon and place the pumpkin to a baking dish filled with water, covering about 2-3 cm of the bottom of the pumpkin. Preheat the oven to 180° Celsius and bake the pumpkin uncovered 45-60 minutes, or until tender.
  

• Let the pumpkin cool and then remove the flesh. Discard the skin.
• Heat a bigger pot over medium heat and add the oil. Add the onion, cubed sweet potatoes, garlic and ginger. Saute for about 10 minutes, until onions are translucent and vegetables become softer.
• Add the spices (turmeric, cumin, coriander, white pepper, pumpkin pie spice (if used) and saute for about a minute.
• Add the pumpkin flesh and the vegetable stock. You can add more water, if you would like a more liquid consistency. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat and simmer, covered for about 15 minutes.
• Pureé the soup using an immersion blender or a regular blender until smooth and cream.
• Add salt and nutmeg according to taste.
• Garnish with fresh herbs, roasted pumpkin seeds, or sprinkle of nutmeg.

Enjoy :)

Baked sweet potatoes with "yoghurt" dip

Hi there. This time I have made some very very easy baked sweet potatoes with a soy yoghurt dip. Even if you don't make the yoghurt dip, try the sweet potatoes. They are really amazing for dinner with a side salad or leftovers from lunch :) They are the best to be eaten right after baking, otherwise they become too soft. I love them, and I hope you will too :):)

What will you need:

"Yoghurt" dip:
- 250 grams fermented soya yoghurt (I used brand  Soyananda)
- 3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped
- 1 clove of garlic, pressed through a garlic press
- cayenne pepper, according to taste
- salt, if needed

Mix all ingredients in a smaller mixing bowl. Refrigerate :) easy, isn't it? :) 




Baked sweet potatoes:
- 2 bigger sweet potatoes
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tbsp fresh thyme
- 1/2 tbsp fresh marjoram
- salt, according to taste
- 1/2 Provence herb mix

1. Preheat the oven to 220° Celsius 
2. Wash and cut the sweet potatoes to wedges 
3. Put the wedges to a bigger mixing bowl, add the oil and massage it to the potatoes with your hands, so it is evenly distributed.
4. Add the herbs and the salt, mix well.
5. Line your baking dish with parchment paper and lay the sweet potatoes on it. Make sure that they don't overlap.
6. Bake on 220° for 23 minutes. Lower the heat to 200° and bake for 5 more minutes.

Enjoy :)