Category Archives: Vegetables

Our most popular Christmas recipes

With Christmas just around the corner we thought it time to do a little Christmas recipes round up.


Our favourite and most popular recipes for Christmas all in one place.


We have or favourite Christmas Granola, Chrisstollen , Stuffed Roast pork or (one of the most popular recipes on the blog) Duck breast with Cherry sauce all lined up. There’s something delicious for everyone.

In our home we will start the day with some sort of cinnamon roll, then followed by Chrisstollen or Bundt cake and coffee.

For dinner we love a Shrimp cocktail as a first course followed by The Duck breast in cherry sauce, it’s easy and everyone goes crazy over it. Served with Dauphinoise potatoes and some veggies.

We usually serve a few desserts and one of them will be the Tiramisu profiteroles Christmas tree. I hope you wiil find some inspiration for a fantastic Christmas feast.

BREAKFAST;

French Crepes

Chrisstollen

Spelt Cinnamon rolls

Creamcheese cranberry chocolate rolls

Churros

APPETIZERS:

Warm Melted Grilled Cheese dip

Classic Shrimp Cocktail

Velvety Broccoli cheese soup

MAIN;

Oven Roast Salmon

Earl grey Duck Legs

Duck breast with Cherry sauce

Pecan Cranberry stuffed Roast Pork

Roast Turkey breast

SIDES;

Quinoa salad with pomegranate

Gratin Dauphinois with Gruyere

Bacon Pomme Duchesse

DESSERTS AND SWEETS;

Cherry chocolate Bundt cake

Tiramisu Profiteroles

Vegan Chocolate squares

Truffle Chocolate tart

Crispy Nori Summer rolls with Lime Soy Peanut sauce

Crispy Nori Summer rolls with an amazing lime soy peanut dipping sauce. We love Summer rolls, but this time I added a little extra Nori (seaweed sheet) and shallow fried them until crispy! And I can tell you that Summer rolls just got even better. They’re so easy to make too.
All you do is prep your veggies and shrimp, soak your rice sheets, place a nice piece of nori in the middle of the rice paper and layer your filling on top, roll ’em up and set aside. Then fry them for a few minutes and voilá.
So even when you are craving sushi, this is the way to go. If you find rolling sushi hard then adding a rice paper sheet is an easy trick to keep it all together. The frying is optional, but so delicious and crispy.

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:

  • 16 rice paper sheets
  • 2 Nori sheets, each cut into 4 pieces
  • 32 small cooked shrimp
  • 50g. / 1.5 oz dried thin (rice) noodles
  • 2 cup finely shredded cabbage
  • 1 cup carrot sticks, or (bag) of shredded
  • 1/2 cucumber cut into stick, seeds removed
  • Fresh basil and chopped cilantro
  • 2 tbsp. neutral oil for frying

DIPPING SAUCE;

  • 3 tbsp. peanut butter,
  • 2 tbsp. soy Sauce
  • 1 tbsp. Sesame seed oil
  • 2 tsp. fish sauce (nam pla)
  • Fresh ground pepper
  • 1 1/2 tbsp  lime juice
  • 1/3 cup water or more
  • 1 tsp. garlic powder*
  • 1/2 tsp crispy chili (in oil) or sambal oelek

INSTRUCTIONS:

Cook or soak your noodles according to package directions and set aside.
Cut your veggies unless you are using store bought pre-shredded which is a great idea if you are in a hurry.
Make the dipping sauce by mixing all the ingredients and set aside.
Place a large pan over medium heat and add the cabbage with half a cup of water,  place a lid on the pan and bring to a boil.  Cook for one minute, drain a place cabbage on a plate. Do the same with the carrots.
The quickly fry the shrimp for a minute or two until just cooked.
The basil leaves and koriander are also in the line up.
Get a deep plate and fill with water, have a working board ready to place the soaked rice sheets on.


Now soak a rice sheet for 10 seconds in water, place on board. Place nori sheet in the middle and slightly at the bottom of the circle. Layer your ingredients in your favorite order, finish with koriander and basil leafs.
To roll, flip one side towards the middle, then the other, start rolling from the part nearest to you, all the way up until you have a tight roll.
Lightly grease a plate a place roll on it. Continue with the remaining rolls.
To fry, add one tablespoon of vegetable oil to a large frying pan**, and fry rolls on all sides for about 7 minutes or until light golden and crispy. Repeat with the remaining rolls.

**you can also use two frying pans to cook all the rolls in one go.

Enjoy!

Vegan meatballs, amazing texture.

These vegan meatballs are the perfect base for all your favorite dishes. This recipe is without sauce or gravy  because they are meant to be as a base for other recipes, like Spaghetti and meatballs,  Swedish meatballs,  meatball Curry with rice or a great meatball sandwich for instance.

A vegan meatball that has the texture of actual meat. Holds together, not mushy like most, but firm and with bite. I made these one night with mashed potatoes in Swedish meatballs style and the next night I poured a sticky honey chili maple glaze over them and served them over rice.  They freeze well too, you could easily make a double batch and always have a supply for a quick dinner fix.
So whether you’ re a vegetarian, a vegan or simply trying to eat more veggies,  these are a  great option and you really need to try them.

Makes around 24 meatballs.
Serves 4-6. Double if needed.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup red lentils
1/2 cup tvp* see not (I use pea tvp)
1/4 cup  chopped dehydrated vegetables (mix for soup)**see note
1/2 onion chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, peeled and grated
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 vegetable stock cube, crumbled fine
1/2 cup chickpea flour
1/4 cup quick oats
2 tbsp pine nuts (optional but delicious)
A dash of liquid smoke
A dash of franks hot sauce
1/2 tsp vegan Worchestershire sauce
Pepper
2 tbsps ground flaxseed plus 3 tablespoons water, or 2 eggs

INSTRUCTIONS:

Cook lentils and tvp in a bit of salted water for around 5 minutes, or until almost soft, but still semi firm. Drain in a colander and return to the pan, add the dehydrated veggies, they will absorb the excess water.  Set aside and let cool.
Cook onion and garlic in oil for 5 minutes until soft. Set aside to cool.
In a large bowl mix, lentil-tvp-veg mixture with onion and garlic.
Add all the remaining ingredients and let sit for 5 minutes,  now grab a ball of the mixture with your hand and gently squeeze to see if it holds.  Add a splash of water if it seems too dry or add a bit more flour if it seems too wet.
Shape into balls, the size of a ping pong ball approximately.
Place in refrigerator for two hours before baking to firm up.
Pre heat oven to 220C/450F.
Place balls on a silicone baking sheet and spray with oil (or drizzle over).
Bake 15 minutes turning halfway.
Use straight away with your favorite sauce or let cool and store in ziplock bag in the refrigerator or freezer for later use.

Enjoy!

  • tvp stands for texturized vegetable protein
    ** Amazon sells a Deluxe Vegetables Soup Blend.

5 minute Romesco Sauce, cheats version

Romesco Sauce is a Spanish pepper and tomato based sauce from the region of Cataluña, that dates back to the 15 th century, thanks to Christopher Columbus who brought back the Romesco peppers from his travels in the America’s which are the base for this sauce.
You can find Romesco sauce everywhere in Spain, it’s very popular and can be eaten with everything from just bread to grilled fish, grilled meat or vegetables.

The original version is with dried peppers, almonds, some times hazelnuts as well, bread, garlic etc…
I have come up with a cheats version that can be done in 5 minutes and it is addictively delicious.

INGREDIENTS:

6 tbsp. Olive oil
1 small onion, peeled and chopped fine
2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
1 jar roasted red bell peppers (15 oz. jar / 500 ml), drained
1/4 cup almond butter (the roasted kind)
1/3 cup sun dried tomatoes in olive oil
1/3 cup parsley, roughly a handful
1-2 tsp. red wine vinegar
3/4 tsp. salt
fresh black pepper
1 tsp. smoked paprika (preferably the Spanish kind)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Place the sun dried tomatoes in a bowl and cover with very hot water. Let sit for five minutes then drain.
On medium heat, fry onion and garlic in two tablespoons of oil, until light golden and just soft. Let cool a bit.

In a food processor, add the pepper, the onions and garlic, almond butter, drained sun dried tomatoes, parsley, vinegar, salt, pepper, paprika and the remaining 4 tablespoons of olive oil.
Turn on the food processor and blend until smooth. That’s it!

I use only one teaspoon of vinegar but you can add more depending on how acidic you like it.

The sauce will keep in the refrigerator for about five days in a glass container or jar, but I can assure you, you will be putting it on everything.

Enjoy!