Nostalgic Dinner

I hope you’re ready for another walk down memory lane cause today I incidentally threw something together for dinner that strongly reminded of my all time favourite childhood dinner.

I remember pleading with my mum to make it at least twice a week and as it happens I came across an old “friend book” lately (you know the ones you would hand out to all of your friend back in primary school to let them answer all kind of weird questions, or did this only happen in Belgium?) and I answered exactly that to the question “What’s your favourite food”:

Oven dish with potato mash, broccoli, minced meat in a cheesy sauce covered with grated cheese.

Here are the swaps I seemed to have made from my mum’s original recipe:

I swapped mashed potatoes with millet.
I swapped the cheesy sauce with a broth-hummus sauce.
I swapped the grated cheese with mozzarella.
The broccoli stayed as it always was and I didn’t use anything to replace the minced meat but you could always use vegetarian ‘mince’, lentils or minced meat for the carnivores among us. Just prepare it in a skillet and add it to the rest of the ingredients when you put it in the oven dish.

‘Millet and Broccoli Oven Dish’
serves 2

• one serving of millet ( a cup?)
• half a broccoli
• vegetable broth
• 2 T of hummus
• mozzarella

Cook the millet in vegetable broth (ratio 1:2.5) for 25 minutes. I don’t really know how much millet I’ve used, I used a little teacup at home to measure it out, not that this information is of much use to you. Just use what you think is the proper amount for 2 people to eat from.
Once done take it of the fire and let it sit for another 5 minutes.

Cook the broccoli until tender (about 5 minutes), prepare the sauce with about 100ml of vegetable broth, whisk in the two T of hummus.

Preheat oven to 200°C (390 F).
Layer the oven dish with the millet and broccoli, pour the sauce on top and top with about half of a mozzarella bowl. Put in the oven for about 20 minutes, make sure to turn on the grill for the last 5 minutes so the mozzarella will get some colour.

Eat from a bowl, because all classy people eat their dinner out of breakfast bowls!

Love, M.

Take Me Out

Let me sniff flowers

Feed me loads of fruits and veggies

Snack plate with tomato, radishes, broccoli and cucumber dip,
grapes, a peach and melon.

Lamb’s lettuce, raw broccoli with more spinach dip, rashes, melon, carrots and coleslaw with soy nuggets

Show me magic

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern,
go buy this pronto, install yourself in a chair in the back yard with a plate of watermelon and prepare to be swept away into a world were dreams come true.

Love, M.

Green

Can a person become addicted to broccoli?

If possible, I think I’m addicted to broccoli.
If not possible, I still think I am addicted to broccoli!

I’ve been eating broccoli with every meal except breakfast and even managed to sneak in some broccoli in my snacks, but I did not truly fall in love with broccoli until I ate today’s lunch.

 ‘Quinoa Broccoli Bowl’
serves 2 as a main dish, 4 as a side dish

• 6 T of quinoa
• 12 T of vegetable broth
• half a can of tinned lentils
• half a medium broccoli
• 1 T of hummus
• some lemon or lime juice

Cook the quinoa in the vegetable broth: add the quinoa when the broth boils and reduce it to a simmer, let it absorb all of the liquid (it takes about 20 minutes). Cook the broccoli in boiling water for about 5 minutes. Rinse the lentils

As soon as the quinoa is done, add 1 T of hummus and stir to combine. Add the lentils and the broccoli. Sprinkle with some lemon/lime juice right before serving.

This stuff is so incredibly creamy! It reminds me of when my mum used to make broccoli in cheese sauce.

Fruit for dessert: Melon + strawberries + cottage cheese + sunshine = one happy Maxime!

Happy Monday!
Love, M.

Butterflies in your Belly

By now you probably know I like to eat my food out of bowls, well I also like to prepare my dishes in one big  oven dish or in one casserole, it just seems much cosier.

You can also prepare this pasta without putting it into the oven. Just make the pasta and the sauce and it’s ready to serve, but then you would be turning down melted mozzarella, just saying 😉

‘Farfalle Oven Dish’

• farfalle pasta (quantity depends on how much people you want to feed)
• 1 piece of mozzarella
• half a zucchini
• broccoli
• 2 handfuls of mushrooms
• cream cheese with herbs and garlic (I used  boursin)
• a few splashes of milk
• pepper, salt and olive oil

Cook the farfalle in  salted boiling water, follow the directions on the package.
Clean the broccoli and cook in boiling water for 5 minutes as well.
Slice the mozzarella and zucchini in small slices, slice the mushrooms as well.

In an oven dish, layer the zucchini until the bottom is covered, add a layer of mozzarella (half of it, you’ll need the other half later), put this in an oven on 200°C (390F)  for 5 to 10 minutes.

In the meantime pour some olive oil into a hot skillet (make sure it’s big enough!) and fry the mushrooms and the broccoli. Add the cream cheese and some milk.This will be the sauce for the pasta, when the farfalle is done you can add it to the sauce.

When your zucchini and mozzarella has been in the oven for 5 to 10 minutes, get it out of the oven and top it with the pasta mixture. Cover with the rest of the mozzarella and place it back in the oven for about 15 minutes.

Buon Appetito!
Love, M.