Roll with it

I’m currently studying over at my dad’s house and I bumped on a package of rice paper just the other day, while I was on a hunt for food in the fridge and the kitchen cabinets.

My dad does not keep any ‘real’ food in his house, I swear, it’s like a bachelor’s house! He had a cabinet full of cookies and chocolate and some mayonnaise, hot sauce and coca cola in the fridge…
well, that should make a great and nutritious dinner.

I’m so glad I asked him to do some groceries for me cause now I at least have some veggies, fruit and some rice.

So I decided to just roll with it:

Salad with cherries tomatoes,spinach and carrots.
Rice paper Spring rolls with:

One version is made with spinach, strawberries and half a peach.
The other version is made with a wild rice and quinoa mix, smokes almonds, pine nuts and dried figs.

And in case you never worked with rice paper before, have no fear: it’s super easy and quick. All you need is bowl, fill it with cold water, place the rice paper in and let it soak  for about a minute,take them out, place them on a towel and stuff them.

 

One busy Easter

I threw an Easter brunch
For the whole family…
That’s 15 people.

Just to make sure you really grasp what I just said: I prepared a brunch for 15 people today, and since brunches are actually two meals in one, you could say I made two meals for 15 people, impressed yet?!

I enjoyed myself, but I forgot to bring my camera (I wouldn’t have had time to take photographs anyway), so you’ll have to do with your imagination and the photographs of some small things I took home.

It’s important to imagine lots of chocolate and coloured Easter eggs.
I baked croissants and pains au chocolat (I did not make them myself though, just baked them), my nanna and I bought sandwiches and all types of bread and we had cheese and meat (for some of us at least) to eat with them. My gramps made soup and I prepared appetizers with mozzarella and smoked salmon,a quiche with broccoli and mushrooms and ricotta – spinach cakes.
I also fried bacon and eggs, which may sound weird, but I don’t have any problems about cooking meat and serving it to other people as long as you don’t expect me to eat it.

‘Ricotta Spinach Cakes’
makes 4 medium or 6 small cakes

• 100 gr of spinach
• roasted pine nuts
• 2 eggs
• 150 gr ricotta
• grated cheese
• 100 gr of flour
• lemon zeste
• garlic powder, pepper, salt, nutmeg

Chop up the spinach. Whisk together the ricotta and the eggs in a bowl. Add the spinach, the toasted pine nuts, the lemon zeste and the flour. Combine everything and season. Grease 4 medium size or 6 small ramekins.

Preheat oven to 160°C (320 F). Divide the mixture over the ramekins, sprinkle some grated cheese and some extra pine nuts on top and bake for 15 minutes. When done, you can eat them out of the ramekin or transfer them to a plate (which should work out just fine if you’ve greased your ramekins).

Flowers for the host!
I should throw brunches more often, I like cooking for people and taking care of them. My aunt was present too today, her belly has become huge and I was able to feel the baby kick for a couple of times, in less than a month I will be a real godmother!

Happy Easter,
Love, M.

Girls Night In

With Daphne staying with my dad for the weekend, Friday night was the perfect time for me to prepare my ‘fancy’ couscous idea for my mum and me.
So we cracked open a bottle of red wine and I put together this amazing dinner, which as a bonus is also really easy and not time consuming at all!

‘Couscous Gusto Italia’
with mustard maple syrup dressing

• half a cup of couscous
• sun-dried tomatoes
• mushrooms (8 big ones)
• mozzarella
• olive oil
• oregano, basil
• for the dressing: 1 T of spicy mustard, 1 T of olive oil, a sprinkle of maple syrup, lemon zest

Place the couscous in a large bowl (I used half a cups for my mum and me, but still had leftovers the day after), pour boiling water on top of this (ratio 1:1) and let it sit for a couple of minutes.

Chop up the mushroom and sauté them in some olive oil in a skillet. Chop up the sun-dried tomatoes and the mozzarella.
Fluff the couscous with a fork and add the tomatoes, mushrooms and mozzarella. At this point you can also sprinkle some olive oil on top, or use some oil from the container of the sun-dried tomatoes you used to get some extra flavours in there. Don’t forget to season before you serve this.

My original plan was to serve the couscous with a dollop of hummus (which tasted amazing as well), but as a side for the couscous I prepared a spinach salad with a mustard maple syrup dressing and as soon as I tried this dressing with the couscous I was in heaven! Prepare the dressing by stirring together 1 T of very spicy mustard, 1 T of olive oil and a drizzle of maple syrup. Drizzle on top of the couscous, sprinkle with some lemon zest and prepare to be dazzled.

Love, M.

More Monsters

Whether they’re green or not, I’ve been on a real smoothie kick lately.

Smoothies are great brain food. They are light so they won’t leave you feeling all sleepy and they are packed with all sorts of goodies to keep you in top shape.

Some new things I’ve tried these last couple of weeks:

• All fruit smoothies: think lost of kiwis, grapes and lychees
• New types of greens to add into the smoothies: I’ve been hooked on lamb’s lettuce smoothies these last months but I also found back my first love: spinach. And a new green to end this list: zucchini!
• Toppings: I’ve always enjoyed nuts and seeds (think flax, almonds, sunflower seeds) but you have to promise me to try rice krispies in your smoothies, or as a topping on anything really cause rice krispies are amazing!

Maybe you haven’t noticed yet but I have a thing for rice krispies lately.
Bet you couldn’t tell it by the view of this bowl though, cause this is a moderate topping portion, obviously 😉

I also gave juicing a try this week, I started with spinach with a couple of grapes to give it a sweet extra, but this didn’t really convince me. Maybe I should add some kiwi next time?

Juice experiments: not bad, not great either…

Smoothie art: yoghurt swirl

But you don’t have to worry, my mum baked a chocolate cake so I’m balancing out all those fruits and veggies which just the right amount of cocoa!!

Love, M.

Couscous Comfort

Alliteration much?? 😉

But definitely no alliteration in vain, this was the most comforting bowl of food (and it was ‘healthy’ food, mind you) I’ve had in ages.

‘Spinach and Mozzarella Tabbouleh’
*although I’m not sure whether it still classifies as tabbouleh when you heat up the couscous?? anyone? 

• a cup of couscous
• a cup of boiling water
• a tomato, chopped
• spinach, a couple of handfuls
• 5 big mushrooms
• a few mozzarella slice
• pepper, oregano, dried garlic, thyme
• optional: olive oil, some butter

Pour the boiling water over the couscous, give it about 5 minutes to absorb the liquid. When all the liquid is absorbed, fluff the couscous with a fork (you can add some olive oil or butter to it).
Add the diced tomato, mushrooms, spinach and the spices and preheat your oven to 200°C (390F).
Transfer the couscous to an oven-proof casserole, slice the mozzarella and layer on top of the couscous.
Place this in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, put on high-broil for the last 3 minutes.

Yep, that bowl is looking pretty messy!
My eyes were bigger than my stomach so I made to much couscous to actually fit in the bowl, when you also have to stir in tomatoes and mushrooms, things can get a bit messy…

and you haven’t even seen the kitchen counter top yet!

Love, M.