Peanut Butter, Banana, Cholate Smoothie

I like Reese's and was delighted to find recipes with the same idea (peanut butter and chocolate) for smoothies.

This one also calls for flax seed and Greek yogurt (which I substituted with a tablespoon of sour cream and nuts ;) ! mmh!) and gets my full recommendation!

Cakes in Jars - or in a Muffin Pan

After seeing this video of how to bake cakes in jars I thought, I could do the same in my beloved muffin pan. I am also a big fan of recipes with few ingredients and this recipe has only five: berries, flour, sugar, butter and a pinch of salt.

So I distributed 2 1/2 cups frozen (instead of fresh) berries among the 12 muffin molds, mixed 1/2 cup of flour with 1/2 cup of coconut sugar and some salt and poured it on the fruit. At the end I added about 1/8 stick of butter (1/2 oz or 15 g) to each mold.

It tasted chewy and very good especially topped with ice cream!

But the mini cakes did not hold their form and it was only possible to eat it out of the muffin pan or spooned into another dish (hence the jars would be much more convenient) and for my taste it was too much butter. I thought that the butter would not seep through all the flour sugar mixture resulting in pockets of dry flour. But that was not the case at all.

I next time I want to try using half the amount of butter.

Chicken Pie

I tried baking mini Chicken Pot Pies in my muffin pan. I didn't actually look up a recipe and the only Chicken Pot Pie that I ever had was the microwave Chicken Pot Pie the day before which led to me thinking "Hm, I bet I can make this myself!"
Apparently I couldn't and the result didn't taste like Chicken Pot Pie usually tastes. So I am calling it a Chicken Pie

For the Crust:
1 cup of flour
1/2 stick of butter
2 eggs
salt, pepper
Mix together, roll out between two sheets of cling foil. Lift the upper foil and use a big cup to cut out circles to press in the muffin pan molds. Safe some dough for sealing the pies. Blind bake at 300 F for about 10 min.

For the filling:
onion, chopped
broccoli, cut into small pieces
peas
carrots, pealed and cut into small pieces
chicken breast
Fry the onion in some oil and add the vegetables. Fry for a couple of minutes, then add the chicken and fry until chicken and veggies are done. Cut chicken into small pieces.

For the sauce:
Turkey stock
corn starch or flour
butter
cream
paprika, salt, pepper
lemon juice
Melt butter in a hot pan, add corn starch or flour and spices. While stirring fast add the turkey stock and cream until the sauce has the desired consistency. Add more salt, spices and lemon juice if needed.

Mix the sauce with the veggies and chicken and fill the muffin pan. Add dough lids and bake until lids are golden for about 20-30 minutes.


I need to learn how to use my seasoning and spices. The pies had too much pepper and not enough salt. But otherwise they were quite tasty.

Pear Parsley Smoothie with Pecans

Another smoothie! I can't say enough how much I like having smoothies in the mornings or evenings or as a snack in between! Especially the ones with greens, fruits and nuts!

Pear Parsley Smoothie:

1 pear

1 apple

1/3 - 1/2 cup of parsley

1/3 cup of pecans

1 tsp flax seed

1/2 cup of almond coconut milk

Blend well, add almond coconut milk to get the desired consistency.

Spring Rolls

From an Asian supermarket I got rice paper circles and filled them with the following ingredients.

Spring Roll filling:
1 carrot, grated
1 small cucumber, grated
1 green onion, cut into small rings
1/4 red onion, cut into small cubes
chicken (optional)
mushrooms, washed and halved
2 tbsp peanut satay sauce
1 tbsp cream cheese
paprika, pepper, salt
Melt some butter in a pan, add spices. Place green onion, red onion, chicken (optional) and mushrooms an in the pan. Cover and let sit at medium heat for about 5 minutes. Turn over the chicken if necessary. When chicken and mushrooms are almost done, take them out of the pan and add satay sauce and cream cheese to the remaining onions.
Soak the rice paper circles in water for about 5 seconds, then fill them with carrot, cucumber, chicken (optional) and mushrooms. Top with sauce before rolling them up.
Makes about 5 spring rolls, enough for 1 meal or a snack for 2.

The result was very tasty. And I assume, once I get a bit better at rolling them it will also be quite a fast recipe as the cooking doesn't take too long and most of the ingredients are raw. With the sauce inside instead of on the side it's also a perfect finger food for work!

Kale Smoothie

And the best way to eat kale?
In a smoothie!!

This one is my new favorite smoothie. I wake up and want it. I can't get enough of it. And it's unbelievable how much kale ends up in one glass! It's yummy AND healthy :)

Kale Smoothie:
A bunch of kale (yum!)
1 banana
1/4 cup pecans
1-2 tbsp maple syrup
1 top flax seed
1/2 cup rice milk or water
Blend well. Enjoy!

The maple syrup and banana give this smoothie a nice sweetness and the nuts and flax seed give it an interesting twist.

Raw Kale Salad

Second best way to eat kale? Raw, with an amazing sauce!
This recipe is from a friend and ever since I first tried it, I wanted to make it myself. I think, this sauce is the secret reason I wanted to have a blender! I could eat this three times a day!

Cashew-Nut-Sauce for Raw Kale Salad:
Base ingredients:
1/2 cup cashews
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 tbs olive oil
1 lemon (for juice)
Salt + pepper to taste
Other ingredients:
1/4 cup nutritional yeast and 1 tsp miso (Genmai)
or
1/4 cup parmesan and 1/2 tsp Better than Bouillon (stock base)
Blend all ingredients, add a bit of water to get the blender started.

Savory Madeleines II (filled with cheddar)

So this is the second time I made Madeleines and then liked them so much that I made a second batch on the same day. They are just so easy and fast to make and only bake 10 minutes!

On the same day after I added a blended mix of parsley, nuts, nutritional yeast and cheddar to this recipe of Parmesan-Herb Madeleines, I wanted to make them again. But instead of blending the ingredients, I mixed the chopped parsley and pine nuts into the dough. Then I filled the Madeleine pan with half the dough, added the grated cheddar and spread the rest of the dough on top.

It tasted so much better than when I blended the ingredients! The taste of the pine nuts and cheddar was much richer. We ate them all before I could take a picture..

Savory Madeleines I

For Christmas I got a Madeleine baking pan. I have yet to try a sweet recipe, but so far I've tried out this savory recipe of Parmesan-Herb Madeleines.

The first time I tried it I thought it would be a good idea to add some veggies (and/or bacon for the meat eaters) and the result was quite good. For some reason they turned out to be very salty, though. The recipe only calls for 1/4 tsp of salt and I didn't put in any other salty ingredients. That made them wonderful snacks to have with some beer!

Today I tried the recipe again and only put in a pinch of salt. Instead of veggies, I blended the following ingredients together to add to the dough:
1/2 bunch of parsley
1/4 cup of pine nuts
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
about 50g cheddar

The result tasted very good. The madeleines didn't rise much, but I don't know which ingredients could have interfered with the baking powder. The result was still very tasty and I am sure I will make it again.

Banana Chocolate Smoothie

I tried something new with the Banana Chocolate Smoothies and I really like the result: I added nuts, maple syrup and a few pieces from a chocolate bar (70%). I've also been adding almond coconut milk to those smoothies and it tastes fantastic!

Banana Chocolate Smoothie:
2 bananas
1/3 - 1/5 cup of nuts (e.g. cashews, pecans)
1tbsp cocoa powder
1tbsp maple syrup
1tsp vanilla extract
4 pieces from a 70% chocolate bar
1/2 cup of almond coconut milk (or just almond milk, or rice milk)
Blend well. Add more almond coconut milk to get the desired consistency.

Puff Pastry Roll Filled With Salmon and Spinach

Puff pastry is great! For dishes with spinach, with cheese, with tomatoes, with cinnamon, with nuts and sugar..
..and for salmon! I tried out this German recipe of a Salmon and Spinach Puff Pastry Roll and adapted it a little bit. It's now one of my favorite recipes even though I've only made it twice so far. It's easy and quick to make and tastes really good!

Puff Pastry Roll Filled With Salmon and Spinach
1 sheet frozen puff pastry
1/2 - 1lb salmon
1/2 onion, chopped
1 bunch spinach or frozen spinach
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup cream cheese
salt, pepper
1 egg, whisked
Thaw the puff pastry and roll it out with a rolling pin.
Fry onion in a pan, add spinach and fry for a couple of minutes. (optional: add some flower). Add salt and pepper.
Fry salmon for a couple of minutes and cut into 1-2 inch cubes.
Mix sour cream and cream cheese and season with salt and pepper.
Spread the sour cream mix on the pastry, leaving 1-2 inches. Distribute spinach and salmon on top of the sour cream mix. Roll the pastry with the filling from one side to another, ending without the sour cream mix.
Transfer roll unto a baking dish and brush with the egg.
Bake at 375F for 25-30 minutes until golden.

This yummy roll can be served by itself, or with a simple white sauce.

For the White Sauce:
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
3 cups vegetable stock
1 cup cream
salt, pepper, white wine, lemon juice
Melt the butter, slowly add the flour. Then add vegetable stock and cream until the sauce has the consistency you like. Season with salt, pepper, white wine, lemon juice. Serve with the puff pastry roll.

Another one of my favorite recipes that goes well with this one is Potato and Corn Casserole from Argentina.

And of course veggies :)