You are here: Home / Archives for Food

Turnip Tops Mash

Tuesday, 21 May 2013 by 11 Comments

… and introducing ReciPress and everyday meals.

Today I want to introduce you to the everyday meals Boris and I eat. I’ll try to do two meals a week as long as the spring / summer light is good for indoor photography during dinner time.

You might all have to consider that during dinner time Boris will have to wait before he eats so that you can get to see what we eat. I love him so much for that, the always; "wait I have to photograph this" moment he patiently waits. Bless him.

I’m also going to work with the WordPress plugin ReciPress, see below.

Turnip Tops Mash

food-turniptopsmash01

By Yvonne Eijkenduijn Published: May 21, 2013

  • Yield: 2 Servings
  • Prep: 5 mins
  • Cook: 20 mins
  • Ready In: 25 mins

The Dutch love their potato mashes. This one is a bit different but very tasteful. Per serving 300 kcal (without the meat)

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Peal the potatoes and boil them with salt as you'd normally boil your potatoes.
  2. In the meantime chop the turnip tops.
  3. When the potatoes are ready mix the raw turnip tops with the potatoes, add the coconut milk to make a bit creamier.
  4. Serve with minced veil, like sausages or meatballs and a a bit of spicy mustard for kicks. Enjoy!

WordPress Recipe Plugin by ReciPress

Filed Under: Food, Meals

Valentine’s Day Pouches and Biscuits

Wednesday, 13 February 2013 by 22 Comments

I can’t believe it’s Valentine’s day tomorrow and I haven’t done a thing for it yet. Not that I’m an active Valentine’s day pooper but I do like to mail sweet tokens of love and gratitude to my dearest and nearest.

So I quickly baked lemon, lavender and rose petal biscuits and popped them in these pouches I’ve made.

Trace the xox onto sticky paper and punch a hole with a puncher or perforator to make a circle in the middle of the O as in step 2. Use textile paint for the xox. You can download the instructions for making the pouch and the template of the xox right here.

Here’s the recipe I used for the lemon, rose petal and lavender biscuits:

200gr golden caster sugar
2 tbsp dried lavender
1 tbsp dried rose petals (option)
zest of 2 lemons
245gr plain flour
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
180gr unsalted butter (chopped in small cubes)
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 egg yolk
½ tsp vanilla extract

  1. Put the sugar, lavender and rose petals in a bowl mix with a spoon. Add the lemon zest and put aside.
  2. In a food processor or blender, add the flour, baking powder and salt, mix. Add the mixture as in 1, mix . Add the butter and mix until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs,
  3. In a small bowl, mix together the lemon juice, egg yolk and vanilla extract. Add the mixture to the rest. Stir and knead until you have a firm dough.
  4. Roll the dough into a cylinder and cover with plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for one hour.
  5. Preheat the oven to 175 °C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
  6. Remove the dough from the fridge and remove plastic wrap. Dust the surface and the rolling pin with flour and roll out dough in a circular shape about 5mm thick. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes and transfer to the baking tray.
  7. Bake for 10-15 minutes until slightly golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
  8. Dust with icing sugar and dried lavender.

Have a lovely Valentine’s Day tomorrow.

Filed Under: Baking, Crafts, Food, Sewing

One Mug Blueberry Pancakes

Tuesday, 12 February 2013 by 14 Comments

Today it’s pancake Tuesday in Britain so I’m going to share with you how to make really simple, fast and sugar free pancakes that are yummy and healthy.

All you need is a mug, the mug is your size. If you want to bake 50 pancakes just add mugs …

The math:
1 mug low fat milk
1 mug plain flour
1 egg
pinch of salt
Feeds 2, double this to feed 4, triple this to feed 6 etc. So milk, flour, egg, salt.

You can add any fruit to make it sweet. Strawberries, apples, raisins, banana … anything will work. Or have them plain.

Use a gravy spoon to scoop the batter (and make small pancakes) and bake them using sunflower oil to keep it healthy.

Happy Pancake Tuesday, how are you eating yours?

ps: my pancakes are rather yellow as the yolk of the eggs of my chickens are really yellow. I used the first egg of the year!!

Filed Under: Food, Healthy Fast Food

Surinamese Chicken Pies

Monday, 7 January 2013 by 5 Comments

Did you all enjoy the holidays?

I start 2013 with one of my favourite childhood recipes. My mum made these for parties so I’m making them for my parties now. I took these to friends on old year’s eve.

So here is what you need to do:

Fill a large pan with 100 ml of water, add the chicken broth cube (buy it organic as there’s so much salt in the non-organic cubes) let is dissolve. Garnish the chicken fillet with salt and pepper and add the fillets to the chicken broth water (this will give your chicken extra flavour) Let the chicken steam (with the lid on) on low heath until there’s no water left in the pan. Mince the onions and tomatoes and put them in the pan after you have taken the chicken fillets out. Now cut the chicken in small pieces and fry the onions and tomatoes. Add the peas, carrots and capers to the tomatoes and onions, stir well and put in the chopped chicken and parsley, stir super well. In the meantime your eggs should be boiled and you can start adding the pan mixture into the puffed pastry lined with cupcake sleeves. Fill and top off with a slice of egg, close the puffed pastry by folding it together, paste egg yolk over the top to get a pretty golden brown colour. Put in the oven for 20 minutes on 180 C until they are golden brown.

Filed Under: Food, Meals

Introducing Healthy Fast Food Recipes

Sunday, 28 October 2012 by 13 Comments

Ever since I’ve deleted the old content of my blog I was asked about my health food, soups and salads. So I came up with something new I really enjoy making – ‘Healthy Fast Food Recipes’.

Staring today with a beet & egg salad I had for lunch yesterday.

If this dinner is for one just half size all the ingredients, add one for each person.

Hard boil the eggs. In a wok pan, wok the roughly chopped red onion in the olive oil and season with salt an pepper. Add the roughly cut cooked beets and wok until they are warm (not hot) Toss everything on a plate, add the parsley and crumble the blue stilton over the other ingredients. Garnish with salt and pepper.

Happy Sunday xox

Filed Under: Food, Healthy Fast Food

A Sweet Diet

Wednesday, 3 October 2012 by 40 Comments

It’s been almost a year and a half since I’ve started my much needed diet. I didn’t diet to become pretty I did my diet to become healthy, or rather stay healthy. After the scary blood disease I had in 2010 I became heavier and heavier. The 6 months I spent in hospital doing absolutely nothing but eating chocolates and watching an Australian TV show about mermaids around dinner time where my highlights of the day. Hospital food and chocolates where my highlights, it was a sad time.

I first started to loose the difficult kilos by doing the Cambridge diet with much success. After that I went on to no carbs, another success. And now with minus 45 kilo (quite embarrassing but no lies here, it’s my platform) I’m almost back to my old weight. Almost that is. It’s harder now and I need to move on to exercise … exercise, I kind of cringe by the word alone. Exercise, exorcism, execution … all the same category to me.

So I joined a gym. I didn’t know that gyms smell of sweaty people. I can’t stand the smell so I tried to go at times when the gym was empty, during lunchtime and would watch ‘Homes Under the Hammer’ while I cycled. I felt so lonely and pathetic on that equipment, so I gave up. I’ve replaced the smelly gym with nature and started walking and cycling outdoors. It’s cheaper, environmentally friendly, healthier and much more inspiring.

I’m not dropping kilos like a manic like I did before but I do feel more content.

I always thought it was the bread, savoury things and the pasta I’d miss doing a diet but I came to know that I miss sweets. Jelly Beans, HARIBO Gummy bears, Piña Colada cocktails, ICE CREAM and anything else that contains a lot of E numbers.

Banning them out doesn’t work for me as I’ll dream about all of the above mentioned and wake up in the middle of the night yearning it. One thing I’ve learned is that you should never withhold yourself from eating something you really want as you’ll eat it in the end and eat more of it. You’ll have that mini Magnum you’ve wanted all day and swallow it whole. You’ll need another one because of the greediness you didn’t get to experience the taste. And once you’re at it you might as well have a third one.

I’ve put myself on a ration by half filling Mason jars with two of my favourite sweets. I’ll have to do 2 weeks with half a jar each. It works, I’ve lost 45 kilos so far and still eating sweets.

Please feel free to share your diet tips or great exercise routines I could do at home.

Filed Under: Food, Life & Style, Yvesworld

Roasted Summer Squash and Cashew Nut Soup

Sunday, 2 September 2012 by 15 Comments

Oh la-la the R is back in the month and although I dislike the colour orange, it’s allowed on my blog when the R is back in the month. We say this in The Netherlands when the autumn/winter months are back in town, September through April they all have a R in them.

I love the R months as they are cosy and bring good food.

Last year I’ve bought a small pumpkin at the supermarket and saved and dried the pits. In March I’ve planted the pits in old geranium pots in my greenhouse. In April I’ve planted the wee pumpkin plants in one of the raised beds in my garden and today I’ve harvested my very own pumpkin – victory!!

I’ve made soup as I love hearty soups.

I’m not using the recipe cards any longer as they are so limited to what text I can put on them.

Roasted Summer Squash and Cashew Nut Soup

What you need:

  • 1/2 a herb stock cube
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1 small pumpkin
  • 2 yellow courgettes
  • 150 gram salted cashew nuts
  • olive oil
  • ground nutmeg
  • ground cinnamon
  • ground salt
  • ground pepper
  • 1 rich tbsp of Philadelphia cream cheese with herbs

What you need to do:

  • place the pumpkin on a tray in the oven on full heat and keep it there until you can stick a knife in the pumpkin.
  • cut the pumpkin in cubes and place them on a baking tray with olive oil, cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper and salt in the oven at full heat, keep it there for 15 minutes
  • on a baking tray roast the cashew nuts with some olive oil in the oven until golden brown
  • in a pan boil 150 ml of water with the herb stock cube until it’s disloved
  • add the garlic and the cut courgette, boil until soft
  • add the pumkin and the cashew nuts (save some for garnish)
  • with a hand hold blender mix the content of the pan until it is thick and creamy
  • add the Philadelphia and 100 ml of water
  • stirr well and you are ready to serve the soup with some celery and the rest of the cashew nuts

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday xox

Filed Under: Food, Soups