dates stuffed with orange scented almond paste, dipped in dark chocolate and sprinkled with sea salt

Date delicious! Datemania! Date away! Date divine!

The making of:

To prepare them in your own kitchen you need:

dates

marzipan

the peel of an orange, zested

dark chocolate, melted

Maldon Sea Salt

a bain-marie to melt the chocolate

2 forks to dip the dates

gingered beans with hijiki

My international family of favourite green bean recipes (German with tomatoes, onions and vinaigrette, Spanish with fried garlic and almonds) welcomes a new brother in their midst: Asian gingered beans with hijiki.

This recipe is full of flavour and makes use of the beautiful hijiki algae, and fancy yet very easy to prepare.

dry and soaked hijiki

gingered beans  with hijiki (inspired by Alicia Silverstone)

1/2 cup dried hijiki
1 tablespoon tamari
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup onions, chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
pinch of sea salt
2 cups fresh geen beans
2 tablespoons grated ginger

Place the hijiki in a small bowl with hot water. Let it soak for about 30 minutes, then drain and rinse.

Combine the hijiki with the tamari, add waterto almost cover in a saucepan.Cook, uncovered over medium heat until the water has nearly evaporated.

While the hijiki cooks, heat the oil, add onion, garlicand salt and sauté for about 4 minutes, or until translucent. Add the green beans. Cover and cook until the beans are tender-crisp, about 5 minutes.
Add the hijiki and ginger.
Mix well and cook for 1 to 2 minutes longer to marry the flavours.

Enjoy!

Michael's meadows and a lunch al fresco

Michael Simonsen, of Simonsen Freianlagen, the landscape designer and family friend, has a beautiful garden, that we were very eager to visit. Whenever we asked, "can we come see your garden this weekend?" He said "No no noooo, it needs a little more time to show the whole variety of flowers! Half of them didn't blossom yet!" or "Just a little more patience, I am still waiting for the sunflowers!"

Finally, on a sunny day towards the end of August, we decided "now or never" and called Michael to tell him the day of our visit had come, and that we didn't want to wait for the sunflowers any longer.

The walk through the meadows was delightful; we saw a real-life deer and some of the flowers smelled like honey.

For lunch Michael sent us off to the vegetable patch in the beautiful kitchen garden equipped with a washing basket to pick our ingredients. Warty cucumbers, the most differently shaped and coloured tomatoes and little leafy greens and herbs made a wonderful salad.

weekend links

Royal Saxonian Shallop, Großteich

31 amazing things to cook in August.  Only August 4th, we're still in time to keep up!

How to transform your inspiration into a colour scheme

My photographer self loves this kind of video: On Assignment with Penny De Los Santos

On my to-try list: Ecstatic Raw Chocolate. Look at the list of additions! Must be so much fun not only to make chocolate but to experiment with lemon, ginger, mint, roses, lavender, sea salt

 From Rookie Mag: All by my selfie.

strawberry crumble

strawberry crumble

strawberries ( blueberries, peaches, apricots.....)


3 cups oatmeal
2 cups flour (I used coconut flour)
a pinch of fine sea salt
3/4 cup coconut or safflower oil
3/4 cup rice syrup
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup chopped almonds, pecans or walnuts

I got the idea and ingredients for this recipe from Alicia Silverstone's book The Kind Diet, but my motivation to make the crumble was so urgent, that I did not read the instructions and created an entirely different "crumble", actually much closer to the German "Streusel". Therefore I want to encourage you, just as I did, to be very liberal with Alicia's instructions (to find here), and of course the suggested quantities and measurements may be adjusted to your pleasing.


Combine the fruit and the crumble in a baking pan. Bake it in the oven  at 180° until the fruit bubbles and the crumble turns golden. Enjoy!

sunset by the lake

 

Dippelsdorfer Teich

semi-dried tomatoes overnight

Every now and then the overnight tomatoes make their appearance on various food blogs I follow. They have many fancy names like night blushed tomatoes or moon dried tomatoes, but I think the flavour speaks for itself.  When I talked with my local vegetable shopkeeper about the many possibilities to enjoy the little heirloom tomatoes I remembered the overnight method and promised to share it with him.

It's super easy and the result is irresistible. While you heat your oven up to the maximum (250°C), you cut the tomatoes in halves, put them on a baking tray and season them to your liking.
I love to sprinkle them with salt, brown sugar (or maple syrup) and a bit of ground caraway. That's it.

The moment you put the tomatoes in the oven you turn off the heat and go to bed.

When you open the oven the next morning, you'll find the most sweet, tasty, semi-dried, wonderful, delicious tomatoes you hardly can contain yourself from eating them right from the tray.

The tiny tomatoes of the middle row didn't survive until we had prepared the rest of the lunch (the smaller the tomatoes the better for the overnight method!)

smoothie and raw food combination tips!

Smoothies make a great breakfast (and if you like, you can continue drinking them all day). They replenish your cells with water, minerals and natural sugars! Here a few tips, to make your smoothie experience very enjoyable!!

1. Melon should always be the first meal of the day (never in between other meals) and in a smoothie also best just by itself. The reason why it doesn't mix well, is, that is has a very high water content, and digests very fast. So if you ate something more dense before, it may cause bloating or even stomach cramps.

2. Smoothies (for the exact same reason) make a great first meal (and also second and third...) but don't go well after a denser meal. As a general rule of thumb, try to eat foods that are digest faster (high water content = fresh fruit and vegetables, smoothies) first and earlier in the day, and foods that digest slower (less water content = cooked or baked foods) later, or in the evening.

3. Good raw food combinations (apply also for smoothies!):

• Greens go with everything
• Melon goes by itself
• Very sweet fruits (bananas, dates, figs, persimmon,..) go well together and with greens
• Semi sour fruits (all fruits with stones and berries, some apples) go well together and with greens and some sour fruits
• Sour fruits (citrus fruits and tomatoes, pineapple, some apples) go well together and with greens, and with fats (avocados, nuts, flaxseed, coconut) and with some semi sour fruits
• Fats don't mix well within their own group, but go with sour fruits and greens 

These combination guidelines shouldn't limit you in any way! In fact many many raw food and smoothie recipes break these rules (for example combining fat with sweet fruits, or fat with other fat) and create absolutely delicious treats. Just if you aim to include a lot of raw fruits and veggies in your diet, paying attention to the combinations is gonna safe you a lot of bloating and stomach pains, I promise!

Some of my recent favourite smoothie are:

Bananas + swiss chard leaves + basil + ice

Bananas + dates + vanilla + lupine flour + ice

Strawberries + peaches + ice

I hope this was a helpful introduction to smoothie and raw food combinations!

Much love, Vik (guest blogger today!)

ruby woo curry

The preparation is very simple and yet you will feel rewarded when serving this bright red dish. We named it after my favourite lipstick shade by MAC, Ruby Woo.

1/2 cauliflower, cut in small pieces
1 red bell pepper, chopped
4 small potatoes, chopped
1 beetroot, chopped
2 onions, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2tbs olive oil
1 ts coriander powder
1 ts cumin
2 tbs coconut cream
2 cups water
salt to taste

First heat the oil. When hot add the coriander and the cumin. When they start darkening add onions and garlic. Always stirring add the vegetables in the following order: potatoes, beetroot, cauliflower. Then add the water. Let it simmer (about 10 minutes), then add the coconut cream and the red bell pepper. Let it simmer so that the flavours combine (about 15 minutes). Then check if all the vegetables are fully cooked and it's ready to serve. Add salt to taste.

For decoration and fresh flavour mint leaves, basil or lemon balm work perfectly. Add those just before serving and be careful that the dish is not to hot, because the herbs will blacken.

Enjoy!

a plateful of colours

 pears and beetroots, blueberries, tomatoes, lettuce and avocado

herbs and fruit popsicles

Herbs and fruit popsicles

1 ripe pear
1 ripe banana
1 freshly squeezed orange
1 freshly squeezed lemon
100ml coconut water (or just water)
a few sprigs of lemon balm
3-4 mint leaves
a pinch of dried lemon myrtle

Blend. Fill into the moulds. Freeze. Enjoy!

raw pad thai

photo from Vik's phone

Raw Pad Thai

2 baby cucumbers
1 zucchino
1 big red bell pepper
1 onion (chopped for garnish)
a handful of fresh sprouts (for garnish)
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro (chopped, plus a few sprigs for garnish)
1 lime

Using a mandoline or a knife slice the cucumbers, the zucchino and the bell pepper in very thin, noodle sized stripes. Mix to combine.

Dressing

3 tablespoons raw almond cream
1 1/2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
1 tablespoon tamari
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon cilantro
1/4 small jalapeno , chopped

In a blender combine all the ingredients for a dressing, blending until smooth. Pour over the vegetable mixture and toss to coat.  Top with the garnish and squeeze fresh lime juice over the pad thai. Enjoy!

The original recipe with zucchini and carrots you find in The Sweet Life.

a week of vegan specials

fresh coconut-agave-strawberry smoothie

If you, like me, have dipped your foot in vegan waters already, you will know that this week you won't have to expect any hay, straw and treetasting foods. Especially in summer I crave nothing more than light crunchy vegetables and fruit in all variations, and my daughter Vik, a true vegan and expert cook, has inspired many groundbreaking recipes. Moreover, she knows how to combine food the most effective way, what works best in the morning and evening and especially after a workout.

This week you are in for a treat, and hopefully discover that cooking completely plant based is never getting boring. You can look forward to multiple sauces and dressings, that go with pretty much anything, ice creams, warm and cold soups, even some raw vegan dishes, and some delicious foods that we yet have to name. And for your sweet tooth: I don't exaggerate, when I say that our chocolated, sea salt sprinkled dates are better than any truffle.

a photosafari along our running track n°2