Carbless Sin - Mini Aubergine / Eggplant Pizza with Chorizo and Parmezan

Sometimes being too lazy to go to the store results in something wonderful like this. I started with a wrinkly eggplant/aubergine I'd forgotten about and this happened. *so happy*
These are mini eggplant/aubergine pizza's with a 'raw' tomato sauce, some leftover chorizo and a bit of parmezan, which had hardened which made it very hard to grate, so I just put little cubes on them, and it was wonderful, you guys. Maybe it was because I was a bit desperate to put together without going to the store, but honestly it was. I have since these made another version of these (actually following a recipe) at home with my family, but that one had a sauce that was more work, and without the chorizo, but with mozzarella. But the original leftover version of them was better imo (in my opinion)! Chorizo really made this magical. The leftover rucola was a nice touch, if I may say so myself. And I'm definitely making this super-easy raw tomato sauce again for other things. Let's get on with the recipe of these awesome 'leftovers' eggplant pizza. First version of the recipe will be the extended one, with reasoning behind everything. And then there's a short one at the bottom which you can use while cooking.

Lunch/Snack/Appetizer - 1 eggplant ~ 12 pizza - 650cal - 30min (without salting)

(45g fat; 44g carbs and 22g protein)

Mexican Hash - Butternut, bell pepper, chorizo, spinach and eggs with guacamole

 

I can't take any credit for this one, but I thought I'd quickly share this one so more people can enjoy it. This is a Mexican inspired hash made from chunks of butternut with red bell pepper, chorizo, spinach and some tasty eggs. This lovely recipe comes from a blog I'm planning on exploring further called 'every last bite'. I did make some minor adjustments, so you just decide which suggestion you want to follow. ;) I changed some amounts and cooking times I think and I switched out the spicy pepper by just a sprinkling of cayenne, since I don't do spicy well (I also used mild chorizo). I've made this twice now, for my sister and for friends, and most of them were big fans as well. 

On the original blog it's advertised as a breakfast food, but I've yet to try that, seems a bit heavy to my tastes. I made it for dinner both times and my sister took leftovers to work the day after and successfully reheated it in the microwave (without the egg, just bake one separately, or go without).

Here's quick overview with photo's as to what to do, but definitely go to the original blog for even better photo's! (I just have my camera phone :p)

Dinner/Lunch and apparently Breakfast - 3 portions - 450 cal (with guac) - 50min

(35,4g fat; 29,6g carbs and 18,5g protein)

Butternut Pumpkin Soup with Sour Cream and Roasted Seeds

The Butternut is back, bitches! Sorry, just enthusiastic. This time in the form of a comforting soup. It was a bit of an experiment since I read somewhere that for a lot of pumpkin kinds you can leave the skin on as long as you make sure it's soft enough by cooking/roasting/...! This seemed like a game changer, since removing the peel of a pumpkin is just so much work, especially if you don't have a decent big knife like I do at Uni... :( Plus it would means wasting less, so I'm all for it. I'm also roasting the seeds to add to my soup as a crunch at the end, so I literally used the whole pumpkin! I wanted to make it more an oriental tasting soup, but didn't have any ginger and I'm already adding coconut milk to my dinner. But I'm thinking an excellent version of this soup would be with ginger, maybe some lemon grass, definitely a bunch of coriander and coconut milk. I did end up adding a bit of (light) sour cream to cut through that comforting, slightly sweet pumpkin flavour. Since I wanted some more colour and thought it would go well I added some (frozen) parsley and of course my toasted pumpkin seeds.

I decided to back to the two tier recipe format. I thought it unnecessary with 'easy' recipes, but honestly I like having the room to give you all the tips & tricks that I can which makes the recipe a little chaotic so it really does seem handy to have a shorthand version of it. Plus I have no doubt that most have little interest in my ramblings and are just looking for some recipe inspiration. If anyone has suggestions on how to make the recipes more readable/useable, be sure to let me know. Do you prefer them with photos at various steps? Plus I made a nice picture for you guys this time even! So I might do a little plating section again. Consider this my wintry valentine soup. Look at me, being all topical. This is another recipe of my own design so I might update this if/when I perfect/improve this.

Soup - 6 or more servings -  120cal/serving (800cal/whole pot) - 30min + 40min cooking

 (4.7g fat, 1.2g saturated; 19.3g carbs and 3.2g protein)

Smoked salmon, cream cheese, avocado and veggie Wrap

Okay, I tried to hold off for a while, but the need has become too strong, the need for a delicious wrap with smoked salmon and avocado, but I added a few more veggies to my usual version of it, so hopefully I won't need two of them to fill me up (I don't really, but it was so delicious I really want one!). This is a super simple recipe and surely no big revelation for most of you, but if you don't have too much experience with eating other things than just bread for lunch, this might be new to you. Trust me, this thing is fucking DELICIOUS. I do adore both smoked salmon and avocado so I might be biased, but it really is, friends and my sister agree. ;) Obviously as you can see it is not as low calorie than the recent recipes I've posted, since it does contain carbs and slightly fatty foods. Most of the calories come from the wrap (200cal), so if you use a less calorie heavy wrap, or convert this into a salad, it would be healthier. Unless you're actively doing a heavy diet, this is still a pretty good lunch (if you just eat one), it has lots of veggies and healthy fats from the avocado and salmon. Since one wrap contains half an avocado (and half a tomato, half a shallot), it does tempt you to make another one, but leave it for tomorrow or share with a friend! Rub the remaining half an avocado with lemon juice so it doesn't turn brown.

Lunch - 1 person - 500 cal - 15 minutes

 (28g fat, 7.3 saturated; 48g carbs and 16g protein)

Chicken with ratatouille (and couscous)

Classes have started up again so we're back to budget, healthy recipes. In my week off I visited Krakau/Krakov for a few days, which was wonderful, might do a quick post about that and just generally relaxed at home. Apparently both my mother and brother are doing a low-carb diet, so it wasn't too hard to keep at it, not that I didn't indulge once in a while.

This one is actually a classic I make all the time, since you can make a big batch of ratatouille and eat leftovers all week long or freeze them for when you just can't be bothered to cook. I so usually eat this with couscous, which I'm foregoing today since I'm going out later and need my calories for drinks, ah the struggles of being a student. For a fancier version this recipe would definitely go well with some lamb as well, though I wouldn't use such an elaborate recipe for the meat then, just salt/pepper and thyme.

The typical ingredients of ratatouille are onion, garlic, courgette/zucchini, eggplant/aubergine and paprika/bell pepper. I didn't have any bell pepper so I used some leftover butternut instead, which worked fine as well!
 

Dinner - 3 to 4 people - 350 cal (ca. 400 with couscous) - 45 min prep + 45 min oven time

Savouring Simplicity - Salad with cucumber and smoked salmon with a dill-yoghurt dressing

Yay, another day, another attempt at being healthy. I'm going home today so pretty sure it's going to become a lot harder pretty soon. Not only is my mother an amazing cook, and my father is a big wine nut, but just having delicious fresh bread around is going to be temptation enough...
But for now I've got one more easy, simple, healthy recipe to share.

Sorry for the not so pretty picture again, but this one is for on the go. All the goodies I've mixed together at the bottom and put all the lettuce on top (slightly shifted them aside so you can see) so the crisp lettuce doesn't get soggy when I'm ready to eat it. This salad is perfect to take to work/school/uni, all you need to bring is a fork to mix everything and eat it all up. Since this does contain salmon I would recommend keeping it refrigerated until you leave, and if possible again at work/school. But if your smoked salmon is fresh it should be fine to eat even if it's been out of the fridge for the whole morning. Trust me if it's not safe to eat any more, you'll smell it! :P
It's super-healthy (only 100 cal!) so go ahead and double everything if you find/think this doesn't fill you up for lunch. Or if you want, eat some bread with it. As I said I'm going home today, so will probably eat my fill later, so just taking this with me to eat on the way home.

Lunch - 1 person - 100 cal - 15 minutes 

Surviving Healthiness - Recipes

I've very recently (like 3 days ago) decided to start trying to eat more healthier things, cutting some carbs down and all that rot, so I could doubly enjoy the days where I cook delicious meals and treats. So I'm no longer buying snacks or crisps/chips and trying to eat less carbs and more fruit and veg basically. It's going fine so far, I still enjoy eating, thank goodness!
I also started going for a run (if you can call it that :p) in the morning, I'm hoping I'll keep it up once classes start up again, but not sure, I definitely can't say I'm enjoying it just yet...
Last thing I'm doing is keeping track of how much water I drink and make sure it's enough. For that I use this 0.5 l (2 cups) bottle that filters the water while I drink, and make sure I drink at least 3 of those during the day. I'm peeing a lot more I've found, but I'm hoping that evens out soon, or all the doctors are wrong and we're not supposed to drink this much water. :p
Right now I'm drinking a glass of skim milk, and surprisingly enjoying it very much! Unfortunately it's also 60cal or something, why?! But at least it's healthy calories, unlike the 3 oreos (160cal) I had earlier... ^^

Anyway I thought I'd share some healthy really basic recipes I'm using doing this. Sorry for the not so pretty pictures, since the recipes are so simple and meant just for yourself and not at all to impress anyone else, I'm not really bothering with plating them nice or watching the light... I'm really just snapping a picture at my desk before I dig in. If you really would like prettier pictures, comment below, and I might take the time next time. ;) Also, do you like recipes clumped together like this or would you rather I make separate posts for them?

Matchbox Miniature Vintage Suitcase

So, I made this, if I may say so myself, awesome looking matchbox suitcase. It turned out better than I expected to be honest. I based myself off of this tiny tutorial, but wanted the suitcase to have a more leather look than the slightly wooden look the one in the tutorial had. I mean if I'm gonna spend an hour making a tiny matchbox suitcase, it better be the best darn suitcase I can make, right? :p
I made this for one of my best friends who is leaving for an Erasmus in Helsinki for a semester fairly soon, so I made this suitcase Finland-Belgium themed with the travel 'stickers' I put on there.
So far I've also made a tiny student codex* and tiny sash from our days together in a student union/society**. If any of you have any suggestions as to what other tiny things I can put in, please let me know! I have no inspiration any more right now... :(
I made another video tutorial for this one, so check that out first and then you can follow the detailed instructions I'll give below.

40-60 minutes

Tamarind Ginger Cookies

The fool that I was I only discovered the wonderful thing that is Tamarind just a few months ago, while making a delicious salad with watermelon and duck breast, that I'll be sure to share whenever watermelon shows up in stores again (seriously missing it fiercely right now). In that I used a paste version of tamarind, which you can find in any supermarket I believe, but perhaps look in the international / Asian section. Tamarind has a lovely sweet-sour taste that goes well with a variety of dishes.
So, when I was in the Asian supermarket a while ago, when I saw Tamarind with seeds still in it, I couldn't resist grabbing it. Then it lay on my shelf for a few weeks until the opportunity arose to use it! And what's a better cause than cookies? On that same shelf I had some leftover candied ginger, from a previous haul in the same Asian supermarket, but already partially sacrificed in an awesome ginger, white chocolate cheesecake. With those two goodies I set to work to create these tasty and special Tamarind Ginger Cookies. Before we start though, let me tell you that using the paste you just get at the supermarket would be much easier, because removing those seeds were a pain!
I made these alongside some good ol' fashioned brownies and some lemon cheesecake cookies, let me know if you'd like a post about those as well. They were delicious too of course, just a bit less special. I made all these goodies as little gift for my friends at new years (alongside the earrings with origami flower I posted about earlier, and a few other things).
Anyway on to the cookies...

about 40 cookies - 60 minutes (depends on oven size)

Toothless Bookmark

A while ago I saw a picture on Pinterest of a toothless bookmark like this, but I couldn't find any tutorial for it, so I decided to just try to make it myself and put a little tutorial out there for people like me who really wanted to recreate it. ;) That one was created (partially) out of felt I think, mine is just paper.


A friend of mine really likes toothless (and who can blame her?): she has a toothless hoodie and I gave her DIY toothless socks for new years, so I thought I'd expand her collection by gifting her this bookmark. I might end up making a second one for myself though! It's super cute, but functional. While I like the result there are a few things I would've done differently, so I'll mention the mistakes I made while doing this tutorial so you can keep it in mind for yourself!
I drew and cut out all the elements just by eye, but if you guys are interested I'll make a template for this, so you don't have to take that risk or for if you're not so confident in your skills just yet (not that mine are that great :p). Just let me know and I'll make a full template! I might do so anyway if I decide to make more of these, but for now the one I have a plan for (gifting away) is finished, so there's no need...

30 minutes - Easy

Origami Flower with Leaves

This year as a small gift for my friends I made these Origami flowers decorated with earrings (I also gave a few other things which I might post about later). I made it in a few different colours to complement the earrings I was giving, but unfortunately I only have a picture of this one. I also made a quick video on how to make the rose. It's the first time making a video for me, and I just edited it with Windows Live Movie Maker, so it's clearly amateur-ish, but I thought a video was much clearer as an instructional/tutorial than just an explanation with pictures. Let me know if you like video-instructions instead of just text! So I know to do more ;)

Click read more for how I attached the earrings.

Salad with melon chunks, feta crumbles, bacon bits and a honey vinaigrette

This is one of my favourite super easy salads to make. It's delicious, filling and so satisfying. It's not THE healthiest salad out there, but since it's so filling, no need to eat any kind of bread with it, though you can if you want. I've gotten quite a few complements from people (served as a starter) and make it all the time when I'm staying at my sister's for lunch. I've made many versions and variations of this recipe, which I will elaborate in the extended version of the recipe. Like last time I'll do a short and a long version of the recipe. Whenever I make a new recipe I tend to read it through at least once completely before I make my shopping list and do the actual shopping. Even while just reading through it and writing down the ingredients, I'm thinking on what kind of variations I want to do to better suit my tastes, or in the case I can't find one of the ingredients. And before I get down to cooking, I generally write down a shorter version of the recipe to use while cooking. So that's basically my reasoning behind this two levels of recipe in case you were wondering. :) Anyway, let's get to it. This recipe is also great for those who generally don't like salads, or kids, because it contains so many fruits! It's basically a hearty fruit salad! It can be made ahead if you want to take it with you for lunch, and it stays delicious. If you're using a lettuce that gets 'soggy' easy, keep it separate from the rest and just mix it in before eating. Besides the melon, I think you have a lot of freedom in what kind of fruit you want to put in. I'll put all the ones I use in the extended recipe. In the short recipe I put my standard choices.

4 portions - 30 minutes