Smoked Trout Spread with Pumpernickel bread and Daikon / Radish

First one of the appetizers I made for my father's birthday and it was off to a pretty good start. I apologise before hand that the pictures of these are not going to be the greatest, since I was kind of surrounded by a ravenous family, so couldn't really take the food away for a photo shoot. :P
This is fairly healthy as party appetizers go and will probably be tasty to anyone with a love of a good schmear. I used a combination of soft goat cheese and sour cream as the base for this spread, since basically I forgot to buy cream cheese, but the choice is completely up to you. I think both ways would work equally well. For me the best way to eat this was first the pumpernickel, then a slice of the daikon (a big white winter radish) and then the spread, but if you're not a fan of pumpernickel or want it even healthier, you can use just a slice of daikon. Kids probably would like this on some crackers though. The recipe for this comes from one of my favourite newly discovered food blogs foodwishes, link below.

Appetizer/Snack - 1 big bowl (about 14oz/350g) - 1000cal - 15min

(58g fat; 89g carbs and 77g protein)

Banana Eggy Pancake

1 banana + 1 egg = Happiness

So, like any warm-blooded person, I love pancakes once in a while. But since we're trying to eat healthier it doesn't seem like a viable option right now. Though I've definitely had some impressive cheat days these past few weeks with Easter, my father's, my brother's and a friend's birthday. I'll be posting recipes that I've made for those occasions soon as well. :) But I haven't had pancakes in a good long while now and I had a craving. Thus came in this awesome fake banana pancake. I've made these before when I had leftover very ripe bananas and didn't feel like a smoothie, but they're surprisingly healthy. It's just an egg, a mashed up (ripe) banana and optionally a little honey or other sweetener, and no it doesn't taste exactly like a pancake of course. It is after all just a banana-y omelet, but it settles my cravings and might do the same for you!

Breakfast/Lunch/Snack - 1 'pancake' - 200cal - 10min

(9g fat; 25g carbs and 7g protein)

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)

Eggplant / Aubergine

Welcome to my first general ingredient post! I'm going to assume you all have a rudimentary knowledge as to what an eggplant or aubergine is, that big purple thing basically. Or at least the western kind that you find where I live, is. We don't get all those fancy other kinds, so I'm not going to discuss those.

How to preserve my luscious eggplant?
Keep it preferably in a dark, cool place, like where you keep your tomatoes. It doesn't really like to be kept in a fridge, nor in a hot place, though in my experience the veggie box of your fridge is still better than my hot dorm room.

For how long?
At least a week, but it's pretty much useable until you get brown, mushy spots. Wrinkles aren't the end of the world, see below. 

Oh No! I forgot my Eggplant and now it's all wrinkly!
I'm not the best at meal planning, so sometimes I just buy produce with the idea that I'll figure out later what I'll do with it. In this process some things get forgotten and sometimes even spoil, which I hate! Since I don't like wasting, nor do I really have the money to waste with my student budget. :p
Once upon a time I had an eggplant which was a bit old and wrinkly and I was afraid it wouldn't be useable any more and I almost wept! But I did some research on the interwebs and it seemed to suggest that while a few wrinkles can slightly affect the taste (make it more bitter), it shouldn't make you sick. Eggplant is already slightly bitter, especially the skin, and especially the dark purple western kind (which is the only kind you can get here), though it's been slightly bred out so it's lesser than it used to be. In the past eggplant was always salted (see below) to get some of that bitterness out, so if your eggplant is a bit older you might consider doing that. Check out my eggplant pizza recipe for a perfect excuse to use that wrinkly eggplant! Now that being said, yes of course fresh eggplant is probably better for you and most would agree tastier, since it's sweeter.

Salting? Wtf is that? I'm hungry! I don't want to wait 30-45min on top of cooking time!
Salting is basically slicing your eggplant, covering it in salt on both sides, putting it on some paper towel and letting it soak up some of those supposedly bitter juices. Apparently eggplant used to be a lot bitterer than it is now, because of the seeds. But because of selective growing they've greatly reduced the amount and size of these bitter seeds, so usually I think you can skip the salting step. But if your eggplant is a bit older than you would like, and you fear that it has turned bitter, salting might salvage it. Also some recipes salt your eggplant to dry out the plant a bit, for various reasons, so don't automatically skip it if you see that step, just think about it. If you see no reason for a drier eggplant and yours is spanky fresh, then go ahead and skip it. Courgette/Zucchini is also salted sometimes for what I assume is the same reason, but not sure. ;) 

Skin it?
No! Or at least I think so. It's a waste, more work, and also tasty, so why would you? The skin is generally more bitter than the rest of the plant. Sometimes though your eggplant's skin can become very tough while exposed to a lot of heat for a long time (like when you grill it whole to make babaganouche) and then you might want to throw away the skin. 

Soaky soaky
Eggplants tend to soak up oil especially, and liquids in general in your dishes, which you might want to keep in mind while cooking as well! Though a bit of olive oil on your eggplant has never met any protest in my experience.

Used in
Mini Eggplant Pizza - Carbless Sin
Ratatouille (with chicken and couscous)

Source: https://davidrosengarten.com/blog/the-many-mysteries-of-eggplant/ 

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)

Ultimate Salad with a poached egg

Salad loaded with goodies and extremely filling.

Alright so I have a bit of a confession to make. This was mostly just a 'I have a bit of leftover salmon and avocado' situation. Smoked salmon and avocado are my go to staples to buy whenever I go to the store. I might have a teenie weenie obsession, but that's okay, it's the least worrisome I have. ^^
This salad turned out pretty good, though I'm not a 100% sure on my decision to caramelize the onions, kind of missed the sharpness of a bit of raw onion, but you can decide for yourself.
These kind of recipes are just more as an inspiration to draw upon if you need it. It was also just an excuse to experiment a bit: my first poached egg ever, turned out pretty neat if I do say so myself. Though to be perfectly honest I did lose some of the white since I had no idea on how to go about it.

Salad - 1 serving - 300cal - 20min

 (19g fat, 3g saturated; 18g carbs and 19g 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 Green Beans - Two Ways

Yes, another super simple chicken recipe. I'm sorry, I just have a lot of them left. Also I'm too lazy to go to the store right now and I had all the ingredients for this one lying around. ;) I made a few more delicious things over the past two weekends at home, but unfortunately I totally forgot to take a picture (not used to doing so), so you'll have to wait until I make them again before I can put the recipe up. I personally really prefer recipes with a photo, so I don't really like putting any up without one. Chicken with green beans is my staple food for when inspiration has escaped me, so I have made a bunch of variations on it, here is one with my go-to chicken seasoning and with mushrooms and below there is one with a honey ginger glaze.

With a honey-ginger glaze and sesame seeds

With Champignons

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

Cappuccino of Jerusalem artichoke and chestnuts soup with a goat cheese foam

A relatively easy, but fancy little soup of Jerusalem artichoke and chestnuts with a goat cheese foam, with a little espelette pepper sprinkled on. You'll be sure to impress everyone with this star soup! It's a perfect appetizer to make for an intimate dinner party or a large group of people: it's sophisticated, unique, yet comforting and easy to make! It does use some (semi-)unusual ingredients so you might have to make sure you find everything at your supermarket.
The only downside is that for best results you do need something to make your milk and goat cheese mixture foamy (like in a real cappuccino). I used an espuma/siphon bottle. But not to worry! I've read you can reach the same results by just blending it with a(n) (immersion/stick) blender. And if you don't have that, you can always just mix in the milk mixture, without foaming it first, though I wouldn't call it a cappuccino then. ;)
I made this soup as one of many appetizers for my mother's birthday (among which the mozzarella appetizer I posted earlier) and my whole family was a big fan! It would probably look really well served in clear glasses as well, so you can see the different layers. But I wanted to accentuate the cappuccino angle.
As previously I'll put up a short and long version of the recipe, but it really is quite easy, so there won't be that much difference between them I think.

6-8 small portions - 40 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

Starter with mozzarella, prosciutto ham, olives and sundried tomatoes with a bell pepper sauce

While this starter stars the classic flavour combinations it is truly a very good version of it. It not only makes a pretty picture, it is also a perfect not too heavy starter or large appetizer for any dinner where you want to show off, but are not a 100% confident in your cooking skills. It does require some effort to put together, but you can easily make all elements way ahead and then quickly plate before serving.

Since this is the first recipe I'm posting I'll quickly go over how I had this kind of thing in mind. I'll first give a quick overview of the ingredients and instructions, which you can use while cooking. And after those I'll give a very detailed version of the recipe that you might want to give a read over before you go shopping and start cooking. At the very end I'll put a quick explanation on how I plated this dish, but feel free to use your imagination in the presentation! In the extended version I'll give you more reasoning behind the ingredient choices and hints/common mistakes about the cooking itself. I'll also put alternatives there if you don't have any of the equipment mentioned in the short instructions. I'll try to be as exact as possible with quantities and cooking time, but there may be variations in this depending on how much you want to serve and how experienced/confident you are.

6 portions - 45 minutes prep + 10 minutes plating