Carrot and Apple Salad

I am heartbroken. My love affair with blueberries has ended.
Today I went to the shops to stock up on blueberries, only for like the third time this week, and they were gone.
All gone. Blueberry season is over. Just as I was thinking of more ways to eat these berries of the gods.

But one has to move on. It's carrot season now, let's embrace it!!

And carrots love apples. I have already proved this with my carrot muffin tops.

But this is a whole different thing.

We are uniting the fruit and the vegetable in a refreshing blueberry-season-is-over/end-of-summer salad.
It's crunchy, it's sweet, it's sour, and it's daaang healthy.

Carrot Apple Salad (makes 1 portion)
1 carrot
1 apple
1 tbsp raisins
dijon mustard
honey
white wine vinegar
salt
parlsey

Chop the carrot and apple in any shape you like.
Add the toppings. I only used raisins, but cranberries, sunflower seeds or nuts would surely be nice as well.
Combine the mustard, honey, vinegar (any other white vinegar would work as well), slat and parlsey to a dressing. Taste it to make it as sweet or vinegary as you like it.

Zucchini Pasta...Without Pasta

I am not entirely sure what to call this dish....Is it a pasta? Is it a salad? Is it a 'whatever-I-found-in-the-fridge-and-threw-on-a-plate' dish?
I don't know.

What I do know is, that I want to eat this dish every day for the rest of my live!
Fact.

This reminds me of that episode of How I Met Your Mother when they are listening to "500 Miles" by The Proclaimers and Marshall is like "This is such a good song, I'll never ever get sick of it, ever!!!" and then after listening to it for a couple of hours non-stop they just want to die....
Yeah...

I don't think 'Death by Zucchini Overload' would make a good obituary, I better limit my consumption to once a week.....maybe.

Zucchini Pasta (makes 1 serving)
about 1 cup of julienned zucchini (apparently that's the fancy term for long thin strips, I just used a normal knife)
1 tbsp olive oil
juice of half a lemon
1 clove of garlic
chopped parlsey (or basil)
a dash of salt
2 tbsp crumbled goats cheese (or ricotta, or feta cheese)
2 tbsp chopped almonds (or walnuts, or pine nuts)

Mix the zucchini and the dressing together with a lot of love and either eat it raw or toss it in a hot frying pan for a minute.

Sprinkle with cheese and nuts.

And you're done!

An Austrian Dish - Bread Dumplings with Mushroom Sauce

I'd like to introduce you to a dish from my home. 
Traditional Austrian bread dumplings with a creamy mushroom sauce that will blow your mind. 

In German this would be called "Semmelknoedel und Schwammerlsauce" .....yeah doesn't sound that appealing....

The boyfriend also made a remark that it doesn't look appealing either. I have to admit, bread dumplings are not the prettiest of all dumplings. The ugly duckling dumpling.

Or maybe the boyfriend meant the mushrooms with his hurtful comment....well, don't judge a book by its cover and all that stuff......don't be shallow, give this dish a chance, try to look past its unfortunate appearance, it is so damn delicious.


Bread dumplings (makes 2 dumplings)
1 cup coarse breadcrumbs
1 tbsp chopped onions
1 egg
1 tbsp milk
salt
black pepper
thyme

Put the breadcrumbs on a tray and leave them in a hot oven for a couple of minutes to dry them a bit (it will make the process easier for you). Instead of breadcrumbs you can also use coarsely chopped stale bread.

Mix in the onions, egg and milk. Add a little more milk if you think you need it, but the mixture shouldn't be sticky. It should be really easy to form balls that hold together well.
Add salt, pepper and thyme. Trust your taste buds.

Put the dumplings in a pot of hot water, and let them simmer, not boil, for about 10 minutes. Place them on kitchen tissue after you take them out so the dumplings are not too soggy.

Mushroom sauce (makes 1 serving)
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp chopped onions
1 tbsp dried mushrooms
1/2 cup vegetable stock
3 tbsp cream
salt
black pepper
fresh parsley

Fry the mushrooms and onions in the olive oil until the mushrooms get a nice dark colour and are just starting to get crispy. Finely chop the dried mushrooms and add them in.
Add in the vegetable stock and the cream. Be generous with salt and pepper.
Let the sauce simmer for a bit and then finish it off with some chopped fresh parsley.

Boom, just like my nanna makes it.
(What is it with grandmas and cooking......?)

Vegetarian Chili in Roasted Pepper with Homemade Tortilla Chips

Making your own tortilla chips is suuuper easy. When I was looking for recipes online most of them just said 'buy tortillas, put salt on them, throw them in a pan of hot oil'.

But that's cheating. Don’t do that. You don’t want to be known as the person that cheats

Besides, you probably have all the ingredients for tortilla chips at home already.

And did I mention that it’s super easy??

Tortilla Chips from scratch (makes 1 serving)

1/2 cup cornflakes*

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tbsp chives

salt to taste

1/2 cup water

oil for frying

*Yes, I used cornflakes.....as in the thing you eat with milk for breakfast. It was a mission impossible to find cornmeal here, so I just got a pack of unsweetened cornflakes. It works perfectly!!!

Use a blender to blitz the cornflakes until they resemble cornmeal. Mix in the flour and seasoning. I chose cayenne and chives but you could also try to make paprika chips or salt and pepper chips. 

Slowly add water to the mixture until it forms a ball of dough. It shouldn't be sticky so you might not need all of the water.

Divide the dough into two balls. Roll them each out as thinly as possible between two pieces of parchment paper. 

Put about a tablespoon of oil into a frying pan and fry each side of the tortilla until golden.

(Now you could use these tortillas for wraps or quesadillas)

Cut each tortilla into 8 equal triangles.

Transfer the tortilla triangles into a pot of hot oil (about 2 inches of oil are enough). Fry them again until they are starting to crisp up.

Take the chips out and quickly put them on some kitchen paper so they don't become soggy.

When you are all done making your homemade tortilla chips and you feel proud, like you should be, you can start thinking about what to dip those beauties into. If you can resist to eat them straight out of the frying pan that is.....

I decided to serve my chips with some chili stuffed peppers.
The chili I made tastes more like Mexican chili than the Gringo version. Are only Mexican people allowed to call Americans Gringos? I am not Mexican. But my boyfriend might be…that would explain the insane amount of burritos he scoffs down.

Anyway….Chili is one of those dishes that you don't really need a recipe for. Use whatever veggies you have sitting in your fridge waiting to be used up. Put chickpeas in it. Try lamb or minced beef if you like it meaty. Heck, add a whole habanero chilli if you feel particularly brave. 

I left out barbecue sauce since barbecue sauce is gross and the sauce of the devil (truth!), and I added a bit of lime and cilantro instead. There you have it, Mexican chili.

Vegetarian Chili in a Roasted Pepper*

1 big red pepper

olive oil

2/3 cup diced onions

1/2 cup sweet corn

1/2 cup kidney beans

1 cup diced red and green pepper

1/2 cup diced tomatoes

1/2 cup vegan mince

2 grated cloves of garlic

1 chopped jalapeno

1 cup vegetable stock

1/2 cup double concentrated tomato puree

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp granulated sugar

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp ground coriander

some fresh coriander leaves

juice of 1/2 lime

1/2 cup cheddar cheese

*The measurements are estimated, it's best to taste your chili constantly while you make it so you can adjust all the flavors to your liking.

First de-core the red pepper, cover it in some olive oil and salt and roast it in the oven at 200C for about half an hour so it gets soft and sweet.

Add olive oil and the onions to a big pot and let the onions caramelize a bit before you put in all your vegetables. Let the veggies cook a bit in their own juices. Add the vegetable stock, tomato puree and the seasoning. Now let it all simmer for a while so it reduces down and the different flavors can develop.

When you think your chili is done, add some fresh coriander and fill it into the roasted pepper. I put some cheese at the bottom of the pepper and to top it off and put it back into the oven for about 10 minutes so the cheese is melted nicely.

So now you have created a delicious chili, to be enjoyed by both Mexicans and Non-Mexicans.