Menu for week 48

Can you believe it is only one month away until the new year?! I see the week numbers every week but it didn't really sink in until now. I am glad that the hectic times are behind me for a bit, until x-mas draws closer, that is. But I had my last school day of the year last Wednesday and I am happy that I don't have many obligations in the coming week. I also starting to catch up on my recipes, I hope I can keep up the daily posting for a while longer :)

Sunday: We had an Abunai staff meeting, and ended up at the McDonalds afterwards. It is never my favorite place to eat, but I can adjust when I am with a group. I had the fish o filet, French fries and a chocolate milkshake.

Monday: Potato-leek soup. I had a soup craving, so I decided to go for this easy but filling soup. We also had it for lunch the next day :)

Tuesday: I wanted to eat some kind of veggie pancakes because those I could easily take with me to school the next day, which I did. And I also ordered mushroom soup at school, so that made for a nice lunch. These are the courgette and corn pancakes.

Wednesday: Because I am always late at home from school, we always keep it extra simple. We chose Easy Lahmacun.

Thursday and Friday: So after going to familiar recipes in the first half of the week, it was time for something new. A vegan spaghetti with tomato and eggplant sauce. Recipe to come.

Friday Baking: Hartige Banketstaaf. We baked savoury this week. It is kind of a vegetarian sausage roll, with a twist on a Sinterklaas classic. Recipe to come.

Saturday: Nick doesn't care much for peas, but I like them quite a bit. So I decided to try Jamie's Cheesy Peas as a side dish. He said this was much better and less boring. Recipe will follow. Here served with potatoes and fish fingers.

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Sinterklaas: Schuddebuikjes Rotsjes

After we made the Schuddebuikjes Cake, we sill had a lot of left over schuddebuikjes. So we decided to make another treat with these little cookies. I found a recipe for these little chunky piles of chocolate with schuddebuikjes on Klein Stukje Dan. In the Netherlands we call these kind of treats Rotsjes, and the most common are those with peanuts. Because you only need 2 ingredients for this recipe, they are a budget friendly treat to make :) We choose to make these with white chocolate, but of course you can use any kind of chocolate you like.

Schuddebuikjes Rotsjes: (makes 15)
- 150 gr white chocolate
- 100 gr schuddebuikjes

Break the chocolate into small pieces. Melt 100 gr of the chocolate au-bain-marie. This means placing about 3 cm of boiling water in a pan, and place a bowl on top of the pan with the white chocolate. When melted, stir in the other 50 gram of chocolate.
Stir in as much schuddebuikjes until you have the consistency from the picture.
Scoop little piles of the mixture on a baking sheet with 2 teaspoons.
Leave them to cool in the fridge for at least an hour. You can keep these in the fridge until you serve them, otherwise they will melt.

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Bento Bites: Kale Pancakes

I am falling more and more in love with vegetable pancakes. I just like how satisfying they are without too much effort and especially how you can take them with you in a bento, if you make smaller ones. In the Netherlands the classic way to eat kale is in a mashpot, but when I found half a bag leftover in the freezer, I wanted to try something different and I choose these pancakes. The original recipe comes from AH.nl.

Kale Pancakes: (about 12 pancakes, depending on size)
- 300 gr kale, defrosted
- 2 spring onions
- 3 eggs
- 600 ml milk
- 400 gr pancake mix or flour and baking powder
- sunflower oil
- salt and pepper

Boil the kale for about 20 minutes in some water until done. Drain the kale and let it cool down for a bit, then press out the moist. Heat some oil in a pan and bake the spring onions. Beat the pancake mix with milk and eggs until you have a batter. Add some salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the kale and spring onions including juices and leave the batter to rest for 15 minutes.

Heat some oil in a large frying pan and scoop in 3 piles of batter with a ladle. Bake the pancakes on high for about 6 minutes, turning halfway. Keep the pancakes warm on a plate under aluminium foil while you bake the other 9.

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On a Budget: Mozzarella Schnitzels

When we eat the typical Dutch meal of potatoes, veggies and, in most households, meat, we sometimes buy a meat replacement. But those are just as expensive as regular meat and not something we do often. Mostly only when they are on sale. Therefore I was really curious when I saw this recipe on 24-kitchen to make your own mozzarella schnitzels. It is an really easy side dish to make and a lot cheaper than buying the pre made stuff. As you can see we served them alongside a typical Dutch combination of potatoes, veggies and apple sauce.

Mozzarella Schnitzels: (serves 2)
- 100 gr mozzarella
- 2 eggs
- bread crumbs
- sunflower oil
- salt and pepper

Cut the mozzarella into slices. In 1 deep plate beat 2 eggs, with some salt, pepper, or other spices of choice. Make some bread crumbs in the food processor and place those in another deep plate. Now coat a piece of mozzarella with egg and then with bread crumbs. Do this 2 times. Place the slice on a plate and repeat with the other slices.

Heat some sunflower oil in a pan and fry the slices about 2 minutes. Place them on some kitchen towel to absorb the extra moist and serve them alongside your potatoes and veggies. But they would also be great alongside a big salad.

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Fabulous Fish: Cod out of the Oven with Red Pesto

For the FoodBlogSwap, I made a red pesto, and of course we had to use that in a dish :) We choose not to make a pasta dish with it, which would be the obvious choice. But instead we choose for an oven dish with cod. The original recipe if from Aranka's Kookblog. But we moderated it a bit because we added veggies as well.

Cod out of the Oven with Red Pesto: (serves 2)
- 300 gr cod, in chunks
- 50 gr home made red pesto
- 4 spring onions, in rings
- 1 courgette, in pieces
- 100 gr mozzarella, in cubes
- black pepper
- oregano

Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees. Place the cod on the bottom of an oven dish. Stir in red pesto, oregano, black pepper, courgette and spring onion. Place in the oven for 10 minutes. After that add in the mozzarella and place it back for another 5 minutes.

We served it along side a toastie with mascarpone and more red pesto, but it will also be great with potatoes and more veggies.

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Sinterklaas: Chocolade kruidnoten Cake

I have another Sinterklaas recipe to share with typical Dutch ingredients. For this recipe I use chocolate coated kruidnoten in a cake. If you can not get hold of these, please just use a combination of small gingerbread cookies and chocolate chips. It will look different, but taste wise it will be pretty close. The original recipe is from Oh my Foodness.

Chocolade Kruidnoten Cake:
- 200 gr butter
- 250 gr sugar
- 250 gr selfrising flour
- 4 eggs
- 100 gr chocolade kruidnoten (I used a mix of milk, dark and white)

Pre heat the oven to 150 degrees.
Mix the butter with the sugar until creamy. Add in the eggs 1 by 1 and make sure each egg is fully incorporated in the batter before you add the next. Sift in the self rising flour and mix everything together. Do not over mix the batter.
Stir in about 3/4 of the chocolade kruidnoten.

Line a cake tin with a baking sheet and scoop the batter in the tin. Use the rest of the kruidnoten on top of the cake. You can crumble them too if desired. Place it in the oven for about 60-70 minutes, until a toothpick comes out the cake clean. Leave the cake to cool for about 5 minutes before you lift it out of the tin and leave it to cool further.

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FoodBlogSwap: Red Pesto

Last month there wasn't a FoodBlogSwap, so that is why you missed it on the blog. But this month it was back! I got to cook from the blog Eten van Eefke. I love the clean but fun layout of her blog. It is full of easy to prepare recipes which are mostly gluten and lactose free. I choose to make her red pesto, because I had this on my to-make list for a long time, so this was a nice chance to actually do so. I liked it very much and given how easy it is, I will make it again for sure. Also, there is a small amount of Parmasan is this recipe. But without the cheese it is lactose free, and also vegan. I used the pesto in an oven dish, but that recipe will follow later.

Red Pesto:
- 125 gr sundried tomatoes from a jar
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 30 gr pine nuts
- 30 gr Parmasan cheese (optional)
- olive oil
- salt and pepper

Roast the pine nuts in a frying pan. Do not use oil in the pan, just roast them dry. Mix the tomatoes, garlic, pine nuts and cheese in a food processor. Add some olive oil until the pesto has the thickness you desire. It is a very nice touch to use the oil from the jar of sundried tomatoes for extra flavour. I love that and I use the oil from the tomatoes all the time when I cook with them. Add salt and pepper to taste.

I used the biggest part in an oven dish, but the leftover I used to make marcarpone and pesto toasties. The pesto was gone in 2 days. If you want to store it up to a week, put the pesto in a small jar and use enough olive oil to cover the pesto.

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Menu for week 47

I am very happy because I managed to blog every day for the past week so I could make a small dent in my backlog of recipes :) I hope I will be able to continue this for next week as well, but because it is a school week, I need to find the time to write in advance. Anyway: this week's menu is a bit different because we didn't have dinner at home this week, twice!

Sunday: Home made red pesto. This is something that we wanted to try for a long time. We used it to make the dish below and the leftover we used in pesto-mascarpone toasties.

Sunday and Monday: Fish dish with red pesto and courgette. We thought it would be enough for 2 days, but it really wasn't. So we ate it as a side dish the 2nd day.

Wednesday Baking: Chocolade Kruidnoten Cake. Yum! Recipe to come.

Tuesday and Wednesday: Crustless Broccoli and potato quiche. This quiche tasted lovely and held it's shape well. Recipe to come.

Thursday: Baked potatoes with creamy spinach and egg and fish fingers.

Friday: We had some work for Abunai to do, so we ate at another staffmember's house. This is nasi, sateh sauce and kroepoek. The was also an fried egg, but that appeared after the picture was taken ;)

Saturday: We went out for dinner because my mom celebrated her birthday. We went to a wok restaurant. Because I forgot to take pictures of my own plates of food, here is the salad buffet ;) I had sushi, wokked mushrooms, broccoli and other veggies in sweet ketjap sauce and baked salmon.

Saturday: These were my desserts.

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Veganize it!: Indian Green Beans with Curry Potatoes

I made this dish a good while back already, but because I am on a roll with making a dent in my backlog, I am going to try to share some older recipes as well :) I love Indian food, and when the green beans were on sale and I was looking for a new recipe, I stumbled into this one. The original recipe comes from Smulweb. Not my favourite place to look for recipes, but I found it through Pinterest and decided to give it a go anyway :)

Indian Green Beans with Curry Potatoes (serves 4)
- 250 gr green beans, in 3 cm pieces
- 200 gr canned tomato cubes
- 6 potatoes, in cubes
- 250 gr kidney beans
- 2 spring onions, in rings
- 0.5 tsp sugar
- 200 ml water
- 1 tsp kurkuma
- fresh cilantro
- 3 tbsp oil
- 2 tsp black mustard seeds (white is possible too)
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- dash of salt

Boil the potatoes until they are about half done. Heat the oil and bake the cumin and mustard seeds until the cumin darkens and to mustard seeds pop. Add the onion and bake shortly. Add the green beans and cook for about 2-3 minutes. Then add the tomatoes and cook for about 1 more minute before you add the water, kidney beans and kurkuma. Boil for about 10 minutes with the lid on the pan. Add sugar and salt, place back the lid and boil for another 10 minutes until the veggies and potatoes are done and a thick sauce has formed. The potatoes may be a bit softer than usual. Add some cut fresh cilantro before serving.

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Bento Bites: Daigaku Imo

Last Friday we invited some friends over to watch some anime. To keep up the Japanese theme, we served some Japanese snacks. Daigaku Imo are Japanese university sweet potatoes, typically served during university festivals. They sounded so tasty that we had to make them. They are truly the best snack we made in a long time. The original recipe comes from Just Hungry. Or course I had to make some adaptations because we can't get hold of all the ingredients here. But as is already stated in the original recipe, just use what you can get hold of :) The best thing about this? It is vegan! The picture was taken on the go and I wasn't able to make it before grabby hands got hold of some pieces ;)

Daigaku Imo (serves about 2-4 as a snack)
-  1 medium sweet potato
- Oil for frying
- 2 Tbsp white sugar
- 1 Tbsp maple syrup
- 0.5 tsp soy sauce
- (black) sesame seeds

Scrub the sweet potatoes clean, do this really well, because we are leaving the skin on. Cut the sweet potato into wedges. Place the pieces in cold water.
Heat up about 3 cm oil in a large pan, or use your deep fryer. Drain and dry the sweet potatoes and place in the oil. Fry on medium heat until cooked through and lightly browned.

Meanwhile mix the sugar, maple syrup and soy sauce in a small pan on medium heat until the mixture is melted and looks sticky. Take off the heat. Take the potato pieces out, drain and put them immediately in the pan with the syrup. Be careful because both will be very hot! Mix it through until all the pieces have a coating of syrup. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and separate the pieces so they don't stick to each other. They are best eaten warm, but still good in your bento too!

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Easy Peasy: Menemen (Turkish Fried Eggs)

Ever since we discovered Mijn Mixed Kitchen in a FoodBlogSwap, we keep trying Turkish recipes from that blog on a regular base. Because I love to make a more luxury lunch about once a week, I choose to make menemen, Turkish fried eggs, a couple of weeks back. It was a simple and tasty dish and perfect for a cold autumn day. The original recipe uses green peppers, those are used a lot in the Turkish kitchen. But we just used some pul biber to add some spice to taste. Sadly my stomach doesn't take a lot of spice too well. But feel free to include a green pepper when you make this. I think some bell peppers would also be good. We also just use regular bread for serving, but a Turkish bread will probably be nicer.

Menemen - Turkish Fried Eggs (serves 2-3)
- 1 spring onion
- 2 gloves of garlic
- 4 eggs
- 5 tomatoes
- pul biber
- salt and pepper
- Turkish bread or other bread for serving

Chop the onion and garlic and bake this shortly in some heated oil on medium heat. Grate the tomatoes above the pan. You do this by cutting the tomatoes in half and grate them with the seeded side down. Grate until you only have the peel left. You can throw that away. Add some salt and pepper and stir everything through. Leave it to simmer until it thickens somewhat. Add the eggs and stir those through. Set the heat to low and stir the eggs regularly to prevent them from burning and getting too dry. Add a dash of pul biber to taste.

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Typical Dutch: Mashpot "Gezond"

Stamppot gezond would translate as healthy mashpot. But I didn't translate the dish because in this case Gezond stands for a typical combination of bread toppings. In lunchrooms you can order a Broodje Gezond, which is a bun with normally ham and cheese, egg, tomato, lettuce and cucumber. There are some varieties on the toppings but this is basic. When I borrowed Het Grote Stamppot Boek in the library, I found this mashpot made of that classic sandwich, and I had to try it. It is a very fresh Mashpot but still comforting. It doesn't have all the elements in there, but the combination is great!

Mashpot "Gezond" (serves 2)
- 300 gr potatoes
- half a head of butter lettuce
- 1 tomato
- 1 sweet apple
- 2 eggs
- some fresh parsley
- half a cucumber
- some milk
- cube of butter
- creme fraiche for serving
- salt and pepper

Boil the eggs. Peel and cut the potatoes and boil them as well (15-20 minutes). Cut the apples and place them in the pan with the potatoes for about the last 5 minutes so they soften a bit. Cube cucumber and tomato. Wash and cut the lettuce. Make sure you drain the moist well. Also chop the parsley and quarter the eggs. Drain the potatoes and mash them with some milk and butter. Mix in all the vegetables and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve the mashpot with some creme fraiche and the egg on top.

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Comfort Food: Mexican Kapsalon

A kapsalon is normally a dish with meat and fries that is served in snack bars in the Netherlands. I already made a vegetarian kapsalon before. But I found a recipe on Uit Pauline's Keuken, with a Mexican twist on this dish. She made it with nachos for a healthier base. But I wanted to make it with fries as a weekend treat. Still it is a more healthy version than the original kapsalon because it has loads more veggies. I also replaced the meat in the recipe of course. The dish looks a mess. Sorry, not sorry ;) Anyway, enjoy :)

Mexican Kapsalon (serves 2)
- 100 gr vegetarian minced meat
- 1 spring onion
- 1 clove of garlic
- 250 gr fries
- 200 gr cubed tomatoes
- small can of  kidney beans
- small can of corn
- 1 bell pepper
- 50 gr grated cheese
- dash of smoked paprika and pepper
- olive oil
- some sour cream for serving

Chop the garlic, cube the bell pepper and cut the spring onion in rings. Heat some olive oil in a pan. Bake garlic and onion shortly. Add a dash of smoked paprika and the vegetarian minced meat. When brown, add the cubed bell pepper and the drained kidney beans and corn. Also add the tomatoes and some pepper. Let the sauce simmer for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile bake the fries.
When the fries are done put them on your plate and pour some sauce on top. Add some grated cheese and serve with sour cream.

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Sinterklaas: Schuddebuikjes Cake

Because the Sinterklaas festivities are almost upon us, it is time to blog a Dutch treat again. Sinterklaas is a Dutch childrens celebration on December 5th. It is actually the festivity where Santa Claus is based on. With this festivity comes a lot of typical Dutch candy that is only available around this time of year. Like kruidnoten, a ginger like mini cookie. However we also have schuddebuikjes. This is an even smaller cookie that tastes like speculaas, something that is also eaten a lot around Sinterklaas, but available all year round. Normally it is used as a bread topping. But today I used it in a cake. I based this recipe on the Stroopwafel Cinnamon Cake, I posted a little while back.

Schuddebuikjes Cake

- 200 gr butter on room temperature
- 200 gr self rising flour
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- pinch of koek and speculaas spices (use all-spice instead)
- 100 gr schuddebuikjes
- 150 gr sugar
- 50 gr brown castor sugar
- 4 eggs

Pre heat the oven to 160 degrees. Mix the soft butter with the sugars. When light and creamy, add in the eggs one by one. Make sure one is totally mixed through before adding the next. Add the self rising flour bit by bit. And mix until you have a nice cake batter. Lastly add the schuddebuikjes together with cinnamon, and koek and spaculaas spices. Stir through. Place the cake in the oven for 60-70 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick comes out clean.

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Menu for week 46

We have made 6(!) new recipes this week! I have no idea when I will be able to blog all this, haha. But we made some very delicious things this week. I must see if I can make a dent in my backlog of recipes. In the next weeks I will prioritise the Sinterklaas related recipes because that Dutch festivity is coming up soon :)

Sunday: Mashpot "gezond". This is a lettuce mashpot with tomatoes, cucumber, apple and eggs. A very nice mashpot. Recipe to come.

Monday and Tuesday: Risotto with mushrooms and pear. (recipe to come)

Wednesday Lunch: Pasta salad with salmon and peas. I used the leftovers in the house to make this salad.

Wednesday Baking: Schuddebuikjes Rotsjes. These are made with the left over schuddebuikjes from last week's baking. You can make these chocolate chunks with all kind of stuff :) Recipe to come.

Wednesday and Thursday: Indian Spinach Curry. Yum!

Friday: Because we had friends over we had pizza, but I forgot to take the picture.
Friday Snack: Because we watched anime with friends we made some Japanese related snacks. These are University sweet potatoes. (recipe to come)

Friday Snack: Vegetarian Teriyaki balls. This was the other snack we served. The plate looks a bit of a mess ;) (recipe to come)

Saturday: Kale Pancakes. Made with some leftover kale in the freezer. Recipe to come.

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