Easy quinoa with mushrooms, arugula and thyme

Day 2: Easy quinoa with mushrooms, arugula and thyme 

Well, it's official. After all the parties; the famous Dutch 'Queens'- into 'Kingsday', the holiday of the kids with sleepovers and thus more get togethers with friends and drinks: it was time to just stop for a while. Get our bodies back in shape, get clean again and healthy. We decided to take a break on our grown habits: coffee in the morning, many products with gluten (bread, pasta's, potatoes etc), dairy (cappuchino's, cheeses..), our awesome glasses of Chardonnay (God, I miss you already), and all the other goods that go along.. (which might be vegetarian, but maybe not that healthy..)

Just none of it all for (at least) 30 days. Our  '30 day challenge' started yesterday, and though i thought it might be tough here or there.. it really isn't at all! (so far.. this is day two, i admit) But it just feels great being busy with your health in a good way; finding and creating new recipes without the stuff that makes you tired and look and feel exhausted! Fresh juices in the morning, great salads for lunch and awesome dishes for dinner...
While we actually just wanted to quit drinking alcohol for a month, we decided to go radical, and quit drink and eat many things of our normal diet.

Thereby, I bought the amazing new cookbook of Gwyneth Paltrow, (yes, she is a cookbook author, I didn't know that either) which just amazes me with beautiful pictures and incredibly simple but tasty recipes.
The book 'It's all good', which Gwyneth wrote with co-author and food-writer Julia Turshen, is really a must have, if you want to change your normal eating program for whatever reason, or suffer allergies like gluten- or dairy intolerances. This easy quinoa recipe is one of hers, and is so easy, it's almost amazing it tastes so good!

Oh, come on, and join us, it's only for 30 days!

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Asparagus-Gruyere tart

Finally, the official asparagus season has begun!

Finally! Yesterday the asparagus season has started officially, which means we can cook, grill, chop, steam or mix these green or white fellows, until the 24th of june. And despite the fact we'll still be able to buy them off season, that just won't be as much fun. The'll be more expensive and not locally, which you for sure will be able to taste. So now is the time to get them and prepare them in tons of ways!

I found this simple but delicious recipe on Pinterest and it officially seems to be from Martha Stewart, although i found way more look-a-like recipes on the net. Some slightly different or with more ingredients added, but i decided to go for this particular one, with just some pure ingredients, olive oil, salt and pepper. And you know what, you can eat this warm or cold; either way, it's great! Just make sure to pour yourself a nice glass of Chardonnay, cheers!

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Slightly different, old-fashioned pea-soup

Slightly different, old-fashioned pea-soup

Do you remember those dishes your mom used to make which you totally loved? I guess we all have a few of these memories. So do i. But besides the fact my mom isn't really a brilliant cook (sorry mom, but i'm glad you say so as well) there were a few dishes she made, which were so great, i start making them for my own family. Homemade peasoup is one of them. It seemed a really easy job, but so incredibly tasty!

All you have to do is cut all the vegetables in quite even little squares, and use way more
celeriac then the usual recipe says, add some potatoe as well, lot's of fresh thyme, and simmer for at least one and a half hour. Mmmm, it's incredible how raw vegetebles can so easily turn in such a great soup. But hurry up! It just became march, and so this very wintery recipe needs to be made and eaten before springs pops in!! (by the way, the next day it tastes even better!)

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Homemade pesto

The very best pesto is the one you make yourself!

Oh yeah, this is for sure my daughters favorite. I have no clue how often i've made fresh pesto for Juney, but i probably don't want to know either, thinking i'm the most boring person in the world. But than again, i've told you my daughter hates eating vegetables - can you believe it?? - so this always is a great solution, while i'm making something different for the rest of our family.

This pesto is really super simple. But since i've made it so often, i just pour everything in, blend it, and voila, there's your pesto. If you (quickly) want to make something very tasteful, you can't go wrong with this pesto. So, for you i did my best, and wrote down what went in!

Unless i can't find any, i always buy a whole basil plant. They usually have about the same size, but sometimes they are just a bit bigger or smaller. Anyway, they go in whole. So not just the leaves, but for sure also the stems. Try it, you'll see.

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