Avocado & Mozzarella salad with Blueberries and Chimichurrie

Avocados for a vital and young skin!

Last few weeks I have been ridiculously busy with the blog. Reason is, we are redesigning it. There weill be a new logo, new layout and some additional features. I'm very happy that my sweet ega is such a creative all-round skilled boy scout; he'll be doing all the designing and building himself. Though, I had to make clear what I had in mind, and what I'd find most important. In my (re)search I have been reading (foodblogs), Twittering, Pinning, Instagramming (is that yet a verb?) and Facebooking so much, that I was even dreaming in hashtags. That's really weird, I can tell you.

But we're getting there and it's absolutely going to look stunning! We will be offline soon for a few days, so in the meantime here's a little treat. Believe me; it is. And not just because of the looks; the combination of the creamy avocado and mozzarella with the sweet & sour taste of the blueberries, topped with some spicy chimichurri is just unbelievably good! And thereby; did you know what avocado does for your health? You should actually eat one of them a day! There are so many benefits from doing so!

For example: Avocados contain a variety of essential nutrients that are of great value to a healthy body: such as potassium, vitamin B and folic acid. Research has shown that avocados contain monounsaturated fatty acids, which help protect women against breast cancer. The potassium helps regulate your blood pressure, and stimulates the digestion so you can get rid of toxins easier (such as alcohol etc..).
In addition, avocados also contain a high level of vitamins B6, C, D, riboflavin and manganese, which  provides a beneficial effect on the immune system. Vitamins A and E, help protect you against cancer and the omega-3 fatty acids have a positive effect on the brains (they exist for 8% of omega-3)​​!

So, please eat this beautiful fruit as often as you want. The myth of avocados making you fat is absolutely, well.. a myth. Avocados are relatively high in fat, but as said before; these are healthy fats, such as monounsaturated fatty acids. They even contribute to a vital and young skin. They also stimulate the production of anti-wrinkle collagen in the body which, together with vitamin E, provides a healthy look. Amen to that. See you soon!

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Spicy Roasted Chickpea salad

Eat yourself healthy and beautiful

As mentioned before, beans and legumes are absolutely one of my favourite things to eat, and especially chickpeas are high on the list. Not only are they incredibly tasty in many different ways (think humous, salads, soups, dough etc.) they are also very, very healthy.

Especially for vegetarians, chickpeas are a great substitute for meat (or eggs when you're vegan). They contain a high content of essential vitamins, like vitamin B12 for instance, which is generally only found in animal products.
Chickpeas are full of iron and vitamin C. Also, vitamin B6 and folic acid are important nutrients that make them so incredibly healthy. Eating chickpeas weekly, in whatever way prepared, retain a right level of iron.

In this salad I roasted the chickpeas for about 15 minutes with some sea salt and a generous amount of chilli powder. It makes them hot and crispy, which goes very well with the sweet and sour taste of the vinaigrette. If you like you can ad some butterhead lettuce in the end. Just divide it on your plate and add the roasted chickpea salad on top. Watch out, this is incredibly good!

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Ricotta-tomato pie

Hangover pie!

We just had the loveliest weekend ever. The weather was incredible, and reached unbelievable temperatures which is quite un-Dutch, especially when you have a wedding! Our outfits were absolutely stunning (it's true!) and a weekend without kids was - though we love them to the bones -let's say, a blast! 

 The wedding was like a fairytale, and the whole day was celebrated in the most beautiful hotel of Amsterdam; the Amstel Hotel. From beginning till end (and the end was early morning) was a feast! You can imagine, there is nothing better than a good days rest after a party like that. With good foods and drinks and no kids to take care off. Just me, my man and my kitchen.

We came up with this super tasty tomato ricotta pie, which is easy as hell, but really does the trick (especially when you're hungover!)
Absolutely worth trying, and even good when eaten cold. (Of course we saved some for the kids!)

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Very (really very) tasty Spinach-cheese melt sandwich

Very (really very) tasty Spinach-cheese melt sandwich

Mm, i wasn't sure what to make today, though i had in mind it had to be a sandwich, and so i looked up some old recipes i used to make way back with my brother. The one i remembered was a sandwich with omelette, brie, avocado and coriander. I used to like it a lot, (though it's really the only thing you can eat in a day, due to the high level of calories) and so i decided to give it a shot.

As always, my sweet ega, Nicolaas, is the lucky one to test & taste all my trials, but besides the fact it looked awesome, the combination was way too much. I didn't like him (honestly) telling me that,(seriously, after spending the whole morning doing groceries, making and photographing the whole thing..) and so, out of frustration, i ate the whole thing. I still don't feel well..  If i would make a heavy-eat-as-much-as-you-can-blog, this recipe would be the first to place. And so i won't.

Lucky you! I just gained about a kilo! Anyway, instead, i just thought of what i would like on a sandwich (not that i was going to eat any more) and came up with a terrific, very tasty spinach-cheese melt with goat cheese an the Dutch 'Leerdammer' cheese. It's just a regular cheese with wholes and it tastes a bit bitter. I like it a lot. The combination with fresh spinach, arugula and homemade pesto is great. (i took a bite of Nicolaas, who was very satisfied with his second plate)

I was dubbing about adding tomatoes, but than again, i thought it would be a bit too caprese. But of course, it should taste great as well.

Don't worry, i tried it my self! It's great!

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Happy Veggie Valentine's day!

Happy Veggie Valentine's day!

It's really not that i'm that fond of Valentine's Day. Really i'm not. But Juney (again!) wanted to bake a heart-shaped-chocolate-cake for school - don't ask me why- and so i thought it would be nice to spend the afternoon baking and making heart-shaped food. 

This little appetizer looks gorgeous on your lovers plate and does taste great as well. The boiled sweet beets and contrasting mozzarella combine awesome with the sour juice and zest of lime, and the purslane is, surprisingly enough, a very tasteful veggie.

Not to heart to make!

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Very irresistible Raspberry-Ricotta scones

Very irresistible Raspberry-Ricotta scones

Searching the internet for a delightful scones recipe (i seriously just never made them, and i had an incredible need, or better say urge, to make scones on a sunday morning; i think it just sounds like the perfect family thing to do on a lazy sunday morning) i came across this very goodlooking recipe of raspberry-ricotta scones from Deb Perelman of the Smitten Kitchen. And i just couldn't resist. Who else ofcours, you may think, could come op with a scones recipe like this, and you're right.

Good for me, (and for you now) super food blogger Deb Perelman just recently published her first cookbook, which i, again, couldn't resist either. Her funny way of writing makes cooking a blast for everyone, and so, it was ordered before i new it!

So hopefully, in a few days the mailman will drop off a heavy package, containing my brandnew Smitten Kitchen cookbook, full of great pictures and a million new recipes. I might just hide for at least a couple of hours in our small, but super duper new indoor office! Thank you my sweet ega, for finishing it. At last!

By the way: these scones do like some mascarpone on top. I think you might too!

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Paddestoelen op Toast

Paddestoelen op Toast

Dat 'paddestoelen op toast' niets nieuws is, weten we wel. Maar deze klassieker is zó lekker dat hij best telkens weer een beetje opnieuw mag worden uitgevonden. Je kunt er kleine hapjes van maken voor bij de borrel óf een geweldige lunch op zich. Dat laatste vind ik persoonlijk het lekkerst, want het delen van dit gerecht gaat mij niet heel goed af!

Misschien schrikt de combinatie van roomboter en olijfolie je een beetje af, maar uitgaand van het 'Fit for Life' principe zijn deze vetten 'neutraal'. Je combineert namelijk alleen maar koolhydraten met vetten, zonder daar ook nog eiwitten aan toe te voegen. Door voedsel te 'scheiden', verteert het sneller en valt het veel minder zwaar. (Voor meer info hierover kun je terecht in het boek 'Fit for Life' van Harvey en Marylin Diamond)

ZIE HET HELE RECEPT