Still on Hiatus... but:

I cheated a little, but its still soooo quick & easy. Pan fry chicken with dash of some soy sauce & garlic, served with boiled, crunchy baby broccoli with Chinese dressing (store bought). Takes 10 mins max!

My God, its full of carbs!

Travel/ Moving does not go well with low-carb cooking. Gotta get rid of all that pasta, the polenta, the couscous... I will be back later this year. Till then - Enjoy your carbs, or the lack thereof. :)

The best lunch bagel with a most amazing artichoke salad.

Take It Easy Burgers

Preparation Time
20 mins

Ingredients
350 gm minced meat (beef) - should make 4 large paddies
1 slice old toast, ripped in small pieces, soaked in milk

1 egg
Salt & Pepper
10 leaves of green salad
1 ripe avocado
bacon (as much as you like)
1 large tomato, thinly sliced
1 Japanese cucumber or half normal cucumber
4 slices of any cheese

Condiments (optional)
Ketchup 
Mayonnaise
Mustard

Cesar for dinner

Preparation Time
30 mins ***this dish contains raw egg. Pls eat right after preparation.

Cesar salad- what a stalwart creation! I made ours with chicken for my boyfriend and carby croutons for me. If you would prefer to go vegetarian, leave out the bacon and add smoked salmon. 

Feisty Peppers

(Vegetarian option: substitute mince with can of any kind of bean or lentil)

Last night's dinner was this lovely pepper dish I found on a very mouthwatering and beautiful blog. I only tweaked the ingredients a little bit and the original recipe -along with many more!- can be found at: 

www.lemonythyme.com

For Good Measure

I will admit it... The units for measurement in my recipes are a bit all over the place. Sometimes I will use cup, sometimes, ml, sometimes items, such as "1 can of". The reason being is that many ingredients will come in set amounts, such as cream or sour cream (usually 250gm) where I live, but I assume those "fixed amounts" will be different in other countries, hence the "ml" or "mg" of the content. I'm gonna go on a limb and hope that cans are equally big around the world.
 Some loose ingredients such as flour or milk will come from a bigger container and instead of going for the painful xxxml, "1 cup" sounds much better... If you  find something to be lacking or too much in a recipe, just trust your gut and learn as you go.  

One way or the other, I strongly suggest getting one of these measuring cups that show metric, as well as the "cup" measurements. They make life easy and will stay with you & your cooking for a loooong time. 

Other measurements:
Tbsp = Table Spoon
Tsp = Tea Spoon

Cauliflower Bake & A Side of Bockwurst

(Vegetarian option: omit the sausages. The bake itself is rather enough for 2 people for dinner)

Preparation Time
25 min (without 30 mins baking time)

Rissole and Sweet & Salty Salad

Preparation Time
40 mins


Ingredients
350 gm minced meat (mixed beef & pork or just beef)
2 small green or red chili, finely sliced
1 small bunch of chopped fresh parsley or 1 tbsp dried parsley
1 piece of dry toast (or any other bread), cut into small pieces
1/2 cup of milk
1 egg
Pinch paprika
1 tsp oregano
100 gm (half pack) feta cheese, cut into small pieces / crumbled
Salt & Pepper
1 small salad head
1 Japanese cucumber or 1/2 Western cucumber
1 tomato 
1/2 large pear (substitute with apple, orange, etc)
1/2 lemon juice
2 garlic gloves (minced)
Olive oil
Vegetable Oil

Chop it Right

If I say "sliced" or "diced"- 

this nifty guide is what you should be referring to.

At the bottom, it also has a great idea how to chop onions, without loosing half. 

As for garlic: not depicted, but you can peal garlic, by applying pressure with 

a flat knive. The skin will come off in seconds. 

Warm Broccoli & Pumpkin Salad with Haloumi

Preparation Time
30 mins

Ingredients
1 Head broccoli (approx 400gm)
1 Half Japanese pumpkin (approx 400gm)
1 Pack Haloumi cheese (200gm)
1 small salad head (any leafy salad will do)
Salt
Pepper 
1 Bouillon cube of any flavor (or alt use a dash of soy sauce)
2 tbsp Miso paste (you can substitute with Dijon mustard)
4 large sp Olive oil
1/2 Lemon
dash of water
4 tbsp sesame  (black or white)
1/4 tomato, small dices (as decoration, not essential)

Hummus

Preparation Time
10 mins

Ingredients

1 can chickpeas

1 big or 2 small gloves garlic 

Juice of half a lemon without pips

1 tsp Tahini OR 2-3  tsp sesame seeds (black or white)

Dash of salt 

Olive oil 

Paprika

Toolkit

Knive, cutting board, Hand Blender & Mixing Cup (you can also use any stationary blender)

Instructions

1. Save the juice is when draining the chickpeas. 

2. Combine chickpeas, lemon juice, peeled garlic, Tahini, dash of salt and approx 4cl (a shotglas) of chickpea juice in mixing cup.

3. Blend until smooth. 

4. Depending on how thick you like your humus, add more chickpea juice, but be careful. you don't want pea soup. 

5. Place hummus in container to serve/ tupper ware to keep for later. 

6. Pour 3-4 tbsp olive oil on top and sprinkle with paprika. 

7. Serve with veggie sticks or with carbs like crackers/  bread.



Variations

1. Follow steps 1-4
2. Add about 2 tbsp of dried tomatoes soaked in olive oil. 
3. Place hummus in container to serve/ tupper ware to keep for later.
4. Pour 3-4 tbsp olive oil on top and sprinkle with black pepper.
5. Serve with veggie sticks or with carbs like crackers/  bread.

Salad Bar Find with No Carbs In Sight

Zucchini melange, tomato salad & zouvlaki inspired pork

(This recipe is either for one big meat eater and one veggie lover or two medium meat eaters.)

Ingredients
2 medium zucchini (sliced)
1 stick leek
200 gm feta cheese
2 large tomatoes (diced)
1 small bunch chives (minced)
3 tb extra virgin olive oil
1 tb aceto balsamico (or other vinegar)
salt & freshly ground black pepper
250 gm boneless pork loin (sliced)
4 tbsp aceto balsamico (or other vinegar)
paprika
salt & freshly ground black pepper
4 pieces non crushed allspice
dash of piri piri

Spinach Salmon Quiche - sans pastry

Ingredients
450 gm frozen spinach
1 onion (small cubes)
2 garlic gloves (thin slices or through garlic press)
2 eggs
1 cup creme fraiche/ creme fraiche light
150gm cheese (grated, any kind)
butter
125 gm smoked salmon
No salt (there is enough in the salmon)
Pepper
Nutmeg
Paprika