Really good banana pancakes

I was amazed by how good theses pancakes where when they only contain 2 ingredients (in the original recipe). I added two more ingredients for some extra flavour and texture.

Ingredients
makes approx 20 small pancakes
2 ripe bananas
4 eggs
3 tbsp shredded coconut
½ tsp vanilla

Cut the bananas in pieces and mix to a purée in a food processor. Add the eggs, coconut and vanilla and mix to a batter. Heat a frying pan and fry the pancakes in some coconut oil on medium heat. Enjoy with some fruits or your choice of topping.

Chicken slaw

So I got the inspiration for this dish from http://everydaypaleo.com. I love dishes that involves putting every ingredient together in a big bowl and just mix it up. Then you can easily just eat it with a fork. No fuss. Might not be very glamorous but oh so delicious. I roasted my chicken myself because I had the time but you can buy a precooked chicken as well.

Ingredients
(serves 4)
½ chicken, diced
2 cups cabbage, thinly sliced
1 carrot, thinly sliced or grated
½ zucchini, thinly sliced or grated
½ capsicum, thinly sliced
½ red onion, thinly sliced
½ cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp paprika powder
a pinch of cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients together and serve with some fresh salad leaves or some other vegetable of preference.

Bbq mince patties with green salad

Found this recipe on taste.com.au and thought it could be a nice twist to normal mince meat patties and they turned out really well.

Ingredients
(makes about 6 patties)
500g beef mince
3 green onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 small carrot, peeled, grated
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
Baby spinach
Avocado
Cucumber
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix together the beef mince, onions, garlic, carrot, egg yolk and barbecue sauce. Shape mixture into patties, about 2 cm thick. Put them on a plate and cover with plastic wrap. Put in the fridge for 30 minutes.
While the patties are in the fridge you can prepare the salad by cutting the vegetables and dress it with the oil and vinegar. Fry the patties in some olive oil on a medium heat.

Balsamic chicken with braised cabbage and bacon

It's been a while now and I'm currently in Sydney, Australia. I have not been able to cook that much good food here yet since I'm not really sure where to find all ingredients but I'm getting a bit closer so today I decided to make a Paleo recipe. The Paleo lifestyle has been on hold for us for a while now because of the move but slowly we'll pick it up again. I found the recipe for this on http://everydaypaleo.com/ and the Paleo Recipe book. Enjoy!

Ingredients
serves 2-3
Balsamic chicken
2 chicken breasts (each cut in half long way)
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves of crushed garlic
2 ½ tbsp wholegrain mustard

Braised cabbage with bacon
1 cup chicken stock
3 slices bacon, cut up into bite size pieces
thyme
½ medium green cabbage, finely sliced
2 tbsp butter
salt and pepper to taste

Rinse off your chicken breasts and season both sides with salt and pepper. Put them in a plastic bag and add the balsamic, extra virgin olive oil, mustard and garlic. Close up the bag and massage the chicken in the bag to ensure it all gets coated evenly. Put in the fridge and let marinade for as long as you want; the longer the better. Fry on medium heat in a frying pan with a little bit of olive oil and brown on both sides. Once brown; turn down the heat, add a bit of the marinade, cover with a lid and let reduce it down. Make sure to stir occasionally and cook until the chicken is no longer pink on the inside.
Bring the chicken stock, bacon and thyme to a boil in a pot. Add the cabbage, boil for 5 minutes and then reduce to a simmer until the cabbage is just tender. Add some extra stock during the simmering process if it seems to have reduced too much. Add the butter, salt and pepper.

Smoked salmon with sweet potato salad

A very simple dish which doesn't need much preparation at all.

Ingredients
1 sweet potato
1 handful ruccola leaves
½ avocado
1 tomato
2-3 slices of smoked salmon
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Peel and chop the sweet potato to slightly bigger pieces. Roast in the oven on 200 degress for 10-15 minutes. Let them cool. Chop the avocado and tomato into pieces and mix this together with the ruccola.
Mix the ingredients for the dressing in a bowl and pour over the salad.

Mince meat gratin à la Provence

Found this recipe on tasteline.com. I modified it a little bit by using beef mince instead of pork because I like beef better. A really easy and perfect midweek dinner.

Ingredients
serves 3-4
400 g mince meat
2 garlic cloves
½ leek
1 red chili, seeds taken out
olive oil
salt and pepper
oregano
thyme
1 tbsp paprika powder
250 ml cream
1 zucchini
2 tomatoes
grated cheese

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
Finely chop the chili and garlic. Cut the leek in thin slices. Fry the mince meat in the oil and when it gets some colour add the leek, garlic and chili. Fry until the leek is soft, then add the paprika powder, oregano, thyme, salt and pepper. Add the cream and let it simmer for about 2 minutes. Pour the sauce in an ovenproof dish. Slice the zucchini and tomatoes in slices and put these on top of the såsen. Pour over the cheese and some more oregano. Cover the dish with some aluminium foil and cook on the lowest shelf in the oven for about 20 minutes. Take away the foil and move the dish to the middle of the oven and cook for another 10 minutes.

Blueberry pie with coconut

Found a recipe with low GI and without added sugar so I decided to try it. It was supereasy and tasted really good. The recipe is from a Swedish website but I adjusted it slightly: http://www.tasteline.com

Ingredients
serves 4
500 ml blueberries
2 tbsp honey
400 ml dessicated coconut
2 eggs
40 g butter

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Put the berries in an ovenproof dish. Drizzle over the honey. Whip together the eggs and coconut and sprinkle the mixture over the blueberries.Shave over the butter and bake in the oven until the coconut mixture gets golden brown, approximately 10 minutes. Serve with some whipped cream.

Chicken teriyaki

A Japanese classic. Found the recipe in one of my mum's magazines and the result turned out to be quite nice.

Ingredients
serves 4
800 g chicken fillet (preferably thighs or breast cut into smaller pieces)
2 tbsp grated ginger
2 garlic cloves
½ finely chopped chili
4 tbsp mirin (Japanese rice vinegar)
75 ml soy sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp potato flour
1 tbsp sesame seeds

Peel and finely chop the garlic. Mix mirin, soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, garlic and chili in a plastic bag. Add the chicken pieces and make sure all are covered. Let them marinate for about 15 minutes.
Take out the chicken pieces from the marinade and fry them in some oil in a frying pan. Put the pieces in a pot instead, pour of the marinade and add 100 ml water. Simmer under lid for about 40 minutes. Mix the potato flour with 2 tbsp water in a separate bowl. Add this mixture to the pot and let it boil. Sprinkle over the sesame seeds and serve with stir-fry veggies and some rice (if wanted).

Hanna's sweet potato moussaka

I've never made moussaka before and I'm pretty sure this is not really the way to make it but I wanted to try and make my own version of it using sweet potato. Not really sure if it can even be called moussaka but that's the only name I could come up with.

Ingredients
serves 3-4
400 g mince meat
1 onion
1 capsicum
1 garlic clove
200 ml passata
cayenne pepper
oregano
paprika powder
salt and pepper

125 ml cream
150 g grated cheese
25 g butter
extra cheese for topping

1 sweet potato, peeled
1 eggplant

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
Chop the onion, garlic and capsicum finely. Fry off in some olive oil for a few minutes. Then add the minced meat and let it get brown. Add the passata together with all the spices and let it simmer together for about 5-10 minutes. While it's simmering; add the butter and the cream together in a separate pot. Let it get warm, then add the cheese and let it melt. Cut the sweet potato and eggplants into slices about ½ cm thick.
Grease an ovenproof dish with some butter. Add a layer of the meat sauce, follow with the sliced aubergine, then add one thin layer of the cheese sauce. Put on the rest of the meat sauce, then the sliced sweet potato and last finish it off with the rest of the cheese sauce and top off with some extra cheese. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes.

Breakfast bake

I wanted to try something else to have for breakfast other than the usual eggs and bacon or pancakes. So I found this recipe which we decided to try; Paleo Breakfast Bake. I put a little bit of whatever I had at home in it.

Ingredients
serves 3-4
6 eggs
3 beef sausages
3 slices bacon
1 onion
½ capsicum
1 tsp paprika powder
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp turmeric
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
Fry off the sausages and the bacon for a couple of minutes. Let them cool.
Put all ingredients in a bowl (including the sausages and bacon) and fold gently to combine everything.
Pour into a greased oven-proof dish.
Bake for 45 minutes.

Cauliflower mash

Something I've heard of lately but I've never tried was mash made from cauliflower. Yesterday we tried it and had it together with a nice steak and a few greens beans. It was really, really nice and super easy to make.

Boil the florets of a cauliflower head until soft; about 10-15 minutes.
Drain the water.
Add a big nob of butter (or however much you want) then mash using a hand mixer until smooth.
Add in some cream (I only used about 2 tbsp since I thought the mash was already quite soft).
Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Very easy, very tasty and a perfect alternative in order to have a low carb meal.

Home-made raspberry jam

I've started wanting to make condiments and sauces lately. I don't really know why but I think it has something to do with the fascination of how easy it actually is to make something that you normally would just buy in a jar and the flavours are much fresher and better. Then I also think I feel as if I've accomplished something buy making it myself. And everytime you open the fridge, there's that pretty jar without labels and preservatives. Today I decided to make some jam to go with my English muffins/scones.

I found the recipe on http://www.mommypotamus.com

Ingredients
makes about 240 ml/1 cup
480 ml/150 g fresh raspberries
120 ml honey
2 tbsp lemon juice


Coarsely mash the raspberries with a potato masher. Transfer the raspberries to a heavy bottomed sauce pan. Bring the fruit to a simmer and cook down for a few min. Add the honey, stirring well to combine. Continue to simmer the mixture for about 15-25 min stirring every once in awhile to keep it from burning. In order to know whether it's ready or not, keep a close eye on the mixture, stirring more frequently toward the end of the 15 min. It will then begin to thicken pretty quickly and as you are stirring, draw a spatula through the mixture and you can see that before it is ready, the mixture fills in the space created very quickly. As it becomes ready, it will fill the space in more slowly, leaving an open space for a few seconds as it slowly fills in. Leave on the heat until you get the consistency you want. Keep in mind that the mixture will thicken even more after it cools though. Remove from the heat, stir in the lemon juice and let it cool.

Marinated chicken with balsamic ruccola and cucumber tossed in lime vinaigrette

They had thin chicken filets on special in our supermarket this week so I decided to make a simple marinade for those and then just have some veggies with it. I wasn't very good with measuring the ingredients to the marinade so I'm afraid you will have to taste your way to it. The marinade shouldn't be too runny so don't put too much olive oil in.

Ingredients
Chicken marinade
paprika powder
turmeric
cayenne pepper
garlic powder
salt and pepper
olive oil

Mix all the spices together in a grinder, add the olive oil bit by bit until it becomes smooth. Put the chicken in a plastic bag and add the marinade. Let it sit in the fridge for at least a couple of hours.

Balsamic veggies with ruccola
½ zucchini, sliced
1 red capsicum, diced
1 onion, sliced
150 g ruccola
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
olive oil

Fry the onion and capsicum in some olive oil. Add the zucchini after a couple of minutes and fry for about 5 minutes. Add the ruccola together with the balsamic vinegar and let it fry together for a couple of minutes.

Lime vinaigrette
3 tbsp lime juice
½ tsp Dijon mustard
180 ml olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Combine the lime juice, mustard, salt and pepper in a blender. Slowly add the olive oil until it's all combined.

Thinly slice some cucumber and put in a bowl. Add some vinaigrette and put in the fridge for a bit. They almost taste like pickled cucumbers.

Fish with carrot salsa

I really couldn't think of what to have for dinner tonight but I took out a piece of fish of the freezer earlier so I needed to do something with that. Since I wasn't feeling like cooking too much I just threw together some veggies and fried the fish.

Ingredients for salsa
2 carrots
½ red onion
1 garlic clove
2 tomatoes
½ tbsp olive oil
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
dried basil
salt and pepper

Chop the red onion finely and crush the garlic clove. Finely chop the tomatoes and finely slice the carrot. Mix it together in a bowl. Add the oil, vinegar, herbs and spices. Just fry the fish in some butter and season with salt and pepper. Very easy.

Pork with capsicum and tomato sauce

I got the inspiration for this dish from tasteline.se Modified it a bit so that it suited whatever I had at home. I also took the opportunity to use some of the roasted capsicum sauce I made yesterday.

Ingredients
serves 2-3 people
300 g pork cutlets
1 red capsicum
50 ml greek yoghurt
50 ml cream
1 tbsp roasted capsicum sauce
1 tomato, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
½ tsp paprika powder
½ tsp dried basil
1 pinch chili powder
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
Start with making the sauce by putting the yoghurt, cream, tomato, garlic, capsicum sauce, paprika powder, basil, chili powder, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix thouroughly. Taste it to see if you want more of anything. Cut the red capsicum in large wedges. Put the pork cutlets in an oven proof dish. Cover with the sauce and add the capsicum pieces on top. Cook in the oven for about 30 minutes.

Steamed salmon with vegetable rice and sauce of roasted capsicum

I've been thinking about this dish for a while but I just never got a chance to make it. Now I had time and it turned out quite well actually. It's the first time I steam salmon and the result is actually better than I expected.

Ingredients
Rice
300 ml rice
500 ml water
½ yellow capsicum
1 big red onion
2 garlic cloves
2 carrots
1 tomato
3 tbsp olive oil
50 ml water
salt and pepper
paprika powder
garlic powder
dried parsley

Salmon
2 salmon fillets
paprika powder
dried parsley
salt and pepper
lemon juice

Roasted capsicum sauce
180 g roasted capsicum from a jar
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
1 pinch chili powder (or however much you want)
1 tsp garlic powder

Start with boiling the rice. We have a rice cooker so the measurements of water vs. rice might be slightly different for someone else. Cook according to the packet. Chop the vegetables into slightly smaller bit size pieces. Fry the vegetables on medium heat in some of the olive oil. Lower the heat and let them cook until soft. Once the rice is ready then add it to the vegetables. Add the water together with all the herbs and spices. Mix it all together and then add the rest of the olive oil and mix in.

For the salmon; place the two salmon pieces on a piece of aluminium foil. Make sure you have enough foil so that you can wrap it around the salmon. Squeeze over some lemon juice. Put the salt, pepper, paprika powder and dried parsley on top of the salmon and close the foil. Put in a steamer and steam for about 10-15 minutes depending on how big your salmon pieces are.

Add all the ingredients for the sauce in a blender and blend until it becomes a liquid. Season with whatever you feel like.

Rhubarb pie

My mum found this recipe in some magazine a while back but it's definitely worth a try since it's so crunchy and delicious.

Ingredients
500 g rhubarb
100 ml caster sugar
1 tbsp potato starch (flour)

300 ml flour
2 tsp baking powder
200 ml caster sugar
1-2 tbsp lemon juice
grated zest of 1/4 lemon
1 egg
50 g butter + butter for greasing the dish

Preheat the oven to 225 degrees.
Peel and chop the rhubarb stalks in about 1 cm big pieces. Put them in a bowl together with the 100 ml sugar and potato starch. Mix together and let it sit for a while.
For the dough; mix together flour, baking powder, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest and egg in a bowl and work together to form a crumbly dough. Put half of the dough in a greased pie dish (approximately 24 cm diameter), add the rhubarb pieces on top and finish with the rest of the pie crumble.
Put the pie dish in the oven for about 10 minutes. Take it out and shave the butter on the top. Then put it back in the oven for another 10 minutes until it has a nice colour. Serve with some lightly whipped cream flavoured with some vanilla sugar.

Lunch omelet

We had some veggies in the fridge that were getting old so I decided to just throw together a quick omelet for lunch.

Ingredients
serves 1
3 eggs
4 paksoi stems and leaves
½ red capsicum
½ leek
2-3 slices of parmaham
salt and pepper

Fry off the leek and capsicum in some olive oil for about three minutes. Add the paksoi and fry for another couple of minutes. Add the parmaham last and just let it fry togehter for a minute or two. Turn the heat off. Whisk together the three eggs and season with salt and pepper. Add this to a pan greased with a bit of olive oil and fry on low heat. When omelet is almost set on the top, flip it over and add your veggies on one half of the omelet. Let it fry for a couple of minutes, then fold it in half and transfer to a plate.

Banana pancakes

We had a lot of bananas that started to become uneatable so I decided to prepare tomorrow's breakfast today already. I made a batch of banana pancakes that I can just heat up again in the morning tomorrow. Perfect.
The batter is kind of difficult to handle so I recommend that you fry very small pancakes; maybe 5 cm in diameter otherwise they are quite difficult to turn without breaking.

Ingredients
serves 2 people
4 ripe bananas
2 eggs
4 tbsp almond butter
100 ml almond flour
100 shredded coconut

Mash the banana and add the eggs. Mix together well. Add the almond butter and make sure that mixes in properly. Stir in the almond flour and coconut until everything is thouroghly mixed together. Fry little pancakes on both sides in some butter on medium heat.

Banana bread

I've been wanting to make banana bread for a while now because it seems like one of those things that would be good to keep in the freezer and just take out every now and again. I found the recipe in the Paleo Recipe book.

Ingredients
3 ripe bananas
240 ml almond butter
240 ml almond flour
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees.
Mash the bananas with a fork in a bowl. Add the almond butter, almond flour and eggs. Mix together. Add the baking soda and baking powder and make sure it's thouroughly mixed in. Fill a greased loaf pan with the batter and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes.

The easiest dessert

Something that I think is quite underrated is fresh fruit. There is nothing better than just some pieces of fresh fruit after dinner. It really is the easiest and most delicious dessert there is.

I'm having fresh pineapple, blueberries and some shredded coconut.

Chicken with parma ham and avocado sauce

Found this recipe on tasteline.se. As usual I've modified the recipe a bit. Mostly because I don't like anchovies or parmesan cheese which was in the original recipe. Perfect for a Friday night treat.

Ingredients
serves 4
4 chicken fillets
1½ tsp paprika powder
1½ tsp herbs
2 garlic cloves
salt and pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
100 g parma ham
500 g cherry tomatoes

2 garlic cloves
½ lemon, peel and juice
2 avocados
3 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees.
Cut the chicken fillets into three slices lenghtwise. Mix the garlic, paprika powder and herbs. Add the olive oil, salt and pepper. Rub the chicken with the spice mix. Place them in an ovenproof dish. Shred the ham and put on top. Cut the tomatoes in half and place around the edges in the dish. Bake for 25 minutes in the oven.
For making the sauce or dressing; crush the garlic cloves and mix it with the lemon juice and peel. Cut the avocados in pieces and add this to the garlic and lemon together with the olive oil. Blend together with a hand mixer until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with lettuce leaves.

Coconut tops

This is a classic little cookie that we used to have when I was little; not sure if it's typically Swedish or if it exists elsewhere as well. It's extremely simple and I modified it so that it's now Paleo friendly as well. If you like coconut than you should try to make these.

Ingredients
makes 16
50 g butter
2 eggs
1½ tbsp honey
550 ml shredded coconut

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees.
Melt the butter. Mix together eggs, honey and coconut. Add the melted butter and mix in thouroughly. Let it sit for about 10 minutes. Prepare a baking tray with baking paper and shape the dough to little tops with your hands. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

Apple and cinnamon muffins

The banana muffins I made a few days ago were so delicious so I decided to make another batch. I also made my own version with apple and cinnamon. They were also really tasty. The recipe for the banana muffins can you find here. Here is the recipe for the ones with apple and cinnamon

Ingredients

makes 6 

3 tbsp apple sauce

2 small eggs

dash of vanilla essence

½ tbsp honey

30 ml melted coconut oil

240 ml almond flour

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp of cinnamon

pinch of salt

½ large peeled apple, cut into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees.

Mix together apple sauce, eggs, vanilla, honey and oil well. Add the salt, baking soda, cinnamon and half the almond flour. Mix together until thoroughly combined then add the rest of the almond flour together with the apple pieces. Grease a muffin tray and fill them evenly with the mixture. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes.

Bacon wrapped cod with roasted veggies

Ok, this combination might seem a bit weird but it did actually work quite well together.

Ingredients
serves 2
1 red capsicum
1 green capsicum
1 small zucchini
1 eggplant
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
2 tbsp olive oil
dried basil
dried rosemary
salt and pepper
2 pieces of cod
8 pieces of bacon
pepper

Preheat the oven to 225 degrees,
Finely chopped the onion and garlic. Cut the capsicums, eggplant and zucchini in big pieces.
Put the onion and garlic in an oven proof dish together with the olive oil. Put in the oven for about 5 minutes.
Take out and add the other veggies together with salt, pepper, basil and rosemary. Cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Put pepper on the top of the cod. Wrap each piece of cod in four pieces of bacon. Put in an oven proof dish and cook in the oven for 10 minutes.

Banana muffins

Once again I've gained inspiration from 3.2.1. Paleo blog. I've been wanting to make these for weeks now but I never seem to have any slightly overripe bananas at home. Now I decided to do them and my bananas were just ripe enough.


Ingredients
makes 6
2 ripe bananas
2 small eggs
½ tbsp vanilla essence
½ tbsp honey
30 ml melted coconut oil
240 ml almond flour
½ tsp baking soda
1 big handful shredded coconut
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees.
Mix together bananas, eggs, vanilla, honey and oil well. Add the salt, baking soda, cinnamon and half the almond flour. Mix together until thoroughly combined then add the rest of the almond flour and the coconut. Grease a muffin tray and fill them evenly with the mixture. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes.

Apple and cinnamon buns

I've tried a few times to make cinnamon buns but they usually end up too dry because I, for some reason, want to make them 'healthier' by not adding as much fat. Now I decided to make them the proper way; with lots of fat. :)

Ingredients

makes about 30-40 buns

100 g butter

500 ml milk

50 g fresh yeast

½ tsp salt

100 ml sugar

1 tsp cardamom 

1,3 l flour

Filling:

50 g butter

3 tbsp apple sauce

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp sugar

1 egg, lightly whisked

granulated sugar

Melt the butter in a pot. Add the milk and let it get to body temperature, approximately 37 degrees. Crumble the yeast into a big bowl. Add a little bit of the milk and butter mixture and mix until the yeast is dissolved. Add the rest of the mixture and also the salt, sugar, cardamom and 2/3 of the flour. Mix until smooth and shiny. Then add the rest of the flour (save a bit for the rolling). The dough is finished when it does no longer stick to the sides of the bowl. Pour some flour over the dough and put a towel or the bowl. Let it rest and rise for about an hour; until it's doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. When risen enough, take it out of the bowl and onto a surface sprinkled with flour. Knead the douch with the rest of the flour until it does not stick to the surface anymore. Split the dough in hald and roll out one half with a rolling pin to a rectangle, about 20x40 cm. Spread a thing layer of half the amount of butter on top. Then add half the amount of apple sauce. Sprinkle half of the sugar and half of the cinnamon on top. Roll the dough up and make about 2 cm thick pieces. Put them in paper cups with the cut edge up. Do the same with the rest of the dough. Line them on a baking tray and brush them with the egg. Sprinkle some granulated sugar on top. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 8-10 minutes.

Berry omelette

I think most people have this idea that omelettes should be savoury but it doesn't have to be like that. This morning I made a sweet omelette for breakfast and it was really tasty. Try it! It's quick and easy to make. I used frozen berries but it would probably be even better with fresh ones.

Ingredients
(serves 1)
3 eggs
a splash of vanilla essence
1 small handful raspberries
1 small handful blackberries
1 small hanful blueberries

Whish the eggs together with a fork. Add the vanilla essence and mix it all together. Fry the eggs on low heat in a pan greased with some butter. Fry the omelette until it is almost set on the top. Then flip it and add the berries on one half of the omelette. Fry for a couple of more minutes then fold in half and serve.

Enchiladas

Ingredients

(serves 4)

500 g mince meat

1 onion

2 capsicums

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 small can of corn

1 dl crushed tomatoes

taco seasoning

4 tortillas

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Cut the onion and capsicum finely. Fry them off together with the garlic in some butter. Once soft, add the mince meat and fry until it gets brown. Add the tomatoes and taco seasoning. Let it all simmer together for a few minutes. Put the mince meat mixture in the middle of each tortilla and fold. Put them in an oven proof dish with the opening down. Put some grated cheese on the top and cook in the oven for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Parsnip chips

We had a parsnip over from last week and I wasn't really sure what to do with it. Since I got home from work earlier than normal today I decided to make some parsnip chips. I had a go at making sweet potato chips a couple of weeks ago but they didn't end up that good. This time it went slightly better but I still need to work on how to get them crunchy without burning them.

Ingredients
1 large parsnip
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
paprika powder
cayenne pepper
garlic powder

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Peel the parsnip and cut it into thin slices. Try to cut them as thin as possible. Mix together the olive oil and the spices in a bowl, add the parsnip and mix together so that the parsnips get an even coating. Put the parsnip pieces separately on an ungreased baking tray. Make sure they don't overlap. Bake in the oven for about 10-15 minutes.

Baba Ghanoush

Ingredients
2 eggplants
3 garlic cloves
1½ tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp cumin
½ tsp cayenne pepper
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. Prick the skin of the eggplant with a fork and roast for about 35 minutes in the oven. Peel off the skin of the eggplants. Place the roasted eggplant, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, cumin and cayenne pepper in a blender and blend until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper to taste.

Thai roast chicken

Roast chicken is one of our favourite dishes; especially on a Sunday night. Today we are having a bit of a mulitcultural dish since we wanted to make use of the vegetables that we had in the fridge. We had Thai flavoured chicken together with some baba ghanoush and Thai flavoured vegetables.

Ingredients
1 whole chicken
1 tbsp red curry paste
1 tbsp coconut milk'
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Mix the ingredients. Score the chicken and rub it with the mixture. Roast in the oven for about 1 hour.

Vegetable fritters

Ok, I know I've gone a bit crazy with fritters lately but they are so simple and delicious. Today I made some that are quite high in vegetable content. I served mine with some leftover chicken from last night but you can also eat them as they are. However, they are not very full of protein so some kind of meat is recommended.

Ingredients
(makes 12 small ones)
1 carrot, grated
1 red onion, chopped finely
½ eggplant, chopped finely
1 spring onion, chopped finely
½ red capsicum, chopped finely
60 ml flour
2 eggs
salt and pepper

Mix all the vegetables together and add the flour and eggs. Heat some butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add 1 heaped tablespoon vegetable mixture. Using a spatula, flatten slightly. Cook for 2 minutes each side or until golden and cooked through.

Balsamic marinated chicken with roasted tomatoes

Today I looked in the Paleo Recipe book for a recipe. I marinated my chicken for the entire day and it got really nice and flavourful. However, since I cut my chicken fillets in half, I ended up cooking the chicken for a little bit too long.

Ingredients
(serves 2-3)
60 ml balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp homemade or Dijon mustard
4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 large chicken breasts
450 g cherry tomatoes
salt and pepper

Combine the balsamic vinegar, mustard, garlic and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a bowl and season to taste with salt and pepper. Place the chicken breasts in the marinade and refrigerate to marinate for at least 4 hours.
Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. Combine the remaining 3 tbsp olive oil with the cherry tomatoes, season to taste with salt and pepper and place in a roasting pan. Place the chicken with its marinade in a second roasting pan. Roast the chicken in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes, then add the tomatoes and roast for another 10 minutes.

Pumpkin lasagna

Once again I've found this recipe on 321paleo and once again I'm reallý happy with the result. This dish turned out really good. I was a little bit sceptic at first but the result was really tasty.

Ingredients
(serves 4)
1 small butternut pumpkin (approximately 1 kilo)
2 medium onions
1 capsicum
3 garlic cloves
500 g mince meat
400 g chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
½ beef stock cube
½ tsp dried basil
½ tsp dried oregano
1 pinch of chili powder
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Chop the onion, garlic and capsicum finely. Add this to a hot frying pan greased with some butter and olive oil. Fry until soft. Add the mince meat and fry until brown. Then add the chopped tomatoes together with the balsamic vinegar, stock cube, herbs and spices. Let it simmer for about 10 minutes. While the meat sauce is simmering, peel and take the seeds out of the pumpkin. Cut into thin slices. In an oven proof dish, put a thin layer of sauce on the bottom, followed by the pumpkin slices and then continue with meat sauce. Repeat until all the ingredients are used, finishing with a layer of meat sauce. Cook in the middle of the oven for about 45 minutes or until the pumpkin is soft.

Date and cinnamon slices

Today has been one of those slightly boring days when you don't know what to do. On these days I usually end up cooking or baking so that's what I did today. I did a double batch of the English muffin/scones and also made this recipe below. They turned out really nice. Found the recipe on the 321paleo blog once again but modified it slighlty.

Ingredients
(makes 10)
1 banana
1 tbsp apple puree
4 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla
24 dates (seeds taken out)
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
90 ml coconut flour
180 ml almond flour
60 ml honey
100 ml chopped walnuts
3 handfuls shredded coconut


Preheat the oven to 175 degrees. Chop the walnuts finely and chop the dates. Combine bananas, apple puree, eggs, vanilla, dates and honey and mix together. Stir in the cinnamon, baking soda, almond flour and coconut flour and mix until well combined. Add in the walnuts and shredded coconut. Pour batter in to a greased oven proof dish and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes. They should come out slightly soft and moist but not sloppy.

Best paleo pancakes yet

I've made quite a few batches of pancakes lately because I think it's a really nice weekend breakfast. These ones are defintiely the best ones so far and they are also paleo. I found the recipe on 321paleo blog.

Ingredients
(makes about 10, with about 8 cm diameter)
3 eggs
1/3 cup coconut milk
1 banana
½ tbsp vanilla
½ tsp baking soda
½ cup coconut flour
coconut oil for frying

Mix all the wet ingredients first. Then sift in the coconut flour since it usually lumps really easily and also the baking soda. Mix it all together and fry on low heat in a frying pan greased with coconut oil or butter. Serve with fresh berries or whatever else you prefer.

Zucchini, bacon and corn fritters

Fritters is one of my personal favourites. They don't take that long and you can vary it with putting in whatever you like. I was planning on doing the original recipe with flour but I realized when I got home that we didn't not have any flour. So instead I made these flourless fritters which are actually just as good.

Ingredients
(serves 2-3 people)
1 zucchini, grated (about 2 cups when grated)
1 onion, finely chopped
100 g bacon, chopped into cube size
200 gram canned corn, drained
3 eggs
1 tbsp coconut flour
salt and pepper

Fry off the onion and bacon for a few minutes. Beat the eggs and sift in the coconut flour. Add the zucchini, bacon, onion and corn to the eggs. Season with salt and pepper. Heat a frying pan and add some butter and fry about 10 cm big fritters. Serve with a nice salad.

Paleo English muffins/scones

Perfect treats for breakfast or the afternoon tea.

Ingredients
(makes 6)
2 cups almond flour
3 tbsp cold water
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp honey
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Mix almond flour, water, salt and baking soda together in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg and honey. Pour the egg mixture in to the bowl with the almond flour mixture slowly and mix until you get a wet dough. Put on a baking tray making six equal cakes. Put in the middle of the oven for about 10 minutes.

                 

Serve with egg and bacon...

...or cream cheese and raspberries.

Carrot cake with coconut cream cheese icing

I decided to make another carrot cake but since I wasn't very happy with the icing last time I tried to make a different one this time. The recipe for the carrot cake you can find here and the recipe for the icing is below. This time I only made a cake with one layer though.

Ingredients
100 g cream cheese
50 ml coconut milk
200 ml icing sugar
50 ml shredded coconut

Mix it all together and put on the cooled carrot cake.

Individual apple crumble

Something easy to just throw together and it really doesn't take much effort or time.

Ingredients
(serves 2)
1 big apple
1 tsp honey
100 ml almond flour
100 ml chopped nuts
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp lemon juice
2 tbsp butter (+ a bit extra to grease the dishes)

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Mix together almond flour, chopped nuts, cinnamon and lemon juice. Peel and chop the apple in thin slices. Coat the apples with the honey and put in two individual oven proof dishes. Put the almond flour mixture on top and put in the oven for 10 minutes. Take them out of the oven and put thin slices of the butter on top, then put in the oven for another 10 minutes.

Gratin with root vegetables

We found some turkey fillets in the supermarket that we tried last year and were really nice. They are prepared already with marinade and sauce so you just need to put them in the oven. I was trying to figure out what to have with it and I thought of potato gratin which we haven't had in a long time. I made my own version of it though and put some other root vegetables in it as well.

Ingredients
(serves 2-3)
2 large potatoes
3 small parsnips
2 carrots
1 onion
3 garlic cloves
150-200 ml cream
2 tbsp butter
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Melt the butter. Peel and slice all the vegetables into thin slices. Put them all in an oven proof dish. Take the skin off the garlic and crush it over the other vegetables. Add some salt and pepper and mix it all together. Mix the butter and the cream and add some more salt and pepper. Pour it over the vegetables and put in the oven for about 45 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked. Serve together with a delicious steak or like us with some oven cooked turkey fillets.

Chocolate balls

I was a bit bored tonight. My dinner was not anything special so nothing to put here on the blog. However, in my boredom I found a recipe for a nice and 'healthy' snack that one of my Facebook friends posted on her blog: chocolate balls without added sugar. I only made half this recipe since I wasn't sure how much it was going to be but I ended up with 10 pretty decent sized balls. :)

Ingredients
(makes 20)x
200 g almond flour
4 tbsp coconut oil
4 tbsp cocoa powder
4 tbsp shredded coconut (+ a little extra to roll the balls in)
10 dates (make sure to take the pits out)

Mix the almond flour and coconut oil in a food processor or by hand. Add the cocoa powder and shredded coconut and mix again. Add the dates and mix once again. Make little balls and roll them in some shredded coconut. It's as easy as that to have delicious little treats on a Tuesday night!

Beef stir-fry with black pepper and garlic

So the 'challenge' is officially over now. I will try to still do as much Paleo food as I feel like but there will be other recipes as well. It's a very nice season coming up now; spring. When the sun starts coming out you get more of an urge to be outside and not stand in the kitchen cooking. Today's recipe is not really Paleo and it was really nice.

Ingredients
(serves 4)
500 g beef, cut into thin strips
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice wine
2 tbsp oil
½ tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp black pepper
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 onion, sliced
2 capsicums, sliced
4 tbsp oyster sauce

Mix the beef, soy sauce, rice wine and pepper together in a bowl. Heat the oils in a wok pan, add the onion and garlic. Fry for about 3 minutes. Add the beef and fry for another 5 minutes. Add the capsicums and the oyster sauce. Sitr-fry everything for about 2 more minutes. Serve the stir-fry with cauliflower rice.

Chocolate cookies

Weather is bad again and the sun comes and goes quite often. It comes out and you get happy for about two minutes until it goes away again. Sometimes this city is really dull, especially without sunshine. Because of this I decided to bake something. That usually makes me feel better. I got the recipe from 3.2.1. Paleo

Ingredients

(makes approximately 8 cookies)
300 ml almond butter
80 ml cocoa powder
2 eggs
2 tbsp coconut flour
1 tsp vanilla
handful of quality chopped dark chocolate
1tbsp honey

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl with a wooden spoon. Make into cookie sized balls with your hands and put on baking sheet. Press with your hand to make a cookie shape. Bake in the oven for 10-15 mins.
Note: These cookies do not rise, spread or melt like “regular” cookies, so get them the shape you want before baking.

Poached eggs

We had some smoked salmon in the fridge that we wanted to get rid off so we tried to think of something that goes with salmon that you can have for breakfast; and what is better than poached eggs. Here is an easy way of poaching eggs without too much of a mess.

Boil some water in a wide pot, to make sure that all the eggs fit. Make it boil heavily.
Put one piece of cling film in a cup, or as we use a muffin tray. Crack each eggs in to the cling film and close it up with some ties (plastic covered wires that you usually get with plastic bags). Put each 'bag' of egg in the boiling water and let it boil for about 5 minutes.

Salmon tikka masala

Today I got home quite late to start cooking so this recipe was perfect. Really easy and really quick recipe. I can't take the credit for it though as I found it here: http://cavemanstrong.com/2011/04/paleo-salmon-tikka-masala/. Be aware of the cooking time though. I had mine on for less than 8 minutes per side and mine turned out a bit overcooked so just pay attention.

Ingredients
(serves 2)
2 salmon fillets
1 lemon
1 tsp paprika powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp coconut oil

Rinse the two pieces of salmon. Squeeze lemon juice over the top of salmon filets. Mix the spices together and spread on a flat plate. Place the salmon filet face down on the mix to cover the top with a thick layer of spices. Heat up the coconut oil in a frying pan on medium-low heat and add the filets face down. Keep the filets face down for 5-10 minutes then flip for another 5-10 mins covered. Cooking time will vary depending on the size and thickness of filet.

Mince meat curry

This week I am really feeling that quick dinners is the way to go. The weather is so nice outside so I'm trying to go out for a walk in the evening and then I don't have time to spend half the evening in the kitchen. This is a quite easy recipe with mince meat.

Ingredients
(serves 2-3)
1 chili
2 garlic cloves
½ tsp cumin seeds
2 onions, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
500 g mince meat
400 g crushed tomatoes
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp paprika powder
½ tsp curry powder
1 tbsp shredded coconut
butter
salt and pepper

Heat up some butter together with the chili, garlic and cumin seeds. Add the onion and carrots and fry until the onion is brown and soft. Add the mince meat and let it get brown. Once browned, add the tomatoes together with all the spices and the shredded coconut. Mix together and let simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes. Serve with a nice salad.

Chicken wrapped in bacon

I'm back! After a quick little getaway to Sweden, where we had all kinds of yummy things, I am now back to continue with the challenge for another two weeks. Today I made a recipe from the Paleo Diet Recipe book again (this is where I find most of my inspiration). I modified it a little bit myself.

Ingredients
(serves 2)
2 large chicken breast fillets; cut in half to make slightly smaller pieces
2 large leeks; sliced
olive oil
thyme (fresh or dried)
butter
7 slices of bacon
salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. In a bowl, place the chicken breasts, the leek slices, thyme, a few knobs of butter, a splash olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Mix everything together well. Line the bottom of a baking dish with a sheet of aluminium paper that’s a bit larger than the dish, to get some loose ends. Place the leek mixture on the bottom of the dish. Wrap each chicken breast in 2 slices of bacon, or as many slices so it covers the chicken fillet. Place the chicken on top of the leeks. Pour some more olive oil and knobs of butter here and there and place some thyme on top. Close up the loose ends of the aluminium paper over the uncovered leeks and chicken so they don’t burn. Cook in the middle of the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, then take off the top parts of the aluminium paper and turn the oven on grill mode. Cook for another 5 minutes or until the chicken is wellcooked. Serve with a nice fresh salad.

Oven roasted veggies with chicken

I had nothing planned for this evening but I had a look in the freezer and I found a chicken fillet and some bacon pieces. So I decided to do something quite easy.

Ingredients
1 carrot
1 parsnip
½ a fennel
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1 chicken fillet
100 g bacon pieces
paprika powder
cayenne pepper
garlic powder
salt and pepper
olive oil

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Cut the vegetables into bite size chunks. Put them all in an oven proof dish and season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Add the olive oil and mix around. Put in the oven for about 20 minutes until the vegetables are cooked through.
Cut the chicken into pieces. Sprinkle some paprika and cayenne powder and mix around. Let sit for a few minutes. Fry the bacon pieces in a frying pan (no need to add cooking fat). After a couple of minutes add the chicken pieces and fry until the chicken is cooked. Serve with some salad.

Two kinds of cookies

Today I've been a real housewife; I've been cleaning, done laundry, washing dishes and made two different kinds of cookies (both Paleo of course). I found both recipes in the Paleo recipe book. I'm now quite exhausted and am looking forward to a calm evening in front of the TV.

Gingersnaps
(makes about 15-20)
2 tsp powdered ginger
2 tbsp honey
2½ dl almond butter
1 egg
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
A pinch of fine sea salt

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees. Mix all the ingredients well together in a bowl. Line a large baking sheet with baking paper and scoop out pieces of dough that are about 1 tbsp in size and press them on the parchment paper in the shape of a cookie. The gingersnaps will not expand or change shape when cooked. Place in the oven and bake for about 12 minutes, until just cooked.

Shortbread with dark chocolate
(makes about 25)
5 tbsp grass fed butter
1 tbsp coconut oil
3 tbsp honey
5 dl almond flour
6 thin squares of dark chocolate (the more % cocoa, the better)

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees. In a small pot over low heat, melt butter, coconut oil and honey together. In a medium bowl, measure out almond flour. Slowly pour the butter mixture into the alomond flour, stirring constantly. Roll the dough into 3-4 cm balls and place on a well greased baking dish. Press a small fork on the cookies to create a pattern and flatten them a bit. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden in color. Allow the cookies to cool for several minutes. Once cool, melt the chocolate in a heat proof dish of a pot of boiling water. Dip the bottom of the cookies and place upside down on a piece of baking paper to cool down.

Mince meat stew

This recipe is super easy to prepare and to cook. I noticed that I already posted a very similar recipe (Stew with mince meat and root vegetables) but this is a little bit of a modification.

Ingredients
(serves 4)
500 g mince meat (can use lamb mince if you want)
2 red onions, cut into wedges
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
300 g parsnip, peeled and cut into bite size pieces
300 g pumpkin, peeled and  cut into bite size pieces
300 g carrots, peeled and cut into bite size pieces
150 g fennel, cut coarsly
3 tbsp tomato paste
400 g crushed tomatoes
400 ml water
1 bay leaf
1½ tsp thyme
1 stock cube
salt and pepper
grass-fed butter for frying

Fry the onion and garlic soft in some butter. Add the mince meat and let it get brown. Once the mince meat is brown, add all vegetables together with the tomato paste and mix around a bit. Then add the bay leaf, thyme, stock, salt, pepper, tomatoes and water. Let it boil for about 20-30 minutes or until the veggies are cooked through. Serve with a nice salad.