EFFORTLESS TASTE OF SUMMER
I reckon this 3-minute salad should be on everyones list of favorite salads.
This is what you need: Crispy rocket, strawberries, nuts, buffalo mozzarella, slices of good quality parma ham or prosciutto, basil, olive oil, 1tbs honey, sea salt & ground black pepper & drizzle with home-made pesto. Figs? Should have remembered to include them. Adore figs!
/Louisa
CRISPY DELICIOUSNESS – JUST HOW WE LIKE IT
This is what you do: Preheat oven to 220°C/200°C fan-forced. Place potato, sweet potato, peppers garlic and oil in a bowl. Toss well to combine. Place mixture onto a large oven tray. Season with salt and pepper, and of course; lemon juice. Roast for 20 minutes, while you are frying the chicken. Now turn veggies gently. Add pine nuts and red onions and roast for another 15-20 minutes until veg is browned and tender. Set aside and cool slightly.
Now place the rocket in your serving bowl, toss over the roasted veg and the chicken, and add whatever takes your fancy such as homemade dressing (i.e. lemon juice, mustard and oregano), olives, grated carrots, feta… Basically give free rein to your imagination when you decide which veggies to use for this all-time good salad. Unlimited combinations is key.
Enjoy your Thursday everyone!
OUR FAVOURITE VEGGIE DISHES OF THE SERIES
We’ve both enjoyed sharing with you our favourite meatless dishes, and experimenting with a few new vegetarian delights – but the lighter, brighter Spring feeling is upon us and we are ready for a new Sister Challenge: Salads!
Crispy, fresh, raw, bright and colourful, spicy, zesty, diverse, let-me-at-you super salads. We can’t wait to share our take on salads, as we try out new flavours and recipes, as well as some old time classics.
To wrap up our Meatless Monday Challenge we thought it’d be fun to look back on some of our favorites:
Now, let’s just agree that things on toast always turn out to be the most delicious dinner of the week. Always. Delicious. Even cool, trendy bakeries in London think so, with their sweet potato and chilli combo. However, this one from Lou… totally stole the crown in my opinion. Pesto, mango, avocado & tomato bruschetta. I mean, come on.
This Vegetarian Chilli was also super tasty, and a perfect winter warmer (and curiously enough, the vegetarian recipe which got most clicks/searches).
And lets not forget the veggie filo parcels made by Camilla. Lets admit; these little beauties had our mouth watering (and was among Lou’s favorite food photos).
Dear readers, hang on in there for the next food series! Hope you are as intrigued as us by what we (as non-creative-and-definitely-non-expert-foodies) manage to come up with once we make this thing a competition of sorts.
What is your favourite vegetarian meal? Did you try out any of the Meatless Monday recipes?
Till, next time; Bon Appetite! Or, you know, just yum.
Louisa & Camilla xoxo
PS. Remember Sunday Soup Challenge? Lou’s favourite: The “underdog” Pea Soup. I had a hard time imagining this as anything special, but once it was served for lunch in Dubai, I had a hard time trying to tell myself to stop. L x
TASTY CANNELLONI GOODNESS
Cannelloni is one of those dishes that should be up there on “top pasta bakes”. It never fails to impress. And given the right equipment (piping bag is a must have!), its pretty straight forward and easy.
This is what you need: olive oil, 4 cloves of garlic, 1 onion (finely chopped) 2 teaspoons of dried oregano, ¼ of a nutmeg (grated) 500 grams of frozen spinach, a handful of fresh basil leaves (ripped) sea salt and ground black pepper, 500 grams of ricotta cheese, 4 handfuls of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, cannelloni tubes, mozzarella (broken up) and béchamel sauce of course (flour, butter, milk & nutmeg).
This is what you do: Preheat the oven to 180ºC. In pan add olive oil and sauté onion and garlic. Then add the (defrosted) spinach. Add ricotta cheese, oregano, salt & pepper, nutmeg and a handful of parmesan. Mix it around and let it bubble gently. Using piping bag, squeeze the mixture into the cannelloni tubes.
Pour béchamel sauce into your ovenproof dish and lay the cannelloni on top (you could also use tomato sauce in the bottom of the dish). Spoon the rest of the béchamel sauce over the cannelloni. Sprinkle with the remaining parmesan and mozzarella pieces. Bake in oven for about 25 minutes, until golden and bubbling.
Crispy on top, but soft and moist at the bottom! Perfectly yummy. Next time I will probably use double the amount of béchamel sauce, though…
And for a bit of Easter colour and taste we served our cannelloni with our favorite tomato & chilli salad with a sprinkle of grated orange peel. Accompanied with sliced oranges and apples. Worked a treat I tell you!
Hope you are all having a lovely Easter break!
Lou x
We´re not one of those people who can start food sections saying, “I’ve always loved cooking”. That would be a lie (Louisa lived off chicken tikka masala take away during student years, and Camilla, well… she just generally had issues with food, and spent half her life as a vegetarian for various non-obvious reasons). Our adult realization is that we enjoy feeding people and trying out new, healthy, tasty recipes. So, we’re pimping up our weekly menu with a Meatless Monday Challenge: Hope you enjoy along with us!
SWEET AND SIMPLE VEGETABLE CURRY
Now, we’ve made no effort at all to hide the fact that we LOVE simple dinner recipes. In fact, we salute SIMPLE. We greet it as we would a dear friend, welcoming it with open arms, hugging the flavours and savouring the fact that this tasteful tastiness (creative use of words, no?) was created in oh, such a short amount of time!! Joy.
For this Monday’s Meatless Challenge, here’s what you need:
1 red onion, 1 large sweet potato, 1 apple, 1 packet of rinsed chickpeas, 1 tin of chopped tomatoes, 2 large spoonfuls of mango chutney, 2 tsp curry paste (or however much you dare!).
Here’s what you do:
Chop sweet potato and apple into small chunks. Lightly fry the chopped onion in a little olive oil. On medium heat, add ALL the ingredients, stir well, and leave (the longer you can leave it, the better… if you have a slow cooker – get you! -even better) to simmer and shimmer and dance it’s way into a sweet, yummy curry. Serve with chapatti bread and a dollop of natural yogurt.
A little tip: If you, like me, have invited vegetable fearing dinner guests, mash it up a little, or even blend it. No one will EVER know.
/Camilla
We´re not one of those people who can start food sections saying, “I’ve always loved cooking”. That would be a lie (Louisa lived off chicken tikka masala take away during student years, and Camilla, well… she just generally had issues with food, and spent half her life as a vegetarian for various non-obvious reasons). Our adult realization is that we enjoy feeding people and trying out new, healthy, tasty recipes. So, we’re pimping up our weekly menu with a Meatless Monday Challenge: Hope you enjoy along with us!
MUFFIN LOVIN’
I am on a very important assignment. I consider it both necessary, and of utmost important.
The perfect Muffin recipe – I need to, have to, MUST find it.
This week we made Sweet Potato and Plum Muffins. I say we, but what I really mean is Finley asks if he can help me bake, when really what he really wants is for me to hurry up and pour the mixture into their little cases, so he can lick the bowl. I don’t know where he would get that crazy idea from..
The Sweet Potato muffins, although good, were not as mind blowingly awesome as I’d imagined, so the quest continues.
These Apple Muffins, by Love and Lemon, seem well worth trying out. Yum!
Or, helllo… these Carrot Cake Muffins with Vanilla Buttons, by A Beautiful Mess, sound spectacular.
Hang on though, what about these? These might just be a winner – perfect Blueberry Crumb Muffins, found via Bake or Break.
Are you a muffin fan? I often make savoury muffins, to use for packed lunches. What is your favourite, chocolate or blueberry?
Camilla xoxo
ALSO KNOWN AS THAT TIME WE ATE NORWEGIAN WAFFLES ON THE BEACH IN DUBAI
Waffles… Those tasty little heart shaped treats. A huge favourite with most Norwegians, us lot included. Especially when enjoyed on the beach in your swimsuits, with sandy hands and sticky jam. Oh, year-round-warm-sunny-weather of Dubai, how we heart you.
While the cousins visited we tried out a new recipe, borrowed from the Moods of Norway creators. Rumour has it they serve waffles and champagne to customers in their store in Los Angeles on Saturdays… No wonder their bright and colourful designs are selling like hot cakes. Hah. Sorry, couldn’t resist.
We found the recipe here (Trine’s Matblogg):
Melt the butter and set it aside to cool slightly.
Mix all the dry ingredients. Add the milk, and mix well. Add the eggs, and continue mixing. Stir in the melted butter.
Set aside for half an hour, then cook waffles in a hot waffle iron, till they turn a nice golden colour.
Leave them to cool a little. Serve with fresh berries and sour cream, or jam and brown cheese, with a handful of sand and salty water from the beach, as we did.
/Camilla
THE TASTIEST LITTLE VEGGIE FILO PARCELS YOU’LL EVER HAVE
I’m not gonna lie to you.
As I took the first bite of one of these warm little parcels – savouring the crispness of the filo, the juicy little tomatoes, the grilled, salty halloumi cheese, the warm creaminess of the avocado melting away in my mouth, and the slightly sour, yet perfectly sweet texture of the mango – I almost fell to the floor…
Oh-la-laaa! Nigella eat your heart out! Oh, tastebuds, let me spoil thee.
I used ready made filo pastry, cut to the right size, and made two different options – both equally delicious in their own right.
Pre heat oven to 180. Using olive oil, lightly grease a muffin tray before placing your filo squares inside.
For the first little parcel I gently fried some thinly sliced courgette with garlic, adding chopped basil at the end. Tomatoes and courgette slices were carefully layered into the pastry cups, before crumbling fresh parmesan and black pepper on top.
Our second parcel, inspired by Lou’s awesome bruschetta a few weeks ago, consisted of chopped mango, avocado, plum tomatoes and halloumi cheese. Gently fry these all with a little olive oil and garlic, place them gently into filo parcels, and finish off with a little ground black pepper on top.
Place the muffin tray in the oven for about 20 minutes. I would say they are at their most heavenly just a few mintues after you take them out of the oven. Warm, melt in your mouth flavours and textures. Oh, joy.
You may, or you may not want to share these with others. I’ll let you decide. Not many were left in our house by the time Hubby got home from work. Oops.
Enjoy!
Camilla
We´re not one of those people who can start food sections saying, “I’ve always loved cooking”. That would be a lie (Louisa lived off chicken tikka masala take away during student years, and Camilla, well… she just generally had issues with food, and spent half her life as a vegetarian for various non-obvious reasons). Our adult realization is that we enjoy feeding people and trying out new, healthy, tasty recipes. So, we’re pimping up our weekly menu with a Meatless Monday Challenge: Hope you enjoy along with us!
A GREEN GODDESS OF A TART
We’ve been enjoying our meals outside this week. The weather is changing, moving into a comfortable warm – and with Sister and family here, keen to soak up every little ray of sunshine before they fly back to the freezing North, there’s nothing more perfect than dinner outside.
While I won’t pretend this Green Goddess of a tart went down well with every single one of our younger tastebuds, us adults could not get enough of it. It’s easy, tasty and healthy…
Here’s what we used: Ready made puff pastry (would work with pizza bottom too), garlic, pesto (recipe here), fresh spinach leaves, feta cheese, pine nuts, honey, lemon juice and natural yogurt.
Here’s how: Spread the pesto on the rolled out pastry, toss the spinach leaves on top, crumble a few pieces of feta cheese over the leaves. Sauté the garlic and pine nuts slightly, before placing them randomly on top of the leaves. Drizzle lemon and honey over everything, then place into the oven for about 15 minutes (until the pastry is golden and slightly crispy).
Once it’s out of the oven, drizzle a little natural yogurt on top, and serve with a crunchy salad or funky couscous dish (this time with added sultanas and dried apricots – hugely recommended!). Seriously tasty territory.
/Camilla x
BRIGHT VEGETABLES & BOLD FLAVORS
Today we hit the road. Bags packed, butterflies going crazy in little people’s tummies (and big!), and a one-year old recovering from tonsillitis (sigh). Hopefully our flight will *swiiiishh* by, just like that, and that the jam-packed hand luggage has just the right type of entertainment for 7 hours of day-time travel. And F.I.N.G.E.R.S C.R.O.S.S.E.D x10 that Lucia sleeps for at least two of those hours!
Anyway; Vegetarian Chilli Con Carne. Ever tried it? You should. You’d be surprised how good this lovely alternative to traditional chilli con carne is. It’s literally packed with good stuff. And the spices? I’m loving the bold mix of chilli, cayenne, cumin and cinnamon.
This is what you need: 1 onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 red pepper, 1 yellow pepper, 2 carrots, 1 bunch of fresh coriander, 1 green chilli, 1 tin of kidney beans, 1 tin of chickpeas, 1 tin of lentils, 2 tins of chopped tomatoes, 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, olive oil, sea salt and pepper.
This is what you do: Peel vegetables. Sauté onion, peppers, coriander stalks, chillis and garlic with spices. Then add the beans, chickpeas and lentils and tinned tomatoes. Stir well and bring to the boil. Leave on medium low heat for about 30 minutes (add water if it gets too thick).
Taste and season with sea salt and ground black pepper. Scatter remaining leaves of coriander on top. Serve with sour cream, guacamole and tortillas or bread.
Enjoy!
/Louisa
Little Sister Sidenote: Oh wow. You have got to make this for us all in Dubai. You just have to. My mouth is watering after reading this. Nice one, sis.
We´re not one of those people who can start food sections saying, “I’ve always loved cooking”. That would be a lie (Louisa lived off chicken tikka masala take away during student years, and Camilla, well… she just generally had issues with food, and spent half her life as a vegetarian for various non-obvious reasons). Our adult realization is that we enjoy feeding people and trying out new, healthy, tasty recipes. So, we’re pimping up our weekly menu with a Meatless Monday Challenge: Hope you enjoy along with us!
