Lemon risotto with sun dried tomatoes

Konnichiwa!! I must deserve a laziest blogger award soon. Lately I've just been either too busy to cook or too tired to blog it. Now I'm here packing this apartment and packing for Japan, where we are heading next Friday. I cannot believe that it's finally happening!! So happy :)

I just made this awesome lemon risotto, that I didn't have any recipe for. So, for the amounts, just play by ear, ok? 

Lemon risotto with sun dried tomatoes

1 onion

butter (1 tbsp)

risotto rice (maybe 2-3 dl)

vegetable broth (maybe 8-10 dl)

lemon zest (one lemon)

lemon juice (maybe 2-3 tbsp)

sundried tomatoes (6-8)

thyme

pepper

garlic powder

Fry the onion in butter. Then add all the rice. Fry a bit. Start adding vege broth in small amounts so that the rice has time to absorb it in the between. Add sun dried tomatoes (I used organic ones that are not in oil), lemon zest and lemon juice at some point. Stop adding broth when the rice is fully cooked. Add the spices, let it be for a second and - enjoy!

ps. I thought I had some parmesan cheese in the fridge - I didn't. That would have completed the risotto. Try blending some of it in the risotto and add some on the top when serving. 

Ohayogozaimasu!

Smoothie with lingonberries, banana and milk; bread with butter, cheese and basil; green tea with ginkgo and blackcurrant ^^

Mexican vege soup

Posting something here always makes me so happy, and I feel bad that recently I have been too busy with other things. And when life gets busy you basically end up eating the boring stuff that you just happen to have in the kitchen - and tons of chocolate and unhealthy snacks. No pride in posting them :)

On Sunday I made this mexican vege soup, the recipe is from the Finnish Pirkka magazine, that is.. well. no high class cooking mag, I can quarantee to all you non-Finnish readers :D But this soup was healthy, easy and cheap to make. Brilliant everyday food.

Mexican vege soup

1 onion
2 garlic gloves
2 big carrots
2 sweet peppers
1 stalk of celery
a can of crushed tomatoes
a can of chili beans
some oil
1 litre vege broth

Heat the veggies a while on a frying pan. Mix with vege broth and tomatoes. Add the beans last.

A million dollar tip; make the soup in advance. I mean, just do it and leave it to cool down. Then heat it the next day to eat it. Tastes a million times better! And I'm pretty sure that the third heating reeeally does the trick, because today this soup (with fresh bread) was like a little peace of heaven on earth. On a cold day, tired after a day of work. Mmmm... ^^

Extra tip; add some Tabasco ;)

Hamburgers!!

Since my teenage years, I've never eaten a burger in a fast food restaurant. Seriously. Well, I did eat once a fish burger in Sweden, but that was like 10 years ago. I just don't find aaaaanything appealing in such a burger. Neither do I like fries. And I don't drink coke. So.

But then there are self made burgers :) So good! Self made rolls, soya steaks, cheese, egg, onion, lettuce, pickles, ketchup and mustard. Brilliant Monday food :)

Spring salad

I'll call this a spring salad, since in my heart it is already spring and outside it's snowing like we were living in a shaking powdered sugar can! This could also be called "moving out salad" since I'm trying to empty my cupboards as much as possible before moving out. It's totally lovely, how these accidential foods can be so surprizingly good!

Spring salad

Avocado
Lime (juice)
Chick peas
Bean sprouts, bambu sprouts, chili (mixed in a can)
Salt and pepper

Raw key lime pie

I'm in-between homes and last night was surely the last friends' evening in this home. I baked some lovely rolls and this (ugly) raw key lime pie. I found various recipes online, but ended up trying Katja's version. Made it a bit bigger, since we are quite many here to eat it :)

The appearance could have been better. A lot. I blame the organic vanilla extract that I used, that was dark brown. Hence, the entire frosting became sort of.. ugly color. Aaaaand the filling was way too soft to even do the frosting properly! But despite all - everyone enjoyed this pie. Even my very dear, but very raw-food-suspicious friend liked it! Actually she even took more! Whohooaa :)

Raw key lime pie

Crust
2 dl almonds (soaked)
0,75 dl sunflower seeds (soaked)
2 dl dates (soaked)
1,5 tbsp lucuma
2 tbsp coconut flakes
1,5 tsp vanilla

Filling
3 avocados
4 limes (juice)
1 lime peel (grated)
1,5 dl honey
1,5 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp lucuma

Frosting
1,5 dl cashews (soaked)
0,75 dl coconut oil
1,5 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp lucuma
water

Blend the crust stuff. Into the cake mold. Blend the filling stuff. On the crust. Blend the frosting stuff. On the top. Done. 

Macaroni casserole awards winner

My boyfriend makes THE BEST makaroonilaatikko - macaroni casserole!! He's away celebrating his friend's baby and I'm left home with this <3 I'm not completely aware of the secret recipe, but it has tons of spices and cheese, some basil and.. soya of course (instead of meat) and.. lots of love, I suppose :)

Raw pecan liquorice fudge

Hi!! It has been aaaaages! Been away from this blog really for like decades, but it was nice to see, that there are still some visitors here. Hooray! Foodie love is not dead. It was just.. hibernating :)

I've had this massive "candy-sugar-muffins-chocolate-cake" period that I just seem to be unable to stop. So, now, for real, if the sweet-eating doesn't stop - it can continue! :) Let's just make a slight move into the more healthy variations. The raw variations.

This super simple recipe caught my eye in Saara's blog. Saara Aalto is an amazing, beautiful Finnish singer/songwriter talent, and also a friend of mine.

Raw pecan liquorice fudge
♥ pecans (grinded)
♥ liquorice root (grinded)
♥ honey (lots of it ^^)

Making sweets doesn't get any easier! Although, you might wanna make the paste smoother if you prefer a more fudge-like-texture.

Have a happy winter evening all ♥

Raw salted pecan pie

This pie was such a hit. We ate it until the last crumb. And after that I basically licked the plate. And it was so easy to make as well!

The base:
1 cup dates
1/2 cup pecan nuts
1/2 cup almonds

The caramel:
2 tbsp coconut oil
2 tbsp raw nut butter (I used un-raw peanut butter)
2 tbsp lucuma powder
2 tbsp agave syrup
1/2 tsp sea salt

On top:
1/4 cup pecan nuts (chopped)
sprinkle sea salt

For the crust, mix the almonds and pecans in a food processor until finely chopped. Add the dates and process until done. Press the mixture on a serving plate or a cake tin lined with baking paper / cling film. Put into the freezer to cool and wait.

Make the caramel by melting the coconut oil in water bath and add other ingredients. Let it firm a bit before applying on top of the cake. Add the pecan bits and some sea salt.


The recipe is from Keeping Healthy Getting Stylish -blog.

Chocolate salad for breakfast

What?
Did you say salad for breakfast? No, wait.. did you say "chocolate salad"?

Yes. I couldn't resist on trying this super strange and funny looking salad for a breakie today. I think that in the future I'll have my choco mousse as a choco mousse and salad as a salad, but in all it's oddness this was well worth trying out. The recipe is from Choosing Raw -blog. I realized (too late) that all the sauce was probably not meant for a single portion, hehe. So I got more than enough of a chocolate kick :)

Gyozas and mango pomelo salad

After a week filled with traditional eatings and tons of chocolate, these gyozas and the mango pomelo salad tasted just heavenly. My boyfriend is a real talent when it comes to asian food. These gyozas (or fried dumblings) were made following Jamie Oliver's recipe. Only the minced meat was replaced with soya. Me no eat meat. When eating, the gyozas are dipped in a sauce, that is a mixture of soya sauce and sesame oil. You can also use rice vinegar in it.

The salad was done according to the book, published by the best asian restaurant in Finland (at least in my opinion) - Farang. Hahah, I wrote here "nipple knowledge" because this.. detail knowledge is in Finnish called "nippelitieto" :D Oh well, yes, just for your knowledge; farang is thai and it means "foreigner". The restaurant Farang opened a sister restaurant this spring, called Gaijin. And gaijin, also means "foreigner" - in japanese :)

Gyozas filled with soya, spring onion, garlic, ginger, cabbage

Green mango, pomelo, mint, chili, roasted peanuts, ginger and nahm jim sauce

Raw chocolate balls

I have been enjoying the freedom to eat what I feel like SO much after the raw two weeks. To be completely honest, I haven't even had any green smoothies or salads. Instead, we made the smashed potatoes, soya balls and lingonberry jam on Friday and.. I forgot to take a photo! It was soooooooooo gooooooood! Also, we made super good green curry yesterday and again.. no foto! I suck. I know.

Today I made these raw chocolate balls for Tuesday when I have the biggest happiness to get my dear friend back from Australia for Christmas. I have missed her so much! We are having a little glögi, pipari and torttu evening. And then it's only one more day at work before the long waited Christmas holiday! Yey!

Raw chocolate balls
1 dl raisins
1,5 dl almond flour
6-7 dates (soaked)
4-6 tbsp raw cocoa powder
1 tbsp honey
touch of salt
1 tbsp psyllium fiber
1 tsp vanilla
1 tps cinnamon
1 tbsp lucuma and tocotrienolis

Blend everything and make cute balls. Roll the balls finally in cocoa powder and palm sugar ( like I did here) or in coconut flakes. I used (too much) water blending the raisins and dates, which resulted in the final "dough" being waaaaay too wet. I ended up adding more and more and.. more and more the flours. The end result was pretty ok and I managed to cover up the muddy outlook nicely with the final powdering.

The recipe is from Kaunis päivä tänään -blog. Arigato!

Healthy snacks busted

It's disturbing to see how much products are being sold with a "healthy" image. Probably the most popular are the fat-free yogurts that are stuffed with sugar. One bad tackled, one bad (worse) replacing. Today I was in the city and bought some "healthy" snacks from a supermarket. For the first time I bent down to see the inci-list of the yogurt covered stuff. Yogurt covered pineapple - how guilty does that sound? Not much.

But the truth is, that the only yogurt you can find from the list, is a flavoring! And the main ingredient is sugar. Along with various E-codes. I'm not saying these are bad bad monsters that will destroy your health, hehe, no. Just pointing out, that don't be blind on what marketers try to make us believe. Keep your eyes open, read the inci-lists and make your own judgements.

Raw ginger bread balls

Raw ginger bread balls
Dates (dried, soaked)
Almond flour
Hazelnut flour
Honey
Ginger bread seasoning
Vanilla

Blend everything until smooth and roll the balls in almond crunch.
Perfect, healthier alternative to the yummy real ones. Both great :)

Raw challenge day fourteen - that's it!

Two weeks accomplished. Now give me that green curry, soya"meat"balls and rice porridge!!! :)

Seriously speaking, what's up next? I'm thinking about keeping one huge salad on my menu at least once a day. Also, the green smoothies and raw porridges will certainly be often on my breakfast menu. I still have the same no-no's: meat, coffein, getting drunk :) They make me feel instantly bad and/or are a risk to my health. Also trying to keep the intake of white flour and sugar reasonable. I mean, saying "no" to a warm cinnamon bun would be just stupid. With all the sweets in general, I'll probably be doing more raw than baked in the future. It's a small change you can easily do, that benefits your health.

Today's "farewell dinner" was amazing! It must be partly habituation to the raw, but the cheese sauce on this pasta tasted do cheesy, you cannot imagine! Although the raw two weeks are now ending, I know this is going to be my lunch tomorrow.

And yes, a big portion of smashed potatoes, soyaballs and lingonberry jam in the evening :)

Pasta with cheese sauce


Pasta: 
Slice zucchini into thin slices (cheese slicer is a good help)
blend with one tablespoon of coconut flour

Cheese sauce: 
1 dl cashews (soak for 1-2 hrs)
quality salt
black pepper
1 tbsp soya sauce / tamari
1 tbsp lemon juice
(1 tsp lemon zest)
1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
(thyme)
water (not the soaking water of cashews)

Blend it into the most delicious pasta sauce! I didn't have lemon, so I used half a lime instead. Worked just fine!


Last, but not least, a big thank you to Katja of Moments-blog, for handing out all these recipes!

Raw challenge day thirteen

You know those days when you are feeling tired, the darkness is bringing you down and you just instinctually turn to something good to eat. And there's nothing wrong with that (occasionally)! Turns out, even on a raw diet, with a little bit of imagination, you can satisfy your sweet tooth easily with raw chocolate, dried plums and like.. mixing apple, maple syrup and peanut butter. Way too good. So, not the healthiest day, but at least better than a pizza and a bowl of Ben&Jerry's! This being said in all respect and love to BJ. 

Ok, pretty much NOT interesting information. Actually, I just wanted to come here to say thank you for all you kind people, who have been reading this blog and commenting to me on these topics. It feels so great to deliver some ideas and inspiration! I will not be posting on daily basis from this challenge forward, but I certainly hope to keep you reading :)

Today's dinner was stuffed mushrooms with salad. It's a small portion - the lines above explain pretty good why I wasn't too hungry :) The recipe was fantastic, however.

Recipes from Raw Food for Dummies by Katja/Moments-blog

Raw challenge day twelve - papaya!

Papaya salad

spinach
papaya
avocado
coconut flakes
salt
black pepper

dressing:
peanut butter
sesame oil
chili
lime juice
olive oil

I think this will rate quite high on my list of lunch salads. So simple and so tasty! Two weeks have almost passed and I'm having bit of a mixed feelings. Mixed, but positive. This two week challenge has definitely done good to my digestion, since it's working better than in years. I've also found some new food favorites, that will definitely be on the menu in the future.

Also, I've noticed, that it is possible, that a smaller amount of a sweet thing is enough. One evening, I ate about 1/4 of a chocolate bar which I assumed to be 200g, but no, it was actually only 100g! So I ate like 25g and was totally satisfied. Weird. Also today, we went into this cutest cafe with my boyfriend and I had two bites of his cinnamon bun. Normally, two bites would have gotten me only to order a bun of my own, but not this time. Totally happy with two bites. How odd! For sure this'll change pretty soon, haha.

Then again, I haven't been so punctual following the plan (as you probably already figured out from the previous paragraph..), so for sure I did not get the full effect. But little's better than nothing :) Two more days to go!

Raw lasanga - boy, I'm in love!!

When I still ate meat (about seven years ago), my favorite food in the entire world was lasagna. So, in addition to the risotto the other day, I was a bit suspicious with this one. But boy did this knock me off my feet!! By far the best raw food I have ever tasted! My boyfriend also loved it. The taste is so amazing, you totally forget you are eating raw food. You are just in lasagna heaven. Ok, maybe that's enough :) I'll let now the pics speak for themselves. But please, try this one out!

The recipe is in Katja's blog in the Raw Food for Dummies section. It's in Finnish, but I'm happy to translate it in English/Swedish if someone asks for it.

Raw challenge day eleven

Didn't have a pear this morning. Used banana instead. Also didn't feel like having a smoothie - so I used a bit less water. And found the best breakfast porridge! Ok, one of them. All have been so yummy!

Lovely morning
a handful of spinach
two handfuls of lingonberries
one banana
2-3 dried figs (soaked)
2-3 dried dates (soaked)
dried acai berries (soaked)

Maybe my head is spinning, but for me this tasted pretty chocolatey :) Added some mulberries on top. And here you have my lunch salad. Note the honey falling down, hehe. I have such an eager and talented photographer, who's unfortunately not always present when taking these pics (as you can see the difference in this post). Hope you guys don't mind!

Raw challenge day ten

Today has been like 4/5 raw. We had a team breakfast at work today and I didn't wanna make any fuss with my "yeah guys, sorry, I only eat leaves and water", so I had a normal breakfast with them. The salmon rye bread tasted excellent! And yeah, my boyfriend makes fun of my smoothies, saying I'm having "leaves and water" :)

I have been feeling super well since the first three-four nauseous days. I've also been eating some natural yogurt, that is not raw, but obviously does the trick. I've also had quite a lot of raw chocolate and other little raw snacks. This snack was not so little, hehe, but it was super good. The orange chocolate cake (stays excellent in the freezer, and, hehe, yeah I ate it half frozen) and an apple. And maple syrup. With ginger tea (ginger, honey, lemon). Delissssshhhh!