Potato Rolls

I usually eat healthily, although this photograph paints a different picture. I do on occasions, have a burger and fries. But even then, everything is homemade and the fries are baked. I also eat a huge-five-portion-fruit/veg salad with this meal. The total of this meal was 800 calories, not bad going considering most of my dinners are around 700 calories.

Dark Chocolate & Roasted Hazelnut Spread

We used to love Nutella. So much so, that one Christmas, my brother-in-law bought us a humungous jar (3 kg, 6.6 lb) from Luxembourg. Let’s say that jar didn’t last very long!

When we relocated, we ceased to consume it. The Nutella available in the Americas contain modified palm oil, whereas the European variant contains vegetable oil. I would have liked to say that the European stuff is better, but sadly, it’s not. I was blissfully ignorant of the ingredients at the time. All variants of Nutella, regardless of which country it’s sold in, contains soy lecithin and artificial vanillin - two ingredients that I choose not to eat. Read about soy lecithin and vanillin in my nitty gritty pages.

Tofu "Cream" - Yofu

Since we've developed dairy allergies, I’ve really missed a good creamy yoghurt. Any dairy-alternative yoghurt usually has ingredients that I choose to avoid and/or they taste absolutely disgusting.

If you’re not offended by the slight beany flavor from tofu, it is a good dairy-free alternative to yoghurt. It’s great on its own, with granola, fresh fruit and to spread on cakes. I’ve also swirled chopped tinned apricots/apricot compote through it to make a fruity-yogurty dessert, yoghurt-tofu, yofu.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

Cupcakes weren’t called cupcakes when I was growing up, they were called fairy cakes. Fairy cakes in those days were nothing special – they were usually served at a child’s birthday party, and that was it.

Nowadays, cupcakes and their availability have not only been spreading throughout the US but they have infiltrated many markets Worldwide. It’s not as if cupcakes are new, it’s the way that they’re beautifully decorated, the flavor combinations and being marketed more at adults that make them popular.

Cuban Bread

I’ve been slowly working my way through "Bernhard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads". Today it was “Cuban Bread”. Don’t even ask me why it’s called “Cuban”, because it has exactly the same ingredients as a French bread – flour, yeast, salt, water and a bit of sugar.

This bread is super-easy. I made it the evening before using my stand mixer, stuck it in the fridge for a cold prove, then in the morning, punched it down and shaped it, left it for 1 hour and then started to bake it.

Sweet Potato & Eggplant Green Coconut Curry

This is one of those vegetarian dinners that are scheduled in once or twice a week for us.

It’s highly nutritious, delicious and simple. The spiciness of the green curry is tamed by the sweetness from the sweet potato (yams) and the creaminess of the coconut milk.

Apricot Compote

Last year, Trader Joe’s did wonderful offers on fruit, such as 3 lbs of organic cherries for $5.99 and a dozen of organic apricots for $3.99. I very rarely buy my produce from Trader Joe’s, because their quality isn’t on par with PCC. But these were steals!

The cherries didn’t last long in our house, but the apricots were a little tart, so I let them ripen on the counter top. In a day, some of them were starting to go bad at the stem, so I decided to make a batch of apricot compote.

Easy Moist Chocolate Cake with Dark Chocolate Sauce

I baked this moist chocolate cake with dark chocolate sauce for J’s birthday. The cake itself is dairy-free and was pretty damn delicious on its own, although it doesn’t taste as chocolately as it looks. When serving this cake with the warmed chocolate sauce (not dairy-free), it's pretty close to perfect. The sauce does set, so you could theoretically throw it on top of the cake and allow it to set before devouring.

Almond & Date Tarts

These tarts are sure to impress. They are simply divine. The frangipane goes wonderfully well with the buttery crust and the treacle-like sweetness from the dates. They are however, extremely high in calories and fat – so I keep the recipe only for special occasions.

They’re easy to make and if you’re stuck for time or a little daunted by making your own sweet-crust pastry, use the store-bought short-crust pastry variety… just promise me not to buy the stuff with nasties in it.

Affogato

One of my favorite drinks/desserts is an affogato. I was only first introduced to this Italian delight in Cyprus five years ago. It couldn’t be any more simple – it’s freshly brewed espresso and a good quality ice-cream. It’s extravagantly simple, yet amazingly delicious.

I love sipping the hot, freshly brewed smooth, dark espresso through the cool, thick layer of creamy vanilla ice-cream.

Vegan Chocolate Cheesecake

You’ve probably guessed that I’m a real sucker for desserts. However, moving to the US has really put a dampener on things – it drives me insane. Some days I just want to buy a dessert, without having to worry about my ill effects afterwards. If I’m lucky, I get bloated and diarrhea, if I’m unlucky I get a hives or mild anaphylaxis.

Sweet Potato, Carrot & Cumin Soup

Last year, I got hoodwinked into standing in for a friend, for a colleague’s business one evening. The role was to sell soups at the Farmer’s Market in Sammamish through Jerry Baxter’s company, Got Soup?

It was a really, really warm Spring day and I thought it was ludicrous trying to sell soup. It was in fact 950 ml (1 quart) of frozen soup that you take home and use for a quick meal. Each tub cost $10 a shot (at that moment in time). I think we sold close to 50 containers over a period of 2-3 hours!!! It’s a money making business, and all due respect goes to Jerry, who's finally doing what he always wanted to.

Roquefort Bread

Roquefort is not high on my list of favorite cheeses, but J loves it! To be honest, I’m not a blue cheese fan. It’s not that I cringe at the blue-green veined mold growth, but the flavor of the cheese is enough to make me hurl. Let’s just say blue cheese is an acquired taste.

I've been informed that Roquefort is like no other blue cheese - it’s creamier and richer than other blue cheeses, such as Stilton. I guess that I’ll just have to believe it, because I can't see myself sitting through a blue cheese tasting session – ugh!

Chicken Souvlaki

Oh how we love Greek food! I mean proper Greek food, the stuff you get whilst visiting Greece or Cyprus. Not the gyros plate that is ubiquitous to the US, which is sadly paraded about as if it's the only thing that comes from Greek cuisine.

We love all of their desserts, salads and their grilled meat/fish cooked Mediterranean style. Souvlaki is no different. I think I was first introduced to souvlaki in a Greek restaurant in London, and then later tried the real deal in Cyprus, mmm!

Winter & Summer Squash Pasta

This is one of our favorite vegetarian dishes. I can’t even remember where my inspiration came from for this recipe. Before I made this dish, I would never have made pasta with no base sauce.

You’ll need a really good mature (sharp) cheese to carry this recipe off, I use vintage Gouda. I also use fresh homemade pasta, but it works equally well with dry pasta. This dish has the combination of al-dente pasta, scattered with mature (sharp) cheese and toasted walnuts, which are highlighted by the sweetness from the winter squash and the savory notes from the summer squash, all tossed in the light lemon juice and olive oil dressing. It’s simply sublime!

Fat-Free Banana Bread

I quite fancy quick breads such as banana or pumpkin bread with a good cup of coffee. The only issue is that most of them are packed full of oil/fat. When you gently squeeze these specimens, you will get an oily residue left on your fingers.

Quick breads do not need to contain tons of oil/fat to taste good. Although this bread is called "fat-free", it's not entirely correct. I mean there's no added fat. Of course there's the natural fat in the walnuts. This recipe uses 100% whole-wheat flour, and a load of ripe bananas, that not only add a banana-ry essence, but also keeps the loaf moist.

Meat Burgers

I can’t believe that we used to eat such revolting burgers (patties) or “meat” cutlets. As kids, we used to think that having those Dalepak lamb grills, were such a treat – ugh. Now, that I’ve grown up, my tastes are more refined and I’m more educated with food and nutrition – there’s no way, I’ll go near those alien things again.

Meat & Rice Dolmades - Greek Stuffed Vine Leaves

On one of our first dates, J took me to a Turkish restaurant in London. At that time in my life, my only real experience with food was traditional Chinese. I was skeptical about almost everything that arrived at the table, dolmades was one of them.

The only Chinese, leaf-stuffed dish is lor mai gai - chicken and rice, steamed in a lotus leaf wrap. You don’t eat the leaf wrapper in this dish. I was so inexperienced with eating other Worldly cuisines, that I assumed you shouldn't eat the vine (grape) leaf around the dolmades. It makes me laugh thinking about it now... there was me scooping out the filling of the dolmades, as J watched on, making weird faces. It makes me laugh even harder, when I recall seeing the waiter's face, as he took away the plate.

All-Butter Puff Pastry

Yes, I know that this picture is pretty pathetic, but read on…

Puff pastry has been on my to-do list for so long. I’ve just not found the excuse to make it because I wouldn’t use it in everyday cooking. I rarely cook with puff-pastry, in fact the last time I did cook with it was probably around 2000. That was when I was a lot unhealthier. I’d buy Asda’s frozen puff pastry, roll it out, cut the pastry into squares, place a slice of mature (sharp) cheese diagonally, top it with a rasher of bacon, then folded the two corners of the square over the cheese/bacon filling and baked them. Now, I’d hate to think how much fat and calories was in each one of those pastries!

Thirty-Minute White Bread

There's nothing that quite compares to the aroma of freshly baked bread emanating from your own oven!

Today's recipe was "Thirty-Minute White Bread". It's a simple bread, especially if you have a kitchen machine that does all the kneading for you and takes less than 2 hours from start to finish. The “thirty-minute” in the name refers to the time required to prove the bread.

Carrot & Coriander Soup

Soup can be highly nutritious, filling and something to really look forward to on a cold Winter’s night.

Over the last decade or so, soup has had a lot of bad press from the amount of sodium they contain.

Homemade soups will always be far healthier than store-bought ones - you can control the amount of sodium you put in and add anything you’d like. The variation of soups you can make is only limited by your imagination.

Coconut Butter

Coconuts and coconut oil have had its fair share of bad press in the last few decades. It’s still a common misconception that the saturated fat in coconut oil raises cholesterol.

There are no scientific studies which have been published, that indicate the consumption of coconut oil increases blood cholesterol or leads to heart disease. There have however, been numerous reports [1-6] that have shown that coconut oil cannot be held responsible for the development of coronary heart disease. Other studies have pin-pointed populations that regularly consume coconuts, such as Polynesia and Sri Lanka and show that “dietary coconut oil does not lead to high serum cholesterol nor to high coronary heart disease mortality or morbidity" [7-9].

Fresh Fruit Cobbler

I love Summer! Not only because of the long warm days, but because of the fresh fruit available at that time of the year. I’m like a child excited at the window of a sweet (candy) shop, when I do my grocery shopping during Summer.

Last Summer, we made an effort to barbeque every weekend. For dessert, I’d usually make either a fruit cobbler or clafoutis.

Tomato & Rice Soup

This soup may sound a tad odd, but it’s barely any different from a minestrone soup minus the vegetables, and instead of pasta, there’s rice. It’s actually a pretty good soup. J had his wisdom teeth pulled and I had to find a way of feeding him enough fruit and vegetables, the easiest way was with soup.

I recall Nigella Lawson jabbering on about tomato & rice soup on one of her BBC series. I don’t remember the exact details, as she's a very slapdash cook, but the idea seemed pretty neat. Using the following recipe, and feeding 2 people, each serving gives 5 portions of fruit and 400 calories.

Prawn Dumplings

An excellent way of judging how good a dim sum restaurant is to try their har gow. You know… those translucent prawn (shrimp) dumplings that everyone is so fond of. If you’ve even been to yum cha, there’s no doubt that you’ve tried them. The quality of the har gow, is a pivotal point on whether the other dim sum items are going to be good or not. It takes many many years for a dim sum chef to master these dumplings, and if those are good, the other items are going to be excellent!

Cheese Sables

I made these cheese sables on Valentine’s Day and received the best compliment from J. He said “these taste just like my Uncle’s….” Now, this may not mean much to most people, but J’s uncle used to own a patisserie in the Netherlands for many many years.

These cheese sables are buttery, cheesy, crispy and delicate, suitable for general snacking, nibbles before dinner, or with an aperitif.

Pork & Cabbage Jiaozi

Jiaozi, gyoza, potstickers or in Cantonese, gow gee are all the same thing. They're an East Asian dumpling with a filling of minced (ground) meat and/or vegetables, which is encased in a thin, chewy skin.

The version I have made is with minced (ground) pork with Chinese leaf (napa cabbage). I have also made the recipe with chicken thighs, where I’ve home-minced (ground) it in a food processor. The resulting jiaozi are pretty good, and I often use them in a Szechuan noodle soup.

Brown Butter Blondies

We had guests over during the Winter Olympics. I had no idea of their eating habits, but had planned many of the meals in advance. We rarely have desserts on a day-to-day basis, so when we do have guests, it’s a real treat - blondies were on the menu.

Blondies are one of those things I never heard of until I moved to the US. Brownies yes, but blondies no. Blondies are apparently like brownies, but without the chocolate – I say, what’s the fun in that?

Succulent Steak & Gravy Pie

This savory pie is extremely indulgent for us to eat on an every-day basis, so I save it for special meals.

This steak pie is full of tender, succulent steak, surrounded by a thick and flavorsome (flavorful) gravy, which is encased in a rich and buttery pastry (crust). It’s a true delight!

Gluten-Free Vanilla & Strawberry Sponge Cake

This cake was a mish-mash of two recipes I've used before. It uses a modified version of the gluten-free chocolate cake and the tofu “cream” – yofu recipes, both of which are equally delicious. I decided to top the cake with a thin layer of strawberries, but was far too lazy to make a glaze for them because I was impatient and wanted to eat it.

The tofu "cream" and strawberries top this wonderfully light-mousse-like-sponge-cake really well. It's incredibly light, packed full of protein, and is gluten and dairy-free.

Avocado, Orange & Almond Salad

I’ve always been a little dubious about odd sounding salads. That was until I tried this one.


All of the ingredients alone are truly delicious, but when put together, you get an amazing burst of flavor and textures that’s indescribable.