Spicy lentils, grilled vegetables with tahini-tarragon dip!

Eating plant based always makes me feel good, but sometimes it makes me feel excellent! Especially when I start experimenting with new combinations and they turn out be a smashingly tasty match! This food is a perfect example of that. Grilled pumpkin, parsnip and green bell pepper seasoned with nothing but some sea salt, black…

Spicy tower of pumpkin and beetroot

As much as I am convinced I am doing the right thing by “showing” people how delicious and easy plantbased food can be, sometimes this little voice in the back of my mind tells me that it is all very insignificant. Obviously that is a very discouraging thought and it leaves me completely uninspired from…

Black rice, pumpkin with a orange-tahin dressing

Don’t you just love pumpkin? I do, in all its forms, baked, roasted, cooked, raw even, in soup etcetera, etcetera. And to think that a couple of years ago I did not even know that you could actually eat pumpkin! I thought that they just served decoration purposes. The fact that I did not know…

Nigella seed and cardemom spiced pumpkin with lemon-curry leaves rice

So, as promised earlier, this is what I served for main course for my friends birthday dinner. Pumpkin roasted in the oven spiced with nigella seed, cardamom and lots of other delicious spices. (thanks to Ottolenghi) What a terrific combination of flavors. An absolute treat! I served it with rice prepared with dried lime, lemon…

Oven roasted Chestnuts and Brussels sprouts, a real holiday treat!

November is well on its way and for many people around the globe that means the holiday season will soon begin. The holidays being of course Christmas, but preceded by Thanksgiving in the US and for instance Sinterklaas (5th of December) in the Netherlands, which these days is not just a day for presents but…

Vegetable curry in the desert.

One of the things we undertook while being in Israel was a Jeep trip in the Negev desert. This means driving around in the desert with a group of people/friends who share their love for their country and for 4×4 vehicles. Every now and then you stop and take a closer look to ruins of…

Mexican Cauliflower and Blackbeans

Ever since the kids returned to school at the end of August, live has been very hectic. One of the main reasons that I did not meet my goal of posting at least three times a week. However, the fact that I manage to post only once a week does not mean at all that…

Falafel of Hazelnuts, chickpeas and favabeans

When you are a parent of teenagers, like I am, it can be a challenge sometimes to prepare a family dinner. Not only does each and every one of them prefer different kinds of food, they also have their own activities to go to. Like soccer practice, swimming practice, theater class, jobs etc. Usually those…

Grilled fennel and chicory salad with roasted figs

In my childhood we used to eat dried figs as candy, my mother absolutely loved them and I remember we devoured several packages a week. I do not recall eating fresh figs in those days. In fact I think I did not even know what a fresh fig looked like. And I did not particularly…

Braised fennel with garlic, capers and olives sauce

I found this recipe in one of Ottolenghi’s cookbooks (Plenty more) and although it is a long list of ingredients and preparation instructions, I decided to give it a go. It was definitely well worth the effort and the amount of work was not at all to bad or of-putting. In fact I had enough…

Grilled eggplant, roasted vegetables and Puy lentils

I have a friend from the Middle East who came to stay with us for a few days, after she had visited relatives in the UK. To show her how happy we are that she came to stay with us I prepared her this lovely meal of grilled eggplant, roasted vegetables and Puy lentils. A…

Pearl couscous with vegetable tajine

I have been searching for pearl couscous for at least four months and finally last Saturday I walked into this tiny shop with al kinds of delicacies. There it was, a whole jar of pearl couscous. To tell you the truth I did not even know exactly what it was. I thought it was some…

Puy lentils with sticky dates

Recently I prepared Portobello mushrooms stuffed with a sticky dates mixture. I enjoyed that so much that I wanted to try and mix the sticky dates with something else. I figured Puy lentils would make a good combination and it did! Sticky dates of course is very sweet and the lentils kind of absorb that…