Category Archives: Food & Drink

Anything worth eating is worth mentioning.

Snickers cupcakes

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Yesterday I descided to try out a new ingredient, Bebogeen. My friend from stoca.nl pointed this product out to me. This product is an excellent substitute for dulce de leche in other recipes.

I have been craving a cupcake that has that lovely combination of savory peanuts and chocolate, brought together by the warmth of caramel. This cupcake definately hits that spot!

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The sauce is devine by the way, it is easy to make and so glossy! It would be great over vanilla ice cream, topped with some peanuts.

Snickers cupcakes (12 pcs)

  • 100 gr butter
  • 60 gr bebogeen ( or dulce de leche)
  • 100 gr sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 150 gr flour
  • 70 gr pure chocolate, chips or in smallish chunks
  • 70 gr (salted) peanuts
  • Sauce:
    • 40 gr butter
    • 40 gr bebogeen
    • 70 gr pure chocolate
  • Cupcake tin and 12 cupcake liners

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  1. Preheat your oven to 160 degrees C.
  2. Mix your butter, bebogeen, sugar, salt and vanilla essence until well combined.
  3. One by one, add your eggs. Wait till each egg is incorporated before adding the next one.
  4. Gently fold in your flour, chocolate chips and peanuts.
  5. Devide your cupcake mix into your cupcakeliners, I like to use an ice cream scoop for this job.
  6. Bake your cupcakes in the centre of your oven for 25 minutes or untill the centre is warm.
  7. Let your cupcakes cool while you prepare the sauce.
  8. In a pan, melt the butter and bebogeen on a low heat. Keep stirring
  9. When the butter and bebogeen are combined, turn off your heat and immidiately add your chocolate.
  10. While gently stirring, your chocolate will melt and you will greate a glossy sauce for on your cupcakes. It will not set and become hard, making it an extra delicious cupcake topping.
  11. You could decorate your cupcakes with hearts, chocolate chips or even chunky seasalt.

Find more baking inspiration here!

Chickpea stew

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This middle eastern inspired dish is a great heart warming dish. It is full of spice, slightly sweet and vegetarian. For our family it ticked all the boxes. We liked having this stew with home made flat breads and zingy yoghurt sauce.

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This stew tastes the best when prepared a day in advance, I make the sauce and bread dough in advance too. This makes this an easy and festive meal to make when we have people over. Thanks to its sweetness, my son loves this dish too.

Regarding the spice mix, you could just use to table spoons of raz el hanout instead of this complicated mix. Alternatively you could just double the teaspoons of various spices and leave out the Raz el Hanout. Raz el Hanout is an Arabic spice mix which is great for making Middle Eastern stews, I like to think of it as the cousin of curry powder.

Chickpea stew (4 portions)

  • Spice mix:
    • 1 tsp spicy smoked paprika
    • 1 tsp turmeric
    • 1 tsp thyme
    • 1 tsp ground koriander
    • 1 tsp fennel seeds
    • 1 tsp cinamon
    • 1 tbsp raz el hanout
  • 2 large onions, roughly chopped
  • 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
  • 400 gr (tinned) chickpea’s
  • 400 gr (tinned) diced tomatoes
  • 10 dried apricots, roughly chopped
  • Optional for serving: a handful of shopped fresh koriander
  1. Fry your onions and garlics untill soft and light brown. Take your time for this step, it adds lots of flavor.
  2. Add the spice mix. Stir and fry this for a few minutes.
  3. Add the rest of the ingredients.
  4. Let this mix come to a boil. Let it simmer on a low heat for an hour or more.
  5. Stir your stew regulaly. If needed, add some water to prevent it from sticking.
  6. Season to taste.

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You can keep this spicy stew for up to for 4 days in an airtight container in your fridge. Warm it up in your microwave or in a pan while stirring on low heat.

I like to serve this stew with some flat bread, yoghurt garlic sauce and a salad of lettuce, tomatoe, onion, feta, nigella seeds, olive oil and lemon juice.

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Spelt flat bread

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These flat breads are the perfect side dish with a curry or a spicy stew. They are also great for dipping in a yoghurt sauce or with a salad. They have a crunchy outside and a soft, velvety and fluffy inside. Perfect for soaking up a sauce. I use spelt flour because I like the flavor it adds, but regular flour will also do.

I like to make the dough one day ahead, this way I can bake it off the next day. The flat breads keep well, keep them in a plastic bag at room temperature. You can reheat them in the oven if you wish.

It can be real fun to let your children help you flatten out the dough!

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Spelt flat bread (6 pcs)

  • 350 gr (white) spelt flour
  • 7 gr dried yeast
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 100 ml plain yoghurt
  • 100 ml water
  • 1 tsp salt
  • Optional: 1 tbsp nigella seeds, for flavor
  • For frying: 1 tbsp sunflower oil
  1. Combine all ingredients in de bowl. Knead your dough for about 10 minutes. Place in a bowl and cover with cling film.
  2. Let your dough proof for an hour at room temperature or in your fridge for up to 24 hours.
  3. Tip your dough onto a flowered surface, roll it into a sausage shape and cut it in 6 even pieces.
  4. Flatten out each ball into an oval shape, about 3 mm thick.
  5. Heat up a large frying pan with a small amount of the oil.
  6. Fry your bread in the pan, I can fit to flat breads in one pan. The bread will puff up and brown on one side.
  7. When one side is warm, lower your heat to medium and wait till this side is brown too.
  8. You can keep your flat breads warm in the oven or eat them right away!

Yoghurt garlic sauce

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  • 3 large tbsp yoghurt
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
  • 1 tsp of dried dill and/or 1tsp of dried mint
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • Optional: handfull of freshly chopped koriander, mint and/or parsley
  1. Mix to combine.

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Best when prepared one day in advance, so the flavors ar well combined.

Keeps up to 3 days in the fridge.

Tastes great with flat bread, curries, chick pea stew and chips.

Homemade burgers

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Nothing beats a good home made burger. You can pick the best meat and spice it just the way you like it. The same goes for all the other components, when you make burgers at home, get the best ingredients your money can buy. Burgers are actually a very honest recipe, where all the individual ingredients should shine.

Another advantage with making burgers at home is that it is good family fun. I like to make a platter with all possible toppings and sauces, and everyone builds their own favorite burger.

For all you busy parents out there: you can make your patties in a day in advance and keep them in your fridge. You can even prepare all the veg, and store these in an air tight container or a ziplock bag. When you want to eat your burgers all you still need to do is fry the patties.

Burger

Burgers ( for 4 burgers)

  • Patties:
    • 500 gr. minced beef
    • 1 tsp HP sauce
    • Salt & pepper to taste
    • 1 tbsp oregano
    • Optional: 1 tsp of paprika
  • 4 burger buns
  • Slices of good cheese, cheddar or dutch cheese will do
  • Ketchup and mustard to taste
  • Onion, sliced in rings
  • Tomatoslices
  • Crunchy salad leaves
  1. Combine the pattie ingredients in a bowl and mix gently with your hands. As this is beef, I recommend tasting to test if your have seasoned it properly.
  2. Devide the mixture into 4 portions and mould these into burger patties. They should be less than 1 cm thick and match the size of your buns.
  3. Now you can let your burgers rest in the fridge for 15 minutes to 24 hours. I like to coat my patties with a thin layer of oil to prevent them sticking to the plate. I cover the plate with cling film.
  4. When your table is set and your side dishes are ready, fry your burgers in a pan or griddle on high heat. Thanks to the layer of oil, you don’t have to add oil to your pan.
  5. You can test how well done your burger is by pressing it in the centre, when it is more firm, it’s more cooked. I recommend experimenting a little here and find out what your favorite cooking time is.

We like having oven baked chips with our burgers.

Need a good vegetarian alternative? My beetroot burgers taste just as good on a burger bun.

Breadsticks

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This iBreadstick3s the perfect thing for dinner parties. It makes a great side dish with starters like soup or salad. It is also a great way to finish pastry leftovers.

I like to serve bread sticks in a pretty glass, which makes them a decorative item as well.

You could also serve these tasty sticks with a good dip.

To make the bread sticks, simply brush strips of puff pastry with egg, then sprinkle with pepper, salt and any toppings you like, such as grated cheese, seeds and spices such as paprika, thyme or rosemary.

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Read more soup recipes or salad inspiration.

Chicken fingers

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ChicknChipsIn our family, we love making our own fast food. Our favorites include hamburgers and chicken fingers. This is an easy way to make the most tender chicken breast you will ever taste!

Chicken fingers (2-3 portions)

  • 2 chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch wide, long strips
  • Chicken marinade
    • 1,5 cups of buttermilk (or watered down yoghurt)
    • 1 tsp sweet paprika
    • 1 tsp oregano
    • salt & pepper to taste
    • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  •  Crust:
    • 200 grams bread crumbs
    • 1 tsp sweet paprika
    • 1 tsp oregano
    • 1 tbsp sea salt
    • 1 tsp pepper
  • 200 ml of sunflower oil for shallow frying
  • Dip:
    • 1 cup of sweet chili sauce
    • handful of koriander, finely chopped

ChickenFingers

  1. Cut your chicken, and mix with the marinade ingredients. Marinade the chicken for 30 minutes to 24 hours in the fridge.
  2. Combine ingredients for the crust.
  3. Prepare your chicken fingers:
    • Shake each finger off.
    • Place in your crust mix, you will find the buttermilk acts as the perfect glue for the crust.
  4. Warm up your oil. Preheat your oven to 220 degrees C (the perfect temperature for making chips in your oven!).
  5. In small batches, fry your chicken fingers, turn the chicken fingers after they have brown on one side. Take your fish fingers out of the oil, in a dish in the oven.
  6. Combine the ingredients for the dip.

Read more chicken inspiration, and the recipe for chips.

Fabulous five: oven dishes

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I love making oven dishes for my family. Here are some of the reasons why:

  • They fit in my busy schedule. You can often assemble the dish in advance, store it in your fridge or freezer, and warm and crisp it up in the oven when you want to eat it. This means I often make multiple oven dishes in the weekend which can be warmed up after a busy day in the office.
  • They are healthy. For my oven dishes I use lots of fresh veg and homemade sauces. All I do is warm the ingredients up. Oven baking a dish filled with fresh ingredient, in my mind, is a lot better than a microwaving or frying instant meals.
  • They are easy to prepare. Once your oven dish has been made, any family member that knows how the oven works can prepare dinner. While the dish cooks in the oven, we have time to relax or play, or the rest of the family can drive home from work.

These are our family favorites:

  1. Traditional lasagna with bolognese sauce and a bechamel and crusty top
  2. Moussaka – our tasty vegetarian version
  3. Spinache lasagnespinach
  4. Gnocchi bake
  5. Shepards pie – I like using leftovers from a stew and covering this with a layer of mashed potatoes.

 

Spinach, egg and mushroom lasagne

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This one of those vegetarian dishes which my family just loves. It is so full of flavour and different textures that everybody feels satisfied after eating this green lasagne.

spinach2Unlike a traditional lasagne, there is no need for endless simmering to create a rich sauce. This sauce is made by simply mixing the right ingredients. You might never have tried using egg in a lasagne before, but I can promise you it is a perfect match with the ingredients in this dish. It also helps you get you protein intake for the day.

Like an oven bake, I like to make this dish a day or two in advance. This helps me stay organised with our busy schedules.

If you are an avid meat lover you could easily add bacon cubes or pancetta to the mushroom mix.

Spinach, egg and mushroom lasagne (3 portions)

  • 300 grams of spinach (sliced and frozen, or stir fried and finely sliced)
  • 250 grams of (button) mushrooms
  • 1 onion, finely sliced
  • 1 clove of garlic, finely sliced
  • 500 grams of “kwark” (replace with cottage cheese and/or creme fraiche)
  • 120 grams of grated cheese
  • 3 eggs, hardboiled
  • lasagne sheets, about 150 grams
  • oven dish of 25 by 35 cm, or a similar size

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  1. Fry your onions, mushrooms and garlic until brown and soft.
  2. In a mixing bowl, combine the spinach, mushroom mix, half of the “kwark” and half of the cheese.
  3. Season the filling with salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg.
  4. Now you are ready to make your layers:
  5. A layer of filling, topped with lasagne sheets.
  6. Top the sheets with more filling and your sliced egg. Season your egg and top with lasagne sheets.
  7. Another layer of filling, topped with lasagne sheets.
  8. For your final layer. Mix half of the leftover cheese with your kwark and season. Spread this mix over the lasagne sheets.
  9. Top your bake of with a sprinkling of grated cheese.
  10. Now your lasagne is ready for the oven, or for your fridge.
  11. Bake in the oven at 220 degrees C for 30 minutes.

Find my favorite oven bakes here.

Winter omelet

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We love having curly kale in the winter. This healthy veg is full of flavor and nutrients. The other day I had some leftovers, which inspired me to create a tasty lunch. This omelet tastes great warm or cold. Making it an easy treat to bring for your worklunch as well.Omelet2

When I finished cooking this dish, I was worried that this healthy creation would have no flavor. However, the strong flavors of the kale, artishoke and feta come together beautifully. It is also very filling, making it easier for me to stick to my new years resolutions. My colleagues had a taste, and insisted I share the recipe, luckily it is surprisingly easy!

Winter omelet (2 – 3 portions)

  • 150 grams of finely sliced curly kale (could be replaced with cavolo nero or spinach)
  • 200 grams of (tinned) artishoke hearts, in wedges
  • 100 grams of feta
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tbsp soft curd cheese, known as “kwark” in Holland
  • 1 tbsp of oil for frying

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  1. Blanch your kale for one minute in boiling water.
  2. Drain and cool your kale.
  3. Mix the kale, eggs and soft curd cheese and season to taste.
  4. Heat a frying pan and add your oil. Get your pan as hot as possible.
  5. Add your mix and lower the heat right away.
  6. Spead the artishoke pieces over your omelet and push them in gently.
  7. Crumble your feta over your omelet and push in gently as well.
  8. Cover and fry on a low heat until your egg has set.

Enjoy your omelet with a salad and a glass of white wine!

Read all my recipes here!