green smoothie revisited

Normally I'm not that much into trends. I eat, wear and think what I consider to be the best. But sometimes, there is simply the challenge to try something new just because it sounds funny/nasty/groovy/geeky. This is where I and Green Smoothies come together. Last summer when I had to use HUGE amounts of organic fruit and veg, I tried different green smoothie recipes from a variety of vegan/health food websites, and they all turned out nasty. I have no clue why, but they all tasted like some strange viscous herbal infusion.
But this morning, again faced with piles of fresh fruit and veg from yesterday's organic action, I simply threw together what I had for a simple fruit smoothie and then spontaneously added some rocket. The result was STUNNING. AMAZING. YUMMERS!!!

Green Smoothie SPACE ROCKET
serves 2

1 big mellow apple
1 ripe banana
4 oranges or blood oranges (I took 2 each)
3 dried figs
1 Tbsp dried cranberries
1 little piece of fresh ginger (about 1x1 cm)
3 Tbsps soy yoghurt (optional)
2 big handful of fresh rocket
cress for decoration

Peel banana, orange and ginger. Cut all fresh fruit into big chunks and mix several times alongside with dried fruit. Wash rocket and add, mix again for a few times. Tadaaaah!

pepper jam

1 kg red bell peppers, finely chopped
5 yellow onions, finely chopped
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
5 red chillies, hot, finely sliced
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white wine vinegar
1/4cup rose wine
1 tsp salt
dash of cayenne pepper
olive oil

Sautee onions in olive oil in a big pot until slightly browned, add peppers, chillies and garlic and let cook for about 10-12 min. Be careful not to burn.
Add all other ingredients starting with vinegar and wine and let simmer until nicely thickened. Take away from stove and blend roughly with immersion blender (it's nice when there are some pieces left). Fill in preserving jars.

Eat together with Cheezly, bread, beans or anything you would eat with other chutneys. Serve with jacket potatoes, roasted vegetables, casseroles or pasta. Try also on top of a creamy mushroom soup or with freshly toasted sweet chestnuts.

magic seeds

When you're a plant lover or passionate gardener, you must take a look at this amazing plant seed mailorder site. Many of their seeds are organic and they sell a huge choice of very old almost unknown vegetable and fruit species. Sooooo tempting!
I wish I had a real garden and not only my three little window sills for a few herb and flower pots (and saying few, I mean FEW!).

www.magicgardenseeds.de

in my perfect dream garden, I would have...


1.ox heart carrots 2.kintoki carrot 3.red-white beetroot 4.tigernut 5.teltow turnips 6.parsnips 7.black radish 8.sea kale
9.pak choi 10.brussel sprouts 11.purslane 12.postilein salad 13.San Marzano tomato 14.green zebra tomato
15.black mexican corn 16.borlotti beans 17.butternut squash 18.siam squash 19.patisson 20.strawberry spinach
21.service berry 22.wild strawberries 23.burnet 24.orange thyme 25.thai basil 26.cilantro 27.mexican cinnamon basil
28.wild sunflower 29.wild sage 30.wolly foxglove 31.wild tulip 32.red echinacea 33.cosmos 34.angelica 35.sorb tree
36.wild cherry

Also absolutely worth a visit, especially if you live in Germany, Austria or Switzerland, is Baumgartner Baumschulen. They specialize in very old and rare fruit tree species and offer over 300 sorts of apple trees (and pears, plums, mirabells, qunices, apricots...) And their very names make you drool.

Don't disturb me now. I have to dream of my apple pie, pear chutney, apricot sauce, quince juice, herbal tea, root vegetable pot-au-feu, sun dried tomatoes, squash ragout, mixed berry icecream, roasted beets, bean soup and summer bouquets...

Terence Hill stir-fry

Mr P is ill. He needs some comforting food. So I made him a fast Terence Hill stir-fry to lift his spirits. He said it was the yummiest stuff he'd eaten in his whole life (I suppose he was still a bit febrile - but isn't he cute) :D

For your little Cowboy and you, you'll need:

1 1/2 cup canned crushed tomatoes
1/3 cup vegetable broth
1 cup crumbled tofu (I took this pizza stuff because it adds some extra flavour and it was the only thing I had at home on a sunday evening)
1 cup cooked green beans, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 carrot, chopped
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely grated
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsps soy sauce
salt, pepper, caraway seeds
fresh parsley, roughly chopped
1 tbsp each of linseeds and sesame seeds

Sautee onion in olive oil over medium heat until slightly browned. Add garlic and carrot and let cook for a bout 5 minutes. Then add tofu and beans, cover with broth, crushed tomatoes and soy sauce, stir well and let simmer for antoher five minutes. Season with salt, black pepper and caraway seeds. Before serving, mix with linseeds and caraway seeds and garnish with parsley.

Serve with grilled or cooked corn-on-the-cob or some grain stuff. I recommend ginger beer or camomille tea (in case of illness) as a drink.

Terence Hill would have loved you for that. And he would never have realized that there was no ground beef in it. Ha!

Creamy Gruenkern salad

Gruenkern is very popular among Germany's health foodies, it's super yummy and highly versatile. You can make perfect veggie burgers from it, use it just like rice or, like me today, turn it into a filling salad.

I'm not sure about the availabilty in other countries, but I saw it occasionally in GB. Try this lovely bilingual site for more information and a lot more recipe ideas from the grain!

This one was inspired by a prepared, extremely expensive deli-style salad in my local health food store. I simply made my own version. Here you go:

1 cup cooked gruenkern grains (prepare just the way you would do with brown rice, let cool)
1/2 leek, cut into fine rings
1 big carrot, chopped or grated
4 or 5 medium sized mushrooms
1 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsps soy yoghurt
2 tbsps balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp agave nectar
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
sea salt, pepper, dried or fresh italian herbs of your choice (e.g. basil, oregano, thyme)
slightly toasted sunflower seeds (optional)

In a deep frying pan, cook leek and mushrooms in olive oil and soy sauce until lightly brown and tender. Let cool for at least 10 minutes. In the meantime, mix yoghurt, vinegar, salt, pepper, herbs, nutri yeast and nectar for the dressing.
Combine Carrots, cooked vegetables, sauce and gruenkern grains and let marinate a few minutes. Garnish with sunflower seeds. Serve with a hearty sandwich or bagel, for example like this one.

Peanutbutter and Coconut Spread

This super easy spread can be made sweet or savoury. For the sweet version, just add some of the suggested ingerdients listed below.
It's a nice improved version of your normal PB as a bread spread but can be used in a lot of ways on cake, inside of cake, with fruit, as a base for a pasta sauce or with grilled tofu.

2 Tbsps Peanutbutter
2 Tbsps Tahini
2 Tbsps Coconut flakes

Mix well and cool. For sweet meals, you can add a bit of cinnamon, some mascovado sugar or agave syrup or 1/2 banana. Yumm yumm!

galettes chouettes

Several stays in France founded my addiction to the famous breton pancake (of course they're served all over the country)

Galettes are the savoury version of crêpes, and traditionally made with buckwheat flour, salt and water. Nothing else, and so much pleasure ;) But of course we may enrich the original recipe to pamper our little tastebuds.

This is my way to prepare them:

1/3 cup buckwheat flour
1/3 cup all purpose flour (I prefer wholewheat flour)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
optional: 1/4 cup sunflower seeds

Mix well, set aside.

In another bowl, mix:
1/2 soymilk
1/3 cup coconut milk
1 tbsp Soy yoghurt
1 tsp agave syrup

Add both mixtures and stir like mad. If the dough appears to be too thick, add small amounts of water until it's of pancake dough consistence. Heat non-stick frying pan, spread with a little bit vegetable oil, and bake your galettes!
You will need a really big and flat spatula for turning. When first making them, I tried it with a wooden one which was about 4mm thick and that didn't work at all, I destroyed two pancakes until I realized the problem ;)

Traditionally served with beurre salé (salty butter), of course you can use salted margarine. But my favourite beneath fresh fruit - which makes them crêpes again, then, haha - is a freshly prepared tomato and arugula salad and this spread.