Shredded beef with pumpkin

Comfort food still is a favourite these days. Not just because it's been freezing and the thick layer of snow outside, no, mostly because the side effects of my treatment for HPU (pyroluria). Apparently you can get quite some side effects from supplementing large deficiencies of certain vitamins and minerals. Just to make something clear: these deficiencies weren't caused by my way of eating. HPU (pyroluria) is a genetic condition where very little zinc, manganese and vitamine B6 can be absorbed into the body. This causes deficiencies to an extent where it's impossible to supplement them with just food. That's why I'm taking quite some supplements these days. They don't just cause a slight improvement in my energy levels, but they also make my head spin and have the tendency to turn me into an emotional wreck at times. Beats the hell out of PMS. Fortunately for me, it should get better in a month or so. Can't wait.

In the mean time I make sure my meals are tasty. It might not be a good idea to comfort oneself with food, but boiled veggies and a tough piece of meat won't make me any happier either. After all, cooking can have  a great therapeutic effect (everything does, as long as you enjoy it), so I gladly cook my way through this time.

In this recipe, I roasted a chunk of meat in the oven right until I could easily shred it. I roasted the veggies along with the meat, so I could easily turn it into a coarse puree. Yum!

Shredded beef with pumpkin (serves 4)

Ingredients:
- 2 large onions
- 1 small pumpkin
- 1/2 bulb garlic
- 600g rib roast, boneless
- 1 tsp pimenta powder
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- freshly ground pepper to taste
- 4 tbsp fresh cilanto or parsley
- 1 tbsp coconut oil

1. Preheat oven to max. temperature.
2. Heat coconut oil in a Dutch oven and chop the onions in the mean time.
3. Sautee the onions over low heat in the pan. In the mean time, wash the pumpkin, discard the seeds and dice it.
4. Separate the bulb of garlic into cloves and peel them. Add them to the onions in the pan along with the pumpkin.
5. Sautee everything for a minute or so before removing the pan from the heat.
6. Pat the rib roast dry with a paper towel and rub it with the dry spices.
7. Put the roast on top of the vegetables in the pan and cover with a lid.
8. Transfer the pan to the oven and immediately lower the temperature to 170 degrees Celsius.
9. Roast everything for approx. 3 1/2 - 4 hours, until you can easily shred the meat with a fork.
10. Remove the pan from the oven and shred the meat with 2 forks.
11. Mix the shredded beef with the soft vegetables and divide over 4 plates.
12. Coarsely chop the cilantro or parsley and use as garnish. Serve and enjoy!

Roast shoulder of lamb

It's been a while since my last post; due to some health problems I simply didn't feel like it. By now, I'm on my way to recovery and I started cooking enthusiastically again. So, to make up for the recent lack of posts, I'm posting a recipe for a tasty piece of meat today.

Roast shoulder of lamb, it looks impressive and is really easy to make. A few weeks ago I got this cut from my parents and up until a few days ago it was waiting in my freezer to be prepared. Today was the day. Partially because I picked up an 8kg pack of grassfed beef yesterday and had to make room in my freezer.

As far as lamb goes, I hadn't tried that much yet; I liked ground lamb and lamb steak, but that was about it. Starting today, I have a new favourite! Shoulder of lamb. The meat tastes great and after slow roasting it like I did, it's really tender and falls apart while not being dry at all. I'm definitely going to make this more often!

Roast shoulder of lamb (serves 4-6)

Ingredients:
- 1 shoulder of lamb (approx. 1,5 - 2 kg)
- 1 bulb garlic
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- freshly ground black pepper
- 15g fresh rosemary sprigs
- 2 tbsp olive oil

1. Preheat oven to maximum temperature.
2. Break the garlic bulb into cloves and peel them. Put them, along with half of the rosemary, in a roasting pan.
3. Put the shoulder of lamb on top of the garlic and rosemary and rub it with cumin and pepper.
4. Drizzle with olive oil and put the remaining rosemary on top.
5. Cover tightly with aluminium foil and transfer to the oven. Immediately lower the temperature to 170 degrees Celsius.
6. Roast the lamb for approx. 3,5 to 4 hours, until you can pull the meat apart with a fork.
7. Remove the roasting pan from the oven, transfer the lamb to a plate and cover tightly with aluminium foil. Cover with a tea towel and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes before shredding and serving the meat.
8. Serve with vegetables of your choice and enjoy!

Leftover chicken stir-fry

My CrossFit workouts seem to have improved my running big time! I went for a run yesterday and it was so easy, it took me hardly any effort.
Of course the beautiful weather helped as well.
As for my CrossFit workouts, they're getting easier as well! I've already increased some of the weights I use and I hardly get any sore muscles afterwards anymore. What I'm most proud of, is that I now use a slightly less thick rubber band for my pullups than I used to, and still get my reps done as prescribed.

I made a huge amount of beef stew today, to store in my freezer. I love being able to pull it out of the freezer when I feel like it. Some days you just don't have the time to do a large amount of cooking.
Today I ate the last pieces of Wednesday's chicken. I never knew leftover chicken could be so tasty! The meat I ate today was from the wings and thighs, very tasty. I think I like it even better than the breast meat.
Out of the chicken carcass I'd made some chicken stock too. I saved part of it in my freezer, for soup I guess, and I saved some in my fridge. I already put some in my beef stew, and it also worked really well with today's dinner.

Sausage garlic mash

I just read this very interesting (and funny) article about grain consumption over on Mark's Daily Apple. It's called 'Will eating whole grains help you live longer?' and it's spot-on. If you're interested in the subject, I can definitely recommend it!

Today's workout was great! Just as I hoped.
It wasn't as tough as last Tuesday, but that's because it was mostly about muscle endurance. I did a lot of squats in all sorts of ways and I trained my butt and my abs. It took about an hour in total.
Starting next week I'll have 3 different workouts every time: 1 tough, challenging one that involves strength and sprinting, 1 that's a little easier and 1 that's about muscle endurance. Everytime I get home after a workout I feel so much better! Not just physically, but I'm much happier and more positive overall too.

Aromatic chicken curry

First of all, thanks to Elana for posting a link to my website! In just one day, I got almost 300 visitors (instead of 20, like I usually get). So, hello everyone, I'm glad you're visiting and I hope you like the recipes! Feel free to leave comments on my posts :)

And for everyone who doesn't know about Elana's Pantry; make sure to check out Elana's website and her Black and White cake.

After following Robert J. Stone's 'Experiment' on the primal lifestyle for a few weeks (check out his blog; primalfood.wordpress.com!) and watching YouTube movies on CrossFit and seeing people get all these amazing results and a huge change of body composition, I realised I better make a 'before' picture of myself too.
So this morning I made my very own 'before' picture and measured myself. I've already dropped some pounds, but I figured it would be nice to keep track of the changes over time.
My weight is: 56.1 kg
My waist measures: 67 cm
I wonder what's going to happen when I keep doing CrossFit and watching my diet. So far, I feel great living like this so I'm definitely going to keep up the good work.

Oven baked leeks and sausages

As I expected, pretty much all my muscles hurt today.. It's not as bad as I thought it would be though, so I'm actually pleasantly surprised. Let's see what tomorrow's workout will bring.. I'm already looking forward to it.
Yesterday I realised I didn't have any post work-out food ready, so I'm going to bake my own version of this very tasty looking Chocolate Spice Zucchini bread from Kelly at The Spunky Coconut later this evening. And after a good work-out, I'll spread a slice with some coconut cream.. Yum!
Egg muffins might be a good idea as post work-out food too.

Beef stew and celeriac fries

It's Monday, so that means it's market day again! And I found myself lots of tasty looking veggies again. (turnips, parsnips, carrots, cauliflower, leeks, onions, and much more) I also bought 2 coconuts, partially because I loved the taste, and partially because I loved the cracking process!
Yesterday I enjoyed the fresh coconut water with my breakfast, it tasted even better after it had been in the fridge overnight. I grated the coconut meat in my magimix and put most of it in my freezer. I'm sure I'll be able to use it for a pie or ice-cream sometime.

Colourful salmon stir-fry

And here's my second recipe for today. The savoy cabbage I'd bought didn't look good enough to keep too long in my fridge, and I had some leftover purple cabbage that still needed to be used. Add to that an onion, salmon fillets and some curry pasta and you've got yourself a tasty meal. So as you probably understand, making this dish was pretty easy!
I love how simple it is to make a curry, and how tasty the result can be!

Quick cauliflower and delicious spice mixes

Yesterday I finally got the time to cycle all the way to another supermarket (in a nearby city) to get myself some new spices. I'd seen them somewhere else, but didn't think about buying them while I was there..

Chicken and parsnip stir-fry

Guess what? They had more parsnips at the market today! And finally some good looking coriander leaves too. I had been waiting for that for over a month already, so of course I bought a bunch.
Doesn anyone have any ideas on how to freeze coriander leaves? I don't have a clue how to do that..
Besides those I also got some big zucchinis (I want to make some new dishes with those, so if anyone has some ideas?), cauliflower, broccoli, lemons, avocados, apples, bananas, chicory, carrots and onions. At the supermarket I got myself lots of organic beef; chipolata sausages, beef strips, ground beef, and some chicken fillet and calf meat sausages. I've never eaten calf meat before, so I hope they'll be good! The only thing I forgot to buy is fish.. But I guess I'll get that another time this week.

Celeriac beef stew

Here's another stew recipe. I had some beef strips in my freezer and wanted to make something good with them. Normally they always end up being too tough when I just stir-fry them, so a stew was a much better option for me.
Luckily Monday is my day off, so I've got lots of time for cooking. While this was simmering I also made some lemon avocado mousse and parsnip banana puree. It also was a nice way of using my celeriac, besides of pureeing it like I did last time.
The stew tastes great, especially when served with a green salad.

Celeriac beef stew (serves 2-3)
- 1 celeriac, peeled and diced
- 300g beef strips
- 1 red onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp freshly grated ginger
- 3 tbsp almond meal
- 1 tbsp dried green herbs (coriander, parsley, etc)
- 1 tbsp garam masala
- black pepper, freshly ground
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander seeds
- 1 tsp coconut oil

1. Heat coconut oil in a large frying pan or Dutch oven.
2. Fry the onion, garlic and ginger until the onion is soft. Don't let them burn.
3. Add the celeriac, fry everything for about a minute and add beef and almond flour.
4. Fry for another minute, then add herbs and spices, mix well.
5. Add 400ml water and bring to a boil, cover the pan. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 2.5 hours.
6. Remove the lid from the pan and simmer for another 20-30 minutes, until most of the fluids have evaporated and the stew is as thick as you want it to be.

Serve with a green salad and enjoy!

Lemon cauliflower rice with curry chicken

While thinking about what to do with the cauliflower and lemon I had left over, I figured I might as well combine them into one dish. It turned out tasting really well! And even better, it was done pretty quickly. The whole dish, including cutting the chicken and veggies, took me only about half an hour to make.
It's quite different from my cauliflower risotto, because I used less coconut milk (making it less creamy) and of course different spices. To be honest, I think this version is even better and I'm definitely going to make it again.
Tomorrow it's market day again, I wonder what they'll have to offer this time. I'm hoping for more parsnips.. And some good coriander too.

Lemon cauliflower rice with curry chicken (serves 2)
- 300g chicken fillet, cubed
- 1 red onion, chopped
- 1 heaping tsp curry powder
- 1 small head of cauliflower, cut into florets
- 1 leek, chopped
- 1 winter carrot, grated
- 1 apple, grated
- 1 handful of raisins
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
- 1 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced
- 2 tsp coconut oil

1. Pulse the cauliflower florets in a food processor until you've got a grain-like texture.
2. Heat 1 tsp coconut oil in a frying pan and fry the onion until soft.
3. Add the chicken and fry until browned. Add curry powder and fry until chicken is covered with it. Reduce heat to low and add 1/4 cup of water. Fry for a few more minutes until cooked.
4. In the mean time, heat the remaining tsp of coconut oil in a wok or frying pan and stir-fry the cauliflower, leek, carrot and apple for a minute or so.
5. Add raisins and coconut milk and stir-fry for a few more minutes, until the leek is soft.
6. During the last minute, add coriander leaves, lemon zest and juice and stir well.
7. Serve the lemon cauliflower rice with the curry chicken on top while still hot. Enjoy!

Cauliflower and salmon risotto

When I saw fresh heads of cauliflower at the market, I immediately thought of making this dish. The first time I made it was over a year ago and ever since it's a favourite to enjoy year round. It's kind of my 'feelgood dish'. (or one of them at least)
'Graining' the cauliflower used to be huge time-consuming crime for me, because I did that in my blender.. So today I tried it with my Magimix, and.. Wow! It was done within 30 seconds and nothing got messy. I love my Magimix!!
The next thing I'm going to use it for is grating parsnips. Let's hope that's just as easy!

Cauliflower and salmon risotto (serves 2)
- 1 small head of cauliflower, cut into smaller florets
- 2 salmon fillets, cubed
- 3 spring onions, chopped
- 1 shallot, chopped
- 1 winter carrot, grated
- 1 apple, in small cubes
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1 handful of raisins
- 2 tbsp fresh Italian herbs, chopped
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tsp coconut oil

1. Pulse cauliflower florets in a food processor until you've got a grain-like texture.
2. Heat coconut oil in a wok or frying pan and stir-fry the salmon cubes until browned.
3. Add spring onions and shallot and stir fry until soft.
4. Add carrot, cauliflower and apple, stir-fry for a minute or so and add coconut milk.
5. Keep stir-frying until you've reached a thick and creamy texture. Reduce heat.
6. Stir in raisins, Italian herbs and pepper and heat for another minute.

Serve hot and enjoy!
Serving options: tastes great with almond slivers and/or dry roasted pine nuts on top.

If you've got some leftovers, this is an easy dish to keep in the freezer, or you could enjoy it cold for breakfast or lunch the next day. (I've tried it, and it works!)

Pumpkin beef burgers

I discovered something interesting today! At work, I had to learn the effects of physical exercise on the diffusion capacity of the lungs. Therefore I had to run for 10 minutes on the treadmill. The colleague who helped me liked making it hard, by increasing the speed and she even made me climb a hill on it! So I was a little sweaty afterwards..
Anyway, as soon as those 10 minutes were over, I ran off and tested my diffusion capacity; it was really efficient! Much better than usual.
Now the really interesting part starts: I haven't been tired all day!
Normally I feel a little worn-out after work, but today it seems as if I can do everything super efficiently. My concentration hasn't started to fail me yet and I'm bursting with energy. Wow!
So even though I always cycle to work (5km), a short run in which I reach my maximum heart rate, seems to be so much more efficient to keep me energized all day long. I wish I could do it every day!

Of course, there's a recipe too! I made these pumpkin beef burgers tonight, they were really good and easy to make. Normally hamburgers tend to get a little dry, but by using pumpkin they stayed nice and moist inside. The flavour was really good too, and I'm definitely going to make these much more often!
I served them with a quick curry made out of spring onion, carrot, parsnip and savoy cabbage.

Pumpkin beef burgers (serves 2)
- 250g steak tartare (approx. 2 pieces)
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 egg
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 2 spring onions, chopped
- 1 tsp ginger, freshly grated
- freshly ground pepper
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 2 tbsp coconut flour
- 2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
2. In a bowl, mash steak tartare with the pumpkin puree, using a fork, until you've reached a smooth consistency.
3. Add garlic, spring onions, ginger, pepper, cumin, coriander, coconut flour and coriander leaves and mix until well combined.
4. Make 8 burgers by dropping heaping tablespoons of the mixture onto the prepared baking tray and flattening them.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until browned. Enjoy!

In my recipe I used a fork to combine everything, but you can just as well use a food processor to do the job.
Serve these burgers with a salad or stir-fried or oven roasted veggies, they go really well with pretty much everything.

Curried savoy cabbage and celeriac mash

It's been a while since my last recipe, but I haven't been around during the weekend.
This morning my fridge was more or less emtpy, except for 1/2 celeriac from last week. (I put it in a plastic seal-bag and it kept really well)
So I went to the market and brought home a giant bag filled with veggies, yum! I couldn't resist weighing the bag when I got home: 11.4kg of veggies! That's quite a lot for just 1 person.. I guess I'll be freezing a lot of my cooking this week.
Of course I used my celeriac first today, and combined it with some savoy cabbage to make a mash out of it. It tasted great, especially with some raisins and walnuts.
I served it with an oven-baked Tilapia fillet, sprinkled with some lemon juice and saltless fish spices. Of course you can serve it with some chicken, turkey, beef or other lean meat as well.

Curried savoy cabbage and celeriac mash (serves 2)
- 1/2 savoy cabbage, shredded
- 1/2 celeriac, peeled and cubed
- 1 red onion, chopped
- 2 tsp curry powder
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
- 1 handful of raisins
- 1 handful of walnuts, chopped
- 1 tsp coconut oil

1. Steam celeriac cubes for 7-8 minutes until fork tender and puree.
2. Add curry powder and lemon juice, stir well.
3. Heat coconut oil in a wok or frying pan and stir-fry the onion until soft, add cabbage and stir-fry over high heat for approx. 5 minutes until wilted.
4. Reduce heat to low and add raisins and celeriac puree. Stir until well-combined.
5. Serve with chopped walnuts on top.

Curried tilapia with celeriac puree and broccoli

Here's what I had for dinner tonight. I thought I'd cooked with most root vegetables by now, until I went to the supermarket and saw celeriac!
Somehow, this veggie scares me a little. It looks macabre, with all those 'tentacles' on the bottom. Cutting them off felt like slaughtering some kind of monster! It looks like it used to be able to walk (or swim..) and as if it's asleep or something like that.
It's just my fantasy messing with my mind, because this veggie tastes pretty good. (and it didn't move, nor bleed)

Today was my first time cooking with it. I combined it with curry tilapia (from the oven) and a broccoli stir-fry.
All I need to do now is figure out what to do with my leftover celeriac puree. Maybe I can make cookies out of it too? I'm not sure yet..

Curried tilapia (serves 2)
- 2 tilapia fillets
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp curry powder

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
2. Put the tilapia fillets in an oven dish (don't let them overlap), add the other ingredients and massage them in with your hands. Make sure the fillets are fully covered with curry.
3. Bake for 12-15 minutes (depending on the thickness of your fillets) until cooked.

In the mean time prepare your celeriac puree. I decided not to add any spices to the puree because it has a strong flavour in itself and you should combine it with the curried fish and broccoli.

Celeriac puree (serves 2)
1. Peel 1/2 of a celeriac and cut it into small cubes.
2. Boil some water in a steamer and steam the celeriac cubes for approx. 7-8 minutes, until fork tender.
3. Puree with a hand blender or in a food processor.

While the celeriac is steaming, you can start on your broccoli stir-fry.

Broccoli stir-fry (serves 2)
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 1 tsp freshly grated ginger
- 1 head of broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 1 tsp ground coriander seeds
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp coconut oil

1. Heat coconut oil in a wok or frying pan and stir-fry onion, garlic and ginger until the onion starts getting soft.
2. Add broccoli, stir-fry for a minute and add approx. 100ml water. Keep stir-frying.
3. Add raisins and spices and stir-fry until the broccoli is tender.

By now, your fish should be done and the celeriac pureed.
Divide everything over 2 plates and enjoy!

Broccoli and cranberry chicken

Finally, Christmas is over and life has gone back to normal. Not that I don't like Christmas, on the contrary, but after stuffing myself for the past couple of days I feel like having simple and healthy meals again.
What I haven't shared yet, is what I got for Christmas: a Magimix 3200 food processor!! Wow!
It was a huge surprise and I'm so happy with it. I feel completely spoiled.. My parents are going to bring it over next week (I didn't want to take it on the train for obvious reasons), and I'm already thinking about the way this expands my cooking possibilities.
My mom had a whole bag of cranberries left over from Christmas, so she gave it to me. Today I made a cranberry sauce and served it over some stir-fried chicken and broccoli. Yum!

Cranberry sauce (serves 4)
- 1 bag of cranberries (340g)
- 1 cup of water
- 3 tbsp agave syrup
- 1/4 cup raisins

1. Bring water to a boil and add cranberries. Bring to a boil again, reduce heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes, until all cranberries have burst. Stir occasionally.
2. Add agave and raisins, stir well, and simmer for another 5-10 minutes, until desired thickness is achieved.

If you want you can add some more agave to make it sweeter, and I guess some cinnamon would make a nice addition too.

While the cranberry sauce is simmering, you can start making your cinnamon chicken and broccoli stir-fry.

Cinnamon chicken and broccoli stir-fry (serves 2)
- 250g chicken fillet, cubed
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 large head of broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ginger
- 1 tsp cookie spices or a mixture of ground cloves and nutmeg
- 1 tsp coconut oil
- 1 handfull of cashew nuts

1. Heat coconut oil in a wok or frying pan and stir-fry chicken until browned.
2. Add onion and stir-fry until browned.
3. Add broccoli, stir-fry for a few minutes, then add spices.
4. Add about 100ml of water, keep stir-frying so the chicken and vegetables get a nice glaze.
5. Stir-fry for another 3-5 minutes.
6. Serve with cashew nuts on top, and add a few big tablespoons of cranberry sauce. Enjoy!

Rutabaga and beef mince stew

What a wonderful name for a veggie; rutabaga! Whoever made that up should get an award!
Or maybe it's just because I'm Dutch that it sounds funny to me..
Cooking with rutabaga (can't say it enough) was completely new for me. I'd only eaten it once before in my life, without actually knowing what it was. Because I wasn't able to go to the market last Monday I was browsing the supermarket for new veggies. This was the only one I'd never cooked with, so I bought it.
Because my rutabage was pretty huge, I used half of it for this stew, and I steamed and pureed the other half. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the puree yet but I guess I'll see about that tomorrow.
I know the picture of this stew isn't that clear, but just in case you were wondering; it tastes good!

Rutabaga and beef mince stew (serves 2)
- 1 small rutabaga, peeled and cut into approx. 2 x 2 cm cubes
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 leek, in rings
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 250g beef mince
- 1 apple, cut into cubes (discard core)
- 1 tbsp garam masala
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tbsp dried herbs (parsley, coriander, whatever you like)
- 1 tsp coconut oil

1. Heat coconut oil in a wok or frying pan, and stir-fry onion and garlic for a few minutes until it starts smelling good.
2. Add beef mince and fry until browned.
3. Add rutabaga, leek and apple and stir-fry for 3-4 minutes. Add garam masala, cinnamon, pepper and dried herbs, stir well.
4. Add 1 cup of water, cover pan and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 15 minutes until rutabaga is soft and the water has evaporated.

Serve hot, and enjoy!

Curried parsnip, creamy savoy cabbage and oven baked fish

These days I've been eating quite some leftovers I had in my freezer, or I simply didn't have time to think of a new recipe. Today I felt like cooking something new again!
A quick and creamy savoy cabbage, curried parsnip and oven baked yellowfin sole fillets. Now I come to think of it, I made 3 dishes today, all within 40 minutes and ready to be served at the same time.

It's almost Christmas now.. People are getting into a festive mood and saying 'see you next year' doesn't feel as strange anymore. Last weekend I did my final Christmas food shopping; I bought some lentil papadams with red chillies, from Lijjad Papad, at the local Asian supermarket. These will make the perfect side dish for our chicken curry!
Of cours, lentils aren't truly paleo, but they're way better than grains so we don't mind having these during Christmas.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of my savoy cabbage, it looks so complex and yet so perfectly beautiful..
I'd better get to those recipes now!

Curried parsnip (serves 1)
- 1 medium parsnip
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp curry powder

1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
2. Wash the parsnip and cut it into equal pieces, about 1/2 cm thick.
3. Spread parsnip over half of the baking tray, pour olive oil over it, add curry powder and mix with your hands until all pieces are covered with a layer of curry powder and oil.
4. Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown and soft.

In the mean time, prepare your fish:
Oven baked yellowfin sole fillet (serves 1)
- 2 yellowfin sole fillets
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- lemon pepper, freshly ground
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped

1. Put fish fillets into a small oven dish, or make one yourself by folding some aluminum foil into an oven dish.
2. Sprinkle oil and lemon pepper to taste over fillets.
3. Put the oven dish into the oven, next to the parsnip on the baking tray, when the remaining baking time of the parsnip is 12 minutes.

While everything is baking, you can prepare your savoy cabbage.
Creamy savoy cabbage (serves 1)
- 1/4 of a head savoy cabbage
- 1/4 cup coconut milk
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 shallot
- 1 tsp ginger, freshly grated
- 1 tsp ground coriander seeds
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- 1 tsp coconut oil

1. Wash savoy cabbage and cut into thin strips. Finely chop the garlic and shallot.
2. Heat coconut oil in a wok or frying pan, add garlic, shallot and ginger and stir-fry for a minute or so, until it starts smelling good. Make sure it doesn't burn!
3. Add cabbage and stir-fry for a few minutes, then add coriander and coconut milk and stir-fry until the cabbage has wilted and has gotten creamy.

By now, the parsnip and fish should be done, take them out of the oven and put them onto a plate. Sprinkle lemon juice and coriander leaves over the fish.
Add creamy savoy cabbage and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Serve hot and enjoy!

Parsnip apple mash, with lemony salmon stir-fry

And here's today's dinner! I'd been thinking what to do with my parsnips; bake them in the oven (been there, done that), make fritters out of them (sounds good, but I already had fritters for breakfast) and since I'd already put them in a curry as well, I decided to mash them. With apple. I totally loved it!
It was actually meant to be my side dish, but I guess it felt more of a main course and I ended up eating it last. (I always save the best for last)
I also made a quick lemony stir-fry with salmon and savoy cabbage, also quite tasty.

Parsnip apple mash (serves 2)
- 3 parsnips
- 1 medium sweet apple
- 1 tsp cinnamon

1. Peel parsnips with a vegetable peeler, cut them into equal pieces and steam them for 8-10 minutes, until soft.
2. Chop the apple and discard the core.
3. Put apple pieces and steamed parsnips in a bowl and puree with a hand blender. Add cinnamon and stir well. Serve warm.


Lemony salmon stir-fry (serves 2)
- 2 salmon fillets, diced
- 1 large onion
- 1 tsp freshly ground ginger
- 1/2 savoy cabbage, chopped
- 1 1/2 tsp curry powder
- lemon pepper, freshly ground
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped
- 1 tsp coconut oil

1. Heat coconut oil in a frying pan and stir-fry onion and ginger, until the onion starts to get soft. Add salmon and stir-fry until browned.
2. Add savoy cabbage, curry powder, lemon pepper and coconut milk. Stir-fry just a minute or so until cabbage turns bright green, but isn't too soft yet.
3. Add lemon juice, stir well. Take off heat and serve sprinkled with chopped coriander leaves.

This dish would also make a good lunch, even when cooled.