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.

Asian beef stew

Beef stew is what we're going to have for Christmas this year, and when my mom told me on the phone that her 'try-out' version was a big success, I only craved one thing: beef stew.
A couple of weeks ago I'd tried to make one, which got really bitter because of the eggplant. I still had some beef steaks in my freezer so I decided I'd try it again, using different vegetables of course.
I loved it! This really is the kind of dish you can only make on weekends, because it has to be on the stove for such a long time. Or you could make it in the evening of course, to eat the day after. The time-consuming process of cooking it makes it extra special to have beef stew to me, it's just totally worth while!
I gave my stew a bit of an Asian twist, just because I like it that way.

Asian beef stew (serves 2)
- 250g beef steak, diced
- 3 leeks, cut into rings
- 3 winter carrots, diced
- 1 clove of garlic, chopped
- 1 tbsp freshly grated ginger
- 3 tbsp almond flour
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp cardamom
- 1 tsp ground coriander seeds
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- freshly ground black pepper
- 800ml water
- 8 dried apricots, halved
- 1 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped
- handful of roast cashew nuts
- 1 tsp coconut oil

1. Heat coconut oil in a large pan or wok. Fry garlic and ginger until they start smelling good, don't let them burn.
2. Add leeks and carrots and fry for a couple of minutes. Add beef, almond flour and spices and fry for a minute or so, to combine everything.
3. Add water, bring to a boil and cover the pan. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 2.5 hours.
4. Remove lid from the pan, add apricots and simmer for another 15-30 minutes, until the stew is as thick as you want it to be.
5. Sprinkle with chopped coriander leaves and cashew nuts and serve hot.

Tastes great with some pumpkin puree, or over riced cauliflower.
For people who've never heard of riced cauliflower: coarsly chop the cauliflower, removing the thick stems, and grind it to the consistency of rice in a food processor. Stir-fry in some oil for a few minutes with the spices of your choice and enjoy.

Turnip (and zucchini) frittata

This was what I had for breakfast this morning. I prepared it yesterday and just reheated it today, because I like having a warm breakfast.

At first I only wanted to use turnips for this, but unfortunately, I didn't have enough to fill my oven dish. A zucchini came to mind and, luckily, it made a good combination. I would recommend to use turnips only though.

Today I bought myself some new turnips at the market as I'm not done experimenting with them yet. I also bought another daikon, some kohlrabi and parsnips (and much more, but I won't list everything now). Parsnips have become one of my favourite veggies lately and I can't wait to make other dishes with them. Does anyone have any ideas on what to cook with my parsnips?

Turnip frittata (serves 2)

- 3 large turnips, peeled and thinly sliced

- 3 eggs, beaten

- 1 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves

- 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves

- freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.

2. Divide turnip slices over the bottom of a small oven dish.

3. Add rosemary, thyme and pepper to the beaten egg and stir well. Pour over turnips.

4. Cover the oven dish with aluminum foil and bake for about 50 minutes.

5. Remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes until browned. Serve warm and enjoy!

Of course you could add some other ingredients to this dish as well; onions for example, or sundried tomatoes. Whatever you like!

Kohlrabi and mackerel salad

After my last experiments with kohlrabi, I decided to keep it simple this time. I made a salad.
When visiting my parents last week, my mom had bought me some grilled mackerel in oil; my all-time favourite fish. It's a bit expensive, so I hardly ever buy it. But last week we had made those samosa's, so there wasn't any room for the mackerel and my mom made me take it home with me.
I'd been saving it 'for the right time' in my fridge, and apparently that time is when there's not much more left in my fridge than mackerel and kohlrabi. They do, however, make a perfect combination.

Kohlrabi and mackerel salad (serves 1)
- 1 large kohlrabi, peeled and grated into julienne strips
- 100g of grilled mackerel fillet, drained
- small handful of raisins
- 1 tsp extra vierge olive oil
- 1 tsp coconut milk
- 1/2 tsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp agave syrup
- 1/2 tsp powdered mustard seeds
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds

1. Put kohlrabi on a large plate. Pull mackerel into smaller pieces with a fork and add to kohlrabi. Add raisins.
2. In a small bowl, mix oil, coconut milk, lemon juice, agave, mustard and pepper until well combined.
3. Pour dressing over the salad and mix well. Top with coriander and sesame seeds, and serve cold.
Enjoy!

Note: in my picture, there's no fresh coriander. I used the dried version, which was good, but fresh is always much better.

Treating myself

Well, yesterday was a really lazy Saturday for me. I had to wait for some parcels to be delivered to me (my new winter coat I ordered online and some food supplements), and of course they didn't come until late in the afternoon.
That gave me the time to treat myself a little yesterday! And without the potato crisps this time, for which I'm kind of proud of myself. I didn't even crave them. Thank you Paleo diet!

I did however feel like treating myself a little. So in the morning, while going to the mall for some groceries, I got myself a new lip gloss. I actually came to buy ground flax seed in that store but I noticed that they all of a sudden carry some Burt's Bees items now, which happens to be one of my favourite brands.
I got some Lip Shimmer, in the colour Rhubarb. It was hard to choose, maybe because my zodiac sign is Gemini (twins), but I often have that problem when a choice needs to be made. (a lot of times I just end up taking both options)

So, all happy with my new lip shimmer, I made myself comfortable on the couch yesterday. I read half of a book I'd been wanting to read for a few months, I enjoyed my decorated home, listened to Christmas songs and watched a few movies.
Normally I'm like a busy bee, but being able to have a nice and relaxing day like this definitely made me feel better. I think I also have an underlying cold (my throat is a bit sore, I'm having a dry cough and my lymph nodes in my neck are swollen and painful) so a day 'off' was what I needed.

My other treat to myself was baking some cookies; very healthy cookies, and possibly the best cookies ever; Pumpkin spice cookies!
I followed this recipe from Everyday Paleo, it's called 'Laura's Amazing Cookies'. Well, amazing is what they are!
For the rest of my meals, it was leftover day. I had some leftover curry for lunch, and for dinner my leftover beet salad with some chicken, leek and garlic stir-fry. How easy!

Warm beet salad with apple and walnuts

Going out to dinner yesterday was fun; had a nice time and great food. The food was very high quality and delicious.
As an appetizer I ordered the deer carpaccio, served with a little salad, pine nuts, egg and berry sauce. I had never eaten carpaccio before, because I thought I wouldn't be into raw meat, but I really liked it. The meat was really tender and soft, and the berry sauce combined wonderfully with it.
My main course was the grilled trout, with some sea salt. I still had to remove the bones and such, which I normally don't like at all; I always end up having small fish bones in my mouth.. The fish tasted really good and in the end it wasn't that much effort at all to make it 'edible'. It was served with a salad, chicory with ham and fried potatoe chips. Because of my diet, they gave me seperate servings of these, instead of larger ones everyone could take from. I loved that, because that way I had more veggies than the others. In the end I still think we got way too little veggies, unfortunately that's the case with most restaurants in the Netherlands these days.
For dessert, they weren't able to make me anything else than a fruit salad. Of course there's nothing wrong with that, but when I crave dessert I don't feel like eating fruit. Chocolate is more to my taste, especially on the rare occassions I go out to dinner. So I just ordered some tea, which was served with some dark chocolates, lucky me!

Today I decided to use the beets I got from my aunt last week. I've always liked beets, but it had been a while since I ate them, and I'd never cooked with them myself. I ended up making a warm salad out of it; warm because I wanted to eat it right away. I think it would taste good when cooled too, which I'm going to try with my leftover portion. I served it with some pan fried yellow fin sole fillets, one of my favourite kinds of fish.

Warm beet salad with apple and walnuts (serves 2)
- 4 medium sized beets
- 1 sweet apple
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp freshly grated ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin seeds
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- handful of chopped walnuts
- 1 tsp coconut oil

1. Chop the tops and bottoms off the beets, peel them with a vegetable peeler and grate them into julienne strips.
2. Wash the apple, remove the core and chop into small pieces.
3. Heat the coconut oil in a frying pan and stir-fry the beets and apple for about 3 minutes.
4. Add cinnamon, ginger and cumin, and stir-fry for another 3 minutes. Then add lemon juice, stir-fry another minute or so, until the beets are nice and soft.
5. Serve with walnuts on top, and with meat or fish of your choice.

This would also make a wonderful side dish to serve during Christmas dinner. Either warm or cold.

Butternut and kale mash

The 'holiday fever' has got to me again this year. Christmas really is my favourite time of the year, and the snow that has fallen last week definitely helped me to get into my holiday mood.
I put up my Christmas tree (which was even smaller than I remembered.. but it's a tree, and it looks festive, so it's ok) and I decorated my home with a big star and a long string of lights. I even got some Christmas presents from my overseas penpals and some cards already!
Since I'm celebrating Christmas at my parents' home this year, my mom and me will do the cooking together. There will be two dinners; the first one for my grandparents, the second one just for us. (in the Netherlands, there are two official days of Christmas; December 25th and 26th)
Of course we've already started planning both dinners, and they're going to be delicious!
Did I mention I love Christmas yet?

These days I also feel like cooking somewhat more wintry meals. Kale is the perfect vegetable to do so, and since I didn't think I could keep mine fresh much longer, I decided to use it today. I also had a small butternut and hoped it would combine well with kale and luckily it did.
I served it with a simple oven-baked salmon fillet, sprinkled with some lemon juice and fish spices.

Butternut and kale mash (serves 2)
- 1 small butternut squash
- 1 big bunch of kale (approx. 10 branches)
- 1 red onion
- 1/4 cup coconut milk
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ginger
- handful of raisins
- handful of walnut pieces
- coconut oil, for frying

1. Peel butternut with a vegetable peeler, remove seeds and cut into chunks. In the mean time, boil some water in a steaming pan.
2. Steam butternut chunks until cooked, for about 10 - 12 minutes.
3. Put coconut milk, cinnamon, ginger and butternut in a bowl and puree.
4. Cut the kale leaves from the thick stems, discard stems and chop the leaves into smaller pieces. Finely chop the red onion.
5. Heat some coconut oil in a wok or frying pan and fry the onion until soft.
6. Add kale and stir-fry until the kale is dark green and tender.
7. Reduce heat to low and add butternut puree and raisins, stir until well-combined.
8. Serve warm, with walnut pieces on top.

While listening to Christmas songs, doing the dishes wasn't even that bad. And as I often do; I put one serving in my freezer so all I need to do next time is defrost it and pop in into the oven for an easy meal.
Tomorrow I'm going out to dinner with my colleagues, so I won't be doing much cooking. I love cooking, but being able to sit down and get a meal served in front of you is a real pleasure every now and then.