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Coconut Curry Lentils

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This is one of my favorite ways to enjoy lentils. In a good and creamy coconut milk, spices, along with some rice, vegetables or bread! A definitely must try! 

When it is rainy outside and you just want some heat and comfort, this is great! It is for days when you don’t want a soup but don’t want meat, just something easy and good. Something as a quick weeknight dinner, that makes you feel awesome, boosts your mood and tastes bomb! The curry lentils are great for this occasion, because ether are super nutritious and packed with flavor and spices. 

A little bit about lentils…

When I made this the first time, I fell in love with it and it made me cook more often with lentils. Lentils are a real amazing food. They are Part of the legume family, along with beans and chickpeas. Lentils, that you can purchase at the supermarkets in Austria are often grown in Austria which makes them a regional product, which is better for the environment since it doesn’t need that much transportation. Moreover, lentils are packed with protein and nutrients! They contain 25g protein per 100g, which is real amazing, that is the same amount as chicken breast contains! They are really easy to cook, basically the same way you cook rice. If you are too lazy too cook them or need them to be done even quicker, you can find some canned ones at the supermarkets too! 

And the other ingredients

The onion and the spices in the beginning, just give the entire dish this kick of flavor. The onion adds the sweetness while the spices heat it up and give the oriental touch. I use dry spices and not curry paste because I believe that it works better with the lentils. To be honest, I have never tried it with curry paste before but if you do want to give it a try I would opt for a red one probably. 

The coconut milk creams up the entire dish and adds richness. I would go for normal canned options and not low fat ones because the flavor is different and it makes it all a little more hearty. Plus it takes it to the next (curry) level. I believe that a real good curry (at least Thai ones) need some coconut milk. The recipe I make is a mix of Thai and Indian, because Indians don’t use coconut milk but the dry spices, and Thai ones use coconut milk and curry paste. So it is a crossover! 

Perfect dish

No matter whether you make this dish for meal prep (because wir works great for that) or prepare it as a vegan Christmas dish or serve it at new year (because it is said that lentils bring money), it is a super delish meal to make. Perfect for friends or family that are vegan, and for those who are not. I hope that you will enjoy it and have a really nice Christmas! 

Enjoy,

Katie

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Coconut Curry Lentils

Comforting, warm, delicious, nutritious. The perfect winter dish, for christmas or new year, for vegan friends, or just to treat yourself! One of the best ways to cook lentils!

Course bowl, dinner, lunch, Main Course
Prep Time 3 Minuten
Cook Time 17 Minuten
Total Time 20 Minuten
Servings 2 servings
Calories 438 kcal

What you will need

  • 1 tbsp Olive Oil
  • 1 white onion
  • 1 tsp turmeric powder
  • 1 tsp paprika powder
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp curry powder
  • 120 g red lentils
  • 300 ml vegetable broth
  • 150 ml coconut milk
  • 2 tsp tomato paste
  • 2 tsp harissa paste
  • 1 tsp peanut butter
  • some spinach or kale to stir in optional
  • some cilantro and peanuts to garnish

How to

Thats how it works:

  1. Finely dice up the onion. In a pot heat up the olive oil and add the onion in. Sauté it for a few minutes until it is all glassy. Then add in the spices and let them in cooperate well for about one minute. Next, pour the lentils into the pot and sauté them for a few seconds before you add the vegetable broth. 

  2. Once it boils, reduce it to a medium-low heat and let them simmer for 15 minutes. They should almost be done by now. Add in the tomato and harissa paste, the peanut butter and the coconut milk. Stir everything in until well combined and creamy. I wished, and on hand, stir in some extra spinach or kale.

  3. Place in bowls and garnish with some peanuts, some coriander and a little extra coconut milk. Serve over rice, vegetables or with bread and enjoy!

Healthy Christmas Pancakes

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Who doesn´t love a good brunch at Christmas day? For my family, it is very typical to do this. It is like another coming together after a beautiful Christmas eve before the family is leaving. We all cook together and prepare the meal so we can sit down at the table and enjoy! This pancake recipe is the perfect meal to make for all those who have a sweet tooth but don’t want to start their day with something unhealthy. These pancakes are fluffy, juicy, wholegrain and super delicious! You can´t taste the “healthy” part of them, so you can make them for everyone out of your family!

Usually I totally am a savory kind of breakfast and brunch person. I would be the first to grab the avocado toast and scrambled eggs or the smoked salmon and leave the pancakes and waffles for the others because 90% of the time they are too sweet for me. I really do not like them if they simply taste like sugar, plus it is pretty unhealthy. Traditional pancakes are loaded with sugar, butter, and plain white flour, which will not make you feel full for long and raise your blood sugar levels. 

What is in it?

In order not to result in this but still enjoy a really delicious sweet breakfast or brunch, I am sharing this super delicious and healthy pancake recipe with you. Instead of butter, we are using apple sauce, instead of white flour, we aim for whole wheat (you cannot really taste the whole wheat out but if you really do not like the flavor or need something gluten free you can substitute it for other things. Just be careful with gluten-free flour because sometimes you need them in another ratio.), and honey instead of refined sugar. Honey is a natural sweetener and it still contains some vitamins, other than conventional sweeteners. Other than that, there are eggs, to bind and Greek yoghurt to give texture, add some richness, softness, and protein. The Greek yoghurt can´t be left out and I would not substitute it with normal plain yoghurt because it does not have that thick texture. But you can substitute it for Skyr, which is an Iceland-style yoghurt that also is thick. 

What to serve it with?

I love serving these pancakes with extra yoghurt, some cooked blueberries and a nice drizzle of honey. They would also work great with fresh fruits and banana and nut butter, but since berries & co are not in season right now, I did not use them. But if you want something in season to serve it with, you can serve it with my christmas apple sauce. It makes a great topping. Or you can add some cinnamon sautéed apples from the middle layer of my Apple crumble cake. Honestly, you can serve it with whatever comes to your mind, or what you love. If you love a good drizzle of melted chocolate or some fresh butter, because .. I mean it´s Christmas. We all deserve that!

Whether you serve this for your loved ones, or treat yourself, this recipe is a great recipe! You can also make them in a big batch, freeze them separately and heat them up in the microwave before serving. It makes great for christmas or any other brunch, super simple, and incredibly flavorful!

I hope you´ll enjoy them, 

Marry Christmas, 

Katie

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Healthy Christmas Pancakes

A great way to enjoy some delicious, indulging, breakfast pancakes. No matter if they are for christmas morning (they are the best!) or just some brunch. Easy, whole wheat, packed with protein and fiber!

Course Breakfast, brunch, Dessert
Prep Time 10 Minuten
Cook Time 10 Minuten
Resting time: 10 Minuten
Total Time 30 Minuten
Servings 6 pancakes
Calories 82 kcal

What you will need

For the pancakes:

  • 1 egg
  • 50 g Apple Sauce for some next level pancakes, use my christmas apple sauce
  • 100 g Greek Yoghurt
  • 1 tbsp Honey
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 75 g Whole wheat flour
  • 40 ml almond milk Maybe more, depending on the texture

For the rest:

  • some coconut oil for frying
  • greek yoghurt for topping
  • berrie, frozen and cooked or fresh
  • any other toppings, as wanted: nuts, nut butter, fresh fruits, banana,…

How to

Thats how it works:

  1. Seperate the egg. In a larger bowl, add the egg yolk, the greek yoghurt, the applesauce, and the honey. Mix until well combined.

  2. In a seperate bowl whip up the egg white until fluffy and stiff peaks.

  3. Mix the flour and the baking powder well. Fold this mixture and the fluffy egg whites alternating under the remaining liquid ingredients. Once folded in, gently add the milk and mix. If it is too thick, add a little bit more.

  4. The consistency of the dough should be similar to a cake dough. A little runny but stick thick.

  5. Set the dough aside and leave it to rest for about 10 minutes.

  6. In a large skillet heat up coconut oil over medium heat. Bake the pancakes on each side for about 2-3 minutes. Once there are bubbles occuring, flip them.

  7. Add them onto a plate and top them with whatever toppings you desire. Enjoy!

Tomato and Bean soup (V, GF)

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This soup is just in time for the snow that is expected soon. I feel like December is the perfect time for soups. Especially with all the cookies and treats I often feel like having a light soup that still fills me up, for dinner. This soup is ready in 20 minutes, it’s vegan, packed with protein, and super delicious.

To be honest my very favorite soup is Beef Soup. It’s a traditional Austrian dish that is very common. We add noodles, carrots, beef, and „Fritatten“ to it, and it is so good! We make it for Christmas every year! My mom is the best Chef when it comes to making this soup. It is a lot of work! But anyway, since we all to not have a bunch of time, especially during the week, for making dinner, I share this quick but super delicious recipe with you guys.

How to make it:

To make the soup the first, and essential step (don’t leave this out!! It adds so much flavor) is to brown the onions and herbs in the pot. No oil, no anything. We want them to turn a little bit burnt because that way the flavor will be super intense. You really do not have to worry wether it sticks to the pot or not because it doesn’t matter. 

After that we pour a mix of vegetable stock and canned, diced tomatoes on top. The vegetable stock is like a life hack when making soups, because it instantly gives a bunch of flavor. The tomato sauce, guess what, gives the tomato-y taste to the soup. This is going to simmer with a few other ingredients. Just before serving, you add in the freshly cooked and drained white beans. I like to use canned beans simply because they are more convenient but you can also cook fresh ones and add them. If you are not a fan of white beans at all, you can add other ones or if you want and are not vegan, prawns would work great in here! 

When to serve it?

This soup works great as an appetizer whenever you are having friends over but also as a full dinner. I like to serve it with some bread or rice or quinoa, which you could add to the soup, just to make it a complete meal and more filling. The great thing is, you could just prepare it whenever you have time, and when you come home from work or school and had a long day, you can simply heat it up in 5 minutes and it will taste like a freshly cooked meal. This is the awesome thing about this. 

What about meal prep?

This meal is ideal for a big family because you can make it in large batches, it works great for meal prep, and it is very versatile. Of course, the way I would recommend you to eat it, is with white beans, just because I believe that they taste best, and it is a great plant-based meal, which always is great to have before going to bed. But you can also add in some cooked and shredded chicken, or prawns if you would like to have it with some animal protein. You can just make it for you and your family or friends and place the different protein sources/ add-ins on the table to everyone can pick whatever they like.

I hope that you are having a beautiful winter time and this soup will be added to your weekly meal plan. If you like it, it would mean a lot to me if you could leave a rating here on the website! If you decide to recreate it, be sure to tag me on Instagram with @uneptcuisiniere or with #unepetitecuisiniere !

Enjoy,

Katie 

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Tomato and Bean Soup

A delicious soup to warm up during winter season. Works great for meal prep and is super versatile.

Course Appetizer, dinner, lunch, Main Course, Soup
Prep Time 2 Minuten
Cook Time 18 Minuten
Total Time 20 Minuten
Servings 2 Servings
Calories 202 kcal

What you will need

That’s what you will need:

  • 1 Red Onion
  • 1/2 Handful Thyme
  • 1/2 Handful Rosemary
  • 500 ml Vegetable stock
  • 300 G Canned Tomatoes
  • 1 Tsp Avjar
  • 1 Tsp Tomato Paste
  • 150 G White Beans
  • 1 Tbsp Hummus

How to

This is how it works:

  1. Dice up the onion in quarters. Heat up a pot and add the onions along with the rosemary and the thyme. Let that all brown for about 5 minutes, until the onion is slightly burnt.

  2. Add the vegetable stock and the canned tomatoes. Also add the ajvar and the hummus to make it more creamy. If you want it spicy, add some Chilli flakes here.

  3. Once it has boiled, reduce to a simmer and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Add in the beans and let simmer for 2 more minutes.

  4. Serve kn soup bowls with some bread or rice and enjoy!

Healthy Protein Hot Cacao

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It is Christmas time and there already is some snow outside which means that it definitely is the season for huge cups of tea and hot chocolate with a mountain of whipped cream. We all love either of that but to make this time of the year a little bit healthier without making it less delicious I am sharing a healthy Protein Hot Cacao Recipe with you, which contains 8g of protein in each serving!!

Drinking hot chocolate for me means sitting in the bed underneath a warm blanket in my PJ´s reading a love story or watching a Christmas movie. Or it means sitting in a ski hut with my friends or family and taking a break from skiing and escaping the cold. Either one of them bring back a lot of beautiful and meaningful memories. This is why I like to drink this since it gives me some good vibes and reminds me of lots of love. 

To be honest I am not a huge fan of hot chocolate, if it is prepared as it is in Italy, with a tiny bit of milk and something like a molten chocolate bar. This is wayyy too rich for me! I am more on the tea side of hot drinks but I also do like hot Cacao. The only thing is that when drinking it, the store-bought ones are often packed with a lot of added sugars, and very little Protein. They are good, but unfortunately not healthy. 

To make them less indulging I decided to change the ingredients a little bit. In my recipe I ask to use raw cacao. This is different from Cocoa because it is not roasted at high temperatures which helps to keep the health benefits of it and not make it lose any nutritional value. Cocoa Powder often contains a lot of added sugar and is a totally processed food. It sometimes even contains food coloring to make it look more appetizing and artificial flavoring. Cacao is the raw product that does not contain anything else then the bean. Without the heating process it is a food very high in antioxidants and a great source of magnesium, potassium, iron, and calcium. It also contains a healthy amount of protein and it is shown to improve memory and lowering blood pressure as well as insulin resistance! What a superfood?!

Ok, now I think we have enough theory about cacao. So next time you go to the store think about what you buy. When buying raw cacao, you can still add sweeteners but YOU know exactly what is in it and it does not contain a billion other add-ins. 

Other than that, I like to use winter spices to flavor the (plant-based) milk, a dried fig to add sweetness and fiber and different seeds to give it a protein kick. To make a health substitute for the whipped cream, you can easily go for coconut whip. You can make tis by buying canned coconut milk. You place it in the fridge overnight and when making it, you open the jar, only take the solid part of the coconut milk, whip it up and tada.. a healthier and plant-based version of whipped cream! I hope that you will enjoy this recipe more than once in December and if you do, it would be great it you could tag me on Instagram with @uneptcuisiniere and leave a rating here on the blog, so I know that you like it!

Have a beautiful Christmas time!

Katie

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Healthy Protein Hot Cacao

The Cacao Recipe to make your Christmas time healthier but not a tiny bit less delicious! Each serving contains 8g of protein!

Course Breakfast, brunch, Dessert, Drinks
Prep Time 3 Minuten
Cook Time 5 Minuten
Total Time 8 Minuten
Servings 2 servings
Calories 170 kcal

What you will need

For the Milk:

  • 500 ml Almond Milk you can use any milk you like
  • 2 sticks cinnamon
  • 4 cloves
  • 1 dried fig
  • a pinch of salt

For the Cacao Mix

  • 3 tbsp raw cacao powder
  • 2 tsp hemp seeds
  • 2 tsp pumpkin seeds
  • 2 tsp sunflower seeds

How to

That is how it works:

  1. In a pot add the milk, along with the cinnamon, cloves, fig, and salt. Bring it to a boil.

    Meanwhile add all of the ingredients for the cacao mix to a food processor and process until a very fine texture is reached.

  2. Through a sieve pour the milk into a blender (preferably a high speed one). This way the spices will be removed since we do not want them to be blended, they should only add flavor. Take the dried fig and add it to the blender aswell.

    Add the cacao mixture and blend everything together until a smooth consistency is reached.

  3. Serve in jars and top with some whipped cream, coconut whip or with some freshly grated cacao! Enjoy!