feel food club

Vegetarian

Incredibly easy Strawberry and Pesto Couscous with Crumbled Feta

by Kommentar verfassen

I can’t stress this enough but summer REALLY is all about those quick and easy meals. And about all of the fresh fruits. So we are taking those super juicy and sweet large summer strawberries and packing them into the easiest „salad“ with couscous, pesto, feta and lemon and making it into a (no joke!!!!) 10 minute (healthy!) dish. We do not need anything more!

What is special about this dish?

Well, I guess everything! I mean, we all know those „basic“ combos, watermelon and feta, strawberry and spinach, feta and pesto, and so on, But really, a watermelon and feta salad or a strawberry and spinach one is nice but it really is not filling. maybe for 10 minutes ok, but that’s not what we want.

What is special is that there are so many different products used and combined into one dish! So many different flavours and textures mixed up in a bowl. It is the sweetness of the strawberries (which you really have to try because they are in season right now!!), the softness of the couscous, the crunch of the spinach, the nice tanginess from the feta and the saltiness from the pesto.

The pesto – a dream

I have already explained in a blog post whether pesto is healthy or not (you can read about it in the post for the and for the Ultra Green Pesto Salad with Burrata ). To summarise, you can say yes(-ish) if in moderation. But really, pesto is not just pesto. When you go to the supermarket there are many many different pestos. So just a few words about it.

Pesto is traditionally from Italy and made out of basil, olive oil, pine nuts, salt, garlic and parmesan cheese. And really, these are the only ingredients that should be in pesto. But if you go to the supermarket you are very likely to find one that is not high in quality since most of them are. A little tip here: look out for dark ones and check the ingredient label. the darker they are the higher the quality because the more basil is in there, and the less water!

I know, I know, it is not so easy to find a good pesto at the supermarket. That is the reason I have decided to try and order one online and let me tell you, BEST DECISION EVER. It literally tastes just like in Italy or homemade one!!! The perfect saltiness, a REAL basil flavour and not just watery paste with flavour enhancer.

I got it at PastaFani and it really is a game changer. Made out of 100% Austrian Ingredients and 100% organic ingredients. I am being serious, that exists AND it is tasty! Really, the best pesto I have ever bought somewhere. And it is so convenient. It comes straight to your door (delivered) and you can (and definitely will want to) add it on pretty much anything! Trofie with Pine Nuts and Potatoes, like in Italy, in Salad dressings, scrambled eggs, sandwiches, anything.

You can find the pesto here. If you want good pesto, get this one. It is insane!

Is this dish healthy?

Alright, enough said about pesto (if there is such thing as saying enough about pesto) but is this dish actually healthy or is it just super tasty? believe it or not, it is healthy too! You get in your vitamins, from your strawberries and spinach, a good amount of plant based protein, carbohydrates and fibre and healthy fats from the pesto. It is a pretty well balanced, healthy and delicious dish!

Although, I need to say that couscous is not quite as healthy as Quinoa is since it contains way less fibre but you can look out for wholegrain couscous to make it even healthier!

Substitutes:

Couscous – Quinoa, Millet
Strawberries – Raspberries
Feta Cheese – leave it out, sub for Mozzarella or Cottage Cheese
Spinach – lambs lettuce, arugula, kale
Pesto – do not substitute this (since this really makes the dish)

I genuinely love this recipe on hot summer days since it comes together really quick! It also works amazing for meal prep so you can take it on a picnic or to a friends house for barbecue or take it to work/ school for a delicious and healthy lunch!

Print

Incredibly easy Strawberry and Pesto Couscous with Crumbled Feta

Summer in a bowl. Takes you 10 minutes to make, combines juicy strawberries with tangy pesto, fresh feta and soft couscous. Tastes like a treat but is healthy. You´ll want it all summer long!

Course Appetizer, bowl, Main Course, Salad, Side Dish
Prep Time 10 Minuten
Total Time 10 Minuten
Servings 4 people
Calories 450 kcal

What you will need

  • 240 g couscous
  • 400 g strawberries
  • 100 g spinach fresh one
  • 100 g feta cheese
  • 120-160 g basil pesto
  • some fresh basil leaves
  • salt & pepper
  • 1/2 lemon juiced

How to

  1. Prepare the couscous according to package instructions and generously salt it. (Usually you just have to pour boiling water on top but this varies from brand to brand).

  2. Remove the greens from the strawberries and quarter or half them. Roughly chop up the spinach and basil.

  3. For the dressing combine the pesto with the juice of the lemon and 1-2 tbsp of water.

  4. Once the couscous is done let it cool off a bit and then combine everything in a bowl. Divide onto plates and crumble the feta on top! Serve and enjoy!

I hope you really enjoy this recipe as much as I do!
Happy cooking,
Enjoy,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière

No waste French Toast with Basil Apricots

by Kommentar verfassen

This recipe post is a very special one to me. I do not just want to introduce a super delicious and healthy recipe to you but I also want to address a topic with this: sustainability and food waste in the kitchen. I believe that there is way to much food thrown away and that way to often we do not care about making conscious and sustainable decisions in the kitchen. With this recipe I designed one that is low to zero waste, that is fully organic and local and that is made of regional ingredients from Austria. Kind of a back to the roots recipe to raise awareness of how wasteful we can be in the kitchen.

But first, what even is French toast?

I think most of us know, but not everyone. French Toast is bread that has been soaked in milk, eggs, and sugar (traditionally) and then is fried in a pan, served with syrup. In Austria it also is very popular with the name „Armer Ritter“. It is something actually pretty traditional in the Austrian cuisine but has only become really popular with the American name „French Toast“.

How to reduce (food) waste with French toast

The great thing about this dish is that it is something we Austrians would call „Restlessen“. This literally translates to eating the remains, so what’s left. It is an amazing (and pretty tasty) way to use leftovers.

  • Instead of throwing bread away that is one week old and already pretty stale, you can use it for this recipe. That way you save food from being thrown away AND you make a super tasty meal. A win win. But it still is by far not popular enough, unfortunately, that’s why I want to encourage you to give it a shot. Next time you consider throwing bread away, try this out.
  • Similar goes for the apricots. I sometimes feel that apricots are like avocados. They are not ripe for a week and then suddenly one day they are and the next they go bad. And if you do not want to make something with the apricots this one exact day when they are good, you are likely to throw them away. Which is sad. When you cook them down, add some lemon juice, a little sweetener and some fresh basil you basically make something like jam (Marmalade). And this will last for several days in the fridge. Again, you do not have to throw anything away and you create something super tasty. What I love most about this is that you can add this „jam“ to basically anything from yogurt bowls, porridge, cake to ice cream or another dessert cream. And no, you cannot only make this with apricots. With pretty much any fruit it works. Peaches, berries, cherries, whatever you have on hand and you feel like you can use up.

What about the rest?

Well, that’s the two main components that are contributing to reduce waste. But what about the rest? We still need milk, eggs, sweetener, oil and yogurt. So one by one.

  • Milk: As for the milk, I love to buy it as Joseph Brot . This comes from Austrian farmers, is all organic and packaged in glass bottles. Glass bottles are amazing because they are reusable. And also if you cannot return them you can use them at home for example when you make fresh smoothies or juices. Reuse and reduce waste.
  • Bread: Joseph Brot to be honest is where I go for most of my organic ingredients for recipes like those. Not only do they have the best and organic sourdough bread in whole Vienna, which is made of grains from Austria but it also comes in paper bags. No plastic.
  • Yoghurt: Moreover they have organic Austrian yoghurt. Another ingredient for this recipe. And again, it comes in glass jars. Whenever such a jar is empty I love to use it for storage. No matter if it is for nuts, dried fruits or a homemade sauce or dip that needs to be stored in the fridge. I just wash them when empty and reuse them. So incredibly handy to have on hand. I am not in any way sponsored by them and I do not want to tell you that you need to go there to buy your ingredients. Most supermarkets (I know Billa and Spar do so) have milk and yoghurt in glass jars. But what I love most about going to Joseph is that I know that the products don’t travel for days because they are all from Austria. This also is better for the environment of course and their CO2 footprint.
  • The sweetener: I love using honey as a sweetener because of several reasons: first, it’s super tasty, second, it is healthier than sugar since it does have some nutrients, third: you get it at every corner in Austria. Plus, most of the times you get it in glass jars. No plastic, less waste, reusable. I have already told you why glass jars are pretty cool but think about this: you empty your honey jar, you wash it and you can store your homemade apricot jam in it. Isn’t that amazing? It is!
  • Eggs: here it is really hard to go no waste. But there are great ways to can get close! When you purchase eggs do not buy them pre-packaged. Either buy them on a farmers market or some supermarkets have places where you can fill them into the boxes yourself. This is really convenient because you an reuse the cartoon boxes several times and you d not automatically take a new one every time you purchase eggs. Another thing that I have seen recently is a reusable egg container. So it is like a cartoon box but made out of plastic (unfortunately) but you can basically use it forever and always refill it. if you want to go 100% zero waste you could also, after using the eggs, compost the shell or if you have a farmer close to you give it to them because they may feed it to their chicken.
  • Oil: last but not least we have the oil. I prefer using something like sunflower seed oil because it is quite neutral in taste but it is regional and often comes in glasswork bottles. But also coconut oil works well (just that it is not regional here) because it has a very high cooking temperature. Also, it most of the time comes in glas containers. Again, you can reuse them. In the kitchen, for storage or even for decoration. If you add some flower leaves and a candle, this makes a beautiful decoration and accounts for an amazing atmosphere.

Why buying local?

Buying local can never harm. There are 2 main reasons I buy local. the first one is the impact it has on the environment. The transportation already makes a huge difference if the apricots come from Styria, which is 200km away or from Portugal, which is 2000km away. They do not need to be shipped by plane, they do not need a cooling system that lasts for days and is energy consuming. They come from Styria, maybe on the same day you purchase and use them.

Secondly, right now, more than ever it is important to support your local economy and local farmers. This crisis has hit every single one of us and some more than others. Of course apricots from Portugal may be cheaper because agricultural standard are not as high as they are here and therefore Austrian farmers have a harder time competing with farmers from abroad. But in order to keep the Austrian system alive and to fight through this crisis together we have to stay strong and support each other.

The last point: why buying organic

I think we have all heard that buying organic (Bio) food is better than purchasing non organic food! But why actually? Several reasons. When jr comes to fruit and veggies I would ALWAYS long for organic food when available. When being produced organic no pesticides or chemicals are allowed to be used. The use of those does not only harm our environment and soil in the long term but it actually is not good for our overall health. All of the things that have been added or injected into the food to help it trow faster and bigger can in the long term really mess up your gut and the bacteria in it and digestion. Those are things our bodies don’t know and therefore do not know how to really handle it. So really, try to buy organic. It is more expensive but your health should be worth the investment.

The other reason is, when it comes to animal products, the living conditions of the animals are better than for non-organic. Unfortunately they are not always much better or good, but organically produced animal products have higher standards.

Why doing and considering all of this? 

See, if we keep our food consumption and buying behavior as is, these are not very good conditions for the agriculture in the future. We need to make a change and we should start now. Producing less or no waste is essential as well as supporting local economy (especially after or while facing such a crisis). Furthermore it is better for our bodies and the environment when we make a change to organic shopping.

I know all of this information may be a little bit overwhelming at once. Still, I wanted to pack it all in one blog post to have the overview and because it is so important to me. I just wanted to give you a brief introduction into all of these aspects but I can also do a more detailed blog post on these topics if you are interested. But for now, I hope that you will love and enjoy this recipe and keep all of this information in the back of your head.

Print

No waste Apricot Basil French Toast

Course Breakfast, brunch, Dessert
Prep Time 10 Minuten
Cook Time 10 Minuten
Total Time 20 Minuten
Servings 2 servings

What you will need

  • 1 egg
  • 150 ml milk
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • a pinch of sea salt
  • 2 large slices of bread can be a few days old and stale
  • 5-6 apricots
  • 1 handful basil
  • 1 tbsp butter or oil
  • 150 g greek yoghurt
  • 1 tbsp honey

How to

  1. Combine the eggs, milk, honey and sea salt in a bowl. Add the slices of bread and dip them into the mixture. Let them soak in the liquid for about 2 minutes on each side.

  2. In a pan heat up half of the butter. Slice the apricots and finely slice the basil. Add the apricots into the hot pan and sautée them for 2 minutes on high heat. Turn the heat down to medium and add the basil and honey and let simmer for about 5 minutes until it is a bit saucy.

  3. Add the remaining butter to another pan and heat it up. Add the soaked bread and fry on each side for about 3 minutes on medium high. Take the bread out and place it on two plates. Add the remaining egg and milk mixture to the pan and make "sweet scrambled eggs".

  4. In a seperate bowl combine the greek yoghurt with the honey and whisk until creamy and smooth. Top the french toast with the basil apricots and the whipped honey greek yoghurt. Serve with some more honey or maple syrup and enjoy!

Happy cooking,
Enjoy,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisiniere

Summer Rolls with Peanut Tofu

by Kommentar verfassen

Picture summer in a better way than having summer rolls in the sunshine with your loved ones on a picnic, maybe at a lake. Doesn’t this sound like a dream? To me it does. But wait, where’s the catch? Oh yes, maybe to get those summer rolls. I mean, sure you could order them at your favourite Vietnamese restaurant but why not making them yourself? It is so easy and way cheaper.

If you have been a little active in the food scene of instagram you probably have already seen those. I think summer rolls have become very popular a few years ago and have become part of the whole health food industry. Besides that they are super duper tasty. So here we are, and I have made a recipe for you to make them at home. If you are not very familiar with summer rolls here is just a brief introduction!

What are summer rolls?

Summer rolls is a dish popular in Vietnam. They are also called rice paper rolls, or fresh spring rolls. It is believed though, that they originally come from China and only became popular in Vietnam. Anyway, today you can find them in most asian restaurants, even in Japanese or Thai ones.

These cute rolls look very much like spring rolls. Same size and shape. The difference is the filling and the preparation. Spring rolls are mostly filled with pork and vegetables and then deep fried. Summer rolls on the other hand are filled with vegetables, prawn, pork or tofu and oftentimes also rice vermicelli (super thin rice noodles). Also those are not deep-fried or prepared with any oil and they are served at room temperature or cold. Both, spring and summer rolls, come with a sauce on the side.

Are summer rolls healthy?

Definitely! Since the main component are vegetables, they are super healthy. Other than vegetables you often have rice vermicelli, which also are not unhealthy. They are not high in sugar or fat but also not super nutritious. For your source of protein you can use prawns, pork or tofu. They are all great sources of protein. Prawns and they also are not high in fat at all. Pork on the other hand can be high in fat, depending on which part you use.

Summer rolls kn general are not high kn fat because, unlike spring rolls they are not deep fried, and prepared with rarely little fat. The only fat may be used when preparing the protein source or in the sauce.

The sauce is the only thing you should look out for when you have those. They often are served with a sweet chili sauce or lots of soy sauce. Sweet chili sauce mostly has a lot of sugar in it and soy sauce is high in sodium. If you only get a little on the side, that’s more than fine just be aware of that!

so what’s in these summer rolls?

This is a vegetarian (actually vegan) version. I do not use rice vermicelli because I prefer them without (plus it is less work). So, as a base we have a bunch of vegetables. We use a mix of carrots, bell pepper, cucumber, lettuce and radishes. You could also add red cabbage or anything else of your preference.

To not keep it boring we also are adding some fruit. I absolutely love mango in here but papaya also works. But mango is better tbh. And of course avocado. What would a meal be without avocado? (btw, did you know that avocado is a fruit?) And of course, our source of protein, the peanut tofu. It adds a bunch of flavour and is so tasty. But still, it is not so flavourful yet, that’s why we are adding some more peanut sauce and, if you want, also some sriracha or hot sauce.

The rice paper

Rice paper is not such an easy thing to find. You will probably not find it at your regular supermarket but you can find it in pretty much and asian store. It has the form of a circle and is almost see through but a little white-ish. I get mine from Reishunger because it is super good, easy to get and they ship it right to your door!

I think that you will love this recipe for summer and I hope that you will enjoy both, making and eating it.

Print

Summer rolls with peanut tofu

a perfectly fresh and light summer dish for those hot days!

Course Appetizer, dinner, lunch
Cuisine Chinese, Vietnamese
Prep Time 25 Minuten
Cook Time 5 Minuten
Servings 2 servings
Calories 564 kcal

What you will need

  • 10 rice papers
  • 200 g tofu
  • 2 carrots
  • 1/2 cucumber
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 100 g radishes
  • 1/2 mango
  • 100 g lettuce
  • 1/2 avocado
  • 1 tbsp oil

For the peanut sauce:

  • 150 ml light coconut milk
  • 2 tbsp peanut butter
  • 4 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tsp sriracha hot sauce
  • 1/2 lime
  • 1 tbsp coconut sugar or brown sugar
  • 1-2 tbsp water

How to

  1. Combine all the ingredients for the peanut sauce. Slice the tofu into 1 cm thick and about 6-7cm long strips (or hwo ever it works best for you).

    Place them in the peanut sauce and let them marinate for about 1 h or longer if possible.

  2. Peel the carrots and either grate them or slice them into thin strips. Also slice the peper and cucumber into thin strips. Peel the mango and also cut it into bite sized pieces. Finely slice the radishes and chop up the lettuce.

  3. Heat up a pan with the oil. Take the tofu out of the sauce and fry on each side for about 2 minutes. Set it aside.

  4. To assemble prepare the rice paper according to package instructions. It most of the time works best when you take a kitchen towel and make it wet. Lay that on a flat surface. Then run the rice paper under water for about 3-4 seconds. Place them on the wet kitchen towl. Add a little bit of each filling and some of the remaining peanut sauce into the rice paper, rather on th elower end but not on the edge.

    First, fold in the rice paper from the bottom. Then fold in the sides and roll it up, so all of the fillings are in the rice paper and it is tightly closed. This takes a little practice but after a few it will work out.

  5. Pour the remaining sauce in a little conatiner and serve it with the summer rolls! Serve and enjoy!

Happy cooking,
Enjoy,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière

Creamy Basil Feta Pasta

by Kommentar verfassen

Summer to me is lots of fresh herbs. Mint, basil, rosemary, parsley, all of the good things. No matter where. Whether it is in salads, as a garnish, on toast, in drinks, in pesto or in pasta. It is just a sign and part of summer. So fresh, so tasty. But, as good as pesto is, here we are gonna switch things up a little bit and make an extremely easy, 10 minute pasta dish! No, that’s not a typo, it actually only takes 10 minutes (maybe 15 max)!

What does summer mean to you? Laying at the beach, toasting barbecues and summer parties, going for a swim? To me it is lots of sun, good times and fresh food! Definitely! That is why I love herbs so much! I love how they add so much freshness to every single dish you add it in. Also they just add such a nice flavour!

Are herbs healthy?

Definitely! It honestly is very surprising to some! In most kitchens you will find some sort of herbs. Some prefer them in a fresh form to add them to dishes or as a garnish and some have them in their dried form. I personally prefer the dried form for seasoning because they are more intense in flavour but I always have fresh herbs on hand for garnish. Also they make pretty much everything look nice.

Back to the point. Herbs actually are super healthy. Their are extremely high in vitamins, minerals but also fibre. Some even have a decent amount of protein. The great thing about them is that it is so easy to add them to anything to give all of your meals an extra nutrient boost.

How to add more herbs to your diet

This part I believe is really easy. One of my favourite ways is to add it into salads. Like adding a little bit of mint and basil to your salad not only makes a great flavour but also adds a bunch of vitamins. Other ways are to stir is into sauces like into tomato sauce, into stir fries, here cilantro would work amazing, when marinating something or just make pesto out of it. All of these ways are super easy.

Is this sauce like pesto?

No, but also yes. So it is kind of similar but also different. What is pretty much the same is the strong basil flavour. But we are not using parmesan cheese and pine nuts and loads of olive oil. So basil as a base is same. Instead of parmesan cheese we are using feta. If you do not know, feta is a cheese made out of sheep’s milk. It originated in Greece and still is very popular these. It is a firm cheese but has a rather „light“ and fresh taste. So as said, it is a firm cheese but when you blend it up it becomes very creamy.

We still, also use a little bit of olive oil to add some flavour but not as much as in pesto. No nuts in here, which pesto does have. What is „new“ here, which is not usual in pesto is that we add some greek yoghurt. The greek yoghurt adds some creaminess and makes it really good.

How to make the sauce & substitutes

Well, that’s the easiest thing ever. Blend it all up, that’s it. First only the basil, which allows it to become very fine and smooth. Then we add the feta and lastly, some salt, olive oil and greek yoghurt. Also reserve some water from the boiling pasta and add it again when combining the pasta with the sauce. This really is key to making a super creamy sauce and to allow it to combine it well.

If you do not do feta, you can use cream cheese instead. I would recommend using one from goat though, because I believe that the flavour just goes in better harmony with the basil but regular one works too. If you do not have greek yoghurt on hand, you can use some regular yoghurt or half the amount and substitute it for cream cheese.

When to have it & meal prep

I LOVE this as a quick and easy lunch or dinner. It is perfect for a large number of people because it is super easy to make and very versatile. If you want, you can also add some grilled chicken or prawns on top, which also is really tasty.

I would not recommend it for meal prep just because I personally do not like reheated pasta and it only takes very little time anyway. If you do not mind reheated pasta, you can totally meal prep it. Or you just meal prep the sauce, this works really well.

I hope that you like this recipe and enjoy it all throughout summer !

Print

Creamy Basil Feta Pasta

A great summer pasta. Not like your pesto but much better. And easier. 10 minutes, 6 ingredients. Super good.

Course dinner, lunch, Main Course
Cuisine Mediterranean
Prep Time 5 Minuten
Cook Time 10 Minuten
Total Time 15 Minuten
Servings 4 servings
Calories 732 kcal

What you will need

  • 500 g spaghetti
  • 300 g feta
  • 100 g basil about 3-4 large handful
  • 100 g greek yogurt
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • some dried tomatoes

How to

  1. Bring a large pot with salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta according to package instructions. Before draining the pasta reserve one cup (about 200ml) of the pasta water.

  2. While the pasta is cooking add the basil to a food processor, until it is very finely chopped. Then add the feta and blend again until a creamy consitency is reached. Last add the olive oil, greek yoghurt and a pinch of salt. Add at least half of the reserved pasta water and blend again.

  3. After draining the pasta add it back to the pot along with the sauce. If it still is too thick and does not combine well, add some more pasta water.

  4. Divide onto the plates and garnish with extra feta, dried tomatoes and fresh basil.

    Enjoy!

Happy cooking,
Enjoy,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière