feel food club

Salad

Potato and Asparagus Salad with herby vinaigrette

by Kommentar verfassen

Salad does not have to include greens and be boring all the time. By far not. As much as we love some refreshing and light salads, sometimes we are craving something more filling and heartier. Not saying it needs to be less healthy. Like this one. So good. So refreshing. So filling. Perfect lunch as is or ideal barbecue side! Amazing.

Spring is, fresh asparagus and fresh herbs for me. The colours and smell of them just really make one smile. Asparagus is so healthy and versatile too! You can make a soup, a risotto, just plain with potatoes or hollandaise sauce, whatever you want and it tastes amazing when prepared the right way.

Green, white or pink?

Asparagus is really high in fiber and has a reasonable amount of protein for a vegetable. Also, it is packed with folate and very low in calories. No matter, which one you prefer, white or green (or there even is pink one, which I have never tried but is super cool!), they are all pretty similar in nutrients. The white one just has a more intense asparagus taste, while the green one is milder. In this recipe I like to use both, because they add different flavours, textures and colours, but if you do not like either at all, you can only go with one type.

Are potatoes even healthy?

But asparagus is only half of the deal. As good as it is, it is not super filling. But since we want this to be a filling dish, with some good carbohydrates, we still need some potatoes. I know that there are a lot of saying that claim that carbs and potatoes are bad but they are not! They are loaded with incredibly nourishing vitamins, a lot of fiber and minerals. Potatoes actually are a super food! And Carbohydrates are everything else than unhealthy. They are the main source of energy for our bodies, which means they should make up more than half of our diet. They are essential for us!

Which potatoes should I use?

The best potatoes for this recipe are baby potatoes (Bauernkartoffel in German). Why? Because you can eat them with the skin on and they are small. Therefore you do not have to peel them or cut them smaller, which is way more convenient. If you cannot find them anywhere, you can substitute them with others, but it will be lot more work.

Last but not least: the perfect vinaigrette

What would a salad be without a decent vinaigrette? Not a salad, just some veggies. I believe that in most dishes, the real flavour comes down to the sauces. Just like here. You could cover everything with a hollandaise sauce but this would not just make it pretty unhealthy but also would not taste as good. The vinaigrette here is very simple and rather light. It is a mix of lemon juice, parsley and olive oil. The lemon and a freshness, the herbs some greens and flavour and the olive oil helps the potatoes not to stick together and also adds a bunch of flavour. Together it tastes amazing and so fresh. The combination with the asparagus, potatoes, and dishes is just amazing!

When and how should we eat it?

You can enjoy this salad when it still is warm or you can also enjoy it cold, which makes it a great leftover. Unlike most salads, you can add the vinaigrette here beforehand (if you want to repurpose it as a leftover) and do not have to wait until just before you want to eat it. If you want, this can be a main dish, and if you wish you could add some boiled eggs or cottage cheese to it. But this also works great as a side dish that packs carb and veggies in one! Love to serve this at a barbecue or with a nice piece of meat or fish!

I hope that you enjoy this recipe and will have fun cooking!
Enjoy,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière

Print

Potato and Asparagus Salad with herby vinaigrette

A super refreshing and delicious spring salad that will nourrish you and fill you up! Soft potatoes with some delish asparagus and a refreshing herb vinaigrette! Toatlly delish!

Course Appetizer, dinner, Main Course, Salad, Side Dish
Prep Time 10 Minuten
Cook Time 20 Minuten
Total Time 30 Minuten
Servings 4 sides
Calories 199 kcal

What you will need

  • 600 g baby potatoes
  • 600 g asparagus (mixed white and green)
  • 100 g radishes
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • juice from 1 small or 1/2 large lemon
  • 1 tbsp parsley chopped
  • 1/2 tbsp butter
  • 1/2 tbsp sugar

How to

  1. Bring two pots with water to a boil. Salt both. In one pot add the baby potatoes and boild for 20 minutes.

    In the meantime, generously peel the white asparagus, about 2 times around the stalk. Chop about 2 cm off the ends of both, green and white asparagus.

    In the empty pot add the butter and sugar and the white asparagus. Let this boil for about 5-10 minutes, depending on how thick the stalks are. Then add in the green aspargus and cook for another 5 minutes. The total cooking time of the white asparagus is between 10 and 15 minutes.

  2. Once the potatoes are done cooking, let them cool a little bit. Then half them or cut them into three pieces. Add them into a bowl. Finely grate or chop the radishes and add aswell.

    When the asparagus is done cooking, also cut it into about 2-3 cm sized pieces and add them aswell. Sprinkle with sea salt and cracked black pepper.

    In a bowl combine the parsley, olive oil and lemon juice. Add it to the other vegetables and mix through.

    Serve and enjoy!

Vegan Kale Ceasar Salad

by Kommentar verfassen

Summer is (luckily) getting closer and closer, which means so do salads for summer bodies. But please, it shouldn’t be about the way you look but the way you feel! For me plantbased or veggie heavy dishes always make me feel the best, give me tons of vitamins, a lot of energy, make my sleep be that best it could possibly be and just shine grin the inside and out. 

But I know for a lot of people when they read „salad“ they either think of rabbit food (as my brother likes to say :)) or some green leaves underneath a ton of dressing. So today, we are doing none of those. Neither super boring and leaving us hungry, nor drenched in a fat heavy dressing. No. We a re doing a super delicious vegan and healthy version of the super popular ceasar salad. Still a little cheesy, with self dried tomatoes (best thing ever!) and crispy pan fried rosemary chickpeas. Sounds like a pretty solid dish to me and it definitely is! 

Why Kale?

That’s super simple: to switch things up. As good as Romain lettuce is sometimes, it is good to change things every now and then. And kale is a true superfood. Super high in fiber, minerals, vitamins, iron, antioxidants, and all of that other healthy stuff. And no, it’s not the raw one that is hard to chew but we are steaming it so it is softer, easier to digest and tastier. I know that there are a lot of people that absolutely can’t stand kale at all, no matter in which form, then I would recommend using spinach or lambs lettuce as this would work best for this. Also a mix with arugula would be great!

What else?

That’s a good question. Where to start? The oven roasted tomatoes, the incredible dressing, the crispy chickpeas or the croutons? 
One after the other. So what else is super typical for ceasar salad are the croutons. No normal croutons here but whole wheat garlic ones. You heard me right. A little healthier but so good! Pan fried with fresh garlic and a little olive oil, it’s the best add in (to any salad actually).

Homemade dried tomatoes

Next up; oven roasted tomatoes. If you have never made this before, you sure missed out on something and spent way too much money on store bought ones before. It is essentially 3 steps: cut the tomatoes, place them in the oven, take them out. Oh, yeah and eat them of course! That’s how easy it is. You just leave them in the oven for an hour and go take a bath in the meantime. After an hour they are going to be somewhat I like to call semi-dried. They are dried, but still a little juice and not tough like leather. 

Best crispy chickpeas

Next up, the crispy chickpeas. That’s THE way to do crispy chickpeas. So good you drain them from the can and rinse them. After tap them dry (this is important bc otherwise they are not gonna be crispy) with a kitchen paper. In a pan we add olive oil, garlic and rosemary and let them fry for 2 minutes to infuse the water. Rosemary and garlic out, chickpeas in and crisp them up for 5-10 minutes with some smoked paprika powder and sea salt. If you like the fried garlic and rosemary, go ahead and add them to your salad, otherwise don’t. 
You can make those chickpeas ahead of time and just keep in a jar to snack on every now and then. A life changer.

The dressing:

And lastly to top it all off, the star of the show: the vegan Caesar dressing. Yep. Vegan. No cheese and no sardines. No mayo. Good and good. Instead of Parmesan cheese (not that Parmesan wouldn’t be good, it’s delicious, but sometimes it’s better not to have too much cheese) we are using nutritional yeast (German: Hefeflocken)! You can get those in your local health store (Reformhaus) or in some organic shops. It is made out of yeast, high in protein and really resembles the taste of cheese. The base of the dressing are cashews. Ideally we soak them a few hours or the night before so they get softer and easier to blend. They will ensure everything to get really creamy and add a really nice flavor. We also have some Dijon mustard and capers in it, to replace the sardines, a little vinegar and that’s it. It actually is not super difficult but tastes amazing! 

So now, it’s just left to be mixed up! Nothing more nothing less! The steamed kale, the oven dried tomatoes, the croutons, and the dressing. Toss it all and enjoy! 

Note:

If you want to meal prep this, make sure to leave the chickpeas aside to keep the crunch. You can already toss the salad in the dressing because when using kale, it doesn’t really matter, since the kale then absorbs the flavor and gets softer! 

Happy cooking!
Katie // Une Petite Cuisiniere

Print

Vegan Ceasar Salad with Crispy Chickpeas

A vegan twist on the classic and it is so good! Super delicious dressing, best ever chickpeas, oven roasted tomatoes and homemade croutons.

Course Appetizer, bowl, brunch, dinner, Main Course, Salad
Cuisine American
Prep Time 10 Minuten
Cook Time 1 Stunde
Soaking Time: 2 Stunden
Total Time 3 Stunden 10 Minuten
Servings 2 servings
Calories 411 kcal

What you will need

For the salad:

  • 4 handful kale off the stem
  • 15 cherry tomatoes
  • 1 slice bread
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 120 g chickpeas

For the dressing:

  • 25 g cashews
  • 2 tsp dijon mustard
  • 2 tsp capers
  • 1/2 lemon, juiced
  • 2 tbsp plant milk
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 1 tbsp nutritional yeast

How to

That is how it works:

  1. Soak the cashews for about 2 hours to overnight in water. 

    Preheat the oven to 100*C. Slice the tomatoes in half and lay them on a baking tray lines with parchment paper. Bake them in the oven for an hour.

  2. In the meantime bring a pot with water to a boil. Take a sieve and place the kale leaves, that have been removed from the stem in there. Let them steam for 2-3 minutes. After remove them and drain under cold water. This will ensure the color to stay and the kale to cool down quicker.

  3. Take the bread and cut it into 1 cm cubes. Press out or grate 2 garlic cloves and combine them with the olive oil. Toss the bread cubes in the oil mixture and then fry them in a pan for about 2 minutes until crispy. 

  4. Take the chickpeas out of the can. Drain and rinse them to get rid of the liquid around them because this would make you go gasy. Tap them dry with some kitchen paper. In a pan heat up the olive oil. Once hot add the garlic and rosemary and fry for about 2 minutes, then take them out. After, you throw the chickpeas along with the sea salt and smoked paprika in and let them fry on medium high for about 5-10 minutes until super crispy.

  5. Drain the cashews from the water. Add them to a food processor and add the nutritional yeast, Dijon mustard, capers, salt, pepper, water and plant milk. Blend until smooth. If too thick, add some more water, if too thin, some more cashews! 

  6. Place the kale in a bowl and mix with the dressing. Separate it into bowl. Take the tomatoes out of the oven and add them into the bowls with the croutons. Top with the chickpeas and if you like it, the fried garlic.

    Serve and enjoy!


Oven Baked Lemon Honey Feta

by Kommentar verfassen

Crispy and creamy cheese, lemony twist, honey tomatoes and tangy capers. Maybe with some baguette to dip everything up? Sounds pretty good – at least to me! 20 minutes, perfect for anyone, vegetarian, and pretty healthy too! This makes a perfect light lunch or a decent and quick weeknight dinner.  

I am a huge fan of feta cheese. I think it is a great addition to so many things such as pasta, eggs, on top of salads or bowl, or whatever. It just adds the finishing touch and takes everything next level. Especially in summer it is such an amazing food because it is a little fresh so it adds a summer twist to every dish. 

What is it like?

In summer when my uncle goes to Greece every year he always brings me a giant block of feta and it is like a dream. Then we´ll have Greek salads pretty much every day. They are just so simple in summer and take literally 10 minutes to make. This dish is pretty similar. Think Greek salad but baked. And without cucumber. It has very similar ingredients, tomatoes, feta, olives, herbs, olive oil. It is just a little different as it does not contain cucumbers (because baked cucumbers? I don’t know) and some lemon zest, which is like the best thing ever here. Plus some honey ad breadcrumbs to make it crispy and tangy. 

When you bake it and soak up the remaining sauce after with a baguette it just tastes sooo good! It is fresh, sweet, just super good. But my fvorite part of this dish is that the feta is turned into a creamy cheese but with a crispy crumble top and you just put a piece of it on some bread and have that creaminess and sweetness and crispyness all together in your mouth. 

But how do you actually make it?

Really easy – you take the feta cheese and place it in a baking dish. Throw some cherry tomatoes, olives and capers in and some grated lemon zest. You sprinkle some breadcrumbs on top and drizzle honey, olive oil and lemon juice. Place in the oven for 10 minutes and voila – there you go, done! This is how simple it is. That is so great! That simple but so flavorful! Honestly so good. 

When and for who?

This dish also is great for people with intolerances because you can use gluten free breadcrumbs if you can´t have gluten and feta cheese is not made out of cow´s milk but out of sheep’s milk, which means even people with intolerances can enjoy that. I would not recommend it for meal prep because then you loose the creaminess and crisp but I do not believe that this is necessary because it only takes 15 minutes!

I hope that you will make and enjoy this dish whenever you want! It is as good in winter as it is in summer so it really is up to you when you make it!

Happy cooking!

Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière

5 von 1 Bewertung
Print

Oven Baked Lemon Honey Feta

15 minute, tangy, sweet and fresh baked feta with a crispy crust and sweet tomatoes. Ideal dish for a light lunch or a quick dinner.

Course dinner, lunch, Main Course
Cuisine greek, Italian
Prep Time 5 Minuten
Cook Time 10 Minuten
Total Time 15 Minuten
Servings 2 servings
Calories 325 kcal

What you will need

That is what you will need:

  • 1 block Feta Cheese (150g)
  • 1 handful cherry tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp olives
  • 1 tbsp capers
  • zest of half lemon
  • juice of half lemon
  • 1-2 tbsp breadcrumbs
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • some thyme
  • some rosemary
  • some sea salt
  • some baguette and salad to serve with

How to

That is how it works:

  1. Preheat the oven to 240C or Grill.

  2. Place the feta on a baking tray or into a baking dish. Add the cherry tomatoes, capers and olives. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs, lemon zest and some sea salt on top.

  3. Drizzle to olive oil, honey and lemon juice and place the herbs on top.

  4. Put in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.

  5. Serve with some fresh beguette and some salad.

    Enjoy!

Green Goddess Bowl

by Kommentar verfassen

Sometimes all I am craving is some super clean and healthy food. Especially when I am not feeling the best or have eaten pretty unhealthy the past days. My body is just asking for nutrients and something to fuel it with. There is nothing better for this than a bowl packed with vitamins, nutrients, and tons of greens! This green goddess bowl is my go-to meal for that. It is ready in 15 minutes, incredibly good, super healthy, and so satisfying! It doesn’t taste like „boring healthy“ just because it has like a ton of greens in it but it is super good.

Sometimes when I eat a lot of processed foods, I just don’t feel good at all. It makes me tired, I don’t sleep well, I can’t concentrate and so on. And I know that I am not the only person who feels that way. I mean no wonder. I do not think that products with a thousand add-ins and chemicals, that we can’t even pronounce, are good for us. Even if it says healthy on the packaging or low sugar, it is so important to check the labels and see what actually is in it. I think that it is way better for us if we eat something higher in sugar, but it is naturally sweetened, e.g. with Dates than if we buy something low sugar with emulgators and flavorings and 100 ingredients we have never heard of.

This is why I love to cook with real ingredients and Whole Foods. I for example don’t do „vegan cheese“ that is supposed to taste like cheese because of chemistry, I think that real cheese is way better for us in this example. But that is not about the recipe anymore, so let’s get back to that. I just wanted you to understand why eating Whole Foods is so important to me. 

This green goddess bowl is something I make very often. Honestly, it is such a quick lunch, but also works great if you prepare it the night before and take it to work or school. It takes 10 ingredients which makes it super simple. So as a base, I like to use greens, spinach is my favorite. I do it raw because it is like a salad but if you do not like it raw at all, you can sauté it or steam it. If you prefer other greens such as kale, arugula, lambs lettuce or whatever, that works too, just make sure you have a base full of vitamins.

The other Part of the base is our grain or carb. I like to use quinoa here. Quinoa is such a nutrient dense food! It has a ton of protein, fiber, tastes amazing btw, and a reasonable amount of vitamins and minerals. Also it US ready in less than 15 minutes which is perfect for a quick lunch. Also, other than rice I think, it still tastes good after like 3-4 days in the fridge. So if you make a big batch in the beginning of the week you can use it over and over throughout the week! If you don’t like quinoa at all, something like brown rice or couscous would work really good here too! Just be aware that cooking brown rice takes way longer than it does to make quinoa. 

So now we have the base, we can go on to the remaining ingredients. Here I just like to stick with a lot of greens because they are super healthy and I think it looks super pretty when it is all in one color :)! We cut up some fresh cucumber, slice some avocado, steam or blanch some broccoli and peas. That is about it. You can also do some zucchini or sugar snap peas or edamame if that is something you always have on hand, I just happen to have all of those ingredients in my fridge all the time. The great thing about this bowl are all the different components and textures, the creaminess if the quinoa, the crunch of the cucumber, the bite of the broccoli and peas and the softness of the spinach. I know that this bowl is really healthy and maybe not something for everyone but it is soo good if you just want something clean and nourishing!

Up to now, we have almost everything. But, let’s be honest, that would really be a bit boring if we just sprinkled some salt on here. We don’t want that, and that’s why we are making a bomb dressing. As you probably have noticed this bowl does not really contain any fats, except for the avocado. The dressing adds some healthy fat here. We use tahini, which is like the best thing ever, in salad dressings but also elsewhere! Tahini is like peanut butter but made out of sesame seeds and is a really popular ingredient in eastern cuisine. It has a lot of vitamins and healthy fats and it just tastes sooo good! Other than this we have some lemon juice, honey or maple, plant based or normal yoghurt to add creaminess, a little vinegar and some water to think everything out because otherwise it would be very very thick! This dressing adds so much flavor and just brings all the ingredients together. It is something you definitely do not want to miss out when making this bowl! 

I hope that you will enjoy this recipe as much as I do and love all of the flavors it contains! It is such an amazing dish when just wanting to fuel your body and nourish it! Super easy to make, incredibly delicious (although it is pretty healthy!) and very meal prep friendly! Enjoy & happy cooking! 

Print

Green Goddess Bowl

A super clean, healthy & delicious bowl/ salad perfect for when your body is craving healthy food and nutrients. 15 minutes and mealprep friendly.

Course bowl, dinner, lunch, Main Course, Salad
Cook Time 15 Minuten
Total Time 15 Minuten
Servings 2 servings
Calories 450 kcal

What you will need

For the bowl:

  • 100 g Quinoa
  • 3-4 handful spinach
  • 1/2 cucumber
  • 200 g Broccoli
  • 100 g Peas
  • 1/2 Avocado

For the dressing:

  • 2 tbsp Tahini
  • 1/2 lemon juiced
  • 2 tsp vinegar
  • 1 tsp honey
  • 1 tbsp yoghurt or plant based yoghurt
  • 3-4 tbsp water

How to

That’s how it works:

  1. Wash and rinse the Quinoa. Add it to a pot along with 250ml of water and a pinch of salt. Bring it to a boil, reduce to a simmer and let simmer for about 10-12 minutes until fluffy.

  2. Bring another pot with salted water to a boil. Add in the broccoli and peas and boil for about 3 minutes. Then drain and rinse under ice cold water. This will keep the nutrients and color as it stops the cooking process.
    Either peel the cucumber into thin strips or dice it up into cubes.

  3. For the dressing mix all of the ingredients together until creamy. Use as much or as little water as you wish, depending on your desired thickness.

  4. In a Bowl Place the spinach. Add the broccoli and peas. Next put the quinoa into the bowl. Top with the cucumber ribbons. Drizzle the dressing and garnish with some fresh mint leaves.

  5. Serve and enjoy!