Tuesday, November 25, 2014

fresh ginger tea

what you need:

  • 1.5l hot/boiling water
  • a thumbsized piece of ginger
  • the juice of half a lemon or honey (or both ;) )

what you do:
  • peel your ginger; now I like to put mine on a toothpick and let it sit like that, other people like to chop it up, it's up to you!
  • mix lemon juice and hot water, add to your ginger
  • add honey if you want to
  • you don't have to use lemon AND honey, the tea tastes really good just using one of them too
  • you can re-use your one piece of ginger a couple times!





Ginger tea has a lot of benefits, I'm only going to name a few of them here. First of all, it stimulates the blood flow, which warms you up from the inside and helps protect you from getting a cold. Furthermore, it facilitates the digestion, detoxicates and rejuvenates.
It's the most effective when you feel nauseous, have a cold, stomach pain, flatulences, or need help losing weight. 

Sunday, November 23, 2014

guacamole

what you need:

  • 1 ripe avocado
  • lemon juice
  • 1 hard boiled egg (optional)
  • 1 small tomato
  • 1/2 onion
  • 1 garlic clove
  • pepper, salt 

what you do:
  • mash the avocado
  • add a dash of lemon juice (it keeps the mash from getting brown)
  • chop egg, tomato, onion and garlic finely
  • mix it into the avocado mash
  • season with pepper and salt (I even added some chilli)
  • you can enjoy guacamole as a spread or use it as a dip for nachos etc.




Credits for this recipe go to my mom, thank you! I love it!

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

quick and easy partysnack: salmon crêpes

what you need: 

  • crêpes...dah! here's my all-time favourite crêpes recipe
  • cream cheese; I like to use the ones with pepper or herbs, but I can imagine that something more fancy like tomato&chilli would be really tasty too!
  • smoked salmon; in case you don't like fish, smoked ham tastes also really nice in this combination, try Serrano or Parma ham!

what you do: 
  • fry the crêpes, if you have enough time, give them a moment to cool down a little
  • spread cream cheese on them, don't hesitate to be generous ;)
  • lay out the smoked salmon on top 
  • roll up the crêpes and slice them in about 3cm thick pieces
  • you can serve these treats at a BBQ, at a nice evening with drinks and friends or as an amuse-gueule before dinner!




Monday, April 14, 2014

tiny antmuffins

what you need:
  • 300g flour
  • 150g sugar
  • 1 packet vanilla sugar
  • 1,5tsp baking powder
  • 300g soft/melted butter
  • 300ml Advocaat
  • 50ml orange lemonade (juice is fine too)
  • chocolate sprinkles
  • 4 eggs

what you do:
  • I usually start baking by measuring all the ingredients I need, this makes the following process a lot easier and quicker!
  • in case you're using soft butter, start by stirring it until you get a smooth consistency
  • add sugar and vanilla sugar, little by little, and keep stirring until you don't hear any crunchy noises anymore
  • add the eggs and mix them in, you should have a smooth and bound dough by now
  • mix flour and baking powder, sieve and add them, also little by little, to the dough
  • tip: whenever you're making a dough, make sure to add the flour (almost) at last. Stirring flour for too long gives the dough a really weird consistency and may even ruin the whole cake!
  • add Advocaat, lemonade and chocolate sprinkles and blend them in
  • in case you don't like alcohol or kids are eating these muffins/the cake too, you can substitute the Advocaat with some more lemonade/juice
  • now you can fill the dough into whatever baking dish you like (don't forget to oil it first!); I actually used a silicone mould, which is called Moul'flex by De Buyer, which is for teeny-tiny muffins. I really like this mould because there's no need to oil it before usage, the muffins are super easy to remove and they are cute and tiny ;)
  • depending on the baking dish you are using, this should take between 10-40 minutes on 180°C
  • to let the muffins cool down, I put them on a grill, this way the air gets everywhere







Monday, March 24, 2014

fresh and springy quinoa salad

what you need (for a mid-sized bowl):

  • 200g quinoa
  • 1 cucumber
  • 1 bell pepper
  • 2 tomatoes
  • about 200g (sweet) corn
  • lemon(juice)
  • tomato paste
  • spring onions, parsley and chives
  • pepper, paprika powder
  • I also added chilli, but that's just me

what you do:
  • cook quinoa according to packaging
  • in the meantime, chop up the veggies
  • when the quinoa is done, let it cool down a little
  • mix it together with the chopped up veggies and add the corn
  • add the juice of two or three lemon slices and quite a bit of tomato paste
  • last but not least, go nuts with the spices, I mean it! the quinoa itself isn't exactly a firework of flavours, so you really need to add a lot of spices and herbs
  • blend it all together and if you have the time, let it sit for an hour or two
  • I topped mine of with some extra parsley and chives
  • eeeeenjoy!




Wednesday, February 19, 2014

spicy potato carrot soup (clean and vegan!)

what you need (for 1-2 people):
  • 2 big carrots
  • 1/2 onion
  • 3 big potatoes
  • pepper, chilli flakes, herbes de provence, paprika powder
  • water
  • oil

what you do:
  • chop up the onion, peel and chop potatoes and carrots
  • oil the pot, add onions
  • fry them for a short while
  • add potatoes, carrots and enough water to cover the veggies (at least!)
  • add all the spices, especially loads of pepper
  • if you really need to, you can add a little salt
  • let the whole thing simmer for about 10 minutes
  • puree, add some more water if you need to
  • put it back in the pot and reheat it quickly
  • enjoy!


Sunday, February 16, 2014

DIY acid washed denim jacket




what you need:
  • a piece of denim clothing (I got my jacket at a thriftstore!)
  • a sponge (I recommend using one you don't need anymore)
  • rubber gloves to protect your hands
  • bleach
  • a small bowl 
  • a plastic bag or something else to protect your working area

what you do:
  • cover the working area
  • spread your piece of clothing out in front of you
  • fill some bleach into the bowl
  • tip: in case you never used bleach before or you're not sure how light you want the denim to turn out, mix the bleach with a little water, this will slow down the bleaching process
  • dip your sponge into the bleach and go over the denim with it
  • you don't need to make it perfect, but try to spread it somewhat equally
  • let the bleach sink in and do its work
  • if you need to, you can go over the denim a couple more times, if you want the effect to be stronger
  • I actually mixed 2/3 bleach and 1/3 water and went over the denim 3 times, my denim was kind of resistant to the bleach. that can happen!
  • put your clothing in the washing machine (and dryer)
  • voilà!
 




products I used:
Eau de Javel bleach