Muhammara – Spicy Lebanese Pepper and Walnut dip with Pomegranate

Today is THE Day of THE amazing VVP – The Virtual Vegan Potluck!

Welcome!

168 bloggers gather around the virtual table, each bringing a delicious vegan dish.

You do not have to be vegan to enjoy it – believe me!

This is THE perfect place to be inspired and possibly even awe stricken by all the incredible delicious and creative dishes coming from the vegan kitchen!

VVP was originally created by Annie, the amazing woman behind the wonderful  blog anunrefinedvegan.

Thanks to all the wonderful people behind VVP – Somer, AnnieJason and Lidia for hosting the event. You guys rock!

This is how it works:

If you want to start from the very beginning you have to go to veganbloggersunite – Or you can go from here and simply scroll down and press the “go forward” or the “go back” buttons, and away you go.

And so the party begins! I hope you have fun!

My contribution this year is an appetizer, inspired by the Lebanese kitchen. It’s intense, spicy, a little hot with a hint of sweetness. It’s delicious and it tastes SO good as dip for veggies or on a cracker.

This is my version of the Lebanese dish Muhammara – originally it is made with the little Piquillo peppers, but I used red peppers to make a milder version.

red peppers ready for the grill

Red peppers ready for the grill

Muhammara 

Spicy Lebanese Pepper and Walnut dip with Pomegranate 

3 red peppers

1.5 cup of walnuts

2 slices of good bread

1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

3 tablespoons of pomegranate molasses

1 tablespoon of cumin

1 heaped tablespoon of chopped sun dried tomatoes

1-2 cloves of garlic

1/2 green chili (depending on how hot you like it)

1 tablespoon of paprika

2 tablespoons of olive oil

Freshly squeezed juice of one lemon

Sea salt – and freshly ground pepper

Grill the peppers on the BBQ or bake them in a hot oven till the skins are completely black. Let them cool a bit before removing the skins, the seeds and the core.

Put the walnuts and the bread in a food processor and pulse until finely processed.

Walnuts and bread

Walnuts and bread

Add the grilled peppers and the other ingredients,

Muhammara magic

Muhammara magic

the pomegranate molasses, the balsamic vinegar and the olive oil to the blender mix.

Pomegranate molasses and balsamic vinegar

Pomegranate molasses and balsamic vinegar

Process until it turns into a smooth paste.

Serve in a bowl with a sprinkle of fresh pomegranate seeds and a dash of olive oil.

Fresh pomegranate

Fresh pomegranate

Enjoy the Muhammara with homemade crackers

Served with crackers

Served with crackers

A delicious mouthful

A delicious mouthful

or serve the dip with fresh vegetables

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“I drink to the general joy o’ the table” – William Shakespeare Macbeth

Thank you for coming I loved having you here!

Please visit the other blogs by clicking the links below. Have fun!

go_bck

Spinach Grapefruit Smoothie

Smoothies for breakfast, as part of lunch, as a snack, before dinner – smoothies for any occasion ……..

But smoothies have also become THE number one “Fast Food” in our family. In a hurry, on the go, no time to cook or even eat – no problem, spin up a smoothie and away you go. Quick, nutritious and satisfying!

Today I made a green smoothie with spinach and grapefruit. I love grapefruit, but for 12 years I wasn’t able to have grapefruit! I was on cholesterol medication and something in grapefruit doesn’t mix well with that kind of medication.

Since I changed to “balanced living” and added lots of plant-based foods to my diet and started exercising, I no longer need medication to control my cholesterol!

There are, as you can imagine, many benefits connected to that – one great one is, I can enjoy grapefruits again 🙂

Grapefruit

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Spinach and Grapefruit Smoothie 

One bunch of fresh spinach

2 grapefruits

One bunch of red or green grapes

1 banana

1  slice of fresh ginger

2 Medjool dates

2 cups of filtered water

Ice

Put it all into the blender and blend into a refreshing, smooth, cool and delicious drink.

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I hope you will Enjoy it !

Now to something completely different…..

Monday I travel back to Copenhagen to spend some time with family and friends. I am SO excited!

I will try to post while I’m away so stay tuned….

To travel is to live – Hans Christian Andersen

When I come back I will be attending THE FAMOUS AMAZING VIRTUAL VEGAN POTLUCK – on May 11.!

This is such a fun event! If you would like to join the fun by featuring one of your favorite vegan/plant-based recipes, there is still time to sign up here – otherwise – stay tuned for the event on May 11.

Thank you for dropping by, for reading and for commenting!

Happy Sunday!

Virtual Vegan Potluck – It’s Party Time

This is it – the day I have been looking forward to for weeks have finally arrived! The Virtual Vegan Potluck

– The Virtual Vegan Potluck was initiated and arranged by one of my favorite virtual friends and bloggers, Annie at anunrefinedvegan!

She birthed this idea and made it possible – thank you Annie!! I brought you some flowers from my garden

How it works: 

The virtual vegan potluck is a gathering of enthused foodies, lovely people who have created amazing dishes that they have “virtually brought” to this party. Please come and mingle, enjoy and visit with all the amazing bloggers and indulge with your eyes and soul in these fantastic creations. I feel like I am in heaven – this is a vegan gourmet feast! And a perfect way to be inspired!

I hope you enjoy it and visit all the bloggers and see their delicious creations.

There are two buttons below – a beautiful forward and backward button created by Annie. Click one of them & you are on your way!

For this amazing feast I have created a grilled pepper and zucchini salad with pine nuts – it is served on a piece of homemade roll with a deliciously tangy humus that I have specially created for today.

The Grilled Pepper and Zucchini salad with roasted pine nuts:

4 peppers

4 small zucchini

pine nuts

Fresh big leaved parsley

Split in half and grill the peppers on the BBQ on the skin side till they are literally black on the skin. I added some fresh oregano and rosemary inside while they were grilling. Leave them to cool in a closed container to help loosen the skin. Peel off the skin.

Slice the zucchini and toss them in a bowl with a dash of olive oil. Put them individually on a baking try and bake them at 360F till they are lovely and golden. Check them and remove from the tray as they are ready. They will not all be ready at the same time so keep an eye on them – have patience. Season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper when they are done.

Dry roast the pine nuts on a frying pan – just slightly gently browned.

Cut the red peppers into smaller bite sized bits. Mix with the golden baked zucchini slices. Pick the leaves of the parsley, rinse well and add to the salad. Serve with roasted pine nuts.

Deliciously tangy and homemade humus

1 1/2 cup of chick peas – garbanzo beans

3 bay leaves

3 springs of fresh thyme

3 table spoons of organic Tahini

juice of 1 lemon

small bunch of big leafed parsley, rinsed

5 small cloves of garlic

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1 1/2 cup of olive oil

small teaspoon of ground cumin

Soak the chick peas for 24 hrs. Cook in plenty of water with bay leaves, thyme sprigs and sea salt – for about an hour but check along the way – they need to be soft, not crunchy.

Strain them and leave them to cool. When they are cool put them in the blender, add 1 & 1/2 cups of olive oil, squeeze in the juice of one lemon, add 3 tablespoons of organic tahini, the garlic and a small teaspoon of ground cumin, chopped parsley. Blend it all together, add some filtered water if it is too thick. Taste with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

Homemade humus is easy to make and it tastes so good – you can really taste the difference!

This is it – ready to serve and enjoy!

This salad taste so good! And being a true Dane I like to serve it as an open-faced sandwich on a freshly made bread rolls with the humus and the salad on top, just like this

Oh by the way – those little flowers are edible sweet little rosemary flowers.

This is my contribution. Thank you for coming to the Virtual Potluck – I am thrilled you came – and so the party continues the show goes on and on and on – click forward or backward as you please.                                                                                                                                                                     Enjoy and have fun