Lima beans with garlic, sunripe tomatoes, chili and zucchini

The perfect mix –  sun ripe organic tomatoes, fresh zucchini, garlic and chili – and Lima beans. An easy dish enjoyed on its own or as a perfect companion to fish, chicken, etc.

Lima beans with garlic, sun-ripe tomatoes, chili and zucchini

Prepare the beans

200 g Lima beans

a sprig of fresh thyme

2 bay leaves

sea salt

Rinse well in cold water. Add beans to a big pot of cold water, bring to the boil, drain and rinse in cold water. Do the same 3 times before finally boiling in water added salt, fresh thyme and a couple of bay leaves. Cook till tender – cool.

and then the zucchini, garlic, tomato and chili

2 small zucchini

3 ripe tomatoes

3 shallots

2 cloves of garlic

fresh red chili or dried

Olive oil

Slice the zucchini, finely chop the tomatoes, the garlic and the shallots. In a frying pan, fry the zucchini till golden, add the garlic and shallots. Continue cooking until the shallots and garlic are soft. Add the tomatoes and cook for a couple of minutes while mixing and stirring. Add the cooked Lima beans and season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Add chilli to taste. Serve hot and enjoy on its own or as the perfect accompany to fish or chicken.

Plant-wild week-day 4

Day 4 – This morning I went for an early morning run along the beach while the sun was rising, thinking, I can do another day of this! Another day eating greens, vegetables, fruits, nuts, grains – everything that supports my body and fills me with this zippy wonderful energy!

 

Breakfast

Rawfood musli with blueberries

This has become a breakfast stable in our family – we eat it almost every day. It is so tasty and creamy. I came up with this recipe because I wanted to make a healthy version of an old favorite that had both full fat yoghurt and cream in it!! This tastes just as good and just as creamy and sweet as the original, but without the guilt!

In the blender/food processor add:

1 cup of raw oats,
2 good handfuls of raw almonds
1 big apple cut into chunks
6-8 Medjool dates ( more or less depending on how sweet your tooth is)
1 cup of filtered water
Blend it all – not too much because it is nice if it keeps it’s crunchiness

Enjoy with either fresh berries, banana or dried fruit in the winter – today I served it with fresh blueberries from the garden.

The Good-Morning Smoothie is made from fresh raspberries and pineapple today.

Variations.
You can add a little less water and add an orange – orange and dates are a perfect match. You can also add a bit of cinnamon or cardamom

Morning snack

A delicious green smoothie made from fresh kale out of the garden, peaches, pineapple, lemon, ice and 2 cups of water

Lunch

Delicious vegetable wraps with garlic/ginger dipping sauce

Rice paper

1 avocado

1 red pepper

fresh spinach

2 carrots

1 zucchini

1/2 cucumber

3 spring onions

Fresh basil

fresh coriander

fresh basil

fresh mint

Rinse and cut everything into strips of julienne.

Prepare the rice paper – one at a time. Take a clean tea towel and make it wet, place one rice paper on the wet tea towel and fold so it is completely covered with the wet cloth. Leave for about a min. Over the sink, wring out the water and carefully place the soft rice paper so you can fill it and roll it. Fill it with spinach leaves, a little avocado, carrot, red pepper, zucchini, spring onions and alfalfa sprouts, add some fresh basil leaves, some coriander leaves and some fresh mint. Roll them together and cut them in halves and arrange them on a plate along with the garlic/ginger dipping sauce.

Dipping sauce

juice of 1/2 lime

4 small lime leaves

thin slice of fresh ginger

1 clove of garlic

2 spoons of hoisin

1//3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup water

4 spoons of braggs

Blend it all together and serve with the vegetable rolls

Dinner

Baked zucchini and eggplants- served with new potatoes and green salad with fennel

I found these gorgeous looking green and yellow zucchini and some beautiful eggplants. I decided to make a really tasty dish that i think is perfect for summer with ripe tomatoes, fresh herbs and all you need to make this dish amazing. So this is my take on the Turkish specialty, Imam Bayildi – baked zucchini and eggplant topped with a spicy fresh tomato sauce, served with little new potatoes gently baked with herbs and garlic and a green salad with fennel.

2 eggplants

2 zucchini

600 g fresh ripe and chopped fresh tomatoes

4 cloves of garlic

4 shallots

1 teaspoon of ground cumin

2 tablespoon of chopped fresh oregano

2 tablespoon of chopped fresh thyme

3 table spoons of chopped big leaved parsley

1 tablespoon of tomato paste

1/2 cup of water

Finely chop the shallots and the garlic, gently saute them in oil til they are soft, add tomato paste,the herbs and the cumin. Add the tomatoes and the water. Cook for about 15 min. Season with sea salt and pepper, set aside. Add the parsley.

Cut the zucchini and the eggplant in halves on the length wise. Gently brown them in a bit of olive oil – on the inside. Place them in a baking dish on some baking paper and add the sauce on top.

Bake in an 350F oven for about 45 min

You can eat them right out of the oven but they taste amazing at room temperature too.

Potatoes

It is season for new and delicious potatoes – I love new potatoes!!

I prepared them like this

I washed them and cut them in to quarters and put them onto a piece of baking paper, drizzled with olive oil, sea salt and pepper, added some fresh thyme and some fresh rosemary – packed them in to little parcels and baked them in the 350F oven for about 45 min. They tasted so good!!

I served everything with a green salad with some fresh fennel

The dressing is a classic that has been in my family forever – we use it, let me just say, a lot
The trick is to use the best ingredients – the better the ingredients the better the dressing. So in other words don’t use the cheapest hot dog mustard.

2 spoons of good balsamic vinegar
a teaspoon of good Dijon Mustard
a pinch of sea salt
one clove of freshly squeezed garlic

Mix this – then add a little olive oil while you constantly stir, add more olive oil while stirring – continue doing this till you have a thick, dark yummy dressing. You can add a little maple syrup for a sweetness if you like. This salad dressing is so good and so easy to make.

Fajitas with stacked baked vegetables

I came up with this recipe and thought it was a perfect Friday/weekend dinner – a taste of summer and comfort,

at the same time healthy, easy to make and so good they have been added to our list of favorites!

The fajitas are made with baked aubergine, tomatoes, onion and zucchini stacks and Portobello mushrooms, served on a warm tortilla with tomato salsa and guacamole.

For the vegetable stacks you need

Big ripe tomatoes

Aubergine

Zucchini

Red onion

Portobello mushrooms

Olive oil

Lemon juice

Slice the aubergine and place them side by side on a baking tray that has been drizzled with olive oil. Squeeze some lemon juice on the aubergine and sprinkle with a little sea salt. Slice the tomatoes and put them on top of the aubergine. Slice the onions and add the slices on top of the tomatoes. Slice the zucchini and add the slices on top of the onion – drizzle with olive oil and sea salt.

Clean the Portobello mushrooms removing the stalks – but be sure to include them too. Place the mushrooms – tops down – on a baking tray that has been drizzled with olive oil and add another little drizzle of olive oil to them along with some sea salt.

Bake the vegetable stacks and the mushrooms at 360 F til tender and golden – about 45 min

For the guacamole:

Tender avocados

Lemon

Lime

Garlic

Sea salt & freshly ground pepper

The avocados are just amazing right now – so intense and tasty. So I don’t add too many things to the guacamole to be able to enjoy the flavors of the avocado itself. Just mash it up, add freshly squeezed lemon and lime juice and freshly squeezed garlic, taste with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

Fresh Salsa

This evening, I cheated because I was in a hurry and bought a freshly made salsa from my local store. Usually I make my own, like this:

Fresh ripe tomatoes

Red Onion

Bunch of fresh coriander

Red chilli

Lime juice

Finely chop tomatoes, onions, red chili and fresh coriander – mix it all together, add some freshly squeezed lime juice, taste with sea salt.

The glorious result

Assemble:- place a warm whole wheat tortilla on  a plate – add  a good spoonful of guacamole, add the baked Portobello and vegetable, top with the salsa  and serve.

And enjoy

We have a long weekend here – the kids are off school Friday to Monday – and we are looking forward to a long beautiful weekend.

Wishing you a beautiful weekend!

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