Absence.

Hey! 

I felt like checking in and telling you all about the reason I'm not posting any recipes at the moment. First of all, I am working (something I don't do often as I study to get my teaching license and PhD. I am the supervisor of a school over the summer weeks when the school is closed. What we do is offering education to the children where parents don't have vacation or if the child have special needs, such as needing social interaction. My job is working full time in a group with 32 children as well as managing the school (teachers, administration, economy etc). 

The second reason is I am moving out of my apartment of 8 years and spouse of 9 years. I am getting my own place and will be posting recipes once I am all settled in my new apartment. Move-in date is next week and then it will take a few weeks to get everything in place. On september 2nd I am back at university and back on track with everything else in life! 

Check out my links until then, there should be a lot of recipes to grab! 

Ciao! 

Taco Salad!

Hey!

In Sweden, the taco dinner is holy. It's probably the most popular food in swedish homes and considered a part of the weekend. "Fredagsmys" without tacos ain't no friday! I once saw some mexican lady on a swedish tv-show, analyzing the swedish taco and comparing it a bit to the american one. Not genuine mexican food, but somewhat more lame in the adaption. I never had mexican tacos and can't say much about it. All I know is I love eating the swedish one. Minced meat, taco spices, whatever greens you like, either corn shells or my fav - tortillas. Then the other yumminess- sauces. Salsa, sourcream, guacamole. Holy moly. I just had sushi dinner but still want this. 

In our supermarket there are different variations of vegetarian tacos. I found a package (that to me didn't look too good) on the shelves. Can't say anything about it. Went to the frozen foods instead and bought the minced meat I tend to use for bolognaise, meatballs, patties etc. That's the only thing I changed, the meat. The rest is the same as I always use. Except I upped the vegetables and removed the tortilla. Hence- Taco Salad! 

Now, this picture is actually from when I did this salad a year ago. I was too hungry to take a picture this time but will do the next. Reason for this is I found a new joy in making my own salsa rather than buying the finished product that is most common here. With the new picture a recipe will come. For now, enjoy a picture of a "left over" Taco Salad with lots of iceberg lettuce, cucumber, red onions, avocados, taco spiced "minced meat", creme fraiche and salsa. Adios!

Creamy herbal chicken!

Hey!

Don't let the headline fool you. Of course this is not made with chicken. However it used to be. This was one of my favourite meals with chicken and after finding the quorn fillets I used for the Ceasar Salad I noticed it is just as good with them! I originally found a recipe with this creme fraiche mix years back. It was when I wanted to cook meals without making an effort, wanted everything to be done fast. A major dairy company launched a bunch of flavoured creme fraiches and I had two solid favourites, one with shallots and this one, with garlic and herbs. It was so creamy and rich compared to other garlic and herb sauces I tried. After a while, a few years or so, they disappeared from the shelves. I sobbed for quite a while and wondered if I ever would make this dish again.

Then came the day. The company Créme Bonjour had sold the series of sauces and relaunched them under a new name. My beloved shallot was gone, but the garlic and herb one remained. I used to make this with pasta and could substitute it with the low carb pasta I eat now days but I think the greens make up for it anyway. Let's just say I don't miss the pasta bit. I can't remember the original recipe as I've come to make this the same way year after year but I simply love it. So I present you, creamy herbal chicken! I understand it is your loss if this product isn't sold where you live. But this is a shout out to check your dairy section for a cooking base of some sort. There are a lot of low carb ones to buy, at least here. 

RECIPE for two big servings

1 Creme Bonjour Cousine Vitlök & Örter (Garlic and Herbs)
1 zucchini
150 grams of frozen haricots verts
1 smaller red onion
1 package, about 100 grams of feta cheese
2 large or 4 small filets of quorn

Cooking?

1. Chop the greens into desired pieces. Put zucchini in a frying pan on low heat with a bit of olive oil.
2. Chop the fillets into desired pieces. Add to the frying pan and turn the heat up. Cooking time!
3. Then add the haricots verts, I like them non-chopped. Do what you please. Who am I to tell you different? Right?
4. When it all seem to be cooked, add the onions. 
5. Cut the feta cheese into cubes. 
6. Stir in the herb sauce and add the feta cheese. Ones it's heated you're good to season and eat!

Thai Wok!

Hey!

Before I started eating keto I ate a somewhat general low carb diet. As my stomach problems evolved I had to cut out a few specific items from my meal, such as rice. Shortly I found myself eating GI-food (we call it GI here in Sweden, do you call it something else?), you know, the diet where you can eat carbs as long as they are good carbs that keep you full, so called slow carbs. One of my problems with changing diet was giving up Thai Food. I could eat springrolls and fried rice and deep fried chicken all day long if I could afford it. Suddenly, there was only one thing on the menu I could eat without getting cramps. That was fried egg noodles with chicken and vegetables. Every time we had thai food, that was my meal. Number 72. Mmm, I want that so much right now...

But giving up thai food was easier when my mother in law did a homemade wok that tasted great. It sure didn't taste as the one I was used to eat, but it was still awesome. It is a very adaptable recipe as you could swap any ingredient you want as long as the core stays the same. I suppose I could tell you that just this moment, when writing the recipe I noticed I forgot the broccoli and shredded cabbage in my wok :( I blame my pre-dinner meeting that kept me pre-occupied after. But you know what? It was still delicious.

I know that a lot of vegetarians are conservative with stock, broths and such. With all rights. I am new to this diet and even though I noticed my ethics to change over the last month (for example, I planned to eat fish every now and then, but that sort of repulses me now) but the one about stock hasn't changed yet. Therefor this recipe has a bit of chicken fond in it (concentrated stock) but you can swap that to vegetable one of exclude it with no problem. I will next time.

RECIPE for a biiiig bowl of wooked greens. 

Zucchini

Mushrooms

Carrots

Broccoli

Bell peppers

Cabbage

Leek

Red chili

Low carb noodles (optional, I don't feel a need to use them so I don't)

Chicken/vegetable fond

1 tbs mushroom soy sauce

2 tbs sweet chili sauce

But... how do I cook it?

Well. You just toss the stuff in a woking pan and go! Ok, I'll write it down anyway.

1. Chop the carrots and zucchini and put in a heated woking pan (or frying pan if you don't have a woking one, it will do just fine but you'll have to do the blending bits yourself when done!) All the vegetables are listed without amount as I adapt to how many servings I make. I tend to think a handful of each ingredient and two of mushrooms per serving. You'll notice if it is enough for you!
2. Finely chop the red pepper and add into the wok. Adding this early on will bring more heat to the wok than if you add it in the end, as it will cook with all ingredients and not just lay on top.
3. Chop the remaining vegetables and add the ones with longer cooking time first. Keep woking, making sure the vegetables mix with the chili. My order would be somewhat of this:
   Broccoli, mushrooms, cabbage, bell peppers, leek.
4. Once you added the last vegetable, drizzle the soy sauce and sweet chili sauce over the wok and mix it all around. Then add the fond, just a bit to give flavour, not to cook and make the wok more wet than it is (cooking the greens releases a bit of water). Stir around a bit and then let it cook on low heat for 5 minutes. Use a spagetti tool (or other scooping tool that won't bring any water) to fill your bowls. Enjoy!

Caesar Salad!

Hey!

The summer has come to Sweden in time for our beloved holiday Midsummer. Here on the west coast I will celebrate my first fish free midsummer. It will be a little bit weird not having herring as the tradition says but I will manage :) 

When the weather is warm it isn't always that fun to slave in a kitchen and sweat next to the stove or oven. That's why I love salads. They can vary so much and it's a light meal to eat in the sun. Yesterday I did a vegetarian take on my favourite salad ever, Ceasar. I grabbed some quorn fillets to replace the chicken and simply skipped the bread. Still yummy as hell. I love this salad so much.. Finally got a chance to use my real camera as well. Have some salad! Ciao!

RECIPE

Romaine lettuce
1 quorn fillet
Ceasar dressing
Olive oil
Worcestershire sauce
Parmesan cheese

How to?

1. Heat up a frying pan with a bit of oil and fry the quorn fillet with salt and pepper
2. Chop the lettuce and put on a plate
3. Drizzle a bit of olive oil and worcestershire sauce over the lettuce and toss around
4. Grate the parmesan over the lettuce and toss around again
5. Take the now cooked quorn fillet and slice it up, put on top on lettuce and drizze the ceasar dressing over it all.
6. Top with a little grated parmesan
7. YUM!

Cauliflower casserole with Pasta, Mushrooms and Nuts!

Hey!

Yes, it is time for cauliflower again. I bought way too much for the previous meal and had enough over to make this dish. It is again an adapted recipe I found over at Vegetarian Dad. However, my browser blocked the site and I decided to freestyle. I had read the recipe and remembered the core of it. 

This time I baked cauliflower in the oven, added some pasta, mushrooms and nuts, shredded a bunch of cheddar and made a sauce to pour over it before baking again. I will not be home to serve this to my spouse, hope he accepts the cauliflower in this version as well. It is always tricky with him and that vegetable! 

Once again I want to emphasize how this recipe is adapted to fit my needs. I need to get energy elsewhere when cutting our dairy for the most part and using vegan products, therefor I used cashews for this. I know they are high on carbs compared to other nuts, but I am sure this would work with a dash of almonds other other low carb nuts just as good! The nuts are there to take the meal to the next lever after all, not the main part of it :) Also I love onion and put onion in about everything. If you don't want the carbs from it, add a dash of onion powder or ignore. 

Of course, when I planned to do a proper post with pictures taken by my baking blog camera, the battery wasn't charge. So you'll get another phone picture. Sorry! If you decide to bake this, please let me know how it went and if you got any other opinions!

RECIPE for a large oven proof casserole

200 grams of pasta (I use a low carb version which has 6 carbs per serving, 60 grams pasta per serving)

a medium sized cauliflower head

150 grams of mushrooms

100 grams of nuts

1 onion

150 grams of cheddar cheese

2 dl (roughly 1 cup) of full fat cream/vegan cream

50 grams of butter

Spices. I used salt, pepper, paprika, oregano

How to?

1. Cut the stalks of the cauliflower and put in the casserole. Bake in oven at 200 degrees celsius for 20 minutes.
2. Cook pasta for about 75% of the cooking time.
3. Chop onions, mushrooms and nuts.
4. Shred the cheese.
5. Take the casserole out of oven, add pasta and the chopped ingredients.
6. In a saucepan, melt the butter and add the cream once after. Add the 100 grams of cheese and stir until combined and melted.
7. Pour the cheese sauce over the casserole and spice it. Toss the remaining cheese over and bake in the oven for another 20 minutes.
8. Serve with a salad and enjoy!

Buffalo Wings with Blue Cheese Dip and Asparagus!

Hey!

Here is a first post, just to try it all out! The picture taken today is with my phone and not my camera, which I usually use. Give feedback please!

When I started my new green life my spouse hopped on the same train. He was happy about the decision but stated that if he want a steak sometime, he will eat it! Fine with me, I just didn’t want to cook different types of meals :)

I loved greens and vegetables for as long as I remember. When I was a kid and got to chose dinner on my birthdays I always chose baked cauliflower with cheese- and ham sauce. Cauliflower has been a favourite for a long time as you can see! My spouse on the other hand… he hates cauliflower. He do this half-pretend half-real gagging thing when he smells it. I simply had to try doing something based on this green without him knowing what hit him. Therefor I said I will be making ”veg buffalo wings” and refused to tell him what I substituted chicken with. Well… mid baking he joyfully shouted ”Oh my god that smells sooo good!”.Upon seeing it he disappointedly said "Oh no, is it cauliflower?". After taking the first bite he rolled his eyes back and said "that is soooo gooooood". 

I found this recipe on peta.org and adapted it. It was supposed to be served with celery but the supermarket didn’t have any fresh ones so I chose asparagus instead. Grilled asparagus with oliveoil and seasoning is an amazing side dish. The dip is something i googled and adapted aswell, this cause I found it to be too much mayo in it. Nevermind the nachos, I know they aren't keto friendly :) Well, have a go at it if it sounds interesting! Ciao! – Shiz

RECIPE

Blue Cheese Dip

• 25 grams mayo (normal or vegan)
• 100 grams quark (it’s really common here, can be substituted with sourcream or a natural vegan yoghurt)
• 0.5 teaspoon vingear
• 0.5 teaspoon garlic powder
• 0.5 teaspoon worcestershire sauce(not needed but a booster!)
• 50 grams blue cheese (or tofu for vegan)

Buffalo Wings and asparagus

• 2 dl milk (normal or vegan)
• 2 dl almond flour
• 2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 small to medium cauliflower head

• 1 dl buffalo sauce
• 8 stalks asparagus

Instructions

1. Put mayo, quark, vinegar, garlic and sauce in a small bowl. Mix together and season. Add the cheese in bits and mix until smooth.
2. Take the cauliflower and cut bits off the head, stalk by stalk. Rinse and put to dry while making the coating.
3. Pour milk, flour and garlic in a bowl. Mix well. I used half flour and half crushed nachos (to increase the odds of my spouse liking it), ignore it if you wish! 
4. Prepare a baking dish, ovenproof. Coat the cauliflower pieces in the flour mix and place on the dish. Bake in lower part of oven at 450 fahrenheit/225 celsius for 20 minutes.
5. Take the dish out and drizzle buffalo sauce over it. Then cook for another 10 minutes.
6. While the cauliflower finish baking you grill or fry the asparagus in olive oil. Season and serve!