avocado

The First Birthday Cake

April 30, 2014 by Zizi

We have reached a huge milestone… or at least this is what I think. Adam is one year old!!! Oh My! How could this happen? I remember the first days when I had problems with the breastfeeding and now he is one year old! Everything happened so quickly. Being a parent can be wonderful and rewarding, but it can also be difficult and unpleasant. This is what Ivan and I learnt in the last year.

On this beautiful day we had a quick porridge breakfast together then Adam got a few small presents and got his first birthday cake. I cooked a vegan pancake cake for him without sugar of couse. See the photos below how Adam enjoyed his birthday cake. It was kind of the most adorable thing I have ever seen. (Plus, recipe of the cake is at the end of the post.)

We love you, Adam! Mom & Dad

“Let me see what mom cooked for me! “

“Oh, la la! As a French would say…”

“Oh My! This is so exciting!”

“Yum!”

“This is getting more delicious!”

“Mom, you are a super talented chef! I love you so much!” 🙂

Vegan Banana Pancake Cake With Vegan Chocolate Ganache

I used carob powder to make the ganache. Carob is a tropical pod that contains a sweet, edible pulp and inedible seeds. After drying, the pulp is roasted and ground into a powder that resembles cocoa powder, but does not have the same flavor and texture of chocolate. Carob is naturally sweet, low in fat, high in fiber, has calcium, and most importantly no caffeine – that’s why I chose to add this to Adam.

Ingredients (to make 8-10 pancakes)

For the pancake
– 2 ripe bananas, smashed with a fork
– 40 g whole wheat spelt flour
– 60 g white spelt flour
– 150-200 ml rice milk (you can use oat or almond milk too)
– 1 tablespoon baking powder
– 1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeded
– coconut oil for cooking

For the chocolate ganache
– 1 medium ripe avocado, pitted
– 2 ripe bananas
– 2-3 tablespoons carob powder (you can use cacao powder)
– 2 tablespoons almond butter
– small amount rice milk

Method

Place the ganache’s ingredients into the kitchen blender and blend until smooth and creamy. Place it in the fridge to chill.

In a bowl mix together the flours, baking powder and vanilla. Add the smashed bananas, rice milk. Give the mixture a stir, combining the ingredients until mixed and smooth (if you find it too thick add a bit of rice milk 1 tablespoon at a time). Set aside for 5 minutes to allow the batter to rise.

Prepare a non-stick pan with 1 teaspoon coconut oil on medium heat. Spoon batter into pan, forming a pancake. Cook until lightly brown on the bottom. Turn and brown the other side. Let the pancakes cool.

To build the cake, place one pancake on a plate, spread some chocolate ganache on pancake and top with another pancake. Keep doing this until you’ve used all the pancakes. Keep some cream back for the top.

Spicy Butternut Squash Lentil Salad

October 15, 2013 by Zizi

I love butternut squash. It’s a versatile vegetable that can be roasted, toasted, puréed for soups, or mashed and used in casseroles, breads, and muffins and cakes. I love that the squash has a sweet, nutty taste. It is also a good source of Vitamin E, Vitamin B6, Folate, Calcium and Magnesium, and a very good source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Potassium and Manganese. We should eat as much as we can during fall and winter.

This lentil salad is a good example to eat a bowl of healthy lunch full of protein, vitamins and minerals. Did you know that lentils have the third-highest level of protein, by weight, of any legume or nut, after soybeans and hemp?

Spicy Butternut Squash Lentil Salad

Ingredients (serves 2)

– 1 and 1/4 cups brown lentils
– 3 cups (about 430 g) peeled and cubed butternut squash
– 1 avocado, peeled, deseeded and cubed
– 1/2 red onion, chopped
– 4 tablespoons olive oil
– 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
– 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
– 1/2 teaspoon salt

Method

Soak the lentils for at least 3 hours (or overnight). Drain then put into a pan with fresh water and a pinch of salt and cook for about 20-30 minutes until tender.

Line a baking tray with parchment paper.

In a bowl mix together cubed butternut squash with 3 tablespoons olive oil, cinnamon, salt and chili powder. Place the mixture in the baking tray and bake at 170-180C (350F) until tender (about 20 minutes).

In a bowl mix together cooked lentils, baked butternut squash, chopped red onion and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Season to your taste. Serve with avocado.

Butternut Squash And Black Beans Taco & Quesadilla

February 8, 2013 by Zizi

Taco

I love traveling. Who doesn’t? I have so many places on my bucket list, places that I would love to visit one day… sooner is better than later. 🙂

I have a notebook where I collect the addresses of all the interesting places, cute shops, cafes, markets, restaurants (especially with the options of vegetarian meals) I want to see, experience and try. I need to jot the names down otherwise I will forget about them. Before we travel somewhere I just open my notebook and check my notes if there is any place we must visit on the journey. As a result I usually make a long-long list (mostly with food related topics) about the restaurants and markets with the sign: “This one shouldn’t be missed!”. Thank God, my boyfriend doesn’t mind doing special food tours on our travels. 🙂

Quesadilla

One of my bucket list places is the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, USA; a powerful and inspiring landscape that overwhelms our senses through its immense size. And if we are there we surely won’t miss the one and only entertainment capital of the world, Las Vegas in Nevada. The resort city is known primarily for gambling, shopping and fine dining. It is famous for its consolidated casino-hotels (here is a tip where to stay for the first time) and associated entertainment.

I found a few good restaurants in Vegas with vegetarian (Mexican menu) and vegan options too. If we are there we’ll definitely try these places. Both of them look really good and I’m always amazed if a restaurant has delicious vegetarian and vegan meals to offer.

Which places are on your bucket list?

Anyway, back to my yum Mexican taco and quesadilla. Here you go, two easy to make weekdays dinner recipes!

Butternut Squash And Black Beans Taco & Quesadilla

Ingredients (serves 3-4)

For the taco
– 250-300 g butternut squash, peeled, diced
– 240 g (1 jar) black beans, drained and rinsed
– 1 onion, chopped
– 2 teaspoon smoked paprika
– salt, pepper
– corn tortillas
– cooked rice
– guacamole
– 150 ml sour cream (you can use soy yoghurt to make it vegan) + 2 teaspoon chili sauce, mixed
– fresh coriander
– lime
– olive oil

For the quesadilla (same as for the taco)
– 150 g grated cheese

For the quacamole
– 2 ripe avocados, pitted and peeled
– 1 small onion, chopped
– 1 clove garlic, chopped
– juice of 1/2 lime
– salt, pepper
– fresh coriander, chopped

Method

To make the butternut squash mix: heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a pan, add chopped onion and saute for a 2-3 minutes. Next stir in the diced squash and cook for 8-10 minutes. At the end add black beans, season with salt, pepper and smoked paprika. Cook for 4-5 minutes then set aside.

To make the tacos: toast tortillas (both sides for about 2 minutes) over an open flame or in a non-stick pan. Fill the tortillas with the butternut squash mixture, top with cooked rice, guacamole, chili sour cream, sprinkle with chopped coriander. Serve with lime wedges. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.

To make the quesadillas: heat a non-stick pan and place one tortilla in the pan to warm. Sprinkle with grated cheese, spread some butternut squash mixture and rice over the cheese, sprinkle with cheese again and top with a second tortilla. Cook for 3-4 minutes, then flip it over and cook until the bottom is browned and the cheese is melted, another 3 to 4 minutes. Repeat with the remaining ingredients. Slice and serve with quacamole, chili sour cream and fresh coriander.

To make the guacamole: scoop out the inside of the avocados. Mash it with a fork. Add chopped onion, garlic, lime juice, season with salt, pepper and chopped coriander.

Vegan Chocolate Popsicles With Roasted Almonds

June 27, 2012 by Zizi

One day I woke up and I knew I had to make vegan chocolate popsicles somehow. I was looking for recipes but didn’t find anything suitable for me. Then I had the idea that I hade made raw chocolate ganache cake before and what would happen if I used that recipe for the popsicles…

Then I tried…

I tested the recipe…

And you know what happened?

Miracle…

Not exactly! We had creamy, thick chocolate-y vegan popsicles to enjoy! Yum!

It’s easy to make and I dare to say it is the healthy version of chocolate popsicles.

Don’t miss this experience!

Vegan Chocolate Popsicles with Roasted Almonds

Ingredients (for 4 popsicles)

– 1 ripe avocado
– 50 g unsweetened cocoa powder
– 60-70 g coconut flower sugar or cane sugar
– 30 g coconut oil
– 100-150 ml almond milk (you can substitute with rice- or oat- or soymilk)
– 1 vanilla bean, split and seeded
– pinch of salt
– small handful of almond

Method

Roast the almonds in a dry non-stick pan for 5-6 minutes. Set aside to cool, then chop them roughly.

Place all other ingredients in a food processor then blend everything until smooth. If you find it too thick, add a little bit more almond milk. Put half of the roasted almonds into the popsicle molds, then pour the chocolate ganache cream over the almonds. Sprinkle the remaining almond over the top, insert sticks and freeze until solid (at least 2 hours).

Enjoy!

Wild Rice Salad With Beans, Avocado And Sesame Oil Dressing

April 25, 2012 by Zizi

The other day I was emailing back and forth with my Travel Belles editor friend, Margo about pushing our businesses to the next level. “It is so much work and not much light yet at the end of the tunnel…” she said BUT we know we will see it someday soon.

I have a day job and in the meantime I’m “building” my freelance business and it’s going so slowly. Healthy, vegetarian and vegan eating is not very popular in Hungary and most people are meat eaters so my audience is small but I believe in this that’s why I carry on doing it. People are getting more open day by day.

It is also difficult to do this blog thing in 2 languages, I’m always behind with the translations! I wish I could do this all day (developing/testing recipes, learning food styling, taking photos, traveling, writing articles, etc.) but I can’t. One day, one day… I’m sure my work dreams will come true!

About the recipe… I made this salad twice. First with kale, second time with spinach. Both worked very well. I was inspired by Jodi’s recipe (chek out her wonderful blog) but I changed a few things. You shouldn’t miss this salad, it’s so nutritious and rich in protein.

Wild Rice Salad with Beans, Avocado and Sesame Oil Dressing

Ingredients (serves 2)

For the salad
– 1/2 cup cooked wild or brown rice
– 6-7 big kale leaves or 300 g spinach/swiss chard, chopped
– 1 avocado, pitted and diced
– 1/2 cup beans, soaked overnight, drained and cooked (you can use canned beans too)
– 2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
– coconut or olive oil
– salt, pepper

For the dressing
– 3 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
– 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
– 1 tablespoon soy sauce
– juice of 1/2 lemon
– pepper

Method

Start by cooking the rice in one saucepan and the beans in another ( 1. bring the rice and water – about 3 cups – to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer until the water absorbed, 2. bring the beans and water – about 2-3 cups – to boil, reduce heat and cook until beans are tender).

Meanwhile prepare the dressing. In a bowl mix together all the ingredients until combined. Heat coconut oil in a non-stick pan, saute garlic for 2-3 minutes. Add chopped kale/spinach/swiss chard, season with salt and pepper and cook for about 10 minutes.

In a large bowl toss everything together: cooled rice, beans, kale, avocade and the dressing. Serve immediately.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: