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Quinoa Patties And Picnic In Szentendre

July 18, 2012 by Zizi

On a sunny Sunday in February we decided to have a picnic in a little gorgeous town called Szentendre (very close to Budapest). I made these yum quinoa patties for the picnic. We also packed whole wheat bread, goat cheese, sour cabbage, sprouts and freshly pressed carrot juice. I also baked millet, oat and apple muffins to take with us.

This riverside town lays in Pest county, Hungary, near the capital, Budapest. It is known for its museums, galleries and artists. Due to its picturesque appearance and easy rail and river access, it has become a popular destination for tourists staying in Budapest.

Even this was in February the sun warmed us up and walking outside in the fresh air made our appetite ready to eat everything. You can see a photo essay about our trip to Szentendre on the Travel Belles website.

I adapted the recipe from Heidi’s book, Super Natural Every Day.

Quinoa Patties

Ingredients (makes about 24 but it depends on the patties’ size)

– 170 g quinoa
– 1 organic egg
– 1 onion, chopped
– 2 cloves garlic, chopped
– 15 g parsley, chopped
– 10 g Parmesan, grated
– 50 g plus more whole wheat bread crumbs
– salt, black pepper
– olive oil

Method

Bring the quinoa, water (about 2-3 cups) and 1 teaspoon salt to a boil in a pot. Reduce heat and simmer for about 15-20 minutes or until the quinoa opens up revealing a little spiral and is soft and pleasant to chew. Set aside to cool.

In a bowl combine together the cooked quinoa and egg. Add chopped parsley, onion, garlic and Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper. Add breadcrumbs and let it sit for 5-10 minutes (if you find it too moist add more breadcrumbs or if it’s too dry you can add one more egg or water to moisten the mixture).

Form pingpong ball sized balls from the mixture, flatten them with your palm or a spoon. Place the formed patties on a tray. Heat 1-2 teaspoons olive oil in a pan, add patties and cook for about 7-10 minutes until golden brown. Flip the patties and cook them on their other side until golden. Cook the remaining patties too.

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Filed Under: lacto-ovo Tagged With: guide, Hungary, picnic, quinoa, travel, vegetarian patties

Weekend Crumbs

May 29, 2012 by Zizi

Lots of weekend crumbs pictures about the long weekend. It started with a wonderful breakfast: brioche bread I baked (recipe coming soon) with strawberry rhubarb compote I made. Yum!

I love gardening in our small parcel in the community garden. It’s wonderful to see your vegetables to grow. Zucchini, coriander, rhubarb, aragula – all look luscious and green thanks for last week rains.

I also traveled home to Szeged to see my family and friends. May is always a nice month to visit Szeged because there are so many programs around the town. As one of the largest and most flourishing cities of Hungary, a lot is expected from Szeged’s Wine Festival each year (every May). Crowded squares and streets to be expected with happy people enjoying wine and food. There are always more than a hundred Hungarian wine-makers you will find, several blues and jazz bands playing around, dance houses where you can enjoy some authentic folk experience, and, not to be fed with noble beverages only, a fantastic gastroyard to eat delicious dishes.

After drinking wines a big garlic lángos is the best to soothe your appetite… Lángos is a Hungarian food speciality, a deep fried flat bread made of a dough with flour, yeast, salt and water. It is eaten fresh and warm, topped with sour cream and grated cheese, rubbed with garlic or garlic butter, or doused with garlic water.

Sunday morning breakfast: remaining brioche with the compote…

Not only the Wine Festival made my home town busy there were also the Bridge Fair. There are stalls of craftsmen from all over the country on the Old Bridge in the middle of Szeged where you can buy lots of traditionally made products from shoes to sweets. During the fair there are puppet shows for children, folk concerts and also other nationalities and countries can introduce their culture.

Before the fair we cherished ourselves with sweet treats: a slice of creamy cake and a cup of foamy cappuccino…

Few montage pictures of the fair…

The famous Hungarian paprika is this beautifully red as on this pic…

Cute dog… 🙂

Cathedral and river Tisza at sunset…

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: community garden, Hungary, Instagram, market, photos, travel, traveling, weekend crumbs

Weekend Crumbs

May 3, 2012 by Zizi

Best waffel in Budapest (chocolate pudding) at Jégbüfé… When in Budapest, don’t miss it!

There were lots of crumbs this past weekend. I think the pictures will speak instead of me… Summer is here, I love it!

Vegetable ramen and…

…vegetarian steam buns at Momotaro Ramen. Best ramen place in Budapest!

The weather was sunny and warm all weekend…

Vegan raspberry yoghurt with oatmeal (recipe coming soon)…

Still life at the organic market on Saturday moring…

Bagatellini, a new bakery that was launched in February…

Snack in the park…

Sunday breakfast: vegan hazelnut vanilla pancake with rhubarb compote… scrumptious!

Cafe Gerbeaud, the famous patisserie and cafe in Budapest…

Chocolate manufactury at Szamos Gourmet House…

This is a life-size marzipan girl, who is the replica of a woman figure in a well-known picture titled “The girl with chocolate” painted by a Dutch painter from the 18th century. The sculpture of the girl with chocolate was made from 70 kg marzipan, during approximately 800 working hours, and she watches Arthur’s activity from a glass cabinet.

Cooling cider in the hot weather…

Friends from Canada… my goddaughter and her little brother 🙂

Gardening at the community garden…

Enjoy!

Reflection, Nespresso and George… 🙂

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Budapest, community garden, guide, Hungary, Instagram, market, organic, pancake, photos, rhubarb, weekend crumbs

Weekend Crumbs

April 10, 2012 by Zizi

Last weekend was about Easter so I traveled home to Szeged. I was lucky to catch the blooming of magnolia trees at Széchenyi Square. This is a spot that everyone knows in town. It is basically the center of the city. Here you will find the Town Hall, a smaller park where you can walk to, sit down and relax (especially spring and summer time).

Szeged is the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain. The town is famous of its paprika, the Pick salami, the fish soup, the university, river Tisza, the Open Air Theatre (they are held every summer) and the Cathedral.

Let’s see the crumbs…

My mom baked her famous kalács (the best one in the world!)… Kalács can be made for any holiday, but it has the most symbolism on Easter.

I took so many photos of the kalács and the eggs…

Would you like a nice cup of cappuccino?

Breakfast in bed. I don’t remember when we had something similar last time but we deserved it. That’s for sure! When did you have breakfast in bed last time?

Of course I baked during the long weekend. Instead of a cake I baked vegan almond, coconut and chocolate cupcakes for I.’s birthday. This was the first time I made vegan frosting and we loved it so much.

We started doing the gardening too in our small parcel in the community garden. We planted squash, zucchini, Swiss chard, carrot, radish, green bean, dill, coriander and garlic seeds. We’ll also have rhubarb, tomato and green pepper seedlings soon. I. and I are so excited to have a tiny space in the city where we can relax and have some time with mother nature.

Every spring I fell in love with the pink blossoming… I stand under a tree like this for 5 minutes and thank for her (yes, her!) for being so beautiful. 🙂

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: community garden, cupcake, guide, Hungary, Instagram, traditional Hungarian, weekend crumbs

Vegan Pumpkin Cake with Coconut Vanilla Cream and Roasted Hazelnuts

November 10, 2011 by Zizi

We went on a hiking trip to Bakony Mountains on my birthday so I didn’t have the opportunity to bake this yum cake for my birthday. I found the recipe at the end of September on the blog My New Roots and I fell in love with it. I knew this was going to be my special treat for myself.

Bakony is a mountainous region in Transdanubia, Hungary. It forms the largest part of the Transdanubian Mountains. It is located north of Lake Balaton. The Bakony is divided into the Northern and Southern Bakony. Kőris-hegy in the Northern Bakony is the highest peak of the range with its 706 meters. There are no high mountains in Hungary.

The medieval castle of Csesznek

I thought we had arrived at the peak of foliage but nature mother decided to stay green a bit longer than last year. Although the view of the hills and small villages made an amazing sight. We admired the quiet walks in the middle of the forests listening to the sound of nature and stopping every fifteen minutes to take it all in. Breathtaking and relaxing.

We stayed at Hotel Bakony in Bakonybél at a rustic but reconstructed hotel at the end of the village. The food and the service were amazing. The hotel’s restaurant offers a wide range of foods, especially focusing on rural flavors and the specialties of the Bakony. They say that “The secret of the Hungarian cuisine lies not only in producing certain foods so classy, but serving up one after the other, so that the food consumed calls for the next one, and when we already think we are quite well fed, there is something served, that makes us say: However, we must eat it!“

If you are still reading this post, here comes the recipe…

Vegan Pumpkin Cake with Coconut Vanilla Cream and Roasted Hazelnuts

Ingredients

For the cake
– 1 and 1/2 cups pumpkin puree (I prefer home made but you can use canned)
– 1/2 cup maple syrup (or honey)
– 2 ripe bananas, mashed with a fork
– 1 teaspoon apple vinegar
– 6 tablespoons coconut oil
– 2 cups whole wheat spelt flour, sifted
– 1 cup white spelt flour, sifted
– 1 teaspoon baking powder
– 1 teaspoon baking soda
– 2 teaspoons ground ginger
– 1 teaspoon cardamom
– 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
– 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
– 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
– 1 tablespoon cinnamon
– 2 tablespoons chia seeds

For the cream
– 3 cans of coconut milk
– 1/4 cup honey
– 1 cup roasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped
– 1 vanilla bean, split and seeded

Method

Place cans of coconut milk in the fridge for at least 4 hours to cool. Roast pumpkin halves at 180-200C for 45-60 minutes. Let cool and scoop out 1 and 1/2 cups flesh. In a dry non-stick pan roast hazelnuts for 3-5 minutes, let cool and chop roughly.

Open the cans and scoop out just the top coconut cream layer, leaving the liquid portion (save for soup). Place in a bowl and whisk together with the honey and the vanilla. Place the bowl of cream in the fridge for set.

In a big bowl mix together the dry ingredients: flours, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and chia seeds. In another bowl mix together the wet ingredients: pumpkin puree, bananas, maple syrup, coconut oil and apple vinegar. Add dry ingredients to wet, mix and stir to combine. Pour batter into a 22 cm spring form cake pan. Bake at 175-180C for about 35-45 minutes (or until the inserted toothpick comes out clean). Set aside and let cool then remove from pan.

Slice the rounded top edge off of the cake (this ensures that the subsequent layer will sit flat). Then slice the cake in half so you have two layers. Place the bottom of the layers on a cake stand or plate and cover with the icing, followed by the roasted hazelnuts. Add the top layer, repeating the icing and hazelnut procedure until you’ve used all the cream. Top the cake with hazelnuts.

Happy birthday to me! 🙂

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Filed Under: vegan Tagged With: baking, butternut squash, cake, chia seed, hazelnut, Hungary, travel

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