Zizi's Adventures - Real Food, Real Stories

Best Of 2012

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I’m sharing my favourite top 12 recipes from 2012. Some of them were very popular – according to statistics – but I loved these 12 the most. I really enjoyed looking back at all of these vegetarian or vegan meals I cooked or baked over the past year.All in all I shared more sweet recipes than savory. Of course it doesn’t mean we only eat sweets, I just somehow like taking photos of these delicious yuminess!

I’m excited for the new year and all it will bring! I hope you’ll still be here reading my short stories, commenting and enjoying my recipes. You inspire me to make this blog better and better day by day. See you in 2013!

Let’s see the favourites of 2012…

January

This month I really loved cocoa, chocolate and walnut cookies! I bet you did too! Also shakshuka was a new way for me to poach eggs in herby tomato sauce. Yum!

February

In February we challenged ourselves. We were planning to do a 29 day sugar-free (no cakes, no chocolates, no sweet fruits only apple, lemon, orange and mandarin sometimes) vegan challenge but we ended it on the 25th day. 25 days were enough. We enjoyed it, we had ups and downs but we couldn’t bear not to eat anything sweet anymore.

As a result of the challenge this month only brought savory recipes. One of my favourites is this spring roll with citrus soy sauce but I also loved the udon noodles with creamy tahini sauce, roasted kale and tofu.

March

This month it’s unequivocal that the best recipe was the raw chocolate ganache cake. This has been one of the most popular recipes on the blog.

April

In April I shared the first recipe from the cookbook, Veg Every Day. I could cook and bake all the recipes from the book because all of them are vegetarian or vegan. With over 200 recipes and vibrant photography, River Cottage Veg Every Day is a timely eulogy to the glorious green stuff. This kale and mushroom lasagne was a big hit.

May

The biggest challenge in May was making strawberry leather or you can call it the healthy version of gummy candy. This leather thing is exciting not only for children, for adults too. It’s very easy to make (and a few hours) but don’t miss it.

June

Another sweet favourite in June: vegan chocolate popsicles with roasted almonds. They are creamy, thick chocolate-y vegan popsicles to enjoy! Yum! I also loved making and eating this raw zucchini spagetthi with creamy tahini sauce.

July

I love nut roasts and vegetarian/vegan patties. I made these yum quinoa patties for a picnic.

August

From the end of the summer my favourite recipe is this milk pie I baked with my recently deceased grandmother. This is actually a thick pancake baked in the oven. It is not too sweet but moist and soft.

September

Imagine little sweet indigo-coloured berries and little sweetish yellow corn kernels in soft, moist muffins with a bit of crispness from the cornmeal. You got it? These vegan corn blueberry muffins are just like I described.

October

I love cooking pancakes. I used carrot to make this soft, vegan and sugar-free pancakes. You can use  honey, agave, rice or maple syrup to pour over the pancakes. A real autumn Sunday indulgence…

November

I added pumpkin purée to this oatmeal that’s why its colour looks bright yellow. With a bit of maple syrup and spices it is one of the best comfort food breakfast during winter time. It is a small bowl of harmony in terms of its colour and taste.

December

This month was one of the busiest with 11 recipes I shared. It’s difficult to choose one of them so I let you make this decision. 🙂

Almond Butter Red Currant Popsicles – Guest Blogging At Vegan "Miam"

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I’m so glad to be a guest blogger on Rika’s amazing blog, called Vegan “Miam” (did you know that miam means yummy in French?). What an honour! We got to know each other through Twitter and I had a chance to meet her personally in Budapest last summer.

I brought an easy to make yum popsicle recipe for Rika’s readers. During the very sweltering Hungarian summer (temperatures 36-40C) I didn’t turn on my oven often. I bought popsicle molds and I discovered the homemade popsicle world. There are so many great ingredients (fruits, chocolate, nuts, herbs, spices) to use and within a few hours you can cool down yourself with an icy dessert. See other popsicle recipes here.

To get the recipe visit Rika’s blog.

Vegan Sugar Free Banana Peanut Butter Popsicles

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Waking up from an afternoon nap somehow the threesome of banana-peanut butter-cocoa came to my mind. I didn’t know how and why but I knew I had to do something.

I had three very ripe bananas in the fridge (during hot summer days I store bananas in the refrigerator to keep them for a longer time… although the peel of this tropical fruit will darken but the banana inside will remain firm and delicious). I used only two for this recipe. I threw those two into the food processor, I added all the other ingredients and I blended it until smooth. Boy, I got a yum titbit! You can serve it like this as a cream in small cooled glasses with roasted peanuts on top but I freezed it.

It is the best if you use your homemade peanut butter to make these popsicles.

Vegan Sugar Free Banana Peanut Butter Popsicles

Ingredients (for 4 popsicles)

– 2 ripe bananas, peeled, chopped
– 80 g peanut butter
– 80 ml oat milk
– 2 tablespoons cocoa

Method

Place all other ingredients in a food processor then blend everything until smooth. Pour into popsicle molds, insert sticks and freeze until solid (about 2 hours).

Lemon Balm Apricot Popsicles

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During this very sweltering Hungarian summer (temperatures 36-40C) I didn’t turn on my oven often. I bought popsicle molds and I discovered the homemade popsicle world. There are so many great ingredients (fruits, chocolate, nuts, herbs, spices) to use and within a few hours you can cool down yourself with an icy dessert.

The sweetness of these beautiful juicy apricots goes well with the mild acidulated of lemon balm.

Lemon Balm Apricot “Calippo”

Ingredients (for 4 popsicles)

– 400 g apricot, pitted
– 125 ml water
– 8 leaves of lemon balm
– 1 tablespoon maple syrup (optional)

Method

Place all ingredients in a blender and process for 5 minutes, until smooth. Pour into popsicle molds, insert sticks and freeze until solid (about 2 hours).

Vegan Chocolate Popsicles With Roasted Almonds

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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!