Vegetarian bbq

Vegetarian bbq variations are not completely hopeless. When I first started experimenting with barbecuing vegetables, it was not that good, but over the years, I've learned some tricks. My favo at the moment is grilled courgette (zucchini). The good news is that I don't have to use the actual grill everytime I want a smoky courgette on my plate. I frequently use a grill pan for grilling vegetables and tofu. Little effort gives sometimes great results. All you need is the grill pan and some marinade/grill oil. The rest is upon your own taste and imagination.

 

Grilled courgette&tofu with goat brie cheese

courgette

tofu natural

goat brie cheese

olive oil + grill oil or a favorite marinade

Slice the courgette and the tofu. Marinate tofu for a while and grill it in the grill pan for about 2 minutes on each side. Brush the courgette with the marinade (or olive/grill oil) and grill on each side. Place a slice of the goat brie on each courgette a minute before it's done, it will melt slightly. Make "sandwiches" with goat brie in the middle. Serve with sallad or what ever you prefer. 

What is your favorite bbq food?

Roasted carrot and beet soup with zucchini

Is there anything better and more comforting than a bowl of a really nice and rich soup? Don't think so! Especially when the thermometer is showing no less than -20...brrrh!
Thanks to my friend Matka and her sensational food experiments I gave it a shot and tried to make a soup of roasted vegetables. Ever since I've been experimenting with different vegetable variations of the soup. In Matkas recipe is the soup made of roasted carrots and red onions.

This soup helped me "survive" the last two days of detox :)
PS I used very little cream and the soup was still delicious!

Roasted carrot and beet soup with zucchini
(makes 4 portions)
500 g carrots
1 big or 2 small beets
2 cloves of garlic
olive oil
5 dl vegetable stock
1,5 dl single cream
dried rosemary and oregano
salt and black pepper
1/2 lemon
1 zucchini
squash seeds (optional)

Method: 
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Peel and clean the carrots and beets.
2. In a bowl, stir together oregano, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Toss with vegetables until they are coated. Spread evenly on a baking sheet. Roast in the oven for about 30 minutes.
3. Prepare the vegetable stock meanwhile.
4. Put the roasted carrots and beets into a blender with a little bit of the vegetable stock and two cloves of fresh garlic. Puree until smooth.
5. Mix with the rest of the stock in the pan, add the lemon juice, rosemary, cream and cook thru. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Roast the zucchini rings in the pan with a table spoon of olive oil until golden-brown.
7. Garnish the soup with the zucchini rings and some squash seeds.

Look at the color and thickness of the soup, I just must say I love it! :) 

Have a lovely day!

Juicing for health

Are you considering getting yourself a juicer? We bought one this week and I'm so excited about it! Probably the best investment this year. It does take space in the kitchen and it is a bit clumsy to get clean but that's totally worth it. Juicing is easy and fun! A lot of juicer recipes and information on juicing I found here.

Detox day number one was yesterday:

• breakfast: fresh juice made of beets, celery stalks, apples, and carrot
• lunch: avocado soup
• dinner: frittata made of egg whites, broccoli and lightly smoked pork loin, asparagus on the side
• snack#1: carrot, apple and celery juice
• snack#2: avocado soup 

 Well yes, I admit that I had a little bit of the avocado mousse I made yesterday :) I hope it didn't make so much damage but I'll have to watch out for such temptations. I'm trying to enjoy my detox, looking at the bright side of all the health benefits I'll probably experience later on. I'm lucky that I'm staying at home for one more week, I can imagine that detoxing while working must be quite a hard work.
I did have a minor headache yesterday but other than that I did not experience anything unpleasant. Craving for sugar was not that bad as I was expecting, the juiced apples and carrots helped to prevent it maybe?

These pictures I have taken today, my morning juice consisted of beets, carrots, celery stalks, lemon and ginger. A real vitamine boost!

Have a great juicy day everyone!

A as in avocado

I didn't know the taste of avocado until I was about 25 years old. We were having dinner with friends in a cosy mexican restaurant in Prague and had guacamole among the dishes we ordered. I remember there was a "mexican" restaurant in my home town Nitra, but I don't remember anything made of avocado on the menu! :) Today avocado is a often on my menu. My two favorite recipes, a soup and a dessert with avocado, follow:

Avocado soup with lime and chilli

Ingredients: (makes about 3 portions)
2 avocados
1/2 liter vegetable stock
1 lime, juiced
1 clove of garlic (optional)
chillipepper (fresh or dried)
sea salt

Method:
1. Cut the avocados in half and remove the pits. Spoon the avocados into a blender and puree together with a little bit of the semi-cold vegetable stock.
2. Add chilli, lime juice, garlic and the remaining vegetable stock. Blend until smooth.
3. Season with sea salt and serve.

Trust me, it's wonderful. I make this soup very often and I never get tired of it :)

Recipe adapted from 500 soppor, den enda bok med soppor du behöver by Susannah Blake.

Avocado mousse

 Avocado in a dessert? Oh my, it's so surprisingly good! I can only recommend because even Andreas, who is not an avocado fan, liked it!

Ingredients: (makes 2 portions)
1 avocado
zest and juice of 1/2 lime
100 ml heavy cream
2 tbsp light muscovado sugar

Method:
1. Cut the avocado in half, remove the seed and peel. Mix the avocado together with the sugar, lime juice and zest until smooth. Use a handheld blender.
2. Whip the heavy cream and blend it into the avocado mix.
3. Cool for about 2 hours before serving. Yummie! :)

Recipe adapted from Höstens goda mat, Ica Kvantum.