Fennel carrot lentil soup with a touch of ginger and blood orange - venkel wortel linzensoep met een vleugje gember en bloedsinaasappel (GF-DF-SF-V)

A French inspired soup with a hint of ginger to give some inner heat and the juice of a blood orange for a delicate taste.

Yesterday I was walking in the sun, via the woods where spring is already starting bit by bit.

I walked to the seaside and had a great time, enjoying, breathing, making pictures with my Iphone and having lunch in a sand dune.

But today it’s freezing cold again, grey and rainy. And for me that means soup time.

You’ll need:

700g or 2 fennel bulbs

500g carrots

1 onion

1 clove of garlic

1 tbsp fresh ginger

1 l hot water or vegetable broth

1 blood orange

½ cup red lentils

Olive oil

Pepper and salt to taste

Begin by frying the onion softly in a big soup casserole in some good olive oil for about 10 minutes. Add a pinch of salt and stir once in a while.

Clean the vegetables and cut carrots and fennel in small cubes.

Chop the garlic clove fine and also finely cut the ginger in slices and then like the garlic: very, very fine.

First add carrot cubes and let them cook together with the onion for 5 more minutes. Then add fennel, garlic and ginger and stir in well. Fry for 5 more minutes.

Add hot stock or water and the well rinsed lentils and bring to the boil. Lid on, gas low. After 20 minutes, when the vegetables and lentils are tender, taste and add more salt if needed. 

Turn off the gas and add the blood orange juice. 

Blend the soup with a stick blender or otherwise.

Taste again and make adjustments if needed, i don't think so ;-)

I just grind some fresh black pepper on top after I put the soup in a bowl. Pure and delicious. Enjoy!

Voor deze pure en heerlijke soep heb je nodig:

700g of 2 venkelknollen

500g winterwortels

1 ui, fijngehakt

1 teen knoflook

1 eetlepel gehakte gember

1 l water

1 bloedsinaasappel

½ cup rode linzen

Olijfolie

Peper en zout naar smaak

Begin met het fruiten van de ui in wat goede olijfolie op een zacht vuur in een flinke soeppan, ongeveer 10 minuten. Voeg wat zout toe en roer af en toe.

Ondertussen ga je de groentes wassen en schoonmaken. Snijd dan de wortels en venkelknollen in blokjes.De knoflook en gember zeer fijn.

Voeg eerst de wortelblokjes toe en bak rustig 5 minuten samen met de ui.

Dan voeg je venkel, knoflook en gember toe. Roer goed door elkaar en laat nog 5 minuten zachtjes meebakken.

Schenk water of groentebouillon in de pan en voeg de goed

gewassen linzen toe. Breng aan de kook en laat, met een deksel op de pan, 20 minuten zachtjes koken tot groentes en linzen gaar zijn. Proef de soep en voeg naar smaak zout toe.

Gas uit en schenk het sap van de bloedsinaasappel erbij.

Mix de soep met een staafblender of ander apparaat. 

Proef nogmaals en voeg toe wat nodig is, waarschijnlijk niets ;-)

Schep in een kom en maal er wat verse zwarte peper op.

Geniet van een licht verwarmende en delicate smaak!

Vanilla bean coconut macaroons – vanille kokosmakronen (GF-DF)

Sometimes when I crave something sweet, I invent a new recipe that is an immediate hit.

These macaroons are dead-easy to make and to die for soft and sweet and yummy. 

There is only one problem: they are too good, it is really hard to stop eating them or even stop making them.

So, on your own risk then ;-)

Vanilla bean coconut macaroons

100g shredded unsweetened coconut

1 fat, juicy, whole vanilla pod

100 g shredded unsweetened coconut (yes I know, 2 times)

50-100g unrefined cane sugar (depending on your sweet tooth)

2 organic eggs, whisked loose

Pre heat the oven on 180°C and put a sheet of baking paper on a baking tray.

Grind the first 100 grams of coconut fine together with the vanilla pod. I use a coffee grinder for the purpose, to get really fine spots of vanilla. Is your vanilla pod somewhat dry, I suggest you cut it first into small pieces, before grinding.

In a bowl mix the ground mixture with the other 100 grams of coconut and the sugar. Add the eggs and mix with your hands into a dough.

Make small balls and flatten them on the baking tray. I made about 20 macaroons from this amount.

Bake them in the oven for 15 minutes until lightly browned.

Cool on a wire rack and enjoy them with a mug of your favourite tea.

Vanille kokosmakroon

100g geraspte kokos

1 hele, vette, sappige vanilleboon

100g geraspte kokos (ja, nog een keer)

50-100g rietsuiker (afhankelijk van je smaak)

2 biologische eieren, losgeklopt

Verwarm de oven voor op 180°C en leg een vel bakpapier op de bakplaat.

Maal de vanilleboon fijn met de eerste 100 gram kokos. Ik gebruik hiervoor een ouderwetse koffiemolen (elektrisch dan), deze zorgt voor hele fijne stukjes vanille. Heb je een wat droge (oudere) vanilleboon snijdt hem dan eerst in kleine stukjes.

Meng in een beslagkom deze mix met de andere 100 gram kokos en de suiker en voeg dan de eieren toe. Meng met de hand tot een mooi deeg. Vorm dan balletjes die je plat drukt op de bakplaat. Ik maakte ongeveer 20 makronen met deze hoeveelheid.

Bak in het midden van de oven ongeveer 15 minuten tot ze lichtgekleurd zijn. Laat ze afkoelen op een rekje.

Zet een fijne pot thee en serveer deze goddelijke makronen

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Carrot oatmeal breakfast bowl (GF-SF-V-DF)

For me breakfast is really indispensable, I cannot get going without it, like yoga;-)
Especially in fall and winter I need warming grains to poke up the inner flame and nurture my intestines.
So this winter I made a recipe with oats and carrots, a great tasting morning meal which can also be a nice way to add some extra veggies to your diet or to that of a picky child!

Naturel rolled oats and oatmeal are a traditional breakfast cereal with great nutritional benefits. You can read more here.
Besides the health benefits oats are also very versatile: you can make porridge, bake cookies and bars, mix them into your veggie burgers, and much more. What do you do with your oats?



Carrot oatmeal breakfast bowl (1 person)

125 ml nut milk
50 g rolled oats
½ cup roughly grated carrot
1 tbsp sultanas
zest and juice of 1 mandarin or ½ orange
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ginger powder
pinch of nutmeg
1 – 2 tbsp chopped raw walnuts or almonds, maybe dry-roast them first for deeper flavour

Put the nut milk, I like to use coconut milk, in a pot and bring to a soft boil.

Stir in oats and grated carrot and reduce to a simmer.
Then add the sultanas, zest and juice and the spices. Stir everything well and let it simmer for about 8 minutes till everything is smooth and creamy and the carrots cooked. Stir occasionally and when it gets a little dry, add some water.

In the simmer time you can crack and chop your walnuts or almonds.

Serve in your favourite bowl, sprinkle with the nuts and maybe some extra coconut milk.
For me this breakfast is sweet enough, but you can always add a little maple syrup!
Enjoy!

Adzuki bean chili with basmati rice (GF-SF-DF-V)

I have been rather busy this week by developing and writing recipes for my yoga community at Melissawest.com

We’ll have a Mindful Parenting Retreat next weekend, filled with yoga, meditation, reflection and a lot of other fun stuff to do with your kids, like crafting, massaging and journaling.

And of course food! So I rewrote some recipes from my blog and wrote some new ones too, like bite sized chocolate brownies as a request from Trinity, Melissa’s daughter. I will place the recipe on my blog after the retreat, since it is a surprise till then;-)

For today’s post I have this rather yummie adzuki bean chili for you. A warming winter dish, filled with veggies, herbs and spices. I hope you like it!

Adzuki bean chili with basmati rice (2-3 pers)

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, in thin slices

2 carrots, chopped in small cubes

2 celery sticks, in same small cubes

1 tbsp fresh ginger, finely chopped

1 15-ounce can of adzuki beans or ½ cup of dried beans soaked overnight and cooked, making 1 ½ cups after cooking

1 15-ounce can of peeled tomatoes

½ -1 can of water

sea salt

1 tbsp cacao powder

1 splash of red wine (optional)

Spicy herb mixture:

1 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

¼ -1 tsp of chilli powder or 1 dried chilli

2 tsp mixed green herbs (thyme, oregano, rosemary)

Grind these herbs and mix them with:

½ tsp smoked paprika

½ tsp sweet paprika

½ tsp piment(Dutch name) or allspice

Make the spicy herb mixture first and set aside.

In a big Dutch oven or heavy bottomed stewing pan heat some olive oil and fry onions slowly about 10 minutes, stir once or twice.

Add garlic slices and fry together 3 more minutes.

Add carrot and celery cubes and fry for 10 more minutes.

Stir in fresh ginger, then the herb mix for 1 more minute.

Then add adzuki beans, peeled tomatoes and water (use the tomato can for extra flavour!) salt, cacao powder and the red wine. Bring to a soft simmer and, with the lid on, simmer for about 30 minutes more.

In the meantime cook your basmati rice and maybe make some guacamole. The 3 go very well together! Also a scoop of yoghurt or creme fraiche for the non-vegans is so good.

Serve hot and enjoy!!