Frozen asparagus and peas are something that I always have in my freezer, because they’re some of my favourite veggies, and they can easily make their way into kind of any dish, to make it healthier/bigger/fancier… Lemons are in my house ALL the time, after two trips to South America, I understood that it was everything’s best friend, and elevated most of my dishes in a second.
And lately, looking at my bank account and realising that I was in deep shaït, I decided to learn how to cook with what I HAVE. Stop to the : “I can make this honey, we have everything except for raw almonds, raw sundried tomatoes, raw hemp seed, avocado, and chili powder…”. That type of attitude doesn’t help. Yes we eat well, but if you have to eat baked potatoes for two weeks until pay day, something’s wrong… And to be honest, we never do that, which would be the sensible thing to do, I never “compromise” on food. And spend, and spend, and spend… And now I’m in the shaït.
So, this is not the fanciest of recipies, but it looks like it, is damn tasty, and unbeatably healthy.
I’m taking a few days off from work, and went straight back to the kitchen.
I came up with this super easy bright and happy salad to celebrate the first hot days we had in Paris!
Hope you give this a try.
As is, it is raw vegan, but it’s the perfect base for anything.
If you are really into meat or if it’s your “off day” from a vegan diet (I’m vegan 85% of the time, but I still enjoy a good organic chicken or fish from time to time), then I added a suggestion for you.
If you only eat seafood for your protein, then shrimp would be great with that salad! Just cook them quickly, add a sprinkle of salt and lime.
I made myself this vegan salad today, and wanted to share a beautiful alternative to mayo : I found this recipe on This Rawsomely Vegan Life, it’s not raw per say of course, but the dressing is and it is AMAZING! So shout out to this blog, check it out for more recipes, I know I have my eyes on a few of them myself.
Here’s my less pretty pic of it. I switch the cashews with raw tahini, because that’s what I had on hand at the time, and it was really amazingly good, vibrant, creamy and as satisfying if not more than classic (and nasty) mayo!
Fighting acne, and just wanting to be in better health, is a big change from my traditional dietary habits. I mean, BIG.
I’m not supposed to drink cow milk (acne and digestion say NO), although one of my favorite things is a good hot chocolate. And, this time of year, depriving myself from this heavenly drink is torture. Especially since some of the bloggers & vloggers I like decided to post their own recipes of this ultimate winter drink.
So I said to myself : “Dude, stop crying, pick yourself up, and make an awesome hot chocolate”. I always have a carton of soy milk lying around, that my bf or my mum try to force on me, but each and every time I tried it, it was a fail. It lacks the creaminess of cow milk, and the after taste makes me think of cardboard. And when the craving comes, I pull this nice little recipe I put together last winter and that has been since an easy to make and oh so satisfying household favorite.
My version of hot chocolate (one big cup):
Heat up on the stove a tiny amount of soy milk, just enough to have a cm of it coating the bottom of your pan.
Add a few squares of good dark chocolate, organic if you have some. I usually end up using a 70 or 80% cooking dark chocolate.
Add one tablespoon of pure chocolate powder, Van Houten or similar.
Mix well with a spoon.
Add a teaspoon of coconut oil (the secret to the creaminess of this hot chocolate! Don’t worry it’s good fat!). Stir until melted.
Add organic natural vanilla extract, or vanilla directly from the pod, if you’re fancy, and cinnamon.
Add enough soy milk to fill your cup, and keep on stirring, until your hot chocolate is… well, hot.
Pour into your favorite cheesy touristy cup. Or Christmassy cup if you own one.
Ready!
Enjoy next to your tree, with cheesy decor, your favorite scented candle (mine right now is Cuir Anglais, by Le Comptoir de la Bougie), and the fantastic indulgence that is the Khiel’s Whipped Body Butter.
The cinnamon and coconut oil counter balance what I don’t like about soy milk, its taste and texture. Well, yeah I don’t like soy milk at all.
But this is a beautiful way to drink it. You can switch soy milk, with any milk of your liking, I know I like almond milk a little bit better, so I can’t wait to give it a try.
What’s your recipe? Could you advise one to a chocolate lover/vegetable milk hater?
As some of you know, I moved in october, and discovered the joys of laundry, rotten food you forgot about in your fridge, over flowing toilets, sticky floors and other niceties. After writing a long “mummy I love you so much thank you for everything, I love you, you have no idea, I don’t know how you made it without strangling me, or just leaving for good one morning, thank you so much, how do you do it every day, oh my god I’m so sorry I love you” email to my mama, I decided to actually enjoy the process and apply myself to domestic godessness. Fortunately, my boyfriend is an actual a domestic god himself, and that helps. One thing he doesn’t master, and that I really, really enjoy doing, is cooking.
Here is my version of the awesomest food for winter, or sick days, or any day for that matter : chicken soup. This version is more of a stock, for the sake of being frugal, we buy a whole farm chicken, I butcher it (yes, and I’m super good at it), and set aside the legs, the wings and the scallops, for other recipes. I then take what’s left, basically the bones, some of the skin and the harder to reach meat, and that’s actually enough to give a beautiful, rich flavor. For the budget conscious, I’m sure you noticed you can make two meals for two, plus a good amount of soup. The soup, if you’re not a glutton, unlike me, while last you 3 meals for two with pasta in it (yum!). You can make as much as you want based of the chicken bones, my pot is big enough for 4 to 5 liters of water I think, my mum’s bigger and hers is still super tasty, even with more water in. It really depends on the time you allow it to cook. The more it’s cooked, the better it tastes!
Here is my version, different from my mum’s, it’s the way I love making (and eating!) it. I never measure anything, but I’ll try to be as precise as possible. However, keep in mind that proportions may vary, what counts is the love you put in it!
What’s important is to adjust to taste, not to be afraid to add plenty of herbs, and to be patient with it.
the eyes and the hands 