My recipe for a healthy and delicious Dutch Kruidkoek – a gluten free & sugar free spicy apple cookie cake

Morning!

I felt like playing in the kitchen today, and I must say I really love the result myself ♥

Here’s the recipe for a healthy moist and spicy cookie; Dutch Kruidkoek style

For 8 servings you will need:

• 100 gram apple with peel in small pieces
• 100 gram chestnut flour
• 75 gram ghee or coconut oil
• 75 gram honey 
• 30 gram walnut pieces
• 25 gram tapioca starch
• 100 ml water or almond milk 
• 3 tbsp unsweetened apple sauce
• 1 tbsp orange zest or orangeconfit
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger root in small dice
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• a pinch of black pepper
  OR
  substitute with 2 tsp “koekkruiden” or pumpkin pie spice

Mix the wet ingredients and warm in a pan on the stove. Let it cool down and sieve the flour and spices into a big mixing bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix with a wooden spoon or spatula. Stir in the other “fun” ingredients (get crazy! Add pecans instead of walnuts, cranberries, fresh pear…etc..! However this cake is really good this way too..so try it like this first )

Bake in a brownie dish for 40 – 50 minutes at 350 Fahrenheit.

Enjoy! It’s really sweet and a great accompany to any cup of tea or coffee!

The flavors and chewiness of the cookie/cake increases over time.
The recipe keeps fresh if stored in a cookie jar or air tight container for a week.

As for the nutrition info; one serving contains approximately:

220 calories
24 gr. carbs – 9 gr. sugars – 2 gr. fiber – 2 gr. protein – 13 gr. fat

New recipe for a delicious Savory Carrot Cake with Salmon & Olives. Gluten free and Dairy free!

 

New recipe!! I felt like baking a cake, a quiche and a fish pie at the same time… that’s where this beauty came in Excuse my poor photography. The pictures are taken with my phone in the midst of the night; not the best setting. However… you get the idea right?! I think it looks good enough to eat nonetheless

BTW, Happy Easter! Hope you’ve had a good one! Mine was blissful

Now for the cake ingredients:

• 200 grams canned wild caught, pink salmon
• 75 grams fresh olives
• 3 large carrots, grated
• 2 tbsp mixed Italian herbs
• 2 tsp cream of tartar
• 2 eggs or egg replacement
• 2 cups carrot juice or almond milk
• 1 cup quinoa or teff flour
• 1 cup quinoa flakes
• 1 cup sweet potato puree or mashed pumpkin (I used sweet potato, but I think mashed pumpkin will work too… haven’t tried it though)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp rice syrup, maple syrup or date syrup
• 1/3 tsp fine sea salt

This batter makes well over one cake. I ended up with one big cake & 4 muffins. I have no idea what the size of my silicon mold of choice is… still no idea… SORRY I really need to buy myself a measuring tape! I WILL get back to you on this, however… if, like me, you find yourself having leftover batter… just make a cake + a few muffins. Trust me, you’ll wanna eat them all anyways

Mix everything EXCEPT the salmon and olives with an electric mixer/beaters, and spoon into a greased baking tin/oven dish of choice. Keep at least 1/3 of the batter apart. Then top with olives and salmon. Cover up with the remaining batter and bake in the middle rack of your oven on 325° F for 1.5 hours. Turn the oven off and leave in the oven for 15 more minutes with the door open to slowly cool off. At this point the top is nice and browned and feels firm to the touch.

Remove from the pan and let cool completely – keeps fresh for at least 2 days – or serve immediately with a side salad or veggie stir-fry. It’s great on its own with some olive oil drizzled on top and some fresh cracked black pepper too!

Oh, and don’t forget our good friend the avocado. I had a muffin version for breakfast this morning (cold) with avocado on top. Amazing… Simple… yet amazing!

Hope you’ll enjoy my savory version of a Carrot Cake!

Much love,

Leanne

Yellow Chestnut Cake – Gluten Free Recipe – Sugar Free

Hey My Fellow Foodies =)

I’ve been experimenting a lot in the kitchen lately, and upon request from a few (cyber)friends I’m gonna post them on my blog again. I really want to revive my blog! Hope you’ll like this recipe for a gluten fee & sugar free Yellow (sorta) Cake. It can be dairy free too!

Ingredients:

• 6 tbsp ghee, butter or coconut oil
• 2 tbsp xylitol
• 2 droppers full of stevia
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp lemon zest (organic please!!!)
• 3/4 cup almond milk or water or buttermilk
• 1 tsp lemon juice (omit if using buttermilk!)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp orange extract
• 1 cup chestnut flour
• 5 tbsp tapioca starch
• 3 tbsp arrowroot starch
• 1 tsp psyllium husk
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp fine sea salt

Preheat your oven to 325° F.

Prepare by combining the wet ingredients; mix well and set aside. Sift flours and combine all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Combine wet + dry ingredients, mix well and spoon the batter into a greased pan and smooth the top.

I have no idea what the measurements of my silicon mold is.. sorry!
So I’d say… just experiment, eyeball the amount of batter that goes into your mold and bake in whatever shape or form that floats your boat! =D

My cake had to bake for 45 – 50 minutes, it could have gone an extra 5 minutes I think… however this way it stayed moist, which was delicious too!

Enjoy with some coconut milk, fresh fruit, whipped cream and/or ice cream! YUMMMMM I really liked it – hope you will too!

♥
Leanne

Easy recipes – Small Dutch Pancakes called Poffertjes – gluten free & sugar free & dairy free!

I’m back! At least I think I’m gonna start blogging again from time to time

How have you been???

I’ve been so extremely busy, but I do miss the interaction and sharing my recipe creations with you all! I’ve been Instagramming though.. New obsession… *sigh* I’m getting more and more addicted to social media because of my new smartphone — I’ve been kinda reluctant — but I’ve caved in I might not be as amusing to my friends (making pictures of my plate of food before sitting down for dinner and getting multiple messages throughout a date…) however, I’m gaining some great virtual friendships at the same time, and my friends.. thank God they’re checking their personal pages too

To cut to the chase, I wanna share a quick recipe with you upon request.

To make these:

You will need:

• 1/2 cup chestnut flour
• 1/2 cup teff or buckwheat flour
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 2 tbsp sugar substitute – I used xylitol
• 2 tsp raw cacao powder
• 2 egg whites
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup sparkling mineral water / soda water
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• pinch of sea salt
• Optional: add some maca powder, lemon zest, cinnamon, vanilla extract, almond extract… whatever you fancy!

Mix everything in a blender or with an stick-blender of electric beaters. You can combine this by hand with a whisk.. however you don’t get as smooth of a batter.

You will need a Dutch poffertjes pan, that looks something like this:

If you don’t have a cast iron poffertjes pan or something similar. You can bake these like any other three-in-a-pan / silver dollar pancake recipe.

They will not get as fluffy and thick as they would in a poffertjes pan, but the taste will be the same.

I love the combination of sweet and light chestnut flour + the earthy teff flour + rich raw cacao. It’s a great combination that makes these a real treat.

Serve with a dollop of whipped cream, coconut butter, real butter, some syrup and fresh fruit. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

Brings back childhood memories for me ♥

Hope you’ll enjoy and leave a comment if you’ve got any questions.

Much love & happy baking!

Sinterklaas recipe for Dutch kruidnootjes – spicy little cookies you have to try in honor of Saint Nicolas!

“Saint Nicolas” – every year actors play the roll of Saint Nicolas and make this holiday into a big happening for kids who believe Saint Nicolas is actually coming to Holland to give them presents if they’ve been good this year and sing songs together in honor of the Saint. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Fijne Sinterklaas allemaal (Happy Saint Nicolas everyone!)

Oh my… I’ve missed you all, so I thought today would be a good day to share a recipe and explain to you a little bit about our favorite Holiday in Holland.

Today is a National Dutch Holiday on which we celebrate the birthday of Saint Nicolas! He is said to be one of the sources of the holiday figure of Santa Claus in North America.

To save myself some time I copied this explanation from Wikipedia (I did read the information myself and as far as I know… it’s good information )

Sinterklaas [sɪntər'klaːs] (or more formally Sint Nicolaas or Sint Nikolaas; Saint Nicolas in French; Sankt Nikolaus in German) is a traditional Winter holiday figure still celebrated today in the Low Countries, including the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as French Flanders (Lille) and Artois (Arras). He is also well known in territories of the former Dutch Empire, including South Africa, Aruba, Suriname, Curaçao, Bonaire, and Indonesia. He is one of the sources of the holiday figure of Santa Claus in North America.^[1] Although he is usually referred to as Sinterklaas, he is also known as De Goedheiligman (The Good Holy Man), Sint Nicolaas [sɪnt 'nikolaːs] [ pronunciation (help·info)] (Saint Nicholas) or simply as De Sint (The Saint).

He is celebrated annually on Saint Nicholas’ eve (5 December) or on the morning of 6 December in the Netherlands, Belgium and Northern France. Originally, the feast celebrates the name day of Saint Nicholas — patron saint of children, sailors, and the city of Amsterdam, among others. Sint Nicholas being a bishop and this geographical spread make clear that the feast in this form has a Roman Catholic background.

Like every Western Holiday.. it comes with food… lot’s of it mostly sweets!

LOTS of marzipan, chocolate treats, “taai taai”, “pepernoten” and “kruidnootjes”!

So today I wanna share my “healthyfied” version of the traditional Dutch “Kruidnootjes” - spicy little cookies that are a real treat for anyone who loves the combination of warming spices, saltiness and sweetness!

These cookies are sooooo easy to make, so give it a go and feel as if you’ve just traveled all the way to Holland

Happy Holiday-season!!

Gluten free – Dairy free – Soy free – Sugar free – (can be Vegan)…. OMG what’s left in it?? 100% love & deliciousnessy goodness!

Ingredients:

• 100 gram melted or softened coconut oil or butter
• 75 gram buckwheat flour
• 75 gram brown rice flour
• 4 – 5 TBSP honey or sweetener of choice
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt OR 1/2 tsp salt to make them more salty – like they traditionally are!
• 1.5 TBSP speculaas (speculas) spices **Speculaas spices:
  2 – 2.5 tsp cinnamon
  0.25 – 0.5 tsp ground ginger
  0.5 tsp ground coriander
  0.25 tsp ground cloves
  0.25 tsp ground nutmeg

Mix all the ingredients together with your hands and kneed the dough until all is thoroughly combined and the dough forms a nice ball. Divide into small balls you place on a cookie-sheet. This recipe makes about 30 – 35 small cookies. You can make them even smaller and create 40. Kruidnootjes are very small cookies! We usually eat one or two hands full of the cookies and you want at least 6 of them to fit in the palm of your hand..

Bake at 350 °F for 8 – 10 minutes depending on your oven.

ENJOY

WIAW Halloween addition – lots of yummy food & a special Jack ‘O Lantern

Happy Halloween my little foodie monsters!

Thanks for stopping by!

This is probably gonna be my last WIAW for a while… my school & job are a little more demanding than I’d anticipated. I’m getting behind because I’m putting to much hours into blogging.. which I love! So I feel kinda sad… however my birthday is in November and I feel a birthday WIAW coming up which I can’t pass right?! Also I will probably make another post in December – I love the X-mas spirit and I HAVE to blog at least one WIAW post on that! So all in all… I’ll be back! Just taking it easy for a while

 

Me and Jenn had a small conversation a week ago about carving a pumpkin for Halloween – I kinda promised her a photo of my carving skills so this morning (30th) I gave it my best attemt to create a WIAW pumpkin… alas… it became an epic fail  It was fun though — have a look at the collage below!

 

 

Happy Halloween! I don’t have any special Halloween treats to show you – I’m sorry… I had a pretty normal day of eating today and as a mentioned before… I don’t have much time to prepare anything fancy — I need more time in a day! (Don’t we all )

So here it goes.. my eats of today on the 30th of October – the day before Halloween (I just love saying writing Halloween; it sounds so inviting!)

 

 

 

I began the day with pumpkin-oatmeal made with full fat coconut milk and maple syrup. I added vanilla extract and pumpkin pie spices. I added shredded coconut and almonds — you can’t see any of this on the picture! So sad! I drizzled some extra syrup on top + I added three almonds to give you sort of a good look… but even than sank to the bottom straight away! Oh well… it tasted amazing and it was quite satisfying (filling).

 

 

Speaking of satisfying and filling… I’ve been having major food cravings lately – not for one item in particular – just FOOD in general! I’ve got a HUGE appetite! I’m eating like a pig all day long basically I guess my body needs the fuel since I’m not gaining a lot of weight. It’s actually kind of annoying because I’m constantly in the kitchen preparing and/or eating food – which quite frankly is taking me a lot of time haha! Also I do feel stuffed at the end of the day which is not the best feeling in the world either… oh well, I kinda hope (and think) this is a phase and it’ll pass once my body is done collecting these extra nutrients it wants so desperately

Long story short – two hours after breakfast I had yogurt with granola and banana! YUMMM

 

And I made myself a second bowl of yogurt with granola and berries – actually it was the other way around — first this bowl, then the above pictured bowl — but who cares right It comes down to the same thing: one whole container of yogurt with a lot of yummy homemade granola and fruit! I’d choose this over cake any time of day! I really love to eat this

As for the granola, it’s really healthy and easy to prepare – I talk about it in a recipe I posted last week (just click here to go to the almond milk recipe and you’ll see what I do with the pulp = base of this granola) it’s worth your time, trust me

 

 

 

A salad for lunch made with Daikon Radish – red onion – avocado dressing and fresh herbs. I also added 1 raw egg into the dressing (don’t try this at home if you’re afraid of getting Salmonella! + for that reason I always use organic eggs)

It was delicious and very nutritious too

 

I have to have my post work-out protein pancakes! I made 6 of these little babies – made with one scoop of Whey (not my first choice) + 1 egg + 2 tbsp coconut flour + 1 tbsp carob powder + 1/2 tbsp baking cocoa + 1 tbsp maple syrup and oil for baking. It’s the best snack post workout in my opinion! I ate this with a cup of coconut-latte and a large banana + some apple syrup (kinda like an apple molasses… I don’t know if you’ve got this in the States, I think not…)

I drank 4 coconut-latte’s today.. I didn’t make a picture though.. I wish I had, but I don’t think the creaminess would have translated onto the camera really well anyways… however for each latte you will need 1 cup of coffee + 3 tbsp full fat coconut milk + a few stevia drops + 1 tsp baking cocoa –> easy as pie! It’s addictive — that’s why I had so many (oops)

 

 

Dinner was a combination of two dishes — I made a leftover Daikon and leftover Kale stew with Indian spices and herbs. And I made a recipe (pictured down below) — like OMG Leanne made a recipe – I NEVER follow a recipe, I just can’t do it.. I’m sorry – it’s not like I’m a know-it-all… I just love the witchcraft of brewing my own concoction by adding herbs, spices, flavorings, veggies, oils, fruits, nuts, eggs, flours, etc.. on the spot! The witch in me gets overly excited in the kitchen (sometimes a little too much – creating the weirdest concoctions with over 50 ingredients, lol!)

Anyway.. I really loved this one mushroom ragout recipe from Delicious Magazine — so I decided to make it — it was great!! I haven’t had a ragout in ages!! Nor do I eat mushrooms often (my digestive system doesn’t like them as much as my taste buds do )

 

The actual ragout — this picture doesn’t do it justice.. it was a beauty to look at and the smell was delicious

I added an herbed oil made with fresh basil and parsley — kinda like a pesto but I only added the fresh herbs (2 cups) and 4 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp aged balsamic vinegar. It was a great addition to the ragout and the balsamic added a nice tanginess (is this a word?) to the rich ragout! I baked us a beef tartare to top it off – YUM!! It could be served with rice or toast if you’d like – however I had another veggie side-dish so we didn’t feel the need for anything else.

 

I’ve used this picture before, but that’s because I’ve had exactly this! I’ve had 4 protein squares with coconut whipped cream for dessert later this evening. If you want the recipe click on the link here! I also added some sugar free jam (I think I was mistaking them for scones!)

I also ate another banana with a cup of warm almond chocolate milk an hour later –> I told you – I eat like a (little) pig(gy) these days

 

Yum yum – I’ve got such a sweet-tooth  However it was delicious and I’m stuffed now – ready to get my beauty sleep

↓

BTW – Why did I have leftover kale? Well last week at a friends house I made a macrobiotic meal with red quinoa & kale. Oh and that’s white almond butter on top of the kale it looks kinda weird like this, lol. I also added some flaked fish and onion. Some red bell pepper would have been great or something else that’s refreshing and sweet… however that’s not really macrobiotic so we didn’t do that… hmm maybe some corn could have been a good substitute for the bell pepper – I’ll try that next time

Ok nevermind.. I’m rambling!

 

A HUGE head of kale! Isn’t it pretty?

Ok… I guess this is it for today.. I hope you all have a great Halloween!! This year I’m not really gonna celebrate – however next year I really want to go to a Halloween party and dress-up! It’s not really big here in Holland, but I know there are some parties in Amsterdam…

What are you gonna dress up as? Do you go to a party tomorrow? Or have you gone to one yet? I’d love to know!

Happy WIAW and I’ll see you soon — just not as often as usual

♥ much love ♥

Leanne

Recipe for homemade almond milk & sort of a pumpkin NotNog

MILK ‘N COOKIES! MILK IN RECIPES! MILK ON TOP OF CEREAL! MILK – MILK – MILK! WE WANT MILK!

I’m lactose intolerant so I avoid dairy as much as possible (apart from life cultured dairy – which seems to be fine – thank God!)

A great alternative I got introduced to in Wichita, KS, 3 years ago is Almond Milk. It’s very well known by nearly everyone nowadays, but back then, I’d never heard of it! And still here in Holland, Almond Milk can only be purchased in health food stores at ridiculous high prices! So…. it’s time to make our own!

↓↓

It’s dead easy all you’ll need is:

•  1 cup soaked raw almonds
• 3 cups water
• 1/2 tsp lecithin – optional – it acts as an emulsifier and you can choose sunflower or soy
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch sea salt
• stevia or a sweetener of choice for a sweeter version of the milk

Start by soaking the almonds in water for at least 8 hours – preferably overnight up to 24 hours. Rinse the almonds well every 8 – 10 hours and refresh the soaking water. The water will turn brownish and filthy looking.

I used a slightly different ratio as you can see on the picture above. I wanted to create an almond cream milk – as a replacement of full fat milk – and I needed the almond pulp to stay fairly coarse — why?! You can read that down below where I give you options on what to do with the left-over almond pulp!

I use a nut milk bag to strain my “almond smoothie” but you can use a fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth in a strainer as well.

Remember a homemade almond milk will usually go bad in a couple of days! So don’t make more than you can drink / eat / use!

If you’re wondering what to do with the leftover pulp, there are loads of options! I sometimes dehydrate the pulp by spreading it evenly on a baking tray and turning the oven on at the lowest temperature possible – 100° F – for as long as it takes to get the pulp completely dry. OR when I’m impatient I bake the pulp at 250 °F for as long as it takes to get it to dry completely.

After it’s dried, a quick blitz in the food processor and you have (raw) almond flour, which is fantastic in muffins, pancakes, cookies, breads, etc.

At other days I turn the pulp into a granola. I usually don’t blitz the almonds into a complete mush/pulp when wanting to make granola. I keep the almonds coarsely chopped like the pictures above. You will get less milk out of the almonds obviously, but the granola tastes super great so I’m willing to sacrifice

I mix the small almond-pieces with an equal part rolled oats some vanilla extract a little raw honey or maple syrup, some cinnamon, a dash of salt and a few tablespoons coconut flour. I then add a few tablespoons liquid coconut milk + a few tablespoons applesauce (to cut the fat content in half!) I use as much wet ingredients until it forms a nice crumble. I bake this mixture at 350° F for about 25 minutes, turning the granola after 15 minutes to make sure I keep it from burning. It’s delicious served with fresh almond milk — yeah, we’re reconstructing the almonds after taking forever to deconstruct them into two different recipes lol

Most of all.. enjoy the experiment in the kitchen en enjoy the outcome! I know I love me a cup of fresh made almond milk and after reading this post… I hope you do too!

It’s almost Halloween so I thought I’d give you a special treat! Pumpkin Spice Almond Milk

1. Add 1/3 cup pumpkin puree to
2. 1 1/2 cups almond milk,
3. along with 1/2 to 1 tsp – to taste – pumpkin pie spice
4. +  (vanilla) stevia, honey or maple syrup to sweeten.
5. Blend and enjoy!

A second option is to blend 1/2 apple + 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract along with the above ingredients for a very special, fallish and different – in a refreshing way – taste!

This recipe also creates a great fake Pumpkin Eggnog – you just have to adjust the ratio – for one person use:

• 1/2 cup pureed pumpkin
• 1/2 apple
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• maple syrup to taste
• vodka – optional
• ice – optional

Add everything into the blender and mix until smooth – serve chilled and enjoy!