Signature Cucumber Salad

My mum taught me how to make this amazingly easy and effective cucumber salad. To say I am forever grateful would go a bit far but I definitely make this on a weekly basis because this salad goes with everything! I love it with a red pasta sauce, baked salmon, curry, etc. etc.. Just try and I am sure that it will quikcly become a staple piece in your kitchen repertoire.


Serves: 4
Time: 5 min

You need:
1 cucumber, thinly sliced (I usually use a grater)
3 tablespoons of mayonnaise

few squirts of lemon juice

2 garlic gloves (or 1 big one), squeezed
dried chives 

tiny drop of water

1. Mix the mayonnaise, lemon juice, garlic, chives in a big bowl, add a few drops of water if the consistency is too thick, but keep in mind that cucumber is a watery vegetable.
2. Slice the cucumber and add to the dressing
   .

Read More

Thai Chickpea Soup

When someone asks me for a quick, cheap and healthy recipe, this one is on the top of my mind. It is amazingly easy to make and adaptable to your own taste. Simply throw in any of your favorite veggies and see if it works. Since the consistency is quite thick you could eat it as a soup as well as a sauce, like my colleague likes to do.

Serves: 4

Time: 20 min

You need:

1 leek, in rings

1 red pepper, chopped

1 courgette (zucchini), chopped 

2 cans of chickpeas, drained 

1 can of coconut milk 

2/3 tsp green thai curry paste (check for sugar!)

300 ml vegetable broth, from cube (check for gluten!)

2 fresh limes, 1 for soup, 1 to garnish in thick slices
fresh coriander

1. Heat up some olive/coconut oil in a large soup pan. 
2. Sauté the leek until semi- transparent
3. Add the pepper, courgette and the thai curry paste and fry for apr. 3 min.
4. Slowly pour in the coconut milk, vegetable broth and the chickpeas
5. Stir until boiling point and let it slowly cook for 5/10 min, add the juice of 1 lemon, just squeeze it
6. garnish with the other lemon and fresh coriander 

Read More

Leon Shredded Kale and Peanut Salad

One of my favorite spots in London is Leon, hands down. Gorgeous food! I fell in love with the place and with their shredded kale and peanut salad in particular. Since I will be moving away in less then a month I need to make sure that I still can get my fix once in a while. Hence the attempt to recreate this amazing recipe. It works both as a side dish or as a complete lunch.

Serves: 2

Time: 15 min

You need:

For the salad:

400g curly kale, roughly chopped

100g white cabbage, finely sliced

2 tablespoons of roasted peanuts, in chunks

For the dressing:

1 tsp olive oil

1 tsp sesame oil

1/2 tsp vinegar

1 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp honey

1/4 tsp peanut butter

1 glove of garlic, pressed

Freshly chopped coriander

1. Mix the shredded kale and cabbage, sprinkle with crushed peanuts. 
2. Whisk all the ingredients for the dressing in a small bowl. 

Read More

New London Breakfast Favourite: Spinach and Spring Onion Omelette

I've been having a busy schedule since I am living in London and found out that fruit for breakfast doesn't really cut it anymore. This savory breakfast really keeps me going!

Serves: 2

Time: 15 min

You need:
5 eggs
2 spring onions
chili powder (optional)
2 handfuls of fresh spinach
1 avocado

1. whisk the eggs until yolks and egg white are fully mixed, then add in the chili (if you eat salt and pepper with your eggs, best save it for when the egg is halfway cooked, salt breaks up the consistency of the egg and makes it watery).
2. Chop the spring onion, whisk it through the egg.
3. Heat up some olive oil in a frying pan.
4. Pour the mixture in the pan, add the spinach on top and reduce the heat to half.
5. When the bottom of the omellette is solid, fold in half and reduce the heat to low, let it sit for a few more minutes.
6. Cut the omelette in half and serve with half an avocado.

Read More

rice noodles with beef

A fun recipe


Preparation time: 20 min
Serves: 4


You need:
300g green beans
300g rice-noodles
1 lime
1,5 tablespoons of honey
2 tablespoons fish sauce
300g beef/ steak
1 red pepper
2 onions
1/2 iceberg lettuce
fresh mint, roughly diced (optional)

1. Remove the ends of the green beans and break them in half, cook the beans in 8 minutes.
2. Grate the zest of the lime and press the lime. Mix the juice, the grinds the honey and the fish sauce in a bowl.
3. Cook the noodles like it says on the description.
4. Cut the pepper in little pieces, the seeds are best removed by cutting the pepper in half and removing the ends, then rolling the halves between the palms of your hands vertically, the seeds will fall out. Cut the onions in rings.
5. Heat some oil in a wok, stir-fry the beef 3 minutes, take it out and add a bit of pepper.
6. Stir-fry the onions and pepper in the leftover oil for 2 minutes, then add the noodles, beans and the lime mixture. Let it cook for another 2/3 minutes.
7. Add the beef and the lettuce and let it warm up thoroughly.

Read More

Lovely breakfast for when I am in a bit of a hurry.

When I am in a bit of a hurry or just feel like having grapefruit I prepare this nutritious breakfast. Be cautious with the soy yoghurt tough, AlproSoya has loads of sugar in their products. It tastes rather disgusting actually, Provomel is the better option in the Netherlands. You can get it at any reform store and some supermarkets.

You need:
1/2 grapefruit
1 apple
handful of walnuts (or more, when you have a busy day)
soy yoghurt.

1. Remove the pulp from the grapefruit, I think it is best done by taking a sharp knife and section each piece between the pulp, then cut around the edge of it. 
2. Peel the apple, cut it into pieces.
3. add the yoghurt.
4. sprinkle with walnuts.

Read More

What to do when eating at someone else's?

If you have been eating like this for a while you can agree that most people are getting stressed out when they have you over for dinner. No mater how easy it is for you to eat like you do, other people will often see it is a hindrance.

What often happened for me was that I fell like I was being a nuisance and ate whatever they made and would be in pain the rest of the evening. Now that is of course not very loving and far from the ideal situation....
So. What would be the easy fix for this problem?
There is no real easy fix, but I have a few solutions.

• Invite everyone over at your place and cook the food yourself. (which is fine of course, but sometimes other people like to take care of you too.)
• Go and offer to eat out every time the word dinner is even mentioned. (Quite expensive isn't it?) 
• Make a list of all the do's and don'ts and a list of good products and hand them out to your friends. (A good solution if you have a proper allergy)
• Make a list for your friends with easy recipes that you can enjoy with them. 
• Take replacement products with you. (For example gf/df pasta, usually homemade red sauce doesn't contain anything "bad", rice noodles, rice, rice cakes etc.)

Eating a certain way does not have to keep you from enjoying dinner with friends, on the contrary, cooking meals with love and attention usually gets them interested in looking into their own eating habits as well and this creates a better understanding. 

I usually go for cooking myself or taking replacement products with me. I love cooking healthy and tasty stuff for my friends and I no longer feel guilty when I don't eat something a friend of mine has made, which by now almost never occurs anymore. But the most important thing when having dinner is that you do not stress out about restrictions and thoroughly enjoy the time spend with your loved ones. 

Read More