Date paste

Hi everyone, so as you may know I have been trying to minimize my animal product consumtion, one of the easiest was milk, but eggs and honey... that's an issue. In most of my baking recipes I use honey, honey is twice as sweet as regular sugar (in volume), so you get more sweetness with less calories, and that's awesome, but honey is an animal product so I'm lowering its consumption. I came up with this idea the day I made ma'amoul cookies. I hope you find it useful and you like it!

Ingredients

• 150 gr dry dates
• 150 gr water

Process

• Place the dry dates in a bowl and add hot water.
• Let them cool completely
• Place the dates together with the liquid in a food processor and process them until a paste is formed.
• Transfer the paste to a pot and cook it stirring constantly until the volume reduces to a half a cup container.
• That's it!

Red lentil Kibbeh (kofta)

Hi guys! today I have and easy and healthy recipe you will love during summer. Kibbeh is a dish from the middle eastern cuisine, they are traditionally made with minced meat onion and bulgur, but they can also be made with legumes, so I though I could use red lentils, but of course if you can't find them use another type of lentils.

Ingredients

• 1 Cup of red lentils
• 1 medium size onion 
• A bunch of parsley
• 3/4 Cup of fine bulgur 
• 1/2 Tsp pepper paste 
• 1/2 Tsp paprika
• 1/2 Tbsp ground cumin
• 2 +1/4 Cups of water 
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• Salt to taste

Process

• First we are going to wash the red lentils, rub the lentils gently with your hands and then discard the water, repeat this process six to seven times until the water comes clear. 
• Once the lentils are clean put them in a pot and add the water and cook them for 20 minutes. 
• While the lentils cook, prepare the onion and the parsley, chop them and sauté them with olive oil in a saucepan until the onion is translucent.
• By this time the lentils should be cooked, now lets add the spices, the paprika, the cumin powder and the pepper paste, mix everything together and add the bulgur, ad some salt to taste and mix.
• Finally add the onion and parsley and mix very well and let the mixture rest for 40 minutes so the bulgur gets well soaked.
• After that time shape the kibbehs to its traditional shape, if it's too difficult, just make balls, and that's it if you want you can also deep fry them, but they are really good just like that.
• Serve together with a lettuce, tomato, chopped parsley, green pepper and cucumber salad, for the dressing use lemon juice, olive oil and salt.

No-meatballs

Hi guys! Today I'll show you how to make some delicious no-meatballs with lentils and seitan with a earthy and tasty gravy! This recipes is packed with proteins so nutritionally speaking you will not miss your meat!

For the no-meatballs

• ¼ Cup wheat flour
• 1 Tbsp maggi sauce (or soy sauce)
• 3 Tbsp water
• ¼ Tsp garlic powder
• ¼ Tsp smoked paprika
• 1 Cup of cooked lentils
• 2-3 Tbsp chopped parsley
• 2 Slices of whole wheat bread
• 1 Tbsp tomato puree
• 1 Minced garlic clove
• Olive oil
• A little flour

For the gravy

• 1/2 Cup green peas
• 1 Minced garlic clove
• 1 Small chopped onion
• A little flour
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste
• A little flour
• 6 Hazelnuts and 6 Almonds
• Olive oil

Process

• First we are going to prepare the seitan, of course if you have store bought seitan you can skip this sept. In a bowl put the gluten flour, then add the maggi sauce (or soy sauce) and 3 the water. Then add some garlic powder, smoked paprika and mix everything until you get aweird texture dough. Put that in a pot and cover it with water and cook for about 20 minutes on medium-high heat.
• Put the gluten in a container to process it until it has a consistency similar to ground beef. In a bowl, put the lentils and smash them roughly, then add the chopped parsley, the bread in tiny, some tomato paste, the seitan and finally the minced garlic. Mix everything together until a homogeneous paste is formed, taste it to see if it needs salt.
• Now check the paste's consistency, make a ball and if it’s too soft, then add some flour, I added maybe two tablespoons until I got a good consistency, but this will depend on how much water your lentils and your seitan had at the beginning, make another ball and check the consistency again to see if it's right.
• Now that we have the balls, we need to fry them using olive oil, flip them and brown them evenly.
• In a pot cook the green peas, and cook them.
• Finally let’s make the gravy in a saucepan add a drizzle of olive oil, and stir fry the garlic, quickly and before it gets burnt add the onion, stir fry it until translucent and a little golden brown and then add the tomato paste, if it is too dry add a little water and continue stirring until the paste is well distributed.
• Now to make the sauce thicker, add some flour stir and transfer this to a container to be processed together with the cooking juice from the green peas and also some nuts. Process everything until a gravy consistency.
• Put the gravy in a pot, add a little cinnamon powder, a clove and the no-meatballs, also don’t forget the green peas, stir and serve!

Sun-dried tomatoes, shiitake mushrooms and brandy pasta sauce

Hi everybody, lately I've been eating more pasta, maybe once or twice a week (I used to eat 0 pasta a week haha) So i have some sauces for you guys, last week I made one that I didnt except to be that good. So I defenetly thought I should show you how to make it.

Ingredients

1/4 Cup of brandy
6 Shiitake Mushrooms
6 Sun-dried tomatoes
400 gr crushed tomatoes
1/4 Cup heavy cream or substitute
1 Medium size onion
1 Garlic clove

Process

The first thing we are going to do is to chop all the mushrooms, the sun-dried tomatoes and the onion into small pieces.
Then in a sauce pan sauteé the onion until translucent, and then add the garlic and sauteé until fragrant.
Add the tomatoes and the mushrooms and sauteé until soft. Then add the crushed tomatoes and cook until the sauce thickens, then add the heavy cream and the brandy. Cook until it has a sauce consistency (not light nor thick).
Add some salt and pepper to taste and if the sauce is sour add a little sugar!
Then you just have to cook the pasta and serve!

Zucchini pie

Hi guy, today I have a delicious recipe for you! Its a simple zucchini pie with goat cheese and black olives, I hope you like it!

Ingredients

• 1 round shortcrust pastry
• 2 zucchini
• 1 small onion
• 75 gr of goat cheese
• 30 or so black olives

Process

• Follow the package instructions to bake the shortcrust.
• Chop the onion into tiny pieces and the zucchini into slices.
• Sauté the onion and then add one of the zucchini and cook until they are very soft kinda mushy, add some salt and pepper to taste and then puree them using a food processor.
• Sauté the other zucchini until it's slightly soft and golden brown.
• Put the onion and zucchini pure on the baked shortcrust. Decorate the surface using the zucchini slices and then on top of that the cheese in small pieces and the black olives.