Carrot hot dog

Hi everyone today I'll show you how to make a carrot hot dog, yeah it is a recipe a little bit weird hahaha, I saw this on social media it is a vegan version of the hot dogs and I liked the idea and I tried it and it turned out really good so I made it my way with my spices and sauces to give it an extra flavour. Lets go to the recipe!

Ingredients

• 4 Carrots
• 4 Hot dog buns
• 1 Cup of water
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp maggi sauce
• A pinch of chili powder
• 1/4 Tsp cumin powder
• 1/2 Tsp paprika
• 1 Tsp miso paste
• 1 Tbsp sugar

Process

• We are going to chop the ends and then peel the carrots.
• To give them a more sausage-like appearance we are going to round the ends of the carrots, this is easier with a peeler but you can do this with a knife.
• Once you are happy with the shape of all your carrot sausages, then it’s time to cook them.
• Obviously carrots don’t have sausage flavours, besides the meaty flavour sausages also have spices so we are going to add different spices and flavours to the water where we are going to cook and marinate the carrots.
• First lets cover the sausages with water I used a little bit more than a cup. Then add the soy sauce, the maggi sauce, the cumin powder, the paprika, a pinch of chili powder, the miso paste, the sugar and some garlic.
• Cook the carrots until they are firm but soft when you poke them with a knife. Let them rest until they are cool if you want you can even keep them in the refrigerator until you want to eat them.
• To eat them add vegetable oil to a pan and fry them, be careful because since they are wet with the marinade the oil will go crazy as you can see here, I suggest you to first put them in the pan without any oil, wait until they get a little dry and then add the oil. Of course you can make them without frying them but I thought they would be closer to the real thing if they were.
• Since we added sugar to the marinade you can also add more on top of the carrots to get a better caramelized surface.
• Once the carrots are ready we are going to put them in the bun, and now we can add our favourite toppings.

Romesco Sauce

Hi everyone!! How is it going? I hope you are all doing well, I'm a little bit sad because the holidays are over :( but at least tomorrow is Friday again :) Today I'm going to show you how to make a sauce that you can use in any dish. This sauce is from Catalonia, and here we eat it traditionally together with calçots, which are a kind of spring onion. The combination of calçots and romesco sauce is awesome, but I have discovered that romesco sauce goes well with a lot of earthy ingredients like potatoes and meat, so I use it whenever I can, actually a few weeks ago I showed you a Buddha bowl that had romesco sauce in it. Believe this sauce is heaven and since it is made with olive oil and nuts it is healthier that mayonnaise for example. I hope you try it!

Ingredients

• 1 Kg ripe tomatoes
• A whole garlic bulb
• 300 gr of unsalted and roasted almonds
• 100 gr of unsalted and roasted hazelnuts
• 5 Dried red peppers
• 1 Litter of olive oil
• White wine vinegar and salt to taste

Process

• Put the tomatoes and the garlic bulb in an oven plate and put them in a in a preheated oven at 250ºC for about 30 minutes.
• Remove the stem from the dried red peppers, and also take away the seeds. Rehydrate the peppers with hot water and boil them for 10 minutes at high heat.
• Peel the almonds and the hazelnuts. If you can't peel them, placed them in hot water for about 10 minutes, then they will peel easily.
• Now that the peppers are rehydrated, remove the meat from the skin with a knife, and also take away any seeds. Place the meat together with the nuts.
• At this point the tomatoes and the garlic bulb should be ready. Peel the tomatoes and the garlic, this should be an easy task. Place the tomatoes and the garlic together with the nuts and the pepper meat.
• Finally using a food processor, process everything together with olive oil. First add 250 mL of the oil, process until a paste is formed and then add the rest of the oil.
• Some people prefer it thinner and others thicker so adjust the amount of oil to your taste.
• Let the sauce rest for about 24 hours and then add salt and vinegar to taste, add them little by little so you don't get a sour and salty sauce.

Hummus

Hi guys! I'm on holidays at the moment in Bilbao (north of Spain) so I don't have time to explain a lot about this recipe, I'll just say three things: easy, healthy, delicious that's the simplest way to describe hummus :)

Ingredients

• 1 Cup of cooked chickpeas
• ¼ Tsp paprika
• ¼ Tsp cumin powder
• 1 Tsp lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp tahini
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 Garlic clove

Process

• Remove the skin from the chickpeas, it is not necessary to do this with al the chickpeas.
• Put all the ingredients in a food processor together with a couple tablespoons of water and process everything together until an homogeneous paste is formed.
• You can add other flavours to this recipe like avocado, basil, beetroots, etc.

Salads perfect for spring

Hi everyone, I have been in a salad mood lately, at least here in Barcelona we are having some nice and sunny spring days and I guess I'm just bored of the winter food and I just want to jump on the fresh and light food we eat during spring and summer hehehe. So today I will show you three options for everyone, one is for omnivores, another one for vegetarian and the last one for vegans :) I hope you like them.

Blue cheese and raspberry dressing salad


Ingredients (1 serving)

• Lettuce
• Apple
• Blue cheese
• Rasperries
• Maple syrup

The amount are up to you ;)

Procedure

• Cut the apple into the shape that you prefer
• Cut the lettuce in medium size pieces
• Cut the cheese into tiny pieces
• Smash the rasperries and some maple syrup to cut the sourness
• Mix all the ingredients togethers and there you have this awesome salad, this is more like a side dish salad, not a main dish.

Fresh tuna salad (1 serving)

Ingredients

• 60 gr of dry pasta
• A few black olives
• 80 gr Tuna
• 3 Celery Sticks
• 1/2 Avocado
• Cilantro
• Lime/lemon juice
• Salt to taste

Process

• Cook you pasta al dente, then drain it and let it cool completely.
• Cut the celery into small pieces.
• Cut and avocado in half and scoop the meat from one of the halves. Process it together with some lemon juice, coriander leaves and salt to make a paste.
• In a bowl put together all the ingredients mix and there you have a fresh and delicious salad full of nutrients, it is also pretty healthy thanks to the healthy fats of the avocado and the tuna.

Potatoes and broccoli salad

4-5 Small potatoes

A good amount of broccoli

1/4 Onion

Some nuts or croutons

4 Tbsp of lemon juice

1 Tbsp of olive oil

Salt to taste

Process

• Boil the potatoes until they are cooked, don't let them get too soft, use small potatoes for better results.
• Using the steam from the potatoes steam the broccoli this way you will get a vibrant green coloured broccoli and it will be cooked but not mushy.
• Wait until the potatoes and the broccoli are fully cooled down.
• In a bowl put together all the ingredients and enjoy!

Veggie burger

Hi sunshine!! So I've been trying to eat less meat and I've always be curious about veggie burgers. Once I tried a quinoa burger, and I didn't like it, extremely dry... augh horrible. I've also tried a polenta burger... it wasn't that dry but it lacked texture... so I thought I could make my own, It couldn't be so hard, right? So I watched a couple of videos, read some recipes also went to serious eats... and tried some ideas... and this is the final results, let's go to the recipe then ^^

Ingredients

• 150 gr of shiitake mushrooms
• 1/2 Onion
• 1 Cup + 1/4 Cup Kidney Beans
• 2 Tbsp of miso paste + 2 Tbsp of water
• Salt, pepper, paprika and garlic powder to taste
• 2 Tbsp flaxseeds
• 1/4 Cup cooked quinoa
• 1/4 Cup bread crumbs + 1 Tbsp
• 1/4 Cup water
• Optional: marmite and maggi sauce to season the mushrooms

Process

• Cut the shiitake mushrooms into slices and then into cubes.
• In a saucepan add a little bit of vegetable oil and cook the shiitake until they are soft, then add your favourite spices, I added garlic powder, paprika, black pepper and salt. Then to give it an extra flavour I added miso paste, but first I diluted it a little bit with water. Add the miso to the shiitakes and mix, you can also add Maggi sauce or marmite if you have some.
• Now add a little bit more of oil to the saucepan and sauté the onion, you can do this in the same saucepan, cook until it is translucent and a little golden brown.
• Now rinse the kidney beans to remove the starchy liquid that comes with them. I used kidney beans but you can use any other kind of legumes.
• To bind all the ingredients together, we are going to prepare a paste with water, a fourth of a cup of beans and the flaxseeds, process everything together and set aside.
• In a bowl put the kidneys beans, and smash them lightly with a fork, then add the onion, the shiitake mushrooms, the paste, and the cooked quinoa, and mix very well, since it is too wet we are going to add some bread crumbs.
• Depending on the size of your buns, divide the mix into 6 or 4 portions, and then give them a patty shape.
• Finally fry the veggie burgers, since all the ingredients are cooked you don’t need to wait until it is cooked in the centre, just wait until they are golden brown and then flip them over.
• And that’s it now make your burgers with your favourites ingredients, tomatoes, lettuce, onion, pickled cucumbers... and so on :p

Rainbow Smoothies

Hi everyone!! Spring is already here (at least in Barcelona)!!! I'm so happy to go back to my spring clothes, I don't like to wear layers of clothes in winter, but in spring I just use one or two and that's it hehe. Well clothed things aside, what about the spring foods?? I love all seasons when it comes to food, but the good things is that I can go back to eat smoothies, yaaayy!! That's why I made 5 different recipes of smoothies all of them with different colours and different ingredients, I hope you like these 6 colourful smoothies.

Before the list of ingredients I'd like to explain some of the ingredients I'm using in this recipes.

Flaxseeds

Flaxseeds are one of the best foods you can eat, they have a ton of fibre (2.3 gr) which is good for digestions and to feel satisfied after a meal. It also has a good amount of good fats 28.7 grams of the total 42.2 grams of fat that flaxseeds contain are polyunsaturated, and that's really good. These polyunsaturated fats are the omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, since western culture eat too much oil which is full of omega-6 fatty acids we need to compensate eating more omega-3 fatty acids, and flaxseeds are awesome for that, they have 22813 mg of omega-3 and 5911 mg of omega-6 and that's awesome :) they also have a good amount of proteins (18.3 gr). All the data is per 100 grams of flaxseeds.

Turmeric powder

In theory this one has a lot of benefits and all of them come pretty much thanks to the antioxidants in it. I don't know a lot about antioxidants, and the studies seem to not be 100% sure about their benefits, I don't think that this is a cure for everything, because on the internet they say it's like the holy grail and can treat even cancer... that's a very foolish thing to say in mi opinion. I think antioxidants are good, but not that good.

Purple sweet potato or ube

Ube is a great source of vitamin A, and vitamin C, magnesium and potassium. It also have fibre which can help with digestion. As all purple coloured foods ube has anthocyanin, which is an antioxidant and therefore it has all the good benefits from them. Again I won't go all crazy about the antioxidants because we don't know their benefits for sure, but at least berries and ube taste great :)

Raspberry Smoothie (I couldn't get vibrant red, so hot pink it is)

1/2 Cup coconut milk (unsweetened)
1 Orange
1/2 Banana
1 Cup raspberries
1/4 Cup rolled oats
1 Tbsp flaxseeds
2 Tbsp dry shredded coconut
Sweetener

Energy: 421.6 Kcal

Carrot Smoothie (Orange)

4 Medium size carrot cut into chunks
1 Cup almond milk
1/2 banana
5 Walnuts
1/4 Cup rolled oats
1/2 Tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 Tsp Cinnamon powder
Sweetener if you like

Energy: 346 Kcal

Mango Smoothie (Yellow)

1 Cup coconut milk (unsweetened)
1 Mango cut into chunks
1/2 Banana
1 Tsp turmeric powder
1 Tsp flaxseeds
2 Tbsp dry shredded coconut
1/4 Cup rolled oats

Energy: 369,5 Kcal

Pear Smoothie (Green)

3/4 Cup almond milk
2 Small pears (the juicy kind)
1/2 Banana
10 Pistachios
1 Tbsp flaxseeds
1 Tsp matcha powder
A handful of spinach
Sweetener

Energy: 375 Kcal

Chocolate Smoothie (Brown)

1 Cup of coconut milk (unsweetened)
2 Tbsp cocoa powder (defatted if possible)
1 Orange
1 Banana
90 grams silken tofu
1/4 Tsp vanilla extract
1/4 Tsp ground coffee
Sweetener

Energy: 330 Kcal

Purple Sweet Potato Smoothie (Purple)

100 gr Purple sweet potato
1/2 Banana
3/4 Cup cooked quinoa
1 Cup coconut milk (unsweetened)

Energy: 376.6 Kcal

Process

Toss all the ingredients into a blender and process everything together, enjoy!!

Buddha Bowls

Hi everyone I don't know if you have seen any Buddha bowl, but I loved the idea when I saw it on Pinterest. Since it has some rules it is easy to make a dish that has all the micro and macronutrients that you need, so I think it is a very good idea to keep healthy eating habits without having a lot of knowledge about nutrition. In theory Buddha bowl should be vegetarian, because lots of Buddhists are vegetarian, but I think that since vegetarians have veggie burgers... why don't we meat eaters can have Buddha bowls :p That's why today I'm going to show you how to make three different Buddha bowls so you can get some ideas to make your own or make the same that I make, I hope you like it!

Recipe #1 Mexican meaty Buddha bowl

Ingredients (1 Person)

• 100 grams of lean beef
• 1/2 cup of corn
• 1/2 cup of cooked black beans
• 150 gr of white button mushrooms
• 1/2 Tomato
• 1/4 Onion
• 1/4 Avocado
• 50 grams of yogurt
• Chopped cilantro
• Lime
• Salt and pepper to taste

Process

• The first thing we are going to do is to wipe the dirt off of the mushrooms using a paper towel,
  let's remove the roots, and now cut the stem and the mushroom into 4 pieces. Stir fry the
  mushrooms until they are cooked and a little golden brown.
• Let's prepare a pico de gallo, in a bowl put together some chopped tomatoes, chopped onion and cilantro, add some salt and pepper and something to spice it up, I used some cayenne pepper.
• Since I didn't want to add more fat I didn't used oil to cook the meat. I just placed it in the grill
  at high heat to get a nice crispy crust. Then I cut it so I could eat it without using a knife.
• Process together the yogurt, avocado, cilantro, little bit of lime juice and a pinch of salt and the dressing is ready!
• Time to place everything in the bowl. First the black beans, the corn, the mushrooms, the pico de gallo we made, the meat and of course the dressing.
• This bowl is kind of a mix of a lot of things, it has fresh and earthy flavours so is the best of both worlds hehe. In this case I didn't use a grain per se, but it was because corn and black beans already have complex carbohydrates so I thought it was redundant to add another source more.

Recipe #2 Earthy Buddha bowl

Ingredients (1 Person)

• Half medium sweet potato
• 100 gr of chicken breast
• 1/2 Cup brown rice
• 150 grams spinach
• Half a zucchini/Courgette
• Romesco Sauce

Process

• Put the sweet potatoes in a pot with plenty of water and cook them, do the same with the chicken breast.
• Prepare the brown rice.
• Cut the zucchini into cubes. In a sauce pan put a little bit of oil and stir fry the zucchini until it is soft but not too soft, we want it to be firm.
• Remove the zucchini and in the same saucepan without adding any more oil add the spinach,
  and cook it until it gets wilted.
• The sweet potatoes should be ready by this time, so peal them, cut it in half and then into
  chunks. You can cut the chicken breast into slices or as I did here into cubes.
• And now we just need to assemble our Buddha bowl. Finally I added a Romeo sauce, this sauce is made with nuts, tomato and olive oil and it's delicious and compliments really well this dish.

Recipe #3 Easy Vietnamese flavoured Buddha Bowl

Ingredients

• 3/4 Cup of basmati or jasmin rice
• Pickled daikon and carrots (if you don't have this you can use just fresh carrots)
• Half a cucumber
• Mint leaves
• Cilantro leaves
• 1/4 Cup roasted cashews and pistachios nuts
• Hoisin Sauce

Process

• Here I used basmati rice since it has a floral fragrance, then add some pickled daikon and carrots if you don't have this just use fresh julienned carrots.
• Add a bunch of cubed cucumber they will add a lot of juicy freshness to this dish.
• In this case the source of proteins and healthy fats comes together in the form of nuts, some roasted cashews and  pistachios
• To make it more fragrant I added some mint and coriander leaves.
• Finally I added two tablespoons or so of hoisin sauce, you can find this sauce in any oriental market. If you can't find it you can use peanut butter and maybe reduce a little bit the nuts.
• This this is all about crunchiness, freshness and fragrances.