Chinese five-spice chicken & orange salad

Every diner in California serves a version of Chinese chicken salad. Here is mine. You can make it in less than 30 minutes, which makes it a good healthy choice for weekdays. It is fresh and flavorful. The original inspiration is found in this book, I have tweaked the recipe and added some ingredients.

• 3 tbsps olive oil
• 1.5 tsps five spice powder
• 1 pound chicken breast cut into chunks
• 3 oranges
• 1 large romaine or iceberg lettuce
• 1 yellow pepper, cut into strips
• 2 large carrots, shredded
• 2 green onions, finely sliced
• 1/3 cup / 60 ml almonds
• 2 tbsps black sesame seeds

1. Heat the oil and the five-spice over medium heat and add the chicken chunks.
2. Season with salt & pepper. Stir occasionally and cook until done. About 5 minutes depending on the size of the pieces. Set aside, but leave the skillet.
3. Meanwhile cut the lettuce, bell peper and spring onion. Peel and grate the carrots. Place it all in a large bowl.
4. Roast the almonds for a few minutes in the unwashed skillet from the chicken. This will give the almonds some spice.
5. Cut the oranges into segments and squeeze the rest of the juice over the salad.
6. Combine everything and dress with mustard dressing.

Mustard dressing

• 3 tbsps olive oil
• 2 tsbps rice vinegar
• 2 tsps dijon mustard
• Sweeten with 1/2 tsp honey or to taste
• Salt & pepper

1. Whisk the ingredients together.

Bok choy stir fry

This meal came together on a busy weeknight. So simple, yet so full of flavor. It’s healthy too and takes less than 30 minutes to prepare. Check out the health benefits of bok choy here. Need I say more? I don’t think so. Enjoy!

• 1 bok choy
• 1  zucchini
• 4 spring onions
• 1/2 cup / 120 ml cashew nuts
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 tbsps soy sauce
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds

1. Wash, rinse and slice the bok choy.
2. Sauté the garlic, sesame seeds and the white parts of the bok choy in sesame oil over medium heat for a few minutes.
3. Slice the zucchini and spring onions and add with the bok choy leaves and soy sauce.
4. Stir fry 1-2 minutes over high heat.
5. Add the cashew nuts and serve with rice and extra soy sauce.

Almond vanilla smoothie

I have been knocked out by a nasty virus for over a week. It turned out to be a great kick off to a spring diet. Not one I would recommend though. I have slept more than I have been awake and lost my appetite and sense of taste. So - now that I am finally recovering, I have pulled out my juicer and my blender from the cupboard and I am juicing and blending my way to more energy. I find a lot of inspiration in this beauty of a book and this is my new favorite way to start the day.

• 3/4 cup / 180 ml almonds
• 2 cups / 5 dl water
• 4 medjool dates
• 1/4 vanilla bean or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 banana

1. Split the vanilla bean, remove the seeds and chop 1/4 of the pod. Store the rest in an airtight container for tomorrow’s smoothie.
2. Put all ingredients in a blender and let it whip. It will take a couple of minutes to get a smooth texture.
3. Serve over ice.

Yields 3 large servings

Mascarpone coffee cream with hazelnuts and lime

Make your own creamy cheese for dessert. This is Italian mascarpone lightened with whipped cream and flavored with ground coffee, roasted hazelnuts and lime zest. Drizzle with maple syrup just before serving to complete the dessert. Serve with your favorite crackers or make these:

Mascarpone coffee cream with hazelnuts and lime

• 3.5 oz /100 gr mascarpone
• 1/4 cup / 60 ml whipping cream
• 1/4 cup / 60 ml hazelnuts
• 1 tsp fresh ground coffee
• Zest from 1 small lime
• Maple syrup to taste

1. Roast the hazelnuts on a pan until they smell rich and nutty. Put them on a kitchen towel and rub off as much of the skin as you can. Then coarsely chop the nuts and put them in a small bowl.
2. Add lime zest and ground coffee.
3. Stir in the mascarpone and combine well.
4. Whip the cream lightly and fold into the cheese.

Suggestions

Try other flavor combinations e.g. coffee, cocoa nibs and orange zest. Roasted walnuts and dried cherries. Serve with fresh seasonal fruits.

Easter cup cakes

You may have seen my easter egg hunt cup cakes before?! Bonus info  – these easter ymmies are amongst the featured archives posts the month of March on the popular foodblog Food Frenzy – check it out here.

I put my kids to work in the kitchen. They colored shredded coconut, they colored marzipan, shaped marzipan and ate marzipan.

While the gang was busy creating flowers, I whipped up a batch of chocolate muffins. I used my mexican chocolate muffin recipe and substituted the cinnamon with vanilla and added 1 more tbsp of cocoa powder. While the muffins were baking, I made a batch of ganache. See ganache filling recipe in chocolate macaroons (I made half a portion for 12 cupcakes). I needed some soil for my coconut grass to grow. When all was done, we put together the Easter Egg Hunt Cupcakes: Cut the tops of the muffins to make them even, smeared a good layer of chocolate ganache on top, dipped the muffin tops in green unsweetened shredded coconut and decorated with marzipan flowers and easter eggs.

Happy Easter to all!

Cherry pistachio bars

This is a repost of my favorite bars. I made them yesterday and everyone loves them.

This recipe is for my friend M the Amazing. She has a thing with bars. During a visit to Los Angeles we made a stop at Wholefoods to stock up on bars. My friend had her basket filled to the max in a matter of minutes. Literally. A good moment for her. The cashier was not as content with the situation. Turns out he was a cool California dude, who hated bars with a passion. While he rang up each bar individually, he kept on rambling about, ”This is my worst nightmare! I can’t stand bars! Why is this happening to me? What’s going on here? This is unreal! What’s wrong with you?!” It was hilarious. Maybe you should have been there

Anyway snack bars in Denmark are not cheap like in the States. So here is a healthy, easy to make and super tasty homemade version for M the Amazing.

Active time: 15 min Bake time: 25 min

Special equipment: food processor

• 1 cup / 240 ml oats
• 1 cup / 240 ml  walnuts
• 5 dates
• 1/2 cup /120 ml pistachio nuts
• 1/2 cup /120 ml shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup /120 ml agave nectar or honey
• 1/4 cup / 60 ml  almond butter
• 1/2 cup / 120 ml dried cherries
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1/2 tsp lemon zest, optional
• ¼  tsp salt

1. Preheat the oven to 330F/165C.
2. Blend oats, walnuts and pistachio nuts in a food processor. Then transfer to a medium sized bowl.
3. Add shredded coconut and mix it well. Set aside.
4. Remove the pits from the dates, chop them  into smaller bites. Add dates to food processor together with agave nectar, almond butter, lemon zest and salt. Blend well.
5. Coarsely chop the dried cherries and combine everything in the medium sized bowl.
6. Prepare a sheet pan with parchment paper. Divide the dough into 16-18 pieces and roll each into a bar, then put on the sheet pan. The dough is a little sticky, so you may want to rinse your hands in cold water once in a while.
7. Bake app. 25 min. The bars are done when the edges are light golden.
8. Cool on the sheet pan. Store in airtight container.

Yields 16-18 bars

Suggestions

Feel free to play with different nuts, dried fruits and spices.

Falafel

Yesterday I made waffles and then falafels. This is a yummy repost from May 2012. Grab a pita, stuff it with greens and top with a ground cumin yoghurt-based dressing.

Last week some wonderful friends came to our house with bags full of good stuff to make falafels from scracth. How lucky am I, right?! Well, we ended up with chicken in our pita breads instead, because the falafels kept falling apart in the hot oil?! I had never before attempted to make falafels at home. But after last weekend, I was determined to make it work. So here is what I learned is key: most recipes will tell you to soak the garbanzo beans for 18-24 hours, dry them well and then -without boiling them- throw the beans in a food processor or blender and pulse until coarse only. Well, I had already soaked and boiled my beans, so I dried them well, crossed my fingers and it worked I am not crazy about frying in an inch deep oil or more, but honestly these babies were so good and besides most of the oil was still in the pot when I was done frying. I will be making these again. For sure.

• 2 cups soaked, drained, uncooked garbanzo beans (or cooked and dried)
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 tbsps chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp pepper flakes
• 1/2 ground coriander seeds
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp tahini (not all recipes include sesame paste, supposedly it acts as a binder)
• 4 tbsps flour
• Oil for frying (neutral flavor like canola)

1. Dry the beans thoroughly, if they are cooked. Drain well, if they are soaked and uncooked.
2. Blend or pulse onion, garlic, parsley and beans together only until it resembles small pebbles. The texture should be crumbly and loose.
3. Transfer to a large bowl and stir in spices, flour and tahini, then combine everything. The texture will still be crumbly.
4. Grab a spoonful, then squeeze and shape into a ball. Contiune this step and cool the falafels in the fridge while the oil is heating.
5. Use a small deep pot and pour just enough oil to cover the falafel balls.
6. To test if the oil is hot enough, stick a wooden chop stick, a wooden tooth pick or the end of a wooden spoon into the oil. Bubbles will appear around the wood when the oil is ready.
7. Fry about 5 falafels at a time. They are done when they are golden all over. It takes about 3 minutes per batch.
8. Transfer to a plate with paper towels to drain for a minute before serving.

Yields about 25

Here is a before shot to give you an idea of the texture: