Monthly Archives: January 2013

Nails and nailpolish

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I love nail polish, I really do and I almost wear it all the time. All the colours are amazing, especially nowadays I like green and dark dark red, and I saw some nice blue on the site of China glaze
I didn’t know so much of nail polish, only that the smell is very chemical! And of course that it will be tested on animals.
I did some research on the internet and I found many vegan friendly.

here some article I found on the internet what can be found in the regular nail polish

  1. Chemical Fumes: Solvent-based nail polish formulas use aromatic chemicals that quickly evaporate, leaving behind a hardened coat of paint. Most people realize it is probably unhealthy to inhale nail polish fumes, but few people understand why. So, a simple explanation may be in order. Environmental chemicals do not simply bounce off our bodies in a neutral fashion. In order to prevent damage, our bodies have to efficiently process them. Most chemical that you inhale, will be absorbed into your blood stream, deactivated by your liver and expelled from your system (via your colon, urine, or sweat). Noxious chemicals like the ones found in solvent-based nail polish can place an increased burden on your liver. The more chemicals you are exposed to, the harder it is for your liver to function efficiently. Overwhelmed livers can set the stage for a variety of health problems. It is generally recommended to limit your toxin exposure when possible – switching to a safer nail polish brand is a great start.
  2. Dibutyl Phthalates: Prevents nail polish from chipping. Prenatal exposure to phthalates has been shown in animal studies to cause birth defects.  Phthalates also improve absorption of topical ingredients into the skin (this is a negative quality when used in formulas that contain other chemical ingredients).
  3. Toluene and xylene: Petroleum-based organic solvents that are toxic and may be linked to cancer.
  4. Formaldehyde: Noxious chemical – highly toxic to the liver and carcinogenic.
    Anyway here are some brands I saw on different sites These nail polish are free of Phthalate, Toluene and Formaldehyde and vegan friendly:

Aura soma
Barry M
Butter London
China glaze
Manic panic (I like this brand, their hair colours and so on)
Nail girls
Priti
Sante
Sparitual
Zoya

Just search on the internet and you will find a (web)shop where you can buy this beauties

Be colourful and dare to wear……!

capers made from Indian cress seedboxes!

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This was a nice experiment, I had so many east Indian cherry plants in the garden. And the flowers and leaves I put in salads, but after a while you cannot see them any more, the garden is totally overwhelmed with the plant….so I just googled around and I saw you can make capers from the seed-boxes, so you can use it later on the year, nice preservatives if you have enough jars I collected many jars I always put them after they are empty in the dishwasher and then in the shelves. It’s very handy for making preservatives.Preserving jars are maybe better but very expensive and this will work too, just clean it very well in cooking water.So here is how I did it

The recipe for east Indian seed boxes capers

Pick 3/4 of a jar full of seed boxes
Apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon of dried thyme
8 junipers
1 bay-leave
5 cloves
1/2 tablespoon of dried dragon

kitchentools
a colander for washing the seeds
a jar with a good fitting lid, because the air has to be popped out
a cooking pan full of water too cook the bacteria away from the jar

So how to begin?
put the pan on fire and wait till the water is boiling, now you put in the jar and the lid just for 5 minutes, so its totally cleaned and bacteria free. Put the jar out and let it dry on a towel in a meanwhile get all the ingredients together! and when the jar is dried put in all the dry ingredients and fill it to the top with apple vinegar. Just turn the lid on the jar (very well please) and set the jar upside down in a dark closet (or something where it’s dark and not too hot and definitely not in the way) Wait a couple of weeks (lets say 3 weeks) and now it’s ready for eating! Enjoy your home-made capers, and if you airtight the jars you can save it for a long time (you can also hear when it’s not airtight any more, then the lid won’t say PLOP if you open it). I ate it just 5 months after I wrote this! Nice as a snack or side dish or through a dish for the sour taste

Eet smakelijk

straight from the garden….Brussels sprouts and Jerusalem artichoke

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So this is going to be a international dish, Brussels sprouts and Jerusalem artichoke. They come right from the garden, so happy that I still can eat some vegetables from my own garden.
I am really discovering what I can do with my garden to have all year some fresh herbs, vegetables and so on from the garden. And I must say Jerusalem artichoke is really a favourite of me, it’s sweet of taste and easy to grow (but be careful it can take all over the garden if you leave just one root from it in the earth!).
The Brussels sprouts was an hell, but now I am glad I picked out caterpillars from the plants all summer. Because now in the winter I can eat them (Brussels sprouts, otherwise the caterpillars would eat all the plants).
Anyway I saw a lot of recipes to make sprouts with apple so I tried also, and I must say it’s a new taste to me. Here it is…how to make.

The ingredients (for 4 persons)
350 gram of fresh Brussels sprouts
1 kilogram of Jerusalem artichoke
1/2 red onion
1 apple
5 gram of grated ginger root
some zest of an half lemon
juice of an half lemon
1 tablespoon of apple juice
1/2 cup of parsley
2 tablespoons of canola/rapeseed oil
some rice milk

kitchentools
an oven
a cooking pan
a baking dish
a masher

let start to get multicultural
First wash the Brussels sprouts and put them in the cooking pan and some water till they are totally covered, bring the water to a boil and boil them for 5 minutes.

While this is happening, cut the onion in little pieces (the shape you can decide) and also the apple, I cut them in cubes.
Get the baking dish and put in the oil, Brussels sprouts, onion, ginger root, apple juice, lemon juice and lemon zest. Mix it very well, heat up the oven on 200 degrees Celsius and bake this mixture for 20 minutes till it smells!

Now make the mash of Jerusalem artichoke, wash them very well. You can eat them with peel also, so no peeling necessary. Get a cooking pan and boil the j-artichoke for about 10 minutes, till they are soft (When you can easy put the point of a knife into the j-artichoke without pushing, it’s ready). Get the masher and mash the artichoke and make them more smooth with some rice-milk, I do this without tablespoons, just look what happening. Put of the heat and stir in the fresh parsley together with some oil (2 tbs).

Now the cooking-bell will ring to say the Brussels sprouts are ready to take out of the oven. I would say get the plates and make a nice plate from the 2 dishes. Maybe you like to bake some tempeh for on the plate I say do it, but the 2 dishes together are also really nice.

Eet smakelijk/bon appétit/شهية طيبة/בתאבון

 

feeling a kitchen-princess… and some great tasting rice dish with norifu

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Being a lot in the kitchen nowadays and really I have the feeling I am making progress to make nice meals…and be more creative.
Or it’s my year to be a kitchen-princess , I feel like!
This rice dish I made is so easy to make, but the taste is so soft and smooth. Really recommended if you don’t want a diner with strong taste, like very sharp, sour, salt or something else. I think this has a nice balance. And the norifu is an experiment, I wanted to make fish sticks only plant based of course, but it didn’t even taste like it, but the result is really ok!
This kitchen-princess will give you the recipe…….here you are

rice dish
the ingredients rice dish (for 2-4 persons)
3 cloves of garlic (pressed)
1/2 onion cut in cubes
1/2 big leek cut in thin slices, also a piece of the dark green part if it looks well!
1 red  pointed pepper (like a bell pepper)
8 gram of grated fresh ginger
1/2 zucchini cut in tiny pieces
1/2 cup of water
2 tablespoons of shoyu (soy sauce)
2-3 teaspoons of orange zest (organic)
basmati rice for 2-4 persons and 1 or 2 teaspoon of turmeric (to make the rice yellow)
(you can put some pumpkin-seeds into the rice if you like, especially nice when you first bake them without oil till they are a little warm and brown)
some slices of cucumber for garnish

Kitchentools
a wok
a wooden spoon
a knife
a cutting board
a cooking pan

The beginning…
Put on the rice, in the cooking pan together with some water, my Basmati rice was quickly ready, get rid of the cooking water and make the rice yellow. Get the wok, get some oil and bake for a short time the onion,leek and garlic. Put in the courgette and all the other ingredients (ginger, orange zest, shoyu, water and the pointed pepper), mix well and simmer for 10 minutes.
Get the plates and if you also made the norifu, you can make the plate complete with, the rice, vegetables and norifu.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

norifu (marinated tofu)
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1/2  grated seaweed sheets ( the one you make the sushi with)
juice of 1 lime
some dried dill ( I must say I don’t know exact the amount but I think like 2 tablespoons
250 grams of tofu slices in little rectangles
a plate full with sifted flour for dipping the tofu
a plate full with water for dipping the tofu in
a plate full with breadcrumbs for dipping the tofu in
some coconut-oil for frying the tofu

Kitchentools
4 plates
A pan to fry in (I used a  wok, with a bottom full of oil)
patience
a flat bowl to marinated the tofu
a little bowl
a brush

how to make….
I just pressed the water very gentle out of the tofu ( I did this with help of a towel I wrapped the tofu in the towel and pressed).
In the little bowl I mixed the lime together with the dill and I took the marinating bowl, put in the tofu (what I just cut in rectangles) and now I brushed the tofu on both sides with the mixture.

Wait 30 minutes, so the mixture can get into the tofu.
Prepare the plates with the different kind of ingredients (put the grated seaweed sheets into the breadcrumbs), the last (4th) plate is for putting the finished tofu on.

Now get the tofu piece by piece and first dip in the flour plate, then into the water plate and then into the bread-crumbs plate (now the tofu is totally covered with everything) and put the finished tofu on the last plate.
When you ended up the last tofu, you can heat the wok with oil. Beware the oil is like 175 degrees Celsius, the perfect heat for frying the tofu (I check with a drip, not more then a drip, of water, when it’s sizzling it has the perfect temperature)
Now fry all the tofu golden brown, that’s all folks! With some slices of cucumber the dish is ready to be eaten

十分に召し上がれ/ enjoy your meal

flaxseeds….

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I didn’t know you had 2 different kinds of flax seeds. You have the ordinary brown one and also a golden/yellow one (I just discovered about the yellow/golden/blond ones because I wanted to make crackers, nice for in the morning and in the recipe they said you need yellow flaxseeds :)..They come from the flax plant, they make also linen and rope from it.
To take up the vitamins, minerals and omega’s you must break the flaxseeds, so you have the maximum intake of them. You can use them in bread, in muesli but also with some water as an egg re-placer. So it’s amazing how worth full this seed is for the vegetarians and vegans among us!

Vitamins and minerals
They are full of omega 3, when you are eating no meat or fish you definitely need to get some flaxseed oil (or 2  tablespoons of broken flaxseed,) just take 2 tablespoons a day ( It taste like hell, but I always mix it in some spread or meal, don’t heat up the flaxseed oil! Use it cold…)

minerals:potassium, calcium, magnesium, zinc, iron (they say it contains all essentials minerals except  vanadium and selenium
vitamins: A, B1, B2 and C, in oil-soluble vitamin E
oils: Omega 3-6-9 (almost the right ratio)

TCM=Traditional Chinese medicine
 Neutral thermal temperature. Sweet flavour, mucilaginous, relieves pain and inflammations. Omega 3 important vitally properties for strengthening immunity and cleaning the heart and arteries. Useful in many degenerative disorders*

*healing with whole foods written by Paul Pitchford

cocos-cassava cake (‘bojo”)…and an old known

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It’s always great to see people after many years again, first you get a little nervous for the silence if you don’t have to talk so much or how it will be to see them again. But I must say many times it end up in a great time.
Last I went to see an old friend of me from Amersfoort, we went to the Paradiso in Amsterdam to a concert of orgelvreten. They were really nice, I didn’t know what to expect from the concert. in the description of the program it was telling it was an Hammond battle, wow it was good.
And also the friend was soo nice to see again, she looks good, she was happy, makes me happy and I know what she is doing nowadays…And for me, it was a succeed evening, so I would say just call old friends even after years and also go once in your lifetime to orgelvreten. Here is the link to get an impression:


The cake I could make with the help of a lot of Surinam ladies (the cake is from Suriname and it is called bojo) from the internet, I must admit I never eaten the origin, but it is really nice and sweet , thank you very much, great for an high tea or after a night of partying as a little snack…..So maybe not like the origin but nice to eat

Ingredients of the cocos-cassava cake
300 gram of sweet cassava grated (manioc root)
1/4 cup of coconut milk
1/2 cup of dried grated coconut
15 grams of coconut oil made soft by heating it slowly
1/3 cup of raisins
30 gram of date syrup
1/2 tablespoon of vanilla essence (or take almond aroma)
1/2 tablespoon of rum aroma
(if you like some cinnamon powder, but try this, it’s on taste)

Kitchentools
a oven
a wooden spoon to mix the ingredients
a bowl
a tin for baking a cake ( I had a heart shaped one from silicone like 14 centimetre diameter)

How to make….
Mix all the ingredients together, put the mixture into a baking dish. heat up the oven to 175 degrees Celsius and put the timer on 60 minutes, the cake will be ready if it’s a little brown on top and everything sticks together very well (if it looks like a cake) and when you put in a pin without taking a lot of dough out (when you take the pin out). Get the cake out of the tin very carefully. And voilà a great cake without sugar.
If you want to make a huge cake just increase the ingredients relative.

geniet ervan!

a rocking pasta di pesto….happy new year

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Already recovered from new years eve? I hope for you, anyway I recovered but I didn’t had a big party so it isn’t fair!
But really this year I do not want use dried herbs any more. … but  lets talk about the pasta, pasta is for me typical Italian food. I do not know if this recipe could fit in an Italian restaurant, but in my kitchen it’s welcome and I think this pasta is very tasty. Hope you will like it also and after alcohol a pasta meal is more then welcome, I think. It’s filling and fresh and in the meanwhile not too heavy and greasy food. Put on some nice music, get the knife and sing while you are cutting/washing the ingredients, let’s rock in the kitchen

Ingredients of the pasta di pesto (2 persons)
2 persons whole-wheat pasta penne (the shape of straws)
50 gram of rocket
some sun-dried tomatoes cut in little pieces
juice of 1/2 lemon
basil for garnish
1 zucchini cut in little cubes, or whatever you like
1/8 cup of fresh chive cut in tinny pieces
1/8 cup of fresh parsley cut in chewable sizes
1/4 cup of sunflower oil cold pressed
some roasted pumpkin-seeds
3 cloves of garlic cut in slices/cubes
some dashes of Himalayan salt

kitchentools
a food processor
a saucepan
nice shoddy plates
a knife
a cooking pan for the pasta
a colander

The making of….
Poor in the cooking pan some water, put in the pasta and above the pan you put the colander filled with the zucchini. Cook the pasta and steam the zucchini together for 8-10 minutes. (don’t forget to put the lid on the colander/pan.)

In the meanwhile you can start to roast the seeds in the saucepan, be aware you do not burn the seeds. When the saucepan is heated it goes very quickly.
Put the seeds aside.
Get some oil and poor this in the saucepan now you can bake the garlic very short, till they have a touch of gold.Put the fire off

Now time for the pesto, get the food processor and blend the walnuts, rocket (leave something behind for the garnish), lemon juice and sunflower oil. This is all you have to do!

The pasta will be ready now (get rid of the cooking water), so get a plate, on the bottom you put some rocket leaves.
On the rocket leaves some pasta with zucchini, sprinkle some seeds,garlic, oil (like 1/2 tablespoon) and sun-dried tomatoes on top. Get a spoon a bring some pesto on the pasta mountain and finish the beautiful plate with the fresh herbs and Himalayan salt.
I would say enjoy the taste of a nice and easy pasta

bon appetit