Soulfood - Spinach Salad

Oh my god it. is. hot.
Nap season has officially begun where I have to take a nap as soon as I get home because the heat is so physically exhausting, and I am sure I am not the only one who can't stand the thought of a warm meal when it's 31°C outside. So I switch over to a lot of vegetables and less carbs, when it's warm I get a weird desire for healthy food (well, at least things that feel healthy). Last weekend I was visiting my mum, and since my sister was out and my boyfriend was at a fancy dinner for doctors/med school students/anyone who is somehow involved in the whole health care business we made a lovely dinner for ourselves and since my boyfriend is weirdly opposed to raw fish, we tried a recipe I found on Buzzfeed the other day and made a salmon poke bowl which was really, really good. At this point I want to stress that even though I spend a great evening with my mum and had a great meal, I am a bit pissed that just this one time I would have liked to submit to gender roles and play my boyfriends arm candy to get awesome food for free but no, they wouldn't let me. Yes, I am a bit sulky about that.
Anyways: Salmon is quite expensive, so I don't feel like making this just for myself would be worth it. Plus, even though I am not a vegetarian anymore (because I am a weak ass bitch), I try to keep eating meat and fish to a minimum, so today I decided to make a salad a bit similar to the poke bowl.

Ingrediences

• 2 hands full of fresh spinach
• 1/2 cucumber
• 4 cherry tomatoes
• 1 avocado
• 1 shallot
• 2 tbsp. of sesame
• 2-3 tbsp. of soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. of olive oil
• pepper and chili to taste
• optional: Nori leaves for garnishing

How to make the thing 

1. Cut the spinach in stripes.
2. Dice the cucumber, tomatoes, shallot and avocado.
3. Put everything in a big bowl and add the oil, soysauce and sesame.
4. Mix everything. 
5. Season.

 Et voila. You can eat this as a normal salad but you could also put it in a wrap, on rice, on toast etc. if you're missing some carbs here. If you want to buy a house anytime soon you can, of course, skip the avocado as well. 

Soulfood - Hangover fried rice

No, I am not actually hungover right now as I am writing down this recipe. What I am is drinking red wine late at night while watching the new season of Sense8 and it does get to my head a bit faster than expected (I am still at my first glass and I am a little dizzy already and I have no idea how that happened). Anyways, this dish is easy to make (great when you're not as capable as your fully sober well rested self), takes little time and is full of carbs aka great for soaking in that alcohol - and it tastes great, so here we go.

Ingrediences (for 1-2 servings)

• 1 bag of rice (125g)
• 1 medium shallot
• 2 gloves of garlic
• 1 big or 2 medium champignons
• 2 hands full of fresh spinach
• 2-3 tbsps of olive oil
• 2-3 tbsps of soy sauce
• 50g sesame
• 1 egg
• pepper, chili
• 1-2 spring onions

How to cook the thing

1. Cook the rice. 
2. Cut the garlic, the shallot and the champignon and stir-fry them on high heat in a pan with the olive oil. When they start to get brown, add the spinach. 
3. Mix the soy sauce and the sesame and add them to the pan. 
4. At this point, your rice should be all cooked. Add it to the pan and mix everything in there before adding the spices and the egg. 
5. Put it in a bowl and sprinkle it with spring onion. 

Tonight, I garnished my bowl with a bit of avocado and a leftover mini schnitzel, you could also add salmon, literally any meat, shrimps, or to keep it vegetarian carrots or cheese. Or, if you're not in the mood for this fancy shit, leave it as it is, I am not the boss of you.

Soulfood - Sweetpotato Stew

As I might have mentioned in my very own so very subtle way I am really bloody stressed lately. My written final exam is next week, I have to work a lot, and to be very honest, job hunting isn't going great (and to be absolutely honest it is going like shit, so bear with my whining on that topic).
The only thing that is keeping me going is food. Really delicious, wholesome food. And cooking said food. Those of you who have been on my Instagram already know that I really love to cook and I thought since maybe some of you are having a hard time as well, I might share some recipes for the dishes that keep me running somehow and calm me down after a hard day - so here is the first one.

Ingrediences (for 3 servings)

• 2 big sweet potatoes
• half of a big zucchini
• 3-4 medium champignons 
• ca. 80 g of sesame
• ca. 100 ml red wine
• 2 shallots
• 2 gloves of garlic
• 2-3 hands of fresh spinach
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• ca. 80 g butter
• salt, pepper, chili, nutmeg 

How to cook the thing 

1. Cut the sweet potatoes, the zucchini, the champignons, the shallots and the garlic into dices.
2. Melt the butter in a big pot.
3. Add the sesame and the vegetables and fry everything for a few minutes.
4. Add the tomatoes, the wine and the spinach. 
5. Add the spices to taste and let everything boil until the potatoes are soft enough to be picked up with a fork. 

And that's it. It's really easy, takes about 15 minutes to make and warms your heart and your belly after a rough day. I like to garnish the bowl with grated cheese, a fried egg, fried onions and/or a few slices of avocado. This dish is also very versatile,  you could add or change one of the vegetables mentioned above with celery, asparagus or leeks, for example. Change the butter for olive oil and use vegan wine and you have an A+ vegan stew. You see, the possibilities are endless!