Jasper’s Turkey Meatballs

A few weeks ago we celebrated my mom’s birthday and I decided to make meatballs with polenta. Half of it went according to plan.

I had never tried to cook polenta before so I didn’t know how long I was supposed to cook it for since it never seemed to thicken. This resulted in a very thick polenta cooked for over an hour with me stirring frequently. I had also never tasted polenta so I didn’t realize how tasteless it was!

The meatballs, however, where much better. My brother made them and they tasted amazing. (The sauce was able to cover the bland taste of polenta).

I also made some matcha tarts for dessert. It tasted okay, but I believe it would’ve been better if I hadn’t accidentally boiled the cashew nuts…

• Servings: 4-5
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My brother made these meatballs and they are delicious! Please look at the ingredients for the meatballs and the sauce since some come up for both of them.
Ingredients:
Meatballs
1 pound minced turkey
1/2 onion, finely diced (keep the other half for the sauce)
5 garlic cloves, minced
Handful of parsley, chopped
1 tbsp. dijon mustard
1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated
2 eggs
1/3 cup milk
Sauce
1 1/2 large onions, diced
3 garlic cloves, diced
1 can tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cloves, smashed
2 tbsp. dried oregano
2 bay leaves, rinsed
Pepper and salt

Instructions:

1. Meatballs: Mix all the meatball ingredients together, then press them into round balls. Refrigerate.
2. Sauce: Brown the onions and garlic in a large pot over medium heat, stirring constantly. Add in the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, cloves, oregano, bay leaves, pepper and salt. When the sauce starts to boil, add in the meatballs. Cover with a lid and then mix after a few minutes, carefully pushing the meatballs in the sauce.
3. Cook for 20 minutes on medium heat with the lid on, then simmer for an hour.
4. This is best served with pasta.

I’m back! + Vegan Strawberry Cheesecake Recipe

Did you hear all that static noise? 😅 Sorry about that, but now I’m finally back and I can explain. My last post was almost a year ago, and my nonexistent posting afterwards came down to three reasons: inspiration, health and frustration.

As a student who doesn’t have to make all her meals (thanks mom!), it was hard finding inspiration and motivation to make food on a weekly basis. I found myself worrying over what to make each week, and I knew if I didn’t succeed I wouldn’t have the chance to make it over again (I get stressed easily). Besides that, I also wanted to eat healthier, and although the recipes posted here were mostly healthier versions, I think we can all agree that dessert is still dessert 😁. The other reason was based on my photo skills. I just couldn’t take a pretty photo with the dark winter lighting!

The Best Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

My brother has made these cookies over and over again, and each time I  turn into a sort of cookie monster. They’re so delicious and chewy, plus they don’t crumble all. This cookie has everything you could possibly want in a cookie, and they’re all healthy ingredients (well except for the chocolate chips).

This is definitely a recipe to save, and it is one that makes the house smell deliciously warm and comfy.

Vegan Chocolate Cake with Figs and Pistachios

The Crossroads Cookbook has been sitting in my shelves for quite a while now and I decided to take a look at it recently. It’s a vegan cookbook with lovely recipes such as homemade pasta, soups, and this decadent chocolate cake. I did modify the recipe a bit because I was too lazy to make all those different components at once. The figs and pistachios add an extra flair to the once simple chocolate dessert, and it tastes wonderful.

Berry Almond Quinoa Porridge

My brother recently took out a big stack of cookbooks we had stashed in a cabinet to find some creative ways to make breakfast and lunch. I think he gave up pretty quickly, as usual, but he never moved them back into the cabinet. Since the stack of books was right in front of me, I rifled through them and was intrigued by the concept of quinoa porridge in The Hungry Student Vegetarian Cookbook. This cookbook was gifted to me by a friend, and the recipes are quite easy and interesting to make.

The next morning, I made it and changed a few things, such as replacing the milk with almond milk, switching the sugar with maple syrup or honey, and changing the toppings.

Rhubarb Almond Ginger Cake

Along with the Coconut Lavender Ice Cream recipe I shared with you guys, I also made this rhubarb almond ginger cake for my mom’s birthday. It is a simple recipe to make and is healthier than you might’ve thought.

This is a moist and fluffy cake that has a mixture of the tartness from the rhubarb, the sweetness from the coconut sugar and the healthy addition of ginger. Instead of sour cream, I used Greek yogurt with great success.

Also very easy to make and clean up since it’s a one-bowl recipe! I love one bowl recipes.

Banana Açai Smoothie Bowl

Açai has been everywhere on Instagram so when I saw a packet of açai puree at Trader Joe’s, I jumped at the chance to finally make my own açai bowl. First of all, for those of you who wonder what açai is, it’s a berry that comes from Brazil and it contains a lot of antioxidants. I’m not sure about the rest of the claims, such as preventing diseases and weight loss, but açai sure is delicious.

I always thought it was pronounced a-KAY, but it’s not! The real spelling is açai, with a c-cedilla, so that means the ‘c’ is said softly and the ‘i’ is not silent. The correct pronunciation is ah-sah-EE. You’ll thank me in the future when you’re faced with the prospect of ordering something with açai and don’t want to embarrass yourself pronouncing it.

I added 1/2 cup almond milk in my açai bowl, which was a bit too much because it doesn’t have the consistency of scoop-able ice cream, so I revised the recipe and cut the milk down to 1/3 cup to make it thicker.

• Servings: 2
• Time: 10 mins
• Difficulty: Easy
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A smooth and delicious bowl of creamy goodness. Made with bananas, blueberries, açai and spinach, this is sure to subside the sweet cravings for the day.
Ingredients:
2 bananas, peeled
1 packet of Trader Joe’s açai puree, put under warm water for 5 seconds
1/4 cup blueberries
1/4 cup spinach, washed
1/3 cup almond milk

Instructions:

1. Put all the ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth and thick. It should have the consistency of ice cream. Divide smoothie into two bowls and enjoy right away with toppings such as berries, granola and coconut flakes.

Strawberry Rhubarb Upside Down Almond Cake

I made this cake to clear out the very ripe strawberries in our fridge and use up the last stalks of rhubarb. This is a gluten-free almond cake with strawberry and rhubarb and it is so delicious. It’s also healthy because it has fruit, coconut sugar (which is better for you than white sugar), and almond flour. I have to admit, the cake won’t win any beauty contests, but I have high regards for the taste.

This recipe comes from a combination of an almond cake recipe from Well Plated by Erin and my own mixture of fruit on the bottom. The most famous upside down cake is probably the colourful pineapple one, but I would choose this one over the pineapple one any day.

10 countries in Europe

So I’m finally back after 6 weeks in Europe and I have loads to write about and share. There are so many places we went to, which is why I’m going to divide this post into countries. And of course, the recommended restaurants need to be noticed, so I bolded those. I was going to divide this post into two parts, but I’ve decided to put everything in one, even though it’s 4000 words in total.

Sweden.

We started out in a popular tourist spot in Gothenburg, Sweden. The temperature was colder than I expected, but I liked it because it was relaxing. First off in the morning, we did a canal tour that went through and around the beautiful city.

Gothenburg

Canal Tour

Fish Church

Food inside Fish Church

Liseberg

Afterwards, since our luggage was delayed at the airport, we managed to do a bit of shopping in the town and then we went to the cool Fish Church where there was really good cheap food inside (it’s not the restaurants but a takeaway counter). We each bought a box and ate at the picnic benches just outside. After lunch, we visited Haga, a cute little area with nice restaurants and local stores. We also went to an amusement park, Liseberg, and in my opinion, it was the best one I’ve ever been to. For dinner we ate at Smaka and the food was pretty good! The prices in Sweden are really expensive though.

Healthy Coconut Lavender Ice Cream

Okay, I promise my vacation post will be up soon, but while I finish it up, I’m leaving you guys with an ice cream recipe. And it’s not just any ice cream recipe. This one is:

• Dairy-free
• Vegan
• Healthy
• Naturally sweetened
• Flavoured with lavender and blackberry
• No churn

When summer is hot, ice cream is the perfect way to cool yourself down. I really wanted to make something healthier than the normal ones, so I did! We have a bunch of lavender in the garden which dried out due to the heat, so it was perfect for the recipe. There’s also a lot of wild blackberries around our neighbourhood, so my brother and I always go out with a container in hand to pick them all. Well, all that we can take. There’s always this annoying little group of perfectly ripe blackberries just a bit too high and deep in the bush for us to pick.