Saffron quinoa with butternut squash, goats cheese and pomegranate seeds, served with mint yogurt

Quinoa is a super food; full of protein, vitamin B and antioxidants. And a big plus, it tastes great! This dish is easy to make and is super healthy, a boost for your taste buds and your body!

The What:

3 dl of quinoa (I used black)

1 packet of saffron

1 butternut squash

1 - 2 spring onions

1 packet of goat cheese (I used chevre, but I think feta cheese would go well with this dish as well)

Seeds from 1 pomegranate 

Arugula

1 cube of vegetable stock

6 dl of water

salt and pepper

The What for the Mint Yogurt

Greek style yogurt

Fresh mint leaves

Honey

The How

Set the oven to 200 degrees.

Rinse the quinoa in hot water. 

Melt butter in a pan, add the saffron and let fry for a few seconds before adding the quinoa, the vegetable stock and the water.

Simmer under a lid for about 15-20 minutes.

Cut the butternut squash into cubes, put in an oven safe dish, pour over some olive oil, salt and pepper. Stick in the oven for about 10 minutes or until soft. 

Slice the onions, was the arugula and take out the pomegranate seeds (wear an apron, they stain!).

Coarsely chop the mint leaves and mix together with the yogurt and honey.

Mix the butternut squash, the pomegranate seeds, the spring onion, salt and pepper with the quinoa when it's ready.

Put the arugula on a plate, top the salad with the quinoa vegetable mix and crumble over the cheese. 

Top with the mint yogurt and serve. 

Enjoy! It tastes really good cold as well, try it for lunch the next day!

Linguine with fresh asparagus, mushrooms, avocado and Parmesan cheese

My week of pasta started with a simple but amazing linguine with fresh asparagus. Unfortunately the asparagus wasn't local but I just couldn't help but to buy it anyway - and it tasted amazing, despite it being transported a few miles. It really is a sign that spring is on it's way!

The What

1 bouquet of fresh green asparagus

200 g forest mushrooms

1 ripe avocado

2 dl cream

1 tps of chili flakes (depends on how spicy you want it!)

½ freshly squeezed lemon

1 clove of garlic

salt and fresh ground black pepper

The How

Gently fry the garlic in some olive oil in a pan. Add the mushrooms and fry until they have gotten a little color, but are not burnt. 

Add the chili flakes, lemon and cream. Add salt and cracked pepper. Bring to the boil and then let simmer. 

Pick up one asparagus and hold it between the your thumb and forefinger on both sides. Bend it until it snaps and throw away the root part of the veggie. This part can be eaten, but it's more chewy and has a tendency to be a bit bitter. Repeat on the rest of the asparagus. 

Boil the linguine until tender. 

Throw the asparagus into boiling water with a bit of salt, boil for about 1 minute so that it's still nice and crispy. 

Slice the avocado.

Add the linguine to the cream sauce, add the avocado and mix together. 

Serve the pasta topped with asparagus and Parmesan cheese and some more cracked pepper, if you like. 

Enjoy!

Borough Market in London - AKA, Foodie Heaven

One of my London based mates is about as much of a foodie as I am, so when she suggested we spend Saturday at Borough Market, I figured I'd be in for a treat. We stepped off the Metro at the London Bridge station and walked right in to foodie heaven. The air was full of different and lovely smells, there was fresh coffee, grilled meat, fish, seafood, cheeses, olive oils, olives, truffle as well as delicacies from around the world and it was like stepping in to a dream; a really hungry and delicious dream. The atmosphere was vibrant and friendly, encouraging you to try everything and talk to everyone about what they were selling and why it was unique and almost always why it all tasted so amazing. I loved every minute of it! 

So many amazing products and friendly people, can't wait to go back! Next time I'm trying the whole grilled hog for sure. 

Then of course there was the Pimm's tent! Pimm's is a proper British alcoholic drink, most commonly based on gin (Pimm's no 1 Cup), and was actually first founded in London in the 1800's, by a farmers son named Pimm. He first served it as an aid to digestion at his London based Oyster Bar, but after the drink became wildly popular, he started upscale production to meet demand, thus spreading it across the UK (I just love Wikipedia, thank you!) and to other parts of the world. We had our Pimm's the most popular way, mixed with Ginger Ale and loaded with fresh fruit. It was just what we needed after 2 hours looking at and tasting amazing food in the gorgeous spring weather London was serving us. Hey, Swedes, you can actually buy it at Systembolaget, it'll set you back about 195 SEK but will be very worth it if we get a good summer in Sweden this year!

After finishing our pitcher of Pimm's, we headed back in to the market area for some after Pimm's food. It wasn't hard to find a great selection, the difficulty was deciding what to eat!

A whole roasted hog was on the menu, unfortunately I didn't try this, but I'm sure it would have tasted wonderful. I went for something a little more basic instead.

I just loved this guys company name, wish I'd thought of it first! SoulFood. Follow them on Twitter @EatSoulFood, I do!

I ended up with a MASSIVE Frankfurter (yes, you may all make jokes about this) with sauerkraut, mustard and ketchup. It was great and soaked up the Pimm's nicely. 

My gorgeous mates decided on Raclette, a swish dish consisting of a melted cheese (Raclette) over boiled potatoes with mini gherkins on the side. I had a taste and it was all a cheesy goodness!

It was truly inspirational walking around the market. So many great ideas and people who have had a foodie dream and made it into a reality. These guys below held themed cooking classes at the market, changing the themes daily. When we walked past they were making Pizzas, paying only about £10 for a class. And they got to eat it as well!

Thank you for a lovely day ladies! 

New memories made and old ones brought back to life <3 

Fair Trade and Organic products - what do YOU think?

I would love to know what you guys think about Fair Trade and organic products. Do you make sure to always buy organic? Or do you think the prices are way too high for you to afford them? Do you think its all BS that you want no part of? Let me know!! Take my quick survey and Ill write a post about the results, more about what Fair Trade is and what it means for a product to be organic. Take it Here!