Sweet potato salad

Sometimes the journey is the goal. In the same way, sometimes leftovers are the goal! I made this salad only from leftovers and it was just amazing. A tight budget is not always a bad thing, it really forces you to get creative and use what you have, like the famous Kajsa Warg once said; "You use what you have". 

The What

Oven baked cold sweet potato

Gorgonzola

Arugula

Baby spinach 

A bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Salt and fresh ground pepper

The How

Take the skin off the sweet potato.

Cut the Gorgonzola in smaller pieces.

Wash the salad. 

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and toss. Top with olive oil and a bit of balsamic vinegar, salt and a few turns with the pepper grinder. 

Serve with other leftovers like avocado spread, dark bread, humus and veggie sticks and you have yourself a damn good lunch on a budget!!

Rainbow trout filled with fresh herbs

A lot of people are intimidated by the thought of cooking a meal form a whole fish, with the head and everything still on. I know I was! But my mum taught me that if you have a good fish, it really doesn't have to be very complicated. So we went to the fish market this Easter holiday and got some beautiful fresh rainbow trout. It's a pretty cheap fish with white meat, and very tasty in itself which means you don't really have to do a whole lot to it to make it taste like heaven. 

All you need to make my herb filled rainbow trout is:

4 rainbow trouts

1 lemon

1 hand full of fresh thyme

1 handful of fresh rosemary

1 handful of fresh basil

butter

salt and pepper

The how is just as simple:

Put the oven to 200 degrees.

Put the fish in tin foil in an oven safe dish.

Season with salt and pepper and fill the fish with butter, herbs and a wedge of lemon.

Close the tin foil around the fish to make it a little package, and put in to the oven for about 20  minutes. 

Serve directly with a nice salad and (Swedish) new potatoes!

5 Ingredients; Vegetarian Salad

I really felt like something light and easy a few Fridays ago, so I started of thinking about some of my absolute favorite things to eat;

oven roasted aubergine

chevre goats cheese

soy beans

sourdough bread

spinach and arugula salad mix

I had some left over sourdough bread that was getting a bit stale so I cut it into crouton sized bits and quickly roasted it in the oven with some olive oil and garlic. 

I sliced the aubergine, salted it and let it sit for about 15 minutes to draw out the bitter tasting water, after which I washed it and oven roasted it in 200 degrees for about 15 - 20 minutes. 

In the meantime, I blanched the soy beans in salted water, quickly cooled them down and removed the outer layer of skin on the bean. 

Add all the ingredients in a big bowl, cut down the aubergine when its nice and soft and add the cheese. 

I made a lovely dressing, inspired by an old friend, using olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, honey, salt and pepper. It goes SO well with the chevre. 

There´s your light and tasty Friday night meal :)

Beetroot & kidney bean patties with feta cheese & soy bean cream

So me and the boy have decided we need a bit of a healthy streak from all the snacking we've been doing lately, so we're cutting down on the carbs for a while. Easier said than done when you're a pasta lover like I am, but so far it's going pretty well. There are a lot of great alternatives and it leaves you feeling a lot better to be honest... Don't get me wrong, pasta will ALWAYS be my go to dish when I want to splurge!! I didn't get the nick name Pasta Girl for nothing... ;)

Beetroot and Kidney bean patties are really tasty, extremely healthy and have a great purple / pink color to it. They're easy to make and taste even better the next day which means they're great to bring in the lunchbox :)

The What:

3 beetroots, peeled and grated

400 g precooked kidney beans

1 egg

breadcrumbs

coriander (if you want)

salt

pepper

feta cheese

soy beans

creme fraishe

pepper

Salad of your choice to serve.

The How:

Peel and grate the beetroot. 

Rinse the beans and put in a bowl together with the beetroots. Add the egg and mix together until smooth. Add the breadcrumbs, the salt and pepper as well as the coriander. 

Crumble the feta cheese in a bowl, add the soy beans and mix together with creme fraishe, finish with pepper. 

Heat a pan with butter and make the patties straight in the pan. Be careful not to burn them!

Let cool before serving them with a nice salad and the feta cheese and soy bean cream.

Leftovers - nothing needs to go to waste

You didn't use all your bruschetta mix? No worries! Make a lovely mozzarella salad and nothing has to go to waste!