Chocolate brownie with black beans and hazelnuts

Brownies can now be enjoyed without butter, flour, lactose and gluten. And, yes, it’s still as good!
Cooking time: 40 minutes, including a break.

Vegetarian Christmas – the complete menu

Are you going for a green Christmas, or perhaps just reducing your meat intake? In any case, here are several traditional Christmas dishes you can try for the festivities.

Completely vegetarian Christmas dishes

• Brussel sprouts for Christmas or for an ordinary Tuesday
• Kale stewed in cream and butter for a festive meal

If you have to have meatballs you can make them healthier

• Chickpeas in the meatballs: Recipe makeover – more greens in the meat

Porridge is obligatory Christmas food

• Pot barley porridge – a real Scandinavian Christmas treat

Some slightly healthier snacks

• Kale chips – a healthy alternative

A little bit healthier alternatives to cakes

• Christmas chocolate cakes with coconut and orange
• Chocolate almond nibs made of white beans
• Lemon scented coconut nibs without any added fat

Kale stewed in cream and butter for a festive meal

Stewed kale is often eaten in Sweden for Christmas. It’s also popular in Germany, but not on the Christmas table. In any case, it is rich in iron, vitamin C and vitamin A, so enjoy it with a clear conscience.
Cooking time: The cooking time can be reduced by 25 minutes using frozen kale, but fresh is much nicer.

Brussel sprouts for Christmas or for an ordinary tuesday

Brussel sprouts are like mini-cabbage heads loaded with vitamins – a great boost in winter time. They are great as a side dish for any meal, festivities or an ordinary Tuesday.
Cooking time: 45 minutes, including 35 minutes in the oven.

Food days: 1 November World Vegan Day

Honor the World Vegan Day today and eat totally vegan for a day. Eat beans, veggies and fruit, but leave the milk, egg and honey for another day. You can find recipes for vegan meals here.

Try also only to use vegan products. That is nothing using animal sources, so leave your leather jacket and wool sweater home today.

Hot lacinato kale with pine kernels and parmesan

Lacinato kale is a good winter green. It can be harvested late into the winter, the same as green kale. Lacinato kale is a often used in Italy and also called Tuscan kale, black cale or palm tree kale. If you can’t find it, you can use green kale for this recipe.
Portions: As a main course the dish is 2 portions, but as a side it is 4 portions.

Food days: 28 October Chocolate day

Chocolate day, if you google Chocolate day there are several different dates stated, the 7th July, 13th September and 28th October (as if you would restrict eating chocolate to 3 days a year!?!). From being considered an unhealthy sweet, chocolate is now considered healthy, containing antioxidants and protecting against everything from high cholesterol levels to memory decline. If you need a reason to eat chocolate, you can find one. Just make sure to leave the sugar out of the recipe! Here are tasty sugar free chocolate recipes.

 

Sugarfree chocolate balls made of white beans

Usually these chocolate balls contain a lot of fat. Butter can be replaced by white beans for an equally creamy but more healthy variety.
These are not particularly sweet, if you like very sweet, add more dates or some agave syrup.

Food days: 15 October Feta cheese day

Feta cheese is a white cheese from Greece made from sheep’s milk, or from a mix of sheep and goat’s milk. Sometimes it can also be made from cow’s milk. Feta cheese can be used in to flavour cooking or crumble over salads and often adds quite a sharp distinct taste. It is also sometimes called salad cheese. Whatever the name, the potential in cooking is great. Take a look at these cheesy recipes!

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Food days: 10 October World Porridge Day

Today is World Porridge Day. Perhaps your favourite is oatmeals? Semolina? Hirs? Buckwheat porridge? Whichever flavour is your number one, you can find plenty of inspiration to try some new porridge recipes here. And, if you are stuck on oatmeals – or any other porridge, here are plenty of tips to vary your porridge toppings. And, take a look here if you like seeds in your porridge.