Butternut Squash Lasagna Roll Ups

When I was little I loved to go visit my grandmother. The whole family travelled by train to Basel, a journey that takes little more than an hour, but felt soo long back then. The best visits were when my grandmother picked us up at the train station. Me and my siblings wanted each to see her first, to run and leap into her arms first. We then would take the tram to her place, were she had already lovingly prepared the same thing every single time. Buttery roasted potatoes. A huge leg of lamb, roasted in the oven. And some snap peas she grew in her garden in spring and always cooked for me when I visited because she knew I loved them. These snap peas, they made me felt loved.
Back then I learnt unconsciously what I know now. We can show our love with food. Be it the cupcakes you make vegan or gluten-free to celebrate with a friend who would have had to go without or the batch of cookies you make to bring to a friend when you are invited for dinner. The dinner you make that is anything but spectacular, but shared.

I made these lasagna roll ups this week for lunch, for me and my boyfriend. They require a little time to make, maybe not the best fit for a weekday lunch. But still, they are easy to make, unfussy with a simple, classical pairing of squash, sage and hazelnuts. They are soft and sweet and crunchy and herby all in one bite. And they just look really lovely, something you'd serve someone you love. Go cook for someone you love this week. Make it something special. Or just share a simple meal together.

Walnut "Meat"balls

Hi friends, it has been quiet around here for a little more than a month now, but I am back now, and have lots to share with you from my trip through Europe and Turkey.
If you wish, I can talk about our trip later, but for now, I am just happy to be back. And to be sharing a few of my instagram pictures from the trip.
This sounds so ungrateful, happy to be back, after such a great trip, seeing such an interesting country, and what can I say except that I am very grateful, and I enjoyed this trip a lot. And eventhough I am not one to get homesick, there are certain things I miss once I have been without a home for a while.

I think it is very human to seek the comfort of familiarity. We are creatures of comfort, and a month stuffed with new impressions and changing beds offers little space to just be.

So I loved eating out, trying all the Turkish food we did, and I did love the meze, but still, I really missed cooking. The only cooking we did in the whole month was just in the beginning, when we made a Greek salad in our hostel in Istanbul. And I am so happy to be able to cook again. To be making things, not just consuming. And I think I'll share some Turkish recipes in the future, but for the past week I craved something different.

These walnut balls are the first things I cooked after coming home that I think is worthy of sharing.
A while ago I turned from almost vegetarian to vegetarian for real, and ever since I feel the need to come up with recipes for things I no longer want to cook and eat.
I did not loads of meatballs before becoming vegetarian. When we both ate meat, my boyfriend and I made Moroccan inspired meatballs once or twice, with cinnamon and dates. I really loved those. But other than that, I dont have many fond memories attached to the consumation of meatballs, but I still do miss them. I miss the possibility of making meatballs when I want to.

This is where these walnut balls come in. I looked at a few recipes for vegetarian meatballs over the last weeks and months, and using nuts in them stuck with me. I kept the flavoring pretty simple this time, some mustard and parsley, a little paprika, salt and pepper. I plan to make them again, and then follow my memories of the Moroccan meatballs we made quite a while ago.

Coconutty Energy Orbs with a Kick

I have been quite absent in the last weeks. I spent a day at a local film festival, I went to an art museum, cooked some indian food. Wrote a paper for university, worked and met friends and family.
Somehow, I just couldnt seem to think of something to write about here. Or rather, I had too much going on in my head but couldnt get anything out on paper or screen.
The last week or two I have been thinking about what and how I eat a lot. I reread Michael Pollan's book In Defense of Food, and after I didnt' really have a great impact on my way of eating the first time, it somehow touched me now. Perhaps it has to do with all the people (mostly women) around me who talk about diets way too much. Who think just eating the right kind of food will just make the pounds drop in a heartbeat.

Maybe it's the way people in our society seem to think of food, mostly in shouldnts, linking it to self control (or lack thereof), guilt, slip ups, temptations.
Maybe it is the joy I found in making as much as possible by hand, to not rely on processed food anymore (Or less so).
One thing I want to change in my eating habits is my intake of refined flours. I grew up eating lots of bread and pasta, and while I really enjoy eating them, I dont feel great after too much of both. And I get hungry again soon after eating them. Way to soon. One way to avoid eating something baked as a snack, which I often do, is to bring something with me.
This is where these energy orbs come in. I saw a basic recipe for them on My New Roots, but added some things to spice them up. You could use whatever combination of nuts and dried fruit and add spices to your liking. I do like the kick of the ginger and the coconut they are rolled in. The almost look like buttery and sugary truffles, but they are not. Which is not a bad thing, really. At least that is what I think.