Coffee Energy Bars

Last saturday I got up relatively early to go to the farmers market. The farmers market here in Berne is quite big and is open year round, on Tuesdays and Saturdays. With my move I now am a lot closer to it, and I have already  been a few times over the last few weeks.
I recently discovered a bakery stand there, selling french croissants. I have the fondest memories of french croissants, the ones I ate for breakfast every.single.day last two summers that we spent in Northern France. Swiss croissants are buttery and flakey, too, but french croissants are on a whole other level, you can barely eat them without being covered in buttery delicate flakes. I eat them plain, savoring every bite. The croissants I bought today were good, but not as good as the french croissants.

I also brought home a bag of mixed salad greens. These greens are sold seperately, all at the same price so you can go an choose the ones you like best. I always bring back a bag full to eat on the very day I bought them.
Being so close to the producer of the vegetables I buy feels good to me, the connection to the food is that much closer. And I can pick whatever produce looks best that day, choosing cherries over apricots because they look fresher. Picking up a few carrots, all differently coloured, just because they are so beautiful.
I am going to be away for a few days, for a rather spontaneous trip to France (hello flakey croissants) with my boyfriend and our bikes. And while I am looking forward to the croissants, I know that I'll have one problem that I always seem to have. Hunger attacks.

You should see me, pedaling my way through France, or hiking up a mountain, and I am fine, thinking I could go on forever, when suddenly a switch flips and I am starving. I have to eat right then and there, or else I become really mad at anyone near me. Coffee Energy Bars to the rescue. To save myself from a few hunger attacks, and my boyfriend from the resulting mood swings, I made these energy bars this weekend, to carry with me and snack on on our trip. They were really easy to make, and are easy customizable. I added coffee, because I thought that a little shot of caffeine is probably not a bad thing, and many other good things that hopefully keep my hunger at bay and give me a little push to keep pedaling.

Chickpea Nuggets with Escarole in Caramel Sauce

As I am writing this, I feel the urge to sneak into the kitchen to nibble on another of these chickpea nuggets. (Back again).
I have found that the food matters project makes me search for meat alternatives, while I usually just go without. I am not really one to buy fake meat or use tofu in abundance. I usually go for chickpeas, beans or lentils if I feel the need to add protein to a dish.
But for this project, I felt I needed to change this approach. For the coq au vin, I just left out the meat altogether, but doing that for another week for the cassoulet seemed kind of strange, and then this week: rhubarb sauce alone does not really sound like much of a meal. But luckily I stumbled onto this recipe for chickpea nuggets, or gatta as it is called, and new that I wanted to give them a try. They are really easy to make, but oh so delicious. While last weeks sausages need some improving, these I can really recommend. They can also be frozen (I guess, none survived to try it out), or dried as the recipe I found suggests.

For the sauce I used the escarole version Bittman suggests as a variation. Rhubarb is still not quite in season here, and I had escarole already at home. I also used a radicchio I had in the fridge. Since I stayed true to the original recipe this week, I only include the recipe for the chickpea nuggets here, please go to Camilla's blog for the whole recipe and check out what everyone else did with this recipe here. I have to say though that while I loved the nuggets, I wasn't too crazy about the sauce. It was to liquid, sweet and orangey. Something was missing and I couldn't find out what.
I also used these nuggets in a couscous dish a made earlier in the week. Cooked some couscous. stirfried some fennel and pea shoots, add the couscous to the skillet, season with a curry powder, throw in some apple and the chickpea nuggets. I liked that better than this recipe, and might make it again and share it with proper measurements.

Spring Rolls with Coffee Tofu and Miso-Marinated Carrots

Today I felt a bit off. I didn't plan much for the easter holidays and found the prospect of just sitting around stressed me out. This weekend, the weather is pretty bad: it is cold, it rains, it is just gloomy.
I spent the day inside, paying some bills I put off paying (no wonder I felt stressed out), cleaning a bit, putting things where they belong. I washed my clothes (another thing I put off doing this week), baked some bread, and by the afternoon I felt a lot better.

I also made these spring rolls. They were inspired by the Wintery Spring Rolls from 101cookbooks and these soy-glazed roasted carrot spring rolls from Naturally Ella. And by Joy the Baker and her coffee bacon.

Making cute food, that takes some time to make, always relaxes me.

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.

Red Lentil Falafel with Mint

Do you have any new year's resolutions?
I don't. Or not really, rather. I want to go to the cinema more often. To concerts, too.
I want to invite more people over, to cook more often for company.

I want to try new food. To cook through some of the recipes in my every growing folder of recipes-to-try.

I want to keep up with my friends, talk often.
I want to go to a Jazz club.
I want to go swimming in the Aare, the river here.
I want to go hiking.
Make lots of bite-sized food.

I want to finally make a poached egg.
I want to take a tour of the city I live in.
I want to make Ricotta.
I want to go canooing and snowshoeing.
I want to throw a party.
I want to go to some museums here.

And some things more.

But these are not resolutions. I keep this list so that I would always have an idea on what to do on a free day or weekend. I'll add to this list whenever I have a new idea.

After looking at this again, I now see that you could probably say that my new year's resolution is to make more amazing memories. I can live with that.


To start the year off on the healthy side, I made this Red Lentil Köfte. And did you notice I put "Make more bite-sized food" in my list? Let's start this year off right, 2012 is going to be the year of the small bites!
I saw different recipes for a Lentil Snack online, and found a recipe for Red Lentil Köfte in Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume: Cuisine of the Eastern Mediterranean.
These little nuggets are quite crunchy, a bit spicy and really good for you.