French Ratatouille-Tarte

It’s a while since I posted a recipe (or wrote in general) on my blog. However, while writing my bachelorthesis which goes along with spending a lot of hours in front of the computer I decided to take a break and do something practical: Cooking. And after travelling I’m in parents’ kitchen where I know what to find where, so let’s spend some time in the kitchen and relax a bit. Yes, you read right, for me cooking is mostly relaxing, if I’m not stressed :)

I decided to go for ratatouille. To make a bit more interesting, but still not too complicated or too time consuming, I decided to make a ratatouille-tarte. Ratatouille comes from Nice, a city in Southern France. That’s why the ordinary ratatouille we know today was formerly called ratatouille niçoise.

It’s a perfect summer dish due to the lots and lots of colorful and delicious vegetables. I know, it’s not summer yet, but if you just returned from Norway like me it feels a bit like that :)

Main | Recipes

baking, cheap, French, salty, simple, traditional, vegan, veganized

Vanessa

201510/30

Norwegian Cardamom Boller

You might think that I can present you a few traditional recipes from Latvia after living several months there. Well, better don’t look for that on my blog. But I wanted to do a bit better with traditional Norwegian dishes, so I was looking for a recipe to veganize. Not that easy. You have to imagine: The cooking books often have the categories fish, meat and desserts. Vegetable dishes? Nope ;) And vegan alternatives like vegan margarine, tofu and stuff like that are not that easy to find in Norway, but I found something: I ended up with a recipe for cardamom buns (Cardamom boller). You can find cardamom in many dishes here anyway… which is not that bad as I like cardamom :)

Recipes | Starter

baking, cheap, Norwegian, simple, sweet, traditional, vegan, veganized

Vanessa

201510/04

Lívance – Czech Pancakes

Traditional Czech pancakes - Lívance recipe (vegan)

It’s a while since I heard about Lívance for the first time – to be exact it was when I was in Trondheim and visiting the Trondheim Vegan Fair. When I was in that nice city a girl from the Czech Republic who did her erasmus semester there hosted me. She is a really good cook dreaming every now and then about working in a vegan café. Her cooking skills would definitely allow that.

One dish she made was Lívance. Lívance are Czech pancakes. I usually don’t really like pancakes. And I actually don’t understand why everyone loves pancakes. But Lívance are different, I really liked them! (Actually a pity that I found pancakes I like, not that good for my body shape ;))

But what makes Lívance different from normal pancakes?

Dessert | Recipes

cheap, Czech, frying, simple, sweet, traditional, vegan, veganized

Vanessa

201506/02

Kluski śląskie – Silesian dumplings

While I was exchange student in Latvia, I got the possibility to meet a lot of people from different countries. There was also someone fro Poland. And when she got to know about my blog and that I’m always looking for traditional recipes, she suggested instantly to cook somthing from her country.

What recipe did she suggest me? Kluski śląskie! Well, okay, I also can’t pronounce it properly ;) But it basically means potato dumplings. And while I actually have to admit that I don’t cook so much typical German stuff with my family, she told me that her mother and she do the potato dumplings every month together.

Main | Recipes

cheap, glutenfree, Polish, salty, simple, traditional, vegan, veganized

Vanessa

201505/14

Traditional German Schupfnudeln

Yes, we’re going to my home country, to Germany! Or well, there are some rumours that Schupfnudeln – the dish I want to present you today – are from Austria. However, I always got to know them as typical dish from southern Germany, so I’ll just pretend they are German :)

This recipe is already known in a similar way since the thirty years’ war when soldiers made longish pasta (and the German word “Nudeln” means pasta) out of flour and water. Later on they added potatoes which are nowadays the main ingredient of Schupfnudeln.

Main | Recipes

frying, German, salty, traditional, vegan, veganized

Vanessa

201504/12

Coconut macaroons

Did you know that macaroons exist already since the 16. century? And they were already mentioned for the first time in a cook book in 1604!

And I can’t really tell you why, but a few days ago I desperately wanted to eat coconut macaroons. Coconut macaroons belong to the typical German Christmas biscuits. Unfortunately they’re usually made with a lot of eggs. So at first I thought it would be impossible to make a vegan version: But it’s not! Actually it’s very easy, so you should definitely try it!

By the way the word “Macaroon” comes from the greek word Makarios which means something like blessedness. And I felt really blessed when I ate them :)

Dessert | Recipes

baking, Christmas, German, glutenfree, simple, sweet, traditional, vegan, veganized

Vanessa

201504/12

Italian Cantuccini

I like the Italian kitchen! But I guess I’m not the only one =D But really: There are so many delicious italian recipes and moreover a lot of them are vegan or very easy to make in a vegan way. Also this one: Cantuccini! For sure you have already heard of these small biscuits and probably you also tasted them already. This summer I was in Italy and I saw them in every supermarket. Unfortunately always with egg, although there’s absolutely no need for that. But I was happy to eat the Cantuccini a few month later… although it wasn’t in Italy then :)

To increase your general knowledge: Cantuccini are small almond biscuits from the province of Prato (near Florence) in Italy. They are often offered with wine, tea and coffee. The secret of making them is to bake them twice. Once as rolls and later onwards cutted into biscuits.

Dessert | Recipes

baking, italian, simple, sweet, traditional, vegan, veganized

Vanessa

201504/11

German Cinnamon Stars

Ciiiinnamon stars! It wasn’t too easy to find all the ingredients here in Latvia, at least not in the right shape (keyword ground almonds and ground hazelnuts). But I did it! So I could bring a bit more Christmas feeling to Riga and Lithuania. Lithuania because this was the destination for my weekend trip and I decided to bring some cinnamon stars for my couchsurfers there :)

And to be honest I was suprised that nobody in Latvia and Lithuania knows cinnamon stars. And also in bakeries, supermarkets and so on you can’t find them. So I asked Wikipedia which told me: They’re typical German! They come from Swabia, a district in southwestern Germany!

Dessert | Recipes

baking, Christmas, German, glutenfree, simple, sweet, traditional, vegan, veganized

Vanessa

201504/10

Italian Pumpkin-Mushroom-Frittata

I know, I’m quite late for an autumn recipe. But maybe you still have some pumpkin at home? Then you should definitely try this recipe! It’s so easy, you don’t need much time and it’s delicious!

Before that I didn’t try too much with chickpea flour. But a friend of mine is eating glutenfree, so it came to my mind to try to prepare more dishes without gluten. One of these dishes is this one: Something italian (like to often :)). But this time exceptionally without pasta and rice, we’re doing Pumpkin-Mushroom-Frittata.

Traditionally Frittata is made of eggs and you prepare it on a pan. We don’t need a pan neither eggs :)

Main | Recipes | Starter

baking, glutenfree, italian, salty, simple, traditional, vegan, veganized

Vanessa

Bin Dann Mal Veg

Vegan Travelling All Over The World

French Ratatouille-Tarte

Norwegian Cardamom Boller

Lívance – Czech Pancakes

Kluski śląskie – Silesian dumplings

Traditional German Schupfnudeln

Coconut macaroons

Italian Cantuccini

German Cinnamon Stars

Italian Pumpkin-Mushroom-Frittata