PS: The nonskid post will follow up soon!

Ingredients:

• 100g green lentils (soaked in advance)
• 1 onion diced
• 1 clove of garlic
• 2 carrots diced
• 150g mushrooms
• 2 tomatoes diced
•  2 sticks of celery
• salt, pepper, bay leaf, parsley, thyme
• olive oil
• 100g spinach (or 2 cups of diced cabbage)
• 0.5 l vegetable stock or water (we like our soup more thick)

Method:

1. Using the olive oil (or butter), fry the onion and garlic, add the rest of the vegetables (except spinach), mushrooms and lentils, stir, pour in the stock, add salt, pepper and all the herbs and cook until the lentils are done. In our pressure cooker it takes about 8 minutes.
2. Meanwhile brown the croutons using a non-stick frying pan.
3. When the lentils are done, add the spinach, cook for a minute or two, adjust the taste.
4. Divide into plates, sprinkle with croutons and grated cheese.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of flour
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 1/2 cup of oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp of cinnamon
• 1 heaped tsp of baking soda
• 3 ripe bananas mashed with a fork

Method:

In a bowl mix the eggs with the sugar, add first the cinnamon and bananas. When mixed, add flour baking soda, and finally also half cup of oil. Mix thoroughly, pour into a baking tin and bake at 175 degrees for 1 hour.

Tip: For a fancy variation, mix half the mixture with cocoa, first pour in the plain one, then top with the cocoa one and mix a bit using a fork. This should create kind of a marble effect once the bread is baked.

Ingredients:

• 4 tomatoes
• 1 can of chick peas (or cook your own)
• 1 big onion finely chopped
• olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice, basil

Method:

1. Scoop up the tomatoes (keep the insides for a salad), sprinkle the tomatoes and the caps with salt, place upside down and let the juices run out.
2. Meanwhile add olive oil to a pan, fry the onion until soft but not brown. Place the chick peas on a plate and use fork to mash it a little. Add it to the onions, season with salt, pepper, basil and at the end add some lemon juice to your taste.
3. Fill up the tomatoes with the chick peas mixture and cap with the tomato tops. Place in a baking pan, drizzle with olive oil and bake at 180 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Spread the rest of the mixture (if there is any) around the tomatoes and bake that, too. It’s delicious.
4. Serve with just a vegetable salad, potatoes, etc. Can also be served as an appetizer or side dish.

Our first dinner underway

Ingredients (2-4 servings):

• 1 onion
• 1-2 green peppers
• 3-4 tbs of corn
• 1/2 can of beans (baked, in tomato sauce, in chilli sauce, whichever is currently available)
• optional: 1/2 can of chickpeas
• 1 can of tomatoes
• salt, pepper and chilli powder

Stuffed into tortillas

Method:

Cut the onion and green peppers into cubes and fry on a little bit of olive oil until softened. Add other ingredients, a pinch of salt, pepper and chilli powder according to your own taste. Cover with a lid and cook for 8-10 minutes stirring occasionally. Divide into bowls or plates, sprinkle with grated cheese, or decorate with a few tortilla chips. You can serve this with rice, tortillas, etc. You can also thicken the stew with crumbled tortilla chips or rice, stuff it into tortillas and bake in an oven or in a frying pan on the top of your stove.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chickpeas
• cherry tomatoes or tomatoes
• 1 quarter red onion pealed and finely sliced
• cucumber
• salad leaves
• sprouts of any kind
• herbs (eg. basil, mint…)
• …

In fact anything you like or have available at the moment. The most important ingredient is chickpeas.
For the dressing: salt, pepper, lemon juice, olive oil (mix using the ratio 3:1)

Method:
While cutting up the vegetables, place the chickpeas into a pot and heat them up on the stove. Toss everything including 2/3 of chickpeas together in a salad bowl, add salt, pepper. Smash the rest of the chickpeas using a fork and add it to the salad bowl together with lemon juice and olive oil. It might seem too much of a hassle, why should you smash a couple of chickpeas, but trust me, it really makes a huge difference! It gives the salad kind of a creamy consistency and tastes wonderfully. If desirable decorate with olives, capers, cheese, etc. Enjoy!