Those who know us personally know that we love to experiment with food when we have some extra time on our hands. We enjoy hosting tiny get-togethers with friends and cook for them. For us, it is a chance to experiment with new tastes and a way to treat people to some great plant-based dishes – lead by example!
Once in a while, we will share some of our favourite dishes on our website and Instagram in the form of what we ate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner post. Today, we will share with you all the plant-based deliciousness we ate this Saturday!
This was our Saturday menu (click on the links to skip to the recipes directly):
- Breakfast: oven-baked oats with maple, nuts, and peaches <3
- Breakfast: oven-baked oats with maple, nuts and peaches <3
- Lunch: our ultimate spicy grilled cheese with vegan chicken, fresh napa cabbage, homemade spicy kimchi and plenty of vegan cheese!
- Snack: tomatoes, red/yellow peppers, and cucumber with a shootload of homemade hummus.
- Dinner: the “most decadent way of eating plantains” – plantain lasagne, inspired by @avantgardevegan. This dish is amazin’!
- Desert: we might have had nachos and many beers with friends after a good climbing session – not ashamed at all 😊
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Baked oatmeal with maple, nuts, and peach
We love oats! During the workweek, we usually eat them as muesli or granola (toasted) or as oatmeal (cooked or overnight). At the weekends, when we have some extra time on our hands, we love to eat them oven-baked. Now that summer has arrived in the Netherlands, peaches and nectarines are on sale everywhere. Thus, we wanted to share one of our favourite breakfast recipes that perfectly goes together with the peach season!
Prep Time: 10 mins - Cook Time: 40 mins - Yield: 2 to 3 servings - Category: Breakfast
Ingredients:
- 2 cups rolled oats
- 1 cup whole-wheat flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 2 ripe bananas
- 1 or 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/3 cup chia seeds
- 1/2 cup crushed nuts (pecan or almond for example)
- 2 cups of plant-based milk (we like soy or coconut)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 ripe peaches
- 1 tbsp coconut oil for greasing
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C (~375 in Fahrenheit) and grease a 20x20cm baking dish – or two small ones!
- Mash the bananas in a medium mixing bowl and add the oats, flour, baking powder, maple syrup, chia seeds, plant-based milk, and vanilla extract together. Whisk the mixture until blended.
- Pour everything into the baking dish and garnish with nuts and sliced peaches.
- Bake for roughly 40 minutes, until the top layer is nice and golden. Remove the baked oatmeal from the oven and cool it for a few minutes.
- Serve it as it is or with some additional maple syrup. If you can’t eat it in one go, you can keep it well for a few days in the refrigerator, when covered.
Spicy kimchi grilled cheese
We absolutely love kimchi. Sadly, most store-bought kimchi contains shrimp or fish sauce – ingredients we do not eat. Enough reason for us to make our own! Every 3 months or so we make a new batch of white (sour/sweet/non-spicy) and red (sour/spicy AF) kimchi. White kimchi we often eat as lunch on a sandwich with hummus or so. Spicy kimchi we use as a side with Asian dishes, as the main ingredient of Korean kimchi pancakes, or in this amazin’ grilled cheese recipe!
Prep Time: 20 mins - Cook Time: 15 mins - Yield: 2 to 3 servings - Category: Lunch
Ingredients:
- 6 sandwich bread slices
- 1 cup kimchi – shredded
- 2 hands full of napa cabbage – shredded
- 200 grams of plant-based chicken strips (we use the Vivera brand)
- 1 cup of plant-based cheese – shredded
- 100 ml of cooking cream (we use the Oatly brand)
- Dash of black pepper and salt
Instructions:
- Add the plant-based chicken strips in a pre-heated non-sticky pan and dash them with some pepper and salt. Grill them until they become nice and golden (8-10 minutes).
- Add the shredded napa cabbage and grill for another 2 minutes.
- Add the cooking cream and the cheese and stir everything until it turns into a thick cheesy sauce and set aside.
- Start assembling the sandwich by adding the chicken cheese sause and some spicy kimchi between two sandwich breads.
- Grill the sandwich for 1-2 minutes on both sides, and serve as it is!
- We often eat it with some fresh salad – shredded red cabbage, carrot, red union and vegan mayo in this particular photo!
The smoothest home-made hummus
Hummus, we can eat all day. We spread it on almost everything or use it to dip our snack vegetables (peppers, cucumbers, tiny tomatoes). Our tip for the smoothest hummus: cook two cans (2x 400g) with a tbsp baking soda for about 25 minutes. The baking soda helps break down the skins and other hard parts of the chickpeas, resulting in an almost unreal smooth and creamy hummus. Also, don’t be too shy with the tahini! Here is our recipe.
Prep Time: 15 mins - Cook Time: 25 mins - Yield: never enough - Category: Snack
Ingredients:
- 2 cans of chickpeas (400 grams each), rinsed and drained
- 1 tbsp baking soda
- 2 lemons, juiced (about 1/2 cup juice)
- 2 large cloves of garlic
- 1 cup tahini
- 1/2 cup crushed ice or cold water
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 2 tbsp olive oil (also possible without, but will end up less creamy)
- chilli flakes and smoky paprika powder as garnish
Instructions:
- Add the chickpeas to a saucepan (medium) and add the baking soda. Add water until the chickpeas are completely covered. Bring to a boil over low to medium heat and let it boil for about 25 minutes until the chickpeas look nice and soft. Drain the chickpeas and run them under cool water, and set them aside.
- Meanwhile, add the lemon juice, garlic, salt, and tahini to a food processor (or high power blender) and blend until the mixture is thick and creamy.
- Add the chickpeas, olive oil, and spices to the food processor and blend it until it becomes super smooth.
- Slowly add some ice or cold water to the mixture until the mixture is pale and creamy.
- Taste, and add more spices or lemon juice to enhance the overall taste further.
- Scrape the hummus from the processor into a serving bowl and garnish it with fresh spices and herbs. When covered, it can be stored for up to one week.
- We like our “plain” style hummus a bit smoky and spicy and add some chilli flakes and smoked paprika powder to it. We sometimes throw in some (about a cup) sundried tomatoes or olives (pitted of course) into the processor for some great hummus variations.
Amazing plantain lasagne by Gaz Oakley aka Avant Garde Vegan
Lately, we have been experimenting with plantains. Yesterday, we were looking for a great recipe for the ripe plantains (yellow-ish with black spots) we already had, when we came across this amazing dish from Avant Garde Vegan. After the taste test, we were amazed – so were our dinner guests! We can only describe it as the perfect balance between savoury, sweet, sour, and spicy. Gaz Oakley described it as the “most decadent way of eating plantains” – we agree. We’ve added the lasagne to our favourites and will surely eat it more often from now on! Not going to claim credits for this one. Check out this full recipe on his website or in the video below our own shot!
Let us know what you think about these dishes in the comments below! Don’t forget to like and share the slider on our Instagram if you like our content!