I love cooking, but only on my terms. Not too long, not too complicated, and when I have all the time in the world. Don’t expect a four-course dinner from me. I’m at my best making one-pan dishes and casseroles. I like standing in the kitchen for half an hour to an hour and then the dish must be ready, or it must simmer for a few hours without too much interference. I think it’s important to eat healthily so I actually cook quite a lot. And not from jars and packets but ‘from scratch’. With ingredients that my great-great-grandmother would recognize, as Michael Pollan suggests so wisely in his books.
One of the requirements for the design of my Tiny House was that it would include a decent kitchen with enough work and storage space. And, oh boy, do I have a nice kitchen! I’m really thrilled with it! It is a beautiful Bruynzeel kitchen
with a beautiful countertop (which is lightweight too!) and with wonderful deep soft-close drawers which store a lot. It has a well-designed tap and to top it all, a very nice gas stove with an oven from De Pittenspecialist. Which runs on LPG by the way. Perhaps one of the finest things about my kitchen is that I can look out the window when I’m working there. That’s what I’ve always wanted! And I have such a beautiful view… Sigh.. :)
Ever since I’ve been living in my Tiny House and have that brand new kitchen at my disposal, I’ve been in the mood to try out new recipes. My dear sister-in-law Chantal gave me a book voucher for my birthday that I used to buy this book: ‘Good Food in 20 minutes’ by Laurianne Ruhé. “Healthy without hassle” is indicated in the title. I love that! I’ve already tried a few recipes from the book, each with great success. Tasty and easy! I had to invest in some ingredients at the eco shop, which was quite expensive, but they keep well, and I can use them for numerous recipes. First, I tried the granola.
To. Die. For.
Totally sugar and gluten-free! Not that I necessarily eat gluten-free, but a little fewer grains can’t hurt. It’s easy to make, the house smells delicious and it makes two large pots of granola.
In the past I’ve done quite extensive research on good ways to eat for my body, and the best way for me is to eat very little sugar and omit products made with white flour from my diet. But banning sugar and white flour completely doesn’t work for me, so I have solved the problem by sticking to my ‘diet’ on weekdays and at the weekend I eat and drink whatever I like. So, on weekdays no sugar and no white flour products, a bit moderate with dairy (for example, choosing goat’s yogurt instead of whole milk), and then on weekends I can eat that bar of Tony Chocolonely. Oh yes, and I drink a large glass of fresh vegetable juice every day, which helps me as well. It’s nice to try something new every now and then, but I tend to always go back to the same familiar recipes.
Besides the granola I made a nut bread, blueberry/apple pie muffins (so nice – sweet and zero sugar!), buckwheat pancakes (not suitable for freezing, I found out…), banana-egg pancakes, and ginger latte… Yummy! I am not connected in any way to the producers of this book and also don’t get paid to write this. Just take my word for it; this book is top notch!
The other day I came across a recipe on Facebook for ‘Clafoutis with blackberries’. ‘Hold it!’ I thought. We have enough blackberries here! Within 15 minutes I had picked a bucket full of the most important ingredient. I always have fresh eggs these days as well, haha! I didn’t have any milk, but I did have almond milk and that works fine too. The result was delicious! You can find the recipe here. Coincidentally, I know that the author of the recipe, Vincent of Cucina del Lupo, would love to live in a Tiny House. ;)
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