Happy Earth Kitchen

It’s tangerine season. I bought them for one euro a kilo and I couldn’t stop at one kilo. They looked so fresh with those green leaves still on the stem. So I wanted to figure a way out to work through the kilos of tangerines I brought home. Juicing is always a good idea, but since the cold winter weather we are experiencing here in The Netherlands the past couple of days, I thought something warm, spicy and ‘oathy’ would be appropriate. I am a big advocate of eating plenty of whole raw foods, so cooking (especially) fruits is not really my thing. But since I’m running a food blog and since we have plenty of tangerines laying around, I thought, why not step out of my comfort zone a bit and give this one a try.

The cooking of the tangerines takes some time, about 60 min, so you can choose to prepare it in advance and add to your oatmeal the minute you feel like having breakfast. Cooking the tangerines is really the best part. The scent will make your house smell cozy and citrusy. If you’re not a fan of oatmeal you can always mix it up a little by serving the tangerine jam on coconut yoghurt, dress it up with some granola and you’re good to go.

Recipe (2 persons)

Ingredients

For the tangerine jam

– 1 kg tangerines (peeled and sliced or pureed in the blender)
– 1 cup of water
– Coconut sugar (the amount is up to you)
– 2 teaspoons allspice

For the oatmeal

– 8 tablespoons oatmeal
– Couple of walnuts and / or other toppings
– 1 Fresh tangerine

Method
– Put all the ingredients for the jam in a pot
– Simmer with lid on for about 60 minutes. Check in between, you want it to be still nice and moisty.
– In the second part you’re going to add the oatmeal. You can either add the oatmeal straight in the pot, mix en cook it for 2-3 more minutes. Or you can prepare a plain oatmeal the way you like and use the jam as a topping.
– Transfer in a bowl or glass and top off with some nuts, seeds and fresh tangerines.

With Love From The Happy Earth Kitchen

A duo of red and black

Years ago I was struggling with IBS so bad that I tried almost every single diet and theory out there in order to manage my symptoms. One of the things I discovered was that my digestion was very slow and if I’d eat late(r) at night, I would experience terrible bloat and pain, up to 16 hours after eating. So somewhere around 2002 I heard someone (It might have been Oprah J) talking about not eating after 7pm. I gave it a shot and experienced great relief (and the additional bonus of weight loss) in just a couple of weeks. Later in life I would learn that this is called intermittent fasting and has many more benefits than just helping me with my IBS.

So up until this day I try to eat early dinners in order to give my digestive system a chance to process all the food. Because of this, a little craving sometimes happens by the time I lay in bed. The upside is that along with the craving, lots of inspiration for new recipes comes. So imagine me laying in bed, fantasizing about food, having my recipe notebook ready on my nightstand so I can take notes whenever a good idea pops up.

This very recipe was born at one of those moments. Although I had then black quinoa in mind (better for digestion I must admit) I switched to black lentils when I found out I was out of quinoa and saw an unopened pack of black lentils sitting in the cabinet. And I’m glad I didn’t rush to the market to buy some quinoa, because the thick and rich texture of the lentils combined with the light and fresh taste of the tomatoes is a game changer. The recipe below makes a very dense, rich soup (almost a stew). If you prefer your soup more liquid, simply use more water or broth when boiling the lentils.

Ingredients:

– 1 cup black lentils
– 2 cups water or vegetable broth
– 1 kg tomatoes
– 2 red onions
– 2 sprigs rosemary
– fresh lemon juice
– black pepper
– pinch of salt
– coconut milk (optional)

Method:
– Roast 1 kg tomatoes with 2 onions and 2 sprigs rosemary on 180 C for 90 min (or until caramelized).
– Cook 1 cup lentils in 2 cups water or vegetable broth in 30 minutes.
– Set half of the lentils aside and puree the rest of it with a blender.
– Add some fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste.
– Puree the roasted tomatoes in a blender.
– Serve the mashed lentils on one side of a bowl, add the pureed tomato roast on the other side.
– Serve 2 or 3 tablespoons of the whole cooked lentils on top for extra texture.
– Season it with any herbs of your liking and drizzle a bit of coconut milk on top to make it look fancy.

With Love From the Happy Earth Kitchen