We try to always see things from the bright side even though we all have setbacks and things troubling us every now and then. That is why we have waited to tell you this story until we could find a happy ending to it.

When Luise was pregnant with Elsa she got chronic pelvic and tailbone pain. It was a pregnancy spent on crutches and in a wheelchair. During the last months it was so bad that she had to stay in bed most parts of the day. After Elsa was born it became better but not completely good. During the end of our trip around the world the pain got a lot worse again. Since then she has been on constant rehabilitation several days a week, working with the entire body. We feel a bit bad about not mentioning this in our weekly stories, since her injury and rehabilitation actually has been a huge part of our lives these last years, but as we hate focusing on the rough stuff we deliberately kept it out.

Looking at her walking, no one would probably guess how much her body was hurting. But each walk that she has taken has been punished with hours of pain. Running has been completely out of the question, even carrying Elsa has been hard at times. She has seen several doctors, osteopaths, physiotherapist, acupuncture clinics, homoeopaths and personal trainers, and all of them have given her different advices on how to get better, with no result. Finally she found a good clinic where she has been going for six months now. She has been working so incredibly hard, both there and at home, with small improvements each month. She has been going through intense treatments and medications. And you know what, a few days ago Luise took her first run outside! She only ran a couple of blocks and for about 10 minutes, but it was amazing seeing her in her running outfit again. With the biggest smile on her lips. She is still not fully recovered, but we think this is definitely worth celebrating. So here are our protein packed hemp bars. Perfect after a good run and for celebrating health.

Raw Hemp Protein Bars
Makes around 15 bars 

These bars are not only filled with protein, they are also magically delicious. They are sweet but it in a very nice and nourishing way. Have them after a workout or as a mid-day snack.

Dry ingredients
1 cup (240 ml) pumpkin seeds
1 cup (240 ml) coconut flakes
1/2 cup (120 ml) hemp hearts
1/2 cup (120 ml) hemp protein powder (you can use hemp hearts instead)
4 tbsp chia seeds
2 tbsp bee pollen (optional)

Wet ingredients
20 dates, pitted
6 tbsp coconut oil, melted
4 tbsp (raw) cacao powder
1 tsp grounded vanilla or vanilla extract

6 tbsp rolled oats
2 tbsp poppy seeds

In a food processor or blender, pulse the dry ingredients quickly. Do not over-process, we want it crunchy. Place the mixture in a bowl and set aside. Add all wet ingredients to the food processor or high speed blender and blend to combine. This might take some time, and if your blender isn’t strong enough you might have to help out by stirring around a few times with a fork or add a dash of water.
Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients, add oats and poppy seeds and stir until well combined. Spread the batter evenly into a 11 x 7-inch (28 x 18 cm) baking dish, make sure it becomes quite compact. Place in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Cut into bars. Wrap them in paper and store in an air-tight container. Will keep around a week in the fridge.

This month we have been on a trip, found an Indian blog, got a new best friend in the kitchen, tried both new and old recipes and been on a dance performance. Here is a list of things that we love right now.

• Last month was our sourdough month. This month has been our sprouted month. Luise has been sprouting beans, lentils and seeds with inspiration from Superfoods-For-Superhealth.

• Our Vitamix has finally arrived. And yes, it is exactly as fantastic as everyone says. So now we browse smoothie websites and apps, in search of inspiration.

• Elsa is talking more and more for each day. Popular words right now: Farlig (dangerous), Sova (sleep) and Smoothie!  She says smoothie with the sweetest pronunciation.

• We love Indian food. This Indian lentil soup was actually one of the first recipes that we posted. We often return to it on cold winter days.

• If you also like Indian food you are going to love this blog. A modern take on Indian food, with beautiful photos.

• I want this book.

• The whole kombucha hype. We were never really on that train. However after trying a kombucha drink in Barcelona Luise now wants this for her birthday.

• We have rediscovered our Green Sushi Salad this month. If you haven’t tried it before, you should.

• This modern version of Swan lake by the Swedish dance group Bounce is amazing.

• We have made three different batches of these protein bars this week. We’ll share the recipe next week.

And here are some of the things that we saw in Barcelona.

Elsa loved running around in the labyrinths in Parc del Laberint d’Horta.

My girls!

Early Sunday morning I saw these men on Plaça Reial carrying large albums, briefcases and bags filled with champagne caps. Apparently they meet there every weekend to show their collection and swap caps with each other. I was totally absorbed with these old men (acting like young boys) and their caps. I shot at least a hundred photos of them. I collect photos like they collect caps.

We had tea and cookies at Caelum. Far from sugar free but a super cute place.

We enjoyed buying fresh fruit and vegetables from La Boqueria.

Nice vegetarian restaurant with very good smoothies/juices.

We love artichokes. We had it at one of the restaurant in Barcelona and also prepared it ourselves in our apartment there. They are so delicate. Here is how we prepare them.

A quick guide to artichokes

Preparing
Start by rinsing the artichokes under cold water. Drain upside down. Pat dry with a clean towel. With a sharp knife, trim off the bottom stem and cut about one inch off the top of the artichoke. Use a scissor to cut off the sharp points from the leaves (this step is not nessecary if you use baby artichokes).

Cooking
Add artichokes to enough boiling water to cover. Cover and simmer just until tender, about 15 to 20 minutes if you use baby artichokes (time will vary depending on the size). Drain well. Artichokes are done when a toothpick or knife tip goes into the base of the artichoke with ease or when the petals can be removed easily.

Serving
Divide the artichoke by using a sharp knife, drizzle with a good olive oil (butter, mayo or other kind of dip), lemon, sea salt and fresh parsley. Sometimes we also eat it together with a creamy goat cheese.

Eating
Pull all outer petals, one at a time. The edible part of the petals is lighter in color and down at the base (where it were attached). When all petals are removed and eaten, you’ll see the choke, its hairy and prickly. Remove it with a fork and you’ll see the heart. The most delicate part of the artichoke. Eat it.

Hey friends, we are writing this from an apartment in Barcelona. It will only be a short post today since we are on our way to the Gràcia neighborhood and we can hardly wait to get out the door.

Before we left, we shot this Italian potato salad for our friend Damaris’ blog Kitchen Corners. It’s 31 days of salads over there and we have definitely found a couple of new favorites, so check it out. We spent some time with Damaris and her family in Santa Cruz, when we were traveling in California last year. Since then, she and her family has moved to Brazil and we are so jealous of their beach life!

This salad is truly an old favorite of ours. Sometimes we add a dash of white wine vinegar to intensify the flavor, or some black beans to add some protein. It has this super fresh lemony taste and is a nice alternative to pasta salad for the spring picnics. Oh listen to us, it’s not even February and we are already talking about spring. It must be the Barcelona sun messing with us. And thinking about that, we really need to leave now. We’ll try posting some Gràcia photos on facebook, twitter and instagram. Ciao!

Lately we have done some root searching (in our recipes that is). Roots are one of the few things that actually can stand our northern climate. Still, we have not been using them very much even in our green kitchen. Sure, we have oven roasted them every now and then or used them in a salad, soup or a juice, but that is about it. Not nearly good enough.

Roots are the trolls of the vegetable group — thick, wrinkly, ugly and hidden under the earth. But you know what? It is about time they got a better reputation. They are flavorful, versatile, nutrient, often sweet and one of the least expensive things you can cook with. And if you peel of their earthy skin all kind of beautiful colors appear. So come beetroot, sunroot, blackroot, yam, rutabaga and turnip. 2012 is the year you will turn into swans. At least in our kitchen. We intend to use you a lot more in our cooking. We’re thinking salad, risotto, root mash, lasagna and maybe some more juices. You just wait.

We start off with one of our more popular roots, the beetroot. They are of course delicious to boil or roasted in the oven with some feta cheese, but today we’re using it raw – to keep its nutrients intact. We got inspiration from a burger we had at a raw food cafe and made a beet spread that we’ve named Beetroosh (think hummus and baba ganoush). We used avocado and cashews to make it creamy, and mustard, capers, lemon and thyme to give it some extra flavor. It came out super delicious! You can use it on crisp, in a wrap, on a bread or as a side dish to any meal.

We served it with roasted sweet potatoes and sunroots and thinly sliced raw carrot, radish and some salad. So in this dish the roots are turned into a spread, they are oven roasted and they are eaten raw. We told you they were versatile!

Raw Beetroosh
4 persons

4 cups (10 dl) raw beetroot, grated
2 ripe avocados
1 cup (2,5 dl) raw cashew nuts
1 small red onion
1 small organic lemon, juice & zest
2 tbsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp pickled capers
1 tsp fresh thyme
sea salt and freshly grounded pepper to taste

Start by wash, peel and grate the raw beetroots. Add all ingredients in a food processor or blender and process or blend until smooth. Taste and add some more mustard, lemon juice, salt and pepper if needed. Eat immediately or store in an airtight container for 3-4 days.

Oven roasted root veggies
4 persons

4,5 lb (2 kg) mixed root vegetables (we used sweet potatoes and sunroots/jerusalem artichokes)

Preheat oven to 425 F/200° C.

Wash and give the sweet potatoes and jerusalem artichoke a good scrub to remove any dirt. Keep the peel on. Cut the sweet potato length wise and divide the sunroots in half. Place on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Bake for around 45 minutes, tossing occasionally, until the vegetables are tender and lightly browned.

Garnish with raw radish, raw carrots, green leaves, sprouts, fresh herbs and drizzle with oil.

Here is an idea. If you haven’t got any kids yet and you aren’t sure if you are ready to take care of a pet, maybe a sourdough starter is a good thing to start out with? If you nurture it right it can help you create infinite amount of breads, it can live forever (we’ve heard rumors of living sourdoughs that date back to early 1800′s), and you only need to feed it once a week. Doesn’t it sound like the perfect companion?

If you don’t know what a sourdough starter (also known as Levain) is you can read all about it here. But shortly explained it is a mixture that contains a living Lactobacillus culture, which you use instead of yeast in baking. It is especially effective when you bake with rye. You can grow it yourself or get a small part of someone else’s.

The sourdough gives the bread a special tangy taste that we really love in our family, but depending on what ingredients and flours you mix it with you can achieve all kind of different flavors. In this recipe we have added some dried figs to give a sweet balance to the tanginess.

Sourdough is in almost every aspect healthier than cultural yeast, but it is not merely as used since it is a lot more time consuming to bake with. We urge you however give it a try, you won’t regret it. And once you have your sourdough started, what’s the point of going back to yeast? Also, the starter makes a great going away gift.

We would love to tell you the story about how we grew our sourdough starter ourselves several years ago. And how we have been feeding it regularly and singing songs for it ever since. But that would be a Big Fat Lie. We have tried growing sourdough starters many times, but we have managed to kill every one of them somewhere in the middle of the process. Starting a sourdough apparently isn’t one of our greater talents. So instead we actually bought a starter (we know, it’s cheating) that we now have been feeding for a few weeks. And we can finally  report that it is thriving in our company. Just see (above) how happy and bubbly it looks.

We won’t tell you how to grow your own starter since we are such losers on the subject. Instead we will just give you some links to some different starter recipes, try this, this or this. Or you can ask your friends, relatives or colleagues if anyone has a sourdough starter tucked away somewhere that they are willing to share. You can also buy a starter online here or here or in certain bakeries.

Walnut & Rye Sourdough Bread (adapted from the book Surdegsbröd by Martin Johansson)
2 breads

This bread has go a thick crust and a great taste, with lots of walnuts inside. We added figs to the original recipe to give a sweet hint to the tanginess from the sourdough.

Day 1, evening
80 g (1/3 cup) rye sourdough starter (read above how to get/make/buy one)
240 g (1 cup) lukewarm water
150 g (1 cup) rye flour

Mix sourdough starter, water and flour in a large bowl. Cover it with plastic and set aside on a warm place over night, around 73F – 75F (22°C – 24°C) degrees.

Day 2, morning
Sourdough from yesterday
480 g (2 cups) cold water
340 g (2 1/2 cups) fine rye flour
500 g (4 cups) wholegrain wheat flour
20 g (1 tbsp) sea salt
250 g (2 cups) whole unshelled walnuts
150 g dried figs, roughly chopped 

Add all ingredients, except salt, walnuts and figs in a large bowl or a stand mixer. Stir with a wooden spoon for about 10 minutes or use the stand mixer (with dough hook) on lowest speed. Add salt, walnuts and figs and knead it for about 5 minutes. Place it in the bowl, cover and let rise/proof for about an hour.

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and divide it into two pieces. Kneed them into two round doughs that you leave to rise for about 3 hours. Use round rising baskets/bannetons if you have. Dust the baskets generously with flour before placing the dough inside them. If you don’t have a rising basket, place the breads on parchment paper and cover with a clean towel. Preheat the oven to 525F (275°C), place a baking sheet or a baking stone in the middle and a baking sheet on the lowest possible.

Slash the top of the bread a few times with a sharp knife. Take the hot baking sheet from the oven, dust it with flour, and carefully transfer the risen dough to it by tipping it out of the rising basket, upside down, on to the sheet (or place the parchment paper on it). Place it in the oven and put a few ice cubes on the lower sheet, close the oven and lower immediately the temperature to 490F (250°C). After 15 minutes lower the heat to 400F (200°C), open and close every 5 minutes to get the steam out. Bake for 20 minutes more, or until golden and sounds hollow when you tap its base. Leave to cool on a rack.

With only 1 day left of december and 2011 we wanted to sneak in a new list with things that has inspired us this month. We are also throwing in a Kale & Lemon Juice that will cure your headache after the new year-party. You’ll find the recipe in the bottom of this post.

It looks like 2012 is going to be a fun year for us. We have a some super exciting news that we promise to tell you more about later.

• Another exciting thing is our iPad app Green Kitchen (that btw was chosen App of the month in Vegetarian Living Magazine). We are about to update it very soon with more recipes AND also release an iPhone version of it! It is being beta tested right now and it looks very nice. So keep an eye out for it soon.

• If you like vintage furniture you are going to love this. A few months ago we realized that we have this amazing vintage store called Dusty Deco just around the corner from where we live. We have been visiting it almost every day since then. All their furniture are super cool but also kind of expensive so we haven’t actually bought anything yet, but we can’t stop ourselves much longer. Hmm, what should we get first?

• We have been drowling over the photos on this blog a lot this month. I would love to be just as sloppy cool like Katie in my food styling.

• He has been around for ages and we have always liked his music, but these last months we have really been overdosing our stereo on Neil Young. The Harvest album. So fantastically good.

• I gave Luise and Elsa a trip to Barcelona for Christmas gift. We are leaving in a few weeks. All tips on restaurants or other food related experiences would be much appreciated.

• After months (or is it years) of talking about it we have finally ordered a Vitamix. We can’t wait for it to arrive.

• We have been looking through all our photos from our big trip last year. These two were actually taken exactly one year ago. In a bungalow on a small beach in Thailand. Oh those six months with just the three of us traveling around were so wonderful. We will never be able to describe in words just how much it affected our lives.

Before moving on to the recipe we want to give a New Year resolution to all of you. Next year we will be better at answering your emails and comments. We are terribly bad at e-mailing, but please don’t give up on us. We love reading everything you right.

Happy new year!

Kale, Apple & Lemon Juice
Around 2 glasses 

If you want to start the year fresh you need to try this, it doesn’t get much fresher than this. This juice cures both colds and hangovers. If you don’t own a juice machine you could try making it in a blender and then filter everything through a cheese cloth.

5 small organic apples
1/2 lemon, peeled
1 inch fresh ginger, peeled
2 cups fresh kale, thick stems removed 
ice

Add all the ingredients in a juice machine on highest speed. Taste it. If it is too tart add more apples, too sweet, add more ginger and lemon. Serve ice cold.

With only a few days left until Christmas we wanted to share one last holiday recipe with you. This jam is actually a perfect Christmas gift (or a perfect gift for any occasion). It is simple to make, and if you use small jars one batch will be enough for supplying your whole family. We don’t eat a lot of jam in our family, most of them are too sweet for us. But when we do we always go for the naturally sweetened or unsweetened kind. When you heat pomegranate seeds and raspberries they become quite sweet on their own, so this jam doesn’t need much sweetener at all, we just added a little agave syrup in the end. The fresh thyme gives it a nice twist, and it blends unexpectedly well with the fruity flavors. So basically, all we want to say here is that you should give this jam an hour of your life and you will both have a delicious treat for breakfast and your last Christmas gifts all wrapped up and ready. Enjoy!

Pomegranate, Raspberry & Thyme Jam
Makes 6–8 small jars

We don’t blend the seeds since we like our jam crunchy. But you can easily blend them to get a smoother jam .

3 pomegranates
250 g frozen raspberries
1/2 lemon, juice
1 handful fresh thyme leaves
1/2 cup agave syrup (or more to your own taste)

1. Divide the pomegranates in half and transfer them to a large bowl, in which you discard the peel and the membranes so that only seeds and juice is left. This is kind of messy so don’t wear your favorite shirt. You could also fill the bowl with water and do this with your hands below the surface, but you will lose some of the juice in the process.
2. Transfer the juice and seeds to a large pot. Add the raspberries and agave and heat slowly until it boils. Stir well so that all is mixed.
3. As soon as it boils, lower the heat, add the thyme leaves, stir around and let everything simmer for 20-30 minutes.
4. Meanwhile sterilize the jars by boiling them in hot water for several minutes.
5. Add the lemon juice. Let it stay on the heat for one more minute.
6. Transfer it carefully into the sterilized bottles and close the lid. Allow it to set at room temperature.
7. Refrigerate when set. Stays fresh for a few weeks.

 Ps. BIG HUGS to all of you. Hope you have a great Christmas! Elsa is at least super excited about celebrating her first real Christmas (last year was in Thailand). She (kind of) sings Christmas songs all day long.

A while back we received an email from one of the editors at Bon Appétit Magazine, asking if we wanted to create a vegan and gluten-free Christmas menu for them, as a special web feature. We usually aren’t strictly vegan or gluten-free, but were so flattered by the offer that we didn’t have to think more than 2 seconds before answering them that we would happily take it on as a challenge (while dancing a silly dance and singing “We are working with BA, we are working with BA…”).

We came up with five different recipes; Cinnamon roasted root vegetables, Mustard kale salad, Spiced spinach tarts, Christmas falafels and a Pomegranate cheesecake. It is always fun to cook at Christmas since you get to use holiday flavors like saffron, clove, cinnamon, mustard and lemon. We hope that the recipes will be of some assistance in all the Christmas commotion, wether you make one dish or go for the whole menu.

The whole thing has been up on the Bon Appétit web for about a week now, and apparently it is on their top list of most popular articles (we’re dancing that silly dance again!). Click here to see it on Bon Appétit. You can also scroll down to read the recipes here.

Spiced Spinach and Mushrooms in Almond Tartlets
Makes 6 tartlets  

Our gluten-free tart crust has the subtle taste of almonds and fresh herbs, and it can be filled with just about anything. One of our favorites is this clove-spiced spinach and mushroom filling. Potato starch, tapioca starch, and all flours are available from Bob’s Red Mill.

Tartlet shells
½ cup superfine chickpea flour or garbanzo bean flour
¼ cup almond flour or almond meal
2 Tbsp. potato starch, tapioca starch, or cornstarch
½ tsp. sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. each finely chopped fresh rosemary and thyme
3 Tbsp. virgin coconut oil plus more for pans

Filling
2 Tbsp. virgin coconut oil or olive oil (for frying)
1 small red onion, finely chopped
½ tsp. ground cloves
4 cups fresh spinach
1 leek, thinly sliced (including green leaves)
12–15 crimini (baby bella) mushrooms, sliced
Juice of ½ lemon

special equipment: Six small tartlet pans

Making the Tartlet shells: Combine the first 4 ingredients in a bowl; season with salt and pepper. Add coconut oil and 3 Tbsp. ice-cold water. Using your hands, work dry ingredients toward the center until dough forms. Gather dough into a ball, wrap in plastic, and chill for 30 minutes. DO AHEAD: Dough may be made 1 day ahead. Wrap tightly with plastic and chill.

Preheat oven to 375°. Divide dough evenly into 6 portions. Form each portion into a ball and press 1 dough ball evenly onto bottom and up sides of each tartlet pan. Trim dough flush with edge of pans. Prick bottom with a fork to prevent it from bubbling as it bakes. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes.

Let tartlet shells cool slightly, then invert each pan and turn out shells onto a wire rack and let cool completely.

Making the filling  Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cloves and cook until onion is lightly browned; add spinach, leek and mushrooms. Cook until spinach is brightly colored, 3–5 minutes. Add lemon juice and cook 2 minutes longer. Spoon 2 dollops filling into each tartlet shell and serve hot.

Baked Saffron Falafel
4–6 servings  

For this vegan and gluten-free dish, we were inspired by two Swedish Christmas classics—saffron buns and Swedish meatballs. Use red cabbage leaves to wrap individual falafel into small parcels; they’ll look like mini Christmas presents that you’ve set out for your guests. You might recognise this recipe since it is similar to our herb and pistachio falafels.

Falafel
½ cup raw shelled sunflower seeds
2 cups cooked or canned chickpeas, rinsed, drained
1 small onion, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
3 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp. buckwheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. saffron threads

Tahini dressing and assembly
4 Tbsp. tahini (sesame seed paste)
4 Tbsp. fresh orange juice
1 garlic clove, minced
1 red cabbage, cored
1 cup salad greens
2–3 Tbsp. plain soy yogurt

Making the falafel: Preheat oven to 375°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pulse sunflower seeds in a food processor for about 30 seconds. Add chickpeas and pulse 1 minute longer. Add onion and remaining ingredients and pulse, occasionally scraping down sides of work bowl, until mixture is slightly coarse and well combined. Using your hands, form 24 small round falafels and place on prepared sheet. Bake, turning every 5 minutes, until falafels are evenly brown, about 15 minutes.

Making Tahini dressing: Using a fork, beat tahini, orange juice, and garlic in a bowl until creamy dressing forms. Set aside.

Assembling: Gently separate leaves from cabbage; rinse and pat dry. Place 2 falafels in the center of a cabbage leaf. Top with a few greens; spoon a little dressing and yogurt over. Fold each side of leaf in toward center, about 1”–2”, then fold the end closer to you over the filling and tuck it under the falafels. Tie with kitchen twine to hold together.

Cinnamon Roasted Vegetables
4–6 servings  

This simple dish takes just a few minutes to prepare; then the oven does the rest of the work. You can throw any kind of vegetable in here; simply adjust the cooking time according to the size.

1 head Romanesco or cauliflower, trimmed, halved lengthwise, cut into small pieces
2 lb. carrots, halved if large
½ lb. parsnips, halved if large
2 medium sweet potatoes. Cut into thick sticks
2 whole garlic cloves, mashed with the end of a knife
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
5 2”–3” cinnamon sticks
sea salt

Preheat oven to 375°. Place vegetables and garlic in a single layer on a baking sheet and drizzle with oil; sprinkle cinnamon over and scatter cinnamon sticks around. Season with salt. Using your hands, toss vegetables to coat well. Roast until golden and crispy, about 1 hour. (Time will vary depending on size of vegetables.)

Mustard Quinoa, Cranberry & Kale Salad

4–6 servings  

Here is one of our absolute Christmas favorites. Red quinoa, with a mustard and lemon dressing, served with fresh kale, pomegranate seeds, cranberries, and roasted pecans is perfect for any holiday gathering. You don’t want to miss this one.

1 cup red or black quinoa
Sea salt
4 Tbsp. olive oil
Zest and juice of 1 lemon, preferably organic
2 Tbsp. prepared English mustard
4 large kale leaves, center ribs and stems removed, finely chopped
¼ cup dried cranberries, preferably unsweetened or sweetened with apple juice
¼ cup roasted, salted pecans
Fresh pomegranate seeds


Rinse quinoa in water. Drain and place in a medium size heavy pot; add 2 cups water and season with salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until a curly string-like germ has separated from the circular part, 15–20 minutes. Let cool slightly.

Meanwhile, whisk oil, lemon zest and juice, and mustard in a bowl until smooth and creamy; season mustard dressing with salt.

Transfer quinoa to a bowl and drizzle with mustard dressing; toss to coat. Divide kale among serving plates; top with quinoa, cranberries, and pecans, dividing equally. Garnish with pomegranate seeds.

Frozen Pomegranate and Cashew Cake
8 – 10 servings  

This is a Christmas version of our Flower Power cake. We use soaked cashews that when blended become super creamy and smooth. The crust is sweet and crunchy with nuts and dates, and the pomegranate topping adds a fresh, fruity note to the Christmas spiced filling. Serve the cake cold but not deep-frozen.

Crust
1 1/2 cups raw almonds, walnuts, or hazelnuts
1/2 cup raw, shelled sunflower seeds
2 Tbsp. hemp seeds
12 fresh Medjool dates, pitted
2 Tbsp. virgin coconut oil
1 tsp. sea salt

Filling
1/3 cup virgin coconut oil
1/3 cup agave syrup (nectar)
2 cups raw cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours and up to 8 hours
Zest and juice of 1 large lemon
Zest and juice of 1 orange
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. ground cardamom
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

Topping
Seeds from 2 medium pomegranates (you could substitute it with frozen raspberries to make it less expensive)
Juice of 1/2 lime

Special equipment: An 8”-diameter nonstick springform pan

Crust  Grind the first 3 ingredients in a blender or food processor for 1 minute. Add dates, oil, and salt and purée until mixture comes together. Place in springform pan and press evenly across bottom of pan. Chill.

Filling  Heat oil and agave in a small saucepan over low heat, whisking, until liquid. Place mixture in a blender or food processor; add soaked cashews, lemon juice and zest, orange juice and zest, cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; discard bean. Purée until very smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Pour filling over crust and chill in freezer until set, about 30 minutes.

Topping  Place pomegranate seeds and lime juice in blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Pour topping over cashew filling. Chill in freezer until solid, 30–60 minutes. Let stand at room temperature 10–15 minutes before serving. Run a sharp knife under hot water to make it easier to cut the slices. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 days ahead. Remove from freezer and let stand about 20 minutes before serving.

Photos by: Johanna Frenkel

Today’s story is really easy to tell but not as easy to write down (and in a few seconds you’ll understand why).
Last Friday I did the stupidest stupidest thing. Something I think everyone who has used an immersion blender can relate to. I was pulsing ingredients for some mung bean burgers when a few pumpkin seeds got stuck in the blender. I used my finger to get them out and … accidentally touched the power button!!! I am not going to make you lose your appetite, but there were blood. And tears. Lots of it. One week later I am still in pain, but it looks like I will at least still be a 10 fingered girl (even though one of the fingers will probably never be as pretty as before). As for the mung bean burgers. Well they will have to wait a while before making it onto this blog.

Instead we made some Christmas gifts. I made a few batches of Christmas granola. I was inspired by an old recipe that you can find here and this gluten free version. I didn’t use so much dried fruit this time, only some goji berries. And I only sweetened it with apple syrup. It’s super delicious and a very popular gift.

We also made pomegranate and thyme jam that we will post next week, and our own version of the swedish Christmas drink Glögg. Scroll down for the recipe.

If you haven’t heard of glögg before it is a kind of spiced mulled wine that you drink for Advent in Sweden, Denmark and Norway. It is normally very sweet, so David made his own version on frozen blueberries and only sweetened it with apple syrup. He made one alcohol free, one with red wine and one where he also added some rhum. I don’t drink alcohol often, but even I fell in love with this, it taste like christmas in a cup.

Blueberry Glögg
Makes around 3 large bottles

If you can’t find unsweetened apple syrup you can also use 1/2 cup honey or agave. 

500 g/4 cups/1 liter frozen blueberries
1 cup/2,5 dl unsweetened apple syrup
3 cups/7,5 dl water
Peel from 1 orange
10 whole cloves
2 cinnamon stick
1 whole vanilla pod, halved
20 raisins
2 star anise
1 inch/2,5 cm fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
1 bottle of red wine
2 shots of rhum (optional)

1. Add frozen blueberries to a large sauce pan together with apple syrup and water. Bring to a slow boil then turn down the heat a bit.
2. Let it simmer for 10 minutes before pulsing it smooth with an immersion blender or food processor (be careful with your fingers ;-).
3. Add the orange peel and all the spices and let everything simmer for at least 20 minutes more.
To make it with wine:
4. Add a bottle of red wine (and 2 shots of rhum if you want it even stronger). Heat it but avoid to boil it and then pour through a sieve into sterilized bottles. Or serve it straight away in small cups together with some raisins and blanched almonds.
To make it alcohol free:
4. Add 2 cups water instead of the wine. Heat it and then pour through a sieve into sterilized bottles. Or serve it straight away in small cups together with some raisins and blanched almonds.

A while back we spent a weekend on the island Gotland in southern Sweden. One of their traditional dishes is baked saffron pancake with whipped cream and dewberry jam. The pancakes are made on rice porridge, mixed almonds, whole milk, eggs, sugar, flour and saffron. They taste incredible, but won’t win any healthiest cake awards. Whenever we come across a great tasting dessert we always ask ourselves: “How could we do this our way?“, and last week we decided to give this one a try.

We have replaced quite a few ingredients in our recipe. They are significantly healthier now, and as far as we can remember they taste quite similar to the original. Maybe a little more dense, but on the other hand you can now eat them as breakfast as well, even though they were originally intended as a dessert. That’s always a good quality from a dessert! The saffron, the pieces of almonds and the shredded carrots are just great together. Warm, sweet and saffrony.

Since dewberries almost only grow on Gotland we instead made a jam out of the only berries that you can get in Sweden this time of the year. Frozen. During the summer we fill our home with as many fresh berries as we can get hold of (and afford). Nothing beats fresh berries, right? But frozen berries are not to be underestimated. They are both beautiful and a real life saver during the winter. Make sure they are unsweetened (in Sweden most berries are). We made a 15-minute-jam with a bag of frozen forest berries (with the beautiful Italian name “Frutti di Bosco”) and only sweetened it with some dried prunes. Ridiculously simple. If you have the pancakes for dessert, a dollop of mascarpone cheese tastes a lot better than whipped cream. You could also go for some turkish yogurt.

Swedish Saffron Pancakes
Makes 6 tartlets 

1 banana, large and ripe
4 eggs
½ cup (1,2 dl) soy milk
½ cup (1,2 dl) rice flour
1 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
0,5 g saffron
2 carrots
½ cup (1,2 dl) almonds

coconut oil for the tartlets

Making the pancakes: Preheat the oven to 350F (175°C). Mash the banana with a fork, add the eggs and whisk together. Add soy milk, rice flour, baking powder, salt and saffron and stir around. Shred the carrots and chop the almonds roughly, add to the mixture and stir around. Grease the inside of 1 large baking tin or 6, 5-inch tartlet tins with coconut oil. Pour the batter into the tins and bake for about 20 minutes. Serve the pancakes while they are warm, together with forest berry jam and a dollop of mascarpone cheese.

Forest Berry Jam
Makes 1 small jar 

2 tbsp water
1 lime, juice
15 prunes, finely chopped
250 g frozen berries
1 tsp cardamom, grounded

Warm water, lime juice and chopped prunes in a small pot on medium heat. Let it boil carefully for 5 minutes while stirring. Add berries and cardamom and let it simmer for 10, stir occasionally.

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