Chocolate Muffins with Beetroot

Now this is what I’d call a perfect scam. Delicious chocolate muffins - that hide a considerable amount of beetroot in them! So far, I've been unable to motivate my kids to eat beetroot in any form. "It tastes good, just give it a try!" "It's healthy!" "See, it's pink, you love pink, don't you?" None of this would work. But today, they were begging for more!

Thanks to the beetroot, the muffins are very moist. Yet you don’t taste the presence of anything unusual. You have to try it out yourself to believe.. For a vegan version, change butter to vegan margarine, cream to a vegan cream, and leave the egg out.

For six muffins, you need:

• 90g butter


• 90g dark chocolate


• 150g cooked beetroot, pureed


• 80g sugar


• 20g cocoa powder


• 100g whole-grain spelt flour


• 1 egg


• 1,5 tsp baking powder


• 1 tsp vanilla sugar

Plus for the topping:

• 50ml heavy cream


• 50g sugar


• 10g dark chocolate

Set your oven to 200C. Melt butter with chocolate in a pan and set aside. Sift together cocoa powder, flour, and baking powder in a bowl. Add sugar and vanilla sugar, then chocolate-butter mixture, egg, and beetroot. Mix until smooth. Bake in a muffin pan for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the muffins cool on a rack.

In the meantime, prepare the topping:

Measure all ingredients in a pan. Heat until sugar and chocolate have melted in the cream, then let cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the mixture slightly thickens. Set aside, let cool a minute or two (so that you won't burn your fingers when spreading the topping) and using a spoon, spread over the muffins.

Serve with your favourite warm drink!

Pancakes with Carrot and Spinach

Pancakes are an excellent place to hide any veggies that the kids don’t want to eat. As a kid, I used to eat pancakes with carrot, spinach, and even blood in them (yes, you read right - just Google to find out that it’s a traditional Finnish dish and that I’m not kidding). A friend told me her kids sure would protest because of the green colour in spinach pancakes - mine don’t, but you still could consider eating in candle light to avoid this..!

Here’s the basic recipe, feel free to use any other veggies of your liking (and/or of your kids’ disliking):

• 400ml milk


• 130g flour


• 2 eggs


• 1 medium-sized carrot, peeled and grated


• 100g frozen spinach


• ½ tsp salt


• oil or butter for baking

Unfreeze the spinach. Measure flour and salt in a baking bowl, add milk and mix. Then add the eggs and vegetables and  mix again until smooth. Let the batter rest about 15-30 minutes. Then bake the pancakes on both sides in a frying pan (or two, to make the process quicker) with either oil or butter and set aside on an oven-proof plate - this is handy if you’re making a lot of them and need to warm them up before serving. Serve with sliced cucumber and tomatoes. Or with strawberry jam :)

Green Käsespätzle

When you go to a restaurant in Germany, there’s normally only one vegetarian dish on the menu: Käsespätzle.  Vegans have it even worse off (or better, depends on how you see it), the only vegan thing you usually get in restaurants being beer.

Spätzle is an amazingly tasty, easy and quick dish to prepare at home as well, as long as your kitchen is equipped with a special device for making Spätzle. I got one of these myself as a birthday present this year, and I’ve been using it quite a lot! Kids also love Spätzle - even my new specialty, Green Spätzle, which funnily enough tastes exactly the same as the normal one but is green! Now how could that be..? ;)

Count with 100g flour, 1 egg, 50ml water, and about 70g grated cheese (I use a mixture of Parmesan and local Bergkäse), per person, plus some 20g frozen spinach (melted first) if you want green Spätzle, and salt to taste. Spätzle is normally served with fried onions, so you’ll need one medium-sized onion per person, plus some butter and olive oil for frying.

Start with the onions: peel them and cut into thin slices. Melt butter in a pan with olive oil, then add onions and fry over a low heat until golden brown - this takes about 20-30 minutes. Stir once in a while.

Now it’s time to boil some 3 liters of water in a large pan and preheat your oven to 150 C. While you’re waiting for the water to boil, measure the flour and salt (I use 1 tsp for 500g flour, and that’s quite little, feel free to use more) into a baking bowl, make a hole in the middle, pour the eggs and water (and spinach) into it, and mix well - I use a spiral whisk to do this. If your water is boiling already, just add 2 tsp salt in it and you’re set to go!

Set your Spätzle maker on top of the pan and fill it with batter, then scrape the batter with a spatula into the boiling water. Repeat twice, stir, and wait until the Spätzle comes on top - it doesn’t take long, 1-2 minutes or so. Move the cooked ones into an oven dish and cover with a layer of grated cheese. Repeat until all your Spätzle is cooked and topped with the rest of the cheese. You can put your Spätzle in the oven for a couple of minutes to make sure all the cheese has melted and that your Spätzle is piping hot.

Decorate with fried onions and some parsley, and serve with a green salad.

Ratatouille that even picky kids will love!

Can you guess what evil powers hide in this innocent-looking tomato sauce? I served it a few days ago to my kids - while we adults were eating ratatouille. Well, at least our kids couldn’t guess it was actually their official number one least favourite dish. Pureeing ratatouille was a great tip I learned from a friend, and it really works. I don’t know how long it will take for my little ones to figure out my little secret, but hopefully by then they are as addicted to ratatouille as I am!

For about 4 portions you need

• one medium-sized onion, chopped


• 1 courgette and eggplant each, cut into smallish cubes


• 2-3 peppers (I prefer using 1 green and 2 red ones), cut into squares


• 500g tomatoes, peeled and chopped


• 2-3 garlic cloves


• juice of half of a lemon


• 2 tsp agave syrup


• salt and pepper to taste


• olive oil

Sauté the onions in olive oil, then add peppers, fry a couple of minutes, then add eggplants and courgettes and fry and additional 5-7 minutes. Now, add tomatoes, garlic, lemon juice and agave syrup, and salt and pepper. Let simmer over medium to low heat at least 45 minutes. Serve with pasta, rice, couscous, or a good bread! For kids (or any picky adults ;) ) puree it and serve with pasta - I love fusilli because the sauce penetrates the pasta in a way even my littlest one can’t possibly get the sauce out..!

If you’re making ratatouille in winter, use canned tomatoes instead. It might not be exactly as good as with fresh ones, but it is still very tasty!

Oven-baked Zucchini and Potatoes

Has it ever happened to you that you spend time and effort to prepare a dish you love, but when you proudly bring it to the table, the little ones suddenly lose their appetite - or worse, start crying in despair? Well, this happens to me a lot. Especially when it comes to vegetarian food. But it used to be worse - I came up with a couple of strategies to fool them into eating at least some of the things they officially hate. Four strategies, to be precise (well, five, if you count bribing): Hide it. Puree it. Decorate it. Or make the kids cook it themselves. (The two first ones work for adults as well ;) )

Today, I’ll share with you a recipe containing zucchini, the number one enemy of my kids. But surprisingly enough, when they get to slice the vegetables for this dish themselves, they somehow forget to complain about it. A small miracle..

For four portions, you need

• 600g potatoes


• 2 medium-sized zucchini


• ½ red pepper


• 500g fresh tomatoes, peeled


• 1 onion


• 3 garlic cloves


• 50ml hot water


• 1 tsp salt


• black pepper to taste


• 50ml olive oil


• fresh parsley


• dried oregano

Set your oven to 225 degrees Celsius. Slice (unpeeled) potatoes and zucchini into thin slices. Set them in an oven-proof baking dish. Chop onion, red pepper, and garlic and sprinkle over the potatoes and zucchini. Cut tomatoes into cubes and place on top, and add pepper and herbs (if using). Combine salt with hot water so that it dissolves, then add oil, and pour evenly on the vegetables. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes, then reduce heat to 175 degrees, and bake 30 minutes more, or until the vegetables are tender. You may have to add some water in the meantime - check every once in a while!

Even small kids can do most of the slicing and chopping, and it’s fun! Except for the onion - that might be a bit trickier.

P.S. This blog already proved its usefulness: while I was having fun in Zurich, my hubby and 8-year-old son had done sushi themselves - they had looked up the recipe in my blog!

Granola with Nuts, Dried Fruit, and Cinnamon

I didn’t intend to write about granola today. Instead, I had planned to present the perfect vegan pancakes! Well, the thing is, I’ve been testing them the whole week now, and I couldn't find any recipe that actually worked: either they were impossible to cook, or they tasted horrible, or both. But I’m sure I’ll find one and as soon as I do, I’ll post it!

So, I’m writing about granola, which is oven-cooked muesli. Muesli can be delicious, too, but what is so special about granola is the irresistible smell it creates - as long as you don’t forget you have it in the oven, like already happened to me a couple of times ;)

You’ll need:

• 200g rolled oats


• 30g butter (or margarine)


• 3 Tbsp sunflower oil


• 2 Tbsp honey (or agave syrup)


• 2 Tbsp dark sugar


• a pinch of salt


• ½ tsp cinnamon


• 100g chopped nuts - pecan, walnuts, hazelnuts..


• 50g dried fruit - sultanas, apples, cranberries..

In a small pan, melt butter or margarine. Add oil, honey, sugar, salt, and cinnamon, and stir. Place the rolled oats in a baking bowl, pour the liquid mixture on top, and stir, making sure that all oats get moist. Spread evenly on an oven pan covered with parchment paper. Bake in a preheated oven in 150 degrees for about 15 minutes. After 7-8 minutes or so, take the pan out, turn the oats so that the ones from below get to the surface. At the same time, add the nuts evenly on top of the oats. (I’ve also tried adding the nuts in the beginning, but they burn quite easily, so I find this strategy better.) Bake until golden and crispy. Take out of the oven, let cool, transfer in a serving bowl, and add dried fruit.

Serve with plain natural (soy) yoghurt and some fresh fruit.

This is my last post in the brunch series - hope you found some useful ideas for your weed-end breakfasts! Next week I'll be writing about child-friendly veggie dishes, but now I'm heading to Zurich for two nights - and hopefully find a nice brunch place to write about!

Omelette Rolls with Sour Cream and Smoked Salmon or Fried Mushrooms

For me, omelette is an essential part of a brunch. Yet that’s one dish I’ve never fully mastered! It's hard to know how many eggs exactly one needs, it gets burned easily but still might be uncooked from inside, it's tricky to transfer it from the pan to a serving plate without breaking it.. Luckily these omelette rolls are easy to make - a bit like pancakes, but even easier! And they taste fantastic - either with smoked salmon or fried mushrooms. You can keep them warm in the oven, but they are even better when served right away. I’d advise at least two per person, but the amount obviously depends on how many other dishes you have prepared for your brunch!

For four omelette rolls, you’ll need

• 4 eggs


• ⅓ tsp salt


• a bit of oil or butter for frying


• 150g smoked salmon, in slices OR 200g mushrooms, thinly sliced and fried, sprinkled with salt


• 150g sour cream


• a couple of basil leaves


• freshly ground black pepper

Crack the eggs into a baking bowl, add the salt, and beat until the mixture is pale yellow. In a frying pan, place a bit of butter or oil, then pour just enough mixture to make a thin, pancake-like omelette. Fry from both sides, then transfer on a plate. When all of your omelettes are ready, it’s time to fill them: spread about 2 Tbsp sour cream on each omelette, place salmon or mushroom slices and 2-3 basil leaves on top of the cream, then grind some black pepper on top. Roll the omelette and transfer on a serving plate (oven-proof if you’re not serving them right away and want to keep them warm).

If you want some smoke flavour in the veggie version, you can sprinkle your fried mushrooms with a bit of liquid smoke - but don’t exaggerate!