vegan

Have you already done any Halloween carving? I sure have! I haven’t made a Halloween pumpkin though, but I rather cooked a soup. A real autumnal pumpkin soup! It is  very easy to make and I don’t believe anyone can find an excuse, especially if you have such beautiful pumpkins already at home. It is gluten-free and vegan, thus perfect if you have guests over lunch and you don’t know their preferences (or you can make it just for yourself). The recipe has two steps, the first one takes place in the oven, while the second one is done in a pot. You will see, both the smell and the taste are highly rewarding.

You’ll need:

1 medium hokkaido pumpkin  ♥  3 medium sized onions  ♥  salt, pepper  

1/2 apple  ♥  1 cm fresh ginger (optionally)  ♥  2 l water (or more)

First, wash the whole pumpkin − you never know where it was stored. Then, carve into half, scoop out all the seeds and cut again into 4 or 5 pieces. Cover a baking tray with parchment paper and put the pumpkin pieces on the tray. Peel the onions and add them to the baking tray. Add a bit of salt and pepper. Put in preheated oven on 200 °C for one hour…

until it looks something like this! 

When you take the tray out of the oven, let it cool for a few minutes, otherwise it will be difficult to skin off the pumpkin. This part is the longest and a bit messy, but it is so worth it! Anyway, it is much easier than peeling the skin before you put it in the oven. Then put everything into a pot and add 1/2 of a sliced apple and some fresh ginger if you want to make it more spicy. Add water and bring to the boil. Let it simmer for 15 minutes and then blend thoroughly. Cook for another 10 minutes and the soup is done!

Serve warm and add some pumpkin seeds and/or pumpkin oil. I added both ;) If you’re a bit more creative, you can create wonderful bats or other Halloween symbols, unfortunately I only managed to “draw” a pumpkin that actually looks like an apple :D 

I hope you’ll have fun on Friday! I’ll be rocking in my PJs, possibly with a cup of hot wine… The best way of partying, if you ask me ;) Have a nice weekend ♥

Vesna

I know I promised to write down a recipe for raw chocolates, but a day like today, finally looking like a summer day after quite some time, simply deserves a tasty ice cream. An ice cream with only one exquisite ingredient! Now, this is why I put two ripe and cut bananas in the refrigerator – to make an ice cream! It may not be the best idea, since I was lying in bed with a high temperature last week, but summer weather is here again and I could not resist the call of the ice cream! And yes, I had it even before lunch.

Vem, da sem obljubila, da se bom najprej lotila recepta za presno čokolado, vendar si današnji dan, po dolgem času spet poletni, enostavno zasluži okusen sladoled. Sladoled s samo eno izvrstno sestavino! Zato sem včeraj v zmrzovalnik čez noč spravila dve narezani zreli banani, da danes naredim sladoled! Morda to ni bila najboljša ideja, ker sem prejšnji teden doma ležala z vročino, vendar je končno spet poletno vreme in se sladolednemu klicu nisem mogla upreti! In ja, pojedla sem ga pred kosilom.

We need:

4 ripe bananas  ♥  a blender

Cut the bananas into pieces and put them in the refrigerator. The next day, put them in the blender and start with the procedure. The bananas go through different stages before becoming an actual ice cream. At first, they are crushed and frozen, then they increasingly become soft and at the end, we have a tasty and creamy ice cream texture. Just to mention, I did the first part with the blender and when the bananas were crushed, I put them in a bowl and used a hand blender. It is still the most effective in my opinion, and I have a complete control over what exactly I want to blend :)

Potrebujemo:

4 zrele banane  ♥  mešalnik

Banane narežemo in čez noč pustimo v zmrzovalniku. Naslednji dan jih stresemo v mešalnik in pričnemo s postopkom. Preden pridemo do sladoleda, morajo banane čez nekaj faz. Najprej so zdrobljene in ledene, nato pa postajajo vedno bolj mehke in na koncu dobimo dobro, kremasto sladoledno teksturo. Samo da omenim, jaz sem najprej začela z mešalnikom, ko pa so bile banane popolnoma zdrobljene, sem jih stresla v posodo in nadaljevala s paličnim mešalnikom. Zame je še vedno najbolj učinkovit, pa še boljši nadzor imam nad tem, kaj točno želim mešati :) 

If the ice cream gets too soft after blending, you can put it in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Then serve ♥ Mine was completely plain, but you can of course experiment with flavors as you wish – add pieces of chocolate just before you stop blending, or cinnamon, coconut, peanut butter … If the weather stays nice, I will definitely make some more and make a report! :)

Če je sladoled po končanem mešanju že preveč mehek, ga lahko postavimo v zmrzovalnik za 15 minut. Nato postrežemo ♥ Moj je bil popolnoma brez vsega, vi pa lahko seveda eksperimentirate po svoje – tik pred koncem lahko dodate koščke čokolade, cimet, kokos, arašidovo maslo … Če bo vreme še naprej lepo, bom zagotovo še kakšnega naredila in ga tudi dokumentirala! :) 

I wish you a great start of the week,

Super začetek tedna želim,

Vesna