Featured Recipe
Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies
Monday, September 29, 2025| |
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Super chocolaty, moist and with a fine pumpkin cheesecake swirl: these pumpkin brownies literally melt in your mouth! Served with a hot cup of tea, they really put one in the mood for autumn.
Is there really pumpkin in there? DEFINITELY! The all-rounder Hokkaido is mixed into the brownie as a pumpkin cheesecake swirl. It not only gives the little chocolate cake a visual upgrade, but also a special juiciness and mild sweetness. Spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice are also included and make this autumnal treat perfect. If you like, you can also add a little ginger or simply use pumpkin pie spice blend. Fancy a little crunch? Then stir in some chopped nuts or pumpkin seeds to the batter.
Pumpkin Mousse Terrine
Sunday, September 28, 2025| |
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The savoury pumpkin mousse terrine is the perfect combination of fluffy, creamy texture and piquant flavours. This dish cleverly balances the sweetness of pumpkin with savoury ingredients. It is ideal as a starter, with a salad, or for sandwiches and goes wonderfully with an autumn menu.
If you don’t have French Noilly Prat vermouth, use Italian Cinzano or even a white wine instead. Admittedly, this is somewhat time-consuming to make, but it never ceases to amaze. Try it, you'll be blown away! Use a pretty triangular terrine mould if you happen to have one, otherwise, a cake pan lined with plastic film works just as fine.
Pesto Rice-stuffed Butternut Pumpkin
Saturday, September 27, 2025| |
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This gluten free stuffed pumpkin recipe uses smaller butternut squashes for a cosy and delicious meal in autumn / winter months. Filled with a mixture with basmati rice, pesto, pistachios, feta and celery, this can also be made as one larger pumpkin or with other varieties of pumpkins. You just need to adjust the cooking time. Use brown or wild rice if desired.
Gluten Free Quinoa Bread
Friday, September 26, 2025| |
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Small but mighty, the so-called pseudo-grains quinoa and buckwheat are rich in protein, nutritious and full of energy. These tiny seeds can not only be cooked like rice, but also used to bake bread. This recipe for quinoa bread with rice, buckwheat and cornmeal promises not only a particularly inexpensive treat, but also naturally gluten-free. But the best thing is: when you bake your own bread, you know exactly what's in it. And if necessary, you can easily swap, omit or add one or two ingredients. And if it doesn't have to be gluten-free, you can try replacing some of flour mixture with wheat flour. This guarantees the perfect bread enjoyment – preferably fresh and still warm from the oven!
Frango Pinga – Cachaça Grilled Chicken
Thursday, September 25, 2025| |
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Frango is Portuguese for chicken while Pinga refers to cachaça. Boneless chicken legs, marinated in cachaça, olive oil, parsley and garlic overnight in the fridge, then grilled to perfection--easy to prepare and a crowd pleaser for sure. Serve it with a fresh herb salad, fries, or some rice and black beans. Cachaça, aka pinga or caninha, the most popular spirit in Brazil, is made from sugar cane and apart from being crucial to cocktails such as the caipirinha, it makes a great marinade for meat or fish. Cachaça is available at large liquor outlets, supermarkets or online. If not, use white rum instead.
Biberli Ekmek – Turkish Pepper Bread
Wednesday, September 24, 2025| |
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Biberli Ekmek, originating from Hatay in southern Turkey, is a soft, savory flatbread enhanced with walnuts, sesame, traditional spices and spicy red pepper paste. Hatay cuisine is well known for its use of rich, unique spices, a wide array of flavourful kebabs, and the distinctly Turkish dessert: künefe.
The recipe is good for two large flatbread or 8 smaller ones like the way I did here. Enjoy them as breakfast, an afternoon snack, or alongside with a fresh seasonal salad or soup for a satisfying meal.
Ras el Hanout Pumpkin Falafels
Tuesday, September 23, 2025| |
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Falafel is a dish that, when prepared well, can be exceptionally delicious. Or completely inedible. For me, falafel must be hot and really crispy on the outside, but soft and slightly fluffy within, yet still juicy. The seasoning must also be just right: chickpeas tend to absorb the flavour of their accompanying ingredients, making them really versatile. However, you don’t want to overpowers the delicious flavour of the chickpeas by over-seasoning. The grated butternut pumpkin adds a little sweetness and keeps these little treats from drying out. The falafels can be baked in the oven, airfried, or shallow-fried, but deep-frying proves the best option and creates a crispy exterior while keeping the interior moist. These falafels are delicious, perfect to share, and naturally gluten free. Enjoy them in a salad, stuffed inside pita pocket, or on their own.
German Zwieback with Pumpkin Seeds
Monday, September 22, 2025| |
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Zwieback, German word for “twice-baked”, is pretty simple to make and doesn’t require any fancy ingredients. Traditionally it’s made with wheat, but today I am sharing a gluten free version made with rice. A basic sponge loaf with Styrian pumpkin seeds folded in, first baked, then cut into thin slices and baked for the second time until crispy, golden and toasted, closely resemble melba toast.
These plain-jane biscuits are excellent either at teatime, breakfast with butter, jam, cheese or as a crunchy snack on its own. You can swap out the pumpkin seeds for coarsely chopped walnuts or almonds.
Buckwheat Salad with Dutch Carrot and Cherry Tomato
Sunday, September 21, 2025| |
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Cooked and refined with vegetables and herbs, buckwheat is transformed into a delicious salad that tastes fresh, aromatic, spicy and light – simply authentic Mediterranean. The buckwheat salad is also easy to prepare in advance. It tastes even better when left to marinate for a while. Add the herbs and cherry tomatoes just before serving. If desired, throw in some toasted nuts for extra crunch.
Buckwheat is considered a healthy alternative to wheat, although it has nothing in common with wheat – quite the contrary. It is a knotweed plant and belongs to the pseudo-cereals, which are rich in fibre and nutrients.
40+ Fig Recipes to put this distinctive fruit to good use
Saturday, September 20, 2025
Figs are special because they are one of the world's oldest cultivated fruits, have a unique structure where their flowers are on the inside. So, figs technically aren't a fruit, but clusters of many, many inverted flowers that bloom inside this large, dark, red-hued bud we know as figs. And this is what makes the fig unique in its jammy texture in addition to a honey sweet flavour.
There are male and female fig trees. Male trees produce caprifigs, which contain pollen and act as brood chambers for the gall wasp (aka fig wasp), while female trees produce the edible figs. The wasp enters the male figs, lays its eggs, dies, and the next generation of wasps exit the fig, continuing the pollination cycle. The figs we eat are the female figs of these plants and do not contain any dead wasps.
Figs are sweet and chewy, and naturally quite high in dietary fiber. They can go sweet or savory. Use them with honey, caramel in autumnal bakes, with dairy in salads, meat dishes and more. They are fantastic with chocolate and nuts too.
- Pistachio Fig Energy Bites
These nutritious 3-ingredient energy powerballs are the perfect balance between sweet indulgence and a healthy treat that you can enjoy everyday. They are refined-sugar free, gluten-free and kid-friendly. Pistachios are bursting with the fiber, protein, healthy fat and antioxidant compounds that can help keep your blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol in check. The fiber and protein in those nuts can make you feel fuller for longer. Figs contain plenty of fiber, vitamins and minerals and ensure that these bites are filling for a long time.


