As you’re reading this, I picture most of you being exhausted but happy after spending Christmas with your loved ones. Can you believe that tomorrow we will be celebrating the beginning of the new year that is 2016? I have to say that I am one of those people who always get the chills when thinking about the new year. This year, I’ve changed a lot in my life, and I had the courage to start this blog, so my new year’s resolutions is not to change, but to embrace the small things in life more often. This past year really changed my life, and I have to admit that I am extremely happy right where I am at this very moment. Besides that I really want to learn a fourth language, preferably Spanish or improve my terrible French, so we’ll see how that goes. Since the New Year is always the time when people are trying to be and eat healthier, I thought I’d share some easy and light meals with you in January. Today’s recipe fits perfectly into this description as it only takes about 20 minutes to prepare, is rather cheap to make and won’t leave you bloated or too full. It’s the perfect dish for a lazy weekday night or weekend lunch. Cooking healthy does not necessarily mean that you have to spent lots of time in the kitchen. I do spent a lot of time in the kitchen, but that’s only because I have a food blog. Before I started to worry about how I made my food look semi presentable, I spent as little time in the kitchen as possible. That’s why I am going to share some really easy recipes with you that need barely no effort at all. This soup is one of these dishes that you can throw together in less than half an hour, I promise. The soup has been my favorite for quite some time now and as I am writing this, you have no idea how much I am craving it.

Asian inspired soups have actually always intimidated me, because for some reasons they seemed so flavorful and delicious at restaurants that I never believed making them yourself would be easy. But then I accidentally turned something that was supposed to be a Thai Curry into a soup and I realized that I was absolutely wrong: making Green Thai Curry Noodle Soup is the easiest thing ever. All you need is Thai curry paste, rice noodles, limes, chilis, coconut milk and some veggies of your choice. Of course in my opinion everything is better topped with coriander, but this is definitely not a must in this recipe.

The flavors of the thai curry paste are strong enough to make your whole kitchen smell divine. Combined with vegetable stock paste and coconut milk, this will give you the perfect Thai broth that is so flavorful that you won’t believe you did it yourself. I love to add lots of fresh shiitake mushrooms, bok choy, red peppers, spring onions and fresh herbs such as cilantro to make it taste even better. But there’s so limit to your creativity: just use whatever vegetable comes to your mind or happens to be sitting in your fridge.

With this post, I am wishing you all a happy end of the year, and I hope you’ll have a great start into the next one. I have lots of exciting things to share with you in 2016, so I hope you’ll follow me into the next year. I am so grateful for every single person who reads my blog and I can’t stress enough how much I appreciate your support.

Big Love and Happy New Year!

xx Lynn

Enjoy!

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This roasted red pepper and cannellini soup is roasted one of my favorite comfort foods. It’s hands down one of those soups that I could eat every day, and that I always have the ingredients for stocked at home.  There’s something about the taste of roasted red peppers that reminds me of vacation and happiness. I have to admit that I am not the biggest fan of raw red peppers. I mean, I’d eat them and I don’t mind them, but they are not my favorite vegetable to nibble on. When roasted, they turn into one of my favorite things, though. When turned into a soup they almost imitate the taste of a good old tomato soup – with a much better and more intense flavor. The cannellini beans add a natural creaminess to the soup, as well as a good amount of plant protein. The whole soup is just a delicious and creamy combination of flavors and textures, that I am sure you’ll love as much as I do. Of course this soup isn’t just super delicious, it’s also extremely good for your health. Peppers are one of the best sources of vitamin C, in fact, one raw pepper contains more than 200% of the daily recommended intake. That’s more than twice as much as oranges contain.
Like all beans, cannellini beans are a great source of dietary fiber, which provides us with long lasting energy. They are also an amazing source of antioxidants, which help protect our body form free radicals that could damage our cells and lead to chronic diseases like cancer.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 4:
– 6 red peppers (mine weighed 450g)
– 1 medium sized onion
– 2 cups (500ml) water
– 1 tablespoon of homemade veggie stock
– 2 cups (300g) cannellini beans
– 2 large handful of basil
– fresh or dried herbs like thyme, rosemary or oregano
– 1 teaspoon of dried oregano
– 1 teaspoon of dried rosemary
– 2 teaspoons of paprika powder
– 1 teaspoon of curry powder
– 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
– 1 tablespoon of maple syrup
– 2 tablebspoon (30ml) of olive oil
– salt & pepper to taste

METHOD:

1. Start by pre-heating the oven to 200°C (400°F). Cut the peppers and remove the seeds.
2. Place the peppers on a baking tray that you aligned with baking paper. Drizzle a generous amount of olive oil on top of the peppers, and sprinkle it with some fresh or dried herbs like rosemary, thyme and oregano. Roast the peppers for about 15 minutes.
3. Once their skin becomes wrinkly, take them out of the oven, set aside to cool.
4. Chop the onion. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and sauté the onion for about one or two minutes on high heat.
5. Add all the remaining ingredients and purée them in a food processor or heat-proof blender.

Serve with some gluten free or rye bread.

Enjoy!

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