Junglefrog Cooking » feta http://junglefrog-cooking.com Cooking, travel and photography Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:00:14 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Lamb’s lettuce salad with feta and tomatoes http://junglefrog-cooking.com/lambs-lettuce-salad-with-feta-and-tomatoes/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=lambs-lettuce-salad-with-feta-and-tomatoes http://junglefrog-cooking.com/lambs-lettuce-salad-with-feta-and-tomatoes/#comments Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:52:36 +0000 Simone (junglefrog) http://junglefrog-cooking.com/?p=4968 Quick and healthy..Pin It O god no… I can hear you think… not yet another salad!! Yes, sorry, it is another salad.. Isn’t January the official salad month? The month where half the nation wants to lose a little here and a little there so turns to ‘boring’ salads? Now let me correct that immediately; salads are [...]]]>

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Quick and healthy..

O god no… I can hear you think… not yet another salad!! Yes, sorry, it is another salad.. Isn’t January the official salad month? The month where half the nation wants to lose a little here and a little there so turns to ‘boring’ salads? Now let me correct that immediately; salads are amazing, salads are so versatile you could eat salads for the rest of your life and never have the same one twice.

True, when I was growing up, my conception of salads was also quite boring; iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, throw in a boiled egg for good measure, make a dressing from one of those little bags they sell in the supermarket (it’s called salad dressing, add 2 tbsp of mayo and 3 tbsp of water and voila, you have a dressing) and if you go really wild you might add a few pieces of ham. That was my salad growing up. That was – I fear – the only salad mum ever used to make.

Essential; a good homemade dressing!

When I left the house to go study as a nurse (yes, yes… that’s how my working life started!) at the age of 19 we had to live in a ‘sisterflat’ where all girls had there own tiny room (2 by 3 meters) and a kitchen that wasn’t worth mentioning. The only cooking equipment we had was an electrical plate and that’s all we had to prepare a healthy meal. Ofcourse the idea was that all girls would eat the hospital fodder.. Something we weren’t all that keen on, so we did try to cook a little bit. For years I was under the solid impression that salad was the above described uninspired meal.

There are still a lot of people out there who have the same strange ideas about salads. Let me tell you people; salads are amazing! I never eat iceberg lettuce anymore; it’s banned where-ever we can. It’s boring and tasteless and why bother if there are so many different and tasty varieties out there that are preferable in any given situation?

This salad came together from random ingredients I had in the fridge and needed to use. It’s simple and the delicious dressing makes this salad a winner, any time of the year. I’ve used a special sweet muscat vinegar for this dressing that was kindly given to me by Didi from Made In Spain (she has some amazing Spanish articles in her webshop, check it out) and it really complemented the dressing and the salad!

Lamb’s lettuce with feta

Print recipe
Lamb’s lettuce with feta
Serves: 1
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: None
Total time: 10 minutes
Dietary: Vegetarian
Meal type: Lunch, Salad
Misc: Serve Cold
Region: Worldwide
By author: Simone van den Berg

Ingredients

  • 100g lamb's lettuce
  • 50g feta
  • 1 small handful tablespoon sunflower seeds (roasted)
  • 3 tomatoes (cut into quarters)
  • croutons (from 1-2 slices of stale bread)
  • 1-2 tablespoon grated parmesan
  • 1-2 tablespoon Olive oil

Dressing

  • 2 tablespoons homemade ketchup with bellpeppers
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon coarse grain mustard
  • 1 tablespoon sweet muscat vinegar

Directions

Cut the tomatoes, wash the salad and roast the sunflower seeds. Make the croutons by cutting the bread into small cubes, put these in a bowl with some olive oil and grate some parmesan cheese on top of it. Mix and then roast these in a hot frying pan until golden brown and crispy. Drain on a kitchen towel
Arrange all the separate ingredients together on a plate and put all the ingredients for the dressing together in a bowl or small jar. Shake or stir well to combine, taste and add seasoning where needed
sprinkle some of the dressing on top of your salad and enjoy!
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]]> http://junglefrog-cooking.com/lambs-lettuce-salad-with-feta-and-tomatoes/feed/ 9 Quinoa, feta and walnut salad http://junglefrog-cooking.com/quinoa-feta-and-walnut-salad/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=quinoa-feta-and-walnut-salad http://junglefrog-cooking.com/quinoa-feta-and-walnut-salad/#comments Sat, 14 Jan 2012 19:42:46 +0000 Simone (junglefrog) http://junglefrog-cooking.com/?p=4925 Healthy quinoa salad with fetaIt’s no big secret that I love quinoa as it has been featured here a couple of times, as you can see with this delicious quinoa salad with courgette, the quinoa salad with pomegranate and most recently the pumpkin stew. I was reading a couple of blogs on my Iphone this morning (don’t you just [...]]]>

Healthy quinoa salad with feta

Delicious and healthy salad with quinoa, feta and apple

It’s no big secret that I love quinoa as it has been featured here a couple of times, as you can see with this delicious quinoa salad with courgette, the quinoa salad with pomegranate and most recently the pumpkin stew. I was reading a couple of blogs on my Iphone this morning (don’t you just love the possibilities of wireless internet??) when I came upon this delicious recipe from Reeni of the blog Cinnamon spice and everything nice. She had this quinoa salad on and I immediately knew what I wanted to make for lunch. I had everything in house so it was perfect.

I knew I would be baking the entire day for a customer who wants to have all the recipes on their site re-shot, so I figured I could do with something NOT sweet for lunch. I’ve been pretty good too, despite being covered in flour and buttercream most of the day. I have not eaten anything of the sweet goodies!! Proud of myself…. ;) I’ve lost 9 pounds so far and want to keep the momentum going. It’s not that I don’t allow myself anything “bad” but all in moderation. And if I have to choose between – for instance – a good piece of cheese or a cupcake, I would go for the cheese anytime, so I’ll stay of the sweets for a while.

Quinoa salad

And I gotta say that after having this delicious salad I did not feel the need to snack on anything so that was all good. This salad is definitely going to be on my list of favorites. I changed the dressing and the qty’s a bit from the original but I’m sure it was just as lovely!

And I can say that in terms of the Living Leaner project, this did not cost me anything, but that is not entirely fair of course as I have bought these ingredients at some point in the past. I’m pretty sure that it would fit nicely below the 10 euro budget as the most expensive ingredient in here is the feta of which I used about 1/4 of the package, so still some left for more yummy salads this week! The rocket cress we grew ourself on our window sill. Love rocketcress! So tasty and so easy to grow too (and trust me when I say I do not have green fingers at all.!)

Quinoa, apple and feta salad

Print recipe
Quinoa, apple and feta salad
Serves: 1
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes
Dietary: Vegetarian
Meal type: Lunch, Salad
Region: Worldwide
Website: Cinnamon spice and everything nice

Ingredients

  • 75g quino (cooked and cooled off)
  • 50g feta
  • a fewwalnuts (roasted and chopped)
  • 2 tablespoons dried cranberries
  • 1 head apple (I used half an apple here)

Optional

  • 1 tablespoon rocket cress

Dressing

  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon lime juice
  • 1 teaspoon coarse grain mustard
  • salt
  • pepper
  • 1 teaspoon honey

Directions

In a small skillet over medium heat toast walnuts about 5 minutes stirring often. Remove and allow to cool. Chop the walnuts into smaller pieces.
Chop the cranberries also into smaller pieces. Crumble the feta cheese and peel, core and cut the apple into bitesize chunks.
In a large bowl combine quinoa, apples, cranberries, feta cheese, and the walnuts.
Make a dressing of the oliveoil, limejuice, pepper, salt, honey and mustard and taste to adjust seasoning to your liking. Pour the dressing over the bowl of quinoa and enjoy!

Note

This is an incredibly tasty and really healthy lunch salad that is quick to put together. You can also use another grain such as couscous or pearl barley for this.

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]]> http://junglefrog-cooking.com/quinoa-feta-and-walnut-salad/feed/ 31 Greek salad http://junglefrog-cooking.com/greek-salad/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=greek-salad http://junglefrog-cooking.com/greek-salad/#comments Wed, 05 Oct 2011 08:00:26 +0000 Simone (junglefrog) http://junglefrog-cooking.com/?p=3680 Greek saladEvery single time we go to Greece the very first meal I order is a Greek salad. There is nothing better then the taste of those gorgeous tomatoes combined with the salty feta and the juicy cucumbers. Yes, even the cucumbers taste better in Greece! And then enjoying that while the only other sounds are [...]]]>

Greek salad

Delicious greek salad

Every single time we go to Greece the very first meal I order is a Greek salad. There is nothing better then the taste of those gorgeous tomatoes combined with the salty feta and the juicy cucumbers. Yes, even the cucumbers taste better in Greece! And then enjoying that while the only other sounds are the soft clinging together of the boatmasts in the wind.

Greek tiny restaurant by the harbour

It’s been too long really since we last went to Greece. It will always be one of my favorite countries and fairly close too. With the current economic situation not being all too positive I’m not sure what that will do to the touristic site of the country. Will people still go to Greece or will they all decide it is not a good idea? You never know how situations like this will turn out. A lot of people in Greece are depending on tourism to support them. I’m certainly no expert when it comes to economics so I’ll better stick to what I do know and that is food. Obviously; as I have learned since; the food we get served in the majority of the Greek restaurants is really not the best. Touristic stuff, quickly put together. Although that is mostly true about the really busy places you can find really good and fresh food anywhere in Greece if you look a little harder. We’ve had some amazing seafood (I learned to eat fish in Greece after all) gorgeous moussakas and well, the Greek salad of course.

Greek simplicity

Simple but delicious!

I might not have made it into a traditional Greek salad. I’ve been served raw red onions on top in many cases, but I just don’t like that. I’m not a big fan of raw onions, so I left that out here and just kept to the plan and simple basics that are o so delicious and lightning quick to put together for a healthy lunch!

Greek salad

Print recipe
Greek salad
Serves: 1
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: None
Total time: 10 minutes
Dietary: Vegetarian
Meal type: Appetizer, Lunch, Salad
Region: Greek

Ingredients

  • 4 tomatoes (Make sure you use really good tomatoes. Watery ones will not do here!)
  • 1/2 Cucumber (Seeds removed and sliced)
  • 100g feta (crumbled)
  • 75g kalamata olives
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • salt
  • pepper

Directions

Not much to describe here as it is basically cutting all the vegetables in biteable sizes, toss them together in a bowl, add the crumbled feta and olives, sprinkle with olive oil and pepper and salt and you're ready to go!

Note

Delicious and fresh and just for a minute - makes you feel in Greece again..

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]]> http://junglefrog-cooking.com/greek-salad/feed/ 24 Orzo with feta, tomatoes and dill http://junglefrog-cooking.com/orzo-with-feta-tomatoes-and-dill/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=orzo-with-feta-tomatoes-and-dill http://junglefrog-cooking.com/orzo-with-feta-tomatoes-and-dill/#comments Tue, 20 Sep 2011 07:00:56 +0000 Simone (junglefrog) http://junglefrog-cooking.com/?p=3534 Orzo salad with feta and tomatoesNow you probably thought I would continue posting recipes for utterly decadent and unhealthy chocolate cakes, right? But no… sorry to disappoint; it’s time to get healthy again! Talking of which I have a question for all of you… do you have any really good and really really fast recipes that you use for all [...]]]>

Orzo salad with feta and tomatoes

Healthy salad with feta, orzo and tomatoes

Now you probably thought I would continue posting recipes for utterly decadent and unhealthy chocolate cakes, right? But no… sorry to disappoint; it’s time to get healthy again!

Talking of which I have a question for all of you… do you have any really good and really really fast recipes that you use for all those days that real cooking is just not an option?

I’ll explain what I mean. Tom and I really would like to get better in eating healthy and eating sensibly and also losing weight. We have are good moments, but what happens is that at certain points in the week we are too busy and those are the moments it all goes wrong and we end up ordering pizza or snacking on other unhealthy things… Weightloss and healthy eating down the drain. That just annoys me enormously and I know we have ourselves to blame ofcourse.

But how do you do it? To give an example of our current week schedule you can probably see the issue.

Delicious and healthy

Delicious and healthy orzo salad

Tuesday I have a reportage in Friesland, about 2 hours drive from home. I will be back from work at around 8 pm if lucky.

Wednesday I have a wedding to photograph till 7.30. Home around 8.30.

Thursday I’m actually going out for dinner with a friend as it’s her birthday but let’s go with this week. When we are both home late and haven’t eaten anything in between we tend to resort to bad habits. So what I really want to try is to get some really easy and really fast recipes with virtually no cooking involved. Case in point; this recipe for orzo for instance.

Quick, delicious and fairly healthy.

So picture yourself, no grocery shopping possible anymore, so you’d have to do with things you have in the fridge, freezer or cupboard. What are your go to recipes for days where you have 10 minutes to whip up something? Sure we have some real easy pasta and rice and stirfry recipes but I need more variety….

Tell me your secrets on how to keep on track!

Orzo with feta, tomatoes and dill

Print recipe
Orzo with feta, tomatoes and dill
Serves: 2
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: None
Total time: 10 minutes
Meal type: Lunch, Salad
Region: Worldwide
Website: Epicurious
Delicious quick and fresh recipe which is perfect for a light lunch or dinner.

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 cups cherry tomatoes (halved or quartered depending on size)
  • 1/2 cup dill (chopped)
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1 cup orzo
  • 1,5 cup feta

Directions

Toss together oil, tomatoes, dill, zest and 1/2 tablespoon each of salt and pepper in a large serving bowl. Let stand at roomtemperature for at least 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook orzo in a pasta pott of boiling salted water until al dente.
Drain orzo, leave to cool a little and then toss with the tomato mixture. Add feta and toss again

Note

Originally featured in Gourmet magazine in july 2008.

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orzo salad

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]]> http://junglefrog-cooking.com/orzo-with-feta-tomatoes-and-dill/feed/ 28 Quinoa salad with feta and tomato – guestpost AWBHLS http://junglefrog-cooking.com/quinoa-salad-with-feta-and-tomato-guestpost-awbhls/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=quinoa-salad-with-feta-and-tomato-guestpost-awbhls http://junglefrog-cooking.com/quinoa-salad-with-feta-and-tomato-guestpost-awbhls/#comments Wed, 31 Aug 2011 07:00:22 +0000 Simone (junglefrog) http://junglefrog-cooking.com/?p=2792 I was invited by the lovely Sanjeeta from Lite Bite to make a guestpost for her theme of Awesome Food Bloggers Healthy Living Secrets… I think it’s a brilliant idea to ask bloggers on how to stay fit, because as a group we are definitely food lovers so a little healthy advice never hurts. Now [...]]]>

I was invited by the lovely Sanjeeta from Lite Bite to make a guestpost for her theme of Awesome Food Bloggers Healthy Living Secrets… I think it’s a brilliant idea to ask bloggers on how to stay fit, because as a group we are definitely food lovers so a little healthy advice never hurts. Now as for myself and my tips… they’re maybe not earth shattering and most of it is common sense, but still it was good to think about what I do to stay fit and healthy (not enough to be honest) and also on how I can improve on that myself.

Hop on over to Sanjeeta’s blog and check out the other bloggers who posted on AFBHLS before. You might be inspired. And yes, you will also find this wonderful recipe that I send in with quinoa, feta, tomato and courgette. Delicious!

Quinoa salad with courgetta and feta

Print recipe
Quinoa salad with courgetta and feta
Serves: 2
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Total time: 20 minutes
Dietary: Vegetarian
Meal type: Salad
Region: Worldwide

Ingredients

  • 75g quinoa
  • 1 piece courgette (big)
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 spring onions (finely chopped)
  • 100g cherry tomatoes (quartered)
  • 1 red chili (finely chopped, seeds removed)
  • 100g feta (crumbled)

Directions

Cook the quinoa (about 10 minutes), drain and rinse with cold water. Leave to drain
Cut the ends of the courgettes and slice with a potato peeler into thin ribbons.
Add the oil and the vinegar together, mix well and season with salt and pepper
Put everything together, pour the dressing over and stir.
And you're done! Enjoy!

Note

Perfect for a light summery lunch

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