Junglefrog Cooking » Recipes

Orange fennel salad by Sonia, the healthy foodie

Simone (junglefrog) — Wed, 23 May 2012 08:00:22 +0000

Sometimes you come across a blog that instantly captures your attention and Sonia’s blog The Healthy Foodie is just one such blog. I love her recipes and her witty way of writing around those recipes and I think her photos are amazing too as you will see below! You’ll have to come and take a look for yourself as it’s one of the blogs I always go to first whenever I have time to browse through my backlog of things to read online! I was thrilled when she agreed to write a little something for ~~Beetroot and Halloumi~~ Junglefrog Cooking and below you can read all about it! And can I just say that I’m very flattered about all the words she wrote about me! Blushing behind the computer now!

Giving it over to Sonia now!

When I heard that Simone, who happens to be one of my most favorite bloggers and photographer extraordinaire, not only had decided to take a little walk down the healthy path, but had also decided to start blogging about her experience, I was ecstatic.

After spending all this time drooling over pretty much every single picture that she’s ever posted, I was finally gonna get to actually give her recipes a try! Big yay!

Now can you imagine my excitement when she asked me if I would consider writing a little piece to be featured on this new baby of hers? I just couldn’t believe it! Me? Making an appearance on one of Simone’s sites? No way!

I have to admit that I am extremely humbled to have my photography being featured in such close proximity to hers. You see, Simone would be one of the foodographers that I look up to the most: her pictures are always so amazing, so mouth watering, so perfect in every possible way. For me to be posting my work here, where her work resides, is an unbelievably humbling experience.

I thank you very much, Simone, for letting me expose my “beginner level art” in your top notch professional gallery.

Whoa, but wait a minute. How very rude of me. Here I am, jabbering away, while most of you don’t have the slightest idea who I am…

Well, my name is Sonia, I’m a 38 year old French Canadian from Québec (Canada), single mother of 2 fully grown kids, who’s recently turned her life around and decided to embrace embrace a healthier approach to living.

Now, if someone had told me, not even 5 years ago, that I would be sitting here today writing these very words, I’d have probably called them crazy.

The thing is, back then, my life was nothing like what it is today.

You see, I used to smoke… A LOT!
And drink… way too much!
Food? OH YEAH! I did lots of that too, of course. And my choices in that field were not always the greatest, really…
As for exercise… Well, that word was not even part of my dictionary!

I eventually had enough of all this and decided that things had to change.

Of course, I quit smoking, quit drinking and eventually, over time, started eating better and exercising. I became totally enthralled by this healthier lifestyle, and to help me stay on track while perhaps inspiring others to follow in my tracks, I eventually created a blog: The Healthy Foodie.

There, I share on a regular basis, thoughts and recipes that I find sit well with my perception of what healthy living can be.

For health, I think, is a very personal concept, really.

In fact, I believe that there are probably as many descriptions of the word as there are people using it. What I consider healthy might be totally unhealthy, to you, and what is healthy to you might be total junk to your neighbour…

Where do I stand?

I personally tend to adhere more to the principles of “clean eating”. This, to me, is a form of health that is totally unrestrictive and super fun and easy to follow.

Quite simply, it implies eating food that is as close as possible to what nature intended. Choose whole, natural foods and try to avoid everything that’s highly processed or refined.

Just remember… Food does not grow in a box! Reach for fresh produce, lean cuts of meat and whole, unrefined grains.

Also, try and include a form of lean protein, complex carbs and healthy fat in every one of your meals. Oh, and be careful not to drink your calories! Opt for water or herbal tea instead of sugar laden fruit juices or sodas!

Last but not least, being healthy implies that you stay active! Keeping your body moving is the best way to rev up your metabolism and get those calories working for you, instead of against you!

I guess, in the end, healthy is what you make it.

And to me, salads such as this one just SCREAM healthy.

Orange fennel salad

Recipe type: salad

Author: Sonia, the healthy foodie

Serves: 2

Ingredients

1 fennel bulb (shaved paper thin)
A few sprig fennel leaves
2 navel oranges (supremed)
1 bosc pear (sliced)
45g walnuts (chopped)
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

Cut the oranges into supremes, working over a bowl, in order not lose any of the juice. When you’ve got all your supremes done, make sure to squeeze all the juice out of the “membrane” that is left behind.
In a medium to large mixing bowl, add all your ingredients, including orange juice.
Give everything a quick toss and transfer to divide between 2 serving dishes.
Garnish with fennel leaves, if desired.

Want more healthy recipe ideas? Head on over to The Healthy Foodie

And here is a sample of a few recipes you can expect to find…

Party food for any occasion

Simone (junglefrog) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 15:50:56 +0000

Sesame pumpkin skewers

I guess for most part it is my own fault that people expect food if they visit us. And I do not mean the regular bowl of peanuts or olives, noooo, they expect me to have made something new and something exciting! My dad is one of the worst as I have told you before but now Tom’s friends are equally spoiled. Or maybe not even his friends but more Tom… Twice a month he is having a bunch of friends over to play D&D (Dungeons and Dragons). Once on a sunday afternoon and once on a Saturday evening. The Sunday starts lazy, with breakfast in bed and coffee and then some more coffee.

Yummy bites

So this morning – while reading my new cookbook from Bea La Tartine Gourmand – Tom looks at me, looks at the cookbook; ‘So what are you gonna be baking today?” I give him a quizzical look. “Baking? Well, nothing really..”

“O but we’re having D&D this afternoon so maybe you should bake something for the guys?” I look at the clock, thinking; well, that’s all nice and all but by the time the baking is done and photographed it will be beer time, so that doesn’t really make sense. “I can maybe make some savory bites?” I suggest, knowing he’s gonna go and jump right in. Which he does…So then I have to think of what to make for a couple of hungry guys that is not too fancy (needs to be finger food after all) and will still be easy to eat while playing a board-game at a table.

Mini pizza's

In case you do not know what D&D is, let me enlighten you a little bit. While there are many versions out there, including once where people do a real life enactment of some sort (thank god, that is NOT what Tom does!) in essence it is a role playing game. Tom, as the Dungeon Master, comes up with a story and his friends are basically the characters that decide on the course of action at every point in the time. For instance, they walk into a cave and they encounter a dragon (yes, that is all very normal..) Each character has certain abilities, either healing or magic or whatever and based on the points they have gained they can get stronger or weaker (or die). Now if they encounter the dragon they can decide to fight in which case dice are thrown to decide how it’s going.Obviously that is the game from my perspective and I’m sure there are people out there who know much more about it then me.. so forgive me if I’ve got it wrong!

Tom has been playing the game ever since he was 14 years old, so for all the twenty years that we’ve been together the guys (the groups have changed a bit over the years!) have come over twice a month. A quick calculation tells us that they have been here for roughly 480 times playing D&D. Lol… I’ve never played it, except the one time when we hadn’t been together that long and Tom felt he needed to explain what on earth he was doing up in the attic. I just think it’s an entirely silly game but hey, he likes it, so all fine by me!

So D&D finger-food it is then… I searched and found a couple of really delicious recipes which I will share with you below. My favorite was the naan-goatcheese combo with the lime and chili jam. You could use fig jam or maybe ginger-jam would be nice too, but I LOVED the chili jam. Gave it a real kick!

Sesame pumpkin skewers

Print recipe

Serves	6
Prep time	10 minutes
Cook time	25 minutes
Total time	35 minutes
Meal type	Snack
Misc	Child Friendly, Pre-preparable
Website	BBC Good Food

Ingredients

1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 piece butternut squash
2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Directions


Preheat the oven to 200 C. Clean the butternut squash (take of skin, remove insides) and cut them in cubes of about 2 x 3 cm. Prepare the sauce by putting the soy sauce, honey and sesame oil in a bowl. Put all the butternut squash in the same bowl and cover them with the soy mixture.

Line a baking tray with baking paper and arrange the butternut squash on the paper. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and put in the oven for about 25-30 minutes or until the squash is to your liking. It should be edible but not too soft. You can put them on a skewer if you want or serve as is.

Naan bites with goatcheese and chili jam

Print recipe

Serves	12
Prep time	10 minutes
Cook time	5 minutes
Total time	15 minutes
Meal type	Snack
Misc	Pre-preparable, Serve Cold
Website	BBC Good Food

Ingredients

100g soft goatcheese
2 tablespoons chives
2 tablespoons lime and chili jam
2 pieces naan bread (either home made or storebought)

Directions


In a small bowl combine the goatcheese with some of the finely chopped chives and mash them together. Taste and add seasoning if needed, but goatcheese generally doesn't need anything extra.

Bake or prepare your naan according to instructions. Cut out small rounds with a cutter. Make them max 5 cm in diameter. these are supposed to be one bite snacks, so too big is not gonna be good. Add a teaspoon of goatcheese on each naanround and top with a small dollop of jam. Sprinkle some chives on top

Very fast minipizza’s

Print recipe

Serves	24
Prep time	10 minutes
Cook time	10 minutes
Total time	20 minutes
Meal type	Snack
Misc	Child Friendly, Serve Hot

Ingredients

1 packet tortilla's or other flat bread
5 tablespoons tomato sauce
100g grated cheese
100g chorizo

Optional

1 bunch spring onion (to decorate)

Directions


Preheat the oven to 200C. Cut out little rounds with a cutter from your tortilla or flatbread and lay them in a baking tray on baking paper. Build up your mini pizza by putting the sauce on the bottom, add little chorizo chunks and grated cheese. Pop them in the oven for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and serve immediately.

Behind the scenes at a sweet photoshoot

Simone (junglefrog) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 08:00:31 +0000

I know I always keep blabbing to you about photoshoots and how that works but I thought for a change to give you a small behind the scenes look at one of the shoots we did this week. In a lot of cases I cannot share the photos with you as it’s for a publication or a customer who doesn’t want the photos to be strewn all over the internet, but this time the photos were for stock and therefore I can share with you whatever I want….

Cupcakes all over

The idea for the shoot was to give the feeling of a girly (kids) birthday party with lots of pink, lots of cupcakes and lots of other sweet treats. We had planned the shoot for a while now and we is Femke (and Eddy in the morning) from sfeercatering Heeerlijk. As guest helpers we had Pauline from Uit eigen streek en Vivian Hulsebosch so it was full house. I think Eddy escaped the girly atmosphere after making us lunch…

I’ve met both Femke and Pauline on twitter and when Femke and I had the first photoshoot together, we got on really well so I’m sure there will be lots more joined ventures in the future. Now a photo shoot like this requires some planning as we wanted to have lots of treats, so I made caramel apples (recipe below), Pauline baked some cake layers and made butter cream and Femke provided the cupcakes, most of the accessories and the other treats.

Table top view of party table!

Styling a large table and making it look fairly natural is not really simple and without a stylist present it posed some challenges. I think we did a lot of different takes before we arrived at the final shot which is above. I’m sure there could be some improvements to this but hey, I like it….!

The table from a different angle

With these kinds of setups I like to work with daylight. Even though I have all the lights in the studio I might ever need, I still strongly prefer natural light. And I have a corner in the studio that is perfect as it has side light and backlight and no direct sunlight so in most cases that corner is my perfect spot for shoots like this. From the right I need a fill still to lift some of the shadows as this shoot was all about light and fun and almost summery feeling.

Table setup with reflector

We usually start with one element and add pieces to it. Because I was shooting from above I had to climb on the ladder everytime to check the setting. Obviously you can also work on the floor and in a lot of cases that is easier except that you have to have a background you want on the floor and since we wanted to use the table that was not an option in this case. I have to collect some larger backgrounds that I can use on the floor. Your light will change if you do that so you have to be aware of the direction of the light.

The team ready to dive in!

Because we had so much stuff we did table settings but also closeups and details on some of the cakes, cupcakes with both the table, another older and darker wooden board and my little white garden table (which is the first shot you see)

Caramel apples

Overall I think we were all pretty happy with the end results of the shoot and we’re already planning the next one! (which is gonna be outdoors and awesome, I’m sure!) Now for the recipe of the caramel apples; there are a lot of different recipes out there and this one is the more simpler one. The trick is to get the caramel right as I found out myself, since the first time went very wrong and the second one could definitely have been better too. I might try a couple more caramel recipes which I will share too.

And I was there too!

Caramel apples

Print recipe

Serves	6-8
Cook time	15 minutes
Meal type	Dessert, Snack
Misc	Child Friendly, Pre-preparable

Ingredients

500g sugar
4 tablespoons water

Directions


I guess the recipe is so simple that you can hardly call it a recipe but with caramel it's all in the execution and not so much in the ingredients. Now when making a large batch such as this it becomes critical that you keep a close eye on your saucepan with the sugar in it. What will happen if you have a lot of sugar is the bottom will caramelize and the top will still be solid sugar. In order to avoid this you will need to stir a tiny bit. Stirring too much will results in crystallized and hard sugar (as I found out in try number one) and not stirring will result in half burned and half raw caramel.

Put the sugar on a very low heat giving it the change to start the process slowly. Make sure you use heat proof tools as the sugar becomes very very hot. Make sure you have a bowl of cold water nearby to cool of the caramel once done as it will otherwise keep on cooking and get too far. As soon as the sugar starts to caramelize, very slowly move it a bit around with a spatula (heatresistant one!) and make sure it browns evenly. You can choose to add the water or not. I added water in the first try and did not add it for the second. I think without works maybe a little better but I have yet to give it another go.

As soon as all the sugar is lovely and brown and you can smell that it is the right color. (you can really smell if it is done or not!) cool the pan quickly in your waterbath and then dip your apples in the caramel one by one. Put them on a sheet of baking paper and make sure you do not get in touch with the caramel yourself!

Bruschetta with arugulapesto – DHSPC #6

Simone (junglefrog) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:00:14 +0000

My version...

Let’s just do another easy one, I thought to myself when going through one of Donna Hay’s cookbooks. It should be a simple recipe but enough of a challenge in getting it right. Well… if only I had thought about that a little better.. I failed, I failed miserably in recreating the original that you will see below. It seemed fairly straightforward but the trick in this particular image is not so much the recipe as that is real simple, but the angle of the photo.. You’ll see what I mean soon! In the meantime we are already on the 6th version of the Donna Hay Styling and Photography Challenge and I loved all the entries from last month! I would say spread the word..

Photo; Con Poulos

Above you can find the challenge recipe photograph by Con Poulos. it’s from the cookbook Seasons and let’s face it; it doesn’t scare you just by looking at it, does it? But wait until you analyze this a little further. First of all there is the issue of the size of the props. If you compare the size of the bottle with the size of the bruschetta then it can’t be very big and they appear fairly close together. The tricky part for me however is that the bread in the foreground is big. There is a lot of focus on that plate of food so it is prominently featured in the frame. However I tried to place it and however I changed my lenses I could not – for the life of me – get it right. I’ve tried a wide angle and going in really close but that didn’t give me any blurred background. I tried placing the plate in front and the bottle in the back and using a telelens (which makes objects appear closer together) but then I only got a small piece of the bottle in the frame. I tried so many things I forgot to pay attention to the actual position of the bruschetta but ok…

Plate is too small in the frame here

My plate is probably bigger too or maybe the bread in the original is bigger. It’s shot on a round table and I didn’t have a round table obviously but still I just failed completely in getting it right. I know you are all eagerly awaiting the next challenge so postponing it until I got it right was not an option so you’ll have to do with my failed attempt. Can’t wait to see what you come up with! And please, please let me know how you did it.

Wrong again

I tried it with a smaller plate above (only had a little christmas plate at hand..lol) but again not good! The light in the original is coming from above right and is mildly strong. I had a beautiful clear day and so much light that it was a bit too much but I gave up and just did my own version, which you see as the first picture. Rather different but still with the same elements mostly.

I will try again but also curious what you come up with! Good luck on the challenge! You’re gonna need it (or maybe it is really simple and it is just me..lol)

Feel free to change the recipe to suit your needs and/or allergies/preferences. If you’re vegetarian you can use maybe some slices of eggplant or courgette and if you’re glutenfree, change the bread etc. All options are allowed! The rules are below the recipe.

Bruschetta with mozarella, prosciutto and rocketpesto

Print recipe

Serves	4
Meal type	Appetizer, Bread
From book	Seasons

Ingredients

8 slices bread
1 clove garlic (halved)
extra virgin olive oil (for sprinkling)
3-4 pieces bocconcini (in small slices or you can use regular mozarella)
8 slices prosciutto
black pepper (coarsely ground)

Arugulapesto

1 handful basil
2 handfuls arugula (rocket)
1 handful basil
40g pine nuts (roasted)
20g grated parmesan
1/4 garlic clove
60ml extra virgin olive oil

Directions


For making the arugula (rocket) pesto put arugula, basil, pine nuts, parmesan and garlic into a foodprocessor and puree roughly. While the motor is running add the olive oil and mix until it is a thick, rough substance. Don't make it too fine. Chunks are ok to have.

Heat a gridlepan and bake both sides of the bread golden brown and crispy. Rub this with half a clove of garlic and sprinkle with some olive oil.

Put some of the slices of mozarella on the toast and liberally cover with the pesto. Top this with a slice of prosciutto and finish with some salt and pepper.

Once a month (on the 3rd of the month) I will give you a recipe plus the accompanying photo out of the Donna Hay magazine. I will try to make it seasonal but can’t promise anything.
You have that same month to produce your post. You can post it any day you like just as long as you finish it before the end of that month at the latest.
You have to produce that recipe, alterations to the recipe are allowed to make sure any dietary restrictions are met. But only minor changes!
You have to cook and STYLE the recipe trying to replicate the photo as best as you can. If you think you can do a better job then the original photo, by all means feel free to make your own changes to the styling.
Shoot the dish and then write a blog post about it. It would be great to add notes on how you took the photo and how you styled the dish, so that other people can learn too.
Link back to this months blog post about the challenge and link back to the Donna Hay Challenge page here
Leave a message on the post that is up here for that month, saying that you completed the challenge and link to the post on your site so others can find it too.
If you want to use the original photo in your blog post as well as the recipe be sure to link back to the Donna Hay website plus the photographers website. They will both always be mentioned in the monthly challenge posts.

Each month a winner will be picked who will be featured in the Hall of Fame page. If you like you can add a badge to your site saying that you are taking part in this competition. The badge is featured below and should link back to this page.

Above all this challenge is about having fun styling and photographing a dish by taking Donna Hay as our great example. You can join all months or whenever you feel like joining in. Using an example of the great photographers that Donna works with, I always find that it is a good learning experience to see how did they light the scene, where does the light come from and how did they manage to make it look so beautiful. Try and analyze all of that and then come up with your own version.

While taking food photos is all about finding your own style and certainly not copying anyone else, it does help to analyze how your hero’s do their job. It’s about learning to light and style a scene properly. In no way am I trying to suggest you copy another person style. Find your own unique style! This challenge is just a tool to help you along the way..

Pavlova with pomegranate and cranberry sauce

Simone (junglefrog) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 16:44:01 +0000

Pavlova with cream, pomegranate and cranberry sauce

You did not think I would get rid of my cranberry sauce so easily now did you?

It’s actually quite funny how you sometimes start baking and then have leftovers that turn out to be made into something far superior then your first recipe. I had one of those days today; it was about time to decorate the Christmas tree so I figured I could combine that with some Christmas baking in between. We’re thinking of doing creme brulee as the dessert for Christmas as it is supposed to be fairly easy and at least you can prepare it up front.

Pavlova

I had thought to make three recipes; creme brulee, banana-cinnamon bread and to get rid of all the leftover egg whites also a pavlova. As it turns out my creme brulee was less then successful as I let the cream get too hot resulting in curdled cream and for some reason my banana bread broke when taking it out of the tin.. But the pavlova…. the pavlova was even better then I thought it would be. I was a little worried it would get half brownish as my oven is really not the best anymore but for once everything went according to plan and my pavlova came out looking as gorgeous as I had wanted it to look.

Pavlova with pomegranate and cranberry sauce

Print recipe

Serves	6
Prep time	15 minutes
Cook time	1 hour
Total time	1 hour, 15 minutes
Allergy	Egg
Dietary	Vegetarian
Meal type	Dessert
From book	Modern Classics

Ingredients

4 egg whites
225g sugar
6 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon white vinegar
250ml whipping cream
1 pomegranate seeds (seeds from one pomegranate)
cranberry sauce

Directions


Preheat the oven to 150 C. Whip the eggwhites in a grease free bowl until soft peaks. Slowly add the sugar until the meringue is glossy.

Put the cornstarch through a sieve and fold it into the eggwhites together with the vinegar

On a baking tray lined with baking paper make a circle of about 18 cm wide of the meringue and put it in the oven. Turn down the oven temperature to 120 C and leave it in for an hour. Turn the oven off and let the pavlova cool in the oven completely.

Once cooled you can top the pavlova with whipped cream and as I did with pomegranate and cranberry sauce.

Note

I wanted to keep the topping of this recipe in red but you can ofcourse add whatever you like on top of the pavlova. Raspberries, blueberries, passionfruit or mmm, warm cherries!

All in all I still don’t know what to do for Christmas dessert. I mean this looks pretty good right, but I’m just afraid it will be too heavy after a big Christmas meal. I want something fairly light and fruity I think… Sigh… back to the drawing board. O of course; the creme brulee is still an option. Just need to redo that one and make sure it doesn’t curdle this time. In terms of looks however, this is a real winner!

Pavlova goodness

Junglefrog Cooking » Recipes

Orange fennel salad by Sonia, the healthy foodie

Related Posts:

Party food for any occasion

Sesame pumpkin skewers

Ingredients

Directions

Naan bites with goatcheese and chili jam

Ingredients

Directions

Very fast minipizza’s

Ingredients

Optional

Directions

Related Posts:

Behind the scenes at a sweet photoshoot

Caramel apples

Ingredients

Directions

Related Posts:

Bruschetta with arugulapesto – DHSPC #6

Bruschetta with mozarella, prosciutto and rocketpesto

Ingredients

Arugulapesto

Directions

Related Posts:

Pavlova with pomegranate and cranberry sauce

Pavlova with pomegranate and cranberry sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Note

Related Posts: