It’s hard to break from those bad holiday eating habits, isn’t it? You probably have some leftover cookies at home, or delicious marshmallows to go with your hot chocolate.
I know all about it. Even though I kept on hiking and juicing in between the holidays I gained some weight again. Not fun!
So to force myself to break with my new habit of eating some chocolate after dinner or go out for hamburgers I did a juice cleanse this week. This really forces me to eat healthy the days up to the cleanse. To make the transition from solid foods to juices easier you need to start eating vegan and gluten free. This can be done in steps, so first you start skipping meat, alcohol, dairy, coffee and eggs. The next day you also skip fish (and all animal products), bottled sauces and sugar and salt. Leaving you the day before the cleanse only eating raw or steamed vegetables and juices.
And to be honest, that’s the hardest part for me. I’m not that good with raw vegetables, so I cheated a bit and also used some salt and a little bit of feta cheese. I also ate this Chickpea, Avocado & Feta Salad every day, it’s delicious!
And luckily for me, I had no troubles before or during my juice cleanse.Transitioning to raw juices was easy, but I already drink juices four times a week for breakfast or lunch. Also this second cleanse confirmed that I eat healthier now than before my first juice cleanse.
But today I can eat solid foods again, yay! I will take it easy, I start with a banana smoothie for breakfast and maybe that delicious chickpea and avocado salad for lunch. Dinner will be a light veggie soup or some fresh spring rolls filled with vegetables, cilantro and mint. Let’s see how I feel today! One thing is sure, I love my juices but I also can’t wait to eat normal food again today.
Although slightly healthier than before the cleanse 😉
Do you also have trouble going back to healthier habits? Don’t be to hard on yourself, eating healthy food can be really delicious.
Here is a typical Dutch dish with an American twist. I often get the question what typical Dutch food is. Well… a mash is the first thing that comes to my mind. We call it ‘stamppot’ and you cook some potatoes with vegetables on top, like kale. You discard the water, mash everything together and serve it with (smoked) sausage. There are several varieties: with carrots, beets, kale, raw endive, brussels sprouts and so on. The raw endive one has always been my favorite!
But I gave this typical Dutch dish an American twist, with sweet potatoes and raw kale. I also kept it a vegetarian dish, so goat cheese, caramelized onions and corn flakes to substitute (smoked) sausage, fried pork belly, beef stew and bacon.
I had my first sweet potato casserole topped with marshmallows and corn flakes last Thanksgiving and I really liked the crunchy corn flakes! Ok, I also liked the marshmallows but they ain’t that healthy right? 😉
So here it is, my Sweet potato and kale mash, a typical Dutch dish with an American twist:
Typical Dutch dish with an American twist, this sweet potato and kale mash is super delicious and also healthy!
Ingredients
- 4 sweet potatoes (approx. 12oz each)
- 2 red onions
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- pinch of salt
- ¼ cup warm milk
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- ½ tl ground coriander
- pepper & salt to taste
- 10 oz kale, stems removed and cut into smaller bite-sized pieces
- 4 oz soft goat cheese
- 1 cup whole weat corn flakes
Instructions
- Peel the potatoes and cut them in equal pieces. Rinse onder cold water and boil them in salted water until done, about 25-30 minutes.
- Peel the red onions and slice thinly. Heat the butter in a skillet over medium heat and cook the onions until soft. Add the red wine vinegar, sugar and salt and let it summer for 5 – 10 minutes until they’re caramelized.
- Test with a fork if the potatoes are done, they should be very soft. Discard the water and leave the potatoes in the pot. Add the warm milk and use a potato masher to puree the sweet potatoes. Add the cumin and coriander and salt & pepper to taste. Mix until combined.
- Add the kale gradually, mixing until everthing is combined before adding some new kale.
- Serve the mash with the caramelized onions, goat cheese and corn flakes on top.
Notes
If you don't like goat cheese you can substitute it for crumbled bacon
Enjoy!
I posted this recipe earlier on my Dutch blog (Amerikaanse boerenkool stamppot met zoete aardappelen) and I kinda won a sort of a contest with it. So now I have to host this contest (the ‘foodblog event‘) this month 🙂
This looks so delicious! I absolutely love kale and sweet potato- so your recipe looks right up my street! Lovely recipe 🙂
Thank you! It’s such a great combination. I would love to know if you’ll make it 🙂
I love the flavor combinations!
Me too! 😉
I am going to try this tonight – however, without the red onions (because I don’t like those) and with soy milk and pecan nuts instead of the cornflakes. Very curious! 🙂
And? Did you like it?
Yep! Kale and sweet potatoes is a good combination. I put in some normal onion and pecan nuts, which were good additions. But I think it does need some goat cheese or blue cheese maybe to be perfect. So… I will probably try that another time 🙂
[…] And sometimes I do that, but it is more like a salad or pasta topped with goat cheese, or this sweet potato and kale mash. I give him bacon or prosciutto and I get to eat all the goat cheese, […]
I can’t believe I had the same idea as a great chef….wow, so cool. I had thought that shaved parmesan would work well also.
[…] I grew up with. And it’s also something what I would never cook myself now. Except for this Sweet potato and kale mash. You see, I really like sweet potatoes so I buy them more often than ‘normal’ potatoes. […]
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