Zucchini noodles with crispy chickpeas, vegetarian and low carb! | in my Red Kitchen
by Ellen Bannink -

Zucchini noodles with crispy chickpeas

Zucchini noodles with crispy chickpeas, vegetarian and low carb! | in my Red Kitchen #glutenfree #vegetarian #lowcarb #carbfree #zoodles – Click here for this recipe in Dutch -> Courgette noodles met krokante kikkererwten –

Can’t stop won’t stop… I’m really into zoodles right now, or zucchini in noodle form. A súper healthy alternative to spaghetti or noodles, because duh, it’s green and it’s a vegetable! Is there anything more healthier to eat?

Well then… Just sayin’…
P is currently working super hard, the last two weeks he’s came home around midnight on weekdays. They’re serving dinner at work, so I just eat at home all by myself. I don’t mind, time to eat things I like which he hates. Blue cheese for example, it’s very tasty to melt that in a skillet and add zucchini noodles. I could eat that every day!

What is also nice of a husband who’s working overtime,

Zucchini noodles with baked ricotta, such a healthy dish! | in my Red Kitchen #glutenfree #pasta #zoodles
by Ellen Bannink -

Zucchini spaghetti with baked ricotta

Zucchini noodles with baked ricotta, such a healthy dish! | in my Red Kitchen #glutenfree #pasta #zoodles – Click here for this recipe in Dutch -> Courgette spaghetti met gebakken ricotta –

I can’t believe I haven’t even told you yet about that one Friday night that I had to take P to the ER. But fear not… he has been walking around again!

It happened in the evening at 9pm, we were preparing the guest room and we had just received a new internet modem. I was in the bedroom and P was busy connecting the modem in the living room. Suddenly I hear him

Noodles and snow peas with goma dare dressing | in my Red Kitchen
by Ellen Bannink -

Noodles with snow peas and goma dare dressing

Noodles and snow peas with goma dare dressing | in my Red Kitchen – Click here for this recipe in Dutch -> Noodles met peultjes en goma dare dressing –

If I want to do my husband a favor than I have to serve him snow peas. And preferably raw. I try to eat them raw myself sometimes, but alas… I really wish I like them, so I can snack raw snow peas instead of potato chips or chocolate 😉

But however, I like them stir-fried! Fortunately, because there were beautiful purple snow peas in the box I received from Frieda’s this month. I had to be quick because once P would see that there were snow peas in the fridge, I would lose them, and

Dan dan noodles, you had me a spicy peanut sauce! | in my Red Kitchen
by Ellen Bannink -

Dan dan noodles

Dan dan noodles, you had me at spicy peanut sauce! | in my Red Kitchen

– Click here for this recipe in Dutch -> Dan dan noodles in een pittige pindasaus –

You will probably not believe me but I had my first driving lesson when I was 28 years old; and 6 months and 26 lessons later I got my driver’s license. In the Netherlands this is quite fast, but when I tell this to my American friends they are all surprised. In America (or at least in LA), you need 6 hours of driving lessons to do the driving test. In the Netherlands I “only” had to spent €1.500 on my driving lessons, written test and behind the wheel test. In LA the costs are much lower, we only had to pay $33 for our Californian license. That includes 3 times a written test (if you fail, you can do it 2x on the same day to succeed) and 1 behind the wheel test. If you fail the second behind the wheel test costs… hold on… $6!

If you are over 18 then you basically don’t need driving lessons to complete the tests and from 16 you can drive with a temporary license (then you’re under the supervision of your parents). If that’s the case, you need 30 hours of theory lessons and you have to spent 6 hours of driving lessons behind the wheel.

This is my mom's recipe for Chicken noodle soup with leeks - but I made a slow cooker version! | in my Red Kitchen
by Ellen Bannink -

Mom’s chicken noodle soup with leeks (slow cooker version)

This is my mom's recipe for Chicken noodle soup with leeks - but I made a slow cooker version! | in my Red Kitchen

– Click here for this recipe in Dutch -> Kippensoep –

‘They’ are promising us rain later this week. And not the rain we had a few times now since our arrival in Los Angeles, no we are talking about the Dutch kind of rain. One to two inches (2.5 – 5 cm), that’s a lot! Especially for LA 😉

I have the feeling the whole city is preparing to cope with the rain and I’m also planning ahead. I just don’t want to leave the house if it isn’t necessary. It’s not because I’m made of sugar, come on, I grew up in the Netherlands where it always rains a lot!

by Ellen Bannink -

Noodle salad with peanuts

Moving to another country is not the easiest thing to do. You have to leave everyone and everything you know behind to start a new life. So now in LA we have to discover everything: where do I need to go for some good pizza? How do I know which groceries can be ‘trusted’? Where do I have to buy underwear (or better: what will be my favorite underwear)? Who can I trust to cut my hair? Oh and I can go on with this list for -let’s say- forever!

Noodle salad p

One of the things I have to miss in Amsterdam is good dim sum. I regularly went to a really good dim sum place where the weekends were packed with Chinese customers. So then you know it’s good! 😉