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Fresh and Creative: Fast Pasta for Connoisseurs

It is a well-known fact that noodles make people happy – both for gourmet guests and creative cooks. Because fresh pasta in particular is cooked super fast, easy to combine, and still really sophisticated. No wonder the Germans have long since discovered their passion for fast pasta!

We eat around 8 kg of pasta per capita and year in this country. Admittedly, it is still a modest balance compared to Italy: Per capita consumption there is a whopping 30 kg per year. But we’re catching up – after all, our craving for pasta has roughly doubled since the early 1990s; Germans spend more than 500 million euros every year on pasta alone. And almost two-thirds of Germans eat pasta at least once a week.

Italian pasta is becoming increasingly popular, and although we have around 70 different varieties to choose from, spaghetti is still number one on the pasta charts. However, fresh pasta from the refrigerated section is also becoming increasingly popular, especially in bags and pouches with a fine filling.

By the way: The quick pasta from the refrigerated section not only tastes fantastic. Whether you prefer the classic stuffed pasta, place value on wholemeal, or prefer organic quality – there is guaranteed to be the right product for every taste and lifestyle.

Fast pasta: Enjoyment is a matter of minutes

And no matter what you choose: You can always conjure up super fast pasta with a high enjoyment factor from ravioli, tortelloni, Cappellini, or cappelletti in no time at all. Connoisseurs in a hurried mix the pasta, which is freshly cooked in just 2-3 minutes, e.g. B. simply with a little butter, sprinkle freshly grated Parmesan, Pecorino, or Grana Padano over it. If necessary, mix a small salad with it – and you have a delicious, quick dinner for the end of the day or a light lunch for the lunch break.

For those who still have a few minutes left, the quick pasta from the refrigerated section offers plenty of opportunity for creative cooking. It rarely takes longer than 15 to 20 minutes if you want to bring a dish with fresh pasta to the table like the Italian restaurant around the corner. A fine dinner for two or with friends in the middle of the week is easily possible – and because at least 90% of all Germans love pasta, you are always right.

Creative ideas for a quick pasta

So get creative! Here are a few ideas on how to create a delicious, quick pasta with little effort and always different ingredients:

  • Not only tempting for veggies: Pasta filled with vegetables and ricotta or mushrooms becomes an extra treat with freshly grated hard cheese, freshly chopped herbs, and diced tomatoes.
  • Popular and delicious for a quick pasta: simply serve with pesto! You can easily do this yourself, with a powerful mixer it hardly takes longer than the pasta needs to cook. If you don’t have the time or desire to do so, you can also get fresh pesto ready-made from the refrigerated section. Our tip: It becomes particularly sophisticated and appetizing if you mix the pasta half with red and half green pesto and then decorate with fresh basil leaves and possibly a few pine nuts.
  • Whether with a vegetarian filling or with meat inside: the quick pasta from the refrigerated section plus fresh or frozen vegetables turn a broth into a full-fledged, filling soup à la minestrone at lightning speed.
    Fancy something delicious from the oven? It doesn’t have to take long at all. Simply put tortelloni or other freshly filled pasta with vegetables or a ready-made sauce in an ovenproof dish. Then layer the mozzarella on top and bake in the oven until golden brown.
  • If you prefer something fresh, then you can also use your all-around talents very well. Whether it’s a lukewarm vegetable salad with ravioli, a spicy Cappelloni salad with avocado and chili, or a Cappelloni-Caprese salad: these or other salads to fill you up are on the table in about 15 minutes with quick pasta from the refrigerated section!
  • Anyone who likes it nice and crispy on the outside and wonderfully creamy on the inside will also be delighted with the brand new pan pasta. Fried with butter or olive oil, this quick pasta offers endless combinations: with vegetables or mushrooms, with or without meat, poultry, fish, or scampi…
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Food

Dry Your Own Tomatoes

Whether pure as a snack, preserved in oil, or processed into pesto Rosso: sun-dried tomatoes are delicious. We will show you how you can make your own sun-dried tomatoes in your own oven.

Our neighbors to the south have it good: They simply use the warm Mediterranean sun to dry ripe tomatoes. Perhaps you, too, have already seen roofs of houses on which pallets full of tomato halves were slowly drying while on holiday in Italy?!

In our latitudes, we have to help the drying process a bit. If you want to dry tomatoes yourself, you don’t necessarily need a special dehydrator; so does the oven.

Make sun-dried tomatoes yourself: the ingredients

  • 1 kilo good, ripe tomatoes (e.g. San Marzano)
  • sea-salt

Drying tomatoes yourself: That’s how it works

  1. Cut the tomatoes in half.
  2. Then remove the tomato juice and seeds; a teaspoon is best.
  3. The tomato halves are now placed cut-side down on several layers of kitchen paper and dried well.
  4. Place the tomato halves cut-side up on a baking tray lined with baking paper and season with sea salt.
  5. Put the tomatoes in the oven preheated to 90°C (top and bottom heat). Place a cooking spoon in the oven door to allow moisture to escape and dehydrate the tomatoes for 5 to 6 hours. The tomatoes are sufficiently dry when they can be bent like a sticky rubber mass. Do the test with your fingers: If you press the sun-dried tomatoes with your fingers, no more moisture should escape.
  6. Let the tomatoes cool on the baking sheet. They will keep for a long time in a cool and dry place. Tip: Put a few grains of rice in the container in which you store the tomatoes. These absorb excess moisture.

Gift ideas with sun-dried tomatoes

Gifts from your own kitchen are always welcome. Put a handful of dried tomatoes in good olive oil and add a chili pepper for a piquant aroma – and you have a personal and decorative gift for a loved one.

Make Pesto Rosso yourself

You can also make pesto Rosso from your own dried tomatoes. For this you need:

  • 100 g pine nuts
  • 1 handful of parsley
  • 1 handful of basil
  • 100 grams of sun-dried tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • oil at will
  • Salt
  • pepper
  1. Brown the pine nuts in the pan without oil. Roughly chop the tomatoes and place them in a tall container with the other ingredients. Process everything with the hand blender to a homogeneous mass, pouring in enough oil until the mass is creamy.
  2. Poured into a clean jar and covered with olive oil, the pesto will keep in the fridge for several weeks.
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Food

A Dessert Better Than Frequent Snacking

Those with a sweet tooth can’t get enough of sweets! The temptations are just too great: golden-yellow honey for breakfast, a piece of cake in the afternoon, and in between candies, chocolate and the like make you weak. But this permanent consumption of sugar is not healthy. It is better if the dessert is eaten immediately after lunch and frequent snacking is avoided.

A dessert after lunch

A candy here, a piece of chocolate there, and brightly colored rubber toys are also attractive. But frequent snacking has its pitfalls: the sugar bombs ensure that the insulin level keeps shooting up – and just as quickly falls again. This causes ravenous hunger and, with a corresponding predisposition, increases the risk of developing diabetes.

If you want to avoid a constant load of sugar, you should limit yourself to a light dessert – preferably after lunch. After the big meal, the sugar is not absorbed by the blood as quickly, as Silke Schwartau, a nutrition expert at the Hamburg Consumer Center, explains. Of course, you should also make sure that the dessert itself is not too sugary.

Sugar Consumption Guidelines

The World Health Organization (WHO) updated the guidelines for sugar consumption in March 2015. These now recommend consuming just 5 percent of your daily calories in the form of sugar – the equivalent of about six teaspoons a day.

This includes not only conventional household sugar and products made from it but also foods that naturally contain fructose, such as honey, syrup, or fruit juices.

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Food

Smoked Salmon Recalled

For reasons of preventive consumer protection, the manufacturer “Küstengold Handelsgesellschaft mbH” is recalling its “Küstengold Smoked Salmon Honey”. The reason for this is contamination with Listeria monocytogenes.

Product recall

The “Küstengold Smoked Salmon Honey” in the 100-gram pack and the following identifiers is affected by the product recall:

  • Best before dates 02/15/2016, 02/19/2016, 02/20/2016, 02/22/2016 as well as the
  • Lot numbers 04CL,99225, 99237, 99238, 99242 and dem
  • Identification mark NL6063

Contamination with Listeria monocytogenes

As the manufacturer explains in a press release, these products are affected by contamination with Listeria monocytogenes and have therefore been withdrawn from the market. Customers who have purchased these products can return them to the respective store. The purchase price will be refunded.

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Food

High Fiber Vegetable Chips

During a cozy evening in front of the TV or with an exciting board game, snacks are often served. Chips are at the top of the list. Instead of the usual potato chips, try the variant made from other vegetables. These are often richer in fiber.

High-fiber vegetable chips

If you like nibbling salty things, you should definitely try the vegetable chips. Compared to potato chips, these are often richer in fiber, which stimulates digestion and keeps you full for longer. However, if you are hoping for a lower-calorie version at the same time, you will be taught a better lesson: crisps made from vegetables are only slightly lower in calories than the potato version.

Vegetable chips are made from beetroot, parsnip, Jerusalem artichoke, or carrot, for example. The spice mixtures are also varied and range from classic salt and pepper to curry or chili.

Make your own vegetable chips

This snack made from high-fiber vegetables is on the table in just 30 minutes and has only 90 calories per serving: vegetable chips with tomato quark.

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Food

Hearty Porridge: Oatmeal for Lunch

Now that the days are getting shorter and unfortunately also colder, a warm meal in the morning is exactly the right way to start the day. Porridge is a popular variant. The porridge is a real power food and is usually refined with your favorite fruit, nuts, and honey. But now not only breakfast fans can enjoy it: hearty porridge is currently conquering the bowls and turning the rest of the breakfast into a healthy lunch menu.

The sweet times are over

As a balanced alternative to wholemeal bread and muesli in the morning, porridge made its way onto the breakfast table. A healthy affair that you can now also enjoy for lunch or dinner: as a hearty porridge. Instead of the usual sweet toppings, the oatmeal is refined with all sorts of vegetables, mushrooms, eggs, meat, or seeds and is therefore suitable for a nutritious main meal. Many bloggers and hobby cooks have already tried the latest trend and are convinced with more and more variants of the hearty porridge.

That’s why porridge is healthy

The basis of the oatmeal is the same as for the hearty porridge: the basic ingredients are oat flakes or flour but spelled flakes also taste great. The grain scores with a high fiber content, which keeps you full for a long time and ensures good digestion. The complex carbohydrates provide a lot of energy, keep the blood sugar level constant and thus prevent annoying food cravings.

Porridge gets its creamy consistency by boiling it in water or milk because the flakes swell in it. Milk supplies the body with important nutrients such as calcium, protein, and vitamins A and D. If you like it spicier, you can refine your hearty porridge with salt or cook the flakes directly in vegetable broth.

Instead of fruit, this variant is mixed with vegetables. Varieties that cook quickly, such as peas or tomatoes, can be added directly to the grain in the pot and cooked after about five minutes cooking. Otherwise, briefly steam the vegetables in a pan and add to the hearty porridge. Vegetables have hardly any calories and score with lots of fiber and vitamins. Of course, the eye also eats with you and so, depending on the season and taste, the best varieties can be selected and the hearty porridge varied.

Hearty porridge recipe

The following recipe can be used as a basis and supplemented by the alternatives already mentioned above:

Ingredients for 2 servings

  • 500 ml liquid (water, milk, vegetable broth)
  • 100 grams of rolled oats
  • 1 pinch salt (if not using vegetable broth)
  • 100 grams of peas
  • 100 grams of corn
  • 2 tbsp sunflower seeds

The preparation

  1. Boil the liquid and then stir in the flakes. Season with salt only if not cooking in vegetable broth. Let the whole thing simmer for about five minutes.
  2. Rinse the peas and corn and mix in with the porridge. Cover and simmer for five more minutes while stirring.
  3. Refine the hearty porridge with the sunflower seeds and serve in two bowls.
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Heat the Porcini Mushrooms to 70 Degrees Before Eating

The season of the porcini mushrooms has long since begun: while the hard-working collectors are already cavorting in the woods and looking for the most beautiful specimens, the others conjure up the most delicious dishes at home. It is particularly important to heat the porcini mushrooms to at least 70 degrees, otherwise, health problems can occur.

Thoroughly heat the porcini

Before the collected porcini mushrooms can be eaten, they should be heated to at least 70°C for two minutes. If this recommendation is not followed, the fox tapeworm eggs can survive. The parasite can cause the rare disease alveolar echinococcosis, one of the most serious liver diseases. The first symptoms are abdominal pain and elevated liver values. Up to 15 years can elapse between infection and diagnosis. Only heating the food to at least 70° degrees, such as when roasting, preserving, or baking, destroys the pathogens sustainably – this also applies to heating porcini mushrooms.

It depends on the number of porcini mushrooms

The lovers of the small forest plants can hardly get enough of them. But in addition to heating the porcini mushrooms, the amount consumed is also important: The German Society for Nutrition (DGE) recommends eating no more than 250 g of wild mushrooms per week. The reason for this is the still high levels of heavy metal and radiation exposure.

That is why porcini mushrooms are healthy

Freshly prepared porcini not only taste great, but they are also healthy. For example, they contain more fiber than apples. The sheltered little ones also have a high content of folate and vitamin D. Figure-conscious people should definitely integrate wild mushrooms into their diet because they are low in calories and fat.

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Food

Poutine: Specialty Conquers Fast Food Lovers

In Canada, it has been the fast-food par excellence for several decades: poutine. The dish consists of French fries, pieces of cheese, and gravy and is slowly conquering the counters of various kitchens around the world. The calorie count doesn’t say thank you after eating poutine, but it’s still a taste highlight.

What is poutine?

Poutine first went over a restaurant counter in Canada in the 1950s. Today, all sorts of what “poutine” means when translated, is considered a fast-food specialty and is even offered in Canadian McDonald’s and Burger King branches. The ingredients are relatively simple – the taste should still be bombastic.

Roughly cut potatoes are fried for classic poutine, which makes them crispy on the outside and golden in color, but soft on the inside. Cheddar is traditionally used as a piece of cheese, it does not run and squeaks when chewed. Hot gravy is then poured over the fries and cheese and the poutine is ready.

Of course, there are also restaurants in Canada that specialize in poutine and offer various variations of the classic. There, the fast-food dish is offered with sauerkraut, gherkins, minced meat, or mushrooms, for example, as well as numerous sauces.

Not an easy pleasure

A serving of poutine hits the calorie account with a whopping 500 calories. This makes poutine a pleasure that you can of course treat yourself to every now and then – but the Canadian specialty should not become a regular occurrence.

The Poutine Recipe

Ingredients for four people

  • 30 g cornstarch
  • 90 grams of butter
  • 60 grams of flour
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 550 ml beef broth
  • 300 ml chicken broth
  • pepper
  • about 10 potatoes
  • rapeseed oil
  • 300g cheddar

The preparation

  1. For the gravy, mix the cornstarch in 30ml water until it dissolves.
  2. Now melt the butter in a large pan. Then add the flour and simmer, stirring, for about five minutes until it turns golden brown.
  3. Peel the garlic cloves, cut them into small pieces, and add to the roux and sauté briefly.
  4. In another bowl, add the beef and chicken broth, stir in the roux and simmer until the sauce thickens about 5 minutes. Season with pepper and keep warm.
  5. Wash the potatoes and cut them into finger-width wedges. Then heat plenty of rapeseed oil in a saucepan and fry the potato wedges in it until they are golden yellow in color. Then drain on kitchen paper. For that extra portion of crispiness, it can also be fried a second time.
  6. Cut the cheddar into bite-sized pieces.
  7. Now place the finished fries on a large, deep plate, pour over the gravy, and spread the pieces of cheese over them.
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Why Does Basil Shrink So Fast?

Do you know that? No matter how hard you try: After a week at the latest, the basil you bought in the pot will lose its leaves. Many people suspect that the soil in the pots is loaded with microbes or fungi that will kill the seedling. But is that true?

It doesn’t matter whether you place it in the sun or in the shade, water it devotedly, or neglect it affectionately – after a week the basil plant you have bought is a case for the compost heap.

For the next Caprese salad, you have to go back to the supermarket and get a new potty. An effect that the supermarket operators shouldn’t mind – but what about the rumor that the shelf life of basil is intentionally limited?

A team of reporters from SWR commissioned an independent test laboratory to analyze soil samples from various pots bought in the supermarket. The result: No conspicuous values ​​that indicate targeted manipulation. But one thing is certain: the basil that we buy in the supermarket often has a long and often arduous journey behind it. The plant also takes with it the stay in the cold store, so that it quickly lets the leaves hang on the windowsill at home.

This keeps your basil fresh for a long time

More room

Carefully divide the basil plant into three parts and plant each in its own pot. This way, each plant gets more light and nutrients.

Lots of light

Basil is a plant native to the Mediterranean region. Therefore, she needs light and the sun to thrive. A place in the darkest corner of the kitchen (e.g. on the worktop) is therefore extremely unsuitable for the delicate plant.

The right amount of water

If the plant lets its leaves droop, it often simply has too little water. But falling into action and soaking the soil quickly turns out to be a mistake: when waterlogged, the plant is quickly attacked by gray mold. You can recognize this by the brownish-grey spots on the stems and leaves.

As a rule of thumb: water the pot with an amount of water that corresponds to about one-tenth of the pot’s volume every day. So your basil plant is optimally supplied with water without it starting to rot.

Harvest right

If only individual leaves are plucked off, your basil plant will soon look pretty torn. Therefore, always snip off a complete stalk directly above the leaf axis. This allows the side shoots to continue growing and the plant stays alive longer.

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Infused Water: Drinking Has Never Been so Easy and Delicious!

Drinking enough fluids is especially important in summer. But only drinking water is boring. And fruit juice is not always the healthiest alternative! This gave rise to the latest trend, “Fruit Infused Water” or “Detox Water”. Flavor water is incredibly easy to prepare.

Not only are these delicious drinks delicious, but they’re also healthy because the ingredients release minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants into the water, which you, in turn, put into your body.

Why is infused water so healthy?

Some combinations of infused water have a particularly positive effect on different areas. Lemon, for example, brings energy, boosts metabolism, and improves digestion. Like cucumber, it is also very refreshing. This is particularly pleasant in summer. All types of fruit and berries add sweetness to the water and provide energy. They also strengthen the immune system. Rosemary is said to be a muscle relaxant and regenerating herb, which improves memory and concentration. Mint prevents allergies and also improves the complexion.

The trend drink is so easy to make!

For the Fruit Infused Water, mix a liter of still water with about a handful of your favorite ingredient and let the mixture steep for a few hours. You can add fruit, vegetables, or herbs. Cucumber, ginger, lemon, and mint are particularly popular. Your creativity knows no limits!

Special combinations can also be used to counter specific complaints:

  • Belly fat can be counteracted with a combination of cucumber, strawberries, and basil.
  • Lemon, cucumber, berries, and oranges can provide more energy.
  • Strawberries, cucumber, lime, and mint in your water have a stress-relieving effect.
  • You will become slim and fit with the combination of lemon and coconut water.
  • Fat is easily “washed away” when you add cucumber, grapefruit, tangerine, and peppermint leaves to your water.
  • With grapefruit and mint, your complexion will improve.
  • A healthy bubble tea alternative can be mixed with chia seeds and water or coconut water.

When shopping for your infused water, make sure you’re buying quality products, such as organic. Before you put the ingredients in the water, you should wash them well.

We wish you a good thirst!

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