PHOTOGRAPHY BY NASSIMA ROTHACKERThank you for all of the support and love along the way. This is for every single one of you. xxPHOTOGRAPHY BY NASSIMA ROTHACKERThank you for all of the support and love along the way. This is for every single one of you. xxMY STORY7WHAT IS HAPPY FOOD?9PANTRY BASICS11MENU PLANS182THANK YOUS & ABOUT BETTINA 187INDEX188HAPPY START14904211268132156QUICK &SIMPLEFEASTS &SHARINGDIPS &SIDESFAVOURITEBASICSSWEET TREATSHOMEALONECONTENTSMY STORY7WHAT IS HAPPY FOOD?9PANTRY BASICS11MENU PLANS182THANK YOUS & ABOUT BETTINA 187INDEX188HAPPY START14904211268132156QUICK &SIMPLEFEASTS &SHARINGDIPS &SIDESFAVOURITEBASICSSWEET TREATSHOMEALONECONTENTS7MY STORY My earliest memories are of growing up in East Africa (Tanzania). Barely wearing shoes, spending weekends on the beach, following my mother to the local markets in the pursuit of the freshest, best-quality fruits and vegetables, and haggling with the stallholders to get the best possible price. My mother was sharp and pretty hardcore when it came to negotiating, and everyone at the markets always knew she was coming.Looking back at it now I can appreciate how lucky I was and what an idyllic childhood I was able to experience. Food was a big part of family life; my parents were good cooks. Growing up in a multi-cultural home – with a Norwegian father and a Danish/Bulgarian mother – I experienced an array of different food traditions. Our trips to see family, and our holidays in general, always revolved around what we ate, which restaurants we visited and what exciting new flavours we experienced. My Norwegian grandmother – who lived in Sweden – would forage and pick what she had available in her garden and knock up home-made jams, cordials and pickles, while my Bulgarian grandmother would cook up a feast for every major national holiday, choosing the freshest produce she could get hold of in the local market. For me, I think cooking really began when I was six years old and had mastered the art of cooking pancakes, which I would proudly demo at breakfast to all my friends who came over for sleepovers. I was gifted a children’s cookbook and that was it – I was hooked. Then at the tender age of 11 my family relocated to Sweden, and this began an escape into the kitchen. I vividly remember this period of my life, which I’d describe as taking a palm tree and placing it at the North Pole. The differences between Africa and Scandinavia were not only visible but could be felt by my little heart. The change was enormous, and for the first six months I disliked my new life. I found it very difficult to adjust. First of all my background was a mish-mash; I had olive-coloured skin and my hair was much darker than that of the Swedish kids. I also had pretty distinct features, such as prominent eyes and nose. I experienced first hand what ‘being different’ felt like, and it took a while to get used to. My grandmother stayed with us a lot during this period, and I would seek solace in helping her cook, experimenting with using the fruits of the three apple trees in our garden. Throughout my school years, cooking was the one skill I knew I was good at and could always trust. During my teens, my parents created a competition where each of us had to cook on alternate weekends. We were each given a budget and within it we had to create a three-course dinner in a set amount of time. This was when I really learnt how to follow recipes and my passion for cooking was awakened. Then, later, I cooked at my parents’ dinner parties, in the communal kitchens at university, and I catered for my friends’ birthday celebrations. I was always on the lookout for foodie experiences, so I started working in the food and beverage industry, which transitioned me to study Hotel Management – I had discovered a study course that combined theory with the practicality I loved.At 23, during my last year at university in Spain, I met my husband, who is half Italian and half English and shares my passion for food, coming from a family that has owned restaurants for generations. I decided to stay in the country after I finished my studies, working in different industries for a few years until I started my first little business, called Pockets. Through this MY STORYMY STORY7MY STORY My earliest memories are of growing up in East Africa (Tanzania). Barely wearing shoes, spending weekends on the beach, following my mother to the local markets in the pursuit of the freshest, best-quality fruits and vegetables, and haggling with the stallholders to get the best possible price. My mother was sharp and pretty hardcore when it came to negotiating, and everyone at the markets always knew she was coming.Looking back at it now I can appreciate how lucky I was and what an idyllic childhood I was able to experience. Food was a big part of family life; my parents were good cooks. Growing up in a multi-cultural home – with a Norwegian father and a Danish/Bulgarian mother – I experienced an array of different food traditions. Our trips to see family, and our holidays in general, always revolved around what we ate, which restaurants we visited and what exciting new flavours we experienced. My Norwegian grandmother – who lived in Sweden – would forage and pick what she had available in her garden and knock up home-made jams, cordials and pickles, while my Bulgarian grandmother would cook up a feast for every major national holiday, choosing the freshest produce she could get hold of in the local market. For me, I think cooking really began when I was six years old and had mastered the art of cooking pancakes, which I would proudly demo at breakfast to all my friends who came over for sleepovers. I was gifted a children’s cookbook and that was it – I was hooked. Then at the tender age of 11 my family relocated to Sweden, and this began an escape into the kitchen. I vividly remember this period of my life, which I’d describe as taking a palm tree and placing it at the North Pole. The differences between Africa and Scandinavia were not only visible but could be felt by my little heart. The change was enormous, and for the first six months I disliked my new life. I found it very difficult to adjust. First of all my background was a mish-mash; I had olive-coloured skin and my hair was much darker than that of the Swedish kids. I also had pretty distinct features, such as prominent eyes and nose. I experienced first hand what ‘being different’ felt like, and it took a while to get used to. My grandmother stayed with us a lot during this period, and I would seek solace in helping her cook, experimenting with using the fruits of the three apple trees in our garden. Throughout my school years, cooking was the one skill I knew I was good at and could always trust. During my teens, my parents created a competition where each of us had to cook on alternate weekends. We were each given a budget and within it we had to create a three-course dinner in a set amount of time. This was when I really learnt how to follow recipes and my passion for cooking was awakened. Then, later, I cooked at my parents’ dinner parties, in the communal kitchens at university, and I catered for my friends’ birthday celebrations. I was always on the lookout for foodie experiences, so I started working in the food and beverage industry, which transitioned me to study Hotel Management – I had discovered a study course that combined theory with the practicality I loved.At 23, during my last year at university in Spain, I met my husband, who is half Italian and half English and shares my passion for food, coming from a family that has owned restaurants for generations. I decided to stay in the country after I finished my studies, working in different industries for a few years until I started my first little business, called Pockets. Through this MY STORYMY STORY98MY STORYI catered to the ever-growing property offices on the Spanish coast, delivering home-made sandwiches and salads. In the summers I catered for the yachts and had another little business called Yacht Hampers. Both went well until the recession hit and many of the offices closed down. This period is now a blur; I tried to find work wherever I could but I didn’t really know what I wanted to do in my life. I knew I had the potential to do something that would bring meaning to my soul, I just didn’t know how to get there.So I started working in event management, working crazy hours and running several projects at once. As many of you probably know, this is a tiring industry and at 26 I suffered a string of health issues. A visit to a gynaecologist confirmed that I suffered from polycystic ovary syndrome and endometriosis. I was told that the likelihood of me ever getting pregnant would be next to none and that this was a fate I should prepare myself for. Shocked, to say the least, I knew something had to change. It was also during this time that an opportunity to run health retreats arose. So I quit and embarked on co-founding and running those. Because of my fondness and passion for food and cooking I was responsible to cook at these retreats. The guidelines were simple: the food had to be 100 per cent plant-based, meaning no animal products whatsoever, gluten-free and free from white sugar. Loving a challenge, I dug into cookbooks and blogs and started finding solutions to these issues, but because I was dealing with my own health condition, I found I was uncovering ways to deal with my symptoms in a natural way, too.Seven months into the new venture and against all odds, I got pregnant. I am not into labels and would not call myself a vegan, but most of what I eat on a daily basis consists of plant-based foods, and while I don’t want to make any claims that these foods helped me to get pregnant, what I can say for sure is that since adding more fruits, vegetables and general plant-based foods into my diet, I feel heaps better. I also cut out gluten around this time, after learning that I had probably been intolerant to it for a very long time, and this was what had been causing the stomach problems I had suffered from for as long as I can remember.I continued to co-run and cook at health retreats for another three years until a good friend of mine, and later my business partner, Mark, encouraged me to pursue my passion. I listened then decided to blindly follow my heart, and thus Bettina’s Kitchen was born. I developed my skills on the job by doing courses with the Matthew Kenney Culinary institute, based in Los Angeles, and also started documenting my recipes on social media so that I would remember them. Through this medium I shared my knowledge and created workshops to teach the basics of plant-based foods and how to incorporate them into your everyday life. Along the way I also encountered numerous clients who suffered intolerances and simply did not know how to replace what they had always had as a part of their diet – such as milk, flour and eggs.In the last few years I have worked as a recipe consultant, written articles about how to incorporate plants into your everyday life, conducted pop-up workshops and freelanced and run several health retreats in numerous countries. My passion and expertise lies in how to use everyday ingredients and make them tasty in the simplest possible way. I love finding solutions and ways of cooking ingredients that I would normally never think of, as well as sourcing and finding seasonal fruits and vegetables and creating something yummy!Cooking at retreats that are sometimes in remote places with limited access to equipment has taught me to make the most out of my ingredients and to not overcomplicate food. I want everyone to have a chance to cook from scratch with ingredients that can be found in any supermarket. I am passionate about ingredients; their source, their tastes and functionality and how to make them appeal to all tastes. When I was younger I desperately wanted to become an artist. I guess I found a way to express what my heart feels on every plate that comes out of my kitchen.This book is a piece of my passion that I hope you will love as much as I do.Lots of love,BettinaWHAT IS HAPPY FOOD? Happy Food is a cookbook for everyone! Grandmothers with newly-converted vegan granddaughters coming over for Sunday dinner, couples who want to increase their veggie intake, single people looking for a quick meal after a long day, families that have allergens but want to enjoy a meal together without compromises on comfort and taste, as well as anyone who wants to give vegan or gluten-free cooking a go.I have developed and cooked all the recipes in this book over the last six years, having cooked them for clients and family members, at pop-ups, workshops and more! The ingredients are few and all the methods are short, easy and quick.These dishes are a combination of my philosophies. You feast with your eyes first, so making food look pretty on your plate is important when it comes to self-care and it is a lovely touch when cooking for yourself, family or friends. When it comes to flavour, I try as much as possible to combine the five tastes – sweet, sour, salty, spicy and bitter – in order to satisfy the tastebuds and offer the ultimate foodie experience. Texture is also super important – a bit of crunch on a curry, a dollop of creaminess on porridge and a drizzle of syrup on pancakes create an extra layer in a dish that makes it more fun and interesting. Most of all, though, I believe that food is meant to make you happy! Whether it’s love at first sight because it’s so pretty or colourful, or at the first hit of flavour when the food bursts in your mouth, food is here to put a smile on our faces. Ingredients make me excited and happy and I hope that this eclectic collection will put a smile on your faces, too.HOW TO USE THIS BOOKFavourite BasicsThis chapter is for all of you who would like to create everything from scratch. These really useful recipes can be prepared ahead and stored for a long period in the pantry, fridge or even freezer – and you can use these wherever they are referred to in the ingredients’ lists of other recipes throughout the book. If you prefer to use shop-bought products, such as gluten-free flour mix or plant yoghurts or milks, that would work, too. If you are not vegan or gluten-free and want to replace the dairy foods with animal products, that is absolutely fine, but I would recommend that you always buy good-quality products – preferably organic. In terms of my baked goods, if you are not using gluten-free flour mixes I would advise to use old, traditional grains such as spelt, Kamut and einkorn for best results. Give these basics a go, they are brilliant!Waste notMany of the recipes in this book – specifically the Home Alone chapter (page 42) – are dedicated to serving smaller amounts. Families of two or fewer have been accounted for, so as to not waste ingredients and so that you don’t have to eat the same meal over a few days as leftovers! I have also tried to make use of a smaller selection of ingredients throughout the book, so that if you buy 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) of carrots you are not limited to using them in only one recipe. I have on several occasions hunted down certain condiments, salts or spices for one particular dish and ended up not using them again, which over time creates a WHAT IS HAPPY FOOD?WHAT IS HAPPY FOOD?98MY STORYI catered to the ever-growing property offices on the Spanish coast, delivering home-made sandwiches and salads. In the summers I catered for the yachts and had another little business called Yacht Hampers. Both went well until the recession hit and many of the offices closed down. This period is now a blur; I tried to find work wherever I could but I didn’t really know what I wanted to do in my life. I knew I had the potential to do something that would bring meaning to my soul, I just didn’t know how to get there.So I started working in event management, working crazy hours and running several projects at once. As many of you probably know, this is a tiring industry and at 26 I suffered a string of health issues. A visit to a gynaecologist confirmed that I suffered from polycystic ovary syndrome and endometriosis. I was told that the likelihood of me ever getting pregnant would be next to none and that this was a fate I should prepare myself for. Shocked, to say the least, I knew something had to change. It was also during this time that an opportunity to run health retreats arose. So I quit and embarked on co-founding and running those. Because of my fondness and passion for food and cooking I was responsible to cook at these retreats. The guidelines were simple: the food had to be 100 per cent plant-based, meaning no animal products whatsoever, gluten-free and free from white sugar. Loving a challenge, I dug into cookbooks and blogs and started finding solutions to these issues, but because I was dealing with my own health condition, I found I was uncovering ways to deal with my symptoms in a natural way, too.Seven months into the new venture and against all odds, I got pregnant. I am not into labels and would not call myself a vegan, but most of what I eat on a daily basis consists of plant-based foods, and while I don’t want to make any claims that these foods helped me to get pregnant, what I can say for sure is that since adding more fruits, vegetables and general plant-based foods into my diet, I feel heaps better. I also cut out gluten around this time, after learning that I had probably been intolerant to it for a very long time, and this was what had been causing the stomach problems I had suffered from for as long as I can remember.I continued to co-run and cook at health retreats for another three years until a good friend of mine, and later my business partner, Mark, encouraged me to pursue my passion. I listened then decided to blindly follow my heart, and thus Bettina’s Kitchen was born. I developed my skills on the job by doing courses with the Matthew Kenney Culinary institute, based in Los Angeles, and also started documenting my recipes on social media so that I would remember them. Through this medium I shared my knowledge and created workshops to teach the basics of plant-based foods and how to incorporate them into your everyday life. Along the way I also encountered numerous clients who suffered intolerances and simply did not know how to replace what they had always had as a part of their diet – such as milk, flour and eggs.In the last few years I have worked as a recipe consultant, written articles about how to incorporate plants into your everyday life, conducted pop-up workshops and freelanced and run several health retreats in numerous countries. My passion and expertise lies in how to use everyday ingredients and make them tasty in the simplest possible way. I love finding solutions and ways of cooking ingredients that I would normally never think of, as well as sourcing and finding seasonal fruits and vegetables and creating something yummy!Cooking at retreats that are sometimes in remote places with limited access to equipment has taught me to make the most out of my ingredients and to not overcomplicate food. I want everyone to have a chance to cook from scratch with ingredients that can be found in any supermarket. I am passionate about ingredients; their source, their tastes and functionality and how to make them appeal to all tastes. When I was younger I desperately wanted to become an artist. I guess I found a way to express what my heart feels on every plate that comes out of my kitchen.This book is a piece of my passion that I hope you will love as much as I do.Lots of love,BettinaWHAT IS HAPPY FOOD? Happy Food is a cookbook for everyone! Grandmothers with newly-converted vegan granddaughters coming over for Sunday dinner, couples who want to increase their veggie intake, single people looking for a quick meal after a long day, families that have allergens but want to enjoy a meal together without compromises on comfort and taste, as well as anyone who wants to give vegan or gluten-free cooking a go.I have developed and cooked all the recipes in this book over the last six years, having cooked them for clients and family members, at pop-ups, workshops and more! The ingredients are few and all the methods are short, easy and quick.These dishes are a combination of my philosophies. You feast with your eyes first, so making food look pretty on your plate is important when it comes to self-care and it is a lovely touch when cooking for yourself, family or friends. When it comes to flavour, I try as much as possible to combine the five tastes – sweet, sour, salty, spicy and bitter – in order to satisfy the tastebuds and offer the ultimate foodie experience. Texture is also super important – a bit of crunch on a curry, a dollop of creaminess on porridge and a drizzle of syrup on pancakes create an extra layer in a dish that makes it more fun and interesting. Most of all, though, I believe that food is meant to make you happy! Whether it’s love at first sight because it’s so pretty or colourful, or at the first hit of flavour when the food bursts in your mouth, food is here to put a smile on our faces. Ingredients make me excited and happy and I hope that this eclectic collection will put a smile on your faces, too.HOW TO USE THIS BOOKFavourite BasicsThis chapter is for all of you who would like to create everything from scratch. These really useful recipes can be prepared ahead and stored for a long period in the pantry, fridge or even freezer – and you can use these wherever they are referred to in the ingredients’ lists of other recipes throughout the book. If you prefer to use shop-bought products, such as gluten-free flour mix or plant yoghurts or milks, that would work, too. If you are not vegan or gluten-free and want to replace the dairy foods with animal products, that is absolutely fine, but I would recommend that you always buy good-quality products – preferably organic. In terms of my baked goods, if you are not using gluten-free flour mixes I would advise to use old, traditional grains such as spelt, Kamut and einkorn for best results. Give these basics a go, they are brilliant!Waste notMany of the recipes in this book – specifically the Home Alone chapter (page 42) – are dedicated to serving smaller amounts. Families of two or fewer have been accounted for, so as to not waste ingredients and so that you don’t have to eat the same meal over a few days as leftovers! I have also tried to make use of a smaller selection of ingredients throughout the book, so that if you buy 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) of carrots you are not limited to using them in only one recipe. I have on several occasions hunted down certain condiments, salts or spices for one particular dish and ended up not using them again, which over time creates a WHAT IS HAPPY FOOD?WHAT IS HAPPY FOOD?Next >