Warm Harvest Salad ‒ Lämmin sadonkorjuusalaatti

I'm really happy about the fact I've learned to cook many different types of salads. Couple of years ago, basically all my salads contained the same ingredients. And nothing wrong with them still. But variance is the salt in life. This time I took model from this salad, but since the result doesn't really resemble it at all, I thought I'd better change the name too. This one went just for a sidekick, but if you'd like to turn it into a your evening's main course, try frying some smoked tofu cubes or toss horse beans in the oven as well.


- 5 apples
- 5 potatoes
- 1 red onion
- 2 dl gooseberries
- 1 dl pecans
- 1 punch of salad leaves
- 3 tbsp rape oil
- salt

For the sauce:
- 2 tbsp apple wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp mustard
- 1 tbsp spruce syrup
- 2 garlic cloves
- black pepper

Cut the potatoes and the onion in discs. Apply oil and salt. Stick them into a 225°C oven for 15 minutes so they'll soften up.

Cut the apples and the salad a bit smaller. Crush the nuts. Add the gooseberries into the same bowl as well. mix the salad sauce ready.

When the potatoes come out of the oven, toss them and the sauce over the rest. Jump right in.

Nutritional values / 1183 g:
energy 1371 kcal
fat 86 g
protein 17 g
carbohydrates 240 g
fiber 23 g

Countryside Bean Salad with Herb Oil ‒ Talonpojan papusalaatti ja yttiöljy

One more part to the salad trilogy. This one is something I've been planning for a long time. I wanted to make a very filling salad with a rustic feel to it. Something I'd like to have sitting by our allotment garden after some physical work. And since this is the time for green beans, they're really the main star of the plate.

The salad
- 250 g green beans
- 230 g giant beans
- 4 slices of rye bread
- 200 g cherry tomatoes
- 125 g radish
- 100 g fresh spinach
- 3 summer potatoes
- 1 red onion
- 0.5 dl sunflower seeds
- 2 garlic cloves
- oil for frying
- salt

The herb oil
- 1 dl flax seed oil
- 1 punch of fresh parsley
- 10 basil leaves
- 2 tbsp black currant juice (unsweetened, without added water)
- black pepper

Cook the potatoes and the green beans in salted water. Roast the sunflower seeds a bit on a dry pan. Move away the seeds, add some oil and minced garlic and place the bread there, cut down into mouth-fitting chunks. Fish out the green beans and place them on the pan as well.

Cut the onion in semi-circles and slice the radishes. When the potatoes are done, slice them as well. Mix everything and serve while still warm.

For the oil, just blend everything together. Serve alongside the salad or mix right into it.

Nutritional values / 1652 g:
energy 1852 kcal
fat 109 g
protein 49 g
carbohydrates 159 g
fiber 55 g

80's Salad with Horseradish Mayonnaise ‒ Kasarisalaatti piparjuurimajoneesilla

Continuing my perversion of dishes from the luckily bygone 80's, pasta salads are a must. The classic version features a certain bag of frozen vegetables abbreviated HMP, herne-maissi-paprika or pea, corn and bell pepper. There is also ham, mayonnaise and macaroni, or in a flashier version tricolour pasta. I thought I'd modernize it by improving every part of it a little, using fresh ingredients we now enjoy during summertime.

Now, I've had my share of failures when trying to make mayonnaise myself. Usually I just got soy milk with added features. The Youtube videos I tried to watch mostly left out the actual part where the ingredients are mixed together. Then I managed to bump into this instruction and had to laugh out loud when it worked so easily for me. The only important parts are the lemon juice and the oil, the rest is just up to your personal taste. And I'm pretty sure you could use vinegar instead of lemon juice, as well as experiment with different vegetable oils.

The salad
- 250 g funny-looking wholemeal pasta
- 200 g extra firm smoked tofu
- 5 dl pea pods
- 2 pre-cooked corn ears (grilling does wonders if that's an option)
- 2 red bell peppers

The mayonnaise
- lemon juice (about 2 tbsp)
- 2 dl rape oil (not cold pressed but the neutral type)
- 2 tsp mustard
- 2 tbsp grated horseradish
- salt
- white pepper

Cook the pasta and in salted water. While it's cooking, separate the peas from their pods, chop the bell peppers and take out the edible parts of the corn with a help of a knife. Cut the tofu into long thin pieces. When the pasta is ready, drain it and mix everything in a bowl.

For the mayonnaise, you'll need a hand-held immersion blender and a jar just the size of it. First, pour enough lemon juice to cover the bottom of the jar. Stick the blender firmly on the bottom and pour the oil on it. Start the blender and pull it out sloooowly. Now the mayonnaise should be firm and you can mix the spices in it. Serve as a salad dressing or mix about 0.5 dl of it right into the salad and put the rest into fridge for later purposes.

Nutritional values / 1415 g:
energy 1807 kcal
fat 43 g
protein 90 g
carbohydrates 258 g
fiber 39 g

Millet and Chickpea Salad ‒ Hirssi-kahvihernesalaatti

Lately I've been a bit tired and thus, a lazy cook. But that's OK during summer. You can eat healthy and well with very simple recipes as there's this abundance of tasty, fresh and local stuff available. I thought I'd share with you some of the best working salads or cold dishes I've been experimenting with.

The idea for this first one came from Prometheus camp I visited recently. It had chickpeas and probably something like couscous in it, but by the time I was home I couldn't remember the rest. So I just put together things that seemed to go well together and ended up with this.

- 2 dl millet
- 4.5 dl water
- 1 can  of chickpeas (230 g)
- 1 cucumber
- 0.5 dl hemp oil
- 1 punch of fresh dill
- 1 lemon
- mint
- black pepper
- salt

Roast the millet on a dry pan for ten minutes or so. (This should make it a bit more loose than just cooking it straight.) Be careful not to burn it though. When you start to smell popcorn, move it into a pot with the water. Let it come into a boil. Turn of the heat, add some salt and cover with a lid. Let the millet swell for about 25 minutes.

In the meanwhile, chop the cucumber and mince the dill. Rinse the chickpeas. Grate the lemon peel and squeeze half of the juice into the salad bowl as well. Add the millet and everything else. Muddle up and move into the fridge to cool down before eating.

Nutritional values / 1365 g:
energy 1265 kcal
fat 57 g
protein 36 g
carbohydrates 151 g
fiber 32 g

Fruity Summer Salad ‒ Hedelmäinen kesäsalaatti

All my main course salads basically consist of three parts: the green, the red and the brown. They don't necessarily need to be of the colour mentioned. The green part refers to the stuff we normally think when someone mentions salad: leafy vegetables like lettuce, salad rocket or endive. In this case I used the wild vegetables I happened to find along a short walk in the forest. The red part means juicy vegetables like tomato, cucumber, radish or in this case, fruits currently being sold on the market square next to me. This part is the most versatile as you could also add some cooked oat, fried bread, olives or sun dried tomatoes into it. The brown part refers to protein, which might come in the form of tofu, beans, nuts, sprouts or in this case, pea tempeh.

You could also turn this into a side salad for a summer evening's dinner by just leaving the tempeh out. Or skip the need for a kitchen stove by using extra firm smoked tofu instead. As a perhaps interesting side note, I thought I had made a mistake counting the nutritional values since the protein amount seemed quite high. It wouldn't be the first time I've made mistakes so I checked where it comes from. I quickly noticed that chickweed was responsible for the second biggest part of protein and though I must have values wrong somehow since it's just a simple, neutral-tasting weed. But googling a bit I found out that no, it really is that surprisingly rich in protein, consisting 15‒24 percent of the stuff. Nice.

- 300 g tempeh
- 300 g strawberries
- 300 g cherries
- 300 g water melon
- chickweed
- fireweed top leaves
- young dandelion leaves
- 3 spring onions
- pineapple weed or lemon balm
- oil for frying

Wash the onions, the weeds and the leaves and cut them into mouth-fitting pieces. Cut strips from the tempeh and fry them lightly from both sides.(At this point you can also apply some spices to them if you wish.) Cube the watermelon, half the cherries and slice the strawberries. Jumble up.

This doesn't necessarily require any added dressing, but if you wish for one, choose an equally fruity type. For example, some puréed raspberries from the freezer with a little bit of oil and vinegar added.

Nutritional values / 1480 g:
energy 1109 kcal
fat 51 g
protein 82 g
carbohydrates 170 g
fiber 40 g

Bright New Potato Salad ‒ Kirkas perunasalaatti uusista perunoista

Ground elder has long been on my list of wild vegetables I'd like to take into my repertoire. It's one of those plants that other bloggers into this kind of things seem charmed about. As I've walked around, it's felt as if I see it everywhere, but haven't had the courage to pick. You see, it's a real danger to mix it up with some other vascular plant, which in turn can be quite poisonous. This is especially an issue if you want to pick young shoots which are all wrinkled. The plants should really be recognised on the previous summer and see there isn't other plants between them before returning to the place.

Yesterday I visited a friend who lives in this lovely little cottage by a small forest, but only a ten-minute bus journey away from the city center. She gave me some rhubarb and lovage from her garden but also showed me a dense growth of ground elders and gave me scissors so I could pick them myself and thus learn how they grow. This feels much more assuring than just looking at pictures of them.

Now I should only learn how to best use them. The first thing I tried was as the salad leaves in this seasonal salad. In Finland potato salad usually means potato cubes drowned in mayonnaise or such but I didn't really think that would make right to potatoes at their best.

- 600 g new potatoes
- 1 big punch of young ground elders
- 1  small punch of pea shoots
- 1 small punch of spring onion
- 1 pickle
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp balsamic or white wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp mustard

Don't peel the potatoes but wash if they're muddy. Cook in salted water. If they're bigger than your mouth, cut them a little. Rinse the ground elders, the pea shoots and the onions. Cut them into convenient pieces and add with the potatoes. Chop the pickle as well.

Mix the salad. Add the sauce ingredients. Mix again. Eat right away or let it marinade for a few hours.

Red Cabbage Salad ‒ Punakaalisalaatti

Tonight we'll be having our own traditional pikkujoulu party with a group of friends, just like we did last year. The idea of trying weird glögis turned out so well last time we thought we'd repeat it with some fresh recipes. I've also baked a chocolate cake for the occasion but I haven't tasted yet in which way is it to die for.

While waiting for the dessert, here's an extremely simple sidekick salad. It takes practically no time to prepare so it's just what you need when noticing your Joulu table is still missing something fresh. Cabbage and lingonberry are quite a regular combination in Finnish kitchen but somehow the nuts give it that special festive feeling.

- 500 g red cabbage
- 3 dl walnuts
- 2 dl lingonberry cram (with only a hint of sugar)

Shred the cabbage. Combine everything. Say: "Hyvää ruokahalua!"

For hi-fi version, toast the nuts. Depending on what else you're having on the plate you could also add couple of tablespoons of (nut) oil and some fennel seeds.

Nutritional values / 815 g:
energy 1401 kcal
fat 119 g
protein 35 g
carbohydrates 47 g
fiber 41 g

Marinated Pea Pods ‒ Marinoidut herneenpalot

Keeping this blog has often made me wonder what really makes a given food Finnish. Sometimes I understand 'Finnish' meaning the ethnicity, sometimes the prevailing food culture in the state of Finland but perhaps most of the time it's really a matter of main ingredients produced near me. While I wouldn't want to make a big issue out of the question with artificial limitations I also try not to post any of my basic ice coffees and ice teas, no matter how much I love them, since there are so many better places for them.

Once again I did wonder whether this little marinade tastes too Asian for Mämmi but heck, all the market squares are teeming with whole pea pod sellers again and I already managed to constrain myself from eating them fresh on the spot. If you want to do something with them this is pretty much the simplest way. After all, only couple of centuries ago eating peas fresh was thought as a terrible waste and elitism that normal people couldn't afford so this is sort of circumventing the problem.

- 5 dl whole pea pods
- 0.5 dl soy sauce
- 0.25 dl rape oil
- 0.5 dl dry apple cider
- 1 teaspoon ginger

Rinse the pods with cold water. Remove the tips and cut them in half lengthwise (be careful not to shake off the peas). Whisk together the marinade and pour it over the peas. Let them juice up for at least half an hour in the refrigerator. Waiting overnight makes the taste stronger and turns the pods dark which looks cool together with the peas staying bright green.

Serve as a sidekick or use in salads or hot dishes.

Verdant Lunch Salad ‒ Vehreä lounassalaatti

Now that it's bright again and things are getting warmer it feels more attempting to skip a warm meal.

- 4 dl canned peas or pea sprouts
- 10 g arame (or seaweed of your choice)
- 1 dl pickle dices
- 1 red onion
- 2 slices of rye bread
- 1 tablespoon oil used in preserving sun-dried tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon hazel nuts
- 1 tablespoon sea buckthorn juice

Let the seaweed soak in water. Dice the bread and sauté the cubes in the oil. Slice the onion into circles. Crush the nuts. Fish the seaweed out from the water (which you can use in a soup or sauce) and spice with the juice. Arrange everything but the nuts into an aesthetically pleasing art work that you can jumble up when eating. Sprinkle the nuts on top for the final touch.

Nutritional values / 648,5 g:
energy 734 kcal
fat 24 g
protein 34 g
carbohydrates 88 g
fiber 26 g

Sweet and Salty Winter Salad ‒ Makeansuolainen talvisalaatti

Everyone hopefully knows by know what a wonderful pair raw carrots and salted nuts make. Well, I was chopping carrots for a soup on the other day and thought I'd make a hi-fi version of the theme while I'm at it.

Once I remember seeing a satay carrot salad recipe I thought awesome but can't find anymore. The carrots were first grated the way Finns normally serve them but then the cold salad was garnished with hot and sweet nuts. I had been thinking a way to variate the idea without making it too similar to this hot and sweet salad. Then I saw Kahvila Vegaani's excellent selection of winter salads where the idea was to marinate (and raw cook) root vegetables and then combine them with vinaigrettes made of fruits. The combination of hot and cold fits salads well and combining sweet and salty at the same time gives it even more twist. I'm sure I'll be trying more of these.

- 300 g carrots
- 0.5 dl black currant juice (non-sweetened)
- 2 tablespoons spruce syrup
- aniseed (or star anise or liquorice)
- 0.75 dl hemp seeds (sprouted if you have time)
- salt

Peel and shred the carrots. Put them into a bowl, add the spruce syrup and sprinkle with a fair amount of aniseed. Pour the juice over the carrots and turn them over a bit. Refrigerate the bowl and forget it for a night.

Arrange the marinated carrots on your serving plate. Gulp down the remaining juice. Roast the hemp seeds on a dry pan. Salt them well. Place over the cold carrots while still hot. Serve immediately.

Nutritional values / 389 g:
energy 351 kcal
fat 17 g
protein 13 g
carbohydrates 39 g
fiber 19 g

Mustard Foam ‒ Sinappivaahto

I find the experimentalism of molecular gastronomy really fun and interesting. How could we ever come up with new recipes if we never played with food? That being said, this experiment clearly went onto my failure pile.

I saw this idea of mustard foam and thought it would make a nice dressing for my lunch salad featuring pear cubes and the remains of a seitan roast (the structure of which I like to make as dry and crumbly as I can). But the foam turned out way too faint and quickly vanishing for the mission so I had to substitute it with normal mustard instead. I can't really come up with any way to use this foam, save for the fact that fruit flies were happy to drown themselves in the liquid. Well, while I still have lecithin left I guess I'll have to make some other uses for it. Apparently it should make bread fluffier, and perhaps this type of foam would work better in hot drinks.

- 3 dl water
- 1 tablespoon mustard powder
- 1 tablespoon soy lecithin
(vinegar, salt, paprika)

First blend the mixture into a smooth liquid. Let it stand for at least fifteen minutes to let the mustard build up some burning sensation. Add some flavourings if you wish. Whip to get foam. Spoon the foam on whatever you wish to use it with.

Rosolli

Happy Winter Solstice!
Well, actually that was yesterday but I was celebrating it in Estonia. That's when the holiday starts for me, lasting all the way to Talvennapa (January 13th), supposedly the coldest day of the year. Meanwhile, the Sun is sleeping so we have to light candles instead and feast.

One of those dishes that really make my Joulu is rosolli. Think I could eat a whole bucket of it. Rosolli or sallatti is a simple beetroot salad known in all of northern side of Europe from Netherlands to Russia. The name rosolli comes from Russian rosol, meaning salty. Of course everybody uses a bit different amounts, some leave apple or onion out altogether and some even put salted herring in it. But here's a recipe to start with.

- 4 beetroots
- 3 potatoes
- 3 carrots
- 1 apple
- 1 onion
- 2 pickles

Cook and peel the root vegetables. Cut all the ingredients into cubes. Mix. Serve cold, possibly together with whipped oat cream coloured and spiced with the vinegary pickling juice of beetroots.

Nutritional values / 1350 g:
energy 475 kcal
fat 1 g
protein 13 g
carbohydrates 96 g
fiber 25 g

Sauerkraut ‒ Hapankaali

Last Sunday I got to see a Unesco world heritage site called Sammallahdenmäki. It's a Bronze age burial site that was used for a thousand years. Nowadays it's a beautiful granite hill covered by colourful lichen species and a few dwarfy pines but in the beginning of the construction it must have looked completely different. The place used to lie on a seashore and the climate was subboreal, meaning the temperatures were much like those that Central Europe now enjoys. Pine hadn't arrived yet and nut trees were fairly common. Weirdly, we know more about the religious views and language of those people than such tangible things like what they ate. Judging from what was available it might have been much closer to what dietitians recommend than a typical nutrition of today, at least during the good years.

One food preparation method that was very likely used intensively was fermenting. And as a food enthusiast I of course want to learn how to do that myself. After all, fermented dishes are still something that everybody should eat on a daily basis and the commercially produced ones tend to be spoiled by pasteurizing. The classic to start with is naturally sauerkraut.

This doesn't really require a recipe but I'm going to tell you how I made it anyway. There are varying instructions out there and my chemistry knowledge is scarce so I can't really tell which ones are based on actual evidence and which are more like folklore. That's why I try to explain just the guidelines and leave the experimenting for you.

(That miserable greyness in the photo is by the way the view from my kitchen window at noon. That's the brightest it gets right before winter solstice.)

- 1 cabbage head
- 2 carrots (or other veggies)
- 1 tablespoon caraway (or other spices)
- 1 tablespoon salt

Grind or shred the cabbage and the carrots. Add the caraway and the salt. When the cabbage starts to sweat (because of the salt) start beating it with any mallet or jar available. The idea is to get so much juice out it covers the cabbage. If the cabbage has already seen it's best days it may be so dry that this never happens. In that case dissolve some salt into boiling water, cool down and pour over the cabbage.

Put the cabbage with its juices into a clean and airtight vessel (I just use glass jars with a weight on top). Press the cabbage below the juice level so it won't touch the air and rotten instead of lacto-fermenting anaerobically. Let your forthcoming sauerkraut sit in room temperature from 3 days to 6 weeks depending on how strong you want it to be. The reason for moving it into a colder storage place after couple of days in some recipes is to slow down the process. Notice the vessel will flood over unless there's a lot of empty space left. Sometimes mold appears on top but this isn't dangerous ‒ just peel it off.

When sauerkraut has stopped bubbling it should taste pleasantly tart. Don't eat if it has turned soft. The taste matures for about six months if stored well in cool temperature (like fridge). If you think it tastes too sore rinse with cold water before eating. Sauerkraut can be used as a salad, in green smoothies or even in hot dishes (though heating of course destroys the largest health benefits). It's a good habit to always add a spoonful on your dinner.

Nutritional values / 1730 g (counted from the ingredients, also see Fineli):
energy 534 kcal
fat 3 g
protein 19 g
carbohydrates 102 g
fiber 37 g

Roasted Pumpkin Salad ‒ Paahdettu kurpitsasalaatti

Many younger Finns celebrate Halloween as the carnivalistic feast of the dead in the end of the harvest season. I'm personally not quite sure whether it's a wonderful continuum for the traditional Kekri or an awful supernational thing with only a commercial value. In any case, the best thing about it is that it's easy to acquire cheap pumpkins right in the beginning of December.

This is something I first thought I'd try with turnip but my, either I was hungry as an Ethiopian during a Red Cross strike or this worked just perfectly with pumpkin. Guess I have to check out the turnip version as well.

- 300 g pumpkin
- 200 g smoked tofu (A home imitation of this is easy to make by marinating normal extra firm tofu in tar liqueur or smoked beer.)
- 1 dl smoked almonds or nuts
- 0.5 l sorrel (I used bloody sorrel or viinisuolaheinä)
- 1 large red onion
- 2 tablespoons lingonberry juice
- 1 teaspoon apple wine vinegar
- oil
- salt
- black pepper

Peel the pumpkin and cut it in cubes. Oil a casserole and put the cubes in it. Pour some more oil on the cubes and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast them in a 200°C oven until they turn soft and their edges start to turn golden (about 45 minutes). Remember to turn them around every once in a while.

In the meanwhile, chop the onion and sauté half of it. Cut the tofu in cubes as well. Mix all the ingredients. Sprinkle with vinegar-juice mixture. Serve while the pumpkin cubes are still warm.

Nutritional values / 960 g:
energy 1086 kcal
fat 85 g
protein 56 g
carbohydrates 26 g
fiber 19 g

Salty Mushroom Salad ‒ Suolasienisalaatti

One of the classic ways to pickle mushrooms for the winter is blanching them with salt. And a classic way to use the blanched mushrooms is of course a creamy salad. This recipe starts from fresh mushrooms but is really meant for blanched ones.

- 500 g mushrooms (for example russulas or milk-caps)
- salt
- 1 onion
- 2 tablespoon vegan mayonnaise
- 1 dl soy yogurt
- punch of fresh chives
- black pepper
- sugar (just a pinch to break the sour taste)

Chop the mushrooms and blanch them in salty water. Cut the onion and the chives into lengthy pieces. Put everything into the same bowl and mix up.

Nutritional values / 760 g:
energy 401 kcal
fat 19 g
protein 19 g
carbohydrates 24 g
fiber 9 g

Rhubarb and Mushroom Salad ‒ Raparperi-sienisalaatti

Hello! I'm leaving for a long trip tomorrow so I don't expect to be posting anything before the end of August. But don't worry, I will be back with new ideas!

Why do dandelions always grow by the roads where you shouldn't pick them from? Why do they only become visible after they grow a flower and thus turn bitter? These were the questions I pondered why hunting for the meal of the day.

Finally I managed to fill my bag with fresh and tender dandelion leaves. I decided to cook a re-edited version of an inventive rhubarb and shiitake salad that's apparently originally from Irina Somersalo's book Yllin kyllin (Multikustannus 2008).

- 0.5 l young dandelion leaves
- 300 g mushrooms (shiitake fits this one indeed but use what ever you find)
- 1 rhubarb stalk
- 1 red onion
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp ginger
- 0.5 tsp salt
- oil for frying
- basil

Chop the veggies. Fry the mushrooms and the onion until they start to get some colour. Throw in the rhubarb and the spices. Continue frying so that the rhubarb turns into a mushy "sauce". Wash the dandelion leaves. Combine all. Eat while still warm.

Nutritional values / 670 g:
energy 354 kcal
fat 14 g
protein 12 g
carbohydrates 42 g
fiber 10 g

Vagabond's Dulcet Fire Salad ‒ Rentun suloinen tulisalaatti

Fireweed is known in Finland as the vagabond's rose (rentun ruusu). A famous song for example tells about a boozer who crawls up from a ditch in the morning and takes fireweed flowers to his loved one as a sign of remorse for being lost for the whole week again. Much fewer people seem to remember fireweed also makes an excellent tea or salad. This one got its inspiration from the English name. It's sweet and burning for your heart just like a vagabond. Think I got a bit carried away with decorating it but I promise that for once the taste is worth the looks.

- 0.5 l young fireweed leaves
- 100 g strawberries
- 1 dl cooked fava beans
- 10-15 lemon balm leaves
- a handful of wood violets (or some other edible viola)
- 2 tbsp spruce syrup
- your favourite chili sauce

Wash the fireweed leaves and lay them on a plate. Sprinkle syrup and chili sauce on them. Slice the strawberries. Lay everything on the fireweed bed as beautifully as you want. Sprinkle some more syrup and chili on the beans and the lemon balm if you wish.

Nutritional values / 300 g:
energy 257 kcal
fat 3 g
protein 6 g
carbohydrates 54 g
fiber 13 g

Macaroni Salad ‒ Makaronisalaatti

Finland is all about forest. Even if you live in a city centre as I do forest is never that far away. You can do a little walk and return home with a bag of veggies you found there. That's what I call the right way to live. I sincerely believe a person's every meal should contain something he's picked with his own hands. Of course that's much harder in a real metropolis with no real nature anywhere near. But even then you can grow herbs on your window sill.

Just remember that just like rhubarb, common wood sorrel contains a lot of oxalic acid so you shouldn't eat it on a daily basis. When I was a kid teachers told us to pick and eat wood sorrel to get vitamins. Nowadays I think they more like warn kids not to. This is a great lunch or party salad even without it but I think it really gives the final touch.

- 2 dl macaroni
- 3 dl textured soy protein flakes
- 1 chili
- 3 red onions
- 2 apples
- 2 dl common wood sorrel
- 2 dl soy yogurt
- 2 tbsp vegan mayonnaise
- oil for frying

Cook the macaroni. Fry the soy flakes together with one chopped onion and chili. Cut the rest of the onions and the apples to pieces as well. Combine. Enjoy.

Nutritional values / 1073 g (without the wood sorrel):
energy 1403 kcal
fat 32 g
protein 53 g
carbohydrates 120 g
fiber 26 g

Sausage Salad ‒ Makkarasalaatti

I have a confession to make. I hate salads. They're way too dry on my tongue, I feel like a cow trying to chew them and generally they taste just too healthy. Therefore I'm planning to make them more often. Not just some sidekicks but real filling lunch salads. I'll be damned if I can't make myself the kind of salads I really do enjoy. After all, this is the best time to pick materials straight from forests. Bye bye arugula and romaine, hello dandelion and fireweed!

This one draw its inspiration from a sausage. A dry, very spicy and small vegan wiener they sell for snacks in hippie stores. I've never bought one cause they cost way too much for their size but this time I got one from the counter for buying other stuff worth of 20 euros. So instead of just eating it right away I thought to make the little stubby the star of the evening menu. You can choose to use any kind of sausage you like the best.

- 1 vegan sausage
- 1 punch of salad leaves
- 5 dried tomato pieces ("sun" dried)
- 1 red onion
- 100 g pine kernels

For dressing:
- 1 dl soy yoghurt
- 2 tbsp apple wine vinegar (more aromatic than apple cider vinegar)
- mustard powder

Roast the pine kernels on a dry frying pan. Chop the sausage, the onion and the tomatoes. Mix the yoghurt and the vinegar. Place the salad on bottom and everything else on top of it, the dressing of course last.

Nutritional values / 493 g:
energy 1073 kcal
fat 79 g
protein 29 g
carbohydrates 30 g
fiber 9 g

Potato Salad ‒ Perunasalaatti

Potato salad is one of those delicious sidekicks Finns tend to eat with every possible meal. And according to a Swedish tradition it's also a self evident part of May Day's (mostly liquid) nutrition.

- 5 large cooked potatoes (This time I cooked them with cabbage soup to give them more taste.)
- 2 pickles
- 1 red onion
- 1 dl oat cream
- 1 tbsp mustard
- black pepper
- bunch of dragon's wort

Chop the veggies and mix with everything else. That's it!

Nutritional values / 1380 g
energy 743 kcal
fat 10 g
protein 19 g
carbohydrates 139 g
fiber 19 g