Yellow Tomato Cauliflower Lentil Curry with Potatoes, Brussels Sprouts & Spinach

Phew, what a title.
Followed by an incredibly ugly cell phone image *shudders* (left my camera at my old appartment, moved into a new one yesterday).
So as ugly as this might look, it was a wonderfully comforting food for a fucking cold day.



I mixed together about 4-5 cups cauliflower florets & brussels sprouts, ca. 3 cups of potato slices, a can of lentils, about 1 1/2 cups Yellow Curry Sauce, 1 cup chopped spinach, 2 cups tomato sauce and 1/2 onion. And I put some fresh chopped basil on top.
Perfection, seriously. Luckily I made enough to live off it for the next two days.

Ha ha, see that Katie? I took my chopsticks with me ;) I hold them in my very own and special - and no way near correct - way, but I somehow manage to have the food land in my mouth and not on my lap (the way it happened every single time someone tried to teach me how you're actually supposed to hold chopsticks... seriously can't be done) and that's what important, non?

Quinoa Pesto-Asparagus -Tomato Salad

I've come up with this idea when my sister had a pesto noodle salad in Amsterdam. As good as my idea was I chose a rather bad day to make the salad — I had too little pine nuts, used too little garlic and the tomatoes tasted like nothing.



But I'll definitely make this again! This time with the perfect pesto and sundried tomatoes! This is exactly the flavor it was lacking.

Wise words, Ice Cream & Snacks

When I went to the Karneval der Kulturen on sunday I spotted a man in the crowd wearing a black t-shirt that quoted Mahatma Gandhi.

"I abhor vivisection with my whole soul. I detest the unpardonable slaughter of innocent life in the name of science and humanity so-called, and all the scientific discoveries stained with innocent blood I count as of no consequence."

That convinced me, once again, that I'm doubtlessly practicing the right lifestyle.

That said, my boyfriend's getting more and more used to it. Yesterday his friend told him about a place here in Berlin where you can get vegan Döner and he was like "I instantly thought of you! We should go there!" Yep, he knows how to make me smile!
Of course we're still arguing every now and then. He still insists that you can not and were not meant to live without meat (riiiight...). He's become more open to the points I make though.
And since I don't feel like I have enough arguments I figured it's way about time to buy The China Study(and while I'm at it I think I'll get Eat to Live, too). Too bad it's not available in German, because everytime I try to make a statement to someone even now I don't know how to translate it into German so it'll make as much as an impact as it would in English. Know what I mean?

Onto the food, I had a yummy rye bread roll this morning with soy cream cheese (finally I found one, shouldn't use it for baking though because it's rather salty), basil, arugula, tomato and cucumber.



Yesterday I had half a bread roll with cream cheese and a tomato and bell pepper to go with it.



My mom bought these ice cream waffle "bowls" a few days ago and I considered them to contain egg or butter or something, but they're completely vegan =D
You can see Tofutti's Mango & Passionfruit and Chocolate ice cream(you were right Ruby, it's delicious) with crunchy amaranth cereal on top.



I realize that this is rather a snack post, but I've cooked up this dish again because it's just too yummy so that's why there's nothing new.
Hopefully tonight =)

Grilled Veggie Bagels, Sundried Tomato Zucchini Mix & Linguine with Pesto

Half the fun is getting there... even if it means you have to sit between bikes!



Amsterdam was so much fun! I went with my best friend, the one I made all the PB birthday treats for. He gets along perfectly well with my sister so we explored the city together and enjoyed lovely hours at Cafés & Bars and the Vondelpark of course, where I also spent my birthday lying in the sun!



Ha ha, loved it!



The parrots were there, too! I woke up, looked out of the window and was like "See, the parrots came to greet you!" "Huh, PARROTS???" Ha ha =p



I also experienced Queensday for the first time. Lovely, great weather, great music! Like a small Loveparade ;)



I did not eat out a lot though, because I had to watch my money. I got this Avocado & Tomato Bagel the first day we got there which was 4.40 or something and very tasty!





I spent lots of money at Albert Heijn, basically living on the typical soft toast-like bread that I spread with a tomato pasta sauce, ready-to-eat salad mixes and fresh tomatoes. Oh, and not to forget the tasty ontbijtkoek!

I was more than happy to come home and find a wrapped Veganomicon upon my birthday gifts =D
I was looking at the recipes and pictures going "Ohhh, I craved something like that all week!" at basically each and everything that contained veggies =p

So as much as I missed preparing my own meals I now miss my sister a whole lot and would happily go a week without vegetables again if it meant I could see her again.
Oh well, I'll see her in two months hopefully!



So after my craving for veggies and the rediscovered love for healthy bagels I finally used my grill pan I got at IKEA and it works so well, I can say I'm in love!

The grilled veggies: eet smakelig!!!



I marinated a sliced zucchini, asparagus, scallions, a can white beans, a jar roasted bell pepper and fresh mushrooms (for le boyfriend) in a Tbsp. olive oil, 3 or 4 cloves of minced garlic and lots of rosemary (fresh aswell as dried) and thyme.

With an everything bagel.



My whole-wheat sunflower seed bagel.





Het waar lekker!

Then I made this a few days ago. I don't know what I should call this. Stir-Fry? Side dish? Anyway, it was good ;)



Long grain white rice, wild rice and some special red rice which I can't remember the name of.
I used 1 zucchini, 1/2 cup asparagus and 1 cup sundried tomatoes cut into small pieces. I mixed the vegetables with 2 Tbsp. tomato paste and 3 heaping Tbsp. of a spicy sundried tomato-walnut paste I had bought, along with black olives marinated in garlic on top. This was pretty spicy! I liked the taste, but my stomach isn't used to even the slightest heat so I didn't feel too well after eating it. I gave the rest to my parents and they both liked it very much, it being spicy in particular! Seeing people happily eating my food and complimenting me always makes me wish I had my own vegan Café/Bistro =) Someday... he he!

After buying fresh basil again I finished off the whole plant in one sitting because I craved pesto. I bought whole wheat linguine because I was really in the mood for pasta.
As for the preparation... I had VwaV, HiaV and a vegetarian cookbook lying open looking at the recipes and in the end didn't follow one.



I used 3 1/2 cups basil, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 Tbsp. pine nuts and 3 Tbsp. grated almonds (estimated, I just tipped them into my blender from the bag) and about 1/3 cup water and a little salt.

Then I mixed under some zucchini sautéed in garlic and topped it off with fresh tomatoes!



This was exactly what I had needed! Pesto never fails to make my day when it's homemade. So much better than the jarred stuff!
The boyfriend ate it too. And you know what? He didn't say anything about the noodles. He HATES (better yet fears for a to me unknown reason) anything whole-wheat like so many people do. Just another proof that What the eye does not see, the heart does not grieve over. Hope the translater gave me the right saying here =p

It's good to be back! Hope everyone's doing good!

Cabbage Rolls & Sauerkraut

Mhh, this leftover stuffing did a good job serving as a filling for cabbage rolls!





I love this meal, despite of the smell that lingers in the kitchen afterwards.

Equilinia-Veggie Stuffed Bell Peppers

A winner!!!



My mom said "Oh, yummyyyy!" between each and every bite and my fathers only complaint was that it wasn't salty enough. They both really appreciate the fact that I cook for them. In particular that I cook very healthy!
My mom said after dinner "That's what I love about meals like these... you don't feel so full and bloated afterwards!"
My father already thought of additions "Falafel would taste great with this!"



My boyfriend came over with a steak (the sight of that bloody red piece of flesh seriously made me sick) and fries his mom got him that he wanted to make for dinner.
He asked if he could have a stuffed pepper first and inhaled it within a matter of minutes!



Another dinner he really enjoyed, because after he ate his steak and fries - he kept complaining that the steak didn't taste good because it wasn't medium anymore - he asked if he could have another plate of my delicious vegan veggie food! Well that's not how he put it, ha ha! But he wanted more of it.

So he got it, topped with fresh basil! Mhhhhhh!!!!



The stuffing itself would have made a delicious dinner. I bought this Uncle Bens mix a while ago (a mixture of brown & wild rice, spelt, oats, barley, rye & wheat) and mixed it with the following:

Ingredients
1 can mushrooms, finely chopped added to 2 medium sauteed onions, seasoned with salt & pepper
1 cup asparagus, chopped
1 green and 1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1/3 cup paprika-hot pepper spread (based on sunflower seeds)
1/3 cup tomato puree
1/3 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped

I prepared the mushrooms seperately, sauteed the bell pepper with the asparagus and just cut the fresh tomatoes in small pieces and folded them into the rice mixture along with the basil.

I preheated the oven to 428°F

Then I cut the bell peppers in half. I didn't fill whole ones because that would've made only three. That way we had six =)

I filled the halfs with stuffing, lined them up in the baking dish I had filled with about 1/3 cup tomato puree (I'd usually use half a can of tomatoes but I only had a pack of tomato puree on hand), put more filling into the middle of the dish (I still have leftovers - my mom had the fantastic idea last night to make cabbage rolls with the stuffing, I LOVE IT!) and poured the rest of the tomato puree (I used one pack, 1/3 cup for the stuffing) over it.

Covered it up and baked it for about 25 minutes.

Mhhh, can't wait to have that in cabbage rolls =)