Tortellini&Broccoli in a Spinach Cream Sauce and Peanut-Coconut-Curry Stir-Fry

Drinking ginger tea while eating ginger chocolate chip cookies, I sense my ginger phase is coming back. Ahh, the joy of relaxing for a couple of minutes... I actually have to study like crazy (which - honestly - I am not really doing so far, being the procastination whore that I am), because my finals are coming sooner than I thought they would and time just fucking flies by way too fast!



Still had time to cook something though (it's so good to actually cook and use an oven again after living off microwaved vegetables and sandwiches for the last 6 months). I made some spelt veggie tortellini with broccoli in a sauce made of cream cheese, some leftover spinach, soy milk, vitam-r, nutritional yeast, bindobin, oregano, pepper, salt, parsley, nutmeg and some curry powder (could've needed some garlic and onions, but I didn't feel like peeling and cutting anything... lazy much?). And I bought these things, because I'm too lazy to make my own. They taste alright, but then again I'd always prefer homemade chickpea cutlets or some other patties.

And from a couple of days ago: Peanut-Coconut-Curry Stir-Fry that was absolutely fabulous! I ate it three days in a row and probably still would be feasting on it if there were more leftovers. A mix of asparagus, bell pepper, ginger, fennel, zucchini, cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, soy sprouts, brussels sprouts, snap peas and broccoli in a coconut milk/soy sauce/peanut butter mix. So so so good!



Managed the stir-fry eating with chopsticks quite well, but I always need the smurf kids fork my grandma gave me for the salad ;)

Cocoa Chocolate Chip Banana Waffles & Italian Inspired Veggie Tomato Stew on Brown Rice

Oh man, for dessert last night I made - you guessed it - WAFFLES again! Sadly no picture since I was charging my batteries.

I can't help it but get excited everytime I say the word waffles, ha ha! I look up into the air and look like Spongebob...



I made Cocoa Chocolate Chip Banana Waffles.
Had them with maple syrup (heavenly) and fresh raspberries, banana slices and blueberries (whatever comes after heavenly, this was it)

Ingredients (for 2 waffles)

3/4 cup flour (I use spelt)
2 heaped Tbsp. natural cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup soy milk (I used Soy Macchiato which gave it a lovely coffeeish flavor)
1 Tbsp. mashed banana (I used about 1/4 of a big one)
2 tsp. maple syrup (more or less depending on the sweetness of your milk)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (optional)
2 Tbsp. chopped chocolate or chocolate chips

This was chocolate heaven on a plate. Seriously, waffles combine everything awesome: crispyness/chewyness of cookies and doughyness like pancakes or cupcakes.

I know I will make these again! Probably tonight, because how else could I use up the leftover half banana? Ha ha! I'm also thinking of cutting up cherries and throwing them into the batter... mhhh!


For dinner I cooked up some brown rice and threw together a bunch of vegetables to accompany it.

I used
- 2 cans of tomatoes in juice
- 2 chopped onions
- 5 crushed cloves of garlic
- 1 huge zucchini, chopped
- some leftover frozen italian vegetable mix which fit very well (it was zucchini, onions, string beans, bell pepper, mushrooms (eh!) and black olives seasoned with oregano)
- 1/2 cup frozen spinach
and seasoned everything with thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper.

It was very garlicky, but not in an overpowering way. Very delicious, the rest agreed with me!



My dad asked my mom for Parmesan cheese, but there was none. I couldn't really feel for him because I had tons of nutritional yeast to sprinkle over my food ;)
Seriously, sprinkling nooch on stuff makes it so much better, at least if one's looking for a cheesy kind of flavoring.



My boyfriend even asked for another serving at 1 AM. Ha ha! Luckily I still have a small serving leftover for myself tonight.

Pasta Squares with grilled Asparagus & Zucchini, Basil Mint Cucumber Yogurt Dip & Messy Equilinia with Slow Roasted Veggie

(two posts in a row from various days where I was either at work and forgot my USB-stick at home or I was at home and my internet didn't work)

I purchased these Spinach-Leek Pasta Squares last week and had two left over aswell as half a jar of pasta sauce so I used my leftover veggies and made myself a delicious dinner last night.



Although it was only two pasta squares I felt so stuffed afterwards. One would've been sufficient as they are filled with a mixture of tofu, flour & potatoes all of which fill you up quite well!

The zucchini & asparagus were grilled on my newly purchased 3-in-1 Grill, Sandwich- & Wafflemaker.
I still have a waffle maker at home, but it's my mom's... and I ruined it (whoops) aswell as a sandwich maker that my sister took to Amsterdam with her. Last time I was there I considered taking it back with me, but it didn't look very appealing (she wasn't using it anymore either). So this was a very good purchase =)
The grill works like a charm, it's so fast and easy. I just hope my boyfriend won't get the idea to buy meat and grill it on there... *waggles finger* It was hard enough for me to let him use my non-stick perfect pancake skillet for his burger patties... I always fear my pancakes might taste like meat at parts. Ha ha, das ist Paranoia, mhh hmmm mhhhh!



The Basil-Mint Cucumber Yogurt Dip was great! I think this would go great with some fresh baguette or crackers. Sadly I didn't have any.



Ingredients
1/4 cup soy yogurt
1/3 cup chopped cucumber
~ 10 mint leafs, chopped
~ 10 basil leafs, chopped
dash salt, black pepper & cayenne pepper

The slow roasted vegetables were so good I made them again this week. This time with more red onion and 2 cloves of garlic.
To go with it I made Vcon's Messy Rice (with an addition of cayenne pepper which everyone but me seems to have... now I do, too and I must say 'I liiiiiike'), but with 7 Grain-Equilina (a mixture of brown & wild rice, spelt, oats, barley, rye & wheat, used it here before) instead of white rice. Mainly because I didn't have any.



It was a nice dinner, the perfect balance of grains and vegetables with a hint of spicyness.

While the Equilinia was cooking I realized I didn't know the exact cooking time and when I took the box out of my cupboard to check the quinoa pack fell straight at me, top down and open. And it was a new full pack. Quinoa everywhere, ugh!
That left me cursing and smacking cupboard doors for a while... it was worse than when I dropped the open bag of mustard seeds because it was only a few Tbsp's (annoying nevertheless), but I assume I had about 4 cups of quinoa splattered in my kitchen.

Cookies, Snacks, Lunches, Dinner & Fruit

I've been trying more store bought cookies: the midget one is a gluten-free carob cookie and tastes, well, not very good. The Chocolate Chip ones in plastic taste awesome though!



Such milky chocolate chips and a yummy crumbly chocolate center. These are delicious!!!



Washed them down with hot & foamy cocoa latte. 2 Tbsp. cocoa powder with hot regular soy milk & 1/4 cup soy macchiato milk and foam.
♥ I love drinking cocoa through a straw!



Another lunch/snack from some day.
Seitenbacher chocolate cereals & oats with cocoa soy milk (2 Tbsp. cocoa powder plus soy milk) & strawberries.



Boy, and this was by far the best lunch I've had in a long time!



Pita pocket, grilled in a non-sticking pan with raspberry preserves, banana slices, shredded brazil nuts and pieces of 85% chocolate. With red grapes on the side, of course ;)






Probably not exactly eye candy, but look at the gooey goodness going on there (and on the plate, ha ha)!



On Saturday I finally baked something I had been wanting to make for a long time!



All seemed so well... the top was sticky, the way it's supposed to be.



And it sure did look right!



But it was way too sticky. The piece in the photo remained unfinished, it was just too heavy. Too bad though, I really craved some Ontbijtkoek!
I guess that means you can't replace molasses with the same amount of sugar beet molasses. Oh well, I'll ask my sister to bring some when she comes here.



Yesterday I made slow-roasted veggies (bell pepper, carrots, fennel, asparagus, zucchini) and with quinoa (haven't had it for quite a while) for dinner.



The veggies were sooo delicious! The red onions were caramelized... oh my, so good!



Ingredients
2 bell peppers, sliced
1 red onion, sliced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 zucchini, quartered
2 carrots, quartered
1/4 of a big fennel bulb, sliced
1 Tbsp. olive oil
juice of 1/2 lemon
handful of green baby asparagus
rosemary, oregano
salt, pepper

1. preheat the oven to 320° F
2. chop all the vegetables
3. in a baking dish combine the bell peppers, carrots, fennel, onion, garlic and drizzle with olive oil, mix well & sprinkle with herbs and salt & pepper
4. after 30 minutes in the oven add the zucchini and asparagus, stir again and add some more salt & pepper (if needed)
5. another 30 minutes in the oven et voilà, dinner's ready!



"Dessert"... I've discovered red grapes as you can probably tell since they're in almost every picture in this post =p



My fantastic new Magic Bullet made a smoothie: watermelon, banana, raspberries, blueberries, nectarines (all frozen) and a splash of soy milk.



A White Bean Stew (white beans, carrots, zucchini, red & yellow bell pepper, tomato puree, onions, garlic etc.) I made last week. Topped with leftovers from my mom's bulgur salad (bulgur, tomatoes, cucumber, yellow bell pepper, tomato paste, parsley, chili etc.) which went very well together!



I'm looking forward to bake Banana Bread tonight & getting home in general. Work is so boring and I would much rather go home and keep on cleaning my apartment since I had a deep-cleaning phase yesterday... my kitchen almsot sparkles (which it usually never does... erm) and I still have some leftover energy lingering around!

Anyway, enjoy your start into the week! Hope you'll have a great day!!!

Salad, Pasta, another Cake & Curry Cauliflower Carrot Soup

I wonder, why do I always feel like salads are a pain in the ass to make? Am I seriously that slow? And am I the only one? Mhh...
Anyway, the delicious salad I had last night sure did remind me that all the washing and chopping and mixing and roasting is simply worth it!



Roasted zucchini, eggplant & orange bell pepper on a bed of iceberg & lamb's lettuce, some cucumber slices, tomatoes, red onion & avocado chunks (I actually prefer avocados in form of guacamole... oh well, next time), drizzled with a balsamic yogurt dressing. Oh and some Nachos with mexican salsa.



Now onto my dad's cake. He and my mom enjoyed it a lot! Of course so did I ;)
A layer of raspberry perserves, banana slices and chocolate mousse.



I didn't have any fresh berries to add so I simply used pieces of cake crust, spread them with more chocolate mousse and arranged them on top. Some chopped chocolate on the sides & on top and it could've passed as the mouthwatering Starbucks Chocolate Fudge Cake I used to have quite often ♥

A few days ago I wanted something quick, so here goes Kamut pasta in olive tapenade mixed with broccoli & scallions sautéed in garlic. And a few drops of soy yogurt. Yumm!



Last week I made a Curry Cauliflower Carrot Soup with potatoes & red lentils! This was hearty & filling, yet light.
I ate it 3 days in a row yet never managed to take a picture. Even my boyfriend loved this!
I'll have to increase my soup cooking skills and make more of them.

I used about 6 medium potatoes & 2 carrots cut into small chunks and about 1/4 cup red lentils that I cooked in broth.
Midway cooking I added about 8-10 cauliflower florets, cut into smaller pieces, nutritional yeast, curry, ginger, garam masala, nutmeg, chili, paprika, salt and pepper.
I added 1/4 - 1/3 cup soy milk and puréed 2 cups of the solids in my blender and poured it back into the pot.
With a slice of whole wheat toast spread with a layer of olive tapenade, this was a perfect dinner!

La-la-lunch

Boring post, just my lunch from yesterday snapped with my cell phone camera.

I'll post more interesting things after the weekend.
A hint: today's shopping will include getting a mini muffin pan and sunday we'll have a cupcake brunch here! They have vegan cupcakes, too! Weeee =D

Raspberry-Peach Smoothie, I love this one!



Rye bread with mustard, red lamb's lettucce, tomato, cucumber & orange bell pepper.



Yumm! Cheaper & healthier option compared to Subway (I knew I'd be in the mood for a Veggie Delight, but since they got my last two orders wrong - once with yogurt sauce instead of sweet onion & once with cheese - I don't think they deserve my money).



And HOORAYYYYY WE WON !!!!!
I honestly expected Germany to lose as everyone else around here did. So it was quite a nice late-night surprise! And to see them celebrating with their fans and jumping around with such joy (especially Podolski) oddly enough made me feel incredibly happy!

Cherry Chocolate Pancakes & Lentil-Veggie Lasagna

Yes, that brownblackish smear on the right one is indeed 85% dark chocolate oozing out of the pancake! And yes, I used cherries from a jar.

While watching France loose against Italy last night (I thought of you Romina and was like "I bet she's totally celebrating right now!" ha ha) I suddelny craved pancakes! I could totally identify myself with Ruby's statement from a while ago, he he!

"I can't stop making them - I'm obsessed. I can't control myself: I just wake up and my hands start making pancakes!!!"

They were delicious! The intense taste of the dark chocolate with the juicy and fruity cherries inbetween was a festival for my tastebuds!
I had them with raspberry jam (pictured) and maple syrup.
If you ever want to try them definitely go with the maple syrup as the tastes fit together perfectly!



I mixed together the following, aiming to get no more than two pancakes out of the batter as I wasn't actually very hungry.

Ingredients
makes 2 pancakes

important: I used a rather small Tbsp. (I used children's silverware, erm...)

3 Tbsp. water
4-5 Tbsp. soy milk (or any other milk)
1/2-1 Tbsp. apple sauce
1-2 Tbsp. agave syrup (sweeten to taste)
a few dashes of cinnamon
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
5 Tbsp. flour (I used whole meal)
dash baking soda
pinch salt
1/2-1 cup cherries (I'm the kind of person who likes it best if there's more fruit than dough so I went with a cup)
cuple of small chocolate pieces (I used two and broke them into small pieces; chocolate chips would be the easiest way to go I guess but 1/4 cup costs about 1.50 here)


After work I went shopping. Look at how tiny the zucchini is!
Everytime I see something incredibly small version of a usually bigger item I buy it because I'm like "Aww look, it's a Lizzy-Zucchini!" as I'm only 5'2", ha ha!



I also found red lamb's lettuce which I've never heard of before. I'll make it tonight with nectarines and a raspberry-lime dressing I've been wanting to try, hence the raspberry jam and limes.



I didn't like this fruit bar too much as the coffee taste was rather wird... but luckily I had also purchased this fantastic dark chocolate that made my pancakes extra special!

As a snack I made myself a bowl of fruit: golden kiwi, watermelon and honeydew melon!



Later I reheated my last piece of Lasagna.
I had mixed together the leftover sauces from here with tomato purée and seasoned it with oregano, salt & pepper.
I also cooked a cup of red lentils and added them to the sauce. While the lentils were cooking I sautéed an orange bell pepper and 3 carrots cut into chunks. Everything was combined and filled into the Canneloni.
The rest was used as a filling for the Lasagna with additional frozen spinach inbetween the layers which was just perfect!
My mom, dad and boyfriend ate the Canneloni & the rest of the Lasagna as I had topped it with cheese for them (my mom's request). They enjoyed it a lot!
I was fine without it and enjoyed my piece with some soy yogurt sprinkled with a little pepper.

At first I thought I'd miss the white sauce, but turns out that the red lentils give the filling a creamy texture which was completely awesome! Lentils working in Lasagna, who would've thought?

Linguine & Kamut Pasta in Avocado Cream Sauce with Asparagus & Broccoli and Grilled Veggies & Potatoes with Tomato-Onion Baked Beans

Yesterday after a long hot day outside I came back home and found a perfectly ripe avocado waiting to be used. I didn't feel like making guacamole so I mashed the avocado, mixed it with 2 Tbsp. soy creamer, a tsp. lemon juice and seasoned it with salt & pepper.



Then I cooked the rest of the Linguine and added the recently purchased kamut noodles. They taste wonderful - how I love whole wheat!
In the meantime I cooked some broccoli and asparagus, seasoned with lots of minced garlic, salt, pepper, a little oregano and a dash of nutmeg.

I tossed everything together in a bowl, added two chopped tomatoes, a few fresh basil leaves and sprinkled on some nutritional yeast and pine nuts.
I'll have the leftovers as a cold noodle salad tonight =)

A few days ago I had the following... and the beans were incredibly good! I used what was left in the jar (about 1/3 cup) and I really wished I'd have more.



Anywho, I just sauteed a medium onion in a Tbsp. water, added a clove of garlic and the baked beans, 2 Tbsp. tomato paste, salt, pepper and 2 fresh tomatoes.



And this is the first time I had a yellow zucchini. Nothing too special about it, my grocer just happened to carry them one day.

Onto the baking. I'm having PBJ sandwiches around the clock it seems and I figured I might be able to losen my cravings if I made PB cookies. I halfed the Crispy PB Cookie recipe from VwaV and got out 7 cookies. Thing is, my natural peanut butter is rather runny (although all it contains is peanuts) yet I didn't add more flour. This lead to a very crumbly cookie. Like be-careful-taking-it-off-the-rack-crumbly, as you can maybe tell from the picture.

I had it with a few Tbsp. unsweetened applesauce. And yeah, I ate the cookie with a spoon =p



Now I'll go back to work and enjoy my first watermelon this year for lunch... SO SO GOOD!!!

Zucchini Fritters with Tzaziki

Boy, last night's dinner was good!



First off: my boyfriend enjoyed soy yogurt without knowing it (and he didn't notice a difference)! Ha ha, see? Vegan food is damn delicious!
I intentionally bought the more expensive yogurt that had a higher fat content because Tzaziki simply has to be creamy, no denying in that!



So here's what I did. I mixed together the following...

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup soy yogurt
1/2 cucumber, shredded
1 clove of garlic, crushed or minced
salt, pepper

Now that was easy! I suggest you let it rest a little so the flavor can develop.

And to the Zucchini Fritters...



Ingredients (makes about 10)

3 small zucchinis (about 16.5 oz), shredded
1 small onion
1 big clove of garlic, crushed or minced
1/2 cup soy yogurt (or another egg-replacer for 2 eggs; the yogurt worked very well though)
1 cup whole wheat flour * (I used half whole wheat, half spelt)
3 Tbsp. nutritional yeast (more or less to taste)
1/3 cup oats * (not quick cooking)
1 Tbsp. flax seeds
nutmeg (I put in about a Tbsp. I think, but season to taste)
salt, pepper

* estimated; you may need a little less or a little more; in the beginning my mixture was too wet so I added a little more of both until the consistence was right



On the side I had a salad with Tzaziki as a dressing replacer. This was so so so delicious!
If you're ever going to make Zucchini Fritters I highly suggest you make Tzaziki to go with them.

It's a match made in tastebud-heaven!


I also wanted to explain why I've been so bad at commenting lately. My internet connection at home hasn't been working for a few days and I have no idea how to fix it. That means I only get the chance to update when I'm at work and we're more busy than usual lately so I don't really have the time =(
I love checking out your blogs during breaks, but I'm afraid I'll have to wait until I get my internet back to comment on most of your posts.

Sandwiches, Bagels and a Spicy Tomato-Veggie Soup

A few days ago I had the fabulous combination of PB, Jelly and banana on a rye toastie, which I would've never thought of hadn't it been for some of you bloggers! So thanks!



I also bought a mini Ciabatta with Bear's Garlic... not the best buy. It smelled like feet - and sadly didn't taste much different =(



And yesterday I made a yummy Tomato-Veggie Soup. I put in more chili powder than I had intended to, but as the boyfriend put it it was "a pleasant spicyness"!
My best PB friend brought bagels: sunflower seed, everything and spinach! And it really did taste like spinach =D



I sautéed a big onion and 3 cloves of garlic in veggie broth, added a green and a red bell pepper, cauliflower and broccoli, about 2 cups each, 1 zucchini and a pack tomato puree, two jars of crushed tomatoes and about 3 Tbsp. tomato paste, lots of oregano, some rosemary, paprika and chili powder, salt and pepper. No oil needed =)

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 =)