Lunch & Snacks

After getting spoiled with a wide selection of fantastic smoothies at AH in Amsterdam, seeing the options here are pretty depressing. We have like three different brands available and they're not that mind blowing. And since I found frozen nectarines and blueberries in the freezer this morning I blended them with some soy milk, water, half a banana and a little apple-mango-puree and a tsp. ground flax seeds. Took a tiny apple (seriously, can't resist buying small versions of things because I feel like they're made for me) and a Lubs bar to school. 



The fruit bar was bleh, rather dry and not worth the money. I made some kind of Lara bar fakes this afternoon (they're not available here, but I wanted to know what the hype is all about). Didn't add any nuts though after the dryness of the bar from this morning and made Date-Cranberry-Banana, Date-Mango-Apple-Pineapple and Date-Apple-Cranberry ones instead. All the dried fruit was bought long before I went to Amsterdam so the expiration date was coming close and since back then I bought them with the intention to make the Lara bars anyway I figured now or never. I was actually afraid my blender would die on me, but it worked surprisingly well.

I also still had a chocolate coconut bar lying around that tasted fucking brilliant!



And some blueberry yogurt with banana and a ripped date-cocount confect.



Gotta pack some more food on days where we do so many calculations and theoretical stuff at school though, I felt like I was dying.
On days like these I wish I lived with Erin and would get a Lunchbox like hers (all the friggin goodness) prepared every morning. This lady really knows how to lunch!

Chocolate Blueberry Lemon Corn Waffles

The WAFFLE HYPE continues!

An adaption of VwaV's Lemon Corn Waffles turned into Chocolate Blueberry Lemon Corn Waffles by adding about 2 Tbsp. blueberries and chocolate chips each. The batter turned out a little thick though, but they tasted good nevertheless!



My mom got me elderberry jelly from her trip. So sweet! And it was quite good, too!



I had my waffle with raspberry jam and the elderberry jelly because I was all out of fruit.



Gotta get back to work! I'll check your blogs & comment later. Oh, good morning and happy monday, btw!

Chocolate Chip Ginger Waffles & Lemon Corn Waffles

The 40 € I spent on my new waffle maker/sandwich maker/grill were well invested!

Today as a pre-dinner snack (odd I admit, but I craved some yummy waffle-berry action) I had Ginger Chocolate Chip Waffles with selfmade apple-mango puree, red grapes, blueberries and raspberries.
The combination of ginger and chocolate really has become a new favorite of mine ;)



I used Jennas recipe for Chocolate Chip Whole Wheat Waffles, using spelt flour, a Tbsp. of apple-mango puree instead of oil, an additional Tbsp. corn meal and 1/2 tsp. ground ginger (definitely could've used more).



They were devine!



I wish I had my own Niles at home who'd bring me a plate like this to bed every morning!



Yesterday I invited my Dad over for some Lemon Corn Waffles (from VwaV).



Lots of fruit on the side (honeydew, watermelon, cherries, blueberries, raspberries, apple, grapes and banana) and a soy macchiato of course...



... aswell as strawberry jam... (can't you just feel the crispyness from looking at this picture?)



... and apple-mango puree (1/4 cup mango chunks blended with 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce)



Nothing beats those crispy crunchy fantastic Lemon Corn Waffles!!! Especially with blueberry sauce as she recommends.

I'm off to cook soon. My mom's coming back and I'll make Pesto Spaghetti (they also taste incredible on their own) with Pesto and my standard salad: lamb's lettucce with mango and roasted sunflower seeds!

Hope you had a nice weekend! =)

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!!!

Fruit Infusion, Black Bean Burger, Frozen Yogurt & Blueberry Chocolate Cake

Yesterday I enjoyed this colorful fruit medley consisting of strawberries, watermelon, nectarines, kiwis and apples throughout the day.



Started in the morning and put it on top of a delicious berry soy yogurt I recently bought. I also added half a banana... you can see the leftover half crying over the loss of her better half at my photo blog.



For lunch I reheated a black bean burger and had it with cucumber, tomato, avocado and lamb's lettucce drizzled with a mustard-agave-lime dressing and made some more mustard-yogurt dip because it was a rather dry burger. But still a very very satisfying yummy dish!



And for dessert I had fruit salad of course ;)



Oh and the berry soy yogurt I bought - I froze it! I need more of these ice things, IKEA carries them for 2 € so I'll have to make a stop there soon.
Then I'll be able to enjoy individually made frozen yogurts during the hot days, yay!!!



A few days ago I made Vcon's Lower-Fat Chocolate Bundt Cake, but added a cup of blueberries. The cake was extremly delicious. Very chocolatey, yet not at all sweet - just perfect!



I brought a few slices to work and they loved it! I brought more the next day because they kept fighting over the last crumbs, ha ha!

Carob Blueberry Pancakes = sweet & comforting dinner

Yesterday I had planned to roast some asparagus and have it with tzaziki and baked beans.
But the cupboards where the beans usually are were completely empty (seriously, not even a single jar was left) when I went into the store so I went to the other bio market and accidentally got white beans in tomato sauce - only to discover at home that they contain honey. Wtf? Honey in beans?

Anyway, I had the idea of making spring onion pancakes (I still must do this some time!), but I was actually craving something chocolate-y and sweet.
So I whipped up my own carob blueberry pancakes (I don't have ED&BV so I improvised and surprisingly made just enough batter for 3 perfect sized pancakes) and topped them with banana slices and nectarine chunks (it was so perfectly ripe & sweet, yumm!).



The other half banana was mashed (there were a few frozen blueberries left in the bowl hence the color) with a little agave syrup and vanilla extract.

Purplelicious Oatmeal, Pink Cucumber Soup & Chickpea Cutlets

I made a delicious oatmeal with alpro's wild berry soy milk, cinnamon and frozen blueberries.
Talk about eye candy! Oh, how I love purple food!



Then I made a cold cucumber soup with red beets, soy yogurt, dill and parsley. I had cooked potatoes on hand which I wanted to add, but somehow totally forgot about.



And I had a good laugh when it turned out - once again - that Isa was right with her prediction in the chickpea cutlet recipe introduction text - that it'd be famous on blogs!



My mom had the cucumber soup while I finished the chickpea cutlets I had made in advance for today (after reading that they taste even better the day after) and asked if she could have one.

She took a bite and proclaimed "Delicious! You can start mass producing them!" Ha ha! Another person hooked on the famous Veganomicon cutlets. I'll buy more chickpeas today and make about 20 cutlets to freeze for my mom & me. It was her request and she reminded me again this morning not to forget the chickpeas =p



She said she especially liked the texture. "Much better than all those veggie patties which are so crumbly they always keep falling apart!"

To go with it I had some lamb's lettucce and tomato drizzled with mustard-agave-balsamic dressing and soy yogurt mixed with mustard.



A very pleasing meal!
I can't wait to have the other cutlet tonight. I'll make yellow grilled zucchini and bell pepper to go with it. And maybe either tzaziki or homemade tomato ketchup. We'll see!

Also on my to-do list: black bean burgers! I need more protein!

Bean Quesadillas and the fruitiest Berry Birthday Crisp

For my mom's birthday I made VwaV's Quinoa Mango Black Bean Salad as requested!
Don't the colors of the flowers & salad match perfectly? Ha ha!



I wrapped it up in a Tortilla later: a tasty idea! I really enjoyed it this way.

I usually hate peeling and cutting mango, but the skin was easily removable this time and left the mango flesh looking funny.



Doesn't it totally look like mango sorbet inside of a mango? =p



The Berry Crisp goodness! Frozen blueberries & raspberries and fresh blackberries & blueberries.





Before it went into the oven.



We had so much fun eating this dessert and couldn't stop laughing over each others blue teeth and lips =p

And about dinner two days ago. I must apologize. When I made quesadillas with my leftover salsa I made my boyfriend's first. Took a picture, then made mine. Forgot to take a picture of it, erm... anyway, mine looked basically the same minus the mushrooms and the cheese on top.

As he ate he went "I'm eating so healthy because of you!" "Well, sorry.." "No no, you can be proud!" Ha ha =p
I'll never understand why so many people fear healthy and nutritionous food (such as whole wheat for example)!?



Sorry, you can't even see the filling =( I spread it with salsa that I had mixed with kidney beans before, put bell pepper slices and corn on top and that was it. Very tasty!



This will be my last post for a week as I am going to visit my sister! I'm so excited, my best friend is coming along and I'm sure this will be such a fun week!! With LOTS of pictures!
So have a great week everyone and take care! =)