Cabbage Soup

Really simple and basic, yet really good! Can't remember where I got the recipe from, I just adapted the amount of cabbage thyme and added pepper & ground caraway seeds.



Cook the following for ca. 7 minutes:

1 1/4 cup water + vegetable broth
4-5 cups chopped cabbage
1 small onion, chopped
1-2 tsp. thyme
1/2-1 tsp. ground caraway seeds (or whole ones):
salt, pepper

add the following, stir and see if the cabbages consistence is to your liking

1 cup soy milk (for a creamier version use a little less milk and replace it with soy cream)
2 tsp. chopped parsley

Along with it I finished off the pattie things.

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 ;)

Lettuce Bean Veggie Salad

My this was a great lunch!



Lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, red cabbage, green garlicky beans with great northern beans and some ripped Falafel.



I'll have to make these kinds of salads more often! Especially now to take it to work with me.
When I arrived for the interview at Mattmo they had some sort of peperoni cut into pieces and asian crackers... the typical dutch snack, except there was no cheese. So yeah, I will definitely need to brin my own food, ha ha!

Oh btw, if anyone's interested I decided to make a blog for the time I'll be in Amsterdam. For friends and family to read so I won't have to email every single person.



I'm Loushka, in case you were wondering =p It's what basically everyone who knows me calls me.

PBJ Banana Goodness and an "Asian" Veggie & Rice Stir-Fry

A few days ago I had the grilled Peanut Butter Jelly Banana Sandwich people seem to eat all the time. It was so good! I just couldn't decide how to cut the banana =p



Last night I made a simple, light and satisfying dinner after being inspired by the take-out chinese food I had this weekend that was way too oily in my opinion.
Seriously, why do people think it's neccessary to drown tiny vegetable pieces in cups of oil? Not only am I pretty sure that most people would appreciate low-fat versions (I don't demand them to be no or low fat, but get the amount right damnit), the restaurant itself would probably save quite some money in the long run if they used 4 Tbsp. less oil for each dish.

Oh well, in that case I'll rely on myself and recreate the dish the way I want it to be. And that would be it:



Ingredients
2 bell peppers, chopped (I used 1/2 yellow, 1 red & 1/2 green)
3 cups chinese cabbage, chopped
1/3 bamboo shoots
2 carrots, shredded
3 scallions, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced
soy sauce
salt, a dash pepper

First sautee the bell pepper & celery for 10 minutes, then add the bamboo shoots, carrot and chinese cabbage and under stirring cook for 5 more minutes.

Completely fat free and again, boyfriend and father approved!

I had rice left over and craved something dessert-like, but didn't have anything on hand really so I came up with this. Rice, 3 Tbsp. apple sauce, a squirt agave and a few dashes of cinnamon. And not to forget cashews.

PYROG Salad & Baba Ganoush

What a burst of color and taste!



The name PYROG was put together simply because of the colors. I mixed chopped red cabbage (P=purple), a bell pepper (Y=yellow), cherry tomatoes (R=red), shredded carrot (O=orange), regular and lamb's lettucce and cucumber slices(G=green) and topped it all with roasted sunflower seeds. The dressing pretty much consisted of Balsamico bianco, a little olive oil and 1 tsp. fig mustard.

I don't have salad often enough and I always wonder why. It's not that time consuming and it always tastes good. Plus, the boyfriend loves to eat it. He gets all excited when I make salad (the kind of excitement I get when I see the Lindt commercial and start to believe that I will one day work in that exact same setting =p) - even more reasons to toss together some greens every now and then!



I also made Baba Ganoush for the first time and used this recipe(added some additional fresh parsley). But being the way I am I did not start small and then added more, as suggested by Susan. I used 2 cloves of garlic. BIG cloves! So when I tasted it... woooosh, hardcore garlic infusion! Even for a garlic lover like me.




So I didn't eat much of it and decided not to grill my veggies (I wanted to use my new grill pan to try out Katies recipe using asparagus, zucchini and bell pepper to accompany the Baba Ganoush) and just had some slices of raw bell pepper instead. I don't eat enough raw vegetables... I'll really try to eat a big salad every day(or at least every other day)!

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.

Grilled Veggie Pita and Easter Goodies

Just a quick update about my dinner yesterday. The PB Birthday goods will be posted later, I'm just off to meet my friend to take pictures.

First, salad: red cabbage with red beet, a little balsamico bianco and sunflower seeds.



And my "main course": grilled red bell pepper, zucchini slices, broccoli, scallions, brussels sprouts and tomatoes on a mashed Falafel in a sunflower seed pita pocket with a layer of pepper-peperoni spread.



I'm proud (and totally surprised by myself to be honest) to announce that I managed to resist the temptation until Sunday and therefor highly enjoyed my espresso chocolate last night.
And my mom was so sweet! She got me a Lindt Goldhase mug and lots of dark chocolate =)



Hope you had a good time with your friends and family aswell!

Chinese Cabbage and Asparagus Stir-Fry

I slowly roasted an onion, asparagus, yellow bell pepper and scallions on medium heat in a saucepan.
I added soy sauce, chopped chinese cabbage and stirred until it was covered in soy sauce. Then I covered it up, let it simmer for about 2 minutes, added half a shredded carrot, sprinkled it with sesame seeds (I got 'em Jennifer!) and ready was another all veggie dinner!