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!!!

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.

Asian Stir-Fry, Brussels Sprouts and 2 Minute Chocolate Cake

Yesterday I had some Asian Stir-Fry my mom made for Dinner.



And I had Paulinas Chocolate Cake for Dessert.



I added crushed cashews to the batter and had 3 layers of sliced banana. I was out of oil and my applesauce had gone bad so I used apple apricot sauce instead. Not a good decision because it tasted pretty much just like that and maple syrup. And I think using carob powder didn't help to save anything either.
I'll try it again with the right ingredients the next time, because honestly - who doesn't dream of cake that can be devoured after 2 minutes in the microwave?

And here's a picture of Brussels Sprouts with nutmeg and some mustard for dipping from few days ago. I borrowed my dads fisheye lense as you can see =p

Oatmeal-Carob Pudding for Dinner

I am so full! This is the first time I had oatmeal pudding and it is so filling, I couldn't even finish the whole bowl. I tried, because it's yumm. But I just couldn't swallow any more, I look like 4 months pregnant already =p



I made Ruby Red Vegans Oatmeal-Carob Pudding. I got to use the carob powder I bought a few weeks ago for the first time, yay! Although when I opened the box I was like "Puh...", because it smelled exactly like the stuff my sister used to feed her bunny back when we were kids. But it tasted nothing like it smelled, I really like it.

I topped it with 1/2 mashed banana (+ 1 tsp. agave syrup) and sliced the other half along with a strawberry.
Thumbs up, Ruby & Katie!



What I learned? That oatmeal probably really is the perfect breakfast, because it's filling, it's healthy and one can add nuts, seeds or fruit to make it even healthier.