Persian Food

Wow it's been quite a while... but I was internetless for quite some time. Aswell as lazy... ;)

First pictures from Berlin. We went to this vegetarian bistro/restaurant/caterer ALSA and the owner is persian and holy moly his food was extremly delicious. I even liked the rice&raisins combo, something I've always detested.
This was a vegan dish, eggplant casserole with beans, lentils, nuts and whatnot. So fucking amazing!!!



And a mix of salads he had left (we got there at around 4 and almost all the plates were pretty much empty already=good sign!).



Anywho, I finally had some money to buy food. Raspberries are so addictive ♥



Spinach with cucumber, raspberries and a surprisingly good tasting basil dressing (storebought dressings mostly suck... or maybe I just always pick the bad ones).



I've been trying to catch up with your blogs and the last days were simply horrible because I had no food/money/whatsoever and your pictures almost made me cry! And realize what amazing chefs each and every one of you would make (this is not neccessarily the starving person from a couple of days ago talking, he he). Anyone up for inventing beaming and starting a delivery service worldwide with amazing vegan food creations? ;)

Yummy Salad

Avocado with cucumber, tomatoes, mixed salad and white beans. What a filling and nice dinner!



And a delicious juice, mhhh!

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.

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!

Weekend Eats!

What do you get when you have no regular soy milk left to make breakfast with? That's right -- Latte Macchiato Oatmeal with Cherries, Banana, Nectarines and maple syrup!

Luckily the macchiato soy milk tasted fantastic in combination with the chosen fruit and syrup!



Raspberry Pancakes... OH SO GOOD! Especially with überdelicious strawberries and banana on the side!
This was quite a pancake weekend. I had these for breakfast on Sunday. Saturday I had carob blueberry pancakes again with lots and lots of honeymelon. They were gone before I could snap a picture!



Bulgur with a zucchini-tomato sauce - my mom cooked this so of course it was delicious (I love the typical mom's-seasoning-taste in her sauces)! This is also the first time I had bulgur and I must agree with everyone else that it tastes great!
I like it better than CousCous (here's an unknown fact about couscous... they didn't add the 2nd -cous until 1979! hahaha I laughed so long about this =p Friends lovers will get it) and will have to pick up a pack tonight.



Then at some point during the weekend I made Gazpacho.



And had it with the last chickpea cutlet, mustard-yogurt dip, red beets & cucumber.



And a Honeymelon-Kiwi Yogurt Smoothie with some flax meal I made - so yummy! I love the thickness of yogurt smoothies... I could've eaten this one with a spoon. I made another shake with honeymelon, kiwi, banana, strawberry and soy milk which was not so good. The soy milk made it taste way too sweet, the banana was pretty overpowering although it was the amount of no more than a Tbsp.! Oh well, I'll keep on experimenting nevertheless.



From my mom's leftover zucchini-tomato sauce & my leftover gazpacho I created the filling for Cannelonis and Lasagna. I forgot to copy the pics onto my USB-stick so I'll post about it tomorrow. Enjoy your day everyone!

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!

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!!!

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!

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 =)

Deliciousness on top & inside of a Wrap

I bought a black olive tapenade a few days ago! It's soooo delicious and I like to spread it on every sandwich I make now ;)



Yesterday I used a tortilla, a layer of baked beans in tomato sauce, cucumber slices, then cherry tomatoes, on top of that lots of baby spinach and the perfection on top: red beets! Then I rolled it up, spread it with a thin layer of cream cheese and some olive tapenade.

I was worried the red beet might not taste that good in combination with tomatoes, but it was an incredibly tasty wrap! Oh how I love red beets!!!

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 =)

Veggie-Lentil Curry, Carrot Cupcakes & Falafel

Tonight I had a craving for lentils and cauliflower again, but didn't want the same meal I've had in my post before so I made a few additions.



I prepared the cauliflower the same way like I did here. The red lentils were prepared like before, too with an addition of 1/2 tsp. curry powder and a dash of chili powder.
To make the dish more colorful I roasted a red & yellow bell pepper and some zucchini that I sprinkled with salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder in the oven for 20 minutes on 375°F.

Yesterday I went to the Bio supermarket to get new agave and bought Falafel. Homemade ones would've tasted better for sure, but they weren't bad and the idea of having Falafel ready within 8 minutes was quite appealing so I bought them along with new whole wheat pitas.



I bought a sunflower seed based pepper & pepperoni spread that I used, along with 1/4 cup shredded red cabbage, tomatoes and cucumber.

And I made Happy Herbivore's Fat Free Carrot Cupcakes with Maple Frosting. I used a little bit too much applesauce, because after 20 minutes in the oven they were still a little gooey inside. But did I mind? Hell no, there was no egg in there so I could have just as well eaten the raw batter =p To be honest I snacked quite a lot while mixing together the applesauce, shredded carrot and vanilla. Tasted delicious! I think I'll make that as a snack again soon!
But back to the cupcakes - my best (girl)friend tried one and loved it, the icing in particular. She's an omni so I got the "There's really no egg in there? Amazing...!" between each bite, ha ha!



So, tomorrow the big baking for the night's party will take place. I'm so excited!
I have to hurry now though, the boyfriend's waiting!

Hear you on Sunday I guess. Happy Easter and have a nice weekend everyone!

Falafel (Crumbs) from VwaV

I had been so excited to make Falafel. I have always loved it and couldn't wait to do it myself.

So last night I finally had enough time on my hands. I prepared the chickpea mixture and the tahini sauce. Both had to cool in the fridge for 30 minutes. And I was starving already. So were my boyfriend and my parents downstairs whom I had promised to bring some of my selfmade Falafel.

Finally, after 30 long minutes, I started shaping the patties. Or better yet, I tried. They totally fell apart. I squeezed them together as hard as I could and put them into the boiling oil. They fell apart and nothing but deep fried crumbs were left.
This was 1/4th of the mixture. Ugh!
I wasn't too excited about the deep frying anyway, so I took out a pan and baked 3 patties a time in just a tiny bit of oil. They didn't stay in shape too well either, but at least you could call them a patty.

Eventually, after lots of swearing, I had 9 small patties to serve to my hungry folks. 4 for my parents and 5 for my boyfriend and me. I forgot to take a picture until I had one more bite left and that was mostly just pita bread with some cucumber and tomato.
They tasted good though. My mom gave me a call "Wow, the patties tasted great. The sauce wasn't right somehow, but the patties... mhh!" I used VwaVs recipe.

Bottom line: I will not make these again. Although the taste was good, it was just too much work. Not to mention that my apartment stank like crazy. Like I had fried fish in tons of oil, yuck. Not to mention I almost fainted when I entered my kitchen this morning.

And a picture I just found online...
I always look like that when I walk past meat in the supermarket, when my boyfriend devours a steak, my mom prepares chicken etc.
But a few days ago I had the same facial expression when I passed some people grabbing huge amounts of gummi bear bags. All I wanted to say to them was "You are aware of the fact that you're going to eat boiled pig skin, are you?" I can't help but shudder at this thought every single time. I can't believe I used to eat this stuff.


Vogue Paris October 2007 | Photographer: Steven Klein