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 ;)

Meant to be.

I am convinced that nature's plan was from the beginning on to have people eat peanut butter and bananas together.



A few dashes of cinnamon and I was in snack heaven!
In that particular moment it was seriously better than any chocolate, cookies or cakes - and that's gotta mean something when I say it, ha ha.
So a big Hooray for finding a new favorite snack... I was set on thinking that I didn't like bananas that much and was an apple-girl, but I think this combination will have me buy bananas on a rather regular basis from now on =)

A Crispy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie that deserves its praise!

Celine, you are the best!

For the first time last night I tried a cookie recipe that resulted in a crispy, not chewy, cookie.
I LIVE FOR CRISPY COOKIES =D
Chewy ones are nice, but I remember having my first American chocolate chip cookie and thinking "Are they kidding me? The cookie is almost raw!" German cookies are rock hard, so I was really surprised, ha ha!
Come to think of it, maybe this cookie was supposed to turn out chewy and I simply used too little maple syrup!?



Ruby's picture totally caught my attention and I had been eyeing Celine's cookie recipes for a while now, I just couldn't decide which one to try.
But after I read what Ruby had to say, I knew I had to make it.

[...] the peanut butter cookie from the Chicago Diner. It's one of the most astoundingly tasty cookies/desserts I've ever had, and Celine's cookies taste just like them. Only Celine's version has chocolate chips, which translates to an even better cookie.

Sadly the bottom was burned. I tried scraping it off at first, but then thought screw it and happily gobbled it up. And the recipe results in 2 big cookies which is just perfect - the other one's waiting at home to comfort me after work!

I also had some of my mom's nut muesli and pimped it with chunks of mango, nectarine, kiwi (all covered up sadly) and banana slices. Then I added a few Tbsp. soy yogurt, mixed it with a squirt of agave syrup and topped it off with unsweetened apple sauce, a few raisins, almonds and flaxmeal. Delicious!!!



Work is crazy today, I can't wait to get home, relax and comment on your posts.
Have a nice day everyone!

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!!!

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.

Peanut Butter Invasion

First off here's a pic I meant to post in the beginning of March, but totally forgot in the mess that is my images folder ;)
Anyway, I pretty much had the same breakfast today: a pear, Blueberry Raspberry Pancakes with applesauce, blueberry sauce and maple syrup.



And now onto the birthday baking. I apologize because we were in a hurry and when we arrived at his place I honestly just didn't think of taking more food pictures although there was A LOT of food. His mom made many turkish dishes. I had the vegetarian ones: couscous and hummus. And even though her hummus was perfectly prepared I still don't get why so many seem to go nuts over it.

But now I present you the best chocolate cookies! I am not kidding. If you're into the combination of banana, peanut butter and chocolate you will love these! If you're not into the banana taste simply use another egg-replacer.



They were actually supposed to have a PB core inside, but we were out of peanut butter and made only the chocolate cookies. I'll post the full recipe though, they are totally worth it!

Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Munchies

Ingredients (makes 32 cookies)

Chocolate Cookies
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup vegan margarine, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter (I used crunchy)
1/2 banana, mashed (or egg-replacer for 1 egg of choice)
1 Tbsp. soy milk
1 tsp. vanilla

1. stir together flour, cocoa, and baking soda, set aside
2. in a separate bowl, mix margarine, sugar, brown sugar, and peanut butter
3. add mashed banana, soy milk, and vanilla, beating well
4. beat in as much flour mixture as possible using a mixer, stir in the remaining flour mixture
5. form into 32 balls, about 1 & 1/4 inches in diameter, set aside

Peanut Butter Filling
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 Tbsp.s granulated sugar

1. beat together powdered sugar and peanut butter until smooth (knead by hand if necessary) and shape into 32 balls
2. preheat oven to 350°
3. slightly flatten a chocolate dough ball and top with a peanut butter filling ball, shape the chocolate dough completely around the peanut butter dough, roll into a ball and repeat with remaining dough
4. place cookies 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking pan
5. bake for about 8 minutes or just until set

The cookie surfaces should be slightly cracked. Cool on pan for about a minute. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Can be frozen for up to 3 months!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cake.
You were right Jennifer, this crunchy but soft cake was fantastic!



Peanut Butter Chocolate Rice Crispy Bars from Have Cake, Will Travel!



The Peanut Butter Cinnamon Rolls which my friend liked the most.
They looked pretty much like those, but we didn't have time left for icing but had already mixed powdered sugar, cinnamon and vanilla sugar together and just put that on top which lead to the picture - lots of sugar, but where are the rolls?



And not very photogenic, but damn tasty! Crunchy, sweet and perfect with the raspberry jam in the middle: Peanut Butter Cupcakes from VwaV. We just added jam and 71% chocolate pieces.



All in all this was a huge success, everything was very well recieved and I was called the MacGyver of baking because everyone was like "I'll call you when I want to bake and am missing an egg so you can tell me what to use instead!" Ha ha =p

I wanted to make a pie with silken tofu, too. But the stores were closed on Friday and when I wanted to buy it on Saturday I looked at the recipe again to read that it was supposed to cool in the fridge overnight. So no pie, but there was wayyy to much food anyway.
Talking about way too much food, I just came back from my best friend who's polish and her mom made Pierogies & Borscht, roasted rosemary potatoes, red beet salad and lamb's lettucce with oranges... SUCH a filling and wonderful dinner!

Granola Bars

So I'm back at work. I've been here for an hour and my bosses are chatting next door. Oh well, that gives me time to update my blog! I don't mind chilling a little longer ;)

Last night I had a toasted pita pocket. Not whole wheat, but at least with sunflower seeds ;)
One half with mustard & red bell pepper, the other half with the all-time favorite peanut butter & jelly.



Yeah, as you may be able to tell I wasn't really in the mood for cooking.

This weekend I made Rominas Granola Bars. The recipe sounded wonderful, exactly like what I was looking for. Sadly I think I pressed them in the pan too much because they tasted pretty gum-like. Or I should've left them in the oven longer.


I topped it with peanut butter because it was rather dry. That kind of helped, but nevertheless I wasn't able to eat more than one half.



I'm sure they would've tasted great if only they had turned out like hers. I will give them a try again some time and get them right!