Back in Berlin

Home sweet home... I've missed it!
And I noticed that I missed it a lot more than I thought I did now that I'm back. The dirty air, the bitchy people, the angry faces, the fact that you feel like you actually live in Turkey, the wide streets and sidewalk, the ridiculously small fietspaad, the dog shit everywhere, the smell of Döner on every corner, the late night supermarkets, the ability to drink as much beer on the street as your heart desires, everything!

Oh and of course the fact that there are more than 2 supermarket chains. And the fact that I have two organic ones in a 2 minute walking distance away from home. Stocked up on vegan cookies, crackers, mango strips and all kinds of fruit and yogurts haha!

And since school started I figured I'd need some energy to concentrate (plan didn't fan out though, I was tired as hell and not listening at all...). Spelt müsli with dried pears and raisins, topped with plain soy yogurt, apple-mango puree, fresh apple & banana slices and dried cranberries.



I can't even recall when the last time was that I had breakfast so early in the morning. Realized I don't like eating so early. Give me coffee and I'm in heaven! Oh yeah fuck, I have to start buying coffee again. Means I'll drink much less now that I have to pay 1€ per cup. So I'll probably go from around 10+ cups of coffee a day to around 3 or 4. I know that this is supposed to be a good thing, but I feel like someone who gets their baby taken away from her, haha!

Anyway, I'm glad to have my kitchen back which means finally getting my hands on an oven again. Ah, the simple things =)

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!!!

Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies

They're Vcon's Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies. Delicious, delicious! I just had one for breakfast ;)



Go make some!!!

Lately I've been addicted to Schoko Haferlinge and wanted to make my own version. So far I still like them better than the Vcon ones though. They were more neutral and on the crumbly-crispy side (but I guess all American Cookies are supposed to come out chewy so I didn't expect them to taste like my new favorites).
I added some cornstarch to the batter and doubled the baking time to get crispier cookies. I was also out of vanilla extract and used 1/4 cup less sugar.
Next time I'll try relpacing some of the oil with a little applesauce and make the cookies smaller and flatter so they'll hopefully be Lizzy-crispy enough when they're done!

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!

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.

Pink Summer Oatmeal

As Joey Tribbiani would've said "That's like summer in a bowl!"



I cooked the oats in soymilk with a squirt of agave syrup and cinnamon and added the frozen raspberries and mango afterwards. Tried to eat a little more raw here =p

It was delicious! The flavor of the mango paired with raspberries... mhhhhhh!!!

Later I'll make the Banana Coffee Cake Ruby just made, because I have a few more-than-ripe bananas and I totally drooled when I saw it in her post. Just look at the picture... yumm!

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! =)

Classic Breakfast Food

Of course I'm talking about oatmeal ;)



Mhhh, this one was so good. The pear was perfectly ripe and the whole combination was highly satisfying!

Ingredients
1/4 cup oats
2/4 cups + 2-3 Tbsp. soy milk
1 Tbsp. sugar (or sweetener of choice)
1-2 Tbsp. flax seeds
dash cinnamon
1 pear, chopped

I let half the pear cook with the oats and added the other half when it was done. and sprinkled it with almond slices.



This one's a little more fancy. Or let's say it just included more ingredients than the Pear Oatmeal.

Ingredients
1/4 cup oats
2/4 cups soy milk
1/2 mashed ripe banana
1 Tbsp. sugar (or sweetener of choice, I'm out of agave atm)
dash cinnamon
1 apple, chopped
walnuts
toasted almonds

Luckily I still had some Blueberry Sauce from VwaV that went perfectly well with this breakfast!

I'm off to enjoy the beautiful weather now! The sun is shining and I can't wait to cruise on my bike again!

Cinnamon Rolls, Berry Crisp, Pizza and Spinach Chickpea Curry

So here we go: food from the last days!

CINNAMON ROLLS! Mhh, they were so good! My boyfriend loved them and it's extremly hard to get him to say something like "Wow, they are delicious!"
Success!!! I used Bjorkedoffs recipe!



Spelt pizza crust with Barilla Basil Sauce, spinach, broccoli, yellow bell pepper, tomatoes, shredded zucchini and vegan mozzarella.





Chickpea Spinach Curry from VwaV. It was a little bland and sure did not look very pretty, but after adding more spices it was really good! Too many chickpeas for my taste, but other than that this was quite a success.



Happy Herbivores Blueberry Crisp. Such a quick and berrylicious dessert!!!



With ice cream - my dad's plate.



And the raspberry version, because I was out of blueberries.



And then I got fresh blueberries, yumm!