Yellow Tomato Cauliflower Lentil Curry with Potatoes, Brussels Sprouts & Spinach

Phew, what a title.
Followed by an incredibly ugly cell phone image *shudders* (left my camera at my old appartment, moved into a new one yesterday).
So as ugly as this might look, it was a wonderfully comforting food for a fucking cold day.



I mixed together about 4-5 cups cauliflower florets & brussels sprouts, ca. 3 cups of potato slices, a can of lentils, about 1 1/2 cups Yellow Curry Sauce, 1 cup chopped spinach, 2 cups tomato sauce and 1/2 onion. And I put some fresh chopped basil on top.
Perfection, seriously. Luckily I made enough to live off it for the next two days.

Ha ha, see that Katie? I took my chopsticks with me ;) I hold them in my very own and special - and no way near correct - way, but I somehow manage to have the food land in my mouth and not on my lap (the way it happened every single time someone tried to teach me how you're actually supposed to hold chopsticks... seriously can't be done) and that's what important, non?

Salad, Pasta, another Cake & Curry Cauliflower Carrot Soup

I wonder, why do I always feel like salads are a pain in the ass to make? Am I seriously that slow? And am I the only one? Mhh...
Anyway, the delicious salad I had last night sure did remind me that all the washing and chopping and mixing and roasting is simply worth it!



Roasted zucchini, eggplant & orange bell pepper on a bed of iceberg & lamb's lettuce, some cucumber slices, tomatoes, red onion & avocado chunks (I actually prefer avocados in form of guacamole... oh well, next time), drizzled with a balsamic yogurt dressing. Oh and some Nachos with mexican salsa.



Now onto my dad's cake. He and my mom enjoyed it a lot! Of course so did I ;)
A layer of raspberry perserves, banana slices and chocolate mousse.



I didn't have any fresh berries to add so I simply used pieces of cake crust, spread them with more chocolate mousse and arranged them on top. Some chopped chocolate on the sides & on top and it could've passed as the mouthwatering Starbucks Chocolate Fudge Cake I used to have quite often ♥

A few days ago I wanted something quick, so here goes Kamut pasta in olive tapenade mixed with broccoli & scallions sautéed in garlic. And a few drops of soy yogurt. Yumm!



Last week I made a Curry Cauliflower Carrot Soup with potatoes & red lentils! This was hearty & filling, yet light.
I ate it 3 days in a row yet never managed to take a picture. Even my boyfriend loved this!
I'll have to increase my soup cooking skills and make more of them.

I used about 6 medium potatoes & 2 carrots cut into small chunks and about 1/4 cup red lentils that I cooked in broth.
Midway cooking I added about 8-10 cauliflower florets, cut into smaller pieces, nutritional yeast, curry, ginger, garam masala, nutmeg, chili, paprika, salt and pepper.
I added 1/4 - 1/3 cup soy milk and puréed 2 cups of the solids in my blender and poured it back into the pot.
With a slice of whole wheat toast spread with a layer of olive tapenade, this was a perfect dinner!

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!!!

Ratatouille with roasted rosemary potatoes

After finding fresh rosemary at the supermarket yesterday I immediately thought of roasted potatoes. So I bought two zucchini, an eggplant and tomatoes and had the following for dinner last night. Again, a well received classic. But there's not much you can do wrong with this anyway.

Kale and Potato Hash & ChickBeetPotato Sandwich

In the mess that is called my recipe book I found one for a Kale and Potato Hash I had copied from some website quite some time ago and altered the recipe a little. When I wanted to take a picture of the bowl I realized my batteries were empty, but no panic! Luckily my old digicam was loaded.



No kidding, my boyfriend loved this! He ate at least half of the bowl! I was like "Why didn't you say anything? I would've made more!" He said "Well, I couldn't foresee that it would be so tasty!" Ha ha.

Ingredients (serves 1)

2 medium potatoes
1 cup kale, chopped
1 tsp. olive oil + 2-3 Tbsp. water (you can always omit the oil and use only water instead, but I figured a little hint of olive flavor wouldn't hurt here)
1 medium onion
2-3 Tbsp. soy milk (optional)
1 - 1 1/2 Tbsp. balsamico bianco
nutmeg, to taste (I used about 2 Tbsp. I think)
salt & pepper, to taste

1. cook the potatoes
2. in a saucepan sautee the onions in oil & water
3. add the salt, pepper and vinegar
4. add the kale to this mixture
5. add the cooked potatoes, mash them with a fork and add soy milk
6. season with nutmeg and pepper

I had beet salad on the side which I put on top of the potatoes after the first bite, because it went so well together.

And you may have been wondering... a ChickBeetPotato Sandwich? Yeah, I wouldn't exactly call it a sandwich, but I didn't know how to call this odd creation that satisfied the hell out of me!

Here you go: I had a leftover potato and leftover beet salad, we had fresh whole-wheat carrot bread so I sliced the potato, topped it with a layer of beet salad, baked two Falafel balls, mashed them a little and topped them with some more beet salad.



My two bread slices were loaded so I decided to use silverware - something that always seemed odd to me. I remeber sitting at my aunts table as a kid, wondering why on earth she was eating a small slice of bread that was only topped with a slice of cheese with a fork & a knife when one could just as well hold it in the hand.

Now I like to eat bread with silverware too, because you don't eat as fast and get to enjoy your food longer. The whole process of eating is intensified! I started eating pizza with a fork & a knife (something that always seemed so out of question) for those reasons, too.
Well, that was back in the cheese eating days I guess because cheese tastes crappy once it cools and hardens - I always got so greedy, seconds later my slice was gone and I didn't even get to really taste and enjoy it. I remember shoving my pizza down so fast just so that I'd get to enjoy the cheese while it tasted best: hot and runny. And it was on top and in the crust... jeez =p Well, that's not a problem anymore now!

Last night I made a pizza with - eek - mushrooms (often just the smell or the thought of chewing one makes me sick... apparently I can only eat them in Pierogies, don't ask me why)! I decided to give them another try - just to give them all to my boyfriend in the end. Ah well, it was good nonetheless. I had mine with lots of sliced zucchini and green asparagus (oh how I love it!) and convinced my boyfriend to let me top his with veggies, too. He loved the combination of the three!
Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture because I hadn't eaten anything the whole day and was starving so it was gone within a matter of minutes (of which I spent at least three picking the mushrooms off my pizza) .