Clean-out-fridge-lentil-soup

Since it's still freezingly cold here I've been cooking soup non-stop. And that always comes in handy when one's trying to use up whatever there is left in the fridge.



I threw together broccoli, bell pepper, carrots, onions, garlic, canned tomatoes and lentils and 45 minutes later enjoyed hot soup with chicorée leafs for spooning.

Now I feel like having hot chocolate and some of Katie's fudge babies. But I'm out of milk and nuts and pretty much everything else I'm craving at the moment. If I run to the supermarket, can I count that as my exercise for today? =p

Cauliflower Curry Soup

Not to toot my own horn, but damn this was good. Hot and spicy!

I don't know why, but I never taste my food while cooking. I just wonder which herbs and spices might fit, throw in an estimated amount, add tons of pepper just about every 5 minutes (seriously) and taste it for the first time about 5 seconds before serving it.

Cauliflower Curry Soup

(all of this is pretty much estimated; like I said I kept dashing in curry powder, more and more pepper and some of this and that, so adapt it to your liking if you're the kind of person who tastes stuff during cooking)

1 medium onion, chopped

2 medium-big cloves of garlic, minced

1 inch fresh ginger, minced

2 cups water (or more if you prefer a water based soup)

1 vegetable broth cube

4 cups cauliflower

1.5 cups broccoli

2 celery stalks, chopped

5 Tbsp. hot curry powder (estimated, I think I had more, but adapt to your liking)

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. paprika powder

1 tsp. ground caraway seeds

salt, pepper

1 Tbsp. fresh parsley

1/4 cup soy cream or soy milk (estimated & optional)

1. bring the water & broth to a boil, add onions, set heat to medium, cook for ca. 3 minutes

2. add garlic, cook for ca. 1 minutes

3. add cauliflower, celery, broccoli and spices & herbs, cook for ca. 7-8 minutes until veggies are tender

4. puree everything to consistence of your liking (I like it a little chunky), add salt and pepper to taste, adapt spicing if neccessary

5. add parsley, stir and add soy cream or soy milk

Cabbage Soup

Really simple and basic, yet really good! Can't remember where I got the recipe from, I just adapted the amount of cabbage thyme and added pepper & ground caraway seeds.



Cook the following for ca. 7 minutes:

1 1/4 cup water + vegetable broth
4-5 cups chopped cabbage
1 small onion, chopped
1-2 tsp. thyme
1/2-1 tsp. ground caraway seeds (or whole ones):
salt, pepper

add the following, stir and see if the cabbages consistence is to your liking

1 cup soy milk (for a creamier version use a little less milk and replace it with soy cream)
2 tsp. chopped parsley

Along with it I finished off the pattie 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!!!

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!

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!

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 =)

Mushroom Pierogi & Borscht

I've seen many Borscht recipes and they all had a long list of ingredients. This is the recipe from my polish grandma, may she rest in peace. We traditionally make this dinner every Christmas, the way she used to.

Note: This is a quick version. I used red beets in jars, unlike my grandma who prepared fresh ones.
This version is simple, very simple. But in my eyes, incredibly good.




Sorry for the crappy picture. It's the only one I took of a filled plate, because we were all eager to dig in!

Ingredients | Borscht
2 jars red beet
2 1/2 cups water
3 medium onions, quartered
4 or more cloves of garlic (just throw in the whole cloves)
bay leaves, about a small handful
pimento, also a small handful
salt and pepper, to taste
soy creamer

Ingredients | Pierogi
for the dough:
1 pound all-purpose flour
1 cup water

for the stuffing:
2 cans whole champignons
2-3 medium onions, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste



Preparation

start with the stuffing:
1. cut the onions
2. cut the mushrooms into small pieces
3. heat up a pan with a little canola oil, add onions and mushrooms
4. on low/medium heat turn the mixture occasionally until the champignons are done
5. add salt and pepper to taste and set aside

now to the Borscht:
6. empty the two jars into a pot (including the liquid) and add about 2 1/2 cups water
7. with a knife, cut the beet slices into smaller pieces (or if you have red beet globes I recommend you to grate them, tastes awesome!)
8. bring to a light boil, throw in the quartered onions, the cloves of garlic, bay leaves and piment
9. cover up and let stand on very low heat

prepare the dough:
10. in a bowl, mix flour with 1 cup water (use less first to prevent using too much or you'll end up adding more flour, then more water, then more flour again...) and knead until the consistence is right (very doughy)
11. spread a thin layer of flour on a clean cutting board(to prevent the dough from sticking to it) roll dough until it's about 0.2 inches high
12. with a glass (or anything round with a diameter of 4-5 inches) cut out dough circles
13. get another flour layered board to place the filled Pierogis on
14. take a cut out circle, stretch it a little, take a teaspoon of the mushroom mixture and place it in the middle of the dough circle
15. carefully fold it and press the rims together (you can use a fork to do that, but using your fingers is just as fine)
16. place it on the doughy board and continue filling the doughy circles with the mushroom stuffing
17. in a large pot bring water to boil, add salt and about 1/4 cup canola oil (the Pierogi will stick together like crazy otherwise, but you can also leave out the oil and add lots and lots of soy margarine when they are done)
18. put your stuffed Pierogis in the pot and wait until they come to the surface, wait for about a minute and take them out

back to the Borscht:
19. add salt and pepper to taste
20. add 1/2 cup soy creamer (or more, depends on how creamy you like it), add more water if neccessary (last night I ended up adding some more water and soy creamer to my plate because the taste of vinegar was a little too strong)

Et voilà! That's it, you're done! Enjoy!

I know I did. I think I refilled my plate 3 or 4 times. All in all I consumed about 12 Pierogis maybe. I was so full, but satisfied to no end.
Ha ha, my dad and I totally fought over the Borscht and the last Pierogis. I was like "Now I finally know what my sister feels like on Christmas Eve... the fear of not getting one's comeuppance." Because she always inhales Pierogis within a matter of minutes ;)

Borscht, first try

So, yesterday I made my Grandma's Borscht.
There was not much to veganize, I only had to replace the cream.
I used soy cream for the first time ever. Of course I used a little too much. It's so much more efficient than regular cream, I'm quite impressed.
I also feared that it might taste weird, but it's pretty neutral and I can't complain at all.
Since I didn't have any more red beets I couldn't save my Borscht though. It still tasted good, but overall it was just too creamy.



I will make the whole thing tonight: Pierogis & Borscht.
I told my dad last night that I was going to cook our traditional Christmas dinner today and his face lit up "Ohhhhh, really?" Ha ha, he can't wait. And the fact that I honour his moms recipe so much really means a lot to him.

I still need onions and mushrooms and more red beet though.
Ugh, I hate the fact that I have to work until 6 and am home at 7 which leaves me with one hour available to shop for groceries. I hate hectic.
And most of the time I forget at least half of the stuff I planned to buy, even if I have a shopping list (what's that about?)!

Oh, and here's something that never fails to impress my taste buds: Pesto Rosso topped with tomatoes. So simple, yet so wonderful.
I didn't have any whole-grain bread anymore though, so I had to settle for a plain wheat roll, hmph.