Raw Raspberry Banana Ice Cream & Pizza Veggie Wrap

1/4 banana blended with a handful of frozen raspberries and frozen banana slices. Can't wait for the hot days as I know what I'll be having for breakfast then. Try it out if you haven't yet!

1/4 avocado, lambs lettuce, romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, raw zucchini slices and a pizza pattie sort of thing.

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 ;)

Lemon Lime Corn Waffles & Veggie Ricotta Lasagna

May I present you vegan waffles that were requested by a person who thinks soy milk will kill him.



That's right, my boyfriend asked for his own waffles (Jennifer, you can do the I-told-you-so dance now ;)) when he arrived at my apartment and saw me eating these Lemon Lime Corn Waffles with the most delicious strawberries & blueberries.



He had a few bites and declared he'd go for vegan waffles aswell. I made his with oil instead of apple sauce and white flour so they wouldn't be too healthy and scare him away =p

And here's a picture of the yummy Lasagna my mom & I made when my sister & her boyfriend arrived.



I had my vegan corner and the rest had regular lasagna. We used soy creamer instead of bechamel sauce and nobody noticed. I also crumbled my basil tofu ricotta inbetween the layers and nobody complained. I LOVED my part of the Lasagna, that's for sure!

Yumm yumm... and yes, I eat my Lasagna with applesauce ;)



Last night I made another dinner requested by my boyfriend: Potato Soup!
I had my mom's potato soup in mind which was very creamy and mild in flavor, but of course I improvised (as I pretty much always do) and got out something totally different, yet extremly delicious: Curry-Potato Soup!

I served this to my parents, my sister, her boyfriend and my boyfriend and everybody LOVED it! You know, when I started cooking my sister replied with an "Ew." when I said I'd be making potato soup, my mom said she wasn't hungry yet when dinner was ready everybody raved about it! Seriously, stuff like that makes me so happy, ha ha! I mean how often do you cook something and everybody likes it? I'll post pictures later, because I made a huge pot. Leftovers, hooray!!!

Other than that I want to apply for an internship in Amsterdam. I have found three agencies I'll apply at and I specifically favor one of them. Oi, please cross your fingers, I am so nervous! I really really want to do this, it would be like a dream come true!

Cocoa Chocolate Chip Banana Waffles & Italian Inspired Veggie Tomato Stew on Brown Rice

Oh man, for dessert last night I made - you guessed it - WAFFLES again! Sadly no picture since I was charging my batteries.

I can't help it but get excited everytime I say the word waffles, ha ha! I look up into the air and look like Spongebob...



I made Cocoa Chocolate Chip Banana Waffles.
Had them with maple syrup (heavenly) and fresh raspberries, banana slices and blueberries (whatever comes after heavenly, this was it)

Ingredients (for 2 waffles)

3/4 cup flour (I use spelt)
2 heaped Tbsp. natural cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup soy milk (I used Soy Macchiato which gave it a lovely coffeeish flavor)
1 Tbsp. mashed banana (I used about 1/4 of a big one)
2 tsp. maple syrup (more or less depending on the sweetness of your milk)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (optional)
2 Tbsp. chopped chocolate or chocolate chips

This was chocolate heaven on a plate. Seriously, waffles combine everything awesome: crispyness/chewyness of cookies and doughyness like pancakes or cupcakes.

I know I will make these again! Probably tonight, because how else could I use up the leftover half banana? Ha ha! I'm also thinking of cutting up cherries and throwing them into the batter... mhhh!


For dinner I cooked up some brown rice and threw together a bunch of vegetables to accompany it.

I used
- 2 cans of tomatoes in juice
- 2 chopped onions
- 5 crushed cloves of garlic
- 1 huge zucchini, chopped
- some leftover frozen italian vegetable mix which fit very well (it was zucchini, onions, string beans, bell pepper, mushrooms (eh!) and black olives seasoned with oregano)
- 1/2 cup frozen spinach
and seasoned everything with thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper.

It was very garlicky, but not in an overpowering way. Very delicious, the rest agreed with me!



My dad asked my mom for Parmesan cheese, but there was none. I couldn't really feel for him because I had tons of nutritional yeast to sprinkle over my food ;)
Seriously, sprinkling nooch on stuff makes it so much better, at least if one's looking for a cheesy kind of flavoring.



My boyfriend even asked for another serving at 1 AM. Ha ha! Luckily I still have a small serving leftover for myself tonight.

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!

Cherry Chocolate Pancakes & Lentil-Veggie Lasagna

Yes, that brownblackish smear on the right one is indeed 85% dark chocolate oozing out of the pancake! And yes, I used cherries from a jar.

While watching France loose against Italy last night (I thought of you Romina and was like "I bet she's totally celebrating right now!" ha ha) I suddelny craved pancakes! I could totally identify myself with Ruby's statement from a while ago, he he!

"I can't stop making them - I'm obsessed. I can't control myself: I just wake up and my hands start making pancakes!!!"

They were delicious! The intense taste of the dark chocolate with the juicy and fruity cherries inbetween was a festival for my tastebuds!
I had them with raspberry jam (pictured) and maple syrup.
If you ever want to try them definitely go with the maple syrup as the tastes fit together perfectly!



I mixed together the following, aiming to get no more than two pancakes out of the batter as I wasn't actually very hungry.

Ingredients
makes 2 pancakes

important: I used a rather small Tbsp. (I used children's silverware, erm...)

3 Tbsp. water
4-5 Tbsp. soy milk (or any other milk)
1/2-1 Tbsp. apple sauce
1-2 Tbsp. agave syrup (sweeten to taste)
a few dashes of cinnamon
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
5 Tbsp. flour (I used whole meal)
dash baking soda
pinch salt
1/2-1 cup cherries (I'm the kind of person who likes it best if there's more fruit than dough so I went with a cup)
cuple of small chocolate pieces (I used two and broke them into small pieces; chocolate chips would be the easiest way to go I guess but 1/4 cup costs about 1.50 here)


After work I went shopping. Look at how tiny the zucchini is!
Everytime I see something incredibly small version of a usually bigger item I buy it because I'm like "Aww look, it's a Lizzy-Zucchini!" as I'm only 5'2", ha ha!



I also found red lamb's lettuce which I've never heard of before. I'll make it tonight with nectarines and a raspberry-lime dressing I've been wanting to try, hence the raspberry jam and limes.



I didn't like this fruit bar too much as the coffee taste was rather wird... but luckily I had also purchased this fantastic dark chocolate that made my pancakes extra special!

As a snack I made myself a bowl of fruit: golden kiwi, watermelon and honeydew melon!



Later I reheated my last piece of Lasagna.
I had mixed together the leftover sauces from here with tomato purée and seasoned it with oregano, salt & pepper.
I also cooked a cup of red lentils and added them to the sauce. While the lentils were cooking I sautéed an orange bell pepper and 3 carrots cut into chunks. Everything was combined and filled into the Canneloni.
The rest was used as a filling for the Lasagna with additional frozen spinach inbetween the layers which was just perfect!
My mom, dad and boyfriend ate the Canneloni & the rest of the Lasagna as I had topped it with cheese for them (my mom's request). They enjoyed it a lot!
I was fine without it and enjoyed my piece with some soy yogurt sprinkled with a little pepper.

At first I thought I'd miss the white sauce, but turns out that the red lentils give the filling a creamy texture which was completely awesome! Lentils working in Lasagna, who would've thought?

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!

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!!!

Chocolate Covered Banana Cranberry Bars, Banana Cranberry Cake & Pasta with Tomato-Bean Sauce & garlicky Greens

What to do on a Sunday when hung-over?



I decided to stay in my PJ's, put on Friends, got a plate, a knife and dried bananas & cranberries. This is without a doubt my new favorite sweet treat! I can only suggest you try it yourself =)



Banana Cranberry Chocolate Bars (makes 3 small bars)
1/4 cup dried bananas
1/4 cup dried cranberries
dark chocolate for covering

I guess it would be the easiest to throw it all into a food processor or blender, but I cut it all into tiny pieces with a knife.
Then I took a plastic wrap and pressed the mixture into shape.
Then I melted the chocolate and covered the bars in it.
I had some chocolate left so I got out some hazelnuts, raisins (I recently discovered that I don't really hate them anymore, yay!) and dried bananas to cover it with.



I also bought new boxes. A small one (picture below), three medium ones for only 5 € and a big lunch box divided into three sections.



And now onto the Banana Coffee Cake. I turned it into a Banana Cranberry Cake because I doubled the recipe before realizing I didn't have enough bananas.



I served it with cranberry "jam". It was delicious and I ate so much warm cake that my tummy hurt afterwards =p



And a picture of a delicious golden kiwi!
I get an allergic reaction when I eat regular kiwi, but since the golden ones contain less fruit acid I can eat them without much trouble. Another staple fruit, now that I finally found a store that carries them.



Yesterday my boyfriend came over and declared he was hungry.
We both had no idea what to make so after checking my cupboards I decided to cook the rest of the Tofu Tortellini, whole-wheat Linguine, garlicky Broccoli & Zucchini to go with it and a ready-to-eat tomato sauce that I pimped with an onion and 1/3 cup baked beans.
Then I sprinkled it with nutritional yeast(like 4 times in a row, haha, *sings* I just can't get enough) and dug in. Yummy =)



Yesterday my internet worked again, but when I turned on le big Mac this morning it didn't connect anymore. Wtf? I hate this!
I'll try to comment during my break and pray that it'll work again when I come home tonight.
Hope you had a nice weekend and a good start into the new week!