Monthly Archives: June 2013

Pasta e fagiole with a twist

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Hi!

Oh my gosh, it is SO hot here! I feel like it took forever for the summer to arrive, but let me tell you, it is here now. At 8am this morning when I walked by the Apotheke sign, it said 28 Grad (82 Fahrenheit for those non-metric among us). I was glowing by the time I got to the tram stop, and rather drippy by the time I arrived at work.

Tomorrow is the Firmen Cup Lauf, and our ladies running group is on “Team Deere” and tomorrow is supposed to be the hottest day so far this year. So I stopped at Alnatura to get some coconut water for tomorrow. I think if there is one time to splurge to stay hydrated, this is the time. I would like to survive the 5km.

After perusing the veg section, I was inspired by mushrooms and the fun tomatoes. And then I thought I needed some beans to make it substantial. And of course I had pasta on my mind, because that is always nice to eat before a big run.

I sauteed up some onions and the champignons in lots of olive oil and some sea salt. After they were nice and soft I added some barlotti beans and dried oregano and thyme.

This would have been really nice as is.

But I decided to add some freshness with tomatoes and basil.

Very yummy, and the kitchen got pretty hot, but it was OK. To the gluten free people, I think if you made this with Farro it would also be delicious! (or does Farro have gluten? Well, pick a grain you can eat and try it!)

Choco chip cookies

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Well, now that we figured out how to make chocolate chip cookies in Germany (successfully) I better really pick up my work out routine.

On Saturday, Sandra had her birthday party so I figured that was a great reason to make another batch. This time, I made a full batch, and I think they were a hit. A Konditor himself (a profesisonal dessert chef in Baden Baden) even gave me some compliments. I was very pleased.

Sunday we slept in and had brunch on the patio, it was a fabulous weekend in BB. Happy Birthday to Sandra!

 

Macaroni and Cheez

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It was one of those days where some good ol mac ‘n cheese was just the ticket. However, as you may recall, I don’t do well with lactose. So last August, when I started to figure this out, I began reading a few vegan blogs. Vegans know how to deal without dairy.

This is basically this recipe, but without the chipotle peppers. And I threw in a roasted kohlrabi because I didn’t have brussels. I added some tabasco at the end to pepp it up. It was much better than I had imagined, definitely a good alternative to cheese, but I think I still prefer Pesto. Still, good to have in the arsenal. Cashew cheese. Soak the cashews, blend up with some broth and nutritional yeast till smooth. (UB I know what you are thinking. It IS wierd). The blog is the post punk kitchen, and I even have Isa’s cookbook Veganomicon, which pretty much rules and I have been using it a lot lately.

Protein Power Goddess Bowl

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This was fun to try! Lentils, barley, zuchinni (substitued for spinach which went yellow), orange peppers, and tomatoes. Dressed with a tahini-lemon dressing and lots of coriander. The dressing was super lemony when I first made it and tasted it, but mellowed out when mixed in with the other ingredients. Quite good, however I am really not that big of a barley fan, I just need to admit it and move on to another grain.

The recipe is from here. (I made a half recipe and it was more than enough for lunch the next day too.) BTW the blog, oh she glows is a great vegan blog that I love, check it out!

Rice paper rolls and the Mannheim Marathon

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So on Friday, I ran in the Schweinehundlauf 4k fun run and conquered my inner pig-dog. It was so much fun! But I woke up with the worst allergies this morning because we ran through pollen fluffs in the park. Lots and lots of fluffs.

For dinner Saturday, I wanted to make something delicious, but also healthy. I have had rice paper wraps on my mind. I even walked all the way to the Turkish market to get a big bundle of coriander and mint, because those are basically required ingredients.

Napa cabbage, cucumber, carrot, avocado, cilantro, mint, tofu and a squeeze of lime never hurts.

For dipping I made the spicy-peanut sauce from here (Isa at the PPK does it agian!). AMAZING!

I got to enjoy my dinner while watching the marathoners. It was fabulous!

 

Miso-Tahini veggie bowl

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Veg + Tofu atop millet. Covered in my new favorite sauce!

The sauce is from Veganomicon, and it is 1 part Miso paste (mine is shiro miso: light yellow rice miso) + 1 part Tahini combined. Mix in 2 parts water until smooth and desired consistency. TASTE IS AWESOME. And I had enough left for an AWESOME lunch the next day.

Carmelized Onions with Rice and Lentils aka Dahl

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Oh the sky.

So I found this recipe in Veganomicon, which claimed to be super-simple and super-delicious and super-healthy. Sign me up! The recipe looked rather similar to dahl as we know it, but the carmelized onions are the new kid on the block.

The method is to roast the onions in the oven, and cook the rice and lentils together in pot on the stove with cumin and cinnamon.

It did turn out very delcious, but it was really the dahl we have grown up with. I do recommend the onions, they were delicious, but next time I will do it in a pan on the stove in 15-20 minutes rather than roast in the oven for 45 minutes (at least in the summer).

And here’s the sunset.