Category Archives: Healthy

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!)

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.

 

Pumpkin Stoup

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Fall is here!

After a walk in the woods, we wanted something warm, hearty, and filling. Pumpkin soup made with carrots, shallot, ginger, and curry was perfect.

 

 Well, actually it was more like stew because it was so thick, but it was delicious and exactly what we needed.

Happy Fall!

A little pep in my step

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My very own first bottle of Tabasco

I bought myself a bottle of green Tabasco! I know, I can hardly believe it. I found some corn tortillas on sale, I had a half avocado in the fridge, and was thinking Mexican food. However, as you all know, the salsa here is not good. Not spicy as a salsa should be. More Ketchup-y than Salsa-y if you know what I mean. So as I was perusing the hot sauce section, I took a closer look at Tabasco. The green variety (still jalapeno mind you) is labeled as mild in comparison to real Tabasco, so I decided to be brave and give it a go.

 

 

 

HELLO! Yes, that will put a bit of pep in your step (at least in mine, because I am sensitive to overly spicy hot sauce). But it definitely added the necessary spice to turn this into at least a sort of Mexican burrito, as opposed to a veggie wrap or something. I like the sauce because it is more in the direction of Frank’s red hot sauce – adds some pep, but doesn’t light anything on fire.

The burrito was delcious by the way – quinoa, sauteed zuchinni / bell pepper / green onion, tomato and avocado. And Tabasco. And now I am sweating.

Something new and glad I tried it!

Farro Perlato

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We picked up some farro perlato on our trip to Italy, and it is amazing! Pearled farro cooks in 20 minutes, in comparison to regular spelt (which is either the same thing or a very close relative) which takes over an hour. Both are yummy, although the pearled variety was obviously way more convenient. I made this into a salad inspired by Heidi Swanson (I love her “Super Natural Every Day”) and Yottam Ottolenghi (his vegetarian cookbook called “Plenty” was my bday gift to myself.), using what I got at the Bonn market. Because I am writing about this a month after the fact, I forgot how I made it! Luckily I took photos and kept my “brainstorm list” so I can sort of explain it. This proves how helpful the blog can be, as long I post the recipes in a timely fashion This obviously didn’t happen in May.

Because I was really making an effort, and because the celery was huge, I de-stringed (de-strung?) it.

I sectioned an orange and used the juice run-off for the dressing, along with some lemon juice, spring onion, olive oil and sea salt. I wanted to give it some time “for the flavors to meld” while the farro was cooking.

Don’t mind the tofu, that was a side dish along with the bottomless supply of spinach.

Tossed  together the cooked (and cooled) farro, oranges, celery, sliced spring onion, avocado, citrus zest and dressing. Sprinkled with some parmesan.

I was slightly curious how this would turn out, but I liked it, and so did Milo. Buono Appetito!

Spinach and a treat

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So I was in the mood for some greens. And I came back from the market with a gigantic bag of spinach. The thing was, the market was wrapping up, the spinach was already in the bags, and the farmer gave me the whole bag for 2.20 Euro. I told him I wasn’t going to be able to eat it all, but I somehow ended up with the whole bag. He said it was a kilo, but it was actually 1.4 kilos (about 3 lbs) – so needless to say, I still have LOTS.

I washed as much as I could cram in my salad spinner, chopped most of that, and then cooked it up quickly with some lemon and olive oil. At the end I tossed in some tagliatelle and then some parmesan and something sort of like Vege-Sal (except it is salt with dried herbs).

On my way to the table I noticed the gigantic bowl of tomatoes, so decided to add a few for good measure. The vitamin C in lemons and tomatoes helps the body absorb the iron in spinach more easily.

I have enjoyed spinach a few times this week, and still have half the bag left! I am wondering if I will finish it before it gets slimy. Just call me Popeye-ette.

I tried a new recipe tonight – they are called “almond butter chews” and I found the recipe on a really fun healthy-food blog called Oh She Glows. Here is the link to the original recipe, but I didn’t have any brown rice syrup, so I used 1.5 Tbs Zuckerruebensirop (which is sort of like molasses) and 1.5Tbs Agave nectar, plus then the 1/4 cup almond butter (which I bought at the bio shop for 7 Euro for a tiny jar holy cow!), a splash of vanilla, a cup of puffed rice cereal and some chopped choco-chips. I tried to melt the almond butter and sticky syrups in a makeshift double-boiler, and then stirred in the puffed rice with some elbow grease and rolled them into bite-size rounds. After a few minutes in the freezer, I am enjoying one right now! Very yummy!! Have a great second half of the week!