*slowly lifts the coffin lid*

Yes, I’m still around.

Pesky real life (work, family, a wedding, and the flu o’doom) simply kept me from blogging. But of course I consumed much food in the meantime and shall get back to updating this place more or less regularly.

Since my camera’s batteries are flat and I’ve not yet mastered the art of taking pictures with my shiny new mobile phone, the food pics are even worse than usual. Sorry for that, folks.


Yesterday’s improvised dinner, I shall call it ‘chevapcici rice’:



Ingredients:

a pack brown rice (250gr) for the microwave
a tin ‘Mexico Mix’ (corn, peas, red bell pepper)
a pack ‘Bratstreifen von Plus’ (marinated tofu-seitan strips)
5 T. ketchup
1 t. tomato paste
1 T. margarine
salt, pepper, sugar, granulated garlic, oregano


Put some oil in a pan and roast the tofu-seitan strips till they’re nicely browned, add a splash of water, the tomato paste, and the ketchup. Stir until get a thick red sauce, then add the veggies. Heat the rice in the microwave while you season the contents of the pan to your liking. After a few minutes turn off the stove and add the rice to the pan, as well as a tablespoon of margarine. Combine well and serve.

Feeds 2 people.


Also, have a (crappy) bonus picture:



Homemade seitan gyros (sprinkled with yeast), tzaziki and coleslaw.

Baby it's cold outside

Since it was a frosty -10°C in my part of the world when I left home yesterday morning, I decided that I would have a nice, hot soup for dinner.

It has to be said, though, I'm not a big fan of soup. There are a few I like (e.g. the creamy veggie soups my mom makes, or the spicy sweet & sour veggie soup you sometimes find at Chinese restaurants) but most soups do nothing for me.

And in all the years, I never made soup myself. So I thought it would be best to go for something simple and decided on a creamy cauliflower soup, which turned out lovely (whereas the pic didn't).

What you need:

- 1 large head cauliflower

- 250ml soy cream

- about 2 tablespoon veggie stock of your choice

- salt, black pepper, nutmeg, granulated garlic, and sugar for seasoning

Clean the cauliflower, put it in a large pot with about a litre of water, put the lid on and boil/steam it till it's soft, then take the pot off the stove.

Break up the cauliflower with a fork or potato masher then briefly puree it with a hand-blender (all still in the same pot with the cooking water). Add the soy cream, the veggie stock, a dash of sugar and the other spices to taste.

Put the pot back on the stove (low heat this time), let it simmer for a few minutes, and add some more water if the soup's too thick. Taste and add more spices if necessary.

I had the soup with some roasted breadcrumbs, which I seasoned with nutritional yeast, salt, black pepper, and granulated garlic (and if you add herbs like basil or oregano, this goes well with most pasta dishes too).

Enjoy!

Feeds at least 3 people, or more if you serve bread with it.

I have absolutely noooo food in the house!

Do you sometimes find yourself uttering that very sentence, despite an overflowing shelf/fridge/freezer?

Well, I frequently do. So the other day I decided to postpone shopping for two days and live of what was still in my kitchen. How hard could it be?

I didn't do a full inventory but amongst the food stuff I had at home were:
- regular tofu
- smoked tofu
- a pound of organic potatoes
- canned green beans
- two large onions
- a nearly full pack of Wetabix
- a litre of soy milk
- wholewheat toast
- margarine
- strawberry jam
- peanut butter
- sushi rice
- two packs of nori
- a pack flour
- half a pack wholewheat spaghetti
- a pack of spelt pasta
- a pound of frozen mixed veggies
- three frozen portions of homemade chili

As you can see, I definitely wasn't going to starve anytime soon.

I can't remember what I had for breakfast those two days, but I reckon that was were the toast and jam came in. One dinner was covered by the chili, the other was simply skipped (because I had slept through half the day and only managed to fit two meals into the time I was awake).

On the first day I had mashed potatoes with roasted onionsfor lunch, which probably sounds rather dull but is actually yummy, filling, and also a childhood comfort-food for me.

On the second day, I simply spooned the left over mashed potatoes on a baking sheet and threw them into the oven for half an hour to get somewhat oddly-shaped croquettes. I don't recall on what temperature I had the oven but apparently it wasn't high enough, as the croquettes weren't as crispy as I had hoped. But they were still very tasty and went well with the green beans and smoked tofu cubes (just heated those in a small skilled with a bit of oil, seasoning them with salt, black pepper, and the tiniest dash of sugar).

I would have loved to share some pictures of those dishes with you but unfortunately the one thing I really was out of were batteries.

So, have instead a picture of my loved-by-every-omni-I-ever-fed-it-to lasagna:


(why yes, it's round)


I hope everyone is well and had nice holidays.

*sniffles*

What started yesterday with a bit of sneezing and a slightly sore throat suddenly was a full-blown cold today. *pouts*

But at least my taste buds seem to be unaffected so far. And since I was rather peckish earlier and happened to have all the needed ingredients in the house, I tried Vegan Dad's recipe for mock tuna salad, which can be found here: http://vegandad.blogspot.com/2007/12/tunori-sandwiches.html

It turned out very nice, even though my small food processor had trouble chopping the chickpeas and the nori really fine. I better do it in two batches next time. And since I used the 'Mayonnaise Natur' made by Plamil, which is rather vinegar-y, I added a tiny bit of sugar.

Since we're on the subject of mayonnaise...

...the plain version of this stuff turns out to be my favourite of all the vegan mayos I've tried so far. Like I said, it has a rather prominent vinegar note, but it's fine for sandwiches and when using it for salads and stuff you can always add a pinch of sugar. It has a nice, smooth texture and a fresh, almost spicy taste that reminds me a bit of Miracle Whip.

I also bought a jar of the garlic version, looking forward to try that one.

Death and pasta

Yep, I really do love a certain female colleague. Especially when she spoils me with random pressies like this awesome skull and cross bones cookie cutter.



Needless to say, I was a very happy ghoul. Now all I need is a quick and easy cookie recipe and then I shall feed my colleagues delightfully creepy cookies.


Anyhoo, let me tell you about what I had for dinner tonight.

Back in my omni days, I used to love a certain version of spaghetti carbonara that a friend came up with. Now, and thanks to some inspiration from Attila Hildmann, I dared to try and veganise it.

And you know what? It turned out really good. Creamy, hearty and very filling.



What you need:
200g wholewheat spaghetti
170g tinned, sliced mushrooms (or whatever amount comes in a small tin/glass)
80g smoked tofu
200ml soy cream
1 small red onion
1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
10g frozen parsley
1 teaspoon veggie stock
salt, black pepper and granulated garlic to taste
a bit of olive oil

Cook the pasta (if you expect me to explain how to do that... get out of here).

Cut the smoked tofu into very fine cubes (about 5mm), then do the same with the onion. Give some olive oil (I used about 2-3 tablespoons) into a frying pan over medium heat. Put the tofu cubes in and roast them, flipping them now and then, till they're nicely golden brown. Add the onion cubes and roast the mix for another few minutes, then add the (drained!) mushrooms and give them at least enough time to warm up or a bit longer if you like them slightly browned as well.

Season the tofu and the veggies with salt, black pepper and garlic to your liking. Add the soy cream and stir in the veggie stock. Let it come to a boil and taste it, adding more salt/pepper/garlic if you wish.

Turn out the stove, give first the nutritional yeast over the sauce, then the pasta and mix all well. Either add the parsley at this point, or wait till the dish is on the plate/s (the latter will probably look nicer).

Enjoy!

Feeds 2-3 people.

What's this?

A week ago, I went on a mad online shopping spree at http://vegan-wonderland.de and this is the result:



Granted, not all of it is edible, there are a few make-up items and toothpaste in there as well.

But back to the food. This time -aside from several "old" favourites like nougat-rings, soy medallions and energy oat snacks - I went for quite a few things I usually don't order, like fake cheeses and vegan cold cuts.

Since I'm (for the most part) a happy vegan without the various fake this and thats on the market, I'm not quite sure what made me do that. Maybe I felt unusually adventurous when I ordered. Or maybe I've simply had a beer too many that day. I honestly don't recall.

Anyway, over the next few weeks there shall be a few product reviews.

The devil made me do it

This is my first attempt at food blogging.

Why did I decide to give it a try, you wonder?

Well, first and foremost, because I love food. And I love food blogs (especially the ones with plenty of foodporn... mmmmm!). But there don't seem to be many German vegan blogs around, or at least not many that aren't primarily AR/political. So this will be my attempt at contributing to the German vegan food blogosphere (ooookay... remind me to never use that word again).


A few words about me and the contents of this blog:

I'm a "baby" vegan. I transitioned from vegetarianism to veganism only about six months ago and I'm still learning my way around the vegan kitchen.

Sometimes I'm a lazy cook, who likes to use easy sauce mixes and other short cuts.

I'm not a health-nut or a skinny girl. Fresh produce and healthy meals are good things, but I don't watch my calorie and fat intake.

Things I rarely use:
- tomatos (tomato-based sauces are fine with me, other than that I'm not too fond of them)
- olives (only small amounts, pureed, in a pesto every now and then)
- capers (see 'olives')
- rice (I really like sushi, but I hardly ever use rice in other dishes)

Things I never use:
- eggplants/aubergines
- pumpkin (other than carving one out for Halloween)
- brussels sprouts
- raisins
- peaches
- fresh ginger
- lemon grass
- fennel
- red capsicum (maybe I'm neurotic, but I only like the yellow and green ones)
- plums

Yes, my tastebuds are weird like that. But then so's the rest of me.


Have a random food pic for a start:

The tofu veggie noodle stifry I had the other day (can you tell I'm a bit rubbish with the camera?)