What I Ate Wednesday #63 – After Party

I had a very special kind of weekend. Saturday morning husband and I went horseback riding again. For two hours! I’m still sore in quite unusual places. After returning home, I cleaned up and headed to a friend’s birthday party. We sang and danced and chatted and goofed around all night long. Finally, I went to bed at 4 am. It was awesome!

I didn’t drink that much, but staying up so late definitely threw me off balance.

Here’s what I ate on Sunday, the day after the Party of the year.

I slept until noon, which hardly ever happens, and woke up slightly hungry. So I made myself a late but tasty open-faced sandwich.

Afterwards I was still a little hungry, so I had a small bowl of fruit muesli with rice milk and fresh blueberries on top. I still can’t get enough of all kinds of berries these days.

Thanks to my very late breakfast and filling snack, I ended up skipping lunch, which also hardly ever happens.

A few weeks ago, my husband told me that he’d be fine having bibimbap for lunch and dinner every day. So that’s what I’ve been serving him since then. I wonder when he will finally get bored with it. I’ll let you know.

While I don’t really have a favorite ice cream flavor (I order something different every time), red bean ice cream is definitely among my personal top 3, whenever it’s available. Wait, beans in ice cream?! It’s delicious, I swear! The beans tasty nutty and subtly sweet, while adding an extra dose of plant-based protein and fiber. Using beans in dessert dishes is actually quite common in many Asian countries, mostly in the form of red bean paste.

And then I was hit by a very strange late night craving for something crunchy and fruity. The solution: peanut butter and cherry jam on Finn Crisp. I love this kind of thin crispbreads, because they contain a lot of fiber, no sketchy ingredients, and have an insanely long shelf life. They stay nice and crunchy for months, even if the package has already been opened. Those crisps will definitely come along with me on my next road trip.

What is the most exotic dessert or snack you’ve ever had?

See you!

Read Full Post »

What I Ate Wednesday #62 – Not Quite Summer

It’s June, so theoretically it should be summer now, right? In reality, I’m still wearing my winter coat, and even put on my winter boots on Monday and Tuesday.

Let me get serious for a moment. Torrential rains have been flooding Central Europe in the past few days, including South Germany. Our families and friends are fine, but others are really struggling. Please send positive thoughts and prayers if you like.

Back to the food. The theme of the month is Sensible Snacking, definitely something I need to work on. Here’s what I ate last Saturday.

Nothing new here. I’m still loving those tiny local cucumbers. They’re so juicy, crunchy, and delicious, especially on top of my breakfast sandwiches.

An almost empty nut butter jar is always something to be happy about. Why? Because I get to make overnight oats in a jar! They don’t have to soak all night long, though, an hour or two is totally enough. This jar contained my favorite mix of oats, flax seeds, cocoa powder, cinnamon, dried cranberries, rice milk, a dash of maple syrup, and half a mashed banana.

This was a rather filling snack, perfect fuel for my planned trip to the grocery store.

Sometimes I just crave a huge bowl of salad, even if I haven’t seen the sun in days. On the side I had a few slices of toasted tomato ciabatta. After clearing that plate I went back for seconds. Yes, I can eat a lot of produce. #noshame

Last week I found a new-to-me product at our local Aldi – vegan fish fingers! They were surprisingly delicious! Their taste comes quite close to the original, as far as I can remember, minus the fishy part, of course. I won’t have those very often, but I think they are a great option whenever I’m hit by a random junk food craving.

One of my favorite savory snack options is a handful of those pretzel sticks. They are covered in sesame seeds instead of salt, so their sodium content is much lower. They also contain a lot less fat than most chips, and I don’t feel the urge to devour the entire package.

What’s your favorite savory snack?

See you!

Read Full Post »

Foodie Penpals – May 2013

It’s time to reveal my Foodie Penpals goodies for the month of May!

This month my parcel came from Julia, who lives in the Netherlands! She made sure to send me some typical Dutch specialities. This is what I love the most about the Foodie Penpals party, being able to try new foods from many different countries without travelling. (Side note: I do love travelling, but it’s hard find the time to do so these days.)

Here’s what I received:

Hagelslag: This is the Dutch word for sprinkles! As I understand it, hagelslag is a popular bread topping, similar to fairy bread. This box contains several different varieties, and I’m especially looking forward to trying the chocolate ones.

Rooibos tea: I really love tea! I have a cup of green or herbal tea almost every day, and rooibos is a nice change of flavor in my cup.

Syrup wafers: I remember having a larger version of those and loving them, so I opened this bag immediately after seeing it. Those mini wafers are lovely, full of caramely goodness.

Tea strainer: Isn’t this the cutest tea strainer ever?! It’s a strawberry! I think I still have a box of loose leaf tea in my pantry, and I’m going to try this pretty little thing very soon.

Pudding mix: As far as I understand, you simply mix the contents of the box with two cups of milk and heat it on the stove for a few minutes. This mix even contains cookie bits! I haven’t had one of those in ages, so I’m quite exited to give it a try.

Gingerbread: Actually I love gingerbread, I even have a recipe for it on my blog, but these are way beyond my sugar threshold. They are incredibly sweet! I was already thinking about how I could use them, maybe turning them into bread pudding, but then my husband took a bite and claimed them for himself. He says they are great with butter on top. Fine with me!

Thanks again, Julia, for your lovely parcel!

See you!

Read Full Post »

What I Ate Wednesday #61 – Chilly Days

Please excuse the bad pun in today’s title. This current mini ice age has frozen my brain cells. And my fingers. And everything else. (Dramatic? Me? No way!)

Anyway, I’ve been craving hearty, spicy meals lately, and my usual lunch salads are taking a time-out.

Some things don’t change with the weather, like my breakfasts. Sunflower spread on whole wheat toast, with a side of tomatoes and cucumbers.

But somehow those toasts didn’t fill me up, so I had another slice of whole grain bread, topped with peanut butter and jam. I’m surely not the only one who enjoys second breakfast once in a while. Or am I?

For lunch I made a big batch of vegan chili, loosely based on Laura’s recipe. I don’t make my chili crazy spicy, just a little kick is enough for me. I enjoyed it on a bed of quinoa, topped with avocado chunks.

In the afternoon I was craving something sweet, but I rarely have sweets in my house, besides some plain dark chocolate. So I baked a bunch of cookies. Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, to be exact. Oh yeah, they were amazing!

For dinner I mixed up a quick quinoa tabouleh, and tried a new vegan sausage from our local Aldi, which I cut into slices and fried in a pan for a few minutes. While I’m not a big fan of meat replacements, I do occasionally try a new-to-me product whenever I see one. It’s all for the sake of research. This sausage was okay, but not that good. Just like most of the tofu products from Aldi. The only exceptions are their vegan deli slices. Those a pretty good!

Is is already sunny and warm where you are? Or are you still cranking up the heating, like me?

See you!

Read Full Post »

What I Ate Wednesday #60 – Dinner Special

I kind of suck at meal planning. I just never know what I want to eat, but I do know that I don’t want to eat the same dish for more than two days in a row. I have no problems eating sandwiches for breakfast and salad for lunch any day, but when it comes to dinner I want a little more variety. So I’m currently putting together a collection of my favorite dishes to choose from every night.

The dishes, that I want to add to my go-to list, have to be plant-based, balanced (containing complex carbs, protein, and vegetables), and prepared in under 30 minutes. And they need to be delicious, of course.

Here are a few dishes that have earned a spot on my list already.

Vegan jjigae = vegetable stew with tofu

I’d call that a classic kitchen sink dish. Just chop up all the leftover vegetables in your fridge, throw them into a pot, add a spicy miso broth and tofu, and serve it all with rice. This dish is usually made with meat and a lot of red pepper paste, but I adjust it to my taste, and make a separate pot for my husband.

Bibimbap = a bowl of rice with various toppings

This is my husband’s favorite dish at the moment. I like to use brown rice instead of white, and prepare several different toppings in advance, like pan-fried tofu, black soy beans, roasted vegetables, etc.

Carrot lentil soup (from the book More Peas, Thank You)

Blended vegetables soups are awesome! I always make a big batch and store the leftover servings in my fridge of freezer. Adding beans or lentils to the soup before blending provides an extra dose of protein.

Whole grain pasta with tomato sauce

Friday night is pasta night. That decision was made quite a while ago. I usually make a batch of vegetable-laden tomato sauce, but sometimes I go for a creamy white sauce instead. Americans call that ‘alfredo’, right? Nutritional yeast is a great substitute for grated Parmesan cheese, if you want to go that way.

Roasted asparagus and sweet potato

My favorite way of preparing vegetables is roasting them in the oven. This method works well for sweet or white potatoes, broccoli, carrots, squash, asparagus, bell peppers, etc. I like to pair them with a simple dip made of soy yogurt, mustard, honey, dried herbs, and salt and pepper to taste. And ketchup. Always.

This list is far from complete, of course.

What dishes are on your list of favorite quick dinners?

See you!

Read Full Post »