fast food part 7 - garlic bread

Another easy-peasy quick snack, which is even a good party food!

You need:

• a baguette
• vegan butter (I use Alsan)
• garlic
• salt
• parsley and any other herbs you like (e.g. basil) (you can use frozen herbs!)

Instructions:

• cut the baguette in quarters lengthwise and heightwise
• make the garlic butter
• have your butter at room temperature and stir it until it's smooth
• stir in the herbs, then the garlic and salt
• spread the garlic butter on the baguette
• bake everything for 8-10 minutes at 180-200°C 

You can make a big batch of the butter at once and freeze it in small portions which makes the whole thing even quicker and easier!

So get cooking and enjoy this very easy yummy junk food ;)

Julia

xoxo

fast food part 6 - burritos

For this recipe you need:

• some leftovers of my Chili-stir-fry
• burrito wraps
• sweet corn
• leftover cooked rice
• lettuce
• tomatoes

and any other veg you'd like to add, like cucumber, baby spinach, avocado or you can even throw some thinly sliced carrots, zucchini or green beans into the stir-fry. Like always with my "throw-togethers": get creative! Use leftovers, empty out your fridge! You can even sprinkle some vegan cheese on before you roll your wraps!

So what you simply do is heat up the stir-fry with the rice and sweetcorn, cut up some lettuce, tomatoes and whichever other veg you're using.

Heat up the burrito wraps for about 30 seconds in a pan or your microwave.

Spread the filling onto the wraps and roll them in. - Make sure they're not too full and that you rolled in the bottom! (If you're a first-time burrito-maker: there are usually instructions on the package)

Btw. I'm sure you can fill those hard corn tortilla things (what are they called again?! Sorry, my brain cells are in pregnancy-mode already and seem to stop working randomly from time to time :D )

Now it's time for the first bite of this uber-delicious burrito which nourishes not only your body but your soul as well! It's awesome after a cold long day out, when you haven't eaten all day because you were too busy.

So get cooking and then get cozy on the couch and Eat up! :)

Julia

xoxo

organic food delivery (post-delivery opinion / first impression)

So I got my first organic fruit 'n' veg order yesterday! Yay! :)

I have to say it's even better than I expected! The quality is perfect - even better than at my local organic shop! And it is SO convenient to have food delivered :) Also for me it's like a present, because from the day I ordered to the day it is delivered I will most likely forget what I ordered these days :D

So I started cooking right after I got everything and made two lovely dishes:
roasted veg and also swiss chard with potatoes. It was so delicious! There seems to be a whole world between locally organic grown veg and the veg you get at the supermarket. In taste I mean! I barely used any seasonings and the dishes were so full of flavour.

So in conclusion I will obviously keep using the service in the future!
For next week I ordered several veg, apples (I'm usually not a big apple-eater but the ones I got this week are so delicious, I want some next week as well!) and a variety of  4 different breads.
My service offers a mix of 3 different sliced spelt-breads in small portions as well as a small portion of slice six-seed-bread. They're yeast-free as well. Although I don't particularly avoid yeast I seem to prefer sourdough-bread digestion-wise, so that is another plus for me personally!

I can only recommend to anyone who is too busy or doesn't have the option to go to a local farmers market to try out a local organic delivery service!

Also if you use a service, make sure to at least think of a couple of meals you'll make with your order. This way you won't overbuy and won't throw your food away and save money in the long-run.

Julia
xoxo

p.s. Since I only tried half of the swiss chard so far I'll post two recipes for it soon-ish!
Also, at least the first one was pretty quick 'n' easy, so it'll be another one of my fast-food recipes! So stay tuned :)

fast food part 5 - smoothies

You can make a ton of different smoothie-recipes, so I just want to share my favourites:

#1

bananas

frozen raspberries

orange juice

#2

bananas

frozen raspberries

frozen blueberries

dates (make sure to pit and soak them for a while)

cold water

#3

bananas

walnuts

orange juice

mix everything well in a blender and enjoy :)

organic food delivery (my pre-delivery opinion)

I tried something new and I thought I'd share my experience since it is food-related. So, I recently ordered organic fruit and vegetables from a local farm (approx 30km away from where I live).
So what you do is either put your own box together, which you can do online every week, or you can choose a certain size and subscribe to a weekly or biweekly delivery. If you subscribe, you can adjust the box yourself during the week before it'll be delivered. And if you don't want your usual subscription because you're on holiday or whatever, you can easily cancel it with no extra charges. After your first order they call you to discuss all the details and the lady I talked to was really nice and helpful! So they have great customer service as well. At least the service I use!

So what I did was a one-time-only order to try them out, but if I like the quality of the fruit & veg I'll subscribe to a weekly delivery.

All you do is buy your organic food online and have it delivered to your door. The service I use comes to my town every wednesday anyways so there's no extra pollution due to additional transportation going on, which makes it a little inflexible as in "the perfect timing for me being at home", but if you're not home they can leave your order in a safe place, with your neighbors or whatever you're asking them to do. And I think it just makes more sense than driving the same route several times a week b/c the delivery time is a little inconvenient for someone.

So as you've probably noticed I'm a little hyped about that :D
It'd just make a lot of things much easier for me, I mean I don't have a car so carrying groceries is not exactly fun, esp. if you're not supposed to carry heavy stuff, my local organic shop is a 20 minute walk away (make that 30 on the way back home) and when classes start again, I won't be home until late most days, so I'm really not up for the whole getting groceries thing. Esp. with the cold and rainy season coming up it's much more comfortable ;)
Also it makes eating healthy easier, because they deliver it right to your door! The only thing you have to do is cook it, or make a salad or whatever you're ordering (they offer bread and other organic foods as well). Easy-peasy I'd say!
Another great thing is you actually get to try several new things which are in season in your area. I strongly believe that the food which grows locally nourishes you best for local weather conditions! And it's so great to be able to try out small portions of new fruit and veg! (This week I'm trying swiss chard for the very first time and I'm pretty excited about it! New recipe will come up if I like it!)
Also I think /hope it'll save me some money because I don't get into "oh I need this and that and 500 other things that are not on my shopping list"-thing.

So yes, I am raving about it and can't wait for my first delivery of fresh organic fruit and vegetables :)
I'll keep you posted about my impression when I got my order! So far I think it's an absolute must-do to make your life easier.

Let me know what you think and your experience if you tried a local service!
Julia
xoxo

fast food part 4 - grilled sandwiches

I love my grilled sandwiches.
All you basically need is 2 slices of bread or a  bun, vegan cheese and one of those double-sided grills.
You can add whatever you like. I really like tomato purée and basil. Or fresh tomatoes. You can also add baby spinach or whichever vegetables you like.

Just make one or two and serve them with a salad.

fast food part 3 - baked potato wegdes

This is a fool-proof recipe for my favourite homemade potato wedges.

ingredients:

• potatoes
• garlic
• salt
• chili powder
• olive oil

preparing:

• peel the potatoes and cut them into wedges and put them into a bowl
• preheat the oven for a couple of minutes at 180°C /200°C
• season with garlic, salt, chili powder and a bit of olive oil. Make sure to stir well!
• spread them onto a baking tray
• bake in the oven at 180°C on hot air for about 20 - 30 minutes. It really depends on your oven

I usually just eat a big portion of the potato wedges and nothing else with it. Not even ketchup. They're kinda addicting, just to warn you ;) but sooo yummy!

They go perfectly with salad, a veg stir-fry, steamed veg or anything else you like! Sometimes I put a couple of tomatoes in the oven for the last 5 minutes and bake them as well :)

Enjoy!

Julia

xoxo

fast food - part 2 - Kisir

Today I want to share my recipe for Kisir (turkish couscous salad)
it only takes 15-20 minutes and is super healthy, filling and yummy :)

ingredients:

• couscous + boiling water
• cucumber
• tomatoes
• tomato purée
• spring onion
• parsley
• salt, pepper, olive oil, paprika powder, ground cumin
• lemon juice

The traditional recipe contains mint, but I'm not really a fan of too much mint, so I don't add any.

Optional are garlic, onions, bell peppers and additional seasonings like chili.

preparing the salad:

• prepare the couscous according to the package instructions with boiling water and the seasonings.
• while the couscous is soaking cut the vegetables and parsley (you can actually use frozen parsley but then add it to the couscous before soaking it)
• stir the tomato purée into the couscous. You might need to add some more water for easier stirring.
• now stir in the cucumber, tomatoes, spring onion and fresh parsley (and mint or other veg you're using)
• season with lemon juice and olive oil (and probably more spices) to taste

I think it tastes best when you allow the salad to sit for a while (15 minutes is enough) to infuse the seasonings.

I've made this salad for friends already and they loved it! Also I made it pretty often after I found out how easy it is to prepare.

I assume you can add a lot of optional things! Be creative and let me know in the comments or on Facebook how it turned out! I think sweet corn or chopped walnuts would be good as well.

Enjoy and remember, healthy vegan food can be quick and easy! :)

Julia

xoxo

homemade vegan fast food part 1 - Chili-stir-fry

So.. I've got to admit, there are some days on which I'm just craving salty, rich and most of all quick cooking foods. To be honest, it's usually around lunch-time. I'm not much of a breakfast-person. I'm not even much of a morning person! My energy-peak is in the early evening and I'm working with that! So what do I do when my cravings hit me but still want to eat at least kinda healthy?

During the next couple of weeks I want to share my favourite go-to-meals when I'm hungry!
Today I'm starting with my current favourite:

I call it "Chili-stir-fry" even though the simplicity of this "recipe" doesn't really justify a name or being called a recipe...
So, here we go:
you need:

• (red) onion
• several different colours bell peppers
• kidney beans in chili sauce
• black beans in chili sauce 
• olive oil

(try to find low sodium, low sugar canned beans or make your own from scratch and send me the recipe ;) )

Additionally you can add mushrooms, sweet corn, tomatoes, carrots, zucchini left-over peeled potatoes or whatever you have on hand and suits you best!

how to:

• cut all your vegetables
• pre-heat the pan with a bit of olive oil (approx. 1tbs) on high heat
• add your onions and fry them until golden
• add your vegetables slowly, harder veg first, very watery veg like tomatoes last!
• fry everything on high heat for a couple of minutes
• add the beans, give it a good stir and let it simmer on low heat for a couple of minutes

Serve it with rice, bread, couscous or even fill burritos with it!

I love it, because it's quick 'n' easy, you don't have to experiment with lots of seasonings, it's creamy, kinda mushy and -compared to other fast foods- pretty healthy as it serves you complex healthy carbs, several portions of veg and healthy protein and is low in fat (and sugar & salt if you find a good brand of canned beans!)

Bon appétit and let me know what you think! ;)

Julia

xoxo

Being vegan - kind of a review

Yesterday, July 14th, marked my 4 year vegan-anniversary so I figured I'd share a few thoughts about my experience, the pros and cons that came with that decision. I celebrated by making some delicious Falafel, going to the cinema, and buying myself a present: the audio books of  "Die Känguru-Chroniken", "Das Känguru-Manifest" and "Die Känguru-Offenbarung" :)

So a couple of pros

• I learned a lot about healthy food
• I found my love for cooking and experimenting in the kitchen with new foods
• My regular meal-repertoire expanded widely
• I am more open to trying new alternative things like reusable menstrual products, cloth diapers (once I'm a mum), using less chemicals and only natural cosmetics
• I never considered myself to be inspiring for other people, since I think I'm a pretty regular person, but friends are telling me about their occasional flirting with veganism - I'd lie if I pretended that this doesn't make incredibly proud ;)
• I am SO much healthier than before and my PCOS is now pretty much only a slight hormonal disbalance
• I eat like a horse but don't have any weight problems (no, I'm not super-skinny. I'm a very healthy weight and have the curves exactely where they need to be)
• I am a lot calmer than before. I don't get angry as much and I'm more relaxed in general
• I learned to judge people less than I used to and learned to give up a lot of prejudices I learned in my childhood
• I found a more kind and loving outlook on everything which makes life easier and me happier

A couple of cons (yes there are a few)

• When I go to a non-veg* restaurant, I always have to have "the vegan talk" with the waiter - unfortunately the world isn't as ready for veganism as I am - but so far everyone was incredibly accommodating, friendly and helpful. If there was nothing vegan on the menu I got delicious special creations!
• If I'm craving something special like Indian food I have to cook it myself. That was WAY easier when I lived in Berlin. I have to admit, living in a small town when you're vegan is not the most convenient way to do it
• Ignorant people ask stupid questions to provoke you and get upset if you either confuse them with facts or ignore them
• Quite a lot of people ask you to explain it. I like teaching about this healthy alternative, but sometimes I feel like "man.. just google it!" or wish I'd have a chart of why, when and how to. I know the ones who ask those questions are really interested and want to understand and learn. But I have explained it a lot of times and sometimes I just don't feel like explaining ;)
• Some people will feel judged or judge you. Even though I don't! I believe that every person is entitled to eat or not to eat what they want or don't want. I wasn't vegan, before I was vegan either. I don't have the right to judge anyone for eating animal products. I did it myself for 20 years. Do I wish I never did? Yes! It would have changed a lot of my health issues and how I felt (physically) after every non-vegan meal. But I didn't. Maybe this person isn't ready yet to become veg*. Maybe this person will never be ready. So what?! It's not my life and not my problem so what do I care?!
  I've heard of vegans judging vegetarians for being hypocritical. In my opinion this is really stupid. We all know that the world will never be completely vegan, so why not encourage people to make tiny steps into a veg* lifestyle. If it means 1 veg* meal per week, then it's already a huge step into a perfectly healthy direction. If it means being vegetarian, even better!

Hope you have a lovely summer day (or winter day if you're on the other half of the world!)
Julia
xoxo

easy-peasy cheesecakey crumble dessert

I kinda invented this super easy-peasy recipe and I made it for the very first time 20 minutes ago, ate it and decided it was the best dessert ever in the whole wide universe, so I had to share, but I'm still too excited to find a good name for it! I'm open to suggestions ;)

So what you need is:

5 minutes of your precious time
1 glass (if you choose one with a lid, you can take it to work or elsewhere obviously)
1 Tsp

2 Tsp vanilla yoghurt (I use the Alpro Soya brand)
2 Tsp plain yoghurt (again Alpro)
2 Tsp canned cherries (or any other soft berries)
2 wholegrain cookies (I used oat cookies)
whipped cream (optional)

Step 1:
crumble the cookies (I like small with a few bigger bits in between)
mix both yoghurts together

Step 2:
layer cookies, yoghurt, berries, cookies, yoghurt, berries and so on into your glass. You can make as many layers as you want to.

Step 3:
garnish with whipped cream and a few extra berries and / or finely crumbled cookies

unfortunately you can't really see the layers, but they're there, I swear! ;)

Enjoy! :)

Julia

xoxo

Sugar Face Scrub

Another very simple recipe for natural cosmetics is my apple juice - sugar - scrub:

Simply mix 1 tablespoon of regular sugar with approx. 1/2 -1 tablespoon of 100% apple juice. Let it sit for a few minutes. The sugar will reduce its size a bit and make the peeling more gentle.

Start scrubbing it into your face, massaging it gently into your skin. It's also great for your lips! And you smell like a toffee apple afterward - delicious ;)

Afterwards wipe everything with a wash cloth. (Works better with hot water!)

I do NOT recommend using this scrub if you have raw skin or sunburn. I suppose it would sting quite a bit!

Since the fruit acid might make your skin a bit dry I recommend using a good moisturizer or oil afterwards.
Lately I used the oil cleaning method before to remove make-up, then used the sugar scrub and did another round of oil cleaning afterwards again.

It seems to work for my skin so far and many YouTubers made videos about great results of the oil cleaning method, so why don't you give it a try and see if it works for you too?! ;)

Enjoy taking the extra time for yourself and smelling like a coconut toffee apple ;)

Julia
xoxo

Oil Cleaning

The oil cleaning trend seems to become more and more popular every day, so I figured I'd give it a try.

First off, what is it and why would someone want to do it?!
Basically, you use any kind of edible plant based oil instead of make-up remover or other face washs to clean your face. Searching YouTube for videos, olive oil, coconut oil and pumpkin seed oil are popular suggestions.
It's supposed to help with any kind of skin problems. Personally I have very dry parts but also tend to get pimples and blackheads here and there.

I use coconut oil, because I think it smells better than any other oil. Coconut oil has a creamy consistency. I need about half a teaspoon of it for my whole face. Once you put the creamy coconut fat in your hand, your body temperature will melt it into oil. Put the oil onto your face as you would with any face cream and massage it into your skin. You can even put it onto your eyelids and eyelashes. Then place a big hot wet wash cloth on your face and leave it for a few seconds. You may put your hands over it to create even more heat. Start wiping the oil off your face, rinsing your wash cloth several times in hot water until you removed the oil completely.
Personally I air dry my face afterwards, but you may obviously use a towel.

Results so far: I did it only twice so far, but my skin feels very soft, even on the next day and it really works way better than any make-up removers I've tried. It didn't do anything for clearing my skin up so far, but that probably needs more time..
Conclusion: I want to use coconut oil more often to clean my face to see if it helps with my blemished skin.

Btw: Coconut oil is also great for baking or giving a little special touch to your asian dishes!
If you don't like it in the kitchen, you can use it for your skin and even your hair (but only on the hair-ends) to repair it's split!

Enjoy pampering yourself ;)

Julia
xoxo

a very christmassy dessert ~ roasted apple pudding

So finally the very best of our Christmas Eve Dinner:
I made the roasted apple pudding during the last years as well and we all love it! I hope you'll enjoy it too! :)

Ingredients
apples (1-2 per person)
soy or oat cream (250ml for 4 big apples)
raisins + a couple of table spoons of white rum (both optional)
thinly sliced almonds (or other nuts you prefer)
spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, sweet cumin, allspice to taste

Preparation

1. soak the raisins in rum, best is over night, but a couple of hours will do
2. peel and slice the apples into 1/2 cm thick slices
3. mix the cream with the spices and the remnant rum you soaked the raisins in
4. layer the apples into a baking dish and scatter some raisins and sliced almonds in between every layer of apples
5. pour the cream-mixture over the apples and top it off with more sliced almonds and raisins
6. bake for about 30-45 minutes on 180°C / 350°F on the middle rack

it is pretty easy and you can even prepare it the day before and keep it un-baked in the fridge!
You can serve it as it it or add some vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate sprinkles, .. But whatever you do, serve the pudding very hot, straight from the oven!

Bon Appetit!

Julia
xoxo

Stuffed and roasted Vegetables

I somehow really forgot about sharing the rest of our Christmas-Menu, so here it is, course #3! I hope, you'll enjoy it, as much as we did.

I don't exactly remember all the details, so it'll be a recipe without measurements, sorry for that, but I'm sure, you'll get the idea!

stuffed vegetables:
ingredients:

• bell peppers
• big tomatoes
• couscous
• onion(s)
• sweet corn
• mushrooms (optional)
• vegan cheese (also optional and we didn't use any!)
• salt, pepper & garlic to taste, olive oil

1. cut the bell peppers in half (length-wise) and cut out the stalk
2. cut approx. 1-1.5 cm off the top of the tomatoes and remove the cores (keep them!!)
3. cook the couscous according to package instructions and season the water with salt, pepper, garlic and olive oil (over-season a little bit)
4. fry the chopped onions and mushrooms until golden and mix them with the chopped tomato cores
5. combine the mixture with the prepared couscous
6. stuff the bellpeppers and tomatoes with the mixture
7. bake at 180-200°C / 350-400°F for approx. 20-45 minutes

roasted / baked vegetables:
ingredients :

• potatoes
• cauliflower
• carrots
• zucchini
• cherry tomatoes (in different colours)
• garlic, salt, pepper, nutmeg, rosemary, chili powder / flakes (optional) & olive oil to taste

1. peel the potatoes and carrots and cut into big-ish chunks, wash the zucchini (and cut into chunks) and cherry tomatoes (don't cut them!) and pre-steam the cauliflower if you use frozen one. (If you use the fresh one, simply wash and cut it as well)
2. marinate half of the potatoes with rosemary, salt and olive oil and bake at 180-200°C / 350-390°F for 30-45 minutes (the bigger the veg, the longer it takes)
3. marinate the rest of the vegetables with garlic, salt, pepper, nutmeg (and chili) and olive oil and bake at 180-200°C / 350-400°F for 30-45 minutes as well.
4. stir the vegetables approx. half way through it's baking time

You can obviously choose whichever vegetables you like or are in season, but this is pretty much what we had (except for the garlic, which my mum doesn't like)!

Bon Appetit!

Julia
xoxo