Pasta Days and New Book Stuff

... climate change makes Germany feel like Thailand or some similar place at the moment with an air humidity of at least 80% and summer's peak temperatures.

This means I have breakfast, have a bento, go out for a drink or ice cream after work and come back home between 8 and 10 pm to have some pasta with pesto or a thrown-together salad. Nothing exciting here, though I might do an ice cream parlour report (found one that does rice milke ice cream not too far away from where I live. Squee!).

I bought a couple and was also given a few new cookbooks for and around my birthday last month, but haven't got round to trying very much.


The Joy of Vegan Baking Ginger Muffins
Surprise, surprise! They didn't taste of ginger at all but were awesome. Omni friends loved them. Not too sweet, either, but the sugar/ginger mixture nearly ruined my kitchen.

I told you I'm a messy baker!











Some ugly but extremely tasty veggie curry from The Asian Vegan Kitchen, I have to look up the exact name. Billion thanks for Mr A. for giving it to me <3 "











I'm having friends over and need to make something in a pinch"-food: Couscous Salad Taboulé Style, Hummus, bought dolmades, olives and pita bread. Probably my most favourite combo ever!

Tortilla Chip Casserolle

Before I share the recipe, let me get some things straight:

a) I've never had authentic Mexican food

b) I'm not particularly fond of the Tex Mex and Mexican recipes I have tried. I know, I'm an Asian food girl. I like spice food, but Mexican is sort of... bold spicy, do you know what I mean?

c) On the other hand, I don't know how good American and Irish guys are at Mexican cooking?!
However, Irish omni Dan and US vegan Dan make a wicked chili.

d) I bet every Mexican in the world would cringe at the thought of using Swiss fake cheese, but I don't care.

In an online shopping splurge a couple of weeks ago, I bought a block of No Muh Chäs, a vegan cheese from Switzerland that had been praised on all forums.



As I mentioned before, I never really liked dairy cheese as an omni or veggie, and hence have no cravings for it and not much of a comparison, either.

Talking about No Muh Chäs... it's VERY cheesy, realistic enough for me to feel an urge to throw it out when I first opened the package. It smells like cheese and it has the texture and I'd never ever try it raw.
Unlike Keehse, it doesn't melt properly and it's really expensive. It even comes in three expensive varieties- blue, plain and herb.

Thumbs down for Swiss vegan cheese, though the taste is still a lot better than that of Tofutti or Scheese.

Anway, it worked quite well in the recipe I adapted from the Brunch cooking zine (the original recipe suggests roux-based sauce).



Tortilla Chip Casserolle
(for 4 people)

• 1 small can sweet corn, drained
• 1 small can kidney beans, drained
• 1 huge can chopped tomatoes
• 1 onion, chopped,
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 red chilli, chopped
• 1 thin pita bread (can be stale), torn into pieces
• three cups plain tortilla chips
• 1 cup grated vegan cheese

1. Grease a casserolle pan and cover with the pita bread, pour in tortilla chips, but set some aside.

2. In a pan, sauté onions, garlic and chili, add whatever spices you think are Mexican (I used a bit of cumin, some cinnamon, salt and pepper obviously), add beans, corn and tomatoes and let simmer for 5 minutes.

3. Pour over the tortilla chips, add a layer of tortilla chips and cover with cheese.

4. Bake for 20 mins at 200°C.



post-bake and pre-bake:

Mango Pasta and The Strawberry Mountain

First of all, I'd like to thank all of you for your encouraging comments about non-massive blogging! You motivated me a lot... now there's the next thing... when I try new stuff, I must remember to post it. My SD card told me it's full yesterday- full of food piccies that I haven't gotten round to post.

Now I can't really say that I've been eaten by the work monster last week, but I was totally absorbed by Black Books, Strawberry Panic! and Michail Bulgakow's "Master and Margarita". Add some gay scene partying and German stout and the week's over.

Anyway, I have a recipe to share. I don't really care for raw mango, especially since I'm too stupid to slice them properly (not letting them go over-ripe might fix that). Now every now and then, I buy "Vegetarisch Fit!", a vegetarian cooking magazine. Rather "than" than "now", because few recipes are vegan, it's pricey and full of ads. Anyway, the April issue had a pasta special, so I grabbed it on a late shopping trip to find the most awesome recipe for * MANGO PASTA* For 3-4 people, you'll need:
* 1 pound of pasta (I used fussili)
* 1 huge can/ 2 small ones chopped tomatoes
* 1 massive ripe mango, diced * 1 onion, chopped
* 1 cup of cashews (or less if they cost an arm and a leg like they do over here)
* 1 block of tofu, drained, pressed and diced
* 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp cumin
* salt + pepper and chilli powder to taste

- In a huge pan, fry the tofu in neutral oil until crisp, about 10-15 minutes. Take out and set aside.
- Sauté the onions until translucent.
- Coarsly grind 3/4 of the cashews in a blender/food processor and add to the onions. Also add turmeric and cumin, sauté for 5 more minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, tofu and mango and mango and let simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the pasta is done.

Serve over the pasta and garnish with the leftover cashews (as I didn't). This is simple yet a wee bit exotic and has all the protein a pasta-maniac vegan needs. I think it might be good with kids, too, if you make it less spicier.

As short info for all German-speaking readers: after vegan.ch, there's a new German podcast made by two blokes from the Rhein/Main area... they also do a bit of live action cooking in every podcast and know all the AR info and dates in the country.
Hooray for German vegans!

Finally, I give you cake. This is my messy version (because neat baking is boring) of Strawberry Mountain. I now know why they called it like this... because it makes a buttload (and I halfed the recipe!) and you will get lost in the mountains of sweetness *swoon*.

Nothing's gonna stop me making bento...

... but proper cooking is a completely different thing.

Seriously, I wonder how people manage to come up with awesome blog post on a daily basis or even every other day.
I don't mean to moan on here, but I have trouble even posting once a week and it makes me feel like a bad blogger. I'd love to be more active in the community, but I simply don't have the spare time.

Let's be honest- how do you do it?
It can't be that all bloggers are students or stay-at-home moms, right.
I'm out of the house from 8-8 on weekdays, so there's simply no time to try awesome new recipes every night, as much as I'd like to.

Anyway, here are some recent bento:


leftover yakisoba (see last post for the recipe), carrot sticks, an orange and some berry soy yoghurt.

traditional Japanese bento, though a bit protein-less... sticky rice with an umeboshi, sesame spinach, an orange, marinated mushrooms and scallions and some apple pieces in the bunny.
another lazy one... rice with sesame and soy/mushroom sauce, peach slices and leftover veggie stir-fry.

And look what arrived in the mail the other day!

I did a little swap with another blogging Stephanie (who throws awesome blog parties and mail blogging thingies that I don't really understand) who sent me, among other stuff, this ginormous bento... I think it holds about 5000 ml and comes with a lovely bag, just perfect for picnics and the like (though I consider scaring me coworkers and bringing it along as my lunchbox XD)... I plan on using this for our Japan day picnic.

Right, only four more weeks until Japan day, my favourite holiday (in my book, it's an annual holiday, all right? Just like Christopher Street Day and World Vegan Day and Bochum Total rock festival and Veggie Street day in Dortmund)!

You are what you Eat-Swap @Swapbot

According to what I ate this week, I'm muesli and Japanese and Italian.

This little email swap was about writing down every single thing you have eaten in the past week and sharing a recipe.

Keeping track of what I'm eating was great fun, and I'm quite content because I captured a typical week in food for me.
I simply listed the foods I ate since I don't think of my meals (nor eat) as in the classic "breakfast/lunch/dinner" categories.


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Just about every Japanese mother has her own Yakisoba recipe- after all "yakisoba" means "fried noodles" and nothing else. What makes it special is the Japanese yakisoba sauce that contains all sorts of nasty things and is mighty expensive, so I make my own. You can add any vegetables you like, but sometimes I just crave this simple version. Yakisoba not only feeds crowds, but makes awesome leftovers and is the best in bento :)

/My Simple Yakisoba - serves four

Break spaghetti into thirds if you can't get fresh yakisoba noodles.
Chop up a package of (veggie) wieners and half an iceberg lettuce.

Boil the spaghetti and sauté the wieners in a large pan. When the sausages are nicely browned, add the lettuce and turn off the heat.
In a seperate bowl, mix 3/4 cup of plain tomato ketchup with 1/4 cup worcestershire sauce. Stir in 2 tbs soy sauce and 1 tbs wasabi powder.

Drain the noodles and add to the pan. Turn on the heat again briefly and sauté everything a little longer. Pour the sauce over it and mix, reserving some extra sauce for serving the noodles.
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Saturday:

* a bowl of berry muesli with vanilla soy milk
* 2 sesame bread rolls with strawberry jam
* some pineapple chunks
* cherry tomatoes
* white wine
* whole wheat fussili with tempeh cacciatore
* salad with ramson, olives and mushrooms


Sunday:

* a banana
* at vegan brunch: chickpea salad, sauteed mushrooms, a variety of
spreads on bread, phyllo spinach pasties, bulgar pilaf, cherry
streusel cake, tiramisu
* 1/2 grapefruit
* a pizza with asparagus, mushrooms and Keehse (vegan cheese)


Monday:

* 2 slices of sunflower seed bread with alpro "quark" (cream-cheese
like spread) and tomatoes
* 1 banana
* 1/2 grapefruit
* leftover tempeh cacciatore with penne
* some tomato wedges
* cayenne chocolate
* cashew nuts
* small bowl of berry muesli with vanilla soy milk
* Japanese cooking with a friend- yakisoba with iceberg lettuce,
mini wieners and homemade yakisoba sauce, mixed salad with sesame
dressing



Tuesday:

* 3 slices sunflower seed bread with "quark" and tomato slices
* 1 berry soy yoghurt
* 1 raw carrot
* leftover yakisoba
* risotto with ramson and arugula pesto
* 2 glasses of cidre


Wednesday:

* berry muesli with soy milk
* 3 chocolate muffins
* 1 apple
* apple/mango/lime smoothie
* leftover veg stir-fry with rice
* mixed salad and tomato/pea/bean rice from the Turkish take-away


Thursday:

* 1 soy yoghurt berry
* 1 apple
* 2 loquats
* fried rice with carrots and beansprouts, grilled tempeh

* greek salad with tomato, bell pepper, cucumber, olives and some
baguette


Friday:

* berry muesli with soymilk
* a peach
* leftover rice and stir-fry
* some vanilla halva
* pita bread with tomato salad, some olives
* spaghetti with homemade pesto
* 1/2 bottle of red wine and a bit beer on top