Basil Zucchini Risotto {playing with picmonkey}

Tags

cookbook, free photo editing software, gimp, photo editing, photo editor, pikmonkey, recipe, risotto, vegetarian

There you go, after my lazy Sunday I actually took a day off from blogging on Monday to do this:

(not what the cat did)

Studying efficiently (more or less) and getting ready for fall, but more on that tomorrow. Today I decided to give this photo-editor-online-program-thingy a try that I heard so often about around the blogsphere: PicMonkey. It’s basic functions are free, so everyone can do some quick picture editing on the go with it (or colaging, but again, this is something I will talk about in a later post). Since I had a bunch of underexposed food pictures from my risotto and wine dinner on Saturday, I decided it would be a good try to play around with these and see what the program can do. And I am also willing to give you the recipe while I am at it. Kind of me, isn’t it 😉 

This picture is the one I showed you in my last post and therefore it was already edited and I just worked a little more on it. Not bad for how underexposed it has been before. The lightning doesn’t seem natural, but hey, at least it has a pretty badge with my name on it!

Then again, to remember you where the inspiration from this recipe came from, I took a picture of my chaotic, but genius, cookbook shelf. Most of the books only have vegetarian or vegan recipes, due to the fact that all meat or fish recipes I make are quite simple and I never considered buying a book for it. So far recipe blogs offered me everything I needed for these parts. Same goes for baking, I make up my own recipes or use the internet to find what I search for. No other inspiration needed.

As mentioned in Sunday’s post I found this beautiful vegetarian cookbook on a yard sale Saturday morning. While going through the pages on our drive back home I stumbled over an intriguing risotto recipe, that I immediately wanted to try the same evening – with a few alterations due to what I had at hand and did not want to buy.

Basil Zucchini Risotto

yields 4 portions

• 2 cloves of garlic
• 3 small zucchinis
• 1 small yellow bell pepper
• 2 cups of white, round kernel rice (I used sushi rice, but you can use risotto rice)
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 medium sized onion
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 liter vegetable broth (and more hot water)
• handful of basil leaves
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/3 cup grated gran padano (or parmesan)
• 1 T butter

You start by placing a pan and a big pot on the stove top and cutting all the vegetables in small cubes. Heat 1 T of oil in the pan, place the cut up zucchini and bell pepper inside, press the garlic on top and stir. Turn down to medium-low heat and close the lid.

Dice the onion and heat some oil in the pot. Place the onion inside and let sizzle until it turns brown. Add the rice, mix thoroughly until the rice starts to brown a bit. Deglaze with the white wine. Add broth until the rice is merely covered. Stir.

Check on your vegetables. They should be done by now. You might want to leave the lid open so that the remaining liquid evaporates.

Add broth to the risotto pot as soon as the rice soaked up the liquid. Always just as much as needed to cover up the rice. Keep stirring. And adding broth. And stirring again. When all broth is gone use some water. Your desired consistency should be slightly mushy but the rice will still have some bite to it.

When done add the vegetables from the pan, the grated cheese and the chopped basil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix everything well and serve immediately.

Risotto is a great dish to make for you and a friend. Since it doesn’t need much work but standing and stirring and adding some broth from time to time, you two can spend the time talking and sipping white wine (since the bottle is already open…). You can also reheat the dish, but believe me risotto isn’t one of those dishes which taste better the next day. It’s peak is right after it came from the stove.So, what is my feedback on PicMonkey? It is a nice little tool if you don’t have any other photo editor at hand or if you’d like to get playful and add comic bobbles or scribbles or badges to your pictures… but other than that I prefer to do my photo editing the old fashioned way: offline. A freeware program that I can recommend, if you don’t want to spend a lot of money on a photo editing software, is Gimp. It is also free for commercial purpose, actually.

See you tomorrow for our weekly foodie party!

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The Breakfast Salad {early greens}

Tags

arugula, breakfast salad, farmers market, greens, healthy breakfast, raw, salad for breakfast, spinach, summer heat, vegetarian

Saturday is a beautiful day. It’s full on weekend without needing to worry about the next day, since Sunday is off too. I like to be busy on Saturday, doing sports, meeting friends, making time for my boyfriend or family and spending some time doing things I am passionate about: like learning french, reading a good book (more on that in tomorrows post) or catching up on blog posts I bookmarked to read later on. Saturday is also the day I clean my flat and do the laundry. As you can see – I am a busy bee when it comes to the weekend and that is exactly how I like it… except: 

When it feels like 37°C outside. C’est intolérable! So I decided to make the best of the morning and hit the farmers market while the morning air is still fresh.

Isn’t it the loveliest thing to meet the people who grow the vegetables and fruits they sell? I will always choose local above organic. It’s crazy to me how people can buy organic apples that flew around the world, when they can buy some that grew on a farm in the neighborhood. This time I hit the farmers market to purchase ingredients for two meals I wanted to make this weekend: a) greens for an unusual breakfast, which is the topic of this post and b) eggs for Jenn’s mouthwatering Sweet Potato and Spinach Frittata, which will not only be a great Sunday dinner but also the perfect lunch to bring to the office the next few days.

But let’s talk greens now. It is all Katie’s fault, she started the whole revolution in my head and made me crave salads the first thing in the morning. Sounds crazy? But then think about it: adding a ton of fruits (fresh or dried), some nuts, some goat cheese, a drizzle of honey… the idea of making salad your breakfast base, instead of yogurt or oatmeal and top it of with all the stuff you love to eat in the morning… Doesn’t it sound like the smartest thing to do when summer heat hits you?

Breakfast Salad Revolution

So I purchased a bag of baby spinach leaves fresh from the farmers market, some arugula and blueberries and had my canvas to start and get creative.

Number one, which I ate Saturday morning, was made of:

• baby spinach and arugula
• blueberries
• hazelnuts
• soft goat cheese
• honey

The goat cheese, honey and hazelnut mix was exactly what my taste buds needed first thing in the morning. The arugula added a nice bitter component to balance the sweetness of the honey. And the blueberries gave the salad juiciness and a fresh crunch.

This one is a keeper. Especially after I found out that I can get small fresh goat cheese rounds on the farmers market, that come from a farm in a neighbor town.

Number two, was today’s breakfast:

• baby spinach and arugula
• blueberries
• nectarine
• avocado
• lime juice
• soaked almonds

I love the consistency nuts get when they are soaked. First time I ate soaked nuts was actually a few years ago on my first trip to China. They love to let their peanuts soak and serve them as one of many side dishes to the meals they love to share (you rarely see Chinese people eat alone, even for lunch break they make sure to hit the restaurant with a big group and order a lot of small dishes to share). Peanuts are not actually my favorite nut, I rarely eat them but in the form of peanut butter. So almonds were the perfect choice for this salad. I let them soak in water overnight, rinsed them thoroughly in the morning and used them to top of my salad, which I had tossed with some avocado cubes and lime juice. Fresh juicy fruits as nectarine and blueberries made this one perfect for breakfast.

So I am curious to hear what you think about “the Salad For Breakfast revolution”! Do you think SFB could actually be the next blog thing, like OIAJ have been like three years ago? Any ideas what else to top them off with? I already thought about making a tropical variation with pineapple and fresh coconut or grilled peach slices, blackberries and walnuts.

What I Ate Wednes… {tuesday}

Tags

banana lettuce wrap, buti fitness, summer heat, vegetarian, veggie stir fry, watermelon, what i ate wednesday, wiaw

Happy Wednesday Foodie-Friends!

We get a break from the heat today in Germany and it feels great to wake up after a night of good, restful sleep and breathe fresh air first thing in the morning. I am even a bit cold sitting in my office, only wearing a t-shirt. But I know that I have to savour this moment since after the summer storm promised for today it will be hot again for the rest of the week. Due to the resolutions I made earlier this week, I started a more regular blogging schedule: Saturday, Sunday, Monday and an early Wednesday post – doing good so far! Thus you get to see what I actualy eat in one day and not a compilation of some of my weekly meals. I didn’t take pictures of each and everything – blame the heat, it’s all the heats fault – still, I thought some of you would probably be interested in what I eat in a day… I know that my little foodie heart really likes to see such food diaries on other people blogs. We food bloggers are a strange breed. So let’s celebrate!

Breakfast: Greek yogurt with oats, a peach and honey

Snack: two handfuls of cherries, coconut bounce ball

No food, but at least I wanted to show you my new office (I work part-time in the sales/marketing department of an university and write my master thesis in another company at the moment.), where I spent halfof yesterday truly enjoying the comfort of AC.

Lunch: raw tabouli and an egg

I made the raw tabouli an Monday, as you may have read, and the portion was huge, since I used 1 1/4 bunches of parsley and half a head of cauliflower. Thus there were more than enough left overs for lunch on Tuesday and I still have some more for a side dish.

Snack: a quarter of a watermelon and a coconut bounce ball

Does somebody else eat watermelon like I do? The most refreshing thing ever! Absolutely necessary when it’s hot like that outside.

Dinner: big bowl of brown rice with vegetable stir fry

This was satisfying. I especially enjoyed the combination of coconut oil (which I used to fry the vegetables), fresh coriander sprinkled on top and a lot of sriracha, which I added later – of course.

Dessert: Coconut ice cream with some chocolate chips

And since most of us are also quite fitness interested, I just cannot deny you this amazing online workout I discovered yesterday, thanks to a post on PBJenny: It is a mix of Yoga, Booty Shaking and Plyometrics and you won’t believe how sweaty this makes you. I seriously needed to swipe the floor after this workout (my kitty ripped my Yoga Mat appart, that’s why I work out on the floor – I have to get a sturdier one soon): Buti Yoga. I did there sample Buti Tone Workout and plan on doing the Buti Sculp and another Buti Tone tomorrow – you’ll finde a few more free workouts on youtube – before thinking about purchasing a one month membership.

A few food pictures somehow didn’t make it in my recent posts, but I still like to share them with you, to make up for those unpictured meals mentioned above.

What else I enjoyed to eat recently:

Sweet omelet – who would have guessed it, though I am a bit lazy when it comes to breakfast time recently, I still managed to have one of those thingies the other day.

Ever heard of peanut butter banana lettuce wraps? No? Try them! They are the bomb – the perfect sweet snack for hot weather (and cold). Soooo delicious!

And one perfect breakfast. It just cannot get better than this: a glas of cold brewed ice coffee, a runny egg with my last slice of perfect bread and half a grapefruit with cinnamon and honey.

Oh and I really enjoyed the BBB (blogs 2. birthday buckwheat) Porridge the other day. Everything tastes better with a birthday candle in it!

Do you like to see what other people eat in a day? (no judgement, that’s a totaly natural curiosity, I’m sure…) Does your office have an AC? How do you eat your watermelon?

Truly Committed {a day of clean eats}

Tags

clean eating, dessert, homemade protein bar, mealplan, trulycommitted, vegetarian

As mentioned in this weeks What I Ate Wednesday I take part in Truly Jess’s #trulycommitted in July challenge. She has a schedule of motivating themes for every day and today was one that is close to my heart: All Day Clean Eats. During exam preparation I tend to slack on the clean eating front and stuff myself with quick available carbohydrates (wine gum, chocolate, cookies… you get the idea). So I thought it was quite enjoyable not to have to deal with headaches after a full day of studying. Something else I enjoyed today was the sunny, hot weather in Germany. We all have waited for summer long enough, so let’s hope it is hear to stay for a while, so that I can leave my white shorts out and get some decent tan on my legs.

So happy that my hair is blonde again, fits nicely with those summer colors… just sayin.

What would be better to end such a day than share all of my clean eats in a blog post with you? Getting 7 straight hours of sleep, probably… but hey, who am I kidding? As soon as I’ll fall asleep those abatement cost and marginal damage curves will circle through my dreams.

Breakfast:

I started the day with an old love of mine: Carrot Cake Oats (the raw, overnight version to which I added some Greek yogurt)

Mid-morning snack:

Half a grapefruit with maple syrup and cinnamon plus a cookie dough protein bar (made with clean brown rice protein).

Lunch:

Soba noodle soup with smoked tofu, carrot and edamame and a side of seasoned seaweed.

Afternoon snack:

A really dark green smoothie made of 1/2 frozen banana, hand full of frozen berries, 2 cups of spinach, a piece of cucumber, 1 tbsp hemp protein powder and a tsp of spirulina (which accounts for the color).

Dinner…

was the biggest salad monster I had in a while, with baby spinach, arugula, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, craisins, sunflower seeds, hummus and an egg. Delicious! Have to make huge salads more often.

Dessert:

One of this years favorites: 1/2 frozen banana, drizzled with peanut butter and sprinkled with cacao powder. A cup of coffee since I had a few more hours of studying ahead.

There you have it: a beautiful day of eats, no meal took me longer than 10 minutes to prepare and I was perfectly fueled to study for my exams without digging into the gummy bear bag.

5 more days to go – than I will finally have the time to write longer posts and make some changes. Cannot wait! Have a beautiful week you all. See you Wednesday!

Cashew Butter Dates {three ingredients dessert}

Tags

cashew butter, dates, dessert, healthy, vegan, vegetarian

I am so sorry guys for the recent lack of posts. I haven’t forgotten you and I am not sick of blogging. Sadly a whole lot of my time is consumed by presentations, case studies and seminar papers at the moment and I am lucky enough that I can spend the remaining bit of time with charity work, self-improvement regarding my future career, friends and family. That’s why there are a bunch of pictures on my phone and ideas in my head about all those posts I’d like to write, which are no priority right now. So, I hope you understand that it might be a little quiet around here for a while – those weeks will pass and I will be back with more time and all these ideas in my head.

For today I finally make good on a promise and share with you one of my favorite desserts ever which is truly healthy and satisfying at once.

Cashew Butter Dates

All you need is:

• 10 soft dates
• 1 tsp cashew butter for each
• half a bar (~50 grams) of dark chocolate

My dates were pitted, so they were already cut open – if yours are not: cut them lengthwise half open. Take a teaspoon of cashew butter and fill each date. Place them in the fridge for 10 minutes.

Melt the chocolate (I microwaved mine for a few seconds, stirred and microwaved it a few more seconds) and dip the dates with their open, cashew buttery side into the chocolate.

This way they will be covered only half by dark chocolaty goodness. Place them all on a small platter and keep them in the fridge (at least for 10 minutes so that the chocolate sets) until you like to serve them to your guests.

Or eat one after another for your special little dessert treat after lunch. I won’t judge you if you end up demolishing half of them in one sitting… after all they are rich in vitamins and minerals, full of antioxidants and good fats – the more the better, right?

What I Ate Wednesday {summer’s coming}

Tags

arizona ice tea, french toast, greek yogurt, green smoothie, summer, vegetarian, what i ate wednesday, wiaw

Oh my, it’s Wednesday again. And how I couldn’t wait for Wednesday this week. I have to listen to presentations until 8 pm, but afterwards my weekend starts. Tomorrow is holiday in Germany and since I have no classes on Friday the only thing to do is prepare presentations and case studies and enjoy the unbelievably beautiful weather outside.

Due to the sudden arrival of summer, food around here became light, simple and fresh. (And sadly mostly not pictured. I promise to be better next week….)

Green Smoothies are my go to breakfast for weeks and especially when it’s warm and sunny outside they are the perfect thing to devour.

Yogurt mess, anyone? You can never go wrong with applesauce, right Amanda? Put some blueberries and brazil nuts on top and munch away a side of whole wheat cereal.

A few days ago 4 bottles of Arizone ice tea were waiting for me when I arrived in the office. Best co-worker ever? He surely is. What cools down better than an ice cooled green tea with honey!?And the best way to use up stale bread? Make french toast, put agave on top add a side of apple sauce and Greek yogurt and call it breakfast.

Have to run to university now. Hope you all have a beautiful week!

Cooking for Friends {isn’t it the best?}

Tags

asian food culture, chinese food, cooking for friends, gongbao jiding, kung pao tofu, vegan, vegetarian

I had some friends over on Friday – one who wanted to taste some vegan cooking, one who lived with me for over a year and is a pretty good cook himself and one who always eats what I make, with the happiest face ever (kisses to Sina, who took this somehow unflattering picture of me making face-gymnastics).

I don’t know anything more fulfilling than cooking for friends or family… probably, having Asian food with friends or family. There is just something about the Asian food culture which makes you feel warm and welcome. Sitting around a table, everyone has his own little rice bowl and sharing everything else in the middle is so  homely and makes you feel a lot closer to everyone at the table, than each having his own separate plate and sometimes (especially when eating out) everyone eats something different without sharing the diversity of tastes with each other.

But enough of the sweet talk – let’s get down to the nitty-gritty: The veganized recipe for Kung Pao chicken was so delicious, I knew from the first bite that I need to share it.

Kung Pao Tofu

(宫保豆腐)

yields 4 portions

(And I made 2 variants: one with garlic, one without – you read right: there are people who do not like Tofu… I would have never believed it myself)

•  2 blocks tofu (extra firm)
• 3/4 cup soy sauce
• 1.5 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1.5 Tbsp sesame or peanut oil
• 1 Tbsp ginger (grated finely)
• 3 cloves garlic (pressed)

————————– 

• olive oil for frying
• 1 small fresh chili or 1 tsp chili flakes
• 2 or 3 multi-colored bell peppers (green, red, yellow)
• 1 cup peanuts

————————– 

• 3 T rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup agave syrup
• 1 tsp arrowroot powder (or starch of choice)
• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil *optional
• scallions as topping

First you need to wrap your tofu 2 hours earlier! You need a clean towel for that and wrap both blocks as firmly as you can and let them sit in the fridge for 2 hours. This will press some liquid out of the tofu and make it even firmer than it already is.

Cut the Tofu in cubes afterwards and mix all ingredients from soy sauce to garlic in a huge bowl. Add the tofu and mix until everything is covered with the marinade. Let it soak for around 1 hour, mixing in between.

In a large pan (I prefer to use my Wok for all these steps) heat 1 – 2 Tbsp olive oil and fry the chili, bell pepper (cut into cubes) and peanuts until slightly browned. Set  aside. Add a little more oil and fry the drained tofu cubes until golden from all sides. Mix ingredients from rice vinegar to sesame oil and add to tofu cubes as well as the peanut bell pepper mix. Cook until the sauce is thickened. You can serve this directly or prepare and heat up when your guests are arriving (that’s what I did).

Sprinkle with scallions, serve with warm rice and some quick-steamed greens and you got yourself some happy eaters!

I also made a quick and easy vegan dessert. But I’ll save the recipe for another post. Just a quick glance:

What is your favorite cuisine to enjoy with friends? Do you like to cook for friends or family? Do you prepare the food or cook just in time?

Congee 2 Ways {asian comfort food at its best}

Tags

asian food, chinese food, congee, poached egg, rice, tofu, vegetarian

I promised you a recipe on Wednesday, remember? So finally, thinking about the next WIAW coming around in just two day’s, I managed to sit down and write it. But good for you, I will give you an additional variation, which is probably a little less healthy, but oh so satisfying and closer to the original congee which you would get in China.

(source: http://www.noodlies.com/2012/01/congee-breakfast-woosung-st-temporary-hawker-bazaar-jordan-hong-kong/ )

So what the hack am I talking about, anyway? Congee (let me show off my chinese skills: 米粥 , pronounced “mizhou”) can be best described as porridge made out of rice. The plain dish itself contains only 2 ingredients: rice and water. Usually it is served with additional ingredients, which could be proteins (meat, fish, egg or tofu) and/or seasonings (coriander, roasted peanuts and scallions are typical). In China it is a widespread breakfast dish, but also consumed throughout the day and known as food for sick people. Congee needs to be cooked for hours, which makes the use of a rice cooker quite recommendable.

Traditional Congee with a Poached Egg

yields 2 generous portions

• 1/2 cup white rice (dry)
• 6 cups water

toppings:

• 2 eggs
• pulled beef *optional(I had leftovers, you could also add roasted peanuts for some crunch)

sauce:

• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 scallions
• 1 tsp sriracha
• 1 tsp mirin (rice wine) – can be replaced by 1 tsp neutral vinegar
• 1 tsp honey

Place water and rice in your rice cooker and let steam – this step will take about 1.5 hours. (If you make a bigger batch, it will take longer.) The rice should have a porridge-like consistency. Poach the eggs (which truly is a science – I failed mine, the yolk wasn’t liquid, as I intended – as soon as I master it, I will make a post just about poaching eggs. Until then, just learn from Jenna!) and roast some peanuts. Chop the scallions and mix the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Pour some congee in your bowl, top it off with the poached egg and roasted peanuts (or whatever other topping you chose… only the egg can even be enough), drizzle the sauce on top and enjoy.

Brown Rice Miso Congee

yields 2 generous portions

• 1/2 cup brown rice (dry)
• 7 cups water
• 1 tbsp light miso paste
• 1 medium carrot
• handful dried mu’err mushrooms
• 1/2 cup spinach
• 1/2 cup smoked tofu (cut into cubes)
• 1 soft boiled egg
• 1 tbsp scallions
• sriracha *optional, but recommended

Prepare the congee as described above: brown rice and 6 cups of water -> rice cooker. Broil the mu’err with boiling water and let soak as long as the rice steams. Cut the carrot in small chunks and the spinach in stripes. Add the vegetables and tofu to the rice as soon as all of the water is evaporated, also add the last cup of water. Let steam again. Stir in the miso paste and serve topped with scallions, sriracha and half an egg.

Hope I could get you interested in this slightly different Asian dish! Do you have any recipes, which you brought home from a vacay or stay abroad?

What I Ate Wednesday {pass me the veggies, please}

Tags

asian food, greens, smoothie, vegetables, vegetarian, what i ate wednesday, wiaw

Happy Wednesday! Look at me, trying to make a habit of the pre-running pictures. Oops, it’s a shame when you are not able to hold still and look like a ghost in them… could be kind of cool if I aimed for such an effect, though…

Nevermind, let’s just move on to the food pictures and the heaps of vegetables I am going through on a weekly basis at the moment. Somehow that’s all I crave at the moment (ok, truth be told, there might have been some unpictured chocolate and gummy bear eating … but it’s about the bigger picture, right?).

My beautiful rice congee, which I cooked this sunday for hours. I leave you with the picture and will share the recipe over the next days.

My first attempt to make Turkish style eggplant mousse. First: roasting veg in the oven.

Next: pureeing them in my magic bullet.

Finally: Digging in with some rice and tofu. Concluding, that it still needs to be worked on.

Salad to go. How much I love this salad cup! Filled with everything good and fresh.

And my new breakfast love (re-discovered): place greens, fruit, some oats, hemp protein and nut milk in your mixer.

And enjoy the freshest breakfast possible: Yay, for green smoothies!

Hugs to you all – enjoy your Wednesday!

What’s your favorite summer breakfast? Do you crave more veg when the weather starts to get warmer? Any suggestions on my eggplant mousse?

What I Ate Wednesday {running edition}

Tags

fitness, jpgging, morning run, oatmeal, protein pancakes, running, runny egg, vegetarian, what i ate wednesday, wiaw

Happy Wednesday, Foodies! How’s life? Hopefully a bit less stressful than mine… or should I say hopefully so full of interesting new projects, learning new things, exploring your possibilities, coming together with friends and familiy and getting back into the sports routine? Because, truthfully, I enjoy every minute of my packed-to-the-top days. I mean seriously… is there any better way to start your day with some fresh air and a sweaty shirt?

Check this out, shameless self-documentation:

Me, before heading out for my morning run, filling up my watertanks:

 

… and the sweaty mess I turned into when I came back …That’s kind of a long excuse for why I did not take as many food pictures as I usually do. Hope you still enjoy those I have.

Let’s start with the breakfast for champions I devoured after my run:

Toastie with turkey breast and my fried egg, sunny side up.

Check out this egg yolk porn… with a variety of peppers.

Breakfast for dinner: eggy oats with banana and peanutbutter … btw the green-ish shade comes from the added hemp protein.

One more breakfast: protein pancakes with pb-yogurt-fluff and raspberries

And if you’d like to see something more savory, check out Monday’s post and my secret restaurant test:

What is your favorite breakfast after a morning workout? Does anyone else get as sweaty as me after 30 minutes of running ( I bet after 15 I would have already looked like this)? Do you enjoy being busy?