Day 68 - back on track

I am back from my trip to Paris and let me tell you - if you haven't already, you absolutely must visit it. There are no words to describe a city like this, one must experience it in person. Actually, I have returned on Thursday already, but was too busy moving the office and doing laundry to cook or blog or anything else.

Being vegan in Paris is, well, a challenge per se. I tried really hard, but all I could manage was being vegetarian and make peace with the milk products. Fortunatelly, I seem to have succeeded in controlling my milk intolerance and had only one minor reaction that I quickly killed with medicine. Despite the croissants, cheese and even a sip of a Starbucks coffee latte, I managed quite well.

Another thing, I tried a sip of milk after almost 2 years of not consuming it, and let me tell you - boy, it is absolutely yuk! I mean, the taste was simply a disaster! My taste buds really forgot how does milk taste and well, now I know what I am not missing.

The hotel breakfasts were said to be "continental" which in french means: baguette, butter & marmelade, croissant, coffee and juice. Every. Single. Day. Not a hint of fruit or cereals and for a cost of 6 EUR. Had we known beforehand we would have skipped it and headed to a cafe' instead where for the same price we could have get a breakfast feast.

When choosing a lunch destination we hit a wall. Every menu consisted of cheese and/or meat. The french definition of "vegetarian" is pasta al pomodoro with bacon shreds. Really.

After vegetarian pizzas and pasta napolitana I managed to find a vegetarian franchise called Maoz Vegetarian where I got me a Maoz Falafel which I consumed on the bank of Seine.

Left is the man's pita gyros, right my falafel which I tried for the first time ever and absolutely fell in love with it. It was yummi!

Our last day in Paris we stumbled across a Moroccan restaurant that won us over. My vegetarian tajine was a dream!

I am happy I succeeded in staying vegetarian in Paris, although sometimes it was really hard, especially when starving after a whole-day of sightseeing, when chicken and burgers just smelled delicious. I must thank my partner, for it was he who many times insisted I stick to my decision and wandered with me from one restaurant to the other until we found some decent vegetarian choice.

Now I'm back in my kitchen and boy, did I miss it! Fridge stocked and stove ready. Into the pot with it!

Day 59 - eggs with herbs

Just as I was braging about eating less eggs, my mom supplied me with a dozen of fresh eggs, that need to get eliminated before Paris. Oh well, bring it over, I'll be the lab mouse.

This is one of the tastiest recipes for breakfast eggs, for me anyway. The man hates it: too green. Being spring and everything bursting it seems only fair that freshly grown herbs end on my plate.

EGGS WITH HERBS
serves: 1

1 egg
fresh herbs (spinach, lemon balm, fennel leaves,...)
pinch of salt
drop of olive oil

In a bowl, beat the egg. Wash and drain the herbs, then chop them thinly. Add to egg and add salt.
Heat olive oil in  pan, then add eggs and scramble or bake in an omelette.

Optionally, add a few slices of smoked tofu in there (as I did).

Day 57 - ramsons pesto

We're getting close to day 60 of my vegan challenge now. Time just seems to fly by and I'm still sticking to my ovo-vegetarian diet, with less ovo and more vegetarian by the day.

Sometimes I still have weak moments, especially when handling salami. The other day I dreamt about tuna again. But I did not give in. Today I made pizza and almost took a bite of the ham, but didn't. Then I dug into my vegetarian pizza with lots of veggies and topped with smoked tofu and baby spinach and forgot about meat altogether. Shame I did not take a picture, it was sure a sight!

I'm emptying the fridge these days in order to have it as empty as possible while we're on holidays. I'm not too creative in the kitchen, just trying to get rid of as much parishables as possible. That includes making ramsons pesto and soon I'll have to freeze the extra spinach.

Oh, and in case you're wondering how does making pesto look like. It all starts like this:

RAMSONS (wild garlic) PESTO

Go into the forest, put on some sexy violet rubber gloves and pick your ramsons. Then come home, wash and drain the ramsons, chop it roughly and put into blender with virgin olive oil and some salt. If you have it, put in some pine nuts, too. Blend it well and store it in the fridge. It keeps a long time!

Day 56 - ah, well

It's a strange day today. I hate it when I need information and nobody seems to provide. It feels like my office has been forgotten by the headquarters. This makes me irritated and I'm hanging by my nerves, really. We're having a new co-worker tomorrow but no computer for him, cause nobody provided, despite my instructions. We need new phones that are lost somewhere. We're moving location soon and God knows if the internet connection will be established by then. So far, it doesn't seem very possible.

And I'm flying to Paris on Saturday and, besides flight tickets and the hotel, I have and know nothing. Not even how to come from airport to the hotel.

There's been a lot of visiting this past weekend and a lot of questions and almost accusations about my choice of menu. I don't like it, when everyone tries to convert you to eating meat again and demand explanations. I don't impose my diet on anyone and would appreciate if the family let me be as well, thank you very much. Well, it hasn't all been bad, I did have some support as well, but most of them would just prefer me eating meat again. Not going to happen that though, if I can help it!

The funniest episode was when I received a whole pot of goulash right in front of my nose and had to exchange seats because of it. Then everyone was trying to get me eat it with polenta, while my angel mom made me some barley. Even my cousin loaded her plate with polenta and goulash but avoided meat and told me "I don't eat meat as well!" No kidding.

Well, it was not all bad, me and my boyfriend did have a good time and even found the time to wash the car! I got a load of fresh baby spinach that I need to somehow put to use before Saturday. Sunday was another family meal in a place with, well, too much meat on the menu. Luckily, my boyfriend saved the day and spotted a vegetarian meal on the menu, which turned out to be great, especially because I got a load of baked young potatoes while the other got french fries! :)

Day 53 - risotto with baby spinach

I had such a busy day yesterday that I went to work at 8am and got home at past midnight! It was not all strict work, because we did have some team-building with bowling and beer. But in between some mc fries&salad and some pizza crust (cause I couldn't eat anything else), there was not much else.

Those few macaroons that I did manage to save were in fact fantastic and I will make them soon, again. It's ideal for summer cause it requires no baking!

Today it's my mom's birthday and I'm leaving for a visit in a few hours. There's quite some visiting this weekend as everyone wants to see us before we leave for Paris. Like we're going for a year, geez.

I had still some spinach left and put it to use for lunch today. It's the first time I cooked this and I liked really, really liked it! Liked the dish and all.

RISOTTO with BABY SPINACH
serves: 1

spoon of olive oil
spoon of tomato concentrate
100 ml of tomato sauce
100 g rice (Arborio)
salt, pepper
spices to taste
water
a handful of baby spinach

In an iron-cast skillet heat olive oil and fry briefly the tomato concentrate. Add tomato sauce, cover the skiller and let it cook for a few minutes, until the sauce and concentrate merge and cook a bit.

Add rice, stir well and pour in double the amount of water. Season with salt and pepper, cover the skillet and let it cook according to instructions (anything between 15-20 minutes), until the rice becomes tender or al dente. If the rice soaks up all of the water before cooking time, just add more water and stir if needed. Season to taste with red paprika, celery, garlic and other spices.

When the rice is cooked, wash & drain baby spinach leaves and add them to the risotto. You don't need to cook it, just stir it well into the rice and the heat from the food will render the spinach soft and ready.

Serve hot.

Day 51 - kitchen disaster

Not my day. I should have known at lunch time when I burned the potatoes.

@lunch: no-chicken nuggets with baked potatoes & salad with baby spinach

Then, after work, I decided to make some no-bake coconut & oat macaroons for tomorrow.

Bad idea.

When I was finally resigned that the mixture looked ok, shaped those damn macaroons, put them into the fridge for settling and made another tray of it, I opened the door to the fridge to put the tray in and... the rest is history.

There go my macaroons into the dumpster.
I shall just abstain from kitchen today.

Day 50 - salad with baby spinach

I felt some cold or illness trying to catch me yesterday. As a result I went to bed at 9.30 pm. Yes, 9.30! And slept all night through until 6.30 am this morning. Wild dreams were chasing me, too. I dreamt of snow and foxes and wolves trying to sneak into my car while the man successfully chased them away, like a true man would. Weird, huh. I know. 

The important part is, I woke up fresh and well, with a bit of a cold lingering, but I eliminated that with some immuni tea and strong vitamin C supplements. Hope I manage to keep it away for good. Spring is a funny time. It's all so sunny and warm and deceiving, you sneak into a t-shirt and catch a cold. You keep your shirt on and sweat and still end up catching a cold.

With plenty of time this morning before going to work, I first took a steaming shower to warm myself, prepared breakfast and while the cereals were soaking in a soya macchiato that I discovered yesterday on my shopping spree (how cool is that?), I prepared myself a big salad, enormous, actually. I mean, if you could see it, dear reader, you would be jealous.

Oh, wait. You can see it.

Can't you just see the vitamins having a party in there? My mom supplied me with freshly picked spinach that is only like 2 weeks old (I mean, not 2 weeks since it's been picked, but 2 weeks since it sprouted out of the soil) and extra tender. I just had to put it to good use.

SALAD WITH BABY SPINACH
serves: 1

salad (iceberg)
baby spinach (raw)
chinese cabbage
1 carrot
red bell pepper
green bell pepper
cucumber
canned corn
sesame oil
garlic croutons

Just wash the veggies thoroughly, drain, slice, dice, shred at will, mix together in a large bow, top with sesame oil (or other salad dressing) and add croutons for crunchiness. We like it crunchy.

Full to the brim with vitamins & minerals from fresh veggies and a piece of organic chocolate with hazelnuts, I finish my lunch-break and go back to work.

Day 49 - Quinoa stir-fry

Oh, how the days fly by. Can you imagine: I have been an (almost) vegan (ovo-vegetarian) for nearly 2 months! Hooray! And I don't miss it not even for a second!

So, yesterday my folks were visiting me. They arrived early in the morning and we then headed for a 2-hour walk around the city, just to show them a bit that where I live is not as bad as they might think :) If you know Ljubljana, you'll know what I'm talking about. If you don't... well, you should. The capital is especially beautiful in this time of the year, what with all the flower buds and greening trees.

I took this snapshot during the walk and I am quite fond of it:

The brown smudge next to my dad is our beagle, actually.

I cooked them broccoli soup, chinese noodles (a variation of this), just because mom never makes it right, and a vegan chocolate tiramisu version, since my mom is also following my diet, though not as strict as I am. And I did add a tuna for my dad, who does not understand us women at all :) They ate everything, licked the dishes and took leftovers home for dinner (and thanked me later for it when they ran out of time to cook!).

So with an almost empty fridge today with almost nothing but some seitan, leftover cooked quinoa and some remaining veggies from yesterday's lunch that did not make it to the wok, lunch choice was not really comprehensive. I do need to go shopping today.

 QUINOA STIR-FRY
serves: 2

150 g cooked quinoa
1 medium onion
1/2 medium leek
1 medium carrot
a handful of broccoli florets
a small red bell pepper
1 seitan steak
sesame oil
soy sauce
salt, pepper
spices to taste
a few leaves Chinese cabbage

1 egg (optional)

Wash, peel, slice&dice your veggies as you like them best.
Heat oil in wok. If you're using eggs, add them to wok, scramble them and remove. Heat some more oil. Add onions and stir fry for a few minutes, until they begin to get tender. Add leek & carrots. Stir-fry, adding water if necessary until carrots turn tender. Add sliced seitan, broccoli florets and bell pepper, stir-fry, (add scrambled egg or omit this step), add quinoa, soy sauce, cold sesame oil, and spices to taste. Stir-fry to heat quinoa. Lastly, add Chinese cabbage and mix well, removing from heat. Serve hot or cold as a salad.

Packed full with proteins, this is an ideal lunch when you're starving. It is also very similar to a rice stir-fry, only richer in protein and vitamins, esp. if what you're using is regular white rice.

Stir-fries are the ideal way to use up leftover food, because there is an infinity of combinations. One rule though: don't try to mix in too many different ingredients. Besides the basics (onion, leek, carrot) add up to 3-4 other ingredients (veggies) for best results. Trust me, I've eaten myself through mom's experimentation and don't wish it on my enemies :)

Day 47 - Quinoa in mexican salsa

This was my first attempt with quinoa, actually. I have heard about it so many times, how good it is, how heathly, how much protein it contains,... that I simply had to try it.

And yes, the praises were not in vain. Even the man of the house had no complaint (but I di believe the delicious salsa had something to do with it).

QUINOA
serves: 2

150 g quinoa
salt
water

Quinoa is low on pesticides, because it is armed with a natural prey defense - saponini, which is something like soap. So, you need to wash it really thouroughly before usage in hot water. Wash away, then drain.

Cook in an iron-cast pot with 2,5x water (1 cup quinoa = 2,5 cups water). Cook for about 20 minutes, then remove from heath and let it soak up for another 5 minutes. You can then serve it, or store it in the fridge for up to a few days, to use at a later time.

It resembles millet, but has more of a nutty flavor.


MEXICAN SALSA
serves: 2

1 onion
1 zucchini
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 cup broccoli florets
tomato sauce (ready to use, otherwise you need to cook it)
1/2 cup canned corn
1 tablespoon soy cream
olive oil
salt, pepper & spices to taste

Wash your veggies. Slice and dice them, accordinly. Have ready to use.
In a pan, heat olive oil until hot. Add sliced onion and fry, adding water occasionaly as needed, until the onions turn golden brown and tender. Add diced zucchini and red bell pepper, season to taste, fry & steam until almost tender. Add broccoli florets. Add tomato sauce & cook for a few minutes, until the sauce reduces a bit. Add canned corn & soy cream, mix well, add more seasoning to taste. Serve hot with quinoa or other side (rice, pasta, millet).

Day 47 - Fried eggplants

I've been frying much lately, and I think it's time to stop. Spring has vanished in the past few days and instead, summer has arrived in town. I already need to think, do and plan like it's summertime. Like, shielding windows after lunch, making cold lemonade and most of all - storing away winter clothes and shoes and digging out summer flip flops. Can't decide if this is good or not. I mean, if it is like this in April, what is going to be in August?

We had lunch on the balcony today, not because it was so pretty outside (it was actually not, the sun was burning!), but because the rooms were too hot from cleaning and cooking. At least there was some wind outdoors.

I also have been cleaning out the freezer from old leftovers to make room for our ice-cream maker. Oh yes, it's ice-cream time tomorrow! I have one of those machines that you need to freeze the container for at least 18 hours prior to ice-cream making, so it's going to spend the night in the freezer and tomorrow in go some vanilla soy cream and wild blueberries that we have picked last summer in the woods. While cleaning I also found some breaded eggplants, just waiting to be put to good use.

FRIED EGGPLANTS
Serves: 2

1 big italian (purple) eggplant
pinch of salt
flour
eggs (or egg replacement)
breadcrumbs
frying oil

Wash the eggplants and slice them thinly. Sprinkle each slice with salt and let it rest for at least 20 minutes, so the eggplants release the bitter fluids. Drain.

Prepare breading: a dish for flour, 1 dish for beaten eggs, 1 dish for breadcrumbs. Place eggplant slices first in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs, each time cover the slices completely.

In a frying pan heat the oil until hot. Fry eggplant slices in oil from both sides, then place on kitchen paper to drain the oil. Serve hot with a side of salad.

Did you know?
You can actually prepare your eggplants prior to cooking and freeze them. Just do the whole procedure, slice, salt, drain, bread, put in a freezer bag or container and freeze away. When you need them, but have no time to make them fresh, just take them out from the freezer and straight into the frying pan.

Day 47 - American pancakes

I bet you all have noticed by now that the way we, Europeans, make our pancakes is much different from the American way. Actually, I believe our pancakes should actually be called crepes, from French.

The European pancakes, crepes, are bigger, thiner and most of all - contain no baking powder or butter. Just flour, eggs, salt and milk (of any kind). Sometimes esp. for the friench version (crepes) they add sugar and butter, but in my country we usually omit that. But you always need to make the batter rest for about an hour.

The American are smaller and thicker and usually contain sugar, butter, and baking powder.

There is an excellent video online on how to make both kind of pancakes, just take a look at it here.

Anyway, being a full European, I do have trouble with American pancakes. This morning I tried making them again after... well, a lot of time. The result was not satisfying. According to the video there are some things I did wrong during the process, the biggest mistake I think was making my batter too thin - the pancakes had almost no volume.

Topping: fresh strawberries and plain soy yogurt.

 No recipe today, I'll give this another goal. But, you can google it and find many decent recipes online.

Day 46 - wrapped bananas

I have this thing with bananas. Actually, I have that with all the fruits & veggies. I see them in shop, all beautiful and mouth-watering, and I absolutely have to buy it. Sometimes it's really hard to resist not to buy it, especially when there is already like a bunch of over-ripe bananas awaiting their end home, but all I want is those fresh green ones.

So you might guess, we have a constant problem with over-ripe bananas. We eat them raw, I put them in smoothies, make banana bread, and still end up with a bunch of it just riping away.

So yesterday I googled new banana recipes and came across this one, that is actually quite similar to chinese fried fruit, only it is not made from beer dough or pancake dough, but ... yeast dough. Like bread and pizza, mind you.

Oh well, having nothing to lose, I put myself to work.

FRIED BANANAS in yeast dough
serves: 2-4

100 g flour
50 g cornstarch
3g dry yeast
pinch of sugar
pinch of salt
130 ml luke-warm water
2-3 bananas
juice of half a lemon
1 dl frying oil
powdered vanilla sugar for topping (or honey)

In a bowl place flour, cornstarch, yeast, sugar and salt and stir to combine. Pour in luke-warm water, stir to combine and knead to a smooth dough. Cover with a napkin and let it rise for an hour.

Peel bananas and slice them (i sliced mine in half, but you can make them as big as you like). Immerse each banana piece in lemon juice to prevent oxidation. Divide the dough in smaller pieces,  roll them out as to make mini pizzas, then wrap the bananas in the dough, covering them completely.

In a frying pan heat the oil and fry the banana wraps from both sides until they are golden brown.

Top fried bananas with powdered sugar (or honey). Let the bananas cool a bit, otherwise they're boiling hot. I prefer them served cold, though.

Sometimes the juice from bananas might leak out into oil - be careful not to get burnt!
Alternatively, you can bake bananas instead of frying them. Just place in a pre-heated oven and bake at about 180°C until golden brown.

Day 46 - yada yada

I bet you missed me.
Thing is, not much has been happening around here lately, except for work and work out. And sleeping on the couch.

The highlight of the day so far was cooking lunch. And even that was nothing special.

Just an easy-going Friday, ideal for writing tasks at work since no one is bothering me on phone or mail. Wish for more days like this.

ps: Gosh, I need to buy me some single-color dishes. This plates are a nightmare to photograph. I can't believe they survived this far, though. 2,5 years of everyday usage and only 1 broken by accident (fell really deep and scratched the floor).

**
2 km
Total: 11,2 km

Day 44 - some kind of spring rolls

Warmer days bring the desire to eat more healthy, less hearty food. I've always wanted to make spring rolls, but am a bit frightened by all the rice paper and I don't really want them fried (though fried is tastier).
I have the same dilemma with sushi, for that matter. Am frightened to use the nori algae and I don't like the taste of sour rice. So I might try coming up with a non-sour version someday, when I gather the guts to buy me some nori.

I prepared the lunch this morning, assembling everything together, then at lunch time just threw it in the oven.
It doesn't take more than a few minutes.

LOW-FAT SPRING ROLLS
serves: 2

1 package of light pastry (200 - 250 g)
zucchini
carrot
red bell pepper
chinese cabbage
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 180°C.
Wash and slice the veggies to thin sticks.
Roll our your pastry and divide it in 8 rectangles. Fill each rectangle with veggie sticks, then fold the upper&bottom corner inwards, to create a pocket, and close the remaining sides by rolling the pastry. You should get some sort of rolls with closed sides.
Lay baking paper on a baking tray and place the rolls on it.
Bake for about 15 minutes until the rolls turn a golden brown. Serve with a big bowl salad and be careful, the rolls are really hot in the inside! Let them cool a bit.

Day 43 - busy

I don't know what's happening exactly, but I have been so busy these days, as you wouldn't believe. Work 8 - 17, then maybe some shopping (cosmetics, clothes, you name it), then dinner (no lunch, of course) and crush on the couch sleeping.

Household chores? Yeah, right. You should see the pile of clothes awaiting my ironing board.

Good thing I made a whole pot of barley minestrone, that I'm just heating up and consuming on the go.

No fancy bread or anything. No time to buy it.

By the way: I have just learnt that 100 g of pistachios contains as much as 20 g of protein! Yes! This might be my favorite source of protein ever! Pssst, it also has like 500-600 calories, but let's ignore that.

Day 42 - meh

Today I feel like, meh.

I am tired and my muscles hurt from yesterday's running. That's what I get for running twice the usual distance.

I'm bloated and I don't know why, maybe because I'm not eating enough? The less I eat, the more bloated I am. Meh.

Yesterday I only ate pancakes (two, mind you) and the noodles, which lasted me for dinner (a lunch size portion, that is, for the entire day).

Today, so far: a pancake, a yogurt, some banana chips and barley minestrone. Stuffed and bloated.

Meh.

I'll just stick to carrots and cucumbers then.

Actually, that's not a bad idea.

Day 41 - up and running

What with all the new running clothes in my closet and the perfect summer sunshine outside, I could not have refused a run. So, I put on my newest top:

Which looks really lovely on a pair of long black nike trousers. Yes, that's a mini skirt right there!

I'm not into capri and running clothes because I'm not one of those skinny bitches, sadly, so I cannot put on just anything that comes to mind. So when I found these babies, you can guess I was - mildly put - thrilled!

Aren't they lovely? These are still awaiting their opportunity, which will come soon, no doubt.

Lesson to learn: next time, just go in a regular shop, try everything on for fit and then go online and order from UK. These capris costed me 50 eur in shop, but are only 23 pounds online!

Lunch was uncreative. Noodles for the hundred time. Which makes me think I'd have less problems with capris if I ate less noodles. Noted.

Need to make me some minestrone for tomorrow.

3,7 km!

**
total run: 9,2 km

Day 41 - pancake time

Recipe here.

If we're home on a Sunday, making pancakes it almost a must. We've got many many left from breakfast which means it's time to get creative to use them up :)

40 days and 40 nights

40 days is the duration of lent. I have never thought I could actually go 40 days on any diet, but I did.
One small hiccup on day 40, though. My other half was teasing me about toast. That is, he was eating toast with ham & cheese while I was preparing salad. And just to prove a point, I did bite into his toast. Ham & cheese is of course delicious, but I chose not to eat it. I went on with my huge salad.

Day 40 was Saturday and with time on hand, I made gnocchi, which is not vegan, because it contains 1 egg.
I've written about these eggs before, and just in case you have not seen what does an organic egg look like:

It's dirty and not two are the same :)

I also blogged about gnocchi before and here is the recipe, below a few photos of the making of.

And our lunch:

Gnocchi with ramsons (wild garlic) pesto for the man

Gnocchi with vegan bolognese for me.

After lunch we went shopping and I bought a whole wardrobe of running clothes! So I guess running is a must this year! The clothes are drying on the balcony as I write and should be ready to use by afternoon :)

Day 39 - nettle soup

Was visiting mom yesterday and she cooked me a really dangerous looking nettle soup. Which I immediately baptised as Fukushima Soup. I guess it might even glow in the dark.

The colors on the photo don't the justice to the original. Just imagine the brightest green you can. I'm still not sure how did mom achieve such a radiant color from nettle. It was actually delicious, needless to say. And the soup wasn't the only meal on the menu, mom is always stuffing me with loads of food, like I'm otherwise starving or something.

My visit was rather brief, because I was in my hometown visiting the company's headquarters for work, but I did manage to pet our dog briefly:

This photo just because :)

It's 40 days tomorrow. Which in lent time means, my diet would be over. But it is not going to be! :)