The Fourth Sunday Of Advent

It's time to rejoice:

 Now we return to December and Christmastide, when during the darkest days, we rejoice in the promise of the one true Light who has come into the world. This great wonder is pondered each year across the 12 days of Christmas, from Dec. 25 through Epiphany on Jan. 6.

Before this great feast arrives, however, there is a great season of preparation. Advent is not just for baking, caroling or gift-giving, but also for holding back the fullness of Christmas joy until the Nativity itself.

Including the recipe for mincemeat pies;)

What I Eat In A Day

 Or at least what I ate last Monday;)

Breakfast:

Oatmeal with 3.5% milk, half slice of bread with 100% natural peanut butter, goji berries with hot water instead of tea (2nd cup was hot water with a lemon slice)

Lunch:

Water, scrambled egg (1) with olive oil, vegan chocolate paste. Not that I'm a vegan, I just like this brand. Plus some grapes for a snack:

 And fake coffee with milk (chicory):

In the afternoon I drank cold fruit tea (rhubarb-cherry, bought in Germany, you can just use cold tap water for this one) because it was 33*C outside and not much better inside which Blogger doesn't let me upload somehow.

This was our dinner:

Turkish bread with (frozen) peas cream (olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, mint leaves, chili sauce), baked courgette and low fat mozarella (my husband had chicken instead) + some pumpkin seeds (not featured), mineral water (also from Germany)

Dessert was yogurt with plum jam and flax seeds:

 You can see what I cooked on Tuesday in the picture;)

We also drank more fruit tea + chocolate candy (my husband got it from his Polish colleagues)

So that is truthfully what I ate in a day plus I managed to upload the tea photo somehow:)

Have a nice day all of you!

What I Eat In A Day

 I thought it was time to have another one of these, since folks always appear to be interested in food others are eating.Starting with myself:)

My regular readers probably know that I currently don't eat meat, but I do eat fish several times a week. So here is what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast

A cup of Redbush tea with honing (I don't tolerate caffeine well), a banana and 2 sorts of grapes, a glass of full fat milk, and crisp bread, 1 piece with peanut butter, the other with a bit of butter and plum jam.

Lunch

Water with home baked bread (from a bread baker. I don't do it very often but this week I decided to use it), 1 slice with butter and apple butter, the other with mashed sardines, ketchup and cucumber. 

Wait, that's not all, here's more:)

Cacao made with water, some (full fat) coffee milk and honey, plus a chocolate cookie. Not the healthiest of choices (the cookie, that is) , but I thought I deserved it after being outside doing shopping for nearly 2 hours.

I drank a cup of tea around 4.30 p.m. and then it was time for dinner. 

I combined 2 recipes from a German vegetarian cooking magazine and here is what I got. A glass of water and 2 pita breads, frittata omelette made with eggs (1 per person), some full fat milk, cheese (1 slice per person), onion, carrot and herbs + ground nuts (almond, walnut and something else, I forget) + broad beans (I hope it's the correct name) tomato salad. 

We also had dessert:

Full fat yogurt with ground flax seeds and sunflower seeds and 1tsp of jam. In the evening I drank another cup of tea and that was all. 

A note about dairy, women are recommended to eat at least some full fat dairy, just don't overdo it:)

Easy Ice Cream Recipe

 

I'll admit it's not my invention. I actually saw it on a vegan UTube channel and since I'm not a vegan, I adjusted it to include dairy.

It takes you about 3 minutes to make it. The equipment you need is a blender/mixer and a freezer. Plus 3 basic ingredients: bananas, (frozen) mixed berries and plain cream cheese. 

Peel the bananas, cut them in pieces and place in the freezer for several hours. (I used 2 big bananas for 4 portions). Take as many as you need, put into a blender, add enough frozen berries of any kind, then cream cheese to taste and blend till it looks like in the picture or to a desired consistency. You can also blend/mix them in steps, 1st bananas, then adding berries and finally cream. I tried it both ways and found mixing them all together easier but it's just me.

You'll get some soft ice cream so eat immediately. It has no added sugar and just as much fat as you yourself desire, depending on how much cream cheese you use. 1-2 tsp per portion was enough for me, just to make it thicker and creamier. Of course, you can also add jam or decorate it with fresh berries or whatever you wish actually.

Enjoy!

Fake Meatballs

 This is really a great recipe. 

I forgot to take the picture. I used 250g of champignons from the supermarket, dried parsley and 1 egg instead of 2, because I wrote the recipe down on a piece of paper and the instructions weren't as clear so they were a bit low on protein and I added extra cheese instead. The cheese I used was processed cheddar. The yield was 10 rather decent size meatballs, so I got 2 portions. They do really have great texture so give them a try if you wish to:)

What I Ate In A Day

I try to eat some sort of a pesco-Mediterranean diet, so previously I posted about my "fish" day (I mostly eat fish 3 times a week). This is one of my vegetarian days.

Breakfast:

Hot water with lemon, honey and curcuma, 1.5% kefir, cooked buckwheat with strawberry jam, knackebrod with olive oil and cheese and fruit (the dark one is a plum)
 

Lunch: water, cut cucumber, 2 slices of home-baked bread, 1 with hummus, sweet chili sauce, spring onions and white cheese, the other one with butter and apple butter

Normally I also drink a cup of chicory coffee, but that day (last Thursday) I was expecting a visitor so I drank a cup with her, together with a home-baked chocolate muffin.

Dinner:

White long grain rice, ground walnuts, a hard-boiled egg, Brussels sprouts and red lentils puree

The dessert was 1.5% plain yogurt with flax-seeds, sunflower seeds and strawberry jam (I really like it:)

In the evening we drank red-bush tea with muffins. Normally they should be served with a sweet chocolate sauce but I haven't made it so I decided that strawberry jam would do fine instead:)

That was about it.

What I Eat In A Day

 as a pescatarian. 

People seem to always like to know what someone eats, so here comes:)

Breakfast:

Teff porridge made with semi-skimmed milk mixed with full fat chocolate milk which I still have left from our St Nicholas party, fruit, a rye crispbread with butter and cheese (rye, water, salt) and hot water with a slice of lemon and half teaspoon of honey. 

Teff grain is supposed to be very good for you, it's gluten free, high protein etc

but it's also pricey. I bought in on sale, otherwise I'd just eat rolled oats, 50c for 500g:) As chocolate milk is very sweet, I didn't need to add sugar or any other sweetener.

Lunch was nothing fancy:

 Cucumber and toasted bread, one slice with hummus and processed cheddar (hummus was on sale, too; 50% off), the other one with butter and fish roe paste from IKEA:

 

Strictly speaking it's not really a health food, but I  do like it very much:) Plus some water, as you can see. After lunch I also drank a cup of cacao (cacao powder, water and a splash of full fat milk), but no sugar since I still have some chocolates left from St. Nicholas, see above:

I figured out I deserve them since normally I'd eat one sandwich with something sweet, like apple butter, which is very popular over here. It's high in iron, too, so recommended for vegetarians.

Finally, dinner:

Parboiled brown rice, with a stir-fry of marinated shrimp, onion, bell pepper and tomatoes; plus avocado and chili sauce (love this, too).

And dessert:

plain 3.2% yogurt with flax seed and 1 tsp jam. 

Well, that's about it. I also drank tea in between, with a bit of honey/molasses. Tomorrow will be my vegetarian day, so I'm planning to eat walnuts for dinner. What about you?

About Meat Substitutes

 Here is a decent article by Dr Axe, whose book on Aromatherapy I highly recommend, btw.

Best and Worst Meat Substitutes for Your Health

It's quite long, but worth reading. I should add that personally I can't eat soy products whether fermented or not without it wreaking havoc on my system and my husband dislikes them so we never eat them, but beans, lentils and nuts are OK.

Considering his worst substitutes, I tried to make seitan at home several times, and it was just not eatable, but I somewhat disagree about cheese. I think It's OK if you don't go overboard on it. but it's probably the best to combine several different protein sources in one dish, like some cheese and nuts. 

He also doesn't mention eggs by some reason, but the Dutch Veg society suggests that you could substitute 3 oz meat with 2 eggs, which is more or less adequate, in my experience.  

There is a discussion going on about health benefits of eggs, but the general consensus seems to be that 6 or 7 eggs a week is fine, especially if you go easy on red meat. 

(The Dutch Vegetarian society, btw, also recommends about 0.5 lt dairy a day for your b12 and calcium).

Anyway, meals should be built around a protein source, so broccoli and carrots aren't a good meat substitute, they are a side dish:)

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends!

(It's OK to be a non-vegetarian, we don't discriminate over here:)

 

 

Vegetarian Meatballs

 Yes, yes, I know, it's an oxymoron:)

But those are really good and they were even better the next day. Of course, they have all the right ingredients, mushrooms, oats, cheese, eggs etc:

Chef John's Meatless Meatballs

And they are probably much healthier than some fake burger from the store! 

Low Budget Apple Cake

 It's vegetarian, and dare I say? Even vegan, but that's not the reason I baked it, it's easy, cheap and I had all ingredients on hand. 

You will need:

1 1/2c flour

4 tbsp cacao powder

1tsp baking powder

 salt

1c water

4 tbsp olive oil

lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 big apple, peeled and sliced

1/2c sugar 

cinnamon

Combine flour, cacao, baking powder and salt in one bowl. In another bowl, combine water, oil, lemon juice and vanilla, add to the flour mixture.  Toss apple with cinnamon and sugar, then add to the batter. Transfer to a baking pan and bake at about 180*C for 30-35 min. Enjoy!

Low Income Meals

 From my favourite housewife. She gives tips on weight loss, too:

 

Cooking isn't a chore, it's art!

My Experiences In Being (Semi) Vegetarian

 Last time I are pork/red meat was beginning December last year, but I did eat chicken, though not every week.

I could sum it up in two sentences. a) It's been a struggle to keep on weight. b) It's boring hence I'm going back to a Mediterranean diet. 

I substituted with cheese and eggs and I ate fish 2-3 times a week, but still would lose weight easily hence if you are fat overweight, it probably makes sense to eat like a vegetarian from time to time, but if you are a normal weight, you could easily become underweight.

Despite what carnivore/paleo crowd tell you, carbs don't exactly make you fat unless you eat like a ton of them. I was the skinniest when also restricting animal fat, which was downright scary, so I went back to eating butter and full fat yogurt, but even eating cake nearly every day didn't quite help. 

I didn't exactly miss red meat, but got bored from building my meals around eggs and cottage cheese, if you know what I mean:)

So that's my experiences so far...

If You Don't Know What To Do With Fish

 Here is an idea:

It's called Fish Goulash and is probably Hungarian, courtesy of this book:

 I changed the recipe slightly, as usual.

You will need frozen fish fillets, (4 to serve 4) I used Alaska pollock

Fish or vegetable bouillon cubes

onions, green bell peppers, carrots, tomatoes (save some for serving)

tomato puree, olive oil, salt, chili sauce

Heat olive oil in a large frying pan, add sliced green pepper, onion and carrot, stir-fry for some time. Add frozen fish fillets, pour enough water to cover, add 1-2 bouillon cubes, tomato puree and some tomatoes, salt and chili sauce to taste. Cook until fish is ready, for about 15 min. Serve over rice with sliced avocado, some fresh sliced tomatoes and sour creme. Simple and delicious! 

Strawberry Cheesecake Roll

 I baked it yesterday, and we ate it all already (I did share some with the neighbours :)

The recipe comes from Lidl magazine (for those who don't know, Lidl is a German supermarket comparable to Aldi), and as usual, I changed it slightly. Not all changes were for the best, but more about it later.

For the cake, you will need:

4 eggs (I used 3 eggs and vegan egg substitute powder, and it worked fine)

7tbsp sugar     

a dash of salt and a bit of honey (the recipe called for agave syrup but I don't really like it)     

 1c flour    

1 tsp lemon juice      

For the filling, the recipe says to use 400g cream cheese,but you'll be fine with 200g. I added a bit of yogurt which proved unnecessary and made the filling a bit runny; 4 tbsp honey (instead of agave syrup, see above); strawberries (about 6 big ones) and strawberry jam to taste.

Split the eggs and beat the yolks with sugar until thick, then beat the whites with a bit of salt and honey, they should be airy but not too stiff. Combine yolks and egg whites, add flour and lemon juice and mix well. Line the baking tray (25 by 30 cm) with baking paper, spread the dough evenly over it and bake at 200*C 10 to 15 min. Take out of the oven, cover with another sheet of baking paper, place on a clean towel and roll it up. Let cool. In the meanwhile, mix cream cheese with honey. Unroll the cake, remove the paper, and spread it first with jam, then with cream cheese mixture, then with sliced strawberries. Roll it all up again and place in the fridge for about 2 hours. It should look like this:

You can decorate it with extra cream cheese and strawberries. It's very sweet and fat. Enjoy!

I'm Getting Addicted!

 To Korean homemaking videos, like this one:

There are lots more on YouTube, with children and without, and one with 7 cats:)

Really cute!

WWII Fake Meat On Your Table

 

You would probably never guess that one can make burgers from oatmeal and eggs which taste very much like the real deal. It's another WWII recipe called "meatless sausage". I read about it over here 

and at first didn't believe his claims that it's  "the most convincing non meat-trying-to-be-meat recipe" he ever made, but still decided to give it a chance. What should I say? I've tried some store bought meat substitutes and this oatmeal  burger is by far the best of them, not to forget the healthiest.

And even my husband who hates fake meat kinda approved:)

 

War Time Cooking

 A cool blog with 193 frugal wartime recipes, for those on a budget or wishing to cut calories:

the1940sexperiment

Tradwife Stuff

Last several days it was like 30+ *C outside. I made some ginger beer. I think technically it's more like ginger ale, because beer has to be fermented, doesn't it? Anyway, I was visiting a local health store on Tuesday when I found this:

A mix to make ginger beer. My husband and I both like it, but the supermarket brands have lots of sugar and other unsavoury things added, so naturally, I was quite excited to try making my own.

I added water to it (1.5 lt) and then I had to cook it until reduced in half:

After this, it needed to be strained:

and sugar had to be added, too. I tried to reduce the suggested amount (150g), but believe me, you'll need all of it to make it taste more or less decent.

After sugar got dissolved, I let it cool off a bit, added some lemon juice and poured it into the same bottle. You need to add (sparkling) water to taste, to serve it. The instruction says to dilute it 1 to 1, but we all found it too strong, so it's more like 1 part syrup, 7 parts water:

It still has a very strong taste, but is great for a hot summer day! Have you tried some new project this summer? Feel free to share!

What Did I Do Today?

I baked this:

And here is  the recipe.

I only changed a couple of things this time. I used plain full fat yogurt (3.2%) instead of Greek yogurt (10% fat) and I used 1tbsp of bottled lemon juice instead of freshly squeezed one. I didn't adjust sugar amounts at all which means that the pie is rather on a sweet side. And, it's really delicious!