You know you want this baby.

A few days ago I had my sister over for food and hanging out. We had a great time as always and the food was as great as ever. I’ve made tempeh wingz several times now and they are awesome. I think I’m getting to a point where it’s time I actually write my alterations to the sauce down in the zine before I forget about them. I mean, we always make way more and I don’t use as much hot sauce and I put heinz chili sauce in and I don’t use agave.. the list goes on. What I’m trying to say is that it’s a great recipe that we make all the time and we always eat them the same way. Mashed potatoes with garlic and roasted broccoli on the side, it’s awesome. For dessert we had the lemon bars from Joy of Vegan Baking and they were soo good I wish I had made twice the amount.

Let some food porn commence.

Sweet sweet agony. I mean, how on earth could you ever say no to that? My mum, however, informed me that they were too sweet. Well, I guess maybe she’s sweet enough as it is?

My birthday came and went and it was great. I was given 2 awesome cookbooks by Alex’s mum. One was The Joy of Vegan Baking and the other was Hot Damn and Hell Yeah/The Dirty South Cookbook. I’ve used the baking one already and it is great. We went out for italian pizza with friends the day after my birthday and had an amazing meal. I’m sure they thought I was on a diet when I asked for no cheese and said no thanks to dessert. Hah! They have no idea how wrong they were.

It’s been a hectic time and emotionally tiring lately. Things seem to change so rapidly and not for the better like I would have wanted. It seems like I’m finally getting things under control again now.

We had an amazing meal yesterday. I am back in the kitchen and enjoying it. The star of the show yesterday was this amazing cream baked sweet potato with ginger and garlic. We served it with a lentil patty and a bell pepper and leek compote.

Cream Baked Sweet Potato: Serves 4

• 1 kg (2 lbs) sweet potatoes
• 2,5 dl (1 cup) vegan cooking cream
• 1 large clove garlic
• 2,5 cm (1 inch) ginger
• 1 tsp salt

Peel the sweet potato and cut it in 0,5 cm (1/4 inch) thick slices. Peel the ginger and slice it thinly. In an oven proof dish put sweet potato and ginger in layers. Mix the cream with a clove of minced garlic and the salt. Pour cream over the sweet potatoes and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, until the sweet potato is soft, in 225 C or 440 F.

Eat and enjoy!

Hay guys! I have bad news and good news.

The bad news is that my mother was told by the doctors at the neurological unit that the hernia she has in her neck is going to make her lose control of her arms. They don’t know when or how fast it’s going to be, just that it will happen. That’s why I haven’t been on much lately, I’ve been feeling down. The hernia is pushing on nerves in her neck making her arms difficult to use. We don’t really know what’s going to happen yet, but we know it’s bad news. I’m pretty upset about it and has spent many hours crying. Bleh. Life is unfair.

Good news:

• Bazu sent me a big pile of magazines. She took them with her on the trip to Paris and posted them from there. Those magazines are so much more well traveled than I am! Thanks Bazu, you’ve really brightened my mood a lot. You’re awesome!
• I’ve tried a new kind of vegan cream cheese from Tofuline which was great. It’s not even expensive, especially if you compare it to the Tofutti kind. Yay!
• My mum, my sister Sofie and I had vegan hot dogs in Malmö not long ago, thanks to Björn at Vegankrubb who wrote about it on his blog.
• I bought ALL the tempeh they had at one of the asian stores in Malmö last time I was there. Sorry about that but my man loves it and I was trying to cheer him up.
• I can now be found on bookcrossing, postcrossing and swap-bot. Check it out! And consider joining in the fun.
• My man was bored and browsing the internet and found THIS. It’s awesome in every way. We now have a ceiling cat!

Today is the international womens day and while I do appreciate it as a day for hanging out with friends and being able to nag at Alex to do things for me because of what day it is I still think it’s sick that we need this day every year to bring up issues of inequality and womanhood. It’s sick that women still get paid less for doing the same job and it’s sick that women have to work twice as hard to get the same cred men do. And don’t even get me started on rape, women’s health problems that go unnoticed because we need to just ‘go home and rest a little and take an aspirin’, how women are treated in school and sick beauty standards. Anyway, this is a food blog and I don’t want to rant much.

I celebrated being a woman today by hanging out with my sister and eating good food. We had a great time together.

Here’s Sofie in all her glory!

And here’s the gang at Sofie’s house. It’s Alex, Elin (a friend of Sofies) and Sofie herself. I was taking the picture of course..

And the food, omg the glory of the food. I bet cooking runs in the family because I’m not the only one that makes good food. We had borscht with home baked bread and hummus and some hemp seeds and tomatoes on top. It was delicious.

And for dessert we had raspberry cupcakes with litchi and mandarin frosting and some fruit salad. Putting litchi juice in the frosting was genius, it’s such an awesome flavour.

(And it looks damn good too!)

Before we get down to business with a great recipe I have some chit chattering to do. Hey, how are you all? I’ve had a great day. I went grocery shopping in the morning with my mother and my sister and got some great things. First we went to the arab store I visit weekly and bought a bunch of different veggies and some fruit. Then we visited one of my favourite stores, Astrid och aporna (astrid and the monkeys - cute!), and bought some real gems, cheap carob chips (I’ve never even seen those in Sweden before, yay baked carob goods here I come!), agave nectar (something I’ve never tried before), gluten powder, panda liquorice and delicious icecream. It was great! The real gem of the day was the visit to a huge grocery store where they sold out all their green plants for half price. I splurged and bought 9 different ones, small and big and paid very little. I haven’t had any plants in the house for well over a year because of the cats but now I finally have some (and the cats will have to learn to stay off them). We finished the day with lunch together. I made Joanna’s Pasta Alfredo from Yellow Rose Recipes, as well as the Cajun Tofu and we finished the meal with some Carob Split Bars (Damn Tasty Vegan) and blueberry icecream. Ah, what a brilliant day.

I was meaning to post this recipe around xmas time, but I am a master procrastinator so I’ve been able to hold it off until now. Not that it matters much, you can eat these ANY time of the year really. It’s a very simple recipe for saffron beans but it’s delicious and will impress guests nonetheless. It’s such a feast for the eyes.

Saffron bean salad:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 cups big white beans (2 cans, rinsed and drained)
• 1 medium red onion
• 1 large clove garlic
• 1 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• 1 cup finely shredded purple cabbage
• 1/8 tsp saffron threads
• salt and pepper, to taste

Finely shred the purple cabbage. peel onoin and cut in half. Slice thinly into half moons. Fry the onion and HALF of the cabbage in in olive oil and saffron. Add in the beans, minced garlic and lemon juice and stir. Keep on low heat for about 5 mins, stirring ever now and then. Add in the rest of the cabbage and mix. Add salt and pepper to taste and pour beans into a serving bowl. Add a few dashes of extra oilve oil to make the beans shine and a squeeze of lemon. Serve the beans lukewarm or at room temperature. (Garnish with some fresh shredded purple cabbage for looks!)

Today is my two year veggiversary and a lot has happened these two years. I’ve changed as a person (for the better I hope) and sometime last summer I decided to go vegan. Going vegetarian was a big step for me and a very positive one and when I later decided to go vegan it was yet another big step forwards. I’ve learnt so much since going veg and have done some awesome things.

Today is also the one year anniversary of this blog. It’s been a great year with lots of delicious food, nice people and plenty if good things going on. We’re celebrating with lunch out and maybe a trip to the book store, there’s sales going on right now and there’s a few cookbooks I’ve had my eyes on.. we’ll see! Today is also the day I get this months paycheck, so yay it’s a good day!

Feast your eyes on these pretties! A couple of days ago we had the Walnut, white bean and spinach phyllo rolls from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan with a salad of leafy green with raspberry vinaigrette and nuts. It was absolutely fabulous. I like phyllo dough a lot but it can be quite hard to work it as it dries out so quickly and is quite delicate. Next time I make these I’ll be making some baklava as well. Baklava is heavenly. For dessert a no bake raspberry pie with lime. Look at the colour of that pie! That’s what it looked like, it was hypnotic.I changed the recipe for the strawberry pie around a bit and this wonderful pie was what we got. Next I think I’ll make it with blueberries.

We didn’t do anything special for valentines day, it’s not a big day for me. I did get a few gifts from Alex however, an awesome black apron with the text ‘My kitchen is a mess but I’m not’ (which is entirely true!), some chocolate, a cool card and some flowers. Oh, and some shower gel, because apparently I stink?

We didn’t have anything awesome baked yesterday, but we did today! A no-bake strawberry lime pie which was just amazing. I spotted the recipe over at Tofu for two and knew right away I wanted to make it. Even if you’re not interested in pie (which is TOTALLY blasphemous btw) you should still visit their blog, it’s full of awesome tasty recipes, and the photos are great.

My mum and sister came over for fika (coffee and something small and sweet) and both really liked it. I will definitely make it again,and maybe change things around. I’m already imagining lots and lots of blueberries…
Enough talking, have some pictures! Behold the glory of the strawberry lime pie!

Recipe found here.

You should make this soup because:

1. It’s one of my favourites
2. It’s easy and cheap
3. You can easily replace something or add something
4. Quinoa is a complete protein (you haven’t heard that before, right? ;p )

When I made this soup end of summer I put very little chilli in it, this time I put more in, I need the heat on cold, late winter days. It’s good either way. It’s a very brothy and light soup, but with great taste and some heat that satisfies. What more can I say? It’s good it’s god it’s good it’s good!

Quinoa soup that rocks your boat: (Originally from a Swedish cookbook called Det vegetariska köket)

• 2/3 cup quinoa
• 2 cups water
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, julienned
• 1 leek, white part cut in half, rinsed and cut
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ - 1 red chili pepper
• 1 can (400gr/15oz) crushed tomatoes
• 4 cups vegetable stock (or 4 cups water + 2 stock cubes)
• salt and pepper to taste

For garnish:

• 1/3 cup finely chopped parsley
• 2 tbsp grated lemon peel
• Green part of leek, finely chopped

Variations: (Add these to the soup, or use instead of something else. Don’t want carrot? Or just feel like adding somethign else to the soup? These are great.)

• 1 big handful spinach leaves
• 1 can white beans (rinsed and drained)
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into small pieces

Add quinoa and water together and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes and in the meantime prepare your vegetables. Peel and chop onion and garlic. Cut leek in half lenghtwise and rinse it. Chop up. Peel and julienne the carrot. (If using bell pepper cut it into small pieces). When the quinoa has simmered for 5 minutes drain it. Pour oil into a large soup pot and add the vegetables and garlic (if using spinach in the soup, don’t add it yet). Sauté for a few minutes and then add finely chopped red chili, saute for another minute. Add quinoa, the can of crushed tomatoes, vegetable stock and let the soup simmer for about 20 minutes, until the quinoa is soft and has started opening. (If using spinach add this in just a few minutes before taking the soup of the hob and if using beans add them in 5 mins before taking it off, just enough to get them hot). Add salt and pepper to taste.
Add the garnish ingredients to a small bowl and sprinkle over the soup before you eat it.

I’m a bit ashamed to have neglected my blog so badly, the fact is that we do eat and live and do fun things, I just can’t seem to find the energy to document any of it. It’s spring soon but this time of the year is the worst, it’s been dark so long and I have so little energy! Despite that I do have an update today. A collage of food that hasn’t been featured on the blog!

I also went to the gym for the first time today. My awesome friend Gabbi and I decided to start going together after work and we went for our first session today. We got some help putting together a gym program and then did a bit of exercise before we went home. I’m really happy about finally going to the gym! It wasn’t one of my new years resolutions so it’s extra awesome. Soon I will be a fit fatty instead of an unfit one, yay.

My partner and I celebrated being sambo (cohabitants) for an entire year a few days ago. We had an awesome meal out and I bought him nice gifts. I’m lovely like that. Sambo-day was great and I hope we’ll live together for many many years to come.

Above we have, tofu ricotta and mushroom pizza, french toast, chickpea salad and french lentil soup (vcon), also saffron beans, an awesome sandwich, gimme chimis (eat drink and be vegan), and almond bling muffins, purple glögg cooked cabbage, paella, cornmeal masala crusted brussels sprouts and vegetable rice with tunisian aubergine (it has lots of cinnamon!). It was all SOOO good.

Also a short list of recipes to come:

• saffron beans
• quinoa soup
• sunflower seed baguettes

Trying to catch up on the billion blogpost people have made too, everything looks amazing!

I love making bread. Baking is so therapeutic and it lets you really take out all your anger and hurt on the dough, the bread still turns out delicious. This morning Alex left for his Swedish lessons and I was home on my own, I rarely get to as I work most days, and I felt like baking something. Sure, there were dishes to be washed and I could have vaccumed the floors or folded clothes or possible even changed the bedsheets, but I wanted to bake and to bake something ‘real’ and nothing like sissy cookies. I was reading cookbooks at work (I do this a lot when there’s a break) and read what Jamie Oliver had to say about learning how to bake good bread. Apparently you’re supposed to treat your dough the same way you make love to your woman, a gentle but firm touch, caressing the dough with smooth moves. I obviously wouldn’t make a very good lover, in my house there’s punching the dough, stretching it hard, folding it three and four times, turning it over and squeezing it hard.. yeah, I guess I wouldn’t be such a great lover.

Here’s a pretty simple bread with herbs and sun-dried tomato. It makes perfect bread for soup or for eating with a slice of cheeze. The herb and tomato flavour is mild and not overpowering, it’s just perfect in every way.

Simple sun-dried tomato and herbs bread:

• 1 sachet/2 tsp dried yeast
• 8 dl (3 1/3 cups) whole wheat flour
• 7 dl (3 cups - 1 tbsp) flour
• 1½ tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar (for the yeast to feast on!)
• 2 tbsp mixed herbs (I used an Italian blend)
• 8 sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped
• 3 tbsps olive oil
• 5 dl (2 cups + 1 tbsp) warm water

Mix everything except for water and oil in a big bowl. Make sure to mix it well. Add the warm water and oil and stir it together. Flour a surface and put the dough on the table. Now is the time to really work your dough. Knead it, stretch it, turn it, fold it and punch it. Work it for about ten minutes, until the surface is smooth like baby skin. You may have to add more flour as you work the dough but be careful not to add too much. Pour a bit of oil into the bowl you were using and put the dough in. Toss it about a bit to coat the entire dough and cover with cling film. Let the dough rise for about 30 minutes in a warm place. After it’s about doubled in size, punch the dough once to deflate it and put it on a floured surface again and knead it lightly. Divide the dough in two and roll each part into a log shape. Cut each part in 5 pieces and roll each part into a bun (or just put it directly on a baking tray with parchment paper with a cut side up, it doesn’t look as nice but the taste is just as good). Cover the breads with a clean kitchen towel and leave to rise for another 20 - 30 minutes. Bake in the oven for 8 - 10 minutes in 225 C (440 F). Let them cool on a cooling rack covered with a kitchen towel.