I have come to realize something, there isn’t enough falafel talk on this damn blog. The lack of falafels might lead one to think I don’t actually LIKE falafel. but I do. I love falafel with a passion that sets the oceans aflame like petrol in a swimming pool, an inferno of….. err, yeah. So, I love falafel and have it every week. At least once, sometimes twice or even three times. As a poor cheap herbivore it isn’t always easy to go out and grab some food with your friends. And falafel here is so cheap! And so good. There’s a distinct lack of vegetarian cheap food here. Not complaining here.. I’m just saying. So we have falafels. Every time we go out with friends, my mother, on our own to buy obscure thingamajigs we end up eating falafels and drinking some cheap, cancer inducing, NO sugar drink.

I <3 falafel!

Ode to a falafel

You fill me up,

oh baby, that’s so yummy,

I love you,

ho.

Jump into my tummy.

I drench you in sauce,

with pickles and onion.

You aid me in my cause,

on my way to eating a million.

This poem ends now,

cuz’ nothing rhymes with orange!

(no, not even doorhinge, nice try though)

We had falafels for lunch today. Home made with amba sauce (that’s a mango sauce with vinegar) and some really tasty tahina. It really doesn’t matter that we eat falafel atleast once a week, every time we make it at home it’s special. It takes a long time with many preparations and then we eat them ritually. I ALWAYS eat them the same way and I ALWAYS have an extra falafel ball at the end with some sauce. I don’t have a recipe for falafels, because I never use one but I always have lots of parsley, some mint, buttloads of ground cumin, lemon, heaps of garlic, some chilli, salt, pepper, a few teaspoons of dried corainder.. and more. The thing is, I always make enough to feed a hungry army of herbivores so now we’re going to be eating falafels for dinner as well, and quite possibly for lunch and dinner tomorrow too! I’m not complaining, quite the opposite.

Before rolling the falafel up this is what it looks like. Lettuce, onion, tomato, cucumber, yellow bell peppers, tahina and amba sauce, all on a flat middle eastern bread called liba bread (that’s what they call it here in Sweden atleast!) Some heretics eat falafels in pita bread but that’s blasphemy!

What’s your favourite food?

ps. a picture of that lone falafel I always eat last, as a ritual sacrifice to the falafel gods!

This stew tastes of summer and of childhood food. It’s light but filling and the taste is just divine. It makes me think of those meaty stews we used to have as kids but with added potato (I hated potato when I was a kid).

Light summer tofu stew: Serves 4

• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 1/2 onion, sliced thinly
• 1 teaspoon oil
• 1 liter (4 cups) vegetable stock
• 400 grams (14 oz) new potatoes, cut in large chunks
• 4 small carrot, sliced
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 90 grams (3 oz) baby spinach leaves
• 300 grams (10½ oz) tofu, firm, cubed
• salt and pepper

Slice the onion and the celery. Mince the garlic. Saute in oil on medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the onion and celery soften.
Cube the potatoes and slice the carrots. Add to the pot together with the vegetable stock..Add ground cumin and the thyme. Bring to a boil, turn heat down and let simmer for about 15 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
Cube the tofu and rinse the spinach leaves. Add to the stew and let simmer for another 5 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

There hasn’t really been much cooking lately. No REAL cooking atleast. No meal planning either. SO basically for the last two weeks (with few but delicious exceptions) we’ve been eating pizza, burgers, more burgers, a pizza and soydogs. Or sandwiches. Or burgers at McDonalds (and before you jump me and beat me senseless let me just tell you that in SWEDEN, tha land of the viking, we have a vegan beanburger on the menu. McBean! So there, you don’t have to murder me, I was hungry!) I don’t know why, but I know how to break it. So I’ve made a little list on what I want to be eating this week and what ingredients we need for that (not only is meal planning a sure way to get myself to make new things it is also the BEST way to save money) and now all I need to do is carry it out and eat delicious healthy food. So, we’ll be having some tofu, some soup, a casserole, a bean stew… the list goes on.

To make this post less useless, have a few photos of food we’ve eaten!

Bean burgers with bought dark bread.. FIBRES! ..and home made fries!

Burritos are awesome, and take no time at all.

And then I spent almost all day baking hambugerbuns and making burgers. Mmm, burgers!

French toast, because it tastes good! I tofu’d it, which means I’m turning in to a good non egg eater!

Yesterday I made a fantastic walnut fig bread. When I say awesome awesome. Pics to come, but now I’m off to work!

This is a random post, but it’s an awesome one so bear with me.

• First of all, we’ve had a few awesome but incredibly hot day. We’ve been doing some shopping and last time I went with my mother we found this.

Isn’t it just awesome? Mozart has his own shake. We didn’t buy it as we thought it’d be kind of disgusting. It’s still pretty amazing though. If I was a dead young artist I’d want my own shake too!

• Awesome item number 2:

Ice cream MACHINE. Given to me by mother mother and it has nothing mechanical in it what so ever. I don’t know what the definition of machine really is, but I suspect this doesn’t cut it. We haven’t used it yet, but I will some day. For sorbet maybe. I like sorbet!

• Thirdly:

I made shitloads of seitan today and it all turned out awesomely. Except for this little log here which turned out rather obscene (I swear I didn’t notice myself, I don’t have a dirty mind like the rest of you, but when Alex told me he could never link his mother to my flickr any more I kinda suspected he meant this log looked like a dick or something. I dunno, like I said my mind isn’t as twisted as yours).

• And awesome thing number 4:

As I said; I made shitloads of seitan today (the baked kind). Both ribz and logs. And then we had a BBQ! My best friend came over to help us eat all the lovely food I made and we had a lot of fun. We had ribz, potato salad (RECIPE further down!) some salad, guacamole and a beetroot and carrot paté. I spent the entire day on the market and in the kitchen, but it was so worth it, I LOVE cooking for other people.

Ok ok, just ONE more thing before I give you the recipe for the awesome potato salad:

Alex and I are trying to veganize our lives a little. This means that from today we are no longer buying eggs and milk, but we will still eat a few things that has them in them. We figured that every little helps. I’m going to try to cut cheese out too (although that’s going to be a bitch) and we already have dairy free margarine and cooking cream. So, while we might still EAT a little egg and milk every here and there we will no longer be cooking with it or baking with it. If my mum offers me a cookie that has eggs in them I’ll still eat it but I won’t be making any myself. We’ll see what happens next. Does anyone have any great advice for me? (Also, I wouldn’t even have thought about transitioning, ever so slowly, to veganism if it wasn’t for all the awesome vegan blogs out there, you people do make a difference with all your inspiring delicious food!) To celebrate our decision to go vegan (one day!) we made our entire dinner vegan and my omni friend thought it was delicious.

• And now, RECIPE time!

I know you just scrolled through all of the rest to get to this anyway

Awesome potato salad with greens: Serves 4-6

• 1 kg (2 lb) new potatoes
• 10 radishes, sliced
• 1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 1 handful sugar snap peas (or about 1 dl/½ cup)
• 1 dl (½cup) parsley, chopped
• 3 tbsp chives, chopped
• 1 dl (½ cup) scallions, chopped

Dressing:

• 1 dl (½cup) water, boiling hot
• 2 stock cubes
• 2 tbsp vinegar
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• salt and pepper

Boil the potatoes with the peel on. There’s no need to peel new potatoes but wash them thoroughly before boiling. While they are boiling prepare your other ingredients, chop, slice and do awesome things! make the dressing by boiling some water dissolving the stockcubes in it. Add minced garlic, vinegar and season to taste. It’s supposed to have a rather strong taste.

When the potatoes have boiled slice them or cut them to chunks while they’re still hot. Don’t burn your hands though! mix the dressing with the potatoes and let it soak in. Add all of the other vegetables and herbs, toss about a bit and serve warm or at room temperature. It’s INCREDIBLY good. Really!

Yesterday was my day off and we spent it in the most wonderful way. In the morning we went out with my mother to Malmö and bought several bags full of lovely delicious vegetables. My mother always gets a little annoyed when we spend too long in the vegetables section of a store, but I guess she doesn’t realize that vegetables is the MAIN part of our diet. When she can get by with buying only some lettuce and tomatoes we need to get more ‘foody’ vegetables as well. I always love coming home from being out shopping with heaps of beautiful vegetables. One of the really nice things we bought yesterday was cheap bell peppers.

Anyway, after that we went to another store to buy some crafting supplies. I got my hands on some really nice stamps and some ink, as well as a scrapbook album and some nice paper and scrap booking supplies. It was great, and cheap.

I think that maybe the best part of the morning however was going shopping in my mums pantry. It seems I do this a lot. We go to her place and she tells us she needs to clean out her pantry a bit and that we should take whatever we need. Yesterday this meant some nice red quinoa, some organic couscous, egg replacer, several cans of beans and also cookies. Now, that’s CHEAP shopping.

In the evening we were going to some friends for a nice dinner. We knew she was going to be making some nice veggie lasagna and I just couldn’t resist bringing something myself. (That’s how I make friends ‘Hi I’m Emmie HAVE SOME FOOD’, it works every time)

I brought along this really great roasted bell pepper and bean dip that I made up yesterday and also a bowl of guacamole and some nachos.

Ok, so this was a very delicious dip. I swear, you need to try it. It’s godly. Everything roasted is good though, so this really is foolproof.

Roasted bell pepper dip with beans:

• 6 Bell Peppers
• 3 Garlic Cloves
• 1 Teaspoon Olive Oil (optional)
• Salt & Pepper
• ½ Chili
• 1 Can Cannelini Beans
• 1 Teaspoon Cumin
• 1 tbsp Lemon juice

First of all, turn the oven on to high. 250C or 480F. Deseed and cut your bell peppers in half. Put them on baking paper on an oven tray. Put three garlic cloves on the tray as well. Roast for around 20 minutes, until the bell peppers turn a brownish black colour. Put the bell peppers into a bowl and cover with cling film. Let them sit for about 20 minutes to cool and then peel them. Don’t rinse under cold water, that’ll take away some of the lovely roasted flavour. It’s better to let them cool a while longer if they’re too hot to touch.

Once your bell peppers are peeled, put them in a bowl together with the garlic and a can of rinsed cannelini beans. Finely chop half a red chili and add to the mixture. Mix with a handheld blender (or don’t put it in a bowl at all and mix it in your mixer instead). If it’s waaaaay too runny now then sieve it in a fine sieve to get some of the excess water away.

Put the sieved mixture in a bowl and add in the lemon juice and the cumin. Salt and pepper to taste. Put the dip in a nice bowl and pour some oil on top (if you like that kind of thing).

Two soups in just a few days. I love soup, can you tell? Also, soup is usually very cheap and we’re three weeks from getting paid with no money in our pockets. Soups galore!

First off all. Leek and potato soup. How many of you don’t have a recipe for this already? It’s one of those many dishes that everyone has eaten, loved and made again and again. I make it when I’m low on money and in the mood for something filling and comforting.

A recipe I read on line once said to put the rosemary in when you blend the soup. That was a super idea and improves the taste of the soup mucho! Unless you use dried, in which case you put it in with the stock.

Leek and potato soup: 4 servings

• 1 leek
• 1 big yellow onion
• 2 cloves garlic (not too big)
• 400 gr (14 oz) potatoes
• 8 dl (3½ cups) vegetable stock
• olive oil
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tsp fresh rosemary (or about a teaspoon dried)

1. Wash the leek and slice it. Only use the white and the light green parts, don’t use the outer green leaves. Chop the onion.
2. Heat up a little oil in a pot. Add leeks, onions and salt. Sauté for about 5 minutes on low to medium heat, until the onion softens and is slightly see through.
3. Finely shop or mince the garlic and add it.
4. Peel potatoes and chop them into cubes, add to the soup together with the stock.
5. Let the soup simmer for about 20 minutes or so, until the potatoes are soft.
6. Blend the soup in any way you want. Hand-held blender or in your fancy many moolah blender standing on your kitchen counter. Add the rosemary leaves as you blend.
7. Heat up again and serve with bread and maybe a salad.

Also, CARROT SOUP. I love carrot soup, not only is it health food, it’s cheap and it’s tasty. This soup is fantastic. At work I know I read about a carrot soup with orange juice and saffron in it, but when I came home two days ago in the mood for carrot soup I just couldn’t remember what was in that soup. Other than carrots, orange juice and saffron of course.

Carrot soup with orange and saffron: Serves 4

• 500 gr carrots
• 1 orange
• ½ envelope saffron (0,25g)
• 1 medium onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 1,2 l (5 cups) vegetable stock
• ½ tsp dried thyme
• salt, pepper

1. Peel and chop carrots. Chop the onion and finely chop the garlic.
2. Saute onion and carrots for a few minutes. Add the garlic and saute for another minute.
3. Pour the vegetable stock and thyme in and let boil. Simmer for about 15 minutes or until the carrots are soft.
4. Juice the orange and pour into a bowl. Add the saffron to the orange juice.
5. When the carrots are soft, add the orange juice mix and blend the soup. Hand held blender or the many moolah one again.
6. Heat up again and season to taste.
7. It’s like eating liquid paella!

My gorgeous man liked it too! He even threw the rockin’ horns for it.

We had a small party here on Saturday. It was absolutely super (but don’t tell the people that came that I had been in the kitchen for 4 hours!). There was stuffed vine leaves aka dolmades, tapenade, crackers, french bread, herb rice, a lentil salad, olives, tzatziki, crisps and dip and of course some muffins. The crisps were all in a sombrero dipping bowl we’d bought the same day. It has a button you press for the actual dipping part to open and when you do so it plays a happy mexican tune. (Check out my youtube to see it in action!) We had so much fun with that thing.

We were four people for the actual dinner but two more people came by for muffins and tea later. The table was full of different confusing languages. Alex only speaks English, me and my friends speak both Swedish and English, Kinga, a hungarian girl and the best friend of one of my good friends, speaks only Hungarian and German and Eva speaks both Swedish, English and German. Imagine the confusion and madness!

The muffins are horribly unhealthy plain coconut muffins with a raspberry glaze on top. It’s just confectioners sugar and raspberries but oh my god it was delicious. I made the muffins in my new muffins pan which makes them look like flowers. Yay flowers!

No recipe! I’ve recently made two very lovely and delicious soups that I intend to blog about later today (it’s only morning in Sweden now and I’m off to work) and they’re both really simple and oh so good.

This has nothing to do with food what so ever. But.

ALEX GETS TO STAY IN SWEDEN!

That is, they phoned me up today to tell me that he’s getting his residence permit.

So, this is the best day of my life so far!