I have realized that I haven't had pancakes for like...ages. So, last night I decided to give it a go and try to make some sweet ones and also, since it was dinner time, some savory ones. Since my Mom was at work and I wanted to surprise my Grandma, who's here to visit us from Germany for a while, I consulted the internet for an easy recipe. I found this one immediately: http://www.laubfresser.de/2009/10/vegane-pfannkuchen.html For the English speakers/non-metric-system-users:
- 2 cups of water (or soy/almond/hemp/rice/rye/hazelnut/walnut/...(you get the point) milk) - 1 cup of flour (best would of course be not to use wheat flour; I used rye flour) - a pinch of salt - 4 tbs of sugar (+ 1 tsp of vanilla sugar/extract) for the sweet kind & 1 and a half tsp of sugar for the savory kind (again, raw cane sugar would be best)
Now, for the sweet kind I also added some cocoa powder, dark chocolate chips & banana slices. For the savory kind I chopped some tomatoes and also put in some basil, salt & pepper. I'd love to attach a photo of both kinds but the savory pancakes were pretty much inhaled by us and I forgot to take a picture of them. But here are two of the sweet ones:
While baking...
They look so dark because of the cocoa powder, not because they're burnt btw ;)
and...DONE!
This recipe is really easy and quick to try out and you can add whatever you want according to you own likings!
Originally it was planned to make enchiladas but we didn't have all the ingredients, so we went for the next best option: Kaese Spaetzle! It's a German specialty consisting of homemade pasta in a thick cheese sauce. Well, traditionally it's obviously supposed to be cow cheese but by now y'all should know that I'm not going to be a dumbass and use cow cheese :)
My Mom started preparing the dough for the pasta (for 4 people) by mixing 700 g (according to my online
Spaetzle maker (Google)
converter that's around 17.5 ounces) of spelt flour, 700 ml (~ 3 cups) of water (it was a little bit too runny so you might want to use a bit less), 2 tablespoons more of spelt flour (you can also use corn starch or any other kind of flour of course), a pinch of salt, pepper and a few tablespoons (just try until it starts to taste a bit like something) of dried vegetable broth. Then moving on to the cheese sauce I poured some rice milk into a frying pan, because...well...because my Mommy told me to do so haha. I was quite skeptic if this was going to turn out anything like it's supposed to, because rice milk has a significantly lower level of fat than cow's milk or even soy milk. Since I didn't have soy milk I just had to use rice milk. You wait until the milk is boiling and then you sprinkle the (vegan) cheese (I used the same kind as I wrote about two posts ago) in the pan. I used about six slices of it and in the beginning it really didn't look too well, because it seemed like it didn't want to melt the way I needed it to. After waiting, stirring and letting it boil a while more it turned out quite gooey and cheesy! While working on the sauce you might want to get the water boiling for the Spaetzle. To make this kind of pasta you actually need a Spaetzle maker, but you can get one of those in pretty much every department store or you just improvise. Glazed onions taste really (and I mean REALLY) great with this meal also, so if you can live with shedding a few tears over this meal you should cut up some onions and
gently fry them in a pan. You place the Spaetzle maker on top of the pot of boiling water and just slice them right in there. Let them cook until they come swimming back on top and then put them in the sauce pan. Stir, season with salt, pepper, the onions & a few cut up tomatoes and TA DAAAAA you have some cheesy, traditional German Kaese Spaetzle with a hint of American Mac'n'Cheese.
I hope I don't bore you guys with these food posts. If you ever try this recipe I'd love if you would let me know how it went! Or not. That's fine too... Seriously though, you won't regret trying this out! Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you around here again someday! Katie Lynn :)
I'm back after my Easter break (+ one extra
week of just PURE laziness) and I have something super cool (at least in my
opinion) to review! A grocery store line close to my home just started carrying
ONE brand of vegan cheese. FINALLY! I have been waiting for this for YEARS! I
know American vegans have it much easier, because you've already had grocery
stores carrying vegan cheeses for quite a while. But I'll give that one to you,
because y'all also have so many more yummy non-vegan temptations to withstand
(a.k.a. Taco Bell, ...). I could have ordered some cheese through various
online shops, but that would be quite expensive and I didn't feel like it would
be worth the hassle.
So, the cheese I got at Merkur (the grocery
store) is called Wilmersburger Scheibenkäse and it cost 2,79 € per 150 g (that
would be around $ 3,70 per 5.21 ounces) if I remember correctly. It’s not
cheap, but it’s not something one is supposed to eat on a daily basis anyways
so I think it’s alright. Now moving on to taste and texture. The structure is
just like cow cheese slices and the color is pretty close to cow cheese as
well. The taste is just like what’s known as American cheese or sandwich
cheese. That might turn some people off, but I have always liked that sort of
cheese and if I’m not completely crazy it tastes EXACTLY like Hochland
Scheibenkäse (which I used to love, but we never bought it, ‘cause it was more
expensive than other brands). I was pretty surprised at my family’s reaction to
the taste as well. I almost expected them to make choking noises and spit it
out haha. But they were good sports and confirmed the taste to be like American
cheese. (The things written on the package mean: free of lactose, free of milk, purely based on plants and obviously vegan haha)
Of course I wasn’t satisfied with just trying
a little piece of it. I made tortilla wraps with rice, guacamole, tomatoes and
said cheese. I wasn’t sure if it was going to melt, because apparently some
kinds of vegan cheese don’t. This cheese melts really good though! I was so
happy when I saw how yummy my wraps looked haha. They tasted great!
To sum it up, I am VERY content with taste,
texture, color and the ability to melt of this cheese. I’ll definitely buy it
on a regular basis and recommend this to you guys as well :). I’ll have to really control myself though, ‘cause I’m typing
this right now while eating a tortilla shell stuffed with literally only this
cheese. Summer will be here soon, Katie, have some discipline damn it!
Thanks for reading this! Hope to see you again soon :)
Katie Lynn :)
PS: I tried making sweet potato fries again while
I was at my parent’s house yesterday and they (the fries, not my parents haha) turned
out just great! They only took about half an hour and weren’t burnt. So, I’m
just going to blame my previous almost-catastrophe with them on the oven in my
dorm’s kitchen.
PPS: If you guys can figure out the commenting function on this site (or on Twitter/Tumblr), let me know if you'd be interested in the actual ingredients of the cheese so I can post a picture of them.
Since I usually go home for the weekends I get to enjoy some of my Mom's awesome food at least once a week. Yesterday she made her tomato salad (I looooove it!) as a side to their main course which was fish. I boiled, fried & seasoned some potatoes and added some of the salad to the pan when the potatoes were already pretty much done. I let it sit there just until the tomatoes were warm too. Then I got out a tortilla shell, filled it with potatoes & tomatoes, rolled it up and then topped it with some more (cold) tomato salad.
Some potatoes and salad were still left, so I decided to get one of the nori (seaweed) sheets out that I bought a while ago. They contain so much iodine, however, that it's recommended to only eat one sheet a day. I did the same as with the tortilla shell before, rolled it up and topped it with tomato salad. Admittedly, it looks kinda gross, but I promise it tastes a whole lot better than it looks. I like the sea-flavor the nori have, because I always liked eating fish before I went veggie.
These two meals were super easy and fast to make. However, the tomato salad was already done by my Mom so you would have to calculate that time in too. If you don't want to make a separate tomato salad though, you could just cut up a few tomatoes and throw it into the pan with the potatoes. Just don't put the tomatoes in too soon, because you don't want them to lose all their nutrients by heating them up too much.
Maybe you wanna try out this easy & vegan recipe some time :)
It's no secret to anyone who knows me that I spend quite a bit of my free time (= about 85%) on YouTube. Maybe that's weird, but I don't think so. It's not like I pass my days watching funny cat videos (not that there's anything wrong with that), but I watch all kinds of videos. From music videos over cooking shows to documentaries, there are so many different facets of channels on YT. In case you ever get bored or just want to check out what's out there, I'll introduce you guys to my Top 5 favorite YT channels out of the 123 I'm subscribed to so far. Admittedly, I'll probably end up mentioning a few more channel names as I'm having a hard time deciding which ones to include and which ones not to include. But let's get going! (These are in no special order) 1. JennaMarbles (& MaxNoSleeves)
Jenna Marbles is a comedian who talks about literally everything. If you have little kids around and would not like them to learn several cuss words in a period of about 3 minutes, you might want to make sure they are out of hearing reach. I have always enjoyed her videos, but lately she seems to be running out of ideas which I guess is just natural. My all time favorite video of hers is probably this one (a song about being a grown up) to your right. MaxNoSleeves is Jenna Marbles ex boyfriend as after starring in her videos quite frequently he eventually started his own channel and the style of the videos is pretty much the same as hers. As you might have already figured out by his channel name, he barely ever wears a shirt that still has its sleeves. He does not have too many videos yet, but I really enjoyed this one called "Cell Phone Problems":
2. JacksGap This channel was originally created to show what this certain Jack is going to be up to during his gap year. Things went viral after he introduced his twin Finn and since then the two English boys have become quite popular (most likely also due to the fact that they are not the ugliest people on the planet). I was introduced to this channel by a girl who was in my English class
last semester and in case you're reading this: Thank you :D! They do all sorts of funny videos and my favorite so far was their "British Slang" collab video with Tyler Oakley (you'll be introduced to him later on):
3. Tyler Oakley He is just so adorable and funny, PLUS he's from Michigan so I'm basically besties with him (he just doesn't know about it). I don't know what else I could say about him...he's just awesome and the only kinds of videos I like more than his are the ones with him AND Jack & Finn! My favorite video of Tyler is probably the one in which he (sarcastically) explains why he loves the TLC show "Honey Boo Boo":
4. Zombie Gate This is a vegan cooking channel owned by John the Vegan Zombie. I'm not into all of this Zombie Apocalypse stuff, but he incorporates just the right amount of it in his cooking videos to make them fun and not like any others. He has lots of recipes, but he takes quite a while to make new videos. My favorite video would probably be one of his Blooper Reels, but from the ones about food I really like the Tamales one (although I haven't even tried this recipe out yet):
5. Louis Theroux
Louis Theroux is a journalist from the BBC that makes very interesting documentaries. He doesn't have all of them on his YT channel, but from the ones he does have on there, the one I like best is the one about the Westboro Baptist Church. You can also just type his name into the search bar and you will find more documentaries that he doesn't have on his channel yet.
Alright, these are my favorite 5 channels, but like I said above I'll tell you about a few more that I watch regularly.
So, I was completely NOT in the mood for going outside of my room to the dorm kitchen to cook some actual, warm dinner. Also, it's quite late for dinner already so I decided I might as well use those four bananas laying on my fruit table before they go bad haha. I got my awesome food processor (which my lovely parents gave me for my birthday) out of the storage drawer and put the four bananas and some peanut butter in it. I mixed it all together and got a nice consistency by adding some rice milk too. Then I poured it in the really cool looking (you can't really tell from that picture) bowl my Mom got me (after I kinda...broke my last bowl) and sprinkled some granola on top.
I'm not even sure what to call it really, because it's in a bowl...but I guess it's still considered a smoothie. So, what I used for this one are:
- 4 ripe organic (& Fair Trade) bananas - 1 table spoon of soft peanut butter (I guess if you wanted more to bite on you could use the crunchy kind) - some organic rice milk - organic crunch granola
If I had cinnamon I would have definitely added some of that too to give it a bit of a more spicy flavor.
This was such an improvement considering my previous smoothie failure. I knew from the beginning I shouldn't have added those two tomatoes (don't ask me why I even did that)...but I was a fighter and drank it all. With my nose closed. It was horrible.
I hope to see you again for my next food adventure!
Katie Lynn :)
3/14/2013
About Veganism: Take off those blinders!
(originally posted on Nov. 1st 2012)
Happy World Vegan Day & Month to everyone!
Due to
this occasion this post will be about Veganism. What it actually is,
what it means to me/why I am a vegan, what I struggle with as a vegan
and whatever else I can get from the top of my head. If you don't want
to read this blog post, please at least look at one or two of the links
below :) Thank you. In general what most people
view as a vegan is someone who does not consume any animal products
whatsoever. No eggs, no milk or milk products, no honey and obviously no
meat. There are different kinds of vegans though. There are vegans that
are motivated by the aspect of morality, and those also do not buy
products made of leather, wool, silk or any other kind of fabric made
from animal products. Depending on the person, they might also be
against any kind of animal experiments or animals used for
entertainment. Other vegans are solely "health-vegans" and only pursue a
vegan lifestyle in those areas that benefit their health. Meaning they
might still buy leather, etc. Lastly, there are those vegans that are
motivated by moral and health aspects in equal measure. I count myself
to the last kind, although I must admit that at first I was only morally
motivated.
I started out as a vegetarian in 2006 after an endless seeming
odyssey of telling my parents that I am serious about it, that I am
informed about the health facts, that I am NOT going to be anorexic and
the usual things parents that have been “brainwashed” by the
omnivore-industry since…ever worry about. There was not a specific event
that made me start, but it was rather the constant feeling that it is
wrong and disgusting to eat dead bodies. I continued to be very content
with being vegetarian and due to lack of knowledge and probably
partially lack of motivation to look into it further I never really
considered veganism. I thought they were crazy and just going too far
with this. Also, from what I was taught in biology classes at school I
thought it was unhealthy. You know, because you “need cow’s milk to get
strong bones” and such. Well, in July of 2010 I researched more about it
and I decided to give it a try. I could only do it for one month
though, because I probably was not informed good enough and it was also
only one month before I left for my exchange year to the US. Since I
barely got a spot in the program being a vegetarian I didn’t dare to be
“even more complicated”. Against popular belief the US is probably the
most vegetarian friendly place I’ve been to so far. There are so many
more options for Veggies over there! You can just go to your city’s
grocery store and buy vegan Mac’n’Cheese or Tofurkey
(turkey made of tofu). Austrian grocery stores aren’t quite there yet,
but they are on the way. My favorites here are vegan Bratz (Bratwürste)
and definitely oat or hazelnut “milks”. Also, you can buy vegan cheese
in online shops. Since I have never done that yet I can’t recommend any
specific cheese. When I am back in the US I will, however, definitely
try “Daiya Cheese”. It is said to be the cheese most similar to cow’s
cheese concerning the melting ability and also taste. Anyways, back to
the original topic. Finally, in February 2012 I started looking into it
again and I also chose it as the topic for my final exam paper in
Biology. I ordered the book “The China Study” which is often called the
“Vegan Bible”, at least concerning the health aspects of veganism. It
obviously convinced me completely and I totally recommend EVERYONE to
read it! It will open your eyes.
The struggles I have with veganism are by far not as bad as I
imagined them to be when I started. It for sure is inconvenient at times
but once you are in it with all of your heart AND brain you will not
give it up again for the momentary pleasure of a muffin that yells at
you to eat it. What is most important to me when talking about veganism
is that it is not at all about being perfect. Nobody will ever be
perfect, as much as one might try. The important step is the “trying”.
The only real struggles that veganism brought into my life are the
people that can’t deal with it. It is very hard for me to explain why I
am vegan to people when they ask me, because most people won’t
understand no matter how well I explain it. Some won’t understand,
because they don’t want to and some try to understand but eventually
keep running against this wall that has been created in their heads by
school, parents and media over the years. I get really frustrated when
people make these nonsense comments like “vegans eat my food’s food” or
“plants have feelings too”. It offends me in a way that I can’t even
begin to explain. It is just so rude to joke over a topic like this.
After all, this topic is about killing and abusing innocent beings, so I
really cannot see how anyone can talk about it as if we were talking
about our different opinions on the new Twilight movie. The worst thing
for me about being vegan is being with people that make jokes like this.
Being friends or even family with people like this is hard, because at
some point I will eventually lose my respect for them the same way they
have lost any respect for suffering beings. I don’t even really know where I am going with this blog post
anymore. I really suck at organizing my thoughts. Must be the lacking
nutrients (haha). Well, I’m just hoping that slowly more and more people
will open their eyes and really see and comprehend what is going on. I
wish I could put all my thoughts down the way they are in my head. But I
can’t, also because there are waaaaaaay too many thoughts. This is why I
am going to put a few links below this post for the ones that might
want to look into the matter further. And don’t worry, they are not PETA
videos of any kind of animal abuse. Although, I highly recommend you to
watch videos like that if you are one of the people that pay others to
kill animals in order for you to get your tasty steak. Thank you so very much for reading this post! I know that you are an
amazing person as it is, why not be even more amazing by not supporting
any sort of animal cruelty anymore?
