Final exams week or how to survive on cereal coffee, dark chocolate and biscuits

I must confess: my breakfasts have been not ideal breafasts by far during this last week. I know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and in fact, I eat a lot for breakfast, and I eat healthy: oats, dried nuts and fruits or any cooked whole cereal with avocado and fruit or veggies. Lately, I have eaten lots of green smoothies, and is incredible the amount of greens and fruit I am able to eat that way. But this week has been different. As I already told in previous posts, I can't study until late like some students do. I prefer to go to bed earlier and get up at 5 AM to study. Nobody disturbs because all my family is still sleeping, and my mind is cleared than at 12 PM. So, I have been taking advantage of the mornings to study. The result? I gave up porridge and smoothies and switched to easier and quicker breakfasts to have more time to study. So, I have been surviving on cereal coffee, dark chocolate, biscuits, dry cereals and that kind of food that would not be part of my common breakfast. Another reason was that I was stressed (well, I am still stressed, because my exams has not finished yet) and nervous, so I was craving sweet. The whole dark chocolate bar we bought last week disappeared in less than a week!
To compensate for that disastrous breakfast, today I made for myself a huge, nutritious and delicious green smoothie (I love weekends because I have time to eat because there is no hurry). Green smoothies are very versatile: you can blend almost everything you have in your fridge. I love smoothies because they are easier to digest than salads: I would never be able to eat so much veggies and fruits if they were not blended! In fact, I eat more than 1000 ml of green smoothie (sometimes even more than 1500 ml). If you don't believe me, look at the photo with the measuring cup.


Basic green smoothie

Actually, there is no recipe for green smoothies: you just have to blend your favourite fruit with different greens. At least, I don't follow any recipe. I put in the blender what I find in the fridge. All I can give you is some suggestions. The main rule to make good smoothies is that more or less half of the smoothie must be fruit. For people who has never ate green smoothies, I would recommend put more fruit than veggies (60% fruit and 40% veggies).

When you get used to the flavor, you can do the opposite: more veggies than fruit. It also depend of the fruit and the veggies you use. Some veggies are more difficult to eat for begginers, because of they strong flavor, like kale, and they must be used in small amount. Others, like cucumbers and lettuce have a very mild flavor and you won't notice them even in large amounts. As an example, this is the smoothie I ate today (is not he same as the one in the photo, which I did last week)

- 1 head of red lettuce
- 3 big leafes of green cabbage
-1 cucumber, peeled
- 1 kiwi (better if it's ripe)
- juice of 1 orange
- 1/3 chopped pinneaple
- a handful of soaked raisins
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- nuts, at taste, better if soaked (I used 2 walnuts, 2 Tablespoons of sunflower seeds and 2 Tablespoons of pumpkin seeds)
-optional: pieces of dark chocolate and a handful of granola or dry cereals

1.Chop all the ingredients. Reserve some of the chopped fruit to garnish, the nuts and the raisins.
2. Blend all the veggies, juice and fruit (except the reserved). If it's not sweet enough, you can add suggar, maple syrup or any sweetener of your choice.
3. After blend very well the veggies and fruits, add the reserved ingredients. I like to do it that way because I like finding pieces of something in the smoothie. I don't like it absolutely smooth. Today I also added pieces of dark chocolate and dried wheat and rice cereals. Yummy!

Other combinations: pear, kiwi, orange;lettuce, watercress / lemon, mango, strawberry;cabbage, cucumber, romaine lettuce / melon, apricot, pear; cabbage, carrot, lettuce....



I realised that the only photo of myself I inluded in the blog is the one of the personal profile. I have inluded photos of my family in previous post, but I didn't inlcude any photo of myself. So, I decided to play a little bit with the camera and to that collage. I know that I look horrible, but I did the photos one week ago, on Friday, when I arrived at home after a whole week of exams (and after the worst exam of all of them: the maths exam!), so I suppose you will understand why I look so tired.

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Look for more combinations and ideas: a Fruit smoothie recipe in Foodista.
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Mushroom, Lentil, and Wild Rice Timbales recipe (Spanish version inluded)

I love tofu. Is one of the most versatile foods I have ever tried. You can eat it sweet, in a pudding, smoothie or banana ice cream (try it! I have just eaten two portions for dessert) or savory, in a stir fry, baked, fried in breadcrumbs or without them, marinated....or in a timbale, like I did. Usually I try not to make life difficult for myself and when I buy tofu (which is not always possible because in Cunit, the boring town where I live, there is no tofu, and I have to go to Barcelona to buy it in an Asian supermarket , or in a health food shop. Definitely I prefer the first option, despite the fact that the health food shop tofu is organic and the Asian supermarket is not, but the organic tofu costs twice as much as the Asian one) I just marinate it, or pan-fry.

But this time I felt like cooking something more laborious. Then I saw the announcement of the May edition of Tried and Tasted, this month hosted by Holy Cow and with Fat Free Vegan Kitchen as the featured blog, I immediately knew that I had to try some of the Susan's recipes that include tofu. Fat Free Vegan Kitchen is one of my favorites vegan blogs, and in fact was one of the first I discovered and that helped me to develop my passion for cooking. Looking through her recipe index, I found one that sounded very good: Mushroom, Lentil, and Wild Rice Timbales.

If you want to take part in the blog event, you still have until this Sunday 31 May. The original idea is of Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen, and you can participate even if you don't have a blog. Visit the Holy Cow's post about the event to get more information (Although the Zlamushka's logo is great, it was too dark for my design, so I decided to create my own one. Do you like it? Using Paint Shop Pro is so funny! ^^. Ah! And if you like it, feel free to use it. I suppose neither Zlamushka nor Vaishali won't mind...)



The other day I thought about posting my recipes both in Spanish and English. Lea, from La Tartine Gourmande, another fantastic cooking blog (is not vegan, but have got many vegetarian recipes) post her recipes in French and English. I decided to try it, so I translated the Susan's recipe. What do you think about? If you are interested (maybe there is someone who is learning Spanish), I could follow posting the recipes in both languages. I wait for your comments!


Mushroom, Lentil, and Wild Rice Timbales (see the original recipe in English from Fat Free vegan Kitchen)

***My opinion and comments about the recipe***

First of all, I must say I liked very much the result. I didn't expect the dish to become firm enough (usually, when I try to cook that kind of baked dishes they never turn out whole, and as nice as they looked in the original photo), but it did: it turned out perfect. The cornstarch and the tofu were enough to hold all the structure, and the result was a nice, satisfaying tofu-lentil-rice loaf. Yes, I told loaf, because I didn't have the little rameking the recipe called for, so I used a bread mould. And it turned out well anyway! The mine was cryspy on the outside, and moister in the middle, firm enough to cut it with a knife. It can seem a silly thing, but if there is one thing I miss about eating meat is not the flavor (it makes me sick just thinking about it), but the fact of cutting a firm slice of something. I had to change the recipe slightly, because I didn't have wild rice, so I used brown rice instead. I know that Suasan told that the wild rice was important to give it flavor, but I think it tasted great anyway. On the other hand, I would reduce the amount of garlic (2 cloves would be enough). I didn't cook a gravy for it, and used instead the a few tablespoons of the pumpkin-sweet potato soup I ate as a side....and ketchup. I suppose you think I spoiled the dish....but it really tasted delicious! xD
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Timbales de setas, lentejas y arroz salvaje
Estos timbales también constituyen un delicioso aperitivo untados sobre galletas saladas.

1 cebolla grande, finamente cortada

2 rebanadas grandes de pan (pueden ser sin gluten)
2 tazas de setas (unas 10 grandes)
1/2 taza de tofu sedoso (preferentemente light, firme o extra firme Mori-Un)

3 ajos, cuarteados
1 cucharada de jerez
2 cucharadas de agua
1 taza de lentejas cocidas
1 cucharada de pasta de tomate
1/4 cucharada de romero fresco picado
1/2 cucharada de tomillo seco
1/2 cucharada de salvia
3 cucharadas de maicena (harina fina de maíz) o arruruz
1 cucharadita de sal
1 taza de arroz salvaje cocido
Salt y pimienta negra recién molida
Setas fileteadas para decorar (opcional)

Hacer por adelantado: 1 taza de lentejas cocidas (de aprox. 1/2 taza de lentejas secas) y 1 taza de arroz salvado (1/2 taza antes de cocinar)

1. Precalienta el horno a 350ºF. Rocía 6 moldes para horno con aceite de canola o espray para cocinar y ten preparado un molde grande resistente al horno que los pueda contener (9x13-inch tendría que servir). Se puede poner una rodaja de seta en el fondo de cada molde si se desea.

2. Saltea la cebolla en una sartén anti-adherente hasta que empiece a caramelizarse. Reserva.

3. Pon el pan en un robot de cocina y pulsa hasta que se transforme en migas. Añade las setas, el tofu, el ajo, el jerez y el agua y mezclar hasta que prácticamente no queden grumos. Añade las lentejas y mezclar otra vez. Añade  la pasta de tomate, las hierbas, la maicena y la sal y procesar hasta que esté bien mezclado. Añade la cebolla y pulsa hasta  incluirlos pero sin triturarlos completamente (querrás que mantengan algo de estructura)

4.Echa el contenido del robot de cocina en un bol y añade el arroz cocido. Sazona con sal y pimienta negra molida al gusto.

5. Divide la mezcla entre los moldes aceitados y alisa la superficie con una cuchara. Coloca los moldes en una gran fuente para horno y añade agua a la fuente, teniendo cuidado en no salpicar con ella los moldes.

6. Hornea, sin cubrir, hasta que la superficie esté dorada y crujiente y el interior parezca moderadamente firme al presionar con los dedos - unos 45 - 50 minutos. Retira del horno y deja enfriarlo durante 10 minutos. Pasa un cuchillo alrededor de los bordes y da la vuelta a los moldes sobre platos individuales. Sirve  con tu salsa de setas favorita (o mira la receta de Susan)

Nota: si planeas servirlos más tarde, mantén los timbales en los moldes, cubiertos, y recaliéntalos en su baño de agua durante unos 10 minutos. O caliéntalos en microondas durante una minuto cada uno antes de servir.

Hace 6 raciones. Por ración: 131 calorías; 1g Grasa (5%calorias de las grasas); 7 g proteínas; 24g carbohidratos; trazas de colesterol; 442 mg sodio; 4g fibra.

Russian Sauerkraut salad with raw hummus

 
I apologize for abandoning the blog for more than one week, but as I already have told in my previous post, my exams have started, and most of you know what does it means: very few hours of sleep and coffee to don’t fall asleep. In fact, I have been almost living in the library during the last week. Sometimes I even took the dinner in a tupperware with me, to go straight to the library, without going to home.


Today I did the most feared exam by all the students…mathematics: derivatives and commercial arithmetic (simple and compound interest rates, amortization schedules, effective interest rate….). Not only because the subject by itself is difficult, but also because nobody likes the teacher.  Luckyly, our economics teacher has been understanding with us, and we had too hours more to study.

I took advantage of one of those lessons to go to the canteen for a coffee because I was falling asleep. I was excited because on the menu it was written that you could order your coffee with soy milk instead of regular milk, but when I asked they told me they didn’t have. Although it’s on the menu, I am sure I was the first person who asked for soy milk. And now an anecdote: coming back to my classroom, I was so absent-minded (the caffeine didn’t do its effect yet) that I didn’t realize I passed through my corridor…and I entered in another class where a teacher was giving lesson! I was so embarrassed! I closed the door quickly, but I suppose I looked quite stupid with a cup of coffee in my hand, and a expression of surprise on my face.


My teacher have already given me back my Russia project, checked and corrected. Although I have some mistakes, I was sure I would have more because it was a long project. If someone is curious, I could post some parts of it. It’s called “Changes: Russia 50 years ago and now. A comparison of my parent’s and today’s Russia. A reflection about how a country did change in half a century”

Although I have my end-of-year exams, I have been reading anyway these days (I can’t help it…I like too much reading) The last book I read, was “Fourteen cities including Brooklyn”, by Quim Monzó. He is a quite famous journalist and writer, at least here, in Catalonia. He has got many books, mainly of short stories, but also newspaper articles. This is the case of “Fourteen cities including Brooklyn”. He writes about different events in that articles, from the falling of the communist in the Czech Republic Hungary, to the terrorist attack of the 11th September. The funniest part it’s an ironical description of the behavior of tourists in Barcelona. It’s worth reading.




Russian Sauerkraut salad with raw hummus

Hummus on bread or veggies is great, but sometimes is great to experiment. Another way to eat it is in salads, and that is what I did. I used Sauerkraut because I had a huge bottle of it in the fridge, but If you can’t find it and you can’t manage doing homemade Sauerkraut (mine was homemade), you can try substitute it with shredded cabbage. Anyway, homemade Sauerkraut is not difficult: you just have to shred the cabbage, a few carrots, and add the right amount of salt, sugar and spices to taste. Although real Sauerkraut must be leaved to stand for a quite long time (many weeks), we never wait so much: a week is enough for the cabbage to ferment. Russian Sauerkraut is called “kvashanaya kapusta” (fermented cabbage), and it’s one the most typical Russian dishes. Usually is served with plain boiled potatoes or meat (although, of course, this is not my case). It is sold in every market (mainly by old ladies). It’s especially delicious with sunflower unrefined oil, which I have never seen in Spain. Its aroma is much more intense and fragrant, and the taste can’t be compared with the refined one. Just delicious.

You can substitute the buckwheat for any other grain, and the sprouted chickpeas are option (in the case you have already transformed all you sprouted chickpeas in hummus) I added them just because I like to find something crunchy.


-1 cup Sauerkraut
-3 radishes
-1 carrot
-1/2 cup buckwheat
-raw hummus (at taste)<
-pine nuts (or any other nuts)
-sprouted chickpeas *optional
-olive oil
-salt

1. Cook the buckwheat. It must be boiled for about 30 minutes. After adding the water, don’t stir the grain: the water must evaporate alone. Check it from time to time to be sure there is enough water to don’t burn it.

2. Shred the carrot and slice the radishes.

3. Mix the cooked and cooled buckwheat, carrots, radishes, pine nuts, Sauerkraut, salt and olive oil. Put the hummus on the top and serve.

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Raw Hummus recipe

How are you? I hope you are less stressed than me. You know...finals exams never help to relieve your already stressed nerves. I finish school the 5th June, so there are only a few weeks left. For the people who are studying...when do you finish classes? Anyway, I suppose I won't have too many opportunities to rest in summer. Last Friday I went to a job interview, and hopefully they will employ me. It's a chain of hotels, located in Sitges called Matas Arnalot. The only job I can apply for, is waitress, receptionist or in the kitchen, because I have no experience (this would be my first job). So I don't expect a high salary.

As I told in my last post, I tried to sprout chickpeas. Well, luckily it turned out pretty good. I soaked them for one night, and sprouted during almost 5 days, until the sprouts where long enough. My first idea, when I began to sprout them, was to do raw hummus. Yes, I said raw hummus. It can sound strange, but raw (sprouted) chickpeas are edible! And I must say delicious. As I planned, I did the hummus, but I didn't use all the chickpeas there: I used the leftovers in salads. In the next post, two salads recipes where you can use it (in form of hummus or whole). My mother did a lot Sauerkraut, so I added it to both recipes. For people who don't know what it is, it’s fermented white cabbage. I will explain more in the next post ;)



Raw Hummus

There are as many recipes for raw hummus as recipes for cooked hummus, so you just have to find the proportions of garlic, tahin, lemon juice and spices you like the most. The only little inconvenient of raw hummus is its smell, quite strong. So don't worry, it doesn't mean that your chickpeas have rotten! Well, if the smell is very bad maybe they are really get off. You have to rinse it many times a day during the sprouting to avoid it. I served the hummus on puffed rice cakes, with peanut butter and pine nuts on top, and on red bell pepper. Try also with chopsticks of carrots or celery...delicious!

Recipe from The Veggie Guy.

-1 cup dried chickpeas
-1 1/2 cup water
-4 tbsp tahini
-1 tsp cumin
-Juice from 1/2 lemon
-2 cloves garlic, whole

*Soak dried chickpeas in water for 1 day. Drain. Let sit for 2 days, rinsing and draining once or twice per day. Chickpeas are ready when the sprouts are about 1/2 inch long.

*Bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Remove water from heat and let sit for 1 minute. Place sprouted chickpeas in the hot water for one minute; drain. (This step is very important. If you skip this, the hummus will be completely awful.)

*Place chickpeas, garlic, cumin, 1 1/2 cups water, tahini, lemon juice in a blender. Blend on high for at least one minute. If hummus is still not smooth, add a bit more water and blend again until smooth.

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Foodista, the cooking encyclopedia

Stewed hijiki seaweed with carrots recipe

Today is my last day of that short May school break. It's incredible how fast the time pass when you are on Holidays! The pity is that I didn't take advantatge of those days as I would like to. I didn't rest at all! My biggest problem is that I have to get up very early every morning, at 6AM, and on weekends and holidays I get up at 6AM too, even if I am tired and I want to sleep more. It doesn't matter if I read the night before until late, or I worked until late...I will wake up at 6AM. Well, or sometimes even before (actually, I don't get up at six o'clock. I get up five minutes before the alarm of my mobile rings). I also have insomnia, so the result is that I sleep very little. Working out can help a little bit, but it's not enough (I run 45' many times a week) Does anybody suffer from the same? I really envy people who can sleep until almost midday (like my brother)
After participating in "Tried and tasted" April blog event, I decided it would be great to take part in some other blog event. Looking through Is my blog burning? I found one I liked a lot: A Worldly Epicurean's Delight - Japan, hosted this month by Lavi of Home Cook's Recipe's. The original idea is from DK's Culinary Bazar. The idea is simple: cook a japanese vegetarian dish and post it. It finishes the 5th of May, so if someone wants to participate too is still possible, but hurry up!

The recipe I chose is inspired in one I found in Just Bento, "steawed hijiki seaweed with carrots and tofu", but I left out the tofu because I already had my Vegan Hollandaise sauce leftovers in the fridge. I am very interested in Asian cuisine, but among all them my favourite is the Japanese one because of it simplicity. Also, yesterday at least I finished my History's project about Japan. We could choose the theme we wanted too, and I chose Japan without dubt it.
Exactly, I focused on Japan's miracolous recovery after the WW2. Many books have been written about it (although no one of them was available in the little library of my town, so I had to go to Barcelona to Asia's House to borrow a couple of books about Japan's history) and people still debate how could a country that was in the poverty become the second economic power, only after USA. It should be emphatized that Japan was isolated from the world during the Tokugawa era, from 1600 to middle 19th Century. In 1868 the Meiji restauration opened the country to the world, and a fast modernization and westernization proces began. But it was nothing compared to the growth of it economy between 1960 and 1990, when the GNP passed from 16 milions dollars to more than 440 milions.


Tokyo in the 1950'

Although the State contibuted in a big proportion to that growth, with the called "administrative guidance", the social factos were no less important. A high loyalty towards the company, a high labour discipline, very skilled labour, high saving rates and the sacrifice for the wellbeing of the nation were crucial. The character and mentality of the Japanese nation is fascinating, and in many ways very different from the Western one. And the changes that the society began to suffer during the last decades are even more fascinating. Traditional values coexist with the new one, more Westernized. I think that if I have to do another project, that will be the theme.

Stewed hijiki seaweed with carrots


Seaweed is a staple in Japanese cooking, and due a good reason. Not only they are delicious, but also packed with a lot of minerals that usually are difficult to obtain. Japanese eat it almost every day. Kombu and wakame are used in soups and broth (the base of the famous dashi broth is kombu), hijiki is stewed or cooked with other ingredients and nori is used to hold the rice balls (I love them! They look so cute...) I didn't use mirin because I didn't have, but you can use it if you want: it will improve the flavor. Use about 2 tablespoons.

Ingredients:
- 4 tablespoons of dried hijiki
-3-4 medium carrots, shreded
-1 teaspoon of olive oil
-1 tablespoon of soy sauce
-1 teaspoon of sugar (optional)
-a few raisins (optional)
- 2 tablespoons of mirin

Preparation:
*Soak the hijiki at least for an hour. It must increase its size in many times. Strain the water soaking water, and put new water to cover it. Boil it for 15 minutes on low heat.
*Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan, and add the shreded carrots. Sauté them for a few minutes, and add hijiki (with its remaining water, if there is any), sugar, soy sauce, raisins and mirin if using.
*Cook it for a few minutes, stirring, and add a little bit of water. Cover it, and cook for 10 minutes or until the water is evaporated. Serve with rice, or if you want an authentic Japanese meal, with a onigiri (rice ball)

Asparagus with vegan Hollandaise sauce recipe

Happy International Worker’s day! It feels so good not to work during worker’s day… It should remind us what the workers situation just a century and half ago was, when people rarely had the privilege of a holiday day. They even didn’t have something as common now as the 8 hours working day (although I am conscious that many people still don’t have it). As a student of Social High School, I study History, and we have seen all the labor movements and the battle for decent working conditions that workers kept up for centuries. And I can say that we are very fortunate.  For people who don’t know how the worker’s day began, here I copy from Wikipedia:

"International Workers' Day is the commemoration of the Haymarket Massacre in Chicago in 1886, when Chicago police fired on workers during a general strike for the eight hour day, killing a dozen demonstrators.

In 1889, the first congress of the Second International, meeting in Paris for the centennial of the French Revolution and the Exposition Universelle, following a proposal by Raymond Lavigne, called for international demonstrations on the 1890 anniversary of the Chicago protests. These were so successful that May Day was formally recognized as an annual event at the International's second congress in 1891."


Today I didn’t go to school of course,  but I have been studying at home anyway. The end-of-year exams will start in less than one month, and I don’t want to be studying like a mad the last week. 

Asparagus are in season now, and although they are still an expensive vegetable, this is the time when they are cheaper.  So, I bought a bunch a few days ago. I am subscribed to Vegetarian Times newsletter, and this week, just at the right time, the recipe was asparagus with vegan Hollandaise. When I saw it, I knew immediately what would be my next post.

I have been looking for more raw recipes, because I want to introduce more raw food in my daily diet. I already switched to raw breakfast. I have been eating green smoothies for two weeks now, and I love them every day more and more, because I can eat a different green smoothie every day. They are so versatile!. But my lunch is still cooked, and I would like it to bee raw too (or at least partially), but without eating salads every day.  And I thought that sprouts would be a great idea. So, I am trying to sprout beans on myself for the first time of my life! I chose to begin with chickpeas, because I would like to try raw hummus and raw chickpeas burgers.  They should be ready in a couple of days.

My chickpeas on the second day of sprouting

Asparagus with vegan Hollandaise  sauce

Adapted from Vegetarian Times
I have never tried classic hollandaise sauce, but according Vegetarian Times website, is mostly egg yolk and butter. So, it’s not very suitable for vegans, as you can imagine. I don’t know how the classic sauce tastes, but the vegan version tastes great. Be careful not to add too much pepper or cayenne, and remember that flavors will develop after leaving it standing in the fridge (it always occur with tofu) I served it with a mix of barley, basmanti and short grain brown rice, but it will be great with any grain. You can also but some sauce over the grain (I did, and it tasted even better than over the asparagus)

Serves:  6
Ingredients:

-1/2 cup silken tofu (about 250g) *I used regular soft tofu, not silken
-2 Tbs. lemon juice
-1 Tbs. nutritional yeast *I didn’t have, so I substituted it for 1 teaspoon of tahini
-1/2 tsp. salt
-1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper *I substituted it for 1/8 black pepper, but I would suggest use a little less
-1/8 tsp. turmeric
-2 Tbs. corn oil *I used olive oil instead
-2 lb. asparagus, trimmed

Preparation:

Heat tofu on plate in microwave 30 to 45 seconds, or until warmed through. If you don’t have microwave, or you don’t like it, you can just heat it on a sauce pan with a few drops of water (to don’t burn it)

Transfer to food processor, and purée until smooth.

Add lemon juice, nutritional yeast (or tahini), salt, cayenne (or black pepper), and turmeric; pulse until well combined. With food processor running, add oil in steady stream to finish sauce.

Steam asparagus 2 minutes, or until crisp-tender. Drain, and serve with sauce.