Sweet Peanut and Coconut Curry

I really love fruits in curries. Especially bananas. I love cooked bananas. And allthough I like hot and savoury curries, sometimes it has to be more sweet for me. Yesterday I combined the fruits and vegetables I had left to one sweet yet savoury dinner with rice.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 can of coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons of peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon of agave nectar (If you don´t like sweeter dishes, skip this part)
• 1 banana
• 1-2 spring onions
• vegetables of your choice. I used two hands of spinach, 1/2 bell pepper and a few cherry tomatos
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon of curry powder or curry paste (if you like it a little spicier.)

Directions:

1. Cut your spring onion in thin rings and put them in a pan, you´ve put on medium to high heat
2. Fry them for around one minute, then add the coconut milk.
3. Put in the peanut butter and the agave nectar and stir it. Turn the heat down, so your sauce is only simmering. 
4. Add all your spices to match your own preferences.
5. Finally add your cut up vegetables banana. Stir it. Turn the heat down and wait for a few minutes, so your vegetables can heat up and everything combines.
6. Serve your curry with some cooked rice. Enjoy it. 

Enjoy your meal.

My dental care

I started my morning today by watching youtube videos (as I do waaay to often). And when I found the new video from Whitney Lauritsen or EcoVeganGal, that was about the products, she uses for dental hygiene, I felt very inspired, to write about this topic myself.

As a matter of fact, I had been going to the dentist yesterday. The doctor was pleased by my hygiene but she recommended me, to take out my wires. I don´t know, whether this technique is used outside of Germany, but when I got my braces out, they glued wires behind my front teeth. One on the top and one of the bottom. It should keep the teeth from moving out of shape again. I wore those wires for around five years, which was kind of annoying and I probably had worn them longer, if my dentist hadn´t told me, that it was probably better to be able to use floss witch my teeth than having just the possibility of slightly moving teeth, so she removed the wires for me. Since then I have a weird feeling on my teeth, I feel like there is a pressure, that they are moving a little, but I don´t think, they will go back into their original place. I also recognized, that the backside of my teeth is now very sensitive for cold water or air and will get painfull very quickly. I hope, that this will stop soon as well...

But enough for my backstory in ... teeth. I want to tell you in this post, what I use, to brush and clean my teeth and mouth area and what products I can recommend you. It´s not going to be a very long list, because I am at most times too lazy to use the products, that are the better option for the environment, because we don´t have that many different products in our stores and if you don´t live near a bigger city, you would have to order it online. But maybe I can inspire you, to use better products, than I do. 

My toothbrush

I use a toothbrush from the brand Hydrophil. You can check out their website here: http://www.hydrophil.biz/ (but it is in German). The toothbrushes are made out of bamboo and nylon. It´s BPA-free and vegan. I like the feeling of this brush a lot and after you have used it for some time, you can bury it in the ground and it will decompose after some time. I also like it, that it is quite cheap. You pay around 4€ for one toothbrush. And I also want to mention, that the brand Hydrophil supports vivaconagua: http://www.vivaconagua.co.uk/

Dentalfloss

This part goes very short, because I don´t frequently use it. Until yesterday, I hadn´t the chance to use it with most of my teeth, but I´m looking for a vegan version. I´m going to update this post, when I find a product, I would recommend.

Toothpaste

For toothpaste I have usually two options. On one hand I regularly buy ordinary toothpaste that has no fluorid in it, because I don´t want this in my mouth. On the other hand, those toothpastes have propably other ingredients I don´t want as well. My other option are LUSHs toothy tabs. They are vegan and come in a paper packaging. They have many different flavors, some I don´t like at all (the rose version for example) but some are really great. And the package lasts quite long, because you don´t need one whole tablet for one brushing session.

Mouthwash

Again for mouthwash, I have no product, I would recommend. Until now, I  would only use mouthwash, when I am ill in the moutharea, whether it is a cold or an inflammation. But as a mouthwater I would always use a strong tea, either peppermint tea or chamomile tea.

Since this post is inspired by a youtube video, I am going to leave the link here. Check it out, if you want to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rmLdAb3iX0

That´s it for me. What products are you using? 

Lots of love!

Spinach and Cheese Sauce

When I was younger and still eating dairy and meat, one of my favourite dinner option was spaghetti with a sauce made of spinach, cream, parmesan cheese and lots of garlic. Lately I wanted to recreate this dish in a way that would use way less fat. Therefore I am not going to use soy cream, but if you want to, you can surely do this.

Ingredients:

• 100g fresh baby spinach leaves
• 200-300ml almond milk
• 3 slices of vegan cheese (you can use shredded cheese, probably one hand full)
• 2-3 gloves of garlic
• 2 teaspoons of corn starch mixed with a few tablespoons of water
• nutmeg
• lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Cut your spinach and finely chop your garlic
2. Heat your almond milk in a pot and melt your cheese in it
3. When the cheese is melted, stir the mixture and thicken it up with the corn starch mixture.
4. Season everything with the garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg, some lemon juice and salt & pepper.
5. Add the spinach and stir everything again,
6. Serve it with some of your favourite pasta

Enjoy your meal.

Mousse au Chocolat

Whenever I need a decadent and impressive dessert, I go for Mousse au Chocolat. Everybody loves chocolate and this version is very tasty. It´s also very easy and quick to prepare.

Ingredients:

• 400g silken tofu
• 200g of your favourite vegan chocolate. I used one with 50% cacao.
• 1 teaspoon  of vanilla extract (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat your chocolate in a bain-marie until it is liquid. Then set it aside to let it cool a little.
2. Use a food processor to blend your silken tofu. Now is the time to add the vanilla. 
3. Add your melted chocolate to the tofu. If you want it to be a smooth mousse, blend it again for a few seconds. If you want little crunchy pieces of chocolate in your mousse, just stir it in with a spatula. (I prefer the second way.)
4. Now fill you mixture into a bowl or in glasses and let everything cool for at least two hours.

Enjoy your meal.

Scrambled Tofu

Although I prefer a sweet breakfast on most mornings, sometimes I am craving for something savory. For a long time, I would make scrambled tofu, that didn´t taste like eggs at all. But then I discovered the awesome salt Kala Namak, which gives everything a very egglike taste. My way of preparing the tofu is inspired by the way shown in a video from The Vegan Zombie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBJY9rs5zWk

If you don´t know this Channel, I highly recommend you, to check it out. They have a ton of amazing vegan recipes online.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 block of tofu, Crumble
• 1 teaspoon of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of powdered eggreplacer mixed with water. 
• optional: vegetables like onions, bell peppers or spinach
• spices: kala namak salt, pepper, turmeric, paprika

The vegan eggreplacer I use is MyEy: 

http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00JNTRNSG/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1638&creative=19454&creativeASIN=B00JNTRNSG&linkCode=as2&tag=aveganmindblo-21&linkId=XTTJC73QZ2X3X2WJ

Directions:

1. Cut half of your tofu in bigger pieces and crumble the rest with your hands or a fork
2. Heat the oliveoil in a pan on high heat and add the bigger slices of your tofu
3. Fry them on both sides, till they are slightly brown. Then add the crumbled tofu.
4. Add your vegetables now, if you want to use them. 
5. Mix your eggreplacer with the right amount of water and add your spices to it. Most important is the Kala Namak salt, because, it gives your "egg" the typical taste.
6. Add the liquid mixture to your tofu, stir it and let everything heat up.
7. Serve it with toast or whatever you prefer.

Enjoy your meal.

Green Asparagus And Mushroom Risotto

Yesterday I had a whole bunch of green asparagus left but I didn´t knew, what to do with it. I was prefering something without pasta, because I already had a lot of it this week, so I was looking for anything different. Google was a friend because after a few clicks and searches, I found the following recipe from one green planet: http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-recipe/mushroom-and-asparagus-risotto/

It´s a vegan risotto and after I slightly adapted this recipe to my own preferences, a got a very tasty meal out of it.

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch of green asparagus
• 250g of mushrooms, cut into big pieces. I used king oyster mushrooms
• 1 medium onion
• 1 or more gloves of garlic
• 1 cup of round grain rice 
• 2-3 teaspoons of thyme
• the juice of one lemon
• around 4 cups of vegetable broth
• 3 Tablespoons of nutritional yeast
• Salt and pepper to taste
• optional: one hand of shredded vegan cheese and fresh spinach

Directions:

1. Cut off the wooden ends of your asparagus, then cut it into 2 inch pieces.
2. Cut your onion and the garlic into smal dices.
3. Take a big pot and put in on high heat.
4. Add your vegetables and let them roast for around 5 minutes. 
5. (OPTIONAL) Take out your asparagus and leave it on the side, because otherwise you will be left with a very overcooked vegetable in your risotto
6. Add your rice and the thyme, stirr it for a few minutes. Then turn the heat to medium and then add the first bit of your broth.
7. Under frequent stirring, add your broth little by little. Always wait until your rice has soaked the water completely.
8. After around 30 minutes, you can add your final ingredients following your own taste buds. And don´t foreget, to add your asparagus again, if you´d set it aside.
9. I think, the vegan cheese makes the risotto very creamy but you can surely leave it. On this point you can also add some fresh spinach.
10. This risotto works best, when it´s served immediately, so it is still creamy.

Enjoy your meal

Carbonara Sauce

A good vegan carbonara sauce is probably my favourite when it comes to pasta. I love it´s creamyness and the savory crunchy tofu. Sadly it includes quite a bit fat and since I think, that it´s best for me, when I avoid fat as much as I can, I don´t eat it as often, as I wish I could. Nevertheless, it´s very delicious and I highly recommend you, to try it out. As usually, you can easily adapt this recipe, simply by using different spices and herbs. I tried to make this version very light, so that it would match the warm sunny weather.

Ingredients:

• 1 block of smoked tofu -> I prefer one that has a very stong salty and smoky taste
• 1 medium onion
• 1-2 gloves of garlic
• 150 ml of soy cream (or any other vegan cream alternative)
• ~150 ml of vegan milk of your choice. I usually go for almond milk.
• Salt to taste
• freshly ground pepper
• parsley (at least three tablespoons)
• the zest and the juice of one organic lemon, to give everything a fresh taste

Directions:

1. Take your block of tofu and cut it into small cubes.
2. Take your onions and your garlic and cut it into small pieces. 
3. Take a small to medium sized pan and heat it on high heat. If you want to, you can add a little bit of olive oil.
4. Fry your tofu in the pan until it´s brown and slightly crunchy.
5. Add onions and garlic and turn the heat to low heat. Stir it frequently for around two minutes.
6. Now add the lemon juice and the zest, stir it and add the cream and the milk. 
7. Turn off the heat and add the parsley and the salt.
8. Serve the sauce with your favourite pasta (I used angel hair pasta) and add the freshly ground pepper on top. You may decorate your dish with green asparagus, since it goes very great with the taste of it. 

Enjoy your meal and tell me, whether you´d liked it.