Late breakfast smoothie.

Today I thought I should really do something with that last part tasteless toad skin melon before it went bad. I’d already decided to make it into a smoothie so I could mix it with some more flavourful things.

Ingredients:

No soymilk added today. The melon is pretty watery so it just was’t required.

Result:

I’m not a big fan of cold smoothies. I sort knew this already I think, but somehow I didn’t really do anything with it. While freezing is a convenient way of storing bananas for a bit, I prefer to use room temperature ones for making my smoothies.
Next time I’ll let it warm up a bit if I need to use a frozen banana. Provided I remember, of course. It’d be easier for my immersion blender, too.

Apart from the coldness, it was pretty tasty and had a lovely colour. I think I even tasted a faint bit of melon, which was odd since the melon itself didn’t have much flavour on its own.

Had a fit of Being Prepared again last night and made me a smoothie so I didn’t have to rush much in the morning. Two good servings, even. How about that?
Two calm and quiet mornings, all serene and whatnot.
In theory, anyway.

The place where I work had a non-vegan mint smoothie for a short while recently, and it looked really cool so I figured I should make me a vegan version. All I had to do was use vanilla Yofu rather than vanilla yoghurt.
Easy, no?

Ingredients:

I used about 10 sprigs of mint, leaves only, and about 3/4ths of the yoghurt. I ended up adding an extra banana (frozen) to make it a proper two servings and a dash of soyamilk to make it easier to drink.

Smoothie the next day:

As with the other times I didn’t consume the smoothie immediately after blending, the smoothie seems to have gotten itself a slightly darker layer of something or other on top. With the previous two smoothies I attributed that to the use of mysterious white powder, but apparently that stuff isn’t needed to create the layer.
I still suspect the powder is responsible for the bubbly aspect, though. The current smoothie has a smooth layer.
Anyway, as I was in a hurry this morning I figured it was probably harmless and didn’t bother blending it again to get rid of it before drinking some.
I survived, apparently. Though I did occasionally have a somewhat minty taste in my mouth for a good few hours after. That was amusing and not particularly worrying.

As it would’ve been a shame to waste it, I found some use for the remaining mint (I don’t think it freezes too well) and made me some Morroccan tea. I only used half of the sprigs left for that one cup so I should not forget to make another cup before the leaves get iffy.

Tea:

It had to seep a good while, and after a a few minutes (yeah, not too patient about my tea, me) I got a teaspoon and went at the leaves in the hopes of bashing some more flavour out of them.
I like to think it worked.
Still, apparently the proper version involves gunpowder. As I don’t have any of that, and shouldn’t be buying any more tea what with me already having rather a lot of that, I don’t think I’ll be making it anything official next time.
Might add some of that generic green tea, though. Might.

In an unprecedented fit of Being Prepared (don’t expect one again soon), I thought I might just make me a breakfast smoothie the night before.

When stopping by the supermarket after work, I noticed the cherries were marked down, and thought they’d make for a nice smoothie. Since they didn’t look like they’d last that long, I figured I’d best make that smoothie on the day of purchase. While I’m not strict about keeping breakfast foods specifically for breakfast, or even labelling certain foods as strictly “breakfast”, “lunch”, “dinner”, or “snack”, I thought the smoothie would make a better breakfast than desert/random snack.
Besides, I wasn’t particularly peckish.

Anyway, here are the ingredients:

Because cherries are so nice and red, I thought I’d better not muck that up by chucking in some spirulina tablets. I also made sure to not use too much soymilk. I did sprinkle in the probiotic powder, though.

Just after blending:

It turned a very nice pink, darker than the smoothies I make using berries.

Here’s what it looked like in the morning:

Like the previous time I used probiotic powder, the smoothie acquired a thick bubbly layer, which you can see in the picture. No pancake batter-smell, though. It didn’t taste as cherry-ish as I’d hoped and some of the pink prettiness had gone, but it was still a good smoothie. And preparing breakfast the day before is really quite convenient…
Next time I might try something cherry without the white powder, though.

Since I still occasionally think of that carob-banana smoothie, I thought I’d prepare me some sort of approximation of it since I still don’t actually have the proper ingredients.
However, I now have spirulina (tablets, not powder, but they’re no match for my trusty immersion blender), and if carob subs for cocoa, cocoa can sub for carob.

Ingredients:

This is the first time I added some kind of sweetener to a smoothie. I think I also put some good old flax seeds in it, but forgot to put them in the picture.

Smoothie:

At first the colour was a little greenish, so I added some more cocoa. It still had this slight spirulina taste, but that’s okay. The chocolate flavour wasn’t as strong as I’d hoped, but it was still pretty damn good.
I still want to try me that carob one, though.

With all this smoothie talk, I’ve been wondering. When do you go from smoothie to shake? I’m not 100% sure, but it is possible I may have actually had an official MacDonalds milkshake at some point, way back when I still occasionally ate there. And what I have here? That’s the kind of thing I tend to see as a milkshake. Of course, McDo’s only had the chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla option, and anything not very, very fruity kind of feels more like that than a smoothie, but still. I’m so confused.

Yesterday I went to visit my grandparents, something I generally quite enjoy. Apart from liking seeing my grandparents again, I always like visiting them because their train station has a lovely Israeli eatery right next to it, Mc Levi’s, which sells some pretty tasty falafel.
I got me some, of course.

Picture:

Since I was in a bit of a hurry preparing lunch before running off to catch my train (which I missed, so I needn’t have hurried quite so much), I skipped breakfast, so effectively, this was my breakfast.
I like this kind of breakfast.

After a nice visit I looked for the tourist office to see if I could get my hands on some maps for some of the local hiking routes. However, even though I consulted a map at least four times and it should’ve been just around the corner, I didn’t actually manage to find the blasted thing.
Weirdness!
I’ll admit to being a bit grouchy due to not having eaten for a while, but this should not have impaired my map-reading and orientation skills to the point where they didn’t seem to even exist, so I’m blaming some vague PTB responsible for either city planning, map-drawing, or both there for my inability to locate their precious tourist office.
Anyway, after walking through every street in the general area a few times I decided that, since it was already a bit late to start a proper hike, I’d just walk around the estate near the station (Dutch site) for a bit after finding a nice spot there for eating my packed lunch.

Containers of lunch and liquids:

Contents (solids only):

Part of the view:

I didn’t manage to eat everything I packed, but it was a very enjoyable meal even if the rice cakes had gotten a little soft.

Unfortunately, my trusty SIGG bottle has been a little leaky since the last time I dropped it. Previously, leaks would miraculously disappear within hours, but this one hasn’t managed so far, so I suspect it’s time to acquire a new one.
Shame, really. I’ve grown rather fond of this print and I don’t think it’s made anymore. Still, it’ll give me an excuse to check out various outdoor shops to see what they have on offer.

While the estate was rather landscaped, it was a nice place to amble for a while. There were many birds, and I even saw me some rodents. One I suspect may well have been a squirrel, and the other I couldn’t quite see well enough to even guess. Probably some kind of mouse, though. A capibara would be most unlikely.

After a decent walk I took a train home (well, three trains, technically). A slightly different route to the one I took to get there, but time-wise it didn’t make much of a difference. I just had to switch trains one extra time. While I normally prefer to avoid this, it did make me getting out at Utrecht CS a certainty. And since Utrecht CS has a Shakies (Dutch site), I was pretty pleased with this non-recommended alternative.

While, according to their website, Shakies still has that vegan artichoke tapenade and rucola option I got last time, it wasn’t actually available here. Then again, the site mentions some wrap thing being available in certain places, Utrecht CS among them, and there was no mention of that either (though I do think I spotted some samosas in the oven. Couldn’t get those last time), so maybe the site is in need of an update. It could certainly use some re-design to make it easier to navigate.
Still, the person behind the counter was completely unfazed by my enquiry regarding vegan toppings and simply put the pesto and sun-dried tomato from two other toppings together to make something vegan, which was very nice of her. The two rather strong flavours made it a bit too rich for me, though.
Unfortunately, the whole-meal bagels are still not vegan, and the vegan shake is still the same berry thing they’ve always had. I was seriously considering getting one of the juices for some variation, but since there are quite a few options there (well, about five…), I couldn’t choose before having to state my preference, so I went with the default.

Bagel and shake:

It was a good day.

Recently I was reading Renee’s Gluten-Free vegan blog, where I came across this smoothie recipe.
While it sounds like an absolutely delicious smoothie, I didn’t make it. Mostly because I had practically none of the ingredients on hand.
It did, however, remind me that I had some probiotic powder laying around. I rarely use it because it’s a bit weird just mixed with water, but now I learned that it could be nice, or at least neutral, when added to smoothies.

Ingredients:

Pretty much the basic smoothie stuff, with the probiotics as a new thing.

Smoothie! (Taken before the 30mins wait)

The probiotics package instructed waiting half an hour before drinking the water+powder, so I figured the same would go for fruit+powder.

After a generous half hour, I had another look. It had gone a little weird, with a thick and bubbly layer on top. It kind of reminded me of injera but a little more fluid. It didn’t look icky, but it did look like it would be nicer if I mixed it up again, so I attacked it with my trusty immersion blender again, which made everything look like normal again.
It also smelled oddly like the batter for the banana pancakes out of Vegan Vittles I made occasionally shortly after I went vegan.
Probably the only thing I ever really made from any of the recipe books I own…
Anyway. Though both foods contain banana, it was still very strange to have this smoothie smell like that batter. I am now wondering if I ever chucked blueberries into the batter. I can’t remember if I did.

This morning I made me another smoothie, using some fruit I still had around and the yofu that needs eating.

Ingredients:

Smoothie:

I had expected the smoothie to be, well, bluer, what with the blueberries and all. It ended up way pink, though. Which is kind of weird, since I didn’t actually add anything pink. It was just blue, white, and yellow/green foods.
Strange…
Vaguely disappointing, as well.
Still, at least it was tasty. And runnier than I’d expected. I didn’t need a spoon to eat it.

Last post before my little trip. I’ll be back next week, with more tasty vegan things and most likely a tl;dr report on the food situation during the trip.

Here a picture of the pre-packaged food I’ll take along to Germany:

Looking at it like this, it seems rather a lot…
And it’s not even the whole thing. There’s still some sammiches I’ll have to make, I have some small containers with soy nuts, raisins, and dried apricots, and I still have to fill that missing Heinz tomato juice-like bottle (not buying those again, ever. There’s still a lingering taste of tomato juice in spite of all the fruit juices added. Not my thing, tomato juice. Oh, and it’s pointless, overpriced and overpackaged food. Even less my thing) with Brinta so I can make me some runny porrige if I mix it with some rice- or soymilk in the missing Tropicana juice bottle.

Maybe some of my carrots look presentable enough to bring along…

Now lets see if I have some jim-jams lying around. Might be nice if I have to share a hotel room. I should also maybe prepare me some dinner before going on home to my parents. And do my dishes. *sigh* I’m terrible at planning trips. It’s a good thing I don’t have to plan the whole damn thing, really. We’d never get anywhere.

ETA: Found jim-jams. And all cool and retro ones, too. Got them from my Gran. One problem, though. The food doesn’t really fit. That kind of sucks. I guess I could chuck some in my clothes bag, but then I won’t be able to use that as a pillow. And I suspect I will want one…
Maybe I should use the meshy side pockets for drinks…

Even though I didn’t turn on my computer before going to work this morning, I still ended up leaving a little later than I had intended to. I keep intending to leave well in advance so I can walk. It’s not far, so it’s not much of a difference, time-wise. Just enough to make me go for my bike when I feel I’m running a little late.
Which, really, is most mornings. I lose at mornings.

Anyway, the reason I was running late today is because I insisted on making me a smoothie for breakfast.

Stuff I used:

I didn’t use the entire melon. Just half of it. I suspect peeling that one was part of why I ended up running late.
This was the first time I used an apple in a smoothie. The particular apple was getting kind of dodgy (which is why I put it upsidedown for the picture) and I thought this’d be a good way to use it before it went completely bad.
I always thought my darling immersion blender would be a little too frail to deal with the crunchiness of your average apple, but s/h/it did marvelously. I guess apple-y crispy is different from carrot-y crispy.

Normally this particular brand of soya milk isn’t sold here, it’s just found at some of De Tuinen’s shops for some reason. I have no idea if it’s actually true, but I never bought it there before since I assumed it was more expensive than the Alpro/Provamel stuff I usually get (I only got because it was marked down), but I may have to check it again to be sure. This stuff has vitamin D2 in it, something that’s not found in many soya
milks available here. Maybe that Alpro toddler stuff. That’s the only variety that might have it.

What I ended up with:

Well, no picture here. Remember that bit about me running a little late? I totally forgot about taking pictures when I was chugging down my smoothie while putting on my shoes. It was tasty, though. And with all the fruit I chucked in, I ended up with rather a lot of it. Enough to feed two not-too-hungry people. Or two people who’re also eating some nice oatmeal this morning.

~-*-~

Remember that Nutritional Data site I mentioned not too long ago? Well, they also have a blog. Though most of the advice and information is either not relevant or not relevant to me, it’s a nice enough blog and I subscribed to it when I found out about it.

Usually it’s basic tips on eating better and healthier living in general, explaining confusing concepts for which there is a lot of conflicting advice, and answering questions from readers.
All very well and pleasant, that. Quite Sensible, in general. While it’s not exactly a radical read (the author cited Nina Planck in an answer regarding a veg*n pregnancy :rolls eyes:), it has made mention of the weirdness surrounding stevia and it does seem to be about properly informing people about basic nutrition rather than pushing some branded, overpriced “health”food.

Their most recent entry, however, bothers me somewhat. Go read it and guess why.
Also guess which comment is mine.

It could’ve been a little more eloquent, I suppose, but my mind went all &grrr;flsz!!;Khaaan!! and I was too annoyed to do a proper search for relevant articles. At least this saved it from having the thing to turn into a giant, anger-fueled link-dump.

Thanks to Sinead for that lovely “please eat less meat” quote by that Indian guy who works for some fancy UN committee. I could’ve put it around some nicer paragraphs, but still. It’s a good quote.
Go click that link if you want more environmental rants.

I completely forgot to take any pictures, but today I made me another green smoothie. Since I’d used the last of my spinach cubes in yesterday’s fried mash, I used the kale cubes. They look the same, but I think using spinach makes it a little sweeter. Not that this one was bitter, or anything. It was still tasty. Just different.

Of course, it may be the other things I added. I put in one if the kiwis I had laying around, and, since I’m that lazy, didn’t bother peeling it. I’ve hardly bothered with that anymore since I found out there was no need for it, to be honest. Which, really, is a lot of fun. Random people get kind of confused when they see me eating an unpeeled kiwi in public as if it’s an apple.