Calcium! June 1, 2008
Posted by tuimeltje in lunch.Tags: bread, mash, nutritional analysis
3 comments
Last week I bought me a decent bit of broccoli. I didn’t consider I’d not spend many days at home in the near future, so I had to think of something besides the basic steam/boil/stir-fry it with other bits.
And think of it quickly, too.
Since a meal would be impractical, I thought I’d make me something spreadable for on bread. I had some vague memories of a basic veggie purée or dip or whatever from Kate Wood’s Eat Smart Eat Raw, which was (IIRC, of course. I have the book here somewhere but am too lazy to look it up) very simply some random veg puréed with tahin, so I figured I could make something like that without too much trouble.
Technically I steamed the broccoli, so it’s not any kind of raw, but then I’m not a raw vegan. While I have nothing against raw broccoli, I doubt my immersion blender is capable of dealing with it and I didn’t want to find out. I only have one and I’d be right miffed if I’d have to go out and buy me a new one.
For this project I actually did some googling for nice spices because I wanted it to turn out well and do something beyond the basic veg+tahin, since I was not entirely sure a purée that simple would be particularly interesting. Usually I just chuck in a bunch of spices and hope it’ll end up tasting good, but this seemed like the kind of thing where one’d want to be a little less random.
Without too much effort I found found this article about broccoli cultivation. Not sure the nutritional info is correct (isn’t vit D pretty rare in plants?), but it had some spice info, and that’s what I was after.
Stuff used:
The bottom jar contains coriander seeds, and the mysterious plastic baggie is dried thyme. I’ve had it for a good while, so it’s probably not as flavourful as it once was, but still. Might as well try and see if it makes a difference.
I also added some sereh, but didn’t think of that until after taking the picture. I wanted to give it a more lemon-y flavour. I should really start just buying lemons already so I can use the juice and zest for all kinds of cool things.
I considered adding cumin, but didn’t because it wasn’t in that list. Neither was coriander, but since I was going for the lemon-y, I figured I should use that one regardless.
End result:
While it has a pleasant enough taste, it’s rather mild on it’s own. It could’ve done with the addition of some garlic or harissa. While it was a little late to add garlic, I made sure to also spread some harissa on the next batch of sandwiches I made when using the spread on the rest of that loaf of bread the next day for my Saturday activities (Being Prepared again. And making sure to not waste most of a loaf of bread, of course). It was much better that way.
While I wasn’t exactly stingy with the spread, I still have a bit left. I chucked in in my freezer in the hopes I’d be able to use it later, though I might chuck it in some soup or something.
With some tweaking and adding of fluids it might make a decent dip as well, but I’ll probably not do that to the little bit I have left. Maybe next time.
I made an attempt at using the recipe analyser thingie on NutritionData, and you might be able to check the results here. I’m not 100% sure, though. You might need to be logged in as me to see it.
Also, I’m not sure I did it correctly. I only analysed the two main ingredients, not the added spices and such, I have no clue how much the broccoli I used weighed and if the analysis includes the stalk, nor do remember just how much tahin I used, so I suspect it’s showing a little less nutrition than what I actually ended up. Also, it shows the whole batch as one serving.
Still, it’s fun. And regardless of the exact nutrition facts, I’m pretty sure this food is on the healthy side.
I expected it to contain more calcium, though…
ETA: Today I defrosted it, and it looks and taste fine, so I’d say it freezes well enough.
Out May 24, 2008
Posted by tuimeltje in breakfast, dinner, eating out, lunch.Tags: bread, falafel
4 comments
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.
Breakfast and lunch December 20, 2007
Posted by tuimeltje in breakfast, lunch.Tags: bread, soup
1 comment so far
A while ago I bought a few boxes of Weetabix, but I keep forgetting to eat it. Luckily the stuff lasts a good while.
Plain Weetabix with soya milk is a little boring, so usually I add some random things to it. Usually some raisins, sesame seeds, hemp seeds, desiccated coconut, nuts, that sort of thing.
This time it was some weird marmalade-like fruit spread I bought at Xenos recently along with a few raisins. I’m fresh out of desiccated coconut and didn’t feel like bothering with anything crunchy.
For lunch I had some left-over pea soup with a few Tartex sandwiches. I’d made the soup yesterday, as it’s a nice wintery soup and I’d bought a celeriac for this very purpose earlier that really needed to be eaten before Christmas.
Normally I eat it with pumpernickel bread, but I didn’t want to open the whole package. I won’t be able to finish it before going home to my parents unless I’ll eat nothing else, and I still have plenty of other food.
