Weekend

 

The weekend is almost over already, but I have one more day off before starting my next two courses in school on Tuesday. It has been two nice days so far though. Saturday, we visited this little small shop called Miljövårdscentrum outside of Örebro where they sell a lot of ecological and locally produced food. Martin got a gift card for this store for his birthday so we went there and bought a lot of nice stuff. Quinoa, basil tofu, dried mango, a huge bucket of fancy broth powder and more. 

 

Tofu tattoo in Örebro. 

 

 We went to a birthday party in the evening and got served the most amazing food. Vegan "meats" and a pie made with artichoke hearts and blended corn. We got to take the leftovers home with us and had a great breakfast this morning.
 

 For lunch, we made a salad with quinoa, olives, lettuce, tomato, carrot, red onions and the basil tofu.


















Lucia says hello.

What I ate Thursday

This is a mash up between a smoothie and overnight oats.  Inspired by a recipe for Banana Oat Morning Fuel from 500 vegan recipes, I made it by soaking oats in oat milk and peanut butter overnight, then blending it with frozen banana, cocoa powder and some soy protein powder. Best start of the day you can get.



















I have an exam tomorrow so I spent the morning studying. A coffee break was very needed. I drank it in my awesome mug from Vegan Dish and ate some chocolate covered marzipan to go with it. Lucia got a gift from my mother in the mail the other day, two mice to play with. She's not very enthusiastic though, as always when it comes to physical activities. How do one make a super lazy cat more active?

 Lunch was spaghetti with mushrooms (button and chantarelles), chickpeas and carrots in a "forest inspired" sauce. Nom nom nom.

Dinner was Easy Mexican Red Rice from Vegan Dad with pinto chipotle patties and steamed carrots drenched in tahini. The rice was OK but a bit bland. I would use more spices next time for sure, but the concept was nice.

Now it's almost 10 pm and I'm craving something sweet like crazy.

Lucia

 Say hello to Lucia! She moved in with us yesterday!

When I started volunteering at the local cat shelter Lucia was the first cat that my eyes fell upon. She is very big, heavily over weight but has the sweetest little face and would stretch out one of her front legs as a greeting when you stepped into her place. Ever since, we have been bonding more and more, slowly. Then she got adopted out, but came back again only a couple of days later, because the person didn't like her. When I came back to the shelter after the holidays, she had two big wounds on her back after being in a fight with another cat at the shelter. They were messy, and the fur on her back was gross and smelly, so I started cleaning it. It took about 25 minutes, and during that time my love for her grew even stronger and it wasn't until then I realized how much I wanted a cat to live with me. How much I wanted Lucia to live with me. And now she does!

She seems to like it here. She is still a bit scared of moving around in the apartment, but she seems happy sitting on top of her cat tree looking out the windows and get loads of cuddles. She loves being rubbed on her belly. Can you tell I'm happy about my new friend?

Sandwich cake.

Sandwich cake. Definitely one of the more fun Swedish dishes there is, this is a cake made out of sandwiches. The concept is simple, bread is stacked with various fillings in between and decorated, then sliced into pieces and eaten as any other cake, just not as dessert. Most common on festive occasions, like birthdays, graduation parties or midsummer celebrations, this is a crowd pleaser for sure. Usually the fillings are connected with tastes from the sea, but you can really fill it with whatever you want to. Hummus, tartex and mushroom paté would all be nice fillings, and with the toppings you can go wild and use whatever rocks your boat.

This one was made for Martin's birthday party, and had two fillings. One very similar to skagen mix, but with chickpeas instead of tofu, and the other one was made with yellow lentils, apple, leeks, curry and mustard. On top there's non-dairy cream cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, seaweed topping and blood oranges.

 And since it was a party, of course there was baked goods. I didn't take any pictures, but it was kind of the same buns as in this picture taken 3 years ago (sweet yeasted buns filled with vanilla custard and dipped in sugar) and peanut butter chocolate pillows.

Ghost pepper sauce

It's Martin here again for the second installment of my Hot Sauce Section here at Fanny's blog. Brace yourselves for one scary blog post - we'll be dealing with the poltergeist of peppers: Bhut Jolokia - The Ghost Pepper. Besides being one of the tastiest peppers in the world it's one of the hottest as well. The maximum heat mesured for the pepper on the Scoville scale is a whopping 1,041,427 (compared for example with Tabasco sauce's measly 2500-5000). 

The Ghost is named rather figuratively - the heat comes creeping and consumes your taste buds bit by bit. The more you eat and the longer you eat it - the hotter it gets. And this chili sure wants to kill you. 

I've so far come by two different varieties of Ghost Peppers Sauces. "Ass Kickin Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce" and "The Ghost Hot Sauce". Even though as far as  I've understood these two are in the lower spectrum of Ghost sauces - they still pack a lot of flavor and a respectable amount of heat.  
"Ass Kickin'" has the simpler composition and the more direct approach - and is the winner in the long run. Very usable both in side dishes (such as Ghost Mayo) or as a spice in stews or wok's. "The Ghost" on the other hand also packs some fruity additions and does compromise a little bit more on the heat. 

All in all - Bhut Jolokia is king, taste a lot better then Habanero and has the added quality of an unusual way of being hot. Try it, love it and never look back!

Blood oranges and salty crackers with soy cheese and figs.

Blood oranges and salty crackers with soy cheese and figs.

Saturday: Edamame salad and Pumpkin muffins

None of the 4 stores in my town carries frozen corn today. What's up with that? So inevitably, my edamame salad is lacking of corn kernels. It was fine anyway, and I ate it alongside a sushi roll filled with carrots, fresh ginger and peanuts.

Pumpkin muffins - from Vegan With a Vengeance of course - baked in mini paper cups and topped with a tiny amount of cream cheese cinnamon frosting.

Cast iron pan

I got this beautiful cast iron pan for christmas and it's been such a great addition in my kitchen. I still feel a bit like a newbie using it, not sure how to use it properly to get the most out of it. But I'm getting there. So far it's been great for seitan burgers, tempeh sausage crumbles and savory breakfast pancakes. What's your best advice for taking care of and using a cast iron pan? And what dish is unbeatable cooked in a cast iron?