Day Zero Project: update 19

"Home is where the heart is. And my heart is anywhere you are. Anywhere you are is home." ~ Elvis Presley

The Day Zero Project.

101 tasks in 1001 days.

Update 19


Starts: June 19, 2013

Ends: March 16, 2016

Tasks achieved so far: 72/101

Buckwheat Porridge with Apple Pear Compote

reading time: ca. 1 min

Preparation time: 15 mins
Main ingredients: buckwheat, banana, apple, pear
difficulty level: easy
serves: 1-2
suitable for: vegan, lactose-free, gluten-free, nut-free, low-fat

Hi Friends, i hope you all had a cozy Christmas and a not-as-quarrellsome time with your family :)

Usually porridge is made of oats (hence the name oatmeal, duh), but for this porridge recipe I experimented with cooked buckwheat for the first time, cooking buckwheat groats in soy milk with sweet banana, home-made apple pear compote and fresh blueberries.

Buckwheat Waffles (vegan Christmas)

reading time: ca. 2 min

Preparation time: 30 mins
Main ingredients: buckwheat, non-dairy milk
difficulty level: easy
makes: 16 waffles
suitable for: vegan, lactose-free, gluten-free, nut-free, soy-free

It's not always easy to find a vegan option at Christmas parties and dinners, especially when it comes to cookies, pastries and other sweets, so here is my suggestion for a filling Christmas meal (either sweet as a dessert or savory).

Quinoa Rice Pudding

reading time: ca. 1 min

Preparation time: 25 mins
Main ingredients: quinoa, soy milk
difficulty level: easy
serves: 2
suitable for: vegan, lactose-free, gluten-free, nut-free, low-fat

Have you jumped on the quinoa bandwagon yet? This gluten-free, high fiber, complete protein of a grain has become mainstream and quite popular over the last couple of years, especially among vegans and hipster people like me. Nevertheless, it's been a fairly recent addition to my menu plan, and so far I've only used it as a savoury replacement for rice or pasta.

Raw Gingerbread Cookies

reading time: ca. 1 min

Goodness, i can't believe it's Christmas in four days! 

One of my favourite Christmas sweets, which can even be "veganized" because the base is nuts, is gingerbread and cinnamon cookies (Zimtsterne). I actually just uploaded a recipe for baked Soft Vegan Gingerbread Cookies as well, so make sure to check them out! 

Inspired by Rawmanda, I raw-veganized the original recipe, and oh my god, it's so delicious! And addicting! I actually ate like half the dough during the process of making the cookies because raw cookie dough - it's just soo tempting!

The ingredients are simple: almonds, dates, buckwheat, and cinnamon.

Soft Vegan Gingerbread Cookies

reading time: ca. 1 min

I am a sucker for anything baked anyway (cake, cookies, pancakes, waffles, you name it), but gingerbread gets me every time. If it weren't for my blog, this batch of gingerbread cookies wouldn't even have lasted the day, haha! 

The recipe is very simple, and the cookies are incredibly soft, chewy, and - most importantly - vegan AND gluten-free!

Homemade Hot Lemonade

reading time: ca. 1 min

Preparation time: 5 mins
Main ingredients:  lemon, orange, lime
difficulty level: easy
makes: ~ 1500ml
suitable for: vegan, lactose-free, paleo, refined sugar free

Lemonade is usually associated with hot summer days. However, it's not summer any more (at least not on my hemisphere), and since my doctor advised me to drink warm water, especially in the mornings, i thought why not make a warm lemonade? 

Citrus fruits are usually in season when it's wintertime over here, and the Vitamin C helps improve your immune system and prevent or treat common winter illnesses such as a cold. This drink is not a great way to hydrate and regenerate your body, but the orange makes it actually quite appropriate for the Christmas spirit, especially when you add a bit of ginger and/or a cinnamon stick!

You can easily turn this into a cooling summer lemonade of course by using cold water and chilling it in the fridge afterwards :)

Almond Butter Blondies

reading time: ca. 1 min

Hello loves,

as i type this i'm getting more and more nervous about our trip to South Africa - when you read this, i will already be there, so yeah, i'm speaking to you from the past, hehe.

Anyway. 

These almond butter blondies are kind of a marriage between my No-bake Dirty Blondies and the Raw Caramel Fingers i made a while ago. They were a gift for my beloved boy, who took me to the Lion King musical in Hamburg on our anniversary. I don't know what else to say, i love this guy, and i feel like we've been through so much already  even though we don't know each other for that long. Funerals,  birthdays, weddings, vacations, burnt-down kitchens, walks through all seasons, nocturnal conversations in bed and much, much more...

This is for you, J.

Take My Hand

*
 
Take my hand and draw me close to you 

Take my hand and let me take yours too 

Grab my hand and dance – just you and me 

Take my hand and take the leap with me. 


Hold my hand when you are far away 

A gentle touch, and I'll wait – patiently 

Take my hand and take my trust along with it 

Even if it’s shaking, don't let go, hold on to it. 


Take my hand and I will hold yours tight 

Hang on to me and let me be your guide 

Explore with me the world – inside and out 

Be silent with me, crazy, sad and loud. 


Take my hand and squeeze it when you feel alone 

Break down the barriers and let me be the one 

The one to laugh with, love with, live with, 

The one to travel, argue and agree with. 


Share with me your hand and take mine for it 

Share with me your heart and take mine as it is. 

//

Tiny Tales of Love (Pt. 4)

//

The roofs of the city were flat and hot. The bare rock was burning under her feet, showing naked chalk-white soles as she ran. »Kya!« He called out her name, as always as if he were picking up something fragile. Kayah. The diamond in the sky. The one he followed wherever she went, and her steps led him above the city, where the horizon unfolded over the brown roofs of Arusha like a pale piece of paper, the mountain in their backs. Mount Meru. And yet behind it, invisible behind haze and cloud layers, its big brother, the Kilimanjaro.
Down in the laneway it smelled of home, of dried cod and sun-laden fruits and of the dust on the roads, but up here it smelled of freedom.

Maisy ❤ November 2015

reading time: ca. 3 min

Only three more days until we take off to South Africa! Aagh, i'm so excited! Not only have i never been to any African country, but i also can't wait for the biting cold winter to be replaced by summery heat, jungle and the Indian Ocean (skinny dipping... ;)). 

Since i won't be having access to the internet nor the time to put together blog posts, i've prepared a number of posts for you that will be published over the course of the next three weeks on the usual scheduled days Wednesday & Sunday. I hope you'll enjoy them!

Also, it's Saint Nicholas today, so merry Saint Nicholas Sunday to you :)

 
Read: Fangirl (Rainbow Rowell)

Creamy Curry Pumpkin Soup

reading time: ca. 1 min

Preparation time: 30 mins
Main ingredients: hokkaido pumpkin, coconut milk, curry, potato
difficulty level: easy
serves: 4
suitable for: vegan, lactose-free, gluten-free, paleo, low-sodium

I'm so sad pumpkin season is officially over :( This curry pumpkin soup was on point! Just veggies and spices, and aargh Hokkaido pumpkin is so frickin delicious! (excuse my language) Sweet, creamy, and satisfying. This is basically the simplified version of the Asian Pumpkin Cream Soup i made for my birthday. 

The recipe is actually so easy to make and so creamy and delicious that i don't really know what else to say about it other than: i hope you like coconut because the coconut milk makes this about 100% better!