Easy breakfast for the lazy days when I just know I`ll skip lunch and sleep all afternoon instead. One has to be creative when corn is the dominant ingredient in the fridge... If you put some spices in, even the simplest dish can turn out amazing.                        - Kallapse

Every time I see this photo my thoughts drift away to all those romantic stories about late night snuggles, a nice movie and some ice cream before bed.... I hope your own stories turn out to be even better than those!                              - Kallapse

Energy squares

My version of the oat bars with a chocolaty twist.

3 bananas * 150 g rolled oats 100 g raw almonds, chopped** 100 g dried cranberries 50 g raisins 1 tbsp flax seeds 1 tbsp chia seeds 3 tbsp tahini 2 tbsp honey or maple syrup *** cinnamon ginger powder few drops of vanilla extract 1 tsp cocoa powder 1 1/2 tbsp carob powder ******** 1. Mash the babanas **** and add the tahini, the spices, the cocoa powder, the carob and the honey. 2. Add the oats and mix well. Don’t let sneaky oats to stay uncoated with the banana goodness! Add the dried fruits, the almonds and the seeds. 3. Let the mixture sit for an hour in room temperature. You can start preheating your oven to 180 C. 4. Transfer your mixture onto your baking sheet or whatever you are using. Level it, you’re going for about 2 cm thickness. 5. Bake it for about 25 minutes, but check it after the first 15 minutes! 6. Let it to cool and cut it to squares. Or long strips. It doesn`t really matter what shape you will use.

*******

*really ripe - most of the sweetness comes from them, so... ** you can use baked but with them you add salt to the mix. *** you can add more, it’s up to your preferences. Keep in mind though that the bananas and the dried fruits will make it sweet, so don’t go overboard with the syrup/honey **** it’s not easier if you cut them in small pieces, trust me, i’ve tried....

Simple sautèed potatoes

So I guess the time of comfort meals has come once again, huh? This is somewhat related to Marsiana`s post I guess... But it`s more of an accidental relation - I had to choose between macaroni and potatoes, and the latter seemed more appropriate for the rainy weather.

My dish is as simple as it gets (no surprise here) - you just need potatoes. As for the seasoning: salt, paprika, savory, curry and cayenne. Very simple, but very delicious. I actually had no idea I was doing sautèed potatoes until a day ago when I told my mother about what I was cooking and she said it was already invented... Oh, well. I just boiled some chopped potatoes (the reason I chopped them in squares in the first place was because I wanted them to cook faster) and moved them to an oiled pan just as they were about to get soft (if they`re too soft they`ll get smashed when you`re mixing them in the pan). Then you just add your spices and leave them for 5-10 mins - you`re the master of your `tatoes, precious (10 points to those who got that reference)!

Just look at them:

Amazing... I`m inlove with these potatoes, I really don`t understand how I`ve never had them before - so easy to make, can be combined with a main meal or just eaten as they are, you can add chili paste to them and make them extra spicy, you can crack an egg on them... Your potatoes, your choice! For me - as vegan as possible, that way I can fully enjoy the taste of the potatoes without having other distractions. 

Lately warm oats with carob powder and fruits are my favourite midday snack. With these cold days ahead I can’t run only on fruits anymore.

Vegan Comfort Food 101 : Potato stew

It’s getting cold here and my dreams of endless summer are gone. Gone like my patience for the people trying to convience me that vegan food is complicated game of “substitute the meat” and therefore you can’t have nice hearty dish for those chilly days. This Potato dish is my lazy escape. It is really easy but has this feeling of “home and cozy” to it. And you can feed all your friends, roommates and (in my case) family members with it. Noone is upset with the lack of meat in that one.

Potato Stew about 7 portions

1.5 kg potatoes 4 tbsp tomato paste or one large tomato 1 yellow onion 4 cloves of garlic 700ml water or veggie stock 1 tsp paprika 1/2 tsp ground black pepper 3 whole allspice 1/2 tsp cummin 1/2 tsp nutmeg pinch (or two) cayenne pepper salt  to taste 4 tbsp sunflower oil / olive oil

You will also need a stove and a big nonstick pot, where you can fill the goodies that we’re cooking. That’s it. Oh, you may need some knives and a peeler...

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1. Cut the potatoes in large cubes. Keep in mind that they have to be the same thickness, but don’t get overboard with the precision. Place them into a bowl filled with cold water so they don’t become brown (they oxidase just like apples). 2. Dice the onion and mince the garlic. If you’re using tomato, peel it and crush it with a fork. Just stay away from white walls. 3. Heat the oil in the pot and add your onion. Cook it on low heat until it is transparent. Add the minced garlic and your spices EXCEPT THE PAPRIKA. Cook it for few second and add your potatoes. Mix it well and let it cook on medium heat covered for about five minutes. Stir occasionally so it won’t stick to your pan. 4. Add the paprika and the tomato paste* and let it cook for ten minutes. Stir, don’t forget to stir! You can add more oil if you need. 5. After ten minutes add your water or veggie stock. Stir it good, taste it and let it cook on medium heat for about 20 minutes or until your potatoes are cooked. Teste it while cooking and add salt **

Tip : Serve it hot with chopped parsley and basil on top. Non-vegan tip : You can add crumbled feta cheese to it.

* you can add few tsp sugar if your tomato is too acidic. ** sometimes I use soy sauce

So one morning me and my friend decided to take out the old sandwich maker we found in one of the cupboards and bring it back to life. I`m suspecting he got tired of my fat french toasts or the thin pancakes (which I am now an expert in making of, thank you very much) which I was making him almost every morning, so he tried persuading me to try the small newly found helper for an easier, quicker breakfast. One of the (few) reasons I like living in a student dorm is that you always find something useful left behind from the previous students - in this case a sandwich maker. I used to have one back home many years ago (Marsiana do you remember?) and it was more like finding an old childhood memory rather than something useful for the future. We did use it couple of times though, but I haven`t seen it ever since and I`m guessing the other roommates decided to hide it for the next generation of sandwich-loving broke college students.                       - Kallapse

So you know how you have this good idea and you make the thing, but it doesn`t turn out quite as good as you thought it would? And you end up having to eat the disappointing meal the next day as well? Yeah, happens too often if you ask me. But with love for experimenting, comes the possibility of failure. Which results in a bowl of sad looking macaroni and eggs on pan with thick mushroom sauce that has no spices because someone doesn’t know how to spicy their meal unless it`s with cayenne. And although it wasn`t at all bad while it was just out of the pan, the fridge had turned it into the plain, sad dish I had to eat for lunch the next day. So I HAD to upgrade this. And as one does as a poor college student – I searched through my roommate`s cupboard to find a spice that might help me out. And, boy, did I find it. Chicken broth powder. I know. Mixing chicken broth with the said sad looking (and tasting) macaroni seems like a horrible idea to you. I had actually thought the same for a second, but I hadn`t eaten anything the whole day and I was too curious as to how it would turn out. So I heated up some oil and I left the weird grey-colored mixture of macaroni, eggs and mushroom sauce to thicken up even more until the macaroni pieces were brown-ish. I didn`t want them to break and get all sluggish when I poured in the chicken broth. So when they were kind of crispy, I poured a glass of the broth and waited. I`m pretty sure I was already preparing myself mentally for the failure because, man, did it look horrible. (I mean, look at that photo…) The grey substance from the mushroom sauce was starting to get liquid-y again because of the added broth, and the macaroni and egg pieces were floating around like slugs. And I was 100% certain I had failed. But the most important thing with macaroni-and-powder-sauce experiments is to let the liquid get thick. I did the same with the said mushroom sauce – I just poured it over the boiled macaroni and added the egg to that mixture - then I just waited for it to get thick. And the only difference this time was the flavor – mushroom sauce powders do not have as many spices in them, while the chicken broth has a lot. So they make a good balance – I even didn’t put any salt or pepper afterwards and it was still maybe a bit too overwhelming for my taste. But hey, it tasted like fried chicken with mushrooms! So, epic win, if you ask me!

So the lesson from this meal – always let the sauce get thicker, especially when working with sauce powders. It may not look so delicious (trust me, even I was kind of scared of trying it), but it tastes amazing! Sometimes you won`t think the idea is good at first (and maybe it occasionally won`t be), but if you try enough times, you`ll certainly succeed.

                                       - Kallapse

Over two years ago on Mother`s Day... I was editing the Baileys posts (1, 2) and I remembered one of the few times I had drank Baileys at home. I considered it (and still do, despite the 5 bottles currently in my fridge) a very special drink which my mother and my sister used to pour in small glasses when something needed celebrating. I really wish I could actually be home next year for Mother`s Day - and hopefully this time there won`t be only one flavour of Baileys on the table.                                   - Kallapse

Fig syrup with basil and lemon. Really refreshing combination. We have our own fig tree in the backyard and we make some really nice whole fruit jam. And I always mess up the proportions so that I can sneak some clear syrup for myself. Do you want me to post the recipe for the whole fruit jam (with the right proportions) ?                                - Marsiana

I`m having cereal and white wine for dinner tonight, is this what adulthood is going to be like from now on, because I`m not sure I`m ready

Onion Tarte Tatin

I was inspired from Mat Follas’ recipe for Red onion Tarte Tatin that I found in the bulgarian edition of Good Food and I had to do a vegan spin on it. With yellow onions, because I was too lazy to go shopping… It  turned out really nice and it is quite easy

This is using the basic technique for Tarte Tatin. So the only thing that you can mess up is the caramelization. But I’m using a cheat there so I don’t end up with burned sugar and onions.

  Onion Tarte Tatin

6 little tartes

  3 large yellow onions

500 gr puff pastry*

1/3 cup sugar

3 tbs balsamic vinegar

3 cloves finely chopped garlic

salt

black pepper seeds

cumin seeds

olive oil

 You will also need – muffin tin, baking paper, heavy bottom pan/pot for the caramelization, oven preheated at 190o C :)

  ********************

1. Bring water to simmer and add salt, black pepper seeds, and cumin seeds. Cut the peeled onions in half and boil them in the water for about 4 minutes.

2. Let the onions to cool down for at least 10 minutes.

3. Caramelize your sugar in a heavy bottom pan / or something that will give you time to work with the caramel rather than burn it for few seconds. You don’t want bitter burned sugar in your tartes!/. When it’s done switch to low heat, quickly add the onions with the flat half down and let them caramelize for about 30 sec or more. Add the balsamic vinegar to the pan and continue until the onions are caramelized.

4. Cut 6 rectangles of baking paper and line the nests of your muffin tin with it. Pour some of the balsamic souse in each nest, add an onion half, few drops of olive oil and garlic**.

5. Cut circles of puff pastry bigger then the holes of your muffin tin***. Cover each of the onion halves and stick the edges around the onion. Poke the pastry with a fork.

6. Bake in preheated oven for about 25 minutes or until they are golden brown.

  * if you want to keep it vegan read the ingredient list on this one, sometimes there’s butter in it.

** you can mince it but I like to feel the sweet baked chunks.

*** you can use vegetable oil to oil the nests, but I didn’t do it and it was perfectly fine.

  And that’s it. Super easy and these babies are amazing on their own, with some fresh tangy souse or, in my case, with fruits.

Here they are, the beauties! I saw my previous post  about them and I remember I never showed all of them. Yup, 5 bottles of Baileys are currently hiding in the fridge in the student dorm and I really cannot believe that they are all almost full! The only one which people seem to want to try is the Belgium Chocolate one... And I admit, it is the best one of all, but that doesn`t mean the others should be neglected! ... I get emotional when it comes to sweet drinks...                             - Kallapse

What else can we do for our friends` birthdays than GO ALL OUT with the birthday cake preparations?! I know I sure did... I woke up at 6:30 am on a Satturday morning to make that cake! I`ve never actually made cake like this (so pretty and delicious) for anyone - i`m even wondering if I EVER made a cake in my life, like AT ALL - , so you can imagine how excited I was when he finally saw it later that evening - I had to hide it the whole day since the celebration was to be held in the evening. Needless to say my cake was better than the one my other roommate made. I`m not even bragging. It`s the truth. I swear. What I loved about this cake:

it was incredibly light. I used Dr. Oetker`s Cake Cream with strawberries  - you just add whipped cream to the mix and the magic happens! I basically used the cream for both the filling of the cake and as frosting so that the coconut flakes would stick to the sides. The cream had a strong strawberry taste, but since the cake layers were not very sweet, it turned out very balanced.

it`s very college-student-friendly - you`ll need a bowl/pot for the strawberry mix, a larger bowl for the whipped cream and maybe a mixer (if you don`t have one, just use a simple whisk for the whipped cream - it takes longer, but hey, still works). And I made my cake on a huge wooden cutting board, because I don`t have a fancy cake plate...

it`s very easy to make - the hardest part was the decoration.

it`s SO ADORABLE (since his favourite candy is Raffaello, you can kind of get where I took the idea from) ! AND DELICIOUS!

               - Kallapse

Букви и череши за закуска

This is what March tastes like.

I usually get really excited about food, but Oh, God, you guys should see me unboxing a whole box of Baileys! If any of you has the opportunity to buy one of those babies - please, do so! My personal favourite is the Belgian Chocolate one, buuut I also adore the one with Coffee!                                                                  - Kallapse P.S. Currently there are 5 different bottles in the fridge... Don`t judge.

The cold February nights deserve warm Lentil soup, Turkish tea and sweet Kunafeh. And let`s not forget the bread. Ah, the bread...