February 11, 2012

Yogi Tea Wisdom and Blue Flower-Pattern Mug

I have realized that I have not made a post in this little series for a while, in which I post pictures of my favorite mugs along with a little wise saying printed on a Yogi Tea tag. Some of you were so kind to send me a picture of their favorite mug, and I will include them into these posts one by one.

For today’s post, I have chosen Clara‘s favorite mug. Clara is a psychologist (like me) and a vegan (unlike me), and although she does not live far away from me, we have not met in person yet. This will hopefully change soon! She even has an original Yogi Tea mug. spacer

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About the mug, Clara told me that she likes it very much because it is transparent, so she can see the color of the tea. This makes her happy every time. Yay for the little things of happiness!

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My mug for today is the little blue flower-pattern mug I got from my grandmom. It is one of my very favorites, and since Clara and I both love psychology a lot, I pictured it in front of a pile of psychology books. (I am currently drinking tea from this mug as well, but I have put the books away meanwhile.)

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The Yogi Tea wisdom comes from Clara’s “Enchanting Peppermint” Yogi Tea this time. The tea tag says, “trust in the wisdom of the heart”. I love that very much. Several times in my life, I have made decisions that turned out to be unfortunate later on, because I neglected what my heart was telling me, and went for rational arguments instead. Rational arguments can be helpful, but many other factors play a role as well in whether or not we are satisfied with a decision we have made. These other factors may not even come to our consciousness, and some of them probably do not seem convincing because they are not based on reasoning but rather on feeling. Now, I have learned (by experience) to listen to the subtle feelings which I indeed have about many things and persons, and these feelings are often a better guide than the rational mind. This does not mean to neglect your senses, just that you should also listen to what the feeling is telling you. Do not forget the feeling is wise and knows a lot about yourself. And yes, this statement is indeed supported by psychological research.

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If you like this series and want to partake in it as well, please send a picture of your favorite mug to myfunnylittlelife@googlemail.com and tell me what you like so much about it – I will come around to posting it one day spacer . You do not have to picture your mug with some Yogi Tea wisdom because I also have Yogi Tea in my cupboard, but if you like that as well, it is always appreciated.

Do you trust your feelings?

17 Comments

Filed under Yogi Tea Wisdom and Lovely Mugs

February 10, 2012

Making Juice withouth a Juicer

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For some time now, I have been drooling over my friend Kris‘ wonderful homemade juice creations. Kris juices every from bell peppers to garlic. Here is one of her wonderful creations. (I hope you do not mind I have taken your picture, Kris! I have linked it, you see? spacer )

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~ sweet broccoli kale juice from Spabettie ~

And then I recently saw that also my friend Rufus drinks homemade juice, made from lots of greens. So what do you think, who else wants fresh juice?

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Now the problem is, of course, that I do not have a juicer. I also hesitate to buy yet another kitchen appliance … So, time to get a little creative. And since I have a blender (James), I figured that I might use him to make juice. And it worked.

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I started very basic with a simple green vegetable juice made from just spinach. You can also use other greens such as kale, broccoli, lettuce, or whatever you like, to make something like this. I found it quite bitter and it was a little too much for me to drink it pure (how do you do it, Rufus?), but it is very nice when you water it down and add some lemon juice and ice, or balance it with a litle sweetness from fruit. It is also a nice addition to a smoothie. Even an already green smoothie will be more nutritious when you make it with green juice instead of water. I am looking forward to trying fancier juice creations in the future. spacer

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GREEN JUICE

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Ingredients

  • 2 handfuls of spinach (or other greens)
  • 350 ml (1 1/2 cups) water

Directions

Blend everything in the blender. Filter the “soup” using a sprout bag or a (washed spacer ) nylon sock. Now you have green juice ready for further use or direct enjoyment (if you are hardcore). This technique works equally fine with other vegetables or fruit, or any mix of fresh stuff. Just add some water so you will have something to drink afterwards spacer .

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So, my (probably juicerless, but hopefully blender-equipped) friends, join the juicing fun! What would you like to juice?


24 Comments

Filed under All Recipes, Basics and Best Friends, Drinks, Kitchen Witchery

Tagged as Spinach

February 5, 2012

I Baked.

As long as I can remember, I have always taken exceptional pleasure in concocting stuff. Concocting took place in very different regards: For example, I made up stories in my mind, invented places and characters, and designed clothing and equipment for them. I built paper castles. I regularly snitched my mom’s hand cream and converted it into an organic super power lotion by mixing petals and leaves from daisies, clover, dandelions, and buttercups into it. And I also liked to “bake”.

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~ lalala ~

I put this into quotation marks because it was not what you would call baking. The purpose was not to create a nice cake, but the fun along the way. My favorite ingredient was green food color, and I was the master of what I may call “volcano mud cakes”. I would sit in front of the oven and eagerly observe how my concoction inside would first grow and then implode, while the slugde would spill over the edges of the cake-pan. It was the greatest pleasure.

~ imagine this in green ~

Today, I am still not a baker. I am a concoctionist (have I just concocted this word?), and when I prepare something in the kitchen, it can be best described as throwing together stuff. With cooking, this is usually fine, but baking often calls for elaborate recipes that want to be followed thoroughly to work out at all … Not so much my cup of tea. I like cooking better.

And still, when I recently read on Katy‘s blog that she was looking for a protein-rich breakfast baked-goodie thing, I felt determined to challenge my baking “skills” once again, and concoct something for her – without green food color, this time. spacer

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I wanted for something that was nutritious, tasty, and gentle on the blood sugar level. So, it needed fiber, protein, and healthy fats. One look into the food shelf – okay, ground almonds are there. What might go well with almonds? Hm … Poppy seeds, maybe? For a nice, marzipan-y taste? Katy might like that. Protein has to come from eggs, since she asked for something without protein powder. And we need a sweet-tasting vegetable for the fiber – such as carrot, since I have already baked with pumpkin in the past. Too boring to do that again (next time, maybe). And then some spices … Calls for a dive into my spice shelf, with sniffling my way through all the jars and everything … Oh, and look, there are also hemp seeds! – So you see, this is how I concoct.

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And I can happily say that Katy (who got the recipe at once) made these little thingies immediately and loved them. If you want to make them yourself, just go easy on the recipe – you know, it is a concoction, right? So, just switch nuts, seeds, and spices according to what you like and have in your kitchen. Also, you can add a little brown sugar if you want for some sweetness, because I made them sugar-free. As long as you stick to the veggie-egg-nut mixture in somewhat the original proportions, the stuff will stick together and taste good.

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ALMOND AND CARROT PATTIES

spacer  makes about 9 patties

Ingredients

  • 100 g (3 1/2 oz) ground almonds
  • 100 g (3 1/2 oz) shredded carrots (use a blender or kitchen machine)
  • 2 tbsp poppy seeds
  • 2 tbsp hemp seeds, crushed
  • 1 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
  • 1 dash of salt
  • 1 pinch of ground cardamom
  • 1 pinch of ground allspice
  • 1/4 tsp ground five-spice
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar (optional)
  • 2 eggs (or flax eggs, to veganize)

Directions

Mix all ingredients together.

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Form little patties with your hands and put them on a paper-covered baking tray.

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Bake at 200 °C (390 °F) for 15 minutes, or until slightly brown. The patties should be a little crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Enjoy!

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40 Comments

Filed under All Recipes, Baked Goods

Tagged as Almonds, Egg, Carrot, Brown Sugar, Five-Spice, Hemp Seeds, Cardamom, Allspice, Poppy Seeds, Coriander Seed

February 4, 2012

The Warmth of Kindness

First of all, I want to thank all of you for your understanding, thoughtful, kind, and helpful comments and emails regarding my internal struggles about eating animal products. I had never expected so much feedback and so much kindness. Thank you all so much! Your words and thoughts are warming my heart.

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My conscience is still very troubled, and I feel it will stay that way – some things just accompany me for years, and this feels like one of them. Although I have decided to go on eating animal products, this topic is far from being through for me, and you will read more on that on my blog in the future. Now that the pressure of not eating meat and fish again is taken from me, I feel much easier and motivated to try out new sources of good nutrients. So, I stocked up on some new (and finished off) goodies. As you can see, I am determined to try quinoa again (and again and again, until I finally come to like it).

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~ in clockwise order: oat bran, quinoa, buckwheat, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds ~

After some days, my (admittedly quite died-down) appetite for legumes is coming back, manifesting in a pot of adzuki beans I currently have on the stove. And then, the most wonderful thing arrived last week …

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I had never imagined I could like a protein powder that much! spacer  And it not only tastes good, but also makes me feel good immediately when drinking it. Energy in a jar! So, I have developed a habit to start the day with a protein shake, and this works very well and keeps my blood sugar level calm throughout the day.

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In a more physical regard, my mom’s kindness is warming my body these days, because she knit a wonderful pullover for me which just arrived with the mail a few days ago.

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I wear it a lot since the past days have been very cold suddenly, and I shiver at up to (are rather, down to) -10 °C (14 °F) whenever I leave the house. We even had a little snow, although it is nothing compared to one year ago.

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I hope you are all well and warmed by kindness! spacer

28 Comments

Filed under :), Lalala

Tagged as Buckwheat, Oat Bran, Protein Powder, Pumpkin Seeds, Quinoa, Sunflower Seeds

January 29, 2012

Soul-Searching of a Paleo Eater Who Has the Heart of a Vegetarian

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I am a contemplator. I brood about things a lot, especially when they have to do with central areas on my life, and I do it in silence. This means that you will not know I brood over something, because I do not speak about it while I am doing it. Actually, the more something concerns me, the less I will speak about it.

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On the outside, I just go on as before, but I start gathering a lot of information, privately. On the inside, I move thoughts and weigh decisions. This process goes on for a couple of weeks or even months, and then I come out with something, often to the surprise of my social environment.

You can now probably imagine that I have been brooding for some time and are going to come out with something. And you will also guess this has to do with eating animals.

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This past week, I did a little excursion into veganism. To give you the background of this happening, I have to go back in history a little. (I just hope you are not tired already of me going back in history.)

I grew up eating very little meat. My parents are not vegetarians, but meat was something we seldomly had on our plates. Instead, we ate a lot of fish (several times a week), because my dad is very fond of fishing and goes for a fishing trip once a week or so on the average. Living not far from the Baltic Sea, he catches both sweetwater and saltwater fish, and he prepares the fish himself. As a child, I believed that chicken was a subspecies of fish.

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~ my dad coming home with salmons ~

Apart from the fish, we ate a little poultry, and my mom always cooked a lot of vegetable dishes. I very well remember, though, that I loved chicken already, and when we visited my grandparents, we sometimes ate lunch at a place where they offered half of a roasted chicken, which I would happily devor with a lot of ketchup.

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At some point of my life (I was still quite small), I started to find fish a little revolting and did not want to eat it anymore, so I decided to become a vegetarian. Fish was the major thing I had to give up then, so it seemed logical to me to become a vegetarian altogether. During this time, I still ate dairy (that a little later turned out not to go well with me), especially yoghurt, which somewhat was my staple food and the hardest thing to give up when I was diagnosed dairy intolerant at age 12 or so.

A few years later, when my taste buds had grown up a little, I eventually started to eat fish and chicken again, but only on occasion and in small amounts. Without dairy, my staple foods were apples, vegetables, and bread rolls during most of my teenage years. I also developed eating issues back then, and eating meat did not seem overly appealing to me. My health was already suffering, and I became very thin.

When I moved out and started studying, I continued eating those things, and added milk back in (I somehow believed I would tolerate milk better than other dairy), and this accelerated my already ongoing health decline immensely. I was chronically sick and fatigued, struggled with severe inflammations and stomach cramps, and suffered from constant hunger. It was hard not to lose my mind during those years. However, I did not understand this was due to eating a diet very high in carbs and particularly sugar, very low in fat and protein, and consisting of foods I am allergic against to a high degree.