Winter is cuddling time & cats in the box

Hey all,

as you know with our little zoo here we have always company on the couch. I really like this in the winter. It makes me feel warm and at home.

This is how it usually looks like then:

And our cats do appreciate boxed as much as all the other cats.
It is only really mean of us humans to put only 1 (!!!) of it there.

Have a great day and a fantastic start in 2014,
Susann

What does a gardener do in January?

Hi all,

I have to tell you, I really cant wait to start the digging in the ground again. Seriously, what are all the gardeners to in the winter? They probably enjoy their winter vegetables.... hahaha
Well, but I don't have any.

So I keep myself busy with planning the garden for the next period.
I still think about getting a raised garden bed. But how would it look like? Should i try to plant some salad this year? How do I keep the snails away from my plants so that at least one pumpkin plant will survive?

I want to try to plant some potatoes this time. I heard you can plant them in containers. I think I am going to try this. Also I am very sure to only get one zucchini plant hahahaha. I still have some in the freezer :)
I think I don't so herbs this time as they did not grow so well in the small containers I got for them. In the meanwhile I will plant flowers there to attract some bees and bugs.

I also cant wait to see the first spring flowers growing. I planted 4 containers full and got new tulips. I am curious how they will turn out. (actually I can hardly remember the color anymore so it will be a total surprise anyway).

We also think about cutting away the 3 huge trees who are still left. Thy just take away too much space and light. And I would really like to have new garden furniture and a small meditation corner. And I thought about building a bug hotel. I really would get rid of the bugs on the mint in a natural way. There were so many this year that we could hardly enjoy any mint.

And now I hope you do understand why I can not wait to get started. :)
First thing to to is probably getting an idea of what to plant. This is a nice project for the next evening on the couch.
I keep you posted!

Many greetings,Susann

Fantastic Breakfast Granola

Hi all,

as I promised, here (finally) the receipt for my super YUMMY breakfast granola.

What you need:

• 300 g old fashioned rolled oats
• 50 g almonds, chopped
• 4 tbsp honey
• 4 tbsp peanut butter 
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla flavor

Mix honey and peanut butter and heat it up a bit so it smelts. I put it in the microwave for a little. Put cinnamon, vanilla flavor and oat in a bowl and mix it together with the honey& peanut butter.

Now spread everything on a baking tray ( cover the tray with baking paper before) and bake it at 160° for about 15 min. You need to wait until it is nicely brown. Get it out and leave it on the tray until it is cold. It will still be a little bit sticky one you got it out the oven but don't worry. It will get dry and crunchy as soon as it is cold.

Store it in an air tight container to keep it fresh.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do :)

Many greetings, Susann

We enjoy our vacation

Hi all,

we totally enjoy the time off right now.
We had some nice walks were I took this pictures:

As you can see I really like this weather. Cold but sunny. Perfect for a nice morning walk and so thought Floris :)

For Christmas we spend some time in Germany. We stayed in Idar Oberstein and also went to see my Family. It was great to have them around once again. One of my sisters is pregnant right now so I took her something:

They are so cute. I cant wait see the little one wearing them. But well, I will have to wait. In the meanwhile I already started new projects for the soon to come baby. I will keep you posted.
Also I will show you pictures of my 2 scarfs. They are now done and so nice and warm. Only that we have about 10-12 ° here right now and it is a little to warm to wear them hahahaha.

Also I will soon post the missing granola receipt. :) To my friend Inge: Try it out. It is super easy and really, really tasty!

Today we spent our time painting the hall and the toilet. You do understand that my arms are getting tired, right? So I better stop writing now. 

Another post will come soon.

Have a great time,
Susann 

Early morning walk

Hi all,

finally! Today is the first day of my 3 weeks vacation. I woke up early as the sun was shining and so I took the dog for an early morning walk.

I love to be outside when not much people walking and just enjoy the nature.
Today I took my mobile with me to show you how nice it is around here.

For the next days I have planned to get used to a smal breakfast again. I usually don't eat before I got to work and then I grab some snacks. This I would like to change. And I think during the upcomming days of my vacation is a great time.

Therefore I already purchased some superfoods such as Chis Seeds and raw chocolade powder. But today I made my very own breakfast granola :)

It still needs to cool down so I will show you the result tomorrow.

Have a nice evening,

Susann

Grilled Carrots

Hi all,

Nearly weekend! Wohooo! I can't wait. Since I worked on my new scarf again until late last night I could really need some sleep.

But now something nice for you.
I am usually not a carrot lover. I don't know why but usually carrots don't find their way into my kitchen. Only to prepare some fresh juice with it from time to time.
As I prepare a lot of vegetables in to oven at the moment and the taste usually change a lot comparing to cook them I wanted to try this with carrots as well. And they were so good!

What you need:

• small carrots
• vegetable oil
• fresh garlic
• salt & pepper

Wash the carrots and mix the oil together with fresh garlic, salt and pepper. Add fresh herbs if you want. I used lemongrasspouder and gingerpouder.

Make sure you spread some oil over every carrot, put them on a baking tray and bake them in the oven for about 20 min (175°C)

Here is what it looks like.

 

Yesterday I talked to my friend Katja. Katja is eating vegan for a few month already. She will do some guest posts from time to time so you can see that the UK offers more than fish & chips :)
I am really looking forward to this. Will be nice to do something together with her as we have not seen us for a while yet.

So, now I hope you have a great day.

Many greetings,
Susann

Happy Monday & Vegan for Fit

Hi all,

I just wanted to wish you a fantastic start in your Week. My Monday were very relaxed. I was working in my first crocheting scarf last night and could not stop. I hope I can finish it by end of the week and show you how it turned out. Slowly I could need it hahahaha
It is getting cold over here.

Here is something else I wanted to show you. One of my birthday presents is a new book. I am sure a lot of you have already heard about Attila Hildmann and his books?
Well if not and you are interested in vegan cooking you should get one.

I will probably try out a few things the upcoming days and weeks.

Have a relaxed Monday and don't let anyone stress you today.
Many greetings,
Susann

Portobello Pizza

Hi all,

I hope you have had a great weekend so far.
I turned 30 this week. WOW! I remember, when I was young I thought this is sooooo old. And now I feel great!
Let's hope it stays like this hahaha.

But now something nice for you.
I try to stay away from too much rice, pasta and pataoes as a side dish so I try to search as much alternatives as possible.

A great side dish are Portobello Pizza.

What you need:

• 6 Porobello mushrooms
• 1 pepper in the color you like
• 4-5 spring onions
• a hand full of small mushrooms
• a little gralic
• grated cheese
• salt & pepper

Remove the stem out of the portobello mushrooms and put them in a casserole form. Slice the rest of the vegetables in very small pieces and fry them in a pan. Add salt and pepper.
If everything is well fried put it in the mushrooms and add some cheese. Put it in the oven (170°) for 15-20min.

Enjoy the rest of the sunday!
Many greetings,
Susann