Category Archives: Bonn Shopping

Homemade Almond Milk

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Well, I may be the last one to try it, but I finally made my own almond milk.  Everyone keeps telling me how easy it is, and I hate paying the 3.99 euro per liter, but I didn’t feel like soaking almonds overnight or blanching almonds.  Then I found blanched almonds for the same price as regular almonds at Goll Reformhaus.  (Which reminds me of a questions for those in the know – are all items at the ‘Reformhaus’ bio?  It doesn’t say on the package.)
I mixed 200 g almonds, 600 g of water, 4 dates and a splash of vanilla on high in my Thermomix for 2 minutes, and then I poured it into a nut milk bag (or cheese bag) that I found on Amazon.de.  It seems that sweeteners, flavours, blanching and straining are just a matter of preference.  People make the milk many different ways, and you could just mix raw almonds and milk and drink, but all the variations are for personal preference for flavour and consistency.  However, most recipes using whole almonds do suggest soaking them first. From the pictures, you can see how I set the bag up over a bowl.  After I poured the mixture in, some drained through the bag and then I squeezed the bag to get the remaining liquid out.  Then I was left with some pulp.  There are a few recipes out there for using the pulp as well.  I plan to try the cookies from Choosing Raw.  (You can see pictures on the side, but I can’t see to format this post correctly so you can look at the captions to figure it out).

I will admit this was pretty easy, but I was disappointed to see how little almond milk it made.  It looks like about 2 cups.  The recipe says it makes 3, and I was able to squeeze a little more milk out, but now I am not sure that I am really saving any money this way since 200 g of bio almonds costs 3.50 euros at Der Leyenhof.  I will have to look at my package of store-bought milk to see if it has anything else added because now the only advantage I see to making it is to stick to more whole food ingredients, but I have to admit I am not sure it is worth making it myself. I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences!

Almond Milk

Leftover Almond Pulp

Blanched Almonds

Nut Milk Bag

Great Idea for Hot Summer Days

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Happy 4th of July!  Thinking of hot summer days, I wanted a healthier way to help the kids cool down.  I found these great popsicle containers at Tchibo:

4 Silikon-Wassereisbereiter 284423 bei Tchibo.

Now I can put in some all natural fruit juice or even smoothies or healthy, vegan ice creams.  The kids love it, and I don’t feel guilty about giving them.

I love these particular holders because they are a lot less messier than the traditional stick ones as the dripping and drops are more contained.  Also, you don’t have to worry about keeping up with the sticks and it is easier to make a variety of quantities rather than having to make a whole set at a time.  For example, I had some leftover smoothie from breakfast, so I simply poured it into one of these.

 

If you are in Germany, get them while they are out as you know they will disappear…

Balls Galore

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Image

Last weekend I went a little ball cray, and perhaps a little coconut crazy as well since all these recipes include desiccated coconut.  The problem is that they are so dang easy to make, and the kids love getting involved.  Although it is a great way to get them involved in food prep, it probably diminishes the outcome by about half.

On Friday, I made ‘Power Balls’ which I discovered and modified from my German Thermomix book.  These are basically date-nut balls with a bit of orange punch.  The kids all love them and I feel good giving them an energizing afternoon snack that they can get involved in. (the dark balls on the right of the picture)

On Saturday, my five year old son was begging to make what he calls ‘Snowballs’ that came from an old childhood cookbook of mine with the original name, ‘Quick-Energy Pickups’ (the balls on the left in the picture).  I think they get the quick energy from the use of 1 cup of powdered sugar which I can’t bear the thought of now, so I played around with the recipe to lower the sugar and to make it vegan.  For those in germany, I recommend using a pure organic product such as Rapunzel’s Erdnussmus which is one of the only products I have found that is 100% peanuts. 

On Sunday morning, I was flipping through my new ‘A Taste of Vegetarian’ by Thermomix which has so many fun and healthy recipes, that I decided I had to try yet another ball recipe.  This one is called ‘Carob Bites’.  I haven’t really used carob much or been a fan of other recipes I tried it in.  This recipe mixes carob, tahini and honey for a really unique flavor.  Obviously many vegans will find issue with the honey, and rice syrup could be easily substituted.  The other issue is that it does have quite a bit of sweetener. I was a little confused by the recipe in that it instructs you to cut into squares and then roll it in this ‘LSA Plus’ mix.  I ended up making the squares into balls, and that made it a bit more time consuing, but for my last few treats, I rolled the squares in the LSA Plus mix, and that worked fine and would make this a really quick treat. The LSA Plus that you make to roll these in is highly recommended.  It makes a fair amount, and I have been keeping it in my fridge to add some goodness daily to smoothies, salads, cereals or whatever strikes my fancy.  I did not add the ‘pimento’ as in my mind that is marinated red peppers and is totally out of place.  However, I recognize that ‘piment’ is allspice in German, so that would make sense in this recipe (I will need to research this before I do my next batch).

As a final note, although I was inspired by my super duper Thermomix to make these recipes, I think any high powered blender   would do, and you should be able to figure out the recipes.  Just keep in mind that the speeds on the Thermomix go from 1-10 with 10 being the highest.  However, I wouldn’t blame you if you decided to buy a Thermomix to simplify your life:-)

 

 

Power Balls
A few of my own modifications, but very popular with the kids.

INGREDIENTS:

- 250 grams almonds
- 2 tablespoons flax seed
- 200 grams dates, stoned
- 1 orange zest
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 6 tablespoons orange juice
- coconut for rolling

METHOD:

1. Put the orange zest, flax seed and almonds in the mixing bowl for 10 sec / level 10 to grind finely. (see note to use a whole orange instead)

2. Put the dates, vanilla and cinnamon in for 15 seconds / level 10 grind.

3. Add the orange juice and mix 10 seconds / level 3 mix.

4. For each 1 tsp of the ground mixture, make a ball of about 3 cm. Roll in coconut.

5. Keep in the refrigerator.

SOURCE: Thermomix

Quick-Energy Pickups

Modified to a lower sugar/vegan version.

INGREDIENTS:

- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1/3 cup rice syrup
- 1/2 cup powdered soy milk
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup coconut

METHOD:

1. Mix all ingredients except coconut.

2. Roll into bite-sized balls and roll balls in coconut.

3. Store in refrigerator until ready to eat.

SOURCE: Betty Crocker’s Cookbook for Boys and Girls

Carob Bites

- 60 grams carob powder
- 220 grams tahini
- 290 grams honey
- 170 grams soy milk powder
- 2 tablespoons LSA Plus

METHOD:

1. Place all ingredients except LSA plus into the Thermomix bowl and mix for 10 seconds on speed 4.

2. Tip onto a clean work surface and press out into 2 cm thick rectangle. Cut into bite sized pieces, roll in LSA Plus and refrigerate.

SOURCE: A Taste of Vegetarian

LSA Plus

A great healthy topping for cereal or salads or mix in for smoothies.

INGREDIENTS:

- 1 measuring cup flax seed
- 1 measuring cup sunflower seeds
- 1 measuring cup almonds
- 1/2 measuring cup goji berries
- 1/2 measuring cups desiccated coconut
- 1/2 measuring cup pimento

(the measuring cup refers to the cup on the top of the Thermomix which is about 1/2 cup(?), but the exact amount is not really important.  The important thing is that you have the same measure of the first 3 ingredients and 1/2 of that measure for the second 3)
METHOD:

1. Using the measuring cup front eh top of the thermomix, place the flaxseed into the Thermomix and mill for 5 seconds on speed 9.

2. Add the remaining ingredients and set dial to closed lid position. Pulse the Turbo button twice for 1 second each.

SOURCE: A Taste of Vegetarian

Power Breakfast

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Homemade, Healthy, Happy.: Raw Superfood Chia Porridge.

So my standard breakfast these days is either oatmeal or smoothie.  I enjoy both, and you can make each with a variety of fruits so it’s not always the same.  However, it is always nice to have more options.

I keep hearing about the wonders of chia and goji berries, so when I came across this recipe, I knew I had to try it.

Any google search on chia will bring up sites praising the seed.  In brief, it appears to be a great source calcium,  anti-oxidants, and omega-3s.  Additionally, it is supposed to curb hunger, intensify flavor and be a healthy gelatinous substitute for eggs and fat.  We haven’t been able to get them in Germany, so I haven’t really tried anything with them.  However,  my friend. Angela recently gave me a bag, so I have been adding it to smoothies.  Now I have discovered they are available at Amazon.de, so I am looking for more ways to use them.  In fact, I wouldn’t have tried this recipe if I didn’t have another source as it uses quite a bit of chia.

The Goji berry is well known by the Chinese and has been used for thousands of years there.  According to About.com, some of the benefits are that they:

  • protect the liver
  • help eyesight
  • improve sexual function and fertility
  • strengthen the legs
  • boost immune function
  • improve circulation
  • promote longevity

With benefits such as these, who wouldn’t want to use them?!  I have already been throwing them into my oatmeal, and my Taiwanese friend says you can even add them to soups!  Goji berries are also available at the Reformhaus stores in towns in Germany.  I have even seen monster bags of them – 1 kg perhaps?

So I was quite pleased to find this breakfast porridge with both chia and goji and figured I had to try it.  I don’t think you need a Thermomix as it is only a little mixing required.  The instructions have you mixing on a reverse blade which means the non-cutting side.  It would be equivalent to mixing by hand.  I was actually a bit surprised by this as I thought you would want to grind the chia like flax seeds.  I did not have any incaberries (don’t know anything about those) or raw cacao nibs.  I have never used the cacao nibs before, but I know they are available here and I will get some for the next time.  I did add all the suggested spices and let the mixture sit for the recommended 45 minutes. (The wait time is evidently necessary, but you can prepare it the night before.) Then I topped with bananas, almonds, ‘bromberries’ (whatever they are in English), and I had a hearty, healthy and tasty breakfast.

I loved the flavor, and I loved that I was eating so much healthy goodness.  The popping of the chia seeds is a bit surprising, but I thought it was fun.  Unfortunately, the breakfast was not a hit with my first 3 kids.  The 10 year old  and 5 year old wouldn’t even try it (but that is typical with most of my experiments), the 3 year old tried it, but wasn’t enthusiastic.  The one year old ate it just as well as any breakfast (not refusing, but not super enthusiastic either).  I don’t expect I will be making this too often because my kids weren’t too thrilled with it and because of the necessary wait time, but I would definitely like to work it in every couple of weeks, and I recommend you give it a try as well just to have so much healthy goodness!

Tasty Chocolate treats good enough to serve anyone

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Chocolate Goji Berry Stars : Disease Proof.

So I have probably posted chocolately treats a few too many times, but I love me some chocolat!.  At any rate, I keep reading that chocolate itself is good for you, but all the fats and sugars that usually come with it are not.  In general, I have had great success with variation of date-nut mixtures with cocoa.  This recipe is the simplest of them yet.  There are only 3 ingredients and no cooking!  I didn’t even do the different mixing steps this recipe calls for as I simply threw all the ingredients in my Thermomix at once and it was ready to roll in about 15 seconds.

Now forming the little disks does take a bit of time, but honestly, the most time consuming bit is making decorative stars. You could skip this step and just mash into pan and then cut brownie style, but the disks with the stars look nice enough to serve to company, and Goji berries are supposed to be full of health benefits.

I took these disks to a brunch, and everyone seem to enjoy them and were surprised that there was no sugar.  The hostess even took some to serve to a passel of boys coming to her house that afternoon. So I highly recommend it as both a rich treat and something you can take to events.

Applesauce, Apfelmus or Apfelmark?

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One of the things I enjoy about living in Germany is the great access to whole, natural foods.  The fruit purees available in just about every store is one example.

Fruit purees such as applesauce are great ingredients to keep on stock.  Besides being a perfect first food for babies, older kids love them and they make a great ingredient to substitute for fats and sugars in baked goods.

Unfortunately, Applesauce is not always such a nice pure ingredient.  In the States you can find a whole section dedicated to applesauce, but you will notice a list of ingredients in each which often includes words you don’t even recognize to flavor and color.  Before living in Germany, I would usually, peel, core and quarter my apples, steam them and mash to make sure I had only apples in my applesauce.  Now, that isn’t too difficult, but in Germany I can open a jar and get the exact same product.  I can also easily buy the apples mixed with pears, mangos, apricots or peaches.  It is a complete whole food with no added sugars and all available organically at all.

Now, for those of you living in Germany, you have probably already discovered these wonderful fruits in a jar, however, please be cautioned that there is a difference between the ‘Mark‘ and ‘Mus‘ products.  The ‘mus‘ is a more readily available product, but it is sweetened – usually with apple juice which can have a variety of sweeteners.  If you click on the links for the products above, you can see that ‘Mark‘ is 100% apples and nothing else.

So the next time you are in the grocery store, pick up some fruit ‘Mark‘ and eat it to your heart’s content!

Allspice in Germany!

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This may not be news for you alte Hasen, but after years of either neglecting allspice or using a mix of various other spices, I have discovered the real thing – Piment!  I never even considered it since I was under the false impression that allspice was a mixture spices, and I had even made a mixture to use as a substitute.  Wikepedia claims that the English called it allspice because it seemed to combine the flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.  I had also assumed that ‘piment’ available in Germany was related to pimentos, but according to Wikepedia, allspice is the dried fruit of the Pimenta dioica plan, so the German word ‘piment’ actually makes more sense.  Evidently, Germans don’t use it often in cooking, but it is widely available and is a major ingredient in sausage making!

Flaxseed: A Plant Powerhouse – Page 1

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Flaxseed: A Plant Powerhouse – Page 1.

I am a big fan of flaxseed, and if you haven’t discovered it yet, I suggest you check it out.  You do need to make sure it is ground, and once it is ground you keep it in the fridge (or freezer as this page suggests).

It is available in just about every grocer in Germany.  It’s called ‘Leinsamen’ and is often sold pre-ground, ‘geschrotet’

Non dairy cheeses in Bonn

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Finally found some non dairy cheese in Bonn! Cream cheese – one of the things I find hardest to do without, and non-dairy mozzarella are now at Basic Bio in Bonn center. In fact, they have started to label all vegan products, so it is quite helpful. I haven’t tried the cream cheese yet, but I put the mozzarella on a pizza tonight, and the pizza was great. However, it was not a cheesy tasting pizza, but the flavor came from using capers and sun dried tomatoes.

What the Heck is Nutritional Yeast? | recipe from FatFree Vegan Kitchen

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What the Heck is Nutritional Yeast? | recipe from FatFree Vegan Kitchen.

 

Here is a great summary of what Nutritional Yeast is, how and why to use it as well as links to lots of recipes with it.

She explains that it is NOT Brewer’s yeast which is ‘Bier Hefe’ in German.  You want to look for ‘Näh Hefe’, and I have found it at Der Leyenhof, and in Bad Godesberg if you are in the Bonn area.