weekend | Katharina's Food Adventures

Hi everyone! I hope your week has started off on a good note. I know mine has. Aside from my computer crashing, things have been looking up. After a week of no sun and dreary weather, the weather gods decided to give us the gift of sunshine and warmth. Thank goodness! I think this is just what I needed to reenergize myself for this busy week. Without my computer I will find myself with less distractions. But I’ll do my best to keep you all updated – hence I am sitting in the toasty Fine Arts building’s computer lab. So many computers buzzing!

I’ll start off with my Saturday night. I was going to go to some experimental sound art show, but I wasn’t really in the mood for that. Instead I called up one of my best friends to see what she was up to.

Driving to meet up with them.

Strawberry Street Market's selection of beers. They even had a Honey Basil kind.

We ended up going to our friend's house for a house show.

The band seemed to be cooped up in this one room – I think they should’ve played in the middle. But a friend of mine came out of that room with a bloody nose but the biggest smile on her face!

I tried to capture the crowd surfing that was going on haha

I didn’t want to get back too late because I was planning on going hiking the next day.

So I ended up heading back around 3 in the morning.

Not a bowl of oats!

My tummy wasn’t feeling too well the next day so I wanted to take it easy. I had some leftover okara from when I made soymilk when I got home super late. Yeah, I made soymilk around 3 am… Anyway, I mixed it with pumpkin butter, stevia, and cinnamon. I topped it with a sliced apple, dates, some more pumpkin butter, and the last of the Artisana almond butter.

Matilda, down.

Aw!!! How can anyone resist?

Some things I packed for my hiking trip!

I made myself a PB&J sandwich using Rudi’s Wheat & Oat bread. Oh my gosh this bread is so good by the way. It’s perfect for sandwiches – especially a classic PB&J. I love how thick the slices make it so much more satisfying to bite into. When I was making my sandwich I had trouble deciding which jam to use. I remembered that Boysenberry jam is one of my favorites, but I currently do not have it in stock.

Well guess what? My computer crashed and I knew that I would have to take care of that before I went on any hiking trip. And the sun was shining so brightly on Sunday I knew I didn’t want to be indoors.

This necklace spoke for my excitement about the weather!

I headed over to my nearest Apple store and I ended up making an appointment for today (Monday). By the time I was done with that, my friends that were going to go with me either a) didn’t want to anymore or b) didn’t answer. But you know what? I still wanted to go hiking so I went. I called up a good friend of mine that is usually up for doing stuff. I didn’t get to go to the Shenandoah Valley like I had planned, but atleast I got to go exploring and get some easy hiking in.

Crossing the bridge to Belle Isle.

The hiking begins!

My shoes along with the wet mud were not a good combination, but it was fun nonetheless. I love adventures!

I think Matilda does too.

I love letting Matilda off the leash so she can sniff around as she pleases. She’s so cute because she never strays too far. When she was walking ahead of us she kept stopping and looking back to make sure we were still there. What would she do if we decided to play hide-n-seek with her?

There's a pond on the isle.

I just thought these pods were beautiful.

The James River is really high right now from all the rain.

Admiring the sky.

I love being out in nature and being amazed by it. Nature is beautiful and it doesn’t have to try.

City skylines can be amazing too.

Dinner

This time I just sautéed the kale with white cooking wine and seasonings. I also had some of my leftover “meatloaf” I made with the okara. Last but not least I made a recipe inspired by Katie’s mashed cauliflower. I pureed mine with salt & pepper, nutritional yeast, and soymilk. Then I served it with some all-natural butter. Yum!

Then it was time for some homework!

This is a part of what I’m working on for my sculpture project.

I'm not much of a painter, but I think it's fun. I haven't done it in years!

Monday mornings

This breakfast was interesting. I wanted to use up the rest of my okara, so I mixed it with a ZenSoy banana pudding cup. By the way, I think the banana pudding flavor is my favorite. I heated that up till it liquified and then dumped on some Aztec Crunch Corn & Amaranth cereal. Excuse my half-eaten apple that I enjoyed with my favorite crunchy peanut butter.

I assembled my sandwich the night before because I knew I would be pressed for time today.

I also sautéed some kale with raisins and toasted pine nuts. I love toasted pine nuts!

Le Sandwich

I used two slices of French Meadow Bakery’s Woman’s Bread. What’s so special about Woman’s Bread? According to the site, “with 14 grams of protein and 2.6 mg of soy isoflavones per serving, Women’s Bread contains key nutrients for women’s health. Sprouted grains bursting with vital nutrients and vitamins are easy to digest. Dried cranberries provide an antioxidant boost.” I enjoyed the dried cranberries very much! Okay so what’s in between the bread? Portobello mushrooms, basil, red onion, cream cheese, fakin’ bacon bits, and tomato paste + honey.

After my readings in apocalyptic Literature class I wanted to go exploring around Belle Isle some more. Apparently I just couldn’t get enough and the weather was gorgeous! It was so much fun not knowing where I was going but taking random trails that would lead me to who knows where! Afterwards I came home and showered and did some pampering.

Tea tree and spearmint mask - ah so refreshing.

And dinner time rolled around.

I didn’t really feel like cooking tonight. Well, I guess I did cook the cauliflower mash with garlic and herb, but that barely counts! So I just baked some Gardein “chicken” tenders in the oven and seasoned with Old Bay blackened seasoning, and ketchup + curry. Curry ketchup is delicious. All you have to do is mix in some curry powder with ketchup – simple! It reminds me of buying pomme frites on the streets in Germany served with with curry ketchup. Please excuse me toasts for being shy. I promise they are delicious once you meet them. Tonight I wanted to try French Meadow Bakery’s Gluten-Free Multigrain bread. That’s a mouthful! Anyway, the bread was seriously delicious! I just spread on some butter on one slice, and butter and fruit spread on the other. I can’t explain really how tasty this bread was. Just biting into it was awesome and I can’t believe it has no wheat. Can you see the all the little flaxseeds? So good! I highly recommend this bread, even if you don’t have a gluten intolerance.

Lastly, the ever so lovely Brooke tagged me to fill out a little survey she made up! Here goes…

1. favorite variety of apple? Gala

2. apples dipped in? Peanut butter… or caramel! How about both?

3. favorite way to enjoy pumpkin? Pumpkin oatmeal, pumpkin and ginger cookies, and pumpkin penne

4. favorite soup? with crackers or bread? My mom’s spinach soup with fresh crusty bread.

5. do you eat orange foods all year round? Not consciously, but the time of year doesn’t stop me from eating them that’s for sure.

6. most used spice in your autumn cooking: Cinnamon and tarragon

7. you are baking some homemade bread, what flavor combination of bread would you like to make? Oh my gosh! Some sort of spiced bread. How about a spiced bread with almonds and cranberries. However, I recently stumbled upon a garlic pull-apart bread recipe.

8. favorite autumn vegetables and ways to eat it? Winter squashes out the wazoo! Recently, I’ve been digging cauliflower and kale

9. hot chocolate, hot cider, coffee or tea? Hot chocolate made with coconut milk. And I love this one tea called Richmond Blend. It’s a black tea with cinnamon, orange peel, and cloves. It’s out of this world and actually has an intense flavor on it’s own. Not to mention the cinnamon helps keep me warm during the cold months.

10. favorite seasonal dessert? I think it’s a tie between double-layer pumpkin cheesecake and sweet potato pie.

11. lets make a fall stew! pick any 6 ingredients to create your one: Sweet potato, onions, carrots, kale, curry, and white truffle oil

12. pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts or almonds to snack on? Almonds!!!

13. popcorn flavor/seasoning? Cinnamon & sugar or nutritional yeast

14. bowl of hot cereal you have been wanting to try: A banana rum cake inspired one! I actually just came up with this.

15. post a link to a recipe that you recently bookmarked. April’s pumpkin French toast!

Anyway, I just wanted to fill you all in on how my weekend went and how my week started. I’m going to try to keep up with all you lovely people! I hope you all are doing well and keeping your chins up. Remember, as William James once said “…Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.”

Heyy everybody! So I’ll be compiling the questions and I will answer them via video post by the end of this week. If any of you come up with a question randomly throughout the week, just comment! Moreover, you guys are all so sweet. I should read your comments everyday before I head out the door!

On Friday I played catch up with one of my bests, Kelley. We went to a local coffeehouse and talked for some hours.

Best friends since 9th grade!

Ya dig?

Then we got ready to go to our friend's birthday shindig.

I saw some old friends that I had wondered what the heck happened to them. I was so glad to see them and just hang out. There were lots of beats made- it’s crazy what you can do with technology these days. And there were a couple of freestylers and anyone else who felt like taking the mic.

Remember how I told you guys about my date being moved to Monday? Well in the short span of a weekend, I almost completely forgot that I’m going on a date… TODAY! I’ll definitely report back. I’m still excited, but things between an old crush of mine have been rekindling. Is it it just me but when one person shows interest in you, then a whole line of them all of a sudden show up? Well, this is definitely happening. My friend who had the birthday on Friday also randomly texted me the next day saying that we should get breakfast some time. This is while I was hanging out with my “old” crush. Oi vey!

: Honey Chobani

This was the last Chobani flavor I had left to try out. Honestly, I didn’t think it was really that good in terms of it tasting like honey. The texture was on point as usual, but where’s the honey??? I had gotten use to seeing chunks of fruits, that I expected there to be swirls of honey in here. Here’s what I ended up mixing it with…

: MultiBran VitaTop + banana, and cranberry raisin swirl toast with cream cheese and one half with Crofter’s fruit spread and the other half with Creme of Date and Almond spread.

I surprisingly liked another Bran VitaTop. It’s also a very versatile VitaTop because you don’t have to worry about any interfering flavors. It’s almost like a blank canvas, except it tastes good… so it’s not really blank!

Well my “old” crush ended up staying over and I made him a delicious bowl of oatmeal. I can’t even remember what I made for him, but he really liked it. He couldn’t finish it though! I think it’s hilarious that I can eat more for breakfast than he can. Actually, that’s how it is in most cases when I’m with friends, and there I am with a clean plate! My mom is also known for having a good appetite hehe. Guess it runs in the family! Anyway, so the “old” crush asked if I wanted to go to Trader Joe’s with him. YES! While I got ready he offered to take Matilda out for a walk. How sweet! He loves Matilda, but really… who doesn’t? We were heading over to Trader Joe’s, then I asked him about that store World Market. I’d always seen it but I never knew what their deal was. I’ve heard they sell furniture but then I also heard my friend say that she bought a crate of mangoes there once. As you can see, I was very confused. He asked me if I wanted to go, “yes,” then he managed to switch over 3 lanes to the right and pull into the parking lot! Whoa! I went to the imported food section and I bought something you will see later in this post. Trust me, you will appreciate it! Next stop was Trader Joe’s and I got some more new things to try out. Since Whole Foods is pretty much Trader Joe’s next door neighbor we went there as well.

: Funkay town!

So far the day was awesome! Our last stop was an Indian grocery store. He had never been. If you’re a friend of mine there is some point in time of our friendship that I will take you over to some specialty market.

: Bags of puffed rice. Check out the mondo one!

: So colorful

After we got some more new things to spoil our tastebuds (aside from the incense *their prices are always way lower than anywhere else), we headed over to the new Indian pastry shop next door.

: INDIAN PASTRY SHOP!

He asked me if he could buy me a veggie samosa. How cute! And did he even need to ask? Of course I’d be okay with that!

: Just a couple of the things I got to try out.

GINGER SYRUP! I had no idea that the folks at Ginger People also made a syrup. Where have I been? This is what I got at World Market. Oh my goodness! When I saw this I knew I had to have it no questions asked. I also got Tofurky’s Italian Sausage – a freebie thanks to the kind folks at Turtle Island Foods. The jar of Tamarind-Date Chutney isn’t new, just restocking an old favorite. But those are the famous peanut butter filled pretzels I’ve seen on a countless number of blogs! They were very yummy – and I dipped them in even more peanut butter; Jenny you’d be proud! I also got some other sauces to try at the Indian store, but I’ll leave those for another day.

After some hours apart (haha) my “old” crush came over to watch The Lost Boys. Yes, that old 80’s vampire flick! Anyway, because my apartment is too cozy to ever leave, he slept over again. This time I was able to snap a picture of what I made him for breakfast.

: All the boys around here should be jealous!

He commented on how beautiful it was! I’ve been joking around that I will seduce him through the powerful ways of Majesty Oatmeal. I just sliced an apple, threw in some almonds and poured on a bit of the Maple & Apple syrup. However, I used a new grain that I got to try out that morning too. Have you ever had Cream of Wheat? Well this was a brown rice version. Erewhon sent me a box of Brown Rice Cream; made from organic brown rice. How could I forget?! I also sprinkled a generous amount of pumpkin pie spice I picked up at Trader Joe’s.

For me?

Pineapples and cashews! And the ginger syrup, of course.

The Brown Rice Cream looks kind of funky because I mixed in Spirutein.

The Brown Rice Cream looks kind of funky because I mixed in a scoop of vanilla Spirutein.

I really enjoyed how creamy this was. I’ve never blended oats, but I’d imagine this is what they’d be like. Another wonderful and versatile breakfast grain!

In other news, Angharad from Eating for England asked me to do a guest post for her. Heck yes! Check it out: Putting your twist on things. Guest posts are so much fun!

p.s. next post = serious food porn. Viewer discretion is advised… okay that sounds scary. I swear it’s not, but it will make you drool a lot!