Not quite VeganMoFo #15

Today's vegan MoFo Theme is: Barack Obama is coming for dinner, what are you going to make?

I must admit that these days, I'd find it rather difficult to sit down and chat with Barack Obama over some delicious vegan food. (I would find it difficult anyway, because I would be really shy and nervous).
Fact is that I find it hard to chat over food these days, looking at the situation at the European borders.
Watching the news these days is heartbreaking, people standing at the borders of Hungary, not knowing where to turn to next. They have left their homes in hope for a better life, and they do not get more than sleeping on a field, sometimes not even with a blanket for their kids.

When my mom was at the age of two, she had to flee her home as well, and if the family had not received help and food from other people on their way, my mom definitely would not have survived.

My country has been criticized for accepting thousands of refugees to come over here, but how could we not help those people to find a better life? A save life?

These days, I am out of words, be it in English or German. I do not know what to say, except:
Refugees welcome!

Vegan MoFo #10: Something blue

Good Morning! This is Day10 on Vegan MoFo and the prompt for today is: Something BLUE.
Blue food? This one was driving me crazy. I was thinking "blueberries, cabbage, figs???" for days.
My son wanted blue french fries. I wanted something really, really blue. Muffns? Booring.
In some kind of despair I thought "blue dishes", then it was "sushi?"... but, honestly, can you imagine blue sushi rice, wrapped in dark-green nori? No way.

But the blue rice stuck in my head and so I went for blue onigiri. This is a dish everyone in our house likes and I have no leftovers like with yesterday's pumpernickel. It turned out that no one likes pumpernickel. What a pity!
So, here you are: Something blue!

Prepare the rice like you would do with plain sushi rice, but add a healthy dose of food colouring to the cooking water. Then fill with any stuffing you would like, for the onigiri in the picture I have used avocado with a bit of vegan mayo. There are also two "bluenigiri" made with umeboshi filling, they turned out very tasty. So, why not give blue food a try?

Vegan MoFo #9: Most Retro Food

Time for anther Vegan MoFo Post... Today's prompt is: The most retro food.
May I introduce you to a classic 70's party food? The Pumpernickeltaler! When I was a kid, no party would be complete without this food. Basically, it is three or four slices of dark pumpernickel bread with a cheesy spread in between. Instead of cheese, I have used some vegan butter mixed with spices and herbs.
Would be perfect with a glass of Bowle, I guess...

Vegan MoFo #2: Quick, easy and delicious

Welcome to Vegan MoFo Day 3 and my second post for this month.
Today's theme is "Quick, easy and delicious!"

If I need something quick and easy for dinner, it will definitely be pasta. Everybody likes pasta, except my husband. He prefers couscous over pasta, but he will always be polite and eat it...

For years, my favourite quick and easy pasta dish would have been Spaghetti aglio olio. I love it! Boil water, add spaghetti, sautee some garlic in olive oil, crumble in some chili and voilà, dinner is ready.
But sometimes, you need something a bit more... creamy. Cashew butter to the rescue!
Adding cashew butter to the oil right before mixing in with the pasta gives this dish another dimension. Rich, creamy and somewhat cheeezy. If you have never had this before, you must give it a try.

Here is the recipe:
Boil the spaghetti as usual. Reserve 1-2 cups  of the cooking liquid.
Heat about 1/3 cup of olive oil in a small pan over medium heat.
Add about 5 garlic cloves, finely diced. Crumble two Thai chilies between your fingers and add to the oil.
(Wash your hands after doing that!!!!)
Carefully sautee the garlic in the oil until it gets translucent. Add about 1/2 teaspoon salt, a dash of black pepper and a tablespoon capers

Add in 2 Tablespoons of cashew butter and mix untill it is well incorporated. Thin out with the cooking liquid until you have a creamy consistency.

 Pour over pasta and enjoy!

Vegan MoFo #1: Rise and Shine

Hello and Good Morning, Vegan MoFoers!

Vegan MoFo is back and we will happily be chatting about vegan food the whole month of September. It will be fun to see what others vegans have on their plate and what everyone will do with the daily promts.
Prompt of the day: "Rise and shine! Tell us about your breakfast."

Oh, breakfast, how much I love you! Fresh tea with milk, German rolls and plates with cheese and smoked salmon and... wait! This was pre-vegan breakfast!
I have long struggled to find a vegan breakfast that I like. For a long time, breakfast was two slices of toast, with cheese or turkey sausage and tea with milk. I have switched from black to green tea, after realizing that I needed 4 teaspoons of sugar to equal out the taste of the soy milk.
I have tried vegan cheeses and deli slices, but they all disappointed my taste buds. Granola wasn't  for me, either, it just doesn't keep me full until lunch.
At the moment, I am quite pleased with a combination of one slice of toast with vegan cream cheese and chia pudding with fruit. It looks so colourful and healthy, this makes me happy in the morning.

I need something quick and easy in the morning, so the chia seeds get soaked in coconut milk the night before, fruit is waiting in the fridge, already cut up, and everything goes together really quick.

From time to time we do enjoy vegan pancakes in the morning, with maple sirup and fruit, this would be my son's favourite breakfast:

This is one breakfast I really enjoyed: Fresh rye rolls from the baker  and the vegan version of a german spread called "Fleischsalat", usually stripes of deli with gherkins and mayonnaise.. This vegan spread was sooo good!

And of course there is scrambled tofu! Whenever there is a hectic day ahead, I turn to scrambled tofu. With mushrooms and salsa and avocado on the side. Yum!

What is your favourite breakfast? I am looking forward to other posts on VeganMoFo!