One last Week

It’s the final week of classes, the week before the lucky ones among us are privileged enough to be treated with another round of exams.

I just finished and printed my thesis, I’ve been working on some other minor papers and been trying to find some order in the chaos of hand-outs and sheets and sheets of scribbled papers which I call my desk.

I’ve been printing all the documents and articles I refused to print when I needed them, but now I realize I will have to study them anyway.
I went through 2 printer cartridges these  last 24 hours.

I’ve been living on coffee, fresh fruit and veggies with dips, snacks and the occasional meal.

Iced Latte à la maison: brew strong coffee, bonus point if it’s cinnamon coffee. Let cool, pour in a cool container to put it in the fridge (empty Arizona tea bottles are very convenient for this purpose). Pour soy milk (or any milk of choice) on top (about 1/3 or 1/2  of the amount of your coffee). Chill in the fridge and serve with ice cubes.

I haven’t attended a yoga class in a week, but I am doing my very best to make it to one tonight. I haven’t been for a run, but I am running late every day.
I bought an amazing book, but I don’t have time to start to read  it.
I took a couple of photographs but I don’t have time to blog about them.

Yet I am perfectly content and at ease and not even all that stressed in a way.
I owe meditation and uyai- breathing big time.

And as a thanks for letting me ramble for a bit, I present you my favourite treat of the week:

A good treat requires lots of peanut butter on top, obviously!

Dark chocolate heated with a splash a soy milk in the microwave and stirred until it becomes a medium-runny consistency, sprinkle grated coconut on top. Top with yoghurt. Top with granola and smoked almonds (the smoked almonds or not optional!). Top with melted peanut butter.

The ultimate pacifier in a time of deadlines and paper messes!

Love, M.

Bits and Pieces

Bits and Pieces: Crappy Phone Camera Edition.

I’d like to start on the note that the weather in Belgium has been extremely weird: it’s been extremely hot and humid but very grey, rainy and stormlike at the same time. It feels we’re in a rainforest out here, but without the constant sun shine!
As much as I love this kind of chaotic weather (for some reason thunder storms make me feel very alive yet tiny and humble at the same time) I appreciate it much more when it results from a week of sunshine and bathing suit temperatures!

Okay, maybe there was a little bit of sunshine from time to time, otherwise there obviously wouldn’t have been a rainbow.

First ice cream of the year: dramatic weather calls for dramatic ice cream!
New York Super Fudge Chunk with pieces of  white chocolate, milk chocolate, pecans, walnuts and chocolate covered almonds.

Warm weather also calls for dinner plates with a lot of small titbits: baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, strawberries and quinoa with mango cubes.

I found the last of the Easter Eggs in my dad’s fridge last weekend, oh how I will miss these guys, can’t wait till next year!

Since it’s still grey pancakes are allowed, it’s been more like a pancake kinda week than a pancake kinda day. Pancake stack with strawberries and raspberry jelly on the first layer, peanut butter and granola on the second one, topped of with coconut milk and more granola.

Mona has been helping me edit my papers… or it least she thinks she’s helping but she’s always begging for me to rub her belly and take a nap with her.
Sorry kitty, can’t nap, have work to do!

She likes to help me take care of lunch as well.
That kitty has been crazy, she follows me around the house and especially likes it when I’m starting to cook, it makes her all zen.

Lovely Lunch: two pieces of bread toasted in a skillet in some olive oil topped with: philadephia and herbs, tomatoes, spinach and a fried egg. Carrots and mini corn and the side.

So, that’s enough random stuff for today!

Love, M.

Cho-cho-cho-chocolate Cake

When I’m stressed I need sugar and chocolate..
lots of it, pronto!

Lately I’ve been under a lot of stress for a lot of varies reasons (personal reasons, family issues, school…and the list goes on and on), not sleeping very well hasn’t been helpful to deal with this at all.
I decided to give my body what (it thought) it needed: I’m having an all chocolate and sugar day and as from tomorrow (the day I’m having my first exam) I’m going to get my act back together: I’m going to focus, sleep enough and do something about my sugar cravings and my stress related eating habits…

But first there’s chocolate cake:

‘Basic Chocolate Cake’

• 200 gr ( a bit less than a cup) of butter
• 200 gr (3/4 a cup) of sugar
• 300 gr (2 cups) of flour
• some vanilla extract or some amaretto
• 4 eggs
• 200 gr of dark chocolate

Cream the butter, add the sugar and stir. Add the egg yolks to this mixture, when everything is combined add the flour and vanilla or amaretto. Melt the chocolate and add this as well. Process the egg whites until they become a white foam then fold this under the rest of the mixture.

Preheat the oven to 180°C (360F).

Grease a cake tin, pour the dough in this tin and put it in the oven for 45 minutes.

*First I was a bit reluctant about sharing this info about me not really being in the right mental place at the moment, but I figured that even if I wouldn’t explicitly mention it, it would still be pretty obvious from the tone of my posts. I’m not proud of my sugar attack way to deal with all of this, but hey, I’m only human and I am aware that stress and anxiety has an influence on my eating behaviour, I just don’t have the energy to start doing something about it today with all of the other stuff that is going on, I will get my act together soon, promise, and things will definitely get better once I finished my exams and I have some time to deal with all the other things going on at the moment.

Love, M.

Update In Photographs

 

Today’s outfit (sweat pants, fluffy house shoes and a long, warm poncho) tells it all…my life has been pretty uninteresting lately I don’t really have exciting tales to tell, I haven’t even prepared food for a few days… just studying, studying and sleeping (and dealing with sinusitis, brilliant timing by the way! ;)).

I did snap some photographs every now and then so I’d thought I’d share these instead.

This is where it all happens…
It’s called ‘organised chaos’

Postponing at it’s finest:

Brain Fuel:

Green monster with extra banana, lamb’s lettuce, grapes and cinnamon. Topped with flax seeds, shredded almonds and rice krispies.

Comfort drinking:

My mum bought me the cutest little teapot!

Lady Bugs!

We keep coming across lady bugs in my mum’s new house,
Mona doesn’t mind though 😉

Love, M.

 

Butterflies in your Belly

By now you probably know I like to eat my food out of bowls, well I also like to prepare my dishes in one big  oven dish or in one casserole, it just seems much cosier.

You can also prepare this pasta without putting it into the oven. Just make the pasta and the sauce and it’s ready to serve, but then you would be turning down melted mozzarella, just saying 😉

‘Farfalle Oven Dish’

• farfalle pasta (quantity depends on how much people you want to feed)
• 1 piece of mozzarella
• half a zucchini
• broccoli
• 2 handfuls of mushrooms
• cream cheese with herbs and garlic (I used  boursin)
• a few splashes of milk
• pepper, salt and olive oil

Cook the farfalle in  salted boiling water, follow the directions on the package.
Clean the broccoli and cook in boiling water for 5 minutes as well.
Slice the mozzarella and zucchini in small slices, slice the mushrooms as well.

In an oven dish, layer the zucchini until the bottom is covered, add a layer of mozzarella (half of it, you’ll need the other half later), put this in an oven on 200°C (390F)  for 5 to 10 minutes.

In the meantime pour some olive oil into a hot skillet (make sure it’s big enough!) and fry the mushrooms and the broccoli. Add the cream cheese and some milk.This will be the sauce for the pasta, when the farfalle is done you can add it to the sauce.

When your zucchini and mozzarella has been in the oven for 5 to 10 minutes, get it out of the oven and top it with the pasta mixture. Cover with the rest of the mozzarella and place it back in the oven for about 15 minutes.

Buon Appetito!
Love, M.

Dear Chocolate

Dear Chocolate,

why doest thou keep tempting me?

Dear self-control,

where art thou?

Don’t you look at me like that Santa, you wouldn’t be able to resist this either!

First Breakfast of a New Year

I started my new year with a day of from studying, a yummy breakfast and a morning run…

and I had to move a cat from here old home to her new home, she didn’t like it one bit!

‘Cottage Cheese Oat Cakes’
with raspberry jelly and crumble

 

• 8 T of quick oats
• 2 T of whole wheat flour
• 3 T of cottage cheese
• 1 egg
• a splash of water
• some vanilla essence
• a dash of cinnamon
• olive oil
• for topping: jelly, crumble with oats and nuts (just fry in a skillet like  seen here), maybe some more cottage cheese?

In a bowl stir together the oats and the egg until everything is combined, add the cottage cheese and a couple of splashes of milk. Give it a good stir and add the cinnamon and vanilla.

Put about 2 T of the mixture in a hot skillet with some olive oil in it, flatten this out a bit so you get cakes.

As for you guys, I wish you the best in 2012: I wish you all happiness, the possibilities and guts to fulfil your dreams and the ability to become the best version of yourself you can be.

Love, M.

Can’t Sleep, Won’t Sleep

What to do when you feel all sleepy and would like to snuggle unto the couch with a blanket and hot chocolate but you actually have to study for your exams in January??

You try to make the best of your situation, listen to happy music, treat yourself to yummy tea and have something delicious and energy boasting for lunch!
Caffeine and some sugar? Sounds perfect!

‘Gingerbread Coffee Oats’

In a bowl combine 4 T of oats with a few dashes of cinnamon, 2 T of instant coffee and 1 t of sugar if you like things sweet. Add  soy milk until everything is covered and microwave it on high for 3 minutes. Add some more milk when it’s done to make it a bit creamier.

Use half a slice of gingerbread to stir into the oats so they ‘melt’ a bit and get all gooey, use the other half  to crumble on top.

We got this gingerbread in a gift pack and it is amazing, you can really taste the cinnamon and it has pearls of sugar on top. And look at those gooey, sugary pieces in that slice!

Now back to studying and listening to happy music, but it’s okay, blankets aren’t just for snuggle unto couches, you can wear them just as well while studying and the same applies for hot chocolate.

Love, M.

Dealing with Leftover Christmas Chocolates

If your house is anything like ours you are now confronted with an abundance of chocolate and candy leftovers.
You have to deal with it whenever you open a cabinet, the fridge (cause Belgian pralines have to be kept in the fridge), they even haunt you when you enter the kitchen cause all the counter tops are filled with tempting chocolaty stuff.

So I came up with some solutions to make all those temptations go away and thought of some ways to make use of all those goodies, which do not involve me eating chocolate until I feel like I could explode.

1. Melt the chocolate treats and use them to make hot cocoa.

‘Make every day a happy day’! Drink Hot Cocoa

2. Use it to bake: chocolate treats are great to use in cookies, if it’s just chocolate without any filling you can even use it as a substitute for chocolate when making chocolate cake.

3. Use them as toppings for yoghurt or oatmeal

4. Melt everything together and create your own bars

5. Make one super treat with pudding and all kinds of chocolate/cookies/cake/candy you have lying around

Soy pudding with a couple of rolos, a chocolate drizzled macaron, chocolate with speculoos filling and a praline with citrus crème to top things off.

6. Make some toast and melt the chocolate on top

Love, M.

It was the Night Before Christmas

And Maxime was baking snacks to keep her little family happy and satisfied for Christmas Eve in tapas style. Here’s a little show down of what we had.

Mini Pizzas on whole wheat tortillas

Puff pastry chunks filled with mozzarella and salmon, mushrooms and mozzarella or hummus and zucchini

Whole wheat grilled tortilla triangles with zucchini and hummus

Roll ups with mozzarella and smoked salmon and cherry tomatoes

Spring roll pockets

The Centre Piece: Daphne made this biscuit cake topped with butter cream, chocolate sprinkled and sugar roses

Love, M.