Banana bread - and a special anniversary!

Today is a really special day. I never thought it would come and yet I've been looking SO MUCH forward to it! Today is my FIRST ANNIVERSARY as a vegetarian! I can't believe it's been a year and I am so, so proud of myself. Pretty much 95% of the people I know neither understand nor acknowledge my decision and that makes it pretty tough some times. It hasn't been more than 2 days since I had my last "breakdown" because someone was mocking me right in front of me. It's really hard when people attack you on your beliefs. Thank god I have the most amazing friend, who's alway there when I need her - even though we've got two very different reasons to be vegetarian.

A year and a half ago, I actually laughed at two of my friends because they became vegetarians. I said that I would never be able to live without meat. And here I am today: haven't eaten meat for a year and don't have any plans on eating some for the next many, many years. It's funny how you all of a sudden can change your beliefs and lifestyle.

This banana bread was a bit of a spontaneous project I started last summer. I had some old bananas that I didn't really felt like eating (I prefer them a bit green). I had wanted to make a banana bread for a long time and I guess this was the perfect time to give it a try. It turned out so gooooood and it was perfect for a hot summer day, since there isn't an awful lot of sugar in it.

1 large banana bread
What do I need?
300 g flour
2 tsp baking powder
50 g sugar
A pinch of salt
2 eggs
50 g margarine
3 really tender bananas, mashed
A large handful of walnuts, chopped
If you'd like: a handfuls of chopped, dark chocolate


How do I do?
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius/350 degrees fahrenheit.
Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Melt the margarine and beat the eggs until they're light and airy. Mix the wet ingredients with the dry and add the walnuts (and chocolate, if you want chocolate in it). Pour the dough into a buttered tin and throw it in the oven for about 30 minutes.

Homemade tortillas

Whenever I have some vegetable leftovers, I love to fry them with some spices and eat them in a tortilla. Tortillas aren't exactly expensive (I usually buy them with a discount), but sometimes it's like I'm eating a piece of cardboard. They don't really taste of that much and they're not really as filling as you could've hoped they were. So I tried making them myself and they got waaaaay better than the store-bought. It takes some practice to get them really good, but once you've learned the technique, it's a piece of cake.

I usually roll out the dough and cut it in circles that fit into my pan - that way I avoid ending up with something, that has a star-like shape. I think they would be great for tapas too, with some nice homemade pesto or hummus!

I prefer to use plain flour, but you can easily use whole wheat or what else you like. When I made these, I only had whole wheat flour and it turned out great!

~8 tortillas

What do I need?

3 cups flour 

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp salt

1 cup hot water

How do I do?

Mix all the ingredients until it forms a ball - you might need to use your hands to remove the clumps. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Cut it into 8 smaller pieces and form balls out of it. Roll out the balls to a size, that fits into your pan. I like it when the dough is to thin, that you can almost look through it.

Heat up a pan, but don't make it too hot - my experience tells me, that the tortillas get really stiff if the pan is too hot. Once it's well heated, the rolled out tortilla on it - don't use any oil! The tortilla will probably start to get bubbles (or what to call them), but those will disappear once they cool down. They burn easy, so keep an eye on them! They don't need more than 30 seconds on each side. Enjoy with your favorite tortilla stuffing!

Shephards Pie

About 3-4 weeks before I went veggie, I had my first shephards pie ever. And oh. My. God. It was seriously some of the best I had ever tasted! I made a deal with my self, that I had to start making shepherds pie a lot more often. But then I went veggie and I slowly forgot about it, until I started thinking "What if I just made it with vegetables instead?". And so I did. I wanted to make it with tomatoes and carrots, but tripped over a picture on Pinterest, that inspired me to make it with mushrooms, spinach and lentils. And boy, it turned out great!

4 persons
What do I need?
6 medium potatoes
1 tbsp margarine

1 cup of dried, green lentils
A splash of oil
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
150 g mushrooms
2 tbsp red wine (you can leave it out, if you don't want to open a bottle for it)
1 tbsp dried thyme
A pinch of cayenne pepper (or chili, if you like it hot!)
150 g frech spinach
1 tbsp cornstarch

A handful of breadcrumps


How do I do?
Peel the potatoes and cut them into smaller pieces. Boil them in salted water until tender (about 20 minutes) and drain them. Mash the potatoes and stir the margarine in it. Now, we need these smashed potatoes to get nice and creamy. The ideal solution would be to use a bit of soy milk. However, I didn't have any (mostly because it's quite expensive where I live) so I used a bit of water instead, which actually worked really great! Set these yummy, smashed potatoes aside.

Now, rinse the lentils and boil them - this shouldn't take long. Chop the onions and garlic and fry them shortly in the heated oil. Add the chopped mushrooms and let it fry for a few moments. Add the cooked lentils and a bit of the water along with the spices, redwine and spinach. You can add the spinach in leaves, but I chose to chop them roughly. Just let it get wilted down. Let it simmer for a few minutes and mix the the cornstarch with a bit of water. Add it to the lentil mixture and stir well.

Preheat the oven at 200 Celcius/400 Fahrenheit
Lightly oil a casserole dish and spread the breadcrumps in it - just enough to cover the bottom. Spread the lentil mixture in it and cover with the smashed potatoes. If you're feeling artistic, you can make a pattern in it. Bake in the oven for about half an hour or until the top is golden.