Tue. Feb. 27
I had breakfast/brunch at my internship this morning, so not pictured is an assortment pastries and bread. But dinner was something special, so here you are:
There were many components to this meal, all of which I made large batches of and am keeping in the fridge so I can build variations on this bowl all week.
First:
Miso/honey/soy marinade & dressing:
1) Miso paste, soy sauce, honey, and either a neutral oil or sesame if you have it. I don’t so I used sunflower.
2) finely chopped fresh garlic
3) chilli flakes
Combine ingredients roughly equal parts oil/soy sauce and then slightly less miso and even less honey. Texture should be a thick liquid, taste test and add more sweet/savory as you like
I made a biggggg batch of this to marinate my eggplant and use leftover as dressing for bowl.
Second:
Miso eggplant:
1) cube eggplant into bite sized pieces
2) cover with marinade and put in a sealed container in the fridge for at least a few hours. The longer the better
3) drain/separate marinade from eggplant, and pan fry until fully cooked through and melt in your mouth soft.
Third:
Kale!
1) chop up as much kale as you want in a serving- this is the one component I didn’t make extra of because it won’t be good reheated.
2) Finely chop garlic clove
3) Add kale, garlic, lemon juice, salt, and pepper to a hot pan with olive oil
4) Sauteé briefly, just until kale is coated in juice/oil and starts to soften, usually 2 ish minutes
Fourth:
Crispy Seitan/tofu
1) I would’ve used normal tofu, but the supermarket was out, so I got this tofu seitan.
2) follow same instructions for frying tofu in earlier recipes- cut into cubes or strips, fry on each side until browned.
Other bowl components:
1) Quinoa
2) Avocado
3) Beet Kraut
4) Chopped cucumber
Finally:
Build your bowl and pour on some extra eggplant marinade!
I wouldn’t call this a fast or easy weeknight dinner by any means, but now that I have everything prepped in the fridge, I will be eating this every day and it should only take a few minutes to put together so well worth the extra effort today.
Love and Enjoy!
Sun. Feb 25
I mostly forgot to take pictures of food today//breakfast was yogurt and lunch and dinner are the same thing. But I did make this curry ish situation, here’s the recipe!
Coconut Chickpea Curry & Rice:
Start by chopping a leak, several cloves of garlic, and a handful of cherry tomatoes.
Sauteé leak and garlic in olive oil, season with salt, pepper, cumin, curry powder, cayenne, paprika, and turmeric.
We’ll keep using this spice mix throughout- biggest emphasis on the salt, pepper and curry powder.
When leaks and garlic are soft/browning, add tomatoes and let cook until tomatoes start to soften.
Add one can of chickpeas, season again with above spices
Add one can of coconut milk, season further to taste
Add juice of 3/4-1 ish lemon, and tsp ish of sugar
Let simmer on low for 10 ish minutes
great opportunity to clean the kitchen
Serve with rice
This made tons of leftovers, so I’ll likely be eating this up for the next few days before I go grocery shopping again. Enjoy!
Fri. Feb 23
Smorgasboard of eats for the day:
Breakfast
The same as yesterday: egg, tortilla, hot sauce, coffee:)
Lunch
My favorite tortilla y pan from my favorite study cafe near school- Martinuca for mis Madrileñas!
Dinner:
Easy dinner to make x3 for friends- quinoa, cheese, arugula, red peppers, tomatoes, and mushrooms
To cook mushrooms: sauteé in plenty of butter and garlic, add a splash of white wine as well as salt and pepper and let white wine cook out.
Enjoy, be well!
Wed Feb 21
Today included both a run and a trip to the climbing gym, so I was HUNGRY. Here’s what we made:
Breakfast: Egg and Tortilla is a go too. I’ve started cooking them together by starting my egg as if it was going to be an omelette, then putting the tortilla down on the raw side before flipping so they’re stuck together.
Lunch:
Quunoa, chopped bell peppers, chopped cucumbers, arugula, and lemon/garlic/ olive oil/salt/ pepper dressing
Cafe con Leche, obviamente.
Pre-Climb snack:
Very simple very easy quesadilla
Dinner:
Cheesy White Bean Soup! This was way better than it looks, but I’ve been eating the leftovers for the past three days so these were the last dregs tonight.
Recipe:
Start by chopping a leek and several cloves of garlic into small pieces. Add to pot on medium heat and cook in olive oil until leeks are soft.
Add cherry tomatoes chopped in half, and a can/jar of white beans or butter beans, rinsed
Season generously with salt and pepper
Cover with vegetable stock so that water is 2-3 inches above contents of pot
Add juice of at least one lemon, add spice if you want
Chop heaping handful of spinach and shred some cheddar cheese
Add to pot together several minutes before you’re ready to eat, after simmering for 5-10 minutes
Let spinach welt down and cheese melt
Add more salt/heat/lemon to taste and enjoy!
This soup got the Ava seal of approval, and was still good in the fridge three days later.
Fri. Feb 16
Traveling again this weekend, so today I’m working on cleaning out anything that might go bad from my fridge. Here’s what we came up with:
This was more of a brunch than a breakfast, and delicious.
Crispy tofu: see curry recipe from last week. I added salt and paprika to my uncooked tofu this time around, and cut it into cubes instead of flat pieces.
Bell pepper/onion combo: I chopped green and red bells and some yellow onion into small pieces, and sauteed in olive oil, salt, black pepper, paprika, and tabasco until they were soft and flavorful.
Arugula/Rocket: Mixed my arugula with lemon juice, olive oil, salt, black pepper, and tabasco as a base for this bowl.
Fried egg: Self explanatory, but I cooked it last in the same pan as the pepper mixture so it got some nice leftover flavor
Mixed everything together, added some more tabasco because spice is nice, and this was a phenomenal post run meal with some coffee.
Snack
PAN CON TOMATE!
Study snacks are important, this is from my current favorite cafe called Pum Pum Bakery in Lavapies. but it’s just grated tomato, olive oil, and salt on toast!
cost: 3.00 euros
Tue. Feb 13
Another day, another menu
Breakfast
This year I’ve been fully inducted into the coffee/croissant breakfast club. This one was from a new cafe a few blocks from my apartment. Can’t recommend enough the simple pleasure of indulging in a pastry and some caffeine in the am.
cost: 4.00 euros
Lunch:
Just chopped tomatoes, avocado, cucumber, and mozzarella with salt, pepper, and olive oil.
If I were to do this again I’d add balsamic and lemon for a little more flavor, but this was pretty good.
Dinner:
Big advocate for leftovers- I ate this curry and rice all week. Here I added some avocado on top because my avo was going bad- great addition.
Mon. Feb. 12th
I KNOW, I KNOW! It’s been a whole week. Unfortunately, I was busy and I didn’t do a great job of updating this last week. But fear not, we’re back! Check out groceries from the week over in that tab for ingredients for today’s food.
Today I was craving green curry, but here in Madrid most supermarkets have a somewhat poor selection of Asian foodstuffs— one usually has to make their way to an Asian supermarket. Today I did not find it within myself to venture farther than my neighborhood grocery store and Herbolario, so this is what we came up with:
Crispy Tofu:
Cut tofu into thin slices
Pat dry (or press if you have the patience) and salt generously
Pan fry in oil completely covering the bottom of the pan
Flip when browning starts- 2-3 min
Curry ish:
Start by sautéing half a yellow onion (diced), 2 cloves garlic, and tsp ish of fresh ginger
high heat, olive oil, season with curry powder, cumin, turmeric, cayenne, salt, black pepper
If I had curry paste, I’d add a generous amount here. Instead, I added jackfruit curry (see groceries) which I wouldn’t particularly recommend. Keep sautéing/seasoning
Add one can of coconut milk, mix well with more seasoning to taste.
add tsp ish of white sugar
Add chopped red and green bell peppers and fried tofu from earlier
cook until peppers are consistency you like and seasoning is to your taste.
I ate this with some rice and despite the jackfruit situation it was pretty good. This made a couple of servings, so you’ll be seeing it again throughout the week
After exploring outside the box for lunch, dinner had to be a classic. Chopped spinach, chopped green pepper, avocado, hard boiled egg, quinoa, soy sauce, tabasco.
Cooking Rice/Quinoa:
Rice- 2:1 water to rice ratio. Rinse rice, add rice and water to pot, bring to boil and then cover and turn heat to low for 30 minutes. Check it a few times to make sure it’s not cooking too fast
Quinoa- 3:1 water to quinoa ratio. Sauteé some onions or garlic in the pot first for extra flavor, add quinoa and water and bring to boil. Cover and turn heat to low for 20-30 min until the water is evaporated.
Sick Tea:
I’ve had the craziest of colds forever, so bonus for the night is sick tea: Finely chopped fresh ginger, 1 whole lemon sliced, water to the top of the pot, turmeric and cayenne. I leave this on the stove simmering and add water as I drink the tea. Add plenty of honey to your cup, because a) this has a crazy kick and b) honey is super good for you!
Enjoy, be well.
Mon. Feb. 5th
I firmly believe that food is the best medicine, and today we’re leaning into that with some favorites.
Breakfast:
The amazing Ava got us burritos last night, so leftovers instead of cooking this morning. This was so good cheers Ava
Lunch:
Cleaning out the fridge between trips = Bowls of Stuff.
This one has chopped cucumber, tomatoes, avocado, red pepper, spinach and garlic for fresh veggies.
I sautéed chickpeas and mushrooms with salt, olive oil, and paprika until the mushrooms were cooked.
Chopped up hard boiled egg for protein
Lemon juice, salt, pepper, olive oil, and balsamic glaze over the top for flavor.
Dinner will likely be more of the same. Enjoy, nourish yourself, take care:)
Thurs. Feb. 1st.
The only steps in this meal not evident from the photos include cooking the quinoa and making some salad dressing.
Quinoa:
I use 2:1 water to grain ratio, loosely. You can add veggie stock or sautee onions/garlic in the pan before adding quinoa for some extra flavor, but just salting the water works as well.
Cover and keep at low boil until water has been absorbed, checking to make sure it’s not sticking at the bottom. usually 15-25 minutes depending on how much you’re making
Lemon Dressing:
1-2 cloves of finely chopped garlic
Equal parts lemon juice to olive oil- about 1 Tbs. of each for one serving, but I’m big on eyeballing
Salt and Pepper to taste, mix it all up
Wed., Jan. 31st
Breakfast: I was out the door for an early class this morning, so breakfast was a yogurt cup and some coffee
Lunch:
More of a brunch and easy when you don’t feel like cooking much- fried egg sandwhich with feta and avocado
Dinner:
Sautee mushrooms and garlic with olive oil, salt, pepper, & some white wine until light brown
Add in peppers and chickpeas until peppers are soft and chickpeas start browning
season with salt, pepper, paprika
Chop spinach, avocado, add to bowl with crumbled feta
Mix in mushroom-chickpea-pepper situation
Add more seasoning if you want!
