Not-so-lazy-Sunday

It's been awhile since I had a completely free Sunday, with nothing to do, no shifts or sleeping after shifts... and I loved it! I thoroughly enjoyed doing stuff without actually having to do something. First I needed to do something about my home...it was in desperate need of some cleaning... but I actually enjoyed it while dancing to some music. I took a very long walk with my dog, did the laundry and all that other stuff I tend to do on Sundays when I have one...

But I also did some cooking. As a result of my enthusiastic-I-am-vegan-again-let's-buy-anything mood I had lots of fresh fruits and veggies that needed some attention.

Carrot cupcakes
First I baked some glutenfree-soyfree-vegan carrot cupcakes. I browsed some recipes on the internet but couldn't quite find what I needed so I decided to try and bake something of my own with some inspiration from different websites (sorry but I can't quote as I have no clue where I got it from, but try google and vegan carrot cupcake and you'll find some recipes). I used the following ingredients (measurements are an estimate, I didn't really measure anything):
1 cup of shredded carrots
1 cup of cranberries and goji berries (or you can use raisins or any other dried fruit)
1 cup of buckweith (don't know the English word...) flower
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of dates
100 gr walnuts
1 cup of water
1/4 cup of orange juice (freshly squeezed)
A bit of shredded coconut (you can omit that, I just had some leftovers)
1 cup of chopped walnuts (I pulsed them in my kitchen machine, not for too long, no walnut flower!)
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ginger powder
1 tablespoon of ahorn syrup

First I cooked the water with the chopped dates, cranberries and goji berries and the cinnamon and ginger. I let it simmer for a few minutes. Then I shredded the carrot and poured the warm mixture over the carrots and let it cool off.

I then mixed everything together with the walnuts added at the last moment. I baked them at 190 C for about 40 minutes (a bit too long). I tasted them and they are a bit dense but taste GREAT :). As you may have noticed, there is little fat and no sugar added, only natural sources of sweetness and deliciousness.... The recipe yielded 9 cupcakes, enough for a week (or maybe less....)

Pumpkin and sweet potato chips
For lunch I ate some pumpkin and sweet potato chips, yummmmmmy! I had read about these chips before but never made them. As I had some of both the pumpkin and the sweet potato but didn't want to use them all for the curry I'd make later, I decided to have some for lunch with a sauce of vegan mayonnaise and mustard. I'll definitely make these more often! The only mistake is that I used too much oil for them, so they were a little soggy. I drained (yuk...) them and let them bake a bit more (oven about 200 C, I had them in there for about 30 minutes). Good to know for next time!

Vegan Pumpkin Curry

Last time I was vegan I made a lot of curries. As I had so many vegetables I decided to make one again, and a lot of it so I can put some in the freezer for shifts etc. I baked some onions with ginger and garlic in some coconut oil and then cooked the vegetables (cauliflower, pumpkin, sweet potato, green and red bell peppers, spinach and carrots) in coconut milk. I added some spices and other stuff: orange juice, cinnamon, tahin, tamari, rice vinegar, salt, curry, kurkuma, and pepper. I also added half a package of quinoa for some good amino acids. I think I had too much tasting and smells from cooking as I had a very small bowl for dinner and was super stuffed afterwards. 

Well that was my sunday... time flies by unfortunately. Have a good (vegan) week!