Eggplant Philly Cheese Steak (vegetarian)

Hello everyone!

My husband recently asked me if I could try and make him a Philly Cheese Steak and I figured, “Why not?”. Since I also wanted to eat something I looked up vegan/vegetarian versions of it, but to my dismay I found only mushroom recipes and the occasional jack fruit Philly Cheese Steak. I would try jack fruit, but honestly, try to get that here in Las Vegas, lol.

Anyway, I wanted to eat one, too. I checked my fridge to see if maybe I have something I could use…tofu maybe? Nah. Carrots? No, thank you. But, what is this?! It’s an EGGPLANT!

Eggplants are so versatile, it’s crazy, and so I used it for my little Philly Cheese Steak experiment. I have to admit, I did use dairy cheese here. I forgot the vegan cheese in the store, but I’m sure you can make it with homemade or store bought vegan cheese and it would be just as good. 

For this recipe, I recommend a large cast iron skillet that goes over two flames. Like this one here:

You can flip it: one side is for grilling, the other for….for anything, really. I’d use this because you can prepare everything at once, which saves a lot of time. However, you can also use multiple pans.

For this recipe, you need only a few ingredients, and you can also add or leave out whatever you feel like. It’s up to you 🙂

A list of ingredients, as well as easy instructions can be found at the end of this article.

First, you peel your eggplant and cut a few inch thick slices off of it. Take a medium yellow onion and cut it into slices. If you want (I did not, because I don’t like them) cut green bell peppers into slices. I used jalapeños, instead, which is optional. Have a hoagie roll, and cheese ready.

Heat up your griddle and put on some oil. Throw the onions on one area, and grill them until they’re soft and brown. At the same time, in a different area on the griddle, grill your vegetable of choice (bell pepper, jalapeños, mushrooms, etc), and again in a different area grill your eggplants (3 slices should be enough for one Philly Cheese Steak). As you can see I like onions but you don’t have to use as much as I did. 

Once your eggplant is soft take it aside and chop it into bite sized pieces. Toast the inside of your hoagie by putting it on the griddle for a minute. 

 

 Once chopped add the eggplant back to the griddle and mix your onions and other vegetables together and season with a generous amount of salt and pepper. Form a nice little heap in the shape of your hoagie roll. 

Now comes the cheese. You can either put vegan cheese on this (should be able to melt), or real cheese, or a kind of cheese sauce like wiz. It’s up to you really. 

Now I’ll show you something I learned from some cooking show a few years ago. There is this neat way of getting all your ingredients into your hoagie without much trouble. Watch this!

​​
Excuse my fat fingers but this is seriously awesome, don’t you think? Sure, some fell out, but only because I was too generous with my onions, lol. 

Recipe:

• 1 hoagie roll
• 1 small onion
• 3 x 1 inch slices of eggplant
• Vegetable of your choice (bell pepper, jalapeño, mushroom, etc)
• Cheese of your choice (vegan, dairy, cheese sauce, etc)
• Salt & pepper 
• Oil 

Cut onions into half rings. Peel eggplant and cut into 3 x 1 inch slices. Cut bell peppers or jalapeños into strips or chunks. 

Heat and add oil to a large griddle (preferably one that goes over two burners). Place onions on the griddle. Add eggplant to another area of the griddle, and in another area add your vegetables and grill them until soft. 

Once the eggplant is soft, chop it into bites sized chunks, and return to griddle. Mix it with your onions and vegetables and generously season with salt & pepper. 

Open your hoagie and toast the inner soft on the griddle for 30 seconds – 1 minute. 

Form the vegetables into a heap in size of your hoagie and add cheese on top. Once melted, place opened hoagie over the heap, apply pressure to the open ends of the hoagie, and lift your grilled vegetables up inside the bread. 

Bon appetite!

(Sun) Dried Carrots – a Dog Chew

Hello everyone!

I have been experimenting with alternative dog chews for a while. Those store bought chews, and dental sticks can really weight on your pocket!

My dog is very picky when it comes to food, and treats. However, she has always been in love with carrots. I usually threw an organic carrot (with peel on) in the microwave, zapped it for a minute, cooled it, and let my dog have a field day. (The microwaving helps make the carrot more easily digestible, by the way).

As much as she was in love she was with these minute microwaved carrots, she’d eat about half of it and leave the rest behind. However, she’d come back to them once they were all dried up and super chewy. Since I live in Las Vegas, and it’s hot as balls here during the summer, I put some carrots out and let them sun dry until they reached the desired chewiness.

I forgot to take a picture, so I took this one from google search

Turns out, she really loves them more! They also seem easily digestible, as well. People’s dogs in the dog park also really like them. So far, no dog has refused my sun dried carrots!

When fall comes around, I will try the same with sweet potatoes, but for right now, sun dried carrot sticks it is.

Have you experimented with tried vegetables as alternative dog chews? I f yes, I would love to hear about it!

Thank you 🙂

10 reasons you should go vegan — ashleighhearsawhat

1. Have you seen freelee she is fit as hell, you can achieve the same result by ditching the meat, dairy and eggs 2. You will almost definitely lose weight, losing weight is always in magazines and trashy newspapers but the diets they suggest are simply unsustainable, if you are on one of these diets […]

via 10 reasons you should go vegan — ashleighhearsawhat

My new French Press

Hi everyone!

I am a big fan of coffee. Not the sweet, sticky stuff Starbucks sells you. But good coffee. No sugar, maybe some cashew milk, or a vegan protein shake for creaming purposes. But I could also have it black, for all I cared.

What I do not like is an overly bitter coffee. Luckily, there are ways to prevent coffee from becoming too bitter. What works best for me, is using a French Press. I recently bought a new one at Target, a regular old Bodum french press for maybe $20. Not expensive at all.

It’s 8 cups, it says, but really, it’s one big coffee for me. There are different ways of using a French Press, and you can even use it for lose leaf tea!

Three ways of how I use the French Press:

Hot coffee

Cold Brewed Coffee

Tea

Hot Coffee:

It’s super easy, really. For each cup of water you add one tablespoon of coarse ground coffee. Add hot water on top of it and wait for 4 minutes. Stir it with either a wooden or plastic spoon (the container is made out of glass, so a metal spoon could damage it). Add the top of the French Press and slowly push down.

Et Voila: you have smooth but rich tasting coffee!

Cold Brewed Coffee:

This is pretty much my favorite, especially now, in those hot summer months.

Basically, you add a tablespoon of coarse ground coffee per cup of water, again, but this time you add cold, filtered water to the mix. Leave the coffee in the fridge for a while, depending on how strong you want it, but a good 10-12 hours should do the trick.

One nice thing I can add to this: if you ever come across left over black coffee that you have no use for anymore, freeze them and add them to your cold brewed coffee. Nothing is worse than a watery iced coffee, which can be prevented by these awesome coffee ice cubes!

Service either black or with a nut milk (or dairy milk, if you like that). You will find that this coffee is extremely smooth, with less to no bitterness. A great coffee experience all around!

Tea:

In case you do not like coffee or are looking for something else, the French Press can be used to make tea. Simply add lose tea leafs to the container and add either hot or cold water. For hot water, follow the directions of how long the tea needs to steep. For cold water, let if steep for a good 6-12 hours. You can freeze left over tea, again, for future ice cold, never watery iced tea 🙂

For really strong coffee, I actually use my little Italian Bialetti espresso maker. However, that one is for quick coffee kicks, and not for the faint of heart.

Enjoy your coffee, guys!

 

 

It’s been a while!

Hello everyone!

It’s been quite a while since my last post but I do have a good excuse (excuses, really). 

It all started when me and my husband decided we’re ready for a baby. Exciting, I know! Unfortunately, that fell through when the OBGYN told me something is wrong.  It took them months to figure out what was wrong with me and the fear of cancer overshadowed my every thought. Luckily, it’s not cancer but I do have cysts everywhere and they’re preventing me from conceiving. Fun times! I’m in the process of healing, at the moment. Hopefully, I’ll be completely healthy soon. 

We’re also thinking about buying a house. What a stressful thing to do, let me tell you that! The things you have to consider before making a big decision like that, wheeew! Also, I got a new job, and o get to work from home!

The third thing that kept me away from this blog is this little girl:

 
Yep, we got a puppy! Her name is Brandy. We got her at 8 weeks from someone who didn’t have time for her. Lucky for her I’m home all day long and so we decided to adopt her. She’s been with us for a month now. Puppies are so much work, it’s insane. As Europeans we decided not to crate train her as we see it as a less positive thing compared to the American approach of sticking dogs in cages over a long period of time (talk about Stockholm Syndrome!). So I need to keep my eye on her every move to make sure she doesn’t go potty everywhere! She’s been good, though. Only a few accidents so far. We’re training her to ring a bell when she has to go and she’s used it twice all on her own now. At night we get up about three times for her to go potty. Hopefully in about a month we only have to get up twice. But she’s a darling, most of the time. The cats hate her but they’re tolerating her in the same room now. We’re making progress!

With all those things I kept vegan about 90% of the time. I had cheese sometimes and even had sushi. Didn’t feel great, I must admit. I’m doing better, now that I know I don’t have cancer. I’ll try to get some recipes up next week because I discovered some lovely recipes for soups that I tweaked a little, and they are OH SO DELICIOUS!

Alright then, glad I’m back!

Liebster-Award

Hello everyone!

I was recently nominated for a Liebster Award by Karry, from Postcards from Karry. Thank you so much! I really appreciate it.

I was unfamiliar with this award but after some research I really like the idea.

The rules are:

1. Thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog on your blog.

2. Display the award on your blog — by including it in your post and/or displaying it using a “widget” or a “gadget”. (Note that the best way to do this is to save the image to your own computer and then upload it to your blog post.)

3. Answer 11 questions about yourself, which will be provided to you by the person who nominated you.

4. Provide 11 random facts about yourself.

5. Nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you feel deserve the award, who have a less than 1000 followers. (Note that you can always ask the blog owner this since not all blogs display a widget that lets the readers know this information!)

6. Create a new list of questions for the blogger to answer.

7. List these rules in your post (You can copy and paste from here.) Once you have written and published it, you then have to:

8. Inform the people/blogs that you nominated that they have been nominated for the Liebster award and provide a link for them to your post so that they can learn about it (they might not have ever heard of it!)

Karry asked me a couple of questions that I’m going to answer here:

1. Who was your first TV/Film hero or crush? Hero: Xena, the warrior princess, Crush: Casper as an alive teenage boy (from the movie, Casper)

2. What other place in the world do you think you could live in? I can see myself living in New York City.

3. What would you like engraved on your tombstone or written on your obituary? I told you I was sick.

4. What food to you hate to eat? Bell peppers and mushrooms

5. Star Wars or Star Trek? I can’t choose, I like them both!

Now, the rules ask for 11 random facts about myself. Let’s see:

1. I grew up in Berlin, Germany
2. My zodiac sign is cancer
3. I’ve been a vegan for about 6-7 months now
4. I lived in San Diego for 5 years and I loved it
5. My favorite cities are New York City, Paris, Berlin (in that order)
6. I am a cat person but I still like dogs
7. I have watched the movie Chicago more than 12 times (+ once live on Broadway!)
8. I’m allergic to ketchup but I still eat it anyway
9. I’m obsessed with Lana Del Rey’s music (even saw her live once)
10. I hate the winter and cold weather
11. I get cold when I’m tired and vice versa

Okay, those were 11 random facts about me. Now it’s time to nominate some people for the Liebster Award myself – this is rather exciting stuff!!!

I’d like to nominate the following blogs:

thefullcirclevegans.wordpress.com

veganneeds.com

suburbanveganroadwarrior.com

fitdelight.com

heckaveggie.wordpress.com

myveganfreedom.com

plantbasedmartialartist.wordpress.com

My questions to you are the following:

1. Favorite city?
2. Favorite dish?
3. Dogs or cats?
4. Coffee or tea?
5. Favorite book?
6. Favorite TV show?
7. Spring, Summer, Fall, or Winter?
8. Zodiac sign?
9. Hogwarts house?
10. Favorite movie?
11. Favorite color?

Thank you again, for the nomination, Karry! I hope we can spread some love with this!

 

How to properly take care of cats

Hello everyone!

Today I’m here to talk about cats. Many people consider themselves happy that they get to share heir living spaces with a cat. However, I noticed that many people also don’t really know how to take care of the furry little creatures. I mean, they know the basics, but then wonder why their cats are destructive, skittish, or sometimes even aggressive. 

 
Many of these problems can be solved with a bit of time and care. Of course, some cats have gone through hell and back, especially cats from shelters, that have previously been abused or not been properly socialized. These things are harder to fix but today I can help you with the small things that only need a little change. Let me start with this:

Litter boxes need daily cleaning!

Sadly, way too often I hear of other cat owners and how they clean their cat’s litter boxes every now and then. That’s bad! Let me put it like this – Would you like to use a toilet that hasn’t been flushed in a while? – I doubt it. And at least you get to sit on the  seat not touching anything. A cat has to walk in the box full of filth! If possible, clean the litter box twice a day, if not portobello the once at least! Cats are super clean animals that, if too disgusted by their box, may go somewhere else. And that you don’t want, I know that for a fact. Don’t make your cat go somewhere else and then blame the animal for it. It’s your fault! Also, the rule of thumb it one litter box per cat. Some cats don’t like to share litter boxes. Others do. If you find one of your cats going in other places than the one litter box you have you might want to buy another one. It might not like to share it. 

 

Don’t put food dishes next to litter boxes

Again, let me put it this way – Would you like to eat where you sh!t? – and again, I doubt it. Neither does your cat. Try keeping both in different rooms. Make your cat feel comfortable. 

On another note – some cats don’t like their water dishes near their food. I’m not sure why but it is a fact. Both of my cats can’t stand their water anywhere near their food so I have a bunch of random water dishes scattered around the house. However, if your cats doesn’t mind and drink enough don’t change it.  

 

Get your cat fixed!!!

I really wish I this would have been a one time only thing but it’s not. It’s been way too many times that a cat owner told me they want their cats to have babies at least once. Who are they to deny that to their beloved pet? Well, unfortunately there are way too many cats out in the shelters who think otherwise. The world is overpopulated by cats. Every year millions of innocent kittens and cats die because people don’t know what to do with all the litters that a cat can produce. Cats are really fertile, guys. 

Unfixed cats often have personality problems. Lady cats, when in heat, are annoying as hell. They will do anything to get out of the house to get laid. I mean that. Not fixing your female cat also increases her chance of cervix cancer. 

Unfixed male cats are even worse. They spray. That smell is a mix of ammonium and death. You won’t get it out of your furniture easily, let me tell you that. The males will also stay closer to their homes and not wander for miles to find a lady friend. 

Fixed cats are usually calmer and nicer. 

 

Buy a scratch tree and toys

If your cat is destructive (scratching your furniture, walls, etc) it might need a scratch tree (if you already have one your cat might just be an asshole). Cats have a natural urge to scratch. Their claws need to stay sharp and in order to sharpen them they need to remove the top layer. This only works in they scratch surfaces that are similar to trees, etc. Scratch trees are great for that and also to keep your cat busy and fit. 

Toys will help bored cats who like to destroy paper and cardboard. Little mice filled with cat nip, a laser pointer for chasing and running, a feather wand, all these things help keep a bored cat happy, busy, and fit!  

For the love of God, don’t declaw your cat!!!!!!

Do you even know what happens when they declaw a cat? The vet had to cut off the first joint of the finger in order to remove the claw. They amputate a joint! That’s ridiculously cruel. If you’re worried your cat might scratch you can clip the claws or buy these little rubber tips that go on each individual claw. When declawed it is so much harder to rehome a cat. They also can’t climb anymore and wouldn’t know how to protect themselves in case they ever got out. Luckily, more and more vets refuse to do it and some states even consider outlawing the procedure. 

If you consider declawing your cat you might want to first consider finding it a better home where it gets its fingers. Don’t be cruel, do the right thing. 

 

Give your cat time and be gentle

Don’t give up on your cat. If your cat has been abused it might take a long time for it to trust you. It may never become the cuddly cat you wished for. But know this – you saved a live! It owes its life to you. That should be reason enough to keep your little problem child around. Who else is going to help if not you?

When approaching a shy cat, always be as quiet as possible, go down on your knees, have some treats in your hand, and let he cat sniff. Don’t pick it up if it doesn’t want to (unless you already know your cat and it doesn’t mind it). Give it time. Talk with a soft voice and just be there. At some point your cat might warm up to you and become the best friend you’ll ever have. 

Feel free to contact me for any cat related information. I am technically not a certified cat expert but I have been surrounded by cats ever since I was a wee child. I have rehabilitated many of my friend’s cats so I’m sure I can help you, too 🙂

Thank you for saving a life!  

Cashew Cream Sauce aka Vegan Alfredo Pesto

Hi everyone!

I accidentally discovered an amazing sauce! 

 

I had a ton of pasta left over from the other day and didn’t know what to do with it. So I tried googling a sauce that could be done with things I still had at home. 

I had exactly one cup of cashews left that I wasn’t quite sure what to do with. I then stumbled across a sad sounding recipe that used exactly that amount of cashews. I really wasn’t happy with what it sounded like so I pretty much changed everything about it except for the cashews. 

My recipe goes something like this:

• 1 cup of raw cashews (soaked)
• 1 cup of water (non-dairy milk will work fine here, too)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of ground flax seeds
• 1 clove of finely diced garlic
• 1 tablespoon of dried basil (fresh is probably better but I had none at home)
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• Salt & pepper to taste (I’m guessing I used about 2 teaspoons of salt but it could have been more, sorry)

Soak the cashews for an hour or two in enough water so that they are fully submerged. After that drain them and put the cashews as well as all the other ingredients into a blender. 

Blend everything until smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Add water if it’s too watery, but it really shouldn’t be. Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed. 

It turned out to be a mix between Alfredo and pesto which sounds, like, really good to me, to be honest. 

I heated up the pasta in the microwave and added a ton of spinach. I waited until the heat wilted the leaves and then added the sauce. 

This is what it looked like:

  
Doesn’t that look amazing? I’ll call it Alfredo Pesto from now on. Even the meat-loving, dairy-consuming husband enjoyed this vegan dream. 

Let me know if you tried it. I bet there are a hundred ways of modifying this recipe. I’m thinking lemon juice, maybe, or sun dried tomatoes mixed in while blending. 

Oh yeah, and, Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

Food is Fuel

Hello everyone,

Sometimes I’m flabbergasted when talking to people about food. It scares me how little they know about the stuff they put in their bodies. Wondering why they’re not losing weight when it’s obviously the gallon of Coke and bag of chips they consume each day. Or how they’re unaware of the tons of sugar that lurks in bread and other foods most people consider diet staples. 

I think it’s time to educate kids early on about nutrition values of food and teach them that what they eat fuels their bodies. 

If we all looked at food as fuel the demand for shitty foods would surely decrease. Imagine a world where people cared about their bodies and bought wholesome foods instead of junk. Where people would actually treat bad foods as that: a treat. Where chips and soda would be seen as a once in a while snack instead of everyday Netflix accomplices. 

I’m not saying go vegan right now. Even meat eaters could be more conscious of junk foods and get healthier right away by cutting out the XXL bag of Reece’s pieces they just bought. 

I’m saying start with small changes and see how your body reacts to it. 

A diet should be less about loosing weight and more about healing your body. A healthy body will aid in loosing weight, I promise. Whereas a sick body will try to stay sick. That’s due to all those addicting substances the food industry puts into our food. Sugar is so highly addicting, it’s insane. Fed Up is a great documentary about sugar in our diets. Sugar isn’t necessarily always bad. There is sugar in wholesome foods like fruits and vegetables. It’s about the added stuff that gets you. Same goes for preservatives and chemicals. 

In the pat few years I have seen food awareness increase. Now with the whole crossfit and gym addiction thing on the rise people have been treating their bodies to better and nutritious foods. But it still isn’t the majority. I would love to see that one day. The majority of people in healthy bodies, aware of what they eat and what to avoid. Maybe, one day. 

Rant over. 

Russian Literature & Thriftbooks.com

Hello everyone,

Ever since reading Anna Karenina I fell in love with Russian literature (and Tolstoy),  especially when the stories are set in imperial  Russia around the 19th century. There is just something about that time and social setting that makes me wonder and ponder. 

I recently got 4 more copies for my Russian collection:

 
I get my books from a place called thriftbooks.com
All theirs books are second hand and oftentimes ex-library. If they are and you decide to buy that copy the proceedings (or part of them) are being donated to the library it originated from. 

The more you buy from one place the better the discount. If you buy books worth $10 or more shipping is free within the United States. 

What I really love is that they have hardcovers for almost every book and they’re often times the same price as the paperbacks. 

If you love reading and love decorating with books you should really check this place out. 

Happy reading!