New life. More love. Less cooking

Our Italian-Brazilian baby boy arrived on the 28th of January and we couldn't be happier. We're now adjusting to the new life, filled with the biggest love ever. 

Of course there's not too much cooking going on and Matteo is doing most of it but this week I ate Amy's Dairy Free Rice Macaroni and Cheeze and it was an amazing surprise. Matteo got it in the health store at Dundrum and the only thing I wish is that it was cheaper (it's imported), but it's worth to have it from time to time and it's really practical.

And now that I'm a vegan mom, any tips of good blogs to follow?

Getting practical

If you were wondering if I already had my baby the answer is not ;-) But I'm not cooking or doing anything special in the last weeks besides trying to get as much rest as I can before the big day and that's why I'm not blogging too.


But today I'd like to share two Redwood products that we'd bought recently and are really good:


Celebration Roast: this is a Cheatin' Turkey Roast with Vegetarian Rashers. Matteo bought it thinking about Christmas but we ended up eating it a few days after and it is really good. Easy to prepare, soft and tasty.

Mixed Meat Free Sausages: this set is great for snacks and part of it was gone during a football (soccer) game last week with my mum here (she's staying 40 days with us). Once again, soft and tasty - and you can also eat with your favourite sauce (we've eaten them just with mayonnaise).

We found both products in The Health Store (located at Dundrum Shopping Centre). One more useful tips for vegans in Dublin.

Yesterday night we had friends coming over for dinner and Matteo prepared his almost famous cotechino servito con polenta e lenticchie (sausage served with polenta and lentils) and pizza and the guys brought chocolate and vanilla Swedish Glace ice cream and chocolates. It was a funny night and it was amazing for me to have friends around before the baby arrives.

The simple life

Happy 2012 everyone! I hope you all had an amazing end of 2011 and are ready for this brand new year. I was always a big fan of New Year's Eve and I'm not sure why. Maybe because it's summer time in Brazil and I always celebrated it with friends and family. But since I'm in Europe I'm not going to big celebrations anymore (went one year and that was it) and this year wasn't different. But this year I've made a very conscious decision to spend the NYE at home with just Matteo and his mother who is visiting us. And this decision has all to do with my only resolution for 2012: to live the simple life. I think the most important thing pregnancy have taught me is to take it easy and enjoy simple things. And it worked pretty well for me in 2011 so I want to do it more and more in 2012.


For our NYE we decided to have simple (here ya go!) food and not any kind of complicated meal. We'd have just appetizers and alcohol free drinks (both me and Matteo don't drink alcohol at all). Matteo would help me with the preparation and we'd play cards. We ended up having Tomato Rosemary Scones from Vegan Brunch, Sun-Dried Tomato Dip from Veganomicon, pistachio nuts, hummus (this was the only thing we didn't make ourselves) and a lovely Capers Dip which Matteo came up with the recipe from his mind while he was preparing the other dip. Everything was delicious and 2012 arrived just like that: simple and bringing us happiness.

Here's the recipe of the Capers Dip:

Ingredients:

1 cup white beans, drained

1/4 cup capers

2 tablespoon olive oil

1/3 cup nutritional yeast

3  tablespoon water

salt

1  tablespoon French's mustard

Put the white beans, capers, mustard, olive oil and water in the food processor or blender and mix it until smooth. Add the nutritional yeast and salt and blend it again. Check if it's salty enough to your taste.

Cover and chill for at least half an hour. Serve it with crackers or slices of fake meat or vegan cheese.

A very special Christmas

After reading posts and seeing pictures of Christmas meals I have to say my Christmas wasn't that special or creative this year. But at the same time it was a very special one cause it's the last month of my pregnancy and it  made everything a little bit different for me. I wasn't feeling that much into the Holidays as I've said here before and I got many cupcakes orders to delivery on the 22nd so just after everything was done I was able to think about the food for the weekend.

Matteo's mother and sister were here one more time and it's really nice to spend the Holidays with them. Can't describe how excited my mother-in-law is to become a grandma! To make things easier for me we decided to keep both menus (for the 24th eve and 25th lunch) simple and Matteo did most of the cooking this year (yes, I have the best husband in the world).

A Brazilian friend of mine is in Dublin for the Holidays and I invited her to come here on Saturday afternoon cause she couldn't come for the eve. So I baked some vanilla and almond biscuits based on this recipe. We ate them with vegan nutella and they were really good. 

For dinner we got some snacks for starter and Matteo made mac'n'cheese. It was cool cause it's not an Italian dish even being done with pasta and it was appreciated by the Italians in the house. We had a vegan panettone from Vegusto afterwards and it was a really nice surprise (my sister-in-law said it tastes like the regular ones). We closed the night opening the presents.

For Sunday lunch I baked these "cheesy" crackers (the only difference is that this time I've used nutritional yeast and Redwood Soy free Cheezly cheddar style and not parmesan) and we had lots of appetizers prepared by Matteo that included guacamole and  hummus, between other yummys. For the main dish he did cotechino servito con polenta e lenticchie (this dish became very popular in the house) and we got more panettone for dessert.

As you can see, nothing fancy or difficult or even new, but it was perfect. We had a great time and spend quality time at home with people we love. I missed my family a lot again and thought about my grandma a lot too, but it's the bad side of living this far from them. Anyway I was able to Skype them on Sunday morning and this completed my Christmas.

Now I'm preparing myself for a quiet New Year's eve. What are you doing next weekend?

united by love and compassion

Photo of a photo from our album

Today me and Matteo are celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary.

We have many things in common and we're different in many other things. But what made me fall in love with him was his compassion for the animals and the values we share.

As a friend told me today, we're keeping the vegan edge family alive. Hope we're doing it right ;-)

we had a 100% vegan buffet but no photos
this was the cake and the Italian confetti

Love you, husband.

Bye for now!

In February 2010 I wrote this post about we leaving Dublin 1 (after living in two apartments there) to move to the house we're living now, in Dublin 12. And now, surprise... surprise... Here I am again writing about moving house. It will be our fourth place in 2 years and 4 months in Dublin. Too much for me, have to admit, but I'm excited.

It was amazing to live in a house for one year. If I could I'd take the house with me! But we're having some issues with the area and I'm sure it was the best decision. Time will tell. As you all can see, 2011 started to surprise me soon. This week I saw myself and my vegan cupcakes in an article in the Irish Independent (article here and pic of the print version here), baked a lot of other cupcakes for a student event, had my last day of work for MUZU.TV and now, saying good bye to the house.



We had great moments here, amazing food too, a lot shared with old and new friends and family.

Life goes one. Even more full of good memories.

All about... 2010

Since I've started the blog I've been doing the "all about... the previous year" post and this year won't be different. I like some rituals and unpredictable since I left Brazil it sounds good to keep the "traditions" that are left ;-P

2008 sounds a thousand years ago right now, but it was an important year. 2009 was a way better, but still with too many downs between some ups. But it was definitely a "building" year. But 2010 was grand and I can't stop thanking life for giving me such a good year.

I won't be able to remember all the good bits (what is a good sign) but I'll let you know my top 10:

1. I started a Master in Journalism and Media Communications
2. We moved to a house, a lovely house
3. Me and Matteo celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary and 6 years together (L)
4. I did one more issue of my paper zine, Outspoken, and the first English issue
5. I went to Brazil to see my family and best friends and it was deadly
6. I had an amazing summer, traveling around, visiting friends and my mom came to Europe for the first time
7. I saw 7 Seconds at Ieperfest and a lot of other amazing shows. Hardcore and straight edge will always be my life
8. I started working on MUZU.TV with on-line journalism and music
9. My brother's wife is pregnant and I'll be an aunt soon (L)
10. I still have the best friends in the world, no matter how far they are

And I couldn't leave out the amazing vegan food that I had this year. I didn't cook or bake that much, but still had great experiences in the kitchen. I met new (and amazing) people cause of veganism. I celebrated my 13th vegan anniversary believing more and more that I made the right choice. Berlin is still the TOP 1 vegan-friendly city in my opinion, but I still have to go to the US. Ice cream is still the best thing in the world.

I have no idea about how 2011 will be. I have a good feeling about it but I decided to not plan too much and I have no resolutions for this year. But I'm sure my life will change again. For the best. The word for 2011 is already being "surprise".

Happy 2011

Xmas pictures

Did you all have a great Xmas weekend? I hope so! I have to say that mine was perfect. Xmas to me was always about family. I'm not a religious person but I really enjoy this holiday. Being far from my family sometimes makes things not that easy, but everything was amazing. I spent the last days with Matteo's family at home and we had the best time - and the best (vegan) food. I also saw my parents on the 25th through Skype (thanks technology for making our lives better!) and also showed them our street covered with the snow.

We celebrated Xmas on the 24th evening and on the 25th. In Italy they also celebrate the 26th, but we didn't this year. I decided to prepare the meals with easy recipes, so I wouldn't spend the entire days in the kitchen. And it was worth it! Everything was cooked by 4 hands (by me and my sister-in-law) and it was all delicious.

First meal: creamy corn risotto, for the 24th lunch:


The living room table ready for the Xmas eve: non-alcoholic grape drink + white lasagna (with home made pasta, funghi, white cream and sun dried tomatoes)


Xmas eve dessert: peanut butter "cheese" cake:


Xmas day vegan brunch: it was a Saturday that sounded like Sunday, so we decided to have brunch. Besides the guacamole we did everything from the book "Vegan Brunch" (tomato scones and an amazing broccoli quiche). And, of course, cupcakes.

I added one smoked tofu to the filling and it made the quiche even better!

I'll make a post with the lasagna and "cheese" cake recipes, I promise!

Relax and get a cupcake!

I have no words to explain how my life sounds crazy right now. Just to give you an idea, I have to finish 5 assignments in 72 hours, having a full time job. But, this is not a place to complain and I'm excited about the last days of the year. It's being a great year in general, have to say and I just want to make sure it will finish in the best way too.

This weekend I had the visit of my lovely French friend Aurelia and we really had fun. She's like an younger sister and it's always good to have her around. So I decided to relax a little bit and just enjoy these days as much as I could. And I baked some cupcakes. I can't remember when was the last time I made them. It was so good to see them ready to eat and I used some of the vegan "M&M" that I bought in Berlin too (yes, I know, still have to write about the trip).

I'm not being able to take orders but I hope I can bake more stuff for Christmas and New Year. Baking is good. I miss it.

My personal (vegan) chef

This November me and Matteo will celebrate 6 years together (L). And looking back I'm sure that we always shared everything to make our lives easier - and happier. People say that I'm a lucky woman and I know I am. But I think that having a guy at home that helps out with the daily stuff is not that hard to find anymore (or at least, shouldn't be!). And because this blog is all about the (vegan) food, I'll limit the post to the cooking. Me and Matteo always shared the cooking at home. He's great in some kind of food, I'm good in other things and sometimes the restaurants are the best place to be. And now that I'm staying out all day to work and study, he's cooking more than never.

Last Sunday we were watching a Jamie Oliver TV show. I have to say that as a vegan I almost hate him, but he's a good chef and when I see him doing vegetarian (and also vegan) dishes I try to get all the good tips and use them. We watched three of four episodes and Matteo was very excited after it. On Monday he went to the supermarket and bought tons of stuff to cook as a real chef ("better than Jamie Oliver, cause I'm vegan!" - his words, couldn't agree more).

When I got back from College on Monday night I had this waiting for me:

Focaccia sandwich with artichokes, sun dried tomatoes, olives and fried polenta cubes

Chocolate cake + yogurt berries ice cream

None of these pictures are good enough to show how good everything was and I had even more amazing food on Tuesday, but I didn't take the pictures (was too hungry to think about them, sorry!).

It's really amazing to have someone to share love and passions and important choices like the veganism.

Today I didn't have classes and I baked some tomato rosemary scones, from Isa Chandra's book Vegan Brunch. Yep, it was my turn and my chance to say thanks to this amazing guy ;-)

Vegan coconut pie to celebrate!

If you come here frequently you know that I am a big fan of Hannah Kaminsky, her book and all her sweet recipes. To celebrate this blog 2nd anniversary I made our first giveaway and the prize was a copy of her e-book Mission: Impossible Pies. Last week I finally did the first recipe of this amazing book: Coconut Pie. It is delicious and very easy (and fast) to make it, being an wonderful quick dessert option.

With some vegan vanilla ice cream to make it even better

Everybody should try at least one of Hannah's amazing recipes, from heir blog or books!

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Aos queridos leitores brasileiros (e também portugueses, por que não?),

a autora me autorizou a publicar aqui a receita em português, o que faço com muita alegria, pois além de ser uma delícia, é rápida de fazer e todos os ingredientes podem ser encontrados no Brasil (diferente de algumas receitas que levam, por exemplo o vegan cream cheese, que não está disponível ainda para quem mora no país).

Então vamos lá!

Torta de côco vegana

340 gramas de tofu (a medida da receita é em "ounce", mas já fiz a conversão ao usar aqui também)
1 xícara de açúcar refinado
2 xícaras de côco ralado
1 xícara de leite de côco
1/2 xícara de farinha de trigo
1/2 colher de chá de fermento em pó
1/2 colher de chá de sal
1 colher de chá de extrato de baunilha

Pre-aqueça o forno a 180 graus e unte uma assadeira de 9" (eu utilzei uma menor, de 7" para que a torta ficasse um pouco mais alta e adorei). A minha assadeira é bem anti-aderente, então não precisei untar, mas por via das dúvidas não custa passar um pouquinho de óleo e farinha no fundo e laterais.

Escorra o excesso de água do tofu e o coloque em um processador ou liquidificador. Bata até que ele fique bem cremoso. Adicione o açúcar, o côco ralado, o leite de côco, a farinha, o fermento, o sal e a baunilha e bata até combinar todos os ingredientes. Tome cuidado para não bater demais, pois o ideal é manter os pedacinhos do côco ralado.

Coloque a mistura na assadeira e asse por 40-45 minutos, até que as laterais fiquem douradas, mas o meio ainda esteja um pouco oscilante (não totalmente firme). Espere esfriar e coloque na geladeira por 1 hora antes de servir.

Se quiser variar, sirva com uma calda de frutas vermelhas ou um pouco do seu sorvete favorito!

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Thanks, Hannah, for letting me post the recipe in Portuguese for my Brazilian friends and readers!

Meu Brasil brasileiro

With some friends at Vegacy - São Paulo

I'm in Brazil to see my family and my friends. The last time that me and Matteo came here was June 2009. One year without coming is a lot to me. But I'm doing the best I can. It's great to be home, to be with people that love me and miss me.

Vegan breakfest in the hotel: bread + strawberry and goiaba jelly

The flights from Dublin to Belo Horizonte, my city, stop in São Paulo, so we decided to stay one day there to see some friends (some of my best friends live there), get tattooed and eat. The best thing is that our tattooer (Teté) is also the owner of the vegan restaurant Vegacy, that we love, and both are in the same street. Couldn't be better. We had an amazing lunch there, went to the studio and came back in the evening to meet some people. I finally finished my arm that I start 4 years ago and now I have the ocean in my skin (L). Everything was perfect. I wish I could stay more days there cause I couldn't see everybody, but we don't have too much time and had to come to Belo Horizonte.

Itubaína: can't believe it was the first time that we drank it, too good.

Vegan lunch

In the end of the night we went to a pizzeria with Teté and his girlfriend and ate two awesome pizzas. Expensive, but very tasty.

There is good vegan food and products in Brazil and I'll try to post here as much as I can in the next few days, I'm taking pictures of everything.

Happy Mothers Day

Today is the Mother's Day in Brazil and I miss my mom. I miss her every single day, even being able to talk to her with the MSN or Skype two or three days a week. She is my best friend. Yes, she is the best mother in the world, and if I am a good person today, she has the credit for it. I wish I could give her a big hug now, but I will do it soon.

I miss my grandma too. I miss the amazing lunch for the Mother Days we used to have at her house. I never had another grandma, so she was the only one. She was unique too. And she will be remembered forever.

Love you, mom! ♥

I will always have time...

... to do my best for the most important person in my life:

Happy Birthday! (L)

Matteo's favourite vegan cake is also my best seller one!

The (vegan) food in the house

I'm in love with the spring again. This year is being even better because we are living in a house, in a neighborhood full of houses and parks and trees that start to be full of flowers. I am enjoying every single moment of these amazing changes of the weather.

I'm still working a lot and I have a lot of assignments to do what means no time for a lot of things that I love, including blogging and cooking. But we are having some good meals. For our 4th anniversary, my sister-in-law cooked an amazing lasagna (and nothing better than Italian food prepared by Italian people!) for lunch and pizza in the night. I did a lemon cheesecake (I'll post the recipe later) too, so we had lots of good food.

Eggplant and zucchini lasagna
(the image isn't good but it was delicious!)

And we can always count with some stuff that make our days in the kitchen easier:

From Italy

From Italy

Our Easter egg, also from Italy

This is an amazing vegan cheese that
my best friend Clarissa (and Dennis) brought to us from Berlin