Before I went 100% vegan from vegetarian, I ate eggs occassionally. Scrambled eggs is a simple dish that I used to make. My favorite version was scrambled eggs with tomatoes, I never got tired of eating that. I stopped eating eggs after I learnt that they contained too much cholestrol, which is harmful for our bodies. Another important reason is that I don’t want to contribute to the suffering of laying hens. People ask me, hens are not killed for laying eggs, what’s wrong with it? Well the problem is, they will be killed eventually as long as they’re forced to work for human beings. And before they’re killed many of them are painfully debeaked, crammed into dark and crowded cages and, perhaps, never see a beam of sunshine before they are dragged out to be killed. As long as I eat eggs, I am a part of the cycle, and I don’t feel comfortable about that.

Luckily, I don’t miss the egg dishes I used to enjoy. I just found other ways to cook food. For instance, instead of the scrambled eggs, I eat scrambled tofu. Full of protein and equally tasty, with a bit tumeric to color it yellow so it is visually appealing (or should I say nostalgic ;) ) this dish is definitely worth trying for your Sunday breakfast, or brunch.

 

The first time I made this muffin was a while ago, I treated my friend Marie. She loved it. That made me very happy.

Marie is a lady who I admire very much. You wouldn’t believe how we met each other. Back in 2008 when I was still in Chengdu, I blogged about my hand-made chocolate. She was traveling to Chengdu and left a message for me on the page to see if we could meet. However, I didn’t read it so I didn’t get to meet her. Two years later, I came to Shanghai, and bumped to Marie in the corridor of the café where I was hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for the Shanghai Veggie Club, mistaking her for one of our guests. We exchanged business cards but didn’t contact each other until a few months later, since then I have been helping Marie part-time with her business. The other day I accidentally discovered her message from a few years ago, and I was amazed. It is like we were destined to meet!

The first impression of Marie was that she is very charming. She’s independent and graceful, and very positive as well. As a single mother, she tries to balance her busy work life and raise her son, as well as taking care of her family. It’s definitely not easy. I can’t imagine how she manages it all. Unlike some kids with single parents here in China, Thomas, Marie’s son, is one of the happiest and most charming guys I’ve ever met. I can easily see Marie’s influence on him. I once asked Marie where she got her power from, she said through her faith in God. This is also one of the things I want to strengthen myself in. :)

So when I bake this muffin, I think of Marie and her charm and her faith. I hope one day I’d be like her. I hope when I am at her age, I will still smile beautifully and be cheerful. With this super anti-oxidant blueberry muffin, made of dense nutrition and fibre, I think I am one step closer to my goal. ;)

 

The fall is finally here. The weather is rather pleasant these days, not hot and humid as in summer. There is a lovely breeze coming in through the window in the morning and evening and the sun sets at 6:00 pm. Cooking in the kitchen is no longer challenging. In fact, I find it rather pleasant to bake some muffins for breakfast when it’s not my morning exercise day. :-) Breakfast is the most important meal of the day; it’s OK to skip a late night dinner, but you must always try and eat something at breakfast time.

If you like elaborate breakfasts like me you will know that you have to get up early in order to cook them. I like nothing better than making things and enjoying them in the morning breeze and warm sunlight. The first few days of rising early are always challenging, and you just wish you could sleep a bit more, but if you succumb to your desire you will find yourself in a vicious cycle again. So be strict and keep it up, your body will adjust. You will end up going to bed earlier and getting enough sleep. Now I am using this method I feel good when I get up early in the morning and go shopping for vegetables in the market and make my big breakfast!

 

A traditional breakfast in Sichuan is deep-fried rice cake. From a nutritional point of view, this is not a healthy food, as the main ingredient is white sticky rice and it’s deep fried in oil; oil which has probably been recycled many times. It is quite crunchy and crispy on the outside, with a soft sticky centre, making it more palatable to most people.

I am not a big fan of deep frying stuff, so I decided to make a pancake instead. I use red rice flour to add a bit more nutrition to it. If you happen to find brown sticky rice flour, feel free to substitute the “normal” one here. The light reddish brown color looks so nice in the final result, and the edge is wavy and crispy. Though unlike its wheat flour counterpart, without gluten the pancake is not easily formed, so you have to be very careful when flipping it. ;-)

Finding pure unsweetened coconut milk powder on the Internet was a real triumph for me, as the commercial coconut milk drink or canned cooking coconut milk contains either white sugar or thickener, which I certainly don’t want. Now with this powder, I can enjoy the healthier version at any time. ;-)

 

Recently I went for my final weigh in for the WHS Fitness Challenge. Much to my surprise, my BFI had remained exactly the same. I was greatly disappointed, but I knew why. Firstly, despite the fact that I had tried my best to make it to my three selected fitness classes every week, I did fail to attend some of them for various reasons. Secondly, I stopped my Pilates routine because I thought I did enough. Obviously it was not enough, otherwise, my BFI would have been cut down to my ideal.

Being a vegan, I am definitely not overweight, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have any extra fat. I do have some around my belly, waist and legs which is perhaps common to many modern city dwellers. Though, to shed the extra fat, the normal routine I do is not enough. My friend had introduced P90X to me previously but just watching the introduction I didn’t think I would survive the intense workout routine considering I am not a person that is very active. >.<

Although it is clear that I will not win any awards this year I still need to do something in order to reach my goal of reducing my BFI and getting the body shape I desire. So, what I do is to make a healthy smoothie for myself, get back to my Pilates routine and add Shaun T’s Hip Hop Abs. ;-) I will let you know how it goes. If you’re doing the same thing, don’t give up yet, just treat yourself a healthy nutritious shake and get back to the battle!

 

I was so delighted to meet my friend QW again. We got to know each other through my Chinese blog. We are of a similar age, and are both open-minded to new cultures and experiences, so we became very good friends almost immediately. When I first met her she was quite depressed because she wanted to go back to Norway but her visa was not approved. She worked in Norway for a year and was fond of the country and she dearly missed her friends there. I was sad for her, but there was nothing we could do. Eventually I encouraged her to move to a big city where she would be happier than living in the small city in the north-west China, where her parents are. She did eventually move and was happy to start a new life.

She was in my area to attend a meeting, so we managed to meet for a brief time in Shanghai, before she flew home. She’s a lovely lady, and we happily chatted about what’s been going on in our lives lately. Knowing that I am a great fan of northern Europe, she brought me a pack of Ragsticks which are a type of flat, dried crackers. We talked about the beautiful cool European summers.

Because there are so many fresh berries this season I am going to make this smoothie featuring fresh organic blueberries. It makes a perfect breakfast along with the Ragsticks and lingonberry jam. The additional açaí berry powder makes it an extraordinarily powerful anti-oxidant drink, which helps keeps you looking and feeling younger. ;) This is my way of celebrating the northern European cool summer while in hot humid Shanghai. :P

I also made some blueberry and grape popsicles. It’s very easy, just drop 4 blueberries into the popsicle molds, fill them with red grape juice and freeze over night. Great to enjoy on a steaming summer day!

 

One of my friends said I have a “baby’s” taste when it comes to drinks. I am still at the stage of loving natural sweet fruit juices, and have never learned to appreciate wines, cocktails or even a beer, which is unfortunate, as in most social occasions, people drink alcohol, while I have to try hard to get a Shirley Temple, or orange juice. On the other hand it is fortunate, as I never have the problem of having a bad hangover. :P

A while ago I was reading up on beer and found that stout beer is said to be the best in the world. Out of curiosity I went to the supermarkets catering imported products to get a bottle to try, as stout is rare in Chinese supermarkets. Quite to my dismay, despite the attractive deep roasted aroma of malt syrup, the beer itself was bitter and not liked by my “baby” tongue. >.< Not wanting to waste anything, I decided to make this stout beer pancake. In this way, I could still enjoy the aroma but balance the bitterness with a caramel syrup. ^O^

Making pancakes used to be very daunting for me. I couldn’t make them without the pancake sticking to the pan and I always ended up smashing it instead of flipping it. Since I don’t like using a non-stick pan, I found that a stainless steel pan works just as well. If you preheat it while it’s empty and then coat it with a thin layer of oil and cook on a medium heat you will get perfect pancakes every time. So pancakes have become a regular item on my breakfast list and as long as I get a spare twenty minutes in the morning, I can make nice pancakes for myself.

 

Before I knew of German yogurt, I thought all yogurt was liquid, a bit thicker than normal milk, the kind that is commonly seen in Chinese supermarkets. Later when I learnt that good yogurt is rich and thick and is supposed to be consumed with a spoon, I found the normal commercial yogurt no longer appealing to me. Not to mention, I don’t know what they put in the commercial products. @_@ So I decided to make my own yogurt.

Homemade yogurt is so good, as it’s fresh and clean and has absolutely no coloring or thickeners added. It’s also very easy, the best way to make it would be to plug the machine before you go to bed, then in the morning you will have fresh yogurt to start! Since I began making it, some of my friends also wanted to follow my example, so I have been busy buying yogurt machines for them from Taobao for a while, haha. Another friend has told me that a heater or thermos can also be utilized to make yogurt, but for hygienic reason, I don’t bother using those, as yogurt machine is not that expensive, I don’t want to spend more time troubleshooting when I have been successfully making yogurt with the machine. :P

Smoothies have always been among my favorite breakfasts. They are full of energy and nutrition that come from fruit, fruit juices and non-dairy yogurt or milk, not to mention they are easy to digest. Some people say they never feel hungry in the morning, however this is not the case with me. I need a hearty breakfast to start the day, probably because I don’t eat too much for dinner. Of course, smoothies can also be enjoyed after a hard workout, or you can drink a thick one for dinner if you eat a lot for your lunch and have snacked throughout the afternoon. ;)