Bananabread

before i'm leaving for a 2 week vacation i'm giving away one of my most reliable recipies: i bake a loaf of bananabread almost everyday, sometimes two, since i'm selling it in my coffeeshop.

it's an easy to digest, full of energy and teasing the taste-
buds deliciousness. customers have it for breakfast, take it 
to the office, enjoy it with their afternoon espresso or bring 
it home to cheer up their mates, or have a midnight snack.

3-4 very ripe bananas, depending on their size - ca. 400grs 
(brown is good)

1/4 cup vegetable oil (i use canola)

2/3 cups of brown sugar (demerara from Mauritius) more or less acc. to the sweetness of the bananas...

a pinch of salt, a pinch of vanillapowder

3/2 cups of flour - from regular to wholegrain or spelt, 
there are many options

1 package (14grs) of baking powder

peel bananas and mash with a fork inside a bowl, add the 
oil, mix well, add sugar, salt and vanilla, stir together, 
sieve together flour and raising agent, add to bowl, mix it.

pour into a slightly greased loaf tin, 
bake for an hour at 175°c (350°f) - enjoy!

too lazy to bake it yourself? come in and have a slice.
my coffeeshop is open monday to friday, 07.30 to 17.30

1190 Wien, Grinzinger Straße 139 in Vienna, Austria

the bus 38A coming from Heiligenstadt stops in front of my shop
the bus 239 coming from Klosterneuburg and the tramline "D" from Hauptbahnhof/Ringstraße/FranzJosephs Bahnhof stop 20 meters away

Take Pasta to the healthy level

Pasta is a vacation in italy for the most of us. kids usually love it, it's versatile, easy to prepare and yummy. Nevertheless i have cut down on my pasta intake as it is not only high in calories coming from carbs, but i also try not to pack too much gluten into my diet. 

as with most topics i'm not dogmatic about this, but i try to be sensitive and avoid overconsumption, since this protein composite is a factor in allergies, e.g. coeliac disease and dermatitis.

therefore, when we eat pasta at home, i choose varieties that i consider a healthier option. classic italian noodels would be made of durum wheat, a whole grain version (integrale) containing also the bran part of the grain certainly is a step up the health ladder and there are mills which do not mill out the germ, meaning the resulting flour is not only starch and gluten, but higher in protein, minerals and vitamins. 

there is also pasta out there made from other grains/ingredients: kamut (khorasan wheat) is an ancient grain, a forerunner of todays highbred wheat, therefore considered a healthier option, yielding more energy and protein, while being better digestable. all that is also true for spelt, a hulled form of wheat, also a survivor from ancient times, but more closely related to todays common wheat.

if the gluten thing is more of a discussion point for you, you could choose pasta made from rice flour or corn flour, which provide the glutenfree alternative, but are as much fun for kids to roll up on a fork, suck them it like worms, or are simply interesting to look at in their many shapes and forms.

omitting cream and cheese not only keep your  pasta vegan, but also less rich and better digestible. my spaghetti today come with nothing but sauteed chan- terelles and kräuterseit- linge, an austrian farmed mushroom, evoo & a little thyme and seasalt. enjoy.

i order my pasta online in italy:  www.lavialla.it

or i use these products from the store:

http://www.monogranofelicetti.com/it/pages/monograno-1

http://traderjoes.com/fearless-flyer/article.asp?article_id=1091

     

Great Chefs cook vegan

today i would like to recommend a cookbook. when it comes to putting together dinner i usually trust my basic education (5 years of a tourism  college including 4 years of cooking training, but more than there i learned when watching my mom, 
who was a professional chef in a restaurant) and instincts.

being an avid follower of many cuisines, i have to say, i love food from every part of the world - as long as it is authentic, as opposed to a copy, trendy or hyped by the media and using the best (fresh,seasonal,organic) produce available (not necessarily the most expensive or rare). therefore my dinners turn out the 
way they are: italian, spanish, thai, chinese, austrian, indian, greek, nordic, french, mexican, russian, japanese, oriental, or even english - everything is possible.

but now and then one should have a look into a cookbook. for sheer pleasure. have a look what others do, pick up a new ingredient (stats say we're sticking to the same 12 ingredients for 90% of our diet), learn a new method, to bring back memories of dishes long forgotten, or simply to upgrade from the daily treadmill of cooking just for that one evening (or brekkie,...).

the book i've turned to recently proposes vegan dishes, submitted by award winning chefs, which is great, because the majority of vegan cooking is considered basic, mainly because of the lack of a "centerpiece", most people can imagine having veggies as a starter, or side, but only when the best of the best show you how to bring out additional value through a combination of ingredients, or how to prepare a plant that you haven't heard of so far, you've got the carnivore's attention.

the recipe i am most intrigued by, is a simple one. by master chef thomas keller. a french laundry classic. i've taken a pic 

of the ingredients, while the books cover shows the actual outcome of a "purée of sunchoke soup with pickled red radishes", a cream featuring jerusalem artichoke, that, while simple to prepare, is stunning guests by the use of marinated radish. sometimes it is that easy, but you might need a cookbook to 

tell you that. enjoy.

Risotto

one of my (many) favourites. so versatile. comfy food at its best, you only need to have your risotto rice - round grain, preferably italian, i use arborio or carnaroli - and onions in stock, no pantry should be devoid of it.

being spontaneous a quick look in the fridge or the pantry tells you what could add to your risotto and fill your stomach in 30 minutes. the possibilities are endless and even in summer, when salad and fruit dominate the menus, the odd cool evening calls for this italian masterpiece.

there are as many variations of risotto, as there are cooks in italy a saying goes, so let me give you my version.

1 onion chopped and a little olive oil started on low heat till the onion turns translucent. add the rice, a cup per person, let it also gain heat. deglaze with a little white wine (to add a some acidity and roundness), then pour in vegetable stock cup after cup, let the rice absorb the liquid in between. this happens on low heat, the mix barely bubbling, stirring it all occasionally. in the process the rice will loose its starch to the liquid turning it into a creamy consistency. 

you can add the ingredients of your choice (e.g. spinach, carrots, peas, herbs,...) now and let it cook together until all the parts seamlessly grew to a creamy risotto, or fry them apart in an extra pan (zucchini, fennel, mushrooms,...) and mix it together when ready. 

classic recipes would ask for butter and parmesan now, but that actually makes the result heavier and heftier, so i am omitting these in order to keep my dish delicately light and vegan.

for the version you see here i had some beetroot left in the fridge (precooked in the oven a day earlier) and i fried some mushrooms up to be placed on top. finished with a little evoo 

and balsamic, which perfects this dish' all around eathiness. enjoy!

Berries, selfpicked, fresh & nutritious

i don't eat breakfast every day and eating habits differ widely, so no announcement here in favor of "the most important meal of the day", but if you have brekkie try to make sense. 

my morning usually brings something warm, like grits, müsli, rice, polenta, millet, or the like, combined with a walk through the garden. in summer it's often as easy as picking fruit, whenever you walk past a bush or tree offering the freshest and most natural form of medicine available: berries! 

full of antioxidants, phenols, minerals and not the least: taste. make it a habit to look for fresh fruit. now, that exempts the supermarket and most stalls, where the produce often has traveled a looong way, being picked prematurely to withstand the handling and the days of waiting on transport, in the storage or on the shelf itself. 

what are the possibilities of finding fresh produce near you? if you are fortunate enough it may come from your own garden, backyard, terrace, balcony or even windowsill, if you have been thoughtful enough to make room for it in favor of a few bloomers or the easy to tend to 5mm golf lawn.

other chances include: asking your neighbor if he is really using all of his or her abundance, taking part in a community garden project, or simple find trees, bushes, corners and places out there. a little more difficult if you live in a big city, but possible.

where i live for example we have two websites indicating fruit trees on public grounds, where you are free to help yourself, when time has come:

mundraub.org

frucht-fliege.blogspot.co.at

these days as you can see black and white mulberries as well as small black cherries add to my brekkie of oatmeal, done with a rice and coconut drink and chopped almonds. simply yummie! enjoy!

Easiest Lunch after returning from the market

breakfast at the market is a wonderful way to pass a saturday morning (or afternoon) and between an espresso and a fruit bowl you can easily do your weekend shopping of veggies and fruit.

apart from other things we brought home a mix of different tomato varieties and beetroot today - the beetroot still being cool from the soil that it came out of this very morning. my wonderful wife sliced a few tomatoes, grated one beetroot and added some green leafs from our balcony garden (beetroot leafs being among them).

a splash of evoo, lemon juice, a little sesame and salt and a spoonful of our carrot green pesto to go with it. done. enjoy!

Chestnut Crisp Bread & carrot green pesto

a product that i have to recommend! 

i mentioned this wonderful crisp bread beforehand and i want to give more detailed information about it.  being made of only 2 ingredients - 70% rice flour and 30% chestnut flour (plus a pinch of sea salt) it is easy to comprehend what's good about it. and what not to worry about: 
it's vegan, yeastfree, glutenfree, no sugar, no fat added and yet it's a good source of energy as well as a little protein. and it's organic, produced in france. since it's crispy and a little naturally sweet my kid loves it. goes in the backpack, takes any kind of spread and broken to crumbs it's nice on soups or salads.

in vienna we buy it at organic supermarkets like DENNS or BASIC.

Energy 384kcal, Fat 1,6gr, Carbs 83,5gr (of which 9,3gr are natural sugars), Protein 6,5gr, Fibre 4,9gr, Salt 0,58gr 

btw: on top of it you can see a spoonful of carrot green pesto - a pesto made from the greens attached to your carrots - when you buy from a farmer, at the market, or a gourmet supermarket, the big chains tend to cut it off during the packing process... we mix the greens with evoo, sunflower seeds a little salt. enjoy!

Leftovers

I love leftovers - they make great dinners! 

they sometimes end up thrown together being a one pot (or one 
pan - don't limit yourself) wonder, but most of the time they turn out to be a form of mezze - an oriental starter selection 
- usually large enough to make a main course obsolete.

everyone picks what he or she likes and it's a feast 
for the tastebuds. it's also a cool way to try new 
and adventurous combinations in a small batch. enjoy!

roasted melanzani w tahin - asian style potato salad w mint and peas and a mustard apple dressing - panfried mushrooms (the two round parts of a stem are perfect fake scallops) - green beans with chestnut cracker crumbs (I should run a post on that chest-nut bread - comes from france and is amazing!) - tomato hummus

Preserving

the most important method of making your fruit and veggies last well into the months, where there's not such an abundance that we are seeing in gardens and on markets right now.

the cherrytree in our backyard had fruit for many people on our block and after mouths were filled and muffins were baked it was time to put the remainders into jars.

a cherry chutney is what we came up with, using tellycherry pepper to spice it up and balsamico to give it a nice acidic zing. 

it turned out great and will add wonderfully to roasted winter veggies and spice up wraps and the like. 

500gr Cherries, 200gr shallots, 200gr caster sugar, 
1 cup regular balsamic vinegar, 10 telli-
cherry 
pepper-
corns, 100gr diced candied ginger, a pinch of cardamom yielding 4 small jars

homecooked

now lets get startet for real. jump into the beds of our gardens. tonights dinner: a stack of yellow & green zucchini and 'shrooms, accompanied  by an oriental spiced mix of couscous and chickpeas.

the yellow zucchino is homegrown in my moms garden, the mushrooms are farmed in austria (kräuterseitlinge), herbs picked fresh from the balcony  of my apartment and  all ingredients are organic. <3

panfried slices of zucchini and mushrooms

Intro

springinsfeld means carefree.

this blog is a vegan food journal, the record of a journey through the kitchens of this world (including mine), without having to worry  about the suffering of animals, exploited to end in  our stomachs,  without even being properly acknowledged, let alone loved. 

at the same time springinsfeld is the literal invitation to 
jump into the beds of your gardens to enjoy the abundance,  
great taste and the constitutional benefits of the veggies 
and  fruits grown there.

veggies @ the market - Cours Saleya, Nice, France