My favourite way to cook my veggies is in the oven! Nothing can quite measure up to the flavours and textures that result from a 400 degree oven!
I quickly devoured two of these bowls!
This past week has been absolutely crazy! I have started to move out of my house, pack for Germany and celebrate the holidays with my family. Needless to say I have not been creating my usual kitchen masterpieces (open to interpretation ).
With only a lonely tin of chickpeas, 2 heads of broccoli and three carrots, I was determined to feed myself some thing delicious! Thus, the “Roasted Chickpea and Veggie Bowl” was born!
Toss in olive oil and spices right on the baking tray!Only veggies on hand!
Roasted Chickpea & Veggie Bowl
This recipe is ideal for substitutions, below are the veggies that I used, however you can use any veggie that lends itself well to baking. Many things would work, such as: zucchini, sweet peppers, beets, cauliflower etc.. As usual I did not measure any of the spices, I simply tasted as I went. If I were to guess, I used roughly 1 teaspoon of garlic powder but you can use any spice mix you wish. I often use cajun seasoning or curry powder.
What I used:
3 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
2 heads of broccoli florets, roughly chopped
1 15oz can of chickpeas
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
Garlic Powder
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper (I ran out so I had to use tinfoil). Rinse the chick peas with cold water and pat dry on the counter between two paper towels or clean tea towels. Pour chick peas onto a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle liberally with pepper and salt. Sprinkle a controlled amount of garlic powder on the chickpeas, so there is a thin even layer covering them. Toss the chickpeas with your hands so they are all coated in the oil and spices.
Place the chopped veggies onto the other baking tray. Repeat the same process using the olive oil, pepper, and salt. I did not use garlic powder on my veggies because I did not want the garlic flavour to overpower the dish.
Place both trays in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes (depending on your oven). Both of my trays did not fit on the middle rack so I placed the chickpeas on the bottom rack. I was a bit nervous that they would brown too quickly, but I kept an eye on the them and it worked out well! After 10-15 minutes take both trays out of the oven. Flip over the veggies and stir around the chickpeas (I just used a spatula). You can also try giving the trays a shake, but I find that doesn’t work too well.
Taste each before placing back in the oven! Add more seasoning if necessary! I added more of everything 🙂
Fresh out of the oven, toss together in a bowl and enjoy! If you try it, let me know how it turned out for you!
In only 10 (TEN!!) days I will be moving to “The Land of Meat and Sausages”…. aka Germany! Yes I may be perpetuating stereotypes a little with this title….please forgive….
I am moving to Oestrich-Winkel, Germany for a year and a half (!!) to complete my undergraduate degrees. I have known for two and a half years that I would be moving to Germany, aaaand yet just this past September I fully transitioned to vegetarianism.
I have really great timing don’t I?
Oestrich-Winkel, Germany (photo property of EBS)
It never really crossed my mind that it may be difficult to maintain my vegetarian diet while living in Germany until a few people expressed concern! NO WIENER SCHNITZEL?? OH THE HUMANITY! *eye roll*
Will you be abandoning vegetarianism for the sake of enjoying German sausages? Nah, I’m good. Really, I’m good.
Will you be able to find your staple grocery items in Germany? oh….fair point…….
I am not familiar with what a traditional grocery store looks like in Germany. I am accustomed to big-box grocery stores, which always always have a vegetarian section. The top staples in my diet (that I cannot live without) are: unsweetened plain almond milk, chia seeds, legumes, natural peanut butter and quinoa. My diet is supplemented by a shed load of fruits and vegetables, but I am not concerned about that in Germany!
To be honest, I am not too concerned about buying legumes there either. I consider those to be a fairly international staple. And since the explosive popularity of quinoa in 2013, I am sure I will not have a problem finding that.
I am already aware that I will not be able to get my beloved all-natural, smooth peanut butter in Europe. Having loved peanut butter since day 1, I know that I must bring that with me. My one big question is chia seeds. I average about 3 tablespoons a day, and I tend to fly through them quicker than I think. I am planning on travelling over with a big bag of them, but hopefully I will find somewhere to buy them.
So I consulted with the internet and I found some vegetarian-in-Germany articles and blogs mainly containing information about dining out in Germany. No word on chia seeds. Well I’m sure I will find out soon enough!
If anyone has any advice on shopping/surviving as a vegetarian in Germany, or general advice about moving to/living in Germany please help a girl out !!
I often get bored eating the same two take-to-work breakfasts. So the only logical way to switch things up is to combine my two favourites! One of my co-workers also jumped on the chia seed pudding bandwagon, and she started to microwave her pudding and eat it warm. I thought it was a brilliant idea! It makes the pudding a warm breakfast hug on a cold winter morning! I was getting a bit tired of chia seed pudding, so one evening I decided to cut it with some large-flake rolled oats. Thus this harmonious recipe was born!
It takes 3 minutes to prep before bed, and only 3 minutes to cook at work in the morning!
Chia Oat Power Bowl
1/3 cup rolled large-flake oats (can use regular quick oats, but I much prefer the texture of the large-flake) 3 tablespoons of chia seeds 1 tablespoon of natural nut butter 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon 1 or 2 teaspoons of natural maple syrup (or sweetener of your choice) 1 teaspoon of natural vanilla extract 1 cup of plain unsweetened almond milk (or milk of your choice) Toppings of your choice. Personal Favs: Raspberries, sliced banana, blueberries, hemp seeds, dried cranberries, walnut pieces (when I can afford them)…
On-The-Go version:
In a small mason jar, or other container with a good seal, combine the cinnamon, vanilla and almond milk. Seal and shake lightly. Toss in the fridge until ready to use! Combine the oats and chia seeds in a microwave safe container and smear the tablespoon of peanut butter on the side of the container. Seal and toss in the fridge when ready to use! When you are ready for your breakfast, simply shake and pour the almond milk into the oats/seeds and stir lightly. Mircrowave on high for 2 minutes. Take out and stir. Place in the microwave for 1 more minute. WARNING: Do not turn your back on this! The chia seeds have a tendency to puff up in the microwave. In the last minute the risk of overflow is high. The varies with the strength of your microwave. I use a very used-and-abused work microwave, so it is a bit weaker than my one at home. Monitor your dish carefully!
If You Don’t Like Microwaves:
You can easily make this on the stove top! Simply combine all ingredients and cook on medium-med/low until thickened to desired consistency.
OR
You can give this recipe the overnight treatment! Simply combine all ingredients in one container (omitting the nut butter) and store overnight in the fridge. In the morning, give it a good stir and top with the nut butter and other treats!
A nice fellow from Miami woke me up this morning. It was an awkward phone call. What do you say to a complete stranger at 7:00 am?
There has been a lot of buzz in the last 24 hours about an app called “Wakie”.
Trending on the Apple App Store last night, Wakie is a free app that is branded as a “Social Alarm Clock.” The app allows you to receive an anonymous wake-up call from a complete stranger. The concept behind the app is that people repeatedly hit the snooze button on their alarm clock. It is said that being woken up by a phone call forces conversation, which stimulates the brain, wakes you up, and is a more positive way to start the day.
Setting Up Wakie
When you first sign up for the app, it requires your country code and phone number. They do say that “your number is anonymous and will never be given away,” so make of that what you will. I did it anyway, what is privacy in the 21st century?? After you enter your number they send you a confirmation code by SMS. MINE DID NOT COME UNTIL 12 HOURS LATER. What is this??? I was way too impatient so I opted for a “voice call” which sent me the code much more quickly. They then ask for your birth date and gender to more “accurately match you up.” At this point I was getting serious Tinder vibes…….
BOOM. I am now part of the “Wakie” community. I had the option of setting up a profile, or even linking Wakie to Facebook (where they will link my photos and name) which I opted not to do. I had a feeling this app would get weird so I chose not to put a photo.
This is what my profile on Wakie looks like. It shows me how many people I have woken up and how many times I have been woken up.
The “Community”
The icon on the bottom right leads to a news-feed style messaging board which mainly consists of three things: People saying “hi”, people giving shout outs to those who woke them/people they woke, and lastly (unfortunately) a lot of REALLY THIRSTY TROLLS. The maturity level was appalling. Girls who opted to put nice pictures of themselves on their profile were getting trolled SO HARD, people were just being generally creepy, in an “omegle” kind of way, if you know what I mean…..If this app ever introduces picture messaging…………. o_O. Reading the message board left me feeling a little weirded out. What on Earth was I going to get in the morning….
Alarms
It is very straightforward to set up alarms on Wakie. Wakie even promises that if no one is available to call me at my preferred time, I will get a call from a robo-lady. This did not happen to me, but from what I hear they are very pleasant robot ladies. Wakie also gives you the option also have the option to set up a “back-up alarm,” in the case that you sleep like the dead or do not trust Wakie to wake you up. I had serious doubts about this app, so I also set another normal back-up alarm on my phone.
Setting alarms.
And then… at 7:15…my phone rang.
When I looked at my caller-id, it just showed four random numbers, so I did not know the number of who was calling or where they were calling from. This is good. I answered with a groggy “Hello.” All I heard was white noise….then a thickly accented voice said my name….and then crackling. Okay this shit is WEIRD. Wakie repeatedly says that in order to wake someone up, you need a strong internet connection, I am assuming this person did not have the greatest connection, hence the crackling. I held on for a few more seconds, and the voice says “What are you doing right now?” OH THIS IS CREEPY. I’M OUT. Hung up on that.
I must admit I was kind of prepared for that after reading the message boards. BUT I WASN’T GIVING UP! I quickly set another alarm for 5 minutes later, and boom, my phone rang again! This time is was a very cheerful man from Miami! A much more pleasant experience, he wished me a good day and hoped the snow wasn’t getting me down. The call was brief, but I hung up feeling positive!
Waking People Up
Alright, now I wanted to try to wake people up. You tap the yellow bar that says “Wake Someone Up” and then it proceeds to “search for matches.” It took around ten minutes, and then I had a “sleepie” to wake up! I tentatively accepted the call, and waited as the robo lady connected me. AHHH someone answered. WHAT DO I SAY? It was some guy from the States, he sounded very groggy. We exchanged good mornings and celebrated the fact it was Friday. That’s it, that’s all. Pretty simple! I wanted to try again and I opted to wake up another person. This time I was routed to a male’s voice mail. I left a little message and moved on with my life.
How to wake up “sleepies”
Final Thoughts
Aside from all the trolls, this app is intriguing. It is also awkward. Talking on the phone to a stranger is hard!! If I do this again, I will definitely take a few seconds to figure out what I will say, because there is a lot of awkward silence.
I am also curious about the intentions of this app. The two calls I received were both from males, and the two people I called were also male. I am seriously wondering if they intentionally match up the opposite sex. If this is the case, I will be a little disappointed, THIS IS NOT A DATING APP. DO NOT ENCOURAGE THE TROLLS.
ALSO, I had the sound turned-on on my phone. I am not sure if this app would work with the sound off, as it is the ringer of your phone waking you up. Additionally, all of my calls came in a few minutes before my actual wake-up time. My 7:15 call came at 7:12, but I understand timing would be difficult with this app.
Yes, many people are curious about privacy when it comes to this app. If you have doubts about privacy, just don’t use the app. Personally, I am over-trusting in technology, and it hasn’t hurt me yet! The worst problem I see is troll harassment. You can flag posts as inappropriate, but there seems to be a need for a moderator on the message board. Reading those posts is really a turn-off.
So technically the creepy guy woke me up, not the guy from Miami, but I like to think that Mr.Miami is a more accurate reflection of the app. I have a feeling that this app will gain much more momentum in the next few days. As long as you understand that trolls are gonna troll, troll, troll, troll, troll, this app is seriously worth a try!
talk veggies to me 