How are you all doing?

Dear users, dear authors,
how are you today?
Did you have a nice weekend?
How's the weather?
Let me know.

Hi,

my muscles are killing me. We went on a bike ride yesterday—33 km.
So I’ll be glad when my workday is over.

Other than that, the weekend was really nice. We had a raclette dinner and a movie night—just the four of us
(my husband, the kids, and me).

It’s thundering and raining pretty hard here.

Thunder and lightning greetings from the Saarland
Heike

Hi everyone,

the weekend was great with wonderful weather. I took plenty of time to knit and design new projects.

We also had a vegan barbecue—it was delicious. :-)

I’m just so happy about the beautiful weather and the garden.

Hi everyone,
the weekend was great, but short.
I studied, and yesterday we visited the parents. Of course, I brought my crochet supplies along. The weather was fantastic.
Now it’s very humid, and it’s clouding over a bit—I’m glad I’m sitting in my slightly cooler apartment and don’t have to go outside into the hot summer weather.

I’m doing great—the weekend was wonderful and full of good food :D
But I also worked out a lot.

I’m going to work out again today—I’m really looking forward to it!

@Mowi: Are you vegan? What do you guys usually grill? I hardly eat any meat anymore, and grilled cheese is a bit too greasy and high in calories in the long run ;)
Do you have any great secret tips besides potatoes and vegetables (which I always chop up small, mix together in a colorful mix, and toss into a grill pan :))?

Yes, Tina, we eat almost 100% vegan. The only exceptions still on our menu are the occasional eggs and honey from our neighbors. Since we’ve consistently cut out all dairy products, we’ve been feeling much better. My knee pain went away after a while, so I can cycle uphill again. And the very best part: I lost 8 kg along the way and reached my goal weight. :-)

What tastes delicious on the grill is eggplant or zucchini cut lengthwise into 4 slices about 1 cm thick. For this, I first make a seasoning mixture with plenty of olive oil, garlic, herbs, and rock salt. Then I briefly dip the vegetables in it. Mushrooms are also excellent, as are corn on the cob and pieces of bell pepper.

There are now some super delicious vegan sausages, even soy-free ones made with pea protein. We found them at Rewe. It’s worth having a little browse there. And of course, there are vegan schnitzels and similar things now too - very tasty ones!

We usually serve it with salad from the garden. We’ve already “converted” our neighbor and friend, so now we grill these goodies together. Honestly, we were completely full just from the vegetables and a few pea sausages, and it was super delicious! We didn’t miss a thing.

Oh, I almost forgot - one highlight from the weekend:
Yesterday we had vegan cheesecake, my first attempt at making one like that. Suuuper delicious! I’ll definitely make it again.

And just now we had homemade ice cream .... hmmmm!
If you have a Thermomix - here’s how I make it:
2 tbsp birch sugar (the kind that was “infused” with vanilla pods) and 1 cup of cashews on the highest setting for 10 seconds.
Then add 2 frozen bananas (cut into pieces about 5 cm long) and about 250 g of frozen strawberries, and blend again briefly on the highest setting for 10-15 seconds (use the spatula to help).

Enjoy - whatever it is! :-)

Greetings from Monika

@Mowi: Thanks for your very detailed answer :)
Yes—even without meat and the like, there’s a huge selection—I usually buy sooo much stuff that I can’t make everything, and then I’m sad that I have to choose.

But I always find it really amusing… A lot of people make fun of it, saying that barbecuing doesn’t make any sense without meat…
And basically, when I have guests over, I end up eating sausage and steak anyway because people eat all my veggie stuff—since it’s just sooo delicious ;) 

Yeah, Tina, I know what you mean—when we’re somewhere and bring our own food. People prefer our food to the meat. ;-) So why not make enough for everyone right away...

I just thought of something else my son always loves to grill:
Cut a banana with the peel still on along one side to create an opening. Then fill it with a mixture of peanut butter and honey... or just chocolate. Place the banana on the grill with the opening facing up. It tastes amazing—and not just for dessert!

Mowi: 

Anton just hit “send” :-)

Mowi: Vegan barbecuing sounds interesting. I’m part of the meat-eaters’ camp, though, and I can’t imagine barbecuing without it.


We’re on vacation right now. We’ve been in Munich since yesterday, spent the night before in Gera, and tomorrow we’re heading to Berchtesgaden. The weather’s been on our side so far—it’s really nice here. 

Arni, so you’re actually pretty close to us. We’re about 90 km from Munich, heading toward Passau. You were really lucky with the weather there. Yesterday it was pouring in Munich...

Back in the day (a long time ago), we used to grill meat all the time, too. But now we’ve discovered so many delicious alternatives that it’s really easy for us.

One thing that tastes great on the grill—though it’s not vegan—is trout, for example. We treat ourselves to it very rarely, just when we feel like it. We know someone in the area who has a trout pond. That’s the only exception, maybe 2–3 times a year.

Monika, do you also use vegan yarn, or is your dietary choice more because animal products don’t agree with you?
There was a series of documentaries on TV recently about how our food is produced. When I saw some of those meat producers, I thought to myself, “Actually, I don’t want to use my money to support that at all”—which is exactly what I’m doing every time I shop. Especially since the farmers see the very least of all that money, and most of it just makes a few big industrialists rich.