Trial and Error

Happy Monday Everyone!

I hope your work week is off to a superb start.

My Monday was busy, as always! Let me tell you all about it!

Breakfast

Started the day with some banana oats in my new bowl!

My normal bowl of oats was topped with berry granola, 1/2 banana, flax, hemp, and a spoon of peanut butter.

Had a great morning with the kids despite the dark and rainy day. I usually find it harder to keep my energy level up when it’s raining. Unfortunately, this affects my students more than it actually does me. Luckily we were all happy and energetic this fine Spring-rain day.

Lunch

Raw red pepper hummus, tzatziki, broccoli, red peppers, cucumber, carrots, zucchini, Arabic bread.

During digital photography club today, the kids printed out two of their favorite photos, backed them on card stock, then cut the photos into puzzles. The perfect activity for a rainy day!

This afternoon went fast. We did some catching up rather than a proper PE lesson but I’ve promised PE later in the week. I tutored after school then headed into the rain to run some errands.

Stop #1: The expensive grocery store near my home to pick up the heavy/ bulky items I don’t want to carry all over town with me.

• Olive oil
• paper towels
• coffee (on sale)
• Milk
• Yogurt and kefir

Stop #2: Indian grocery store to pick up spices I’ve recently run out of. Spices are much cheaper here compared to regular grocers. I also grabbed some unplanned items!

• cumin
• paprika
• oregano
• tamarind paste
• coconut fairy dust (unofficial name)

Stop #3: Public library to return an overdue book. Since the book was borrowed from another library through my library, I had to pay overdue fines for both. Oh, and since the book was on a waiting list for someone else, I had to pay even more. 1 week over due= €7. Yikes!

Stop #4: Bioladen, nope still no almond milk, chia seeds, or affordable brown rice syrup. Walked out empty handed.

Stop #5: Aldi

• veggies (Aldi won over all other grocery stores in Germany for having the best organic food)
• tofu
• tea
• cheese

Stop #6: dm, the local drug store  minus over the counter medicine. In Germany, you must have a prescription for everything, even ibuprofen or cold medicine.

• dish soap
• new rubber gloves
• puffed wheat cereal
• Agave

After shopping, I hopped on the bus and headed home.

All day I’ve been thinking about making Anne’s 5 Minute Peanut Butter Granola Bars. I’ve had her recipe starred for weeks and have been slowly collecting items for the mix. It is because of this recipe that I first bit the bullet and bought brown rice syrup, only to accidentally knock it over the next day. The puffed wheat I bought earlier today, yup, that was for this recipe too. It wasn’t until I reread Anne’s blog post that I realized she had another granola bar recipe. Cranberry Quinoa Peanut Butter Power Bars. Since I had all the ingredients on hand, and 1 cup of quinoa to use up, I swapped plans and baked the Quinoa bars instead. My only changes were halving the recipe and using honey rather than brown rice syrup, almond butter, and adding a bit of vanilla and ground hemp.

Mine turned out a little more wet than Anne’s but they still taste delicious! Thanks for the recipe!

While the bars were baking, I attempted to make  coconut butter with the coconut fairy dust I bought at the Indian grocery store.

I figured that starting smaller would help the coconut “butter up” faster and save me electricity and time. Live and Learn. The powder was so fine that nothing really happened. Perhaps it was too dry, even after adding 2 tsp. of coconut oil.

This is what we call Trial and Error. Luckily my error only cost me €1.50 and still tastes like coconut heaven even in the powdered form.  I’m already thinking of ways to use this coconut fairy dust. I have visions of coconut flavored coffee and smoothies …

After posting a comment about eliminating pre-made food from my diet, I reached into the depths of the freezer and pulled out a yummy looking salmon fillet wrapped in leek sauce and puff pastry. Ok, I did say that making homemade food is just as easy as some of the prepared stuff… but this doesn’t fall under those categories. I rule an exemption.

Salmon, leek sauce, puff pastry and steamed broccoli

Dishes are clean, breakfast is ready for the morning, and I’m off to bed! Night!

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