ERASMUS LIFE: New series of posts!

Hello, wonderful people!

I feel really terrible due to neglecting and not taking enough care of my website and social media (well, the exception is my private Facebook profile). I don't like excuses at all but I need to write a little bit of a background. I live for more than a month now in a different country, the beautiful Germany. I moved from my Slovenian hometown to Mainz for two semesters (= one year) due to study reasons and to finally experience the Erasmus kind of life (obviously, duh). So I had to accomodate and start living again a.k.a. get my life back to "normal" state. I kind of managed to accomplish this until now, kind of. :) Which brings me to the next point.

You know, I have a wonderful roomate (Slovenians are amazing, just by the way). She is always saying I should start again posting more regularly on my blogsite and publish all the yummy food we are eating over here, in our little appartment. Eating nutritious and healthy food IS possible! However, she once had an idea I could blog about our living here in Mainz. Which sounded as a magnificent idea because I have not seen a lot of posts which cover this topic. Plus I had some kind of inspirational moments those last few hours and finally decided I should post again - about the Erasmus Way of Life (Mainz Edition)!

How will this look? My concept is to write and post photos about... everything? From daily life, what we do here, food (obligatory thing as a foodblogger!), sports/trainings, international friends, events, trips, parties, etc. Not just that, also about all the bad things which can happen/happened. And not to forget the proces and all the work before arriving to the destination.

I really hope those kind of posts will help future Erasmus exchange students. If it helps at least one person, then I have completed my goal. And if someone out there has any suggestions/questions, you are always welcome to write me (crayonsandbeads@gmail.com).

So, next time I will write about our first weeks, how we survived, our impressions, etc. Now it is time for sleep, it is almost 2 am.

Schöne Grüße aus Mainz!

Vanja

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Summer fruit granola parfait + exciting news!

Hello everyone,

it's already July 1st! Hard to believe how fast time goes. The last time I wrote a new post was at the end of last year. I know I am so bad at maintaining my blog being up-to-date. I blame my study choice... Enough rambling, I have a new recipe for you! Actually, it's not a real recipe. Just a quick, easy peasy and super healthy breakfast/snack/lunch/dinner idea which is perfect on hot summer days like today. Created this to celebrate four passed exams/finals and because it's the first day of a new month! Enough good reasons, what'ya say?

I have two exciting news to share:

The first one is that I'm in the middle of writing an e-book! Get excited for a bunch of healthy meal recipes, from breakfast dishes to midnight snacks, and of course, some tips and tricks for healthy eating. I'm doing everything to release the finished product at the end of July.

Annnd the second thing is that I'm moving to Germany in the beginning of October! I'm going on an Erasmus exchange for one year. (Irgendwelche Leserinnen und Leser aus Mainz? Schreibt mir! :))

(Recept je tudi v slovenščini!)

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Summer fruit granola parfait

Ingredients (for one jar)

1 slice of pineapple

1 peach/nectarine

6 tbsp granola (homemade prefered)

1 small banana

a few tbsp of raspberry smoothie*

Preparation

1. Slice the fruit in bite size pieces. 

2. Take a mason jar and layer the ingredients (from bottom to top):

1st: pineapple

2nd: peach/nectarine

3rd: granola

4th: banana

5th: raspberry smoothie

3. Bon appétit!

* Raspberry smoothie ingredients

1 cup frozen raspberries

1 small banana

2-3 frozen strawberries

a splash of rice milk

a splash of water

(plantbased protein powder - optional)

Just mix everything in a high speed blender until smooth.

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Poletni sadni granolin parfait

Sestavine (za en kozarec)

1 rezina ananasa

1 breskev/nektarina

6 žlic granole (po možnosti domače)

1 majhna banana

nekaj žlic malininega smoothie-ja*

Priprava

1. Sadje narežemo na manjše koščke.

2. Sestavine naložimo po vrsti v steklen kozarec (od spodaj navzgor):

- ananas

- breskev/nektarina

- granola

- banana

- malinin smoothie

3. Dober tek!

* Malinin smoothie

1 skodelica zmrznjenih malin

1 majhna banana

2-3 zmrznjene jagode

malo riževega mleka

malo vode

Sestavine zmiksamo v blenderju do gostega.

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Wishing you a wonderful start of summer,

Vanja

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Strawberry-choco cake

Hello everyone,

happy holidays! I hope you had a peaceful and merry Christmas. I spent the Christmas Eve at home with my parents and on Xmas day I fell into a deep food-coma at the boyfriend's house. Maybe this will sound funny to you but I cannot wait for January to come - the detox month!

New Year's Eve is just around the corner and I think it is time to think about what to cook for this special night. If you are still wondering and searching for a great dessert recipe - I can help you out. Here is a recipe for a gloriously delicious strawberry-choco cake, super moist, creamy, fruity, heavenly light... And the best part? You can make it healthy or super unhealthy. It is up to your preferences.

I made this cake for the boyfriend's mum's (mum-not-already-in-law) birthday and we devoured it immediately, everyone loved it! I mean... Who does not love strawberries and chocolate?

Searching for more food ideas? Visit my Instagram profile (@crayonsandbeads)!

(Recept je tudi v slovenščini!)

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Recipe (for a 26 cm cake tin):

Batter ingredients:

2 eggs

6 tbsp sugar (brown or coconut palm)

1 packet vanilla sugar

6 tbsp oil

6 tbsp milk (plantbased or regular)

6 tbsp flour (wholegrain, spelt or regular)

1/2 packet baking powder

50 g grounded walnuts

1 tbsp raw cacao powder

Other ingredients:

200 ml milk (plantbased or regular)

2 tbsp rum

Filling:

2 packets vanilla pudding

1 cup strawberry compote

4-5 tbsp sugar (brown or coconut palm)

1 packet vanilla sugar

Topping:

500 ml whipped cream (can substitute for coconut cream)

decoration (grated chocolate, fruit, nuts, etc.)

Preparation:

1. Batter: In one bowl, beat the eggwhites with 3 tbsp sugar into an eggwhite snow. In another bowl, mix the eggyolks with 3 tbsp sugar until fluffy. Add the other ingredients in the order as listed above. Mix really well. Finally, slowly add and stir the snow into the batter. Transfer it into a greased cake tin and bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for 15-20 minutes.

2. Then, soak the cake with a mixture of milk and rum to make it moist.

3. Filling: Blend the strawberries, add them 500 ml liquid (from the compote and more water, if needed) and bring to boil. Mix in the vanilla pudding, sugar, vanilla sugar and stir for a few minutes. Pour the filling over the cake and let it completely cool in the fridge.

4. Topping: Spread the whipped cream over the filling and decorate with whatever you wish.

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Recept (za 26 cm tortni pekač):

Sestavine za biskvit:
2 jajci
6 žlic sladkorja (rjavi ali kokosov)
1 zavitek vanili sladkorja
6 žlic olja
6 žlic mleka (rastlinsko ali kravje)
6 žlic moke (polnozrnata, pirina ali namenska)
1/2 zavitka pecilnega praška
50 g zmletih orehov
1 žlica presnega kakava v prahu

Ostalo:
200 ml mleka (rastlinsko ali kravje)
2 žlici ruma

Polnilo:
2 zavitka vanilijevega pudinga
1 skodelica jagodnega kompota
4-5 žlic sladkorja (rjavi ali kokosov)
1 paket vanili sladkorja

Nadev:
500 ml stepene sladke smetane (lahko nadomestimo s kokosovo kremo)
dekoracija (naribana čokolada, mrvice, sadje, oreščki, itd.)

Priprava:
1. Biskvit: V eni posodi stepemo beljake s 3 žlicami sladkorja v trd sneg. V drugi posodi stepemo rumenjake s 3 žlicami sladkorja, dokler penasto ne naraste. Dodamo še ostale sestavine v vrstnem redu, kot je napisano zgoraj. Zelo dobro premešamo. Na koncu dodamo masi še sneg, ki ga nežno vmešamo. Maso vlijemo v namaščen tortni pekač in pečemo na 180°C za 15-20 minut.
2. Nato pečen biskvit nasočimo z mešanico mleka in ruma.
3. Polnilo: Zblendamo jagode, jim dodamo 500 ml tekočine (iz kompota in po potrebi še vodo) in zavremo. V zavretek zakuhamo vanilijev puding, sladkor in vanili sladkor ter mešamo nekaj minut. Jagodno mešanico prelijemo čez biskvit in damo v hladilnik, da se popolnoma ohladi.
4. Nadev: Ko je torta hladna, odstranimo obod tortnega pekača in jo premažemo s stepeno smetano ter poljubno okrasimo.
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Have a lovely and glamorous start into 2015!

Vanja

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