Fast Chocolate Cookies (Vegan)

My friend came over today and I wanted to offer her something nice as "fika". I didn't have the energy to do something too advanced so I searched for a simple recipe and found one for chocolate cookies. I changed the recipe a bit because I didn't have all the ingredients at home. It was a success!

So, if you don't have much time but want to treat your guests with something yummy and homemade try this recipe.

Ingredients:

❤ 2 dl flour

❤ 1 dl sugar

❤ 4 tbsp cacao

❤ 2 ml "clean vanilla powder"

❤ 2 tsp baking powder

❤ 1 pinch of salt

❤ 1 tbsp agave syrup

❤ 1 big tsp of peanut butter

❤ 1 big tsp coconut oil

❤ 75 g melted vegan butter

Do this: 
Turn on the oven, 175°C.
1). Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. 
2). Add syrup, vegan butter, peanut butter and coconut oil.
3). Roll small balls and put it on a baking plate with parchment paper.
4). Bake the cookies in the oven for 12 minutes.

When the cookies are done they will be a bit soft so let them cool down. 
After a while, they will get the perfect cookie consistency you want.

Enjoy!

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Swedish Summary: 
En vän kom på besök och jag ville bjuda på något trevligt till kaffet. Jag orkade inte göra något avancerat så jag valde ett enkelt recept på chokladkakor. Jag gjorde om receptet som jag hade hittat och resultatet blev en succé! Testa!

Face mask – Turmeric and coconut oil

Why this mask? Because it can ... 

• ... clear up your skin from acne breakouts
• ... protect skin from sun damage
• .. have anti-aging benefits

How?
Mix coconut oil and powder turmeric in a small bowl. Apply on your face and wait for at least 15 minutes before washing it off.

Turmeric has many anti-inflammatory benefits, both when it comes to beauty care and as natural medicine. My advice: Make sure to always have it at home!

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Swedish summary: 
Gurkmeja blandat med kokosolja blir en mjuk ansiktsmask som kan rengöra ansiktet, skydda mot solskador och ha anti-åldrande effekter. Smeta på ett tunt lager över ansikte och hals, låt verka i minst 15 minuter innan du sedan tvättar ansiktet rent. Voila!

Do you find politics boring? I do.

It's true. I'm one of those people who always say "I hate talking politics because It's just too complicated". BUT, with that said, I know I need to change my attitude. Why? Because politics is effecting my everyday life, the future of this planet and the people I love and care about. Why do I feel the need to write about this now? We have our political election here in Sweden on the 9th of September. So many, including myself, don't know enough about the political system or about different Swedish parties.

What is politics?
It's about power and about making decisions.

What kind of power and what kind of decisions? 
All kinds. Power and decisions when it comes to the economy, the environment, the health care systems, the school system, the people ... and so on.

Do you need a reason to care about politics? Here are some of mine: 

So where do we even begin? 
Choose a topic you're interested in, maybe "Heath care" or "Equal rights". Go into each party's website and read what they think about the topic. Do you agree? Don't you agree? Go on to the next topic you find interesting and then keep going.

Please, do not give up. If you vote without knowing or if you choose not to vote at all, that will still give power to someone – this might be a someone or a party you do not agree with at all. 

If you want to read more about politics in Sweden, please read my articles on Plant-huggers.

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Swedish summary: 
Jag tycker att politik, precis som ekonomi, är tråkigt. Den största anledningen är för att jag inte förstår majoriteten och för att många gånger används långa onödiga ord för sådant som kan beskrivas mycket enklare. 

Det är dock viktigt att vi röstar medvetet under valet den 9 September. Varför? För politiken i ett land/samhälle påverkar ALLA människor. Om du inte röstar eller om du väljer att rösta på ett parti du inte vet så mycket om kommer du, med största sannolikhet, ge makt åt fel människor. DET kan påverka ditt liv och din framtid på sätt du endast har mardrömmar om. Så, läs på, åtminstone litegrann.

Heat, ice cream & a walk in the woods

This year, the summer in Sweden has been incredible, it feels like you're in Greece or Spain. It already started to get warm in April but it really hit us in May and many swedes were scared that this would result in a not so sunny summer. Well, the sun kept shining on Sweden and it has been a crazy hot summer – and it's not over yet.

For many swedes (and stores/companies) I believe this heat has been a chock. It might have been fun in the beginning ("Spain in Sweden, awesome!") but most swedes are now tired of it. I've heard many people here longing for autumn. What do I think? I love summer but it has been sweaty not having any air-condition or fan in the apartment. Right now, it has not felt necessary to buy any of these because the idea is for me to soon leave Sweden. But we'll see ...

Today, me and Sam walked, via the woods, to a beach called Nyboviksbadet. It was a beautiful little area where people had picnics and played in the water. It was nice to cool off a bit and enjoy the nature. When we got home we had some vegan ice cream – it was heaven. Now we are planning to have vegan pizza for dinner – yes, I'm still blaming it all on me still being on vacation *haha*. 

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Swedish summary: 
Sommarhettan i Sverige fortsätter. I april när det började bli varmt välkomnades denna värme med öppna armar och i Maj när hettan slog till ordentligt var de flesta av oss rädda att den inte skulle hålla hela sommaren ut. Man kanske ska vara försiktig med vad man önskar sig? För de flesta har nog denna värme varit en chock och de flesta svenskar verkar vara redo för den svala hösten. Jag njuter vidare men däremot hade det inte varit helt fel med en fläkt hemma. Nu tycker jag däremot att det känns onödigt att lägga pengar på saker till lägenheten då jag ändå ska åka till Australien för ett år i oktober. Nog kan jag hålla ut en liten stund till ... 

Idag var jag och Sam i Nyboviksbadet och svalkade oss. En skön belöning efter vår skogspromenad. När vi kom hem åt vi vegansk glass och snart ska det bli vegansk pizza till middag. Ja, jag skyller fortfarande detta gottande på semestertider. 

Blogs I want to follow

Call me superficial but if a blog doesn't have a nice design I move on pretty quickly. And the design doesn't have to be great or complicated, but it has to be personal or make me interested. Many people choose not to have a profile picture and that, in my opinion, is a huge mistake. I don't want to read stories from just anybody, I want to know who the storyteller is. Here are a few things I think is important when you want to catch a reader like me:

• Care about the blog design
• Use images when posting
• Have a profile image and write something short about yourself
• Have categories that are easy to use

I do think that the four above is a good start. Of course I can keep going ... if you want a reader like me to stay a reader then maybe you should also think about this:

• Update at least once a week
• Stick to shorter posts instead of long ones
• Do not only write about one topic (if you don't happen to be a beauty blogger, then I understand that you have your niche)
• Don't do too many sponsored posts or have too many ads

But ... let us be honest with each other, you don't need to do anything of the above. Not really. 

If you started the blog for yourself then who cares if people follow you or not. But then again, many of us start a blog (or an open diary, whatever you want to call it) because we want to touch/effect people somehow. If you want to inspire, effect or reach people then you need some glue – and the glue can be one of the things on my list above, maybe all of them depending on how strong you want your glue to be.

What makes you want to follow a blog?

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Swedish summary:
Egentligen spelar det ingen roll om du har följare eller inte om du ändå skriver för din egen skull. Däremot bloggar vi oftast för att inspirera, påverka eller nå ut till andra och då kan det vara bra att ha ett så kallat "lim". Detta lim kan vara någon av de förslag som finns i min engelska lista ovanför. Du bestämmer själv vad som är syftet med din blogg, men om du vill få någon som mig att läsa din blogg skulle jag rekommendera att kika på listan ovanför.

Breakfast for dinner

Me, Sam, my brother Philip and my sister Kathleen were at the beach today, at a place called Strandbadet/Tyresö Strand. It was not the best beach that Sweden has to offer but it did the job – kept us cool. Even though the grass was dry and there were several little fish lying dead on the shore (I'm not making this up), it was lovely swimming in the warm water and having picnic with people I love. But ... universe? I think Sweden needs a little rain, so if you're not too busy. Please rain on Sweden. 

 

When we got home, both me and Sam decided to have breakfast for dinner – yes, we had pancakes and coffee, haha. I'm still on vacation so I'm allowed. And before you ask, yes, it was all plant-based. SO GOOD. Did I mention that we also had vanilla ice cream instead of whipped cream? No? Well, we did ... haha.

 

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Swedish summary: 
Idag var jag, Sam, min bror Philip och min syster Kathleen i Tyresö Strand (Strandbadet). Det är inte den bästa badplats som jag har besökt i Sverige (döda småfiskar vid strandkanten och bortbränt gräs) men det sköna vattnet var magiskt så vi stod ut. Det blev en riktigt mysig dag. Jag och Sam kände oss extra busiga på vägen hem så det blev pannkakor och kaffe till middag. Ibland får man kalasa helt oväntat. OBS: Vi åt till och med vaniljglass istället för grädde. SYNDIGT gott – givetvis var allt veganskt.