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Sunday 30 March 2014

Easy Sunday great dinner idea

I love to wander around on the market, buying my fresh fruits, vegetables, protein and nuts. Today it's easy Sunday, but it's weekend as well. So I will give you a wonderful idea to have an amazing dinner without making to much of an effort! Sounds great right? ;-)


You Need:
For 2 persons

2 fish fillets
400g peas
2 big sweet potatoes
olive oil
salt, pepper
fresh basil
1tbsp creme fraîche
1 fresh lemon

I bought an amazing delicious fillet on the market, but you can use whatever fish you like.  Season your fish with salt pepper and some fresh lemon juice and set it to the side. First thing you should do is bake the potatoes.  

For the roasted sweet potatoes, cut them in slices, cubes or whatever form you like, sprinkle with olive oil, pepper and a bit of salt and bake in the oven on 225 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.

Pan fried the fish with the skin side down in olive oil for 4 minutes. Get the fish out of the pan and turn it in to the oven on 200 degrees for another 6 minutes. But mine was quite thick so if you have a thinner fish, make sure you don't overcook it. When you have a normal fillet, without skin, just fried it in the pan on both sides until done (even easier).

In the meanwhile, for your amazing delicious sweet pea mash, cook the peas until done but still crunchy. I always buy some peas from the freezer and cook it for about 4 minutes. Then, when done, get rid of the boiling water, but not all!! You need a bit for the puree as well as a tablespoon of creme fraîche, salt, pepper and a few leaves of fresh basil. Puree with a blender or any other equipment until you have a gorgeous looking green sweet puree. Get everything on your plate and enjoy.

Happy Sunday xoxo

Friday 28 March 2014

My version on a healthy Kofta

Kofta is a worldwide meat dish, there are variations in Turkey, Middle-East, Greece and I will introduce you my style of Kofta. Kofta literally means meatball, and that doesn't sound that sexy right?

Although I don't eat meat a lot, not because I don't want to, I just don't like it that much. I love fish, every kind of fish and I do eat chicken at least once a week. But my boyfriend looooves meat, so we make compromises, I eat red meat once a week and he eats vegetarian once a week ;-) I do believe it's the most healthiest way as well. Vegetarian meals, 2 times fish (from which one is a fat fish like salmon or mackerel), chicken (most likely twice a week as well) and once a week some red meat.

I already introduced you to the real deal burger, well if you did enjoy that recipe you will definitely like this dish!

Ingredients
For about 4 persons

For the beef mixture
350g organic minced beef
1tbsp almond meal
1 organic egg
1 small tin tomato puree
1tbsp maple syrup
1tbsp cinnamon
1tbsp oregano
1tbsp sweet pepper powder
100g feta cheese (the real feta cheese, not the cheap disgusting cow's milk variation haha)
salt & pepper

The sauce
1 red onion
2 courgettes, diced
2 red bell peppers, diced
2 garlic gloves
1tbsp cinnamon
1tbsp oregano
400g tomatoes diced (tin)
half of the tin of the tomatoes filled with water
salt & pepper

Mix all the ingredients for the beef in a bowl and make small little meat balls, heat some oil in a pan and fried the meatballs until browned. They don't have to be cooked all the way, they will later on in the sauce. When the meatballs have the right colour, get them out of the pan and set aside. In the same pan you will make the sauce. Start frying the onion, than add the garlic, spiced and stir for 2 minutes. Now add the vegetables and fried until everything is browned, now add the tomatoes and the water, salt and pepper and add the vegetables. Cover the pan with a lit and let it simmer away for about 15 minutes. Serve with a fresh cucumber salad with yogurt dressing and cooked quinoa.

Nutritional information approx. 550 calories a person.


Wednesday 26 March 2014

My Superfood Frozen Yogurt

Frozen yogurt, who doesn't love it? And it's healthy.. right?

Welllll.... not that healthy as you would think. Unfortunately company's add a lot of sugar in their frozen yogurts. While most frozen yogurt is nonfat or very low fat, the calories still ad up. A large cup of frozen yogurt is an average 380 calories and has 76g of sugar, without any toppings added.

Well, let me introduce you the real deal.. really, yummy, delicious, mouth watering Superfood Frozen yogurt


Ingredients

100g of frozen mixed berries
100g of 0% fat Greek Yogurt
a dash of almond milk
a teaspoon of cinnamon
a teaspoon of macs (optional)

Mix all the ingredients in a blender, mix, mix, mix... done! Yep, that easy.. add milk until the right consistency (depends on your berries) but it shouldn't need that much! 

Than pour the mixture in a bowl and add your toppings! Mine: cacao nibs, coconut and sliced dry roasted almonds.. daaaaaamn delicious! 

Nutritional information without extra added toppings approx. 110 calories. 

Monday 24 March 2014

Home made Pesto

Who knew that making delicious pesto is that easy? I mean there is soooo many junk in a simple jar, fresh pesto stays good for about 1 week in your fridge, yeah you can imagine, the jar you buy is not cooled so they have to add a lot to keep it good.
Well if you do have some time left, and you have a food processor, you will have an amazing red pesto in 5 minutes with just a few ingredients.


Ingredients

A handful of fresh basil leaves
40 gram Parmesan cheese
30 gram dry roasted cashew nuts
2 small garlic cloves
75g sundried tomatoes
75g tomato pasta
extra vergine olive oil

Put all the ingredients into a food processor or blender and blend until everything is pureed. You can add a bit of the oil of the sundried tomatoes and then add as much as olive oil needed until you've reached the right consistency. Now add some salt and pepper for your taste!

You can use this pesto for your salad, whip it up with some yogurt as an amazing dressing. Use a big spoon as a sauce for your pasta of "zugghetti", or on a piece of bread/wrap with some roasted veggies (damn delicious) the exact recipe will follow this week on the blog!

Vegetarian Gado-Gado with homemade peanut sauce

Looking for a delicious treat that's healthy, full of vitamins and one of  my favourite products: PEANUT BUTTER <3. It's just a lot of love in a jar, don't you agree? ;-) Today I give you the recipe of one of my favourite comfort meals.

The great thing about Gado Gado is that you can just add whatever you like, or whatever is left in your fridge.

According my opinion you seriously need:
- Chinese Sprouts (taugé)
- Sambal Badjak
- Cucumber
- whole wheat rice (love to add t tsp curcuma with the rice when boiling, a great hero with a lot of nutritional benefits! For example it helps with your digestion and is an active anti-inflammatory product)
- boiled egg
- pan fried Tofu
- lettuce

I added green beans, snap peas and tomatoes as well this time! And some leftover tempeh from my last Indonesian meal.

Ingredients
For my finger licking sauce

Chunky peanut butter
1 tbsp Ketjap manis
1 tsp palm sugar
squeeze of lemon
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic gloves, crushed and finely chopped
1 1/2 tsp laos
1 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp Curcuma/Tumeric
1 tsp sambal oelek
boiling water

Arrange all the ingredients on you cutting board and have some boiling water on the side. Now add a bit of coconut oil in a small sauce pan and add the onions. Fried until translucent, then add the garlic and all the herbs. Stir a bit, add the sambal oelek and 4 big table spoons of your peanut butter. Let it fried a bit and then add about a glass of boiling water. Stir fast until the sauce thickens, than add more water, stir stir stir (that's the most important thing!) keep adding bits of water until it seems the right consistence. Now add the ketjap manis and the sugar and stir again, taste and see if the desired consistency is there. I like mine quit spicy so love to add more ginger, laos and sambal but this is the basic recipe.

Enjoy!

Psssst: The picture above is before adding the sauce, the one underneath is with my home made peanut sauce, shredded coconut and a few dry roasted peanuts on top.


Saturday 22 March 2014

My 5 Minutes Chocolate Bomb

Oh....My.....Gosh... I am tooooo excited about this tasty wonderful snack, dessert, chocolate bomb! It takes seriously 5 minutes and what you get is a warm, gooey, sweet, fluffy, chocolate rich, yummy treat.

Yesterday I had an important meeting about my accounting as a model and it stressed me out big time! I'm not that organised, so we soon found out I made some errors.. not a world problem but now I know how to do it better! After that long day with numbers I needed something comforting, a wonderful dinner was on the menu, recipe will follow soon, but a dessert was needed most. I whipped up this amazing dish and you would be crazy NOT to try it out. There is no fat, no sugar, no lactose and no grains or any kind of gluten. So suitable for everyone!


Ingredients

2 heaping tbsp almond meal
2 tbsp cacao
1 tbsp maple syrup
2 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp apple sauce (or you can use a tbsp coconut oil)
pinch of sea salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp almond milk

Now mix up all the ingredients, first the almond meal with the cacao, baking powder, extract, salt and mix to combine, than add the milk, apple sauce and egg whites and give it a good mixture. Place the mixture in a bowl that's deep enough, because this baby will rise like crazy! Place it on full power, 3 minutes in your microwave and done. 

Serve like it is, or with crushed pecan nuts, maple syrup and shredded coconut.
Nutritional Information: the entire recipe is about 260 kcal, if you have a bigger dessert appetite ;-) I divided it in 2 when used for a dessert.

Tip: I ate the same for breakfast again, 1/2 the recipe and added yogurt, banana, berries and shredded coconut with some Kasha. A yummy try out as well ;-) 





Thursday 20 March 2014

Just an ordinary day, including 2 recipes!

This week I visited my sister with her new little little baby and my adorable 2 year old niece. She is just toooo cute and my little nephew is definitely one of the prettiest baby boy's I've ever seen. We went to a little farm with a big playing field so we could cuddle some animals and play around while drinking organic juices in the sun. Not that bad right? 

My sister told me she finds it really hard to eat healthy walking around with a baby boy and a 2 year old girl that is demanding a lot of attention (and then I mean a loooooooot). So I'm trying to give her as much tips as possible to be and stay healthy. Thats why I'm going to make her "a week schedule in food" so she has some inspiration and something to hold on to. To show her how easy it can be I whipped up a delicious salad for the two of us and a wonderful treat for my niece. 

Ingredients
for 2 persons

4 hands of lettuce
1/2 avocado
chickpeas
almonds, roughly chopped
goat cheese, soft
cucumber
cherry tomatoes
cooked beetroot

dressing: olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, salt & pepper

Simply chop up all the ingredients, arrange on a plate and drizzle with the dressing. Yup that easy ;-) 

And than, my little niece was begging me to bake pancakes for her, so of course I couldn't resist (and pssst look at her cute knife ;-))

Now you are probably thinking, pancakes? That's not healthy! Well these are. 

Ingredients (prepare for the long list)
1 banana
cinnamon
1 egg
a swirl of milk of choice

Yup, that's it. Incredibly healthy, easy and damn delicious! Just mash 1 banana, add a teaspoon of cinnamon a swirl of milk and 1 egg. Mix it all up until you have a kind of batter and fried in a pan with a bit of olive oil. Serve like it is, with extra cinnamon, yogurt, jam or whatever you are craving! 

Oh and can you believe it? My niece was eating 1 of the 2 pancakes and wanted to eat our salad as well.. haha amazing right! Well she eats everything, this is a picture of her eating home made sushi the other day.. I mean.. home made sushi, for a 2 year old!!! (Not with raw fish for her though, not good for kids that young)





Wednesday 19 March 2014

Matcha Latte - my newest addiction

Hey guys!

Today I'm writing you about one of my newest addictions: matcha latte. It's a kind of green Japanese tea, mixed with whipped hot soy milk (and some stevia).

Matcha is an ultimate energy booster, in one study, researchers has thought this was from the caffeine in matcha, but they found that it was actually the combination of matches natural properties.
Its an enormous calorie burner. Matcha is a great addition to lose weight because it boosts metabolism and burns fat. But the great thing is it doesn't raise blood pressure or heart rate, making it a safe alternative to questionable quick fixes of today's pharmaceuticals ridden with side effects.
Its a detox deluxe, a green healthy colour. Matcha helps to safely cleanse and purge the body. Chlorophyll is the element that gives green tea and other plants their colour and is also a powerful detoxifier.


And Matcha has many more benefits, like it's
* packed with antioxidants including the powerful EGCg
* calms and relaxes
* enhances mood and aids in concentration
* provides vitamin C, selenium, chromium, zinc and magnesium
* fight against viruses and bacteria
*rich in fibre
*lowers chloseteral and blood sugar


So why not and try it out and sip this delicious treat with my favourite combination: some dried fruits and nuts! <3

Recipe Matcha Latte
For making a latte you need 1/2 tsp of good quality matcha, stir in 50ml of boiling water, add 200ml of whipped soy milk serve with some stevia or honey for a delicious warming treat, Nomnomnom!

Monday 17 March 2014

The Real Deal Burger with a wonderful side salad



Yup this baby is the real deal, but waaaaaaay healthier. I mean you can make it even more healthy using lean turkey mince or chicken mince or make a veggie patty. But if you want something that aaaactually tastes like a damn good burger without all the fat and calories, here you go ;-)
Mine is all made from scratch and I can't give you real nutritional information because it depends what kind of beef you use. And I grilled my burger so that will trim off a loooot of fat as well, no added oil, so less calories than the package will be. Of course you don't have to make your own burger buns, but damn these are tasty, healthy and you know exactly what's in there. But probably they sell something similar in your local organic shop as well so if your lazy, just buy one ;-)

Ingredients
For the bun (7 buns)
400g spelt flour
5g yeast
few drops stevia
2 tbsp olive oil
240ml warm water
big pinch of sea salt
sesame seeds for sprinkling on top

for the burger (2 servings)
300g lean organic minced beef
1 tbsp Worcester sauce
1 tsp pepper spicy powder
1 tsp palm sugar
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp garlic powder
good pinch of sea salt

Mix all the dry ingredients for the buns and the wet ingredients in a different bowl and combine with a mixer or your hands until you have a firm dough. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let it rest for at least 15 minutes. Now you can pre heat the oven on 180 degrees Celsius. Combine all the ingredients for the burgers and shape them until you have 2 patties (tip wet your hands a bit this makes it way easier to handle the meat). Form little balls of the dough and place them on a sheet of baking paper on the rack in the middle of the oven and sprinkle with the sesame seeds. Bake them for about 20 minutes until done and slightly browned. Grill your burger in your burger medium, rare or well done (I like it well done, it's better to digest when the beef is done all the way). Serve your burger on your bun with whatever you like. For my burger I used: Bun, organic ketchup, caramelised onions, burger, goat cheese crumbled on top, lettuce, cucumber tomato, alfalfa and the other half of the bun and served it with some greens and a wonderful celeriac salad from one of my favourite new cookbooks: Le Pain Quotidien.

Celeriac? You probably think now, yes this ugly looking vegetable you probably have seen in your local shop is actually really yummy and healthy.


EXTRA RECIPE: For the salad you simply mix 2 tbsp mayonnaise (I use a reduced fat one) with 2 tbsp of Greek 0% yogurt, salt, pepper, agave syrup and 1 tsp turmeric. Combine until you have a nice dressing and then it's time to add half of the celeriac, shredded. Add a big hand of goji berries or dried cranberries and mix until everything is well combined, let it sit for at least 15 minutes so the celeriac and berries will soke up the dressing.

Enjooooy!!!!


Sunday 16 March 2014

Easy Sunday time: Who needs chips anyway? ;-)


Are you a sucker for chips? Crispy, salty, yeah I know the feeling.. but I have to see my biggest cravings are nuts. And cheese. Yup, looooooooots of cheese and nuts. Although nuts are healthy, =- don't take the roasted, salted ones- I love the roasted and salted ones haha. So as soon as you give me a bowl, I won't and can't stop snacking. This recipe is a perfect substitute for your salty cravings and when you are more of a sweet tooth I will give you a sweety twist on the recipe as well! 

And it's an easy Sunday because it's not a lot effort, not a lot of ingredients and getting ready while you are sitting on the couch ;-)

Ingredients
One can chickpeas, white beans or a mix (thoroughly drained, rinsed and dried a bit)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp pepper powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp sea salt

Now turn on the oven on 180 degrees Celsius. Toss the ingredients in a bowl with the beans and chickpeas and make sure everything is well coated, now arrange them on a rack in the middle and of the oven on a baking sheet and bake until crisp, about 35-40 minutes.

and if your the sweet tooth, roast them with cinnamon, vanilla powder, olive oil and a big swirl of agave syrup. 

Happy Sunday Everyone!! 


Friday 14 March 2014

Most important meal of the day II

Updated recipe of my favourite breakfast!!



Because I improved my recipe, calculated nutritional information and got a loooot of responses when I posted another breakfast picture on instagram or Facebook I decided to give you an updated version of my favourite meal of the day!

Ingredients
For a big batch of granola

20g of quinoa pops
50g kasha (roasted buckwheat)
a teaspoon of cinnamon
1 tsp coconut oil
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla aroma
10 almonds, roughly chopped (or pecans)
15g sunflower seeds
20g pumpkin seeds
a handful of raisins, goji berries, mulberries and incaberries

To make the granola preheat an oven on 180 degrees (Celsius). Grab a big pan and start to heat the oil and maple syrup, when it's all liquid you can add the cinnamon and vanilla. Now you can add the quinoa pops, kasha and nuts. Bake the granola for about 3-5 minutes and keep on stirring. Transfer the mixture into a baking dish and put it for about 10 more minutes in the oven. Let it cool down a bit and sprinkle some of the mixture in your morning bowl with soy yogurt and fresh fruit! Mine contained kaki fruit (LOOOOVE it), hot raspberries and pomegranate.

nutritional information: with a serving size of 40g it's under 100 calories!

Thursday 13 March 2014

Couscous salad


This is a wonderful way to use leftovers, but of course you can make it just now for your lunch or dinner as well ;-) I had this for lunch the other day because I had leftover peas and grilled zucchini so figured something out to enjoy them again. It's really easy, really healthy and really really tasteful!!

Ingredients
Hand of whole wheat couscous
2 tbsp chickpeas
1/2 avocado
few tbsp cottage cheese
1/2 zucchini
handful of rocket
handful of cooked peas
1 tsp home made pesto (or simply pesto genovese)

Now this is really easy. Prepare the couscous in your bowl, simply take a big hand of couscous and add some spices like cinnamon, salt and sweet pepper powder and pour in cooking water until the couscous is underneath the water. Put a plate on top of the bowl and let it stand for at leaf 5 minutes. Now heat up a grill pan, cut the zucchini in fours and grill with some olive oil salt and pepper until the zucchini is done and caramelised. Now throw everything in the couscous bowl and serve with the avocado, cottage cheese and pesto on top! Bon appetit!

Tip: not a fan of couscous or can't eat gluten? Give it a go with quinoa, just as delicious just takes a bit longer to prepare ;-)

Tuesday 11 March 2014

Dinner party

Salads, always great and look at this beauty!

My brother came for dinner this week, he lives in a student house with a very filthy kitchen. So that means he almost never cooks, eating take aways and pre packed food in the grocery stores is his way of life. I'm trying to let him make healthier options, but he is just not so much in to clean food as well I guess. Well he does love salads, so I made this big beauty for him. Filled up with protein from the smoked chicken, healthy fats of the avocado, of course lots of veggies for vitamins and some beans for extra carbs and protein.

Ingredients
serves 4

450 gram smoked chicken
2 courgettes
2 bell peppers
alfalfa
200g cherry tomato's
a few big hands fresh spinach
1 cucumber
one jar white beans or chickpeas
1,5 avocado
cottage cheese

for the dressing
pomegranate vinegar
olive oil
salt and pepper

Simple heat up a grill pan and cut your courgette and bell peppers roughly. Give them a swirl of olive oil, salt and pepper and grill until browned and done. In the meanwhile roughly chop up your spinach and divide in a huge bowl. Cut the cucumber in fours, just like the cherry tomatoes and divide over the spinach. Next up drain the beans, rinse with water and divide on top. Now it's time for your grilled veggies, chicken in stripes, avocado around for a great look and just some dots of cottage cheese here and there. A bit of alfalfa around and drizzle with the salad dressing. Ready in 20 minutes and tastes amazing.

Serving suggestion: I served the salad with some sliced of spelt bread, my home made spelt crackers and some light herbed cream cheese.

Nutritional information: with salad dressing included approx. 400 calories, 31 gram of protein, 25g of carbohydrates and 20g of fat.

Monday 10 March 2014

Heavenly Carrot Cake Oatmeal

I wanted to try out a carrot cake kind of breakfast for a while. But I just didn't look forward to stand in the kitchen for over an hour to just get breakfast on the table. Well, this dish is easy. I had a brunch at my boyfriends parents please, like I mentioned yesterday and I wanted to bring something with me. I thought this would be the perfect occasion, just hoped it didn't fail big time. But oh my the entire family loved the dish. YES! New favourite in town and hallelujah for the big batch ;-) Oh and the great part of the dish? It's amazingly low calorie, filled with healthy good stuff for your body and completely without added sugars and lactose free. And delicious, amazingly delicious but I mentioned that already, didn't I? haha


Because I was in a bit of a hurry I didn't really measured all the ingredients. I used a really average juice glass for measuring, and my hands! ;-)

Ingredients
Serves 6

1 juice glass filled with rolled oats (so flakes) huh
1 juice glass (quick) oats
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cookie spices
a drop of vanilla extract
pinch of sea salt
1 huge carrot, grated
a handful of raisins, soaked in hot water for 5 minutes
4 tbsp linseed's
2 medium sized eggs
300 ml water
200 ml soy milk (I always use Aplro soya light)
about 3 drops of stevia

For the top layer
2 tbsp apple sauce
4 tbsp goji berries
1,5 hands almonds and pecans mixed, roughly chopped
about 50g of mixed seeds (sunflower and pumpkin seeds)

Preheat the oven on 180 degrees Celsius. Get a baking dish and fill it up with baking paper or grease the base of the dish with coconut or olive oil and set the dish aside. Combine all the dry ingredients ( so everything except the eggs, water and soy milk and combine in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and the milk and water until well combined. Now it's time to mix everything up so you get a really watery mixture, yes it's supposed to be like this. Get the baking dish into the oven and bake for 10 minutes, in the meanwhile you can prepare your top layer. Mix all the ingredients for the top layer in a bowl until well combined, get the baking dish out of the oven and gently divide the layer on top with the bottom of the spoon you can flatten out the layer so everything is coated with this sweet and crunchy layer. Get the dish back in to the oven and bake for another 20 minutes. When it's done, the oatmeal should be set and the top should be browned and crunchy. Leave to cool a bit before digging in, I know it's hard ;-) Enjoy as it is or serve with a swirl of soy yogurt.

Seriously try it out!!! TIP: You can save the leftovers in the fridge and reheat this amazing dish in the oven the next day until warm and damp again, and repeat this the day after and the day after the day after.. ;-)

Sunday 9 March 2014

Healthy Cacao Smoothie in a Bowl

SORRY guys I'm uploading my easy Sunday so late on the day, has been busy. Had a brunch this morning at my boyfriends parent's place and baked a lovely carrot cake oatmeal for the occasion. After i went for a run in the sun, my lord it was such a beautiful spring day! After I went to visit my mom, sister and her 2 little kids. Love to sit there on a sunny day, their garden is on the south so perfect to chill a bit on a lazy Sunday afternoon!

Yup this delicious looking bowl is an easy Sunday, can you believe it? You just need 4 key ingredients and you can fancy it up if you'd like to. It's just a question of putting all the ingredients in a blender and top it off with some (off my) optional (favourite) toppings.



Without additional toppings

Ingredients

For the smoothie
1 banana
300ml almond milk
box of frozen strawberries of raspberries
2 tbsp cacao

Optional:
big hand of kale or spinach
protein powder

Optional toppings:
2 tbsp raw cacao nibs
10 raspberries
2 tbsp shredded coconut
 swirl of soy yogurt (about 100ml)

Add the banana, milk, frozen fruit and cacao and blend it in your blender until smooth. If you like your smoothies thicker add 200ml milk in stead of 300. I like to add kale or spinach for extra vitamins and the protein powder to be full longer.

Nutritional information for this recipe is without all toppings and add-ins, based on 2 servings. (With all add-ins and toppings is about 300 calories).



Saturday 8 March 2014

Spelt Crackers


If you know it's that easy to make, you really don't want to spend so much money on expensive spelt crackers in your local organic store. Last week I've been baking all day, my osawacake, these crackers a wonderful salad (coming up soon) I had to much inspiration haha. Anyway, hope you will enjoy these ones. I made one batch and split the dough in half to make one part a bit sweet, delicious as it is but it goes amazingly well with some goat cheese, honey and some nuts on top. Or with almond butter, some slices banana and sprinkled with cinnamon. I love to eat the plain ones with hummus, vegetable spread, cottage cheese and veggies. So don't hesitate to try both or add your own favourite herbs and spices.



Ingredients

125g spelt flour (whole wheat)
65g spelt flakes
65g buckwheat flakes
25g sunflower seeds
35g pumpkin seeds
1 big pinch of sea salt
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
200 ml water

Pre heat an oven on 250 degrees Celsius. Measure all ingredients and add in a bowl, mix it into a dough with your hands or a spoon  (I did both haha). If you have some time left, it's best when the dough rests for half an hour.
If you like to make sweet crackers as well, divide the mixture in half. In half of the mixture add a drop of stevia, tsp cinnamon and a handful of raisins.
Now spread the dough over a baking sheet, evenly and thin but no to thin.. just the thickness of a cracker. Cut the dough with a knife in the size and pieces you want to have your crackers later on
Bake the crackers for 5 minutes, the low down the heat on 200 degrees and bake 15 more minutes. Flip the crackers when they need about 10 minutes more. Cool down and enjoy!





Friday 7 March 2014

My Day In Food

Because a lot of people kept asking me, but what do you eat on a day? I decided to write this blog and give you a sneek peak in how one of my days looks like.

Yesterday (Thursday) my alarm went at 5 o’clock in the morning, yup that early. I quickly ran in to the shower and my boyfriend was sweet enough to bring me to the train station (thank god for finally having  a car). My train departed at 5.36 and because I was still way to sleepy I tried to catch some more sleep. Between 6.30-7.30 I had my breakfast, a wonderful super food packed smoothie I prepared the night before, transported in an empty water bottle (easy, because I can just throw it away after finishing my breakfast).

This was my smoothie, while reading the newest Glamour magazine. This delicious goody was made with fresh pineapple, frozen raspberries, a big bunch of fresh kale, soy yogurt a splash of water, maca powder and hempseed protein powder. After blending I added a small handful of seeds and dried fruits to give it all a chewy bite. 

After a 2 ½ hour train drive I ended up being at Amsterdam Airport, today I’m flying to Berlin, working and in the evening going to Frankfurt by plane to work there and from there I will fly back to Adam late in the evening. Yup, heavy stuff! Anyway I passed security quickly, nobody checked my passport (I couldn’t find it yesterday and was searching for over an hour being stressed as hell) and found this not so amusing haha. Anyway after that I could use a big mug of steaming caffeine so I decided it was time for a special treat at the Starbucks in the airport. 

I ordered  a sugar free caramel soy latte and a piece of my homemade apricot nut spelt cracker (will be posting the recipe this week). And than my phone died on me, again, so I decided I needed a new one fast and was busy ordering a new phone while enjoying my Starbucks and then I checked the time, SHITTTTT! Running my way over to the gate I was juuuuust in time to board – I’m seriously not having a good week - is overrated. Up in the air and there we go, thanks to my frequent flyer I was able to move to the emergency exit chairs with extra leg space, hallelujah saved from the guy in front of me that made me want to do the split not to hurt my knees and legs! The flight was nice and easy. 

I arrived and Berlin and searched my way over to the city centre, bus – metro – I’m there. 2,5 hours more hour before my call-time I decided to find a restaurant, eat something and try to rescue my phone. It’s charging now, let’s hope it will work until I’m home and have a sparkling new Iphone 5S gold.



I was lucky, damn lucky! Because I found a cute place cold Dean & David just around the corner of the subway.  They were supposed to  serve 100% healthy and 200% tasty food, according their headlines. I took the salad the women suggested me, Indian summer salad with stir fried mushrooms, feta cheese (the real one), tomato’s, cucumber lots of salad leaves and some sunflower seeds with a french herb dressing. I enjoyed it with a hot ginger tea and one more of my crackers, so left the bread that they served the salad with out. The salad was really nice, just way too much dressing.

After that my laptop was dying so I went over the Kürfurstendamm and found another Starbucks, ordered a tea and charged my laptop while chatting with my boyfriend and some friends on Facebook.

Than went over to Bogner, a clothing brand. Got in hair and make up and had to do 2 shows, one at 16 O'Clock and one at 18 O'clock. The team was lovely and the other models really nice, so we had a lot of fun and joy. One of the models I actually new from my first time in Madrid, she was my house mate in the last week. So it was nice to see her again!

In our little break I went walking over the Kürfurstendamm with a couple of the models. 1 girl just wanted to go somewhere with wifi (why are we so internet addicted??) and the others decided it was a good idea to take a bit of a walk since the weather was so nice. Because we wouldn't be able to have a proper dinner, after the show we had to take a cab to the airport, we decided to pick up food at, yup Dean & David again! haha. 

So backstage I enjoyed my salad, this time with shrimps, artichoke, bell pepper and lettuce with a honey mustard dressing on the side (learned a lesson). We drink some champaign and on the way out we all took a choco pop. Jumping into the taxi we made our way over to the airport.

I was soooo lucky, just 2 of us had a business ticket, YAAY! Business class. So I had magazines to read, red wine,  and a full meal. I was not hungry at all anymore so I tasted the veal and veggies ate a bit of the cherry crumble dessert and took the bonbons.

That's it, hope you enjoyed reading a day in my food life =)

Thursday 6 March 2014

Healthy Superfood Osawacake




As soon as I've seen the cakes in my local organic stores I was always eager to try it out. And then Rens Kroes (renskroes.com) the sister of famous international model Doutzen Kroes came up with a recipe on her website. Inspired by this recipe I tried it out, a perfect on the road packed food since I'm at the Starbucks writing this blog at the moment. Out for a 2 day job traveling trip I know I will be tired as hell, traveling a lot.. and can use some power food! And oh my I love this cake!
This is a perfect breakfast, lunch or snack cake. It contains nuts, seeds, dried fruits, natural sugars, brown rice, oats and spelt. Hard to not love this cake!


Ingredients


200g brown round rice
125g spelt flour
5 tbsp sesame seeds
150g almonds
75g black raisins
75g blonde raisins
2 tbsp coconut oil
3 large dried figs, chopped up
3 dates, chopped up
180ml organic thick apple-pear syrup
1 tbsp vanilla powder
100g oats
1,5 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp cookie spices
1 tsp sea salt

Soak the raisins in hot water. Than pre heat an oven on 180 degrees Celsius and cook the brown rice according package. In the meanwhile you can prepare a cake tin with a baking sheet. Because you use non-fat baking sheets you don't have to use extra fat and the cake will be easily removed out of the tin, a healthier solution for all of your cakes and pies! Roast the sesame seeds and sprinkle on the bottom layer off the tin. Keep the rest of the seeds separated, chop the almonds roughly and roast them as well until fragrant and slightly browned. Mix all of the ingredients in the bowl with the cooked brown rice until you have a sticky dough mixture. Spread the mixture over the tin and press firmly. Sprinkle with the remaining sesame seeds and bake the cake in the oven for 50-60 minutes.



Tuesday 4 March 2014

"Spaghetti di Salme"

This dish makes a wonderful dinner, packed with nutrition, less on the calories! It contains 3 very healthy ingredients that can contribute to your health and is amazing for when you are watching your diet. 

First up: Spinach. A plant with remarkable abilities to restore energy, increase vitality and improve the quality of blood. Why? Primarily the fact that it is rich in iron, iron plays a central role in the function of red blood cells. Further it contains heaps of vitamins, like vitamin K, A, C and magnesium and vitamin B2. 
Next up: Zucchini. One cup of zucchini only has 36 calories and 10% of the RDA of dietary fibre, which aids in digestion, prevents constipation, maintains low blood sugar and curbs overeating. 

Number 3: Salmon. Of course the salmon contributes to the dish, an excellent source of high-quality protein, vitamin and minerals (like potassium, selenium and vitamin B12) but their content of omega-3 fatty acids is what we would like to receive the most.  

Just scroll down and see how to make this vitamin, mineral and omega-3 packed healthy but most importantly damn delicious dish!



Ingredients

1 salmon fillet with skin
a big handful of fresh spinach
1 small zucchini
fresh lemon
1 tablespoon genovese or home made Pesto (20g)

Optional home made pesto
small handful of roasted pine nuts
olive oil
bunch of basil
1 garlic clove
piece of Parmesan
salt and pepper

When you have a spiralizer, make "spaghetti" of your courgette. If not grab your (cheese) peeler to make a nice spaghetti/tagliatelle kind of shape. In the meanwhile heat some olive oil in a frying pan and bake the salmon with some salt and pepper, skin side down for about 7 minutes on medium high heat. Now when you want to make your home made pesto, blitz everything together in your blender. Basicly add as much olive oil as it needs to become runny enough (and the good part is that the left overs can be stored in a jar in your fridge). If you don't want to make your own one, just put the home bought pesto on your cutting board ;-). Now it's time to check your salmon, bake the other side for as long as it needs, depending on the thickness of your fish. It's best when it's still pink in the middle and it will cook trough a bit when you remove it out of the pan. Pack your salmon in some foil, so it stays warm and than it's time to add your zucchini to the same pan, add the pesto, a big handful of spinach and just swirl the pan around for a about a minute. Just until the zucchini is starting to melt a bit with the pesto and it all gets gooey and warm. Transfer to a plate and arrange the salmon on top, serve with a slice of lemon.

Seriously, damn tasty!


Monday 3 March 2014

Breakfast today

It all started two night ago. I was on the couch surfing the Internet and whatsapping with friends when I all off a sudden noticed that my Wifi was off. I tried to make a new connection, but no signals were found. I decided to look after it the next morning. Yes, I made a backup off all my files, 2 to be sure actually and than started surfing about the problem on the web. In the meanwhile my Wifi now was grey, not able to press the button at all any more and I started to find out that this was a common problem with Apple. I completely reset the entire phone, wanting to reset my backup later on. And then, error. Yup.. not able to reset. So there you go, thank you apple with your amazing system, alllllll of my files are gone =(

What does this mean for you? Well, all of my recipes have to be photographed.. and I just lost a bunch of pictures so I won't be able to upload as much as I always do. Today I'm going back to the shop and hooooope they will be able to fix without any costs, legally they should. So fingers crossed!

But today I will introduce you: My Yummy Breakfast! 

I tried out something new! Overnight "oats" but than with buckwheat instead so it's completely gluten free. Oh my it's filling, delicious and yummy I would say: give it a try, definitely!! 

Ingredients

30g buckwheat flakes
drop of vanilla
pinch of cinnamon
100ml almond milk
100ml soy yogurt
15g of seeds (I used linseeds, sunflower and hemp seeds)
handful of frozen berries
fresh mango and berries as topping
optional: kasha and agave syrup

Simply mix all the ingredients, except the toppings (mango and extra berries of course) and let it sit in the fridge by night or at least one hour. The next morning, stir, add you add-ins, I love to use crunchy kasha (hidden under the mango on the picture) and a swirl of agave to give it a healthy sweet touch.

Spoon in, enjoy!! ;-) 






Saturday 1 March 2014

Easy Sunday Fritatta

Hey guys, It's Sunday again. That asks for a healthy, easy recipe as I always promise you on Sundays. This time it's not a snack, dessert, breakfast but a wonderful Fritatta for lunch or dinner. It's perfect when you have any vegetables left, in this case roasted vegetables are great. I like to roast a big plate full of vegetables during the week so I have some veggies in my fridge whenever I need it. One of my favourite flavour combination is butternut, sweet potato, red onion and corn. But basically I've done this as well with green peas, broccoli and green beans. Don't have any leftover vegetables? Cook or roast some ;-) But if I can give you a tip, just cook/roast a bit more for dinner than you actually need. You can turn leftovers in the most amazing dishes! 

But for now, back to my Easy Sunday Fritatta

Ingredients
A bowl of leftover roasted vegetables
3 whole eggs
3 egg whites
fresh basil
soft goat cheese

Now what? Pre heat an oven on 180 degrees. Mix the eggs until combined and season with salt and pepper. Pour some oil in a stir fry pan (that's suitable for the oven) and fry the vegetables for just a bit, than add the eggs and on top the goat cheese, crumbled feta is also a great substitute when your not a fan off goat cheese). Let it cook for about 5 minutes on medium heat so the bottom of the fritatta is getting browned. Than the oven is going to do the rest of the work for you, again about 5-8 minutes just keep an eye on it! In this time, I suggest you to make a lovely easy side salad. For example some rocket, cucumber, tomatoes and radish and drizzle with balsamic. Serve the fritatta with a slice of bread and the salad. 

You can't get it any easier ;-)