Easy Summer Salad

This is one of my favourite meals, I love to eat this for lunch or dinner on a wonderful sunny summer day. It contains marinated chicken, avocado, mango and fresh veggies. What else do you want? ;-)

Ingredients
seasoned or marinated chicken breast
5 cherry tomatoes
2 table spoons corn
piece of cucumber
1/3 avocado
few pieces fresh mango
lettuce
walnut/hazelnut or olive oil
salt and pepper
squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Fried the chicken in the pan in some coconut oil until browned and done, let it cool down a bit while you cut your veggies. Grab a plate arrange all your ingredients on it and serve with a swirl of oil, squeeze of lemon and some salt and pepper on top. Easy does it! ;-)

ps. A great tip is to fried some extra chicken and store it in your fridge. It's perfect for making another salad or a for a throw in with a ready-to-go soup when you are in a hurry!

Food Diary London part 1

As you already read in my previous post, I was in London. Had so much fun and already feel sad to leave my dear friend behind!

The First night I arrived me and Paul went to this wonderful restaurant called Yalla Yalla, Lebanese street food. Recommended by one of my Bookers and I would definitely recommend it to you when you're in London! The menu was huge and everything looked delicious, but it was already really late and wasn't that hungry any more (was around 21/22 O'clock). So we ordered a glass of red wine and took some bites from the tapas sharing menu. One of the best falafel with tahini drizzled all over, damn delicious, we had some pita bread with baba ganoush, an amazing avocado pomegranate salad, marinated BBQ chicken liver (first chicken liver ever in my entire life). But there were many articles written about this famous dish, so obviously had to try! And it was really yummy!

Falafel

Some of the food at Yalla Yalla

The next morning we went for a run in Regent Park. Finally time to use my new trainers, love them! 

 Paul is so lucky she lives like 10 minute walk from the park, 10 minute walk from Oxford street (the massive shopping street of London) and with 2 tube stations around the block it's quite the perfect spot to live!

And we were really lucky with the weather, it was about 28 degrees Celsius! Can you believe it? Actually good weather in London? haha it's always rainy weather when I'm there and now it was high summer!

After our run we created a breakfast we enjoyed all week. A carrot - ginger - apple - orange - celery juice and some yogurt with fresh fruit and healthy granola.

Regent Park

 My favourite breakfast which I enjoyed in London every single day

 After breakfast we went walking to Camden Market. A wonderful area full of shops, markets, paintings, art, jewelry and.. food.. haha! We were craving some street food so we digged into a wonderful wrap with caramelised onion and roasted duck. Incredibly delicious!!

Duck wrap in Camden Town

For dinner we made a yummy salad, something I make quite often and wanted Paul to taste it as well.

Ingredients

For 2 persons

Spinach, watercress, rocket salad mix (or any other)

1/2 avocado

1/2 butternut

1 eggplant

goat cheese

chickpeas

a few cherry tomatoes

fresh olives

balsamic reduction

salt and pepper

cinnamon

Cut the eggplant and butternut in cubes and cook the butternut until quite soft, but not completely done! In the meanwhile stir fry the eggplant until slightly browned, then add the butternut, cinnamon, salt and pepper and stir fry until everything is a bit caramelised. Get a plate and arrange some salad on, then a few tablespoons of chickpeas, the tomatoes in halves, the vegetables, avocado, olives in halves and goat cheese. Serve with the balsamic reduction and you're done!

Eggy Breakfast Wrap

Happpppppy Birthday to my boyfriend. A guy needs a good breakfast right? And because it was his birthday I promised to make him something good. Fresh orange juice, sliced banana, cup of tea, coffee and a yummy eggy breakfast wrap with avocado. Heaven on a plate!

Ingredients

gluten free or whole wheat wraps
avocado in wedges
3 eggs
fresh sliced fruit
salt and pepper
oil
cheese (I use hard old goat cheese)

The most important thing about this breakfast, are the eggs. I love scrambled eggs, I always use 1 egg and 2 whites a dash of soy milk, a bit of grated cheese salt and pepper. Always. But what does a scrambled egg make a good scrambled egg? Well, the thing is with scrambled eggs that you need a specific trick to make them fluffy, gooey, and yummy. For me this means whisking the eggs together with a fork, adding my cheese and spices, than the milk and just whisk until combined. Don't over mix. Than heat up a pan until incredibly hot, add your coconut or olive oil and pour in the eggs. Immediately turn the heat down on low, wait a bit, like half a minute and then gently stir 3 times until it's "scrambled" turn of the heat, remove the pan and let it sit. The egg will cook trough because of the heat of the pan until just cooked trough. This way you get the perfect eggs!!
In a different pan you heat up your tortilla and then you add the avocado and a bit of the eggs, wrap it up and serve with some fresh fruit.

Happy Mornings!

xoxo

My Dear Amsterdam

Haaay Guys!! 

This week I was back in lovely Amsterdam for 2 days. The very first day I had a gym date, I signed up for an insane workout with Model Workout! And we nailed it! After a million burps (okay Jeroen it were 45) and lots and lots of more excercies it was time to see one of my old friends again, Marianne. I know her since college time, when the economy wasn't that great, she made the choice to move to Amsterdam to find a job over there. And she did, she works as an attorney in a law firm. BUT I have never visited her place in Amsterdam! Shame on me, I know.. but it's just not in my system she lives over there hahhaa.

Me and the trainer of Model Workout!

We (me and Marianne) were both late and I was huuuungry so we decided it would be either dining out or dining in with a take away. And then Sla Amsterdam made the announcement on Facebook they would deliver to her region in Amsterdam as well.. YAY!! Easy peasy! I chose the amaranth chicken salad (my body was craving protein) and it was really delicious! Definitely one of my favourite places in Amsterdam to go to! My salad included rocket, amaranth, mushrooms, sweet potato, tomato, organic chicken and Parmesan cheese. A yummy combination including a very tasty dressing! First time I tried amaranth as well, I liked the taste of it. But I would still prefer quinoa though! ;-)

The next morning I had a casting, my first casting with my new book from Max Models. I signed up with them a bit over a month ago and am really happy with my new mother agent. A mother agent is the one that's taking care of your agenda, agency's abroad etc. The bookers are all really nice and doing a lot of effort, so hopefully I will work a lot with them!!

After my casting I went to Venkel, it's kind of a side kick of Sla. So I was eager to see if it would be just as good. And I have to say, I liked it, but Sla stays my favourite one. The portion was smaller, and I'm a big eater ;-) And the dressing was a bit sourly, I chose the "Lente kriebels" salad with chickpeas, peas, avocado, Parmesan, radish and I chose for a bit extra chicken (protein!) for my muscle recovery. I enjoyed it, I really did.. but too much of the sour dressing! ;-)

Easy shrimp quasadilla

Hmmm this is a wonderful tasty quick lunch, comfort food to the max. It's incredibly easy, quick and nutritious. Good carbs from the tortilla, healthy fats of the avocado, protein because of the shrimps, veggies and the cheese is just a delicious good to add ;-)

Ingredients
Hand full of shrimps (cooked)
half an avocado (ripe)
half a bell pepper
grated cheese
salt and pepper
sweet chili sauce
gluten free or whole wheat wraps

This dish is incredibly easy, simply heat a pan and warm up one side of the tortilla (no oil needed), than the other side and set aside. Grab another tortilla and only heat up one side. Grab that tortilla and layer it with all the ingredients and a drizzle of chili sauce. Top it with the other tortilla and bake in the pan until everything is warmed up and the cheese is melted. (You can use a lit if you prefer everything to be really hot and gooey).

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 ;-)

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.

On the go

Yesterday I had a job for Wrangler in Dusseldorf. These kind of jobs always means being on the road, so to prepare my own food and snacks is for me the key to stay healthy and fit!

After a good breakfast with my homemade granola, my 3 hours trip to Germany began. First things first, I quickly drove to the hotel to check in and drop my stuff. By that time it was past noon and I was starving. I had no idea if there would be lunch on set and what we would get get for lunch. So I grabbed one of my homemade wraps! And oh my,  I was so happy I brought some food with me this time. On set they prepared chili con carne with minced pork for lunch, since I'm allergic for pork I couldn't eat it plus there wasn't enough food for everyone so by the time I finished my fitting there was only some rice with a creamy sauce with potatoes left.

Choices were made quickly, hello delicious home made wrap!

Ingredients
For the wraps
100 gram chickpea flour
25 gram spelt flour
80 ml almond milk or soy milk
120 ml water
1 egg
pinch of salt
olive oil

For the filling
Avocado
Spring onions
Cucumber
Fresh spinach
Smoked salmon
Squeeze of lemon
salt and pepper

To start off making these wraps, you need a bowl and a mixer. Start with the dry ingredients and mix them in a big bowl. Make a small whole in the middle and crack the egg in there. Mix the dough and then you can add all the other ingredients from the list including a tablespoon of olive oil. Then you have to let the mixture rest for about 10 minutes. In this time you can prepare the filling for the wrap. I chose smoked salmon, cottage cheese, spinach, avocado and cucumber with a squeeze of lemon, salt and pepper.

After chopping your veggies it's time to bake your wraps. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a preheated pan and with a big spoon you can divide some of the mixture in the pan, make sure you make your crêpes/wraps very thin. Continue baking until the mixture is finished, now fill as much as wraps as you like and you're done cover them with some aluminium foil to they are on-the-go ready.


Backstage Hair & Make Up + a part of the model team before the show began.

Skinny dinner

Today I will share another recipe that is inspired on my trip in Capetown last year. It's a very healthy vegetarian dinner (or lunch) because it contains healthy fats from the avocado and almonds (also full of protein and vitamin E, hello gorgeous skin and hair), complex carbs and protein from the worlds healthiest grain in the world: quinoa, and one of my favourite vegetables; eggplant. 

Ingredients:

1 eggplant

1 avocado

2 handfuls of almonds

rocket

fresh cilantro

fresh parsley

2 tablespoons of raisins soaked in hot water

Slice the eggplant in pieces and arrange them on a big plate with kitchen paper. Gently sprinkle some salt on them, put another kitchen paper on top and put something heavy on it. This way you will get some of the liquid out of the eggplant so by the time the eggplant will see the pan, it won't completely suck up all of the oil and becomes greasy! 

Next grab a coffee mug and fill with red quinoa (or any other kind) and place it in the pot with 2 cups of boiling water, a teaspoon of cinnamon and let it cook until done. When finished cooking gently mix it up with a fork so it becomes fluffy and give it some space to "unsteam". Heat a frying pan with a few table spoons of good olive oil, fry the eggplant until brown and caramelised and sprinkle with pepper (NO salt because you already did). 

Your dinner is almost ready now at this point! Grab a big plate and start with a big handful of rocket with a bit of the fresh herbs on it, combine the raisins with the quinoa and put as much as you like on the rocket. 

Next up the eggplant, almonds and avocado, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste and dig in!