Mouthwatering Coconut, Chocolate & Raspberry mini tartlets

You may have seen these beauty's on my Instagram or Facebook page.. Well today I am finally sharing my delicious recipe with you! 

I had a BBQ with my family last weekend and it always involves lots of meat. I'm not a big meat eater but I do love chicken. So we made a batch of healthy burgers, grilled chicken legs, chicken sate, some sausages for the guys and lots more. I always whip up at least 2 different kinds of salads, some veggies, some bread with dips and homemade herbed butter. Because desserts are always unhealthy at my parents place, but everybody loves them I decided it would be nice if I would created something delicious and healthier to the table. Also, because my little niece loooooves cakes. 

Ingredients

for the coconut macaroon tart crust

2 2/3 cups unsweetened coconut

3 egg whites (normal or 2 when you have large eggs)

2 tbsp stevia sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

for the raspberry bottom

1 bag of deep frozen raspberries

for the chocolate layer (homemade nutella)

1 cup blanched hazelnuts

1/2 cup coconut milk

1/4 cup palm sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened (raw) cacao powder

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons coconut oil

pinch of sea salt

Now I would suggest to make the homemade nutella first, store it in a jar it always comes in handy ;-) (If your lazy you can substitute for a store bought nutella or chocolate mousse but it will be less healthy). 

Step 1: Preheat the oven on 180 degrees and roast the hazelnuts in the oven for 10 minutes (you can also ask your organic nut store to dry roast them so you can skip this step).  If your hazelnuts still have skin, remove them (easy to do when they come out of the oven with a damp cloth and rub the nuts with it).  Add the hazelnuts to the bowl of a food processor and cut up the hazelnuts until it becomes a puree, it will take a few minutes until creamy and you may have to scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple of times. Add the coconut milk, coconut palm sugar, cocoa, vanilla and coconut oil and salt until it's all well mixed and becomes a good paste. Store the homemade nutella in the refrigerator. 

Step 2: For the crust: Preheat an oven on 180 degrees Celsius, in a food processor combine the coconut with the egg whites, vanilla and the stevia with the coconut until it's well combined. Lightly coat a muffin or cake pan with some oil and press down the coconut mixture until it makes a well shape as a tart crust. Bake until the coconut turns golden around the edges and is set in the centre, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven and invert the tins immediately on a rack. 

Step 3: Let the raspberries thaw a bit and then smash them up in a bowl with a fork. This will be your first layer for the crusts. 

Coconut crusts with the smashed raspberries layer

 Step 4: Get your (homemade) Nutella out of the fridge and serve a big tablespoon of the chocolate cream in to the tarts. Garnish with some raspberries and there you go. Amazing delicious, healthier, homemade mini tartlets!

My little niece loving my tartlets, cuuuuute!!!!

Nutritional information: Approximately 140 calories a tart. 

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

Easy Peasy Snack

Sometimes it's really hard to think what to eat between meals. The other day I was out for dinner with my boyfriend and I knew it would be a HUGE dinner haha. In that case, you don't want to over eat the rest of the day ;-)
But of course, I got my usual 16 O'Clock snack time hunger so I wanted to whip up a quick snack that's easy, healthy and tasty. I often eat fruit, nuts, rice cakes with peanut butter in between meals but something like this I should do more often. You increase your veggie intake, which is always a good idea!

All I did is wrap some organic chicken breast around some pickles, sliced up a carrot, cucumber and bell pepper and serve with a good dollop of hummus (I also love tzatziki or cottage cheese mixed with 1 tbsp of peanut butter as a dip)

Happy Snacking!

Updated Heavenly Scones

Remember these yummy treats? I sure do! I made them again for the second day of Easter a perfect brunch dish to add to the table. I tweaked the recipe a bit, not completely lactose free anymore because I added "kwark" (for the Dutchies) also known as "Fromage Blanc". Maybe you can substitute it with soy yogurt as well, I haven't tried that one out yet. But because I added "kwark" I didn't had to use ANY fat. So that safes some calories and adds up the protein intake!

Ingredients

250g whole wheat spelt flour

150g oats

25g palm sugar

10g stevia sugar

16g baking powder

1 egg slightly beaten

2 tbsp apple sauce

100g kwark/Fromage Blanc.

50ml soy milk

1 teaspoon vanilla aroma

pinch of salt

Preheat an oven on 200 degrees Celsius. Than mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl and all the wet ingredients in the other. Than it's time to mix the dry and wet ingredients and form a big bowl of the batter. If it's to wet and sticky, add a bit of flower but these amounts should give you exactly the perfect batter and it should be a bit sticky! Divide the batter into 8 balls and bake them for 20 minutes in the oven. Make sure they are done, you can cut one in half and feel it should be completely dry. If it's wet pop them back in to the oven for an extra 5 minutes.

Note: Feel free to add currants, raspberries, chocolate or whatever you like! 

Serve with a dollop ricotta cheese, cottage cheese and (strawberry) jam.. hmmm.. bon appetit!

The Ultimate Healthier Chocolate Cake

Wooooohpp wooop!  I'm really excited about this recipe. BUT I have to admit 2 things straight away before I start off with the recipe...
1: I like chocolate now for about half a year, before absolutely hated it.
2: I have never ever ever had a chocolate cake/pie in my entire life (due to the fact I have always hated chocolate).

I'm still not a fan of milky sugary chocolate, so you can give me as much as Easter eggs you like, I won't eat them.. just not my thing.. BUT this cake? Yeah, that was definitely my thing.

To celebrate Easter I went to my boyfriends parents place for the first day where we had a typical "gourmet" night. That means having a grill plate on the table to grill our mini hamburgers, beef, chicken skewers, prawns and salmon. With lots of salads, potato salads, bread dips and sides. When you know you will have too much food, you want a light and fluffy pie right? Well that's why I came up with this recipe, not too much sugar, and guess what... NO flour! Yup, no almond flour, spelt flour and a million nuts.. nothing! And yes it will turn out amazing with just 175 calories a serving!

The great part of this pie, is that it contains healthy ingredients only. The cacao in the dark chocolate is rich in iron, copper, magnesium and cacao has been scientifically linked to a reduced risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. The eggs are obviously high in protein and even the butter is a good provider. It contains good amounts of fatty acids, which support immune function, boost metabolism! So I will just say, try out this recipe and enjoy your piece of chocolate pie without all the guilt.

Ingredients

200g good quality dark chocolate (I used half a 85% and half 70% cacao)

90g proper butter (grass half fat butter)

6 organic eggs 

50g palm sugar

10g stevia sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp sea salt

Preheat the oven on 140 degrees. Use a 20cm spring form and spray it with oil or butter so the pie will be easy to get out after baking. Melt the dark chocolate and the butter au bain marie (that means in a bowl with boiling water underneath without the bowl reaching the water). Stir the chocolate and butter well until it's 1 mixture. In the meanwhile your chocolate is melting mix the egg whites only until really, really fluffy. Add the egg yolks, with the sugar, salt and vanilla aroma with the chocolate until it's all combined. Then "fold" the egg white in to the chocolate mixture, reaaaallly gentle. This may take a while but you don't want to beat out all of the air. When everything is well combined you can pour the mixture in to the spring form and bake the cake for about 45-55 minutes in your oven. Check if your cake is cracked on top and when you press down on it with a finger, it should push back just a bit. Then your cake is set, for me it took 50 minutes. Let the cake completely cool down before removing it from the tin. Serve as it is, or sprinkle with cacao and raspberries like I did. 

Notes: 

- Really important to make fluffy egg whites and keep the fluffy texture

- To make it decadent, serve with a cream cheese frosting or serve it with a dollop if ice cream, cream or mascarpone and smashed berries.

- If you adore sweet sweet pies, add a bit more sugar. This cake will turn out sweet, but not super duper sweet as you will have when you buy a chocolate cake at the bakery. I would suggest to use 75 g of palm sugar or 100g of palm sugar and no stevia. But I would try out the cake like it is, it's yummy =) 

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).

Lately - Food on the go

One of the best parts of my job is to able to travel, a lot. I was lucky to be all over the place again the last period, Bremen, Antwerp, Zurich, Amsterdam, Knokke.. Lots of fun, lots of good food to share with you!

Love the outfit. Pastel for summer 2014 it is!

Love SLA, One of my favourite places in Amsterdam 

I love Belgium, they always take care of the models with great food on set (well almost always). Fresh strawberries, whole wheat pasta salad with tomatoes, basil and mozzarella, smoked ham with cheese and rocket, roasted goat cheese fennel with pine nuts, goat cheese dip.. okay I will stop here.. Just a LOT of delicious food!

Beautiful Zurich!

In Zurich I had to walk a runway show, the client gave me an amazing hotel "Boutique Hotel". In the middle of the city centre, around the corner of the train station, just perfect! It's not cheap, but hey Zurich isn't in general, but a definitely must visit when you want to visit Zurich.
I was surprised about the beauty of this city and the wonderful people. The women explained to me she had fresh croissants and yogurts for breakfast, when I told her my food intolerance she whipped up a special breakfast for me the next morning: bircher soy muesli, boiled eggs, gluten free toasts, fresh fruit, fresh juices. Amazing !!

The other day I was working in the north of Germany, after work I passed by a lovely little restaurant.  What an amazing place I found, felt so lucky! It's always hard to find good places in cities you don't know. That's what is great about modellist-id.com ! Have you heard about it? Well if you're a model and/or travel a lot check it out. There are a lot of tips about all kinds of cities. Anyway in this restaurant I ordered the fish of the day, some kind of white fish (not recognisable because it was a German name ;-)) with mojo sauce, asparagus citrus salad, foam of champagne and some puree of a vegetable I don't remember as well, served with a side of really tasty roasted potatoes. And that's hard because I'm not a big fan of potatoes but these were finger licking good, well the entire dish was! 

So far my post about my food on the go, hope you liked! =)

A Pear & Pecan Breakfast Treat

Good morning all,

I finally start to feel better again, yay! I just took my last antibiotic pill so I hope everything is back to normal again now. I was still really nauseous and tired the last few days, but it was probably from the antibiotics the doctor told me. Ah I certainly hope so!
But since I woke up feeling really energetic I can't wait to finally hit the gym again. Especially after having a perfect pre-workout delicious breakfast this morning, ooohhhh my that was finger licking good, I scraped out the entire jar haha. Anyyyyyway guess what kind of recipe I'm posting about today ;-) Hmm.. where I was I? Ah yeah gym.

After the gym I'm going to get me some Probiotics, I always do after having a week of antibiotics. I hate any kind of medications, in particular antibiotics because yeah it makes you better and kills all  the bad bacteria, but it also kills all the good ones that are so important for having a healthy well-functioning body.

I don't have special weekend plans, though. We are cleaning up the house. I live here now for about a year and it's time everything is ready now, you know there are always things you say you will do but you never do. Recognizable? The balcony was one of those things. So yesterday we cleaned up our 2 balconies, so much work but amazing to see the difference, summer I'm ready for you haha! After cleaning all day we had a big Indonesian treat. I get take aways as well and that's kind of difficult with me not eating white pasta, pizza, bread and all. So Indonesian is something we often turn to, it's a lot of work to make your self and it's all authentic and not incredibly unhealthy. Although, the deep-snacks with the meal were not that healthy haha. But hey, I believe in the 80/20 % rule, for me that means I'm trying to eat completely clean and healthy 80% of the time and enjoying a bit too much cheese, wine, nuts or other treats for the rest of the time. That makes it much easier to live 80% of the time completely healthy as well.

SO back to my breakfast. The reason why I'm writing this blog for you. I woke up early and thought of what to make. I have been eating my Sugar free granola (link) for days in a row now, just to good. But it was time to eat something else. I looked in to the fruit basket and noticed a pear that had to be eaten, like now.

So I whipped up a little healthy treat for my boyfriend and I, a perfect Saturday breakfast treat under 300 calories and that takes just 10 minutes for prepping and about 20 minutes for baking while you can hit the shower ;-)

Ingredients

For 1 person

30 gram oats 

125 ml almond milk (unsweetened)

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of see salt

a big pinch of cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg white

1 tbsp raisins

1/2 a ripe pear

a few pieces of pecan nuts

1,5 tbsp maple syrup

coconut/oil/butter for greasing 

Preheat an oven on 180 degrees Celsius. Lightly grease a small ovenproof bowl. Get a small bowl and combine the oats, milk, baking powder, spices, egg whites and 1 tbsp of maple syrup and combine until you have a very well combined mixture (this is very important otherwise your egg white can separate from the mixture and you are left out with baked egg white ;-)). Now add the pear, chopped in pieces, and the raisins and mix again. Sprinkle some pecans on top and bake this yummy breakfast treat for about 20 minutes.

Nutritional information: 245 calories.

Difficult: Not at all, takes about 30 minutes.  

Glutenfree Granola

I wanted to make a variation on my other recipe Most important meal of the day part II (click for the link!), and I guess I have a new addiction. Oefff I invented a serious problem, this granola is so insanely good that you A. won't stop eating it, B. will never ever wanna buy the supermarket versions anymore so you have to make this again and again!!!

With this recipe you will create a huge pot of home made granola/cruesli, about 800 grams so you will have some portions after a bit of baking;-)

The recipe is full of healthy products, gluten free buckwheat, nuts and seeds, coconut oil and a sugar alternative that is low GI. It's 100% pure, 100% good for you and100% delicious. What more do you want?

Oh and time wise, it doesn't take that long. You need about 15 minutes for preparing the granola/cruesli, just about the time your oven is heating up. Than it needs 30 minutes of baking, while you are sitting down :P

Ingredients
300 gram flakes  (I chose 200g buckwheat flakes, 50g quinoa pops, 50g kasha (but you can make it with oat flakes, spelt flakes, only buckwheat or what you like)
100 gram (raw) mixed nuts, roughly chopped
100 gram sunflower/pumpkin seeds
70 ml coconut oil (liquid)
80ml maple syrup or honey
3 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla powder
2 tsp cinnamon

handful of mulberries and goji berries or any kind of dried fruit you wish

Preheat an oven on 180 degrees. Mix all the dry ingredients in a big bowl and add the coconut oil, vanilla, syrup and make sure everything is combined. Now add the 3 egg whites (just raw, you don't have to do anything with it) and stir again until everything is coated. Take a baking tray and spread the mixture evenly out on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, gently stir so the other side will bake as well for another 15 minutes. Let is completely cool down so it will be mega crunchy and you should have big chunks.

Serve with fresh fruit and (soy) yogurt. Also delicious as a topping on your smoothie, or just as a wonderful snack!

Nutritional information: each 40g portion is approximately 160 calories.

My Modelproof Candy Bonbons

Hey guys!

I am so sorry for not posting for a while.. I have been working a lot and being very sick.. No idea what's wrong but I'm just feeling bad!

I did cook a lot and have a lot of food to share with you! I made this perfect model proof candy, easy to take with you on the road, for a snack with your cappuccino, tea or latte.. or just.. wheneeeeever you want!

It's made out of fresh dates (not the hard, dry ones), almonds, cacao and coconut.. oh and a bit of goji berries.. so basically really delicious and healthy ingredients. The nuts will keep you full, the dates will satisfy your sweet tooth and the raw cacao and coconut is full of health benefits as well. Enough said.. just try it! ;-)

Ingredients
For about 12 balls
12 fresh dates (or medjoul dates), pitted
80g dry roasted almonds
1 tbsp water
1 tsp cinnamon

for on top 
1 tbsp goji berries
2 tbsp cacao
4 tbsp shredded coconut (unsweetened)

Mix all the ingredients for the balls in a food processor for about 1 minute. Place the mixture in the fridge for about 10 minutes so it all cools down after processing, this helps forming good balls. Then wet your hands a bit so your easily able to make small balls. Roll the balls in cacao powder, coconut, goji berries or a combination and place them back in the fridge. Get them out before serving, about 10 minutes!

Enjoy your healthy bonbons ;-)

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. 

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!

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 ;-) 

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)

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!

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!! 

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.. ;-)

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).

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!

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.