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

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).

Healthy Falafel Wraps

This is a great dinner recipe, the flavors are amazing and the only thing is you need a food processor, it mainly does all the work for you. I love falafel, but it's often deep fried and full of fats and ingredients I have never heard off before. (Go to your local supermarket and flip the package around, the one I checked had around 46% chickpeas If I remember correctly and the rest was mainly junk..) Well this recipe is seriously really easy!

In this recipe I used homemade fresh falafel, obviously and also made a fresh spicy tomato salsa and a sweet and creamy sauce. All together it are all fresh ingredients, low calorie and it makes a delicious meal. If you don't have  a boyfriend that eats for 3, you will have some leftovers and the falafel and sides will remain fresh for a few days in your fridge so you can eat it again! The recipe is 

Ingredients 

For the falafel
400g drained chickpeas (2 cans and you have a bit leftover)
1 chili pepper
1 lemon (only the zest)
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp chickpea flour (you can substitute with any kind of flour)
1 bunch fresh coriander (If your not a big fan you can use a big tsp dried)
2 cloves of garlic

Tomato salsa
4 big tomatoes
half a chili pepper
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 or a small clove of garlic

for the sauce
200g cottage cheese
1-2 tbsp chili sauce

Veggies
1 courgette
1 eggplant

Extra
Lettuce
4 whole wheat wraps

You start off with your vegetables. Cut them in rounds and lay them in an oven on 250 degrees, sprinkle with oil, salt and pepper and roast them until brown, flip. This takes about 20 minutes (10 minutes each side) preparing the falafel, prepare your food processor and put the drained chickpeas in. Finely grate the lemon zest, add a pinch of salt, the chili, spices, flour and blitz until you have a smooth paste. Scrape down the sides a bit and shape it into small patties/balls. (Wet your hands a bit, this way it's really easy to shape the falafel). Put a good amount of olive oil into the frying pan and add the falafel, turning when golden and crispy. 

Clean the food processor a bit, add all the ingredients for the tomato salsa, and a bit salt and give it a good swirl and blitz until you have a chunky tomato salsa. Make sure not to over blitz it! 

Mix the cottage cheese with the chili sauce and don't forget taking your vegetables out of the oven

Heat up the wraps in the microwave or in a frying pan without added oil. Now get a wrap and arrange the falafel, sauce, salsa, lettuce and vegetables and fold it up. Eat, enjoy ;-)

pssst: I forgot the veggies on top for the picture ;-)