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.

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!

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 =)

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.

"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!

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!! ;-) 

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 ;-)