Smoothie bowl (recipe)

I have never been much of a breakfast person, although it is presumably the most important meal of the day. One reason is that it is common in The Netherlands to have a cold breakfast, and I am not the biggest fan of that. I would prefer a hot hearty meal anytime of the day. Lately, however, I have come across many pictures of attractive looking breakfasts, consisting mostly of fresh fruit. Breakfast smoothies, (yogurt) parfaîts, and banana based pancakes.

Now I am not new to smoothies, but unfortunately I always had a bit trouble finishing the whole batch I made before it went bad. Then I saw a new trend of serving your smoothie in a bowl. I decided to give it a try and this was the outcome!

Smoothie ingredients: Banana, apple, almondmilk, frozen forest fruit

Toppings: Banana slices, dried goji berries, wheatgrass powder, chia seeds, raw cacao nibs, strawberry slices

Instructions: Make smoothie with a blender. • Pour into a bowl,  • Deecorate with toppings.

Easy breezy!

Lobi,

Eggplant pizza (recipe)

Hi guys! I am beyond excited, because I bought myself a small oven! To celebrate I wanted pizza, but of course not just any pizza. Although this recipe is anti-Paleo considering there is cheese involved (which is also full of lactose of course), I thought to myself what the heck, yolo. To go with my mini pizza's, which have eggplant as a base instead of dough, I also baked a few sweet potato fries (Paleo friendly), and a burger with speltbread (hey I had to finish it anyways). Unfortunately the fries did not come out as crispy as I hoped for, but this is a learning process.

I got the basic recipe from shonda1020 and newwaysdk on Instagram, and tweeked them a bit to my own taste, topping mine with tomato puree instead of tomato sauce, adding chestnut mushrooms and jalapenõs, and replacing the mozzarella and parmezan with Dutch grated cheese.

For my first time making these, I simply sliced the eggplant in circles, rubbed them with some salt to remove moisture, topped them with the ingredients, and baked them in the oven for about 10 mins on 180-200°C.

For my second time, I decided to cut the eggplant in long and thin slices, so I would have more room for toppings. Then I tried to remove moisture by rubbing them with salt and let them sit for a bit. After I washed off the salt, I fried the slices with a bit of olive oil in a pan, to get the eggplant tender and cooked through. I made sure I did not overcook them, otherwise the slices would not hold the toppings. I let them cool down on a paper towl to remove the oil, and topped them with tomato puree, grated cheese, tomato, chestnut mushrooms, jalapenõs, another layer of grated cheese, some Italian herbs, salt, and pepper. I cooked them in the oven for about 7-10 mins, until the cheese was properly melted.

They tasted so much better on my second try! Very healthy, wholesome, and full of flavor. I could taste every single ingredient used :)

Ingredients: Eggplant, tomato puree, tomatoes, chestnut mushrooms, grated cheese, Italian herbs (basil, oregano, thyme, savory)

Instructions: Cut the eggplant in lenght, and prepare with salt to remove moisture. • Fry the eggplant in a pan with a splash of olive oil, until tender and almost done. • Cook in the oven for about 7-10 mins on 180°C, until the cheese has melted and the veggies are cooked :)

Enjoy!

Lobi,