Pesca-what? Life without meat?! + Exciting news (personal update)

Hey loves! I haven't been posting frequently for the past month, as you might've noticed. I'm not going to bore you with any details as to why, but I dó want to give you an update about some life changes I made the past month or so and share a major announcement!

Quick healthy snack (recipe tortilla pizza)

Looking for a tasty and semi-healthy snack you can quickly whip up? All you need are some corn tortilla's, tomato puree from a can, any cheese you like, and whatever toppings you can find in your fridge!

Raw shock-alate (review Love it raw chocolate)

Washi tape, thigh-high boots, faux furs, nude lipsticks... When I really like an item, you can pretty much consider me a hoarder. Looking at the paper bag near my desk stuffed w/ organic sweets, I nowadays am too a raw chocolate (bar) hoarder! I have tried out many brands so far, from Lovechock to Ombar to Conscious, which all come w/ a pretty hefty pricetag. They are also mainly available in organic supermarkets, and not your local grocery store.

Almost too easy

Hey loves! Today I want to share some of my food favorites that can quickly be turned into a healthy meal. On the topic of health, you might be wondering whether I am on track with my "skinnyfat to fit" transformation, but I will be posting an update soon, so come back regularly!

This easy and hearty meal exists of three components, of which I always switch up the protein side to keep it from becoming repetitive. On the left you can see a salad, that was actually pre-made by Albert Heijn, hehe. It is my new favorite thing to eat!

This Japanese salad is stuffed with rocket, corn salad leaves, raddish, cucumber, and soybeans. It also comes with a soy-ginger dressing and dried seaweed-sesame to sprinkle on top. Maybe some day I will make my own, but for now I prefer the convenience of a store bought salad. It also prevents me from wasting previous produce I cannot finish on time by myself! It costs €2.99 for 238 grams. Because I only use it as a side-dish, I can do about 2-3 three days with it!

On the bottom of my plate, you can spot something starchy. It is actually a mix of (organic) red and white quinoa, with tomatoes and olives by Zonnatura.

The directions say to either heat it all up in a microwave, or au bain marie. I prefer to steam it! I do put in a piece of foil in the steamer, so my quinoa will not fall through the steam holes. Because the flavor is still fairly bland for my taste, despite the ingredients, I always spice it up with some chili powder, salt and pepper. I think I might prepare some soon with onions and garlic, sort of a fried "rice"! I believe I paid less than €2.50 for 250 grams, which is not too bad! I usually keep it to 1/2-1 cup a meal, so I never finish one pack a day by myself. 

And there you have some quick healthy meal inspiration!

Lobi,

p.s. Remember to drink your water everyday!

Chocolate fudge balls (recipe)

Hi loves! The other day I made use of my bottle of vanilla extract again and made these healthy and easy chocolate fudge balls treats! I got the recipe from Rawmanda, and used chopped walnuts and cashewnuts, raw cacao powder, and shredded coconut for coating.

Lobi,

Spicy honey roasted sweet potatoes (recipe)

Hi everyone! In my last post I showed you how I made some delicious Paleo friendly beef burgers with portobello mushrooms. Today I will give you my recipe for the spicy oven roasted sweet potatoes I served as a side dish with the burgers.

Ingredients: Peeled and diced sweet potato(es), olive oil, honey, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, cinnamon

Instructions: Preheat your oven at 190°C. • Spread the potatoes evenly on a baking sheet. • Drizzle some olive oil over them, and do the same with the honey. • Season with salt, pepper, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper. • Bake in the oven for about 25 mins or until done.

And enjoy! Easy breezy, huh?!

Lobi,

Paleo beef burger (recipe)

Hi everyone! Yesterday I decided to try out my own Paleo recipe for a change. I always change up recipes to my own liking, so I figured why not try to whip up something of my own? For some unknown reason I decided to stock up on some portobello mushrooms last week, despite not knowing how to prepare them.

I had a few options; either chop them up (but that would defeat the purpose of their size), stuff them, or use them as a whole. Seen as I already stuffed paprika's for my last post, I decided to go for the latter. I am not a vegetarian, so I did not want to use them as burger patties. Thus, I went for Paleo burgers with portobello buns and oven roasted sweet potatoes!

Ingredients (serves 2): 4 portobello mushrooms, 300 grams of (organic) ground beef, 1 small onion (chopped), 3 cloves of garlic (crushed and minced), a few small mushrooms for stuffing, olive oil, butter, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, any toppings you like (I used sliced cucumber, tomato, bacon, and grûyere cheese)  Disclaimer: The cheese is obviously not Paleo, so you can skip that if you want!

Instructions: Preheat your oven at 230°C. • Wipe or rinse your portobello's and remove the stems. • Chop the stems and chop your small mushrooms, and mix together. • Prepare your ground beef in a bowl by adding the onion, the garlic, and lastly the mushrooms. • Season well and set aside. • Rub your portobello's with olive oil and season with salt and pepper, before placing them upside down on a baking sheet. • Bake them in the oven for 10 mins. • Warm up a pan with some butter to medium heat. • Form two patties by rolling the meat into two balls and pressing them in the middle to create a burger shape. Make sure the patties are a bit thicker on the outside than in the middle. • Fry your patties to your liking and flip them a few times to cook them evenly without burning. I fried them for 5-6 mins total on each side. • Take the burger of the stove and let them rest for a bit while you prepare the portobello "buns". • Start stacking your tower of burger with you favorite toppings.

And enjoy!

Lobi,

p.s. In my next post I will show you how to oven roast your sweet potatoes!

Bell peppers with stuffing (recipe)

Hi everyone! To switch it up, I have a dinner recipe for you today. I found the basic recipe on my "Paleo recipes" I-Phone app, where the dish is called "stuffed capsicums". The dish was very simple to make, and its ingredients widely available, so those were major +'s for me! If I had to cook it again, however, I would definitely change a few things.

Of course I never follow a recipe completely (for instance I decided to switch the order of some steps around here), but this time I unfortunately held back in adding extra ingredients or seasoning. I am so used to cooking with stock cubes for extra flavoring, but I wanted to keep the dish as Paleo as possible. I did switch in the regular mushrooms on the ingredients list for chestnut mushrooms.

According to the recipe, one needs 500 grams of ground beef and 4 large paprika's. I could have definitely stuffed at least 6 for all the stuffing I made. Or have used less ground beef! So I would personally advice you to buy 4 large paprika's and maybe 2 smaller ones just in case. I would also add more veggies aside from the mushrooms, for more flavor and more color! And lastly, I would not cook the stuffing until done, because this tends to dry out the meat, seen as it still has to bake in the oven for about 20 mins.

Ingredients: 4 large paprika's (I prefer the orange, red, and yellow over the green) topped and emptied, 300-500 grams of ground beef, 4 large chestnut mushrooms (cut in small pieces), 1 large onion (cut in pieces), 6 cloves of garlic (crushed and minced), 2 sliced large chilies, salt, pepper, and which ever spices you prefer to season your beef with (e.g. cayenne pepper, paprika powder), olive oil

Instructions: Preheat your oven at 180°C. • Fry your chilies until fragrant. Then add the onions until slightly brown. Lastly, add your garlic. • Add your meat and after stirring a bit, add the mushrooms (and whichever veggies you prefer too). • Add seasoning to your taste (my tip is to use a lot of seasoning, otherwise your meat will taste a bit bland). You can also season the beef before adding it to the onions. • Stuff your paprika's with the meat mixture. • Bake in the oven for about 15-25 mins.

Enjoy!

Lobi,

p.s. I think I might try to marinate the extra veggies for the stuffing before cooking, or even the whole paprika's! Maybe a fajita marinade? I will keep you posted!

Stuffed bacon roses (recipe)

Hi everyone! I am back with another easy (and healthy) breakfast recipe. The other day I made bacon muffin roses, or at least that is what I like to call them, stuffed with broccoli, mushrooms, and cherry tomatoes. I found the basic recipe on my "Paleo plate" I-phone app, where they are called breakfast muffins. As always I pimped the recipe to my own liking, adding some extra veggies!

Ingredients (makes 4): 2 eggs, 8 strips of bacon, 3 cherry tomatoes, 2 mushrooms, some broccoli florets, coconut oil for greasing, salt and pepper to taste

Instructions: Preheat your oven at 180°C. • Grease your muffin tin, and start making "cups" with the bacon (2 strips per rose). • Whisk your eggs and season. • Pour an equal amount of eggs in each cup. • Add the veggies. • Bake for about 20 mins.

Enjoy!

Lobi,

Tuna egg muffins (recipe)

Hi everyone! I hope you are all having a lovely weekend :) The other day I whipped up a very quick and easy breakfast I want to share with you. I got the basic recipe for egg muffins with sausage from my "Paleo recepten" I-phone app, but like I usually do I improvised a bit because I did not have all the ingredients at home. I hope you enjoy reading!

Ingredients: 6 eggs, 2 diced tomatoes, 1 small onion, 1/2 can of tuna on water, 1 tsp coconut oil, salt, pepper, chili powder

Instructions: Preheat your oven at 200 °C. • Heat the coconut oil in a small frying pan. • Cut your onion in small pieces and add to your pan with hot oil. • After lightly browning the onions, add the tomatoes, season to taste, and stir. • Lastly, add your tuna and stir the mixture for a few minutes. • Whisk your eggs and season with a bit of salt and pepper (not too much, because you already seasoned the mixture). • Add about 1,5 tbsp of the mixture in each space of your muffin tin. • Add the eggs on top. • Bake for 20 mins until the muffins have browned a bit on top.

Enjoy!

Lobi,

(Coconut) brownie cupcakes (recipe)

Hi everyone! Last night I decided to bake some brownie cupcakes to celebrate the kickoff of my new blog! This was my second attempt in baking "healthy" chocolate cakes without any dairy or (regular) sugar. My first time was based on a recipe that included ripe bananas, honey, and raw cacao powder, but unfortunately they came out tasting like fluffy banana bread with a slight taste of chocolate. I have to admit that the recipe was for chocolate donuts, but seen as I did not have a doughnut pan I decided to use paper cupcake molds.

The recipe I was inspired by for these cakes, was for flat chocolate brownies with a coconut swirl. Unfortunately, once again, I did not have the proper baking utensils available, so I improvised using a muffin tin. I also decided to skip the coconut swirl—the first batch did not come out as nice as I hoped for, because there was hardly any room in the tin to make the "swirls"—and add unsweetened shredded coconut instead.

I got the basic recipe from Oerkracht.nl and tweaked it a bit as usual. The brownies came out moist, fluffy, and fudgy and the same time, with a delicious sweet chocolate taste and a very slight taste of coconut. Of course, you can also leave out the coconut if you are not a fan!

Ingredients: 120 grams of palm sugar, 3 eggs, 100 grams of almond flour, 20 grams of raw cacao powder, 1/4th tsp baking soda, pinch of salt, 120 grams of coconut oil, 100 grams of pure chocolate (≥ 70% ), unsweetened shredded coconut to your taste

Instructions: • Preheat your oven at 175°C and start melting your chocolate with the oil. Because I do not have a pan and glass bowl to melt things au-bain marie, I just put boiled water in a pot and put all the oil in a heat-resistant plastic bowl floating in the water (cheers to improvisation). Then I put the chocolate in piece by piece, stirring the mixture in between. When the water cooled down, I put poured some out of the pot and added some more boiled water from my kettle. Note: the pot was on my counter, not on the stove! The bowl does not need to get blistering hot, as long as your mixture melts. • After melting I took out the bowl to let the mixture cool down, and consequently I started whisking the eggs in a large bowl. Unfortunately I do not have a mixer, so it took me a bit longer. • Then I slowly added the chocolate mixture to the eggs, while stirring, and did the same with the flour, cacao powder, baking soda, and salt. • After whisking away for a while, I poured the batter into the muffin pan, which I had previously greased with some coconut oil, and mixed in some of the coconut. • I baked mine for about 15 mins, and added some more coconut as a topping, before taking the brownies out of the oven after 18-20 mins total. Check out if they are ready (they should feel a bit dense when pressing on them) and let them cool down for a bit.

Enjoy! 

Lobi,

p.s. Please check out your local Asian supermarket for palm sugar! It is way cheaper than at the organic supermarket :)

Smoothie bowl 2 (recipe)

Hi guys! Today I have another smoothie bowl recipe for you :)

Smoothie ingredients: almond milk, banana, apple, wheatgrass powder, raw cacaopowder, frozen forest berries

Toppings: Banana slices, dried goji berries, chiaseed
Instructions: Blend, blend, blend. And decorate with toppings to your liking!

Fun, easy, healthy, ánd delicious! Enjoy!

Lobi,

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,