Author: myhealthierliving

Chocolate and spiced granola

Juhuuu, it is granola time again! I love love love this crunchy goodness for breakfast or as a snack. Every few weeks I make a new batch and I always try to variate with ingredients. My last two batches were made with nut butter and mashed banana as a base. The first version included spices and cacao and the second one without any cacao but with a lot more spices instead. For the spicy version I have been using Pernzey Spices Baking spice mix, I brought from Pittsburgh. It is a delicious mix perfect also for oat meal or banana bread. Yumm!

Here are the recipes:

Two types of granola
Author: Kristina
Ingredients
  • For the chocolate granola:
  • 1 medium banana
  • 30g peanut butter
  • 20g grated coconut
  • 50g chopped brasil nuts
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil
  • 1 cup buckwheat groats
  • 1 1/2 cup oat flakes
  • 2 tsp cacao powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla powder
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • For the spiced granola:
  • 1 medium banana
  • 60g cashew butter
  • 20g grated coconut
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil
  • 1 cup buckwheat groats
  • 1 1/2 cup oat flakes
  • 1 1/2 tsp Penzey Spices Baking spice mix (mix of ceylon cinnamon, china cassia cinnamon, anise seeds, allspice, mace and cardamom)
  • 1 tsp vanilla powder
Instructions
  1. Mash banana mix with nut butter, coconut oil and spices.
  2. Mix the banana mixture together with remaining ingredients.
  3. Bake for about 20-30 minutes at 180C, turning from time to time.
  4. Enjoy with every kind of milk, yoghurt or just as a crunchy topping on fruit salad.

 

0

Carrot, zucchini fritters with quinoa

Fritters, fritters, fritters! I am going crazy for every kind of fritters. There are endless recipes for making this yummyness. This time I tried to make some carrot,zucchini fritters with quinoa and almond meal. It turned out delicious, carrots do not cook as quickly as zucchini, therefore you still have a nice carrot crunch. Don’t get scared about a quite dry mixture, you just need to mix everything with your hands, so the moisture from zucchini will come out. I always avoid squeezing out zucchini juices before using it and waisting the nutritious juices.

 

Carrot, zucchini fritters with quinoa
Author: Kristina
Ingredients
  • 300g of carrot
  • 150g of zucchini
  • 30g of almond meal
  • 1 1/2 tbsp of arrowroot or tapioca flour
  • 60g quinoa
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp of Penzeys Rocky Mountain Seasoning (a mix of: bell peppers, Parmesan cheese, salt, sesame, poppy, shallots, arrowroot and white pepper)
Instructions
  1. Cook quinoa according to package instructions, set aside and let it cool down.
  2. Add quinoa, almond meal, arrowroot flour and eggs into the mixer and mix until it has smooth consistency.
  3. Add grated carrot and zucchini, mix until well combined (it might look as if you need more fluid, but it should be enough). Leave it for about 15 minutes and then form fritters with your hands.
  4. Heat some coconut oil in a pan and cook fritters on each side until golden brown.
  5. Enjoy with some sour cream, lemon peel and salmon or with a poached egg.
0

Wrap with three different fillings

Do you feel like having a wrap? Than this post is perfect for you. I am always on the lookout for quick and delicious lunch ideas. A homemade tortilla is not only made in a blink, but there are also endless meals you can make with it. I love to have it as a pizza base, for a savoury pizza or even a sweet breakfast pizza, topped with yoghurt, quark and some berries. It is also great for a veggie filled quesadilla, as a crunchy topping for a salad and of course for a wrap. You can fill a wrap will almost everything. Here I will show you three different ideas what to put into a wrap. For the recipe of a home made tortilla, click here.

For the pumpkin and chickpea filling:

150 g sliced pumpkin

100 g sliced carrot

100g cooked chickpeas

Few kale leaves

½ tsp Garam Masala spices

2 tsp olive oil

Some salt

 

Instructions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
  2. Mix garam masala spices with 1 tsp of olive oil and coat chickpeas with the mix.
  3. Coat sliced veggies with olive oil and some salt.
  4. Place vegetables together with chickpeas on the baking tray and bake until nicely browned, for about 30 minutes.
  5. Few minutes before veggies are ready, put the kale into the oven.
  6. When everything is cooked, mix vegetables, chickpeas and kale together and serve in a tortilla with some yoghurt.

 

For the red beet, feta and walnut filling:

150g red beet

Hand full of rocket salad

1/3 cup walnuts

50g feta cheese

1 tsp olive oil

1 tsp apple wine vinegar

 

Instructions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
  2. Coat sliced red beet with olive oil and some salt and bake on a baking tray until soft, for about 30 minutes.
  3. Mix baked red beet with remaining ingredients and fill into tortilla.

 

For the fresh vegetable filling:

1 tbsp satay sauce (you can find the recipe for the satay sauce on IQS website)

Hand full of spinach

150g cucumber

50g avocado

1 small red onion

 

Instructions:

  1. Spread the satay sauce on the tortilla.
  2. Slice all veggies, mix together and fill into the tortilla.

 

0

Fruity breakfast pizza

Breakfast pizza? Why not! You need just few ingredients for a quick, delicious and for sure healthy breakfast. Pizza and healthy, does this fit together? I can prove, it does. I make my breakfast pizza with a whole wheat tortilla baked in a pan without any fat at all. And as a topping I spread some quark on the base and sprinkle with fruits.  There are no limits for the choice of topping, you can take some nuts, seeds, if you need more sweetness you can add some rice syrup or even a little bit of melted dark chocolate, nut butter.

If you want to make your own tortilla, here you can find the recipe.

And now the recipe for the quickest pizza ever, I promise, it even beats the store bought pizza!

Fruity breakfast pizza
Author: Kristina
Ingredients
  • 2 tbsp quark
  • 1-2 cups fruits and berries
  • Few mint leaves
Instructions
  1. Spread quark on the tortilla.
  2. Put into the oven and bake for few minutes at 150 C, you just want it to be warm.
  3. Top with fruits and berries and serve with some mint leaves.
  4. If you wish you can put it into the oven for few more minutes with fruits on top, if you wish to have it warm.

 

0

Homemade tortilla

A homemade tortilla is really made in a blink, now I wonder why one would buy a it in a store. It is quickly prepared and costs almost nothing if you do it by yourself. I never thought about making my own wheat tortillas before, because I was convinced it is super difficult or better to say not doable at home at all.

It is really so simple to make homemade wheat tortillas, from just two ingredients. You can make tortilla with every kind of flour, I tried to use white flour some time ago. This time I took whole wheat flour and it worked just as well as with white flour. Next time I will give a go for a gluten free version, with buckwheat flour. We will see if it will work without having to add any wheat flour.

Here is what you need to make 6 tortillas:

Homemade tortilla
Author: Kristina
Ingredients
  • 250g whole wheat flour
  • 125ml water
  • Some salt
Instructions
  1. Put flour into the bowl and add gradually luke warm water (you might need more or less water, add water until you get a smooth dough consistency).
  2. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.
  3. Divide the dough into small balls and roll as flat as possible.
  4. Heat a coated pan under medium heat.
  5. Cook the wrap in the pan until it forms bubbles, leave it for few seconds and then flip.
  6. Keep it warm between two towels.
  7. These goodies are also great to freeze.

 

2

Sugar free breakfast topping

For me an ideal breakfast meal has to be either really quickly made in the morning or can be made in advance. And of course it has to be sugar free 🙂 Almost every morning I am having a quick workout before work, therefore quick breakfast is essential. To start the day with a lot of energy I need my morning workout as much as a nutritious breakfast.

Nothing can beat yoghurt with delicious topping on early morning. As I love to have many different super seeds and other delicious ingredients in my yoghurt I decided to mix all my favourite ingredients into one beautiful yoghurt topping. To avoid mixing it up every single morning again and again.

Here is how I do my topping:

Breakfast topping
Author: Kristina
Ingredients
  • 100g almonds chopped (I used
  • 40g chia seeds
  • 40g ground line seeds
  • 40g hemp seeds
  • 40 g cacao nibs
  • 15g maca powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla powder
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 180C and roast almonds together with hemp seeds until it has a nice brown color.
  2. Let it completely cool down and mix with other ingredient.
  3. Mix thoroughly and enjoy with some yoghurt!
3

Sugar free coconut cookies

Here is another sugar free cookie recipe, I have created inspired by many different cookie recipes. I made these sugar free by substituting the sugar with rice syrup and adding some other ingredients to get the right consistency.

 

Sugar free coconut cookies
Author: Kristina
Ingredients
  • For the batter:
  • 100 g grated coconut
  • 150 g all purpose flour
  • 0,5 tsp backing powder
  • 70 g butter
  • 40 g coconut oil
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 70 g rice syrup
  • pinch of anise
  • pinch of cinnamon
  • pinch of cardamom
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla powder[br]
  • For the frosting:
  • 4 tbsp coconut paste
  • 2 tbsp coconut milk
  • 1 tbsp rice syrup
  • Natural coloring (I used red beet coloring)[br]
  • For the coconut topping:
  • 3 tbsp grated coconut
  • Natural coloring
Instructions
  1. Place grated coconut in a food processor and pulse until it has flour consistency.
  2. Add the remaining batter ingredients and pulse until all ingredients are thoroughly mixed.
  3. Place in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
  4. Preheat oven to 180°C.
  5. Put some flour on the dough and roll until 4mm thick.
  6. Cut into shapes with a cookie cutter and bake for 7 minutes or until lightly browned.
  7. Let the cookies completely cool down and meanwhile prepare the coconut frosting.
  8. Combine all frosting ingredients and mix until smooth.
  9. Decorate the cookies with help of the piping bag and sprinkle the coconut topping (grated coconut mixed with coloring).

Enjoy!

0

Sugar free cookies

I am a huge cookie fan, especially in the Christmas time. There is Kristina’s bakery open at least for few week, before Christmas. This is how I get into the festive mood. With cookies in the oven and the Christmas music running in the kitchen. I usually bake cookies loaded with huge amounts of sugar. But this year I decided to give sugar free cookies a try.

I found two amazing sugar free cookie recipes on I Quit Sugar website. I first tried to bake Gingerbread cookies, these are not only sugar free, but also gluten free! I topped it with some creamed coconut, rice syrup mix and ground pistachios. You can find the recipe here:

I Quit Sugar Gingerbread Christmas Cookies

Furthermore, I tried the Sugar free Christmas Cake recipe, I found in the I Quit Sugar Simplicious book. As I wanted to make something  I can give away as a Christmas gift, I changed the appearance of this cake a little bit. I baked it in a cone baking dish and created tiny Christmas cakes topped with 99% chocolate and some pistachios.

The recipe you can find here:

Sugar Free Christmas Cake

These recipes are great not only for the Christmas time. I am sure you have some sweet tooth for cookies all year round. You just need to change the shape of these beauties and you have a yummy birthday gift or just something as a weekend treat.

Happy Christmas everyone!

0

‘I QUIT SUGAR’ JOURNEY

As you might already know, I was following the 8 week ‘I quit sugar program’. Maybe you would think I am crazy and would ask yourself how the hell can you quit sugar. But as crazy as I am, I thought I would give it a try. Before I started this program, I was sure I am not sugar addicted, because I was eating products with sugar pretty seldom. However I had to learn that sugar is almost everywhere and I was consuming a lot more of it than I thought. For my breakfast I always used dates, maple syrup or many fruits, as I loved to have that sweetness in the morning. And I have to admit, nonetheless I thought I am living sugar free 🙂

In my case, the ‘I quit sugar’ journey could be divided into three phases.

  1. Happy about being sugar free: this phase took about few weeks. I saw sugar everywhere, but I was so excited about the sugar free journey that I didn’t want anything sweet at all. The excitement about all new recipes was way more bigger than the sweetness cravings. The different I quit sugar tips and recipes helped to deceive the sweet tooth and to add the sweetness into meals by using spices or various vegetables. In these first weeks I also got used to eating only three meals and avoiding snacking.
  2. Doubts about being able to stay sugar free forever: this period was the toughest for me. We got many advices how to avoid cravings and what to snack. But my concerns were more about the future. I started to question the effectiveness of this program. In my mind I was only thinking about all that sweet stuff I used to love and that if I quit sugar I won’t be able to eat it anymore, never ever. I had fears about binging on sweets after the end of the program. Nonetheless I promised to myself not to give up and keep going.
  3. Balance is everything: in the last weeks of this program, I have learned that I don’t  have to waive all my favourite meals even if I want to keep going with sugar free lifestyle. It is all about the balance, if you really want something, then eat it and enjoy it.

After the program I had indulged on sweet stuff a little bit as I somehow thought I really need it. But at the same time I realised that it didn’t taste as good as I had in my mind. And also I had to admit to myself that my body didn’t feel too good about it. What I am mostly proud of, is that I was eating the sweets not because my body was screaming for sugar, but because I wanted that ice cream or a piece of cake. After that one piece my sweet tooth was more than satisfied, it didn’t demand for more.

All in all I am very happy about this sugar free experience. Every single week I was waiting for the new meal plan like a little child. Thursday was my favourite day, because it was the day of new meal plan release. I loved to start planning the meals for the next week. I learned so many new recipes and ways of cooking. Not to forget the tips how not to waste the food. You might know that I am passionate about using leftovers in my kitchen. I quit sugar taught me even more ways how to use leftovers and how to store the food, to minimise the food waste.

I definitely recommend everyone to try the ‘I quit sugar program’, it will open your eyes and change your mind about the food!

Here are some meal pictures I made during this 8 week program.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

0

SPICED, SUGAR FREE COCONUT PORRIDGE

Recently I am totally in love with spiced porridge for breakfast. As I am on I quit sugar program for the 6th week, I have learned through the time, that there are many other ways to add taste and sweetness to your meals than putting sugar in. I am a big porridge lover, even in Summer, usually with some berries on the top. During I quit sugar program you are not allowed to eat anything with added sugar or even fruit, as it contains fructose, for 4 weeks. It was therefore a big challenge for me to somehow make my porridge taste yummy, without adding fruits or dates, for sweetness.

With help of different great tips during this program, I worked out a super tasty porridge recipe without any sugar added. For sweetness I just added different spices and some coconut. You wouldn’t believe, but it indeed gave enough sweetness, you won’t miss the sweetness in this recipe at all. Your sense of taste will be busy with all the spiciness.

And here is the recipe:

 

SPICED, SUGAR FREE COCONUT PORRIDGE
Author: Kristina
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Spicy, sugar free porridge with coconut and spices.
Ingredients
  • 1 cup oats
  • 20 g shredded coconut or coconut flakes
  • 1 cup hazelnut milk (or any other milk)
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp cardamom
  • 1/4 all spices
  • 1tsp flax seeds
Instructions
  1. Combine oats with with 1 cup water, hazelnut milk, coconut and spices.
  2. Bring it to the boil, reduce the heat to very low and cook for about 10 minutes or until oats are ready.
  3. Serve with some more milk, yoghurt, lemon juice, shredded coconut, flax seeds or berries if you wish.

 

0

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑