Publicerad 2012-09-30 21:36:18 i Dinners, Living life, Nutrition,
It was nice to go out walking on the beach. It was quite windy, but not so cold and we were walking for a good 30-40 minutes. I love living by the seaside, the air is so lovely to breathe.
When I came home I was rather tired, not quite sure why. I have eaten regularly today, could it possibly be the pasta, making my blood sugar drop a little too far? Anyway, made a very refreshing and healthy salad for dinner, with lots of goodness.
Quinoa, mango, cucumber, spinach and ham. The only thing on this plate that isn't very good is the ham (
processed, and full of additives). Quinoa is a great food, high in protein and with a
very low glycemic index,
spinach is just packed with iron which helps bringing oxygen to the body, flavonoids which are anti-flammatory and decrease the risk of cancer immensly. It is also rich in vitamin K, important for keeping strong bones. And
mango, I absolutely love mango.
It is such a good fruit in so many ways. It protects you from most forms of cancer, help you maintain a healthy skin, healthy eyes and healthy mucus membranes (vitamin A). The potassium in mangos help keeping a good blood-pressure and heart rate, and also helps fight depression. Read more
here.
Sort of a super salad, don't you think ;-)
Publicerad 2012-09-30 15:03:00 i Dinners, GI recipes, Lunches,
A very yummy, italian inspired lunch today. Easy to make too, and very satisfying!
Pesto Chicken and Tomato whole grain spaghetti for two:
- 2 chicken breasts, skinless and boneless
- 2 tbsp pesto
- 4 thin slices of cheese
- pasta for two, count a little less than usual to keep carbs down
- 4 small tomatoes
- ½ white onion
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp pesto
- salt and pepper
Put the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Cover the chicken in pesto, put some cheese on top and place in an oven safe tray. Cook in the oven for about 20-25 minutes.
Make the tomato sauce. Just cut everything up into small pieces and add together in a saucepan. Cook on low heat for 20 minutes. Cook the pasta according to the packet, and mix with the tomato sauce when ready. Like I said, really, really yummy!
Now I'm about to go to the beach with a couple of friends for a long walk. See you later :-)
Publicerad 2012-09-30 13:25:07 i Inspiration, Mind and body,
And remeber to spread the love <3
Publicerad 2012-09-29 21:12:00 i Baking, GI recipes,
It may not look like much to the world, but gosh was this nice! This just proves that a ton of butter and sugar is not needed to make things taste nice, only a little bit is enough :-)
Nutty apple crumble for two:
- 2 large apples
- ½ deciliter hazelnuts
- ½ deciliter cashew nuts
- 1 tbsp grated coconut
- 1 tbsp rye flour
- ½ deciliter oats
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp agave nectar
- cinnamon and cardamom
Peel and cut up the apples, and place them in a buttered, oven safe tray. Put a little bit of water in with them. Mix together the other ingredients in a food processor until it is like a paste. Put on top of apples. Put in the oven at 175 degrees for 20 minutes (I did it slightly too hot, hence the dark colour, haha!). Serve with whipped cream, or quark if you prefer for a bit more protein and less fat. We had it plain.
This was just delicious! Great for a Saturday evening treat.
Now my friends, I'm going to place myself on the sofa, with a cup of herbal tea and my new book: Fifty Shades of Grey!
Publicerad 2012-09-29 19:32:19 i Dinners, GI recipes,
A little whiff of France influenced my cooking of tonight's dinner. It was really nice, and a very GI friendly recipe, majorly inspired by Ola Lauritzon's cook book "100 Snabba GI Rätter på 30 min". As usual, though, I made my own little style of it.
Pork chops with French vegetables for two:
- 2 pork chops
- your favourite vegetables (I used zucchini, red pepper, mushrooms, onion and garlic)
- sugarsnaps
- terragon
- lemon juice
- salt and pepper
I started off by chopping the vegetables, then frying the pork chops in a little bit of olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper. When they were done, I took them off, putting the vegetables in the frying pan and seasoning with dried terragon and lemon juice for that French feeling. I cooked the vegetables until soft, boiled a few sugarsnaps for a minute, and served it with some fresh tomatoes and a little bit of apple sauce on the pork. A really nice dinner!
In a little while I'm going to try making an apple crumble, but a healthier one. It is Saturday after all ;-)
Publicerad 2012-09-29 17:48:14 i Inspiration, Mind and body, Wellness and health,
We have all gone through, or, are going through periods in our lives when we want to change something about ourselves. Whether it be quit smoking, stop biting our nails, shop less clothes, lose weight, exercise more, be less shy, etc. etc. The list can grow long.
If you find yourself wanting a change, but it just doesn't seem to happen, it is easy to say "I can't do it/ it doesn't work for me/ I've tried everything". If that is the case, then I say:
- you CAN do it
- it DOES work for you
- you HAVEN'T tried everything
Making a real change in your life means taking a step into the unknown. Taking this step makes a lot of people scared. They fear they will fail, they fear the change will be too hard. Finding the courage and determination is what stops most peope from changing their habits.
Because habits are what make us feel safe, no matter if the habits are destructive or constructive. To break a destructive habit, means you have to review your perception of what bringsyou comfort, benefits and happiness. You need to recognize that there is a problem, reflect on it and think of what advantages (and disadvantages) making a change would do to your life. Without these "realisations", as I would call it, I'm afraid you won't be able to go further than "wanting to change".
The will to change has to come from within yourself, noone else can make the change for you. If you find this inner motivation, you are already one big step towards the life you want.
I have just finished my functional training workout, and confirmed that working out in the late afternoon/evening is the best time for me. I have a lot more energy and power and can make much moe effort in my exercise. About to jump in the shower, then it's getting close to preparing dinner...
Publicerad 2012-09-29 14:56:00 i Living life,
Just to make it easier for people who use bloglovin to follow my blog. Here you go:
Publicerad 2012-09-28 21:05:00 i Dinners, Nutrition,
Yes, tonight's dinner was brought to us by
Take Naka, the best sushi bar in town! Sushi is probably one of our
favourite dishes, and despite the white rice, it's quite
healthy too, with all the
fish and the ginger. We all know that ginger is good for you, but did you know that it is for example a very
effective treatment against stomach ache and nausea. It is also
anti-inflammatory and thus helps against colds, and studies have shown that it may
help athritis patients - reducing the pain. Furthermore, it boosts the
immune system and may protect against colorectal cancer. Read more
here.
Publicerad 2012-09-28 18:10:20 i Living life, Things that make me happy,
We went to town today after I had finished my studies for the day and found a cute little measurement cup that can be useful, as I use a lot of recipes found on American/British webpages. I'm definately going to be using this a lot!
I hope you all have had a nice Friday so far, I definately have, and looking forward to have a cozy night in. Will post again a little later, so see you later alligator ;-)
Publicerad 2012-09-27 23:07:25 i Inspiration, Living life,
Just wanted to pop by before bedtime and share how grateful and happy I am at the moment. I'm so blessed to have lovely people around me, to have a job that I enjoy and a good education. Tomorrow I have studies planned through the day, but then I'm going to go on to the weekend with a nice date "in" with Chris.
And remember, only you can make the changes in your life that need to be done, but you can always seek support in others. Sleep tight everyone <3
Publicerad 2012-09-27 11:51:00 i Living life,
At work today, brushing up on my motivational interviewing skills and preparing for a couple of meetings I have scheduled this afternoon. Was kept awake last night by the neighbours, but I am looking forward to tonight. We are going over to a couple of friends for dinner and planning about something quite exciting.
Stay tuned :-)
Publicerad 2012-09-26 20:07:33 i Dinners,
Chris had brought home a nice piece of beef filet, and today we decided to use it for dinner. We made it chinese style and served it with stir-fried vegetables and rice.
Chinese vegetables and beef with rice for two:
- 4 carrots
- 1 red or yellow pepper
- 3 medium sized fresh mushrooms
- ½ white onion
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 tablespoon of grated fresh ginger
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 deciliter oyster sauce
- 2 deciliters of water
- 1 tablespoon thai soy
- broccoli
- chili
- 400 grams of beef
- 2 portions of rice
Seal the meat by quickly frying it on all sides in a frying pan. Then put it in the oven at 200 degrees Celcius for about 20-30 minutes (depending how you want it). Put the rice on (follow instructions on packet). Cut all vegetables and grate the garlic and ginger. Add it all to the frying pan you used for the meat with some sesame oil. Add oyster sauce, soy and water. Let it simmer until the meat is ready, taste to see if you want to add some salt or black pepper. Plate it up and enjoy!
This was really tasty and spicy, and the meat was really tender and nice (my Chris is the best at cooking meat ;-)). The dish contain ginger and garlic which both boost your metabolism, while red pepper, broccoli and carrots contain lots of good for vitamins and minerals. Couldn't ask for more, could you?
Publicerad 2012-09-26 17:31:00 i Inspiration, Living life,
We were going to go for a bike ride today, but it has been pouring it down with rain since noon and it doesn't seem to want to stop. I took the opportunity to do some tidying and cleaning (the bathtub is now shiny shiny!).
For the rest of the day I'm just going to allow myself to relax and get mentally ready for work tomorrow, I have a couple of meetings to look forward to, and the kids always bring me so much energy. I love working at a school!
Tonight I'll post a really nice and spicy recipe ;-)
Publicerad 2012-09-26 12:51:00 i Baking, GI recipes, Snacks, Things that make me happy,
I had invited a friend over for coffee this morning, as mentioned in the post below, and wanted to bake something nice to serve with it, but still something that was healthy. I saw
this recipe and thought it would be a good idea to do something similar. My recipe turned out to be more like muffins, and I decided to go with a more "cake" like topping of whipped cream (20%).
Banana muffins (makes about 6 muffins):
- 1 deciliter oats
- ½ deciliter dinkel flour
- ½ deciliter rye flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 egg
- 1½ banana
- 1 tablespoon agave nectar
- 1 small pinch of salt
- 1 tablespoon Kesella (quark)
Put the oven at 175 degrees Celsius. Mix everything together with a rod mixer and portion in an oiled muffintray. Bake in the oven for approximately 20-25 minutes.
This was so quick and easy to make, and at the same time not too bad for you. Using agave nectar instead of sugar and using oats, dinkel and rye instead of wheat flour keeps the blood sugar level more steady. Bananas are great for sweetness too. Quark instead of butter takes fat content down alot and still provides nice moisture to the cake.
Each muffin contain approximately 120 calories :-)
Publicerad 2012-09-26 09:35:28 i Breakfasts,
Small things like serving your yoghurt in a martini glass, can make things feel so much more luxurious. I wasn't very hungry this morning when we got up, so I only had a small breakfast. A friend is coming over soon, and I'm going to bake some bananabread for us to have as a midmorning snack with our coffee. Hope you all have made time for breakfast this morning, it is after all the most important meal of the day! ;-)
Publicerad 2012-09-25 21:21:00 i Dinners, GI recipes, Nutrition,
Tonight my fiancé prepared dinner while I was out singing, and we had roasted beet root with chicken. I have only used beet root like this for about 2 years, and I must say I can't believe I haven't had it before that! It's really nice both boiled and roasted and goes so well with chicken, pork or beef.
Did you know that beet root
helps oxygenate the cells in your body,
stimulating the immune defense and keeping your muscles, heart and nervous system in good condition. It is also a
detoxicating vegetable, helping the body to rid itself of toxins. Read more facts
here.
Beet root and chicken for two:
- 2 skin free, bone free chicken breasts
- 12 small baby beet root
- mixed lettuce
- half a can of sweet corn
- 40 grams of low fat feta cheese (10%)
- olive oil
Clean and cut the roots and tops off the beet root, toss in olive oil, salt and pepper. Put in oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 40 minutes. Drizzle a litle bit of olive oil over the chicken breasts, salt and pepper and let them join the beet root in the oven for another 25 minutes or so. Serve with a salad of lettuce, sweet corn and feta cheese. The sweetness with the beet root and sweet corn goes so well with the salty chicken and feta cheese, omnomnom!
Publicerad 2012-09-25 16:30:24 i Living life, Workout,
I have just finished a
pilates workout, had a
shower and a snack consisting of a
muffin with a bit of peanut butter and a buck load of water. Just sitting down with a cup of coffee, letting my body relax before
I'm off out on the bike to go singing. It's been a cozy Tuesday indoors, but that's okay too :-)
When I'm back home tonight, I'll share a great recipe, so keep an eye out!
Publicerad 2012-09-25 11:01:43 i Breakfasts,
Both me and my fiancé love eating pancakes for breakfast, but since they're not the most GI friendly of breakfasts I try not to make them too often. This morning however, we really fancied some. I made a few changes to the recipe, both to cut down on white flour, sugar and fats.
Pancakes for two (ca 12 pancakes):
- 1 3/4 deciliters whole grain dinkel flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 tablespoon stevia lightsugar
- 1 egg
- 1 3/4 deciliters of milk (semi-skimmed)
- 1 tablespoon Kesella (quark)
Mix the dry ingredients together, then add milk and stir. Add Kesella (quark) and the egg and mix into a smooth mixture. Fry with a little bit of butter on a medium hot frying pan. Turn them over when they start to "bubble", approximately 1½ minute on each side.
This batch made 12 pancakes, so 6 each. I served it with fresh strawberries (still picking them from my garden!) and banana, but any fresh berries and fruits will go well with it. One serving will provide approximately 350-400 calories. Good start of the day!
Publicerad 2012-09-24 19:53:00 i Living life,
This afternoon we cycled down to the beach. It was a good hours bike-ride and gave us plenty of fresh air. Love being outdoors!
Now me and my fiancé are gonna snuggle up on the sofa and watch a few episodes of Lost before bedtime. Hope you all have a nice evening!
Publicerad 2012-09-24 18:11:19 i Dinners, GI recipes, Lunches,
Autumn and winter is the perfect season for root-vegetables, and honestly, you can't but love these flavoursome and healthy foods! I love making soup on them, which I did for lunch earlier.
It is as simple as anything!
Warming root vegetable soup for four:
- 1 small yellow turnip
- 4 carrots
- 2 big parsnips
- 1 yellow onion
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 200 grams of white cabbage
- 1½ tablespoon tomato purée
- 2 vegetable stock cubes
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1½ liter water
Dice or grate all vegetables (I use a food processor for this), and put in a big pan with a little bit of olive oil. Let it heat up and add water, tomato purée, stock, thyme and let it boil for approximately 20 minutes. Taste it and add salt and black pepper as desired. Serve with a slice of unsweetened whole grain bread with a source of protein on it, I used a boiled egg.
This recipe is so easy to do, and also to modify as you wish. I quite often add minced meat (pork or beef) to it, with the water. White beans or soy beans are nice in it too. The vegetables will definately help you fight those nasty autumn colds!
Hope you enjoy :-)
Publicerad 2012-09-24 11:21:57 i Living life,
Had to get up early this morning and cycle to a meeting. Monday = back to business! I don't mind, the weather is glorious today, unfortunately I have planned to stay indoors and do some studying this afternoon. A little later on I'm planning to go for a really long walk, before the sun goes down. I will take the camera with me!
The mornings are actually getting really chilly now, so I had to put on my beanie! In a way I like it, I think it makes me look cute ;-)
Later I will bring you a recipe for my favourite soupfor this fine autumn day, but until then I have some work to do!
Publicerad 2012-09-23 19:44:06 i Dinners,
My lovely Sunday "hanging around the house" outfit. Leggings and a comfy top. It is a little chilly though, I hope the landlord will turn the heating on soon! I just had a really nice salad for dinner, as I'm home alone tonight.
I made it with lettuce, cucumber, peppers, tomatoes, celery and topped it with parmaham, mozzarella and blasamic vinegar. Absolutely lovely! Now I'm going to warm up with a nice cup of Indian Spiced tea...
Publicerad 2012-09-23 16:13:42 i GI recipes, Snacks,
Yay, here comes the recipe for the muffins we had for our breakfast this morning!
These are yummy, low-calorie, sort of savory/sweet muffins that work as breakfast bread as well as a snack with your afternoon coffee/tea. I found the recipe at pinterest, made a few little changes and voila!
Oatmeal and appelsauce muffins:
- 2,5 deciliters of oats
- 0,5 deciliter brown sugar
- 0,5 deciliter stevia lightsugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2,5 deciliters whole grain flour (I used dinkel flour)
- 1 deciliter unsweetened appelsauce (I used home-made)
- 2,5 deciliters semi-skimmed milk (1,5% fat)
- 2 eggwhites
- sugar and cinnamon to go on top (optional)
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Spray muffin pan with cooking spray (<- DO this, I used paper as you can see on the picture, and the muffins are really stuck to it).Combine the oats with the applesauce and egg whites, and mix until combined. In a separate bowl, whisk dry ingredients (except the cinnamon and sugar) together. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until just combined. Add nuts or raisins if desired.
Do not over mix the batter or the muffins will be tough. Spoon muffin mixture into muffin pan.
Combine the cinnamon and sugar and top each muffin with some of the mixture. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until done. These can also be frozen and reheated in the microwave for a quick breakfast.
Each muffin contain approximately 80-90 calories.
Publicerad 2012-09-23 13:56:00 i GI recipes, Lunches,
Wow. I must say that today's lunch was something very enjoyable, filling, and still very healthy! I found the recipe in a swedish health magazine. I am a confessed GI eating junkie, it just makes so much sense to me. This wrap contains lots and lots of good stuff. You just have to try it out!
Indian style wraps for four:
- 500 grams of protein of your choice (I chose cured ham this time, I'm sure it's lovely with chicken)
- 1 can of rinsed chickpeas
- 1 apple
- 1 white onion
- 2 carrots
- yellow curry
- cumin
- chilipepper
- 4 deciliters of water
- leaves of rocket and spinach
- turkish yoghurt
- wholegrain torilla wraps
Chop the onion and dice the apple. Fry the apple and onion with the meat in a little bit of sunseed oil. Add chickpeas and grated carrot. Add the spices and water and let it simmer for about 20 mins.
Spread a little yoghurt on each tortilla, add the mix and top it off with fresh leaves of rocket and spinach. Loooovely!
Publicerad 2012-09-23 12:04:15 i Inspiration, Workout,
I haven't been out for a run for a week, because my lower back has been playing up, aching when I bend forward. I have spent some time on my bike instead during the week, but today I went out for a jog again. It felt soooo good. I was a happy bunny when I came back home! Running is just such a kick, and it releases so many endorfines, you just can't feel anything but happy afterwards ;)
Publicerad 2012-09-23 10:22:00 i Breakfasts,
Sunday already! Saturday flew past in a hurry, but I had a good day, seeing both sides of my family and making a few finds at Amnesty's flea market. Both Friday and Saturday came with a few just a little (read very much) too many treats, so my stomach wasn't very pleased with me last night.
Decided to give myself a tasty, but stomach friendly breakfast this Sunday morning, which also provides no more than 350 calories in total.
I had mild natural yoghurt with a little unsweetened müsli and frozen berries on top. A quarter of a fresh pineapple, and a homemade applesauce and oatmeal muffin. I will bring you the recipe for that a little later on!
This breakfast provides you with C-vitamins and antioxidants, a good source of fibers in the müsli and muffin, and a nice bit of protein and calcium with the yoghurt.
Publicerad 2012-09-22 00:39:00 i Dinners,
So it's finally Friday! It has been a good week with university work mixed with working at my school. Now I have a nice Saturday and Sunday to look forward to, and hopefully give this blog a little life!
To celebrate the weekend I start with sharing my very first recipe on this blog! (shh, it's not really "mine" as it was my fiancé who cooked this).
Entrecôte for two:
- 2 pieces of entrecôte (200 grams each)
- ½ a white onion
- 100 grams of fresh mushrooms
- 2 medium sized potatoes
- 1 glass of red wine
- ½ deciliter of cooking cream
- balsamic vinegar
- thyme
- Vegetables of your choice
Dice the potatoes into little pieces and boil them to almost ready, take them off the stove. Fry the mushrooms and chopped onion with a little dash of olive oil. Take it off the frying pan and put on a plate. Now sautée the potatoes with a little olive oil, not too much. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and thyme. Plate. Fry the pieces of entrecôte until they are the way you prefer them, take them off and let them rest on the plate. Now pour some wine into the hot frying pan to draw the flavour from the meat out (or a small amount of good quality stock), add cream. Let it simmer together for a short while, add salt and pepper, thyme, maybe a dash of balsamic vinegar. Add the mushrooms. Pour over the steak. Serve with a fresh salad.
Despite most of this dish being cooked in the frying pan, the fat use is kept at minimum, and having only 1 potato as a carb source is enough. Fill yourself up with a fresh salad, the meat with keep you full for long.
Enjoy!
Publicerad 2012-09-22 00:10:57 i About me,
