healthy food Tips and recipes

for simple and quick home cooking

banana bread

My go-to baking treat during lockdown days! Banana bread is great as a snack, but also delicious as breakfast with some kwark or yoghurt and fresh fruits.

Serves: approx. 8 slices | Prep. time: 15 mins | Cooking time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

• ⅓ cup melted coconut oil or extra-virgin olive oil

• ½ cup honey or maple syrup

• 2 eggs

• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 large bananas)

• ¼ cup of plantbased milk (rice milk or oat milk will do well)

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus more to swirl on top

• 1 ¾ cups whole wheat flour (or oat flower, if glutenfree)

• Optional: ½ cup mix-ins like chopped walnuts or pecans, chocolate chips, raisins, chopped dried fruit, fresh banana slices…note that any other fresh fruits like berries or apple will make the cake tasty but very ‘wet’)

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 165 degrees Celsius and grease a 9×5-inch cake tin or cover with baking paper

• In a large bowl, beat the oil and honey together with a whisk. Add the eggs and beat well, then whisk in the mashed bananas and milk

• Add the baking soda, vanilla, salt and cinnamon, and whisk. Lastly, with a big spoon stir in the flour, until combined. If you’re adding any additional mix-ins, gently fold them in now

• Pour the batter into your cake tin and sprinkle lightly with cinnamon

• Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the bread cool for at least 30 minutes, before eating so it can dry and solidify. Enjoy!

Bliss Balls

These bliss balls are a powerhouse of nutrients, healthy fats, protein and a natural source of sugar. Great to-go snack to have readily available in your fridge!

Serves: approx. 25 balls | Prep. time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• Big bag of dates (without seed)

• Handful of grated coconut

• 5 table spoons rolled oats

• Handful of nuts (of choice)

• Handful of seeds (of choice)

• 2 table spoons peanut or nut butter (or tahini)

• 2 table spoons of cacao nibs

• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon

• 2 table spoons of coconut oil, fluid

• Water (only if it ends up too dry)

• You could any other super food you love, like goji berries, matcha
  powder, maca powder, chia, mulberries, etc. You just always want to have oats and dates as your base.

Instructions:

• Add all ingredients (yes, ALL) into a food processor (don’t try it with a blender, won’t work) and mix till it’s a sticky smooth mixture, but still solid enough to rolls balls from

• If the mixture turns out too dry, you can add more water or coconut oil. If it’s too smooth, add more oats

• Divide the ‘dough’ into small 4/5cm pieces and roll balls from each

• If you like, you can roll the balls through some grated coconut to give them a cute white cover, or matcha powder if green is your favourite color!

Done! You can keep them in the fridge for quite a few days. Enjoy!

pumpkin tahini smoothie bowl with pan-fried granola

If you have been following me for a while on Instragram, then you probably know that I love to use veggies in my breakfasts! Today I made a delicious smoothie bowl with pumpkin and home made pan-fried granola.

Serves: 2 | Prep. time: 15 minutes (+ cooking time for the pumpkin)

Ingredients for the granola:

• 1/2 cup of rolled oats

• table spoon sunflower seeds

• table spoon pumpkin seeds

• table spoon chia seeds

• 1/2 cup of cooked or puffed quinoa

• tea spoon all spice powder (or if you can’t find this, a mixture of cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and cloves will do too)

• table spoon maple syrup

Ingredients for the smoothie:

• cup of boiled pumpkin or squash

• 2 ripe bananas

• table spoon of chia seeds

• table spoon of flax seeds

• table spoon tahini

• cup of coconut yoghurt (or use a plant based milk of your choice)

• pinch of cinnamon

Instructions:

Start with the granola. Take a frying pan on high heat without oil or butter, until it’s hot. Add in all the dry ingredients for the granola (so not the maple syrup). Roast for 3 to 4 minutes until the mixture starts to turn brown and crispy. Add in the maple syrup (you can add more if you like it sweeter) and fry for another 1 or 2 minutes. Take off the stove and let cool down.

For the smoothie, chop the bananas and pumpkin in large pieces. Add all ingredients into a large blender and mix it all up until nice and smooth. Divide over 2 bowls, sprinkle the granola on top and add any of your favourite fruits or toppings.

Tip: you can store the granola for up to 2 weeks if you keep it in a closed container or jar in a dry place!

Very Berry Protein Smoothie

Whenever you feel like you need an extra protein boost or if you’ve had a heavy sesh in the gym, you will love this recipe for an easy and quick protein smoothie, packed with protein, healthy fats and other nutrients.

Serves 1 | Prep time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 banana

• Handful of blueberries (fresh or frozen)

• Half a beetroot (raw)

• Handful of spinach leaves

• Tbsp of protein powder (your choice, but I use plant based Rice powder from Pulsin)

• Cup of plant based milk (I use rice milk, but almond, cashew, oat or coconut can work great as well)

• Tbsp of coconut oil

• Half a tbsp of chia seeds

Instructions:

• Add all the above ingredients into a blender and mix until smooth

• Yup, that was really all ;-)

Tip: this smoothie is also delicious without the protein powder as a super nutritious breakfast shake!

Enjoy!