Dinner Idea 2

I had the last bunch of spinach at home and wanted to cook them in a creative way, so this casserole dish was born. It's a complete dish because it provides carbs from the potatoes, proteins from the besciamella sauce and vitamins from the spinach.

All I did was chop the peeled potatoes and steam them just enough to be able to poke them with a knife.
I then made the vegan besciamella sauce by mixing a tablespoon of melted butter with unsweetened soy milk, some fleur (added to thinken the sauce)and nutmeg and salt and cooking it on the stove until thick and creamy.
I then added the potatoes, fresh spinach and besciamella to the casserole and baked in the oven at 180 C degrees for about 20 minutes.

 

I used 4 large potatoes, 500g of fresh spinach, and eyeballed the ingredients for the besciamella.

With very poor and simple ingredients I put together dinner for 4 people and everyone really enjoyed. :)

Recipe: Chocolate cake

 

This weekend was really stressful and the upcoming week is going to be as well, so I decided to treat myself to a healthy vegan chocolate cake.

It's such a simple cake, made of just 5 ingredients, and with such low caloric content per slice that's gonna energize you for the morning without making you feel sluggish and guilty.

 

 

Ingredients:

- 170g whole wheat fleur

- 130g brown sugar

- 50g unsweetened cacao

- 250ml oat milk

- 1 packet of yeast (16g more or less)



Preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius (350-360 faranheit).
Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix them well. Add the milk and stir well until it forms an homogeneous mixture. Put in a lined baking tray and cook in the oven for about 25 minutes.
Let cool and it's ready to eat!

It's perfect for a special afternoon tea or for an energizing morning breakfast or pre-workout snack!
My favourite is to dip the slice into a hot cappuccino and eat it with a side of fresh strawberries: DELICIOUS!

Recipe: Chili

After a few days of sunny weather, winter came back in full force so I craved a hardy warming dinner for the week.
So here's my healthy chili recipe. I suggest you make a whole batch because it's too delicious not to want some more!!

Ingredients (4 portions):
- 100g garbanzo beans (chickpeas) cooked
- 100g kidney beans cooked
- 100g red beans cooked
- 100g soy mince
- bottle of tomato passata (400ml)
- 2 bell peppers
- 4 large carrots
- 1 can of corn
- 1 cup of frozen peas
- 1 onion
- garlic (granules)
- paprika
- cumin
- chili powder
- salt
- sugar
- 1 tbs extra virgin olive oil

Cook your beans as usual (I used 40g of dried beans, but you can use 100g if canned or pre-cooked). But 1 tbs of olive oil into a tall pot and add the chopped onion, garlic and spices.
Stir and let cook for about 2 minutes, then add the beans and chopped veggies, the tomato passata, a bit of water and salt and sugar (it contrasts the acidity of the tomato).
Reduce to low heat and cook until the carrots and onions are ready, add the frozen peas and cook for 5 more minutes.

Serve with a side of toasted bread or oven baked chips and enjoy!

Eating Out 1

Yesterday night I went out to eat with my family and I decided to treat mysef to this amazing grilled fish with a side of grilled vegetables.

It was delicious, healthy and full of proteins and good fats from the fish and vitamines from the veggies.

As you can see you don't have to deprive yourself when you go out or even be afraid to be social just because of you life and food choices.

 

 

The message I want to pass you is that family is too important to miss such good moments together, and as an Italian woman a lot of family moments revolve around food.

 

So make smart choices and enjoy you time with the loved ones! :)



Dinner Idea 1

Sometimes when you get home at night you just want to lay on the couch and have someone feed you dinner.
For those days I have the perfect quick but tasty and healthy recipe.

All you need to do is cut some veggies into cubes and sauteé them in a pan with a little olive oil and water, then add the crumble tofu, tumeric powder, salt, pepper, chili and any other herb or spice of your choice. Stir in well and cook until ready, serve.

It's an easy digesting dinner that'll restore you with energy and won't bloat you. It provides you with proteins from the tofu and vitamins from the veggies.

 

I used 100 grams of plain tofu, one red bell pepper and 2 carrots, tumeric, chili powder, pepper, salt, extra virgin olive oil, oregano, paprika and garlic granules.

Snack 1

Here is one of my favourite snacks for when you crave something sweet and chocolaty but still healthy and guilt-free.


CHOCOLATE BANANA SMOOTHIE

You only need one ripe banana, 1 flat tablespoon of raw cacao powder, any plant milk of your choice(I suggest rice milk because it's naturally sweeter) and water.
Blend the banana, the cacao, half glass of milk and half of water for 30 seconds.

Such a quick yet satisfying snack perfect to calm your cravings!

Lunch Idea 4

Yesterday I was in a rush and had no time to think about what to cook for lunch but still wanted to be healthy and not to buy take out. So I decided to prepare this pasta dish and it turned out DELICIOUS!

I threw together some leftover smoked tofu, some broccoli I had already cooked two days before and some pasta: you have to try it!

All I did was to dice the tofu and sautee it in a non stick pan and when ready add the cooked broccoli chopped in bitesize pieces. Meanwhile I cooked the pasta, drained it and added it to the pan with 2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. I stirred it well to combine the flavours and served.

 

So simple yet so tasty and balanced bacause it provides you with carbs from the pasta, vitamins from the broccoli and protein from both the tofu and the broccoli!

I used 60 grams of whole wheat pasta, 100 grams of smoked tofu and about 1 full cup of broccoli.

Recipe: Lentil burger patties

Here's a quick recipe for some vegan lentil, mushroom and tomato burger patties.
I din't use any specific measurement so adjust to your taste and feel free to modify the recipe to your liking.

Ingredients:
- lentils
- carrots
- tomatoes
- sun dried tomatoes
- dried mushrooms
- vegan shredded cheese
- onion
- garlic
- paprika
- extra virgin olive oil
- salt
- pepper

Soak separately in water the sundried tomatoes ad the mushrooms. Cook your dry lentils in water with chopped carrots, onion and garlic, or use some canned ones or even use the leftovers ones if you have them. Add them to a bowl with the rest of the ingredients, just be careful to chop the fresh tomatoes and the dried mushrooms and tomatoes very finely. Stir well and with a stick blender blend a third to one half of the mixture and combine it all. Form some patties and bake at 180 C until crispy flipping halfway through the cooking process.

 

They're so tasty you can eat the on their own, even cold, or in a burger bun!

They freeze very well and they last up to 2 months, even though I challenge you not to eat them all immediately! ;)

Lunch Idea 3

This week I've been craving something nourishing and warming, so I decided to put an healthy twist on a naughty dish.

LUMACONI WITH RICOTTA AND SPINACH

All you need to do is preheat your oven at 200 degrees Celsius and boil a pot of water. Cook as much spinach as you desire in a pan until wilted and pretty dry and add it into a bowl with ricotta, extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic in granules and powder vegetable stock and mix until well combined. Meanwhile put the lumaconi pasta in the boiling water and cook until al dente according to the directions on the package (for me it was 17 minutes).
Put a layer of besciamella of the bottom of your casserole and start stuffin the pasta with the ricotta and spinach filling and putting it in the casserole. Cover with one last layer of besciamella and put in the over for 20 minutes changing the cooking to grill for the last 5 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

I made two portions and for that I used 120 grams of pasta (9 lumaconi), 180 grams of ricotta cheese, 450 grams of frozen spinach, 125 grams of besciamella, and olive oil, salt, pepper, vegetable stock and garlic to taste.

It's a little fatty dish but still healthy and provides you with carbs from the pasta, vitamins from the spinach and protein from the ricotta.


If you want a recipe for my homemade vegan besciamella let me know in the comments below!

Double Recipe: Two detox soups

I don't know if this happens to you too, but there are some weeks where I do nothing interesting and then I have a single week full of events and dinners and eating healthy becomes challenging.

For example, two nights ago a bumped into a friend of mine I hadn't seen in 2 years so we grabbed dinner together (vegan burgers and chips) and Yesterday night I had a friends' dinner party where we ate loads of polenta with cheese and veggie sauce.

Though it was overall healthy I ate way too much and too many carbs at dinner, so here are two soups I prepped for these next two day that will help rebalance my stomach and get rid of the toxins.


BEAN AND VEGGIES SOUP

Just boil some kidney and cannellini beans with vegetables of your choice (I used spinach, carrot, broccoli, green beans, pumpkin and swiss chard) in water until the beans are cooked.
Serve with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and enjoy!




PUMPKIN CREAMY SOUP

You only need four ingredients for this delicious soup: pumpkin, carrots, vegetable stock (I used granular) and beans of your choice. Put everything in a pot and add water, cook until beans are ready. Blend with a hand stick blender until smooth and serve with a little cracked pepper on top.


For a single portion I used 100 grams of beans (in total, so if you use different kinds just make sure they add up to 100g) and unlimited veggies anjusting the salt to your own taste.