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!

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.

Recipe: Mushrooms and soy mince tomato sauce

Here is a quick recipe for a tasty mushrooms sauce full of proteins.


Ingredients:
- onion, carrot and celery
- garlic (granules of fresh)
- 150 g fresh mushrooms
- 50g soy mince (frozen or fresh)
- 1 bottle tomato passata
- salt
- extra virgin olive oil
- 2 bay leaves


Put some finely chopped onion, carrot and celery in the pan with the garlic (if fresh just pealed and crushed with the side of a knife), olive oil and a bit of water, let cook for 2 minutes and add the sliced mushrooms and salt. Cover with a lid and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes or until mushrooms soften, if needed add more water during the process. Then add the soy mince, the tomato passata and the bay leaves, cover with a lid and let simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. It's ready to serve!




This sauce can be paired with pasta, polenta (a typical italian northern dish) or can even be a dip for tortillas or potato fries!