bircher müsli

I LOVE this breakfast!! It is so easy and fast and so nourishing and i promise it will satisfy you for a long time.. This is – after my chia pudding – my favorite “to go” recipe as you have to prepare it already the night before and just have to add some toppings the next morning and off you go.

This recipe is perfect for all of you having a gluten allergy and all of you on a plant based diet as there are so many different options to prepare it.

 

Serves 1:

– 1 small cup of oats ( i used buckwheat oats but you can use any type of oats you like )

– 1 apple

– 1/2 of a lemon

– honey, agave syrup or any other sweetener you like ( i used honey )

– plant based milk ( i used unsweetened almond milk )

– 2 tablespoons of plant based yoghurt ( i used soy & almond yoghurt )

 

Optional:

– fresh vanilla

– cinnamon

– maca powder

 

Place your oats in a bowl and cover them with your plant based milk. If you add fresh vanilla i would add it the night before as well as the taste will be more intensive then. Let your oats set over night in the fridge.

The only thing you have to do in the next morning is adding your sweetener ( you do not have to if you do not want it to be too sweet ), the juice of your lemon, the plant based yoghurt of your choice and some cinnamon or macs powder if you like. Grate your apple and add it to your müsli. I always keep 1/4 of my apple so my müsli gets a little “crunchiness”.

Mix everything up and give it in a jar or a bowl. I like to top my müsli with dried cranberries and raw buckinis.

Bon appétit!!!

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detox juices

Today i want to share my favorite juice recipes with you. You can have them as a snack, for breakfast or use these recipes to create your own juice cleanse. I am doing a juice cleanse during summer once per week and i love it so much. It allows your digestive system to relax you are filling up your vitamin stores. And it is so great even for busy working people or for all of you going to university. I always prepare my juices the night before and keep them in the fridge and just have to grab them in the morning and off you go!!

I start my juice cleanse with the first juice at 9am and then every two hours. Try to drink a lot of water or unsweetened tea as well as it is the liquid which will clean your body. At 7pm i always have a homemade nut milk to be sure that i am not waking up at night to empty my fridge 😉

It is really important to have your last juice or your nut milk not later than 7pm!! What i would also recommend is having a light dinner the night before your cleanse such as rice with steamed veggies or a soup.

 

Detox lemomande 500ml

– 1/2 a cup of pineapple

– 1 orange or grapefruit (if you like it a bit bitter)

– 1/2 a lemon

– coconut water to fill it up

 

Orange detox 500ml

– 2 apples

– 1 orange

– 3 carottes

– 1/2 of a small fennel

– ginger

 

Pink detox 500ml

– 2 pears

– 1 apple

– 1 small grapefruit

– 1 small zucchini

– a small handful of black grapes

 

Green detox 500ml

– 2 green apples

– 2 handfuls of spinach

– 1/2 a cup of pineapple

– 1 kiwi

– 1/3 of a cucumber

– 1 small lime

 

Yellow detox 500ml

– 1 apple

– 1 orange

– 1 small zucchini

– 1/2 a cup of pineapple

– a small piece of celery

– coconut water to fill it up

 

If you do not have enough fruits to make 500ml of juice, coconut water is a very good option to fill your juices up as it is very important to have 500ml each time.

I have a Philips juicer – this juicer is faster but less efficient and your juices are not cold pressed. I bought it on amazon for about 130€. And i have an angel juicer – this juicer is so fantastic!!! It is a way more expensive (i payed about 1000€) but your juices are cold pressed and that means a big big quality difference. For any questions concerning juicer or the juice cleanse and my experience – do not hesitate to comment this post.

I will post my favorite nut milk recipes the upcoming days.

Bon appétit!!

 

kale salad with lemon dressing and sundried tomatoes

KALE!!!!! Kale is one of the healthiest vegetables around. It is packed with vitamins and minerals such as vitamin C, vitamin A and Vitamin K, it contains nearly 3 grams of plant based protein per 100 grams and is very high in fiber. It also contains healthy omega-3 fatty acids which are very important for your body. Specially when you are on a plant based diet and not eating any fish it is a very good alternative to get your fatty acids from kale.

With this way of preparation you are not loosing any of your vitamins or minerals as this recipe is raw but still so so tasty!! I love the slightly bitter flavor of the kale mixed with the acidity of the lemon and the creamy and mild avocados all perfectly rounded down by the crunchy pumpkin seeds.

 

Serves 2:

 

– 3 big handfuls of kale

– 3 tablespoons of olive oil

– 1 tablespoon of organic soy sauce

– 2 small avocados

– a small handful of sundried tomatoes

– pumpkin seeds

– juice and skin of one lemon

– chili flakes

– salt & pepper

 

Wash your kale and then tear small pieces off the kale and place them in a bowl.

Drizzel your olive oil and the soy sauce onto your kale. Rub the skin of your lemon into your salad and add the juice and some chili flakes if you like. Now you will give your kale a little “massage” until the leaves become softer.

Then cut your avocados and tomatoes in small pieces, put them on your salad and top it with your pumpkin seeds and some pepper.

This salad is the perfect to go salad. The longer you keep it (up to two days!!) the better it becomes as your kale gets “cooked” by the lemon juice. You just should cut the avocado freshly on top then.

I love to eat my kale salad with oven roasted sweet potato fries. I will post the recipe for my favorite spicy fries the next days 😉

Bon appétit!!!

 

chicory salad with apple and parsley

I love this salad!!! It is so easy and so fast to prepare. For me this salad is neither a winter nor a summer salad, i love to eat it the whole year trough as there are so many different preparation options. Furthermore this salad is the perfect to go lunch for all the busy people here 😀

Chicory is rich in vitamins B1, B2 and C and the substance in the chicory making it a little bitter is actually helping your body to digest your food more easily. The pumpkin seeds will provide your body with plant based proteins which are really important for all you living a vegan lifestyle. Apples are very high in vitamin C and potassium which is very important for your muscles and nerves. And please, do NOT peel your apples!! Wash them well and use their skin as well. Most of the vitamins and minerals are right under the skin and you would loose them if you peel your apple. The lemon will care for a big dose of vitamin C as well which is very important for a beautiful skin.

 

Serves 1:

 

– 3 small chicory

– 1 apple

– half of a lemon

– a small hand full of parsley

– pumpkinseeds

– chili

– salt & pepper

– oliveoil (optional!!)

 

Cut your chicory and your apple in pieces. Drizzle it quickly with your lemon juice because otherwise your apple would turn brown. Top your salad with the parsley and the pumpkinseeds and add some salt, pepper and chili. I like to keep this salad “low fat” but if you want you can also add some cold pressed olive oil.

Here are two ways of preparation for this salad. On the left i prepared a picnic for spending a day out at the lake. So i prepared some oven roasted aubergines with garlic and olive oil and some sautéed tomatoes again with lots of garlic and rosemary. The perfect company for your salad 🙂

On the right you see todays lunch. I added some grilled mushrooms and some smoked tofu which is making this recipe a bit more warming and winterly.

Bon appétit!!!

quinoa with sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts and pomegranate

This recipe turned into one of my favorite recipes this winter. It combines different flavors such as the acerbity of the brussels sprouts, the sweetness of the fresh vanilla and the soft acidity of the pomegranate in a wonderful tasty way.

Quinoa is a wonderful surce of plant based protein for everybody of you who is vegan or vegetarian and it is as well gluten free and easily digestible for everybody having a gluten intolerance. Furthermore it provides your body with iron and contains 50% more vitamin E than regular wheat.

Avocados are containing important unsaturated fatty acids, the pomegranate is full of antioxidants which are important to slow down the aging process of your skin and the brussels sprouts are a rich source of vitamin C and zinc which are both very important for your skin, nails and hair. And who of you does not want to have beautiful skin and healthy hair?!

 

Serves two:

 

– 1/2 of a cup of wholemeal quinoa

– one handful of brussels sprouts

– 2 small sweet potatoes

– 1 pomegranate

– 1 avocado

– 1 lemon (it should be an organic lemon as you will need the skin as well!!)

– 1 fresh vanilla bean

– pumpkin seeds

– chili flakes

– olive oil

– salt & pepper

 

Start with heating your oven to 200°c. Then you have to peel your sweet potatoes and have to cut them in bite-sized pieces. Give them into a bowl and drizzle them with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Take a baking tray and lay out some baking paper and spread out your sweet potatoes. Put them in the oven for about 10 minutes until they start becoming slightly golden. I love to use the grill function for the last two minutes to give them this little smokey flavor.

In the meantime you have to cook your quinoa in slightly salted water. I like my quinoa when it is still “al dente” so i cook it not more than 10-12 minutes. Scratch out your fresh vanilla bean and mix it with your quinoa. If you like you can also add the skin of your lemon. I personally love the intensive flavor!!

Now unhinge the seeds of your pomegranate and cut your avocado in small pieces and drizzle some lemon juice over them so they are not turning brown. Now as soon as your brussels sprouts are cooked you are already almost done!

Now you just need to steam your brussels sprouts in a little bit of water. I am always adding some salt but this is optional. I am always taking a big pot or even a pan and just cover the bottom with water. Then i cover it with the lid so the sprouts get steamed by the vapor. Do not cook your brussels sprouts too long to not loose too many vitamins. I actually really like when they are still a bit “crunchy” to get a bit more texture into my salad.

As soon as the brussels sprouts are cooked you can add the quinoa and the sweet potatoes to your pan. Add some lemon juice, the pomegranate and the avocado.

Now add some seasoning such as salt, pepper or chili flakes. Put your salad into a bowl and top it with the pumpkin seeds.

And ready is your super healthy and nourishing winter salad.

Bon appétit!!!

 

 

that’s me

My name is Katharina, i am 24 years old and i am living in the sunny south of France. First of all i would like to tell you my story and my motivation to start writing this blog.

Why should i write a blog about healthy food although there are so many already? Well, for me food has a very divided meaning. But maybe i should start right from the beginning.

Already when i was 13 model scouts asked me on the street if i do not want to start modeling. My mum always was strictly against it as she new the business from her youth and she knew how hard and how thankless this job could be. But as we all know things are getting even more interesting as soon as they are forbidden by our parents so shortly i had an appointment for a so called “testshooting”. So everything took its course. Soon i had my first small agency close to Cologne and i firstly got to know the positive aspects of this job.

It started to be difficult when i was 18 years old – i just had just finished school – and decided to go to Paris to try my luck in the fashion industry. Suddenly i also got to know the shady sides of the industry. Especially the food topic became a real “problem”. In this industry it is normal to be skinny, but here skinny means meager and closer to death than to life. However it happened really fast that i lost reference to reality and to what is normal and what is sick. I lost more and more weight and still had the feeling to be fat. Now the only thing i was was deeply depressed and very very lonely.

The big turn came with my first boyfriend. Through the love he gave me i learned, step by step, to love my self again as well. I started loving food again even it remained a big issue.

Today i am living in the south of France with a man who loves me sincerely, just like my first boyfriend did. Since about one year i am only eating plant based, i am buying only organic products (and this summer i am going to start my own vegetable garden!!) and i am feeling better than ever before.

So back to my question why i should start writing a food blog. Well, i actually do not want to call this blog a food blog. I would say it is more an instruction for being happy. Because food is making us happy, especially when we are eating products which are nourishing our body, making our hair glow and giving us the energy we need to handle a stressful and hectic everyday life. Food should not be our enemy but our best friend and we should use the power of nature.

So i am writing this blog for everybody of you who maybe already lived through similar moments and who wants to start loving food again and for everybody of you who already has the impression to be happy but feels like there is still a possibility to be even more happy (and there always is!!) and for everybody of you who just needs some culinary inspiration or just wants to broaden his mind in matters of happiness.

 

nama foods london

I love this beautiful little restaurant in Notting Hill. They are serving raw vegan goodness and offer food courses, catering and juice cleanses as well. They kept the interior very simple and clean but still cosy.

For lunch we shared their fantastic kale salad with sundried tomatoes and pumpkinseed dressing, the mexixcan wrap with sprouts, guacamole and probiotic cashew nut sour cream and a delicious “italian” pizza with caramelized onions and marinated mushrooms served on a crunchy courgette and walnut base.

After that i still had some space left to try the divine fermented blueberry cheesecake and a chai tea with almond milk. I am not a big fan of sweets but this desert was really worth to try!!

Check out their beautiful Instagram account for more pictures @namafoods and their homepage http://www.namafoods.com to see the whole menu.

Bon appétit!!!