Raspberry Kiwi Smoothie

One more month passed by... Man, it was changing April! Rain, hail, sun and temperatures below 0. All in all - a period when "when-will-the-summer-finally-come?" question was theme of each day. People got exhausted from lack of sun and surplus of rain. A wish to stay in bed under warm blanket almost overcame myself. But I survived. Now back on track I am happy to share a lot of new recipes with you.  And since today we have  eventually a sunny warm day I want to emphasise it with a bright smoothie recipe.

Ingredients:

yields 2 portions

4 kiwi

1 cup raspberries (frozen or fresh)

4 bananas

0.5 cup water

Smoothies are full of vitamins and fibre, therefore make a perfect alternative to sugary sparkling drinks, lemonades and juices. As you know, the latter only cause a sugar spike and therefore it is much healthier to consume fruits with flesh. Smoothies can also make a wonderful colourful breakfast. In other words, it is SMOOTHIE TIME! I hope you've already tried Vitamin Boost Smoothie because today we have a perfect combination of kiwis, banana and raspberries. Sweet, sour, full of vitamin C, Е, РР, А, В1, В2, В3, В6, takes your stress away and boosts your metabolism. 

In a smoothie maker mix 2 bananas, 4 kiwis and 1/4 cup water. Blend thoroughly and pour equally into the glasses. Then combine raspberries, rest of the water and bananas. Mix and carefully pour over the first layer. Easy, right?

I decorated them with wonderful flowers and how did you serve yours? 

Share your posts with hash tag #gourmetbalance on Instagram. Check my profile here and enjoy May!!!

Baked Cinnamon Apples with Ricotta filling and Dried Plums

Finally the last weekend it warm in Hamburg!!!! On Saturday we even opened a Grill season in the park nearby and it was amazing. We grilled our favourite squids as in the recipe here. And also made mackerel as in the easy recipe here. This method is suitable for any type of fish you like. An tastes sooooo good. This week though the weather changed day by day to a rainy changeable one. These are the days when you wake up from the sun rays creeping into your window, happily take your sun glasses and on your way to bus stop realise that it starts raining and gets really dark. Then approximately 5 times a day you observe the same phenomenon. "Hello April!" - in other words. 

The changes in the weather also inspired me to make a change in my nutrition. This week I live without meat. And I have to say that I feel myself perfectly good. I am not saying that I am getting vegan. No! But a little break from time to time is needed. Besides, fish did a good job this week for me. 

As you remember from my autumn posts about "I quit sugar" our bodies are able to live without processed food, empty calories from sugar and other harmful ingredients. So as summer is coming let us try again. Sugar free life brings much more benefits!!! Usually with hiden sugar from processed food we consume around 25 and more tea spoons of sugar daily. Did you know that American Heart Assosiation recommends women to consume maximum 6 tsp of sugar (24g), men - 9 tsp (36g) and children - 3 tsp (12g)? So grab your friend, partner, colleague and take the challenge. Are you with me?

Let us start from limiting sugar in the first week. Try to avoid adding sugar to coffee, tea and food. OR at least reduce the amout of it in comparison to your regular intake. For more recipes and inspiration see also Home made peanut butter and other healthy sugar free recipes and Wholewheat Banana-Date Bread with Walnuts. And here is one more recipe to make your detox time a big pleasure.

Ingredients:
5 medium apples
5 dried plums
1 tbsp honey or agave syrup
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup ricotta cheese (250g)
1/3 tsp vanilla seeds
allspice for decorating

Preheat the oven to 180C. Accurately cut off the apple tops. Using a potato peeler cut out the core scooping out all the seeds. Sprinkle the apples with cinnamon. Into each of them push one dried plum. Place the apples in a baking pan or form. Place the apple tops on the apples. Bake for 20-30 minutes. Baking time depends on the size of apples. Check them from time to time not to overbake. From outside they should become shiny and a bit soft. Do not overbake.

Meanwhile place the ricotta cheese and 1 tablespoon of honey or agave syrup and vanilla into a small bowl. Mix well.

Once the apples are done, remove them from the oven and let them cool for a few minutes. 

Then open the lids and fill the center of each apple with ricotta cheese filling. Sprinkle the apples with allspice and couple drops of agave syrup.

Place the apple tops back on the apples and serve. 

And what is your favorite sugar free recipe? 

How much sugar do you consume daily? 

How long can you keep your nutrition plan sugar free?

Let me know in the comments below.

Wholemeal Oat Lactose Free Ginger Cookies

These 4 days off were so lazy and cozy that  when we came back from the gym yesterday and spent our afternoon watching movies all I wanted was a quick healthy snack. And so I baked these amazing cookies. I even did not expect them to be so cute :) And they were sooo tasty. Moreover, lactose free wholemeal and reduced in sugar. Only two of them are currently waiting for my morning coffee time tomorrow. So I will keep it short: just bake them!

Ingredients:

yields 9 cookies

1 cup wholemeal spelt flour

1 cup oatmeal flour
1 heaped tbsp oat flakes

1 tsp baking powder

1 banana

1 tsp mixed spices (or ginger cookies spices/or just mix cardamon, anis, cinnamon, muscat nut etc.)

2 tbsp honey

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tbsp demerara black sugar

Preheat oven to 180°С. Prepare your baking sheet, lining it with baking paper.

In a bowl mix dry ingredients. Add mashed banana, oil, honey, oat flakes and Demerara sugar. Mix the dough well and form 9 balls of equal size. If you prefer smaller form you will get more of them (nice benefit for quantity :). Press the balls to form a cookie. I used a HOME-MADE stamp for it and it looked just awesome!!!

Bake the cookies 15 minutes until golden edges. Tastes perfectly with whole milk. Unless you are lactose intolerant. Then for tea/coffee time - perfect match!

Enjoy!

 

Blueberry Creamcheese Coconut Cake

Spring has officially started. And even though Hamburg's weather hides this miracle I already have the proof. The birds started singing so loud and so diversely that all the other city noises disappeared. The sun shows up more often granting us its' attention, the wind becomes weaker and the days are now much longer. So long that when I came yesterday back from work I could even make nice pictures of a meal for my next post. Yuppy! Sounds like a plan ;)

But coming back to now and here I want to share an easy recipe of a Blueberry cake with Creamcheese. Why will you like it? Because it is easy, healthy, wholewheat, full of flavors, sugar free, low fat and clean. And if you plan to invite guests for Easter this cake will be the right decision. I baked it last weekend to make our coffee time even more colourful. And since in our family the cakes with creamcheese are always welcome I made a little improvisation from available ingredients. As a basic recipe I used my mother's sponge cake called "Eskimo". Even if you ask me the recipe in the middle of the night I will tell you directly all the steps. This basic recipe is always good to have for the times when you cannot make long research among all the cooking books and food blogs. Main thing - it should be bullet proof. And trust me - it is!

So having the basic recipe you can always be creative and complete it with any cream or fruit you prefer. Even without cream filled with apples it tastes perfectly. So note it, share and enjoy;)

 Ingredients:

yields 23 cm cake

for sponge cake (adopted from mother's "Eskimo")

100g wholewheat buckwheat flour

50 g white flour

30 g wholewheat spelt flour

2 mashed bananas

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground cardamon

2 tsp baking powder

10 tbsp ice cold water 

4 eggs

0.5 cup agave syrup

sprinkle of salt

for the syrup

raspberry jam

for the cream

500 g low fat creamcheese

3 tbsp coconut cream
5 sheets gelatin
lemon zest from 1 lemon
1/3 cup agave syrup
250 g blueberries
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the sponge cake preheat oven to 180°C. Prepare your springform in advance: butter and line it with parchment paper. Separate egg yolks from egg whites. Into the bowl with egg yolks add mashed bananas and agave syrup. Using a hand mixer whisk all the time in the medium speed  and add gradually 10 tbsp of cold water, cinnamon, cardamon, sift all flour types with baking powder. Set aside.

In another bowl beat egg whites with a sprinkle of salt until stiff peaks. Fold accurately egg whites into the dough not to ruin the air bubbles. Pour the dough into your springform and bake for 30 minutes or until inserted skewer comes out clean.

Let the cake cool down completely. Cut off the top of the sponge to make it even and only then slice it into 2 equal layers. 

For the cream mix creamcheese with agave syrup and coconut cream. If you are wondering which coconut cream I am referring to, do not be scared. It is just a thick top cream from coconut milk. Add lemon zest and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl pour cold water and soak gelatin sheets for about 5-7 minutes*. Then preheat them on a low heat and stir into the cream. Drop in half of washed blueberries and fold couple of times. Ready!

*If you are using gelatin powder, just follow the instructions on the package. 

And now it's time to assemble the cake. Put bottom layer on a plate, brush it with raspberry jam. Spread the cream evenly over the sponge. Then cover it with the second layer and spread some frosting on top and from the sides as well. Decorate it with the blueberries. Place the cake into refrigerator for at least 4 hours. 

Tip!

If you prefer sugar free cake, use e.g. stevia sweetened jam of your choice or skip this step. If you find the jam too thick just mix it with some water. It is up to you.

Enjoy Easter time and the Blueberry Cake!!!

 

Old-New Oat flakes: 5 Easy and Healthy TOP- recipes

It is sometimes quite interesting how one posts get more popular than the others. I often try to guess in advance if the reader will like my recipe this time or not. I often find a post not that powerful while the others just love it. Or it also happens that I am really proud of the recipe and pictures but, indeed, they do not find a wide public of adherents.

Therefore today I decided to dedicate my post to a product we all know and sometimes forget about: old-fashioned oatmeal. Too simple? I do not think so. Easy, healthy and (!) gluten free - YES!

And here are my 5 TOP-recipes with oat flakes:

1.Starting with the classic breakfast recipe: Old fashioned oatmeal. It becomes creative when you open your drawer and get out all the various nuts, coconut flakes, dried fruits, seeds, cinnamon. Keep cool and eat oats :)

2. Oat banana egg pancake with fresh figs and joghurt: my recipe on duty in case I have a sweet rush. It is done within three steps Mix-Fry-Fill. Add your favourite seasonal fruit pieces and way to go for a healthy snack.

3. Oat pancakes with cinnamon apples and vanilla ice-cream - can be served as a dessert or snack or breakfast in bed ;) My tip to you - make yourself a time out when you can fully enjoy each bite. It is so worth it!

4. And what do you usually have as a snack while travelling? I prefer Home made grab'n'go granola power snack. They may be easily transported in an air tight container, easy to prepare and always ready to charge your power.

5. And the last but not least - chewy healthy and easy Sweet date candy-balls. They may be prepared in advance and frozen for "better times". And how entertaining it becomes when kids are involved in the process. Did I ever tell you the story how my nephew helped me to bake a cheesecake? He was delighted! But that is a totally another story.

Summary for today: do not understate the healthy benefits from consuming oats. Because we live once, let us live a healthy life!