Breakfast Idea: Pumpkin Pancakes

About a month ago I posted on my Instagram these wonderful pumpkin pancakes and promised to come back with the recipe. And here I am, took me a bit longer but better later than never, right? So finally sharing this tasty recipe with you. By the way, I found it in one of my favourite blogs of a Ukrainian girl living in the USA -  Mom Story. As usually I can not just simply follow the rules. So instead of orange sauce proposed in the original recipe I have made a chocolate one. Just did not have oranges in house...:) White sugar I substituted by black Demerara, white flour - by wholewheat buckwheat. No matter what version you choose, you will be very happy with the result.

Ingredients:

yields 15 pancakes

cup=240 ml

1 egg

3 tbsp sugar

2 cups milk

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

1,5 cup flour (I used wholewheat buckwheat flour)

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp cocoa powder

1 ripe banana

blueberries

Whisk egg with sugar. Add milk and mix well. Rub pumpkin puree through a sieve and add it into the milk mixture. Fold until smooth, add cinnamon.

Mix flour with baking powder and sift into the batter. It whould be quite thick when everything combined. Pour 2-3 tbsp of vegetable oil. 

Heat non stick pan (I used a small sauce pan for even round shape). Do not add any additional oil. Onto a dry pan pour scoop of batter in the middle. Wait for about 2 minutes and when you notice bubbles on top of the pancake it is just time to flip over. On the other side 30 seconds is enough. Do mot oil the pan. In the same way cook the rest of the pancakes one by one.

For the sauce blend banana with cocoa powder and sprinkle of sugar. Serve with blueberries and a good portion of Latte Macchiato :)

Enjoy you weekend and remember that Breakfast is the most important meal of the day! Becausehow you start it does matter!!!

Asparagus Soup with North Sea Crabs

Asparagus season is officially open! From April and till end of June is exactly the right time to buy seasonal asparagus here in the north of Germany. And although in Hamburg you will mostly find white or violet asparagus from the region (not the typical green sprouts) it is definitely worth to stop by at the local farmers' market and buy this fresh seasonal product. If you do not know what can you prepare and how is asparagus eaten the very basic recipe of asparagus you can discover here. And this Baked asparagus with ham and cheese with its tenderness of melted cheese and asparagus juiciness will definitely be a pleasant surprise for you.

But today I want to share the recipe that became one of the most favourite soups in my family: asparagus soup with north sea crabs. It is easy to cook, healthy, very tasty and full of flavors. The recipe is adopted from "1000 Recipes for two" by NGV. Hope you will enjoy it as much as we do during the season.

One secret for good soup is a good base, meaning broth. Depending on your preferences it may be made with meat and vegetables or just veggies. In my case, I always leave the broth from the meat I was boiling. A good choice would also be to use the rests of asparagus once peeled to cook a broth. Just add some salt and boil them for 10 minutes. That's it!

Ingredients:

yields 2 portions

500 ml chicken broth

200 g asparagus (your choice)

100 g north sea crabs or shrimps (cooked, ready to use)

2 shallots

1/2 tbsp oil

1 tbsp corn flour

1 small egg

sprinkle of salt,Herbes de Provence and pepper

Bring the broth to boil. Meanwhile wash asparagus and cut it into 3-4 cm long pieces. Put then into the boiling water and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. Take asparagus out and set aside. Peel shallot and cut it small. In a pan heat the oil and fry shortly shallot and asparagus for about 2 minutes. Add some salt, pepper and broth. Pour it all into the main broth. Separately mix corn flour with some water into a paste, add it to the soup and stir well. Taste and if needed add more salt, pepper or other spices you like. Beat the egg and pour it gradually into the soup while stirring it with a fork quickly so that the egg threads are created.

Serve it with north sea crabs and a sprinkle of herbs de Provence.

Bon Appétit!

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!