Pumpkin-avocado salad

It's salad time! Since I'm having 1 vegan meal a day these days (to give my liver a rest..) and those meals need to be paleo as well, however without adding too many nuts, that can be a hassle sometimes. I usually end up having avocado + veggies or a vegetable curry (with coconut!). There's less room for variation, after all, I have to exclude animal protein, yet it also means a new and fun challenge to prepare a good meal despite the restrictions.

A salad is a good options when it comes to a meal like this, and it usually is the easiest one too. A salad however, should be a little filling, so I came up with the idea for this avocado and pumpkin salad.

Pumpkin-avocado salad (serves 2)

Ingredients:
- 1 medium pumpkin
- 2 avocado's
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- zest of 1 lemon
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
- 2 tbsp fresh cilantro

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius and line a baking tray with aluminium foil.
2. Rinse the pumpkin, pat it dry and put it on the baking tray. Bake for 1 hour until done. Allow to cool to room temperature.
3. Cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds. Put one half in your fridge to use in another meal.
4. Dice the remaining pumpkin half and put it in a bowl, it's ok to leave the skin on, it's edible.
5. Cut the avocado's in half, discard the pits and dice the flesh. Add to the pumpkin in the bowl.
6. Top the vegetables with the cinnamon, lemon juice and -zest and olive oil and mix carefully.
7. Divide the salad over 2 plates and garnish with the pumpkin seeds and cilantro. Serve and enjoy!

Egg salad

I don't really have a better picture than the one above, but this was my breakfast this morning. Including a yummy egg salad!
It had been a really long time since I had egg salad. Before going paleo, I used to eat it on my lunch sandwiches every now and then, store-bought, loaded with additives egg salad.
Since I'm too lazy (or afraid it won't work) to make mayonnaise, I figured I'd make my salad with mashed avocado and some coconut cream. Tastes differently, obviously, but really good nonetheless.
The best thing about this is that I have 2 servings left for the next few days!

Egg salad (serves 2-4)
- 6 hard boiled eggs
- 1 avocado
- 1/4 cup coconut cream
- 2 tbsp chives, chopped
- 2 tbsp spring onions, chopped
- 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
- lemon pepper


1. Peel the eggs, chop them up and transfer them to a bowl.
2. Cut the avocado in half lengthwise and scoop out the flesh, transfer to an other bowl.
3. Add the coconut cream to the avocado and mash it all together with a fork.
4. Stir the chives, spring onions, lemon juice and lemon pepper into the avocado mixture until well-combined.
5. Add the avocado mixture to the eggs, and mix well.
6. Serve cold, and enjoy!

Celeriac fritters

Once again, a recipe for fritters! I just love fritters so I couldn't help myself. These were part of my breakfast this morning.
I'd never really grated a celeriac, except for using a peeler to make thick noodles, but my Magimix did the job wonderfully. And this was a whole new way of using celeriac, because I normally just add it to stews or curries and I occasionally turn it into fries. In all of these methods, the celeriac usually takes a longer time to cook than any other vegetable I add, which isn't exactly a problem, but I consider it to be inconvenient.
Anyhow, enough nagging about celeriacs; it's a delicious veggie, and you should try these fritters!

Quick fritatta

A small update on my trip to New York: I found a wonderful place where you can get organic dairy-free ice cream. And it's not just their sorbet ice cream that's dairy-free, no EVERYTHING is dairy-free!! It's Ice Cream Heaven!
The place is called Stogo, so go check out their website to see their flavours. The ice cream is either coconut-, hemp- or soy-based. Of course I won't have the soy ice-cream (another one of my food intolerances), but the coconut and hemp ice-cream are great options. And the flavours they offer are amazing; toasted almond joy, cookies 'n cream, key lime, peaches 'n cream, vanilla chocolate chip, maple walnut.. Yum!
Everything's gluten-free too by the way!
My mom and me have already been drooling just by reading the flavours on the phone, and we can't wait to try some of them. The place is pretty close to our hotel, but it should've been a little further so we'd have to exercise a little more to work the ice cream off.
On their website they mention that they also feature other gluten-free vegan and raw desserts, and I can't wait to try those either. I guess we'll just have to get 2 scoops to eat right away, 2 for the walk home, and another type of dessert to enjoy back at the hotel. I don't see any other option!

Since I had to attend some classes today I needed to make myself a quick lunch. This fritatta is what came to mind and it worked out pretty well!
Luckily I had a large part of the morning off so I went for a long run; 45 minutes. Had been a while since I ran any longer than 25 minutes but it felt so easy. It hardly took me any effort.
I actually wanted to go to the gym tonight as well, but the whole afternoon has been really hectic and I'm tired now, so I won't go. I guess I'll just go to bed early tonight and go to the gym tomorrow.

Comfort food - pudding

I'm not feeling too good today.. Nauseous, tired, dizzy.. I even went home from work after just a couple of hours. So here I am, hanging on my couch, listening to podcasts, reading articles and watching some series. Someone recommended Prison Break to me and I seem to be hooked!
I didn't have lunch today (my breakfast felt like there was a brick in my stomach) but I figured I could at least have a simple dinner because my stomach was growling and I figured it might make me feel better.
I ended up making this comforting and warming pudding, and added some healthy spices. Tasted really good and didn't upset my stomach at all.

Turnip parsnip fritters

Just made these for lunch; turnip parsnip fritters. They made a very tasty combination! I served them with some leftover beef stew (which I mixed with purslane and celeriac).
I'm just going to go to the city center this afternoon, stroll over the market and that's about it. Always love doing that!

For now, here's the recipe for the fritters:

Purslane parsnip fritatta

CrossFit wasn't that hard today, my workout looked a little like the one from last Sunday. I was still full from the apple crisp and ice-cream from yesterday so I skipped breakfast and didn't get hungry all morning, not even after getting active.
From now on I'll be logging my workouts over here: http://wodstack.com/users/302
So go ahead if you want to follow my progress!
 I also made a small improvement to my blog; you can now sign up for email updates by clicking the link in the sidebar on the right.
For lunch I made this fritatta, turns out, purslane and parsnip make a great combination!
Last time I used purslane I discovered some kind of snail in between there, so I made sure I washed it thoroughly, as you can see below. For now, I'm out of purslane, but I'll probably buy some more at the market tomorrow.

Cardamom spinach omelet

I can hardly believe it myself, but today's only the second day I'm having eggs for breakfast. Which means I drastically reduced my egg intake from 14 a week to only 6. Not that I don't like them anymore, but as I've said before, I like having some chicken or meat better. And I figured a person could also eat too many eggs..
Today I didn't have any leftovers I could have for breakfast however, and I thought a big omelet would be nice.
This spinach omelet has a bit of an Indian flavour by using cardamom.
I had it together with some fresh coconut to keep me full a little longer. Fresh coconut is one of my favourite comfort foods, and it's very nutritional as well.

Apple cinnamon cookies

I'm so glad these cookies worked out well! They're really tasty and nutty, especially because of the walnuts, but the apples make them taste refreshing too. I really enjoyed having one after breakfast this morning, together with my morning cup of jasmine green tea.
There's no need to add any agave or other sweetener to these cookies, because the apples make them sweet enough.
So if anyone's looking for a paleo snack, you could try these!

Flaxseed bread

First of all, I'll give you all a small update regarding my diet. I've lost 2kg already, without feeling hungry throughout the day. I found out I love having meat for breakfast, and I even prefer it over eggs now, because it keeps me feeling full much longer.
In the evening, about an hour after dinner, I still feel like snacking and stuffing myself with carbs. I guess that's just a withdrawal symptom, or it has something to do with my thyroid.
At work, I make sure I eat something mid-morning and mid-afternoon, I've mostly been having pumpkin cookies (still had those in my freezer) or an apple with some nuts. I found out having nuts with a piece of fruit helps keep my blood sugar under control.
So I'm pretty happy with the results so far and I'll keep going!

Coconut brownies

My last bake for the next couple of months.. So I made sure it's a good one!
I wanted to get rid of the chocolate I had left so I figured I'd make brownies; coconut brownies. Yum!
It's only got 6 ingredients and you've got yourself a wonderful dessert or Sunday treat.
They have a rich chocolate taste, with a crunchy coconut texture, while still a bit moist on the inside.

Pumpkin cookies

Seems like I ran out of inspiration when it comes to the pumpkin puree I had. I didn't have that much left anymore (only 3/4 cup) so I decided to make my own pumpkin cookie version; inspired by this recipe at Everydaypaleo.com.
I used some banana to sweeten my cookies instead of maple syrup.
They're easy to make, and it doesn't take much time either. They're absolutely delicious, and what I love about these is that they're nice and soft in the center. They make a great snack or could be part of a quick breakfast.

Apple omelet recipe, and a new frying pan!

When you're not at home for breakfast and the people you're staying aren't Paleo, it sometimes is hard to make something that suits your diet. Most people have something that involves lots of grains for breakfast, and when the groceries still need to be done you have yo get creative in order to stick to your diet.
Below, there's an easy recipe to make with ingredients most people have at home, I used apples and eggs, and some cinnamon. This is an ideal breakfast recipe for people who want to get started on a Paleo diet as well. It's still sweet because of the apple, but has a lot of protein because of the eggs and by far not as much carbs as the usual sandwich, muffin or bagel.

When I got home today I found a few bags with vegetables (winter carrots, leeks and beets, yum!) in my hallway and when I went up the stairs to my living room there was a large bag from a cookware store waiting for me! Without me knowing, my parents had visited (unfortunately I wasn't home...) and left me all those things.
In the bag was some tea, trail mix and.. a brand new frying pan!! The most luxurious frying pan I've ever seen, I must say.. I totally love it!
I used to buy a new frying pan every 4 months or so, because the nonstick layer kept getting nasty, greasy spots on it. Even while I cleaned my pan right after cooking every single time! Besides, I'd heard those nonstick layers are poisonous when they're damaged and even when they're intact you might still get small amounts of it in your system. Not something I was keen on getting..
The pan is from the WOLL Induction line. It's pretty heavy and looks very, very durable. It has a titanium coating, which doesn't involve health risks. You can even remove the handle, so you can put it in the oven. How easy is that? I can't wait to start cooking with it really soon! Thank you mom and dad!!

Apple omelet (serves 1)
- 1 small apple, grated or finely chopped
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp vegetable oil

1. Put the chopped or grated apple in a bowl. Add the eggs and cinnamon and stir until well combined.
2. Heat the oil in a small frying pan and pour in the apple mixture.
3. Reduce heat to medium and fry the omelet for a few minutes until the top is set and the bottom is browned.
4. Flip the omelet and fry the other side for another couple of minutes until the other side has browned as well. Serve warm.

Parsnip pancakes

Here's my first attempt using my parsnip banana puree; Pancakes!
They make a great breakfast when still hot, or you can enjoy them as a cold snack. They taste great either way.

Parsnip pancakes (makes 10 pancakes)
- 1 cup parsnip banana puree
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp coconut flour
- 2 tsp coconut oil

1. Mix the parsnip puree with the eggs, cinnamon and coconut flour until well combined.
2. Heat 1/2 tsp coconut oil in a frying pan and drop a heaping tablespoon of the parsnip mixture in, slightly flatten it with the back of your spoon.
3. Fry over low heat for about a minute, until the bottom has browned, then carefully turn the pancake with a spatula.
4. After another minute, transfer pancake to a plate. You can fry up to 3 pancakes at a time this way.
5. Repeat process until you've used up all the batter.

Serve hot or cold and enjoy!

Parsnip cake

It worked! My Magimix grates parsnips so easily! And I'm glad it did because it saves me so much work.. (and painful arms..)
I bought 1kg of parsnips at the market last Monday so I had to figure our a way to use them. Since my parsnip cookies turned out so well last time, I figured I might use them in a cake as well. So instead of a carrot cake, I made a parsnip cake.
It's completely fruit sweetened, by using bananas and raisins, so it's not as sweet as the usual carrot cake. It tastes great though! I absolutely love it! (and I might just keep the whole thing for myself to enjoy ^^)
For a little variation, you could also add some chopped walnuts to the batter.

Parsnip cake (serves 8)
- 4 ripe bananas
- 3 eggs
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
- 2 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 2 1/2 cup shredded parsnip (2-3 parsnips)
- 1 cup raisins

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius and grease a round 9 inch springform pan (or cake pan) with some oil.
2. In a food processor, blend bananas, eggs and coconut oil into a smooth puree.
3. Add almond flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and process for 10-15 seconds until you've reached a smooth consistency.
4. Stir in shredded parsnip and raisins until well combined.
5. Scoop the batter into the prepared springform pan and bake in the middle of the oven for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
6. Cool for about an hour and serve.

Celeriac cookies

In my last post I mentioned I didn't know what to do with my leftover celeriac puree. Today I tried making cookies with it, and they tasted really good!
After all, celeriac tastes a little like parsnip (which made very good cookies) and it's a root vegetable, so it purees well. The cookies just have a slight celeriac taste, but much less bitter because of the banana.
I didn't add any walnuts to them, simply because I was tired and didn't feel like cracking all those nuts again. They would make a good addition though!
These cookies work really well when you have them as dessert or a snack and you could even make them part of your breakfast. It's an easy way to use leftover puree too!

Celeriac cookies (makes 10 cookies)
- 1/4 celeriac, peeled and cubed
- 1 large, very ripe banana
- 2 tbsp agave syrup
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/4 cup almond flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp gingerbread spices
- 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
2. Steam celeriac cubes for approx. 6-8 minutes until fork tender.
3. Puree celeriac and banana until smooth.
4. Add agave and eggs, stir well.
5. In a large bowl, combine almond flour, baking powder and spices.
6. Add celeriac mixture and optional walnuts to the bowl and stir until well-combined.
7. Drop heaping tablespoons of the mixture on the baking tray and slightly flatten with the back of a spoon to form a cookie.
8. Bake for approx. 45 minutes until golden brown.
Let cool for about half an hour and enjoy!

Coffee apple cake

Happy New Year everyone!!
I hope all of you have had a wonderful New Year's Eve and I wish everyone the best for 2011. Let's hope it'll be a good year!

For everyone who didn't start with a traditional weight loss diet as of yesterday, here's a tasty piece of cake you can make to give your new year a good start.
It's my adapted version of Elana's Honey Cake, which is also really good, although a little too sweet to my taste.
The best thing about this recipe is that it never ever fails! It's totally fool proof and tastes good every single time you make it. Even people who think everything that doesn't include grains, dairy and sugar is unedible like it a lot.
In case you have any leftovers (which is unlikely, to be honest), you can always freeze it to enjoy at a later moment.

Coffee apple cake (serves 6-8)
- 2 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp cookie spices (or a mixture of ground cloves, nutmeg and ginger)
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup strong black coffee
- 1/4 cup agave syrup
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1 apple, peeled, cored and grated
- 1/2 cup mixed nuts, chopped
- 1/2 cup raisins

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius and grease a brownie tin or tart pan.
2. In a bowl, mix almond flour, baking powder and spices. Add eggs, coffee, agave and coconut oil and mix until well-combined and a smooth batter has formed.
3. Stir in apple, nuts and raisins, and pour the batter into the prepared baking tin.
4. Bake for approx. 35 minutes until golden brown.
5. Let cool for at least 30 minutes and enjoy!

Parsnip fritters

I couldn't resist making these this morning.. As you might have noticed I totally love having fritters, especially for breakfast, but I'd never tried making them with parsnip before.
And since I had a parsnip in my fridge, waiting to be used before the new year arrives.. I made parsnip fritters!
And they were really good, if not the best fritters I made until now.

Parsnip fritters (serves 1)
- 1 small parsnip, grated
- 1 small winter carrot, grated
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 tbsp coconut flour
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 handful of raisins
- 1 tsp coconut oil

1. Add all ingredients to a bowl, except for the oil and stir until well combined.
2. Heat half of the oil in a frying pan and put in a heaping tablespoon of the parsnip mixture, add 2 more heaping tablespoons, leaving about an inch in between the fritters.
3. Reduce heat to medium and turn fritters after a few minutes.
4. After approx. 2 minutes, check if both sides have nicely browned, and transfer the fritters to a plate.
5. Repeat steps 2-4 with the remaining mixture. Makes 7 fritters.
Enjoy!

Italian kohlrabi crumble

Sometimes you just don't feel like eating meat or fish, or anything like that. Not because it doesn't taste good, but maybe just because it's a lazy Sunday.

Now my Sunday wasn't exactly lazy (I ploughed through the snow on my bike, just to go to the Christmas market in town, and did a lot of laundry too), but I still didn't feel like eating meat or fish for dinner.

I did want to use one of the kohlrabis I still had in my fridge so I decided to make an oven dish with an almond crumble topping; just to add some more protein.

It tasted really good and wasn't much effort to cook either. I'm definitely going to have my leftovers for breakfast tomorrow!

Italian kohlrabi crumble (serves 2)

- 1 kohlrabi, peeled and grated

- 1 winter carrot, grated

- 1 red onion, chopped

- 2 eggs

- 1 tbsp thyme

- 1 tbsp rosemary

- freshly ground black pepper to taste

- 1 cup almond flour

- 2 1/2 tbsp olive oil

- 1 tbsp mixed Italian herbs, dried (oregano, etc)

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.

2. Put kohlrabi, carrot and onion in a small oven dish and mix.

3. In a bowl, combine eggs, thyme, rosemary and pepper, mix well and pour over kohlrabi.

4. In an other bowl, mix almond flour, oil and Italian herbs until well-combined and it's got a crumbly consistency.

5. Sprinkle crumbles over kohlrabi evenly. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.

6. Remove foil and bake for another 5 minutes, until browned.

Serve warm and enjoy!

Parsnip cookies

What to do with my other portion of parsnip mash, that's what I asked myself yesterday. Since those pumpkin cookies last week worked out so well, I figured I might be able to make parsnip cookies as well.
I had one for breakfast this morning and it was really good!
It's a whole different way of using parsnips but it works.
Today I really needed to have something nice to eat after work; we had drinks and snacks to end 2010 and for a good start in 2011. Of course I couldn't take any of the snacks so I got home hungry, but a little too late to -in my opinion- make dinner. I also had to cycle all the way through the snow so I was pretty wet and looked like Frosty's sister.
Having tea and a cookie made me feel so much better!

 

Parsnip cookies (makes 10 cookies)
- 1 batch parsnip apple mash (for recipe, see previous post)
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp gingerbread spice
- 2 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
2. Put parsnip mash in a bowl, stir in eggs.
3. Add other ingredients and stir until well-combined.
4. Drop heaping tablespoons of batter on a cookie tray, lined with parchment paper.
5. Bake cookies on middle rack for about 40 minutes, until golden brown.
6. Let cool for a while and serve.