About me

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I've changed my life around and now I am enjoying The Lighter Life. I love cooking and especially baking lovely desserts, but I wanna stay away from little no-no's like too much sugar and fat. I live in Belgium where the 'low-carb and low-fat movement' is just starting to begin so I found myself looking for recipes with easy to find ingredients and metric cooking measurements. Since they were hard to find, I decided to make my own! My desserts may never win beauty contests, for baking with bio ingredients will mostly give you flat cakes and pies. But lord will they win over your taste buds and still have you fitting into your skinny jeans. I invite you all to try out some recipes, adapt a couple where you see fit and above all, learn to enjoy the lovely taste of freshly baked, healthy goods.
Posts tonen met het label low. Alle posts tonen
Posts tonen met het label low. Alle posts tonen

zaterdag 9 november 2013

Moist Chocolate Cake

A cake so moist, it sticks to your fingers and everything it touches. That's my latest quick and simpel recipe!


It was late, I was watching a movie and I suddenly just needed something sweet, something gooey. This moist chocolate cake was the result. I didn't really think about it. I just threw some ingredients in a pot, whisked them together and voila.

I love it when my weird impromptu kitchen adventures turn into something yummy and lighter than store bought desserts. 

Ingredients:

1 ripe banana, mashed
3 medium sized eggs
100 ml low fat cream cheese
1,5 tbsp dark brown sugar
50 gr milk chocolate, melted
50 gr almond flour

Way to do it:

  1. I can't make it any easier....just whisk all the ingredients together!
  2. Put the batter in a pie dish and bake for about 20 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees.
  3. After 15 minutes of baking, you can poke the cake with a skewer. If it comes out clean, take the cake out. We want it to be as moist as possible.
  4. Let cool or give into your urges and eat it while it's warm. 

I enjoyed my first piece with some light vanilla ice cream. The warm chocolate with the cold ice cream was just heaven. In the morning, I enjoyed my second piece with a cup of breakfast tea. If possible, it was even better due to the overnight time of letting the cake set.

No added fat, but low fat cream cheese,
         A ripe banana for the sweetness, making the addition if sugar minimal,
                                                    No white flour but a little bit of almond flour for body,
                                                                                               And some milk chocolate for the taste....

Enjoy
xx

dinsdag 29 oktober 2013

Almond cookies with chocolate

NO ADDED FAT!

I can't write it any bigger without it being stupid but that is what makes these cookies so great. They are low in fat, yet very tasty and sturdy so you can take them along and enjoy them the entire day.

I was gonna take pictures, but then it got dark, and then  I forgot....and then I ate them all.
Woops :D

Ingredients:

For the cookies:
200 gr ground almonds (almond flour)
100 gr icing sugar
1 tsp liquid honey
4 egg whites
A pinch of salt

For the chocolate:
4 egg yolks
1 tbsp liquid sweetener
2 tbsp no-added sugar cacao powder

Way to do it:

  1. We start with the cookies. Add the almond flour, honey and icing sugar in a bowl.
  2. With a fork, lightly wish 2 egg whites until the liquid turns white. Add it to the almonds and stir with a wooden spoon.
  3. Whisk the remaining 2 egg whites with a pinch of salt until you can turn the bowl upside down. Then add to the batter and gently fold it in.
  4. Line a baking tray with baking paper and evenly place out the dough. Mine are about a full tablespoon each. Bake for 10 minutes at 180degrees C.
  5. Now for the chocolate. Add all the ingredients to the 4 egg yolks and whisk. Let rest until the cookies come out.
  6. When the cookies have baked for 10 minutes, take them out and add a dollop of chocolate mixture to each cookie. The chocolate will run over the cookie making it look good but not 'too perfect'. I don't do pretty pretty, I do yummy yummy!
  7. Place the tray back into the oven and let bake for another 5 minutes. 
  8. When they are done, let them cool before you move them to a plate or stuff them into your mouth.

Enjoy
xx

zondag 13 oktober 2013

Delicious Pizza without the guilt!

One of the best things out there...is pizza. Not only is it simply delicious, it's also fun to eat and share with friends. But it's also one of the worst thing out there when you're thinking of fat and calories. So therefore, my way of making a pizza which will leave you with a great dinner and none of the guilt.

You can always buy one of those ready-made crusts, but they do tend to cost a pretty penny, so why not make your own. I promise you, it's so easy and simple. I wouldn't add it to my blog if it wasn't!



Also...no yeast! I don't get yeast, never have. It's one of those ingredients you would buy one time, use like half of it, and then after a year, you throw it out when it becomes hard as rock and you need the fridge space.

So, I present you a simple pizza crust with no fuss but packing in taste, topped with delicious ingredients, all rolling in to a great dinner to enjoy with a good movie on series marathon.

Ingredients for 1 medium pizza:

for the crust
200 gr flour
pinch of baking powder
pinch of salt
pinch of garlic powder
pinch of dried basil
90ml water
extra: 1tbsp vegetable oil


for the pizza
a half yellow bell pepper
a half red union
3 tbsp tomato sauce
2 slices of chicken
A handful of grated cheese
extra: your favorite spices. I used Cajun and simple chicken spices

Way to do it:

  1. Add all dry ingredients for the crust in a bowl and mix with a spoon. Then add the water. You might not need all of it, so add as you knead and add some more of it's too dry. The dough shouldn't be too sticky but should have more of an elastic texture. Spread out on a baking tray lined with a baking sheet and flatten until you get a nice round pizza. Curl back the outsides a little to get that crunchy side crust.
  2. Drip some oil on the inside of the pizza and move it around. This will prevent the base getting soggy with the tomato sauce. Such a marvelous little trick.
  3. Then starts the fun part. The topping! I added half a yellow bell pepper, chopped into small cubes, half a red onion, chicken slices you would normally put on your sandwich but I cut them into little bits ass well and sprinkled them over the vegetables. Finally comes the cheese. Of course, the more cheese you add, the more high in fat it will become so cheese in moderation.
  4. I also topped with some herbs so give the pizza an extra little spicy kick.
  5. Bake in a preheated oven on 240degrees C for about 12 minutes. Or until the cheese is melted and the crust is crunchy.

To be honest, I'm actually kind of surprised at how good the base turned out. I was expecting a floppy crust, but it's was strong, crunchy and very yummy.

The good thing about making the crust yourself is that you can add flavor. I used garlic and basil, but you could also go with grated cheese, paprika powder, chilli or even sugar when you're going for a dessert.

Enjoy
xx 

woensdag 9 oktober 2013

Lemon Bars with Cream Cheese

Hi everyone.

I've been wanting to make lemon bars for so long, but I never found a recipe that ticked off all my criteria. For a recipe to be Stevie Friendly, it needs to be

- easy and no fuss
- not drenched in bad fat or loaded with sugar
- not take to long because you know I have no patience

and

- it must not make a mess of everything because I hate, hate, HATE doing dishes.

So, I simply decided to dive in, head first, and create my own lemon bars.
And I'm so happy I did.


Ingredients:

For the base:
150 gr flour
100 gr soft coconut butter (normal butter is fine too)
A pinch of salt
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp cold water
1 tsp lemon juice

For the filling:
3 tbsp low fat cream cheese
2 eggs
2 tbsp liquid sweetener
Juice of 1 lemon
100 gr flour


Way to do it:

  1. We start with the base. Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl and stir with a spoon to combine. Add the coconut butter and use your hands to 'melt' it into the mixture. It will become very crumbly and dry. Add the lemon juice and water and use that liquid to form a dough. Roll the dough into a ball, put it in cling foil and let rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Now we make the filling. Add the cream cheese, eggs, liquid sweetener and lemon juice into a bowl and whisk until combined. Add the flour and make sure there are no lumps left. It will be very liquid but don't worry, that way our crust will soak it all in. Leave it into the fridge until you are ready to use it.
  3. After the crust has rested for 30 minutes, take it out and line a baking tray with baking paper. Roll out the dough and bake in a pre-heated oven on 180degrees Celsius for about 10 minutes.
  4. Take the baking tray out and pour the filling over the crust. Bake again for another 10 minutes.
  5. Take out of the oven and let them cool before you cut them. Transfer to a plate and they are best if you keep them in the fridge.
And these people, are no fuss, no muss, deliciously low sugar Lemon Bars.

I must admit, you can't call these low in fat...compared to stuff you would buy in the store yes, but not to other stuff you can find on my website. However, I did use coconut butter and some sources say it's the 'healthiest' butter there is. But it's still butter off course, this isn't a perfect world :-(


It was my first time making these, so it's still a work in progress. Next time, I'm going to add some cacao powder to the base and I'll prob add some more lemon juice because in my opinion, they could be a little more sour.

Keep checking back for new recipes and let me know what you think.

Enjoy
xx

zaterdag 31 augustus 2013

Soy cake with crumble base

It's been a while but I'm back with a new recipe , tried and tested (much to my own enjoyment) and ready to be baked in houses all over the country.

I present you, my low-fat, low sugar, yogurt cake with a crumble base.




Did I read low fat? 
Granted, there is butter in the base, but apart from that, the yogurt and milk add up to about 5g of fat....and that's the good kind of fat people because if you choose soy based products, you ingest the good saturated fats...the one the body just simply needs.

Did you say low sugar?
Two tablespoons of sugar go into the base. The yogurt and milk are naturally sweet and the additions of two tablespoons liquid sweetener just gives all you sweet tooths out there (I know I'm one of 'em) that extra satisfaction.

Why the crumble base?
You can use store-bought cookies and mash them up to make a crumble base. But this way is just way more fun. Get your hands dirty and start kneading that dough. Also, store-bought cookies are, apart from high in bad fat, also filled with extra additives to make them look good and hold their color. Therefore, take the extra ten minutes and just make it yourself and that way, you know exactly what went into them.


Ingredients:

For the crumble:
100 gr soft butter, cut into cubes
150 gr white flour
2 tbsp sugar
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of salt
1 tbsp cold water

For the filling:
250 gr plain soy yogurt (I used my all-time favorite Alpro Soy)
100 ml Light Vanilla Soy drink
2 tbsp liquid sweetener
2 eggs
100 gr buckwheat flour

Way to do it:

  1. Sift the white flour in a bowl and add sugar, cinnamon and the salt and give it a little mix until they are combined. Add the sugar and use your hands to knead the dough. It needs to form a nice consistent ball. Not too sticky but definitely not too crumbly. Add a tbsp of water if you feel like the dough needs it to stick together.
  2. Fold the ball of dough into a tinfoil and let it rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
  3. To make the filling, add all it's ingredients in a bowl (use the one from the dough, nobody likes doing dishes right?) and mix until air bubbles start showing. Place in the fridge for at least 10 minutes.
  4. Take a round baking tray and gently oil it. Line the tray with your dough. Pour in the mixture and place into a preheated oven at 200 degrees C for about 20 minutes.
  5.  

Take the cake out of the oven if the outsides are set but the middle is still a little bit wobbly. Let it cool completely (COMPLETELY Stevie, have some patience) before you take it out of the tin.  

You can choose how you wish to decorate the cake. I saved some pieces of the dough and rolled them into long strips to make the circle design. It's your cake and your creation, so do whatever you like. You could even write out a person's name if you are making this cake as a birthday gift.

I enjoyed mine with a cup of coffee in my new favorite mug :)


Enjoy
xx

zondag 28 juli 2013

Blueberry crumble bars

Feast your eyes on this!



Doesn't it look wonderful? This, my sweet friends, is what happens when it's sunny and with bikini season at the back of your mind, you start craving something sweet. This recipe, although light in calories, isn't very light on the stomach so you only need a small piece to get filled up.

I got the original recipe here, but for added healthiness, I substituted most of the sugar by honey and sweetener. I also chose to use half white flour, half buckwheat, because the good nutrition of buckwheat strengthens the body and upps your immune system. Granted, there is some butter here and if I make new versions of this recipe, I'm going to try and cut down some of the butter. But for now, just marvel at their deliciousness.



Ingredients:

100gr white sugar
2 teaspoons liquid sweetener
1 teaspoon baking powder
150gr white all-purpose flour
150gr buckwheat flour
200gr soft butter cut into small pieces
1 egg
a pinch of salt

400 to 500 gr fresh blueberries
1,5 tablespoons honey
50gr white all-purpose flour

Way to do it:


  1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C and grease your baking pan. Use any which one you like. I used a big, round, spring form but if you wanna make bars, I would suggest a square one.
  2. In a big bowl (you need the extra space for the mixing) mix 150gr white four, 150gr buckwheat flour and baking powder. Add in the egg, liquid sweetener, salt and butter. Use your hands to knead the dough into a big ball. This could take some time but it's really worth it in the end.
  3. Take half of the dough and spread it out evenly into your prepared tin. Pad it down all the way to the sides.
  4. In a new bowl, sprinkle blueberry's with the honey and then add the flour. Turn the blueberry's over so that the honey and flour sticks to them. Then spread them out evenly over your batter.
  5. Take the remainder of the dough and cover up all the berry's. Again, take some time to cover all of them, basically sealing them in.
  6. Bake for 30mins at 200 degrees C and try to show restraint once the amazing smell of the baked fruit hits your nose.
  7. Take out of the oven when the top turns slightly brown and leave to cool before cutting into bars or squares, as you prefer. They keep best in the refrigerator and they are even better the next day.


You can also leave the cake/pie/bars, whatever you wanna call it, into it's original form and serve as a lovely summer alternative to fattening pies and cakes. The crust, once cooled, cuts well so you can serve a nice piece of pie and maybe even add some lime or lemon sorbet for the ultimate summer dessert!



Enjoy,
xx

zaterdag 22 juni 2013

Straw- and blueberry buckwheat muffins

No muss, no fuss, just easily made stuff! I bring you a healthy muffin you can whip up in about 20 minutes...and that's counting baking time.

This will be my second recipe with buckwheat after the first one went down so great. My scones were great, and these muffins might even be better!

Browsing through the ingredients, you might notice I didn't use any...let me repeat, ANY butter. I wanted to make a muffin very low in fat so I wouldn't have to feel bad when I wanted a second one...or third...or basically finish the entire batch in 1 day. Yes...I can't control myself from time to time.

Because these babies hold no fat, they are dense and won't come out of paper muffin cups very easily. Therefor I would suggest you make these in silicone cups which you can lightly coat in vegetable oil.

Eat it with a dollop of Greek yogurt or with some agave sirup drizzles over it or just be lazy and eat it like it is, you won't be disappointed either way.

Ingredients:

200gr buckwheat flour
2 eggs
150 ml low fat plain yogurt
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 tbsp liquid sweetner
3 tbsp flax seeds 60 gr strawberries
60 gr blueberries

Way to do it:

  1. In a bowl, mix all ingredients apart from the fruit. Mix until everything is combined. It will be a thick, glue like batter.
  2. To easily remove the crown of a strawberry, use a straw, it's such a great trick. Cut up the strawberry in pieces and add, with the blueberry, to the mix. Be careful not to smash the fruit as you mix the batter. I would suggest folding them in with a spoon.
  3. Divide over your cups. It's okay to fill them up. The batter doesn't rise much.
  4. Bake for 15minutes in a 200degrees oven.
  5.  
    I love how the strawberry and blueberry make for different colors. So cute and colorful and full of flavour!

    Enjoy
    xx

zaterdag 15 juni 2013

My version of a classical French Yogurt cake

Hello everyone, summer has arrived...oh yes it has! Pretty soon I'll be using this season's best fruit to make light and healthy desserts, but first a twist on the classical French Yogurt cake.

What's the twist you ask? Well, alcohol and soy yogurt. I like yogurt...but there's something about the plain yogurt Alpro soya makes that's just amazing. It has a gentle taste, very few fat and low sugar so all in all, it's pretty great. Healthy and tasty, that's what we're going for here.


Just like all my other recipes, this is so easy, a child could do it. The cake itself might look boring and simple, but trust me, this lovely thing will delight both your and your family's taste buds.

As I'm typing this, I'm starting to smell the batter turning into something amazing in the oven...so let's get on with the recipe.

 

Ingredients:

2 portions of 125ml plain yogurt (I used alpro soya)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 tbsp Amaretto
2 cups op 125ml almond flour
liquid sweetner

About 10 crushed cookies (I used speculoos)

Way to do it:

  1. Preheat the oven to 180degrees C and line the bottom of a round, spring-form cake tin with bakingpaper. Grease the sides with vegetable oil.
  2. In a bowl mix yogurt with eggs, vanilla essence, amaretto and the sweetner. The sweetner is, as always, to your liking. I used about 2 tablespoons. Bear in mind that the ameretto is pretty sweet too so you might eveb omit the sweetner if you prefer.
  3. Use your 125ml cups to measure the almond flour. Top both of them off with flour and add to the mix.
  4. Mix till everything is well combined and allow yourself a little taste. Taste good doesn't it. Would it be wrong to just eat this as a sauce....
  5. Enough daydreaming. Pour the batter into the baking tin and lightly sprinkle your crushed cookies over the top.

  6. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

    Let cool for about 5 minutes before you take it out the tin. The cookies will have been baked into the top, making for a lovely, crunchy, topping.

    This doesn't make a very big cake, so feel free to double the portions to make a bigger cake.

    For extra yumminess, you could slice the cake in two and add a thin layer of strawberry jelly. However, I don't really feel like it needs it. This cake a light, slightly boozy version of a classic French yogurt cake. And remember, no added sugar, no butter but bursting with flavor!

    Enjoy
    xx

zaterdag 1 juni 2013

Chocolate cake with avocado and banana

May I just say...wow! If I was a religious girl, I would thank the lord. Instead, I'm going to thank nature for blessing us with the combination of chocolate and avocado.

We have to get serious...you can't make a decent cake without butter. It just wouldn't taste right. So if ever we want to indulge, we'll have to settle for a little bit of fat. NOW, that's so not true anymore! Substituting butter with avocado is genious, delicious and healthy. Avocado is fat, yes, but good fat!


If you are looking for a chocolate cake that won't make you feel like a cheater, then look no more. Yummy, rich, healthy and a definite hit with the entire family...my chocolate cake with avocado and banana.

And oh, did I mention this cake is so easy to make?

 

Ingredients:

 

2 ripe avocados
2 ripe bananas
3 eggs
3 tbsp liquid sweetener
100 gr almond flour
100 gr dark cacao powder
100 gr of assortment of nuts (I used almonds, peanuts and cashew)

Way to do it:

  1. Cut the avocado's in two and spoon out the flesh. Add with the mashed bananas in a bowl and stir.
  2. Add the eggs and whisk until smooth.
  3. Add the remaining ingredients (liquid sweetener, almond flour and cacao) and whisk again.
  4. Finally gently fold in the nuts.
  5. Transfer to a baking tin lined with baking paper and bake for 35mins in a preheated oven at 180degrees C.
  6.  
Let the cake cool before you take it out of the baking tin. You don't need to top the cake with any icing, it's packed full of flavor and it's very moist. However, adding some maple syrup or honey can never go wrong.

A good movie, a cup of great coffee in my new favorite mug (I got it at a second hand store and I'm just so in love with it.) and some home baked deliciousness. Yes...my life is pretty perfect.

Some of you may have already noticed, I'm a baker who loves simple and easy recipes. I don't like to huff and puff in my kitchen and I definitely don't like doing the dishes. So, you can expect many more recipes like this chocolate cake with avocado and banana, easy, yummy and healthy.

If you want to make a cake lower in carb, leave out the bananas and add a little more almond flour. I promise you, it'll taste great. Now if only I would stop myself from taking another piece....

Enjoy and till next time,
xx

zondag 26 mei 2013

Apple buckwheat breakfast scones

Hi everyone, I hope you are doing fine. Summer is just around the corner and that means that the bikini season is ready for kick-off. With it, our bodies need to be in top shape so we can enjoy a summer freed of worries.
I've been experimenting with some new ingredients so watch out, unlike my other posts, this recipe is not really low carb. However it's very healthy due to it's low fat and the addition of buckwheat flour. Buckwheat flour is gluten-free and so amazingly good for you! It has high quality protein, it's rich in iron, very high in antioxidants, it's filled with many minerals and vitamins such as zinc, copper, and niacin and it contains a high level of rutin, which is an anti-cancer agent. Can this get any better?
So for this recipe, I felt like making something a bit less sweet and these apple buckwheat scones are a great way to start of your day. They fill you up, they are delicious and they are also easy to take with you if you don't have time in the mornings for a sit down breakfast. You can keep them for up to three days.

 

Ingredients:

250 gr buckwheat flour
2 tbsp stevia
3 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
100 gr soft butter (not melted)
120 ml low-fat yogurt or cream cheese
2 eggs
1 big apple



Way to do it:


  1. Preheat the oven to 200°C and line a baking tray with baking paper.
  2. In a bowl, add flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and turn over with a spoon so they are combined.
  3. Add small chunks of butter. You don't want to melt the butter, otherwise your dough will not be 'crumbly' enough. It's okay if chunks of butter remain in the batter.
  4. Mix in the eggs and cream and turn around with the spoon. Gently add in the apple with your hands. I cut my apple in small cubes. The apple will add a gently touch of sweetness to the scone.
  5. Put the dough on your baking tray, lined with baking paper and press down into a circle of about 5cm height. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 200 degrees or until golden.

  6. They are so yummy! The buckwheat gives them a more nutty flavor than regular flour so that's why I didn't add macadamia nuts but of course, feel free to play around with the recipe as much as you like. Try adding blueberries or other kind of fruits to the mix. You won't be disappointed!

    You can eat them without anything extra with just a nice mug of coffee or tea, or, I smeared one with jam. Delicious!

    Enjoy
    xx

zaterdag 11 mei 2013

Litlle Coconut Bites

Hey my sweet-loving friends. I hope you have enjoyed my recipes so far, so here's a new one. At about 14g of carbs for the entire recipe, it's a god sent. These little coconut bites are lovely with a cup of tea or coffee and might just be that little easy solution to your sweet cravings.

 

Ingredients:

4 egg whites 
2 teaspoons liquid sweetener
150 g coconut
A few drops of vanilla essence

 


Way to do it:

  1. Seperate the egg whites from the yolks. We won't need the yolks so either you keep them for a later recipe or you throw them out.
  2. Add the sweetener to the whites and heat them up in a pan but don't let them boil. Stir all the while until it's one nice blend.
  3. Add the coconut to the mixture and keep stirring.
  4. Last, you add a few drops of vanilla essence, just for extra taste.

Gently, form little balls of the batter with your hand. Watch out, they are very fragile until you cook them.

Lay the balls out on a baking tray and spread them out. Don't make them too big. Bake at 180 C for about 10 minutes.

This recipe is very, and I mean VERY low in carb...and...in fat! So two for the price of one! Easy, only good coconut fat and very low carb...damn life can be good!



Enjoy
xx

Zucchini Noodles with Bacon

If I would have known how good this turned out to be, I would have exercised more restraint and waited to eat so I could take some pictures. If your low carb diet is making you miss a hot bowl of delicious pasta while you are curled up on the sofa, watching your favorite tv-show, then boy do I have good news for you! Is it that I've already forgotten what pasta tastes like that I'm loving this version so much? Or is it that I just simply love a delicious meal in which I don't have to say goodbye to taste to let in good nutrients? It's a simple recipe, as fast as any pasta but it's way healthier and it definitely fills you up. The combinations are endless and so is my love for the wonderful zucchini!

 

Ingredients:

1 medium sized zucchini
Half an onion
Half a yellow bell pepper
100 ml tomato sauce
100 gr bacon cubes

Optional: some mozzarella for taste

Way to do it:

  1. Peel your zucchini and chop off both ends. With a slicer, slice thin strips. Turn the zucchini around as you go for even strips. Cut the strips into thin 'spaghetti' strands. Stop slicing once you get to the middle of the zucchini where the seeds are and just use your knife to cut the center into small pieces. On this blog, we don't waste any zucchini!
  2. I used a wok but you can use any kind of big frying pan. Don't add butter, you can fry the bacon in it's own fat.
  3. Add the onion and bell pepper and fry until the bacon becomes crispy and the onions start coloring.
  4. Add the cut up center of the zucchini and fry some more. This would be the perfect time for seasoning, but since the bacon already has such a strong taste, I didn't season mine.
  5. Then add in the zucchini strips and fry some more before you add the tomato sauce. Let the entire thing cook until the water has evaporated and your sauce sticks to your 'noodles'.

  6. Put in a bowl, top with some mozzarella,get comfortable on the couch and dig in!

    And now, once you know how to do it, you can make this dish with scampi, fish, chicken, minced meat... Basically, anything you would plop on your noodles, you can plop on this wonderful zucchini alternative.

    Enjoy
    xx

donderdag 9 mei 2013

Icetray Chocolate Base Cheesecakes

A low carb treat for those warm summer days you can make in about 5 minutes? It must be magic. Put your ice cube tray to good use and make your own ice bon-bons. You can substitute the Greek yogurt for cream cheese, but it's basically the same. I made mine using Alpro Soya plain yogurt because I love the taste. You can make these with any yogurt or cream cheese you like. Play around with taste and you'll always have a great outcome.



What's great about this also, is that you can make small sizes. So make a tray with yogurt, make one with vanilla pudding... the choices are endless!

Ingredients:

125 ml non-fat plain Greek yogurt or Alpro Soya Plain yogurt
1 teaspoon liquid artificial sweetener
60 g dark chocolate

Way to do it:

  1. Blend the yogurt and sweetener and set aside.
  2. Gently melt your chocolate in the microwave or be a real chef and do it au bain marie.
  3. Coat a pre-chilled, clean ice cube tray with some vegetable oil. Let the excess drain out.
  4. Using a spoon pour the chocolate into each ice cube mold and make sure to fully coat the bottom using your spoon.
  5. Fill each ice cube mold with the yogurt filling.
  6. Top with a dollop of chocolate.
  7. Place in the freezer for 2-3 hours.



To eat, remove from freezer and then, gently twisting the ice cube tray, remove as you would an ice cubes. Eat immediately.



Depending on which ingredients you use, these babies are so low in carb that feeling guilty is not necessary. Mine come out to not even 1 carb per cube.

I hope you like them and let me know what you think!

Enjoy
xx

woensdag 1 mei 2013

Zucchinin With Minced Meat in the Oven

I fell in love with my oven ever since I started low carbing. It's amazing what you can do with him. I've baked cookies, pies, cakes and tons of main dishes that keep my hunger at bay. Now, it's time for a zucchini lasagna with minced meat, topped with some peppers and buffalo mozzarella. I know, a big moment because this is my first main dish I post here. It's just too good to not share it. It's an easy recipe, hardly no preparing so it's great for those days when you just wanna relax but still enjoy good and healthy food.

Ingredients:

170 g minced meat (I used a mix of beef and pork)
1 garlic clove
1 medium onion
120 ml of your favorite tomato sauce
1 green bell pepper
1 large zucchini
50 g buffalo milk mozzarella cheese
1 small chili pepper

Way to do it:

  • Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
  • Peel the zucchini and with a sharp knife, slice in long, thin slices. Salt the slices to get rid of excess water. Also cut up your green bell pepper in small cubes.
  • In a pan, fry chopped onions, meat and the garlic. When they are done, add the tomato sauce and let it cook until all the flavors are mixed. Season as you like. I seasoned with a special mix for meat.
  • Pat the zucchini slices dry with a clean towel and take an oven dish.
  • Start assembling your lasagna. Place some sauce at the bottom and layer the zucchini over it. Over the zucchini comes the meat and the sauce and the green bell pepper cubes. Add another layer of zucchini and again top with sauce and bell peppers. Continue until your ingredients run out.
  • Top the entire dish with the chopped up chilli pepper for added flavor and place thin slices of mozzarella on the top.
  • Bake in the oven at 2000 degrees C for 25 minute Turn on the grill to turn the cheese brown for the last 5 minutes.


  • Enjoy
    Xx

    zondag 24 maart 2013

    Amazing Low Carb Waffles

    Ingredients:

    3 tbsp melted butter
    2 large eggs
    a pinch of salt
    A teaspoon baking powder
    50gr coconut flour
    50gr almond flour
    250 gr cream cheese
    2 tbsp sweetner (or to your taste)


    Way to do it:


  • Take the cream cheese and add the sweetener to your liking. I used about 2 tablespoons. The sweeter you make the chese, the sweeter your waffle will be.
  • Mix in the melted butter and whisk until smooth
  • Add the eggs and mix well.
  • Then you add both flours and the baking powder with the salt.

  • Grease your waffle iron with some left-over melted butter but not too much. Then bake your waffles. Spread out the batter to make sure the entire area is covered. The waffles need to bake longer than regular waffles do so have patience and check once in a while to see if they are done. I have quite a bad waffle iron so mine didn't cook regularly on both sides, but they are still so yummy!
    Also be careful when you take them out. The waffles are very fragile when hot. Especially when they are under-cooked. Transfer to a plate and let cool.


    I Hope you enjoy them as much as I did and working with the cream cheese gave me some great ideas. Next up, cream cheese cookies!


    See you soon,
    Enjoy
    Xx

    Ps: Feel free to adapt the recipe. I haven't tried it myself but I think that a few teaspoons of cocoa powder would make for some excellent chocolate waffles. Or leave out the sweetener for a waffle you can top with cheese.