Berry Smoothie

Who doesn't love to wake up in the morning to a yummy smoothie? I do at least. There is just some kind of freshness over it, that makes the whole day better. This smoothie I used almond milk and a some greek yogurt to add some protein also don't forget those healthy green leafs, you won't even taste them, and they're super good for you! My only sweetener is from the fruit and berries, natures own beauty if you ask me.

Ingredients:
1 peeled orange
1 banana
1 cup almond milk
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
1 cup mixed berries
A handful spinach
1 cup ice cubes

Directions:
Mix all ingredients in a blender. Pour into 4 glasses, and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Chia Seed Pudding

So we all know the famous super food Chia Seeds, which is so super popular right now, because it's supposed to be super healthy, so of course I had to try it, and post a recipe for you guys. The good think about chia seeds is that they don't really taste like anything and just kind of absorb the taste of whatever you mix them with, so basically you could just mix them with whatever you like, and there you go.
What chia seeds do, is they absorb the liquid from what you mix them with, and then it turns into this pudding kinda. The consistency can be a little weird in the beginning, but once you get used to it, it can actually be quite delicious.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp chia seeds
1/2 cup almond milk
1 tbsp peanut butter
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa

Directions:
Mix almond milk, peanut butter, and cocoa in a bowl, and make sure to stir until all the peanut butter and cocoa is mixed into the milk. Add the chia seeds, and let it sit for at least half an hour. Preferably until next day, stirring occasionally to make sure the seeds doesn't stick together.

Enjoy!

Paleo Cashew Chicken

This recipe was super fast and easy to make, and it tasted way good, and there wasn't a gram salt in it surprisingly enough, because of the soy sauce with is very salty, but gives a really good flavor to the chicken. I choose to serve it with a salad w/ balsamic vinegar dressing, and quinoa. Some people doesn't consider quinoa strict paleo, but to be honest don't I think it really matters. Technically quinoa is a seed, not a grain, so it should fit into the paleo diet, even though it has some of the same benefits (or harmfulness if you will).

Ingredients:

2 lbs chicken breast
1/4 cup coconut Flour

1/2 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp ketchup
1 Tbsp coconut crystals

1/2 tsp stevia
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 cup cashews

Directions:

Combine flour and pepper in large Ziploc bag. Add chicken. Shake to coat with flour mixture.

Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Brown chicken about 2 minutes on each side. 

Place chicken in slow cooker. Combine soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, sugar, garlic, ginger, and pepper flakes in small bowl; pour over chicken.

Cook on LOW for 3 to 4 hours. Add cashews and stir.

Homemade Cookie Dough Ice Cream

Was I the only one with cravings tonight?? Cookies, Ice Cream... Mmm... But how do we combine these two things? Let's just make an edible cookie dough and mix it with some vanilla bean ice cream, and you have the most delicious treat in the world. No exceptions. Most delicious. 

So this was what me and my host sister ended up making, hehe. 

Ingredients:

1 stick butter, softened 

3/4 cups brown sugar 

2 tsp vanilla 

1/2 tsp salt 

1 cup flour 

2 tbsp milk 

3/4 cup chocolate chips 

Vanilla bean ice cream (optional)

Directions:

With your mixer, cream together butter and brown sugar. Add in vanilla and salt and mix. Add in flour. The mixture is going to be crumbly at this point. Add in 2 tablespoons of milk and mix. Now the dough will look like the cookie dough you’re used to seeing. Fold in the chocolate chips. 

Just a warning, even though the dough doesn't have eggs in it, and it sounds perfectly safe to eat, just be careful, because unbaked flour can be dangerous for you do eat as well.

If you want the ice cream version, go ahead and make small balls of the cookie dough and mix in some vanilla bean ice cream, and you will have pure deliciousness.

Enjoy!

Lemon-Raspberry Cups

Having cravings for lemon-raspberry cake? Then you should really try this clean version of a raspberry-lemon pie. Made with a crust of almond meal instead of flour, and made in a cup instead of a pan. These would be considered both paleo and low carb, but are still super yummy.

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 1/2 cup almond meal

1/2 cup finely chopped pecan nuts

2-3 tbsp melted coconut oil

3 tbsp honey

1/2 tsp vanilla

pinch of salt

Filling:

3 eggs

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup honey

2 tbsp melted coconut oil

About 1/2 cup raspberry jam

Directions:

Chop pecan nuts, and mix with almond meal, coconut oil, honey, vanilla, and salt. Fill in a small muffin pan, so it's shaped as a little cup with space for the filling in the middle. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. 

Make the lemon custard by whisking eggs. Then add lemon juice and honey and heat up over medium high temperature on the stove. Slowly add the coconut oil. When the mixture starts to harden  and feel like a cream, hurry and remove from the heat and keep stirring with a spoon. 

Fill about half a teaspoon of raspberry jam in each cup, and top with lemon custard. 

Enjoy!

Tropical Banana Popsicles

Mmm, who doesn't love popsicles? An easy way to avoid the store-bought one which is often filled with sugar and artificial flavors etc, then why not just make your own? It is so easy, and taste much better than the store bought one, plus you can control the ingredients. Let's get started!

Ingredients:

1 medium ripe banana

1 can fruit cocktail

1 cup plain greek yogurt

1/2 cup almond milk

1 tbsp honey or other sweetener (optional)

Directions:

Blend all ingredients in a blender and pour into popsicle molds. Freeze over night.

Enjoy!

Gingerbread Latte

One thing that I think is pretty funny is that I've learned to like coffee since I came to Utah, the only place in the world probably where drinking coffee isn't the norm, haha. Maybe that's why I've started to like it, because you don't really have access to it as much. I still don't like the plain brewed coffee, but i love Cafe Latte and other things with coffee flavor, so here is one of my favorite recipes for cafe latte.

Ingredients:
1 cup almond milk
1/2 tsp dried ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp molasses
1/2 cup fresh brewed coffee

Directions:
Mix almond milk, ginger, cinnamon, and molasses and heat up in a microwave for about 1,5 minute. Make the coffee, and mix with almond milk.

 Enjoy!

Tomato Egg Bowl

So the other night me and my host siblings were home alone, and we were gonna have some dinner. I was kinda craving eggs and salsa, but then I saw this recipe on pinterest that just looked really good, so I decided to give it a try, of course adjusting it a little bit as I always do...

Ingredients:
1/4 cup tomato sauce
2 eggs
Shredded cheese (optional)

Directions:
Put tomato sauce in a microwave save bowl and crack the eggs over the sauce. Heat in microwave for about 2 minutes or until eggs are cooked. Top with shredded cheese, if desired.

 Sorry the picture doesn't look very appetizing, but it is very delicious, I promise!

Pancakes w/ Homemade Blueberry Syrup

This morning my sweet host sister was just craving crepes like crazy, so I made her some crepes. A thing I really love on my crepes is fruit, so I decided to make my own blueberry sauce without all the sugar, and it was delicious!

Crepes

Ingredients:
125 g flour
2 eggs
3 dl milk
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Beat eggs, milk, and oil and add flour and vanilla. Fry on a pan sprayed with oil.


Blueberry syrup

Ingredients:
1 cup blueberries
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp sugar substitute (splenda, stevia etc)
1 tsp potato flour

Directions:
Heat blueberries and water up in a pot. When simmering add the sugar. Let it simmer on medium heat for about 10 minutes. Add the potato flour to thicken the syrup if needed. Let it cool down, and serve over your fresh made crepes.

 Enjoy!

Homemade Ravioli with Pesto

I've been wanting to make my own homemade ravioli for a while, and I finally found a recipe that looked really good, and used whole wheat flour, so I decided to try it out. It was kinda tricky to roll the dough out and make the raviolis, but in the end it turned out really good, and it was a pretty fun challenge I have to say. 
After cooking the raviolis, I stirred them in some basil pesto as a sauce, and fried some chicken and broccoli, and tomato and mushrooms.

Ravioli

Ingredients:
2 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 beaten eggs
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon olive oil

Filling:
1 cup ricotta cheese
Minched garlic
Salt and Pepper

Directions:
Mix flour and salt in a bowl, and put on table, making a little "pit" in the middle. Beat eggs in separate bowl, and pour into the hole in the flour mixture. Add water and oil. 

Stir well with your fingers, until all flour is combined with the eggs. Knead very well. 

Let it sit till the day after. 

Filling:
Minch garlic and combine with cheese and salt and pepper.

Make raviolis by taking a small piece of the dough at a time, and roll on a floured table. Cut in "slices" and put a little piece of the cheese filling on each. Sample the pieces, using a little bit of egg as glue. 

Cook for 15 minutes in boiling water.

Enjoy!

Buckwheat Pancakes w/ bananas

Mmm who doesn't love pancakes in the morning? I do. And I do even more, when I can eat them without the guilt! These pancakes are made with buckwheat and coconut flour, banana and maple syrup are used as sweetener instead of sugar.

Ingredients:
3 eggs
2 bananas
1 cup buckwheat flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 1/2 cup coconut milk
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp baking soda

Directions:
Beat the bananas and eggs together and mix with all other ingredients. Make pancakes in whatever shape or size you want. 
Eat with a blueberry syrup or fresh fruit or yogurt. Whatever you like on your pancakes!

I used some very ripe bananas. Even though they looked very black on the peel, they were totally perfect on the inside, and amazing for baking, because they were extra sweet.

Enjoy!

Cake Decorating

So today we had the Sweethearts Dance at my high school, and we had in my group agreed on cooking food together as a part of the date. Because my host mom has been in the wedding cake business for a lot of years she promised me to teach me some cool skills with decorating and just making pretty cakes etc. So I thought I wanted to make us a nice desert for the dinner party, and they actually turned out really good, and they were a ton of fun to make!

The cake was just made out of a normal box of vanilla cake, I just added a little bit of raspberry jam. The frosting is also just a normal creme cheese, butter, and powdered sugar with a little bit of raspberry jam as well.

The decorating is made of chocolate gum paste, and normal white gum paste.

Oatmeal w/ apples and cinnamon

This morning I was just craving oatmeal like a crazy person, and we had some very ripe bananas and apples that was about time to get used, so I took advantage of that and made this amazing apple-cinnamon oatmeal. Oatmeal is one of my favorite things in the morning, because it gives you a lot of energy and healthy fibers which you need, and it also makes you feel full longer, which is very convenient when you won't get any food till 6 hours later in the school time!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup steel cut oats
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup soy milk
2 cups water
1 banana
1 apple
1 tbsp cinnamon
handful almonds

Directions:
Cook steel cut oats in water over medium heat. When cooked for about 15 minutes add the rolled oats and milk. Continue cooking until it has reached the right consistency. Mash banana and cut apple into small pieces. Add banana, apple, and cinnamon to the oatmeal. Remove from heat and add chopped almonds. Store in air tight container in fridge till the day after for the steel cut oats to really get fully absorbed.
Reheat in microwave the day after (or whenever you are having it) and add a little more milk, if desired. 

Enjoy!

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Banana Sandwich

Wow these things has a long name! But they're awesome! And they're so easy to make! And they're healthy too! You can't help but love them. And once you try them, you get addicted, so I warn you!

Ingredients:
2 bananas
Peanut butter - I used crunchy, because that's my favorite, but creamy would also work!
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or any other kind of chocolate covering you would like)

Directions:
Cut bananas into small slices and make little sandwiches with peanut butter in between. Stick on a tooth pick. Melt the chocolate in the microwave and dip bananas into the chocolate. Some choose to cover them completely. I just did it on one side.
Place on a plate and freeze until the chocolate had hardened. I like to store them in the freezer and eat them kind of like a popsicle. You can also just store in fridge, and they're a little easier to eat.

Enjoy!

Sweet Hearts

After making eggnog the other night, we had some egg whites leftover, so I decided to make some marengs cookies out of them. It's pretty much the simplest thing in the world, and you only need two ingredients for the base recipe. I decided to add some raspberry jam, to give it a little flavor though.

Ingredients:
4 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
Raspberry jam (optional)

Directions:
Whisk the egg whites and gradually add the sugar. When it has a stiff consistency go ahead and stir in the jam with a rubber spatula, and fill in a pastry bag. Make little cookies in any shape you want. I made little heats, because it's valentines day soon :)

Enjoy!