Food Friday: Zucchini x Feta-Quiche

Whenever I'm having a lot of people coming over, I want to make something delicious and easy to eat. Today, I was thinking about a delicious quiche and got inspired (once again) by the recipe platform Chefkoch.de. As you know, I always do these recipes differently, so see how it worked :) If you like, make the original one, I assume that's super delicious, too!

Ingredients:
For the dough:
150g Whole-grain flour, some parmesan, half a teaspoon herb salt, 50g butter (or rather less, substitute with soy milk), one egg, fresh herbs.

For the topping:
2 Zucchinis, 2 eggs, 200g feta cheese, 50g seeds (pumpkin, sunflower), some parmesan (if you like), 50g sour cream, some oil.

1. Mix up all the ingredients for the dough and let it sit for half an hour in your refridgerator. Meanwhile you can cut up the zucchini in small pieces and heat it up with some oil, salt and pepper on your pan. Let the zucchini cool down.

2. After that half an hour take out the dough and press it onto your baking dish, let it bake at 175°C (350°F) for about 20 minutes. While the dough is baking you can mix up the toppings: Cut up the cheese into small cubes, mix with the other ingredients and the zucchini. 

3. Fill up your dough with the topping until everything is evenly spread. Put in the oven for another 30minutes until golden-brown. 

Have it with some raw vegetables like a salad and enjoy with friends and family :) Since this was not 'my'-recipe, I'm giving a big thanks for all the chefkoch.de-lovers who still inspire me. This is just a 'healthier'-version ;-)

Food Friday: Little Tibet Berlin

 

Today, I'm presenting you a short restaurant review of Berlin's Little Tibet. How come? Well, I thought that once in a while I would like to show you my favorite eat-outs and give you new ideas where to go. So, whenever there's no recipe on fridays, there will be an 'Eat-Out'-Review :) Additonally I've thought that adding it all up, I'd have 52 recipes a year if I post every friday, a bit too much right? Yes! Sooner or later I'd start having a separate blog for just my recipes =D Haha, who knows.. 

When entering the restaurant you'll realize that it's really calm and relaxing, making you feel immediately content. Unfortunately I couldn't take pictures of the interior, but there are photographs of Tibet all over the rooms and traditional Asian furniture in the colours red and brown. It's really cozy in there and the waitresses were super friendly, wearing an unusal long gown for work.

 

As drinks we've had a Mango Lassi (mangojuice x yogurt drink) and a Butter Tea (tea x milk x salty butter), which was really interesting but not my taste. My friend liked it a lot. Try it! As starters we've had the plate of Momo Nazom, mixed steamed and fried dumplings filled with spinach x cheese, chicken x onion and beef x onion on a salad. These dumplings were really delicious, reminded me of the ones from Joe's Shanghai place in NYC, and really filling, so sharing recommended ;-)

As main courses we've had the Gadhen Dä-Thuk (a curry mixed with beef, vegetables and rice, a speciality from Gadhen monastery in Tibet) and Shaptak Shoko (Wok-fried beef and vegetables, served with a special potatoe recipe). The second one was served with additional sticky rice and both were really good. The meals are different to Chinese food and I really liked the curry sauce of the first one and the potatoes of the second one. Of course there are vegetarian meals, too and I can assure you I'll be there more often to try out more! ;-)

So, whenever you're in Berlin, it's located on the Gneisenaustraße, go there and taste yourself, definitely worth it! The atmosphere, the kind waitresses and this rich Tibetan food, very appealing to me! 

Little Tibet, Gneisenaustr. 6a, 10691 Berlin

Food Friday: Sweet Pumpkin Slices x Greens

 

More Pumpkin please :) 

Just found another wonderful recipe with pumpkin in my '2012 pictures of food-archive' and it was inspired by the recipe-platform chefkoch.de, there it was the pumpkin salad with arugula and goat cheese. 

One year later, I've tried to remember the recipe, but couldn't find it until today and again, transformed it since we don't have maple syrup in the house. For this fall salad with sweet'n'hearty pumpkin slices and honey-marinade you'll need:

Ingredients:

Hokkaido pumpkin, preferably arugula salad or any other green salad (romaine lettuce), tomatoes, cucumber, if you like add some baked vegetables like zucchini and eggplants.

Cut up the pumpkin into 1-2cm thin slices and preheat the oven at about 220°C (390°F). Put the slices on a baking sheet and leave it in the oven for about 10minutes. After that pull out the pumpkin, spread on the pumpkin-marinade and put it back in the oven for another 10minutes. 

For the pumpkin-marinade:

Mix up four tablespoons honey with one tablespoon olive oil until a liquid consistency is reached.

The honey and oil should caramelize on the pumpkin while the vegetable is cooking. Cut up the lettuce, cuke, tomatoes and prepare the salad. 

If you like: Spread on some olive oil, salt and pepper on the zucchini and eggplants, put in the oven and bake for about 10minutes until it's soft enough. What about feta cheese as well? :) Garnish with nuts'n'seeds!

At the end, just have your salad, add your desired dressing and have the pumpkin slices, baked vegetables and cheese on top. The sweet pumpkin will give the salty-salad a different twist. Just try it out and let me know how you like it! My friends and I loved this combination ♥

Food Friday: Green Cabbage x Ginger Soup

Oh my! I think Autumn time means Soup time for me as well since I'm all into it. Throw at me some vegetables, I'll make soup out of it with my super blender :) This time it isn't pumpkin but the bit smaller brother Cabbage, try this out and tell me what you think!

Ingredients (1 portion):

Coconut oil, ginger, one onion, half a turnip cabbage, vegetable broth, green herbs like cilantro and parsley.

Cut up all the vegetables into small pieces or squares, heat up three teaspoons of coconut oil (love it!!!) with the onion. Add the cabbage and the ginger, let it steam for like 5 minutes and then add two cups of vegetable broth. Let it simmer for about 20 minutes until the turnip is smooth. Pull out your blender and mix it all up until your desired consistency is reached. Add salt and pepper how you'd prefer it and garnish the soup with herbs, ginger, almonds and thin turnip slices.

Yes, again coconut oil, I just love the taste of it in any food and I have to say that I didn't even season my soup since the herbs and the broth were altogether salty enough. Loved it and will definitely try out more green soups :) What about broccoli or zucchini? Have fun cooking and bon appétit!

Food Friday: Easy-Peasy Pumpkin Soup

Autumn-Time is Pumpkin-Time!!! 

I'm pretty glad about the fact that the pumpkin is back =D Hell yeah, I was super excited to get my first one this year. I have to say that I haven't found out about pumpkins as a super vegetable since last autumn when a dad of a very good friend made some soup out of it. I became totally addicted and since then I'd do anything with it. Some people do not like pumpkins, I'm asking why??? but I'm sure I can change your tastebuds ;-)

For this recipe you'll need:

A hokkaido pumpkin,

some carrots, onions, tomatoes, ginger, 

vegetable broth and coconut oil (any other oil works as well). 

For a small pot serving 2 it'd be:

Half a hokkaido pumpkin, one and a half carrots, two onions, one tomatoe, a bit of ginger.

Start cutting up everything into small cubes and do three teaspoons of coconut oil in a pot, add onions, carrots and pumpkin. Heat up your pot and add two cups of hot water mixed with two tablespoons vegetable broth. Let it simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes until the carrots and pumpkin are soft. Take your blender and mash up the vegetables, do it as you prefer, for example I like my soup more chunky and leave some vegetable pieces. If you like it more smotth, add water or coconut/soy milk. Add the tomatoe and ginger pieces, add salt, pepper, herbs and taste it. Blend more if you prefer. Mix and heat it up again.

Et voilá, that's it :) Have some rice or bread with it. I've also added some boiled shrimps for a more Asian soup :)

My Food-Tip: Why Coconut Oil? Coconut works wonder with pumpkin and you'll taste the difference using coconut oil. 

Food Friday: Chocolate Chia Pudding

For today's recipe I've got inspired, once again, by one of my favorite American Health Sources Mind Body Green and they showed a chocolate chia pudding recipe and a strawberry version. Of course I didn't really follow the instructions and just made mine up :)

Ingredients:

Chia seeds,

soy milk or other milk,

almonds or nuts,

cocoa powder,

some cinnamon and honey.

Mix two cups of soy milk with two to three tablespoons chia seeds, do one tablespoon of cocoa and stir until the colour of the milk is even. 

Shred one cup of almonds and stir into the chia-soy-cocoa mixture, let the bowl sit in the refridgerator for at least one hour. The mixture will thicken and the longer you will let it sit, the thicker it will be. Have some honey, cinnamon and fruits with it :) 

Enjoy it as a super healthy desert after dinner or let it sit until the next day and have it as a morning breakfast with frozen or fresh fruits :) Opening up your refridgerator you will find a super duper puddingy bowl of chia and chocolate!

Oh and do the double or triple amount of it if you want to share it with others :) 

My Food-Tip: Try to use it up as fast as possible, the combination with chocolate don't last long.

Food Friday: Raw Salad x Apples x Flaxseed Oil

Getting my new superfood Flaxseed Oil I've just wanted to try it out by myself and add it with anything, starting with oatmeal and now raw salads. Well, this is more of a leftover recipe, but I totally like it :) Do you eat broccoli raw? No? Try it, I obviously did try it out and since then like it a lot!

Ingredients:

any leftover vegetable like

broccoli, carrots, red peppers, cucumbers, a tomatoe and an apple or any other fruit :)

Cut up the vegetables into small pieces and mix everything! Adding some fruit, like an apple will bring a different taste into your normal salads and sometimes I like to have a twist for my taste buds. I also like to mix up 'dry' or 'crunchy' vegetables with ones which are more juicy, for example mixing carrots, broccoli with avocado and mango, you won't need a special dressing then. Oh, check out the Mango-Salad!

Have some carbs with it, I've added some leftover spelt. How come spelt? Found it in the supermarket, usually use it to make bread, but wanted to try it out and see, if one can actually substitute it with regular rice or pasta. Yes, you can! Just do one cup spelt with three cups 'uncooked' water and let it sit for a day, it will become soft and eatable.

Add your superfoods like chia seeds and flaxseed oil :) Season with some salt and herbs and you will have a fresh and delicious salad with a good dose of vitamins.

Food-Tip: Always, always add some avocado if you like it :)

Watch out: Superfood Flaxseed Oil

When I was at my friend's house whose mum is a health advisor, she gave me some flaxseed oil to try. Of course I knew about flax seeds and I'd always add it into my oatmeal, but the oil of it? Made me curisous! She told me to have a spoon. Yes, pure oil =D At first, I was like.. okay, well, why not. I mean, I'd sometimes do it with coconut oil but not with like.. vegetable oil? Anyways, I've then added it to my oatmeal and it didn't really taste differently, but eaten pure I'd say that it has a special taste, not bad, just rich and significant.

Reading more and doing some research about this special oil, which contains 50% of omega-3-fatty acids, convinced me to buy it and add it into my everyday foods. So, before posting tomorrow's food friday recipe I've just wanted to tell you some good-to-know-facts about this superfood. 

Omega-3-Flaxseed oil comes from the Flaxseed plant and is one of the healthiest oils in the world. The flaxseed plant is growing in my area for many, many years and people would trade with it. Nowadays people make oil out of the plants through decating and studies found out that it has a lot of health benefits:

- contains about 50% unsaturated fats 

- antioxidant effects

- improves concentration

- may help with blood pressure, diabetes, eye and heart diseases

- helps fighting cancer

- anti-inflammatory and so on...

If you want to read more about flaxseed oil, follow this link to the Medical Center of the University of Maryland or read this post about the health benefits by the Global Healing Center. 

I am taking flaxseed oil for more than a week now and I don't know if it's the oil, but I do feel healthier, also because me adding more of chia seeds into my everyday foods and trying to get back on track ;-) So, where did I get this? Mine is from Agriluna, here you will find it and will get your own dose of plant-based goody-fats :) 

Oh and be aware that you have to keep it in your refridgerator, add it to freshly made salads, your muesli, oatmeal or just have a spoon ;-) No heating up or cooking! Sooner or later I'll post another food-statement of myself because for now, I'm heading more into 'vegetarian' and 'raw' food :)

Best of Berlin: Food

Tonight I'm skipping the Food Friday recipe, instead you get a few impressions of what I've eaten during my three month internship in Berlin :) There are more 'Best of Berlins' to come, so enjoy! xx

Food Friday: Vietnamese Pho Ga

The other day some friends have asked me for a traditional Vietnamese dish and they heard a lot about the typical Pho Ga. This is actually one of my favorites from my mom's, so it is really hard for me to cook the same one. Moreover my friends wanted me to do it for breakfast one day.  So, there I was, looking for Asian ingredients in Berlin, which were super easy to get. Just google Asian food market; I went to Mekong Asian Market at Hackescher Markt to get my stuff.

Ingredients:

Cilantro, spring onions,

Vermicelli noodles or rice noodles,

if you use meat: beef or chicken, and for the broth: Pho powder or mixture.

fish sauce, sriracha chili sauce.

Soy bean sprouts are optional. 

For the broth:

Food Friday: Vegetable Pasta x a hint of Garlic

When I was in the U.S. and we were super hungry and needed something very fast, we would do this kind of recipe. Easy peasy, fast and delicious.The kids would love it and it was pretty healthy I guess, since you can add any vegetable you like as well as a salad and some chicken. Have whole grain pasta instead of the usual ones, you will eat less and feel fuller soon.

Ingredients:

Whole grain pasta.

Half an onion, two garlic cloves,

fresh and dried tomatoes, some leeks,

one zucchini, red and green pepper, parsley

just about any kind of vegetable you like.

This was more of a leftover dinner, since these vegetables were the ones I had left. Start with cooking the pasta, since they'd need 8 -10minutes. Cut up the vegetables into small pieces. Put some oil in the pan, stir-fry the onion, tomatoes and one garlic clove.  

Tip: If you're cutting the garlic into big pieces, it won't taste as much, but if you cut it up very tiny and small, the garlic flavor will come out. So, do it as you like, I've cut it up into big slices.

Then add the vegetables, start with zucchini and add the peppers, stir until cooked, put the heat on low. Season with herbs, salt and pepper, add the dried tomatoes. Stir and then add some pasta, mix everything, taste and flavour it. Let it heat up for about 2-5 minutes and then you're done :)

Have some green salad with fruits, and if you like, some protein like stir-fried chicken. I always do chicken very light, until they are cooked instead of brown-fried. Stir the chicken with oil and some seeds, season with pepper, salt and chili pepper. 

Garnish everything with cut up parsley and enjoy your meal!!! :)

Staying healthy x my food routines

How is this post going to be? Let's see.

Sometimes, when you're busy and exhausted, being tired all day and don't have time to think about a recipe or you just don't want to cook, anyone tends to just have a snack or eat something fast. And yes, I have to admit that I haven't worked out since two weeks now (skating is no workout for me, it's more like a pleasure) and I do feel kind of guilty, but I am not saying that I don't have time. 

I honestly don't like it when people say that they don't have enough time for something because if it's important they'd make time. Anyways, my point is that if I do not workout, I have other priorities like seeing friends and doing activities like skating, cooking, visiting the baltic seas since I'm going to leave Berlin in two weeks :( :( 

Still, the thing is you can actually stay healthy when you are aware of what you eat. I just want to give you some tips to stay healthy when your calender is about to explode. And no, there's no calorie-counting or making-oneself crazy about food choices. But I guess, that's everyone's own choice if you want to nourish your body with fuel or rather with a short sugar-spike.

Breakfast: Start your day with carbs and fruits, be it a fruit salad with some bread and cheese, an egg-omelette with a bagel or oatmeal topped with sliced fruits. Load up on carbs, prefer whole-grain and oats. No processed food at all.

Lunch: And then usually I'd have some fruit between breakfast and lunch again, just to have something fresh and enough sugar for the day. For lunch I often have a whole-grain sandwich with protein, salmon or cheese. Spread some vegetable spread on it or have a salad and bread. I'd always try to have some carbs, raw vegetables and protein.

Afternoon-Snack: Working or being at college all day, I usually have a down-turn around 3 to 5pm, in which I just want to sleep or rest a bit. There's no way out but having an afternoon snack since power-napping doesn't really work with me. Try it out, maybe it does work for you? It's recommended to be 20 to 30 minutes long. As an afternoon snack I'd have some fruit again, almonds, dark chocolate, green tea or self-made granola bars.

Dinner: For dinner I usually stay low-carb. Yes, I have to admit that I try not to eat carbs at all for dinner. It's not a diet for me, because I still eat carbs now and then but since living in the U.S. I've noticed that having no carbs at night I do not feel full as much so that I sleep better. Furthermore eating low-carb at night I can maintain my weight and I think it's reasonable that you do not need carbs at night anymore, since you're heading to bed afterwards. 

Oh boy, this is another food post I guess but I think you guys should know what my food habits are, you might question some of my recipe-posts. So, yeah, these are just a few tips to stay healthy and if you try it out, you might feel better, too. Be aware that I'm not saying this will work out for everyone of us and that this is the best to follow. It works for me, so try things out and see what works best for you :) We're all different and therefore have different needs and intentions. Maybe you're an athlete and you need tons of carbs, so go ahead, your body will thank you for ;-) Some of my friends, which have been influenced a bit by me, said that they feel much better and their skin is becoming better from day to day. I sincerely believe that you can eat your way to a healthy body, skin, appearance and will gain more benefits from it.

Start with healthy food shopping. And YES, I definitely indulge in some ice-cream, chocolate bars and pizza now and then, too. My mantra is: Go for 80% healthy, clean and raw and then 20% anything you're craving for (mine would be ice-cream in the summer). Many have asked me: Aren't you lusting for some cheese cake or chips and nutella sometimes? My answer: No, I think it's because I try to eat as clean as possible so that my body does not crave for artificial sugars and so on. Nevertheless, if there's a party or a BBQ, I definitely eat, lots, but do not feel guilty at all since I'm eating clean most of the time.

And never forget: Always have fun by doing it. If you do not want to make small changes in your food habits, then don't. This is a post for everyone who likes to experiment!

Click for more food pictures I've taken of my eats in the past, just found them on my computer...

Food Friday: Chili con Carne

This time the recipe is not as creative as usual, but this here was one of my favorites back in the U.S. I think it's one of the most easiest and you can hardly ruin it. Additionally it always reminds me of my life there, I mean it originated from the South of the States and I was the one always adding tons of chili sauce making everyone laugh. Well, it's called chili con carne, so it has to be hot, right? :) It's just super easy and fast to cook, you can bulk up on vegetables, beans and everyone likes it. And I'd say meat is optional here. 

Ingredients:
Onions, canned beans, corn,
any vegetable you like: zucchini, carrots, peppers, tomatoes.
Seasoning like salt, pepper and chili peppers, have some seeds. 

Start with heating up some onion and oil until they are golden. If you use meat, have some beef, stir-fry and season it with red pepper, chili and salt, when done, put it at the side. I wouldn't use oil stirring beef because it already has so much fat inside. 

So, vegetables I'd do seperatly, after stir-frying the onions, add zucchini until they are softer, then add the rest of the other vegetables like carrots, peppers and tomatoes. When cooking I always use the green peppers because I prefer the red ones for raw recipes like salads and stuff. Did you actually know that the green ones are just unripe peppers? Add the meat and mix everything together in a big sauce pan. The corn and the beans I'd add at last. Since you have the canned beans it gives you the needed broth for the chili. Now or later I'd add a lot of herbs, chili pepper and salt until it tastes desirable. Add some seeds or dried tomatoes for some spice. 

That's it I guess! Simple recipe and nobody will stay hungry :)
Have some rice, bread and a salad with it or have your chili as a dip with raw vegetables like I've did. 
Oh and sorry for the friday delay ;-)

Happy weekend!