vegan

Make the perfect Smoothie more filling

von

Doesn’t sound that good? Perfect Smoothie?

Self-made smoothies are a perfect breakfast for everyone who like to give yourself a treat.
A lot of people asked me a lot of questions about my smoothies. I was really surprised about the big interested in how I make my breakfast smoothies. So I am really happy to share my experiences with you.

Banana Strawberry Milkshake

The Top-Smoothie Questions from you:

  1. Do you get really replete by drinking a smoothie?
  2. What are the best ingredients for a perfect smoothie?
  3. What fruits are the best for making a smoothie?
  4. Can I really add vegetables or greens in my smoothie?
  5. What do you use to get a creamy smoothie?

1. Do you get really replete by drinking a smoothie?

Most of the people are really thinking drinking a smoothie can’t make you replete until lunch time. Sure, it depends on what you are use in sour smoothie. If you are only use water, a salad leaf and an apple you will never get replete until lunch time (about 4-5 hours). But if you add nuts, seeds, chia seeds or coconut milk you will get full for sure. I don’t calculate my smoothie on calories, I normally eat until my stomach said stop. But a friend of my calculate one smoothie from me and came to 500-600 calories per jar. So in this case I drink one big smoothie in the morning and eat normal lunch 4-5 hours later.

2. What are the best ingredients for a perfect smoothie?

If you like to keep you full for longer you need to add nuts or seeds to your smoothie as well. I prefer soaked cashew nuts because they have a light nutty taste. Oats or soaked buckwheat are also a great smoothie ingredient. Soaking the nuts, seeds, grains or buckwheat overnight makes them more digestible. If you like only to provide your body with amazing healthy vitamins and minerals you can also drink a “light” perfect smoothie (only water and some fruits or greens) here and there. My preference is to use a smoothie as a breakfast so my smoothies are really substantial. I try to bring a big variety in my smoothies during the week. Sometimes I only make fruit smoothies, sometimes I mix up some kale or spinach with a banana and mix it up. Most of the people who saw my Kale smoothie talking about it: “Kale in a smoothie? That couldn’t be delicious!” Trust me! It is. Because I don’t mix up ONLY KALE. It is the combination of kale, natural sweetener like dates, some fruits and milk. Why not use greens in a smoothie to get a big burst of vitamins and minerals to start in the day?

3. What fruits are the best for making a smoothie?

The biggest tip I read in the last years was to freeze bananas. Because it is so hard to have perfect ripe banana at home all the time. I freeze them peeled in cubes when they are on the best point. Pick them up directly from the freezer is such a benefit because the smoothies get cold after mixing. I also freeze kale to have it during all seasons at home. So bananas are really really the best fruit for a smoothie. I often mix up banana with other fruits. Banana makes a smoothie also more creamy as an apple. I also often use frozen berries which I combine with ingredients to make a smoothie creamy.

4. Can I really add vegetables or greens in my smoothie?

To use a smoothie to eat more vegetables during the day is such a great idea! I need to learn who to add greens and vegetables to get a smoothie I really like to drink. Because drinking a smoothie which taste like a zucchini is not my favorite. My perfect smoothie need to be sweet. So my trick is only to add some leafs or a piece of zucchini. You don’t taste it but you get all the healthy benefits. It works really good! Greens are the best source of secondary plant substances and chlorophyll which are so healthy for your body.

5. What do you use to get a creamy smoothie?

First of all: Don’t use to much liquid. Whatever you use! Don’t use to much! There are a few tricks to get a creamy perfect smoothie. First one is to soak nuts, seeds, grains or buckwheat overnight. Second is to use ripe bananas and third is to use nut milk instead of water. Fourthly is to add avocado because avocado is one of the creamiest fruit on the planet. And my last tip is to use a good blender to mix it up. I started with a good blender but since I have my Vitamix my smoothies are on the top of creaminess.

I hope my smoothie tips will help you to prepare your perfect smoothie my friends!

Here you find some of my favorite smoothie recipes:

Perfect Smoothie

Blueberry Amaranth Smoothie

Creamy Kale Detox Smoothie nab Perfect Smoothie

Creamy Kale Detox Smoothie

Kurkuma Cashew Smoothie NEU Perfect Smoothie

Turmeric Cashew Smoothie with Lemon

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The Breakfast Basis: Cashew Cream

von

I prepare my breakfast in the evening to have less stress in the morning very often. A light Cashew Cream is the base of my favorite breakfast variations. This cream is season independent. You can enjoy it in the summer months with cold fruits or in the winter months with baked banana or hot berry sauce. Whatever you want. The possibilities are amazing! You can store this cream up to 3 days in the fridge in a closed container.

For my it is always really special to discover new diet ideas like this Cashew Cream. You only can discover new ones when you release old habits. Sometimes it is really difficult to release them but it worth it. Trust me. Change is often a possibility to grow in your own way.

Healthy Nuts

Nut are a big component in my daily diet since years. Nuts have such a high nutrient content on a small size. You get lots of vitamins and minerals when you enjoy such a small amount of nuts a day. They are also really filling and a perfect ingredient to make you full for longer. This is really important for me because I’m a 4-times eater and don’t eat between breakfast and lunch. Cashewnuts are used very often in my kitchen. Not only for breakfasts. They are perfect for soups as well or smoothies because you get such an amazing creaminess by adding them. My absolutely favorite smoothie with Cashewnuts is this one: http://nutsandblueberries.com/turmeric-cashew-smoothie-with-lemon/

The fat rate of 40% in Cashewnuts is low by comparison with other nuts like Walnuts (60%). They also contains healthy high valuable protein, vitamin B and folate.

Fresh Fruits

I love to add cherries in my Cashew Cream. I’m so happy cherry season began here in Germany. They are perfect when they are really cold and fresh so take care to use them within a few days. To avoid an attack from bacteria keep the stalk. It protect the cherry.

Favorite Topping

One more high recommendation is use almond butter as a topping. Have you ever made your own one? It’s so easy and bring you to another level of enjoyment. Trust me! I eat it nearly every day. I use almond butter as topping on smoothies, smoothie bowls or simply eat it together with apple slices. I added the recipe as well if you like to try it out. Give it a try. Please!! You won’t be sorry about it. I make mine with ground vanilla and nothing more. You don’t need to add other sweetener because the almonds are sweet itself.

Cashew Cream (3)

Recipe
The Breakfast Basis: Cashew Cream

Serve 1

50g cashew nuts, soaked overnight
30g buckwheat, soaked overnight
2 dates
1 tsp ground vanilla
pinch of nut milk (I use my self-made walnut milk)

My favorite Topping
handful of fresh cherries
Almond Butter (Recipe below)

Instructions

  1. Rinse the cashew nuts in the morning
  2. Mix them together with the dates, the vanilla and a pinch of nut milk
  3. You can mix it completely or not if you prefer a crunchy structure

Cashew Cream (1)

Recipe
Vanilla Almond Butter

Serve 1 Jar

500g raw almonds
2 tsp ground vanilla

Instructions

  1. Add the almonds and vanilla in a high speed blender
  2. Mix it until you get a creamy nut butter
  3. The time dependds on how strong your blender is (I need 7-10 minutes with my Vitamix)

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Nutmilk vs Dairy Milk

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Nutmilk vs Dairy Milk – which one is more healthy?

A lot of people asked my why I stopped drinking dairy milk and started drinking nut milk instead. The most of the people who drinks dairy milk don’t know what it really means. Like me! I never know about the immoral aspects of drinking milk. Dairy milk was a big part of my diet. Since I change my consumption I feel so much better. Nobody need dairy milk in my opinion.

The first reason to stop drinking dairy milk was the animal abuse. I don’t like to support any animal abuse with drinking milk. Sure I never hurt a cow by myself by drinking milk but it feels like I hurt it by myself. I really felt bad after reading lots of animal reports about the housing conditions of conventional milk cows. I never know it! Did you know the calves are moved within a few hours after birth? Because we like to drink dairy milk?

The health facts of dairy milk are not that high as many people thinking. Did you know that many scientific studies have shown an assortment of detrimental health effects directly linked to milk consumption? The story about the health benefits has spread around the world based on the flawed belief that this calcium-rich drink is essential to support good overall health and bone health. But that isn’t true. I am sure you will find the same answers if you are starts to read more about the true health benefits of dairy milk. The industry are ruthless! They earn money because people like me don’t know about the truth.

Cows are intelligent and brisk animals. They suffer when they need to produce too much milk. They need to milk 50 Liters a day instead of the normal 8 Liter. You don’t need to be clever to recognize the animal abuse. Apart from this my heart is broken by recognizing the calves suffer. The calves are moved within a few hours after birth. That’s a shame. I feel co-responsible by drinking milk.

Nutmilk ist better. I experienced about the negative health aspects of drinking dairy milk. Here are some Facts:

• A lot of scientific studies have shown an assortment of detrimental health effects directly linked to dairy milk consumption
• Today’s milk is a processed food and not a natural product
• A lot of the vitamins get lost by pasteurizing the milk
• Antibiotics are used on many farms to treat infections. This Antibiotics remains in the dairy milk. Our body don’t need antibiotics.
• Dairy milk is often contaminated with lots of heavy metals and Dioxin.

Sure dairy milk also have some positive benefits. But a lot of negative ones. So why should we drink milk?
Only because it’s tasty? That’s reason is not enough for me so I decided to use Nut Milk.

Here are one of my favorite recipes:

Sweet Walnut Milk

Nutmilk

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How to make sweet walnutmilk

von

Walnutmilk – Ultra-Delicious-Tasty-Super-Amazing-Stunning-New-Basic-Food-Without-I-Would-Die!
I am SO happy to have this milk in my recipes.
And I am sure others will call me crazy because I am so happy about a NUTMILK! But I feel super alive when I discover new food, recipes or ingredients.
I am also sure some of you totally understand me ;o). Foodimaniaaaaa!

At the moment I make a research about dairy milk because I get ask why I stopped drinking dairy milk very often. I will write a blog post about my opinion to share my feeling and findings. In the meantime I share this easy and healthy walnutmilk recipe with you which I prepare 3 times a week to use it in muesli or smoothies. In the beginning of drinking nut milk I started with a classic almond milk. Because it taste so good I don’t want to try out another and miss my almond milk. The end result was almond milk for months. I don’t see walnutmilk very often and I asked myself if it would taste really good because of the light strong walnut flavor. Now I am so happy I created this easy version because I can’t stop drinking in.
Maybe it’s my next milk for the next months :o).

Walnutmilk

Sometimes I felt too lazy to prepare my own milk and I bought it. During this time I cook not that much and I’m sitting in my blue chair most of the time to read my fantasy and science-fiction books (yeahhhhh… I am a totally Avatar, Lord of Rings, Tributes of Panem and Game of Thrones!). My cats are with me in these lazy times. I love them. This time and my cats!

In this time I heard about the unhealthy effect of nut milk, the people told me “Why are you drinking nut milk? It’s unhealthy! I read an article in the press about it!” No guys it isn’t, you only need to take care which QUALITY you buy. Please please don’t trust any publications without make a little research. The press can make us so stupid. I learned that they are many differences in the bought quality. You can get healthy nut milk in organic stores. These ones I found in normal supermarkets are full of unhealthy ingredients. Have a look on the ingredients bevor you buy nut milk. Much more better is to make it by yourself. But I know sometimes we don’t have time or we are too lazy to make it.

You can store home-made milk up to 3 days in the fridge and it is so delicious and you can sweeten it however you want. I prefer my milk sweet and add some dates. It is up to you how sweet you like it.

Walnuts are one of the healthiest food. They contains more than 2/3 healthy polyunsaturated fatty acids which are very very good for your body.

You need round about 10-15 minutes to prepare your milk and nothing more than walnuts, water, dates and a laundry bad. You can also use a special nut bag. They are a bit more expensive. I never used a nut bag, I stared with a laundry bag and never changed it because it works very well.

Recipe Sweet Walnutmilk

For 0,75 Liter

250g Walnuts
1 Liter Water
4 Dates

Walnutmilk

Preparation

  1. Soak the walnuts overnight in 1 Liter fresh water.
  2. Rinse them in the morning.
  3. Mix them together with 1 Liter fresh water and dates.
  4. Strain the milk carefully through a nut or laundry bag and use a big bowl to collect the milk.

Walnutmilk

Walnutmilk

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Healthy Hemp Snickers

von

I don’t spend so much time in the kitchen as I do in the last year. I started my blog round about one year ago and my Instagram 8 months ago. I couldn’t imagine that this would be such a big part in my life. To thank you all for your great support I will run a winning game after my vacation. Can’t wait to share it :o)). Without your support I wouldn’t be here now. I learned so much in the last year about healthy food, work-life-balance and to listen to myself.

It is so important to make things you really love and to avoid too much stress in your life. We need to listen and be honest to our self. Decide what is good for us and what not. The society requirement are so high. Nobody can withstand that permanently. Think about your own possibilities. It’s your life, you are the creator. Remember that!

Maybe these snickers are a good start to make a break ;)?

Hemp seeds healthy benefits

Lots of you asked me for these snickers I made often in the last week. I developed my own version with lots of hemp seeds to add healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Hemp seeds have a mild and nutty flavor. Hemp seeds are also a big protein source, as more than 25% of their total are from high-quality protein. You find also Vitamin E for a perfect skin in these little seeds. If you don’t want to use hemp seeds you can also add more oats. These bars are the best snack before you start a sport workout or get new energy after a half working day. Lots of protein and they make you full for longer! One bar is enough for a few hours.

For these snickers you need a base, a caramel and a chocolate layer. All made from healthy natural ingredients and organic sweetener.

I used peanuts to impart a crunch. Peanuts harmonize perfect with chocolate. The chocolate I made is from coconut oil and raw cacao. In the past I often drank sweetened Cacao. I don’t know if they is a lot of unhealthy sugar in these drinks. In the last months I discovered raw cacao powder you can use instead of the other. In combination with natural sweetener like dates or rice syrup it taste amazing sweet and delicious. I often prepare a drinking cacao in this way.

You need to store them in the freezer. Best time to enjoy is to take them out 15 minutes before serving.

RECIPE
HEMP SNICKERS

For a baking dish of 20x30cm
Serve 8-10 Snickers

Base
100g Hanfsamen
100g Cashew Nuts
100g Oats
50g Almonds
100g desiccated coconut
100ml rice syrup
2 tbsp coconut oil
½ tsp salt

Date Caramel
300g dates
1 tsp vanilla powder
1 tbsp coconut oil
2 tbsp cashew butter (or Peanut Butter)
½ tsp salt
Water
100g peanuts, unsalted (for the topping)

Chocolate Layer
75g raw cacao
100ml coconut oil
50ml rice syrup

Preparation

Base

  1. Crash the Almonds, Cashew Nuts and Oats in a blender
  2. Add desiccated coconut, rice syrup, coconut oil and salt
  3. Press the mixture in a 20x30cm baking dish or form and store in the freezer

Date Caramel

  1. Mix all ingredients (except the peanuts) in a blender until it get creamy
  2. Add water if necessary
  3. Spread the Caramel on the base
  4. Sprinkle with Peanuts
  5. Store in the freezer

Hemp Snickers (2)

Chocolate Layer

  1. Stir the coconut oil with the raw cacao and rice syrup
  2. Sprinkle over the snicker base and store in the freezer for minimum of 2 hours before serving.

Best time to enjoy is to take them out 15 minutes before serving.

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Soba (Buckwheat) Salad

von

Do you know the feeling when summer is coming? You feel good because of the sun and the light and you think about the kitchen possibilities you enjoy in the summer. Sandwiches, cold smoothies and soups and looooooot of salad variations.

I have been to the Maldives this year and enjoyed a traditional Japanese “Soba Salad”. Soba are ultra-healthy buckwheat noodles which are often used in the Japanese kitchen.
We have been in a Sushi restaurant and I have the pleasure to talk to the chef. He told me about the dressing he use for his Soba Salad.
I already ordered some organic Soba on the Maldives directly. I can’t wait!

So when I arrived home the noodles are waiting of me. Comfortable :o)
Great invention this internet. LOL.

Soba Salad (2)

Soba noodles are such a healthy option for wheat noodles. They are gluten free and full of Vitamin B1 and B2. They also contains more than 10% protein as well.
Take care of the quality you buy because there are many differences. I bought organic and I was satisfied directly. But I often heard about bad quality.
I rinse the cooked noodles very carefully until they get cold to make sure they have the right consistence.

It was a big highlight for me to find these noodles because I love wheat noodles and I don’t like spelt or whole grain noodles so much.
But these buckwheat ones are such a great option.

You can store this salad in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Soba Salad (1)

Recipe
Soba (Buckwheat) Noodle Salad

1 tbsp rice syrup (or honey)
1 piece of ginger, grated
1/3 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp sea salt
50ml unseasoned rice vinegar
70ml soy sauce
2 tbsp sesame oil (from roasted sesame seeds)
peanut oil for frying
500g Soba-Noodles
250g Tofu cubes
4 spring onions, sliced
1 small cucumber, sliced
coriander and cocktail tomatoes to serve

Preparation

  1. Cook the noodles and rinse them with cold water
  2. Marinate the Tofu in 2 tbsp soysauce, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper
  3. Fry the tofu over high heat until its crispy
  4. Mix the soysauce, rice vinegar, rice sirup, ginger, salt, sesame oil
  5. Mix up and enjoy!

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Sunshine Tropical Smoothie

von

Back from the Maldives I need to bring tropical feeling to my home because I ate so many tropical fresh fruits and I already miss them so much. I’m really happy the sun is coming out here and I can enjoy my smoothie outside while watching my crazy cats. They are jumping around the whole time and don’t know where to look first because of the thousands birds who fly around. Spring is so exciting.

As I already told you in my previous posts it is very important to chance the food ingredients you use from time to time to provide your body with different nutritional values. My breakfast is different every day to use different fruits, vegetables and legumes. This smoothie variation is a really light smoothie. When I drink such a smoothie I need to eat a snack during the midmorning. Normally I use nuts or buckwheat in my smoothies.

I like to make a light version because I know some of you love to drink smoothies during the day as a snack or try to reduce weight. I never tried to reduce weight because I have a good metabolic. So I don’t calculate calories or something like that. I eat what I want and take care it is most of the times healthy and contains good fatty acids because my body can digesting these food very good. In my opinion you can eat lots of calories when you eat the right ones. Lots of vegetables, some fruits, legumes, seeds, nuts. Your body work with these products and you recognize your body is changing. You get a better skin, better hair, you sleep better and feel fit. It really works. I know the difference because I ate only fast food and drink soft drinks when I was younger. I was ill very often and had less energy.

Give it a try and eat more healthy because you only have ONE LIFE!

Pinnaple and mango are such a great combination to get a tropical feeling in your kitchen. The coconut flavor is the base of this smoothie to make it more creamy. I use coconut milk (canned one) because I don’t use nuts or seeds to make the smoothie more creamy. I don’t like smoothies who looks too liquid.

Turmeric is the new natural superfood for me because it has great healthy and medical benefits. Turmeric has significant health benefits because of its biologically active component, called curcumin. A traditional part of Indian herbal medicine, curcumin is a potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant compound that could help keep you healthy. Curcumin is a powerful antioxidant that helps protect you from free radicals.

Tropical Smoothie nab (2)

RECIPE
SUNSHINE TROPICAL SMOOTHIE

1/2 Mango
1/4 Pineapple
1 carrot
1/2 tsp carrot
1 date
250 ml coconut milk

optional
1 tsp pea protein (I use Proteinworld)

Preparation:

Mix all in a blender and enjoy!

Raspberry Chia Porridge

von

Berries are really one of the best of antioxidants! Raspberries are an excellent sources of vitamin-C, which is also a powerful natural antioxidant. They are rich in B-complex group of vitamins and vitamin K. Tons of healthy vitamins to nourish your body!

Nuts and seeds are full packed with healthy fatty acids and they give you lots of energy for your concentration during the day. I like to add some nuts or seeds in every breakfast I ate and I love to roast them for a salad topping.

You can also make your own nutmilk as an option to cow milk to reduce animal products in your diet.

I use oats in this porridge because you gets such a creamy and healthy base. When you soak it together with a pinch of apple cider vinegar to make the oats more digestible. Soaking is an effective method used to help breakdown the difficult to digest components of grains, called phytates. When it comes to soaking, acid mediums are a vital part of the process. That’s because the acid medium serves as a catalyst to initiate the culturing/fermenting process that enables phytase be released.

Chia are a good choice to add fibre and calcium. Furthermore the Chia seeds soak overnight and make the porridge more solid.

This porridge need to be prepared in the evening, so you have less stress in the morning.

DSC_0357

 

Raspberry Chia Porridge

Served 1

70g rolled oats
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 rippe banana
120ml almond milk (or any other you prefer)
1 date or 1 tsp agave syrup
1 tbsp chia seeds
1 tbsp sunflower seeds
1 tbsp pumpkin seeds
50g fresh or frozen raspberries

optional
1 tbs maca powder

Topping

50g fresh raspberries
50g fresh blueberries

Mash the banana and the raspberries with a fork and add the almon milk. Add oats, chia seeds, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. Sweeten it with 1 chopped date or 1 tsp agave syrup.

Let soak overnight in the fridge.

In the morning stir around and add a bit of almond milk if it is to solid. Top with fresh berries. Enjoy!

DSC_0354

Coconut granola with dried flowers

von

Coconut Granola with dried flowers

For 1 jar

85g rolles oeats
85g rolled spelt flakes
100g mixed nuts, coarsely chopped (I use walnuts, almonds and paranuts)
30g coconut flakes
50g sunflower seeds

2 tbsp coconut oil
2 tbsp agave syrup

superfood

2 tbsp goji berries
2 tbsp dried flowers (you can use the dried flowers from tea)

Preheat the oven on 160°C and line a backing tray with baking paper. Mix all ingredients expect the superfoods with your hands until.
Put the mixture on the baking tray and bake for 12-15 minutes. Stir here and there to avoid burning.
Add the dried superfoods when the granola is ready. Enjoy simply with yoghurt or top smoothies and muesli.

DSC_0013 - Kopie

Antioxidant turmeric smoothie

von

Turmeric has significant health benefits because of its biologically active component, called curcumin. A traditional part of Indian herbal medicine, curcumin is a potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant compound that could help keep you healthy. Curcumin is a powerful antioxidant that helps protect you from free radicals.

DSC_0896

Antioxidant Turmeric Smoothie

125ml organic yogurt
50ml almond milk (or any other milk you prefer)
1 banana (frozen if you like)
1 tsp freshly grated ginger
1 tsp honey
1/2 fresh pressed orange juice
1/2 tsp ground vanilla
2 tsp ground turmeric
4-5 ice cubes

Mix all ingredients on high speed in a blender until smooth.