Barberry-Check: Dark-Chocolate Energy-Bites with Healthy Companions

Hello again, dear friends!

How are you? Feeling lonesome in your kitchens? 

Well here I am, guys. Finally. Holidays are almost over and I feel chased. By something impatient. By something that needs some attention. No, not a child. By my Bachelor-Thesis. Darn. How long will I manage to procrastinate that bastard? 

As long as I got ideas for you, honeys, at least!
So what's up?

The time of being forever 21 is over. Now that sounds paradox. Anyways. As a newly minted 22-year-old I really should share some sweet inspiration with you, should I not?

Especially because my environment knows only too well how fond I am of good food, cooking and baking. Therefore I got a lot of somewhat-food-blog-related gifts for my birthday. Should not be too bad for you all, I suppose. And, yes of course, it is not that I did not have enough sweets lately. And, surely, I said one or the other time something like "boah, I had enough sweets for the whole year, I am gonna need a pause". But, people, it's me. That means: I open my eyes the morning after, with my sweet tooth jolting me awake, I run straight to the kitchen and there I go, happily mixing and stiring a dentist's desaster.

However, as you know me, I always make sure that I prepare the sweet stuff in a way it would pass every ever so rigorous health-police. And so I did this time, with some of the edible treasures my Mom gave me: Barberries.

Honeslty? I had never used them before. So it was a little adventure. (Well yeah, adventure is pretty relative. For me it is at the moment, just saying for you to get an idea of how boring my life is right now). 

Anyways, I have tried the result myself (just one little, very very little bite of course) and I must say: those little red guys definitely work for sweets. Additionally, they have a lot of Vitamin C and an antibacterial effect.

Having bought some lovely spices recently, I also decided to metaphorically travel to the middle east in my kitchen today. Which, in the end, added up to this:

Dark-Chocolate-Sesame-Chunks with Barberries, Sunflowerseeds and Honey

These beauties are rich in flavonols, Vitamin C, folate and happiness. In short: Good for your heart, skin, energy and well-being!

And that's how easy you get them:

ingredients:

100g dark chocolate

100 g sesame paste

50 g honey

25 g dried barberries

50 g sunflower seeds

1/2 teaspoon ground anise

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

preparation:

1. roast sunflower seerd and soak barberries in boiling water

2. melt chocolate with sesame paste, spices and hones

3. mix everything, spread on baking sheet (about 0.5 cm thick) and refrigerate for 1-2 hours

Enjoy these little temptations with coffee or as a fuelling snack in between! 

I wish you all a sunny weekend guys (Sunnier than the one that expects me in good old Switzerland, by all means)!

See you soon!

La Vie en Rose: Romance and White Plums for Dessert

Hey lovely folks!

No, unfortunately life is not always 'en rose'. Not for me, nor for anyone else. But I am gonna let you guys in on my magic trick today, which will help a little bit when life seems all confusing or grey or nerve-racking or just way too bitter for a sweet-tooth like you are. 

And, people, lazy Miss Sweet-Tooth has FINALLY managed to finish her papers. Next big thing to do is shelving that Bachelor's Paper that's waving from the corner of the eye. Gosh, certain things never change. Time pressure has always been and will always be the best motivator in the humble history of my life. And, well, I do have some excuses to postpone Uni-stuff. Honestly!

For I have planned some 'totally-worth-looking-foward-to-like-crazy' trips. First of them is a - tadaaaa - surf-trip to the South-West of France. Have I surfed before? Of course not! Am I gonna make a fool of myself? Absolutely!

Second trip is one week of Brighton with my best bud. Hope that's gonna be less of a challenge for my ego and more of an inspiration for the little, hungry, eager cook in my head. I hope I'll be able to convince myself that Britain is more than sausages for breakfast and fish and chips. I am sure it is. Otherwise: Brighton, you have three weeks to make a big change in your eating habits!

But before I leave I am gonna make your lives get a bit more rosy, lovely, tender. I got a bunch of marvelous dried rose blossoms and I could not wait to use them! (With a little thanks to my Dad's girlfriend at this point. Yes, unfortunately these wonderful guys are not growing in my own garden).

In order not to make my new rosy friends feel alone, I thought I'd go get them some roundish juicy bodyguards, also known as yellow plums. And there we go for this healthy, easy, fruity, energising, summery recipe:

Coconut-Roasted Yellow Plums with Rose-Lemon-Syrup

ingredients (4 people)

12 yellow plums

1 dl of water

1 handful of dried rose blossoms

150 g cane sugar

1 lemon

3 tablespoons coconut rasps

2 tablespoons coconut oil

preparation

1. bring water, rose and cane sugar to a boil and let simmer

2. grate lemon, then press and add juice to rose-syrup

3. cut yellow plums, preheat a pan with coconut oil and quickly roast them together with coconut rasps

4. sieve rose syrup

5. serve plums with syrup and add some lemon zest on top

This tastes awesome with some biscuits, black coffee or yoghurt! The whole preparation won't take you any longer than 15 minutes. So, go get your friends and celebrate summer and, of course, la vie en rose!

SEE YOU GUYS!

Tender-Roasted Sweetness: White Apricots

Hello hungry fellows! What's up?

It is so damn hot here in Switzerland! Hot damn! And I am getting ever lazier. There are a only few things left to do for University before I can enjoy my semester holidays and if I finally managed to get up and did this EFFICIENTLY, it would not take very long, frankly speaking. But as you might know, I am easily distracted. And distraction is frequent these days. Like, for example, the sweet distraction I really wanna share with you guys today! 

And my new resolutions about sports and nutrition, well, they have been made use of but...but. Yeah. It was hot outside. And I had to realise that I totally can be knocked out by one single workout. Thanks, Jackie Warner, for your wonderful 2in1 Workout that made me walk like a fool for at least three days! 

But I won't give up, of course. I am gonna have a rendez-vous with virtual DVD-Jackie tomorrow again and I do not know if I am ready for this. I guess not.

So let's turn to more pleasing stuff. More tender, sweet and nice-to-look-at stuff. Like those lovely, roundish guys here: white apricots. God, I love fruit-season!

So I decided to prepare them in a new way. I mean, sure, who does not love fruit smoothies and fruit salad, but it's nothing that would strike you, right?

So I decided the white apricots to meet the oven. And some other tempting, charming sweet and sour companions. For example birch sugar (this is one of my favourites right now: no calories, good for your teeth but damn close to sugar). And basil. And lavender.

And, people, I have to say (sorry for self-complimenting): what came out definitely falls into the category "must-try". Especially because it's easy, ideal for a lovely, warm evening with friends and family. 

So, promise you try these:

Oven-Roasted White Apricots with Lavender-Basil-Lemon-Dressing

ingredients (4 people):

12-14 white apricots

4 tablespoons birch sugar (you can also tak real one, birch sugar is however awesome for thos who want to watch their sugar-intake)

***

3 tablespoons yogurt

6 tablespoons birch sugar

1 lemon

1 handful basil

1 tablespoon lavender

preparation:

1. preheat the oven on 200° C and cut the apricots in half, spread the birch sugar on them and roast for about 10 minutes

2. bring the lemon juice with brich sugar and lavender to a boil, sieve and mix with hashed basil and yogurt

3. serve the warm apricots topped with the yogurt sauce and enjoy!

SEE YOU, SWEETIES!

White Beans in Limelight

Hungry folks, how are you?

I am so sorry! When I logged onto my blog-account today, I had to confront myself with the shocking fact that it's been about two months since my last post! God, time flies, right?

But, good news, I am right at the beginning of long, hopefully warm and sunny, semester-holidays! 

And, believe me, I could really use them right now! I am (almost) totally yours for the time coming! (At least in nutritional terms)

Looking back on the last few weeks, I see an seemingly unending rollercoaster with tons of loopings, ups and downs (Although, when using this kind of metaphor I am never sure if the ups stand for the positive or the downs,  for on rollercoasters it is actually the downs you crave, is it not? Well, never mind.) and, well, I admit it, super-.unhealthy nutrition and little sport. 

But, guys, I am back on track with a huge bag of healthy recipes, a heavy workout-plan, soon-to-be muscle-aches and a soon-to-be Arnold-Schwarzenegger-Body (Be glad you do not see me, can the Terminator even cook?).

The recipe I created for you guys today shall manifest that impressingly. At least I hope so. I will from now on cherish the following foods:

*fruit

*veggies

*seeds

*nuts

*legumes

*raw cocoa

*fish

Of course that means that you, hungry fellows, are gonna be affected by all this, too. But I promise you colourful, light, reviving and refreshing as well as inspiring summer-recipes!

Such as this super-healthy lunch here:

Cucumber-Avocado-Salad and Egg, topped with Coconut-White-Bean-Lime-Dressing and Curry-Agave-Roasted Cashews

ingredients:

1/2 cucumber in juliennes

1 boiled egg

1/2 avocado

1 handful cashews

100 g cooked white beans

1 dl coconut milk

1 lime, zest and juice

1 tablespoon agave syrup

1 teaspoon curry powder

2 teaspoons cumin

salt, pepper

preparation:

1. blend the white beans, 1/2 teaspoon of curry powder, 1 teaspoon of cumin, coconut milk, salt, pepper, lemon zest and juice in a mixer

2. roast cashews with agave syrup, 1/2 teaspoon of curry powder, 1 teaspoon of cumin and some salt

3. finely slice avocado

4. arrange the eggs on a bed of cucumber juliennes and avocado, top with roasted cashews and white-bean-dressing

See you, people! Say Hi to summer if you should happen to see him and send him over to Switzerland!

xoxo, Flo

the cream of the crop

Good late saturday morning! Doing fine?

Today, I brought you guys a raw and vegan dedication to all the sweet tooths out there with a little help from my best friend, the avocado. It seems as if I was just not capable of cooking without him lately.

Guys, there are moments, phases or days where actions speak louder than words. Today is such a day. I have had a frustrating week concerning running-practice and I really do not know how to make these 20 km with a left knee that is behaving like an old diva. So let's better turn to more pleasing stuff: the recipe I brought you and, basically, avocadoes! I mean, those green, fatty, pear-shaped little guys are just so talented in the kitchen! Up to now I have always used them for salty snacks. But it turned out that they make utterly loveable companions for sweet stuff, too (especially in vegan kitchen, which I am again indulging to today)!

However, we should not forget the second multi-talent used for the creamy comforters that will hopefully soon accompany you, my dear fellows, as well: silken tofu!

I have always been very skeptical towards this wobbly, indefinable thing. But I have definitely made friends with good guy silken tofu for it is thanks to him that you won't be able to distinguish the vegan recipe from today from a non-vegan one!

Oh, and finally, I have added some coconut flower sugar my Mom bought me, in order not to sweeten the lovely thing I created with empty calories only. (Sounds good, doesn't it?)

So after all this fulsome praise, let's finally reveal what the praiseworthy actually is!

Let's summarize: In main parts we have avocadoes and silken tofu. Then, there's coconut flower sugar, agave syrup. oranges, vanilla and, of course, chocolate! Last but not least, the little dessert-beauty is vegan, supereasy to prepare and healthy! What more could one want?

Try this:

vegan chocolate-orange-cream with coconut-flower-sugar and vanilla

ingredients:

2 ripe avocadoes

400 g silken tofu

75 g coconut flower sugar (raw cane sugar works just as well)

75 g agave syrup (you might also like to add some more, depending on the size of your sweet tooth)

1 teaspoon vanilla bean powder

2 oranges, zest and juice

150 g dark chocolate

preparation:

1. blend avocadoes, silken tofu, orange juice and zest and vanilla bean powder in a mixer

2. melt chocolate with agave syrup and coconut flower sugar

3. add chocolate to avocado-cream and stir well

4. refridgerate for 1-2 hours

ENJOY!

personal superbowl

Heyo, healthy guys out there! How are you?

In order not to lead anyone on here, I think I might need to mention already at this point that the sweet tooths amongst you will again not (yet) be satisfied today! But, with the highest hopes (and also quite proudly), I present you a sneak peek of what I created today, which, of course, should make you wanna read on enthusiastically.

And, people, I have a wonderful, healthily sweet and sweetly healthy recipe for you up my sleeves which will soon follow this fresh and energizing post. So, enough of the self-adulation!

I have just passed my first of 6 weeks "20-km-running-practice" and I must say it went astonishingly well. Conclusion so far: terrible muscle-ache in my calves, 1 cramp, 32 km, 1300 stair-steps and 209 min. of running (or nice-try-running or creeping or stamping). After that, I consider applying to the "academy of silly runs", by the way.

Anyways, I had to realize today that good old Sir Spring might be a bit bitchy upon us next week. And, of course, the rainiest and coldest of all days will be Thursday. Exactly when I am having an all-day geography excursion to watch river systems (water from above, water from below, let's go the whole hog). 

So, this means: eat right, sleep well and fight those various "catch-a-cold-easily"-offers!

This vegan, fresh and healthy little warrior is a very good start to this:

Vegan young purslane-salad with grapes, parsnip, pomegranate, avocado, roasted eggplant, caramelized kernels and orange-curry-garlic-dressing 

You might now wonder how I got the idea of mixing so many different things. Well, this might have happened for two reasons. First of all,  I had a lovely, curly headed, male help in my kitchen. And secondly, I had this help (with quite a different taste than mine) accompany me to purchase the ingredients.

So, that's what came out and I must say it all gets together very well. But, of course, I won't force you to include all of the ingredients (I will just very insistently recommend it to you).

RECIPE:

ingredients (4 people, starter)

6 handful young purslane

1 eggplant

1 large parsnip

1 avocado

1 pomegranate

24 grapes (seedless)

8 tabelspoons kernels

2 teaspoons raw cane sugar

2 dl olive oil

1 dl orange juice

0.2 dl lime juice

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1 garlic clove

1 teaspoon yellow curry powder

salt, pepper

2 teaspoons cumin

preparation:

1. preheat the oven on 200°C , finely slice eggplant and parsnip, put on a baking sheet, add some olive oil, cumin and salt and roast in the oven for about 10 minutes

2. in the meantime, wash purslane and then preheat a pan to roast the kernels with raw cane suagr and 1 teaspoon of water for about 5 minutes

3. finely slice avocado and cut the grapes in half

4. try to get thes pomegranate-seeds out of their surroundings. Not easy, guys!

5. mix olive oil, pressed garlic clove, orange and lime juice, curry powder, soy sauce, salt and pepper to an awesome dressing. Very easy, guys!

6. Serve everything on the same plate and try not to forget anything!

7. Phu, you made it! Enjoy!!!

See you, lovely cookery-addicts! Wish me luck for round 2 of my running-challenge! 
Follow on 
INSTAGRAM: @flavourrunner

flavour runner

Hey there, (shrinking number of) fellow readers!

How are you? So sorry I am somehow freezing you of at the moment. My personal busy-and-stressed-factor increases proportionally with the number of weeks passed at University. BUT! I have an announcement to make. One that will hopefully also influence you,

beloved cookery addicts out there, a bit (don't worry, it's most probably not gonna hurt you!).

Dramatic pause. Another dramatic pause. 

I am going to try to survive a 20-km-run within 6 weeks. Don't know which scumbag came up with this glorious idea. Oh yes, I do, it was me! 

And, turning this brave plan into reality, I will defintely need to adapt my

nutrition a bit (which, logically, is the part which will also influence you guys). I mean, I have my role-model-moments in my second home aka kitchen, but I do also have other, well, less glorious phases (Did anyone say cupcakes? or frozen yogurt? or tons of almond butter?). 

So, after Day 1 of my (crackbrained?) project, which comprised a 60 minutes up-hill-down-hill run, I decided to go for an extra healthy snack with two ingredients that are especially recommended for runners: salmon and avocado. Thank god, I do not only love sweet, sticky dentist's-nightmares but also superfresh omega-3-bombs.
Oh, and if anyone of you should happen to be interested in my (longingly anticipated) progress and even more healthy recipes, muscle-ache complaints and whatever bothers me, please follow me on INSTAGRAM:
@flavourrunner

And although I do definitely not expect you to follow my example and to run like a raving loony, I really do hope you will prepare this awesomely quick and healthy lunch-snack and think of me (just a little bit).

Avocado-Salmon-Salad with Sesame-Lime-Cumin-Dressing and Origano

preparation:

1. finely slice avocado

2. mix soy sauce, sesame oil, juice of lime-half, curry powder, cumin and pressed garlic clove

3. arrange everything on a plate, top with dressing and origano

As easy as it gets, right?

WISH ME LUCK, PEOPLE!

More about me, my kitchen and challenges on instagram: @flavourrunner

true colours

Hey there! Doing fine, beloved cookery-addicts?

For once, I will leave away all the moaning and complaining about my personal boredom and the frustrating weather. Because, first of all, I am going on a short trip to Boston next week (see you there, US-readers!), which leaves me with utter pleasant anticipation instead of boredom and, secondly, I really want to get straight to the superawesomely colourful recipe I brought along today!

What you see here is another attempt at eating healthy AT LEAST every once in a while. And another attempt at making this blog seem exemplary. But don't worry, sweet-tooths, I'll hide a very rich and sweet recipe soon again on this blog. So, honest as I am I need to admit that my everyday diet does not at all look as "comme il faut" as this beautiful dish here. But I guess you knew that already.

And whenever I want to prepare a healthy meal, I decide to go for Asian-style. Preparing it that way, with all the lovely scents Asian Kitchen offers (lemongrass, lime, ginger, garlic and sesame, in this case), even the healthiest dish tastes like a feast.

And so I grabbed all the veggies I could find in our tiny little kitchen, bumped into a lovely piece of smoked salmon on my way and met a few sticks of lemongrass and: born was the idea of a new recipe!

So here is my superhealthy, superfresh, supercolourful, supereasy, supertasty (superwhatever, insert a suitable adjective of your choice) lunch-recipe for you:

tepid cucumber-pepper-avocado-salad with cilantro-yogurt, smoked salmon and sesame-lime-garlic dressing

ingredients (2 people)

4 mini cucumbers

1 pepper

1 avocado

200 g smoked salmon

6 tablespoons yogurt

1 handful cilantro

0.5 dl sesame oil

3 tablespoons sesame seeds

3 garlic cloves

4 tablespoons soy sauce

1 lime

1 stick lemongrass

1/2 teaspoon gingerpaste or fresh ginger

pepper

preparation:

1. preheat a pan with 4 tablespoons sesame oil and finely slice cucumbers, lemongrass and pepper, then roast them for about 4 minutes together with sesame seeds and 2 pressed garlic cloves, 

2. deglaze with 3 tablespoons soy sauce and put aside

3. mix lime juice with sesame oil, add 1 pressed garlic clove, 1 tablespoon soy sauce and ginger paste and stie well

4. miy yogurt with hashed cilantro and pepper

5. slice the avocado finely

6. arrange everything on a plate and top with dressing and yogurt! If you miss the carbohydrates, enjoy with rice or soba-noodles!

SEE YOU, PEOPLE! Stay as healthy as possible! ;-)