{ nutty muesli }

My favorite nutty Muesli recipe is from Yvonne Lemmers (her books were the first I ever purchased on the low carb lifestyle), totally fits into Paleo, Caveman, Low Carb etc. lifestyle.

I made it this week at my mom’s house, just brought all the ingredients and made a batch for her and me in 30 minutes it is literally that easy and can add such a great touch to your quark, yoghurt, fruit or ice cream.

You will need the following ingredients:

• Assorted unsalted nuts
• Coconut oil
• Cinnamon or mixed (cookie) spices
• The original recipe also adds split flaxseed (2 teaspoons) and stevia but I prefer to add these seperately as I like to use 1 teaspoon per serving.
• You will also need a good all purpose slicer, I have a fissler multi chopper finecut and it chops through nuts like crazy. (for the dutchies you can buy it here and INTL you can find it here)

100 grams nuts, 2 teaspoon of spice, 1 tablespoon of coconut oil. This is the basic recipe, I just double, triple etc. to make the amount that matches the weight of nuts I have.

Preheat your oven to 150 degrees celsius.

Start chopping up the nuts, don’t throw everything in just a bit at a time and chop until they are a size you would like as a topping. I don’t like big chuncks so I make it quite fine in size although it is hard to get them all exactly the same size as you can see.

After chopping add the spice and stir wel so all the nuts are all nice and brown from the spice.
Melt the coconut au bain marie (I usually put the coconut oil in a sturdy glass, and let it meld in a bowl with boiled water. No need for a the stove as it melts this way in a blink).
Add the melted coconut oil to the nuts and mix it through the nuts with a spoon so all the nuts are all oiled up.

Place some  greaseproof paper on an ovensheet and evenly put the nut mixture on there.
I made a total on 500 grams and put it on one sheet.

In the oven for 15-20 minutes and it will start to smell like cookies … it is literally that easy and so yummy ! Let it cool, place in a (preferably glass) container and start adding it to anything you would like.

Enjoy and please let me know how you liked it in the comments.

{ banana egg pancakes }

My favorite breakfast is known amongst my friends, I eat it quite a bit and if you follow me on instagram you know I do.

I have been asked many a time how I make them, how I get them so cute and round  and what goes into them so here’s my recipe, I didn’t invent this recipe but this is how I like them.

If you work out, there’s a variation you can make to this recipe by adding a scoop of (no flavor, unsweetend) protein powder. It makes them firm and you get you’re scoop of protein in there so win win.

Ingredients:
1 ripe banana
1 egg
1 scoop unflavored unsweetend protein powder (optional for bodybuilders)
1 full dessert spoon (really full) of cinnamon or 1 drop of Young Living Cinnamon Bark Essential oil
coconut oil
immersion blender
honey
Forest fruit; I like blue berries & strawberries

Blend the banana, add the cinnamon, add the optional protein powder, add the egg & blend again.

I was fortunate enough to find this cute pancake pan in a dutch store one day, never seen it again but if I do I will buy them all !! It is my precious, me being a little ocd and my pancakes need to me cute and this helps me with that.

I add coconut to every little circle, about a full teaspoon each.

Add the mix and let it slowly simmer, do NOT flip them over until the top is solid and they can be wiggled from their space or you will have a gooey pancake that tastes the same but just does not look pwetty. I’m all about pwetty, have you sensed that ?!

Add your honey and forest fruit, make your plate pretty with the pancakes and fruit (it makes eating it so much more fun trust me), get some herbal tea and bon apetit !

Any questions ? Let me know or better yet share or tag me and let me know how they tasted. You’ll be hooked I promise !

 

{ chocolate brownies with peppermint frosting* }

Recipe In English, please scroll down for the Dutch translation !

For the cake:

• 5 eggs
• 500g caster sugar
• 120g plain flour
• 100g cocoa powder
• 250g unsalted butter, melted
• 30g shelled walnuts, chopped (optional)
• 30g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F) Gas 3. Put the eggs and sugar in a large bowl and beat with a handheld electric whisk until light and fluffy. Add the flour and cocoa powder and beat until all the ingredients are well mixed. Pour in the melted butter and mix through. Stir the walnuts and chocolate in by hand until evenly dispersed. Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for about 30–35 minutes, or until the top is firm but the centre is still soft. Leave to cool completely.

For the frosting:

• 200g icing sugar, sifted
• 75g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 30g cocoa powder, sifted
• 150g cream cheese, cold
• 9-12 drops peppermint+ Young Living oils (add drops to taste)
• a 33 x 23 x 5-cm baking tray, lined with greaseproof paper

Beat together the icing sugar, butter and cocoa powder in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed. Add the cream cheese in one go and beat until it is completely incorporated. Turn the mixer up to medium-high speed. Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes. Do not overbeat, as it can quickly become runny. When the brownie is cold, spread the frosting over the top.

Tips:

Please do not add any other brands of peppermint oil to your baking as the common peppermint oils are not made for ingesting due to additives.

If you prefer to make brownies without frosting you can add the peppermint+ to the brownie base (6-9 drops) instead of in the frosting, I have tried both and personally prefer it in the frosting only.

I always make a double recipe for the frosting (one big container of marscepone) and freeze half of the portion in a ziploc bag (make it flat in the bag prior to freezing as that makes it easier to defrost), it tastes just as good as freshly made and it saves you so much time with your next batch of brownies or cupcakes 😉
Don’t want to make brownies “from scratch” ? You can also just buy a box of browniemix add the peppermint frosting onto that !

* this recipe is from the Hummingbird Bakery book, one of my go to baking books.

Recipe In Dutch

Benodigdheden brownie mix
5 eieren
500g kristalsuiker
120g gewone bloem
100g cacao poeder
250g gesmolten ongezouten boter
30g gehakte walnoten of pecannoten (optioneel)
30g gehakte pure chocolade
Braadslee of bakvorm van 23x33x5 (ongeveer)

Oven voorverwarmen tot 175°c. De eieren samen met de suiker fluffy kloppen. Hierna de cacao poeder en de bloem samen toevoegen en kloppen tot een mooi deeg. Hierna voeg je nog de gesmolten boter toe, ook weer goed kloppen. Als finishing touch voeg je de gehakte noten en chocolade toe! ongeveer 35 min. in de oven

Benodigdheden frosting
200g poedersuiker, sifted
75g ongezoute boter op kamertemperatuur
30g cocoa poeder, sifted
150g roomkaas (marscapone vind ik lekker erin) koud
9-12 druppels pepermint+ Young Living oil (druppels naar smaak)
Mix alle ingredienten 1 voor 1 in deze volgorde tot een gladde mengsel.
Als de brownies geheel zijn afgekoeld kun je dit erop smeren en in stukken snijden.

 Tips:

Ik raad je aan geen andere merken pepermunt olie te gebruiken voor het bakken daar andere merken toevoegingen aan de olien die het ongeschikt maken voor consumptie.

Wil je brownies maken zonder frosting dan is het ook mogelijk om peppermint+ in het beslag te doen (6-9 druppels) ipv in de frosting maar ik vind persoonlijk deze combi het lekkerst.
Ik maak altijd het dubbele recept voor de frosting (grote kuip marscepone) en vries de helft in, in een ziploc zakje (maak het plat en vries het zo in). Het ontdooit supersnel en smaakt net zo lekker. Scheelt ontzettend veel tijd als je weer een keer brownies maakt en het is ook lekker op cupcakes 😉
Heb je geen zin om brownies “”from scratch” te maken kun je ook gewoon een pak bij de winkel halen om dit te maken 😉

* dit recept komt uit het Hummingbird Bakery boek, mijn favoriete bakboek, echt een aanrader.

{ cakepops tip }

Did you know you can freeze cakepops ? Before dipping them in candymelts that is.

The good thing about the freezing part is that whenever you have a get together with friends and want to bring something you can; thaw, dip and treat your hosts to some yummy cakepops.

Klaasbrokken

We make this recipe every year around Sinterklaas it’s a big hit with big and small every since I first made it, loads of calories but so worth it.

The recipe is not mine but I will share my fave blog with you that has a recipe and lot’s of great pics for the how to.

Dinner recipe #2

Meatballs with tomato rice and spinach

Main course, 4 persons, 30 minutes, recipe from allerhande,
per 1p. portion 570 kilocalories, 21 gr. protein, 26 grams fat and 64 grams carbohydrates

2 cloves of garlic
300 grams of minced meat
1 can of tomatopieces
300 gr. rice
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 bag of fresh spinach of about 300 grams (we got ours from the turkish supermarket and it was goooood)
50 grams black olives sliced up (fresh or from a pot either is fine we got fresh ones from our turkish supermarket)

1. mash up 1 clove of garlic and cut the other ones in slices.
Combine the minced meat with de mashed garlic, season with salt & pepper as per your taste and make 12 balls.
Put the tomatopieces in a sieve above a bowl and pour 100 ml water in the can, shake and pour this over the tomatopieces. Save the liquid.

2. Cook the rice as per the instructions on the box. Heat the olive oil in a deep & big saucepan and make sure to roast the meatballs till they are nice and brown allover. Add the tomato liquid and spice it up with salt & pepper and let it simmer for 10 minutes on a middlehigh fire.
Add the tomatopieces to the rice and warm for 2 minutes.

3. Turn up the fire, add the spinach in parts to the meatballs and season as per your taste with salt & pepper. Let is simmer until the spinach has softened and its all done.

We served the rice on a huge platter, poured the meatballs and sauce on the rice and sprinkled the olives over the dish.

Review : it was yummy according to the grownups that made it and the guests, great combo although we will be adding more spices to the meatballs next time as we thought they were a bit bland.

For dessert we had Eton Mess (Nigella Lawson), a favorite recipe I will share soon.