Sweet potato crust mini pizzas

I have found that one of the most important things in life is taking the time out to treat yourself every now and then, even when you are extremely busy and stressed, because that is usually when you need it the most. It does not need to be long, sometimes 15 minutes is enough other times more is needed, but the important thing is that you make time to relax and do something just for you. 

This week I have been so tired and stressed out + I’ve been dealing with pain in my back from an old surgery. I didn’t take the time out to deal with it and let my body rest and yet I didn’t really get anything done because I was just too tired and stressed to study properly or do anything really. When I woke up this morning I finally got myself together and decided to start the day off right with a good long breakfast, followed by a quick shopping trip where I bought flowers and ingredients to make pizza and fresh juice + some lovely fresh strawberries. After spending some de-stressing time in the kitchen experimenting with the pizzas, I enjoyed my lunch while watching a good movie, followed by a little power nap. Now I didn’t start studying until quite late today, but for the first time this week I actually got to study properly as I was no longer a stressed out mess. 

So my point is remember to treat yourselves lovelies, whether that be with some good food and a movie or a long walk, a manicure, reading a good book etc. – you are definitely worth it and to quote Diane Von Furstenberg "The most important relationship you have in life is the relationship you have with yourself." - so you better work on it ;)

Ingredients for the crust – yields 3-4 mini pizzas

1 cup cooked sweet potato

1 cup oats

2 eggs

1 teaspoon coconut oil

1 tablespoon psyllium husk 

1 tablespoon chia seeds

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Sal & pepper

The crust was inspired by Fit 4 Livin' and Fresh, Fit and Healthy :)

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees c / 400 degress f
2. Place the sweet potato, eggs and oats in a food processor or blender and blend well, add the rest of the ingredients and blend again
3. Cover a baking tray with baking paper and use a spoon and spatula to form the pizzas on the tray – the dough is quite sticky so run the utensils under cold water before you start.
4. Let it bake for about 15-20 minutes depending on the size/thickness of your pizzas
5. Add your toppings of choice – I added tomato pizza sauce that I spiced up with some garlic, chilli and paprika, fresh mozzarella, chopped red bell pepper and red union – I added the rest of the toppings (arugula and sliced beet) when the pizzas were done baking.
6. Bake the pizzas for another 5-10 minutes and you’re done! I enjoyed the pizzas with some fresh beet juice (find the recipe here!) and strawberries for dessert :)

 

Tropical breakfast parfait

A little inspiration for an easy, healthy and tasty breakfast. 

All you need is some plain skyr (you can use quark, greek yoghurt etc. instead) 

topped with a little honey, muesli, banana, pineapple and raw coconut chips - so simple, so good! 

Banana pancakes with berry sauce and fresh blueberries

So all of you have probably heard of the simple two-ingredient banana pancakes right? I have always wanted to give them a try, but for some reason I have just never gotten around to it. This morning I had some extra time before my lectures and decided to give the banana pancakes a try. I added a couple of extra ingredients to make them extra fluffy and filling and they turned out so good! I only very rarely make pancakes, but that’s definitely about to change, these pancakes are so fast and easy to make + they are super healthy and filling, haha pure pancake win! ;D

 

Recipe – 2 servings:

4 eggs

2 bananas

1 cup oats

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon organic vanilla powder

Coconut oil to cook the pancakes in

Directions:

1. Blend all the ingredients until smooth
2. Heat a non-stick pan - I prefer to make them on high heat - and add a little coconut oil. When the oil has melted pour a circle of the pancake batter onto the pan, I used about 3 tablespoons per pancake
3. Cook the pancake for about a minute or two until it is golden brown on the underside - flip it - and give it about a minute on the other side. The cooking time depends on how thick you make your pancakes
4. I choose to top my pancakes with lots of berry sauce (I added a lot more after the picture was taken) and fresh blueberries. To make the berry sauce just blend your berries of choice (I used a frozen mix of blueberries, red and black currants, strawberries and blackberries) with plain skyr/quark/yoghurt – I like to use berries that are a bit sour as it complements the sweet pancakes nicely
5. Enjoy!

Juice party!

Yellow juice:

1/3 pineapple & 1 apple

Green juice:

2 stalks of celery, 1/2 a cucumber, 1/3 cup broccoli, 3 cups of spinach, 1 apple, 1 orange, 1 lemon & a thumb of ginger

Red juice:

1 large beet, 6 carrots, 1/2 grape fruit, 1 apple, 1 orange, 1/2 lemon & a thumb of ginger

Orange juice:

6 carrots, 1/2 orange, 1/2 apple, A little lemon & little ginger

Falafel burger with spicy sweet potato fries and avocado hummus

I absolutely LOVE burgers and I love all kinds of burgers – haha specially the greasy, cheesy, meaty kind with fries and mayo, but since I try to eat healthy I only rarely have those. Yesterday I was craving burgers so badly, so in an attempt to keep my cravings in check I decided to make a healthier version of burgers and fries and it turned out so good that I thought I would share it with you guys – I hope you’ll like it! 

 

Falafel burger patties

To make the burger patties I actually used the falafel recipe I posted a while back – find it here – it yields 4 patties.

Spicy sweet potato fries

Find the recipe here

Avocado hummus

1/ 2 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (I used the other half for the falafel patties)

1 avocado

1 tblsp chopped red onion

1tblsp chopped red bell pepper

Juice from 1/ 2 a lemon

Garlic powder or fresh garlic (use as much or little as you like)

Salt and pepper to taste

A little water to blend, add a tablespoon at a time to make sure it doesn’t get too thin

The hummus was inspired by the lovely Daniella from Swedish Fitness Kitchen - find her recipe here!

Directions:

1. Put all the ingredients – except the red bell pepper and red onion - in your blender or food processor and pulse until smooth
2. Add the red onion and bell pepper and give it a quick blend, but make sure to leave some texture
3. And you’re done, enjoy!

I used a store bought whole wheat bun (I’m not very fond of baking, but I’ve found some great recipes, so I’ll give it a try soon) and topped it with the hummus, some mixed salad, red onion, cucumber, the falafel patties, and spicy salsa.

Cashew'berry smoothie bowl

One of my absolute favorite things to eat are smoothie bowls - people always ask me if don't get tired of eating them, but I honestly don't because the possibilities for smoothie combos and toppings are pretty much endless. Another big plus is that they are so fast and easy to make, but still super nutritious and tasty.



Recipe:
1 cup frozen strawberries
1/2 cup frozen raspberries
1 banana
1/3 cup raw cashews
1/2 cup water
If needed - a little sweetener, stevia, honey, agave etc.

Just blend it until smooth, pour it into a bowl and add your toppings of choice. I used raw coconut chips, freeze dried blackberry, goji berries, chia seeds and mulberries - and I added a lot more after the picture was taken + some muesli ;)

Healthy parfait inspiration

Passion'berry parfait:

1st layer: overnight chia oats - recipe here

2nd layer: banana blended with organic vanilla powder

3rd layer: passionfruit 

4th layer: muesli, pomegranate and raspberries

Berry/vanilla parfait:

1st layer: blend banana, raspberries, skyr/quark and little organic vanilla powder

2nd layer: raspberry chia jam - recipe here

3rd layer: plain skyr/quark

4th layer: raspberry muesli and blueberries

Raspberry parfait:

1st layer: overnight chia oats - recipe here

2nd layer: raspberry/banana smoothie

3rd layer: muesli, banana and raspberries

Raw chocolate with nuts and dates

Homemade healthy raw chocolate with chopped almonds, hazelnuts and dates, so good! Find the recipe here :)