Red Pesto Pasta Salad

I started my new job 2 weeks ago and so far I like it! My traveltime to and from work is way more then before and I'm also not able to work from home anymore so needed to make some changes to my eating habits so I can keep working out every Tuesday and Thursday evening. So on Thursdays I am bringing a pasta salad with me to work which I eat during my trainride home. This one was delicious and made the guy next to me in the train jealous and that's always a good thing right ;)

 Scroll down for the Dutch recipe

English recipe:

Duration: 20 minutes

The ingredients for 1 serving:

• 50 g spelt pasta 
• 50 g fresh spinach leafs
• 8 cherry tomatoes 
• 1 sweet paprika 
• 75 g smoked chicken 
• 2 tbsp homemade red pesto 
• 20g feta cheese 
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 
• 1 tbsp toasted pine nuts

What you do:

1. Cook pasta as directed on the package. I just cooked extra pasta cooked when I had pasta for dinner. Allow the paste to cool down after it's cooked and do not forget to stir through some extra vierge olive oil so it does not stick together. 
2. Cut the cherry tomatoes into quarters, the sweet paprika and chicken into pieces and toast the pine nuts. 
3. When the pasta has cooled, stir the red pesto through it followed by all the other ingredients. Crumble the feta cheese on top and store in refrigerator.

Enjoy!

 

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Nederlands recept - Rode Pesto Pasta Salade:

Tijd: 20 minuten

De ingrediënten voor 1 portie:

• 50 g spelt pasta
• 50 g bladspinazie
• 8 cherrytomaatjes
• 1 zoete punt paprika
• 75 g gerookte kip
• 2 el zelfgemaakte rode pesto
• 20 g feta kaas
• 1 el extra vierge olijfolie
• 1 el geroosterde pijnboompitten

Bereiding:

1. Kook de pasta zoals aangegeven op de verpakking. Ik had simpelweg extra pasta gekookt toen ik pasta voor het avondeten had. Laat de pasta afkoelen als deze gaar is en vergeet niet 1 eetlepel extra vierge olijfolie erdoorheen te roeren zodat het niet aan elkaar plakt. 
2. Snijd de cherrytomaatjes in vieren, de zoete punt paprika en kip in stukjes en rooster de pijnboompitten.
3. Wanneer de pasta is afgekoeld roer je de rode pesto erdoorheen gevolgd door alle andere ingrediënten. Verkruimel de feta kaas erover en bewaar in de koelkast. 

Eet smakelijk!

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Tip: Meal Planning

We all know that sometimes it can be very difficult to stay motivated to make a healthy meal every day. And it's even more difficult when you don't have anything in your refrigerator after a long working day because that means that you need to go to the supermarket.

My solution is to get all my groceries on Saturday! Of course I eat a lot of fresh vegetables so if necessary I also go on Wednesday to get some extra fresh ingredients. But this only takes me about 10 minutes in the store because I already know what I need!

Knowing what you need is so important for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Therefore, on Friday's or Saturday morning I make a meal plan for the upcoming week. By doing this I save money because I'm not going hungry to the store with the result that I'm buying unhealthy food or more food than I need. It also allows me to see in one instance whether there is enough variation in my meals and I don't have to throw away any food! Since I'm living alone and I eat single serving portions one whole zucchini or 250 gr of mushrooms is just too much for one day. By planning my meals I can take this into account and make sure that when I'm eating, for example, my delicious couscous salad on Tuesday I can use 1/4 of the zucchini and sweet pointed pepper on Thursdays with my awesome healthy chicken burgers or adding them to the quick & simple noodles. Dishes like the couscous salad, noodles and any pasta you like are perfect for using some left-over vegetables!

I always make my meal plan for the upcoming week on a clipboard with chalkboard paint which hangs in my kitchen. My meal plan for this week is shown in the picture below. And yes, already some changes are made but that's okay! On Sunday I didn't eat the tomato soup and since I already ate curry at a friend's house last Saturday I will eat the tomato soup on Thursday and the Chicken Curry next Saturday so I don't have to throw away any food. You might question why it's so easy to move the chicken curry to another day due to the fact that chicken can't be kept for a whole week in the refrigerator. Well, when I buy meat I immediately store it in my freezer and on the evening before I plan on eating it I will get it out at let it defrost in the refrigerator. So another great benefit of having a meal plan in your kitchen is that you can see in an instant whether or not you need to defrost some meat or fish for the next day!

Breakfast Recipe: Overnight Oats in a Jar

I just love oats for breakfast! They make sure that during the rest of the morning you do not feel hungry. But making oatmeal in the morning is just too time consuming when I'm in a hurry. So on those days I now that this is probably going to happen I make sure that I have made some overnight oats in a jar the night before. You can substitute the fruit in this recipe for any fruit you like.

Duration for prepping: 5 minutes

The ingredients:

• 150 ml unsweetened almond milk
• 60 gr oatmeal
• 1 tbs greek yoghurt
• 1 teaspoon chia seeds
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon agave syrup
• 1 apple and 1 banana
• Handful of nuts of your choice, flaxseeds and sunflower seeds

Directions:

1. Cut the apple and banana into small pieces and put about 3/4 of the apple and banana in an airtight jar with the almond milk, greek yoghurt, oatmeal, chia seeds, cinnamon and agave syrup. Mix everything well and put the lid on the jar and keep it in the refrigerator overnight.
2. In the morning get your jar, put the rest of the banana and apple on top with the nuts and seeds en your delicious quick breakfast is ready!

Enjoy!

 

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Meal Prepping

On Sunday's I always do some meal prepping which saves me a lot of time during the week and on Monday! Since I get lots of questions related to what I prep and why I do this I decided to write a post about it because I really belief that, although it takes some time, it is really beneficial! But you can only prep when you have proparly planned your meals!

On any given Sunday (or Saturday when I now I won't be home Sunday) I prep all the things in the picture which takes me about one and a half hours. What you're prepping depends on the meals you have planned for the upcoming week.

First, I always make sure I have enough homemade granola for breakfast and raw food bars in stock. This really helps me not to cheat during the week because by already having it made it's there and just as easy accessible as an unhealthier option.

Second, I find it really handy to have my homemade red pesto or pesto ala Genovese in my refrigerator. These are perfect to pimp up your sandwiches but it also allows you to make a quick pasta when you're unexpectedly late out of the office. Also make sure that you have some pasta sauce or homemade healthy lasagna in your freezer!

Third, I make sure that I have some pre-cooked quinoa or brown basmati rice in the refrigerator. You can use this in your lunch salads or add it to your dinner so the only thing you need to do is steam some vegetables and grill some fish and you have a quick and easy meal!

Fourth, I make sure that I boil 5-6 eggs so I have a boiled egg every day for in my lunch salad (which I also prep on Sunday's for Monday) or just as a healthy snack! You can keep the boiled eggs in your refrigerator up to a week.

Fifth, I roast a bunch of pine nuts which I can put trough salads and pasta's which I also save in a bowl in the refrigerator! 

And last but not least I made some clean & healthy banana oatmeal chocolate cookies which I can have after dinner with a cup of green tea and I cut some fruit for my breakfast tomorrow morning. I'm planning to have my yoghurt with fruit and by already cutting up the fruit and keeping it in airtight containers in the refrigerator I only have to put everything together in a bowl in the morning!

Good luck! If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask! You can put them in the comments under this message, send me an email, or ask me on instagram!

Snack Recipe: Raw food bar

When I first started eating clean I found it very difficult what type of snacks I could eat in the morning and afternoon at work and I noticed that many other people have the same problem! After a long search I now found the recipe of a great raw food bar thanks to one of my friends. I make this on sundays' when my homemade granola is in the oven!

 Scroll down for the Dutch recipe

English recipe:

Duration: 10 minutes

Amount of servings: 5-8 bars depending on the size you like

The ingredients:

• 250 gr seedless dates
• 70 gr unsalted and unroasted nuts (I use a handful of hazelnuts, pecans, almonds and walnuts but any nuts of your choice will also suffice)
• 1 tbs sunflower seeds
• 1 tbs pumpkin seeds
• 1 tbs flaxseeds
• 3 tbs coconut grater

Directions: 

1. Put the seedless dates into your food processor and mince.
2. Place all the nuts and the sunflower and pumpkin seeds in the middle of a clean tea-towel, fold and smash the nuts with a dough roller. Or use a mortar to crush them but this is more time consuming. 
3. Put the minced dates, smashed nuts and all seeds in a large bowl with 1 tablespoon of coconut grater and knead everything firmly together. 
4. Place some grease proof paper in a relatively small rectangular baking thin or baking dish. 
5. Put the mixture in the baking dish and make sure that the mixture covers the whole bottom of the dish. Use some extra grease proof paper to flatten the mixture so it doesn't stick to your hands. 
6. Then get the mixture out of the baking dish and cut into bars (5 large bars, or 8 smaller bars).
7. Drizzle each bar with the remaining coconut grater and wrap each bar separately in some aluminum foil.
8. Store them in your refrigerator until it's snack time!

Variation tip: add some cranberries for some sweetness or 2 figs!

Enjoy!

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Nederlands recept:

Duur: 10 minuten

Porties: 5 tot 8 repen (afhankelijk van hoe groot je ze wilt)

De ingrediënten:

•    250 gram pitloze dadels
• 70 gram ongezouten en ongebrande noten (ik gebruik een handvol hazelnoten, pecan noten, amandelen en walnoten. Maar je kan ook andere gebruiken​​)
• 1 eetlepel zonnebloempitten
• 1 eetlepel pompoenpitten
• 1 eetlepel lijnzaad
• 3 eetlepels kokos rasp

Bereiding:

1. Doe de dadels in de keukenmachine en hak deze klein.
2. Plaats alle noten en de zonnebloem en pompoenpitten in het midden van een schone theedoek, vouw en sla de noten met een deegroller klein. Je kunt ook een vijzel gebruiken, maar dit neemt meer tijd in beslag, of in de keukenmachine, maar niet alle keukenmachines vinden dit fijn.
3. Doe de gehakte dadels, gebroken noten en alle zaden in een grote kom met 1 eetlepel kokos rasp en kneed alles stevig in elkaar.
4. Doe een stuk bakpapier in een relatief kleine rechthoekige ovenschaal of brownievorm. Doe het dadel-noten mengsel in de ovenschaal op het bakpapier en zorg ervoor dat het over de gehele bodem verdeeld is. Gebruik het bakpapier dat nog buiten de schaal ‘hangt’ om het aan te drukken zodat het niet aan je handen plakt.
5. Haal het dan weer uit de schaal en maak er repen van in de gewenste grootte. Besprenkel elke reep met de rest van de kokosrasp en wikkel de bars afzonderlijk van elkaar in aluminiumfolie. Bewaar ze in de koelkast.
   

Eet smakelijk!

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Homemade Granola

On Sunday's I always like to do my meal prepping for the upcoming week. So today I want to share with you my favorite part, making my own granola! Of course it's easier and less time consuming to buy it at your local organic store, but I really prefer mine and I think you will too!

This granola is perfect with yoghurt, in your smoothie bowl or to top your parfait. But you can also eat it like cereal with milk and then of course preferable soy/rice/almond/coconut milk.

Duration: 25 minutes

The ingredients: 

• 150 gr oat flakes
• 100 gr buckwheat flakes, rye flakes or spelt flakes (your choice!)
• 60 gr almonds
• 40 gr hazelnuts 
• 40 gr pecans
• 30 gr sunflower seeds
• 30 gr pumpkin seeds
• 2 tablespoons flaxseed
• 3 tablespoons agave syrup
• 4 tablespoons of flaxseed oil
• 50 gr dried cranberries
• 2 tablespoons coconut grater

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees of Celsius
2. Mix the oat flakes with the buckwheat or other  flakes and 3 tablespoons of agave syrup in a large bowl until everything is covered with agave syrup.
3. Spread the mixture out on a baking sheet with grease proof paper and put in the oven for 5 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, crush all the nuts into smaller pieces with your mortar and mix with the seeds.
5. After the 5 minutes, get the baking sheet out of the oven and add the nuts and seeds to the flakes and mix well! Cover everything with 4 tablespoons of flaxseed oil and put back into the oven for another 10-15 minutes. Stir halfway and check after 10 minutes whether it's done and the flakes are golden brown.
6. Cool down and put in an airtight jar and your homemade granola is ready! Preservable for about 2 weeks.

Enjoy!

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Red pesto

The first recipe that I post on this blog must, of course, be my all time favorite homemade red pesto! I find it very handy to have this in my refrigerator because it is simply delicious on sandwiches but also makes a great super simple and easy pasta for day’s I’m late out of the office.

Duration: 5 minutes

The ingredients:

• 16 sundried tomatoes
• 40 grams pine nuts
• 1 large garlic clove
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 15 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 3 table spoons extra virgin olive oil
• Salt & Pepper

Directions:

1. Pick the thyme leaves and put them in your food processor together with the sundried tomatoes, pine nuts, garlic clove, dried oregano and 2 table spoons of extra virgin olive oil until it’s a relatively smooth puree.
2. Then add the remaining table spoon of extra virgin olive oil to the puree and mix until it’s a smooth paste!

The pesto will be preservable in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks in an airtight jar. Make sure you put a little bit of extra virgin olive oil on top!

Enjoy!

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Nederlandse recept - Rode Pesto :

Tijd: 5 minuten

De ingrediënten:

• 16 zongedroogde tomaten
• 40 g (geroosterde) pijnboompitten
• 1 teen knoflook
• 1 tl gedroogde oregano
• 15 takjes verse tijm
• 2 el extra vierge olijfolie
• zout & peper

Bereiding:

1. Pluk de blaadjes van de takjes tijm en doe deze in je keukenmachine samen met de zongedroogde tomaten, geroosterde pijnboompitten, teentje knoflook, oregano en 2 eetlepels extra vierge olijfolie and meng totdat het een relatief glad geheel is. 
2. Voeg dan de derde eetlepel olijfolie toe en meng nog een keer tot het een gladde pesto is.

De pesto is zo'n 2 weken in een weckpot houdbaar in de koelkast. Zorg dat je een klein laagje extra vierge olijfolie bovenop doet. 

Eet smakelijk!

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