Dessert: Clean Banana Split

I normally don't eat many desserts, my dinner is more than enough! But sometimes I just crave something delicious afterwards! Often I just eat a small piece of chocolate, >75% of course but in case you really want to spoil yourself, make this delicious healthy banana split! It's perfect!!!

The ingredients for 1 banana split (which you can easily share with someone!):

• 1 peeled banana
• 3 tbs Greek yoghurt
• Handful blueberries
• Handful cut strawberries
• 1 tbs homemade granola
• Some dark chocolate pieces (>75%)
• 1 ts grated coconut

Directions:

1. Put the banana on a plate and spoon the Greek yoghurt on top. Sprinkle over the blueberries & strawberries, the granola, coconut grater and little chocolate pieces and your clean and healthy banana is ready to be served!

Enjoy!!

Dinner Recipe: Bulgur with Chicken

Bulgur is a parboiled and dried whole grain most often made of durum wheat. It has a slightly nutty flavor, a low glycemic index and has high levels of vitamins and minerals. I try to vary in all my meals and I think Bulgur is a great variation on brown rice and in combination with chicken and some fresh vegetables it makes a delicious meal! This recipe is based on a recipe of Jamie Oliver.

 

Duration: 15 minutes

The ingredients for 1 serving":

•  75 gr of Bulgur
• 1 chicken breast
• Broccoli
• 1 lemon
• 2 spring onions
• Radishes
• 1 ts dried coriander
• Fresh mint
• 2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbs red wine vinegar
• Handful of sunflower seeds & pumpkin seeds
• Cress
• 2 tbs natural yoghurt
• Salt & pepper

Directions:

1. Cook the bulgur as directed on the package. 
2. Cut the chicken into pieces, season with salt, pepper and the dried coriander and bake them in 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet for 8 minutes or until their golden brown and cooked. 
3. Cut the stem of the Broccoli, remove the florets and steam the florets for 5-7 minutes.
4. Cut the radishes in half and the spring onions in small rings. Mix the extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar in a bowl and ad pepper & salt to taste.  Pick some fresh mint leaves and mix these with the cut radishes and spring onions in the bowl with the olive oil vinegar dressing. 
5. Poor the water from the bulgur and put on your plate with the juice of one lemon. Put the vegetables mix, broccoli florets and chicken on top. Sprinkle the sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and some cress over it and finish it of with 2 tablespoons of natural yoghurt (you can also serve the yoghurt on the side). If you want it to be more spicy just add some harissa to the yoghurt.

Enjoy this delicious dinner!

Recipe: Banana-Almond Meal Gingerbread

Since I started eating clean I haven't eaten any gingerbread whilst it was always part of my daily diet. So when I found this clean recipe in the Dutch cookbook from Amber Albarda I was really excited! The original recipe uses Spelt meal but I wanted a gluten free version so I substituted it for almond meal and it turned out great! You can eat this as a snack during the morning or afternoon, for breakfast or even serve it with a cup of green tea.

You can keep it up to 3 days in your refrigerator!

The ingredients for 1 gingerbread:

• 100 g dried figs
• 140 g almond meal
• 2 ripe bananas
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 ts baking soda
• 1 ts baking powder
• 1/2 ts cinnamon
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 tbs walnut oil
• 4 tbs pecans

The directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius and boil 100 ml water in your kettle.
2. Coarsely chop the figs and make sure you remove the hard ends and mix them with the boiling water and the baking soda and let them soak for a few minutes.
3. Meanwhile, mix the almond meal with the baking powder and cinnamon in another bowl. 
4. Pour the water from the bowl with the figs and slowly stir the olive oil and walnut oil trough the figs. Then smash both bananas and add to the fig-oil mixture. Finally add the meal and stir really good!
5. Pour the mixture into a greased baking tin.
6. Coarsely chop the pecans and sprinkle them over the top of the bread. 
7. Bake the gingerbread for about 45-50 minutes in the oven. The bread is done when a wooden toothpick comes out relatively clean. If the bread is a little bit sticky that's okay!
8. Let it cool down and serve or save in an airtight box for 2-3 days. 

Enjoy!

8 tips to be more active at the office

My job requires me to sit behind my computer for pretty much the whole day. Research has shown that sitting most of the day (also called sedentary behavior) is associated with diabetes type II and cardiovascular diseases. This also accounts for people who fit the physical activity norms like me!

A quick reminder, the physical activity norm is met when an adult meets at least one of the two following norms:

1. Physical activity of moderate intensity (like walking or riding a bicycle) for at least 30 minutes a day, on at least 5 days a week
2. Physical activity of high intensity (like bootcamp, running or any other sport focusing on the large muscle groups of your body; cardio & strength) for at least 3 times a week for a minimum 20 minutes each time.

Numbers from 2011 for the Dutch population show that about 75% of the Dutch adults meet at least one of these norms (59% meets norm 1 and 20% meets norm 2). In addition, adults are sedentary for 6.6 hours per working day.

Luckily, recent research also shows that by making small changes throughout your workday the risks on the diseases associated with sedentary behavior decline. Activities of 2 minutes each can already positively impact your overall health. But keep in mind that you always should avoid sitting for two hours straight or longer or it won't have an effect!

So here are some tips that can help you to be more active at the office!

• If possible, use the public transport to go to work instead of your car: You'll have to walk or cycle to the station or stop and from the station to the office. As a bonus, you can stand during the ride (a positive way to look at the crowded trains). If it's not possible to take public transport and you have to use the car, park in the spot the furthest away from the office entrance so you need to walk a little more.
• Use the stairs! Make a rule for yourself and your colleagues. My rule is that I have to take the stairs every time I go up four or less floors and always take the stairs when going down! If you're office building has many floors, for example 10, than take the elevator to the 6th floor and from there take the stairs. 
• Introduce lunch walks! Instead of having lunch in the companies cafeteria you can also change it up a bit and walk with a group of colleagues to a nearby shop or restaurant to pick up some healthy sandwiches or you could just go for a 20 minute walk in the surrounding of the office. Who knows maybe you'll find a beautifull park! As a bonus you'll get to enjoy some fresh air to keep you going the rest of the day.
• Introduce standing meetings. Instead of always sitting down during a brainstorm session or meeting, stand up! By having an active posture you will also prevent feelings like tiredness.
• Walk over to a colleagues desk to ask a question instead of sending an email or picking up the phone. This also stimulates social interaction!
• Get your own coffee and prints. These little walks to the coffee corner or printer give you room to stretch your legs and get away from the computer and in general they take 2 minutes or longer.
• Take hourly activity breaks for at least 2 minutes. You can do some stretching, squats, push-ups you name it! Maybe even your colleagues want to join you!
• Ask your boss for the possibilities of standing tables. These tables allow you to do your work behind the computer while standing. However, don't stand still for longer than 1 hour to avoid any health problems and diseases associated with standing!

If you have other tips leave them in the comments below! Interested to read what you do to be more active at work!

Dinner recipe: Sesame Chicken with Brown Rice

For some reason I always have trouble finding recipes with brown rice that I really like. But I finally found one!

The ingredients for 1 serving:

• 75 g brown basmati rice
• 3 tbs agave syrup
• 2 tbs sesame seeds
• 2 tbs soy sauce
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 chicken breast
• Broccoli
• 1 sweet pepper
• 1 green pepper or spring onion
• 1 tbs chili powder
• Salt & Pepper
• 1 tbs olive oil

The directions:

1. Prepare the brown rice according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile, mix the agave syrup, sesame seeds, soy sauce and crushed garlic in a bowl and set aside.
3. Cut the chicken into pieces and season these with salt, pepper and chili powder.
4. Steam the broccoli for 6-8 minutes.
5. Heat the olive oil in a skillet and bake the chicken golden brown and cooked through in 8 minutes. Meanwhile, cut the peppers and/or spring onions into small pieces.
6. Add the cooked chicken and all the vegetables to the prepared sauce and toss to combine. Then scoop mixture into bowls or plates over cooked rice.

Enjoy!

 

Do you want to make me later or share me with your friends? “PIN” me to PINTEREST or “SHARE” me on FACEBOOK, using the social media icons below (in the gray frame)!