Weekend Meal - Rosemary Lamb Chop and Quinoa

I have been clean-eating for quite awhile and I feel that from time to time, you just got to treat yourself, give yourself 1-2 cheat meals once a week.  Having tried my first yoga class today, followed by an hour cardio exercise, I think I deserve something nice tonight.  So I decided to make rosemary lamb chops sided with quinoa for dinner.

Lamb Chop is definitely one of my favourite foods apart from beef (I try to have less red meat now that I have started clean-eating.) For those who doesn't eat lamb, don't worry, the quinoa recipe below is a must-try, it tastes so good and it is so easy to make.  It would be a great lunch too.  Trust me, you will fall in love with it just like I do! Plus, quinoa has so many health benefits.  It contains complete proteins and it is filling that won't make you bloat.  It's such a great alternative to rice.

 

 



Ingredients (Serve 2)

For the lamb chops

• 6 lamb chops
• 1/2 cup of olive oil
• Salt and pepper to season
• 1/4 cup of fresh rosemary

For the marinade of lamb chops

• 1/2 tbsp. of butter
• 1/4 cup of white wine
• 1/4 cup of chicken broth

For the quinoa

• 1 cup of quinoa
• Salt and Pepper to season
• 2 tbsp. of olive oil
• 1/4 cup of fresh mint leaves
• 1/4 cup of fresh parsley
• 1/4 cup of sundried tomatoes
• 1/4 cup of feta cheese

Steps

1. Marinate the lamb chops with olive oil, fresh rosemary, salt and pepper.  Leave the marinade on the lamb chops in the fridge for at least 1.5 hours or more.

 

2. Heat the non-sticky pan with olive oil.  Once it is hot enough, cook the lamb chops with the pan.  Cook each side for 3 minutes if you want them medium rare. 

 

3. When the lamb chops are done, put them aside on thick paper towels to absorb the excess oil.  On the non-sticky pan, add in the butter, white wine and chicken broth to the remaining marinade. Let the mixture sizzle for 3 minutes or so or it thickens a bit. This would serve the sauce for the lamb chops.

 

4. While you're cooking the lamb chops, you could cook the quinoa at the same time.  To cook 1 cup of quinoa, you would need 2 cups of water.  Cook the mixture together with a handful of salt to taste and some olive oil to make the quinoa more fluffy.  Once it boils, turn to the lowest heat and let it simmer for 15 minutes with the lid on. Then turn off the heat and let it sit for 5 more minutes.

 

5. Mix the cooked quinoa with salt and pepper, olive oil, fresh mint leaves, fresh parsley, sundried tomatoes and feta cheese.

 

6. Serve the lamb chops with the sauce and sided with quinoa.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Natalie :)

Easy DIY Kimchi Fried Rice - A Delicious Detox Superfood

I don't know about you, but I freakin' love Korean food.

Kimchi Fried Rice - Photo by Jaryl Cabuco of The Fitted Life

How often have you gone to a Korean restaurant, ordered kimchi stone pot rice, and finished your meal just wanting more? 

If you ask me, the answer is: all the freakin' time.

So, being tired of having to go to the restaurants to get my (overpriced) fix, I decided to make my own. While I searched for an easy DIY recipe for kimchi, I found out that kimchi is actually really good for you, owing to its fermented nature. It especially helps to promote the growth of beneficial intestinal bacteria like lactobacilli, which are important for digestion and can help to prevent problems like yeast and urine infections, inflammation processes like acne and eczema, and many more. 

So naturally, I thought - healthy and tasty? Bring it on!

I used this easy recipe from a Youtuber to make the kimchi. The result:

Hallelujah.

This recipe from well-known Korean food blogger Maangchi is also a great one - but I found the youtube video above easier to follow. I did adapt my recipe and used Maangchi's tip of adding rice flour to the kimchi juice to thicken it, and it does seem to help ferment the kimchi better as the juice would be more well distributed within the jar rather than sinking to the bottom. I also fermented it using Maangchi's method of storing the kimchi in a dark place at room temperature for 1-2 days before storing it in the fridge.

The kimchi can usually keep for a long time - they say up to 2 months, but I usually eat it within 2 weeks anyway. Often fried with rice and a runny fried egg on top - YUUUUUM :)

fried egg on kimchi fried rice

runny eggs are the only way to go ;)

Kimchi pancakes are a great way to have kimchi too! I like my pancakes fluffy and thick rather than in the crepes that you can get in restaurants...I like to think the flour absorbs some of the spice - it sure helps!

Do you like kimchi? How do you eat it?

Nikki

Low Fat Carbonara Recipe

My biggest weakness in this whole clean-eating diet would have been pasta, if you ask me.  Seriously, if it does not contain as much carbohydrates, I swear I am able to eat pasta every single day.  To satisfy my pasta cravings, here is a slightly low fat Carbonara recipe adapted from Laura in the Kitchen.

 

 

Ingredients (Serve 1)

• 1 slice of bacon chopped into pieces
• 1/4 onion
• 1-2 oz. of whole wheat spaghetti
• 1 egg
• 1/2 - 1 tbsp. of heavy cream (depends how much taste you want)
• 1 handful of grated Parmesan Cheese

 

Directions

 

1. Mix the beaten egg, heavy cream and Parmesan Cheese.  Set the mixture aside.

 

2. Chop the onion and bacon into pieces.

 

3.  Boil the water.  Once it is boiled, cook the spaghetti for around 10 minutes.

 

4. While you are cooking the spaghetti, heat the non-sticky pan with olive oil.  Once it is heated, cook the bacon until it is crispy.  Add in the onion.  Cook for 2 more minutes. 

 

5.  When the spaghetti is cooked, put the spaghetti and mix it with the bacon and onion in the pan.   Stir-fry for around 1 minute.  Turn off the heat.

 

6.  Drop the egg mixture onto the pan of spaghetti and mix well until every spaghetti is covered with the sauce.

 

Enjoy! 

 

Natalie :) 

Luxuriously Tasty High Tea At Home, Shall We?

Cookies! I LOVEEEE cookies regardless they are the crunchy ones like those you have at..say for example Pret or soft like those you have at Mrs Fields, I just love cookies! I am so glad that I found this recipe and I can tell you that this recipe is the easiest recipe you can ever find!! I swear!

This recipe requires around 10 minutes in preparing? 15 minutes for baking and you only need 2 ingredients! What could be easier? Without further ado, let's get started!

Ingredients you will need: (for one serving)

Cookies 

1. 1 ripe banana

2. 1 cup of rolled oats

3. 1/4 cup of semi-sweet chocolate (optional...I have a sweet tooth so I even added half a cup of it)

The sauce

1. 2 strawberries

2. 1 tbsp of greek yogurt

3. 1 tsp of maple syrup

Directions:

Cookies

1. Pre-heat the oven at 250 degrees 

2. Peel the banana and put it together with the rolled oats in a relatively large bowl

3. (The best part of all) Rub the oats in the banana with your fingerrrrrrrssss! Feel the squishiness...feel the rawness of food!!!!!!!! (Make sure your hands and fingernails are clean before you do this)

4. Add in the chocolate and mix it well with the batter

5. Brush a thin layer of oil over the baking tray before you put your dough on it

6. Spoon out the cookies of the size you want from the dough and put it on the baking tray (For me, I usually make them smaller, about biting size so that I could have moreeeee and I feel like i could eat moreeee)

7. Brush another thin layer of either egg white or oil on top of the cookies then it's all ready to bake

8. Bake it for 15-20 minutes and take it out, let it rest for about 5 minutes

Cookie dip strawberry sauce

Direction:

1. Mix everything in a blender and it's ready to go with the cookies

It's simple as that! What are you waiting for? Try it now!

Love you guys, enjoy!

Ada

xxxx

WAKE ME UP! - Low Calorie DIY Vanilla Spiced Latte Recipe

Hey there sleepyheads!

Quick post today - I thought I'd share my much anticipated DIY vanilla spiced latte recipe which was inspired by the Starbucks Vanilla Chai latte that came out a few months ago in the UK. This recipe is much healthier and packs much fewer calories than the Starbucks version. If super-sweet coffee is your vice, I'm afraid this recipe might not be for you. But if you're like me and just wish you could have a coffee that tasted like coffee and a little something extra, then this recipe is PERFECT for you!

What you need:

Keeps me awake for the rest of my (often 12-13 hour) work day!

• Boiling water
• 1 sachet/tbsp of instant coffee
• Soy/almond/hazelnut milk. I use unsweetened to lower the calories even more, but sweetened milk does give it the perfect taste.
• 1/8 tsp of ground cinnamon
• Pinch of ground nutmeg
• Several drops of vanilla extract (optional)
• Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional - adds a kick!)

Directions:

1. Place all your dry ingredients and vanilla extract into the mug.
2. Pour boiling water to help mix everything, until the mug is 3/4 full. 
3. Add milk to taste, or until the cup is full.
4. Stir, and enjoy! 

I know what you're thinking - cinnamon and cayenne pepper?! As you may see in some of my past as well as future recipes, I try to use cayenne pepper as much as I can. Cayenne pepper has a huge number of purported health benefits and, along with cinnamon, has been reported to be help the body's immune system - including helping to fight inflammation and also promote weight loss by decreasing appetite. Of course, in one mug of coffee, the amount of spice we've used probably won't make much of a difference. But if you consider it in terms of the accumulative amount you might take in over a month - the benefits might be more likely to show ;) Plus, using spices in place of sugar to help improve taste is always a great way to lower calorie intake! 

Breakfast time - Veggies and steamed egg, check! Vanilla spiced latte, check!

I usually have my morning coffee with my go-to detox breakfast that keeps me full until lunchtime and stops my cravings for junk food and sugar. Look out for the recipe coming up soon!

Do you have any favourite coffee shop flavours that you'd like us to turn into a low-calorie, healthy version? Let us know in the comments and we'll figure out a recipe for you!

Nikki :)

Healthy Creamy Avocado Sauce

Hands down this is one of the healthiest and yummiest creamy sauce I've ever had (without the actual cream, hence, less calories!)!! And what's more is that it has so much health benefits with a lot of fiber!  I love this sauce so much that I could really eat this everyday with a variety of combinations such as whole wheat pasta, toast, or just...simply eat it alone :D

Look at the smooth texture...*drooling already*

Love the sauce on whole wheat bread with bacon and a slice of cheddar cheese.  You can also heat the sandwich with the pan and melt the cheese.  This combination is just.....divine omg!!

I've always been craving this creamy avocado pasta...topped with Parmesan cheese of course.  Just can't live without cheeeeseeee. :)

 

Ingredients

• 1 avocado
• 2-3 tbsp. of lemon juice
• 1 tbsp. of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 glove of garlic
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1. Slice the avocado into tiny pieces. 
2. Dice the glove of garlic.
3. Blend all the ingredients together in the food processor.

There you have it, HEALTHY, DELICIOUS, CREAMY AVOCADO.  SO RAW AND SO EASY.

Natalie

Clean Eating Recipe #4 - Simple Greek Quinoa Salad

I know it is very difficult to struggle with your healthy diet when you are busy working or studying.  But don't worry, here is a super simple and absolutely delicious recipe for you - Greek Quinoa Salad.  All you need are just a handful of ingredients when you can easily find them in the supermarket!  You could always make it the night beforehand, put it in your fridge and take it when you go out for work/school the next day!

Feta cheese just makes everything better!

Ingredients (Serve 2)

For the quinoa

• 1 cup of quinoa
• Salt and pepper to season
• 1 tbsp. of olive oil

For the salad

• 1/2 of red pepper
• 1/2 green pepper
• 1/2 of yellow pepper
• 4 chicken fillets/chicken breasts
• 1/4 cup of feta cheese
• 1/4 cup of sundried tomatoes

For the dressing

• 1 tsbp. of olive oil
• 3 tbsp. of balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbsp. of Dijon mustard

Directions

1. Marinate the chicken fillets/chicken breasts with salt.  Put them into the boiling water until they are fully cooked.  Cut them into small pieces.  Set them aside.

2. Chop the red pepper, green pepper and yellow pepper into cubes.  Set them aside.

3. Heat up the saucepan with medium heat.  Fry all the peppers together with the cooked chicken. Put them aside.

4.  Wash the quinoa with tap water to remove its taste of bitterness. 

5. To cook 1 cup of quinoa, you would need 2 cups of water.  Cook the mixture together with a handful of salt to taste and some olive oil to make the quinoa more fluffy.  Once it boils, turn to the lowest heat and let it simmer for 15 minutes with the lid on. Then turn off the heat and let it sit for 5 more minutes.

6.  Mix the olive oil, balsamic vinegar and Dijon mustard together.  That would serve as the salad dressing.

7.  Mix the quinoa, peppers, chicken, feta cheese, sundried tomatoes with the salad dressing.

There you have it, a simple and delicious meal!! :)

Let us know what is your favourite way to cook quinoa!

Natalie
xxx