Healthy Breakfast Apple Strudel.

I'm having a moment with quick breakfast Ideas. As a fan of hot apples I came up with this healthy idea: Breakfast Apple Strudel.

Banana Breakfast Muffins

When I woke up this morning I fancied some Banana pancakes, but didn't fancy using oil to fry them. So I came up with this recipe for healthy, delicious, glutenfree Banana Breakfast Muffins.

Chocolate Chip cookies - healthified. Quick and easy.

Who doesn't love Chocolate Chip cookies? They just combine everything that's tasty - but with the 'tasty' part being Fat and Sugar and Chocolate ... yeah, they're not exactly on the 'healthy' side. But don't despair! Because I might just have THE recipe for you.

Chocolate Chip cookies - healthified

Stracciatella Shake - healtyfied

I'm in the mood for something sweet. Anyone else?

How about a Stracciatella Shake - healtyfied?

Chicken Nuggets with Fries and Ketchup - healthified.

I love fastfood as much as the next girl. But we all know that fastfood is not exactly helping with weightloss. So, just as I did with my Turkey Burger before, I came up with a version for Chicken Nuggets with Fries and Ketchup - healthified.

Quick and filling - Filled Mushrooms

Hello there my loveleys,

I've been gone so long! Things were crazy and work and the weekends were packed full too so I had no chance of preparing stuff for you. I hope I can do more again now that work starts to slow.

I will have a huge dinner tonight and thought I should go easy on lunch - and since I just bought a pack of Mushrooms I came up with:

Filled Mushrooms!

Chia Yoghurt and creamy Persimmon

I recently bought a Mini-Blender and a new bag of Chia Seeds and set out to create something delicious for tomorrows breakfast!


Chia Yoghurt and creamy Persimmon!

Meal Prep - Grilled Chicken with oven baked Vegetables and greens.

No matter if you're working or just have a busy schedule: it's not always easy to prepare a healthy meal for the next day. So sometimes, when time allows it, I fire up the oven on a Sunday evening to prepare lunch for the next three days. Basically you're just cooking a huge portion of whatever you want. I read of many people who prepare all three meals for 5 days - but a) I don't feel comfortable with eating food on Friday that I prepared on Sunday and b) my fridge and freezer are too small for 15 tupperware boxes ;)

So today we'll make three lunches and a little soup on the side. Lets get preping!

Sunday Breakfast - Protein Pancakes

What better way to start a Sunday than having some lovely, decadent pancakes? Yes you heard me. Pancakes. But "healthyfied". No added sugar and no flour.

10 Second Humus

It was only last week that I had my first taste of Humus, self made even. And I think I might have found my favorite chick-pea dish yet, filling, healthy and even good to take to work or simply to munch on in the evening instead of nachos and cheese.

Who's up for some amazing Humus in only 10 Seconds?

Sunday Breakfast - Italian Breakfast Pita

As I mentioned in this older post I like to have a breakfast to indulge in on Sundays. Today was no exception.

Today we'll make an Italian Breakfast Pita.

Greek Salad with Octopus. Not pretty - but delicious.

It's salad week in my kitchen! And I tried my best to keep the variety of salads wide and interesting.

So today: who's up for some amazing greek-inspired salad?

Vegetable Soup with roasted Paranuts - Sweet and Creamy.

I just got home from work and, inspired by a soup a friend of mine cooked last week, I was inspired to make a quick vegetable soup with roasted Para Nuts.

Scrambled Eggs - Asia Inspired

Honey, I'm home!
Sorry for the long break but I'm back :)

It's protein week at my home, and I bet you never had scrambled eggs like these before. You'll love this!

Grab those chop sticks and let's make some:

Scrambled Eggs - Asia inspired.

Strawberry Banana Breakfast Smoothie - Goodness on the go

So last week while shopping I bought strawberries for the first time this yeah. They weren't perfect yet but oh, who doesn't love strawberries? This morning I went for a delicious vegan  smoothie to keep me fueled and let me tell you that it was amazing!

Strawberry Banana Breakfast Smoothie

Low Carb Egg Bread + Sandwich

I'm not usually trying to actively skip carbs. I think they are good for you, depending on the kind and amount. However, this didn't stop me from looking for alternatives to bread and found something pretty amazing.


Low Carb Egg Bread:

Popcorn - Depressingly simple.

It's Snack attack once again!
I plan on watching some "Velvet Goldmine" right now. And what sack comes to mind when you think about watching a movie? Exactly: Popcorn.

I will show you the embarrassingly simple recipe for fat free Popcorn.

Gluten and wheat free Savoy Burritos.

Now this might sound weird at first but believe me it's a good alternative to the regular wheat or corn wraps: Savoy Burritos.

As I once said before: It's not about skipping, it's about replacing. I want some Burritos and I made it happen.

Savoy Burritos

Banana Pancakes - Gluten Free, oh yeah

When I first started changing my diet I found the hardest part was changing habits. We're so used to eating the way we eat. Now lets say you want to reduce the Carbs or at least  Gluten in your diet. It's the easiest way to freak people out. What do you eat when you can't eat Bread of Cereal or Pancakes for breakfast? Or Pasta, Rice and Potatoes for lunch? It drives people crazy. Why? Cause we're just so used to eating what we eat on a daily basis.

I'm here now to take your hand and tell you: It's gonna be alright. And to calm you down: Carbs and Gluten won't kill you (Unless you're allergic, then they might cause you problems of course.). I'm a firm believer in the notion that everything is okay for you body if you eat it in small quantities. Same goes for Gluten. Generations of people lived healthily on wheat-based food and Gluten and were fine. That said: It doesn't mean you can't at least make an efford to reduce some of the intake.

In a later post I might explain the fuzz about Gluten but for now let's focus on this incredibly delicious breakfast idea to calm your no-carbs-panic:

Banana Pancakes:

You should try: Almond Milk

As you can tell from my recipes: I'm a fan of clean eating. There are many youtube channels out there, telling you about the importance of good, clean food and alternatives to products you consume daily. In the course of my dietary change I tried many new products I never had before. Many of which I really learned to like and love.

In this series I want to introduce you to a couple of those foods. And the first one is actually a drink!

You should try: Almond Milk

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Apple Chips. You know you will eat the whole bowl.

To answer your question: Yes, yet ANOTHER snack recipe. But honestly: Snacks are my weakness. I can prepare three healthy meals a day and not miss a thing but I would still totally love to go for potato chips and the like. This is why I included many healthy snacks into my diet.

This recipe is as simple as it gets: Apple Chips

Turkey Burger and Fries - The best kind of Fast Food!

What better way to enjoy the weekend than having a Burger and Fries? I love this combo as much as the next person, but believe me, this superb version of this fastfood will blow your mind! Because lettuce and a slice of tomato is just too mainstream...

I present to the: The ultimate Turkey Burger and Fries.

My weight loss journey: Up and down.

I started this blog 5 weeks ago, and of course started off with a post on why I want to lose weight.

As you know: I lost a lot of weight in one year, reaching Stage 3 on the way of my not-yet-decided goal. Then my weight stayed the same for a couple of months before spiraling up again at the end of last year. This is when I started this blog. So, to start my monthly posts about my weight loss progress I present you now: My weight loss journey in numbers:

Started // July 2012: 238.8 lbs  

Reached Stage 1 // November 2012: 218.4 lbs (- 20.4 lbs) 

Reached Stage 2 // April 2013: 210.2 lbs (-28.6 lbs) 

Reached Stage 3 // July 2013: 198.2 lbs (- 40.6 lbs) 

Lowest weight // October 2013: 195.2 lbs (- 43,6 lbs)

October 2013. This was a good time for me. But things quickly spiraled out of control from there. I had personal problems and turned to food for comfort as I've always done. Then came Christmas Time and tons of food. And then came January, showing me the results. Oh boy.

Re-Start // January 2014: 208.2 lbs (+ 13 lbs from lowest weight)

It was not really a shock when I saw those numbers on the scale. I expected it. I noticed the fat around my chin and hips returning. It was painful to drop behind Stage 3. But after getting way too close to Stage 2 I had to put a halt to this. And even though my weight has been going up and down like a buoy in the past weeks I'm happy to announce that the weight loss, over all, has started going again! Yeah!!

Going down // February 2014: 205 lbs (- 3.2 lbs since restart // -33.8 lbs in total // -5.1 lbs to go back to Stage 3)

Wohoo! Go me! My goal for now is to reach Stage 3 again. I'll worry about Stage 4 once I got there ;)

So, wish me luck!

Question of the day: How do you lose weight? Do you have one big goal? Do you have stages like me? Or do you just go on losing weight without worrying about a goal or stages?

Take care and be sexy,
Anna

Diet, casually - Fruits. The original Candy.

Let's talk about fruit, shall we?

I know there are many people who tend to avoid fruit, saying they have too much sugar. And I absolutely agree that you should try and avoid having too much sugar in your diet. But in the case of fruit-calories there's something to take into account: A calorie is not a calorie. I will explain this in a future post in more detail, but for now all you need to focus on is: The calories a fruit gives you are wayyyy better than the calories - let's say - a cookie will give you.

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Dessert and sweets: Fruits

Wow, big shocker here, right? But just hear me out!

I don't know about you but I tend to overeat. I'm only full when I'm REALLY full. 'Mentally satisfied' is what I call that moment when I don't crave more food. We're all taught to ignore the signals our body gives us. After all there is no real reason to have something like "dessert", right? You just had a big ass meal, why eat the same amount of calories you just consumed again, but this time in form of a piece of cake?

A couple of months ago I started bringing more fruit to work than usual. After lunchtime I go into the kitchen and cut up some really sweet fruits: maybe half a Mango or one persimmon, a couple of figs or a banana. Here's the fruit stash I have at work right now. A mango for dessert plus a banana and some mandarins to munch on over a period of 2 to 3 days in case I want to grab one of those evil cookies in the company kitchen.

 Tipp: While citrusy fruits like Oranges or Grapefruits are great throughout the day, they shouldn't necessarily be your first choice for dessert. Your stomach is full after a proper lunch. Piling acidy fruits on top of that may cause acid reflux. 

I make a point in bringing a little bowl with the fruit and a cup of tea to my workplace after I finished my meal, take a couple more minutes to enjoy my dessert and allow my head to become 'mentally satisfied'. For me it helps to silence the little voice in my head that screams for something unhealthy.

But keep this in mind: Just because fruits are awesome and healthy doesn't mean their calories don't count. 

The pile on the picture above, if I ate all of this at once, would contain around 450 to 500 calories. That's around 4  Pepperidge Farm Milk Chocolate Macadamia Cookies. A couple of pieces of fruit throughout the day will keep you full of energy and satisfied - but go easy, okay? As long as you're not a Raw Vegan, eating 30 bananas a day will lead to disaster. Just listen to your body. If you feel like you had enough fruit you probably had. I trust you on that ;)

But nonetheless: Always have at least one piece of fruit at work. I keep mine within eyeshot.

Hopefully this inspired you to buy some fruits when you head out for lunch today.

Until next time and be sexy,
Anna

Secret Veggie Pasta Bake - by Sorted Food

Today was a special Day!
A very dear friend of mine (*waves*) got a fabulous new kitchen and we dedicated our lunch to it by using both her stove and oven for the first time together.

So for this occasion we decided to use one of the delicious recipes by the amazing guys from SORTED Food: Their Secret Veggie Pasta Bake. Make sure to check out the video on their homepage as well!

Without further ado:  Secret Veggie Pasta Bake (And sorry if we didn't follow your recipie 100% boys, we still loved it ;) )

Crispy Shrimp. It's like fish fingers - only better!

Who doesn't love shrimp? I know I do. They are extremely delicious and low in calories. Today I will show you a super easy way to pimp your shrimp for a party or maybe to put on top of a salad.

Crispy Shrimp:

Kale Curry Chips. What are you waiting for? You should try it. ... Now!

TV-Evening tonight - and I'm a bit of a snack addict.
I won't lie. This is basically the exact same recipe as the Brussels sprout chips - but I'm gonna take these in a different direction.

So how about some Kale Curry Chips?

Weighloss explained. Buckle up.

We all want to lose weight. But what's the most effective  way to do so? To understand weight loss we first need do understand weight gain.  So let's talk about our body as if it was a car.

Porridge with Hot Apples. Not only for kids.

This turned out to be a humongous portion - I always underestimate oats, don't you too? Oh well. It's still a delicious start into the day. Consider this a meal for two people.

So here we go: Porridge with hot apples

Diet, casually- Sparkling water. Fuzzy and with a kick.

A thing I learned years ago was that it's never a good idea to drink your calories. I'm not talking about your store-bought smoothies or Venti White Chocolate Mochas today. I'm also not talking about the healthy exception of self-made breakfast smoothies or juices that both serve as a whole meal. I'm talking about soda.

I too must confess that I enjoy soda and ice tea. There were times where I drank at least one bottle of diet soda or diet ice tea a day. All to willingly did I ignore the signs that my body did not like that chemical stuff - because it just tasted so good. But at some point in time I started changing that habit, reducing my soda intake to one bottle a week, sometimes even less.

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Soda: Sparkling water with lemon or lime juice

We Germans sure love our fizzy mineral water. It's not that widespread outside Germany I heard, but we can't live without its bubbly freshness. Back when I was in school our American exchange students didn't like it and described the taste as "salty" - but I encourage you to give it a try. But here's the twist: Use the juice of half a lime or lemon, orange or grapefruit to give it a fruity taste. It won't be as sweet as soda but we're not trying to recreate soda, are we?

Should you have a lime or lemon that's organic and not treated with chemicals, you can also cut it into pieces and put those into your bottle.

Your body will thank you!

Enjoy and be sexy,
Anna

Folded Zucchini Bites. I bet you never had Zucchini like this!

I must admit I started preparing this dish with no plan whatsoever. I had to make some adjustments here and there to save it (I actually wanted to do it with eggplant but unfortunately it had already gone bad.) The result was pretty good though - and even more satisfying than I expected ;)

So here we go: Folded Zucchini Bites!

Diet, casually - Tomato puree

One thing I finally understood since I started my dietary change is that diet is not only about "restricting" but most of all about "changing". Little changes can take you far in a long run.

This is why I welcome you to the first installment of "Diet - casually." where I talk to you on how to improve your every day diet by simply switching one food product for another. Those things helped me along the way of losing weight and I want to share them with you. Hopefully these tips can be helpful for you too.

Let's start today's post with something I bet a lot of you will find weird. But trust me: It's awesome.

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Bread Spread: Tomato puree
I bet none of you tried this before. It's been years since I started using tomato puree as a bread spread instead of butter or margarine. The main reason was that it has 0 points on Weight Watchers, but it stuck with me because I learned to love it.

There are many variations of tomato puree to chose from, some of them containing herbs, chilli or even onion. Alternatively, in case you're not a tomato-fan, you can try something like bell pepper puree. But be warned that it's more expensive. Something I can't stress enough is that in no way is ketchup an alternative to tomato puree.  Not only is it completely differend in taste, it's also full of sugar.

Should neither tomato puree nor bell pepper puree be to your liking try using mustard or horseradish as a bread spread instead.

All of these spreads are just so full of flavor compared to butter. They're fruity and delicious, plus, if you don't like it as a bread spread you still have a base for different sauces.

Enjoy and be sexy,
Anna

Vegetable Casserole. Anything but boring!

Come on, honestly, who doesn't love casserole?

I enjoy every kind of casserole so I made some on Sunday. Once you get the hang of it you'll see that it's so easy to make and requires no sauces that come pre-made in glasses or in bags. So today we're gonna be making some awesome vegetable casserole.

Brussels sprout chips. So gooood!!

Oh yes. You heard me right. Brussels sprout chips. It may sound crazy but it's actually very delicious. They take a little bit of preparation time but, obviously, are way lower in calories than potato chips. I personally find them to be even more satisfying than potato chips because they have this savory taste that my head connects with "Dinner" - witch is pretty cool.
So, maybe I can encourage you to try them.

Sunday Breakfast - A little bit of everything

When I'm on my own on a Sunday, I like to start off my day with a delicious, healthy breakfast, full of goodness.

Mango Buttermilk Shake

January first. Majorly hungover. Drinking always seems like such a good idea at the time, doesn't it ;)?

Anyway. I was craving something small but delicious for breakfast to get me going after a night of NYE celebration. And I had just the thing: A Mango Buttermilk Shake. Before I start though, let me explain something about my diet:

I usually try to balance my meals out. Since I'm open to everything and willing to try a lot to see if it helps my body I tried completely skipping certain kinds of foods, like fats or sugars/carbs. But it just never felt natural. I feel that proteins, carbs/sugars and fat are all part of what your body needs. It's all just about balance.

Ok, as for the shake:

Not only is the sour buttermilk so refreshing but it's also full of vitamins and minerals! Raw sesame, like other seeds, is a nice source of natural fat and the mango provides you with vitamins and the sugars/carbs that fuel your inner engine.

Let's get things going ... again.

Well, how about that? Another weight loss blog. Another 200 pound person trying to get in shape, motivated by the beginning of the new year? Well, yeah. That‘s exactly what this is.

Let me just tell you that the beginning of that whole "weight loss thing" for me has been in Summer 2012, at the glorious age of 25, so I‘m not exactly new to this. In the 12 months between July 2012 and 2013 I‘ve lost 40 pounds. Sadly I hit a plateau after that. My weight stayed the same for 6 months. It took me a long time to figure out what was going wrong in my diet.