Pickled herring salad

Fatty fish helps keep your heart healthy, I'm talking about fatty fish like salmon, tuna, mackerel, sardines and herring. These fatty fish are good sources of healthy omega-3 fatty acids. I made a delicious salad for lunch with pickled herring fillets.

• Green lettuce
• Spinach leaves
• 1/3 red bell pepper
• 1/4 cucumber
• 1/2 avocado
• 3 cherry tomatoes
• 2 small pickled herring fillets
• Lemon juice
• Herbal salt
• Pepper
• Basil

Cheers to a healthy heart! xoxo

Breakfast on a public holiday

Breakfast is definitely my favorite meal of the day, especially on Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday like today! I love taking my time for breakfast and awakening, I usually get up 30 minutes earlier than I have to just because I hate to rush in the morning.

I made myself a delicious breakfast this morning:

Gluten-free oatmeal (with unsweetened soy milk). I added some almond flakes, coconut flakes, chia seeds, ground flax seeds and cinnamon. Super healthy and rich in soluble fibre.

I also had a few fresh strawberries, a glass of fresh squeezed grapefruit juice and a cup of Kusmi Tea (green tea, orange & cinnamon flavor).

xoxo

Salmon with broccoli

Salmon is a perfect food to substitute meat, it is a good source of protein and healthy omega 3 fatty acids. Dark green vegetables such as kale, broccoli, green beans etc are packed with chlorophyll, vitamins A and C. They are high in fiber and low in calories, this makes them perfect food to keep your heart healthy and your waistline slim.

I enjoyed a piece of salmon tonight (baked in extra virgin olive oil) with thyme and rosemary, accompanied by some steamed broccoli. Boiling removes many of the vitamins and minerals from this vegetable, so steaming is the preferred method for cooking broccoli. Just so you know, if you eat broccoli, you might as well get the most from it :)

xoxo

Ratatouille

Ratatouille is usually served as a side dish, but can also be served as a meal on its own. I love it, a big bowl of veggies! I make ratatouille quite often and when I do, I usually make a large portion for a few days and take some to work for lunch. Each time I feel a little hungry I have a small portion of ratatouille, a healthy snack. Helps me stay away from sweet treats :)

Tomatoes are the key ingredient of my ratatouille. Next to tomatoes I add zucchini, eggplant, red bell peppers, mushrooms, onions and lots of herbs (basil, thyme, oregano, sea salt and pepper).

I like to add some Tofu, Tempeh or Quorn to ratatouille. These vegetarian meat replacers add some protein to the dish and make you feel full longer. This time I added Quorn, a meat alternative that is high in protein and dietary fibre and low in saturated fat and salt. Yummy.

xoxo

Veggie zucchini pasta

Pasta sounds healthy but it's actually not. Carbs are bad boys (cookies, bread, pasta, ...) that raise our blood sugar level. That's why I try to avoid carbs as much as possible and replace them by vegetables, fruit, nuts & seeds, lean white meat (chicken or turkey), oily fish (e.g. salmon), meat replacers such as tofu and quorn, etc.

For dinner I made veggie zucchini pasta with tomatoes, spinach and fennel. Delicious with a little extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, pepper and oregano. And I'm also sippin on a glass of organic red Merlot.

I'm also proud to show you my PAM cooking spray, 100% organic canola oil. PAM is a non-stick spray with 0 calories. It's great to moisten your pan and cook fat-free. 

xoxo

Soy cinnamon café latte

I love coffee, I used to drink coffee everyday. I was in love with Starbucks latte's. But I kicked off from them, now when I go to Starbucks I order a Chai Latte with soy milk, my new addiction :). But today I treated myself to a homemade soy cinnamon café latte.

• Unsweetened organic soy milk foam (made with Nespresso aeroccino)
• Nespresso 'Roma' coffee
• 2 drops pure vanilla extract
• Cinnamon

I'm in love! 

xoxo

'De voedselzandloper' by Kris Verburgh

De voedselzandloper, the first 'what to eat, what not to eat' book that makes total sense! Kris Verburgh explains that eating healthy keeps your body young and prevents diseases. Losing weight is not the main goal, it's a nice side effect.

He explains why the food pyramid isn't correct and he replaces it by a new model 'de voedselzandloper', the upper side contains unhealthy food that we should avoid, the lower side contains healthy food that we should try to eat as often as possible. The lower side gives you healthy alternatives. E.g. replace milk products by soy milk or almond milk, replace bread by oatmeal, replace sugar by stevia or agave, etc.

I recommend this book to everyone who's interested in a healthy lifestyle! For more information, go to http://www.voedselzandloper.com/.

xoxo