Red berry & chia swirl bowl

Nutrition is important to me as to how I perform on court, but also how I feel health wise. I’ve discovered a lot through my journey of performance and well being.

If my experience can help you realize something you weren’t aware of, then I hope you find that realization by continuing reading this post.

My personal struggle has been my sinus, however I discovered that certain foods can trigger it and weaken my immune system, making me more exposed to strong allergies of pollen.

Those foods connected to my case of Timothy grass pollen allergy are; legumes, oats, peanuts and tomatoes. However, it may be you’re not getting an allergy effect by all these foods, maybe only one or not to eat every kind all at once. Therefore I encourage you to understand your personal health and body since you know best.

That’s why food choices and nutrition can be different to each and one of us since we all are unique.

Since I was unaware of this and influenced by what I thought was categorized healthy, I didn’t help myself by eating this way for many years making my pollen allergy stronger over time. These facts was an eye opening change for me, and now that I know better, I can help myself to stay healthy. Of course everything with balance, since I have also understood how important it is to listen to your body and its needs instead of resisting.

That’s why I’m eating smoothie bowls instead of overnight oats or porridge. I discovered a new great invention of mixing it with chia pudding and having fun making swirls, it’s a great substitute to granola which normally contains oats. However, I found a solution to it making grainfree granola which also works perfectly. Yet, I must say I don’t mind mixing it with chia pudding. The benefits are many by eating it, you see chia seeds are high in fiber, protein, contains healthy fats and calcium. It’s perfect together with lots of berries as it stabilizes your blood sugar and which gives you a feeling of satiety.

Hoping this will make you more aware of what you eat and how you feel so that you can perform and be your best self.

Recipe & ingredients

• 1 cup frozen raspberries

• 1/2 cup frozen strawberries

• 1-2 frozen bananas

• 120 ml coconut milk

• 1 tsp rice bran from https://www.super-nature.no

Blend well together in a smoothie blender.

• 3 tbsp chia seeds

• 100 ml coconut milk

Set aside for 10 minutes and let it swell for it to become chia pudding!

Ps: it’s delicious with hazelnut butter, goji berries and dried apricots. Have fun making swirls when adding the chia pudding on top of your smoothie bowl!

Enjoy!

With love & care, Melanie x

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Creamy vegan pasta

It’s so creamy. Still without using dairy products!

After a good workout, you often end up really hungry and just want to make something quick, yet tasty, am I right? So I’ve had in mind to share what you could make for lunch or dinner.. It’s this creamy vegan pasta, which is easy to make so that you can fill up your belly fast. The dish is healthy, packed with protein and fiber. That’s good for your digestion and regenerating energy. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• Tahini or sesame butter

• Chickpeas

• Soya sauce

• Corn starch

• Coconut milk

• Salt & pepper

• Sun dried tomatoes

• Lentil gluten-free pasta or any other kind

Instructions

1. Boil the pasta while heating up a pan on medium heat.

2. Add to your pan a can of chickpeas and 125 ml of coconut milk (half a cartoon of 250ml) with the sun dried tomatoes.

3. Then add one tsp of tahini, half a tsp of corn starch, let it simmer so that the sauce thickens and gets creamy. That’s thanks to our corn starch. Around 5 minutes. Stir the sauce with one tbs of soya sauce. Add salt and pepper to your liking.

4. Lastly fold in the cooked pasta and put down the heat to low. Mix the pasta well with the sauce, cook for 2 minutes.

5. Voila one portion of lunch or dinner is served!

Step 4: when you have fold in the pasta and mixed the creamy sauce with it!

With love and care, Melanie x

Sweet potato rucola salad

Yum right?

This salad is super easy to make and is so yummy, win win. Just toss some rinsed rucola in a bowl and mix it with oven baked sweet potatoes, lentils for protein, sun dried tomatoes and pine nuts for crunch. It’s a perfect meal for lunch or a light dinner. Enjoy x

Ingredients

• 2 packets of rucola

• 1 box of lentils

• 2 sweet potatoes

• 1 red onion

• 35g or one handful of pine nuts

• 1 handful of sun dried tomatoes

• Olive oil

• Balsamic vinegar

• Lemon juice of half a lemon

Instructions

1. Cut the sweet potatoes into small cubes. Put it on a tray with baking paper so you save yourself a clean up. Have the oven on 220 degrees and have them baked for around 30-45 minutes until soft. If you like, add some salt, pepper and chili flakes and don’t forget to drizzle some olive oil on top.

2. In a bowl, toss the rinsed rucola and lentils. Mix in the sun dried tomados and chop thinly slices of the red onion.

3. Once the sweet potatoes are finished baking, let them rest for some minutes before adding it to the bowl. Have some toasted pine nuts, simply heat a pan and toast them till they get golden brown.

4. And for dressing, juice of half a lemon, some olive oil and balsamic vinegar to your liking.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do,

With love and care, Melanie x

If you like you can also roast some carrots in the oven with the sweet potatoes as garnish. Bon appetit!

Golden bowl of chickpeas with brown rice

Ingredients

• 1 shallot

• 1 cup rinsed and cooked chickpeas

• 1 tbs coconut oil

• 1 tsp paprika powder

• 1 tsp cumin powder

• 1 tsp honey

• 2 tsp soya sauce

• 2 tbs tahini

• 1 handful of spinach

• Add a pinch of salt and pepper

• Brown rice

• Coriander

A portion for 1 person

Instructions

1. Peel and cut finely the shallot. Add 1 tbs of coconut oil on a medium heated pan together with the chopped shallot.

2. When it starts simmering and shallot is becoming soft, add the cumin, paprika, salt and pepper to taste.

3. Add in the rinsed chickpeas. Now stir together the honey first, then tahini and at the end the soya sauce. When you have let the flavors worked by cooking for about 10 minutes, add the rinsed spinach and make it sautéed.

4. In a pot cook the brown rice, 1 cup of rice with 2 cups of water on high heat, when the rice has soaked up the water, put the heat down, takes around 20 minutes.

5. Chop some coriander as garnish.

Step 3

Spinach pancake with savoury filling

A one of a kind pancake

The recipe is from “Adams matkasse”. He delivers in Norway a box at people’s door, which contains the food ingredients you’ll need for the recipe he has made for you to make. And one of his recipes are these pancakes that I want to share with you. It is delicious and easy to make. And it’s a one of a kind pancake which is way healthier and more nutritious than the dessert pancake! It’s vegetarian and I swooped the milk and flour to be plant based and gluten-free. Let’s get to it.

Ingredients

• 100 g spinach

• 5 dl oat milk

• 4 dl buckwheat flour

• 4 eggs (organic or free ranged eggs if possible)

• 1 red onion

• 1 lemon

• 1 pack of chickpeas

• 400g aroma mushrooms

• 1 garlic

• 1 pack of chèvre cheese

• 2 pieces of heart salad

• 1 pear

• 1 apple

• Some oil, salt and sugar

Instructions

1. To make the pancake batter: rinse the spinach before adding it and the plant based milk in a blender og mix the batter evenly. Stir together the eggs and the spinach mixture in a bowl. Sift into 4 dl buckwheat flour little by little, and stir to you got a smooth batter.

2. Cut the mushrooms into slices. Peel and finely chop the garlic, peel and cut the red onion in thin slices.

3. Lightly pickled red onion: have the red onion in a small bowl, and add 1 tsp of sugar, a pinch of salt and juice of the lemon. Mix everything together and let it rest until you serve it.

4. Pancakes: heat the pan to medium heat and add some oil. They are ready when you see bubbles on the surface.

5. Fry the chickpeas, mushrooms and garlic in another pan. Cook the chickpeas until they are golden, about five minutes. Then set them aside in a bowl and fry the mushrooms after with the garlic until they are sautéed and soft. Fold in the chickpeas together with the mushrooms in the end.

6. Cut the chèvre in pieces, rinse and cut the salad in pieces, as well as the apple and pear.

7. Fill the spinach pancakes with the chickpeas, mushroom, chèvre, salad, apple, pear and the pickled red onion. Voila et bon appetit!

More about Adams Matkasse, you can find on his website here:

https://www.adamsmatkasse.no

Energy balls

They’re so good…

These treats are perfect as snack or when you’re having a sweet tooth! Healthy and tasty, they’re so good. You just need some dates, nut butter, coconut oil, buckwheat flakes and for flavor cacao and coffee powder! Put that in a food processor, roll them in chopped almonds and shredded coconut and keep them refrigerated.

Enjoy!

With love and care, Melanie x

Glutenfree pasta dish

Healthy and tasty!

I think that we all question whether healthy food can be as tasty and delicious, as well being vegan and gluten-free… And my answer to that is yes, by making this dish for you. In my opinion it’s all about combining more flavors that goes well together and being creative with the foods. Also, it’s about cooking those foods the way they are supposed to shine!

If you have a leaky gut or upset stomach, I would recommend you to stay away from gluten for a period and substitute on gluten-free in moderation.

So to this gluten-free pasta dish, I had mushrooms, celery (you can have red onion or spinach instead if you want) and sun dried tomatoes. As toppings I had rucola and roasted pumpkin seeds for crunch!

In a heated saucepan, cook your chopped mushrooms first. Let them caramelize itself without having any oil on the pan, only add some water when they start sticking to the pan. Then add chopped celery and in the end cook dried tomatoes with it.

If you want creaminess, simply add 2 tablespoons of tahini and pour in a little bit of the boiled water from the pasta to achieve a creamy pasta sauce!

I hope you found the guidelines to the gluten-free pasta; tasty and delicious.

With love and care, Melanie x

Granola bowl inspiration

Tasty breakfast bowl!

Starting your day best way possible is key. Prioritize a healthy and nutritious breakfast like this one! It has probiotic coconut yoghurt which is dairy free and has good bacterias for your gut. Top it with fiber rich granola, which will make you full over a longer time and not crave for sugary foods. Add some blueberries for antioxidants that will help you with your immune system. Also you can have some raspberry jam/sauce which is easy to make. In a saucepan, pour in frozen raspberries on under medium heat and cook it till it becomes like on the picture. Raspberries contains dietary fiber and is beneficial for your digestion. It’s a wholesome breakfast with healthy fats like nut butter and almonds in the granola. Enjoy x

With love and care, Melanie

São Paulo ~ a food heaven

From tropical fruits, to sweet and savory, this city offers everything you desire.

I ate at “Bio” restaurant, an Amazonian river fish with açaí mousse and brown rice. It tasted amazing! This restaurant is a must-try for those who love to eat healthy. The waitresses don’t speak English though, but luckily you get the menu in English. However, they are super nice and try their best to help you. After leaving this restaurant I ended up feeling energized and content, because here it’s only good vibes, and most importantly delicious food!

Not a surprise then, that this restaurant is one of my favorites. They also serve breakfast, opening at 8 in the morning. Since I love breakfast, I got super happy. I tried the açaí bowl with granola and banana, because when in Brazil, you can’t miss out on their açaí! I chose 500 ml, but it was a lot haha. You are good with 300 ml because it makes you full. Anyways, it didn’t matter since it was so good so I finished it all! As I mentioned, I thought it was not enough, so I ordered as well a tapioca crepe with cocoa paste and nut butter. Wow, that was amazing. You have to order that, you just have to. And when you do you will understand how amazingly good that was. I still dream of it;)