My take on a healthier veggie “club sandwich”

So so yummy

I love the bite of a crispy, toasty sourdough bread, with melted cheese and flavorful veggies to it. That’s why I made this veggie sandwich, my take on a “club sandwich”. It’s healthier as I’ve replaced the mayonnaise with red pesto instead, mushrooms as meat replacement and adding one more veggie to it; oven baked pumpkin. The flavors altogether are really good, such a nice combo! I hope you will enjoy my version of a club sandwich as much as I do, so let’s get to it!

Ingredients

• Sourdough bread

• Pumpkin

• Mushrooms

• Salad

• Red pesto from https://www.helios.no

• Cheese (edamame or vegan)

• Avocado

• Garlic powder, oil, salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Cut the pumpkin into slices and drizzle with oil before putting them in the oven on hot air at 200 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
2. Pour a little oil on a frying pan and fry the mushrooms with a little garlic powder, salt and pepper for approx. 5-7 minutes on medium heat.
3. Cut two slices of bread and sprinkle with a little olive oil, when the mushrooms are cooked, place the slices on the frying pan and “toast” them until they get a slightly golden color.
4. Then spread red pesto on top of the bread, put on avocado slices, and the rest of the ingredients and finally put the other slice of bread on top.

Close up on the layers!

Enjoy a healthier, veggie sandwich for lunch guys:)

With love & care, Melanie x

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Easy peasy tomato pasta

Feeling uninspired, too tired or making other excuses? What you are sure of is you want to make something quick, tasty yet healthy. But what you can only think of might be throwing a frozen pizza in the oven.. Can I be right? Well, I will save you from making that move and inspire you to do the contrary. Here is a really simple dish that will only take some minutes of your time.

Ingredients

• Portobello mushroom

• Tomato sauce in a jar or can

• Pasta being either glutenfree or of durum wheat/whole wheat which are healthier options for you

• To taste, salt & pepper, capers & basil if you have and like that

Instructions

1. In a pot, boil hot water and cook your pasta for about 8-11 minutes.

2. With a heated pan, add 1 tsp of coconut oil and have your chopped portobello mushrooms. Sauté them so they become juicy! In the same pan pour in the tomato sauce and heat it up. This cooking process will take you about 10 minutes, so get on with it while your pasta is cooking;) Extra points if you add spices like oregano btw! Your body and tastebuds will thank you for it.

3. With your cooked pasta set, mix it together in the pan with the mushrooms and tomato sauce. A tip is to use some of the starchy cooking water since it will emulsify the pasta sauce. So don’t drain all the pasta in a colander over the sink! Fold the pasta and 1-3 tbs of the starchy cooking water depending on the thickness of how you like your pasta sauce to be. Cook for about 3-5 minutes on medium high heat.

Voila, get yourself ready to dig in and top it off with some capers and basil for extra flavor.

I hope you found inspiration to avoid the temptation of a frozen pizza and chose the healthier option I offered to you.

It’s far more tasty and rewarding, I promise.

With love & care, Melanie x

Quick & tasty pasta

One of my favorites to make when busy and hungry!

After an exhausting day or a tough workout, you just want to make something quick, yet tasty. I got that figured out for you. I’ll spare you from becoming hangry and rescue you with a happy tummy! I often feel that when my blood sugar is low, I just want to grab something quick to eat. But it’s so important that we feed our body with the essential nutrients we need and not going for a sugary bar or unhealthy fast food. So let’s get to this quick pasta lunch/dinner and save you from that trouble, shall we?

Ingredients

• 100g whole wheat pasta

• 2 tbs coconut cream

• 1 pack of aroma mushrooms

• 4 pieces of sun dried tomatoes

• 2 tbs soya sauce

• 1/2 red onion

• Salt & pepper

• Oil

Instructions

1. Heat the pan with some oil on a medium to high heat. And another pot on high heat with water till it boils. Then pour in the whole-wheat pasta and cook it for about 8-10 minutes to either al dente or well cooked.

2. Meanwhile, chop half a red onion and put it into the pan. We want it to be sautéed and caramelized, leave it on the pan for about 5 minutes or until you see the strong purple color fading.

3. Then add your aroma mushrooms and let it cook for 5 minutes more. To your liking, have with it salt and pepper.

4. Now, add 2 tbs of coconut cream and 2 tbs of soya sauce, and let us not forget the sun dried tomatoes! Let it simmer for 5 minutes to enrich all the flavors and to soften the sun dried tomatoes.

5. This dish is for one portion. Make it complete with some fresh coriander on top!

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

Quick & easy vegan pasta

Mushroom yumminess

I absolutely adore aroma and portobello mushrooms, so I made a quick and easy vegan pasta with it. It’s really simple and doesn’t require advanced cooking skills, so don’t hesitate making it! Also it’s very tasty, healthy and makes your blood sugar level stable, keeping you full for quite a time. It’s therefore perfect for lunch, so that you can keep rocking at what you do throughout the whole day. Let’s make it, shall we?

Here cooking mushrooms and scallions with coconut milk in a sauce pan.

First step is to start boiling water for the pasta. I used whole wheat pasta because it contains more fiber than normal pasta. So while the pasta is being cooked (takes around 10 minutes), heat up a sauce pan at over medium heat. Start with the mushrooms, you don’t need olive oil as we want them to caramelize, which gives more flavor. Add the scallions, 4 tbs of coconut milk and 2 tbs of soya sauce. Cook everything for 5-10 minutes more on lower heat, this way you allow the flavors to shine! The amount of coconut milk depends on your desire, you can add more tbs if you like. For topping and more taste, chop some parsley. It will take you max 20 minutes cooking, but I’d say it would qualify for a 15 minutes dish. As mentioned, quick & easy! Enjoy everyone.