4th of July can come...with these red, white & blue salads

 

Hey guys!

You all know 4^th of July is right around the corner and with it lots of garden parties, BBQs and fun with friends!

And...I have the perfect recipes for you!

Healthy, delicious and totally „Instagram-worthy“ because everything is blue white or red.

Today I present you two summery salads: the classic tomato mozzarella salad with blueberries and the fancy watermelon, blueberry and goat cheese salad.

Let's start with some infos about the nutrients:

tomatoes - ...are full of vitamins A,C, E (antioxidative) as well as vitamin B. In addition tomatoes contain a lot of magnesium, iron and calcium and rare micronutrients such as cobalt and zinc.

blueberries -  ...are really a secret weapon of health. They contain a lot of carotene and vitamin C. The best ingredient is by far the natural colorant „myrtillin“: Together with iron and vitamin C it protects your blood vessels and can prevent strokes.

watermelon - ...is like a big red bottle of mineral water. It cleanses your kidneys and contains 95% water and a bunch of good micronutrients such as calcium, iron, iodine and fluorine.

cheese - …is are great way to add protein to your salad. 100g of mozzarella cheese contain 18% and goat cheese has even 21% of protein.

And now let's prepare delicious salads!

I started with chopping ¼ of a watermelon. I removed the green parts, cut the rest in bite-size chunks and placed them in a bowl. I added one cup of blueberries and stirred a little. Next I cut about nine cherry tomatoes in half and placed them in another bowl. Afterwards I mixed in half a cup mini mozzarella balls and half a cup of blueberries.

For classic salad dressing I blended ¼ cup of vinegar and 3 tablespoons of olive oil together. I added a pinch of salt and half a glove of garlic and mixed again. Afterwards I tossed my tomato mozzarella salad with the dressing and set it aside.

I marinated the fancy watermelon salad with a dash of lemon juice and one teaspoon of honey.

At the last I took a cookie cutter, cut out little goat cheese stars and placed them on the watermelon salad.

If you throwing a garden party/BBQ on your own, you can totally change the salad into cute skewers or a mini appetizers.

I hope you enjoy!

...and if you recreate my recipes please send me a photo...I'd love to see all the healthy dishes.

xo

Andrea

A homemade burger...kind of healthy "junk food"

My boyfriend and me are currently betting who of us will be fitter after the next two months. It's about a amazon coupon and although we didn't even have a neutral judge I'm determined to beat him!

But...from time to time both of us are craving some sort of junk food. This time it was a nice burger.

And since I'm always trying to add my personal touch to my dishes and make them a little healthier I did the same with a common burger recipe.

So...this is my healthy and homemade burger!!

Here are my modifications so that you can see all the benefits you get from a homemade burger:

• for my patty I just 100% organic beef
• instead of the common burger bun I made my own wholewheat burger buns – By replacing the white flour with wholewheat flour I prevent blood sugar spikes and go for a longer satiety.
• instead of the high processed cheese (to my opinion it isn't cheese at all) I used crumbled feta cheese – This substitution will safe you from a bunch of additives and about 5g of saturated fat (per 100g of cheese).
• instead of ketchup and mustard I made a Greek yogurt sauce with tumeric and garlic – Cutting out the ketchup means cutting out 2g of sugar which comes from high fructose corn syrup.
• instead of pickle slices and onions I opt for fresh veggies such as tomatoes, lettuce and fresh cucumber – Cooking with fresh vegetables will give you a bunch of nutrients and leave out all the additives which are required for a longer shelf life.

And now....here is what I did:

I made my wholewheat burger buns the day before because it would have taken to much time. (Sry but I completely forgot to take pictures.)

I placed about two cups of wholewheat flour in a mixing bowl. Then I disolved 42g of fresh yeast (two packages of dry yeast) in two cups of milk. Afterwards I stirred everything together and let it sit for about half an hour. Next I added another two cups of wholewheat flour, two eggs, a pinch of salt and one cup of milk. I knead all ingredients together and let my dough sit for another hour. As soon as the dough has doubled in size I formed my buns, placed them on a lined baking tray and baked them for 30 minutes on 150°C (300F). I removed them from the oven let them cool and stored them in a lidded box.

Today I started with cutting my buns in half and toast them a little.

For the sauce I mixed one cup of Greek yogurt with one tablespoon of tumeric paste and one glove of garlic together and added a pinch of salt and black pepper.

To make the patties I placed about two cups of organic minced beef in a bowl and added one egg. I seasoned it with one tablespoon of mustard and a pinch of salt and knead until everything is well combined. (Sry guys, but that is handwork....so wash your hands and dig in!)

I heated up a pan, poured in one tablespoon of oil and put my patties in. After ca couple of minutes I flipped them and fried them on the other side for 5 more minutes.

Meanwhile I had washed my vegetables, cut them in thin slices and crumbled the feta cheese.

Now it's time to build up that burger.

I placed the lower half of my burger bun on a plate. Then I put a lettuce leave on it and topped it with the patty. Next...the sauce. I spread one teaspoon of it on the patty and topped it with the cucumber and tomato slices. At last I sprinkled the feta cheese on and put the upper half of the burger bun on top.

Doesn't this look so delicious? I'm really getting hungry right now.

Can we find a cool name for this delicious burger? Please comment down below if you have a nice idea!

It remains saying enjoy your homemade healthy burger, wish me luck for my bet/competition and I'm looking forward to read all your comments.

xo

Andrea

It's time for a salad...once again!

The last days the weather got quite sunny and hot and we tried to be outside as much as possible...we transferred our workouts to the park, we went to the strawberry fields and to the bathing lake.

When it comes to the food...you all know I love me some salad in the summer. And since I basically live from my veggies and leafy greens, today's blog post is another salad recipe...YAY!!!

It's mixed salad with goat cheese and roasted asparagus.

You may wanna know some health benefits before we start cooking:

Asparagus is generally very low in calories...one cup of it contains only 27 calories. Moreover there are 0g of fat, 3g of fiber and 3g of healthy protein in it. As far as vitamins and micronutrients are concerned, asparagus cotains a lot of vitamin A, C, and K (which improves your bone health) as well as folate and iron.

Quite nice, right?

But before I went crazy with all the health benefits I better start to explain how to prepare this delicousness:

I started with cutting off the stringy part at the bottom end of your as

paragus. Then I chopped the remaining stalks into pieces of 3cm (1 inch) and put the tips aside. Next I heated up a pan, poured in about one tablespoon of oil an added the asparagus. As soon as the stalks are firm to the bite I added in the tips as well. I stir-fried for another couple of minutes and seasoned with a pinch of salt and black pepper. Afterwards I removed the pan form the heat and set it aside.

Next I washed and cut my favorite leafy greens in bite-size pieces and put them in a bowl. I chopped three tomatoes and one yellow bell pepper, added all to the greens and mixed well.

I tossed my salad with a dressing made up of one tablespoon of oil, three tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and a pinch of salt. At the end I added the roasted and chilled asparagus, placed everything in a nice bowl and sprinkled it with about 50g of goat cheese.

Your meal is ready to dig in!!

Feel free to share your opinion in the comments and please tell me if you want to see a summer cocktail special.

Enjoy your healthy summer salad, hot weather & cool drinks!

xo

Andrea

Quick and healthy...oven baked ricotta on salad

Lately I was quite busy…I had to finish last details in my new appartment…I had an exam and there were my sports classes as well.

That’s why I didn’t really had time to cook. But since we all had to eat I enjoyed a lot of quick meals recently.

They are quick, they are easy and they taste a few hours later / in the evening as good as freshly made.

Today I’m bringing you my favorite of all these quick meals. 

Oven baked ricotta on salad with dried tomatoes, croutons and rosé sugar (you know…because of Valentine’s Day :P )

 

Sounds mouth watering, right?

So let’s get started!

Here are the directions:

Start with preparing the ricotta mass: Blend one cup of ricotta cheese and two eggs together in a bowl.

Add salt and black pepper and spread the mix in about four muffin moulds. (I used a “Gugelhupf” mould as you can see in the pictures…choose whatever you like best and whatever you have.)

Place them in the oven and bake until they are solid. This will take about 15-20 minutes at 150°C.

Meanwhile you can make the croutons. Dice up two thick slices of wholegrain bread. Put them in a hot pan (without oil) and roast until they’re crispy.

In this place I wanna give special thanks to my boyfriend’s mother who always has freshly homemade bread for me! It’s delicious and obviously it tastes as croutons as good as freshly made. THANK YOU!

Now it’s time to prepare the salad. I took a mix of some greens and radicchio cut them and put them in a big bowl. For dressing I just mixed a dash of vinegar, a dash of olive oil and salt together. I added a pinch of rosé sugar and poured it over my salad. Toss until everything is covered, put a little bit out on plate and spread your croutons, some diced dried tomatoes and some roasted cashews on.

Then remove your oven ricotta from the moulds carefully, sprinkle with a little pinch of rosé sugar and place one on the salad.

...and here we go!

Special tip: This nice little recipe is also perfect for Valentine’s Day! Maybe you wanna eat a small and healthy salad before moving on to all the chocolate. ;)

Here are all the ingredients again:

 

Enjoy your oven baked ricotta, your salad and Valentin’s Day!

 

xo

Andrea 

3S...salmon sandwich on salad

Since we ate all quite a lot, and not that healthy (you remember…all the cookies, the chocolate and all this other delicious stuff) it’s now time to start our healthy diet again.

Means a whole lot of nutrients and less calories.

My advice,…salmon sandwich on salad.

Why? Here are some positive aspects:

Salmon is commonly known as healthy. But let’s take a closer look.

This nice fish is low in calories (174kcal per 100g) and contains nearly 20g of protein per 100g. Moreover, due to the fact that salmon is a sea fish, it contains a good amount of essential fatty acids, such as omega-3 and omega-6. These types are good for your heart (they prevent coronary heart diseases), your blood pressure and your blood vessels.

And…salmon contains a lot of vitamin D, which benefits your immune system and your bone health.

Before we start just one more thing ….please pay attention to the origin when getting your salmon!!! Make sure that every fish you buy is from certified sustainable fishing! For example look for the MSC logo.

So now…let’s cook.

Optional first step: Roast a handful of pistacchios. They are mainly for decoration but I think the taste quite nice in combination with the salmon and the salad.

Cut your salmon filet into small chunks and put everything in a bowl. Then add a bunch of chopped chives and the grated peel of one lime. (Check before if it’s unreated and the peel is eatable). Afterwards press out the juice, mix in and season it all with salt, black pepper. Set aside to marinate.

Meanwhile you can prepare the salad. Get some greens of your choice (I used iceberg lettuce) cut them and put all in a big bowl. For your dressing blend the juice of one blood orange, one tablespoon of mustard and a bit of vinegar together. Add a pinch of salt afterwards and pour it over your salad. Set aside.

 

Heat up a pan on low heat. Add one tablespoon of oil and your marinated salmon. Cook on low heat until it’s well done but still glassy orange.

Next take two to three slices of whole grain sandwich and toast it on both sides for a couple of minutes. Cut it in halves and place the salmon on it.

Serve your salmon sandwich with the roasted nuts and a bowl of salad!

  

 

And here again....the ingredients:

Enjoy and let me see some pics.
xo
Andrea