Carb Crazy and Italian Inspiration

I’ve already mentioned in the previous post that me being in the first phase of the intuitive eating path basically equals me eating a lot of ‘bad’ stuff to prove to myself that I can have them.

So yes I eat more sweets, but  most noticeable is my bread consumption.
You see, before intuitive eating I had created this habit of staying away from bread as far as I could for most of the week and giving myself a free pass to eat ‘some’ bread in the weekend. I guess it’s not surprising you that that was not how it went in the weekends, once I started to eat bread I just couldn’t stop.

The intuitive eating book has an amazing chapter about how we need carbs as our basic fuel and of how our body reacts to the absence of it. This  made me realise that it wasn’t because of my lack of willpower or my extreme fancy for bread that I acted the way I did, my body was just screaming for the carbs I did not give it and as soon as I would have some all it could do was ask for more and more and more…

So yes, I am eating more bread now, but paradoxically I might be eating less bread when you look at my week’s total! Crazy business indeed.

And because all of you should get your carbs in – you know, in order to not go crazy and consume everything in sight after I while – I suggest having bruscetta for lunch/dinner/now, just because you feel like having it!

‘Easy Bruscetta’

• ciabatta bread
• tomatoes
• mozzarella
• pesto
• herbs and spices of choice: I used a spaghetti mixture with basil oregano and paprika powder
• other veggies of choice

You can use of fresh loaf or ciabatta bread, I used that kind of bread you still have to put in the oven for about 10 minutes before you can eat it.

If you use the ‘not-yet-baked-kind’, bake it in an oven on 220°C (430F) for a couple of minutes before adding the toppings and place it back for about 8 minutes afterwards. Otherwise just add the toppings and bake/grill in the oven for about 8 minutes on 220°C.

Served with spinach, peaches, avocado and coleslaw.
See I don’t just eat bread you guys 😉

Love, M.

Nostalgic Dinner

I hope you’re ready for another walk down memory lane cause today I incidentally threw something together for dinner that strongly reminded of my all time favourite childhood dinner.

I remember pleading with my mum to make it at least twice a week and as it happens I came across an old “friend book” lately (you know the ones you would hand out to all of your friend back in primary school to let them answer all kind of weird questions, or did this only happen in Belgium?) and I answered exactly that to the question “What’s your favourite food”:

Oven dish with potato mash, broccoli, minced meat in a cheesy sauce covered with grated cheese.

Here are the swaps I seemed to have made from my mum’s original recipe:

I swapped mashed potatoes with millet.
I swapped the cheesy sauce with a broth-hummus sauce.
I swapped the grated cheese with mozzarella.
The broccoli stayed as it always was and I didn’t use anything to replace the minced meat but you could always use vegetarian ‘mince’, lentils or minced meat for the carnivores among us. Just prepare it in a skillet and add it to the rest of the ingredients when you put it in the oven dish.

‘Millet and Broccoli Oven Dish’
serves 2

• one serving of millet ( a cup?)
• half a broccoli
• vegetable broth
• 2 T of hummus
• mozzarella

Cook the millet in vegetable broth (ratio 1:2.5) for 25 minutes. I don’t really know how much millet I’ve used, I used a little teacup at home to measure it out, not that this information is of much use to you. Just use what you think is the proper amount for 2 people to eat from.
Once done take it of the fire and let it sit for another 5 minutes.

Cook the broccoli until tender (about 5 minutes), prepare the sauce with about 100ml of vegetable broth, whisk in the two T of hummus.

Preheat oven to 200°C (390 F).
Layer the oven dish with the millet and broccoli, pour the sauce on top and top with about half of a mozzarella bowl. Put in the oven for about 20 minutes, make sure to turn on the grill for the last 5 minutes so the mozzarella will get some colour.

Eat from a bowl, because all classy people eat their dinner out of breakfast bowls!

Love, M.

Girls Night In

With Daphne staying with my dad for the weekend, Friday night was the perfect time for me to prepare my ‘fancy’ couscous idea for my mum and me.
So we cracked open a bottle of red wine and I put together this amazing dinner, which as a bonus is also really easy and not time consuming at all!

‘Couscous Gusto Italia’
with mustard maple syrup dressing

• half a cup of couscous
• sun-dried tomatoes
• mushrooms (8 big ones)
• mozzarella
• olive oil
• oregano, basil
• for the dressing: 1 T of spicy mustard, 1 T of olive oil, a sprinkle of maple syrup, lemon zest

Place the couscous in a large bowl (I used half a cups for my mum and me, but still had leftovers the day after), pour boiling water on top of this (ratio 1:1) and let it sit for a couple of minutes.

Chop up the mushroom and sauté them in some olive oil in a skillet. Chop up the sun-dried tomatoes and the mozzarella.
Fluff the couscous with a fork and add the tomatoes, mushrooms and mozzarella. At this point you can also sprinkle some olive oil on top, or use some oil from the container of the sun-dried tomatoes you used to get some extra flavours in there. Don’t forget to season before you serve this.

My original plan was to serve the couscous with a dollop of hummus (which tasted amazing as well), but as a side for the couscous I prepared a spinach salad with a mustard maple syrup dressing and as soon as I tried this dressing with the couscous I was in heaven! Prepare the dressing by stirring together 1 T of very spicy mustard, 1 T of olive oil and a drizzle of maple syrup. Drizzle on top of the couscous, sprinkle with some lemon zest and prepare to be dazzled.

Love, M.

It was the Night Before Christmas

And Maxime was baking snacks to keep her little family happy and satisfied for Christmas Eve in tapas style. Here’s a little show down of what we had.

Mini Pizzas on whole wheat tortillas

Puff pastry chunks filled with mozzarella and salmon, mushrooms and mozzarella or hummus and zucchini

Whole wheat grilled tortilla triangles with zucchini and hummus

Roll ups with mozzarella and smoked salmon and cherry tomatoes

Spring roll pockets

The Centre Piece: Daphne made this biscuit cake topped with butter cream, chocolate sprinkled and sugar roses

Love, M.

Couscous Comfort

Alliteration much?? 😉

But definitely no alliteration in vain, this was the most comforting bowl of food (and it was ‘healthy’ food, mind you) I’ve had in ages.

‘Spinach and Mozzarella Tabbouleh’
*although I’m not sure whether it still classifies as tabbouleh when you heat up the couscous?? anyone? 

• a cup of couscous
• a cup of boiling water
• a tomato, chopped
• spinach, a couple of handfuls
• 5 big mushrooms
• a few mozzarella slice
• pepper, oregano, dried garlic, thyme
• optional: olive oil, some butter

Pour the boiling water over the couscous, give it about 5 minutes to absorb the liquid. When all the liquid is absorbed, fluff the couscous with a fork (you can add some olive oil or butter to it).
Add the diced tomato, mushrooms, spinach and the spices and preheat your oven to 200°C (390F).
Transfer the couscous to an oven-proof casserole, slice the mozzarella and layer on top of the couscous.
Place this in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, put on high-broil for the last 3 minutes.

Yep, that bowl is looking pretty messy!
My eyes were bigger than my stomach so I made to much couscous to actually fit in the bowl, when you also have to stir in tomatoes and mushrooms, things can get a bit messy…

and you haven’t even seen the kitchen counter top yet!

Love, M.

Pizza, Pizza

Some of you (okay,okay, most of you) are probably thinking: ‘More mozzarella, Maxime?!’…

But hey, what’s a good pizza without some good cheese!
And I only had 1 tiny slice of mozzarella on each piece of pizza I had (I had 2), the rest was for the fam.

Lazy people don’t make their own dough, they buy a box with powder, add some water and still have all the fun of the kneading !

This pizza was adorned with tomato paste, fresh tomatoes, zucchini, spinach, mushrooms, yellow pepper, mozzarella (obviously!) and lots of herbs.

Ooh and slices of ham for the rest of the fam. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before but I’m a vegetarian so no ham for me!

20 minutes in the oven on 200°C, et voila!

 

Side salad with  strawberries and the first tangerine of the season for the veggie

Mona doesn’t care for pizza much, not even if there’s ham on it! She does eat corn and oatmeal but that’s another story 😉

Enjoy your Sunday!
Love, M