Life Lately

It feels like my life has been on repeat lately.
Good thing is I only have exams until Wednesday and then I can become a real person with a real life again.

Life lately: Yoga, studying, sleeping, yoga, studying, sleeping, yoga, studying, sleeping….

and I went for a run for a couple of times.
Oh yeah, and of course there was food too!

Breakfast lately:

I haven’t touched oatmeal in 3 weeks now, I haven’t gobbled down smoothies as breakfast for a while, instead I’m sticking with yoghurt bowls.
Light and fun.
And very versatile: most of the time there are strawberries involved and some kind of grains.

My favourites thus far:
Yoghurt bowl with strawberries, melon, crushed macademians, all bran flakes and a generous splash of rice milk and the bowl with banana, almond butter and dark chocolate chips.

The yoghurt obsession probably has something to do with discovering a new kind of soy yoghurt which is much creamier and has a milder taste than the one I usually have.

Snack lately:

All kind of mini veggies: mini bell peppers, mini chicory, cherry tomatoes, mini carrots…

Apples are back in my life!

Obsessions lately:

Papaya

Macadamian nuts, just looking at that photograph makes me drool a bit.

I really credit yoga for keeping me sane and making me feel like I’m alive in the midst of this chaos of exames, papers and new movingplans.
I’ve been hitting the mat almost every day, either doing an ashtanga mysore practise or doing some yin yoga, mostly focusing on easing the muscles in my hips and lower back a bit.

Hope you are all doing well!
Love, M.

One last Week

It’s the final week of classes, the week before the lucky ones among us are privileged enough to be treated with another round of exams.

I just finished and printed my thesis, I’ve been working on some other minor papers and been trying to find some order in the chaos of hand-outs and sheets and sheets of scribbled papers which I call my desk.

I’ve been printing all the documents and articles I refused to print when I needed them, but now I realize I will have to study them anyway.
I went through 2 printer cartridges these  last 24 hours.

I’ve been living on coffee, fresh fruit and veggies with dips, snacks and the occasional meal.

Iced Latte à la maison: brew strong coffee, bonus point if it’s cinnamon coffee. Let cool, pour in a cool container to put it in the fridge (empty Arizona tea bottles are very convenient for this purpose). Pour soy milk (or any milk of choice) on top (about 1/3 or 1/2  of the amount of your coffee). Chill in the fridge and serve with ice cubes.

I haven’t attended a yoga class in a week, but I am doing my very best to make it to one tonight. I haven’t been for a run, but I am running late every day.
I bought an amazing book, but I don’t have time to start to read  it.
I took a couple of photographs but I don’t have time to blog about them.

Yet I am perfectly content and at ease and not even all that stressed in a way.
I owe meditation and uyai- breathing big time.

And as a thanks for letting me ramble for a bit, I present you my favourite treat of the week:

A good treat requires lots of peanut butter on top, obviously!

Dark chocolate heated with a splash a soy milk in the microwave and stirred until it becomes a medium-runny consistency, sprinkle grated coconut on top. Top with yoghurt. Top with granola and smoked almonds (the smoked almonds or not optional!). Top with melted peanut butter.

The ultimate pacifier in a time of deadlines and paper messes!

Love, M.

Blue

Tuesday I took a higher level yoga class at noon. It was truly amazing, the sun was shining and there were only three students present, so the teacher had lots of time to help and adjust us.

I am very sore now though, but it’s a good kind of sore that tells you you made an effort and it is paying off. Especially the muscles in my stomach hurt like hell (I have a bit of a cold as well and every time I have to sneeze it feel like my torso will snap apart). I am going to have abs of steel in a couple of months 😉

I had some tasty oats this morning to cheer up the tummy:

Fluffy oats with blueberries stirred in and topped with some blueberry yoghurt

It’s a blueberry mania over here this week: I’ve had blueberries in my yoghurt, in my smoothies, in my oats and a couple of handfuls as a snack.
It’s a miracle my hands and tongue haven’t turned blue yet!

Love,M.

Sweet as Sugar

Look what they were handing out at the train station on Friday

Stevia was only made legal in Belgium a couple of months ago and now they are promoting it by handing out little packages of it, which is really great cause I wanted to try it for a really long time but did not have the chance to get it yet.

As great as stevia is though, sometimes you just need the real stuff.
I’m a sucker for brown sugar, not just because it is sweet but there is something special about its flavour. It was exactly that type of flavour I was looking for to compliment this bowl of oatmeal.

‘Saffron Pineapple Oatmeal’

• 200 ml  of soy milk
• 1/2 a cup of oats
• a few strands of saffron
• pineapple
• topping: 1 t of yoghurt and 1 t of brown sugar

Pour the milk in a small casserole and add a few saffron strands, let this stand for a couple of minutes and then put it to a boil. Add the oatmeal when it starts to boil, lower the heat and let it simmer until the oatmeal reaches the desired consistency.

Chop the pineapple in little pieces and add it when the oatmeal is almost done.
I used canned pineapple in own juice for this I think you could use fresh pineapple as well but I’m not sure what it will do with the consistency of your oats. I read somewhere that fresh pineapple is not to be used with smoothies as it will separate, maybe it has the same effect on oats?

Top with a dollop of yoghurt and 1 t of brown sugar.
The flavours of this bowl were of great contrast, you had the sour touch  of the pineapple and the yoghurt (I used pur natur yoghurt, the unflavoured kind) and the sweetness of the soy milk and the sugar.

Love, M.

Hang in there, Tiger!

Two more exams, one more week, four more days of studying, one more day of dying at an oral exam… and then I’ll be free once again!

For now I’ll just drink coffee, try to stay awake and sane, swear like a sailor (keep your kids away from me, I’m serious, I might look tiny and cute but stress and sleep deprivation do this to me)…

and eat of course!

In case you’d have some oven grilled cherry tomatoes on spare from the recipe in Thursday’s post (though I’d doubt it) I know the perfect purpose for it:

Oven Grilled Cherry Tomatoes with farfalle pasta
and sauté spinach with pine nuts

Sauté the spinach and the pine nuts in a skilled on high heat in some olive oil while the pasta is cooking. When the pasta is done, add it together with the cherry tomatoes in the skillet. Sprinkle some olive oil on top right before serving.

Another highlight:

The best breakfast I had this week: Pur Natur blueberry yoghurt with quinoa cooked in soymilk, walnuts, flax seeds and rice flakes.

And the best part of this week: Monday it’s Daphne’s birthday and I’m going to try a new chocolate cake recipe to celebrate it.

Love,M.

 

More Monsters

Whether they’re green or not, I’ve been on a real smoothie kick lately.

Smoothies are great brain food. They are light so they won’t leave you feeling all sleepy and they are packed with all sorts of goodies to keep you in top shape.

Some new things I’ve tried these last couple of weeks:

• All fruit smoothies: think lost of kiwis, grapes and lychees
• New types of greens to add into the smoothies: I’ve been hooked on lamb’s lettuce smoothies these last months but I also found back my first love: spinach. And a new green to end this list: zucchini!
• Toppings: I’ve always enjoyed nuts and seeds (think flax, almonds, sunflower seeds) but you have to promise me to try rice krispies in your smoothies, or as a topping on anything really cause rice krispies are amazing!

Maybe you haven’t noticed yet but I have a thing for rice krispies lately.
Bet you couldn’t tell it by the view of this bowl though, cause this is a moderate topping portion, obviously 😉

I also gave juicing a try this week, I started with spinach with a couple of grapes to give it a sweet extra, but this didn’t really convince me. Maybe I should add some kiwi next time?

Juice experiments: not bad, not great either…

Smoothie art: yoghurt swirl

But you don’t have to worry, my mum baked a chocolate cake so I’m balancing out all those fruits and veggies which just the right amount of cocoa!!

Love, M.

Postponing at its Yummiest

I’m baking at eleven o’clock when I’m actually supposed to be studying and blahblahblah…

I like baking, I  really felt like baking, so that’s what I did!
End of story.

And mum, don’t be angry with me for postponing, I’ll give you cookies to make up for it 😉

‘Flax and Almond Oatcookies’
makes 3 medium cookies

• 4 T of oats
• 1 T of apple sauce (I used sweetened apple sauce, you can also use unsweetened and add some sweetener)
• 1 T of natural yoghurt
• 1 T of flax seeds and some more for topping
• 1 T of silvered almonds and some more for topping
• a pinch of salt
• 1 t of baking powder

Just combine all the ingredients, line a cookie sheet with wax paper and make 3 cookies on the paper. Sprinkle these with some more almonds and flax seeds and bake them in a preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes on 200 °C.

Half eaten ‘test’ cookie

These definitely aren’t the firmest cookies I ever laid eyes on, they get a bit firmer when they cool however.
But if you’re like me and think cookies have to be eaten warm, it is possible for things to get a bit messy which is totally worth it cause these cookies taste amazing!

Love, M.

Crazy Dinner on the Go

 

No, there’s nothing wrong with your computer screen, you aren’t suffering from a temporary colour-blindness either.
This ,my friends, is a green yoghurt. A Greek green yoghurt to be more specific.

You might think I’ve finally lost it,
That too much green smoothies and an overload of experiments with leftovers have fried my brain.

That might be true 😉
But hey, at least I have created a kick ass dinner to eat during class and I’ve taken care of all the leftovers in my fridge, so I’m a happy camper.

One creates green yoghurt by mixing/blender lamb’s lettuce (or spinach) with yoghurt .

I added some kiwi, flax seeds, oats and vitality mix for a light dinner on the go, that I could eat during class without annoying everyone (I’m a noise and messy eater, or at least so they say).

On a side note: this might seem like a really small meal, especially since it’s for dinner, I think so too.
But since  I’ve had lunch at about 2 and just enjoyed the most amazing latte ever, and Indian latte with honey and cardamom, I’m not really hungry and nothing sounds appealing atm.
However, I have to pack my dinner now, leave for class in a moment and I won’t be home until half past 9, so this crazy yoghurt creation is just perfect in case I do get a bit hungry later this evening.

Love, M.

Elegance is Overrated

Efficiency rules!
Especially when you’re looking for something quick and portable.

Or, in this case, when you already did the dishes once today and can’t be bothered by doing them a second time.

Hence: yoghurt in the yoghurt container instead of out of a fancy schmancy bowl.

It looks like an ordinary yoghurt container, right?

Greek yoghurt with a kiwi, some granola and some rice flakes.

So next time you’ve almost finished a 500gr container of yoghurt,
don’t let anyone tell you to put it in a fancy bowl, just be lazy and eat it out of the container (after the necessary pimpage of course!).

Another benefit: when you buy these 500gr containers, they come with a plastic reusable lid to close the container off (and not just a lid thingie that you can’t use again) so this is perfect to make, put a lid on and take with you as a smart snack on the go.

Love, M.

Layers make everything better

 

Breakfast today was tedious: I was having an enormous dilemma.
I couldn’t make a choice between oatmeal or quinoa for breakfast.

And since I’m kind of renowned for having problems with making decisions,
I just had both!
Problem management for dummies: if it’s solvable without having to make a choice, there’s no problem 😉

‘Oats and Quinoa Parfait’

• 4 T of oats mixed with 5 T of boiling water
• cinnamon
• 4 T of Greek yoghurt
• optional: 2 t of (home-made) jelly
• 4 T of quinoa cooked in 8 T of soy milk
• a couple of handfuls of granola
• a couple of handfuls of rice flakes (or other corn flakes)

Rinse the quinoa. In a small casserole, cook the milk until it’s boiling, lower the fire, add the quinoa and let it simmer for 20 to 30 minutes.

In the meantime prepare the other layers :
Layer one is a layer of oatmeal with boiling water and sprinkled with cinnamon. Let the oats absorb the liquid and press tight, top this with half of the yoghurt and jelly mixture (or just the yoghurt an sich).

(Now you’ll have to wait till the quinoa is done, cause that’s your next layer.)

The next layer is half of your quinoa, top this with half of the granola and rice flakes, then add the remaining quinoa.
On top of this goes the other half of the yoghurt mix.
Sprinkle with the remaining granola and rice flakes.

The chocolaty thingies you see on the picture are chocolate chips from the granola that melted between the quinoa layers

I think I might be going through a ‘rice flake’ phase: yoghurt with kiwi fruit and rice flakes for a snack, rice flakes in this breakfast, a handful of rice flakes when I’m a bit hungry… rice flakes are even my new favourite smoothie toppings!

Love, M.