Coconut Water

Coconut water is so fresh and delicious — it became my new obsession!

However, make sure you choose the one with 100% coconut water and no added sugar.

Its the new favourite post-workout drinks, a kind of natural version of energy drinks and for those who doesn't like drinking water (yes those people exist) that could be a good alternative too.

Coconut water is a punch of potassium that you can find only in certain aliments such as bananas, potatoes, kidney beans etc. which helps balancing fluids in the body.

It will give you the natural energy and sugar that fizzy energy drinks wont.

This magic liquid contains:

- Natural sugars, vitamins and minerals.
- Low in calories and naturally fat with cholesterol free.
- High in potassium (more than 4 bananas)
- Super hydrating

(+) Help with hungover
      Heart (by regulate blood pressure)
      Cancer and kidney stones
      Less sugar than some fruits juices
      Very good while or after a workout

However, do not overdo it, an average bottle contains about 60kcal and this can quickly add-up.

The Vita Coco from Sainsbury is my favourite but you can find variants almost everywhere such as Boots, Pret a Manger or Tesco.

Image via mindbodygreen.com

Did you say healthy?

Chicken Breast Pita yogurt with Green beans —  Here is a very healthy lunch at only 387kcal according to myfitnesspal full of nutriments before a long easter weekend full of not-so-healthy food.

Wholegrain Pita Bread (167kcal)
Chicken breast (110kcal)
Yogurt nature (46kcal)
Fine Trimmed Green Beans w Garlic (64kcal)

With a little treat at the end to avoid any frustration — two teaspoons of peanuts butter (100kcal) ;)

x x

Summer Prep.

My meal tonight was light and healthy with no carbs. Perfect for dinner.

2 cod fillets and parsley with baked vegetables (sweet potatoes, white onions, tomatoes and peppers)

Try it— delicious and only 347kcal (according to my FitnessPal)

(+)
Sweet Potatoes. 8.5% calcium
Onions. 10% Vitamin C
Cod Fish. 51.5g Protein

Lunch of the day

My lunch today was roasted sweet potatoes, peeled prawns, pomegranate seeds and coriander (297kcal) following by natural cottage cheese, 1/2 avocado, pomegranate seeds and coriander (249kcal)

Very nice and fulfilling x x 

(+)
Sweet potatoes. 17% calcium
Avocado. 243.5mg Potassium
Natural Cottage Cheese. 16g Protein
Prawns. 28g Protein
Pomegranate seeds. Immunity Boost

Chocolate Mousse

My preparation for this weekend will be "Chocolate Mousse".

Very easy. Prep. 20min. Rest 3hours

In a sauce pan, break the chocolate in pieces and butter. Let in melt on low heat.

Separate in two different bowls white and egg yolks.

In 1 bowl, mix the yolks with powdered sugar. Add the choc-butter mixture and mix everything.

In the other bowl, whisk the egg white with a bit of salt. And slowly pour into the choc-butter mixture.

Cover up with a plastic film and let it rest for at least 3 hours in the fridge.

What you need
225g of dark chocolate
90gr of butter
5 eggs
1 tablespoon of powdered sugar
Salt

image from lepetrin.fr

My saturday diary

930am

Saturday kick start with a fresh juice made of carrots, apple and orange.

image from livelearnloveeat.com

10am — Breakfast Time
With an apples pie oatmeal and black coffee

1045am — running Time

Ready to go for a 40minutes run with the runkeeper apps which will tell me (calories, duration and pace per km) while listen to Oliver Schories'podcast. 

1315 — Lunch time
Chicken fillets with a zucchini, 2 tomatoes, an onion and natural yogurt

Beef fillet with mushrooms

I am going to prepare a beef fillet with mushrooms

Prep. 15min

Wash and cut mushrooms in slices.

In a pan, cook the mushrooms for about 10minutes with 15gr of butter.

In a cup, spin out flour, milk and beef stock. Once the mushrooms cooked pour the cup in the pan. Salt, pepper and mix everything.

In another pan, melt the other 15gr of butter and cook the beef fillets for 5 minutes.

Serve out with some parsley.

What you need:
2 beef fillets
6 Paris mushrooms
30 gr of butter
Beef stock
1 tablespoon of milk
1 tablespoon of flour
Pepper and salt
(Parsley)

Pictures to follow x x

image via http://www.lazyglutenfreecook.com/

Apple Pie Oatmeal

I found this recipe on kitchendaily.com and it looks amazing and so easy.

Place the water, milk and salt in a sauce pan. Cover and set on high heat.
Prepare the apples, melt butter in a small pan on medium heat and toss diced apples for about 5-7minutes.
Once cooked, removes apples from the heat and sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top of them.
Once the water and milk are boiling, drop in your oats and cook over medium heat for 5-7 minutes. Once cooked let it rest for 5minutes. Then, pour the apples into the oats and stir to combine.

Serve immediately with maple syrup and cinnamon

Ingredients for 1serving

8 tablespoons of rolled oats
1 firm crisp apple, peeled and diced
4 tablespoons of milk
4 tablespoons of water
2 teaspoons of butter
4 tsp cinnamon
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
Salt
Extra cinnamon and maple syrup for serving

Sesame chicken

My recipe tonight will be chicken sesame with brown rice.

In a bowl, marinated chicken fillet with soya sauce, vinegar, brown sugar and sesame seeds for 30minutes.

In a wok, stir the chicken with some olive oil for 5minutes.

Serve out with some parsley or coriander.

Bon appetit!

What you need (2people)
250gr of chicken fillet
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
4 tablespoons of soya sauce
2 tablespoons of sesame seeds
2 tablespoons of rice vinegar
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Brown rice

image from brownyedbaker.com

Chemical cocktail

Coca Cola is the most famous brand in the history. Commonly called "Coke", this soft drink is a real poisson for your body and the human metabolism.

In term of acidity, Coca Cola is really close to sulphuric acid which is a same component used to clean surfaces. Coca Cola can be used to clean your house, toilets, stain etc (please see list below) and sometimes even better than some of households (toxic) products.

The Coca Cola is often cheaper and easier to buy in some third world countries than water. Coca Cola fools his consumers and entire nations by claiming that they are environmental focus but in reality, they are related to pollution, water shortages and some diseases.

People that consume soft drinks are 48% more chance to have a heart attack and stroke compare to those that never drink them or only occasionally. A study proves that consuming fizzy drinks are also related to lungs cancer and asthma. Oesophagus cancer was really rare two generations ago but nowadays its very current. Mechanical cells damages are a big factor of risk for cancer. All soft drinks engender gastric reflux and production of acid in the oesophagus. More you drink them more acid you will have and more risk to get a cancer.

Plus, the sulphuric acid contained in Coke slows down the human system which result of digging into calcium. In other terms, the carbonation and sulphuric acid that Coca Cola holds, will soften and weaken your bones.

The carbonation (which the components are dioxide of carbon and water ) contained in Coca Cola leads to a loss of calcium in bones which can be explained in 3 steps.

1. The carbonation irritates the stomach
2. The stomach treats those irritations with antacid (calcium) that the body gets from blood.
3. The blood will then get weak in calcium and will want to restock from the bones. If this whole process wasn't done automatically by the body, our muscular and cerebral functions would be severely compromise

Without counting that Coca Cola is very bad for your waistline but also for your teeth, it acts as an acidic cleaner, enough to damage teeth and make them weaker to dental caries.

Coca Cola shouldn't be drunk but rather used wisely. Did you know that Coca Cola can:

Get rid off grease or blood stain on clothes and/or floor
Remove rust
Kill insects (snail, slugs etc)
Clean burned pans, leave it soak and rinse
Descale kettles
Remove gums from hair
Smooth out your hair coloration with diet coke
Clean toilets, etc...

Now think about what it does to your stomach when you ingest it? Have you ever think what do Coca Cola is made from?

Hope you will think twice before opening a can of Coke now ...  x x

image from frot.co.nz

Source from lecoinbuzz.com

Fish fillets with mushrooms

My dinner preparation for tonight will be a fish fillet with mushrooms (recipe from unjourunerecette.fr)

Very easy. Prep. 15min

1. Wash and cut mushrooms in slices.
2. In a pan, melt 3teaspoons of butter and stir the mushrooms with for about 10minutes
3. In another pan, stir the fish fillets with some olive oil
4. In a bowl, pour 20cl of milk mixed with a bit of flour (to replace fresh cream) and add mustard. Mix all together.
5. Salt and pepper.
6. Pour the sauce on cooked mushrooms and mix.

Serve out with some parsley.

What you need:

4 white fish fillets
300gr of Paris mushrooms
20cl of fresh cream (replaced with milk and flour) 13tbs
1 teaspoon of mustard
Parsley, salt, mustard, pepper and butter

my version

image via recipemonk.blogspot.com

Banana cake walnuts and chocolate chips

My preparation tonight will be a banana cake and chocolate chips, recipe from unjourunerecette.fr

So easy
Prep. 15min
Baking: 40minutes
1 slice 365 kcal

I always count on tablespoons. 1 tablespoon = 20grams

First peel and mash 3 bananas

In a bowl, mix 3 eggs, 6.5 tbs of flour, 1tbs of baking powder, 5tbs of brown sugar.

Then, add 7tbs of milk and 2.5tbs of melt butter, the mashed bananas, 7tbs of crush walnuts and 5tbs of chocolate chips.

Butter and flour a cake pan. Pour the mixture and put in the oven for 40minutes at 180 degrees.

What you need:

3 bananas, 100gr of chocolate chips , 100gr of crush walnuts, 225gr of flour, 100gr of brown sugar, 50gr of butter, 10cl of milk, 1/2 of baking powder, 3 eggs

Prep.

image via cookingontheweekends.com

Banana bread

Its friday which means — treat day :)

My treat today was in CRUSSH again.

A blueberries/banana smoothie with a slice of banana bread (182kcal).

Banana bread explanations
Baked wholegrain bread, moistened and flavoured with bananas. Banana bread will provide a full of  healthful nutrients. If you want make your own always use healthy ingredients. Bananas itself are excellent with low fat and cholesterol free, source of fibre, potassium, vitamin C and B6. In most of bananas bread figure nuts which are good source of omega 3, fatty acids and excellent source of protein too.

Source. livestrong.com

Apple coffee cake

I am gonna try this apple coffee cake recipe very soon!!!  It looks HEAVEN

I found it on simplyrecipes.com, but have slightly changed it though — to make it lighter and healthier.

Start to pre-heat the oven (200 degrees)

In a medium bowl mix flour, baking powder, butter, egg and milk. 

In a smaller bowl mix 4 tablespoons of brown sugar with cinnamon. 

Pour half of the first mixture (flour one) on a baking dish and lay the apples slices (in order to cover all the dish).

Sprinkle the apples with the second mixture (cinnamon-sugar), reserving a little bit to add on top of the cake.

Spread the rest of the flour mixture over the apples. Sprinkle the remaining sugar mixture on top with some dark chocolates chips.

Bake for 20-25minues

What you need:

16 tablespoons of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
5 tablespoons of brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
2 tablespoons of butter (salted)
2 beaten eggs
8 tablespoons of whole milk
1 baking apple
Dark chocolate chips

Bon appetit!

Grilled salmon with sesame

I found this recipe on unjourunerecette.fr which is a french website. I really like this website very easy and quick to prepare.

So this weekend i am going to prepare a grilled salmon with sesame — It looks amazing.

Prep. 15minutes

First prepare the sesame caramel sauce:

Add the sugar powder in a sauce pan with 5cl of water, add the nuoc nam, soya sauce and ginger.

When the sauce get thicker, add the green lemon juice and sesame seeds. Mix and remove from heat.

Depose the salmon steaks on an oven dish, spread the sauce on the salmon and put into the oven for 15minutes (180 degrees).

Serve out with some fresh coriander and eggs noodles.

What you need (2people)

4 salmon steaks
1 pax of noodles eggs

6.5 tablespoons of powdered sugar

6 tablespoons of green lemon juice

4 tablespoon of Nuoc Nam sauce (fish sauce) 

2 teaspoon of ginger powder 

3 teaspoon of soya sauce

Sesame seeds

Fresh coriander

Stupid sugar

What could possibly makes you fat, stupid and sick? Apparently an high daily sugar intake have the capacity to do that.

Everybody knows that excess of sugar can damage body and health by developing diabetes conditions or obesity. However, a recent study proves that an high diet in fructose can also harm brain and memory by decreasing their natural functions and making you unable to think clearly.

Consuming high amounts in fructose may block insulin capacity to control how brain cells store and use sugar for the energy needed to fuel thoughts and emotions.

So what happen to us when we consume sugar? What makes sugary food so hard to resist?

Sugar activates the "sweet" button in the cerebral cortex, the activation of this area is not a problem as long its occasional. However, when this zone of the brain is over-activated (high sugar intake) it makes you hooked to it and unable to control your cravings anymore. Its a vicious circle — getting too much sugar, too often will increase your sugar tolerance which will result of craving it even more.

Sugar speeds up the release of dopamine in your brain as does drugs, alcohol and nicotine and make some people always seek this high, in other words, make them addicted to it.

Sugar its a class of molecules call carbohydrates found in a wide varieties of sweet products and drinks. Check the label — lactose, fructose, sucrose, maltose, glucose are all form of sugars. Sugar is not only found in cakes, tarts or chocolate but EVERYWHERE such as cereals, yogurt, dried fruits, granola bars etc. which make you consume an high amount of sugar every day without maybe realising it.

Please click on the link below to watch the video that will clear up everything explained above.

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-sugar-affects-the-brain-nicole-avena#review

Thanks for reading x x

image via http://health.howstuffworks.com/

UP Coffee

UP Coffee is a free application made by Jawbone to measure your caffeine intake.

It shows you how much caffeine affects your sleep according to your gender, weight, height, caffeine sensitivity and taking into consideration your bedtime target. Its also interesting to see how your caffeine levels change throughout the day and how long it will take your body to get ready for bed.

There is also a rubric with some interesting facts such as did you know that women generally metabolise caffeine faster than men, but not if they are on the pill — Good to know.

I am not a big caffeine consumer, i have got two cups of black coffee a day maximum which are widely enough to keep me awake until bedtime – I really like Ice coffee (slim version, no cream) during the summer though :)

Depending on your sensitivity to caffeine, even a small amount may engender undesirable effects such as anxiety and sleeping problems. Heavy daily caffeine use (more than 500 to 600mg) a day may cause insomnia, nervousness, irritability and stomach upset.

So watch out your daily caffeine absorption by downloading this app x x

image via jawbone.com

Tapas in London

Obviously, the best tapas and spanish cuisine are made in Spain!

But as we can find decent Thai, Malaysian or Peruvian food, I am still hoping to find a good Spanish Tapas/Restaurant in London. I have been living in London for 4years now and haven't found anything close to what we can find in Spain.

I have tried the Tramontana Brindinsa in Old street wasn't overawed, I went to Meson Don Felipe in Southwark wasn't impressed went to Last Sangria on upper street, wasn't even good — I gave up.

However, after some researches, I have discovered that there is 4 new style Tapas Bars in London and very much enjoyable according to the timeout magazine (timeout.co.uk).

All of them are owned by the same young company — Salt Yard in Goodge Street, Dehesa in Regent street, Opera Tavern in Covent Garden and the new one in Soho, Ember Yard.

They also have a bar snacks with house cocktails and a nice selection of wines.

As the company is the same I guess that one's worth the other. I will probably go for the Ember Yard and let you know and if you did try one of them already please drop me a line x x


  

   








image via emberyard.co.uk

Soya beef

Try this recipe •  So easy and delicious.
Preparation only 15minutes
Calories. About 400kcal

Wash, seed and cut the peppers in half and then cut thin strips, peel and slice the onion
In a wok, add 3tb of olive oil and stir chopped onions and peppers for about 8minutes

Add the beef and let it cook for 2minutes

In a bowl, mix the soya sauce with flour and pepper. Shed the sauce on the beef and mix everything. Turn down the heat to the minimum and leave it for 1 more minute

Serve out with rice or quinoa (add some yogurt nature on the quinoa)

What you need:
500g of stir Beef, 6 tablespoons of soya sauce, 1 red and 1 green peppers, 1 onion, 1 teaspoon of flour, pepper and olive oil.

Lovely!

image via unjourunerecette.fr

Sunday roast dinner

First sunlight in London this weekend — surprisingly warm and sunny day yesterday.

Perfect day to have couple of Pimms outside in a very pleasant decor following by a roast dinner after an heavy drinking night...

My recommendation for you today is The Smokehouse in Islington. Smokehouse's got a sister in Angel, the Pig and Butcher which is pretty good too.

Obviously, they do a special menu for Sunday. My recommendations are Chopped brisket roll for starters, Grilled Barnsley Chop (medium rare) for main and the Double D tart for dessert.

Here are some picture of our dishes

Try it x x

smokehouseislington.co.uk
thepigandbutcher.co.uk

Roasted Highland beef

Grilled Barnsley chop