Smoothie Time

Soooo.....I made a smoothie :P
Hahaha I don't know they are very popular right now!! Have you seen how many instagram accounts have been created only for smoothies?? But I love them...

They give you pretty good ideas ;)
As I started to put smoothies in my daily eating schedule (sounds so fancy) I started looking through some of those instagram accounts and other "smoothie blogs" and saw THE Green Smoothie!! Ahhhhhhhhh (angel voice) 
They promised me: Healthy and delicious! Soooooo I tried it and it was amazing! I didn't believe at first that something so tasty could have like spinach or lettuce in it :P
But never judge a book by it's cover right? Hahaha I had to put that in there!!
So this is my recipe that consists maybe out of 2 blogs and 4 insta accounts and my own little twist :P
Enjoy

What you need:

1 Banana
2 Peaches
2 handfuls of spinach
1 tbsp Chia seeds
1 tbsp Linseeds (Flaxseed)
Water (or milk)

How to make it: 
 
Put the spinach with some water in the blender first because it needs more blending than the other ingredients. Blend it until smooth and than add all the other ingredients. If you want your smoothie to be nice and cold because it's SUMMER...put in some ice cubes or freeze your fruits! 

And voilà!! 

That's it and basically you can leave the seeds out if you don't have any. They just make it more nutritious and long lasting so you don't get hungry that fast again.
Also instead of water you can use milk or coconut water, but if you use water it's also vegan and lower on calorie.
As you can see, there are some things that you can change here and there....Just don't use sugar or honey as the sweet part of your smoothie, because that makes the whole effect of "I'm drinking a nutritious, healthy and low calorie drink" go away! Duh..
Always use sweet ripe fruits, because fructose is also sugar and therefore sweet ;)

Since I'm making them almost every day now, I'll probably be posting more ideas for recipes in the future! Until then feel free to leave comments and suggestions! Maybe you have a cool recipe to share :)

M

A "Mini" Review

A few days ago I went to a restaurant here in Vienna and I really liked it. So I thought...why not make a review about it! I think reviews are really helpful! I always read through them on yelp before I go to a restaurant I've never been before.

The restaurant is called “Mini“ and it is in Vienna (Austria). It is actually also a winebar and it serves internationally inspired Hungarian gourmet cuisine.

I went there a few evenings ago with my best friend. She actually found it on yelp. We wanted to eat good quality food somewhere, so this was the place to be.

We ate a “Grilled goat cheese with garden salad, pears and walnut dressing“ (sounds fancy when you actually write it down haha) and the daily cream soup, which was a “Peas soup with mint and almonds“ for starters. They were really tasty, but the plating techniques took me away! All the plates were designed with so much detail! I've seen a lot of gourmet food plating, but in this restaurant I saw some I've never seen before....I liked that!

For my main dish I made a great decision choosing the “Braised beef cheeks with mushroom-potato puree, romanesco and red wine reduction“. (Wow it really sounds fancy!) The meat was high quality and nicely cooked, the puree with the mushrooms made a beautiful combination with the meat. And the sauce was of the charts! I don't even wanna start talking about the plating! Just magnificent! :)

And to top it off we decided to treat ourselves with a dessert, that we shared, because there was no way we could both eat one. We were sooo full! So for dessert we chose the Chili flavoured chocolate souffle with sour cherry sorbet. (Are you drooling yet?) I have kind of a thing for souffles, so evertime I go out and they're offering a souffle in the menu, I have to try it! :P It was delicious! Crusty outside and when you cut it in the middle the chocolate poured out like a waterfall of happiness!! As you can see I kinda liked it. :P

I accompanied my meal with a non-alcoholic raspberry-lime juice. They had A LOT of options. I just chose this one, because it combined my 2 faves...raspberries and lemon oh yeah! :P If I had to say one “bad“ thing...the juice was OK. I've tasted better ones, but it's not that important. They had a lot other options to choose from. Plus it's mostly known fot it's wines, so if I have the chance to go there again, I will definitely choose something from their wine list!

It is a bit pricey, but it's high quality! There is no way you'll find something like that cheaper! Plus it is not the place you'll eat every day. But it is very suited for when your parents come to visit you hahahah! I always use that, because it's obvious that they are going to pay! :P But it is also suited for a nice romantic dinner!...It calls for special occasions!

I can only highly recommend it! The food was delicious, the service was fast and very friendly and the whole ambiance was really nice!

If you live here there is no excuse to not eat here at least once! And for everyone who wants to visit this lovley capital city, I can only recommend it!

Hope you liked my review. Feel free to leave comments.

M

Healthy Salad With Mushrooms

We all get lazy, when we have to decide which healthy meal to cook. I totally hate it. Especially when you have to boil everything separate and make something out of it. It just takes so much time. Fun fact: Vegetables are healthier in their raw form. 
This salad is an easy and nutritious way to fill your dinner schedule any day. I enjoy it every time and the good thing about it, you can totally put your own twist on it. I'll give you just some basic ingredients and the dressing and everything else I will leave to your imagination! :)

Let's begin! 

First choose all the vegetables you want to put in your salad. I chose lettuce, cherry tomatoes, red peppers and a cucumber.

Cut them anyway you like and put them in a bowl.

After you're done with that, cut your mushrooms again anyway you like. I like to slice them first and then cut them again in the middle, but it's up to you. Whatever you prefer. And that is me making stupid faces with vegetables and taking pictures of them.

After doing that haha take a pan and heat some vegetable oil over medium heat. Afterwards add the mushrooms and leave them in for a couple of minutes.

Then turn up the heat and deglaze them with some balsamic vinegar. As soon as the vinegar disappears and they get a nice brown color, turn off the heat and put them in the bowl with the rest of the vegetables.

 

Choose a small jar to prepare your dressing. I always keep all the jars from marmalade or honey for this purpose. ;)

For the dressing you'll need: olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mustard, honey, salt and pepper.

The proportion of olive oil and vinegar in a dressing is always 3:1. That means if you put 3 tbsp of oil. You have to put 1 tbsp of vinegar. (For more dressing just do 6 oil and 2 vinegar, and so on...) This depends on how much dressing you want.

Then 1 tablespoon of each mustard and honey and some salt and pepper and that's really it.

Pour the dressing over the salad when you're ready to serve it , otherwise it's gonna get soggy.

Now to give you some variations....you can also put some chicken in or cheese cubes.

Croûtons are also a very nice addition you can make. Just mix it up. The only thing that really stays the same is the dressing. You can use a little bit more mustard, if you put chicken in your salad. Chicken and mustard are just a really tasty combination. Just make it your own and enjoy eating it.

I hope I could give you some ideas. It is actually a pretty easy recipe that everybody can enjoy.

So Bon Appetit!

M

Food Guide Pyramid

Today I thought I'll start with some basics. What do I have to eat everyday? Which food groups should I avoid? How many times a week should I consume meat and fish? These are the questions circling our mind when we start to engage with Nutrition. Or at least these where my questions!

So I think that every body has seen or heard of the Food Guide Pyramid at least once. If not don't worry...now is your time! Basically the Food Guide Pyramid shows us how often and how much to eat a specific food group like fruits, meat, eggs,...

As you can see at the base are all the liquids. Now every box equals a portion.

So 3 portions water, 2 portions tee and one portion juice per day. My advice...just drink as much as you can. What I always say is, if you are thirsty it's already too late. Your body is already dehydrated. I can't really say how much because every body has a different daily rhythm. The average is at least 1,5 l per day, but if you work out or it is a really hot day you should drink up to 3 l, because your body loses a lot of water by sweating.

Moving on to the second row we have the fruits and vegetables. For this category there is only one thing you shouldn't forget and just engrave it in to your mind! “5 A Day” Just remember that. It is very important for us to eat 5 different fruits & vegetables each and every day! If you want to get more specific, the picture tells us 2 fruits and 3 vegetables, of which one can be replaced with a liquid form, e.g. tomato juice.

And then there are the carbs! :) We all love them, because they are very easy to prepare. I will write a more specific entry on carbs, because there is a lot to say. For now just know 1 portion of each for the day is enough. And try to eat them as soon in the day as possible.

The 4th row from the bottom pictures the 3 dairy products (yogurt, milk & cheese), all oils and nuts. They have to be consumed 1 portion each per day again. Yogurt and milk can always be combined with oats and fruits for a great breakfast. Olive oil is better used uncooked in salads or for final seasoning while serving a dish. Otherwise it loses all of its nutritional benefits.

Now we are going to a different level. The next row tells us how much to eat per week! 2 times fish, 3 eggs and 1 time low-fat meat. - Here I want to include that even eggs in a cake or in other desserts count. - And yes I said one time meat. I know it's hard. I know you wanna eat your bacon for breakfast, but try to reduce it. As soon you'll do that, you'll notice the difference. It's OK to eat a good steak every once in a while, but sausages, beacon...it's just not necessary! I myself am not a vegetarian for the very simple reason: I freaking love meat. But it's just sooo disgusting to find ½ kg steak meat at the supermarket for 2-3€! It's just wrong...you don't even wanna know what's in there anymore. Believe me. Just save your money and go eat a good grilled steak! It even tastes better.

Enough said about meat. The last 2 rows depict all the fat, chocolate and candy. The three last boxes should be consumed rarely. It's OK to treat yourself, just not too often. Every time you feel the urge to eat something sweet just try eating an apple first. After that you can treat yourself, because this big urge will be stilled and you'll eat a reasonable portion of sweets.

Yup so that's it! I myself am still working on it, so don't worry if you are not perfectly intact with everything. Everything takes time and discipline and thank God you have me, because my next post will be a totally delicious and healthy recipe, that I enjoy eating a lot.

Hope you liked my little "interpretation" today. Feel free to leave comments and suggestions.

Keep Smiling

M