Cloud bread

So I decided to give a go in this "famous" bread that is invading Pinterest and cooking blogs...the cloud bread.
First of all this bread contains lactose as it takes cream cheese. I am trying to find something to replace this cream cheese but it will take me a while I guess, although I am sure that I will be able to replace it...I hope :)

I have to say that since I am in low carb high fat diet, bread has been the biggest challenge and I had almost given up because all my breads or are too dry or too moisture and sweet because of the flours. Basically most of my bread trials were not really amazing...hahaha!!
However I have to say that this cloud bread made me to get courage again as it turned out pretty well.

Ingredients:

• 3 large eggs at room temperature (separated) 
• 3 Tbsp of cream cheese
• 1/2 baking powder 

Let's do it:

• Preheat the oven to 200 C. Line a baking tray with parchment paper
• Separate the eggs yolks from the whites
• In one bowl mix the egg yolks with the cream cheese until it gets smooth
• On another bowl whisk the whites with the baking powder until you reach the white pick (basically you have to whisk them until the whites become fluffy and if you turn the bowl upside down they will not fall)
• Fold the egg yolk mixture into the whites. Mix them really carefully because you just want to envolve both mixtures without removing the stiffness of the whites.
• With a ice cream scoop or with a sauce spoon, pour the mixture in the tray in small batches separated each one more or less 3 to 4 cm
• Take them to the oven for 25 minutes or until browned

*Note*- you can add salt, black pepper, oregano, rosemary, garlic, thyme, etc to the mixture. You can play a bit with the mixture adding something to create flavour as the bread is a bit flavourless :)

We had the bread for dinner with guacamole and some raw veggies and grilled halloumi. 

And people may ask how can I eat it if I am lactose intolerant, right? First my lactose intolerance improved a lot since I started to be under this diet but if I want to eat something with lactose I tend to take lactase probiotics before meals to help me digest the food. However I discovered based in experiences, that some things causes me bigger reactions than others. 

I came across with Paul Kelly through my boyfriend and I got in loved by his music. 

Paul Kelly is an Australian songwriter and singer, he plays the guitar and harmonica...it's so lovely. 

The music that I am posting today is related with Australian history, although I am not able to explain it but I like the song and the melody is so sweet. 

This video clip is a tribute to Paul Kelly from different Australian bands that got together. 

"From little things, big thing grow"

Is so true :) 

Almond milk

I never liked milk and I really never had milk or cheese, and when my mum thought that I was being a spoiled child that was all the time crying because I had to drink milk, later she realised that I was  intolerant and that my stomach aches and cramps were not faking...On the 80's in Portugal there was not a lot of people speaking about lactose intolerance.

So I believe that I grew up hating even the smell of milk, until today I really don't like it. Few years ago I tried oat milk and was really good with some oats and fruit inside but then I removed all the carbohydrates from my diet and so oats and oat milk were removed.

What I realised with this diet is that there is all the time a way to find alternatives and I started to make my own almond milk.
Most of the milks that you buy in packs have preservatives, or a bit of sugar and even the fact that comes in a pack doesn't look really healthy.

Recently I heard some friend saying that this is not almond milk, is nut juice :) Is not wrong though but it looks like milk and works as milk.

For this recipe you will need a nut milk bag. Is something really easy to find, although in here I had to order from Amazon. So if you don't find a nut milk bag where you live, you can order in Amazon and they are pretty cheap.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of almonds
• 2 cups of water
• 4 dates pitted 
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract (optional)

Let's do it:

• In a container put 1 cup of almonds and soak them in water overnight. I usually soak them for at least 12h.
• After soaking, remove the water and rinse the almonds with running water.
• Pour the almonds in a blender with 2 cups of filtered water and add 4 dates. Blend it in maximum speed for 1 minute. Shake a bit the blender and turn it again in maximum speed for 30 seconds to 1 minute. 
• Place the nut milk bag inside of a bowl
• Pour the mix into the nut milk bag in small batches. With your hands squeeze it until all the milk comes out from the bag
• Pour the milk into a glass bottle. Is very important that you use a glass bottle to help to preserve longer

Some people prefer to throw away the leftovers of the almonds as most of the nutritive part of the almond is on the milk, but as I don't like to waste food I found several ways to use them. As a base of a cheesecake, to pour on the top of a crumble, to spread on the top of salads like bread crumbs, to add to smoothies. You just need imagination to use it :)

So with the leftovers of the almonds place them in a parchment paper and take them to the oven to lose the moisture, to dry and roast. After this process allow the roasted almonds to cool down and keep them is a airtight container. You can keep them for over 1 month. 

*Note* - If the almonds leftovers don't get well dry and roasted and if you close them in a container that will get some mold. So make sure that they lose all the moisture before you keep them.

Time of preparation: 12h to soak almonds + 5 minutes of preparation of the milk
Quantity: 2 cups of milk.

*Note* - You can keep the almond milk in the fridge for about 5 days. I would not recommend to make more than 2 cups of almond milk if you are not sure that you will actually consume it. I prefer all the time to do 2 cups and if I need more, I just do fresh almond milk again.

For today I leave you an Australian band that I recently discovered.
I think the world is blessed with so many good Australian bands that unfortunately are a bit unknown in the rest of the world. Lately I listen a lot music made in Australia, since rock&roll, indie music...you just name it. They have it all...
The Waifs is a rock folk band. I really like it...please listen.
I like Indie music bands with female voices so I am suspicious :)

Enjoy it :)

Almond butter cookies

I have been called cookie monster since I remember...I am totally fine with that because I know that is because of the cookies addiction and not because I am fury and blue :)
I love cookies...COOKIES!

However I made a big detox when I started this diet and I realised that cookies are really addictive and I remember that I couldn't even pass in the cookie section in the supermarkets because it was painful as I craved so much oat cookies or cinnamon, let us be honest...any type of cookies that did't had cream, I never liked cookies with cream.

This week while I was searching some inspiration in "Women's weekly" and Australian magazine, I discovered this recipe, but it was made with crunchy peanut butter.  

As we don't eat peanuts because they are too rich in carbohydrates, I thought...hummm, let me try with almond butter! And it works perfectly, maybe they don't get crunchy as if you do them with crunchy peanut butter, but for me they turned out perfect. 

However I believe that in the future I can improve somehow the recipe to get them more crunchy but for now I will share it as I made and if one day I discover how to make them more crunchy I let you know :) 

Ingredients:

• 250 grams of raw almond butter (organic without sugar)
• 1/4 cup of honey 
• 1tsp of baking soda
• 1 egg

Let's do it:

• Preheat the oven to 180 C. Line two oven trays with baking paper
• In a bowl combine the almond butter, the honey, the baking soda and the egg slightly beaten 
• Mix well with a spoon. In here you will have the opportunity to work a bit your biceps :) 
• Drop 1 Tbsp of the mixture onto trays with more or less 4 cm apart
• Bake the cookies for 15 minutes or until lightly browned 

You can keep these cookies in a airtight container for about 1 week. 

In here they didn't lasted 3 days but I am a cookie monster for some reason, right?

Time of preparation: 30 minutes

Quantity: 17 cookies 

I leave you today Cat Stevens, I love this song because of the lyrics. Is such an amazing song full of meaning :) 

"You can do what you want

The opportunity is on

And if you can find a new way

You can do it today

You can make it all true

And you can make it undo" 

Just do what you want guys...life is only about it! Don't wait until you get old to make your dreams come true :) 

Coconut chocolate bars (Sugar free)

In Australia I discovered the famous Woman's weekly magazine. This magazine has loads of recipes, most of them I don't eat but they also have low carb and sugar free editions. Is the first time that I came across with magazines focused in a low carb, high fat, sugar free diet.

I found this recipe in one of the magazines and what makes me like it so much is that these bars are so similar to that chocolate "Bounty", but they are much better because they are sugar free and without almost any carbs.

Regarding to the dark chocolate I advise everything more than 70% dark chocolate.
I already made this recipe with a 70% dark chocolate and now I made it with a 99% dark chocolate and both turn out really well.
I found out that using this 99% chocolate you really need to like dark chocolate as it gets a bit bitter which is good in my opinion but on the other hand you don't feel the coconut flavour as with the 70%.
Honestly is up to you or you can do as me, the first time I tried with a 70% dark chocolate and now I tried with a darker one and I can see the difference and chose what is the one I  like most.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cup of shredded coconut
• 2 tsp of stevia
• 2/3 of coconut cream 
• 2 tsp of vanilla extract 
• 100 gr of dark chocolate bar (I used 99% sugar free chocolate from Vivani, that you might find in health food stores)
• 50gr of butter 

Let's do it:

• In a bowl combine shredded coconut, stevia, coconut cream and 1 tsp of vanilla extract. Mix well.
• With your hands divide the portion in small bars, squeezing the mixture with your fingers while making the bar.
• Place the bars in a tray covered with parchment paper. Freeze for 1h30.
• In a saucepan place the butter and chocolate in pieces and one tsp of vanilla extract. In slow heat mix well until the chocolate and butter are melted and smooth. Allow the mixture to cool down for 10 minutes. 
• Dip the bars, one at a time, into the chocolate mixture to evenly coat. Place them again in the tray and allow them to refrigerate for 45 minutes
• Place them into a airtight container and you can keep them in the fridge up to 1 week...if they last until then :)

*Note* - Stevia comes from the leaf of a plant, so is promoted asa natural sweetener. Is is processed into a white powder that can be used in a similar way to sugar. It has a minimal effect on blood glucose levels.

Time of preparation: 30 minutes to prepare and 1h30 in the freezer

Quantity: 17 bars

Today I leave you Nina Simone.
There was a time that I was all the time listening Nina Simone and Aretha Franklin. I recently watched a documentary about Nina Simone and was really interesting how she faced and  supported all the anti-racism  and civil rights causes in the US on the 60's and 70' and how that behaviour damaged her career and her life. She was a special one...

I like especially this song that was about how the black community on that time, was a community without roots or background, somehow ashamed for being who they were. Nina Simone tried to bring to them value, soul and proud of being black.

Please listen the lyrics and see how beautiful they are when we understand the full meaning.

Be proud of who you are, of where you came from, proud of your roots.
We are unique and special as everybody in the world.
Religion, colour, country, borders, politics should not be allowed to change this.

Happy day to all!

Prawns in butter with kale&broccolini

For dinners I opt to make them as much vegetarian and light as possible, especially during the week. However is nice to have an improved dinner once in a while.

For today I leave you a light option with prawns and super veggies as kale.
Kale is nothing more than a green leaf cabbage but is considered the top of the superfoods as it has a nutritional powerhouse packed with antioxidants such as vitamin C, beta-carotene and so on...One thing I have to tell you...kale cooked in olive oil and garlic is super yummy :) is a bit Portuguese style I have to say!
Broccolini is a natural hybrid from broccoli that has smaller florets and longer and thinner stalks which makes them perfect for stir frying in olive oil and is really rich in vitamin C, E and A, as also iron and potassium.

Sometimes you might look to my recipes and think...oh I don't need a blog to do this, and you are right, sometimes my recipes are straight forward and if I have the capacity of "inventing" them, so do you.
However I think  that sometimes with the rush of the day we don't have time to have ideas and we end up doing all the time the same things. For this reason some of my recipes are only ideas of healthy meals with good fats and no carbs.

In Oman I tend to buy all my fish in Al Meera, although Muscat is faced to the sea, some supermarkets are able to sell really bad fish. I don't know why!

When is the prawn season, this supermarket has these massive prawns that in Portugal it would cost a fortune and in here, even if they are not super cheap they are quite affordable.

I like these big, fat prawns, full of meat :)

Ingredients:

• Prawns (already pealed)
• 8 garlic cloves
• Bunch of kale 
• Broccolini 
• Butter (grass fed) or ghee
• Olive oil
• Salt 
• Chilli (optional)

Let's do it:

• In a frying pan put the butter and 4 garlic cloves sliced and a small chilli 
• When the butter is already melted add the prawns and a pinch of salt. Fry them and in low heat.
• Turn the prawns several times, while they are cooking to make sure that they cook both sides. 
• They are ready when they get a bit harder and browned on each side. Depending of the prawns, it can take until 10 minutes. 
• In another large frying pan pour the olive oil and the other 4 garlic cloves also sliced. When the olive oil starts to be slightly hot pour the broccolini first and then the kale (already trimmed) and spread a pinch of salt on the top.
• While stir frying you have to mix the kale quite often until it gets tender. You don't want the kale and broccolini overcooked, you want them crispy. It takes around 5 minutes to cook them. 

Time of preparation: It takes around 10 to 15 minutes to prepare everything

Quantity: I bought 12 prawns and was enough for 2 people

This is a recipe matches perfectly with a easy going, chilled dinner and I leave you the perfect soundtrack for that :) 

Diana Krall doesn't need introduction I believe. In this video she makes a nice cover from "Fly me to the moon" of Frank Sinatra. 

I watched her concert in Muscat in the Royal Opera House and was an amazing concert I have to say. 

Enjoy the dinner and I totally advice you to open a nice bottle of red wine and enjoy the time alone or with someone else, but just enjoy the time that has been given to you :) 

Omelette with smoked trout

I love to change my breakfasts but because of my morning yoga practice during the week I try to avoid eggs for breakfast and I eat instead a smoothie, muffin or low carb bread. However I like to have them on the weekends...yummy breakfast!
This breakfast was created by my boyfriend as he has eggs for breakfast most everyday and I am a bit of a zero preparing omeletes.
I learned how to do them with him, but let us be honest, if he does them so well, why should I bother to prepare them? :)

This recipe aims to appeal to your creativity for breakfast. 

We tend to be stuck to that typical continental breakfast of milk or yogurt with muesli or bread, and beside the fact that high carb meals are not good for us, we start to crave food after two hours of having breakfast.

As Tim Noakes explains in his first book, "Every gram of carbohydrate that we consume must be burnt immediately, as a fuel, or it will be stored in the body, either as fat or glycogen. The problem is that, because of our genetic makeup, all humans have a different degree of insulin resistance. And the more sever the insulin resistance, the more difficulty the body has in processing carbohydrates. As a result, high carbohydrates diets lead to increase of insulin resistance that will inevitably lead to the metabolic syndrome, obesity and diabetes". http://realmealrevolution.com

When we start to have a full and complete meal for breakfast with good fats our metabolism doesn't need so much food as slowly we stop craving food.

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1/4 of sliced spring onions
• 100 gr of Smoked trout 
• 2 cups of raw baby spinach 
• Black pepper to taste
• Cappers 
• Nuts
• Grass fed butter or ghee

Let's do it:

• In a frying pan put some butter or ghee and stir the spring onions 
• In a bowl whisk the eggs and when the spring onions look browned pour the eggs to prepare the omelete
• When you turn the omelete spread the baby spinach on the top while the bottom is cooking
• Transfer the omelete to a plate and serve it with smoked trout and nuts
• Season with black pepper and spread some cappers on the top of the trout 

This is just an idea of a really nutritive breakfast that will help you to make through all morning until lunch without cravings.
We really like smoked trout, we actually prefer it to smoked salmon and you can easily find it in Oman, which is awesome considering that sometimes we struggle hard to find few things.

Time of preparation: 10 minutes maximum 

Quantity: The list of ingredients serves 1 person

For today I chose an amazing band from Norway, Kings of Convenience, and they are in my top list of bands. 

I watched once their concert and I remember that it was pouring rain on that day, but was totally worth it :) 

And this song has a mix of amazing singers, Kings of Convenience with Feist...perfect combination. This videoclip was in a concert in the famous Bataclan....long live the music. 

I hope you love it as much as I do.

Find peace in yourself and you will no need to make any wars. Love yourself but never forget the value of others in your path. 

Apple & cinnamon muffins

I recently discovered that I really like muffins and they are a nice idea for that "grab and go" breakfast.

A muffin and a smoothie has been working really well for us and is a nice snack to have in the mornings before workout or Yoga. One muffin and a coffee :)

Is really cool to be able to have muffins for breakfast, free from all the bad things that usually we find in the muffins that we can buy outside. These muffins are healthy and nutritious.

Nothing is better than the food that is prepared by us.

This recipe is good for the ones that don't really like coconut, and I love these muffins because they take the best ingredients ever...apple and cinnamon :) I devour everything that takes apple and cinnamon.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of almond flour
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 2 tbs of ground cinnamon 
• 1 large apple grated
• Juice of half lemon (approximately 2 Tbsp)
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 3 eggs
• 2 Tbsp of raw honey
• 3 Tbsp of butter or ghee (melted)

Let's do it:

• Pre-heat the oven to 200 C 
• Combine dry ingredients in one large bowl
• In another bowl place the grated apple, lemon juice and zest and mix. Add the eggs (previously whisked), the butter or ghee and the honey. Mix well
• Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ones
• Grese the muffin tin with coconut oil, butter or ghee, what you prefer. I used coconut oil.
• Scoop the mix to the muffin tin
• Bake for 25 minutes. In the end insert a toothpick and it has to come out dry.

These muffins are not too sweet which makes me like them even more, but you can adjust it to your taste with more or less honey. 

Time of preparation: 10 minutes to prepare the batter + 25 minutes baking 

Quantity: It makes 12 muffins

Today I leave you Beirut as a soundtrack. Is a Indie-rock band from America.

The first album for me was the best but in a general way they have really amazing songs. I especially like the combination of all instruments, the orchestra style. 

I remember that few years ago, in a friends wedding, this was their song, I just loved it and I was probably one of the few people that was singing it loud and crying off course...I think I cried in all my good friends weddings....I'm such a girl :) 

Enjoy these muffins and let me know how it went. Meanwhile sing and dance :) Life is all about being happy!