Nut bars

I came across with this recipe while visiting a friend and between discussing the benefits of aloe vera she gave me one of these bars and I got addicted. I immediately asked her for the recipe and I decided to give it a go.
I changed few things because I added few things to my taste.

These bars are packed of flavour with the mix between nuts, coconut, orange and the special touch is indeed the rose water, that although is optional I totally recommend to try it.

These bars make a perfect snack for lunch boxes of adults and kids.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of honey (I used a bit less than 1/2 cup)
• 1/2 cup of raw almonds (roughly chopped) 
• 1/2 cup of pistachios (roughly chopped)
• 1 cup of sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup of shredded coconut 
• Zest of 1 orange
• 1 Tbsp of fresh orange juice 
• 2 tsp of cinnamon 
• Pinch of salt 
• 1Tbsp of rose water (optional) 

Let's do it:

• Pre-heat the oven to 180 C and line a square ceramic dish with baking paper, allowing excess paper on the sides 
• For preparing the nuts (almonds and pistachios) you can place them in a cutting board and roughly cut them with a big knife, or you can put them inside of a kitchen towel and beat them up with the cooking roll or a meat hammer (a nice way to release stress). Either way, you want to have big chunky pieces of nuts so don't put them in a food processor
• In a bowl mix all the ingredients with the exception of the honey and mix them well 
• In a saucepan pour the honey and allow it to warm up but not boil. You will see that the honey becomes liquid
• Pour the honey in the mixture and stir well until the honey is well combined and coated all the mixture
• Pour the mixture to the ceramic tin and spread homogeneously and press to form a compact layer 
• Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown 
• Remove from the oven and let it cool down in the ceramic dish in room temperature. When the mixture is almost cooled, put it in the fridge for 30 minutes before cutting it in bars. If it's totally cold and refrigerated makes it easier to cut without breaking in pieces
• Remove the baking paper carefully and place it in a cutting board. Cut the bars in the desired size
• I wrapped each bar in baking paper and tied with kitchen string. This makes it easier to remove them from the container and even eating them without get sticky fingers :) 

You can keep the bars in a container in the fridge for 2 weeks easily...if they last that long :) In here they lasted 4 days...ups!! 

Time of preparation: 30 minutes (10 minutes of preparation plus 20 minutes baking)

Quantity: Depends on the size of the bars that you want. For me it gave me 8 rectangular bars but you can make the double if you prefer small squares.

Today I leave you an awesome band from the 90's that was probably the band that lead me into the world of alternative music and even now when new bands arise and are widely listen,  the old ones still have their legacy and The Breeders will keep their legacy for someone that used to listen the 90's alternative rock music. 

Have a nice day! 

King fish in sweet potato "bun"

Today I started my day with a Mysore practice, I am starting slowly to go through the primary series without stressing out.

Yoga is not about rushing to get into the pose, instead is about enjoying every step, every achievement and about learning to stand up after falling. 

Mysore is such a lovely practice but it involves a lot of commitment to the practice and awareness of our own limits. 

Although yoga philosophy defends that we should release our body from all the toxins and become vegetarian, is my option to not chose to go through that path :) not that I am a meat lover but definitely I like fish and I truly believe that we can get most of our nutrients through real food without daily supplements or protein powders. 

Today I prepared some king fish that you can easily find fresh in here, and although is not a fat fish is reach in Omega-3, selenium and in lean protein. 

Most of the time when we cook something in the stove, like fish or meat, we loose a lot of the good fat that drips to the ceramic dish. So lately I use sweet potato as a kind of "bun" under fish or chicken breast to absorb all the fat, in this way I am increasing the absorption of vitamins present in the vegetables and fish that I will eat.

Some people are not aware that eating vegetables with fat helps our body to absorb their vitamins improving the gut health.

Those diets poor in fat won't help you in anyway the body, beside all the side effects that they have in terms of energy and muscle draining, the fact that you don't add any fat to your diet will avoid your body to absorb most of vitamins present in the food. 

Ingredients:

For the fish:

• Steaks of king fish 
• Orange sweet potato
• Beetroot (raw)
• Salt 
• Black pepper 
• Fresh thyme or rosemary 
• Sage leafs (if you can find them) 

For the salad:

• Orange and yellow capsicum
• Cucumber 
• Orange
• Mint leafs 
• Olive oil 
• Raspberry balsamic vinegar 
• 1 tsp of organic honey 

Let's do it:

For the fish preparation:

• Pre-heat the oven to 170 C 
• Peel the sweet potato and slice it with 1-2cm  
• Peel the beetroot and dice it with a medium size
• In a ceramic dish add some olive oil to grease the bottom and add one slice of sweet potato for steak 
• On the top of each slice of sweet potato add the king fish steak and season with salt, black pepper, fresh thyme and sage leafs. After preparing all the steaks just spread a bit of olive oil on the top of each steak to make it a bit more tender while cooking
• On the same ceramic dish add the diced beetroot that will absorb the rest of the fat
• Cook it for 25-30 minutes 

Note: The beetroot will be a bit raw but is healthier in this way as it keeps a lot of their anti-oxidants properties if is not overcooked. 

For the salad:

• Chop the capsicums in small pieces
• Slice the oranges and cut the slices in quarters 
• Add the mint leafs 
• For seasoning the salad I mixed in a small glass jar olive oil, raspberry balsamic vinegar and 1 tsp of organic honey

Time of preparation: 45 minutes in total. 15 minutes to prepare the sweet potato and fish + 30 minutes in the oven 

I prepared the salad while the fish was in the oven 

Today I am into Missy Higgins that is an Australian musician, singer and songwriter from Melbourne. 

If I am not wrong she has 5 albums but I only know two of them. I like a lot her third album "On a clear night". Her voice is super sweet and I like her folk-rock style, however she has some songs that sounds a bit too pop for me, but honestly if you are reading this you should give a try to her music. 

See you soon :) 

Cranberries&Cocoa Bliss Balls

Bliss balls became one of the biggest addictions in the house, as they are packed with a lot of good nutrients, vitamins and most of all they are raw which keeps the full nutritional value that a lot of times is lost during the cooking process.

I am starting to be a big fan of raw food but I find hard to prepare raw low carb meals as they use a lot of produces that doesn't enter in a low carb meal as well protein supplements that I honestly try to avoid. I tend to use a vegan protein powder in some of my bliss balls because it helps to achieve the desired consistence but I am not a big supporter of several meals and snacks with protein supplements as I believe that is possible to get protein through real food.

For now I stick only to raw salads, desserts and snacks which I am still learning but I am loving it I confess.

I decided to make bliss balls wth cranberries as I am trying to increase in a good way the nutritional value of my snacks and cranberries are really good anti-oxidants that fight the free radicals naturally produced by our body, working as anti-ageing which we all agree that is a good thing :)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of almonds
• 1/4 of walnuts
• 1 cup of dates 
• 1/2 cup of dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup of sesame seeds
• 2 Tbsp of chia seeds
• 2 Tbsp of flax seeds
• 2 Tbsp of coconut oil 
• 1 Tbsp of protein powder (optional)
• 1 Tbsp of raw cocoa powder 

Let's do it:

This method is similar to the previous post of bliss balls

• Start by placing the almonds, walnuts, chia seeds, flax seeds in a food processor and pulse it for 1 minute until the mix looks a bit like a granulated like crumbs 
• Then add the dates, sesame seeds, coconut oil, protein powder and the cocoa powder and pulse for 1 minute more until the if forms a sticky dough 
• Add in last the dried cranberries and pulse for 30 seconds just to envolve them, avoiding to cut them too much
• Use your hands to make small balls 
• Place them in a bowl or airtight container and keep them in the fridge for few days

I leave you today another song of Devendra Banhart. I already posted previously one song of him, I like is voice and his musical rhythm.
This video clip is super sensual that I am really surprised that is available in youtube in Middle East :)  and beside the music melody, the lyrics are beautiful although they are in Spanish.
I hope you enjoy it!

Have a nice day :)

Layered smoothie of mango&blueberries

This past weekend was really good fun, we had a easy and chilled Friday at home finishing the day with a sunset skateboarding and walking around with friends, while on Saturday we spent the full afternoon kitesurfing until the sun was almost gone...life is great :)

Today I decided to spend the morning in the kitchen and instead of going to the yoga studio I decided instead to do yoga at home. I am starting to love more and more my own home practice, my space, the silence and the sounds of my bubble.

After holidays and keen to be back on the track, I started the day preparing some snacks to have them in the fridge and among other things I prepared some layered smoothies of mango and blueberries...they are yummy!!

They are really easy to do and the recipe doesn't differ a lot from the ones that I originally do. However these ones makes a even more colourful breakfast :)

Ingredients:

• 1 medium to large avocado 
• 1 can of organic coconut milk 
• 1/2 mango
• 1 cup of blueberries (I used organic frozen ones) 

Let's do it:

• Cut the avocado in half 
• In a blender pour half of the avocado, the half mango and half of the coconut milk and blend it for 30 seconds until smooth
• Pour the mix into individual glass jars and put them in the fridge while preparing the other layer. Is optional to put some chia seeds but if you choose to add them just pour 1Tbsp in each jar and mix well with a spoon without spreading the smoothie around the sides of the jar to allow the other layer to seat perfectly. This layer needs to be 10 minutes in the fridge before receiving the next layer on the top
• Is important to rinse the blender cup to make the second layer
• For the blueberry layer just had the remaining half of the avocado, the rest of the coconut milk and 1 cup of frozen blueberries. Blend for 1 minute as the frozen blueberries needs more time in the blender
• After 10 minutes of the mango smoothies being in the fridge, you can remove them and gently pour the blueberry layer on the top. I advise you to use a spoon to this step.
• Put them again in the fridge and in few hours they will be ready to eat. They get better if they stay at least 4h in the fridge before consuming
• Then just add some berries and laminated coconut or almonds on the top and is ready to go

Time of preparation:  15 minutes to prepare 

Quantity: Depends of the size of avocado and mango off course but for me it usually gives me 4 glass jars as the one from the pictures

And because today is the beginning of the week, at least in here, I leave you The Cinematic Orchestra with Patrick Watson. 

The Cinematic Orchestra is a british jazz, electronic music group, that when playing live or in studio they have always a band that improvises along. Among few albums I totally recommend "Ma Fleur" and "Man with a movie camera".
The album "Ma Fleur" has Patrick Watson in the vocals and you can find this song "How to build a home" that is one of my favourites.
I found this song super relaxing, emotive and it helps me to stop and breath all the good things in life. I have it also in one of my Yoga playlists.

Have a great week! 

Coconut&Chocolate Brownie

Is nice to be back after one month off.
I went back home for Christmas holidays and then I went in a kitesurf trip to Cape Town...it was unbelievable, amazing, awesome kiting conditions and good vibes. Is nice to be outside the Middle East once in a while and make sure that there's still life out there :-)

Cape Town is such an amazing place, people are super nice and relaxed and they have such an amazing lifestyle which reminds me a lot the lifestyle in Sunshine Coast in Australia. People wake up and they go kiting or surfing before going to work, at lunch time or after work...basically they go when they want as wind is on 24h and if there's no wind there is all the time swell.
That place is my Disneyland, wonderland, whatever you want to name it...is a kind of watersports paradise.
But beside the watersports they have so many things to do as hiking, wakeboard, skateboard everywhere, loads of yoga studios.
I confess that I didn't went to any yoga studio as my body was only switched on to kitesurf.

We made nice trips along the vineyards, which I totally advise to someone that goes there. South African wine is maybe one of the best ones of the world, their Pinotage is just amazing.
I also came across with so many organic stores, full of produces that I struggle to find in here and so cheap comparing to Oman...I wish to have a kind of shop like that one in here, probiotics, different flours, organic oils, organic produces for body, everything...I bought few things I confess.
Some people spend their money in purses and shoes, I buy organic things and flours :)

But is enough of talking about my holidays and let's go back to the recipe world.

I start by saying that I recently made this brownie to take to a workshop of Yoga and all the yogis loved it...it was so nice to have such a good feedback.

When I started to have a Low Carb High Fat diet I discovered a recipe of coconut brownie but I wasn't really happy with the final result, or it was to dry or I didn't liked the texture...there was all the time something that would make me twist my nose.

After few experiments I think that I am happy with the final result of this one. I achieved the flavour and texture that I was searching for.

This recipe was adapted from one recipe that I have found in Pinterest mixed with one from http://ceyloncoconutcompany.com and although people may think that this has too much coconut I can ensure that you don't even feel the coconut flavour. The dark cocoa powder cut all the coconut flavour so it really tastes like a traditional brownie. And the moisture....OMG....yummmyyyyy :)

For me the hard thing was to find the proper coconut flour as some flours are not really powder and look a bit more like almond meal. So I found one from Sri Lanka really white and in a thin powder, awesome for baking.

Although I try to use only honey, dates or stevia in my recipes, in this one I used organic unrefined coconut sugar. I already tried to replace it with honey and also with Stevia and it wasn't so tasty and the consistency was a bit weird.
I might give a go with honey another time, as I am starting to be a bit more comfortable baking with coconut flour. I have to say that takes a while to get used to bake with coconut flour as it absorbs all the liquids and swells a bit.
It took me really long time to understand the proportions and how to use coconut flour and coconut oil in baking...and I am still learning :)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of coconut oil 
• 1/2 cup of  dark cocoa powder 
• 6 eggs 
• 1 cup of unrefined coconut sugar 
• 1/3 cup of coconut milk (or almond milk) 
• 1/2 cup of coconut flour
• pinch of salt 
• 1/2 cup of walnuts or pecans (optional) 

Let' do it:

• Pre-heat the oven to 250 C
• In a saucepan combine the coconut oil and the cocoa powder and melt it under low heat. Let it cool down
• In a bowl mix the eggs and coconut sugar, coconut milk and pinch of salt
• Add the chocolate mixture and mix it well 
• Add the coconut flour and mix well 
• Add the nuts previously broken in small pieces 
• Grease a ceramic dish with butter and pour the batter 
• Bake for 25-30 minutes 

*Note*- I advise you to use a ceramic dish instead of a aluminium tray. I find that the ceramic dish keeps a bit more the moisture of the brownie, while the aluminium trays dry the batter.

Time of preparation: 10 preparation + 30 minute baking
Quantity: It gave me 12 brownies but it depends on the size of the squares that you chose to cut :) 

Please let me know how it went! I am sure that you will love it.

Today I leave you Portuguese sounds. Sara Tavares is a Portuguese songwriter and singer with deep roots from Cape Verde. 

She has an amazing voice and unfortunately she is not really known worldwide but she is good..oh yes she is. 

Please listen if you like african sounds...I love African sounds! 

I have this song in my yoga playlist :)

Have a nice day and enjoy life as much as you can. Love every second of your life! 

Stuffed portobello mushrooms

Most of our dinners are free from protein as we consume protein mainly at lunch, so basically our dinners are soup or a vegetarian dish prepared with good fats to improve the sleep and rest.

I try to have portobello mushrooms all the time in my fridge, they are my backup plan for everything.

In Oman you can find these mushrooms mainly in Al Meera supermarket and sometimes in Sultan Centre. Is not the easiest thing to find I know it, but in Al Meera I found them every week. So if you leave in Muscat is the place to go. 

Ingredients:

• 4 Portobello mushrooms 
• Bunch of cherry tomatoes
• basil leaves 
• Parmesan cheese (optional)
• Olive oil or butter  

Let's do it:

• First start to preheat the oven to 150 C
• Remove the stalks from the mushrooms and reserve
• To a bowl cut the cherry tomatoes in quarters and slice the basil leaves
• Cut the mushrooms stalks in small pieces and add them to the bowl 
• Add the parmesan cheese (optional) 
• Stuff the mushrooms with the mixture 
• Pour a bit of olive oil or a slice of grass-fed butter over the top of the mushrooms (the fat will help the mushrooms to get more flavour and will make you feel more full after eating)
• Place the mushrooms in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until they look soft and cooked 

You can serve them with any side dish. I usually have them with cauliflower mash or roasted vegetables, especially kale or brocollini.

You can also stuff the mushrooms with different things, you only need to have ideas. 

As I usually do them so often, I am trying all the time to be creative. 

I will start to post some of my ideas to help you also to have your own ideas.

This year I am going home for Christmas and I will not take my laptop so this will be my last recipe until I return.

I hope that you all try to be happy and please share your happiness with others as it is so important to share our vibes.

Sharing is caring...

As we grow up we realise that Christmas is not all about presents, is mainly about being present to the ones we love and care. 

I love Pink Martini, I discovered them when I was living in Brussels in 2005 and this album "Joy to the World" has amazing Christmas songs under their own version and I really like this one in particular. Shchedryk is a Ukrainian carol, although they consider it a New Year's carol.   

This can be a nice album to have on the Christmas evening and day :) 

Is nice to come across with different carols from other countries in totally different languages...this is the beauty of the world! 

Have a Merry Christmas and be yourself a present to others :) 

Merry Christmas world! 

Lemon cheesecake (keto adapted)

One of the bad things of being expat is how often we say goodbye to friends.
While being expat we meet a lot of different and interesting people with different backgrounds that makes the friendship a kind of sharing.

It was hard for me to find people with whom I felt comfortable with, that I could trust and have good fun. I  love to have non judgmental people around me and people with good vibes.

Slowly I am learning how to say goodbye to these amazing people that will remain part of me and of my experience in Oman and hopefully few of them will remain friends for life even if we live in different parts of the world. I truly believe that with some this will happen.

I prepared a dinner to some friends that left to a neighbour country and it's comforting to know that they will return frequently during the summer as Oman has good kitesurfing conditions :) it would be nice to have them back once in a while.

I prepared this lemon cheesecake with strawberry compote on the top for dessert.
This recipe contains lactose, but soon I will post a fully raw-vegan cheese cake, gluten and lactose free.

What makes me love this recipe is that is totally carb-free as most of the carbs present in the almonds are already out when I do the almond milk...makes this the perfect dessert and guilty free.

Ingredients:

For the crust:

• 1 cup of raw almonds but I tend to use the leftovers of the almond milk http://mymindfulbliss.blogspot.com/2016/11/almond-milk.html 
• 2 Tbsp of butter (melted)
• 1tsp of cinnamon 
• Stevia to taste 

For the filling:

• 2 cups of mascarpone cheese
• juice and zest of 2 lemons 
• 2 tsp of vanilla extract 
• Stevia to taste

For the strawberry compote:

• 250 gr pf strawberries 
• Water with 1Tbsp of lemon juice to cover 
• Stevia to taste

Let's do it:

• First start by preparing the compote. In a frying pan cut the strawberries in small pieces and add water until it covers the strawberries. Add 1 Tbsp of lemon juice and stevia to taste. Turn in low heat and mix it until the strawberries become soft and smooth. Allow the mixture to boil for 2-3 minutes and allow it to cool at room temperature. 
• The next step is to prepare the almond crust. If you are using raw almond, put them in a food processor until they form a crumb. I tend to use the leftovers from the almond milk. Both ways work well. To the almond crumb add the melted butter, cinnamon and stevia to taste. Mix it well. 
• Pour the almond crumb into a cheesecake tin and press it well with a spoon. As I don't have any cheesecake tin, I used a dish tray :) Place it in the fridge while preparing the filling
• For the filling pour the mascarpone in a large bowl and add the lemon juice and zest, vanilla extract and stevia. Mix well with an electric hand mixer until well combined. 
• Remove the cheesecake tin from the fridge and pour the mascarpone mixture with a spoon until well spread
• Cover with the strawberry compote 
• Place it in the fridge at least for 4 hours before serving

I grated a bit of dark-chocolate on the top as you can see.

Time of preparation: 30 minutes
Quantity: 4 to 6 people

Because is Christmas I leave you one of my favourite Christmas songs from The Pogues that were a Celtic punk band from London from the 80's to 90's. The singer Shane MacGowan was replaced on the early 90's for the amazing Joe Strummer from the Clash. It was a good band as a lot of London bands from that time.
Is not a typical Christmas song but I love it :) It is punk-rock...what else!!

"You were handsome
You were pretty
Queen of New York City
When the band finished playing
They howled out for more
Sinatra was swinging,
All the drunks they were singing
We kissed on a corner
Then danced through the night"

Merry Christmas people!!! Is still missing few days...I know I know!!