The bloody beets and a bloody delicious brownies

One star of the season is beetroot. I am really going crazy about this bloody root:) I ate a lot from it during the last weeks and now I decided to make something really special with it. Beetroot Brownies!
But at first let's see why is it soo good to be eaten by human beings.

In Romany medicine, beet juice was used as a blood- builder for patients who were pale and run-down,  and in Russia and Eastern Europe it’s used both to build up resistance and to treat convalescents after  a serious illness. In the traditional medicine of central Europe, beets have  a long history of use in the treatment of cancer: they seem to contain anti- carcinogens bound to the red coloring matter, as well as possessing a striking ability to increase cellular uptake of oxygen. Many of these actions are enhanced when beets are eaten raw or drunk as juice. The popular French starter crudités— which combines grated  raw beet, raw carrot, and perhaps paper-thin slices of cucumber, all dressed with olive oil and lemon juice and garnished with chopped parsley—is a more powerful tonic for general health  than a whole bottle of vitamin pills.

And now let's see the recipe for the bloody brownies:)

Ingredients

2-3 cooked, peeled beets, rasped fine
100 gr dark chocolate, preferably up to 70% of cacao
80 gr brown sugar
80 gr butter
80 gr flour, can be white or whole grain as well
2 eggs
1 coffee spoon of baking powder
1 spoon of cocoa powder
50 gr of finely chopped walnuts or mixed nuts

Heat up the oven for 180 degrees. Melt the dark chocolate above water together with the butter. Stir the eggs together with the sugar till it's getting whiteish. Mix the baking powder with the flour and cacao powder. Mix everything together in the fallowing order: add the finely rasped beets to the mix of eggs and sugar, after add the melted chocolate-butter mix and put the flour mix into it and at the end put the finely chopped walnuts. Don't stir it too long because the brownies will become hard. Put it into the oven for 20-25 minutes. The cake is ready when is still a bit raw in the middle. Serve it hot with the vanilla ice cream!

Here is the bloody delicious dessert

Chia seeds

While I was shopping in the bio market I just bumped into chia seeds. It can be a great replacement for multi vitamins and a great supplement for more healthy nutrition. Winter is coming and the body needs more care to prepare. I immediately bought them and I cannot wait to implement it to my daily routine and enjoy the benefit of them. Why? Here is the answer...

Here are ten benefits to using chia seeds

1. Nutritious. Chia seed provides calcium (5 x more than cows milk)and protein to your tissues. The seeds are also rich in boron, which helps the body assimilate and use calcium. The nutrients also support proper brain functioning.

2. Great for Hydration. This seed can soak up twelve times its weight in water. When inside your body, the seeds help you stay hydrated longer, and retain electrolytes in your bodily fluids.

3. Easily digestible. The shells are easily broken down, even when swallowed whole. This is an improvement over flax seed, which have to be ground up to be digested properly. If you eat flax seed whole, it will just pass straight through you.

4. Concentrated goodness. If you could only take one cup of food for a few days, I'd choose chia ! The food value per volume is simply unbelievable. You don't need much. The Aztecs said they could survive on two table spoonfuls per day!

5. Mild tasting. Unlike some seeds, the flavour is very mild some say no taste at all. The mild neutral taste makes it so easy to put in sauces, smoothies, breads, puddings, and whatever you want. They won't really change the taste, but will add to your nutrition intake in a big way!

6. Energy enhancing. The health pioneer Paul Bragg did an experiment an endurance hike with friends. They divided up into a chia-eating group and another group, who ate whatever they wanted. The group eating only chia seeds finished the hike four hours, twenty seven minutes before the others, most of whom didn't even finish at all.

7. Versatile. These super seeds can be used to replace less-healthy fat in just about any kind of recipe. You can use them uncooked in salad dressings, spreads, fruit shakes, ice cream, and just about anything you want. You can also add them to cookies, cakes, muffins, Bread and other baked goods.

8. Weight loss with chia seeds . Yes, the seeds will help you lose weight, for two reasons. The first reason is that they are so filling that you will eat less of other foods ( they stop you snacking between meals too). The second reason is that they actually bulk up and cleanse your body of old "junk" in your intestines.

9. Endurance enhancing. Chia seeds are known as the "Indian Running Food". Also, the ancient Aztec warriors used chia seed during their conquests. If you are a runner chia seed helps with the stamina and endurance on the runs, some of which are several hours long!

10. Regenerating. After eating, the nutrients travel to the cells very quickly due to the ease in digestion and assimilation. Use them when you want to build or regenerate healthy body tissue and repair injured muscles.

Go more, go raw!

I feel like diving more into healthy nutrition since I really feel the benefits of my 21 day challenge:) I am going to give some practical tips how to make your food more healthy, green, raw, tasty and good looking and why your body will enjoy it!

• steam your vegetables - not in a lot of water, instead use steaming filter, put it above a water in a stainless steel pot and cover it for a few minutes. As a result you will get carefully prepared vegetables with a very delicious, pure taste
• braising - instead of oil use water or the combination of water-oil (cold pressed olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil)
• avoid the use of stomach irritant spices - pepper, chilli, ginger, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, curry in big quantities, of course a little pinch is definitely allowed to spice up the taste
• avoid the vinegar based sauces and vegetables - balsamic vinegar, white wine vinegar, mustard, ketchup, pre-prepared salad sauces (it is better to use vinegar for cleaning, against a water fog is the most efficient you can imagine what does it in your stomach grrrrrr....), instead use lemon
• fully exclude food with high fat and protein content from animal origin, heated oils and smoked products
• use cold pressed oils as flexseed oil, hempseed oil, borage oil, safflower oil, avocado oil, sesame oil, grape seed oil etc. Flaxseed oil or borage oil or safflower oil are for continuous use!
• any kinds of vegetables are more than welcome to consume! - mostly fresh or steamed, can be frozen, but they contains less vitamins and they don't have the chi:) - avoid everything from the can
• for every meal the composition of the food has to look like 50% raw components and 50% cooked components
• NEVER mix vegetables with fruits! (they are going to ferment in the stomach because of the fructose in the fruits)
• avoid eating desserts (including fruits) after the main meal because they are going to ferment in the stomach and it can very often cause a puffy belly...
• get rid of sugar (honey as well)- for sweetening use steevia, marple syrup, rice or agave syrup, xilit (birch sugar) - I tried all of them I recommend agave for me this is the winner
•  in the morning consume carbohydrate-rich food - fruit salad with nuts, all kinds of porridges, oat flake tarts etc.
• side dish can be wild rice, brown rice, black rice, couscous, bulgur, quinoa, amaranth, millet, buckwheat, whole grain pasta, brown/black rice noodles (no white rice, white pasta and potatoes)
• wholemeal bread, pastries can be eaten - best is from wheat flour
• for dinner more salads, beans, lentils, chickpeas recommended
• diary consumption is not recommended -  instead cereal milk (rice, coconut, almond and hazelnut my favourite ones), vegetable based cheese and cream 
• consumption of processed, preserved food is prohibited!!!
• don't snack between meals!!! - instead drink more water or herbal/detox tea or eat an apple or nuts
•  eat germs every day!!!

Hmm hmmm it seems quite shocking for the first time BUT I am sure that I can make delicious, various and fulfilling food! It will require a pinch of creativity and I am up for it! Let's give it a try!

This was my lunch today and I can tell you it was really delicious, light and filling!

Home made hummus with a pinch of chilli, steamed broccolis, bulgur with sun dried tomatoes, carotts, raddish and germs

Eet Smakkelijk!

All in one breakfast

Since I moved to my new place in Amsterdam I am still finding new things in the kitchen. Today morning's surprise was a mixer! It made my morning. I immediately got inspired and happy about the fact that I can play around with the fruits. It just arrived in the right moment because I really started to get bored of my fruit salad. So what I did is very simple. I smashed 1 banana, 2 kiwi with a little bit of almond milk and on top I put oat flakes and mixed nuts. This breakfast contains everything what you need to start the day: vitamins, minerals, proteins, fibres, carbs (supporting ones:) and the top of all that it is very tasty as well!

 Et Voila! :)

Pumpkin time!

Autumn is officially here! How do I know this? Because pumpkin started to appear on the market! I am soooo happy about it, this is one of my favourite vegetables.  Today's evening is the perfect time for pumpkin. Since the weather is getting cold and rainy the body needs some immune boost to be prepared for the changing of the seasons.

Pumpkin is one of the best solution how we can nourish ourselves in this challenging weather. 

This magnificent, colourful vegetable was known by the Indians and they used it to cure snakebites. grrrrr and to vanish freckles :) Our orange beauty contains a lot of essential vitamins as A, B,C and minerals like copper, zinc, iron, calcium etc. It is suitable for treating inflammatory diseases, and in particular shows high efficiency for colds , cold, flu and to relieve allergic coughing, sneezing , reduce asthma attacks. It stimulates the liver and helping the digestion as well. 

Consumption makes our skin more beautiful , especially in the treatment of acne is a great help. Ideal food for diets because it contains less calories. 

So Pumpkin up!

The easiest and most probably the fastest way to make it, is to bake it in the oven. 180-220 degrees, 30 minutes, a pinch of salt and pepper and that's it.