SIMPLE, EASY and HEALTHY BREAKFAST RECIPE ft THE BEAUTY CHEF

 

Breakfast is my absolute favourite meal of the day, I love eating it and I love making it.

In order to start my day, I like to make sure I have a healthy yet wholesome breakfast to kickstart my day until lunch time.

I was recently sent and introduced to The Beauty Chef Glow Inner Beauty Powder, this powder is chop full of natural goodies to improve your skin and gut health from the inside! A little goes a LONG way with this product. So I hope you guys will enjoy eating this as much as I do!

INGREDIENTS:
2 table spoons of plain greek yogurt
1/8 of a teaspoon of The Beauty Chef Glow Inner Beauty Powder
Breakfast Museli (I mix my own and will share my mix with you guys in a different post!)

SEASONAL FRUITS:
Chopped pineapples (Not the tinned pineapples - those are full of sugar!)
A handful of fresh blueberries
Half a banana
Chopped watermelon

Step 1:
Spoon 2 tablespoons of plain greek yogurt into your bowl and mix it with a small amount of GLOW powder, the powder will give the plain yoghurt a purple tinge (see pic above), slightly sour taste and fruity flavour - this is great especially if you dislike the taste of plain yogurt.

Step 2:
Add fruits of your choice!

Step 3:
Sprinkle store purchased or home mixed breakfast muesli on top for added nutrients, protein and fiber!

 And voila! How easy was that? A healthy and delicious breakfast option that will keep you full, great for your yummy (and waistline), great for your skin and satisfies your daily fruit intake.

Bon Appetit!

4 Ingredients Organic Banana Cocao Nice Cream - 100% good for you!

Sam and I have been going to way too many food events and being a little bit greedy when it comes to eating. We've been eating till we get stick.

We both feel ridiculously bloated and agreed to stick to healthy eating outside of Instagram.

As a part of September being Organic Awareness month (I honestly think every month should be organic awareness month!!! I try and buy organic whenever I can and whenever my wallet allows me), here's a recipe using all organic products.

I have a sweet tooth, and my night routine consists of ice cream every single day. This has now changed. Let me introduce you to the easiest NICE CREAM that is tasty AND good for you :)

Ingredients:
Certified Organic Ripe Bananas (I used 3 to make 3 small servings)
Honest to Goodness Organic Raw Cacao Powder
Pacific Organics Coconut Flakes
Five:am Organic Apple Crumble

Method:

1. Peel the bananas, chop them up and put it in an air tight container. Store the bananas in the freezer over night.

2. Mash up the bananas the next morning, I used my bare hands and a spoon (we don't have a blender anymore!!!), if you have a blender, use it! (you will need to add a small amount of water or organic coconut water to get the blending going, if you are using a blender).

3. Once fully mashed, add a teaspoon of cacao powder (if you add more it might be a smidge bitter) and keep mashing/blending until fully mixed.

4. Add coconut flakes into the mix and lightly blend/mash for approximately 10 seconds.

5. If you are mashing the bananas with your hands, you might need to put the nice cream back into the freezer for an hour if you want a solid texture. Otherwise your nice cream is ready to serve, top your nice cream off with some organic apple crumble for that extra crunch.

Enjoy!

Thank you Australian Organic and Missy Mischief for supporting me.

Pitango's #LazyFoodie Cooking Challenge

Hello Sunday..

Feeling lazy? Me too!

I was recently invited to take part in Pitango's lazy foodie cooking challenge, creating a gourmet meal using Pitango's soup or risotto adding in 4 ingredients in just 10 minutes!

This was my kind of challenge, I like to do things as efficiently as possible; quick, easy yet still be able to achieve optimal result. I am trying to cut down on meat/sugar and increase my fruit + veggie intake in my attempt to eat healthy. The dish I created is perfect for lunch or a light dinner because it's packed full of goodness.



My Pitango selection:

Pitango Organic Pumpkin and Ginger Soup
(http://www.pitango.com.au/)


4 Ingredients: 

- Shallot
- Portobello mushroom
- Cauliflower
- Paprika

Method:

1. Steam your cauliflower and mushroom for approximately 5 minutes, if you like mushy cauliflower leave it in there for longer.

2. Chop or cut your shallot (I personally find cutting it with a pair of scissors to be faster).

3. Pour half a packet if Pitango Organic Pumpkin and Ginger soup into a bowl and heat it up in the microwave (pop it in for 1 min, take it out, stir and pop the soup back in the microwave for another minute).

4. Put all your ingredients into your soup (cauliflower, mushroom, green onion and sprinkle a hint of paprika).

5. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: The Weekend Foodie received a gift card to purchase all ingredients within the post.

STEP BY STEP ORGANIC WHOLEGRAIN PIZZA WITH BARE BUNNY AND OZGANICS!

I received this beautiful organic package photographed above a few weeks ago, we have been dying to make our own organic pizza base but our oven broke down and took longer than expected to get fixed. Nonetheless, we were finally able to make a delicious, healthy and organic pizza with natural produce.

Before we start, I just need to disclaim that I may have eaten the whole block of Origin chocolate (which was photographed on Instagram) and I'm planning to use the butter chicken sauce to actually make butter chicken!! Cannot wait!!!

In this post I'm using Bare Bunny's Mix and Ozganic's Salsa. Bare Bunny and Ozganics are certified by Australian Certified Organic.

Let's go through the step by step guide!



1. Pour the Bare Bunny Organic Pizza Mix into a bowl and pour 350ml of warm water and mix (this will make 2 large pizzas or 5 small pizzas)

2. Knead the dough, and cover it up to rest for 30 minutes to rise.

3. During your 30 minute wait, prep your toppings. We decided to use onions, capsicums (yellow, green and red), tomato, corn, mushrooms, olives, spinach and shredded poached chicken.

4. Preheat oven to 240 degrees. Knead a bit more and separate the dough into two portions. Roll them out and place into your baking tray. Poke holes using a fork.

5. I used Ozganics Salsa as a base spread on my pizza dough, spread generously.

6 Add some cheese and toppings..

7. Add more cheese and put the pizza in the oven for 10 mins at 240 degrees.

8. Feast and enjoy. A slice for you?

This pizza tastes pretty amazing! It's our first time using an organic wholegrain mix and it was so easy. I can tell you now that it tastes much better than non-wholegrain bases. I am sold and may have also ate 3 slices. Oops!

A HUGE thanks to Missy Mischief and all the associated organic brands for making this pizza and delicious experience possible :)

Pitango Meal Pots for One!

Lunch time at work is one of my least favourite times, if I have time, I'd go to a cafe and end up paying at least $15-20 as city cafes often over charge, most days I'd end up having endless large hot chocolates or I'd bring sloppy left overs from the night before.

My lunch definitely needed saving.

Thankfully, Pitango released their new range of Meal Pots for One! These pots are designed for busy workers who don't have time for lunch (me me me!). Pitango pots are filled with fresh, natural ingredients with exciting flavours and a shelf life of 30 days.

Spanish Chorizo Chickpea Puchero

 Free range smokey chorizo, chickpeas, rice, spinach, tomato and red wine sauce

 

 This was the first pot I had and made a tiny mistake of over microwaving the pot in it's original container, hence my lunch tasted a little plastic-ky. I would highly recommend everyone to transfer the content of the pot into a ceramic or microwavable bowl to experience full flavour. I'm not a big fan of chickpeas in it's original form (I prefer hummus or falafels) so I didn't enjoy this as much as the other pots but it was still full of chunky bits. I was expecting a bit of a kick from the chorizo but I think the flavours may have leaked from sitting in the mix. This is great for those who like a tomato base.



Sri Lankan Chicken Curry with Rice

 Free range chicken, potato, spicy Sri Lankan style coconut curry with basmati rice

 

 My favourite out of the three, I can't go past a good spicy curry filled with generous chunky potatoes and chicken shreds. This is not far from the local made curry I usually have, I think I could eat this everyday even though it is quite spicy. The coconut flavour was quite subtle, which is how I like my curries!

 

Japanese Miso Chicken with Soba Noodles

 Soba noodles and free range chicken in miso and ginger sauce

Another yummy pot, I usually stay far away from dishes with ginger or ginger sauce, but this was divine I couldn't even taste the ginger! The miso flavour was quite faint compared to the ones I buy from the supermarket. Nonetheless I enjoyed this immensely, it had nice big chunks of vegetables!

Where to buy?

 

These yummy lunch pots are available at selected Woolworth stores for $5 per pot. I will definitely be stocking up on these!


Website
www.pitango.com.au


*These products were provided for my consideration, all opinions are my own




The Weekend Foodie Bakes for AOAM: Organic Chocolate Cake in a Mug

In order to celebrate Australian Organic Awareness Month, I decided to do some organic baking! I usually try to bake healthy and organic, however this is the first time I've ever baked certified organic.. and I must say, it was a challenge!

After looking through my ingredients, I thought I'd come up with something easy for lazy days, something quick to feed your cravings that is also guilt free.

It took me several attempts to get this right, the texture of this cake is not like your usual sponge cake, it's quite dense and moist, almost pudding like.

All ingredients used in this mug cake is certified organic ;)



Ingredients

2 tablespoons of melted certified organic coconut butter
2 tablespoons of certified organic cocoa powder
1/3 cup of certified organic self raising flour
1/2 teaspoon of certified organic coffee mixed with 1 tablespoon of water
1/4 cup of raw certified organic honey
1/4 cup of certified organic almond coconut milk
1 certified organic egg

Optional:

1/4 cup of certified organic cocao nib
sliced bananas for topping


Method

1. Get a small bowl and whisk the melted coconut oil, egg, coffee and milk until blended.
2. In several batches, sift the self raising flour and cocoa powder into the mix. Blend after each sift.
3. Add honey to the mix and blend {Optional for chocolate lovers: add organic cocao nibs to the mix}
4. Pour the mix into a large mug and microwave for 90 seconds
5. Enjoy the cake straight from the mug, or add a few slices of banana for extra flavour. If you have a sweet tooth and like your mug cake extra sweet, drizzle some more honey!

Winter with Pitango

Winter is my allocated time for soup. Nothing better than a warm hearty bowl of goodness to help me get through the chilly months. Work has been extremely busy, I haven't had time to get sick and attempted to suppress all bodily viruses/bugs in every way possible. As a result, I became extremely fatigued and came down with a serious case of swollen gums to the point I was unable to chew. I opened my fridge and Pitango to the rescue! I wish I had discovered Pitango when I had my wisdom teeth removed, the baby food diet wasn't for me (no joke! here's evidence).

I was amazed by the range of flavours (and colours). I was pleasantly surprised and intrigued that the soups were inspired by iconic global flavours. This is excellent, when I reminisce about my previous travel expeditions, I think about two things - iconic hot spots and the foot that went with it.

The little Sunbeam Golunch food warmer was an absolute gem. I work from home every now and then and I'd often skip meals because I'm too lazy, too focused or too busy. This little food warmer broke my bad habits as I was able to heat up my soupy goodness at my desk. This is also excellent for road trips ;)

Pitango Inidan Free Range Chicken Soup - $7.50

Chicken, yellow peas, coconut and a dash of colour

Indian is one of my most craved cruisines.. so this soup was an instant winner for me. There's something to love about the colour, seasoning, texture and flavours. This soup is yummy on it's own. Personally I felt it was a little bit under salted - however, it turned out to be a fairly positive thing as I was able to add salt according to my palette. I've previously had overly salty soups and just couldn't stomach it, less is more!

 



Malaysia Vegetable Laksa $7.50

Spiced Noodle Soup with vegetables, coconut, lemongrass and chilli

 

My partner as a pescatarian loved this vegetable laksa, it's fantastic seeing vegetarian options or something that non-meat eaters can indulge in. This is great on it's on or with some vermicelli.

 

 

 New York Free Range Chicken Noodle Soup - $7.50

Chicken, corn, noodles seasoned with thyme and black pepper

 

Chicken noodle soup is the queen of all soups. This soup reminded me of mum's cooking and the soup she'd make for me when I'm feeling a little bit flat. The flavour was amazing, I can't believe it's out of a packet. It's also pleasant when you can visibly see all the ingredients in the soup. Loved this one!

 



Spanish Chicken Paella Soup - $7.50

Chicken, Vegetables, rice and aromatic smoked paprika


This was mum's favourite, the flavours were perfectly balanced, the rice and chicken created/added a lovely texture to the soup. I eat Paella on a regular basis, but I've never had a Paella soup - such a genius idea!

Overall, I was thoroughly impressed by all 4 soups, flavours were top notch, I would highly recommend these for a lazy dinners by adding a few extra elements (i.e., sourdough or vermicelli) or a quick, yet fulfilling lunch (or snack) at home or at work.

Curious for more? Head over to Pitango

*These products were kindly provided for our consideration, all opinions are our own.

The Weekend Foodie Bakes: Tropical Baked Ricotta Cheesecake

 

 

Ingredients

 

500g low fat ricotta

1 block of cream cheese (250g)

4 eggs

1/2 tablespoon of vanilla extract

1 cup of sugar (fine milled)

1 tablespoon of cornstarch

Juice of half a lemon

 

Base

Look through your biscuit tin and mash up approximately 12 biscuits (i.e., scotch fingers or biscuits without fillings)

Coconut oil

 

Toppings

 

Blueburries

Sliced strawberries

Kiwi fruit

Henry Jones & Co Fruit & Chia Spread (Mango, passionfruit and chia seeds)

 

Method

 

1. Make your base, mash up your biscuits the pour 4-5 table spoons of melted coconut oil into your mashed biscuits then blend and set the biscuit in your baking tray.

 

2. Preheat oven 150 degrees. Put ricotta and cream cheese in the food processor (or if you live in a cave like me, get a wooden spoon and blend blend blend) add your eggs, vanilla extract, lemon juice, sugar, corn starch, blend some more. Blend until there are no lump, bumps or clumps.

 

3. Once smooth, pour everything into your baking tray, on top of your base.

 

4.Put your cheesecake into the oven at 160 for approximately 1 hour, I had to go over for 15 minutes. I poked a chop stick into the centre of the cheesecake to check whether it was ready.

 

5. Once baked, turn your oven off and let the cheesecake rest in the oven for a good 30-40 minutes

 

If you just want a plain cheesecake, stop here.

 

 

 

If you want some fruit on your cheesecake, read ahead!

 

6. Once rested and cooled, spread a generous layer of Fruit and Chia spread on top of the cheesecake.

 

7. Chop up your kiwi fruits/strawberries and add the blueberries to the party!



 



 

 

The Weekend Foodie Bakes: Butterless Honey Cupcakes {Healthy Option}



 Ingredients to make a 12-13 cupcakes:

 

• 1 table spoon of melted coconut oil
• 1/2 cup of organic unrefined sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
• 1 1/3 cup of sifted flour
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 4 tablespoon of honey

Cupcake Method

1. Put sugar, vanilla, honey and coconut oil in a bowl, mix with an electric mixer until smooth and add in the eggs, mix some more.
2. Sift your flour and baking powder through, mix, sift, mix, sift
3. Preheat oven 180 degrees (I like to preheat my oven half way through because I'm slow)
4. Add in milk and mix some more
5. Scoop the mixture into your cupcak cups (approximately 75% full)
6. Chuck your cupcakes into the oven at 165 degrees for approximately 25 minutes.

Meringue Method (I made the "Meringue" because I stuffed up the frosting, some people really liked this soft texture meringue, others weren't too crash hot on it. If you're a bit iffy about this just get some icing and make a frosting. But if you want to make this, cook the put cake for 15 minutes and take them out for the topping).

7. Put 3 egg whites and 1/4 of unrefined sugar into a large bow ready to mix with your electric mixer until you see peaks
8. Get a spoon and scoop the meringue mixture on top of your half baked cupcakes and chuck it back into the oven for 15 minutes.
 

The Weekend Foodie Bakes: Chocolate Brownies with Peanut Butter Swirls {Almost Guilt Free!}

I started baking last year, I shiver every time I put in a block of butter and a cup of sugar into my mixture. However, I'd have no issues gobbling down half a cake and a large sundae if it's store brough. Such a hypocrite.

Since then, I tried to bake healthy.

I am very much an amateur baker and attempts to cook on occasions. However, I am fortunate to receive some tips and guidance from my ex-chef mother.

This is my first recipe so don't be too harsh! If it's the same as yours, that's completely coincidental!

Prep Time
15-20 minutes

Baking Time
20 mins with a standard oven at 180 degrees

Ingredients

1 cup of palm sugar

1/2 cup of organic coconut oil

2 eggs

1/4 cup of almond milk

1/2 tea spoon of vanilla essence

3/4 cup of flour

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1/3 of organic cocao powder

1/4 cup of almond chips

6 teaspoons of organic peanut butter



Method

1. Grab yourself a big mixing bowl.
2. Melt your coconut oil, mix with brown sugar and stir!
3. Put in your eggs and stir until the egg is combined into the mixture
4. Add vanilla essence and almond milk
5. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and cocao powder into the mixture, sift, stir, sift.
6. Pour the almond flakes into the mixture, stir some more.
7. Before you pour the mixture into your baking tray, make sure you preheat your oven to 200 degrees. Now you can pour everything in!
8. Even out the mixture with a spoon or a spatula
8. Grab a tea spoon, scoop out 6 dollops of peanut butter onto the mixture, make sure you spread out your dollops.
9. Use a fork or knife to make your peanut butter swirls
10. Bake in the oven for 20 mins at 180 degrees
11. Let it cool for 10 mins, cut it up, serve and enjoy!

 

Watch this space , or follow me in Instagram @theweekendfoodies for more recipes!