19. April 2017

Heiki reads: Fettlogik überwinden by Dr. Nadja Hermann

Sorry guys, this book is only available in German, but I give you a short, short summary what it is about and what it has taught me.

Basically it is a book about diet and especially weightloss, but also for me it was a real eyeopener as it stresses on dietary myths which have nothing to do with scientifically proven studies but with women’s magazins’ pseudo wisdom. Broken down to the very essentials Nadja makes clear that there is only one golden rule for dieting, no matter if you want to loose weight, gain weight or maintain it: if you eat more calories, than you burn, you gain weight, if you eat less, you shed weight. Calculation. So simple and also so difficult. She talks about these legends about diet most of us have in our heads and which all can’t be hold up when you really look for the studies, for example: There is nothing like a slow metabolism. Or there is no hunger mode after a strict diet. Of course you undergo certain psychological phenomenons, when you eat one way or the other, but it always, always and always comes back to that calorie intake. 100% of the people on earth can loose weight.
For me as a slim to skinny person who struggles with weight gain it was an eyeopener, to read that most of my trials were determined to fail just because I never tracked what I ate, I only estimated it. Estimation is not recommended for most people as skinny people tend to overestimate what they ate (I definitiely did so some years ago, by now I estimate fairly well) and overweight people underestimate their calorie intake. Same goes for the macronutrients fat, carbohydrates and protein.

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1. April 2017

pregnancy and nauseousness – my big and little helpers

Promised, this article provides more information than only: “Gingertea!” and “Eat more smaller meals!”

These are great advices, but by far not the only. I did my best so make a list of personal helpers and researched advice from midwifes, gynekologists and other pregnant women.

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3. December 2016

“Rocher” energyballs

There are certain things, certain conventional sweet treats, which… yes, which I really miss sometimes. That is why I try to imitate them occasionally. Just like I did with Rocher.

These energy bliss balls are currently my favourites, even though I have to be honest right at the start: they are just Rocher inspired, they are not like Rocher, as they have no creamy chocloate filling. But the balls are so haselnut crunchy, they hide a roasted haselnut in the inside and the chocolateglaze with haselnut brittel is also tasteworthy.

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28. November 2016

Energyball adventcalender

Homemade ist just the best, isn’t it? And especially if it is as tasty as this.

We already reached the holiday season which means the lights are out, if you are American you have put up your tree and for me here in Dortmund it means that the city has the larges Christmas tree of the world again (no kidding, it is!). And I, I decided to make Christmas calenders for my loved ones. For all those people who went with me through this super strange year of 2016 and bringing it to a good end. Wow.
For you this means that I have many recipes for energy bliss balls pendings because only one sort would be boring, I thought. Additionally I start today with the tutorial for a pretty and  super easy Christmas calender.

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22. November 2016

Cashew Amaranth Bliss Balls with Chocolate and Orange

You can’t ever have enough energy bliss balls.
And I just promised you more recipes.

Amaranth bliss balls are delicious and I really love my chocolate orange balls. And when it comes to cashews, well cashews are real staple food for me These energy balls today are a hybrid of these three favourites.

But, oh, where has the German version gone? German and English are now apart. Whose browser language is set to German will land at the German version of the article. Who has any other language preselected for his browser will be automatically redirected to this English version. So this does not depend on your location but on your real languale preferences. At least this is how it is supposed to work. Please leave me a comment if it doesn’t, this here is the first attempt. Within the next days there will be a little button to switch manually between the two versions. Like this everything here is way more tidy and structured and my huge textblocks look less threatening (and, who is interested: bilingual articles are a killer for search enginge optimization).

Ingredients

60g amaranthpoppies (half a package)
150g  cashews (half a package)
1/2 package orangenzest (I use the one from dm)
some vanilla
1 tablespoon coconutoil
2 hands full of cocoabutter
4 tablespoon maplesirup
2 tablespoon cashewbutter
1 bar dark chocolate (100g)

How to

Melt cocoabutter and coconutoil while you shred amaranth and the cashews in your blender. You don’t need flour here, but the cashews need to be ground and the amaranth just joins it. Then mix all ingredients except for the dark chocolate in a bowl and kneed. Chop half of the chocolate bar (I prefer stracciatella size), add to the dough and kneed. You do this at the end to avoid melting of the dark chocolate when it comes into contact with the hot mixture of melted cocoabutter and coconutoil. Nothing grave happens if it does, but it looks prettier if it doesn’t. Form balls. If the dough is to runny, add amaranth, if it is too solid, add cashewbutter.

Set the balls aside in a chilly place to harden and melt the second half of the chocolate bar. When the amaranth balls are hardened, glaze them and again let them cool on a rack. Optionally you can sprinkle them with some extra orangezest. This looks pretty and if you glaze some more different energy balls then you can easily tell them apart like this.

24. September 2016

The Autumn Cake: Crunchy Creamy Pumpkin Chocomousse with Figs, Cinnamon and Beechnuts

There can’t be more autumn: pumokin, nuts, figs and beechnuts… wow.! And chcolate. Chocolate is always a good choice!

This here is a typical case of: “Oh in my head this already looks very pretty, let’s better note the recipe while creating it!” And yes, good I did so. The cake here is one of my best creations so far. It is vegan, paleo and a sweet treat which is made with only very few sirup. And you know, refined sugar is never an ingredient in my recipes. The result is a crunchy sweet chcolate crust with a cacaobittersweet mousse on top, garnished with slices of figs and beechnuts caramelized in coconutnectar which balances the cacao bitterness smoothly. It is a no-bake-cake which tastes best served right from the fridge but which is also stable in comfortable cozy roomtemperature. Aaaaand addtionally the cake is perfect for families with small children. It is a pedagogically valuable day task which is balm for parents’s nerves.

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