{Recipe} Quinoa Superfruit Pancakes

Hello my lovely readers and foodies. I know I've been lazy with blogging lately but not with cooking healthy food though. Sunday means pancake day for me! Last Sunday I made bulgar wheat pancakes, this week I experimented with quinoa. Initially, I made a pot of quinoa for lunch and dinner but then decided to make pancake with them.

I made the pancakes with wholemeal flour, I also added two superfruits, baobab powder and gojiberries, making them filled with antioxidant, vitamin C and potassium. The quinoa also makes the pancake high in fibre and protein. The pancakes turned out quite soft and delicious! I didn't measure the ingredients I just spooned them in according to how I felt. lol. I made 5 medium sized pancakes.

Ingredients for the pancake:
- 3 tbsp of cooked quinoa
- 3 tbsp wholemeal flour (you can use regular flour if you want)
- 1 egg
- 4 tbsp of milk
- 1 tsp of baking powder
- 1 tsp of vanilla extract
- a pinch of salt
- 1 tsp of brown sugar
- 1 tsp of baobab powder
- 1 tbsp of gojiberries

Method:

1. First cook the quinoa. I cooked 1/2 cup of quinoa with 1 cup of hemp milk and a pinch of salt. I usually cook quinoa with water but decided to try something different. Bring to boil and then half cover the pot with a lid and simmer for about 15 minutes. Once all water/milk has been absorbed, take off the heat, cover totally and leave to stand for about 10 minutes.

2. Mix the quinoa, flour, milk, baobab powder, baking powder and egg in a bowl. Add vanilla extract, baobab powder, mix well. Finally add the gojiberries- I would soak the gojiberries in hot/warm water for a minute or 2 first to soften them a bit.

3. Heat the pan and add a little bit of oil. Little meaning 2-3 drops.

4. Pour some batter into the pan. Fry each side for about 1.5 minute on LOW heat; the sides will have turned slightly brown and the middle will be bubbling. I found that 1.5 minute will brown the pancakes perfectly, see below.

5. Served with your favourite toppings. I served my with butter, maple and carob syrup, frozen blueberries and dusted some cinnamon powder on top.

That's it for now. Thanks for reading, I hope you liked this recipe and if you did please share! :)

Did you have pancakes today? Have you made pancakes with quinoa? 

{Recipe} Bulgarwheat Pancakes

Happy Sunday people! And that means its pancake day for me. I made a big pot of bulgar wheat on Saturday and I only managed to a have small bowl for dinner as an alternative to rice. When I go to bed, I tend to plan my meals for the next day and so I was thinking to use some of the remaining bulgar wheat to make pancakes for breakfast.  Talking about planning meals, I sometimes can imagine the flavour in my head. What I mean is, I can imagine whether the food will taste good or not. Am I making sense?

These bulgar wheat pancakes are full of fibre, protein and antioxidant. Bulgar wheat is an excellent source of fibre, the protein comes from the egg, almond nuts and hemp milk and the antioxidant comes from the gojiberries that I added to the batter. Ok, here's the recipe.


What you need: (Makes 10-12 pancakes)
- 3/4 cup of cooked bulgar wheat ( I added some 1 tsp of salt to it)
- 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup of white flour
- 3/4 cup of hemp milk or any type of milk
- 1 tsp of baking powder
- 1 tbsp of cane sugar
- 1 tsp of salt
- 1 tsp of cinnamon
- 1 tsp of vanilla essence
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup of mixed nuts, seeds and dried fruits of your choice ( I used sunflower seeds, almond nuts and gojiberries)


Method:
1. Cook the bulgar wheat. I still haven't mastered cooking them yet so my method is not the best way at all. I put 1 part of bulgar wheat and 3 parts of water. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Once all the water have been absorbed, take off heat and stand for 10 minutes.

2. In a big bowl (make sure its big enough for mixing) place all the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and sugar) and mix well.

3. In a separate small bowl, mix all the wet ingredients; egg, milk and vanilla essence. Then add 1/2 cup of  cooked bulgar wheat and mix again.

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well. As shown below.

5. Then add the nuts, seeds or dried fruits if you want to. Mix well again.

6. Heat a medium size pan and grease it with a tiny bit of oil. Drop a small scoop of batter and gently spread it out with the spatula. If the batter is too thick add a bit of milk. Once it starts to bubble its ready to be flipped over but I tend to wait for the edges to dry up a bit and turns slightly brown.

7. Serve it with whatever you like. I served it with some diced pear and sliced figs and drizzled some carob syrup. The pancakes tastes so good that they can be eaten on their own. 

The nuts and seeds gave it nice slight crunchy texture. Next time I want to try make cocoa bulgar wheat pancakes. Hope you liked it and if you do please share! :) 

Have you tried make pancakes with bulgar wheat or with other types of grains? If you try this recipe out let me know how it goes? :) 

WIAW- Birthday Carbs

Hi guys! Its time for What I Ate Wednesday. The sky is so dark this morning, miserable weather. I'm here drinking my green smoothie while writing this.

If you've read my last few posts you would know that I've put myself on a Lean Challenge; intense workout 5x a weeks and no white carbs. The challenge ended more or less on my birthday which was on Friday.

I went out for a birthday lunch with my family at my favourite Il Mascalzone, an Italian restaurant in Edgware. They are my favourite because their food are delicious and also their dishes are different, you won't find similar dishes at Bella Italia, Ask or other franchise Italian restaurants. I love their black ink quid spaghetti and the al dente texture.  See the photo below; black ink squid spaghetti with lobster, homemade Italian sausage and mushroom risotto, some vegetable pasta dish (I forgot the name of it), and the dome is meant to be some sort of pizza. Inside the dome are some rocket, tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. This wasn't that special but the bread nice and crispy.

Last night, went out for a belated birthday dinner with my best friend, I had Italian again. Yes, I love Italian. We went to a newly open local Italian restaurant, called Nonna's Kitchen. Sorry, I don't think it's Italian, I think it's Sicilian. I had tagliatelle with prawns and zuchinnie. It was yummy, the portion was just right. We didn't have starters as we wanted to have space for desserts- team sweet tooth!

We chose  a variety of 6 mini cakes, my favourite one is the ricotta cheese (the tube thing in the middle right), and the hazelnut cream puff (bottom right).

We also ordered a slice of pistachio cake with cream. This was a bit too rich for me.

And...yes there's more and it was just the two of us lol. We also ordered a slice of pistachio ice cream sponge cake. I had a great night eating! 

I made some mussels in tomato white wine sauce on Monday night. My parents and my brothers loves the way I make it lol. I realised that sprinkling parsley on the top of  any dish makes it look very professional. 

I got to show off one of the breakfasts I had this week. Do you like the way I decorated it? This mung beans, red beans and quinoa porridge, topped with blueberries and figs. Very nutritious and high in protein. 

There's more birthday dinners coming up with other friends, so more carbs on its way. October is a fatty month for me =p . 

Thanks for reading! 

Do you like Italian? Which restaurant do you usually go to? Are you a sweet tooth?

Lean Challenge Complete- The Result?

Hi guys, its the end of my Lean Challenge! I was meant to blog the results two days ago but didn't have the time. Just a recap, two weeks ago I put myself on a Lean Challenge and I wanted to see how much my body can change in that period with more intense workout and cleaner eating (cutting white carbs out). 

Below is a collage I made of my abs Picture on the left is Day 1, stomach is flat but not defined. Middle picture day 8,  the abs are showing a little and the last one was taken yesterday, day 14. Have I achieved my abs goal? Sort of, a little more fat could be lost on the sides. We girls are never satisfied lol. Yes, I like wearing yellow to workout lol.

Here's another collage of my arm. Picture on the left is Day 1 and the right picture is Day 14. Not much of a big difference but the deltoid (the shoulder muscle) is more defined.

Here's me flexing my arm lol. I got some muscles in my arms. Yay!

You know when you hear celebrities saying how they lost weight in as little as 2 weeks or 7 days it sounds almost impossible to shape up so quick. But after my challenge, I believe you can. I think I would have got even better results if I worked out every day and more cardio. It does take a lot of commitment.

What exactly did I do to get more lean?

• Warm lemon water every morning on empty stomach; Warm lemon water is known to help reduce belly fat and detox. After a couple of days drinking it, I felt cleaner and my skin got clearer too.

• Green smoothie every morning: Green smoothie is also good for cleansing your body and improve your digestive system. I used quite a lot of spinach and kale. One of my favourite green smoothie is:

- handful of spinach

- handful of kale

- 1 banana

- 1 cup of pineapple

- 1-2 tbp baobab powder

- 1 cup of milk (any type of milk) or water.

• NO white carbs: I replaced rice with quinoa, bulgar wheat and a mixture brown, wild and black rice, I had wholewheat pasta once but didn't like the texture. Quinoa and bulgar wheat are very good alternatives to rice and plus I've never really been a fan of rice.

• Increase protein intake: This does not mean have protein shake every day, you can if you want. I don't like all those artificial protein powder, I get natural ones like soya, hemp, pea protein powder. The ones the that only contain ingredients that you can pronounce and only has 1-3 ingredients. Other ways of increasing your protein intake are the food you eat. As mentioned I had quinoa and bulgar wheat more often, these are high in protein. I also had 2 eggs every other morning, that's pure protein. I added baobab powder to all my smoothies as they are a rich source of protein as well. Then there are also nuts, seeds, diary and tofu.

• Increase fiber intake: More green leaf vegetables. 

• Workout a least 5 times week- cardio PLUS weight training: I used to work out 3 times a week and only did 45 minutes of cardio once a week, the rest was just weight training. This time I went running in the park more often and I found that running on hard ground works your abs more than running on the treadmill. 

I definitely have lost some belly fat. A few weeks ago, when I sat down and sucked my stomach in I could feel the belly fold but now it doesn't fold. Lol.

Below is a selfie I took in Jane Norman. lol. I bought this dress as a birthday gift for myself. Ladies, don't be afraid of lifting weights. You won't bulk up, lifting weights actually help you burn fat. I mean, do I look bulky to you? I've been lifting weights for almost 2 years now.

It's the end of the challenge but doesn't mean I'm going to eat all white carbs again and work out less...because I still haven't achieved the body I want. I'm going to maintain this regime. I remember seeing this quote from the Facebook group called Fitness Divas, 'This is not a quick fix, it's a permanent change.' That's right!

Thanks for reading!

Have you ever put yourself on a similar challenge to mine? How was the result? 

Lean Challenge Day 8 & 9- progress

Hello my lovely readers! As promised, here is a photo of my abs after a week of clean eating and intense workout.  Left photo is day 1 of the challenge and the right photo is Day 8 (yesterday). The abs are definitely coming along, I didn't take a photo of my arms because I didn't think they changed much. Three more days till my birthday, lets see how much my body will change by then.

Left: Day 1 Right: Day 8

I took the photo after my workout which was my usual hardcore Monday workout; weight training and spinning. I changed it round this week, went spinning first then did 45 mins of weight training. The main reason was because I could't get out of bed. I went to bed late on Sunday as I was watching some Hong Kong drama, they can be quite addictive lol.

I think I've fallen in love with green smoothies now, I don't feel complete if I don't have it during the day. I had this before my workout; a handful of spinach, a cup of fresh pineapples, 1 banana, 1 tbp of baobab powder, 1 cup of oat milk, 1 tbsp of maca powder ( for extra energy boost).  I had the same one this morning, tasted so goooood!!

I cooked dinner for my family last night. My parents used to always complain how I don't cook Chinese but Western food only, i.e. pasta. I have now showed them that I have upgraded my cooking skills lol.
I made steamed salmon where I topped it with spring onions and drizzled with some cooked sunflower oil and soya sauce. The dish on the left is stir fried tofu with diced chicken, red pepper, black fungus and green beans. Again I added my favourite Shaoxing cooking wine to this. The last one is just some plain boiled green leaves. I'm not sure what they are called in English, kan choi? This is a typical Chinese meal where it will consist of steamed fish, boiled vegetables and a stir fried dish.

No this is not rice or brown rice, it's bulgar wheat. I had this instead of rice but I cooked my family a mixture of red, black, white and brown rice. My first time cooking and having bulgar wheay.  I think I cooked it with too much water because it turned out quite soggy. This was so filling and tastes better than quinoa.

Day 9 which is today, I didn't workout. But I will do another hardcore session tomorrow to make up for it. I might do some leg raises and 100 squats before bed tonight. :)

My lunch and dinner. Made a big pot of whole wheat pasta with calamari, prawns and mussels in tomato sauce.

That's it for now. Thanks for reading.

Lean challenge Day 5, 6 and 7

Hi guys, this weekend has gone so fast. Hope you all had a good one and enjoyed the lovely weather.

Have I been slacking with my challenge? Not with food but yes with working out. Only a little bit though hehe. I didn't workout on Friday as I thought I need to let my body rest =). I went for a run in the hilly park on Saturday morning (running on an incline is good right? That's twice the workout. lol)  followed by 100 squats and today I did this little exercise that was suggested by Yogababe_life. This exercise looks simple but the burpees makes you sweat and those push ups are a killer if you have weak arms. 20 squats was too little for me so I did 40 instead.

I didn't get round to making a green smoothie on Friday. But Saturday I made a green shake.

The shake had:

- handful of spinach

- 1/2 a pineapple,

-1 cup of oat milk

- 1 tsp of baobab powder. 

Today I made the same thing with the other half of the pineapple but added a banana to it. It tasted even better! I even decorated it with some gojiberries, milled sesame seeds, raspberries and blueberries. Do you think it looks pretty? lol

I've been having a lot of tomatoes this weekend as my parents went to the market and bought a box of yellow cherry tomatoes for £1. Yes £1! They also got a bag of red peppers for £1 too.

With the cherry tomatoes my dad made a tomato stew topped with stir fried egg. This was lovely, the tomatoes were really sweet. 

My dad made tomato stew again on Saturday. Other dishes he made were (top right) pan fried salmon with red peppers, stir fried mixed vegetables in some salty beancurd sauce (not sure what it's called in English), and some chicken wings. I've never been a fan of chicken wings so I didn't have any and plus they are too fatty for my lean challenge. 

With the cherry tomatoes and red peppers I added them to my quinoa salad which also had grilled halloumi cheese, corn on cob (I scrapped it off the cob), edamame beans, sunflower seeds and almond nuts. This was lovely, no need for salad dressing as the corns were really sweet. 

Today, I made pasta (whole meal) with tomato and spinach sauce for lunch. Made the sauce with a bit of white wine; wine has become a favourite ingredient when it comes to cooking. For Chinese food, I love adding Shaoxing cooking wine (Taiwanese cooking wine) to my stir fried dishes, it adds amazing flavour and aroma to the food. 

I've been baking over the weekend. Saturday, I made cinnamon buns. I found a vegan recipe and 

no rising time is required. I made it half organic (half of the ingredients are organic lol) and used wholemeal flour instead of white.

The photo below is split into two. The top half is before baking, the bottom is after baking. Not sure what you think of the presentation but if you think it looks good, you've been deceived by the looks lol. They were rock hard. I think I must have over baked it. However, it tasted ok though. 

Sunday, I decided to make quiche. I found this crustless quiche recipe from Celery and Cupcakes. I found it a bit too eggy for me, my brother said it tasted like food on the aeroplane but my dad happened to like it. 

Tomorrow is Monday that means it's hardcore workout day- weight training and spinning-, it also means I will show you the progress of my abs and arms. Lol.

What you been up to during the weekend? Have you made cinnamon buns or/and quiche before? Can you share your recipe please? :) 

Lean Challenge Day 4- more muscle pains

Hi guys, hope you're all good. My forearm is aching not from working out but from helping my parents design their new menu on my laptop. I'm using word to create a sample for the printing company. 

Anyways, last night I said my boyfriend tempted me with an apple toffee crumble. Did I eat it in the end?... Yes I did! Lol I thought it's only little and I'll do some extra cardio. 

This morning, I woke up with pains in my upper body; shoulder blade, shoulders area and my obliques. It seems like I'm getting new muscle pains everyday. 

To start my day, I had warm lemon water and then ran two laps (800 metres approx) in the park with my boyfriend, and 30 seconds of sprint. Then I did 2 sets of 10 pull ups and 20 chest press. 

After the workout, I made some apple oat pudding for breakfast. I topped it up with sliced banana and blueberries. It was a bit too sour and I accidentally added nutmeg instead of cinnamon so that didn't help either. But it was still ok.

I had my green smoothie in the afternoon today so may not be as affective as drinking it on an empty stomach. I made the same green smoothie as yesterday, handful of Kale, 1 banana, 1 pear, 1/2 pomegranate, aloe Vera juice, baobab powder and water. 

I went home for dinner today as I needed to show menu designs to my parents. My dad couldn't be bothered to cook yet he still made a very colourful and nutritious meal. Wild and red rice, served with diced turkey, French beans, carrots in a white sauce, lettuce, cod fish and sliced of abalone (the white things).

Who said clean eating is bland and boring? Those who say that just can't cook. Lol Thanks for reading!

Lean Challenge Day 3

Hi guys, hope your week has been good so far, if not hakuna Matata lol. Anyways, I want to show you a little progress on my lean challenge today.

As usual I made myself a glass of warm lemon and water and a green smoothie before hitting the gym. Today's green smoothie was so yummy, made it with 1 banana, a handful of kale, 1/2 pomegranate, 1 pear, 1 tbsp of baobab powder, 1 tbsp of chia seeds and 1 cup of water. It was so creamy and sweet. If you're a beginner to green smoothie, add banana it will sweeten it up for you. 

Today's workout was great, not that it isn't usually. I started with 15 minutes warm up on the stair machine or whatever you call it. I love that machine. Then did a whole body workout lifting weights. I said that I'm doing a squat challenge by adding 20 reps everyday and so today I did 80.

It took me about 1 hr 10 mins. I wanted to go spinning after but had a meeting at 1pm so didn't have time.

Below is a little progress. The abs are coming! I may need to do more work on my waist though.

After gym, I made a protein shake with the last scoop of hemp protein powder, 250ml of unsweetened soya milk, a handful of almond nuts and 1 tbsp of baobab powder. For real food, I had bowl of natural plain yoghurt with gojiberries, sunflower seeds, 1/2 pomegranate, granola and honey. 

Didn't really have lunch since I had a meeting at 1pm and didn't finish until 2:30pm. I just had a 9 bar and some fruits when I got to my boyfriend's. When I took a photo of this, my boyfriend told me to stop taking photos of food. Lol 

I know I said I will have bulgar wheat instead of quinoa but decided to not to. For dinner I made quinoa and mixed it with some roast sweet potatoes and feta cheese. It was lovely!!!

My boyfriend is tempting me with some apple toffee crumble for dessert. It's only small though. Shall I or shall I not? 

Lean Challenge Day 2

Hi guys, it's day 2 of my lean challenge. I must say I had a good workout yesterday, I woke up with pains in my back muscles and upper abs and severe pains on my bum, back of my thighs and inner thighs. I almost gave myself an excuse to skip the workout today but I didn't. Instead I decided to do a lighter workout. See below. I know 2 laps is rubbish  but it's better than nothing lol. I wanted to fit in some squats but my bum and thigh muscles were hurting so much so I thought I'll let that booty rest.

I'm getting better with pull ups but I still need a BIT of assistant, just a bit =p. I hope I can do it all by myself after 2 weeks of training.

Last night dinner, I made sure it consisted of protein protein protein and green green green vegetables. I made stir fried turkey breast with aubergine and boiled some choi sum. My dad made some pan fried fish, I skipped that because he used a lot of oil to cook it. No I lied, I had a bite of it because the sauce he made with it looked really good. A bite won't hurt lol. As you may know, Chinese people have rice for dinner almost everyday but I had a bowl of quinoa. XD

Today's breakfast was pretty boring, it consisted of a green smoothie, warm lemon water and a wholemeal bap with 2 egg whites. 

 The green smoothie wasn't very tasty today, no berries to sweeten it up. A handful of kale, 1/4 of cucumber, 1 small green apple, 2 tbsp of aloe vera juice, 1 tbsp of baobab powder and 1/2 cup of water. This is my first time having kale.

For lunch I made a "superfood" salad; green leaves with edamane beans, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, quinoa, cherry tomatoes and feta cheese.

I forgot to take a photo of my dinner tonight. It consisted of quinoa a-gain (I think I'm going to dislike quinoa by the end of this week. In fact I will have bulgar wheat instead tomorrow lol). I made some beef and vegetables stew to go with it. 

Goals for tomorrow

I am planning to do:

- 80 Squats

- 60 leg press

- 30 bridges

- 60 lat pull downs

-20 pull ups

20 dips

- 60 leg raises

- 20 press ups. 

- Maybe 45 mins of spinning....

Do you think that's enough? Can you make some suggestions for me please? Have you got any good quinoa recipes?