{Recipe} First Breakfast in 2015- Oatmeal Crepes

Happy New Year!! Hope you all had a good New Years Eve. Mine was boring because I wasn't feeling well and so went to bed after watching the fireworks on TV. Anyways this morning felt like making some of my healthy pancakes since I haven't made some in a while.

As I was getting all the ingredients ready I realised I didn't have any baking powder so I decided to make crepes instead. I opened the fridge and there was no milk!! Since I was in the mood of making pancake/crepes, there was no way I was going to scrap the idea. I wanted pancakes! So then I decided to try making crepes with water. In fact it turned out really well.


Ingredients (all measurements are an estimate):
- 1/2 cup of rolled out oats
- 300 ml of water
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- 1 tsp of cinnamon powder (optional)

Method:

Put all ingredients into a blender. I was worried the water will make the batter too runny so I added chia seeds to make the batter a bit thicker.

Heat a non-stick pan with a bit oil. Pour a bit of mixture into the pan. Cook each side for about 1 minute. Enjoy flipping the crepes!

This recipe makes about 8 crepes. The crepes are bit brown because I added cinnamon powder to the batter. I love cinnamon!

I felt like having chocolate spread with banana so I melted some dark chocolate on a double boiler.

Voila! Healthy oatmeal crepes was my first breakfast of 2015. What was your first breakfast?

Banana Oatmeal Pancake {recipe}

I have been quiet with my weekly blogs and have let the guest posts take over the job in the past few months. Since I started a full time job, I haven’t been able to find the time to blog.  But I am never too busy for fitness. 

So what's been happening in the last few months?

I've started my very first full time job in an accelerator program as an Events & Marketing manager meaning I am involved with events a lot. It is my dream job. I love it when we have events because I am kept busy and I will be power walking from A to B, B to C, etc, throughout the day. That's exercise right there! But when we don't have events I will be sitting down majority of the time. Fortunately, my job is very flexible, I can get out of my desk and go for a walk whenever I want and  they have high desks where I can stand and work which helps a bit I guess. The fact I'm sitting majority of time that forces me to become active and stay motivated to keeping fit. 

Not only have I temporarily stopped blogging, I also stopped going to my spinning classes (last time I went was probably back in May). I went back on Thursday evening and boy I was struggling like hell. I couldn’t do one full turn from flat resistance, I could just about do a half turn. Throughout the lesson the instructor gives us guidance by telling us to keep our RPM to a certain number. Whatever the RPM he said, mine was always way below it. I just could not keep up. My average RPM was 62 and my highest was 135. Nevertheless, good thing I sweated a lot. My top was soaking with my sweat, yuk I know! 

I was surprised I struggled so much though because I have been jumping rope and doing lots intense cross fit exercises. I will write another blog about my recent fitness regime and goals. Anyways, I am about to share a new healthy and simple pancake recipe. 

Banana Oatmeal Pancakes {Recipe}

This morning I made some healthy pancakes. That's something I haven't made in a while too, I used to make healthy pancakes almost every Sunday. 

These pancakes have no added sugar and are high in protein and fibre. The riper the banana the sweeter will the pancakes be. If you prefer them sweeter,  I will suggest adding a couple of dates instead of sugar.  

You will need: (serves 1-2 people)

- I ripe banana

- 1 whole egg (I added an extra egg white for more protein)

- 1/2 cup of rolled out oats

- 1 tsp of cinnamon 

- 1 tsp Madagascar vanilla extract (optional. I add this for some nice aroma)

- 1 tsp baking powder

- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method:

Put all the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. If the mixture is too thick, add a bit of milk or water to help it blend. 

Heat the pan with a drop of oil. Pour the batter in and cook each side for about 1.5 minute over

low heat. You won't need to add additional oil for the next few batches if you're using a non-stick pan. 

You can eat the pancake as it is or serve with whatever you like. But to keep it healthy don't opt for butter and syrup ;)  I will suggest: nut butter (my favourite is almond butter), berries, and/or other fruits. 

Thanks for reading. Please share if you liked my recipe and let me know if you do make theses banana oatmeal pancakes :)

{Recipe} Green Flourless Pancakes

You may have had green juice and green smoothies but have you tried green pancakes before? Some may think of pandan pancakes but no I'm talking about pancakes made with green leafy veggies. Doesn't sound very appetising but it is in fact delicious.

I drink green smoothies almost every morning and yesterday morning I decided to be a bit creative. Making green pancakes! Ok, I got to say I got the idea of green pancakes from a fitness Instagram account. They mentioned using spinach but I used kale as that was in my fridge. I think green pancakes are a great way to sneak in some greens for the children. It's fun and cool right! I mean look how delicious they look, who would say no to them? 

Kale is one of the best green leafy vegetables, it contains vitamin A, C and K, iron, calcium, powerful antioxidants and is high in fibre, low in calories and has zero fat. Apparently it has more vitamin C than an orange. I find that a bit strange because I always thought the more sour the fruit the more vitamin C it contains but kale isn't sour at all. It also has more calcium than milk. Kale is also a great source of vitamin K which is needed to help heal wounds properly and to build strong bones (NHS.com). Since the green leafy vegetable is high in fiber it is therefore a great detox food. Who would have thought pancakes can be healthy and detoxifying! You can definitely eat these pancakes without feeling guilty. 

These pancakes are made with oat, kale, banana, egg white and baobab powder. That's a breakfast with good carbs which keeps your metabolism running. It has plenty of fiber to help you stay full longer, potassium to help lower blood pressure and help your brain, nerves, heart and muscles function properly. Also the protein from the egg white is essential for healthy growth of all body tissues and good source of energy too. Baobab powder has numerous benefits which I can go on forever, check out my previous post on baobab powder here.

Moving on to the recipe..

You will need:

• 1 stalk of kale
• 1 medium banana
• 1/2 cup of rolled oat
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup of Greek Yoghurt
• 2 tbsp of milk ( I used rice milk)
• 1 pitted medjool date (optional) 
• 1 tbsp of baobab powder

Method:

1. Put everything into a blender and blend until everything is smooth. If the batter does get a bit too thick then add another spoon of milk. 

2. Heat a non stick pan with a bit of oil. You will only need a little bit of oil and if you're using a non-stick pan there's no need to add extra oil when making new batches of pancake. 

3. Cook each side for about 2 minutes. 

{Recipe} Sunday Fusion Brunch

Hi guys, today I made a massive Sunday fusion brunch,  Chinese and Western food together. I obviously made pancakes because its Sunday! I also made some really light and fluffy scrambled egg white and some Chinese turnip cake. (The turnip cake is something Chinese people usually have during Chinese New Year and will give it as a gift to friends and family. But you can also eat it in restaurants that serves dim sum.) Since its so cold, I made a ginger tea/ water. In this post, I'm going share a few recipes from this brunch. :)

I think my brunch looks like a meal from the Breakfast Club (a really popular independent cafe in London), but a lot cheaper. If it's at the Breakfast club, I think this would probably cost almost £10. I know they don't do turnip cake, they have bacon or sausages instead. lol

Those pancakes where made from wholemeal flour so I can say they were healthy ones. They were extra light and soft today, I think it might because I put the batter in the fridge for about 30 minutes and it allowed the batter to settle. I left the batter in the fridge because I remember watching a cooking show in Hong Kong, they were making Japanese style pancakes (very similar to American pancakes) and the chef said to leave the batter in the fridge for an hour. I don't remember why, it was something to do with the bubbles. lol.
During the 30 minutes, I did some ab, butt, thigh and arm workout. I've been slacking with my workout lately, not good I know.

Wholemeal Banana Cocoa Pancakes (makes about 6-7 pancakes)

Ingredients:
-3 heaped tbsp of wholemeal flour
-3 tbsp of hemp milk (anything milk you like)
- 1 tsp cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp of baking powder
- 1/2 a banana (or a whole if you want)
- 1 tsp of vanilla essence
- 1 egg (for a vegan recipe, exclude this)
- 1 tsp of cinnamon, nutmeg (optional)

Method:
1. Sieve all the powder ingredients; flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and the spices( if you're using them). Mix them well.

2. Add the egg and milk into the dry ingredients and mix well. Add the vanilla extract and mix well.

3. Mash up the banana or pour the batter and banana into a blender and blend until smooth. I did the latter as it's a lot easier.

4. For the pancakes to be extra soft and light. Pour the batter into a jug or bowl or whatever and place it in the fridge to settle for at least 30 minutes. The longer the better. You can skip this if you want to eat them ASAP.

5. Heat a pan with a tiny bit of oil. Once the pan is hot, turn the heat to low and pour dollop of batter. I cooked each side about 1.5 minutes. I usually flip when the pancake starts to bubble and the sides are drying up.

6. Serve with your favourite toppings.

Fluffy Scrambled Egg Whites

Ingredients:
- 3 egg whites
- 1-2 tbsp of hemp milk (any milk will do)

Method:
1. While I was making the pancakes I was whisking and whisking the egg whites and milk together. When I finished making the pancakes, the egg mixture was really frothy.

2. Then I poured the egg mixture into the same pan that I made the pancakes, still on a low heat. Sprinkle some salt and pepper to season. Use a spatula and just gently stir, scrap and fold the egg mixture.

3. Once all the liquid has been absorbed your scrambled egg is done!

Ginger Water- This is something that Chinese people like to make during the cold weather. It helps to keep you and your stomach warm. Ginger is a superfood.

Ingredients:
- A few slices of ginger ( I used about 2 inches of ginger and just sliced it up)
- 4-5 cups of water (depends on how many cups you want to make)
- 2-3 tsbp brown cane sugar.

Method:
1. Slice some ginger and add them to a saucepan/pot. Add the water and sugar and bring to boil.

2. Once boiling, turn the heat to low and simmer for at least 10 minutes. This is to bring the flavour out of the ginger.

3. Serve it hot. You can always reheat it and refill some water. 

Chinese Turnip Cake

I will blog the Chinese turnip cake recipe next time, I need to ask my dad as he is the one who made it. :)

What did you have today? Did you make pancakes on a Sunday? What do you to keep yourself warm in the winter?

{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? :) 

Friday Home Workout and Pancakes

Happy Friday Lovelies! I've never really been excited about Fridays like everyone else because I don't work during the week but weekends instead. But I'm still a happy bunny whether its Friday or not. The UK weather seems to be better, more sunshine and a bit warmer. Feels more like autumn now.

Today, I didn't go gym in the morning but did a home workout instead. Since I don't have weights at home I tried to make my workout as hard as possible. I didn't eat, I just had a glass of warm lemon water prior the workout

Home workout

• 2 sets of 20 jumping jacks as a warm up. 
• 20 minutes of ab work out. 2 sets of 20 reps of each of the following exercise; sit ups, hip thrusts, pendulums, reverse crunches, full vertical crunches. (Oh sugar! I just remembered I forgot to do my favourite leg raises lol)
• Another 10 jumping jacks
• 10 burpees with push-ups
• 10 kneeling push-ups
• 10 jumping squats and 70 regular squats- all in one go.

After the workout I was starving so I made myself some protein pancakes! Yes, I love pancakes and I always experiment with different ingredients. So today I made "Silken Tofu and Banana Pancakes", it was so yummy!

What you need:

• 1 cup of silken tofu
• 1 cup of spelt four (or whatever flour you prefer)
• 1/2 cup of soya milk
• 1 banana
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder (optional)
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract (optional)
• 1 tsp of sugar or other types of sweetener (I didn't use any sweetener because the soya milk I used was sweetened already)
• 1 tbsp rolled out oat (optional)

Method:
Blend everything together apart from the oats, add them to the batter later; this will give the pancakes some texture. I also added sunflower seeds to mine for extra crunchiness, add them after when you've poured the batter into the pan.

Once the pancake starts to bubble, it means its ready to be flipped over. I'll say cook each side for about 2 minutes on low heat. The first pancake is always the ugly one.

Have you seen any of those vegetables? I found them in Morrisons, how cool are they? White aubergine, Sicilian aubergine and yellow courgettes. I didn't buy any of them, not sure why but I will next time. I'm curious about the taste. It seems like supermarkets are selling more exotic vegetables now to differentiate themselves.

Have you made pancakes with Tofu before? What exotic vegetables do you usually eat?

I love pancakes because they are so healthy!

Source from outandaboutinthecity.com

Hiya! Are you a pancake lover? (Mmmm...look at those pancakes *drooling*) Do feel guilty after eating those pancakes? Yes and yes for me. I have been experimenting with pancake recipes, making them healthy and beneficial for your body.

I remember I was in a meeting and during the meeting I felt like having pancakes (LOL, yes I always think and talk about food). I said to my class mates, 'I feel like having pancakes with berries and creams.' And one of the guys in my group was like, 'but that's full of carbs.' And I was like 'So? It's not like I have it every day, it's ok to have it once in a while. Everyone has carbs, rice and pasta are carbs.' And guess what he said? 'But do you exercise?' ...is he trying to call me fat?! Anyways that's no the point, the point is the carbs part. It got me thinking how to make healthier pancakes.

So I did  my research. I first tried adding protein powder (Good Hemp protein- they are natural hemp) to the pancakes. So they were pancakes with plenty of protein. But I felt that wasn't enough. So I carried on researching. Eventually, I came across this fitness blog (which has become one of my favourite fitness blogs), www.celeryandcupcakes.com. Jemma, the blogger of Celery and Cupcakes, mentioned about socca pancakes, a healthy French street food in Nice. They are savoury pancakes made with gram flour (made from Chickpeas), which is a source of protein. But Jemma made some sweet ones which looks really yummy. I followed her recipe (click here for her recipe) and serving suggestions, see below:

Served with apple, cinnamon and honey

How was it? It was O.K. but the chick pea flour has a strong nutty flavour and I'm not quite used to it. So I had to keep adding lots of honey to cover the taste. I think she suggested maple syrup but I don't have any so used honey instead, I know it's not the same.

Second attempt, I adjusted the recipe by adding hemp protein powder (its green so made the pancake green), almond powder and almond milk. Tasted a lot better. I served it with blueberries, banana, honey and milled seeds.

The 3rd attempt I decided to make the traditional socca pancakes. I found the recipe from a blog but I don't remember which one, I forgot to save it. Sorry. But the main ingredients was chickpea flour, water, rosemary, olive oil and salt. It wasn't bad at all, smelt quite good of rosemary. I had it with some cheese and ham and it was so good!

Home made Socca pancakes

Recently, (I carried on with my research on pancakes) I found another fitness/health blog, www.fitforthesoul.com, written by Ellie. I think she is also pancake lover because she has quite a lot of super healthy and unique pancake recipes. And I love them!

I first tried her Spiced Socca Pancakes (Click here for her recipe). She's added chia seeds, vanilla stevia and vanilla but I don't have any of those. The ginger and cinnamon powder really helped covering the nutty flavour. This pancake was yummy. I served it with banana, manuka honey and almond butter (I absolutely love almond butter)

I also tried adding blueberries to the batter (This is also an inspiration from Ellie). While the pancakes are cooking, the juice in the blueberries will burst out into the pancake. Yum yum! I tried serving it with cranberry jam, the Swedish way, and it was good.

I basically been having pancakes every morning. I am not sick of it...yet...hope  I won't be lol. But it is so filling, it literally lasted me the whole morning. I had them around 8:30am and didn't feel hungry until 2pm, usually if I have porridge I will get hungry around 11am.

Do you like or/and make unique pancakes? Or do you prefer the regular pancakes? What do you serve them with?