The answer to M. from Culy.nl who approached me a while ago 'If I would like to post a food diary from all the things I shove up in my mouth for a week' (she was actually more polite though..lol)?  "YEAH of course, COOL!!!"

Some things I ate that week you might have seen here passing or on my Instagram. BUT this diary will give you a closer look on my eating habits, from the moment I open my eyes till the moment I rock myself to sleep, Oke that sounds a bit dramatic but yeah, just 7 days from morning till nights you can read all about my eating habits. 

So sorry for my international followers, this diary is only written in Dutch..I know I know.. I will make it up to you by posting some extra recipes up on the blog this week! YEAHHH :D

Link:  Food Diary

xoxo
The Cookteaser

Goji's coated in dark chocolate on a stick....OMG...Yes it's true.. Everything on a stick looks just way nicer don't you think? Other then that, it's also a really classy way to eat this chunk of deliciousness. No more melted chocolate on your fingers or what so ever.. just clean hands and a satisfied feeling ;D

I totally fell in love with my Chocolate - Superfood on a stick. Great thing, I tested these lollypops by handing them out to my little cousins and guess what.. They absolutely LOVED this shit! They had no clue what so ever what they were eating but they sure finished the whole thing up, they even asked if I had more! The sweetness of the chocolate and the chewiness of the goji's is just the perfect combo if you'd ask me..and the kids ;)

Ingredients:

- 1 bar of organic dark chocolate
- 2 cups of organic goji berries 

What's next:

Melt the chocolate using the 'au bain marie' technique. When the chocolate is all smooth get is of the heat and immediately  addd the gojiberries. I'm not sure if it were 2 cups, but I just added gojiberries until there was no more running chocolate on the bottom of the pan. You'll notice you can make a lot with just 1 chocolate bar. I made 20 with just 1 chocolate bar... I know.. amazing right?

Very important when making this is that you use bakingpaper. Otherwise the lolly's won't come of properly and it'll break. We don't want that to happen right so bakingpaper it is.
As you can see on the picture here above you start by putting a bit of this goodness directly on the bakingpaper, then lay the stick on it before adding the second layer. This way the stick won't be showing on the other side and it makes it just more firm as a whole. You can sprinkle some extra uncoated goji berries on top. They will stick when their air dried. Depending on your room temperature they will be ready to eat when it hardened. If you're less patient you can put them in the refrigerator, this way it'll be ready to eat in about 40 minutes or so.

Hope  you liked this idea, cause I sure do! Have a lovely day gorgeous!

xoxo
The Cookteaser

This is how my everyday life should be, starting my mornings with Dim Sum...Unfortunately (cold truth) this is not the case but hey let's just enjoy this moment ;D Before I headed out for my energizing morning swim I prepped myself a soft boiled egg to go with some steamed dim sum. I made a bunch of them last time and froze them in, love my freezer ;)

Enjoying this great breakfast with those clean crisp sheets still wrapped around my body (this just feels SO GOOD!! ) So yeah..  makes it official...Breakfast in bed is the new thing I guess..!! :D

xoxo
The Cookteaser

That moment..

xoxo
The Cookteaser

It was my father who taught me how to poach eggs when I was a little kid. I asked him to teach me though as I was always mesmerized by the beautiful poached eggs he made. I mean, how could this easy to get inexpensive product turned in a white perfect bubble filled with running warm gold fluid in just a couple of minutes!? Almost like Chocolate fondant but then different. oke.. not almost.. and also SUPER DIFFERENT.. but let's just say .. natures chocolate fondant ;D

Oke I have to stop writing about chocolate fondant.. now I'm craving for it..urhg.. Where was I? Oh yeah.. Them Poached Eggs.

Well Scroll down below and follow my easy steps on how you can Poach the perfect eggs starting today!

Ingredients:

- Super fresh happy Eggs as much as you want honey!
- organic white vinegar (this will help the eggs to form smooth and nicely)
- Thinly sliced Zucchini Grilled with some salt


What's Next?
 
Oke I don't think I have to explain you guys how to grill the zucchini right. So let's get to business and follow these easy steps to poach eggs.

Get yourself a medium sized pan and fill it half up with water and just a teaspoon of vinegar, set it on fire and wait till you see super small bubbles coming up, this is the moment right before the water will set to boil, but you don't want the water to boil. So oke, small bubbles means ACTION.
Use a spoon and make rounds in the water (keep your spoon as close as possible to the pan. You will form a little 'storm' in the pan. Now crack up an egg carefully and let it drop in the middle of the pan.


Wait.. wait a bit.. keep the fire on medium/low. You can see the egg stays in shape because you whisked the water with your spoon. After 3 minutes your egg will be perfect. If you're not sure you can always touch the egg lightly and feel if the egg is still to soft in the center of not. (To make sure you won't get any vinegar flavor. Dip the poached egg in a bowl of cold water and the vinegar taste will vanish)


I sprinkled some Japanese Chili mix on top, but hey I won't get mad at you if you use any other spice to finish it up. Whatever you prefer honey!

Goodluck poaching eggs.

xoxo
The Cookteaser

Gotta love some good old veggie fritters. I can eat this for breakfast, brunch, lunch and even dinner, yes people.. Whenever I find something tasty, time is just meaningless lol. 
All my glass jars filled with  healthy seeds and shit inspired me to give those fritters that extra health boost with a nice crunch to it!
Of course I wouldn't have posted it if it didn't turned out great! So scroll down so you can make these too!

Ingredients for +/- 8 fritters:

- 1 cup of roughly grated zucchini
- 1 cup of roughly grated cabbage
- 2 eggs
- 5 spoons of linseed
- 3 spoons of Buckwheat flour
- 5 spoons of Amaranth flakes
- 4 spoons of sesame seeds
- 2 spoons of goji berries chop them finely
- Some salt and pepper to taste
- some fine chopped parsley (optional)

Dipping sauce:
Yoghurt mixed with some Fresh Dille and a pinch of garlic powder, salt & pepper.

What's next?!

Start beating the eggs first, then add the buckwheat flour, when it's all smooth you may add all the rest to it. Mix until it forms this thick mass.

Use a flat frying pan and add a bit of (coconut) oil. When the pan is hot you can use a regular spoon to scoop out the fritter 'dough'. 1 spoon will form 1 fritter. So yeah.. that's about it!

Oke, so I'm the kind of person who always wakes up super super early full of energy. I just can't sleep till noon like some of you out there. Although I think it's a good characteristic being an earlybird..I do find it annoying from time to time. Especially when I worked till fucking who knows what time and I just know my body needs more sleep.

Lucky me that I didn't have any big plans or meetings scheduled in this Saturday. So to give my body just that extra care and rest I made myself this easy peasy breakfast to enjoy in bed!

                                               BED + BREAKFAST + A GOOD BOOK = Weekend happiness to me!

                                        "Life is good, start by taking good care of yourself first..   the rest will follow"

xoxo

The Cookteaser

We are so lucky here in Amsterdam! We got an amazing second Summer here! While I'm enjoying the sun as much as possible I'm enjoying the last summerfruits too! I just can’t get enough of sweet juicy organic watermelons! I bought this beauty at the organic Saturday market (Amsterdam - Jordaan area).

There are many ways to cut open a watermelon but my fav way to eat it is by cutting it open in half and scoop out all the deliciousness with a spoon.. YUP. On hot summer days I even have a melon for lunch!

Another way to slice your watermelon is like the image below. Little ‘pizza’ slices of sweet melon on a stick always works well when you have a party. No mess, no stress!!


Oke enough about the looks of this gorgeous piece of nature. Scroll down to check out all health benefits from eating watermelon!

Did you know..


Reduces Body Fat
The citrulline in watermelon has been shown to reduce the accumulation of fat in our fat cells. Citrulline is an amino acid which converts into arginine with help from the kidneys. When our bodies absorb citrulline it can take the step of converting into arginine if so required. Citrulline, when consumed, has the ability to (through a series of steps) block the activity of TNAP (tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase) which makes our fat cells create less fat, and thus helps prevent over-accumulation of body fat.


Anti-inflammatory & Antioxidant Support
Watermelon is rich in phenolic compounds like flavonoids, carotenoids, and triterpenoids. The carotenoid lycopene in watermelon is particularly beneficial in reducing inflammation and neutralizing free radicals. The tripterpenoid cucurbitacin E is also present in watermelon, which provides anti-inflammatory support by blocking activity of cyclo-oxygenase enzymes which normally lead to increased inflammatory support. Make sure you pick ripe watermelons, because they contain higher amounts of these beneficial phenolic compounds.

Diuretic & Kidney Support 
Watermelon is a natural diuretic which helps increase the flow of urine, but does not strain the kidneys (unlike alcohol and caffeine). Watermelons helps the liver process ammonia (waste from protein digestion) which eases strain on the kidneys while getting rid of excess fluids.

Muscle & Nerve Support 
Rich in potassium, watermelon is a great natural electrolyte and thus helps regulate the action of nerves and muscle our body. Potassium determines the degree and frequency with which our muscles contract, and controls the excitation of nerves in our body.
 
Alkaline Forming
Watermelons have an alkaline-forming effect in the body when fully ripe. Eating lots of alkaline-forming foods (fresh, ripe, fruit and vegetables) can help reduce your risk of developing disease and illness caused by a high-acid diet (namely, meat, eggs and dairy).

Improves Eye Health
Watermelon is a wonderful source of beta-carotene (that rich red hue of watermelon = beta carotene) which is converted in the body to vitamin A. It helps produce the pigments in the retina of the eye and protects against age-related macular degeneration as well as prevents night blindness. Vitamin A also maintains healthy skin, teeth, skeletal and soft tissue, and mucus membranes.

Immune Support, Wound healing & Prevents Cell Damage
The vitamin C content in watermelon is astoundingly high. Vitamin C is great at improving our immune system by maintaining the redox integrity of cells and thereby protecting them from reactive oxygen species (which damages our cells and DNA). The role of vitamin C in healing wounds has also been observed in numerous studies because it is essential to the formation of new connective tissue. The enzymes involved in forming collagen (the main component of wound healing) cannot function without vitamin C. If you are suffering from any slow-healing wounds, up your intake of vitamin C heavy fruit!

Beauty starts from within..

xoxo
The Cookteaser

I'm such a slut..

xoxo
The Cookteaser

When I look back on my childhood, some things were definitely better taken care of then in present. For example, my sister and I were spoiled with dim sum breakfast so much that I didn't see it as something unique and special any more.. SHAME!! Although Dim Sum is ment to eat for breakfast I don't really give a f#ck about these stupid rules.  mean come on...Good food needs to be eaten no matter what time right?!

Don't let the picture scare you, this isn't really as hard as it seems. Trust me, I'll guide you to the process.
All you need to do is scroll down..

Ingredients (for +/- 30 pieces):

- 4 Spring onions
- a big chunk of ginger the size of your big thumb (finely grated)
- 2 big straws of Chinese Brocolli (you can use spinach too, make sure you get all the liquid out of the spinach first)
- 1 piece of Tofu (chopped finely in small cube 1 x 1 cm)
- 1 glove a garlic (chopped super finely or grate it finely)
- a handful of dried Shitake mushrooms (make sure you soak them in warm water first and then chop it finely)
- 1 package o Dimsum Sheets (you can buy this in any Asian Supermarket, my mom used to make the dough herself too but ain't no time for that lol so THANK the lord for Asian supermarkets)

Seasoning:
- 2 spoons of Soy sauce
- 1 vegetable oil (coconut oil)
- 2 spoons of Chinese Rice wine 

What's next?

Bake the Tofu in your fryingpan with some vegetable oil until golden brownish. Set it aside and add again some vegetable oil in the same frying pan. Add the shitake mushrooms for 2 minutes on high fire. Now add the finely chopped Green onions and chinese brocolli to the pan. Stir everything well for about 4 minutes on high heat. Keep on stirring you don't want it to burn. Now add the grated ginger en garlic, add the chinese ricewine and keep on stirring, when all the wine is evaporated you can add the soysauce with the tofu back in the pan, mix mix mix.. 2 more minutes on high heat so there's no more liquid in the pan. TADAA you are done making the mixture!

Check the flavors, if you think it needs some more seasoning just use some (himalayan) salt to taste.

Put a sheet in your hand and scoop a bit of filling in the middle of the sheet. Now press all the ends upwards and make a little sack out of it.. make sure there are no open holes in the dim sum. They look super cute don't you think??

Steam them for about 10 minutes and they're ready to eat! I always serve these with a bit of soysauce mixed with sesame oil (half/half)

Hope you liked this old recipe of our family and don't forget to tag me when you've made this. I'm so curious about your results!

xoxo
The Cookteaser