Asian Chicken with Kaffir Lime Quinoa

           I love Asian food, so many flavors and just the right balance between spicy and sour. No wonder whenever I run out of time I usually make something Asian. This Friday I needed something full of flavors yet easy and very healthy so I looked at what I have in the fridge and made this easy yet YUMMY recipe.

          All you need to prepare is the meat, it is always better to marinate the meat for overnight, and it makes you job easier while cooking but if you didn't have the time usually you need around 30 mins to marinate the chicken while cooking the quinoa.

Asian Chicken with Kaffir Lime Quinoa - My Little Healthy Twist

Ingredients:

2 chicken breast
1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup chicken broth
2 kaffir lime leaves
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp  teriyaki sauce
1 tsp sriracha chilli
1 clove garlic minced
1 tsp fresh ginger grated
1 spring onion sliced
1 Yellow chilli sliced
100 g kale



Directions:

In a deep ban but the quinoa with the chicken broth and kaffir lime leaves, bring to boil then turn the heat to low and let it cook for 25 mins until all liquid absorbed and the quinoa is tender. Turn off the heat and let it cool down.

In a bowl mix soy sauce, sriracha, teriyaki, garlic, and 1/2 tsp of the ginger. Add the chicken breast cover with the marination and keep in fridge for overnight until ready to assemble the dish. Bring out of fridge half an hour earlier to the grilling and let the meat rest.
Grill for 3-4 mins in each side depending on thickness but make sure it is thoroughly cooked but not dry. Remove and let it cool for 5 mins.

Meanwhile, put the oil in a ban add the kale saute for a bit add ginger and cook for 2 mins, cover with a lid for 2 more mins and remove immediately from heat.

Mix the quinoa with a fork to make it fluffy and remove the kaffir lime leaves, server with one chicken breast and half of the kale and garnish with spring onion and some yellow chilli.

This recipe makes 2 servings of 439 g

Calories per serving 403 calorie, Saturated fat 2.3g

This recipe is good for you because:

• Very High in Magnesium
• Very High in Phosphorus
• Very High in Vitamin A
• Very High in Vitamin C
• High in Protein 
• High in Iron

Dishonest Burger with no guilt Bread

No Guilt Bread

              Who would know making a really healthy bread can be this difficult! Yesterday was total disappointment, I was trying to make gluten free bread high in protein but it wasn't success. The bread was too heavy although I managed to eat it and tasted ok but honestly I wouldn't be so eager to make that again. Last night while I was in bed ready to sleep I started to rethink the recipe. Although gluten has very bad reputation I don't think it is that bad if you have tolerance for it specially when you don't eat much of it, add to that it will be really hard to make good healthy, tasty bread and yet gluten free so I rewrote the recipe and proceeded to make it in this afternoon to complement my dishonest cheese burger.

            Still quite heavy bread for my taste but at least it is a bread you can eat everyday. Full of A+ nutrients, and really easy to make. Prepare two portions of this and it will be more than enough for the whole week. Store in fridge since the bread is dense and might get bad easy and since I am using many unprocessed products it shouldn't stay in fridge for more than a week at all. I hope you will enjoy it

Tip: Just buy whole unprocessed oats and grind it in coffee grinder, the same with flax seeds.

Dishonest Burger with no guilt bread - My Little Healthy Twist 

Ingredients:

1 cup whole grain flour
1/4 cup soy flour
1/4 cup oats bran
1/8 cup flax meal
1 cup soy milk
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp olive oil
30 grams yeast
1 tbsp sesame seeds





Directions:

Make the soy milk at body temperature by warming it up in stove or microwave for few seconds and melt the yeast in it. in a bowl mix all other ingredients except for oil and pour the milk and knead the dough until sticky but smooth. add olive oil and cover the dough with it and transfer to clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap and let it set for 1 hour in warm place.

After one hour, shape the bread to buns or loaf  transfer to floured or cover with parchment paper ban and let it set for another 30 min to raise properly. After that brush the top of the bread with soy milk and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for 30 - 40 min on 180c, you will need to keep an eye on the over and check to know when the bread is fragrant and lightly tanned to make sure it is thoroughly cooked.

Recipe makes 4 servings of 115g

Calories per serving 225 calorie, 0,7 Saturated fat.

This recipe good for you because:

• Very high in Vitamin B6
• Very high in Manganese
• High in Protein
• High in Fibers
• High in Iron 
• High in Magnesium
• High in Niacin
• High in Phosphorus
• High in Riboflavin 
• High in Selenium 
• High in Thiamin 
• Very low in Saturated fat

Burger patty

           Coming up with healthy burger patty wasn't that hard part, I already made a burger for this blog and it was actually very good so I only had to switch a bit and think of  the bread more than the patty. I love turkey meat specially if it a good quality, when adding the spices it turns completely red and while cooking no one will know it is actually turkey not beef unless this person is meat lover for real. I like this recipe because it is really healthy but might not suit everyone specially if you love beef taste layered with mountains of bacon and cheddar cheese. But all in all it was really good, I still rather the waffle one but definitely this one healthier and can been eaten anytime without and sense of guilt.

Ingredients:

8 slice non fat cheese

600 g Turkey breast minced 

4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp BBQ sauce 

2 tbsp chilli powder

1 tbsp Cayenne pepper 

1 tbsp Olive oil

1 Avocado sliced 

1 tomato sliced 

1 clove of garlic minced 

1/2 green pepper sliced

1/4 cup Cilantro chopped

1/2 lime juice

Salt and pepper

Directions:

Place the minced turkey breast, worcestershire, BBQ, Chilli, Cayenne, and The olive oil in a bowel and mix together very well, add salt and pepper and transfer to air tight container and let it set in fridge for a couple of hours or overnight to allow flavors incorporate into the meat.

Meanwhile, put the avocado, tomato, garlic, pepper, lime juice, cilantro and salt & pepper in food processor and pulse until you have nice with small pieces guacamole.

Bring out your meat before 30 mins of cooking and make 4 battys. Grill on stove or grill for better taste and cook each side for 5 min, flip and add the cheese and cover with foil or a lid and turn heat to low. Let the cheese melt on steam since it is non fat will need time to completely melt. turn off the heat and let it set until the cheese is melted.

put one tablespoon of guacamole on each bun, sliced tomato and lettuce and top with the burger patty and serve immediately. 

Recipe makes 4 servings of 250g

Calories per serving 348 calorie, Saturated fat 3.1g

This recipe is good for you because:

• Low in fat
• High in Vitamin A
• High in Selenium
• High in Protein
• High in Vitamin C 

Baked Caramel Donuts - Gluten free

Donuts 

            It is February and Fat Thursday will be here soon and I will not by any chance break my strict diet this month so I think this suggestion for health recipe challenge was perfect. Again it wasn't easy recipe since I was determine to not use regular flour, I ordered soy flour and coconut flour to do a little experiment. I made a lot of research as well since the chemistry of these two flours are completely different from regular wheat flour. Each one of them has its own character and needs LOTS of experimenting before just using it instead of wheat. Soy flour is easier to use but to be completely honest it doesn't taste that well; it taste very raw at least for me. I can tolerate that taste in savory dishes but not desserts. And since what is the point of making or eating not so yummy dessert, desserts are just treat and the gift of gastronomy to us either we have a good dessert or not eat dessert at all.
          Coconut flour was the winner for this dish, I completely adore the little coconut flavor it adds to the donuts and its crumbly texture make the donuts so flaky and nice, first attempt failed as usual since the coconut absorbs liquids so much it is hard to come up to the correct texture from the first use. Anyways eventually the recipe came to good end and I am very happy with it since coconut flour is good option for baking and has many nutrients that the regular wheat flour lacks.

         Baked Caramel Donut - My Little Healthy Twist

Ingredients:

4 large Eggs
1/2 cup Coconut flour
1/2 cup Soy milk
1/8 cup Butter
1/8 cup Honey
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
15g Fresh yeast
1/8 teaspoon Salt






Directions:

Pre-heat the oven in 180c. Grease two mini donuts bans with olive oil spray.

In a bowl mix eggs, butter, vanilla, vinegar and honey. Add the yeast to body temperature soy milk and let it dissolve. In separate bowl add flour, baking soda, salt. Add dry ingredients to eggs mix and mix will until smooth, you will notice that the batter absorbed all liquid and a bit dry, then add the milk mixture and mix well. We need a batter to be not too liquidy nor stiff something like whipped cream texture that you can spread easily.

Divide in the baking bans and bake for 15 mins or until golden brown. Bring out of the oven and glaze with one tsp each of caramel from my recipe below.

Recipe makes 12 servings of 41g.

Calories per serving 81 calories, Saturated fat 3,1g.

This recipe is not good for you but a healthier alternative for the regular fried donut recipe. The values below includes nutrients compared to regular donut recipe and not the regular dietary value based on 2000 calories diet I usually post in other recipes.

• High in Selenium
• High in Protein 
• High in Calcium
• High in Vitamin A 

Caramel 

Basically the idea of making "healthy" caramel sauce was just ridiculous. I loved the challenge but to say there will be any caramel sauce that is good for you just insane. Up to the challenge I started to think of ways to make caramel that is good for you, first thing popped to my head was Xylitol. I researched A LOT to make sure I make the best choice since I know for sure each ingredient has it's own plus and minus. I ordered Xylitol online and was entertaining the idea of making it with Xylitol with it very low glycemic index but still not natural product or honey/ maple syrup with their quite moderate glycemic index but yet natural and safe to use.

       I had really a struggle deciding on this, I can choose instant low calories low glucose but not fully digestible product or I just go with what we have been using since forever and compromise the calories count on my recipe. Eventually since I am a big believer in natural products I decided to go with honey in this recipe which also can be replaced with maple syrup and not use Xylitol just because I am not a big fan of artificial sweeteners but I think Xylitol will come handy in other recipe or I might also try to make caramel with it just for the sake of experimenting although I believe if you are so strict with your calories count just avoid sweets all at once instead of replacing them with lots of artificial products that most probably will have some side effects in long term with regular use.

      So, as I said this very easy natural recipe. Not really bad for you since at least I am not using white processed sugar or cream. I am using honey and coconut milk to replace all the glucose and fat and add a bit of nutrients. I kept the butter though because it will compromise the taste very much but for healthier version you most certainly can  replace it with coconut oil only if you like that coconut flavor. Lastly, I added vanilla sugar instead of vanilla extract to add that yumminess but if you by any chance have vanilla beans that would enhance the flavor to the roof.

Ingredients:

200 g honey
165 g coconut milk
3 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla sugar

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in sauce ban and put it on medium heat until boiling, decrease to low and let it simmer for 20 mins while starring regularly with wooden spoon. After 15 mins the sauce will start to thicken, keep an eye on it while starring to let it reach the constancy you desire which for me takes another 5 mins. Turn off the heat let it cool for another 5 mins then transfer it to clean glass Jar and store it in fridge.

This recipe makes 40 servings of 10g

Calories per serving 33 calorie, Saturated fat 1,4g

This recipe is not good for you but it is a healthier alternative for regular caramel. The values below includes nutrients compared to regular caramel recipe and not the regular dietary value based on 2000 calories diet I usually post in other recipes.

• High in Potassium
• High in Iron
• High in Vitamin A

Cauliflower Pizza

              I know so many people who hate cauliflower, but for me it is comfort food. I eat cauliflower so many ways and I try to add it to almost everything. Not because it is healthy, the taste of cauliflower if cooked properly is amazing for me, steamed, fried or baked.
So it is no surprise if I was dying to try the cauliflower pizza, yet was waiting until I find lactose free cheese to be able to enjoy the meal peacefully due to me sensitivity to lactose. 

             Today was the day, I had half big head of cauliflower steamed in the fridge and I had cheese in the store downstairs so I made the pizza for dinner.
To be completely honest, I very much enjoyed the pizza but not sure it can be compared to the regular pizza since they have totally different tastes and texture, but if you're craving pizza and don't want to ruin your diet with empty carbs I totally recommend this recipe for you since it is absolutely delicious and at the same time very nutritious.

Cauliflower Pizza - My Little Healthy Twist 

Ingredients:

2 cups steamed cauliflower
1 teaspoon Olive oil
2 big tomato chopped
2 cloves garlic mashed
1 chili chopped
1/2 cup lactose free cheese 
1/2 grilled chicken breast thinly sliced 
1/4 cup black olives quartered
1/4 cup sun dried tomato julienned
Dried Oregano and Basil
Salt and Pepper
1/8 cup Fresh Basil julienned


Directions:

Put the cooked cauliflower in food processor and mix until sandy texture, put inside a towel and squeeze the water then transfer the cauliflower to bowl and mix with the egg, little oregano, basil and salt. transfer to baking sheet covered with parchment paper and shape it into circle not too thin not too thick and bake on 200c until crispy from bottom and golden at the top for 20mins or so.

While the crust cooking start making marinara sauce, heat the olive oil in a pan, add garlic stir until fragrant then add tomato. Let it cook for 10mins then add tomato sauce and oregano, basil, salt and pepper and let it cook until all water evaporated around 15 mins. Blend the mixture to have smooth texture but this step not necessary.

Top your crust with sauce, cheese and other toppings and bake for good 15 mins or until cheese is melted and golden. Take it out and let is set for 10-15 mins to cool down otherwise it will fall apart while transferring it to serving plate. Top with fresh basil and enjoy :)

Recipe make 2 servings of 366g

Calories per serving 275 calorie, Saturated fat 7,1g

This recipe is good for you because:

• High in Calcium
• Very high in Phosphorus
• High in Potassium 
• High in Vitamin A 
• Very High in Vitamin C

Caramelized Oats - Yemeni Inspired

                Nostalgia has its own way of inspiration, and food is the greatest result of such combination. Though I never liked the original recipe that inspired me today but eventually switching few things up changed my mind a bit. The original recipe comes from Southern Yemen and known as Ma3soob -معصوب- very popular recipe among men not only in Yemen, as well many countries of the gulf area especially when served with yemeni honey which has distinctive taste because of the Jujube that usually feed the bees in that area.

               This recipe is quite heavy, I only eat it before long workout to make sure I have enough energy to workout for over three hours without feeling worn out. It makes 2 huge portions of almost 300g but honestly it can be divided to 4 small portions with more fresh fruits and be enough for first breakfast. I never managed to finish my portion at one setting. Anyway I will leave you with the recipe and I hope you will like it.

Caramelized Oats - My Little Healthy Twist 

Ingredients:

2 Banana
1 Apple
1 cup whole oats (unbleached - unprocessed processed)
1/2 cup soy milk
1 tablespoon butter 
2 drops of vanilla
1 teaspoon honey 
1 teaspoon sesame seeds or almonds flakes for garnish 

Directions:

Grind half of the oats mix with the rest of the oats and toast on a dry pan until slightly golden and smells fragrant. remove from pan and let it cool. Meanwhile in mash the bananas, dice the apple to cubes. In the same pan melt butter and add banana and apple caramelize for 3-5 mins add two drops of vanilla and the soy milk and turn heat to low.
Add toasted oats mix until and cook for 3 mins. Turn off heat, transfer to serving bowl and garnish with fresh fruits, honey and sesame seeds.

Recipe makes 2 servings of 282g.

Calories per serving 363 calories, Saturated fat 4,5g

This recipe good for you because:

- High in Fibers
- High in complex carbs
- High in Manganese
- Low in Cholesterol
- Low in Sodium

* Values are based on regular 2000 calorie diet.

Smoothiemania

Long time no writing, I hope I can justify it by being lazy but the truth is darker than that :P I just lost my 2 phones (one lost and the other decided to stop working) and all the food pictures there gone, so I had to wait until I have the time to re do all the recipes again.

AND since it is beginning of summer I am not  keen in making food that much, I still LOVE food but I find myself more into eating light stuff like oats with nuts or cottage cheese all day with smoothies. so I decided why not share my crazy smoothies recipes, and they are crazy because basically I put in there whatever I have around nothing fancy or precise it just matching things according to their taste.

Powerhouse Smoothie

Today I returned from jogging and I was planning to go later to gym as well, still I didn't feel like eating before the gym but I need to get some energy, so immediately after my jogging (withing the 45 min rang) I had 200g of cottage cheese and made my powerhouse smoothie, and it is crazy because I just put every super food I had in the fridge in there :D good idea to have all nutrients you need with 0 effort.

Ingredients:

1 Banana

1/2 Avocado

5 Strawberries 

1/2 cup diced Pineapple

1 Kiwi

2 tablespoons frozen Spinach 

1 teaspoon Flex seed

1 tablespoon Honey

1/2 cup Ice

Directions:

In strong blender or smoothie maker put all ingredients and blend for 3 mins until completely smooth.

Recipe makes 1 serving of 450g

Calories per serving 417 calories, Saturated fat 4.3g

This recipe good for you because:

• No cholesterol
• Very low in sodium
• High in dietary fiber
• Very high in manganese
• High in vitamin B6
• Very high in vitamin C

Note:

I hate to add milk or yogurt to my smoothies and as well I hate it when it is too thick so I added ice here otherwise usually I freeze my fruits and I don't add  ice at all. In this one I only added the ice because avocado and banana already too thick.

The Hulk smoothie  

This one I stole from my sweet friend Ieva, she was so generous to share her smoothie one morning with me, and I loved it but when I made it myself I added my personal touch by making a slight adjustment to it, she makes it with banana instead of mango which taste really good too but for me I like to add mango because it is very fragrant and overcome the spinach taste completely and I think it adds lovely sweetness to the whole thing which makes it really hard to believe it has spinach in there.

Ingredients:

1 Avocado

1 Kiwi

1/2 cup frozen Mango

1/2 cup frozen Spinach 

1/2 tablespoon Honey

Directions:

In strong blender or smoothie maker put all ingredients and blend until completely smooth.

Recipe makes 1 serving of 400g

Calories per serving 562 calories, Saturated fat 8.3g

This recipe good for you because:

• No cholesterol
• Very low in sodium
• High in dietary fiber
• Very high in vitamin C

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Breakfast smoothie

This one is my all time favorite smoothie for breakfast, when I am not in the mood for food and have no time to eat, I just blend this put it in my gym cup and hit the road and it taste AMAZING and still keep you full all morning.

Ingredients:

1 Avocado

1 cup frozen Strawberries

1/4 cup Oats

1 tablespoon Honey

Directions:

In strong blender or smoothie maker put all ingredients and blend until completely smooth.

Recipe makes 1 serving of 400g

Calories per serving 601 calories, Saturated fat 8.5g

This recipe good for you because:

• No cholesterol
• Very low in sodium
• High in dietary fiber
• Very high in vitamin C

Eggs Waffle

By now, anyone who reads this blog or know me at all knows that I am crazy about waffles, it is just the easiest thing to make and yet taste heavenly. So last week I wanted to eat waffle but not real waffle so I decided to fool my brain by making eggs in waffle iron to just give my brain the illusion it needs to satisfy my craving for a waffle, and guess what it worked pretty well :D

I just made simple olive omelette and cooked in the waffle iron, for some reason the waffle iron makes the eggs rise and become so fluffy so I started to use the iron more often to make omelette.

Egg Waffle - My Little Healthy Twist 

Ingredients:

2 large Eggs

1 teaspoon Milk

50g black Olives

50g green Olives

50g Broccoli seeds

1 Tomato

1 teaspoon Olive oil

Directions:

Pre- heat the waffle iron.

In a bowl mix eggs and milk well, slice half of the green and black olives and add to the egg mixture and pour into the waffle iron, cook for 2 min. Slice tomato transfer eggs to plat and assemble the dish as desired, drizzle with olive oil and serve hot.

This recipe makes 1 serving of 161g

Calories per serving 156 calories, Saturated fat 2.6g

This recipe good for you because:

• High in selenium
• High in Protein 
• Very high in vitamin C