Corn Waffle Burger

For me, there are two things I don’t compromise even for health when it comes to them, big juicy burger and tender huge steak , I don’t consider them healthy choice but they are not really bad for you still I wouldn't dare to make them healthy until recently; at least for burgers :)
While I was having my infamous corn waffle with my friend Ieva, she said the perfect thing ever “imagine this waffles with burger topped with crispy bacon” at this point my brain froze and went totally other direction and I didn't hear the rest of what she said, in my mind I was imagining how I can combine the best healthy waffle burger without OF COURSE compromising the taste and I decided to take my chances and try to put together really awesome dish.
Honestly speaking when I try to make something healthy I don’t intend to cut as much calories as I can (eventually I don’t care about calories because I need about 2800 calories per day … lucky me :P) but actually turn unhealthy dish to healthier version by making each portion fulfilling  contain real nutrients  that our body needs and if I managed to cut big portion of the calories that would be great.So, when I was trying to duplicate this recipe all I cared is to have a meal that I will feel good about it and will not make me sleepy the rest of the day and that’s what I had …. One of the best recipes I made <3

Ingredients:

Corn Waffle Burger - My Little Healthy Twist 

For the burger
1 avocado
1 tomato½ yellow or red pepper
1 green chili
1 egg
110 g minced turkey breast  
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon Cumin
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon sweet pepper
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Coriander for garnish

For the waffles
1 cup Yellow Corn Flour
1 egg
1/2 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar


Directions:


Starting with the waffles recipe: Preheat the waffle iron while making the waffle batter, mix all ingredients for waffle in a bowl whisk together and scope 2 table spoons in each square of the iron; this batter should make 6 waffles. Repeat the same until the batter is done.To make the burger: mix the meat, all spices and Worcestershire sauce and place it a side, heat a nonstick pan while slicing the avocado, yellow pepper, green chili then the tomato make a disk shape of the meat and place in the pan cook for 5 mins each side for well done.Fry the eggs and layer the burger by placing one waffle and top it with sliced pepper the avocado, the burger the top it with the fried egg and garnish with coriander, put on the side the rest of the avocado and the tomato and enjoy.You can have the rest of the waffles as late snack ;)

Recipe makes 1 serving of 498 g 

Calories per serving is 866, saturated fat 10.3 g

This recipe is good for you because:

• High in dietary fiber

• High in selenium

• High in vitamin A

• High in vitamin C

Spicy Lentil Soup

I am really bad when I get sick, my spoiled side comes out and I become unbearable, the reason is because I was very sick child and whenever I get sick my mom announce emergency state at the house ... even when I got married, when I get sick she will send me food to my house and spoil me totally, but since I moved to Poland I knew that I should realize that no one gonna do this for me so I got better, but I still have really hard mood to food when I get sick. Usually too tired to cook but need to eat something really good to get better so inspired by my super mom I always make lentil soup and it is my all time saver, easy to make and can help you get over almost anything from upset stomach to sore throat.

Whenever you have no time or the mood to cook, make my mom modified lentil soup and remember me :D 

Ingredients:

Spicy Lentil Soup - My Little Healthy Twist 

250 g Red lentil 

 2 -3 cups of Water 

1/2 medium Onion chopped

1 large Tomato chopped

3 cloves of Garlic minced

1 teaspoon fresh Ginger minced

1 teaspoon Curry powder 

1 teaspoon Cumin

1 tablespoon Olive oil 

Directions:

In a pot cook the lentil in the water until it is soft but don't over cook it, about 15 mins maximum, in different pot saute the onions in the olive oil until golden brown, add the garlic and ginger and stir until fragrant then add the spices & salt and stir for a minute, add the tomato and leave it to cook for a bit, add the lentil with the water left and let it cook for 5 minutes, with the blender; blend the whole soup to have  smooth texture and return to the pot and let it cook for 5 more minutes.

Serve with piece of whole grain bread and sprinkle with freshly grounded black pepper.

Recipe makes 4 servings of 248 g

Calories per serving is 273, saturated fat 0.6 g

This recipe is good for you because:

• High in protien
• Low in saturated fat
• No cholesterol
• Very low in sodium
• Very high in dietary fiber
• High in iron
• High in manganese
• High in phosphorus
• High in thiamin

Shakshoka - Arabic Dish

I always say, my food is my mood accordingly I try to never go out without breakfast, even when I have 0 time I grab a banana or make myself a smoothie because starting the day without breakfast ruin my whole day ... seriously :)

My morning ritual start with my first breakfast which is almost all the time oats and my second breakfast is always eggs, I am very active person and the protein boost keep my body and mind in good balance but cooking oats and eggs every single day make it boring and since I get bored REALLY fast I had to find away to stick to my rituals because without routine there is no discipline, accordingly I had to be creative on making my breakfasts. 
One of my egg dishes is a traditional Arabic dish, all countries have it in some way, it is slightly different but it consist of the same things; onions, tomato and eggs, and since I don't like onions in my eggs (specially in the morning ... daaah!) and like to add veggies as much as I can I came up with my own version of shakshoka ... please don't ask me about the name :P

Ingredients:

Shakshoka - My Little Healthy Twist

5 Eggs
1 large Tomato finely chopped
1/2 green pepper chopped
1/4 yellow pepper chopped
1 Tablespoon of Olive oil
1 Tablespoon Chive chopped
Salt and cumin to taste


Directions:

In non-stick pan heat the oil in medium heat, saute the tomato and the pepper until it soften add the salt and then add cumin then add the eggs and stir to incorporate the veggies with the eggs but without breaking the yolks, decrease the heat and let it cook until all the liquid from the tomato evaporated, sprinkle with chive and serve hot.

Recipe makes 2 servings of 280 g

Calories per serving is 268, saturated fat 4.9 g

This recipe is good for you because:

• High in riboflavin
• Very high in selenium
• High in vitamin A
• Very high in Vitamin C

Burned Beans - Yemeni Dish

There is one part of Yemen I try to take it with me wherever I go, pictures sometime do the trick, amazing memories always in my heart but when it comes to something tangible then only one thing that can cure my nostalgia ... if you are thinking about food then you are absolutely right. Since I came to here I made sure that I have everything I need to cook my favorite Yemeni dishes, I brought everything; the actual stone dish you cook with and all spices, I make sure that every year I have my stash of all I need starting from coffee ending with dried chili, I know it is not the easiest thing to do specially Yemeni Cuisine is somehow time consuming but it totally worth all the effort that you will make to have it around. 
Yemeni food most of the time is healthy, even when it is not, it is really easy to change the recipe to become it more clean and it is rich with flavors. Add to that, because of Yemen strategic location the cuisine is very diversified, what they cook in the mountains is different from what they cook in the coast and what the cook in the desert is different from what they cook in the valley and since we are neighbors to different cultures that influenced our cuisine so much.

Anyhow, yesterday I was longing for Yemeni food but I didn't want to screw my system and since I am beans lover I decided to make one of my favorite Breakfast/dinner dishes of all time (by the way in Yemen/Arab the meals system is a little different, Breakfast is light but should contain a lot of protein and fibers the same with dinner, the main meal of the day is lunch where we have different dishes, dessert and so) we call it in Arabic ( Fasolia Nashif or Mo7araka) which literally means Burned beans or Dry beans and the name comes from the way we cook this dish, as you will see how below ;)

Ingredients:

Burned Beans (Yemeni Style - My Little Healthy Twist 

1 can small white beans (good quality) drained from water
1 medium Onion finely chopped 
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 medium Tomato finely chopped
1/2 Yellow pepper chopped
1  green hot chili sliced 
1/4 cup coriander roughly chopped 
1 teaspoon hot chili sauce (optional) 
2 Tablespoons Olive oil
1/2 Tablespoon Cumin
1/4 Tablespoon black pepper
1/2 Tablespoon dried coriander
Salt to taste  


Directions:

In non-stick pan heat the olive oil on medium high, saute onions until they caramelize add garlic and stir until it become fragrant add tomato and peppers and decrease the heat let the tomato release the juices add the beans and stir before the whole water evaporates mash half of the beans with the back of your spoon to create sticky texture, add the salt and spices and press genitally to the bottom of the pan increase the heat leave for 3-5 minutes to get the bottom all dry and slightly burned and flip the beans like you do with eggs and let it burn from the other side  as well.

slide it to a serving dish and top it with the fresh coriander and sliced chili, you can serve it with Arabic bread or by itself.


Recipe makes 2 servings of 298 g

Calories per serving is 216, saturated fat 2 g

This recipe is good for you because:

• High in protein
• No cholesterol
• Very high in vitamin C

Cheeseless Cheese Cake

I had a heartbreaking love story...

Once upon a time I was in love with cheese .. all types of cheese, we had awesome times where I was eating it for breakfast, lunch and dinner and as it happens with all great love stories something changed, while we both (at least that what I think) still pretty much in love I couldn't eat cheese anymore and it started to make me sick :/ I discovered that I developed Lactose intolerance ... and we had to break up :'( it was very emotional for me, whenever I see pizza, grilled cheese sandwich I would shatter into pieces, but after enough time I learned how to get control over my feeling and started to avoid the cheese ales in the super markets until I got used to the new fact that I should live my life without cheese, But I still cheat of my health once in a while with a slice or two of pizza or with creamy velvet cake with cheese cream frosting :P

One of my favorite and very famous recipes that everybody die for was my baked cheese cake and because of my lactose intolerance I didn't eat that goodness for long long time now so I was thinking and thinking how to make cheese cake without cheese specially they don't have lactose free cheese here in Poland or at least I didn't find any so far, so while I was in the bus watching some show over the screen where they are making dessert with cashew the idea hit me, Cashew is used in a lot of recipes to give this creamy texture without adding cream and it has mild cheesy flavor so I decided to make cheeseless cheese cake that is pretty much healthier than the regular cheese cake not because of the calories but more of the ingredients that's really good for you. 

I have to be honest here since I am a cheese lover, this recipe is good enough to satisfy the craving but it doesn't taste quite the same but I do like it.

Ingredients:

Cheeseless Cheese Cake - My little Healthy Twist 

6 Whole wheat crackers 
1 medium banana
1 cup Cashew  
140 g Lime juice 
1/4 teaspoon Lime zest
1/4 teaspoon Orange zest 
1 cup Blueberries 
2 tablespoons brown sugar


Directions:

For the crust, ground the crackers and add to it the mashed banana and divide in two and press in into the bottom of the spring forms and bake it 180c for 10 minutes, take it out of oven and let it cool while you make the filling.

Soak the Cashew in water for 24 hours, then drain completely from water and blend it to smooth paste, add lime juice, maple syrup and the lime and orange zest whisk together and scoop over the crust, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 6 hours, bring out and top with blueberry sauce, recipe below.

In a pan cook the blueberries and brown sugar to make a sauce-  you can add lime zest for fresh taste, top the cheese cake with it and garnish with fresh mint.

Recipe makes 2 servings

Calories per serving 695 Calories, 34 gr Saturated fat.

Why this recipe is a good substitute :

• No lactose
• No cholesterol 
• Very low in sodium
• High in manganese
• High in vitamin B6

Fish Curry

Indian food is my food paradise, spicy, fresh and diverse the only problem with the Indian cuisine is that it is time consuming and usually loaded with saturated fat, except for that it make the Perrrrrrrfect end for my week.

This week I was talking to my colleagues at work about my favorite subject "food" and my colleagues and I were talking about how hard to get decent fresh fish in Poland. after the conversation I had this extreme craving for a fish dish, then I remembered my fish curry that I LOVE to enjoy once in a while but I thought to change it a lil bit so I can have it more often .. and voila; I have this dish that contain per serving 532 calories including rice and all the ingredients used actually super good for you, add to that it only took me less than 30 min to make it.

Ingredients:

Fish Curry - My Little Healthy Twist

400 grams White
Fish Fillets cubed 
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion finely chopped 
2 cloves garlic minced 
1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger minced



1/2 teaspoon grounded cumin
1/2 teaspoon red pepper
1/2 teaspoon dry grounded coriander 
2 teaspoons red curry paste
1 teaspoon flour 
1/4 cup fresh coriander
1/4 cup water 
200 grams boiled brown rice with only salt

Directions:

In a pan over medium high heat saute the fish without cooking it completely, take it out and add to the remaining oil the onions and saute until they caramelize add garlic and ginger cook until fragrant and add spices stir until fragrant then add flour stir for a minute add the water and let it cook for 15 minutes, after that blend the stew to have silky texture add the fish let it cook on light heat for five minutes and turn off the heat.

Serve over the cooked brown rice and top it with the fresh coriander, enjoy with fresh orange juice, or mango juice, make perfect compo.

Recipe makes 2 servings of 382 g

Calories per serving is 532, saturated fat 5.4 g

This recipe is good for you because:

• Low in sodium
• Very low in sugar
• High in mengenese
• High in phosphorus

Chocolate Fondant / Chocolate Molten Cake

I woke up today straight from my bed to set in front of my laptop without even brushing my teeth or have a breakfast; I know disgusting but that's the reality of addiction, I had this desire to make a lavish dessert for the day without having to do 100 burpees to burn the calories and for quite a while I wanted to have a scandalous chocolate cake but I was ignoring the urge to have it, don't get me wrong I love chocolate cakes but I try to keep a distance from them most of the time because not only they are loaded with calories but usually as well contain huge amount of saturated fat and sugar with so little nutrition,  so I made up my mind to make one of the most sinful chocolate cakes that it is usually associated with "Valentine's Day" for obvious reason ;)

Chocolate lava cake, Chocolate molten cake or Chocolate fondant cake; call it whatever you like but it is a controversial dessert from who invented it to what ingredients should be used and the method to prepare the cake ... all that doesn't actually matter because this dessert is AMAZING if it was made right.

Today I tried to make it as healthy as possible which cut  two thirds of the calories and one third of the fat, not only that; the fat I used is one of the super food you can eat so loaded with Omega 3 and other nutrition. While I was doing my research and my calculations I tried to keep the recipe as original as I can without adding too much or substitute too much of the ingredients because for me that will make a new dessert, and what I want is chocolate molten cake that is moist and chocolaty in the center,  without adding liquid chocolate to the middle or inject it with any kind of sauce, and I am happy with the results specially I didn't have an oven to cook it so I had to improvise . 

Of course there is always room for improvement and I will improve this recipe but for now enjoy this easy satisfying Chocolate molten cake.

If you will use the oven preheat it to 170 c, if you don't have an oven then make sure you have a proper pressure cooker with the steaming tray inside, preheat it on medium high before 5 minutes.

Ingredients:

Chocolate Molten Cake - My Little Healthy Twist

1 large Egg

1/4 Cup Maple Syrup/Honey

1/4 Cup Margarine 

1/4 Cup Mashed Avocado

1/2 Cup 60% Dark Chocolate

2 Tablespoons all Purpose flour  

Directions:

In heat proof bowl put the chopped chocolate and the Margarine in double boiler over simmering water or microwave to melt, stir the chocolate and don't overcook or burn the chocolate. 

Remove the chocolate from heat and allow to cool down while stirring, when it is all cooled enough add avocado, the egg and maple syrup and whisk and add the flour whisk to incorporate all ingredients but don't over whisk.

prepare 5 ramekins buttered, divide the batter equally but to fill only two third of each ramekin so it doesn't overflow while cooking.

Place them in the middle tray in the oven or in the steaming tray in the pressure cooker (close the pressure cooker without locking or putting the whistle on) and cook for 6 - 7 minutes. Remove from the oven or the pressure cooker and let it set for a minute.

Serve immediately with powder sugar or fresh berries.

Note: Don't over cook or it will turn to brownie.  

Each serving contain 251 Calories and 25 Fat.

My love for food, and my passion for fitness

Ehem ehem...

I seriously have no idea if anyone will read this blog, but since few of my friends were nagging me for long time now I decided to humiliate myself and make a food blog that no one going to read, next to my old unreadable blog ...  not that I love to insult myself because I think I write well enough but I truly don't know how to invest in a blog or make it popular but here we go no pain no gain ... and you guys; the few who going to read this enjoy my misery :)

My name is Manal and I am from Yemen, I am as my friends call me one of the best cooks they ever met,(not sure they met the right people but .. thanks) I didn't graduate from Le Cordon Blu or anything but I think I cook effortlessly and  since I ADORE food I really enjoy making it, so usually the results are impressive even when I don't invest much time or ingredients because cooking for me is a spiritual thing, I cook when I am angry and when I am happy, when I am with others or all by myself, it is one of the things that make me feel relaxed.

My story with food is quite weird as almost everything in my life, I am not the typical Arab that you might imagine, not with my look nor my attitude and behaviors, but aside from that nobody believe me when I tell them that I was a lousy cook, like really really lousy; and my poor Mom and Sisters can confirm that. When I used to cook I used to mess something up all the time; food were either too dry or too soft, too much salt or no salt at all and my dear family had to eat whatever I cook and say yummy because they didn't want to discourage me, but I knew the truth because I have taste buds and really strong ones so I knew that I cook horribly but I did want to cook ... honestly not because I love my family and want to make good food for them but because back then I fell in love and I wanted to impress my boyfriend who was really into food, so I was asking my mom for recipes all the time and since I am from Yemen the concept of recipe is simply "didn't exist" and my mom used to give me these instructions; a handful of this and a handful of that and a pinch of salt and when I insist on more accurate directions she would snap at me and tell me to measure it and have my own recipe; not bad advise until she comes to the kitchen and start to modify everything and want me to cook her way  -_-  seriously that frustrated me and I stopped cooking because eventually I was discouraged,  add to that I started college and I had no time for this but always had my lovely simple cake that was out of my mom's realm of expertise so whenever I want to impress anyone I would make them my awesome simple cake, which I realize now was not that awesome but it did the purpose of keeping me in touch with cooking.

The real magic happened during my second year of college when I got married to my food loving boyfriend; yeah I was married when I was 19 what I surprise, in Yemen girls get married early and that a sign how awesome they are :P Anyways when I got married I started as well to work in a college that teach Arabic to foreigners so I started to know more about food from the students coming from all over the world and hosting them plus cooking for my husband made me really love food more and more but still I was cooking the Arab way without precise recipe but once when I made a cake for my friend B'day I knew the difference between cooking and good cooking; My friend Tone tasted my cake that melted and looked horrible and her comment took me to the second level of cooking, she made a remark that my cake is moist not like Yemeni cake, that comment made me want to know the difference and why and what and how everything can change the structure of food, so I started to follow recipes in Food Network and Martha Stewart and watch their shows all the time.

Who knew that I only needed guidance and knowledge to improve my talent in cooking, soon enough everybody including my mom and sisters started to praise my cooking and I felt so smug because of all of that, but since I am not a person who like to follow the rules after enough time and when I felt that I know enough about cooking, I started to experiment with food and manipulate recipes and even come up with my own recipes and the result was impressive and I grow more confident by that and started to make things without recipe at all, now I basically know almost all the recipe I like by heart and can change them to whatever I like without losing the flavor because I worked hard enough to know the basics very well and what is used and why and how and I think this was my greatest gift.

Far from that, I always was healthy, I like to exercise and eat well and be active, though being in Yemen wasn't the best thing to be healthy, I think despite the general environment that encourage laziness and unhealthy life style, growing up as my father's daughter helped me to be a healthy person; my father was a general in the army so physical activity was crucial part of his day, I remember my little brother and I were doing push ups for fun to impress my father and that was something I held as part of my life until now, though I still suck big time in push ups and pull ups. In the other hand, my mom was always against me working out because according to her standards and the Yemeni standards I was too skinny and she used to tell me that I look like a stick and with working out I will disappear .. I didn't care about her comments and I continued working out and learning more about healthy lifestyle and nutrition specially after my father died of stroke, I wanted to take that further by going to the gym but I was kicked out of there because I was too skinny and I made the over weight people there uncomfortable! I lived with that and was determine to be healthy no matter what, my friends told me I will not keep that and one day I will be like all other women in Yemen specially after I have a baby and all that made me even more determined, I got pregnant at my last year in college and I was so fit to the limit that a lot of my class mates didn't noticed that I was pregnant until my graduation when I was almost in my eighth month, I graduated had my exams and gave birth after 2 days from my last exam to beautiful healthy little girl and I was super health though I had difficult situation and had a C- Section and despite that I was totally fit after exactly 30 days and started my work immediately which is something I am totally proud of specially that I was living in Yemen.

The real change happened  when I moved to Poland, at the beginning with the move and everything I wasn't really cooking well and soon enough after few months I had belly fat and that was one of the NO NO NO for me, so I started working out hard at home and cooking healthy again, usually I cook healthy to gain weight because I am always under weight that was the first time in my life I was cooking and working out to loss fat, so I did it a little intense and with the right motivation and friends I started to get more and more into the world of real fitness and the results were amazing so I decided to make it my life style, not that I looked good in the outside but I felt good as well, after 3 months of moderate healthy eating and exercising I was looking at the mirror to somebody new, though I already said I was always skinny but I didn't feel good about my look, I was always conscious about everything and unhappy about myself  but after that 3 months I was happy looking at the mirror because I saw a healthy person that does not need make up to cover the exhaustion in their face or cover their body with clothes to hide unhealthy silhouette. 

Since then and that was two years ago; working out and eating healthy is irreplaceable part of my daily life and started to encourage my close friends to do the same and for a while before I move to Krakow we had our boot camp that was quite good for all of us. Soon enough as it happened with cooking I started to mix routines and workouts to get the best of it and now I have my own routines that make me fit all the time even when I have no time at all.

So now as a natural development for my love for food and health, I started to take nutrition classes to improve my understanding from a scientific point of view and this blog will be my tool to share my ideas about healthy eating and delicious food because I am pretty sure my facebook friends got really bored of me posting food pictures everyday so I will keep my food addiction and fitness passion in the right place, and I really hope it will make a difference in the life of even one person.

Ciao and soon coming with some recipes ;)