A 5 month recap & a simple, wholesome veggie soup

Seems like at least every 6th of the month, when Zoe turns another month older, I finally kick my a** and sit down to blog. It’s a nice opportunity for myself to reflect and recap, to rethink what inspired my, when I was struggling or what particularly went well…

The highlight of the last month was definitely my birthday. Yep, I’m 36 now and I must say it doesn’t feel bad at all. Actually I must even say that I even think this was my loveliest bday ever! I’ver never felt so happy and content within myself.. I got married to the love of my life, we’re blessed with our cutest baby girl, we’re all healthy, live in a safe place, have a wonderful family and circle of friends and don’t have any financial problems. Not only marriage and motherhood but also the current events around us like wars, refugees and young people around us who get cancer, – they all remind me everyday how lucky we are and how grateful we can be. It makes me reflect even more often and reminds me to be aware of all these little things which we often take for granted – until something happens. Let’s not wait too long, let’s practice this gratitude every day and enjoy the wonderful moments of our life as often as we can!! Life is full of them 🙂 Be it a ferry ride in the lovely winter sunshine to Valletta, when you get your ID card without any hassle, when my hubby Paul sends me an unexpected love message, when baby Zoe manages to turn from her belly to her back (maybe 1 out of 10 times atm 😉 – how I admire her for her persistency!) or when people I meet somewhere tell me that they read my blog and really like it, like this morning at our parentcraft reunion at hospital.

New ID card – check – whoowhoo!

One of the many moments I’m always super happy is our weekly post-natal yoga class at freemyme in Sliema. I’ve been mentioning yoga on my blog many times and I won’t get tired of recommending it to anyone, wherever you are as it’s just creating such a wonderful, positive energy – not only for me, but also for Zoe, I can truly feel it when we do our asanas (poses), the way our day goes after, how well she sleeps etc. I can only recommend it to any mummy of a baby! Once they start crawling it’s too late so better use the chance to do it now 🙂

Little Yogi

What I also appreciate and experience a lot these days is the wonderful bond of mummy friends. I remember when I was pregnant I was a bit worried as most of my friends, although some of them have small children, are working full-time and I was scared to be alone all the time once the baby is born. As usual, there was no reason to worry. There is something true about the saying Cross that bridge when you get there. The universe will always offer plenty of opportunities to grab, be it new friends you make in one of the many baby classes, former parentcraft participants but also acquaintances you knew before but became closer, now you share the adventure of being a mummy. It’s beautiful to observe how these relationships can grow and it can never do any harm to either share your worries, provide an ear to listen to someone or simply do something fun together with the little ones. So thank you to all of you out there ❤

This week I visited a new-mummy friend who just gave birth to a little gorgeous baby girl. With loving memories and almost a bit nostalgic I was thinking back of these first special weeks and how loved and pampered I felt when friends came to visit me and brought me food, sweets or anything else around. As a dear friend and yoga teacher of mine always says Love is a circle – it was time to give back! So, I decided to make a big pot of hearty and vitamin packed veggie soup with my freshly delivered organic veg from Organic House (thanks to Ruth, who comes for home delivery every Wednesday!), some replenishing wheatgrass (thank you to my GreenPanda friends for your latest parcel!), a taster of my Earl Grey Orange porridge in a jar and of course some sweets and tea. The soup was rather simple, still my friend really liked it and asked me for the recipe so I tried to sit down and write it down. So there we go…

New-mummy-goodie bag

Wholesome, hearty veggie soup

This recipe doesn’t contain any specific amounts as you can just take equal amounts of different saisonal vegetables, so just play with it. I’d always recommend to include potatoes to make it more filling but if you don’t have any at hand you can always add some small wholemeal pasta, cooked brown rice, or any other grains like quinoa buckwheat or millet later. Talking of these grains, it’s always handy to have some prepared in the fridge so you can use them for soups, warm breakfasts or salads during the week. Even different kinds of beans will work and give you a nice portion of protein like canellini, chickpeas, you name it!

So this time I took equal amounts of potatoes, fennel, leek, carrots and chard but like any other leafy greens only add them for the last couple of minutes when the rest of the veg is already cooked. We don’t want to lose these lovely vitamins! Experiment and get what’s seasonal and local. Anything else will just work as fine (think pumpkin, broccoli, kale, peas, beans etc.)

What you need..

Equal amounts of veg (as described above)
1 filling ingredient carb or protein (as described above)
Water
Olive Oil
Bayleaf
Rock or sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Herb & flower mix (I took one of my favorite Austrian organic mixes from Sonnentor called guardian angel – check it out if you speak German, unfortunately their English language version doesn’t seem to work at the moment) but you can also add some of the spices separately like coriander, ginger, mint, garlic, orange peel, cumin, curcuma, sage, paprika, rosemary and sage amongst others.

What to do..

Start with prepping all veg, wash, chop and trim them all in nice bite sized pieces. I personally like to scrub organic veg thoroughly instead of peeling as the skin contain many precious minerals and vitamins. Heat up a generous splash of olive oil on medium heat and start frying the hardest veg, add herbs, add the rest of the veggies (apart from the leafy greens) and fill it up with water so the veg is covered. Cook gently for about 30min, stir occasionally. Taste a bit and season. Last but not least add your pre-cooked grains or beans if you chose to add them.

To make it a bit more decadent add nice shavings of parmesan or a poached egg.

Bon appetite & feel the good energy flow in your veins and dummy 🙂

I guess that’s it for today! Wishing you all a lovely new month ahead & happy 5 month to our little sunshine Zoe – we love you to the moon an back!

Nadine xx

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Ready to start into an alkalizing spring?!

As I told you a bit earlier this week on my blog’s Facebook page I have some new ideas and resolutions coming up for this spring. We all know spring time is cleansing time and the meteorological date of spring reminds me painfully that bikini season is just around the corner. I am not a fan of diets though, nor of starving – not, at all! But since I experimented with an alkalizing, anti-inflammatory detox last year and just felt great, different things made me come up with a plan:

1) An awesome book which I got for my bday from a lovely friend (who also does amazing vegan catering btw, check out Billie D. if you live in Malta): Crazy Sexy Diet (by Kriss Carr) which explains all advantages of switching to an anti-anti-inflammatory, alkalizing lifestyle in a great way of storytelling. (Some of her principles can be found in this article)

2) Another amazing book, which came some weeks later – also a belated bday pressie from my dear friend C <3. Aren’t my friends just awesome?! It’s called Honestly Healthy (by Natasha Corrett and Vicki Edgson) – similar principle, easy explanations and mouthwatering recipes and photography (more info on their website)

3) As mentioned above: holy moly – summer is coming in big steps!! And at least for me it’s high time to red rid of some extra warming winter kilos!

Therefore, you’re cordially invited to join me on some weeks of good intentions for great health 😀 The principle is easy: eat as much alkalizing foods as somehow possible (at least 60, ideally 80%) and try to skip or at least minimize (let’s stay realistic 😉 the bad stuff such as refinded sugar, wheat, alcohol, coffee and ready prepared, processed food which often contain unhealthy fats, artificial flavors and taste enhancers. Instead of that there will be green smoothies, juices, yummy soups and salads and even deserts – but made in a healthy guilt free way! Combined with gentle exercise (I love my yoga for instance) this will be a great experience for your body, your mind and your health in the long run.

But what does this mean and what is it for?? By changing your normal eating habits and including more raw foods you will automatically focus on foods that decrease inflammation in your body. As some of you might know most nowadays diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart problems etc. come from inflammation. So it’s a long term investment in your health, in yourself, in your future! For more details on the alkalizing & anti-inflammatory principle do your research via the web or get one of the books mentioned above which I like even better as you can always reread and refer to it. Anyhow for some basic explanations and web tips check out my first detox article of last year, for a review of my last detox read the last one with all conclusions)

Today we start with a lovely light and healthy dinner. After a beautiful class of yoga (thanks MichelleBartoloYoga!) there’s nothing better than a yummy healthy meal, already prepared and waiting for you. To make my life easier we stocked up the fridge with tons of greens & veg like spinach, coriander, mint, rucola, broccoli, cucumbers, leeks, carrots and so on. With a full fridge like this, tonight’s soup is not only extremely easy to make, but also super delicious.

All you need…

Some broccholi stalks (never throw them away!), carrots, leek, turnip cabbage, yeast free vegetable stock, himalayan salt, some turmeric, curry powder, Asafoetida (?), cumin, some coconut oil

Optional: add some precooked quionoa or millet, fresh herbs like parsley or coriander, a squeeze of lemon or lime in the end.

What to do….

Chop up all veg and roast it a bit on low temperature in coconut oil, fill up with a bit of water so it’s only covered. Let it simmer for a bit so the veg gets some bite. Add the spices, stock cube and himalayan salt. Then top up with a bit more water and let it simmer gently for another 10-15 min. Season to taste.
If you like more substance add some healthy grains like quinoa or millet.
Garnish with fresh herbs and enjoy!

Talk to you soon – and whoever is up for joining me on some healthy weeks, let’s connect and motivate eachother!

Perfect fingerfood for your holiday buffet.

It’s holiday time and New Year’s Eve is just around the corner! If you’re still looking for some nice party food check out this recipe which was the star of our Christmas party. The muffins are easy and look lovely, especially if you use baking paper instead of paper cups and then tie some thread after they come out of the oven =)
(Recipe adapted from the German magazine Freundin.)

TOMATOE CHEESE MUFFINS

What you need…..
(Makes 12 muffins)

1 box of cherry tomatoes (keep the green stalks), washed & halfed
120g grated cheese (we used a quite savory mountain cheese, but also Gruyere or Parmigiano works)
250g curd cheese
80ml olive oil
75ml milk
300g plain flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
6 thin slices of parma ham, diced OR for a vegetarian version use the same amount of sundried tomatoes or olives
Salt, Pepper & dried herbs like rosemary, oregano, marjoram

What to do….
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Mix the curd cheese, eggs, oil, salt, pepper, dried herbs. Then add the flour, baking powder, grated cheese, diced parma ham and so it becomes a nice (quite sticky) dough. If you don’t have a silicone muffin tin, fill muffin pan with paper baking cups or baking paper like I did and fill the cake mixture into the baking cups. Top with a tomatoe half and bake them for 25min.

Vegetarian version: just replace the parma ham with sun-dried tomatoes or olives.

With or without muffins, I hope you enjoy the final spurt of the holiday season & spend some fun time with your beloved ones ❤

Happy New Year!!
Nadine xx

memories of summer cooking…

sadly but truly summer is coming to an end… nevertheless it’s still warm and humid and the veggies super tasty & delicious! at least the changing weather brings me back on the sofa for some blogging again… so have a look and click on each pic to get more details on the corresponding dish!