Do you want ideas for delicious, healthy and creative recipes? I’m still shocked that there are people who think that eating yummy things and enjoying it is incompatible with leading a healthy diet. I’d say it’s just the opposite: how good do healthy things taste!
Many of you ask me, when you see my food photos on instagram, for the recipes. And the truth is, they’re almost always recipes taken from other people, although sometimes I’ve adapted them. Over time, I want to create my own recipes. For now, I introduce you a selection of my 30 favorite recipes ever: 10 for breakfast (or snacks), 10 for lunch and 10 for dinner. Actually, the two last groups are interchangeable, I’ve just classified them by the moment of the day I ate them.
In order to make the selection easier, I’ve just chosen lunch and dinner recipes that can be used for a single course meal, that is, first + second. That way you don’t have to rack your brain thinking what to combine it with. I’ve also tried to search a balance between options with meat, fish, eggs and veggie proteins, so you can all find something you like. They appear in alphabetical order.
Clarifications
Don’t forget that you don’t need to follow a recipe to the letter. Don’t get discouraged if you click the link and see in the ingredients list something that doesn’t fit with your grocery shopping. For example, you can’t have all the kinds of flour at home, or all the dried fruits, or all the possible spices. But, if you like the recipe in general, try to do it with whatever you have, and usually it will end up just as good. Although sometimes it’s worthy to buy those ingredients so you discover new flavors!
Above all, feel free to adjust the amounts for these and other recipes you see across the Internet. The truth is some of them are ridiculously small, and the amounts suggested for 2 people (or even 4) would do for only 1. I used to struggle a lot when I had to eat more than what the recipe said, I felt I was overeating. But actually those amounts just show what other person has eaten at a certain moment, as part of a diet we won’t know. Numbers are mere guidelines and are most useful to determine the proportions, specially when it comes to baking.
The difficulty levels and cooking times are variable. A trick to make things easier a lot of times is to try to use the microwave instead of the oven, given that the plate size allows that.
This series
Another added difficulty may come from the language of the recipe, not so much for the names of the ingredients (which if you don’t know them can be translated without any problems) as for the different units of measure. That’s why I’ve not only translated the recipes in Spanish, but also converted the amounts to the imperial system for those of you who use it.
All photos are mine except when stated.
This post is the first one of a series of 3, that will be published on Tuesdays. Be on the lookout to discover ideas for lunch and dinner. Today we’re going to see recipes for breakfast and snacks, so as to start the series with sweetness.
Without further delay, let’s cook!
BREAKFAST/SNACK RECIPES
Almond biscotti (Directo al Paladar)
How could I not include an Italian style recipe to honor my roots!
Ingredients for 15-20 biscotti:
-2 big eggs
-130 g / 4,5 oz sugar
-1/2 tsp vanilla essence (optional)
-225 g / 8 oz flour
-1 tsp yeast
-1/2 tsp salt
-300 g / 10,5 oz whole raw almonds
Method:
-Preheat the oven at 180ºC / 356ºF and prepare a tray greasing it or covering it with parchment paper.
-Use a whisker to beat the eggs with the sugar, at high speed, for about 5 minutes, until it’s well thick. Add the vanilla essence and beat a bit more.
-Sieve over it the flour with the yeast and the salt, mixing well. Add the whole almonds, distributing them over the whole dough in an uniform way.
-Make a rectangle with the dough on the tray, of about 30 cm long. The dough must be very sticky, so it’s easier to place portions with a big spoon and then shape it with a dampened spatula. You should try to make it uniform.
-Bake for 20-25 minutes, until it’s very slightly brown and firm to touch. Wait a couple of minutes and let it cool down on a rack.
-Lower the heat to 160ºC / 320ºF. When the dough isn’t too hot, cut the biscotti using a good knife.
-Distribute them throughout the tray and bake again for 10 minutes. Flip and bake again, until brown. Let them cool totally on a rack.
Banana bread chickpea deep dish pizookie (It’s a Healthy Lifestyle)
The first time I heard the name “pizookie” was with this recipe. It stems from the mixture between pizza and cookie (although is more like the second!), so you can already imagine that it’s something wonderful.
Banana fudge bars (Better Being Steph)
You’ll see many recipes of this list carry banana. It’s great to give a sweet and creamy touch. Add chocolate and peanut butter to the mix and there’s no way a day that starts like this can be a bad day.
Carrot cake (Gym Virtual)
A pretty traditional sponge cake, but adding veggies. A wonderful mixture.
Ingredients:
-3 carrots
-3 eggs
-1 tbsp yeast
-100 ml / 0,4 cups olive oil
-2 yogurts
-1 tsp cinnamon
-200 g / 7 oz flour or whole wheat flour
-200 g / 7 oz sugar, brown sugar or 1 tbsp stevia
Method:
-Preheat the oven at 180ºC / 356ºF. Clean all the carrots well. Once cleaned, grate them in a bowl. Then, add the olive oil.
-Add the eggs, the sugar or stevia, the cinnamon and the yeast, and beat well with a whisker.
-Sieve the flour and add it while you stir the mixture.
-Add the yogurts.
-Once everything’s mixed, put it in a container or mold for sponge cakes, and bake it for about 40 minutes. When you poke the sponge cake with a toothpick, it should come out clean.
-Take it out of the oven, wait for it to cool down, and you can eat it. So yummy!
Carrot pancakes (1000 Fit Meals)
As with the cake we’ve just seen, it’s a way to eat veggies mixing it up a little bit. They truly go with everything 🙂
Ingredients for 1 pancake:
-1 medium carrot
-1 handful of toasted cashews
-1 tbsp of coconut flakes
-8-9 raisins
-3 egg whites
-A bit of cinnamon
-A bit of orange zest
Method:
-Blend the cashews, the raisins, the coconut flakes and 1 egg white. Add the 2 other egg whites while you blend, until you get a paste.
-Mince or grate the carrot. Add it, together with the cinnamon and the orange zest, and blend until you get an uniform dough.
-Put a drop of oil in a small anti-adherent frying pan over medium heat. Pour the dough and distribute it well so it covers all the bottom. Cover the frying pan.
-Wait a couple of minutes and turn the pancake with a wooden spatula. Turn the heat up a bit and wait for 1 more minute.
-We keep a bit of the dough and use it as topping. Cut the pancakes into 4 triangles and mount them one on top of the other with the topping between layers.
Chocolate chunk cookies (Starving to Strong)
Who said cookies couldn’t fit into a healthy diet? Of course they do, and what’s more, those are better than any others.
Cocoa mugcake with banana nice cream (Lidia Folgar)
A breakfast for the sweet-toothed, with several parts. Each one of them is delicious and the final result as a whole is deliciousness itself.
Cocoa and banana mugcake:
Ingredients:
-1 egg or 2 egg whites
-1/2 ripe banana
-2 tbsp oat flour
-1 tsp cocoa
-1 tsp yeast
-Optional: 2 drops of vanilla essence
-Optional: cocoa chips
Method:
-If we want the mugcake to be more spongey we’ll use 2 egg whites and whip them to stiff peaks. I use a whole egg because it takes me less time and for me the result is equally good.
-It’s as simple as blending well all the ingredients and placing them in a cup (try that the mixture isn’t above the middle of the cup). Put it in the microwave at maximum power (it’s better to place it in one side instead of in the middle so it turns). Turn it on for 30 seconds, stop and see if it’s ready. If it isn’t, put it 10 more seconds and stop again and do that over and over until you reach the desired consistency. To make sure, you might want to poke with a toothpick.
Banana nice cream:
Ingredients:
-1/2 ripe banana frozen in slices
Method:
-Blend the frozen banana when you’re going to eat it and shape it as a ball. It’s important to blend the banana at that moment, since if we were to freeze the banana already blended, we wouldn’t get the ice cream texture.
Cashew cream:
Ingredients:
-1 tbsp cashew butter. You can buy one that doesn’t have added sugars or make it at home by blending cashews. You could also use peanut, hazelnut or almond butter.
-A little stream of milk or veggie drink (almond, soy, coconut…).
Method:
-Mix the cashew butter with the milk or veggie drink and heat it up in the microwave. Stir until you get an uniform mixture of liquid consistency.
Pure chocolate syrup:
Ingredients:
-1 square of chocolate, minimum 85% cocoa.
-1 tbsp of milk or veggie drink.
Method:
-Melt the chocolate with the milk or veggie drink in the microwave, stopping every few seconds to stir. Add more or less milk until you get the desired consistency.
Now you just have to place on a plate the mugcake together with the nice cream and spill the cream and the syrup over them. Enjoy!
Microwaved banana bread with peanut butter, cocoa and berries (Lidia Folgar)
There are lots of variations of banana bread and it’s great because you can use it as a sponge cake, adding toppings like these ones, or slice it so you have your own healthy bread.
Ingredients for 4:
-2 eggs
-2 ripe bananas
-4 tbsp oat flour
-2 tbsp yeast
-1 tsp vinegar
-Peanut butter thinned in milk
-Cocoa diluted in milk
-Berries (blackberries, blueberries, raspberries)
Method:
-Mix the eggs, the bananas, the oat flour, the yeast and the vinegar with a blender.
-Place the mixture in a silicon mold and put it in the microwave 5 minutes.
-Add the toppings.
Oats, cinnamon and apple fitness sponge cake (Directo al Paladar)
You need to try this to start the day. I’ve tried quite a lot of different sponge cakes since I began recovery and it’s been hard to select the best ones. If this one has passed the test, it’s for something.
Ingredients for 10 units:
-20 egg whites
-1 egg
-250 g / 8,8 oz oats
-2 tbsp cinnamon
-Sweetener
-2 peeled and sliced apples
-1 yogurt
-1 package yeast
Method:
-Peel and slice the apples. In order to avoid the slices to become black, you can sprinkle them with a bit of lemon juice. Don’t be afraid of the taste the lemon might leave in the apples, it will give them a delicious touch.
-Then, place in a blender the egg whites, the egg, the oats, the cinnamon, the sweetener, the yogurt and the yeast package and blend until you’ve got an uniform mixture, that will have a pretty liquid texture.
-Grease a mold for the oven, square or rectangular, with a bit of oil. Pour the mixture into the mold and distribute the apple slices over it.
-Bake in an oven preheated at 180ºC / 356ºF for about 45 minutes or until when you poke the cake with a toothpick it comes clean. Take the cake out of the oven and let it cool down before cutting it.
Oats, cinnamon and vanilla pancakes (Lidia Folgar)
As we saw with the carrot ones, pancakes are great for a special breakfast and, since they’re made in frying pans, they don’t require as much preparation as sponge cakes, but they can be made at the moment that you want to eat them.
Ingredients for 5 pancakes:
-1 glass of oats
-1 ripe banana
-1 egg and 2 egg whites
-1/2 tsp yeast
-Cinnamon and vanilla essence
-Topping: peanut butter thinned in milk.
Method:
-Blend all the ingredients.
-Make the pancakes in a frying pan.
-Cover with the topping.
Yummm… They’re all delicious! If you decide to try any of these recipes, please upload it to instagram and tag me (@swallow_the_world). And remember soon you’ll have available the lunch and dinner recipes ranking.
Bon appetit!