#hazelnuts #cocoa #vanilla #chocolate

..Really, can you go wrong with those hashtags?! :D 

This recipe is modified from the original one from Chocolate Covered Katie's site (http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2011/11/06/one-minute-chocolate-cake/). I absolutely love her web site, it is packed with amazing and inspiring recipes! Only one small minus is that some of the ingredients are american and hard to get here in Europe and Scandinavia. But I suppose you can nowadays order pretty much anything online. Also the measurements are in cups which is a different system than we use in Finland. So that has taken some time for me to get used to. Now I know 0,5 cup is app. 1dl / 100mll ;)

But, I can't get over how EASY this lovely cakey is! Plus it's actually made in the microwave!! Quite often I have this treat with my afternoon coffee. As a freelancer musician I spend a lot fo time inside my house for example writing sheet music, sorting emails, and practicing my instrument. So sometimes I start to feel like the walls are falling over on me ;D At those moments a sweet little chocolate cake is the perfect thing to pick me up and return "back to the earth" :3  

CHOCOLATE CAKE IN MICROWAVE

2 tbsp Spelt flour OR Almond flour for gluten free

1 tbsp Cocoa powder (raw cocoa powder is always better but a "normal" one will do as well)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 Banana (about 45gr) --> Mashed; I just squash it with a fork

2 tbsp Almond milk (or any kind of "milk", dairy on non-dairy)

1 tbsp Stevia / Agave nectar / Honey --> Liquid sweetener of your choice. NOTE if you're using powdered stevia add more other liquid

Vanilla essance or powder

Tiny bit of salt

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/view/137593093902317

148 kcal, 30gr carbs

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl. Even the batter itself looks (and tastes) amazing! You can spray one doze of the 1kcal spray to a mug or a small bowl, and then just pour the mix into it. Microwave for 1-1,5min (60-90 sec.). The cake should come out of the mug easily, give a little help with a spoon.

FROSTING

1 tbsp Hazelnut butter

1 tbsp Caco powder

1 Tbs Agave nectar / Maple syrup / Honey --> liquid sweetener of your choice.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/view/137593098096493

140 kcal, 8gr carbs

LIGHT VERSION

1 tbsp Caco powder

1 Tbs Agave nectar / Maple syrup / Honey --> liquid sweetener of your choice.

40 kcal, 8gr carbs

Mix everything in a small bowl (same you used for the batter :) until the texture becomes "runny". With hazelnut butter the consistency will obviously be thicker, and without it's more like a chocolate sauce. When everything is ready, pour/scoop the frosting over the cake and enjoy with berries!

This treat is relatively filling, since it does have spelt flour in it. So even though it's healthy and home made, it fills you up very similar way as a "normal cake". This is just a pimped version towards a healthier option. Plus you won't end up making a whole cake or a pan of brownies.. Because I myself for sure would eat all of it or at least as much as I could. When it comes to treats, I have no self control! 

I'm getting so annoyed every time I read articles etc saying "one piece of dark chocolate per day will keep the sugar cravings away". DOESN'T WORK! I have tried it! And btw, where am I supposed to find a place that sells (quality) dark chocolate one piece at a time?! :D Not here in Kilkenny anyway. So then you have to buy a whole bar of chocolate and the truth is, that the bar wold be gone latest the next day!! So you're better off making a single portion treat so they won't be lurking around the house and tempting you to eat them. (yes treats have super powers and they can manipulate your brain to eat them). At least for me the old saying goes without a doubt - if there is no treats in the house, I won't end up eating them! If I have little stacks around the house, for sure my hands will be reaching for them multiple times a day.   

My boyfriend has an amazing digestion and he can eat anything without putting on weight. *sigh*. He buys cookies, white bread and other "treats" for himself and I have to work really hard not to eat them too! Especially when my blood sugar goes down and I feel like I just want to eat EVERYTHING around me and especially carbs - bread, pastries, chocolate, any fast carbs really. Although the best things to get your sugar up fast would be juice, glucose tablets and fizzy drinks. It's just hard sometimes when you wake up in the middle of the night shaking with a low sugar and it's so easy to just grab the bread loaf and eat away. Lately my balance has been much better thou and I haven't had many lows, which is amazing. I will be writing more about that later :) xoxo

The legendary Betty Crocker.. I once used this for frosting, and then the next day ate the rest of it straight from the can! 

Ah this little cutie is so much better for you than Betty & friends :)

Chocolate sauce version

This one was left in the microwave for a little bit too long :( 

But still tasted amazing :)

Another one made with peanut butter instead of hazelnuts

My Finnish cats Hilma and Vikke are relaxing. Their lives are so tough you know!

Vikke is taking it handy <3

Pan cakes, SWEET pancakes!

Now we're at my favorite topic! Pan cakes! Pan cakes are über fashionable in the fitness world at the moment. They're even selling protein pan cake mix in a bag. I'm sure they're grand and ok, but I haven't tried them yet. Usually there is always some semi suspicious ingredients in them after all. And the carb counting from a product like that is just so tiring and frustrating! 

See every single time a diabetic eats he/she has to count the carbohydrates, which determines the amount of insulin you have to take for the food you've eaten. Every person has their own ratio for that, and the calculating has to be EXACTLY correct, otherwise you can suffer for that for  even a few days afterwards. So better just stick to making things from the scratch yourself so at least you know exactly what you're putting down in your mouth :) 

But back to the pan cakes. They are jus so incredibly handy, diverse and fun form of food! You can literally put anything in them. You can eat them sweet or savory. Often when you think of pan cakes the image you have is a shmoking pan with a litre of butter or oil reeking in it. BUT, if you own a good Teflon pan and a bottle of the 1kcal spray, even the pan cakes turn into healthy treats! 

I eat pan cakes pretty much every morning. They just combine so handy all the stuff you need for breakfast: carbs, protein and berries. Another option would be an omelet or scrambled eggs, and porride with berries. Same ingredients in both. Somehow though the pan cakes do bring some luxury to the every day life, like if you where having a treat day every day?! I'm eating treats, but not really?! It's like cheating our brain a little bit ;)

I will be sharing my multiple pan cake recipes along as I keep writing. Here is one super basic idiot-proof recipe that is guaranteed to work!

PAN CAKES

0,25 cup Rye flour (or ground rye porridge flakes)

0,25 cup Oat flour (or ground oat porridge flakes)

0,75 - 1 cup Water (depends on how thick you want the batter)

And that's it. 

Well ok you can add i.e. these too: 

Baking powder

Stevia (for sweetness)

Vanilla essence 

Cinnamon

Then just fry away on a medium heat, and when finished top with delicious berries! This pan cake recipe has about (just the pan cakes) 176kcal. Berries in general have 32kcal/100gr. So it is a very light breakfast, but ahh so yummy!!

Traditional pan cake made with the recipe above

Alpro soy custard on top

Yoghurt pan cake with tofu-ricotta chocolate cream

Traditional pan cake from a different angle

Vanilla swirl

Perfection!

A blond pan cake from spelt and oats

Pan cake art

This pan cake had a rough one last night

Apple pan cake

Yoghurt ricotta pan cake. A very beautiful looking one if I might add!

Super thin crepes with maple syrup! nooommmm

HELLO!

Apple pan cake

And another such PERFECT pan cake! Everyone knows the _massive_ satisfaction you get from creating a perfect pan cake! The roundness, the lace pattern on top, flipping without the pan cake getting stuck..Ahh!

American style big pan cakes

My Finnish cat Vikke is dreaming of pan cakes! Probably filled with fresh fish and mice ;) yak!

Healthy Burgers

I’m starting my first post in a paleo-ish spirit! Healthy burgers are just so awesome I can’t even.. And they are exactly that healthy and wholesome everyday food that makes a difference in our lifestyle. Being healthy is often all about really small choices and using your imagination a bit.  For example leaving all the processed stuff at the store and replace them with better options. I myself am really lazy when it comes to cooking, I just can't be bothered to use hours for preparing things. So one absolute condition in my recipes is that they are fast to make! I hope that my culinary realizations give inspiration and ideas to other people with busy and hectic lives :) You want be able to live a healthy lifestyle without using hours for it every day ;)

So with these burgers I made everything from the sratch, including the bread rolls and guacamole. And for someone so impatient like me that’s very good. Partly I think it was because I wanted to impress my bf, who is pretty “basic” when it comes to food ;) All kinds of salads and “rabbit food” is just not interesting to him. So proving that you can have really tasty burgers that are even better than in Supermacs or Burger King, was a tall order! But here’s how:

BREAD ROLLS
2 cup Spelt Flour
1,5 cup Rye Flour
2 cup Water
1 bag dried yeast (if you want, not necessary). -> I don’t care for yeast myself. Baking powder works too!
Salt
Sugar (a little)

Mix everything together and mold the bread rolls to the baking sheet. Bake in the oven in 200c for about 20-30 min until they have a lovely golden color.

Meat, hmmmm!!

BURGERS
Extra lean beef steak mince (95%)
Onion, chopped and sweated
Seasoning (salt, pepper, white pepper, oregano, basil, garlic.. no limitations!)
1 Egg OR few Egg Whites

Mix ingredients together and mold the burgers. Fry them in a grill, oven or pan. I myself use the genius George Foreman grill that takes out all the extra fat from the meat. I’m madly in love with it. For frying on a pan I use the 1kcal spray.

George, you grill designing genius 

BREAD ROLLS (Gluten free)
1 Cauliflower Head
0,5 cup Almond Flour
1 Egg OR few egg whites
Seasoning

Cut out the cauliflower heads. Chop finely, and put in a microwave for a minute. That will make the cauliflower softer and easier to handle. Put all ingredients into a blender, and mix. Then mold the patties and bake in the oven or in the pan. Oven takes longer, about 20-30min in 200c, depending on the oven. 

The cauliflower burger in the pic was a little bit burnt, but the taste was good!

FILLINGS
Tomato (works grilled as well, yum)
Salad
Spinach
Cucumber
Red Onion
Pan fried onions (nom!)
Avocado (squashed, with lemon juice, salt, pepper, garlic)
Feta cheese (light)
Cottage cheese
Ricotta
Basil

.. And so on! Let me know if you think I forgot something on the list :)

*Few of these bad boys and omg you’re gonna feel so full!*

You can fry everything with these lads

Evidence: Even my bf liked them! He did add mayo, ketchup and normal cheese, but other than that he gave these healthy burgers an A+ :)) Mission accomplished!

Cauliflower version

More raw meat! Yum!

Burger Buffet. Ah I'm becoming so hungry looking at this picture!