Give Me Bananas

 

Welcome to Creux du Van

 

But more about that in a second..

First of all I want to let you know that Silvio and I got a baby!!!

 

No, not that kind of baby.

That kind of baby:

(Excuse the quality.. It was late last night.

We admired the little one until almost 1am which resulted in me looking like this today:

Yeah I know, I like my sexy panda eyes too. After all.. bruised eyes are hot, aren’t they?

 

But I’m getting ahead of myself again! So let’s start with today, ok?

Hiking needs good fuel and so I made a HUGE porridge for breakfast today. Into the mix went 1 c water, 1/2 c oats, 1/2 c rice milk and 1 scoop protein powder.

Toppings: Hemp seeds, flax seeds and 1 tbsp almond butter

I almost couldn’t finish it all. Almost.

 

We met up with two of my best friends, Livia and Daniela at 9am-ish at the train station.

 

Awww I love them! Livia is on the left and I’ve know her since before kindergarten! Daniela lived in the neighbour village and went to our school from 5th grade on. They’ve been two of my closest friends for years. You won’t be able to find people more kind and wonderful than them.

 

We headed to a place called Noiraigue (French pronunciation! ) where the route started.

 

 

I wish I would look that fresh-faced in the morning!!!

 

Hmmm which way?

 

Hiking is my favourite activity next to running and yoga. It’s so liberating and calming! I have no idea why “people of my age” aren’t that into it.

 

A quick explanation about our outfit: It dropped from 30+ C° (86F°) to 20C° (68F°) within TWO days over here. I really enjoyed the constant summer heat so the temperature change was a bit of a shock. It was also pretty windy up there.

Hikeface:

The force was with me today.

 

Hiking company!

 

Yes we also hiked, we didn’t only pose for photos..

 

 

The trail was absolutely beautiful..

 

Even though it was so gloomy we couldn’t help but admire the view. I feel very touristy in Switzerland sometimes .

 

After 1,5h we reached the top! It was absolutely scary up there (I’m terrified of height) but the view was still breathtaking.

 

That dude was brave..

 

He too:

 

This is my very first food photo with our new camera. I know, it’s not utterly fascinating but that wrap was great nevertheless . I also had some banana, cucumber, pepper, 2 grapes (hehe) and cookies. Starving Karin!

 

 

(I think I like him)

 

I bet she’ll hate me for posting this but I love how “authentic” it looks

 

 

We posed some more because the sun decided to show up. For 15 seconds or so.

 

And then we walked back down…

I hate walking downhill! It always kills my legs.

 

We also made a necessary stop for hot chocolate. Great for the soul!

 

 

And then we were back down again.

I can’t believe that my first hike this summer was this late. But it was a day worth remembering.

Now I can barely keep my eyes open.

Good night!!

 

Q: Tell me about your favourite hiking adventures! (Ok that wasn’t really a question but hey.. I’m tired! )

Hej!

Work was.. intense. And even though I should be completely knackered I’m feeling kind of fine right now. Granted, it’s only 9pm. We’ll see how it looks like in an hour.

It’s kind of odd to work 12 days straight without a break but so far it hasn’t been too bad. I’m only half way through though so we better wait until Thursday before I say something. Hehe.

 

I got some sweets though!!

Macaroons to be precise.

I don’t mind working for food. Not at all.

 

For some reason I don’t really know what I should  write about. Today was so.. unspectacular. Nothing else besides work happened!

I have a picture of my lunch but I’m pretty sure you’ve seen salad and quinoa before.

Hum hum hum…

Lalalaaa.

 

Maybe I should just go and grab a book, I feel like there’s nothing smart coming out of me today. I am pretty sure that this post won’t get a spot in the top 100 blog posts of 2010.

 

Q:Do you sometimes feel like you have nothing to talk about? I talked to my boyfriend on the phone earlier and I had no idea what to talk about. “Hmm. Yes work was busy…. How was paragliding?”. A chair would probably be more entertaining than me right now.

 

Happy Saturday you non-boring people!

 

Even though we have an amazing farmer’s market in Bern I have to admit that I rarely go there.
Come on! Who am I? Isn’t it the “it-thing” of the health food bloggers? Shame on me!

Well after a long absence I steered to the organic veggies on Saturday. I now only have one zucchini, some radishes, half a head of cauliflower and some celery stalks left. And it’s only Tuesday. I guess I’ll have to go there again tomorrow!

 

My two day long absence can be explained quite easily. I spent the entire Sunday checking my boyfriend’s thesis for grammar mistakes. I now know everything about electrical engineering. Yep.

We worked until 11pm and was really lacking sleep. That’s why I decided to take yesterday evening off. I had dinner, read my book and went to bed at 10pm. Heaven!

 

Random fact of the day #1:

I’m slowly eating my way through the bars I got in London.

 

Random fact of the day #2:

Eating hot oats on a hot day really isn’t cool (ha!). I somehow don’t seem to have any conventional breakfast food on hand.

Tomorrow I’ll make a COLD smoothie.

 

Brace yourself, tonight’s dinner was beyond (!!!) creative.

Tam tam taaaaam…..

I’d say that this is a meal to remember!

JK. Do I really need to mention that I felt like a lazy bum tonight?

 

Have I ever told you that I HATE gyms in the evening? They’re so crowded! I still went to my gym after work though

I usually go to the gym in the morning which I like so much better (even though it means that I have to get up earlier). There aren’t many people around and the free weights section isn’t “filled with testosterone” (if you know what I mean ).

Today I did a very basic HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) on the treadmill:

• 5 min warm-up run
• 1 min sprint
• 2 min run/jog
• repeat sprint and jog 6x
• 10 min cool down jog

(Try doing 5-8 sets)

I hate interval training and feel like dying the entire time but I somehow start to like HIITs because they make time fly by. Also, they’re fantastic if you have little time and want to make the most of your workout.

 

Time to do some yoga now!

 

Q: Do you know/like/hate/?? HIITs?

 

What is it about this day that makes me so H.A.P.P.Y.?

It might be because it’s the weekend. Or because I finished the cleanse.

 

Speaking of it.. Here’s how the last day went:

Breakfast started off with soy yogurt, sliced banana & nectarine and hemp & chia seeds.

Oh and almond butter. Let’s not forget about the almond butter.

 

Surprise surprise it didn’t hold me over for too long and so I had some blueberries and an egg.

Still hungry. Grr!

I basically ran to the health food store to get some tofu and veggies to throw together a salad for lunch. Then I grabbed my food, book and a chair and enjoyed my lunch outside. At least until some dude started mowing the grass. Oh the joy!

Yes, that’s a close up of tofu.

 

Work – snack on apple and AB – work…

 

For dinner I dug out some frozen food – millet with chickpeas, carrots, onion and raisins that I made some time ago. I forgot how amazing this dish is! Need to make that again soon.
On the side I had some edamame. I love edamame.

Kinda look like grandma edamame though.

 

…And then I had dessert.

 

Oh my freaking goodness!!

Well I will tell you all about my baked baby tomorrow but let me just say that this was so good (and perfectly cleanse-friendly).

 

But how did the cleanse make me feel?

Well, as expected, I didn’t feel much different. I mentioned before that I mostly eat that way anyway so it wasn’t a “real” cleanse for my body. However, I noticed the following things:

• No bloating, weird feeling whatsoever
• No chocolate cravings
• “Clear skin”-feeling

Well the last point surprised me. It felt like my skin could breathe (!?!?). Has anyone ever felt like that before? I didn’t particularly feel more energized but my skin felt (and still feels!) great.
What shocked me lots though was that I didn’t miss chocolate. So strange!

 

Got to go now! Will meet up with my friend Christine for dinner at Punkt. I think I’m going to order the Pad Thai .

 

Q: Favourite cookbook? It’s some sort of an out of the blue question but I was just wondering..

Have a GREAT Friday!

 

It’s been a rough day so I’ll keep this short and sweet.

 

Even though it’s been incredibly hot in the past few days I was craving oatmeal for breakfast. Talk about weird. That’s like taking an ice bath in the depth of winter.

1/3 c oatmeal, 2/3 c rice milk, 1/3 c water, cinnamon, 1 sliced banana / topped with hemp seeds and 1 tsp almond butter

 

Work was incredibly busy and I snacked on an apple mid-morning. –>Nothing exciting happened here .

It’s been so nice out so I’ve been eating my lunches outside for the past few days, while reading Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series. It’s so relaxing!

For lunch today I had a huge salad (lettuce, carrots, broccoli and an egg) and some blueberries and an other egg on the side (I actually prefer eating eggs on their own and not particularly in salads).

Sunshine sunshine, I love you.

 

Unfortunately I had to go back inside and continue working. Oh sometimes I really hate being a grown up. Work continued to be crazy (I’m currently organizing things for a small exhibition and it’s driving me NUTS!) but I snacked on a nectarine in between.

I really needed to go on a run and clear my mind after work, so I ate a dried date because I was feeling tired and hungry– I believe that dates are the perfect pre-exercise snacks if you only need a small boost of energy.

 

Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE red lentils? They’re exactly what food should be like – nutritious and delicious!

I cooked 1/2 dry lentils in water with a bit of salt and served them with baked sweet potato “fries” and steamed broccoli & savoy cabbage.

 

 

I feel like I’m going to explode now.

 

Workouts of the day:

- 1 hr Tracy Anderson Method Mat Workout DVD (will write a review soon)  before breakfast
- 40 min run (don’t know how far I ran because I didn’t wear my Garmin) after lunch

 

I will probably finish watching “Narnia: Prince Caspian” and then do some yoga before hitting the hay.

 

Hope your Wednesday was good too!

 

My friend Kirsty told me yesterday about a cleanse she’ll do, starting today. It’s quite simple: Lots of veggies, grains, protein in form of fish, chicken, eggs and tofu. Well I don’t eat chicken or fish (and neither does she) but decided to join her. Mainly because I like “experiments” like these –> Challenges that aren’t too challenging .

I don’t expect it to make me feel completely different because it’s only for three days and I usually eat the same food anyway (I just have to give up on wheat, chocolate and dairy – which is easy since I can live a few days without bread, pasta and chocolate and I rarely eat dairy anyway).

But yeah, I’m doing a “cleanse”.

Tam Tam Tam

When people hear that word they first think of ridiculous juice fasts or other silly things (master cleanse anyone?). I don’t believe in starving, even if you’ll feel “great” afterwards. Fasts/Cleanses that are based on juices might be do-able for some people but not for me. I like chewing.

So in spirit of the cleanse I decided to turn this blog into a food journal for three days. Are you ok with this?

Yes?

Good.

Breakfast was a massive bowl of cold oatmeal (1/3 c oatmeal cooked with 1 c water and ½ banana the night before) with soy yogurt, the other half of the banana, hemp seeds and blueberries (as well as two lone raspberries). You know, I REALLY don’t like berries in hot oatmeal. Something about that bitterness makes me gag. In fact, the only fruit I like in hot oatmeal is banana.

 

Mid-morning snack was a wonderful nectarine that was incredibly sexy to eat.

(It kind of pretends to be an apple in this picture.)

 

Ok, I know that white rice is like blasphemy in the healthy food blogger world but my boss and co. had a lunchtime meeting and my colleague and I decided to order sushi as well. That was last week when I didn’t know anything about that cleanse back then. Oh well. It was a huge but great lunch . (And actually also completely fine with the cleanse rules)

 

I had another “impossible-to-eat-in-front-of-other-people” afternoon snack. Watermelon. Hot.

 

No surprise that the watermelon left me starving when I got back home so I nibbled on some gluten free & vegan crackers that I recently found at the organic food store.

Oh god. I’m addicted. I had approximately 3x of what’s shown above.

 

Dinner was with my sister Selina before Pilates class. We went to the good old tibits and I got all sorts of yummy things and a green juice!

 

Workout for the day:

-1 h pilates class
-lots of walking (actually more than usual..)

 

Other “rules” of the cleanse are as follows (in case you were wondering):

 

How to eat
*Meals should be regular – three a day, and a mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack.
*Eat moderate helpings of good lean protein with main meals: fish, eggs, chicken, tofu
*Dandelion coffee, ginger (in tea or added to juice of food) and nettle tea all good for cleansing/supporting the liver.

NO to
alcohol
processed food (except tofu)
no sugar
no red meat
no caffeinated drinks
no wheat or dairy
very little salt

Yes to:
drink at least 2 litres of water/herbal tea a day
eat plenty of vegetables except white potatoes
good veg for detox = artichokes, beetroot, bean and seed sprouts, carrots, pumpkin, red cabbage, spinach, sweet potato, tomato, watercress
Cruciferous veg = broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, brussel sprouts – important in supporting the key conjugation pathway to the liver
Eat fruit. Esp good for detoxing – apples, fresh apricots, berries, cantaloupe, melon, citrus, kiwi, papaya, peaches, mango and dark grapes.
Grains – a half tennis ball sized helping of brown rice, corn, millet, oats or quinoa
Pulses
Nut & seeds (great for snacks with some fruits)
Oils – use extra virgin olive oil or flaxseed oil.
LEMON WATER

Each morning, start the day with half a lemon squeezed into a glass of hot water.

Here’s how Day 1 is supposed to look like: (The other days are really similar)

Day 1
First thing: Lemon water
before you shower or bathe: – skin brushing
During the day : a brisk walk to help circulation
Treatment Body scrub
Bed: Try to be in bed by 10pm- read or listen to restful music if you can’t sleep

Dang. No skin brushing was done. And it’s already 10:41pm. Oops! Time to go to bed!

Q: What do you think of cleanses? Ok I’ll admit it; it’s quite silly to call this (in my case) a cleanse since I mainly eat that way anyway. However, I’ll just take it as a chance to be more aware of what I eat – in a good way. Sometimes I nibble on things mindlessly – who doesn’t? – but it’s nice to focus on good food for a few days.
As for cleanses: I’m not a huge fan (since I’m lacking major will power). Other reasons for my dislike are stated above

 

My sister is the cutest person on earth. Though she’ll probably kill me if she sees that I posted this pic on my blog. Oh well.

 

My bike ride back home yesterday was quite a success! I only got lost twice and bravely fought against the wind. It didn’t feel like a workout but I was a sweaty mess when I got to my parent’s place. Thank god that I have the same clothes size as my mum .

I know, certain people run faster than I bike.

 

Dinner was great too although I only had bits of this quorn-thing.. My mum thought that I’d like it but it was so heavy and blah .. I hate wasting food but this was absolutely awful. Sorry mum!

Sweet corn is evil. It always sticks in my teeth. I had to go and floss during dinner because it was so unbearable.

I had my very first fresh fig (this summer) yesterday. Figs kind of look like monsters.. Don’t you agree?

 

For lunch today I had an amazing mix of things. I was actually craving sweet potatoes but needed to eat up those raviolis before they went bad.

So far I’ve done nothing useful today. I went groceries shopping and wore a cute summery top (yay!)

And I’m currently blogging on my couch and drinking a beer. Yes. Oh and I had chips (or crisps ) before. I actually wanted to bbq with my friends tonight but then we cancelled our plans. I have no idea what I should do now, especially because I really want to go out and have dinner with a friend. The boyfriend asked me if I wanted to have a barbeque with him and his friends but I declined because I feel like the others wouldn’t want me there. Which is silly. I know. I just feel uncomfortable to I “invite” myself.

Ah! Someday I really want to leave this shy girl behind and grow up.

Time to read my Stieg Larsson book now, though it makes me miss Stockholm.

 

Hasta luego!

 

My boyfriend has been working on his thesis and currently has 2 weeks – I think – left. The other day he mentioned that he’s kind of living off bread at the moment. Well.. you know me. I have to change that. (Though I’m not sure if he’s aware of his “luck” haha)

Eating a balanced diet is so important – especially when you’re under stress and need proper fuel. It’s what keeps us going! I really like pepping healthy food for other people because I care about them.

But anyway: Stress is exhausting and a lot of people (me included) sometimes just don’t have the time or energy to prepare some food.

Sure, we can go and grab a salad or sandwich from the takeout but I get tired of those pretty quickly and don’t want to spend 7.- on a measly salad while I could have made a much better one for half the price (or even less). But again, a lot of people don’t really want to spend some time in the kitchen prepping food. I get that.

 

So here are a few ideas for healthy + quickly prepared snacks/meals that even the busiest Businessmen would have time to prepare:

• Big batch of soup made on the weekend & frozen in portions. You can easily reheat that on the stove or in the microwave
• Fruits that aren’t too complicated to eat
• Cherry tomatoes (currently obsessed with them)
• Hummus & crackers
• Big batch of roasted veggies for dinner and leftovers for lunch (if you have time for a more time consuming dinner)
• Two slices of bread and everything you have on hand sandwiched in between
• Yogurt
• Bars
• …

What are your favourite healthy + quickly prepped snacks and meals?

 

Just make sure to stay away from processed take-out, sugary drinks (sugary almost-everything in fact ) and anything else that has things on the ingredients list that you can’t even pronounce.

I guess most of you know these “health tips” already but I for my part can completely forget about healthy food when I’m super stressed (though I tend to forget eating altogether which is really bad. I normally always think about food! ). So i just have to remind this list the next time things get too stressed.

 

On Sunday I prepared some quinoa salad for Monday’s lunch. Apparently quinoa’s really filling because the boy couldn’t eat it all (though I must admit that I stuffed his tupperware to the brim ).

I used black quinoa which you should all try if you haven’t already. It’s really nutty and kind of.. crunchier than the white quinoa.I also added all sorts of veggies that I had on hand, as well as nuts and seeds.

It might look incredibly messy and not so appetizing but it’s basically a small bomb of magical deliciousness.

 

I had some more quinoa in an other form tonight. Quinoa pasta! I mixed it with a bit of bear’s garlic pesto and topped it with grated parmesan and parsley. I was a bit too lazy to prep some salad and therefore had two small carrots and pickled daikon on the side. Lazy person’s healthy dinner so to say.

 

Happy Tuesday!

I love summer.

 

And I hate summer.

Seriously, weather? It’s been cold and rainy on and off for weeks. No wait, months! Occasional sunshine and hot days don’t count!

I.Want.Summer!

At this point I honestly don’t care if I sound like a 5 year old, I just need my rays! (And a light tan. )

I am glad to have some fantastic summer fruits on hand though. What I really hate about winter is the lack of various  fantastic fruits.

Strawberries
Cherries
Peaches
Apricots
…

 

Anyway, change of topic, I’ve been eating my weight in sweet potatoes lately.

Olive oil, salt, pepper and oregano. Love.

 

 

 

 

Two questions: How is the weather where you live and what is your favourite summer fruit?

 

Got to do some housework now. At least I don’t feel like I’m missing out on something since the weather is so awful. (Always got to look on the bright side of things )

 

All day long I’ve been lying around, watching Season 7 of “24”, downloading podcasts, reading running magazines and listening to the Eclipse soundtrack (check out “Ours” by The Bravery! That song is kind of silly but so danceable and fun!).

Being ill has its good sides.

What sucks though is that I’m not even 100% ill! Just incredibly blah-ish but luckily not like I’m going to die. You know what I mean? It’s ok if you don’t

 

Moving on…

Thanks for the votes! It seems like we have a winner!
Here are the results:

Alplermagronen = 3 votes

Nusstorte = 4 votes

Graubünden Barley Soup = 2 votes

 

The nut cake it is then!

However, I will make the other two dishes in the following weeks as well. I really want to try making them.

 

Speaking of trying something new…

I needed a stabilizing and good lunch today and only had three things on my mind:
Red lentils
Brown rice
White coconut milk

I know that it looks awful but I took approximately 10389498 pictures and none of them turned out well. Too bad because this meal was truly amazing.

Coco Nutty Lentil Rice!

Serves one hungry trooper

Ingredients:

• 1/4 c red lentils
• 1/4 c brown rice
• 1/4 c coconut milk
• 1 c water
• 1 chopped tomato
• 1 tiny zucchini, sliced
• 1 small chopped carrot
• salt and pepper
• coconut oil

 

Directions:

Cook the lentils and rice with water for 20 minutes. Add salt and pepper, tomato and carrot and continue cooking for 10 minutes.
Add the coconut milk to the party and let it simmer until it’s not soup-like anymore and the rice is done.

 

While it’s cooking, sauté the zucchini with a little bit of coconut oil until it gets soft and a bit brown.

Pour the “stew” into a bowl and top it with the zucchini. Add preferred toppings (I added hummus and shelled hemp seeds).

Enjoy!

 

I’ll continue watching 24 now. Go Jack, go!

 

Have a good Wednesday!
Switzerland won the match against Spain and there’s a crazy noise outside! I get that people are happy (and let’s be honest here – no one thought that they would win) but damn it.. after a few hours it gets annoying! Am I becoming a grandma? Could be possible.

 

Q: Do you watch the World Cup?