Quick, sweet and spicy beef stew for 205 calories

Monday! New week and I just love the smell of opportunity. I’ve done my placement test for a language course in Singapore I’m going on in 12 days. Don’t worry, I got you covered with recipes even if I’ll be gone in 3 weeks. I was really (oddly?) pleased to hear that we’ll have to cook our own food. Great opportunity to learn to cook with local ingredients and experiment.

Oh well. Busy weeknights huh? Well today wasn’t different so just the bare thought of quick dinner pleases me deeply. Since my trips destination is Singapore, I felt like asian stir fry (or stew fry?) was fairly suitable today. So, I’ve decided upon making a healthy low calorie stew that can be enjoyed just as it is or with rice, soba- or shiratake noodles.

300 g lean beef
1 big yellow bell pepper (200 g)
2 handfulls haricots verts (200 g)
1 big head of broccoli (350 g)
3 medium sized mushrooms (100 g)
A bunch of scallions (230 g)
1/2 cup or 1 dl unsweetened pistachio milk
1/3 cup or 0,7 dl low fat coconut milk
3 T Japanese low sodium soy sauce
2 tsp arrow root starch (5 g)
2,5 T sugar free ketchup (40 g) (Mine was sweetened with stevia but if you can’t find that, don’t worry, just by a low calorie version and add some sweetener of choice)
2 cubes of chicken stock
1/2 or 1 dl cup water
1 T rice vinegar
A splash of lime juice
1 T sesame seeds (10 g)
A piece of ginger, about as big as a coin (25 g)
1 garlic clove
Coconut oil or nonstick cooking spray for greasing the pan

Start with chopping all the veggies and the beef. Since you’ll be working with high heat, timing is essence. Heat a large wok pan to medium heat. Chop the scallions, diagonally, both white and green parts and mince both the garlic and the ginger. Put those three, along with the sesame seeds in the pan and cook until the scallions are tender. Add the stock and the water and bring to a boil. Add the veggies, heat up to high heat and stir until veggies are half done.

Stir in the coconut milk, pistachio milk, vinegar, soy sauce, lime juice, ketchup and the arrow root until everything is well combined and you have a sauce that you’re happy with. Season with spices like sweet or hot paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper and turn of the heat. Add the beef immediately and stir until the beef is done. This technique will hopefully keep your meat from overcooking because since you’re working with lean meat – it’s reaaaally easy to do so.

The recipe makes 4 portions and here are the macros for one portion:
Calories: 205
Fats: 5 g
Carbs: 16 g
Protein: 22 g

Filling and creamy yet skinny green pea and edamame soup – 78 calories

It’s quite no big deal that a soup turns out pretty low on calories since it’s often only based on veggies, broth and water. However, I happen to find most diet soups really unpleasant. Yeah, they’re fairly easy to make and they can be bold on flavors but seriously – some soups are just a mushy disaster that fills you up temporary and then leaves you like craving for more.

Well, a meal like that won’t do in my kitchen. Although, yesterday I was really stressed and wanted a meal that doesn’t require much prep work nor time. I put together some ingredients I found in my fridge (that’s best way to cook a soup in my opinon) and the outcome was a healthy and filling soup that was pretty low on calories but yet hearty. I really enjoyed it and I’m sure it will appear on my kitchen table again soon!

1 1/3 cup or 2,6 dl (200 g) green peas
1/3 cup or 0,8 dl (50 g) edamame beans
A handful baby spinach
1 small onion
1 1/2 cup or 3,5 dl water
2 medium sized garlic cloves
1/2 cup or 1 dl (100 g) quark or greek yoghurt (plus additional for garnish) (for vegan version: sub the quark with soy yogurt)
1 head of broccoli (240 g)
2 cubes sugar free organic vegetable stock
1 packet silken tofu (300 g)
1 T white wine vinegar
3 T (15 g) nutritional yeast
Some sweetener of choice to taste
Some fresh dill

Chop the garlic and onion and cook them in a large greased pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally. As soon as they start to brown; add the stock cubes and the water. Stir until combined and chop the broccoli and tofu into fairly small pieces. Put the the peas, beans, tofu, broccoli, yeast, vinegar and lastly the spinach in your pot, cover and cook over medium heat until the broccoli’s tender or about 5 minutes. Transfer to a blender, add the quark and process until smooth. Season with fresh chives and salt and pepper and serve with fresh dill and quark.

The recipe makes 7 servings and macros for one serving are:
Calories: 78
Fats: 2 g
Protein: 10 g
Carbs: 9 g

Gooey in the middle healthy, quick and clean pre workout muffins. 83 or 58 calories!

Hi guys! I’ve been in a baking mode the whole day. Since the weather isn’t quite nice here in Sweden, even though it’e June I gladly decided to spend the whole day in the kitchen experimenting with skinny recipes. My latest low calorie creation are these gooey in the middle healthy protein raspberry cupcakes. They’re grain free and made with my own gluten free flour mix. Since I’ve wanted a bigger more like a pre workout or breakfast muffin I used 7 bigger muffin molds but this recipe should make about 10 small ones that should end up at 58 calories each!.

3/4 cup or 1,7 dl gluten free flour blend
1/2 scoop whey (15 g,1/6 cup or 0,4 dl)
1 tsp guar gum
1/2 cup or 1 dl (55 g) light coconut milk
1 egg white (27 g)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
A pinch of salt
70 g or 7 tsp sugar free raspberry jam
100 g 3/4 cup or 1,7 dl raspberries
1/2 cup or 1 dl sweetener of choice
1 T unsweetened applesauce

Start with heating up the oven to 400 F or 190 C. Blend all the dry ingredients and add the wet ones except for the raspberries and the raspberry jam. Divide 4/5 the batter into 7 molds and spoon 1 teaspoon jam inside every mold. Pour the remaining batter into the molds and garnish with the raspberries and some oats or whatevs you have at hand.

I seriously recommend using a flour mix that suits your diet preferences. I just experiment with the flours I happen to have at home so you shouldn’t give up if you can’t find any of these. Try subbing them with another gluten free flours.

My whole grain gluten free flour mix contains
50 g dry milk powder(omit if going dairy free)
100 g bake protein
400 g buckwheat flour (whole grain)
300 g millet (200 g flour + 100 g meal for structure)
100 g arrow root starch
100 g tapioca starch
100 g cornstarch

This recipe makes 7 serving and macros for one serving are:
Calories: 83
Fat: 1 g
Protein: 6 g
Carbs: 10 g

Healthy salmon with caramelized apples, scallions plus a lemony cauliflower risotto – 280 calories

Busy week nights sure aren’t an excuse to go for unhealthy fast food. Even tho, it might be tempting since you’re already tired and don’t have much time in the kitchen. This is where this dish comes in. While it needs a little prep it can be done the day before. I store loads of the riced cauliflower in my fridge for example, because it variety of uses is never ending. It’s basically one of the most important components of my morning oatmeal. Later, I’ll also post some cauliflower baked goods.

Well, you can use whatever veggies you feel like for the risotto. I prefer to use my leftovers or whatever I find at the bottom shelf of my fridge. Some healthy and fun combos are legumes, fruits such as apricots, soy beans.. Uh, just grab the delicious goods you have at home and experiment!

However, I strongly recommend using the pairing of lemon and apple. They go really well together and melt beautifully with the salmon. If you don’t have lemons, just use another acidic fruit such as kiwi, cranberries or lime and a sub acid fruit instead o the apple. It could be cherries, peaches, pears or maybe plums? You may experiment a bit and it will still stay quite low in calories since the risotto is very diet friendly (and packed with flavor at the same time!)

The recipe serves 3 persons

3 pieces of salmon filet (360 g)
1 medium sized apple
2 small scallions (20 g)
Spices to taste
1 small sized head of cauliflower (about 500 g)
About ten to twelve mushrooms (120 g)
3-4 inch (7-10 cm) piece leek
1/2 cup or 1 dl dry white wine
Juice from 1/2 lemon
Fresh parsley to taste
1 garlic clove
Sweetener of choice
Vegetable broth

Preheat the oven to 400 F or 200 C. Cut the apples in to wedges, dice the scallions and caramelized them both with whatever sweetener you’re using in a sauté pan over medium heat. Take them off the heat as soon as they start to seem a bit under. Dip the salmon filets in half of the lemon juice and season. Place the sautéd apples and scallions on top and cook in the oven for about 13-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, start making the risotto by ricing the cauliflower. Now this can be done using a food processor or simply grating by hand – the point is to make your cauliflower look like rice. Be careful not to make a mush tho!

Once you’re done with that, cut the mushrooms, garlic, leeks and the parsley. Sauté the leeks and garlic with some herbs or other seasoning. Add the riced cauliflower, parsley, remaining lemon juice, mushrooms, white wine and the broth once your leeks start to brown. Season with salt and pepper, a little sweetener and cook on medium-low heat until all the liquid is gone.

Calories: 280
Fat: 18 g
Carbs: 17 g
Protein: 21 g

Oh, if your macros call for a bit more protein (which mine did), just put together a sauce made on quark, dill and horseradish for an additional 5-10 g protein.

Easy, healthy, guilt free Pavlova for 52 calories and 5 g protein! HEAVEN!

Have you ever made a batch cookies or something and felt like your hormones, your mood or whatevs made you almost eat the whole batch? Well, I feel so every time I bake, even when my hormones doesn’t bother me. The point with low calorie baking is that you should be able to do that, totally guilt free. So today I experimented with an old classic – a beautiful pavlova.

Since the original recipe contains a lot of sugar and cream – I had to tweak it a bit to create a healthy, light and quilt free treat and it came out crazy low on calories. The original recipe calls for whipped cream but it’s a bit to heavy for me so I switched it for low fat, sugar free lemon curd and added some whey powder. The result almost made me cry out of pure happiness, it was awesome.

So, recipe for the healthy pavlova:
4 egg whites (110g or 1/2 cup or 1,2 dl liquid egg whites) at room temperature
1/2 cup or 1 dl sweetener of choice (or less, if your protein powder is sweetened)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract or whatever extract you feel like using
A splash of lemon juice
A little lemon zest if you feel like it
2 tsp cornstarch
Beautiful berries for garnish

Preheat oven to 425 F or 120 C and but your egg whites on the stove top on the oven to get them to room temperature if they’re cold. In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks and add the sweetener little by little, blend well after each addition and blend until glossy and stiff. Then add the zest, the juice and the cornstarch and beat until it holds form. Pipe about 6 meringues on a parchment paper and don’t forget about the dent in the middle of each one.

Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes and then turn off your oven and let them cool inside for another 40-50 minutes. The time may vary depending on your oven and how lucky you’re! Haha! If you feel unsure, just wait until they’re crisp and firm. If they seem soft even if they’ve been in the oven for years, try taking one out and letting it cool for a minute.

While they’re in the oven, start doing your low calorie lemon curd! It may contain a tricky and fairly unknown ingredient, xanthan gum, but trust me – it’s superb if you’re into doing magic in the kitchen and playing with molecular gastronomy.

4 tsp sweetener of choice
1/3 cup or 0,8 dl lemon juice
1-2 tsp lemon zest
1 egg
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 scoop (1/4 cup, 0,4 dl, or 15 g) vanilla whey
A splash of water or two

Stir the sweetener along with the zest and juice in a sauce pan over medium heat until bubbles appear. Whisk the egg lightly in a medium bowl and slowly add the lemon syrup constantly whisking. Add the xhantan gum and the protein powder and put it back on the stove. Turn down the heat to low and whisk until it forms a curd like consistency. Add water if to thick and take it off the stove whenever you’re happy with it. Cool it in the fridge and store the left overs in a air tight container.

Garnish your chilled meringues with the curd and garnish with fresh berries or whatever floats your boat! My macros called for some berries but any semi sour fruit will work just fine.

Macros for one pavlova out of six (including the berries and the curd)
Calories: 52
Fat: 1 g
Protein: 5 g
Carbs: 2,5 g

Low calorie, moist, gluten free and protein packed bread – 66 calories

Eh.. SAY WHAT? Is this true? Ever since I’ve started baking gluten free goods gluten free bread have always been a challenge. Dense, chalkboard bread like lumps were the result but this time.. Wow, I even managed to pack it with proteins, good healthy fats and the best of all.. A nice slice is low in calories AND still moist at the same time. The shell can easily be made nice and crisp but the inside still stays chewy, moist and delicious. Enough talk, here’s the recipe:

Almost 1 T (10 g) coconut oil
1 1/4-1/2 cup or 3 dl (120 g) oat flour (ground oats)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp guar gum
1 cup or 2 dl boiling water
3/4 cup or 1,3 dl unsweetened pistachio or almond milk
2 T apple cider vinegar
2 heaping scoops bake protein (70 g, 1 cup or 2 dl)
1 T unsweetened apple sauce
25 gram psylium powder (NOT HUSKS)
1 T walden farms calorie free syrup or sweetener of choice
A pinch of salt
Optional seasoning – Perhaps a mix of ginger, cinnamon, turmeric and cardamon!

Mix the vinegar, milk, water and psylium in a large bowl until it forms a huge, not very appealing blob. Then add the syrup, applesauce and oil. While you’re whisking like a fool, grind the oats in a blender or whatever you have at hand. I prefer to blend all my dry ingredients in the blender at once! Put mix the dry mixture with your blob. If the batter seems to dry – add more oat flour. Once you’re happy with the now quite thick batter, transfer it into a bread mold and bake at 350 F or 180 C for about 40-50 minutes. The baking time depends on how crispy you like your crust and of course the size of your mold and how even your oven is. Try sticking a tooth pick in it once your home starts to smell like a bakery and if it’s clean and the crust is hard – you’re good to go! Chill on a rack and cut in 14 slices. One slice is:

Calories: 66
Fat: 1,5 g
Protein: 6 g
Carbs: 5,5

Different toppings and variations for your morning glory – oatmeal inspiration

Well uh, have anyone actually noticed that no one bats an eye if you tell them that you eat the same oatmeal for breakfast every morning? Imagine the fuzz if you said that you ate the same dish for lunch every day! People would think that you’re bat shit crazy. However, with breakfast, it’s okay. I still think do that even if you eat the same oatmeal you should use different flavorings and topping from time to time. Here’s a couple ideas!

*Caulifloats – oatmeal with cauliflower for volume
*Pumpkin oats – volume and taste
*Cocoa
*Different essences
*Coconut milk + pineapple
*Bananas + clove
*Goji berries and seeds and berries you can possibly think of
*Cauliflower + cocoa
*Pumpkin + spices such as nutmeg and cinnamon
*Apples + cinnamon
*Pistachios (perhaps my fav, pistachio milk!) + oranges

Buckwheat protein pancake porn – 298 calories

This recipe is so friggin’ nice! I sure love my pancake stacks but when I see improvement my heart skips a beat!

1 egg
1 small or 75 g mashed banana
1 tsp (10 g) quark or greek yoghurt
2 T (14 g) coconut meal
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp (10 g) buckwheat meal
1/2 scoop (15 g) vanilla whey

Blend everything using a blender or food processor and heat your pan on medium low heat. Grease both your pan and your spatula with coconut oil or whatever you feel like using and cook this little babies for about a minute or two or until tiny bubbles starts to appear on each side. They should be a little bit brown when you flip them! I topped of mine with some whey sauce (whey with almond milk) and berries.

This recipe makes 5-6 small pancakes and the whole recipe is:
Cal: 298
Fat: 8
Carbs: 27
Protein: 24

Low calorie pina colada muffins – 59 cal and whopping 6 g of protein each!

How about some coconut pineapple protein muffins? This recipe for these pina colada cupcakes are my true pride and joy. They make me feel like I’m cheating yet they still are gluten free, low calorie and packed with tons of good stuff!

2 scoops (60 g) vanilla whey
1 T (7 g) coconut flour
55 g regular oats (a little bit more than 1/2 cup or 1,6 dl)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
Powdered pineapple (optional)
Sweetener to taste
1/2 cup or 1 dl (100 g) low fat cottage cheese
5 g melted coconut oil
Coconut essence
4 (120 g) egg whites
120 g fresh or canned pineapple
5 grams coconut flakes
A pinch of salt
2 T (30 g) unsweetened applesauce

Blend all the dry ingredients (but save some coconut flakes for garnish) and then add all the wet ones except for the pineapple and the egg whites. Use a food processor or blender. Whisk the egg whites lightly in a separate bowl and gently fold them into the mixture. Finely dice the pineapple, cook it on medium temperature in a saucepan with some sweetener and set aside.
Divide your mixture into 13 muffin molds and garnish with the cooked pineapple and the coconut flakes. Don’t worry if they look smallish, they’ll raise in the oven. Bake those babies at 350 F/180 F until slightly brown on top or for about 13 minutes. Tadaaa!

This recipe makes 13 servings and one serving is:
Cal: 59
Fat: 1 g
Protein: 6 g
Carbs: 4 g