Pumpkin Lovin' Recipe: Baked Pumpkin Slices

Let me start this series of recipes with a recipe that magically transports me back home into my childhood when this particular dish was one of the most favorite foods of my dearest granddad Nagyapuska as well as it still is one the of the favorites of my beloved mum Anyuci. Just the aroma that fills the apartment while preparing this oh so simple yet delicious and healthy dish magically brings back so many heart-warming memories of my childhood... 

It is a very simple recipe and a healthy and cheap one as well... 

...and seriously: all you need is a pumpkin. 

Ingredients:
1 pumpkin :-)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. 

2. Find a really strong and sharp knife and cut the pumpkin in half first. 

3. You will see how in the middle of the pumpkin there are seeds and what can be called 'guts'. Spoon all of this out into a separate bowl (no need to throw any of it into the garbage - I will post recipes above that will show you how to utilize the entire pumpkin without wasting any of it!)
4. Now that you have a hollow pumpkin half cut it up into small pieces - 10cm/4in long strips that will be easy to hold and eat with your hands.
5. Place the pumpkin pieces on parchment paper on a baking tray and bake int he oven for about 30-45 minutes or till golden and soft (if you poke a fork into one of the pieces it should have the consistency of a overcooked potato :-))

Variation: I remember we used to eat the pumpkin just plain: without any oil or butter as well as without any spices... honestly the taste of the pumpkin is rich and unique and I don't think it needs any addition... 

HOWEVER: if you want, you can have two variations of this recipe by adding simple touches: 

1) Savory snack: by adding olive oil or butter and salt or even pepper or chili this can become a healthy afternoon or game day snack. 

2) Healthy desert: by adding honey, maple syrup or brown sugar as well as cinnamon, cardamon, cloves or vanilla you can easily transform this dish into a healthy and unique desert.

Note: This is also the basis of how to prepare pumpkin puree that can be later used for a bunch of different recipes - I will post more about this later...

ENJOY! ... and let me know how you liked it or if you have any suggestions... :-) 

PS: Soon I will post a Fact-Sheet about the health benefits of pumpkins - once you check that out you will be even more pleased knowing that this scrumptious dish also benefits you :-) 

Pumpkin Lovin' Recipe: Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

As I mentioned earlier there is no need to throw out any part of the pumpkin really! Especially not the seeds! Just wait for the Fact-Sheet about the seeds only and you will be convinced that it would be shame to waste all that healthy yumminess :-) 

For this recipe you don't even need a pumpkin - that's how simple it is! :-) 

Ingredients:
The seeds of 1 pumpkin :-)

1/2 teaspoon of olive oil

A pinch of salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. 

2. Whatever you do with a pumpkin - the seeds are your leftovers: Clean the pumpkin-guts off of the seeds but don't wash them (the pumpkin juice that is a little bit around them will make the salt and pepper stick to the seed and thus encapsulate the taste). 

3. In a bowl: mix the pumpkinseeds with olive oil, salt and pepper (or spices of your choosing).

4. Place the pumpkin seeds on parchment paper on a baking tray and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or till golden.

Variation: I remember my mum preparing this without any oil and only adding a little bit of salt at the very end once the seeds were already roasted. I on the other hand really like the tiny spicyness of the pepper - as I really think pumpkin and pepper go very well together - but I can certainly imagine you variating this to your liking with whatever spices you prefer! 

Just have fun with it and let me know what combinations you come up with :-) 

Note: By the way: these roasted lumpkin seeds are not only delicious as a snack (instead of the calorie packed nuts or the unhealthy chips) but also as a fancy topping for you classical pumpkin soup. Believe me, it's delicious and it gives the soup a fun crunch! 

ENJOY! 

Pumpkin Lovin' Recipe: Pumpkin (Cranberry ChocChip etc etc etc) Bread

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour (leveled and sifted) 

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon table salt

1 1/2 cup (brown) sugar

3 eggs, slightly beaten

20 oz fresh pumpkin puree

1 cup of greek yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup oil

1 cup chocolate chips 

1 cup cup dried cranberries 

Note: Before you start with the Pumpkin Bread, you need to prepare your Pumpkin puree: Find the instructions here. 

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. 

TIP: Before you start combining all the ingredients, take a small bowl and add the chocolate chips and the dried cranberries (and / or any other yumminess you want to add to the bread at the end - like pistachios or nuts or figs...). Add a couple of spoons of flour and mix it all well so that every ChocChip and every cranberry is well coated with flour. This is the trick how to prevent all these toppings to sink to the bottom of the bread. For some magical reason the flour coating will keep them levitating in the dough ensuring a quite regular distribution of the goodies. It's a genius trick and it really works! 

2. In a smaller bowl combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. 

TIP: I use a sifter to make sure the flour doesn't have lumps. I also add the other ingredients between the cups of flour to sift them trough and ensure that all the dry ingredients are mixed well and evenly. 

3. In a bigger bowl add the sugar and eggs - whisk them smooth and creamy - and then mix in the other wet ingredients: pumpkin puree, greek yogurt, vanilla extract and oil. 

4. Slowly add dry ingredients to the wet ones and mix together. Be careful to not overmix the dough - at this point I don't use the electric mixer but just a wooden spoon to stir it all together gently. 

5. Now spray two loaf pans (or any baking form really - I like to use my bunt cake pan and it looks great!) with nonstick spray or use some butter to wipe the pan and then dust some flour over it so the bread can come out of the pan easily when it's done. 

5. As a very last step gently stir the chocolate chips and cranberries into the dough. Fill your baking form to 3/4 with the dough - the bread will rise a little while baking. 

6. Bake for 45-60 minutes. Use the skewer test to see when the bread is done to perfection: by poking e bread with a wooden skewer and checking the consistency of the dough in the heart of it... 

Variation: I really like the combination of pumpkin, cranberry and chocolate chip (I use the the dark chocolate chips because they are not too sweet) but as I mentioned above - you can add other goodies as well: like different kinds of nuts or other dried fruit... Just have fun with it and add whatever your favorite goodies may be :-) 

ENJOY! 

Pumpkin Lovin'

'Tis the season ... to indulge in some pumpkin lovin' !!! 

All November we've been exposed to them: representing the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter... They serve as decoration: they get painted, embellished and carved... 

But there comes a point when you have to figure out what to do with all the pumpkins... what to do with the guts, the flesh, the seeds... 

There is definitely more to a pumpkin than it being just a decoration AND there is also more to it than just the classic pie or maybe occasional soup that we all can prepare... 

In the next couple of posts I will introduce you to some innovative fun pumpkin recipes: 

Roasted Pumpkinseeds

Baked Pumpkin Slices

Pumpkin Curry

Pumpkin (Cranberry ChocChip etc etc etc) Bread
Pumpkin Cream Soup

...and much much more... 

TRY them, LIKE them 

...and let me know what you think! :-) 

Girls Just Wanna Have Lunch... Infographic

Girls Just Wanna Have Lunch...

 In my previous post about the 'stomach-nerve' (as I call it :-)) I was writing about the fact, that when you start dieting, there is a cca. 2 week period during which your stomach and your brain need to get used to you eating less.
This period is hard - because your stomach still expects that amount of food that you used to eat before you started dieting... As a result, you will struggle with feeling hungry until your stomach gets used to the 'new rules' of the diet.

To help you and me out in getting through these 2 weeks of hell I put together a couple of tips about things we can do to sort of trick our brain into thinking that we are eating more than we actually are and getting it thus used to the actual amount of food that from now onwards will become the norm...

TIPS:

1) Still the thirst: 
Drink a big glass of water before every meal! This way your stomach-nerve can start working on sending the satiety signal to your brain before you even start eating. Anyway, we usually drink less than we should anyway, so adding one big glass before each meal will help manage hydration as well as appetite.

2) Start light: 
Many cultures have a custom of starting their meal with a salad or a light soup - that is very clever! While you eat your (low in calorie & big in amount) salad or soup, your tummy starts to send out those satiety-signals and once you get to the main course you will eat less of it, as you tummy would already be filled with your starter.  

3) Take it slow: 
Eat slower & chew more! :-) Other than making most of those 20 min. that you brain needs to recieve the satiety-signal; the benefits of slower eating are also that you start savoring the taste of your food more and it also improves digestion... 

4) Keep them clean: 
Brush your teeth after every meal. Besides it being good for your teeth, it's also good for preventing you to continue eating after you finished your meal. 

5) In between: 
Chew gum: but careful, it can get painful if it pulls out your filling... So an even better advice would be: Drink water!! You can 'spice' it up by creating your own 'spa water' drinks by adding cucumbers, mellon and lemon to the water or even slices of ginger or cinnamon (both these spices have an appetite-suppressant quality).

Loosing My Nerve...

WHY oh WHY is it so hard to diet!?!?
WHY oh WHY do I always feel like I am hungry?!?!
Does that happen to you too!?!?
It really gets on my nerves!!

Talking about NERVEs: Believe it or not, they are actually responsible for the struggles of feeling hungry or satiated... Did you know that!? I certainly didn't. How did I find out? My oh so clever and intelligent ♡ told me the other day thinking that telling me this scientific fact (with plenty of detail) it will be easier for me to carry on and not give up - talking about support, eh!? :-o
Believe it or not, it did make me think and because I was busy thinking (and researching and now writing this post) it did take my mind off food and made me somehow get over my need for food in that moment after all... Crisis overcome! PHEW!

Well, if it worked for me, maybe it will work for you too: so allow me to distract you with a couple of facts regarding our stomach-nerve (as I call it) :-)

So again: WHY oh WHY do I always feel like I am hungry (especially when I am trying to diet)?!?!

To feel satiety (a.k.a. full), your brain needs to receive neuronal signals from your stomach. This signal can also be influenced by other factors like our senses: if the food looks, smells, tastes too good ;-) 

Bottom line: it's a complex feedback mechanism that actually regulates the sensation of hunger or satiety. 

One of these feedback mechanisms is in the stretch-receptor nerves of your stomach-wall. What does that mean? Your stomach adapts to the amount of food you are eating. The stomach wall starts stretching when you start eating: the nerve stretch receptors send signals to the brain that the stomach is expanding and you can begin to slow down and stop eating. 

It takes some time though for these messages of satiety to 'travel' from your stomach and reach your brain. In general it takes about 20 minutes till you realize that you are starting to be full. That's why it makes sense to not just shovel your food into yourself but instead enjoy and savor each and every bite...  If you eat a roasted pig in 20 minutes or if you chew your way through a lovely salad in the same time... Well, let's just say that it's a HUGE difference: both in calories and nutrients!!!

Now when you are dieting - eating less - your stomach needs to get used (= habituated) to expand less: This takes time! Thats why: your stomach will not just shrink itself right after one smaller meal! The stomach-nerve (as I call it ;-)) needs some time to get used to only expanding a little compared to a lot from before...

It will take some time for your brain and for your 'stomach-nerve' to get used to this 'news' and if you resist your cravings and breaking the rules...
and give your brain and stomach a little bit of time (about two weeks)...
eventually you will be happy and satiated with your diet-portion and not crave or hunger for more.

So just remember this the next time you (or I for that matter - happens all the time to me too!!) oh so desperately want to eat more or snack in-between meals on unhealthy fatty snacks (you know you want to, so don't even try to deny it!!) or or or...
Remember that if you give your brain and stomach just two weeks - be a little patient with yourself!!! (if you won't, who will?!) - it won't be hard to be faithful to your diet anymore and you won't feel like you are constantly starving and hungry anymore but your brain will be filled with the happy feeling of satiety...

Recipe: Lemongrass-Ginger-Syrup

Ingredients:
1liter of water
1 organic lemon, lime or orange
cca. 5 slices of fresh ginger-root
cca. 5 strands of fresh lemongrass
3 cups of sugar

Directions:
1. Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a pot over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar.
2. In the meantime: Cut the citrus of your choice and the ginger into slices. Bundle your lemongrass-stems (it will be easier to remove them at the end if they are bundled).
3. Put everything into a pot and bring to a simmer.
4. Remove from heat, and let steep 30 minutes.
5. Pour syrup through sieve into an airtight container. Refrigerate up to 1 month.
(Be sure to dilute the syrup with nice cold water and ice according to your taste :-))

Variation: If you leave out the sugar and reduce the ratios of lemongrass and ginger (otherwise it would be way to strong!) you can make a simple infusion. Once you let it simmer and cool down, serve with ice as a healthy sugar-free ice-tea for the summer.

Note: The ingredients are variable according to your taste: feel free to add more or reduce the amount of any of the ingredients based on your taste.

ENJOY!

PS: Checkout the Fact-Sheets of the ingredients of this recipe to find out about the nutritious value and the vitamins and minerals as well as the health benefits...

Fact-Sheet: Lemongrass

Sources: 

http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list/

http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/

Fact-Sheet: Lemon

Sources: 

http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list/

http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/

Fact-Sheet: Ginger

Sources: 
http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list/
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/

Crunching Numbers... Infographic

Images courtesy of my ♥ ©RR - Thank you!

Crunching Numbers...

There are many great sites online that allow you to calculate your health status regarding to weight and physical activity... and they do it within seconds! Like these links on WebMd, SELF, CalorieCount or CaloriesCount and many more...

Ever wondered how they do it? What calculations and what logic is behind it? I did!! So I sat down, studied around and started crunching numbers... Let's get to it!

STEP 1) 

No matter if you are trying to gain, maintain or loose weight, an objective measuring factor of what you SHOULD do to truly be healthy in regard to your weight is the Body Mass Index (BMI): 

There is a simple chart (but there are more elaborate ones too) that tells you how to interpret this BMI number:

Just to make the calculations easy let's say your friend BOB weighs a 100kg and is 2 meters tall: then his BMI will be 100 divided by 4 which equals 25. Same will work with pounds and inches (try it! :-))... BOB is exactly on the line between being overweight but let's just cut him some slack and say that he can consider himself a person of a healthy weight.

Once you determined your BMI you know exactly where you stand: Am I overweight or obese and need to loose weight? Am I underweight and need to try to put on some weight? If you are lucky you are in the healthy weight range and only need to maintain your weight as is.

STEP 2)

In a next step it would be helpful to find out what my daily calorie-intake should be in order for me to maintain, lose or gain weight: This can be done by calculating your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) or Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR). 

When we say metabolism, we refer to all the basic processes that the body needs to purely function like breathing, blood circulation, controlling the body temperature, cell growth, brain and nerve function, contraction of muscles etc. All these processes that happen automatically in our body already burn some calories before we even move a toe (AWESOME!!!).

The BMR measures this energy based on your age, gender, weight and other factors. There is an elaborate equation that can help you calculate your BMR:
So let's try to calculate BOBs BMR. We said he was 100kg and 2m and lets add his age of 30 years which will make the equation look like follows:

BMR = 66+(13.7x100)+(5x200)-(6.8x30) = 66+1370+1000-204 = 2232 calories.

So BOB burns 2232 calories every day just by simply existing: lucky guy, eh!?

STEP 3) 

OK, so far so good:
We know what we need to do based on our BMI (maintain, lose or gain weight)
and we know how much energy we burn simply by existing based on your BMR.

What missing is considering our daily activity level to then be able to determine our daily calorie requirements... The missing variable needed is the Physical Activity Level (PAL). 

NOW comes the time you need to be honest with yourself: how active am I? Not in your imaginary life... Not in the world of dreams... Not in the form of "should've, could've, would've"... BUT in actual reality!!!! Oh, oh...

STEP 4) 

The final step is to calculate what your Daily Calorie Intake (DCI) should be. This is the easiest calculation in the form of the following simple multiplication:
This calculation will give you the approximate number of calories you need to consume on a daily basis to MAINTAIN your weight.

What would BOBs DCI amount to? Let's assume that he is moderately active in his daily life and exercises 3 to 5 times a week. The the calculation would be as follows:
DCI = BMR x PAL = 2232 x 1.55 = 3348
So BOB can happily eat 3348 calories worth of yummy food to maintain his 100kg weight that he started with.

Now to modify this for gaining or losing weight is easy: 

If you want to GAIN weight, you need to consume more calories then what you burn. 

If you want to LOOSE weight, you need to burn more calories then what you consume.
The general rule is that you need to cut down or add about 3500 calories to lose or gain 0.5kg per week - a.k.a. about 500 calories a day.
Keep in mind though that not each calorie is of the same nutritional value! Check out my previeous post regarding Calories VS Nutrients to find out more about that :-) 

SORRY to tell you this:
but after reading all the way down here;
after now knowing exactly where you stand in regard to weight, activity level and necessary calories...
THERE ARE NO MORE EXCUSES!
You're welcome :-o


Images courtesy of my ♥ ©RR - Thank you!

Calories VS Nutrients

I started counting calories.

Yeah I know: ANNOOOOYING! :-o

BUT: It seems to work!! I am doing this counting thing for a week now and I've already lost 3kg. Not too bad, right?

Well, I have to admit though that it would have been three weeks if I would have actually managed to keep up with it the first week (which only went till wednesday) and then the second week (which only went till tuesday) :-o Just imagine how much it could have been by now if I only had the willpower right from the start... But I am on the right track now, so YEEEY ME! :-)

Counting the calories is a bit of a fuss but if you see results you don't mind doing it. This way I am forced to keep track of what I eat and be more conscious of those 'small things' you don't even realize you've eaten and which usually have loads of calories that are so not worth it! 

It's also pretty cool to realize the calories you burn: Even a small stroll is worth counting if it helps to motivate you to not mess the day up with some unnecessary snacks and 'exceptions'... I feel that it helps me not to get off the track... And I do get off track easily. 

I have a pretty good App (MyPlate) that helps with this tracking so you know exactly how much calories you consume and burn per day. This makes the tracking really easy!! I think if I had to keep a hand-written food-journal and look up each and every item for its value online it would drive me nuts... 

But now back to the question: Calories VS Nutrients?!

You could easily eat 2000 calories worth of junk a day without it being a nutritious and healthy diet. Would you loose weight anyway? Well, simple math tells us clearly YES! 

There are certain variables that need to be considered: age, fitness level, etc to determine what the healthy amount of calories per day should amount to. Let's just say, that there is this person who entering all the variables figures out that to loose 1kg a week he should eat 2000 calories a day. Now let's say you eat only and exclusively 2000 calories worth of processed white sugar a day. Will this person loose that 1kg by the end of the week? YES! Numbers don't lie... 

BUT

What is sugar? Unless it is naturally occurring (like in fruit and veggies) it does not provide any nutrients in the form of vitamins or minerals. Processed white sugar is purely calories a.k.a. 'empty calories'. 2000 calories would represent half a kilo of sugar. It might seem a lot in quantity, but because of the lack of nutrients it would not make you feel full. It would ruin your teeth, put you at risk for diabetes, probably even change your behavior... and I dare say, that in the long run it would just plain kill you - from lack of necessary vitamins, minerals and nutrients for your body to function... 

So let me ask again: Would you loose weight if you ate the right amount of calories every day no matter what kind of calories they were?! YES! Would you put on weight if you ate way more calories than your limit even if you ate only good, healthy, nutrient calories?! YES! 

So what is the solution!? Obviously the combinations of Calories and Nutrients. 

It is not Calories VS Nutrients 

BUT 

it's Calories AND Nutrients that make all the difference in the world!

So what now? Keep tracking calories every day but beware not only of the quantity of the calories but also the quality of them to maintain a healthy diet whatever your goal: weight gain, loss or maintenance... Just stay healthy and fit!

Welcome!

The Latin saying "De gustibus non est disputandum" 

could be translated into English as follows: 

"There is no dispute in matters of taste". 

For me TASTE refers to food just as much as fashion and art. 

These aspects of life concern me daily 

above all regarding the connection between a healthy, yummy diet 

and modern but original personal fashion. 

In this blog I will share my ideas, thoughts and concerns 

as well as diet and fashion tips & tricks... 

Enjoy!