Cottage cheesecake number 4

It's a cottage cheesecake or I'll just call it heaven ✨So easy to make but yet - healthy, low sugar and high protein. Makes 8 slices, macros per slice - 240 cal, P-17, F-9, C-17. Filling: 

500gr- 1% cottage cheese, 

1/2 cup almond milk,

4 packets sweetener

1 tsp vanilla extract 

2 scoops casein protein

Crust: 

1 cup steel cut oats (blended into flour)

3 tbs coconut oil

Preheat the oven to 350. First mix flour and coconut oil In a bowl. Put parchment paper in a 9inch backing dish. And press the crust equally over the bottom. 

In a big bowl mix the filling ingredients and pour on top of the crust. Bake for 1 hour. 

Refrigerate over night. And serve with anything you feel like on top. In my case it's #waldenfarms chocolate and caramel syrups, @nutsnmore #pb with banana and #nutella , Oreos, strawberry with white chocolate  etc

Perfect Oatmeal muffins

I've always had troubles with making muffins but this time I finally found the perfect recipe 

1 cup oatmeal flour

1/2 whole grain oats 

2 eggs

1/4 cup Splenda 

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda 

1/2 cup plain low fat yogurt

1/2 cup skim milk 

Mix it all together, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 

Pour the batter in the muffin tin, add any toppings you wish. And make for about 20 minutes, right until the muffins become all cute and brown. 

Green smoothie like never before

I personally am not a big fan of smoothies, especially the green ones. It always seems that it is going to taste yucky.  Boy, was I wrong?! 

So, here is the super recipe.. 

1 scoop of vanilla whey protein 

1/2 banana

1/2 cup almond milk

1 kiwi

1 cup spinach

Ice 

Shredded coconut 

Blend everything except for coconut and garnish your smoothie with it. 

What we have - protein, fibre, carbs and fats... Which is a perfect meal basically. 

Almond bread

This experiment turned out to be a great success! 

Macros (if you are watching what you eat) are great too. Makes 8 servings, macros per serving: Calories - 200, Proteins -15g, Fats-6g, Carbohydrates-20g. 

The recipe is simple:

1 cup of steel cut oats, blended till it looks like flour 

1/2 cup almond flour

1 cup almond milk

2 eggs

3 scoops of vanilla protein 

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tbs vanilla extract 

1 tbs cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

Mix everything in a big bowl. Preheat the oven to 350*F, pour the batter in a bread baking dish and bake for about 30-35 min, check with a toothpick. 

Quails with rustic potatoes and asparagus

This recipe was inspired by Charlie, a very talented chef from Montreal. And if you are reading this - thank you! You've been nothing but awesome! 

So, let's start with quails... 

Not much to do there, but basically I rubbed the poor little birds with salt and pepper. In a separate bowl I mixed olive oil with fresh rosemary and garlic. Brushed the birds with it and put them in the oven for 20 min, just until they are cooked through. Do not over cook them!! The last 5 min was on broiler, so they get nice colour on them. 

Potatoes were treated pretty much the same way. Asparagus I cooked in the same baking dish after the potatoes were done but I added some red wine vinegar to it, so it still has its crunch and a little bit of sourness at the same time. 

Thanksgiving pumpkin cottage cheesecake

Base is oats! 

1 cup of dry oats, blended into flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 egg 

1 tbs almond milk 

Mix everything, pour and spread in a baking dish and bake 10 mins at 350*F

Filling:

1 cup cottage cheese

2 eggs

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup pumpkin purée 

1 tsp vanilla extract

5 mini bags of stevia

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, pour into pre-cooked base and bake 25-30 mins at 350*F 

Happy Thanksgiving! 

High protein mug cake

Who eats cakes at 9 pm ?! I do! 🙈 mug cake - basically zero carbs, 34 gr protein almost zero sugar!

 1 scoop of protein,

 1 egg white, 

1/4 tsp baking soda,

 2 tbs milk (I used almond),

 1 tbs unsweetened cacao, 

a little bit of water. 

Mix everything and pour in a mug. Microwave for 1 min or a little longer. Be careful, it rises like crazy. 

Enjoy! 

Extra healthy Brownies

So, the recipe is simple but these guys are packed with goodness and protein... And there's zero butter in it! 

You'll need: 

1 cup of oat flour (blend regular oats) 

1 scoop chocolate protein

1/4 cup stevia 

1/4 cup plain yogurt 

1/4 cup almond milk 

1 egg

2 egg whites 

1/2 dark 85% chocolate bar, broken into pieces

1/2 tsp baking soda 

2 tsp unsweetened organic cocoa powder

Preheat the oven to 350F. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, including a part of dark chocolate. Place parchment paper in a baking dish, pour batter in it and bake 20-25 mins. Use a toothpick to check if it's ready. 

Put the rest of the dark chocolate on top while it's still hot. Cut up and serve warm. 

Cottage cheesecake

Well, I just can't find a correct word to describe it... Super healthy perfection? Just to sum up, it makes 7-8 servings and it's only 3 gr of fat, 3 gr of sugar, 16 gr of Protein and 13 gr of carbs per serving. The only thing I can say - Where have you been all my life?! I'm in love! ❤️. 

Here is the recipe... 

1 cup of whole grain oats 

3 large eggs

1 container (500 gr) of 0,5% cottage cheese

1/2 cup almond milk (or regular)

1/4 cup 1% Greek yogurt 

1 tbs baking powder

1/4 cup coconut shavings

1 tbs vanilla extract 

3 tsp stevia 

Preheat the oven to 350F (180 C)

Put oats in a blender and press the button until it becomes oat flour. Take 1/3 cup out and set aside. 

Put the rest of the flour in a big bowl, add 2 eggs, almond milk, 1 tbs stevia. Mix well, pour the mixture into a baking dish. I did spray it with a little bit of oil.

Put in in the oven for 10-15 min. 

Meanwhile, mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl, including the 1/3 cup of oat  flour, 1 egg, the rest of stevia, coconut, vanilla, baking powder, Greek yogurt and cottage cheese. 

In 10-15 min when the base is set, take it out of the oven and pour the cottage cheese mixture on the base, spread it evenly and put it back in the oven for another 30 minutes. 

Let it sit for a bit before serving but OMG it's delish! Let me know how it went! Yummy, right?! 

Quinoa risotto

Hey! It's been a while!!! 

Sorry for not posting new recipes for a while but I was busy. You know how life gets in a way. Well, I am happy to say that I am eating very healthy and I work out a lot. So, for those of you who is still interested in my blog... There is going to be a ton of healthy recipes. Here we go...

I love quinoa and it's packed with good stuff! 

1/4 of big white onion - chopped

1/2 cup dry quinoa

4 portobello mushroom caps

Kale (as much as you want)

1 cup milk (I don't eat dairy, so I used almond milk) 

1-2  chicken breasts

1 tbs Garlic powder 

Black pepper and salt to taste

Start with heating a frying pan, throw chopped onion in there. Yep, that's right no oil or butter! 

As soon as the opinion starts being soft, add 1/4 cup of water. Cut up chicken breasts and add to the onions. Keep your eye on it, give it 30-40 seconds and add quinoa. Pour 1 1/2 cups of water in the pan, cover and turn the heat down to medium-low. 

Quinoa will absorb all the water after 10-15 minutes, when it happens add milk, cut up portobello and cut up kale, stir, add garlic powder, salt and pepper, stir again and put the lid back on for another 5-7 minutes. TaDaa! Enjoy! 😉

Cheese Mushroom soup

Easy and delish! 

You will need: 

Mushrooms cut 2 cups

1 carrot

3 small potatoes

1 small onion

2 garlic cloves

3 cheese slices (I used Kraft) 

1/2 cup milk

4 cups of water

Cut carrot, onion and potatoes in small pieces, put in a medium pot and add water. Fry mushrooms in a frying pan with a teaspoon of olive oil, add to the pot. Boil everything until the veggies are soft. Purée it using blender, add cheese slices and milk. Mix until cheese melts. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve. 

Cottage cheese pancakes

This was the first thing they taught us how to make at school. 

While the boys were building bird houses, the girls were learning how to cook. It was a grade school in the USSR after all. A woman had to know how to cook and sow for her family and a man had to know how to nail stuff. Nevertheless, these are low fat, melt in your mouth cottage cheese pancakes, called Syrniki. 

You will need : 

1 package of 1% cottage cheese

2 eggs

1/2 cup flour 

Pinch of salt

4 tbs sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract 

1/2 tsp baking soda 

Just mix everything in a big bowl. Heat up the frying pan, add some olive oil and pour the pancake mixture with a spoon, making little pancakes. Be careful when you flip them, they are very fragile. 

Serve with syrop or honey or jam or sour cream. 

Enjoy! :-) 

Chocolate cream pie

Suddenly I felt like chocolate pie, don't know where it came from. Kinda blame it on watching The Help again...lol 

So here is my variation of the Chocolate pie! 

9 inch pie crust, baked

3 cups skim milk

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 

Pinch of salt

3 egg yolks, beaten

1 tbs butter

1 tbs vanilla extract 

3 tbs corn starch

In a big bowl beat egg yolks with salt and sugar, add corn starch, vanilla, milk and cocoa powder. 

Pour the mixture in a pot and put it on the stove on medium high, stirring constantly until it boils. 

Pour it right away in a clean bown and add the butter, mix it till it melts. 

Leave it aside for 15-20 mins to cool. 

Pour everything in the cooked crust and leave it in the fridge for a couple of hours. 

Meatball Orzo soup

Here is my variation of italian soup. Tasty and cozy for the fall weather.

You will need- 

Holy trinity - 1 carrot, 1/2 onion, 2 stalks of celery.

2 tbs olive oil

Meatballs (I used premade)

1 can of tomatoes 

Uncooked Orzo 1/2 cup

1 1/2 cup chicken stock

Salt, pepper

Spices to your taste

Parmesan 

In a big pot heat up the oil and fry for 3-4 minutes. Tyrn the heat to medium low and add the meatballs (the quantity is up to you).

Mix it all and add the chicken stock. Cover with the lid and cook for 15 min or until the meatballs are cooked. Add orzo and tomatoes. Add salt and pepper and spices. Cook for 10-15 min. 

Serve with Parmesan.

French macarons

It took me a couple of tries to make them look like this. I know they don't look perfect but I'm pretty proud of the result. And by the way, they taste like heaven... Lol!

For the shells- 

3 egg whites 

1/4 white granulated sugar

1 2/3 cups frosting sugar

1 cup almond meal (finely ground  almonds - in a blender)

Food colouring (any colors you like)

Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.

Preheat the oven to 275 F

Now the serious part - 

Beat egg whites in the bowl with a mixer until whites are foamy; beat in white sugar and continue beating until egg whites are glossy, fluffy, and hold soft peaks. 

Add frosting sugar and ground almonds to the bowl and quickly fold the almond mixture into the egg whites, about 30 strokes. Somewhere on the 15-17th stroke add the food colouring.

When batter is mixed, spoon into a pastry bag or a plastic bag. Pipe the batter onto the baking sheet in rounds, leaving space between the disks. Let the piped cookies stand out at room about 1 hour.

Bake cookies until set but not browned, about 10 minutes; let cookies cool completely before filling.

Filling - 

Yellow - Lemon lime curd

1 lemon
1 lime
1 tbsp corn starch
1/4 cup granulated (white) sugar
2 eggs
100g butter, diced, room temperature

Wash and dry the lemon and lime, grate the zests into a small bowl and juice them, straining the juice well.

Mix the zest, juice and corn starch in a small saucepan then add the sugar. Heat over a low flame.

Beat the eggs then add to the saucepan. Increase the heat to medium-low and stir continuously until the mixture thickens, about 4 minutes.

Remove from the heat, transfer the mixture to a bowl and beat in the butter.

Allow to cool, then cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Pipe or spoon a generous blob of filling onto the flat side of half the shells, top with the remaining shells and press gently until the filling reaches the edges.

Brown - Chocolate ganache 

• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature
• Place chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl; set aside.
• Place cream in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Pour over chocolate and let stand until chocolate has softened, about 5 minutes.
• Add butter and stir until smooth. Let cool slightly before using.

Pink - Strawberry cream cheese 

4 tbs cream cheese

1 tbs strawberry jam

1 tbs butter (room temperature)

Mix all the ingredients and let it cool in the fridge before using. 

Peach pie

This one is not too healthy but it's 14 degrees outside and I have a craving for some kind of comfort food. So, here it is...

2 - 9 inch pie crusts 

1 lbs fresh peaches, pitted and cut in slices

1 cup sugar

1/2 flour 

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 tbs lemon juice

5 tsp butter

1 egg beaten

Preheat the oven to 450 F. 

Place first pie crust in a pie baking dish, brush it with the egg. 

In a bowl combine peaches, flour, sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice. Mix gently. 

Pour the peach mixture in the pie crust. Place little pieces of butter on top. 

Cover with another crust and pinch the crusts together.

Brush with the egg, sprinkle a little bit of sugar and using kitchen scissors, make little cuts all over the top crust. 

Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350F and bake for another 30-35 min.

Let it rest for 20 min before serving. 

Zucchini fries

Okay, these are super delicious and so easy to make! 

What you need - 

2-3 zucchinis

1/2 cup egg whites (I had Blue menu free run) 

1 cup italian bread crumbs

2 tbs grated Parmesan 

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp salt and pepper

So, cut the zucchinis in the shape of fries, spread the "fries" on the paper towel, to get rid of extra moisture. 

Meanwhile, pour the egg whites in a bowl. In another bowl mix breadcrumbs, cheese, salt, pepper and garlic powder. 

Preheat the oven to 425F. 

Put a parchment paper on a big baking sheet. Spray it with olive oil. 

Dip your zucchini fries in egg whites first, then the breadcrumb mixture. 

Layer the fries so they don't touch and bake for 20-25 min until golden brown. 

Enjoy! ❤️

Summer cabbage salad with shrimp

Awesome for lunch in a summer hot day. 

1/2 cabbage, chopped

1 yellow bell pepper, cut in stripes

1 Roma tomato, cut in circles 

1 pack of medium cooked and peeled shrimp, defrosted

For the dressing: 

2 tsp sunflower oil

1 tbs apple cider vinegar

1 tsp paprika 

1 tsp honey

Pinch of salt and pepper

Mix all the vegetables in a big bowl, mix the dressing separately, pour it over the veggies. Top the salad with shrimps and serve! 

Yummy, crunchy and light salad. 

Blue cheese and smoked salmon salad

Romaine lettuce

Smoked salmon

Blue cheese

Red onion

Balsamic vinegar

Olive oil 

Salt, pepper

Smoked salmon salad with Grapefruit

Today I wanted something light for dinner and I came up with this. Honestly, this salad tastes great and it's so bright. 

1 cup of chopped romaine lettuce

1 stalk of celery, chopped

1 pink graipfruit, cut

1/4 red onion, cut

Smoked salmon (whatever amount works for you) 

Dressing - 

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

1tsp olive oil 

Salt, pepper 

Just put everything together and pour dressing on top. Enjoy!