Tag: recipe

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Recipes

Creamy Avocado Pasta Recipe

During my last trip to Qatar, I had some fun cooking with Nancy from Food Glamour.

We created a healthier pasta, a creamy avocado pasta.

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Ingredients needed:
1 /2 pack of pasta
3 small avocados
1/2 cup of coconut cream
Fresh basil leaves
2 garlic cloves
Pesto sauce 2 tablespoons
1/2 tsp of black pepper
1/2 tsp of mixed spices
1/2 tsp of nutmeg
1 tbsp of fresh lemon juice
Chicken breast marinated over night (yogurt , soy sauce ,Basil leaves black pepper)
Roasted pine nuts (optional )

Me and Nancy - avocado cheers

Directions:

  1. Start off my boiling the water and cooking the pasta.
  2. Meanwhile, prepare the avocado sauce
    Creamy avocado sauce preps
    – Peel the avocados
    – Add all the spices, the basil and garlic
    – Add 1/2 cup of water
    – Mix everything in the blender until smooth
    – Slowly add the coconut cream, the pesto, the lemon juice and mix again until you get a creamy texture.
  3. Grill the marinated chicken in a pan with olive oil
  4. Finally, in another pan , add the cooked pasta with a bit of olive oil and mix it with the creamy avocado sauce on top , mix delicately until covered properly with the sauce.

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  5. Plate and Serve!
    and don’t forget to tag us when you try the recipe…

     

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    Much Love,
    Christine

Categories
Recipes

Shrimp Quinoa Salad

Ingredients needed:
1/2 bag frozen shrimp
1/2 cup of white quinoa
1/2 avocado
2 cucumbers
1/4 Green pepper
1/4 red pepper
1/4 Yellow pepper
Green onion
Handful of mixed greens
1/8 cup of sunflower seeds
1/8 cup of pumpkin seeds

Shrimp Marination:
2 Tablespoons Teriyaki Sauce
3 small garnished Garlic cloves
1/2 lemon
Black pepper
1 Tablespoon olive oil
Dash of cumin
Dash of Salt

Start off by marinating the shrimp with the ingredients listed above.
Wait for the pan to be warm, then add the the olive oil. This way you ensure not burning the oil. After adding the oil immediately place the shrimp in the pan. If the shrimp are small they will need around 5 minutes. If you are using medium sized shrimp, it will take around 7-8 minutes. Make sure to keep an eye on the shrimp so you don’t overcook them and they become too hard.

At the same time, cook the quinoa. Add 1/2 cup of white quinoa with 3/4 cup of water in a pot. Once the water is warm it will start to get absorbed by with quinoa. Cook for around 10 min and leave it to rest for a couple of minutes.

Get a big salad bowl, chop all the vegetables into small cubes (peppers, green onions, avocado). Add the mixed greens, sprinkle the seeds, pour the shrimp, place the quinoa and mix all together.

Add the lemon oil dressing (you can use vinaigrette instead) and you’re set for lunch/dinner.

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NOTE: you can easily use chicken instead of shrimp and use the same marination.
You can add any vegetable of your choice such as tomato, lettuce, mint leaves, parsley, coriander…
For a sweet touch, you can add dried cranberries, mango slices, green apples…

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Et Voila!

Here is it, a delicious, simple, and nutritious salad.
Don’t forget to take a picture and tag me (@beirutfitness) when you try it!

Categories
Recipes

Avocado Shrimp Ceviche

Ingredients Needed:
– 2 bags of medium sized shrimp
– 4 avocados
– 6 cucumbers
– 2 cups of water
– 3 tomatoes
– 3 onions
– 2 lemons
– cilantro
– olive oil
– salt

Start with cooking the shrimp:
1. Cut a tomato into 4 pieces
2. Cut an onion into 4 pieces
3. Place the tomato and the onion in a pot with 2 cups of water
4. Add salt
5. Add a handful of cilantro to the pot
6. Once everything starts to boil, add the shrimp for a few minutes until the shrimp is pink

Once the shrimp is cooked, remove them from the pot and keep 1/2 a cup of the water from the pot aside. Chop the shrimp into 2-3 pieces and place them in a bowl to cool.

Moving on to the next steps, dice 2 onions and place them in a bowl of freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons), some salt, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
Forget about the onions for around 30 min so they can absorb the lemon.

In the meantime, prepare a large bowl: chop the 4 avocados (make sure they are ripe but not too ripe), the 6 cucumbers, and the 2 tomatoes into small cubes.
Add the shrimp to the mixture along with the onions that were soaked in lemon juice and the juice that we had put aside from the pot.

Mix everything together, place it in the fridge for a while et voila!

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Categories
LifeStyle Reviews

My #HHU21days Experience

Around 2 months ago, I teamed up with beautiful ladies from Healthy Happy Us to try out their 21 day program.
If you’re already following me on Instagram, then you will remember that I was spamming you with my daily life throughout the challenge: what i was having for breakfast, snacks, lunch, when i was working out, when i was feeling down …
Please note that it is not a DIET! I did the challenge in order to focus more on what I eat,exercise more, and most importantly feel positive and happy because I am doing this for my body and for myself.
My main goals included:
– Feeling stronger and more energetic
– Decreasing my body fat
– Looking leaner
The full program includes, 5 juicing days that are spread throughout the 3 weeks,  weekly supermarket lists, recipes, and workout videos that can be done from the comfort of your home with the use of just dumbbells. It also includes weekly follow up sessions.
PS: You are capable of taking on the challenge with or without the juicing days. It’s up to you!
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I wanted to try the full experience, so I did the program that also included the detox juicing days provided by Fitness Bar Lebanon.
To know more details about the program, check out the link HERE.
(you can even book an online appointment with them).
Prior to the program, Rola took my body fat and weight and discussed my eating and exercise habits.
I generally lead a healthy lifestyle, however at the time I hadn’t been working out much and wanted to loose some belly fat.
I actually enjoyed the challenge more than I expected. I was worried about what I was going to eat when I went out especially since I love eating out and trying new restaurants.
Also, in the 3 weeks of the challenge, it is recommended not to consume alcohol, so I decided that I wanted to strictly refrain from having alcohol and that was easy for me.
Here are my favorite parts of the challenge:
– I loved meal prepping, especially since one of my latest obsessions has been cooking and experimenting with different ingredients and recipes.
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– The idea of planning my meals ahead of time and knowing what I was going to eat made life so simple.
– Drinking more water:
Although I always remind people to drink water, I’m the type of person that tends to forget to drink water. So, I started making it a habit to never leave the house without a bottle of water and always tried keeping a bottle of water at sight.
– I learned a lot about my body, such as trying to more easily understanding the signals it was giving me.
For example, sometimes my body would be thirsty however it would give me a signal as if I were hungry, I would then sit and think about the last time I drank water in order to analyze if I was actually hungry or just thirsty.
Another example is the idea of snacks. I’ve always had fruits for a snack or a quest bar. I then discovered that 1 fruit is not enough, I would still stay hungry. I never imagined the huge impact a small portion of nuts had along with a fruit. 6 almonds really did make an immense difference.
– My favorite recipes included the chia seed pudding, you can find my recipe here. I also had the chance to attend HHU’s halloween edition – healthy deserts workshop that was super fun. I learned a lot of simple and easy recipes.
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I highly recommend this challenge if you are looking to learn about yourself and your body. Get introduced into the healthy living style of life and the idea of cooking and preparing your own meals. The program helps you grow in so many different ways!
On a different note, I just get so frustrated when people say that eating healthy is so boring, difficult to cook, and has weird ingredients. All the recipes that were provided took a maximum of 30 minutes to make, included well known ingredients that we are already familiar, looked pretty and colorful, and most importantly tasted delicious!
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Finally, I just wanted to let you guys know that they’ve recently launched a longer program : the #HHUgimmefive which is a 5 weeks program somehow similar to the 21 day challenge. I can’t wait to try it soon and give you my feedback about it.
Categories
Recipes

Christine’s Chia Seed Pudding Recipe

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Break out from the traditional breakfast and try some chia seed pudding; it’s simple and easy to make and it is a great nutritious breakfast option.

Ingredients Used:

(Creates 2 servings)

  • 1 cup of your choice of milk (I use Almond Milk)
  • 1/3 cup of Black Chia Seeds
  • 5 or 2 tsp Honey
  • ¼ tsp Vanilla Extract
  • Cinnamon
  • Raw cacao powder

Toppings Suggestions:

  • Banana
  • Crushed almonds
  • Coconut
  • Strawberry
  • Blueberry
  • Pureed avocado
  • Mango
  • walnuts

Procedure:

  • Mix the milk and the chia seeds together in a bowl
  • Add the honey, the cinnamon, and the vanilla extract and mix everything together
  • Place in the fridge overnight (Some people say that 5-8 hours is enough; I prefer keeping it overnight for better results)
  • The next morning the mixture would have hardened up
  • Add the raw cacao powder and the cinnamon onto the mixture and then pour into x cups in order to add the toppings.

The best part about chia seed pudding is the topping; you can get as creative as possible with the toppings. You can choose two fruits and a nut in order to have a wide variety; you can even keep it simple and only have one fruit; it all depends on the ingredients you have and on your taste.

I’ve tried out half a sliced banana with some crushed almonds and walnuts.

Another good combo is pureed avocado with banana and mango.

And lastly, a classic combination is banana, strawberries and some crushed almonds or coconut.

Don’t be afraid of experimenting, you might be amazed with the variety of different flavors you can create with the toppings.

Finally, Don’t forget to share your pictures with us!

PS: Please not that this recipe is inspired by Healthy Happy Us’s chia seed pudding recipe.

Categories
Recipes

Christine’s Granola Recipe

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I used to be the type of person who bought ready made granola from the supermarket. However, they were usually super sweet and/or included some ingredients such as nuts that were not my favorite. I always saw many bloggers making their own homemade granola and so I decided to give it a try since they all claimed it to be super easy.
A month back, I googled “easy granola recipes” and found so many options to follow. After several attempts, I’ve come up with my own combination of ingredients to create what I call “Christine’s granola recipe”.

Ingredients needed:
4 cups of old fashioned oats
1 cup crushed almonds & walnuts
1/2 cup of chia seeds, flax seeds & pumpkin seeds combined
1/2 cup of coconut oil (I use Power Goodness coconut oil)
1/2 cup of honey (I use Atelier Du Miel‘s Montagne honey)
Some Raw cacao powder
Dash of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of Himalayan pink salt

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Procedure:
Preheat the oven to 230 degrees Celsius
Combine the oats, nuts, and seeds in a large bowl
Pour in the coconut oil and the honey
Mix all the ingredients in the bowl
Add the cinnamon, the raw cacao, and the salt and mix again.

Spread the mixture onto a cookie sheet
Place the pan in the oven for around 45 min

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Keep the oats in the oven until they become a golden color, don’t forget to remove the pan and stir it a few times so that all the oats are exposed to the heat. After 40-45 min have passed, remove the pan and allow the granola the cool down slowly (you might think that they are not crunchy however they will become more crunchy after they cool down). After an hour or so, transfer the granola into an airtight container or zip lock for storage.

Don’t forget to send us/tag us in your pictures after you try the recipe. Trust me once you make your own granola you will never buy ready made granola again !

Enjoy 🙂

#whenChristinecooks

Categories
Recipes

Whole Grain Mango Muffins

As part of the Blog du Jour challenge by Spinneys, I was challenged to create a recipe using a few products I received that are exclusively sold at Spinneys. One of the main products I received is Bob’s Red Mill 7 grain Hot Cereal that contains Flaxseed.

I have never baked muffins before, so I took the recipe found on the back of the bag as a base and adjusted it a little. Here’s my recipe:

Ingredients needed:

2 cups of oats

2 cups All Purpose Flour

½ cup of Brown Sugar

1/3 cup of Bob’s Red Mill 7 Grain Cereal

2 Tbsp Baking Powder

2 Eggs

1½ cup of almond milk

½ cup coconut oil

1 banana

1 can of Admiral sliced mango (containing natural juice)

1/3 cup natural mango juice found in the Admiral sliced mango can

Cinnamon (optional – I didn’t end up using it)

Procedure:

[The quantity used makes 24 muffins]

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the oats, flour, sugar, Bob’s Red Mill 7 Grain Cereal, and baking powder. Add the 2 eggs and the almond milk to the bowl.

Place the mango slices along with the banana, the coconut oil, and the natural mango juice in a blender and blend until smooth.

Pour the mixed juice into the large mixing bowl and mix everything together.

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Line muffin trays and add spray pan onto it so the muffins don’t stick (you can also use paper baking cups). Fill the trays and place in the oven.

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Bake at 200 degrees Celsius for about 15-20 minutes!

Sahtein Xx

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TARAAAA! Here’s the end result

Last but not least, I challenge @pearlmaalouf !

#SpinneysChallenge

 

Categories
Recipes

Guacamole Recipe

Whether as an appetizer with some crackers, or as a side dish with your main course, this super quick, easy, and delicious Guacamole recipe is a MUST-HAVE on your Christmas dining table this Christmas eve.

Ingredients Needed:

4 ripe Avocados

½  large tomato

¼  white onion

1 tbsp of chopped Cilantro

1 Lemon

Salt

1 Jalapeno pepper

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Procedure:

[The quantity used is for about 6-8 people]

Choose 4 ripe avocadoes, peel them and cut them into small cubes

Dice ½ a tomato, ¼ of an onion and the Jalapeno pepper into small cubes and mix all together in a bowl

Add 1 tbsp of chopped cilantro to the bowl

Squeeze one lemon and add the juice to the mix

Finally, add some salt to taste and mix all together

The amount of jalapeno used varies depending on your choice; I usually cut a small piece from the edge and chop it into tiny pieces. Start with a small amount and then keep adding until you reach your desired level of hotness.

Remember that this recipe is very flexible; it all depends on your taste. If you like a lot of onions, lemon, or more spices like black or cayenne pepper. I suggest starting with this recipe as a base and then adjusting it to meet your taste.

Personally, I love this recipe, it’s simple and savory and you can literally just add it as a side dish with anything!

Sahtein Xx

Categories
Recipes

Strawberry Blossom Smoothie Bowl Recipe

Here it is, my second smoothie bowl recipe. It will only take up to 10 min of preparations!

According to Best Health Magazine, strawberries help boost your immunity, promote eye health, is rich in antioxidant properties, reduce inflammation and more.
Ingredients needed:
8-10 small strawberries
1/2 cup of almonds or walnuts or any other nut of your choice
1/2 mango
1 small banana
1/2 cup of almond milk
1 tea spoon of raw cacao powder or chocolate protein powder (optional)

Procedure: [The quantity used creates two small smoothie bowls]

Add ½ a cup of nuts of your choice into the blender;  almonds are my personal favorite. Peel and cut 1 mango into pieces and add 1/2 of it. Add a small banana. Add the strawberries. Pour in ½ a cup of almond milk or any type of milk. Finally add a pinch of spices of your choice such as cinnamon, raw cocoa powder, or even some protein powder. Blend all together for a few minutes until smooth.
Once smooth, pour into a cup or bowl and add toppings. I usually like the toppings to be the ingredients used within the smoothie. So in this case, I topped my smoothie bowl with mango slices, banana, raw cocoa powder, and I added some oatmeal.
If you like your smoothie on the go and not in a bowl, then add a little more milk to make it smoother and blend for a little longer.
Sahtein!!
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Categories
Recipes

Mango Sunrise Smoothie – Recipe

I’ve always seen smoothie bowls all over my Instagram home page and although I knew that they are super easy to make, I never seemed to take the initiative and try making my own smoothie mixes.

So here it is my Mango Sunrise Smoothie, it’s a delicious mix that only takes up to 10 minutes of preparation.

Ingredients needed:

½ cup of almonds

1 mango

1 small banana

½ small avocado

½ cup of almond milk

1 tea spoon of raw cocoa powder

Procedure:

[The quantity used creates two small smoothie bowls]

Add ½ a cup of nuts of your choice into the blender (you can mix two types of nuts such as walnuts and almonds); I chose almonds for this smoothie. Peel and cut 1 mango into pieces. Add a small banana. Peel an avocado and add half of it into the blender. Pour in ½ a cup of almond milk or any type of milk that you happen to have at home. Finally add a pinch of spices of your choice such as cinnamon or raw cocoa powder. Blend all together for a few minutes until smooth. (If the smoothie happens to not be very cold, add a few ice cubes into the blender and blend until the ice cubes are crushed). Once smooth, pour into a cup or bowl and add toppings. If you’re in a hurry then pour into a cup and drink it on the go. But if you are feeling creative, pour it into a smoothie bowl and decorate the top with toppings. I usually like the toppings to be the ingredients used within the smoothie. So in this case, I topped my smoothie bowl with avocado slices, mango pieces, banana, and raw cocoa powder.

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Stay tuned for some more smoothie recipes soon!

PS: don’t be scared of experimenting and trying to make your own smoothie recipes (I suggest using not more than 2-3 types of fruits).