• Rice 101 | How to Buy, Cook & Eat rice + Health benefits

      AS A STUDENT, I would often make rice for dinner, paired with deep-freeze spinach and something crazy on the side, like plain mixed lettuce. I know, I know… that doesn’t make any sense. TO MAKE MATTER WORSE, the rice would usually turn to mush (be overcooked), sometimes be too chewy (undercooked) and almost never turned out just right. AFTER YEARS OF OCCASSIONAL EXPERIMENTING, and thanks to the influence of good cooks around my friends and family, plus a lot of trial & error, I’ve got a grip on making good rice. IF YOU ALSO STRUGGLE with making rice because it hardly turns out right – or if you love…

  • food blog avocado basil pasta sauce

    Healthy, Dairy Free, Creamy Avocado & Basil Pasta Sauce

    Avocado is perfect for making pasta sauce – rich in healthy fats, tastes great paired with basil, is a deliciously creamy dairy-free alternative and carries a lot of nutrients. Follow my blog with Bloglovin I love a good organic tomato sauce on pasta, but having the same sauce every time doesn’t cut it for my freakishly foodie nature. Of course I could buy other supermarket pasta sauces, but have you ever noticed how many strange additives there are in there? Bleh. It’s much healthier to make your own pasta sauce than to buy some additive-stuffed sauce that’s been standing on supermarket shelves for months. Avocado & basil unite to form a creamy yet…

  • Dumplings with Pak Choi

    Making Dumplings with Pak Choi takes 10 minutes from the moment you enter your front door to the moment you sit down at the table to eat – it’s easy, healthy and quick. That’s also why I call it the recipe for power couples – those amazing couples where both people are working hard, being awesome at what they do, and rushing home late without much oomph (definition) to cook (oops). To your rescue comes this Dumplings with Pak choi recipe, introduced to me by a power couple themselves, Madi & Mathias. In 10 minutes of whizzing about in the kitchen, you will have a satisfying meal loaded with vibrant, green vegetables…

  • indian summer salad healthy ana's bananas blog meeha sodha diabetes friendly fresh

    Indian Summer Salad

    As I’m walking around the cookbook section in a bookshop a couple of weeks ago, a pop of color catches my eye – it’s the “Fresh India” cookbook by a lady called Meera Sodha. Indian cooking finally made simple and not taking 5 days of bending over the stove to make? Yes! This summer salad  is refreshing and full of flavors (it originally also includes a spoonfull of sugar, which I leave out). Enjoy it with a big appetite – it has a grand total of zero (0) calories, really. Fun fact: I buy my bell peppers organic because peppers fall into EWG’s (Environmental Working Group) category of the dirty dozen. This is…

  • Apple & Cinnamon Pastry #appelflap

    AN “APPELFLAP” IS A TRADITIONAL DUTCH DESSERT PASTRY stuffed with apple, raisins, cinnamon and sugar, and covered with sugar granules. Lots of people have it for breakfast. In this recipe, I ditch the sugar and raisins and realise that homemade apple flaps are easy and delicious – while obviously being healthier than the supermarket version. Print Recipe Homemade Dutch 'Appelflap' Course Dessert Cuisine Dutch Prep Time 30 minutes Servings pieces Ingredients 2 apples, diced use Elstar or other sweet-sour type4 squares of about 15x15cm pastry dough store-bought, I find it in the freezer section, or homemade2 teaspoons cinnamon powder Course Dessert Cuisine Dutch Prep Time 30 minutes Servings pieces Ingredients…

  • butternut squash pasta bacon healthy recipe

    Butternut Squash & Bacon Pasta with Rocket Salad

    THIS PUMPKIN MADNESS RECIPE (pumpkin madness being the general state the world during October) is sage-infused butternut squash with organic bacon, green rocket salad and a bit of delicious pasta. It’s a comfort food recipe, easy to fix up on weeknights and enjoy leftovers for lunch the next day. Print Recipe Butternut Squash & Bacon Pasta with Rocket Salad Prep Time 1 hour Servings for dinner, or 2 dinner + 2 leftover lunch Ingredients 1 white onion2 cloves garlic150 g diced bacon organic, available at better supermarkets1 large butternut squash50 g rocket salad3 tsp dried sage1 tbsp cooking oil or ghee Ghee is a dairy free butter extract with a…

  • Shrimp and veggie stir-fry Ana's Bananas blog recipe

    Easy Veggie & Shrimp Stir-fry with Brown Rice Noodles

    AS PROMISED, HERE’S A DELICIOUS STIR-FRY RECIPE that I had for dinner last night. 🙂 Green beans and zucchini were on offer at the supermarket – you can also choose other green veggies which you find on sale, to make this meal not only delicious but also affordable! BROWN RICE NOODLES ARE TASTY. They have a lower glycemic index than wheat noodles, meaning they are better at keeping blood sugar stable. BENEFITS OF THIS MEAL ARE MANY, aside from the brown rice noodles, the stir-fry is low in carbs, has a short cooking time leading to vitamin preservation, provides nutrients from many vegetables and garlic, and gives you a daily…

  • 4 Healthy Recipes I found on the internet Ana's Bananas Blog

    4 Easy, Tasty Dinner Recipes I Found This Week // FELLOW FOODIES ON THE INTERNET

    With my recent discovery of Pinterest, and my obvious love of good food, I stumble upon GREAT recipes every time I hit the web (or public library for that matter – cook books are awwwsome). Every week, I share my finds with you here! This week, we´ve got 4 amazing dinner recipes on the menu. 1. EASY SHRIMP & BROCCOLI STIR-FRY Quick, easy and very satisfying! I had it with noodles, but you can also serve it alongside brown rice. Link to recipe here. NOTE: for the sauce, I only used 3 tablespoons of soy sauce and 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce, and skipped on the rice vinegar and added sugar.…

  • Fruity Crumble with Bastogne Cookies

    CRUMBLE TIME! This was the first time I baked with my dad. We chose a crumble because it is simple to make and comforting to eat. This post is 100% affiliate free, I just really love the taste of Bastogne cookies (you can buy them in The Netherlands). A fruit-laden crumble is a great healthier dessert. This one is loaded with berries, topped off with apple and rough oats (a good source of B vitamins and fiber), and does not contain dairy. To make the crumble gluten-free, simply use gluten-free cookies. If you’re considering serving it with ice cream: check out Jaime’s 45 second ice cream. Print Recipe Fruity Crumble…

  • The healthier pizza: ‘Flammkuchen’

    Pizza, make room. German Flammkuchen coming through. Well, German-French, from the region of Alsace. Flammkuchen is a dish that resembles a pizza, tastes amazing but packs way fewer calories and much less dairy. It is dough topped with sour cream or yoghurt, onion and bacon, and sometimes a variety of other toppings, such as corn, spinach or peppers. Still, even in its simplest form it tastes equally good. The name comes from the way it’s made: in a fireplace. Flammkuchen literally means ‘flame cake’. Luckily, it can also be made in an oven! Here’s how to make your own: Flammkuchen Recipe Ingredients for 2. Prep time: 30 minutes. Pastry: store…