Comforting tuna casserole

Before I get to my lunch I just wanted to share this with you:

I am not a flower person. I mean I love to get them;) but I don’t have “the gardener’s touch” to take care of them . So it’s always a hit&miss with what will become of my new plants. Last summer I planted my own small garden and without even expecting it I had lots of sweet and delicious cherry tomatoes and green leafs. Which was nice. But flowers in the house …meh…they have their time when they show their beauty and other times they don’t…

So I had this flower for about 2 years now maybe longer. I got it from someone in the office who was moving out. It doesn’t need a lot of light (apparently) so it was just there, standing on my desk. When I stopped working I brought the flower home . I kept it outside during the summer and for winter time I put in a garage. Nothing was happening with this plant, no blooming not dying… Last week I noticed that there is something new growing from the pot. And a few days after I got this gorgeous flower. It really surprised me. It’s like a sign of Spring. Immediately I called my mom (the flower expert ironically ) and now I know it’s a Clivia and yes, it doesn’t like light but it’s blooming once in a while.

I guess you never know what’s under the cover…
Kind of like my tuna casserole. I don’t like tuna, the smell of it makes me sick and in general I don’t eat it. Although I always keep a can in my cupboard when there is nothing else to eat. Yesterday was that day, nothing relatively healthy was waiting for me when I came back. And this is the only tuna recipe that I can actually enjoy so I decided to share it with you:

Comforting tuna casserole
1 can of tuna, drained and flaked
½ cup of edamame or frozen peas
1/3 onion (if you like to add it)
1 small sweet potato cooked
1tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp Greek yogurt or veg. Mayo
½ cup of milk ( I used soya milk)
3-4 tsp nutritional yeast or Parmesan cheese
black pepper, 1tsp olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Microwave the sweet potato (peel it before) and mash well with a fork. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, mix nutritional yeast, Greek yogurt, Dijon, spices, and milk. Add mashed potato and blend well to get a creamy, orange sauce.
Saute the onion in a small skillet for 2 minutes, add edamame. Stir with tuna and sweet potato mix to combine.

Place the mixture in an 8×8-inch baking dish and bake for 20 minutes. Serve on steamed spinach for additional greens.
It’s a perfect meal after your weight training. It contains protein and healthy carbs which will help to repair your muscle damage. Ready in 30 minutes.

Question: Do you have the magic touch with flowers?
And how do you feel about eating tuna?

Izabela

Strawberry madness- Guilt free Chocolate Strawberry Cake!!!

Spring is officially here, or I should rather say: …. summer.  March and the weather here is crazy – 21C avg. Speaking of summer weather…we went shopping to Whole Foods on Sunday. Finally I found raw goat cheese, poor Tom almost got a heart attack when he saw the price on the sticker for a small piece but what can you do…it for your health overall;)
We got a huge package of strawberries – they are amazing.

It reminds me of the time when I was a kid and we had our own garden. Every June we had fresh strawberries there and it was a real strawberry madness… I miss these times… So I am treating us with strawberry smoothies and oats on daily basis this week. There are still some left today I finally got myself into baking.
Make sure you will make two since there won’t be anything left when you taste it.

Single Chocolate Strawberry Cake-(guilt free of course;)

3 tbsp of hazelnut flour (almond flour or any gluten free would work as well)
1 tbsp of cocoa powder
1tsb pure vanilla extract
3-4 mashed fresh strawberries
1 tsp honey or agave
¼ cup of egg withes
1/8tsp baking soda
2 tbsp of almond milk
1 tablespoon coconut oil

Mix everything together until you get smooth consistency, grease the single serving baking dish, bake at 350F for about 20 min. Top it with veg. whip cream (I skipped that part) and tell me what your think.

xoxo

Izabela

Recap on some eats from the week and Lentil Spinach Quiche

It’s Spring time. Today I went for a walk in the morning and I couldn’t get enough fresh air penetrating my skin …and warm breeze was awesome. Maybe I am a weirdo but it feels so good to be outside right now.

Mornings are all about smoothies/ green juices and overnight oats this week

Spinach, mango, ginger and half of lime + stevia to taste

Inspired by Lori and Michelle and their very simple version of quiche I made a delicious lunch for us yesterday. I love it. The recipe is so simple and you can adjust it to whatever you have in your fridge so here you go:

Easy Lentil Spinach Quiche

3 eggs
2 cups of green veggies (I had spinach and kale handy)
¼ block of tofu (sliced)
5-6 cherry tomatoes
½ cup of cooked green lentils
sprinkle with nutritional yeast and roasted pumpkin&sunflower seeds
spices I used: fresh coriander, Cayenne pepper, black pepper, oregano and basil.

Just blend everything together in a food processor, pour the mixture into 8 inch pie dish or a pan and bake for 40 min at 350F
Great comforting food and lots of greens to strengthen your immune system in a Spring time.

So for lunch I had a basic salad with peppers, tomatoes and hummus with quiche and carrot flax crackers-YUM

I don’t know what’s up with my diet but chocolate and sweets are just in demand on daily basis so even if I don’t have any at home and didn’t have time to make it at least Apple Pie Ice cream with almond butter will work

¼ cup of applesauce + ¼ greek yogurt, dash of cinnamon and stevia to taste. Put it into a freezer for 10 minutes – Vuole.

And what are you eating this week?

Izabela

Notes from the week

Wow, another week is gone and it seems that I just talked to you guys. I don’t know if it’s just me but I am really worried that life is passing by…thank God I keep reminding myself to stay at the present moment on my mat…

Many of you know we celebrated The Intentional Women’s Day this week, big deal in Europe, here I find it is not so much. Still I got flowers from Tom that made me smile.

Tuesday I literally started with sunset. This time I went to my studio for a very short yoga practice on the CHCH morning live show. It was pretty fun to make my debut on TV …when I was half awake;)

I was napping quite a lot this week. Maybe it’s the weather constantly changing or I was simply tired overall. Sophie is always up for a nap as well.

I DON’T LIKE changes…out of nowhere my gym closed and I/we/ were left without a place to workout. So I missed my workouts and I don’t feel good about it. I liked my old gym, it had this semi-private atmosphere and we all knew each other. It was safe, cosy and in my comfort zone. Now what?

We took a tour today of another health club and it’s huge but really nicely renovated and organized . So since I don’t have any other options I will try out. It’s a bit further then the old one but the facility is really beautiful. They aimed for higher standard than a typical gym. I got 3 months free and two personal training sessions. I just need to get used to it and figure out how much time I need to get there and out of there to make it for my classes. Eh, life;) I will let you know how everything goes.

I didn’t take pictures of my eats this week, I guess I was really hungry;) but I will make it up for you next week.

Other than that, have a fabulous weekend. I am going bowling tomorrow night!!!

xoxo

Izabela

 

 

 

Time for homemade Chocolate “Cliff” bars!!!

Hi Bloggies,

Hope you enjoyed your weekend.
There was not too much going on here, very lazy and relaxing time that Tom & I actually needed. Besides I wasn’t feeling very well in a last couple of days and we needed to take care of our favorite taxes…so finally this is done.

As usually on Saturday we ran errands and spent way too much!!! money in the Organic Garage; There is always something that I don’t need that catches my eye.
While our meals were not very well organized this weekend I did actually put some thought in to the upcoming week and prepared a few things.
My pantry is full of “cliff” bars “larabars” . Tom can’t live without them. And I love them both but my body doesn’t respond well to store bought “cliff” bars. I was trying to figure out which ingredient might be an issue for me but no luck. So I made my own;)

Homemade Chocolate “Cliff” bars that will not last long in your cupboard.

Inspired by this recipe

1) In one bowl mix:
½ cup oat flour
½ cup almond flour
1 tbsp baking soda
pinch of salt
scoop of chocolate protein powder
1tsp of flax
1tbsp cocoa powder
¼ cup roasted almonds

2) In a separate bowl combine:
½ cup  of unsweetened applesauce
½ cup of almond milk
¼ cup of date paste (dates chopped in a food processor)
¼ cup melted carob chips with 1 tsp coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine wet ingredients and poor into the first mix. Stir together until smooth and bake around 20 min at 350F. Refrigerate or devour them at once.

Have a great week, I have started my day with a dentist appointment – brrrr

Stay warm,

Izabela

Rise & Shine

Today I started my new class at 6.30am. I was a little bit nervous to teach so early….Practicing yoga first thing in the morning is
different from actually teaching it. I need to be ready to work, be there before everyone else and obviously speak in a clear manner…and this is not my strongest side in the morning;)
…But maybe it’s all about attitude because I actually felt great afterwords.

Benefits of practicing yoga at sunrise:

The old yoga texts actually claim that sunrise is the best time to practice. Everything around us is still; the air, our thoughts… so it allows us to keep the mind focused.

There are many!!! physical benefits of early morning practice: awakening the body, stretching muscles, improving circulation, stimulate digestion. All together work better then a caffeine kick. It gives us this boost of energy to go through the day.

Yoga breathing helps set and center your mind. You will feel calmer and happier. And you will find that it’s easier to deal with any morning stress and negativity.

Sense of accomplishment-when others are still in bed you’ve already did something good for yourself. You don’t have to worry anymore if you find some time for yoga or any other activity later on during the day because you already did it! You can be proud of yourself!!!

Since you woke up your metabolism you deserve a great breakfast. You can eat more during the day and burn more calories. It improves your digestion and absorption of nutrients from the food you eat. Besides, with a clear mind you can listen to your body more effectively and you will make better choices when choosing your food.

There are many more reasons why practice first thing in the morning. I had a decent group of people who like a strong practice so after warming up we managed to get even into a side crow. Afterwords I asked them if they attend this class every day. Well, they do!!! Five times per week before work they welcome their day in a hot room. I learned that having “ a yoga buddy” helps;) – since there are always excuses why you should sleep in longer it’s nice to have someone to motivate you. And if you know that someone is waiting for you, there are none.

So why don’t you give “Rise & Shine! Yoga” a try …who knows…you may just like it.

Have a beautiful weekend,

Izabela