All about eating

Hello!

First I want to thank everyone for reading my recent posts :) I'm positively surprised for the popularity of my recent texts. This one is all about eating! If we eat well and fuel up the body with what it needs we'll feel physically good and that's self evidence. In addition there's also existing scientifically proven connection between nutrition and mental wellbeing so I have wanted to learn what it means to eat well and treat your body right. I'm finding that quite an inspiring and worth the effort challenge in the everyday life and I'm happy if I can give you some ideas to try. I promised to talk about it a bit more specifically what do I eat and what's good for our bodies and metabolism ...So here we go!

My every morning starts with taking a sip of aloe vera. Aloe is an excellent supplement for the wellbeing of the whole body! I drink this for my overall wellbeing and aloe has plenty of benefits to health. That you can figure out via google very quickly if your're interested in knowing more (: I warmly recommend to give it a try if you want to daily give something good to your body and start the metabolism effectively in the morning. (Ps. this bottle just won the 1st place of the listing of best natural health boosters of the year in Sweden)

People talk about protein a lot these days and it's no wonder since getting protein is quite important to our body and in the past it has been underrated a bit. Carbs haven't been particularly fashionable lately but our body NEEDS carbs as well. (And especially when and if you wish to burn fat or get leaner appearance!). The quality of the carbs important. Your body loves the good quality carbs that contain plenty of dietary fibre, are packed with nutrition and help you maintain an even blood sugar level for quite a long time. The so called bad carbs lack the nutrition completely for it's processed away in the making of the white flour, rice and pasta. The bad carbs are also called the "fast carbs." Those don't have anything your body actually needs and they bloat you up for the starch they have. The fast carbs do take the blood sugar up quickly but it comes down just as quickly since the processed carbs lack all the nutrition and dietary fibre our body desires. Thus the fast carbs are unable to maintain the blood sugar level even and it drops down fast. If you have a low blood sugar level you'll feel hungry and your body tells you that you should eat.
If you fuel your body mostly with bad quality carbs you're feeling hungry very often.

I love especially oat for it's tasty and very good quality carb containing also plenty of protein and nutrients! Those who follow me on ig have for sure spotted every now and then different kinda yoghurt bowls with rolled oats on my stories. This one in the pic I crafted on Sunday for breakfast. It was quite yummy! Making one is very simple and easy and this is packed with nutrition! (:

If you want to recreate this Pomegranate yoghurt bowl
 you'll need: 

• about half a cup of rolled oats 
• about a cup of natural youghurt (10% fat)
• half of a pomegranate
• some apple puree
• cinnamon
• pumpkin seeds & sunflower seeds
•  a few dried apricots and brazil nuts 

Just pour the rolled oats to the bottom of the bowl, add about half of the pomegranate seeds, add the yoghurt, pour some apple puree into the bowl. Add to the top rest of the pomegranate seeds a bit of cinnamon and the seeds. Mince a bit the brazil nuts and the apricots and put on the top of the bowl. Ready! 😋 (ofc you can make also a bigger bowl if you want to!)

And in addition to suitable amounts of protein and good quality fats and carbs our body is designed to eat plenty of veggies & fruits! So in the end of this post I'll share a delicious nutrition packed green smoothie blend :)

• two bananas
• two granny smith apples
• two small limes squeezed (or one big)
• about a cup of fresh spinach leaves
• half a cup of pineapple cubes
• cup of mango cubes
• one pear
• about a handful of sea buckthorn berries
• + little ice cubes & protein powder

Put everything into a powerful blender and blend the smoothie!

~Have a fantastic week!~

♥-Tiina-♥

xx

The ugly duckling

Good evening!

6-years ago

Today

I'm continuing to write about the things I've changed in my life to become happier and more balanced person. Today's post goes a little bit further into my past and to the days of beginning to transform my life into better one. The post is about nutrition and taking healthier habits. (Also along with a little bit about my personal history. If you like totally happy & joyful stories this one ain't for you since I don't have particularly happy past :)

When the left photo was taken 6-years ago I was miserable in many ways. I had gone through quite a lot some difficult shit and mentally I was totally lost. I was depressed and didn't see anything much worth living to exist in this world. I had a tendency of comforting myself with food since I've always enjoyed tasty food a lot and been good at cooking something delicious. And back then eating something that tasted good was nearly the only thing that made life worth living for. So I ate. I ate a lot and plenty of truly unhealthy stuff.

At that time I had very very little knowledge of nutrition and how should you fuel the body the "right way" nor was I even interested in that. I didn't care much at all about anything. Until one day I just got enough of being a doormat to other people and talking down myself all the time. Got enough of being called unworthy, fat, ugly, useless etc. and it wasn't just me telling myself those things. That's rather what I heard most of my life as a kid and teen from others and that eventually became what I thought about myself and thus I let people continuously treat me as I was worthless which got me more and more miserable and depressed.
I was heavily bullied during my school years and yet the worst bully I've ever had in my life was someone I had to live with under the same roof nearly to my young adulthood years. Then he died but his words echoed in my head quite a long time even after his demise and those words defined me to be unworthy, useless fat and ugly.

Eventually I just got enough of the bad legacy he and all the bullies left me to carry. I decided I want to make my life better and that I deserve that. It started with learning to value myself, quitting all the toxic relationships and beginning to take care of my body for the first time in my life. I quit the emotional eating. I also got my asthma diagnosed and medication to it so I was able to start going to gym. Along starting gym and having an aim of making my physical condition better I started to get interested in nutrition and what does human body actually need for metabolism to work properly and how to give your body all that it needs. How to physically feel energetic and take good care of yourself. At that time I also tried the first time the Forever Living products and started using the amazing dietary supplements the company offers in addition to top notch cosmetics. (I still use the products and soon I'll have my own business with those!)

I got interested in nutritional value of the food I eat and cook. How to make something delicious - and good for you. Instead of cooking with the "traditional" habits taught to restaurant chefs. (Basically what's done in the most of the restaurants is using plenty of fat, salt and sugar to make the food tasty. Restaurant dishes simply are mostly incredibly unhealthy.)
That's one of the biggest reasons I didn't want to continue my career as a chef. I don't want anymore to cook dishes that merely indulge the taste buds and sicken the body in the long run but to cook dishes that indulge the taste buds + promote health and wellbeing of the body. I left and started seeking a new career path matching better with my interests. Finally I have found one!

 I'll be writing more about what eating the right kinda stuff does to your body and metabolism...And I'll also post some easy recipes of dishes that are good for you and to your taste buds! PS. I'm definitely not someone obsessing over clean eating and going to gym! I still do love pizza, beer, wine and junk food overall and having all that occasionally definitely doesn't harm anyone in my opinion (:

What I want to say in the end of this post is that you are not defined by your past if you don't allow it to be so. You can break free and get up from there no matter what's your starting point.
It's always a long journey but the journey of pursuing your dreams and becoming the happiest version of you that you can be is worth the ride. This post was quite a long one. Thank you for reading if you read my text until this last sentence!

~Hopefully you'll have a fantastic weekend!~

♥-Tiina-♥

xx

Perfectly imperfect

Hi!

 

I wrote in my last post that I want to speak a bit about the things that have helped me becoming a happier - and probably also a better person. One of those things was to grow myself a self esteem depending on completely other things than a dolled up face with flawless make up, nice aesthetic clothing and appearing as good looking as possible all the time. 

I still do love to do a make up, to decorate my face, to dress up beautifully and to play with cosmetics. I'm an aesthetic and I love to decorate things overall. Many females love doing that and there's nothing wrong with that...But if our feeling of self worth depends on and is based on the perfect make up the clothing the fitness of our body and other completely shallow things there's something wrong. At that point we become quite unhappy about ourselves since that 'perfection' people praise is surreal, shallow and at some level even artificial for no one of us wakes up every morning all dolled up. 

When we are unhappy about ourselves we tend to get addicted to the reassurance given by others and beg for the positive attention based on the dolled up appearance and go to desperate measures to look as good as possible all the time which makes us feel even worse about ourselves since we feel like we are loved only when we appear "perfect" looking.

 We are also quick to judge the "flaws" and the appearance of others when we are unable to accept and embrace the real not at all dolled up image in the mirror. 

Eventually we must learn to love the imperfect and the real image of ourselves if we want to be happy. That's the only way to truly feel good about yourself and be able to be good to the people around you as well. 

Being real sort of also makes you much more vulnerable to possible mean comments and the hecklers internet is full of. Still being real is worth it (and also much effortless tangibly and mentally than trying to appear as good good looking and flawless as possible all the time!)

 You have to remember that people with the need to bully or criticize others based on ones face and looks are not the happy and balanced people. 

Still I do see many things I don't particularly like when I'm looking at myself and I definitely don't consider myself the prettiest girl on earth...but I've learnt to own who I'm and I want to encourage people to just be real and embrace who you really are! You are not any less you or less beautiful without all the make up and effort. I think it's time to bring back the real instead of praising and considering something utterly surreal to be how we should look like and appear all the time.

You might get surprised how good being real feels like - and also about that how much people still love you whether you appear perfect all the time or not! You are good just as you are. 

~Hopefully you'll have a wonderful week!~

xx

♥-Tiina-♥

Destination happiness

Hello!

♥ The beautiful little things ♥

It's quite obvious that I actually didn't start writing again after the post I wrote declaring "back again." One post after that and then total silence. Why?
I wasn't back then actually so motivated doing blog posts and it rather felt like one of the many to do's and things to take care of. Life had been very busy with starting in a new job and going to school simultaneously. I was a bit exhausted of all the to do's and always being in hurry and having something that I should take care of. The summer was starting and I felt like now I actually want to just spend time out, enjoy the daylight, enjoy the little good and beautiful things in life instead of rushing from a to do to taking care of some another responsibility or must do.

I made a decision to drop everything I don't feel good about doing and don't have to do. Back then it

Beauty of simple things.

honestly felt like I don't actually have any thoughts to borrow, any energy for planning posts and that probably anyone wouldn't even enjoy reading some posts that I haven't even enjoyed doing.

How about now?
I'm not going to promise I'll write 3-times a week or actually anything but now it feels good to write again. Daylight hours are quite few out there. I'm not so busy anymore. I've taken out of my calendar permanently the things I don't truly want to be involved in. I've learnt to enjoy the good simple things and take it a bit easier...not trying to push myself accomplishing a million things or making myself do things that I don't really desire doing.

I still do have the "day job" that I don't enjoy so much, but I'm very exited to start my own business soon in the field of my passion; cosmetics and wellbeing.
Counting out that it still startles me to look into mirror a bit after dyeing my hair on Friday (it was supposed to become copper brown...not incredibly dark-brown and slightly reddish :D) I'm quite fine.
I'm on a mission to make my life my own and to pursue what makes me happy. I've learnt to arrange enough time to do more of what makes me happy in order to stay happy instead of drowning in the sea of different responsibilities and unnecessary to do's. That's something I want to encourage people to do with their life. Finding and pursuing what makes you happy!
We only have this one life and it's supposed to feel like worth living.

Now I might actually have some thoughts to borrow and stories to tell...And I certainly will want to talk about the things that have helped me becoming happier. Maybe I'll write soon again ;)

Autumn colors ♥

~Hopefully you'll have a fantastic week!~
♥-Tiina-♥

Smoothies & oatmeals

Hello!

It's been quite dreary and cold in Finland for couple of days. I've had early mornings at work and thus I've fallen in love with making over night oats for breakfast! So easy, quick and so many ways to make a delicious overnight oats bowl that is waiting for you all ready in the refrigerator on the busy mornings. Additionally it's good for you! In this post I'll share one of my recent favorite overnight oats bowl recipe I've created. I'll make another post as well containing couple of different oatmeal recipes since lately I've been doing a lot of these! (:

Rosehip - raspberry overnight oats

Packed with nutrition and dietary fibre + it's delicious. At least me and my love absolutely love this :D

• rolled oats (old fashioned :)
• vanilla flavored soy milk
• ~3/4 cup of rose hip puree
• a little raisins/dates
• sunflowerseeds
• pumpkinseeds
• frozen raspberries

Take a bowl or a soup plate, put into it a suitable amount of rolled oats for you and the amount of vanilla flavored soy milk adjusted to the amount of rolled oats, so the oats will mostly absorb the "milk". Add the rose hip puree and mix a bit. Toss over the oats a few raisins, or pieces of dried dates and place to the refrigerator over night. In the morning just top the bowl with some seeds & a few frozen raspberries. :) (You can smash the raspberries a bit so they will spread more evenly!)

With gluten free rolled oats it's gluten free portion. It's also a dairy free & vegan friendly breakfast. 

Rose hip puree is delicious with a bit added sweetness, particularly rich in vitamin C and contains the carotenoids, beta-carotene, lutein, zeaxanthin and lycopene which all give us plenty of nutritional benefits and are very good for us!

In a scheduled day a smoothie is an easy, quick and effortless way to have something delicious, healthy and packed with nutrition to keep you going. For the weather has been rainy and cold I decided again to create something refreshing to drink.

On yesterday evening I created this perky smoothie blend packed with vitamins and fresh flavors to wake myself up for work today :D I named this yellow drink as 

Sunny day... and for recreating it you'll need:

• 2-bananas
• 2-granny smith apples (or a bit sour apples)
• a handful of fresh mint leaves
• a cup of pineapple chunks
• a cup of mango chunks 
• 1/4 cup of sea buckthorn
• an orange, squeezed
• ice cubes & protein powder

These amounts of ingredients made a little bit over one liter of ready smoothie. You can easily adjust the amounts also to a smaller portion of smoothie. Peel the fruits and chop. Place everything to the blender and blend! (:  

Now it's time to prepare the overnight oats bowl for tomorrow morning and then start to orientate myself towards the bed so I'm able to get up at 5.45 in the morning.

~Hopefully everyone has been having a nice week!~

Good night to U, or what ever time it's for U 😘

-♡Tiina♡-

I'm back!

Hello folks! (:

Been a long time without writing a post. The weeks simply got that hectic and busy with starting at the new job, having classes at school on evenings and having to finish all the compulsory course tasks in addition to desperately trying to prepare for the final exams as well that I dropped everything I didn't "have to do". Now the school is over for summertime and I have just work and my life so there will be posts more often again!

Last week the life almost felt like a vacation :D I had total three days off work and neither tons of assignments waiting for me nor any actual commitments. I did some cooking and the ordinary household chores, went to gym and went to see my grandmother (she's recovering from a stroke.) On Saturday evening I got a chance to participate in a Kangoo Jumping class and it was awesome, even I nearly had an asthma attack. 😄 If you have a change to try it I recommend you to take a try! It's very efficient exercising, fun and it wont hurt your joints. Also went out with my sis on Saturday evening and met some friends. On Sunday some time with my love and family.

Now a new work week has started and this week I have just one day off work, but now I do have time and most importantly some enthusiasm again to write blog posts when I've actually gotten to relax a bit.

Recently I created for lunch a tasty and quick grain free and dairy free tuna salad, packed with good amount of nutrients.

For one serving you'll need:

• canned tuna chunks in olive oil (about half a cup to one cup)
• one tomato
• handful of frozen peas
• handful of cooked kidney beans (self cooked, or conserved)
• small piece of zucchini
• small piece of scallion
• 3-leaves of romaine salad
• handful of watercress

Just adapt the amount of ingredients to the amount of servings you want to make (: 

Chop the salad and the watercress + zucchini and the scallion into a strainer. Rinse and let them trickle in the strainer for a while. Pour the salad onto plate and slice the tomato to the serving. Add the tuna and the kidney beans and melt the peas in the strainer under warm water for a while and cool off the peas with cold water. Pour the peas into the salad, mix it a bit and it's ready!

You can also add some herbs or spices to this, if you want to! (For instance fresh basil would taste great in this salad) Also avocado would taste good in this salad if you want to add some!

Today it's been a very grey cold and rainy day. My mind wondered back to memories of beautiful warm summer evenings and magical summer sunsets. I had an inspiration to create a fruity and fresh smoothie tasting like a perfect summer day :)

Summerday smoothie

For this one you'll need:

• 2-bananas
• one pear
• half of a red grapefruit, squeezed
• 3/4 cup of pineapple chunks
• handful of fresh mint leaves
• a small piece of fresh ginger
• cup of mango cubes
• 3/4 cup of strawberries
• + protein powder & ice cubes

These amounts of ingredients will make about 1-liter of ready smoothie! Put everything into a powerful blender and blend! (:

Now it's my time to prepare the lunch box for work tomorrow and soon head to bed. Early morning at work ahead.

~Have a nice week!~

♡ -Tiina-♡

Moment of relaxation

Hi everyone!

The first two days in the new workplace done and man there's a lot to learn. Too much information to intake! :D But so far everything has gone fine and I'm sure I'll learn all those different technical protocols and devices related to the work and all the different the cash desk functions. My job is to be a sales person and a warehouse worker in a whole sale shop for professional kitchens and restaurants. Mostly the company sells via deliveries straight to customers and we have to gather ready all the ordered items for different companies by the delivery time. We also ofc refill the shelves in the shop and arrange new products to the shelves, do inventory, be sales persons to the customers in the shop, keep everything in order in the shop etc.

I should do assignments I guess, but I already did some before going to work and after work I had school. Now I feel like no assignments anymore. 😏 :D Besides my head is so tired of trying to learn something new right now that I probably wouldn't actually even learn anything anymore if I tried! 😄

Time to relax a little bit. I mentioned already in one post of mine the Forever Living's Marine mask. I have it on my face and I'm having some sparking water with lemon.

This is very refreshing experience every time you use it! Just apply into rinsed face a layer and let it be 20-minutes! Simple, easy and good also for males. As Forever's products typically this as well has been made to match the needs of all the skin types and it gives your skin just what it needs! The Marine mask combines deep cleansing, toning, refreshing and deep moisturizing of the skin with cucumber extract, honey, aloe vera and sea minerals. A perfect all in one facial skin care product.

I just rinsed it off and my skin feels all clean and refreshed. I also applied a little bit of this luxurious serum into my skin for wanting to give some true pampering to my tired face! :D

This lovely soothing and excellent skin care providing serum earns its own post and I'll write more about it later on!

In this post I'm about to share a refreshing little bit kind of sweet and sour smoothie blend that always zests my day with it's fresh taste and excellent nutritional value.

For about one liter of this smoothie you'll need:

• 2-bananas
• 2-apples
• an avocado
• one lime, squeezed
• two handfuls of fresh spinach
• piece of fresh gincer
• a cup of frozen mango cubes
• a small handful of sea-buckthorn berries
• ice cubes & some protein powder

Blend in a powerful blender, enjoy the refreshing taste and this smoothie as a nutrition packed snack, or a breakfast smoothie (Ps. if you want it to be a bit sweeter, pineapple would do that perfectly!)

Recently I've gotten plenty of dm requests on instagram. I'm sorry, but I don't have much time or interest for dm conversations since I do have quite a busy life currently and a lot to do. The time I can spare to socializing I'll spend with my love, family and the closest friends of mine. I'm very thankful for all the appreciation though and I'm doing my best to be able to respond all the comments I'm getting to my gallery. Want to say thanks to all of you lovely people leaving me such lovely and encouraging comments!

Want to thank all of you for reading my writings here as well! :)
Now I'm still relaxing a while and then it's time to go to bed again so I can get my ass up early enough tomorrow to get everything done I need to get done, before I must go to work and after work to school again! :D

~Good night to you, or what ever time it's for you!~

♡-Tiina-♡

Busy Life

Hello!

Already Friday! The days just fly by when you have plenty to do! :D
I've tried to study as much as possible in addition to attending the classes at school during this week. Next week I'll start in my new job and have classes during evenings. The week after next one will be the exam week and for working the days and attending on the classes the evenings and having to take care of all the assignments to pass the courses I won't have much time for preparing to the exams I'll have. Two very busy weeks ahead and then finally it will be the summer break at school and I'll have just the work and rest of the time I can actually do what I want to :D

It was a stunning sunset tonight! 😍

When there's a lot going on in life we might easily get tired or stressed. So will our skin, if we are exposed to stress too long time, sleep too little, eat irregularly, make poor nutritional choices, drink too little water etc... I guess everyone who's even a little bit interested in taking good care of her (or his!) skin knows what's bad for our skin but not necessarily how to treat the mixed, oily, dry, tight or dull skin and what kind of products are good for it.
I'm not a cosmetologist, but I actually do have a degree of  make up artist & stylist. As I mentioned in my very first blog post in English, I've always been interested in cosmetics and skincare and thus I've educated myself a bit further into the world skincare products as well.

 I also mentioned in my first post that I've fallen in love especially with the products of Forever Living company. Why are these ones so superior then? Take any body or face lotion or skin care product you use: Dior, Lancôme, YSL, Lauder, Chanel, Lorèal, Nivea...Anything! And check out the ingredient list, I bet the first word on the list is aqua. Mostly all the cosmetics of the world is based on water and I'm not saying all of those products are lousy or bad, NO! Not at all necessarily, but water based cosmetics always treats only the outermost layer of our skin. Forever's cosmetics is based on aloe vera gel, prepared from hand picked organically and ecologically grown aloe vera. The gel is made with Forever's unique stabilization method keeping it as fresh and flawless as possible.
 What makes aloe special in skincare is that aloe's molecules will pass your skin layers and will be effective on the outermost layer of our skin and also deep inside our skin! Forever's products are also very affordable, considering they are luxurious quality and majority of the products are made to be suitable to all of the skin types. Ofc there are some products custom made for oily or especially dry skin as well! (:

No matter what your skin type is, it needs exfoliating for couple of times a week, if you wish to maintain an even skin tone, want the skin treatments you use to work effectively and the make up to be easy to apply and spread evenly on your skin. After exfoliating the dead cells of the outermost layer of your skin the skin gets refreshed, it breathes, feels even and also all the treatments and lotions, serums etc will absorb much better into your skin and work effectively on the "living" skin since the dead cells don't block their way. Each skin type will get better with regular exfoliating if you use a gentle and effective scrub.

The affordable (in Europe around 20€) and effective, but gentle Forever's aloe scrub is my favorite. Jojoba microspheres exfoliate the skin and moisturize it effectively with aloe vera simultaneously. Just wash the face with water, dry it a bit with a towel and apply the scrub all over your face except around the eyes. Keep rubbing until the scrub forms white dots on your skin. The white dots are your dead skin cells the scrub has gotten off your skin. Rinse off with comfortably warm water and feel the refreshment that you achieved with the effort of about 3-minutes! (Ps. You can use this for the whole body as well!)

After the scrub apply a treatment product, which is suitable for your skin type and your skin feels great! (: If you haven't tried this before I'm warmly recommending to give it a try!

I'm going to take my make up off and do a scrub with this right now. It's getting late here in Finland and it's soon the bed time! Now it's time for me and my skin to relax.

~Happy weekend to everyone!~

♡-Tiina-♡

Turning over a new leaf!

Hello!

Long time, no post! :D

Spring is finally here! Although we still have much colder weather than we normally should. We had one day + 17'Cs, then the next + 11'Cs and now for this week the weather forecast tells the temperature is about to stay below + 10 'Cs mostly for the whole week and there will even be a little frost on some nights! :/ (which is unusual on MAY in Southern-Finland!).

A lot has happened during this week I haven't written a post. As confusing it was at the moment of receiving that phone call...it's still amazing and confusing me! :D
I actually got the job I went for a job interview 1,5-weeks ago. I won of 6 applicants who were interviewed for the job. I didn't believe I would be the one to get the job by the experience I have gotten of applying for a job during this one year I've been officially unemployed. The job I got is a part time job and nothing special, but it's a beginning and I'm seeing it as a great opportunity! I'm so happy and relieved I'm no longer unemployed and it's a big company I'm going to work at. If everything goes well (And I'm for sure going to do my best to excel in the job!) my one year contract might even continue and I guess there are possibilities to proceed forward into a better position eventually. Let's see! At least I will have excellent opportunities of networking with people in the big community. Most importantly now I really can turn  over a new leaf in my life officially! I finally got a job in business and no going back to miscellaneous kitchen and restaurant gigs anymore!

Another big thing currently is that my own old computer eventually broke down for good and for a while I didn't have a computer at all, so that's also why I haven't written a post. Now I have a laptop my friend lent me until my new computer which arrived me inoperative (after waiting for it for almost a month!) will come back from the overhaul and they have hopefully fixed it, so I'll finally have my new computer I've now waited for over a month.

It's been quite busy with school. Plenty of assignments for the end of the courses is approaching and classes 4-evenings a week. The computer mess has caused some stress and a lot of work during the past week. I wouldn't have believed I'll ever do dumpster diving, but apparently anything can happen. xD :D When the new computer components finally came on last Tuesday we unpacked it all immediately and took the card board boxes and the cushions to the dumpster for living in a small apartment and we thought that we won't need those...but the next day when the computer was gathered ready of the components, everything was set and it was time to install the operating system it appeared that we can't make the computer functioning and we must send it to the overhaul via post. 😞 So I had to go dumpster diving to find the card board boxes we threw away. Had to pack the damn thing again, buy some cushions and take it to the post office. Hopefully it's not going to take another 3,5 weeks until I'll have it back and it's actually operational.
The weekend was spent in the company of friends and the loved ones and I studied a lot!

Now it's a new week and this one started with a delicious chocolate smoothie! 😋

Chocolate smoothie

For this goodness packed with super good nutritional value you'll need for a portion of little under one liter:

• 2-bananas
• 2-apples
• 1-orange, squeezed
• 1,5 dl (0,75 cups) frozen raspberries
• 1,5 dl (0,75 cups) frozen mango cubes
• about 5 tablespoons of raw cacao powder
• avocado
• plant based protein powder & ice cubes

Did you know that about 10% of the weight of raw cacao powder is antioxidants?
The cacao beans are full of antioxidants, good fat, carbohydrates, protein, minerals like calcium, magnesium, sulfur, copper, iron, zinc and potassium. There is also oleic acid which is a heart-healthy essential monounsaturated fat, fiber and vitamins E, B2, B1, B5, B3 and B9.

Cacao beans have very high nutritional value and many nutrients that can offer multiple health benefits to us.

Some of these nutrients unfortunately get reduced or even destroyed when they undergo heating process and are combined with milk and sugar to make chocolate. Hence, eating raw, unprocessed cacao beans (ergo raw unprocessed cacao powder, or cacao nibs) offer the best nutritional value and health benefits of the cacao beans combined with the delicious taste of chocolate! There are many ways of using raw cacao powder in raw delicacies and one very practical and easy way is to make a smoothie containing raw cacao powder. (: If you like chocolate, you'll love that smoothie recipe! In addition to benefits of raw cacao there are plenty of nutrients in the berries, fruits and avocado as well and a protein powder is an easy way to add some protein as well into a smoothie!

Today for it's Monday and a new week I'll do some skincare! The next post will be about my today's skin treatment (: 

Now it's time for me to eat something and get ready for school!

~Have a nice week!~

♡-Tiina-♡

Meatballs!

Hi everyone!

Luckily our weather in Finland got a little better for the May Day celebration!
In Finland the last day April is a celebration day since the offices and shops are mostly closed on the first of May and most of the people of Finland celebrate the May Day (we call it Vappu) as the fete of the labor forces...And it's also sort of the celebration of the spring finally arriving to this damn cold northern country. :D
During the May Day celebration we spend time with the family, friends and the loved ones, unwind! Even perhaps take a little bit of sparkling wine or champagne as well. :)

Unfortunately the weather is still damn cold compared to what it should be at this time of the year usually. Maybe at some point of May we will finally have those beautiful light green new leaves on the trees everywhere, the green grass and the blossoming of everything!

To me that moment of the year is absolutely my favorite for it's just something magical when suddenly there is so much sunshine, it's light almost around the clock it's warm out there and everything awakens after the long cold dark and grey wintertime.

On Sunday I made us (me and my love) some meatballs, sweet potato wedges, a spicy salsa and a fresh and crunchy salad. All grain free, also dairy free actually and this portion is containing a good amount of nutrition!

Meatballs, sweet potato wedges, spicy salsa & crunchy salad

You'll need for 2-3 portions:

• low fat minced meat 400 g
• one onion
• two large eggs

• two sweet potatoes
• olive oil
• salt & pepper
• white wine winegar

• one mild fresh chili/some conserved jalapeños
• a big clove of garlic
• fresh basil
• tomatoes/cherry tomatoes about 500 g
• about 100 g tomato puree 
• 1,5dl (0,75 cups) sweet chili sauce

• a few leaves of some crunchy salad
• about 100 g corn
• about 70 g kidney beans
• some scallion
• one stem of celery
• about 100 g cucumber

as spices for meatballs for example: mustard U like, honey, salt, black pepper, white pepper, paprika powder, chive and little chili powder.

Preparation (takes about 45-minutes)

1. Begin with the meatballs. Put the minced meat into a spacious bowl, break two eggs into it, dice the onion into small dices and toss it into the bowl. Put there about 3-tablespoons of mustard and 1,5 tablespoons of honey. Add the amounts you like the rest of the spices to bowl (it doesn't have to be exactly those spices, use what U like! That's just what I put there this time :)) Mix well and leave the meatball "dough" for a while 

2. Heat the oven to about 180 C's. Peel the sweet potatoes and chop 'em into wedges. Put the wedges into a bowl. Drop some olive oil into the bowl, a little white wine vinegar, some salt and pepper. Mix well and check the taste!

3. Now make the meatballs ready into the baking trey with high sides and put the sweet potato wedges sparsely into another baking tray. Put both into the oven!

4. The meatballs and the sweet potato wedges cook about 25-minutes n now U have time to make the salsa & the salad! Chop tomatoes or cherry tomatoes into small dices, until U have about 4 dl's (2 cups) of diced tomatoes. Place the dices into a bowl. Put into the same bowl the tomato puree, sweet chili sauce and chop the garlic clove n some fresh basil into the bowl. If you don't want this to be very hot, use the mild chili n mostly remove the seeds of it. If you like spicy and hot, chop a few conserved jalapeño pieces into the salsa, or leave the seeds mostly on to the chili, when U chop it into the salsa. Add a pinch of salt, mix well and check the taste! Add spices or alter the amount of components, if needed.

The salsa goes great with any meat or barbecued treats!
You can also replace the basil with fresh cilantro, or add some fresh paprika into the salsa

-Check if the meatballs are already cooked, when they have been in the oven for about 20-minutes! The meatballs will get dry, if they are overcooked. If the meatballs are already done take 'em out, but leave the sweet potatoes to the oven still for a while, when you prepare the salad. (If the meatballs are not yet done, or if the sweet potatoes and the meatballs seem ready, just turn off the oven n leave both there during making the salad!)

5. Chop about 4-leaves of some crunchy salad into a colander, chop the cucumber into dices, celery & scallion into thin slices and toss all into the colander. Rinse and trickle the salad. Put into a salad bowl. Defrost some corn in the colander under warm water (that won't take long and the corn stays juicy!). Add the corn and the beans into the salad.

~Everything is ready!~

ps. As always all the amounts are approximately, since my cooking works quite a lot based on experience and instinct so I rarely measure anything.  

Cooking rarely is an exact science! ;) 

I'm always doing my best to give as comprehensible and easy to follow instructions as possible, but if there is something U don't understand, can't figure out or want to know more, just ask me! (:

Now it's the bedtime for me!

~Good night to U, or what ever time it's for U~

♡-Tiina-♡

Kale recipes!

Hello!

What a weather we have here in Finland today! 😩😊
Back at home, wearing warm comfortable clothes and drinking hot tea. Having my favorite face mask on, moisturizing, deep cleansing, toning and balancing Marine mask of Forever Living Products working on my skin.
Time to relax after gym! It's been a hideous sleet storm out there for the most of the day and I've been home studying, doing household chores and ran some errands before going to gym. I only walked from door to car and back and from car to gym and back + ofc had to clean the car of that heavy wet icy sleet layer before driving. I simply hated every second of being out there. :D :'D
For those lucky ones of you, who don't know what sleet is, it's wet and icy mixture of snow and rain. Happens when the temperature is around zero, but almost below it. Combined with the wet n icy rain mercilessly coming straight at your face even when wearing a hood there was a freezing stormy wind and the streets were wet n full of sleet all over. Luckily I'm back indoors! :D

Yesterday was almost all about fun! I studied a little, spent time with a good friend of mine, visited my mother and enjoyed the good weather among the beautiful nature of Mustola (a suburban area of my town, where my mother lives.)

A few days ago I bought some kale.
We all know it's nutritionally almost super food. Nevertheless at least to my foodie taste buds the bare kale tastes simply awful. Good news is that you can create tasty combinations including kale and all it's vitamins n nutrients! I'm about to share a Chicken - goat cheese salad recipe I created and enjoyed yesterday with my friend as dinner.

Chicken-goat cheese salad

 You'll need:

• kale
• cabbage
• scallion
• romaine/cosmopolitan salad
• red/yellow paprika
• sun-dried tomatoes
• celery
• kidney beans
• zucchini
• avocado
• chicken
• goat cheese

The amounts I'm putting into this example are approximately for I did't weight or measure anything, but this recipe will make a small salad bowl. You can ofc make as big portion as you need or want to have! Preparing this takes only about 15-minutes.

Chop into a big colander two middle sized kale leaves (remember to remove the stem of the kale!), three leaves of crunchy salad and a small piece of cabbage, about 70 grams. Dice half of a paprika, chop one stem of celery (the celery into thin slices!), little scallion and dice about 1/3 of a small zucchini into to the colander as well. Rinse the the chopped veggies in the colander and let 'em trickle. Pour everything into a salad bowl.

Dice about 10 pieces of sun-dried tomatoes and toss 'em into the salad. Toss in also about a handful of cooked kidney beans. Mix the salad well!

Fry & spice up some chicken (as much as needed). Take some salad on the plate, carve a little avocado onto the top of the portion and serve the salad with fried chicken and a little goat cheese!
I also added a few fresh basil leaves. (: We enjoyed this quite a lot with my friend 😋

This morning I created a healthy and nutrition packed smoothie blend including kale.
This one is creamy for including avocado, but simultaneously very fresh!

Blueberry-kale smoothie

• two bananas
• two apples
• a piece of fresh ginger (about 2cm's x 1cm)
• 2-leaves of kale (stem emoved)
• 2 dl's frozen blueberries 
• 1 avocado
• 1,5 dl's frozen mango cubes
• a few ice cubes
• plant based protein powder

(1dl is about half a cup! :)

Put everything into a blender and blend! This will make little under one liter of ready smoothie. You can adapt the recipe suitable to your need (:

~That would be all this time~

Hopefully everyone is having a fantastic weekend!

♡-Tiina-♡

An extraordinary day

Hello!

"I know you just can't stand it
If things don't go your way...
But we've got no control over what happens anyway
If it's gonna be a rainy day
There's nothing we can do to make it change
We can pray for sunny weather
But that won't stop the rain..."♫♩♪ -James Morrison's -Please don't stop the rain

If we leave out the love affair part the song is also about I'm feeling pretty much exactly the lyrics of this track once again. I had quite an extraordinary day. I was in a job interview! In a real job interview for once (not in some cursed video interview or via over the phone). It's not a secret I'm officially unemployed. I'm studying and doing some job gigs via agency working but since it's not full time studying and I don't have any actual job, my official status is unemployed.

I started attending these language and psychology courses that I'm doing for it started seeming I'm not about to get a job in business for I applied almost half a year without getting anywhere after my graduation into a business degree. Now it's been about a year since my graduation and I've sent over 50-job applications to different jobs in business without any luck n I've gotten into a job interview of any kind just a few times.

In Finland we currently based on statistics have about 332 000 unemployed people and less than 100 000 situations vacant, of which on most jobs there are so little working hours offered that one couldn't make a living with the income the job would earn you. 

In reality there are plenty of more unemployed people than 332 000 since hundreds of people are forced to go to work for free for months to a "training" and to show their skills to the employers after being unemployed for a certain period of time. During those training periods their status is statistically not unemployed. That's so even they neither don't actually earn anything with their working, no matter how well they perform, nor actually get employed after this training period in the most of the cases. The companies will easily get a new slave to work for free who will excel in the job in hopes of actually getting hired...

Even I finally for once in a blue moon achieved a seat at the table face to face with the recruiter and everything went well it's a long long shot that I'll actually get hired. It was a group interview and there were 2-others with me in the room who were just as competent for the job and we were told that there will be also another group interview of 3-people. We were also told that the company might hire into this open permanent job of over 20hrs/week someone who's already working inside the company, if someone of them is willing to take that position (which is very likely). If that happens there would be an open position of 20 hours/week for some months.

So practically that 20hrs/week job would be then what I'm actually competing for against those 5-others, chosen to the interview, all competent for the job and picked up from among hundreds of job applications the companies offering a job always receive when there's an open position into any paying job. I have a little under 17% chance to be chosen to that job of 20hrs/week for couple of months :D Hurray! xD
After doing the math the glimpse of hope for a decent job was gone and I once again was forced to think that I'm again back to square one. Send another ten applications and wish to get even a reply of some kind.

I can't help it, but momentarily feel slightly hopeless about my own life situation for I'd really just want to have a job and finally start earning some money after the years of being a student and unemployed. It's been now almost 3-years since I left the job in the kitchen that I never wanted even to begin with, but had to take. Still I don't regret I left the career in kitchen, because I just know I want to be a business woman. Maybe somehow, someday I will actually be one.

"You see live is a crazy thing There'll be good time and there'll be bad times
And everything in between
And I don't know which way it's gonna go
...
If it's gonna be a rainy day
There's nothing we can do to make it change
We can pray for sunny weather
But that won't stop the rain..."♬♪♩

I like to listen to this song of Morrison's every now and then, when I'm feeling the worst moments of frustration. Sometimes things just don't work out the way we hope for and that's even if we give our everything to achieve our goals and dreams. 

What's comforting me though is that even we can't stop the rain...the beautiful rainbows can appear only after the rain and at some point the clouds always disappear. 

Besides, how could we be able to appreciate the blue sky and sunshine without feeling and knowing the storm and rain?

That's all I've got to say this time. Thank you for reading! 

In the next post of mine I'll be sharing some delicious recipes!

~Good night to U, or what ever time it's for U~

♡-Tiina-♡

Blogging in English!

Hello everyone!

I made the decision to write this blog in English from now on. I'll keep my former posts, (which are in Finnish), in the blog archives! Posts ahead will be in English. :)

In this blog I'm wishing to share some inspiration for wellbeing via nutritional and healthy food and high quality cosmetics n dietary supplements that I love!
I don't follow any specific diet myself or have any food allergies. I do eat grain products of high nutritional quality but I do cook plenty of paleo style food, sometimes vegetarian/vegan recipes and mostly always gluten free (except the pasta days ;P ;D). Often my dishes might be dairy free n even grain free as well, so if you are following for instance paleo style diet, are coeliac or follow dairyfree diet you might find here some recipes you'll like.

I'm a psychology student and I like to ponder stuff, so I'll most probably write of my random thoughts as well occasionally! :D In addition to being a foodie, loving photography, nature and all the things beautiful I've always had a strong interest towards cosmetics and I've grown a strong interest especially in the very high quality products of Forerever Living company. I'm actually planning to start a career in Forever at the end of this year and wishing it woud be my full time employment at some point, for this company and its products give me wellbeing and inspiration that I want to take forward and share with people!
I'll be writing of Forever's cosmetics and dietary supplements for these products play a major role in my everyday life and also some random cosmetics stuff momentarily. Main focus will be on food and the thoughts n life in general :D

I'll share as my first recipes in English the today's breakfast!

There's a veggie-cheese frittata and a fruity strawberry smoothie! This whole breakfast is packed with nutrition, vegetarian friendly, tasty and easy to make! (:

For veggie-cheese frittata you'll need:

• Vegetables, that you like
• seeds
• eggs
• some aromatic cheese U like

In mine I had this morning some scallion, red paprika, zucchini, celery, tomatoes, black olives n cheese.

Preparation of frittata for 2:

Turn on the oven with 200'Cs. Heat a frying pan with oil. Chop into small dices some paprika, scallion (or onion), celery, zucchini or other veggies. Quickly sauteè the veggies on the frying pan and then pour over the veggies 6-7 egss, thus that the veggies stay under the eggs. Take the pan off the stove, mix the frittata a lil bit. Slice some tomatoes and throw on the top with some sunfower seeds and pumpkin seeds + some sliced olives. Grate a lil cheese on the top of the frittata! (Also using blue cheese or goat cheese would work great!) Cook in the oven for about 10-minutes. Enjoy!

Meanwhile the frittata is cooking in the oven you can prepare the smoothie! With these amounts of igredients you'll have about 4x 3dl of smoothie n you can ofc prepare also a smaller amount of smoothie (: This one is is fresh n fruity...Kind of reminds me of summer! :D

Fruity strawberry-smoothie

• 2-bananas
• 2-apples
• 1,5 dl frozen mango cubes
• 1,5 dl frozen strawberries
• 1-lime squeezed
• 1,5 dl chopped pineapple
• 0,5 dl frozen sea buckthorn berries
• + ice cubes and plant based protein powder 

Put the ingredients into a powerful blender n blend the smoothie!

That's it for this time! 

Ps. English is a foreign language to me and I'm doing my best to create as clear n comprehensible texts as possible...But just ask me if you're wondering something or can't figure what I mean! I'd also love to hear about your thoughts overall and what do U think! Be free to leave a comment or some feedback on instagram!

~Happy Tuesday to everyone!~

♡-Tiina-♡

Muutoksen tuulia?

Hei!

Viikko hujahti ja sen aikana tuli sairasteltua pahin flunssa pitkään aikaan.
Olisi ollut kyllä aikaa kirjoitella, koska en voinut koko viikkoon mennä edes kouluun, mutta kärsin motivoitumisvaikeuksista.
Tykkään toisaalta kirjottaa tosi paljon, mutta tykkäisin kuitenkin myös, että tuntuisi näiden tekstien olevan jollain tasolla kiinnostavia ja hyödyllisiä kanssaihmisille. Reseptiohjeiden koostaminen tuntuu turhalta, jos ohjeet ei juurikaan herätä mielenkiintoa ihmisissä, tai ei saa minkäänlaista palautetta että olisi kiva kokeilla tätä itse tms.

Käviöitä olen tänne saanut ihan kohtuu hyvin, etenkin kun otetaan huomioon kohtalaisen verkkainen julkaisutahti, joka on nyt ollut sen 1-2 postausta/viikko. Kävijöistä iso osa kuitenkin ohjautuu tälle saitille miun instagrammin kautta ja näistä ihmisistä valtaosa ei osaa suomea, joten se jää kurkistukseksi ja tekstit lukematta.
Täten olen alkanut miettiä, vaihtaisinko kielen englanniksi, koska pystyn ihan sujuvasti kirjoittamaan myös englanninkielisiä tekstejä ja se laajentaisi miun yleisöä aika paljon.
Tykkäisin ehkä kyllä kirjoittaa enenmmänkin, jos vaan tulisi jonkinlaista vastakaikua ja reagointia, mutta monologi näppäimistön kanssa tuntuu hetkittäin "turhalta".
Mie kirjotan siitä, mistä itse aidosti olen innoissani, olen todennut olevan hyvää ja uskon sen olevan hyvää myös muille, sekä näen vaivaa ja käytän aikaa tarjotakseni oman inspiraationi resepteissä mahdollisimman helposti jäljiteltävään muotoon, kuin myös haluan herättää ajatuksia ja jakaa oivalluksia, mutta jos tulee fiilis, että ei inspiroi oikein ketään, alkaa miettiä, miten saisi nämä aattehet ja kokemukset laajemman yleisön tietoisuuteen.
Siten voisi ehkä jotain tarjota toisille ihmisille, joita kiehtoo samanlaiset asiat. Jotain hyödyllistä, kivaa ja antoisaa jaettavaksi sekalaisten mietteiden ohella. Sitä varten mie tän aloitin, en harrastaakseni yksinpuhelua :D.

Katsotaan, mihin ratkaisuun päädyn. Mikäli vastalauseita ei kummemmin ilmene, tai mitään palautetta edelleenkään, voi olla että muutan blogin nimen, sekä alan jatkossa tehdä postaukset englanniksi. Säilytän tietenkin vanhat jo tehdyt jutut ja täältä ne sitten löytyy jos näin käypi!

Se siitä. Flunssan aikana tuli tosiaan nautiskeltua paljon tuoretta inkivääriä, kuin myös valkosipulia ja näitä sisältäviä ruokia. Jaan tähän loppuun reseptin kevyeeseen ja raikkaaseen Lime-korianteri lohikeittoon ja ravitsemuksellisesti melkeinpä superfood tasoiseen smoothieen, jossa on täyteläisyyttä avocadosta ja ihanan raikas marjainen maku. (:

Lime-korianteri lohikeitto 4:lle
n.30 min

• lohifilee (tai valmiita lohikuutioita n.700g)
• pieni fenkoli/puolikas suuri fenkoli
• keskikokoinen bataatti
• iso sipuli
• paketti tuoreita haricot papuja (150g)
• mukulaselleriä n. 100g
• nippu korianteria
• 2-limettiä
• muutama vs-kynsi

1. Laita n. 8l kattila suunnilleen puolilleen kuumaa vettä lämpiämään levylle. Laita liemen joukkoon kalaliemikuutio, reilu ripsaus currya ja purista kokonaan toinen limeteistä liemen joukkoon. + lisää hieman hunajaa, tai tummaa siirappia.

2. Kuori ja pilko sipuli, fenkoli, selleri ja bataatti, sekä heitä soppaliemeen. Anna näiden kiehua n. 15min. Huuhtele haricot pavut siivilässä, pätki ne 4-osaan ja heitä joukkoon. Hienonna korianteri ja heitä siitä lähes kaikki liemen joukkoon. Kuori ja siivuta vs.kynnet, lisää myös ne liemeen. 

3. Siivoa lohifilee ja kuutioi kala, jos et käytä valmiita kuutioita. Haricot papujen kypsyttyä n. 5-min lisää kala keittoon. Tarkasta maku ja lisää tarvittaessa limettiä, sekä muita mausteita. Leikkaa limetistä lohkoja ja nappaa annoksen päälle lautaselle vielä lohko limettiä ja ripottele tuoretta korianteria keiton päälle hieman. Purista limen mehu keiton päälle juuri, ennen syömistä,

Mustaherukka-vadelma smoothie

Tarjoiluehdotus samassa xD :D

Maistuu erinomaisesti aamiaisella vaikka jogurttikulhon ja munakokkelin kera, välipalana tai miksei vaikka iltapalanakin!

• 2-banaania
• 1-avocado
• 2-omenaa
• n. 1,5dl mustaherukoita
• n.1,5dl vadelmia
• 1 dl mangokuutioita
• reilu pala tuoretta inkivääriä (n. 2cm x 2cm)
• jäitä + proteiinijauhetta

Tästä ohjeesta tulee reilu satsi ja voi tehdä pienemmänkin annoksen tietty! (:

~Mukavaa viikkoa kaikille!~

♡-Tiina-♡

Pääsiäinen

Heipähei!

Pääsiäinen alkaa olla vietelty ja allekirjoittaneen osalta se tarkoitti hyvää ruokaa & rentoutumista, ulkoilua, ajanviettoa läheisten kanssa ja koulutehtäviä. On ollu hirmu kylmä pääsiäinen! Aurinkoista sentään, mutta ihan jäätävä keli. Pakkasta ja kylmä tuuli, mie haluun kevään takaisin! :D
Selailin viimevuotisia kuvia läpi siivotessani kuvatiedostoja puhelimesta ja huomasin, että 5.5 -16 kirsikkapuita koristi ihana kukkaloisto.
Tänä vuonna ei taida vielä toukokuun alkupuolella olla kirsikkapuun kukkia. Mennään yli huhtikuun puoliväliä ja yöllä on vielä lähes -10'C pakkasia ja päivisinkin ollaan oltu miinuksella. Saimaan rannatkin on alkaneet jäätyä jo uudelleen!

Onneksi ennuste lupailee, että sentään päivien lämpötilat kääntyy plussan puolelle tällä viikolla. Näyttää kuitenkin siltä, ettei terminen kevät pääse ollenkaan alkamaan tässä huhtikuun puolella edes täällä Eteläisessä-Suomessa, jos tänne kylmään pohjolaan ei saada lämpimämpiä virtauksia pian. Ennuste lupailee, että yöpakkanen jatkuu ainakin 26.4 saakka :/ Let's see :D

Lauantaina meillä syötiin kotona pääsiäisateria illallisena. Annnos on gluteeniton ja se on helppo tehdä myös laktoosittomaksi ostamalla laktoositon jogurtti. Sopii toki herkutteluhetkiin muutenkin kevään mittaan, kuin pääsiäisenä!

 Pippuri-karitsaa, minttuinen jogurttikastike, valkosipuli-bataattilohkot, punaviinimarinoitua tankoparsaa & paistettua tomaattia sipulin kera.

n. 5:lle, valmistusaika n. 60-min.

• karitsan sisäfileitä n. 1kg
• 3-keskikokoista bataattia
• n. 5-valkosipulin kynttä
• paketti tankoparsaa
•  turkkilaista jogurttia (10%) n. 5dl
• 4-tomaattia
• 2-sipulia
• balsamicoa
• punaviiniä
• pippuriseosta
• Santa-Maria Scandinavian forest maustemylly
• sitruunamehua
• hunajaa
• tuoretta minttua 

Sulata karitsan fileet hyvissä ajoin, jos käytät pakaste-karitsaa!

1. Poista kalvot karitsan fileistä. Mausta fileet kauttaaltaan pippuriseoksella & jätä ne huoneenlämpöön odottamaan. 

2. Uuni lämpiämään 175'C. Kuori ja lohko bataatit ja hienonna valkosipuli. Laita bataattilohkot ja hienonnettu valkosipuli tilavaan kulhoon, lorauta päälle oliiviöljyä, mausta esim. suolalla ja ruohosipulilla + persiljalla. Sekoittele ja kaada lohkot uunipellille mahdollisimman harvakseltaan, mutta jätä pellin toiseen reunaan tilaa parsoille. => Uuniin.

3. Siivoa parsat & puolita parsan varret. (Poista pala kannasta & kuori varsia siten, että uloin tummanvihreä kerros lähtee.) Lorauta samaan kulhoon, jota käytit bataattilohkojen maustamiseen & sekoittamiseen, pohjalle tilkka öljyä, tilkka valitsemaasi punaviiniä (jätä ilmautumaan!), hieman balsamicoa & hieman hunajaa, sekä suolaa. Sekoita mausteet. Laita parsat kulhoon ja sekoittele niitä siinä. Laita parsat Bataatin kanssa uuniin bataatin oltua uunissa  n. 15-min.

4. Puolita tomaatit, poista kanta & siivuta sipuli. Laita jogurtti samaan kulhoon, jossa aiot tarjoilla kastikkeen. Hienonna reilusti tuoreita mintun lehtiä, laita jogurtin sekaan. Lorauta joukkoon reilusti sitruunamehua & hunajaa, sekä rouhi Scandinavian Forest mausteseosta myllystä kastikkeeseen. Sekoittele, maista ja Lisää tarvittaessa hieman suolaa/muita mausteita.

5. Pannu lämpiämään voin kera. Pannun ollessa kuuma, paistele karitsan fileet mieleisen kypsäksi ja karitsoiden jälkeen, lisää hieman voita ja kuullota karitsan paistoliemessä sipulia & tomaatin puolikkaita hetki. Valmista! Nautitaan tietty valitun punaviinin kera. (:

Jälkkäriksi tälle maittaa keväinen Minttu-appelsiinirahka! 

Minttu-appelsiinirahka

(n. 2:lle)

• 500g rahkaa
• vajaa kourallinen manteleita
• rusinoita
• tuoretta minttua
• appelsiini
• hunajaa
• sitruunamehua
• tuoretta inkivääriä

Rahka kulhoon. Kuori & pilko appelsiini rahkan joukkoon, rouhi mantelit sekaan, hienonna tuoretta minttua sekaan, heitä rusinoita sekaan pieni kourallinen ja hienonna pieni pala inkivääriä niin hienojakoiseksi, kuin saat & heitä sekaan. Mausta hunajalla ja sitruunamehulla, kunnes rahka maistuu sopivasti makealta & raikkaan sitruksiselta. Anna vetäytyä jääkaapissa ennen tarjoilua vähintään 30-minuuttia. :)

(Jos tästä haluaa oikein täyteläistä, eikä haittaa, että kalorimäärä moninkertaistuu, vatkaa vähän kermaa sekaan!) 

Ite tykkäsin tästä tosi paljon ja teen varmasti uudestaankin! Helppo ja nopea, sekä raikas. Toimisi myös terveellisenä välipalana, jos ei lisää kermaa.

Sairaalassa mummin luona ramppaaminen lienee antanut miulle pienen flunssanpoikasen, koska eilen illalla oli pientä lämpöä ja hieman kipeä olo. Samaten on ollut tänäänkin. Laitoinpa aamiaiseksi mausteisen flunssaa vastaan taistelevan smoothien, jonka vielä jaan tässä postauksessa!

Lingonberry-ginger flu Fighter

• 2-banaania
• 2-omenaa
• n. 1,5dl puolukoita
• reilu pala tuoretta inkivääriä
• mangokuutioita n. 1,5dl
• kanelia
• jäitä & proteiinijauhetta

(Näillä määrillä valmista smoothieta syntyy n. 9dl.)

Inkivääri on tunnettu antibakteerisista ja elimistöä putsaavista vaikutuksistaan. Rauhoittaa tulehdustiloja elimistössä ja parantaa aineenvaihduntaa mm.

Inkivääriä on jo vuosituhansia käytetty hoitona jos jonkinlaisiin vaivoihin, joista yksi on ollut juuri flunssan oireiden lievitys ja torjunta. Tällä kasvilla on paljon keholle hyödyllisiä vaikutuksia ja niistä löytää helposti tietoa internetin ihmeellisestä maailmasta!

Inkivääri sopii hyvin monenlaisiin smoothie-sekoituksiin, kuin myös lämpimiin ruokiin & leivontaankin! Parhaat terveyshyödyt inkivääristä saa kuitenkin sen ollessa kypsentämätöntä, täten meillä sitä käytetäänkin kaikkein eniten juuri smoothieissa.

Jos miun flunssa-oireet jatkuu, tiedossa lisää inkiväärisiä smoothie-ohjeita!

Nyt mie taidan lähteä unille.

~Mukavaa viikkoa kaikille!~

♡-Tiina-♡

Kevään ruokakuulumisia, vähän kuulumisiakin!

Hejsan!

Yllätin itseni tänään ja menin pitkästä aikaa Les Mills Body Pumppiin. (Yli puolen vuoden tauko siitä, kun tuli muutamassa käytyä, mutta en sillonkaan tavaksi ottanut, kuten miulla oli tapana tunnollisesti mennä joka viikko parikin kertaa moiseen muutama vuosi sitten).
Kyse on 60min lihaskestävyystunnista, jonka aikana toistoja tulee nykyisellään kuulemma yli 1000 tunnin aikana kropan isoimmille lihasryhmille. Nappasin tankoon eri lihasryhmille samat painot, kuin viimeemmäksikin ja ajattelen, että nyt tulee kuolema :D. Ihmetyksekseni tuosta toistojen määrästä huolimatta ne painot kuitenkin tuntui aika kevyiltä ja tunti meni ihan hyvin! Näyttää siltä, että on miusta kuitenkin siellä salin puolella reenatessa tullu vähäsen vahvempi, kuin ennen, vaikka mie omasta mielestäni treenaankin aika vaatimattomilla painoilla ja en todellakaan ole mikään atleetti. :D

Sainpas nyt sitten selville englannin ylppäreiden alustavat pisteetkin, vaikken uskaltanutkaan niitä erikseen kysellä. Lukiossa pyörähti käyntiin uusi jakso ja miulla alkoi samaisen opettajan tunnit, joka teki alustavan korjaamisen ja pistelaskun miun koepapereille. Miun hämmennykseksi Kati kertoi miulle semmoisia uutisia, että mie oon kirjottanu Laudaturin, jos pisterajat asettuu jotakuinkin samoin, kuin viime vuonna, eikä sensori laske miun pistemäärää pahemmin. Vähintään Eximia sieltä kuitenkin olis tulossa :O. Omasta mielestä tuntui, että ne meni hirmu huonosti, tai että en ainakaan uskaltanut niiden jälkeen toivoa mitään hirmu hyvää tulosta...koska koko tilanne meni ohi vähän "sumussa" parin nukkumattoman yön jälkeen ja kantaen huolta mummista. Nähtävästi sain jotenkin skarpattua kumminkin aika hyvin! Muutama kyynelkin taisi tulla tirautettua siellä, koska yksi yo-vihon teksteistä sivusi sukupolvien välisiä asioita ja se tietysti toi mummin heikkona sairaalasängyssä takaisin mieleen kovin elävästi.

Mummin oli määrä eilen päästä kotiin sairaalasta. Mummi on paljon paremmassa kunnossa nyt, kuin kuukausi sitten, mutta nyt valitettavasti fyysinen kunto heikkeni taas ja ei tiedetä, kauanko hän joutuu vielä sairaalassa olemaan. Huomenna viedään hänet ensimmäistä kertaa infarktin jälkeen käymään kotonaan, jos vointi antaa myöten.

Kuulumisista ruokakuulumisiin!

Muutama päivä sitten meillä herkuteltiin Välimerellisellä broilerisalaatilla, uusi smoothiekin on tullut kehiteltyä ja jaan tässä postauksessa myös meillä ainakin maittavan Pinaatti-juusto Frittatan :)

Raikas välimerellinen broilerisalaatti

n.15-min

Kevään ja kesän aikana on ihana rouskutella raikkaita ja maukkaita erilaisia salaatteja! Tämmöinen tuli kehiteltyä tällä viikolla.

• Cosmopolitan salaattia
• Napolitana mixiä
• Punaista & vihreää paprikaa
• Aurinkokuivattuja tomaatteja
• kurkkua
• Oliiveita
• Punasipulia
• Fetaa
• Tuoretta Basilikaa
• Broilerin ohutleikkeitä

- Tätä tietty kannattaa tehdä ihan syöjien mukainen annos ja mie laitan ohjeet nyt melko pienen määrän mukaan, koska meidän taloudessa on vain 2-ihmistä.

1.Broilerit huoneenlämpöön. Pilko muutama lehti cosmopolitan salaattia siivilään ja pieni reilu kourallinen napolitana mixiä sekaan. Pilko pieni kokonainen, tai puolikas iso punainen paprika, puolikas vihreä paprika joukkoon ja reilu pala kurkkua, sekä pieni pala punasipulia. Huuhtele siivilässä ja jätä valumaan.

2. Laita pannu lämpiämään öljyn kera. & Laita broiskut paistumaan & maustele mieleisesti. Varo ylikypsentämästä! Ohutleikkeelle riittää n. 2min/puoli (Pilko fetapala kuutioiksi kulhoon, jos et käytä valmiita kuutioita), Pieni aurinkokuivattuja tomaatteja leikkuulaudalla ja halutessasi pieni myös oliiveita vähän. 

Kaada salaatti kulhoon, aurinkokuivatut tomaatit & oliivit sekaan. Sekoita ja nosta lautaselle sopivan kokoinen annos.

3. Siivuta kypsät broilerin leikkeet & lisää annoksen päälle, sekä fetakuutioita oman maun mukaan + tuoreita basilikan lehtiä

Pinaatti-juusto frittata
n.15 min

• sipulia
• paprikaa
• kalkkunaleikkelettä
• lehtiselleriä
• pinaatin lehtiä
• kirsikkatomaatteja
• siemeniä
• juustoa
• 6-suurta kananmunaa

Uuni lämpiämään 200'C & Pannu liedelle lämpiämään. Kuutioi puolikas sipuli, n. 1/4 paprika, 1-sellerin varsi ja n. 5-siivua kalkkunaleikkelettä. Kuullota öljyssä lämpimällä pannulla hetki. Ota pannu pois levyltä. Huuhtaise ja revi pinaatinlehtiä ja levittele ne pannulle. Kaada päälle kananmunat rakenne rikottuna, sekoittele hieman. Siivuta muutamat kirsikkatomaatit ja heitä siivut frittatan päälle, sekä hieman esim. auringonkukansiemeniä & kurpitsansiemeniä. Mausta suolalla ja pippurilla, sekä raasta päällimmäiseksi hieman suosikkijuustoasi. => Uuniin n. 7-minuutiksi!

Viimeisimpänä, muttei vähäisimpänä ihanan keväinen, freesi, mutta silti täyteläinen ja ennenkaikkea ravitseva smoothie-sekoitus!

Minttu-avocado smoothie

• 1-banaani
• 2-omenaa
• 1-päärynä
• 1-limetti (puristettuna)
• tuoretta pinaattia reilu kourallinen
• mangokuutioita n.1,5dl
• reilusti tuoretta minttua
• 1-avocado
• + jäitä & proteiinijauhetta

Tämmöisiä tällä erää. :)

Pääsiäisenä on tietysti suunnitteilla vähän herkkuja taas! Ja niistä tulee postausta viikonlopun aikana (:

~Nyt mie toivottelen ihanaa pääsiäistä kaikille!~

♡-Tiina-♡