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Incredibly Easy Kiwi Chia Pudding (Vegan)

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As a child we often get pudding. But usually it is made out of the package, contains hundreds ingredients we cannot even pronounce and it is really unhealthy. But it does not have to be. Neither does it have to be the classic vanilla or chocolate flavour. No, we are being way fancier and healthier here. Kiwi Chia Pudding.

Why is pudding not healthy?

Usually pudding is made out of a lot of milk, sugar, cream or butter. None of which really is healthy. Sugar, obviously is pretty unhealthy for our bodies. Cream and butter are really high in fat, which also is not healthy. And when you get chocolate pudding, you even have chocolate in there, which means you have even more sugar and fat. So this is why pudding is not healthy.

How to make healthy pudding:

This probably is way easier than you think. And you do not need super fancy ingredients. This one only contains 3 ingredients, so it is super easy. Instead of the usual cornstarch to thicken everything up, we use chia seeds. When you let them sit in a liquid overnight, they will form sort of a jelly around them, making it into a pudding consistency. It actually is way easier than traditional pudding, because you do not need to heat anything up.

Are chia seeds healthy?

Totally. You probably know this by now because you can find them in every health food store or in the health section of you food store. But why are they actually healthy? They are high in healthy Omega-3 fats (just as salmon is), in protein and also in fibre. That way they help your digestion and also provide you many other vitamins and minerals. So they basically are a super food.

What else is in this pudding?

3 more ingredients in the base. Which makes 4 in total. Isn’t that amazing? I definitely believe so! Other than the chia seeds, we have Kiwi, milk, and a sweetener. For the milk I like to use oat milk, but you can use regular milk or any other milk alternative. The sweetener I like most here is maple syrup. Other sugar alternatives are coconut sugar or date sugar.

Does it only work with Kiwis?

No! Definitely not. This is what I love about this, you can make this with any fruit you like! Use the same amount but any you love. I am sure that works just as well with berries, cherries, mango, pineapple, or whatever. This is so amazing and versatile. A great dish.

When to have it?

You can have this as a snack, a breakfast or as a dessert. I love and have it as all of those. The best way to eat it (I believe) is to top it with some (plant based) yoghurt, some more fresh fruit and granola. This combination is simply amazing!

I hope that you will enjoy this recipe and that it helps you to make healthy and tasty swaps more often! If you like it, you are free to leave a comment!

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Kiwi Chia Pudding

4 ingredients, healthy, super flavorful and extremly easy. Perfect summer dessert!

Course bowl, Breakfast, Dessert, Snack
Prep Time 5 Minuten
Chill time 4 Stunden
Total Time 4 Stunden 5 Minuten
Servings 4 puddings
Calories 245 kcal

What you will need

  • 5 kiwis
  • 50 g maple syrup
  • 80 g chia seeds
  • 200 ml oat milk

For topping:

  • 200 g yoghurt plant based if wanted
  • some granola

How to

  1. Peel the kiwis and purée them in a food processor or a high speed blender. Add the milk and liquid sweetener and mix again. Mix in the chia seeds. Divide it onto the jars. refridgerate for at least 4 hours till overnight.

  2. Before eating top with the yogurt, fresh fruit and granola.

Enjoy,
Happy Cooking,
Katie // Une Petite Cusinière

Summer Poke Bowl

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The all beloved and super trends bowl. I mean, how can you not love it? Rice, fresh seafood (or tofu), all the veggies, fresh fruits, covered with a super good sauce. What do you need more? Step away from classic and make this super tasty summer version!

What even is poke?

Poke is a traditional dish that originated in Hawaii. It usually is raw fish (just like Sashimi) over rice. This rice mostly is prepared as sushi rice. The fish usually is marinated before with soy sauce and then it all is assembled in a bowl with lots of veggies.

My poke bowl love

I have always been loving sushi. I also have always loved all kinds of bowls. And therefore I love poke bowls. Before it even was a trend I would always get it when I saw it on the menu. Because it is so good. And then, luckily, it became a trend and now you can find lots of places in Vienna that serve extremely delicious poke bowls. My absolute favourite one is HONU TIKI Bowls because they are just the best ones! Me and my bestie almost always go there to have them! Insanely good.

Since we went there (and still go there) very often, we also spent a lot of money on them. And they are not cheap. Raw and fresh seafood is pretty expensive and so are other fresh ingredients. So I thought, why not making it at home? It is easy, healthy and pretty tricking tasty.

How to build up a poke bowl:

Similar to my guide for a buddha bowl I am now gonna explain to you how to best build up a poke bowl.

  • We need to start with a base. Traditionally I would use white rice or best, – – Sushi rice if you have that on hand. It is filling and adds a nice texture. If you want to can also use greens as a base to have more of a salad version or you could also do half half.
  • Next we need our source of protein. Raw (or also cooked works fine) fish such as tuna or salmon but you can also long for tofu or grilled chicken, prawns or beef.
  • Next up our marinade. This is important because it adds a lot of flavour to your protein and the entire bowl. I love doing a teriyaki sort of marinade but feel free to do something else.
  • Of course we also need some veggies. Here you are totally free and you can add whatever you want. For me, edamame or peas, cucumbers and tomatoes are always a must! But honestly, everything works well here!
  • Not to forget: Fruits! May sound a little weird a first but it is a game changer. It adds so much sweetness and freshness to it, that’s insane! I promise you, you will love it
  • A crunch: Here I love to use spring onions, sesame seeds, nori, or some sort of nuts. This just adds such a nice twist to the texture! Absolutely love it!
  • The sauce: Maybe this is the most important part of the entire bowl! Why? Because you are going to mix everything with it, and if it is not good, everything won’t be good. Here you can long for a mayo based one (which not always is the healthiest choice) or some soy sauce or peanut sauce.

What is in this bowl?

As a base we are using Sushi rice. The one I use is from Reishunger and it is super tasty! Btw: with the code REISKATIE you can get your favourite rice for free there!

Get the rice here!

As for veggies we use peas, broccoli, tomatoes, asparagus, cucumber and wakame (these are alleges which you can get at your asian restaurant or your fish market).

Fruitwise, we are going for apricots. they are coming into season now and they are regional. If you don’t like those, go for mango instead.

Our protein is salmon or tuna. I always make both of them because in my family we like different ones. But you can also use tofu if you want a vegan version, and leave out the fish sauce in the marinade

So next on to the marinade, it is sort of a teriyaki one. Super good and addicting!

Our crunch are spring onions, which are super good here! They add a crunch and some freshness.

Last but not least: the sauce. A peanut sauce. This stuff is seriously good. And seriously addicting. But also super easy!

Are poke bowls healthy?

Yes they are! Well usually, you always have exceptions. But rice is not unhealthy, raw fish is healthy because of its high protein content and it is not fried or prepared with a lot of oil. Plus, in poke bowls you always have tons of veggies, which also give you loads of vitamins, just as the fruits does. The sauce on top is not always healthy, so make sure to check what you are using. Mayo-based ones are not always healthy. What you should also look out for is that you do not always choose soy sauce based sauces because they are loaded with vitamins. So all in all, pretty healthy.

I hope you love this recipe as much as I do (because I am obsessed with it) and enjoy it all throughout summer. It is such an easy one, I would really recommend making it!

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Summer Poke Bowl

A summery version of the all time favorite and healthy dish! Raw fish with plenty of veggies, rice and a super tasty peanut sauce!

Course bowl, dinner, lunch, Main Course
Prep Time 15 Minuten
Cook Time 15 Minuten
Marinating 2 Stunden
Servings 4 servings
Calories 590 kcal

What you will need

  • 600 g tuna or salmon in sashimi quality (meaning you can eat it raw)
  • 250 g rice
  • 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 200 g broccoli
  • 100 g peas
  • 200 g asparagus green or white whatever you want, but when using white you need to peel it first
  • 1/2 large cucumber
  • 200 g tomatoes
  • some wakame optional
  • 4 apricots
  • 1 spring onion

For the marinade:

  • 50 ml soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 tbsp oyster sauce optional
  • 2 tbsp coconut sugar
  • 1 lime juiced
  • 1 tbsp sriracha/ hot sauce optional
  • 1 tbsp honey or maple

For the peanut sauce

  • 100 ml full fat coconut milk
  • 30 g peanut butter about 2 tbsp
  • 30 g soy sauce about 2 tbsp
  • 1 tsp hot sauce
  • 1/2 lime juiced

How to

For the fish:

  1. Combine all the ingredients for the marinade in a large bowl. Cut up the fish into 1-1.5 cm sized cubes and add to the marinade. Marinate for 2 hours or longer. The longer, the more intense the flavor will be.

The rice:

  1. Prepare the rice according to package instructions. When done, remove from the heat and let cool for about 5 minutes. Then mix the rice wine vinegar with the sugar and mix it into the rice. Set aside.

The veggies & fruit:

  1. Steam or boil the broccoli, (green) asparagus, and peas for about 5 minutes in salted water, then drain. Cut the cucumber into small cubes. Half the tomatoes when using cherry tomatoes or also cut them into small cubes when using large ones.

    Depit the apricot and also cut it into small cubes. Finely slice the spring onions.

The sauce.

  1. Mix all of the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl. When it is too thick, add some water to thin it out.

Assemble!

  1. Divide the Sushi rice onto the bowls. Next add the fish with the marinade followed by all the veggies and fruit except for the spring onions. Top with the sauce and then lastly add the spring onions! Serve and enjoy!

Enjoy,
Happy cooking,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière

Iced Caramel Latte

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You are feeling the afternoon low, it is really hot and you have got a lot of things to get off your to-do list. You need an afternoon pick-me-up. A huge cup of coffee. But as tasty as coffee is, we don’t want a warming cup of coffee e when its burning hot outside. Iced coffee is the solution. Forget about the old boring one and start making yours fancy. Extra fancy and tasty.

A little coffee story

To be honest, I am the biggest coffee lover you are ever gonna meet. It is not that I am addicted to the caffeine and really need it (although sometimes this is the case) I am just obsessed with the taste. And the smell. That’s one of the reasons I love Italy. You can get a high quality, tasty coffee at every single corner. And did you know that there is a law in Italy that says that the coffee can not cost more than 1€ when you drink it at the bar. So you can go to the fanciest and most expensive coffee shop in Italy and only pay 1€ for the espresso. This country is just amazing.

I know that I am rather an exception. Not many people love a strong, short black espresso. It does have a bitter taste, which makes it easy to dislike it. And with all the big coffee chains like Starbucks and their extra fancy coffee creations it’s easy to fall in love with these pimped up drinks. So I decided to create a healthier version of those. And it turned out amazing. Although I barely drink coffee with milk or anything else in it, I really adore this one! It’s tasty, healthy, quick and super good.

Is coffee healthy?

Like most things, it can be. Or to say it differently, it is in it’s purest form. Coffee actually is high in antioxidants and it helps to speed up your digestion. Too much is not good for you because it raises your heart rate. This is totally fine if you are a very active person and have a low heart rate naturally, but if you have a rather high one, you should not overdo it and pay attention to this. Also, probably the most popular aspect of coffee, it wakens you up and gives you energy. Great in the morning, bad in the evening. Of course, there is decaf coffee but this still contains caffein. Only a fraction of the normal one but still. So even decaf coffee in the evening may cause sleep problems.

Unfortunately, coffee oftentimes is made unhealthy. Since the taste of coffee is a little bitter and not everyone’s favourite, oftentimes milk and sugar is added. Which is totally alright when you just add a sprinkle of sugar and a splash of milk to make an espresso macchiato. Everything is good in moderation. But as soon as you drink 2 cappuccinos a day with one package of sugar each, this quickly adds up to a bunch of calories and lots of sugar. Black coffee without anything has basically 0 (or a max of 5 cals per cup). A cappuccino, on the other hand, has about 165 calories. Without sugar. With sugar it can easily have 200 hundred. When you are eating a healthy diet but still drinking many of milk- heavy coffees, this can be frustrating because you may not see any results.

What’s in this coffee?

I was trying to keep it simple when I created that recipe. Because no one has energy for hours in the kitchen when we want coffee. The sweetness and caramel taste comes from the dates, a little bit of vegan butter and the coconut milk. The combination is amazing. You can use full fat coconut milk, but low fat works as well. I would not recommend using another milk because then it looses the richness and doesn’t taste as amazing anymore. We blend it up first. Then we can either pour it in, if you want a fancy effect or blend it together. Then it is smooth I need to say. One important note: soak the dates before, because the will be way softer that way. If you have a high speed blender, this is not necessary. We also add a pinch of sea salt, this really helps to bring out the flavour.

Once we have our date „caramel“ base, we blend it up with an espresso shot, and milk. If you want to can froth the milk and reserve some of the foam for the end. If that’s too complicated for you, leave it out. Blend some ice in as well. Then serve it over some ice and done. This is a dream drink.

Perfect summer drink

It is healthier than regular lattes because we have additional fibre and protein and not only sugar. It also is a fancier version for every once in a while when you feel like switching it up! I hope you like it and if you do, feel free to leave a comment!

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Iced Caramel Latte

A perfect summer drink for the hot days. Easy, tasty, healthy. Not your average boring coffee.

Course Drinks
Prep Time 5 Minuten
Servings 2 drinks
Calories 183 kcal

What you will need

  • 2-3 dates (about 50g) if your dates are hard, soak them in hot water for 30 min- 1h
  • 100 ml low fat coconut milk (you can use full fat aswell)
  • 1 tsp vegan butter
  • a splash of water like 3 tbsp
  • a pinch of sea salt
  • 2 shots espresso
  • 200 ml oat milk (you can use any milk or plant based milk alternative)
  • 1 handful ice cubes

How to

  1. Set aside 1/3 of the milk and foam it up. (Cold foam it if you have a gadget to do so)

    Blend the dates, the coconut milk, water, pinch of sea salt and the vegan butter together until you have reached a creamy and liquid consistency. (you can make more of this caramel sauce and store it in the fridge and use whenever you want).

    Add the shots of espresso, the oat milk and half of the ice cubes. Blend again until well combined.

  2. Add the remaining ice cubes in the glasses and pour over the coffe mixture. Top with the extra foamed milk and enjoy!

I wish you all a beautiful summer and happy cooking!
Enjoy,
Katie

A healthy morning routine

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It’s early, our bed is still so comfy, we just wanna stay in a little longer. Maybe check our phones for the latest posts on IG or if we have gotten any messages, mails or snaps. It is already hard enough to get out of bed and now we should also have a healthy morning routine? Why???

I know that not everyone is an early bird. That partially lies in our genes. Still, mornings are the start of a new day. Meaning they set the foundation of the day. Mornings have such a big impact on the way the remaining day will be. If you start it productively, you will want to be productive for the rest of your day. If you do not believe me try it out.

With this blog post I do not want to tell you what you have to do, or the only way that you will have an amazing day is if you stick to this routine. By no means I am trying to do that. I want to share the tipps and tricks with you that have helped me a lot to have a healthy, not stressful, productive and nice morning. They should be more of a guideline of what can help you if you are struggling to have a peaceful and healthy morning.

Don’t hit snooze

This might be the hardest one to start with, I know. More than half hit the snooze button at least once, and more than a third hit it three times. While it is very nice to stay in bed a little (or a lot) longer, it is not very good for us. Hitting the snooze button messes with our sleep cycle. The first time it rings, we wake up. Whenever we hit snooze our body thinks it has time to rest and with every time hitting the snooze it actually has a harder time waking up and getting up (this has something to do with the REM and NREM sleep, which I do not want to go into more detail but you can read it here). So getting up the first time you hear the alarm does not only safe you time in your morning but it also is healthier for your body.

Read & don’t look on your phone

Is your alarm on your phone? If the answer is yes, then you will probably be very likely to check what has been going on in the past hours as soon as you stop your alarm. But this honestly is not a very good start into the day. Oftentimes, the first thing you see or the first piece of information you receive in the morning is negative. Maybe it is because of a negative event, which a newspaper wrote about or you saw a post somewhere and now feel you have been missing out on something. I mean think of it. If the first thing you experience in a day is negative, how will this set up your mood for the remaining day. I feel like, straight after waking up, our mind is still very vulnerable and therefore easily influenced by bad news because we still are tired and do not have the energy to stay above it or not let it get close to us.

Try reading a few pages of a book instead of checking your phone right away. This way you can stay in bed a little longer (but you are awake, because you did not hit snooze) and you start the day educating yourself. This does not have to be much. Even 10 minutes do just fine. I always enjoy reading more scientific book in the morning from which I can learn something. By reading a few pages of a book, I have new information and knowledge that I can use in this day.

Make your bed

„If you want to change the world, start by making your bed“. I have heard this sentence a few years ago in a speech from an admiral. The meaning and power behind it is tremendous. Of course, this does not only apply if you want to change the world, but if you want to be productive or plan to achieve something big. We always have to start out small. By having this one simple task done every morning, we have feel a little proud of ourselves. And this pride and feeling of accomplishment, encourages us to do many other tasks this day. So one fulfilled task turns into many fulfilled tasks.

Workout or stretch

To be fair, not everyone is a morning workout person. But working out in the morning is something worth trying out. Why is this so beneficial in the morning? In my blog post about „Why working out is more than getting in shape“ you can read about various benefits working out has on our physical and mental wellbeing. But what I think is amazing about working out in the morning is what it does to you for the rest of your day. It gives you energy, makes you happier (and gives you a happier and more optimistic mindset), and boosts your creativity. Considering this, it is amazing what it can change throughout the rest of your day. Each day, we make thousands of decisions. Conscious and unconscious. And whether you are happy, creative and energised has an enormous influence on these decisions. More than you think it does. So working out in the morning has the power to change the way your day will be.
Plus, it is similar to the task of making your bed, you will be proud that you have already accomplished something in the morning and will be encouraged to do more throughout the rest of the day. You do not have to do an hour long workout. Just 15 or 20 minutes will make you feel as if you have done something good for yourself.

Meditate

This is something very important to me and it can actually change the way I see the day. For me, taking 5 minutes to meditate, helps me SO MUCH to get my thoughts in order. When meditating, I can set my focus and decide on how I want to make the day be like. It helps me to remind myself of things that are important to me, to see a chance in every loss or failure and to accept certain things as they are. Plus, or most importantly it makes me be in peace with myself, which is essential (to me!) for having a positive day.

If you have never tried out meditation before, please do not except all of this coming the first time you practice it. This needs time and practice. Nothing comes overnight. But it is worth practicing.

Plan the day

These are both things I only started in Quarantine. But now they are an essential part of my morning routine. Why?

Planing the day out can help you get more organised throughout the whole day. Always in the mornings I like to write down what I would like to do or get done this day On a piece of paper or a note-book. I can tick everything I have done off. This does not only give one a nice and proud feeling of having something accomplished and being productive, but it also helps to get an overview of what you want to do that day. Otherwise you may start the day with a thousand things in your head you want to do and by the time you leave the house you feel super stressed because you do not want to forget about anything or are not sure if you can get everything done. By simply taking 3 minutes and writing everything down, you will know exactly what you want/ need to do, your do not forget about anything and you do not have to stress out. It is such a simple habit that has such a big impact.

Journal

Another thing to do that takes time? Yes! But seriously, this might take 2 minutes, if even, and it has the power to change the whole way your day is going to be.

Try to write down 3 things you are grateful for, 1 good gesture you want to do to someone else today and a positive self affirmation. You might wonder what this helps, and I understand you doubt. Focusing on good things in the morning, primes you for good things throughout the day. If you take just a little amount of time in the morning to make you brain concentrate on the positive aspects of life, it will automatically look out for the more positive things throughout the rest of the day (I have learnt this in the book „the happiness advantage“ by Shawn Achor). And it actually works wonders. Even after the first time doing it! But of course, the longer you practice it, the more beneficial it is!

Healthy breakfast & Hydrate

Last tip on my morning routine list is start your day with a healthy breakfast. When you start your day with a healthy breakfast you are actually going to be more likely to stay healthy through the rest of your day. First of all this is because if you know you started your day healthy, you do not want to make the rest of the day unhealthy. Additionally, when your first meal of the day is full of all the nutrients your body needs, you will also be far less likely to have cravings throughout the rest of the day! On my recipe page you can find a lot of healthy breakfast options! Or simply klick here )

Drinking water also is very important in the morning because your body has been without any for several hours. Probably somewhere between 6-9. To rehydrate it, it is very important to drink water when you wake up. This will also get your metabolism going.

Conclusion

Getting up even a little bit earlier is not easy. But once you are into it, you know how worth it it is! When you stick to a healthy morning routine you will feel the impact it has on your whole day immediately and you will be surprised by how immense they are.

Just one really important note:

If you have been always getting up super last minute lately, do not try to get up an hour earlier from one day to the other to fit everything of the list below in. You will be tired and frustrated after a week. Start with incorporating one thing at a time into your daily routine. That way you can slowly adapt and change your habits. Remember: change needs time!

So now you know a lot on how to get the most out of your mornings and it solely is up to you to stick to it or not! Anyway, I hope that I could give you some inspiration to start your day the best way you can!

Love,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière