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christmas

My December Top 5

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Finally. This crazy year is coming to an end. After all of these ups and down, surprises and shocks of this year we should genuinely enjoy the last month of the year the best we can. The month of peace, joy and family. The month of comtempletiveness and cozy times. And in order to make this month really enjoyable and good for you I am bringing to you my last top 5 for the year. My food of the month, recipe of the month, product of the month, workout of the month and last but definitely not least (be excited for that!) – my inspiration of the month!

Please notice that this post is in no way sponsored or payed by anyone to advertise certain products. These just really are my favourites, my recommendations and based on my experiences with these products. I just wish to inspire you and help you make your December a bit better!

Food of the month: Chai

It was impossible to not be putting this as the food of the month! I have discovered this a few months ago and ever since then I have added it to pretty much everything I make. Porridge, pancakes, energy balls, drinks,.. chai spice everything! But what actually is chai?

Chai originally is a black tea mixed with spices that comes from India. Today you can still find it at some coffee shops as a tea but more often you’ll find a chai latte or a dirty chai latte nowadays. This chai latte basically is the same as chai just with milk instead of tea and the spices. To be honest, whenever I add chai to something I only use the spices because I truly cannot be bothered boiling the tea every time.

Chai spices consist of cinnamon, cardamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and sometimes star anis and vanilla. You can easily make this yourself as a lot of people already have all of the ingredients for this at home – or you can buy a ready to use spice mix, which you can find in a lot of supermarkets or organic stores.

This spice mix actually is super health-beneficial. Cinnamon, the main ingredient, is high in antioxidants, has been shown to reduce heart pressure and has anti-inflammatory compounds. Ginger also works anti-inflammatory and has various healthy benefits, as you probably know from ginger shots, is can, among other aspects, lower blood sugar level. Also the other spice compounds have been shown to contribute something to a healthy well-being. So all in all, it can be said, that chai spie is a very nutritious spice blend! Just make sure to not mix it with too much sugar or sweetener when preparing it.

Recipe of the Month – Ultra comforting Roasted Sweet Potato and Chicken Tikka Masala

The comfort level of this dish is unreal. It really warms you from the inside out! I mean, we all love curries and who does not like sweet potato or chicken? This recipe is truly for everyone – for those who cook for the family, for those who just like to treat themselves to a good meal, for those who want to eat healthy, for those who don’t want to compromise flavour and even for those who eat a plant based diet since there is a vegan option to it!

Ready in 30 Minutes, made from whole foods, and packed with so much flavour! Really, I could have this every week, especially during this time of the year! Dip it up with naan, or enjoy with some fluffy rice. It will warm you from the inside out.

My mom, my dad AND my brother loved it (that means a whole lot), so I bet you will love it too! Get all cozy with this in front of you favourite movie – or even better – in from of your phone, face timing your best friend or someone you genuinely miss and haven’t talked to in ages!

Product of the month: SKOG scented candle

I have actually discovered this brand (Sandinavisk) last year as I was gifted one of their candles and since then we love their candles, soaps and hand creams. This Scandinavian based company who wants to bring the Scandinavian feeling and lifestyle to your home. They have various fragrances that are all kept simple and natural. Their body products (like hand lotion, body lotion, hand wash, etc.) all all organically made. Their candles are made FSC-certified and the packaging and glas is partially recycled and died with natural die only.

What I really love about their products is the simplicity, in both the design and the fragrances and that you, unlike other scented candles, actually smell what is written on the package.

The SKOG candle, which I chose as the product of the month smells like „Pine needles and fir cones, birch sap and woodland lily of the valley“ – and tbh you actually have the feeling of walking through a wintery forest. The great thing about this candle is that it does not only smell Christmas-y (although there are Christmas fragrances on their website too) but it is a smell that also is pleasant in January or February.

If you want to get it and live in Austria, I would not recommend buying it at the website directly but at Copenhagen Hus, which is a Scandinavian lifestyle store in Vienna. Why get it there? Because this way you support local, small businesses that are having a difficult time right now – and – it is more than 20% cheaper due to shipping and the different price. So it’s a win-win!

Workout of the month: @christmas.fitness

What’s that? Christmas and fitness – two words that would usually not go in line with one another. That’s what Basti thought too! So why not make them match? Instead of spending the last month the unhealthiest and laziest of them all – use this last month of the year to end it off strong and find motivation to start the new year healthy and fit!

What is @christmas.fitness ? This is an instagram page where you will find a DIFFERENT 15 minute body-weight workout EVERYDAY from now until Christmas! And the best thing? Since it only is done with body-weight, it is suitable for everyone – young, and younger, men and women!

As if this would not be enough – you will find a high protein, fitness recipe twice a week! One is a main meal and one is a snack! They all are easy to make, healthy, and of course – most importantly – delicious! If you want to take this December next level & make it healthy and fit, join us and accept the challenge!

Inspiration of the month: The 5AM club

Before you skip reading this, already being sure you will never get up at 5AM, know that this book made me jump out of bed at 5AM to read it. The title already says a lot: own your morning – elevate your life. A book full of inspiration, amazing quotes, insights and life-changing formulas.

I have read several books of this kind before, these „your whole life will change if you read this“ kind of books but none has inspired me so much. Just to say beforehand; no book ever has the power to change your life – the only one having this power is yourself. But anyway, no book has ever motivated and inspired me this much to take action and uplift my life.

What makes this different is that it is not all science based and backed up research with huge numbers and any words you don’t understand but that it is written in a story-telling way everyone understands and can relate to in one or another way. It is not straight „get up at 5 am and your life will become better“. It is more about explaining the HOW and WHY. It shared such valuable insights that you cannot only apply to your „victory hour“ in the morning but to your life in general. And it makes you start to think and reflect (at least it did this to me and my dad – who both have read it) about everything. That is what is golden about this book. It touches on life on the whole and not simply one thing.

I have written 105 – yes I counted – sentences, quotes and thoughts out of that book to remind myself each and every day. Maybe you’ll read this book and get up at 5am every day and maybe not. What I believe is more important is that you can apply these insights to your current life – no matter whether you are extremely happy with how it is going or you are absolutely not and want to change something – to live it in the best, most gorgeous and most magical way you could.

I hope that these 5 things will contribute something positive to your December and that they will make the end of the year a tiny bit better! I am looking forward to hearing how you like them!

Love, Katie

Healthy Christmas Pancakes

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Who doesn´t love a good brunch at Christmas day? For my family, it is very typical to do this. It is like another coming together after a beautiful Christmas eve before the family is leaving. We all cook together and prepare the meal so we can sit down at the table and enjoy! This pancake recipe is the perfect meal to make for all those who have a sweet tooth but don’t want to start their day with something unhealthy. These pancakes are fluffy, juicy, wholegrain and super delicious! You can´t taste the “healthy” part of them, so you can make them for everyone out of your family!

Usually I totally am a savory kind of breakfast and brunch person. I would be the first to grab the avocado toast and scrambled eggs or the smoked salmon and leave the pancakes and waffles for the others because 90% of the time they are too sweet for me. I really do not like them if they simply taste like sugar, plus it is pretty unhealthy. Traditional pancakes are loaded with sugar, butter, and plain white flour, which will not make you feel full for long and raise your blood sugar levels. 

What is in it?

In order not to result in this but still enjoy a really delicious sweet breakfast or brunch, I am sharing this super delicious and healthy pancake recipe with you. Instead of butter, we are using apple sauce, instead of white flour, we aim for whole wheat (you cannot really taste the whole wheat out but if you really do not like the flavor or need something gluten free you can substitute it for other things. Just be careful with gluten-free flour because sometimes you need them in another ratio.), and honey instead of refined sugar. Honey is a natural sweetener and it still contains some vitamins, other than conventional sweeteners. Other than that, there are eggs, to bind and Greek yoghurt to give texture, add some richness, softness, and protein. The Greek yoghurt can´t be left out and I would not substitute it with normal plain yoghurt because it does not have that thick texture. But you can substitute it for Skyr, which is an Iceland-style yoghurt that also is thick. 

What to serve it with?

I love serving these pancakes with extra yoghurt, some cooked blueberries and a nice drizzle of honey. They would also work great with fresh fruits and banana and nut butter, but since berries & co are not in season right now, I did not use them. But if you want something in season to serve it with, you can serve it with my christmas apple sauce. It makes a great topping. Or you can add some cinnamon sautéed apples from the middle layer of my Apple crumble cake. Honestly, you can serve it with whatever comes to your mind, or what you love. If you love a good drizzle of melted chocolate or some fresh butter, because .. I mean it´s Christmas. We all deserve that!

Whether you serve this for your loved ones, or treat yourself, this recipe is a great recipe! You can also make them in a big batch, freeze them separately and heat them up in the microwave before serving. It makes great for christmas or any other brunch, super simple, and incredibly flavorful!

I hope you´ll enjoy them, 

Marry Christmas, 

Katie

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Healthy Christmas Pancakes

A great way to enjoy some delicious, indulging, breakfast pancakes. No matter if they are for christmas morning (they are the best!) or just some brunch. Easy, whole wheat, packed with protein and fiber!

Course Breakfast, brunch, Dessert
Prep Time 10 Minuten
Cook Time 10 Minuten
Resting time: 10 Minuten
Total Time 30 Minuten
Servings 6 pancakes
Calories 82 kcal

What you will need

For the pancakes:

  • 1 egg
  • 50 g Apple Sauce for some next level pancakes, use my christmas apple sauce
  • 100 g Greek Yoghurt
  • 1 tbsp Honey
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 75 g Whole wheat flour
  • 40 ml almond milk Maybe more, depending on the texture

For the rest:

  • some coconut oil for frying
  • greek yoghurt for topping
  • berrie, frozen and cooked or fresh
  • any other toppings, as wanted: nuts, nut butter, fresh fruits, banana,…

How to

Thats how it works:

  1. Seperate the egg. In a larger bowl, add the egg yolk, the greek yoghurt, the applesauce, and the honey. Mix until well combined.

  2. In a seperate bowl whip up the egg white until fluffy and stiff peaks.

  3. Mix the flour and the baking powder well. Fold this mixture and the fluffy egg whites alternating under the remaining liquid ingredients. Once folded in, gently add the milk and mix. If it is too thick, add a little bit more.

  4. The consistency of the dough should be similar to a cake dough. A little runny but stick thick.

  5. Set the dough aside and leave it to rest for about 10 minutes.

  6. In a large skillet heat up coconut oil over medium heat. Bake the pancakes on each side for about 2-3 minutes. Once there are bubbles occuring, flip them.

  7. Add them onto a plate and top them with whatever toppings you desire. Enjoy!

Healthy Protein Hot Cacao

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It is Christmas time and there already is some snow outside which means that it definitely is the season for huge cups of tea and hot chocolate with a mountain of whipped cream. We all love either of that but to make this time of the year a little bit healthier without making it less delicious I am sharing a healthy Protein Hot Cacao Recipe with you, which contains 8g of protein in each serving!!

Drinking hot chocolate for me means sitting in the bed underneath a warm blanket in my PJ´s reading a love story or watching a Christmas movie. Or it means sitting in a ski hut with my friends or family and taking a break from skiing and escaping the cold. Either one of them bring back a lot of beautiful and meaningful memories. This is why I like to drink this since it gives me some good vibes and reminds me of lots of love. 

To be honest I am not a huge fan of hot chocolate, if it is prepared as it is in Italy, with a tiny bit of milk and something like a molten chocolate bar. This is wayyy too rich for me! I am more on the tea side of hot drinks but I also do like hot Cacao. The only thing is that when drinking it, the store-bought ones are often packed with a lot of added sugars, and very little Protein. They are good, but unfortunately not healthy. 

To make them less indulging I decided to change the ingredients a little bit. In my recipe I ask to use raw cacao. This is different from Cocoa because it is not roasted at high temperatures which helps to keep the health benefits of it and not make it lose any nutritional value. Cocoa Powder often contains a lot of added sugar and is a totally processed food. It sometimes even contains food coloring to make it look more appetizing and artificial flavoring. Cacao is the raw product that does not contain anything else then the bean. Without the heating process it is a food very high in antioxidants and a great source of magnesium, potassium, iron, and calcium. It also contains a healthy amount of protein and it is shown to improve memory and lowering blood pressure as well as insulin resistance! What a superfood?!

Ok, now I think we have enough theory about cacao. So next time you go to the store think about what you buy. When buying raw cacao, you can still add sweeteners but YOU know exactly what is in it and it does not contain a billion other add-ins. 

Other than that, I like to use winter spices to flavor the (plant-based) milk, a dried fig to add sweetness and fiber and different seeds to give it a protein kick. To make a health substitute for the whipped cream, you can easily go for coconut whip. You can make tis by buying canned coconut milk. You place it in the fridge overnight and when making it, you open the jar, only take the solid part of the coconut milk, whip it up and tada.. a healthier and plant-based version of whipped cream! I hope that you will enjoy this recipe more than once in December and if you do, it would be great it you could tag me on Instagram with @uneptcuisiniere and leave a rating here on the blog, so I know that you like it!

Have a beautiful Christmas time!

Katie

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Healthy Protein Hot Cacao

The Cacao Recipe to make your Christmas time healthier but not a tiny bit less delicious! Each serving contains 8g of protein!

Course Breakfast, brunch, Dessert, Drinks
Prep Time 3 Minuten
Cook Time 5 Minuten
Total Time 8 Minuten
Servings 2 servings
Calories 170 kcal

What you will need

For the Milk:

  • 500 ml Almond Milk you can use any milk you like
  • 2 sticks cinnamon
  • 4 cloves
  • 1 dried fig
  • a pinch of salt

For the Cacao Mix

  • 3 tbsp raw cacao powder
  • 2 tsp hemp seeds
  • 2 tsp pumpkin seeds
  • 2 tsp sunflower seeds

How to

That is how it works:

  1. In a pot add the milk, along with the cinnamon, cloves, fig, and salt. Bring it to a boil.

    Meanwhile add all of the ingredients for the cacao mix to a food processor and process until a very fine texture is reached.

  2. Through a sieve pour the milk into a blender (preferably a high speed one). This way the spices will be removed since we do not want them to be blended, they should only add flavor. Take the dried fig and add it to the blender aswell.

    Add the cacao mixture and blend everything together until a smooth consistency is reached.

  3. Serve in jars and top with some whipped cream, coconut whip or with some freshly grated cacao! Enjoy!

Pink Christmas Apple Sauce

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Adding this Apple Sauce to your food will literally make them taste like Christmas! No joke! It is sooo good, sweet, christmasy, healthy, and PINK! Like, what do you want more? There is nothing better! I do not know if you can remember my rhubarb compote I uploaded in summer. I added it to everything but the season has been over for a long time so I decided to come up with something for this season.

I actually made this a while ago but waited to share it with you because I thought that it was too early to upload a Christmas recipe before December. So now, here it is, on December first and you are going to be making this more than once this advent! Trust me! It is super easy and soo good! In my fridge, it never lasts longer than a week, no matter how much I make. I just top literally everything with it; yoghurt, oatmeal, ice cream, pancakes, toast, like honestly whatever I am eating.

It also works great in baking Christmas treats because it just brings all the spices with it. But me ABSOLUTELY favourite combo right now is soy yoghurt + homemade apple sauce (mixed in) + homemade granola! I have this for breakfast like every day and it is just so incredibly good!

The process of making it is really simple. Just chopping up some apples, sautéing them in some coconut oil, adding a little bit of water, adding the spices into the pot, letting it simmer for 25 minutes. This is the best part I believe because the entire house smells so incredibly good! I mean who does not like the smell of Christmas?! I do not know such a person! After the 25 minutes, you take the spices out, transfer the apples into a blender and boom, Zack, it is done!!

The consistency is so creamy, just goals. You could spoon it as it as and just have apple sauce as a dessert. When making this, it is really a great idea to make it in big batches, because it last pretty long in the fridge (about 3 – 4 weeks), and it makes a really great Christmas present too. Also, a host gift. You can just pour it into a pretty mason jar, wrap a tie around it and a really cute and homemade present is ready!

I honestly hope the you will like this recipe (I think you do because this is one of the best things ever!). If you recreate it, it would mean a lot to me if you would share it with @uneptcuisiniere or with #unepetitecuisiniere and leave a rating down at this post!

Wishing you all a beautiful advent!

Love, Katie

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Pink Christmas Apple Sauce

Your FAVORITE apple sauce that litterally tastes like Christmas! Also, a really great christmas gift idea!

Course Breakfast, Dessert, Snack
Prep Time 5 Minuten
Cook Time 25 Minuten
Total Time 30 Minuten
Servings 2 jars à 350ml
Calories 57 kcal

What you will need

  • 6 red apples like Gala (should be sweet and SKIN ON!)
  • 3 cinnamon sticks
  • 5 star anis whole ones
  • 1 tbsp cloves also as a whole
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil
  • 50-100 ml water

How to

That is how it works:

  1. Cut the apples into 1cm sized cubes. In a large pot melt the coconut oil. Once hot, add the spices and sautee for about one minute. Add in the apples and sautee them too.

  2. Add the water and turn the heat down to medium. Let everything simmer for abou 20-25 minutes.

  3. Remove the spices from the pot and transfer the rest into a blender. Blend until smooth an pour into mason or glass jars. Store in the fridge for up to 1 month.

    Enjoy!