Savory Quiche

It's the end of the month and that means that my rent is due and I have no money. Literally.. I've got 15 cents until 6 October. That ment that I had to be creative today with all the things I had in the cupboard and the freezer to make myself a proper diner, but I did it!

I had some ups and downs while creating this savory quiche (mince had gone bad et cetera) but in the end it turned out quite alright. So here's the recipe for a small quiche for about 4 people.

• 4 sheets of puff pastry (you do need to cut them in all sort of shapes but eventually it will fit)
• 250 ml cream
• 120 ml creme fraiche
• 1 red pepper
• 1 green pepper
• 1/2 leek
• 1 red onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• lardons (as much as you want)
• 2 eggs
• salt, pepper, fresh rosemary
• Optional: broccoli 
• knob of butter for the cake tin
• a small cake tin

I had some broccoli in my fridge which had to be used today. They're healthy so it's okay to add them if you want to.

Preheat your oven to 180C/355F

Heat up a pan with a bit of coconut oil or olive oil in it.

Chop the onions and the garlic, put them in the pan and then add the lardons. While this is getting a nice golden and crispy layer, you chop the green and red pepper and the leek as well. After a few minutes you add these to the pan and if you want to put broccoli in it as well, now's the time. Then season this with salt, pepper and rosemary.

Now just leave that on a low heat on the stove.

Take a small cake tin and make sure you divide the butter evenly across. If you miss a spot, the puff pastry will stick to it. Then cover the insides of your cake tin with the puff pastry. It's okay to cut them in different shapes.

Now try to leak as much of the water/fluids out of your pan and then add the cream, creme fraiche and the eggs. Now pour this mixture in the cake thin and slide it in the oven for approximately 45 minutes or until golden brown on the outside and "not-soggy" on the inside.

Enjoy!

Food Photography - tips & tricks

As some of you know I am a cleaner at Photo Studio Duivelseiland in Amsterdam. They are one of the kindest people I've ever met in my life. They sometimes give me left over food or ingredients and I can come and see how they photograph or film food. So I suggest that you should all find a job like that.

But what I am going to blog about today is the accessories you need when you want to photograph food. Because at the studio they've got sooooo much. It is unbelievable.

First of all, you need several different surfaces. I like to use wood as a surface or a really nice table cloth. You also need a lot of different plates, glasses, forks, knives, cups, glasses and so on. This means that you will have to spend money on that and going to the nearest Ikea is not really an option then (you will have to spend a month's worth of salary). So here's what I do to keep the costs down:

I go thrift shopping. Yeah, go to YouTube and put that Macklemore song on, I know you want to.
No but I'm serious. I have been to almost every thrift shop in Amsterdam to find old plates which look like they came straight out of your grandma's cupboard.

But there is more, you can go to a flea market. The best one in Europe is right here in Amsterdam North: De IJhallen and it's open once a month (they're open THIS weekend, 4 & 5 October!). They have all kinds of things, not just tableware. So if you're looking for some vintage clothing, this is the place to be.

So come to Amsterdam, make it a fun weekend or day out. Spend a little money on tableware, whether it is for food photography like me, or to just have some really cool vintage tableware. Makes you feel all posh and fancy when eating a regular sandwich.

Eat whatever you want! A Fitness Blog

Okay, my title may be a little misleading, but I am a firm believer that if you exercise almost every day, you can eat a lot. And "a lot"  includes sweets, cookies and other unhealthy stuff with loads of sugar.

If you know me in person, you probably know I'm not the skinniest girl walking the face of the earth, but I wouldn't say I'm fat either. I did a BMI test a week ago and my BMI is 22. You have a healthy BMI when it's between 18 and 25. So I'm somewhere near the middle, which is okay with me.

My biggest goal isn't to loose weight, would be great if it happened though, but my main goal is to stay like this (which is hard enough already). I have made a list of exercises I do to reach that goal every single day. So I made another week schedule which you will hopefully find useful.

It does take some time to do all of this, but because I do it I can eat chocolate, cookies and pizza! Yay!

Monday
On monday's I have swim practice, so if you don't practice a sport like me, go for a jog or a bike ride for at least 30 minutes. We also do work outs at the training, but I have to be honest here I haven't participated yet but I am going to start this Monday. So here's a set of exercises you can do at home:
- 20 lunges (start out with 10 on each side, if this is easy do 20 on each side)
- 20 squats
- 20 side squats (same as with lunges)
- 20 bridges
- 30 sec planking
- 10 push-ups (YOU CAN DO IT!)
- 20 climbers
- 10 sitting twists
- 10 front kicks
- 20 punches

Do this workout 2 or 3 times.

Tuesday
Because you did a lot on Monday, Tuesday is sort of a rest day. Do try to walk or ride your bike when you go places. It's cheap and good for you and the environment.
In the evening you do a 15-minute workout, take 30 seconds of rest between the exercises.
- 1 min jumping jacks
- 1 min lunges
- 1 minute planking
- 1 minute squats
- 1 minute climbers

repeat the whole thing.

Wedsnesday
Today is a fun day, I have dancing, so I suggest you do something like that as well. Maybe you can do some Zumba (there is a lot of that on YouTube) or just dance in your room, I know that you will probably feel really silly doing it, but it's fun. Find a tutorial for a dance online and enjoy yourself for as long as you want (preferably 30 minutes or longer).

Thursday
Same as monday. Go jogging or take a bike ride for at least 30 minutes and do the workout:
 20 lunges
- 20 squats
- 20 side squats
- 20 bridges
- 30 sec planking
- 10 push-ups
- 20 climbers
- 10 sitting twists
- 10 front kicks
- 20 punches

Friday
Today you get to have a restday, so go watch The Vampire Diaries or something like that and stay in bed! But ride that bike to the supermarket though!

Saturday
Same as tuesday! A 15 minute workout!

- 1 min jumping jacks
- 1 min lunges
- 1 minute planking
- 1 minute squats
- 1 minute climbers

repeat it:)!

Sunday
Hey, it's Sunday, chill :) Eat Pizza.

As you can probably tell by my charming picture, I use weights during some of the exercises because I want to train my arm muscles. But you don't have to do that unless you want to. Also try to drink 1,5 liters of water everyday especially while working out so you don't get dehydrated.

So here's what I do. You can switch 15 minute workout around during the week. There are weeks when I do mine on Friday instead of Tuesday.

But this is what I do to make sure that I can eat my pizza and cookies and won't gain weight. Let me know your fitness exercises or tips and tricks!

American Chocolate Chip Cookies

Whoooops! Totally forgot to post this yesterday. So sorry.

These are some delicious chocolate chip cookies, mine were in the oven a tad too long. So make sure that doesn't happen to yours. 

I am trying to perfect this recipe, I want my cookies to taste exactly like the ones you can buy in Sainsbury's. I think they're four for 1 pound.. So cheap.. So delicious. But still, try to make your own cookies!

American Chocolate Chip Cookies (two ways)
For 12 reasonably large cookies

•  250 gr flour
• ts baking powder
• 200 gr caster sugar
• 100 gr normal sugar
• ts salt
• 2 eggs
• 170 gr butter
• 125 gr dark chocolate
• 125 gr white chocolate
• almonds
• dried cranberries

Preheat your oven to 170C/335F.

Chop your chocolate in small peaces and if you want to, you can also make the cranberries and almonds a bit smaller.

Now slowly melt the butter in a small sauce pan. While that is melting you mix together the flour, baking powder, caster sugar, normal sugar, salt and eggs. And when the butter is melted you add this as well. Your dough should be sticky! It's not like your normal shortbread biscuit dough.

Then just leave that for a few seconds to cool down. Because if you add the chocolate too early it will melt because of the hot butter. Divide the dough in two, one for the white chocolate and cranberries and one for the dark chocolate and almonds. Make sure that not all the chocolate is in one place.

Then make little lumps of dough and put them on baking paper. make sure you've got enough space between this little lumps because the cookies will grow in size!

Leave the cookies in the oven for about 12 to 15 minutes and then let them cool down for at least 15 minutes. They will fall apart if you want to eat them immediately. 

ENJOY!

Fish and Chips in Beer Batter

This is not one of my own recipes, it's just standard beer battered fish and chips which you can find all over the internet. So technically I'm not steeling it from anyone. It's not that difficult to make, but it is sooo good. I'm still trying to perfect the recipe but I'm getting there.

I don't really work with grams and milliliters with this recipe, I just keep adding beer and flour until the batter seems okay.

Beer battered Cod with chips and broccoli (1 person)

• enough cod for one person (For the Dutchies: kabeljauw)
• Flour + ts baking powder
• 1 beer
• 3 medium sized potatoes if you want to make the chips yourself.
• 1 broccoli

Turn on your fryer, 190C/275F, and your oven (same degrees). 

Make sure your fish isn't frozen anymore, or else the batter wont stick to your fish!

Peal the potatoes and slice them into a shape you like. Boil these in water with some salt for about 4 to 6 minutes. Drain them in a colander and let them dry.

Now start making the batter. Make sure it has a nice thick texture so it will stick to your fish. Make sure you have another bowl with just flour in it .

Season your fish with salt and pepper and then dip them into the batter. Then dip it in the bowl with the flour and then again in the batter. Then put it in the fryer. Make sure it doesn't touch the basket because it will stick to it. Leave the fish in for about 4 minutes. When you get it out put it in the oven so it will stay nice, crispy and warm.

Boil the broccoli, 4-5 minutes.

Now fry your chips until golden, also about 4 to 5 minutes.

You can make a garlicsauce to go with the cod:

• spoon of yoghurt
• spoon of mayo
• peper
• garlic

Mix all these things together and omnomnom!

Not a difficult recipes, but things can go wrong, so stay focused and enjoy.

Me, myself and the market

As I have mentioned before, going to the market is super handy! At least, it is here in Amsterdam. I love going to the market and find a stand where they sell all kinds op cheap fruit and vegetables. We've got several of those at my market, so there is no doubt you've got one as well.

Hey, it's okay to be a cheapskate the first time you go to the market. Take your notebook or your phone and simply write down some of the prices of the same product as you walk past the many stands. We want to pay as little as possible for the best quality.

I took some pictures of my favorite fruit and vegetable stand as you can see down here. They have different kinds of fruits each week, depending on the time of the year and their supplier, and all of it for a very small price (and most of the time they round the price down while they're weighing the fruit, yay!)

 I also buy my bread at the market. It's cheaper than at the local bakery, but it has the same quality. Also, again, I have to eat spelt bread and my favorite bread stand sells the real deal for a low price: 1 loaf for 3 euros. The supermarkets either sell it for a higher price or sell fake spelt bread.
And just look at these pictures. Doesn't it look delicious?!

So if I were you, I'd go to the nearest ATM, get some money and go to your local market. Because it has saved me sooooo much money. And I need money. Because I'm a student with bad priorities, so I need money for other things (students reading this can probably relate to this problem).

A smoothie a day also keeps the doctor away.

I have been drinking smoothies in the morning for a long time. Most of the time they consist of the same ingredients: yogurt, banana’s, spinach and linseed. But this week I decided to try a different type of smoothie each day and give you some info on why this is a healthy but also delicious snack. I get most of my fruits on the local market here in Amsterdam North (I'll do a blog on that asap) because most of the time it's much cheaper than in your local supermarket. Most of the smoothies I made this week contained some kind of red fruits because I couldn't find too many mangoes or pineapples at the market, sorry!

Monday
This handsome looking smoothie here on the left contains banana, mango, lowfat yoghurt, linseed, wheat bran and honey.
This is a really good smoothie to start a day with. Because this smoothie consists mostly out of banana, it's also good to drink this before a workout. Banana's can give you a real energy punch and they sustain your blood sugar. They also protect you against muscle cramps during workouts.
I eat/drink bananas because (i copied this from a nutrient site because it's too difficult to explain): "Bananas act as a prebiotic, stimulating the growth of friendly bacteria in the bowel. They also produce digestive enzymes to assist in absorbing nutrients."

Tuesday


This is a delicious smoothie with greek yogurt, berries, juice of a small lemon, a teaspoon of linseed oil, banana and 2 leaves of mint.

It's a really fresh smoothies because of the greek yogurt and mint. So I suggest drinking this one on a warm afternoon.

Mint is also very good for you digestion and it soothes the stomach in case of indigestion or inflammation. And it just tastes amazing!
And when you've got asthma, mint can be used as a good relaxant and it relieves congestion. But don't use it too much!


Wednesday
In this smoothie you will find a banana (of course), berries, low-fat yogurt and wheat bran. Not a very exciting one, but also very healthy and tasty. If you've never heard of wheat bran, don't worry. I'll explain to you some things about it. Wheat bran is good for all sorts of things. I use it for my IBS, but it's also good for lowering your blood pressure and apparantly is also good for preventing stomach cancer and hemorrhoids! Researchers all still looking at the effects of wheat bran, which include: preventing more types of cancer (bowel/rectum) and type 2 diabetes.

And on the plus side, wheat bran is not expensive and you don't have to use a lot all at once!

Thursday
So I thought I might be a good idea to also come up with some juices. You do need some type of juicer for this unless you don't mind having fruit pulp in your drink. You can always sieve the drink but that's quite a lot of work.
Juicers aren't that expensive either and you will not regret buying one!
This juice contains an orange, 2 apples and raspberries. There was a time when I hated raspberries. I wouldn't eat anything that even had the slightest amount of raspberries in it. But nowadays I love them. They contain loads of vitamins: C, B11, E and K. And they contain numerous of things like ellagic acid, which you can also find in goji berries, pomegranate and walnuts!

TGIFriday
In this thankgoditsfridayjuice you will find two apples, strawberries and raspberries and the juice of half a lemon. I don't put lemon juice in all my smoothies and drinks, but I do in some of them because I really like that sour taste of lemons and guess what?! Also very healthy! I found this great article on why lemon juice is good and instead of highlighting a few points, you should really read all of it, so here's the link:

http://www.fitsugar.com/10-Reasons-Lemon-Juice-Good-You-14860617



Saturday
I was out of apples today but I did by some pears on the market yesterday (I love pears, when they're either still a bit hard or all juicy and soft). So this juice is made with one orange, a pear, blackberries and a little drop of lemon juice.

Oranges are super duper healthy, they contain loaaaads of vitamin C. They help prevent a numerous of illnesses, they can give you an amazing energy boost (who needs coffee? just kidding, I do) and it lowers your cholesterol.

What are you waiting for?! Go forth and make this juice!

Sunday
This last juice is suppose to be made without a juicer. My nice made it and I asked whether I could use it for my blog. So here it is. It contains strawberries, a fig, an orange and a banana and you just add some water.

I personally don't eat all too many figs, I have an issue with the structure. But you don't really have that structure in a smoothie, so I should try them some time especially because apparently they are a really good way to stimulate weight loss! And what girl doesn't want to lose weight?




After writing this blog I realized how good fruits are and that we should definitely try to eat more of them in stead of cookies and sweets (even though cookies are amazing). I know fruit can be quite expensive, that's why you should make an effort and try to find a cheap stand at your local market or find an exotic supermarket near your house. For example, in Amsterdam we've got loads of Turkish and Moroccan supermarkets with cheap fruit and meat.

I hope I've inspired you to maybe have a healthy smoothie once a week or more!

Tiramisu Dutchie Style

I have this really old laptop, I got it a few years ago when I graduated high school (about 6 years ago). If I would be more like my brothers, nephews and uncles I would have bought a new one after maybe 1 or 2 years, but I didn't. Me and my Toshiba, we're homies. Sometimes a part breaks off, or it stops charging, but when something like that happens I give my uncle a call and I take the first train possible so he can fix my best friend. And when I go there I always take a cake or some type of dessert with me as a thank you.

I think my laptops enjoys spending time at my uncle's, because it decided to stop working when I was in the middle of making a tiramisu. So the next day I hopped on a train with my tiramisu to see my uncle again. I had never made a tiramisu before so I didn't know if my own creation would be a success. But my uncle and nieces approved of it (yay) and they said that it tasted like "Sinterklaas" (a Dutch holiday slightly similar to Santa Clause and Christmas). And that made sense, the Sinterklaas-flavor, because it contained pepernoten, a typical Dutch cookie we eat when it's Sinterklaas. 

So here's the recipe!

·         100 gr dark chocolate

·         50 ml sweet white wine

·         150 ml Greek yogurt

·         150 gr cream cheese

·         125 ml whipped cream (which you still have to "whip')

·         3 eggs

·         200 gr pepernoten (or use another biscuit, but this is really nice!)

·         nob of butter

·         125 ml fresh espresso 

·         50 gr sugar

·         ts salt

Make the espresso first and add 25ml of the sweet white wine and set this aside, it has to cool down. 

Take out two bowls, because in one bowl you have to put the egg yolk and in the other the egg white. Whisk the egg white and the 50 gr of sugar until you can turn the bowl upside down above you're head and nothing falls out. 

In the other bowl, whisk the egg yolks and add the cream cheese and the yogurt. Now turn that non-whipped cream into real whipped cream (haha) and add it to your cream cheese-yogurt mixture. You can now also add the egg whites. And if your feeling naughty today, add a bit of the sweet white wine as well (but not too much because else it wont set in the fridge). 

The espresso should be cold by now, so you can dip your pepernoten/biscuits in the coffee and put them in a glass tray or bowl which you will use to make your tiramisu.

Now melt the chocolate with the butter and the teaspoon of salt. When it has a smooth texture add 25ml of the sweet white wine and then poor everything over your pepernoten/biscuits. Now poor the mixture you made before on top of that. To top it all of you can grate the last 10 gr of chocolate over your tiramisu. 

Leave this fine looking dessert in the fridge for at least 1 hour, but the longer it stays in there, the stronger the coffee flavour will get (yum!).

Cookbook Maniac

About 2 months ago a friend of mine introduced me to a fantastic site: play.com
It's probably similar to ebay or amazon, but what is so good about this site is that I can order secondhand books for a really small price and there are no surprises at the end. With that I mean: delivery is almost always for free! (Yaaay, we love free)

So here's what happened, my obsession with cookbooks kind off got out of control. I started ordering cookbooks mainly from Jamie Oliver (there are still 3 on the way) and I have probably used my credit card 10 times as much in the last month than in all the years before. But it is so worth it. Most of the books only cost me about 3 to 4 pounds!

But here's the real reason why I'm writing about cookbooks: I really want everyone to go out or online and buy yourself a cookbook that really speaks to you. It doesn't have to be from Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsey or any famous chef. It can also be a book on cupcakes or just any food magazine. Because what these cookbooks do, is help me to come up with new recipes and it should do the same for you. Here's what I do when I want to "invent" a new recipe.

Step 1: I take one of my cookbooks and look up a recipe that looks like a really tasty dish but isn't that complicated. Then I follow every step in the book. Nothing crazy, I won't add anything or leave anything out. And then I eat it. Omnomnom!

Step 2: A couple of days later I will make it again and then change some of the flavours, add some extra herbs or even re-size the portions. I really want to make this dish mine. For example: I made a cheese cake a couple of weeks ago and the first time it was just a plain ordinary cheesecake. The next time I made it, I used different cookies, added some lemon, orange and ginger and I made a lemon curd to go on top. And I like my cheesecake a bit darker that it normally should be, so I popped it back in the oven for an extra 15 minutes and turned the grill on for 2 minutes. Now it's a completely different dish!

Step 3: Let other people taste it. If they like it, good for you. But sometimes they know exactly what's missing to give your dish that extra "umpf!". So use those tips the next time you make it.

Step 4: This is an optional step. If your creation is an absolute hit among friends and family: Master it! Make it your signature dish!

So cookbooks are not just there to simply copy every dish, they should inspire you to come up with new recipes!

A few small changes

Ik zal dit in het Nederlands beginnen, ik ben vandaag naar mijn aller eerste bijeenkomst geweest van de Hema Blog Academy waar ik dankzij Bernadet voor was uitgenodigd. We hebben hier onder andere tips en tricks gekregen over hoe we onze eigen blogs naar een hoger niveau kunnen brengen en één van de dingen hierbij was het overschakelen van het Nederlands naar het Engels om zo meer bezoekers aan te trekken. Dus vanaf nu ga ik mijn uiterste best doen om te bloggen in het Engels. Als je nog vragen hebt over bepaalde dingen, kun je altijd een reactie achterlaten en zal ik gewoon in het Nederlands reageren! No worries.

The first recipe in my new style of blogging will be a delicous home made pizza. Because I have IBS (irritable bowel syndrom), I have to always make sure that I eat fresh fruit and for example eat spelt bread instead of white bread. So I will sometimes incorporate that in my recipes as I have done today.

Homemade Pizza (2 large pizzas)

• 250 gr/ 2 cups of plain flour
• 250 gr/2 cups of spelt flout
• 7 gr yeast (most of the time one sachet)
• 3 spoons of olive oil
• 275 ml lukewarm water
• 1 can of peeled tomatoes
• 1 clove of garlic
• dried basil
• salt and pepper

For the topping you can use whatever you want, but I'll just pretend like everyone is going to make the pizza I just made

• 1 red onion
• 125 gr mozzarella
• small hand of pine nuts
• 1/2 red pepper
• 1/4 zucchini
• 1 mushroom
• a handful of rocket lettuce. 

For the pizza dough: sieve the flower and add 2 teaspoons of salt in a large bowl. Make a small pit in the midst of the flour and add the yeast. Then add the spoons of olive oil and pour the water along the side of the bowl and then start kneading the dough for a few minutes until it's a smooth/elastic dough. Shape it into a nice round ball and put it back in the bowl. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let it rest for 1 hour.

Puree the tomatoes and heat it in a large pan. Add some salt and paper, the basil and the clove of garlic. Let this simmer for about 10 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to about 250C/480F.

Slice the onion, red pepper, zucchini, the mushroom and the mozzarella.

Divide the dough in 2 (so you can make two pizzas), and roll them out, nice and thin. Put some of the tomatoes sauce on it and add your toppings. Put this in the oven for about 12 to 15 minutes.

In the last minute quickly toast your pine nuts. When the pizza comes out, put the rocket lettuce on top and finally your pine nuts. 

I hope you enjoy!