HEALTHYFRENCHWIFE- Claire Power logo

featured

Recipe

Healthy French Bowls

IMG_7340

Today is July 14th or Bastille Day as known in English speaking countries. Most people would associate French food with croissant, crepes, bread and cheese but we have a lot of other delicious food especially savoury! For me when I think of French food I also think of “crudites” which is the first course we have during family lunches usually a vegetable or salad served cold with vinaigrette and some cornichons.

Starting a meal with a salad or vegetable like grated carrot salad, radishes, beetroot salad is such a healthy habit the French have! Especially for children as we are all most likely to eat vegetables at the start of the meal when we are the hungriest.

Today I put a little French spin on the old budha bowl by using some more French ingredients like shallots, green beans, French lentils, Maille Dijon Originale Mustard and my favourites Maille Cornichons. I always add a few cornichons to my salad for a little pickle taste. I can snack on them all day long! But I only like the little French gherkins called Cornichons not the big American ones! And Maille is such an iconic French brand, the only mustard brand my family ever bought!

These Healthy French Bowls are a perfect healthy lunch and are really quick to make if you cook the pumpkin, quinoa and lentils ahead of time as part of your meal prep. And why not try adding cornichons in your own salads next time! Trust me it is a great addition to all salads!

IMG_7365

Below is the recipe- I hope you will enjoy it. It was made in collaboration with Maille.

RECIPE:

Healthy French Bowls With Maille Cornichons

Makes 2 bowls.

Ingredients:

  • Rocket or greens
  • 2 handful of green beans
  • 1 cup of roasted pumpkin
  • 1 cup of quinoa
  • ½ cup of dried French lentils
  • 2 shallots
  • 2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tsp of Maille Dijon Originale mustard
  • handful of Maille Cornichons
  • French vinaigrette
  • Salt and pepper

    IMG_7350

  1. Cut and prep your pumpkin and place in your oven on a baking tray to cook for 30 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius.
  2. In the meantime, cook the quinoa and French lentils in saucepans separately. (Best to create these bowls using already prepared quinoa and lentils).
  3. Prep your green beans and lightly boil them in hot water.
  4. In a bowl combine the finely sliced shallots and apple cider vinegar to pickle while you assemble your bowls.
  5. Assemble your bowls adding the cooled or warm quinoa, green beans, pumpkin, lentils mixed with mustard, pickled shallots, Maille Cornichons, vinaigrette and salt and pepper.

Oh and happy Bastille Day! My day was spent driving home from Sydney so not real celebrations but I wish I was in France on a summer evening eating my healthy French bowl and going to see the fireworks!

IMG_7348

 

Recipe

Vegan GF Chocolate Mudcake

Who wants a slice of chocolate mudcake? One that is suitable for everyone as it is not only delicious but also vegan, gluten-free, nut-free and allergy-friendly!

It was the perfect treat on our last Sunday to share with the twins grand-parents.

IMG_7330

 

IMG_7294IMG_7329IMG_7299

Recipe

Blueberry Lemon & Poppyseed Loaf (GF, VEGAN and Allergy Friendly)

IMG_7167

I used to make a yummy blueberry lemon and poppyseed loaf but it contained gluten and nuts so I have revamped my recipe to make it both gluten-free and nut-free (as well as vegan and delicious!).

Gluten-free baking can be quite daunting but I found the key is to buy good quality pre-made gluten-free flour blend, add more oil/fat and avoid over stirring.


Gf vegan Blueberry Lemon Poppyseed Loaf 

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cup GF self raising flour
  • 1/2 cup Gf flour blend
  • 3/4 cup of sugar or sweetener of choice
  • 2 tbsp of poppyseeds 
  • Zest of 1 lemonIMG_7133
  • Juice of 1 lemon 
  • 2 flax egg (2 tbsp of flaxmeal + 6 tbsp of water) 
  • 1 cup of non-dairy milk
  • 1/2 cup of melted vegan butter
  • 1 tsp of vanilla essence 
  • 1 cup of blueberries frozen or fresh 

Steps:

  1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius 
  2. Line a loaf tin with baking paper or grease it with coconut oil
  3. In a bowl mix the dry ingredients together. 
  4. In a separate bowl whisk together the flax egg ingredients then add the melted vegan butter, non dairy milk, lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla and combine well with a whisk. 
  5. Pour into the dry ingredients and combine gently with a spatula. 
  6. Add in the blueberries and fold them gently in the dough with the spatula. Do not overmix. 
  7. Pour in your loaf tin and cook for 55 minutes at 180degrees Celsius.



BLOG

My “Plastic Free July” Goals & Tips

This is my third year doing Plastic Free July but honestly there is so much I still need to do. I am definitely not the most eco-friendly person out there but I aim to improve a little bit more every year and I really like using the Plastic Free July campaign to include new habits/ items into my home.

Back when I had my twins I thought that swapping for reusable and plastic free items was just too hard and time consuming- I put it off. I then started very slowly with jars and bulk shopping, using glass containers and limiting plastic purchases. Last year I focused on the kids dinnerware, toys and removing coffee takeaway cups. We also use natural cleaning products, mostly natural beauty and household products, buy second-hand clothes and baby toys. We also only use metal straws.

So here I am again in 2019 at the start of a new Plastic Free July and I want to really improve my plastic-free efforts in the aim to reduce our family waste. One of the main reason I am vegan is for the environment so I really want to make better efforts in this domain. I know I will probably never be zero-waste but trying is better than doing nothing. 

This is all the different points I plan to do/ and items I want to swap soon during this year plastic free July. These are just my personal goals and this blogpost is not sponsored or done in collaboration with brands or products. I just wanted to share this and I would love to know about

2019 Plastic-free July goals:

  • Keep using my reusable coffee cup, shopping bags, stainless steel straws and leftover containers.
  • Buy reusable baby cinos mugs for the twins
  • Aim to reduce consumption of fruits and vegetables sold in plastic packaging (not always easy for berries or salads.)
  • Laundry detergent: I have just got some soap berries, I will see how they go with baby food stains or use baking soda.
  • Mick’s lunch containers: We meal prep his lunches for 2-3 weeks at a time and place them all in the freezer. We currently use mostly those cheap takeaway plastic containers. we reuse them a fair few times but they always end up breaking apart and are not heathy for my husband so I will go and buy 15 glass lunch containers for him this month! This is probably the main point I want us to improve on.
  • Online shopping packaging – I receive a lot of parcels at my house every week and I will now ask companies who send me products, samples and gifts to try to do more eco-friendly packages if they can. I love packages from Better Packaging Co for example.
  • Compost Bin: We consume a lot of fruit and veggies and despite reducing waste we always have scraps and now that I have a veggie patch I would love to make my own compost. So a compost bin is also going on the list this month!
  • Baking Paper: I do a lot of baking and I have recently learned that normal baking paper is covered in toxins and heavy metals including bleach, chromium and dioxins. I am going to reduce my use of baking paper by oiling a tin when baking and using some unbleached, chlorine free FSC-certified parchment paper instead.

Other zero-waste initiatives we do at home are:

  • visit the library for books
  • buy second hand toys and clothes for children
  • do not buy clothes too often
  • reduce food waste by only buying minimum and freezing leftovers for lunches
  • limit store-bought snacks
  • reduce food waste from the twins by turning veggie scraps in veggie stock paste and fruits into smoothies like the one below or baked crumbles.
  • I am also the queen of turning random leftovers and veggies in the fridge into yummy salads! 

So today I turned 3 half eaten apples from the twins into this delicious vegan and #allergyfriendly Apple Pie Smoothie using the apples, homemade oat milk, ice, 1 old spotty banana, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger powder, linseed and a dash of maple syrup.

  • IMG_7255

Please let me know in the comments or on Instagram what other things you do in your home? I know I am not perfect so I would love to hear some more easy tips my little family and I can do to reduce our waste and go plastic-free.

 

 

BLOG

Healthy GF Vegan Breakfast Ideas

Since I know eat gluten-free (for Annabelle’s food allergies) and also vegan and soy-free I am getting more creative in the kitchen to make some yummy healthy breakfasts so I thought I would share with you 10 breakfast ideas that are gluten-free and vegan!

IMG_6312

 

My top 10 healthy GF vegan breakfast ideas:

  1. Chia puddings with coconut milk and berries
  2. Homemade buckwheat bread and smashed avocado or peanut butter /almond butter and a sprinkle of cinnamon.
  3. GF Bread and cooked mushrooms and spinach for a cooked breakfast.
  4. GF granola with nuts, seeds, coconut and dried fruits and a dollop of coconut yogurt. yummy!
  5. Black bean tacos for a fancy weekend brunch at home.
  6. Buckwheat porridge using raw buckwheat groats soaked and cooked in nut milk.
  7. Quinoa porridge made with quinoa flakes and added stewed apples and cinnamon.
  8. Smoothies : cacao and hemp seeds; banana, tahini and cinnamon; berries & almond butter- these are some of my favourite combo.
  9. Buckwheat pancakes with warm blueberries and maple syrup. Hello sunday morning!
  10. Coconut yogurt bowls for quick and easy weekday breakfasts with berries, sliced up bananas, linseed, hemp seeds, pepitas and nuts of choice.

 

I hope this little lists helps you! You can find more meal inspo on my Instagram or contact me if you have any questions.

 

Recipe

Strawberry Oat Crumble Slice

I absolutely love this super easy strawberry oat crumble slice recipe. It can be made in less than 5 minutes (especially if you use store-bought healthy jam) and is really healthy as well as being vegan, wheat-free, refined-sugar-free (depending on jam used!) and also nut-free. The perfect afternoon tea treat! And is so healthy can be eaten for breakfast too!!IMG_5969

Strawberry Oat Crumble Slice (Vegan, wheat-free, refined-sugar-free, nut-free)

• 1 ½ cup of quick oats;

• 1 cup of buckwheat flour;

• 1 tsp of cinnamon powder;

• 2 tbsp of sweetener of choice;

• ½ cup of melted coconut oil;

• ½ cup of homemade strawberry jam;

• handful of fresh strawberries

Strawberry Jam:

• 1 lemon

• 2 cups of fresh strawberries;

• 1 tbsp of sweetener

IMG_5976

1. Pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius;

2. Blend the strawberries in a blender then cook on low heat on the stove with the added lemon juice and sweetener;

3. Store in the fridge for up to 1 week

4. While you make the strawberry jam, mix the quick oats and buckwheat flour in a mixing bowl.

5. Then add the cinnamon and sweetener then combine with the melted coconut oil.

6. In a small square tin lined with baking paper, press down ¾ of the crumble mixture.

7. Spread a layer of strawberry jam on top and some cut up strawberries.

8. Then sprinkle the remaining crumble mixture on top and place in the oven.

9. Bake for 45 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius.

 

IMG_5973

Recipe

Gluten-Free Vegan Pumpkin Seed Bread

IMG_6312

I made my own bread! For the first time ever I made my own bread. The only reason I decided to give it a go is because since having to cut out wheat due to Annabelle’s food allergies I have been missing bread a lot and I only find 1 kind of gf bread that is also vegan and soy-free and it is super expensive!

I have made this recipe two weeks in a row and I love it with smashed avocado or a peanut butter!

To make it more savoury I even added dried italian herbs and garlic powder the second time! So yummy.

IMG_6294

Gluten-free Vegan Bread 

with Thermomix method (optional)

Ingredients:

  • 1 and 1/2 cups almond meal – 150 grams 
  • 1 cup buckwheat flour – 140 grams
  • 6 tbsp psyllium husk
  • 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds or other seeds
  • 3 tsp of baking powder
  • 3 tbsp of apple cider vinegar -60ml
  • 1/2 tsp of salt
  • 2 tbsp of rice malt syrup or maple syrup – 40ml
  • 2 cups of water – 500ml 
  1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. 
  2. Mix the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl ( or in your thermomix in reverse mode speed 1 for 30sec) Remove all the lumps. 
  3. Then add in the rice malt syrup, apple cider vinegar and water and combine well. (Thermomix speed 2 reverse for 40 sec) 
  4. Pour into your loaf tin lined with baking paper. 
  5. Add extra seeds on top. 
  6. Cook for 1 hour and 10 minutes. 
  7. Leave to cool on a wire rack. 
  8. Keep in the fridge for up to 1 week or store slices in the freezer to have on hand. 
  9. IMG_6300

Recipe

Why I choose Califia Farms!

IMG_6048

Have you reached your #chocolatelimit this past Easter weekend? Are you already
thinking of what recipes to make for Mother’s Day? I have a great new recipe for you: Almond Raspberry Buckwheat bread – this recipe is gluten-free, vegan and refined sugar-free so you can feel good about enjoying a slice or 2!

I collaborated with Califia Farms to create this recipe and used their Unsweetened Almond Milk. I love that their plant-based milks have no added sugar and are carrageenan-free. They also have great taste, texture and the bottles are pretty cool! You can find them nationwide (Australia) in the main supermarkets as well as independents like your local IGA. They also have an awesome range of cold brew coffees and I need to try them next for my morning coffee – especially their XX Espresso Cold Brew! I have been making vegan sweets for over 4-5 years and using a quality plant-based milk such as Califia Farms Almond Milk can really make or break plant-based baking!
So here is the recipe- I hope you like it! Don’t forget to tag me @healthyfrenchwife
on Instagram if you make it! I love seeing your recreations.

IMG_6046

Almond Buckwheat Raspberry Bread

  • 1 cup of buckwheat flour
  • 1/2 cup of almond meal
  • 1 cup of Califia Farms Unsweetened Almond Milk
  • 1/2 cup of coconut sugar or sweetener of choice
  • 2 tsp of baking powder
  • 1/4 cup of melted coconut oil
  • 1/2 tsp almond essence
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
  • 1 cup of frozen raspberries
  • slivered almonds to top

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius
2. Line a loaf tin with baking paper
3. In a mixing bowl, add the buckwheat flour, almond meal, essences, sweetener,
baking powder and combine.
4. Then add the almond milk and stir.
5. Add the melted coconut oil and combine well.6. Pour into your loaf tin and press some raspberries in the dough as well as top the
bread with extras and the slivered almonds.
7. Bake for 50 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.

Recipe

Vegan Hazelnut and Chocolate Mini Cheesecakes

Who does not like hazelnut and chocolate together??! I looove love love this flavour combination and I can eat vegan homemade healthy nutella by the spoonful. I made these mini vegan hazelnut and chocolate cheesecakes for my dad’s birthday last week. We all loved them!

IMG_5726

Vegan Hazelnut and Chocolate Mini Cheesecakes

Base:

  • 1/2 cup of almonds
  • 1/2 cup of hazelnuts
  • 1 cup of pitted dates
  • 1 tbsp of water
  • 1 tbsp of cacao

Cheesecake Layer:

  •  1 cup of soaked cashews 4-6 hours
  • 6 tbsp of raw cacao powder
  • 1 tsp of vanilla powder
  • 1/2 cup of rice malt syrup
  • 1/3 cup of melted coconut oil
  • 1/3 cup of roasted hazelnut butter (homemade nutella)
  • Melted raw chocolate + roasted hazelnuts to top
  1. First make some homemade vegan chocolate hazelnut butter by roasting 1 cup of hazelnuts in the oven for 10min at 200 degrees and blending with 1/4 cup of maple syrup, 1/3 cup of cacao and 1/3 cup of coconut oil. (This recipe will make more than you need for the cheesecakes – you can top them with it or use it for toast/ dipping fruit! )
  2. In a food processor blend the base ingredients together then press down into silicon muffin moulds.
  3. Then drain your soaked cashews and blend with the cacao, coconut oil, rice malt syrup and hazelnut cacao butter and the vanilla.
  4. Pour on-top of the raw bases and freeze for a few hours.
  5. Top with melted chocolate and extra hazelnuts and keep in the fridge for a few days or freezer for a few weeks.
  6. IMG_5729

If you make this recipe or any of my recipes I would love to see it so please tag me on Instagram @healthyfrenchwife thanks xx

BLOG

10 Healthy Weight Loss Tips that Actually Work

10 Healthy Weight Loss Tips that Actually Work

As a nutritionist, I know one of the main motivation for people to go see a nutritionist is to lose weight or get healthy. Now I do not believe in fad diets or following the keto diet for weight loss (more on that in another blogpost) but here are my quick 10 healthy weight loss tips that actually work. They have worked for me after my pregnancies and some of my friends/clients and I hope they can help you too!

  1. Find a few healthy recipes that you absolutely LOVE.

In order to make a healthy diet a life-long habit you need to find recipes you enjoy making and eating! I recommend you find a few favourite simple and healthy meals for breakfast, lunches and dinner that can become your new “go-to”s each week.

Some of our family favourites are vegan lentil dhal curry served with cauliflower rice or brown rice, vegan kale pesto pasta, a roasted vegetable couscous or quinoa salad, blueberry porridge, smoothies, avocado and hemp seeds on sourdough and plant-based zucchini, eggplant and lentil lasagne with a cashew cheese sauce.

  1. Eat Plant-Based

Even if you don’t go fully vegan (although I do recommend it for your health, environment and the animals), eating plant-based a few times a week or a few meals a day can really improve your health and help you lose some extra weight. I lost about 6kg when going vegan after having my twins and it has helped me get back to my pre-pregnancy weight both pregnancies. Eating plant-based means eating a large amount of vegetables, fruits and wholegrains as well as legumes. I do not mean eating vegan cheese/bread/chips and vegan ice-creams (although they all have a place in a healthy diet as a treat!).

It is high in fibre so fills you up with high nutrient and low calorie dense foods (the fibre fills you up not the protein…) It is also proven that eating a diverse plant-based diet is the key for a healthy gut microbiome. Not only eating plant-based is good for your health and tummy but it is also good for your wallet- eating more rice, legumes and vegetables is much cheaper than meat!

  1. Make your own Healthy Treats

If you follow me on Instagram or here on my blog you will know I love baking and making healthy raw treats! I am a firm believer in having small portions of my own homemade vegan low sugar treats a couple of times a week to satisfy my sweet tooth. Trying to go cold turkey and completely off treats is not really a sustainable healthy weight loss habit. I much prefer teaching my clients to swap unhealthy sugary treats for good quality dark chocolate or making their own baked goods. I have 1-2 squares of dark chocolate most days after dinner!

Making your own healthy treats also means you can control how much oil, sugar goes into it and use healthier flour alternatives such as buckwheat or wholemeal flour and avoid processed ingredient, fillers, additives and preservatives.

  1. Snack on fruit or veggies

When hungry try grabbing a piece of fruit first before reaching for other snacks. Fruits are so good for us and I am tired of everyone fearing them and the fear of sugar in fruit! I recommend having at least 2-3 pieces of fruit a day for getting a variety of nutrients, vitamins and fibre. Snacking on veggies is also great but truth be told everyone prefers snacking on fruits and that’s okay! Just fill up on veggies at lunch and dinner. Having more fruit really is my number one health tip! So many people avoid them completely and it is sad. Nature’s intended for us to eat them that’s why they are so delicious! And no study ever found eating fruit to be the cause of obesity or diseases! Eating 2-3 pieces of fruit a day is a very healthy habit to keep for life and to share with children. Swapping unhealthy snacks or fatty snacks such as too many nuts, chips or processed treats for fruit is a great way to achieve your goal of weight loss.

  1. Reduce Fats

This might be a little bit (or a lot) against the latest trend of increasing fats in our diets. People used to eat a lot of fat from animal fat, fried foods and baked foods and with the healthy movement and paleo/ keto diet people have now replaced bad fats such as margarine with healthy fats but these are still fats. Eating 50% of your calorie from fats is not healthy and will not help you lose fat. The good fats are good in the diet but in small quantities only.

And do not worry about not absorbing fat-soluble vitamins in your diet – there is a little fat in every food- no need to soak your salads in olive oil, eat coconut oil by the spoon and eat lots of nuts and avocados. Processed fats are of course very unhealthy and you should limit those for weight loss.

The advice of snacking on nuts is actually I believe not helpful when people are wanting to lose weight.  Fat pack a lot more calories per gram than carbs and protein. A quick comparison 1 tbsp of coconut or olive oil has 120 calories compared with 14 calories for 1 tbsp of brown rice and only 7 almonds contain already more than 50 calories. Having a few handful of nuts could lead you to consuming over 400 calories in a few minutes. I do not recommend buying the LOW FAT dairy products as they are full of added sugar but simply eating plant-based low fat foods without adding too much fat in the form of dressings, cooking oils and too many nuts.

  1. Stop fearing carbs

As I mentioned above, I believe in a plant-based diet lower in fat to achieve good health and long-term weight loss. A recent study performed in 16-week randomized clinical trial found that the increase of carbohydrates and overall fibre intake as part of a low-fat plant-based diet was beneficial for weight loss, body composition and insulin resistance.  (source: study)Eating plant-based, whole foods carbohydrates are much lower in calories and provide very important nutrients and vitamins that your body, liver and brain need. Glucose is the key for maintaining your body alive as opposed to fats. You should eat a large amount of vegetables, moderate amount of fruit and lots of healthy wholegrains such as brown rice, quinoa, oats and other wholegrains.

  1. Fill up at breakfast

Starting the day with a healthy breakfast is important to set up yourself for a good day full of energy. I do not believe in Intermittent fasting as we all already do it overnight from dinner to breakfast. And for some people, not having breakfast leads them to over eating for the rest of the day as they think they deserve to indulge since they skipped breakfast.

My recommended healthy breakfasts are: porridge, overnight oats, chia puddings, smoothies, wholemeal bread and avocado/ nut butters.

  1. Reduce drinking

Are you drinking 1-3 flat white coffees a day? 1-2 wines a night? Coffees and alcohol can hide a lot of calories and amount to a third of your calorie needs per day. Reducing your takeaway coffees and alcohol can help you lose some weight as well as feel healthier. Replace them with lots of water for a healthier you!

  1. Ditch the all or nothing philosophy

Life and food are meant to be enjoyed. I do believe in relaxing healthy eating habits on special occasions, holidays and birthdays! But the rest of the time if you have an indulgent breakfast, a slice of cake with a friend or too many chips when going out it does not mean you have ruined it all and need to pig out for the rest of the day/weekend/week or even month!

  1. Exercise

This quite common sense but exercising combined with a healthy diet is the key for long-term weight loss and a healthy lifestyle. Find something you like doing, with your loved ones or children on the weekend and do it! Exercise is so good for anxiety and mental health too!

10 weight loss tips that actually work.png

Please consult with a nutritionist, doctor if you need further advice or before starting any drastic lifestyle and diet changes. I am available for worldwide nutrition consultation should you seek further professional advice.