Moist and delicious fat free vegan Bananacake

Ok this is the best vegan fat free Bananacake I've ever made. Even if you are not vegan, even if you don't care about fat, check this out!

The batter alone is so tasty and I love the simplicity of it. Adding cups of liquid butter used to gross me out, so this is my new alternative for a fast and easy cake.

This is actually a diet cake, considering there is no fat in it, I calculated the macros. 

I really like the texture of this goodie. The inside of the cake turns out soft and moist - almost gooey - (not dry at all) and the outside will be nice and crusty. 

It will be very sweet if you follow my recipe, so you might as well use less sugar. 

Also you can leave out the cocoa powder, but hey, isn't that marble effect just perfect?

But first to the recipe:

For one bread tin you will need:

4 ripe bananas (middle to bigger size)
2 cups white or whole wheat flour
2/3 cups white or brown sugar
1 Tsp liquid vanilla (or substitute with vanilla powder/vanilla sugar)
4 Tbsp water
1 1/2 Tsp baking powder
1/2 Tsp Salt
4 Tbsp cocoa powder
optional: cocoa nibs or chocolate chips, nuts, raisins

Directions:

1. preheat the oven to 350 degrees F°. Depending on your pan, you might have to grease it, or you use a baking sheet.

2. mash the bananas with a fork. Add the water, vanilla and sugar. Mix until it is smooth and creamy.

3. add the flour, baking powder and salt and then mix everything with a handheld elective mixer. You can add the chocolate chips, cocoa nibs or nuts now.

4. pour 2/3 of the batter into the prepared pan.

5. add the cocoa powder to the rest of the batter, blend it in and pour the chocolate batter into the pan was well. It will give you a nice marble effect in the end.

6. bake for 50-60 minutes. (Do the toothpick test, as every oven is different)

And now to the macros: One cake will give you

421g Carbohydrates, 8g Fat and 41g Protein and a total of 1,785 Calories (just the basic recipe, if you add chocolate or nuts you will have to add those). But hey, compared to a classic cake recipe, this is pretty awesome. 

Movie "Embrace" - Should we really say goodbye to the thigh gap

Yesterday I finally watched the movie 'Embrace'. What I like about it and what I don't like about it? Well, there are a few things...

Embrace is a movie, published in 2016, Trailer here. The main topic discussed in the movie is body-shaming, body loathing, excessive weight loss, and the daily struggle of all women to keep it up with what the media presents them: A lean and sexy but photoshopped model. 

The Body Image Movement is a fight for a natural and realistic body image. Women should see themselves as something positive and accept their bodies and learn to love them. This Movement started to redefine and rewrite the ideals of beauty. 

"Lose weight, reduce wrinkles, fight cellulite; we’re constantly told to fight a battle to be someone other than who we are. Women and girls are constantly lead to believe they’re not as good as they should be. And why? Because every day they feel they’re being judged on their appearance and how far away it is from an unachievable ideal.

At the Body Image Movement, we’re on a quest to redefine and rewrite the ideals of beauty. Our job is to harness and facilitate positive body image activism by encouraging women to be more accepting of who they are, to use positive language regarding their bodies and others, and to prioritise health before beauty. Our goal is to reach as many women as possible around the world and speak to them about how we can learn to fully embrace and love our bodies.

We say no to…

• Excessive “Photoshopping” of body images in the media
• Being programmed by the media and corporations into accepting unrealistic body images
• Prescribing to the notion that being a certain weight determines whether you’re healthy
• Sexualisation of girls in the media and modern culture
• The objectification of women
• Society and advertising preying on women’s insecurities"

And this is also what I like about the movie. It is time to fight this unrealistic ideal that the media presents us on every advertisement, the internet and every magazine. Every woman is different. We are not made like Barbie dolls. We are not all skinny, and we don't all have a classic 90/60/90 runway body. I like the idea that women encourage women to love their own bodies and accept themselves the way they are made. 

I see a lot of potential to prevent young women from getting an eating disorder. Advertisements are made to manipulate us. Every day. The Body Image Movement is made to bring this fact to our attention. Being aware of it is the first step to a new perspective - to a new way of self-reflection. 

The movie really shows us the negative side-effects of extreme dieting and how it is not healthy for our body and emotions to be skinny. There is always pressure to stay lean, to lose more weight and to become better and better in aesthetics. The movie also presents us women that are totally in peace with themselves. Women that love their curves. This is a really good aspect.

If I could bring up some critic, I'd say that one very important aspect is missing: The fact that obesity and a high body fat percentage (we are talking about someone that is clearly overweight) is not good for us. Simply for heath reasons we should try to be in a healthy weight, curves are ok, a little body fat is ok too, but not too much.
The same way they critique diets, they should critique overeating, binging and excessively packing on more and more weight. Every thing should be in balance, for our emotional and physical well-being.

I can see a second part of this movie that focuses more on long term aspects. I can understand that everyone has his or her ups and downs, and still: Emotional and physical stability and balance is something that is best for us. 

Us Women, we should finally stand strong and believe in ourselves. We are able to love ourselves. We are able to hold and keep a healthy weight. We don't need to compare ourselves to other women, we can see ourselves in the unique way we are.

In the end it doesn't matter if we have or if we don't have a thigh gap. It is nothing that we should care about. Happiness and Heath are aspects that are really important. A thigh gap is a trend that people care about in one year but not in the next one. It has nothing to do with health. It has nothing to do with happiness. Just embrace your legs as they are.

MEET in Gastown / MEET on Main

Hey, if you ever come to Vancouver, this should be on you top ten to-do list. Meet in Gastown or Meet on Main. I can totally recommend this restaurant, and now I'll tell you why.

Maybe you have experienced something like that in the past: You walk into a restaurant, you read through the menu and you just want to order everything.

Whatever I ordered so far was out of this world. When I first discovered MEET, all I could order was one of their burgers. They have so many delicious (all vegan) burgers on their menu, it's incredible (for example a "southern bbq burger" with whiskey sauce or a "mac n' cheez burger" which is loaded with mac and cheese sauce made from cashews). I always thought I'll miss out on something if I order one of their bowls or a salad instead of these crazy delicious burgers (that - by the way come with a little side salad and a mountain of fries). I was wrong. Their other dishes (for example "the lovely" - a bowl with brown rice, kale, coconut bacon, marinated organic tofu, shredded carrot and a fantastic almond satay sauce makes me hungry just thinking of it!) are also very good! They have a really tasty chili sin carne on their list, that you can always order on the side! 

However, for your first visit, I would always point to the burgers on the list. 

I don't really know if you can make a reservation (because we ended up there more or less spontaneously) but I would definitely recommend that. This place usually is extremely crowded, sometimes the waitress told us to come back in one hour. 

I didn't really get to order many desserts, because I was just so satisfied that there was no need for it. Next time, I will definitely try the deep fried banana or a cheesecake. 

The pricing is more than fair. You pay around $15 for a main dish, which is - in my opinion really a good price considering that there will definitely only be vegan food on your plate and some of the ingredients are organic!

If I am asked which location I like better, I'd go to Gastown. I just love the atmosphere there, vintage tables and loft style come together in the old part of the city. It's located at 12 Water St. and Meet on Main is located at 4288 Main Street. 

Check out the menu here.

Fact is: You get everything here. Vegan, optional gluten-free. Healthy and nutritious and a little greasy and fast-food-style. Go and check it out!

The New Forks Over Knives Magazine

Forks over Knives is a really good documentary about the health benefits of a plant based whole foods diet. If you haven't watched it yet, you can watch it on iTunes, Amazon or on Netflix. Recently the creators of the award-winning documentary Cowspiracy released a documentary called 'What The Health' that uncovers more facts about how massive the impact of vegan food on our health is. You can watch it here. 

My intention was to add in as many vegan documentaries as possible into a post, that is about a magazine. Sorry, not Sorry. 

However, this magazine earns some serious credits. Its 96 colored pictures are full of interviews, success stories, expert tips and other interesting stories. For me, the craziest fact is, that there are over 70 delicious vegan and healthy recipes in this single magazine. You might think, US$ 9.99 is expensive? With that many recipes, I can call it a cookbook. Also its not financed by advertisements because its completely ad-free. Forks over knives calls it a "Bookazine"

I attached you a recipe down below, which shows how to prepare the burrito bowl from the front cover. Copyright Forks over knives. 

Get your copy before June 26th! You can order it online and the shipping is worldwide. I don't get paid for this, haha.
If you live in the States or in Canada you can also check out Save On, Walmart, Safeway or other grocery shops that sell magazines, or bookstores.

I can totally recommend it. BTW: Imagine the world was vegan. Impossible? And here comes a free tip: Watch this movie about it. 

Before the Flood - Full Movie

Leonardo DiCaprio and National Geographic created this wonderful movie, that I can highly recommend. It is more than important to watch this and learn about the environment, the planet and the change.

Vegan Pumpkin Pie / Thanksgiving

This Vegan Pumpkin Pie that we had for Thanksgiving was so delicious. Im going to share the recipe here. As it is not created by me, you can find the source down at the bottom.
The crust is perfect, the filling is moist and delicious. It was my first ever vegan pumpkin pie but also my first pumpkin pie! I definitely want to eat this again and I can highly recommend it to you!

Ingredients:
Crust:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
1 tablespoon vegan granulated sugar
1 tablespoon white vinegar
Fine salt
1/2 cup coconut oil (packed)
4 to 6 tablespoons ice water

Filling:
One 15-ounce can pure pumpkin puree
8 ounces silken tofu
2/3 cup vegan sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Fine salt


Directions
For the crust: 
Put the flour, sugar, vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a food processor, and pulse to combine. Add the coconut oil in small spoonfuls, and pulse until the largest pieces are pea-sized. Add 4 tablespoons ice water, and pulse until evenly combined. Squeeze a handful of the dough together; it should just hold its shape. If the mixture is too powdery, pulse in an additional 1 to 2 tablespoons ice water. Turn the dough out onto a large piece of plastic wrap, pat into a 1/2-inch-thick disc and chill for at least 1 hour up to overnight.
To make rolling easier, let the dough soften up a bit-it should be slightly soft when pressed-at room temperature (this may take anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes depending on the temperature of your kitchen). Roll the disc into a 12-inch round on a lightly floured surface or between two pieces of floured parchment paper. If the dough gets too warm, refrigerate it to firm it up. Ease the crust into a 9-inch pie plate. Fold the overhanging dough under itself, and crimp the edge as desired. Chill for 30 minutes.
Position an oven rack in the center of the oven, and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line the chilled pie crust with a large coffee filter or foil, and fill with pie weights. Bake until the edges are lightly golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the coffee filter or foil and weights, and continue baking until the crust is lightly golden all over, 15 to 20 minutes more. Transfer to a rack, and let cool completely.
For the filling: Process the pumpkin puree, tofu, sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, vanilla and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a food processor until completely smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Pour the filling into the parbaked pie shell, and bake until firm and set, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool completely on a rack. Chill for at least 2 hours up to overnight. Slice and serve.

INSPIRED BY: Foodnetwork.com

Breakfast Idea: Oatmeal

Many foods fall in and out of favor. Health trends come and go. Not oatmeal. This whole-grain powerhouse has been packing serious nutrition and hearty flavor into breakfast for generations. It’s one of the few comfort foods that are as good for you as they are just plain good.

To get the most out of this super food, be a bit particular.

Some packets of instant oatmeal, for example, are loaded with sugar -- as much as 8 teaspoons per serving -- and high in sodium. Always check the label to see what you're getting.

Oatmeal is a classic breakfast, I enjoy it every day. The good thing is, it can be made different every time: Add pineapple and coconut in the summer for a refreshing sweet and sour version. Add cinnamon and dates

Its a quick breakfast, made like this: Boil water and soy milk in a pot, add the oats, toss around until the water is gone. 

Reasons why you should have Oatmeal every day:
1. Oats contain a lot of fiber. Fiber helps to stabilize the digestion, but also lowers cholesterol. It also balances blood glucose levels, so you don't have a sugar drop.
2. Oats provide important minerals (e.g. thiamin, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, manganese, selenium and iron) and vitamins (especially b-vitamins).
3. Oatmeal fits perfectly to fresh or frozen fruit. Fruit is full of antioxidants!
4. Sprinkle some cinnamon on top, that is a secret fat burner!

Healthy Eating starts with Self-Compassion

One of my friends told me about her experience that she had during another tough day at work. She forgot to have breakfast in the morning, so she was starving later. One of the mates at work offered to bring her some take away so she said yes. They had pizzas together and she finished her pizza quickly. One the one hand she was starving and hungry and on the other hand she felt guilty over eating so unhealthy again. Furthermore she felt way too full and was talking about her lack of willpower like this: "I shouldn't have done that, why can't I say no? Why do I always eat take away food that is so unhealthy, doesn't make me feel good afterwards?" 

When I tried to eat more healthy, this scenario sounded so familiar to me. What i didn't realize at that time is so important: The key to a healthy lifestyle which also includes a healthy way of eating is self-compassion. 

The more understanding and forgiving we are of ourselves, the better we can take care of our needs.

Self-compassion means to me the following:

• Self-kindness: Be kind and understanding toward yourself. Forgive yourself in situations of failure. It doesn't help you at all if you criticize yourself again and again.
• Common humanity: You are not alone. You share this experience with so many other humans. This is life. In most cases there are so many different things that are more important right now. 
• Mindfulness: Dont identify with painful or negative thoughts. Be aware of them but hold them in balance. Don't ignore them.

If we never allow ourselves to eat unhealthy, we automatically create rules in our mind. And I believe there is some excitement in everyone to break the rules. The more understanding and open we are, the more motivated and focused we are towards living a healthy lifestyle. 

A lack of self-compassion closes the door to learning about our daily habits, patterns, needs and triggers when it comes to food. 

Focus on a healthy relationship with eating and food and yourself, forgive yourself for the past. Give up black-and-white thinking. Healthy eating is flexible, it also includes being social and eating out. Healthy eating starts in the morning: No wonder you are starving if you haven't had breakfast in the morning. Healthy eating needs consistency: You can't expect to loose weight in a 30 day challenge. Healthy eating starts with a healthy mindset. Be positive. If you are thinking negative while or after eating like in the example above, you may be eating the wrong things, or you may be thinking the wrong things.