*This post is sponsored by Alpro.

Wow, seems like I introduced fall season a tad bit too early here on the blog. This week is supposed to be really warm and sunny, so I thought it was time for a little farewell to summer with a post I wrote at the end of summer.

A few weeks ago, summer also actually decided to pay us a visit again. If you’ve ever lived in or visited Northern Germany, then you will understand why we were so excited about this. This year, our summer was rather cold and wet, and so we enjoyed the warm sun and cloudless skies to the fullest. Luckily, we were all home at my parents’ house for my cousin’s wedding and got to enjoy a few family days. Both my sisters came to visit, too, and we spent some wonderful summer days at home with lots of laughter, teasing and of course lots of delicious food.I don’t know about you, but in my family, food always comes first. Since my sister has to eat gluten-free, we always prepare all of our foods sans gluten, so she does not have to miss out on anything. This is also much easier for all of us, since we do not have to prepare everything twice. As we are quite an active family, our Sundays usually begin with a family run followed by a delicious and healthy breakfast. Even our 13-year old dog Balu and our boyfriends tag along, so Sundays are always special in my family.

After a Sunday morning run, breakfast always tastes much better than usual, which is why breakfast is so important to all of us. We usually prepare lots of fruit, fresh buns and something special such as these lemony almond pancakes. They make the kitchen smell heavenly and they taste delicious.

Since I get so many questions about what I eat and what I don’t, let me repeat my food philosophy once again. My main reason to eat healthy is that I want to nourish my body with the best possible ingredients. I believe that food should be fuel that helps the body master everyday life, but also to protect our body from harmful outer influences. Healthy eating for me is not a trend, it’s the natural way of eating that keeps our body alive. Most of my diet is plant-based, but I am not 100% plant-based all the time. Moderation is the key in my opinion, and I do eat cheese or eggs from time to time because I love goat’s cheese and a good scrambled egg. However, I feel that the plant-based diet suits me and my body the best, and it enables me to get better through every-day life than other diets. Another thing that I believe in, is the elimination of processed sugar in our meals. That’s why I try to cook most of my meals from scratch in order to know exactly what’s in it.

What I love most about the plant-based diet is its huge variety. If we take milk for example, all I ever drank was cow’s milk. These days, there is such a diversity of plant-based drinks that we can choose from, which is amazing! From almond, to oat all the way until cashew milk, there are so many different kinds of drinks, which foster my creativity in the kitchen. Due to a lack of time, I do not always make my own plant-based drinks, which is why I love Alpro’s range of plant-based drinks. Its variety of drinks reflects the plant-based diet so well.

Back to these lemony almond pancakes. They combine both my sister’s favorites: my middle sister LOVES everything with fresh lemons and my youngest sister is the biggest pancakes fan. When I made these pancakes for them a few weeks ago, we really celebrated them with a little breakfast picnic in the backyard. It was already pretty warm in the early morning, and so we really enjoyed the sun and the pancakes in our parents’ garden. It was such a special moment that we will cherish and remember for a long time.

The best part of the pancakes, however, is the lemony maple syrup drizzle – if you ask my sister May. She loved this addition and even prepared a second batch, because she loved it so much. Such a compliment for me, and I have to admit that I was a little bit proud of myself.

Another big plus of these pancakes is that they are only sweetened with banana, which you almost cannot taste because of the intense lemony-flavor. Such as plus of Alpro’s plant-based drinks, in my opinion, because I love the idea of eating to feel good.

It would be my greatest pleasure of you made these pancakes for your loved ones and if you shared your special moments on social media using #heavenlynnhealthy. I cannot wait to see your photos.

Enjoy!

Merken

Merken

The post Lemony almond pancakes for Alpronista & Friends appeared first on Heavenlynn Healthy.

Spring bowl to celebrate the best season with tahini lemon dressing.

I cannot wait to put all those coats and warm clothes away and start wearing spring jackets, sneakers and sunglasses. I am writing this on the first of May (took you long enough, Spring), and just finished this awesome spring bowl that my boyfriend kindly prepared for me after I dropped a large wooden board on the top of my right foot. After lying on the kitchen floor crying for five minutes, all I could do was get up on the couch, put ice on the foot and watch Mean Girls.

Thirty minutes later, I was served this amazing bowl of goodness, and it really made my foot hurt less. I hope all the healthy ingredients will help me fight this inflammtion that is going on in my foot right now. My favorite is the tahini lemon dressing, which is actually inspired by the peanut lime sauce from my summer roll bowl.

Did you know that tahini is one of the healthiest foods out there? Not only does it cover almost our entire daily requirement of copper, it also contains many other minerals such as mangenese, magnesium, phosphorus and calcium. But let’s talk a little bit more about copper, because it gets less attention than other minerals.

Having a copper deficiency is as bad as having iron deficiency – and we know how many women are iron deficient.

Our body needs cooper daily to produce red blood cells and to support the use of iron. So, if you have an iron deficiency, you might also have a copper deficiency as copper is needed for the absorption and use of iron. You can find copper mainly in leafy greens, raw cacao (yay, chocolate) as well as in fish and seafood. Copper is also very important for the transportation of oxygen and the production of antigens. It therefore strenghtens the immune system, which is extremely cool in my opinion.

Fun fact: without copper, we would all have grey hair as it supports pigmentation.

Since my foot is starting to hurt veeeery much right now, I am going to leave it at that today. Lesson from today: copper is great!

If you love bowls (and you speak German) please have a look at my friend Annelina‘s new cookbook “Buddha Bowls”, which just came out and which is absolutely amazing. Not only is it very informative, it also contains so many different recipes of bowls, that it makes me want to never eat anything else ever again.

Enjoy!

DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE OR HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS, QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?

Feel free to leave a comment below, and don’t forget to tag your creations on social media using #heavenlynnhealthy.

I’d love for this blog to be a dialogue.

Merken

Merken

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My blog celebrated its first blog birthday on March 1st, and I almost forgot about it. It seems surreal that I started this blog just a year ago. I can’t believe how many of you are actually reading my posts, cooking my recipes and sharing their story with me. I’m really overwhelmed, and absolutely grateful for all of you. Thank you for all of your love and support. Without you, the blog would have never grown so fast, and I would not be as happy as I am right now. This website is my baby, it’s my passion, and it gives me so much joy to create, shoot and post these recipes, and getting positive feedback is the greatest reward I could ask for. So far the blog has gotten over 450.000 page views from 130.000 readers from all over the world – there are even people from Vietnam, Kenya, Colombia and Bahrain reading this blog – which is so unbelievably crazy. I am so happy right now, and I am celebrating my first blog birthday in Amsterdam with my boyfriend this weekend. Of course this blog birthday wouldn’t be a real blog birthday without a little giveaway to thank you. If you currently reside in Germany, then head over to the German blog post for an awesome Le Creuset* Giveaway.

This Turmeric & Vanilla Post-Yoga One-Pot has been my favorite meal these past few weeks. I’ve really enjoyed it after late night yoga or pilates sessions, because the spices like turmeric and vanilla really warm and nourish the body from the inside. It’s really the best “feel-good”-meal that I could eat every day. The combination of turmeric and vanilla is pure heaven. Turmeric is also the spice that you should really eat after a workout as it contains curcuma, which speeds up the fat burning process and helps reduce sore muscles. The vanilla taste is only subtle in this recipe, but it adds a nice  sweetness.

If you live in Germany right now, then head over to the German post for a chance to win one of 5 Le Creuset* Essential Silicone Spoons in the color of your choice. I’m afraid this giveaway is only for people currently living in Germany right now.

Enjoy!

*The silicone spoon is a curtesy of Le Creuset Germany. Thank you for supporting the brands that support Heavenlynn Healthy. 

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