Strawberry Fields Forever

Finally summer knocked on German doors this weekend, and we inaugurated the best time of the year with a grill party (to celebrate a good friend´s birthday).

The thermometer showed 32 degrees Celsius, a heat the central European country is not used to.

 Almost each guest, on top of a present, brought a summer dish along. Mine was a fresh salad I like making when the temperature is burning…It was pretty much a success! And that´s why I would like to share the recipe with you .

Strawberry-Goat Cheese Salad

My salad, ready to be served :)

For this salad I mostly used fresh ingredients bought directly from farmers. Not only it is fun to go to a strawberry field and pick your own strawberries for instance, but it also helps local businesses to stay in the market. Often we go for cheaper, mass produced products in order to save a couple of cents, but this way we endanger local production and we eventually digest a great amount of chemicals.

Here is the beautiful strawberry field I drove to in order to pick up the best strawberries I saw this season.

"Pick them Yourself" Strawberry Fields close to the Main River in Germany

Ingredients

Dressing:

§    Olive Oil (1/4 cup)

§    Walnut Oil (1/4 cup)

§    Honey (2 big Tablespoons)

§    Pepper (to taste)

§    Salt (to taste)

§    Dill (1 Tablespoon)

§    Balsamic Vinegar Cream (2 Tablespoons)

Pls note that these amounts can be varied according to taste, some might want more oil, others more honey etc..

Salad:

§  (1/4 cup) Green lettuce and/or fresh baby spinach leaves (I prefer those to be honest, but I didn´t find any)

§    Creamy Goat Cheese (80g) - alternatively you can use Camembert if you don`t like Goat Cheese.

§    Honey (2 big Tablespoons)

§    Walnuts (1 cup) - if you use Camembert take almonds instead

§    Strawberries (500g)

.

Preparation

Dressing:

That´s easy :) You just have to mix all the dressing ingredients, except for the balsamic vinegar cream, in one cup and keep this aside ;)

Spread the dressing on top of the salad right before serving

Salad:

§  Wash Lettuce/Baby Spinach and place on a big, flat serving plate

§    Cut Goat Cheese in  little cubes (note; this might be tricky as the cheese is very creamy, don’t worry

    if your cubes are not perfect, they don’t have to be :) ) and place those on top of the strawberries

§    Chop Walnuts and spread around the salad

§    Walnuts (1 cup) - if you use Camembert take almonds instead

§  Top with the Balsamic Vinegar Cream

§  

So that was it, easy right? And it only takes about 10 minutes!

Note: I am aware that some of you might be living in countries where strawberries for instance are not locally produced, but that´s not a problem. In this case I would advice buying them from an organic store. But if it´s strictly necessary well, you can go to the closest Walmart ;)

Guten Appetit, have fun and enjoy your evening! 

NUTRITION: Organic; yay or nay? A brief personal thought

In the past few years I noticed an increase in products with a green "Bio" labels printed on them, in literally all Grocery´s stores I have visited, even at lower priced supermarkets such as Lidl or Aldi. 

At the beginning I thought this was pretty much about money-making, strategically well thought, expensively marketed products and I never really gave it a deeper thought. 

Recently though, as I started meditating more (you should definitely try meditating too! It´s such a great way to keep a positive aura, and keep the stress away from you:) ), I started to change my nutritional habits (less sugar, less trans fats, more proteins and healthy carbs) and decided to start taking care of my health. I am not "old" yet, but it is never too early to start. 

Attention to labelling increased during the past years, more and more companies now print exact labels in regards to ingredients and nutritional facts (e.g.: Carbs per 100g, Kcal etc). Regulations have been changing in Europe and North America, making it a must to list certain ingredients. 

The buyers´awareness of health has also been increasing, I see more and more people looking for healthier food around me and in stores. 
I believe I belong to this group of buyers. I want to see less chemicals in what I eat, I don´t want to eat a fully injected, pumped up apple - That´s why I, in a lot of cases but not exclusively, turn to Organic Food if possible. 

But what is organic food exactly and is it really a ? There have been lots of arguments as to whether organic food is better than non organic or not. Well, I believe it is and here are my top 3 reasons for this.

First of all, the regulations in regards to chemical usage in fertilizers is stricter, maybe you can´t completely avoid chemicals, but you can certainly choose to reduce them by carefully selecting what you eat!

Secondly, artificial food additives are a no go in organic food, this is already good enough of a point for me.

Thirdly, if you are a meat lover (I am not, but I know many who are!) you should definitely go for organic meat rather than non organic, at least in my opinion, as the animals are  grown differently and also fed differently. If you decide to kill animals to satisfy your appetite (ok, I do eventually eat meat too, trying to go down to no meat though...so this point refers to me as well) at least make sure that they are treated and killed with some remains of dignity, I think they do have sensitive souls too (even though a running chicken might not look like such a sensitive creature at first, I still try to keep my thoughts equal for all animals, no offence to anyone..). 

If you are convinced and want to take Organic to a further level, then go for small local producers of organic food, at least for some of your groceries. It might end up being slightly more expensive (if you don´t have that extra dollar, then just never mind, just go for non organic healthy stuff:) ) but at least you will be supporting the local economy in a way or the other. You might not change the world, but it is still a good deed isn´t it? 

Want to know more? Follow this link :)

http://www.organicconsumers.org/

Lifestyle tip: Ayurveda, the new old way of life

Today I’ve had a very long day, almost no time for myself, I came home and I felt the need to throw myself on the couch and free my mind.

Well, this whole „free my mind” didn’t quite work, my mind did not want to turn off, first I thought about what to do this weekend (the weather will apparently be so great that staying at home is not an option!), then the weather lead to thoughts of summer, thoughts of summer lead to bikini shopping, and bikini shopping lead to.... my nutritional habits (in other words, diet, diet diet...).

I see people around me trying out all sort of diets, and having different habits. I know vegeratians, vegans, gluten free dieters, paleo lovers (that is def. not for me, I’m not in love with meat enough to go paleo, but yes I did try...).I came to the personal conclusion that there is no perfect diet, as each diet works differently on different people. But I do believe lifeastyle and personal strenght are what make a difference.

I think everything in the Universe is connected, and that we have both negative and positive energy sorrounding us, I eat meat at times but I avoid it if I can as I don’t know under which circumstances the dead soul I am eating was killed. Yes, gross thought. I believe we are made of 5 main  elements; earth, space, air, water, fire which are linked together, and the way  we succeed in balancing them will be reflected on our mind, body and soul– my line of though follows the „AYURVEDA” concept.

Now, you might laugh, but this is really what I think, no joke. Did you ever sit with someone in the same room and suddently felt such a negative vibration, that you had to leave? And I don’t mean negative vibes such as bad smell, or bad hair day..think deeper... :D I did .. and I also know of people who sent me such a great vibe I just want to spend as much time as possible with them!

Ayurveda is an overs 5000 years old indian medicine concept (for us western people that would be more like an alternative medicine) which helps finding the right balance between mind body and soul. One of the gateways to this balance is believed to be nutrition. Not a crush diet, but a way of eating which is the best for our being, and for our emotions.

One of the main points of the Ayurveda nutrition is getting rid of as many preservatives and conserved food as possible, but not completely avoiding them if our body feels the need for their intake. It involves getting to know oneself deep inside, getting in deep contact with one’s body and mind. It is about meditation, self control, satisfaction and observation.

Before starting a diet I think we should first all know what are the things which will turn our experience into a positive one, what increases our positive energy and what keeps us healthy.

I love the whole concept as it brings me closer to me, and not just „keep healthy” or get rid of a couple of Kgs..

I decided to start an Ayurveda based 5-day detox diet, which I am hoping to repeat once a month. It involves mostly meditating a lot, drinking a lot of tea and different herbs, and having a rice and lentils based diet. I tried one day already, just to see how my body and mind would react and to see if I am ready to take a new inner journey and find myself, well all I can say is..I can’t wait!

Ps: If I dont show up for while here I probably got lost on the way L