24 hours in paris : itinerary
6 easy recipes i tried during paris lockdown
Today, April 7th 2020, we are entering the twenty fourth day of Paris lockdown. Up until today, i was mostly in a very good mood. Despite the inconveniences, the news on TV, la crise d'angoisse about our closest ones, I was zen. I see this quarantine as a brief moment to finally have the control of my time. I can exercise in the morning, eat a proper breakfast (or skip it in purpose), cook, work and take a break when i need to between all the calls i have to make, enjoy my apartment, organize my things and so on.
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Recently though, after baking a cake once a week, i decided to not only take control of my time but also of my food. This came after I did all sort of experiments (mostly with lots of calories : baking, remaking beautiful drinks, cooking American Latin inspired dishes etc). I then have an AHA moment saying, if i can actually cook all these dishes that i used to take out MAYBE it is time to take control of what i put on my mouth. It is amazing that you can actually cook whatever you want and control the ingredients. It is amazing to see that you can swap refined sugars with healthier natural sweeteners such as medjool dates.
BREAKFAST :
Smoothie bowl, BIRCHER AND BANANA PANCAKES
Whenever i have brunch outside, i would have pancake, smoothie bowls and hot chocolate. During normal days, i would take out bircher from Co Jean or Exki.
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They are delicious, healthy, fulfilling and pretty ! Before the lockdown, i used to think it must be such a hustle to prepare those because you will need to many ingredients. BUT it's not ! Especially if you already started to eat from fresh ingredients (not frozen package food) You will most likely have those.
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For the banana pancake, i love the recipe from Minimalist Baker. Because it's always simple never exceed 10 ingredients and the measurements are amazing that i believe everyone can ace it easily.
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Her recipe makes fluffy, sugar free and healthy pancake. You only need two ripe bananas, coconut flour (rich in fiber), an egg plus a little of coconut oil to cook. How easy is that ? the pancake will be naturally sweet, thanks to the banana!
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Then my favorite is smoothie everything. I could have it for breakfast, snacks and post work-out protein.​ Right now i am crazy of strawberry smoothie. I would toss my frozen bananas, strawberry, chia seed, peanut or almond butter (organic and no sugar added) water and almond milk on my blender. I don't even need to put any toppings. My husband current obsession is Dattes smoothie. The main ingredients remain frozen banana and almond milk, he would added crushed medjool dates and sometimes a quart of avocado. The option is endless and it's so good, so quick and most importantly, you control what you put without losing the benefit of the fruits, compared to store bought juice that is pasterized or added with refined sugar.
For Bircher, i make a big batch that allows me to have them for straight 4 days. Its a great option for busy days and when i have ingredients on hand, such as : vegetal milk, oat, apple, blueberries, hazelnuts..
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LUNCH :
CRUNCHY PEPPER AND SALT CALAMARI AND HEALTHY BOWL
When i finally found the recipe for this crunchy calamari, easy and so tasty, i thought OH MY MY. It's delicious inside and outside. You will need calamars, salt, pepper, 1 tbs oyster sauce one egg, maizena flour and all purpose flour. No hustle and simple. The key is to marinate the calamar with the oystor sauce, salt and pepper, with beaten egg for at least 15 minutes on the fridge. Then you would mix 2:1 for maizena and all purpose flour, and put your marinated calamar into the flour batter.
DRINKS :
DALGONA EVERYTHING
