Bake something super cute – reindeer cookies with almond butter

Christmas Fan – yes or no? Are you a christmas fan? Do you love to bake the whole December and decorate your home? I need to tell you that I’m not the biggest pre-christmas fan. I always forget to bake and decorate my house. This year I forget to arrange my Advent wreath. [KGVID]http://nutsandblueberries.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Rentiere.mp4[/KGVID] Reindeer … Weiterlesen

Low Carb No bake pistachio curd cake

As promised I’m happy to share this amazing pistachio cake with you. I developed the recipes for a campaign called #colorfulfood from sony. I shared the full content and recipes on their German Website and can’t be more proud. It was a lovely project with other named Blogger like Kraut-Kopf, Trickytine, Pinimarini and Backbube. It’s always … Weiterlesen

Blood orange upside down cake

Blood orange cake – I love you! What’s your absolutely favorite pastry? Muffins, fruit tart, cream cake? They are so many wonderful pastry recipes. My favorite is all served with fruits. I joined a campaign for a German organic label for Instagram. I need to create an artful recipe referring to an artwork. It was … Weiterlesen

Chai Spiced White Chocolate Cookies from Kati – blackwhitevivid

Ohh these cookies!

As you already know I love to be in contact with other Food Blogger from all over the world! I love to share the same passion, to talk about food, blogging, food photography and…. cats. Kati is one of the first food blogger I followed on Instagram. She inspired me with her wonderful food creations and we share our deeeeeepppp passion for cats. She is a traveller and loves to live on different places all over the world. And everywhere she stay she find some cats around her.

I’m so happy to share her Chai Spiced White Chocolate Cookies with you as well as an interview.

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1. What’s your name?

Hey, my name is Kati and I’m the author and creator of the blog and Instagram account black.white.vivid.

2. Where are you living?

I’m originally from Germany, born in Stralsund, a small town situated right at the Baltic Sea. However I do live abroad since many years. In the last few years I’ve lived in Hong Kong and Cairo among others. Currently I’m enjoying life in Istanbul where I moved to last year, together with my boyfriend and our two cats.

3. Can you tell me something about you?

Since I’m young I have been dreaming of living an international life. After I graduated from High School, I moved abroad and never looked back. I did my Bachelors and Masters degree in Marketing and Management in Holland, the UK and France. After that I came back to Germany where I worked at Amazon for two years before I moved to Hong Kong with my boyfriend. And this is where my culinary journey begins. I became vegan when I was living in Munch and during that time I was already taking care of my diet and myself. But when I moved abroad again, the combination of my healthy life style and new cultural as well as culinary influences brought my approach to food to the next level. That was 3 years ago and it lot has changed in terms of food since then. I’m not vegan anymore but I do believe in a balanced and healthy life. It took me quite a while to start my blog black.white.vivid. and at first I didn’t know that one day it would be so food and since lately travel-focused. Today I work as a part-time e-commerce consultant from home for a German company and part-time blogger and photographer.

4. Wheat means healthy living for you?

For me, a healthy life is a balanced life. I disapprove of strict diets and food trends. I also think that not everyone needs to meditate or do yoga. Crochet can be equally relaxing and a good steak once in a while does wonders to some people. When it comes to sleep however, I’m very consequent. If I don’t feel well or have skin issues I usually have lots of water and go to bed very early. Sleep has real healing power. Of course, healthy living also means to live a conscious life. It’s still important to pay attention to you diet. If you add 10 tablespoons of sugar to your coffee every day, that’s probably not going to improve your well being in the long tern. But a sweet treat once in a while is perfectly fine. Apart from that, greens and fruits but also high-quality grains are very important for me.

5. What is your favorite meal?

At first I thought this question would be difficult to answer. But then I more or less immediately had an idea: Buddha Bowl. Just a short explanation in case. – A Buddha bowl is a bowl filled with raw, cooked and roasted ingredients. As a base you add a grain, I personally like quinoa. Then, throw in some fresh salad leaves, roasted pumpkin or bakes sweet potato. Hummus and avocado is an essential part of my Buddha bowl. I just love that you can easily create your bowl with flavors from different countries. Just add spicy Mexican beans, Asian spiced tofu or sweet cinnamon carrot from Morocco. There are now rules, really. Just be creative.

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5.0 from 1 reviews
Chai Spiced White Chocolate Cookies
 
Prep time
Total time
 
Author:
Recipe type: treats
Ingredients
  • ½ cup / 100 grams coconut oil, soft
  • ½ cup / 115 grams coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
  • 4 tbsp aquafaba
  • ¾ tsp baking powder
  • pinch of salt
  • 1¾ cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp chai spice
  • 4-6 pieces of vegan white chocolate
Instructions
  1. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, pinch of salt and chai spice
  2. In a separat bowl mix sugar and aquafaba until smooth, then add the coconut oil and whisk for about 2 min
  3. Add the flour mixture tot he sugar mixture and then stir until well combined
  4. Preheat to 180°C / 350° F
  5. Line baking sheet with parchement paper
  6. Using a tea spoon, scoob about 1-1.5 spoons worth of cookie dough and form a ball in your hands, flaten it and place it on baking sheet
  7. Cut chocolate into small pieces, devide it between al cookies, springle it on top and gently press it into the cookie dough
  8. Bake for 10-12 min but don’t overbake
  9. Let it cool before serving

 

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Almond vanilla balls and my experiences in food photography

As you know I’m sharing my food photography pictures on Instagram as well as on my blog. Some people ask me why I’m sharing my pictures on Instagram as well. The main reason is to improve my food photography skills. To learn from others and to share my experience and to get experiences back from other food photographer.

Social media is a good place to interchange.

To be honest. Working as a food blogger in your free time means to focus on your favourite tasks. Otherwise you can burn yourself out really fast. Food blogging is such a big field where you can work hours and hours to get more follower and traffic on your page. Everybody need to find his real passion in this niche. Mine is taking pictures. Not getting more and more follower.

I like to share a little bit of my food photography journey as well as my recipe today. I won’t go into the details. This is only an idea how my journey has been.

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Food photography

Food photography is a big part of my life and I’m always really thankful to find time for it. I’m only taking pictures when I’m sure I have no other obligations during the day to focus myself completely. It’s a kind of creativity and silence for me. Something where I can stop thinking.

Some of you follow me since I started my blog or my Instagram account 1,5 years ago. As you can see in my pictures my results getting better and better. To be honest. I invested a lot of time and patience to learn how to take good pictures. Why? Because I love taking pictures. I love to look at stunning food photography and I love to realize I can do it as well.

Example 1: Turmeric cashew smoothie with lemon

One of my very first pictures was my turmeric cashew smoothie with lemon.

Kurkuma Cashew Smoothie NEU I

As you can see this picture isn’t really clear. Ist blurred.
It is overexposed and the props are really simple. But when I shot it I was so proud of it. Haha.

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I took this shot a few days ago with my new skills. My new lense and I edited it in Lightroom. This picture has a nice  depth of Focus and the probs are so lovely. It isn’t too loud. As you can see it looks much more professional in total. But it takes 1 year to learn how to shot it.

Inspirations

First of all I got a lot of inspirations from other cook book authors, bloggers and Instagramer. I always have a look and think about which kind of food photography I prefer. I read a lot. I bought books to learn how to start. I could tell you in detail how I improve my skills. But it’s so much better to have a book on hand and learn it step by step.

My German recommendations for good books: Food-Fotografie: Leckere Bildrezepte für Einsteiger and  Food-Fotografie – Essen perfekt in Szene setzen (Digital fotografieren)

Natural light & Props

I started using natural light early because I read it everywhere! Natural light is one of the most important things to follow in taking good food pictures. I didn’t use man props like napkins, towels or different cutlery in the beginning. My first pictures were really simple. But I was really proud of every single one because I took it. LOL. Later I discovered my pictures looking better and better when I use some props.

Example 2: A simple smoothie in a small jar

Look at the difference between these two smoothie pictures. I didn’t used probs in the first one. It looks so lonely and not inviting. Sad smoothie.

Kakao Amaranth Smoothie I

In contrast you feel the athmosphere when you look as this simple banana almond smoothie. I try to avoid too many colors but I added some green in the backround and red from the figs to create a nice view. It fits perfect to the wood I used in that picture. Wooden boards are always a good idea.

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Camera Equipment

I started with a good DSLR camera. Maybe this was the reason I had so much fun when I began. You can easily take pictures with your mobile phone as well but trust me the results with a good camera is so important to improve your skills. And when you decide to take pictures in the future and to invest time to learn it, the camera invest is appropriate.
I use a Nikon DS5200 with a 50mm f/1.8D Lens .

Editing program

In the beginning I used a freeware program to edit my picture. It is from google and the name is picassa. You have the possibility to start editing your pictures without buying an expensive program like Lightroom. You can play around and try out how you can edit your picture to make it looks better. One year later I spend all my money and bought an Apple IMAC with Lightroom. I use it 2 month now and it is the best I ever bought. My results are so much better! I’m also really happy to use Dearnas Food Fotography Guides to learn how to take good pictures and how to edit them in Lightroom.

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My journey isn’t at the end

I’m sure I can learn so much more about this amazing creative hobby. I’m so happy I discovered my passion of food photography because it’s a place I can turn myself off.
I love to share this recipe today because I’m proud of one of my absolutely first action shots. I watched a guide from Dearnas Food Fotography Guides how to take this kind of pictures. And these balls are really delicious, easy to prepare and healthy. My plan was to make almond butter with peeled almonds. But is don’t works. So I decided to convert the paste into balls.

So let’s go!

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Almond vanilla balls
 
Author:
Recipe type: Treats
Ingredients
  • 100g almonds (1 cup)
  • 100g desiccated coconut
  • 400g medjool dates (2 cups)
  • 3 tbsp coconut oil
  • 2 tbsp ground vanilla
  • 4 tbsp raw cacao powder
Instructions
  1. Mix up all ingredients (except the cacao powder) in a food processor.
  2. Form the paste into balls.
  3. Sprinkle the balls with cacao powder or icing sugar.
  4. Enjoy!

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FAVORITES OF THE WEEK

Marta, a mum, is sharing this easy and healthy Little Polenta Bowl with onions

One of my favorite Bloggers, Sara, creates a Basic recipe for overnight oats and chia seeds!

I just discovered this cute shirt, perfect for cat lovers: Cat Lovers – meaningfulpaws 

YOU COULD BE INTERESTED IN THESE POSTS AS WELL

You like to try out a healthy Version of snickers? Here it is: Healthy Hemp Snickers

Everybody loves chocolate! Try out this Nutritious Choclate Mousse

My new disvovery – coconut yoghurt, used in a 2-minutes breakfast bowl

 

Healthy Hemp Snickers

I don’t spend so much time in the kitchen as I do in the last year. I started my blog round about one year ago and my Instagram 8 months ago. I couldn’t imagine that this would be such a big part in my life. To thank you all for your great support I will run a winning game after my vacation. Can’t wait to share it :o)). Without your support I wouldn’t be here now. I learned so much in the last year about healthy food, work-life-balance and to listen to myself.

It is so important to make things you really love and to avoid too much stress in your life. We need to listen and be honest to our self. Decide what is good for us and what not. The society requirement are so high. Nobody can withstand that permanently. Think about your own possibilities. It’s your life, you are the creator. Remember that!

Maybe these snickers are a good start to make a break ;)?

Hemp seeds healthy benefits

Lots of you asked me for these snickers I made often in the last week. I developed my own version with lots of hemp seeds to add healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Hemp seeds have a mild and nutty flavor. Hemp seeds are also a big protein source, as more than 25% of their total are from high-quality protein. You find also Vitamin E for a perfect skin in these little seeds. If you don’t want to use hemp seeds you can also add more oats. These bars are the best snack before you start a sport workout or get new energy after a half working day. Lots of protein and they make you full for longer! One bar is enough for a few hours.

For these snickers you need a base, a caramel and a chocolate layer. All made from healthy natural ingredients and organic sweetener.

I used peanuts to impart a crunch. Peanuts harmonize perfect with chocolate. The chocolate I made is from coconut oil and raw cacao. In the past I often drank sweetened Cacao. I don’t know if they is a lot of unhealthy sugar in these drinks. In the last months I discovered raw cacao powder you can use instead of the other. In combination with natural sweetener like dates or rice syrup it taste amazing sweet and delicious. I often prepare a drinking cacao in this way.

You need to store them in the freezer. Best time to enjoy is to take them out 15 minutes before serving.

RECIPE
HEMP SNICKERS

For a baking dish of 20x30cm
Serve 8-10 Snickers

Base
100g Hanfsamen
100g Cashew Nuts
100g Oats
50g Almonds
100g desiccated coconut
100ml rice syrup
2 tbsp coconut oil
½ tsp salt

Date Caramel
300g dates
1 tsp vanilla powder
1 tbsp coconut oil
2 tbsp cashew butter (or Peanut Butter)
½ tsp salt
Water
100g peanuts, unsalted (for the topping)

Chocolate Layer
75g raw cacao
100ml coconut oil
50ml rice syrup

Preparation

Base

  1. Crash the Almonds, Cashew Nuts and Oats in a blender
  2. Add desiccated coconut, rice syrup, coconut oil and salt
  3. Press the mixture in a 20x30cm baking dish or form and store in the freezer

Date Caramel

  1. Mix all ingredients (except the peanuts) in a blender until it get creamy
  2. Add water if necessary
  3. Spread the Caramel on the base
  4. Sprinkle with Peanuts
  5. Store in the freezer

Hemp Snickers (2)

Chocolate Layer

  1. Stir the coconut oil with the raw cacao and rice syrup
  2. Sprinkle over the snicker base and store in the freezer for minimum of 2 hours before serving.

Best time to enjoy is to take them out 15 minutes before serving.

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Hemp protein bars

Healthy snacks for extra power during the day are one of the best things I enjoy every day. I prepared some healthy sweets on the weekend, stock them in the fridge for round about one week. Depends on how hungry I am. This hemp protein bars are full packed with lots of protein which is perfect before starting a yoga or fitness session. You find a great nut and seed combination in these bars. For example pumpkin seeds. Pumpkin seeds are a rich source of zinc. Zinc is important to your body, for cell growth and division, sleep, mood, your senses of taste and smell, eye and skin health. I use coconut oil instead of butter because coconut oil is a real and natural superfood which includes lot of healthy fatty acids and vitamin e. Vitamin e is THE vitamin for a good skin. LOVE LOVE LOVE vitamin e – YEAH!

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Hemp protein bars

makes 15 bars

50g hemp seed
100g ground coconut
150g pumpkin seed

80ml coconut oil (3 tbsp)
20 dates
40g raw cacao
50g rolled oats
2 tbsp poppy seeds
50g chia seeds

You need a tray or baking sheet (30x 20cm). Line it with baking paper.

Grind the hemp seed, grated coconut and pumpkin seed coarsely.

Mix the dates and cacao with the coconut oil and add the ground ingredients and rolled oats, poppy seeds and chia seeds. Knead with your hand until it is a sticky mixture.

Press the mixture on the baking sheet and chill in the fridge until you cut it into 15 bars. You can store the bars up to one week in the fridge.

Walnut muffins with caramelized walnuts

There are a lot of reasons to eat more nuts during the day. For me it is an important ingretient for my muesli, smoothies, cookies, salads and other meals. You can ground them or use them complete for whatever you want. Nuts and especially walnuts are full packed with many healthy benefits, for example plant-based Omega-3 fatty acids which are anti-inflammatory. It is so easy to add nuts within the day.

I love beking Muffins for the whole week and take them with me to work to have a healthy snack on hand. This recipe can be make vegan or with yogurth and honey if you like.

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Walnut Muffins with caramelized walnuts

makes 12

4 ripe bananas
10 Dates
4 tbsp coconut oil
4 tbsp applesauce or yoghurt
200g rolled oats
200g spelt flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsb salt
100g walnuts

Topping
1tsp agave syrup or raw honey
1tsbp walnuts, chopped

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Mash the bananas with a fork and ground the rolled oats finely.
Add all ingredients together and mix carefully. Than chop the walnuts and add them to the mixture.

For the toppig dizzle the agave syrup or honey over a few chopped walnuts.

Use a Muffin tray and oil them with a bit coconut oil. Fill in the Muffin mixture and top with dizzeled walnuts.
Bake for 200min until the Muffins get golden. Enjoy!

Walnut maca powersnacks

These beauties are one of my absolutely favorite self made sweets. I love the light maca flavour and the easy preparation.

There are only a few healthy ingredients in this powerful snacks. Walnuts, maca, hemp seeds, dates, goji berries and a pinch of salt to enhance the flavour.
I got this great idea from Sarah Brittons cookbook mynewroots. Sarah is such an excellent nutritionist. You need definitively to check out her book!

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Walnut maca powersnacks

for 9 quarters (4cm x 4cm)

185g walnuts
20g maca powder (I use organicburst)
30g hemp seed
375g date, round about 18
10-15 goji berries
1/2 tsp salt

Grind the walnuts middle sized and set the half walnuts one side.
Chop the Dates roughly and add them together with the maca powder and hemp seed to the grinded walnuts.

Add the other half of the walnuts and the salt at the end and kneat the mixture with your hands.

Press the mixture on a sheet and take care that the high is round about 1-1,5cm.
Cool in the fridge for minimum of 3 hours until you cut it in quarter to enjoy!
For a good texture store them in the fridge.