1. Boil your pumpkin until it is tender (about 15 to 20 minutes) and your pasta until it´s al dente.

2. Chop your onion and your mushrooms.

3. Sauté your onion in oil until translucent, then add your mushrooms and cook for about 5 minutes.

3. Cut up your sun-dried tomatoes.

4. Drain your pasta, drain and blend your pumpkin.

5. Add your pasta to the pan with the mushrooms, pour in your pureed pumpkin and add your sun-dried tomatoes. Stir until everything is evenly coated in your pumpkin sauce, let simmer for a bit. Season with salt and pepper

6. Roast your pine nuts until slightly browned.

7. Plate your pasta, top with fresh arugula and the pine nuts.

If you try this recipe please let me know if you liked it and tag me in your pictures on Instagram or Twitter (@solske) :)

Even though this summer warm days have been devastatingly sparse and short, in general there is nothing I love as much as a delicious fresh salads in the warmer months. Over the last few weeks these three salads have been an absolute staple in my kitchen and I had at least one of them every week. All of them combine amazing flavours,  are super refreshing and ready in 10 minutes or less. On the off chance that we have a couple of actual summer days in front of us here are my three favourite summer salads:

Noodle Salad with Peanut Dressing

For the salad:

100 grams of rice noodles

1/2 red pepper

1 carrot

1/4 cucumber

1/2 head of romaine lettuce

1 handful of peanuts

cilantro

For the dressing:

2 tbsp. peanut butter

1 tbsp. soy sauce

1 tbsp. honey

1/2 lime

1 garlic clove

1 chunk of ginger

Preparation:

1. Prepare the rice noodles by soaking them in hot water.

2. Cut your pepper, lettuce and cucumber, grate the carrot, ginger and garlic.

3. Combine all dressing ingredients. If desired add more water for your preferred consistency.

4. Combine all of the veggies and the noodles and then pour over your dressing.

5. Garnish with peanuts and fresh cilantro.

Fruity summer salad

For the salad:

1-2 big handfuls of mixed greens

1 nectarine

1 handful of blueberries

1/4 avocado 

30 grams of feta cheese

1 handful of walnuts

For the dressing:

3 tbsp. balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp. mustard

Preparation:

1. Layer a bowl with your mixed greens.

2. Cut the avocado and the nectarine into chunks or slices. You could also grill your nectarine for extra flavour.

3. Add the avocado, nectarine and blueberries to the mixed greens, crumble your feta on top.

4. Combine your dressing ingredients and pour over your salad.

Watermelon Feta Salad

Ingredients:

3 large tomatoes

1/4 of a watermelon

1/4 of a red onion

30 grams of feta

1 handful of fresh basil

balsamic glaze

Preparation:

1. Cut the watermelon, tomatoes and onion into chunks.

2. Cut up your basil and mix with your veggies and fruits.

3. Crumble your feta on top and drizzle with balsamic glaze.

I absolute love watching "What I Eat in a Day" Vlogs on Youtube. I enjoy them both, because I am an absolute foodie (an also a little bit of a fattie) and I love watching aesthetically pleasing presentations of food. I also really enjoy these videos for some inspiration for new recipes and ways to switch up my diet. So this is my attempt at an What I Eat post including recipes. These are some of my absolute Go to recipes that I can whip up in minutes. If you enjoy these type of posts maybe I could actually try to film how I make these foods or do these type of posts more regularly. Let me know in the comments!

For now this is quite a typical day for me. I went to a morning boxing class in my gym that day, which was absolutely exhausting, but also absolutely amazing! I felt quite lazy with my food after this so all of these recipes (if you want them call it that) are really, really simple. What are your go to foods, when you are feeling lazy?

Breakfast: Green Smoothie

I am an absolute breakfast lover, but I realised that if I am not going out for a late brunch with friends  in the early morning I am not that hungry and that even if I eat quite a big breakfast I get hungry agan very quickly and am starving by 12 the latest. So now I opt for smoothies instead of forcing myself to have a huge breakfast. This one is one of my favourites. I also had a cup of coffee plus half a liter of lemon water before I went to my morning gym class.

Ingredients

1 banana

1/4 pineapple

1 big handful of spinach

2 tbsp. of chia seeds

Fresh mint

Half a cup of water

Lunch: Simple Daal

I will literally have the ingredients for this recipe at home even if I have just been on a two week holiday. You can use a can of diced tomatoes and a can of coconut milk instead of veggie broth if you have these at hand, which will make the recipe even better, but it´s almost as good in this basic version. I love this with Mango Chutney and Naan, but it also works great with rice and raita. The amazing thing is that it´s an incredibly easy dish you can just adjust to whatever you have at home.

Ingredients

1/2 red onion

1 clove of garlic

Fresh ginger

1-2 cups of red lentils

3 potatoes

1 big handful of spinach

2 tbsp. tomato paste

Veggie broth

Paprika

Coriander

Curry

Cumin

Salt & Pepper

Coconut Oil

Preparation

1. Chop your onions and potatoes, mince your garlic and your ginger.

2. Fry the onions, the garlic, the ginger, the tomato and all spices in coconut oil until they become fragrant.

3. Add your potatoes, your lentils and cover well with veggie broth. Let simmer for 20 minutes.

4. Right before the end add your spinach and enjoy!

Snack: Vanilla Soy Yogurt with fruit

I usually need a little pick me up during the afternoon and this really helps with a sweet tooth. The combination of vanilla yogurt with fresh berries and nectarines is my absolute favourite and is perfect for summer.

Dinner: Veggies with herbed curd cheese

This is literally the definition of a lazy dinner for me. I am an absolute potato head and curd cheese with herbs (which I think is quite German) is the food I missed the absolute most when I am abroad. Yes I know I am weird. I love it with potatoes, cucumber, carrots, peppers... I will put it on almost anything. If I feel really lazy in the evening I will just cook potatoes, cut up some fresh veggies add curd cheese (or your dip of choice) and call it a day.

Wenn man Essen so sehr liebt wie ich ist der Wechsel von Mamas prall gefülltem Kühlschrank zu der Low Budge-Studentenküche nicht gerade einfach. Ich könnte blitzschnell hunderte von Euro im Monat für Essen ausgeben, aber ohne einen festen Job ist das leider nicht die beste Idee. Gott sei Dank gibt es viele superleckere Rezepte, die kein allzu großes Loch in euer Budget reißen. Eines davon ist dieses indische Curry, das es bei mir in der letzten Woche gab. Dank Kartoffeln und Reis hält es lange satt und ist gerade bei Herbsttemperaturen perfekt.

Being the foody that I am transitioning from my mom´s well stocked kitchen to my low budget student kitchen is not necessarily easy. I could easily spend hundreds of Euros on food per month, but without a steady income that is not really the best idea. Luckily there are a lot of delicious dishes you can make even on a budget. One of them is this amazing Indian Curry I made last week, a perfect comfort food, that will keep you warm in the cold months and your tummy very happy.

Italienischer Sommer-Salat

Zutaten:

1 EL Balsamico Essig

1-2 EL Getrocknete Tomaten in Öl

4-5 Mini Mozarella

4-5 Cherry Tomaten

1/4 rote Zwiebel

1 Hand voll Basilikum-Blätter

Rucola Salat

Pinienkerne

Zubereitung:

1. Den Balsamico Essig auf den Boden des Glases kippen.

2. Die getrockneten Tomaten klein schneiden, sie sind eure erste Schicht.

3. Die Mini-Mozarellas viertel und als nächste Schicht ins Glas geben.

4. Cherry Tomaten und Zwiebel würfeln, Basilikum hacken und alles mischen. Diese Mischung ist Schicht Nummer drei.

5. Den Rest des Glases mit Rucola Salat auffüllen.

6. Pinienkerne rösten und ganz oben auf geben.

Hähnchen Wassermelone-Salat

Zutaten:

1 EL Balsamico Essig

1 EL Oliven Öl

1/2 Hähnchenbrust

1/8 Wassermelone

1 Hand voll Minzblätter

Feta

1/4 Gurke

Salat

Zubereitung:

1. Balsamico Essig, Oliven Öl, Salz und Pfeffer mischen. Ihr kennt das Spiel: Dressing am Boden.

2. Die Hähnchenbrust mit Salz, Pfeffer und Paprikapulver anbraten, abkühlen lassen und würfeln. Schicht Nummer eins.

3. Die Wassermelone würfeln, Minze klein hacken, und beides mischen. Das ganze ab ins Glas.

4. Die Gurke klein schneiden und auf die Wassermelone geben.

5. Den Feta würfeln, Schicht Nummer vier.

6. Den Rest des Glases mit Salat füllen.

Ingredients

2 cups of Couscous

4 cups of water

Vegetable broth

1/2 red onion

Fresh parsley

2-3 tbsp Tomato puree

2-3 tbsp Ajvar (turkish spicy tomato paste)

Vegetables of choice (I like carrots, peppers, tomatoes, olives and cucumbers)

Spices (Salt, Pepper, Cumin, Paprika, Coriander)

I have just devoured one of these beauties after my cardio session at the gym and I had another one yesterday after sunbathing and if I still had watermelon in my house I would probably have another right now, tomorrow and for every single day until I die. These watermelon smoothies are super quick, taste amazing and are so, so refreshing and hydrating. Now that warmer days are finally here (even in England who would have thought?!) the combination of fresh watermelon, crisp mint and frozen raspberries is just the absolute best.

I have made these smoothies for some of my friends and they all loved it and this mixture is also great as a base for a cocktail. Just add some wodka, which you will not even taste and you have yourself an awesome summer drink. 

Just like most of my recipes this is also easy peasy: all you have to do is blend about a quarter water melon, a hand of fresh mint leaves and a hand full of frozen raspberries and you are good to go. As always if you recreate this, please tag your creations #loveyourbodybetter on Instagram and Twitter and let me know if you like this as much as I do. The colour of this is just gorgeous so it´s definitely insta material!

It´s the weekend guys so how about we treat ourself to some delicious pancakes? And how about these pancakes are fluffy, made up of only two ingredients, absolutely guilt free and so so delicious? Sounds too good to be true? But it isn´t. These pancakes are one of my absolute favourite breakfasts, when I have a little more time on my hands or want to make something special to treat myself. I have yet to meet someone who doesn´t like them and I hope you enjoy them as well. Don´t forget to use the hashtag #loveyourbodybetter if you make them and let me see and feature your photos. Hope you have an amazing weekend!

With this breakfast it´s easy to start your day with a smile, it´s already in the ingredients. All you need for the dough is two eggs and one banana. That´s enough for one person and if you want to make more just make sure you use double the amount of eggs as you use bananas.

1. Mash up your banana with a fork, crack in your eggs and mix until you get to a thick, dough-like consistency.

2. Use a good non-stick pan, put in a little oil of your choice (I like to use coconut oil for a little more flavour) and slowly cook your pancakes on low heat. You really, really need to be patient here or you might end up with pancake scramble (which will still taste good, but may not look as tasty). Keep your heat very low, maybe add in a little more oil if you need to and rather wait a little longer than to flip too early.

3. Serve with whatever floats your boat. I love it with fresh or frozen berries and a drizzle of honey. Cinnamon tastes great with it and if you add a little cocoa powder or chocolate chips into your dough you get chocolate pancakes!

Wether you have a girls night planned, are ready to spend the night on the sofa with your love or you just need something to bring to a party that is not yet another bag of chips, these dips may just be perfect for you. Instead of store bought Guacamole or Salsa, these dips have only a hand full of ingredients, no additives, sugar or any other bad stuff.

I absolutely love mexican food and have it at least once a week. Both of the recipes are very quick, vegan and easy and I hope you enjoy these!

As always if you make one of the dips please, please take a picture and use the hashtag #loveyourbodybetter on Instagram and Twitter, so I can look at what you have made and feature you in my roundup post.

This salad will give your body everything it needs from complex carbs (sweet potato), to lean protein (corn, beans and if you eat meat chicken), healthy fats (avocado) and vitamins (salad tomatoe and cucumber), while being one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten. It will keep you full for hours without making you feel heavy or bloated.

We will use homemade Salsa and Guacamole without any added oil, Greek yogurt instead of Sour Cream and chicken instead of minced meat. This will safe you a lot of saturated fats and also a lot of the added salt traditional Tex Mex food can have so this might be a healthier alternative if you love mexican food as much as I do. I used a fajita spice mix, which is definitely not clean or unprocessed, but I just really like the taste and I never seem to get the seasoning right myself. I just generally believe that if you are eating healthy most of the time  then eating something unhealthy when you feel like it will not kill you. It´s all about balance!

The recipe for my salsa and the guacamole will go up in a few days, but it was just too much to fit it all in one post.

Obviously I am not a nutritionist or doctor, just a girl who likes to cook and follows things she has learned about healthy eating which are definitely not always scientific facts.

If you make this salad please, please take a picture and use the hashtag #loveyourbodybetter on Instagram or Twitter, because I plan on doing a round up post at the end of every month and would love to include your creations. Also if you would like any special kind of recipes or posts in this series, please let me know in the comments! And now let´s finally get cooking:

Ingredients:

1 sweet potato

1/2 red onion

1 tbsp fajita spice

1 chicken breast

3 tbsp of sweet corn

3 tbsp of kidney beans

1 gem lettuce

1 tbsp of Greek yogurt

1 tbsp of Salsa

1 tbsp of Guacamole

Spices: salt, pepper, paprika, cumin

1. Cut your sweet potato into thin slices, a bit like chips. This will make the cooking process a lot quicker and the end result will be nice and crispy.

2. Spread the chips on a baking sheet, sprinkle with olive oil, salt, paprika and cumin and then pop them in the oven at 200 °C. They will need about 20 minutes, which gives you enough time for everything else.

3. Chop your onion and your chicken breast into little cubes.

4. Coat the chicken with fajita spice and a little olive oil and then fry in a pan on medium heat until the chicken is a little brown.

5. Add the onions, the corn and your beans and add salt and pepper. Let this cook on low heat until the chicken is done.

6. Chop up your gem lettuce and cucumber.

7. Layer the baked sweet potato chips, the lettuce, the cucumber and then your chicken-corn-beans mixture.

8. Top with your own homemade salsa and guacamole (my recipes will be up this week!) or a store bought alternative, a tablespoon of greek yogurt and a sprinkle of coriander and dig in!

With the cold season in full swing and most of us only feeling hot due to high fever, january is the perfect time for delicious hot soups to soothe both your throat and your soul. I am currently sniffling and coughing and wallowing in self pity, but this delicious Ginger Sweet Potatoe Soup made me feel a lot better and has also been roomie approved so here is the easy peasy recipe:

Ingredients:

- 2 large sweet potatoes

- 3 carrots

- 2 garlic cloves

- half an onion

- a generous piece of ginger

- coconut oil (you can also use other oil, but the coconut gives the soup a very nice twist)

- vegetable broth

- salt, pepper, curry

- fresh coriander (or cilantro whichever side of the pond you´re from)

How to make it:

1. Chop the onion, the garlic and the ginger into small pieces.

2. Cut the sweet potatoes and the carrots into cubes.

3. Sauté the onion, garlic and ginger in coconut oil.

4. Add the chunks of sweet potato and carrots and fry them lightly.

5. Pour a about half a liter of water over the vegetables and add the broth.

6. Let the whole thing boil for about 20 minutes. Feel sorry for yourself as now you do not only have a cold but also have to wait for your food.

7. Use a hand blender to get the soup to a nice mushy consistency and add salt, pepper and loads of curry.

8. Sprinkle with fresh coriander leaves and enjoy!

If you do not feel better after this soup I will personally come and make you tea*

*if you are in Brighton and reachable by bus