My 3 healthy “fast food” RECIPES

Hey there!

I made a poll on my Instagram a few days ago on what to post on my blog. Most of you wanted to see a food and cooking related post. So, I thought a little bit and came up with an idea to write about how to make some typical foods that are considered more as a “fast food” into healthier versions. I’ll share how I like to make these dishes adding recipes for you to try them out as well. Other cooking and food related post, what I’ve done you can find from here. So here are my 3 versions of healthy “fast foods“.

#1 SWEET POTATO FRIES

I actually just like a half a year ago discovered sweet potato and my instant reaction was – WHY the hell I hadn’t tried it before? This is so freaking delicious and also nutritious. I had always heard people using it in their dishes, but had never cooked it myself.

Some benefits of sweet potato:
From this epic potato you’ll get huge amount of vitamin A! One sweet potato contains over double of your vitamin A daily recommended amount. Also vitamin C, potassium, fiber and PROTEIN. They contain way more vitamins than ordinary white potatoes. They are slower to digest and therefore make you feel fuller. The amount of fiber in the potato helps to lower cholesterol levels.

CRISPY delicious actually SWEET potato fries recipe

Ingredients
1-2 sweet potatoes (depending on how big they are)
Cinnamon
Pepper of your choice (I used lemon pepper)
Coconut oil

Instructions

1. Peel the potatoes and slice them in the shape of fries. I used a regular knife for that. It takes some time, but if you have a vegetable cutter or something, you could use that as well.
2. Wash the sliced potatoes and put them in a bigger bowl.
3. Add two or three tablespoons of coconut oil, some pepper and cinnamon. Mix the fries so all of them will be covered with oil and seasoning.
4. Heat the oven up to 220 degrees.
5. Put the fries on an oven plate. You should lay them on the oven plate so the fries aren’t “touching” each other. This way they’ll be extra crispy.
6. Cook them around 40-45 minutes in the oven until they are golden and crispy!

First time I made these fries, I also made some dip sauce out of 10% sour cream, fresh garlic and pepper. So it felt like a true “cheat meal”. You can serve the fries with fresh salad, dip or why not even a homemade burger.

#2 SIMPLE TORTILLA PIZZA

The healthier version of pizza is also quite a popular food. I’ve tried several versions of it for about 4 years I guess, since I started to eat healthier. I’ve done the pizza with whole grain tortillas. The toppings can vary on what you like the most, but I always try to add more veggies, some kind of meat or ham and some lighter cheese.

Why to choose whole grain products?
– whole grain products are less processed and therefore they maintain their healthy qualities
– they help to control your blood sugar and cholesterol levels and stabilize your brain function
– contain good protein and lots of B group vitamins
– contain magnesium, vitamin E, iron, phosphorus, zinc and manganese
– they are extra RICH in fiber
– it’s good to choose from whole grain bread, flakes, flour, pasta

Whole grain tortilla pizza

Ingredients
1 whole grain tortilla
Tomato sauce (2-3 tablespoons)
Chicken fillet, chicken ham or minced meat (or other kind of meat of your choice)
Half a paprika
1 (or a half of) onion
2-3 garlic pieces
3 mushrooms
Mozzarella cheese (or some other lighter cheese)
Rucola & seasonings
Cherry tomatoes
The ingredients may vary depending on your preferences. You can easily use other vegetables. If you want a vegetarian choice then don’t use meat and replace it with more cheese or why not even add some avocado.

Instructions

1. Spread the tomato sauce on top of the tortilla.
2. Slice the ingredients and put them on top of the tortilla. If you use chicken or minced meat you should fry it on the pan before putting on the pizza.
3. Season the pizza with pepper, salt, oregano or some other seasoning.
4. Heat the oven up to 180 degrees and put the pizza in the oven.
5. Bake it for 10-12 minutes and then add grated cheese on top (and cherry tomatoes if you want)
6. Bake it for another 2-3 minutes and serve it with rucola.

#3 HOMEMADE GRANOLA/MUESLI

Granola is not considered as a fast food. But, if you think this way – what can you have in the morning, which is FAST and easy, granola or flakes may be the way to go. If you get them from the store, they are most definitely full of sugar. I like to make granola myself. It doesn’t take much effort, but it’s certainly way cheaper and more nutritious. Also you get a larger amount and you can store it easily.

Ingredients
300g of wholegrain oats
200g of nut mix (ideally a mix of almonds, hazelnuts, cashews, peanuts, walnuts etc)
100g of honey
150g of seed mix (hemp, pumpkin, chia, linseeds, sunflower seeds)
100g of dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, apricots, bananas)
(Optional) 100g of dark chocolate
50g of natural peanut butter

Instructions

1. Take the oven pan and pour the oats, nut mix and seed mix on the pan.
2. Melt the chocolate and honey in a pot or in the microwave. Stir the mix up and add the peanut butter too.
3. Pour the liquid mass over the granola ingredients, add cinnamon (lots of it!) and mix them all together.
4. Heat the oven up to 150 degrees.
5. Put the granola in the oven and stir it in every 10 minutes.
6. Keep the granola in the oven for 50-60 minutes. Don’t let the oats burn!
7. Pour the granola in a bowl and mix the dried fruit.
8. Store the granola in an airproof jar.

NOTE: don’t put the dried fruit on the oven, because they will get hard. You can make the granola without chocolate and peanut butter. You can easily replace some ingredients and use also coconut flakes or grated coconut or other kinds of nuts.

You’ll get 1kg of granola from this recipe. 1 typical portion for breakfast (for me personally) is about 50g and it is approximately 250 calories. I recommend to serve it with some unsweetened yogurt, quark cream or protein pudding. Plus I always add some berries, banana or some other fruit on top.

I sincerely hope you liked the post and you got some ideas from here. You could try out one of these recipes and please-please share you result with me here or on my Instagram. I would be so grateful if you tell how it turned out and whether you liked it 🖤

Also, I would appreciate if you have some kind of “healthier fast food” recipe that you can share with me as well.

Sincerely,
Melissa 🖤

References:
1. Soots, A. (2018). Tervis toidust: teadliku ja tasakaalustatud toitumise alused. Annely Sootsi koolitus. Tartu: Greif.
1. Food Revolution:
https://foodrevolution.org/blog/sweet-potato-health-benefits/