superfitbabe

I could not resist holding back my current foodie favorites from the blog! My highs have changed and there are so many new awesome things that I’ve been a fanatic about nowadays. Some of these things might actually bring some new kind of content on my social media and blogging platforms, so read on if you want to know what they are and what they could possibly bring! Lastly, don’t forget to check out my first foodie obsessions post if you’ve never read it before!

MUKBANGS

If you don’t know what a mukbang is, it is a type of eating show that originated from and is wildly popular in Korea! Basically, someone records themselves eating a large, tasty meal on camera and chat with their viewers at the same time in a mukbang. When these mukbangs became a lot more widespread internationally, people were basically wondering why the heck these mukbangs were so popular and how the hosts of these mukbangs are being paid tons of money to publish them (as seen in “YouTubers React to Mukbang [Eating Shows]”).I personally don’t watch a lot of the original Korean mukbangs just because I’m more interested in the health-oriented episodes, but I actually find them super entertaining! Think about it: you’re in a fairly personal setting with your favorite YouTuber and instead of watching their “What I Eat in a Day” videos where they show you about ten seconds of their food, you actually get the feeling that you’re sitting down with them while they’re eating, and you can see how much they eat of their food too.

I personally have been thinking about doing one myself because it looks so dang fun to just talk with other people online…with food, of course! I think if I do decide to do a mukbang, it would be a great way for me to finally get my face back on camera and update you guys on EVERYTHING–my plans for the future, my diet, my fitness, my goals, and pretty much anything that you guys would want me to open up about!

CAULIFLOWER-BASED CURRY

I’ve always loved curry with a burning passion, but I just cannot get enough of my current cauliflower curry recipe! The reason why is because it is way too easy, super creamy, lactose free, satiating, flavorful and packed with more vitamins and minerals than any other curry could possibly contain from the cauliflower base! So far, I have shown only one variation of my cauliflower curry but I have so many plans for different variations of curries that I generally enjoy at Indian or Thai restaurants. I’ve also been wanting to try replicating Japanese curry because I fell in love with it the first time I tried it at this ramen place in Sherman Oaks. It tasted like eggplant bharta, and you know how I feel about eggplant bharta!👅

Anyhow, if you haven’t tried my cauliflower curry recipe already, you definitely should because you will be as obsessed as I am! You can serve the curry with pretty much anything as well. I personally like to keep my dishes completely plant-based because the recipe itself is vegan, the majority of the time it being TVP, vegetables and some kind of root vegetable.

JAPANESE EGGPLANTS

While it’s a bit rarer to find eggplant nowadays since spring is reaching its end, I just cannot get enough of Japanese eggplants! They are basically longer, mini versions of their large and fat counterparts, and are much more common in Eastern cuisines than in Western. I have yet to make more recipes with the, but as of now I’ve been devouring them at any Asian restaurant I can possibly find them at. I do have to say that they taste incredible with spicy hummus, a little miso dressing or fresh tomato sauce!

STYLING FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY WITH FLOWERS AND ROSE PETALS

Rose petals and mini purple flowers have seriously been taking over my feed, and it’s because I absolutely love the aesthetic they give to my food photography! The flowers and petals just add a really beautiful, romantic essence to the overall scheme of my Instagram feed. Depending on my mood, I may or may not use flowers for all of my shots since the whole “wow” factor in the petals may die if I use them too frequently. However, they are beautiful and it’s so easy to just use ripe rose petals that fell on the ground in my backyard and adding some flare to my food! I do end up eating the mini purple flowers because they are way too hard to take out of my meals, but ohhhhhhhh well. #atleasttheyareorganic

ZUCCHINI NOODLES/”ZOODLES”

You know that I love zucchini noodles, but as of now I LOVE zucchini noodles, if you know what I mean! 😉 Anyways, they are such a huge dinner staple in my home and are so versatile as well. Heck, you don’t even have to COOK the zoodles! As you can see in my third photo, I kept the noodles pretty raw underneath the green cauliflower curry sauce, and they actually didn’t taste bad at all!

I prefer the zoodles a bit softer, so I will stick with eating them cooked for the majority of the time, but raw or cooked, you should definitely incorporate zoodles into your diet if you haven’t already! Purchase a few zucchinis at your local grocery store, get a vegetable peeler or spiralizer and prepare to be hooked! Note that it is a lot better than actually using a knife to manually cut every single little noodle, which I ended up having to do one night when the teeth of my vegetable peeler was missing. The noodles ended up perfectly fine but the process was AWFUL, AWFUL, AWFUL, and did I mention awful?

BAKED SALMON

Ever since perfecting how I bake my salmon, now I find myself wanting nothing but salmon if my mother makes a salad or roasts up some vegetables for a side! Through my gradual transition stages towards hopefully a completely plant-based diet, I’m wanting to make the switch to pescetarianism. I find that I crave seafood a lot more than poultry and obviously red meat, plus seafood does contain more nutrients than other types of meats. So far, salmon is in my list of top three favorite fishes because it’s buttery, tender, high in omega-3s, protein and is so flexible towards any type of cuisine. There are so many recipes that I would love to make with it!

VIETNAMESE TOFU SOUP

When I got sick last month, I turned to these soups like I wouldn’t live the next day (luckily, I did every time). Anyways, whenever I do visit our go-to Vietnamese restaurant, I always ask for a vegan soup with no noodles and extra vegetables for more antioxidants without the refined carbs. I don’t know what it is about Vietnamese soup, but the broth is so. Freaking. Hecka. Delicious. The broth is not too salty, but it’s rich and savory in every bite. The tofu and vegetables just complement the soup like no other as well, so you can’t really go wrong with putting anything in there.

The only pitfall to having tofu soup is that because I don’t really know what the chefs put in it, I can only assume that the broths and condiments they use are loaded with salts and sodium, hence why I wake up with a puffy chipmunk face the next morning. However, the sodium bloat is totally worth it with these bad boys. These soups are so tasty that I just might dig into them in the middle of July!

RAW DESSERTS

Raise your hand if you hate baking. Note that I’m not actually raising my hand because I LOVE baking, but sometimes I’m just not in the mood to use an oven, nor am I in the mood to wait to eat delicious brownie or cake batter AFTER it cooks because I’d get salmonella. Lately that explains why I’ve been on such a raw desserts kick because they taste delicious, don’t require the microwave or oven AND are safely edible in the mixing bowl!

• Earth Angel Pantry Review

My last YouTube video was a chocolate peanut butter truffles recipe, but I’ve also really been loving the selection box of Earth Angel Pantry desserts! In the beginning of May, I was exploring my local farmer’s market and stumbled upon the Earth Angel Pantry vendor where the lovely Mel introduced me to the whole philosophy behind Earth Angel Pantry, which is pretty much cultivating health and optimal nutrition through a very creative and enjoyable vehicle: desserts! The majority of these treats are vegan and gluten free, but there are plenty of Paleo and vegetarian options. Also, taste is never, ever sacrificed in the making. I absolutely love this mantra because it’s so true–health and nutrition is never boring and should always be experienced through abundance.

I couldn’t wait to browse the stunning collection of pantry treats being sold!  There were oatmeal cookies, pumpkin and chia seed crackers, granola, vegan toffee and more, but my eyes were REALLY set on the peanut logs and salted tahini cups. Because I was a first customer, I decided to settle on the selection box that held a raw peanut butter cup, peanut log, hemp protein ball and salted tahini cup, which was absolutely perfect because I love variety!

Below I have listed each individual review of the treats so it’s a lot easier to read, but in short, I loved them all in their own way!

• Peanut butter cup: SUPER tasty, even better than an overly sugary Reese’s peanut butter cup! Well, I’ll say that it doesn’t taste like your average store-bought peanut butter cup, but let me tell you that this is still pretty darn delicious. The date crust is sweet and chewy while the dark chocolate coating and peanut butter filling are crisp and rich. It broke apart a little easily, which was perfect for me to spread on my sweet potato kabocha puddings and other creations. And if my main food was hot, the chocolate would oooooooooze on top and melt so decadently. YUM.
• Peanut log: While it doesn’t look like much, the flavors in this peanut log are so powerful! It’s sweet, peanut-buttery, soft, chewy and super doughy, basically anything that would describe soft peanut toffee. This has to be my favorite of the entire bunch since it was the most unique dessert, and it was the easiest to use for topping because I could simply cut it in little cubes and sprinkle on top.
• Salted tahini cup: I loved the combination of the sweet n’ slightly salty tahini with the soft dates capping the tahini filling! It was pretty hard to use as a topping for my other creations because the chocolate covering was very hard and difficult to cut open, so I ended up eating it on its own.
• Hemp protein ball: The ball was incredibly easy to slice and chop into pieces so I could garnish my breakfasts with, which I absolutely adored! The taste itself was pretty sweet, chewy and sticky from the dates while the hemp protein was a little too flavorless for my liking. I don’t dislike the hemp ball, but it’s something I won’t get on its own. I enjoy its versatility, but by itself, it’s nothing that special unlike the peanut log.

Overall

I will definitely be coming back for more from Earth Angel Pantry! While its products are a little bit on the pricier side (the box was $12, making each tiny treat $3), this is a very nice investment that I will turn back to every once in a while for sure. I will definitely get the peanut logs and peanut butter cups again, and maybe the tahini cups if I ever feel like it. There are also a lot of really nice treats that look delicious as well, so I might look into trying some new goodies in the future!

Los Angeles site: http://www.earthangelpantry.com/

Australia site: http://www.earthangelpantry.com.au/

MACA POWDER

For THE longest time, and I mean THE longest time–I’m talking two years of walking past the superfoods/supplement aisles of Whole Foods and Sprouts longingly–I have been so intrigued by maca powder. Nutritionists and other health gurus praise maca powder as the fairy dust of the superfoods because it is highly energizing, de-stressing and nourishing. It’s loaded with vitamin C, copper, iron, fiber, protein, magnesium, calcium (bonus points for vegans), B vitamins, phosphorus and essential amino acids.

The taste itself was not necessarily as caramely as these health gurus claimed to be, but I wasn’t entirely disappointed. Maca powder has a very acquired, somewhat sweet but bitter taste that definitely takes some getting used to. As I started to treat it more as a garnish rather than something like acai powder, cinnamon or cacao powder that you can have much more of, then I began to enjoy it much more. You have to be pretty meticulous about the dosages if you want to try it.

I’ll admit that for the first time trying it, I kind of OD-ed it and took in two, maybe even three, teaspoons in a single day. I found that on the day I took over a tablespoon of maca, my head was all over the place and I was always worried about one thing after the other. Anyways, I’ve found that 1/4 of a teaspoon a day is absolutely perfect for me, and one or one and a half teaspoons if adding it in something like sweet potato kabocha pudding is much more suitable. I feel like I have plenty of energy and motivation to tackle on the tasks I have that day. It’s amazing!

SWEET POTATO CEREAL

One spontaneous May morning, I decided to turn back to an oldie goodie because 1) I didn’t have kabocha, and 2) we were out of frozen fruit and acai packs, and 3) I was way too lazy to make oatmeal or pancakes. Ever since I got back on the sweet potato cereal wagon, I don’t know when I’ll be getting off. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve found super addictive cereals as of now or if I finally found the best Asian supermarket nearby my go-to Vietnamese restaurant, but sweet potato cereal now tastes so much better than before, and let me tell you that it was one of my favorite recipes the time I created my first bowl! Since then, I’ve been adoooooooring putting all kinds of shazams in my bowl: muesli, fruit, all kinds of new cereal, peanut butter, almond butter, granola, chia seeds, hemp seeds, maca powder, cinnamon, pretty much anything that would complement cereal, of course!

And as for what I pour into my cereal after I take photos, I’ve actually been loving it more dry, but sometimes if I want my cereal a little softer, I do pour in little increments of unsweetened coconut milk or almond milk. I actually decided to be a total nutcase one time and try water instead of almond milk. It wasn’t bad at all, to be frank, probably because the maca and cinnamon sweetened everything, but I’d take the safe route and use something creamier.

Well, this may have been an exhausting post, but I hope that you made it this far and enjoyed at least a few of my current foodie favorites and can relate to some of them too! Please be sure to comment below if you think I should do a mukbang on my YouTube channel, what I should talk about if you guys want me to do one, and also comment below what your latest foodie obsessions are because I would love to learn from you and explore them too!

Would you want to see me do a mukbang on my YouTube channel? What are your current foodie obsessions?