Merry Christmas and a Happy 2013!!

I hope you are all spending plenty of time with loved ones, and not stressing too much about being strict on your diet!!! A little treat here and there (especially for the sake of celebrating) won’t ruin progress :). However, aim for moderation (something I’m not very good at when it comes to sugary foods) and keep that determination to get back training and eating clean as soon as possible.

 

 

Motivation for the new year – can’t go past my fav!! Jenna Webb haha

 

In order to resist some of the yummy treats laying around our house at the moment, I’ve whipped up a couple of healthy alternatives and yummm they really hit the spot!!

 

Sugar-free Pavlova – inspired by www.ultimateperformancesupplements.com/banana-and-mango-pavlova/

For those of you who have never tried a pavlova (I’m looking at those non-Aussies out there) you MUST!! This is so delicious and is one of my favourite desserts. And this version tastes JUST like the real sugary one!! I’m so excited haha

Serves 6

4 eggs

15g Stevia (the powder version, not liquid)

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Topping:

100g Greek yoghurt

1 scoop vanilla whey powder

Stevia to taste

Add whatever topping you want! I sliced up two kiwi fruits and grated some dark chocolate on top

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees fan forced

Line a flat oven tray with some baking paper and lightly grease with coconut oil

Separate the egg whites from the yolks and beat until soft peaks form, then add the Stevia and cream of tartar slowly while still beating – the mixture should become glossy and retain it’s shape when lifted with a spoon.

Scoop the egg whites onto the tray and fashion into a circular shape with a spatula, retaining as much height as possible. Work quickly!

Put in the oven for 45 mins (do NOT open the door to check progress because your pavlova will flop)

Once cooked, open the oven door a little bit and turn off the heat. Leave to dry out for a further 30 minutes to an hour

Just before serving, put together the topping by mixing the yoghurt, vanilla powder and Stevia (your amounts may differ from mine, because I just threw everything in and then tasted and added more of ingredients until it tasted perfect)

Top the pav with the yoghurt mixture, then throw whatever you want on top! Other yummy combinations would be banana and chocolate, strawberry and chocolate, banana and mango, just dark chocolate etc etc

Nutritional info: per 1/6 serves, with kiwi fruit and a little grated choc

Calories: 61.2

Total fat: 0.7g

Total carbs: 5.8g

Sugar: 3.5g

Protein: 8.4

 

Healthy Snickers Slice from www.tasty-health.se (mine didn’t turn out quite as pretty though haha see second picture)

Warning – these are addictive

Serves 12 (2 squares)

Bottom layer:

About 10 dates (100g)

1 cup almonds

1/2 scoop chocolate whey protein powder

2 tsp unsweetened cocoa

Filling:

150g natural peanut butter

2 scoops vanilla whey protein powder

3 serves Stevia

30g salted peanuts – coarsely chopped

About 1 cup water

Toppping:

60g dark chocolate

Grind the almond in a food processor until you have a flour with some larger almond chucks in it

Add the dates, choc protein powder and cocoa, and process until you get a fine pulp – if you are unable to shape the mixture, add more dates (ok so for me this was where the original recipe failed me… I added a heap more dates and still the mixture refused to stick together. I think next time I might add some water or milk… maybe try this and let me know how it goes!)

Press the almond mixture into the bottom of a foil-lined pan – I used a couple of tupperware containers

Mix the peanut butter, vanilla protein, Stevia and peanuts, then add a little water at a time and mix to a paste with the consistency of peanut butter (although I found it better to make the liquid more runny because it went further)

Spread the peanut batter over the bottom layer, then put in the freezer

Melt the chocolate in a bowl in the microwave and spread over the peanut filling

Set in the fridge/freezer until the chocolate is set

Cut into 24  squares and store in the fridge/freezer

Nutritional info: per 1/12 serves (2/24 squares)

Calories: 194

Total fat: 9.3g (only 2.2g saturated fat)

Total carbs: 12.4g

Sugar: 9.0g

Protein: 10.6g

 

Have a wonderful time bringing in the new year everyone!!! If you’re ever waiting for a time to make changes and set goals, now’s the time to do it!!! xx

Do Not Take Anything For Granted

There are few things I want to talk about in this blog post, both reminding me on how grateful I am to be surrounded by my loved ones and to be so healthy…

Firstly, the horrific shooting in Connecticut. All of those innocent lives taken way before their time… there is not a single person that has not been deeply horrified and sickened by this awful event and my heart goes out to those that lost a loved one on the 14th of December 2012. I feel so blessed to have my family, my boyfriend, my friends, and cannot imagine how awful it would be to have any of them taken from me, especially in such a stupid, pointless way. Too many angels headed to heaven that day. RIP

Secondly, I accompanied my boyfriend and his family to visit a friend in hospital this weekend – their friend had been in a big motorbike accident and his family had asked all of his friends to come together at this one time to give him strength and support. When we were there we discovered that he is now a quadriplegic and has been told he will  never walk again… and he has given up all hope. This man had been one of the most outgoing, courageous and active guys and it’s terrible to hear that he has thrown in the towel. He refused to see any visitors that day, but it was heartwarming to see so many people gathering together, wearing his favourite colour blue, and writing down words to hopefully inspire and motivate hope. I am so lucky that I have my health, that I live so comfortably and have no limitations. I am so grateful for everything I have.

Please take the time to reflect on everything that you have – even though you may stress about things, and may have pressures or debts etc, think about all that you can be grateful for, because without a doubt there is someone in the world who would give anything to have what you may take for granted.

These things have made me more motivated to take care of myself.

 

Here are some new recipes:

 

Jamie Oliver’s Chicken Salad (my version….) – this looks to basic, but it’s really yummy!!

Serves 2

1/2 head of broccoli

2x 120g chicken breast

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1 cup cooked quinoa

1 spring onion

1/4 bunch fresh mint

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1&1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tbsp sunflower seeds

2 tbsp no fat Greek yoghurt

1/2 lemon

Cook the broccoli in boiling salted water for 4 minutes (covered)

Coat the chicken with salt, pepper and ground coriander, then bash to flatten to ~1.5cm thick

Grill chicken until golden brown and cooked through

With tongs, remove broccoli from water when finished, then put on a grill until nicely charred

Trim and finely slice the spring onions and the mint, then toss in a bowl with the oil and vinegar, and season to taste

Grill the sunflower seeds

Throw it all together on the plate and serve with a dollop of Greek yoghurt and lemon wedges

Nutritional info: per 1/2 serves

Calories: 394.2

Total fat: 13.1g

Total carbs: 30.2g

Sugar: 4.1g

Protein: 40.4g

 

Clean Chocolate Icecream

Serves 2

100g low fat cottage cheese

1 tbsp cocoa

1&1/2 scoop choc protein powder (whey/casein)

2 serves Stevia

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 tbsp natural peanut butter (or 2, if you love your PB!)

2 tbsp dessicated coconut

Splash of almond milk

Blend everything together until smooth, then freeze for 1&1/2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes

Nutritional info: per 1/2 serves

Calories: 330

Total fat: 20.4g (all good fats!!)

Total carbs: 7.6g

Sugar: 4.3g

Protein: 29.4g!!

 

Baked Peanut Butter Chocolate Protein Bars from http://www.littlebshealthyhabits.com – I was craving peanut butter and wanted to have it in a baked protein bar but all of the recipes I could find were unbaked! These were a great mix of chocolate and PB, but next time I’m going to add more PB so it really satisfies my cravings!!

Serves 12

1 cup out flour

4 egg whites

2 scoops protein powder

1/4 cup (or 12 serves) Stevia

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

3 tbsp unsweetened baking cocoa

113g unsweetened almond milk

1/4 cup all natural peanut butter (next time I think I’ll up this to 1/3 cup hehe)

4 tbsp non fat Greek yoghurt

Throw it all in a bowl and mix

Throw in a brownie pan and bake at 180 degrees for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean

Nutritional info: per 1/ serves

Calories: 109.6

Total fat: 4.6g

Total carbs: 7.0g

Sugar: 1.6g

Protein: 9.0g

 

I also wanted to do a shout out to slimkicker.com – it’s a free site that helps you track your meals, exercise etc, and – the best part – it helps keep you motivated by setting you challenges and reminding you to reward yourself when you reach them!! I think  it’s great :). They’ve got a mobile phone app as well (I have it on my iphone), so it’s quick and easy to log your info.

Be grateful 🙂 keep healthy xo

A Quiet Week

I didn’t get up to much at all this week, it was nice and quiet, just plodding around at home and keeping to myself!! For some strange reason I didn’t even feel like cooking… but I’ve still got a couple of yummy recipes for you 🙂

Motivation: having a gym buddy!! I love going to the gym with my boyfriend, we really push each other  because we know when each other is wimping out 😛 it’s a lot of fun – ‘the couple that train together, stay together’ haha

 

Protein Profiteroles (aka chocolate casein filled vanilla protein muffins) from www.proteinpow.com – I just bought a bunch of different proteins so I’m getting to play around with different textures and it’s great!! Pea protein and casein protein tend to cook so much better than whey… and these profiteroles are so yummy!!

Serves 10

1 cup egg whites

1/2 cup pea protein

3/8 cup vanilla casein protein

1/4 cup ground oats

1 tbsp psyllium husk

1 tbsp coconut flour

1 cup lite coconut milk

Filling – 25g chocolate casein (or vanilla casein + 1 tbsp cocoa + 3 serves Stevia) and water

Topping – 20g dark chocolate

Mix all of the main ingredients, then pour into a muffin tray and bake at 170 degrees for 30 mins +/- 5 mins

Let them cool, and then dig a hole in the middle of them (I just pierced the top with a skewer, then shoved my finger in and made some room in there)

Make the filling by gradually adding small amounts of water to the casein until the desired consistency is reached

Put the filling mixture into a ziplock bag and cut a SMALL corner off

Twist the bag and squeeze casein into the muffins

Melt the dark chocolate and spoon some over the top of the muffins

Nutritional info: per 1/10 muffins

Calories: 99.2

Total fat: 3.1g

Total carbs: 4.2g

Sugar: 1.0g

Protein: 12.1g

 

Low-Carb Mini-Mudcakes (aka low-carb dark chocolate whey protein cake), also from www.proteinpow.com – these are so good!! I love chocolate, and this tastes just like a rich dark mudcake *drool*

Serves 8

3/4 cup liquid egg whites

50g cocoa powder

1/2 cup vanilla whey

1 medium cooked beetroot (I used 100g of canned beetroot)

1/4 cup pea protein

1 tbsp vanilla essence

5 serves Stevia

1/4 cup lite coconut milk (or cream)

Blend everything together and pour into muffin tins

Bake at 170 degrees for 20 minutes or until, when stabbed, it comes out clean

YUM!

Nutritional info: per 1/8 mini-mudcakes

Calories: 75.4g

Total fat: 1.9g

Total carbs: 2.7g

Sugar: 1.3g

Protein: 10.5g

 

Here’s a healthy snack idea – grilled capsicum with avocado ‘dip’ (avocado with lemon juice, salt and pepper)

 

 

This is a new week – I’m going to get off my bum and keep myself busy this week; I always feel better if I’m active and on my feet. I hope you all have a great week!!!!