Missing Ash

I’ve gone a WHOLE week without my boyfriend 😦 he’s still over in Thailand, having an absolute blast, but I miss him terribly! Thank goodness we have facebook and Tango/Skype; our brief moments of communication are keeping me sane 🙂

I have noticed though that it’s a lot easier to get things organised and done when my w/es aren’t devoted to spending time with my boyfriend – I feel on top of all my work and I got so much extra stuff done today!! I got all my groceries done and all my food was cooked by 3pm (not bad considering I went to gym + ran a bunch of errands including vacuuming and dusting beforehand). BAM, out of that kitchen!! I love getting all my cooking out of the way at the start of the week, I hate busy/cluttered/messy kitchens and, unfortunately, sharing a communal kitchen makes that very difficult to avoid. So I like to spend as little time in there as possible, and at times of the day when hardly anybody else is in there 🙂 I’m not antisocial, I just want to get the job done ASAP!

Here’s my quote for this week:

I really lack confidence when it comes to my medical degree (amongst other things) and when I’m in the hospital I really need to push myself to speak up, ask questions, and not be afraid of making a fool of myself. I was proud of myself last week because for the first time ever I went up to a consultant after a lecture and asked him some questions (in fact, the lecture was on chronic renal failure and one of the questions I asked him was whether protein can increase the risk of kidney damage, and he said no – YAY!) and it wasn’t as scary as I had thought it would be! So I need to try to apply that mindset to everything I do, and as soon as I overcome my fear and step outside of my comfort zone – and survive – I can instantly feel my self esteem and self confidence go up a notch :).

 

Food for this week:

 

Meal 1/Breakfast:

My pancakes 🙂 I bought some lemons this week so I’m going to put a little squeeze of juice on top before I eat them – delicious!!

 

Meal 2/4:

Ok so these are called Peanut Butter Layered Coconut and Vanilla Whey Protein Cakes, from the amazing site http://www.proteinpow.com/. As you can see I didn’t layer them or add peanut butter (I find it impossible to keep peanut butter nearby, I eat it way too quickly…) but they were so yummy and soft just by themselves!

3/4 cup egg whites

1/4 cup whey

2 tbsp coconut flour (can sub with ground almonds + oat flour)

4 tbsp coconut flour (can sub with oat flour, which is what I did)

3/4 cup quark (or cottage cheese, which is what I used)

1/8 cup coconut flakes

1/2 cup coconut milk – I used almond milk instead and it still tastes delicious!

1/4 cup oats

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1. Blend all ingredients

2. Bake in the oven at 160 degrees for about 30-35 minutes – this was if they’r mini-cake size. I cooked mine as muffins (12) and they only took about 15-20 minutes! Just keep an eye on them and take them out when the knife comes out clean

3. On the website, Anna cuts the mini-cakes up and puts peanut butter in the cakes, just to make them a little more special 🙂

 

I also cooked my Chocolate and Coconut Protein Bars (see earlier post) – I can’t get enough of these! So soft and delicious… I highly recommend them!

 

Meal 3/Lunch:

Yummmm this is such an amazing lasagne!! I just used the recipe posted earlier (zucchini lasagne) but instead of turkey, I used…. KANGAROO!!!! Yum yum yum, so delicious and so healthy, I’m looking forward to lunch tomorrow 😀 (PS it tastes a lot better than it looks hah)

 

Meal 5/Dinner:

Chicken Taco

I have posted this recipe before as well but I’m going to retype it:

Serves 4

500g chicken breast/ground chicken

1/2 medium onion – chopped

1/2 capsicum – sliced

1 Tbsp chilli powder

1 tsp garlic powder (or minced garlic)

1 Tbsp ground cumin

1/2 cup water

Iceberg lettuce

1 tomato – chopped

8 Tbsp salsa

1. Brown chicken over medium heat

2. Add onion and capsicum and cook until soft

3. Add spices, and water

4. Serve with lettuce, tomato & salsa

This recipe differs the tinsiest bit from the other version because this time I’m skipping the tortillas and instead I’m going to wrap the tacos in iceberg lettuce leaves 🙂 I love doing this because it makes it taste extra fresh and yummy, as well as being lower in carbs! Good for a meal later in the day.

 

Meal 6/Dessert:

Chocolate Protein Mousse!! Super dooper easy – I just bought chocolate mousse sachets (the Weight Watchers brand) and added a scoop of chocolate protein powder! It takes longer than an hour to set, but it is sooo delicious and feels really naughty 🙂 I added some almonds as well, just because I like the added crunch.

 

Also, I have been looking for this everywhere and finally found it – liquid egg whites!! And not the frozen kind!! I was very excited because I actually didn’t have any egg whites that were already defrosted so it meant I didn’t have to wait before starting to bake!! I also found this sugar free mocha (using Natvia!) which will be perfect for cravings in the coming Winter (there was also hot chocolate, both are delicious!).

I hope everyone has a wonderful week and steps outside of their comfort zone!! It may mean trying a strange food (like spaghetti squash, I’m DYING to try it, but I can’t find it anywhere!), adding an extra couple of kilos to the leg press, or even talking to that guy that you’ve had a crush on – DO IT and you’ll feel so much better about yourself 🙂

Meanwhile I’m hanging out for this Thursday, when my boyfriend gets back to Oz and I’m going to surprise him at the airport 😀 YAY!!! This week is going to be a good one, I can feel it!

First Week

In order to ensure I stick to clean eating, as well as give me more time during the week, I’m going to try cooking in bulk at the start of the week, preferably Sundays. I tried this for the first time yesterday and so here’s my menu for the week:

 

Meal 1/Pre-workout:

Banana & Almond Cake

Serves 16

2 cups oat flour

3x 30g scoops vanilla whey protein powder

1/2 cup Stevia baking formula (or 12 scoops of concentrated Stevia)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

3 bananas – mashed

1& 1/2 tsp almond extract

1/3 cup egg whites

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (or any other milk of choice)

Topping:

1/4 cup raw almonds, chopped

NOTE: if you use concentrated Stevia you may way to add 2 Tbsp of ground flax in order to thicken up the batter a bit, otherwise the blueberries may sink to the bottom.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Spray an 8×11″ rectangular pan with cooking spray. Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, and in a smaller bowl mash the banana well, add other wet ingredients, and mix well. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until combined. Pour batter into the pan, then sprinkle with the chopped almonds.

Bake for 25 minutes until it turns brown around the edges and a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool, then cut into squares.

Nutritional info: per 1/16 slices

Calories: 115

Total fat: 4.1g

Total carbs: 10.7g

Sugar: 4.4g

Protein: 9.9g

 

Meal 2/Breakfast:

Scrambled Egg Whites

Serves 1

1/2 cup egg whites

1/4 cup cooked brown rice

1/4 cup mushroom

Handful of spinach

Paprika

Pepper

Parsley

Rosemary

Mix all ingredients and cook! Sometimes I make this an omelette (add low-fat cheese) or just scramble it.

 

Blueberry Pancake

Serves 1

1/2 cup egg whites

1/2 cup oats (blended into a flour)

1 tsp vanilla essence

Cinnamon

1/3 cup blueberries (I used frozen)

1 tsp chia seed

Mix all ingredients (gently fold in blueberries) and slap into a frying pan. May want to add sweetener, or top with a blueberry sauce (blueberries blended with almond milk/greek yoghurt). To make it taste a bit less eggy, add 1/2 tsp of baking powder.

Nutritional info:

Calories: 275

Total fat: 5.1g

Total carbs: 35.4g

Sugar: 6.9g

Protein: 19.3g

 

Meal 3/Lunch:

Chicken Taco

Serves 4

500g chicken breast/ground chicken

4 large tortillas (I used wholegrain)

1/2 medium onion – chopped

1/2 capsicum – sliced

1 Tbsp chilli powder

1 tsp garlic powder (or minced garlic)

1 Tbsp ground cumin

1/2 cup water

2 cups+ shredded lettuce

1 tomato – chopped

8 Tbsp salsa

Brown chicken over medium heat. Add onion and capsicum and cook until soft. Add spices, and water. Serve with lettuce, tomato & salsa.

I took these to class and left out the lettuce, tomato and salsa because it wouldn’t have tasted fresh enough. Instead I sliced the tortilla into 4 and had mini-tacos.

Nutritional info: per 1/4 serves

Calories: 116

Total fat: 1.3g

Total carbs: 5.8g

Sugar: 2.6g

Protein: 20.6g

 

Jamie Eason’s Meatloaf Muffins

Serves 18

1kg minced turkey

1/3 cup egg whites

1 cup quick cooking oats (sometime I leave the oats out or put in 1/2 a cup)

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp dried thyme

2 tsp dry yellow mustard

2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp dried sage

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp minced garlic

1/4 cup chopped celery

1/4 cup mushroom

1/4 cup chopped onion

Preheat oven to 200 degrees and spray a muffin pan with oil. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Roll into balls (1/4 cup each) and place in muffin tray. Bake for 40 minutes.

Nutritional info: per 1 serves (2/18 meatloaf muffins)

Calories: 173g

Total fat: 10.4g

Total carbs: 0g

Sugar: 0.6g

Protein: 19.9g

 

Meal 4:

Blueberry Muffin

Serves 12

1 & 1/2 cups oat flour

3x 30g scoops of vanilla whey protein powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup Stevia baking formula (or 12 packets of concentrated Stevia)

Pinch of sea salt

1/3 cup egg whites

2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

3/4 cup blueberries (again I used frozen)

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. In a large bowl mix together all the dry ingredients. Add in the wet ingredients (except the blueberries) and mix well. Lastly, fold in the blueberries. Spray a muffin pan with oil, and fill each 3/4 full with the batter. Bake for 12-13 minutes or until just firm on top and a toothpick comes out clean. Careful not to over-bake!

To make them taste fresh out of the oven again, microwave each muffin for 15-20 seconds.

 

Meal 5/Dinner:

Turkey Chili

Serves 4

500g ground turkey

1 onion – chopped

4 tsp minced garlic

4 tsp tomato paste

2-4 whole tomatoes – diced

1 cup of 3 bean mix (drained can)

Chili powder

Curry powder

Sea salt

Black pepper

Basil

Thyme

Dash of Worcestershire sauce

Combine meat, garlic and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl, then brown the mixture in a frying pan at medium heat until the meat is almost fully cooked. Drain fat from the pan, then put in the tomato, tomato paste, and spices. Cook until is thoroughly cooked.

 

Psyllium Crepe

Serves 1

5g psyllium husk powder

55g liquid egg whites

NOTE: I like to add a little bit of flax seed, and possibly some herbs and spices, depending on what I’m eating it with.

Mix, cooking in a pan (like a pancake) then top with whatever! Recently I like it with chopped turkey meatloaf muffins and salsa/salad.

Nutritional info:

Calories: 87

Total fat: 0.3g

Total carbs: 1.5g

Sugar: 1.5g

Protein: 13.3g

 

Meal 6/Dessert:

Quick Chocolate Pudding

Serves 1

1/3 cup egg whites

3 tbsp sweetener

2 tbs cocoa

Combine well, then microwave for approximately 1 min 20 sec.

 

Chocolate Melting Cake

Serves 1

1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder

1/3 cup almond milk

1 heaped tbsp cocoa

1 serve of Stevia

Blend then microwave for 60-80 seconds, and eat immediately.

 

Sooo yeah that’s basically my plan for the week!! Plus a protein shake as my post-workout meal (I don’t include it in my 6 daily meals).

I’ve worked out all the macros for the recipes and everything is low carb, low sugar, high protein, and delicious!!

I got the blueberry muffins, banana and almond cake, and chicken tacos from www.busybuthealthy.com, and the turkey chili from www.fitfoodieshealthylife.com – I often modify these recipes according to what I have to cook with.

Hope this all lasts me through the week 🙂