Oncology

Sorry the latest post has been delayed, I’ve been busy with assessments and starting a new rotation in oncology. The last couple of weeks have been a bit up and down for me – I don’t handle stress very well because I’m not very good at acknowledging and accepting the fact that I need to try to relax a bit. Even when I watch tv I have to play sudoku or browse facebook at the same time… the only time I really feel like I have ‘me’ time is at the gym – music pumping, sweat dripping and muscles burning – I love it!!

Motivation: Ana Delia De Iturrondo is absolutely gorgeous and I love how toned she is!!

Food for this week –

Meal 1/Breakfast:

Pancakes! This is a photo of my peanut butter and maple syrup w/e treat 🙂

Meal 2:

The base of this recipe I got from proteinpow.com (the Kristen Apple, Vanilla and Popcorn Protein Cake) but I changed it just a touch 😛 here’s my recipe (I call them Choc Goji muffins – not too creative :P):

Serves 7

1/2 cup vanilla whey

1/2 cup egg whites

1/4 cup cottage cheese

1/4 cup coconut flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp vanilla essence

4 tsp sugar free strawberry drinking mix

Handful of dark chocolate chips

Handful of dried goji berries

1. Mix all ingredients together

2. Pour into muffin tray

3. Bake at 160 degrees for about 20 minutes or until cooked

I think these are pretty yummy though the texture is a little bit funny, possible due to the use of coconut flour. I love the goji and chocolate mix though! Full of antioxidants (however I think I went a little bit overboard on the choc chips… I’m a chocoholic)

Meal 3/Lunch:

Quiche recipe from http://www.mckennagordon.com/blog/my-favorite-healthy-quiche-recipe (I altered it slightly by subbing and adding veggies). Here’s what I did:

4 cups fresh spinach

1&1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 large red onion – diced

1/4 tsp salt

1&1/2 cups mushrooms – chopped

1/2 sweet potato – diced

1 red capsicum – diced

1/4 carrot – diced

7 large eggs (I used about 1 cup of liquid egg whites instead)

3/4 cup low fat fetta cheese (I used skim cottage cheese instead)

2 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp black pepper

1. Cook spinach and a couple of tbsp water in a frying pan over medium heat until spinach is just wilted – put aside on paper towel

2. Cook ingredients with olive oil in frying pan in the following order (don’t add next ingredient until the previous ingredient is properly cooked). Stir occasionally while cooking:

– Onion and salt (until starts to become translucent)

– Mushrooms (until lightly browned)

– Potato, red capsicum and carrot

3. Cover and cook until the potato begins to tender; stir every couple of minutes

4. Meanwhile, whisk eggs, spinach, cheese, oregano and pepper

5. (Here’s where I did it differently again) Instead of putting the egg in the frying pan and cooking it a bit like an omelette, I poured everything in a baking pan and baked it at 180 degrees for about 25 minutes (I think…) or until cooked

Meal 4:

Coconut and Chocolate Protein Bars

Meal 5/Dinner:

Healthy Chicken Souvlaki from thegraciouspantry.com

700g chicken breast – diced

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp lemon zest

3 cloves garlic

1/2 tbsp salt

1 tsp red chilli flakes

1 tbsp dried mint

1 tbsp dried oregano

1. In a small bowl whisk together all ingredients (except chicken) and then pour over chicken to allow to marinade for at least 30 minutes (even better if you’re organised enough to let it marinade overnight)

2. When ready to cook, heat over medium-high heat until no longer pink in the middle

Yummy! This is really nice in a psyllium crepe with spinach and greek yoghurt 🙂

The photo above isn’t my chicken souvlaki but I had leftover turkey meatloaf muffin in a psyllium crepe with spinach, salsa and Greek yoghurt the other day and it was so yummy and looked so good so I had to take a photo 😛

Meal 6:

Ok so I know this looks like all of my other desserts but it IS different!! And it’s my new favourite! 🙂

Super Dooper Mousse

30g skim cottage cheese

1/2 weightwatchers chocolate mousse sachet (10g)

1 tsp unsweetened cocoa

Dash of almond milk

1. Mix it all together and enjoy! This is so yummy and creamy and delicious!! The cottage cheese that you use might affect how it tastes though (the texture might be a bit funny?) – I use Tempo continental skim milk cottage cheese and I absolutely love it.

I was so excited to find these in the supermarket – $2 cheaper than the ‘adult’ sugar free hot chocolate yet exactly the same!! There is also banana flavour which I have yet to try. These are great to stop cravings/add to protein shakes/add to cooking (I’m still experimenting), and I’ve just discovered that when I add the strawberry flavour to Greek yoghurt it tastes quite a bit like strawberry icecream… 😀 YAY!!!

Hope everyone is having a good week… only one week left until 3 weeks of winter break and I am SO hanging out for it!!! Counting down the days 🙂 x