Tag Archives: slow cooker

Hot Hot Hot

8 Mar

It is sooooo hot in Australia right now!! Makes getting into the kitchen a bit less appealing haha. I’ve had a really good week in regards to staying on target with my eating, although I skipped leg day on Wednesday because I was so exhausted – my brain has been feeling really drained from being used so much. I’m going to make up my missed day on the weekend though!!

Motivation:

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My recipes are really piling up now so I need to start putting more into my posts!! Sorry if this is an overload :S

 

Roo Meatball Casserole – I think these are really yum!! My boyfriend refuses to eat kangaroo but I love it haha

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Serves 6

Meatballs:

500g kangaroo mince

1 clove garlic – minced

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp oregano

1/3 cup egg whites

1 cup oat flour

Casserole:

370g passata

2 tomatoes – diced

3 mushrooms – sliced

Handful of fresh basil

Tiny bit of low fat cheese

Make the meatballs first. Preheat oven to 180 degrees

Combine all of the meatball ingredients and mix well (I found it easier with my hands)

Roll mixture into small balls (I made about 20 but totally up to you) and place meatball on a baking tray (covered in baking paper)

Bake for 15-20 minutes, shake tray occasionally

Once cooked, remove meatballs from oven and place into a casserole dish

Pour over the passata, tomatoes, mushrooms, and basil, and gently stir through

Sprinkle some cheese over top, then put back in the oven to cook for 15 minutes

Nutritional info: per serve

Calories: 179.1

Total fat: 3.4g (1.0g sat)

Total carbs: 12.8g

Sugar: 4.0g

Protein: 22.2g

 

Low Carb Protein Pizza Base from proteinpow.com

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Serves 1-2

1 cup liquid egg whites

1/3 cup psyllium husks

1/2 cup pea protein powder

Herbs (rosemary, thyme, parsley)

Garlic salt and onion granules

Whisk all of the ingredients and you will get a sticky mixture

Dollop onto a hot hot hot nonstick frying pan and spread with a spoon to give it as flat a shape as possible

Once cooked on one side, flip it

Remove from the pan and place on a grill/baking tray

Top with whatever you want – I decided to break up some of my kangaroo meatballs and scatter them on top with a little bit of low fat cheese

Grill for 10-15 minutes (until cheese melts and sides are brown

NB to make it breadier (but higher carb) add oat flour

Nutritional info: per serve (just the base, without the toppings)

Calories: 192.7

Total fat: 0.5g

Total carbs: 10.4g (10.2g dietary fiber)

Sugar: 0g

Protein: 34.9g!!

 

Angel Food Cake from dessertswithbenefits.com

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Serves 8

3/4 cup oat flour

1/4 cup arrowroot starch

1&1/2 cup egg whites (fresh, not from a carton)

1&1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond flavour (I decided to sub this for lemon extract because I don’t like almond extract..)

1&1/2 cups Stevia (not the concentrated stuff!!)

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees

In a small bowl, mix oat flour and arrowroot

In a large bowl, add egg whites, cream of tartar, salt and extracts. Whisk until stiff peaks form (~5 minutes)

Slowly add the sweetener whilst continuing to whisk on a low speed

Slowly and gently fold in the oat flour and arrowroot mixture, one scoop at a time – be careful not to deflate the egg whites

Scoop the batter in a cake pan and flatten the surface with a spoon

Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the surface is golden brown and springs back when tapped

Cool the cake upside down so that the cake doesn’t deflate

Once cool, remove from the pan and serve! I chose to sprinkle with coconut milk flour 🙂

Nutritional info: per serve

Calories: 80.6

Total fat: 1.0g

Total carbs: 10.3g

Sugar: 0.3g

Protein: 6.1g

 

BBQ Chicken Bolognaise from No Cheating! Clean Recipes for Lean Bodies

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Serves 8

1kg chicken mince

2 large onions – diced

3 medium zucchini – diced

1 broccoli – finely chopped

Barbeque sauce:

3 tbsp reduced salt tomato paste

1 tbsp smoked paprika

1 tbsp wholegrain mustard

3 tbsp worcestershire sauce

3 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 cup passata

Salt and pepper to taste

Add diced vegetables to a hot, non stick pot and cook until beginning to sweat and soften

Add chicken to the vegetables and stir occasionally until cooked through

Combine the sauce ingredients together before pouring over the chicken and vegetables, then add water until there is just enough to cover the mixture and mix well

Continue to cook on a low heat on the stove for up to 3 hours, or until the chicken mixture has caramlised and lost most of its moisture. If using a slow cooker you can leave for up to 6 hours on the lowest setting

Nutritional info: per serve

Calories: 219.3

Total fat: 7.9g (2.3g sat)

Total carbs: 11.2g

Sugar: 6.8g

Protein: 27.3g

Sodium: 258.6mg

 

Omega-3 Protein Bread from chcolatechillimango.com – YUM!

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Serves 8 slices

2/3 cup quinoa flour (can substitute with basically any other flour)

2/3 cup ground flaxseed meal

2/3 cup pea protein (I used vanilla flavour because I don’t have plain..)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup egg whites

1/8 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/3 cup water

Preheat oven to 180 degrees

Grease a loaf tin lightly with olive oil spray/line with baking paper

Place the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl

Whisk together the egg whites, oil and water, then add to the dry mixture and mix until you get a sticky batter (may need to add a little extra water)

Pour the batter into the loaf tin

You can bake this freeform, but let the dough sit for 5 minutes before turning it out on the baking tray so that it will thicken up slightly

Bake for about 30 minutes until golden and rise

Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack before turning out of the tin

I chose to slice mine in big chunks, because I wanted to have ‘rolls’

Between two slices I had smoked salmon, avocado, and rocket 🙂 yum!!

Nutritional info: per slice

Calories: 151.5

Total fat: 7.9g (0.9g sat)

Total carbs: 9.2g

Sugar: 0.2g

Protein: 11.4g

 

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Hope you’re all having a great week, and for those in Australia, I hope you’re keeping cool!!! x

Down in the Dumps

11 Oct

What a week. My boyfriend’s wonderful Pa passed away last week and I have been feeling lower than low.. definitely need some time to get my head straight and pull myself back together.

RIP Pa, your charm and cheeky smile live on in your beautiful grandson, whom I love with all my heart.

My eating has been shocking but this stops tomorrow. I have decided. Right now. I’m going to have put a marble in this jar for each day that I eat well and when there are 20 marbles in there I’m going to treat myself to a massage 🙂 fingers crossed this works!

 

 

Motivation: Courtney Prather

 

 

I only have one new recipe to share this week – Slow Cooked Thai Green Chicken Curry from moneysavingmeals.com.au/

Serves 8 (I decided to divide it into 8 but the actual recipe was 12 serves)

1kg chicken breast – chopped

1 large carrot – washed and sliced

1 red capsicum – sliced

1 large zucchini – sliced

1 cup button mushroom – sliced

2-3 chilies – seeded and thinly sliced

1/3 cup Thai green curry paste

2x 400mL lite coconut milk

1&1/2 cup snow peas – top and tailed

1 cup frozen baby peas

1/3 cup raw cashews

Throw everything in the slow cooker except the snow peas, peas and cashews.

Cook on low for 7 hours (or on medium for 4 hours)

Add the remaining ingredients in the final half hour OR once finished, add just before dividing into 8 serves to put in the freezer (which is what I did)

Nutritional info: per 1/8 serves

Calories: 244

Total fat: 10.6g

Total carbs: 6.1g

Sugar: 2.4g

Protein: 27.5g

 

An easy last minute meal that I decided to have the other night (because I hadn’t defrosted anything…) consisted of bought roast chicken, Greek yoghurt, walnuts, mixed lettuce rolled up in a rye+oat+linseed wrap – YUM!

 

 

Oh and look what I found in the frozen section at the supermarket the other day!! At Woolies!! I was so excited haha.

 

 

I’m trying to keep these points in mind… there’s nothing more beautiful that a girl with self-confidence and I’m determined to be that kind of beautiful. Love yourself xx

Struggles

15 Sep

Ok, so much for having a better week.. I’ve taken each day one at a time but I’ve still been struggling. But I won’t give up. I hate being like this, I will change.

 

Motivation: I can’t wait until I can do my own unassisted pull ups.. I’m working on it 🙂

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Weekly meal plan:

 

Meal 1/Breakfast:

Blueberry Pancakes

 

Meal 2:

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Cauliflower Protein Bars – these are pretty nice! Light and fluffy, and easy to fit in my bag to carry around hospital.

Serves 12

2 cups steamed cauliflower

2 scoops protein powder (I used chocolate)

2 tbsp cinnamon

Stevia (I used 8 serves)

1 cup egg whitese

1 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 160 degrees

Blend everything together until smooth, then bake in a brownie pan for 30 minutes

Nutritional info: per 1/12 bars

Calories:39.9

Total fat: 0.3g

Total carbs: 1.6g

Sugar: 0.5g

Protein: 8.0g

 

Meal 3/Lunch:

Roo Ragu – I kind of made this up, using inspiration from several different recipes. Not sure how it’s going to taste yet but I’ll let you know 🙂

Serves 4

500g kangaroo steak – cut up

1/2 small brown onion – finely chopped

1 tsp minced garlic

2 stickes of celery – chopped

1 tsp thyme

800g can whole peeled tomatoes

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

Throw everything into the slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours

When I had a look at it in the morning it still tasted a bit vinegar-y so I put it in a frying pan and boiled it for about 15 minutes

Nutritional info: per 1/4 serves

Calories: 139.3

Total fat: 1.8g

Total carbs: 6.6g

Sugar: 5.5g

Protein: 24.3g

 

Meal 4:

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Raspberry Muffins from www.tasty-health.se…. THESE ARE AWESOME!!!! You must try these…

Serves 17

2&1/2 cups oat flour

2 scoops vanilla protein powder

2 tbsp almond flour

1/4 tsp salt

3-4 serves Stevia

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp vanilla extract

4 egg whites

3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1&1/2 cup lite coconut milk

1&1/2 cup raspberries (I used frozen)

WALNUT SPRINKLES:

80g walnuts – crushed

2 tbsp oats

1 tsp sugar free maple syrup

1/4 tsp coconut oil

Preheat oven to 175 degrees

Mix ingredients for walnut sprinkles first in a bowl and then set aside

Mix dry ingredients and then add wet

Fold in raspberries

Pour into muffiin tins

Bake for 20 minutes

I’ll say it again – THESE ARE SO GOOD!!

Nutritional info: per 1/17 muffins

Calories: 137.8

Total fat: 6.4g

Total carbs: 12.7g

Sugar: 2.8g

Protein: 7.6g

 

Meal 5/Dinner:

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Chicken Korma from www.thegraciouspantry.com

Serves 6

1kg chicken breast – roughly chopped

1 large brown onion

2 tsp minced garlic

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp all spice

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp garam masala

1/4 cup unsalted tomato paste

1/2 cup unsalted chicken stock

1/2 lite coconut milk

1/2 cup no fat Greek yoghurt

In a large frying pan, saute the onions and garlic until translucent

Add chicken to the pan

Add all other ingredients (except yoghurt). Cook until chicken is cooked through

Once cooked, take off the heat and stir in the yoghurt (I’m going to do this step after reheating it, just before I eat it throughout the week)

Nutritional info: per 1/6 serves

Calories: 252

Total fat: 3.7g

Total carbs: 5.0g

Sugar: 2.1g

Protein: 48.0g

 

Meal 6:

The usual 🙂

 

Starting to knuckle down for upcoming exams and I thought this photo truly showed how my brain operates especially during the exam study period…

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Attitude for next week NEEDS TO CHANGE!! No more binge eating, no more bulimic episodes, no more feeling sorry for myself.

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Happy Birthday To Me

10 Sep

22… is it just me or does it sound a LOT older than 21?? Quietly celebrated my birthday this year – Greek lunch with the family last weekend and my boyfriend surprised me by driving up to see me on my actual birthday 🙂 he’s the best. My heart rate monitor even had a birthday message for me haha.

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I’ve been struggling this past week with my clean eating, my bulimia, and my self-confidence; don’t ask me why but I’ve been really down in the dumps. I’m hoping that this week I can pull my head back up and find my happy place again, because I really struggle when I’m feeling like this.

 

Motivation:

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Meal plan (and this week I WILL stick to it!!):

 

Meal 1:

Blueberry protein pancakes

 

Meal 2:

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Citrus Protein Bars. These are just another version of Natalie Hodson’s protein bar base recipe and they’re really nice!! They’re perfect for the recent sunny weather here in Oz.

Serves 12

1&1/2 cups oat flour

3 scoops vanilla whey protein powder

1 tbsp baking powder

12 serves of Stevia

3 egg whites

1 cup lite coconut milk

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/4 cup no fat Greek yoghurt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp lemon extract

1 tbsp poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 180 degrees

Mix everything together

Pour it into a sprayed brownie baking tray

Cook for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean

Nutritional info: per 1/12 bars

Calories: 88

Total fat: 1.8g

Total carbs: 8.6g

Sugar: 1.6g

Protein: 8.6g

 

Meal 3/Lunch:

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Thai Coconut Shrimp
modified slightly from the dish from www.cleaneatingmag.com – YUM!! I loveeee seafood, especially prawns.

Serves 4

2 cups chopped broccoli

2/3 cup lite coconut milk

1 tbsp salt reduce tomato paste

1 tsp ground ginger

2&1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/3 tsp red pepper flakes

Juice of 1/2 a lime

1 green capsicum – sliced into thin strips

370g raw green shrimp – rinsed

In a bowl, whisk together coconut milk, tomato paste, ginger, garlic, pepper flakes and lime juice

Simmer this coconut mixture with the capsicum in a nonstick pan over medium-low heat for 5 minutes, stirring often to prevent clumping

Add shrimp and cook for another 2 minutes, then flip shrimp over and cook for another minute (or until prawns are cooked). At this time also throw in the broccoli

Serve with either wholegrain noodles or SlimPasta (which is what I did!) or even rice/quinoa?? Sooo good!!

Nutritional info: per 1/4 serves

Calories:136

Total fat: 3.6g

Total carbs: 6.3g

Sugar: 2.7g

Protein: 20.9g

 

Meal 4:

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Gourmet Carrot Cake Muffins based on the recipe from chockohlawtay.blogspot.com.au. These are really nice but they took me way too long to cook!! It’d be fine if I had more spare time but at the moment I’m really wanting quick and easy meals. I suppose that by looking at the recipe list I should’ve guessed it’d take me a while…

Serves 20

DRY

2 cups oat flour

1 scoop (30g) vanilla whey protein powder

12 serves Stevia

1/4 cup cornflour

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground cloves

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

WET

170g firm tofu – drained

1/2 cup no fat Greek yoghurt

1/2 cup orange juice (I just squeezed 1&1/2 oranges)

2 tbsp coconut butter

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 tbs sugar free maple syrup

2 serves Stevia

3 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp lemon extract

OTHER

1&1/2 cups grated carrots (about 1&1/2 big carrots)

Ok so preheat the oven to 160 degrees

In a large mixing bowl mix together the dry ingredients

In a blender, whizz all the wet ingredients until smooth. Pour into the dry ingredients and fold in gently.

Add carrots and, again, fold gently

Pour batter into sprayed muffin pans and bake for around 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean

They can be topped with an icing made from:

170g firm tofu – drained and rinsed

1 tbsp coconut oil

12 serves Stevia

1 tsp sugar free maple syrup

1 scoop vanilla protein powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

I didn’t top mine with this icing because I don’t think it’ll freeze very well, but they’re yummy just as is!!

Nutritional info: per 1/20 muffins WITHOUT icing

Calories: 67

Total fat: 1.5g

Total carbs: 9.7g

Sugar: 2.4g

Protein: 3.4g

 

Meal 5/Dinner:

This is delicious and oh-so-simple!! – Easy Slow Cooker Mexican Chicken from www.thegraciouspantry.com.

Serves 8

3-4 tbsp clean taco seasoning

  • 2 tbsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 1/3 tsp chilli powder

4 large chicken breasts

1 cup low sodium chicken stock

Throw everything in the slow cooker (make sure chicken is coated with mixture).

Cook on low for 6-8 hours (if you’re around, flip the chicken half way through its cooking time)

Nutritional info: per 1/8 serves

Calories: 167

Total fat: 1.9g

Total carbs: 1.7g

Sugar: 0.2g

Protein: 34.8g!!!

 

Oh, my boyfriend and I had a BBQ this weekend because it was such beautiful weather and this is what we had – a high protein delicious meal!!

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What you’re looking at is a turkey burger, kangaroo kebab, and chicken sausage 🙂 SO YUM!! My boyfriend was a bit worried about the roo and turkey because he’d never had it before but he scoffed it down and had seconds :). I love a good summer BBQ!

 

Meal 6:

WW Chocolate Mousse

 

I’m determined to have a better week this week – I will get out of bed, I will go to class, I will study, I will not eat junk/too much food, I will not watch television, and I will push myself harder at the gym. Got it? Got it.

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Chin up!!!!! x

Caffeine Addiction

11 Aug

I’m sure it wouldn’t surprise you that the life of a medical student can get pretty busy. This year has actually been a lot cruisier than previous years, but early starts are causing me to start relying on coffee to wake me up. I hate this and I’ve never wanted to become like my mum – she literally cannot even say good morning until she’s gulped down her cappuccino haha. But I found out recently that a coffee a day is protective against cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, so I figure one coffee a day is acceptable :).

Anyway I decided to try this after I got back from the gym today, for something different – a Protein Mocha Latte (inspired by the recipe on www.proteinpow.com).

Serves 1

2 tsp of instant coffee (or a double espresso if your a bit fancy)

Hot water

1/4 cup lite coconut milk

1 scoop of protein powder (I used optimum nutrition 100% gold standard double chocolate whey protein yummm…)

Put the coffee in a coffee mug, then add hot water until the mug is about half full.

Stir in coconut milk.

Add protein powder last. Enjoy your caffeine-filled protein hit 🙂

Nutritional info: per 1 mug of coffee

Calories: 158

Total fat: 4.6g

Total carbs: 3.5g

Sugar: 1.0g

Protein: 24g

 

Now that you’ve woken up a bit, here’s the motivation for the week: Marzia Prince (I want her quads…)

This week’s menu:

 

Meal1/Breakfast:

Pancakes!

 

Meal 2:

These are so fluffy and yum!! These are Coconut and Vanilla Whey Protein Cakes from www.proteinpow.com.

Serves 9 (on the original website she makes 5 mini cakes, but I made muffins)

3/4 cup egg whites

1/4 cup vanilla whey protein

2 tbsp coconut flour

4 tbsp chestnut flour (I subbed in oat flour)

3/4 cup quark (I cannot find this anywhere – I used low fat cottage cheese)

1/8 cup shredded coconut

1/2 cup lite coconut milk

1/4 cup oat flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

Blend all the ingredients together.

Bake at 160 degrees for about 20 minutes (muffins take less time than mini-cakes).

I want to try these with a dollop of peanut butter on top but I’m currently all out :S these are yum by themselves too though!!

Nutritional info: per 1/9 muffins

Calories: 71

Total fat: 2.0g

Total carbs: 5.6g

Sugar: 0.8g

Protein: 7.0g

 

Meal 3/Lunch:

Delicious recipe from www.bestrecipes.com.au – Slow Cooked Moroccan Chicken.

Serves 6

1kg chicken breast – roughly chopped

1 onion – diced

2 leeks – diced

425g tin diced tomatoes

4 cups diced butternut pumpkin

425g tin chickpeas – drained and rinsed

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tbsp ground coriander

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

3 cloves garlic – minced

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 tbsp grated lemon rind

1/2 cup chicken stock

1/4 cup coriander – finely chopped

3 tbsp lemon juice

1/3 sultanas (I’ll probably leave these out)

Throw all ingredients, except lemon juice and sultanas, into the slow cooker and stir to combine.

Cook on low for 6 hours, or high for 3 hours.

Add lemon juice and sultanas and heat for 15-30 minutes.

Nutritional info: per 1/6 serves

Calories: 217

Total fat: 2.4g

Total carbs: 8.7g

Sugar: 1.0g

Protein: 37.6g

 

Meal 4:

Again I whipped up a batch of Triple Chocolate Protein Cake Bars – this time I used lite coconut milk instead of almond milk (because I wanted to use up the opened can) and added hulled hemp seeds. So so good. This photo was taken watching the closing ceremony 🙂

 

Meal 5:

Another new recipe – this time from www.thegraciouspantry.com. This Lemon Zucchini Chicken is really different to what I usually have, but I felt like mixing things up a bit and keeping myself excited about clean eating :). I’ve found that after freezing and reheating this meal it doesn’t taste overly great… the zucchini seems to go a bit rubbery or something. It’s nice fresh, but unfortunately doesn’t freeze well.

Serves 8 (but I divided mine into 4 serves)

900g chicken breast (the lady at the deli only gave me 700g…) – chopped into cubes

500g zucchini – chopped into cubes

1 medium red onion – chopped

Juice of 2 lemons

Zest of 1 lemon

1 tbsp garlic powder

(I also added about a cup of chopped broccoli)

Saute the onion in a frying pan.

Add all other ingredients.

You can remove the excess liquid in the bottom of the pan – I kept this because I will be reheating my food and the extra liquid will prevent it from drying out)

This will be really good with brown rice (if I was to have this for lunch).

Nutritional info: per 1/4 serves

Calories: 245

Total fat: 2.2g

Total carbs: 11g

Sugar: 5.5g

Protein: 42.6g

 

Meal 6:

The usual protein mousse 🙂

I hope you’re all hitting the gym and keeping up the clean eating!!! x

Dementia and Red Wine Vinegar

6 Aug

I started a new rotation last week – I’m going to be spending the next 4 weeks in the rehab centre of the hospital. Meeting the patients with dementia is a whole new experience for me, and is very confronting.

Meanwhile, I’m still working on the leg situation – I got some advice from fellow fitties and they suggested that rather than focus on decreasing my quads, I should aim on increasing my calves to even out my legs.

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Motivation for the week – Nina Silic!! Total hottie 🙂

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Weekly food plan:

 

Meal 1/Breakfast:

Blueberry pancakes!! + sugarfree maple syrup mmm 🙂

 

Meal 2:

Leftover Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Protein Cookies from last week yum!!

 

Meal 3/Lunch:

Again, leftover Slow Cooker Thai Chicken. This is how I normally eat my weekly prepped meals haha.

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Meal 4:

Tried some different muffins, this time Blueberry Protein Muffins from skinnymom.com. I didn’t take a photo because they stuck like CRAZY and turned out a bit of a mess (please please please use muffin pan liners!! Foil ones, because otherwise you’ll struggle to separate the paper from the muffins…) but they are really yummy!!

Serves 6 big muffins or 12 small muffins

1/2 cup whole wheat flour (I used oat flour)

1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder

1/2 cup skim milk (I used almond milk)

1/4 cup sugarfree maple syrup (LOVE THIS STUFF!!)

4 egg whites

1/4 cup sweetener (I put in about 12 serves of Stevia)

3 tbsp sweetener Brown sugar (I have no idea where to find this, so I left it out and they turned out fine)

2 tbsp light whipped butter (I substituted fat free Greek yoghurt)

1/2 cup blueberries

2 tbsp unsweetened applesauce

1&1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to about 200 degrees celcius.

Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients in separate bowls. Whisk wet ingredients well.

Combine wet and dry ingredients, then fold in blueberries.

Line a muffin tray with muffin pans (I thought if I used HEAPS of spray these would be fine.. please take my advise and use muffins liners!!)

Bake in the oven for about 22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. These muffins are super sweet and delicious!

Nutritional info: (per 1/12 muffins)

Calories: 46

Total fat: 0.7g

Total carbs: 5.2g

Sugar: 1.7g

Protein: 4.4g

 

Meal 5/Dinner:

I tried something different – I was feeling lazy/poor so I used a slow cooker packet and made Slow Cooker Kangaroo/Beef and Red Wine Casserole.

Serves 4

500g kangaroo steak – diced (the recipe used beef, but I wanted to use roo)

200g mushrooms – diced

2 carrots – diced

2 tbsp no added salt tomato paste

125mL red wine (I used red wine vinegar, because that’s what I had, and has very little calories – eugh please do not do this!! I tasted it this morning after cooking it overnight and no matter how much sweetener or salt I added, I could not make it edible!! I’ll retry this next week with red wine)

1x masterfoods beef and red wine casserole recipe base

Shove it all in a slow cooker for 8 hours on low!! .

Nutritional info: (per 1/4 serves, with kangaroo)

Calories: 172

Total fat: 1.4g

Total Carbs: 11.6g

Sugar: 5.3g

Protein: 27.7g

 

Meal 6:

WW protein mouse – I haven’t updated this recipe in a while, but this is what I currently have for dessert:

Serves 1

50g low fat cottage cheese

1 serve weight watcher chocolate mouse (1/2 packet)

1 tbsp hulled hemp seeds

1 tsp cocoa powder

2 serves Stevia

Splash of almond milk

About 4 walnuts/1 tbsp dessicated coconut

Nutritional info:

Calories: 258

Total fat: 13.1g

Total carbs: 10.7g

Sugar: 5.1g

Protein:13.8g

 

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Along with healthy eating, keep up with the exercise – exercise releases endorphins, which explains why I always feel pumped up and a hell of a lot better after sweating it out at the gym. Rather than reaching for chocolate when I’m feeling down I’m trying to get into the habit for going for even just a 15 minute walk around the block – it helps!! And keep in mind: there’s no such thing as a bad gym session – any gym session is better than nothing at all 🙂 x

Reaching Goals

22 Jul

I am so proud of myself – it has been over a week since I’ve had a bulimic episode!!! I usually ‘relapse’ on Mondays/Tuesday/Wednesday, because the start of the week is always hardest for me (I miss my boyfriend…) but I managed to break my pattern and lasted a whole week!! WOOO!! I’m trying a different tactic – I’m putting a sticker on my calendar for each day that I go bulimic-free 🙂 it’s very ‘primary school’ but it’s working! It might sound strange but you could try it for anything – give yourself a sticker if you go a whole day without chocolate, or give yourself a sticker each day you go to the gym – it’s amazing how rewarding a sticker on a calendar can feel 🙂

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I decided to give myself a treat for reaching my week goal (start with small goals… my next aim is a month!) so I gave myself a fake tan and bought myself flowers haha. In medicine, we are taught about creating SMART goals:

S – specific

M – measurable

A – appealing

R – realistic

T – timely

So for me, this was last one week without having a bulimic episode and I will get a (non-food) reward!! Pat on the back for me 🙂

 

Motivation: (I’m not sure who this is, but I’m envious of her cuts!)

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Weekly food prep:

 

Meal 1/Breakfast:

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What’s this? NOT protein pancakes?? Hahah I decided to have omelettes this week (just to be outrageous :P). Here’s what I threw in a frying pan:

2/3 cup egg whites

1 egg

Tomato, mushroom, spinach, avocado

Tinsy pinch of low fat cheese

Pepper

Paprika

Parsley

YUM!

 

Meal 2:

I cooked Banana Bread Protein Muffins from dashingdish.com and they’re really nice! These would also be great for a pre-workout snack.

Serves 12

3/4 cup ripe banana (about 1 large banana)

3/4 cup egg whites

1/2 cup plain no fat Greek yoghurt

3/4 cup oats

2 scoops vanilla whey protein powder

1/4 cup Stevia (I used about 12 serves)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 170-175 degrees. Spray muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray

Place ingredients in a blender and blend until the mixture is smooth

Divide the mixture into the 12 muffin tins

Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean

Even though I overcooked these slightly, they were really nice! And tasted just like banana bread 🙂 I’m possibly going to add walnuts next time I make these :).

Nutritional info: (per 1/12 muffins)

Calories: 42

Total fat: 0.2g

Total carbs: 3.8g

Sugars: 2.0g

Protein: 6.5g

 

Meal 3/Lunch:

For lunch I’m just eating left over Clean Crockpot Thai Chicken from last week 🙂 yum.

Nutritional info: (per 1/8 servings)

Calories: 375

Total fat: 16.8g (all good fats!)

Total carbs: 6.3g

Sugars: 2.8g

Protein: 46.5g

 

Meal 4:

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I cooked another batch of Macadamia Protein Cookies and this time I substituted 2 tbsp of coconut butter with unsweetened apple sauce. They were just as yummy (I think they were a bit better because they weren’t as butter-heavy) and had lower fat content 🙂

Nutritional info: (per 1/15 cookies)

Calories: 107

Total fat: 6.7g

Total carbs: 7.4g

Sugars: 0.7g

Protein: 3.7g

 

Meal 5/Dinner:

I tried another easy crockpot meal, this time from paleomg.com – Brazilian Curry Chicken! I haven’t tried it yet (I’m having it today) but it smelt pretty darn delicious!!

Serves 6

3 chicken breasts

3/4 cup lite coconut milk

2 tbsp reduce salt tomato paste

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tbsp ground ginger

4-6 tbsp curry powder

2 capsicums (I used red and green), diced

1 onion, sliced

1 cup reduced salt chicken stock

Salt and pepper

Throw everything into the crockpot (except capsicums, onion and chicken) and whisk together.

Add capsicums, onions and chicken.

Mix all ingredients together til the chicken is covered in the curry mixture.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or high for 4-5 hours.

May eat with rice/quinoa… whatever your current dietary needs are! I think I may just eat on its own.

Nutritional info: (per 1/6 serving)

Calories: 263

Total fat: 4.7g

Total carbs: 4.4g

Sugars: 2.7g

Protein: 47.4g (!!!)

 

Meal 6:

Cottage cheese + WW chocolate mousse + almonds 🙂

 

I hope everyone has a great week – don’t be afraid to make goals… even if you don’t reach them the first time, the important thing is to keep your chin up, get back on your feet, and keep trying 🙂

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Bones

6 Jul

I’ve just had my two weeks of orthopaedic rotation and I absolutely loved it!! The registrars were so enthusiastic and willing to teach – it makes such a difference for us medical students and makes us more excited about going to the hospital 🙂 I had the opportunity to scrub in for surgery a few times; I got to staple a man’s knee closed and drill a screw into another man’s ankle!! Very exciting!

 

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As for my clean eating and exercising… it’s been going pretty well, although on Tuesday this week I did something to my calf whilst sprinting so had to reschedule my rest day, but having that day off allowed my leg to fix itself so I was back into it on Thursday!! It’s so good to see girls using the weights – usually I’m the only girl in the weights section but I’ve recruited a few other medicine girls to get into it 🙂 since starting to routinely lift weights my metabolism has sky rocketed and I get more of a sense of achievement whenever I go to gym. I used to be a cardio junkie – many females are – and thought that as soon as I lifted weights I would look like arnold, but my boyfriend convinced me to give it a try and I don’t think I’ll ever go back to solely doing cardio for exercise! I enjoy pumping weights more! Yes I have more muscle, but rather than look bulky and ‘manly’ I have toned my body up, made my body look more defined, and feel so prouder of my body – after all, I sculpted it!

 

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Motivation: Holly Bricken

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Food plan for the past couple of weeks:

 

Meal 1/Breakfast: pancakes 🙂

 

Meal 2: 

Blueberry lemon cheesecake muffins – someone reminded me about this recipe the other day so I decided to whip up a batch and yummm they’re as delicious as ever!! To save you from scrolling down, here’s the recipe again:

Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake Muffins

Serves 12

2 cups rolled oats, ground in a blender

1 cup fat free cottage cheese

1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce

1 tbsp lemon peel, grated

1/4 cup sugar-free maple syrup

1 cup egg whites

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp lemon extract (I just squeeze in half the lemon)

1 tbsp Stevia (6 packets)

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Separate ingredients:

1 cup blueberries, frozen

100g fat free cream cheese

1/2 tbsp Stevia (3 packets)

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees

2. Mix together all the main ingredients and divide mixture up equally on a 12-muffin tray

3. In a separate bowl, mix together cream cheese and the 1/2 tbsp Stevia. Sprinkle frozen blueberries on top of muffins, then dollop cream cheese on top of each muffin

4. Bake muffins for 18-20 minutes or until a nice caramel colour

5. Wait until cool before removing from tray

Nutritional info: per 1/12 muffins

Calories: 103

Total fat: 1.9g

Total carbs: 12.1g

Sugar: 2.7g

Protein: 8.3g

 

Meal 3/Lunch:

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Kangaroo Bolognaise and SlimPasta spaghetti – I love this!! Instead of using a recipe I threw together some kangaroo mince, crushed tomatoes, chopped carrots, celery and onion, and it was yum!! As for the spaghetti; it has saved me from numerous pasta cravings 🙂

Meal 4:

Protein bars that I have made numerous times because they always seem to turn out perfect – Chocolate and Coconut Protein Bars. Again, I’ve re-posted the recipe below…

For these protein bars I just follow Natalie Hodson’s basic protein bar recipe, then added coconut extract and dessicated coconut, as well as subbing chocolate whey powder instead of vanilla and they’re delicious! Wonderfully light and fluffy, yum!

Serves 12

1.5 cups rolled oats, ground

3 scoops whey protein powder

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup Stevia (I used 12 packets because I have a serious sweet tooth…)

3 egg whites

1 cup almond milk

1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce

1/4 cup Greek yoghurt

2-3 tsp of extract of choice (can do half and half e.g. 1 tsp almond extract + 1.5 tsp orange extract)

Any other flavours of your choice e.g. cocoa, nuts, peanut butter, instant coffee

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees

2. In a large bowl combine oat flour, whey protein, baking powder, salt and Stevia

3. In a separate bowl, mix all other (wet) ingredients

4. Combine wet and dry ingredients well, then pour into sprayed baking tray

5. Bake for 25-30 minutes (mine took 25 minutes) or until knife comes out clean

Get creative people! You can do anything with this recipe :)

This week I’m going to try a different combo, although I’m not sure what it’ll be yet!

Nutritional info: per 1/12 bars

Calories: 102

Total fat: 3.3g

Total carbs: 8.5g

Sugar: 1.5g

Protein 8.8g

 

Meal 5/Dinner:

NEW FAVOURITE DINNER RECIPE!! Oh this is soo delicious and easy and healthy – I’m going to make this all the time! I found the recipe at: cleaneatingdeliciousness.blogspot.com.au.

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Clean Crockpot Satay Chicken

Serves 4/8 (depends how big ur serving sizes are…)

1.1kg chicken thigh (I prefer breast)

1 tsp fresh grated ginger

Juice of 2 limes (about 2 tbsp)

450g salsa

1/2 cup almond butter (or peanut butter or sunflower butter)

Lightly spray crockpot with oil (I used coconut oil) and throw chicken in.

Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl and pour over chicken.

Stir well.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Eat with lightly steamed vegies!

Nutritional info: per 1/8 serves

Calories: 368

Total fat: 15.0g

Total carbs: 6.9g

Sugar: 3.3g

Protein: 48.0g

 

Meal 6:

Another version of my WW chocolate mousse:

1/2 weight watchers chocolate mousse sachet

30g creamed cottage cheese

1 tsp unsweetend cocoa

Dash of almond milk

1 tsp of almond butter

Sprinkle of hulled hemp seeds

Mix

Eat

Drool for more!!! This really fixed my sweet tooth 🙂

Nutritional info: per 1 serves

Calories: 334

Total fat: 20.3g

Total carbs: 13.4g

Sugar: 5.1g

Protein: 16.2g

 

I treated myself last week to some new ‘barefoot’ trainer shoes – I’ve wanted the nike free 2.0s for aaages now but when I finally went shopping they had none in my size and apparently aren’t supplying them to Australia anymore 😦 so I got asics instead, which are still awesome!

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Keep at it everyone!! You haven’t failed until you stop trying 🙂 x

Mindblock

21 Feb

I’v had a hard past couple of days.. last week I was diagnosed with depression anxiety disorder (thanks to uni) and I’ve been put on antidepressants for the time being. Only thing is, they’v really flattened me out – I feel like my head is full of concrete and my body has slowed to almost stop. This has made exercise and study very very difficult, so I’ve tried to prioritise and do things when I feel most energetic. I’ve had to ditch class for this week – I’ve attempted to attend the past couple of days but just sat in tutorials looking, and feeling, like a zombie. I went to gym both yesterday and today but it was pretty terrible, my legs were moving so slow on the crosstrainer that the old lady next to me was going about 5 times my speed, yet I was sweating and exhausted 😦 yuck.

Also, sitting around makes me even more depressed so I’ve taken to eating for comfort 😦 big no no!! Argh at least most of my nibblies are reeeasonably healthy – apart from the naughty icecream I had today on the way back from the doctors.

I had a burst of energy Sunday night so did my cooking then – easy meals that will get me through the week.

 

Meal 1/Breakfast:

Berry Pancakes – still loving these but now slotting them in before my morning workout in attempt to give myself as much energy as possible

 

Meal 2:

Health Chocolate Fudge Protein Brownies

(Adapted from leanbodylifestyle.blogspot.com.au)

Serves 12

1 cup oat flour

2 scoops chocolate whey protein powder

3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup Stevia

4 egg whites

1/2 cup almond milk

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees

2. Mix all dry ingredients, then add wet

3. Spray a baking tray with non-stick cooking oil, then pour in mixture

4. Bake for 15 minutes

Nutritional info: per 1/12 bars

Calories: 87

Total fat: 3.4g

Total carbs: 5.8g

Sugar: 0.6g

Protein: 7.2g

 

Meal 3/Lunch:

Turkey Lettuce Wraps

1kg lean turkey mince

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp dried thyme

2 tsp dry yellow mustard

2 tsp black pepper

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp minced garlic

1/2 onion

1/2 cup mushroom

1/2 cup celery

Iceberg lettuce

1. Cook turkey in a frying pan until brown, then add the rest of the ingredients and cook until combined

2. Throw it in some lettuce leaves! I’ve been eating this with the mince cold, and topping the wraps with chopped tomato/salsa, and mixing in some brown rice in order to get some carbs – super yum!

 

Meal 4:

Berry Muffins of course! I used frozen mixed berries instead of blueberries just for something different, but I have to say that I prefer the simple blueberry version 🙂

 

Meal 5/Dinner:

I bought a slow cooker on the weekend and have absolutely no clue how to use one so I found a really basic recipe for my first attempt.

Clean Eating Slow Cooker Spinach and Chicken

(From thegraciouspantry.com)

(I know it’s not pretty but it tastes better than it looks!)

Serves 8

4 large chicken breasts

250g spinach

700g can diced tomatoes

500g jar of pasta sauce

– I added 1/2 green capsicum and 1/2 onion but you could add whatever vegies you want I suppose

1. Throw everything in the slow cooker

2. Cook for 6-8 hours

3. Easy!! The only thing was that I didn’t time this very well and had to set my alarm to wake up at 2am to check on it and turn the slow cooker off.. I think I’m going to buy one of those egg timers that automatically switch the power point off (I’d never heard of these but my boyfriend kindly told me about these AFTER I got up at 2am…)

Nutritional info: per 1/8 serves

Calories: 222

Total fat: 3.1g

Total carbs: 14.6g

Sugar: 8.2g

Protein: 31.3g

 

Meal 6:

Whatever I can be bothered throwing together!

 

So yeah I’m going to keep battling through this week – the doctor said I will become less drowsy and lethargic after a week or so.. fingers crossed he’s right! Wish me luck 🙂