Thursday, November 29, 2012

Coconut flour Paleo cake


  
Hello Friends -

This cake must be one of the best Paleo discoveries I've made so far.  Simply delicious.  You would not know the difference!   Sure, it is a bit of effort, but all good things take some amount of effort.  Right? 








Ingredients: 

1 cup coconut flour
2 tsp cinnamon
half cup coconut flakes
4 grated carrots
6 eggs
2 teaspoons liquid stevia
1 ripe banana. mashed
1 tin crushed pineapple
half cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 cup coconut milk

Optional: chopped pecans or walnuts 

Mix all this ingredients very well.  Pour mixture in a well sprayed cake pan. Bake for 50 -60 minutes at 190degrees.  a Toothpick should come out clean. 

Now, for the toppings.  This depends on yourself, and your level of lactose or gluten intolerance.  You can whip up some cream with a spoon of honey, and top your cake with that.  Or, I used in the pictures, the remainder of my coconut milk.  I whipped it up with honey and a drop of vanilla. I find its best to pour it over the cake just before you serve it! 

The cake has a very moist consistency.  Really delicious!!

Paleo Coconut flour cake with coconut frosting

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Paleo Almond flour muffins

I'm just going to give it to you quick and straight.

Ingredients:

2 cups of almond flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
half cup coconut oil,melted


3 Tablespoons honey
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

This is your basic recipe. You can either make it savoury with adding lean bacon and fat free cheese, or sweet. As you choose.

I added:

Chopped Pecans
Chopped apples
Cinnamon

Mix everything well.  Spoon into muffin trays.  Bake at 190degrees for 15 - 20 minutes.  A toothpick should come out clean.

This little jewels taste so good!

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Leaving on a jet plane...

Grilled chicken breast with green salad. 
Greek yogurt, oats, almonds and pineapple.
 Hello Friends,

I am happy to say that I am finally starting to feel better after this terrible operation. Jeepers wisdom teeth is no joke.  4 at once anyways....

I am leaving for SA on the weekend.  I will be gone 6 weeks.  Don't know how much opportunity I will have to blog, but I will try a update every now and then.

This is my off time. 

My off time still includes training and healthy balanced meals, because this is what makes me feel good.

When you feel you need a break, don't beat yourself up. Don't be too hard on yourself. Everyone deserves a break every now and then.

 When what you are doing is not fun anymore, you must stop and ask yourself the question - Why am I doing this?

Therefore --- WORK HARD/ PLAY HARD! I am going to enjoy my time :)
Omelet with ham, blue cheese and Cherie tomatoes. YUM

Pork stir fry with quinoa

Friday, November 23, 2012

Oats cookies

Hello Friends -

I know I talk a lot... lol.. too  much. :)  Hope you missed my absence? Most of you following me would know I have been in hospital for my wisdom teeth. All 4 off them, and it was hellish. No jokes.  I am heavily sedated as I am typing this post. Hurts like hell.

So..  I have been in bed 3 days and soooooo bored!!! I want to share this cookie recipe I made just before my show. And YES, I ate all of them last week. he he he... I knew this teeth operation will sort any unwanted water retention. And so it did... dropped 3kgs already. Eating nothing but Apple compot and ice-cream. Not at all as gorgeous as it sounds... grrrr

Focus:  RECIPE:

3/4 cup of butter
1/2 cup of wholegrain flour
2 and 1/2 cups of oats
1/2 cups brown cane sugar
pinch cinnamon
pinch salt
Tsp baking soda
1 egg

Additional:
1 TBSP Peanut butter
1/2 cup almond flakes
1 TBSP Honey

Mix it all up. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 200 deg.

Voila!!!
Enjoy this cookies girls - gotta let your hair down every once in a while :)

Friday, November 16, 2012

Quinoa breakfast

Hello friends, 

Since I like to follow paleo lifestyle in my off season, I tried this two breakfast options.  I must say both is delicious! 

Let met tell you a little bit about quinoa first! 
Quinoa is a protein rich seed, used as a grain.  Its high in amino acids, with a  nutty taste. 
Quinoa is known as a complete protein, because it contains all the amino acids, therefor, it is a good food source in a vegetarian diet. 
Quinoa breakfast with berries

You can find some vit B in quinoa, as well as antioxidants. 

There are 374 calories in 100 grams of quinoa

Calorie breakdown: FAT - 48 cal ;  Carbs  280 cal ;  Prot 45 cal

As you can see, this is really a nutritious calorie dense food.  So I keep this in my off season! 

The first recipe:  Quinoa with roasted pecans, honey, banana and Greek yogurt. 
Chop and roast the pecans in a pan until you can smell the roasted nutty flavour.  
Add the cooked quinoa in, along with some honey to taste.  


Quinoa breakfast with banana
When it is well heated, serve with chopped banana and a blob of Greek yogurt. 

The second recipe:  Quinoa with maple syrup, cinnamon, lactose free milk and blueberries.  

This is just what it is, heat the cooked quinoa and add your ingredients. 





Bonn Ap! 


Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Why you should NOT skip breakfast!



One of my favourite breakfast option. 


I Always tell everyone to not skip breakfast! so then, they want to know why - because according to them, if they do have breakfast, they feel hungry again fast. ITS NORMAL. It should be like this because it shows that your metabolims is working and burnig FAT. 

If you did not get hungry, it means that your energie is not being used and you are not burning FAT. 

I eat avocado almost daily - not just for it's great taste but also healthy fats. 
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, especially for dieters. Carbohydrates fuel the brain and body, while protein helps reduce hunger and builds muscle. A breakfast high in complex carbohydrates may be the most familiar way for dieters to jump-start the day, but some researchers say a high-protein breakfast, or better yet, a mix of carbs and protein, may help you feel full longer.

Eat complex carbs in the form of grains or fruit.  options are oats, whole grain toast and dried or fresh fruit. 

Fruit make a great side to my egg white omelette! 
In terms of protein: Yogurt, beans or eggs make a great option. 







Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Slow cooked coconut-curry chicken

Hello Friends,

This was too good not to share! This is a paleo approved meal.  The coconut milk makes it quite high in fat (165 calories per 100ml) , so I would advise to eat this when you are doing a cheat meal.
I am using my favourite winter veggies! 

I will give you the ingredients as I used them with the quantity of food i made:

8 Chicken thighs (take skin off)
1 sweet potato
3 smallish potatoes
4 bell peppers
2 shallots
Mushrooms
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 tin coconut milk
2 teaspoons of curry
pinch of ginger, coriander, cumin, salt, pepper.
tablespoon of honey
tablespoon of vinegar



So! to start off, brown the shallots, garlic and chicken. Peel and cut the veggies.  Place them on top of the chicken in a deep pot.

Now mix the spices, coconut milk, vinegar and honey well.  Pour this over the veggies and chicken. Place a lid on, and let it cook over a low heat for 3 hours.

You cannot imagine how wonderful this tastes!!!






Monday, November 12, 2012

Competition recap...


My evolution:  I did the first show in JULY 2009.  Train wreck. Haha! Took a year off to work on myself and come back stronger!!! My evolution took 3 years.  Now I can say ---- I LOVE MY BODY! Loving your body is not about begin perfect. There is no such thing! It is about being comfortable in your own skin ladies! 















Hello friends, 

Let's talk about the competition of the weekend. Wow.. WHAT A LINE UP! It was a total of 24 girls.  Some of the top french bikini girls.  Really a beautiful event. 



















I placed 6th.  At first I was disappointed, yes, as any normal person would be.  But this got me thinking why I started doing this in the first place.  I do it for ME. Of course podiums is AWESOME - Who would not love it? lol.. But in the end I train for me, I don't train for podiums.  

That being said, I am really happy that I was in the best shape of my life!  Therefor I have achieved my personal goal - which should come first girls... 

Now - whats next... hmmm. Taking a month or so to recover from on hectic couple months of show prep! Jeezzz it was TOUGH! You will be seeing more great recipes to try now, because I can go back to good healthy cooking. nom nom nom... :) 


“Anytime you suffer a setback or disappointment, put your head down and plow ahead.”
- Les Brown

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Random blabber...

Hello my friends!

Hope everyone is doing great?  I have one week of contest prep left for the year. So I am quite feeling good about that.
Oats with red fruit

The thing about contest prep toward the end of it, in particular, is how I lose strength in the gym.  It just sucks! Looking forward to get back on the heavy lifting waggon with all those good carbs to power my guns!!



Grilled salmon and asparagus
I did a photo shoot yesterday.  Here is a sneak peak of what happened.  Really keen to see the rest! Should be good!
Grilled white fish and zucchini

Anyways , just a quick update. Here's what I am eating! So! Off to bed! I am very tired, and need to hit the last week HARD!!!

I will be attending Gym&Co.. promises to be a HUGE show! Its okay..... I LOVE TOUGH!

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Melissa Jansen van Nieuwenhuizen Eta Qualified Personal Trainer Trifocus Qualified Specialized Nutrition Online Coach Weight loss an...