Cauliflower rice

Hello Friends, 

Hope everyone is great. I have been so MIA as of late, but been extremely busy with work. 

Nonetheless, I have a great recipe for you.  One of my new favourite things to eat.  

Boil cauliflower until soft.  With a knife and fork break down the florets. Add paprika, salt, pepper and garlic powder. 

This taste alot like mashed potatoes. :) 

Bon app! 

Baked apple and coconut milk

Good  morning,

Hope everyone is doing great and ready for the new year?  I sure am!  This is going to be a good one.  I have so many plans and dreams and ambitions and not shy to act on them !

I returned yesterday from a lovely visit at my parents on the farm.  They live in a little house between the mountains.  It is absolutely medicine to the soul to wake up there in the  morning.  There you realize that there is something so much bigger than you in this universe.  Anyway.....

I put a little twist on my normal apple compote.  Cut your apples into quarters, sprinkle with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves.  Bake in the oven until soft.  Bathe in coconut milk when cooked.

Normally I would eat my compote with almonds, so I only swapped the nuts for the milk.  This is like dessert.  I highly recommend!

Also this is a paleo as you can get.  I am getting good at complying to Paleo now. (Said after doing one decent meal ....lol)

Day before Christmas pancakes

These festive pancakes was so easy to make and if you eat with your eyes, like me, I need not say that they were delicious.

You will need:
1 Scoop QNT Delicious Protein
150g egg whites
Touch of caramel essence
Hint of cinnamon

Mix everything well and bake in a heated lightly oiled pan.

Top with homemade apple compote , nuts , berries and a drop of raw honey.

Bon Ap!

Home workout!

Bitches be like... No make-up...  lol 

 Hello my friends!

It is SO good to be home for Christmas!  My father lives in the mountains, so you wake up to the most amazing view.

Anyways, still need to keep the tush tight... even on holiday.  I have 4 Expo's coming up and want to look my best.  The show must go on.

As many of you know, small towns does not have gyms. lol. .... Next best option is to drive a home workout gym around in your car's boot.  :)

I did this workout this morning.  Burned a good 500 calories in 50 minutes! That is REALLY good.

The routine:
Warm up with 5 minutes jogging:



Perform this sequence 2 times.  45sec action with 15 seconds rest.
1.  kettle bell swings
2. Push ups
3. Elastic band pull over body.
4. Other side -
5. Squat set with bent over rear delt raises
6. Dynamic lunge set with dumbbell curls
7. Stationary lunge set with triceps extension (elastic)
8. Other side
9. One arm squat press
10. Other side

I finished off with 10 minutes of abs exercises

All the equipment you need for a great session at home. 

Coconut flour cookies - and my view on sugar addiction

Staying on point with a eating plan this time of the year can be a challenge right?  I am consumed with sugar cravings at the moment. 

After being on cortisone injections for a few weeks (many of my friends know I have been going through something with my skin - which is 'sort of' under control now) , my appetite has been out of control (not under control ...lol ) . 

It is so hard to get your mind focused again after derailing a little bit. For people who think they have weak will power, it is not as simple as that.  Don't beat yourself up too much.  You teach yourself to get stronger at begin good with your diet, over time. 

A pattern of avoiding and binging -- not sugar itself -- may lead to addict-like effects. Sugar even affects the same "feel-good" brain hormones as street drugs. Nobody would say sugar is the same as heroin, but it can still mess with your brain and body.

You may have an eating disorder or a plain bad habit. Anyone can use sugary foods in ways that aren't healthy. Some signs: You may lose control and eat more than you planned. You may feel bad when you skip your daily cookie "fix." These low blood sugar symptoms include feeling a little nervous and shaky.

Sugar fuels every cell in the brain. When you overload on sugary foods, it may alter the parts of the brain that control how much you eat. 

 Alot of hormones is involved when it comes to eating.  There is never just a simple answer.  

I simply cannot have one bite of something sweet though, it sends my body into overdrive, every fibre urging me to have more sugar.   So... I did a bit of searching and testing for a cookie recipe.  These are not sweet, so it will not activate any triggers! Still easing the mind that I am having cookies.  

Retrain your tastebuds.  Gradually reduce high sugar foods in your diet.  Excange it for fruit or honey. Your tastebuds will adapt to this over time and cravings for simple sugars will reduce. 

Cook recipe:

1/3 cup of coconut oil 

6 eggs 

2 tablespoons honey 

3/4 cup of coconut flour 

1 teaspoon of baking powder 

Pinch of salt 

Pinch of xantham gum 

Mix all ingredients and bake 20-25 minutes 

Stuffed giant mushrooms

Morning,

I hope you had a great weekend? I sure did. Busy busy busy!

I want to share a very delicious recipe with you.  I made these stuffed giant mushrooms last night. What a treat!

Pre-heat the oven to 200deg.

You need 230g lean ground beef
1 Small onion
1 Tablespoon Woolworths Slimmers choice Chutney
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
Spices to taste :  I used fresh rosemary, salt and pepper
2 Giant mushrooms

Chop your lill' onion.  Mix with ground beef and spices.  Devide equally and top the mushrooms.

Pop in the oven for about 30-40minutes.  It really depends on how cooked  you eat your beef.  I like it almost charcoal. lol... I want to be able to draw pictures with my meat, then it means its cooked enough :)



I served my stuffed mushrooms with a side salad of mixed greens and 90g of avocado.

This works well as a lunch or as a dinner.  There is no carbs in this meal.  My mealplan clients can use this in for their beef meals.

Nutritional information per serving:
Calories: 223
Fat: 9g
Protein:  33g
Carbs; 0g

Homemade applesauce with Pink Lady apples

See now... Making this is really as easy as taking candy from a child. (don't do that though... bad habit! :)  

To get one cup applesauce I peeled 6 Pink Lady apples.  Cut into blocks.  Cook until soft and mash.  Voila! You have applesauce!  I use this as a replacement when baking, instead of butter and sugar. 

Paleo bread - lactose free/grain free

Hello friends,

I have been reacting worse and worse to wheat - so been experimenting with more wheat free recipes.  This low carb bread is a winner! It's got a good texture with a nutty pallet. 

Ingredients: 

1.5 cups almond flour 

1/4 cups flaxseed flour

1/4 cups coconut flour

5 eggs

1/4 tsp baking soda 

1/4 tsp salt

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

4 tablespoon coconut oil

Mix everything well and bake on 200deg for 40-50 minutes. Wait until it's cold before you cut it. 

Slow roasted honey and rosemary pork

My dear friends....

You will have to search far for a better Sunday lunch! 

This is why I love paleo food so much. Just good real food! 

The vegetables was my normal veg mix - I have previously explained how I do it. 

The pork: 

I oven grilled it for about 5 hours on 170 degrees Celsius - only adding water with a chicken stock cube.  I covered the oven tray with foil. 

When pork was cooked - I cut the roast into wheels. Added herbs de provance , salt , pepper and honey. 

Then I put it back again , uncovered and grilled it on 200deg for about 30minutes more. 

a Day in the life of paleo

Importance of post workout nutrition

I will explain this simply, as I do not like to complicate things.  No one likes to read big words anyway. 

This subject is not emphasized enough. Ever wondered why you are not getting results from your training program? You need to realize that you can squat your ass to the bone in the gym, if you are not going to step up in the kitchen, you are not going to see results. 

What happens when you exercise?  You damage and deplete your muscles.  You tear down muscle fibres. So what do you need? You need FOOD to rebuild and remodel this muscle fibres to become stonger.  You need food in the form of carbohydrates and protein.  Without proper post workout nutrition, your muscles will never reach its full potential. 

This is an example of what I had post workout today.  I had a hell of a back and shoulder session. My preferred body parts to train. 

I had 100g cooked Quinoa. 
2 fried eggs and salad.  I always load up on the foliage, because it gives you the feeling of satiety for longer. Fibre baby Fibre! 

Something about Quinoa ----- Quinoa Nutrition Facts

Quinoa is nutritionally renowned for its protein content and while it does have a decent amount, it’s not actually the amount of protein that’s so impressive. Instead it’s the type of protein. Quinoa has the perfect balance of all nine amino acids essential for human nutrition. This type of complete protein is rarely found in plant foods, though common in meats. Quinoa also offers a good dose of fiber and iron. There are 111 calories in each 1/2 cup of cooked quinoa.

My favourite fish recipe, with oven grilled veg

Marinate fish for about an hour in fresh lemon and apricot jam. 

Hello Friends, 

I hope everyone has been great?  I had a very special friend over for dinner today and made her my favourite fish recipe.  

I had a little accident with the salt grinder... lol.  The veg was almost done, when I wanted to give  grind of pink himalayan rock salt. .... and then the house of cards came tumbling down. The whole pot of salt in my tray of veg. DAMN! I tried to rescue it and hoped she would not 
notice... lol. I noticed. :)  Anyhow, it was just the one half, other half of tray was fine. Tasted amazing! 

My oven grilled vegetables 

Fish simmering in the pan. 

For the fish;
I used Cabillaud. Struggling to find a good tasting fish in France. Marinate about an hour in lemon juice, wild black pepper, teaspoon of apricot jam.  Pan fry for 10 minutes in drop of olive oil. Easiest thing in the world! 

For the veg, just mix all your favourites.  I have cabbage, butternut, potatoes, mushrooms, peppers.  Give it a whizz of olive oil, grind of salt and pepper. I love lots of rosemary on this and oven bake on 200deg for about 60-90 minutes.  Depending on how you like your veg. 

It's easy to impress me. I don't need a fancy party to be happy. Just good friends, good food, and good laughs. I'm happy. I'm satisfied. I'm content.

-Maria Sharapova

Zerocarb zucchini bread

Good morning my lovelies!

I hope everyone is as excited about this week as I am!  I think this is mostly due to the fact that I get to eat carbs today.  Ha Ha! I have been on low carb for 5 days, so this is a big event for me okay! lol  I am on a delicious carb-high! 

I still have to do a post about what Ketosis is, but I will get there.  Today I want to share a super good low carb, gluten and lactose, grain free bread with you.  The interesting thing about this is, you can have it on low or high carb days.  I had it with a spoonful of almond butter, to keep it low carb.  This morning I had it with maple syrup to up the carbs. 

You will need the following:

100g grated zucchini

200g egg whites

1 whole egg

30g almond butter

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

vanilla essence

Mix everything in a blender and pour the runny mixture into a bread pan.  Bake for 15-20 minutes on 200 degrees.  

Makes 2 servings

Calories per serving 190

Protein 18g

Fat 11g

Carbs 3g

Frequent question. Why do I have to take Flaxseed oil?

Flaxseed and flaxseed oil (Linum usitatissimum)

Flaxseed is an oil-rich seed that has a nutty flavour. The seed contains vitamins, minerals, fibre, protein and essential fats that have many health and disease-fighting benefits. Flaxseed can be ground but also cold-pressed to produce flax oil. Flax oil contains high levels of the omega-3 fatty acid called alpha-linoleic acid---almost eight grams per tablespoon.

Omega-3 is a good heart-healthy fat that has the reverse effects of saturated fats, which are known to contribute to obesity, cardiovascular diseases, stroke and other degenerative diseases. Taken in supplement form, flaxseed oil can also be beneficial for weight loss because essential fats naturally satiate your appetite, help increase your metabolism, and curb cravings.

Flax oil aids in suppressing Appetite. The website Barleans says the essential oil found in flaxseed actually helps the stomach to retain food longer. When you take flaxseed oil with each meal, the food you've consumed is released more gradually into your small intestine, which slows digestion and helps regulate insulin levels. The result is a gradual steady drop in your blood sugar levels rather than a prolonged plateau, providing you with more energy and a sense of fullness after each meal.

Flax oil has shown to help curbs Cravings. The fatty acids in flaxseed are essential nutrients meaning your body is actually unable to convert other sources of foods into the essential fatty acids naturally found in flaxseed oil. Your body actually seeks out these essential nutrients in the foods you eat. When it can't find them, it detects a nutritional deficiency. The result is you continue to crave unhealthy fats and sweets.

They say Flax oil can boost Metabolism. The essential fatty acids found in flaxseed oil help increase your body's metabolic rate allowing you to burn excess fats your body doesn't need, including even unhealthy ones. According to the website, Ask Dr. Sears, your body burns this unwanted fat through thermogenesis, "...a process in which specialized fat cells throughout the body (called brown fat) click into high gear and burn more fat when activated by essential fatty acids, especially gamma-linoleic acid (GLA)."

So how do we use Flaxseed Oil?  The recommended dosage of flaxseed oil for weight loss or maintenance is one to two tsps. Per day divided between each meal. Taking flaxseed oil with each meal increases the nutritional value of other foods you're eating, especially foods rich in sulphated amino acids such as yogurt, cabbage, and animal, fish and soy proteins that help the absorption of essential fatty acids into your cell membranes. Make sure to refrigerate your flaxseed oil en use within 6 weeks of opening.

Basil pesto chicken with pine nuts

People who claim that they do not have time to prepare healthy meals... huh uhhhh! No excuses. I made this in 15minutes.  Be honest and say that you do not WANT to spend time preparing healthy meals.

Chop 4 chicken breasts and put in a non-stick pan.
Add 2 teaspoons basil pesto and about 30g pine nuts
Add spices to taste

Put the lid on and let it simmer for 10 minutes!

Bon ap!

Chicken nuggets

Hello Friends,

Hope you all had a great weekend?

I want to continue with my chicken parade.  I promised to share chicken ideas.

Today I came up with these fat free, and carb free chicken nuggets.

I marinated chicken in soy sauce, garlic and red onions for a few hours.

Then I put the chicken through the food processor. Adding about half a cup of egg whites and spices to taste.

I scooped spoon fulls on oven paper.

Popped them in the oven and 15minutes later!

Chicken smicken

Hello all and all...

I told you I will share my magnificent chicken ideas with you... So here is another.

You will need:
Skinless chicken pieces
1 beef stock cube
Dried onion flakes
Pepper

Just put all in a pot with about a liter of water, put lid on and let it simmer on low heat for about an hours.  You will end up with amazing juicy, falling-of-the-bone chicken!  As a bonus , you can use the gravy in the bottom of the pot! Yum!

Enjoy!

Chicken Breasts

Hello Friends,

I hope all of you had a great weekend.

I have decided to start dedicating some posts to chicken. lol...  The question I get asked the most probably , is how to get the friggin chicken tasty!?

This can be a daunting task at first, BUT practise makes perfect.  I will share some more chicken recipes with you guys :)

Here goes:

Marinate your chicken breasts overnight in a tablespoon of honey, generous squeeze of lemon and fresh rosemary. Pan fry in a light coating of olive oil on a how heat until you can see the breasts is cooked.  Then turn up your heat and the juice will start to caramelise.  DELICIOUS healthy chicken! Boom!

a beautiful warm beef salad!

This picture makes me want more!  I had this lovely salad as a dinner.

150g pan grilled beef strips
1 oven grilled aubergine
50g mashed avocado
and of course a scrumptious bed of salad leaves!

Enjoy!

Grain free Paleo bread

• Ladies and gentlemen.. One word for this bread. WOW! It is grain free, lactose free and super yummy! 
  
  
  
   
• 
  
• ½ cup Almond butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons Honey
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla essence
• 
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon

Mix everything with the hand blender until the consistency is creamy. Scoop batter into a greased pan and bake for 15 minutes at 200 degrees. 

Calorie breakdown:

Calories per serving (makes 4 servings) 220 

Carbs 12g

Fat 16g

Protein 8g

source: 

http://www.elanaspantry.com/paleo-breakfast-bread/