Posts tagged food

I have been cooking this recipe since I left home. It is super easy, cheap and oh so good for you! I often cook it with chicken, but last night we had fish there and waiting, ready to cook, so I thought, ‘HUZZAH, CAJUN FISH’. Ingenious, I know!This recipe has your lean protein with the fish, your good fats from the avocado, chili for your metabolism, and your all essential vegies. I use the pre-mixed Cajun spice from the supermarket, but I have included the Cajun spices down the bottom as well. Enjoy x x

Cajun Fish

Serves 2

• 2 x firm white fish fillets / chicken breast, diced
• Cajun spices
• 1 tbs Extra Virgin olive oil
• Green veg to serve
• 2 tbs corainder, chopped

      The Salsa. Cha cha cha

• 1/2 an avocado, diced
• 1 tomato, finely diced
• Juice from 1/2 lemon
• Juice from 1/2 lime
• Sprinkle of Cajun Spices

Combine all Salsa ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.

Heat a pan to medium heat, add olive oil

Sprinkle cajun spices on fish generously, add to pan and sautee fish until just cooked.

Serve with half the salsa mix, top with the coriander and serve with your green veg.

Notes:

Cajun spice can be bought from any supermarket

The one I purchase contains the following flavours: salt, paprika, pepper, onion powder, dried basil, garlic powder, chilli, fennel, dried thyme

As a person who is always looking for new and inventive ways to eat clean and eat healthy, I love looking around to experiment with creating fun and tasty snacks, this way I’m not getting bored and still feel like I get to eat treats guilt-free! Finding wholefood, paleo-kinda, no sugar snacks is near impossible for the everyday person or expensive, so creating your own snacks is a great way to still enjoy the little treats in life.

So protein cookies, NO COME BACK! I PROMISE THESE ONES ARE GOOD! Phew, almost lost you there. There are a lot of recipes for whey protein and clean eating and yes, sometimes these recipes SUCK and you end up baking cookies that you make you lose faith in the healthy eating train! But fear not, my lovelies!! I found a cracker *taps the table with knuckles*! I use whey protein isolate powder, but if you don’t want to use that I’m sure you could experiment with different flours eg. coconut, or almond flour.

(This recipe was adapted from a recipe I found in Australian Oxygen Magazine, Dec/Jan 11/12)

PROTEIN COOKIES

(makes 6 cookies)

• 1/2 cup dessicated coconut
• 1 tbsp almond butter
• 1 scooop whey protein powder (I used unflavoured, but you could probably use any flavour)
• 1 egg white
• 2 packets of stevia, to taste
• 1/2 tsp baing powder
• 1/8 cup dates (or whatever you would like to put in it, eg carob chips, sultanas etc)

1. Preheat oven to 180C and line an oven tray with baking paper.

2. Combine all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl and mix with clean hands.

3. Shape the dough into golf size balls. Place onto the baking paper about 4cm apart. Bake for about 10 minutes. Serve. EASY AS PIE!… I mean cookies…

Tip: Take them out at 10 minutes or when they look just cooked. An overcooked protein cookie is a dry, unhappy protein cookie! 

I also tried experimenting with chocolate flavoured ones from raw cacao powder, however they didn’t turn out as tasty… I’ll keep you posted when I crack some other flaves… enjoy, my protein lovin’ readers…

It’s summer, Christmas was yesterday, and it’s time to get back into healthy eating. Do you know what that means? Salad! Now contrary to popular belief, I have found that you DO make friends with salad; for once The Simpsons were wrong. Everyone loves a salad. You’re body loves a salad. What more could you want? Every lunch I eat salad. Salad, salad, salad. I feel healthier, lighter, happier, and I am still able to fuel myself for the rest of the day and for training. Here’s how I do it:

1. Portion control: measure and weigh all your food
2. Party with variety: have different salad/veggies, dressings every day. This way you’re getting a variety of nutrients and you don’t get bored.
3. Protein: have protein with every meal. For lunch I aim for 100grams of protein.
4. Plan ahead: prepare all your meals in advance. Don’t leave anything to chance.
5. Pot of tea: wash it down with a herbal tea. It will help you feel full and aid digestion. Try green tea, peppermint tea, chamomile tea, lemongrass and ginger etc.

My set salad veg, avocado, carrot (absent: 2 hard-boiled eggs. They were boiling away.)

I always base my salads around a set salad veg. This makes it easier when my sister, Steph and I do our shopping for the week, we always know what to get…

Le Salade Base:

• Handful of baby spinach / handful of baby spinach + rocket / handful of mixed lettuce
• ½ tomato diced
• 6 slices of cucumber, halved 

Then decide what kind of salad it will become (dun, dun, dunnn) Add: 100grams of protein, extra veggies + salad dressing. Here are some ideas…

Le Salade Varieties: 

Chicken, mushrooms, capsicum, + seeded mustard + white vinegar

Tuna, cottage cheese, olives + drizzle balsamic vinegar

Chicken, avocado, Cajun seasoning, coriander + drizzle lemon/lime juice

Tuna, kiwi fruit + drizzle orange juice

Tuna, low-cal fetta, beetroot + salt ‘n pepper

Low-cal fetta, beetroot, walnuts + drizzle extra virgin olive oil

2 hard-boiled eggs, avocado, carrot + salt ‘n pepper

2 hard-boiled eggs, asparagus, green beans + balsamic vinegar

Pumpkin, chickpeas, coriander + olive oil + salt ‘n pepper

5 bean mix, avocado, Cajun seasoning, coriander + drizzle lemon/lime juice

Kangaroo fillet, snow peas, capsicum + ketjap manis + soy sauce + rice wine vinegar + chilli

Kangaroo fillet, carrot + dijon mustard + white vinegar

Lamb, low-calorie fetta + salt ‘n pepper

Chicken, capsicum, carrot, snow pea sprouts + teriyaki sauce + chilli

Chicken, red kidney beans, corn, salsa + cumin + turmeric + paprika + salt ‘n pepper

Tuna, potato, olives + oregano + lemon juice + extra virgin olive oil

Kangaroo, green beans, carrot + teriyaki sauce + rice wine vinegar + chilli

Tuna, carrot + salt ‘n pepper + white vinegar

So now get out there. Go make friends with salad… and you get to receive these comments that will make you smile…

“Oh you’re having salad again?”, “what is that, is that lettuce?”, “are you eating…an egg?”

Embrace le salade

It’s Christmas Eve!! Santa comes tonight!! However, I ain’t leaving Santa no milk and cookies, I’m leaving him celery and natural peanut butter. Protein and greens Santa, protein and greeeens.

This is one of the best times of the year. It’s hot, and sunny and we get to spend awesome times with family and friends. My family is a very close family and I don’t think we have ever spent a Christmas apart. However, because we love each other’s company so much we do tend to get a little over excited when we see each other; and when I say over excited I mean we eat and drink way too much. Does laughing too hard cancel either of those out? No? Oh well, we try anyway…

I love my family but sometimes when I’m training a lot or working towards a fight I do find these times so hard. To train hard I have to make sure I am putting the right fuels into my body, and putting in the wrong thing even if it’s miniscule, you do feel it. There have been times around family birthdays, but I’m trying to drop weight for a fight; oh man that sucks so bad! It’s hard to be around the people you love and they are all having a wonderful time enjoying each other’s company, drinking, eating platefuls of food, and chocolate. I used to get a little bit of pressure from them, but now they are incredibly supportive of my goals, and my choices. They worry if my training, life balance is a bit out of whack, but that’s just because they love me.

Luckily this Christmas I don’t have to be incredibly careful watching what I eat, but I don’t want to be too silly, as I am fighting at the end of January and February. My last fight was two weeks ago, and I’m just coming back into training now after two weeks of rest, and when I say rest I mean NO training, more sleeping, and a few more carbs! It was nice, good times, good times. Now, these ‘good times resting’ did result in me putting on a kilo, dammit. Overall, that’s not too bad really. There are a lot of fighters that put on 5-10kg and I’m nowhere near that. Yay. I do want to stay small as I’m fighting at 54kilos at the end of February and my trainer suggested fighting smaller. That. Will be. Tough.

So, to get through this holiday season, enjoy my time with my family, and keep working towards my fitness goals, I am going to set myself Christmas goals. JINGLE GOALS! I am going to be proud of myself on Christmas day, and after it. No matter what…

My Christmas goals:

• I will drink my normal 2-3 litres of water per day
• I will train every day
• I will still eat my normal 5 small meals per day in the Christmas lead up and post Christmas wind down and prepare things in advance (eg. To have my silent snack assassin almond stash in my bag)
• I will still eat clean; whole foods, fruit, vegies, protein, avoid the things I don’t eat anyway like sugar! And on Christmas Day, to NOT overindulge on sugar. (It gives me heart palpatations. Does it stop me from eating it? Ummm no)
• I will serve myself small servings, no more than I normally eat.
• When I’m full I will push my plate away.
• I will be proud of myself, my eating and my training after Christmas day
• I will still be focused and disciplined with my training and the fuel I put into my body
• I will enjoy my time with my family, not be over-obsessive about my food and training, and have an nice even balance around Christmas time
• I will train hard leading right up to Christmas day. Every second counts.
• I will get up early and train Christmas morning, and enjoy the beautiful Christmas morning outside. Have you ever been out Christmas morning? It’s so quiet!
• I will have a Christmas Day afternoon siesta. It has to be done. Therefore it gets a goal.

So take that, Santa! Have a face full of these instead…

I’ve got abs to look after…