Skip to main content
0
Tag

healthy

May 16
Love0

Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Beetroot Protein Blondies

By Nutrition

Finally some great weather in Melbourne again this week! Hitting about 20 degrees every day 🙂 YAY.. Good week for nice weather as I have been flyering the streets all week for a promo we have on at work. Their are so many ups and downs being a promo girl. One minute everyone who walks passed smiles and accepts a flyer. The next minute a grumpy old man tells you to fuck off and you loose the will to live. I was just delirious most of the time as I was doing this on top of my usual personal training split shift (6am-10am then 4pm to 8pm). I have to say i’m glad promo week is over. Yesterday everyone could clearly tell I was over it and I was giving off the ‘wrong vibe’…. This resulted in a total of 4 fuck offs. I genuinely wanted to cry.. On the plus side, I have so many new clients from promo week so I can’t complain 🙂 🙂

Today I woke up with glands in my neck the size of golf balls. So I finished work, came home and passed out on the sofa for about 3 hours! On top of this I ate sooooooo much… I feel I need extra energy to fight off getting ill… (well thats my excuse). I’m also taking a few days off training which is super hard for me. I get stuck in my head that my muscles are going to fall off if I take like 3 rest days when I know this is clearly what I need. Its important to give the body rest. Listen to your body. If you feel like crap, don’t train. Often after taking 3-4 days rest you will actually come back stronger as well which is always amazing 🙂

So seeing as my sweet potato, protein, brownies were such a hit with all you fitness fanatics… I decided to make something similar. Clearly due to my stupidly long working hours this week, my head wasn’t screwed on properly and I thought… FUCK IT. Beetroot!!!! BEETROOT.. Bet your all thinking ‘eww gross‘. But for real. These are so yummy. The only reason I used beetroot was because I wanted to make them pink. Yes I could blab on about the health benefits of beetroot. But all I thought was YAY PINK! I also took on the challenge from one of my clients who wanted something gluten and dairy free to bake… Soooooo.. These are GLUTEN AND DAIRY FREE!!!! Not only that. They are free from refined sugar. WOOO 🙂

Beetroot Protein Blondies

Ingredients:

Makes 12

  • 2 eggs
  • 1 ripe banana
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 100g gluten free oats
  • 100ml unsweetened almond milk
  • 1 scoop of gluten free, dairy free protein powder (I used brown rice(vanilla))
  • 100g almond butter
  • 300g sweet potato (peeled)
  • 10 drops of vanilla stevia
  • 100g roasted beetroot
  • 30g gluten free, dairy free dark chocolate
  • 50g gluten free, dairy free granola (I used my homemade granola)

Dircetions:

Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees. Take the sweet potato and boil/steam/microwave until soft. While the sweet potato cooks, combine all other ingredients except the chocolate and granola. Once the sweet potato is soft, add to the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth consistency is reached. Pour the mixture into a cake tin and top with chopped dark chocolate and granola. Place into the oven for 20-25 minutes. You want them to still be slightly gooey when you take them out. Once cooked, remove from tin and allow to cool. They taste best when warm and can be re heated in the microwave 🙂

May 02
Love0

Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chip, Sweet Potato Protein Brownies

By Nutrition

Hellllll.. I’m going to get straight too it and say these are the best thing I have ever created in the kitchen! I mean Jesus Christ. These are fucking fantastic. I cannot wait to share the recipe with you!! Look at the name.. I couldn’t even work out what to call these things because no words can describe their greatness..

Okay sorry.. Blowing my own trumpet slightly here

Melbourne’s weather has been absolutely shocking this week. Why did no one warn me how bipolar the weather is here! Literally I walk to work in a fricking thunder storm. Two hours later I leave work to a stint of gorgeous sun. By the time I have walked home its blowing a hooly again and pissing it down with rain. Not Cool!

On the plus side, my ‘bulk’ is going absolutely fabulously. I have gained 1cm around my hips… 1 CENTER METER. Sounds like a pathetic gain but this is such an achievement for me as my glutes refuse to grow.. EVER. Only down side is my obliques have ballooned from the amount of heavy squats and dead lifts I’m doing, so I no longer have a waist. Just can’t win. Body sculpting is the most frustrating thing sometimes!!

The great thing about these brownies are that they provide you with protein, carbs and healthy fats making them the perfect post workout snack!

Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chip, Sweet Potato Protein Brownies

Ingredients:

Makes 9

  • 350g peeled sweet potato
  • 1 egg (or 2 egg whites)
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 100g natural peanut butter (or other nut butter)
  • 100g honey
  • 50g low fat greek yogurt
  • 20g wholemeal flour (use coconut flour for gluten free)
  • 50g oats
  • 1 scoop vanilla protein (I used Optimum Nutrition)
  • 75g dark chocolate chips

Directions:

Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees. Chop up sweet potato and steam, boil or microwave untill soft. When cooked, add to mixing bowl along with all other ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, then blend/whisk ingredients together. If the mix is too thick add a splash of almond milk. Pour the mixture into a greased or lined baking tin. Add the chocolate chips and slowly stir in. Because the mixture is warm from the sweet potato, the chocolate will begin to melt slightly giving that ripple look through the brownies. If you want your chocolate chips to stay whole then wait for the mixture to cool before adding the chocolate chips. Place baking tin into the oven for 20 minutes. They should be slightly gooey when you take them out the oven. Cut into 8 slices and leave to cool (if you can control your self)

Notes:

Try adding chopped nuts to the mixture along with the chocolate chips to give them more texture 🙂

 

Apr 22
Love1

Protein Ice Cream

By Nutrition

We are lucky fuckers this week here in Australia because this Friday is Anzac Day. That means another long weekend!! YAY.. Seeing as easter weekend was a bit of a blow out, food and money wise… This weekend will defiantly be a chilled one!

One of my clients came in today, first day back after the long weekend. She managed to not eat a single piece of chocolate this weekend! Not just chocolate, she didn’t cheat once.. Respect for that. Although she seemed annoyed at why her family and friends were so confused when she didn’t eat roast dinner, or indulge in the chocolate on offer. A lot of people struggle to keep old friends when moving to a fit healthy lifestyle and find they annoy their family.. This should totally not be the case. Firstly I will come back to my last post on getting the balance. If your healthy and on track 90% of the time you will see results. This is why you must plan cheats for times which are convenient. It would have been the perfect time for my client to have a cheat with her family and friends this weekend but she had it mid week instead!!  PLAN PLAN PLAN… Secondly, your going to piss people off if your out for lunch or dinner and you don’t eat anything. Don’t do it. You will not enjoy your self and you will kill the atmosphere for everyone else. Not only that you will get tones of comments like ‘are you starving your self‘ or ‘are you sure you don’t have an eating disorder‘.. Nothing more annoying than that!! Lastly, don’t talk about it, live it. No one wants to sit and listen to miss fitness in the corner who talks non stop about how long she worked out this morning and how she hasn’t eaten chocolate for 5 weeks in a row. THE PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING. Your friends and family will see how awesome you look so don’t lecture them about it! Give it time and people will be bugging you constantly to find out your ‘secret’ 🙂

So protein ice cream is something I eat daily. It is made with casein protein which is a slow release protein. It is digested and absorbed over a longer period of time. This leads to a constant supply of amino acids to the blood stream for up to 7 hours. Studies show this continual supply of amino acids may significantly slow down the break down of muscle while your asleep and fasting! This makes it the perfect bed time snack. The beauty of it is you can make it fit your macros. If your fat is low you can add a spoon of peanut butter. If your carbs are low, add some puffed brown rice for some crunch. If your proteins low add half a low fat, low carb protein bar. And if you don’t have many macros left, it’s delicious on its own!! 🙂

Ingredients:

Makes 1

Ice cream base:

  • 1 scoop of casein protein (I use 100% casein, Optimum nutrition in vanilla)
  • 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
  • 200ml unsweetened almond milk
  • 100ml water

Flavorings (optional):

  • 1tsp raw cacao powder
  • flavored stevia (caramel is great)
  • 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
  • 1 tbsp PB2

Directions:

Blend all the ‘base’ ingredients in a blender along with any additional flavorings wanted (I sometimes add all of them for a reeces peanut butter cup flavor). Place mixture in a bowl/tub and freeze for around 3 hours. Remove from the freezer and place back into the blender. Blend until smooth and ice crystals gone. At this point, if you want a thicker ice cream you can add a pinch more xanthan gum (a little goes a long way). If the ice cream is too thick and will not blend, add a splash of water. Put the ice cream back into a bowl and add any toppings..

Enjoy 🙂

 

Apr 21
Love0

Low Fat Hummus Recipe

By News

Firstly.. HAPPY EASTER! So everyone has hopefully had a fun filled,chocolate fueled weekend. I have a mega food baby and cannot wait to get my diet back on track! It’s all about balance in life. You must give your self time to cheat on your diet and have a blow out every now and again. I would literally drive my self mad if I couldn’t have chocolate. I personally allow my self one cheat meal a week which allows me to indulge in the foods I am craving while keeping on track. Cheats must be planned, not spontaneous. This way you can plan a cheat for when you deserve it and maybe on a convenient day. For me this is Saturday night as we always go out for meals. This will also prevent you from feeling guilty if you know you are having a treat because you really deserve it. The guilt will come when you have a random binge, mid week when you know you shouldn’t. This causes stress which is scientifically proven to make your body hold onto body fat…. DON’T STRESS!!!

So my tips for cheat meals are….

  1. Plan a time and day convenient for you to have a cheat meal
  2. Decide what you want to eat or where you want to go for a meal depending on what your craving. This will stop you eating everything you come across
  3. Don’t feel guilty! If it was planned and you ate what you craved then got back on track after the cheat then you cannot feel guilty. Remember stress causes you to hold fat!
  4. Don’t try and make your cheat healthy. If your craving something which is healthy.. Happy days 🙂 Go for it. But if you want cheese, go ahead and have cheese because that craving will not disappear until you satisfy it!
  5. Don’t go wild.. Its not a game of eat as much as you physically can. You will probably throw up!

So after we have all eaten too much chocolate you will be pleased to go wild with this savory recipe..WOOO SAVORY. This is my first savory post on the blog so I hope you like it! Most shop brought hummus is full of oil which makes it very high in fat and calories. It is also super expensive so why not make your own?

Ingredients:

  • 240g chickpeas
  • 50g peanut butter
  • 100g 0% fat greek yoghurt
  • Juice of one lemon
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.. Easy. Store in the fridge.

Notes:

There are many great variations to this recipe. Try using different nut butters for different flavors. Add roasted aubergine or red pepper?

Mar 24
Love0

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

By Nutrition

Monday came way too quickly this weekend and to top it off the weather is crap! Melbourne is slowly moving into winter. After spending the last 3 month in 30-40 degree weather, I cannot handle the cold right now. Got to work at 6 am for my first client today who brought me a box of frosties.. FROSTIES!!! I haven’t been able to find frosties in the supermarkets in Melbourne since arriving in Australia. They are my favorite cereal to have on my re-feed days and she clearly got fed up of my whining and got me some! Absolute BABBBEE!!

So my re-feed day is not until Saturday 🙁 and with a massive sweet craving I decided to bake some goodies.. These cookies are soooooooo yummy! They are low fat with no refined sugar. With just 70 calories per cookie.. (6g carbs, 1g protein and 4g fat)

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 13

Ingredients:

  • 100g oats
  • 50g dessicated coconut
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 scoop of protein powder (I used Optimum Nutrition Vanilla Ice Cream)
  • 10 drops of English toffee stevia
  • 30g of dark chocolate chips
  • 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

Directions:

Pre heat oven to 180 degrees. Combine all ingredients except chocolate chips in a bowl and stir until an even dough is formed. Mold 13 balls with hands and place on a baking tray. Carefully flatten balls and put 4-5 chocolate chips on each cookie, pressing them in to the dough. Bake in the oven for around 10 minutes.

Mar 19
Love0

Healthy Nutella Cookies

By Nutrition

When I am food shopping I purposely avoid the chocolate isle. My weakness is chocolate. So with easter looming, this is a hard time for me! The super markets have begun to fill every isle with chocolate deals. Not just the chocolate isle.. Every single isle!!!! Not only is there cute little chocolate bunnies and eggs on offer. The Nutella is half price.. HALF PRICE!! Why would they do this. I fricking love Nutella. Fortunately I managed to control my self and slowly strolled to the veggie section where I unenthusiastically filled my basket with leafy greens.

With an uncontrollable Nutella craving, I decided to whip up Nutella Cookies. This recipe was a complete fluke by throwing ingredients together and I have no idea how they taste so bloody good. They are dairy free, low in saturated fats and so speedy to make 🙂

Nutella Cookies

Makes 4

Ingredients:

  • 2 tbsp raw cacao powder
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • 10 drops of liquid hazelnut stevia
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tbsp nut butter (I used natural peanut butter)
  • 1 cup of wholemeal flour (approximately)

Dircetions:

Pre heat the oven to 180c. Put the nut butter in the microwave for around 1 minute or until soft. Add all wet ingredients together and stir until combined. whisk in the raw cacao then slowly add the flour. The mixture will form into a hard dough like consistency which you can mold with your hands. Split mixture into 4 and mold into 4 cookies. Place  cookies on baking tray and bake for 8 minutes. These taste the best out the oven. So If you manage to not scoff the lot, store in an air tight container once cooled.

Note:

Try dipping in almond milk. Literally the best thing ever!

 

Close Menu