FitBody Fifty

Shorter days, bigger effort

noreply@blogger.com (Kek) — Fri, 24 May 2013 00:55:00 +0000

Ugh. Winter and its short, dark days. (Image source))

Whoa. Where did my week go? I swear it was Monday just yesterday...

You know those weeks where it feels as though all your days fly past in a blur of: Training, work, cooking, eating, sleeping, rinse, repeat? Yeah, it's been one of those.

I put it down to the effect of the shorter days. During the lovely, long days of summer, I seem to easily fit so much more into twenty-four hours than at this time of year. I mean, yesterday I noticed that the sun had set by 5:15pm. Blah. I have a natural urge to hibernate when it's cold and gloomy, not to mention dark for like fourteen hours a day.

So it's kind of strange that I've had absolutely no difficulty getting up early every day to train. A couple of times I've even found myself wide awake a few minutes before the alarm was due to go off. Mind you, I still don't like getting out of my warm bed when it's chilly out, but my commitment is holding firm. I'm a woman on a mission, and that mission is to regain my former fitness and strength, however long that takes.

This week's training has really taken things up a notch. First, there was the weekend, where on Saturday I decided to treat myself to a Spinervals workout and on an impulse, pulled out one of the On The Road series. It was the Tucson Training Ride, and I picked Workout B, the Gates Pass ride (there are two), which is described like this:

Workout 'B' is a varied workout for aerobic development and power building and will have you ride up the front side of famous Gates Pass Road into the breathtaking beauty of the Saguaro National Forest where you'll buzz around McCain Loop Road. Then the suffering really happens as you climb up the backside of Gates Pass which kicks up to over a 14% grade!

Sounds like fun, no? Good thing my idea of fun is different to most people's. This was an absolute killer sixty-five or so minutes of hill climbs, with some downhill sprints now and then for relief. The pretty desert scenery provided a small amount of distraction from the pain. ;o)

On Sunday, of course, I did the 300 workout.

Monday, I took it easy. No, I did not sleep in; I went to the gym and did an easy-ish thirty-five minutes of cardio, alternating between the treadmill and elliptical. Then in the evening I jumped on my spin bike at home and pedalled steadily for 40 minutes while watching a couple of old episodes of the Big Bang Theory.

Tuesday was my regular RPM class. I was extremely happy with my performance this week. I always do OK on the climbs, but sprints are my weakness. However, this week I managed for the first time to wipe the speed off the screen - there's an upper limit of 140 RPM on those computers, so once you tip over that speed, the cadence readout disappears. I have never done that before, but in Tuesday's class I did it twice. Go, me!

Wednesday, I decided I was sick of the same old thing for cardio; it was time for some FUN. So I hunted through my files and pulled out an old program that Liz had given me as part of my contest prep training back in 2007 or 2008. Who could resist a workout titled: Who's the nutter on the treadmill? I printed it out in a nice big font - cannot read less than about 16-point font without my glasses these days - and packed it in my gym bag the night before. It did the job; got me sweating and got me plenty of funny looks. What? Who doesn't do walking lunges on the treadmill? And then a series of Cathe firewalkers and BOSU squats? Pfft, it's not like they haven't seen that before...

On Wednesday night, I realised that my killer DOMS from Sunday's workout had finally subsided. And you know what that means... Yep, it was time to do another 300 workout on Thursday morning. I took a lesson from Sunday's effort and swapped in lat pulldowns for the inverted rows, plus picked a more sensible weight for my triceps pushdowns. I had to use a dumbbell instead of a kettlebell for my swings too because I was at the gym and: no kettlebells. Other than that, it was the same, and this time I got through it in 34 minutes.

This morning, I picked another of Liz's crazy workouts; this time the Psycho Bike Legs Complex. That was a fun little combo of seated climbs, Tabata-style sprint intervals, bodyweight squats and squat jumps (for time), repeated for just over 30 minutes. Now, that's how I like my cardio: Short, varied and hard enough to leave me in a sweaty, gasping heap. Also? It's over and done with early and I can get on with my day.

Tomorrow I'd like to get out on the bike, but that will depend on the weather. It'll have to be fairly early, because Bike Boy and I have a big weekend planned. It's our wedding anniversary tomorrow and we're off for a couple of days to enjoy ourselves with some of our favourite indulgences. :) Sunday will definitely be a rest day.

It's taken me a remarkably short time to get myself back almost to my peak cardio fitness, which just shows that solid planning and consistency in executing the plan are all that's really required. Well, there's obviously a bit more to it than that, but that's a whole other post.

The key to keeping myself interested in my training is definitely variety. I'm not a class person (I make an exception for RPM), so thank goodness I have dozens of Liz's workouts available, workouts from five Phat Camps, plus thirty or forty DVDs to choose from, and of course plenty of my own creations too. If I had to spend my days plodding on a treadmill at the gym like most people down there seem to do, I'd go insane.

Do you love variety in your training, or do you prefer to do the same kinds of things over and over?

Am I a Spartan yet?

noreply@blogger.com (Kek) — Sun, 19 May 2013 20:00:00 +0000

Yesterday I did a 300 workout. Remember the movie, 300? The one full of buff, shirtless Spartans in leather undies, waving swords around and showing off their gleaming bronzed flesh? Nah, I never saw it either... but ever since it was released back in 2007, the training regime that got the actors into tip-top physical condition for their roles has been very popular.

It's a very simple (note: I said simple, not easy) resistance training program, where the basic idea is to do a total of 300 reps in your workout. The original program that the actors apparently followed can be found here and includes pull ups, box jumps and floor wipers, none of which I'm about to attempt with my various dodgy body parts. But that's OK, because you can do any combination of exercises you like, and break them down into however many sets it takes to get it done.

My task was to perform six exercises, which had to include:

One whole-body exercise, preferably using weights
Two upper body exercises
Two lower body exercises
One abdominal exercise

AND to complete 50 reps of each in a total time of between 20 and 60 minutes.

The first one took a bit of thought. Things like burpee pushups were out, because of my stupid shoulder. Can't do a single pushup at the moment. Push-press? Nup. Can't do any overhead presses, or actually any push movements at all with my upper body. *sigh* Eventually, I came up with a solution: kettlebell swings! So this was my plan:

1. Kettlebell swings: 25/15/10
2. Dumbbell squat: 25/15/10
3. Inverted row: 25/15/10
4. Stiff-legged deadlift: 25/15/10
5. Triceps pushdown: 25/15/10
6. Plank with lateral "walk": 25/15/10

Ideally, I'd have put a chest and a back exercise in there, rather than back and triceps, but you have to work with what you've got and my anterior delts are pretty well cactus at the moment, so there's no chest anything in my repertoire right now. Except stretches - and even those are incredibly painful. I'm working on it, but it's slow...

The kettlebell swings were fine. Not easy, but fine. The squats? No problem, apart from burning quads and glutes. I ripped through my first two exercises pretty quickly and started to think I was going to be done in twenty minutes....

Then about five reps into my inverted rows, I started wondering what the HELL I was thinking? My upper body strength is way under par, thanks to a prolonged period of basically not being able to anything much at all. I persevered, although I had to break the 50 reps down into six sets to get through it. Sheesh. The deadlifts went OK, as I knew they would - I do those pretty regularly, after all. Triceps pushdowns? I'd tested out a couple of different weights: one was too easy, the next increment I thought might be a bit tough, but I settled on it anyway. Turns out, I was right and again, I had to break my reps down into six sets, with the last one being a measly three reps. Almost there. I was sweating, my heart was racing and my arms and shoulders were letting me know they were NOT happy.

I thought the plank walks would be no big deal. Um, I forgot to take into account my banged-up left elbow, which doesn't like any weight on it at all, and the painful burn on my right forearm. Yeah, that was a really smart choice of exercise... But once I start something, I refuse to quit, so I adjusted my arm position as best I could, gritted my teeth and just did it anyway. When I was finished, I realised I could have done them with my hands on the floor and arms extended. D'oh!

The whole thing ended up taking me 44 minutes, thanks to the longish rests and multiple sets on my upper body exercises, but I got through it.

My verdict? It was an awesome resistance training workout, and thanks to the high reps and reasonably rapid speed required, I'm betting it got my metabolism pumping and burned significant calories. Would I do it again? Absolutely - only I'd choose my exercises a bit more carefully, and I think I'll wait for this burn to heal before trying any kind of plank again.

I may even make this a weekly "thing".

Having looked up the movie on Wikipedia just now to get the link, I'm reminded that Gerard Butler stars in it. And I discovered that Dominic West (of The Wire and The Hour fame) and one of my all-time favourite Aussie actors, David Wenham, are also in it. I may just have to get hold of a copy and watch it. Purely for research purposes, of course. You know, to assess the actors' physiques and judge whether or not the training program really did the job. Nothing at all pervey about it....

Have you ever tried a 300 workout? How did you find it?

How not to cook

noreply@blogger.com (Kek) — Sat, 18 May 2013 03:39:00 +0000

This post is brought to you by my own stupidity.

Yesterday's Food Revolution Day posts showcased a couple of easy Jamie Oliver recipes, some local produce and featured me telling you how easy it all was. I did leave something out though ....I'm not known for my grace and poise, and true to form, in the course of providing those recipes and photos for your reading (and hopefully cooking) pleasure, I sustained a nasty burn to my arm.

I may have been cooking for forty years, but I'm still a bit prone to grating my fingers, slicing bits off my nails and dropping sharp kitchen implements perilously close to my bare feet. I generally manage not to injure myself too badly, up till last night, anyway.

I can't even recall what actually happened, but somehow, as I took the cooked fruit crumble out of the oven and went to set it on the stove top, the dish slipped. Instinct took over - I could visualise the heavy Corningware dish hitting the glass of the open oven door (yikes!) and/or hot food splattering all over the kitchen and ME and I just leaned in and quickly grabbed at it. Unfortunately, I was in the wrong position to grab it with my oven mitt-clad hands, and instead, managed to catch it between my body (luckily, I was wearing several layers of clothing), the stove front....and my bare right forearm.

I'll give you some free advice:

1. Don't do this.

2. If you ignore my first piece of advice, run the burn under cold water for a LONG time and then go get some Solosite gel and a clear film dressing from your local pharmacy.

Encased in shiny plastic and a bit crusty round the edges today, but otherwise OK. I realised
this morning that the green criss-crossy bit was supposed to have been peeled off. Stupid #2.

The gel killed most of the pain and the film kept my clothes from rubbing against the blister. I slept like a log and it looks pretty good this morning.

Please make me feel better by leaving a comment telling me all about your kitchen injuries, would you?

Food Revolution Day - Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Kek) — Fri, 17 May 2013 09:50:00 +0000

Food Revolution Day went - well, pretty much a lot like every other day in our house. Apart from the bit where I got off my butt and drove up the road to buy some local produce, which I blogged about earlier today. I flicked through our cook books and searched online and eventually chose to make two Jamie Oliver recipes to create a two-course dinner.

First up was his superb squash soup, which really was superb, and easy to make (Tip: If you use a food processor to chop the veggies, it's even easier).

The base: celery, carrot, onion, garlic - plus herbs from the garden

This recipe used the pumpkin I bought (or squash, if you're from anywhere in the world but Australia, apparently), plus fresh rosemary and sage from our herb planters and a few staples out of the fridge. I also used our home made chicken stock, instead of stock cubes, as we always have a supply in the freezer.

These plants have gone nuts. Anyone need some fresh herbs?

For once, I made no substitutions to the original recipe, although I didn't make the croutons, because: bread. I did, however, add some sliced pre-cooked chicken breast to my bowl to satisfy my protein needs. The flavour was magnificent, with just the right amount of kick from the chilli. And the fried sage leaves crumbled on top added a lovely finishing touch.

The finished product: superb! (No croutons, though)

To use some of my lovely apples and pears plus the raspberries, I decided to go for one of my old stand-bys and make a fruit crumble for dessert. I chose Jamie's apple crumble recipe as a starting point, using half apples and half pears and tossing in the raspberries once the other fruit was cooked. I really liked this recipe, which had oats in the crumble topping - although this time I did make some tweaks.

I had no wholemeal plain flour, so used wholemeal spelt flour instead. And I swapped the caster sugar for some rapadura sugar, just because. I could have used coconut oil or coconut butter instead of the butter, and might do that next time. Some shredded coconut in the topping would be nice as well.

Sweet, sweet deliciousness!

The verdict? Easy, delicious and hearty. These two courses could just about make up one of Jamie's famous 30 Minute Meals, they were so quick to whip up.

Food Revolution Day wasn't a stretch for me, to be honest - we cook our meals from scratch 90% of the time anyway. But it did make me think about where my ingredients came from, and how to source more food locally.

I know I'm lucky to have a fruit orchard nearby, and we have a number of farms selling fresh eggs too. It's only a short drive to Donnybrook Cheese, where I can buy cheese, yoghurt, cream and butter that's as fresh as you can possibly get. Their hot ricotta is a creamy dream come true. Mmm... And we have a few farmers markets that may be small, but offer quality products (like this one at Hurstbridge). I just need to be organised and make an effort to get to these places more often.

Really, these were super-easy dishes to make - you can't use the excuse that cooking is too difficult or takes too long with these two.

Did anyone else join in Food Revolution Day? Leave me a comment - and a link if you have one - and let me know. And you can check out what other people got up to if you scoot over to Emma's blog and scroll down to the comments.

Food Revolution Day

noreply@blogger.com (Kek) — Fri, 17 May 2013 01:44:00 +0000

Today, I'm taking part in Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Day, along with a number of other bloggers, including Emma from The Scoop on Nutrition. Thanks for the heads-up, Emma - I might have missed this if not for your tweets. :)

What's it all about? The FRD website explains it this way:

Food Revolution Day on 17 May is a global day of action for people to make a stand for good food and essential cooking skills. It's a chance for people to come together within their homes, schools, workplaces and communities to cook and share their kitchen skills, food knowledge and resources. Food Revolution Day aims to raise awareness about the importance of good food and better food education for everyone by focusing on three simple actions – cook it, share it, live it. The first Food Revolution Day took place on 19 May 2012 with more than 1,000 events in 664 cities across 62 countries. Find out all about Food Revolution Day 2012 here.

One of the focuses of this particular challenge is to use local ingredients wherever possible. Luckily for me, living on the outskirts of the city means that we have actual farms on our doorstep. So this morning after having my pesky elbow x-rayed, I zipped up the road to Yan Yean to the local orchard and berry farm and picked up some goodies that were produced right there - only 6km from my front door.

Today there was nobody manning the shop, so they had priced packs of fruit and veg on tables outside with a "leave your money in the tin" note. Cute. :)

Butternut pumpkin, Pink Lady apples, Beurre Bosc pears & the last raspberries of the year.

Obviously, I have a fridge, freezer and pantry full of ingredients too, but these - plus some of our home-grown herbs - will be the feature of my meal.

Not being ~~very well~~ at all organised, I haven't decided exactly what I'm making yet, but I will come up with something. I'm supposed to use one of Jamie's recipes - as we own three of his cookbooks and so many of his recipes are online, I'm sure I can easily find something using my chosen ingredients.

I'll be back later with my report.

You could join me and cook something spectacular yourself - if you do, please leave me a comment and/or a link to your blog post. Or just follow what other people are producing in their kitchens on Twitter or Instagram: the hashtag is #FRD2013

Nude food

noreply@blogger.com (Kek) — Mon, 13 May 2013 20:00:00 +0000

HeartActive is a delicious, 99% fat free milk enriched with plant sterols, which are proven to help reduce cholesterol. Research shows that consuming plant sterols everyday in milk can reduce cholesterol by an average of 10% in three weeks. HeartActive is currently available in a 1L carton with an extended shelf life (45 days from production) compared to regular white milks with a shelf life of 14 days.

I don't know about you, but I like the food I eat to be as close to its original, natural state (hence my use of the word "nude" in the post title. Oh, alright, it was also an attention-grabbing ploy. Busted!) when I buy it as possible. I'm not some extreme earth-mother hippy type, sprouting my own mung beans and weaving them into kaftans or anything, I just like my food made of FOOD. So I mostly manage to construct my meals of fresh meat - I'm including fish and poultry in "meat" - eggs, dairy products, nuts and fruits and veggies.

Realistically, unless you happen to own a hugely varied mixed farm and can produce your own everything, you're going to have to rely on some packaged items from the centre aisles of the supermarket. Some of my regular purchases are things like rolled oats, rice, tuna, a few canned veggies, nut butters, vinegars, oils and flours. The odd block of chocolate may also find its way into my trolley. I have no idea how it gets there.

Really, NO idea.....

Still, most of the stuff I use that comes in packages is also whole foods. But when I do pick up a bag, carton or box containing a mixture of ingredients, I want to know what's in it. Reading nutrition panels and ingredient lists has become just a normal thing for me; I've been doing it for years.

How do I decide whether or not a product is OK? I have a few criteria, and my first one is this: Ideally, all of the ingredients must be real foods. If the list descends into things that have numbers instead of names, or those that look like they belong in a science lab, not on a farm, then I'm immediately wary. I also use a LOT of common sense and don't get all angsty just because A Current Affair ran some dodgy story about a particular product/additive/production process.

Additives aren't all bad. Some are essential so that the food doesn't spoil. For instance, salt has been used as a preservative for millennia, and whilst we don't want to over-consume it, the mineral itself isn't evil.

My view is that stuff that's added to foods in this country isn't likely to be a problem for most people - but that reactions to certain substances are often dose-dependent. Which means that a tiny amount of additive X probably won't cause a drama for someone who's a little sensitive to it, but a large amount might. Which only backs up my approach of keeping those things to a minimum.

I'm not playing down the impact of some additives on susceptible people, but the folklore that often grows around these things can get a bit hysterical.

One additive that the rumour mill went a bit wild over in recent years is milk permeate. It's bad for you; it's good for you; it's just the dairy producers trying to save money by watering down our milk. Personally, permeate in my milk is not one of the things I worry about. And all of the sources I checked - which included registered dieticians, government health bodies, as well as the dairy industry - agree that there's no reason to worry. But if you do still happen to have concerns, relax. There is a wide variety of permeate-free milk available. Heart Active (my anti-cholesterol secret weapon) is one of them.

I'm a lot more concerned about consuming artificial sweeteners (or an excess of natural sweeteners, for that matter), trans fats, high fructose corn syrup and my list goes on. But whatever your concerns, it's good to know that there are products available that you can buy with confidence, knowing that they don't contain X, Y or Z that you're trying to avoid.

Sponsored Series by Nuffnang Australia

Happy Mothers Day... and a race report

noreply@blogger.com (Kek) — Sun, 12 May 2013 03:12:00 +0000

Happy Mothers Day to all the mums, grandmas, aunties, godmothers and anyone else who has anything to do with bringing up kids. You're all awesome and should receive chocolate for your efforts.

I don't know what Mothers Day is like in your house, but here's how my morning went, in pictures:

Up early in time to catch this spectacular sunrise from the front porch

Some gorgeous flowers from my eldest. The others were still snoozing.

My reason for being up so frighteningly early. Lovely Jose, I miss you.

Waiting for the starter's siren

Number One Son. I don't think he was fully awake. Scary, since he drove us there. ;) I was thrilled to have him with me.

There was pink everywhere - also some fab and fun costumes.
These ladies were good sports; happy to pose for a photo.

The Anderson St hill is a killer! These girls cheering us on were exactly what was
needed. Other signs read "We love men in tights" and "Tight butts drive us nuts". Hehe.

More costumes. Fairies can run pretty fast, you know.

Just past the finish line. The number of participants was crazy - this doesn't even begin to show what it was like.

Keeping it real. No makeup, no carefully arranged expression, windblown
hair, flushed face... I may not look pretty, but I DO look like I just ran 4kms.

I didn't hit a PB; but that's OK because I wasn't even aiming for one. My goal was simply to finish and preferably to run the whole thing. That bloody hill got the better of me (mainly because I started out a bit over-enthusiastically. Oops) and I had to walk about 50m in the middle of it. But I'm happy with my effort anyway, finishing in 26:47 - that's a 6.6km pace, which may not be fast, but will do for a start. It's been a long time between runs.

Coffee was drunk post-race, then we headed home. I'm going out for lunch shortly with my mum and my sisters, and then it's a family dinner at home when the younger boys have finished work.

Whatever you're getting up to, I hope you have a great day. :)

Fitter, stronger, faster

noreply@blogger.com (Kek) — Sat, 11 May 2013 00:06:00 +0000

THis morning I hopped on the mountain bike for the first time in three weeks. Last weekend Bike Boy was sick and I had other training commitments anyway. The previous week it was blowing a gale - vile weather for cycling.

Today was one of those clear, crisp autumn mornings. The air was cold, but I've bought up big in the online sales and now have base layers, arm and leg warmers, liner gloves and a wind-proof jacket, so I'm (almost) all set for the colder weather. I missed a bargain long sleeved winter jersey on Cell Bikes the other day because I dithered too long and they sold out. I'm still kicking myself. Anyway...

We headed to the park as usual and rode along gravel, dirt and grassy tracks, with Bike Boy leading the way. At the end of the main access road, he swung left. Uh-oh. That's a steep, narrow, downhill dirt track that I don't particularly love. There IS a platform at the bottom of the track, overlooking the Plenty River and the old homestead, which is a good place to take a break before heading back home. But there's that very steep uphill bit to get back to the road...

I love a view!

So after a rest and a drink, we started back up the hill. It's not that long but it IS really steep - and it kicks up just before the top. I told myself I could do it; that after that killer climb in Bright, this would be a piece of cake. I picked my third-lowest gear, and just spun my legs. I dropped down another gear halfway up, saving the last one for the final, steeper section. I was pretty pleased with myself as I powered up that thing!

I flew over the bump at the top onto the flat road and looked down at my gears to change back up ....and realised that I wasn't in my lowest gear at all. I thought I was using my small chain ring, but nuh-uh. I'd accidentally left that thing on the middle ring.

Seems I'm stronger and fitter than I realised. :)

Have you ever had a moment where you realised your fitness had progressed way further than you thought?

=========================================

P.S. I was grateful that I didn't fall off going down the hill. I'm still having issues with my left elbow from the spill I took in Bright. My GP doesn't think it's fractured (I can flex, extend and rotate with no dramas), but isn't quite sure what's going on with it, because almost six weeks later, it's still very swollen and painful, with a weird pocket of fluid right on the pointy bit. We're betting on a local infection - I did gouge a deep chunk out of it, which is all healed up now - and trying antibiotics. If that doesn't work, I'll have to get some imaging done to see what's going on.

I should post a photo - it's quite spectacular, in a gruesome kind of way...

Spice up your life

noreply@blogger.com (Kek) — Fri, 10 May 2013 03:51:00 +0000

Most of this week has been kind of boring in the food department. I had plenty of good food on hand, but lacked time and motivation to do anything much with it. So my lunches alternated between grilled chicken with baked kumera and some steamed veggies or a frittata that I'd whipped up last Sunday.

Breakfast was my standard oats, whey and (home-made cashew) milk. Snacks were just as repetitive: apples, bananas and a home made protein bar - which was delicious, but by Thursday I was kind of over it. All of those things are foods that I love and meals I'm happy to eat, but not on high rotation. Aargh!

So today at lunch time, I finally got around to trying out the Heart Foundation recipe I mentioned a few days ago. (Yes, it was going to be Tuesday's dinner, but Bike Boy was away and I was late home and just could not be arsed.)

Oh, the flavours! Party in my mouth!

There are heaps of recipes over on the Heart Foundation's website, but the one that caught my eye was green curry risotto with salmon, because: CURRY. And SALMON. Two of my favourite things.

I'd grabbed some salmon fillets, a green chilli and a can of coconut flavoured evaporated milk at the supermarket this morning; we already had everything else on hand. Or SO I THOUGHT... until I started grabbing the ingredients and made the irritating discovery that we only had about two tablespoons of arborio rice left. Drat. I could have run around to the milk bar to see if they stocked it; they have a pretty good range of groceries. But I was hungry already and wanted to get started, so I did what I've done before: substituted basmati rice. I can hear the gourmet foodies among you gasping in horror - but hey, I've done it before and whilst it isn't the same texture, nor quite as creamy, it gives a good enough result. Just keep adding liquid and keep tasting for tenderness until it's right.

Anyway, I halved the recipe, as I only wanted lunch for myself - one leftover portion is fine, but I didn't need three. It all worked beautifully. I quickly made the marinade, threw the fish in and stuck it back in the fridge while I set about making the risotto. I used vegetable stock instead of chicken stock, only because it was on sale at Coles. Either works just fine. I also took a shortcut with a bought curry paste - we often have home-made pastes in the fridge, but not today.

The risotto worked out well - it probably took about 40 minutes all up. It needed an extra cup or two of water after I'd used all the stock, which may be because I was using the wrong rice. I grabbed basil, Thai basil and Vietnamese mint from our garden and some coriander from the fridge (cannot grow that sucker!) for my chopped fresh herbs. I seared the salmon to give it a crispy, slightly blackened finish, but then turned the heat down to make sure it cooked through.

One addition I made to the recipe was to chop - and then steam till almost cooked - a bunch of asparagus and one of baby bok choy, then add them to the rice after I added the evaporated milk. Every meal needs veggies plus I thought the risotto looked a bit kind of beige and boring on its own. The bits of green really gave it some visual pizazz to match the flavour.

The taste was sublime. Extra lime squeezed over it is a must. Never mind the fact that this is jammed full of Omega-3s and quality protein, with nothing nasty added; it is truly a delicious meal you could proudly serve to anyone.

If you'd like the recipe, just pop over to the Heart Foundation's website (or to browse some of the other yummy ideas there).

Just what we all need: Killer flavour that's not going to contribute to an early demise. :)

Recipe alert!

noreply@blogger.com (Kek) — Tue, 07 May 2013 20:43:00 +0000

A while back, I promised to re-post the old recipes from Kek's Good Food that got lost in the transfer over to FitBodies Food on WordPress. Damn you, technology! I'm doing it in dribs and drabs because, frankly, it's tedious...

Anyhoo, I've got another up for you now - my savoury pancakes with roasted capsicum salsa. These are SO yummy, and I'd forgotten all about them. I think they may just be on the menu this weekend. :)

Heart Week

noreply@blogger.com (Kek) — Mon, 06 May 2013 20:00:00 +0000

I'm a little slow off the starting blocks here (I blame screen-free week for messing with my blogging routine), but this week is Heart Week, a campaign run run by the Heart Foundation aimed at improving the heart health of Australians.

You might remember that a few weeks back, I attended a wonderful evening featuring healthy food, great company and very useful information, courtesy of the Heart Foundation. Let me remind you....

Photos courtesy of Brand Meets Blog

Probably the only time you'll ever see me in an apron.

One of the key messages the Heart Foundation want to get across is that many people don't recognise the symptoms of a heart attack. Here's something you might not know: Not everyone experiences chest pain. Something really simple that we all can do is to learn the warning signs of a heart attack. That way we can act immediately and call 000 if we experience them - and greatly increase our chances of survival.

You're probably thinking: But what if it's not a heart attack? I don't want to call an ambulance if it's a waste of time. Well, you know what? Wasting the ambos' time is the best possible outcome. If it's not a heart attack? Awesome; you'll be fine. But if it is...you've probably just saved your own life - or the life of someone close to you.

I take this stuff seriously. Although my risk of heart disease is relatively low, it increases with age and for women, with menopause too. And there's some family history too; a trifecta, yay! I can't change any of those risks, but as I've said before, I'm doing what I can to reduce all of the risks that I can control through lifestyle choices.

So to mark Heart Week, tonight I'm going to test out another of the tasty recipes on the Heart Foundation's website and will share it with you a bit later in the week. Meanwhile, click on the link, go have a look yourself and see if something takes your fancy.

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. No payment was received and opinions expressed here are my own. Good health through nutrition and lifestyle is something I feel strongly about. If this post provides the impetus for just one person to educate themselves about heart attack symptoms, or to add some new healthy recipes to their repertoire, then I'll be content.

This post is not intended as medical advice or to treat any existing illness. If you have any heart or other health concerns, please consult a qualified medical practitioner.

Screen-free week - recap

noreply@blogger.com (Kek) — Sun, 05 May 2013 21:35:00 +0000

Phew! It's good to be back. Screen-free week was a bit tough. No TV, I can cope with - but no social media, no constant Googling for ~~vital information~~ trivial crap, no checking out eBay for bargains.... seriously, I felt like I'd lost a limb or something.

There were some good things about spending less time staring at an electronic screen though. For a start, as expected, my house is tidier and cleaner than usual. I've ripped through some books as well - usually I get to read a couple of pages in bed before my eyes close... Plus, getting some extra exercise time in of an evening was no drama. Apart from that, there were some highlights:

Bike Boy discovered that the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra was playing at Hamer Hall on Thursday night, and managed to get us "rush" A-reserve tickets at a teeny-tiny $40, instead of the full price of $120. So we had front-row dress circle seats for a simply outstanding performance of Berlioz, Mozart and Richard Strauss. The Strauss piece was Thus Spake Zarathustra. If you don't think you know it, click on the link and play the audio under the photo of conductor Sir Andrew Davis - I absolutely guarantee you will know the first movement.

Amazing doesn't begin to describe it. It's been way too long since we attended a live classical music performance; we'll definitely be doing it again (especially now that we know about the super-cheap tix!).

Great seats!

I also had plenty of time for kitchen experiments. Inspired by some FB posts last week from Raina, I had a go at making nut milk from cashews. SO easy, and so, so good! I have a lovely big bottle in the fridge now, and it's making a daily appearance in my porridge this week. I've also got some more coconut yoghurt on the go; this time, from my home-made coconut milk. The weather's turned decidedly chilly, so I'm not sure how that's going to go, but time will tell. As well, I quickly churned out a batch of delicious low-carb coconut-cashew bars, thanks to a recipe from Healthy Helpings. Yum! High-fat, high protein, low carb - just what I needed.

On the weekend, I got frustrated at not being able to find a knitted wool scarf in just the right shade of dark grey that isn't frilly, tasselled or glittery. Well, I actually found some, but I'm not paying $70 for a scarf. So I ran the gauntlet of Sunday morning shoppers at Spotlight, picked up some wool/alpaca yarn and am busily knitting one that will be just right. I think the last time I picked up knitting needles was to make baby clothes for one of my offspring. That's a while ago...

All-up, it was an interesting experience, but I'm happy to be back. I expect it will take me the rest of the week to catch up on blog reading. Forgive me if I don't comment; time may be a little short. :)

Recipe alert! Lemon-blueberry baked cheesecake

noreply@blogger.com (Kek) — Thu, 02 May 2013 21:00:00 +0000

I'm about to make your Friday awesome.

Click here for the most perfect sweet, creamy, yet healthy snack or dessert you've ever tasted.

You're welcome.

I'm participating in screen-free week, so I'm not really here (shh...). All of my posts this week have been written in advance and set to publish each day for your information and entertainment. ;o)

Wardrobe update

noreply@blogger.com (Kek) — Wed, 01 May 2013 20:00:00 +0000

If you've been a reader of this here blog for a while, you might remember that about twelve months ago, I had a personal stylist come and give my wardrobe a complete makeover. It was fun, enlightening and I finally figured out what my style is.

Since then, I have aimed to follow Meaghan's advice when buying anything new - and I'd say I've succeeded 90% of the time. There have been a couple of impulse buys that were returned the very next day...lesson learned: always, always try things on before committing to the purchase.

Over recent weeks though, I'd begun to have wardrobe crises again on a regular basis. Not because I had nothing appropriate to wear, but because suddenly many of my clothes were just too big. One morning Bike Boy watched me, highly amused, as I got ready for work and changed clothes no less than four times because a key piece of each of the outfits I'd chosen was bagging at the bum, falling off my hips or hanging from my shoulders like a damn tent.

So I've bitten the bullet and made a start on culling my collection once more. There's no point having precious wardrobe space taken up with things you can't or don't wear. Unless you've actually done it, you have no idea how tedious and tiring it is trying on every single thing that you own to decide if it stays or goes. The best thing though, was trying on several things that I'd packed away some time ago because they were too small and finding that they now fit perfectly. My favourite ever size 8 black pants are back in use!

So far, I've filled two large garbage bags with items for charity and I have a pile of quality stuff to sell on eBay as well. There are a few things that I really love - or that I'm simply not prepared to splurge on replacing at the moment - so those are in a separate pile for alteration. My plan is to do most of the work myself, but I foresee one or two pieces being handed over to the professionals. I don't mind taking in seams and darts, but if I have to remove waistbands or fiddle around with lining, forget it.

I've hung what's left back in the wardrobe as Meaghan showed me - tops in one section, bottoms in another (dresses and coats have their own spot), and each section organised by colour so I can easily see what's there or find exactly the piece I want in a flash.

I've also done a little shopping to add a few new bits and pieces. I had to buy new bras - my old ones had space for an extra set of boobs. :( That's always an expensive exercise, but thankfully I have a factory outlet nearby, so I saved a small fortune on three Simone Perele bras. I also picked up some opaque tights, a red knit scarf, a new tan leather bag and a couple of other accessories.

Then I turned my attention to the main event. A purple Veronika Maine top from DJ's, a beautiful navy pencil skirt from Table Eight, a discounted Tommy Hilfiger pale blue shirt and a Sportscraft striped merino wool top from Myer added a few staples.

Bike Boy made Marcel Marceau jokes about this, but I don't care; I love it. It's a perfect layering piece.

Cobalt is one of the season's trends, so I've picked up a top and a cardigan in that brilliant blue shade. I almost bought a lovely peplum dress too, but there were no size 10s left, and whilst I could get into the 8, let's just say that breathing was optional...

On-trend colour (lace is big this season, too), and perfect for chillier autumn days. From Review.

It's a work in progress. I have a short list of essentials that I still need to add to make my collection work better, but I'll do that gradually as sales crop up. I hate to pay full price for anything.

I still have to tackle my sports wear - that's three large drawers and five small ones, literally overflowing with yoga pants, tanks, tees, hoodies, crop tops, shorts, cycling and compression gear. I know there are things in there that I haven't even SEEN for years, so it's way past time to clear some out. And then there are the shoes... O_O

Do you regularly go through your clothes and get rid of things that don't fit, don't work or that you just don't wear? Can you confidently throw together an outfit that you know will work in just a couple of minutes, or is every day a potential wardrobe meltdown?

I'm participating in screen-free week, so I'm not really here (shh...). All of my posts this week have been written in advance and set to publish each day for your information and entertainment. ;o)

Around the traps: Foodie edition

noreply@blogger.com (Kek) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:00:00 +0000

Whilst I'm having an enforced break from the internet and all things screen-based, I thought I'd ~~add a filler post~~ share some new(ish) food products I've tried recently and liked that might interest some of you.

1. First up is a new favourite: Pana raw chocolate. I'd never seen this before - I have eaten raw chocolate in the past and I love it, but sadly, it's difficult to find around my neighbourhood. I've usually had to buy it online. Bike Boy spotted this in a city convenience store and brought some home for me and I put it aside for a few days, breaking it out for a bit of a treat at the end of a long week. (I've since discovered that Pana chocolate is available from most IGA and Foodworks supermarkets around Melbourne)

It is FABULOUS. The taste and texture are as good as I expected - if you've never had raw chocolate, it's kind of hard to describe, but it's incredibly rich, full flavoured and has a lovely soft, slightly crumbly and yet creamy texture. A small amount is really very satisfying - and the blocks are only 45g anyway, so over-indulging is not all that likely.

All of Pana's products are organic and made from only real food ingredients, so no nasty additives or chemicals. Which is just how I like my food - made of food.

Yummy awsomeness!

2. A few weeks back, I had the opportunity to try belVita breakfast biscuits for a blog review. But I passed, as I didn't think they sounded like the kind of thing I'd be keen on. I mean, biscuits? For breakfast? Come on...

Then I read a review of the product over at The Scoop on Nutrition.... and Emma gave them the thumbs-up. Now, I've met Emma and she strikes me as someone who knows her nutrition stuff - which she ought to be, since she's an Accredited Practicing Dietician. So I tweeted her and asked a couple of questions, and her answers prompted me to go out and buy a pack so I could make an informed judgement.

For more info, go read the article I've linked to above on Emma's site, but basically, my opinion in dot-point form is this:

- There are many worse breakfast options out there.
- They taste good
- They're high in fibre
- They're conveniently packed in single serving sizes, so you're less likely to overeat them.
- They're great for those who might not eat breakfast otherwise.

I have a fussy teenager who often tries to skip breakfast - these are perfect for him. He takes them in the car (usually along with an Up & Go drink) and can eat them on the way to school, or worst case scenario, he can have them a bit later when he feels hungry. Bike Boy also finds them good as one of his snacks when he's out on the road bike - a pack fits nicely in his jersey pocket without making a mess and provides much-needed carbohydrate for refuelling on the road.

Bottom line: they're worth a try.

"Better than no breakfast at all" I should work for Kraft, writing their advertising slogans.

3. And last but not least, an oldie as new things go, which I took a while to catch onto: Chobani yoghurt. The reason I missed these when they were first launched here is that I shop at Coles and in the beginning, only Woolworths stocked this brand. Now both of the supermarket behemoths sell them, so it's never a problem finding it.

There are two things I love about this product: 1) the high level of protein; and 2) the fact that it contains nothing but milk and live cultures. The unflavoured one, anyway.

The Greek 0% variety that I usually buy has the following profile per 170g tub:

Calories 102
Protein 17.4g
Carbs 7.1g
Fat 0g

That's pretty impressive.

There are some yummy flavours too, but those contain other ingredients - notably fruit - so of course the nutrition stats are a bit different. The plain Greek is my go-to these days, and I can always add my own fresh fruit. I also love that the range comes in single serving-sized containers. Oops, that's three things I love about it.

Creamy pots of proteiny goodness.

What new food products have you discovered recently?

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. I purchased the products I've reviewed here with my own funds. Except the chocolate...my husband bought me that, bless his heart.

I'm participating in screen-free week, so I'm not really here (shh...). All of my posts this week have been written in advance and set to publish each day for your information and entertainment. ;o)

The art of procrastination

noreply@blogger.com (Kek) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 20:00:00 +0000

I'm a champion procrastinator when I really don't want to do something. Because, you know, putting stuff off is really helpful....you don't want to do it in the first place, so you give yourself even less time and more pressure to get it done. Smart.

As I mentioned a while back, I'm doing the Mothers Day Classic fun run. When I signed up, I had six or seven weeks to train for a 4km run. I thought: Pfft, easy! I'll only have to do a couple of runs a week. I'll start off with some intervals, then add in some steady-state runs, increasing the distance each week. I've got this.

Ahem. I have done a few interval sessions, but up until yesterday, the longest continual run I'd done was a whole 6 minutes. Wow, impressive. I'd much rather ride my bike.

I seriously think I have exercise ADD...I start off on a cardio machine and within three or four minutes I'm bored out of my brain and looking for something else to do. Also? I don't like running very much. Of course, when I do it regularly and get better at it, I like it a lot better - but when you've completely ignored running for the better part of ~~a year~~ ~~two years~~ three years, the love really isn't likely to be there.

I had pushed it to the back of my mind, vaguely thinking when I was reminded of the MDC "Oh, I'll be right...how hard can it be?" Then on Saturday, Bike Boy asked me "How's the running going?" and I was all "Oh yeah. That" and I realised that the run was only two weeks away - yikes!

So I set myself the task of running on Sunday morning for a solid twenty minutes. I had no idea how I'd go, but was pretty sure it wouldn't kill me. I'm pretty fit, after all, even if I'm not run-specifically fit...

I was not thrilled to wake up to find that the nagging back ache that's plagued me for a week or two had decided to up the intensity. I immediately started to use it as an excuse - " Ooh, I'd better do something else, I don't want to aggravate my cranky back". Then I gave myself a mental smack over the head and told myself to harden up. It had to be done, no excuses. I'm not wimping out on the MDC and I will. not. walk. it.

Not being completely stupid, I gave myself a good ten-minute warm up of walking, and then stopped and stretched my tight calves and hamstrings before starting my run. I switched on my transverse abs and made sure I had my pelvis set to neutral and got started, keeping the pace slo-o-ow. The first two minutes or so saw the usual battle with myself, swatting away thoughts like "This sucks!" and "I have to stop". Then at the four-minute mark, I hit the magic point where I found my rhythm, had my breathing under control and felt like I could keep going forever. Hurrah! I haven't felt THAT in a long while.

So I did my twenty minutes, upping the speed a teensy bit every five minutes and in the final five, pushing it up quite a bit. It was pretty slow (I was only going at about 7:00 pace at the end), but I got it done. And I didn't die.

I've already scheduled in two runs a week for the next two weeks and will add a little time and/or speed to each. I'm pretty sure I'm going to make it across that finish line after all.

Are you a procrastinator when it comes to fitness, or are you one of those "Plan it and then just get it done" kind of folks?

I'm participating in screen-free week, so I'm not really here (shh...). All of my posts this week have been written in advance and set to publish each day for your information and entertainment. ;o)

Going screen-free

noreply@blogger.com (Kek) — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 20:00:00 +0000

This week, I have a daunting assignment to complete. As of today, I'm going screen-free for an entire week, joining in with thousands of others around the world for Screen Free Week. The idea is to turn off TVs, computers, game consoles and hand-held devices for the week and - as the organisers say - "turn on life".

It's all about connecting more with people in real life, enjoying nature and/or participating in some activities that don't involve staring at a glowing screen.

I have to admit to a fair amount of trepidation. After all, I'm online most of the time, via my computer, ipad and/or phone - even at work, I tend to check in on various sites during my breaks, thanks to the magic of mobile telecommunications systems. And I rely on my computerised devices to carry out a lot of my routine daily tasks. For example:

Banking
Shopping
Catching up with friends and family
Scheduling appointments
Sending or RSVP-ing invitations
Selling unwanted crap
Sourcing recipes
Reading and research
Looking up stuff in the online versions of the encyclopaedia/dictionary/thesaurus

And of course, I rely completely on my little electronic friends to remind me when I have a medical appointment, social engagement, work deadline, or just to pick up the dry cleaning. I even use a shopping list app...

So this week I'm going old school. From 12:01am on Monday until midnight next Sunday, I will be absent from social media and most online services - and before you start wagging your fingers at me, this post was written yesterday and set to publish automatically today. :p

There are some exceptions. I'll still be checking my email and will reply to any business-related or important messages; I will most definitely be using my Kindle - after all, reading is what people do when there's no TV... and I have some more blog posts preset to publish later in the week, just so as you don't forget me completely.

But I won't be on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram (other than my automated blog-pimping tweets and FB posts). You won't see me commenting on other blogs. If I need a recipe, I'll grab one of my hundreds of cookbooks or food magazines. I may even have to resort to using my 1979 edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary if I'm lost for words.

I don't expect I'll die, but I do expect it to be a bit difficult to break my usual habits of being constantly plugged in. That's OK. Who knows, maybe at the end of the week, I'll have a sparkling clean house, organised linen cupboard, empty ironing basket, freezer full of pre-cooked meals and a weed-free garden? Stop laughing - it could happen.

How do you think you'd go if you had to forgo ALL screen-based activities for a week?

ANZAC Day - Remembrance, RPM and Recipes

noreply@blogger.com (Kek) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 08:23:00 +0000

I had every intention of getting up just after 5:00am this morning and heading off to the local RSL for their dawn service. ANZAC Day always makes me reflect not only on the brave souls who gave up their lives in the various wars, but on how lucky I am to live in this country. It also just generally reminds me to be grateful for many things which I often take for granted. I've never been to a dawn service; don't really know why.

I would love to attend the service at the Shrine of Remembrance one year, but distance from the city, the lack of public transport or available parking at that time of day, plus the thought of battling through a crowd of 50,000 is all a little off-putting. So, I checked where the local services were and got my warm clothes all ready last night, to minimise delays in the morning.

However, my plans were upset by a terrible night's sleep, which saw me still awake at 2:00am. There was no way I was getting up after only three hours' sleep, so I reluctantly switched off my alarm and stayed in bed. I'm OK with it though - I've paid my respects to the fallen, the wounded and those who returned safely from wars in other ways today.

I hadn't actually planned to do an RPM class today; hadn't even checked the public holiday timetable. But do you know what happens when you add your RPM instructor as a Facebook friend? She can SEE when you're online, doing nothing much and throw out a little "Are you coming to my 10:30am class today, Kerryn?" So guess what I ended up doing for today's exercise? Bike Boy even came along as well.

I was pleased when Kerri began the class by asking us to observe a minute's silence - as the strains of The Last Post played through the sound system, I admit that I got a little teary. That music gets me every time. Then it was down to business. I put in a good, solid, sweaty effort and was very happy that I'd been guilted into going. Saved me putting any thought into training.... Yes, I am that lazy.

The rest of the day has been dedicated to kitchen experiments. I've been inspired to get into all kinds of funky things lately. First off, inspired by Sara, I'm exploring fermentation. I'm hoping that eating more fermented foods will help rebalance the bacteria in my irritable gut. I got the hang of coconut yoghurt ages ago, so it was time to move onto other stuff.

First cab off the rank was sauerkraut. After exploring the internet (and getting sooo confused at the different methods), I settled on this recipe. It was a piece of cake! Here's the result:

Pretty, as well as good for you!

I kept it simple and used caraway seeds to flavour mine. I quite like the sour, crunchy, salty taste - I'm pretty sure it's going to seriously grow on me until I just can't live without it. A spoonful with my salad or cooked veggies adds a bit of oomph.

I also have some water kefir grains in the fridge, courtesy of a lovely Facebook friend, who packed up some she had to spare and sent them via Australia Post from far north Queensland. Hurrah for the internet! I'm looking forward to trying that soon - and will be sure to blog the whole thing.

I'm also continuing my love affair with coconut. When Michelle from Healthy Helpings posted that making your own coconut butter was easy-peasy, OF COURSE I had to try it. So this afternoon, I threw three cups of shredded coconut (not dessicated; different thing, so don't make that mistake) into the old Jamie Oliver food processor, turned it on and after about ten-fifteen minutes, I had this:

So GOOD, that I am banishing all spoons from the house, so I'm not tempted
to just shovel it from the jar straight to my mouth.

One is supposed to store one's home made coconut butter in a quaint and photogenic vintage glass jar. Unfortunately, I don't own such a thing (bad food blogger!), so one of our Easiyo plastic containers had to do.

I made another batch of coconut milk too. The method I use is shown in this YouTube video. Easy doesn't begin to describe it.

My big experiment today though was again courtesy of Michelle, who pointed me towards this recipe from Chocolate Chilli Mango for ANZAC protein bars/biscuits. I was missing several vital ingredients, so headed off to the health food store this afternoon, with little hope of actually finding them. The outer suburbs are a health-food dead zone... To my surprise, my local had everything I needed for the recipe - rice protein, cocoa butter and coconut sugar, plus some pea protein I wanted for another recipe I have lined up. Yay! I also stocked up on extra shredded coconut while I was there.

I made a half-quantity of the recipe, as I didn't really want two dozen ANZAC bikkies sitting around my house, no matter how healthy and balanced they are. They worked out perfectly - except that they barely spread at all, so next time I'd flatten them a bit more before they go in the oven.

Great flavour with a protein boost, a lot less sugar and much healthier ingredients

A busy day in Kek's kitchen.... Oh, I forgot to mention that I started the day with pudding for breakfast. I made this choc-raspberry chia pudding yesterday, and this morning layered some in a dessert dish with sliced banana and sprinkled a couple of roughly chopped walnuts on top.

Dessert for breakfast - my favourite thing!

So that was my ANZAC day.... How was yours? What did you get up to?

The one where I prove (AGAIN) that healthy food is not boring

noreply@blogger.com (Kek) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 20:00:00 +0000

Thanks to Brand Meets Blog, I was lucky enough to score an invitation to an interactive cooking class and information evening run by the Heart Foundation last week. (And to digress a little, I thought it was sometimes difficult to explain blogging to people in my real life... imagine the poor girls over at BMB trying to explain to their friends and family what the heck a blogger outreach agency is... Oy.)

I'd had a particularly bad day at work, was stressed to the max and then got held up way out in the eastern suburbs. At 6:00pm I was just leaving work and was sure that I was going to be late arriving at the venue, the LG cooking school at South Melbourne Market. But for once, the traffic gods smiled upon me and I pushed open the door with a few minutes to spare. Phew. I also discovered that I had already met (or knew of) 80% of the other bloggers present. I felt instantly at home.

The evening turned out to be a lot of fun - guided by the chef, we all pitched in and helped prepare a magnificent meal, starting with beautiful fresh, healthy ingredients which became an absolute feast. And yes, of course we got to eat it! There was chatter about all things blogging, and every other topic under the sun too. And in between cooking, talking and eating, we listened to Dr Lynne Roberts, CEO of the Heart Foundation, who had a few key messages to deliver.

Did you know that heart disease is the number one killer of Australian women? Well, actually, I did - but I was surprised and concerned to learn that most people don't. Which is one of the reasons why women don't always recognise the symptoms of heart disease. 27 women in Australia die of heart disease every single day. Heart disease kills more women than breast cancer. Those are scary statistics.

So what can you do about it? Know the risks: this is no time to bury your head in the sand. Find out if you have any risk factors for heart disease here. I've been blogging about my high cholesterol recently, which is one of them, but there are a number of others, and almost all can be modified IF YOU'RE AWARE YOU HAVE THEM.

Alright. I'll stop shouting at you now and make with the pretty pictures. And there's a recipe too. But please go check out the Heart Foundation's website and make sure your cardio-vascular system is in good nick, OK? They have all sorts of awesome recipes over there as well, plus lots of other resources; well worth a visit.

I am there...hiding behind Emma of The Scoop on Nutrition and Kim of Working Women Australia

Ooh look! There I am, all serious and acting like I know what I'm doing...

...which, clearly, I don't. The recipe did not call for bits of fingers.

The menu

Appetiser
White bean mash with crudités and flatbread

Main course
Grilled fillet of mackerel with avocado
Mixed Moroccan style grain salad
Poached chicken with Vietnamese coleslaw

Dessert
Poached pears in red wine

The mackerel was simple, but divine. The avocado was flavoured with chilli, lime and coriander.

The Moroccan grain salad had a mixture of burghul & quinoa. And that's "my" Vietnamese coleslaw on the right

I loved this: poached pears served with orange-honey yoghurt.

I plan to share the recipes we cooked with you all over the next few weeks. For now, I'll start with the poached chicken and Vietnamese coleslaw, because I've already made that one myself.

Here's one I prepared earlier:

I used red cabbage, carrot and lettuce in this version, because that's what I had in the fridge.
Who says you have to follow the recipe precisely? Be creative and see what you can come up with.

One last thing: If you have kids, make sure you check out Mums United, another initiative of the Heart Foundation. There are recipes, tips and advice for us mums who want to feed our kids healthy food that they'll actually EAT.

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. I did get a delicious free meal, thanks to Brand Meets Blog and the Heart Foundation, plus a goodie bag to take home, but received no payment for this post. Opinions expressed here are my own.

Thanks also to Brand Meets Blog for the photo of moi, which I totally stole from their Instagram feed.

Recipe alert! Eggplant Bolognese

noreply@blogger.com (Kek) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 04:54:00 +0000

I had eggplants sitting in the fridge last week and no idea about what to do with them. So of course, I asked the internet ....and found the inspiration for this warm parcel of deliciousness:

These keep perfectly in the fridge for a few days and reheat in the microwave, no problem at all, so I've been carting them off to work for my lunches. The sight and smell has elicited "Oohs" and "Aahs" from my colleagues, and not one "Oh, THAT looks healthy!" (accompanied by a grimace and/or an eye-roll). I've even been asked for the recipe...they may actually be beginning to believe my assertions that healthy food can actually taste good.

The recipe is over here.

Do what you love & love what you do

noreply@blogger.com (Kek) — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 10:13:00 +0000

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.

- Confucius

The above quote is often trotted out as advice to those deciding on a career. But the same principle applies to many other things, including exercise. My advice to anyone just embarking on a fitness journey would be:

Choose an exercise activity you love, and it won't seem like hard work.

I've tried a number of things over the past almost ten years, and I quickly discovered that I loved lifting heavy things. However, when it came to cardio activities, I dabbled in this and that but never really found my "thing". Until my clever husband bought me my mountain bike late last year.

How could you not love the opportunity to be out in this glorious weather?

I love my spin bike and I love my weekly RPM class, but being out on a real bike, having the opportunity to be actually going somewhere is a whole other thing. I still have my road bike, but my fear of the completely mental drivers around here makes road riding an anxiety-filled experience. Something I plan to address in the future... but for now, I get to hoon around on traffic-free gravel paths, dirt tracks and do a little cross-country riding as well.

Our recent getaway in Bright gave me the opportunity to enjoy some pretty spectacular scenery. But the parkland on our doorstep isn't too shabby either. It's less than a five minute off-road ride to the main entrance to our little piece of paradise. I've posted plenty of kangaroo shots, pictures of the lakes and birdlife and so on in the past (see here and here) - BUT WAIT! There's more....

Looking down on the old homestead and its pretty garden from up high on a ridge

Views that can't be beaten. You'd never guess that suburbia is just a few hundred metres away

Yesterday's ride coincided with a small market in the front garden of our favourite local restaurant, so we finished our ride up there at 9:00am, when the stallholders were just setting up. We ordered coffee and grabbed a table on the verandah to watch things getting started.

Fresh produce, local olive oil, cupcakes and home made preserves were on offer

Just what you need at the end of a ride

Ponies: apparently they're little girl magnets.

Bike Boy had thought ahead and grabbed his backpack before we left, so we were able to buy some beautiful heirloom carrots, rich-looking mushrooms, figs, stone fruit and the crispest, sweetest apples and pears you've ever tasted. Almost everything on sale was produced within a 10km radius - some of the fruit had travelled a bit further, but was still from Victoria. Truly fresh fruit doesn't even compare with the stuff on offer in supermarkets. The taste, the texture! I've had to restrain myself from scoffing a dozen pieces a day...

Those perfectly ripe figs ended up grilled, then served with ricotta and honey - they didn't need any fancy treatment.

I'm seriously enjoying our rides and although getting up hills is hard work, the ride down the other side is always exhilarating. It's fantastic fun 90% of the time, which I've never been able to say about any other activity I've tried. There's always something to see, somewhere to go and best of all? Bikes are portable, so we can easily throw them in the car when we travel and use them to explore new territory.

I'm sure there are other things I could learn to love; God knows, I've tried or contemplated quite a few. But I'm happy that I've found my "thing" for now.

How about you? Have you found the sport or activity that makes exercise fun for you?

How to make your wife feel better 101

noreply@blogger.com (Kek) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 02:16:00 +0000

I've had a very tedious week. Nothing seriously went wrong, it was just a run of days with a series of irritating and/or stressful events and somewhere along the way, I lost my smile.

On Wednesday things were at their worst. I was sleep-deprived, had a persistently achey lower back and grumbling gut pain that just would not quit. My day at work had been mildly horrible and then my drive home was rather worse than usual, with apparently suicidal drivers pulling out from side streets in front of me and road works or traffic jams on every street I tried.

That trip culminated in an attempt to refill my fuel tank, which really shouldn't be that hard. But when you drive a diesel-powered car, there's usually only one pump dispensing the precious liquid, and you can bet that someone will be using it to fill up with unleaded...in spite of there being seven other pumps not in use at the time. *sigh* I don't have a lot of choices of petrol stations on my way home, but given that I had an 18c per litre supermarket discount docket, I bypassed a few, made a slight detour and headed for one quite near home.

I pulled up behind a guy who OF COURSE was filling up with unleaded and waited. And waited. And waited. Eventually, he drove off and I moved forward to find that the freaking pump was out of order. O_o And by that time, the only working diesel hose on the other side of the bowser (on the wrong side for my fuel tank) was in use, so even if I could have manoeuvred the car between the pumps and other cars to get to it, I'd have to wait yet again.

So I left, which meant having to make a U-turn on the main road to get to the only other petrol station between there and home, and then repeat that performance once I was done. Needless to say, by the time I got home I was a little cranky...

Later that night, I was grumbling to Bike Boy about how crappy I felt. Bad day, shocker of a drive home, exhausted, the fuel fiasco, sore back, upset gut, blah, blah. He just looked at me, smiled and said "But you're pretty and you have nice hair".

Sometimes he knows just the right thing to say.

===================================

I'm still practising gratitude, by the way. This week in particular, I've made myself pause a number of times, take a deep breath and then count my arms and legs. In light of recent world events, I figure if I get to four, I'm not really having such a bad day.

Take THAT, cholesterol!

noreply@blogger.com (Kek) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 21:45:00 +0000

Nutrition is important, but so is exercise. You might want to wear something more practical than Sophia, though. (Source)

It's only one measurement, but the importance of maintaining a healthy cholesterol level shouldn't be underestimated. It is linked to heart health, although it's not a simple correlation - there are many other factors that dictate whether your cardio-vascular system operates like a super-charged Formula 1 machine, or more like a rusty old clunker. There have been some recent changes in thinking about cholesterol too, but I'm not about to ignore a health marker that may have a bearing on how long and how well I live, when I can actually do something about it reasonably easily.

My family history put me on the back foot to begin with in this particular area, with both my mum and one of my sisters taking medication to control their high cholesterol. Me, I'm not much of a fan of the old statins and prefer to manage my health wherever possible by setting my lifestyle gauge a bit further towards the "healthy" side of the dial.

I'm not anti-medication, anti-traditional medicine or anything of that kind, but these particular drugs are really starting to reveal their nastier side... Besides, my test results didn't warrant prescription meds, particularly when I don't tick any of the other risk factor boxes for heart disease. When my test late last year came back with a score of 7.2, my doctor did make vague noises about considering medication, but I just ~~pointed at something shiny and changed the subject~~ told her I'd prefer not to go down that road at this point, to which she agreed.

So, as I've previously documented, I made some changes, upped my exercise, reduced some of the less helpful foods from my regular meals (yes, chocolate and alcohol, I'm looking at YOU) and added in more of the good stuff: veggies, fruit, soluble fibre, omega-3s, all that kind of thing. At the end of March, I took myself off to get another set of blood tests run.

The numbers came back and I'm very pleased to report that my cholesterol has reduced to 6.5. Obviously, that's still too high, but it's a pretty decent reduction in a short period of time. Am I feeling smug? You bet.

I'm not finished yet; there's still plenty of work to be done, but I'm confident I'm on the right track.

Stay tuned!

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Sharing the (food) love

noreply@blogger.com (Kek) — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 07:52:00 +0000

After a lovely week off and a nice short break away, it's time to head back to the office tomorrow (boo!). One of the things I enjoy most about time off work is not having to do a lot of planning when it comes to meals. There's always something in the fridge or pantry that I can quickly turn into lunch, dinner or a tasty snack.

Of course, when you're away from home for ten hours out of twenty-four, you don't have that option - at least not if you want meals that are healthy, varied, taste great and that won't blow the budget. So, as many healthy living bloggers do, this weekend I set aside a couple of hours to do some food prep for the week. I'm pretty happy with what's on the menu for the next few days and just in case any of you are searching for ideas, I thought I'd share some of my choices - and some new discoveries - with you.

First up, I threw some cheap chuck steak and five other ingredients into the slow cooker yesterday to make an old favourite, Peposo. This tradition Tuscan beef stew only gets better after sitting in the fridge for a few days, so that's earmarked for Monday night's dinner. With some sweet potato mash and a couple of green veg on the side, dinner will be ready in no time.

Peposo: Don't let the simple recipe fool you - the flavour is sublime!

Bike Boy also grabbed a bag of chicken pieces out of the freezer and marinated them in a bought tandoori paste for tonight's dinner. That usually leaves us a couple of serves for lunches too, but all the boys are home tonight, so I'm not counting on it. If you've never tried making your own tandoori chicken (fish/prawns/lamb), WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? Yes, sure you can make your own paste and we sometimes do, but in the interests of more time and less mess, that wasn't happening today.

For two of my lunches (I need four), I went for that old stand-by, grilled chicken breast. I'll mix it up with different accompaniments. I baked two sweet potatoes, so half of one of those makes a good side dish (you should try tarting it up by mashing it roughly and adding some mango chutney, chopped coriander and a squeeze of lime juice - a favourite Jamie Oliver recipe). I also made a batch of pineapple salsa* and have one serve left...plus a fridge full of salad ingredients and fresh and frozen veg for steaming.

For the other two lunches, I've opted for an old favourite, Asian-style tuna and sweet potato patties. Just add veggies, and maybe a piece of fruit after.

I often just go for fruit for my snacks, but I came across these savoury breakfast muffins on Kalyn's Kitchen that use quinoa flakes and had to give them a go. They're really, really good. Just a word to the wise: if you're not a goat's cheese fan, don't use that goat's cheese feta you've had in the fridge for ages. Put your shoes on, comb your hair and go to the damn supermarket to buy some regular feta, OK? I don't know why I thought the strong flavour would be disguised...

During the week I was pondering what to do with quinoa flakes and had a flash of brilliance, which resulted in a small batch of healthy coconut-banana cookies. This is them before they went into the oven. I forgot to take a photo after. Oops:

The result was.... hmm...the flavour was pretty good and the texture alright, if a bit more cakey than biscuity ...I just think I can improve on them. Stay tuned for coconut-banana cookies Mk II.

One thing I tried that was a huge success though, was this protein fluff from the genius of Anna Sward, of Protein Pow(d)er! fame. This stuff is like magic - reminds me of the old-fashioned desserts Mum used to make when I was a kid - fluffs, fools and flummeries. I whipped up a batch in just a few minutes with some raspberries and blueberries I had in the freezer and WOW!

That bowl holds about 5 litres, so this is about 2.5L of pudding...and I ate the lot!

I used a mixture of blueberries and raspberries, vanilla whey and coconut milk. A quick bash with the hand blender, then into a big bowl and attack with the electric mixer for just a few minutes and watch it grow...and grow. You have to try this! Not only does it taste amazing and fill you up, but it has only 250-ish Calories in the whole batch, plus a whopping 35g of protein.

I also found dozens more recipes that I am so going to try...but there are only so many hours in a single weekend, you know. This coconut-quinoa-blueberry parfait is definitely on the cards though. I did have a go at a cauliflower pizza crust, which was really pretty successful - the amount of cheese in it bumped the calories up to scary levels though, so I think I'll be hunting for something a little leaner.

You'd never know a cauliflower had been anywhere near this pizza...

So there you go. A quick tour of Kek's kitchen and some recipes you might be inspired to try. What's on the menu at your place this week? Got any new recipes to share...?

*Pineapple salsa: Take one cup of diced fresh pineapple, 1/2 a cup of diced cucumber, 1/2 a cup of diced red capsicum, a small red chilli, finely chopped, about two tablespoons of finely chopped red onion and a tablespoon of chopped mint, mix together and squeeze fresh lime juice over.

Grateful in April

noreply@blogger.com (Kek) — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 22:05:00 +0000

Today I'm pausing to reflect on a few things that I have reason to be grateful for. There seems to be a lot of whining about pretty minor stuff from a lot of people online lately - and yes, I can be guilty of that myself at times - so I'm making an effort to appreciate some of the good things in my generally fairly awesome life. :)

1. We've just returned from a short break away, and I'm grateful that we have the ability to take off for a few days more or less whenever we wish. A change of scenery, a break from the daily drudgery and some fresh country air are always good for the soul.

Roadtrip! This is not the country though...only 3kms from home.

2. While were were away, I got the chance to spend a lot more time in the saddle than normal - and I handled it like a pro! I can see huge improvements in my bike fitness - and I'm so happy to have found an exercise activity I love, one that doesn't even feel like work. Well, pedalling up a small mountain is certainly work, but you know what I mean... So I'm grateful not only for my mountain bike, but also for my steadily increasing fitness. And for my patient husband, who puts up with my occasional whinging, goes a lot slower than he'd like to, plays bike mechanic for me, and all with a minimum of laughing at some of my sillier moments.

This ride resulted in a spectacular fall, one bruised and lacerated elbow and a few tears...but was worth it!

3. The weather was perfect while we were away, and being on the bike or on foot meant that I really got to appreciate the beauty of the countryside around me. Everywhere you look, there are gorgeous vistas, amazing birds or something else interesting to look at. We're lucky to live in such a beautiful place.

A pause on the rail trail for some wine tasting (Bike Boy) and coffee (me) and to admire the view of Mt Buffalo

Raucous flocks of yellow-tailed black cockatoos. We don't see these at home.

How's the serenity?

I thought this was a species of rosella we don't get here - but it's just a juvenile crimson rosella.

4. I'm also feeling grateful for my own creativity when it comes to food. My ability to create tasty meals and new recipes, even when following a pretty restrictive nutrition plan, came in very handy these past few days. I cooked up a storm before we left and enjoyed pumpkin pancakes, tasty frittatas, all kinds of salads, some yummy mango salsa, and of course my super-smug super-food truffles. Getting out of your comfort zone when it comes to cooking is an interesting adventure. :) Of course, I'm grateful to have my vanilla whey and splash of milk back in my porridge today...

Sometimes simple is best - salmon, salad and a ripe peach for dessert.

5. Last, but not least, I'm grateful for my good health. Which leads me to this: I'm doing the 4km Mothers Day Classic this year, with Number One Son by my side (although he has made noises about me slowing him down, the cheeky bugger, so "by my side" may not be all that accurate...). In case you don't know, the event is a fundraiser for breast cancer research, and I'm running in memory of my dear friend Jose´, who lost the fight a few years back. If you'd like to sponsor me and contribute to a good cause - no pressure - you can do so over here.

If you're in one of our capital cities or even some regional centres, you can enter yourself. There are 4km and 8km runs, plus a walking event, and the atmosphere of this particular fun run is always great.

Now I'm off to the gym to lift things up and put them down. It's a late start today, as I enjoy the final couple of days of my short holiday.... Something else I'm grateful for, as it was only 5ºC earlier this morning.

What are you grateful for today, this week or in general?