Quick Clean Recipes

During the last 10 weeks, time restraints and limited food choices have limited my experimentation with yummy clean recipes.

When time is an issue, I become a creature of habit and generally eat the same thing for the same meal EVERY SINGLE DAY! I have managed to come up with a couple of super simple, super quick, super delish recipes (they're so simple I don't know if I can even call them recipes) which are now the highlight of my every single day. So I thought I'd share...you can thank me later!

Thai Chicken Rissoles

500g chicken mince (ask your butcher to mince skinless chicken breast)
1 tbsp Thai Gourmet Green Curry Paste (no oil, no sugar, no additives, no articficial anything! - available at Coles)
Bunch of coriander, chopped
1 egg white (you could use the whole egg if you wish)
1 tsp fish sauce
Pinch of stevia (or 1 tsp of palm/brown sugar if you prefer)

Whisk egg white, curry paste, fish sauce and stevia to combine.
Add chicken mince and corriander and mix well (I use my hands).
Shape into 12 rissoles and cook on a lightly oiled (I use coconut or rice bran oil) hot pan or BBQ for approx. 3 mins each side or until cooked through.
Serve 2 rissoles with salad or your choice of vegies. YUM!!


Cottage Cheese Chocolate Mousse

100g low fat cottage cheese
1/4 scoop chocolate protein powder (I use Reflex Instant Whey)
1 tsp cacao/unsweetened cocoa powder
Pinch of stevia to taste
1-2 tsp water (helps blend everything)

Blend/process all ingredients in a small food processor or magic bullet until smooth.
Pop mixture into a small bowl and into the freezer for 10 mins.
Top the mousse with whatever takes your fancy - berries, banana, cherries, flax meal, cacoa nibs (as I have done here) etc.
This mousse is so YUM, I have it every single night!


In other food related news, I have become obsessed with food-ogling amazing clean food pics on Instagram and that's where I discovered the website iherb.com.
A health and clean eater's paradise and cheap! They're based in the US, there are so many products available that we wouldn't usually have access to in Aus. There's protein powders, vitamins, supplements, sugar alternatives, beauty products...the list is endless.
I placed my first order this morning and have cans of organic pumpkin puree on their way! I can only imagine what I can cook up with this! 
No, I didn't just order pumpkin puree, I will do a review of the products once my order arrives.

In the mean time, if you happen to visit, decide it's awesome and place an order, use the code RWV626 to get $10 off orders of $40 or more.

Stay awesome xx

Week 8 Measurements

Just a quick one....here's my long awaited Week 8 results:

	Week 1 - 09/09/12	Week 4 - 08/10/12	Week 8 - 11/11/12	Results
Weight (kg)	63.6	62.6	60.6	-3
Body Fat %	20.3	19.2	16.6	-3.7
Shoulder (cm)	103	102	103	1
Chest (cm)	89	87	84.5	-4.5
Navel (cm)	79	76	73	-6
Right Bicep (cm)	27	26	26	-1
Left Bicep (cm)	27	26	26	-1
Hips (cm)	89	87	87	-2
Right Thigh (cm)	53.5	53	53	-0.5
Left Thigh (cm)	53	52.5	52.5	-0.5
Right Calf (cm)	37	37	37	0
Left Calf (cm)	37	36.5	37	0

Very happy with the drop in body fat %, on track to hit 15% (hopefully under!) in another 3 weeks.

I've had good results with my navel and chest measurements but my lower half doesn't seem to be budging.

I had abit of a brain fade for second there, panicked abit wondering why my thigh measurements haven't changed at all! I considered adding more training sessions and cutting out carbs and more calories. NOT THE ANSWER! Thank god I’ve come so far mindset wise from where I was, over training and cutting out carbs would do nothing but slow done my metabolism and be completely unmaintainable once the 12 weeks are over. So I’m going to continue eating the way I have been for the last four weeks, keep up the green vegie intake and and do my best to train as hard as I can during my sessions.  

These measurements were done almost a week ago now and since last night I’m feeling and seeing abit of a shift in my body so I’m going to stick at it, I’m definitely looking forward to finishing this challenge as hard as I can.

That's about all I've got for today...told you it would be a quick one!

You should head over to my friend's new blog though, you can find it here. She's lost over 50kg's in the last 18 months and her story is super inspirational. Check it out!

Setbacks, Goals and another edition of Food That I Be Eating

I had abit of a set back at the end of last week – I strained the plantar fascia on my right foot (the connective tissue on the sole of the foot) which has caused me abit of pain and left me unable to run and limping around like a gimp for the last week.

It had me pretty depressed and frustrated, I was due to run the City2Sea this Sunday and I couldn’t do something as simple as taking the dogs for a walk. I was still hoping it would recover in time but I soon realised that it was going to be a slow process to heal properly. I decided that it was more important to be able to walk and run for the remainder of the challenge than to do one run and possibly cause a worse injury.

I was given a tip, and it's so simple yet briIliant that I have to share it - all experienced runners I apologise if you are already aware of this but seeing as I'm fairly new to the game, I find this absolutely genius! For relief/treatment of any sole of the foot/arch pain, fill a water bottle with water and pop in the freezer until frozen completely solid. Once frozen, roll painful area over the bottle and enjoy the massage/ice/relief! (It can be rather painful but keep persisting, it's worth it!)

Due to rest and the above mentioned tip, my foot is starting to feel a lot better today, I don’t think I’ll be in any state to run 14km’s but I’m hoping to get back into running a short distance at running crew on Monday night. In the meantime, it’s been a pretty interesting week trying to fit my cardio in around my bung foot! Between sessions on the cross trainer, a bike ride (I don't remember riding a push bike being so hard!), RPM class and a tabata class I managed to fit it all in and stay off my foot as much as possible.

Onto some more positive news – I am definitely getting closer to achieving my goals for the challenge, my week 4 results gave me the kick up the butt I needed. My nutrition has been a lot better, I have cut out a lot of foods I honestly didn’t think I’d be able to live without like yogurt, avocado, dark chocolate and less than 3 servings of fruit per day. Mind you, I have only cut these foods out because I’m being quite strict on myself in order to reach my goals, I'm not suggesting anyone else needs to do this, I will be re-introducing these foods into my diet once I've reached my goals.

Goal for the final four weeks -  stick to my plan 100%, no cheat meals; clean or otherwise.

2 weeks ago I finally did an unassisted chin up and this morning I did 2 sets of 3, so getting closer to my goal of 5 unassisted in a row J

I’ll have the results of my 8 week measurements in my next post, we’re still yet to do them as Mel has been holidaying in Bali (lucky for some!)

I am absolutely loving this challenge, I’m feeling so energetic and happy again – yes I’m super busy with balancing work, training, food preparation and a social life but I wouldn’t have it any other way!

I’ll leave you with some pics of the deliciousness I’ve been eating over the past few weeks – I’m learning to love vegies more than ever!

Grilled vegetable stack with a cajun spiced chicken breast

Egg white omelette muffins

Cajun spiced chicken with grilled eggplant, roast pumpkin & broccolini

Chicken Fajita Salad with plenty of capsicum & baby spinach

My treat meal last week....the most amazing tasting protein pancakes made with coconut flour

Stay awesome xx