Tuesday 13 December 2011

Glimmering on the horizon it lays;
my hopes,
my dreams,
untouchable, 
unreachable
yet plainly in sight.
It beckons me to it,
but the road I must take is long and unfair.
my hopes,
my dreams
remain untouchable.
For now.

Time standing still

Do you ever get that feeling that, because something incredibly awesome is on the horizon, time decides to stand still? Yeah me too.

In 3 days its my birthday party, in 4 my 1 year anniversary with my boyfriend, in one week its my actual birthday, in 1 week and 4 days its my last day at work for the year, in 12 days its christmas, in 18 days its next year, in 22 days im on a plane to sydney and in one month and 3 days im on a plane to china to live for just over a month. So basically all good things for me begin in 3 days BUT this week seems neverending! I swear its feels like thursday but in reality its only tuesday!

Not only do I think this is happening because ive been waiting for this weekend for over a month now but I also think its because I can see my holidays on the horizon and I am getting increasingly tired of my job. Now, dont get me wrong, I'm not one to complain about a job when so many people in the world who want jobs cant get jobs, BUT look at it this way...
My entire life I've been a student with 4 sets of holidays a year and this year ive been working full time for near 6 months and im exhausted!! Ive never done such a long stretch without a break and its really getting to me. That and the fact that I am a student my nature and considering my job relies of my physical capabilities rather than my mental abilities I've been feeling a little lost. I miss learning, I miss that feeling of finally figuring out the answer to something after ages of getting it wrong, I miss reading for purpose and I actually miss assignments. All this and I miss socialising. I feel like I dont really talk to anyone in a day, like REALLY talk to them about hopes/dreams etc. like students do on a daily basis. I also miss that feeling of going to a coffee shop to actually relax and drink a coffee rather than run around like a headless chook for 7 hours a day.

I should really stop dwelling on the fact that time seems to be slowing down and distract myself in some other way. Then maybe, just maybe it can finally be friday!

P.S. For my party I'm gonna make some jello shots like the ones here Ill make a post about it later :)

Beth xo

Tuesday 6 December 2011

Back on track

Finally I have some motivation!

At the start of this year I was 60kg. I am currently 65kg. I need to get my summer body back! Now, some would say 5kg is the hardest to lose and keep off. The only way I got down to 60 last year is because I was sick with glandular fever over summer and the moment I got better my weight levelled out at around 62-63 which I was happy with. But I would really like to lose these last 5kg and this time, keep it off!



My main philosophy at the moment is to eat foods that are super duper packed with goodness. And nothing processed. This is harder than you would think. Literally everything is processed in someway or another and since I'm not exactly financially in a position to purely buy organic etc. I am having to make some compromises. But yes, the majority of my food consumed as of today will be fresh and real food that is bought in a form closest to that which it was harvested. 


I've also set myself a few rules (more like guidelines) to help me stay healthy and hopefully lose these 5kg before I go live in china in January (more to come on this topic ;D)


1. avoid gluten as much as possible (mostly in the form of processed breads). This philosophy sounds kind of 'carb related' but its not, I will still be eating potatoes and whole grains, the reason behind the avoidance of gluten is because ceoliac disease runs in my family and at times I cannot digest gluten properly. I don't know why it is only sometimes, must be the time of year cause generally around summer my body has a spazz. Instead I've been trying out quinoa and let me tell you I LOVE it! I made a batch to eat with my curry the other day because we ran out of rice and it tasted so good! 


2. Have a glass of warm water with lemon the moment I wake up before starting my morning routine. I've heard about the many benefits of doing this and thought I'd try it out for myself :) 


3. Exercise 3 times per week minimum! I just got my old bike fixed so hopefully within the next week I will get that back so I can start riding into work for a little bit of cardio but I will be doing my weights 3 times a week and my sit-ups are already a part of my daily routine.


4. Concerning sweets; All in moderation!!!! I've become a massive sweet tooth this year and have been finding it really hard to say no to cake etc. and since I work in a cafe the temptation is there staring me in the face all day. But I must be strong! One sweet this per week whether that be chocolate, cake, etc. Substitute fruit or greek yoghurt with honey for that sweet kick. 


5. DRINK WATER 2L per day and 3 cups of green tea. Avoid milk where possibly and limit coffee intake to 3 times per week (for now, I have heard that coffee boosts metabolism but atm I need a good detox which includes coffee) 


6. Small portions, healthy snacks and limit fats ie. butters, oils, cheese etc.


Today I was really good. I woke up and did a 1 hour workout before work. I dont think I'll have time to do this tomorrow in the morning but I plan to go for a swim in the afternoon cause it'll be nicer weather. I also ate really well.
BFAST: I had a tropical fruit breakfast smoothie topped with chia seeds and oats,a hard boiled egg and green tea
LUNCH: quinoa salad with carrot, celery, tomato, pepitas, sunflower seeds, cabbage, rocket, tabouli and balsamic vinegar and green tea
DINNER: curry with quinoa and home-made tatziki and green tea


Anyways Im off, untill next time :)


Beth xo

Monday 5 December 2011

Healthy girl?

So I know I haven't made a post in a while and I'm really angry about that.
I keep losing the motivation to post and considering noone reads this blog I didn't think it would be a big deal. I wish I had more people interested in what I am saying, but the fact of the matter is that noone knows about this blog and its really hard to get started and get people reading what your'e writing.



Anyways, lately I haven't been much of a healthy girl. All the vices and indulgences this unhealthy world offers have become suddenly irresistible and I no longer have the motivation to exercise or say no to a piece of cake. Its really bad, i've gained 3 kg in 3 weeks and this time last year i was 5kg lighter! So I'm trying to get my motivation to eat well and exercise back.


I was doing really well today I had muesli and yoghurt for brekkie, salad with quinoa for lunch, an apple as a snack and then a chicken salad for tea. I also had a low fat hot choc (only 200kj) because i bought a packet of sachets for a xmas present and needed to test them out... no longer giving them as a gift. Not quite nice enough.  


I didn't have enough motivation to do an afternoon workout but tomorrow I am going to force myself! 


Anyways goodbye for now :)


Beth xo

Sunday 6 November 2011

Drastic Measures

Oh hey!
Long time no talk yeah? Sorry about that, not that I think I have any readers yet but I like to talk as if I do.

Anyways, 
My whole "lets get bikini ready the healthy way" hasn't been working and so I am doing what I did last year to kick start my weightloss - The Dukan Diet.
I know many people believe it to be 'unhealthy' etc. and yes it probably is. But the thing is, i only have around 5kgs to lose and this is really just to get things in motion and hopefully get some of my motivation back, something which was so strong last year.


I've decided to track my progress daily here, on my blog. This way I can evaluate each day and my feelings towards the diet because I remember last year I felt pretty shit on it, I'm hoping this isn't going to be the case this time.


DAY ONE (Sat 5th November)
Technically I didn't really start today as I started at lunch time... But I still stayed away from alcohol despite attending a 21st. 


BFAST: Cereal and banana (doesnt count as dukan diet... basically my 'last meal')
LUNCH: lean steak with garlic yoghurt
DINNER: Chicken curry and turkey meatball


SNACKS: Greek Yohgurt, boiled egg
DRINKS: Diet lemonade and diet coke (I had to drink something while I was out LOL), regular skim latte, 2 cups of tea, 2 Litres water

Today I felt like shit, I was so grumpy and my body was sore because I went out dancing friday night... Really not the best day to be starting a diet. I was hungry all day, constantly snacking and also felt really nauseas


DAY TWO: Sunday 6th November
So today was my first 'proper' day and it wasn't too bad, I still grazed the whole day but I didn't feel as nauseas or grumpy (I only yelled at my brother once). But oh my god, I swear I needed to go to the toilet at least 10 times today, I really hope it isn't like that tomorrow when I'm at work! But I did manage a little exercise today, a short swim with my brother at the local pool - how cute.


BFAST: Salmon and chicken omelet
LUNCH: Yoghurt with oat bran
DINNER: 2 Turkey meatball with soysauce


SNACKS: few slices of ham and turkey, yoghurt
DRINKS: small skim latte, 1 ginger tea, 1 earl grey tea, 2 english bfast teas, 1 diet lemonade, around 2.5 litres water


So tomorrow I am testing out how well I do with my diet when working. I work in a cafe too, so there will be no sitting down moaning about my hunger or my lack of energy, it will be bam! bam! bam! all day. Omg, I hope it'll be okay.

Wednesday 5 October 2011

October Fitness Kick

Now that my cold is finally breaking (still have a cough and runny nose at times) I can finally get into my health kick for summer!

My mum and brother are also in on this little health kick so we've all vowed to exercise once a day (on weekdays) and replace dinner with a protein shake (mums idea). I was a little hesitant to deliberaltly 'skip' a proper meal and instead just drink something. but with good planning of breakfast, lunch and snacks throughout the day there needn't be a lack of good nutrition. 

For example, today for breakfast I had a fruit salad of 1 orange, 1 peach, 1/2 pear and 1/2 banana served with 2 Tbsp of museli and honey. (I wouldve had yoghurt as well if I didnt still have my cold) and then for lunch I had a massive salad with mushrooms, greens, celery, tomato, onion, tuna, sunflower seeds and balsamic vinegar served with 2 corn cruskits. Then for my snacks I had a museli bar after my workout and was naughty and had some of the new  Vegemite flavoured chip and a bit of a chocolate cookie.

As for my exercise, Ive been really motivated to get back on track but still I'm not overloading myself.
Monday: 30 mins Xtrainer, ab and thigh exercises, arm weights
Tuesday: 15mins treadmill, 15mins Xtrainer, ab and thigh exercises
Wednesday: 20 lap swim alternating between freestyle and breastroke, ab and thigh exercises.

Im feeling so energetic and healthy right now and Im really hoping ill be able to slip into that sexy bikini come summer, but by getting there in a healthy way!


Lets hope I keep motivated and reach my goal!


Beth xo

Sunday 2 October 2011

Harissa Covered Chicken Roast with Chargrilled Veggies

I'm Baaackkk!
I've been wanting to post this for a while but due to unforeseen circumstances (getting so sick I had to take 3 days off work!) I haven't yet posted it, but now I am! Woo



My friend Haly has this membership to this really good new gym the SA Aquatic and leisure centre and often gets me in to workout with her. 
Last week we went and had a mad workout consisting of the following:
-15 mins stair machine (hardest resistance)
-15 mins treadmill (my first time! woo)
- abdominal floor work
-additional 15 mins on treadmill 
- leisurely swim in the pool


Needless to say we came home pretty hungry so we decided to throw together this Harissa covered chicken roast with Char grilled Veggies!




Ingredients:
1 whole chicken opened up like a butterfly
1/2 jar harissa sauce (or can make own, personally i was too buggered from the gym)
olive oil


1 zucchini, sliced into strips
1 capsicum, sliced into strips
4 small potatoes, cut in half
2 carrots, cut in quarters
2 onions, cut in half


Method:
Preheat oven to 200 degrees
Cover chicken completely in harissa and a little olive oil, even getting under the skin against the breast and place in oven
Meanwhile, 
microwave potatoes until semi-cooked in centre then sprinkle with oil and place them in the oven in the same tray as the harissa chicken also place carrots and onions with potatoes and chicken.
While the chicken is cooking, char grill the capsicum and eggplant


Haly's a boss at char grilling!
When all the capsicum and zucchini are char grilled (took a while on my sized pan) add them to the tray in the oven.




In total the chicken should be in the oven anywhere between 1 - 1.5 hours depending on your oven. The best way to check if its done is to puncture the breast and if the juices run clear, then its time to eat! 


yummy!!


More posts to come this week guys!


Beth xo

Thursday 29 September 2011

Issues

I've been a naughty blogger lately and haven't made a post in ages.
I've made a list of all these recipes that I want to share with you and some epic craft projects I've been working on but to tell you the truth I've been a bit down in the dumps lately.
I've realised although I eat healthy etc. I have a really unhealthy attitude and relationship with food. And I've been trying to sort it out.
I also just came down with a cold so hopefully once I'm all better I can realign my exercise and food regime so that I can be physically and mentally healthy. I really need regime otherwise everything gets out of whack, its just the way my mind works. So at the moment I'm all over the place, having taken 2 days off work to recover and not being able to exercise and literally eating 24/7 not because I'm hungry (I'm actually the opposite) but just because I'm bored.  So much food shammeee agh! Do you get that? Where you just eat without care and then afterwards are so ashamed you just want to bury your head under the sand? It happens to me more than it should and trust me, I'm working on it. Ill be back up and running by next week hopefully so stay tuned. Ive got some really awesome things to share with you 

Beth xo

Tuesday 20 September 2011

Mexican fever

Driven by 3 things

1. Mexican night with some girlfriends on the weekend consisting of tequila, DVDs and nachos,
2. Fit Foodie Find's most recent post 'Healthy Fiesta Lime Rice'
and 3. A need for more exciting/nutritional lunches to eat at work

this recipe was born!!


Easy Mexican Rice and Bean Salad

Ingredients:
left over rice (I had around 1.5 cups left)
1 tin red kidney beans (can use any beans, these just happened to be the ones in the cupboard), rinsed and warmed through
1 tomato, diced
1/2 cucumber, diced
1/2 small capsicum, diced
1 avocado, diced
juice of 1 lemon (to help keep the avocados from browning)
2 Tbsp Salsa, I used Old el paso Medium Spicy bean salsa
1 Tbsp low fat sour cream

Mix all ingredients together and enjoy!

** I would also have added 1/4 cup fresh coriander, chopped and 1 cob of corn worth of kernels if I had them in the fridge.... but unfortunately I didn't :( but please do try it with these additions and let me know how it goes :)


Monday 19 September 2011

Dreaming

I love breakfast, this isn't a secret. I go to sleep thinking of, and therefore dream of, my breakfast for the next day. Now don't go assuming I'm referring to big breakfasts with sausages and bacon and other yummy goodies, although these breakfasts are also worthy to be dreamt about. No, I'm dreaming of oats and cereals and anything else that I can load heaps of different fruits and nuts into to make even yummier! 


However my favourite breakfast combinations change from time to time, last week I was craving overnight oats that had been soaked in chai tea and topped with apples and cinnamon. The week before it was your generic cereal, with bananas and strawberries and this week I am L-O-V-I-N-G museli with youhgurt topped with all sorts of goodies. Here was today's breakfast:


Ingredients:
1/2 cup generic museli (mine is the homebrand low-fat version with lots of dried fruits)
1 Tbsp chia seeds
1 Tbsp sunflower seeds
1 Tbsp phyto soy LSA mix from Nu Vit Health foods (basically a boost to my museli's nutritional value)
3-4 strawberries cut in small pieces
1/2 orange, segmented and cut into halves
1/4 apple, cubed
1/4 cup skim milk
2Tbsp low-fat vanilla yohgurt


Put all ingredients in a bowl (as above) then mix (as below) AND DEVOUR!




Yummo! Think ill be dreaming of this one tonight!


Beth xo

Tuesday 13 September 2011

Overnight oats!

I dont think that ive mentioned this but my inspiration behind this blog was Fit Foodie Finds and this was also where I first saw the idea of overnight oats. After looking at more food blogs I've come to realised they're a pretty popular blogging recipe so I thought today I would go with the norm and create my own.


Again, I don't really measure my food so basically its all approximate.

Ingredients:
- handful of oats (probally 1 C)
- 1 Tbsp Chia seeds
- 1 Tbsp sunflower seeds
~combine the above then cover with water then microwave for 2 mins
remove from microwave and seperate into 2 bowls (serves 2) then cover again with water then place in fridge overnight

In the morning i either have my oats cold or i microwave them to make them like porridge, this morning i decided to heat my oats up and then top with milk, honey, sunflower seeds and tinned peaches. Yummo!! I gave the other serve to my mum and she loved it, shed never had overnight oats before and thought it was such a brilliant idea!


Then later in the day, after work i went to the gym to do a well needed workout (I've been super slack lately) which look something like this:
- 3o mins cross trainer on interval weight loss program
- 15 mins on rowing machine on highest level
- 100 sit-ups each front, and sides
- stretches

Since i know i need to refuel after a workout but didn't bring anything with me to the gym i popped over to the Asian shop and bought a lemon bubble tea mmmmm 



But! I completely wasted my workout by going to the pub for dinner with my friends and having a parmi. Bad decision but oh so yummy! And I guess I did eat the salad... who am i kidding, I'm allowed to be naughty sometimes haha

Beth xo

Monday 12 September 2011

Moon lantern Festival '11

Wow im really getting the hang of this whole blogging business, today I took my camera on a little trip with me to the Moon lantern festival in Elder park after I finished work.




There were so many colours and smells wherever I went and there were SO MANY PEOPLE! I really hate crowds and after working at the  Royal Adelaide Show last week, this was particularly painful. However i did pop over with my friend Emily to make a paper crane and took a few photos of the already made ones. The aim of the project was to make 1000 cranes throughout the day... I wonder if they reached that.


Emily's crane (blue) and my crane (purple) being friends nawh




There were also many performance throughout the time I was there including amazing dancing like Bollywood and traditional Chinese as well as a performance from the Shandong Performing Art Troupe which blew my mind! Literally, some of the acrobatics they could do were unbelievable!
Karate demonstration, the kids were so cute!
While there I did try some sweet rice pancakes with a yummy peanut filling that burnt my lip because I couldn't wait to eat it but i was still pretty hungry when I got home so I decided to cook myself a nice quick omelet.


Now I'm the sort of person who doesn't really measure things when I'm cooking for myself so the following is all approximations.


Take no notice of the terrible lighting in my kitchen.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 tomato, diced
- 1/4 zuchini, diced
- 1/4 red onion, diced
- 1/4 small red capsicum
- 1/4 clove garlic, crushed
- 1 egg
- a splash of milk
- s+p
- small amount of lavender cheese
** note: you could put practically whatever you have in your fridge into this omelet... thats what I did bahaha




Basically cook all the listed veggies in a pan and meanwhile whisk egg, milk and s+p in a bowl then pour over the cooking veggies and crumble cheese on top. Then wait untill the egg is cooked.




I served my omelet on a peice of rye toast with rocket and 2 of my favourite sauces of the moment (I have a weakness for sauce).


I spreaded the Sriracha hot sauce on my rye toast and then drizzled my Alpine Berry Farm caramelised chilli balsamic vinegar on top of my rocket. Weird combination, but completely yummy! And of course I had this all with a lovely cup of green tea (:




I am officially in love with this mug... just sayin' bahaha


Anyways its off to bed for me, early start again tomorrow eep!


Beth xo

Sunday 11 September 2011

Steamboat

In 2007 my mum, brother and I traveled to Thailand to visit my dad (who lives in china). While there we discovered the steamboat at MK restaurant in the MBK shopping centre. It was so cheap and so tasty and we left absolutely stuffed! I remember we managed to feed the 5 of us for 50 bucks including drinks and the mountain of spring rolls and roasted duck (if you ever visit this restaurant you MUST try the duck, its TDF!). But since returning to Australia we haven't been able to find a restaurant that specialises in steamboat/hotpot until now! On one of my very lonely nights of reading food blogs i came across a review of go-in hotpot train on Hindley street so tonight, not revealing where we were going, I took my family there and wow were they excited!

It was a lot different to the MK's because it was set up like a sushi train but there was no sushi, instead an array of vegetables and noodles were rotating the table. We took our seats and chose our soup flavour (I chose hot and spicy schezchuan beef) and then our meat as they did not appear along the conveyor belt for OH&S reasons presumably. As each weird vegetable floated past we debated over what it could be and then, without agreeing on an answer, chucked it into our soup pots to trial.


 I ended up trying lotus root which was actually pretty tasty and interesting, my soup was super spicy though, can you see all those chillies?


My favourite things that i put into my soup were the mushrooms and deep-fried tofu squares which sucked up all the soup flavours.
Nice soothing Sugar cane drink to cool the pallet (SUPER SWEET)
 There was 3 options for drinks, the sugar cane, herbal tea and plum juice. We got the sugar cane to start which was sickly sweet and then we got the plum juice, but for some strange reason that tasted like smoky bbq sauce, so we didnt end up finishing that one...


My mum was grabbing things left right and centre to test out and of course when given the option of meats she chose all 3 types, needless to say my brother and boyfriend demolished the meat stack pretty quickly while mum and me smashed the veggies.

All in all it was a very lovely, reasonably cheap (under $20 ea) eat out. However, although the hotpot 'train' idea is brilliant, it meant that i had to yell across my brother and boyfriend to my mum to have a conversation with her, i would have preferred to be seated facing my family members, which there was an option to do, but those 2 tables were taken :(

Im now going to go for a hot shower and then take my full little belly off to bed!
Goodnight my pretties

Beth xo

Retail Therapy

The 2 last weeks have been super hectic for me, ive been working at my ordinary job in a cafe 8-3pm and then at the Royal Adelaide Show from 6-11pm. I swear i almost died from exhaustion. To reward myself for getting through the last fortnight alive i decided some retail therapy was needed. Me and my friend Maddi started our day at Nino's on Jetty road in brighton for Brunch where i ordered the Bruschetta and she ordered the Eggs Florentine. The food was okay but the highlight was my chai latte, warmed me up right through on such a cold morning.


We then made our way to Harbour Town to shop, here are some of my purchases...
$5 pink scarf

$15 hipflask that i didnt even want to buy but Maddi made me!
As you can probally tell i was in a pink mood today and i just love harbour town because its so dirt cheap! Then when i got home i made myself a scrumptious little snack of cruskits with 2 combinations: ham, lavender cheese, tomato, rocket and hommus and roast beef, lavender cheese, tomato, rocket and horseradish dip accompanied by a green tea with honey in my brand new birdy mug that only cost me $5 from typo! 
yummo!
Needless to say i scoffed this bad boy down in 10 seconds and my green tea tastes 10x better in a cute little mug! Now im just waiting for 7pm so i can take my family out to tea at the hotpot train in the city! So excited, i love hotpots! Ill post some pictures of the yummy food tomorrow :)


untill then, ciao my little munchkins!


Beth xo

Saturday 10 September 2011

Welcome!

Oh why hello there! Meet me!
Hello, nice to meet you!
Im Beth and I live in Australia and love being healthy!



Ive been reading food blogs as entertainment for the last few months (sad i know) and ive decided its about time i begin my own considering i cook often and would like somewhere to keep tabs on my recipes and healthy eating progress.





I never used to be interested in healthy eating untill the start of last year when i was 15kg heavier and my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer. Having always been the 'healthy' one in our little 3 person family (mum, myself and brother) it came as a big surprise that she was sick but also gave me the motivation to change my habits and get healthy.
Dont worry kiddos, mums in remission now and were all trying really hard to be healthy eaters so that an illness doesnt strike us down again.


So future readers, prepare yourself for recipes, workout regimes and general thought farts that i have and enjoy yourself.