Day 1-5 of the new diet

I am now on day 5 of 60 and I have to say it is proving pretty easy to eat clean, that is after I made one slight crucial adjustment that stopped me from going almost insane with fatigue.

 My insanity dvds have not arrived yet :( bad ebay seller, hopefully they will be here for next week.

Day one:  my first day of the new diet, it was a good day mostly, despite not eating nearly enough (my fault not the diets).  I had a protein shake for breakfast, managed to throw down some low fat cottage cheese at about 2pm and then a peice poached fish and steamed broccoli for dinner- a total of about 800calories- not nearly enough I know. I had snacks and salad for lunch all prepared I just didnt get time to stop.  Monday is my biggest work day of the week, my shift is normally 11-12 hours long without a break so I was lucky I even got to get the cottage cheese down, despite this I didnt really feel hungry- perhaps the mammoth 4 litres of water I consumed had something to do with that (lucky I have a nurses bladder).   By 4pm I am tired, could be the lack of sugar, could be the lack of caffeine, it could just be a massive day running at work.

Day two: struggle struggle struggle to keep my eyes open at work, could it be that my body really misses my one cup of coffee a day that much?  I usually only have one cup of coffee a day, no sugar and a dash of non fat milk, I usually have it about 10am just before the rush of of post-op patients begins.  Nothing on the diet plan actually says no caffeine, I just assumed that it was a nono so have gone without, can one cup of coffee be that bad for me?  The thought of facing an hour session with my pt this afternoon without some help scares me when I feel as flat as I do.  I have my coffee and wouldnt you know it, I am like the energiser bunny and smash out an hour with my pt, one of the hardest but rewarding sessions I have done.  Never ever will I be without you my one a day coffee- you complete me.  I am still following the golden rule of the diet- no sugar- no processed food, but life without coffee is no life at all.

Day three: I enter day three with 2 hours sleep under my belt, hubby to be's RA decided to make its presence known by giving him screaming pain in his wrists all night long.  Spent the night caring for him.  Dam rheumatoid I hate you.  We have  dinner at a friends house, I freak out a little because I dont want to undo my hard work but at the same time have no control over the menu.   They make a lovely seafood rissotto and salad, all of which was devine. I portioned myself out only three tablespoons of risotto and the rest salad.  Dinner was beautiful but I felt so bloated afterwards, I am almost certain that it was the gluten as it's the first gluten Ive had over the past three days where as I have had dairy with no problems.

Day Four:
Eating this way is becoming really easy, I realised today that I dont actually miss any foods that I was having before,  I havent been tempted to binge or stray as I normally do a few days in and still feeling really motivated to keep going.  Another hour session with my pt leaves me pleasently exhausted.  Yes personal trainers are expensive but it is money well spent, he pushes me harder and harder each session and without him I wouldnt have come as far with my fitness as I have.  Each session is spent doing a combo of pylometric exercises, cardio and weights with little to no rest, you can almost feel every cell burning fat when you finish.  I signed up for bootcamp today, starting next monday- three one hour sessions a week for 4 weeks, I am looking forward to it.

Day Five:
Again another easy day and it's friday- woot woot!  I have a visit to the osteo planned for tomorrow morning and then I am going to hit the red arrow (a walking/running trail known for its hundreds of stairs) and then go to gym and try and exercise my abs so much it will hurt to breathe.  I have been contemplating over the week whether or not I should weigh myself, part of me says no because I am not really focused on a goal weight as I dont have to much weight to lose and intend on adding some pretty mean muscle.  The other side of my brain wants to see something reflecting my hard work staring back at me and there for weighing myself seems logical.  I decide to hop on the scales and they are dead...not just battery dead, dead-dead.  I figure it's a sign I shouldnt weigh myself and have decided not until the end of the challenge.

Three of Five of my bridesmaids are doing the diet with me and so far everyone is going really well.  We all struggled with the no coffee thing and as such have made it our one naughty little extra- well worth it I think, the world could do with 4 less angry faitgued caffeine-less ladies. The other two bridesmaids encourage us as they are both pregnant-  I get to have two beautiful little babies to cuddle at our wedding.
Well I am off to scull a litre of water as I have fallen short of the 3 litres required each day.

60 Day challenge and Ashy Bines diet

Starting monday I am going to be switching things up a bit, as well as doing my regular pt and gym workouts I will be doing the Insanity Beach Body 60 day challenge which is a in home follow along dvd series based around pylometric and strength exercises and I will also be  religiously following the Ashy Bines clean eating diet plan (find on facebook).  My diet is already pretty good but this is much stricter and focuses around having breakfast as the largest meal of the day and then lunch and dinner are progressively smaller which will be a change for me.

I found out the other day Tough Mudder Race has expressions of interests for holding a race in Cairns- I would absolutely love to do it, but it is in 2013 and if everything goes as we plan it after the wedding I will most likely be 6 months pregnant at the time of the race.  Fairly certain barbed wire, fire, mud pits, electric shocks and other obstacles over 18km course is not suitable for a heavily pregnant lady.  In any case I am going to train like I will be running in it and have registered my expression of interest just in case.  If any one knows of any blogs of fit woman who have continued to train during and post pregnancy please let me know, I would be interested in reading their stories.

Going to post some before and after progression photos of me soon.

Protein Cookies

Well the fitness thing is still going really well, I love weight training, love love love it!  I have an awesome pt "Alex" who is super motivating and always makes me get the most out of my workouts.  I have had a few personal trainers over the years but Alex is my absolute favourite!  Previous trainers have put me on torturous salad diets, blood group diets etc that restrict particular foods and made me smash out endless hours of cardio only to leave me worn out and hating the diet so much I would just binge on crap out of defiance and hunger. 
Weight training and pylometric workouts have always seemed to resonate with me and thankfully this is what Alex focuses on and he has never once mentioned that dirty word "diet" and leaves me to make my own food choices which I feel I am more than capable of.  I like eating clean and I like high protein, low carb and not a fan of processed food so clean eating is quite easy for me.

My man has been hitting the gym quite hard over the past few months and was getting pretty despondent because he has not gained any weight, he has gained musle and muscle definition and really leaned up but there is not much difference on the scales.  As a bit of experiment I calculated his caloric intake for the day and it was only 1500 calories- this surprised us both, he has a physically demanding job and does an hour of gym a day.  1500 calories is about the amount I can have in a day if I want to maintain my weight so clearly not enough for him to gain wait let along maintain his, even if you add on the 200 or so calories in protein powder he would have after gym.  Now we realise where he's going wrong we are both concious about making sure he increases his calorie intake in a nutritionally balanced way.  So with that in mind I did some research into high protein snacks.  He loves my little well naturally protein bars- about 10g protein for 80 calories so with that in mind I did some googling for protein snack recipes, I came across a few protein cookie recipes but they were all a little bland sounding or had oats in them, I like oats just not in cookies.  So I came up with my own recipe, now to be clear I am not saying that my recipe is the most clean or healthy recipe- all I am saying is that they are super yummy and they have more protein than the store bought cookies that he takes in his lunch box.  You could make this recipe a lot lighter in calories if you wanted by substituting the sugar for splenda and using olive oil instead of butter but did I mention I wanted these to be yummy?  Its also easy to make all in the one bowl- less cleaning up woo hoo!
100g butter- room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup self raising flour
1/3 cup plain flour
1 cup chocolate protein powder
1 tablespoon of cocoa powder
2 eggs
choc chips
tsp vanilla essence

Cream butter and sugar together with beaters, add vanilla essence, eggs and cocoa powder and beat well until all combined. Add sifted flour and protein powder and mix with spoon until well combined add as many or as little choc chips as you want- mix in well.
Roll balls and place  about 2 inches apart on a cookie tray lined with baking paper- cook for 15-20 mins at 175 degrees- fan forced, until cookies slightly firm to the touch and golden brown.  Place on wire rack to cool and then nom nom nom!!!
Dave loves them!

Cake, Cake, Cake

Just a quick update, the fitness is going really well, been hitting the gym hard.  I have been asked to bake a lot of cake for friends family and strangers recently, everything from 3d cakes to cup cake towers.  Here are a few things I have done lately, I only have a few photos of the things I have done lately, I will source some more and put them up soon.

The lamborghini cake for a 40th birthday, this is the unfinished version.

 Makenzies princess castle cake, next time I will add little flags and windows to the turrets.

Princess Makenzie and her cake

 Not the prettiest cake I have ever made but certainly one of the yummiest and the most fattening- this cake has 1.6kg of chocolate in and on it.  White chocolate and citrus mud cake with dark chocolate ganache. 

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!! It's January 1st and that means it's 251 days until Dave and I get married!  Saying it in days makes it still seem so far away but when I glance at the spreadsheet on our fridge of all the things left to pay suddenly 251 days doesnt seem like all that long...

My wedding dress is currently being made and every night I stare lovingly at the photos on my iphone of me wearing it and enlarge and zoom in on it like it's the first time Iam noticing all the little details. The dress is stunning but I am not sure my body is worthy of the dress in it's current state.  Don't get me wrong I am in the healthy BMI range, I don't profess to be 'fat' but I am most definetly not fit.  Rewind my life a few years and I was running 5km like it was nothing, I had abs, toned arms and the best way to end my day was being smashed by a pt until every muscle fibre in my body quivered with fatigue.  I liked that feeling, I like how addictive it became when I started to see my body changing and getting toned...So what happened to that toned body, hmmmm well, I fell in love (and we all know how that can change your waistline).  I have no excuses as to why I can't be that way again, I have no kids, I have a great job thats flexible, I have an amazing fiancee, supportive loving family, I know all the things to eat (and not eat) I know how to exercise, the only thing left to do is do it.  So that's what I am going to do and come September 8 I will be worthy of my wedding dress.

And on that note I made some super yummy (and healthy) things today.  Roasted chickpeas and a amazing vegie tagine. Unfortunately I can't take credit for the tagine recipe, I stole it off the Taste website.  Dave and I were both really impressed with it and I am sure it will now go into our permanent rotation of meals. 

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/26396/winter+vegetable+tagine

The only thing I did differently was mix up some natural yoghurt with some chopped mint and put a dollop of that on top.  Don't skimp on the toasted almonds and I added heaps of coriander on top because I am a coriander freak!!!

I also made some yummy roasted chickpeas today, really easy to do and super tasty, I eat them as a snack or put them in salads for crunch. Chickpeas are high in fibre which helps to keep you full, perfect for when you have a craving for chips or something naughty.  All you need is a can of chick peas, drizzle of olive oil and your favourite herbs and spices.  Drain the chick peas, drizzle your oil over the top and roll the chick peas around to cover them in the oil, pour onto a oven tray covered with the baking paper.  Sprinkle with your herbs and spices and roll around until all covered. The batch I made today had cayenne pepper, lemon myrtle seasoning, garlic powder, thyme leaves and ground coriander.  Just use your favourite.  Put in fan forced oven 200 degrees for about 35 minutes, rolling chick peas around on tray occasionaly.  They should be crunchy and golden when cooked.  Keep in air tight container in the fridge. Yummy!!

Happy new year.
xo

'Jam Donut Cupcakes'- with Raspberry and Chambord jelly centre, Baileys buttercream icing and sugar lime confetti

Well today I whipped up a bunch of my famous vanilla sponge cupcakes and wanted to do something a little bit different with them.  I had an unopen bottle of chambord liquer glistening at me from our 'cocktail shelf' (a shelf in our kitchen brimming with all sorts of different alcohols and liquers, somewhat wasted on us as we rarely drink, but we keep them in hopes of hosting out of this world cocktail parties....)  In any case it got me thinking back to my bartending days and one of my all time favourite 'shooters' the Jam Donut. 1/2 Chambord a lucious black raspberry liquer with baileys layered on top with a lime wedge coated with sugar which is sucked on after downing the shot.  Not the hardest of shots but very yummy.  I decided to make a cup cake made with the yummy jam donut flavours.

Seeing as I had already made vanilla sponge cake this is what I used but would be equally tasty with chocolate.

This is my vanilla cup cake recipe:
2 3/4 plain flour (sifted)
2tsp baking powder (sifted)
200g unsalted butter (yes butter not margarine)
1 3/4 cups caster sugar
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (i use wiltons)
1 cup milk
(makes about 24 cupcakes)

Cream butter for a few minutes (I do this all in my "wannabe" mixmaster) and in the caster sugar a little at a time until light and fluffy and sugar has almost disolved. Add eggs one at a time and vanilla extract beat again until fluffy.
Add a third of pre-sifted flour and baking powder and beat on low speed, add remaining flour and baking powder. Add milk a little bit at a time and beat until combined.

Spoon into cupcake cases in a muffin tray, bake for 15-20 minutes in a oven pre heated to 170-180 fan forced oven.  Let cool on wire rack.

Make sure you let your cakes cool completely before icing them- I have made this ill fated mistake before to end up with melty drippy unappealing icing.

Baileys buttercream icing
200g unsalted butter
approx 1/2 cup baileys irish cream
8 cups pure icing sugar

Cream the butter for a few minutes (always soften to just below room temp), add half the sugar and beat until light and fluffy adding baileys a drizzle at a time, add remaining icing sugar, make sure you have a spatula to scrape down the sides of the mixture so everything is combined. 
I didnt measure my baileys i just kept tasting until it was a good flavour and good consistency. Keep beating until a thick but fluffy consistency.  If you're like me and live in a hot climate and want to display your cupcakes before they are eaten you will need to add more icing sugar to make the mixture stiffer to prevent falling, this is a bit of a balancing act because you dont want to lose the baileys taste but dont want it to sweet from excess sugar, play around knowing you can always add more sugar of more baileys and still come out with a yummy icing.



Chambord and Raspberry jelly
These measurements are estimates as I tend to free pour everything
4 cups frozen berries (mixed or raspbery)
1 cup chambord liquer
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
2-3tsp gelatin powder
Combine all but gelatin in a saucepan and bring to the boil, once boiling reduce to a simmer, simmer for 5 minutes or until reduced. You may need to add more sugar or lemon juice depending on the flavour you get. Let cool for 5 minutes and then  push mixture through a sieve smooshing the berries with the back of a spoon until all the yummy liquid is drained into a bowl underneath.  I discarded the seeds and pulp into the compost bin.  While the liquid is still warm gradually sprinkle  2-3 tsp of gelatin powder over the surface and stir in well until all disolved. This will vary according to the brand of gelatin you use and their instructions. Let cool in the fridge for 10 minutes.

When cupcakes are cool dig a well in the centre, make sure you dont dig all the way to the paper you need to leave some cake on the bottom so your jelly doesnt run everywhere and isnt wasted. This will give you lots of bits of cake, perfect to knock up a trifle or just hand the bowl to your man like I did, he made light work of an entire bowl of cake centres in under 5 minutes...
I grated some good dark chocolate and added about 1/2 tsp of the chocolate into the bottom of wells, you don't need to do this, but when has adding chocolate to something ever been bad?
Using a dessert spoon, spoon your jelly mixture into your cake wells, some will absorb into the cake just top it up with a bit more jelly mixture.  Put cakes in fridge to set, about an hour.
I iced them with a big swirl using wilton 1M icing tip, this gives you a big frilly swirl, I like lots of icing because really icing is always the best bit.

Garnish with lime sugar, you can buy this at some shops or you can make your own using caster sugar and fresh squeezed lime juice, add a drop of green food colouring to your lime juice to make it more vibrant. sprinkle lime juice onto enough sugar that it forms clumps, dont add to much or it will take ages to crystalise again, let dry and break big clumps with a mortar and pestle. Your lime sugar should have a nice lime zing.  If you add too much lime juice you could always just drizzle on top as a sauce which would taste just as nice.  Sprinkle over icing.

You're done, enjoy!  You should end up with a light vanilla sponge with a almost turkish delight like jelly centre, the baileys bttercream is very rich but some what moreish and the lime sprinkles cut the sweetness with their zing.  Hope you enjoy them as much as my friends and family do.

First time, lets see how this goes

So this is my first attempt at blogging.  At risk of sounding like an internet dating ad I will tell you a little bit about myself and how I came to try this blogging thing. 

My name is Elise, I am a 26 year old nurse living in sunny far north queensland.  I am getting married to the most wonderful man, love of my life 'David' in September 2012.  I've already started counting the days.

I am passionate about baking and cooking, I believe that people who live by the saying 'nothing tastes as good skinny feels' have never had a really moist cupcake smothered in a lucious buttercream icing (honestly being a size 6 can not feel as good as that tastes).  In saying that- my love of good food is in constant battle with wanting to stay healthy, look healthy and feel healthy.  I try my best.

My fiancee will tell you I am addicted to Pinterest and Etsy, it's not that I can't live without them, I just choose not to.  If you havent discovered them yet, be warned, it's addictive.

I wish I could be a little bit more crafty, my sister and sister in law Lauren and Sam make these awesome photo books, scrap books and cards that they "MacGyver"out of scrap paper and other house hold stuff.  One day I will learn how to turn a toilet paper roll into something worthy of gifting to someone else.

I love nursing, it's one of three things I have ever wanted to do (more about the two later).  I work in the cosmetic and plastic surgery side of nursing, for the best, most talented, most loving, caring and giving surgeons in this world.  Honestly, I really have the best boss in the world, going to work is never a chore.  Work wise I have it pretty easy, no night shifts, no hard back breaking labour.  Much love to all my nurse sisters in the hospitals and age care centres doing all the hard work.  The joy of my job is getting to see people undertake the most amazing physical and emotional transformations as well as help heal those touched by horrendous diseases such as cancer.

We take a very hollistic approach to pre and post surgical care and have very specific instructions when it comes to having a nutritous diet to assist with healing.  When giving people these instructions I am often asked for meal ideas and when I start rattling them off I get lost in a culinary dictation of all the things that I eat day to day and people are stunned at all the yummy things I make and eat.  So many people keep asking me for recipes and as I tend to make most things out of my head without recipes I thought maybe now was a good time to start writing them down in order to share them.  Inspired by my friend and fellow blogger Kristy http://visionsofkristyemilia.blogspot.com/ I thought blogging might be the best way.  So thats how I came to start blogging.

  I believe food is as important if not more important tham medicine for my patients and I emphasise this point as often as I can.  Some recipes I make reflect this in their nutrition and other recipes are based on pure gluttony and deliciousness.  I will make a concious effort to tell you of the nutritious aspects of the healthy ones I post, the others are at your own peril...


The other two things I always wanted to do, 1.Be a good wife to a good man (On my way to that one) and 2. Be a good mother (I will work at that one after the wedding.)

I hope you enjoy what I write, any questions or comments are appreciated.
I am off to bake some cupcakes, once they are out of the oven I will post the recipe.

much love
Elise