Faux carbs, part 1: Cauliflower Rice

I love carbs and don’t believe that a sensible, balanced diet would cut them out.  I certainly watch the amount of carbs that I eat (usually I have them for breakfast only, and only eat carbs for two out of my three meals a day) and have cut down massively on the amount I used to eat back when I was a stone heavier.  I’ve replaced carbs with protein and have also jumped on the bandwagon with ‘faux carbs’, as in, carb-like foods made with vegetables instead.  I’ve been tucking into courgetti and have recently fallen in love with cauliflower rice.  This dish is a little dry on its own as a side, but goes together really well with anything sauce based.  I’ve served it with Vietnamese curry (recipe here) and chilli.  Not only did it taste great, but it is also filling and a sneaky way to up your vegetable intake for the day.

To make enough rice to serve 2 people:

1 cauliflower (medium/ large sized...whatever you can find really.  I don’t know much about cauliflower sizes!!)

Sea salt

Ground turmeric (miracle spice apparently, is so good for you and I just use this Asda one if I can’t find any in Aldi)

Cumin seeds (these ones from Asda)

You’ll also need a  grater and a really good-quality, non-stick wok.

Method:

1.        Using the coarse side of your grater (to get chunkier pieces rather than finely grated), grate the cauliflower into a bowl.

2.       Season with the sea salt and then give it a generous sprinkling of turmeric and cumin seeds.  Stir it all together so that you are left with some pretty yellow-ish cauliflower!

3.       Heat the wok up to full heat. DO NOT ADD OIL.  Once the wok is hot, throw in your cauliflower and let it fry for a couple of minutes, turning it occasionally with a fish slice.  You only want to heat the cauliflower through rather than cooking it and making it go soft and watery.  Two minutes on this high heat will probably do the job perfectly.

4.       Serve with a curry of your choice and enjoy your faux-carbs!

Cauliflower rice looks so pretty on Instagram.  I'm @thegirlwiththelilytattoo if you'd like to follow!

Broccoli, pea and basil soup

I put this recipe on my huge list of things to cook!  It’s from the Hemsley & Hemsley book, The Art of Eating Well and I adapted the measurements for it to be made in my soup-maker. 

Ingredients:

1 onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 sticks of celery, chopped

A pinch of dried oregano

80g fresh basil, roughly chopped

250g frozen peas

Broccoli- as much as is needed to make the above ingredients up to 1kg in weight

1 and ½ pints of vegetable stock

Sea salt and black pepper to season, if needed

Method:

1.        Prepare your onion, garlic, celery, oregano, basil and frozen peas. Weigh all of these ingredients together and then add as much broccoli is needed to make the weight up to 1kg.

2.       Put in the soup-maker with your stock and select the ‘smooth’ setting.

3.       Season (if needed) and serve or you could divide between containers so that the soup can be frozen and eaten at a later date!

The finished product in 'Exorcist Green'

I served this with a warmed, wholemeal pitta and was really impressed with the bright colour of the soup, which I’ve called ‘Exorcist green’ (it did remind me a little of the scene in the film where excessive amounts of pea soup were used). 

The photos of the finished product even got the seal of approval from the Hemsley sisters themselves!

So, this will be my last post before I jet off for a week of all-inclusive indulgence and though I plan on enjoying the food on holiday, there is no way I’ll turn it into a sugar/ junk food binge either.  The holiday clothes are bought and packed, plus my clothes from last year still fit perfectly!

There's no better feeling than when your holiday clothes fit perfectly!

It's just more proof that putting good stuff into your body, exercising and avoiding fad diets allow you to be the best shape you have ever been.  Adios!

10 Reasons why you should give a personal trainer a whirl...

It’s the summer holidays!! Meaning that I have less than a week until my friend’s wedding (bridesmaid duties, yay!) and less than a fortnight until I’ll be sunning myself on the beach in Fuerteventura.  I love my running but also wanted to work a bit more on toning too so, on a whim, I booked an hour long session with a personal trainer at my local gym.  The hour cost me £30 and was well worth the money- I’ve got plenty of new exercises to play around with and don’t feel like I need another session for some time whilst I master and enjoy this new programme.  So, today’s post is 10 reasons why you should try a personal trainer yourself:

1.        If you’re making any of my recipes and eating better, the next logical step on top of this is exercise!  A personal trainer asks what you’d like to achieve and then puts together a range of exercises for you. Even if you’re a beginner, they can advise you how to get started whether it be very light exercise or building on a higher level of fitness.

2.       They are a friendly face (not a crazed army sergeant-like figure) who will push you.  I run 12 miles a week and am fit, but my session left me out of breath and totally knackered- I was pushed to my limits with loads of encouragement too.

3.       They know their stuff.  I tend to spend about half an hour running on the treadmill but my personal trainer (ooohhhhh, how posh) gave me a range of exercises that kill two birds with one stone, meaning that as well as toning your muscles, they form your cardio exercise as well. The exercises- such as squats with weights, planks and press ups- actually get you out of breath as you do them, meaning you’re still burning fat and getting fitter as you tone.

4.       They will surprise you.  Apparently, all the sit ups I was doing were a waste of time. I’ve now got two new exercises which tone and define my abs (and arms at the same time!) in much less time than I was spending on sit ups and crunches.  A lot of the exercises we think are effective are, in actual fact, not so. A personal trainer can clarify this for you, meaning you can ditch the useless exercises in favour of more efficient ones.

5.       You will learn a lot from them in just one session- take a notebook and pen or jot down the exercises as you go on your mobile phone.

6.       No access to gym equipment?  No problem!  My personal trainer gave me exercises where with the majority of them, I could do them at home without any equipment and just my body weight to act as resistance.  This is definitely a winner if you don’t want to sign up at a gym and have to pay the monthly membership fees.

7.       When it comes to gym equipment, a personal trainer can show you how to use it properly and crucially, how much weight you should be lifting.   They are very aware of our female phobia that if we so much as touch some weights, we will turn into Arnold Schwarzenegger.  That’s really not the case and lifting a decent amount of weight (that your trainer will advise you on) is crucial to help you tone up.

8.       Personal trainers will correct your technique.  Turns out I’d been struggling more with press ups than I actually needed to because my technique was wrong.  A personal trainer will fine tune your technique so that you are performing the exercise correctly and also safely so that you avoid injury.  My trainer pointed out that my lower back sagged a little when I was doing press ups and warned me about this so that I could avoid a back injury-I wouldn’t have known otherwise!

9.       They give you a whole new routine to try, meaning if you’re stuck in a gym rut...

10.   Going to the gym becomes fun again!  I’ve quit with the million sit ups in favour of my usual run followed by my new exercises. They are more varied, effective and quicker! I’m well and truly hooked and going to the gym doesn’t feel like such a drag anymore.

Happy exercising!