Banana lollies

I saw a thing in a magazine recently saying how good frozen bananas are. I'm a pretty big fan of bananas anyway and apparently they get sweeter when they are frozen.

I think in America they do frozen bananas but they cover them in chocolate and sprinkles and all kinds of (tasty) unhealthy stuff.

It got me thinking about making ice cream from then and putting it in those plastic lolly makers. So I blended together 2 bananas, a teaspoon of peanut butter, a few splashes of milk and some chocolate powder and heres the result. It was pretty tasty, it's worth experimenting with proportions and I might add some honey to sweeten them or some blackstrap molasses when i finally get hold of it to up my iron intake. It's a pretty tasty post run treat on a hot day :)

The old Iron issue

Iron has been something on my mind a bit for the past year. I consider myself quite a naturally tired person who needs at least 8 hours sleep every night to function properly, so my fatigue since i've stopped eating meat (well cut down significantly) hasn't caused me too much concern. Put my mum, dad, sister and me on a train for more than 20minutes and we'll all be asleep!

I probably should go to the doctor and have my iron levels tested but I tend to think if I am careful to eat things high in iron then I should be ok. So when I came across this article and recipe I took note:

http://lavamagazine.com/training/plates-not-pills-iron/#axzz1iSvEZ4oK
http://lavamagazine.com/training/recipe-iron-poppers/#axzz1gGrJgr1X

I think I have mentioned before about my reluctance to take vitamins and pills. My logic is that they mostly contain things that with a balanced diet you should get anyway, unless of course you have any specific medical conditions.

Unfortuntely I am still struggling to source any blackstrape molasses but I will let you know how I go when I get some and manage to make these babies!

Katie.x

Some piccies

Its been a while since I posted any pictures and since my healthy eating and cooking is going quite well I thought it was a good time to share some images of the recipes i've been knocking up.

Healthy falafel made from pistachios and baked rather than fried. The recipe called
chickpeas but I had borlotti beans opened so I gave them a try! I'll be making them up
using some sauces and lettuce leaves instead of pita.

Mushroom and peach burger with guacamole and home made sweet potato fries.
This was super tasty! And Micheal-Clease loved the sweet potato fries. And yes
that is a party popper left over from NYE!

I got both these recipes from another new site i've found. Its www.greenkitchenstories.com  Check it out they have lots of tasty vegetarian recipes.

I'm trying hard to source all my ingredients from small independent shops and farmers markets but it takes some work. The pistachios, for example, where rosted and salted as thats all the local grocers had. I rinsed them quickly to remove excess salt and didn't add an extra.

Yesterday Michael-Clease and I went for a long cycle ride. It was quite tough as I haven't been riding for ages and body was not used to it. We also went for a surf but the waves weren't so good. I think I still worked my shoulders though as they are aching today!

Ciao

A fresh start

Happy new year!  I'm excited about this year. Despite waking with a hangover I do feel that's it's going to be a good one.

Over the last month my health and fitness has been a little neglected. Too much wine has been drunk, too many chocolates have been eaten and I am generally looking unhealthy, feeling fatter and am pretty moody. 
Now it 2012 that's all gonna change! Theres been a lot on the new recently about new years resolutions. How unsuccessful they are. I think the statistic was something like 40% of people fail before February and 95% before the end of the year. This is why I have decided to have new year mantras. Little sayings to remind me of the way I want to be living. 

The first mantra is finish what you started. I have a number of courses and little projects hanging around waiting to be finished, this year I want get them all done and if I start something new persiver until its complete. 

 The second is be more respectful. This originally was talking about the planet and my keeness to be more green but i should use it in all aspects of my life  The green bit came about when we went to visit Michael-cleases grandparents over christmas. The live in a big rural property which has no rubbish collection. They have to find other methods of deposing of it, either putting it on the compost, incinerating it or driving it to the local rubbish dump. Putting rubbish in a bin outside our house it is easy to forget how much we through out where it ends up! My aim to be greener will involve trying buy things with less packaging, using less plastic bags and shopping around rather than at the big supermarkets (this one might not really help the environment but it's still something I'm keen to try). 

My third mantra is glow from the inside. I stole this phrase from a blog I've just discovered www.ohsheglow.com. I've decided to really concentrate on my diet this January and hopefully some of it will carry on through the rest of the year. I want to not drink alcohol, not eat meat, eat as little dairy as I can and generally eat super healthily. I also plan to get back on the exercise bandwagon!

Anyway I started my morning with quite a hangover  :( some definite healthy eating was needed! On the Oh she glows website there is a link to it's sister site Green Monster Movement. The green monster is a smoothie that uses greens such as kale or spinach so I knocked myself up one of them.  I added spinach, chia seeds, banana, soy milk and some water and whizzed it all up. It doesn't sound too tasty but as the banana has such a strong taste compared to the spinach it was actually quite tasty. 
Given my hangover that's about all I've managed today but as you can see all the plans are in place for a better me. 

Chubby Katie. X