Good morning, everyone! 

It's a chilly Tuesday morning here and I got up at 6am for a CrossFit session. We did back squats for nearly an hour (10 reps, 5, 3, 1, 1, 1, 3, 5, 10) and I worked mainly on my form because my recent knee injury has prevented me from doing it properly. It's going to take some practice, but I'm happy to be taking a step in the right direction now.

I've had a nice hot shower, and now I am very ready for some food.

I've been trying to have bigger meals at the start of my day lately, mainly because my work schedule means that I don't get to eat anything again until after 12.30. Which also means I've cut carbs (except my oats. You can't take those from me) and focused on getting a tonne of protein from eggs and other options to keep me full for hours. So far it has worked and it's always good to train my body to do something different.

This morning I am combining two smaller meals for my breakfast. The first one is some muesli (the low-sugar kind) with half a cup of natural Greek yogurt, blueberries, and a little maple syrup. I can't go without my fruit in the morning and this is super-quick to put together.

My second option is vegetarian sausages with fried eggs and I'm also going to add a little barbecue sauce. Simple and tastes great, plus I can make my coffee and muesli while it all cooks. 

I didn't need lunch when I got home from work, so obviously I ate right this morning! 

I've made myself a "deconstructed sushi bowl" with 1/2 cup brown rice, 95g of tuna, celery, green pepper and sesame seeds. I topped it with some dark soy sauce and sweet chili. Yum! I've been having this for my lunch through the last month and I love it.

I've just been on the treadmill in our garage doing a little bit of running. It's hard finding time to get out with my new work schedule, so I gotta fit in some jogging where I can. And now I'm super hungry! I also craving something healthy, so I've made a messy little smoothie bowl.

I added an apple, 1/2 a banana, frozen raspberries and some turmeric/carrot juice I had that's packed with ginger. It blended up nicely, so I topped it with the other half of a banana, fejoa, paleo muesli mix, flax seeds and chia seeds. So much goodness! Plus I love the color.

Dinner tonight is zucchini and haloumi fritters with salmon. We also added a sour cream mix that had a little too much cayenne pepper in it for some heat. I would have added some greens but we don't have any left at the moment. This was delicious! We added buckwheat flour, which has a really nice nutty taste to it.


That was a pretty good day of eating! I've gotten a little off track lately, but I'm feeling good about getting back to being on a healthy plan. I've already got some recipes I'm looking forward to trying!

What's your favorite food been lately?
Steph x.

What I Eat In A Day #3

Welcome back to another installment in this series! This week I decided to capture a rather foodie Sunday and show you something a little bit different to some of my at-home meals. I had a lot of fun this day trying new things and spoiling myself a little. Next week I am definitely getting back to normal meals!

It wouldn't be Sunday without pancakes in bed! I got to use my new fry pan this morning (quite exciting, I feel like a domestic goddess) and it was quicker to heating so I burned a few of them. But they still tasted amazing! I lathered on the maple syrup and whipped cream, which I wouldn't normally go for but I'm trying to add more fats into my diet for energy. I just used a similar mix to my Protein Pancake recipe, but forgot the baking powder. 

I went off to the Food Show today with one my CrossFit buddies. Being massive foodies, we were pretty excited to wander around trying new things. There were a lot of our favorite brands there and I think we found some new favorites too. 

Here's a little haul of what I got: 

(coconut yogurt, paleo pancake mix, smoked salmon, almond butter, and the best barbecue sauce ever!)

There wasn't a lot of lunch options, so we decided to make the short walk to Town Tonic and try there new menu. It was definitely worth it and seriously makes me want to come back soon (they have a whole section on the menu just for avocado!) I went for the vegan huevos rancheros, which was two tortillas filled with baked beans, avocado, tofu scramble, and grilled eggplant. So good! 

Snack time! 

We are going out to dinner tonight, so I'm just having something light to tie me over. I'm having some fruit dippers (chopped apple) with some of the new mango coconut yogurt that I bought. This really hit the spot. 

Sorry about the photo quality, my new phone hated the lighting in there. We came to Fush for dinner, a restaurant that focuses on the Kiwi (and British) favorite that is Fish and Chips. You can order the fish any way you like, chips normal or sweet potato, and there's also burger options as well. 

We all shared some onion rings (the best I have had in my entire life) and some salt & pepper squid. 

For my main, I went for pan fried fish and sweet potato fries. I didn't feel like anything heavy, so this seemed like a healthier option. But Oh. My. Goodness was is amazing! One of the best meals I have ever eaten. It really was that good. Loved every bite!

There was no way we were leaving without trying their famous Pineapple Lump wontons! For any non-Kiwis these are our classic chocolate treat only deep fried and served with the creamiest vanilla ice cream I have ever tried. These were really fun to try and I would definitely order some to share again. 

This was such a good way to finish off an amazing weekend. Good food and great people is all you need, right?

Let me know if there's anything you would like to see in this series :)
Steph x.

What I Eat In A Day #2

Hello, Everyone!

I'm really sorry for disappearing lately. You how life gets, I know that's no excuse but sometimes time just slips away. But I am back and feeling motivated to more effort into blogging. Especially when it comes to sharing my health and fitness journey with you. 

In my last post, I talked about how I felt inspired to be better with my nutrition. I am pleased to say that I have been sticking to this and feel great about it. Since cutting out most of my carbs, I've felt lighter and haven't been feeling tired when I usually would. I'm more determined than ever to keep it up and stay focused. The weekends are always my biggest test, so let's see how I did on a lazy Sunday:

Breakfast 10.28am

I usually don't have breakfast so late, but I had a good friend's 25th birthday celebration last night so we got home way past my bed time (I'm as shocked as you!) I've been feeling a little under the weather, so I'm starting my day with a smoothie. All with good things to make me better! I blended up: 

1 orange

juice of 1 lemon

1/2 cup frozen raspberries

1 tsp grated fresh ginger 

5ml olive leaf oil

1/2 cup orange juice. 

Since it's a rainy day outside, I'm definitely in the mood for porridge. I decided to try something different with my toppings and I'm really happy with what I came up with! I mixed in cinnamon with my oats and added chopped banana on top. Then I spooned a dollop of chocolate peanut butter (best invention ever!) followed by a paleo topper mix and some maple syrup. Tastes as good as it looks! 

Lunch 1.30pm 

I must say, I'm pretty darn happy with what I came up with today. We had some paleo bread (made with ground almonds, psylum husks, sour cream etc.) in the freezer ready to pop in the toaster. I had the other half of an avocado and smoked salmon to pair it with. Of course I had to add some eggs too. Gotta get my protein! 

Because I can't get enough fruit today, I'm gonna chow on an apple. I've been craving these a lot lately for some reason. Not a bad habit to start!


Snack 4.25pm

That lunch must have really filed me up because I'm only just getting peckish now. Steven bought our favorite New Zealand Kettle Korn (lightly salted, slightly sweet) which is the best snack! These packets are the best portion size too. My throat is acting up, so I'm also having a good old orange. Whenever I'm sick I just go overboard on the fruit and it makes me feel a lot better.

7pm Dinner

Yes, we were naughty and got take-out. But what else do you do on a Sunday night? Neither of us felt like cooking and I was craving something spicy, so we went for Indian. Because of my cold, I went for something that was loaded with turmeric, ginger and chili to blast my system. And the night wouldn't be complete without some onion bhajis (onions dipped in chick pea batter and fried.) These are honestly the best I have had in a long time.

Hot coffee and biscuits, is there a better supper? My Mum bought tonnes of Girl Guide biscuits (the Kiwi equivalent of Girl Scout cookies) and she gave a bunch to us. I'm only having a couple and not going crazy on the packet. It's the mini chocolate dipped ones you have to watch out for. They're so addictive!


So that was my Sunday/sick day of eating. Mostly healthy with a few treats and lazy options, but I feel like it's a good way to practice balance on the weekends. I think I'm definitely going to be putting chocolate peanut butter on my porridge from now on, it's the best idea ever!


What's your go-to meal for when you're sick?
Steph x.

Daily Blog: French Toast Friday & Mexi-Bowl!

Friday 13th January 2017 

Good morning! 

Steve has come over for a post-workout breakfast, which is much deserved after our CrossFit class. It's all prep for the open coming up, so we are being pushed harder than ever. 

I'll just give you the workout and you'll see what I mean: 

AMRAP 

(As Many Reps As Posible)

5 min Power Snatch

4 min 200m Runs

3 min Box Jumps

2 min Burpee Box Jumps

1 min Thrusters 

Hang Snatch (1 rep max, but I practiced 5 at a lower weight)

1km Run for time

I knew at the start to pace myself, and it was definitely a smart idea. I got 85 reps in total and the run took me 4.48min. I was hesitant on the box jumps after hitting my shin again (when will I learn!) but I still felt good. I've felt less confident this week in class, but today I was quite proud of myself for being smarter about my limits.

Time for French Toast Friday! It's officially going to be a thing and we are pretty excited about it. All I did was mix a few eggs with almond milk and coated the seeded bread. Topped with lots of fruit and a little golden syrup (since we were out of maple.) And just to make it perfect, we watched the second half of Monsters Inc.!

Just catching up on some blog posts and seeing what my favorite bloggers are up to on Twitter. Reading some really great stuff today!

It's about 10am, so of course I'm hungry again. I've put together a little deconstructed sushi bowl with 1/2 cup brown rice, 1/2 an avocado, and a 95g tin of tuna. Topped with a little soy sauce and done! I've covered healthy carbs, protein, and good fats all in the one bowl. Some toasted sesame seeds on top would have made this perfect.

Just went for our usual run and both of us felt really strong today! We kept a good pace and finished earlier than usual. As a reward, we have come to our favorite place: Pure Cafe Co. I went for my favorite Mexi Bowl and Mum got an avocado bruscetta with kale salad on the side. It's delicious and has all clean ingredients, so my body is going to feel awesome. Milo joined us for a while too.

I've said it before and I'll say it again; the best thing about being an adult is being able to buy myself Kinder Surprise eggs whenever I fill up my car at the petrol station. My inner eight year old is very happy right now.

I got a My Little Pony! She's so cute.

After putting away our groceries that were delivered (how have we not done this before?! Saves so much stress) I published my blog collab with Lucy from The Blossom Twins blog! This has been in the making for a few months and I'm so happy it's finally out. You can go over to Lucy's blog and see the bars I sent her and what she thought.

I'm having a healthy wrap as an afternoon snack, filled with pesto, avocado, baby spinach, yellow peppers, and feta cheese.

Home from another crazy night of work, but thankfully I have this gorgeous plate of food to look forward to! We're having corn fritters (made with buckwheat flour) and a watermelon salad on the side. We also added some smoked salmon and tzatziki dressing to make it even better.

I was craving a smoothie bowl, so I blended frozen blueberries, half a banana, oats, and some natural yogurt. It turned out amazing! Just like fruit ice cream but without the added sugars. I have a feeling that I'll be making this a lot now!



Since I love Kinder Eggs, what treats do you buy for yourself that you loved as a kid? I'd love to know!
Steph x.


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