Thursday, October 30, 2008

Roast Rosemary Pumpkin

I love pumpkin and I tried something new today!

Roast Rosemary Pumpkin

Cut 1/2 a small pumpkin into thin-ish slices and place on tray. Drizzle with olive oil and season with sea salt and cracked pepper. Scatter sprigs of rosemary and halved garlic cloves on the pumpkin and bake in the oven until soft (about half an hour).

The result:














I had it with grilled chunks of lean lamb - yum!

Friday, October 24, 2008

Broccoli Soup and Training

Vegetable soups are one of my favourite foods. I'm making Broccoli Soup for dinner tonight so I thought I'd share the recipe here. The recipe only has a few ingredients but it tastes absolutely delicious! It also has a decent amount of protein which is surprising for a soup, but it does contain milk :-)


Broccoli Soup

1. 600g broccoli florets(prepared weight)
2. 1 onion, finely chopped
3. 450mlwater
4. 1 vegetable stock cube
5. 600ml low-fat milk
6. salt & pepper


1. Wash thoroughly the broccoli. You will need 600G so remove the stems and just use the heads.
2. Chop the onion.
3. In a saucepan cook the broccoli and onion together with the stock cube and the water for 15 minutes Keep the lid on while you do this. (you can get this cooking time down to 10 mins if you chop the broccoli quite small).
4. When the broccoli and onion are very tender add the low fat milk.
5. Blend the soup thoroughly using a blender.

Yum yum!!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

The Cleaning Workout

The only thing I like about cleaning is how it looks after it's done. But I absolutely had to do it today. The only other good thing about cleaning is that it actually burns a decent amount of calories - more than sitting on your butt watching your dirty dishes anyway :-D I think if you're trying to lose fat keeping active via housework, general activity is just as important as making sure you get your workouts and cardio in. I had to laugh though, I was washing my floor and I had this little insect/cockroach follow me around. It looked like he was licking the floor where I had washed. I was using sugar soap and it made me wonder if it was actually sweet :-D No I didn't take a swig of the bottle.

So as you may have guessed I didn't work out today but I did clean and I did go for a run when I got up. The run was fantastic - since I'm not on super low calories I have much more energy. I love running in the morning too; it gives me time to think.

I'm trying a new recipe today. It's probably more suitable for winter, but I haven't had turkey for a while and bought some at the store yesterday. It was beautiful! Very tasty yet not too heavy - Dad's Turkey Stew.

Tomorrow we're off on holiday. I was going to be competing at the WNBF Asia Pacific show in Sydney but due to my tanning/skin problem that's now not happening. We're spending a few days in Sydney and then off to New Zealand for a week. Woohoo! I can't wait to go visit my family and friends and hang out at all the bars/restaurants I used to frequent.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

First Post!

Today marks my first day off my "offseason". I just finished a long stint of contest dieting for a bodybuilding contest. My goal this year was to surpass my condition from last year and have a good time and I achieved both, so I consider this year very successful. Unfortunately my contest season was cut short due to a tanning mishap but I think I have that all figured out for the future should I compete again.

I went to the supermarket today and it was the most glorious affair I have experienced for a while. I was actually a little disgusted by how happy grocery shopping made me. Although I don't really restrict food groups while dieting, being on a strict calorie allowance really restricts your choices sometimes. It was nice to just be able to get the stuff I had been missing: a variety of fruits, feta cheese and sun dried tomatoes in oil, whole grain rye bread, hummus, camembert
mixed dried fruit, greek yoghurt. I only bought one "bad" thing... the Christmas goodies are out for sale already so I got this packet of mini chocolate Christmas puddings. Okay, I did go back later and buy some of those pudding cup things and a Christmas Cookie (see below).


Now that I'm not dieting I definitely intend on honing my baking and cooking skills. I *love* trying out new recipes. Gordon Ramsay is one of my favourite people. He makes healthy, simple but yet tasty food. I'm quite intent on trying to make as much of my own food as possible to avoid those hidden preservatives and badness. Home made always tastes better anyway!

So anyway, if you're interested in heavy weights, good healthy food, beer and having a good time then stay tuned!