Monday, May 31, 2010

Meal Planning

A while ago I mentioned wanting to start planning my meals for the week.  I figure it would be a good idea as it would allow me to shop only what I need for the meals therefore saving money and wastage of food.  Even though it's been ages since I read about it and decided to do it I've not put my thoughts into action. So this week I have FINALLY got off my ass (so to speak) and made a plan for this week.

Tuesday - Pumpkin Curry with a side of Beef strips and Spinach
Wednesday - Slow Cooked Chicken (whole) with roasted vegetables (potato, sweet potato & carrot)
Thursday - Mexican beef in Tortilla shells
Friday - Coconut Red Cod, Oven Chips & Broccoli
Saturday - Spicy Parsnip Soup, Almond Crusted Chicken & Mixed Vegetables
Sunday - Slow Cooked Roast beef with mashed potato
Monday - Sweet 'n Sour Pork

I think how most people meal plan is they find out what's on special that week at the grocery store and plan their meals around that.  That's how I'm planning to figure out my meals.  I'll get hold of the flyer on Monday's and on Monday night work out my meals for the week and go shopping on Tuesday evening.  I'm hoping I'll be able to save a bit of money on food by meal planning too!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Made me LOL

....especially since I'm hating my job right now


No training today.  Soccer practice was cancelled as it has been raining pretty heavily all day today and the fields were closed.  Hopefully I will get to post my training plan tomorrow once a certain someone gets off his ass and writes my program.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Herb and Garlic Salmon Salad

I got this recipe from Christine's blog.  I made it tonight for dinner.... so good.  Luckily the herbs she suggested I already have growing in my garden (yay!).  I made enough for two big serves.



500g grilled salmon, flaked
Half a packed of baby spinach (about 60g)
Half a large head of broccoli, cut into small florets
3 smallish carrots, cut into sticks
1 large tomato, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced (or dried garlic)
Fresh Dill
Fresh Thyme
Olive Oil

Steam the broccoli and carrots.  Mix the dill, thyme, garlic and olive oil.  Put all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix through the herb garlic oil mixture.  Serve immediately.

Thanks again Christine.... I have another go-to recipe.  I don't have one for salmon actually because I don't normally eat it, but it was on special this week at the grocery store!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Hair

I went to the hairdresser yesterday to get my hair cut and he told me that my hair was almost "too healthy".  I thought that was quite funny, but he said something about my hair being on the acidic side.  I was super impressed with him anyway.  For the first time a hairdresser did not freak out at the fact I use my hair straightener frequently and he was pretty much able to read what I needed for a hairstyle based on the condition of my hair, how I like to wear it and how it will "act" in certain weather conditions.  The best haircut I've had ever. Most hairdressers I have been to in the past either 1. Can't believe that I used a hair straightener almost daily or 2. Freak out that I use a hair straightener almost daily, and then look at my hair and realise that no, it's not as damaged as they made out it would be. Morons.

I have noticed a huge difference in my hair over the past few years and wonder if it has something to do with my diet.  First of all the texture has changed -- it used to have a natural wave - not too curly but enough to be nice.  Now it's full of curls (HAET!!).  Secondly it has turned almost oily.  I have had to refrain from putting too much conditioner in my hair.  When I do put it on, I just put a little in only and just enough to detangle my hair.  I don't leave it in, I basically just quickly massage it though (kinda like I'm shampooing the ends) and then wash it out.  If I put in slightly too much, my hair is an oil slick.  Now, my hair used to be quite dry - I used to buy deep conditioning treatments all the time; those V05 oil capsule things.  I used to treat it like a newborn baby - combed it gently, never pulling it roughly.  I even gave up using brushes because I thought it damaged my hair.

My hair's current state has it's pros and cons.

Pros
1. I can use the crap out of my GHD irons and not worry about damaging my hair.  I don't even use a heat treatment product with it (perhaps I should?).
2. My hair is always sleek and super shiny


Cons
1. HAET curls.  My natural curls anyway.  I look like a damned poodle.  I also hate the feeling of too much hair around my face, which is what it feels like when my hair is in it's natural state; like a huge bush around my face.
2. The oil slick thing.  The feeling when your hair has been freshly washed and dried and it looks oily...gah, I hate that.  Funny enough, I can still go 3-4 days between washes, because I don't keep producing more and more oil.

So anyway, I mentioned that I think it might have something to do with my diet.  I've noticed this change over the last 2-3 years and this coincides when I really started focusing on my diet and training.  My diet changed from moderate everything to pretty much high protein, moderate fat and low to moderate carbohydrate.  I also take omega-3 fatty acids (6-10 per day when I remember), kelp,  women's multivitamin and Vitamin D.  The omega-3s and multivitamins have been pretty consistent over the past few years.  The other two I have added over the past year due to change in location.

Just wondering, has anyone else out there noticed a change in their hair since they adopted the bodybuilding/high protein type diet?

Friday, May 14, 2010

Sportsgirl's Sooper Vegetable Soup

I love soup and as it's getting colder here, I made one of my favourite vegetable soups today.  As the recipe says, the first half of the recipe is the "base" (onion, garlic, ginger, pumpkin, potato, sweet potato) and the second half you can add whatever vegetables you like.  I sometimes make this soup whenever I have a lot of vegetables in my fridge that I need to use before they go bad. Today I added carrot, parsnip, spinach, mushroom, tomato, broccoli and red cabbage.

1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
some ginger, finely chopped
bit of olive oil
1 cup lentils (I've used brown and red)
1/2 buttercup or pumpkin
2 small-med potatoes
1 med-large sweet potato
couple of bunches of spinach
1/4 cabbage
1/2 broccoli
6 mushrooms
1 capsicum (pepper) - or 2 halves of diff colours
1 generous teaspoon of red curry paste
salt to taste

Brown the onion, garlic and ginger with the olive oil. Put in the lentils and stir with the mixture for a little bit. Add water - about 1/3 of the pot. Put in the pumpkin, sweet potato and potato (which you have cut up into pieces) and boil for about 30-45 mins. Once the pumpkin etc are all soft, mash until the mixture is a pulp. Add a bit more water. Stir in the red curry paste and add salt to taste. Chop up the broccoli, spinach, cabbage, mushrooms and capsicum finely and add to soup. Simmer for about 10-15 mins. Add more water if needed. You can add more water to adjust the thickness of the soup, but add more curry paste and salt to taste. This soup is quite thick. Feel free to add whatever veggies you like!! When I first made it, I put in whatever leftover veggies I had in my fridge.