Hi All,
I know it has been a long time and it is fair to say a lot has happened!
The most exciting news of all is that in February we had our daughter ‘Amelia’.
Before I discovered Dr Fuhrman I was told that due my PCOS I would more than likely not be able to conceive naturally and I would require IVF. I didnt want to accept this and took matters into my own hands. With every massive salad and green smoothie I knew that I was improving my health and my chances of having my own family. Luckily after setting the right nutritional foundation we were able to conceive naturally and very quickly.
I feel very grateful to have found Dr Fuhrman’s ‘Eat to Live’ I know that without it we wouldn’t have our beautiful Amelia.
I haven’t blogged in such a long time but I decided to come back to it to share my news and going forward share that you can eat this way even with a hectic lifestyle.
Since having Amelia I have had the least amount of time to myself ever!!!
Initially I found this to be a major obstacle and slipped into some old habits but then I realised that I wanted to be the best role model possible for my daughter and to be in the best shape of my life.
So here I am….not in the greatest shape since my pregnancy and needing to establish a new routine and way to eat healthy for myself and my family.
Amelia has started solids this week and I see this as a great opportunity to start a fresh and teach Amelia healthy eating.
I hope to share with you my journey to reach my new goals also tips and tricks for getting organised and healthy.
If you haven’t already you can also follow me on instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/nutritarianaussiegirl/
Finally apologies in advance for spelling mistakes and errors this is one tired mumma.
Cheers,
Nutritarian Aussie Girl xx
I am back!
It has been a long time since my last post and although I have been posting my recipes on Instagram I have been absent from my blog.
Last year bought some challenging decisions and at the time I really needed to refocus and unfortunately that meant my blog writing needed to drop off for a few months.
In recent times I would say that my eating has been mostly healthy although I have had some rough patches due to a heavy work schedule. As you get older in life you realise that you can’t always do it all at the time you would like.
I know that I am still getting readers on my blog so I wanted to thank you all for continuing to follow me and I hope I have helped you in someway.
I had some goals last year, one was to be at my goal weight by my sister in laws wedding, unfortunately with only 7 short weeks to go this wont be the case. Although this is really disappointing it made me think about why we put time limits on ourselves in life. My husband gave me the best piece of advice this week and as cheesy as it sounds he said ‘Laura just embrace yourself, just embrace you’ and thought you know what that is really the essence of enjoying life and a journey of health.
Embrace, acknowledge and accept the now. It made me realise that sometimes because I am unhappy with my weight that I may not enjoy myself fully because I always think that when I reach that goal then I will be happy but intellectually I know that it will never be the case.
So my long winded point is that I am embracing me and embracing my Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and the challenges it causes in my life will bring a lot of peace to my life. I am pretty tired of hiding and I am pretty tired of putting my life on hold. I know that if I eat healthy my journey will eventually lead me to my desired end result, but in the meantime I want to enjoy it more and put a lot less pressure on myself. I have decided that I would like to post more pictures of myself and even video clips of me making all my healthy recipes. Part of that process is mourning the old me, the one before I got Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, before the acne and the weight gain.
I thought why not post a delicious amazing healthy recipe in time for the weekend to celebrate my return to blogging. These buckwheat pancakes are so simple to make and are very impressive.
Here is a picture of the very delicious buckwheat pancakes and here is the recipe:
Recipe
1/4 cup of mashed banana
1 cup of buckwheat flour
1 -1 1/2 cups of almond milk (depending on your preferred pancake consistency)
1 tbs of baking powder
1 tbs of vanilla essence or your preferred vanilla flavouring
Directions
1. Place all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl
2. Add banana and vanilla essence
3. Slowing whisk in almond milk until it turns into a smooth batter
Serve with your favourite toppings.
I hope you enjoy making these healthy pancakes and remember to embrace yourself!
Lots of smiles,
Nutritarian Aussie Girl
Hi there,
It has been a busy few weeks but finally I have found time to post.
Well since kick starting my weight loss efforts I have now lost 9.8 kilos (21 pounds). This is not my total weight loss to date, I wont be revealing that yet as I am still shy about my starting weight, but definitely by early next year all will be revealed.
I have just starting getting into instagram at the moment and I am really enjoying it – if you want to see more of what I eat I post my food most days – my instagram name is ‘NUTRITARIANAUSSIEGIRL’. I also want to share with you some lessons I am starting to learn while I am on this weight loss journey and one of them is recognising your triggers, and with the Festive season approaching there is no time like now.
What are your triggers?
In the build up to the festive season there are going to be triggers that come in all different forms. You will no doubt have lots of functions to attend with family, friends and work and not to mention work stress when you are trying to wrap up everything for the year and plan for 2014.
I also know at this time of year for some people it can cause an array of emotions. It maybe the first Christmas without a loved one or perhaps you are fighting with certain members of your family.
Just being busier than usual can challenge your usual food preparation time.
There are so many reasons and excuses we can find for going off track this season but I ask you to think about how you will feel on the 1st of January if you make a choice to stay healthy.
I know I am going to write down two scenarios 1) if I decide to eat every piece of junk food in sight until 1st January or 2) If I decided to stick to the plan how will I look and feel on the 1st January – I think this is an important exercise, but it really shows you in black and white what the outcome is going to look like with both options.
I have decided I need more support this year so I will be joining Dr Fuhrman’s holiday challenge, I read on his website http://www.drfuhrman.com the following:
The average American gains 8 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day and those pounds are likely to stay around forever and just keep accumulating with the years. Worse than that, eating for recreation through the holidays causes thousands of deaths each year from heart attacks. The three days of the year when most Americans die of heart attacks are December 25, 26 and January 1. Overindulging on food and drink during holidays can be deadly.
WOW these are very scary statistics, but if you think about it, most people sit around eating as much as they can possibly fit into their stomach’s until they are literally bursting at the seams. Not to mention the stress and anxiety that this time of year can cause for many people.
Give yourself the gift of health and love and do something that is special and meaningful to you that doesn’t involve food, I know this year I am planning to visit the hot springs in the Mornington Pennisula and also take day trips to the beach. Nurture yourself and do what makes you happy, that means different things to different people but don’t put it off any longer. Happiness is not found in a piece of cake, it is found when we truly do what our heart desires.
Here are some recipes to share with you, one is of how I have my green smoothies lately and the other is a delicious chia Chocolate and peanut butter pudding which was inspired by ‘The Raw Food Sisters blog’.
Green Smoothie
Ingredients
Serves 2 people
1 bunch of kale with stems removed
1/4 cup of hulled hemp seeds
1/2 cup of frozen blueberries
2.5 cups of water
1/2 cup frozen mango
1 quarter of frozen banana
Instructions
Add water and hemp seeds into your high speed blender and blend, then add frozen blueberries, mango and banana blend again, then add kale and blend until smooth and silky and serve.
*Your smoothie will last if you make it the night before*
Chia Chocolate and peanut butter pudding
Picture of pudding before mixing in the chia seeds:
Ingredients
2 tbs of Cacao
2 tbs of organic peanut butter ( 100% peanuts only no additives)
2 ripe bananas
2 dates (soaked in water for 1-4 hours to soften)
2 tbs of Chia seeds (whole seed)
Instructions
1. Blend cacao, peanut butter, bananas and dates in a high speed blender remove and place in a bowl
2. Add Chia seeds and mix through – cool in fridge until the pudding thickens then serve
*This will impress any guest!!*
I hope that you enjoy these recipes and my thoughts on the festive season, and if you have any other ideas I would love to hear them. Thank you for reading and following my journey I am always so grateful for your love and support.
Lots of Smiles,
Nutritarian Aussie Girl
Hi there,
Can you believe that this is the last week of October. We don’t really celebrate Halloween in Australia but I can imagine it may be a challenging week for some that are located in the Countries that do, although this time of year does make me worry about all of the events coming up in the lead up to Christmas.
Although in some parts of the world it is getting colder, for Australia summer is approaching – although if you live in Melbourne you could possibly argue that point at the moment. I can’t wait for all of the summer fruits to come into season at the moment it is limbo land in terms of produce. My beloved curly kale only has weeks left but I guess I can feel good knowing that my favourite fruit the mango is already appearing in stores and will be a reasonable price very shortly.
I have been getting lots of questions of what I eat lately and I know I haven’t really explained myself. I follow a program developed by Dr Joel Fuhrman called ‘Eat to Live’ he has numerous other books and if you are wanting to transform your health I highly recommend reading the book. I mainly follow a diet of fruits, vegetables, beans, legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds – to a person that doesn’t eat that way you are probably thinking ‘what do you eat?’ but I can assure you the possibilities are endless. I also avoid sugar, dairy, gluten, salt, oil and processed foods – I remember when I first read the book and read about the Nutritarian diet I thought’ how can I do this?’ but as I researched recipes and started to feel amazing I said to myself ‘how could I not?’. Dr Fuhrman also talks about GBOMBS this stands for Greens, Beans, Onions, Mushrooms, Berries and Seeds – it is important to try and include these in your daily meals as they are super nutrients and studies have shown they can reduce all types of diseases and cancers if eaten on a daily basis. There is also research to suggest that the more greens and beans you eat the quicker you will loose weight. Please note though I am not a doctor by any means and you should always consult a medical professional before changing your diet. I would highly recommend reading the book also, that way you understand the basic fundamentals. Dr Fuhrman has hundreds of success stories around the world where people have lost over 100 pounds of weight and kept it off not to mention reversing heart disease and autoimmune conditions to name a few.
Here is a link to his website which is a great start – you should be able to read more success stories:
I wanted to include what my typical breakfast and lunch look like at the moment – I generally interchange my breakfast with fruit or a green smoothie, most days I will have a salad for lunch although sometimes I will have a soup.
Here is my breakfast:
Here is a lunch:
My birthday dinner was a great success and it was so exciting to have my mother and sister in law over for a nutritarian meal. I haven’t really cooked a healthy meal for them so I was a little nervous that they wouldn’t like the food but at least they had a nourishing meal. Now I made a major bloggers error….I got carried away and forgot to take a photo of when the meal was all pretty and missed taking pictures of the sides.
My menu
Eggplant Cannelloni
Creamed Kale
Balsamic and Thyme mushrooms
Dessert: Mango & Coconut Ice Cream
Here is my dinner setting and my vintage dessert bowls:
Here are the NOT so glamorous pictures:
I will definitely make sure I take time to take pretty photos for my next dinner party.
I have had a lot of questions of how to make almond milk it is pretty simple to make but you definitely need a high speed blender to do it – I use a vitamix. I have included a recipe below for sweetened almond milk but just remove the dates paste and vanilla if you prefer unsweetened. Making your own milk is so much more beneficial as most store bought milks contain additives.
Almond Milk
Ingredients:
1 cup of almonds (soaked overnight in water)
1 tbs of date paste
6 drops of vanilla (high quality grade)
4 cups of water
Muslin cloth or nut bag
Directions:
1. Place strained almonds, water, date paste and vanilla in high speed blender – blend until smooth
2. Pour through muslin cloth
**Helpful tip – cut a large square of muslin cloth and drape over a wide jug, then place an elastic band over the top to hold cloth in place, when pouring milk it can go slowly, I usually pour in batches and gently use a spoon to help push some of the milk through, sounds complicated but I promise you its easy. Also once I think no more will go through I gently squeeze the remainder of the liquid out without allowing the pulp to come through the sides or top. Then I store in a jar in the fridge. So delicious!! – I also buy muslin cloth in bulk from a craft store – it is very cheap – I run it under hot water first to give it a quick wash before us. This is milk is a great addition to green smoothies, oats or gluten breakfast grains and fruit ice creams. **
I hope that you have a great rest of the week and as always thank you for taking the time to read my journey.
Lots of smiles,
Nutritarian Aussie Girl
WOW – Firstly thank you so much for all of your love and support after I made my post about my skin. It was such a big weight off my shoulders to just come out and tell my readers, friends and family what I had endured since the age of 16. I also received so many personal messages from others that are also suffering from skin conditions and I hope that I have helped you and encouraged you to eat a plant based diet, please give it time because you will see a difference and it will change your life. I also know that the pictures were confronting but I felt it was necessary to show you rather than just tell you.
I also wanted to thank my readers, friends and family for all of the beautiful birthday messages I was definitely feeling the love yesterday. I turned the big 33 yesterday and I will be honest I did have dry reach in the mouth moment on the way to work. It was like one of the those scenes from the movies when all of your life flashes before your eyes and you think have I accomplished anything??? Then I snapped out of it and counted all of my blessings. I know I certainly feel blessed to have discovered this way of eating now rather than in 10 years time. I was even fortunate enough to received these beautiful flowers from my amazing boss – it alway feels nice to be appreciated:
As you can probably gather from my blog posts this year, all of the challenges I have faced have definitely lead me into an on again off again pattern. About a week ago I needed to get tough with myself and make some pretty firm boundaries around food. I was finding that I would do ok from Monday – Friday but then splurge on the weekend, which would sometimes continue into Monday or Tuesday. This pattern of eating is in no way beneficial in terms of my goals and believes in how we should eat to achieve optimal health. So I reviewed the calendar and decided that I only have one unavoidable occasion between now and the end of the year so there should be no excuses. I am so determined to do this once and for all so I am hoping these new boundaries will help. My birthday was a huge step I made the decision to stick to the plan, Joe and I went out to a vegan/vegetarian restaurant in South Melbourne ‘Shakaharitoo http://www.shakaharitoo.com.au/ we were both really impressed with this restaurant the food was very clean and fresh and you could tell it was made with great care- here is what I had:
Soup for a starter – cauliflower, leek and corn
And for Main:
SALAD SHAKAHARI
vegan, non-dairy, gluten-free, no onion or garlic
Our much loved and unique salad of brown rice, beans, raw and cooked vegetables with an apple peanut dressing.
Part of staying on track is making sure you don’t get bored so getting back to inventing new recipes is a big contributing factor of determining my future success- this next one is so simple and was a big hit in my house.
Fried Rice (NO OIL)
Ingredients
1 onion finely diced
3 pieces of garlic crushed
1 bunch of broccolini finely diced
1 cob of corn – cut of kernels
I red pepper – finely diced
1 yellow pepper – finely diced
4 celery stalks – finely sliced
1 bag of portabello mushrooms – finely sliced
1 cup of brown rice per person
2 small carrots – cut into small squares
1 bunch of asparagus – finely sliced
2 tsp of Tamari per person
Instructions:
1. Water saute onions and garlic, then add celery – wait for onions and celery to become translucent
2. Add all remaining ingredients except for brown rice and tamari – stir fry these ingredients until cooked through – don’t over cook, you want to retain all those good nutrients – then remove from the pan
3. I then make individual serves in the same pan – I add 1 cup of brown rice, 1 tsp of Tamari, and 2-4 cups of vegetables depending on how much you like. You could add more tamari but I like to keep it to one 1 tsp for the flavour only due to salt levels
**NOTE** If you are not measuring rice you would add all ingredients at step 2.
I hope you enjoy this recipe and my instructions are not too confusing. It really is delicious and simple and makes you feel like you are having a take out meal.
This weekend I will be cooking for some surprise guests so I will definitely post pictures plus I am trying a new vegan restaurant in Melbourne so I will be sure to let you know about it.
Thank you for following me on my journey.
Lots of smiles,
Nutritarian Aussie Girl
Hi Everyone,
Another blog post without a recipe, but hopefully will offer you some inspiration.
Let me start from the beginning…..In 1996 I noticed my first psoriasis spot after having massive spinal surgery (all good now). I remember feeling absolutely devastated. Being only 16 years old I will never forget that sinking feeling and how your mind races to all the age old question who will ever love me with this?
As the years went on my condition began to worsen, I remember spending summer after summer hiding from the world in long sleeve tops and long pants. If anyone has experienced an Australian summer this was no easy thing to do.
I will never forget when I told my now husband that I had psoriasis, he was just about to drop me off home, and I remember bursting into tears and telling him, on the inside praying to god that he wouldn’t judge me for this condition. Thankfully he didn’t and was very supportive.
It wasn’t until 2011/2012 that my skin hit an all time low. Often there were times that you could hardly find the skin on my arms and legs and the pain was absolutely debilitating. Funny thing is the photos are attached were only taken to show my boss why I couldn’t come into work for the day – my skin was so painful that I felt like I had burns all over my body there were so many patches of soars and they were so inflamed and often bleeding. And sadly these are not the worst of it but never thought to take any photos so this is all I have.
I will never forget one night I went for a walk with my neighbour, I remember coming home and walking through the door as my cold skin hit the warm room combined with beads of sweat running down my legs I felt a pain I had never experienced before, all I could do was literally scream and cry and quickly run myself under a cold shower. I will never forget Joe’s horrified look on his face as he was helpless to relieve me from my pain.
The next morning I woke up completely at a loss, I didn’t know what to do anymore, nothing worked that the doctors suggested and they basically wrote me off as having to suffer for the rest of my life with this condition with no real cure in sight. I have tears streaming down my face as I write this as it was one of the most trying times of my life.
It wasn’t until I discovered Dr Fuhrman’s book ‘Eat to Live’ that I felt like there was hope. I had read about a lady Jodi that had reversed her Psoriasis, in my heart of hearts I wanted to believe it but I thought it was too simply to cure my skin with just food and no medication topical or oral.
As the weeks progressed I started to see improvements in my skin and it started to heal, from July to just the middle of August the Psoriasis was healing up and I couldn’t believe it. By Christmas it was looking even better and now I would say that I am in 95% remission. I can’t imagine where I would be if I didn’t find Dr Fuhrman and I am grateful everyday for his program and scientific research and studying, that has enabled him to change so many people’s lives. People in the world that thought they had no hope are now living a happy and healthy life.
Apologies for the graphic images but I feel it is important for you to see my progress:
BEFORE
AFTER:
My journey to 100% health is far from over as I still am on the weight loss journey to get my PCOS under control but I felt that it is important to share this with you as I feel it is pretty amazing and I hope it offers someone else the opportunity to turn their health around or to heal their Psoriasis.
Thank you
Nutritarian Aussie Girl
I have to be honest and say I haven’t had the best run with food and weight loss since the middle of August. It all started when I was going to have a night off for a friends birthday which turned into a whole weekend of eating out then after that I have found it difficult to get back on track. Basically a series of events and challenges have led me way off track.
I have been in my new job now for almost two months and I absolutely love it but I am needing to learn how I balance a sometimes large work load with food preparation and exercise and also how to teach myself to switch off. A lot of my work is with the Asian Pacific and the USA so a lot of times to keep the ball rolling you do respond to emails at all different hours. But the strange thing is it doesn’t really bother me because I love it – it is just about learning a new balance and learning how I incorporate my food and exercise into this lifestyle.
My biggest challenge is events and it is something I need to pay close attention to in the coming months. Where I live from November on wards it turns into one big long string of social events, the Melbourne Cup, birthday’s, End of year functions, Christmas, New Years Eve, boxing day…..and the list goes on.
I also know that Joe and I have a lot of people in our life that frown upon our choices of foods. I mean it is just fruits and vegetables but some people’s attitude’s are hard to deal with……and the judgement doesn’t help!!
Dr Fuhrman runs a weight loss challenge every year at around thanks giving time, I know that I will entering this year and getting as much support as possible through the festive season otherwise I am going to be right back to square one.
I probably should note having PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) means I put on weight rapidly even when I am eating what others would consider moderately…it is very frightening and serious and I have been known to gain 10 kilos in 1.5 – 2 week period. Sometimes I feel like the bubble boy from that Seinfeld episode. Intellectually I know eating Dr Fuhrman’s plan is the only way of eating that keeps my weight off but for many different reasons it is a struggle for me.
I dont have a recipe today but hopefully will have something later in the week just wanted to keep you updated.
Thank you for all of your support.
Lots of smiles,
Nutritarian Aussie Girl
Hi everyone,
I hope that you are all having a great week. I have just started my 6th week of being back on track. To be perfectly honest, this week has been a struggle. Sometimes your goals seem so far away that you can never imagine reaching them and this week I have definitely felt that way.
I know when I feel like this it usually means I am not taking enough time to rest and reflect so this is something I am going to try and do this weekend starting with dinner out with some very dear friends, a therapeutic stone massage on Saturday, catch up with girlfriends in the afternoon and a movie with Joe on Sunday.
I have also finally made an appointment with a personal trainer, my first session is tomorrow night, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. I will let you know how it goes.
Another thing that has really been bugging me this week is that I have a friend who I love and admire but I can’t help feeling that they are competing with me or threatened by me, it’s really sad because I thought this person was a close friend. Sadly for me in this journey I don’t really need someone like that in my life. When you have goals you want to achieve I think it is so critical to make sure your support system is solid and when you do have people in your life that you feel are not serving your best interests sometimes it is best to move on. I guess its a natural progression of life but sometimes it’s not easy and any less painful.
On a positive note I have invented the most delicious recipe and definitely has Joe’s tick of approval.
Choc Orange Balls
Here is what the mixture looks like before processing
Recipe
1/2 cup raw almonds
1/2 cup pitted dates
2tbs cashew butter
6tbs of cacao (can be less if you like – adjust to taste)
2 tbs shredded coconut
4 dried apricots
1/2 cup raw cashews
1/4 cup currants
Zest of one orange
Juice of one orange
Extra shredded coconut for coating
Directions
1. Place all ingredients into food processor except orange juice
2. Turn on food processor and slowly add orange juice – you may not need all of the juice so be careful not to make mixture too watery – my advice is to test the mixture first to see how you like the consistency when rolled in a ball – please for safety reasons make sure the food processor is off on the appliance and unplugged from the wall
3. Once you are happy with the mixture roll into small balls and coat with coconut
4. Then place in the freezer for an hour then serve
If you are keeping some for later these need to store in the freezer they actually wont freeze because they have nuts in them.
I served these balls with some lovely herbal tea with two slices of fresh orange
I think tea always tastes better in a pretty cup
My husband Joe also wanted me to share the amazing fruit and nut combo he made this week
I visited my sister-in-law and future brother-in-law on Sunday and I must say they have the best lemon tree I have ever seen and I was lucky enough to take home a massive bag
Thank you for reading my blog this week and I hope that you find things to do this weekend that will make you happy!!
Lots of Smiles,
Nutritarian Aussie Girl
Hey Everyone,
Well you might have noticed that I didn’t blog last week it turned out to be a crazy week. My new job is amazing but there is a lot to learn so this is definitely keeping me busy plus I was planning my mum’s 60th birthday party.
My mum’s party was going to be my first real challenge since being back on ‘Eat to Live’ I must admit I was slightly nervous I had decided to serve SAD (Standard Australian Diet) and Nutritarian food (Plant based food) although it was a tough decision I thought it would be best to keep the crowd happy and people were more then welcome to try both.
Luckily I survived the party without giving into temptation and I felt great the next day having known that I didn’t ruin any of my progress so far.
What also helped is that my dad has decided to follow Dr Fuhrman as well which makes me very proud. He has grasped the concepts very quickly and has had some staggering results with an amazing 14 kilos (30 pounds) in just 6 weeks. It made it a lot easier having my husband and dad there as Nutritarians.
My cousins family are also into healthy foods, I said that it would be great to have them over again for a proper meal instead of the limited items I made for the party. It did make me very happy to see people try the healthy food I must admit.
Now to my weight results, after 4 weeks of staying on ‘Eat to Live’ I am happy to report that I have lost 8.6 kilos (18 pounds). I feel amazing and I am starting to feel like how I felt at the start of this year. I have included below one of my green smoothie recipes as I get a lot of questions about what I put in them.
My current mix:
1/2 frozen mango
1 ripe small banana
1/2 blueberries
1 head of Kale (leaves removed from stem)
1/2 cup almond milk homemade sweetened with date paste and vanilla
1/2 cup of chilled filtered water
Directions
Place all ingredients in a high speed blender until smooth
**NOTE** I sometimes make my smoothies the night before and they keep great for the next morning – I often double this for myself and Joe
Everything is tracking well but I never think that I am out of the danger zone. This is about long term and getting the weight off my body so I can be healthy and not at risk of serious illness and disease. I feel very fortunate that I have been strong enough so far and I hope that I continue to be so that I can reach my health goals.
I hope that you have a great week and thanks again for following my blog.
Lots of Smiles,
Nutritarian Aussie Girl
Hello Everyone!
Well I can’t wait another second. I am happy to announce that I have found a job. I have kept it a secret for the last week because I wanted to settle into the role before I posted it here. It is a contract role that is for about 12 months but at least it is a job and something that I find enjoyable.
I was determined not to allow my return to work damage any progress I have made over the past few weeks and luckily I have stuck with the plan.
I have been busy experimenting with different recipes, as I think I mentioned recently it is a creative outlet for me and really turning into a passion.
Healthy food doesn’t have to be boring or tasteless. It is definitely about learning new ways to cook and experiment. I hope that through seeing what I cook during the week it will reassure you that eating healthy is anything by boring and hopefully inspire you to look at what is really in our foods. Sometimes life moves so quickly that we literally do not stop to think about our diets and the nutrition we are getting from our food. If you are feeling exhausted or unhealthy, just as an exercise read the labels of what you are eating and really study the ingredients, it is really scary!!
Last night I made a delicious Quinoa & Fruit Slice here is the recipe, I hope that you enjoy it – so easy to make as well. Like most, the recipes I post, I encourage you to add your own touch. If you don’t like something, be creative and put something else instead.
Quinoa & Fruit Slice (US friends Quinoa & Fruit Bar)
Ingredients:
200g dried apricots
200g raisins
1/4 cup goji berries
1/2 cup of orange juice
1/4 cup pistachio nuts
1 cup almonds
1/4 shredded coconut
1 cup quinoa flakes
1/4 cup of sunflower seeds & pumpkin seeds (have extra in reserve for topping)
OVEN TEMPERATURE: 200ºC / 390 ºF
Directions:
1. Spread quinoa flakes, shredded coconut and almonds on a baking tray lined with baking paper, place in oven and bake until golden brown, then take out of oven and cool
2. In a food processor add all ingredients except for the orange juice – process until mixer is coarse
3. Then gradually add the orange juice into the food processor until the mixer has been blended through
4. Once mixed together spread evenly onto a lined baking tray – to finish sprinkle pumpkin and sunflower seeds on top and place in oven for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown
These will keep in the fridge – but definitely worth tasting straight out of the oven – warning portion control is needed!!
Here are some other dishes I made this week:
Next week I will have an update on my weight loss results and hopefully another recipes.
I hope that you all have a great week and thank you for reading my blog.
Lots of Smiles,
Nutritarian Aussie Girl
Nutritarian Aussie Girl 