Monster Muffins, Chocolate Cookies and Pesto..

I didn't post for a while, being busy and all with holidays and the first workweek back,,
I always need a couple of days to get used to work and the office atmosphere again if I have been off, even if only for a week.I have to day Its a lot easier to stay accountable on my diet when in my work routine than on holidays.

The holiday was nice, it was just a week of being a ´school mum´ again. I was actually more stressed at home than at work with running to the school 4 times a day, keep the house clean, stay exercising, Trying to dodge the nasty looks at the schoolyard from mothers who either envy me that I actually have a career and so are not obliged to talk to those fake uber-mums everyday or are really thinking I am the worst mother in the world as I am not at the school picking up my kids everyday...

Anyhow Thank God there are some nice mothers there as well which I spend some hours nagging, gossiping and chatting with in between pickups..



Something I wanted to share with you is the Monster Muffins!
Why I call them like that is very simple.. I turned into a monster while eating them!
It was like the chocolate demon inside me wanted to get out! I swore to my husband that I will never make them again anymore. I normally do not really crave chocolate and therefor my insane behavior with those muffins are unreal. Thank god there is no sugar or gluten and are actually quite healthy!
They are actually called Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes and the recipe you can get right here!








When they were finished, my craving for sweet was not gone yet , so the chocolate demon inside  me decided to make some Chocolate, Oat and Peanut butter Cookies as well. Although they don´t really look like cookies, more like blobs of whatever... They taste amazing though and are very good to get some energy in the afternoon! The recipe is here..


Of course I never lose out on my exercise regime because I know I will feel horrible the whole day if I snooze, So during my holidays I did my normal 06:00 AM workouts except on 2 days where I went
to Zumba with the Mummy Army. It was fun, but nothing I would enjoy every single week..

This Saturday I did Body Combat with improvised weighted gloves ( cycle gloves and 0.5 KG ankle weights) and that worked good..although I mentioned to Shayne already that real weighted gloves would be a great birthday present....
Today I wanted to try to run again but with my new shoes. I dreaded the pain in my shins and feet. but it didnt happen! I managed to run straight for 1.8 KM and did a 30 minute exercise routine with our home gym focussed on Biceps, Triceps, Abs and Chest.

Shayne went for his first outside cycle of the year and wont you know it.. he got an accident.
Well he created an accident by not seeing a traffic light and landed on the hood of a car. Thankfully no broken bones or anything , just a dent in the car and his ego probably..

I am still into smoothies every day for lunch and I always prepare them for 2 days in advance.
Previously I added Oats in them, but as of the advise of the Nutricionist , I replaced this for the protein shake I was taking anyway in the morning..

Today´s smoothie preparation; strawberries, raspberries, blueberries,baby spinach,  flax, chia, banana, almond milk and 2 scoops of strawberry flavored wey protein ( one scoop a day)

As we are almost finished with out strawberry protein, we ordered some new, but this time 4 different tastes...
Strawberry, Banana, Vanilla and White Chocolate.
Especially for my smoothies Shayne also ordered no flavor protein powder.. So we have enough for the coming six months! The pills on the photo are omega 3 tablets Shayne likes to take everyday..

Last week I bought a Basil Plant and today I made Pesto with it, Because there wasn't enough Basil on the plant I mixed it with Baby Spinach and it tastes amazing! Also very simple to make..
It was great with the chicken breast and even my oldest loved it! The recipe here.

Last thing I want to share is my Measurement chart,,, I am pretty chuffed that even with the monster muffins I mentioned to lose some centimeters and grams..

Have a good week all and Stay Strong!

Jany

My Weekend and Monday fun..

Its already Monday evening, but I still want to talk about the weekend.. I hope all of your weekends were good ones with hopefully some exercise and not too much alcohol.

I love it when I am awake on weekend days very early so I can do my exercise, clean my house and actually still have some hours left to spend with my girls and chillaxing.. 

This weekend was definitely on of those great weekends. Saturday I woke up around 8.30 , got dressed in gym-wear and did an hour of Bodypump.

The only part from Bodypump I don' t like is those frigging chest presses! Somehow I always end up with pain in my elbows while doing it, get then annoyed that I cant keep up but amazingly still manage to have muscle pain in my chest the next day!

Anyhow.. when that was done and dusted, I got some of my house chores done as I have the whole week to clean the house! Yep the Aupair needed a week of , so the school-runs are on me this week!

This Saturday was also Fiesta Primavera ( Spring Party) at the girls school where Sofia and me wanted to join the Zumba class... It ended up with a big age variety in the public ( 6 to 60 I guess) and two 18 year old boys leading the bunch.. I only managed to do half an hour as I found it a bit awkward to jump around in my normal clothes with a beetred head and makeúp on.

Saturday also means cheat-day and this time I wanted to celebrate this with a small block of chocolate. Yeah dieting and  eating healthy is all well and good, but a hormone infested woman does need her chocolate sometimes! And this combined with a good view, sun on the face and some knitting to relax.. makes me definitely happy!

Dinner was hamburger and chips..but then our more healthy Version...

Aubergine slices instead of bread, roasted sweet potato instead of chips and home made tzatiki instead of Mayonnaise..

On Sunday again I was up early and decided to go for a long cycle. The weather was still nice ( thunder storms and rain in the evening) so the ride along the beach in Barcelona was amazing! 

The trousers I am wearing are padded and I am sure some people had a good laugh when they saw my outfit versus the bicyle I am riding lol. I used to have a road bike, but my neck was always cramping up on that. Then I got an amazing ´High Nelly´ Bicycle I got from my in-laws.. Including the basket!!

After the cycle , the kids and me went to the playground and then relaxed some in the house.. Lovely  Lazy Sunday afternoon...

For Dinner we had chicken roasted in fresh Ginger, spring onion,Soy Sauce, Indonesian spices, curry powder and a bit of olive oil. With a Quinoa stir fry with fresh green beans, spinach, red bell pepper and unsalted,skinless almonds.

Today exercise wise, it was a horrible day , but I am trying t not feel bad about it as I had good exercises over the weekend. I was doing a 40 minute Pilates Ball workout, but the amount of times the ball was rolling from underneath me was countless. At one point i was ready to throw the damn thing out of the window.. Poor guyor girl who would be standing underneath it.. basically having a spacehopper thrown at you and bumped of your head.. ( sorry I am very imaginative lol) .

I also think with the amount of windows I cleaned today , I have a fair amount of squats and arm exercises done!!

Now off to bed and tomorrow a Zumba class again with a mum from the kids school..

However I dont want to deny you the salad I made tonight as a side dish...

Cucumber, Cherry Tomato, Red Onion , Pine nuts ,Chia, a bit of pepper and salt , a table spoon of olive oil and Water Chress from our own Garden,uhm I mean Balcony..

Have a nice evening all and you know.. Stay Strong!!

Chicory for Dinner and Broccoli Nuggets!

Today I was leaving work early to pick up Sofia from School Camp.
She had great fun and came back like a zombie ( and that only after 1 night..)

Because I was home so early , It was my turn to cook my husband pointed nicely out the day before..
And as we seem to overbuy on veggies lately , I needed to make something with slowly dying Chicory and Broccoli..

Those two together didn't sound very appetizing , and the traditional Dutch way of Chicory with ham and cheese out of the oven is a bit too fat for me at the moment... So I decided to use my lovely friend Mr Google once again and stumbled on these recipes..

Chicory in Balsamic Vinegar with Pear and Bell Pepper:

What you need for 3 persons

• 3 pieces of Chicory
• 1 big red Bell Pepper
• 2 Pears 
• 1 table spoon of Olive Oil
• 50 ml Balsamic Vinegar

How to make: 

1. Wash and cut the Chicory in half and remove the ends and the heart ( the bitter part)
2. Slice the Bell Pepper and cut the pears, but not too small.
3. Heat the Oil in the Pan and put the Chicory with the flat side in the Pan.Sprinkle some pepper and salt to taste and bake brown. Turn Around the Chicory and bake on the other side. It doesnt matter if it falls apart a bit. 
4. Add the Bell Pepper and shake the Pan instead of using a spoon to mix. We dont want the Chicory to fall apart too much.
5. After 2 minutes add the Pears and shake the Pan again. 
6. When the Pears are going to caramelize a bit , you can add the Balsamic Vinegar and then let it simmer with the juices of the vegetables. The ´sauce´will thicken a bit which gives a lovely sweet taste.

Broccoli Nuggets: 

What you Need: 

• A small head of Broccoli
• 100 Gram of 0% Mozzarella
• 1 Egg 
• 50 Gram of wholegrain Breadcrumbs
• A Teaspoon of Curry Powder

How to make.

1. Cut and Blanche the Broccoli.
2. When the Broccoli is Cooked, Mash it but not too fine.
3. Add the Broccoli and all other ingredients together and mix in a bowl.
4. Make little croquettes from the mixture but be sure you squeeze all the excess fluid out.
5. Bake in the oven on 180C for about 30 minutes.

Enjoy!!! 

Abdominales Hipopresivos or.. Stomach Vacuum!

Remember what I said 2 posts back?

My focus point for myself is my Belly I am always holding it in , checking how much I lost, doing loads of abs training etc etc.. but in the meantime, without realizing , I lost a good bit of my hips , butt and legs too!

Last week I went to a Nutritionist and she told me ( apart from a lot more useful information) that I should do ´ Ejercicios Hipopresivos Abdominales ´ to target my blubber belly AKA muffin top ... I had no clue what it was and Google Translate was not very useful as usual..

But Finally I was able to translate it with the help of my best friend Youtube!

So what I have learned so far...

We have Inner Abs and Outer Abs and the popular six pack is part of our outer Abs.
That Six pack is amazing obviously, but doesn't give is a flat belly, especially not of you have a muffin top like me.. it just  gives you a six pack with a muffintop...

We need to target those inner abs!

So how do we train this? Right! A Stomach Vacuum!
When I saw the ´how to´ Video on Youtube, it looks so easy..
But  F*** , breathing out and then holding it is nothing to make fun of and it hurts!
I guess that´s a good thing , because.. No Pain No Gain!

So see below the video on Youtube..

Stomach Vacuum

And here the steps if you cant  watch the video..

1. Knees and hands on the floor or from a standing position with your hands on the table, Its important that your back is curved.
2. Blow out all the air from your lungs, squeeze your diaphragm.
3. Suck your belly in , try to expand your lungs like you were breathing but don´t let the air in. Use your diaphragm to suck in your belly tight. Feel your stomach squeezed against your spine. I always try to push my belly button to my back.
4. Hold for 10 seconds
5. Release and breath a few times
6. Repeat the exercise


So I did it for the first time today and will do it every day before bed time..

Of course I am no expert and all of the above information I robbed from the internet , so please use the above carefully!

Enjoy and remember.. Stay Strong!

Kale Soup .. like in Kale ..in soup??

Me being from Holland the only way to eat Kale, or as we call it ´ Boerenkool´ which literally means farmers cabbage, is with mashed potatoes and smoked sausage.
And if you are very adventurous, you might add a glob of mustard or Sambal ( Indonesian hot pepper paste). Ow and don´t forget the important part... very cultural... a hole in the middle filled with Dutch Gravy!! Which is the diluted version of the English Bisto Gravy...

Of course , I can´t eat this anymore at night as we always eat very late and I dont want to have Carbs at night + all the fat of the sausage and the Gravy is probably not such a good idea for me if I want to keep losing the weight..

However I love Kale and found an amazing recipe online for Kale and White Bean soup! However me being me , I changed it to Kale and ´whatever I have in the fridge´ soup..

Sounds interesting?? Here is the recipe.. ( ps: I am not very good in measurements as I cook on ´feeling´ , so if the measurements of my recipes sound weird, please change as you see fit :) )

What you Need :

• 1 Liter of vegetable or chicken stock.
• 2 Cups Kale
•  a cup of rinsed white beans
• 2 Boiled Eggs
• 3 Chicken sausages
• 1 Courgette
• 1 cup of sliced Mushrooms
• 1 Red onion
• 1 teaspoon of fresh grated ginger
• Kurkuma
• Bayleaves

How to: 

• Cut the Onion in rings and dice the courgette.
• Put the stock together with the Courgette and Onion in a Pot and warm up, but not cook!
• Cut and Wash the Kale and add to the soup
• Add the Mushrooms and Grated Ginger as well.
• When the soup is warmed up , add the Kurkuma and Bayleaves
• Cut the Chicken sausages and add to the soup.
• Add the White Beans
• Let it simmer till the sausage is well done.
• Laddle the soup in a bowl and Put the Boiled Egg on top.

Enjoy!!

Good days and...

Yes I have many good days in my weight-loss journey but yesterday was one of my worst days..

Normally when i feel insecure, don't 'feel' the exercise or am just not motivated, I just bite my teeth and get on with it.. 

However yesterday I hit my first low since I started.

I promised you that I would be honest in my blog regarding my journey, so here I am..

I woke up around eight , not because of the kids being awake, but because my husband was diddling around, getting dressed as he was going to play cricket. 

I vaguely then remember him going on about that it was raining and cricket was cancelled and fell back asleep..

When I woke up , like normal, I got in my sports clothes and wanted to start Bodypump.

But I had to wait as Shayne just started his Bodypump session.

That´s where it went wrong for me as my routine was messed up now.. 

I am normally quite OCD regarding my routine and this was no exception. When I finally started the Bodypump , I did it for 10 minutes and just couldn't go on.. I don´t know why , maybe because I am a hormone overflowing woman , but I broke out in tears and couldn´t stop for the next half an hour.

Poor Shayne didnt know what to say or do, but eventually managed to put me together again and had me finish my workout..

I felt a lot better though when I was done and could go on with my day without too many bad vibes..

It was also measure day.. I didn't lose any weight this week however my measurements are ok.

I lost some centimeters on my waist , but stayed the same for the rest.

After the exercise , I went to clean out my wardrobe while the kids where chilling in our bed with their tablets. It was quite a good feeling that a lot of clothes where getting too big and of course the best excuse to keep clothes shopping!

Then I decided to make some seeds and nuts crackers , and they turned out to be pretty good!

This is how I made them, however the recipe is not mine..

Ingrediënts;
- 100 g flax seed
- 50 g pumpkin seeds
- 50 g sunflower seeds
- 20 g Chia seeds
- 20 g peeled almonds

-20 g crushed almonds
- 200 ml water

How to make:

Put all the seeds and nuts in a bowl and add all the water. Leave it rest for half an hour so the seeds will soak up all the water. Pre-heat the oven in the meantime to 180 degrees Celcius.

When the water is soaked up , you put the ´dough´on a baking sheet in a square, and make sure that the dough is very flat. I added another baking sheet and rolled it flat with a dough roller. Then took the top baking sheet of and put it in the oven. I also added raisins which was not such a good idea.. the turned out horrible and had to pick them off lol.

Then I went with Sofia to the shop to buy big paper as I wanted to make big letters and numbers for Livia to play and learn with. Also I made some pecs , which is very good for her to start talking slowly. She loved them!

To finish the day with a nice but healthy dessert I also made Frozen Yoghurt with fruit.

The most simple thing ever.. I made a couple of them with Pear and Greek Yoghurt ( just blend and throw in the freezer for a couple of hours) and a couple with strawberry and Greek Yoghurt. They turned out to be yummy!

Today was a lot better with exercise and had good energy again. I did my exercises on our weight machine followed by tricep dips , plank, leg raises, normal crunches and side crunches. And when you are finished it looks a bit like this....

After the workout , I made myself ready and went to spend some time with my auntie Mia who was with the cruise a couple of hours in Barcelona-It was so much fun even though the weather was awful for Spanish ways.. I cheated on two small slices of pizza ( so bad...) but at least it was home made pizza en not dripping from cheese and fat.

When I came home I realized I still had to make my smoothie for tomorrow and the after ( always make enough for 2 days). Then I remembered a blog on Pinterest of a woman who prepped her smoothie bags en put them in the freezer till needed , so I decided to do the same..

It saves me some time in the evening when I can prep it all on Sunday. So I made three bags which is enough for 6 days. 

Bag 1: 1 apple , 1 pear, 1 banana, blueberries,  cup of oats and a bit of Chia seeds. 

Bag 2: Pineapple, Strawberries,half an Orange, cup of oats and a bit of Chia seeds. 

Bag 3:  Pineapple, Strawberries, 2 Bananas , Raspberries, cup of oats and a bit of Chia seeds. 

Later I will add the Almond milk en it should be good then.. I will let you know the results!

Stay Strong!

10 kilo Milestone!!

Finally Fiiinaaaalllyyy!!! I reached the milestone of 10 kilo weight loss..

It felt like ages and working so hard , but I am also a very impatient person ( good to have some self knowledge lol) I know its ´only´ 3 months , but for me it felt like 3 years. I still have about 15 kilo to go more or less. It depends a bit how toned up I can get and if a bigger weight is necessary then , well it is what it is..

So now I am down from 86.6 to 76.4 Kilos and even more exciting is that I lost a whole lot of centimeters!! **jump**jump**twirl** jump**jump**

My focus point for myself is my Belly I am always holding it in , checking how much I lost, doing loads of abs training etc etc.. but in the meantime, without realizing , I lost a good bit of my hips , butt and legs too!

See below the chart like in my first post , only now up to date: 

Ps: on 9/04 you see an increase in my waist of 3,5 cm.. its not that I suddenly gained this, but we started measuring on the bellybutton instead of above..

I have to say the measuring and the weigh-ins keeping me highly motivated. Because even though if I don´t lose weight , I lose centimeters and if my waist stay the same for a week, then I lose a cm on my thighs for example.. There is always something to celebrate!