Unashamed product advertising...and a Christmas gift for you!

Warning: this post contains advertising material!

So I wouldn’t normally do this, but I’m making an exception, because I actually use this stuff and I think it’s awesome!

I’ve always enjoyed my post workout smoothie – it’s tasty (it’s the only time I get to have fruit!), it’s quick and easy, and it gives me what I need after a good workout. I used to make it with banana, blueberries, avocado (I try to avoid dairy, so avocado works well to give it the same creaminess, and also add in some good fat), some kind of protein powder and water. I was aware that, while not as unkind to my system as straight dairy, the dairy-based protein powders were probably not ideal either, but I didn’t have an alternative that was just as quick and easy. And it tasted pretty good. I was happy with it.

Then I discovered Vital Greens…and my PWO smoothie became awesome! Seriously, a couple of teaspoons of this transformed the taste from good to something amazing! The best thing is that in addition to tasting great, it is an amazing "blend of nutritionally potent and nutrient-dense greens, vegetables and fruits, plus additional herbs, natural minerals, powerful antioxidants, probiotics for intestinal health, essential amino acids, essential fatty acids (omegas 3, 6 and 9), digestive enzymes, cell pigments, plant sterols and fibres". I know the jury is still out on the benefits of multi-vitamins, but I personally find that the addition of nutritional support makes a huge difference to my energy levels and immune function. Believe me, when I was a student I tried desperately to go without (it was hard to make the budget stretch that far), but I really do find that the benefits outweigh the costs.

Not only that, but they also do a product called Vital Protein, which is a 100% vegetable protein - high protein content, dairy-free, and easily digested.

Introducing the PWO smoothie extraordinaire! BOOM!!

Anyway, if you’re keen to try any of their products, you can order direct from www.vitalhealthnz.com. Use the code PP2060C to get a 15% discount on all orders.

Tell your friends & help bring better health into their lives too!

And speaking of better health, I know I made a promise to post less treats and more everyday food, but it's Christmas & I figure you guys deserve a gift. IMHO, this banana bread is seriously one of the best primal dishes I've cooked. I actually ate half of it in the space of an afternoon! So if you're going to try it, maybe make sure there are other people around to help you out with eating it...

Paleo Banana Bread

4 eggs, separated
2 ripe bananas
15 dates
¼ C coconut oil
1 C coconut flour
1/3 C ground linseed
2 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ground vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
A handful of cocoa nibs (optional)

Using a stick blender, mush together bananas, dates, coconut oil and egg yolks. Add all dry ingredients (except cocoa nibs) and cider vinegar and mix well. Stir in cocoa nibs.

In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites until they form stiff peaks.

Gently fold banana mixture into the egg whites, ensuring they are mixed completely without over-mixing.

Spoon mixture into a greased & lined loaf tin and bake at 150 degrees celcius for 45 minutes (or until loaf is golden on top & bounces back when pressed lightly).

Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes, then turn onto a wire rack.

Enjoy warm, spread with a bit of coconut oil (or butter, if you eat dairy).

It’s not you, it’s me

Last week, I wrote about the fatigue I’ve been struggling with recently (which has, by the way, definitely improved since I took action & made a change). The extreme tiredness impacted my work, my mood, and my social life, but nowhere did I feel it more than in my training. Metcons, in particular, were a battle. I had to fight to make myself go in the first place, and then I had to fight for every rep and every breath. Many, many times, I wanted to stop – to throw the towel in and tap out; many, many times, I fought tears as I struggled to keep going. I wasn’t keeping up with the people I used to keep up with, and it was hard to watch them improving while I felt like my fitness was going backwards. Each metcon like this made it that much harder to go to the next one.

Then, last week, a friend posted this photo on Facebook:

(on sale here)

It was a timely reminder that in the midst of a WoD, it’s about me, not the others working out alongside me. I have had (and will have) my times of improvement, and they will have theirs. The important thing is to be there, consistently putting in the work. Sometimes I might feel like I’m not winning...but how can I be losing when it’s just me against myself? At the end of the day, I’m still there; I’m still pushing through… I’m still choosing not to be defeated.

Lamb moussaka

Meat sauce

Olive oil
1kg lamb mince
1 onion, diced
2 large garlic cloves, crushed/chopped finely
1 tin tomatoes
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
Salt & pepper

In a large saucepan, heat olive oil, then fry garlic and onion until soft. Add lamb mince & cook, stirring often to separate, until browned. Stir in all remaining ingredients, bring to the boil, and simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Vegetable layers

2 eggplants
4 courgettes
Olive oil

Remove tops and ends from eggplants and courgettes, then slice thinly, lengthwise. Heat olive oil in a frypan and cook vegetable slices until browned on each side. You will need to do a few at a time to ensure they are flat against the base of the frypan. The eggplant soaks up a lot of oil, so add more as needed.

Faux white sauce
1 cauliflower
1/4 tsp paprika
Dash of olive oil
Salt & pepper

Steam cauliflower. Transfer cooked cauliflower to a bowl then use stick blender to ‘mash’ it. Add paprika, olive oil, & salt and pepper, and whip with a fork.

Putting it all together

Line the bottom of a lasagne or other large baking dish with the eggplant slices, then create another layer of eggplant slices in the other direction (so they criss cross).

Spoon half the meat sauce over eggplant. Layer courgette slices over meat sauce. Spoon over the other half of the meat sauce, then top with the cauliflower mash.

Bake at 180 degrees celsius for 20 minutes, or until top is slightly browned and sauce is bubbling.

Note: this is super tasty, but not very pretty – it goes a bit sloppy when you serve it – so maybe don’t cook this if you’re being judged on presentation!

Duped?

Does anyone else ever feel a little bit duped sometimes? A bit short-changed with this whole health and fitness gig?

I know I’m probably not meant to admit it, but I do. And I’ve been feeling a lot like that lately.

I mean, I eat really well (not even 80:20…probably more like 95:5), I train hard (but I’m careful not to overtrain), I don’t do drugs or drink much alcohol, I usually get about 8 hours sleep a night…and yet for the last couple of months, I’ve been feeling rubbish! It got to the point that I actually went to the doctor for blood tests last week because I was just so darn exhausted.

I thought I was meant to feel amazing from all this good behaviour?!

Instead, I’ve been constantly tired, I feel like my training’s been going backwards (particularly the metcon components), I’ve been moody, and even cooking hasn’t been helping! It’s been getting pretty hard going. I’ll even admit to the odd moment of thinking that, if all this clean eating and hard training isn’t paying off, perhaps I should just go and have a few wines or eat a couple of slices of cake…it’s not like it’ll make any difference, right?!

Well actually, that’s probably wrong…and I didn’t succumb to those thoughts. Instead, I took a step back and took a good look at myself and my life. Yes, my diet’s in order; yes, my training’s in order; yes, my sleep’s in order; yes, my stress…oh…hold on…my stress levels. Um yeah, about that. Probably not so in order.

So you know what I did? I made a change! It’s a little too early to tell if it’ll pay off, but I’m already feeling lighter, and I’m hoping that before long, I’ll notice the changes in my energy levels, my emotions, and my training too. I’ll let you know how I go!

So basically what I’m saying is, if you think you’re doing all the right things and you’re still feeling awful, take a really objective look at your life. Are all aspects of your life (and I mean all of them) as optimum as you can make them at this moment in time? If you think they are, then I suggest talking to your coaches/trainers/friends/family – they might have a different perspective to offer, or at least some suggestions as to how you can feel a bit better. If they’re not, then make some changes. Even small changes can make a big difference.

And if you’re doing all the right things and still feeling awful…just think how much worse you’d be feeling if you were doing all the wrong things!!

Satay Beef Casserole

Sesame oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed & chopped finely
1 heaped tbsp red curry paste
1kg casserole beef, cubed (if you talk nicely to your local butcher, they might do this for you!)
2 capsicums, sliced thinly (I used a red & a yellow, mostly for the colour)
5 tbsp almond butter (I used homemade, but store-bought would be fine)
1 400ml can coconut milk
2 tsp curry powder
Salt (to taste)
2 kaffir lime leaves

In a jug or bowl, combine coconut milk and almond butter and set aside.

Heat sesame oil in a large casserole dish, on the stovetop. Add onion, garlic and red curry paste, and cook, stirring often, until fragrant & onion is soft. Add beef and cook until browned. Stir in capsicums and cook for a couple more minutes.

Pour over coconut milk and almond butter, then add curry powder and salt. Stir. Add kaffir lime leaves and stir gently. Bring to the boil.

Stir again, then place the lid on the casserole dish and transfer to the oven. Bake at 180 degrees celcius for 30 minutes.

Serve with cauliflower rice and garnish with fresh coriander.

Public Service Announcement

Ok, listen up y’all – this is a really, really, really important announcement.

I AM SORRY

That’s right, this is a public apology. I am sorry - very sorry.

As I was typing out the recipe for my paleo pumpkin pie, I had a horrifying realisation. It suddenly occurred to me that there's been a bit of a theme running through my blog of late; that many of my posts are ‘sweet treats’; and that if you stumbled across The Secret Diary of a Kitchen Ninja, you could quite conceivably be convinced that we eat this kind of food all the time, and that it’s ok to do so.

That evening, it dawned on me that I may have unintentionally been misleading you all – fueling a false belief that as long as it’s paleo, it’s good for you.

Well folks, I hate to break it to you, but that’s not true. Treats are still treats, even if they’re ‘cleaner’ than their Neolithic counterparts. These paleo treats are usually sweetened (even if it is done using fruit, honey, or pure maple syrup, rather than refined sugar) and high in carbohydrates. They are not bad for you as such, but they should be occasional treats, eaten in small quantites…not whipped up every night and eaten in batch-loads!

Believe it or not, we don’t actually eat this kind of food very frequently. I guess I post the recipes because they seems more ‘special’ to me than the dishes I throw together every day. I don’t make them often, so they seem more exciting, and more likely to appeal to all of you. I need to change this.

This is the sort of food you should be eating every day;

the sort of food that fuels your body and your training.

This is real food:

From now on, I will endeavour to post more recipes for this kind of food, and just treat you, the readers, (and maybe myself!) to the occasional sweet treat.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ok, I'm not American & I don't celebrate Thanksgiving...although I do think it's a pretty cool idea. But I do like the flavours of pumpkin pie - that mix of sweet (but not too sweet), savoury, and warm spices - so I made up a primal one a little while ago. I never got around to posting it though, so now seems as good a time as any! Unfortunately, I wrote down the ingredients but forgot to note down what I actually did with them, so I'll just have to do my best to remember...

Primal Pumpkin Pie

For the base
2C almond meal
1/2C dessicated coconut
25 dates
1 Tbsp almond butter
A dash of cold water

Combine all ingredients in a food processor until it forms a sticky dough. If it's too crumbly, add a little more water and mix again until you reach the right consistency.

Press dough into a greased flan tin (with removable base). Refrigerate until filling is ready.

For the filling

3C pumpkin, cooked & mashed
1C coconut cream
2 eggs
1 banana, mashed
1 ½ tsp mixed spice
1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp ground vanilla
2 tbsp pure maple syrup

1 Tbsp chia seeds

Beat all ingredients except the chia seeds together (I used a cake mixer for this), then stir in the chia seeds.

Chill for a while! (I would suggest at least an hour, so that the chia seeds absorb some of the moisture. Longer is better).

Once the filling has begun to thicken, pour into the base and cook at 180 degrees celcius. I think this took about 20-30 minutes, but you want the base to be golden and the filling to be set.

If you're feeling particularly naughty, this tastes great with cream whipped with maple syrup!

It also works well as little tartlets (using a muffin tin instead of a flan tin).

'Cos everyone loves a good tart!

I was going to write something inspiring (or at least attempt to), but I'm way too tired to inspire myself, let alone you lot too! These tarts were pretty inspired though...

Chili chocolate tarts

For the crust

(adapted slightly from this recipe)

1 C ground almonds

1 C dessicated coconut

¼ tsp ground vanilla pods

1 pinch of salt

½ tsp baking soda

¼ C coconut oil

1 tbsp honey (you could probably leave this out)

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.

Melt oil and honey together in a saucepan. Add to dry ingredients and stir thoroughly.

Press a thin layer into greased (I used olive oil) muffin tins.

Bake at 180 degrees for approx 6 minutes, or until golden.

Leave to cool completely in tin.

For the filling

(also informed by the above recipe, but I didn't want to use chocolate, so I changed it up a bit...well, quite a lot...)

2 ripe bananas

1 ripe avocado

½ C cocoa

1 can coconut milk

¼ tsp vanilla extract

¼ tsp chili powder

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp arrowroot

Combine bananas, avocado and cocoa in a food processor.

Heat coconut milk, vanilla extract, chili powder and cinnamon over low heat, stirring often, until boiling. Remove from heat and pour into bowl of cake mixer (or a mixing bowl, if you’re using a hand whisk). 

Add arrowroot and quickly whisk thoroughly (if you don’t do this quickly, you’ll get lumps). Add chocolate mixture and whisk again. 

Chill in the fridge for half an hour.

Once filling is chilled and crust is completely cool, pour filling into the tarts crusts then refrigerate (in the tin) until filling is completely set. These were actually best the next day.

When ready to serve, run a knife around the edge of each tart to loosen.

(I had lots of leftover filling, so you might want to double the crust recipe or halve the filling recipe. Alternatively, the filling works great as a stand-alone chocolate mousse!)

Not Really Spaghetti Bolognese

This is just what it says it is:


Not Really Spaghetti Bolognese

1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1kg pork mince
400g spinach, roughly chopped
Zest & juice of 2 lemons
¾ can coconut cream
Salt & pepper
1/4C fresh mint, chopped
1/2C fresh parsley, chopped

Heat a spoonful of fat (I used duck fat, because I had it in the fridge), then lightly fry onion and garlic for a few minutes.

Add pork mince and fry until cooked, stirring to break up.

Once mince is cooked (i.e., no longer pink) add lemon zest and spinach, stir well, and simmer for a few minutes; then add coconut cream and lemon juice. Simmer until some of the liquid has boiled off.

Remove from heat, add fresh herbs, season to taste. Stir and serve over courgette spaghetti (courgettes sliced really thinly, or with a julienne peeler, and boiled until just soft).

Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes

Cupcakes

1 C coconut flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground vanilla
6 eggs
¾ C coconut milk
2 tbsp coconut oil
100g 85% dark chocolate
1 tbsp raw honey

Combine dry ingredients, then whisk in eggs and coconut milk.

In a separate saucepan, over a low heat, melt together coconut oil, chocolate & honey. Stir frequently.

Whisk chocolate mixture into rest of ingredients.

Spoon into cupcake patties placed in a muffin tray (each should be about ¾ full). Bake at 180 degrees for 15 minutes, or until cupcake bounces back when lightly pressed.

Cool on a wire rack.

  

If you’re feeling particularly decadent (I was, obviously!), ice (using frosting recipe below) then top with toasted dessicated coconut. 

Chocolate butter cream frosting

100g butter, at room temperature

1 tbsp honey 

2 tbsp cocoa
Approx 3 ½ tbsp coconut milk

Whisk butter and honey together until butter begins to pale. Add in 1 tbsp cocoa & 1 tbsp coconut milk, then whisk again. Add in the other tbsp of cocoa & 2 tbsp of coconut milk. Whisk. If necessary, add extra coconut milk until it reaches a ‘frosting’ consistency (creamy but not runny).

Primal smorgasbord

So I've got a few recipes and ideas up my sleeves, but they haven't yet made it out my sleeve and into the computer, so I thought I'd share a few of my favourite primal blogs for you to check out in the meantime. Super exciting to see lots of primal cookbooks on their way too!

The Clothes Make the Girl
The Food Lovers' Primal Palate
Tastes for Everyday Life
Everyday Paleo
Nom Nom Paleo
Life as a Plate
Civilized Caveman Cooking Creations

Enjoy :)

Dear Crossfitter: Be Kinder to Yourself

An awesome post (and wonderful reminder to us all) from AndreAnna over on Life As A Plate. These words really resonated with me:

Dear crossfitter: be kinder to yourself

Little pots of goodness!

These don't need words to go with them - they're awesome just as they are!

Ingredients

2 ripe avocados

3 small ripe bananas (or 2 normal size ones)

2 tbsp pure cocoa

2 tbsp honey

2 tsp chia seeds

1/2C very strong espresso (I used 4-5 heaped scoops in a plunger)

100g 85% dark chocolate (I kept aside a square to shave onto the top of the pots)

Blend all ingredients except chocolate in a food processor.

Melt chocolate over low heat (stirring constantly). Add to other ingredients and blend until fully combined.

Add extra cocoa and/or honey if necessary, to suit your tastes.

Spoon into fancy looking pots (I used glasses, but now, thanks to some wonderful friends of ours, I have the perfect little ramekins for next time!) and refrigerate.

To serve, top with toasted chopped almonds & chocolate shavings. You could also put a spoonful of whipped cream on top.

To train or not to train

A few months ago, I started a new job, working for a big organisation. It's great - I get challenged, I get good colleagues, I get free alcohol, and I get paid. But I also get everybody's bugs. And I get stress.

In the past few months, I've had more minor colds than I had in the previous year. And I've probably cried from sheer exhaustion more times too.

It's hard to juggle training, work, health, and relationships. I'm learning that I only have so much intensity to give...so I'm also having to learn to make choices about what I give it to.

What do you do on those days when you can feel yourself coming down with something, or you're so tired that your eyes actually hurt? To train, or not to train?

Sometimes, sweating it all out in a bad-ass WOD is the best thing for me. But sometimes it's not. I'm still trying to figure out how to recognise which option is the best course of action. And I'm still trying to figure out how to fight the guilt if I choose the latter.

Cooking good food might just be the answer. I certainly think Bear hopes it is!

Roast duck breasts with blueberry balsamic sauce

2 duck breasts
Duck fat
Cloves

Scour the skin/fat layer of the duck breasts (almost to the flesh). Insert 5-6 cloves (per breast) into the cuts.

Melt duck fat in a roasting dish (enough to almost cover the breasts). Add breasts and roast for approximately 1 hour at 150 degrees C.

Remove duck from oven and drain fat. Spoon some of the blueberry balsamic sauce (recipe below) over the duck breasts and return to a hot oven (200-220 degrees C) until crispy.

For the sauce
1C chicken stock (use a good, gluten-free liquid stock)
1/2C white wine
1/4C balsamic vinegar
1 tsp honey (I think...I can't read my writing...it might say 1 dsp!)
1 tsp ground cloves (I used a mortar & pestle to ground whole cloves)
A touch of cinnamon
1C blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Combine all ingredients except blueberries in a saucepan & bring to the boil, stirring often. Add blueberries and bring back to the boil. Simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring regularly. Season to taste.

To serve
Serve each duck breast on cauliflower mash, topped with additional sauce.

On the side, I served brussel sprouts - halved, placed on a baking tray, topped with coconut oil and salt, and baked until just starting to brown (about 15 minutes at 200 degrees C).

The fruity flavour of the berries and the warmth of the cloves matched particularly well with a good montepulciano!

A love affair with food

Historically, my relationship with food has closely resembled a love affair - passion, excitement, indulgence...and the ensuing guilt. At times, food, or more specifically the emotions associated with food, has consumed me (and there I was thinking it was supposed to be the other way around?!).

But I'm on a mission to change that.

I've started by choosing a more appropriate, more reliable love interest (thank you, primal diet). I'm working on my commitment - trying to stay faithful to this new love; trying to reduce incidences of infidelity. And I'm investing quality time in the relationship. Bear & I have started doing an early CrossFit session on a Saturday, so that we can then spend the morning wandering around a farmers' market, finding fresh, organic, quality food for the week; and exploring the wonders (and meat specials!) of Nosh or Farros. With good ingredients on hand, I get even more pleasure from creating healthy, tasty, nourishing food. And I find myself spending more time cooking for enjoyment, rather than just because we need it.

Slowly, but surely, my relationship with food is improving. The passion and excitement are still there (and every now and then, so is the indulgence!), but the guilt is starting to fade into the background. At least, until those reckless moments of infidelity!

Next step is to reduce the frequency of those unsatisfying moments of weakness. And maybe replace them with something like this...

Avocado & lime sorbet (or Avocado, lime & pistachio tarts!)

Sorbet
4 ripe avocados
Juice and zest of 2-3 limes
1/2 tsp crushed chili (chili powder would probably be better, but I didn't have any!)
~2 tsp ground vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp honey
1/2C pistachio kernels, chopped

Put all ingredients except the pistachios into a food processor and blend until combined. Stir in the pistachios (or you could add them into the food processor & just blend briefly).

Put mixture into the freezer for about 30 minutes. Remove and blend again. Repeat a couple more times, to get a creamier sorbet. (An icecream maker would probably be an awesome addition to my kitchen toys!)

This was really yummy, but I decided it might also be good as a pie filling. So I defrosted some of the sorbet and made it into...

Avocado, lime, & pistachio tarts

For the filling:
About 1/3 of the sorbet mixture (defrosted, if you froze it first)
3 eggs
~1/3 C coconut cream

Beat eggs and coconut cream together. Gently fold sorbet mixture into the egg/coconut cream mix.

For the base:
200g pistachio kernels
10 dates
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp macadamia butter (or other nut butter)
Cold water

Put all ingredients except for the water into a food processor & combine. Remove mixture and place in a bowl. Mix in a small amount of cold water, so that it becomes a sticky-ish 'dough'. Refrigerate if you have time.

To make the tarts, take spoonfuls of the 'dough' and press into a muffin tin to create the bases (I put enough in so that the base went about halfway up the side). Spoon filling into each, then bake at 180 degrees for approximately 20 minutes, or until filling is set.

Cool for a few minutes in the tin, then remove onto a wire rack to cool.

If I'd had extra limes, I would have served this topped with lime zest. As it was, I just served them with a delicious 2007 Shingle Peak Late Harvest Riesling instead! ;-)

These also work well as mini tarts...