Back to the Gym at last

Although we did a whole lot of walking over the weekend while we were sight seeing, I really did miss the gym and my classes, sad perhaps, but none the less true!

So today I took myself down to the gym and hammered out a 5km run, then made use of the empty studio downstairs to add in a little mix of P90X Plyo, a bit of core and also some Ab Ripper X.  Now I feel like I'm a bursting ball of energy, could do it all over again, such a great feeling.

This afternoon I took to the kitchen while the in laws were out and about and made another batch of no bake energy balls (see pic) and my mother in law even tried one out when she got back and loved it! So extra pleased with that result.

Going to make them the clean eating cannelloni dish (stuffed with spinach and black olives and some sundried tomatoes!)  Not telling them that it's all good for them until they go home!  No over indulgence in this house!!

Off to UBound in the morning, thankfully the gym have saw fit to add an additional class into the weekly schedule, which fits in perfectly with my workout timetable as well. Bonus!

Long time, no blog!

Well, we're just back from a few days away exploring the North of Cyprus.  Got there on Friday afternoon after driving all the way from Paphos, through Limassol and up through Nicosia, through the border at Ledra and right onto our hotel in Kyrenia.  We sampled all the delicacies offered in the hotel buffer, which were all delicious, a multitude of dips including Hummus, tzatziki, taramasalata, russian salad, red chilli cous cous, aubergine dips etc, then the main was locally caught fish on one evening,  Chicken in a tomato based sauce the next and then a Meatloaf style dish on the last day, everything was beautifully presented and was scrummy.

The hotel itself was right on the beach just past the village of Lapta, and on an evening the crashing of the waves was all you could hear, which was a novelty for us. (Did get pretty loud though)

Saturday was a day of serious exploration, we sought out St Hilarion Castle which was fantastic, truly a spectacular fete of architecture, the castle itself is built into the mountain, remarkable.

We were like 2 kids running up and down the stairs, getting into every nook and cranny seeing everything.  The views were also breath takingly awe inspiring, the mountain and sea views went on for miles and miles.

The only other place (building wise) we've been to that was impressive was Carcassonne, but that's more a medieval city as opposed to a complete castle structure in the mountains!

We then ventured out to Bellapais Abbey to see the monastery and grab some late afternoon lunch.  Both St Hilarion and Bellapais were easy to find although the sign posting is pretty random and there is a bit of guess work involved, but we got there in the end and both are well worth a visit.

The sun was shining, which always makes for a splendid day out and we spent a lovely hour or 2 savouring the food whilst looking out over the mountains. I was going to go and buy some Turkish Delight from the gorgeous looking shop next to the car park, Bella Delight, however in the end I forgot until I was halfway home, typical!

On Sunday we took a long drive out to Famagusta to have a look at the "no man's land", it's an eerie place, life goes on around this entire area which is just fenced off and has been unused since 1974!

We continued our drive up the coast to Salamis and visited the ruins (pictured).  Not sure if it happens every Sunday, but the picnic area leading up to the ruins was jam packed with locals having a massive BBQ, the smells were fantastic and by that time I was starving.

We stopped at a little seaside village and had a quick lunch. I sampled the local Menemen which I've cooked before, but this was slightly different, more a dip than a meal, but just as tasty!

Monday was travelling home, so we took the coastal road and headed west through all the lovely little coastal villages all the way onto Pomos and Polis and finally back home for lunch and a nap!

Needed a holiday after the holiday, there was so much to see and do!

Baking nightmare!

Ok, so my in-laws arrived this evening for their 10 day break and I thought it would be fabulous to have some lovely lemon and poppy seed cup cakes ready for them coming.  So after a thorough cleansing of the house I took to the kitchen and started my cup cakes... I don't have a muffin tin and having just made a successful batch of carrotcake cup cakes last week, thought that this would work out perfectly well.

I was wrong.

I was clearly a little over zealous with the amount of cake mixture in each paper cup and whilst cooking the cakes spilled out over the casing like a limp volcano!  I thought that I could salvage this somehow my making a frosting (hides a multitude of sins)  but in my haste I made it far too thin... PANIC, they arrive in like 15 minutes, what's a girl to do.  I shoved the frosting in the freezer and went out for dinner... came back, frosting is now the perfect consistency, job done!

Although, we were all stuffed from our Meze which is a tradition of ours on the parents first night on holiday, so  the cupcakes will need to wait until tomorrow (and don't worry, they're healthy ones too!).

Knackered now from the days exertions so off to bed for me and up early for my Body Pump class in the morning!

Hair Dilemma Solved

Someone updated a photo of me on facebook from 18 years ago when we were kids, I jest you not, my hair is in the exact same style now as it was when I was 14, that's just crazy.

I'm really quite lazy with my hair, I can never seem to do anything with it apart from a lazy pony tail and if I'm really pushing the boat out I'll just run the straighteners over it and leave it down, but no style.

So I was really quite pleased when I realised the wealth of knowledge out there from other women who have the time and inclination to show simple folks like myself how to make more of their hair and jazz it up a bit.  I found this yesterday and immediately tried it out, it took literally 90 seconds to do and I felt fabulously made up. Here's how http://joannagoddard.blogspot.com/2011/06/do-your-own-wedding-hair-chestnut-bun.html

It may not seem much to most of you out there who get up in the morning and start a 20 step hair care regime (my sister does!) but to me it's given me a new lease on hair styling and the inclination to try out some more new styles.

Sunday Morning Pancakes

Woke up this morning and usually (pre-clean eating) we would pop down to the local bakers and have some form of danish or croissant (and get some form of pastry/cake for afternoon) but not this morning.  I made us up a batch of delicious pancakes and now I am full in a good, non sugar rush, way.

Makes 4 large pancakes
Recipe:
1 cup of wholewheat flour
1 egg
125ml milk (you can use almond or soya, but we did use just normal semi skimmed)
50ml water
1/2 teaspoon of Agave syrup

Make a well in the centre of your flour, add the egg, and a little of the milk and water and then whisk together adding the rest of the milk and water until you have a lovely thin batter. (not too thin though)  heat your frying pan to a medium high heat (ours is a large pan so we get thin style pancakes which we prefer) and then using a ladle spoon the mixture onto the hot pan and swirl until the batter covers the pan.  Watch for the little bubbles to appear on the top side of the pancakes and then flip them over cooking the other side for about 20-30 seconds.

For the fillings, my husband had chopped pineapple and honey with a side of greek yoghurt and I opted for some chopped apple, currants and cinnamon, with a side of greek yoghurt.

Calories per pancake: 138

Sunday has started very well and the sun is shining now so off not to read my book (Half of a Yellow Sun) and then it's off to watch the football this afternoon, so busy day ahead.

Ciao!

Body Pump on a Saturday morning

There used to be a time when Saturday and Sunday were days off from exercising, but I have found a great class that I love going to and I feel great afterwards.  Body Pump has got me out of bed on a Saturday morning and out the house and starting my weekend on a real high.  I'm already increasing my weights and feeling the changes in my arms and legs - love those squats and deadlifts.

I'm definitely going to ache though ( a good ache though ) as we increased our weights for the bicep routine today and boy did I feel it, it was tough, but I got through it, though I do think I might stick with that weight for a couple of sessions before I add more weight again, slowly, slowly as they say!

I'm only going to one body pump a week, but I'm really thinking that I need to add another class in there somewhere or try and incorporate some more weight training into my week.  I currently do 2 x Fight Do Classes, 1 x UBound Class, 1 x Yoga, 1 x Spin Class and 1 x Bodypump.  I did have 2 x 5km runs in there, however I have had to cut them for the time being due to shocking shin pain (I have flat feet!!) so I think I might move that onto the cross trainer instead and limit the impact on my legs.

Couple this new workout regime with the Clean eating and I'm already feeling a lot more energetic and strangely losing my cravings for bad foods.  Knowing what's in every mouthful of food you take changes your perception on food, you question those little bits and bobs you just naturally snacked on and the shock when you actually read what's in them is enough to send anyone to the Clean eating lifestyle!

Have a great weekend!

Smoothies for summer

I've been checking out a lot of the "Clean Eating" sites for some inspiration on smoothies.  I love having an ice cold smoothie after a workout in the summer, packed with protein and just scrumptious.  So far, I haven't found a recipe that rivals my all time favourite, which was created by my husband after a special offer at the supermarket on watermelons:

Watermelon and Ginger Summer Smoothie
Serves 2

Recipe:
1 quarter of a watermelon chopped
1-2 tsp powder ginger (depending on your taste)
1.5 cup Fat Free Greek Yoghurt
1 tsp vanilla extract

Pop everything into a blender (we have a hand held, so just put everything in a large jug and blitz until smooth.

I make my smoothie about an hour before my workout and put it into the freezer, so when I go do my workout I take it out to let it slowly melt and when you finish working out it's at a perfect consistency, bit like a slush puppy.  It is heavenly and only has approx 165 calories per serving.

Enjoy!