Clean Eating - Vegetable Quinoa Stirfry

Recipe and photo from The Gracious Pantry

Clean Eating Vegetable Quinoa Stir Fry
(Makes 3 servings)

Ingredients
1 large red bell pepper, chopped
1 1/2 cups chopped, raw broccoli
1 cup sliced, brown mushrooms
1 tsp. garlic powder OR 1 tbsp. chopped, fresh garlic
1 tsp. onion powder OR 1/2 a chopped, red onion
1 tbsp. virgin coconut oil
3 cups cooked quinoa
Low sodium, organic Tamari or Soy sauce for topping

Directions

Step 1 – In the coconut oil, sauté all of the vegetables until cooked to your liking. Al dente is typically best for retaining nutrients.

Step 2 – Serve over the cooked quinoa and top with a little tamari or soy sauce.

Eat and Enjoy!

Nutritional Content
1 serving = 1/3 of the recipe

NOTE: Data does not include the tamari or soy sauce and is based on using garlic and onion powders.

Calories: 306
Total Fat: 8 gm
Saturated Fats: 4 gm
Trans Fats: 0 gm
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 32 mg
Carbohydrates: 48 gm
Dietary fiber: 8 gm
Sugars: 4 gm
Protein: 11 gm
Estimated Glycemic Load: 22

Nutritional Information estimated at Nutritiondata.com. Data may not be accurate.

Clean Eating - Rosemary Sweet Potatoes

Recipe and photo from The Gracious Pantry

Clean Eating BBQ Rosemary Sweet Potatoes
(Makes 4 servings)

Ingredients
2 medium sweet potatoes, washed and sliced (peel if preferred)
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. fresh, chopped rosemary
1 tsp. garlic powder

Directions

Step 1 – Peel (if desired) and slice your sweet potatoes very thin. About 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick at the most. The thinner they are, the better they cook.

Step 2 – Place all ingredients in a large, food-safe bag and shake to coat the potatoes in the oil and spices.

Step 3 – Using a grill pan or aluminum foil, cook the potatoes on the grill. They may take a while to cook, so allow for that. They will take a bit longer to cook than most pieces of meat. So time your meal accordingly. They are done with they begin to fall apart when stirred.

Post 6 Week Challenge - Learning to Live a Cleaner Lifestyle

The biggest change in the last 6 weeks has been my diet. By far, my diet.

There have still been plenty of times that I have made choices that I shouldn't have made, more exercise could have been done and so on. But to look at my/our families diet prior to this, there have been some big changes. 
So with that in mind, a big part of the Challenge was eating cleaner, more fruits, vegies, lean meats etc. Makes sense, and is pretty obvious. But what I was wanting to know more about what WHAT can I eat? There's only so much boiled kumara/pumpkin and salads one can eat before it gets a little monotonous. I need a little adventure in my diet sometimes. Hence how packet pasta snuck into our otherwise healthy dinner tonight.

Where I have stuck with the cleaner, healthier eating, my stomach really has thanked me for it. So tonight while Adam is playing Xbox and the kids are asleep, I am sitting here researching a whole lot of recipes. I do that anyway, it's just normally gorge-worthy baking, so this will be a welcome change!!

I have discovered Spinach Salads. LOVE!

So I will set up a tab especially for these recipes. Feel free to use them, comment/email me with your own for me to try and tell the world about them!!  

Happy Friday
Nikki

Bloggy's had a makeover!!

So today I have been very productive in my bloggy land, completely unproductive in my real land.

But hey, Multi Tasking Mummy has had a facelift. I think it is much cheerier and in synch with my improving happy face. I also changed stuff around, removed a few gadgets I no longer use and fixed a couple of "buttons" that didn't link to the appropriate sites. Next up The Undercover Bloggers, that will be a BIG job!! Including changing the "spy" pics and just giving it a general update.

What do you think?
Nikki

6 Week Challenge - some positive changes over the last 5.5 weeks

So the 6 Week Challenge is almost over, although I think we are catching up again next week, due to missing last week and my neck being so sore for the last almost 4 weeks.

All in all, given how little exercise I actually ended up doing, starting on some new medication at the beginning and then changing that again 2 weeks ago, (so have been VERY low on energy), I am really pleased with how it has gone. My diet has changed hugely, and that was the part that needed the most work. I have cut out/right down a lot of things that didn't need to be in my diet. 

My "wee man" and I at the Fireworks on the Waterfront this weekend.

I find that I still slip up easily when it comes to comfort eating, but I am working on it, and am trying to not keep the tempting kinds of foods that I like so much in the house. Does make it easier.

The 3 biggest changes I have made are firstly cutting out bread/white flour/white rice/potatoes. This was a huge deal for me and one that was not easy. It's just lucky that I like brown rice and love kumara and pumpkin!!

The second huge change was cutting my carbs right back at night time (and changing the kinds of carbs I was having). No more potatoes, packet pastas etc here. Prior to the challenge, the majority of my meal was potato/rice/bread/pasta, closely followed by meat and lastly by a tiny (if any) serve of vegetables. My vegetable intake has increased A LOT and I still feel just as full.

Thirdly, portion sizes. I ate waaaay too much. With dinners, as I mentioned above, my portion of vegies has gone right up and carbs down, but portion sizes have decreased at all my meals. This can only be a good thing.

I did say not all my choices were good choices...

I admit, there have been days when I have hugely slipped up, but I am learning that a bad day/weekend isn't the end of the world. Just get back on the proverbial horse and carry on and don't let it get you down. I think that has been the biggest learning curve for me, that because I stuffed up, I don't have to climb right off the wagon and give up, as has been the case every other time in the past.

I can honestly say that the 6 Week Challenge, although it involves quite a lot of committment and being prepared, to me, it really is sustainable. So much so that seeing as at the end of this week when it finishes there is 12 weeks until the week of Christmas, so I have decided I am going to carry it on. But this time I am going to focus on the 3 main parts that I need to work on, since the diet side has improved so much.

EXERCISE!!!! I need to increase this heaps. With injuries subsiding, my son starting kindy, getting used to new medication (and medication helping to improve pain levels), and the warmer days, I know that this will get easier.

INCREASE MY WATER INTAKE!!! When I was working, water was easy. Had a bottle beside me, water coolers in every corner of the room, it was simple. At home, with 2 little kids, it's really easy to forget to drink.

INCREASE MY SLEEP!!! Unfortunately, this is only going to happen when Amber decides to start sleeping through the night again, instead of waking 2-4 times a night like she currently does. She has been sick and also had a infection to a wound on her hand, so I can't really hold that against her, but more sleep will be good in every aspect of my life!

How could you mind not getting any sleep 
when she's this cute?

So there you have it. I will be back on Friday with the final results. I know the KG's/Measurements could be  better, but the changes I have made make me feel so much better about myself, and I know that the results will come in time and I feel that this time I am really going to stick with it and not get back up to the 94kg I was before getting pregnant with Amber.

Remember if you want to get started with Le, you can contact her either on 021 543 804, via the website, www.formhealth.co.nz or on her Facebook Page, https://www.facebook.com/formhealthandbodymanagement

6 Week Challenge - Weigh in Day SUCCESS!!

Woo hoo I am finally in the 86's!! 86.8kg to be exact.

Very stoked with this, especially as considering between sore neck, lack of discipline and some new medication I am on making me really sluggish, not a lot of exercise has been done, and there has been the odd bit of bread sneaking back in. Must work on that one.

So that is 3kg exactly lost in 5 weeks. Not bad given the setbacks!! My neck is starting to come right now, so fingers crossed for a big increase in the exercise from now on.

A beautiful day today and the weather is set to stay the same for the weekend, so hoping I can get out in the fresh air, sans kids.

Hope you have a fantastic weekend!
Nikki

Happy 3rd Birthday to my little man!!

On Sunday my boy turned 3 years old. It's amazing how quickly 3 years has gone and how much has happened in that time.

We went to Chipmunks and had a party there in one of their party rooms. He had an absolute BLAST!!! All his friends came, as well as the grandparents and he was so spoilt rotten with presents.

Amber helping to open presents

Awww thanks for my present!!

New General Grievous mask (Star Wars)

Love the slide!!

Hugs with Charlie Chipmunk

Apparently the cake was good. Didn't even need hands to eat it!

Star Wars Lego Chocolate Mud Cake

The Party Room.

6 Week Challenge - Scales still coming down, just a little slower

Hello, I'm back!

I didn't get to post last Friday about my results as I was in Auckland for a few days. (Hello Fashion Week, front row seats!), and since then I have been kept busy with planning a 3 year olds birthday cake and an incredibly upset teething little baby girl. But anyway,  the results weren't too fantastic, I had missed a fair bit of exercise with my neck being so sore, and to be honest, I made a couple of not wonderful food choices. But, the scales did come down, though only by 200g.

The grumpy girl in question. It's a clean nappy!

Now it's a week later, I weighed in this morning and I am down to 87.1kg, which really, I'm quite happy about. I had a big weekend in Auckland, and I mostly made good food choices, though by the photo below, you can see that they weren't ALL good choices! But, I did get in a huge amount of walking, a lot of the time with big hills,and pushing a double pram with 2 often sleeping kids in it.

My not so good food choice. Best fish burger EVER

I am catching up with Le this afternoon, and I am a little nervous about what she will think about my results, we had hoped I would be into the 86's last week, and this week I am still not, but after a sucessful Osteopath visit last night, I am hopeful my neck is going to start coming right and I can crack back into the exercise properly, and not just do short easy walks and limited resistance training. 

Fingers crossed next week see's an improved result!!

Nikki

www.formhealth.co.nz

The Best Massage I've Ever Had! - Wayne Massage, Auckland

This is a very very long overdue post, in fact it was only when I went to Auckland this weekend and planned (but failed due to time restraints) to go back while I was there, that I realised I never posted about it last time!

Photo from Wayne Massage's Facebook Page

On the 1st June, my husband and I were wandering towards Britomart with our 2 kids, and there was a shop frontage that jumped out at us, called "Wayne Massage". Now you can see from the photo above, that their massages start at $5, so we were more than a little sceptical, and kept walking. Wayne himself was standing outside giving out flyers, and as we took one, he came around behind my husband and started massaging his shoulders. Hubby is not always easily impressed, yet it was so good that hubby immediately agreed to a massage for both of us, and in we went.

Photo from Wayne Massage's Facebook Page

I sat down first and got a 20 minute massage. The lady who massaged me started in the front of the shop in a chair, then moved me to one of the private rooms where I could lie down and she could massage my back shoulders and neck properly.

I won't lie. It did hurt. A lot. But it was that good hurt, the kind you can tell is really doing something for all those knots in your body. 

Photo from Wayne Massage's Facebook Page

We were both so impressed! After often paying $60 for a 1 hour massage and still not feeling like a lot has been accomplished, both of us walked out of there refreshed, loosened up and ready for a nap, and all for only $20 each! It was just a shame that we then had to drive home to Tauranga afterwards!!

We were so disappointed that we missed out on another massage this weekend, especially as I see they now have a second branch, in the Elliott Street Atrium, which was directly across the road from our Hotel. Never mind. We will most definitely be back!!

Photo from Wayne Massage's Facebook Page

You can find Wayne Massage on their Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wayne-Massage/288787241209676

Best Western President Hotel, Auckland

This was also posted by me on The Undercover Bloggers

Photo from Google Images

Our Family went up to Auckland for a couple of nights this weekend. I had front row tickets to the Designer Selection Fashion Show and NZ Fashion Week (oooerrrrr!)

We mulled it over for ages, then decided that even though hotel stays with an 8 month old teething baby and an almost 3 year old boy are rarely ever relaxing, we never get to go away, so we thought we would stay in a hotel for 2 nights, and make the most of it.

Photo from Google Images

After trawling Wotif.com for what seemed like hours, I chose the deal at Best Western President hotel on Victoria Street in Auckland City. The deal they had was $129 a night for a King Size bed and buffet breakfast daily for 2 people. I'm a big fan of Hotel breakfasts, so this was pretty exciting. Parking was $20 a night which brought our 2 night stay up to basically $300, so a big outing for a family who never goes anywhere!

Anyway, we arrived there on Friday afternoon and got checked in. I had seen photos on the website, it looked like a nice place, but sometimes appearances can be deceiving. I had a horrible feeling we were going to be let down, especially since their rating on Wotif was a self rated 3 stars.

Well, my worries were quickly proved wrong. It was a lovely hotel, all staff that we encountered were great, the room was bigger than we expected, had a view of The Atrium on Elliott, and the buffet breakfast was AWESOME. 

Nice bathroom

When we first arrived there was a problem with the air conditioning in our room, but we called Housekeeping and 2 staff members came up quickly and had it fixed straight away, and any staff we came into contact with throughout our stay were always lovely and more than helpful, and the very central location was perfect for us, and if we ever get to go away over night on our own, without the kids, that will probably be our choice of hotel.

The view from our Room

6 Week Challenge - Confessions of a terrible diet-related weekend

A bit of a long winded post here, so I will try to break it up a little with some photos.

I promised you I would share with you the not so good as well as the good things I encounter while doing this Challenge, and after the weekend I have just had, I have a confession to make. (Don't tell Le!!!)

We caught up on Friday, as I told you in my last post, and the weigh and measure went well but due to my sore neck, we didn't do any training.

Irrelevant to what I am writing about, but she's cute anyway

Since I am allowed a naughty meal (not naughty DAY) a week, we had our naughty meal Friday night, with the innocent expectation that we had nothing on that weekend that should conflict with my food.

Firstly, my neck was so sore that I ended up doing NO exercise (unless wandering around the Women's Expo counts, which I don't think it does), though I had intended on at least getting in some short easy walks.

Saturday wasn't too bad food wise, I lost a couple of "ticks" but all in all wasn't too bad. Then we made a last minute decision to hold a Fathers Day picnic for our 2 Dads, which involved me baking late at night on Saturday. I was up until 12.30am baking and stressing, then up a few times in the night with our bubba, then up early when both kids decided it was playtime. Carried on baking and decorating cupcakes etc. This is the finished product.

Carrot Cupcakes, Red Velvet Choc Chip Cookies, Coconut Chocolate
Brownie and Mint Chocolate Truffles.

So we ended up having 2 "picnics" indoors, as one lot of parents couldn't make it afterall in the morning. So I had 1 small carrot cupcake and a cup of tea with no sugar at morning tea time, then went off to the Women's Expo with some friends. While walking around, I realised that I was so hungry because that 1 carrot cupcake was ALL I had eaten all day.

Then I bought 3 packs of yummy fudge for $10. Without even a thought to the fact that I am doing the Challenge and for some reason, I have a feeling fudge is not on the menu. And neither of my friends who were with me remembered at the time either. Fudge was much more important.

The Fudge. Baileys, Maple Walnut, and Vanilla

I got home, had some more baking (a piece of brownie and one of my truffles this time), got tea in the oven, picked at the baking some more, hung out with my family, ate our dinner, ate another piece of brownie, then started reading some new blogs that are very weight loss inspirational, and it reminded me of my priorities.

Now it is Monday and has been pouring down all day, so won't be getting my walk in, but I have eaten well and have drunk heaps of water, so already doing better than Saturday or Sunday. But I also have realised a couple of things after this weekend and I wanted to share them with you:

1. I know they say it takes 21 days to break/make a habit. I have been going good for 2 weeks, but yesterday I still managed to buy that fudge without a moments hesitation, so I still have work to do.

2. In the same subject, I am still unable to bake and not eat it. I did give most of it away, but I ate a fair bit regardless.

3. Although I had a bad weekend, my attitude has shifted a bit. Normally once I fall of the wagon, I stay on the ground and don't get back on. But this time, I had a think last night and said to myself, no, I had a bad weekend, but Monday is another day, and I am going to climb back up on the wagon and get straight back into it.

4. I have decided I would like to enter the Taupo Half Marathon again next year. I haven't decided in what capacity yet, (walk,run-walk, or run), I will decide that later this year. All I know is I want to improve on my 2010 time, and I am giving myself a lot longer to train for it this time!!

Me, about to walk the Taupo Half Marathon in 2010

So that's enough waffle from me today I think!!

Nikki