Everyday Scones with jam and cream

......I wish!

I indulge in a scone every now and then. And actually I don't even wish I could eat them everyday because then they wouldn't be special. the more 'sacred' treats are the more discerning (picky) you become too, I've become quite the critic when it comes to a good scone and I refuse to try to make them myself either obviously they're deceptively difficult...

What's your favourite comfort food? As I get older (and eat less sugary foods) my once killer sweet tooth has taken a bit of a backseat lately. While I once loved milk chocolate and giant muffins, I now prefer dark chocolate with nuts. I was never a huge fan of icecream but thesedays I'd take greek yoghurt with cookies and cream protein powder mixed in anyday! Its not perfect but its progress! ;)

I've never been a huge fan of trying to copy traditional high fat high sugar dessert recipes with substitute ingredients and a bucketload of splenda. But sometimes, just sometimes you find a healthy version of a comfort food where you can replicate certain flavour combinations or the essential elements of what you're craving.

Cue my protein pancakes with 'jam' and 'cream'.

I hadn't made protein pancakes in years until I got sick this week and had a couple of days off. I didn't feel like fish and salad for lunch so I decided to get creative and revamp my old recipe. I thought, what would Jamie Oliver do to flavour pancakes (or any dessert for that matter) - add orange zest to it! Keep in mind I just ch

ucked things together and hoped for the best but here is the recipe I used which amazingly worked out quite well for 3 decent sized pancakes ( 1 serve):

Steph's protein pancakes

30g quick oats

3 egg whites

15g vanilla protein powder

80g cottage cheese

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 heaped tsp greek yoghurt

splash vanilla essence

orange zest

squeeze orange juice

Whizz together with a stick blender, getting a heap of air into those egg whites. Cook in non stick pan or use a couple of grams of my new best friend, coconut oil.

Here's my first one, the next two were a bit dark!

Now as yummy as that would be plain that's just not the way I roll, so I've made my own 'jam' by nuking 60g frozen strawberries) for 30 seconds, mushing them up with a pkt of splenda. Top with more greek yoghurt for the 'cream'. As you know, I like Black Swan. Maybe they should sponsor me, lol. Enjoy! xoxox

Ps Im sure you've already noticed this website but I've found quite a few cute meal/snack ideas there for someone like me who isn't dieting, and needs to re-learn how you can love your food without ending up the size of a house. yes that's how I'd describe my situation... lol!

A rant about oatmeal

It has occurred to me that if I want to blog more regularly (which I do) then I can’t wait around for inspiration to hit and not every post need be epic.

So I’m going to tell you about something that’s been annoying me the last few weeks…. It’s the fact that we can’t get many cool sugar free/low carb products here in Australia, that they have in America. Sugar free jam + low fat peanut butter + low carb bread??? Seriously what’s their excuse for the obesity rate? Lol.

Ages ago I ‘liked’ the facebook page – ‘Recipes for Gals in Figure and Bodybuilding’ and I found all these wonderful oatmeal recipes with awesome flavour combinations – made possible by the addition of flavoured drops or syrups – seriously anything decadent you can think of from Brown sugar cinnamon to white chocolate, apple pie and vanilla custard.

I constructed an online order and nearly fell of my chair when I saw the postage which was more than the price of the items… Thought about sharing an order with a friend but that doesn’t really help because the postage just goes up and up with more items you add.

I know the syrups are probably not great for you (artificial, sugar alcohols etc) but the fact that I can’t try them annoys the shit out of me!!

I’m loving my oats the way I have them at the moment, during the week I add blueberries but on the weekends when I get a chance to train right after breakfast I ‘carb it up’ by adding sultanas, green apple and extra greek yoghurt…. Heaven in a bowl.

Determined to try something from the page, I tried making a ‘baked oatmeal’ using just the ingredients from the recipe that I had (basically I added baking powder and some vanilla essence to above ingredients and I sprinkled the top with muesli). It was very nice for a change in texture…. But in my opinion not really worth the extra effort and 30min wait time. It looks rather big in the pic below but its really not, the firmer texture makes it seem like it doesn't go as far.. to me. And we know its ALL about making not much food seem like more! ;)
The yoghurt in the pic is Black Swan - Naturally sweet Greek style breakfast yoghurt" no lactose and no added sugar. I found it thanks to Charlotte :) There is a low fat verson but this one's already very low (there's not much difference actually) AND the low fat one has more sugar per 100g... don't trust marketing, read the labels!

So thanks for listening to my rant.

The Bottom line I guess is : You can’t beat natural flavours from real fruits and ingredients… but I want to find that out for myself!!!!

I missed you!

I’ve missed you!

I didn’t keep up with this new blog because although I had post comp stuff to talk about and wedding plans on I didn’t feel like I had enough to say…. But now that’s changed!!
I started uni at the beginning of the year and in 6 short months I have grown so much as a person… Its not that I wasn’t ‘genuine’ before but Im feeling a lot more comfortable with myself these days, thus I feel a lot more comfortable writing in this public forum.

I’m just about to complete my first semester of
Bachelor of Health Science (Nutrition) at QUT :)

I’m on my way to doing a job I would do for free = a big factor of happiness in life I think. If you are lucky enough to know where your passion lies, I say go for it.

Since starting uni, I have felt… alive! Its reawakened my drive, curiousity and work ethic. I happy spend a great proportion of my free time studying. I spent a ridiculous amount of time writing a 30min script for 5 people to ensure our group scored a ‘high distinction’.

I truly believe I need to be busy AND have goals to be happy. Give me a goal that I’m passionate to pursue and I’m like a woman possessed – without one, I’m mope around in circles, get a bit depressed and eat a lot :S

Speaking of eating a lot, that’s exactly what I spent 2010 doing. My weight hit its peak (I do have a limit at which I snap out of denial) around our engagement party in January 2011. Though I felt beautiful in my new dress on the night, I cringed when I saw the pictures. Even worse, we had engagement pictures taken with our wedding photographer and I could only pick out one from the whole batch that I liked, because of my weight.

I bought my wedding dress in January, a size 10 which fit at this weight which probably goes to show a bit of body dismorphia going on. Since then I have lost 5kg and feeling a lot more comfortable. They’ll just have to lace my wedding dress up tighter won’t they….? haha. (I've just re-read my last post below from January 2011 and its clear to me I wasn't being completely honest with myself or anyone else, ahh retrospect is a great thing!)

I’m in a good place right now. I’m not dieting anymore because I find it incongruent with my study – I’m eating a really balanced diet which is very relaxed by my standards, and doesn’t exclude anything – I’m loving fruit and yoghurt, things I used to feel bad about eating – but I’m eating them at the right times ;) I know I have put on muscle in the past couple of years and I’m really enjoying mixing weights up with my new love, RPM. I feel that my metabolism is benefiting from extra food and some higher intensity cardio for more variety in my workouts.

The question now is, do I count my blessings that I have found this happy medium and continue maintaining? OR do I push out of comfortable zone, in these last 10 weeks to look [my version of] amazing on my wedding day? (Probably another 3kg would do it)

Are we ever truly happy with our weight to just want to maintain it!!!? Expect to hear from me at least once a week now! :)