Getting back into the swing of things

Happy 2015!!

I had the most amazing Christmas break this year. I was lucky enough to have two Christmases – a Danish one with my parents and sister on the 24th and an English one on 25th December with Welly and his family. It was awesome, everything from the food to the wine to the company was excellent – big smiles all around.

But all good things must come to an end right?! It’s probably for the best or I would be obese in no time.

This week I’ve been ready to get back into the swing of things. We met our diy deadlines which means I have more energy and my evenings back.

I’ve really been loving being able to cook nice homemade dinners but I’ve also taken the opportunity to prep my lunches for the following day. My main tips are:
– choose your meals for the week – breakfast, lunch and dinner
– order them online for delivery
– love preparing and eating each one

Its been an incredibly busy week and I’ve had more red flags in my inbox and more lunches at my desk than I care to remember so having my meals prepped was an absolute lifesaver. These are ‘some I prepared earlier’:

Homemade pea soup (onion, stock cube and frozen peas) with marinated turkey breast (dried coriander and cumin)

Homemade quinoa with mint and coriander accompanied with a green bean, broccoli, beetroot and lime salad. For protein it was leftover roast chicken:

Homemade Mexican burgers (turkey mince, jalapeños and spices) with a red onion and tomato dressing accompanied by a lentil, green beans, beetroot, feta and fresh herb salad:

How do you prepare for the week?

Deliciously Ella reblog: How to Eat Plant-Based Protein

I love Deliciously Ella’s blog and when I saw her how to eat plant-based protein blog post I immediately knew I wanted to share it with all of you 🙂

I’m not one of those people who NEED meat at every meal but Welly is so when I’m home alone, do breakfast or even a snack I often don’t include fish or meat.

I loved this bean stew:

Or my banana, cinnamon, egg and flaxseed pancakes:

And even my simple breakfast:

However, I’m not a vegetarian or vegan as you can tell but I love getting inspiration from people who know what they’re talking about – so here goes, enjoy!

Advice: How to Eat Plant-Based Protein

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What is the difference between plant and animal protein?
Proteins are made up of chains of amino acids. There are 20 amino acids in total and our bodies are able to produce some of these for ourselves (non-essential amino acids). However, there are 9 that you can only get from the food that you eat. Most people seem to think that plant-based protein sources don’t provide you with ‘complete’ protein sources and that you need animal protein for this, but there are several foods that include all 9 essential amino acids, so they are complete protein sources – these include quinoa, pumpkin seeds, chickpeas and black beans . Then there are lots of plant-based foods that contain a mixture of the essential amino acids, so by eating a variety of these delicious foods you can eat all the essential amino acids and your body will have everything that it needs! Animal protein is also harder to break down and digest and it moves through the digestive tract much slower, so a steak won’t make you feel as energised as a bowl of hummus, plus animal protein is much more acidic and the more alkaline the food we eat is the better we feel!

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Where can I find protein?
There’s protein in so many different sources, the list below outlines the best protein sources – all of which are so delicious! My advice would be to try adding at least one of these sources to every meal, you should find that it really energises you.

Beans and Pulses

Kidney Beans
Chickpeas (think lots and lots of hummus)
Black Beans
Lentils
Bean Sprouts
Grains

Buckwheat
Quinoa
Oats (a great excuse to eat bowls and bowls of porridge!)
Brown Rice
Vegetables

Broccoli
Peas
Avocado (hello guacamole for every meal)
Spinach
Kale
Any other green leafy veg, swiss chard, cavelo nero etc
Brocoli
Nuts & Seeds

…./ continue reading at deliciouslyella.com

Healthy living – it’s all in the preparation

If you follow me on Instagram you’ll know I love a good food post and lately I’ve had lots of comments and questions about how I have the energy to make breakfast that delicious. And I must say it’s all in the preparation!

I, like everyone else, have a time demanding job and actually having time to put good things in your body can be difficult – if you don’t plan a little bit ahead that is. If you’ve read my blog post on making the most of your mornings you know that I love setting myself up for the day with exercise and a good hearty breakfast. It’s not a diet, it’s my lifestyle and one that I simply have come to love. I wanted to share a few tips on what I do to make it quite easy:

– Do a bit of meal prep. I boil my eggs a few days in advance for example which means all I have to do is peel them and pair them with what I love such as avocados, nuts, fruit, meat, fish etc – this was awesome:

– buy what is on offer at your local shop that week to make sure you have a varied diet. Doing a weekly shop gives you an idea of food for the week and makes breakfast, lunch and dinner easy to manage. We had some awesome cooked mackerel from ocado this week:

– use leftovers from your store cupboard or from last night’s dinner to make an awesome lunch. I love some good liquid proof tupperware to take to work:

– get ready the night before. I love my juicer and get my veg and machine set up ready to go just before I’m off to bed. All I have to do is press play and we’re good to go:
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A good and healthy meal makes me smile and with just a few minutes prep each day it really is easy to achieve!

What are your tips on preparation?