Meal (and snack) of the Day :: Turkey, Houmous and Avocado Sammie

Ok so, I really should explain that I am (was?) not the biggest lover of avocado. Or houmous (hummus). I used to eat guacamole sparingly on occasion and I would've dipped a carrot stick into the teenyist, tinyist dollop of houmous now and then. To distract my brain from the fact I was eating a raw carrot of course.

I suppose in my mind vegetables shouldn't be creamy and chickpeas freak me out? I think I'm funny with textures?

I come from a land where a baked bean is a national treasure. Pair them bad boys with toast and half a tub of margarine and you've practically got a Michelin Star in a Dub household.

If you offered me a million quid to eat a spoonful of Heinz I'd have to turn you down.

Well, I probably wouldn't. But it would be the hardest and most revolting thing I'd ever done.

Why, why would you take something that's cooked till practically mush, cover it in 'ketchup', can it, cook it some more and then call it one of your five-a-day??

Baffling.

But, textures aside, I was willing to give avocado and houmous a proper chance. Mainly because I had the bejesus terrified out of me on a recent trip to the doc's where my blood pressure was 'a bit on the high side'. It turned out to be a false alarm but from that day I decided I needed 'heart-healthy' gear. I am led to believe avocado and houmous are indeed, 'heart-healthy'.

Egotistically, I would also like to be about 20lbs lighter so with consumerism being what it is, I bought this book. Kill two birds with one book if you will.

And it is quite good. I have read a lot of nutrition books over the years (a lot a lot. Michael Pollan's Food Rules being a great one) so I was dubious to see what your man James had to say.

I was impressed. He doesn't tell you carbs are the devil. He tells you to eat fat. (He don't allow no sugar but there had to be compromises ladies!) Some of his notions are a bit redic, like his exercise plan or him saying NEVER ever use a microwave if you want to live.

He's big into organic, this lad, no processed muck. I am similarly minded, so I like him for that. He thinks gluten is bad and makes you bloated, which it does for me. So, James; you can stay.

In the recipes section, he has this little beauty;

Now, I hear you. At first glance the bread does look like cardboard, but it's health food people, bare with me.

When I saw it I thought, 'unmashed avocado and houmous? This cannot be done!' But believe me, it can. My god can it.

I won't win any photography awards, that's fo sho. I made it when I was starving so excuse the savage bitemarks it has. I couldn't wait.

It is made with;

2 slices rye bread

1 tbsp houmous

2 slices cooked turkey

1 ripe avocado, peeled and sliced

1/2 lemon juiced

1 handful of alfalfa sprouts

Freshly ground black pepper

All you literally do is assemble. I would say that rye is a dense bread so it's better toasted. And I didn't have sprouts so I used baby spinach instead and it gave a nice 'bite' to it, which I think you need with all the creaminess.

I've had this for the last 2 days for lunch and it is yummy. I am an avo-mous convert. The fat and protein in there make you feel well and truly sated, which is the thing I hate about low carb or calorie counting plans. It's early days and I'm only on day 3 but I feel like I'm in for the long haul this time. Famous last words.

----------------------

I know, I know I've rambled for ages but I just wanna give a quick shout out to my new favourite snack!

Almonds and raisins. Natures candy.

:)

More soon.

Exercise of the Day :: Zumba

Yesterday I bravely (and in hindsight, somewhat optimistically) tried my hand at Zumba.

And it quite literally kicked my ass.

I would show you the footprint but, well, lets keep things PG.

I have included a generic picture of the Zumba logo for you entertainment (or not).

I suppose it would have been both helpful and hilarious if I would have taken a couple of pictures of myself actually doing Zumba.

Hmmm.

Inconvieniently, I didn't have the presence of mind to take a camera. Also, I was having trouble with the simple tasks of breathing/living so I guess snapping a picture could very well have killed me.

Never fear though, I have googled an image of some people at a Zumba lesson and included it.

Too happy for my liking.

See how much fun they are having? Toning and firming whilst exercising and have a right oul laugh while they're at it?

Yeah my Zumba was not like that at all.

Do they have defibrillators at Zumba?

 I could've done with one of these at my Zumba. And from the looks of things a couple of others could have too.

There were two men at my Zumba. Two poor unfortunates who very obviously had no idea what Zumba was when they signed up (If you are a member if their camp, with no clue at all, Zumba is a fast paced dance class. A lot of shimmying and hip-wiggling is involved).

They weren't great at the shimmying and their hip-wiggling left a lot to be desired. They did give it a bash though which must be applauded. I should point out, they were 50, if they were a day and two of the straightest men on the planet.

I don't think they will be back next week.

Will I be back next week though? That my friends is the big question.

My face was the colour of beetroot and my lungs were that of a 90 year old smoker on 40-a-day habit. I sweated out half the Atlantic Ocean, and then the other half for good measure. I never thought I could hurt doing a boob shake. But I did. Oh, did I.

Oddly, I loved it.

Sure, 5 minutes in I was positive I would spotaneously combust if I didn't sit down immediately. I was cursing myself for thinking this devil's torture could ever be 'fun'.

But it was.

I felt exhilarated, exhausted, exceeded, excited and exposed. (You'd feel exposed too if your bra was incorrectly fitting like mine. Sports bras a must ladies)

It was an awesome feeling actually. I felt like Superwoman.

Or Lara Croft at the very least.

Yeah. I bet she does Zumba.

12.30 Monday Zumba, I whole-heartedly look forward to another asskicking.

Maybe go a little easier this time? No? Alright then.

Meal of the Day :: 'You say tomayto, I say tomahto' Soup

Hmmmm...

I'm actually at a bit of a loss as to how to address my posts. Since I have no readers and am, essentially, talking to myself, I feel a little odd. I suppose I can just say huthegelluthego which if you didn't know is hello in Gibberish and get on with the post at hand :D

Today, I ventured into the (mostly) unknown. In summary;

I made a soup. From scratch. It was edible. Nothing went on fire.

Tomato Soup With(out) Croutons

I even put little herbs on it to make it look fancy.

I think I've ticked all the boxes for a successful adventure in the kitchen.

Oh, and I got to use my blender. It was gathering dust anyway.

The recipe came from this book;

Jamie's 30 Minute Meals

I love this book. Karen gave me this for Christmas. I highly recommend and the photography is beautiful. 288 pages of heart-warming yumminess. The recipe I followed is called 'Tomato Soup & Croutons' and can be found on page 76 or here.

I ommitted the 'Chunky Croutons' bit because a) I forgot to get ciabatta b) I couldn't be arsed and c) I'm 'trying' to cut down on carbs.

Abs are made in the kitchen and and not the gym you know.

Anywho, the soup was delicious if a lil touch heavy on the garlic. I like garlic so I liked it but if you don't I would say leave it out or use a clove or two less. I also want to try the prune pudding it mentions in the recipe but I have a very unreliable microwave and the last thing I want is to have to scrape blackened prune bits off the celing (it would be the third time. Don't ask. Unless you are a microwave mechanic in which case, every time it gets to 5 minutes the door kind of blows open and it always burns food. Thoughts?)

These posts may become a series if I can remember to bust out the camera while 'cooking'. In the meantime, Happy Chef-ing :)

Word of the Day :: #1

Thursday's Word of the Day:


Roflcopter.


- Acronym 'Rolling On Floor Laughing, Can't Operate Properly Till Eyes Refocus'

or

- Literally laughing so hard you roll on the ground making motions/noises similar to those of a helicopter

:D