Recipe of the Week/Month

As the days are getting shorter and chillier and the need to watch my waistline has gotten stronger I have started craving healthy, nutritious, warm, toasty soups. So my latest recipe is my mum's ever famous pumpkin soup. I love this soup, it is one of my favourite winter comfort meals and is pretty easy to make. My only advice: if you can have a male peel and cut the pumpkin for you unless you're a pretty strong chic that is. Pumpkin peeling and cutting can be pretty hard.

Mum's Pumpkin Soup

1/2 pumpkin (I used a Kent), peeled and chopped 

2 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 large carrot or 2 small carrots, peeled and chopped

1 tsp curry powder

100g diced bacon

Salt and pepper to taste

500ml chicken stock

200ml of carnation milk

1/2 cup cream

1/2 cup parsley, chopped

1. Combine pumpkin, potatoes, bacon, onion, garlic, carrots, salt, pepper, parsley and curry powder in soup pot. Almost cover ingredients with cold water. Bring to the boil and reduce heat, simmer for 20 minutes.
2. Add 500ml of chicken stock, stirring so it doesn't stick and bring to the boil.
3. Add carnation milk and reduce heat to low stirring until soup begins to bubble. If you would like your soup to be smooth, blend with a stick mixer at this point. 
4. Turn off heat and stir through cream and further salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with cream, parsley and croutons.

Notes: if you would like a smooth soup but don't have a stick mixer, strain the liquid from the soup into a bowl after step one. Then blend the cooked vegetables in a food processor in batches and add liquid and vegetables back into the pot continuing with the recipe. Enjoy.

Welcome Back Sim

Okay so I have been unbelievably neglecting my blog and therefore neglecting myself, but I am back! And I am back with plenty more to report on.  Last week I was lucky enough to be part of my best friend's wedding and will give you all the details about that soon.  I hosted a hens party the weekend before and have attended a couple of psychologist appointments learning a lot about the mind that I can't wait to share.  


As far as my weight loss mission has been going...well it hasn't really at all.  I have been going to the gym about twice a week on average but I really need to eat healthier.  Unfortunately it didn't take long before I couldn't be bothered taking salads to work any more and now I buy my lunch everyday but I am not worried about that as I usually buy a salad sandwich, a wrap or sushi which is all pretty healthy.  It's my chippies addiction and need for food when stressed that is my downfall.  I seem to always feel stretched to the limit with too much to do. My weekends fly by with a Sunday evening to do list as long as the previous Friday's to do list.  I often feel like I am not getting anywhere hence always feeling overwhelmed and eating like I am going to run out of food.  It just makes me feel better and more in control.  I even schedule relaxation which begins to feel like a chore and everything is all about the clock and time.  I wish I could just forget about the time and do what I want when I want but there aren't many days like that.  I am beginning to think my comfort level for stress and busyness is pretty low, I look at others and feel I have nothing on my plate compared to them but I still feel the busyness and pressures of life.  Even fun things like meeting up with family and friends sometimes annoys me because all I want is time on my own.  I just have to come to terms with the fact that this is my comfort level and learn to say no without worrying about it.  So my goal is to say no more, even to lovely sounding things like dinner with family, unfortunately for me I just need plenty of time to myself! I am going to continue with at least two gym sessions a week at the least and try to cut out some of that mindless stressful eating.  


Today marks one year since my lovely man proposed to me, which leaves 10 months until our big day and boy do I have a lot to do.  I will update soon on where I am with my wedding plans.  With plenty more to share, talk soon. I will do my best to update more regularly!

My New Lifestyle

After a weeks annual leave I went back to work this week hence the lack of blog posting.  It looks like I will only have time to post on weekends but I will do so as much as I can!  With only 336 days until my wedding day I desperately need to begin a health and beauty regime.  I already have regular facials and spend a fortune on my skin and I am lucky to have really long naturally blonde hair so the only thing I really need to work on is my weight and boy do I have my work cut out for me.  Now don't get me wrong, as much as I want to lose weight for my wedding I want to keep the weight off this time, this is no fad craze diet to shed kilos fast.  Notice I said 'this time'? Yes I have been here before and lost it before, this time I want to keep it off.  Having put on 17 kilos in the last three years I really have my work cut out for me! 

But I am pleased to say in my first week of my new healthy lifestyle I have already shed two kilos, the weight comes off a lot faster the more you have to lose!  Last year I began having regular appointments with a naturopath to try and work on my energy levels, then being diagnosed with depression I realised I had a lot more to work on.  Half the reason my energy levels are so low is because I do not do regular high intensity exercise but it's a bit of a catch 22, too tired to exercise but exercise will make me less tired!  And when I say tired I mean tired!  Without an alarm I sleep naturally between 9 to 12 hours every night, of course having to work means I don't get this much but I easily get 7.5 to 8 hours on weeknights and was still complaining of being exhausted.  This steals way too much of my time and is something I am desperately trying to fix.  After Googling 'how to out of bed', 'how to get motivated to get out bed', 'how to stop feeling tired' etc etc.  I realised I just needed to stop damn procrastinating and start exercising and eating as healthy as I can.  This week I have been to the gym for three 55 minute sessions with a mixture of weights and cardio, I have also done a interval walk/run and home resistance training.  Today is my second day off from exercising for the week (I know lazy right) because I am so sore all over (legs, tummy, arms and shoulders) I am walking around like I literally have a stick up my ass.  And don't get me started on trying to sit on the toilet, I get half way and my legs give way and I free fall to the seat!  Weights are a very important part of an exercise routine for me, the more muscle mass you have the more energy/fat you burn at rest, so girls reading this don't ever be scared of weights, you would have to be lifting mighty heavy weights regularly to even begin bulking up and who doesn't want to shed kilos while resting!  My energy levels have been amazing this week I don't think I have complained once of being tired and that's a big thing for me.

As for my diet this week, my lovely facial girl inspired me to take my own salads to work for lunch.  I was spending up to $10 a day on lunch and could really use that money towards my wedding.  I used to be a 'salad doesn't fill me up' kind of girl but this all depends on what you put in it.  I have been pan frying up half a chicken breast mixed with lettuce, carrot, alfalfa, cucumber, mushroom, boiled egg, avocado, light cheese and Red Kellys Tasmania Traditional Dressing, this makes a killer yummy salad that is really satisfying!  And for everyone who hasn't tried this dressing, it is amazingly good for any salad, get your hands on some ASAP. For snacks I have a banana, unsalted raw mixed nuts, a rice cake with light cream cheese and maybe even a little ham.  I am not a big fruit eater but this is all getting me through the work day perfectly.  Breakfast for me is some gluten free cereal with almond meal and tea is usually meat and vegetables or stir fries.  Weekends are definitely my down fall, without the routine of the work day I just eat whenever and whatever but so far this weekend I have been doing really well, sticking with some type of salad whenever I can. I have over the week had far to many chocolates.  I have been advised to swap a chocolate for jelly beans or licorice as I believe (I may have this wrong) these are simple sugars giving you the sweetness hit you're craving without the extra fat.  I am not saying licorice or jelly beans are good for you but they may be a wiser choice when you just must have something sweet.

Okay that's enough babbling about my weight loss week!  I plan to regularly update you on my weight loss/healthy lifestyle journey and would be very interested in tips, tricks or advice that you may like to share.  Now I am off to watch some True Blood without scoffing any chippies :(