Beef Goulash

May 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I don’t love the cold months of winter, but I do love the tummy warming yummy hot food I can eat without feeling like I’m suffering from heat stroke. Before this attempt, I had never even tried beef goulash. I didn’t think it was going to be that amazing because I accidentally burnt the paprika when I was cooking it, but I was very pleasantly surprised to find out that I LOVE this stew! Tuesday’s are my lazy days so I had time to let it simmer for a good 3 hours. As you can probably imagine, the beef was melty and amazing!

Thanks to Mark Sisson for the basis of this recipe.

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Filed Under: Primal Recipes Tagged With: , , , , ,

Breakfast Cake with Stewed Apple and Rhubarb

May 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

First of all, yes we do eat cake for breakfast. Secondly, it’s getting really cold and really hard to drag myself out of bed at 5AM so I need something delicious to look forward to. This recipe is extra awesome because I have always loved stewed fruit, especially rhubarb as my dad used to make it from the rhubard from our garden.

This recipe is very simple and you can change the fruits to whatever you prefer. Aside from the fact that this stewed apple and rhubarb is delicious its also a great option for people who usually struggle to eat fruit, especially people with digestive issues.

The coffee cake comes from Elana Amsterdam’s The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook. As usual we have altered the recipe a little to remove some of the sugar and add some nuts and currants. We have also left out the topping for this cake and simply sprinkled some cinnamon on top instead. We always make the mix up the night before or at least 7-8 hours before baking to let the nuts soak.

Cake

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 cup walnuts
  • 1/2 cup pecans
  • 1 cup dried currants
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1 tbs honey
  • 2 large eggs

Directions

  1. Combine the almond flour, salt, baking soda, walnuts, pecans and currants in a large bowl
  2. In a separate bowl, melt the butter in the microwave, add the honey and eggs and whisk thoroughly
  3. Stir the wet ingredients into the almond flour mix and until combined
  4. Cover the bowl and leave to soak in the fridge overnight or for at least 7 hours
  5. When you’re ready to bake the cake preheat oven to 350F
  6. Grease a small baking pan with butter and using a spatula evenly spread the batter in the baking pan
  7. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brow on top

Stewed apple and rhubarb

Ingredients

  • 1 large bunch of rhubarb, washed with ends removed
  • 4-6 apples of choice (we use pink lady)
  • 2 tbs butter
  • 1-2 tbs Coconut sugar (you can substitute coconut sugar with honey and add more if you prefer it sweeter)
  • Squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Directions

  1. Wash the apples and rhubarb and chop into large chunks or slices
  2. Chuck the chopped apple and rhubarb into a large pot
  3. Chop the butter into chunks and add to the mix
  4. Sprinkle the sugar and lemon juice over the fruit
  5. On low heat, stir the fruit until all the butter is melted
  6. Cover with a lid and leave to simmer, stirring occasionally, for approx 20 minutes
  7. Leave to cool a little before serving, or place in an airtight container once cooled completely and store it in the fridge

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Filed Under: Primal Recipes Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Gluten-Free Healthy Anzac Biscuits

April 29, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The one thing that I have been looking forward to in Autumn and Winter is baking. Hot weather and hot ovens don’t make a great mix.

Anzac Day today has been particularly bad weather so of course it made sense to create a delicious almond meal Anzac Biscuit alternative. Lucky I found this Paleo recipe which I unhealthified a little to make it more Anzacy (not real words, I know).

Ingredients

  • 1 cup almond meal
  • 1 cup oats
  • 1 cup shredded coconut
  • 1/8 cup coconut sugar
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup butter (or coconut oil)
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 tablespoon water

Directions

  1. Mix together almond meal, oats, shredded coconut and coconut sugar.
  2. Combine and heat honey and butter together.
  3. Mix the baking soda and water and pour it into the honey and butter mixture.
  4. Pour liquid into dry mixture and combine well.
  5. Cover and store in the fridge to soak.
  6. Once mixture has hardened use an ice cream scoop to make 15-20 cookie dough balls.
  7. Pre-heat oven to 120°C.
  8. Cover a baking tray with baking paper.
  9. Place the balls on the paper and squish flat with the (clean) palm of your hand.
  10. Pop in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.

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Filed Under: Almost Primal Recipes Tagged With: , , , , ,

Fluffy Buckwheat Ricotta Pancakes

April 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

This recipe was passed onto Kyle from one of his clients, and originally comes from one of Michelle Bridge’s recipe books. I love pancakes. For breakfast, lunch or dinner. Sweet or savoury. We had these one’s for lunch and had bacon and eggs with them followed by a couple with sweet toppings. Seriously good and super easy!

Ingredients

  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup Full fat ricotta
  • 310 ml milk
  • 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
  • 1/2 cup wholemeal self-raising flour
  • Butter for cooking

Assorted ingredients of choice for topping:

  • Warm blueberries/raspberries
  • Maple syrup
  • Lemon juice
  • Cream
  • Yogurt
  • Bacon and Eggs

Directions

  1. Whisk the ricotta, egg and milk together until smooth
  2. Whisk in the flours
  3. Lightly grease a hot pan with butter and pour small amounts of the mixture to make 2 medium pancakes or one large pancake
  4. Cook for 2-3 mins each side or until bubbles show through on top
  5. Transfer cooked pancakes to a plate and keep warm while cooking the remaining pancakes
  6. Serve warm pancakes with topping of your choice

My favourite topping is butter, warm berries, dollops of fresh cream and a drizzle of maple syrup all over the top! Omnomnom!

Filed Under: Bad Goodness, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Borlotti Bean Salad

March 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Last year we celebrated Thanksgiving at our house, and each guest was asked to bring something to share. A friend brought this amazing borlotti bean salad and it was delicious! We had a  family dinner at my sisters house last week  and she asked us to bring along a salad so I got my friends recipe instead of making the usual boring green salad. My friend had added about 70-100g of brown rice to the bean mix, but I just mixed it with baby spinach leaves to make it a little lighter. Oh and this salad seriously tastes even better the next day so no need to eat it all in one sitting. Although its hard not to!

Ingredients

  • 400g canned Borlotti beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 100g green beans, chopped into 1 inch pieces and gently steamed
  • 1/2 red onion, finely chopped
  • 100g danish fetta (or fetta of choice), crumbled
  • 1 small bag baby spinach leaves
  • 2 tbs parsley, minced
  • 1 tbs mint, minced
  • 2 tsp dijon mustard
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • Juice from 1/2 a lemon
  • Salt and pepper

Directions

  1. Chop the green beans into 1 inch pieces and boil gently for 2-3 mins (don’t overcook the beans, they should be a little crunchy still)
  2. While the beans are boiling drain the borlotti beans and rinse well. Place in a large bowl and set aside
  3. Once cooked to your liking, drain the green beans and rinse under cold water to prevent further cooking. Set aside on paper towel to dry
  4. Chop up the red onion, tomato and herbs and add them to the borlotti beans
  5. Add the cooked green beans and fetta and mix well
  6. In a small bowl or cup mix the olive oil, mustard, lemon juice and salt and pepper and mix well
  7. Pour the dressing over the salad about 1 hour before serving to allow the flavours to soak in
  8. Add the baby spinach leaves just before serving
Filed Under: Almost Primal Recipes Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Full Body Crosstraining Workout For The Park (or home)

March 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Got 15 minutes?

Great!

That means you have time to do this workout.

Before you start set up 4 markers in a line 10 metres apart. Don’t know how far 10 metres is? Just take 10 big steps in between each set of cones.

Don’t know what to use as markers? You can use little disc cones or you could just use some makeshift markers like your keys, phone, drink bottle and jumper.

If you are aiming for the harder variation of this workout then you will also want a step or a fence near one of your markers.

This workout is very simple, you are going to do 10 reps of a different exercise on each marker. Once you get to the end you will run back to start and do it again. Go through the whole thing 3 times.

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Filed Under: Outdoor Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Zucchini Slice

March 21, 2012 By 1 Comment

Zucchini slice is an old favourite of mine, but before making this one I hadn’t had it for years. My mum used to make this all the time with the giant zucchini’s from her veggie garden. It’s one of those quick and easy recipes that everyone should know for times when you want something fairly healthy without too much effort.

Ingredients

  • 3-4 medium zucchini’s, grated
  • 3-4 middle rashers of backon, diced (I prefer mine cooked beforehand so it goes crispy)
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup self raising flour (I used half flour and half almond meal)
  • 1/3 cup fresh chopped parsley
  • 1 cup grated cheese
  • Salt and pepper

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 180C
  2. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9×9 baking dish with butter
  3. Grate all the zucchini and place in a large mixing bowl
  4. Whisk the eggs lightly and add to the grated zucchini, mix well
  5. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until combined
  6. Bake in the oven for 30-35 mins or until golden brown on top
  7. Allow to cool before serving
Filed Under: Almost Primal Recipes, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Apricot and Blueberry Cobbler

March 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Apricots are one of my all time favourite fruits and this recipe would have to be the best apricot dessert I have found so far! I don’t make a lot of desserts and cakes because generally when I do, something goes wrong or I think I can add my own creative genius to the mix and it actually destroys it. I found this recipe on Chocolate & Zucchini and it looked so good I had to try it out myself. I’m pretty proud of myself too because I actually followed the recipe almost exactly.

Ingredients

Fruit:

  • 1 kilo fresh apricots (or equivalent canned if out of season)
  • 4 tsp sugar
  • 2 tsp tapioca
  • 1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Dough:

  • 1 cup almond meal
  • 3/4 cup plain flour
  • 2 tbs sugar, plus extra for sprinkling on top (I use organic coconut sugar)
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tbs orange juice
  • 1/2 cup plain yogurt
  • 5 tbs unsalted butter, diced

Directions

  1.  Slice the apricots into quarters and place in a ceramic or glass dish and sprinkle with the sugar and tapioca. Toss the fruit around, cover and leave to sit for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 180C

  1. In a medium bowl mix together the almond meal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
  2. Add the orange juice, yogurt and butter and combine roughly with a spoon, then use your fingers to combine the wet and dry ingredients
  3. Add the blueberries on top of the apricots
  4. Using a spoon dollop the dough onto the fruit so that small gaps remain
  5. Sprinkle sugar over the dough and then place in the oven
  6. Bake for 35-40 mins or until fruit is bubbly and the dough is golden brown

Serve warm with fresh whipped cream or yogurt.

Filed Under: Almost Primal Recipes, Bad Goodness Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Beef Meatballs with Primal Zucchini Spaghetti

March 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Usually we don’t get to have dinner at dinner-time because of the way we work, but we certainly don’t use that as an excuse not to cook a proper meal. On most days we have dinner for lunch, or an early light lunch and a late afternoon dinner. I personally prefer it this way ’cause it means I get to go to bed super early!

This delectable looking dish is an example of one of our afternoon dinners. This meal was a joint effort, myself being in charge of the amazing looking zucchini spaghetti and Kyle being in charge of the meatballs.

Ingredients

Meatballs

  • 500g lean mince meat
  • 4 rashers of bacon, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 sprig fresh rosemary, minced
  • 3 sprigs fresh thyme, minced
  • 1 long sprig fresh oregano, minced
  • 1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
  • 1/2 a small onion
  • 1/2 cup almond meal
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1/4 cup cream (optional) – we forgot to add it
  • 1/2 cup shredded parmesan

 Zucchini Spaghetti and Sauce

  • 2 medium sized zucchini’s grated into long strips (we used one of these awesome graters), but if your feeling super patient you could probably slice it up too
  • 1 large clove garlic, crushed
  • 1 small onion, finely diced
  • 1/2 red capsicum finely diced (optional)
  • 800g tinned diced tomatoes (or fresh)
  • Large handful of fresh basil, chopped
  • 1 tsp coconut sugar or brown sugar
  • salt and pepper
  • Coconut oil or olive oil for cooking

Directions

Meatballs

  1. Finely dice the bacon, onion and herbs and mix into the remaining ingredients
  2. Use your hands to roll the mix into small balls
  3. Cook on the BBQ on high heat for approx 5-7 minutes each side (you can also use a fry pan for cooking)
  4. Check the meatballs are cooked through by cutting into the middle
  5. Once all the meatballs are cooked, leave in a warm oven until ready to serve

Sauce and Spaghetti

  1. Grate the zucchini into long strips and set aside
  2. Chop up the onion and crush the garlic
  3. Heat preferred oil in a large pan and cook the onion until soft
  4. When the onion is soft add the garlic and capsicum
  5. Add the tomatoes, sugar, salt and pepper and simmer for 2-3 mins
  6. Add the chopped fresh basil and leave to simmer for approx 15 minutes
  7. When you’re ready to serve, add all the zucchini into the sauce and cook for another 2-3 mins

Place a serving of Zucchini spaghetti onto a deep plate or bowl and top with meatballs and a sprig of fresh basil. Delicious!

Filed Under: Primal Recipes Tagged With: , , , ,

Hotel Room Workout – 5x5x5

March 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

You’ve rocked up to work on Monday morning to have the boss tell you that you are flying interstate for the rest of the week. But that does not mean you can slack off with your training for the week.

Instead, this is a good time to bust out a hotel workout.

Below is a workout that is designed to done in a small area of space. That said you can use this workout on any trip or holiday or even at home like we did. Use it to keep your fitness up while on holiday or as a make up workout at home if you miss your regular workout.

The Workout

Today’s workout involves 5 different exercises. You will do 5 repititions on each exercise a total of 5 times.

The 4th and 5th rounds should be quite taxing. If it’s too easy try constantly completing each round in the same time.

ZOKY Routine

Scroll down to see how to do this exercises.

  • 5 Clapping Push Ups
  • 5 (per side) Plank with hand taps
  • 5 (per side) Side Plank Gravediggers
  • 5 (per side) Jump Lunges
  • 5 Marine Burpees

Beginner Routine

Click the links to view how to do the exercises.

  • 5 Kneeling Push Ups or Push Ups
  • 5 second Plank [count to 5]
  • 5 second Side Plank [count to 5 - both sides]
  • 5 (per side) Reverse Lunges
  • 5 Walkout Burpees

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Filed Under: Indoor Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
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