First, Cauliflower Pizza, then Cauliflower Chocolate Spice Cake!

OK, so the fact that cauliflower was soooo successful as a pizza base got me thinking.... How about cake??!!

I've been making homemade protein bars with protein powder, nuts and seeds, but these end up being pretty calorific, and even when I eat 100% 'clean' I still need to watch overall cals (as most people do) as its sooo easy to splish a little extra olive oil here and chomp a few extra nuts here, that can easily take us out of calorie deficit!

In fact, since trying to wean myself off Calorie King, my weight had gone up a few lb, and its only going back to careful tracking and keeping my intake under control that I've easily lost those annoying lb and feel so much more in control, as I know where I'm at...

So, the cauliflower thought combined with the fact that I'm away next weekend, climbing Snowdon and staying in a B&B with healthy sounding but of course not remotely healthy 'continental breakfast' and I decided to get baking!

And, to my surprise, it worked!!!

So, check out my own invented recipe: CAULICHOCOSPICE CAKE!

1 head of cauliflower (about 700g)
Splash low carb almond milk (I get this stuff: http://www.bevital.co.uk/acatalog/Milk_Substitutes.html)
1 tin pureed pumpkin (I get Libby's - those in the UK need to order and avoid getting tempted by 'candy' while shopping: CANNED PUMPKIN, or you can just steam pumpkin or butternut squash)
1-2 tsp ground ginger
1-2 tsp mixed spice
3 large eggs
100g chocolate protein powder (I used Reflex Instant Whey for this)
Tsp baking powder (I added this, not sure if it was necessary)
Coconut oil to grease tray

Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees C.
Steam the cauliflower and puree it with a hand blender (add a splash of almond milk if you like)
Mix with pumpkin, spices, eggs, protein.
Grease 2 cake tins with coconut oil.
Split mixture into the cake tins (you may want to use 1 larger one, or could try cookie / muffin trays, up to you!)
Place in the oven and bake for 30 ish minutes (again, you'll need to experiment a bit depending on the thickness of the cake - could have done mine for longer but was nice and moist)

Leave to cool then split into 8 servings...

NUTRITIONAL INFO (based on the protein I used personally so if you use different you'll need to adjust):

Per recipe (1/8th would be a snack at around 120 cals and 15 g protein)

969 cals
25g fat
123g protein
83g carbs, of which 40g fibre.

Wisdom Tooth Extraction Leads to DELICIOUS Ice Cream Discovery!

So, I had an impromptu wisdom tooth removal this morning, which led to a wonderful discovery - a new 'ice cream' recipe!

This would be perfect as dessert after the following 'pizza' (see the forum for these and more: http://carolineradway.ning.com/forum/topics/healthy-recipes). Who needs cheat meals when you have recipes like these, huh?

CAULI-PIZZA-LICIOUS:

1 cup cooked, pureed cauliflower
1 egg
Mixed herbs / celtic sea salt / black pepper to taste...

TOPPING: Up to you: Tomato puree, more herbs, slices of tomato, slices of mushroom, spinach and feta all would be good! A great (excuse the auditory pun, ha ha) topping would be a small amount of parmesan, as a little goes a long way.

As this is just veg I would definitely reccomend either topping with some fish or lean meat or having a small piece along side - there is an egg but you ideally want a bit more protein than that....

HOW TO:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C
Spray a cake tin with non-stick spray or lightly coat with coconut oil.
In a medium bowl, combine cauliflower, egg and herbs. Press evenly on the pan.
Bake for 20-30 minutes (more if you double the recipe).

Remove the pan from the oven. Add toppings.
Place under a grill or back in the oven to heat the toppings.

YUMMMMMMM.........

Follow with the following AWESOME ice cream:

75 g frozen blueberries
10-15g whey protein (choc or vanilla is good, I use Reflex Instant whey or SunWarrior Rice Protein from Mike Mahler)
Tsp mixed spice, tsp ground ginger
50ml low carb almond milk
(Optional, some frozen spinach - ha ha, I did just make it with this and you'd never know!)

Works best in a Magic Bullet in my view, as you can eat it out of the pot you blend it in, but any blender should do the trick.

Place all the ingredients in the blender. Blend as much or as little as you want - hardly blended makes it feel more fruity, just now I did it till the thing was smooth, as was trying to get the frozen spinach blended in...

DE-LISH-US!!!

Oh yeah, and the ratios above make it 75-90 cals, depending on the protein, 10-12 g protein and 8-10g carb... Double winner. And easy to eat when you've just had a tooth out - no excuses for ice cream!

Holiday Workout

I just gave a client a bodyweight workout to do on her imminent vacation and thought that I would share it with all of you, it being holiday season and all!

So, if you need something to do at home in between Outdoor Fit for Life Group Training sessions, or if you want to boost energy and vitality while on holiday (or make up for some over-indulgences!) then give this a go....

5 mins dynamic warm up, stretch as necessary.

Bodyweight Squats with hands behind head, prisoner style x 15
Kneeling press ups x 15
Single leg deadlift x 10 each leg
Triceps Dips x 12
Side lunges 15 each side
Dragon lunge walks 10 steps each leg
Dolphin x 12

Perform the circuit 1 - 3 times with minimal rest between exercises and a minute between circuits. You can alteratively super-set the exercises, pairing upper and lower body and repeating that superset 3 times then moving on to the next.

Follow with 10 mins of skipping, 30 s on, 15-30 s off (or try stair running, run up and walk back down). You can also add skipping in between exercises, supersets or circuits to up the cardio intensity throughout the workout.

CORE WORK:

Windmill x 8 each side
Bird Dog x 8 each side (hold 3 s)
Knee drop x 10 each side
Reverse curls x 15
Side plank 15 - 30 s
Plan 30 - 60 s

Then stretch tight muscle groups...

Fat Loss Freebies for You!

Are you feeling like a bit of extra motivation or focus? Are you still struggling with a stubborn few lb of fat that just won't budge?

In that case, you might want to get on over to http://www.freefatlosstips.com/ where there is acccess to free fat loss tips, tricks and techniques from experts around the world - but hurry, as it's this week only!

Daniel Munday, Georgette Pann, Spida Hunter, Mark Raynsford, James Kerrison, Dan Grant, Dave Soucy and myself are all giving away goodies that will see you out of your rut and shedding bodyfat in no time - and it's all ther for the taking! Check out: http://www.freefatlosstips.com/

I'm giving away an exclusive KettleBelleBody fat loss programme: you can get this, along with all the other fat loss freebies at

http://www.freefatlosstips.com/

Make sure you tell your friends about this one as I don't want them to miss out either!

Are You Lazy? Try Meditating...

I've recently been advised to start meditating (yes, I know, its been a long time coming!).

I got the advice from my coach, Mike Mahler, who recommended I try the Holosync Programme. I bought the programme immediately and found that I got immediate benefits in terms of reduced stress, increased energy and an impoved sense of wellbeing. 30 mins listening to the CD feels like a mini vacation!

CDs are a great way to get into meditation, for people (like me) who would struggle to make the time, or spend the full time meditating 'properly'. You also get the benefits that take years to get to with 'traditional' meditation, as the CDs are designed to actually take your brain into an alpha or theta brainwave state, whereas with traditional meditation it can take years of practice to get there.

I have also bought a book on Mindful Meditation (the proper, hard work version!) which I aim to try to practice alongside the CDs. But the CDs are great for making me stay in the meditation for the full 30 or 60 mins, and are also great to listen to while going to sleep at night, to put on if you wake and can't get back to sleep, and also to listen to if you wake 30-60 mins before you actually need to get up (I do that a lot!). The Holosync guys recommend you actually get up an hour earlier if you really can't find (aka make) time in the rest of your day, as the effect of the CD will be even more beneficial than the same amount of sleep!

The best time to listen to the CDs is after your workout - and I love the double endorphin hit this gives you! Not only is it a great way to feel doubly great after your workout, but it is a fantastic boost to your recovery - and its kind of nice not having to go straight into 'real life' after a hard kettlebell workout!

This has an added benefit, though. According to Mike, the typical habit of eating your post workout meal or shake straight after training is flawed logic hormonally, as growth hormone peaks 30 mins after training. Immediately stimulating insulin kills the GH response and we want to make the most of as much GH as we can! Meditation also boosts hormone balance, increasing DHEA and reducing cortisol.

I have the Holosync CDs, these are the ones Mike uses and recommends. My only gripe is that they are big on trying to upsell you to further levels, which is quite annoying! I have already received a few sales letters in the post and the initial level is not cheap, so I don't want to invest any more in it just yet! So long as you can ignore the upsells then they are great though.

I have also just discovered the Immrama Institute which offer similar CDs, these are cheaper and I'm not sure what the difference is, if there is any. I've ordered the Ocean Wave CD, so even if they have the same effect, I can change the sounds each time for a bit of variety (the Holosync is rain water and bell things, blissful to listen to!)

Each programme has a meditation CD as well as other CDs that you can listen to while studying, reading or working out, to get you into a heightened state of concentration, or 'the zone'. I've not actually used any of the other CDs yet, but will start using them - see if my articles and blog posts become better and more consistent to see if they are having a positive effect!

If you want to find out more, check out these links:

HOLOSYNC Programme
IMMRAMA CDs
MIKE MAHLER (loads of articles and resources on hormonal optimisation)

Post a comment below if you have personal experience with either of these, or if you have any questions!