Whirlsie's Roast Capsicum & Tomato Soup

I have been trying to find a yummy tomato soup recipe and this one seems to do the trick!!

Whirlsie's Roast Capsicum & Tomato Soup

ProPoints™ Value: 1
Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 10 min
Cooking Time: 50 min
Level of Difficulty: Moderate

My own recipe

Ingredients

• 1kg fresh vine ripened tomatoes, cut in half
• 2 large red capsicums, seeded and cut into quarters
• 1 medium red onion, quartered
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 4 cup(s) salt reduced chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180°C or 160°C fan-forced.
• Place the tomatoes, capsicum and onion, cut-side up, in a single layer on baking tray. Sprinkle with the oregano.
• Roast for 40 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
• Place the roasted tomato mixture in a large saucepan along with remaining ingredients over high heat and bring to the boil.
• Reduce heat and simmer, covered for 10 minutes.
• Remove from heat and puree the soup until smooth.
• Return soup to the pot and stir over low heat until heated through.

Whirlsie's Banana & Date Muffins

 

Whirlsie's Banana & Date Muffins

ProPoints™ Value: 3
Servings: 14
Preparation Time: 25 min
Cooking Time: 25 min
Level of Difficulty: Moderate

My own recipe

Ingredients

1 cup(s) Coles , Milk, Lite
12 individual fresh dates     
4 medium bananas
1 tbs honey
2 medium egg(s) 
4 serve(s) Beerenberg , Sauce, Apple                
2 cup(s) plain flour    
2 tbs artificial sweetener powder
3/4 tsp table salt, iodised    
4 tsp baking powder    


Instructions

1 - Blend milk, dates, banana, honey, eggs and apple sauce together in blender
2 - Combine flour, splenda, salt and baking powder together in bowl. Mix well.
3 - Add wet mixture to dry mixture until just mixed.
4 - Spoon mixture into greased muffin tray
5 - Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes in a preheated 200 degree oven

Mmmmmmmm Banana & Passionfruit Smoothie

This has been a favourite snack of mine for a long time.  I find it's an easy way to get the fruit intake in, it's delicious and filling! and I'm pretty sure it's also low GI (don't quote me on that though!)

So, really quick and easy recipe!  Ready??

1 banana, chopped

1/2 cup skim milk

1 tub Nestle Soleil Passionfruit Yoghurt

Combine all incredients and blend (I use a stick blender)

For those on Weight Watchers, this is equal to 2 ProPoints

For those counting calories, this is equal to 180 calories

Pretty good hey!!  There are so many different combinations that you can try.  These are some of mine:

• Skim milk and Nestle Soleil Strawberry Yoghurt with frozen mixed berries and a banana
• Skim milk and Nestle Soleil Cherry Yoghurt with fozen mixed berries
• Skim milk and Nestle Soleil Strawberry Yoghurt with passionfruit and mixed berries

Cracked it... and now it's really time to take action...

By cracked it, I don't mean that I have gone bonkers... I am actually refering to the fact that I now weigh over 100kg... yup... I weighed in yesterday at 100.5kg...

I have come to the realisation that Easter and I do not mix well together... especially in a (now) 3 person household where one is a chocoholic (that would be ME!), one non-chocoholic (B) and one who would be a chocoholic if we let her (Miss 3).  Basically, we got 3 peoples worth of chocolate and pretty much only me eating it... which is really not a good option...

So, last night I had a really good talk to myself (hmmm.... am I bonkers?!) and I have come to realise that I am honestly feeling more at peace with getting back onto the wagon and getting it going again.  I have also decided to come up with a list of healthy snacks (my downfall) and I will be continuing to use the Menu Planner app on my iPad as it has honestly made life easier for us.

This morning I measured myself for the first time in months, and I have to admit, I was more than a little astounded by the numbers that came up!

Week 1
Wednesday 18 April 2012

		Change	Total Loss
Weight:	100.5kg	n/a	n/a
Arm:	30.5cm	n/a	n/a
Bust:	116cm	n/a	n/a
Waist:	125cm	n/a	n/a
Hips:	126cm	n/a	n/a
Thigh:	73cm	n/a	n/a

I have come to the decision that it is time that I start putting myself out there 100%. Owning up to my stuff ups and celebrating the wins.  I am only human afterall!

So, I am very much a goal oriented person, and as B and I have been thinking about taking a holiday (like a cruise) for a while now (I mentioned it a few posts ago that it may be a bit of a reward) I have decided to aim towards that.  I have also come up with a few other goals/rewards to help me along.  Now, I have put away all of the remaining easter eggs, although I do know where they are, I am hoping to use them as more of a reward.  Now, I know that you shouldn't reward yourself with food, but I am hoping that having them there will help to teach me a bit of self control.

I have put together the following list of goals.  I have pinched this idea and format from Mandy over at Fearless, Fabulous, Female... and Forty!! (hope that's ok Mandy!) I may add to this list, as I go along, but at this stage, this is it:

	Heaviest Ever	100.5kg
	Goal Weight	74kg
WEIGHT	MINI GOAL DETAILS	STATUS
99.9	Back to the 90's
95.5	5kg and 5% lost
	Fit into my 'fat' pants comfortably
90.5	10kg and 10% lost
89.9	in the 80's
	Complete the C25K
89.6	Get to Overweight BMI of 29.9
	Size 14 clothes
85.5	15kg lost
	Run a 5km Fun Run
80.5	20 kg lost
79.9	Livin' in the 70's
	Size 12 clothes
75.5	25kg lost
74.6	Get to Healthy BMI of 24.9
** 74 **	GOAL
70.5	30kg lost
69.9	in the 60's

 

 

See - gym bag is packed and is in the car!

I am really missing exercising too... and I am so afraid of injuring my knee further, I have been avoiding it.  My physio has given me a few exercises to do (which I really should do! lol) and overally is really happy with my progress.  I think I find it a bit hard to go to the gym and sit on the bike or the cross trainer for only about 10 mins (as much as I can take at the moment.) - mostly I think it's frustrating, but I need to start somewhere I know. In fact, today I felt so motivated that I actually packed my gym bag and put it in the car!!  Now I just need to get my sorry arse to the gym! I have been meaning to pack it and have it ready in the car... have to admit I am a little proud I did it... baby steps!

You might remember a while ago I set myself the goal of running in 3 fun runs.  Well, 2 of them have gone, but the Mother's Day Classic is coming up and I have recieved my tag and number, and I really think that it will be a good thing to do.  Now, with my knee and my fitness levels at the moment, I won't be running, but I do want to do it - even though it will be the weekend before my exams start.

I am also wanting to get the winter veggie garden up and running, so over the next week I am planning on getting the patch ready and planted. Speaking of the garden, I cooked up some of the most delicious tomato relish the other day using this recipe and tomatoes from our garden.  We have started using a lot more of the veggies we have grown and it's so wonderful to know that we are eating fresh and that we have grown it ourselves!

Facing Fears and Busting Excuses

It's been a couple of days since I blogged, but you will be happy to know that it's because I have been busy exercising, planning and facing fears.

As you are aware, I have decided that I want to start exercising in the mornings... Well, yesterday morning I woke up and had the usual "get ******! I'm going back to sleep!" thoughts but then I started thinking "if you don't start now, when will you?" and "just do it!".... but I have to say that the one that got to me the most was telling a friend of mine whom I have made a commitment to that "I couldn't be bothered!"  The idea of doing that got me out of bed quick smart!

To be fair, I really wasn't in the mood for the gym, but here is brainwave #1 - I didn't have to go to the gym... I could workout at home... I certainly have enough here!  There is the treadmill, the exercise DVD's, the exercise games on the Xbox (or the Wii), there are boxing pads and mitts and even a skipping rope!  And even if all that fails, I can go outside for a walk! So, that's what I did!  I got up, made a coffee and got ready... then I put on Mish's Cardio Shredder DVD.  I only did about 15 minutes before I got a little bored, but I hadn't done enough, so I switched over to the Xbox... where I did skipping, punching, running and tai chi! We had an early appointment which I had forgotten about at the start of my workout (good thing I didn't go to the gym!), so when I stopped, I had burned 412 calories. Not bad for someone who "couldn't be bothered"!



Not the best pic, but you get the idea...



Today was action packed!  It's my day off and I spent most of it on the go! Once again I woke up not wanting to go to the gym and I was so exhausted from the lsat 3 days worth of exercise and movement, so I told myself that I would go swimming instead... and you know what?! I did!! As you may have read previously, I have a fear of swimming, or more importantly, of putting my head under the water.  However, I have decided that this year I will face my fears! I also had an ulterior motive - I wanted to test out my HRM in the water... sadly the HRM wouldn't work... so I have no idea how many calories I burned, but I can tell you now, I worked my arse off!! (According to Mish I burned 180 calories - cos I was only swimming for about 15 minutes) I went to the larger outdoor pool, and I managed 3 laps! (Thats 150m people!!)  It doesn't sound like much, but it is 2 more laps than I thought I would be able to do.  I was hoping that I would be able to do some swimming lessons, but the local pool is booked out and I have been struggling to find alternate places (btw - is it so hard to return a phone call (or 4!) Tuggeranong Pool?!), so I have decided to give it a go on my own for now. (For the record, I also went to the dentist today - that's another fear!)

To help me get prepared, I have started cooking up some meals to freeze so that I can have them waiting for me in the freezer for those days (and nights!) that I can't be bothered cooking because it's too late, or that I am so hungry I would eat anything!  I made up some Basil & Mushroom Risotto and some Lentil Bolognese with Spagetti.  Tomorrow I will be cooking some more, but it won't be one of Mish's meals, it will be from Symply Too Good To Be True.

So, I think that is about all for me for now... I will be posting up some goals for my Pre Season Task 3 as soon as I do them!

Week 3 Surprise Task

This weeks surprise task was to come up with a quick, easy and low calorie snack to give others a few ideas for snacks.  This is the one that I just submitted:

Choc Banana Yoghurt Ice Blocks
Serves 6 - 121 calories per serve

Ingredients
400g low fat natural yoghurt
2 medium banana
2 tablespoon cocoa

Method
Add yoghurt, banana and cocoa into a blender. Blend until smooth

Pour mixture into ice block moulds and freeze until firm.


I am now in the draw for 1 of 30 George Foreman grills.

Getting back into it

Hi All

I had my first pump class last night, and boy oh boy am I feeling it today!!

My whole body aches!!!

Last week when I did pump, I found that a couple of tracks were probably a little bit too easy, so I decided that for my next class (last night) I would up my weights.  So, as it was only my first class back, I thought I would just up it slightly on the leg track (I went from 5kg total to 7.5kg total).  Then the instructor informed us that there were a couple of tracks that were designed to have heavier weights as there were less reps.  So, I did those at the heavier weights too! Overall I burned 371 calories and I had some serious issues trying to walk down the stairs of the gym afterwards!! lol!!

So, while I am tired and exhausted today, I do feel good, but I think that's mostly because I am glad that I went and did it.  I have to admit that last night I was hating exercise, and trying to figure out how anyone enjoys it... maybe that will just come with time?

Last night I also watched Mish's 'live' chat last night (my computer was having Flash issues on Wednesday night) and I have to say, I love watching her.  She is much funnier than I thought she would be (you know, that cruel trainer on the biggest loser! lol) and while there have only been 2 live videos so far, I am amazed by the timing of them.  What she was talking about last night (struggling with the "I want" demons), really hit home for me, as that had been me all week.  It made me realise that I'm not alone in dealing with all of this.

Yesterday I redid my Preseason Task 7: Organise & Diarise as the schedule I had set myself just wasn't working for me, and now I think I have made it much more simple.  Plus, I am hoping it will fit in with my friend (the one I was telling you had broken her collarbone) so that we can still exercise together :)

so, this is my plan now:

	PM
Monday:	Gym Machine Program
Tuesday:	Group Power (Pump)
Wednesday:	Gym Machine Program
Thursday:	Group Power (Pump)
Friday:	Gym Machine Program (SSS)
Saturday: AM	Centergy

Fitness

Toning

Light

I'm hoping that this will help to keep it all simple and a little less stressful.  Plus, (and I can't believe I am about to say this!!) but this way I can do the learn to run program...

Before I go though, I just wanted to say that we had the Not So Naughty Nachos last night and OMG!!!!!!!!  SO good!!!!! I actually think that these will also become a favourite too!!  There was just so much flavour!!!!  I will be having the leftovers for lunch, and then dinner as I will be the only one at home tonight. 

Speaking of food, our brand new fridge (which we have had for 2 months) died yesterday :(  The thermostat has gone in it.  We lost pretty much all the food including the meat in the freezer!  Luckily we had a little bar fridge in the garage, so I had to quickly go to the shops last night (in the midst of a chocolate craving no less!!) and pick up some essentials to get us through today until we know what the deal is with the fridge.  I am happy to report that I didn't buy or eat any chocolate, although I spent most of the drive to the shops trying to justify it to myself (this was before Mish's video lol) before I just told myself to suck it up.  I had already decided before I got there that I wanted to look at the paddle pops or skinny cows to see if I could have something like that as a treat, and I found the Skinny Cow Icecream Sticks (80 calories).  I have to make sure I don't have them too often, and only when the cravings are bad and I really need a sweet kick, but they were a lot better than I was expecting!

Ok... so I think that's it for me for now!! 

Weigh In!!

Today is weigh in day.  As you may have read from my previous posts, I have been struggling with the program, mostly because I have been sick and wanting comfort foods.  I haven't been able to exercise because of being sick, but I am very happy to tell you all that this week I have lost 2.2kg!!!

I was so surprised this morning to see 93.9 on the scales that I actually got off, and tried again!  It's great to see that even just sticking to the food has done that much work!!!

I have decided tonight I am going to jump back on the xbox and do a cardio workout by doing the dance central game.  I did this last week, but was only able to do half an hour before I felt like I was going to pass out.  I want to give it another go now that I am feeling a little better.  As a bonus, B won't be home to watch me being so unco! lol  Because it has been a week since I exercised, I seem to have lost my exercise mojo and now CBF doing it... but I know I just need to do something to get me started. I am also considering looking into the Zumba game for the xbox.  I have it for the Wii, but I much prefer the kinect.

We are heading out to the movies tonight, so I will have a think about what we will do food wise while we are there.  Popcorn will be out, but I might have a diet coke or something.  I love popcorn and chocolate at the movies, so this will be a bit of a challenge.

Also, as it is now week 2, we had another weekly challenge, which was a nutrition quiz.  I only got 8/10. I got a question wrong about alcohol (I don't drink any of the alcohol mentioned so that didn't help) and I also got the popcorn vs choc top question wrong.  I haven't done my 20 punishment push ups yet, I should do them tonight! lol

Last night we tried the Spaghetti Bolognaise with Lentils. I quite liked it, although I have a feeling it would taste even better if the lentils weren't out of a can lol.  I am having the left overs for lunch today.  This week I rewrote the menu plan as there was actually a fair bit on there that really just didn't appeal to me (or to B) and as B is missing his meat, we are trying a few new meals, such as nachos, meatballs and Mexican meat pie.

That's all from me for now.  Really should do some work! lol

Weigh In Day!

Yes, that's right, today is weigh in day!  I have been reading a lot of posts on the forums, facebook and on blogs that people have been losing up to and over 3kg!!  How exciting!!

For me this week, I lost 400g. Now while this number does seem small, I am actually really happy with it!  The reason behind this is, since my official weigh in last Thursday, I didn't actually stop eating crap and I didn't exercise.  On top of this, on Saturday night I had my birthday party where there was alcohol, caramel tart, a bbq and I ate quite a lot!! I do know that at one stage on the weekend I weighed myself at 87.4kg!  Which, if you compare my weigh in to that, I have actually lost 1.3kg, but hey, who is counting :P hahahaha!!

Anyway, quick little update, yesterday I had the most amazing dinner!!  OMG! It is definately one of my favourites!! I have put the pic that my partner sent to me yesterday after he made it.  It's the Char-grilled Beef with Avocado and Corn Salsa.  I wasn't sure how I would like it, but it was just sooooo yummy and by far my favourite dish so far!  It was such a great mix of flavours and the capsicum and corn were so nice and sweet.  I actually ate this while watching Michelle do her first live chat.  It was great watching her, she was so funny! I did find that a lot of the questions she was asked were asked on the forums, or were things that you could google, but then I suppose some people just aren't as tech-savy (not having a go, just an observation :) lol).

Last night Carrie and I gave the boxing class a go.  We made it through half the class.  It is an amazing workout, but I am not sure if I could make it through a full class.  We stopped as Carrie has a hip injury which was aggravated last night, so we ducked out of the class and walked on the treadmills and then headed upstairs to stretch.  I love stretching my lower back.  I love the feeling of it!  Anyway, all in all I burned 506 calories in the hour.

I also have a confession for yesterday.  I wasn't sure if I should write it, but I will just to keep me accountable.   I did own up to my boyfriend almost as soon as I walked in the door last night, but yesterday I found a time out in my fridge at my old flat (currently in the process of moving) and before I knew it I had justified it to myself and it was in my mouth!  And it was only Day 2!! Anyway, it's done, it's gone and there is no more chocolate in either fridge...  On a positive note, I did go into maccas yesterday and got a coffee... no food or anything like that even though I was a little peckish.  I have to say though, my skim latte really hit the spot and I didn't really feel like snacking after that, so I might keep that in mind for another low calorie snack.

Today Carrie and I are going to do a Power (pump) class. I am so excited!!  For a few reasons:

1. This is my favourite class
2. It's fun
3. It's on at 4.30pm which means I can be home earlier
4. I love doing weights
5. I love clean & presses lol

Well, I think that's about it for me for today :) Today I had porridge for breakfast, will have the curried egg sandwich for lunch (have curry this time!) and we will be trying "Jen's Lasagne" for dinner tonight (which I will actually cook and give my boyfriend a break lol)

Day 2 - It has well and truely started!

Well, here we are!! Day 2!! I thought I would give a little bit of a recap on how my first day on the program was :)

First thing I did in the morning was to get up and make my breakfast (I know that below it said that I was sposed to go and do my hook up class at 6am, but I will explain that in a second).  I didn't have my blender unpacked, but that wasn't going to deter me, so I decided I would make the cous cous with apple and cinnamon.  My wonderful boyfriend was brave enough to try it with me... however we both agreed it was quite bland and disapointing... so we had cereal instead.  However, we tried it and gave it a go, so that's a point in my book :)

Morning tea I had a snack of sultanas, and I also worked out that I can have a coffee as well. So that was good.  I didn't feel full but I wasn't necessarily hungry, so that was ok.  Onto lunch, it was the curried egg sandwich (although I forgot the curry in the shopping lol) with alfalfa on soy and linseed (burgen) and OMG!! So yummy and filling!!

I made it to 2.30pm before having my afternoon snack of cheese on vita-weats and then after that I was starving!!!! Not as in hunger that I could ignore, but as in painful and it felt like my stomach was going to eat my insides!!  I didn't know what to do!! I didn't  want to just eat anything, and I wanted to be good and not go over the 1200 calories, but I also knew that at that stage of hunger I would have stopped at maccas on the way home and blown it all... and then I remembered the little fruit cup of weight watchers peaches that I had left in the fridge at work and luckily enough it was only 36 calories - exactly the amount I had left to make it up to my 1200 calorie allowance! SCORE!  This tiny little cup of magical goodness gave me just that little bit extra to tide me over until dinner.  I was able to go to the gym and make it until dinner - didn't even consider maccas on the way home (it's next door to the gym - how unfair is that?!)

Dinner was really good! I don't usually like tomatoes, but the cherry ones we had last night were really good!!  The Chicken with Herbed Yoghurt and Salad was really nice.  It was kinda tangy which was good.  I am having this today for lunch.  After dinner, I did have a cuppa and half a yoghurt, so I did go over slightly, but overall I am proud of how well I did food wise for the first day.

For exercise, Carrie and I did the Group Active class at the gym.  I know that my preseason task was to diarise and organise my work out sessions, however, what I didn't think of was having a partner for the Hook Up session - which is in the morning where I would have had to go on my own.  So, Carrie and I need to workout what we are doing together and whether or not we break it up by not doing a gym class but something else instead.  However, for now, tonight we are trying the boxing class :)  After last night's class, both Carrie and I agreed that we aren't ready for a full on step class, so I am happy to stick with the Active class for now and maybe do the learn to run program as an extra workout.

Anyway, the Active class was a lot of fun.  It's a combination of step, pump and core.  In the hour I burned 462 calories and I was so puffed during the step part!  I wasn't too unco either!! BONUS!!  The pump part of it pushed me as I wasn't used to using the hand weights instead of a barbell, but it was also really good (I had 2.5kg in each hand).  I'm not sure how well I did in the core section.  I tried to follow it all and do it all, but I just can't seem to get much movement going and I don't feel like I am engaging the muscles the way I am supposed to.

The picture of my lunch above is from yesterday, and as you can see, it doesn't seem to be much.  So today, I switched it around a little and the picture to the right is my lunch today.  I have a couple of extra snacks that I can work into the 1200 calories as well as a couple of cups of coffee.  For breakfast I had porridge (as I still hadn't pulled out the blender) and I love how much it fills me up.  For dinner tonight we are having Char-grilled Beef with Avocado and Corn Salsa.  It looks so yummy!!

Oh and yesterday the Finale was announced for the 10th December in Sydney.  So that has also given me something extra to shoot for.  It would be nice to be able to keep up in the workout that happens with Michelle.  It also makes me wonder what kind of dress I could fit into in 12 weeks...

Task 8: Measure Up

Well, here we go! It's the first official weigh in of the 12WBT!  Sadly, the weight has crept up over the preseason, but I don't want to focus on this, I want to focus on how much my body is going to transform over the next 12 weeks from all of the hard work I will be putting into it from exercise and eating right!

I have taken my before photo (very confronting and all kinds of rolls that I didn't know that I had)  I think it will be awesome to see how much my body can (and will!) change over the next 12 weeks.  I have also done up my measurements (below) so I can track how much this changes too.

Week 1
Thursday 8 September

		Change	Total Loss
Weight:	96.5kg	n/a	n/a
Arms:	29.5cm	n/a	n/a
Bust:	114cm	n/a	n/a
Waist:	123.5cm	n/a	n/a
Hips:	124.5cm	n/a	n/a
R Thigh:	58.5cm	n/a	n/a
L Thigh:	58.5cm	n/a	n/a

We got our shopping list and meal plans for the upcoming week.  Brian and I sat down tonight and placed our grocery order.  It was really reasonably priced overall.  We had a few extra things on the list, but it came to about $175, which I think is pretty good considering it's the initial shop and there would be a few things that we didn't have in the cupboard.  The recipes looked really good! There wasn't really anything that I turned my nose up at, although there were a couple of interesting dishes.  I think because I have gone into it open minded, I am more willing and likely to try new things.  I have noticed a few people on the forums seem to be turning their noses up at the food before they had seen it.  I used to be a really fussy eater, and I know how hard it was for me then when I didn't eat what was on offer, however I think that the only way I got over that was to retrain my taste buds and to keep trying new things. I really hope that they can get as much out of the program as possible.

There is also a fitness test that needs to be done.  I had planned on doing it at the gym, but Mish wants us to do it unaided (ie that we are running on our own, not having a machine set at a certain speed to aid us).  There are also some push ups, sit ups (if you remember from my PT session, I struggled with both!) theses weird sitting reach things, wall sits... i think thats it... as well as the 1km run (omg!!)  I am so nervous about the run!  1km is quite a lot!  We worked out that if I ran around the local football field (about a 5 min walk away from our house) I would need to run around it one and a half times... thats a lot!!  I don't think I will be able to run the whole thing, but as Mish said, I just need to do it, it doesn't matter if I run, walk or crawl it, I just need to finish it.

Tomorrow night, the grocery shop will arrive so I will try to remember to take some pics of our healthy foods and I would also like to do the fitness test so that it is done and out of the way.