Week One-Done

The First week of my new fitness regime is over and I can honestly say I am feeling great. Training has been tough but thoroughly enjoyable. I can feel it working already and along with eating healthily I have more energy and am sleeping like a baby!

So I weighed in this morning and am weighing 2.7KG less than I did 8 days ago, that's nearing half a stone so I am well pleased with that. Now I do know that the first bit is easiest to shift as its mostly water retention but at least I'm on the right path.

I am still working on and experimenting with new healthy recipes which will be along soon.. lots of grilling, steaming... salads, stir fries, pasta dishes etc along with protein packed meals and snacks for recovery for those of you that exercise. So stay tuned...

A New Me

It's A New Dawn, It's A new Day, It's A new Life For Me... And I'm Feeling Good!

For just over a year now I have been food blogging, and while it has been a fantastic experience and wonderful to be experimenting with a world of ingredients, it hasn't been kind to the waist line. Don't get me wrong, the vast majority of my recipes are healthy and everything in moderation and all that... but when you are thinking, living and breathing food 24/7 its gonna catch up with you.

So my new venture is simple... continue food blogging, cooking and experimenting but to also get fit... get into the shape of my life. With a strict but manageable workout routine which I have devised for myself and a host of new recipes coming your way... recipes that will be great for weight loss, to deter hunger pangs and for recovery from training. 'Simple he says... ha!' 

Now I have dabbled with running on and off for 6 years now, completed 1 marathon and 3 half marathons along with 10k runs here and there, but it has all come in waves, 5 months here 3 months there etc. When I'm training I feel great, bursting with energy and ready to take on the world but then laziness kicks in, I complete a goal and I become complacent and lazy, lazy and some more lazy!

When I ran my own Plastering business I could eat anything I wanted and my 32 inch waist never faltered, now that was a mix of being in my twenties and burning about 3000 calories a day along with playing football 2 nights a week and again at the weekend. But unfortunately the plastering come to an abrupt end and so did my twenties so my 32 inch waist 'relaxed' a bit, then another bit and then some more.

Now I'm not in too bad of nick to be honest but when I'm running now I'm carrying an extra stone and a half more than I need to, that's like carrying 9 and a half bags of sugar with me while out for a jog... I could certainly do without that. So that is one of the targets, cut my weight down from 14 stone (88.90KG) to a trim 12.5 stone (79.37). Is it possible?? Yes, anything is possible! There are 1 or 2 draw backs though... My Father God rest him leaving me his bad back in the will along with 11 years abuse, of said back, while plastering has left it that it can go into spasm at any given moment so some of my workouts are limited. Heavy lifting is out of the question along with sit-ups, dead lifts, weighted squats etc.. But I will carry on with what I know my limits are. I have my first 8 week plan made, them will work on a different one to start after.

Ok so the embarrassing vital statistics at the moment are as follows:

Height: 5'10

Weight: 14 stone (88.90kg)

Neck: 17 Inches

Chest: 44 Inches

Waist: 37 Inches

Target Statistics: 

Height: 6'3 (I joke, I joke... of course it won't change!!)

Weight: 12.5 stone (79.37kg)

Neck: 16 Inches

Chest: 40-41 Inches

Waist: 33 Inches

My workout plan for the next 8 weeks to strip fat:

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Week 1	Weights day 1	Interval 4 mile run	Weights day 2	Interval sprints 200m x 8	Weights day 3	REST	Steady run 6 mile
Week 2	Weights day 1	Interval sprints 200m x 8	Weights day 3	Interval 4 mile run	REST	Weights day 2	Slow run 7 mile
Week 3	Weights day 3 and interval sprints 200m x 8	Rest	Weights day 1	Interval 5 mile run	Weights day 2 and interval sprints 200m x 4	REST	Steady run 7 mile
Week 4	Weights day 1	Interval 5 mile run	REST	Weights day 2	Weights day 3 and interval sprints 200m x 10	REST	Slow run 8 mile
Week 5	Steady run 5 mile	Weights day 2	Interval run: half mile slow- half mile fast x 4	REST	Weights day 3 and interval sprints 800m x 4	Weights day 1	Steady run 8 mile
Week 6	Weights day 2	Interval sprints 200m x 10	Weights day 3	Steady run 6 mile	Weights day 1 and interval sprints 200m x 8	REST	REST
Week 7	REST	Steady run 6 mile	Weights day 2	Steady run 6 mile	Weights day 3	Interval 4 mile run	Slow run 9 mile
Week 8	Weights day 1	Rest	Weights day 2 and interval sprints200m x 12	Steady run 6 mile	Weights day 3	REST or slow run 2 mile	Slow run 10 mile

Weights Day 1: Back: Reverse fly's- 4 sets of 10 reps

                                   Bent over 1 armed rows- 4 sets of 10 reps

                        Chest: Wide grip bench press- 4 sets of 20

                                    Close grip bench press- 4 sets of 15

                                    Fly's- 4 sets of 10

                         Lats: Pull ups 4 sets of 10

                         Punch bag workout- 4- 2 min rounds

Weights Day 2: Biceps: Wide grip barbell curls- 2 sets of 15

                                      Close grip barbell curls- 2 sets of 15

                                      Dumbell hammer curls- 3 sets of 30 (15 each arm alternation)

                         Legs: Body weight squats- 4 sets of 20

                                   Body weight lunges- 4 sets of 20

                                   Body weight calf raises- 4 sets of 20

                         Punch bag workout- 3- 3 min rounds

Weights day 3: Triceps: Body weight dips- 4 sets of 15

                                      Skull crushers- 4 sets of 10

                                      Kick backs- 4 sets of 12

                        Shoulders: Upright rows 4 sets of 15

                                           Shrugs- 4 sets of 20

                                           Kettle bell forward raises- 4 sets of 8 on each arm

                        Punch bag workout- 6- 1 min rounds.

So every week I will do a weigh in and measurement check and put it up for the anyone to see, this will help my motivation to keep on track... well that's the plan anyway!! And after the first 8 weeks I will put up my before and after pictures to show my progress. 

                                

Men.... It's Mothers Day!

Easy Sunday Roasts

Ok,  so Mothers Day is on this Sunday 19/3/2012 and women all over will deserve a relaxing day without having to even consider cooking. Now I'm sure there are plenty men out there that do their fair share of cooking so I'm not going to generalise, but it is mothers day so mum's all around deserve to be treated.

I have made these roast dinners as easy as possible but they turn out with a great result. Timings shouldn't really be an issue here and while your lady is watching some TV in front of the fire you can be following this easy guide, but don't forget to make noise and pretend you are doing a lot of work!!

Cooking doesn't have to be a chore for us men, stick on some music, take a deep breath and be in control... after all apparently men are the dominant species (my god its hard to keep both sexes sweet doing this).

And lastly for those men who thinks 'cooking is for women and any man who cooks needs to catch himself on', I would say this... Grow a pair, it takes more of a man to carry out household duties and split the everyday running of a house than it does to go out to work then come home and laze around expecting to be hand fed! 

The one tip I would give anyone cooking is to be prepared. Read a recipe and understand it before diving in. So if a recipe says to put carrots cut into batons into a wok... don't be standing with a full carrot in your hand at that point. Make sure all your prep work is done first, like veg peeled and cut where asked, stock measured out, fish skinned etc etc etc... what ever the recipe calls for, if you can do it in advance then do so, it will save time and panic and possibly a finger in the long run!

So here are 2 simple ideas for roast dinners, for both the side dishes are the same because they are idiot-proof.

The Perfect Roast Chicken

Serves 4:

1x 1.6kg (affordable) chicken

1 medium onion

1 carrot

2 sticks of celery

1 bulb of garlic

1 lemon

Olive oil

Sea salt & black pepper

Method

Ø  Remove the bird from the fridge a half an hour before you start. Preheat oven up at max. Wash and chop the veg roughly, no need to peel them. Break the garlic bulb into cloves and give them all a bit of a smack with the flat of the knife.

Ø  Throw all the veg into a suitable sized roasting tray minus 3 cloves of garlic. Cut the string that ties the chicken so it ‘relaxes’; push a sharp knife down the inside of the leg beside the breast, as this is the last place to cook fully. Prick the lemon all over with a knife and stuff it into the cavity along with the 3 cloves of garlic. Drizzle with olive oil and rub with salt and pepper. Wash your hands well.

Ø  Pop the bird on top of the vegetables and place in the hot oven. Keep it up max for 15 minutes then turn it down to 190ºc for 1 hour 15 minutes, baste it a few times during that time, spooning the juices over the top. Add a little water to the veg if it’s looking dry but there should be enough juices coming from the bird.

Ø  After the cooking time is up skewer the meatiest part of the leg with a fork insuring the juices run clear. If not then put it back into the oven for 10 minutes.

Ø  Set the cooked chicken on a clean chopping board and cover with foil and a clean tea towel. Allow to rest for at least 15 minutes. Resting just means that the meat relaxes after being in a hot oven and becomes more juicy. 

     

Ø  Carving: Pull off the wings (these can be used as flavouring in your gravy) cut down between the leg and the breast, cut through the joint and pull the leg off. This can be cut again between the thigh and the drumstick to give you 4 leg pieces. Angle your knife along the breastbone (this is easier done with wishbone removed) and carve the whole side off, you can them proceed to slice this. Repeat on other side them get stuck in pulling the remainder of meat off with your fingers, especially on underside. Serve all on a platter in the centre of the table.

       To make a quick gravy, pour most of the liquid from the roasting tray into a separate bowl (which will be discarded) then pour a glass of wine into the oven dish. with a wooden spoon scrape all around the dish and pop back into hot oven for 10 mins. remove from oven and sieve into a pot on a hot hob. add in a cup and a half of stock and let this bubble down by a third, season well, add a splash of soy sauce and its good to go.

                                                                  Roast beef

 For the best accompaniment to Roast beef why not try the simplest Yorkshire puddings

Serves 4-6:

1.5kg roasting joint (of your choice)

1 small onion

1 carrot

2 sticks of celery

Small bunch of rosemary and thyme

1 bulb of garlic

2 tablespoons of honey

Sea salt and black pepper

Olive oil

Method

Ø Take the beef joint out of the fridge about a half hour before u plan to start. Preheat oven up to max. Chop the vegetables roughly no need to peel them as they are for flavour purposes only.

Ø Toss them into a suitable sized roasting tray along with the herbs and the garlic cloves. Drizzle with olive oil. Now drizzle olive oil over the roasting joint and rub it all over.

ØPlace a pan on a hot hob and when it is screaming hot seal all sides of the beef joint then place on top of the veg in the tray. With the pan still on the heat; pour in the red wine vinegar and honey. Stir around and reduce by half. Pour the reduction over the beef.

Ø Place the tray in the hot oven and turn heat down to 200ºc and roast for 1 hour 10 mins for medium beef. If you prefer it a little rarer or a little more well done give or take 10-15 minutes accordingly. Take it out of the oven half way through and baste it.

Ø When cooked to your liking remove from the roasting tray and place on a clean chopping board, cover with tin foil and a clean tea towel. if making gravy, refer to the roast chicken recipe.

Ø Carving: Remove the string and with a long sharp carving knife cut in thin clean slices, holding it in place with a fork.

            Roasted vegetable mix... A one dish wonder

Serves 4:

1-1.5kg baby potatoes

3 carrots

3 parsnips

2 courgettes

2 red onions

1 red pepper

1 yellow pepper

1 green pepper

5 cloves of garlic

2 tablespoons of maple syrup

Olive oil

Sea salt & black pepper

Method

Ø    Preheat the oven at 200ºc. Peel and par-boil the potatoes for about 10 mins. in the meantime peel the carrots and parsnips and cut into batons. Wash the courgettes and but into batons also, peel the onions and cut into wedges. De-seed and slice the peppers. Bash the cloves of garlic.

Ø  Drain the potatoes in a colander and give them a toss around fluffing the surface of them up them pour them and all the prepared veg into a roasting tray. Drizzle with olive oil and give a generous amount of seasoning. Place in oven for 30 minutes.

Ø    Remove from oven and drizzle the maple syrup over the veg mix and give a good toss around. Then back into oven for 10 minutes.

Ø    Serve hot and remove the garlic cloves if desired.

Here is a choice of very easy to follow desserts if you fancy the challenge:

Malteaser Cheesecake

Berry Crumble

Eton Mess

One Year Old Today!

Happy Birthday To Me

One year ago today I started this blog site and I gotta say that it has been one hell of a year. I have made a lot of new friends through the wonders of blogging, Facebook and Twitter. Everyone has been so supportive and friendly which is a huge help when you dive into the unknown.

In the past year I have been on national radio station 2FM Chatting to Hector a few times, have had a few different regular slots on Clare FM (with a new one starting tomorrow morning) and been on Limerick 95FM. I also had 2 monthly pages with West Limerick based magazine Insight Magazine and was a taste tester for Easy Food Magazine.

Cooking a BBQ breakfast for 35 at Lahinch Surf Club with Stephen from Clare FM

I also done a few cookery demonstrations along with making video recipes on YouTube. Now I know it may sound like I'm blowing my own trumpet but.... Toot Toot, its my blogs first birthday, I'm allowed!!!

Cookery demonstration

And as for the next year I have my sights set on... it's gonna be a whopper. With a drive of motivation and the passion I have for what I love doing, this next year is going to be very exciting and rewarding... but as for now my head is down and the hard work continues!

Get Growing Twenty 12

2-3-2012 And So It Begins

Ready for action (I ain't afraid of no ghost!)

So the start of the year has started of quite wet and has  really cut down the amount of time one can spend working in the garden. However this past week has been dry enough and gave me a chance to get the grass cut which really opened up the place again and made it look half respectable. And so with the first cut came the want to get back out and start to prepare the ground for this years growing.

Beds looking rough and over grown

Tidying the edges

I hadn't reaslised how over grown the beds had got over winter as it was very mild compared to recent years and because my regular maintenance of the garden in the latter part of last year was very limited due to the wash-out weather.

I had plans this year to section off all the ground level beds with 7x1 timber as it makes it a lot easier to cut the lawn around them and prevents the grass and weeds from creeping into the bed edges but being honest I just can't afford it at the moment so I will just make do with re-shaping the bed outlines and keeping them as neat as possible until next year. Just because something is out of your reach financially doesn't mean you should forget about it, just thing of an alternative and plough on... in this case, literally!

Strawberry bed getting a makeover

A welcomed guest in ant veg garden

All the strawberry plants dug out, some planted in tubs, the rest to
re-plant  and give away.

Ciara got stuck into the strawberry bed as it had become totally over grown. We had stripped it back last year removing about 30 runners leaving 10 plants in, this time around Ciara removed over 50. We are going to move some to a new bed and the rest will be given away in Crop Share to family and neighbours to plant out themselves and have a fresh supply of strawberries this year.

My raspberries had started to spread too and the roots went right into one of my beds and started to shoot there so I carefully dug out the new canes and will also give them away. As long as you keep control of the spread, strawberries and raspberries are wonderful to grow, you can start off with just a few plants and then reap the benefit of root spread and runners.

Spare raspberry canes dug out to re-plant elsewhere

Bed re-shaped and dug over

2 down, 4 to go!

The best way to ensure straight lines when digging is to use garden line on a reel or a length of timber and just keep an eye on the measurements to make sure you keep it square or rectangle, sometimes running your eye along it might not be enough, and the phrase 'Should have went to Specsavers' may pop up!

Using a length of timber to ensure straight lines.

Well it was only a start, still plenty more to be done but it is enjoyable work and is very rewarding in a number of ways.

Give It A Grow II

I really gotta stop using these cheesy titles but they just keep coming to me!!
Anyway... I have a feeling that a lot of people would like the idea of 'growing their own' but somehow feel that they cant... whether it be a lack of time, a lack of knowledge or a lack of space. the thing is that anyone and I mean anyone can grow something. Everyone has got a windowsill right??? Well that is a great starting point... get yourself a window box or a few pots, fill up with multi-purpose compost and sow some seeds into it!! herbs is a great starting point, they are a great accompaniment to any meal, look lovely and smell great so they are ideal for a windowsill inside or out! i have one on the go in my kitchen windowsill and have just planted a new one to keep the supply coming as I use them a lot...

They should be up and coming in just a few weeks time.

If you wanted to go a step further and have a little space outside then there is a lot that can be grown in patio pots, old buckets, even an old wellington boot can provide a great growing area for a strawberry plant!!

I have successfully grown herbs, any salad item, courgettes, peas, runner beans, carrots, garlic, onions, shallots, tomatoes, chilli and  peppers in growing containers or old buckets or even more convenient... ready to use grow bags.

A sunny spot and some regular routine care is all it takes and you could be heading out in the summer evenings to harvest fresh home grown produce for your dinner right from your back yard. Now when i say 'regular routine care', I mean the bare minimal effort... a little thinning out at the start and some watering a few times a week... and to pull the occasional weed if it is cheeky enough to grow!!

Honestly folks give it a go, once you have picked the first of your selected choice you'll get that feeling that I get every time I pick something... its a pretty good feeling trust me. And get the kids involved let them look after a plant and it may very well change how they feel about eating vegetables if they were anything like I was growing up... spuds was my veg intake and that was it!! 

When i started growing 2 years ago i had never tasted a courgette until I was given some surplice plants by a neighbour... Ive never looked back since!

If you dont have a greenhouse you can start the seeds of inside, again on a windowsill... you can even make home-made pots which can be planted right into the ground/container. These pots are made from old newspapers... and this is how:

get a small tumbler and fold a sheet of newspaper to a little taller than its size

then fold the excess paper into the tumbler

remove the tumbler and the paper should hold its shape (you can use a little tape if you like)

turn the pot over, now scrunch up another page 

stuff the other page into the bottom of the pot to form the base

fill with multi-purpose compost and its ready for the seed

I spoke on local radio station Clare FM today on The Today Show about making use of all these ideas.

If anyone wants to ask anything feel free to leave a comment and I will respond to all, or alternatively contact me on Facebook or Twitter!! If you dont ask you wont know!!

And That's A Wrap

Spicy Beef Wrap

This is a great simple lunch that will blow your socks off. It packs a super flavour punch. Alternatively it can be made with chicken or pork, even chicken dippers for a really easy option.

Serves 2:

2 medium sirloin steaks-fat trimmed

Olive oil

Paprika

Dried oregano

Cumin seeds

1 small red pepper

2 scallions

4 tablespoons of sour cream

1 tablespoon horseradish sauce

2 low-fat tortillas wrap

Sweet chilli sauce

Fresh rocket

Method

Take the steaks out of the fridge 15 minutes before cooking, massage in a drop of olive oil and season both sides with the paprika, oregano and cumin seeds.

De-seed and finely slice the red pepper and the scallions, set aside. In a small bowl combine the sour cream and horseradish sauce and use as a dip.

On a screaming hot griddle pan place the steaks, 2 mins either side should suffice for medium steak, then remove and wrap in foil to rest for a few minutes (ideally 10-15 minutes) but as long as u wish.

Heat up the tortilla wraps as instructed by the packaging. Carve the steak into thin slices and arrange on the wrap how you wish, I spread on some sweet chilli sauce, top with peppers, scallions and fresh rocket. Serve with some low fat crisps and most of all.... Enjoy!