Should I workout today?

I've been a member at the gym just over a year now.. and it really has been an exciting year! I've managed to drop 9% body fat and to lose about 4.5 inches of each thigh (!) and about the same from my waist, I've managed to drop from a metabolic age of 60 (!!) to late 30's/early 40's.

My weight has dropped about a stone and a half, which along with the stone and a half I lost with a liquid diet (milkshake sachets) before I joined the gym, amounts to quite a substantial loss.

I do struggle, as my trainer would tell you, with the weeks I don't lose 'weight', which is mad really, especially if that same week I've also gained muscle and lost body fat. I think we women are indoctrinated to regard scales and what they read as the be all and end all!

Silly, really silly.

We are so much more than a number on the scales!

I have days where I want to eat nothing but carbs, sugar, chocolate, cake, I guess we all do. But I do try and stick to 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fat daily. I track this using the site/app 'My Fitness Pal'  which obligingly provides me with a visual pie chart, which makes tracking very easy.

Before:

During:

I dont have an 'after', because I've not finished yet!

I do my best usually to eat healthily and mindfully, but don't tell me to live without my baking and my treats, i just won't do it! It's all about moderation, including planned treats a couple of times a week. That I CAN stick to!

Here are some lovely, recent meals:


Humous, chicken and avocado sandwich on wholemeal bread with caramelised onion chutney:

Humous on sourdough, topped with half an avocado, served with two slices of ham:

Grilled Halloumi, with spinach avocado and pomegranate:

Grilled pork chop, served with roasted cauliflower and butternut squash, topped with tahinosalata, pine nuts and pomegranate...delish!

So you see, its all about balance, no crash diets...just eat better and move more!
Oh, and be patient!

And above all, enjoy the process!

Carine Goren's Cinnamon Buns

I really can't rave about these beauties enough. Soft, cinnamony, sugary, billowy, yielding.....You really must try them.

You can find the recipe Here.

Search among your passions to find your dreams

You know that limbo land between being awake and being asleep? When you're not sure whether you've fallen asleep or you're still awake? I find the answers to many problems there. Inspiration or answers? Whatever you want to call it, I wake in the morning and find that I have the answer to something that I didn't even know was bothering me.

Last night my subconscious (a voice? But that sounds kind of freaky!) kept saying to me "Search among your passions and you will find your dreams". It didn't say it once or twice, but many, many times and when I awoke this morning I had time to think of it and what it all meant.

You know that feeling when you think time is passing by and you haven't achieved your dreams? Sometimes I struggle to think if I had any dreams anyway. Was it small to dream of having four beautiful children, bringing them up to adulthood, or was it in fact the biggest dream I could have had? The largest passion of my life?

I haven't changed the world, but in my own corner of it nothing gives me greater joy than seeing my family around my table. They are my dreams.

One of our favourite family recipes is 'Macaronia tou Fournou' or 'Baked Macaroni', essentially a pasta and mince meat layered dish, topped with an egg enriched Bechamel sauce and cheese and baked until bubbling and golden and utterly delicious!

Macaronia Tou Fournou:

1, 500g pack of long macaroni. (If you can't find long macaroni, which looks like spaghetti but is much thicker and tubular, use penne)

500g minced pork or beef

2 onions chopped finely

1, 400g tin chopped tomatoes

1tbsp tomato purée

Salt, pepper, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, dried mint (1tsp of each)

1 sm glass of red wine.

For Bechamel Sauce;

1.5 pints of milk

6 heaped tbsp self raising flour

6tbsp flavourless oil

3 eggs, beaten

1tsp salt

Grated cheddar cheese or halloumi or a mixture of both.

Method:

1. Boil macaroni until al dente.

2. While the pasta is cooking, fry the onions in a small amount of oil until golden, add the minced meat and cook until no pinkness remains, add the tomatoes, purée, wine, salt, pepper and all the spices, turn heat to low and simmer for about 20 mins.

3. Layer half of the pasta in a large baking dish, cover with the mince, then the rest of the pasta.

4. Get on with making the sauce, heat the oil in a large pan, add the flour and cook out for a minute or so.

5. Very slowly add the milk, stirring all the time. Add the salt.

6. Once the sauce has begun to boil (you will see large bubbles popping all over it) turn it off and take it off the heat.

7. Slowly add the beaten eggs and stir well.

8. Pour over the pasta and top with the grated cheese(s)

9. Bake at 180deg C for about 45-60 mins until golden and bubbling.

This is a really gorgeous, family dish which we all love.

Especially for my children. My passion. My dreams.

Elies Tsakkistes.

Or Alternative Title : Cracked green olives with garlic, lemon and coriander seeds.

First of all, find yourself an Olive tree, or maybe even an old Cypriot Yiayia willing to give you some of her haul.

Of course if this is not possible, get the largest green olives you can find. The pack my mum buys from the Asian grocer weighs around 500g.

We want to crack them, so bash them once (maybe with a pestle or a rolling pin) place them in a container and add 1 tbsp crushed coriander seeds, half a lemon which you have cut into slices, 2-3 cloves of garlic, which have also been bashed ;) and a drizzle of olive oil.

Leave them at least overnight, if you can leave them alone long enough, to marinate, infuse and marry the flavours.

Enjoy with grilled halloumi, Greek dips and pitta bread, as part of a mezze plate.

Maybe followed by a cup of strong Greek coffee?

Elena's 14th Birthday Chocolate Overload Cake

So, my baby is 14.
And this year, we decided to go down the chocolate route. Or rather the chocolate overload route.
Chocolate cake, Nigella's old-fashioned chocolate cake to be precise. The BEST chocolate cake EVER. Surrounded by kit-kats, topped with maltesers, white chocolate maltesers, oh and a little gold glitter.
Tied with a gold ribbon and surrounded by mini chocolate doughnuts.
Easy, cute and impressive.
Well, my family thought so anyway. As did the Birthday girl! And surely that's what counts?

A Trio of Greek Dips.

Where would we be without our dips? Pitta bread would be a lot less exciting, that's for sure! The same goes for Greek salad. Slathering it with cool, creamy tsatsiki takes it to a whole other level!

The Greek dips I make regularly are:

1. Humous
2. Tsatsiki and
3. Tahinosalata.


Humous:

Take one tin of chickpeas, drain, then place in a food processor with 2 tbsp tahini, the juice of 2 lemons, salt and 30ml olive oil. Whiz until smooth. Add more salt or lemon juice to taste. If I want a lighter humous I add a little yoghurt alla Nigella.
Top with a few whole chickpeas and a little ground cumin or paprika.


Tsatsiki:

Take one tub (500g) of Greek yoghurt, grate half a cucumber on the large shred side of the grater (or cut into tiny pieces, about the same size as a chickpea :) ) Squeeze between your fingers to remove the watery liquid and add to the yoghurt.
Crush 2 cloves of garlic and add, also a little salt, a tbsp of olive oil, and about 1 tbsp dried mint.

Tahinosalata:

You will need one jar of tahini. Place in a processor with the juice of 3 lemons, 30ml olive oil, salt, 3 cloves crushed garlic and about 50ml water. Whiz up until smooth. Then check whether it needs a little more salt, water or lemon.
Top with plenty of chopped flat leaf parsley.

Love Bakery Chocolate Cupcakes

Aided by the recommendation of my lovely friend Caroline of 'The Patterned Plate' fame, I think I have stumbled upon the loveliest chocolate cupcakes thus far in my quest.

What, you didnt know I was on a quest to find the perfect chocolate cupcake?
Darling, that has been one of my missions in life! That and finding out once and for all where all the socks go when they disappear from the washing machine....

What makes them so successful? Think dense, chocolatey crumb, that holds together well, moistly tangy (must be the buttermilk and vinegar) topped off with a chocolate frosting that's just too delicious! And not a melted chocolate bar in sight!

I was sold. Are you?

Chocolate Cupcakes

Adapted from the 'Love Bakery' by Samantha Blears.

Makes 12.

For the cakes:

60g unsalted butter (room temperature)
150g caster sugar
1 egg, at room temperature
20g cocoa powder, sifted
150g plain flour
140ml buttermilk
1/2 tsp, Bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2 tsp. white wine vinegar

For the frosting:

60g unsalted butter (room temperature)
125g icing sugar, sifted
4 tbsp semi-skimmed milk.

1. Preheat oven to 160 deg. C (Fan oven) Otherwise 180 deg. C.

2. Cream butter and sugar together in a mixer for 7 minutes until light and fluffy.

3. Add egg and mix for 1 minute.

4. Add flour and buttermilk and mix for 2 minutes.

5. Add bicarb and vinegar and mix for another minute.

6. Divide equally between 12 muffin cases and bake for approximately 25 minutes.

7. Once the cupcakes are cold, cream the butter and icing sugar together in the mixer for 2 minutes, add the cocoa powder and mix in by hand, then add the milk and mix (in mixer) for 2 minutes.

8. Top the cupcakes with the frosting. I used a 'large star' tip and decorate as you wish.

9. Apply to face, ensuring the correct ratio of cupcake to frosting. Repeat.

Marks out of ten?    10.

Would I make these again?  Oh yes, again and again......

Would I do anything differently?  Nope.