Raw nori rolls

About two years ago I was gifted with the Raw Food Reawakening recipe book, can't call it a cook book as it raw food!! I was slightly put off trying anything a most of them involves dehydrating for many, many hours (we have a dehydrator so no excuse really). When I cook it's usually because I'm hungry for that food right now, if I wait 24 hours to eat it I'll probably not want it. 

It might be one of those things that at the time of receiving the book I wasn't ready for it. Now I am. Yesterday I made raw food nori rolls. So simple, so quick, so much better than using rice. Yoga people love sushi. It's one of those foods that seem really 'healthy', which it is, kind of, better than Macca's but it's chock full of white rice. Not good for the blood sugar. I love regular sushi but it kills me. Bloating, sugar rush and then an energy slump. This sushi uses cauliflower & cashews blended up instead of rice. So tasty. The texture is sticky like rice and looks like rice! Awesome.

Nori Rolls:
Raw nori sheets (I just used the regular one's as have no idea if they are raw or not!!)
Half a cauliflower
Small handful of raw cashews
1-2 Avocadoes skinned & sliced
1 cucumber cut into round slices
Small bowl of water for sticking the sheets
1 carrot cut into strips with a veg peeler.

Method:
Blend cauliflower in chunks with the cashews till grainy in texture (Thermomix speed 8 for 10 seconds). Lay nori sheet on chopping board. Cover about 0.5 cm of cauliflower mixture over all except 1 cm of outside edge facing away from you. place layers of sliced vegetable down the centre & roll. Wet outside edge to stick.

I'm so bad at rolling sushi so they split a bit but try not to over fill them. I also made some rolls with some chicken (cooked obviously!!) as I needed some protein in there. 

ta dah! Finished rolls!

Granola slices

By popular demand it has been requested I post the recipe for my nutty, fruity, granola slices. These are the one's I made for the Christmas Day Charity yoga class at BYJ. Very simple and can be made organic very easily. Feel free to add any type of fruit or nuts you prefer. Enjoy!!!
 

Healthy Granola Bar Recipes #2
Fruit, Nutty, Whole Grain Bars

This recipe makes delicious chewy, crunchy healthy granola bars full of oats, dried fruit, and whole grains, lightly sweetened with the natural goodness of maple syrup instead of sugar.

You'll need a food processor to make these quick and easy granola bars. Or Thermomix owners follow the instructions below, chop everything on speed 7 or 8, then mix on number four till all mixed well.

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup shelled sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
• 1/4 cup wholemeal  flour
• 1/2 cup dried blueberries
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup dried raisons
• 1/2 cup raw almonds
• 1/2 cup nonfat dry milk
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/3 cup pure maple syrup (decent Canadian kind available in Woolworths, don't use the pancake syrup junk)
• 2 large eggs

1. Preheat oven to 170C degrees.
2. Grease a lamington baking pan with cooking spray, I line with baking paper too.
3. Place oats, sunflower seeds, wheat germ, flour, fruit, almonds, dry milk, and cinnamon in a food processor and pulse until everything is chopped and well blended.
4. Add maple syrup and eggs and pulse until everything is well blended.
5. Spread the thick batter evenly into the prepared pan and bake until lightly browned, about 15 to 20 minutes.
6. Allow to cool and a wire rack on the counter for 10 to 15 minutes.
7. Cut bars into desired size and shape.

Once they are completely cool, you can store these fruity, nutty, chewy, healthy  granola bars in an airtight container for up to 3 days

Kat Eden Transformation Seminar

Happy Friday everyone, one week till Christmas. Are we excited yet? I am, means I get to teach yoga, do some personal practice & finally put my feet up at home and relax, completely relax! With New Year coming up so do the usual resolutions, "I'm gonna quit sugar, eat more healthy, loose 4kg etc, etc." I don't usually do resolutions but this year I might. I'm going to start with my diet. It needs cleaning up in order to get maximum proficiency out of my body. Most people focus too much on losing weight, I'm focusing on maximum output of energy & nourishing my body from the inside out. I let my diet slid at training turning into a sugar whore and eating far too many refined carbs. I didn't put on any weight mind you, I stayed the same but toned up a little here & there but my muscles would have performed so much better without being drowned in sugar.

I have mentioned lifestyle, fitness and nutrition coach Kat Eden in my past blogs. Kat visited BYJ last year to present a 'Food For Yoga' seminar. It was so well received she came back again this year to do a transformation seminar. Kat writes two blogs; Woman Incredible & Body Incredible - both dedicated to all thing health, nutrition and fitness. She is a personal trainer and also practices Bikram even competing in championships. 

The seminar was very interesting. It went over some of the things we heard last year which means Kat's theories work. Last years way of thinking is still this years. Kat practices what she preaches and looks amazing, even after having a baby. (she is the same age/height as me so I can't use that as an excuse, just more inspiration material to make this work for me) It reminded me what I need to be doing right now. I've practiced the protein before yoga method all year. Again letting this slip at training by slathering my protein rich nut butter on toast. Maybe this was why I was constantly lacking in energy & couldn't keep my eyes open, haha maybe 3% of the reason. 

It's all about the protein baby! First meal of the day ditch those cereals & grains & chow down on steak n eggs. That is what I've been doing for the past 6 days. Well, good quality butcher's gluten free sausages for three of the days and my home produced eggs, steak the other three. I even cooked up an egg at 4:15am before teaching on Tuesday. So far so good. I'm fuller for longer and feel more alert. No 3pm energy sugar cravings. Again, the power of the mind may be playing a part but that's fine by me as long as I'm not reaching for the chips & chocolate.

To read more about Kat's 10 quick Transformation tips click right here.

Weighty issues

It's been a hot topic of conversation on the FB page with the ladies. Weight. TT does crazy things to the body. Your eating on the run, you don't have a full kitchen or time to cook properly, let alone a decent sized fridge. For me I'll be in a strange country with food brands and supermarkets that are alien to me. It's not the third world, I'm sure I'll find the equivalent brands/foods I get here. I won't starve. 

Anyway, it's a fact most people put on weight at TT. However no one has actually said how many dress sizes they grew, unless I missed it. Our Spring TT graduate came back looking lean, toned and amazing. (I didn't know her before but still she looks good now) You can put on 10kg of lean muscle and drop a dress size. Lean muscle weighs more than fat and takes up less room. 

I am a typical girl I freak out if the scales go up. This past two months I've stayed away from the scales. I know I've not been eating great as I'm tired so have been craving sugar and carbs. I did get on the scales 'just to see' the other day. Oh crap, I have put ON 2kg. BUT my clothes still fit, my jeans even feel a little slack. My pants are well saggy on the bum. My buddha belly is there, I store cortisol (stress hormone) in my stomach area. Hopefully as I chill out this will go. I'm probably bloated too from all the water I'm drinking.

So, 2 kg of lean muscle, I hope! If it was 2kg of pure lard surely I'd have grown out my clothes? The back fat that was oozing out my yoga tops seems to have shrunk. I even think one top is a touch looser. The girls are still there, I hate it when you lose weight and your boobs shrink. There is new day light between my thighs in two places. No longer do my thighs touch from crotch to knee, blooming horse riders thighs.

I will try my very best, as I've said before, not to eat crap at TT by using the excuse I need the fuel. I will need the fuel but healthy, good nutritious food, lots of that and less of the crap. I am going to contact, before I go, an excellent life/nutrition coach Kat Eden, whom I took a lecture with last year. We talked a lot about cravings and if you crave a certain type of food it does mean you are lacking in some vital nutrition. I need to get it clear that if I'm craving chocolates what do I actually need to have which is not chocolate. Kat did tell us pure, organic dark Cocoa will hit the spot here but I've forgotten (should have it written down somewhere) what the sugar craving can be hit with instead of sugar. I remember that if I'm craving chips I need salt, kinda obvious. 

Kat is a HUGE protein girl who doesn't believe that we need whole grains. Her before and after pictures are a testimonial to this. She apologizes for putting people on tuna salad and brown rice diets. She also advises against loads of cardio. A little is good for a strong heart but weight bearing exercise is the way to a leaner bod and strong bones. Us Bikramers get worked out all over, inside out, bones to skin, finger tips to toes so that's cool. (but we should do a weights work out too twice a week) 

She gave us some great advice to EAT before the 5:45am class. But only a tiny amount of pure protein. Half an egg, cold good quality, organic meat but only a mouthful or good quality organic nut butter. Eggs didn't work for me, even my home grown free range eggs. Meat and nut spread did. I had energy for the class without feeling sick. As long as I had it an hour before, easy with my 25 minute journey to the studio. I'll be taking this with me to TT as I'm planning on sleeping as long as possible before the 8:30am class. A few teaspoons of nut spread and possibly a protein shake will be the go.

It'll be a challenge to stay healthy in LA. I will try. I will not give in, despite how social, to eat crap. Weekends, well that will be a treat. 80% good, 20% dirty. Heck I've heard so much about chuffing red velvet cup cakes from Sprinkles I'm gonna have one. Mmmm and breakfasts at Mel's/Denny's diners I remember dearly from my last trip to California! Oww Hooters chicken wings. OMG stop me now!!