Amazing Energy Boost Smoothie

I recently bought the Morphy Richards easy blend. It is awesome. It blends so fast!!! So smoothly!! And at just £20 it is definitely a bargain buy (Robert Dyas - on promo)

Anywho, obviously, when you buy any new toy you have to play with it!! It came with a couple of recipes to get you started but I've just played with tastes I like and even tried fruit I previously dismissed as yucky =P

This recipe is a little high in sugars but some need that sugar and makes an excellent per workout energy boost. Even better its all fresh fruit so 100% clean. 

Ingredients:

Half a punnet raspberries

Half a punnet strawberries

Half an orange

1 medium banana

40g pomegranate (which I spent 30mins squeezing the juice out with a spoon and a sieve (cos those seeds blended taste like bone )) could just use pomegranate juice

Optional:
'1' spoonful of natural Greek yoghurt - makes it thicker and higher protein!

Add them all to the beaker, add the blending lid, place on the blending unit, release the lid, change it for a drinking lid and your ready to go. 

Easier cleaning, no pouring, great smoothies. If you like making your own smoothies, protein shakes, soft desserts or even a cheeky cocktail or two to share with friends, you'll love this blender =D

Makes refreshing drinks in summer, a drink with a small meal, a snack or add protein powder for a meal replacement.

Alternatives:

Kenwood smoothie 2go - Tesco - £19.50
Salter - Amazon - £39.99 £27.99

Today

One of  my friends got back from uni yesterday so we went for some drinks and after getting very hungry, a fudge cake =( 

So today had to kick it back in a little. (I could have done a lot more but am restricted on time, height and various other things)

I was gonna have a nice healthy breakfast but am to short to reach any of the cereals except the coco pops =S but healthied it up but substituting my semi skimmed milk for hazelnut alpro.
This saved approximately 3g of sugar, 60 calories a small victory for the day.

Due to shopping and mum needing my car I didn't have as much time to exercise as I wanted but made the most of what I could.

The floor is still a little messy ( its covered in christmas decorations and boxes ) so I couldn't do proper sit ups - I need the sofa to hold my feet down. Instead I did the better compact movement - Crunches.

Next I did an evolution on crunches - a mix of vertical leg crunch and crunch to your legs if I had a ball I would have used this to make more of the exercise. 

     - start by crossing your legs in the air 90 degrees to the floor
     - crunch raising your arms towards your toes
     - lower your arms back to the floor and engaging your abs lift your pelvis off the floor

        using a medicine ball will make more of the exercise as your burn more calories

After I tried a new exercise for me, kick backs.
     - on all fours, keep your back straight, abs engaged
     - kick your leg back straight for 20 reps, change leg
     - repeat for 3 sets

At the gym I only had half an hour while my mum was in the area so I didn't get much but did 9 min treadmill, uphill with 3 'sprints' and 18 minutes cycling level 4. Not long, or many calories burnt, but a personal milestone, longest cycle I've managed at the gym.

Tonight's dinner, I would have takn a pic but it was too good to resist and I ate it straight away.

1 bell pepper
Cous cous (already prepared) with basil
1 spring/salad onion finely chopped
sprinkle of cheddar

stick it in the oven for 20 mins gas mark 5/6 - our ovens not very reliable so adjust where necessary

=D much better than yesterdays meals/drinks

Enjoy the exercise ideas and my little recipe

Improving recipes

Today I made some lovely cranberry and hazelnut flapjacks. This is the recipe I used but it can be altered to make it healthier.

Cranberry and Hazelnut Flapjacks

 Preparation: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

100g Natural Selection Ideal Ingredients Dried Cranberries150g butter75g golden syrup125g  jumbo oats125g porridge oats50g roasted hazelnuts, chopped.

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 180°C (Gas mark 4) and grease tin with butter. In a saucepan gently melt the butter, then add the sugar and golden syrup. Heat until smooth and syrupy. Add oats, cranberries and hazelnuts and mix well. Place the oat mixture into the tin and press down gently with the back of a spoon. Bake for 15 minutes in the oven.

It neglects to say how much sugar so I used 100g of brown sugar for the colour. How to make them healthier: 

1. Measure in grams how much sugar you needed and replace with same weight of maple syrup. 

2. Maple syrup has lower sugar than golden syrup so as long as its thick enough to hold your oats together use that!

3. Almonds have more protein, less calories, less fat tons more calcium and magnesium. 

Adding any dry ingredient like fruit flakes, protein powder, or nuts just substitute that weight of dry ingredient from the oats. Try it out!!!
Original recipe from Natural Selection