'Lack of blog' apologies and 'Emily's Healthy Snack Bars'

Why hello strangers!

All I can do is apologise for my lack of blogging in the last month. The most annoying part is that I love doing it when I get round to it and when I get started- I have just had the busiest month ever and have now started full time work so it will be even more difficult but hey-ho... Challenge accepted! On a similar note, I've found it really hard to find things to blog about. Any suggestions or requests are always welcomed!

For this post, I thought I would let you guys know about my spontaneous invention that I have not quite found a name for. They are that good, they need a name! Suggestions welcome again (damned imagination, or lack of it...)

They are great for snacks, and are all completely home-made (which means additive free) and adjustable to suit what you have laying around your house which is always a good thing to hear. I feel a lot of ingredients can be hard to get a hold of or expensive to buy, which is why I love these as most of you will have these things around the house or can get them at a local supermarket for super cheap! 

I like to think of them as little bars of heaven. Ha! They are very like Nutri-grain bars in terms of texture and size and handy-ness (They are lovely along with a lunch or a biscuit alternative with your tea!)

Without further ado, here is how I made the little bars!

1- In a blender blend your dry ingredients. The main ones being porridge oats, branflakes, protein powder (not essential) dry fruit, seeds or nuts, cinnamon, dark organic chocolate and any other thing you fancy!

2- Once blended, pop into a large bowl to rest while you make your wet ingredients

3- Next make your 'wet' ingredients to make a sticky paste. In a blender, I used one large banana, 1 large scoop of peanut butter (organic is best) and in this first time round I also added some apple juice. (Weird, I know) You can also just use skimmed milk or water to make the consistency right. (It is meant to be rather sticky!)

4- Fold in all of your ingredients together to create a gloopy mass of wonder

5- Line a large square dish that is suitable for cooking with low fat butter. Excuse my manky photo-bombing foot.

6- Pat your mixture down with a wooden spoon so that it is equal levels all the way around

7- Pop it into the oven at high heat for around 15- 20 minutes

8- Take a 'Me cooking' selfie whilst they are in the oven. This is essential or the bars wont work.

9- Take your babies out of the oven and leave to cool and slice into little bars!

10- Once cooled, enjoy! I wrapped mine up in tin foil and took mine down to my gym like a cute wee auntie or something. The men appreciated my gesture! *I wouldn't put these in the fridge as it dried them out*

And there we have it! Simple, home cooked healthy snack bars in under 30 minutes. They were beautiful, I cannot get over how simple they were to make and that I just made it up out of my own head. If you try to make my bars (or come up with a better name than Emily's Healthy Snack Bars, because that name sucks) let me know because I would love to see you try them!



Have fun and stay healthy!


Emily xx

Protein Pancakes & My Lovely Friends & Followers

To follow on from yesterdays pancake post, (I seem to have caught pancake fever) I decided to combine the excitement of my new whey protein that arrived in the post and my new found love for pancakes and created some protein pancakes, YUM!

To be perfectly honest, absolutely none of this was measured out. I am one for experimenting and chucking a bunch of stuff into my blender and hoping for the best. In this case, it seemed to work so I thought I'd share these, 'guesstimates' with you all.

The protein I used can be found at; www.myprotein.com which is a superb site and has decent prices. I got the Impact diet Whey in Double Chocolate flavour because I am still in the process of losing weight and want to achieve lean muscle and the protein helps do this as it repairs them quickly after a work out! There are many flavours so check them out! I don't use these as meal replacements or anything because I do not believe in meal replacements for long term, healthy weight loss. Meal replacements can be great for short term weight-loss but as soon as you begin to eat normal solid foods again, there are high chances you will put the weight back on. And who wants to do that to themselves? There is no substitute for a healthy varied diet and exercise when losing weight. PERIOD. (Excuse the Americanism there, but I was feeling quite dramatic) So here we go!

1; I made my protein pancakes for 2 people so I used 4 eggs. Adjust this to your preference. Combine with milk in a blender.

2; Next I added a tea spoonful of baking powder (This can be optional but made the pancakes more fluffy)

3; Time for protein! I added a large scoop and a half. Upon reflection, I could have added more for a thicker batter.

4; Next I added a large banana. I added this to the blender in quaters. Blame my boyfriend for the bad photo.

5; Blend blend blend! I added some cinnamon in the mix as well. (optional)

6; The batter should be a quite a thick consistency. Add to your frying pan or griddle and make sure the heat isn't too high so that it doesn't burn! Mmm golden brown banana and chocolate pancakes...

7; Simply add your favourite toppings to your stack! Apple and peanut butter go amazingly or even some honey!

8; Sit back and enjoy! Looking at this photo I could really eat them again, they were that awesome...

Moving away from all this pancake talk, I would really like to take a wee moment to say thank you to all my lovely friends and followers on my blog for supporting me! It sounds so cheesy, but I was so nervous about starting a blog like this up as I didn't want to sound like I knew everything but I've realized that my experience of losing weight really does mean something to people as it is proof that anyone can do it! I also love the fact that you guys are trying out my tips and tricks with my recipes and I'm also so proud of all those that have decided to get fit through reading my blog and my experience. I compiled a small selection of some of the lovely positive things that my blog has brought about and the examples of why I will keep writing and helping you all out whenever I can. I want to be the reason you never gave up. I want you all to fit into that pair of skinny jeans, those high-waisted shorts, or that bikini. I want you all to feel confident! YOU CAN DO IT!

Thank you guys, it really does mean a lot. :)


Emily xx

Recent snacks :-)

Today I found the most simple and exciting recipe yet! I made it in no more than 6 minutes and it is completely guilt free! The only differences that ill make next time are to keep an eye on the temperature of the pan and to get 1cal spray instead of using light flora so that it holds together properly!

• Simply take 2 eggs and one banana and pop it in your blender for your pancake batter and cook away. No added sugar or anything!

I topped mine with a chopped apple, cinnamon and of course a teaspoon of peanut butter :-)

Yesterday for breakfast I took my frozen banana and peanut butter smoothie out of my freezer and blitzed it in the blender again and it was like a frosty drink from heaven, I highly recommend! Although I would leave your smoothie to thaw a little or run it under a hot tap just to take the edge off of it- we don't want any broken blenders!

Peanut butter is my obsession! It is great for protein and helps build muscle! It can be quite fatty so if I can afford it ill get the organic type, but in small doses its great to add to fruits and smoothies!

Hope you enjoy these quick tips for snacks and stay positive!


Emily xx

Do you like to Graze?

Hey guys!

I feel so awful for not having posted much at all this week. Had so much going on that I've not really had much time! I do want to keep my blog going, but its hit me that I shouldn't get too hung up on not being able to post every day, especially if I get this full time apprentice job!

Moving on from that, next week is the start of a new week, the start of someone's weight-loss journey, the start of someone's exercise plan, the start of someone eating healthily and most importantly the start of creating a new you and a new lifestyle!


Graze
www.graze.com

I had mentioned previously about my love for Graze boxes and I have decided to touch on the subject again. I have been subscribed to Graze for a number of months now and have loved every single box that I have received. Going to sleep on the Sunday night, I actually get excited with the anticipation of what goodies I will receive in the post the next morning.

So what is Graze? Graze are a company that send you interesting and perfectly healthy snacks in the post! The great thing about Graze is that they are letterbox sized, so you don't need to sign for your package. And on top of it all, delivery is free! Bonus!

In your Graze box you will receive 4 individual snacks in little sealed punnets, along with a little booklet explaining the benefits of your snacks each week!

By going onto the Graze website, (link below) you can 'love', 'like', 'try' and 'bin' certain things that you would like in your box, it really is that simple. Each box costs only £3.75 and can be delivered once a week or twice a week to your home or work. SIMPLES!

If you like the sound of this, but aren't 100% sure, why not use my voucher code and get your first box for free?! By doing this you will get a full box for free and I will get £1 off my next box for introducing you to the wonderful world of Graze.

Just head on to their website and once you have entered your details and chosen your box, simply enter the voucher code CG5CYCP 
to claim your free box!

Enjoy your guilt-free snacking!!     www.graze.com

 *Disclaimer*
I am not endorsed by Graze to advertise for them, I simply enjoy their food and feel that they should be recognised in the world of healthy eating! 

I'm backkkk

It's been a few days since I've posted much, had lots going on! I've also not had much in the way of exciting ingredients in the house to make recipes so today I shall be going to Asda for more smoothie ingredients!

However I've got a few ideas for posts. This morning I made boiled eggs, which are super easy to make to just about very one but I've came across a few top tops to ensure your boiled egg is soft boiled or hard boiled.

• To test how thoroughly cooked your egg is, take it out of the boiling water with a wooden or plastic spoon and spin on top of your work surface. If it spins slowly, your egg is soft boiled (nice 'n' runny!) if it spins fast and doesn't go off in different directions it is hard boiled! (In the case that it does spin around all over the place pop back into the boiling water for one minute.

• Another useful tip is a time saver! Instead of peeling the shell off in tiny wee bits, simply take a teaspoon on its side and half it down the middle and scoop out the insides! Much faster!

I'm really unsure if this will actually help anyone but I only learned these relatively recently and has quickened up my egg making so I thought I'd share it anyway!

Next ill be posting about my love for Graze boxes and handing out free voucher codes for a free Graze box! Coming up are also the benefits of green tea!

Emily xx

Fruity Smoothie!

Bonjourno!
Far too excited about this smoothie that I just made out of bits and pieces I found (I'm skint) and it is the best one so far! I really should think of a name for it but my hands are all frosty from holding the glass so it's pretty hard to type so I'll just get on with it!

It's a fruit smoothie and contains mainly pineapple and frozen stewed apple (recipe for the stewed apple down a few posts).

Yuuuuummyyyyyyyy

Ingredients;
- Half of a pineapple cut into chunks
- Frozen stewed apple (as much as needed)
- 1 apricot Weight- Watchers yoghurt
- 1 scoop of plain fat free yoghurt
- Sprinkle of Cinammon
- Dollop of honey



Method;- Cut off the head of your pineapple and slice down the middle into manageable 'slices'
- Get rid of the parts you cannot use (make a fancy hat with the head of it ;) )
- Grab your knife and slice round the edges of your slices and cut into chunks and place on a plate or container for freezing
- Pop in your ice and frozen stewed apples so that they are at the bottom and will meet the blades easier to mix
- Add all other ingredients and blitz on high power to break down the frozen parts and VOILA!

So yummy, considering I haven't been shopping and I picked up two pineapples for 50p each and had frozen my cooked apples I feel this went down amazing! Just goes to show you can make healthy smoothies with just about anything really cheaply! The weight watchers yoghurt was lovely touch also!

With smoothies, it is really a matter of trial and error so if you try it, try your own spin on it and let me know how it went! I've had some really good positive feedback of people trying my smoothies and people telling me they're own special recipes that I cannot wait to try out.

Have a lovely weekend guys and I'll be back soon!

Emily xx

Do I have something on my face?

Hump day is here :-)

After 3 hard training sessions in the week so far, I feel like I've been rather tired. Currently sitting with my feet up with a fancy class of diet Pepsi (I don't do things half- heartedly when it comes to my fizz) and a packet of weight watchers crisps watching The Lion King... Bliss!

Yesterday I had a lovely pasta salad from Morrisons in size small, only (1.79 I believe) and filled it to the brim with mixed Peppers, a boiled egg, some salmon pasta and many other yummies! I highly recommend Morrisons salads in small doses, they can be great protein fuel for pre work outs! I also had some of my favourite, 'YooMoo' frozen yoghurt as it was reduced to HALF PRICE!! Make the most of this guys, as its usually £1.59! Stock up yo freezers!

On another note, if any of you know me, you know that I have been stuck in a bit of a rut in terms of career. Having gained an HND in an art related course I realised I should have kept it as more of a hobby. So in this year out I have lost my weight and really loved fitness so my natural idea was to go back to college for health and fitness (which I'd need to pay for) or look into nursery nursing which I have always wanted to do as well. Turns out I may have found an apprenticeship in a nursery in which I would gain a qualification too. Except now I'm confused with college! I really want to help everyone lose weight and keep fit, but I'm hoping that ill be able to do both somehow. In short, I've got quite a few interviews for both of these things in the future so If anyone has any advice or words of wisdom it would be greatly appreciated.

**COMING UP**
I've had a few requests including;

- How to make a good detox soup
- Daily meal plans
- Good workout songs

Ill get round to these ASAP guys!
Thanks for the support and keep positive!