Tag: Fridayfreshness

My Latest Favourite – Eggs

#FridayFitness

I’ve been struggling with my weight for the past two and a half years since I entered menopause. Once slim and carefree about my dieting habits, I am a totally different person now. To leave life’s normal worries aside, let me tell you about my latest favourite food – eggs.

Maybe eggs are the second most controversial food item next to coffee. All our lives we seem to be listening to ardent defenders and bullying denouncers of both. It seems the two items come and go out of fashion nearly at the same time.

When I was younger, eggs were considered a food that you couldn’t eat over 1-2 times per week. Otherwise, you ran the risk of damaging your kidneys. And the cholesterol levels were considered very high, so eggs were forbidden on any diet. Coffee would damage your heart, for that manner.
Then, voices were heard, articles oozed in behind the veto, and they told us that eggs are actually miraculous food, so we should eat as many of them as we like. Some voices would even say we should eat more than we felt like.
I love eggs, and this is not a new thing. Every Easter I would eat my full of them, not minding the caution tags by experts. During my first massive weight gain, I even contemplated an egg-only 3-day diet, but I didn’t do it. I went for cottage cheese, instead. That didn’t help. I doubt any diet could if you don’t stick to it with all your will. I don’t, that’s why they don’t work for me.

However, the good news about eggs brightened my mood. I don’t see any further chance for putting eggs back on the blacklist. Now, with the Internet and all the information being within easy reach – both for reading and creation, there will always be groups that will support one opinion or another. Hm, that brings me to think about vaccines. Still, that is another topic.
Cook yourself an egg or two, mix it with green salad and enjoy. As for your weight… everyone should find their own way of fighting it.

Cauliflower and Cream – Friday Fitness?

Today was intended for #FridayFitness but, instead, I thought it’s time to relax a bit and I’m posting a recipe which is anything but fitness-friendly, anything but healthy. I’ll share with you one of my most craved meals – Broccoli, Cauliflower, Cream and Processed Cheese. So, it’s a real calorie bomb! But, hey, friends – you can’t be health-obsessed all the time. It’s not natural, therefore it’s bad. Enough for the apology section. Let’s move on to the recipe itself.

You need:
– broccoli – 400 g
– cauliflower – 400 g
– sour cream – 200 g
– processed cheese – 100 g
– cheese (which we call “yellow cheese”) – 100 g, grated
– garlic – 1-2 cloves
– thyme – 1 pinch
– oregano – 1 pinch

How to Cook It:
Rinse the broccoli and cauliflower, cut into “rosebuds” and simmer for 5-7 min in hot water. Strain and place in a baking tray.

In a bowl, mix the processed cheese cut in cubes, the sour cream, cheese, mashed garlic cloves, thyme and oregano.
Put all in the baking tray and pour 1 teacup of the water in which the vegetables were boiled. Stir carefully.
Bake in a preheated oven, medium temperature, until ready. The ingredients yield 3 portions.

Enjoy!

Courgette with Buckwheat – My Latest Favourite Meal

Today is time for #FridayFitness and I decided to tell you about my latest favourite meal.
I’ve seen the buckwheat packs often enough and known it’s some sort of healthy thing, but I’d never tried to find a way to consume that. When I gave birth to my baby, my mother-in-law gave me a pack of buckwheat flour telling me it’s super healthy and what not. I don’t see that pack now, so I must have disposed of it.

Finally, I thought I’d buy a small pack and then start looking for recipes. I bought the seeds, and not flour as I decided that would give me more varied options for cooking. Once home, I discovered a lot of easy-to-make recipes and thought how stupidly stubborn I’d been never to try this before. After cooking my first buckwheat meal, I went so far as to consider a mono diet for 3 days in which I’d consume just that with a little diluted low-fat yoghurt.

Today, I present to you… Courgette with Buckwheat

What You Need:
courgette – 3-4 pcs
carrots – 2 pcs
bell pepper – 1 red one
onions – 1 bunch of green ones, but I used half an old one
garlic – 1-2 blades of green one, but I didn’t use any
buckwheat – 1 teacup
dill – as much as you feel right, I used a teaspoonful
oil – I used olive oil
You may add salt in case you need it, of course. I don’t.

How to Make It:
Rinse the courgettes and cut them in cubes. Heat up a little oil and add 1 teacup of water. Add the onions and garlic in small pieces and stew them until they are soft. Then add the courgette, carrots and bell pepper. Add the buckwheat, 1 teacup of water and boil until ready. That means about 15 minutes after the water boils up. It’s not a long wait, all in all.

If you wish, you may transfer the mixture in a baking plate and put it in the oven for some time. I didn’t. In cooking, I prefer simple. And I didn’t understand if you move the mixture before or after you cook it in the pot.

Serving suggestion: Sprinkle some dill over the dish.

Everyone in my family loved the meal, so I’m cooking it again tonight. Give it a try yourself and share your photos and opinions with me!

Friday Fitness – Healthy Egg Muffins

For today’s post in Friday Fitness, I stopped my choice on an Egg Muffin recipe I stumbled upon some time ago. The why? For starters, I love eggs, even though preferably when they are boiled. Then, this meal is very easy to make and takes little time and resources. And finally, I can safely say it’s healthy and filling. Recently, I came to realise that eggs are a rather good pick when we need something both nutritious and low-calorie.

What you need:

  • 6 eggs
  • 1/2 tsp salt (I don’t add salt, but honesty demands me to mention it here)
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 3/4 cup chopped spinach (or similar leafy greens)
  • 1/2 cup diced bell peppers (you may use your imagination and your personal preferences here, but don’t use courgette or eggplant, because they ooze lots of water. You can add olives or gherkins, though.)
  • 8 cherry tomatoes in quarters (if you are using normal ones, 1 tomato is enough, but make sure you remove the watery seeds and use the pulp only)
  • around 70 g of white cheese in crumbles (the one you call Feta, and we here call just “white cheese” :-D)
  • oil to grease the muffin cups

How you make them:

  • Preheat the oven at 180 C.
  • Sprinkle with oil your usual muffin holes (6 of the 12-hole tray will be enough).
  • Whisk eggs, salt and peper. Add and stir the other ingredients.
  • Divide mixture evenly between the holes. If you need, use more.
  • Bake 20 min or until the top is light golden and the centre bounces back when pressed.

My thanks to Nagi, the author of this wonderful recipe, located here . I was looking for protein meals that are easy to make, and here it is.

How to serve:
First option is to eat immediately, while they are still hot. Two muffins should be enough for breakfast. You can also store them in the freezer, packed in a vacuum bag or box.

I hope you’ll enjoy this and please, share some pictures and opinions!

Friday Freshness


Until very recently I was certain my favourite day of the week was Saturday – the weekend has begun, yet there is still a lot to go before its end. Today, however, while doing a silly old fun test I stopped and realised that my favours have shifted from Saturday, which is probably the best-loved day of the week for the above reasons, to Friday, or even Monday.

Let’s stay focused on Friday, though. The fresh freedom foreboded by the final working day (usually) is actually more intoxicating than the very beginning of the weekend. Does that also mean that I have shifted my preferences from the actual real thing to the mere expectation and pre-taste of it? If it does, that’s terrible. And terrifying. Still, one is free to shift perspectives and preferences across the whole week, so I’ll worry about that later – when it features as an issue, for example.

So, enjoy your Friday freshness, your Friday freedom and stay away from Friday frights or Friday frets!