Mexican Chicken Bake

I love a good one dish kind of meal. The kind that you throw together, cook and the house fills with comforing, delicious aromas. The kind that is healthy and with minimal clean up yet everyone loves it!

I made this in winter and only just got around to writing this out… I dont know why since its so simple.

500g diced chicken breast

Mexican Seasoning

Put the chicken in a large baking dish and massage the seasoning into it. Refrigerate for an hour up to a day if you have the time.

Now add in whatever chopped vegetables you like. I love it with zucchinni, mushrooms, beans (kidney or black), capsicum, corn. You can use anything though, carrots, sweet potato, broccolli, asparagus, tomato, cauliflower. Dont be afraid to fill the baking dish!

Pour over a tin of diced tomatoes, these are about 400g, and mix to evenly distribute the tomatoes, chicken and vegetables.

Put some grated cheese on top if you like, or use nutritional yeast (loving this stuff), cottage cheese or EGGS!

Bake until chicken is cooked and the cheese is melted and golden.

This could be 20 mins to an hour depending on how large you cut everything up.

Serve on its own, with a salad and/or some brown or wild rice.

I hope you love this! Dont forget and of my recipes, if you post a photo on Facebook or Instagram to include #thesecretlifeofness I would be so overjoyed to see you all enjoying my ideas!

Fig & Lemon Slice

Something light and tangy for summer picnics!

140g dried figs (soak in water overnight then drained)
100g shredded coconut
20g chia seeds (soaked in 4 tbsp water overnight)
40g coconut oil (melted)
20ml maple syrup

Put all in food processor until combined well.
Spread out in a lined dish. Lining it will make it easier to get out.

The topping is;

Juice of half a lemon
40ml maple syrup
60g coconut oil

Melt together and pour on top.

Freeze overnight until set.

Serves 12

177 calories
1.7 protein
14.7 carbs
14.3 fat

IFBB Bikini Comp Day!

I’ve had a lot of lovely people asking me how my comp went so I want to share my experience with you all.

Firstly, I did not do well, I did not place, but I didn’t deserve to. The judging seemed fair, and a huge congrats to the girls who placed a well as every single competitor on stage.

So, why did I do poorly? Many reasons;

I was not strict enough within my diet. Although I busted my ass in the gym every day, I would cheat on my diet a lot. Just, you know, extra chicken here, a few (lots really) more almonds there, a bit of chilli sauce on my fish or extra vegetables. It all adds up, I know better and shouldn’t have been so silly!

Not enough time. I only did 9 weeks prep for this show, compared to 16 last time. I needed the 16 this time too.

These two factors resulted in me being not lean enough.

My posing was not good enough. Yeah, sure I can hit the mandatory quarter turns but I nearly fell 3 times on stage, and I don’t have the graceful stage presence like you are expected for bikini division so I need much practise!

On show day things went wrong;

My false eyelash caused a cut on my eyelid so my eye was red and watery all day so I couldn’t see well and my makeup needed fixing about 5 times!

My carb manipulation pre stage caused me to go ‘fluffy’, I should have not bothered, I also ate too much between pre judging and finals.

I had a few minor medical issues too which are in my previous post.

I learnt so much, but I think it’s time to take on a coach. I’m looking for someone experienced and who doesn’t provide everyone the exact same diet.

So anyway, I got a beautiful medallion, had a great day, met some lovely people, and learnt a lot, here are some pics from the day!

If you fail to plan, you better plan to fail!

To me, being prepared is super important!

I can have all the good, clean food I need but without structure I fall apart a little!

So, I like to prepare a few weeks worth of food at a time. This approach may not work for everyone but It does for me.

When I go shopping I calculate how much I need of everything (fish, chicken, vegies, fruit, nuts etc) and buy in bulk eg; 200g chicken daily = 4200g for 3 weeks + extra for trimmings and cooking shrinkage = 5kg chicken).

I also buy herbs and spices to season with, as well as oven roasting bags. By using the bags, your oven trays will be much easier to clean.

I cook up big batches of chicken, fish, sweet potato and quinoa/egg white/pumpkin porridge and bag into individual portions, as well as small bags of almonds – we all know how easy it is to over eat with nuts!

I then weigh and bag all my portions and freeze.

This way I know that each day I just need to grab a bag with a days worth of food, add in a few eggs, some tuna, salad and fruit and Im good to go.

This doesn’t mean I don’t have slip ups, I do, but I am far better prepared so they are less frequent because I know exactly what I am eating, at what time.

I hope this helps you all stay on track and get one step closer to your goals x

Choc Chunk Cookies

These cookies are guilt free, but I cant take credit for the recipe its from someone I really admire, Paige Hathaway. I altered them slightly so here is the recipe;

400g tin of chick peas drained and rinsed
1 tsp vanilla extract
75g dark chocolate (I used 70%)
1/2 cup almond (or peanut) butter
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 tsp baking powder

Optional 2tsp stevia

Put everything except chocolate into a food processor until smooth.
Mix in roughly chopped dark choc.
Drop tablespoons of dough onto lined tray and bake at 200 degrees for 15 mins.

Yummmmm x

Fruit & Sugar

I love fruit! Who doesn’t (trick question it’s awesome)?

When not competing I eat quite alot, and I try get a large variety because of the different vitamins, minerals and antioxidants in these ‘nature’s lollies’.

But if you are trying to lose weight or have a condition such as diabetes, you should be mindful of how much you eat and which ones. Below is a list of fruits, ranked from low sugar content to high. Although natural sugar is fine to have, it should still be limited.

Fruits Lowest in Sugar

-Lemon and Lime
-Rhubarb
-Raspberries
-Blackberries
-Cranberries

Fruits Low to Medium in Sugar

-Strawberries
-Casaba Melon
-Papaya
-Watermelon
-Peaches
-Nectarines
-Blueberries
-Cantaloupes
-Honeydew melons
-Apples
-Guavas
-Apricots (fresh, not dried)
-Grapefruit

Fruits with Medium-High Sugar Content

-Plums
-Oranges
-Kiwi
-Pears
-Pineapple

Fruits with Highest Sugar Content

-Tangerines
-Cherries
-Grapes
-Pomegranates
-Mangoes
-Figs
-Bananas
-Dried fruit (raisins, dried apricots, prunes)

Whatever fruit you have, make sure you wash it, and eat the peel (if edible) as plenty of nutrients are in the skin and just below.

I hope this helps you all think about your food choices. 🙂

Breakfast of Champions

We have all heard the saying, “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day”!

But how many of you eat processed, sugar filled cereals or convenient toast with fat and sugar filled toppings?

This is a really easy pancake to whip up, it’s yummy and good for you.

All you need is;

1/3 cup oats
4 egg white
Pinch cinnamon

Put them in the blender just to break down the oats a bit then pour into a non stick pan on med/low heat and flip when the underside is cooked and the top is pretty much set. Cook the other side and then turn out onto a plate.

Drizzle with a teaspoon of honey and viola!

Really good and the nutritional info is below,

Remember that the nutritional information will be different depending on the brands and exact amounts you use 🙂

Ahhh Modern Technology

Lately I have had a few people asking me how to stay on track, how to keep motivated, and for good workout applications for an iPhone so I wanted to share with you all, the ones I use regularly and you might find find helpful.

MyFitnessPal

With this you can set it up with your own activity habits, weight and height etc. The app will then generate a number of allowed calories per day, as well as carbs, fats and protein. You can manually input this information if you know what you require, otherwise go with the generated amount.
Each day all you need to do is input the food you eat and the exercise that you do and the app will show the amount of calories, macros and some vitamins that you are allowed.
If you input in the ‘strength’ tab it won’t calculate calories, so instead put it under strength training in ‘cardiovascular’ tab.

Couch 2 5K

Basically, if you follow this you will be able to run 5 kms in 9 weeks, the timer talks to you and you can play your own music.

MapMyRun

I love this app, I use it every time I go for a run I set it when I start. It tells you how far you have been, your speed, calories burnt and it maps your route with a GPS so you don’t have to manually input anything, only the activity type (run, walk etc).

Gym Goal

This is good if you want to input your routine for each day to keep you on track. But mostly I like it because you can use it to look at the correct technique for different exercises and look up different body parts to find out the best way to work them.

Seconds

This is one I use everyday. I use it for interval skipping, rowing and sprints. There are pre-loaded timers in the ‘Seconds Free’ app, but I paid a couple of dollars and got the upgrade which means I can put in my own timers and save them. This is one I use a lot… Skipping Interval Timer . You can set your own music and it will use text to voice for each interval.

Spin Coach

A friend showed me this and it’s really hard work, but fun! There are different coaches for different levels of experience and intensity. Great if you have to or prefer to work out solo rather than in a spin class.

I hope you enjoy these and find them useful! If you have any other great apps I would love to hear about them!

Snack Attack!

Here are some of my favourite snacks when I’m really struggling between meals,

• Apple or banana with natural peanut butter
• Chocolate eggs (just mix egg whites with chocolate protein powder and scramble)
• Mixed nuts – no salt
• Protein pancakes 🌟I’ll post a recipe soon🌟
• Greek yogurt with berries
• Small tin of tuna- no salt or sugar, read the ingredients! Mix with 4 bean mix, baby spinach, corn and balsamic dressing for a larger meal

I’ll put some more up later!