Recipe: Spinach and Feta Stuffed Chicken

I created this recipe on a whim, as I had some bacon and chicken thighs that needed using! It is so quick, easy and tasty that it has become a regular on our menu... The combination of spinach and feta has always been a favourite of mine, and although I used frozen spinach in my recipe, you could use fresh wilted spinach as well. Seriously, this dish doesn't need any seasoning because it's all in the ingredients - enjoy!

Ingredients

4 x chicken thighs (you could use breasts, but thighs are more fatty and juicy!)
4 x middle bacon rashers
1/2 cup frozen spinach
1/2 cup full-fat feta

Method


Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

Microwave spinach until thawed and warm (be careful not to cook it too long or it will dry out). Mix the feta into the spinach and stir until well combined.

Lay the bacon rashers side by side on a baking tray. Place the chicken thighs on top of the bacon.

Spoon the spinach and feta mixture into each chicken thigh. Carefully close the thighs around the mixture. Fold each side of the bacon rasher over the thighs so that they are wrapped together tightly.

Place in oven and bake for approx 30 minutes until chicken is cooked through. I recommend turning halfway through to make the bacon crisp up nicely.

Serve topped with sliced avocado and sweet potato wedges with a garden salad (just a suggestion, but it works wonderfully!)

What's the World Wide Web saying this week?

We already know it, but now the mainstream media is catching on - reading food labels is better for weight loss than exercise! After all, 80% of body composition, and therefore weight loss, is your diet!

The blog of Dr Michael Eades is one of the best on the net, and his article about the the pitiful state of medical ignorance is one of best articles I've read! Ask yourself, when was the last time you went to the doctor because you were sick and he/she asked about your diet rather than just prescribing you pills?!? It's time we ask more of the medial profession and question why doctors don't know anything except how to prescribe you a pill for your symptoms!

If you're like me, Chicken Cordon Bleu is a favourite, but how to do it without grains?!? This amazing recipe at Joyful Abode uses ground pork rinds for the coating - OMG! Pork + chicken + swiss cheese!!!

I was excited to read this article about saturated fat in Mens Health! For such a mainstream magazine, it's great that we are slowly getting more information about the benefits of eating fat and the dangers of eating sugar!

Could weight loss really be more of an issue of mind over matter?

This health in a nutshell article highlights the benefits of eating nuts... I don't really need an article to tell me that eating nuts is good for me, but it's nice to have some scientific studies backing me up!

As you know, I'm really interested in children's behaviour in relation to the food that they eat. Emily Deans, MD, at Evolutionary Psychiatry wonders if we could begin to see ADHD like a food allergy in certain children?!?! This is an exciting step in the approach we take towards treating children with ADHD symptoms - and hopefully minimising the need for those children to take drugs to control their behaviour.

Friday Fury!!!

I was furious when I read this article about the Corn Refiners Association applying to change the name of its extremely unsavoury product, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). It’s another example of blatant disregard for the health of the human population and of the greed of the big companies who will stop at nothing to increase their profits.

HFCS is an absolutely terrible addition to any diet. As Mark says, “while there are slightly more terrible liquids out there – liter fluid for example – it’s really a shame that the ‘foods’ available to us are so commonly laced with HFCS.” The coincidence that the rise in obesity over the past 30 or so years parallels the addition of HFCS in many of our foods has not gone unnoticed by many in the health industry. Mark has a link to a graph which displays this beautifully:-

For some science on the dangers of HFCS, check out this Princeton study. And, as if concerns about obesity weren’t enough, further studies have linked consumption of HFCS to liver disease and decreased kidney function. If you have a spare hour and are still not convinced, you might also like to watch Dr Robert Lustig’s video, "Sugar: The Bitter Truth".

Seriously, this is one area where ALL health experts agree. But now, because the health industry, and consequently the general public, is waking up to the true dangers of consuming HFCS, the Corn Refiners Association is trying to get around that by simply changing the name of its product. They’re not changing the actual product, and it will therefore be just as bad for you as before, but I guess they’re hoping if it is instead called “Corn Sugar” consumers might be tricked into thinking it is just like normal sugar.

Don’t get me wrong, you know by now that sugar consumption should be kept to a bare minimum. But if you want some of the sweet stuff, and fruit won’t satisfy your cravings, honey or maple syrup should be your first choices. And only in small doses. My go-to is 85% dark chocolate and a square is all I need!

If anything, this development should make us all aware. Not just of the risks of consuming HFCS, but of the lengths that all major food companies will go to in the name of profit margins. They simply do not care about our health. The $$$$ are their driving motivation. I encourage you to make informed choices and to not fall for their propaganda!

A day in my life

Today was a good day! I feel really positive about both my eating and exercise today, so thought I would share it with you... I've been a little bit run down this week, and added to the stress of my job interview last week, it has culminated in a cold sore, so have been trying to really focus on clean eating and staying really healthy. I must say though, these Compeed patches are the best treatment I've ever used for cold sores, so if you haven't discovered them yet, and you're an unfortunate sufferer of cold sores like me, you must try them out!
Here's my day...
I woke this morning and had my lemon & water drink with 2 lysine tablets (a must when you have a cold sore outbreak).
Breakfast consisted of 1 soft boiled egg and a smoothie (banana, strawberry, pecan, greek yoghurt & coconut milk). I also took my daily vitamins, Blue Ice Royal (Cod Liver Oil+Butter Oil) and Ferro-Grad (Iron+Vit C).
I had a handful of macadamias at about 11.30am... I find it so hard to just stop at a handful of macadamias, but practising self-control is a really important component of the Primal Blueprint! Because all of the food you eat is SO tasty, you really need to be conscious of how much you're eating, otherwise it's very easy to eat a whole packet of something (in my case, macadamias) in one sitting!
Today was a rare day that I didn't have a packed lunch, so I bought a 1/4 free range chicken, 1 avocado, and a pre-mixed greek salad to eat. Not the most amazing primal lunch, but definitely a reasonable compromise. I've really been focusing on increasing my fat intake lately, so have been adding avocado to many of my salads. I have to say, it's definitely a favourite of mine!
Due to a late lunch (2:00pm) and having personal training at 5:30pm, I didn't eat anything this afternoon. That meant I was really pumped for my personal training session.

And boy, did my trainer work me hard! A brief warm up walking on an incline on the treadmill and then into the weights room for a great, but full-on, workout. Here's a run down of what I did:-
3 sets of:-
15 x squat to press
15 x bent over rows
15 x bicycle crunches
*rest*
3 sets of:-
15 x upright rows
10 x burpees
15 x push ups
*rest*
3 sets of:-
15 x bicep curls
10 x jumping jacks
30 second plank
*rest*
3 sets of:-
10 x medicine ball squats
100 x skips
10 x O-leg crunches
Let me say I was completely buggered by the end of this! And my trainer let me cheat on the last set by only doing 50 skips... I think I earnt it but! Seriously, skipping is not one of my favourite exercises, simply because I always feel un-co doing it and generally can't do 100 skips straight through without at least one trip up. Can someone out there invent a machine that replicates the skipping action, without actually having to jump over a rope ;-p
Tonight's dinner consisted of lamb cutlets and garlic with mashed pumpkin, cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, and dutch carrots. And for dessert I treated myself to a cuppa and a fruit & nut bar (home made of course)!
So, today was definitely a great day! How was yours?

Recipe: Meatballs in tomato & basil sauce with asparagus parcels

I love meatballs and especially remember both of my grandmothers' rissole recipes quite fondly. However, I know that they use breadcrumbs in their recipes, so I set out to create my own! I used their ideas as a basis and then experimented and they turned out so well that my husband requests them regularly.

Ingredients

Meatballs
500g mince (beef or lamb)
250g prosciutto, diced
1 sml onion, finely chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 t oregano
1/2 t chill powder
1/2 cup almond meal
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
2 eggs, whisked
sprinkle salt & pepper

Tomato & Basil Sauce
3 x truss tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup roma/cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tin diced tomatoes
1 T fresh basil, finely sliced
1/2 cup red wine

Asparagus Parcels
10 x fresh asparagus
2 x cherry tomatoes, halved
2 x slices prosciutto
parmesan cheese

Method

Mix all meatball ingredients apart from eggs until well combined. Make a well in the centre of the mixture and add the eggs. Mix together. With lightly oiled hands, roll meatballs into desired size.

Bunch 5 asparagus together and rest on slice of prosciutto. Place halved cherry tomato on top and a shaving of parmesan cheese. Wrap the ends of the prosciutto around the asparagus to form a parcel. Put on a baking tray and into oven for 10minutes at 180 degrees.

Heat a frying pan (add oil if desired, we use coconut oil) and once hot, add the meatballs. Fry 5-7 minutes until browned and then flip onto opposite side for another 5-7 minutes. Transfer meatballs to a baking tray and add to the oven with the asparagus (this will ensure any that haven't quite cooked through will fully cook).

In the same frying pan, add all of the tomato sauce ingredients except the wine. When mixed thoroughly, add the wine, stirring well. Bring to the boil and then simmer, ready to serve over the meatballs.

Serve with wilted spinach and some more parmesan!

Primal Plan

Whenever someone has asked me about Primal Blueprint lately, they've always followed up with a "What's the eating plan like?" question. I'm sorry to break it to you, but there isn't one! And that is the real beauty of the Primal Blueprint - it can be tailored exactly to suit your goals and taste buds ;-p How many times have you read over a diet plan which gives you a daily eating schedule and thought, "I could never do that because I don't like eating (fill in the gap here)"... That issue is eliminated when following the Primal Blueprint because you can choose to eat what you like from the allowed foods list! If you're still unsure about the allowed foods, here's a run down:-
Eat:-
- vegetables;
- meat;
- fish;
- poultry;
- nuts & seeds;
- fruit;
- FAT!
Avoid:-
- grains;
- trans-fats;
- anything with an ingredients list ;-p
We also allow dairy in our eating plan. Mark recommends cutting it out if you know you have issues digesting it, but we, thankfully, seem to handle it well. Again with dairy, full fat is the only way to go, raw is even better but difficult to obtain (low fat means it's been heavily processed  - and seriously, how much better does full fat cheese, milk, yoghurt taste!)... But, as another example of making the eating plan work for you, if you don't feel 100% when eating it, don't!
Of course, people are still curious about what we eat during a day/week and so I thought I'd give you a look at our plan for the week...

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
1 x soft boiled egg Smoothie with hazelnut, banana, strawberries & greek yoghurt	Bacon & eggs with tomato, spinach & mushroom sautéed in garlic	Intermittent Fasting	1 x soft boiled egg Smoothie with hazelnut, banana, strawberries & greek yoghurt	Sausages with tomato, spinach & fetta frittata
Left over roast chicken and vegies	Fish cakes with BAS (big ass salad)	Grilled lamb, pumpkin & fetta greek salad	BAS with ham and avocado	Thai Lettuce wraps with roasted cashews
Salmon in creamy dill sauce with steamed vegies	Greek lamb cutlets with sautéed mediterranean vegetables	Beef ribs in blueberry sauce with roast sweet potato & spinach	Thai Lettuce wraps with roasted cashews	Cheat Meal (Katie travelling)

As you can see, we are eating quite well on this 'diet'. I do this plan up on a Friday before our weekly shop and it always works well. And just so you know, we plan to eat this way for the rest of our lives, focussing on the freshest fruit and vegetables, and best sources of meat (grass fed should be your aim). We have been eating like this for the past 2 months and I've lost over 7kg! And I've never felt like I'm missing out! To help you even more, over the coming weeks I'll post recipes for some of our favourite meals so you can try them out too (check out Salmon in Creamy Dill Sauce to get you started).
One thing you will notice is that there are no morning or afternoon snacks in there. Honestly, we've found that you don't need them when eating this way. Particularly after a breakfast filled with eggs and lots of fat, we stay full until lunch time. If we do feel the need to snack, our choices are nuts or fruit. Also, if we're feeling like we need something after dinner, we allow ourselves a square of dark (85%) chocolate with a cup of tea. Mark covers sensible vices quite nicely and dark chocolate definitely makes our list! Warning though, if you've never had 85% dark before, I recommend working up to it by starting at 70%... Initially, to our 'sweet tooth' 85% dark chocolate was quite bitter, but now after having cut out all sweet things, it tastes like pure gold to us! Apparently they can get 99% stuff in the States, so one day we might give that a go. I'll do a proper dark chocolate post at a later date.
So there you have it. I challenge anyone to claim that we are missing out on vital nutrition eating this way... Unlike many other diets, we don't feel restricted in our eating choices, and definitely feel FULL after eating every meal. We have more energy than ever before and that helps us when we're flexing our muscles at the gym. The variety in our food is amazing and we've discovered a love for many new vegetables (which, if we were told that we MUST eat for a diet plan we would probably dislike, but because we get to choose to eat them, we love them!).

What's the World Wide Web saying this week?

Dr Jonny Bowden shares an article explaining another reason why Omega 3s are crucial for good health. So take your fish oil daily!

Over at Zen Habits, Chris Guillebeau urges you to make your own choices in life. Remember what it was like as a kid?!?!?

A quality gluten free beer?!?! Yes, please! Robb Wolf has done the ground work for all you beer lovers (me included!)

Chris Masterjohn at the Daily Lipid writes an amazing critique of the latest poorly executed study linking a high meat diet to heart disease.

As if there was any further need to convey the dangers of drinking diet soft drink, Dr Mercola examines the side effects of aspartame.

Everyone needs to eat more superfoods! We all know the usual superfoods, but give these ones a try :-)

I've always been wary of the plethora of vaccines we are giving to young children (even babies!) Imagine if protecting against influenza was as simple as providing them with enough Vitamin D...