Rain!

Well the rain just won't leave Darwin!! I shouldn't be negative as the rain is gorgeous, but it is hampering my marathon training. I run early in the morning and I don't feel terribly safe running when it's really dark and raining. Yesterday I had the need to run so I went to the gym instead to do an 8km run. I felt great - just a twinge in my left ankle, and my right hip.. which I will go and see a physiotherapist about... so hope it's nothing bad!

Here is a race calculator that is telling me if I do my 8km at the pace I did yesterday I should finish the marathon around 4:30 - which is my goal... I am not so sure I can keep that pace up but will see! My main goal is under 5 hours - as I am trying to be realistic.. so we will see!

This is quite interesting to see... so I will report back on my actual time compared to the comparison!

Now I'm off to do a 5km run/walk with some colleagues.. in the rain! A great way to start the day!

Bellini - Cheese and Bacon Scrolls

My children adore bacon, as do the grown ups in our house! Even though we are mainly eating Paleo (I am, B is 90% and kids are about 50%), I am still trying to bake them treats they enjoy in moderation. So thought I'd make some scrolls for their lunch boxes.

Dough Ingredients

440g Self Raising Flour
400g Greek Yoghurt

Ingredients for filling

200g grated cheddar
4 bacon rashers
3 tbsp tomato paste

Method

Preheat oven to 190C and cover a tray with baking paper. Flour the bench in preparation for the dough.

For the dough, place flour and yoghurt into the Bellini bowl.

Mix for 20 seconds on speed 8 to combine. The dough will be a bit sticky. Transfer to the floured bench.

Roll dough into a large rectangle and spread preferred filling all over the dough evenly and top with the grated cheese.

Roll into a log.

Cut 2cm segments from the end of the roll and place on baking tray.

Bake for 20 minutes until golden.

Zenni Optical

I just had to post about K and my new glasses!

We have the same prescription for glasses so quite often wear each others glasses... well I borrow K's glasses when I misplace them!! I have ordered glasses online from Zenni in the USA and was very impressed, so did another order. We managed to get 7 x pairs (3 sunglasses, 4 normal everyday glasses) for $140. I thought that was a great price which included delivery from the US.

I highly recommend, especially if you have children to buy for and they are a little hard handed on their things.

Back to school!

After a very long 6 weeks holidays school went back yesterday. I was actually quite sad to see the little people head off for another year. A & K are now in Year 4, and I is in Year 3. Where have all the years gone?

Here is a picture of the three darlings ready to head into school yesterday... as usual they were so impressed I wanted to take their picture!!

I is stoked she has a lovely teacher who has made up gorgeous little kits for the kids.

Here is the sticker that was on the front of the present she gave to each of the kids, and also a shot of what was inside:

Needless to say I was very impressed.

2014 Race Diary

 Schedule of events I am planning on participating in this year are: 

6 April -              Paris Marathon

20 April(date TBC) -   ANZAC Day Charity Fun Run 2014 (8km) 

3 May -                Blood Sweat & Fears Adventure - either 5, 10, 15 of 21.6km. 

                       I want to do the full 21.6km but I need to find some teammates. 

                       All my teammates from last year are busy or have moved. :(.  

11 May -               Mothers Day Classic (8km).

1 June -               NT Powerade City to Surf (12km) 

5 July (date TBC) -    Sportsco & DRW 10 Km Road Race 

20 July (date TBC) -   Sportsco & DRW Darwin Half Marathon 

It's going to be a busy year but I am excited!  

Planning for Europe

Ever since we decided our big holiday for 2014 was going to be in Europe I have been frantically planning and trying to make sure I have ticked all the boxes off!

I thought I'd share our itinerary and what I have organised so far.

We have the following:

3 nights - London and catching up with a beautiful old friend of mine, who was my penpal when I was a teenager. So amazing we are still friends - some 20+ years later! We have booked the Hop On & Off Bus and London Tower tour. We are still trying to decide whether to book the London Eye. We have done the Singapore Flyer, so they're basically the same... but then we will be in London so the view would be incredible!!
4 nights - Northern Ireland - mainly catching up with family and hopefully getting to the Giant's Causeway and around Northern Ireland to explore.
5 nights - Driving from Northern Ireland to Dublin via the main sights - Cliffs of Moher, Ring of Kerry, The Burren, Blarney Castle, Powerscourt Castle (from The Count of Monte Cristo movie), Avoca (where Ballykissangel was filmed), and of course Dublin.
3 nights - Rome - usual sights - Colosseum, Roman Forum, Vatican, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain etc.
1 night - Florence - we are only here briefly, however, I was quite excited to realise we are only 50 metres from the main market where you can get lots of amazing things. I can see myself popping back here on my own after dinner when B is over looking! I love just trawling the markets. I went to Florence in 2002 and just loved it, so no doubt will be thrilled to be back!!
3 nights - Venice - mainly the tourist traps - Gondola ride (the children are so excited), we want to wander around and get lost, and go on a day trip to Burano and Murano (if I've spelt them correctly), to check out the other side of Venice.
3 nights - Wengen - Hoping to catch the train to the top of the mountain to Jungfraujoch. Also hoping to go sledding and just catch the trains about and explore. Hoping to do a bit of hiking too if it isn't too cold/wet/snowy!
5 nights - Paris - Going to be so busy in Paris. Disneyland, Eiffel Tour, Hop on Hop Off Bus, and of course the pinnacle of the trip for me - the Paris Marathon!!
2 nights - Kuala Lumpur - on the way home we are stopping in KL. Planning on doing the petronis tower sky walk, and also the stairs up to the buddah?? I need to research this more. We arrive into KL at 0600 so hoping to keep busy all day so that we can just crash and sleep in the night and get a good full nights sleep, and try to un-jetlag ourselves!
That is our planning so far.

I am also trying to plan in all my running training so that has been interesting that is for sure!!

If you have any suggestions please let me know! I will be back soon with exact info of what we have planned in each city! :-)

Coconut Rough

School snack preparation underway today.. :-) My lovely neighbour bought over a sample of this the other day and I had to make it again. The kids loved it, so I knew they would be happy to have it in their lunch boxes.

Ingredients:
2 cups desiccated coconut
1 heaped tablespoon cacao/cocoa/carob
10 medjool dates, seeds removed
2 tablespoons coconut cream

Method:
Place all of the ingredients into your blender or food processor. Blend until well combined, this may take a little while. Press the mixture into a loaf tin lined with baking paper, place the mixture into the freezer to set, slice and enjoy!

I got this recipe from the amazing Wholefood Simply website ;)

Easy lunch idea: Salad Jars

Since B & I are undertaking the Wholelife Challenge I have been thinking of good work lunches that are easy, filling and tasty.. (can be quite difficult to find!).

So I decided to make us salad jars for lunch as a test! In the jar I had from the bottom:

Paleo caesar dressing
Boiled eggs x 1.5
Cherry tomatos x 6
Shaved Turkey breast x 100g
Diced apple & carrot
Lettuce mix

Of course after I made it up I thought how lovely cranberry sauce would have been.... but I didn't have any - so caesar dressing just has to do! You just tip the salad straight into the bowl and apparently it ends up being super fresh... let's see if it is true! I will report back on the verdict from myself and B. B is a hard taskmaster with this sort of thing so I hope he is happy with it as it was so easy to do!

I will update to let you all know how it tastes! :-)

Apricot & Coconut Bites

I absolutely adore the Wholefood Simply blog. The recipes are just amazing!

Here is one of our faves and the easiest of all recipes: - Apricot Bites - from Wholefood Simply (did I mention I love this website??):

Ingredients:

1 cup dried apricots
2 cups desiccated coconut

Method:

Add the ingredients to your Thermomix / bellini, or food processor. For Thermomix / Bellini put on Speed 6, 50 seconds. For a normal food processor process until fully mixed - could take a while. Once mixed press the mixture into a lined loaf tin. Refrigerate to set. Once set chop into pieces and store in the fridge.

Enjoy!

You've got to love public holidays!

Well today is the Australia Day public holiday which is always a great day (no work, school etc!). We were lucky to have Australia Day fall on a Sunday the Government gives us the Monday off in lieu. I kickstarted today with a run with a great friend and neighbour. I love Runkeeper for keeping track of my runs, and also for the training programs. I am doing the beginner marathon plan and I am really enjoying it.

Here is the amazing view I get on my run. Nothing beats a sunrise over Darwin harbour :-).

Lastly here are a couple pics of myself!

Now it's time for me to make A, K & I some pancakes for breakfast. I will post the recipe later - they are delicious and Wholelife challenge compliant.

The Wholelife Challenge

After a lot of research we decided to undertake the Wholelife Challenge which started on 11 January. This post is a little late (as I was a little late organising my blog).. but I would love to share how we are going with it, and why we decided to do it!

Here is a blurb I found about it:

The Whole Life Challenge is an 8-week health and fitness game designed for you to see what kind of impact you can have on your body, fitness, and lifestyle if you commit yourself to a specific structure. There are three categories for the game - Performance Results, Physical Results, and Lifestyle and Accountability. This is not just a “change your body” challenge. It is a “who you are” challenge! Nutrition, workouts, mobilization, supplements, daily accounting, community engagement -- if you play all out you won’t believe the results you can get!

The Rules
How Points Work
What can I eat? WLC Nutrition Levels Detailed Chart

The main reason we wanted to do the Wholelife Challenge is to be healthier. B and I were both feeling very bloated, unhealthy and just wanted to feel better. In the past I have cooked a lot of paleo recipes and always loved them, so knew it was achievable. We also wanted our children to recognise that eating well doesn't mean eating junk food! Yes we allow them to eat McDonalds, KFC etc every now and then but want it to become a sometimes food more than a weekly food. We wanted to get out of the rut that we were in. It doesn't hurt with the motivation that I signed up for the Paris Marathon and know I need to be in tip top condition to complete it. :-)

Paris Marathon!

One day in November 2013 when I was browsing the net I came upon a running blog and the blogger had written all about running in the Paris Marathon that year. As I looked at the photos I thought OMG that would be just amazing. I looked at the date of the marathon and wondered if it was going to be around the same date in 2014, because if it was then I would be there.. and maybe I could do it!! Needless to say I researched and yes it is on when we are there. We will be travelling through Europe for 4 weeks and the Marathon is on our second last day.... talk about a sign!! I spoke to my husband (he rolled his eyes but agreed if I wanted to do it then I should just do it), and I signed up!! I immediately found a running program on Runkeeper.com and starting thinking seriously about what I would need to do to accomplish this goal. I thought I'd share some inspiring photos from different websites that have spurred me on - especially at 5am when I really don't want to get up... but I do because I want to finish and know that it will be amazing when I do.. ;-)

I especially love this guy - I seriously hope they had a relay so he didn't have to carry it himself for the full 42.2km.

And final picture.... running with the Eiffel tour in the distance - I don't need to say anything else!

So I hope you'll stick around and see all about my training and experiences in Paris and beyond.

Australia Day!

26 January is Australia Day! Which is a day of catching up with friends, having a BBQ and a few drinks, and just enjoying being an Aussie. This morning K and I did a fun run/walk (we walked) with some friends. It was lovely being out and about, and having a breakfast in a cafe (instead of coming home and cooking it myself) and swim after didn't hurt!

It was great to hang out with friends and enjoy what Darwin has to offer.

We have a BBQ planned this afternoon with friends in our neighbourhood which will be lovely too. I am planning on making a dip to take with some veggie crudités - so will share the dip recipe when I make it! :-)


Here's some pictures from today. K and I at the Australia Day Walk, and K cooling off in the pool afterwards. It was a lovely morning. :-)

Happy Australia Day everyone! :-)

Pawpaw, Raspberry, Passionfruit, Mango, Kiwi Fruit & Banana Smoothie

Mr A has a love of pawpaw. Personally I am not a fan.. but since he loves them we recently bought an enormous one from our local health food store - Greenies. Since we weren't going to eat it all in one go we froze most of it - which made it perfect for smoothies. This morning A & K were in the mood for a smoothie, so they decided what they wanted to be in it... and it was:

Ingredients
Frozen Pawpaw (approx 2 cup)
Frozen Raspberries (approx 2 cup)
Frozen mango (approx 1 cup)
1 x fresh banana
1 x fresh kiwi fruit
1 x fresh passionfruit
2C of sparkling mineral water

I purchased a Bellini Intelli just before Christmas. It is basically a wannabe Thermomix (I'm still dreaming of a Thermomix.. but until I can talk B into it my Bellini will suffice!)... anyhow my Bellini is perfect for Smoothies and making a lot of things from scratch. The timings are similar to that of a Thermomix - just a bit longer for some things.. so if you find something you want to try and you have a Thermomix please adapt where required.

Method:
I put all the fruit in the Bellini, and 1C of the sparkling mineral. I blended on Speed 8 for 30 seconds until it resembled sorbet. Then I added the other 1C of sparkling water and blended on Speed 8 for another 20 seconds. Then I served it up. The boys said it was delicious and drank it all down in just a few minutes. I always like making smoothies with water - they are very nutritious and taste fantastic, and you don't even realise it has water in it. :-)

Here we have the boys with their smoothies. They were quite happy. K still has his Aussie tattoos from the Aussie Day walk.

Welcome!

I hope you find my blog interesting and fun to read!!

Please feel free to message me with any ideas you have or things you are interested in seeing on my blog... in the meantime please keep reading! If there is anything in particular food wise you would like help with (paleo wise), please ask as I am always experimenting and hoping to cook anything and everything that I possibly can that is paleo friendly!