Healthy Girl 365, Day 2 - The exercise. It begins.

I hate Summer. I hate being hot, I hate sweating - it makes me pretty pathetic. This morning I had plans to see a lovely friend for coffee at the local shops, and I did something that I've not done before. I walked there. I braved the heat (which I admit was milder than it has been the last couple of weeks!), stuck on my running shoes (that I forgot are a little too big for me and I normally wear much thicker socks with) and I walked for the first time in months. I came home sweaty and with crampy feet. I can't say I enjoyed it but I can say it feels good to have done it! One thing I love about exercise is that it inspires me to eat right the rest of the day - no point in wasting all that effort, right?!

Healthy Girl 365, Day 1 - Oh look. It's me.

I hate having my photo taken. I never thought I would be 'that girl' who hides away from cameras, but in the last few years that's exactly what I've become. I should clarify - I like super duper close-up photos of my face, that I have carefully taken myself and have edited to look a little artsy. But anything more than that, I hate. Anyway, day 1 of each month of this year's 365 is going to be a selfie, so just know that I am really challenging myself here! Chris took a bunch of awkward photos for me this morning, and while I much prefer the blurry one on the right (blurriness = distracting. Right??), I've sucked it up and posted the one on the left too. I'm going to optimistically say that today, I am the unhealthiest I'll be for the rest of the year. I've dusted off my Weight Watchers Online subscription, I've made a whole bunch of plans, I'm feeling inspired. I'm also really excited to discover that a bunch of my friends are focusing on their health this year too! Here's to 2013 being a year of amazing change...

Coming in 2013... a different kind of 365

Hey guys... am I the queen of dropping off the blogosphere or what? I mean, it doesn't really matter or anything. It's just been a while, and I have clearly not kept my end of the bargain when it comes to posting weekly recipes. Ahem. Life, hey?

Anyway, with only a few days left for 2012 I wanted to take the opportunity to let you know my plans for 2013. Some of you might remember that through 2010-2011 I started a 365 project which I blogged about - I got up to 264 days (I think?) before getting distracted and giving up. Lame. Since then, I've been itching to try again. The project helped to inspire me to pull my camera out more regularly, kept me blogging constantly, and gave me a way to look back and remember the wonderful little things that would most likely be forgotten about months later. It helped me realize that the key to happiness can simply be to notice and enjoy the little things.

Next year, I'm embarking on a 365 project that I'm calling Healthy Girl 365. Anybody who knows me at all doesn't need to read this blog post to know that my lifestyle is anything but healthy - I have plenty of weight to lose, I don't exercise, I don't take care of my skin or hair, in fact I don't take care of myself at all. I severely want to, but although I've attempted to sort myself in the past nothing has stuck.

I've been developing this idea and making plans for the last couple of months. To be honest I wasn't sure whether I even wanted to document it all publicly, but what the heck hey? The point of my 365 is to keep me accountable, and to document the changes I'm making. If it helps one of my friends start making their own changes, or if it helps someone understand me a little better, then that's even better. It won't just be a collection of photos of vegetables, fruit and running shoes - I'll be making sure that each month I include a self portrait, a commitment to give up something (in January I'm giving up coffee. Aaauuurrggghhh!), a commitment to a new habit, and at least one healthy recipe/snack idea, as well as smaller day-to-day things. Of course there'll be days where all I can think of posting will be another photo of a footpath while I'm out on a run, but I'll give it as much variety as possible.

Throughout this project I'll be researching for ideas to keep the project going, but I'm also going to welcome suggestions from my friends - if you have a healthy habit that you swear by, please message me and let me know! I want to finish the year as someone who is committed to her health - and I'm not just talking about losing weight.

So that's where I'm at, guys! Bring on January 1st!

Life Lately...

Just thought I'd check in with some photos of life lately! I'm proud to say that I'm slowly working through my 4 Simple Goals - you've already seen me post some recipes that I've created, which is something I've never really done before! And now, here's the evidence that I'm taking loads more photos. So, life lately... according to my iPhone.

Grant Norsworthy (of Paul Colman Trio and Sonic Flood!!) came to do a workshop and service with our Church last week, and I was lucky enough to sing in his band for the weekend! It's been a long time since I was so intensely involved in anything musical - there were a lot of hours of rehearsing! Hard work, but a great experience and I feel super lucky to have had the chance!!

Hanson were also in town last weekend! I fulfilled every dream I had as an 11-year-old girl and went along with Kat and screamed out the words to every song. No shame. It was AMAZING.

Dinner with Kat, a bestie! Hanson wouldn't have been nearly as fun without her... and the hilarious drunk girl behind us who kept shouting "THAT'S SUCH A GREAT SHIRT" at Taylor Hanson. It was a great shirt.

  

Chris, the creepy man I do life with, who won't let me take sneaky photos of him without pulling some  ridiculous faces...

An occasion worth photographing - Chris cooked me chicken saltimbocca for dinner when I was tired after a long day at work. He's lovely!

 

Cupcake tries to make the most of chilly mornings and evenings when he realises that the days are getting warmer and snuggling is getting much less comfortable. (Yes, we are those gross people who let their dogs jump on the bed in the morning.)

Green eggs and ham at The Precinct this morning with another amazing bestie, Hatti. Kicking myself for not taking her photo. Where are my priorities?! Apparently with fancy toast baskets, spinach foam and tiny milk bottles. Hmph.

Whole Mushroom Quiche

 
Ladies, does the man in your life throw a tanty if you so much as threaten to serve him a quiche? Glory be, mine doesn't! But a lot of men that I know won't have a bar of it.
Why? Is it too eggy?
No.
Is it too light?
No.
Is it smelly, or in any way untasty?
No!
If this phenomenon is unfamiliar to you, listen in. You are about to be shocked and appalled. The reason that a lot of men don't like quiche is because it is allegedly un-manly. That's right, there are men out there who willingly deprive themselves of its eggy, bacony, pastry-y goodness because it has a pansy-sounding name. I have a friend who single-handedly fixed her problem with the fussy men in her life by making a quiche and declaring it simply to be an "eggy bake". And with that, the guys were cured of their quiche issues. People, this is real life. Quiche is delicious. If you are a man who denies himself the pleasure of quiche based on this principle, you are missing out. And people are laughing at you. OK, that's a bit harsh. Nobody's laughing at you.

I said, I'm not laughing at you. I just smile when I type.

Anyway, here's a quiche recipe that's slightly manlier than the average. Why? Because it's filled with a layer of great honkin' field mushrooms, that's why. Check it out (before I added the egg mixture):

Yep, those are mushrooms alright! And salty prosciutto. And fresh chives. Mmmmm.

About 15 minutes after I took the photos for this blog post, Cupcake got stung by a bee and had an anaphylactic reaction. Puppy with throat spasms, $200 emergency vet bill, cold mushroom quiche for dinner. Quite the Wednesday night. This happened last week. It's clearly still a bit fresh for me. Anywho.

Whole Mushroom Quiche

Ingredients
Olive oil spray
1 sheet puff pastry, defrosted
2 tbsp butter
6-7 large mushrooms (field, portobello, etc), stalks removed
50g prosciutto, roughly chopped (or cooked bacon)
1/4 cup chives, finely chopped
6 eggs
3/4 cup thickened cream
1/4 cup milk
40g finely grated pecorino (parmesan would work well too)

1. Preheat your oven to 180 C.
2. Spray a quiche dish lightly with olive oil. Lay the pastry down as a base.
3. Melt butter in a skillet. Toss mushrooms in butter until they have softened and flattened a bit. Set aside to cool.
4. Sprinkle prosciutto over pastry. Combine eggs, cream and milk in a mixing bowl. Whisk until completely combined.
5. Once mushrooms have cooled (you don't want them pre-cooking the eggs!) place them in a single layer on top of the pastry. Scatter chives all over the top. Pour egg mixture evenly into the dish. It doesn't matter if some of the mushroom sticks out - I think it adds to the rustic charm of the dish! That's my excuse, anyway.
6. Sprinkle with pecorino, crack some black pepper over the top and place it in the oven. Bake for about 30-40 mins, or until the middle is set.


And there you have it. Chunky, slightly manlier quiche!

Monday Morning At Perth City Farm

Get ready to be totally jealous of me... at the moment, I don't work Mondays. While most people are getting into the week at work, I'm out conquering the world! Just kidding. My Mum and I have a standing coffee & grocery shopping outing that we stick by each week, which I love *smile*. But sometimes, Monday is also Adventure Day. Or at least it is when my sister Hannah is added to the mix. She and I have many things in common, but there are some things in which we're polar opposites - our day-to-day lives being right up there at that end of the scale! While I'm the sister who's chosen to form a quiet life in a 3-bedroom house with a big yard in a suburb 45 minutes away from the city, she resides in a super cute 2-bedroom town house right in the heart of the CBD. So when it comes to socialising, while my mindscape takes me as far as the same four cafes on the Rockingham foreshore, my savvy sister hardly visits the same place twice! Hanging out with her and my Mum on a Monday is always an opportunity for me to discover yet another amazing hidden gem in Perth. This week it was Perth City Farm - a huge community garden with the loveliest little cafe. We sat there drinking fancy tea and nibbling on macarons and muffins, surrounded by nasturtiums, potato plants and mulberry trees. Perfect! I couldn't help but take a few pictures around the place (remember, I'm trying to take loads more photos you guys!) If you live in Perth, you should definitely check it out. They also do venue hire - totally fun venue for a wedding reception!

Baked Maple Chicken with Pecan and Prosciutto Crumble

Do you like savoury dishes that have sweetness to them? Recently some friends and I were discussing this, and the general consensus was that savoury food + sweetness = most excellent indeed! I did have one friend who passionately disagreed though, so I understand that such people exist... but man, they are missing ouuuuut! With this in mind, I decided to put together one such dish - it's got the subtle sweetness of maple syrup infused throughout, but the salty prosciutto in the crumb topping cuts right through it. YUM. O. Serve this with beans and roasted baby carrots and you have a winner! Just don't get so excited about cooking this dandy chicken that you forget to stick your baby carrots in the oven until the chicken's almost done. You'll throw your timing off... trust me. Ahem.

Baked Maple Chicken with Pecan and Prosciutto Crumble

Ingredients
3 chicken breasts
1/4 cup plain flour
50g butter
1/4 cup maple syrup

Crumb Topping
40g butter, chilled, chopped up
1/3 cup plain flour
1/2 cup crumbled pecans
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
2 tbsp brown sugar
80g prosciutto, finely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 180 C.
2. Cut chicken breasts in half to create thin fillets. Place flour on a plate. Rub each fillet in the flour to coat. Place chicken in a single layer inside a large rectangular baking dish.
3. Combine maple syrup and butter in a small saucepan on low heat. Heat, stirring occasionally, until butter is melted. Remove from heat; brush maple syrup mixture over chicken to coat, reserving a few tablespoons. Bake for 30 minutes, or until chicken is just cooked.
4. Meanwhile, prepare crumb topping. Combine butter and flour in a medium bowl. Using your fingers, rub the butter into the flour until it resembles a fine crumb. Alternatively, place butter and flour in a small food processor and pulse until crumbs are formed. Combine with crumbled pecans, breadcrumbs, sugar and prosciutto.
5. When chicken comes out of the oven, sprinkle crumb topping all over the top. Lightly press crumbs into the chicken. Drizzle remaining maple syrup mixture over the top and season with salt and pepper. Return to oven; bake for another 15-20 minutes or until prosciutto is crispy.
6. Serve with roasted baby carrots and steamed green beans.

Enjoy, my friends!