Erin goes Junk Free for June

Erin attempts the impossible all for a good cause. 

[erinsjunkfreejune]

Day 30: This is the end...

And so I have made it and I hate to say that I am going to end on a fizzle not a bang. But before I go over my rather lacklustre of a day I just need to remind myself that I have managed to go a whole month planning my meals, never having to resort to buying lunch or breakfast. The handful of times I was out for dinner was for special occasions and not because I couldn’t be farked cooking. This month for me was making the first step into planning and cooking on a regular basis and I have actually come to enjoy cooking and trying out new meals. 

I also never expected to raise the money I did or have the support that I got. Not that I think you lot are terrible people or anything, it is more that I have never done anything like this or asked people to donate to something I am doing before and I really thought it would just be a donation from my mum and dad that I would be contributing to this great cause. And that would have been fine but I am really grateful for all the recipe suggestions, donations and general words of support from you all. It has been amazing. 

Right now on to my food. 

Breakfast - muesli, milk (no banana :( ) Cuppa tea.

Mandarin

Lunch - Sriracha quesadillas with guacamole and sour cream

cuppa tea.

No dinner - so so full from lunch. But cooked corn beef and mustard sauce for lunch tomorrow (I am not going to fall straight off the junk free/no buying lunch bandwagon just yet!)

Sriracha Quesadillas - from Buzzfeed. 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/christinebyrne/sriracha-chicken-quesadillas#.ggbxDogv5

INGREDIENTS

2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken - I used my left over roast chicken.

1/3 cup Sriracha

2 tablespoons sour cream, plus more for dipping

2 cups shredded edam

4 teaspoons canola oil

4 10-inch flour tortillas

¼ cup chopped cilantro leaves

PREPARATION

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine chicken, Sriracha, sour cream, and cheese

2. Heat 1 teaspoon canola oil in a large skillet over medium heat, then lay a flour tortilla down in the skillet. Spoon ¼ of the chicken/cheese mixture on just half of the tortilla in the skillet. Sprinkle a tablespoon of chopped cilantro leaves on top, then fold the tortilla in half. Cook until the underside is lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Carefully flip the quesadilla and cook until both sides are lightly browned and the cheese is melted, about 2 minutes more.

3. Repeat with the remaining 3 tortillas. To serve, cut each quesadilla into 4 wedges. Serve with sour cream, for dipping, and garnish with more cilantro leaves and Sriracha, if you want.

Now I did this at work and had 2 quesadillas as opposed to 4. This also meant that I did it in the sandwich press minus the oil and crisping up. Luckily I am an adult now and I remembered to bring my own tin foil to work to make cleaning up the sandwich press an absolute breeze. It was still really tasty. For the guacamole  I just mashed an avocado, sliced some cherry tomatoes and with a dash of lemon juice mixed them all up. 

Corn Beef and Mustard Sauce

While I am not having this until tomorrow I thought I would add it anyway. 

Boil the corn beef in water, 1 tblsp of golden syrup, a carrot and an onion. 40-50 minutes per 500gm. 

Mustard sauce recipe is just from Edmonds Cook Book. Beat 1 egg and two tblsp of sugar together. Add 1 tblsp of flour and 1 tsp of dry mustard. Stir in 1 cup of water and 2 tblsp of malt vinegar gradually. Cook over a low heat until thick. 

I have really appreciated this blog for holding me accountable and for sharing things so I may either continue this or start a new one...as soon as I can think of a good title. Suggestions?

[erinsjunkfreejune]

Day 29: The penultimate post

A pretty basic second to last day. So let’s keep it short and sweet! Here is a reminder of where I will be after the new year:

What I ate:

Breakfast: Muesli, banana and milk. Cuppa tea. 

Mandarin

Lunch: 2x fruit split muffins and a milo

Mandarin

2 slices of my banana bread that I made last night - it wasn’t as good mum’s :(

Dinner: Left over roast.

What I learnt - I shouldn’t eat it all just to make sure I don’t have wastage. So much roast. 

Also my banana bread looks better than it tasted. It wasn’t terrible but definitely average. 

And thanks to some more gin I prepped for lunch for my final day of Junk Free June. I promise I am not an alcoholic, mum. 

New recipe: Banana Bread from Donna Hay

Combine 1 2/3 cups of plain flour, 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder, 1/3 cup caster sugar, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Make a well in the centre, add 2 eggs, 1/2 cup of vegetable oil (I used organic butter as we only had olive oil left and I didn’t think that would taste so great!) and 3 mashed bananas and mix to combine. Pour into a greased loaf tin, sprinkle with brown sugar and bake in a preheated 160C oven for 60 minutes. 

[erinsjunkfreejune]

Day 28: Where Erin finds out that gin helps with everything...

So Sunday had me wanting to stay in bed netflixing all day. And I hadn’t even been drinking the night before! And then I thought of sweet sweet gin. All of a sudden motivation coursed through my veins. So, boom, it was decided, I was drinking gin.  4 or 5 gins later and I had done 4 loads of washing, cooked a roast, baked some banana bread and made my bed with completely fresh sheets. Oh, and managed a few episodes of Orange is the New Black and Supernatural.  If we ignore how stodgy the bread is, how burnt the veggies were and that my room is still messy then this can be counted as a success and  even more reason to drink. #imaybeanhighfunctioningalcoholic #knowmebeforeyoujudgeme

What I ate today:

Breakfast: Mood Boosting smoothie from mindbodygreen.com with added spirulina.

Lunch: blue cheese and oat crackers. 2 pieces of lindt chocolate. 

Dinner: roast chicken, parsnip, beetroot, pumpkin, garlic, stuffing, gravy. 

New Recipe: Green Smoothie

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-20322/boost-your-mood-with-this-green-smoothie.html

1 cup raspberries

1 cup fresh spinach

1 tablespoon chia seeds

1 tablespoon sunflower seeds

1 tablespoon cacao

1 ripe banana

1 cup coconut milk

1/2 cup water

I added 1 tblsp of spirulina

Blend altogether. Drink.

[erinsjunkfreejune]

Day  27: Getting my Mexican on! Yes I made fish tacos bring on your immature jokes...

Hola! Me gusta guacomole y ceviche y tortillas. Oh my Spanish is so ready for Colombia!! And on this night I made Fish Tacos yep that is right. I am ready for your inappropriate comments. They were meant to be Jerk Fish tacos but couldn’t find any jerk seasoning so went with Cajun instead. 

What I ate:

Breakfast: Banana and kale smoothie

Lunch: Lasagne

Dinner: Cajun fish tacos, guacomole, cevihe and corn chips.

2 pieces of Lindt chocolate. 

Check out the book that I got the ceviche instructions from. I believe this is from when we lived in LA when I was born so a good 33 years old! Classico. 

And the finished product:

Ceviche:

Firm white fish - I used blue warehou

Lime juice

Fresh coriander and oregano

cucumber

tomato

avocado

I chopped up the fish nice and thin and put enough lime juice to cover the fish. Cover and put in fridge for 2 hours. After an hour give it a stir and you should see it go white. Drain off the excess lime juice leaving a little bit in, add chopped cucumber, orgeano, coriander, tomato and avocado. Eat.

Guacomole:

Avocado

lime juice

coriander

cherry tomatoes

Mash your avo, add juice, coriander and then mix in halved cherry tomatoes.

Corn Chips: 

Buy them.

Cajun Fish Tacos - or Jerk Fish if you have the right seasoning from fitfoodiefinds:

For the Fish

Fish fillets - I just used the other half of my Blue Warehou fillet from the ceviche.

1 tablespoon olive oil

squeeze of lime

Jerk Seasoning - I used Cajun

pinch of salt

For the Asian Slaw:

1 bag of Dole Asian Blend - I just used cabbage. 

½ cup Greek yogurt

⅓ cup Ginger Sesame Dressing (or your favorite Thai style vinaigrette) - I just found a thai sauce that looked good.

1 tablespoon sesame seeds.

For the Fish:

Place a sheet of tin foil on a large baking sheet and coat with about a tablespoon of olive oil. Then, preheat your oven to 160C. Next, squeeze some lime juice (I used half a lime) on the fish fillet and lightly sprinkle on your Jerk seasoning to both sides. If your jerk seasoning is salt free, feel free to add a pinch. Place fish fillet onto baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes at 160C or until they begin to brown. Let cool for a few minutes, then slice into bit size pieces.

For the Asian Slaw:

In a large bowl, mix together 1 bag of Dole Asian Blend, ½ cup of Greek yogurt, ⅓ cup of Ginger Sesame Dressing, and 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds until combined.

Warm tortillas and serve!

[erinsjunkfreejune]

Day 26 - high school reunion time

Friday saw me meeting up with friends that I realised the next day I had been friends with for 20 years for two of them and 28 years for the other! Cripes we are old. But great catch ups and great food even if my gelato ended up all down my white top....

Here are some pics:

What I ate:

Breakfast: Peanut butter cup smoothie from last night. 

Mandarin.

Lunch: Lasagne and milo.

Mandarin.

Dinner: Rasa on Cuba Street - lamb korma, roti, steamed rice, samosa.

Gelato from Kaffe Eis.

Friday was a testing day. Usually with farewell morning teas you get some grapes, carrots, cheese and crackers, but oh no not this time it was a cake (i think from the supermarket, candy, chips and chocolate biscuits. So I just sat there with my mandarin trying to ignore the temptations that were at our desks for the rest of the day. Challenge nailed. 

[erinsjunkfreejune]

Day 25: Accompanied by Rocky Horror and Les Mis.

I am sitting here after a few gins having made lasagne for the first ever time and made a tasty desert smoothie that has spinach, trying to think of something witty to start this post off. And i just can’t. So instead check out how hot Tim Curry is for a bit. 

I am not going to bother telling you the recipe for lasagne as it was just mince, bottled lasagne sauce, pasta, carrot and white sauce with some cheese. Boom. Done. 

However, I will show you an ugly but tasty peanut butter cup smoothie I made. 

What I ate today:

Breakfast: Muesli, milk and banana. Cuppa tea. Mandarin.

Lunch: Spag and saus on toast. Milo.

Dinner: Lasagne

Desert: Peanut Butter Cup Smoothie.

Music I cooked to:

Rocky Horror Soundtrack

Les Mis Soundtrack - the musical not that movie

New Recipe: Peanut Butter Cup Smoothie. It looks like baby poop but tastes great. Also looks nothing like the picture. False advertising.

From fitfoodiefinds: http://fitfoodiefinds.com/2015/01/healthy-peanut-butter-cup-smoothie/

Ingredients (serves 2) Peanut Butter Layer 1 banana, frozen ¼ cup peanut flour OR 2 tablespoons peanut butter pinch of salt ½ teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup Unsweetened Silk Almond Milk 4 large ice cubes Chocolate Layer 1 banana, frozen 3 tablespoons cocoa powder handful of spinach - this gives it that lovely greenish diarrhoea tinge. 1 cup Unsweetened Silk Almond Milk

Instructions Peanut Butter Layer Place all ingredients in a blender or magic bullet. Mix until smooth. Chocolate Layer Place all ingredients in a blender or magic bullet. Mix until smooth.

Pour into the same cup. Drink. 

[erinsjunkfreejune]

Day 24: The one where Erin went a bit over the top with her shopping...

So I have gone from not being bothered to being too bothered. I went over the top with my planning of meals, planned too many and spent way too much. And with a weekend away included in this pay that was silly thinking. Oh well, you should see some new recipes within the last week of my Junk Free June journey. 

At least today was pay day so you know what that means trade me people!! Spare cash to give to cancer. Well not actual cancer but you know to researching cancer and curing it and shit.  Here is a link to donate:

https://www.junkfreejune.org.nz/participants/erin-mcguinness

What I ate today:

Breakfast: my muesli, banana and milk. Cuppa tea.

2 mandarins, milo.

Lunch: 2x split fruit muffins, 2 pieces of lindt sea salt chocolate.

Coconut and chia and lime greek yoghurt. 2 pieces of chocolate.

Dinner: 1 fish cake, 1 poached egg, asparagus

Here is a picture before I added the tomato sauce so I could appear relatively adult and classy....

[erinsjunkfreejune]

Day 22 & 23: 1 week to go.

So just when I think I am getting the hang of all this I have a weekend and Monday where I just can’t be farked. It has been awhile since I have felt so lethargic, unmotivated and just over it all. Didn’t do half the chores I wanted to do, didn’t keep on top of the meals I had planned and had a lot of meat go off and last night decide to go to bed at 8pm instead of eating dinner. 

I didn’t fall off the wagon or anything but the lack of appetite and energy to actually do any of my planned meals was a let down. And just like any vicious cycle I would get annoyed at myself for wasting food and not cooking as planned which would tire me out and put me in a bad mood so I wouldn’t want to do any other chores or meals. So stupid. 

Luckily today while not a 100% better I did manage to cook a new meal, do my dishes and may be able to do some more washing! Christ I am too old. This is where I get my excitement now… having the energy to get chores done.

What I ate on Monday:

Breakfast: my muesli, banana and milk, cuppa tea, a mandarin.

Morning tea: mandarin, seeds, nuts, choc drops, dried cranberries. 

Lunch: 2 Fruit split muffins, cuppa tea.

Afternoon tea: strawberry yoghurt

Dinner: - if you can call it that…. 4 crackers with some blue cheese and some brie.

2 pieces of chocolate.

What I ate today:

Breakfast: my muesli, banana and milk, cuppa tea. 

Morning tea: 2 mandarins, seeds, nuts, choc drops, dried cranberries. 

Lunch: Tomato soup, 2 pieces of vogels, and another 2 pieces with vegemite on them. 

Afternoon tea: 1 piece of chocolate, and a milo

Dinner: Lemongrass and Coconut Shrimp with Glass noodles.

New Recipe!!: Lemongrass and Coconut Shrimp with Glass noodles. Care of James Duigan Clean and Lean Diet.

Ingredients (serves 4):

20 large shrimp 

2 tblsp sesame oil

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 lemongrass stalks, very finely chopped (I didn’t not chop finely enough and it was unpleasant)

2inch piece of fresh ginger - i just used a tsp of crushed ginger.

1 green chile, finely sliced (again I did not slice finely enough- I really need to get trained up in my chopping).

50ml coconut cream

2 kaffir lime leaves, shredded

2 tblsp tamari soy sauce

1 tblsp fish sauce

Glass rice noodles (get ones where the instructions are in English, or a language you understand…my noodles weren’t cooked properly)

a bunch of coriander to garnish

a wedge of lime to garnish

In a wok heat the sesame oil and gently cook the garlic, lemongrass, ginger and chile until well softened. Add the coconut cream and a ½ cup of boiling water and the kaffir lime leaves. The sauce should be of a thick consistency, simmer for approx 5 min, do not boil.

Add shrimp and cook until pink. Add soy sauce and fish sauce and taste. Add more as needed.

Cook noodles and the serve the shrimp on top with coriander and lime wedge.

It was nice and tasty - maybe don’t need the water as wasn’t very thick sauce. And as mentioned I am shit with a knife and the lemongrass and chile were not chopped finely enough.

Tomorrow will be some more meal planning and shopping day.

[erinsjunkfreejune]

Day 21: Featuring raspberries

So today I had grand plans of washing, tidying room and being all adult and shit. Instead I ready a horrific book (yes the most recent Fifty Shades of Grey book - when there is a sentence about a gingeroot between her buttocks you know it’s a bad book) which put me in a bad mood, stayed in bed til just before midday and netflixed the rest of the day while I did token amounts of washing and dishes. Oh I got all domestic and stuff and put Drano down the shower drain. Sorry mum and dad I did not wear eye or hand protection - cos I like to live on the edge. As I didn’t really eat anything exciting I prepped two raspberry recipes one that won’t be ready for another week, just in time for Junk Free June to have ended, and one that should be ready tomorrow. 

What I ate today:

Breakfast: lemon juice and tobasco in hot water, banana and kale smoothie with added spirulina, maca powder and LSA. (thanks for the tips Aunty Dee!)

Lunner/Dinch: Left-over srirarcha chicken salad this time with the blue cheese.  I also heated the chicken in the oven instead of the microwave and it tasted so so much better.

Oat crackers and cheese, 4 pieces of Lindt sea salt chocolate.

Raspberry Chia Jam - care of the Junk Free June Blog: https://www.junkfreejune.org.nz/blog/raspberry-chia-jam/ 

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries (you can substitute for any berries you'd like - try strawberries, blackberries, blueberries etc.)

1 tablespoon of pure maple syrup/honey - I used Agave Nectar.

1 heaped tablespoon of chia seeds

3 tablespoons of water

So simple: 

1. Add raspberries, sweetener and water to a pot. Stir over a low heat, until the mixture starts gently bubbling.

2.  Take off the heat and gently mash mixture together with a potato masher (mash it less if you want a pulpy jam).

3. Add in chia seeds and stir well. Leave for a few minutes as the jam begins to "set" (or rather the chia seeds begin to swell up and form a thick mixture).

4. Place jam into a jam jar and store in fridge.

Raspberry Shrub: Probiotic Raspberry and Apple Cider Vinegar Tonic from MindBodyGreen - http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-17326/probiotic-raspberry-apple-cider-vinegar-tonic.html

2 cups apple cider vinegar

1 handful of raspberries - I used frozen

1 tablespoon maple syrup (optional) - I used agave nectar again

Mix together and let sit in a sealed container for two days at room temperature. After two days, place in the fridge for a couple days to a week, until it gets the taste you like. Try mixing a splash of raspberry shrub with sparkling water for a fizzy, sweet and sour probiotic drink.

Shrubs are a type of drink from 17th/18th century England. Here is a snip from Wikipedia for your knowledge: (remind me to try mine with booze - ha what I am saying as if anyone would need to remind me of that)

“In terms of mixed drinks, shrub is the name of two different, but related, acidulated beverages. One type of shrub is a fruit liqueur that was popular in 17th and 18th century England, typically made with rum or brandy mixed with sugar and the juice or rinds of citrus fruit.

A shrub can also refer to a cocktail or soft drink that was popular during America's colonial era, made by mixing a vinegared syrup with spirits, water, or carbonated water. The term "shrub" can also be applied to the sweetened vinegar-based syrup, from which the cocktail is made; the syrup is also known as drinking vinegar. Drinking vinegar is often infused with fruit juice, herbs and spices for use in mixed drinks.”

Thanks to forgetting my lunch on Friday, have brunch and Dinch yesterday and today I already have meals prepped until Wednesday aka ‘pay day’. So not too much planning required.

[erinsjunkfreejune]

Day 20: Date night with the lil sister....

So a belated post, partly as I was having too much fun singing along to Phantom of the Opera with my little sister after our date night at Planet Spice in Newtown - which seriously has the best curry of all time. So so good. No new recipes so will just post some pics and of course what I ate.

What I ate:

Breakfast - hash browns, black pudding, poached egg, asparagus and spag and says.

1 piece of Lindt sea salt chocolate.

A milo.

Dinner: 1.5 samosas, murgh tikka, lamb saagwalla, butter naan, basmati rice. 

1 piece of Lindt sea salt chocolate. 

My putting on make up playlist - short as I was running late for the date:

Salted Wound - Sia

Falling - Haim

Dancing in the Dark- The Boss

Freedom! ‘90 - George Michael (this is a fave at the moment)

And a selfie after a few red wines, dinner, and a few gins to show the end result (part of something I am trying, and failing at, a selfie each day for the next year but I keep forgetting so it may be 200 photos from the last 365 days or something):

And a pic from Phantom of the Opera, cos you know, Gerard Butler:

[erinsjunkfreejune]

Day 19 - The one where Erin forgot her lunch....and her swipe card...and probably her mind.

So you know if I title my blog post about forgetting my lunch that this entry is going to be pretty short and sweet. Also the fact that I was in bed at 8.30pm on a Friday night without a drop of booze in me desperate for some rest gives you an idea of where I am mentally and physically. Let’s get right into this. But first a GIF cos I love this shit. (as a postscript - I searched GIFS for In Bed and all that came up were couples having sex and snuggling. Way to remind me what I am not getting so finally searched sleep and got these beauties.)

What I ate today:

Breakfast: Homemade muesli with a  banana and milk. Mocha (and by mocha i mean I put instant coffee, hot chocolate mix, hot water, sugar and a dash of milk in a cup and mixed it altogether). 2x mandarins (they are super tasty at the moment. 

Morning tea: an apple and the chocolate, seed, nut and dried fruit mix a la Aunty Dee. (this was at lunch time but I started work at 7am and decided to have lunch at 2pm).

Lunch: A banana. Wow. Much excite. Such potassium. Tasty.

Dinner: Surimi and shrimp with a  dollop of thousand island dressing. What I was meant to have for lunch. 

The fact that my body is not screaming for food or anything apart from sleep right now tells me that I may not be quite as well and on top of things as I am leading myself to believe. 

Early night and booze free I think is the perfect remedy right now. Dinner date with the little sister tomorrow night! So need my beauty sleep. 

[crash-13]

Day 18 - It’s been a bad day

I know that during the last two weeks I have talked about how I really want KFC or really want some other junk food, but today was just the worst. Woke up with no appetite and the idea of food turned my stomach. In these cases I would normally go to my trusty Up & Go. But that is a no go this month.  Managed muesli but then was hungry, really hungry all of a sudden and just wanted a cheeseburger. Don’t worry I still am on the junk free wagon even with my team mates having McDonalds and pineapple lumps around me. I stayed strong. 

This was much helped by a kind donation and words of support from an amazing cousin! And hanging with my lil’ sis after work also helped immensely.

Today I have a pretty boring eating day but knowing I had to write this blog, which some people actually read!, pushed me to make a new recipe tonight that was very tasty when all i wanted was to toast some hash browns again like last night. So guess this blog is working for me. 

What I ate:

Breakfast: Homemade muesli with milk and banana, cuppa tea with milk and sugar. 

Morning tea: Hot chocolate made with trim milk.

Lunch: Two split fruit muffin with butter, and a mandarin.

Dinner: Sriracha Chicken with green goddess dressing and spinach. And i have just realised I was meant to put blue cheese with it as well. How the fuck did I forget blue cheese. It is in the fridge ready to go. Damnnit that would have been good. Tomorrow night..tomorrow night I will have blue cheese. 

Supper: Seeds, cranberries, brazil nuts and choc drops. 

New Recipe time: Sriracha Chicken Salad with Blue Cheese  and Green Goddess Dressing minus the Blue Cheese, but only this time.

This is another recipe from fitfoodiefinds.com which is proving to be a brilliant source. 

Ingredients (serves 2):

For the Chicken

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I used equivalent weight in chicken thighs)

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ cup ground flour + salt and pepper, to taste. (It said oat flour but I just had normal.)

1 large egg

¼ cup sriracha

½ lemon (juice)

2 tablespoons honey

2 teaspoons garlic powder

For the Green Goddess Dressing

½ cup fresh parsley ( I used parsley paste).

½ cup fresh cilantro aka coriander

⅓ cup greek yogurt

1 tablespoon minced garlic ( I used one clove, any more than that would be a bit too much for me)

½ lime (juice) - made me want a gin.

salt, to taste

For the Salad

4 handfuls of mixed greens ( I had spinach)

¼ cup blue cheese ( I will have this tomorrow)

4 radishes, thinly sliced - I didn’t have this

¼ red onion, diced - nor this

1 avocado, sliced

Cut the chicken into bite sized cubes, dunk in egg and then in the flour. Put to the side. 

Mix Sriracha, honey, lemon juice, garlic powder in a bowl. 

Cook chicken in pan. Instructions said to cook all the way through and then dunk in marinade and place in salad. But I cooked half without the marinade. Then put it through the marinade and continued to cook. I prefer it that way as it caramelises the marinade nicely. ( You do have to cook with door and window open as boy does it get smokey).

Put yoghurt, parsley, coriander, garlic, salt and lime juice in a blender, or bowl, and then blend it.

Put greens on place with avocado and I put some lemon juice over it. Put the chicken on top and then drizzle with the dressing. DON’T FORGET THE BLUE CHEESE. it was still really yummy though and actually looking forward to dinner tomorrow night. 

Dinner playlist:

This comes courtesy of my gym playlist which has been disgustingly underused since this whole gall bladder fiasco.

Chandelier - Sia

Without You (The Moose) - Rodlund and Hewie

Common People - Pulp

Yellow Flicker Beat - Lorde

Dark Horse - Katy Perry

Falling - Haim

My Obsession - Icehouse

Wake Me Up - Avicii

Bloodstream - Shapeshifter vs The Upbeats

Don’t You Worry Child - Swedish House Mafia

Anything Could Happen - Ellie Goulding

Classified - Higher feat. B.O.B

You and Me (Flume Remix) - Disclosure

Misery Train (Enso Remix) - Conduits - find it on Spotify

Nancy Boy - Placebo

Bed time.

[erinsjunkfreejune]

Day..I’ve lost count: Music to shop by.

Today: not a good day. Upset tummy, spending my lunch hour making a shopping list and then leaving it at work, losing a sock in the washing machine and finding out that the almond butter I like costs $17.99. FOR A SMALL JAR!!!!! That is like the cost of 3 years worth of ETA’s crunchy peanut butter. Freakin’ ridiculous. Lets hope peanut butter tastes as good in the smoothies I like. 

Anyway, moving on. Despite all of those setbacks I managed to get my shop on for the next 4 days. Apart from the fact that New World didn’t have any fresh coriander or corn beef I managed to get all that I needed. To get me through this shop I plugged in my headphones and mouthed along to some music.

Shopping playlist:

Lost Stars - Into the Night Mix - Adam Levine. (Always puts a smile on my face.)

Invisible Touch - Genesis.

Harder to Breathe - Maroon 5.

You My Everything - Ellie Goulding.

Caress Me Down - Sublime. Favourite line in a song.

Nancy Boy - Placebo.

Luke - Suzanne Vega.

Jesus He Knows Me - Genesis.

This Mess We’re In - PJ Harvey ft Thom Yorke.

Crying - Roy Orbison.

Down With The Trumpets - Rizzle Kicks.

Sail - AWOLNation.

Live It Up - Mental as Anything.

Maps - Maroon 5.

Unfortunately the hyperlinking didn’t work to connect to You Tube vids this time.

What I ate:

 So as I wasn’t feeling the best today this ain’t gonna be impressive. 

Breakfast: Overnight oats with raspberries. Cuppa tea with milk and sugar. 

Lunch: Berry chia yoghurt and a culpa tea with milk and sugar. Tried to eat Kung Pao Chicken leftovers but ugghhh.

Afternoon Tea: Seeds, cranberries, choc drops and brazil nuts. 

Dinner (if you can call it that): two hashbrowns and tomato sauce. 

Glass of milk. 

I warned you it wasn’t pretty. Hopefully feeling better tomorrow. 

[erinsjunkfreejune]

Day 16 - Finally a blog post on time!

I  must be recovered from my weekend as I am finally blogging on time, and have done breakfast and snack prep! And while I didn’t eat this breakfast or snack today I am going to include the recipes for you all. p.s exactly two weeks to go! 

New recipe: Snack idea from Aunty Dee

This suggestion came from my lovely aunty, to spice up the chocolate pieces I have been eating as a snack. 

Ingredients:

Sunflower seeds

Pumpkin seeds

Dried fruit (I used cranberries)

Dark chocolate drops

Brazil nuts (for your daily selenium dose! My aunty is a smart lady.)

Toast the sunflower and pumpkin seeds in a dry pan til they start popping but stop before they burn. Wait til the cool down (otherwise your chocolate will melt) then mix in the other ingredients. I then divvied them up into little containers ready for a daily dose at work. See pic below:

Clean and Lean: Coconut Granola

This recipe comes from the Clean and Lean Cookbook by James Duigan. I have made it loads and I find it a great replacement to weet-bix. Weet-Bix processes too easily for me and I really notice the difference as with this granola the energy and fullness lasts so much longer. 

Ingredients:

6 cups rolled oats

4 tblsp coconut oil

2 tblsp ground cinnamon

3 tsp vanilla seeds ( I can never find these so I use either extract or vanilla seed paste)

1/4 cup sunflower and pumpkin seeds

2 tblsp flaxseeds (love these toasted)

1/4 cup pecans (or walnuts as pecans are frickin’ expensive) broken into small pieces

1/4 cup cashews, or any other nuts

1 1/2 tblsp toasted or dried coconut

I also add dried cranberries though this isn’t included in the recipe

Preheat oven to 190 deg celsius. Put the oats, 2 tblsp of the coconut oil (I melt it quickly first), cinnamon and vanilla seeds in a bowl and mix well. Spread out on two baking trays, lined with baking paper, put in oven for 20 minutes, turning over after 10 minutes. Keep an eye on this as I bake these for too long sometimes. 

While that is baking...put the other 2 tblsp of coconut oil in a fry pan and add the seeds, nuts and coconut. Lightly toast until golden and allow to cool. 

Once oats and seed mixtures have cooled down mix in the dried cranberries and decant into containers like so (i take the glass one to work to keep it permanently there and use about a 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup in each serve):

What I ate today:

Breakfast: Weet-bix, banana and milk. Cuppa tea with milk and sugar. 

Morning tea: 2 mandarins. 

Lunch: Kung Pao chicken left overs. Cuppa tea with milk and sugar.

Afternoon tea: Passionfruit yoghurt, an orange, 4x small oat crackers. 

Dinner: Spinach wrap.

Supper: 2 pieces of Lindt sea salt chocolate. 

[erinsjunkfreejune]

Day 15 - The Monday blues...

I was planning on doing a big rant about last night’s Game of Thrones... but were any of us really that surprised (not including the book readers who would have had a heads up)??? I think not. I didn’t even shed a tear when it happened when in earlier seasons the idea of that death would have made me totes devo. I was just tired and numb. GoT has numbed me from core character deaths. They can’t shock me any longer. Cable television is constantly trying to one up the previous episode/season/series that they have just outdone themselves. Was actually considering not bothering with future seasons but a girl has to know. 

Anyway, back to food. Yesterday consisted of two new recipes that I had never even cooked before. Both care of fitfoodiefinds.com. 

Monday’s food:

Breakfast: weet bix, banana and milk and cuppa tea

Lunch: Spinach, sundried tomato and turkey wrap - see recipe below, and small strawberry yoghurt.

Afternoon tea: 2x mandarins, 4x small oat crackers, 2x pieces of Lindt Sea Salt chocolate

Dinner: Kung Pao Chicken - see recipe below.

Supper: Custard and peaches. 

New Recipe!!: Sun-Dried Tomato Turkey Roll-Up

Ingredients:

Sun-dried tomato hummus (the recipe said paste but gosh if I could find it).

Cream cheese (the recipe said Provolone cheese but I wasn’t in the mood).

Sliced smoked Turkey breast (the recipe didn’t stipulate smoked but that is what was in our deli). I used two slices for one wrap.

Spinach wrap.

Spinach.

They also recommended basil leaves but there were none to be had. 

Spread cream cheese on wrap, put slices of turkey on it, spinach leaves and then attempt to spread hummus in a frustrating way over the loose spinach leaves. (You could probably just do it right after the cream cheese in hindsight). Roll up, chow down. 

Second New Recipe!!: Kung Pao Chicken

Ingredients:

Chicken thighs - skinless/boneless. I used about 300-400gms for 4 serves. 

300-400gms of green beans. 

2 tblsps of minced garlic.

2 tblsps of sesame oil.

2 tblsps soy sauce (or coconut aminos if you want to go paleo - I am not sure paleolithic people would have known what coconut aminos were...)

1 tblsp sriracha sauce.

1 tblsp chilli paste. 

1 tblsp honey. 

1 tsp sesame seeds ( I may have sprinkled too much).

Peanuts or cashews - note to self blanched raw peanuts are not the tastes shall go for roasted unsalted next time. 

I used udon noodles instead of rice cos I can.

Cut thighs, take of ends of green beans, mix soy sauce, sriracha, chilli paste and honey in small bowl. 

Cook thights in 1tblsp of sesame oil and 1 tblsp garlic (i just crushed one garlic clove). Put aside once browned. 

Cook green beans in 1 tblsp of sesame oil and 1 tblsp garlic, til tender. Add chicken and then sauce mixture and cook until chicken cooked. I then added the udon noodles and cooked until they had separated, softened and heated through. 

My goal tonight is to get some nuts roasted, muesli made so I can move off weet bix and start thinking about next lot of meals. 

[erinsjunkfreejune]

Day 12, 13 & 14 : Dropping 3 days on you all at once...you know you love it.

So due to some epic hangover experiences tied in with computer issues my blog posts are a bit delayed. Soz. (#sorrynotsorry). Yeah I just used a hashtag and I am over 30 years old. Get over it.

Friday:

First of all here is what happened to make my Friday morning start off amazing:

That’s right, frozen tiny bits of kale and banana all through our cutlery drawer. Which made for yet another late arrival at work that morning. 

Luckily I work with some amazing people so my day was soon made better by this beauty of a Mocha by Yoey:

And also getting to work with this hottie:

However, I was also challenged by some junk food news. First of all you can get Big Mac sauce separately at McDonalds. Secondly, KFC emailed me (yes i am on their email address list, don’t judge) about my second favourite thing they do - MASHIES. Only back for a limited time, they better last til July:

Hells Pizza has joined up with Kaffe Eis gelato!! 

And then this tasty concoction came up on my newsfeed thanks to my friends being fans of Cadbury:

Luckily I remained strong. 

Friday’s meals:

Breakfast: banana and kale smoothie (or what remained of it...)

Morning tea: apple

Lunch: the last one of my chicken pies

Afternoon tea: Mocha

Dinner: chicken cashew with veggies, red wine and beer. Followed by a night of heads up and dancing, which luckily there were no photos taken of.

Saturday:

This was me pretty much watching Netflix all day and avoiding my KFC cravings. I did not make the best choices today, please don’t judge. But also note that I did not break my junk free rules. So success in a small way.

Also after a day in bed I got to see my cousin and hang with old friends over dinner and wine and beer so that was a joyous way to end my lazy-ass Saturday.

Check out my giant beef schnitzel from Joe’s Garage:

Saturday’s Meals:

Brunch: Frozen Juicie

Pre-supper snacks: Crackers, cheese, grapes and pineapple.

Dinner: Beef schnitzel and fries and gravy

Sunday:

Another lazy-ass day. But I did manage to get myself out of bed a bit sooner, and also get to the supermarket for some fruit and udon noodels for today. Also managed this kinda pathetic looking brunch but it was yum! (and was the only thing of substance I ate today):

Sunday’s Meals:

Brunch: Poached egg, 2 hashbrowns and asparagus and a splurt of tomato sauce. Glass of milk.

Afternoon tea: 4x small oat crackers, 2 pieces of Lindt Sea Salt Chocolate.

Dinner: 2 pieces of fruit toast with a schmear of butter and a milo. 

Don’t worry today’s post will have two new recipes for you all to make up for the non eventful weekend food-wise.

[erinsjunkfreejune]

Day 11 - Where Erin goes nuts at the people in the nut aisle.

So first of all nuts are pretty darn expensive. Definitely missing the parentals credit card at my shop this evening. But also look at me - still adulting like a biatch and getting my meals for the weekend sorted, as I am adult enough to recognise I will most likely be hungover both days and don’t want to be caught out without any brekkie/brunch/lunch options. So boom, meal planning and shopping done. 

Nuts are also where I went the most nuts at the supermarket. I mean, I waited until 8pm to go shopping to avoid people and for the most part there were no people. Except at the nuts. There I was with my trolley all happily getting nuts and crossing nuts off my list and then there were the people. They wanted to go that way, they wanted to go this way, they wanted to go right in front of me or wherever I moved my freaking trolley to trying to make the way clear for them. Gosh -farkin-darnit, so frustrating. But I survived, came home, ranted about it to my sister, unpacked my groceries and did the dishes....whaaat???

Anyway leftover day today so just a quick post covering what I ate and prove that I am still on the junk free wagon. Also going to make the effort to get some more clean and healthy meals in the mix for rest of the month.

What I ate:

Breakfast: weet-bix, milk and banana

Morning tea: milo and two mandarins

Lunch: Chicken Pie (the one with the ‘crunchy c’ word on it - totes work appropriate)

Afternoon tea: milo and two pieces of sea salt chocolate and passionfruit yoghurt.

Dinner: Chicken Pie (the Yum one) and courgettes stirfied in soy sauce, and green beans with a schmear of butter and sprinkle of salt. 

Supper: 2 pieces of sea salt chocolate.

Tomorrow’s post will be done Saturday morning for y’all as planning a night out on the town. Happy Friday!