Browsing Tag

high protein

Friday Fare

Chickpea Veggie Burgers

June 20, 2014

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you all had a lovely week and have some fun plans for the weekend. I will be venturing up North to visit my boyfriend’s grandparents and aunt. But before I do, I wanted to share my new chickpea veggie burgers with you all.

Chickpea Veggie Burgers

Chickpea Veggie Burgers

Today I have some lovely vegetarian Chickpea Veggie Burgers (garbanzo beans for my American’s) for you all! I had a craving for something cheesy and filling a few nights ago and thought it would be fun to experiment .. ultimately resulting in this delish recipe. Chickpeas are a wonderful source of low G.I. carbohydrates, protein, fiber and a range of vitamins and minerals. A 1 cup serving of chickpeas contain 40g of carbohydrates, 2g of fat, 14g of fiber (wow!! almost half of your daily requirement), and 14g of protein. They also contain a fair amount of iron, which is great for the ladies, especially ladies who choose not to eat red meat. These chickpea burgers are not vegan because they contain asiago cheese. However, they can be made vegan if you omit the cheese that is in them, or replace it with vegan cheese, but I cannot guarantee the same texture and taste if you do this.

Chickpea Veggie Burgers

Chickpea Veggie Burgers

Excited? Hungry? Hopefully both, so let’s get cooking!

Chickpea Veggie Burgers

Alice Williams
Enjoy a healthy burger without the guilt!
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Servings 1

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup chickpeas
  • 4 tbsp shredded asiago cheese
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp tahini
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp himalayan pink salt or any high quality salt

Instructions
 

  • 1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees farenheit
  • 2. Put all of the ingredients into a food processor and pulse until smooth. You can make it as smooth or as chunky as you please.
  • 3. Form the mixture into two burger patties, and then place in the oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, BROIL the burger patties on high for 2 minutes.
  • 4. Serve naked, on some sourdough bread, on a tortilla like I did, or whatever your heart desires. And don't forget to add your veggies too!

Notes

Makes 2 large patties or 4 small ones.
Chickpea Veggie Burgers

Yummmm. They are so filling and delicious, in love! I hope you all enjoyed them as much as I did. I love having mine with plenty of spinach (my go to leafy green) and tzatziki. What do you have yours with?

Honestly yours,
Alice

Friday Fare

Friday Fare – Thai Laab Moo Fresh Rolls

May 23, 2014

Well this is exciting! Not only do I get to share a lovely Thai recipe with you all, I get to show you a way to put a spin on this classic recipe. Rather proud of myself for thinking of this if I must say so myself. Get ready to make Thai Laab Moo Fresh Rolls!

Thai Laab Moo Fresh Rolls

Okay so for all of you who are unfamiliar with Thai cuisine, laab moo (ลาบหมู) is essentially a minced pork spicy salad containing shallots, lots of lime juice, cilantro, mint, chilli flakes and garlic. The herbs and lime juice make for a delicious and healthy recipe, and the minced pork means that it is a meal high in protein. In a traditional laab moo recipe, you will find that they add toasted sticky rice but I omitted that in this recipe to keep it lower carb and to keep the recipe easy as pie.

The addition of rice paper rolls is a great way to enjoy laab moo and a way to get some more veggies into you. I really don’t like lettuce all that much but hey, put it into a rice paper roll and I will eat it right up. Rice paper rolls have some magical properties to make things I don’t like edible I guess (no, it’s because then I can dip it in yummy peanut sauce … shh).

However, I added spinach to this recipe because I seriously have a love affair with spinach – it is high in antioxidants, fiber, protein (3g for 2 cups of raw spinach), and plenty of minerals including but not limited to vitamin A, C, K, calcium and so much more.

Thai Laab Moo Fresh Rolls

Alice Williams
Experience the taste of Thai with these refreshing yet tangy fresh rolls!
Print Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 2 rice paper rolls
  • 4 oz lean minced pork
  • 1 1/2-2 cups spinach
  • 1/4 cup vermicelli noodles not necessary but the rolls are a bit wet without them
  • 1 shallot diced
  • 2 garlic cloves mashed
  • 1 lime
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • 5-10 cilantro leaves
  • 5 mint leaves
  • 1/2 tsp-1tbsp chilli flakes please adjust to YOUR spice levels

Instructions
 

  • 1. Get your minced pork and squeeze the juice of 1/2 lime onto the meat and let it marinade for 30 mins to 1 hour. Prepare you vermicelli noodles while you wait according the directions.
  • 2. Get a frying pan/wok and put on high heat for 1 minute. Now, get 1tbsp of water and splash onto the pan. It should start sizzling and evaporating, and if so your pan is hot enough. Add the pork to the pan (be careful!!) and cook until the meat turns a grey color and there is no more pink. Once the pork is done put it into a bowl.
  • 3. Add the diced shallot, mashed garlic cloves, fish sauce, cilantro leaves, mint, chili flakes, and juice from the remaining 1/2 lime into the pork mixture.
  • 4. Get your rice paper rolls ready. If they are dry, then run them under hot water for 30 seconds - 1 minute until they soften. Lay the rice paper rolls out and put 1 cup of spinach on each roll followed evenly distribute the vermicelli noodles.
  • 5. Sieve the pork mixture (save the juice in a separate bowl) and now add the pork mixture on top of the spinach. Roll everything up.
  • 6. Enjoy and use the juice from the pork mixture as a tangy dipping sauce!
Thai Laab Moo Fresh Rolls

Yeah. not an expert at making rolls but I will be with practice!

Thai Laab Moo Fresh Rolls

I hope you enjoyed this meal as much as I did! I added way way WAY too much chilli flakes (being in America has weakened my ability to handle spice) but hey, apparently spicy foods boost your metabolism …

Honestly yours,
Alice

Fitness, Health, Sunday Summary

Sunday Summary: Kayla Itsines Week 9

April 27, 2014

What a wonderful week this was! I hope the same goes for all of you lovely people too.

Kayla Itsines Week 9

I have now finished week 9 of Kayla Itsine’s bikini body workout and OMG .. I do not understand how I got through it. Weeks 9-12 differ from the first 8 weeks because now you incorporate 1-1 HIIT session (for an explanation of what HIIT is, click here) and the strength circuits are now fully targeted on certain parts of the body. It is such an amazing feeling to have such sore legs, arms and abs every single week. You get through one week and you think ‘surely next week, I won’t be as sore’ but you are, every single time. I love it, and I cannot wait to show you all my progress at the end of the 12 weeks. It may not be as dramatic as some of the others, but I am noticing the difference, and that makes me happier than you could know.

Whilst I am on this fitness thread, I went to a fabulous spring open house held by Mint Studio’s in San Francisco! I am planning on writing a dedicated post to the event, so for now I will give you all a quick recap. Mint Studio’s offers pilates, barre and yoga classes, and were offering free classes for the night, and had partnered with vendors such as Project Juice, Ensoma and Premier Nutrition to bring a host of complimentary goodies. I was particularly enamored with the healthy juices offered by Project Juice and definitely plan to try more! I tried my first everrr pilate’s reformer class and now I know what all the fuss is about … my abs are SORE, even now two days later, and it was such a fun and new way to workout. Can’t wait to try it again. Who wants to go with me?!

Kayla Itsines Week 9 BBG

This photo is from Mint Studio’s website and is an example of the hardcore Pilate’s Reformer class I did

Kayla Itsines Week 9 BBG

 Mmm, all the juices I got to sample from Project Juice!

My relationship with food has also become so, so much healthier. Instead of constantly worrying about the occasional slip up, I have a much more balanced approach to eating and just living life in general. I do not binge anymore (everytime I was presented with a tasty and ‘bad’ food I would eat it until I felt ill) and I genuinely look forward to making healthy meals and doing my food preps at the start of the week. Obviously I still have moments where I feel a little guilty, but I am usually able to stop myself eating more than I need too. I love how I have been able to shape this aspect of my life and I am so grateful for it; your body deserves to be nourished with the correct foods and kept active and in shape. I am not a fan of the whole ‘food is fuel’ thing because come on, our bodies are not machines. They are unique and INDIVIDUAL creations that require personalized attention, and only you can know what foods and exercises truly make your body flourish. That being said, I think that I do tend to eat a bit too much sugar (foods with sugar in them, I’m not knocking back tablespoons here lol) so I think I may post some of my meals in next week’s Sunday Summary as a way to keep me on track .. we will see.

That’s all from me this week! I am curious to see how many of my readers are living in the Bay Area, so please leave me a comment below if you are. I would love to meet up with you all at some point, maybe for a gym date 🙂

And as always, if you have any questions or requests for posts please either leave me a comment below or shoot me a message at honestlyfitness@live.com

Honestly yours,
Alice