Tag: Health

WHAT THE RUSHTUSH GLOW CLEANSE DID FOR ME

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My clothes were tight, gym tops even tighter, my level of tiredness and lack of motivation was skyrocketing while trying to remain positive and quite frankly, I couldn’t get my bottom into my lycra gym tights without feeling like a Heffalump!

This was all happening while stuck in the land of a serious plateau that just WASN’T budging and I felt as if my weight loss journey had come to a halt. I was frustrated and disappointed and literally wanted to dive head first into a box of chocolates and give up – we’ve all been there!

After sulking for an entire weekend, I decided to give the Glow Cleanse from Rushtush a go. I had read amazing things about it and had seen fabulous results from other REAL women who had tried it. Rushda had also had a baby around the same time as me and was on the same postpartum weight loss journey. And let me tell you, she kicks some serious ass in the gym!

In general, I am not a believer in meal plans and diets, but when you find yourself stuck in a place not fully understanding how to nourish your body properly and how to eat within a calorie deficit to promote fat loss, then the right plan can definitely come in handy and be beneficial. For me, the Glow Cleanse was just that! It helped reconstruct and refresh my knowledge that I had somehow lost over the last 5 years of how to eat healthy, keeping myself full and curb those 4pm cravings that tend to creep up on us!

The famous Hulk Juice!

The Glow Cleanse is a 4 week eating guide that is super easy to follow and includes a maintenance plan in the 4th week, which pretty much guides you with how to live your best life – eating wise. During my first week of the Glow Cleanse, I dropped 2.2kg – I mean, can you imagine the excitement, after being stuck in a plateau for almost one month? In total, over 3 months, I lost 8kg and -37cm in total all over my body. Goodbye size 16 and hello size 14!

The biggest loss of cm around was around my hips/butt at – 10.5cm, my chest/upper back fat at – 6cm and my kangaroo pouch (lower abdomen) at – 6cm. I had a mountain load more energy and started to feel a little more aero dynamic, being a little lighter! My skin also really cleared up and my nails finally stopped breaking! Totally giving the hulk juice credit for this!

What I really loved about the Glow Cleanse is that the recipes are all easy to make. They’re simple. They keep you feeling full and they’re budget friendly. I also found that there’s minimal waste when it comes to left overs, as the structure of the meal plan allows for them to be used up on the following days.

One of the delicious GC meals! Yum!

One of the most spoken about recipes from the Glow Cleanse is the Hulk Juice and Hulk Soup – they’re green, and packed with all sorts of goodness! YUM! Think roasted greens, garlic, broccoli, onions, spices and you have yourself a delicious, filling Hulk Soup!

Everything off the menu is FRESH and organic. There are no processed foods and you can say goodbye to things like bread, cheese, dairy, processed meats, refined sugars etc. The Glow Cleanse allows for delicious natural foods making up your smoothies and meals. Have you ever thought of pairing strawberries with chicken and almonds in your salads? Me neither, but learning to love new flavours together has become something that I’ve REALLY enjoyed through the Glow Cleanse journey!

What about carbs? Oh yes, don’t think that you have to give those up – they’re in there! Natural carbs like sweet potatoes, quinoa, bananas!

It honestly is such a rewarding feeling to see the results of eating correctly for health, and Rushda is on the ball with online support! No question is ever too silly to ask. Rushtush is taking the fitness industry by storm and helping other ladies reach their fitness and weight loss goals – together as a community!

She is also proving that postpartum weight loss is totally possible after having a c-section herself too, which gives me hope! While using the Glow Cleanse, I also used her 8 week Newbie Body Guide which has helped kickstart my exercise journey. It’s perfect for beginners as it is a step by step guide to the fundamental exercise movements. The guide is made up of 4 rounds of 7 minute circuit exercise movements, and it sure does get your heard rate PUMPING and those results in!

Below are my results from a combination of the Glow cleanse and Newbie Body guide after just under 3 months.

On the left is June and on the right is August 2018
On the left is June and on the right is August 2018
On the left is June and on the right is August 2018 – the saddle bags are finally budging!

I’m so glad that I stuck to the glow cleanse and Newbie Body Guide for 8 weeks, and then integrated what I have learned through this program into my lifestyle. I have 3 more months to try and reach my weight loss goal for our Christmas holiday in Cape Town and feeling super confident that the Glow Cleanse will help me get there!

Now that I am feeling stronger with my fitness, I am moving towards weight training in the gym and more cardio. I actually enjoy cardio – can you believe that?

All in all, my thighs and lycra gym tights are totally thanking you Rush!

Until next time,

Mycaila – Jade

xxx

P.S If you want to follow join and follow more of my postpartum weight loss journey through the ups and downs, head on over to my Instagram account @bootyandbeautyblog

HOW MUCH PLASTIC DO WE WASTE AS PARENTS?

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Throughout life, we are sometimes oblivious to the amount of plastic that we use on a daily basis and as parents, thoughts about plastic waste seem to escape us too. As mummy’s and daddy’s, we all want easy, cost effective, and convenience at our fingertips – but is this always best?

Sadly, we are all aware that our planet is suffering, but are we actually trying to contribute towards saving Mother Nature?  Simple gestures such as being more aware of our household waste, and to be aware of the waste that we leave behind as parents can go a long way. To be honest, I didn’t even know about half of the things contributing towards plastic waste that I used to use every day for my daughter, but since finding out the facts, I of course just had to share it with you!

Image credit : Eco by Naty

Did you know that only 5% of plastics are actually recycled properly? FIVE PERCENT, according to The Guardian. Statistics show that one refuse trucks worth of plastic is dumped into the ocean every minute. YES, every MINUTE! There are 1,440 minutes in one day, 10,080 minutes a week, and 40,320 minutes per month, roughly. With statistics like this, one wonders why we aren’t doing more to help our planet and reduce our waste.

For some reason, plastic is in almost EVERYTHING that we use on a daily basis. Because plastic is relatively cheap to produce, it is of course the number 1 option for the packaging of products. Currently, it is estimated that plastic production will increase 400% by 2050. FOUR HUNDRED PERCENT!

As parents, we tend to opt for convenience and cost effective solutions to many things. We might see a fabulous deal on a 10 pack of wipes, and naturally we think “BARGAIN!”, and in the trolley it goes. Is this really best though?

Did you know that there is plastic in baby wipes? Many of us do not realise this, but many wet wipes are actually made up of plastic resins, like polyester and polypropylene. These materials make it impossible for a wet wipe to biodegrade. Instead, they break up into tiny pieces over time, and release endless amounts of microscopic fibres into our environment.

Image credit: Eco by Naty

Every year, over 8.8 million tons of plastic from all sorts of products are released into our oceans. It is estimated that there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans by 2050. If this isn’t enough to make you want to help mother nature, then I’m not sure what is.

Plastic waste is of course a result of MANY things. I’ve put together a list of products that we use as parents that are contributing to the worlds plastic waste crisis as well as eco-friendly alternatives.

Plastic toothbrush

Did you know that 1 single plastic toothbrush takes 1,000 years to decompose? Try switching to a bamboo toothbrush. They’re super easy to find online. 

Plastic toys

This one’s a no brainer. Try and opt for wooden toys rather than the plastic ones, as it is far more sustainable and more gentle on our planet.

Bottled toiletries

This goes for kids and adults. Have you ever considered how many bottled toiletries we go through in one year, per person? Switch to solid soaps rather than bottled products, unless they’re eco-friendly bottles.

Shiny gift wrapping paper

We use these for our kids birthdays, normally. Try a plain, more sophisticated look with brown paper, and a non-plastic ribbon, or gift wrap that is made out of actual paper.

Wipes

As I explained earlier, many wipes have plastic in them. Try opt for eco-friendly wipes (Eco by Naty are fab!) or a damp cloth. Damp cloths are also super easy to take out with you in your kids bags, so that they are easy to reach.

Nappies

Did you know that just as wipes have plastic in them, so do nappies? Yes, strange, isn’t it? A fabulous plastic free eco-friendly nappy alternative is Eco by Naty nappies.

Nappy sacks

I honestly find nappy sacks to be the biggest waste of single use plastic. It’s as if you’re putting a nappy into a mini shopping bag only to put it into the bin?

Another eco-friendly choice of nappy sacks in biodegradable sacks are Eco by Naty.

Juice boxes with straws

It’s so easy to just reach for a boxed juice for your child, but have you ever thought about the plastic straw that comes with it (normally glued to the back of the box?).

We all know straws wreak havoc on our environment, so why would a kids juice box be any different? Try and prepare juice at home and decant it into a waste free bottle for your kids.

Take away coffee cups

This doesn’t necessarily relate directly with our kids, but as parents, we tend to be very tired. And very tired people tend to opt for take away coffee on the go to keep ourselves going. The take away cups that we have our coffee is made up of plastics. Try and opt for an eco-friendly coffee cup instead. Some coffee shops have actually started selling these in the shop too – which is fab

Kids lunch snacks

Pretty much all of our kids snacks are wrapped in some form of plastic. Be aware of this next time you are shopping for delicious snacks for them by opting for a “homemade” alternative. A prime example is kids string cheese. These cheese sticks are individually wrapped in plastic, only to be placed in another plastic bag all together – I mean, seriously? All the plastic! A home-made option would be to buy a big block of cheese, and cut individual slices for your kids lunch boxes.

 As you can see, there’s plastic in pretty much everything that we use for our kids. The list goes on and on. Sometimes, we simply cannot escape the use of plastic with some items, but for the most part, we can try eliminate the unnecessary ones.  What I have also found is that people seem to confuse being eco-friendly with being SUPER expensive too, which isn’t the case at all.

If you find that eco-friendly brands are going to cost you more, there’s no harm in doing a “homemade” version – like damp cloths, rather than buying eco-friendly wipes.

I really feel that as parents, we should educate our kids and make them aware of single use plastics. We should get them involved. Let’s all get creative and help save our planet.

You never know, our little humans might come up with fabulous ways to keep the plastic at bay! After all, they are our future!

Until next time,

Mycaila – Jade

xxx

(Image credit for featured image is http://www.dw.com/en/un-resolves-to-end-ocean-plastic-waste/a-41690999)

Sources:

https://www.naty.com/uk/why-we-should-stop-using-oil-based-plastics.html

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/19/more-plastic-than-fish-in-the-sea-by-2050-warns-ellen-macarthur

 

ECO PERSONAL CARE BY NATY

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Being squeaky clean, should always be on the top of your list. A shower a day keeps the stinkyness at bay!

With that in mind, my husband and I have recently been trying to make a joint effort at being eco-friendlier. We have since introduced these eco-friendly ways into our daily hygiene, being conscious of the products that we use.

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you will know that our daughter has been using the most divine eco-friendly range from Naty (Eco by Naty). Naty are a Swedish company, dedicated to being waste free and have designed a beautiful extensive baby range from nappies, nappy bags, all sorts of baby toiletries to eco-friendly clothes!

Naty always leaves Harpers bum as happy as can be, so with that in mind, my husband and I gave the Naty Adult range a try. Parents have to have some spoils too, right?

We have the Naty shampoo, shower gel and body lotion.

A lovely family photo!

The first thing that I noticed is that all of these products are packaged in waste friendly bottles, with beautiful branding that’s simple, yet elegant. Who wants to look at unattractive bottles anyway? Respect for the eyeballs really goes a long way!

husband and I both really liked the shower gel, its smooth, fresh, and a little goes a long way. To me, the shower gel has a beautifully light rosey scent. Its super subtle, but its definitely there. Robbie said that he thought it smelt foresty, but this is also the same person who thinks that strawberries smell like apples.

Robbie loved the shampoo. He found it to lather really easily and left his hair as soft as Harpers bottom. I found that the shampoo worked quite well. I have EXTREMELY damaged hair from years of highlighting. I often buy salon quality shampoo ranges specifically for blonde/damaged hair which are extra conditioning and give my hair some serious TLC. As far as my damaged hair goes, my hair was left feeling dry, but I can only guess that it’s because there are no bad chemicals, parabens, or mineral oils. However, when brushing my hair wet, it was totally fine where my hair has grown out, but when I brought my hairbrush down to my highlighted hair, it didn’t brush through very easily. This tells me that if I had an entire head of natural colour free hair, that this shampoo would’ve been superb, especially being friendly to our planet and waste free. Robbie and I both loved the scent – very similar to the shower gel, just a little stronger, in a yummy way!

I absolutely LOVED the body lotion. It smells like a bottle full of sweets! How delicious! One of the mumma bloggers Gill from ChatsWithGill, that I regularly interact with and follow was recommending this lotion to her audience, and now that I have tried it, I TOTALLY understand why! The lotion formula is smooth and again, a teeny bit goes a long way. The bottle also has a pump lid, making it easy to apply and scoosh out. I’d absolutely recommend this!

All in all, the Naty Adult range is really an amazing one to try, simply for its eco-friendly, chemical free, oil free, pollution free ethos. So many things FREE!

It’s also a priority of Naty’s to be cruelty free, which is a major bonus in my books as I really am making a slow move in that direction. I truly love everything that this company stands for after using both their baby range and adult range of body care/hygiene products.

Until next time,

Mycaila – Jade

xxx

FITNESS UPDATE: MY POSTPARTUM WEIGHT LOSS JOURNEY MARCH 2018

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This month has been an amazing month of testing my boundaries with eating chocolate (because Easter), starting a new fitness class, making friends (which might or might not have resulted in a day of cocktail drinking and a disgustingly delicious Italian pasta meal), and of course, a month of yet again wearing my lycra gym pants 5/7 days of the week because of the much-loved spandex benefits.

If you remember my brave decision as of last month to finally ditch the bloody scale because we weren’t really seeing eye to eye, then you’d have probably guessed that YES, I was of course close to a little pants piddle when tallying up my results from the last 30 days with my monthly weigh in and measurements. The main thoughts running through my mind were “Have you managed to pull this off?” and “Heavens above, please don’t let the scale defeat me”. Having not checked in on my results weekly as I normally would have kind of left me off track, not really knowing what to expect.

4th March vs 4th April

Although my results aren’t happening as fast as they once did before, I am reaping the rewards in other ways. I started this journey as a size 18 and have bought my first pair of size 16 jeans during the month of March. I also have a few items of clothing that I set as short term “goals” to fit into. These were mainly tops/coats that were too tight around my arms, but now fit. Yay!

One size down in my new jeans named after Harper! Yay!

MARCH’S WEIGHT LOSS TOTAL

Although, the scale says I have only lost 1.6kg this month, my measuring tape says otherwise, with a MUCH more positive attitude. I am 9.5cm down in total around my body for March.

TOTAL CM LOST AS OF 4 JANUARY TO 4 MARCH:

March has been a great month of movement as I have started an aerobics fitness class twice a week, followed by a bums and tums class straight afterwards. These classes burn an average of 850 calories twice a week, which KILLS me, being 1hr and 15min total, but it is so worth it and is a fun way to do cardio.

My daily goal at the moment is to burn 500 calories worth of exercise a day. Monday, Wednesday and Friday are weight training focused exercise days and Tuesday and Thursday are aerobics classes cardio.

I am going to start encouraging myself to be a little less lenient when it comes to weekend wine, as it is Robbie’s birthday next month and I’d like to wear something feminine and flowy and hopefully in a size smaller.

4th January (left) vs 4th April (right)

I’m looking forward to the next month of this journey, and hopefully a smaller Mycaila will be writing to you from behind the computer screen next month!

Keep those bottoms moving, heart rates up and calories down!

Until next time,

Mycaila – Jade

 

FITNESS UPDATE: MY POSTPARTUM WEIGHT LOSS JOURNEY FEBRUARY 2018

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This month’s journey has been an interesting few weeks of trial and error, making space for room to grow (well not literally – we’re trying to shrink in size LOL).

I’ve been on this journey for EIGHT short WEEKS!  When I realised how long I have been on this journey, I couldn’t help but feel a little sad, thinking that I should have lost at least a minimum of 8kg this far. I had a pity party moment, sulked, might’ve eaten a Cadbury’s crème Egg (or I might not have), and read back over my progress chart to try and figure out where I have gone wrong.

And besides for the Cadbury’s Crème Egg, I realised that I hadn’t really gone wrong anywhere! I’m not going to pretend as though I’m a Positive Percy 25/7 (25 (not 24/7) because wannabe over achiever).

Thank heavens for the progress chart, because that ended my pity party very quickly. Although I have had a month of crazy toy – toying with my weight on the scale, my measurements have really fly kicked through what I thought were feelings of disappointment of thinking that I could do better. Only losing 1.6kg this month can send one into a state of such thought, especially after losing almost 5kg the month before.

January 4th 2018 to the left and March 4th 2018 to the right.

So, what’s going on? Why is the scale playing with my feelings like this?

First things first, anyone who is on a weight loss journey should know that the scale is NOT a true reflection of how your body has changed for MANY reasons – especially if you’re a lady, but more of that for another day.

I have always used the scale to measure my “success”, but have also let the number that reflects back at me control how I feel when it’s not what I want to see. For this reason, I have made a big decision going forward, which is to DITCH THE SCALE and my weekly weigh in and only go by measurements.

I’m doing this because for the last month of hopping on and off the scale every week, with minimal results and fluctuations more disastrous than the stock market, I have been second guessing my progress, feeling somewhat demotivated. I will be doing a casual weigh in once a month to keep myself in check and relying mostly on the progress of my monthly measurements results.

THIS MONTHS UPDATE

Although I have only lost 1.6kg, I have also lost a total of 13cm – which backs my decision even more to ditch the scale.

This brings my total weight loss over the last 8 weeks to 5.8kg with a total of 29.5cm lost all over. My measurements have gone done the most around my “mum pouch”. I have lost 11cm around that area so far, which makes my little heart very happy as this is a VERY difficult area to lose from and a total of 6.5cm around my waist.

January 4th 2018 to the left and March 4th 2018 to the right.

Throughout this month, I have also tried to put my fear aside of exercising my abdominals after my C section – and I have managed to do an abs session at least twice a week now. I can feel that this area is getting stronger, slowly but surely. Abs have always been one of my favourite exercises to do, which is now becoming more of a reality again since having Harps – and I AM SO FRIKKEN EXCITED!

January 4th 2018 to the left and March 4th 2018 to the right – Not the best look, but small victories count!

So, if you are on this journey too, and you feel like you are taking one step forward, and … you guessed it – 2 steps back, then try and find the denominator as to why this is. Mine was the scale which was tugging at my heart strings ever so viciously, but I’m hoping that this new strategy going forward will help change the mind-set to get where I (you) want to be.

Until next time,

Mycaila – Jade

xxx

 

BEAUTY THERAPY INSTITUTE PREGNANCY SPOILS

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Last week, I was invited to the Beauty Therapy Institute in Woodstock for some pregnancy spoils and to celebrate the academy’s 21st birthday! You can only imagine the excitement of such adventures when an inflated beach ball seems to be your standard daily look for the last  8 months! A time to relax and be pampered could not have sounded better at the time! My pamper package included a back, neck and shoulder pregnancy massage, and a deluxe paraffin dip for both manicure and pedicure treatments.

BTI (Beauty Therapy Institute) is an actual college situated in the up and coming area of Woodstock, Cape Town. This college is in the Upper East Side building (fancy shmancy) and collaborates with Sorbet – one of the biggest beauty and wellness salons in South Africa. The BTI college actually trades under the name of Sorbet Cape Town – FYI! My favourite part is that the college has a beautiful mountain view from the practical training room where all of their delectable treatments take place – and everyone is SO FRIENDLY!

The first treatment that we started off with was the Back, Neck and Shoulder Massage – I mean, could this have been any more of a magical moment? Obviously when you are pregnant, lying on your not so deflateable tummy is totally off limits, so off to the side we rolled, lying on my left part of my body, and being covered by a blanket (because towels just don’t quite cover the proximity of a pregnant person’s circumference!).

BTI’S own massage cream! It smells like heaven!

Nicole, who gave me the most amazing massage was a total pampering goddess! I absolutely love deep tissue massages, but because there happened to be a growing human in my tummy, we had to lay off a bit of the pressure. Medium pressing was perfect and the relaxation mode was set. I totally had to remind myself that I had a student massaging me, even though it felt otherwise. My massage lasted just over an hour, and I completely almost fell asleep! I guess that is what happens when you’re pregnant and very relaxed! I loved hearing all of Nicole’s stories about her kids, and it was great to have something in common to chat about, which made me feel so comfortable – winning!

Once my massage came to an end, I had a Deluxe manicure with a paraffin dip and pedicure at the same time! Talk about multitasking! Paige gave me a super divine pedicure. She completely transformed my swollen piggy feet and made my hooves look way more presentable!

BTI’s very own foot scrub. It’s the perfect grainy exfoliant!

She used the BTI foot scrub, to remove dead skin cells and polish my trotters. The foot scrub smelt amazing – like fresh bubbles! I could also choose from an array of Sorbet nail colours for both my hands and feet. I went for a neutral selection of “Blush” for my feet and “Melting Moment” for my hands.

On the left we have Blush and on the right we have Melting Moment by Sorbet

While Paige looked worked her magic on my feet, Chelsea gave me a manicure and paraffin dip treatment which I had never had before. Basically, your paws get dipped into hot paraffin wax which creates a waxy coating. Your hands are then put into their own individual plastic coverings and then put into little mittens for a few minutes. Paraffin dips have so many benefits that I actually had no idea about. They increase blood flow, relaxes muscles and helps with joint stiffness AND can also be used to help treat arthritis!

After a few minutes, the dip was peeled off and Chelsea gave me a little hand massage using the BTI Massage Cream, which smells AMAZING – like candy! Once that was finished, she painted my nails with my chosen colour.

Blush by Sorbet

All in all, I had such a lovely time, spending the morning with these ladies. I absolutely love how friendly the students are and I have no doubt that they will make wonderful beauty and wellness therapists.

If you would like to find out more about the Beauty Therapy Institute, click here or view their Facebook page for more info. They have the highest standard of education in the health, beauty and skincare industry and are currently running a fantastic deal of 10% off all massage and holistic courses.

Until next time,

Mycaila – Jade

XXX

15 MIN SALMON & PRAWN RED CURRY [LOW CALORIE RECIPE]

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My boyfriends mom totally introduced me to this bowl of hot authentic deliciousness and MY OH MY, is it worth every mouthful and heated runny snout. Last  night, myself and the boyfriend decided to get the Wok out and make this very dish ourselves, and I thought that I just HAD TO share this recipe with you guys! This is a super low calorie meal and has such a spicy kick to it. This meal literally takes 15 minutes to cook and is SO EASY to prepare and make – what a double whammy!.

INGREDIENTS

  • Fresh tender stream broccoli
  • Handful of whole sugar snap peas
  • 2 fillets of salmon (cut into chunks and de skin)
  • 1 x 200g pack of cooked prawns
  • 2 birds eye red chillies (chopped)
  • 1 heaped tablespoon red chilli paste
  • 1 tin coconut milk
  • 1 tsp coconut oil
  • Sprinkle of coriander

WHAT TO DO

Bring the heat to your kitchen, your taste buds and possibly your bottom with these super easy steps.

Fry your chopped chillies and red curry paste in 1 tsp of coconut oil on a high heat for a minute or two. Add half a tin of coconut milk and whisk together and let simmer on a medium heat for a couple of minutes . Add raw salmon chunks and the rest of the tin of coconut milk and leave to boil for about 2 min on a higher heat. Add your cooked prawns for another 2 minutes and  ½ cup boiling water for consistency. After that, add your broccoli and snap peas to the mix and let simmer to your desired crunch of veg (+-3 min).

Serve with a sprinkle of coriander and enjoy your low carb, low calorie curry!

Until next time,

Mycaila-Jade

xxx

CHOCOLATE OVERNIGHT OATS [RECIPE]

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AHHH yes, I’m back again with yet ANOTHER breakfast recipe. I have been going through my blog over the last couple of days and have realised that breakfast recipes are TOTALLY my thing, as I tend to post a ton of these! So with that being said, I think it’s only fair to share my chocolatey morning oats discovery with you, topped with banana, strawberries, blackberries and blueberries with a dollop of peanut butter and dark chocolate chips – YUMMY!

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OATS (enough for 1 serving of oats)

  • ½ cup raw rolled oats
  • ¾ cup almond milk/milk (I used Almond Breeze)
  • 2 tbsp chia seeds
  • 1 tsp cocoa powder
  • a squeeze of agave nectar (for sweetness)
  • ½ tsp vanilla essence

TOPPINGS (OPTIONAL)

  • 1 banana
  • a handful of blueberries
  • a handful of blackberries
  • 2 strawberries
  • a few almonds
  • 1 tsp peanut butter (I used Wholefoods peanut butter)
  • 1 tsp dark chocolate chips

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OATS:

To prepare this delicious brekkie, your oats will need to be made the night before and left in the fridge overnight to set. Add all of your oats ingredients listed above, mix and pour into a bowl, glass, mug or whichever display jar tickles your pickle for the morning of devouring. I know, it can be a tad stressful to decide how a beautiful breakfast should be served, but once a decision has arisen, pop into the fridge and let your oats stand overnight. Fresh toppings to be added in the morning.

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Although, sometimes, one might prefer to add toppings the night before. This makes it easier to add a lid onto your jar of oats and allows for a quick grab out the fridge and off to work at whichever ungodly hour escaping needs to occur– yip, this happens to the best of us!  This way, you can feel more human eating breakfast when the sun comes up – WINNING!

TOPPINGS:

Add the toppings from the list above (cut your banana and strawberries into slithers) and plonk on top of your set oats, in the morning, or evening –  whichever floats your boat.

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Serve with your cup of morning coffee at home or the office and enjoy!

Happy breakfasting!

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Until next time,

Mycaila-Jade

xxx

CHOCOLATE CHIP PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES [SUGAR FREE]

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Are you ready for a “healthier” take on the ever so loved and oh so classical peanut butter cookies? Well my friends, you’ve come to the right place! Today I will be sharing one of my secret homemade recipes which will HOPEFULLY have you going as nutty as I do when I indulge in such treats.

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One of my favourite things about this recipe is that it’s sugar free which is always a winner in my books and can  make a fabulous  snack not only for yourself, but for the kids too!  Alright, shall we get started?

INGREDIENTS: (enough to make about 12 cookies)

  • 1 happy chicken egg
  • 58g raw rolled oats
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 4 tbsp agave nectar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
  • 4 tbsp peanut butter
  • ½ cup dark chocolate chips

WHAT TO DO:

Combine all dry ingredients and mix together.

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Next, add your happy chicken egg and agave nectar and mix together until combined.

I hope you have your arms prepared for the next bit because it requires some voluntary elbow grease. Yip, I bet you never thought that peanut butter cookies would cause some arm cardio! Add the peanut butter & chocolate chips and fold into the rest of the mixture until all is combined. Just a little FYI – this took me a while, but I found that a fork worked better than a spoon.

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Time to give your arms a break and set the mixture in the fridge to chill for 30 min.

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius about 15 minutes before taking your mixture out of the fridge and line a baking tray with baking paper.

Scoop a cherry tomato sized amount of cookie dough out of your bowl, roll into a ball, and press down with a fork or spoon on the tray. Repeat this until your mixture is finished and pop in the oven to be baked for 12 minutes. The mixture will change to a golden brown colour when ready. Place your golden brown cookies on a rack to cool. Leave the biscuits in for a few extra minutes if you are wanting a good crunch.

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TOP SECRET: While your cookies are cooling down, stick a few chocolate chips on the tops for decoration.

Serve and enjoy with a cup of tea! YUMMMMMY!!

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Until next time

Mycaila-Jade

xxx

THE VEGAN CHOCOLATE CAKE

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Chocolate and vegan in the same sentence? Say what? Best you believe it because it’s about to happen.

If you are a humble chocolate cake lover, but don’t quite enjoy the calories that come with it, try this easy vegan recipe and enjoy a guilt free slice of spongy goodness.

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INGREDIENTS:

  • 200g flour
  • 35g raw cocoa
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 70g maple syrup
  • 80g apple puree/sauce
  • 50g grated 70% Lindt dark chocolate
  • 1 cup almond milk (Almond breeze)
  • 100ml water
  • coconut oil for greasing

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WHAT TO DO:

Before beginning with this recipe, make sure you have preheated your oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease your cake tin with a pinch of coconut oil.

This has got to be the easiest cake recipe to date, so if you’re not quite Jamie Oliver in the kitchen, don’t stress. Let’s just say if I can do it, so can you!

Mix all of the above ingredients together, adding each ingredient slowly, one by one and beat/mix with a hand whisk until all lumps and bumps have disappeared.

After that, simply pour your mixture into your greased tin and bake for 35-40 minutes.

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TOPPING/” ICING”:

  • 100g chocolate (Lindt 70% dark chocolate)

While your cake is cooling down on a grill rack, break your slab of chocolate into squares and melt in a bowl, over a pot of boiling water. When melted, pour/drizzle over your cake when placed on a serving stand. Add a sprinkle of almonds as a finishing touch and for decoration.

Finally, serve, and ENJOY!

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Until next time,

Mycaila-Jade

xxx