How to eat healthily at work...

Sorry for not posting in a week or so, I have returned home for the summer from uni and have been back at work full time and going back and forth to uni to sort bits out. Anyway, being at uni is so easy to organise meals as you are home for the majority of the day, you can be creative with food especially lunch. The one thing I hate about working full time, is the lunch restrictions. I don't want to spend an arm and a leg at the canteen and I don't want to eat their horrible greasy disgusting food. So I have to take in my own. I make sure I prepare it the night before so I am not rushing in the morning before the gym. The only thing I make in the morning is my protein smoothie, just so its fresh and hasn't separated so I can drink it straight after my workout.

So here is a little sneak peek into the food i take everyday.

I usually have granola, yoghurt and fruit for my breakfast. Sometimes I will have fridge oats or porridge depending on how I feel. I just really like the freshness of granola and yoghurt.

At the moment I am heavily into big salads for lunch. I mix it up with avocado, chicken, salmon etc. The basis of my salad is always mixed leaves and spinach, tomatoes, cucumber, mixed seeds and cottage cheese. I like the cottage cheese almost as my dressing, its full of protein and gives the salad a different texture. I like to cook my chicken with the skin on but I take it off before eating as it really isn't that good for you, however tasty it may be.

I always take lots of fruit with me or carrot sticks etc for snacking. I find the more snacks take in the more choice I have and the less likely I am to snack on the biscuits and cakes. But overall, I think the key is preparation. Make ahead and then you have no excuses not to eat healthily.

Bacon up a storm...

So in an attempt to look good on the beach in the summer I have been attempting to eat more healthily. I love to cook and although where I live at the moment does't have the ideal cooking conditions, I have managed to cook up a few culinary delights. The most recent was a lovely soup which was possibly the cheapest soup ever made after a trip to the reduced section of the supermarket (a personal favourite of mine).


-the images don't really do it justice...





























Leek, potato and bacon soup!


Serves 4


Ingredients:


3 Large leeks,
5 Large potatoes,
8 rashers streaky bacon,
1 onion,
2 vegetable stock cubes,
seasonings 
       - I used rosemary, a small pinch of mixed herbs, salt and pepper
a small drizzle of cream to serve.


Basically in a large pan i fried off the onions and half the bacon together, when starting to colour I added in the leeks and potato and fried for a further 5 to 10 minutes depending on how hot you have the pan. I then placed a lid on the pan and let the contents sweat over a low heat. 


After this, i crumbled the stock cubes and seasoning into the pan and stirred allowing them to coat the vegetables. I don't mix my stock prior to adding it to the soup as i like to get all the flavour but control the thickness. So gradually add hot water until you get the desired consistency. If you find it is too thick after blending, you can add more water. 


Allow the vegetables to simmer until tender and take from the heat. Once it has cooled slightly pour into the blender until you get the constancy you want and then return it to the pan. Re heat and then pour into bowls. I had some cream left over so just put a small drizzle on top but you don't really need it as the potatoes give it a nice creamy texture. I then added some more crispy bacon to the top and served with some warm bread. Yum Yum!!


You can freeze the left-overs or eat for lunch the next day.