Courgetti, I love you!

My latest food obsession is courgetti. A courgette chopped into thin strips to look like spaghetti, tastes delish, surprisingly filling and low carb. Whats not to like?

I first tried this a few weeks ago and since then I have made it loads. I was using my bog standard vegetable peeler which was making thicker ribbons, so more along the lines of courgatelle. I then found this handy contraption on Amazon. A Kitchen Basics Spiral Slicer. It cost around a tenner including postage so more than I would spend on your average vegetable peeler but I thought I would order one and give it a go anyway.

 Its really pretty simple to use. You just put the courgette in and twist it. It works a bit like a cheese/vegetable grater but your twisting it instead of pushing it up and down. A few twists and out comes your courgetti - easy peasy! There are two different sides each with different sizes so if you want thicker vegetable strips, then you just use the other side. I used the thin side to get what you see pictured below.

The only flaw that I found was with the cap that comes with it (pictured below) according to the instruction manual its supposed to be attached as the vegetable is getting shorter to help you use the whole vegetable without risking slicing your fingers. I tried doing this but at first it took a few attempts to get the courgette to stay on the pin and then when I put it onto the slicer to twist it, well it just didn't work at all really. It just sat on the top of the slicer, so not going any further in than my hand would be able to. So I didn't really understand the whole point of this part to be honest. Also when I had attempted to use it and took the cap back off again the pin you use to attach  the vegetable actually snapped off. So its broken now anyway. Seeing as I found this part pretty useless though and im not likely to use it anyway I have decided to not bother sending it back. Im happy just to use it without the cap.

You obviously have to be very careful when washing it as its sharp so cleaning it out properly wasn't that easy, ended up just holding it under the running tap to rinse the stuck pieces of vegetables out.

Overall, I would say its a good invention and is likely to get plenty use in my kitchen. I would recommend it. The thin courgetti was a bit nicer than the thicker ribbons I had been making before, it was a bit crunchier and less soggy, so had a much nicer texture.

I used the courgetti I made to whip up this for my lunch and it was delicious. I just cooked the courgetti in a pan in a little coconut oil with some red onion and sliced red pepper. I like the peppers and onions crunchy and almost raw so if you prefer yours a bit softer then I would advise putting them in the pan before the courgetti as the courgetti only needs a couple of minutes to cook before it goes soggy. I then stirred through some homemade marinara sauce that I had stored in the fridge and I topped it with a grilled chicken breast and a little more sauce.

Absolutely beautiful!

Big changes ahead....

Today I am feeling very grateful for having a good man in my life, and even more grateful that said good man doesn't start his new job until next week. Yesterday I got back to my morning workouts after having a couple days off over the weekend as I wasn't feeling well. I guess I must have overdone it because today I can barely move. I seem to have pulled something in my back and im in absolute agony. On top of that little M decided he was going to go back to his 4.30am wake up habit and although I finally got him back over to sleep around 6am I am absolutely exhausted. So having hubby around today to help out with the kids and general things around the house is amazing.  Last year thanks to the joys of the RAF and his exit date being pushed back, a couple of months of living apart turned into a whole year of him working 400 miles away and only being home when he had leave or on occasional weekends. So actually being able to just have someone around to help out when im feeling like this is such a treat. Normally its a case of just shut up and get on with it. He has been home with us for a couple of months now and its been so lovely having him around, the boys have absolutely loved it.  E has especially loved having daddy taking him to and from nursery and hubby has enjoyed the novelty of being able to do such a simple task that many of us take for granted.

It is on a day like today that I am sharply reminded of the fact that on Monday reality will hit us all with a bang as hubby starts his new job. It will be a case of straight back in at the deep end as his first week means he will be away for the entire week training. This new job is also going to bring some big changes for us all. We will be moving away from the sleepy little town where we live quite literally across the road from my parents. We will be moving to a larger town than where we live now, close to the city. I can't tell you how excited I am about not having to do a 1 hour drive (and then the same back again) to just get new shoes for my children! I am trying not to get too excited about the prospect of having better shops nearby and being closer to civilisation in general though, as before I can go shopping and get settled into a new routine there is a ridiculously long list of things to do in preparation for the move.

I already got the ball rolling last week by calling around schools in the area we are looking at to find out if any of the school nurseries have places. Thankfully quite a few of them do. Today I called around some estate agents and arranged some house viewings and then arranged some viewings at the nurseries who have places and that are closest to the properties we are viewing. We have been very honest with our 3 year old about the move and I have to say im really proud of how grown up he is being about it all so far. We asked him if he would like to come view the nurseries with us and of course he does so we will take him with us and hopefully seeing first hand what he will be going to will make leaving his current nursery a lot easier. He says "I will miss my nursery friends, but I will make brand new friends!" I do love how 3 year olds have the ability to see the positive in everything. Hoping it will make this whole process a lot easier. He loves his current nursery/school as do we, its also the school I myself attended so will be a bit of a change for both of us.

So im a big mixed bag of anxiety and excitement. We shall see what Friday brings. Hopefully we will find a house we like and we will be one step closer to our new chapter.

Clean eating flashbacks....

As  I have mentioned before I have been clean eating for almost a year now and im still constantly looking for new inspiration and ideas and im learning new things all the time. One of the places I have found most of my inspiration from for this has been Instagram. Its been great seeing other people posting pictures of their journeys and has really helped to motivate and inspire me. I have decided to create a seperate instagram for this blog as I want to keep some seperation from my personal account so I thought I would go through my old page and pick out just a few of my favourite clean eating meals and snacks that I have posted photographs of from the last few months. All photos are my own. Here is a couple for now.  I will post more in time. 

First up is one of my favourite breakfasts (or sometimes lunch)
 
1 slice of wholegrain toast
 topped with half of an avocado mashed
 2 slices of bacon
 2 poached eggs
 Raw Spinach
Cherry tomatoes

If I want to have a low carb breakfast I just skip the bread and have slices of avocado instead of  having it mashed. So simple, so filling and so yum!

Next up is a flash back to one of my favourite snacks of last summer. So simple to make and so refreshing and filling. Watermelon, feta, and rocket mixed up in a bowl with a squeeze of lime juice and a few sprigs of fresh mint leaves. It might sound like a bit of an odd combination but believe me it is to die for. Totally craving some right now. I can see some watermelon finding its way into the trolley during the next food shop!

I think thats enough from the clean eating time machine for now. If you like the look of these then keep your eye out for some more flashbacks soon.  

Supergreen Omelette

So I have been clean eating almost a year now, I will be honest not 100% of the time because well lets face it im only human but I would say im sticking to it about 90% of the time. This weekend though I have struggled. I feel really run down and poorly, I have not had the energy to do my daily workouts and I just want to comfort eat sugar, carbs and junk! I decided last night though that I was going to wake up with a fresh start and get back on it. Woke up still feeling run down, feverish and achey all over so decided to skip my usual pre breakfast HIIT workout to give my body a bit more time to recover and fight off whatever is making me feel this rubbish. I will however do my best to stay on track with the eating side of things.

So first battle was standing in the kitchen feeling awful and not knowing what to have for breakfast. I am up with my youngest son who demands that he wants "toast and paddington bear" in otherwords he wants toast and marmalade. Oh it smells so nice, I decide could just have some tea and toast. That will make me feel better. I then remember that a slice of toast wouldn't fill me up for even 5 minutes and decided to make one of my supergreen omelettes to try give myself a boost for the day.

Its simple and quick to make and super satisying on the hunger front. I just throw the ingredients in to a bowl whisk together, cook in a pan in a little coconut oil until the bottom side is cooked and then I put the pan under the grill for a few minutes to cook it through and thats it. Ingredient list today was

3 eggs
Broccoli
Feta cheese
Spinach
Green beans
and some cherry tomatoes served on the side.

As tempting as that toast and marmalade was im glad I have gone for this option! Feeling better already! 

 

Got to start somewhere....

So I started this blogging thing almost 3 years ago when my eldest son was only months old and as much as I enjoyed it I never really stuck it out. Having debated the subject with myself back and forth on numerous occasions over the last couple years I've decided to give this blogging thing another go. I have a lot to say for myself, I love writing and especially love a good rant so why the hell not. What mum of two doesn't need a place to vent these days eh?

A lot has changed since the last time I blogged. The last post being about the very first time my then 9 month old son crawled. He's now 3 and a half, very loud, very energetic and way too switched on and clever than any 3 year old needs to be! He is also now a big brother. I now have two son's. My youngest will be 2 next month, and is very different to his brother in both looks and personality.  He's a lot quieter than his brother for a start but he's the one to watch, he uses his quiet and well behaved trait to sneak off for a stealth attack, he doesn't strike often but when he does its epic! The other man in my life is my husband. We've been married for 5 and half years now and been together for almost 8. He's my rock, my best friend. He's been in the Royal Air Force since before I met him so we've always been a military family but he's recently just moved on from that life and is about to start a new job which will see us all moving again and having a new start in a new town. Very exciting times ahead.

Aswell as all off the above my posts will probaby be related to my latest love that is the discovery of "clean eating". I'm still learning all about it but have recently incorporated this in to my lifestyle and I'm absolutely loving it. Im also exercising more than I ever have since I was in school and loving that too. I'm like a different person! Anyway im rambling now. It's getting late and I just wanted to at least start my blog so I don't talk myself out of the idea of writing one again! Heres to all my future stories of eating kale and creating chaos with my boys! 😉