All posts filed under: Photography

Healthy Living Challenge:Day 7-Healthier Alternatives

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I am using the few minutes left of Emma’s afternoon nap time to pass on my own burger recipes. Burger, you will say, isn’t this supposed to be one of the highest in saturated fat dinners you could have? Actually no, not when you make yours out of lean breast meat turkey, add a little bit of Cheddar cheese and absolutely no extra oil or fat. Alex loves them and I started making them in the summer in Greece because there were so many fresh flavours I could add to my burgers! Mint, fresh peppers, feta, hot chillies, fresh eggs…could you actually keep that a secret from Alex, he doesn’t really like eggs :-). Once we were back in Ireland I had to come up with other flavoursome ingredients to satisfy our tastes buds. It helped to find people who love good food and blog about it, like Things My Belly Likes, writing about their own versions of a tasty turkey burger so after taking some more ideas, adapting and blending I came up with …

Healthy Living Challenge: Day 5 – Another Dimension

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I am only now starting to realise how much I know about dieting and nutrition. Since hubby went on a dieting bender three years ago I have been accumulating- willingly or not- a lot of information about dieting. It happened mostly because I did the cooking and the portioning (at some point he lived for entire months on microscopical 100g portions of lean meat and wholegrain rice !!). Then when we travelled to see his family I noticed his brother eating an equally strict but slightly more varied diet, including “good” fats like peanut butter, tahini and fruit. Needless to say they  were both the beaux of the beach wherever we went and got all the attention but many times I wondered at what cost. Well, I got my answer this weekend when hubby had what I called a “48-hour body shut down.” He had felt tired and slightly run down for a month with a couple of bouts of cold but then we attributed it to work stress. What I never expected was for  …

Healthy Living Challenge: Day 3 – Salad Day

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Day three has started well, I have waaaaay more energy than I used to have just a couple of days ago, so by 11 o’clock I had cleaned the house, did ALL my ironing and made two  yummy healthy salads!! The first was a wild rocket, giant prawn and avocado salad. I was quite ravenous at 11, when I finished the housework and felt like having some protein so the prawns in the freezer came to mind. I added a drop(literally) of olive oil in a pan, a cube of frozen garlic and one of frozen chilli(Tesco does them and I find them amazingly handy and use them in almost everything) and threw the rinsed prawns in with a bit of salt and pepper. I left them long enough to change colour but no longer as they can easily overcook. Threw them on a bed of wild rocket and added some avocado, following the advice about good fat I received the other day. I found it delicious and I enjoyed the various textures put together, …

40 Day Healthy Living Challenge

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Okay, this week I noticed I have put weight on. Again. I know, I know, all those months of quasi-hibernation and comfort eating do just that but I think enough is enough. Need to turn this around. I have done it before in the past with diet and exercising and I have decided to set myself up for a challenge. Do just that for 40 days. Why 40? Because I remember my mum trying to fast when I was young for the whole 40 days of the Orthodox pre-Easter period and I think it’s as good a number as any. So here is what I need. I need people to join in and keep me accountable as I have come to agree with Hubby and believe that real friends are the ones who know the truth about yourself and spur you on to change when change is needed. I need advice. So if you have been on a balanced weight loss program and it has worked for you, I would like to hear your tips. …

Happy love day!

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I won’t say happy Valentine’s Day due to this reminder I saw on Facebook a few minutes ago of where Valentine’s day originates from: I just wanted to say: Enjoy your relationship at whatever level it’s at.If you’re a busy mum who can hardly find time to squeeze in a couple of kind words to hubby in the evening before collapsing in bed(like I am), do just that and accept this is reality for the moment and one day things will be better. As a couple we have seen many highs and lows in our almost seven years of marriage but the most important lesson we have learnt is that sticking together is sometimes the only thing we can do to show each other we care. The lows soon end, the highs don’t last but love in its nitty gritty form of a common me and a common you is the most beautiful thing on earth.