Spicy Chick Pea Burgers

You might think there's no point even attempting these as they'll take ages. But they took me about 20minutes to knock up after coming home starving having play 2hrs of volleyball after a 6mile hill run. Give them a go, they're delicious.

Ingredients
3/4 can of chickpeas
Fresh coriander
sliced spring onions
finely chopped carrot
sprinkle of turmeric
fresh lemon juice
2dsp of cooked wholegrain rice (or use quinoa - i needed my carbs!)
small Bird's Eye Chilli, finely chopped (or to taste)
Polenta grains for dusting
Mash of whizz up the chickpeas in food processor. Add the veggies and turmeric and stir. sprinkle uncooked polenta or cornmeal on a chopping board. Shape the patties (sld make two) and roll in the polenta. Using a tiny bit of oil or dry fry the patties, cook until browned. serve with a veggie salad dressed with lemon juice.
Don't be afraid to experiment - you can whack any old veggie in there -as long as it fits the FB eating principles of course!

A hard won breakfast

Dinner used to be my favourite meal of the day, but now breakfast wins by a mile. There is nothing like eating that first meal of the day after you've exercised. After doing Fitbitch this morning, I did my own workout although admittedly, this brekkie tasted all the more amazing as the blackberries were hand picked from Devil's Dyke in yesterday's sunshine.
Although, before you get the image of me looking all monthly magazine shoot with wicker basket in one hand, flowers in my hair (why do they always style shoots like that? As if...) I went up in Haviana flip flops and board shorts. Not sensible when trying to pick blackberries out of tangled bushes.
Cue me standing on one foot, trying to lean up and over a particularly thorny bush and nearly toppling headlong into the whole damn patch. But yes, these devilish black berries were well worth it. Give it another 10 days and these will be falling into your hands from the bushes.

Summer days

There is nothing better than eating outside, and when the weather is as good as it has been recently there's no excuse not to.
I know you may get home late from work, you've got a family and all manner of excuses. But it takes 30mins to get your stuff together and it really is worth it.
Last night, myself and friends got a cheap supermarket disposable BBQ (no Sunday supplement images of candy pink bbq bucket and Kath Kidstone style rugs here!) and headed off to the beach with fresh seabass wrapped in foil with lemon juice and salt and pepper, corn on the cob and a few salads that took us minutes to prepare.

Corn on the Cob
Whack it on the bbq turning frequently to ensure the chargrilled effect doesn't turn into blackened. Then soak in salted water - delicious! Never tried this before but it was a tip from my Iranian flatmate who says they apparently do this on the streets of Tel Aviv.

Carrot Salad
Sliced carrots, lightly boiled in salted water.
1 onion
Tumeric
Fresh coriander
Lemon juice
Mustard seeds
Dried apricots diced, or sultanas
Saute the onions in a spritz of low cal spray or in stock if on FB level one. Add tumeric powder (add to taste - I added about 2tsps) until onion is well coated. It dries out quickly so keep adding lemon juice and water. Add the carrots and dried fruit and stir until well combined. Add the fresh herbs right at the last minute once the heat has been turned off.

Leek and tomato salad
Tomatoes
Leek, thinly sliced
Fresh dill
Fresh mint

Combine all together and dress with fresh lime juice. That's it!

Mmmm Mondays...

First up on my 'planned list' to eat last night was a Chilli Bean Frittata - and I have to say it was delicious.
Made with three eggs plus three egg whites, it was big enough for two people or works as a dinner and lunch for the next day. Best of all, it packs a powerful protein punch while being low in calories and fat.
Egg whites contain just 16 calories but contain high concentrations of important amino acids which are vital to help muscles repair and recover after exercise. All that aside, in this recipe they make the frittata deliciously light and helps it to cook really quickly.
Ingredients
1 onion
1 red pepper
1 Birds Eye Chilli (or to taste)
Fresh mint and coriander
1 tin of sweet corn
3 eggs
3 egg whites

using a squitz of 1 cal cooking oil, saute onions, chilli and pepper and then add the corn. Remove from heat and place in a bowl.
Whisk the whole eggs and beat the egg whites separately until they form soft peaks. combine the two egg mixtures and whisk again to combine, then pour into the bowl with the veggies and stir. It will now look disgusting. But don't worry!
Resquirt the frying pan, heat and pour in the egg mixture. Sprinkle with the fresh herbs and cook on a medium heat - it should take literally minutes but you'll be able to tell as you'll see the sides of the egg mixture coming away from the pan.
Using a plate, upend the frying pan onto the plate and then carefully slide it back into the frying pan to finish off. Serve with a fresh watercress, spinach and rocket salad with balsamic. Delice!

Plan your figure future

You rush in from work starving and grab the first thing that looks yummy. Bread slathered in bread and butter perhaps? Or come lunchtime, after having worked through without a snack, you nip to Pret A Manger. Except, your determination had to buy a skimmed milk coffee and a crayfish salad with no dressing goes out the window.
Instead, as you guiltily brush off the crumbs you realise you've wolfed down a cheese sandwich or a pastry without even realising. Sound familiar?
Most diets fall down simply due to lack of planning. You might think that planning your diet is a bit much. Yet everything that is important in life - career, a summer holiday, even a party is usually planned or thought about. So, why not put some thought into your diet on a weekly basis, particularly when your body shape or fitness (or lack of) can improve every aspect of your life if you get it right?
By planning, it doesn't mean calorie counting as who can be bothered with all that. Yet setting out snacks, breakfasts, lunches and dinners and ensuring you've got the right food in the house means you are much less likely to come a cropper.
Today, I was lucky enough to have some leftovers in my fridge when I came in from a full on training session involving 500m sprints, squats, sits ups and pulls ups.
A delicious lentil and quinoa spicy salad with a poached egg was the perfect recovery meal. Without it, I would no doubt have shoved something unhealthy in my gob.
For the rest of the week though, I'm planning - give or a take any spontaneous event to eat the following. How about you?
I will blog the recipes for the some of these so keep your eye on the blog/twitter.

Brekkies
Poached eggs on Rye
Porridge with yoghurt
Scrambled eggs with spinach
Muesli with yoghurt & fruit

Lunches
Spinach avocado and grapefruit salad
Lentil Sambar
Thai cucumber Salad
2 x eat out



Dinner
Black Bean and Corn Spicy Frittata
Bean Burgers with Cabbage salad
Lemon Sole with capers
Bass with butter beans and tomatoes
1 x eat out

snacks
Spiced plum and orange yoghurt ripple with poppy seeds
ryvita/cottage cheese
plums, blackberries, apples, pears, melon
skimmed milk protein shake

Fitbitches getting out there...

This weekend saw real breakthroughs for so many Fitbitch graduates. Gilly, who is midway through her second level one bootcamp took on her first Hove Park 5km run. Belinda, who has graduated to Level 2 went sub 30mins for the first time which is an amazing achievement. And Tanya, mum of one who started boot camp never having done much sport took on her first Triathalon in Seaford. While done at Nivea Yellowave, Thurka from Fitbitch two plus others competed in a national Beachfest. well done all of you!
If you're new to boot camp or thinking of trying one, you may think there's no way you can imagine yourself doing any of these things. But that's exactly what most of those who are now out there doing it once thought.
Fitbitch Boot Camp is not intended to be a camp that you tries to make as much money out of you as possible. The aim is to get you all up to SuperFitbitch level and wanting to do sport yourself simply for the enjoyment of it, not simply for weightloss reasons. If you start off doing it because you want to lose weight then that's good enough. But as unlikely as it may seem to some of you, as a Fitbitch graduate you will get to the point where it's about fitness too.
Aside for all of that, it's good to try new things particularly as you get older and your social circles and everything else tend to get smaller and smaller. Try one new thing and it's amazing the ripple effect that you can have on your life.
Last week, I tried sea kayaking for the first time, not sure what my next thing is going to be...paddleboarding probably. But if you live in Brighton & Hove or anywhere else for that matter there is so much on your doorstep.

Fitbitch Queen

IN three months, Belinda's dropped almost three stone. Although the aim of boot camp is to transform you all into Fitbitches so I'm just excited that Belinda has gone from never having run to running 5k races every week and taking on a 10k challenge, I know that for many the initial motivation for getting fit is dropping a dress size. So, here's proof anything is possible. Read the post below for Belinda's diet examples.

How Fitbitch works...

You have no doubt all heard me bang on about the fact that it's not enough to just do the fitness side of boot camp if you're looking for lasting weight loss. It will transform your fitness levels, improve your heart health and turn you into Fitbitches. But for real shape transformation you have to follow the tenets of the Fitbitch Eating Plan.
Make-up artist Belinda, is testament to that as since starting boot camp in April she's lost almost 3 stone in 12 weeks, dropping from 13st 7lb when she started to 10st 13lb.
Many of you have asked for her diet plan but there are no secrets there. Belinda has completely embraced the Fitbitch eating tenets and experimented so it has become a whole new world of culinary exploration rather than a boring old diet.
But to give you some idea of her eating plan, she's kindly shared some samples of what she has eaten over the weeks.

Breakfasts
Porridge made with water with apple and blackberries. Americano with skimmed milk.
Oats soaked overnight with strawberries and blackberries and 1tbsp of no fat Greek yoghurt.
2 slices of Rye bread with poached eggs and spinach

Lunches: Slicked smoked swhicken with cucumber and tomatoes
Tuna with cannelini beans, artichoke hearts, watercress with lemon juice, cider vinegar and parsley dressing.
Two baked portabella mushrooms stuffed with garlic, chilli, coriander and lemon juice.

Dinners
Grilled chicken breast with artichoke hearts, rocket and balsamic. With minted yoghurt dressing for the chicken.
Fillet steak with seared asparagus, rocket salad and balsamic.
Steamed monk fish with cabbage, carrots, rocket and tomato salad.

Snacks
Strawberries, berries, apples, ryvita with low fat cottage cheese, mi so soup.