Plantain 'Cakes'

I got this recipe idea on Friday while I was in the changing room at the gym :) The TV chef used potatoes and I thought, "This would definitely work with plantain".

And of course... it did :)

FYI: I'm Nigerian and I love plantain :)

Ingredients
2 eggs
2 plantains
1 red bell pepper
Quarter of an onion
2 small tins of mackerel (fresh fish is ideal but I had none at home)
I used no seasoning because plantains are naturally sweet.

Plantain 'Cakes'

1. Cut the plantains into three pieces each (leaving the skin on). Add to a pot and add enough to cover the plantain halfway (max). Boil on medium to high heat for 15-20 mins.
2. Chop the 1/4 onion into small pieces, same goes for the bell pepper.
3. Remove plantain from pot and peel. Add the pieces to a big mixing bowl.
4. Break an egg into the bowl, add the chopped onion and pepper. Mix contents with a wooden spoon, the result should be very thick.
5. Take a handful of the mix and roll into a ball, then into a square/cube shape. continue till done with the mix. (I made 3 large 'cakes')
6. Add a teaspoon of olive oil to a pan and fry the onions in the pan. When brown, toss them out.
7. Add the cakes to the pan and pan fry on low to medium heat. the cube shape comes in handy because you are able to turn it on all six sides. It took a total of 10 minutes to cook.
8. Fry the egg and serve with a cake (as seen in the pictures).

Serving suggestions:

• I served mine with an egg (runny, which I like and which is how the potato cakes were served on TV)
• Serve with Quick Stew (Recipe: HERE)

Alternatives:

• I'm going to try baking it in the oven next time :)
• Use vegetables of your choice, I'm going to try spinach next.
• You can use sweet potato, butternut squash, etc.
• I also made a butternut squash version which I rolled into small balls and oven-baked on medium heat for 15 minutes. Again, I boiled the squash before mixing with other ingredients:

Home-made Sugar Face Scrub

**To all the men who are about to ignore this post, you have to know Keris made this scrub for Matt last weekend and he couldn't stop raving about how nice his skin felt. There's nothing wrong with a man who takes care of his skin so... read it** :)

One of the advantages of using simple home-made products is I know exactly what it's in it, no weird ingredients that I can't pronounce or would have to Google.

I've slowly become more conscious of what I put into and onto my body, especially in the last year.

Last year, Keris attended an eye opening course, made some changes to her diet (more organic food less processed rubbish), hair/skin products (funny thing is I knew a lot about this already but had so much more to learn) and just generally more aware of everything she ate, used, etc. Lucky for me, I'd already adopted some of the new habits she formed a while back so I was happy to acquire even more knowledge <-- Thanks Keris!

Late last year, I went to the States to spend Christmas with my Sister and the first thing I noticed when she picked me up from the airport was how much her skin was GLOWING! My Sister has had on and off skin problems for years and she has tried so many skin products and treatments, not have been successful long term. Last year she started doing some research and followed some blogs of ladies who took care of their skin with natural, homemade products. Her skin has totally transformed, it's amazing!

Funny thing was I'd heard of these methods and had actually tried one of them but didn't keep it up for reasons I can't recall now. Some of them are:

• Using oil to clean the face - yes, oil! This is another blog post in itself
• Oil as a moisturiser... yep, you read right OIL.
• Using a homemade scrub to exfoliate <--- Reason for this post.
• Fuller's Earth Powder mask (this is an Indian earth powder) to deeply cleanse the skin

Once I got back from my Xmas break, I went out and bought grapeseed oil to use as my face moisturiser and some fuller's earth powder from an indian store and decided to try it out and I haven't looked back :)

I'm loving the results! I know I didn't start out with spots but I have always had dry skin so no matter what soap/wash I use for my face, it always feels super dry after washing. Now sometimes I forget to moisturise until a couple of hours after! For me, that's HUGE!

• My face cleansing oil is a mix of Castor Oil and Sweet Almond Oil (I'll blog about this next week)
• Moisturiser - Grapeseed Oil

The first time I used this scrub, I couldn't stop stroking my cheeks, lol! My skin was baby soft... seriously!

I aim to use this once a week.

5 tablespoons of Brown sugar with 7-8 tablespoons of EVOO Oil and store in a glass jar.

• I apply to my dry face and *gently* massage in circular motions... I do this for a few minutes and rinse with lukewarm water.
• Then I soak a face towel in hot water and place it on my face for about a minute - during this time, the excess oils are being removed.
• I rinse the face towel and repeat a couple more times.
• Then I do a quick *cold rinse* to close my pores.
• Dry my face and apply my moisturiser (grapeseed oil).

There'll be more posts on natural and/or home-made skin and hair care from me :)

Show Me Your Exercise Face...

I’ve given up on trying to look presentable when I train…. There’s just no hope for me. I sweat like a MAN... and although some may say I am as strong as a man ;-). I think I don’t look like one (shut up Matt!). Also, I’m always the first to give up, my excuse used to be I have no endurance but now I know I’m just lazy!

Keris, cutie pie that she is, has the most ridiculous workout face – she looks scary (This picture is more like her singing face - she can't sing!)

but honestly she is cute:

Matt is special when he trains… he has to be “in the zone” so ignores anyone who talks to him during his training sessions… or maybe that’s just me? And when he’s training as part of a class… that’s a whole other story *ahem*

Katie… I wish I could say a bad word about how she looks when she’s training but I couldn't even if I tried. She sweats like I dream of sweating (yuck that reads wrong). She has the sheen we see in magazines and adverts, making exercise look very attractive. Aaaarrggggh!!! Why not me!?


Monica made me laugh during the Tuesday evening Kettlebell Bootcamp – she had this serious look of concentration on her face, haha! Usually she just looks adorable.

Don’t get me started on Jonathan – he looks picture perfect all the d**n time! Even when he’s sweating buckets, his hair is still in place.

Phill, haha! During Keris’ Kettlebell Class on Thursday morning, at one point he was bright red in the face, huffing and puffing while doing seesaw presses. I couldn’t help it – I burst out laughing! Luckily I wasn’t taking part in the class, else I’d have dropped a kettlebell on my head!

Other sweaty Fitter Londoners...

Sweatyyyyy Paul: No he didn't empty a bucket of water all over himself ;-)

Dreamy Jack: Why should anyone look this beautiful especially while training?!?!?!?

Mr Triceps... Chris!

John, new addition to the Fitter London family but he's here to stay :)


Martyn (who's my nomination for the next Fitter Londoner of the week):


And... cheeky Martin!

I love this picture of the girls:


There are many pictures where these came from, so if you think you escaped - your picture will most likely be up next time ;-)

The least favourite part of my training...

... is very important but painfully (really!) boring!

I know I *have* to stretch after my training sessions and this is not because Katt recommend it or because I've been taught and told it's necessary. BUT because I learned the hard way....

I ran the Royal Parks Half Marathon last year - I'm very proud of that achievement - and the last thing on my mind after struggling past the finish line was cooling down or stretching. All I wanted to do was get my medal and my goody (rubbish) bag, find my way home, eat a whole chicken from Nandos (ok, I was only able to eat half because I was exhausted), shower and go to sleep... and that's exactly what I did.

I woke up with aching, heavy legs the next morning and barely made it to work. I was proud of my aches and pains because it was proof I ran a HALF MARATHON (woohoo!)! I was not pleased when my knee suddenly hurt like hell (stick with me and you'll get used to Adura the Drama Queen) when I landed heavily while taking part in one of our classes. I thought I had damaged my knee permanently and stopped high impact exercises... including my favourite: running :/

After a week of the pain not subsiding, I followed much needed advice and went to see a Physiotherapist and surprise surprise - my knee wasn't the problem! My ITB (Illio Tibial Band) was very tight and my Gluteus Medius was weak (I was surprised by this and if you know me, you'll understand why). This meant I was overcompensating with the wrong muscle groups while doing many exercises. I was given boring homework - I had to stretch and foam roll everyday (to ease out the knots and tightness in my ITB & calves most especially) and do certain exercises to strengthen/awaken my gluteus medius.

Those were the most boring weeks of my life but after only 2-3 weeks, my knee wasn't hurting even a tiny bit and my Gluteus Med & Max (the sleeping giants) were finally awoken ;-)

So the moral of the story is:

• Always include stretching, SMR (Self Myofascial Release) or what I still don't feel comfortable doing (mainly because I am always the least flexible one) - Yoga or Pilates in your training regimen. Sports massages are very effective too and I try to make sure I get 1 at least once every 4-6 weeks.
• If you have an injury, don't assume it's just that, there's most likely a less obvious cause than you think - consult a professional.
  

I really needed to do this write up cos I have not been listening to my own advise so...

Now that I'm done with this post, it's foam rolling time - just what anyone would like to do on a Sunday night while watching 'While You Were Sleeping' (It's on Sky, it would be wrong not to watch it!) ;-)

For more information on SMR, and to purchase a Foam Roller, speak to a member of the Fitter London Team. Instructional videos on Foam Rollers will be posted very soon on the Fitter London YouTube Channel.

It's not only about exercise, it's more about what you eat!

I took this picture of my waist/stomach (I couldn't button up these jeans and I was inspired to post a future 'before picture') on the 4th of January 2010 and wasn't pleased:

Why? I know the pictures above don't look so bad considering I used to be overweight (I'm the one on the right):


But in January 2010 I was training 5 days a week and should have looked liked it!

I grudgingly accepted that the culprit was..... MY DIET(!!)

My typical day started with a pre-workout snack - a banana. Post workout, I'd have five oatcakes (cos I felt I deserved it)..... Then the killer was - I got to work and had a HUGE bowl of porridge with milk (of course) and a very generous helping of Agave Nectar (healthier option to honey right? Not in the proportions I was having!). I usually had white rice (with veg and chicken - good) for lunch and I won't even go into my weekend treats. I did all this because I was a regular @ the gym and I thought I could afford to eat whatever I wanted. I was WRONG.

After making a few changes to my diet (which I'll go into in the following weeks), I sometimes catch myself staring at my abs (I think I can call my tummy that now, yay!) and loving what I see. Yes I'm almost as arrogant as Matt ;-) And I can fit into those jeans perfectly now :)

I haven't taken any pictures in a few months but I remember seeing this comparison pic in May (both taken in May) and realising I was on to a winner:



I'll be back with more details and pictures next week.

--
Adura