SUPER SPECIAL CHEAT MEAL

Thank you so much for all the comments to my previous post! One of the best thing about this blogging hobby is definitely interaction with you all. On the Finnish blogs that I follow (or I try to follow, I've been useless at it all year but getting better now that I have more time) I've noticed a very unpleasant and also rather odd phenomenon... When you talk about food or exercise you receive a lot of nasty comments. People get awfully angry over it. I fail to understand why but nevertheless I was very happy to not receive any. All the comments were so thoughtful and smart. They made my day.

I mentioned in that post that I'd tell you about my cheat meal last week. This was the setting I had it in. In the most beautiful little hillside village between Nice and Monaco called Eze. In Eze there is the most beautiful restaurant called La Chevre D'Or. I have spent many summers in the South of France already but had never made the effort to dine there before. Mostly due to the fact that the menu is fine dining and it's not the kind of thing my other half and I normally go for. However my Mother-In-Law and I made a pact that this summer the two of us wouldn't just stick to our usual haunts but go and explore new restaurants. Small and big, near and a bit further, cheap and expensive, smart and casual... just everything. Well La Chevre D'Or ain't cheap and it ain't casual but it's an experience worth having. 

La Chevre D'Or is located in a small boutique hotel by the same name. Upon arrival you walk through their beautiful gardens overlooking the most stunning views over the Riviera.

My usual camera was out of action that evening but my backup one didn't do too bad of a job capturing this pink beauty!

My Mother-In-Law tried to get me to pose properly and position my feet the way they were told to position them in her modelling days. Ha, no chance of that! 

I was wearing my Issa dress from some years ago. It felt grown up and smart enough for the occassion.

How about this pose then? A school teacher comes to mind! (No offence to school teachers but you know what I mean... I hope!)

The views really were breathtaking. It's a shame that a camera can never capture it like your eye can.

Here she goes! She puts my poses to an absolute shame! What's also a shame is that you can't see her handbag more closely. It's the most beautiful, special edition Louis Vuitton little number from years ago. I can't stop drooling over when ever she wears it. It's incredibly impractical and only fits in credit cards and an iPhone, not even a lipstick but who cares, it looks the part!

The bar inside La Chevre D'Or.

And the bar outside. How lovely is that?

I can't even be bothered to say anything about my poses anymore. But cheers!

After enjoying a glass of champagne whilst enjoying the views we got seated to our table.

The restaurant itself is inside but the views are equally incredible and the room itself stunning. I didn't find the setting too stuffy either, which fine dining can often be.

Let's get started. Some amuse-bouche. I can't remember what they were exactly but I can remember that I ate them all with pleasure! 

The bread. I had already eaten half of it when it occurred to me to take a picture of it. Sorry. It looked much nicer whole. It had a pinch of lemon in it and it was warm and fresh and soft and salty. Amazing. And like I told you in the comments of my sugar addiction post (those comments are in Finnish though, sorry) I'm not a bread eater normally. This was no ordinary bread and well worth it.

Then onto the starters. I had foies gras. Kind of felt like the dish to have in a French fine dining restaurant. And good it was!

And then they brought us a little in-between-dish, which happened to also be Foies Gras... this time pan fried. Delicious.

Mother-In-Law's pigeon. 

And my lamb, which tasted incredible. 

Then... this dish would really deserve a little fanfare... The most unbelievable lemon dessert. The lemon is actually made of chocolate. White chocolate. Inside it there's the most delicious lemon... something. Custard, merengue, and all sorts of sugary, creamy goodness. I went for it based on our lovely waiter's recommendation and he was right indeed!

Here he is, with more sugary treats! Yes, I had one of these too. The chocolate one on the left. 

So that was my cheat meal. From beginning to finish. BUT... it didn't lead into a binge. The next morning I was back on my clean eating. I used to try and not eat pretty much anything the day after an indulgence like this and that's where I always went wrong. Hunger feeds sugar cravings. This time I started the day with a healthy breakfast of eggs and spinach.

I'm up late because I've just finished packing. I'm heading to London tomorrow! I can't wait! I have two reasons for my trip... To celebrate a close friend's 40th and to attend another friends' wedding. 

Minna x

WORKING IT

On my old blog I used to do food diary posts and talk a little bit about my workout routine. The reason that I haven't done it here yet is that in the past year or so my life has been so crazy and hectic that I very much fell off my routine and created a terrible cycle of dieting and bingeing. It was my decision that as soon as I'd get to France and start a quieter life I'd start training properly again and sort out my diet.

Before having children I never exercised properly. I'd go to the gym regularly for a month and then not go at all for two. And even when I went I fell into the category of women who read a paper whilst lazily pedalling away on a cross trainer, year after year, never seeing any changes in their body or fitness levels. I now know that it's impossible to read whilst working out! IF you're actually working out that is!

After having my first baby I quite quickly got into the best shape of my life. I was determined to shed the baby weight and I did that in a very well planned, healthy way rather than by starving myself. I also started training with a Personal Trainer and learned what it actually meant to work out. Most of my training was high intensity. I saw results quicker than I had ever expected and maintained my routine until I got pregnant again.

After my second baby I again lost most of the weight I had gained and was back in my old clothes in a matter of weeks. However I didn't get into the same workout routine and for some reason started having really bad sugar binges, which meant that I never lost the last few kilos. I can't remember when exactly they started but every week I was on a diet, eating clean for four days and bingeing for three. I worked out but due to one reason or another kept on changing gyms and routines and ended up not really training that hard or regularly. And even if I had it's impossible to out-train a bad diet!

Not being happy with your body is one thing but feeling terrible guilt over your eating is another. It makes you feel very low. This cycle continued on and off until now. Or I should say until a couple of weeks ago. In fact I can even tell you the date of my latest binge... it was exactly two weeks ago. Now you can laugh but this is the longest I have managed not to do it in two years. It's a start.

(Can you spot George the dog??)

I don't know what I weigh right now but I have a pair of trousers that I haven't been able to fit into since having my second child. I haven't been anywhere near able to do them up. After ten days of managing to stay off sugar and bingeing (I've started following James Duigan's clean eating principles and recipes again) plus training regularly in high intensity style (I've found an amazing Personal Trainer at a nearby gym) I decided to see how far I had to go to fit into them again and was so surprised when they slipped on comfortably! That's how bad sugar is for you!! Only ten days without it and my hips were a couple of centimetres smaller. And I do eat. I eat a breakfast, a snack, a lunch, a snack and a dinner every day. I cook everything in plenty of coconut oil, I pour olive oil in my salads and have avocado, nuts and full fat natural yogurt every single day. I just don't eat sugar and processed foods (they're all full of sugar anyway). Good fat doesn't make you fat, sugar does. I've known that for a long time and absolutely believed it but the past couple of weeks have been a great reminder of it.

My goal for this summer is to get back into that shape of my life that I was in three years ago. I don't have scales and I'm not going to get them. I'm going to keep on using the mirror and those trousers as an indication of where I'm at. Dieting and bingeing really makes you feel awful. Eating clean and working out regularly makes you feel strong, healthy, energetic, happy and positive about life. I hope I never loose sight of that again. Of course I will have my moments and I will go through some failures but I'm hoping that telling you guys all this will help me not to stray so easily :-) Apart from that one cheat meal that I've been told to have every week! Last week it came in a format of a dinner out in a restaurant where you just couldn't say no to the numerous courses of delicious food not to mention the different types of bread between the dishes and the to-die-for dessert. I'll tell you more about that meal in another post. I'll also keep you up-to-date on my progress over the summer and start doing posts about my workout routine. Maybe I'll even include a food diary post or two.

I want to wish the best of luck to all the lovely ladies out there wanting to change their lifestyle. It's hard at times but definitely worth it. Why to feel bad forever when you can change it? That's what I'm telling myself when I get tempted by the highly addictive drug called sugar.

Now I'm off to cook myself some yummy dinner. I'd like to say that I'm going to enjoy a peaceful and relaxing evening eating outside listening to the birds sing but that's not going to happen... Our neighbours have been partying non-stop for two days and it doesn't sound like they're about to finish anytime soon. Well at least the music they are playing is pretty good! :-)





Minna x

A SWEET ADDITION

My sisters made such a lovely salad for us the other night that I thought I'd share it with you. Can't really call it an earth breaking new recipe but just a really nice combination of your ordinary every day ingredients. So what was in it... Baby gem lettuce (my fav out of the lighter coloured ones), rocket, pine nuts in coconut oil, crumbled feta, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, red onion, tin tuna and chunks of apple. The latter was the icing of the cake and gave such a nice twist to it. I'm going to start adding apple to my salads more often! As a dressing we once again used just fresh lemon juice and olive oil with plenty of Himalayan salt and black pepper.

Minna x

MINESTRONE SOUP

Here's another child friendly recipe where you can hide some greens. A good friend of mine gave me the recipe for this pretty traditional Italian dish. My kids love it with some pasta and a little bit of grated parmesan on top - but I'm sure it's equally tasty without. I have mine with some fresh spinach and flat parsley on top.

You need:

• 2 carrots
• 1 stack of celery
• 1 cup of dried split peas
• 1 cup of dried cannellini beans
• 1 small zucchini
• 4-5 cloves of garlic
• pinch of chilli (about 1/2 teaspoon)
• handful of fresh spinach
• handful of fresh flat parsley
• handful of fresh basil
• 4-5 medium size tomatoes
• 2 cups of vegetable stock
• pinch of black pepper
• pinch of italian dried herb mix
• pinch of Himalayan salt

Optional:

• pasta
• parmesan cheese

Before you make this dish check the cannellini beans you are using. Some you have to soak overnight. Check the ones you are using.

Take a big soup pot, add 1 cup of water, heat it up until it starts boiling. Peel and crush garlic. Add it to the pot with some chilli. Let the garlic soften a little. Wash and dice carrots and celery, add them with split peas and cannellini beans. Add 2 cups of vegetable stock and approx. 4-5 cups of water. Let it boil for about 15 minutes. Add washed and diced zucchini cubes.

Blend tomatoes in a blender until smooth and add to the soup. Chop spinach, basil and parsley and add with a pinch of black pepper, italian herb mix and salt. Let boil another 15 - 20 minutes until vegetables are soft and the soup gets a bit thicker. If you prefer a runnier consistency add more water.     

Heidi x

PINENUTS IN COCONUT OIL

Hi guys! Hope you've all had a nice Monday. I had such a busy weekend that I'm quite tired and in need of a great night's sleep... I'm soon going to get that after an episode of The Americans. Have you seen it? It was recommended to me by a friend and now I'm hooked!

Anyway here's a little tip for those of you in need of something new to spice up your salads. I'm a salad lover. I could eat them for lunch and dinner, every day. And I do most days. I've always liked pine nuts in them and the other day I tried pan frying them in coconut oil with lots of black pepper and Himalayan salt. Absolutely delicious! A great extra to bring taste to any salad. You should try it!

Good night! :-)

Minna x

MY NEW FAV EGGS

I can't cook. These days I make food quite often but it's all so simple that I wouldn't class it as real cooking. The biggest reason for not having learned how to cook more complex meals is that I actually like to eat simple food and so does the rest of my family. I also eat out so often that when I'm at home I want to keep my meals very light and clean. 

Eggs is something I eat a lot. I try to include protein and greens in my breakfast and an omelette or scrambled eggs is a very easy and quick way to do that. This is my favourite scrambled eggs right now: two organic eggs, a juicy and ripe tomato chopped up, plenty of chopped up fresh spinach, a spoonful of goats cheese plus plenty of black pepper and Himalayan salt. Stir well and cook into a scramble or an omelette. The goats cheese gives it a great taste and a slightly creamier texture. 

Minna x 

SOUR START TO A DAY

As some of you might know I'm a "wannabe" clean eater meaning that I aim to do so at all times but due to not having the best of willpowers I end up following it about 70% of the time. I also go through stages of being extremely good and those of being extremely bad. Right now I'm in a middle of one of those good ones… And this is how I begin each day, with a glass of water with a juice of one lemon in it. 

It kick starts your metabolism, helps cleansing and alkalizing your body and has benefits for your skin too. And this is just to mention a few. I'm not a big drinker of anything warm so I have mine room temperature however apparently it would be most beneficial to have it warm.

Better to have it with a straw though unless you want to ruin the enamel on your teeth… Strongly recommended by my dentist! 

And do I notice any of these claimed benefits? Yes. My skin undoubtedly looks its best when I remember to drink this every morning. Obviously combined with drinking enough water during the rest of the day too.

My aim now is to keep this "good stage" going for longer than usually… It should be easier here in France as my pace of life is much slower. Wish me luck! ;-)

Minna x

FISH CAKES

Here's another child friendly recipe. I normally make a big patch of these fish cakes and freeze some for later.

When I started weaning my kids I threw in steamed sweet potatoes and left pretty much all of the spices out. The sweet potato gives it a flavour that babies like.  

You need:

• 4-5 fillets of salmon
• 2-3 fillets of cod
• 1/2 leek 
• 1/2 cup of peas (I used frozen)
• little piece of ginger (I used roughly a size of a thumb)
• 5-6 cloves of garlic
• 1 egg
• 1 lemon squeezed
• pinch of chili flakes
• pinch of himalayan salt
• 1-2 tbs of soya sauce
• pinch of black pepper 
• handful of fresh coriander
• handful of fresh basil
• handful of fresh parsley
• handful on fresh mint

Start by steaming the fish. Once it's cooked remove the skin and bones. Place the pieces on a big bowl and break the texture (either using a fork or your bare hands). Add chopped and fined garlic, ginger and leek. Add peas, lemon juice, chopped herbs and all the other spices. Break the egg in the bowl and mix it well in the paste. Make little patties between your hands and fry them on a medium heat in coconut oil.

Heidi x

SALMON FOR LUNCH

I'm a creature of habit. When I'm at home I often eat the same thing for lunch most days for a couple of weeks until I change to something new again. Right now my favourite lunch time meal is salmon with fresh chilli and basil.

I cook the salmon fillet in the oven wrapped in tin foil. I season it with plenty of black pepper and himalayan salt. I then add a few leaves of fresh basil and chop as much red chilli on it as I feel like I can take! I like my salmon a little bit pink inside and once I've reached that I lay it on a bed of rocket, spinach and cherry tomatoes and squeeze plenty of lemon juice over it. A bit more black pepper and himalayan salt and all done. So easy, super tasty and as clean and healthy as it gets. 

I'm not much of a cook and I don't like to spend more than about 20 minutes at a time preparing my food but there are a plenty lovely meals you can rustle up quickly even when you want to eat clean. This and its variations being one of them!

Minna x