Chills of a frozen sun.

Hello readers, it's been a few days of intensive training (I'll talk about that later) I have a little treat for you, and of course another NEW section (as well as blog design, again... more on that later)

Since the cold air is here, and winter rapidly approaching I feel it's important for me to disclose on a few weapons on fighting the cold. I personally love the cold, I have an air conditioner on most days and sleep with fans on. When I sleep I find it so uncomfortable to be warm, I know this is a strange concept but I like to be at a certain temperature. Anyway enough babbling on about me, I'm here to help you!!

Kira's last post talked about making soups in batches so you save money and have delicious hot food with little preparation. 

Well I'm going to give you readers some great recipes!

First off a vegetarian option, I may not be vegetarian nor believe that most vegetarians realise that plants are in fact living beings as well, but that said I respect it as a lifestyle choice.

SPICY ROASTED PARSNIP SOUP:

Fight the cold by making a large batch of this (Recipe Serves 4) so if you double everything you can have 8 meals(make sure to adjust cooking time accordingly)!

You can freeze in plastic containers any you think you wont eat the next day, and re-heat in the microwave whenever you feel like it!

The cost to make this is very minimal, it will take around 10-15 minutes to prepare and only 35 mins to cook!

Ingredients:

• 
  
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds , plus extra to garnish
• ½ tsp ground turmeric
• ½ tsp mustard seeds
• 1 large onion, cut into 8 chunks
• 2 garlic cloves
• 675g parsnips , diced
• 2 plum tomatoes , quartered
• 1.2l vegetable stock
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. In a bowl, mix together the oil and spices. Add the vegetables and mix well. Spread over a heavy baking sheet, then roast for 30 mins until tender.

2. Spoon into a food processor or liquidiser with half the stock and process until smooth. Pour into a pan with the remaining stock, season, then heat until barely simmering. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice. Garnish with cumin seeds.

Want to know what else soups can do? they not only fight the cold but they can fight illness, the next soup is a Chinese medicinal soup

CHICKEN SOUP RECIPE WITH DANG SHEN AND GOJI BERRIES:

Serves 1

Most people, more so if you live in or near a city, will have access to a Chinese herbal medicine shop, little known fact if you go in with the exact amounts you need they can usually give you just the right amount of what you need.

Dang shen, also known as codonopsis root, has a gentler herbal flavor compared to ginseng. Omit the ginger if you do not like it much.
This is a pleasant light herbal soup.

Ingredients:

1 fresh chicken breast
500g old cucumber (老黄瓜 lao huang gua)
1 slice ginger
4 dried chinese mushrooms
6g codonopsis root (党参 dang shen)
5 red dates
1 tbsp chinese wolfberries / goji berries(枸杞子 gou ji zi)

Soup base:
1.8 liter of water
3 bouillon cubes

Directions

1. Cut the chicken breast into bite-sized pieces



2. Cut the old cucumber into sections and remove the seeds



3. Wash and soak the dried chinese mushrooms in hot water



4. Wash and clean the codonopsis root and halve it if it is too long



5. Wash the red dates and remove the seeds



6. Bring the water to a boil and add the bouillon cubes



7. Add all the ingredients into the chicken stock



8. Bring soup back to a boil



9. Low heat to a slow simmer and simmer for about 50 minutes



10. Serve

Something for you sea food lovers, Thailand's most eaten soup, if you like food with a spicy bite, and like seafood then this is perfect for you!

TOM YUM GOONG:

Serves 2

Ingredients:

12 uncooked prawns, deveined with tail on
1 small fresh red chillies, chopped
1 tbsp lemongrass, chopped
1 tsp ginger, chopped
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp lime juice
1 tsp sugar
2 green onions, chopped
50gms button mushrooms, sliced
500mls fish stock

Directions:

1) Put stock in pan and add prawns, chilli, lemongrass, ginger, sauces, juice, sugar, onion and sliced mushrooms.

2) Bring to boil and simmer uncovered until prawns are tender.

Serving Tip: Garnish with whole coriander leaves

These last few days I've been following a fairly strict diet and exercising, either using my weights in a fitness plan coupled with running each night.

I've moved into a fat burning plan, not something sustainable as its not great for you to do, sio I'm only on this for 28 days.

It basically swaps all my meals for high protein low fat alternatives, you still take carbohydrates, just not much in proportion, the proportions are: 60% protein  20% carbs  20% fat  also meeting  2000 calories.

With daily exercise and this diet I've noticed two things, firstly I'm very tired most of the time, this is down to the body working really hard to break down fat in the body and convert the protein into muscle.

Secondly, I've lost a lot of weight very quickly, within 2 days I lost just over 5 pounds, now granted it always falls off fast at the start and the slows down so I was kinda prepared for this.

I would say the biggest problem has been adjusting what I eat, being a picky eater means I've had to endure some things I'd not normally touch... like cottage cheese.

So if you wanted to follow this but to a less extreme, Switch all your breads to wholemeal, switch rice to brown rice, eat a lot of salmon, topside steak, egg whites (not yolk as that is where a lot of unneeded calories are) lean mince, 0% fat yoghurt, skimmed milk, fruit, vegetables (this was hard for me as I only like a few limited vegetables, so to subsidise I bought a drink that I will review in a minute) and of course a lot of chicken!

Another new thing I like is Quorn burgers (I get the tesco brand as they have half the saturated fat of the official quorn ones)

Basically cut down on junk, high fat foods, and try out new foods!

I hate most vegetables, and for me to take vegetables I thought it might be easier for me to drink them, so I tried out both the original and the Fruit and carrot vegetable drinks from V8.

1. Orignal:

Tastes of nothing but tomato soup, I can drink it, it is not amazing for me and I'd probably like to try it warm as a soup more than a drink, I'll post later if that worked ok.

Taste: 5  Smell: 6  Texture: 5  *total* 16/30

2. Fruit and carrot:

I had massive reservations on this one, I personally hate the smell and taste of carrot.

Upon opening I was greeted with a very pleasant zesty smell, I poured it into a glass and looked hard at the substance, it was carrot colour, I thought perhaps the smell was a disguise for something truly revolting. After a few moments to prepare myself I took a generous swig, and I can say hand on heart it tasted amazing! I could not taste any carrot, only a fruity explosion of orange, mango and lime!! Beautiful as a normal drink, add to the fact that a portion of this counts as one of your recommended five a day in not only fruit but also vegetable!! I will be breathing this stuff!

Taste: 9   Smell: 9  Texture: 9  *Total* 27/30

This concludes this information packed post, I've divulged some soups that you can store in the freezer and give you a cheap constant supply of food!

Oh also, I've shared with you my opinion of the V8 drinks, lastly remember this?

Well I'll tell you I've had a lot more energy than normal while using this, and even though I'm drained from the diet I still have the energy for the runs and exercise so I'd defiantly advise this to anyone who is athletic or training for an event.

Don't forget to comment, It's comments that help direct me to making better posts, blogging about what the readers what to know about as well as my own subjects, take care my beautiful, beautiful readers!!