from somewhere in my imagination

Meatless Monday - Gado Gado

It’s been a while between meatless Monday drinks for me but I find myself here on a Monday with something new and meatless on a Monday so thought it might be fun to share.  So, I'm linking up with The Veggie Mama today.  If you are on the look out for some new meatless ideas make sure to pop over and check out the linky!

Big Day Out was a few weeks ago now and aside from how amazeballs both The Killers and Red Hot Chilli Peppers were the food was of a pretty excellent standard too. 

A little bit different to what I expected but it had been 17 years, count them, that’s half my lifetime, since my last BDO and I think it’s fair to say that times have changed, as have the tastes of the punters.  Or perhaps it’s just is recognition of the fact so many of were still there, half our lifetime later.

I chose my dinner from Simon Bryant’s Dirty stall, Gado Gado, it was delicious and I have been keen to recreate it at home ever since.  With a forecast maximum of 39C in Adelaide last Monday spending as little time as possible in the kitchen was high on my agenda, so this seemed pretty perfect. 

Gado Gado is essentially an Indonesian salad with peanut sauce, feel free to mix and match your veggies or add some tofu if you wish.  That would have required additional cooking so I didn’t bother, I just added an extra half egg per person to amp up the protein factor.

Gado Gado - Serves 6

Ingredients

4 Carrots, julienned

2 Red capsicums, julienned

Tin of baby corn, halved lengthways

Bag of bean sprouts, washed

250g Green beans, trimmed

Bunch coriander, leaves roughly chopped

1-2 eggs per person, soft boiled

Peanut Sauce

150g roasted, unsalted peanuts

2-3 dried red chillies, depending on how spicy you like it.  Fresh will work fine too.

2 cloves garlic

25g palm sugar (or 2 tbsp brown sugar)

Juice of 1 lime

2 cm ginger

Salt to taste

Method

Blend the peanuts, chillies, garlic, sugar and ginger with a food processor or pound in a mortar and pestle.

Tip the mixture into a small saucepan and fry over medium heat until it starts to smell good.

Add 1 cup of water and mix well, scraping up any caramelisation from the saucepan, leave to bubble and reduce but check and stir often.  Once it is getting really thick add a second cup of water and reduce some more. 

It will thicken more as it cools so be careful not to reduce it too much.  Add the juice of one lime and salt to taste.

Pile all your veggies onto a large serving plate together with the halved eggs and top with the still warm peanut sauce

Dig in

Happy Monday to you, do you have much planned for the week ahead?  I'm looking forward to finishing off some of the many many blog posts I now have in draft for here and Eat Move Explore.

Tatum xx

The Skinny

By definition skinny literally means looking like skin and bones.  Last time I looked in the mirror, which wasn’t long ago, because I like looking at myself in the mirror, I’m pretty sure what I saw was not resemblant of skin and bones.

Two years ago I weighed about 5kg more than I do now and I know that my chest resembled skin and bones a whole lot more than it does today.  Today my chest is covered with muscle.  I have visible abdominal muscles, some say my back is quite impressive.

I am strong.

I am fit.

I am healthy.

I am physically the healthiest I have been in my adult life because I want it to be that way. 

It doesn’t stop there though because there is an element of mental health to this to.

I am strong.

I am healthy.

I am focused.

I am mentally the healthiest I have been in my adult life.

Why is it then, that because a Size 6 is not a squeeze for my ass, that people feel it is okay to tell me that I am too skinny/too thin/too muscly/need more meat on my bones,  whatever.  Why is that okay to say that to me when it would be considered rude to tell someone squeezed into a size 24 that they were too fat?

Yes I did just say that.  I needed to get it off my chest.

Why is it okay to imply that maybe I have a problem, when I am actually in amazing physical condition, when it’s socially unacceptable to tell someone who is actually unhealthy that they are unhealthy?  It’s a bit of a double standard don’t you think?

I train like an athlete because I love it, not exclusively to make my body look a certain way, I can assure you that I eat like one too.  I don’t deprive myself of foods.  I eat exactly what I feel like eating and what I feel like eating is good, nutritious stuff.  When I get hungry it’s not the empty belly growling hunger you get from a nutrient poor carbohydrate induced low, my arms and legs get hungry.

If my physique makes you uncomfortable perhaps you should be asking yourself why.

Call me skinny if you want, it’s an easy term to use although I personally think lean is more appropriate to me just leave the too bit out of it.

If you are not a regular reader here I would suggest that you don’t read this post in isolation because it will possibly give you the wrong impression of what I stand for.  I believe in leading a healthy lifestyle and I strongly believe that we are fed all sorts of body image bullshit by the media so our impression of what is healthy has become severely distorted.  To me a healthy person looks a whole range of different ways and what t right for one person is possibly not right for the next person.  I don’t compare myself to others or vice versa, I’m just focused on me and achieving the things I want out of life.