The below recipe is an adaptation of my mum’s veggie slice, I asked her for the recipe but like most good dishes she makes it up as she goes and doesn’t have it written down. So a few months ago I decided to give it a bash. It is one of my favourite dishes. I make a nice big batch and it lasts for dinner and a few lunches after that. It tastes lovely hot or cold. It’s packed with vegies and eggs for protein, a nice healthy option.

I now make this dish quite frequently and i’m still not sick of it. I look forward to it when I know i’ve packed it for lunch and like to enjoy it with a big salad. I like to add a bit of grated tasty cheese to the mixture but if you don’t have to include it.

You can also bake it in muffin pan for individual servings, they make a great snack and I used to do this as a breakfast option.

Ingredients

 
1 large zucchini grated
2 medium carrots grated
8 eggs beaten
½ onion sliced small
6 mushrooms cut into slices
4 slices of short cut bacon diced
½ cup plain flour sifted
Optional – grated cheese approx ½ cup

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees
2. Combine carrots, zucchini,  mushrooms, onion and bacon in medium mixing bowl
3. Add eggs and stir thru
4. Add flour and mix through
5. Pour mixture into a baking dish
6. Bake for 30-40 mins check occasionally, mixture will firm and rise and start to golden

Suitable for freezing, great tasting hot or cold

Orange peel, hail damage, morse code, cottage cheese, dimple appearance, that ugly bumpy area – whatever you want to call it, its cellulite.

Cellulite is often viewed as a dirty word in the health, beauty and fashion industries. It isn’t the most pleasant looking and is a frustrating problem for women who have it. But what exactly is it and what causes it? Let’s take a closer look.

 Fat is made up of cells called adipocytes, their main function is to stockpile energy reserves. These cells accumulate energy in the form of lipids, which they release back to the body on demand. These adipocytes are present as small accumulations of fat that are walled off by fibrous connective tissue. These fat nodules spread in clusters between the dermis (the tissue that makes up the deep layer of the skin) and the muscles. When the adipocytes accumulate more energy than is consumed, they tend to grow considerably in size and fat begins to accumulate.

On the surface of the skin of the bum hips and the thighs in women, we can often see multiple, more or less deep depressions that are commonly referred to as “cottage cheese.” This appearance is caused by inelastic fibrous tracts in these areas, which like little cables attach the envelope of the muscles to the deep surface of the skin at the depressions, with the fatty tissue bulging in between (like a quilt!).

When the body consumes fewer calories than it absorbs , the fat reserves increase. This cellulite is compartmentalised by a fibrous connective tissue net. When this net is compressed, the lymphatics and blood vessels that run through the area are also compressed, the organic exchanges are slowed down, and the blood does not readily reach these fatty quilted areas to remove the stockpiled fatty acids. The localised fat becomes difficult for the body to remove and unfortunately even intensive training may not remove it completely. For example, it is not unusual for a woman on a strict diet and exercise to lose weight, lose her breasts… but keep her hips!

 The hips, bum and thighs are the most common areas of cellulite production due to how this fat is utilised. Fat on any part of the body is governed by metabolic or hormonal needs; the latter determines if cellulite appears. The hips and thighs are areas more under the control of hormones in women as they are reserved for pregnancy and lactation. This is why these are the most common sites for cellulite in women and in rarer cases men. In fact, cellulite is a natural process in females induced by the hormone oestrogen.

The major function of oestrogen is to break down the collagen in the cervix during birth to allow the passage of the baby, a process that begins at puberty and continues to well after menopause.

 Diet and exercise may reduce the appearance of cellulite (for some women, it can look worse with dramatic weight loss) unfortunately it is not a miracle cure. There are none.

It is not impossible to reduce the appearance of cellulite, however it is quite challenging and often frustrating and will not get rid of it all together. However, after implementing a healthy diet and fitness regime you may find yourself feeling better within your own body.

 Accept its flaws and work towards having your body in its best shape possible so you not only look good but reap the health benefits too.

Months ago I set myself a work target and my reward for working solidly and achieving my goal was giving my bedroom a facelift. New paint, new carpet and new furniture – the works.

After successfully completing my goal I took myself to the shops and chose my new paints, carpet and furniture – I was excited!

Note to self – a reward for completing such a hard work task should not equal more effort. Why didn’t I choose to buy myself some new clothes or a spa treatment?

Now this will sound silly to those painting professionals and enthusiasts but I underestimated the effort of painting.

The day had come, I had rallied the troupes in the form of my boyfriend, armed with a roller and several paint brushes. The hard work had been done I thought I had already moved my furniture, applied the drop sheets, washed the walls and suffered a dust induced sneezing tirade, surely the painting part would be easy ( It’s obvious i’ve never painted before right?).

Mark was very encouraging “come on Suze you do the first roll’ and with that the painting had begun, I quickly gave up on the ceiling and took to the architraves. Were your arms meant to burn that way I wondered? I do clean and presses and overhead squats at the gym, why was having your arms up rolling a ceiling so difficult?

It was time to attack the walls, I put my favourite girly 80s mix on the Ipod (much to Marks dismay) and decided to turn this painting thing into a full body work out. Looking quite weird i’m sure I applied my roll downs doing a full squat and pushing my body weight through the roller, core drawn all muscles activated, I moved rhythmically through a whole section, reapplied some paint and turned my sights to the upper half. Here I loaded my legs held the roller tightly and bounced my way up and down along the wall with the roller, almost like the exercise the push press. I was bopping away and found myself in time with the 80s hit I want that man by Deborah Harry.

I’m sure to those who actually have painting experience this is the worst form they’ve ever heard but hey I managed to cover the wall evenly and at the end of the day that’s all I cared about.

Disillusioned and pretty exhausted I tried to convince myself that we would only need that one coat, but as I went around inspecting I was sorely disappointed finding uneven patches. Funny how it was only when we commenced painting that I realised exactly how big my room was.

The next day I decided to wake up early and combat the second coat alone. I returned to my playlist and bopped along, fixing the mistakes of the previous day and making some new ones. My arms and core were sore in an unusual way i’d never experienced, I was pleased.

One of my nerdy trainer pass times (that i’m not ashamed to admit) is looking at activities and seeing how I can turn it into a workout. I’ll take a workout wherever I can get one, remember it all adds up.

Next up – ripping up carpet!