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Blueberry and lemon muffins Blueberry and lemon muffins are on regular rotation in the snack department at the moment. This year one of my aims was to spend less at the grocery store.  It’s a work in progress, that’s for sure (I’m terrible at going back and buying extras I don’t really need!) but one thing I have been consistent with is making more snack foods. Not only does it cost less, you also avoid excess packaging and plastic.  I keep these muffins in the freezer and they store well.  My daughter and husband both enjoy these lemon and blueberry muffins.  They’re not overly sweet so the juicy blueberries and lemon flavour shine through.  I created these using Sujon blueberries.  Their berries originate from British Columbia in Canada and are big, sweet and are great quality.   You can pick them up at New World supermarkets across the country.     The yoghurt in the muffins make them nice and moist and the wholemeal flour and linseed add a bit of a fibre boost.   Here’s the recipe: Print Blueberry and Lemon Muffins Course Snack Prep Time 15 minutes minutes Cook Time 15 minutes minutes Servings 12 muffins Author Nicola Ingredients 1 1/3 cup wholemeal flour 2/3 cup standard flour 4 teaspoons baking powder ½ cup coconut sugar or brown sugar 2 tablespoons ground linseed 1/3 cup neutral flavoured oil Juice and finely grated rind from 2 lemons 1 cup natural yoghurt ¼ cup milk 1 egg beaten 1 cup of Sujon blueberries Instructions In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Make a well in the middle. In another medium sized bowl, mix together the oil, yoghurt, milk and egg. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and add the berries. Fold the ingredients together, being careful not to overmix. The ingredients should just be combined. Place the mixture into medium sized muffin pans, either lined with baking cases or well greased. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until cooked in the middle. This post was sponsored by Sujon berries. You may also like…… Blueberry and banana loaf The post Blueberry and lemon muffins appeared first on Eat Well NZ. Blueberry and lemon muffins are on regular rotation in the snack department at the moment. This year one of my aims was to spend less at the grocery store.  It’s a work in progress, that’s for sure (I’m terrible at going back and buying extras I don’t really need!) but one thing I have been… Read More The post Blueberry and lemon muffins appeared first on Eat Well NZ. Nicola{authorlink}https://eatwellnz.co.nz/blueberry-and-lemon-muffins/Eat Well NZ Intuitive & mindful eating nutritionist

How to make your own kefir What is kefir? Kefir is a probiotic rich milk drink that is simple to make yourself. While it’s traditionally made with milk, you can also make it with coconut water, coconut milk and rice milk. Kefir and yoghurt are both fermented milk products, but the difference is in the cultures used. Kefir contains a much wider variety of probiotic bacteria and yeasts. It’s also fermented at room temperature, whereas yoghurt fermentation is started at a higher heat. Taste wise, kefir is similar yet quite distinct to the taste of yoghurt. It’s slightly sour and can be a little tangy. I use it in smoothies, pour it on my porridge or just have it for a drink. Kefir can be made from grains, or you can buy culture – which I do. Kefir culture is freeze-dried bacteria/yeast that can be added directly to your liquid and doesn’t need ‘looking after’. You can re-culture up to two times. To make your own kefir you’ll need: Kefir starter. I get mine from HealthPost here (affiliate link) Milk (or coconut/rice milk or coconut water) Instructions: Place 1L of milk in a clean, sterilised jar. Sprinkle over the kefir starter, replace the lid and shake to combine. Loosely fit the lid again. If you want a fizzy kefir (for example if you’re using coconut water, tighten the lid. This means no gas from fermentation will escape) Leave for 24 hours, then refrigerate. In colder temperatures, it may take a little longer than 24 hours. According to Mad Millie, the starter brand I buy, it should last for up to two weeks in the fridge. I have always used mine before then! To learn more about kefir culture vs kefir grains – click here I’ve also got a post on how to make coconut yoghurt at home – here’s my instructions for an easy method. This post contains some affiliate links which means I make a small profit if you choose to purchase something. It doesn’t cost you any extra and helps keep this site running. The post How to make your own kefir appeared first on Eat Well NZ. What is kefir? Kefir is a probiotic rich milk drink that is simple to make yourself. While it’s traditionally made with milk, you can also make it with coconut water, coconut milk and rice milk. Kefir and yoghurt are both fermented milk products, but the difference is in the cultures used. Kefir contains a much… Read More The post How to make your own kefir appeared first on Eat Well NZ. Nicola{authorlink}https://eatwellnz.co.nz/how-to-make-your-own-kefir/Eat Well NZ Intuitive & mindful eating nutritionist

Blueberry Swirl tart Dessert is always my favourite part of a meal and I love to make them too.  Even though the weather is getting cooler,  you can still make the most of berries by buying frozen.  I created this yummy tart using Sujon blueberries.  The  Blueberry swirl tart is kind of a cross between a cheesecake (but with no cream cheese!) and a posett.  It looks impressive but is really simple to make. The filling is predominately thick greek yoghurt and coconut cream, together with blueberries. It’s light, creamy and delicious.    It could be made dairy free by substituting the greek yoghurt for coconut yoghurt – I haven’t tried it but let me know if you do!    The base is made of a wholesome mix of oats, nuts and coconut  and is blended together with dates, honey and coconut oil which works well with the flavours of the filling.   The beautiful deep blue colour of the tart is courteous of Sujon blueberries.  These yummy blueberries are grown in British Columbia in Canada and are  delicious, large and juicy.   The Sujon blueberry packaging has also had an upgrade.  They now come in a stand up pouch with a convenient reclosable zip and the best part is that it’s recyclable.   Sujon blueberries can be found at New World supermarkets.   Serve this dessert with some extra Greek yoghurt and blueberries. Print Blueberry Swirl Tart Course Dessert Servings 8 Author Nicola Ingredients For the base 1 cup rolled oats 1/2 cup ground almonds 1/4 cup dates finely chopped 1/2 cup coconut 2 tablespoons honey 4 tablespoons melted coconut oil 1 tsp vanilla essence For the filling 1 400g can of coconut cream (reseve 1/4 cup) 3 tsp gelatine 1/4 cup sugar juice and rind from 1/2 a medium size lemon 3/4 cup thick Greek yoghurt 1 dessertspoon honey 1 cup Sujon frozen blueberries + extra to serve Instructions For the base: Add all base ingredients into a food processor or blender.  Blend until well combined.  Press into a greased flan tin with a removable base.  I used an oblong one, but you can also use a round dish.  Place in the fridge while you prepare the filling. For the filling Pour the coconut cream into a medium sized pot and heat on a medium temperature. When the coconut cream begins to lightly bubble, sprinkle over the gelatine and whisk to combine. Add the sugar, lemon juice and rind.  Mix well and remove from heat.  Pour into a bowl and place in the fridge until it begins to cool.  While the mixture is cooling,  in a clean pot add the blueberries, remaining ¼ cup coconut cream and honey.  Place on an element over a medium heat, stirring regularly until the berries are defrosted and the mixture is warm.  Blend until smooth. Take care to make sure it’s only warm and not hot for safety reasons. Take the yoghurt mix from the fridge. Add half the yoghurt mix to the blueberry mixture and stir until combined. Remove the base from the fridge. Alternate placing large spoons of the yoghurt mixture and blueberry mixture and swirl to combine the colours. Place in the fridge until set then cut into pieces and serve with extra berries and yoghurt. This post was sponsored by Sujon Berries The post Blueberry Swirl tart appeared first on Eat Well NZ. Dessert is always my favourite part of a meal and I love to make them too.  Even though the weather is getting cooler,  you can still make the most of berries by buying frozen.  I created this yummy tart using Sujon blueberries.  The  Blueberry swirl tart is kind of a cross between a cheesecake (but… Read More The post Blueberry Swirl tart appeared first on Eat Well NZ. Nicola{authorlink}https://eatwellnz.co.nz/blueberry-swirl-tart/Eat Well NZ Intuitive & mindful eating nutritionist

Banana Blueberry Loaf There’s something calming about baking.   Maybe it’s because you naturally slow down, or the rhythm of mixing and the magic of creating something delicious from scratch – like this yummy banana blueberry loaf.   Whatever it is, in these difficult times, baking is something I like to do to relax and unwind.  In a way, it’s almost a type of mindfulness. You’re paying full attention to the experience of measuring, mixing and noticing taste and smell of what you’re making.   The tasting bit is probably the best! When the team at Sujon asked if I’d like to create a recipe with their blueberries, of course I said yes please! Sujon frozen blueberries are top quality. They source their blueberries from British Columbia in Canada, and they are consistently delicious, sweet and juicy!    Blueberries are rich in antioxidants and also provide some vitamin C, vitamin E and dietary fibre.  I have a huge supply of overripe bananas in the freezer so I put these to use, along with frozen blueberries from Sujon to make this delicious banana and blueberry loaf.  The Sujon blueberry packaging has also had an upgrade.  They now come in a stand up pouch with a convenient reclosable zip and the best part is that it’s recyclable.   This loaf uses a mix of coconut flour and wholegrain flour which make it moist and also a source of dietary fibre.  Fibre is important for our gut heath. This banana blueberry loaf is one of those recipes which is hard to get wrong – you simply mix everything together and pop it in the oven.  Now that’s my kind of recipe. Print Banana Blueberry Loaf Prep Time 15 minutes minutes Cook Time 1 hour hour Author Nicola Ingredients 3 ripe bananas mashed 2 large eggs 1/3 cup neutral flavoured oil 1/2 cup Greek yoghurt 1/2 cup coconut flour 3/4 cup wholemeal flour 2 tbsp chia seeds 1/4 cup sugar (or honey or maple syrup) 2 tsp baking powder 2 tsp cinnamon 1 1/3 cup blueberries Instructions Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celcius on fanbake. Mix together the mashed bananas, eggs, oil and yoghurt in a large bowl.  I like to use a stick blender to get it smooth, but you can just whisk it if you don’t have one. Add the flours, chia seeds, baking powder, cinnamon and sugar and fold into the wet ingredients. Fold through the 1 cup blueberries. Place into a lined, greased loaf tin.   Top with the remaining blueberries. Cook for 50-60 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted to the middle. This post was sponsored by Sujon Berries The post Banana Blueberry Loaf appeared first on Eat Well NZ. There’s something calming about baking.   Maybe it’s because you naturally slow down, or the rhythm of mixing and the magic of creating something delicious from scratch – like this yummy banana blueberry loaf.   Whatever it is, in these difficult times, baking is something I like to do to relax and unwind.  In a way,… Read More The post Banana Blueberry Loaf appeared first on Eat Well NZ. Nicola{authorlink}https://eatwellnz.co.nz/banana-blueberry-loaf/Eat Well NZ Intuitive & mindful eating nutritionist

Top 5 Push Up Variations The Best Pressing Variations for Strength, Size, and Power! 5 Push Up Variations For Strength, Size, and Power Oftentimes the Barbell Bench Press is hailed as the king of pressing exercises and while I may be tempted to agree; I still to this day believe the Push Up and it’s many variations to remain the undisputed champion for the press category. Why? Simply put, the push up offers a tailored approach to the person, freeing the shoulder blades, enforcing total body stability and allowing for a variety of actionable goals with little to NO equipment. I see that as an absolute WIN! The massive benefits to programming push ups should NEVER be overlooked in any type of health, fitness or performance program. The push up pattern creates an ideal environment for improving your pressing strength and skill due to the closed chain biomechanics of the shoulders. With hands stable on a solid surface, kinematics of the shoulder complex change, freeing the shoulder blades to dynamically stabilize and move on the thoracic cage while reducing stress on the front side of the true shoulder joint. In addition, the lower body and core are automatically in play during push ups, making it a full body integrated movement pattern. In order to get strong AND build muscle, we will aim to progress push ups with load, NOT just more reps. People will tend to claim that loading push ups is too inconvenient or hard to setup but realistically, simply adding range of motion, instability, or pauses can easily reduce the load needed to efficiently train the Push Up. If you’re an absolute machine at push ups, adding a little bit of load can go a long ways in addition to these other nuances! However, keep the plates off your shoulder blades, as it negates the benefits of freely moving shoulder blades with closed chain pushing. Load plates, chains, whatever you got over the lower back instead. This will work the core harder AND integrate the lower body. Train for strength in the 6-12 rep ranges and muscular hypertrophy in the 12-20 rep range while adding appropriate load. Without further ado, let’s dive right in to my top 5 favorite Push Up variations for MORE gains! 1. Deficit Stretch Push Up The traditional push up is inherently trained through partial range of motion, with chest or face being blocked out by the ground before the shoulders can fully extend and rotate. Fix this by elevating your hands to achieve a deeper range of motion that works the pecs through more of a stretch, improving shoulder mobility and strengthening the undertrained end ranges which also happen to be the most restricted and vulnerable ranges of motion predisposing pain and injuries. Our height for the deficit doesn’t have to be much, either. Simply placing the hands on a single bumper plate with your head and torso directly above the ground will offer just enough additional range to get a thorough stretch through the pectorals. Now, as if this wasn’t challenging enough, I do often like to add either a pause to the bottom of this variation to extended the amount of time spent in that loaded, stretched position or load across my lumbar. Remember, with load placement, a little goes a long way (Have a training partner load and remove the plates for you) and keep the load off of the shoulder blades- free the scaps! 2. Suspension Trainer Push Up Next up on this list is probably one of my favorites for specifically training dynamic total body stability and up regulating motor control and coordination for the shoulder complex. That is, the suspension trainer push up! What I enjoy so much about this variation is the sheer amount freedom involved throughout the hands, shoulders, and torso position. The ability to allow the hands to rotate mid-repetition and subsequently the arm to rotate and remain close to the rib cage allow us to maintain a HIGHER level of joint centration at the shoulder, and in turn, higher force output from the pecs, delts, and triceps. With this exceptional level of novelty, we can also adjust the handle height to accommodate different levels of push up strength or skill. The higher the handles, the more vertical we are, the “easier” this variation will be. Comparatively, the lower the handles, the more horizontal we are, the more “difficult” this will be. If you’re truly out for blood on this variation, trying getting declined by using a low (shin level) handle position and elevating the feet on a bench or box- tell me that won’t provide a proper challenge for you! 3. Banded Plyometric Push Up Ready for some power priming action? The Band assisted plyometric push up is my go to explosive press variation for it’s surprisingly easy setup and effectiveness of priming the pressing muscles while incorporating total body pillar stability. You will simply set up in a rack with a light to medium resistance band anchored horizontally via band pegs. If you don’t have a set of band pegs for this super easy setup, you can opt for a longer (or lighter) band and loop it overhead on the crossbar. You’ll have MORE assistance this way most likely but that’s not necessarily a bad thing because you will want to keep these repetitions FAST and POWERFUL for this specific variation. With your bands set up appropriately, place the band across the pecs so that they wrap underneath your armpits. Starting from the top, drop down fast into the bottom of the push up and as you make contact with the ground immediately press to take advantage of the stretch reflex on top of the band assistance to launch yourself off of the ground. Not so fast- keep those hands in place directly in front of you to catch yourself upon landing. No fancy parlor tricks here like clapping behind your back or over your head. Maximize your efficiency by keeping