Fitness by Art

You were my sun the stars, my backbone. You encouraged and supported me no matter what whacky idea I had.
You loved your family with so much passion and you were the best father.
Always with a smile on your face and always giving of yourself to help others. God gave me the privilege to call you my husband and in this life I can truly say that I have experienced the deepest unconditional love. Rest In Peace my darling Arthur. Till we are together again ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Healthy Eating Made Simple.

Roast vegetables topped with feta is a great way to boost your vegetable intake & calcium after a long day.

You’ll need
🌱3 large capsicums, seeded, roughly chopped
🌱1 white onion, cut into 8 wedges
🌱Olive oil & red wine vinegar
🌱Feta & Herbs

1️⃣Preheat oven to 180C
2️⃣Place vegetables on a tray lined with baking paper. Drizzle with olive oil, vinegar & sprinkle of salt. Roast in the oven for 40-45 minutes or until tender & lightly darkened.
3️⃣Scatter with a little feta & herbs. Enjoy with a side of protein & quinoa.

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✨Roasted Red pepper & white bean sauce✨

This one is a great dish when you are too tired to cook. Honestly SO. GOOD. And it’s a great way to boost your legume intake. The only thing you need to cook is…boil water & cook your pasta 🙌

330g jar roasted peppers, drained
1/4 cup olive oil
2-3 tablespoons red wine/apple cider/sherry vinegar
420g can white beans, drained
1-2 garlic cloves, peeled
Handful of almonds
Handful of basil leaves

1️⃣ Place everything in a blender jug & blitz until smooth. Season to taste. Toss half the sauce through hot pasta & serve topped with cheese & basil leaves.
2️⃣ Delicious with a green salad 🥗

Freeze any leftover sauce. Also great to use in a cold pasta salad.

Enjoy 🥳

Tip: The white beans give a creaminess to the sauce without needing to use cream.

📸 Lara Hope Reynolds]
📍Lara Hope Reynolds]

🫐Cornmeal and Berry Muffins🫐

All I am going to say it that, you have to try these. Morrish and perfect to put on the table and snack away whilst studying, working or enjoy with the kids whilst home schooling.

This is a basic batter so you can add more flavour with a touch of cinnamon, lemon/orange rind - whatever you like.

No sugar? Where does the sweetness come from?
The apple sauce and fresh/dried fruit 🎉

WET
2 eggs
¼ cup water
1 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
¼ cup coconut oil, melted (sunflower, olive or avocado oil is fine to use)
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DRY
¾ cup plain flour
½ cup almond meal
1 ½ teaspoons bicarb soda
1 cup of berries or ½ cup dried blueberries/cranberries or dark@choc chips

Almond butter, banana and honey to serve

1. Grease a 12-hole muffin pan. Preheat oven to 160C fan forced.
2. Combine wet ingredients together. Combine dry ingredients together; making sure you stir well to ensure the bicarb soda is distributed throughout the flour mixture. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients then pour wet ingredients into the centre. Stir until well combined.
3. Divide mixture into prepared muffin pan. Place into the oven and bake for 15-18 minutes until golden and cooked. Tested doneness but inserting a skewer into the centre of the muffin and if the skewer comes out clean or ever so slightly sticky, it is ready!
4. Enjoy with yummy 99th Monkey almond butter, sliced banana and drizzle of honey/maple syrup.

Perfect with a cuppa or warm cup of mylk/milk.

Enjoy ❤️

📸 Lara Hope Reynolds]
📍Lara Hope Reynolds]

L👀king to curb your 3pm slump…and get a dose of magnesium and potassium?

Try our…
Chocolate Covered Stuffed Dates

You need...
•16 medjool dates
•32 hazelnuts
•100g dark chocolate, chopped
•1 teaspoon coconut oil
•Rose water
•Cinnamon or cardamom

To decorate:
•Flakes coconut
•Toasted sesame seeds
•Crushed pistachio nuts
•Dried Rose petals

👉Place baking paper on flat tray. Set aside.
👉Cut a slit in each date and remove the pit. Place 2 hazelnuts in each slit. Press the sides of the dates together to enclose and completely cover the hazelnut. Fill a few of the dates with a drizzle of rosewater & set aside for 15 minutes to allow flavour to pe*****te.
👉Fill a saucepan with water & bring to a simmer. Place chocolate pieces & coconut oil in a heat proof bowl (make sure it fits tightly on the saucepan) Place bowl on top of pot so it is resting above simmering water, but does not touch the water. Allow the steam to heat the bowl & melt the chocolate - stir occasionally until chocolate is melted.
👉Roll date in melted chocolate. To remove, pierce the ends of the date with a bamboo skewer & hold over the bowl for a few seconds, allowing the excess chocolate drip into the bowl. Place date on prepared tray. Before the chocolate sets, sprinkle with a little cinnamon or cardamom, toasted sesame seeds & coconut flakes. For the dates with rose water, sprinkle with rose petals & crushed pistachios.
👉Repeat with remaining dates. Aim to set 30 minutes aside to create this delicious plate of sweets.

Enjoy 🙌

📸Lara Hope Reynolds]
📍Lara Hope Reynolds]

Because Green is Clean.

Good morning everyone!

I know we are still in the middle of Winter there are so many great things about a Frozen Yoghurt Slice.

👉great alternative to ice-cream
👉high in protein
👉no refined sugar
👉good source of calcium
👉good source of probiotics
👉fun to make with the kids

You must try it - so easy to make & needs about 2-3 hours in the freezer to firm up

1 1/2 cups Greek Yoghurt
2-3 tablespoons coconut sugar, honey or maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup berries, chopped, sliced or diced
1 teaspoon Orange Zest

1️⃣ Line a 16-18cm round spring form pan with baking paper.
2️⃣ Combine yoghurt , sweetener, vanilla & cinnamon.
Spoon into prepared tray. Smooth top with back of a spoon. Top with berries and orange zest & give the pan a few light taps on the counter to ensure there are no air bubbles. Place in freezer for 2-3 hours or until firm.
3️⃣ Wipe a warm damp cloth around the cake pan to warm up the sides to help release any yoghurt that might be stuck to the side. Release from the pan and cut into wedges and enjoy. Store in a container, the freezer for 1 week.

Take care everyone ❤️

📸 Lara Hope Reynolds]
📍Lara Hope Reynolds]

Good more everyone,

Hope you are all keeping well & staying positive during these trying times.

Eating well is more important than ever at the moment because we are living through stressful times & research shows excess levels of stress produce hormonal changes, lowering the body's resistance to colds and other infections so really focus on nourishing your body ❤️

Now…if you are looking to reduce your meat intake…

Take a look at Mushrooms 🙌🙌

These beautiful looking morsels are
👉a great substitute for meat as they have a similar texture & umami flavour to meat.
👉high in Vitamin D good for bone health
👉a good source of Potassium which aids in reducing tension in blood vessels which then lowers your blood pressure
👉good source of Riboflavin (Vitamin B) vital for energy production & fat metabolism.

RECIPE:
Simply stir fry 400g mushrooms in a little coconut or olive oil. Toss through handful of chopped herbs & place on a bed of spinach leaves. Finish with squeeze of lemon juice , freshly cracked black peppercorn & enjoy 😉

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Good morning everyone ☀️

What’s for breakfast? Why don’t you try this..

Take 5
1/2 cup yoghurt
250g berries
Handful of nuts
Drizzle of leatherwood honey

1️⃣ Place yoghurt, berries & nuts in a bowl. Drizzle with honey. Enjoy!

So easy to prepare in under 5 minutes

👉 yoghurt is a great source of calcium, protein & live cultures which enhance gut microbiota.

👉 Berries high in fibre, helps reduce oxidative stress & inflammation. The cardiovascular system loves berries as they are packed with folate (Vitamin B) which protect arteries from hardening.

👉 Nuts are packed with good fats essential for optimal brain functioning

👉leatherwood honey is high in antioxidants; boosting the immune system.

Have a great day & take care of yourself & loved ones ❤️

📸 Lara Reynolds eyes_of_a_gypsy]
📍Lara Reynolds eyes_of_a_gypsy]

Dark Chocolate 🍫

Need a pick me up whilst studying or working ??
Try nibbling on a couple pieces (not blocks 😁) of good quality dark chocolate with min 70% cacao.

👉An article written by Berk et al (2018) featured in FBEAS journal Volume 32 highlighted a link between high levels of flavonoids in dark chocolate with a minimum cacao content of 70% to improved cognitive health.
These studies uncovered how flavonoids accumulated in regions of the brain responsible for functions of learning and memory.

👉Furthermore, a systematic review published in The Journal of Nutrition Reviews regarding studies on chocolate & mood found 3 out 8 of the studies displayed evidence of enhanced cognitive ability.

Cheers to dark chocolate in moderation 😀

📸 Lara Reynolds eyes_of_a_gypsy]
📍Lara Reynolds eyes_of_a_gypsy]

It might be overcast & drizzly today but don’t let the cooler weather stop you from downing a green smoothie 🙌🙌

Place the following ingredients into a blender jug
👉large handful of green kale
👉2 green apples
👉1/2 an avocado
👉1 cucumber
👉250g fresh raspberries
👉handful of ice
👉300ml coconut water

Blitz until smooth & sip on through the day to get a quality dose of nutrients & maintain good energy levels to power through the day.

Happy Days 💚

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Morning everyone!

Winter calls for warming food and there is nothing like a big bowl of soup to tuck into after a long hard day at work.

Full of goodness, easy to prepare & it’s all cooked in one pot.

Watercress, Ginger and Potato Soup
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 leek, trimmed, washed, white part only, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2cm piece young ginger, peeled, finely grated
2 medium potatoes, peeled, chopped into 2-3cm pieces
2 cups salt reduced stock or water
2 bunches watercress, trimmed, washed,

1️⃣Heat oil in medium pot. Add leek. Cook for 4-5 minutes until softened and translucent. Stir in garlic and ginger. Cook stirring for a further minute until fragrant.
2️⃣ Add potatoes and stock. Bring to the boil , cover with lid and simmer for 25 minutes or until potato has softened.
3️⃣ Chop bunches of watercress into thirds. Add to pot and stir. Cove and cook for. Further 5-8 minutes or until watercress stalks have softened.
4️⃣ Allow mixture to cool slightly before pureeing it with a stick mixture or blender.
Add more water if too thick. Season to taste.

Garnish with basil, mint or whatever herb you desire. Squeeze of lemon juice and dollop of yoghurt.

Enjoy 💚

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