shaking it up

When people hit a plateau or a standstill with their progress, one of the most common pieces of advice is to shake up the diet and the exercise routine - try something new, keep the body guessing.

It has always worked for me, I must say. When I hit my two most gruelling plateaus on my way to goal, having a different breakfast each day, trying new recipes, eating at different times of the day, and really upping the ante as far as exercise went was what snapped the body back into action.

This week, I decided to have a different breakfast - I ditched the usual yoghurt and muesli routine and made a delicious fruit, nut and tahini breakfast bar on Sunday night to take to work every day during the week. It is essentially my homemade muesli packed into a very convenient little bar. Eaten when I got to work at 9am each day, it kept me full until at least 1pm! So delicious as well - chewy, full of spice and fudge-like dried fruit. It felt like I was eating flapjack for breakfast!

And it might be my imagination, but everything felt a little looser this week! (I've been on some killer runs though)

Do try them, they're a lovely breakfast alternative, or a good thing to have around for a snack. Really good for before or after exercise too.

But, word of warning, do not leave the dates to go and do something that is likely to make you forget about them - they will burn, your partner will capture your embarrassment on camera (!) and you will still be soaking the saucepan five days later!

Fruit, nut and tahini breakfast bars

This is originally from Limes and Lycopene, but I have modified it slightly

Date Mixture:

• 1/2 cup diced dried dates
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup tahini
• A drizzle or two of honey
  

Dry Ingredients:

• 3 cups homemade muesli or you can follow Cassie's original recipe which has quantities for the oats, nuts and dried fruit
  
• 1/4 cup wholemeal plain flour
  

Lightly coat a 9"x9" baking pan with cooking spray, line with baking paper and set aside.

Prepare Date Mixture: Add 1/2 cup water and diced dates to a small saucepan. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until dates are soft. (Mixture will be thick.) Allow to cool. Add tahini.

Mix all dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Add date puree mixture and a few drizzles of honey (according to taste). Add a bit more tahini if it's too thick, or a bit more muesli if it's too wet. It should be like Anzac biscuit mixture. Mix to combine and press into baking pan.

Bake at 180 C for approximately 15 minutes. Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars. Cut them as big or as small as you like - mine were on the bigger side, I admit, but they kept me full until lunch time and that was the whole idea! And so much easier than lugging yoghurt, fruit and a bag of muesli on the train!

I've also made some great dinner dishes this week (when I've been home) which I'll definitely be making again and look forward to sharing with you. Who knew that vegan cuisine could be so darn divine?!

I also have a few advice posts brewing as well - for those who you who've asked questions, don't worry, I'm on it! I've had about five questions on the same thing, so that will be a two part post I think.

Otherwise, all is good here and I'm looking forward to the first day of spring on Sunday!