DAY 78 : I CAN HAVE MY CAKE AND EAT IT TOO..

And so after running in the rain and stuff like that, I decided to join Crossfit ..
Why ?
Because I went for two sessions in the holidays at a bizarre hour of 6am..and loved it ...
Why 6 am in the holidays???
 I can hear you think ...

Painted by my cub Zeke..

Well I really don't know, what I was thinking ..
Oh wait! I was not thinking ...

So after stopping all exercise in the holidays ..
And indulging myself completely...
My body really started craving some kind of crazy exercise...
(it has crazy thoughts sometimes)..
And so after indulging in early morning running in the rain..
I finally joined Crossfit again in July...
And bonus, my friend Mini also works out there..
And it's always more fun hanging with her..

And so every morning after dropping my cubs to school...
 I head straight to this mad crazy place, filled with everyone who just loves the rush, and the pain of a kick-ass work out , and all come back for more ...

And no it's not like a normal gym , with shiny mirrors every where , and everyone checking themselves out..
Here you get so destroyed that you do not even want to look into a mirror..
It's basic and fantastic...
Straight to the point ...
And that's exactly how I like it ...

Well it's now two whole weeks and frankly , I think I'm kind of getting fully addicted..
Cross fit is just an awesome place to work out ..
And Dipesh is truly inspirational...

All the trainers there Jehangir, Mihir, Mrinav, Akash, Karan are just so dedicated and push you to do more than you think is possible...
And are always around, so there is no chance of an injury due to incorrect form, or if you are a beginner and have never exercised...
 I have never been to a place so sorted...

I'm the worst candidate in a gym..
I'm an outdoor person and a yoga person...
Hanging with dumbells is just, not what I do ...

I don't know what to do with them , frankly ...
And even if I was told..
I just do not remember...

The last time I really enjoyed working out was with my trainer Vilayat, who used to do functional training with me...
All kinds of crazy things ...
He is simply out of this world...but I lost him to cricket ..
He is a cricket coach, and the most gentle soul you could meet...
Who would make sure I did my routine in his very silent persuasive way, and would ignore my "excuse face"...

But Crossfit is Vilayat on steroids ...
Here we all work out in a group and do all kinds of everything, from pull ups, push ups, jumping on boxes, carrying weights, doing some crazy stuff with them, burpies and other technical terms I have never ever heard...and then at the end of an hour ...

Lakshya ..destroyed...

We all just lie there on the floor..
Destroyed  , glowing and happy ..
And totter off very slowly to a day , that is always fantastic...
Because of the crazy amount of happy hormones kicked in...

And so most days after I'm completely destroyed ...
I go back and cook something healthy ...

And so a few days ago , Dipesh made me taste a lovely concoction of a fruit smoothie, that I promptly went back made and drank up greedily...
And then after another work out..
He made me taste brownies, that were healthy....
Maybe I always look hungry...that's why most people are always offering me food...
Oh and the fact that I suffer from low BP...
(And thought that I'm going to pass out one day after my work-out ...)

And so I asked Dipesh what all went into that brownie....
And decided to make a healthy cake to share with the  batch I workout with, after our Friday the 13th work out...

I do not have the proper recipe..
Because I was just putting stuff together , tasting the batter and the consistency, and adjusting it ..
But I can tell you all the ingredients I used ...

INGREDIENTS

Dates

Figs

Apricots

Prunes

Raisins

Cocoa powder

Eggs- 3

A fresh coconut scraped...

Coconut water

Apple-1

Courgette-1

Carrot-1

Almond flour

Baking powder - 1 tsp

Bicarbonate of soda - 1tsp

Vegetable oil - 3 tbsp

A handful of walnuts, coarse lay chopped ...

Oats...

METHOD..

Pre-heat the oven to 175 degrees.

In an electric mixer, blend all the dried fruit , with the eggs , honey and vegetable oil ..

When it is blended ,add the cocoa powder and taste it, adjust more sweetness in terms of dates and prunes, or more chocolate , with the cocoa powder..

Grate the apple, courgette and carrot and keep aside ..

Mix the almond flour with the baking powder and soda bicarbonate and keep aside ..

Pour the puréed contents of the mixer , into the grated fruit and vegetables..

Add the dried mix of flour to it ..

Mix well..

As this was done without measurements ..

I tasted the raw batter and adjusted the sweetness, and the consistency with coconut water ...

I added the hand broken walnuts last ..

I then weighed and divided the batter into half ..

Into one I added a hand-full of oats.

But you have to see that you do not over add as the consistency may go all wrong ...

Bake the cakes for 30 minutes, or till a tooth-pick inserted in the center of the cake , comes out clean...

I made two cakes..
One without oats - this was very very soft
One with oats - this was soft but had a bite ...

I'm really ecstatic..
This cake has no butter, no sugar and no flour ...
I don't know if I can make it healthier than this ...
They came out soft and did not have a very heavy chocolate aroma ...( which I'm going to sort out the next time)

I CAN HAVE MY CAKE AND EAT IT TOO...

But it was yummy and not in a healthy way...
You know what I mean, everyone thinks that if something is healthy , it cannot be tasty and vice-versa...
I thought that the cake was nice, and really light and moist ,but I would have liked it sweeter...

I gave some to Arshad , while he was trying to exercise ..because I wanted an opinion..
I sent some to Mini's ....

And took some to the gym, for our Friday the 13th Workout ...
And frankly was not so dead today ...
Maybe it was easier today..
Because Dipesh was feeling generous and wanted us to have a relaxed weekend ..
Ha ha ha ..

Dipesh...

Well he works out like a beast and pushes everyone too...
And he is such a lovely gentle soul...
Who causes us all a lot of pain , but " sweet pain"...

Well I shared the healthy cake with all...
And the consensus was "it's good ! is it really healthy?"
Its nice to see a bunch of health conscious guys and girls dig into cake, with no guilt at all...

I follow Kabir, if he stops, then I know its enough.

I'm definitely going to be making this more often...
I cannot believe I actually made a cake , from scratch, with no real recipe to follow ..
I just followed my instinct and my taste buds..
Well I think I want to make this slightly sweeter..
And also have a little more chocolate feel to it...

But I think it's a start, I don't think I'm going to stop cooking what I do cook,but will add a whole lot of healthy options also...
I'm really liking this way of life...
Vegetarian, fishitarian and paleotarian...
(who sometimes cheats with red meat, who to me is like the dark handsome guy in soppy fictional love stories..ha ha .)

And at the end of the day..
It's respecting your body...
And that is as important as respecting yourself and others...

No I'm not striving to be size zero or skinny...
But I definitely want to be a very healthy and fit me...
So that I can still climb trees with my cubs and go up a mountain, swim in the deep blue..

Good health is not a legacy...
It's something we earn, if we respect our life...

And frankly I'm extremely happy and really hope I continue this ...
Err I even have funky glitter silver Vibram shoes ..

These shoes are meant for "cross-fit"ing

That I can't wear anywhere else, so I better go to cross-fit  ..
Ha ha ha ...

And now "I can have my cake and eat it too" ...
Is that not the coolest ...
How many of you can do that ...



So I cut  some banana and some mangoes, and arranged it onto this very healthy yummy brownie-cake, and poured some organic honey onto it...

So here's presenting my concoction of , " I can have my cake and eat it too" ...
Fresh and made without a recipe...
Filled with dried and fresh fruits and full of healthy goodness , for the ones who are nuts about being healthy and fit ..
Only from " Maria's Kitchen"...