Pad Thai **RECIPE**

Whilst this particular recipe isn't Whole30, you'll only need two simple changes to make it compliant. Instead of using rice noodles, use courgette (zucchini) noodles, and instead of peanuts add cashews.

Serves Two

Ingredients

1 large carrot

1 red pepper

3 spring onions

2 heads of Pak Choi

1 lime

1 tablespoon of tomato puree

2 tablespoons fish sauce (make sure no added sugar)

2 eggs

150g raw king prawns

2 teaspoons coconut oil

200g rice noodles (use courgette noodles to make W30 compliant)

Handful of peanuts (omit or use cashews to make W30 compliant)

Fresh chili (to taste)

Method

1. Prepare the rice noodles as per instructions on pack (or make the courgette noodles).
2. Thoroughly wash all the vegetables and slice the carrot and red pepper into thin matchsticks and chop the spring onion. Separate the leaves of the Pak Choi. Put aside (or store if prepping in advance).
3. Crack two eggs into a bowl and whisk. In a large wok, heat one teaspoon of coconut oil. Add the egg to the pan and make a thin egg pancake, flip and remove from pan when cooked.
4. Immediately heat the other teaspoon of coconut oil in the same wok, and add all of the vegetables, allow them to wilt, stir and fold occasionally.
5. Place the juice of the lime, tomato puree and fish sauce (Tesco own fish sauce is W30 compliant) into a small bowl and mix. 
6. Roll up the egg pancake and slice across to make noodle shapes, set aside.
7. Add the sauce to the wok and mix into the softened vegetables.
8. Add the raw prawns, try to avoid buying already cooked prawns as they'll go rubbery. Cook for around 3-4 minutes or until prawns have turned pink.
9. Chuck in some peanuts (or cashews).
10. Add the egg and rice noodles.
11. At this point I remove my portion from the wok and dish up, then proceed to add the fresh chili to my partners. I can't tolerate even remotely spicy food but he loves it, if you both like spicy food then it would be better to add the chili with the prawns.

I have found this meal really easy to prepare in advance, meaning I get fed much quicker after my classes. I simply prep the veg, noodles and sauce and store in the fridge. Then all I need to do when I get home is make the pancake, cook the veg and prawns and dump in the sauce, noodles, nuts and chili - Voila! 

Hope you enjoy this really clean, but amazingly flavourful summer dish!

Superhuman Games 2016 - We Survived!

On Saturday 28th May 2016, myself and a friend participated in the Superhuman Games - A fitness competition based loosely on the concept on Crossfit exercises. We had to compete in five 20 minutes challenges including an assault course, running and rowing, chucking 40kg balls onto our shoulder and burpees, tyre flipping and partner carrying, thrusters and kettlebell swings. You can read more about the challenges and our training for this event here.

Well, three weeks on and I've finally recovered enough to write about my experience! We loved it so much that we've already signed up for next year and have started enrolling more victims, I mean athletes to join our Fitness Quest Team!

It was a long day, having rushed our breakfast and hopping in a taxi by 7:30am to ensure we got there for registration at 8am (we were there by 7:40am)! After registration we found a good spot to set up for the day, that gave us a nice central spot to relax and gave the two friends we dragged up to support us a good view of all the events taking place. We found the event really well organised, and when we lost a bit of time we always made it back up. The majority of the athletes aren't too serious about the whole thing either, offering words of support and a friendly face throughout the day - Something we weren't sure would happen at a competition like this (I think we were expecting The Hulk, cue angry green man ripping off his shirt when he doesn't get his own way)!

There were plenty of breaks in between our events, so we had time to chill with the girls, eat, foam roll, stretch, pose for a few selfies and observe the other heats taking place.

During every single one of the events, we wondered why on Earth we had subjected ourselves to such torture... But the second the 20 minutes was up, we desperately wanted to go again (well with the exception of the obstacle course for me)!

As the day came to a close, we had already began to feel sad, Superhuman training had become our lives for the past 12 weeks and we felt a bit lost at the prospect of it being over! Nothing could undo our sense of achievement though, having signed up only as a personal challenge and not expecting to seriously compete we were thrilled to find out we placed 46/108! We had trained hard, suffered a few overuse injuries along the way, and had times we felt we weren't good enough, but we pulled each other through and both of us no doubt fell in love with the training, the cleaner eating and the sense of strength we gained from it all, both mentally and physically! We also manged to raise £270 for charity by doing this, so super pleased we made that leap of faith.

We finished around 4:30pm, and after grabbing our much earned medals, jumped back in a cab and straight into the hotel bar for a much needed ice cold cider! Safe to say the treats consumed that evening weren't very Whole30.

So, three weeks on, the training hasn't been so full on, with just usual classes and practice plus a few 5K's and a bit of rowing, but the plan is to build on the Superhuman challenges we competed this year, so that by the time next years challenges are released, we've maintained (and hopefully improved) our strength and fitness for 2017! Next year they'll be six challenges!

So far we've got four teams signed up for 2017, with more thinking about joining us. If you're interested, why not come along to our Fitness Quest Games, being held on Saturday 23rd July? The event will be free to all who register, however a donation will be suggested which will go straight into our team kitty for the games next year. Our mini games will be a great way to test out the style of challenges you can expect on the day, hopefully giving you the nudge you need to sign up.

If you've got any questions or would like to join our team please email info@fitnessquest.co.uk

Here's my favourite video of us in action: