Munchkin Pumpkin souffle

Last week was quite possibly the busiest, varied week I've ever had in my life! My organisational skills were put in to action and thankfully they didn't fail me. If there is a skill that I'm strong at, it has to be organising.

On the run up to the London BJJ Open and the London No Gi competitions, I had a lot of regular work going on, plus our food trailer needed attention. There was also the added fact that I needed to get enough training in, but not over do it for the competitions.
Norro's (our food trailer) had the refurb finished, the coffee machine was installed, as was the new fryer, griddle and water boiler. It just needed the electrics sorting and to pass the councils strict Hygiene test. It was a race against time.
Saturday morning, the electricians came to install what was needed at the crack of dawn. I cleaned as they worked, then when they were finished I went on to Crystal Palace to compete in the London Open.
I was in a decent size division for Master 1 feather weight, and a lot better than last year. I pulled out last year as I was alone in the Master 1 feather weight division. This year there were 4 of us. My first fight was with a Irish lady who was very good. She slipped out of my guard and almost took my back, but I recovered and took hers. I won the fight on points. My second fight was the final with Sophie Cox, a Judo black belt. I guess when you know your opponent has a complete advantage with a standing game, you're going to pull guard. I did just that, and as quick as I pulled, she pushed my knee across and passed my guard, then went for the arm bar. I tapped as quick as I could as I couldn't risk any injury for the Worlds. Sophie was awesome and a well deserved winner. She went on to win the Open class too.

I went back to the food trailer after the competition to clean some more.

On Sunday it was the No Gi competition. I was having one of those mornings and trying not to get in a bad head space. I missed my turning on the M25 and ended up driving about 20 miles out of my way to get back on route.
Again I had a division with just 4 of us and my first fight was with Stephanie, the Irish lady who I fought the day before. My team mates were all there and having a mixed day of results. When it was time to go to the bull pit, I couldn't catch any of my team mates or my coaches attention to come and help me on the mats. Everyone was occupied or chatting on the seats over looking the competition. I was getting myself in a bad head space and I needed to snap out of it. I couldn't. We fought and I made a stupid mistake and got caught in a foot lock. Stephanie went on to win gold and she was very deserving of it. I later found out that she too is going to the worlds, but is in the age division below myself. It will be great to meet up with her out in LA.

It's funny how your head can rule your hara if you let it. I let it on Sunday.
I did an experiment with myself last weekend. I come from a Gypsy background and I'm stupidly superstitious and I'm trying to get myself out of it. I didn't wear my 'lucky' underwear or do my 'lucky' ritual of 100 triangles before competing. I got myself in the best head space that I could and fought my heart out. My head was in a great place on Saturday, but wasn't on Sunday.
If there was anything that I need to work on, it's getting my head in the right place before competing and making sure it stays there until the fights are over.

Next weekend I'm competing in Los Angeles at the Masters World Championships. I went last year and came second. This week is going to be about focussing, tweaking those last imperfections and getting in a good space with my head and letting my hara do the work.

After the event on Sunday, I went back to the trailer to do the last bit of cleaning ready for the Council lady to come and inspect the next day. She gave us a 5 start rating, the best rating you can get. Feeling chuffed was an understatement!

Being a Jiu Jitsu athlete, I get a lot of perks. The clothing brand Three Stroke, Fight wear brand Scramble and supplement brand Forever Aloe all sponsor me and supply me with some awesome products that really help with my training.
Just before the London open, I upped my intake of Aloe Vera gel and took the Lean food supplement each morning to help with my weight. I didn't struggle one bit with my weight for this competition and thats purely down to the extra intake of the Aloe vera and supplements.
I speak to a lot of competitors and people in general about keeping my weight down and I can't  recommend the Forever products enough. They aren't just for competitors, they are for people who are looking to better themselves and manage their weight in a really positive way.
I currently use the Aloe vera gel, Lean supplements, bee pollen and the ARGI + food supplement. They have a great range of skin products for aches and pains, and the Aloe Heat gel is particularly good. Its kind of like deep heat, but without the dodgey chemicals. That's the beauty of all the products, they aren't full of bad chemicals, they are full of natures goodness.
For those who have asked me about where to buy the products, you can get them here.
https://www.foreverliving.com/retail/entry/Shop.do?store=GBR&language=en&distribID=440500025632

I'm a huge fan and it's a bonus that I get sent these products to enhance my training.

Now for the food.....

Breakfast is one of my favourite meals of the day. If I fill myself up, it keeps me going for most of the day, and happy!
I bought a munchkin pumpkin in the week and just looked at it wondering what I could make with it. I had never made a soufflé before, so this was a great opportunity to try. I roasted the pumpkin who the night before, then in the morning I made the soufflé. Only make this in the morning if you have plenty of time. Luckily I wake up early, so I ended up eating it at a reasonable breakfast hour.

Ingredients:

1 Munchkin Pumpkin
4 egg yolks
4 egg whites
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice
Tbsp honey
Coconut oil

Method:

The night before roast the pumpkin whole at 150 deg C for about 45-50 minutes until you can feel that it has softened.

Pre heat the oven to 200 deg C
Separate the egg yolk from the white.
Beat the egg whites until you can make a peak with them.
Beat the yolks and add the honey, vanilla, spice and cinnamon to the mix.
Cut the top off the pumpkin and scoop out all of the seeds. You can bake these and have them as a snack. They are yummy!
Scoop out all of the pumpkin and add it to the egg yolk mixture. Then gently fold the mixture in to the egg white, making sure not to over mix.
Add the mixture in to the pumpkin skin. There will be a lot of mixture over, so grease enough ramekins with coconut oil. I used 4 for the remaining mixture.
Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes. The soufflés in the ramekins should have risen slightly and be golden brown on the top. The pumpkin will take a bit longer, about 25-30 minutes in total.

Enjoy hot, or cold, for breakfast or dessert.

Jolie x

Stuffed sweet potato breakfast

Training has been going really well since I last posted back in August.
I entered a few competitions, and they are all coming up in the next few weeks. Managing strength, cardio and of course Jiu Jitsu in a very busy time of my life is quite a challenge, but it's exciting.

A couple of weeks ago I went up to Liverpool to do competition training with ladies only. I had been to a session like this before, and they are tough! The level of jiu jitsu is high, and probably the only place where you will see an equal amount of brown belt ladies on the mats as white belts.
Everyone who trained, all had competitions coming up or in the pipeline. It was a brilliant day, and made such a nice change to train with so many ladies.

We are lucky at Carlson Gracie Essex, and also Carlson Gracie London to have so many ladies training BJJ. But what are the chances of 2 of my training partners getting pregnant within a few weeks of each other!?
Its an interesting subject, pregnancy and Jiu Jitsu. From what I've heard, there isn't much online to read about, to find out if it's safe and if people who are lower ranked belts have gone through this.
I don't have any children, and I'd like to think that if I did, I'd still keep training. Both my friends and training partners said they would, but their reality has been very different to one another. One friend has stopped training, and the other has carried on. I guess its a very personal decision, and like anything, if it doesn't feel right, don't do it, but if it does feel right, keep on.

I made a promise to my friend who has carried on training during pregnancy that I would always partner up with her during drills and techniques. It's only in the last week or so that she has started to show a little bump. Before then I would forget that she was pregnant and snap back to reality and remind myself to go lighter. She would forget too, but I guess her bump would be a gentle reminder.
It's an exciting time to know that this is possible, to train BJJ if your body feels that it's ok with it.
Thankfully at our gym we spend 2 thirds of time on drills and techniques, and the last part of the class is sparring. During certain drills, such as the berimbolo drill, we would have to change that up a bit and my friend would do something else that allows her body to move in an easier way. Techniques have not been a problem as yet, and the last few classes have been focussed on sweeps, so the bodies leverage just goes with the flow.
My friend has been sitting out of sparring, and this is probably the hardest part of the class. I've done it in the past with an injury or because of a competition the next day and it's painful!

As the pregnancy weeks go on, I'll keep writing about our training together. I have mentioned to my friend that she should write a BJJ pregnancy blog. I definitely would, but for now, I'll stick to the food.

Which leads me nicely to a breakfast recipe, and there hasn't been one for a while on here.

Stuffed Sweet Potato Breakfast

Ingredients

1/4 Red Onion
1/4 Red Pepper
3 Mushrooms
Coconut oil

Sweet Potato - Mine was fairly small
Grated Cheese
1 egg
Curly Kale

Method:

For a quicker breakfast in the morning, bake your sweet potato the night before. 5 minutes in the microwave, then 35 minutes in the oven at 200c.

Zap the sweet potato in the microwave for one minute to heat it, but not scald it. Cut a circle at the top of the potato and scoop the inside out, leaving a thick edge of skin and potato. Keep the inside of the potato to one side.
Dice the onion, pepper and mushroom and fry in a pan with the coconut oil. Add this to the potato to stuff it with half way. Add a layer of cheese, then crack the egg on the top, then layer this with some more cheese.
Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 200c or until the cheese has browned.
Heat the remaining of the inside of the potato, add a little cheese. Fry the Kale in the pan with coconut oil and serve.
I still had some of the stuffing left over, so I served it with the mash.
Yummy!!!

Enjoy!
Jolie x