My NutriBullet Go-To Recipe where I lost more than 20 pounds!

Around this time last year, I went for my Annual Physical Exam required at work. To my horror and great surprise, I was at least 10KG heavier!!! Que horror!!! No wonder all my clothes were tight, and I thought they were just shrinking in the wash.

Me with an extra 10KG +.

I decided I needed a drastic lifestyle change, in a way that was acceptable to me, so it would be sustainable, and I won't bounce back to my unhealthy habits. I decided to give the NutriBullet diet another chance.

The idea behind the NutriBullet is to replace one meal a day with a green smoothie. It's a powerful blender that can convert raw veggies, fruits, and nuts in a filling smoothie good for a single serving. All you need to do is fill the cup, and put liquid (water, almond milk, yogurt, juice, etc) until the max line, and voila, you're all set.

My first attempt to smoothie 3 or 4 years ago

The last time I tried to do the NutriBullet Smoothie, I experimented a lot, and most often than not, my smoothie tasted as bad as it looked. I think I managed to do it all of 3 or 4 days, then I felt sick, I decided it was the smoothie that was making me sick, then I quit.

This time around I was much smarter. I stuck with MILD TASTING VEGGIES, and Strong Sweet Tasting fruit, to find a combination that actually tasted good. It's so good I have been taking it daily for a year now, except for when I'm travelling.

Coley's NutriBullet Smoothie Recipe

Handful of Spinach (use less when you start, and add more as you get used to the taste)

2 Cauliflower Florets (this helps thicken the shake and make it more filling, you can skip this and just add 1 Tablespoon Chia seeds instead)

1 Banana

Half Apple

Half Pear

5 Strawberries

Then I fill the cup with cucumber slices until full

*Water till the max line (to save on calories)

Note that recipes calls for fruit available the whole year.

When Mangoes and Pineapples are in season, you can substitute the apples and pears.

Tip: Papaya, Watermelon and Avocado don't do much to add positive flavor for your smoothie, so just eat them separately.

Another Tip: If you freeze your ingredients before making your smoothie, it will come out creamier.

At first I wondered if I would ever get sick of drinking my smoothie everyday, but I told myself it's just like coffee. So now, I even miss it when I travel.

I have lost more than 10kg in around 5 months but the good thing is I have embraced a lifestyle that has allowed me to keep it off.

I normally take a late low calorie breakfast (why eat if you're not yet hungry) ie baked egg cups and hummus, or sweet potato toast, etc. and half my smoothie for a late lunch and the other half for dinner. Since the smoothie fills me up, I no longer have any space for rice, so I normally eat a lot of veggies as part of my meal with some protein.

The result is I am back to my Singapore weight and I am within a few pounds of my University/ just joined Unilever weight.

This is me in Sri Lanka Oct 2017.

This is me in La Union January 2018, and that Bikini Bottom is a Roxy S!!!
Achieve!!! just saying.

Coley's Baked Egg Cups Recipe

My favorite make ahead healthy breakfast recipe is baked egg cups. It's so yummy and easy to make even Sof can make them.

Baked Egg Cups

Filling: Anything you want in your eggs.

My favorites include Tomato, Basil, and Mozzarella. I also do ham and cheese. Below is my take on brocolli and cheddar with the yummy Tapa that I brought home from Tita Joy the other day.

This tapa is so yummy, I forgot I was now mostly vegetarian.
When they offered the leftovers, I gladly say yes.

I mixed it in with broccoli flowers.

1. All you need to do is to fill silicone muffin pans with your desired filling.

2. Then make a scrambled egg mixture. I use 4-5 eggs for 12 egg cups.

3. Add a little milk, salt and pepper.

4. Then pour into the muffin cups.

5. I always top it with my favorite secret ingredient (MORE CHEESE), salt and pepper, before baking.

6. Put in the oven at 350 degrees. Check it after 15 minutes and remove when the eggs are set. (It normally takes mine between 20-25 mins to bake.)

Voila! It's that easy.
You can eat it straight from the oven, or put it in the fridge for breakfast when you are rushing.
1 Egg Cup (Tomato, Mozza, Basil) is only 40-50 calories.

I can normally eat 2-3 egg cups for breakfast or I have 1 topped with jalapeno hummus as a filling snack.  just saying.

Coley's Sweet Potato Toast Recipe

I like browsing through recipes before sleeping, and if it's interesting enough and passes the sleep-over-it test, I start buying the ingredients so I can try it.

I was intrigued by Sweet Potato Toasts because I love toast... but I try to stay away from bread... so when I saw people raving about this idea online, I decided to try it out. 

Thankfully, I have very nice office mates who let me experiment on them. I volunteered to prepare breakfast for us at work. 

I must say, it turned out quite well.

Prep work is easy. Just cut a well-cleaned (but I peeled mine) sweet potato into 1/4 inch thick slices and brush both sides with olive oil (You can do this in advance). Then pop into the toaster oven for 10-15 minutes at the highest setting.

You can top it with anything and everything you desire.

My favorite is a generous serving of Peanut Butter with truffle honey and truffle salt! It really hits the spot.

Oh, and this combo works well with bananas too.

Thank you girls for letting me experiment on you.

Happiest Birthday Peach!!!

May you get everything your heart desires, I pray for great health, and a life of full of blessings and love with Karlo. just saying.

Coley's Super Easy Homemade Takoyaki Recipe (Octopus and weird ingredients not required)

When I was in Tokyo for a vacation 5 years ago, my favorite purchase was a Takoyaki maker, which I thought was a steal for less than 1,000JPY.

The box says for use in Japan only, so I lied and said I lived in Japan,
but what they actually meant was to warn me that the machine was 110volts.

After 5 years, I finally decided to try out my machine. I looked through a lot of recipes online, disregarded anything complicated and then tweaked it based on my preference.


Homemade Takoyaki Recipe


1. Measure 1 cup flour and 1 tablespoon + 1.5 teaspoons cornstarch, add 1 egg, 1 cup water and 1 knorr cube (dissolved in the water)
2. Add 1 tablespoon Kikkoman and another 1 cup water
3. Mix well with whisk and refrigerate for 30 minutes (it also turns out well if you have no time or no patience to wait).

4. Prepare your filling.
I used cabbage and cheese and spam and cheese for my second attempt. They both turned out well.

5. When you're ready to start, brush your takoyaki cooker with olive oil.
Then heat it for awhile, then put in the filling, before pouring in the batter until full.

My first attempt was quite messy.
I attempted to copy the takoyaki vendors, but it's not easy to put the filling
after the batter, and shooting them into the holes if you're not an expert. 

Taste-wise, it turned out quite well though.

Since we didn't have any terriyaki or tonkatsu sauce, I used sriracha with
Japanese Mayo instead as topping and it was delish!

I couldn't get over my messy takoyaki balls, and I remembered that some takoyaki stalls use the ketchup bottle for better control over the batter... so I went to the supermarket, bought myself a bottle for Php55, and attempted to make takoyaki again. This time with Spam and Cheese too.

The ketchup bottle is truly a game changer!

This recipe was tailored to my own personal taste and it doesn't pretend to be close to the original takoyaki you buy from Osaka. just saying.

Coley's Mushroom Cauliflower Risotto

Since I lost so much weight doing the Nutribullet Smoothie (note to self, do a blog post on that), I decided to try and eat healthier as well.

My newest health kick is an attempt to go 80% Vegetarian. The 20% is loophole for the meat I enjoy like Fried Chicken Skin, Steak with Fat and Foie Gras. I try to live by a simple rule, if I don't really like the meat dish, I would opt to eat vegetables instead.

To make this plan sustainable I've been on the look out for interesting recipes of healthy alternatives for food I love to eat. I can live without eating rice forever, but put Risotto in front of  me and my self control is gone.

I was so happy to find several recipes of Cauliflower Risotto online which I tweaked to be most similar to the Mushroom Risotto recipe we know and love, and it turned out so well, even I was surprised. 

Mushroom Cauliflower Risotto Recipe

1. Pulse 1 large cauliflower head (florets only) until it looks like rice and set aside.
2. Cook a small package of Shiitake Mushrooms (cut into strips) in Olive Oil then set aside.
3. Saute 3 cloves garlic until brown, then add 1 finely chopped onion until translucent.
4. Add the cauliflower rice, chicken broth (I used 1 Knorr Chicken Cube dissolved in 1 cup water), and add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Don't forget the secret ingredient: add 1/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese/ or any salty cheese. Put as much cheese as you want!!!
6.Top with parsley or basil.

Perfect for calorie counters as it only contains 95 calories per cup (without the extra cheese), it's so easy to make too. If your helper does all the prep, cook time is approximately 10 minutes. This recipe is a keeper. just saying.