Cooking The Books – Leesa Bow

This week I’m venturing into new territory – football! Unlike a certain well-loved Aussie writer who bangs on about footy every week here (while hosting some great Australian writers and talking about food), I am clueless. But Leesa Bow to the rescue! Leesa’s debut New Adult novel, Winning The Player, was released this month by Destiny Romance and it’s choc-a-bloc full of footy action and buff bodies with a gorgeous romance to boot! We’re in the hands of a well-connected expert here, so it’s welcome and over to Leesa! 

 

Hi Louise and thanks for having me today. I’m very excited about my debut New Adult novel ‘Winning the Player’. It is a football romance based in Adelaide, South Australia. The characters are between 18 and 25 and at an age plenty of alcohol is consumed. But I’m here to talk food so I thought it appropriate to discuss a footballer’s diet and share recipes since my book has a football romance theme. Hunter is the hero, a star football player, so when he dines out he mainly orders pasta.

Hunter Stone is on top of his game. His success stems from commitment and hard physical trainings, and a diet to support his heavy workload.

In my book I talk about Hunter’s meals before a game and today I’d like to share some of my favourite AFL player’s pasta recipes.

Lewis Johnston #8 (Adelaide Crows)

Straight-shooting, dynamic forward

Beef Ravioli

Lean mince

Five Brothers pasta sauce

Mushrooms

Onion

Brown mince and add mushrooms and onion. Add pasta sauce and simmer. Place ravioli in boiling water. When cooked drain and serve with the sauce and some garlic bread.

 

Mitch Clisby cooking his favourite pasta

Mitch Clisby #15 (Melbourne Demons)

Midfielder/wingman and quick decision maker

Spaghetti Bolognaise

Place spaghetti pasta on to boil.

Fry extra lean mince, grated carrot, mushrooms, brown onion, and secret herbs and spices. Add Dolmio basil sauce, a tin of chopped tomatoes and simmer.

When pasta is cooked, drain and top with the sauce.

 

Taylor Walker #13 (Adelaide Crows)

Star forward and prolific goal kicker

Like Mitch—the two are mates and grew up together in Broken Hill— Taylor also prefers a Spaghetti Bolognaise before the game. However, as a lad growing up, Taylor also enjoyed a Chicken Bow-tie dish his mother Margaret cooked.

Chicken Bowties

Place bowtie pasta in water to boil.

Slice chicken breast and cook in frypan. Add bacon, mushroom, onion and shallots. Add light cream and light sour cream.

When pasta is cooked drain and serve with the sauce.

 

Sam Jacobs and his girlfriend Izzy

 Sam Jacobs #24 (Adelaide Crows)

Accurate tap ruckman and linchpin for the Crows

The night before a game Sam enjoys cooking with his girlfriend Izzy, and prefers Spaghetti Bolognaise or Chicken and Bacon penne pasta.

Chicken and Bacon Penne

Ingredients:

Penne pasta

Chicken breast

Bacon

Onion

Garlic

“Roasted garlic and onion” four brothers pasta sauce

Method:

Boil water in saucepan – add the pasta once boiled.

Dice onion and garlic finely.

Cut up chicken and bacon.

Sauté onion and garlic in frying pan; add the bacon once onion is soft.

Sam Jacobs’ girlfriend, Izzy

Add chicken and cook until browned then add pasta sauce. Cook until pasta is ready Serve with grated cheese.

 

Carbohydrates play a major role in elite football player’s diet.

Mitch Clisby eats poached eggs with avocado for breakfast on game day. Later he consumes carbs in salad rolls, along with a banana, yoghurt and muesli bars before the game.

Sam Jacobs prefers Nutrigrain for breakfast and later a subway and a Powerade a few hours before the game.

Lewis Johnston is fastidious about his diet the day before and on game day, often eating the same foods (from the same cafes) every week.

For breakfast Lewis consumes Sustain cereal with lactose free milk, followed by a banana before a light training.

Lunch: Vietnamese chicken roll and 4 cold rolls. Mid afternoon toasted banana bread.

Game day lunch: Subway chicken teriyaki and salad roll. One banana.

Throughout the morning Lewis consumes litres of water and also Gatorade or Powerade with added electrolytes.

 

Our star football players carbohydrate loaded diet turns many females green with envy. A fraction of this would be enough to send extra padding to my hips! But the energy required for games and trainings demands adequate fuel from carbohydrate foods, and so none is stored as fat. The strict regime of players demands respect, especially the hard work and commitment by players to stay on top of their game.

 

Here’s a bit about Winning the Player.

 

When injury destroyed her dream of playing college basketball, Aubree Taylor fled overseas. Now she’s finally home again and ready to move on with her life. Until she runs into Hunter Stone on her first night out, the only guy who’s ever meant anything to her – and the last person she wants to see.

Since she ran out on him two years ago, Hunter hasn’t been able to get Aubree off his mind. The sexy football star has had girls all over him for years, but Aubree is the only one to have ever seen behind the cocky persona he puts on for the crowd.

Despite her attempts to keep her distance, Aubree is unable to resist the strong attraction between them and it isn’t long before they fall into a passionate relationship. She has never been afraid of a challenge, but Hunter’s arrogance and inability to trust are testing her to her limits. Aubree must decide whether to follow her heart and lower her guard…or risk losing the best thing that’s ever happened to her.

 

You can pick up Winning The Player at:

Amazon books as well as other digital retailers.

Connect with Leesa here:

Webpage

Facebook

And you can find out more about Leesa here.