Christmas shopping and delicious creamy immune system boosting soup!

Today my plans were to head over to Newcastle early and take the hubby to work so I could do some Christmas shopping, even the 6 inches of snow wasn’t going to stop me! As we were up really early and wanted to get out as soon as possible I made a quick smoothie just to get something on my stomach. I blended up a pear, frozen blueberries, 2 tablespoons of wheat germ, vanilla rice milk and a little agave.

I can’t remember the last time I actually had a smoothie from a glass instead of a bowl!

We made the slow and quite frankly dangerous journey to Newcastle. When we got there James headed to work and I went to get a proper breakfast! I went to Cafe Royal and had a gorgeous Almond Green Tea:

Followed by some porridge with berry compote:

The porridge was very creamy and must have been made with full fat milk or cream, it reminded me more of rice pudding!

After that I popped over to Starbucks to enjoy a soy Gingerbread Latte while I waited for the shops to open.

How Christmassy does this look?

Newcastle Upon Tyne – Grays Monument – can you believe I’ve been up to the top of that!

I got lots of Christmas shopping done, plus a few ‘gifts’ for myself, including these earrings and necklace from Accessorize:

This box of Christmas Yogi teas – how could I resist?

I also bought this wrap around scarf from Dorothy Perkins to keep me warm:

When I got home I sorted out my gifts and then made lunch. I had a home made spelt wrap with roast veggies and feta from last nights dinner plus lots of chopped cucumber and a little feta on the side.

I also had a couple of sliced kiwi:

I had been planning on walking to my local shops but the snow started falling again and I decided to stay home and cook instead! I made a huge batch of my Lentil and Root Veg Stew as well as this soup:

Leek, Greens and White Bean Soup:

• 4 small leeks, sliced
• 3 chopped gloves of garlic
• Greens – I used a small head of savoy cabbage and a small head of spring greens
• 2 tins of drained and rinsed cannellini beans
• Hot veg stock

Fry off the leeks and garlic until soft then add the cabbage and hot veg stock. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes then add the beans. Simmer for a further 5 minutes then blend until creamy. Season well and serve.

This was absolutely delicious and so creamy! I had made a similar soup before a few weeks ago which hadn’t been anything special but this time I added more greens, garlic and twice the quantity of beans – sooo good, and surprisingly filling, although I still went back for more! As this soup has a good amount of garlic it is also fantastic for supporting your immune system as well as being full of antioxidants from the greens. I’ll also probably snack on a few chopped apples with cinnamon later too.

So all in all a very productive day! I hate feeling like I’m stuck indoors when the weathers bad, although things are getting worse so it looks like anywhere I’ll be going in the next day or so is going to be on foot! Despite the snow I’m planning a workout tomorrow. Luckily my gym is within walking distance. I’m going to do a treadmill run like last week – I just need to make sure I have a great playlist on my iPhone to keep me going!

After today I’m feeling really festive, I can’t wait to decorate the flat! Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? Are you well organised or more of a wait till the last minute person? 

Oh – and don’t forget to enter my Giveaway before 12am GMT tonight! Winners announced tomorrow! Have a great evening :-)