Dressing up and butterfly cakes

Over the last few weeks I have been in total slob mode. Most weekends have been spent make up free in my leggings or baggy jeans not really giving a toss what I look like, hence why I’ve posted no Outfit of the Day for a while. Although there’s nothing wrong with that I do like to try and make an effort occasionally! Today I thought I’d give myself a kick up the bum and dress a little bit more smartly:

 Scarf: New Look, striped tunic dress: Warehouse, jeggings: Next, tan leather belt: Topshop, tan cross body bag: Mango, tan leather boots: ASOS

I liked the combo of the stripes and floral scarf, I think its quite nice to mix up prints sometimes. I threw my big warm parka coat with fur trimmed hood on top of this to keep warm. Its amazing how making a bit of an effort makes you feel!

I have also been busy baking. It was my Dad and Sisters birthdays last week and my Sister had requested butterfly cakes like we used to make when we were little:

I was so chuffed with how these turned out! I thought they looked really pretty. I used wholemeal flour, natural caster sugar, organic butter and free range eggs for these lovelies then topped them with vanilla butter cream icing and sugar stars. Unfortunately I didn’t get to sample the fruits of my labour as a) they aren’t vegan and b) I used big cases so only got 7 cakes out of the mix and I wanted to make sure everyone else got one. I’ll go and polish my halo now ;-)

While I was baking these cakes I spent a bit of time making a delicious breakfast:

Bejewelled blended quinoa porridge (serves 1, inspired by Choosing Raw)

• 1/2 cup of quinoa rinsed
• 1 cup of water
• 1/2 cup of non dairy milk (I used kara coconut)
• 1 tablespoon of agave or other sweetener (I used brown rice syrup)
• Blueberries and pomegranate seeds

In a pan, simmer the quinoa, water and milk for around 15 minutes until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Using a hand blender or food processor blend the cooked quinoa until creamy. Pop back on a low heat and stir in your sweetener of choice. Transfer to a bowl and top with the fruit and a little bit more milk or sweetener if desired:

This was lovely, a nice change to the usual porridge and great if you have a little more time to spend on making breakfast.

I had a beautiful but freezing cold walk into town:

I picked up these new ingredients from a little independent health shop:

Nutritional yeast flakes and herbamare seasoning. I was glad to have found the flakes as I love my nutritional yeast but the powder I have isn’t great for sprinkling on pasta or salads. I had thought I would need to order it online so I was chuffed I found it locally. The herbamare seasoning is various herbs and veggie extracts with sea salt and kelp. I also hit my favourite fruit and veg shop in Durham and wasn’t disappointed – I got a huge fresh head of lettuce, a cos lettuce, massive bag of kale, courgette, cucumber, mushrooms, carrots with their tops, russet apples and beautiful figs for £7. This shop has the best range of fruit and veggies – I really had to exercise a lot of restraint not to buy a lot more!

On the way home from town I snacked on one of the russet apples then I had the other one when I got home:

I adore russet apples!

Lunch was a big salad containing lettuce, carrot, red pepper, cucumber, red onion, sprouts, spouted lentils and beans, pumpkin seeds, herbamare seasoning, braggs seasoning and a small drizzle of cool oil:

I also had a nectarine and two clemintines:

After visiting my family and hanging out with my best friend I came home and made myself a big green juice:

This really did taste amazing. It contained two small apples, pear, cucumber, cos lettuce, celery, ginger, lemon, matcha green tea powder.

Dinner was left over Moroccan Butternut and Chickpea Tagine with steamed greens, shoyu and mixed seeds:

So delicious! The steamed greens tasted great too. Dessert was two amazing fresh figs with two booja booja raw chocolate truffles:

I bought these truffles when I went to Wholefoods in London and holy deliciousness these were good. I savoured each one taking little bites they are just absolutely divine! They are sugar, soy and dairy free and have a crunchy bitter dark chocolate coating with a smooth truffle filling that tastes like it has a hint of coconut. Utterly amazing I am well and truly sold on these! The figs were mighty fine too, perfect combo with the chocolate.

Glad I made a bit of an effort with myself today too, I’m sure it helps me be more productive! Does dressing up or down affect how you feel?

Are you all having a good weekend? I’ve had such a busy day I’m looking forward to chilling out for the rest of the evening. Catch you later!