Thanks for all your great comments on my last post, you’ve all made me feel much better! It was quite strange getting up this morning and not going out for my run, I really enjoyed having an hour to relax. I’m really looking forward to tomorrows run, I’m not going to put any pressure on achieving any time, I just want to enjoy the run and make the distance.

Last night I was just about to make a cuppa and for some reason I thought I would get out the old tea pot and make a full pot of tea so I could just keep topping myself up during the evening. I got it out again this morning for breakfast and made a big pot of Chai Green tea to accompany my bowl of chopped apple, raspberries and some of my new Mornflake Date, Apple and Fig Muesli (bought for £1 on special offer) with hazelnut and almond rice milk and cinnamon.




I really like this muesli, its so tasty! I definitely think the tea pot has earned its place on my kitchen counter now, I just need a retro tea cosy like this one from Etsy:



Ha ha! Reminds me of my nana! While I was looking at the tea cosy’s I also saw these for take out coffee, how cute!



I did all my cleaning and tidying then headed into town to have a look in some vintage shops and get some grocery shopping done in the market. Nothing interesting in the one vintage shop that was actually open, but loads of groceries, check out this haul!



I got all this Fruit and Veg (leek, cabbage, 10 little nectarines, 4 large peaches, 2 punnets of strawberries, 2 punnets of raspberries, 1 punnet of blueberries, bananas, giant cucumber, carrots, beetroot, 3 fuji apples, garden peas, 2 little gems, bag of spinach, 3 peppers, courgette) for just £15! Considering that fruit and vegetables make up the bulk of my diet that’s great value. I also stopped by Holland and Barratt and couldn’t help myself with the tea! I got some Yogi Rose tea and some Qi Green Tea with berries. I also got some dried blueberries and a pack of omega seed sprinkle for breakfasts, soups and salads.



I stopped by an oriental shop and picked up some goji berries and more green tea (yes, I clearly have a problem!) for £3. Before heading home I stopped by mmm which is a fabulous foodie shop in the market (thanks to blog reader Joolz for telling me about this place!) I scored the last of the local Jesmond Dene blossom honeycomb as well as some wheat germ to try and this Slow Puck snack disc which I had with a cuppa at my parents.
 

I also had to drop by the supermarket to get some milk, eggs, freedom food chicken breasts, Powerade to try on my run tomorrow and other stuff I couldn’t carry from the market. 



I love having a full cupboard, fridge and freezer!

For lunch I made myself a salad beast. It contained cos lettuce, spinach, cucumber, grated carrot, freshly shelled peas, yellow pepper, beetroot, roasted soya nuts and a goats cheese mini babybel with a dressing made from juice of half a lemon, teaspoon of garlic olive oil and a little dried oregano.



This was immensely good! I then had some strawberries, raspberries and a chopped apple which I couldn’t resist topping with a thin slither of honey comb.



So amazing!

This afternoon I made these Apple, Blueberry and Cinnamon Protein Muffins. I based my recipe on this one.
Apple, Blueberry and Cinnamon Protein Muffins (makes 10 small muffins)

• 1 cup of spelt flour
• 2 scoops of nutty berry spiru-tein powder (any neutral or vanilla flavour protein powder should work, although I have read that spiru-tein is better in baking).
• 1/2 cup of chunky apple sauce
• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
• 1.5 teaspoons of baking powder
• 2 large egg whites
• 2 tablespoons of dried blueberries

Mix all ingredients together until well combined. Spoon into muffin cases and bake at 180 for 10 – 15 minutes.

 

I used my new silicone muffin cases which worked really well. I tried one of these as an afternoon snack spread with a little almond butter and it was delicious and had a really good texture. I’ve popped these in the freezer to keep, and to stop me eating them all at once!

For dinner I defrosted a portion of my Thai Red Tofu Curry and had it with some brown rice and steamed savoy cabbage with soy and ginger.



For desert I wanted to use some of my new honeycomb. I’ve never had honeycomb before so I did a little bit of research. The actual structure of honeycomb is made from beeswax which holds the honey in. As it comes like this in its most natural state it has not been treated in any way. Some people believe it has great health benefits, particularly in treating hayfever. I chopped a peach in half and popped it under a hot grill for 5 minutes then served it with some fromage frais, some of the honeycomb and some flaked almonds.



Heavenly!

Big Budget Challenge Update

This week I have:

• Made a home made head band for the wedding I attended
• Put several items on EBay for the first time ever!
• Did my grocery shopping at Lidl and the market to save money
• Scored some free 9 Bars to review on the blog
• Instead of buying magazines I’ve been flicking through some old ones and getting week old copies of Grazia from my Sis

I’m getting there slowly but surely!

How’s everyone’s weekend going? I’ve got another busy day tomorrow with my run and hopefully sorting out my EBay items that have been sold!

I’m going to have to try and keep my hands off that honeycomb, have you ever tried honeycomb before? If so what did you think? I really enjoyed mine tonight, luckily it will keep in the fridge for quite a few months so I can treat myself every so often. I think I might have to treat myself to some full fat greek yoghurt to have with it some time, that will be just delicious!

Well I’m off to make another big pot of tea for this evening, I just need to decide which tea to have now! Hope your all having a good one x

Can’t believe that Monday has come round so quick again, hope you’ve all had a good day!

First of all I’d like to thank everyone who has left a comment on my GIVEAWAY post, its so lovely and interesting to hear what it is that you like about the blog. The GIVEAWAY is open until Friday so go and check it out if you haven’t already :-)

Breakfast was a bowl of Dorset Cereals High Fibre Muesli with strawberries and soy milk.

Mid morning I snacked on half a tub of cottage cheese with goji berries and mixed seeds.

Lunch was a delicious bowl of my Chilli Bean Soup along with a few juicy plums.

I also had a Beet It Shot before heading to the gym after work.

I did my scheduled 30 minutes of HIITs on the step machine and cross trainer and then some abs and core exercises before heading into my spinning class. It was great! I increased the resistance a bit more than last week and I ended up with a great workout. I’m so glad I got over my little bit of nervousness about attending classes. I also wore the new leggings I blogged out at the weekend. They were so comfortable, I love them! The brand name on them is Central Park, they were only £9.99 in TK Maxx in case anyone wants to check them out!

Dinner was something I haven’t had in ages that used to be an old favourite – baked sweet potato topped with cottage cheese. I mixed some finely chopped cucumber and red onion into the cottage cheese and also had some spinach on the side.

It was so tasty and satisfying, I love the hot sweet baked potato and the cool savoury cottage cheese, mmm!

For desert I needed to use up the last of the strawberries as they were definitely on the turn so I blended them with some ice cubes, soy milk and agave syrup to make a smoothie and then added two crumbled apple, blueberry and cinnamon protein muffins.

Like strawberry soup with muffin croutons!

Do you have any ‘old favourite’ meals that you haven’t had in ages? Back when I used to eat the same thing over and over baked potatoes were my thing. I’m glad I get a lot more variety in my eats now, although sometimes its good to enjoy your favourites!

I’ve had a day of deep thinking about the whole blogging thing, partly due to the shocking Marie Clare article about some of the healthy living bloggers in the US. I guess I just realised how much blogging has affected my life and how much I value being able to share my passions for food, fitness, fashion and health as well as the enormous amount of inspiration I’ve gained from reading other blogs. Sometimes I also worry whether my blog content is the best it can be, is blogging daily eats the right format, should I be doing reviews etc but at the end of the day everyone has their own blogging style and this is mine, I guess you wouldn’t be reading this if you didn’t like it!

So, thank you everyone who reads, you have no idea how much I value your comments and being able to share my passions with you!

Right, I’m off for a cuppa, I have a fancy for a tea pigs popcorn tea! Catch you later :-)