I don't know what was with me this morning but I was lying wide awake at 5.30, in the end I decided to get up just before 6 so I could head into work early and catch up on things.

I had my usual Friday morning weigh in and I've dropped another pound (now 10st) so I'm pretty happy with that. I thought I might have gained after eating pizza and chocolate last week so I'm happy that things seem to be balancing out.

For breakfast I made myself a big bowl of chopped fruit and muesli -

 

two chopped peaches and red grapes

 

 

a few tablespoons of home mixed muesli

 

 

...and skimmed milk. Can you tell I had too much time on my hands this morning?

 

I ended up getting into work at 7.30 so I had a lovely hour and a half to myself in the office just being able to potter on and get things done.

Mid morning I snacked on some more red grapes and a pot of greek yoghurt.

 

For lunch I had four turkey, hummus and cos lettuce wraps, three savory rice cakes (forgot to take a pic!), carrot and cucumber sticks and an apple.

 

 

I know that I really enjoyed my pitta bread with turkey and hummus yesterday but I have to say I enjoyed these wraps with just the lettuce leaves even more! The lettuce is lovely and crunchy, plus I get more turkey and hummus eating them this way!

 

Today I also experimented by trying a decaf coffee for a change. What can I say, I'm living on the edge!

For dinner I made some Chicken and Vegetable Tikka Masala with brown rice noodles. This recipe is inspired by a Jamie Oliver recipe in Ministry of Food.

Chicken and Vegetable Tikka Masala

2 chicken breasts, sliced into bite sized pieces
1 large head of brocolli chopped into florets
1 large head of cauliflower chopped into florets
1 chopped onion
1/2 jar of tikka masala curry paste (I used Pataks)
500g of chopped tomatoes or passata
400g tin of light coconut milk
2 tsp of minced ginger
Tablespoon of vegetable oil

In a large deep pan fry off the onion and ginger in the oil for a few minutes, then add the chicken, followed by the veggies, then add the curry paste. Continue to fry the chicken and veggies in the curry paste for a couple of minutes, then add the coconut milk and passata. I also added some water to thin the sauce out a little. Simmer gently for 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the veggies are tender. Serve with rice or noodles of choice!

I served mine with some brown rice vermicelli noodles.

This was very rich and spicy. I still think I prefer thai green curry but this is nice for a change. This recipe made 4 large portions. 
 
For desert I made some Chocolate Tofu Pudding. I've made the vanilla version a few times and thought I should try making a chocolate version!

Chocolate Tofu Pudding

1 block of mori nu silken tofu
2 tablespoons of chocolate rice milk
2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
2 tablespoons of agave

Blend all ingredients in a food processor then transfer to bowls / containers and chill in the fridge. Serves two.

 

This was so delicious! I liked this better than the chocolate mousse I've made with greek yoghurt before. This is really rich and chocolately tasting, absolutely lush! I had to really stop myself going and eating the other portion. I ended up having a bowl of raspberries with chocolate rice milk instead. 

 

Its also the first time I've tried the chocolate rice milk. It tastes amazing! Just like a proper chocolate milk. I can see myself drinking most of the carton tonight if I'm honest. My will power just isn't here right now, I'm sitting here really trying to resist a major raid of the kitchen cupboards! Don't know what it is but I could just stuff my face, even after eating that big curry and those bowls of pudding and raspberries.

Drinks - water, green tea, decaf tea, decaf coffee

So what does everyone have planned for the weekend? I'm so glad the weekend is here at last, this week has felt really long. I feel like I have loads of stuff to do, so glad that we have an extra day off here in the UK. Heres my weekend to do list, I'm taking the opportunity while blogging to get this all written down!

• See friends and family (hopefully including bbqs!)
• Run x 2
• Strength workout
• Training plan for May
• Natural Balance foods review and GIVEAWAY! post
• Make some fuel bars
• Grocery shop
• Clean flat and do laundry
• Sort out boxes under kitchen bench and get paint and brushes out ready to paint window sills
• Sort out old magazines and make inspiration board / file
• Chill out!

I hope I can get everything done, I seriously need a bit of chill time!

Well I'm still feeling hungry right now! I'm going to make a cuppa and hopefully that will give my body time to register that its full. Hope you have all had a great week and have a fabulous weekend planned! x

When I woke up the sun was shining, the birds were signing and I could hear the Cathedral Bells ringing, it was perfect. I decided to have my breakfast in bed whilst reading magazines.

I had a chopped grapefruit with greek yoghurt and a few tablespoons of Dorset Cereals Muesli and a cup of Mao Feng Green Tea.

I enjoyed my American Women's Health Mag, it has a great article with Jillian Michaels, I love her!

When I eventually dragged my arse out of bed I went to the supermarket for my big grocery shop. It was much busier than usual, everyone was obviously wanting to get their shopping done so they could get home and enjoy the sun. I got a great haul of fruit and veggies and I picked up a couple of bottles of salad dressing to try out for something different, plus two bars of my favourite Green and Blacks Chocolate that were on offer. I got one 70% Dark and one 85% Dark, which I haven't tried before. I hope I like it as I'm guessing it will be very bitter!

I made myself a large glass of iced decaf coffee with a little coconut milk. I had one glass this morning with some vanilla extract and then one small glass this afternoon with some natural mint flavouring. Very refreshing!

For lunch I had two poached eggs on toasted rye bread with some asparagus stir fried in garlic olive oil.

So good, even though my poaching skills are rubbish!

I also had a green monster (spinach, frozen banana, coconut milk, maca powder) and a braeburn apple.

The coconut milk worked really well in the smoothie, I'm totally sold on it, will definitely be buying it in regular rotation with my rice milks.

I spent most of the day just getting little jobs done around the flat. It was still lovely and warm but it clouded over later in the day. Mid afternoon I had half a large pot of cottage cheese with some nakd cherry infused raisins and some flaked almonds.

For dinner I made a beautiful salad using some chicken breast pieces which I'd marinaded in lemon juice, garlic and olive oil and stir fried. In the salad went cos lettuce, mixed salad leaves from a bag, red pepper, tomato, cucumber, red onion and carrot plus a tablespoon of sweet pepper peri peri dressing.

The dressing tasted sweet and spicy and made the salad much more interesting. I had checked the ingredients list before I bought it and it was full of healthy fats and only a little sugar so I feel I can indulge in this every so often.

Desert was a bowl of chocolate tofu pudding I'd whipped up earlier (see my recipes page for the recipe, its really simple to make!) I decided to try adding some natural mint flavouring - it tasted fantastic, chocolate mint is one of my favourite flavours.

Drinks - water, green tea, iced decaf coffee, decaf tea

Exercise - rest day, although I had a walk to meet the hubby at the train station which was about 2 miles.

I really hope that the weather stays nice for a few more days but I've just had a quick look at the Met Office and it ain't looking good, at least for us here in the North East. Total bummer!

At least I've got an interesting week coming up, I have an event at work on Thursday and then I'm going to a gig on Thursday night followed by a total geek fest on Friday at the Doctor Who Exhibition, I can't wait! Hope you have all had a great weekend x

Hi Everyone, so glad we are one day closer to the weekend, I'm having a bit of a tough week so I just can't wait for some chill time!

This morning I did 30 minutes of bicep flexing courtesy of Davina Top Fit on DVD. I then made this amazing Chocolate Cherry Green Monster (spinach, frozen cherries, chocolate whey, kara coconut milk) topped with grape nuts cereal, flaked almonds and few goji's.

It feels like ages since I've had one of these and it was fabulous, such a good start to the day.

For lunch I used up the last of my feta and made a greek style salad with cos lettuce, cucumber, red onion, tomato and mint.

I also had two juicy nectarines.

Mid afternoon I snacked on some quark with mixed nuts and raisins.

Tonight I've had my friend Helen over for dinner. I haven't seen Helen since before Christmas, we've been friends since Uni. Shes really great, she's travelled all over the world and has loads of tails to tell! We would usually have gone out for a coffee and to eat, but in the spirit of my Big Budget Challenge I suggested that I cook for us. We drank coffee and tea pigs tea whilst I made these Bean Burgers -

Spicy Bean and Spinach Burgers (serves two)

1 tin of kidney beans
1 red onion
1 handful of spinach
1 clove of garlic minced
1 teaspoon of hot chilli powder
2 tablespoons of wholemeal spelt flour
2 tablespoons of ground flax

Roughly chop the red onion and add it to a food processor along with the spinach. Process until finely chopped. Then add the drained and rinsed beans, minced garlic and hot chilli powder. Pulse the processor until the mixture comes together. I like to keep a bit of texture. Turn out the mixture into a bowl and mix in the spelt flour. Use enough flour so that the mixture isn't too sticky. Spread the ground flax on a plate. Form the mixture into two patties then coat in the ground flax. Wrap with cling film and chill in the fridge for half an hour before cooking. Can be fried in a medium hot pan or baked in the oven for 20 minutes until golden.

We had them served in a food doctors multi seeded pitta with a sliced babybel light, some fresh salsa, tomato ketchup and a mixed salad.

Completely gorgeous! I was a bit nervous about what Helen would think but she loved her burger and cleared her plate! For desert we had Chocolate Mint Tofu Pudding (usual chocolate tofu pudding recipe without the added milk and with a few drops of natural mint extract.)

In case any of you were curious, this is the mori nu silken tofu that I use to make tofu puddings. Its a fantastic ingredient for making healthy non diary deserts. Blended till smooth in the food processor it will just take the flavour of what you put with it, just don't forget the agave for a little sweetness. In my supermarket its stocked near the pot noodles and smash for some reason!

I've just got home from dropping Helen off, its weird cooking for other people apart from the hubby. I'm glad that she liked the bean burgers and chocolate mint pudding! She was well suprised when I told her it was made from tofu.

Sooo glad that its Friday tomorrow. Roll on the weekend, in fact roll on next weekend when I'm off to Brighton for the week! Hope your all having a good week x

Well I wasn't very good after I posted last night, I had a major raid of the kitchen cupboards due to the hunger monster. I was just ravenous! I kind of binged, but not on anything unhealthy so I don't feel really bad about it, but I still feel I bit guilty. I started off with a small bowl of brown rice puffs and chocolate rice milk, then when I had finished them I went back for another bowl, and then another bowl which finished the packet of rice puffs. After I had them I decided to finish off the last few dates in the cupboard. Still hungry, so I went back and had a handful of raisins and goji berries, still bloody hungry! So I chopped up a carrot and sprinkled with cinnamon and ate that too. I took these pics to remind myself of what I had eaten as well as trying to make sure that I didn't blow things out of proportion when I would undoubtfully feel guilty the next day. Looking back at the pics it wasn't too bad but I was a total glutton with the rice milk and rice puffs.

Unsuprisingly I went to bed with a bit of a food baby in my tummy!

Anyway, I'm not going to dwell on it, I haven't had a little binge like that for quite a while so I think perhaps my body just needed it, or I just couldn't resist that chocolate rice milk!

This morning I was up nice and early and had a cup of green tea and a Trek Oat Crunch bar for pre run fuel.

This tasted really good, just like the Trek Cherry flap jack it has more sugary ingredients, however I think this just makes it perfect for pre workout. This was the last of my products from Natural Balance Foods, I'm gutted! I think I'm going to make a purchase from their website. A full review post and GIVEAWAY to follow in the next couple of days!

I then headed out for my run. It was really good, I can feel my confidence growing each time I run. I did 9 miles this morning in 1hr 27, I can't get my exact breakdown as I lost GPS signal around mile 3 and that just completetly knocked everything off. At least I know I'm still coming in under 10 min a mile, however I really want to improve this for the Great North Run.

When I got back I stretched, showered and then made breakfast, I was starving! I started off with a slice of toasted rye bread with crunchy peanut butter and strawberry jam followed by my best green monster smoothie in a bowl to date, made with loads of spinach, chocolate rice milk, scoop of chocolate whey, frozen banana and a few mixed frozen berries. This blended really well but stayed thick and creamy. I felt like I was eating a fruity chocolate ice cream, yum!

I spent the rest of the morning trying to chill out a bit and started to go through my old magazines in preparation for my inspiration board. I didn't realise that I had so many old magazines to sort through, I usually go through them after a couple of months to tear out any bits of inspiration, but its been a while!

For lunch I had more turkey, hummus and lettuce wraps with carrot and cucumber followed by an apple and a little peach.

I popped to see my Mam and Dad and then my friends Claire and Kate before heading into town to meet up with the Hubby. I snacked on a banana bread nakd bar I had popped in my bag mid afternoon. I picked up a few bits and pieces at the shops including some cropped running tights, and anti blister socks, a beaded and embroidered top for my holidays, some hazelnut and almond rice milk, posh new teas to try out and some new bras for my much smaller boobs! (due to the weight loss)

For dinner I made some baked salmon with ginger, soy and a little maple syrup and served it with a load of stir fried veggies including brocolli, savoy cabbage, courgette, carrot, mushrooms and red onions.

For desert I had more of my chocolate tofu pudding which was utterly delicious!

I then thought I would try out one of my new teas. I bought a box of tea pigs chocolate flake tea, I had read about tea pigs stuff in a magazine then checked out their website and knew I would want to give this flavour a try.

It tasted lovely, just like regular tea with a slightly chocolately taste, yum!

Drinks - water, green tea, chocolate flake tea.

He's a quick goofy pic of me, I haven't put a recent pic of me on the blog since I first started it so I thought I should pop one on!

Sorry, this post seems to have ended up really long! Hope you are all having a really good weekend what ever your up to. I'm just chuffed that I still have another two days off, woo hoo! x