Well I’m now on to day three of my crazy work week and so far I am coping well. I had a late meeting last night but I had plenty of tasty eats throughout the day to see me through it! As I wouldn’t be able to make my body pump class in the evening I squeezed in a Davina DVD (Davina Super body Super Pump Workout) followed by a Yoga for Runners podcast. Breakfast was fantastic! I made up an overnight breakfast pudding using 2 tbsp of chia seeds, 3 tbsp of vanilla hemp protein powder, 1/4 cup of quinoa flakes, 1 tbsp of raw cacao powder (regular cocoa powder would also work) 1 tbsp of agave syrup, 1/2 cup of rice milk and about 1/2 – 1 cup of water all mixed together and left in the fridge overnight. In the morning I layered it up in a bowl with lots of fresh blueberries, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries then topped with a little coconut:

So good! I love the taste of raw cacao – so deep and bitter, just delicious!

Lunch was leftover wheat grains, lentils, carrot and asparagus with some spinach dressed with braggs and gomasio plus a couple of bashed up pears:

Mid afternoon I snacked on 2 pumpkin oat ryvita with squash dip and assorted veggies:

I also ate a nectarine before my meeting. When I eventually got home I knew exactly what I wanted – my perfect comfort food as part of my 7 days 7 green smoothies challenge!

Carrot Cake Green Smoothie (makes one large serving)

• 3 cups of spring greens with thick stem removed
• 1 frozen banana
• 1 large shredded carrot (I shredded mine in the blender before adding the other ingredients or you could grate it first)
• 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder (I used sun warrior)
• 2 ice cubes
• 1 tsp of maca (optional but good for my stress levels at the moment!)
• 1 tsp of cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp of ground ginger
• 1 tsp of spirulina (optional)
• Water or milk to desired consistency
• Xanthan and guar gums (optional but adds thickness)

Toppings:

• Coconut flour paste cream ‘cheese’ icing
• Walnuts
• Raisins
• Cinnamon

Blend all ingredients and serve with toppings. So so good! I also inhaled a couple of jazz apples :-)

Today I was up and at the gym first thing for more speed work on the treadmill (30 minutes) and intervals on the cross trainer, step machine and bike (30 minutes total) followed by abs and core. Then it was time for green smoothie no 2!

Nutty Berry Not So Green Smoothie (makes one large serving):

• 1 head of romaine lettuce
• 1 1/2 cups of frozen mixed berries
• 1 scoop of nutty berry spiru-tein powder (optional or add protein powder of choice)
• 2 tbsp of smooth slightly salted peanut butter (I realised the other day that I prefer slightly salted pb in my smoothies as sometimes the taste of unsalted pb gets lost in the other flavours)
• 1 tsp of maca powder (optional)
• 1 tsp of mesquite (optional)
• Water to desired thickness
• Xanthan and guar gums (optional but add thickness)

Toppings:

• Peanut flour sauce
• Goji berries
• Flaked almonds

This was gorgeous, I love the combination of berries and peanut butter! Lunch was another veggie and tofu packed salad with braggs and two persimmons that I picked up from the reduced section:

Holy yum! It was the first time I’d eaten a persimmon and my god they are lush! I think I’ll be eating these all the time, so sweet and delicious. I also snacked on a couple of cookie dough balls mid afternoon.

For dinner I had some steamed spring greens with shoyu, a small baked sweet potato and a mix of black beans, red pepper, courgette, avocado and lime juice:

Dessert was some ‘The Nutty One’ Conscious raw chocolate and two chopped jazz apples:

Thanks for all your comments on my last post – especially on the topic of labels. It seems that most of you agree that labels aren’t helpful and that we should be able to live our lives in a flexible manner without the pressure of living up to a particular set of rules. I think I will be calling myself vegan when I’m in the position of having to describe my dietary requirements to others – i.e. when attending conferences or at restaurants. Its a lot easier than giving them the long version!

I did say in my last post that I had some exciting news, and yes I am a very lucky girl indeed - my husband James has WON A TRIP TO NYC! He entered a competition to see and meet the band Rise Against at Terminal 5 in NYC this May. We went to New York for our honey moon and I am absolutely buzzing that we will be going back! I’m sure you all know what I’m thinking – Whole Foods and Trader Joes haul! We are only there for a couple of days but I’m hoping to hit Babycakes and Peanut Butter Co at the very least, as well as getting my hands on some US brands and products I’ve seen in the blog world including Lara Bars, Vega and Amazing Grass Powders, Artisana nut butters, Justin’s Nut Butter to name but a few! I just hope I’ll be able to carry it all back!

What are your favourite US products you think I should be on the look out for on my visit?

I am so unbelievably excited!!!!

What a great week its been so far, I’m just loving this spring weather :-)

Breakfast on Monday was a big bowl of fresh mixed berries (strawberries, blueberries and raspberries) with a huge portion of my home mixed muesli and sesame milk:

This muesli is awesome. I basically mixed together lots of random nuts, seeds and dried fruits that needed to be used up with some jumbo oats. This included: dried figs, dried apricots, brazil nuts, hazelnuts, pecans, raisins, dried pineapple, dried cherries, dried strawberries, dried blueberries, dried cranberries, goji berries, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds and chia seeds. I have a massive jar of this which should last me for a while I hope! The sesame milk is also particularly good, will definitely become a new staple in my diet along with almond milk.

Monday’s lunch was a hummus topped salad containing romaine lettuce, carrot, cucumber, red pepper and yellow pepper then some watered down home made chickpea hummus (I mixed it all in as a dressing) topped with some viva pure spicy pumpkin seeds. I also had two sweet white nectarines:

Mid afternoon I snacked on a lemon cashew hemp bar before hitting the gym. I did my usual 30 minute HIIT session on the cross trainer and step machine plus abs and core and 30 minute spin class.

Dinner was two veggie loaf stuffed baked mushrooms with swede and parsnip mash, raw carrot and steamed savoy cabbage with shoyu:

I still love these stuffed mushrooms, so tasty! Dessert was some healthy heart conscious raw chocolate and two chopped apples:

This chocolate contains maca, vanilla and blue-green algae – I wasn’t sure what to expect taste wise but it was gorgeous as always.

This morning I was up at sun rise to fit in a quick Yoga for Runners podcast. Its so worth getting up a few minutes early to be able to fit this into my day! Breakfast was similar to yesterdays – mixed fresh berries with 2 packs of Bear coco cherry pie granola and sesame milk:

Lunch featured hummus again – this time I made some courgette and carrot veggie noodles plus sliced red and yellow pepper with a hummus and nutritional yeast sauce (hummus, nutritional yeast and water) on top of some spinach:

I also had another two juicy white nectarines.

Mid afternoon I snacked on a Peppermint Stick Luna Bar then hit the gym for Body Pump. I was a little early for my class so I snuck in a quick 10 minute interval session on the cross trainer and 10 minutes steady state on the cross trainer. The class was excellent as usual and left my muscles quivering!

Dinner was inspired by my Sausage and Tomato Rice recipe but morphed into more of a Buddha Bowl: chopped baked seitan sausage with pearl barley in a tomato sauce with onions, garlic, peas, steamed broccoli and fresh basil:

That seitan recipe is so good, this had been defrosted from frozen and still tasted great. It is especially good in recipes like this as it softens and absorbs the liquid, delicious!

Dessert was some protein ice cream made with Fruitein powder, rice milk, ice cubes and xanthan and guar gums topped with goji berries:

Now I’m officially stuffed!

I got some great news yesterday when I received the email to tell me I’d passed my first assignment on my Diet and Nutrition Advisor course. I was chuffed to bits! I’m also really looking forward to my two days off at the end of the week – and pay day! My fridge and cupboards are looking pretty empty, at least by my standards ;-)

I’m still thinking of how tasty my home mixed muesli was. Are you a fan of muesli? I love it so much – it was always my go to ‘binge’ food – I would happily eat three large bowls of it then still go back and eat it straight from the box! Now I have a little more constraint but I still love a full to the brim bowlful! If you could make your own muesli mix what would it include?

First things first:

Hell yes! I finally got my hands on some peanut flour! I adore peanut butter so much I just had to try some of this stuff. I can’t wait to add it to smoothies and well, pretty much everything else! I ordered this from the states at a daft price but I’m hoping its worth it. Its basically peanut butter in powdered form – so less fat and calories but lots of yumminess.

Anyway back to business! Yesterday I had a dentist appointment after work so I moved my workout to the am. As my gym doesn’t open early on a Thursday I replaced my planned upper body weights and HIITs session with Davina Top fit from the Davina Fit DVD. I used my biggest weights for as many of the moves as possible to try and ensure I got a good workout!

Breakfast was inspired by Tam’s beetroot smoothies. This contained spring greens, romaine, cooked beets, frozen banana, chocolate sun warrior protein powder, home made coconut milk, matcha green tea, mesquite, ground flax and xanthan gum. I topped it with some granola, pistachios and dried strawberries:

Holy yum, this was thick and creamy just how I like it!

Lunch was another hummus topped salad beast with a pear and orange:

After the dentist I decided to try out my new yoga DVD:

I was very impressed with this, it was a very similar flow to what we used to do in my Ashtanga class but at a quicker pace and a more manageable length, loved it!

Dinner was leftovers from Wednesday evenings ‘Buddha bowl’ – quinoa with kidney beans, pepper, courgette and parsley – I added some steamed broccoli to the mix and served some steamed spring greens on the side. I added some sesame oil, shoyu and herbamare:

So tasty, the sesame oil was a great addition! Dessert was an old favourite: a couple of chopped apples with maca and cinnamon.

This morning I popped to the gym for a quick 1 hour workout – 45 minutes of HIITs on the cross trainer, step machine and bike followed by my abs and core. Breakfast was amazing! I had been planning to make a breakfast socca wrap but ended up with something even better – a breakfast socca pizza!

 

The socca turned out quite thick so instead of using it as a wrap I just spread my toppings on like a pizza – cashew butter, apple, raisins and cinnamon with a vanilla chai coconut coffee (vanilla coffee with a chai tea bag and home made coconut milk – fabulous!) Lunch was a bowl of my spicy black eye pea soup followed by something I haven’t had in years – a papaya:

I picked this up from the green grocers in town after my work meeting along with some other fab produce including medjool dates, diakon, radicchio and Japanese spinach. I chopped it up and added some lime juice – so wonderfully fresh tasting!

Mid afternoon I took advantage of working from home and therefore being near my juicer and made a big green juice. This was a particularly lovely mix of 2 pears, celery, romaine, cucumber, broccoli and ginger:

Dinner was pizza no 2! I topped a Biona organic spelt pizza base with tomato passata, red onion, shredded radicchio, green pepper and a couple of slices of vegan mozzarella cheese. When it was out of the oven I added some olives. I served it up with a big salad of lettuce and carrot with braggs:

This was delicious, gotta love pizza!

Dessert was some Conscious raw chocolate in essential orange:

This was lovely as always, the truffle like soft texture is heavenly!

I’ve really enjoyed my two pizza’s today. What’s your favourite pizza topping? For me the more veggies the better!

I’m happy that the weekend has rolled around again, I’m just hoping that the bad weather holds off so I can get in my scheduled outdoor run! I’m also back out on the hunt for a car again, wish me luck!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Hi everyone, happy Friday! I’ve had a jam packed couple of days including some tasty eats and great workouts:

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I kicked off Thursday with a yoga flow from Slim Calm Sexy Yoga. I did the full body toning flow. It only took me 15 minutes and was a great way to start the day. After work I hit the gym for my upper body workout / intervals. I started with a 5 minute warm up on the cross trainer then did the following routine:

• Dumbbell pullover on stability ball x 8 reps with 9kg db
• Chest flye on stability ball x 8 reps with 2 x 6kg db
• Lower back raise on stability ball x 10 reps

x 3 sets

• shoulder press – 6 reps with 2 x 6kg db
• bicep curl – 6 reps with 2 x 6kg db
• lateral raise – 8 reps with x 4kg db

x 3 sets

• tricep dip x 15reps bw
• bent over row – 8 reps with 2 x 8kg db
• upright row – 8 reps with 2 x 6kg db

x 3 sets

• push up on bench x 10 reps bw
• dumbbell wood chop – 10 reps each side with 8kg db

x 3 sets

I finished off with 20 minutes (2 x 10 mins) of HIITs on the step machine and bike. This morning I was back at the gym for a quick 30 minutes of HIITs on the cross trainer, step machine and bike followed by my abs and core exercises.

Thursdays breakfast was some porridge topped with fresh pineapple and coconut flour sauce. I used 1/2 cup of Rude Health Fruity Date Porridge with 1 teaspoon of chia seeds, water and rice milk:

I love how much coconut sauce you can make from just one teaspoon of coconut flour, it just eats up water!

This mornings breakie was a delicious smoothie containing romaine lettuce, frozen banana, frozen peaches, vanilla sun warrior, spirulina, matcha green tea, mesquite and a generous amount of peanut butter, topped with gojis and cacao nibs:

This was another monster smoothie! I love adding lots and lots of greens (I used almost a full head of lettuce in this) to give plenty of bulk so that I get really filled up. This was the nicest tasting smoothie I’ve had in a while too, got to love that peanut butter!

Lunch has been the same the last two days – a big salad beasty containing lettuce, carrot, cucumber, red and yellow pepper, red onion, mixed beans, braggs seasoning and some nutritional yeast flakes:

Yesterday I also had some grapes and a nectarine and today I enjoyed a juicy pear and an orange.

Snackies have included the last of my leftover cookies and an apple:

I also tried another Total split pot today, this time the honey variety:

The honey was set which I wasn’t expecting but it still tasted lovely.

Yesterdays dinner was a serving of my Moroccan Tagine with mixed rice and steamed spring greens with shoyu, ume vinegar and mixed seeds:

Loved this! So glad I remembered I had some stashed in the freezer. Last nights dessert was some of my pumpkin protein pudding with graham cracker crumbs and when that didn’t satisfy me I also snacked on a couple of apples and a pear.

Tonight I had a grilled wild garlic tofu fillet in a wholemeal pitta with some of my high protein sundried tomato hummus, lettuce and alfalfa sprouts plus some raw carrot and a side of steamed kale with shoyu:

This was so satisfying, like eating a big burger! I made the hummus using my original high protein hummus recipe but with an added 1/2 cup of sun dried tomatoes in oil drained and with the 2 tbsp of oil left out – I ended up with a huge portion – I’ll be eating hummus for the rest of the week :-) Dessert was two chopped apples and half a bar of conscious raw chocolate:

This variety contained lucuma and yacon root. It tasted ok but not as nice as the other varieties I have tried so far.

As I’ve been working from home today I took advantage of the opportunity to be near the kitchen and baked some bread for James and made some baked Seitan sausage for me! I’ll share the Seitan recipe soon, but wow it looks so good! Seitan is a meat alternative made some gluten flour in case you were wondering - I had no idea what it was when I first heard about it!

I also got my organic veg box delivery today as well as a trip to the farm shop and the supermarket. I think I may have gone a little overboard with the fresh produce yet again:

Includes: swiss chard, kale, cos lettuce, round lettuce, celery, courgettes, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, spinach, spring greens, bananas, apples, pears, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, lemons, broccoli, carrots, beetroot, butternut squash, parsnips, avocado, sugar snap peas.

Its a good job I love my fruits and veggies! I have to say nothing makes me happier than a fridge full of fresh mostly organic produce, I’ll enjoy eating my way through all this over the next week.

I have a very busy weekend ahead, I have to study for my course, catch up with some work, see friends and family, fit in a run and go on the hunt for a new car!

I’m searching for a new car to replace my little 8 year old Ford Ka, I’m just looking for another small, economical and environmentally friendly run around. Do you drive? What kind of car do you own? Any favourite models? I quite like the Peugeot 107:

Fingers crossed I find something that doesn’t cost a bomb!

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend planned! :-)

What a lovely day has been had, considering I wasn’t fussed about the Royal Wedding I ended up being sucked in by it all! I loved her dress and really enjoyed watching the whole thing.

I started my day with an awesome run. I went out in the cold crisp air for a 5 miler which I managed in 44 minutes with an average pace of 8.49, which I was really happy with. I can’t believe that my average paces are coming in consistently around the 9 minute mark!

Breakfast was a tasty citrusy berry smoothie containing romaine lettuce, an orange, mixed frozen berries, hemp protein powder, rice milk, a sachet of Emergen-C (I was worried I could feel a bit of a cold coming on so I popped this in my smoothie for a boost) maca and mesquite. I topped it with some fresh strawberries and some Alara In the garden goji muesli:

This was lovely! I also made a big pot of Earl Gray – and felt very British and patriotic while drinking it ;-)

We headed through to my parents to watch the wedding and enjoy a BBQ! It was a bit chilly so I layered up:

OOTD: Coat: H&M, Anchor necklace and crown earrings: Accessorize, cardigan: Tesco, gray T shirt: New Look, Belt: Topshop, floral silk dress: Warehouse, gray tights: M&S, tan wedges: vintage

I made a lovely spring salad containing buckwheat, cucumber, sugar snaps and spring onions with a lemon oil dressing (lemon juice, cool oil, garlic):

I also had two Taifun tofu sausages with onions and ketchup:

Dessert was a big bowl of strawberries and pineapple:

I’ve been grazing on fresh fruit all day, almost to the point of feeling a bit sugared out! When we got home I had more fruit in the form of a bowl of chopped apple and plums with peanut flour and cinnamon sauce:

I had a few random things to use up in the fridge so I made a ‘fridge’ soup (well more of a stew really!) for dinner. This contained green pepper, carrot, veg stock, tomato paste, black eye beans, shredded greens, chipotle ketchup for added spiciness and spring onions:

This was surprisingly good for something thrown together! Dessert was some Conscious Lucuma Gold Raw Chocolate:

This was really unusual – it is quite firm and creamy. As well as lucuma it contains coconut oil which makes it really rich, yum!

In one week we will be heading state side to NYC!

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I’ll try not to go on about it too much but I’m so excited I just can’t help it! I have a big shopping list for when I get there, although we only have a couple of days to try and go everywhere we would like to!

If you were off to NYC / US what would be on your wish list? If your from the US what would be your recommendations?