Hi everyone, hope your all having a brilliant week and enjoying the first day of February! Here I am for yet another WIAW...

These are my eats and goings on from Monday. I had a completely different Monday to usual because I was going to yoga on the evening I didn't hot foot it to the gym first thing as usual. It was nice to be able to have a relaxed morning, plus I had even more time available as we had a planning day for work so I didn't need to be in until 10am. I started off with the usual warm water and lemon then made a big fresh juice:

This is my current favourite blend with beetroot, carrot, choi sum (my green grocer is selling this really cheap right now)cucumber and ginger. I added some matcha to it as well. After getting dressed I made a bowl of porridge:

This was just a simple bowl made with oats and water cooked slowly on the stove top. I added a little stevia and then topped with Clearspring blueberry jam and peanut flour paste. When I added it on top I thought it started to look like a ying and yang symbol so I added the dots, I'm so mature I know ;-)

I also had a lovely coffee:

This was cinnamon and hazelnut and hit the spot!

We had our planning day in the upstairs room of a local restaurant that we usually use for team building days called Oldfields. After a morning of planning we had a delicious lunch. I started with the butterbean hummus and rapeseed oil dipping board:

I had this the last time I was here and it was delicious! For my main I just had a plate made up of various side dishes such as roast root veg, roast new potatoes and greens. I added some of the left over hummus on the side:

For dessert I had an apple and sultana compote:

Yum! After we finished our day I went and got some fruit and veg from my favourite green grocer before coming home. For dinner I made myself a big salad:

This included romaine lettuce, crumbled nori, carrot, avocado, sea veggie sprinkles, pumpkin seeds, olives and braggs liquid aminos.

Then I headed off to my new yoga class! The class was very different to what I was used to, when I have done taught yoga before it has been Ashtanga so quite brisk. This class was much, much slower paced, I didn't break a sweat at all, which I know doesn't have to be the point with yoga, but for me I think I prefer something a bit more challenging. We did do some interesting partner poses, and I did feel extremely relaxed by the end of the class. I also enjoyed this class for being a bit more spiritual. I'm not sure if I'm going to make this a regular thing, at £5 a class its not cheap. I'm thinking I might occasionally visit this class when I feel like I need chilling out!

When I got home it was getting pretty late but I was a bit hungry so I made up a 'vanilla cookie' green smoothie with spinach, romaine, cookies and cream spiru-tein powder, vanilla stevia, water and ice. I also chucked in some maca powder and a couple of chlorella tablets in for good measure:

This was delicious but unfortunately things started to go down hill from there. I ended up in bed at 9pm shivering uncontrollably even when I had a hot water bottle. That was followed by a restless night and waking up yesterday morning feeling like I'd been hit by a bus. I have no idea what it was but I haven't felt that poorly in a long time, I spent most of yesterday unable to get out of bed. Luckily I started to pick up and have been much better today although my manager has just sent me home, I hate being ill!

So I’m thinking I need to look at some other yoga class options to find something that suits me better. I’ve been looking at my gym class time table and I’m thinking of doing more juggling to find classes that will fit in with my schedule. Are you a yoga fan? What kind of yoga do you prefer?

Hi everyone, hope your having a great weekend! I’ve had a pretty good weekend so far, starting on Friday evening with this delicious meal:

I made a Lentil and Sweet Potato Thai Red Curry, it was super easy to make and tasted so good! I just fried some curry paste with extra fresh minced ginger then added a little tomato passata followed by 1/4 cup of red lentils and some hot water. I simmer that until the lentils were tender then added a cubed baked sweet potato. I served it with some steamed kale, it was spot on!

While chilling out watching TV I enjoyed my fave snack again, pretzels with strawberries and some peanut dip made with peanut flour:

Love this combo, I have a ‘thing’ for pretzels right now!

On Saturday we decided to have a pay day treat of breakfast in town so I though I’d make a bit of an effort for a change:

OOTD: jersey scarf: Topshop, heart necklace: Topshop, striped tee: Topshop, pink satchel: H&M, pink belt: taken off a dress from Warehouse, floral skirt: Dorothy Perkins, black tights: M&S, zip ankle boots: New Look

Breakfast was our usual order from Olive and Bean:

I had granary toast with peanut butter, a 3 berry smoothie and a soya latte and James had the continental platter. Both fab as always! That tasty breakfast set me up for a morning of shopping! I went to Waitrose, the health food shop and the speciality food shop for this lot:

I also got some tempeh but that went straight in the freezer! Very chuffed to have some red kabocha and a huge bag of Popchips too! I also paid a visit to Lush for shower gel and toner water:

I treated myself to a couple of new things for my wardrobe too:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 skinny belts from Primark for only £2! I also got a plain black maxi skirt from Primark as well. Then from H&M I bought this stripy t-shirt dress and a purple long sleeved top for yoga. I did get some denim shorts but when I got home and tried them on they were more like hot pants (!) so I’ll be returning those.

After town I was going to see my friends so I thought I’d pick up something for lunch:

A hummus salad wrap from Pret and some blueberries and satsumas from the market. I had sworn that the wrap had vegan on the label for it at the fridge but it turned out it had a yoghurt dressing. Vegan fail :-( I think I was just so weighed down with bags and in a hurry I didn’t look properly. I’m not strictly vegan so I’m not that upset by it, just miffed at my mistake. It did taste good though ;-) I shared my giant satsumas with my friends kids, juice went every where :-)

I had a great afternoon with my friends then made my way home. I made myself a fantastic green juice with cucumber, celery and fresh mint:

Great mix of flavours in this! For dinner I really craved a big veggie packed salad so I raided the fridge and filled a bowl with romaine, cucumber, red pepper, and red onion then topped it with some baked tofu which I’d marinated in soy sauce, ground ginger and garlic granules then some red pepper hummus watered down a bit and some olives:

This met my craving perfectly! A bit later I was in snack mode so a had a few bowls of millet puffs mixed with coconut sauce (coconut flour mixed with water) and strawberries:

Eaten in bed watching TV, yum!

Its been lovely to have been paid and be able to treat myself to a couple of goodies. Restocking my kitchen cupboard has been fun too, more on that later in the week!

Have you treated yourself to anything recently?

Happy Wednesday everyone! How’s your week going so far? Mine has been pretty good, its been nice to start getting back into my usual work / life routine again. For some reason I’m feeling particularly good at the moment – like I have an extra sparkle! I’m also being super productive which is always good, lets hope it lasts!

These are my eats and whatnot from yesterday. I started out the day with Yoga for Runners. when I’m not heading to the gym early its so nice to do a bit of yoga, it really wakes me up and only takes 20 minutes. I feel like I’m starting the day off right!

Gorgeous sunrise

For breakfast I decided to make use of the beetroot in the fridge and make up some of my current favourite juice blend:

This was beetroot, carrot, cucumber and ginger with some Pukka Aloe Vera juice added, its so sweet and yummy. I also had a handful of raw cacao granola with home made sunflower seed milk (sweetened with dates) and a teapigs matcha green tea:

I adore that granola, its Living Intentions and I get it from Viva Pure, its lush. It was my first try of making sunflower seed milk and I was pleasantly surprised, very mild and sweet. Mid morning I snacked on some raw carrot, ginger and sunflower seed dip with green pepper and cucumber:

The dip was super easy to make, after making the sunflower seed milk (by soaking, draining and rinsing 1/2 cup of seeds then blending with 2 cups of water + 2 dates and straining) I dumped the seed meal back into my blender with two carrots, grated ginger root and a little coconut aminos (soy sauce would also work) plus water and blended till smooth. You could also make without making the milk first and just using the whole soaked seeds.

Lunch was a massive bowl of ‘Boot Camp’ soup with some home made raw rosemary and almond crackers:

This soup is fab. I made a massive pan of it based on this recipe (I just added some garlic and used cos lettuce instead of iceberg) it is so filling, probably because I ate a massive portion of it ;-) I’ve eaten it three days in a row now, perfect for these cold days!

Late afternoon I snacked on these funky little cookies:

I’d made these with some almond pulp leftover from making milk, coconut, ground flax, agave and matcha green tea powder then dehydrated to make Raw Almond Coconut Matcha Cookies! These are probably more biscuit like than cookie, they are crispy – almost like a sweet cracker.

After work I headed to the gym for the usual cardio followed by Body Pump, I really need to try and increase my weights on some of the tracks next week I think!

Dinner was an absolutely gorgeous tofu scramble. This contained red onion, red pepper, tofu, black beans, brown rice, tomato puree, nutritional yeast, cayenne pepper and shoyu served on top of spinach:

I had it on Monday evening too, it reminded me how simple and delicious tofu scrambles are, must make them more often!

A bit later I made a protein smoothie for post Body Pump recovery. This was 1 scoop of vanilla sun warrior protein powder, frozen blueberries and strawberries, maca, ice and water topped with a few gojis and cacao nibs:

I finished the day with a sleepy time tea:

I love this tea for chilling out before bed.

That tofu scramble was fabulous. I’ll definitely be trying to eat more of them, it only took me 10 minutes to throw together and you can pretty much add in whatever veggies you have to hand – perfect weekday dinner. Are you a fan of scrambles – tofu or egg? What’s your favourite ingredients in a scramble?

Don’t forget to check out my Big Blog Birthday International GIVEAWAY!

I’m currently sitting exhausted on the sofa after what has been a great weekend so far! I feel like I’ve managed to fit a lot in so that the rest of today and tomorrow can be spent relaxing. Although I’ve been busy, I did treat myself to a lovely bath last night:

I even lit a candle and everything ;-) I had a nice soak, shaped my nails, slopped on a mud face mask, exfoliated and then slathered myself in coconut oil. It was very pleasant and I went to bed smelling like a coconut! I actually had all my scented candles lit around the flat yesterday, the whole place smelled delicious!

Yesterday morning I thought I’d kick off the weekend with a run. For the first time in months I put my Garmin on to track my distance and pace. I didn’t look at it until the end of the run – I did 6.5 miles in 1.04 with an average pace of about 9.51. So much slower than I was last year, but I averaged under 10 minute miles so I’ll happily take it!

I had big plans for breakfast involving a chocolate protein socca wrap stuffed with cherries and almond butter. Unfortunately the socca was a fail, but I ate it anyway:

Looked a mess but tasted great!

For lunch I decided to bite the bullet and make some eggs:

I used the very happy free range eggs from my farm shop, poaching them and serving with a slice of Burgen Sunflower and Chia Seed bread toasted with vegan spread, spinach sautéed with smoked garlic (which I’d also picked up from the farm shop), soy sauce and some raw carrots on the side. I thought I’d feel really weird eating the eggs but I didn’t. They tasted delicious!

I spent the afternoon cleaning and took a break to make a smoothie:

This was amazing and so good I have to share the recipe!

Blueberry, Vanilla, Citrus, Chai Smoothie (serves 1, vegan if using vegan protein powder)

• 200g of blueberries (I used frozen)
• 2 satsumas (an orange would also work)
• 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder of choice (I used sun warrior of course)
• 1 cup of chilled chai tea (I used Pukka Vanilla Chai)
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
• Ice (if not using frozen fruit)
• Approx 1 cup of water or non dairy milk

Add all ingredients to a blender and process till smooth, enjoy! The unique flavours in this taste so good!

I also made myself a green juice:

Cucumber, celery and fresh mint. Simple and delish!

For dinner I made a huge veggie stir fry with tempeh:

This was a repeat from Friday evening – I used loads of veggies including swiss chard, spring greens, broccoli, carrot, asparagus and courgette with a ginger, chilli, soy and agave sauce. The tempeh was just stir fried with a little soy sauce. Very yum.

I got my chocolate fix with some orange flavoured raw chocolate (the whole bar again!):

Then for a bed time snack I had a bowl of Poppin cereal – aka plain popcorn with a chocolate protein smoothie poured on top:

I just blended up some Vega Choc a lot protein powder with water to use like milk, I love snacking on stuff like this, especially on weekends!

This morning I had a perfect bowl of oats:

Half a cup of oats cooked with water on the stove top plus a chopped pear, a few drops of vanilla stevia and 2 tbsp of Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter. You can’t get much better than that!

I decided to head to the gym today instead of tomorrow so rather than my usual strength / HIIT workout I put my name down for the Kettlebell class. I did a bit of cardio on the machines before hand then the 45 minute class. It was so tough! To refuel afterwards I made a gorgeous Protein Frappe:

I blended ice, vanilla sun warrior, kara coconut milk, instant coffee and stevia with a touch of xanthan gum to thicken it up. Absolute heaven!

I got myself ready and we headed out for lunch at my parents:

OOTD: denim jacket: New Look, anchor necklace: Accessorize, white racer back vest: Miss Selfridge, tan cross body bag: Mango, tan woven belt: Zara, black maxi skirt: Primark, trainers: Converse, bracelets and bangles: selection

The weather was actually nice for a change so I busted out my new maxi skirt :-) I went to lunch prepared with a wonderful couscous, roasted vegetable and chickpea salad:

Then finished up with lots of strawberries, raspberries and fresh pineapple. After my parents we went to the Metro Centre for a look around and I’ve treated myself to a few more goodies including a new pair of heels that are like stilts, I’m going to have to practice walking in them!

Pampering, good food, great workouts, shopping and fantastic company, what more could I ask for!

How has your weekend been? If your off for the bank holiday tomorrow do you have any plans? I might even have another bath! Do you ever take the time to have a nice soak in the bath and a bit of pampering? What’s your ultimate pamper products? I don’t feel like I’m having a real pamper session without scented candles!

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday everyone :-)

Happy Friday everyone! Hope the first week of 2012 has been good for you :-) My week hasn’t gone to badly:

• Monday – gym – 5 min treadmill warm up, 20 minutes strength (just some random stuff) 15 min HIITs on bike, 10 minutes freestyle yoga before bed
• Tuesday – am - yoga detox challenge flow, pm – gym, 30 min cardio (HIITs and steady state) Body Pump
• Wednesday – am – gym – 5k speed intervals treadmill, 30 min HIITs on step machine, cross trainer and bike, 5 mins meditation before bed
• Thursday – am – 30 Day Shred level 2, yoga for runners
• Friday – pm – ‘The Core Workout’ Pilates Core Workout DVD (review to come) freestyle yoga

Some tasty eats from the first half of the week:

My Carrot, Ginger and Orange Soup with some delicious raw almond and rosemary crackers I knocked up at the weekend

 Raw courgette 'noodles covered in lots of my Green Goddess dressing

Fruit plate with 2 sliced persimmons, pink lady apple and goji berries

Hot mint chocolate made with home made almond milk and Mint Chocolate caffeine free Teeccino

My first Matcha shot as part of the Tea Pigs Matcha Challenge!

Yesterday morning I went in to have my wisdom teeth taken out. I was sedated (which is awesome by the way – I couldn’t remember a thing!) for the operation but after 3 failed attempts at finding a vein in my arm for the injection and the surgeon having to drill into my jaw bone because they were both compacted I’ve been left feeling pretty sore and swollen.

I took plenty of painkillers yesterday but I woke up feeling ok so I’m going to see how I go with more natural remedies. I’ve been careful to include a few specific foods to help my condition such as lots of ginger as its an anti inflammatory, some manuka honey which has antiseptic properties and coconut water to flush out the chemicals from the anaesthetic. I’ve been adding ginger to my juices and tea, sucking on a spoonful of honey and adding the coconut water to my smoothies.

The idea of eating anything even remotely solid is laughable and the idea of soups just doesn’t appeal so I’ve basically ended up doing an almost raw smoothie and juice cleanse! Before I went to the dentist I needed to have a light meal so for breakfast I had a chopped banana with buckwheaties and pecans covered in a cup of homemade almond milk mixed with half a scoop of chocolate sun warrior:

This was delicious and so creamy, I love home made almond milk!

My lovely Mam accompanied me to the dentist and looked after me all day. She even did my ironing while we watched all three Back to the Future movies! I eventually felt like eating something mid afternoon and made this delicious smoothie. This is one of my faves for sure, I made it a while back and just had to include it as a recipe!

Cherry, Pear and Almond Smoothie (serves 1, vegan)

• 1 ripe pear
• 1 cup of frozen cherries
• 2 tbsp of almond butter
• Pinch of salt (if almond butter not salted)
• Water to blend

Add everything to blender and blend well, serve and enjoy!

After that, and throughout today I’ve just been managing on smoothies and fresh juices. Here’s a few of my faves:

My standard green juice combo – cucumber, celery, parsley, lemon, ginger

Kale, frozen blueberries, half an orange, strawberry hemp protein powder, cashews (soaked), coconut water, ground flax, berries powder 

Simple luscious green smoothie – spinach, frozen avocado, 2 nectarines, coconut water, coconut nectar

Carrot, beetroot, cucumber, ginger juice – so delicious and so pretty!

A version of my ‘Bounty’ smoothie – spinach, frozen banana, thai young coconut (I defrosted a pack that I bought from an Oriental supermarket – utterly amazing btw!) chocolate sun warrior, midori greens, maca, water

I’m actually really enjoying just the smoothies and juices for now so I’m going to just go with it. I’m trying to make sure I add lots of avocado, coconut and nuts to get the calories in as I’m concerned that I won’t be getting enough! I’m hoping that my gums won’t feel so delicate so I can start eating more solid foods as soon as possible.

Have you had your wisdom teeth out or been under sedation before? Are you a fan of juices and if so what’s your favourite?