Well I can’t believe another Sunday has almost been and gone, I’ve had a lovely weekend and another productive one, love crossing things off my to do lists!

The weather yesterday was amazing!

I started my weekend on Friday night with a lovely meal of apricot and ginger glazed kabocha squash, adzuki beans and millet with parsley and some steamed greens:

I also tried some of the Coyo yoghurt for dessert:

This was the mixed berries variety with some Kashi Crunch cereal, it was lovely, very much like the home made coconut yoghurt I’ve been making recently. I also had some for breakfast yesterday with two chopped pears, oats and dried cherries:

Yum! Yesterday I made a big bowl of kelp noodles with spiralised courgette and an avocado and lime sauce topped with nutritional yeast:

Unfortunately this just wasn’t that good! Luckily, most of my meals are tasty and satisfying but this was just meh. Half of it went in the bin. Instead I had a bowl of grapes, chopped apple and more Kashi Crunch:

Followed by a gorgeous mint chocolate protein shake:

This was just one scoop of chocolate sun warrior blended with ice, stevia and peppermint extract. It was amazing and made up for the meh lunch!

Last night I made a quick chickpea and spinach curry using garlic, ginger and garam masala fried in coconut oil with the chickpeas in a tomato sauce (just some plain passata) and spinach:

I had it with some steamed broccoli and more of the glazed kabocha on the side. That curry took 5 minutes to make and tasted so good! For dessert I had what is probably the best thing I’ve eaten in a long time:

Pretzels with strawberries and peanut dip! I made the dip with peanut flour, maple syrup and water. The pretzels dipped in the peanut sauce = absolute heaven! Unfortunately as lovely as that was it didn’t satisfy my snackies last night and I ended up having a late night party with several bowls of oats, dark chocolate buttons and Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter while watching Confessions of a Shopaholic. Oops! I just can’t seem to get past these weekend snack fests but I’m trying not to beat myself up about it.

At least I was well fuelled this morning for a 5k treadmill run, 20 minutes random on the bike and my kettlebell class – which was a killer, have any of you done kettlebell star jumps? I thought I was going to die!

After that I had a raw protein buckwheat bowl with vanilla sun warrior protein powder, maca, ground flax, chopped apple and cinnamon:

Then lunch was a nice healthy salad with little gem lettuce, carrot, red cabbage, edamame, roast edamame and a sweet miso and apple cider dressing:

As I’m looking to try and maintain my albeit heavier weight, I’m still trying to balance out those snack fests by just getting back to eating good healthy food the next day, not restricting and not feeling guilty.

Yesterday after visiting my Mam for Mothers Day, I had a lovely time with my best friend and her little girl including a nice walk in the sunshine and eating one of the peanut butter cookies her little girl had made:

I doubt these were vegan and were made with white flour and refined sugar but I gladly enjoyed one (these are the ones I brought home for James). It got me thinking about where I draw my lines when it comes to healthy eating and of course veganism. As long as I’m living healthfully, ethically and right by my body most of the time I’m not going to turn down a one off cookie home made with love and eaten over a cuppa with my best friend. So where do I draw the line then? I’m one that never says never but I can’t imagine any scenario when I would eat meat again. I only eat eggs and diary when they are tiny trace ingredients in some things like dark chocolate and would only consider eating them whole again if my body was really craving them and if so I would always go for organic / free range. I choose not to eat refined carbs like white flour, refined sugar or processed foods on a regular basis because I don’t see them as healthy and they don’t make me feel at my best. However as demonstrated above, sometimes I’ll say screw all that under special circumstances because life is too short not to eat a cookie made with love! I’m not one for labels and I firmly believe that everyone is different so I’m not making judgements here on how others eat, but I’m interested in your thoughts…

When it comes to healthy living, where do you draw your lines?

Hello, hope you’ve all had a good week and are eagerly awaiting the weekend!

For research from the Library, I’m such a nutrition geek!

I’ve had some very tasty food despite the fact that I’m in the process of eating out my freezer and cupboards to try and save cash! I used up some Linda McCartney vegan sausages to make this delicious Buddha bowl:

Linda McCartney sausages with red onion, mushrooms and barley in a tomato sauce with basil on top of fresh spinach

I’ve also been enjoying the lentil soup I made at the weekend with some home made raw crackers:

This is just the best and most simple lentil soup ever! Its delicious and so filling. I’ve also been eating the roast aubergine hummus I made at the weekend with veggies for snacks and alongside more of those raw crackers for lunch:

I had picked the aubergine up from the reduced bin at the green grocers for just 50p and had roasted it whole before blending the flesh with chickpeas, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and tahini, it tasted lovely!

Unusual but delicious breakfasts have also been enjoyed:

This was some popped amaranth (you just pop the grains as you would popcorn kernels) with a ‘cream’ made some raw coconut flour and frozen blueberries topped with pecans and maple syrup.

I also made an amazing raw banana split (yes there is a banana under there!) This included raw cacao granola, goji berries, chocolate protein sauce (made from chocolate sun warrior mixed with hemp milk) and a chia pudding made with a couple of tbsp of chia seeds combined with some home made mint choc rooibos hemp milk and left overnight to thicken:

Amazing! That hemp milk was pretty awesome too. I just blended 3 tbsp of hemp seeds that had been soaked for 15 minutes with 3 cups of filtered water and a few tsp of loose leaf mint choc rooibos tea and some sunflower lecithin. It created a wonderful tasty creamy milk. I had some with frozen raspberries and chopped apple as a dessert:

Of course a few green smoothies have been consumed as well:

Spring greens, frozen banana, strawberry hemp protein powder, maca, ground flax, water, ice topped with Kashi Go Lean Crunch and bee pollen

Spinach, frozen cherries, chocolate hemp protein powder, maca, ground flax, water, ice topped with We are bear Coco Cherry Pie Granola

I’ve also continued my love affair with kelp noodles:

I made this as a treat for lunch yesterday when I knew I’d be working late. It also included some raw diakon noodles and a fantastic sauce made with raw almond butter, sweet white miso, soy sauce and a dash of agave plus parsley sprinkles on top. Soooo good!

Earlier this week I received my parcel as part of Jemma’s blog swap! Here’s what I got:

Such a brilliant selection of goodies from the lovely Liz. I love being able to try different products from the US! Her home made vegan mocha muffins were amazing and I’m also looking forward to trying those almond butter cups!

Workouts have been extra fantastic this week…

• Sunday – AM relaxed run without Garmin, about 3-4 miles
• Monday – AM 5 min cross trainer warm up, strength workout A from ‘Dial it in’ phase of Female Body Breakthrough, 10 min HIIT step machine, 10 min HIIT bike
• Tuesday – AM free style yoga 15 minutes, PM 10 min rowing machine, 10 min treadmill run, 10 min bike, Body Pump class
• Wednesday – AM 5 min cross trainer warm up, strength workout B from ‘Dial it in’ phase of Female Body Breakthrough, 10 min HIIT step machine, 10 min HIIT bike
• Thursday – AM – This 1 hour power flow yoga workout from You Tube
• Friday – AM 5 min cross trainer warm up, strength workout A from ‘Dial it in’ phase of Female Body Breakthrough, 10 min HIIT step machine, 10 min HIIT bike

I had a brilliant run on Sunday and then started a new phase of Female Body Breakthrough and my god could I feel it the next day, I had some serious DOMS! The reps have gone from the 12 – 14 range down to 8 so I’m using heavier weights when I can. I also managed to increase my squat weight in Body Pump to 40lbs – that’s probably not much compared to some but for me its great! As I was working on Thursday evening and couldn’t make my usual yoga class I did a brilliant yoga flow from You Tube before before work instead. It was awesome to do some sweaty yoga again!

On my weekend send off love list this week…

Coyo coconut yoghurt in plain and mixed berry varieties

This morning I received these coconut yoghurts from sponsor Coyo to try out, they both look really good and I can’t wait to try them! Also…

Chickpea magazine – an awesome vegan e mag full of fantastic articles, recipes and beautiful photography // making plans for my 30th birthday party in August // thanks to a very kind voucher, booking a spa day deal with Groupon for me and my best friend as part of celebrations for said birthday // looking forward to next weeks vintage themed project celebration at work – I’ll be dressing up 1940’s style!

What are you loving this week?

Not long left to enter my Chocolate Good Hemp Shake GIVEAWAY – check it out if you haven’t already!

Hope you have an amazing weekend!

Hi everyone, hope your having a very lovely Sunday afternoon! I’ve had a great weekend because I’ve been super productive. Yesterday morning I started by sorting through all the household paper work filing things away and filling a bag of documents to shred. I also sorted out my shelves on the book case putting away DVD’s, CD’s and books and today I’m planning on sorting through my clothes and bags (of which there are many!) into piles for the charity shop and eBay. I’ve also been busy in the kitchen making a big batch of lentil soup, a peanut lime sauce, roasted aubergine hummus, brown rice and barley and some raw crackers. I’m exhausted now!

Getting the base for my lentil soup going!

I also had a walk into town and back yesterday to meet up with the lovely Jess for a Starbucks fix. It was great to see her, she received a lovely complement from a stranger too, gotta love those communal coffee shop tables!

This morning I enjoyed a glorious run in the sunshine. I went out without the Garmin again and just ran for the enjoyment of running. No idea how far or how fast, I think I was out for about 40 minutes or so? When I came back I made a tasty Courgette Banana Bread Green Smoothie:

I made this with spinach, courgette, frozen banana, vanilla sun warrior protein powder, maca, ground flax, water and ice and topped it with dried cherries and lemon salted roast almonds, yum!

Yesterday mornings breakfast was delicious, Vanilla Chai Pear Oatmeal with Tofu Yoghurt and Walnuts!

I cooked the oats in some Pukka Vanilla Chai tea, added a chopped pear and vanilla stevia then topped with some tofu yoghurt, chopped oats and cinnamon.

For lunch I made use of some kelp noodles I’d won in a competition on the Viva Pure Facebook page – I rinsed then soaked them in filtered water and lime juice then drained them and added some carrot ribbons and a sauce made from 3 tbsp of raw dark tahini, sweet white miso and water. I also added a good amount of fresh parsley:

So good, I love my kelp noodles!

Last night I had an amazing macrobiotic inspired meal. I was chopping up a kabocha squash and thought it looked a bit pale and watery so I decided to try out a recipe from Blissful Bites for pumpkin with apricot and ginger glaze. As it turned out the kabocha was fine and that glaze was utterly amazing! I didn’t think much other than nut butter could make kabocha taste any better but this did. I served it with some steamed greens and quinoa mixed with edamame and parsley. I also added a drizzle of peanut lime sauce:

I’d picked up some limes from the reduced bin at the green grocers (4 for 50p) so decided to make a peanut and lime dressing. I mixed 1/4 cup peanut flour with one tbsp of sesame peanut butter (because I’m all out of regular pb) the juice from one lime, soy sauce and water. I also used it on today’s salad with more of the glazed kabocha, cos lettuce and some finely sliced mange tout:

I also used the lime juice instead of my usual lemon juice in my fave green juice blend:

This was cucumber, celery, parsley, ginger and lime juice, love my weekend juices!

For a snack this afternoon I’ve just had an apple followed by this chocolate berry smoothie using mixed frozen berries, 2 big spring green leaves, a scoop of chocolate amazing grass powder and a tbsp of raw cacao powder blended with water and ice drank out of a pretty mug of course:

So refreshing on a warm afternoon!

I really do love ticking things off the old to do list. I’m currently reading The Happiness Project, and one thing that I’ve taken from it so far is how tackling nagging tasks supports your overall happiness. I certainly feel better for getting those things done! I also know how much easier, cheaper and tastier, next week will be now that I’ve prepped a couple of dishes – I do love my Sunday cook up sessions!

Have you had a good weekend so far? Do you keep a to do list? How do you approach keeping on top of nagging tasks?

First off I would like to say a massive thank you to for all the supportive comments to my last post. I’m pretty overwhelmed to be honest! I was so nervous about pressing the publish button but I’m glad I’ve been able to share my feelings and plans for the future. Thank you all so much for your support! I’m feeling very positive about all of these changes right now.

A couple of today’s grocery shop highlights – cans of coconut milk from the Oriental store at £1 each, purple potatoes (can’t wait to try these!) bags of dried mixed berries and dried apple pieces just 45p each!

Following on from things I’ve been treating this week as a kind of ‘transition’ week in my workouts. I haven’t started my new yoga classes yet and I’ve still done a couple of runs because I don’t want to stress my body out any more by throwing big changes of routine at it:

• Sunday – 5 mile treadmill run at steady comfortable pace, Kettlebell class
• Monday – Gym, 5 min cross trainer warm up, strength A from Female Body Breakthrough ‘Dial It In’ Phase, 20 min HIIT on bike
• Tuesday – 20 min Yoga for Detox, 10 min HIIT cross trainer and step machine, Body Pump class
• Wednesday – 5k treadmill run at a steady pace, 10 mins HIITs on cross trainer, step machine and bike
• Thursday – Zumba Exhilarate ‘Ripped’ DVD, planks, sit ups, push ups
• Friday -  Gym, 5 min cross trainer warm up, strength B from Female Body Breakthrough ‘Dial It In’ Phase, 20 min HIIT on step machine

I’ve enjoyed some lovely eats this week. I had a couple of late nights at work so I went with my trusty green smoothies when I got home:

Spinach, 2 frozen bananas, hemp milk, vanilla stevia, pinch of gums, water, ice, topped with dried figs, tahini and bee pollen. (I also put in a lot of add ins – maca, ground flax, chlorella tablets, pro biotic tablet)

Black kale, frozen cherries, chocolate sun warrior protein powder, tbsp of peanut butter, water, ice topped with a sauce made from peanut flour and cacao nibs plus the add ins above.

After Body Pump on Tuesday night I made an amazing chocolate peanut butter cup recovery smoothie:

This was 2 tbsp of Vega choc-o-lot powder, 2 tbsp of peanut flour, 1 heaping tbsp of crunchy peanut butter, water, ice, gums topped with cacao nibs. Yum!

I also busted out a Gourmet Raw brownie for dessert one night:

This was the Cacao Mint and it was delish! This tasted much more like a regular brownie than other raw brownies I’ve tried before, it had a lovely fudgy texture.

I’ve also had some super breakfasts:

 Vanilla protein chia seed pudding with banana, apricots, goji berries and honey plus a vanilla nut teeccino with hemp milk

Large bowl of Dorset Cereals muesli with apples and hemp milk plus a teapigs matcha green tea with manuka honey

Vanilla courgette bread oats (1/2 cup oats and oatmeal cooked stove top with water, grated courgette and vanilla sun warrior) topped with pecans, cranberries and maple syrup

For lunches and dinners I’ve had salads:

This was based on my Confetti Quinoa Salad – quinoa with red onion, cucumber, carrot, parsley, dried apricots, hemp oil, apple cider vinegar plus romaine lettuce and home grown sprouts. I had been hoping to add avocado but they didn’t ripen in time!

Today’s lunch! Spicy almond kelp noodles – raw green tea kelp noodles with carrot and courgette in a spicy sauce made from loads of home made raw almond butter, toasted sesame oil, coconut aminos (you could just use soy sauce), red chilli, ginger and sweet white miso topped off with a few goji berries, amazing!

My veggie loaf with some wonderful cauliflower mash and steamed purple sprouting broccoli, such a tasty meal!

In addition to those I’ve been snacking my little heart out all week. On Monday I bought a 200g bag of almonds and a 400g bag of raisins to snack on at work and they are almost all gone! I’ve also been eating carrots with lots of nut butter and home made raw kale chips.

Now I am feeling so ready for the weekend! Its my lovely Dad’s Birthday today (Happy Birthday Dad!) and my Sister’s tomorrow so we are going out for a bar meal to celebrate. I’m also going to finish up my ‘clean eating’ January tomorrow as I’ll be out for said meal, plus I need some coffee back in my life!

Tonight I’m going to relax by making a big pan of chilli (perfect for the cold night expected), roasting up those purple potatoes and watching movies on Netflix with a bowl of popcorn. Bliss! What do you have planned for your weekend? Hope whatever you are up to you have a good one!

On Friday evening I visited the Durham Lumiere Festival. I live in a suburb of the beautiful medieval City of Durham, and the Lumiere Festival takes place right across the city featuring over 30 light installations by a variety of artists including Tracey Emin (I love her!).

Me and James met up with my Mam and Dad for a walk around the city. It really was a breath taking evening, especially the amazing ‘Crown of Light’ installation that projected images on to the side of the spectacular Durham Cathedral:

 

Other installations we saw included lots of glowing flying mesh figures, a brightly rainbow coloured lit tunnel, a giant glowing snow globe, another brightly coloured piece made from recycled plastic bottles and the beautifully lit Railway bridge arches:

 

 

  OOTD: fair isle hat and scarf: Next, Purple Princess Coat: Oasis, stripy tee: Zara, gold chain necklace: Topshop, Tan bag: H&M

I decided to bust out the warm hat and scarf, it was pretty chilly walking around outside!

I’ve still been healthy feasting over the weekend so have mostly been eating smoothies, salads and lots of fresh fruit:

Beet greens, frozen blueberries, frozen strawberries, strawberry hemp protein powder, water, ice topped with almond butter and freeze dried berries

Spring greens, pear, frozen blueberries, vanilla sun warrior protein powder, water, ice, flaked almonds and freeze dried berries on top

Spring greens, 1/2 frozen banana, courgette, roast kabocha squash, vanilla sun warrior protein powder, water, ice, cinnamon, ground ginger topped with more cinnamon, maple syrup, buckwheaties, shoyu roasted squash seeds

I got some giant persimmons from the green grocers that are so sweet and delicious:

Persimmon with clemintines

I’ve also been drinking the usual green juice:

Cucumber, celery, kale stems, ginger, lemon

Even though I’ve been healthy feasting I’ve still enjoyed getting a bit experimental. First up I tried making some ‘walnut lemon cheese’ to go on top of this beautiful salad with golden beets:

The salad included raw black kale massaged with hemp oil and lemon juice, romaine lettuce, alfalfa sprouts and regular and golden beets. I made the walnut cheese using 1/3 cup of soaked walnuts, lemon juice, garlic, sweet white miso and parsley. It worked well but as I only made one portion it didn’t blend so well in my processor. It tasted delicious though!

Today I had my first try of kelp noodles!

I got these from Viva Pure ages ago and thought it was about time I tried them! I soaked them in warm water for 10 minutes to soften and then mixed with a spiralised courgette and carrot. I made a dressing using tahini, sweet white miso, fresh ginger, ume vinegar and water and topped with raisins and black sesame seeds. It was wonderful! You can’t really taste the kelp noodles but they have a nice texture, and of course they are very good for you!

This morning I went out for a relaxed run. As I’m on my set back week I decided to go out without the Garmin for a change. I think I did about 4 miles but have no idea what time I did it in. It was a mega misty morning and such a pleasant run! The rest of the day has been almost perfect: hot shower after my run, green smoothie for breakfast followed by a morning of baking (can’t wait to share the recipes!) and an afternoon movie. All that could have made it better would have been a cup of coffee!

November Giveaway winners

Good Hemp Oils:

 

Lara and Lauren!

Linwoods Super Foods:

Flaxseed and Gojs: Rachel, Flaxseed, Pumpkinseed and Sunflower seed: Jessica 

Congratulations ladies! Can you all email me at laura@keepinghealthygettingstylish.com with your addresses and I’ll get these posted out.

Next week I have a pretty crazy one with several events and work and a couple of late nights so I’m going to make the most of the rest of my Sunday! I’m also looking forward to getting stuck into my workouts next week, I’ll probably blog more about how my set back and week of healthy feasting has gone soon. Hope your all having a wonderful weekend!