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!

Happy weekend everyone! I'm just sitting here in my pj's eating a Trek bar before I go out for a run and thought I would do a quick recap of yesterday since I was MIA.

First of all, thank you for all the lovely comments to my post yesterday, I'm glad I'm not the only one that hates the changing rooms in shops!

So back to yesterday. I didn't have so much of a lie in, but it makes a big difference waking up naturally rather than to an alarm doesn't it? I made myself a lovely big bowl of porridge starting with a frozen banana warmed up in the microwave then cooked with some oats, chia seeds and water and topped up with a little hazelnut and almond rice milk and finished off with a couple of tablespoons of ground flax, cocoa powder and ground mixed berries (from a sample sachet out of a magazine), almond butter and some goji berries.

It was a great mix of stuff! I really like goji berries and hadn't had them in ages but when I saw them in the shops yesterday I just had to get some to add to my stash of nuts, dried fruits and seeds.

We spent the morning just chilling out and catching up on TV. Mid morning I snacked on an apple.

Lunch was some of my Asian Chicken soup followed by two chopped kiwis and two satsumas.

After lunch we headed out to visit my sis in law and then to see my sis and nephew. It was lovely to see them all, my nephew wasn't his usual self though as he's teething really bad and was in a bit of a mood!

Mid afternoon I snacked on another apple. I don't know what it is but I feel like I could eat loads of lovely crunchy apples at the moment, they just seem to be hitting the spot!

After doing the rounds we headed to our favourite Italian resturant in Durham but was shocked when we got there and saw that they had changed their name and were under new management! Luckily when we got in the menu was the same. I went for a small Rustica pizza (aubergines, courgettes, cherry tomatoes and rocket with goats cheese) served with a green salad.

The pizza was lovely, although it could have done with more veggies on the topping. I thought it looked really small when it came out but I was stuffed by the time I'd finished it! The green side salad was crap, just a few leaves with red onion and a bit of dressing. I did take a pic but it went blurry, not that your missing anything!
On the way home we stopped to rent out 'Men That Stare at Goats' with George Clooney and Ewan McGreggor. It was a totally mental film, but very funny! While we watched the film I got my chocolate fix with several squares of Green and Blacks 70% Cocoa Dark Chocolate and Green and Blacks Hazelnut and Raisin 60% Cocoa Chocolate.

This was lush, I savoured every bite!

I was still a bit hungry after eating the chocolate so I had a big bowl of frozen raspberries and strawberries with some hazelnut and almond rice milk.

This just filled me up nicely.

Before bed we decided to open a bottle of wine. I only had one glass as I knew I'd be running this morning and didn't want to wake up dehydrated!

Drinks - water, green tea, decaf tea, soda water with ice and lemon, red wine

It was so lovely to have a 'date night' with the hubby. We don't get loads of time to spend with each other at the moment as our days off from work fall at different times, although we are hoping that he's managed to change his hours so that he gets a Sunday off every couple of weeks which would be great.

Well I'm going to finish my Trek bar and get myself sorted for my run. I'm hoping to do at least 7.5 miles this morning. The weathers looking a bit dodgy here right now but I'm hoping that the sun will start to shine through by the time I head out! Hope you all have a great Saturday x

Hi Everyone, I've had a lovely couple of days down in Birmingham for the Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood Concert. Heres a bit of a recap of yesterday.

I was up at the crack of dawn on Tuesday morning as I wanted to get in a workout before leaving for Birmingham. I did my usual Davina Superbody Super Sculpt DVD then rushed around like a headless chicken getting ready and packing my overnight bag. I did manage to sit down for five minutes and enjoy one of my favorite breakfasts - a chocolate cherry green monster in a bowl (scoop of chocolate whey, frozen cherries, spinach, hazelnut and almond rice milk)

I topped it with a few grape nuts for added crunch. I decided that it would be a good idea to pack up a little bag with some healthy snacks for while I was away.

Goodie bag!

We set off from Durham and got down there by 11.30 so it wasn't a bad drive. We had one stop and I snacked on an apple and the Berry Cheeky Nakd bar to keep me going. Once we got checked in to our hotel we got the train into Birmingham and then found somewhere to eat. We eventually decided on an Italian called Del Villagio in the Bullring. I had a rather large vegetable pizza!

It was delicious, but unsuprisingly it left me stuffed. We had a bit of a look around the shops, I checked out the food hall in Selfridges and although lots of things were tempting I didn't but anything. I usually find it easier to shop (or should I say spend money) when I'm on my own rather than with the Hubby, which is probably not a bad thing. He makes me think twice about anything I'm getting (not in a bad way, more like asking 'so what have you got that you'd wear with that?' or 'are you sure you need it?' kind of thing) I've never made a poor purchase on impulse when he's been with me. I did however hit one of my favourite shops - Urban Outfitters as they don't have a store in the North East. I got these two funky t shirts, after consultation with the Hubby of course!

The floral t shirt has a chunky zip down the back. I love the retro style Harley T shirt as well. I also got this bag from accessorize.

I have been looking for a really big pretty bag for hauling all my stuff about and this fit the bill perfectly. So that was the last of my holiday / summer clothes budget I'd saved up. I've been working overtime at work so that has helped to 'mop up' when I've gone over budget a bit. I know that I bought quite a bit of stuff at the weekend and I don't want anyone thinking I just spend money like theres no tomorrow! The vast majority of my summer clothes are all too big for me so I have pretty much had to buy everything for my holiday apart from beach towels. Now that I have a wardrobe that fits I'm actually thinking of setting myself a little challenge at some point in the next few months - something like not buying anything 'new' to try and encourage myself to save money and make more things myself. I have a bag full of old clothes that are desperate to be altered and re worked into new things, I just need the motivation ;-)

We headed back to our hotel and got ready for the concert. While in Birmingham I went to EAT and picked up this Sweet Chilli Chicken Noodle Salad and Fruit Salad to have as my dinner.

This salad was delicious - I think I will try and recreate at home, just with wholemeal noodles!

My Mam and Dad had brought some munchies down with them so I also ended up snacking on a few Lightly Salted Kettle Chips and a small glass of white wine. We walked over to the LG Arena (what a fab venue!), found our seats and got settled. I just stuck to drinking water while I was there, I didn't want to end up smashed again! My Mam treated me to this little tub of Ben and Jerry's.

Total chocolate heaven!

The concert was tremendous! It was really my Dad's big treat, but we all enjoyed it, they played some of my favourite tracks including Layla and Forever Man (for any fellow Clapton Fans out there)

Heres a couple of pics - Me and the Hubby

My Mam and Dad

Eric rocking out

Random crazy guitar photo.

After the concert we went back to the hotel and my munchies were in full swing - I snacked on more Kettle Chips, Cheese and Onion Pringles, a huge chunk of Cadbury's Diary Milk, a couple of Werthers Originals sweets, my Coco Orange Nakd bar and an apple, oh yes and then there was more white wine. So I had a bit of a binge. I did not feel good after eating all of that rubbish, however, I did enjoy eating it!

Drinks - water, green tea, white wine

So I felt like a bit of a hippo after all of those snackies. I went to bed with that awful guilty feeling you get when you've over indulged. At the end of the day I don't often eat food like that, this was a special occassion, and when I remembered that I felt a lot better :-)

Hi everyone, hope you are feeling fabulous! Its been one hell of a crazy week for me and I am so happy that I can now chill out a bit and start preparing for Christmas.

Over the last couple of days I’ve had two parties to attend. The first one on Wednesday evening was my workplaces Community and Voluntary Organisations Awards and Christmas Celebration. As the team manager I presented the Awards. It was a great evening. I dressed glam but professional:

Sheer polka dot blouse: River Island, black trousers: Zara, black skinny belt, Topshop, studded black shoes: Miss Selfridge, sparkly drop earrings: Accessorize.

We had some lovely hot food provided. I went with the vegetarian mince lasagne and lots of veg:

I had already snacked on dried apricots, an apple, 1 1/2 wholemeal pitta breads with hummus and sun dried tomatoes at my managers flat whilst getting ready so this left me stuffed. The evening went very well – I have a great job and work with some wonderful community groups and charities!

Thursday morning I did my usual DVD workout then had a black VIA coffee sweetened with agave syrup and a big bowl of Dorset Cereal Fruity Flakes with some frozen mixed chopped fruits and oat milk.

Lunch was a bowl of miso soup with ginger, carrot and cucumber, two clemintines and a braeburn apple:

Mid afternoon I snacked on two apples. We all went to my managers flat to get ready and were treated to cocktails and nibbles. I had two apple martinis and a cosmopolitan plus some delicious maple candied pecans and cashews.

We headed to a local restaurant called Fifty Three. I started with the soup:

This was really tasty – it was leek and potato but it also contained rosemary. I think I’m going to try and recreate this for a starter for Christmas lunch. I didn’t eat the bread on the side as I wanted to save room for this amazing giant margarita pizza:

I ate every bite, oh yes! I love a good proper thin crust Italian cheese and tomato pizza. Desert was a little vanilla panna cotta with berry compote.

I also drank copious amounts of red wine :-) I did have a bit of an uncomfortable night as my tummy was just so full but I was happy to wake up hangover free (I made sure I drank lots of water and took milk thistle tablets). After drinking or indulging I always get a serious craving for a green monster smoothie so that’s what I had for breakfast.

I blended some spring greens with 1/3 frozen banana, mixed frozen berries and fruits, oat milk, ice cubes, water, ground flax, maca powder, cinnamon, brown rice syrup, 1/2 scoop of fruit-ein powder and xanthan and guar gums. I topped it with some goji berries and flaked almonds, it was lovely but so huge. I struggled to finish it but I knew I wanted some good stuff in my body! I also had a detox tea.

Lunch was just another bowl of miso and ginger soup with carrot sticks and an orange and apple similar to yesterday. Mid afternoon I snacked on an apple pie nakd bar. I hit the gym after work for an awesome 1 hour HIIT workout on the treadmill, cross trainer, step machine and bike followed by some upper body free weights and core exercises on the stability ball.

Dinner was a tasty Sweet Ginger Sesame Tofu Stir Fry using a pre packed rainbow veggie mix:

Desert was some double chocolate protein ice cream flavoured with mint and topped with raw cacao nibs:

So, so good – the sun warrior protein powder really does make this special.

I’ve also been receiving lots of goodies over the last few days. I have a workout DVD to review – more on that to come. I was also contacted to see if I would like to try some Rachel’s Organic Yoghurts:

I tried the Greek yoghurt a few weeks ago as an alternative to my usual Total yoghurt brand as I’m trying to eat more organic dairy. I was very impressed, so I was chuffed when I was contacted about doing a review. I have some low fat tubs – strawberry and lime, rhubarb, mango, pineapple and passion fruit. I also have whole milk Greek style yoghurt in honey, coconut and cherry. I can’t wait to try these out!

I received my work Secret Santa:

A mug set and Christmas tea from  Whittards. I was laughing as its so similar to my blog Secret Santa gift – great minds think alike! The Christmas tea smells out of this world amazing.

My manager also gave us all a little bottle of her homemade plum gin:

I can’t wait to have this with a tonic over Christmas!

Are you all getting into the full swing of Christmas? Have you attended many parties so far? I’ve really enjoyed myself – especially that wonderful pizza, and no, I feel no guilt whatsoever for treating myself to that! I’m back at work next week but just for a couple of days – I have no meetings which makes things a lot more relaxed. This weekend I’m going to do a bit of grocery shopping, wrapping gifts and watching Christmas movies, perfect! Hope you’ve had a great week!