I couldn’t believe how gorgeous the weather was when I woke up on Saturday morning, I literally bounced out of bed! I made a very tasty breakfast of apple and berry porridge (1/2 cup of rude health fruity date oats, 1/2 cup of rice milk, 1 cup of water, 1tbsp of chia seeds, 1 chopped apple and frozen berries cooked on stove top) topped with 2 tablespoons of peanut flour and 1 spoonful of smooth peanut butter mixed with water. I also had a raspberry coffee with agave and rice milk:

I got the raspberry coffee from Square Orange Foods in case anyone’s interested, its just delicious!

We headed over to Newcastle and as the weather was so nice I decided to wear shorts!

Black blazer: Oasis, Breton stripe top: Warehouse, khaki shorts: Florence and Fred, tights: M&S, bag: H&M, flats: Dorothy Perkins

I did some grocery shopping in Newcastle that included picking up two giant kabocha squash from Waitrose and a load of veggies from the market. I was using the last of my grocery money until payday but luckily I managed to stay in budget.

After visiting the family we came home for lunch. I had some delicious Clearspring shoyu soya ramen noodles with carrot, sugar snaps and cherries:

My best friend and her little girl came round for the afternoon, we spent half the time in the kitchen going through my cupboards and drawers explaining what half of the strange jars and packets of powders are! I sent her home with some Conscious raw chocolate to try :-)

Late afternoon I drank a big green juice containing 2 kiwis, broccoli, japanese spinach, celery, cucumber and lemon.

This weeks organic veg box included a lovely cauliflower. While deciding what to make with it I was thinking about a wonderful nutty rice side dish that my favourite Indian restaurant used to serve and I came up with this:

Sweet and nutty cauliflower ‘rice’ and lentils (makes 2 large servings)

• 1 tbsp of coconut oil (or other oil for frying)
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 tsp of garam masala
• 1 tsp of ground cinnamon
• 1 head of cauliflower
• 1 tin of green lentils, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp of ground almonds
• 2tbsp of desiccated coconut
• 2 tbsp raisins
• Toasted flaked almonds for garnish

Begin by making the cauliflower ‘rice’. Break the cauliflower into florets and finely chop in a food processor until the mix resembles rice. Put to one side. In a large pan fry the onion in the coconut oil on a medium heat until softened. Add the spices and continue to fry for another minute or so. Add the lentils, cauliflower rice and salt. Continue to stir fry the mixture for a couple of minutes until warmed through. Add the ground almonds, desiccated coconut and raisins. Fry for a further two minutes until all the ingredients are well combined and the raisins have become plump. Serve:

I served this with my favourite steamed greens with ginger and shoyu. This is seriously good! I feel extra chuffed when something that I’ve came up with completely by myself (as suppose to being adapted or based on another recipe) actually tastes so good, my confidence in the kitchen is really increasing. It really is sweet, nutty and delicious! You could of course make this with proper rice in place of the cauliflower. I didn’t add any extra carbs into this meal as it was super filling as it was and I had a really big portion!

Dessert was a small bowl of Freedom chocolate ‘ice cream’ with a little granola on top:

This morning I was up nice and early for my run. I had my usual orange and 3 big juicy medjool dates for fuel then headed out. I did 8 miles in 1hr 15 minutes with an average pace of 9.25. It was an awesome run! I was a bit cold throughout as I had thought that after yesterdays warmer weather it would be nicer than it actually was so I just wore a thinner top and left my woollen mittens at home. It was in fact quite windy and cold so the fact that I managed such an improvement on last weeks 9.58 pace was fantastic (although last weeks route was very hilly). I really love it when you have those runs and you just feel like your flying :-)

When I got home I stretched, showered and made myself an awesome smoothie. This contained romaine lettuce, frozen banana, 2 nectarines, 2 ice cubes, a sachet of spiru-tein greens powder, mesquite, ground flax, last of my matcha green tea (sob), 2 large spoonfuls of crunchy peanut butter, water, xanthan gum and guar gum. I topped it with some peanut flour sauce, goji berries, hemp seeds and cacao nibs:

This smoothie rocked my face off! It was utter awesomeness. I has this bowl plus the now usual overflow. I also enjoyed a big pot of Japanese sencha cherry green tea.

Lunch was a slice of toasted quinoa and amaranth bread with cheesy avocado mash, carrot sticks, sugar snaps and plums:

I had another big green juice mid afternoon, same as yesterdays but with a pear in place of the kiwi’s. I had done all my jobs for the day so decided to relax and sip it from a wine glass:

What can I say I’m just classy like that ;-)

Dinner was the second serving of my Sweet and Nutty Cauliflower and Lentils. Dessert was two chopped apples and some Plain Dark Plamils Chocolate:

This chocolate is delicious, really dark just how I like it!

This weekends kitchen projects have included making up a batch of sesame milk, plain hummus, pearl barley for my grain of the week and in an effort to sort out my nuts and dried fruit box (yes, I have a box in my kitchen dedicated to my nuts and dried fruit collection!) a giant jar of home mixed muesli. I can not wait to eat a big bowl of it with the sesame milk for breakfast in the morning – it is jam packed with some of my favourite nuts, seeds and dried fruits! I’ve also made something amazing with the leftover sesame mush from making the milk which I can’t wait to share with you, I just have my fingers crossed that my randomly put together recipe has worked!

I’m still buzzing from my fab run this morning and the fact I completed my first assignment for my course and that I have a fairly relaxed and short week ahead at work is making me smile this evening!

What’s making you smile today?

Hope you’ve all had a great weekend :-)

Hi everyone, hope your having a good week! Mine got off to a great start when I went and collected my new little car last night, I’m still buzzing!

Eats have been very tasty as usual. Breakfast on Monday was fresh strawberries, blackberries and blueberries with some Dorset Cereal Tasty Toasted Spelt Muesli and rice milk. I also had a delicious raspberry coffee with sweet freedom and rice milk:

Breakfast this morning was a Butternut Smoothie (roast butternut, frozen banana, ice cubes, vanilla sun warrior, cinnamon, ginger, rice milk, water, xanthan gum) topped with half a bag of Bear Apple Crumble Granola Nibbles:

I haven’t had a squash smoothie in ages and this was divine!

Lunch both days has been a fab salad of romaine, red and yellow pepper, cucumber, sugar snap peas, red onion and spicy roasted chickpeas with Kristen’s Raw 4 ingredient dressing (cashew butter, water, apple cider vinegar and shoyu):

The dressing was delicious! I also had some fruit – an orange and kiwis.

Snackage and pre gym fuel was a lemon kissed cashew hemp bar on Monday:

…and one of my almond cookies and a pink lady apple today:

The lemon bar was gorgeous, I love lemon flavoured stuff and with the sweetness of the dates and the crunchiness of the hemp seeds this hit the spot. It also fuelled me very well for the gym – I had an excellent workout!

Dinner both days has been a Japanese inspired stir fry containing soba noodles, carrot, diakon, Japanese spinach, tender stem broccoli and some Clearspring organic tofu marinated in sesame oil and mirin and fried in coconut oil. I also added some gomasio and shoyu:

This was so so tasty! I was a little disappointed with the Clearspring tofu to begin with, I had been expecting something more like the Cauldron firm tofu, it was certainly described that it could be used that way. This had a more similar texture to mori nu silken tofu. It didn’t absorb the marinade very well but it did fry up excellently – crispy on the outside and soft and silken on the inside!

Dessert last night was two chopped apples and some Plamils Orange and Cranberry dairy free chocolate:

The chocolate was good but very sweet! Its flavour really reminded me of Terry’s chocolate orange.

Dessert this evening was some cookies and cream Spiru-tein protein ice cream (with vanilla rice milk, ice cubes and xanthan and guar gums) topped with cacao nibs:

Yummy!

My workouts so far this week have been excellent - my usual Monday evening spin class was cancelled as the instructor was ill so I did 1 hour of HIITs on the step machine, cross trainer, bike and rowing machine. I usually don’t use the rowing machine – I think I just preferred the other equipment, but I loved it in this workout! I did 1 minute intervals: 1 minute at about 6 on my ‘perceived rate of exertion’ then basically balls to the wall for the other minute and repeated for 15 minutes, I was beat by the end! I then did my usual abs and core.

This morning I did a quick Yoga for Runners podcast for 20 minutes then this evening I was back at Body Pump. Before the class I managed to fit in another 10 minute rowing machine HIIT session, loving it!

Do you have a favourite piece of gym equipment? Why is it your favourite? I love the step machine and cross trainer as I feel like I get a really good workout on them but I can certainly see me making more use of the rowing machine in future!

I’ve also been doing something that I don’t do very often – eating the same thing two days in a row. Usually I don’t like doing this as I like variety but I’m finding it a real time and money saver - Hence why I’m just posting an ‘eats’ type post every two days and starting to move away from posting every single thing I eat as I don’t want things to get boring!

Are you happy to eat the same meals day after day or do you prefer more variety? My hubby eats plain porridge for breakfast every single day and as much as I love porridge that would drive me crazy! However, one thing that I can’t get enough of at the moment is green smoothies – I like that you can make them different with all the various ingredients and toppings available.

What’s the one thing you could eat day after day and never tire of?

Is it bad that its Monday and I’m already wishing it was the weekend? I’m not unhappy, its more the fact that I have to work late two nights this week and feel like I have no spare time to speak of!

I did find time to sit down for 5 minutes over breakfast this morning: a slice of quinoa and amaranth bread lightly toasted with sunflower seed butter and a sliced apple plus a mug of detox tea:

Loving the new sunflower seed butter!

Mid morning I had some miso soup with ginger. Lunch was a bowl of leek, white bean and greens soup followed by a bowl of cherries:

I know the food miles will be astronomical with the cherries but I couldn’t resist them being on offer. I really need to start focusing on eating more locally again!

Mid afternoon I snacked on two cherry bakewell babies and a pear:

I hit up the gym for my usual Monday evening workout of 40 minutes HIITs, 30 minute spin class and abs and core work. I managed to hold my planks for 70 seconds, up from 60 seconds last week, yey!

Dinner consisted of a raw salad including romaine lettuce, watercress, rocket, peppers, cucumber, carrot and alfalfa sprouts topped with a roasted veggie and sunflower seed patty, parsley and some new beetroot sauce I made at the weekend:

Beetroot sauce (makes around 2 cups) inspired by Choosing Raw

• 2 medium beetroots, roasted
• 2 tablespoons of oil (I used my cool oil)
• 5 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon of tahini
• pinch of salt
• Water to thin as desired

Basically whack everything into a food processor and blend the hell out of it. I ended up having to add quite a bit of water to get it to a consistency I liked. I was actually trying to go for more of a dressing like consistency but it just wasn’t going to become any smoother. I really liked the sauce, its sweet, tangy and creamy, yum!

Dessert was a strawberry and peach smoothie I whipped up with frozen strawberries, frozen peaches, kara coconut milk, acai juice and matcha green tea powder plus a little xanthan and guar gums for thickness and topped with gojis:

Delicious, kicks my ice cream craving right in to touch!

January Kick Start Plan

I have now been on my January Kick Start Plan for a little over two weeks and I thought it would be good to sum up how I’ve been getting on since I started it.

• Eating a vegan diet

I have to say I’m feeling great, I’ve found eating a vegan diet very easy and the increase in fresh fruit and vegetable juices and nuts seem to be doing me the world of good.

• Caffeine

Although I’ve never been a huge caffeine drinker I did get a withdrawal headache in the first couple of days which cleared up very quickly. I haven’t been abstaining from caffeine altogether as I have still be drinking green tea and yerba mate which do have a small amount of caffeine in them. I have to say I am looking forward to being able to enjoy a cup of my flavoured coffees again come February!

• Refined sugars and processed foods

I’ve done well avoiding any refined sugars and processed foods although I think I may have eaten some pasta sauce from a jar which had added sugar and the couscous salad I had yesterday had a little added sugar but I’m certainly not stressing about that.

I am enjoying including the occasional nakd bar, trek bar, bear granola nibbles and raw chocolate as although these come in a packet and not from my own kitchen they have no added sugar and are completely natural.

• Limiting soy

I’ve done well here, no soy milk and I’ve only eaten tofu twice, both of which has been organic

• Skin care and beauty regime

A week ago my skin started breaking out with spots around my chin and temples but these have now cleared up and my skin is looking pretty clear. I have been trying to remember to dry skin brush every day and I have been using a mud mask each week which I think helped with the spots!

Overall

I think that I am achieving what I set out to do with this plan: kick start my healthy living into 2011, experiment with new foods and recipes and see how I get on eating vegan. On the whole vegan front I can honestly say I’m surprised at how easy I have found it, and at times I have found myself seriously considering becoming a vegan permanently. I’m feeling really good in myself, my energy levels are excellent and I’m sleeping much better. However, on reflection I think that I would find a vegan diet a little too restrictive at this stage in my life and I would like a little bit of flexibility.

At the moment I think that come February I will be eating very little dairy, and what I do eat I will try and ensure is organic and from local sources if possible (which I’ve been doing anyway). I think I will be happy eating eggs via my organic veg box delivery scheme or my local farm shop as I trust that these are coming from a reputable source. I’ll be careful eating animal product containing foods such as baked goods – I’d much prefer to either make them at home myself with good dairy or make my own vegan versions. Again, this is just what I feel is right for me – I truly believe that we are all different and I completely respect everyone’s individual choices when it comes to their own diet.

One thing that the kick start plan has done is spark a new interest in raw foods, and particularly raw chocolate, I just can’t get enough of the stuff! I love that it doesn’t play havoc with my blood sugar levels like some other chocolates and actually gives me some antioxidants. Speaking of which I received several packages of raw chocolate as well as some diary free chocolate to sample and review:

Conscious Chocolate:

The Raw Chocolate Company:

Plamil Foods:

I’m looking forward to reviewing these products and in particular comparing the raw chocolates to each other as I have found that the raw chocolates I have tried so far all have their own unique taste and texture. I’m also looking forward to trying the dairy and sugar free vegan Plamil range as even chocolate like Green and Blacks 70% contains diary which really surprised me! I’m going to have to buy some Plamil’s chocolate chips for my vegan baking.

I’m really chuffed that I managed to increase my plank hold time today and that my January kick start plan is going well. I’m even thinking about doing a bit of a raw food / juice detox this weekend. If you set yourself goals for January, how are you getting on?

Thanks for your comments to my last post regarding products for review. It seems that some of us like reviews and others aren’t bothered, however we all seem to agree that we have discovered some great products via blogs! As I said in the post I will continue to try and seek out more unique products when possible, however I obviously don’t know what other bloggers are planning to feature so some of my more unique products may end up not being that unique! It was also nice to hear that I have inspired other bloggers to seek out the same products for them to review. One thing I can say is that I won’t be posting review after review, and when I do post reviews I will include that in the post title if you would prefer to skip it. I have a few other bits and pieces in the pipeline – everything seems to be coming along at once, but I’ll try to ensure that the blog doesn’t get bogged down with it all!

Tuesday morning I was up to do my strength workout, it kicked my ass as usual! Luckily I had the thought of this super tasty breakfast to get me through it:

Based on my vanilla chia wheat germ breakfast pudding I made up a chocolate chia wheat germ pudding with raspberries. This tasted so good! I mixed in frozen raspberries last night when it went in the fridge and this morning they had defrosted and melded into the luscious pudding. I topped my bowl with cacao nibs for added crunch. Delish!

Lunch was a repeat of Mondays tofu salad with Asian dressing and a nectarine. I had a large mid afternoon snack as I had been planning on going to yoga later on so I had two pumpkin oat ryvita with lots of carrot sticks and cucumber for dipping in my amazing squash dip!

Squash dip (makes 1 1/2 cups)

• 2/3 cup of roast or cooked squash (I used kabocha of course!)
• 1/2 cup of parsley, packed
• 1 tbsp of tahini
• 1 tbsp of oil (I used cool oil)
• 1 tbsp of sweet white miso
• 1 clove of garlic
• water to thin

Add all ingredients to a food processor and blend. Gradually add the water until you get your desired consistency. It does firm up a bit in the fridge so perhaps make it a touch thinner to take this into account.

 

This dip is the bomb! It tastes amazing and has the most creamy texture. I think it would also work well with other herbs in place of the parsley and using a different squash such as butternut would make it sweeter.

I had been due to go to my yoga class but for some reason I was just not feeling it. I think I’m fighting off a bit of a cold and I haven’t been feeling 100% over the last couple of days. It was the last class that I was paid up for and after thinking about things I don’t think I’m going to re sign up for it. Although I have been loving the class once I’m there I’ve been finding the later night quite tiring and disruptive. I think the timing of the class (6.15 to 7.45) just doesn’t fit in with my schedule at the moment and one thing I need is as much flexibility as possible. There’s also the additional cost to consider too :-(

Instead I ate my pre yoga snack of a leftover cookie and a pink lady…

…and went home and did my Yogalates DVD for an hour. No comparison to an Ashtanga session but it did give me the opportunity for a good stretch!

I had a huge craving for a big green smoothie after that so I combined kale, frozen strawberries, carob powder, hemp protein powder, peanut butter, spirulina, mesquite and rice milk then topped with half a pack of cocoa cherry pie granola and some brown rice puffs to make it a little more filling:

This was so good, first time I’ve added carob to a smoothie – it tasted fab!

This mornings breakfast was orange and cranberry porridge with cashew macadamia cream:

1/2 cup of rude health fruity date porridge mix, tbsp oat bran, 1/2 cup of rice milk, juice and pulp from one orange, 1/2 cup of water, frozen cranberries, teaspoon of ground flax and extra dried cranberries on top of the cashew macadamia cream topping. I also had a cup of Christmas coffee.

Lunch was Leek, Greens and White Bean Soup with a bowl of red grapes:

Mid afternoon I snacked on a dried apricot, dried fig, some brazil nuts and pistachios before heading to the gym:

At the gym I did 30 minutes of speed work on the treadmill followed by 30 minutes of HIITs on the cross trainer, step machine and bike followed with my usual abs and core. I’ve now got my plank hold up to 90 seconds! Considering that before Christmas I could only do 30 seconds I’m well chuffed!

Dinner was a simple beans and rice mix made more exciting with some fruit and herbs: black beans with brown and wild rice, mango, coriander and lime juice dressing:

I served this with a large side of steamed kale. I have had some big cravings recently for just a simple bowl of beans, veggies and grains and this has satisfied it!

Dessert was some coffee flavour no added sugar vegan Plamils chocolate and two sliced pink lady apples:

The Plamils chocolate was gorgeous! Just the right amount of coffee flavour in a lovely dark crunchy creamy chocolate.

I know that I’ve made the right decision in stopping the yoga class although I’m sad about it. I think its been an incredibly useful class as I have a much better understanding of postures and positioning which has meant that my own yoga practice (using downloads and podcasts) has been improved. I absolutely love yoga for the added flexibility and strength it has given me so now I need to consider how I can incorporate it in to my training programme. I love the podcasts from Yoga Download which are 20 minutes long, they are perfect for fitting into a flexible programme so I may try and do one of these a few times a week. I also recently got the book Slim, Calm Sexy Yoga by Tara Stiles which actually goes through a lot of poses in good detail and suggests various 15 minute yoga flows that also could be useful.

I think if anything I’ve learned over the last couple of weeks is that my workouts have to be flexible for them to be effective, especially as I sometimes have late work meetings or if I’m just not feeling it (like last week when I swapped out my run to another day). Being flexible isn’t something that comes naturally to me – I know I can be a control freak and like having a set routine, but I’m embracing a more flexible approach and I think its doing me the world of good!

Do you take a flexible approach to your exercise and fitness or are you more structured? Does having a flexible approach come naturally to you or is it something you have to work at like me?

Hi everyone, hope you’ve been having a lovely weekend! I’ve had a great one, today I was out for Sunday lunch to celebrate Mother’s day with my Mam and Grandma :-) I decided to rock my £3.50 eBay skirt:

Outfit of the day: drop crystal earrings: Oasis, blazer: Topshop, pink long sleeved top: Dorothy Perkins, bag: H&M, floral skirt: eBay, black tights: M&S, grey peep toe boots: Oasis.

It feels like I’ve been eating so many colourful foods this weekend! Looking back to Saturday, we had a lovely relaxed morning – I made a big pot of sencha green tea and just chilled out while eating breakfast. This was just delicious:

A slice of my coconut banana bread with strawberries, apple blackberry tofu yoghurt and passion fruit. I know I’ve said it before but I adore that tofu yoghurt and it tasted so good with the coconut banana bread. Just so I can link back to it here’s the super simple recipe that I use to make the yoghurt:

Simple tofu yoghurt (makes two servings)

• 1 package of mori nu silken tofu
• 1 small jar of fruit puree / 3 tbsp of pureed fruit (I’ve been using hip organic baby food!)
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Chill in the fridge before eating. I really love its plain creamy taste – dare I say it, almost as much as Greek yoghurt! It certainly makes a nice vegan alternative, at least for me!

Lunch was a beautiful ‘rainbow’ salad. I just loved all the colours in this!

It included cos lettuce, sweet pea shoots, alfalfa sprouts, carrot, yellow pepper, beetroot, sugar snaps and cucumber plus a load of mixed seeds for added protein and crunch. I made the simplest and tastiest dressing inspired by a recipe in Veganomicon using 1 tbsp of tahini, 1 tbsp of sweet white miso and water, it was utterly delicious.

I went for more posh green juice too:

Posh because I drink it from a wine glass ;-) This was my first green juice sans fruit – it contained celery, romaine, cucumber, broccoli, lemon and ginger and tasted surprisingly good without the added sweetness of the usual apple or pear. I’ve also had a few colourful fruit filled bowls:

Dinner was a a socca pizza type creation. I made up the usual socca and topped with a thick layer of my broccoli and olive high protein hummus, broccoli and brussel sprouts roasted in coconut oil, beetroot and alfalfa sprouts:

This was really good and very filling but I think would have tasted even better with regular hummus! I also had some 74% dark chocolate with mint from Plamils – it tasted amazing!

Sunday morning I was up for my run. I decided I to go for a nice relaxed 9 miles (the furthest I have ran this year) which I did in 1hr 25 minutes with an average pace of 9.32 which I was really happy with. It was a good run but it did feel slow and tough at times. It was nice to hit the 9 mile distance though and I felt really strong at the end, even managing a bit of a sprint finish! I was thinking back to last years training and how achy and tired I felt after some of my runs. So far this year I’ve had none of that, my recovery seems to have massively improved.

Breakfast was a delicious chocolate cherry beet green smoothie made with a big cooked beetroot and the usual maca, mesquite and ground flax then topped with peanut flour sauce, grape nuts cereal and cacao nibs:

So good!

I was a little nervous of visiting the restaurant for Sunday lunch as I didn’t want to have any problems finding something vegan to order. I shouldn’t have worried though as ended up with some penne in a lovely roast veggie and tomato sauce along with a big salad. My tummy wasn’t so happy with the white pasta – it always bloats me up now - but I had a few cups of green tea when I got home which made me feel better.

For dinner I made a huge pan of my favourite spring soup – Courgette and Watercress. For such a simple recipe this really tastes fab:

I had a couple of bowls full, just so nourishing and delicious. I also had more tofu yoghurt with strawberries, blueberries and a little bit of granola:

All in all a lovely weekend has been had!

I’ve also managed to be quite productive which is always good, I got another assignment completed for my diet and nutrition course and had a lovely Sunday cook up session so I have meals ready for the next couple of days, as well as an extremely well stocked freezer. I think next week will be eat out the freezer week!

Do you like to eat a rainbow of different coloured foods? I love to try and eat lots of different colours – mainly because they are so pretty but also because eating a range of colours ensures you get a full range of nutrients. I have Colleen Patrick – Goudreau’s Colour Me Vegan cookbook on my wish list – it has a range of recipes based on the colour of foods!

I would have to say that my favourite food colour is green – apples, kale, spring greens and cucumber are some of my favourite veggies!

What’s your favourite ‘food colour’?