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?

Happy Sunday everyone! Hope your all having a great day, Sunday’s are the best aren’t they :-) I’ve had a really great weekend just so chilled out and relaxed. This morning I got in a great workout at the gym. I hadn’t been looking forward to running on the treadmill (and although it was bright, it was freezing outside!) so I made up a really simple relaxed treadmill workout:

5k treadmill workout

• 0.25 miles: 6.2mph
• 0.25 miles: 6.7mph
• 0.25 miles: 7.2mph
• 0.25 miles: 7.7mph repeat x 3 (to reach 3 miles)
• 0.1 mile sprint: 8.2mph (to reach 5k)

This was a great little run getting in 5k in just under 27 minutes. The regular speed changes stopped me getting bored and the speeds I used challenged me a bit, but left more than enough energy for my 15 min bike and 45 min Kettlebell class afterwards.

Yesterday I didn’t quite end up getting my intended lie in but I did have my lazy breakfast! Usually I know what I’m going to have for breakfast before I get up, but yesterday I decided to just see what I fancied. I really wanted something a bit bready that I could smother in nut butter but we don’t buy bread very often. Instead I decided to make a fat socca bread! I mixed half a cup of gram flour with half a cup of water, cinnamon, vanilla extract and a touch of stevia then fried the batter in coconut oil in my small frying pan. When it was cooked on both sides I topped it with with cashew butter, fresh blueberries and lots of maple syrup:

Perfection! This was just what I had been craving and was absolutely delicious. I decided to stick with the breakfast theme later in the day and made some oats in a jar for a snack after returning home from seeing friends and family:

I needed warming up as we’d been out for a walk and I couldn’t think of anything better than oats! I filled a near empty sunflower seed butter jar with oats cooked with water in the microwave and a heaping tbsp of Clearspring naturally sweetened blueberry jam.

This mornings post workout breakfast was a raw protein buckwheat bowl with vanilla sun warrior, chopped apples, raisins and cinnamon:

Yum! I enjoyed this with an Indian Chai tea with coconut milk, delish!

Other tasty bits and pieces this weekend include my usual weekend green juices, however as I was going out I didn’t think just juice would hold me over so taking inspiration from what I’ve been reading in Crazy Sexy Juices and Smoothies I made a smoothie with cucumber, celery, parsley, basil and orange blended with water, ice, maca powder and a little stevia to sweetened it up, all drank in a pretty mug of course:

This tasted very refreshing and nourishing!

Last night’s dinner was based on my Roast Broccoli, Brussels and Chickpea and Cranberry Couscous recipe – I roasted some broccoli, and for the first time some savoy cabbage (delish by the way) in coconut oil and then topped with the chickpea and cranberries but made with quinoa instead of couscous:

For dessert I tried one of my new chocolate almond puddings on top of frozen cherries with some peanut flour sauce swirled on top:

Heaven in my mouth!

This afternoon I’ve been having a party in my kitchen, I’ve had the radio blasting while I’ve been cooking and doing the laundry and I’ve even had a bit of a dance ;-) I’ve cooked up some brown rice for the week, made a special dish (which if it works will be incredible – will blog the recipe) and a giant pan of Lentil soup – based loosely on this recipe but I added some celery and left out the spinach because I didn’t have any. I had a huge bowl with some organic blue corn chips on the side for lunch:

Proper lush, I dipped the chips in the soup for extra noms :-)

Please don’t tell me I’m the only one that dances in my kitchen? Hope you’ve had a wonderful weekend and have a great week ahead!

Hello everyone! How's your weekend going? Mine has been great, I kicked it off on Friday night by making a lovely meal. Last weekend I had cooked up some pinto beans from scratch and really fancied something warming and comforting so I came up with this delicious chilli!

Pinto Bean and Aubergine Chilli (vegan serves 2-3)

• 1 large onion
• 1 aubergine
• 1 pepper (I used a yellow pepper)
• 1 courgette
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 cup of tomato passata
• 1 cup or 1 tin of pinto beans (black beans or black eye beans would also work)
• 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp of cumin
• 1 tbsp of cocoa powder

Begin by chopping the aubergine into cubes, putting it in a colander and sprinkling with salt to remove the bitterness. After 10 minutes fry the aubergine until it is browned, set aside. Chop the onion and fry in a little oil over a medium high heat until softened then add the pepper and the courgette chopped into pieces. Continue to fry for a few minutes then add the aubergine. Fry for 3-5 minutes then add the chopped tomatoes, passata, beans, spices and cocoa powder. Simmer for 10 - 15 minutes until all the veg has softened and the tomato sauce is thick and syrupy. Serve!

I ate mine with some roast purple potatoes, steamed greens and avocado. Its the first time I've tried adding cocoa to a chilli recipe but it works very well to add depth of flavour. The purple potatoes were unusual, they roasted up lovely (I used coconut oil) but I'm not sure I'd make an effort to buy them again, I much prefer sweet potatoes!

For a late night 'snack' I made a massive bowl of popcorn with melted coconut butter:

This was delish! Other tasty eats from the weekend include yesterday mornings breakfast:

Cherry oats with cinnamon topped with tofu cream and pecans, yum!

For lunch, a smoothie made with beet greens, banana, chocolate sun warrior, maca, ground flax, berries powder, water and ice topped with massive amounts of sunflower seed butter, muesli and extra raisins:

I totally added more muesli and nut butter as I ate it off the top, so good :-)

After a 30 min treadmill run, 15 min bike and my kettle bell class, I came home this morning and devoured another Protein Buckwheat Bowl:

So loving these! I made this one with chocolate sun warrior protein powder and some almond extract then topped it with raisins and dried mixed berries, it was gorgeous. I also ate a big bowl of grapes, I was ravenous!

Oh and I have to give a quick mention to these amazing raw flat breads from Viva Pure:

These are sweet onion flatbreads and I had them with veggies, avocado and olives. They are so tasty! I'll definitely be treating myself to those again. I can't forget this lovely snack I had too:

Fresh figs with tahini, tofu cream, honey and bee pollen, it was just utterly wonderful!

Last night we went out for a meal to celebrate my Dad's and my Sister's birthday:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OOTD: jewelled necklace: Topshop, stripy tee: Topshop, buckled wide belt: Dorothy Perkins I think?, green skirt: Urban Outfitters, black tights: M&S, ankle boots with zip detail: New Look, metallic clutch bag: Accessorize, chunky ring: Topshop

I really love this outfit! I can't wait to wear this combo again, of course it features my favourite stripes and I just adore that green skirt, I think its so unusual and very 'me'!

We went to a pub called The Old Mill and I had some Spicy Vegetable Enchiladas:

Delicious! These were packed with vegetables in a spicy tomato sauce and were super filling, although I still found room for plenty of chocolate when I came home! We had a fun night looking through some old photographs of us all when we were little and my Dad when he was a teenager, it was nice to be reminded of good times.

Yesterday morning we hit the shops as I wanted to return another of the dresses I had bought in the sales to exchange for something in a bigger size, no point in kidding myself if I'm aiming to gain weight right? I am really loving all the new season fashion, the colours are great! I ended up spending a bit more than the sale dress I was returning and bought this new season dress:

Warehouse: £42

Its blue polka dot with neon coral highlights on the arms and with the belt. I love it! I also got some jeans from Primark in black and dark rinse and some cropped workout pants from TK Maxx.

Do you have a current favourite outfit?

How's your weekend been? I'm looking forward to more of that chilli for dinner this evening! I also have an interesting week ahead, tomorrow we are having a planning day for work and I'll be going to my first taught yoga class in almost a year! I have to say I'm pretty glad to be seeing the back of January next week too, I can't wait for the spring! Hope you have a good one whatever your up to!

Hello folks, hope you’re doing well this Friday!

One of my favourite meals this week, all to be revealed soon!

My workouts this week:

• Saturday – 6 mile run (approx)
• Sunday – REST
• 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 – 3 mile run (approx), Yoga for Runners podcast
• 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 – PM yoga class 1hr 15 
• 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 enjoyed my short run on Tuesday, I’m just easing my way into running more often as I pick up my mileage ready to start training for the Great North Run. All other workouts have been pretty good, I’m coming up to the last week of this phase in Female Body Breakthrough so looking forward to changing it up again. Although I’m not really aiming to develop more muscle, rather just keep what I have, I do think I’ve seen some improvements!

Eats wise, I’ve had some lovely stuff as usual! When I saw the ‘poppin' cereal’ on Run, Eat, Repeat I knew I would have to recreate. I popped my own corn in a dry pan (making extra for another time) and mixed it with strawberries and Alpro Hazelnut milk. Then I topped it with some peanut sauce made with peanut flour:

I had this as an evening snack. I love munching on big bowls of cereal but sometimes that can be a bit heavy before bed. This is a bit lighter but satisfies my craving for a big bowl full of yum! Other evening munchies have included frozen grapes and cashew nuts…

…and a smoothie made with Spiru-Tein Cherries Jubilee protein powder, water and ice topped with hemp seeds for some nuttiness:

I keep forgetting I have a container full of shelled hemp seeds in the cupboard, they add a lovely nutty taste to things like salads and smoothies. Another tasty although not very photogenic snack I’ve been loving this week is roast edamame with dried mulberries:

I’d only ever tried mulberries covered in chocolate before and had loved their crunchy texture so I decided to order some raw ones and they are gorgeous! I loved them mixed with the roast edamame for the sweet and salty thing, I’m going to be addicted to these!

For breakfast I’ve stepped out of the smoothie rut, well at least a couple of times! I made some overnight oats by mixing 1/2 cup of oats with hazelnut milk and a tbsp of chia seeds then leaving in the fridge overnight to thicken. In the morning I added 3 fresh figs and some tahini and honey:

I really do love the figs / tahini / honey combination and with the cool creamy oats it tasted fab! This morning I made a raw protein buckwheat bowl with vanilla sun warrior protein powder, mango and coconut:

It may not be sunny weather but eating that did brighten my morning! Of course I did have one smoothie:

This was spinach and spring greens blended with frozen cherries, Good Hemp Chocolate Fit Shake protein powder, water and ice topped with a pack of We are bear Coco Cherry Pie granola and some peanut sauce made with peanut flour. The classic chocolate cherry combo never gets old :-)

I also loved this tasty Buddha bowl meal made with kale, quinoa, pinto beans, red onion and half an avocado:

The leftover quinoa was made into a salad with romaine, carrot, red pepper, cucumber, olives and the other half of the avocado:

Simple but oh so good!

On the weekend send off love list this week…

Deliveries!

Receiving parcels is one of my all time favourite little things and I’ve had quite a few this week! I made a couple of small iHerb orders and a Viva Pure order too, as well as receiving a surprise jar of Strawberry Spread from the lovely people at Clearspring after I posted my review of their other flavours. Also…

Pay day! // Pic Monkey // booking the date for a Spa experience with my best friend //iifft // watching the Good Food channel in HD (food porn!) // Doing a big grocery shop and restocking my cupboards // emails and comments from blog readers that make me smile :-)

What have you been loving this week?

Hello everyone, hope your having a great week! I can’t believe its Wednesday already. I thought for WIAW this week I’d give you a different day for a change, so this is what I ate on Sunday.

My eating on a weekend does differ from my weekday eating as I feel like I have a little more time to prepare things (such as juicing), plus I tend to eat a bit more on a weekend – being home and in the kitchen I can’t help it! I love Sundays for being able to enjoy a nice lie in. I got up at 8am (yes, 8am is a lie in for me!) and had the usual mug of warm water with lemon juice and a banana:

I headed to the gym for it opening at 9am and did a little over 5 miles on the treadmill just running at a nice comfortable pace. Then I went into the Kettlebell class which I’m still really enjoying! I’m trying to balance out my breakfasts a bit so that I’m not having as many green smoothies so I made up something a bit different post workout:

Protein Buckwheat Bowl (vegan, serves 1)

• 1/2 cup of raw buckwheat soaked overnight then drained and rinsed
• 1 scoop of protein powder of choice (I used vanilla sun warrior)
• 1 tbsp of ground flax
• Water or non dairy milk (enough to create a creamy consistency)

Combine all ingredients together in a bowl, adding a slow stream of water until a creamy texture is reached. Serve with fruit, nut butter or whatever your heart desires. I also added some maca and mesquite powder to mine and topped with a generous serving of tahini and Clearspring blueberry jam. It was utterly delicious, the jam and tahini went so well together! Buckwheat is also a great source of protein so even if you left out the protein powder and just used non diary milk it would be very nutritious. I also had a mug of black vanilla nut teeccino:

A bit later I was ready for some lunch. Last week I had been spent some samples from Gourmet Raw to review including these raw crisps: 

I made up a snack plate with some home made raw cheesy kale chips, Gourmet Raw red pepper crisps, carrot, cucumber and basil, hemp and pine nut pesto for dipping. I also had a pink lady apple on the side:

Those crisps were fantastic! They reminded me of those ‘squares’ crisps you can get, but healthy and much, much more tasty. I think I have a new addiction! You can get 10% off your first order from Gourmet Raw with code GR001, check it out!

Late afternoon I made my usual weekend green juice:

This contained cucumber, celery, parsley, ginger and lemon. I also had a large bowl of grapes.

For dinner I decided to make use of some brussel sprouts. I know they won’t be in season for much longer and I love them so much so I want to make the most of them! I made them in my favourite way – stir fried with maple syrup, pecans and cranberries. In fact I love them like this so much I thought I’d note down the recipe!

Maple Pecan Stir Fried Brussel Sprouts (makes 1 – 2 servings)

• About 2 cups of brussel sprouts
• 1/2 tbsp of coconut oil (or oil of choice)
• 2 tbsp of pecans
• 2 tbsp of dried cranberries
• 2 tbsp of maple syrup
• 1 tbsp of shoyu or soy sauce

Toast your pecans if desired in a dry pan over a medium high heat, set aside. Chop the ends of the sprouts and finely shred them with a knife or food processor. Heat the coconut oil over a high heat in a large pan or wok. Add the sprouts and stir fry for about 10 minutes until they have softened and started to turn brown and crispy. Add the maple syrup and shoyu and toss to combine. Continue stir frying for a couple of minutes so the maple syrup caramelises. Chop the pecans and add to the pan with the cranberries then serve:

I had the brussel sprouts alongside some parsnip chips and some grilled basil tofu. This was delicious! Without a doubt my fave way to enjoy sprouts.

For dessert I had half a bar of RAW Health Very Cherry Chocolate and three fresh apricots:

I also enjoyed a mug of my new licorice and cinnamon tea:

Before bed I snacked on some of these salted chocolate kale chips as they came out of the dehydrator:

So delicious, I have a big bowl full for a snack at work later today!

Does your eating differ on a weekend to how you usually eat during the week? In what way? I definitely snack more on a Friday and Saturday evening than during the week!

I’m in love with that Protein Buckwheat bowl, I really prefer raw buckwheat to cooked buckwheat. Have you tried buckwheat before, what did you think?