Thanks for all your comments to my 2010 review post! I loved hearing about how your year has been and look forward to reading about what you have achieved. I can’t believe we are now into the final few hours of 2010! This year has been such a good one but I’m eagerly awaiting the start of 2011.

Yesterday I woke up really pretty rotten and full of cold. I decided I would still do my usual DVD for a little strength workout as all my symptoms were above the neck. I made a well tasty breakfast of apple and sweet mincemeat oats topped with pecans and a drizzle of soy cream.

My last sweet mincemeat oats!

I started perking up a bit so I had a walk into town. While I was there I ended up having a splurge in Holland and Barrats on various bits and bobs that I intend to use as part of my January challenge as well as some other things:

I purchased:

• Vita Coco Coconut Water – I love this stuff, great for hydrating you. I’m going to try it blended in smoothies
• Dr Stuarts Detox Tea
• Cool Oil – this is a great source of omega fats that I’m going to use on salads
• Sweet Freedom sweetener – I’ve wanted to try this out for ages!
• Acai juice – this is full of antioxidants – I’m going to add a shot of juice to smoothies and juices
• Pure pear and apple spread – I’m going to add this to porridge and spread on top of sprouted wheat bread
• Spirulina Greens Powder – derived from algae this is chock full of vitamins and minerals, I’m going to add this to smoothies and juices
• Milk Thistle Tincture – milk thistle supports the liver and its role in the detoxing process, I’ll add a few drops to smoothies and juices
• Echinacea Tincture – this is believed to help against colds and support the immune system
• Vegan multi vits – as my plan for next month is vegan I thought it would be a good idea to take a multi vit to make sure I’m not missing anything
• Emergen-C sachets – these sachets contain a range of vitamins to support the immune system
• Bear fruit yoyos – love these!
• Pecan Pie nakd bar

I had a really tasty lunch – leftover roast veggies in a toasted wholemeal wrap with chilli cheese served with roasted broccoli:

This was so delicious! I had to use two wraps to hold it together as they had been in the freezer and had started breaking up. I also had 4 satsumas and some pomegranate seeds:

Mid afternoon I snacked on another serving of my Pumpkin, Rhubarb and Ginger mix topped with some Bear Apple Crumble Granola.

I also made myself a emergen-c drink with a few drops of Echinacea tincture to try and fight my cold:

Dinner was so so good! I saw a little bag of cubed butternut squash in M&S half price so I roasted it and made up a salad including a bag of mixed spinach, rocket and watercress, organic goats cheese, dried cranberries, chopped maple roasted nuts and a dressing made with extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar and Dijon mustard.

This salad was seriously the bomb! For dessert I polished off the remainder of my violet creams.

I love these so much! Before bed I had a small glass of red wine.

This morning I woke up feeling miles better – those emergen-c sachets must be good! I had a lovely big bowl of Dorset Cereal Muesli Nutty muesli with a chopped apple and vanilla soy milk and a glass of fresh orange juice for an extra dose of vit C:

I also had a Christmas coffee with vanilla soy milk and agave. I did a bit of grocery shopping and picked up these magazines:

Yoga Magazine and Ultra Fit. I’ve never bought these magazines before and I picked them up on a whim hoping that they might give me a little added inspiration for next year – I have to say the Ultra Fit cover models body is amazing – I’d love more defined abs! I’ve only had a quick flick through them but I was very impressed. Have you read Yoga Magazine or Ultra Fit? If so what did you think?

Mid morning I headed to the gym for a 1 hour HIIT session on the treadmill, bike, step machine and cross trainer. I was really chuffed with the 20 minutes I spent on the treadmill, I increased my hard interval from 30 seconds to 1 minute for a few repeats and felt great for the whole workout. I finished off with some abs exercises.

Lunch was 6 oatcakes, 3 with garlic cheese and 3 with light cream cheese and chilli jam (nom!) plus some carrot sticks, marinated olives and 2 juicy plums:

I spent the afternoon clearing out my wardrobe of old clothes that no longer fit, sorting through my make up bag and washing my make up brushes. I had a bit of time so I thought I would have a run through of the Y Body Plan DVD which I had kindly been sent to review. I need to run through it a few more times before I do a full review but my first impressions were very good.

After my workout I snacked on half a tub of Rachel’s Organic Cherry Greek Yoghurt.

 

Dinner was fab - I had some spinach, rocket, watercress and carrot with Cauldron Moroccan Falafels, hummus and olives:

I love falafel and should really make it myself more often. For dessert I made up some extra indulgent cookies and cream protein ice cream with Spiru-tein cookies and cream protein powder, soy milk, lots of ice, 3 big scoops of tofutti vanilla ‘ice cream’, guar and xanthan gums then topped my bowl with my 2 of my fave oreo cookies:

Delish! I’m now happily stuffed :-)

I’m getting so excited for the New Year! What’s your plans for seeing in 2011? I’m meeting James when he finishes work and we are meeting some friends for drinks before going out for some food then coming home to watch movies with a bottle of wine.

I’m just so ready for the New Year to start – tomorrow I’m going to post all my goals for 2011, I can’t wait to get stuck in!

I’m loving having this week off work – the week between Christmas and New Year is always the best! I had a relaxed Boxing Day starting with some yoga. I woke up feeling a bit stiff and thought a quick bit of yoga would do me good. I did a 20 minute Yoga for Runners flow that worked up a little sweat and helped wake me up! Breakfast was another indulgent bowl of porridge. This one included scottish oats, oat bran, orange juice, vanilla soy milk, egg whites, left over cranberry sauce, a tablespoon of marmalade, chopped macadamias, a drizzle of soy cream and a crumbled white chocolate and cranberry cookie:

I also had a Christmas coffee with amaretto liqueur. I’m going to miss these sugary and alcoholic breakfasts come January!

Lunch was Christmas day leftovers – some Veggie loaf topped with chilli jam and local organic chilli cheese baked in the oven until melty plus a huge pile of roast sprouts and parsnips and a little ketchup:

The Veggie Loaf with cheese was amazing, it tasted wonderful, almost like a cheese burger! My eyes were too big for my belly as I didn’t finish all those roast veggies even though I really wanted to.

Later that afternoon when my appetite returned I made up a big bowl of fruit including fresh figs, satsumas, pomegranate seeds and passion fruit topped with a large serving of Rachel’s Organic Greek yoghurt with honey plus flaked almonds:

For dinner I made an awesome snack plate including 4 sesame ryvita crackers, 2 topped with cream cheese and chilli jam and 2 topped with bousin garlic cheese, 4 dates stuffed with goats cheese and pistachios and maple roasted nuts. I also had more fresh figs, another satsuma, an apple (plus another unpictured one later) and a big slab of Green and Blacks Milk Chocolate with hazelnuts and raisins. Instead of more alcohol I made up a drink of POM juice with soda water:

I thoroughly enjoying eating all of this! Unfortunately after I’d polished all that off I went back to the kitchen and ended up having a little binge episode – I had more maple nuts, dates, a full size tub of low fat mango, pineapple and passion fruit yoghurt, dark chocolate and a slice of cheese. I got that awful out of control feeling when I knew I was physically very full but couldn’t stop myself eating. I did beat myself up about it but at the end of the day these things happen and I haven’t had a binge episode in a while. It did give me terrible indigestion and this morning I woke up feeling almost hung over!

I did make the extra effort to ensure I did my Davina DVD for a 45 minute resistance based workout when I got up. Even after last night I still fancied a bit of an indulgent breakfast – chocolate peanut butter smoothie with white chocolate stars:

This contained one large frozen banana, scoop of chocolate whey, 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder, 3 big tablespoons of peanut butter and soy milk. I also had a Christmas tea with soy cream.

James had the day off so we headed over to Newcastle for a little sales shopping and to see Tron Legacy at the Tyneside Cinema as we both like our sci fi. I had a very successful shopping trip - I’ll have to post some pics of what I found but I got pretty much everything I was after and some fantastic bargains! We both really enjoyed the movie too. I took an apple and 2 satsumas along with me to snack on.

When we got home I made us an early dinner of sausage and mash – pork sausages and mashed potatoes for James and veggie sausages and mashed swede for me!

I also had some steamed broccoli and carrots plus some red onion gravy.

For dessert I mixed together a large tub of Rachel’s Organic low fat rhubarb yoghurt with a tin of Libby’s pumpkin puree and a teaspoon of ground ginger. I poured this mixture into 2 glass bowls and allowed to chill for an hour then topped with some chopped crystallised ginger and a gingerbread cookie:

This was fab! A great tasty dessert and not too sinful. I also ate 2 pink lady apples and some POM juice with soda water while we watched Scott Pilgrim.

How’s your festive eating going? I felt really crappy after stuffing my face last night but in the long run I think I’ll actually end up eating fewer calories over the next few days because I sickened myself so much! I’m glad the gyms open tomorrow to as I could do with some cardio burn. Unfortunately I think I may be coming down with a bit of a cold so I have my fingers crossed that it won’t get any worse!

Have you been sales shopping yet? Do you like shopping in the sales? I’m looking forward to sharing with you the bargains I picked up!

I’ve been feeling super festive this weekend, I can’t wait for the rest of the week to come! My weekend started with a bowl of Clemintine and Cranberry Porridge.

I used 1/2 cup of powder porridge, some oat bran, soy milk, water and the juice of two clemintines all cooked up on the stove. I added some dried cranberries, 1 clemintine broken into segments and some flaked almonds, delish!

I did a big grocery shop as soon as the shops opened. We haven’t had the bad snow here yet, but my motto for the next few weeks is going to be prepare for the worst. I don’t want to find myself snowed in on Christmas eve with no ingredients to make mulled wine. Yes, that is how I organise my priorities! ;-)

Since I had some time and some new magazines to read I decided to pop to the gym for a relaxed hour of cardio on the cross trainer, step machine and bike.

Lunch was a bowl of very tasty soup that I had made last week to use up some veggies from my organic box and others that were on their way out. I made up a big pan then froze in portions:

Spiced Leek, Sweet Potato and Coconut Soup (makes 4 servings)

• Olive oil for frying
• 4 small leeks – chopped and sliced
• 2 medium sweet potatoes, chopped into small squares, skin on
• Hot veg stock
• 2 green chillies, seeds removed and finely chopped (or more or less to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander
• 200mls of reduced fat coconut milk

Begin by heating the oil in a large pan on a medium heat. Fry the leeks until tender then add the chopped sweet potatoes and cover with veg stock. Simmer until the sweet potato is tender. Take off the heat then blend the soup until creamy using a hand blender. Add the chillies, ground coriander and coconut milk then blend again. Serve immediately or portion up and freeze for quick and tasty lunches!

I love how seemingly random combos of veggies that need to be used up can create something really special, this was truly inspired! This soup has a great spicy kick to it which is perfect for this weather. Delicious, creamy and healthy.

I had a mine topped with some seeds and a side of chopped apples.

Mid afternoon I had a decaf Butterscotch Latte with a couple of small apples. I had a lovely time wrapping gifts while watching Elf! I also needed to use up a couple of ripe avocados and there’s only one thing I wanted to make with those:

Chocolate avocado cups! I froze these babies for yummy deserts come January when I’m detoxing but still need a chocolate hit – I used raw cacao powder instead of regular cocoa powder for that purpose.

For dinner I roasted up my lovely Kabocha squash and made a version of my Butternut and Quinoa Risotto minus the peas, spinach and greek yoghurt and using soy milk instead. This was lovely and creamy and so full of flavour. I had a side of steamed cavolo nero with shoyu too.

Desert was some Rachel’s Organic low fat Strawberry yoghurt along with some defrosted frozen cherries and some flaked almonds.

I was very impressed with the yoghurt, considering that its low fat it was surprisingly creamy. The hubby really liked this too, he ate the rest of the pot and has asked me to start buying it on a regular basis!

This morning I was up bright and early to head to the gym. I ate a pack of nakd lemon raisins and then did and hour and a half of cardio: 30 minutes on the treadmill running between 6 – 7mph then 20 minutes on the step machine, cross trainer and bike. I was in need of a big breakfast after all of that so I made a pumped up green monster. I blended cavolo nero, spinach, 1 frozen banana, soy milk, several ice cubes, water, frozen mango, 2 very large tablespoons of smooth peanut butter, cinnamon, maca, ground flax, agave and xanthan and guar gums. This smoothie was huge!

I topped it with some rude health granola, goji berries and flaked almonds. Yum.

Mid morning I made a very tasty but super healthy cake! More on that tomorrow…

Lunch was some roast tomato, red pepper and chilli soup plus three clemintines:

Dinner was a tofu stir fry made with a mushroom stir fry veggie mix plus added cavolo nero and carrot noodles. I added lots of soy sauce and fresh ginger too:

Desert was two small sliced apples and some Rachel’s Organic Coconut Greek Style yoghurt:

This yoghurt tasted amazing, so creamy with a lovely coconut flavour. It also has pieces of coconut in the yoghurt which gives it a nice texture.

I’m so excited about the rest of the week, I may be at work for a few days but its nice and relaxed as the office is officially shut. I also have lots of cooking and baking to look forward to, Christmas movies to watch and fingers crossed if this snow doesn’t get too bad I’ll be out to the shops, getting my organic veg box delivery and then out on Christmas Eve, love it! Do you still get excited for Christmas?

Before I go I’ll leave you with a few amazing images from the blog What Katie Ate. After looking through her e-zine of Christmas recipes and photos I’m completely in love. If your a fan of lifestyle and food photography or graphic design you must check this out. I have gained lots of festive food inspiration from this blog. Where have you gained some food inspiration from recently? I want to go out and spend ££££ on a decent camera just so I can attempt to create images like these. Enjoy :-)

:-)

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!