Hello everyone, hope your enjoying your weekend! I don’t know where last weeks sunshine has gone, its been a bit bleak and grey these last two days. Anyway, I have had plenty of lovely things to keep me cheerful, this mornings pancakes being number one:

Vegan chocolate protein pancakes with strawberries, cashew butter and maple syrup. Absolutely delicious!

Number two would be this bowl of oats with pears topped with Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter and buckwheaties for crunch:

That finished off my jar of crack for now, must reorder some from iHerb!

I’ve also enjoyed this gorgeous Butternut Cherry Bomb smoothie inspired by Laura from Sprint 2 the Table:

This was spinach, roast butternut, frozen cherries, vanilla sun warrior protein powder, cinnamon, ground flax, maca, water and ice topped with lemon salted roast almonds, dried cherries and raw granola. It was fantastic and the toppings really worked well together too, I’ll be having the almonds and dried cherries together again soon!

Last night I had a craving for some British style comfort food so I made my version of a ‘Sunday Dinner’ with stuffed seitan roll, cauliflower mash, roast broccoli and gravy:

It hit the spot! For dessert I had a big bowl of frozen blueberries, a chopped pear, peanut sauce made from peanut flour and maple syrup plus cacao nibs:

I also ended up devouring a couple of bowls of millet puffs and chopped apple with extra maple peanut sauce too because it was so good as well as a couple of these home made raw chocolates:

I’d bought some cacao butter ages ago and finally got round to making my own raw chocolate! I used this recipe but halved it and added some lucuma powder, chopped pecans and sea salt. This made 6 little chocolates that taste absolutely heavenly!

For lunch today I’ve just had this gorgeous Warm Butternut, Lentil and Fig Salad:

I left off the pine nuts and added some simple tahini miso dressing instead. So so good, perfect salad for this time of year!

Something lovely happened at the gym this morning. I’d just done my gym workout (30 minute treadmill run, 15 minutes cross trainer) and was waiting for my kettlebell class to start when I bumped into a friend that I hadn’t spoken to in a while. She commented on how good I was looking since I’d gained some weight and that she was actually worried about me when I’d been thinner. It meant so much to me to hear her say that. I am trying to deal with this weight gain thing and its not easy but every time some one says something like that it makes me feel a million times better. At the moment I’m just trying to relax into things to see where my weight naturally stabilises eating and exercising as I am now although I am expecting that I’ll continue to gain for a while. I’ve started to think that experiencing both ends of the spectrum – being overweight and then underweight (for my own body) are just things that I’ve had to go through in order for me to grow as a person and hopefully help others in my future :-) 

I also went to the tattooist yesterday and managed to get booked in for a 2 hour session on Wednesday if I can get the time off work! So incredibly excited, as well as being a little nervous of the pain but I know it will be worth it. Looking forward to sharing the tattoo with you once it’s done!

What lovely things have you enjoyed this weekend?

I’ve had another busy day today – I feel like I’ve never stopped and work just flew over! Luckily I had a tasty breakfast to keep me going, half a pineapple, fresh organic blueberries topped with cashew cream and Rude Health Granola:

I’ve wanted to try out making the cashew cream for ages, I just soaked 1/2 cup of cashews in some water for a couple of hours then drained them and blended in the food processor adding a little water and agave until I got a creamy consistency.

Lunch was some nori wraps filled with some of my high protein hummus, carrots and alfalfa sprouts plus chopped carrot, cucumber and cherries:

I made the high protein hummus using soya beans. Soya beans contain 16 grams of protein per half a carton compared to 9 grams of protein in chickpeas. They only contain a few extra calories and also have a lower carb content too:

High Protein Soya Bean Hummus:

• 1 carton / tin of soya beans (I used a carton of Sainsbury’s brand organic soya beans)
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons of tahini
• Juice of half a lemon
• 2 small garlic cloves
• Pinch of salt

Blend all ingredients together in a food processor. Add water until the hummus reaches your desired consistency:

This tastes really good, in fact I would almost go as far as saying I prefer it to regular hummus!

Mid afternoon I snacked on an unpictured nakd berry bar before hitting the gym. I did 20 minutes of HIITs on the cross trainer, 20 minutes of HIITs on the step machine and 10 minutes on the rowing machine plus my usual abs (up to 1 minute and 15 seconds on my plank now!) I then did my 30 minute spin class.

Dinner was a bit of a random mix – I had some veggies to use up after my epic grocery shop at the weekend so I made up a pilaf / risotto style one pan dish by frying an onion and some garlic in olive oil then adding tender stem broccoli, swiss chard, frozen peas and some cooked pearl barley. I then added some veg stock and nutritional yeast and served it on top of some rocket with a sprinkling of seeds:

So much green! This was actually really tasty for something so thrown together! Dessert was half a bar of this Broadberys raw rose flavoured chocolate plus 4 apples (two shown here but I went back for more!):

The chocolate was delicious!

I really am in love with my new hummus, I think it would also taste great with some roasted red peppers or olives added to the mix too. What’s your favourite flavour hummus? I also love the broccoli, courgette and olive hummus I made a couple of weeks ago, I love that you can make hummus out of so many different veggies and different beans!

Tomorrow I’ll be back with a special readers request post looking at unusual ingredients and where to find them. Hope your week is off to a great start!

I’d just like to say a big thank you for all your comments on my ‘Evolution of my diet’ post it has been really interesting reading all of your individual stories and I am utterly honoured that so many of you have found my journey inspirational and helpful for you in your own situations. You all reminded me exactly why and write this blog and why I’m pursuing a career in healthy living – to make a difference and inspire and empower others, thank you! :-)

Of course today is time for WIAW! These are my eats and goings on from Monday. I would usually have gone to the gym on a Monday morning but I had an early team meeting and I have a few late night meetings this week, so my usual schedule was all over the place. Instead I enjoyed a relaxed morning getting ready and a lovely breakfast. I had some warm water with lemon juice while I had a shower then made a green smoothie. Again, I was about to put some fruit into the smoothie but it was just so delicious on its own I had it separately:

For the smoothie I just blended up spinach, chocolate sun warrior, water, ice and stevia. I had some beautiful sweet pineapple and delicious blackberries on the side. I also had a tbsp of bee pollen:

I saw the bee pollen in the cupboard and just really fancied some straight up! While I was eating that I brewed some coffee and added vanilla stevia and a cube of full fat coconut milk for extra healthy fats and flavour:

So good, although it might have been better blended up more. I have plans for experimenting with a vegan bulletproof coffee – watch this space!

The sun was actually shining for a change so I decided to dress quite light, OOTD:

Wrap around scarf: Topshop, striped vest: French Connection, long cardigan: Zara, bag: Accessorize, black slim leg trousers: Gap, gold sandals: Next

After our team meeting I was getting hungry so snacked on a couple of chopped carrots with hummus:

I got another pot for 50p at Tesco, bargain!

For lunch I had a bowl of my Raw Thai Carrot soup accompanied by some of my home made raw flax and juice pulp crackers that I’d made in the dehydrator at the weekend:

Still so good, the coconut butter in this just makes it so creamy!

Mid afternoon I snacked on a pink lady apple and a gingerbread nakd bar:

Those bars are fantastic, I love the gingerbread flavour :-)

On the way home I called into Aldi for some cheap fruit and veg:

Pretty much the usual stuff for me right now – cucumbers, carrots, peppers, sweet potatoes, avocado, broccoli and sugar snap peas. Got a grocery shopping and staple ingredients post coming up for you tomorrow!

As I was saying, this weeks schedule is all over the place so I didn’t do the usual Monday morning gym workout, instead I wanted to do just what I felt like and what I felt like was yoga!

I had came across Yogaglo a while ago and decided to sign up for their free 15 day trial. The way the videos are set out is that it is an actual taught class with other people filmed, so you feel like you are taking part. There seems to be hundreds of classes available of all different styles, levels and lengths of time. I opted to do a 60 minute, level 2, Constant Vinyasa Flow:

I didn’t do the minimal headstands ;-) It was fantastic! I’ve done podcasts, DVD’s and YouTube videos but this was by far my favourite and so much more like a true class experience. I got a good sweat on – I certainly found my glo! After that I spent 5 minutes practicing my plough pose. Once the 15 day trial it is up it is $18 a month membership. I have to admit I’m tempted but I already spend money on my hot yoga classes twice a month. I think I’m going to have to weigh up the benefits!

For dinner I made up a big Buddha Bowl. I had steamed greens with shoyu topped with brown rice, black beans, red onion and coriander plus half an avocado:

I love avocado in meals like this it just really adds so much flavour. After I’d done the dishes I had a couple of pieces of home made raw salted almond and raisin chocolate bark:

There are no words for how good this is! Very glad that I’ve just received a fresh block of cacao butter so I can make some more!

Monday also signalled the start of my IIN course. The first module was released so I spent some time listening to the sound bites and watching the videos. Later I went and made the usual evening smoothie bowl:

Mixed frozen berries, 1/4 cup of peanut flour, ice, water and stevia – extra smooth courtesy of the Vitamix :-)

I spent the rest of the evening relaxing with a herbal chai tea, I even tried a 10 minute ‘before bed’ meditation from Yogaglo too!

A lovely day indeed with delicious food! Enjoying lots of fats at the moment: full fat coconut milk in my coffee, hummus, coconut butter in the soup, avocado and raw cacao butter – I definitely feel better for it. I’m also looking forward to experimenting with more classes from Yogaglo before my free trial runs out. As I’ve said before I don’t think there’s any substitute for an actual class but Yogaglo comes very close!

Have you tried anything similar to Yogaglo before? What’s your current favourite fat?

Hello guys, hope you are having a wonderful relaxed Sunday! I’ve had such a lovely extended weekend – being off on Friday was a real treat and turned out to be an almost perfect day, but more on that to come later in the week.

I have been enjoying my kitchen time this weekend and have made some utterly luscious goodies! I am going to tease you with pictures of some raw treats:

Those would be my raw caramel slice and raw fruit and nut chocolate! Incredible, will be sharing the recipe soon! I also made some little raw cacao nib and goji berry chocolates:

Alongside those I had several brown banana’s that needed using up so decided to make something I could share with James and take through for my friends. I made some chocolate banana macaroons and they were gorgeous:

That would be James hand pinching one off the plate while I was taking a pic! These are so so simple and taste surprisingly buttery. They might not look that photogenic but what they lack in looks they make up for in taste. They only have 5 ingredients too!

I took them through to my friends house last night, we had a girls night in which was just brilliant. We ate garlic bread, tortilla chips and salsa, fresh strawberries and chocolate as well as those macaroons. Here’s a quick OOTD:

Nice and relaxed: necklace: H&M, grey tee: New Look, jumper: H&M, bag: Accessorize, jeans: Topshop, flats: Next

I adore that jumper and those jeans are fantastic. I got them in the sale and they are just the softest denim. They are the ‘Martha’ straight leg cut and I got them slightly long so I could roll the bottoms up :-)

This morning I went to a kettle bell class for the first time in ages. It was really enjoyable! When I came home I made myself this delicious smoothie:

Vanilla sun warrior protein powder, 1 nectarine, 2 doughnut peaches, 1/4 can of full fat coconut milk, ice, water. Well lush :-) Yesterday morning for brunch I’d made myself a socca pancake topped with my home made vanilla sea salt sunflower seed and cashew butter and some raspberry chia jam:

I’ve seen chia seed jam on several blogs and had been meaning to try it. I just mashed some fresh raspberries with 1/2 tbsp of chia seeds and left overnight to thicken. Delish!

For part of my lunch today I’ve just enjoyed this big bowl of raw kelp noodles with an avocado, tahini and white miso sauce topped with some fresh parsley:

I haven’t had kelp noodles in ages and this was lovely and creamy.

As I got so much fruit at the market on Friday I decided to add some to my usual ‘hard core’ green juice:

This was so good – the usual cucumber, celery and ginger base with added parsley and pineapple. I’ll be having more of that this afternoon!

Are you a fan of raw chocolate or raw desserts?

Well I am going to watch the Men’s Wimbledon Final! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Well this weekend as expected has been pretty busy, I have dominated my to do list and it feels really good to be getting through it! After I’d posted on Friday I actually decided to cut the list down to make it more manageable. I’m all about reducing stress whenever I can and a lot of things on the list were not urgent after all.

Outfit from Saturday: cream blazer: H&M, white cotton blouse: vintage, gold necklaces: Warehouse, brown woven belt: Miss Selfridge, ‘Coffee is good for your brain’ bag: Hello Memo, jeans: Topshop, brogues: Topshop

On Friday night I did some multitasking by listening to some of my IIN audio classes while I cleaned the flat. Yesterday morning we had a quick trip to town to get James costume for my party next week, then I spent the afternoon getting some blog stuff done, more IIN work, making raw crackers in the dehydrator and whipping up a new recipe! Today I hit up the gym for Kettle bells, called to see friends and then went to scope out food options with my Mam for the buffet for the party next week. Oh and there has also been some extremely exciting developments this weekend around my health coaching work, phew!

I have had time to feed myself quite nicely though, I do have my priorities! Breakfast yesterday was delicious:

Socca cooked in coconut oil and stuffed with 3 fresh figs, tahini and local honey. I just love fresh figs, expect to see them in another recipe soon!

This morning I had a baked sweet potato with peanut butter for some kettle bell class fuel:

I’d actually baked this in the oven rather than the microwave like I usually do and my word it was gorgeous! So much better done in the oven, I’ll have to start pre baking a few to keep me going during the week. I also had a coffee blended with 1/2 tbsp of coconut oil:

This was lovely, just like the coffee blended with raw cacao butter! As I’ve been saying I will be blogging more to explain the fats blended into coffee thing soon. Speaking of coffee:

It was actually warm enough on Saturday to enjoy an iced coffee! This was a grande soy latte with sugar free vanilla syrup.

For dinner last night I’d made myself some Perfect Tofu in the oven and had it with a big bowl of sautéed kale, broccoli and pak choy in a coconut ginger broth:

The broth was basically full fat tinned coconut milk and minced ginger. Such a simple but tasty way to eat your greens! There was also raw chocolate for dessert:

A couple of pieces of my almond and raisin bark from the fridge.

After the gym this morning I made a really great peach, coconut and vanilla bean smoothie using some new protein powder and a treat purchase from this weekend:

I blended two peaches, a scoop of unsweetened vanilla Life’s Basics protein powder, maca, omega skin oil, full fat tinned coconut milk, water, ice and 1/4 tsp of my new vanilla bean paste:

That smoothie tasted just like a proper vanilla milkshake, I didn’t want it to end! I got the vanilla bean paste as a treat from Waitrose and I’m looking forward to experimenting with it. I’m also very impressed with that new protein powder. I thought I would try something a little different than the sun warrior protein powder for a change. Its a lot cheaper than sun warrior so you can avoid the customs charges if you purchase from iHerb and it has some excellent nutritional stats. It does seem to have that more chalky taste though, so if you are not a sun warrior fan then I doubt you would like this, however I think I’m in love!

Now I think I’m just about ready to finish watching the tennis and get settled for the night. Looking forward to a big stir fry for dinner!

How has your weekend been so far? Are you a ‘to do’ list writer? Are you a fan of vanilla?