Hi everyone, hope your having a great weekend! We’ve had a fantastic time in Brighton this week. We had been planning on coming home yesterday but we decided to stay another day as we were having so much fun! I haven’t enjoyed the weather very much though, I don’t think I’ve ever been so cold as I have this week!

The Royal Pavilion

We travelled the 330 miles down to the south coast on Monday night so woke up Tuesday morning feeling refreshed and ready for our holiday!

Tuesday

Me and Tam and tasty food from Aloka

I met up with the gorgeous Tam who very kindly took me to my first ever Bikram Yoga class. I absolutely loved it! I’m so sad that no where in the North East does Bikram Yoga, I would definitely be a regular if I had the opportunity. After the class we went for lunch at the wonderful Aloka. I had a big plate full of the delicious dishes available, the red lentil, tempeh and cashew cheese lasagne was incredible! We couldn’t resist the raw desserts either, and I had a tasty raw cherry and pistachio macaroon. After that I met up with James again and we hit the shops – I made a beeline for Infinity Foods of course!

We finished Tuesday by going back into Brighton for a few drinks with some of James twitter pals which was a lot of fun!

Wednesday

Vegan scone and strawberry jam for breakfast, tasty treats from InSpiral cafe and Wholefoods

We decided to make the trip up to London on Wednesday so we got up early and I enjoyed a delicious vegan scone I’d bought from Infinity Foods the previous day, it tasted so good! We got the train to London and headed to Camden for a look around. It was so cold we didn’t do much looking around the market but thanks to a tweet from Emma I knew that InSpiral Cafe was close by. James warmed up with a latte but I couldn’t resist the opportunity to get a Green Goddess juice and a slice of the amazing chocolate peanut butter pie! I had a look at both the Camden and Soho Wholefoods as well as some of the shops on Oxford Street before came home. I got a totally lush salad bar box from Wholefoods to eat on the train which I also enjoyed with a huge vegan and gluten free peanut butter chocolate brownie that was to die for! Once we got back to Brighton we went to Fat Leos for an Italian meal and more red wine!

Thursday

Me looking half decent for once after getting my make up one at Benefit, Vanilla spice latte, chocolate chilli sorbet and a delicious Indian meal

On Wednesday we had a walk back into Brighton and had a big shopping day! I wanted to get some make up from Benefit and the staff wanted to show me some of the new products so I basically ended up having my whole face made up! We also stopped by Starbucks for about the 8th time that week to get a Vanilla Spice Soya Latte to warm up between shops. For lunch we stopped by Aloka again so I could get a take away box for lunch, but not before heading to Boho Gelato (thanks to Christina for the tip!) for a vegan sorbet. I got the Chocolate Chilli and my god that stuff had a kick, but it was very tasty! For our evening meal we came back into town and tried an Indian buffet restaurant. I had rice, tarka dahl, saag aloo, onion bhaji and naan bread, it was yummy! We also had more red wine:

We had found a bottle that we really liked in The Mesmerist so decided to go back and enjoy!

Friday

Tasty simple breakfast, Falafel sandwich from Infinity Foods Cafe, apple and maple cake and coffee from Iydea and an early valentines day gift from James

We had a nice lie in and I had a simple breakfast of banana, apple and peanut butter before we made our last trip to town. We got some gifts to bring home as well as stopping at Iydea for the most gorgeous apple and maple cake and a almond soy latte. The icing on that cake was incredible! I’d had a huge craving for falafel so we stopped by Infinity Foods Cafe and I got the Falafel sandwich with chilli hummus, tahini and red onion with salad which was lush. While looking in Montezuma’s chocolate shop James bought me an early valentines day gift of some dark chocolate hearts with cacao nibs and dates which were so delicious! Later in the day we had a walk around Hove and got some flowers for my Auntie before getting in an early night ready for our 5am alarm this morning so we could drive back and beat the traffic!

It’s lovely to be home but I am really going to miss Brighton! I feel like all I’ve done this week is drink coffee, eat vegan cake and guzzle red wine! Apart from the Bikram class I haven’t worked out at all, although we must have walked at least 4 miles a day just back and forth between Hove and Brighton! I did bring my running gear but it has been too cold to even attempt it. Overall I’ve really indulged myself this week, I’ve eaten delicious food with abandon, haven’t worried about exercise, and apart from a bit of twitter action I’ve been pretty unplugged from the internet too. I think its been just what I needed! Of course a lot of shopping has been done too, shopping haul post coming up soon! Now I’m just happy to start getting myself back into my routine again.

Hope you’ve all had a great week and are enjoying your 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, hope you are all having a good week! Thought I'd do a quickie post to say hi. I have been trying to do a full post on my Brighton and London eats but the WiFi in the bar I'm in is super slow and I have loads of photos of some of the wonderful food I've trying out to upload which is taking ages.

Instead I will leave you with this pic of my red wine. I love big fat glasses of red wine, this is a Cabernet Sauvigon and I am now on to my second big glass so if any of this post makes no sense its probably cause I'm on my way to becoming half cut! There is antioxidants in red wine though, so really its good for you, honest!

I've had a great time down here, the weather has been beautiful, I've enjoyed so much wonderful healthy food including loads of frozen yoghurt (!) and I've shopped till I've dropped. We head home early tomorrow morning and I'm not looking forward to the 5.30am start, especially since I am now likely to be hungover! I'll be back with a post tomorrow. Looking forward to catching up with blogs too. I'm off to finish my wine and stumble back, I also may or may not stop at the shop for some chocy! I am on my hols after all! x

Happy Valentines Day, well at least to those that celebrate it! I have to say we don’t really bother much in our household. I have made a nice meal for dinner but apart from that we are not all about the hearts and flowers!

This mornings breakfast was a big bowl of Dorset Cereals Low Fat Berry Flakes with a chopped apple and rice milk plus a vanilla coffee:

I love this cereal, I reviewed it a while ago and when I saw it on offer I couldn’t resist buying another box. As you can see I certainly don’t go for the 30g recommended serving size, I need at least a full bowl full to keep me anywhere near full!

Lunch was a really tasty salad containing wild rocket, spinach, carrot, red and green pepper, cucumber, alfalfa sprouts and fresh coriander topped with some sesame smoked tofu and the most delicious dressing taken from my Fresh Asian Salad recipe: sesame oil, soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce and ginger. I also had a peach:

 

Mid afternoon I snacked on a chocolate peppermint stick Luna Bar, love these!

I hit the gym for my usual Monday night workout – 20 minutes of HIITs on the cross trainer, 20 minutes of HIITs on the step machine, 30 minute spin class and my abs and core exercises.

Dinner was a little more special than usual for valentines day. I made myself some organic spelt spinach tagliatelle with spiralised courgette and asparagus, two heaped teaspoons of la sacla organic basil pesto and vegetarian parmesan style cheese:

Holy yum this was great! First time I’ve bought pesto to eat at home, before this I’ve just eaten pesto in restaurants. This was just so tasty! I’ll have to have a crack at making some homemade pesto sometime. James also had pasta but with some mixed seafood and a tomato sauce. Although we made a bit of an effort with this meal we ended up eating it in front of the TV, so much for romance ;-)

Dessert was delicious!

Chocolate Amaretto Mousse (makes 2 servings, based on Chocolate Covered Katie’s Recipe)

• 1 block of mori nu silken tofu
• 2-3 tablespoons of cocoa powder (I used Green and Blacks)
• 2-3 tablespoons of agave syrup
• 2 tablespoons of amaretto liqueur or 1 – 2 teaspoons of natural almond extract (I used 2 tablespoons of liqueur plus 1 teaspoon of almond extract)
• Flaked almonds for garnish (optional)

Put all ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth. Transfer to your prettiest bowls and chill for at least an hour before serving:

This tasted so good! I used a little more cocoa powder and agave than usual as this was being shared with the hubby and he likes things a little sweeter than I do. I would start with adding a tablespoon at a time, blending, then tasting and adjusting measurements accordingly. I love blended tofu puddings, especially chocolate mint, chocolate orange and chocolate peanut butter and this is another worthy addition!

We’ll also probably finish the bottle of red from the weekend a bit later :-)

Clearspring goodies for review

I was ridiculously excited to be able to link with the great company Clearspring to review some of their products!

Brown rice udon noodles, soba noodles, miso ginger ramen noodles, soya sauce ramen noodles, sencha green tea, tamari and black sesame rice cakes, apple and blueberry fruit puree, organic tofu

I’m already a huge fan of Clearspring products including their nori, kuricha tea, miso pastes etc. and I absolutely can not wait to try some of these new products out. I’m really excited to try the new tofu – its organic and can be stored at room temperature with a longer shelf life rather than having to be refrigerated. Its also completely free from artificial preservatives. I also think the instant noodles and rice cakes look really interesting! Clearspring are a fantastic company that offer organic and mostly vegan high quality products that are free from artificial colourings, preservatives, MSG or genetically modified ingredients. As usual I will give feedback as I try these out then do a full review post.

I was extra pleased to be able to link with a company like Clearspring as I really wanted to feature some products that haven’t already been reviewed on lots of other blogs. This is also why I jumped at the chance to try out the cosy teas and the Plamil dairy free chocolate. I think its great that we share favourite products and companies but I also think its good for us to retain some originality – especially for the sake of readers who must get sick of seeing the same products repeated on blog after blog. I’m going to try and adopt this approach more in the future – I think its lovely to seek out and feature different companies and new exciting products when possible!

I’ve discovered so many great products via blogs such as nakd bars, Bear granola and nibbles and Booja Booja to name but a few! Do you enjoy seeing products reviewed on blogs? What products have you discovered via blogs?

Hi everyone, hope you’ve had a great weekend! I’ve had a lovely relaxing one. Breakfast on Saturday was a full punnet of blueberries with 2 sliced peaches topped with cashew cream (I used half cashews and half macadamias for this batch) plus a tablespoon of Rude Health Granola and a black Cosy English Breakfast tea:

Before heading out for the day I made up a dip for snacks next week using leftover kabocha squash, I’ll share the recipe next week but oh my god it tastes awesome! Mid morning we had a lovely walk into town. While we were there I picked up these Adidas running gloves to keep me going for a while:

Thanks for all your recommendations on Fridays post – I’m going to check them all out and then invest in a better quality set eventually – I just wanted to get these to keep me going for a while!

I also got way over excited when I noticed that Shakeaway do a vegan shake! I had a regular size soya milkshake with coconut cream:

This was heavenly, so creamy! I was impressed as they have very clear labelling of what options are vegan and gluten free and use separate utensils for making the soya shakes. I will be making some return visits here!

We did stop at a pub for lunch but when I asked for my menu choices (either soup or falafel) they didn’t have them available so we ended up getting provisions from a deli and coming home instead. I had thought that the soya shake was keeping me full so mid afternoon I just had a miso and ginger soup with two sliced apples:

However not long after this the hunger monster kicked in and I snacked on another two apples. After that I decided to bring dinner time forward and made myself this wonderful salad beast:

Wild rocket, cos lettuce, red cabbage, carrot, green pepper, cucumber and lots and lots of hummus and olives from the deli. This was a full size carton of hummus and olives, I felt like a bit of a pig after eating all of this but it did taste really good!

As I was in such a snacky mood I decided to make up a big batch of plain popcorn:

The last time I attempted this I melted a plastic bowl in the microwave! This time I popped them in a dry pan on the stove and they turned out great. I sprayed the popcorn with some spray oil and sprinkled with some mesquite and cinnamon for a touch of sweetness. At only 30 odd calories a cup and with lots of fibre this made a great healthy snack! The cinnamon and mesquite did a great job of rebalancing my hunger levels too. Next time I make this I may try a cheesy version with nutritional yeast, or protein version ala Averie.

I also made myself a big pot of camomile cosy tea:

This is probably my favourite variety of this tea, its flavour reminds me of cream soda! A little later we cracked open a bottle of red wine to celebrate James birthday – I had one large glass:

…and then promptly fell asleep!

This morning I was up bright and early for another run. I fueled up with a blood orange and pack of nakd raisins then added out with my new gloves on, I wore my wooly mittens on top for extra insulation.

It was freezing and quite windy but I had a great run. I just did a few loops of an old favourite route which includes a couple of killer hills. I ran for just over an hour. I mapped out my route afterwards and I did almost 6.5 miles so I was hitting about a 10 min mile pace which considering the hills and wind I’m really happy with. After that I popped to the gym and did some steady state cardio on the step machine, cross trainer and bike whilst catching up with some magazines.

Breakfast was my current favourite green monster combo: kale, frozen banana, 2 nectarines, coconut water, vanilla hemp protein powder, peanut butter, spirulina, matcha, ground flax and ice cubes. I then topped it with a big puddle of coconut flour sauce, cacao nibs and gojis:

Perfection!

Lunch was some parsnip and white bean soup I’d made to use up some old parsnips (leeks, parsnips, veg stock, cannellini beans) – it was way too sweet for me so I added a big tablespoon of sweet white miso and some nutritional yeast flakes to try and savoury things up a bit. I also had a chopped peach:

Mid afternoon I was in the mood for a big green juice:

This one contained apples, cos lettuce, cucumber, celery, ginger and lemon

For dinner I decided more socca was in order. I made a quesadilla style socca filled with mashed kabocha squash, some balsamic caramelised red onions and a sprinkling of nutritional yeast which I then refried on each side. I served it with some roasted broccoli, asparagus and more caramelised onion:

This was very tasty! The socca fell apart a little but it still tasted good. Its great that so many other bloggers are showing the love for socca right now! Its just so versatile and easy to make, I loved my breakfast version with jam and nut butter and will be trying a pizza style version very soon too!

Dessert was four fresh figs with a drizzle of honey and flaked almonds:

I adore fresh figs and this was just gorgeous!

I’m so happy that I’m getting back into running outdoors again. To be honest I was really worried that I would go back outdoors and not enjoy my runs at all as my last few outdoor runs before I moved on to the treadmill were awful, I had a really slow for me pace and they just felt exhausting. I’m really glad that getting back to outdoors running has just reaffirmed that I do love it. Bring on the Great North Run!

Oh, and is anyone else a total light weight with alcohol? When I was younger I was out every weekend drinking far to much and apart from a hangover I could handle quite a lot. Since I’ve lost weight and cleaned up my diet one glass of vino and I’m gone! To be honest I very rarely drink now, I don’t need to get drunk to have a good time. When I do drink its for the enjoyment of it – I love a glass of really good red wine, a tasty beer or a lovely cocktail made with good spirits, you can’t beat a good mojito!

Next week I have a couple of nice recipes for you: chocolate amaretto mousse and squash dip plus some exciting products for review. Hope you have a great week ahead!

Hello everyone, hope you are having a brilliant week! I thought it would be fun to switch it up and do a completely different WIAW day for a change. These are my eats and goings on from last Friday which as it turned out, was a pretty awesome day :-)

I’d booked the day off work a few weeks earlier as I try and schedule in a ‘me day’ every so often when I can. For some this might seem pretty extravagant, but setting aside a day to just chill is really important to me and helps makes me feel a bit more balanced. It didn’t quite turn out to be a ‘me’ day entirely as James decided to take the day off too ;-)

I got up, had my warm water with a squeeze of lemon and then popped to the gym. My workout for the day was:

• 10 min on the treadmill
• 10 min on the stationary bike
• 10 min on the cross trainer
• Body weight circuit: incline push ups, tricep dips, squats, sit ups x 20 reps x 3 sets

I’m really just going with the flow at the moment and doing what I feel like doing in my workouts. I kept it relaxed and really enjoyed just getting my body moving without doing anything too intense.

After the gym I wolfed down a banana and a cup of green tea while I was getting dressed:

Then we drove through to Newcastle and headed straight to our favourite cafe for breakfast:

We went to the lovely Olive and Bean. I had muesli with fresh berries and soy milk plus a coffee, James had the continental platter. All delicious as usual! Then me and James split up so we could cover more shopping ground ;-)

I had a look around the farmers market which was disappointing to be honest – there only seems to be fruit and vegetable sellers in the autumn months. Thankfully the indoor market didn’t let me down:

I bought some raspberries, strawberries, doughnut peaches, dates, carrots, persimmon, pineapple, ginger, huge bunch of fresh parsley and some cooked beetroot.

I also got a few treats for myself:

‘Martha’ straight leg jeans from Topshop, pink and diamante necklace from H&M, gold ring from Topshop, Pink Essie nail polish and Rimmel clear top coat, Stila BB cream and some orangey, almondy, rooibos loose leaf tea from Olive and Bean. The jeans and ring were both in the sale and I’ve been looking for a good BB cream for a while. I’ve been very impressed with the Stila BB cream so far, makes my completion and skin tone look much more even!

For lunch I made myself a big salad:

This was delicious :-) Lots of romaine lettuce, cucumber, red onion, carrot and beetroot with avocado, hummus watered down into a dressing, and a sprinkle of fresh parsley.

Having a fridge full of amazing fresh fruit (I also had more before I hit up the market!) meant I was craving a big bowl full, so mid afternoon I had a couple of nectarines, strawberries and blueberries with Tesco plain soya yoghurt:

That was so good! A bit later I really fancied a frappe so I whipped one up:

This was vanilla almond made with crushed ice, vanilla protein powder, xanthan gum, instant coffee, stevia and almond extract. I ended up with about 2 cups full!

We spent the afternoon just chilling out watching the tennis on TV and blogging. The weather was horrendous so we made the living room nice and cosy and it was very relaxing!

For dinner I made a Thai Red Lentil and Sweet Potato Curry with full fat coconut milk served with some steamed broccoli:

That curry is amazing! I’ve made it before with a tomato base rather than the coconut milk, in fact its a pretty customisable recipe – I plan to blog it soon! I know that probably doesn’t look like such a big portion, but that bowl is actually a serving size bowl, pictures can be deceptive sometimes!

After dinner I ran myself a bath and relaxed with a mug of my new tea:

I made some up in my space age tea pot, it is a wonderful flavour! I soaked in the bath for half an hour with that tea and some music on, it was bliss.

We decided we would finish the day with a movie and some wine:

I pulled out a bottle of South African Cabernet Sauvignon for us to share and made myself a tasty movie snack:

Pretzels and melted chocolate for dipping, yes please! We watched The Ugly Truth, I laughed my head off but I can’t be sure if that was because the movie was really funny or because the 2 glasses of wine I drank had me tipsy. I kid you not, two glasses and I’m away ;-) I even had to start the next day with a green juice rather than a normal breakfast just to make me feel better!

Do you ever have ‘me’ days? I think part of being healthy is just as much about looking after your mental wellbeing as it is about what you eat and how you exercise. Taking a bit of time for myself, or in the case of Friday spending time with James, makes me happier all round which impacts on everything else in my life I think! What is your favourite way to relax?