…is receiving packages in the mail! Some lovely companies have asked me to review some goodies and I received a few of them today:

Linda McCartney limited edition Rosemary and Red Onion Sausages and mini snack sausages (both vegan) plus some Booja Booja Rum Truffles and some Sakata Plain Rice Crackers. I’m really looking forward to trying all of these out and sharing my review with you soon. 

I’ve had yet another great week of workouts. I increased almost all of my weights for my strength training workouts and still managed 12 reps so I’m going to look to increase some of them again next week. I was just fancying another sweat fest for my anything goes Thursday so hit the gym and did a 3,2,1 workout. Over the week I’ve stuck to my plan and did:

• Monday – AM gym workout, 5 minute warm up, 30 minutes strength – from Base Phase of Female Body Breakthrough, 15 minutes HIITs on treadmill
• Tuesday – AM freestyle yoga and foam rolling for 15 minutes, PM gym workout 20 minutes HIITs on cardio machines, Body Pump
• Wednesday – AM gym workout, 5k speed intervals treadmill, 30 minutes HIITs cardio machines.
• Thursday – Anything goes workout! AM – Yoga for Runners 20 minutes, PM gym – 3,2,1 workout
• Friday - AM gym workout, 5 minute warm up, 30 minutes strength – from Base Phase of Female Body Breakthrough, 15 minutes HIITs on bike

I was a bad blogger and totally forgot to take a pic of yesterdays breakfast which was such a shame as it was awesome – a chocolate coconut courgette smoothie! I know it sounds a bit gross but it was lush. Just a courgette blended up with hemp seeds, ground flax, raw cacao, water, ice, gums and stevia and topped with a lot of coconut. I’ll be making it again soon!

This morning after the gym I had a chocolate pear green smoothie:

Still my favourite combo right now – kale, 1 large ripe pear, chocolate hemp protein powder, mesquite, spirulina, water, ice, gums and topped with raw chocolate hazelnut butter sauce, hazelnuts and bee pollen.

For dinners I have been making best use of what’s stashed in the freezer:

Lentil and Root Veg Stew that I made last week and froze in portions with steamed savoy cabbage and millet.

Tonight I had some seitan from the freezer and made a pilaf type thing using a load of veggies from the fridge including garlic, leeks, courgette, carrot, asparagus and red cabbage along with some cooked millet all topped off with shoyu and nutritional yeast:

This was delicious!

I’ve had some nice lunches including the usual big salads:

Romaine, red cabbage, cucumber, carrot, olives, alfalfa sprouts, raw curried crackers, spicy roasted chickpeas and braggs: hits the spot! Plus warming soups:

Spinach, white bean and barley soup topped with sprouted seeds.

Simple veggie broth topped with raw aubergine bacon:

The salty cheesy aubergine tasted so good with this!

I’ve also been enjoying more figs and tahini…

…obsessed!

I’m very much ready for the weekend, how about you guys? I’m going to be catching a coffee with the lovely Jess, seeing friends and family and taking advantage of the zero insertion fees on eBay by getting more clothes up to sell. I’m also looking forward to Halloween on Monday which I will mostly be celebrating all weekend by eating my body weight in pumpkin – I have two of them to roast up and I plan on making a nice curry with at least one of them!

Don’t forget – last chance to enter my giveaway for Kara Diary Free Coconut Milk and Clearspring Miso Soups – check it out!

Are we excited yet people? I can not wait for the festivities to start! Today I have been cooking up a storm, but more on that in a mo…

This morning I was up bright and early to do my Davina DVD as usual. I then made myself an amazing breakfast: Chocolate Cherry Green Monster topped with a crumbled white chocolate and cranberry cookie and white chocolate stars:

I thought I’d start getting festive with a few little fun decorations on my breakie! I also added an extra teaspoon of cocoa powder to my usual spinach, frozen cherries, chocolate whey and soy milk mix for extra chocolate flavour. This tasted sinful but contained a huge amount of healthy spinach that I couldn’t taste one bit!

Lunch was some Lentil and Root Veg Stew with steamed savoy cabbage:

I really adore this stew, so delicious and warming. I also had an orange.

I’ve been feeling in need of a good stretch for a few days now and as I had managed to do most of my to do list for the day I thought I’d do a quick Yoga for Runners download. I did a 30 minute flow and felt so much better after doing it, like all the knots in my muscles had been eased out.

Mid afternoon I had a decaf Butterscotch Latte with vanilla soy milk and agave plus two apples:

Dinner was just a quick bowl of Spiced leek, sweet potato and coconut soup as I’m off out shortly:

Today I have made a wonderful Veggie loaf as my veggie turkey alternative, Chocolate Orange Cake and some quick and easy cranberry sauce. I’m especially happy with the veggie loaf, its came out really well and smells like stuffing! Its vegan, so I was worrying that it may not hold together but it has turned out beautifully:

The chocolate orange cake is looking good and will be topped with chocolate cream on Christmas day, and if the cake batter I ate from the sides of the bowl is anything to go by it should taste amazing! I have also roasted some potatoes with rosemary ready to make up some Leek, Roast Potato and Rosemary Soup. Tomorrow morning I’m going to prepare some maple and honey roasted carrots and parsnips and mulled wine. I love getting busy in the kitchen! All of these dishes are going to be taken through to my parents ready for Christmas Lunch. I’ll share the recipes soon too. I was also happy to get my organic veg box – I’m planning on making up a big pan of mixed vegetable soup for healthy lunches between all the chocolate!

This will be my last post until Boxing Day when I shall be sat in my pj’s eating leftovers and will be more than happy to recount all my eats and outfits with you. Speaking of outfits, I’m just about to head off to Newcastle to pick James up from work and do a bit of shopping. I’ve decided to return a couple of recent purchases and treat myself to a new outfit for tomorrow and Christmas Day. I quite like the idea of a pretty top like this (Topshop, £50) to wear with jeans and some sparkly jewellery:

I shall see what I can find – knowing me I’ll get something completely different ;-)

Anyway, this is me signing off till Boxing day. Hope you all have a truly wonderful, peaceful and fun filled Christmas!

Hi everyone, happy Friday! Hope you have had a great week. I’m so glad the weekend has finally arrived.

Here’s some of my favourite eats from the last couple of days:

Delicious vanilla matcha protein porridge with chia seeds and berries (1/2 cup of Rude Health Fruity Date Porridge, 1 cup of water, scoop of vanilla whey, 1/2 tablespoon of chia seeds, 1/4 teaspoon of matcha green tea powder and defrosted frozen berries)

This mornings breakie: fruit salad of orange, kiwi and blueberry topped with 2% Greek yoghurt, teaspoon of Rude Health granola, cinnamon and hazelnut coffee and a home made oaty, banana and cinnamon muffin.

So tasty!

To use up some of my food coop veggies I made a big root vegetable and lentil stew:

Root Vegetable and Lentil Stew

• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 parsnip, chopped
• 1 large swede, chopped and sliced
• 1 cup of red lentils
• 2 tablespoons of tomato puree (I used some left over pasta sauce that needed using up)
• Vegetable stock
• Handful of spinach

Begin by frying the onion in a little oil in a big pan over a medium heat. When the onion has softened add the carrot, parsnip and swede. Then add enough vegetable stock to just cover the veggies (not too much or you’ll end up with more of a soup than a stew) then add the lentils and tomato puree. Allow to simmer for around 40 minutes until the veggies are tender and the lentils are cooked. Then add the spinach and stir into the stew. This would also work very well in a slow cooker.

I had a large portion for my lunch yesterday and then for dinner this evening with two tofu sausages and some chipotle ketchup.

This tasted great! The tofu sausages were delicious and the spicy, smokey chipotle ketchup went perfectly with both the sausages and stew, yum!

Yesterday I attended my first yoga class: a beginners Ashtanga Yoga course at the Newcastle Buddhist Centre. Before I left work for the class I fueled up with a 9 Bar Nutty.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from the class at all but I wasn’t disappointed. The Buddhist centre has the most amazingly relaxed atmosphere. There were about 15 of us in the class. We started with some deep breathing and sitting stretches before doing some forward bends and going over the basic standing stances for many common yoga postures such as triangle. I found it really useful as when I have done my Yoga for Runners download I have often been unsure if my position has been correct. This class really helped me understand the positioning of the postures better. It wasn’t a sweaty class, but I can feel my muscles have been worked really hard. We finished the class in savanasa with the lights out, I just felt so chilled! I can not wait for next weeks class, I’m completely hooked. After yoga I headed to Starbucks to treat myself to a Chai Soy Latte alongside some other post yoga fuel: a Gingerbread Nakd Bar and an apple.

Other exercise this last couple of days has included Level 3 of the 30 Day Shred (how tough?) and tonight I hit the gym for 45 mins of HIITs as usual followed by some work on the stability ball and with the free weights.

Today I also got my weekly food co op box. I opted for the premium vegetable box and just the standard fruit bag.

Butternut squash (yey, more smoothies!), courgettes, mushrooms, lettuce, giant sweet potato, celeriac, tomatoes, avocados, red onions, apples, bananas, oranges, pears, plums.

Anyone know what I can do with a celeriac? I was just planning on roasting it then pureeing it into a soup with some other root veg but I’m open to suggestions!

Any other yoga lovers out there? Well I already know that a few of you definitely are! I’m excited for next weeks class already. What do you enjoy most about yoga?

What’s everyone got planned for the weekend? I have a lovely weekend planned, run in the morning followed by a little bit of grocery shopping then cleaning the flat and chilling out with the hubby. On Sunday I’ll be enjoying some baking as I make my goodies for Tam’s cookie exchange, I can’t wait to share the recipes with you!

I’m now off to enjoy a big bowl of double chocolate protein ice cream, while I watch River Cottage Everyday on 4OD, here’s a old photo to demonstrate its lusciousness!

Protein ice cream is my Friday night desert of choice :-)

Don’t forget you only have until 10pm tonight (GMT) to enter my big GIVEAWAY to have the chance to win lots of goodies, check it out if you haven’t already done so! The winners will be announced tomorrow so don’t forget to check back :-) Have a great weekend everyone!