Hi everyone, hope you’ve been having a great weekend!

I was up at the crack of dawn on Saturday to get my weekend run out of the way. I decided to go for a slightly shorter distance than I’ve ran the last couple of weeks as I needed to be home, washed and dressed to meet up with my Mam. I thought it would be good to run 10k and see what kind of pace I could manage. I did it in 55 minutes! I was over the moon, for the first time ever my average pace was below 9 min miles – I got it down to 8.54 (last week was 9.25!) I was extremely happy with that :-)

The rest of the weekend has been quite relaxed which is just what I’ve needed. I’ve enjoyed two delicious green smoothies for breakfast each day as part of my 7 days 7 smoothies challenge:

Tropical Green Smoothie (makes one large serving):

• 3 cups of spinach
• 1 frozen banana
• 1 cup of frozen mango
• 2 tbsp of vanilla hemp protein powder
• 1 tbsp of mesquite (optional)
• 1 tbsp of desiccated coconut
• 1 tsp of maca (optional)
• 1 tsp of spirulina (optional)
• 1/2 cup of rice milk – coconut milk or coconut water would be better!
• water – to desired thickness
• 1/2 tsp of xanthan and guar gum (optional, adds thickness)

Toppings:

• Coconut flour sauce (made with 1 heaped tsp of coconut flour and water)
• Hemp seeds
• Goji berries

This was yummy!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Green Smoothie (makes one very large serving):

• 3 – 4 cups of kale, romaine and lambs lettuce (I just used what greens needed using up)
• 1 frozen banana
• 2 nectarines
• 2 ice cubes
• 1 scoop of chocolate protein powder (I used sun warrior) 
• 2 tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter
• 1 tbsp of cocoa powder or raw cacao powder
• 1 tsp maca (optional)
• 1 tsp of ground flax (optional)
• water – to desired thickness
• 1 tsp xanthan and guar gum (optional but adds thickness)

Toppings:

• Peanut flour sauce
• Chocolate peanut flour sauce (PB2+cacao powder + agave+water)
• Cacao nibs
• grape nuts cereal

This was seriously one delicious smoothie! As usual I ended up with a bowl and a half worth – so filling, tasty and nutritious! I find that nectarines / peaches give green smoothies a nice neutral tasting sweetness and bulk that won’t over powder the other ingredients.

I’ve also been drinking fresh green juices each afternoon for the last four days, my favourite green juice combo is pear, celery, cucumber, spinach / romaine, broccoli and lemon / ginger. It tastes delicious!

Other foodie highlights this weekend include this eggless veggie omelette:

I made up some standard socca batter and added two tablespoons of nutritional yeast and a pinch of salt. I then fried some red onion until it caramelised, yellow pepper and courgette and poured the cheesy socca batter on top of the veggies and fried up as usual. I served it up with a side salad and more nutritional yeast on top. This worked really well! I used to eat vegetable and cheese omelettes all the time before I decided to eat mostly vegan, I can see me making these regularly! 

Dinner both evenings has been a lovely combo of stir fried asparagus, purple sprouting broccoli and spring onion with millet and adzuki beans served with some of my squash dip and steamed greens / kale with shoyu:

This tasted really good, the squash dip on the side just made it all the yummier! I’ve really been enjoying making up one big dish with planned leftovers for the next day, its been saving me so much time in the kitchen!

Last night I satisfied my sweet tooth with strawberries, figs and Lindt 85% dark chocolate:

Loved the extra dark chocolate, I still want to try the 99% version!

I’ve also been buying a couple of spring wardrobe updates. On Friday I spotted this lovely  blush coloured simple coat and ultra skinny jeans in H&M:

I adore the jeans – they have a zip fastening up the back, they aren’t stretchy like jeggings but they fit like a glove. The coat is perfect for this time of year: warm but in a nice pale spring like colour. I’ve also been checking out eBay in search of second hand bargains. As I’m trying to save cash and wanting to try and be more environmentally friendly I thought I’d see what I could pick up second hand. I got this great floral print skirt for just £3.50 including postage:

I had seen a floral print skirt in New Look for £22 but I like this even better! It will look great paired with a simple t-shirt. Do you buy clothes from eBay? Its been a bit hit and miss for me in the past but I think I’ve developed a better skill for noticing items that will work for me.

I’m glad I’ve been able to have a relaxed weekend as I have a crazy busy week at work ahead including two late night meetings. I think I’ll be making up lots of ‘planned leftovers’ type meals to see me through – along with my green smoothies to keep my energy levels up of course! I’ll be sneaking in workouts when I can manage them too.

I’m also waiting to see how I react to the clocks going forward – I was really enjoying waking up to daylight but I guess I’ll have to wait a couple of weeks for the sun to rise at 6am again! At least we get nice bright evenings instead :-) Does the clocks going forward affect you?

Hi everyone, hope you’ve all been having a great weekend, I’ve been loving this glorious weather! I’ve been having a lovely time, I’ve caught up with my friends and family and enjoyed some much needed chill time as well as having some amazing eats!

I decided to do my long weekend run on Saturday morning so I was up bright and early and after a couple of lovely medjool dates I set off with the sun rise. My plan was to just run a relaxed 10 miles and that’s exactly what I did. I didn’t push my pace too much and got into a nice groove for most of the run that made it really enjoyable. I did 10 miles in 1hr37 with an average pace of 9.43 which is slower than last week but as I certainly wasn’t pushing myself I was happy with that pace.

I’ve been looking back through the blog at last year and how I was doing back then to compare with now. My average pace at this time last year (before I got injured) was around 9.54 so I have definitely improved. As I said last week I have noticed a huge improvement in my recovery – maybe due to eating a more plant based diet or perhaps doing more yoga? Who knows, but I am feeling great – not even a twinge in my knee but I really need to go and get myself fitted for some new running shoes soon!

When I got back from my run I made my Tropical Recovery Smoothie but added some spring greens and a sachet of banana flavoured Spiru-tein powder. I topped it with some raw coconut shreds, hemp seeds, goji berries and cacao nibs:

I love the coconut water in this and I really felt like I needed it to rehydrate!

Other highlights of my weekend eats include Saturday evenings delicious dinner:

Herbed socca wrap (usual socca recipe with plenty of chopped basil and parsley) filled with a roasted beet and sunflower seed burger plus tahini lemon sauce and roasted cauliflower and purple sprouted broccoli drizzled with remaining tahini lemon sauce. This was just so gorgeous!

I also made some use of my seasonal rhubarb:

Rhubarb and Orange Compote (makes 2 – 3 servings):

• 3 stems of rhubarb, chopped into 1 inch thick pieces
• Juice and zest of one orange
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup of water
• 2 tablespoons of liquid sweetener such as agave syrup (I used sweet freedom)

Add all ingredients to a small pan and simmer until the ‘syrup’ is bubbling and the rhubarb has softened but still has a little shape. Serve warm or chill and store in the fridge. I enjoyed this with some vanilla freedom iced dessert:

It was gorgeous, so wonderful slightly warm with the ice cream!

On Sunday morning I decided to indulge in something I haven’t had in a while, pancakes!

Carob spelt pancakes with blueberries and coconut maple sauce (serves 1):

• 1/2 cup of spelt flour
• 1/2 cup of non dairy milk, plus 1 tbsp (I used home made almond milk)
• 1 tbsp of carob powder (could sub cocoa powder)
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 1 small punnet of fresh blueberries
• 1 tsp of coconut flour
• 1 tbsp of maple syrup

Combine the spelt flour, milk, carob powder and baking powder in a bowl until smooth. Heat a pan on a medium high heat and spray with cooking oil (I used coconut oil). Pour out a third of the mixture into the pan to form a pancake. While the pancake is cooking drop a few blueberries into the batter. When bubbles appear on the surface flip over carefully and cook the other side. Transfer to a plate and keep warm under the grill while you cook the remaining two pancakes. To make the sauce combine the coconut flour, maple syrup and some water until you reach a creamy consistency. Serve the pancakes topped with the remaining fresh blueberries, the sauce and an additional sprinkle of desiccated coconut.

These may just be the best pancakes I have ever had! The blueberries cooked in the batter tasted fantastic and go so well with the deep taste of the carob and sweetness of the sauce. If you don’t have coconut flour a drizzle of maple syrup on its own would be just as lovely. Oh so good!

Today’s lunch was awesome! I made up a big snack plate with blue corn chips, almond butter dipping sauce (1 tbsp of almond butter + 2 tbsp of water microwaved for a few seconds then combined) carrot, sugar snaps, red pepper and a few strawberries:

I had been inspired by Emilia to try the almond butter / blue corn chip combo and it was immensely good – saying that, I think almost anything would taste amazing slathered with almond butter!

Dinner was hippy beans with stir fried brown / wild rice, red cabbage and bok choy plus shoyu and mixed seeds: 

Now I quite fancy a couple of squares of Lindt Dark Chocolate with Sea salt!

Over the weekend I spent some time editing my recipes page, taking off some older recipes, adding in some of my more recent recipes – and marking which of them are vegan. I have quite a long list now! I often go back to that page for when I’m re making things I’ve made in the past. I have to say I’m very proud of the range of tasty and healthy meals I have listed :-)

I know that smoothies, especially of the green variety are a bit of a speciality of mine but recently my favourite creations include my high protein hummus, squash dip, veggie loaf, sweet and nutty lentils and cauliflower rice and the many Buddha bowl variations I have made. Do you have some special favourite recipes of your own? What makes them so special to you? I have another super recipe to share with you tomorrow and all I can say is NOM!

Hope you have a great week ahead, catch you later!

Last week I shared with you my love of green smoothies and my 7 days 7 smoothies challenge. See that post for more info on how to construct a fab green smoothie and the reasons why I love them so!

Each day last week I ate a delicious smoothie containing a large amount of green veggies along with different combos of fruit and other add ins and toppings. I enjoyed them so much I ended up continuing the challenge for an extra day!

I thought it would be good to round up all of the tasty green smoothie recipes I created for the challenge:

Apple Pie Green Smoothie

Tropical Green Smoothie

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Green Smoothie

Chocolate Cherry Beet Green Smoothie

Carrot Cake Green Smoothie

Nutty Berry Green Smoothie

Raspberry Carob Green Smoothie

‘Bounty’ (chocolate coconut) Green Smoothie

I thoroughly enjoyed making and eating all of these! Big thanks to Jessica and Jemma who have been following the challenge along with me – and any of you guys that have been doing it on the quiet. Check out their blogs for some more fab variations including Jemma’s Strawberries and Cream and Jess’s Terry’s Chocolate Orange!

Interestingly I noticed that my energy levels have been very good this week despite having a bit of a stressful time at work. I’ve also found that it has been easier to focus at work. I do feel that my increased intake of raw food, green veggies, protein and ‘super’ foods via these green smoothies has contributed to this, of course it could just be psychosomatic! I particularly think that adding maca powder to my smoothies has been useful due to its support of the adrenals (linked to supporting stress).

Have I convinced any green smoothie virgins to give them a try? If your already a green smoothie lover what’s your favourite combo? Which of the green smoothies above look the best to you? I loved them all but if I had to choose I’d go for the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup!

Hope your having a great weekend!