Today has just been one of those days! I returned to work to find a huge pile of documents on my desk and what seemed like a zillion emails to be dealt with. I could feel the stress starting to rise but instead of letting it get to me I’ve managed to just breathe through it and figure out a plan of action to deal with it. In the past I’ve really allowed stress to get to me but I’m just not going to let that happen any more. I’ve cancelled some meetings, arranged to work from home and now feel much more in control. Do you suffer from stress? How does it affect you? How do you deal with it?

At least my day did get off to a good start with another green smoothie!

Chocolate Cherry Beet Green Smoothie (makes 1 large serving)

• 3 cups of kale and spring greens with the tough stems removed
• 1 cup of frozen cherries
• 1 scoop of chocolate protein powder / cocoa powder (I used sun warrior)
• 1 beet it shot / cooked beetroot / beetroot juice - I used a beet it shot
• 1 tsp of maca (optional)
• 1 tsp of ground flax (optional)
• Water (to desired thickness)
• Xanthan and guar gum to add thickness (optional)

Toppings:

• Fresh berries
• Rude Health Granola
• Carob flakes (nom!) 

Unfortunately due to the clocks going forward I had no lovely daylight to photograph this tasty treat and had to resort to the flash. Such a shame as it was so pretty!

Lunch was a big salad beast containing romaine, spinach, yellow pepper, red onion, carrot, sugar snaps, cucumber, basil tofu and some of my squash dip:

I watered the dip down a little then mixed it in like a dressing, yum! Honestly, I never thought a big bowl of vegetables would make me so happy! I also ate two nectarines. Mid afternoon I snacked on a cocoa orange nakd bar before heading to the gym. Exercise really is a great stress reliever! I did my usual interval session 15 minutes on the cross trainer then 15 minutes on the step machine followed by my abs and core and then my 30 minute spin class.

Dinner was a delicious mix of wheat grains, lentils, asparagus and carrot in a citrus dressing (clementine juice, cool oil, apple cider vinegar) served with steamed purple sprouting broccoli with a chilli, ginger and shoyu dressing:

Dessert was inspired by Marias cinnamon maple peanut butter – I made a quick version using 2 tbsp of peanut flour mixed with a little water, cinnamon and maple syrup until it formed a lovely sauce then poured over two chopped apples and a few strawberries:

This was so delicious!

I hope you don’t mind but I wanted to share a few random musings I’ve been having recently:

Veganism

source

I think I may be ready to ‘go’ vegan. Apart from some feta cheese, the Total Greek yoghurt pots, vegetarian pesto and trace amounts of diary in dark chocolate I haven’t eaten any animal products since the start of the year and I really don’t miss them – I feel the best I have ever felt in terms of my health and the more I read on the ethical, environmental and health benefits of veganism the more I feel like its right for me (I don’t make any judgements on others dietary choices, its such a personal choice). I am a bit concerned about using the ‘vegan’ label. Although I’m in a place were I’m happy to not eat animal products I don’t think I’m at the point of avoiding all trace products – for example the small amount of dairy in Lindt Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt or some honey in a snack bar. I think I would gradually stop buying those products but can I still adopt the vegan label while I’m not being that strict? I also still wear leather but I am more aware of trying to seek out alternative materials when I’m buying new stuff although I’m not perfect here either. I guess there is no such thing as a perfect vegan in any case but for some reason I feel reluctant to adopt the label – what are your thoughts on dietary labels?

Calorie Counting

Over the past week I’ve been doing a little experiment in calorie counting. I’ve been logging my eats with Livestrong after the concerns I’ve been having that I am not eating enough. I’ve learned several things from this experiment:

• Calorie counting on a regular basis is not for me – I found it such a pain in the arse!
• I eat on average 1800 – 2200 calories a day
• My fibre intake is through the roof
• I’m having no problem meeting my protein requirements
• I may be a little low on sodium

This, coupled with a sneaky weigh in which has shown that I’m currently maintaining my weight, has given me a bit of reassurance that I’m at least on the right path. Although my fibre intake is high, my body seems to handle it very well and because I’m feeling good I don’t think that the fibre is having a detrimental affect on my absorption of nutrients.

Meditation and yoga

I’ve been continuing to include at least 5 minutes of yoga / meditation at the start of each day and it really is having a calming affect on me – I know my ability to deal with today’s stress has been helped by this.

Any random musings you’d like to share?

Hope your week has got off to a good start! I have some super exciting news that I can’t wait to share with you all soon! In the mean time its back to work for me, I have a late meeting tomorrow so I’m trying to be my most organised self! Catch you later x

Hi Everyone, hope you’ve all had a great weekend! Back to the grind now though, I have lots on at work at the moment and thankfully I’m able to work from home tomorrow to get caught up!

As the kids are off school this week the traffic situation isn’t as crazy as usual which meant I had time to enjoy a more leisurely breakfast including a cup of delicious cinnamon and hazelnut coffee which I drank black and sweetened with agave. I also had a bowl of Dorset Cereal High Fibre muesli with added jumbo oats, ground flax and nut mix, a grated apple and soy milk.

I love grated apple with muesli it makes it so juicy!

Mid morning I snacked on a big russet apple and one of my pumpkin spice cake bars.

Lunch was a big salad of spinach, carrot, red onion, cucumber and almond sesame smoked tofu with a little green tomato chutney followed by two plums.

Afternoon pre gym fuel was a bag of bear fruit nibbles – mango and pineapple.

I did my usual Monday evening gym session of 30 minutes HIITs followed by 30 minute spin class and abs and core exercises. My abs and core work is really paying off, I can feel some serious abs under my belly! My workout was really excellent again tonight, it just didn’t feel too hard. I think I’m ready to ramp it up next month so I feel the burn again!

For dinner I decided to make up one of my high protein egg white and spelt wraps (1 tablespoon of spelt flour mixed with 3 egg whites and fried up like a pancake) and filled it with some leftover mashed roast butternut squash, some kidney beans, red onion and a slice of cheese then fold over and griddle to make a Butternut and Bean Quesadilla. I served it with some roasted broccoli.

 

My word this was delicious! Everything went together so well and the egg white spelt wrap went really crispy and pancake like. You could make a vegan version of this using a wholegrain wrap and leaving out the cheese or add chicken or turkey if your not a veggie. Just so yummy!

Desert was a smoothie in a bowl made using a scoop of cookies and cream spiru-tein powder, rice milk and ice cubes. I topped it with a few cacao nibs.

I’ve also just eaten another russet apple, I have an apple problem at the moment, just can’t get enough!

I mentioned yesterday that I have ordered The Kind Diet and another vegan cookbook La Dolce Vegan, I’m just feeling so inspired by vegetarian and vegan recipes at the moment. I checked over the blog and I’ve eaten completely vegetarian for a week and I haven't missed meat one bit. I think I may actually be ready to go fully veggie rather than ‘only freedom food / organic meat’ as I had planned to. I still don’t want to label myself as following any kind of particular diet at this stage but that’s certainly the direction I feel myself heading.

In terms of the blog obviously that’s going to mean veggie and vegan food and recipes. I hope that everyone is ok with that and sticks with me! :-)

As I have previously said, I certainly don’t judge others for their dietary preferences, this is just what I feel is right for me. When I post recipes or meal ideas I’ll include what meat / fish options I think would work well then you can decide which way to make them.

Anyway, on to some hair care products! Yesterday I noticed these in Sainsbury’s and decided to pick them up as after reading this post from Sarah I switched to hair care without parabens or silicone which has really worked well for me. My hair is in pretty good condition considering how long it is.

Has anyone came across ‘Happy Hair Days’ products before? I got the pomegranate and ginger moisturising shampoo and conditioner at £3.50 a bottle. I have to admit the main thing that made me buy these as well as being paraben free is the smell. They smell divine, I tried all of the range that was on the shelf and they all smelled amazing!

Talking of hair, I have a hair cut booked for Friday and I really fancy a change. Before I got married over 2 years ago my hair had always been in a bob, this is the longest its ever been. After all of this growing I’m reluctant to cut it all off although my hair does grow extremely fast (which I put down to all the healthy food I eat!) Not sure what to do!

How often do you change your hair style?

Over the last few weekends since I started my Big Budget Challenge I’ve been getting into a regular habit of having a weekend cook up session.

I spend some time in the kitchen on a weekend preparing foods that can be used to make meals during the week, hence saving time and effort in the long run! As a lot of cheap vegan foods like grains and beans require longer cooking times, preparing these on a weekend makes a lot of sense. This also works well for making some raw dishes than need to be soaked or sprouted.

Some of the things I’ve been making on my weekend cook up sessions include:

Grains – every weekend I’ve been cooking up at least 1 1/2 cups (dry) of brown rice as this is one grain that James actually likes! It is also pretty cheap and versatile. In addition to this I’ve been trying out other grains like amaranth and pearl barley.

A protein source – weekend I’ve also been preparing some kind of protein source: a pot of dried beans which I soak overnight on a Saturday and cook on a Sunday morning or I’ve made a batch of seitan or marinated and baked a block of tofu.

Soup – some weekends I’ve made up a pot of soup using up veggies I have available alongside some of the grains and beans I’ve also cooked. I usually make at least 4 servings and freeze most of them in bags for quick lunches.

Veggies – as I’ve been knee deep in squash recently, every weekend I have been roasting up a large one. I love squash as it really is such a versatile veggie – I save some for use in main meals but then I’ve also made some into a dip or pureed it and used it with breakfast.

A dip or dressing or both – Over the last few weeks I’ve used leftover juice pulp to make some garden pate, roast squash to make squash dip, or some of the cooked beans to make a hummus

I like to alternate between making a cooked dip or a raw dip as this gives me a bit of variety! I’ve also sometimes used a dip as a dressing by watering it down or I’ve made up a jar full of dressing, my fave being green goddess dressing! I use the dressing on my big salads or to add extra flavours to dinners.

Nut milk – I have also enjoyed making up a batch of nut milk some weekends. I like to alternate it with using a carton of a non diary milk as most cartons of milk are fortified with calcium, B12 and vitamin D so I like to make sure I’m getting that added nutrition too. I usually use the raw nut milk as a base for raw breakies.

Dehydrated goodies – Most weekends I have the dehydrator on with something ‘un cooking’ – I’ll make raw crackers using up the pulp from my weekend green juice, dry out some soaked nuts and seeds with flavourings for use on top of salads or be making raw cookies or granola with the leftover pulp from making nut milk

Sprouting – I usually have several jars on my counter top soaking nuts and seeds for the raw recipes or sprouting alfalfa for use in salads or on top of soups during the week.

I know all of this probably sounds like a lot of work but it usually only takes a couple of hours max if you multi task – a few minutes to measure out and soak beans, nuts and seeds on a Saturday then an hour on a Sunday while the grains and beans are cooking and the squash or tofu is roasting, plus and additional half hour to get the food processor out and blend a few things up. What you get in return for spending this time is a smaller grocery bill and a much less stressful week!

With all of these things cooked and prepped and sitting in the fridge, sorting an evening meal out is more a case of assembling the ingredients and a bit of reheating than actually cooking.

This weekend I made some raw cashew butter, hummus, roast squash, roast some squash seeds, cooked some quinoa (I’ve got wholemeal wraps for James this week instead of rice), cooked some adzuki beans, set some alfalfa seeds to sprout, made a couple of cups of pumpkin seed milk and put some raw crackers in the dehydrator (made using the leftover juice pulp from my weekend green juice and the pumpkin pulp from the milk). Out of these I plan on making:

• Salads topped with hummus
• Hummus with veggies and raw crackers for snacks
• Adzuki beans, squash and quinoa Buddha bowls
• Adzuki bean salads with alfalfa sprouts
• Two raw breakfasts with pumpkin seed milk – a green smoothie and perhaps a chia pudding or buckwheat cereal depending on what I fancy.
• I’ll probably have some squash still left mid week so I might puree it and add to breakfasts, make a dessert with it or add it to salads or stir fries.

I also made enough caramelised brussel sprouts to go with another couple of meals too. Apart from chopping and steaming a few veggies, plus assembling and toasting some wholemeal wraps for James, I don’t have much cooking to do until half way through the week when I’ll probably just either make something quick and easy like a stir fry, or I’ll raid the freezer for some stew or curry I’ve batch cooked. Much less stress in the kitchen after a long day at work!

Do you have a weekend cook up session? How do you do yours? What’s your favourite foods to prepare and how do you use them during the week?

Big thanks to everyone who commented on yesterdays post regarding my thoughts on The Kind Diet, vegetarianism and veganism, I really enjoyed reading each comment and feel that I learned a lot!

I think I need to do my home work on freedom food / organic meat and what I feel is the better option for my values. It was also interesting to hear about some peoples experiences and opinions on soy and Quorn products. I think my approach is going to be one of moderation and variety!

I was working late yesterday so here are yesterdays eats:

Butternut Smoothie in a bowl with muesli topping (after getting my butt kicked by Jillian doing the 30 Day Shred Levels 1 and 2)

Hummus, olives, seeded flatbread crackers, cucumber, carrot and a nectarine for lunch:

Afternoon snackage of apples and babybel light then my mango and brazil bar from Goodness Direct (very tasty – lots of honey flavour, chewy like a flapjack – yum!):

After my late meeting I had some un pictured miso soup followed by some berries topped with cottage cheese, cinnamon and maple syrup:

Today’s breakfast was Mornflake 5 fruit and nut muesli with some additional jumbo oats added, a chopped nectarine, and as it was so cold, some warmed up soy milk and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Try adding warm milk to cereal on cold mornings – this warmed me up a treat! Mid morning I snacked on some cashew butter with apple slices for dipping.

Lunch was a new recipe I wanted to try out:

Fresh Asian Salad (makes 1 large serving)

• 1 large carrot, half a cucumber and 1 diakon / mooli root made into ribbons using a veggie peeler
• 1/2 cup of frozen then defrosted soya beans.

Dressing:

• 1 tablespoon of toasted sesame oil
• 3 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of sweet chilli sauce
• 1 inch piece of finely grated ginger.

Mix together the veggie ribbons and pile on a plate, topping with the beans. Mix together the salad dressing ingredients (I put them all in a screw top jar and shake – also handy for taking the dressing to work so the veggies don’t go soggy) Pour the dressing over the veggies and serve immediately.

This was lush! It tasted amazing - the dressing worked exceptionally well, very sweet and earthy. This could also be beefed up with some soba noodles to make it even more filling. A great salad for getting in a good few portions of raw veggies too! I also had an orange.

Before heading to the gym I had an apple, blueberry and cinnamon protein muffin.

I’m on a mission to try and eat the baked goods I have stashed in the freezer – got to make way for new stuff!

At the gym I ran 5k on the treadmill doing some speed work then ran for about a mile at a slow pace to cool down (about 35 minutes and 4 miles in total). I finished off my workout with some abs exercises.

For dinner I had half a sweet potato to use up along with loads of veggies so I decided to throw together a yummy stew type dish. I started by frying an onion then adding the cooked sweet potato which I had chopped into cubes until it had browned slightly. I also added some chopped mushrooms. I then added hot veg stock, a tablespoon of tomato puree and a pinch of hot chilli powder. I also added some shredded savoy cabbage and kale then allowed to simmer for 5 minutes before adding about half a cup of spicy roasted chickpeas.

I served it with some roasted brussel sprouts for a perfect filling vegan meal :-) Desert was some RAW zesty orange chocolate kindly sent by Goodness Direct and a large russet apple.

The chocolate was interesting. It has a different texture to regular chocolate, kind of soft (despite being in the fridge) and a bit grainy but not unpleasant. It contains no added sugars, is organic and made with raw ingredients including cocoa butter and cocoa powder. The orange flavour is also nicely balanced. Not sure I would buy as it is quite expensive but a good way of getting your chocolate fix with added health benefits. This is the second RAW product I have tried (I have also tried the crackers which were delicious) and I do like the idea of eating more raw food so could be good if your into that kind of thing.

Have you tried any products from RAW? What did you think? Hope your all having a good week, I’m looking forward to my yoga tomorrow night already! Catch you later :-)

I realised over the weekend that it was coming up to 1 year since I became vegetarian! I had to check back over the blog as it was more of a gradual shift in diet. I think my last ‘meat’ meal was a Turkey Subway with chilli sauce, I kind of wish I’d had something a bit nicer!

I can’t believe that a whole year has passed without meat, and I can honestly say I haven’t missed it one bit. Why would I when I’ve been eating meals like this?

Roast Vegetable Curry 

Vanilla Cupcake with Vegan Coconut Icing 

Warm Sweet Chilli Sweet Potato Sesame Salad 

Chocolate Mint Raw Vegan Cheesecake from Aloka in Brighton

Sabra hummus topped salad beasts

Smoked almond sesame tofu with brown rice, roasted veggies and spicy peanut sauce 

Baked Tempeh with roast veggies and almond butter sauce

 Strawberry Coconut Oaty Buttery Bars (vegan)

Just a few of my favourite meals and treats over the last year, and yes they are all vegan! My diet has transitioned to almost 100% plant based – I do still eat honey and some trace dairy in things like chocolate, but apart from that I haven’t had any diary or eggs for about 6 months. I’ve always tried to take a flexible approach to veganism, one which balances my bodies needs with my beliefs. The two big influences in my shift in diet were really due to reading The Kind Diet and Eating Animals (amongst other considerations of course)

I absolutely love eating this way, I feel the healthiest and happiest I have in years, and recently I have become a lot more confident in talking about why I choose to eat this way. I’m also starting to become more aware of the wider vegan lifestyle – which of course involves excluding all animal products such as leather and wool clothing. I’m completely honest in this being something that I’m working towards, and I still do wear my existing leather clothing etc.

As I’ve said many times before, I really don’t judge people on how they choose to eat. I eat to like this because it is right for me, but I’m well aware that following a vegetarian or vegan diet may not be for everyone. I think having a judgemental attitude does the vegan cause no favours. As one of my work colleagues said, her experience of vegans before me was not good – they were extremely confrontational and aggressive with their beliefs. I do think that following a vegetarian or vegan diet is worth fighting for, but I think leading by positive example is way more effective than being aggressive which simply makes people defensive and closed up to the potential of eating a more plant based diet.

If your a veggie or a vegan how long have you being following that diet? Do you ever get cravings for meat or animal products? I was probably most surprised by my lack of cheese and greek yoghurt cravings, I thought that would have been my downfall! As for meat, I’ve even found that I’m no longer going crazy for substitutes like Linda McCartney Sausages, I’ve found that I’m quite happy eating tofu, beans and more recently tempeh.

For all veggies and non veggies alike, what’s your absolute favourite veggie meal? Without a doubt, mine would involve hummus!