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I woke up with a bit of a bad head this morning, I can’t believe that just two glasses of wine can do that to me! I think because I rarely drink alcohol just goes straight to my head. Due to my little hangover I felt like I needed a really hearty breakfast so I toasted and buttered (not margarine, proper butter – so worth it!) a thick slice of my Irish Soda bread and topped it with two perfectly poached eggs.

Absolutely to die for. The bread is slightly sweet from the spelt flour and just went perfectly with the eggs, delicious! The eggs were a new brand of free range organic and I could really taste the difference, even the yolk looks a brighter colour. A little later I had another slice of my bread, this time topped with some full fat Greek yoghurt and honey.

The rest of the bread has gone in the freezer to save for another time. For lunch I decided to make something inspired by a recipe I’d seen ages ago for roast aubergine with tabbouleh and tahini yoghurt but I’ve had tahini a few times recently so I decided to change it up a little:

Roast Aubergine Tabbouleh Salad with Cumin Spiced Yoghurt (makes 2 servings)

• 1 Aubergine
• 1 teaspoon of olive oil
• 80g of bulgar wheat
• 600mls of hot vegetable stock
• half a cucumber
• 6 spring onions
• 1 tablespoon of chopped mint
• 2 handfuls of spinach

For the yoghurt:

• 3 heaped tablespoons of Total Full Fat Greek Yoghurt
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 1 crushed garlic clove
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin

Begin by chopping the aubergine into bite sized chunks. Put the aubergine into a roasting tray and coat with the oil and a good bit of salt. Roast in a hot oven until browned. Meanwhile add the bulgar wheat and vegetable stock to a pan and simmer until all the water has been absorbed (about 20 minutes). Chop the cucumber, spring onions and mint. To make the yoghurt mix all the ingredients together in a bowl until smooth. When the bulgar wheat is done add the cucumber, spring onions, mint and roasted aubergine. Serve the tabbouleh on top of the spinach then drizzle some of the cumin spiced yoghurt over the top. Serve.

This was really tasty! It was my first time cooking and eating bulgar wheat and I thought it was delicious – I was surprised at how creamy it was. I was also happy to see that an 80g portion of cooked bulgar wheat is only 69 calories with very little saturated fat.

For desert I had two chopped kiwis and an orange.

As I felt like I had ate a fair bit earlier in the day (that bread is healthy but its pretty dense!) I just went with a big thick protein smoothie for dinner. I mixed a scoop of vanilla whey, frozen berries, kara coconut milk, a little matcha green tea powder and xanthan gum then topped it with some fresh blueberries and strawberries.

I also had two chopped apples which I’d micro waved for a minute and then mixed with some cinnamon, maca powder and a little maple syrup.

Today I finally got round to painting my nails with my favourite autumn colour:

Barry M Nail Paint in Mushroom

Big Budget Challenge Update

I’m still doing ok on my big budget challenge. My credit card is still clear and is safely stored out of my purse! I’m still finding it very tough to stick within budget when it comes to food shopping, even when trying to save money by shopping at the market and some of the cheaper stores. I have to admit that I have broken one of my rules - this is my one magazine a month rule, today I caved and bought two magazines. I think when the challenge is over I will decide which of the women’s healthy lifestyle and fashion magazines are my favourites and get subscriptions as this works out a lot cheaper than buying them each month.

Today I also got some of my old autumn winter clothing out from storage. I forgot how many nice things I already own! A lot of items actually fit much better now too. Some things that are too big or just not my style any more are going to end up on ebay so fingers crossed I’ll generate some extra income this way.

Now that I can see what I have in my wardrobe I’m going to plan out what else I would like to purchase for the new season. I think another wish list is in order!

How’s everyone’s weekend been? Hope you’ve all had a good one. I really enjoyed my bulgar wheat today, I’ve been including a lot more grains in my diet recently to help provide fuel for my training. At one time I used to completely avoid grains and bread as I think I was a bit ‘scared’ of the carbs after sticking to a lower carb diet to lose weight. Now I love my rye bread and quinoa! I also have pearl barley, couscous and millet in my cupboard waiting to be tested. Have you tried any of these more unusual grains? What’s your favourite grain?