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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!