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Hi everyone, how’s your weekend going? I’ve had a great weekend so far, lots of chill time which has been needed!

Yesterday I had a lovely lazy morning. Breakfast was a big bowl of muesli (1/2 cup of Dorset Cereal Cherry Cranberry and Almond muesli, jumbo oats, quinoa flakes and wheat germ) with frozen raspberries and hazelnut and almond rice milk.

Mid morning I had my first Peppermint Stick Luna Bar:

This was delicious! Its made of 70% organic ingredients and is choc full of great nutrition. It has a similar texture to an oaty flapjack, yum!

For lunch I made myself some soup based on this recipe:

Smokey spicy black eyed bean soup with greens (makes 3 large servings)

• 1 onion finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 tin of black eye beans
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 2 teaspoons of vegetable bouillon powder
• 1 tablespoon of tomato puree
• 1 teaspoon of hot chilli powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon of chipotle ketchup (optional but adds a smokey flavour)
• 1 head of spring green cabbage, finely chopped

Begin by frying off the onion and garlic in a little oil. Once the onions have become transparent add the carrots and continue to fry for a few minutes. Add the beans and tomatoes then fill the empty tomato tin with hot water and add this to the pan (do this twice – so two tins worth of hot water). Then add the vegetable bouillon, tomato puree, hot chilli powder, cumin and chipotle ketchup if using. Simmer the soup for 5 minutes then add the spring greens and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Serve.

This is a great tasty soup! Low in calories and fat and with a little bit of protein from the beans, plus lots of good stuff from the spring greens. The strong flavours are so warming too which makes this a perfect soup for this time of year. I had a bowl of this for my lunch along with three satsumas.

I got all ready to head out in my new coat:

 

Coat: H&M, Breton stripe top: Warehouse, Bag: Topshop, Skinny Jeans: Topshop, Black boots: H&M, Earrings: Scarlet Ribbon Vintage Durham. Still getting used to my new hair!

I visited my parents, sister, brother in law and my little nephew (my sis and family are living with my parents while they are in the process of buying a new house). I don’t think I’ve mentioned on the blog that my sis is pregnant with her second child, she’s due in January and I can’t wait to meet my next nephew! I then met up with my best friend and we went for a lovely long walk round her local park with the dog, it was so lovely and relaxing and great to be able to have a proper catch up with her.

Last nights dinner was leftover Squash and adzuki bean stew with steamed kale and chard plus soy sauce, ume vinegar, toasted seeds and parsley and coriander.

Completely delicious again! For desert I had two squares of the most amazing chocolate in the work aka Lindt Dark Chocolate with sea salt plus two apples sliced with maca and cinnamon.

This morning I snacked on some nakd cherry raisins before heading off on my run. I haven’t ran outside for a few weeks and boy was this tough. I choose a fairly hilly route and my pace was well off my usual but I did it – freezing hands and all! My iPhone died 5 minutes from home so my tracking was off but I think I did about 6.5 miles in 1hr5mins. To all you runners – do you have any tips for motivating yourself to run outdoors in cold weather? I think I need to invest in some good quality gloves and a warm long sleeved running top as I have real difficulty staying warm, when I sweat I just seem to get colder, even when I’m giving it my all :-(

Breakfast was two slices of toasted linseed rye bread with marmite and a big mug of English breakfast tea with rice milk.

I picked up a little jar of marmite last week and today was my first try of it in ages. Yum, I thought it was delicious! A little later I made a green monster (1 frozen banana, spinach, organic soy milk, maca powder, peanut butter, guar and xanthan gums) in a bowl topped with gojis and cacao nibs.

Loving my green monsters at the moment :-)

A little while ago I blogged that I had taken Nigella Kitchen out of the library. I came across an amazing sounding recipe in the book that I knew I would have to try:

Peanut Butter Hummus (inspired by recipe in Nigella Kitchen)

• 1 tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 tablespoons of smooth peanut butter
• 1 clove of garlic
• Juice of half a lemon
• pinch of ground cumin

Chuck all ingredients into a food processor and blend. Taste and check consistency adding water if you prefer a ‘looser’ texture or more lemon juice or garlic as required. I ended up adding an extra clove of garlic and a little water. Transfer to a bowl and chill before serving.

Using the peanut butter gives the hummus a slightly milder taste than if it had been made with tahini. I had a big serving of the hummus with 3 seeded crackers and cauliflower, carrot and cucumber for dipping for my lunch followed by a plum and a satsuma.

I’ve also made up a big pot of brown basmati rice for my ‘grain of the week’ and roasted up a huge butternut squash. Tonight I plan on making a simple coconut vegetable curry for one – recipe to be posted tomorrow along with details for bloggers Secret Santa!

Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!