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Firstly, thanks for all the comments to my last post. I’ve taken on board what some of you have said regarding my weight loss and I’m in the process of writing up a post with all my thoughts and feelings on the topic of weight maintenance and the problems I’ve been having, so hopefully it will make for an interesting read!

Today we popped over to Newcastle, but first I’ll update on yesterday.

Although I’m off I still wanted to get a workout in, and I don’t like to go to far from my usual routine anyway, so I was at the gym early. I did HIITs on the cross trainer and step machine for 20 minutes each separated by 15 minutes x 2 of HIITs on the bike for a really good cardio workout. I then did my usual abs and core exercises, my plank is now up to 1 minute 20 sec!

Breakfast was a bowl of porridge made with quinoa flakes, Rude Health Fruity Date oat mix, oat bran, kara coconut milk and water. I topped it with some blueberries and pomegranate seeds:

I also had another green juice, I am just loving these at the mo!

This one contained 2 apples, cos lettuce, cucumber, celery, kale, lemon, ginger.

I was a bit stuck for what to make for lunch so I consulted my ‘recipes to try’ list (I get inspired so often I keep a list of things that take my fancy!) For ages I have wanted to try making Socca. I’ve seen it come up again recently on a couple of blogs so I thought I’d give it ago:

Simple Socca – makes one large or two small socca

• 1/2 cup of chickpea / gram flour
• 1/2 cup of water
• Any spices, herbs etc (I added a little cumin)
• Oil for frying (I used coconut oil)

Mix the flour and water together and fry in the oil on a medium high heat like a pancake. Flip when bubbles begin to show and cook the other side.

I served my socca with stir fried kale, mushrooms, courgette and a tahini sauce made with tahini, lemon juice, soy sauce and water:

This was fab! I can see myself making these again and again – it would be great with hummus and roast veggies (although I think a non chickpea hummus would be nice to avoid chickpea overload, although personally I love my chickpeas!), nut butter and fruit or even made up like a pizza with a tomato sauce and veggies. Have you tried Socca before? For more info on socca see the Pure 2 Raw twins Socca 101 post.

I also had an orange with some pomegranate seeds:

Mid afternoon I tried out another tasty recipe: Mama Peas Cookie Dough Balls. I followed the recipe exactly but used cacao nibs instead of chocolate chips:

Oh my word these are wonderful! I had two with a cuppa for my mid afternoon snack and popped the rest in the freezer.

Dinner was a quick super salad with lettuce, cucumber, carrot, green pepper, sprouts, sprouted beans and a sweet miso dressing (sweet miso, apple cider vinegar, cool oil):

I love these big salads! Dessert was 2 fresh figs, blueberries and Conscious Goji and Coconut raw chocolate:

Today I started with my Tuesday resistance workout (with the reps up to 17). It actually felt reasonably easy today so I think its time to change it up to be a little more challenging. As I’m working with my fixed weight dumbbell sets I can’t do much with the weight, and the reps are already high, so I’m thinking of changing the exercises to a more challenging version, for example my half push up to a travelling half push up and lunge to a lunge with rotation.

Breakfast was a chocolate cherry green monster containing kale, frozen cherries, chocolate sun warrior, kara coconut milk, spirulina, matcha green tea powder, maca powder and xanthan and guar gums for a little added thickness. I topped it with some Bear Coco Cherry Pie granola and flaked almonds:

As soon as we got into town we made a bee line for Starbucks! I had a gorgeous Grande Soy Gingerbread Latte and it was divine:

My first coffee in a month and it was oh so good!

After coffee I headed to Newcastle’s independent health food store Almonds and Raisins. I haven’t been in for a while and it has really seemed to up its game, the stock range was fantastic, in fact a lot of the stuff I thought I would have to order via Goodness Direct they stock. I was over the moon and couldn’t resist a little splurge:

 Vegetable and brown rice pasta, tofu fillets, sheese cheddar style vegan cheese, organic barley miso paste, Dr Organic body lotion, black rice noodles, organic wild rice mix, clear spot plain organic tofu, gomasio (a Japanese condiment made from sesame seeds and salt)

For lunch we visited a wonderful little cafe called scrumpy willow and the singing kettle. They serve lots of organic and locally sourced food with plenty of well marked vegan and vegetarian options alongside dishes with meat. It has a really charming interior:

The food options were excellent and I had difficultly deciding what to get. I decided to go for one of the specials: quinoa and red grape salad with toasted nuts and beetroot:

This was gorgeous, it also contained plenty of parsley, red cabbage, spring onion and a lovely mustard dressing. I think I may try recreating this at home! I also had the karma kooler juice which contained apple, ginger and mint:

It was so sweet I actually asked the owner if he had added sugar which he hadn’t. So delicious! James was happy too as he had a cheese and ham omelette, but he said it wasn’t as good as the ones I make bless him! I was grateful that he was happy to eat here as I don’t often get the opportunity to eat out at more vegan friendly places, I need a vegan dining partner! I really loved this little place and can see that it will become a favourite of mine.

For a mid afternoon snack I had a Ryvita pumpkin and oat cracker with sunflower seed butter and a chopped apple:

Dinner was some buckwheat noodles that I had bought from an oriental store ages ago plus stir fried kale, courgette, carrot, green pepper, mushrooms and edamade with some shoyu, fresh ginger and a sprinkling of the gomasio I bought earlier:

I love a good stir fry and the noodles and gomasio made this extra tasty. Dessert was 2 chocolate avocado cups from the freezer with a nectarine and an apple:

I’ve had such a brilliant couple of days so far on my week off and I’m still feeling great – I just seem to have loads of energy and positivity (despite the issues I touched on yesterday) at the moment!

Tomorrow we are off down to York for a couple of days and I can’t wait for the little break! I love taking short breaks just to get away from it all for a while, do you take mini breaks? Where’s your favourite short break destination?