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Hi everyone, hope you’ve been having a good weekend. I woke up with a horrible hangover this morning, I really can’t handle my drink! Last night I made a stir fry for dinner with chicken, savoy cabbage, mushrooms, cauliflower, red pepper, carrot and soya beans with a ginger, chilli, lime and soy sauce dressing.

It was delicious! I also made myself a bowl of strawberry and chocolate ‘ice cream’ by blending fresh strawberries with ice cubes, a little bit of yoghurt, some cocoa powder, agave and xanthan gum. I topped my bowl with a sliced strawberry and some chocolate chips.

This was gorgeous but it gave me a taste for chocolate so when we opened the bottle of red wine I ended up getting a bar of german extra dark chocolate from my stash. I ate this half and then the other half!

After this glass of wine I also had two margaritas, then two bowls of cereal and a bowl of muesli. Yes, I went into full binge mode. Not good! I woke up this morning feeling terrible, me and alcohol really don’t mix. Not that I drink very often anyway, but I’m seriously considering going tee total!

This morning I made a detoxifying green monster for breakfast. I blended half a frozen banana and some mixed berries with spinach and soy milk plus some maca powder, matcha green tea powder and some wheat germ. I topped it with goji berries and flaked almonds.

Just what I needed! I also ate two small un pictured cookies I had made as a tester batch for my cookie exchange. They were delicious, I really can’t wait to share the recipe!

For lunch I made myself and the hubby a beef stew.

Beef Stew with Red Wine

• Approx 500g of stewing steak
• 1 tablespoon of plain wholemeal flour
• 1 tablespoon of oil
• 1 chopped yellow onion
• 1 chopped carrot
• 1 chopped parsnip
• 1 glass of red wine
• Vegetable stock
• 1 teaspoon of mixed herbs (I just used some dried oregano)
• 1 tablespoon of tomato puree
• 1 teaspoon of corn flour

Begin by adding the beef and flour to a plastic bag and coating the beef with the flour. Heat the oil in a large pan and gently fry off the onion until transparent. Add the beef and fry for a few minutes until lightly browned. Add the carrot and parsnip followed by the red wine, enough stock to cover the vegetables, tomato puree and herbs. Leave to simmer on the stove on the lowest heat (you could also make this in a slow cooker or in the oven) for two hours. After the two hours is up check the beef – it should be lovely and tender. If the sauce needs to be thicker, mix the corn flour with a little water until it forms a smooth paste. Add this to the pan and turn the heat up until the sauce thickens. Serve with additional vegetables or potatoes.

This was a great recipe, nice and simple which I like and it tasted really good. The beef was tender and the veggies went all soft. I served mine with some steamed broccoli.

The food co op box I got on Friday contained several parsnips. They seemed a bit old so I wanted to get at least a couple of them used this weekend. I came up with this recipe based on the one for my Date, Carrot and Walnut Loaf Cake.

Spiced Parsnip and Apple Bread

• 100g of plain wholemeal flour
• 100g of spelt flour
• 40g of light muscovado sugar
• 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of mixed spice
• 1 large grated parsnip
• 2 small grated cox’s apples (you could use other apples, but a sharp variety like cox’s will work best)
• To top the loaf: 1/2 small chopped apple, tablespoon of chopped walnuts, 1 teaspoon of brown sugar

Pre heat the oven to 180. Line a loaf tin with greaseproof paper. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl then pour into the loaf tin. Top the bread with the apple, walnuts and sugar and bake in the oven for 40 minutes. The top should be lovely and browned so cover it with some foil to prevent over browning. Return to the oven for a further 30 – 40 minutes. As this is a very moist cake a skewer will still come out with a few crumbs on, but it shouldn’t still be doughy. Allow to cool slightly then remove from tin and slice to enjoy warm.

I had a slice of this warm with butter and an apple for my desert. It tasted wonderful. This recipe works so well, the bread is lovely and moist. I’ve frozen the other slices to enjoy for breakfast and snacks as it will be lovely with a bit of nut butter or even maple syrup drizzled on top. Mmm, tastes like autumn on a plate!

For dinner I made a simple salad with spinach, red onion, cucumber, olives, sundried tomatoes and tuna with a little oil from the olive jar as dressing.

I also had some pineapple with fresh chopped basil (sounds weird, tastes great, I got the idea from the Leon cookbook)

More Saturday Shopping

As a mentioned in yesterday’s post I had a little mini spree yesterday! I had been inspired by these images from Sweaty Betty’s Autumn / Winter look book.   As I was after some new workout gear I decided to try TK Maxx as I have found some good things here in the past. I got this blue hoody and blue vest top: Two pairs of leggings – these plain full length ones and another pair exactly the same but cropped.

I really wanted some plain black leggings as I prefer them for working out to sweat pants. I had been considering laying out £30 on some sweaty betty ones and I’m really glad I didn’t. These pairs were £9.99 each and feel really good quality. I hate wearing stuff covered in labels and brands so all this stuff is excellent. I also found a great yoga mat for only £7.99. My old one was leaving bits of purple foam all over my living room so I was glad to find this patterned one on the cheap!

Also pictured are some cheap gloves for running, some lovely pink hand warmers, thick black ribbed tights and a fab pair of black suede style knee length boots which were a complete impulse buy, but at £29.99 I couldn’t help myself! All of these were from H&M. I also got a soft jersey t shirt, a jersey dress and a soft v neck sweater also from H&M:

I think all the items I’ve bought will look great layered with other items I own. I love neutral colours at the moment like these mauves and khaki colours too.

What kind of clothes do you wear when your working out? Do you have a favourite style?

Don’t forget to check out my great GIVEAWAY post! Thanks to everyone who has entered so far. Hope you have all had a great weekend :-)