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Hi everyone, hope you’ve been having a great weekend!

I was up at the crack of dawn on Saturday to get my weekend run out of the way. I decided to go for a slightly shorter distance than I’ve ran the last couple of weeks as I needed to be home, washed and dressed to meet up with my Mam. I thought it would be good to run 10k and see what kind of pace I could manage. I did it in 55 minutes! I was over the moon, for the first time ever my average pace was below 9 min miles – I got it down to 8.54 (last week was 9.25!) I was extremely happy with that :-)

The rest of the weekend has been quite relaxed which is just what I’ve needed. I’ve enjoyed two delicious green smoothies for breakfast each day as part of my 7 days 7 smoothies challenge:

Tropical Green Smoothie (makes one large serving):

• 3 cups of spinach
• 1 frozen banana
• 1 cup of frozen mango
• 2 tbsp of vanilla hemp protein powder
• 1 tbsp of mesquite (optional)
• 1 tbsp of desiccated coconut
• 1 tsp of maca (optional)
• 1 tsp of spirulina (optional)
• 1/2 cup of rice milk – coconut milk or coconut water would be better!
• water – to desired thickness
• 1/2 tsp of xanthan and guar gum (optional, adds thickness)

Toppings:

• Coconut flour sauce (made with 1 heaped tsp of coconut flour and water)
• Hemp seeds
• Goji berries

This was yummy!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Green Smoothie (makes one very large serving):

• 3 – 4 cups of kale, romaine and lambs lettuce (I just used what greens needed using up)
• 1 frozen banana
• 2 nectarines
• 2 ice cubes
• 1 scoop of chocolate protein powder (I used sun warrior) 
• 2 tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter
• 1 tbsp of cocoa powder or raw cacao powder
• 1 tsp maca (optional)
• 1 tsp of ground flax (optional)
• water – to desired thickness
• 1 tsp xanthan and guar gum (optional but adds thickness)

Toppings:

• Peanut flour sauce
• Chocolate peanut flour sauce (PB2+cacao powder + agave+water)
• Cacao nibs
• grape nuts cereal

This was seriously one delicious smoothie! As usual I ended up with a bowl and a half worth – so filling, tasty and nutritious! I find that nectarines / peaches give green smoothies a nice neutral tasting sweetness and bulk that won’t over powder the other ingredients.

I’ve also been drinking fresh green juices each afternoon for the last four days, my favourite green juice combo is pear, celery, cucumber, spinach / romaine, broccoli and lemon / ginger. It tastes delicious!

Other foodie highlights this weekend include this eggless veggie omelette:

I made up some standard socca batter and added two tablespoons of nutritional yeast and a pinch of salt. I then fried some red onion until it caramelised, yellow pepper and courgette and poured the cheesy socca batter on top of the veggies and fried up as usual. I served it up with a side salad and more nutritional yeast on top. This worked really well! I used to eat vegetable and cheese omelettes all the time before I decided to eat mostly vegan, I can see me making these regularly! 

Dinner both evenings has been a lovely combo of stir fried asparagus, purple sprouting broccoli and spring onion with millet and adzuki beans served with some of my squash dip and steamed greens / kale with shoyu:

This tasted really good, the squash dip on the side just made it all the yummier! I’ve really been enjoying making up one big dish with planned leftovers for the next day, its been saving me so much time in the kitchen!

Last night I satisfied my sweet tooth with strawberries, figs and Lindt 85% dark chocolate:

Loved the extra dark chocolate, I still want to try the 99% version!

I’ve also been buying a couple of spring wardrobe updates. On Friday I spotted this lovely  blush coloured simple coat and ultra skinny jeans in H&M:

I adore the jeans – they have a zip fastening up the back, they aren’t stretchy like jeggings but they fit like a glove. The coat is perfect for this time of year: warm but in a nice pale spring like colour. I’ve also been checking out eBay in search of second hand bargains. As I’m trying to save cash and wanting to try and be more environmentally friendly I thought I’d see what I could pick up second hand. I got this great floral print skirt for just £3.50 including postage:

I had seen a floral print skirt in New Look for £22 but I like this even better! It will look great paired with a simple t-shirt. Do you buy clothes from eBay? Its been a bit hit and miss for me in the past but I think I’ve developed a better skill for noticing items that will work for me.

I’m glad I’ve been able to have a relaxed weekend as I have a crazy busy week at work ahead including two late night meetings. I think I’ll be making up lots of ‘planned leftovers’ type meals to see me through – along with my green smoothies to keep my energy levels up of course! I’ll be sneaking in workouts when I can manage them too.

I’m also waiting to see how I react to the clocks going forward – I was really enjoying waking up to daylight but I guess I’ll have to wait a couple of weeks for the sun to rise at 6am again! At least we get nice bright evenings instead :-) Does the clocks going forward affect you?