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I couldn’t believe how gorgeous the weather was when I woke up on Saturday morning, I literally bounced out of bed! I made a very tasty breakfast of apple and berry porridge (1/2 cup of rude health fruity date oats, 1/2 cup of rice milk, 1 cup of water, 1tbsp of chia seeds, 1 chopped apple and frozen berries cooked on stove top) topped with 2 tablespoons of peanut flour and 1 spoonful of smooth peanut butter mixed with water. I also had a raspberry coffee with agave and rice milk:

I got the raspberry coffee from Square Orange Foods in case anyone’s interested, its just delicious!

We headed over to Newcastle and as the weather was so nice I decided to wear shorts!

Black blazer: Oasis, Breton stripe top: Warehouse, khaki shorts: Florence and Fred, tights: M&S, bag: H&M, flats: Dorothy Perkins

I did some grocery shopping in Newcastle that included picking up two giant kabocha squash from Waitrose and a load of veggies from the market. I was using the last of my grocery money until payday but luckily I managed to stay in budget.

After visiting the family we came home for lunch. I had some delicious Clearspring shoyu soya ramen noodles with carrot, sugar snaps and cherries:

My best friend and her little girl came round for the afternoon, we spent half the time in the kitchen going through my cupboards and drawers explaining what half of the strange jars and packets of powders are! I sent her home with some Conscious raw chocolate to try :-)

Late afternoon I drank a big green juice containing 2 kiwis, broccoli, japanese spinach, celery, cucumber and lemon.

This weeks organic veg box included a lovely cauliflower. While deciding what to make with it I was thinking about a wonderful nutty rice side dish that my favourite Indian restaurant used to serve and I came up with this:

Sweet and nutty cauliflower ‘rice’ and lentils (makes 2 large servings)

• 1 tbsp of coconut oil (or other oil for frying)
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 tsp of garam masala
• 1 tsp of ground cinnamon
• 1 head of cauliflower
• 1 tin of green lentils, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp of ground almonds
• 2tbsp of desiccated coconut
• 2 tbsp raisins
• Toasted flaked almonds for garnish

Begin by making the cauliflower ‘rice’. Break the cauliflower into florets and finely chop in a food processor until the mix resembles rice. Put to one side. In a large pan fry the onion in the coconut oil on a medium heat until softened. Add the spices and continue to fry for another minute or so. Add the lentils, cauliflower rice and salt. Continue to stir fry the mixture for a couple of minutes until warmed through. Add the ground almonds, desiccated coconut and raisins. Fry for a further two minutes until all the ingredients are well combined and the raisins have become plump. Serve:

I served this with my favourite steamed greens with ginger and shoyu. This is seriously good! I feel extra chuffed when something that I’ve came up with completely by myself (as suppose to being adapted or based on another recipe) actually tastes so good, my confidence in the kitchen is really increasing. It really is sweet, nutty and delicious! You could of course make this with proper rice in place of the cauliflower. I didn’t add any extra carbs into this meal as it was super filling as it was and I had a really big portion!

Dessert was a small bowl of Freedom chocolate ‘ice cream’ with a little granola on top:

This morning I was up nice and early for my run. I had my usual orange and 3 big juicy medjool dates for fuel then headed out. I did 8 miles in 1hr 15 minutes with an average pace of 9.25. It was an awesome run! I was a bit cold throughout as I had thought that after yesterdays warmer weather it would be nicer than it actually was so I just wore a thinner top and left my woollen mittens at home. It was in fact quite windy and cold so the fact that I managed such an improvement on last weeks 9.58 pace was fantastic (although last weeks route was very hilly). I really love it when you have those runs and you just feel like your flying :-)

When I got home I stretched, showered and made myself an awesome smoothie. This contained romaine lettuce, frozen banana, 2 nectarines, 2 ice cubes, a sachet of spiru-tein greens powder, mesquite, ground flax, last of my matcha green tea (sob), 2 large spoonfuls of crunchy peanut butter, water, xanthan gum and guar gum. I topped it with some peanut flour sauce, goji berries, hemp seeds and cacao nibs:

This smoothie rocked my face off! It was utter awesomeness. I has this bowl plus the now usual overflow. I also enjoyed a big pot of Japanese sencha cherry green tea.

Lunch was a slice of toasted quinoa and amaranth bread with cheesy avocado mash, carrot sticks, sugar snaps and plums:

I had another big green juice mid afternoon, same as yesterdays but with a pear in place of the kiwi’s. I had done all my jobs for the day so decided to relax and sip it from a wine glass:

What can I say I’m just classy like that ;-)

Dinner was the second serving of my Sweet and Nutty Cauliflower and Lentils. Dessert was two chopped apples and some Plain Dark Plamils Chocolate:

This chocolate is delicious, really dark just how I like it!

This weekends kitchen projects have included making up a batch of sesame milk, plain hummus, pearl barley for my grain of the week and in an effort to sort out my nuts and dried fruit box (yes, I have a box in my kitchen dedicated to my nuts and dried fruit collection!) a giant jar of home mixed muesli. I can not wait to eat a big bowl of it with the sesame milk for breakfast in the morning – it is jam packed with some of my favourite nuts, seeds and dried fruits! I’ve also made something amazing with the leftover sesame mush from making the milk which I can’t wait to share with you, I just have my fingers crossed that my randomly put together recipe has worked!

I’m still buzzing from my fab run this morning and the fact I completed my first assignment for my course and that I have a fairly relaxed and short week ahead at work is making me smile this evening!

What’s making you smile today?

Hope you’ve all had a great weekend :-)