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Hello everyone, we have reached the weekend yet again! I only wish we were going to be in for some sunshine but its looking like its going to be another wash out here in the UK at least :-(

I’ve had a busy couple of days but eats have been so good! Today I just had one of those days where everything I’ve eaten has been fantastic.

I was starving after the gym this morning, and in a good example of what I was talking about in Monday’s post, I decided to change from what I had in my meal plan and go with what I was craving instead. I had a huge bowl of Dorset Cereal low fat flakes with 2 chopped apples, home made cashew milk (which tasted amazing) and lots of dribbly almond butter:

This so totally hit the spot! I think I’ve found the trick to make cereal more filling and that is adding on the nut butter, this kept me full for ages.

Lunch was some raw wraps filled with smoked tofu, my creamy high protein hummus and alfalfa sprouts plus carrot, sugar snaps and cucumber on the side plus a nectarine:

I have to say I’m not overly keen on the smoked tofu, I think I’ll try the rest of the block and see if it grows on me though.

As I’ve been working from home today I had access to my blender so for a mid afternoon snack I made a raspberry chocolate super food smoothie containing frozen raspberries, vega choc a lot protein powder, water and some maca powder:

This tasted delish and was very filling, I love the raspberry chocolate combo!

Dinner was a rather randomly thought up salad that tasted so good I’ve decided to blog it as a quick recipe!

Warm Sweet Sesame, Sweet Potato and Edamame Salad (serves 1, vegan)

• 1 medium sweet potato
• 1/2 head of broccoli
• 4 asparagus stems
• 1/2 cup of defrosted frozen edamame / soya beans
• 2 cups of spinach

For the sauce:

• 1 tbsp of sweet chilli sauce
• 1 tsp of toasted sesame oil
• 1 inch of fresh ginger, grated
• 1 tbsp of soy sauce
• 1 tbsp of sesame seeds to garnish

Begin by either roasting or microwaving the sweet potato. While the sweet potato is cooking make the sauce by combining all the ingredients together in a small bowl. Chop the broccoli into florets and trim and chop the asparagus into bite size pieces. Lightly steam the broccoli and asparagus so that it still has plenty of bite. Plate up the spinach then top with the steamed broccoli and asparagus, plus the cooked sweet potato chopped into small pieces. Lightly steam the edamame and add to the plate followed by the sauce and the sesame seeds, enjoy!

I just loved this warm salad! The flavours went together so well and I just loved the beautiful green and orange colour.

For dessert I had some Lindt chocolate with Sea Salt and 85% Dark:

Yesterdays breakfast is certainly worth a special mention too:

Toasted farmers market linseed and fig rye bread with PB&Co Mighty Maple Peanut Butter (amazingly good!) plus the most wonderful Blackberry and Apple smoothie. I veganised my original recipe by combining frozen blackberries with a chopped apple, cashew milk and ground flax (plus the usual gums for a little thickness) then topped with some treacle pecan granola, plus a big mug of black tea pigs chocolate flake tea.

Grocery Shop Round Up

I haven’t done too badly on the grocery shop front, as payday is approaching we are down to the last of our budget so I’ve been really trying to just get the essential fresh stuff and make use of things I already have in the cupboards.

Weekend shop: organic carrots, strawberries, mushrooms, cherries, avocado, red and yellow peppers, romaine lettuce, celery x 2, cucumbers x 2, sugar snaps, courgettes, blueberries, tahini, spinach, skimmed milk, frozen mango, cherries and raspberries, 6 happy eggs, large meat feast pizza, cooked ham, US Women’s Health magazine. Plus unpictured toiletries and other household stuff / birthday cards etc. Total: £58

Monday shop: coriander, unwaxed lemons, spring greens, romaine lettuce, spinach, sugar snaps, mushrooms, courgettes, skimmed milk, coffee, sugar, Total: £13

Quick shop yesterday: spring greens, kale, spinach, broccoli, organic carrots, sugar snaps x 2 (yes, I am clearly addicted), asparagus, alfalfa sprouts, organic passata, skimmed milk, high juice, meat feast pizza, sweet potato, unpictured large bag of crushed ice and quorn chicken pieces Total: £20

I think the fact that this has mostly been fresh fruit and veggies is great, however its very interesting (and slightly scary) to see just how much fruit and veg I eat, as most of it is eaten just by me! I guess its fairly obvious what out of this stuff is for me and what is for James ;-)

I’ve also found that we have saved a fortune by buying a large jar of passata tomato sauce instead of branded pasta sauces like Dolmio (which although they have good ingredients lists do contain added sugar). Now I just add some garlic, onion and italian seasoning to the sauce and it tastes great, and better yet, James loves it!

Do you make DIY versions of some of your favourite grocery items at home to save money? Along with the tomato sauce I’m also a fan of making my own hummus and curry sauces instead of the shop bought stuff. As well as saving money, you also tend to avoid the hidden sugars and artificial preservatives that can sometimes be in store made products.

Any big plans for the weekend? I will be meeting the lovely Jessica tomorrow and I’m thinking of moving my usual Saturday morning run to Sunday, mainly because the weather is forecast to be pretty nasty tomorrow, plus my legs are a bit tight so the added day’s rest will do them good!

Hope you have a great weekend and don’t forget - last chance to enter my giveaway for Cosy Tea and Rude Health Goodies, winner announced tomorrow, along with other exciting news!

Well I have had a bit of a nightmare 24 hrs. My laptop has decided to give me the blue screen of death! I've only had it since August so its still within warranty but I'm worried that I'm going to lose stuff that I haven't backed up. I feel totally lost without it! There's been tears and tantrums from me while the hubby has been trying to fix it, I didn't realise how much of my life is on that thing. Luckily the hubby has been kind enough to set me up on his laptop so I can still work and blog. Then, this morning when I went on his laptop to start working I hadn't copied my files over properly on to my memory stick so I had to drive all the way to work and sort that out. I've just had one of those days when everything has went wrong!

Anyway, I'm not going to dwell on it. I read a wonderful quote on Ellies blog this week 'Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional' - I like this way of looking at things, bad things happen, but its up to you how you deal with them. I know thats easy to say when its just about something silly like a laptop but it makes me feel better anyway! I've spent all day comforting myself with food and relieving stress through cooking so I'm begining to feel much better now.

I started the day with a cup of warm water and lemon and then did my Davina DVD for 40 mins. For breakfast I made myself a wonderful smoothie in a bowl with frozen cherries, spinach, chocolate whey and vanilla rice milk. It was so thick and creamy, just wonderful.


Since I was working from home today I thought I would go and do my food shop first thing so that it was out of the way. I ended up with a huge haul:


Plenty of fruit and veggies including strawberries, blackberries and a big pineapple as a treat, milk, edam cheese, natural yoghurt, hummus, regular oats and jumbo rolled oats, frozen fruits, rice cakes, decaf coffee, red lentils, red kidney beans and a couple of new things to try: soba noodles and some Dorset Cereals! The Dorset Cereals were on special offer and I just couldn't resist them. I hope I don't fall foul of the snackies with these, we shall just have to see!

I then sat down to start doing some work and realised my mistake with my files so few in to work and back as quick as possible.

For dinner I decided to indulge in making a big pan of soup:

Pea, Brocolli and Mint Soup (makes 4 servings)

1 large white onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 large head of brocolli broken into florets
About 700g of frozen peas
a large sprig of fresh mint, leaves finely chopped
Hot vegetable stock

Fry of the onion and garlic in the oil on  medium heat. When the onions have softened add the brocolli followed by the hot stock and half of the chopped mint. Simmer for ten minutes then add the frozen peas. Continue to simmer for another 5 minutes until the peas are cooked through and the brocolli is tender. Remove from the heat and blend using blending applicance of choice. Return to pan and heat through, checking seasoning and adding more chopped mint if required. Serve topped with a little more chopped mint.


Another simple and delicious fresh soup, just what I needed today. I had a lovely big bowl of this soup along with a fruit plate of 1 chopped kiwi, 2 strawberries and an orange.


I managed to get a good bit of work done in the afternoon before I took a break for my mid afternoon snack. When I had been shopping earlier I had picked up some blackberries on special offer and had started to dream up this smoothie creation:

Braeburn Apple and Blackberry Smoothie (serves 1):

1 braeburn apple sliced and half chopped
1 small punnet of blackberries
1 small bottle of pressed organic apple juice
4 tablespoons of natural yoghurt

Reserve some slices of apple and a few blackberries if your feeling in the need for something pretty to look at, then blend all ingredients into a smoothie. I served mine with the sliced apple and reserved blackberries as a garnish, what can I say, I find pretty looking food a comfort!


This was bloody gorgeous, so fruity and sweet, just delicious!
For dinner I really fancied a stir fry but I wanted to try something a bit different, so I thought up this recipe:

Chilli Ginger Lime Chicken Stir Fry with Cashews (serves 1 hungry person)

1 chicken breast, chopped into bite sized pieces
Selection of favourite stir frying veggies chopped into bite sized pieces or made into ribbons using peeler
2 teaspoons of grated ginger
2 teaspoons of chopped red chilli (I use lazy chilli from a tube)
1 lime
4 tablespoons of soy sauce
handful of cashews

Create a marinade for the chicken with 1 teaspoon of both the ginger and chilli, the juice of half the lime and 1 tablespoon of soy sauce. Leave the chicken to marinade for a few hours. When ready to make, start by quickly toasting the cashews in a dry wok for a few seconds. Put cashews to one side and fry the chicken in a little oil, adding the veggies depending on how long they take to cook. I used brocolli, asparagus, kale, carrot, courgette and red pepper. Make up a sauce for the stir fry using the rest of the chilli, ginger, lime juice and soy sauce. When the veggies and chicken are cooked transfer to a plate and top with the cashews followed by the sauce. Start eating!


This was really good, the chilli, lime and ginger worked really well. It was a huge portion from all the veggies, but I do like to add extra bulk to my meals that way, so it was just the right size for me. Would work brilliantly with pak choy, bean sprouts and steamed fish as well. Total foodgasm!

For desert I decided to try out Ellies suggestion and microwave some of my Berries and Cherries Dorset Cereal with a little water and serve with some greek yoghurt.


Thanks for the tip Ellie, this was gorgeous!

Drinks - water, green tea, jasmine green tea, decaf tea, decaf coffee

Well what a day! My cooking antics are all that has kept me me sane. I'm just so worried about being without my laptop, I hope that it can be repaired quickly.

Tomorrow I'm going to have to work extra hard to make up for the time I lost today trying to sort out the laptop! At least theres only one day left of the working week. Hope you are all having a good one, send me positive vibes for my laptop! x