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Happy Friday! Have we all had a good week? Mine has been excellent…

Last week I had mentioned that I was looking forward to an event at work. The project that I manage was funded for a set period of time and it is finishing at the end of March (I work for a charity). Luckily I still have a job after this time, at least for a few months, but we wanted to hold an event to celebrate the project and decided to put on an afternoon tea with a bit of a 1940’s theme. We hired in lots of vintage cake stands, tea pots and tea cups, decked the hall out with red, white and blue bunting, had spring flowers on the tables and even had some entertainment from a lady singing old music hall songs by Judy Garland and Vera Lynn! It was a fantastic event…

I was a bit let down on the catering, I had been told they were going to make me some special vegan cookies but they hadn’t. I was still happy though as I got some hummus salad sandwiches and soya cream filled brandy snaps (I had those times at least 10!) Plus I shared a couple of pots of green tea with my colleague. Of course as it was 1940’s themed we all decided to dress up:

OOTD: vintage dress: Beyond Retro, black peep toe shoes: Office

I tried to do my hair in a 1940’s style with a ‘victory roll’ at the front, not sure how well I managed it but I was happy with how it looked considering I just did it myself in 15 minutes! It was just a fab event and everyone that attended said they had enjoyed themselves!

Other tastiness from this week includes:

Vanilla Cookie Dough Green Smoothie (spinach, scoop of vanilla sun warrior, scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough spiru-tein protein powder, maca, ground flax, water, ice) topped with walnuts, figs and bee pollen

Chocolate Cherry Green smoothie (kale, frozen cherries, chocolate hemp protein powder, maca, ground flax, water, ice) topped with peanut flour sauce and cacao nibs

 Honey and hemp muffin, pear, plain Coyo, honey

Seitan Sausage (made with Italian herbs and sundried tomatoes) with brown rice and broccoli

Stir fried veggies with edamame, ginger, soy and sweet chilli sauce

My veggie chilli with added soy mince and steamed greens

Strawberries and plain Coyo yoghurt (tasted like strawberries and cream, so decadent!)

So lots of amazing eats!

Workouts have just been my usual:

• Sunday – AM treadmill run 5k, 20 minute bike, kettlebell class
• Monday – AM 5 min cross trainer warm up, strength workout B from ‘Dial it in’ phase of Female Body Breakthrough, 10 min HIIT step machine, 10 min HIIT bike
• Tuesday – Yoga class
• Wednesday – AM 5 min cross trainer warm up, strength workout A from ‘Dial it in’ phase of Female Body Breakthrough, 10 min HIIT step machine, 10 min HIIT bike
• Thursday – Yoga class
• Friday – AM 5 min cross trainer warm up, strength workout B from ‘Dial it in’ phase of Female Body Breakthrough, 10 min HIIT step machine, 10 min HIIT bike

I feel like I’m getting into a really good routine now :-)

On my weekend send off love list this week…

Getting ready to be inked!

Yesterday I got my tattoo finished off. Its still a little red so I’m waiting until its better healed before I post a picture but lets just say it looks fantastic and I’m very happy with it! Also…

 The Little Paris Kitchen, not the most vegan friendly cooking show but I love the whole style of everything in it! // Becoming a member of the Diary Free Dream Team – please check it out, I’ll be writing regular articles! // yoga, I’ve enjoyed my classes so much this week

Before I go, next week I’m planning on doing another green smoothie challenge for at least 7 days. I did one about the same time last year and really enjoyed it! This lovely fresh spring weather is making me crave them and I’m feeling the need to get back to basics with some of my eats, to me there’s no better way to start that than with a daily dose of green. If your up for it feel free to join in and let me know if you’d like me to link to any of your posts. I’ll be starting on Sunday I think!

What have you been loving this week?

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 :-)

Hi everyone, hope your enjoying yourself this Wednesday!

As always I’m joining in the WIAW party! These are my eats from Monday, I like to try and do different days for WIAW as I tend to eat different things / amounts depending on the day. I thought that since the theme is green this month I’d look at one of my green loves – green tea!

I got up and had my usual mug of warm water with lemon juice then tried to get as organised as possible before going to the gym. Every other week we have a team meeting first thing on a Monday morning so I need to get into work a.s.a.p. I made sure I had my lunch and snacks ready in the fridge and laid out my outfit for the day:

T shirt: Primark (only £3!), black skinny trousers: Gap, white vest: H&M, heart patterned socks: Accessorize, black exposed zip boots: New Look (not pictured)

That’s my current favourite tee, I love the summery print!

Then I headed to the gym. I started a new phase of Female Body Breakthrough starting with 5 minutes warm up on the cross trainer followed by strength training (including planks again!) and finishing with 20 minutes of HIIT on the step machine and bike. As I didn’t have time for a proper breakfast I made a very quick but extremely delicious vanilla protein frappe:

This was just ice, instant coffee, a scoop of vanilla sun warrior protein powder, a pinch of xanthan gum and water blended up. It was lush, cheaper and more convenient than Starbucks and was enough to satisfy my hunger and get me out the door. Once I was at work I made a big mug of green tea before the team meeting. After the meeting I had breakfast no 2:

A pink lady apple and a Gourmet Raw cacao cocobanana chocolate brownie plus you guessed it, another mug of green tea! I love that I can eat a brownie for breakfast as these are just so healthy. Lunch was a great salad based on my Confetti Quinoa Salad:

I mixed some leftover quinoa with hemp oil, apple cider vinegar, parsley and dried blueberries and added to a salad of cos lettuce, carrot and red cabbage. After lunch I had a green tea with chai.

For my afternoon snack I had brought some carrots and raw almond butter but I was feeling pretty hungry so when I saw a banana going spare in the kitchen I nabbed that too:

I also had yet another green tea!

Dinner was a big stir fry. I had picked up veggies from the green grocer at the weekend including choi sum and diakon. I also added some broccoli, carrot and mange tout to the mix along with a generous amount of the peanut lime sauce I’d made at the weekend and some leftover baked tempeh:

For a delicious dessert I had two plums topped with Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut butter plus a liquorice and cinnamon tea:

They were amazing! That Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut butter should come with a warning label its so addictive! The one time I don’t drink my green tea is in the evening as it does have a little bit of caffeine in it so I tend to go for my fave herbal blends.

I realised when I looked in my drawer at work that I may have a minor green tea problem:

I have a lot more at home too, at least I won’t be running out of that any time soon!

I started drinking green tea about 4 years ago and as of about 3 years ago I completely swapped my regular milky black tea for green tea. I love my spiced and herbal blends but some times I just want something that tastes neutral and fresh. The benefits of drinking green tea are numerous and include:

• High in catechins which have been shown to halt oxidative damage to cells
• Reduced risk for several cancers, including, skin, breast, lung, colon, esophageal, and bladder
• Can improve insulin sensitivity
• Can provide bone density benefits similar to exercise
• Promotes fat loss
• Increases exercise endurance

source

I always feel healthier for drinking green tea! As well as drinking as a tea, brewed and cooled tea makes a great liquid base for smoothies and even as the cooking water for grains like rice and oats to impart a delicate green tea flavour.

My favourite brands are:

• Clipper - my everyday green tea
• Clearspring’s Kuricha – has a lovely roasted taste and is very low in caffeine
• Pukka Green tea with chai
• Twinnings
• We Are Tea
• Cosy Tea jasmine and lemon green teas
• Teavivre loose leaf greens that I’m currently sampling
• Tea Pigs amazing matcha!

Are you a fan of green tea? Do you have a favourite type or brand?

Don’t forget to check out my Chocolate Hemp shake GIVEAWAY!

Hi folks, hope your enjoying a blissful weekend! So far mine has been a good one indeed. There has been coffee…

…and an outdoor run and get this, with James! He decided to come out with me this morning and run a couple of loops around the block. Why is it that some one that doesn’t do a lot of exercise other than walking can run way faster than me? Damn those long legs of his ;-) He’s definitely a born sprinter. He hasn’t ran with me in the past as he has problems with his knees but we are thinking if he builds up slowly he might be ok. I continued on after that and did perhaps 3.5 – 4.5 miles – not sure what time as I was sans Garmin but it was just good to be running outside! Afterwards I came home and did this 30 minute yoga power flow from You Tube, so many chaturangas!

I have to say I feel like I’ve out done myself this weekend with the eats, I’ve made some delicious stuff! It all started on Friday evening when I made a Thai Green Soya Bean Noodle Bowl. I’ve made this a couple of times over the last few months and it is quickly becoming my favourite meal! I though it was about time I shared the recipe properly:

Thai Green Soya Bean Noodle Bowl (vegan, serves 1 hungry person or 2 normal people ;-)

• 2 tbsp Thai green curry paste (I use Thai Taste which is vegan)
• 1 inch piece fresh ginger, grated
• Approx 150ml coconut milk – I used full fat but light would be fine too
• Clearspring Soya Sauce Ramen Noodles – 1 pack of noodles and soya sauce pack (or use pre cooked or other noodles of choice and soy sauce)
• 1/2 cup frozen soya beans, thawed
• 1 cup roast squash (I use Kabocha but butternut would be equally as good)
• 1 heaping cup shredded spring greens

In a big wok or frying pan, gently fry off the ginger and curry paste in a little oil (I used coconut oil) over a medium heat. Once the paste has become fragrant (about 2 minutes) add the coconut milk and stir to combine. Add your noodles to the pan (if your using the ramen noodles or other dried noodles) and add some hot water from the kettle – just enough to cover the noodles, and simmer until the noodles are cooked. Add the sachet of soya sauce from the ramen noodle pack (or add a tbsp of soy sauce) and stir before adding the soya beans. Add your squash (and noodles if using pre cooked ones) and then pile the shredded greens on top. Allow the greens to wilt a bit in the heat then stir them into the broth which should be fairly thick. Once the greens are tender serve in a large bowl or ladle out into two regular size bowls:

Seriously this is so so good, in fact it could be a contender for my favourite meal ever especially when made with the full fat coconut milk. Its also very quick to make if you have the squash roasted and ready to go and you could probably just add the beans frozen straight into the pan and just simmer a little longer. Absolutely delish!

For breakfast yesterday I decided to make use of the coconut milk leftover from the noodle bowl by following this method for making acai cultured coconut yoghurt! I had a sample of acai powder from an iHerb order so thought I would give it ago after making my own very simple coconut yoghurt a couple of weeks ago (just by refrigerating full fat coconut milk). I had some with blueberries, buckwheaties, pecans and maple syrup:

It was wonderful! I think if I made this again I would leave it out of the fridge somewhere warm overnight so it would ferment a bit more to develop more yoghurt like tang.

Lunch yesterday was a simple but really nice salad with spinach, romaine, red pepper, roast kabocha a sprinkle of fresh parsley and some tahini dressing:

I made the dressing really quickly in a jar by mixing tahini with lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, garlic, sweet white miso and water so I have enough for a few meals. I added some to another special meal I made this weekend, raw curried cauliflower with herbed socca and roast purple sprouting broccoli:

I’d been wanting to try the raw cauliflower ever since I saw this recipe on Some Like It Raw and it didn’t disappoint! I made a few amendments adding some coconut and a few chopped dried unsulphured apricots to the mix instead of the honey. For the spices I used turmeric, garam masala and cumin. It was well nice, and the socca turned out brilliantly too, especially dipped in that tahini dressing :-)

Other snackies include:

Raw snack plate with persimmons, apples, raw chocolate covered raisins and raw granola pieces

Blueberries, apple, peanut flour sauce, chopped dark chocolate buttons

Veggies, blue corn chips and sunflower butter and miso dipping sauce (the chips dipped in the sauce, so good!)

Of course there has also been green juices and green smoothies consumed too! Yesterday we took a quick trip into town to pick up a couple of things:

Feeling the pink, OOTD (haha caught a bit off guard!) leather look hooded jacket: Topshop, pink jersey wrap around scarf: Topshop, floral blouse: Oasis, coral Cambridge style satchel: H&M, gold chunky ring: Topshop, skinny ‘Baxter’ jeans: Topshop, biker style boots: Oasis

After town I called into a tattooist to discuss my ideas for my tattoo! Getting a half sleeve tattoo is on my wish list for 2012 and I want to make sure I have it done well before the summer as I want to show it off! I have another appointment to go in next weekend and finalise my design and arrange a date for my first sitting. Excited would be an understatement! Other than that I’ve been cooking up stuff again (including a great recipe I’ll share tomorrow), watching Family Guy Star Wars, painting my toe nails pink and reading Eat Pray Love. Good times!

How has your weekend been? What would you say is your current favourite meal? My favourite foods tend to change depending on the season and that Thai Green Curry is just everything I want in a meal right now!

Hi everyone, hope your enjoying your Sunday evening and have had a lovely weekend! I feel like I’ve barely stopped but I have had a great time :-) Today I’ve been Christmas shopping with my Mam, we’ve had a wonderful day!

OOTD: knitted headband: Primark, black hooded leather jacket: Topshop, jumper: Primark, panther pendant necklace: Primark, black bag: H&M, skinny jeans: H&M, black suede effect boots: H&M

I got plenty of presents bought and picked out a couple of things for myself from my parents, I am an exceptionally lucky girl! I got to try the Starbucks Praline Mocha (with soy of course) and it was delicious. We also had lunch at the Chinese Buffet:

Spicy cucumber pickle, sesame carrot salad and some other kind of pickle! 

My favourite Mapo Tofu (check out those massive chunks of tofu!) crispy fried greens and wantons which unfortunately after biting into them I discovered contained cheese. I had this plate x 2 :-)

Fruit plate for dessert

I do like the Chinese buffet but I have a pretty laid back approach to my veganism, I think if you worry about cross contamination of your foods it would definitely not be for you. I had thought the wantons were vegan but I didn’t freak out when I tasted the cheese, I just know not to have them again! That tofu and those pickles are worth going back for though!

Yesterday I started the day at the gym. I had been hoping to run outside but it was wet and windy and quite frankly I couldn’t be arsed so I went to the gym to run on the treadmill. In typical fashion, as soon as I arrived at the gym the sun came out! I was actually happy that I managed to stay on the treadmill as long as I did. I did 10k in 52.20 doing 0.25 mile speed changes and sprints between 6.7 and 8.2 mph. I finished off with 10 minutes on the bike to cool down.

Last night we went to see a guitarist called Aynsley Lister play at The Cluny. We went early so we could have some dinner. I had the vegan chilli with a few chunky chips some salad I pinched off James plate:

It contained chickpeas, mushrooms, peppers and spinach and it was hot hot hot! Perfect for a blustery night! On the way out of the gig we bumped into Simon King from the Hairy Bikers at the bar! He is so tall, I really like the Hairy Bikers cookery shows, I wish I could have stopped and talked to him properly!

Other tasty eats from this weekend include:

Creamy orange, cranberry and macadamia porridge (made without the greek yoghurt or rice milk) – so gorgeous!

Millet bread with home made mixed roasted and salted nut butter (one with Clearspring Cherry jam and one with honey) carrots and pears

Teriyaki marinaded and baked tempeh with stir fried shredded brussel sprouts and broccoli in a sesame oil and chilli dressing, roast kabocha squash and roast beets

The leftover baked tempeh crumbled in a salad with cos lettuce, carrot and red cabbage with a dressing made from sesame oil, braggs, lazy chilli and agave

Yum yum! Well I am sitting here writing this listening to Christmas songs, I’m definitely well and truly into the Christmas spirit! I see that people are starting to receive their Secret Santa gifts – it is absolutely wonderful that I’ve been able to spread a little happiness! I have had a few emails from people who have had issues getting them out, so please don’t panic if you haven’t received yours yet! I’ll be trying to chase up all my emails this evening and will hopefully get caught up with responding to comments and my Google reader tonight and tomorrow. Busy weekends like this always leave me playing catch up!

Have you had a good weekend? Buffet restaurants, yey or nay? I was really pleased with myself as its the first time ever I’ve been to a buffet restaurant and a) haven’t hugely over eaten and b) haven’t felt guilty for what I did eat. Even though I had 4 plates of food I didn’t leave with a food baby, result!

Right, I’m off to try and get myself organised for the week ahead! Hope you have a great one!