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Happy Wednesday! Hope your having a great week. I’m back for WIAW as usual, interesting challenge this month although I think I get more than my fair share of veggies! I thought I’d give you my eats from last Sunday for a change, not loads of veggies but still a good few…

After a short lie in I got up and had the usual warm water with lemon then ate a lovely banana for some gym fuel:

I headed to the gym and did 4 miles on the treadmill (3 miles of my usual interval style workout and then 1 mile cool down) 20 minutes on the cross trainer and then my Kettlebell class. The class was an absolute killer! Our instructor usually gives us a couple of breaks but we had to go the whole way through and it was tough!

After the gym I fixed myself a little brunch starting with a vanilla protein frappuccino made with 1 scoop of vanilla sun warrior protein powder, instant coffee, water and ice:

It was delicious! I also had a couple of slices of my wholemeal bread toasted with cashew butter and fresh strawberries:

Love nut butter and strawberries on toast for a fresh twist on PB&J!

After that I just chilled out watching Dexter with James (we watched the whole of season 3 over the weekend!) then made myself my regular weekend green juice:

This was 1 cucumber, some celery, a pear and ginger with a little bit of raw apple cider vinegar added for good measure. I usually don’t add fruit to my green juices but I had some pears that were going bad and needed using up, it added a nice sweetness to the juice.

Then I decided to make one of my favourite ever soups, Pea, Broccoli and Pesto! I made a huge pan of it and had a big bowl for a late lunch alongside a pile of my raw juice and nut pulp crackers:

I just love how spring like that soup tastes and the raw crackers were delicious too. I’d flavoured them with dried rosemary again, so good.

A little later I felt a bit snacky so ate an apple:

Then I started to make my cookies for Tam’s Cookie Exchange! Cat, my exchange partner is gluten intolerant so I had to get my thinking cap on for what I could make her. I decided to go with one of my favourite flavour combinations – Banana, Coconut and Chocolate:

• 1 cup gluten free buckwheat and rice flakes (I used Sainsbury’s brand, you could sub with gluten free oats)
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 cup desiccated coconut
• 1/3 cup of brown sugar
• 1/4 cup dark choc chips
• 1/4 cup rapeseed oil
• 2 large mashed bananas (equal to one cup once mashed)
• 1/4 cup apple sauce

Pre heat the oven to 180. Mix all the ingredients together in a big bowl then take heaped tablespoons of the dough, roll and press down on to a greased baking sheet (should make 12 – 14 cookies) Cook for 20-25 minutes until browned and firm to the touch. Leave to cool on a baking rack (they will firm up more as they cool). Devour! 

These taste awesome, dense sweet chewy goodness! I let them cool and then packaged up to send to Cat, along with a card and the recipe. Hope she enjoys them!

For dinner I steam fried some carrot, red pepper and spring greens and added a lazy peanut ginger garlic sauce (peanut flour, soy sauce, ground ginger, garlic granules) and topped with some pan fried tofu that I’d pressed and marinated earlier:

I just love crispy tofu! The lazy peanut sauce was excellent too, I called it lazy cause I just used the dry spices rather than preparing the fresh ones! For dessert I just had to have one of those cookies for taste testing purposes of course ;-) I also had some leftover strawberries and a pink lady apple:

So all in all a great day of eats!

I love that I have the time to make a fresh juice at the weekend, they are a great way to add extra veggies to your diet.

What’s your favourite way to sneak in additional veggies?

I’m not going to mention too much more about the snow even though I could fill a whole post! Its still here, its still very thick and deep but luckily I have managed to get out and about so I don’t end up with cabin fever!

Yesterday I was super happy that my gym was open. So happy that I walked up there in the bitterly (and I mean bitterly) cold to get in a good workout. I did 30 minutes on the treadmill: first 5 minutes at 6mph, next 5 at 6.5mph then next 5 at 7mph, then repeated. I then did 20 minutes on the step machine, cross trainer and bike for a total 1hr 30 minute cardio workout. I felt great afterwards – more just for getting out of the flat! Today has been a rest day then tomorrow I’m heading back for a good HIIT workout followed by some weights and core work on the stability ball.

Thanks for the comments with links to at home workouts, even thought I didn’t have to use them I now have some great ideas for home workouts if I fancy a change from doing DVD’s. Here’s the links to the resources. Thanks to Alison, Laura and Jo for pointing me in the right direction!

Body Rock TV – great body inspiration!

Ross Training – ideas for home work outs and DIY equipment

Figure Athlete – Rachel Cosgrove Metabolic workout

Food has been really tasty these past few days. I think I’ve been a little more creative than usual with being at home.

Breakfasts:

  Mixed berry cinnamon oats in a jar followed by a vanilla chai coffee

Dorset Cereals Toasted Spelt Muesli with mixed frozen fruits and a chopped apple with soy milk

Yesterdays and today’s lunch has been this salad beast:

I wasn’t kidding when I said I have been craving raw veggies! Salad contained watercress, spinach, carrot, red cabbage, cucumber, green chilli, red onion, raw cauliflower topped with Jalapeño hummus. So good and amazingly filling – I was left with a serious food baby after eating these! I also enjoyed the heat from the chilli in the salad, great way of eating something fresh but still getting some of that cold weather comfort. I’ve followed lunch with plenty of fresh fruit like this orange and sliced apple:

I had a very tasty mid afternoon snack: Rachel’s Organic Greek Yoghurt with flaked almonds and honey:

Last nights dinner was some Lentil and Root Veg Stew with roast brussels and some steamed cavolo nero plus two plums:

Tonight I made some Kabocha and Adzuki bean stew and served it with some steamed broccoli and cavolo nero, toasted seeds and parsley.

I love this simple dish. Kabocha squash is so delicious, when I saw it in Waitrose last week I bought it even though I knew I would have to lug it around with me for two hours while I shopped! I have loads left over so I’m going to try making a simple soup and a twist on my Butternut Smoothie.

Tonight’s desert was some tofutti vanilla ice cream with one of Tam’s cherry chocolate chip cookies from the cookie exchange out of the freezer:

So yummy!

I have my lovely hubby off for the weekend so earlier we had a drive to my parents to help them put their Christmas tree up, that’s my Dad and little nephew:

I felt really festive! Next weekend is going to be a bit of a baking weekend. I’ve been asked to make some low carb / sugar baked treats for my Grandma who is diabetic. I’m also going to make some vegan almond and quinoa muffins for James as he loves anything almond flavoured, and some gingerbread cookies. I can’t wait!

I’ve also been looking at turkey alternatives for Christmas lunch. If your a vegetarian or vegan what is your favourite turkey replacement for Christmas lunch? I’m thinking either lentil loaf, seitan (I still have the vital wheat gluten I ordered from the states) or some kind of legume and grain cutlets.

Happy Friday! Does today feel like a Saturday to anyone else? I think my routines are going to be totally messed up this week now, not that I’m complaining I love that we get a 4 day weekend! I got my Easter break off to a good start with some baking:

Those would be home made vegan wholemeal apple, cinnamon, raisin hot cross buns! I’ll post the recipe soon. I had one warm from the oven with vegan spread and black cherry jam, it was delicious! I’ve taken some to my parents and my friends this afternoon and they’ve all gone down well there too :-)

I’ve had lots of other lovely meals this week including:

Breakfasts

Raw buckwheat (soaked overnight) with strawberries, dates, hemp milk and raw cacao granola

Leftover brown and red rice, chopped apple, raisins, hemp milk and sunflower seed butter with cinnamon and hazelnut coffee

Raw oats, soy milk, nectarine, frozen blueberries and Earl Grey tea with soy milk

Lunches and Dinners

Buddha bowl with brown and red rice, pinto beans, red onion, olives, avocado and steamed broccoli – this tasted amazing, avocado just makes anything taste extra special!

Baked tofu salad with balsamic dressing

Thai Curry Edamade Noodle bowl but made with Thai red curry paste and some miracle noodles I’d bought from iHerb to try

So much yumminess!

This week I also received my cookies as part of Tam’s fantastic cookie exchange! Cat sent me a wonderful package of vegan delights including peanut cookies, chocolate chip cookies and snicker doodles! They all taste incredible! I tried a few, froze the rest and used some of the snicker doodle crumbs as a topping for some raspberry and hemp milk ‘ice cream’ with peanut sauce and cacao nibs:

I’ve never had snicker doodles before and oh my god these are insanely good!

Workouts this week have been pretty much the usual:

• Sunday – AM gym – 4 miles relaxed treadmill run, 20 minutes cross trainer, kettle bell 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 – PM Body Pump class 
• Wednesday – AM 5 min cross trainer warm up, strength workout A from Base phase of Female Body Breakthrough, 10 min HIIT step machine, 10 min HIIT bike
• Thursday – AM 1 hour Power Yoga workout from You Tube
• 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’ve now finished 4 weeks of doing the Dial it in workouts from Female Body Breakthrough so I’m happy I’ll be moving on to the next phase and some fresh exercises next week!

On the weekend send off love list this week…

Baking supplies!

I’m planning on making some chocolate fudge cupcakes this weekend and thought these pretty pastel sugar butterflies would be perfect for decorating them! Also…

Enjoying a three day week! // getting used to my iPad and playing with new photo apps // watching Dexter season 3 // having fun with my nephews today :-)

How are you planning to spend the Easter weekend? What’s on your love list this week?

I had another hour of pain this morning thanks to the 30 Day Shred. I did Level 1 and 2 back to back and I was utterly exhausted by the end of it. Thankfully nothing a good breakfast couldn’t fix:

I made Berry Cinnamon Matcha Protein Porridge. It contained 1/2 cup of rude health fruity date porridge, 1/2 cup of soy milk, 1/2 cup of water, 6 tablespoons of liquid egg whites, teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon of matcha green tea powder, defrosted mixed berries and a spoonful of smooth peanut butter to almost finish the jar (ready for oats in a jar!). This was just delicious and so filling! The egg whites add even more creaminess and staying powder.

Lunch and mid afternoon snack were the same as yesterday – kale, apple, carrot and courgette quinoa salad with flaked almonds, an orange and carrot and cucumber with white bean dip.

For dinner I made a veggie egg scramble with red onion, courgette and mushroom scrambled with an egg and two egg whites and plenty of grated edam cheese. I served it on top of lots of spinach.

Great quick and healthy dinner.

For desert I had a real treat: cookies! I have been taking part in the lovely Tam’s cookie exchange and today I received my cookies from Tamzin herself. How I didn’t eat these at work I’ll never know. They came beautifully packaged:

 

I had two with a tea pigs creme caramel soy latte and a chopped apple.

Holy yum! They have dark chocolate chips and cherries in them (my fave) and a lovely cakey texture, delicious!

I had also sent Tam her cookies yesterday. After much deliberation I decided to amend a recipe I’d came across with something I’d noticed Tam liked from her blog: Tahini!

I made her a batch of Sesame Coconut Cookies:

Laura’s Sesame Coconut Cookies (makes 12):

• 1/2 cup of light tahini
• 1/3 cup of desiccated coconut
• 1/3 cup of natural caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon of spelt flour

Pre heat oven to 170 and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. Combine all ingredients together in a bowl. Place heaped teaspoons of the mixture well spaced out on to the baking tray. Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until firm and golden around the edges. Allow to cool a little before devouring!

These are kind of a cross between a cookie and a macaroon that tastes of halva (a middle eastern confectionary made from tahini and sugar)

I packaged them all up…

and posted them off to Tam:

Hope you like them Tam! They will be lovely crumbled into yoghurt, smoothies, porridge etc What’s your favourite type of cookie?

Random fact about me: I worked for Millies Cookies for over 4 years part time while at college and University. I ate a lot of cookies and muffins, plus I’m a complete pro at icing giant cookies! My favourite flavours were oatmeal raisin, apple and cinnamon, plain chocolate chip, double chocolate, toffee chocolate and white chocolate raspberry – well pretty much their entire range! I much prefer to home make my cookies now :-)

Just a final thought – I know its a bit early to be mentioning this but would anyone be interested in doing a UK based bloggers Secret Santa exchange? I think Tam’s cookie exchange was such a good idea that we could do something similar for Christmas. I wouldn’t mind coordinating it. Let me know what you think!