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A few weeks ago I was kindly sent a selection of products from Cosy Teas:

Cosy Teas are all certified organic and fair trade with the products also being approved by the Vegetarian Society, Viva Vegan, The Organic Trust and the Fair Trade Foundation. Each box of tea includes 20 individually wrapped non bleached tea bags.

I tried the following flavours:

• Breakfast
• Earl Grey
• Rooibos with Vanilla
• Chamomile
• Lemon Green
• Jasmine Green
• Peppermint
• Blueberry

All of the teas tasted lovely and brewed up a lovely cuppa – either made in a mug or in a tea pot. The main stand out varieties for me were the Chamomile and the Blueberry. Although the other flavours were good, I didn’t feel that there was anything in particular about them that made them better than any other similar tea I have tried, unless of course you take into consideration that they are organic and fair trade.

The Chamomile and Blueberry were delicious though! The Chamomile reminded me of cream soda (nom!) and the blueberry has a lovely fruity taste that was superior to other fruity teas I have tried:

I also really liked the packaging of the teas. The print is lovely and the boxes are designed so that you can pull an individual tea bag from the bottom of the box without opening and closing it.

A box of Cosy Tea retails at £1.99 for 20 bags from Cream Supplies which I don’t think is a bad price considering that they are organic and fair trade. These do seem to be a little difficult to get hold of – hopefully more retailers will start to stock them as well as the website stated above.

I would definitely look to purchase the Chamomile and Blueberry varieties again as they taste really lovely!

Have you heard of Cosy Tea before? Which variety sounds the nicest to you? Is organic and fair trade something you look for when deciding to purchase tea?

Going back to work this morning after a week off was tough, but at least I had coffee to help me ease back into it!

Breakfast of vanilla coffee with agave and almond milk, bowl of Dorset Cereal’s Cherry, Cranberry and Almond Muesli with small chopped apple, blueberries and almond milk. I made this batch of almond milk with some agave for a little sweetness and it tastes amazing!

Lunch was a big salad containing cos and romaine lettuce, spinach, carrot, red cabbage, red pepper and cucumber topped with some of my high protein hummus:

I also had some grapes and the most beautiful blood orange:

Mid afternoon I snacked on one of my almond oatmeal raisin cookies:

My afternoon meeting finished early so I got to the gym with plenty of time to spare before my spin class. I ended up doing 20 minutes of HIITs on the step machine, 20 minutes of HIITs on the cross trainer and 15 minutes on the rowing machine at a medium intensity pace. I did my abs and core exercises – 1 minute 25 second plank (yey!), 20 full sit ups, 20 bicycle crunches, 20 crunches, 20 side reaches and 20 reverse curls x 2 sets then my 30 minute spin class. I was ravenous after this monster workout!

For dinner I made a great sausage and tomato rice dish. I wasn’t going to post this as a recipe but it was so damn good I decided I wanted to!

Sausage with tomato rice (vegan or meat option, makes 2 servings)

• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup of frozen peas
• 1 cup of cooked brown rice (I used a brown and wild rice mix)
• 1/2 cup of tomato passata
• 4 sausages, cooked and chopped into bite size pieces (I used tofu sausages)

Fry the onion and garlic in a little olive oil. Once softened add the peas and sausages and continue to fry until the peas are defrosted and the sausages are warmed through. Add the brown rice and tomato sauce and stir well until warmed through, serve:

I had mine with steamed purple kale, spring greens and shoyu. This was so so good! I made a version for James (more on that in a moment) with pork sausages and he really liked it.

Dessert was a nutty berry spiru-tein shake in a bowl made with almond milk, ice cubes and peanut butter for added staying power:

I’ve missed my Monday night spiru-tein smoothies!

When I returned to work this morning I was super excited to see that I had received a package from Cosy Tea full of several boxes to try out and review:

These are all organic, fair trade, vegetarian society and viva vegan approved. Obviously I am tea obsessed so I can’t wait to try all these out, the blueberry and green varieties in particular are calling my name!

My lovely hubby started his new job today! Its going to be all change for us as he’s going from working all hours in a job in retail to a week day 9-5 office based job. Its really going to have a huge impact on us, we will actually be able to do things together on weekends! One big difference is going to be eating more meals together. I have a fun post planned looking at how I’m going to tackle the task of feeding a carnivore fuss pot (him) and a vegetarian foodie (me), wish me luck!

Hope your week is off to a great start!

I kicked off Tuesday with a new strength routine! Last month I went from doing my strength training in the form of DVD workouts to using free weights and doing my own routine. I have really enjoyed it and have seen good results so I’ve decided to continue with my own routine but change up some of the exercises now that I have progressed (but are stuck with my set weight home dumbbells). Thanks again to the brilliant Alison for the advice and guidance!

Warm up – jumping jacks, bum kicks, running on the spot, skipping (5 minutes)

• Traveling Kneeling push ups (15 reps body weight)
• Single leg deadlift (10 reps each leg with 2 x 4.5kg db)
• Lateral raise with squat (15 reps with 2 x 2.3kg db)
• Bent over row (15 reps with 2 x 4.5kg db)
• Forward lunges with twist (10 x each leg with 1 x 4.5kg db)
• Backwards lunges with bicep curl (10 x each leg with 2 x 2.3kg db)
• Tricep dip (15 reps body weight)
• Upright row with sumo squat (15 reps with 2 x 4.5kg db)
• Woodchop (10 reps each side with 1 x 4.5kg db)
• Dumbbell pullover on stability ball (15 reps with 4.5kg db)
• Cardio interval – jumping jacks, bum kicks, running on the spot, skipping (2 minutes)

x 3 sets – no rest between exercises or sets

This was an excellent workout it really challenged me – I was sweating buckets by the end! Breakfast was a big smoothie in a bowl containing purple kale, 1/2 banana, frozen cherries and mixed berries, soy milk, tbsp of coconut flour, ground flax, spirulina, matcha green tea powder and maca powder:

I topped it with goji berries and granola and also enjoyed a delicious blueberry cosy tea (really loving these teas by the way).

Lunch was leftover tofu sausage and tomato rice with lots of spinach and a bowl of cherries:

Mid afternoon I snacked on a large portion of high protein hummus with a raw cracker and veggies for dipping:

Pre yoga snack was two cookie dough balls:

My yoga class was not held last week which handily coincided with my week off work but I was glad to get back to it tonight. The instructor said that we would be trying a forearm stand at the end, so throughout the session we did postures to really work our arms, shoulders and back. There was no way I was going to be able to manage the forearm stand but practicing some postures like Dolphin Pose left me knackered and has given me some serious DOMS today! 

When I got home I decided a bowl of porridge was in order. I used 1/2 cup of oats, tablespoon of oat bran, 2 cups of water and slow cooked on the stove. I then decided to add a tablespoon of my new vanilla hemp protein powder. On one hand I couldn’t taste it, however it did make the porridge go a very unappetising colour! I also added agave for sweetness and a big tablespoon of raw brazil cacao bliss. I had two chopped pink lady apples (went back for another after this one):

Despite the colour the porridge tasted great!

This morning I made up a big bowl of 10 grain hot cereal with soy milk and water then added agave, two chopped plums and a big tablespoon of hazelnut butter:

I also had a cup of black maple walnut coffee sweetened with agave. The hot cereal was gorgeous, the hazelnut butter went very melty, so good!

Lunch was an attempted recreation of my meal last week at the scrumpy willow and singing kettle:

Quinoa, grape and walnut salad (vegan, makes two large servings)

• 1 cup of quinoa, rinsed
• 2 cups of vegetable stock
• 1/2 small red cabbage finely sliced
• 6 spring onions finely chopped
• Large handful of parsley, finely chopped
• 1 cup of grapes, chopped in half
• 1/4 cup of walnuts, chopped

Dressing:

• 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil (I used my cool oil)
• 1 tsp of Dijon mustard
• 3 tbsp of apple cider vinegar

Cook the quinoa in the vegetable stock until all the stock has been absorbed. Allow to cool. Mix in the rest of the ingredients. Add the dressing ingredients to a bowl or screw top jar and whisk or shake to combine. Pour over the quinoa and mix well:

I had mine on top of a big pile of lettuce. Such a tasty and filling salad, all the ingredients worked together really well. I also had an orange and sliced kiwi:

Mid afternoon snack was a peanut butter Clif bar:

I hadn’t had this flavour Clif bar before and it tasted fab! Next time I have enough money for an iHerb or wiggle order I’ll be getting more of these!

I ended up getting stuck late back at work so made the decision to cut my planned gym workout short. I think I made the right decision as once I got to the gym I had some serious DOMS in my butt, shoulders, back and triceps. I did 30 minutes of HIITS on the step machine, cross trainer and bike followed by my abs and core exercises. I left out my usual 30 minute treadmill run and plank holds (my triceps would not have managed them at all!) My plan is to do my run and planks tomorrow instead. The DOMS have left my muscles feeling really weak so I know I made the right decision to take it a little easier and make it up tomorrow instead.

Dinner was stir fried leek, red cabbage, carrot, mushroom, red pepper and spring greens with adzuki beans, ginger, soy sauce and gomasio:

Sometimes a big plate of stir fried veggies is just spot on! Dessert was The Raw Chocolate Company Seriously Dark Loaded Raw Chocolate and 2 sliced pink lady apples:

This chocolate tasted immense! Definitely the most like regular chocolate out of all the raw chocolates I have tasted. It has a lovely crunchy texture and creamy intense taste, gorgeous!

So glad I decided to take it a bit easier tonight and not rush through my workout. Do you stick to your training plan no matter what or are you happy change things when your not feeling it? Its actually quite a big deal for me to change a workout, usually I stick to my training plan no matter what which probably isn’t the best attitude to have!

Well I am going to spend some time with my foam roller now me thinks! Hope your having a great week!