Info all Articles

Hello everyone, hope you’ve all had a lovely weekend! Mine has been really lovely and relaxed which is just how I like it :-)

I enjoyed a lazy Saturday morning breakfast:

Stove top porridge with apple, blackberries, cinnamon, pumpkin seeds and almond butter. I used 1/3 cup of scottish oats and 1/3 cup of oatmeal (I thought I was using my 1/4 cup scoop, until I realised it was in the sink, so this was super filling!) with water, 1 chopped apple, frozen blackberries, cinnamon and vanilla stevia topped with some of the apple, blackberries, raw candied cinnamon pumpkin seeds and some almond butter sauce, so lush!

We headed into Durham for my now routine trip to the green grocers, OOTD:

Gold swallow earrings: Topshop, knitted wrap around scarf: Dorothy Perkins, leather hooded jacket: Topshop, denim shift dress: Mango, tan cross body bag: Mango, large canvas shopper bag: Wholefoods, gold cocktail ring: Topshop, grey tights: Accessorize, brown brogues: Topshop

After a nice look around town – in which I managed to resist the temptation of the stalls at the food festival, Topshop and Starbucks, I came home and made a delicious Vanilla Chai Coconut Coffee:

To make this I brewed some vanilla coffee and some Clipper Indian chai tea and mixed it up with some instant coconut milk, cinnamon and vanilla stevia. It tasted fab! I had two large mugs of this and I was left with some serious caffeine jitters!

For lunch I had some raw courgette noodles with a creamy garlicy, avocado, basil and nutritional yeast sauce and some black olives:

So good!

I decided to make up some high protein hummus as I had a can of soya beans in the cupboard. I also had some cauliflower so ended up making a hybrid using my recipe and the lower fat hummus recipe from Veganomicon. To my usual recipe, I added the raw cauliflower, shoyu and fresh parsley. I spread some on a herbed socca wrap with mashed squash and served with some cauliflower roasted in coconut oil, parsnip chips and some amazing caramelised brussel sprouts based on this recipe but using coconut oil, maple syrup and toasted walnuts:

Best brussel sprouts ever! These are amazing, the maple syrup (got some from Asda for £2.99, £2 cheaper than Holland and Barrat  - thanks for the tip Maria!) just make these taste so good.

This morning I was up before sunrise for my weekend run. I haven’t ran in the dark for ages, and I got to enjoy a lovely pink sunrise. I did a different route to my usual ones, taking in a nice run past some ‘posh’ houses and tree lined roads with a few hills. I think all of those things combined made it my most enjoyable run for a long time. I did 10k in 54.15 average pace 8.45 which considering the hills and the bit of a breeze blowing, I was very happy with.

Post run breakie was as always a green smoothie containing spring greens, a persimmon, frozen peaches, vanilla sun warrior protein powder, lucuma powder, spirulina, water, ice, gums and stevia, topped with another chopped persimmon, some home made raw cashew butter sauce and goji berries:

The combination of the persimmons, cashew butter and gojis was delicious.

I spent the morning roasting more squash and cooking beans before we went and did the rounds seeing the family. Before we left I had time for a my current favourite snack:

Rice cakes with peanut butter, honey and bee pollen plus a chopped apple, mmm!

My Uncle and Cousin are visiting from Birmingham so my Mam laid on a little afternoon tea. I took along some of my hummus and had it with a huge plate full of salad, carrot and cucumber and some fruity Moroccan couscous:

I had this x 2, that couscous was gorgeous! I also ate my body weight in fresh pineapple, strawberries, raspberries and grapes.

I have to admit it did take a bit more will power than usual to get myself out for my run this morning, but I quite enjoyed running in the dark, and seeing the lovely sun rise. If your a runner do you continue to run outside in the dark when the days get shorter?

Oh, before I go, don’t forget to check out my Kara Diary Free Coconut Milk and Clearspring Miso Soup GIVEAWAY!

Hope you have a great week ahead!

Thanks for your lovely comments to yesterdays post, when I first started writing this blog I had no idea that anyone would ever read it so to reach 100 followers is just great!

I started the day with 45 minutes of strength thanks to my Davina DVD. I was really starving after this so went and made a huge smoothie. Luckily my damaged blended is holding up. I’d be gutted if I couldn’t get my smoothie in a bowl fix! My smoothie contained spinach, 1 banana, frozen mixed berries, 1 scoop of vanilla whey protein, 2 tablespoons of Greek yoghurt, soy milk, tablespoon of wheat germ and 1/4 teaspoon of matcha green tea powder.

I topped it with half a pack of Coco Cherry Pie We are bear granola (my fave!) It was so tasty and filling and really set me up for the day.

For lunch I had one of my home made spelt and egg white wraps filled with home made hummus, carrot, sugar snap peas and green pepper. I also had more veggies on the side and a nectarine.

Mid afternoon I had a pot of Total 0% fat Greek yoghurt with some of my home made apple berry and cinnamon compote.

For dinner I decided to try making couscous for the first time. My hubby had actually requested to try it and I was more than happy to give it ago. I made up a big bowl with hot vegetable stock and a tablespoon of tomato paste mixed in plus some chopped basil. I added a stir fried chicken breast and some chopped red pepper and served it with some steamed broccoli.

It was really delicious and so quick to make, will be making use of couscous more often! Desert was a bowl of sliced and chopped apple with some frozen blueberries, flaked almonds and a little soy milk.

I was still hungry so I went back for another bowl, this time with a chopped pear instead of apple

My search for a new blender – is buying cheap a false economy?

As I mentioned in yesterdays post my blender got damaged. One of the blades inside snapped off, its still useable but I really need to replace it some time soon. I had only bought it back in February and it cost £30. I don’t want to lay out £30 on another cheap blender and have it break on me again so I’ve been looking at mid price range blenders.

As I use my blender on a daily basis and like using ice and frozen fruits in my smoothies I need a pretty hard wearing one. I have done some research and narrowed it down to the following models:

Breville Blender: Comet - £39.99 600 watt, 1.5 litre glass jug, ice crush function

 

John Lewis own brand - £59 free two year warranty, 500 watt, 1.5 litre jug, 7 speeds

Kenwood Kmix blender in Almond - £66.66 Amazon 800 watt, 1.6 litre glass jug, removable blades, ice crush and other functions, pretty design and colour ;-)

 

Dualit 83702 Blender - £101.98 Amazon 500 watt, 1.5 litre glass jar, removable blades, ice crush

Waring Pro Classic Blender Green Finish - £132 Amazon 330 watt, 1.2 litre glass jug, life time guarantee, self cleaning blade assembly, nice colour ;-)

 

Kitchen Aid Pitcher Blender - £134.10 John Lewis 550 watt, 1.5 litre glass jug, 10 speeds, 3 year guarantee

I think these present a fairly good cross section of medium priced blenders (once I’ve decided on the model I would check out the cheapest place to buy it). Of course if I was mega rich I’d be lusting after a wonderful Vita Mix! As I don’t exactly have a lot of spare cash at the moment my dilemma lies in whether to purchase a cheaper model (£20 - £30) which may not blend as well and with the risk that it breaks on me within a couple of years or to go for one of these more expensive models which should hopefully be more effective, hard wearing and last longer. Do you think buying cheap is sometimes a false economy? At the moment I’m tempted to try the Kenwood – what do you think? I have looked at reviews for it and they are ok. I can’t live without my blender – definitely my favourite and most used kitchen appliance! What's your favourite kitchen appliance?