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Hi everyone, happy WIAW! Hope your having a good day :-)

My day kicked off with a brilliant run. I did my ‘hilly’ route – 7 miles in just over an hour, average pace 8.37, a huge improvement on the last time I ran that same route – and moaned about it – so I was very happy!

I refuelled with a delicious green smoothie:

This contained kale, spring greens, frozen banana, nectarine, scoop of fruitein protein powder, maca, spirulina, msm, coconut water, ice and xanthan and guar gums. I topped it with a drizzle of PB&Co Mighty Maple Peanut Butter and some gojis. Perfection! I also enjoyed a bug mug of Clippers Indian Chai tea.

For lunch and snacks I took this lot to work:

Three big cabbage wraps stuffed with garden pate and cashew mayo, chopped carrot, red pepper and beet, full punnet of strawberries, trail mix containing dried cranberries, cashews, brazil nuts, pumpkin seeds and pistachios and an organic pink lady apple.

I don’t know what it is right now but I have a major obsession with beets, specifically raw beet and beet greens, I just can’t get enough!

For dinner I raided the freezer and found a very old portion of my Cheesy Butternut Sauce so decided to cook up some kamut pasta with cannellini beans and raw courgette and served with a big rocket salad and topped with basil:

So good, I can’t believe I’ve left this in freezer for so long, very tasty!

Dessert was a mini Raw Cookies and Cream Cheesecake:

The perfect sized treat, this tasted just as good as it did last time :-)

At the moment I’m trying to use up as much food from my cupboards and freezer as possible. My grocery budget is taking a major beating and I really need to get back to some sensible budgeting as per last years Big Budget Challenge. Most of this month has been spent trying to make up meals using what I have and just buying in fresh fruit and vegetables along with bits and pieces for James. I have really enjoyed using the dehydrator to make very cheap tasty food out of veggie and almond pulp that would have otherwise been thrown out. I even have my eye on some wild damsons I noticed while I was out running this morning, I’m planning a late night fruit picking mission!

Today’s mini shop: cheap veggies from Aldi – little gem lettuce, rocket, spring onions, spinach and radishes. I got a few of these on the 39p deal!

With pay day now approaching I’m still wanting to be as frugal as possible with grocery spending but there are just some things I can not do without! Some times you also have to spend a little upfront to be able to save in the long run as well. I’m thinking of placing an order with Healthy Supplies for nuts and seeds which I’m now almost out of. I’m also dangerously low on green and rooibos tea, goji berries and peanut butter – I know I have lots of other nut butters but god forbid I run out of plain crunchy pb!

I also could do with more beans, tofu, tempeh, shoyu sauce – the list goes on and on!

Do you feel the grocery shopping pinch? With great sites like iHerb and Goodness Direct tempting us with their goodies, how do you prioritise your health food spending?

Hello!

OOTD: scarf: New Look, maxi dress: French connection, grey tee: H&M, bracelets: various, un pictured big lace up boots: New Look

How’s your week going? Hope its been good so far. Ready for another WIAW? These are my eats and happenings from Monday for a change!

When I got up I had my usual mug of warm water with lemon juice and set about making a smoothie ready for getting back from the gym. We had a 9am team meeting so I knew that breakie would have to be eaten in a hurry if I was to make it to work on time!

I hit the gym at 7am and did my strength routine with 5 minute warm up on cross trainer, Female Body Breakthrough ‘Base’ Phase plan A, 3 reps of each move followed by 15 minutes of intervals on the treadmill and some stretching.

My pretty ugly breakfast smoothie contained spinach, frozen banana, smores spiru-tein, pumpkin seed milk, maca powder, barley grass powder, water and ice:

Served up in a jar so that I could store it in the fridge while at the gym and just drink it straight up while I was getting ready. I also made a yerba mate tea in my Starbucks cup to drink in the car while I was sat in traffic.

Mid morning I snacked on an un pictured apple. For lunch I had a salad with romaine, red cabbage, carrot, beetroot, cannellini beans and braggs plus some experimental raw curried crackers I’d made some leftover garden pate in the dehydrator. I also had another lovely apple!

Mid afternoon I made a big snack plate with 2 chopped carrots and raw crackers with garden pate for dipping.

For dinner I raided the fridge for some of the goods of my Sunday cook up session and combined cooked pearl barley, cannellini beans and roast squash risotto style with a sautéed onion, veg stock and nutritional yeast. I served with steamed broccoli and cauliflower.

This was so yummy and filling! For a late evening snack I decided to try out some of these lovely jams I’d been sent to try by one of this months sponsors, Clearspring:

These are all organic and sweetened only with fruit juice. I opened the cherry jam and had some spread on a couple of rice cakes with crunchy peanut butter:

Perfect evening snack alongside a mug of kuricha tea! I really liked the jam, it’s not too sweet like some jams, which is great, as since I did my healthy feast I’ve been finding that I don’t need to sweeten things as much as usual!

What’s your favourite ‘in a hurry’ breakfast?

Hello everyone! How’s your weekend been? I’ve had a lovely one, despite a having a slight domestic emergency today!

Yesterday I did my usual weekend long run. I did 10 miles in 1.24 average pace 8.25, another pb for me over that distance according to my tracking on Daily Mile!

We’ve had a mostly very relaxing weekend but at the same time I feel like I’ve been super productive! We decided to make the most of the break in the rain yesterday morning so had a little trip into town. OOTD:

When we got there we discovered a little vintage market being held inside one of the shopping malls. I bought two of these fab vintage patterned plates for just 50p!

I also picked up another bargain from Dorothy Perkins sale:

This skirt was only £7 and although its a size too big for me I loved it that much I decided to get it and just cinch it in with the black woven belt that came with it.

Eats have been really good this weekend too! I spent exactly one hour this morning taking my own advice from my organisation post and prepping some tasty treats for the day and week ahead. In just one hour I cooked up a pot of rice, lentils, soaked some wheat berries for sprouting, made some of Gena’s Almondaise (but using cashews to make it a cashew mayo) and made a raw bread mix and popped in the dehydrator. I also made a wonderful pate, inspired by one of Gena’s recipes yet again!

Garden Pate (adapted from this recipe, vegan, raw, makes about 2 cups)

• 1/2 cup of sunflower seed, soaked for at least 2 hours
• 2 tbsp of hemp oil (or flax or olive oil)
• 2 tbsp of Braggs Liquid Aminos or soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp garam masala (or curry powder)
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley
• 1 cup vegetable juice pulp (or you could use a packed cup of chopped veggies such as courgette and spinach)
• 4 carrots finely chopped or grated
• 1/2 white onion finely chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley
• Water as needed

Begin by blending the drained sunflower seeds with the oil, Braggs, spices and parsley in a food processor. Add the veggie pulp or chopped veggies along with the carrot and onion. Blend again, adding water as needed to reach your desired consistency. Add the remaining parsley and pulse to incorporate. Chill in the fridge and enjoy with your choice of veggies and crackers for dipping, or use as a wrap filling or sandwich spread:

I enjoyed some for lunch with lots of veggies, my raw juice pulp crackers and an experimental raw dehydrated tomato and red pepper wrap which tasted amazing! The pate is so delicious and very moreish, good job you get a couple of cups worth as it won’t last long!

I also enjoyed another tasty lunch in the form of a giant salad topped with sabra hummus:

I’ve missed my hummus topper salads! This was so good, I just adore that hummus :-)

Last night I also went for another favourite, more courgette spaghetti with raw pasta sauce, RAW Health olives, nutritional yeast and fresh basil:

The sauce is so simple to make and absolutely delicious:

Simple Raw Pasta Sauce (vegan, serves one hungry person)

• 3 medium size tomatoes (or 10 cherry tomatoes)
• 1 large red pepper, deseeded
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Onion powder, garlic granules and dried Italian seasoning to taste (I use about 1/2 tsp of each)

Wack everything in a food processor and blend until smooth! Serve with courgette spaghetti or ribbons or over regular pasta. So so yummy, I was amazed how good this was the first time I tasted it. Last night I added an extra sweet pointed red pepper into the mix. I used the small amount of sauce I had left to make the tomato and pepper wrap I used with my garden pate above. I just spread it on a teflex sheet and dehydrated for 8 hours or so. I will definitely be trying that again!

Last night we also cracked open a bottle of red while we watched DVD’s, it was bliss!

Tonight I made some wraps using Mountain Corn Bread wraps filled with mashed avocado and nutritional yeast, spinach, sweet red peppers, olives and a drizzle of cashew mayo. I served it up with some ‘roast’ broccoli (‘cooked’ in the dehydrator for a few hours):

These wraps were amazing! The broccoli also tasted great, they had that almost sweet roasted flavour but still had a lot of crunch.

Breakfasts have also been very good. This morning I made a big bowl of oats and 10 grain cereal with water on the stove, topped with fresh strawberries, some coconut vanilla ‘yoghurt’ (2 tbsp of coconut flour, 1/2 scoop of vanilla sun warrior, water) and pumpkin seeds:

Its been ages since I had a porridge yoghurt layer up and this was so good, I made the yoghurt up last night so it was cold from the fridge. I love the contrast of the hot oats and cold yoghurt!

The post run green smoothie I made was one of the tastiest I’ve had in a while!

This contained spinach, frozen banana, juicy fresh peach, vanilla sun warrior protein powder, spirulina, maca, msm, water, ice and gums topped with sunflower seed butter and cacao nibs. I just love the combo of banana, peach and spinach, so mild and sweet.

I have some romaine lettuce and beet greens to use up so I think I may treat myself to a chocolate cherry green smoothie this evening for dessert!

So we had a little domestic crisis when our bed broke! It appears that our mattress has also seen better days so we decided to chuck them both out and while we have the extra space we are going to re decorate the whole room. That means that for the next couple of weeks we’ll be sleeping on the living room floor! It is funny how things workout though, I’m actually looking forward to redecorating that room now, expect a few home interior posts!

Hope you’ve all had a great weekend! Do you enjoy vintage fairs? Have you had a major piece of furniture break on you? How did you manage without it?