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Happy Wednesday everyone, hope your week is going very well!

I’ve decided to show you my eats from last Friday as I remembered to take pics of almost everything, plus my eats fitted in nicely with this months WIAW theme of greens! I started the day with a mug of warm water and the juice from half a lemon plus an orange as a pre gym snack:

I headed to the gym and did a 5 minute warm up on the cross trainer followed by a Base phase workout from Female Body Breakthrough and 20 minutes of HIIT on the step machine and bike. I came home and got ready for work then made some breakfast. I’d been feeling a bit tired the last few days and wanted to make sure I was eating plenty of iron so I made an ‘iron bomb’ smoothie:

This contained kale, 2 nectarines, a scoop of vanilla sun warrior, 1 tbsp of black strap molasses (for added iron), maca powder, ground flax, water and ice then topped with a chopped dried fig (for more iron), hemp seeds and goji berries (goji berries are high in vitamin C which supports iron absorption). I had that bowl plus another half a bowl full! I also made a cup of Bi Luo Chun green tea, kindly sent to me from my sponsors Teavivre:

This has a lovely deep almost smokey taste and its the most beautiful loose leaf tea that looks almost like moss! I know that tea and coffee can hinder the absorption of iron but I’m never sure if that’s the same with green tea – will have to check that one out!

We had decided to set a day aside at work to have a good spring clean of the office which meant that we could all come in our scruffs. I wore my boyfriend jeans and fave Converse!

For lunch I had a big salad of romaine, green pepper, red cabbage and carrot topped with some of my leftover Magic Mix crumbled on top:

I got 6 meals out of that recipe and it kept very well in the fridge all week! Mid afternoon I stopped for a snack of roast salted soya nuts and a pink lady apple:

Once the office was all organised and the bags of rubbish and recycling sorted out I headed into town to stock up on fruit and veggies for the weekend. I went to my favourite green grocers, they have a brilliant selection of fruit and vegetables for excellent prices:

I actually didn’t get those blueberries in the end but got a box of strawberries for 99p instead! Here’s my haul:

All of this for £12! It included:

• bananas
• 6 pink lady apples
• 4 coxes apples
• a huge piece of fresh ginger root
• bunch of beetroot
• cauliflower
• box of strawberries
• broccoli
• celery
• cucumber
• a head of kale
• spring greens
• romaine
• large bunch of parsley
• big savoy cabbage

Of course my haul included a lot of greens! I decided to make use of the kale in my dinner, I ate it raw and just massaged it with a dressing made from sweet white miso and hemp oil. To go with it I roasted some butternut squash, cooked some millet and rescued some chickpeas from the freezer mixed them all together and added some dried cranberries and parsley to the mix:

It tasted wonderful! For dessert I had two sliced persimmon, a chopped apple and half a bar of conscious orange raw chocolate:

I also snacked on several un pictured apples while watching New Girl and reading my book!

I ended up eating kale twice that day which is fine by me as I love it so much! As someone that eats a mostly vegan diet I like to have at least one serving of leafy greens a day to ensure I’m getting plenty of calcium and iron. My favourite way to eat my greens are:

• Green smoothies of course!
• Steamed and sprinkled with soy sauce
• Juiced up with lemon and ginger
• Raw with some kind of nut or seed based dressing like tahini
• Stir fried – my current favourite being stir fried and then simmered in full fat coconut milk with ginger and spices

As someone who needs a lot of volume in what they eat to feel satisfied, greens are perfect for adding to meals for additional fibre and satiety for not too many calories. I just can’t get enough of my greens!

What’s your favourite green veggie?

A couple of weeks ago I received an email from lovely blog reader Sam, requesting my ultimate green smoothie recipe, the most nutritious and filling one I could come up with!

For more information on green smoothies check out The Green Monster Movement and my Green Smoothie Loving post.

Green smoothies are a fantastic way of getting more leafy green vegetables into your diet (which I feel are some of the most nutritious foods available), as well as being the perfect vehicle for adding various nutritional powders. One of the great things about green smoothies is that they are endlessly customisable – you can make them as cleansing or as decadent as you like but they will always be pretty healthy!

As you can imagine it was hard to come up with an ‘ultimate’ recipe as depending on how I feel I make my smoothies lighter, sweeter or more filling. What I have came up with is both very healthy and very tasty, as well as being filling. As always you can very easily change up the components to suit your own tastes:

Laura’s Ultimate Green Smoothie (vegan, serves 1, can be raw)

• 100g of chopped kale (or greens of choice – if in doubt or if your blender isn’t too great go for spinach or romaine)
• Quarter of a cucumber, chopped
• 1 frozen banana
• 1 scoop of protein powder of choice – (optional, my choice here would always be vanilla sun warrior)
• 1 1/2 cups of water or non diary milk – personally I find the protein powder adds enough creaminess so just use water
• 6 ice cubes
• Sweetener – optional and probably depends on the sweetness of your protein powder. You could try adding 1 tbsp of agave syrup, honey, stevia or a couple of chopped dates
• 1/2 tsp of xanthan gum – available in the ‘free from’ sections at the supermarket: xanthan gum adds creaminess and thickness
• 1 tsp of maca powder – available from Holland and Barrat – I love maca powder, its supports the adrenal gland and helps to balance hormones 
• 1 tbsp of ground flax – adds essential fats
• Other powders as desired – I went with a scoop of midori greens 

This will make a pretty big thick smoothie which will be perfect for eating out of a bowl. I love thick smoothies in a bowl as I tend to gulp down smoothies from a glass, so these are more filling for me. If your having yours from a bowl its fun to add some toppings. Here are my favourites for taste and nutrition:

• 1 tbsp of goji berries
• 1 tbsp of raw cacao nibs
• 1 tbsp of nut butter (you can mix with some warm water to create a more creamy texture)
• 1 tbsp of bee pollen 
• Plain raw nuts and seeds

Start by washing the greens and placing in the blender followed by the banana, cucumber and powders except the xanthan gum.

Add one cup of liquid and set to blend. It may take some time for the mixture to start blending depending on your blender. I usually stop and start mine a few times pushing the mixture down on to the blades in between. Once it has blended up a bit add the other 1/2 cup of liquid along with the ice cubes. Blend again until smooth. Stop and check for sweetness and thickness. If needed add your sweetener and if you want to eat from a bowl or just prefer something thicker add the xanthan gum.

Blend again leaving the motor going for a good 30 seconds so that its very well combined. Pour into glass or bowl and add toppings. Enjoy!

I topped mine with my favourite goji berries, cacao nibs and bee pollen. I use a very large bowl to fit it all in, if your just using a small bowl you will have some over flow!

I have also have a few more green smoothie recipes here including a carrot cake and apple pie green smoothie! I think the beauty of smoothies is that you can make them your own using whatever ingredients you have to hand so go and experiment!

This is my ultimate for taste and nutrition but I think my absolute favourite would have to be a simple greens, cocoa and frozen cherry mix – perfect every time! Have you ever tried a green smoothie? If your a green smoothie lover, what would be in your favourite combo?

Today my plans were to head over to Newcastle early and take the hubby to work so I could do some Christmas shopping, even the 6 inches of snow wasn’t going to stop me! As we were up really early and wanted to get out as soon as possible I made a quick smoothie just to get something on my stomach. I blended up a pear, frozen blueberries, 2 tablespoons of wheat germ, vanilla rice milk and a little agave.

I can’t remember the last time I actually had a smoothie from a glass instead of a bowl!

We made the slow and quite frankly dangerous journey to Newcastle. When we got there James headed to work and I went to get a proper breakfast! I went to Cafe Royal and had a gorgeous Almond Green Tea:

Followed by some porridge with berry compote:

The porridge was very creamy and must have been made with full fat milk or cream, it reminded me more of rice pudding!

After that I popped over to Starbucks to enjoy a soy Gingerbread Latte while I waited for the shops to open.

How Christmassy does this look?

Newcastle Upon Tyne – Grays Monument – can you believe I’ve been up to the top of that!

I got lots of Christmas shopping done, plus a few ‘gifts’ for myself, including these earrings and necklace from Accessorize:

This box of Christmas Yogi teas – how could I resist?

I also bought this wrap around scarf from Dorothy Perkins to keep me warm:

When I got home I sorted out my gifts and then made lunch. I had a home made spelt wrap with roast veggies and feta from last nights dinner plus lots of chopped cucumber and a little feta on the side.

I also had a couple of sliced kiwi:

I had been planning on walking to my local shops but the snow started falling again and I decided to stay home and cook instead! I made a huge batch of my Lentil and Root Veg Stew as well as this soup:

Leek, Greens and White Bean Soup:

• 4 small leeks, sliced
• 3 chopped gloves of garlic
• Greens – I used a small head of savoy cabbage and a small head of spring greens
• 2 tins of drained and rinsed cannellini beans
• Hot veg stock

Fry off the leeks and garlic until soft then add the cabbage and hot veg stock. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes then add the beans. Simmer for a further 5 minutes then blend until creamy. Season well and serve.

This was absolutely delicious and so creamy! I had made a similar soup before a few weeks ago which hadn’t been anything special but this time I added more greens, garlic and twice the quantity of beans – sooo good, and surprisingly filling, although I still went back for more! As this soup has a good amount of garlic it is also fantastic for supporting your immune system as well as being full of antioxidants from the greens. I’ll also probably snack on a few chopped apples with cinnamon later too.

So all in all a very productive day! I hate feeling like I’m stuck indoors when the weathers bad, although things are getting worse so it looks like anywhere I’ll be going in the next day or so is going to be on foot! Despite the snow I’m planning a workout tomorrow. Luckily my gym is within walking distance. I’m going to do a treadmill run like last week – I just need to make sure I have a great playlist on my iPhone to keep me going!

After today I’m feeling really festive, I can’t wait to decorate the flat! Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? Are you well organised or more of a wait till the last minute person? 

Oh – and don’t forget to enter my Giveaway before 12am GMT tonight! Winners announced tomorrow! Have a great evening :-)

This weekend I have mostly been doing this:

I’ve had such a blissful weekend eating gorgeous tasty foods and lots of relaxation.

Yesterday after doing a monster grocery shop which left my fridge looking like this…

…I went to the gym to do my usual weekend workout of 30 minutes of speed intervals on the treadmill, 20 minutes on the step machine, 20 minutes on the cross trainer and 20 minutes on the bike – all at a steady state while catching up with some magazines. I then used the sauna and steam room at my gym for the first time! I’m not sure why I haven’t bothered with them before but after enjoying it so much at the Sanctuary Spa last week I knew it was a habit I could get into.

My eats for both yesterday and today have taken a similar form. Yesterday I had a couple of oranges before I went to the gym then had my green monster smoothie after the gym, this morning I had it first thing.

Saturday’s green smoothie: 3 savoy cabbage leaves, 1 frozen banana, frozen mango, 1/2 a fresh pineapple, home made almond milk, almond meal (left over from making the milk), spirulina, matcha green tea, milk thistle tincture, echinacea tincture, maca and mesquite topped with coconut and goji berries

Sundays green smoothie: Spinach and chard leaves, frozen peaches, frozen mixed berries, a clemintine, water, almond meal, almond butter, maca, spirulina, matcha green tea, milk thistle tincture, echinacea tincture topped with dried pineapple, dried cherries and flaked almonds

I’ve also had an acai and pomegranate vita coco water each morning:

Around mid day I’ve been making myself a gorgeous green juice:

 

Both containing an apple, a pear, cucumber, celery with spinach and ginger on Saturday and mint on Sunday. I’ve also been snacking on apples – yesterdays with a drizzle of sunflower seed butter and cinnamon and today’s with raw brazil nut cacao bliss.

A little later each day and I’ve gone with another fresh juice: 2 beetroots, 2 carrots, cucumber and ginger plus another apple and some nuts. I went for walnuts yesterday and hazelnuts and dried apricots today:

 

Dinner both days has been the ultimate salad beast:

This giant bowl of goodness included lettuce, watercress, rocket, cucumber, carrot, yellow pepper, red onion, avocado, alfalfa sprouts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and a very generous amount of green goddess dressing. So delicious!

Then I’ve finished off each day with a fruit smoothie:

Coco-berry Smoothie in a bowl: Frozen strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, clemintine, coconut water, acai berry juice, ground flax, 2 tablespoons of dried coconut, cacao nibs and more coconut for topping

Passion for Cherries smoothie in a bowl:  1 small frozen banana, frozen cherries, 2 passion fruit, almond milk, almond meal, acai berry juice, mesquite, topping of passion fruit and cacao nibs

Both of those smoothies were amazing, I really loved the passion for cherries one, the crunchy little passion fruit seeds with the sweet cherries, oh so good! I’ve also been drinking lots of warm water with lemon (which I drink first thing every single day anyway) Dr Stuarts detox tea, water, other herbal teas including lemon and ginger and sleepytime tea.

I’ve tried to ensure that I’ve been eating a rainbow of fruits and veggies and have included lots of nuts and seeds for a little protein and fat as well as the good fats in avocado and the goddess dressing. I also included the coconut water for added hydration. I’m feeling really great from having a couple of days of just gorgeous fresh foods – I have no idea of the amount of calories I have consumed but I honestly haven’t felt hungry – probably cause I’ve loaded up on the nuts and fats. I wanted to do a more focused detox than just my January plan and I’ve really enjoyed this weekend – its been more than just eating those foods, its also been about focusing on myself a bit and I feel really energised like my batteries have been recharged!

Today I did some pottering in the kitchen and made my first attempt at cashew cream, cooked up a big pot of pearl barley for my grain of the week and made the most gorgeous high protein hummus – recipe tomorrow!

I’ve also spent some time doing a few updates around the blog – please check out my updated about this blog, why I eat what I eat and recipes pages. I’d love to know what you think!

What do you do when you need a little ‘me’ time? I’m going to relax in a lovely warm bath now with a cup of tea and get myself prepared for the week ahead. Hope you’ve had a good one!

Happy WIAW everyone! Hope you are having a good week. I had a wonderful day yesterday when I travelled down to Manchester to meet several lovely blogging ladies :-)

Before I left I wanted to get a workout in so I did a Davina DVD – Super Sculpt with the added upper body section followed by Yoga for Runners.

Breakfast was an unusual green smoothie. I had loads of greens that needed using up so I blended kale and spinach with fruit-ein powder, ice, water, xanthan and guar gums and topped with a cup of Kashi Strawberry Fields cereal (I kept adding more topping on as I ate):

Considering this green smoothie contained no fruit it was delicious!

On the train down I met up with Jess and had a green tea. The train journey was delayed by almost 2 hours so I snacked on the emergency bag of Apple and Watermelon Fruity Flakes I’d stashed in my bag:

Once we finally got to Manchester we met up with all the girls. It was wonderful but kind of strange to see everyone in ‘real life’! We made our way to the 8th Day Cafe and Health Food Store. I had a Chickpea and Aubergine Curry with brown rice followed by a raw ball and a green vegetable juice:

The curry was lovely and the raw ball tasted just like a spiced carrot cake! After lunch we hit the health food shop. Here’s my mini haul!

Bee pollen (I know this isn’t strictly vegan but I fancied trying it out), lucuma powder, millet, goji berries, black cherry dairy free yoghurt, raw chocolate brownie, kara coconut milk mini’s, Fruit-ein sachets

After some wondering around town we went for cocktails. I had a French Martini and a Passion Fruit Martini which was pretty strong!

Both tasted amazing, I love a good cocktail!

Left to right – me, Ffion, Laura, Sarah, Emily, Ali, Jemma, Leigh, Jessica and Sarah who was taking the pic!

I thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone, they were all so lovely and just as nice as they all come across in their blogs! This was my fifth blogger meet up and yet again I have met some amazing people who I share so much in common with – who else can you have a deep conversation about hummus! ;-) I do feel that I can count all this lot as true friends! Here’s to the next meet up!

On the train journey home I had fab Marks and Spencer Couscous Salad which contained butternut squash, broccoli, roasted pepper and asparagus:

I also ate an apple I’d picked up at the health food store and a mixed fruit salad I forgot to photograph. Once I got home I had an attack of the snackies so had another couple of apples, some dark choc covered pomegranate seeds and these two rice cakes with Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter…

…plus several additional spoonfuls to finish the jar!

Talk about a healthy balance – green juice at lunch followed by cocktails in the afternoon :-)

It was so refreshing to be able to talk openly and passionately about healthy living stuff with people who share that interest! If your into healthy living do your friends and family ‘get it’ or do they struggle to understand what the fuss is all about?