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How we all doing this fine Tuesday? I’m having a good week so far!

On Monday morning I had my first taste of hemp milk!

I had it with a big bowl of my home mixed muesli with a chopped apple and blueberries:

I was very pleasantly surprised with the hemp milk, it tasted a lot nicer and creamer than I had been expecting and reminded me of soy milk. A definite regular non dairy milk for me now – as long as Tesco continue to stock it!

Today I had a bowl of Dorset Cereal Low Fat Flakes with chopped plums, pecans, raw unsweetened coconut shreds and hemp milk:

I learned the last time I ate these that a bowl with milk and fruit just wouldn’t see my through to lunch so I added the pecans and coconut for more staying power!

I also tried a raw kale salad for lunch. I have had raw kale salads before but they’d mostly turned out to be a fail. I had a lot of kale to use up so I thought I’d give another one a go. I massaged the kale with 1/2 avocado mashed with lemon juice until it wilted down a bit then added carrot, red pepper, sugar snaps, alfalfa sprouts and some roasted soya nuts for protein and crunch plus some braggs:

This pic doesn’t really do it justice, finally a kale salad that tasted good! I think adding the avocado is the trick with this, it would have also been lovely with spicy roast chickpeas, yum!

Today I scored some more tasty reduced persimmons from Asda – these are so good I’m now addicted to them!

Dinner over the last couple of days has been Italian Leek and Bean Stew:

I served it up with some pearl barley (my favourite grain at the moment) plus some steamed green veggies and shoyu. I love this stew, comforting but not too heavy for this time of year.

I’ve also been doing my usual workouts, intervals on cross trainer and step machine, spin class and abs and core on Monday, we had a new spin instructor and he was excellent, the workout was way tougher than usual, I really got my sweat on! Then today I did Yoga for Runners this morning and Body Pump this evening. Body Pump was the new release and it was awesome – my muscles were trembling at the end! To help my muscles recover after Body Pump I had a lovely Peanut Butter Swirl Spiru-tein protein shake (with ice, hemp milk and xanthan gum) with peanut flour sauce and grape nuts cereal as my dessert:

I love my Spiru-tein shakes, the flavours are fab!

I don’t know what’s been up with me over the past few days but my appetite has been completely random. Usually I know when I’m going to start feeling hungry but over the last few days I have had either no appetite or I’ve been ravenous (please note that what I’ve posted above is not everything I’ve eaten – I’m just posting the tastiest stuff!) I have been eating even when not hungry (after I’ve waited a couple of hours for hunger to kick in and it hasn’t) as I know that I need to be getting food in me to fuel my workouts and especially after I burned 900 calories on Sunday with my run! I also hate to waste food. Then on the other hand when I do start eating its hard to stop! I’m hoping my appetite will get back to normal as I find it very odd. Anyone else have a random appetite?

I also just wanted to share this random little snippet I came across on Crazy Sexy Life today:

‘What makes up the quality of your life is your daily existence, not only the peak experiences or significant epiphanies’

For some reason this really struck a cord with me – I used to really struggle with living in the ‘present’ - my mind would always be miles ahead thinking about how life would be different when I moved house, started a family, got a new job etc. Recently I have found a greater level of contentment and happiness in just living in the now and enjoying the amazing things I have been blessed with :-) I still think of the good things to come in the future but I feel I have a better balance now.

Do you feel that you ‘live in the now’ or do you focus on things to come in the future?

I’m even more excited than usual about it being the weekend as next week I am off work! James starts his new job in a week so we though it would be nice to have a week together to relax and chill out. We’re having a short break to York mid week, and I’m looking forward to some new season clothes shopping, enjoying coffee again (my kick start plan finishes next week so coffee will be back in my life!) and yummy food. After next weeks planned spending I will be on a major austerity drive though, I have to regain some control of my finances!

Thursday morning I was up early to do my Yoga and core exercises. I warmed up with 5 minutes of jumping jacks and bum kicks then did the Yoga for Runners podcast followed by my v-ups, side planks, bridges, side to sides and donkey kicks. Breakfast was a bowl of 10 grain hot cereal made with water and oat milk, mixed berries, sweet freedom sweetener and pistachios:

I loved this! I must remember to eat pistachios more often. For lunch I had leftover Italian Leek Stew with some steamed savoy cabbage and two pears:

I should have mentioned in my last post how delicious this stew is! It was even better as leftovers. Mid afternoon snack was a raw cracker with high protein hummus and green pepper and carrot for dipping:

I had yet another late meeting so ‘dinner’ was a large green smoothie in a bowl containing spinach, cabbage, 2 nectarines, 1 small frozen banana, big tablespoon of almond butter, kara coconut milk, spirulina, mesquite, maca, matcha green tea and the usual tinctures:

I topped it with cacao nibs and flaked almonds. I put so much spinach and cabbage in this I ended up with an extra half a bowl full! I love to eat super thick smoothies in a bowl as they make them seem more meal like and filling, for me at least. I also snacked on a couple of delicious apples.

Friday’s breakfast was two slices of organic sprouted wheat bread with crunchy peanut butter and a chopped apple:

Lunch was Leek, Greens and White Bean soup with a pear and nectarine:

I finished work early and hit the gym for my strength and cardio workout. It went really well and I think next week I’ll be ready to up the weights and drop the reps! After wards I refuelled with a chocolate cherry protein shake containing a scoop of chocolate sun warrior, frozen cherries, ice cubes, kara coconut milk, matcha green tea, maca powder and tinctures. I chucked a few cacao nibs on top for added crunch:

This was so gorgeous, just like ice cream!

For dinner I made up a new recipe:

Moroccan Butternut and Chickpea Tagine (serves 3 - 4)

• 1 small butternut squash, chopped into chunks and roasted
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger
• 1 yellow pepper, chopped
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1 tin of chickpeas
• 1/2 cup of hot water or veg stock
• 8 chopped dried apricots (preferably un sulphured)

Begin by frying the onion and garlic in some olive oil on a medium heat. Add the spices and fry – taking care that they don’t burn – until they become fragrant. Add the pepper, roast squash, chickpeas, tomatoes and water. Gently simmer for 15 minutes until the veggies are tender. Add the chopped apricots and serve!

I served mine with a big pile of steamed greens. I just made this up based on a few different recipes I have came across. I’m not sure if its anything like a proper tagine but it tasted bloody lovely! You could make this without roasting the butternut first and just allowing it to simmer for longer, you could even just use cumin and not worry about the other spices if you wanted to keep it simpler.

Dessert was two oranges and some raw chocolate covered mulberries:

Still loving those mulberries! I’ve also been snacking on little apples and a clemintine throughout the afternoon and will probably continue to for the rest of the evening, I’ve been feeling especially snacky today!

This weekend I’m baking butterfly cakes for my Dad and Sister’s birthdays, visiting friends, having a trip into town and a night out for James leaving do so lots of fun stuff! I’ll also be sorting out my new make shift kitchen storage:

Yep, this is a wooden shoe rack that I plan to use as a counter top shelving unit! The storage crisis in my kitchen (due to my constant buying of foods) has lead me to try this out for size. I quite fancy painting it a funky colour and stacking it with more jars of pasta and grains and some storage tins for my crazy tea collection (anyone else have a tea collection?) I don’t think it looks too bad.

Well I hope everyone has a great weekend ahead, I’m off for a cuppa, catch you later!

Thanks for all the comments to my last post on unusual ingredients and where to find them, I’m so glad the post was useful! Keep a look out for Part 2 as well as a post on tofu as requested. One thing I realised that I didn’t mention in relation to some of those products was the cost. A lot of them aren’t exactly cheap. I tend to try and use discount codes whenever possible and time my purchases accordingly when offers are on the go. Another aspect for me is that experimenting with food and ingredients, along with spending money on clothes and magazines brings me immense pleasure! You have probably guessed from reading the blog I have little social life to speak of ;-) so my ‘disposable’ income gets spent on stuff like that, although I have to say I am due another budget challenge as I have been hammering the old credit card a bit too much recently!

Tuesday kicked off with my home strength workout. I did the same reps as last week, and worked up a good sweat! Breakfast was chocolate mesquite overnight oats with 2 chopped pears:

The other pear is hiding underneath all that chocolately goodness! I mixed 1/2 cup of oats with some chia seeds, a tablespoon of mesquite, a scoop of chocolate sun warrior, some ground flax, 1/2 cup of oat milk and a cup of water then left in the fridge overnight to thicken up. I served it at room temperature. I’m quite liking the overnight oats / breakfast puddings at the moment although they don’t compare to lovely hot porridge! I think they come in handy when I want to get some sun warrior protein in but I don’t want a smoothie.

Lunch was an awesome salad which included lots of rocket, alfalfa sprouts, pearl barley, carrot, red onion, red pepper, avocado and a sweet miso dressing (flax oil, apple cider vinegar and sweet white miso). I also had half a honeydew melon:

I ate the melon before the salad as I know that melon digests very quickly and is sometimes best eaten before other foods. I wish I had chopped this up as it was a bugger to eat with a spoon!

Mid afternoon I snacked on some of my delicious high protein hummus with red pepper and cucumber for dipping – so loving this hummus!

Before I left work for yoga I had one of my leftover cookies taken out of the freezer along with a mug of yerba mate tea for an energy boost:

Yoga was really good. I seem to be getting better each week, I constantly amaze myself at how flexible I can be. It does help that we have an awesome instructor who adjusts our postures and helps us to move into postures more deeply. I’m still not able to do some of the tougher poses like crow or plough like the others in the class but I can put out a damn good boat pose! As it is Ashtanga yoga we are moving through the postures quite quickly so it gives me a great workout, I was shattered by the end and had wobbly leg syndrome again!

When I got home I refuelled with a massive green monster that included spinach, savoy cabbage, mixed frozen berries, an orange, tablespoon of peanut butter, oat milk, spirulina, matcha green tea, milk thistle and echinacea tincture. I topped it with some goji berries and flaked almonds:

I also snacked on three apples.

This morning I had a late start at work so I headed out to the gym first thing. I did 30 minutes of speed intervals on the treadmill then 30 minutes of HIITs (high intensity interval training in case anyone wasn’t sure what that stands for) on the cross trainer, step machine and bike followed by my usual abs and core exercises. I had to use the stability ball for my full sit ups as I have a really sore tail bone area at the moment for some reason!

Breakfast was a bowl of porridge made with the last of my power porridge mix made up with some added oat bran for creaminess, oat milk and water. I topped this with some cashew cream and a sliced juicy nectarine. I also made myself a fresh carrot, beetroot, cucumber and ginger juice:

The cashew cream was so good with the hot porridge and nectarine, it kind of went all melty!

Lunch was the other half of the melon (chopped this time!):

Followed by a big bowl of Kabocha Squash Soup:

This is so easy to make, just roast the kabocha with its skin on then add to a pan, add veg stock and some fresh parsley then blend using a hand blender. You get this amazing sweet velvety soup.

Mid afternoon I snacked on some raisins, walnuts and brazil nuts:

Sometimes a simple cheap snack like this is just as nice as a pre packed snack bar.

For dinner I made a meal based on an Anthony Worrall Thompson recipe in Cook Vegetarian! Magazine:

Italian Leek Stew (makes 2 servings)

• Olive oil
• 2 large leeks, washed and chopped
• 1 tin of cannellini beans
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1 carton of olives, preferably pitted then chopped
• Handful of fresh basil

Begin by frying the leek in the olive oil on a medium low heat until softened. Add the beans and chopped tomatoes. Simmer on a medium low heat for 15 minutes then add the olives. Add a good handful of chopped fresh basil and serve:

I served mine with some steamed tender stem broccoli.

Dessert was half a bar of Conscious Goji and Coconut Raw Chocolate with two sliced pink lady apples:

This flavour raw chocolate tasted amazing! I loved the coconut and goji combination.

I’m still feeling really buzzed off last nights yoga class. Although I’m no where near as good as most of the others in the class, I know that I am improving. I used to really compare myself to others, especially in relation to running speed, distances and times, then I realised how pointless that is (although I know that some people can use those feelings in a positive way, for me they always left me feeling inadequate). Everyone is different and the only person you can truly compare yourself to is you! As long as I know I am making progress, I’m happy that I’m achieving something, no matter how that may compare to others. Have you ever found yourself comparing your performance to others? How did that make you feel?

Tuesday morning started with my strength workout where I managed to increase all my reps. As next week will see us moving in to March (thank god!) I’ll be changing up my routine again so that I keep challenging my body in new ways – tonight I signed up for Body Pump at my gym, finally I’m getting on the Body Pump wagon!

Breakfast was a fab smoothie in a bowl containing kale, frozen cherries, soy milk, chocolate sun warrior protein powder, maca powder, spirulina, ground flax, matcha green tea powder, xanthan gum and some water. I topped it with cacao nibs, coconut and pistachios:

As I had my check up at the docs at lunch time I worked from home in the afternoon. I had leftover Italian Leek and Bean Stew with rocket:

followed by three plums:

A little later I did an hour of Yogalates followed by one of the new Total Greek yoghurt split pots as a snack:

This was the tropical fruit variety. It was lovely, although I found the fruity bit rather too sweet for me. Still pretty tasty though!

Dinner was 2 baked mushrooms stuffed with one of my Beetroot and Lentil burgers, swede chips, steamed spring greens and red cabbage with shoyu and tomato ketchup:

I truly love swede chips more than regular chips!

Dessert was two chopped apples with raw brazil cacao bliss for dipping:

This morning I had a bowl of 10 grain hot cereal made with chia seeds, water and coconut milk with cranberries, apple and almond butter plus an additional drizzle of coconut milk on top. I also made myself a carrot, beet, cucumber and ginger juice:

Such a pretty bowl of yumminess!

Lunch was some of my veggie chilli with wild rocket and blue corn chips:

I’m in love with those blue corn chips, they are perfect with the chilli! I also had an orange and a kiwi:

Mid afternoon I snacked on an almond and raisin cookie before the gym:

I did my usual 30 minute speed work run on the treadmill followed by 30 minutes of HIITs on the cross trainer, step machine and bike. I also did my abs and core exercises. My workout was a total sweat fest tonight, recently the gym has been really cold and I’ve had to work out wearing my long sleeve top. Tonight it was actually warm for a change so I enjoyed getting my sweat on!

Dinner was some teriyaki baked tofu with stir fried carrot, courgette, red cabbage and spring greens plus some mung bean noodles, ginger, shoyu and gomasio:

This tofu was super tasty. Yesterday I pressed then marinated some plain tofu in a teriyaki sauce and baked in a hot oven then left to cool. Today I just sliced it up and added to the stir fry. I think this would work really well in salads too.

Dessert was a pear and some dark cherry RAW chocolate and some plain dark chocolate from The Raw Chocolate Company:

Honestly, that chocolate from The Raw Chocolate Company is utterly divine!

I was so glad that I was able to have a good sweaty workout earlier, I often don’t feel like I’ve had a good workout unless I work up a good sweat. I know that some women don’t like to get sweaty, my gym has several giant fans to keep people cool – but they just leave me freezing cold! Do you like to get your sweat on?

I’m also so excited for trying out Body Pump! I know a lot of you guys are big fans, got any tips for me ready for my first class? What should I expect?

For the first time in ages I woke up this Monday morning and didn’t want to crawl straight back into bed! I think this yummy breakfast may have had something to do with it:

Almond and quinoa muffin with chopped apple, tofu ‘yoghurt’ (mori nu silken tofu blended with 1 small jar of apple and blueberry baby food and 1 tsp of vanilla extract) plus pumpkin and sunflower seeds and a vanilla coffee sweetened with agave. I really enjoyed the tofu yoghurt, I’ve made loads of variations of blended tofu puddings but this was a perfect yoghurt replacement, delicious.

For lunch I decided to try out some of the Clearspring ramen noodles I received last week. I had the soya sauce noodles with nori wraps containing my avocado / nutritional yeast mix and shredded carrot:

I really enjoyed those noodles, they do have a long ingredients list but its all whole recognisable ingredients. The soya sauce flavour was delicious and they were very easy to make – just add boiling water, microwave then add sauce. Like a pot noodle but without all the crap!

I also had a sliced kiwi and orange:

Mid afternoon I had a peppermint stick Luna bar before heading off to the gym:

At the gym I did 15 minutes of HIITs on the step machine, 15 minutes of HIITs on the cross trainer followed by my abs and core exercises and my 30 minute spin class which was packed tonight.

Yesterday, as part of my Sunday cook up session I made some of my delicious Italian Leek and Bean Stew so for dinner I had a nice big portion along with some spelt pasta and swiss chard sautéed with garlic:

It was gorgeous and so filling. Dessert was a protein smoothie in a bowl made with ice cubes, soy milk and fruitein protein powder plus goji berries for topping:

The postie was also my friend today when he delivered my Viva Pure order:

I ordered maca powder, chia seeds, mesquite and raw cacao. Included with my order were a few additional goodies for me to review – raw chia seed superfood porridge mix, raw crunchy apple granola and spicy pumpkin seeds. I had a sneaky taste of the granola and pumpkin seeds and they are both fabulous, can’t wait to try out the porridge mix!

As I think I may have hinted in Friday’s post I’ve been doing lots of thinking over the last few days about my future. Just to give you a bit of background, I’m currently a project manager for a small charity that works to support other charities and community groups. Next year our funding runs out and it will be time to look for a new job. I’ve been thinking a lot about what I would like to do next and I really fancy a bit of a change of direction. Obviously I am passionate about healthy eating, cooking and fitness and would love to be able to earn a living (or at least part of a living) doing work in this area. I’ve decided to enrol on a distance learning course to gain a qualification as a Diet and Nutrition Advisor. I’m really excited about it and think that it will complement the skills and qualifications I already have working in the community and voluntary sector. I love that feeling of optimism for the future and all it could bring!

I also have a few ideas for refreshing and reorganising the blog including a re design and a few more fashion and home posts, the flat is in need of a spring make over and I’ve been seeking some budget friendly decor updates I can’t wait to share with you over the next couple of weeks!

Have you ever changed jobs or careers or followed your passions?