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Well thank god its Friday, with the bank holiday and having Tuesday off work for the blogger meet up its been a great but strange week! I am really looking forward to the weekend.

I have had a pretty quiet few days, the calm before the storm, as now that we are into September things at work get crazy again!

I’ve fitted in my usual workouts and even got in another treadmill run – I did 3.5 miles in 28 minutes almost pain free on Wednesday morning followed by some extra cardio on the machines and some abs and core. Yesterday I started the day with some free style yoga and popped to the gym after work for a sweaty hour on the step machine, cross trainer, bike and rowing machine followed by abs and core. This morning I did my NRoL workout – doing 3 sets of all the moves again, however my knee was not happy during the very slow 5 minute treadmill warm up!

Food wise I’ve been craving the usual green smoothies and salads:

Wednesday’s green smoothie containing kale, spinach, frozen strawberries, strawberry hemp, msm, maca powder, barley grass powder, stevia, water, ice, xanthan and guar gum topped with bee pollen, peanut flour sauce and some freeze dried berries.

This morning I wanted to try out another fruit free green smoothie. This contained spinach, cos lettuce, 2 scoops of vanilla protein powder, maca, spirulina, msm, stevia, water, ice, xanthan and guar gums topped with goji berries and raw almond butter sauce:

This was so creamy and mildly sweet! Delicious :-)

I enjoyed another fabulous hummus topper salad containing some of my very own home grown alfalfa sprouts!

I bought some seeds last weekend and have had them sprouting, I only used a quarter cup of seeds and ended up with 2 large jars full! This will save me a lot of cash on buying them from the shop – they usually cost £1.30 for a tiny pack!

I’ve also been loving these ‘cheesy’ salads:

Cos lettuce, pea shoots, alfalfa sprouts, pepper, carrot, cucumber, red onion, raw cheesy crumbles and some raw cheesy spicy pumpkin seeds plus a bit of Braggs liquid aminos.

I welcomed in September by eating some seasonal spaghetti squash!

Stir fried veggies including spring greens, carrot, mushrooms and broccoli with edamame on top of spaghetti squash ‘noodles’ with a spicy lime peanut sauce (peanut flour, lime juice, red chilli, ginger, shoyu). These stir fries have been hitting the spot!

Tonight I really wanted something fresh tasting so made my favourite raw courgette spaghetti with raw pasta sauce topped with nutritional yeast, olives and basil:

I can’t tell you how much I love this, light but filling! I’ve also been craving cereal too:

Nature’s Path Mesa Sunrise Cereal, rice milk and strawberries.

I’ve been snacking on a lot of these too:

Home made cheesy raw kale chips! These taste utterly wonderful. I made a cheesy coating with cashews, nutritional yeast, garlic and onion powder and dehydrated them, they are so good!

Tasty sweet treats have included this ‘frappe’ made with Mint Chocolate Teecino, rice milk, stevia and crushed ice:

I treated myself to this Starbucks cup at the weekend, I just can’t help myself! I also tried out a sachet of Cherries Jubilee Spiru-tein powder to make some protein ice cream:

This was the bomb, even James commented on how good it was. I’ve had this flavour before a long time ago - I think I may have to indulge in a full tub!

So I have to admit I’m getting a bit more worried about my knee. I’ve booked in for a sports massage so I’m hoping that will help to loosen up my IT Band. In the meantime I’m continuing to stretch, foam roll and occasionally ice it. I’m planning on trying out a 6 mile treadmill run at the weekend – I think it hurt so bad this morning because I didn’t wear my knee support. Fingers crossed I’ll be ok!

As for the rest of the weekend I have a lovely one planned, tomorrow should be pretty relaxed with a bit of grocery and bedroom accessory shopping, seeing my Mam and Dad, kitchen pottering and chilling out! On Sunday it will mark 7 years since me and James met (I was chief bridesmaid and he was best man at my sisters wedding – cheesy I know!) Hope you all have a great weekend planned too!

Have you had a sports massage before? Did it help you? Any tips for me in terms of what to wear and what to expect?

Hello everyone, thank goodness its Friday! I’ve had what feels like a crazy week with two late night meetings and lots going on at work. I had to get a bit creative with my workouts to be able to fit them in around the extra working hours:

• Monday – AM gym – 5k on treadmill running 0.25 mile intervals, 30 minutes of cardio intervals (total time) on cross trainer, bike and step machine, abs and core
• Tuesday – AM Davina Super Sculpt DVD with extra legs section plus Yoga for Runners
• Wednesday AM – 7 mile hill run in 1hr 03 minutes, abs and core – this was a tough run as my legs felt like lead, I felt like I was a lot slower than I actually ended up being (9.07 pace)
• Thursday AM – Davina Super Sculpt DVD with extra arms section plus MTV Yoga (I so needed that yoga!)
• Friday AM – gym – 40 minutes cardio intervals (total time) on cross trainer, step machine, bike and rowing machine followed by abs and core

It was weird to be doing DVD’s again as I only really need to do them when I’m working late on a Tuesday or Thursday which thankfully hasn’t been in a while! Eats wise, I’ve been craving raw foods and surprisingly, considering the general lack of time, I’ve been quite creative.

I’ve gone with lots of my usual green smoothies and salads, I won’t bore you with loads of photos of them but these have been my faves!

My current favourite green smoothie combo: spinach, frozen banana, 2 scoops of vanilla sun warrior protein powder, maca powder, barley grass, spirulina, ground flax, msm crystals, xanthan and guar gums for thickness, water and ice topped with a sauce made from raw brazil cacao bliss, crumbled raw granola and goji berries. Delicious!

Salad bowl containing romaine lettuce, carrot, cucumber, red onion, red pepper, roast beets, raw sunflower flax crackers and raw green goddess dressing.

Another big salad bowl containing cos lettuce, green pepper, cucumber, sugar snaps, carrots, tahini miso dressing and a Clearspring roasted soya nut and pumpkin seed snack pack.

I find green smoothies a great late night meal for me as they are quite easy to digest. I’ve also had the usual tofu topped salads, I tried some olive tofu and it was yummy.

As I said I’ve been getting a bit creative with things, first up I took a shot at a semi raw hummus:

I made this with 2 courgettes, lemon juice, tahini, hemp oil and garlic. It was ok but I think it needed more tahini! I ate this with piles of chopped veggies. I’ve also been eating raw kale chips, lots of fruit and this great little chocolate chia seed pudding in a jar:

2 tbsp of chia seeds, water, 1 tbsp of raw cacao and stevia in a near empty raw brazil nut bliss jar. This was fab – so thick and creamy! It made the perfect take to work snack. I think I’ll be making these more often!

I also tried this Blueberry Pure bar from my NYC stash:

It was very tasty, and had much more blueberry flavour than the cherry cashew version I had tried which wasn’t that cherry flavoured!

Along side the green smoothies I’ve enjoyed some amazing raw breakfasts:

Chocolate protein chia seed pudding (2 tbsp of chia seeds, 1 scoop of chocolate sun warrior protein powder, hemp milk) with strawberries and blackberries. This was so tasty and amazingly filling, it kept me going for hours!

Utterly wonderful banana split breakfast inspired by Jess, this included one large banana, crumbled raw granola, strawberries and vanilla almond protein sauce (1 tbsp of raw almond butter mixed 1 scoop of vanilla sun warrior protein powder and water). That was the first time I’ve tried a nut butter protein sauce and it was the bomb! I can’t wait to try it over cereal.

When I have been at home for dinner I’ve gone for a good old Buddha bowl meal:

Kidney beans, quinoa, raw courgette, basil and parsley with spinach, roast beets and roast acorn squash plus the last of my green goddess dressing mixed with more tahini and sweet white miso. I have to say I’m not a huge fan of the acorn squash, not enough sweetness or flavour compared to butternut or kabocha :-(

Today I’ve been able to work from home so decided to get creative with my lunch:

Raw courgette noodles with a raw sauce made from cherry tomatoes, red pepper, garlic granules, onion powder and italian seasoning topped with nutritional yeast. Enjoyed with some tasty raw crackers. I still can’t get over how satisfying this is!

For this evenings dinner I thought I would try out the tempeh I bought a few weeks ago. I baked it in some Clearspring teriyaki sauce and served with a baked sweet potato with coconut butter and some veg box fresh steamed chard and broccoli with ginger and shoyu:

The tempeh turned out lovely, its definitely growing on me. I also loved the coconut butter on the sweet potato, might try almond butter next time!

I’ve also had some tasty desserts:

Pink lady apple with Artisana Cacao bliss. This stuff is heavenly! I also went back to my nut butter box (yes, I have a box full of nut butters, don’t judge me) and had a couple of spoonful's of Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter and my god that stuff is amazing!

Slice of raw banana sesame goji and dried cherry cake from the freezer. The last time I posted this I got loads of requests for the recipe, basically its just 1 cup of sesame seeds soaked and blended with a small banana then mixed with gojis and dried cherries pressed into a lunch box, frozen and sliced up! Nom!

Just to add to the general rawness of my week, this morning I received this great selection of products from RAW Health to review:

I have some of their newest products to try: agave nectar, raw kalamata olives, lemon chia energy balls and cacao truffles, plus some of my old favourites: raw crackers and raw chocolate. Looking forward to enjoying these!

In even more raw news I ordered a dehydrator today! I decided that I would use my birthday money (coming up in August) to buy a dehydrator. I’ve gone for the best model I can afford, the Excalibur and I can not wait to start experimenting! I don’t think I’m about to turn into a total raw foodist, but I have really been enjoying how eating more raw food makes me feel :-)

After that busy week I could have done with a quiet weekend but no such luck! I’ll be off to town to see Harry Potter, visiting friends and family, fitting in a long run, studying and buying some camping gear ready for next weekend’s Kendal Calling Festival where I’ll be blogging with Alpro Soya! I can’t wait.

Have you ever experimented with raw foods? How did they make you feel? Any must try dehydrator recipes I should take a look at?

Oh, and a quick question for you: how do you guys feel about the Intense Debate commenting system? I always try and reply to my comments but I realise that a lot of people probably don’t come back and check. At least with that system I can reply to specific comments which will notify you with an email but I don’t want to install it if it puts you off commenting! Let me know what you think!

Happy Friday guys! Are you all set for the weekend? How’s your week been?

Despite the swelling and pain from having my wisdom teeth extracted I’ve been able to maintain a pretty consistent workout schedule, mainly because working out has made me feel better! The only thing I’ve had to avoid has been running, I tried a 5 minute treadmill run on Wednesday and the high impact made my face giggle – which felt uncomfortable, but today I felt more like my normal self and did some speed intervals:

• Saturday – gym, 1 hour light cardio on bike, step machine, cross trainer
• Sunday – 45 min Kettlebell class
• Monday – gym, 5 min warm up cross trainer, new strength plan based on Female Body Breakthrough ‘Dial it in’ phase, 20 min HIIT on bike
• Tuesday – 10 min light yoga stretching am, pm gym, 30 min HIIT on cross trainer, step machine and bike, Body Pump class
• Wednesday – gym – 5 min treadmill, 10 min rowing machine, 15 min HIIT on each: step machine, bike, cross trainer
• Thursday – am detox challenge yoga flow, pm – gym 30 min bike random, 10 min cross trainer HIITs, 10 min step machine HIIT, 10 min abs
• Friday – gym 5 min warm up cross trainer, new strength plan based on Female Body Breakthrough ‘Dial it in’ phase, 15 min HIIT on treadmill

It felt so good to run again this morning, even just for 15 minutes!

My eats have continued along the blended theme this week, but I’ve actually really enjoyed some of these!

I decided to experiment with a couple of raw soups:

This was just based on my raw pasta sauce recipe but made in the blender with added hemp oil and fresh basil, it was really creamy and so good! I also made a Curried Carrot and Coconut Soup:

Carrot and Coconut Soup (makes 2 servings, almost raw, vegan)

• 500g of carrots, chopped
• 2 tbsp of grated ginger root
• 1 heaped tbsp of coconut oil
• 1/2 tbsp of toasted sesame oil
• 1 tbsp of shoyu or soy sauce
• 1 tsp of garam masala or to taste
• Water to desired consistency
• Desiccated coconut and sesame seeds to serve

I used my blender for this recipe, but its pretty tough so if yours isn’t you may want to grate the carrots first. Start by blending the carrots with a little water until they become pureed. Add the other ingredients and blend until smooth and creamy adding more water as needed. Serve topped with the coconut and sesame seeds.

This was really yummy, the ginger and spices give it a lovely earthy warmth. I served mine at room temperature rather than chilled, just delicious!

Of course, there has been more smoothie action:

Spring greens, frozen cherries, raw beetroot, chocolate hemp protein powder, maca powder, ground flax, berries powder, water, ice topped with bee pollen and coconut

Simple green smoothie with spinach, pineapple and kiwi

 Utterly lush raw chocolate coconut smoothie! Thai young coconut (from an Oriental supermarket, sold in a frozen bag) with raw cacao powder and water. Tasted ah-maz-ing!

Romaine lettuce, apples, vanilla sun warrior, vanilla stevia, water, ice

Greens, 2 small pears, chocolate hemp protein powder, ground flax, maca powder, midori greens, water, ice, bee pollen

I have to admit, after a week of smoothies I am starting to get a bit sick of them but they are the easiest thing for me to eat right now.

I have tried some other things though, including some raw chocolate avocado mousse:

Some of the avocado was going off I also added a banana to the mix and then froze the other half of the mousse in silicon cups with a blob of raw almond butter inside. Earlier in the week I had more delicious cauliflower mash (without the broccoli added that time) with some of my Lentil and Spinach Soup well blended and topped with a little parsley:

For dinner last night I felt like my teeth could handle a bit more chew so I combined some quinoa cooked in veg stock with a grated carrot and a grated courgette, home made hummus, nutritional yeast and a splash of shoyu:

It was really good and felt nice to be able to get my teeth into something! Snack wise I’ve been enjoying more raw blended apples with either chia seeds or like this with a blob of tahini and honey:

I’ve been eating a lot of tahini and honey these last few days, as well as protein pudding made with a scoop of chocolate sun warrior protein powder mixed with water and coconut flour cream (coconut flour mixed with water and stevia), in fact my stomach has been like a bottomless pit! The lack of bulky chewable foods has left me feeling unsatisfied, thankfully I seem to finally be improving fast. Today I’m enjoying the excuse to have breakfast for lunch – pumpkin spiced porridge with tofu cream!

A couple of quick bits of news:

• This week I’d like to thank the lovely people at NukuNuku for sponsoring the blog this month. I reviewed their Haramaki bands here, please check them out, especially if you feel the cold like me!
• Long term sponsor Viva Pure are offering a 7% discount on your first order using code VPFRIEND7. Have a browse of their site for a brilliant range of raw foods.
• One of my favourite brands Good Hemp have launched their Good Hemp Nutrition site for the sale of their hemp protein powders of which I’m a massive fan. They are offering 33% off your first purchase with the code GOOD11. Check it out!

Even though I’ve been off work for most of the week I’m still looking forward to the weekend and having some time to try and get back into a routine. I’ve been reading the Hunger Games books after several bloggers mentioned them and I love them. I’m hoping to finish Catching Fire over the weekend. I also have another Kettlebell class that I’m really looking forward to and hopefully another run!

Have you ever tried a raw soup? Have you read the Hunger Games books? Any big plans for the weekend? Hope whatever your up to you have a great one!

P.S – I just found out I passed my Diet and Nutrition Advisors Course with a Distinction! So happy and excited!