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Hi everyone with any luck I should be welcoming you to Keeping Healthy Getting Stylish.com! The blog is still transitioning so you may still be on the blogspot site but over the next few days you should automatically be redirected to the new .com address!

I decided to change the ‘slim’ to ‘healthy’ as I felt that slim wasn’t the right word any longer and that healthy better reflects my ethos and what the blog is all about. I also wanted to make the move to my own domain. I’ve added some new pages to the right hand side of the blog to give links to posts on recipes, healthy eating, fashion, workouts, home style etc as well as links to key posts in my About page – please check them out and let me know what you think!

I’ve had a busy but fun weekend, Saturday started with a tasty breakfast, chocolate mesquite porridge with pear and hazelnuts:

I used 1/2 cup of scottish oats, 1 tbsp of oat bran, 1 tbsp of chia seeds, 1/2 cup of kara coconut milk, 1 cup water and cooked on the stove adding raw cacao, mesquite, sweet freedom, 2 chopped pears, hazelnut butter and hazelnuts.

We had a short trip to Newcastle to pick up a couple of things. Here’s a quick outfit of the day:

 Trench: Debenhams, denim dress: Mango, tan leather belt: Topshop, floral tights: Accessorize, tan boots: ASOS, tan bag: Dune, diamante anchor necklace: Accessorize

While we were out we enjoyed a cuppa at one of our favourite little cafes. I had a delicious chai soy latte:

I also stocked up on fresh produce from the market including these unusual round courgettes…

…and this massive jar of organic smooth peanut butter (only ingredients peanuts and salt):

Can’t wait to be making oats in a jar in that!

Lunch was a slice of toasted quinoa amaranth bread with marmite accompanied by 2 chopped carrots, a chopped russet apple and cherries:

Mid afternoon I made a fab green juice from Crazy, Sexy Diet: Make juice not war:

This included 1 pear, cabbage, celery, cucumber, romaine lettuce, broccoli and ginger. I felt alive after drinking that!

Dinner was inspired by a recipe in the brilliant Super Natural Cooking, Wheat Berry Salad with Citrus Dressing. I topped some baby spinach with cooked wheat grains mixed with parsley and a citrus dressing made with orange juice, cool oil and apple cider vinegar, then topped with toasted pine nuts and organic feta:

I have to say I loved these wheat grains, so chewy and tasty. The dressing was also really good, I’ll have to use it on other salads too. Dessert was some booja booja truffles:

Heavenly as always. I also snacked on a few unpictured apples.

This morning I fuelled up with a blood orange and two sweet and chewy neglect dates before heading out on my run:

I used my Garmin for the first time, it was excellent! I did 6.18 miles in 1 hour, average pace 9.45. I was happy enough with that pace as it gives me a good baseline to work up from. After the run I hit the gym for 30 minutes of constant rate cardio while catching up with some magazines.

Breakfast was just the most fabulous smoothie in a bowl! It included: cabbage, frozen banana, 2 small nectarines, frozen mixed berries, scoop of peanut chocolate swirl spirutein protein powder, coconut water, kara coconut milk, spirulina, maca, matcha green tea, ground flax, raw cacao and xanthan gum. I topped it with a spoonful of my new peanut butter, grape nuts cereal, gojis and flaked almonds:

I had this bowl plus about another half a bowl full. It was amazing, so full of goodness!

Lunch was a bowl of Spicy Black Eye Bean Soup followed by grapes:

I also made myself another green juice mid afternoon, I’m just addicted to these at the moment, wish I had more time to make them during the week.

Dinner was one of my round courgettes stuffed with some of my Veggie Loaf and baked in the oven. I served it with steamed swede mashed with some sweet white miso and almond milk plus steamed kale with shoyu:

Dessert was one of my sinless chocolate brownies from the freezer topped with coconut flour paste ‘icing’:

This was so good! The chocolate and coconut together was delicious.

Hope you don’t mind this photo packed post! I’ve been having fun this weekend playing with my new camera. I think my photos are looking ok but unfortunately even the best camera can’t make good pics using the flash, can’t wait for the longer summer days so I can photograph in daylight!

What do you think of the new blog name and do you like the photographs?

I’m off to relax for the rest of the evening before the busy week ahead. Hope you’ve all had a great weekend!

Hello everyone, hope you’ve had an enjoyable weekend! Anyone been up to anything exciting?

I have had a lovely weekend despite the rain, yesterday I met the lovely Jessica for a coffee. Jessica was absolutely adorable, I felt like I already knew her so well! I feel like I could have talked to her for hours about blog related stuff, and just like when I met Nicky, it really is great to be able to talk to someone face to face who understands the world of green smoothies, protein powders and kabocha squash!

I tried to dress at least half decent on Saturday but I was having a bad hair day along with the fact that my wardrobe is now filled with summer clothes not best for this wet weather! OOTD:

 Nautical hair pins: Accessorize, anchor necklace: Accessorize, striped tee: Zara, black blazer: Oasis, wide tan belt: Topshop, orange bag: Dorothy Perkins, skinny jeans: H&M, black boots: New Look.

I avoided the rain yesterday and ran this morning instead. I changed up my usual route a bit to one that included a few hills. I have to say I really had to drag myself out this morning but once I was out I felt loads better. I did 11.2 miles in 1.41 with an average pace of 9.05. Not my fastest recently but still pretty good!

Saturday’s breakfast was an amazing bowl of Cherry Almond Oats! I used 1/2 cup of scottish oats and 2 1/2 cups of water cooked in the microwave with 1 tbsp of ground flax, agave syrup, defrosted frozen cherries, almond extract, almond butter and flaked almonds:

I also enjoyed a big mug of sweet black amaretto tea with this. It was a fantastic breakfast, cherries and almonds are a match made in heaven!

I had a huge post run tropical green smoothie containing lots of kale, half a large pineapple, frozen banana, scoop of vanilla sun warrior, spirulina, maca, mesquite, coconut water, ice, xanthan and guar gums and topped with hemp seeds, coconut shreds and desiccated coconut plus freeze dried berries:

This was such a good smoothie, so sweet from the pineapple and coconut water!

I’ve had a big craving for giant veggie packed meals this weekend. I had a really good salad today containing romaine, carrot, red pepper, cucumber, sugar snaps, red onion, roasted soya nuts, pumpkin seeds, cranberries, humnut sauce (hummus, nutritional yeast and water mixed into a dressing) and lots of braggs liquid aminos:

I’ve had a voracious appetite this weekend that only big volume meals like this have been able to satisfy! 

For last nights dinner I decided to give the smoked tofu another try and stir fried it with black rice noodles, kale, asparagus, spring greens, asparagus, diakon, carrot, ginger, shoyu and gomasio:

I actually much preferred the smoked tofu stir fried and crispy this time, delicious!

This evenings dinner was 2 Linda McCartney veggie sausages with a baked sweet potato, steamed greens, broccoli and asparagus plus miso gravy:

The miso gravy was a bit of a randomly concocted mix of barley miso, sweet white miso, arrowroot, hot water and a pinch of dried sage, it was fab! Those sausages are one of the only faux meat type products I really like so are nice to have occasionally.

I’ve also had some tasty desserts including my raw cacao coconut frappe thickened up and served in a bowl topped with coconut flour sauce (coconut flour mixed with water and coconut nectar for added sweetness) and chopped chocolate adora calcium disc:

This was so good, another volume meal to fill me up! I also rescued one of my veganised sinless brownies from the freezer this evening:

Perfectly fudgey!

Today I feel like I’ve never stopped, I had my lovely Dad round for Father’s Day plus I’ve been doing a bit of work from home as well as another assignment for my Diet and Nutrition Advisor course. We have been watching movies as I’ve been working, James fancied a Simon Pegg and Nick Frost fest so we have watched Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and we are about to watch Paul. Perfect rainy weekend activities I think! As well as movie fests I also love spending time in the kitchen on a rainy weekend, especially baking! What is your favourite way to spend a rainy weekend?

I had such a tasty breakfast yesterday. I took a wholemeal wrap out of the freezer to defrost then warmed it in a pan and filled with peanut butter and sliced apple then warmed it back up.

I love breakfast wraps!

Lunch was some Kabocha Squash soup with two pears. I snacked on the Cocoa Orange Nakd Bar mid afternoon.

The Kabocha soup was amazing – it had such a velvety texture. All it was is roasted kabocha blended with vegetable stock, so simple!

I headed to the gym after work and did 45 minutes of HIITs on the step machine, cross trainer and bike followed by some exercises on the stability ball and some upper body free weights.

Dinner was two tofu sausages with red onion gravy served with steamed cavolo nero and some swede and cauliflower mash that I’d made by steaming the vegetables then blending them in my food processor with a little kara coconut milk and pure spread. Soy milk would have been better than the coconut milk but that was just what was open.

Desert was a fabulous bowl of double chocolate protein ice cream topped with one of the cookies I had received from my Secret Santa!

I’m waiting until I do my big Secret Santa post to show you everything that I got but I have to say I am a lucky girl!

Today I have just not stopped! I was up at 6.30 getting things ready for the day, getting grocery shopping and wolfing down these Bear Peach Fruit Yoyos and an orange for pre workout fuel.

I was at the gym for it opening at 9am to do 30 minutes on the treadmill, then 20 minutes on the step machine, cross trainer and bike for a full hour and a half of constant rate cardio.

For breakfast I made a vegan banana scramble / pancake type thing. I based my recipe on this one but left out the chocolate chips and used almond butter instead of peanut butter. I also served it with defrosted mixed berries.

It was delicious and so quick and easy to make. A  great alternative to regular pancakes!

I’ve spent my day baking, cooking, cleaning, writing Christmas cards and wrapping gifts like a true domestic goddess! My baking has been awesome, I started with a batch of Sinless Brownies for my Grandma who is diabetic.

How delicious do these look? They are made with Xylitol instead of sugar which is better for diabetics.

I made some vegan Almond Quinoa Muffins with Dark Cherry Jam Centre. I’ll post the recipe soon!

I also made some wonderful vegan Gingerbread Cookies based on another Mama Pea recipe. I cut them into star shapes and sprinkled half with icing sugar and then iced the other half and added some decorations.

I’m taking this selection of cookies and muffins to my parents tomorrow and some cookies to work on Monday. I’m going to freeze a small batch too for when I fancy a treat!

I also made a pan of Roast Tomato, Red Pepper and Chilli Soup to freeze up. Lunch was a slice of quinoa and amaranth rye bread toasted with marmite and some carrot and cucumber plus two pears.

Dinner was a lentil pie made with leftover Swede and Cauliflower mash from yesterday and brown lentils with carrot and onion for the base. I also had some steamed cavolo nero and spring greens with seeds.

 

For desert I had two sliced apples and a gingerbread cookie.

I have a serious sugar high now :-) I just can’t believe how much I’ve done today. I feel really wired and need to relax now before bed!

Do have any favourite baked goods at Christmas? I can see those vegan Gingerbread Cookies becoming a tradition! I’m in for another crazy busy day tomorrow with a trip to town and visits to friends and family. Hope your all having a great weekend!

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you’ve all had a great weekend enjoying this beautiful weather. I’ve certainly got my quota of vitamin D over the past two days!

Yesterday we had a walk into town, we are so lucky to live somewhere so beautiful:

River Wear, Durham City

I wore my charity shop bargain top for a summery look:

OOTD: sunglasses: Dorothy Perkins, necklace: French Connection, purple top: charity shop, cocktail ring: Topshop, bag: Dune, wooden chunky bangles: Oasis, skinny jeans: Topshop

We stopped to enjoy a cuppa in town. I had a lovely loose leaf green tea:

Such a great day!

I have also had some crazy tasty eats this weekend. Breakfast on Saturday was a socca wrap with mixed seeds filled with crunchy peanut butter and a chopped pink lady apple plus a big pot of earl gray tea:

When we got back from town I made a really amazing salad for lunch. It included lots of leafy greens – cos lettuce, little gem, spinach, watercress and red chard then sugar snap peas and griddled asparagus with some dressing made from my divine squash dip (watered down) then topped with a snack pack of Clearspring pumpkin seeds, soya nuts, dried cranberries and dried apple:

It was just the most delicious salad, I enjoyed every single forkful! I really liked the snack pack – it made a great salad topping with 8.5g of protein.

For dinner I made a fantastic dish of red rice with coconut and ginger braised greens and kale (just kale, greens and fresh minced ginger cooked in coconut oil then some reduced fat coconut milk and shoyu poured on top and simmered for 5 minutes) roast kabocha squash and fried tofu marinated in soy sauce and mirin:

Soo good! Dessert was a wonderful strawberry and mango pudding (fresh fruit blended with ice, agave, xanthan and guar gums):

This morning I was up for my usual long run. I had only been planning on doing about 8.5 miles but I ended up doing 10 miles in 1hr 32 minutes! It was a good run, when I compare my pace to the last time I ran 10 miles a month ago my average pace has gone from 9.42 to 9.13! I can’t believe I have improved so much in such a short period of time.

When I got home I knew that chocolate had to feature in my breakfast with it being Easter Sunday so I went for my favourite chocolate peanut butter cup green smoothie:

Amazing!

We then headed to my parents for Easter lunch. It was fantastic, we played with my nephews and had an Easter egg hunt! We also enjoyed lots of sunshine in their garden:

  OOTD: colourful beaded necklaces: Oasis / thrifted, pink loose top: Warehouse, white vest: H&M, grey cropped utility harem pants: New Look (new purchase!) grey peep toe ankle boots: Oasis

I had lots of salad and veggies with 3 different flavoured hummus:

The hummus was roasted veggie, lemon and coriander and roasted red pepper, yum! I also enjoyed a few glasses of the Pomegranate and Elderflower Presse I was sent for review:

This was so light and refreshing! I also had lots of fruit plus one of my Sinless Brownies that I had baked yesterday:

I reworked the recipe for the brownies to make them vegan and extra chocolaty by subbing out the egg whites for Ener-G egg replacer (for two eggs, you could also use flax eggs) plus one 100g pot of apple sauce. I also added 2 tablespoons of vegan dark chocolate chips then baked at 170c for about 30 minutes. I can honestly say that these brownies are the absolute bomb! They have the best fudgy texture – which has improved by making them vegan! Just awesome :-)

I didn’t get any Easter eggs this year as I already have a huge chocolate stash so I’m getting a little bit of spending money for NYC instead :-) I am now slightly regretting not asking for a dark chocolate Lindt bunny though!

Have you been given any Easter eggs this year? How have you celebrated Easter? I really enjoyed watching my two year old nephew hunt for his eggs!

Hi guys! How are you this lovely Sunday? Unfortunately I am suffering with a bit of a cold but I’m not letting it get me down!

Yesterday I headed to the gym for a monster treadmill workout. I designed a play list to take me through some intervals but it didn’t upload properly! I just had to wing it in the end but it was still a great workout. I split my run into four roughly 15 minute sections with a 5 minute session on the bike between each section. I started out with a 6mph pace then increased it by 0.2mph for each track on my playlist. The next section was speed intervals so I alternated a moderate to fast pace each track. Then for the third section I did hill intervals with a 2% and then 3% incline. The last section was the same as the first but starting at 6.5mph. I really enjoyed this workout, using the playlist and dividing the workout up kept it interesting. I must have covered about 6.5 miles in total. After my recent issues around running motivation I was really chuffed!

I had only eaten a bear fruit yoyo before going to the gym so I was starving when I got home! I made a lovely big bowl of 10 grain hot cereal with water and soymilk plus some wheat germ and brown rice syrup. I added some defrosted strawberries and a spoonful of cashew butter. I also enjoyed a pot of japanese sencha cherry green tea.

Delish!

For lunch I had 4 wholegrain rice cakes topped with vegan cream cheese  and some roasted peppers and olives from a jar. I also had a few carrot sticks and a couple of pears.

The hubby was at work all day so dinner was another solitary affair. I had a small butternut squash and decided to try and stuff it. You can easily double this recipe for two:

Stuffed Butternut Squash with beans and peppers (serves 1)

• 1/2 small butternut squash
• 1/2 tin of cannellini beans
• 2 small shallots or half an onion, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup of roasted peppers from a jar
• 1/2 teaspoon of nutritional yeast / parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

Begin by pre heating the oven to 170c. Place the butternut (with the seeds scooped out) cut side up and rub with a little oil. Roast until the butternut is slightly tender. While the butternut is cooling down lightly mash the beans. Fry the shallots / onions until tender then add the peppers and beans and fry for a few minutes. Scoop the flesh from the squash leaving enough in the shell for it to hold its shape. Add the chopped squash to the pan with the beans and peppers. Add the nutritional yeast and balsamic vinegar and stir well. Stuff the squash shell with mixture. Return the squash to the oven and bake for a further 10 minutes until warmed though. You could top the stuffed squash with cheese if desired.

I served mine with some sautéed black kale inspired by the Sicilian Greens recipe from The Kind Diet. I started by frying a finely chopped clove of garlic in a little olive oil then added the chopped kale and sautéed for a few minutes until lightly tender. I then added a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, 1 tablespoon of raisins and 1 tablespoon of toasted pine nuts.

Just a wonderful meal, both dishes tasted delicious!

I also had the last of my Chilli Dark chocolate and an unpictured apple.

God I love that chocolate! As I was feeling a bit grotty this morning I thought I’d cheer myself up with pancakes! I made up some of Angela’s vegan spelt pancakes for one. Yesterday I had used up two old apples to make some apple and cinnamon compote. I added a spoonful of compote between each pancake and then topped them all with more compote, chopped walnuts and maple syrup.

So amazingly good! I had thought that pancakes without egg and protein powder wouldn’t taste as good or fill me up but I was so wrong, these were lovely and fluffy too.

Today I decided to buy some wholegrain tortilla wraps. I haven’t had shop bought wraps in ages as the ingredients list usually put me off but the ones I got weren’t too bad. I used them to make a tasty lunch for me and the hubby. I filled mine with leftover butternut squash and cannellini beans fried with red onion and a little hot chilli powder then folded and fried to make a Butternut and Bean Quesadilla. I also had some roast broccoli, raw carrot sticks and ketchup.

Absolutely gorgeous and so tasty! I made two wraps for the hubby filled with ham, cheese and mushrooms, he really liked them so that’s one extra healthy thing we can enjoy together!

For desert we had the last two of my Sinless Chocolate Brownies with Tofutti Vanilla Ice Cream.

I love these brownies – and as the hubby likes them too I must make more!

I’m going to spend the rest of the day chilling out with my hubby, I have some old dresses to put on ebay and I’ve just placed a huge Christmas order with Tea Pigs and Goodness Direct (yey!) Its quite sad to sell these dresses as I’ve had many good times in them and they are beautiful but are now two or three sizes too big for me. If you’ve been bigger and lost weight what did you do with your old clothes? I like the idea that someone else will get to wear them and at least I can use the money to pay for new clothes!

I’m also going to be trying to get as many vitamin filled foods down my neck and lots of hot lemon and ginger to try and sort out this cold! What’s your favourite cold remedy?