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Hi everyone, hope your having a great weekend! Welcome to the new look Keeping Slim and Getting Stylish! I had a bit of time on my hands this afternoon and seeing as I’ve been reacquainting myself with Photoshop and html codes I thought I’d have another make over. What do you think?

I have a couple of recipes for you today – I hope you like them. First up was a brand new experimental breakfast:

Chai Spiced Quinoa (makes 1 serving)

1/2 a cup of quinoa, rinsed

1 cup of brewed chai tea (I used my favourite Tea Pigs Chilli Chai)

2 tablespoons of full fat Greek yoghurt

1 tablespoon of agave syrup

1/2 teaspoon of mixed spice / pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

Fruit and more yoghurt to serve

Place the rinsed quinoa in a pan and cover with the brewed chai tea. Bring to the boil and simmer until all the liquid has been absorbed (about 15 minutes). Remove from the heat and add the yoghurt, agave and spices. Serve with your choice of fresh fruit, a drizzle of agave and a sprinkling of cinnamon.

 

I had mine with some slices of nectarine. This was really tasty, I love the nuttiness of quinoa and my word did this have staying power! I ate this at 7am and didn’t even think about feeling hungry until after 12.30 which is virtually unheard of for me. Make sure that you use full fat yoghurt and not 0% fat as it could split.

After breakfast I popped to the post office to collect some parcels of goodies – including my Tea Pigs order and some secret giveaway goodies – watch this space! I also did a bigger than expected grocery shop and picked up some fab new things to try out. I got dressed and we went and had a look around Durham: Here’s a quick OOTD for you!

Sunglasses – Dorothy Perkins, Blazer – Top shop, white cotton blouse – warehouse, tapered trousers – Top shop, gold metallic sandals – Next, tan leather cross body bag – Mango, purple enamel bracelet – inherited. I had hoped to wear my shorts but the weather today has been very changeable to say the least!

My sister in law called round – she was going to stay for lunch but couldn’t in the end so I switched up my days planned meals a bit. I made a ‘fridge’ soup (basically whatever veggies are in the fridge and need using up!) This one contained two onions, kale, broccoli and cauliflower with veg stock – simmered till veggies got tender then all blended up) I had a bowl with a couple of kallo rosemary crackers on the side.

I decided that I would still have a slice of cake with my smaller lunch!

I saw this recipe for Apple Cider Pound Cake on (never home)maker and as it contained Greek yoghurt I thought I would try it out. I made a couple of changes to the original recipe as follows:

Apple Cider Pound Cake (makes 8 slices in a standard sized round spring form tin)

• 1-3/4 cups plain wholemeal flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup Full Fat Greek yogurt 
• 3/4 cups brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
• 2 tablespoons of softened unsalted butter
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1-1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Pre heat oven to 180c and coat your choice of tin with some spray oil (I used a standard sized round spring form tin) combine the flour, salt, baking powder and cinnamon in a bowl. In a separate bowl combine the sugar, oil, butter, yoghurt, egg and vinegar. Mix the dry into the wet until you are left with a stiff batter (it will be pretty stiff – don’t worry!) Fill your tin with the mixture and press out evenly. Bake for 30 – 35 minutes until slightly golden. Allow to cool and then store in the fridge. If serving as a whole cake, sprinkle with some sieved icing sugar for presentation – then serve with your choice of yoghurt, ice cream, custard or a sweet sauce made by mixing a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon of agave syrup, 1 tablespoon of Greek yoghurt and cinnamon to taste (this is what I served mine with last night).

 

Today I served mine with strawberries, a sliced fresh fig (first time trying these - wow!) and a tablespoon of Greek yoghurt. I seriously love this cake, the texture is quite dense, doughy and smooth. It doesn’t taste too sweet either. I’ve saved some slices in the freezer as I think this would make a fab breakfast too. This is definitely not a light spongy cake – it kept me full for hours!

For dinner I had some spiralised courgette and finely chopped red pepper mixed with a tomato, lean minced beef, mushroom and garlic sauce and a good sprinkling of fresh basil. I had a nice bit of salad on the side too.

As I’m running in the morning I decided to get the good carbs in with a bowl of banana softserve (1 frozen banana blended with some oat milk) plus 4 dates.

This turned out a bit soupy as I added a little too much milk and the dates didn’t really blend well but it still hit the spot! I also had an apple.

Hope your all having a great weekend! I’m planning a 10 mile run tomorrow and catching up with my friends, along with more baking if I get the chance! I’ve been spending some time reading some of my cookery books and I’ve been getting loads of ideas for simple healthy and tasty meals which I can’t wait to share with you. My favourite cookbooks for everyday recipes and inspiration are:

River Cottage Everyday, Hugh Fearnley – Whittingstall

Miss Dahls Voluptuous Delights, Sophie Dahl (such a shame her TV show was rubbish)

Leon: Ingredients and Recipes, Allegra McEvedy

Jamie Oliver: Ministry of Food 

What’s your favourite cookbook? Don’t forget to tell me what you think of the new design too x

The weather was gorgeous when I woke up this morning so I was really excited to do my run. Before I went out I had a cup of green tea and half a Berry Cheeky Nakd Bar for energy.


My run was fantastic. I ran for just over 5 and a half miles in just under an hour. Thats a big increase on last week when I ran just under 4 miles. I felt on top of the world when I finished, I felt like I could have kept on running for ages! This helped me finally make up my mind, I'm doing the Great North Run! I would like to do it for Cancer Research UK as this is a cause close to my heart.

When I got back from my run I needed a big breakfast so I made some pancakes with egg whites, vanilla whey, spelt flour, a teaspoon of ground flax and a little vanilla rice milk. I topped them with cashew butter, hot blueberries and some melon on the side.


They were wonderful and hit the spot!

I pottered about for a bit this morning and then got ready to go out. Before I left the house I made myself some speedy vegetable noodle soup -

Speedy Vegetable Noodle Soup

Sachet of miso soup
Teaspoon of vegetable boullion
Spinach leaves
Grated carrot
Chopped red onion
fresh ginger
Vermicelli brown rice noodles
Soy sauce
Boiling water

Add all of the ingredients together in a bowl and pour over boiling water. Stir for a few minutes until the noodles have softened and eat!


You could add any veggies you had in the fridge etc or shredded cooked chicken. Super quick and super yummy! I also made myself a few little snacks for the afternoon, an apple, grapes and a pecan pie nakd bar.


The afternoon was spent enjoying the sunshine and recharging my batteries in my Mam and Dads back garden and chatting to my Sis then heading into town for a look around the market and going to get these wonderful (and expensive!) running shoes!


I could really feel my feet hurting on this mornings run and I had a few blisters so I though I'd better get myself sorted. I went to a little shop called Northern Runner, the shop assistant was very knowledgeable and looked at my feet to analyse my gait. I slightly over pronate. I tried on a few different pairs but settled on these New Balance trainers. I also got some blister reducing socks.

I met up with the Hubby when he finished work and we headed home. I made some mince and onions with some organic mince I had picked up last week in the reduced section and served it with half a sweet potato, brocolli, green beans and cauliflower.

It was delicious, I don't know if it was due to the mince being organic but it was really tasty.
For desert I made up a huge bowl of chocolate raspberry sorbet, inspired by a recipe on Chocolate Covered Katies blog a while ago. Its basically frozen raspberries blended with a little rice milk, cocoa powder and agave syrup. It tasted absolutely divine!


Drinks - water, green tea, decaf tea

I was so excited after my run and when getting my new trainers for doing the Great North Run. The hubby and the rest of my friends and family have been really supportive of me doing it. I'm really looking forward to the training as well, I just feel so good after I've completed a long run, I totally get the runners high!

Do any of you guys get that as well? I used to hate exercise then gradually it started to make me feel good and I started to enjoy it more. I get the best feeling after running over any other exercise.

Well I'm off to chill out with the Hubby and catch up on some good TV! Hope you've all had a good one and if your in the UK have enjoyed this wondeful weather! x