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Hi everyone! How’s things? I’ve had a fabulous day with my Mam shopping! I went for a simple outfit today:

OOTD: Gold necklace: Accessorize, shirt: River Island, belt: Topshop, trousers: Primark, ballet flats: Dorothy Perkins.

I got some great items including these tops from Zara:

I just love Zara, I always find lovely things in there. I also got some random bits and pieces from TKMaxx including some vanilla macadamia flavoured coffee, organic rooibos tea and some pink stackable mixing bowls.

Yesterday I had a busy day sorting things out around the house but managed to fit in a gym workout in line with my monthly plan. I did 1 hour of intervals followed by my abs and core – got my plank up to 2min 15! Today I did Yoga for Runners this morning plus 30 minutes of intervals followed by my body pump class this evening. With being off work I got to the gym early so I decided to squeeze in that extra cardio.

Monday’s breakfast put my latest obsession to good use – a strawberry and peanut butter green smoothie!

This contained spinach, frozen strawberries, 2 tbsp of peanut butter (I used one smooth and one crunchy), water and xanthan and guar gums for thickness. I topped it with half a pack of Tropical Crunch we are bear granola and some freeze dried berries.

For this morning breakfast I had a big bowl of porridge made with 1 tbsp of chia seeds, 1/4 cup of oat bran, 1/4 cup of scottish oats, 1 1/2 cups of water, mixed frozen berries, a chopped apple, walnuts and a drizzle of black strap molasses:

Monday’s lunch was a big leafy salad with leftover roasted veggies and high protein hummus (watered down to make it like a dressing):

Plus a gorgeous persimmon!

Today I treated myself to lunch from Marks and Spencer. I got the Super Whole Food Salad Shaker which I love, and ate it on top of a big carrot and beetroot salad bowl:

Dinner both evenings has been a new recipe, another random creation of my own:

Cheesy Leek and White Bean Bake with Rye Crumb Topping (makes 2 servings, vegan)

• 2 large leeks, washed and sliced
• 1 tin of white beans (I used cannellini)
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 tbsp of sweet white miso (optional but adds creaminess, add a pinch of salt if not using)
• 4 tbsp of nutritional yeast flakes
• Around 1/2 cup of water or soy milk to thin the sauce
• 1 slice of rye bread

Begin by sautéing the leeks in a little oil over a medium heat until tender. Transfer to a baking dish. Pre heat the oven to 200c. Using a food processor or blender process the rye bread into crumbs and set aside. Then add the drained beans, garlic, miso and nutritional yeast to the processor and blend into a creamy sauce – you will need to add a little water or non dairy milk to get the right consistency, your looking for a smooth pouring sauce. Pour the cheesy white bean sauce over the leeks then top with the bread crumbs. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes until warmed through and lightly browned on top.

I made mine in two smaller dishes and served with steamed purple sprouting broccoli, asparagus, green beans and spinach. This was fantastic! The cheesy bean sauce was just perfect with the soft sweet leeks and crunchy bread crumbs, this recipe is definitely a keeper! Oh, and if you leave out the water when making the white bean sauce you get an awesome cheesy low fat dip or spread. It would also go really well as a sauce for pasta.

Dessert yesterday was some plain soy yoghurt with two small chopped cox apples and the other half of the bag of we are bear granola:

I love apple, yoghurt and granola, yum! I have to admit the soy yoghurt is now growing on me. Tonight I made this gigantic bowl of protein ice cream using 1.5 scoops of nutty berry spiru-tein, crushed ice, water, xanthan and guar gums and agave. I topped it with the last of my raw granola:

So amazingly good, I just love all that volume it fills me right up!

I was really happy with how my cheesy leek bake turned out as I don’t often make recipes like this. Do you cook / enjoy these kind of oven baked dishes? I tried to make a pasta bake once and it totally failed so that’s probably why I’ve stayed clear of them. I do love my vegan lentil and swede mash cottage pie though!

Well I’m going to spend the rest of the evening writing up my list of things to take to NYC to make sure I don’t forget anything! Hope you have a great evening!

Wow, this is going to be a packed post tonight, I feel like I have loads of stuff to tell you about, but first things first...

Started the day off with Davina and my DVD strength workout, I just stuck to my usual 'medium' sized dumbbells today as I realised that I have scheduled two strength workouts on consecutive days since changing up my training plan (I have a strength based gym workout planned for tomorrow morning). I didn't want to really work any muscles extra hard - rather save that for tomorrow!

Breakfast was a bowl of natural yoghurt mixed with a scoop of vanilla whey, topped with two chopped peaches, a teaspoon of ground flax and some home mixed muesli. All served in one of my new bowls!


I decided to get these quite plain bowls so that they wouldn't clash with the few plain white plates and bowls we are keeping, plus these were the only set in stock that came with lovely deep bowls like this. I don't know what it is but I find deep bowls so comforting! I also had a mug of Tea Pigs Mao Feng Green Tea.

Lunch was a bowl of Potato, Sweet Potato and Leek soup which I'd defrosted from my frozen stash, followed by a big bunch of red grapes.


Mid afternoon I snacked on more hummus with carrots and cucumber for dipping. No pic or you'll all be sick of the sight of them!

I stayed back at work to get a few things finished up then headed for a mid week grocery shop were I picked up Junes edition of Health and Fitness Magazine. Guess who's reader of the month!



I'm still kind of in shock! I get a lovely pressie as well - some beauty products! My favorite things after food ;-)

Dinner was an extra special salad. I had been inspired after seeing this recipe on Liberty London Girls blog, so much so that I bought the whole cookbook from which she'd taken the recipe! More on that in a mo, but first heres the recipe.

Laura's Superfood Salad -

Two tablespoons of lentil and bean sprouted beans
Steamed brocolli (I used about a third of a large head of brocolli)
A handful of spinach
Half a red onion chopped
Feta Cheese
3 tablespoons of cooked quinoa
Quarter of a cucumber chopped
Mint leaves
Juice of half a lemon
Half a tablespoon of pumpkin and sunflower seeds

Mix together the sprouted beans, steamed brocolli, spinach, red onion, cucumber and quinoa and crumble over the feta cheese. Chop a few mint leaves and sprinkle over followed by the seeds and then the lemon juice. Enjoy!


This was amazing, so many flavours and textures and so so good for you!

Desert was some chia seed pudding made with hazelnut and almond rice milk and a chopped apple.


Drinks - water, green tea, decaf tea, decaf coffee

Heres a pic of my fab new kitchen trolley!


I am way to excited about this, but I now have a place to store all 'my stuff' including my giant tubs of protein powder -


Tea collection -


Superfoods and rice milk -


Spice drawer -


Cook books and Wine! -


I know I'll be using this book for loads of inspiration in the coming weeks, and of course I'll be posting all the details!

Wow, this has been a bit of a super post! Hope you get the chance to read the little piece in Health and Fitness, I'm still dead chuffed about it, never thought I'd ever be in a magazine! Don't forget that theres only one day left to enter my GIVEAWAY of nakd bars and pampering goodies. Don't forget to look at the rest of the comments which have loads of really brilliant beauty tips!

Only one day left till the weekend! I'm so looking forward to it. Well I'm off to pick the Hubby up from work. Hope you are all having a good one! x

One of my favourite things about this time of year is the fashion – warm chunky knits, jewel colours, fair isle prints and sparkly accessories. I love that you can get away with a bit more bling in December. I recently raided my old jewellery boxes and thought I’d share some of my favourite sparkly pieces with you:

I have numerous brooches, necklaces and chandelier earrings which I love. A few of them are high street but most of them are vintage finds from charity shops and antique fairs. I love wearing a jewelled accessory with something more simple or casual like a plain tee. Do you embrace your sparkly side this time of year?

I’ve been off from work today for my annual Mother / Daughter Christmas shopping trip. Unfortunately my 8 month pregnant little sis wasn’t feeling very well so it was just me and my Mam. I had such a lovely time and picked up a couple of pressies plus a couple of things for me ;-)

I’ll post a few picks later in the week but I got some more knitware, some thermal base layers for running and the gym (yey!), extremely thick gloves and a couple of nail varnishes. Here’s a quick outfit of the day for you:

Jacket: H&M, crochet jumper dress: Tu at Sainsbury’s, skinny tan leather belt: Topshop, Black skinny trousers: Gap, Black boots: H&M, hat and scarf: Next.

I had a vest and tee on under that jumper dress it was freezing! I love nipping in jumper dresses with a skinny belt.

I got to the gym yesterday and enjoyed my workout so much I decided to repeat it tonight. I did 15 minutes on the treadmill starting with two minutes at a warm up pace then going into HIITs, 60 secs at 6.5mph then 30 secs at 8mph. This is the fastest I’ve ran on the treadmill! I then did my usual HIITs for 15 minutes on the step machine, bike and cross trainer for a total 1 hour HIIT session followed by abs and core exercises. Such a kick ass workout!

My eats have also been tasty, yesterdays post gym breakfast was a gorgeous green monster smoothie containing watercress, cavolo nero, 1/2 frozen banana, frozen mango, blueberries and strawberries, scoop of vanilla sun warrior, large tablespoon of peanut butter, ground flax and nut mix and soy milk topped with Rude Health granola and goji berries:

Just awesome, the peanut butter makes all the difference!

Today’s breakfast was a big bowl of Dorset Cereal tasty flakes with 2 chopped plums and vanilla rice milk plus a vanilla coffee.

Yesterday’s lunch was leftover Kabocha and Adzuki bean stew, today I’ve nibbled through the day. I had a granola bar and a delicious Crème Brulee Soy Latte at Costas:

I also had a berry medley juice while looking round the shops:

Lunch was my favourite salad from Marks and Spencer: The Whole Food Salad Shaker. I also had a little pot of melon, pineapple and grapes plus 3 unpictured satsumas:

Last nights dinner was another tasty raw salad containing spinach, carrot, cucumber, red cabbage, cauliflower and red onion with a spicy peri peri dressing and some spicy roasted chickpeas.

I also had two sliced apples and 2 squares of heavenly lindt dark chocolate with sea salt:

As I’d eaten a bit throughout today I just had a light dinner of Ryvita pumpkin and oat crackers with spicy lentil dip and carrot and cucumber sticks.

I also had a spiru-tein nutty berry shake topped with dried strawberries and flaked almonds:

I’ve also had a couple of unpictured pink lady apples.

Today while shopping I started thinking about how my body shape has changed since I’ve lost weight. I was never a typical pear or apple shape but I always used to shop based on my size. This used to be v neck tops, boot cut pants, single breasted jackets etc – everything your told is more flattering to a fuller figure. Since I’ve lost weight my body shape has completely changed and I no longer suit these shapes – a v neck top on me now would not look great – well, unless I was wearing a push up bra! If you’ve lost weight or are in the process of losing weight, have you changed the style of clothing you wear? Do you try out different cuts or silhouettes? I feel that I’m still in the process of discovering what works for me with this new shape. I had a bit of a moment today when I realised that I’d lost over a third of my body weight in just under 2 years!

Hope all of your Mondays have been good, we still have shed loads of snow but at least I can drive in it! Catch you later :-)

Yey its Friday! I am now all officially registered on my Diet and Nutrition Advisor course and my camera and Garmin have been delivered so I’m buzzing!

Thursday morning I did 5 minutes cardio (jumping jacks, bum kicks etc) followed by a 20 minute Yoga for Runners podcast then some core and abs work. Breakfast was fantastic! I made up some porridge using 1/4 cup of oats, 2 tablespoons of oat bran and 1 1/2 cups of water on the stove. I then added 1 heaped tablespoon of my Viva Pure Chia Super food porridge mix and another tablespoon of my vanilla hemp protein powder. I also added some sweet freedom sweetener. I topped it with fresh blueberries, some of my tofu yoghurt, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and goji berries. I also had a maple walnut coffee with kara coconut milk:

Such a good breakfast, I love oaty yoghurty layer ups! I was very impressed with the chia porridge super food mix. I actually think its designed to be made into a porridge in itself but I really liked the taste it added to my oaty porridge – plus it will last longer being used this way!

Lunch was a bowl of heaven, i.e. the yummiest soup I’ve made in a while:

Pea, Broccoli and Pesto Soup (inspired by Nigella Lawson recipe, makes 4 portions)

• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 large head of broccoli, chopped into florets
• Hot veg stock or bouillon powder and hot water (I use marigold vegan vegetable bouillon whenever I make soup)
• 450g of frozen peas
• Half a small jar of basil pesto (I used la sacla organic vegetarian pesto)

Begin by gently frying the onion in a little oil until transparent. Add the broccoli and cover with hot vegetable stock. Allow to simmer for 10 – 15 minutes or until the broccoli is tender. Add the peas and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and blend the soup until smooth using a hand blender or regular blender. Add the pesto and either blend again or stir well.

This soup is the bomb! So simple and easy to make and really full of flavour. You could make a vegan version using vegan pesto if desired. It also freezes very well too.

I also had a kiwi and nectarine:

Mid afternoon I snacked on a dried apricot, dried fig and some brazil nuts and pistachios:

Last night we went out to see KT Tunstall play a gig in Newcastle. Before we went I had a quick dinner of a herbed socca wrap (usual socca recipe but with added chopped fresh basil and parsley) filled with roasted beets, carrot and broccoli and some organic feta. I also had raw carrot, cucumber and an apple and pear:

The wrap was delish! I loved the herbs in there, so tasty.

The gig was brilliant, I have a huge girl crush on KT Tunstall! Here’s a quick OOTD hastily shot in the loos at Cafe Nero ;-)

Jacket: H&M, floral jacket: River Island, grey vest top: Topshop, scarf: Dorothy Perkins, jeans: Next, Bag: H&M, cocktail ring: Topshop

This morning I had a big bowl of Dorset Cereal Tasty Toasted Spelt Muesli with blackberries and kara coconut milk. I also had a butterscotch coffee with sweet freedom:

Lunch was some of my super tasty Spicy Black Eye Bean Soup followed by plums and kiwi:

Mid afternoon I decided to treat myself to a 9 bar:

I haven’t had one of these in ages, so good!

I then hit the gym for my strength and HIIT workout. It was a bit of a half arsed workout to be honest, I did do mostly all I’d planned to but I know I could have put more effort in! I did my usual 5 minute treadmill run warm up followed by my usual full body strength workout and 30 minutes of HIITs on the cross trainer, step machine and bike.

Dinner was inspired by the Rainbow and Super food salads recipes in Leon: Ingredients and Recipes:

I mixed roasted broccoli, carrot and beetroot with some red cabbage, quinoa, alfalfa sprouts and feta then added some fresh chopped parsley, viva pure spicy pumpkin seeds and a quick squeeze of lemon juice. This was so so good! I loved this salad, so full of goodness and taste.

Dessert was double chocolate coconut protein ice cream! I blended up a scoop of chocolate sun warrior, tablespoon of raw cacao, tablespoon of coconut flour, kara coconut milk, ice cubes and xanthan and guar gums then topped with coconut and cacao nibs:

Awesome!

I really enjoyed the gig last night. James is a huge music fan so we like going to see live music when we can. Are you a fan of live music? What was the last gig you went to?

So happy its the weekend! I have another fun one planned including a trip to town so I can stock up on fruit and veggies at the market, catch up with the family and my gorgeous nephews, play with my new camera and Garmin, finish reading Crazy, Sexy, Diet (which I just can’t put down) and a run!

I also may be making an attempt to change up the blog a bit and move over to a new domain so if you visit and things look a little funky please bear with me.

Hope you have all had a great week and have a fab weekend planned! I’m off to play with my new toys, catch you later x