The future is bright but definitely not orange!

Well what an exciting day! I can now see a future ahead filled with lots of exciting new
things and experiences! I had an important meeting today with my bank. I wont go into to much detail but put it this way I have a car in my future. There is also another amazing thing in my future but still I can't mention it not for another couple of months then all will become clear
and I will be smiling form ear to ear!

So before going for my meeting at the bank I woke early and did 40 minutes of yoga then made some chocolate protein GF porridge this was real filling luckily as i didn't get lunch til 3.15pm!

Lunch was a tasty mix of steamed veg raw pepper and a boiled egg, I also had an apple and a little later half a green monster. I am very unsure about the hemp protein I have it has a funny taste to it.

Does anyone have any ideas what I could do with the hemp protein?

I have really put on some weight over recent months and have got to sort it!

How do you loose weight? Any good ideas to share? x x

Last Night and Today

I had a great yoga and target toning yesterday before dinner and it made me feel so much better
after so much time doing pretty much nothing! I also had a tasty dinner of steamed veg and
soya mince in a vegan pesto sauce.

I finished off the day with some grated apple mixed with a tiny slither of Christmas cake topped with soya yogurt, so good! I was really tired so got an early night before having to get up for work
: (

I forgot to show you a picture of our pretty tree so here it is!

I woke up fresh and ready for some morning exercise. I did 40 mins of pilates to get my ready for the day. Then had a filling breakfast of mincemeat protein oats filling and satisfying.
Then I walked to work, my toe is still a little sore but is much better and it felt good to walk.

Breakfast kept me going til 2pm thankfully as it was so busy at work. For lunch I had some
pepper and carrot sticks and a green monster, I saved the apple for later and ate it just before I left work to walk home.

I popped round to see my dad after work (he lives next door to me!) then after a while was
feeling hungry so left to come home and make din dins. I had a bowl of soup and added
some extra veggies with some GF toast and vegan cheese spread on the side. This was really good
but as always I feel some pudding will be needed. I am pretty sure a slice of Christmas cake
will be on the cards!

I have to work til NYE then have the 1st off thank god!
I'm planning a detox from the first so am still eating some riches but now I'm back
on the exercise plan I'm feeling pretty good.
I have an important meeting tomorrow but can't reveal anything yet, just keep your fingers
crossed for me!

What are your plans for New Years Eve?
Anything exciting planned, I'd love to know x x

Christmas Day Re Cap + The Return of Normality

Oh what a wonderful day we had, Christmas really was splendid this year. Good friends, good food and good times. My Christmas dinner was fab too. I had my vegan/GF nut roast which was sooooooo good along with roast pots + parsnips and veg. I enjoyed every mouthful but was stuffed to the gills after even so I made room for a slice of Christmas cake!
I am a lover of marzipan and this bad bay was homemade and gluten free smothered in homemade marzipan delish!

I received so many great gifts how lucky I am. My Christmas bauble from my sister was so beautiful I love it! I made my dad a GF Christmas cake too and planted a tiny marzipan snowman on the top (top left corner!), he definitely had character!

Boxing day was spent eating more food and watching films, we watched shopaholic (another
gift!) which is another favorite film then me and Jonathan went to stay with friends for the night.
We played some boardgames and drank a little bubbly.

Today I am trying to get back to normality, with all this left over food its gonna be tuf!
After getting home this morning I had a bowl of protein banana GF porridge which hit the spot til lunch. For lunch I made some fresh spinach and swede soup the purity of the meal was great!
I had some GF bread with tahini on the side.

Oops is that another slice of Christmas cake i think it might be! Just be honest shall I?
I couldn't resist!

Well I will also be honest and tell you I haven't exercised since Tuesday!!!!!!!!
I feel like such a slob : (
My toe though is finally getting better and my house mates are due to go out in about an hour so I shall be partaking in some serious yoga and toning exercises!
And do ya know what I can't wait! I feel quite bloated so need to sort myself before
New Years Eve as I have a new outfit that I would like to feel good in!

So for now cheerio have a lovely evening! x x

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas one and all! Well its been a fabulous day so far with lots of gifts and even more
food! My favorite gift is the DVD of Coco Chanel I received from Maggie. I have wanted to see this
film for so long and it didn't disappoint. So after a leisurely wake up,
(I'll be honest I went out last night and had slightly more mulled wine than I should have!)
gifts were opened and eggs were eaten then we all sat back to enjoy my new film.
I think I might even say this could be my favorite film, the clothes along with Audrey Tautou
filled me with joy I shall never tire of watching this that's for sure.

I managed to get all my baking done ready for work friends and the Christmas eve gathering I went to last night. They went down well and were gobbled up pretty quickly!

I also baked an experimental mincemeat cake, an experiment that turned out very well if
I do say myself. It is a little rich so a small slice is enough, if you have any self control that
is I on the other hand have none!

I am now just waiting for our dinner to finish cooking. Another food onslaught is on its way.....

I promise to post recipes but for now I'm off to enjoy more of this wonderful day.

Question:

Any Christmas recipes you would like to share?
I would love to know any you have to offer.

Have fun peeps x x

A little annoyed!

My day started well with a delicious bowl of mincemeat protein oats topped with homemade
chocolate almond butter. No need to tell you they filled me up right til lunch so good!

The wintry rain was horrible this morning so I got a lift to work, plus I have had a really painful
swollen toe which has slowly gotten worse over the past couple of days but I still planned to go to
spin today...........

The pain has slowly worsened during the course of the day and it turns out I have chilblains!
Oh my god so painful, they are brought on by the change of hot to really cold weather. So working in a freezing cold shop has taken its toll and I am left with some very painful toes : (

I went out on lunch to get some cream then settled in the back office to have lunch in the only
warm place at work. I had quinoa, steamed veg and vegan pesto.

I also had a piece of the gluten and dairy free lemon drizzle cake Maggie made so good!
After a lot of uming and aring I decided against spin my toe is so painful I think it would have been a bad idea. I so wanted to go too and now feel bad that I couldn't...........

Once I got home I had a tasty dinner of rice noodles, butternut squash and carrots mashed into
a roasted vegetable sauce mixed with garlic stuffed olives. I also had 1/2 an avocado on the side.

I know what your thinking more cake!? Yep I had another slice of cake after dinner with some
soya yogurt sprinkled with cinnamon, yum!

I know have presents to wrap and biscuits to bake. I am taking some biscuits to work tomorrow and some with me to my friends little gathering tomorrow night. I better get to it!

Question:

Do you feel bad if you miss an exercise session?

Food Fever

I will be honest with you, I did not get up for an early morning yoga session today. I went to bed
quite late this always happens when Jonathan is home we get chatting and the night disappears.
Plus our boiler has been broken since Sunday and our house is like an ice box!

I got up in time to have a delicious breakfast though. I had protein oats and boy were they good!
I also had some organic dark chocolate chips thrown in so good! This really filled me up
just like the pancakes I'm liking the way this mix keeps me full no snacks needed!
Well until I got to work........
Yes my will power has not been on my side today there was a big tin of chocs at work today and
yes my hand went in more than once, twice um put it this way I pigged!

Around 2pm I had a healthy lunch of quinoa, steamed veg and olives in a sweet pepper sauce it was fresh and tasted good. I also had an apple before leaving work in preparation for my spin class. Spin lasted 45 minutes and was a real calorie burner, thank god! I also walked home
as well as walking to work this morning.

When i got home look what was waiting for me! Not only has our heating been fixed but
Maggie had made a lemon drizzle cake GF + DF just for me, lucky huh!?
For dinner I had the last of my soup and some rice cakes.

Then I did indeed have room for some cake which was delish. I think I've eaten a bit to much today though and feel a little food feverish! Its again been a long day
but only 2 left then 3 days off, so can't wait.

Question:

Do you have any plans for Christmas eve?

I'm going to a friends for a small gathering which is sounding more and more fun...........

A Very Long Day........

Hello from Santa! We haven't got our tree up yet but we have got Santa!

So after my breakfast settled I did 40 minutes of yoga before getting ready to go for my driving
lesson and work. Thankfully my instructor gave me the choice of doing my lesson or not as the roads are so icy, I decided not. As I'm still quite nervous I didn't want to scare myself altogether.
So instead I took the icy road to work which meant some extra exercise!

I had to work 12-8 today so a long old day made longer by the freezing cold shop I have to work in I totally wore gloves and a scarf all day! Amazingly my pancakes were so filling I didn't eat my lunch til 4.30pm! I did have an amazing meal/banana smoothie through the afternoon but really wasn't hungry til then, crazy!

When I did sit down to eat I had red quinoa and steamed veg in a sweet pepper sauce whilst reading one of my fav fitness mags.

My sweet treat was a homemade GF + vegan mince pie that I picked up from my local health food shop. While I was there I also ordered my GF + vegan nut roast for Christmas day.
Maggie and Jonathan will be having venison which I do love but always gives me tummy
trouble so instead of being tempted I thought I'd teat myself to a cashew nut roast.
I'm quite excited to try it!

The mince pie was so goooooooood! It was also very filling and I wasn't hungry at all, but after getting home I had a bowl of soup and some rice cakes not pictured cause ya know what it looks like by now!

I have a busy day ahead, a little yoga before work, then after I'm booked into a spin class, I
just hope its not snowing or raining after work, as the walk is gonna be cold cold cold!

Anyhow I'm tired after my long freezing cold day so I shall wish you all goodnight x x

Pancake Pleaser

In honor of the lovely Heather from HEAB you all know who I mean! I decided to have
pancakes today and golly gosh they were sooooooooooo GOOD!
I am stuffed to the gills they were very filling and better than I thought they would be.

In the mix:

1/4 cup buckwheat + 1/4 cup quinoa flakes
scoop rice protein + soya milk + water
tbsp cacao nibs + dried berries + tsp caramel syrup
topped with yogurt + tahini

I have an hour to digest then yoga then a driving lesson then work, phew!

Have a good Monday lovelies x x

Berry Booster

Last night I stayed up quite late waiting for the return of my friend Jonathan. He is back for
Christmas which makes me happy happy happy! He didn't get back til gone 11pm which was a late night for me!

So tired this morning my belly was in need of a feed, ha ha that rhymes don't ya love it!?
So to quieten my tum I had a delicious breaky:

GF porridge, cherries + berries, ground linseeds, maca, yogurt and homemade chocolate almond butter ahhhhhhhhhhh so good!

Our usual coffee place was shut today so we got a costa I had a soya latte, which along with my breakfast definitely kept me going till lunch

1pm came round and food was needed I had a scrummy lunch, sweet potatoes, steamed carrots and parsnip, raw red pepper all mixed with the rest of my sun dried tomato sauce perfect lunch.

I also had some chocolate rice cakes this too was uber filling kept me going for the last of my Christmas shopping and through my great gym session.

In the gym:

20 mins on the bike, 11 mins rower, 20 mins treadmill, 11 mins stepper:

I do interval training for each

I also did the plank for 1 min, stretched then walked home, pretty good if I do say so myself!

Once I got home I thought I'd get some extra nutrients in my soup so chopped up some
beets and chucked um in, this was surprisingly a great combo. I had rice cakes with vegan cream cheese and a couple with tahini too ; )

After freshening up I made a rooibos, ginger and cinnamon tea kindly brought over from Barcelona by Jonathan, its one of my favorites.

Then for pud I grated an apple heated it up and topped it with soya yogurt and toasted pumpkin seeds, I poured out a few to may seeds but ate them anyway!

Then to finish my day some chocolates with mint how I can eat all this I don't know but I can!
Plus ya know tis the season and all that!

Now for some blog reading then bed.......

Have you had a nice weekend?
What have you done anything exciting? I'd love to know x x

New Year a New Me

Hello lovely blogger's how's ya weekend going?
I am in my third day of an 8 day work stretch, yep no day off till the big day, so roll on the 25th!
I have decided to make myself do some sort of exercise, other than the general everyday walking,
each day til then so on the 25th I can just chillax!
Today I woke up and did 1hr of yogalates, I'm getting so much better at the poses, I've been practicing just over 2 months and can totally see and feel the difference, I can actually now touch my toes without bending my legs!

So after my morning exercise breakfast was needed, I had the usual GF porridge and added
4 dates, cacao nibs, tsp vanilla syrup, pumpkin seeds, water + vanilla soya milk
then topped it with yogurt and homemade chocolate almond butter.
I don't need to tell how good this was, ok I do it was a TASTE SENSATION!

Before work I made a real easy soup so I could just get in and have dinner made, I got these
great GF/DF + yeast free stock cubes so I added one of these to the pot along with.........

2 carrots, 2 garlic cloves, 1/2 butternut squash, a parsnip and some frozen spinach (not pictured!) plus some spices, celery salt and turmeric boiled and left ready to eat after work.

I also through together a quick smoothie and some pepper and carrot sticks to have at work for lunch. Now I gotta be honest when I got to work there was a giant tin of chocolates on the counter, and you know as its Christmas I felt rude not joining in so I had a couple or maybe 5/6
oops! I also had a couple of rice cakes with vegan cream cheese with lunch.
Honesty is the best policy right?!

When I got home the soup was whizzed up and I had some rice cakes and tahini along with it for dinner. i am now settled on the sofa with a herbal tea contemplating pudding. Not sure what to have..............

I have decided to take part in a January detox. If you follow the Choosing Raw blog
written by the lovely Gena you will know the detox I am referring to. If you don't and would like more info you can go here or here to find out about it.
Obviously living in the UK I'm in the wrong place to take part in person so thew lovely Gena will be sending meal plans and recipes my way via email, yay!
So this will be the start of the new me, a detox to kick things off an maybe veganism to follow?
I am still undecided can I give up eggs and fish? Not sure.

Question:

Do you have any January health plans you would like to share?
I'd love to know x x

Vegan?!

The tahini really was god on breakfast yesterday so I thought I should please my taste buds once more and have a tsp on my breaky today, so I did which was needed after my 40 minute yoga session! Today's breakfast included, quinoa +buckwheat flakes, 4 dates chopped, tbsp cacao nibs, maca + ground linseeds, yogurt and tahini oh and soya milk and water, twas a tummy pleaser I must say.

Looked what my fabulous sister Jes gave me!!!!!!! Babycakes is a vegan cookbook of yep you guessed it cakes and a number of tasty delights. It is written by a pretty lady who runs her own vegan bakery in New York, one day I hope to take a visit : ) Every recipe looks so good I can't wait to try them all and share them with you lucky people!

Ooooooo I have to mention my amazing sister Jes has been listed in the TIMES top best 50 blogs
so well done your the best Jes!!!!

I went out on the coffee run at work today and on my way popped into Costa coffee shop and picked up some coffee syrups. I've been meaning to get these for ages I'm thinking protein shakes and a tsp of syrup if ya know what I mean........yummy! The flavor selection is:
Caramel, Vanilla, Hazelnut, Gingerbread and Cinnamon.
I had a drizzle of the hazelnut in my coffee today, so good!

For lunch today I had quinoa, steamed veg, tsp cashew pesto and a drizzle of sesame oil
I love this combo healthy and satisfying.

Being a Friday you will know if you follow Tina over at Carrot N Cake that its cookie Friday?!
Well at lunch I really wanted a cookie but finding a GF + DF cookie in my town doesn't happen very often so I improvised..........

Yep I had a dark chocolate rice cake as my stand in cookie this was a splendid stand sweet and delicious.
After work I went to a spin class and before I went I swallowed down a green monster to keep me
going, 45 minutes of spin and I was knackered but I had to walk home in the FREEZING cold because I needed to pop to the shops as I had nothing for dinner. I also ate an apple on my way home I was starving!

I found some tasty stir-in sauces which are GF + DF bonus! I invested in 3
Sweet Pepper, Oven Roasted Vegetables and Sun Dried Tomato

I used the sun dried tomato on my dinner of steamed veg, olives stuffed with anchovies and rice noodles, just what I needed after my class and cold walk home.

I also picked up a couple of these bad boys at the shops, sesame's and honey I had one for pud.
Such a huge bar but I couldn't resist!

So my post is named VEGAN?! I'm contemplating going vegan, I can't eat dairy as I am intolerant and meat more often than not gives me tummy problems, I think this is because
I so rarely eat it that when I do its so rich for me. But I am trying to decide if I can live without
fish and eggs? I just don't know. I think I shall give it a go though and see how I do.

Are any of you vegan?
If so any advice?

I'm going to get up early and do some yoga and toning so should think about sleep
night all x x