What I Ate Wednesday #3

Breakfast

Despite it getting warmer I'm still on a porridge oats kick, but I was away over the weekend and haven't been shopping, so the unthinkable happened (dun dun duuun) we forgot to buy milk!! Thankfully we still had yogurt in the fridge, so this morning I made some bircher muesli. I know you should leave it sit for a few hours/overnight before eating but it still tasted gorgeous. I mixed organic low fat plain yogurt with my usual oats, an organic apple chopped up into little pieces, ground cinnamon, a squidge of honey, a splash of apple juice and a teaspoon of smooth organic almond butter. Really filling and tasty. This might just replace my morning bowl of porridge now.

Lunch

Having been away and definitely overindulging, I really missed my green juices. I had a really strong one today with ginger, lemon, kale, spinach, blood orange and carrot. I overdid the lemon a bit, so I had to kind of chug it back to prevent my face from turning in on itself with sourness but I definitely felt good afterwards. I also had some shop bought sushi again, I even put it on a plate today to make it feel a bit more fancy. I could barely finish all the juice I was full afterwards.

 Dinner

For dinner we had pasta with griddled courgette ribbons with a vegan homemade pesto. I love this dish. I like changing up what I put in my pesto, this one has basil leaves, baby spinach, almonds, olive oil, salt and pepper. It's a really easy dish to put together and so tasty.

With all my meals I had a glass of water and that's what I had today. What did you have today?

What I Ate Wednesday #2

I know it's a day late, but better late than never right? 

Breakfast

I had some low fat organic plain yogurt with a palmful of fruit and nut granola with a sprinkling of a flax, chia seeds and goji berry mix. Isaac made a smoothie so I had some of that too, he put blueberries, raspberries, mango, banana, a splash of orange juice, water and a dollop of yogurt into it. 

Lunch

I had been craving this for ages, and it was definitely worth the wait! A slice of my homemade wholegrain spelt soda loaf, with just less than half an avocado smashed onto it, a 1 egg omelette (it really was that yellow, such an amazing colour yolk!) topped with spring onions, salt and pepper. 

Mid-Afternoon

My sister really wanted a green juice, and it would only have been rude of me not to join in right? I know it looks disgusting but it tasted so good. We put in kale, spinach, carrots, ginger, lemon, lime, apple and blood orange. The blood orange really made a big difference, it cut through all the greens so well! 

                                                                        Dinner

 I really wanted something warm and comforting, and thankfully in the freezer I had stashed away 2 portions of my delicious winter veg and bean casserole. It's so hearty and nourishing, full of  pumpkin, squash, chickpeas and butterbeans this was exactly what I wanted on a cold and rainy night.

And once again, I had about 2L of water. Hope you enjoyed this 2nd look at what I eat Wednesday!

Green juicing!

So...I'm sick. How annoying! I started to get a hint of it on Valentine's Day (perfect timing eh!?) and it has now transformed into a fully blown head cold. To try and rid myself of whatever has gotten hold of my immune system I have been juicing and smoothie-ing it up like no ones business!

Smoothies are great for getting all the fiber out of fruits but juices make it so much easier to get in a load of green veggies that would make drinks too thick. I made massive juices yesterday and today and although I've pretty much lost my sense of taste and appetite, I think having them has really helped me keep my energy levels up and give me a boost. 

I really hope all of this will help me and that very soon I'll be back to myself. Thankfully I have today and tomorrow off so lots of sleep and water will hopefully have me back to normal. I definitely recommend juicing if you're feeling a bit run down or low on energy, all that green goodness can work miracles!

 

I made this gorgeously emerald juice yesterday, it has apple, orange, carrot, lemon, ginger and a load of spinach in it. As I didn't feel like eating much this really helped to fill me up and keep my energy up.

Today's juice, although not a vivid as yesterdays, pretty much contained all the same ingredients: apple, orange, lemon, carrot, ginger and spinach. I also put in a good fist-full of kale and some blueberries. Although I couldn't really taste it I know it's done some good!

What I Ate Wednesday

I love seeing other bloggers post their WIAWs so I think it's high time I did one too! I'm going to do my absolute best to make this a weekly post, as I think it'll be really interesting to see how much variety I have from week to week.

Breakfast

As I had a day off today, I thought I'd make something special for myself. I had a small bowl of low fat organic plain yogurt with a very quick blueberry compote, finished with dessicated coconut and a slice of my homemade wholegrain soda bread with some organic almond butter.

Lunch

After traveling half way around the world to find it I had some veggie power sushi. I much prefer homemade sushi, but this one is pretty tasty. With that I had a super green juice with apple, carrot, blueberries, lemon, spinach and ginger. Delicious! 

Dinner

For dinner we kept it super simple, silky sexy pasta! This is so easy to throw together, is really filling and is full of chilli which is perfect on a horrible windy cold night like tonight.

Treat/dessert

I made some delicious (wheat free, dairy free and refined sugar free) vanilla biscuits the other day and couldn't resist having a cheeky little swan biscuit. So pretty & really tasty!

So that's what I had today, I also drank about 2L of water I didn't think that would make a very interesting picture! Hope you enjoyed seeing what I ate today x

The Weekly Shop (part 2)

Food, glorious food!! Today we did one of our "big shops", whereby we'd pretty much ran out of everything and are living on leftovers of meals thrown into the freezer and the last few non-perishables forgotten at the back of the fridge.

I split the shop into "fruit and veg" and "everything else". Being an almost entirely veggie household (Isaac will occasionally cook meat) we buy quite a lot of veg, and this wasn't all of it, we bought quite a few multiples of things that I didn't have room for on the table. I also love having lots of fruit in the house to nibble on during the day or for juices and smoothies. Lots of colour! The "everything else" mainly consists of bread/bread making ingredients and dairy, as well as other bits and bobs we have to get occasionally. I did one of these posts last year if you'd like to compare then and now. I hope you liked looking at our shop, how does it compare to yours?

Orange juice, olive oil, rapeseed oil, clementines, kale, pak choi, spinach, coriander leaves, basil leaves, garlic, apples, mango, avocado, onions, aubergine, courgettes, bananas, raspberries, blueberries, field mushrooms, spring onions, sweet potato, peppers, passion fruit, tomatoes, lemons and carrots.

Muesli, tomato passata, penne pasta, sushi rice, cous cous, Quorn pieces, mirin, whole milk yogurt, milk, mozzarella, sourdough loaf, pure sunflower, maldon sea salt, Dove's Farm Organic white bread flour and wholegrain slept flour, Royal baking powder, pistachio nuts, flaked and ground almonds, vanilla bean paste, honey, milled linseed, tahini, Kallo organic veg stock cubes, Belazu preserved lemons and free range corn fed eggs.

Wholegrain Spelt Soda Bread

I truly believe that people who don't eat bread are not as happy as those who do. They may say they are but secretly when the unmistakable smell of freshly baked bread wafts by their noses, a part of them dies. Or something like that! Nothing beats fresh homemade bread, it's nutritious and most importantly, absolutely scrummy! You may not be able to buy happiness, but you can bake it!

This is an incredibly easy bread to make and can be ready start-to-finish in an hour, what more could you want!? Here's what you'll need (I've linked the products I used below):

350g of wholegrain spelt flour 

50g of porridge oats 

1 tablespoon of runny honey

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 heaped teaspoon of bread soda (bicarbonate of soda)

1 tablespoon of rapeseed oil - or any other light flavoured oil

300ml of milk

125g whole yogurt

1 tablespoon of sesame, pumpkin and sunflower seeds  

As this requires no kneading and relies on bread soda to make the bread rise you need to work quickly so it's easiest to separate the wet and dry ingredients before combining them all together. 

Once you've combined everything together pour the mixture into a lined loaf tin, spread evenly,  sprinkle with seeds and bake at 200C for 45-55 mins. It should be nice and golden on top and sound hollow when tapped. Allow to cool and enjoy pure happiness!

Veggie Christmas 2013

Christmas is here!! Christmas is definitely my favourite time of year; the lights, the decorations, gift giving and of course...the FOOD!! Since Isaac and I met, our Christmas tradition every year is to spend Christmas Eve together and have our own version of Christmas, as we both spend Christmas Day with our families. I love this as we get to have all the lovely things about Christmas Day but in a much calmer way. We watch A Muppet's Christmas Carol, listen to lovely Christmas songs, exchange gifts and have a big (veggie) Christmas Dinner together. It's so special. 

So, as I have a bit of time I thought I'd share what we've been eating! We started the morning with pancakes! But not just any old pancakes, snowman pancakes!! (I really only made 2 snowmen and then made loads of regular pancakes). They're spelt pancakes with a dash of vanilla bean paste. With them I made orange, cinnamon and maple spiced Greek yogurt and a gorgeously glossy blueberry, apple and ginger compote. I also had lemon wedges and maple syrup on standby if we fancied. We were stuffed after!! 

We didn't have lunch, but I made some cinnamon popcorn to nibble on while watching A Muppet's Christmas Carol (our favourite Christmas film), however totally forgot to take a picture. Afterwards came the main event...Christmas Eve Dinner! This year I wanted to keep it simple, one main dish and 2 sides. I know it doesn't look like much but we have over half left over and couldn't finish the veg. I made gorgeous maple glazed carrots with toasted pecans and crispy roasted sweet potatoes with red onions, garlic and rosemary. And as the centrepiece, Torta di Risotto (risotto tart), stuffed with griddled courgette, aubergine and pepper. Absolutely delicious accompanied by a glass of Champagne and plenty to be enjoyed again tomorrow! 

To finish we couldn't not have mince pies! My homemade ones are again made with spelt flour and vegan-friendly. The perfect end to a wonderful Christmas Eve and a great start to Christmas day.

Merry Christmas! I hope this Christmas is the loveliest yet and is filled with love, laughter and scrumptious food.