Hey y’all! I hope you are having a great week so far. 😀
As it’s the start of the working week my breakfasts so far haven’t been of the usual Royal standard, but they have been tasty all the same. Monday morning is always a rush for me so I went for the easiest option, a yoghurt bowl.
Rachel’s Organic vanilla yoghurt with strawberries, blueberries, Rude Health’s early bird muesli (it’s in there somewhere) and cinnamon made for a very satisfying and speedy breakfast. LOVE IT!
Today’s breakfast was a little more leisurely with a huge bowl of comforting quinoa oats. This hug in a bowl contained quinoa flakes, wheat germ, oats, mixed frozen berries, ground flax, rice milk, local honey, dried cranberries and a chopped pear.
This was seriously good! Extra toppings made it even more so in the form of omega mixed seeds, almonds and choccy seeds.
Monday’s lunch was leftover’s from Sunday nights pasta meal. I adore how this is so creamy, but really light. I really hate heavy creamy pasta dishes like carbonara- this makes for a great alternative! 😀 Today I opted for an easy-peasy hummus topped salad that was jam packed with veggies. No surprises there!
Mixed salad leaves, steamed string beans, tomatoes, courgette, an orange pepper and bean sprouts all topped with some watered down Red Pepper Hummus Laura stylee. Adding water to hummus is a great to make a little go a long way and using the hummus like a dressing means that every single vegetable becomes coated with hummus loveliness. Great tip! 😀 I also ate lots and lots of super sweet pineapple and kiwi…
Cos’ it was Monday and time was of the essence had a super quick stir fry for dinner. I also had some odds and ends of lots of veg that needed using up too.
So into the wok went some swiss chard, red pepper, mange tout, chestnut mushrooms and some smoked tofu. I made a lovely sauce using soy sauce, rice vinegar and Thai Taste’s yellow chilli and ginger sauce and topped it with some crunchy bites.
Today I made a lovely butternut squash risotto using brown rice and nutritional yeast flakes to achieve that cheesy flavour that you would regularly get from using parmesan cheese.
So far this week my workouts have been pretty good too. Monday’s workout included some yoga in the form of my new MTV yoga DVD, some abs and core and an upper body workout. Today’s workout consisted of my 10K plan,intervals on the cross trainer, bike and step machine (1 hour cardio in total) and some abs and core work. I looked like a total sweaty mess after todays workout, they really need to sort out the air conditioning in my gym. Hmph!
The past two night I have been enjoying playing around with my new kitchen gadget to make dessert:
The Kenwood Frothie Drinks Maker. Alfie brought it home with him from work on Sunday as it was on offer. Fair enough it’s not the most romantic of spontaneous gifts the world has ever seen, but the thought was there and I really do love it!!!
Last night I made a Spiced Hot Chocolate by mixing chocolate soya milk with cinnamon and cardamom pods. Check out the froth…
…enjoyed with a tasty bowl of cherries.
Right now I’m just finishing up a chai steamer made using rice milk, water, cinnamon, ginger and sweet freedom sweetener. It was so good! I can’t wait to try out other drinks recipes as the possibilities are endless.
What is your favourite kitchen gadget that you just couldn’t live without? I do love my new toy, but I really couldn’t live without my blender or food processor. What would my life be like without my delicious green smoothies? Oh my! I’m cringing at the thought of it!
Mmmmm that drink machine looks amazing! I would love to be able to make drinks like that at home! I think my favorite kitchen gadget is my food processor, don’t know what I would do without it!
I think a food processor is essential in every food bloggers kitchen! 😀
I love that gadget – I’ve never even seen one of those before! I like my smoothie maker, it’s actually my housemate’s so I’ll have to buy one of my own eventually.
It’s so cool. It make all kinds of coffee/cappachino type drinks, milk shakes, steamers, teas and all sorts. 😀
Your eats look amazing and I’m too hooked to my coffee machine. If something happened to it I’d have to run out and buy a new one asap!
I think I would be the same with my blender. I just can’t live without it now!
you know what I LOVE about your blog!? your food is always SO COLORFUL!! It literally brightens my day!! my fav kitchen gadget… hmm…… food processor ! but its so annoying to clean!
They are annoying to clean, but so darn worth it! 😀
Oooh wow, that drinks machine looks so good! I couldn’t live without my blender but I’m also loving my dehydrator too for making tonnes of dried fruit 🙂
I’m so jealous of your dehydrator! Where did you get it? 😀
I love my kettle for a good cup of tea 🙂
Yes! The kettle is am essential piece of kit in my kitchen too. I need a good cup of tea in the morning. 🙂
I’m with you; it’s the blender or hand blender all the way! That drinks maker looks great though and I reckon romance is all about doing things thoughtfully, that the other person will like, so that machine’s perfect!
And that’s just reminded me, I got a taster pack of those choccy seeds on Sunday, having seen them on your blog, but hadn’t tried them – thanks for the reminder 🙂
Oh you should on with trying those choccy seeds. They are delish! 😀
Your food always looks so yummy!
Thank you! 😀
Your food looks so delicious- and big!
My favorite appliance would have to be our blender that is nonexistant at the moment because it shattered into a million pieces.
I don’t know, my kitchen wants to be destroyed?
Oh no! I know that I couldn’t live without my blender. I hope you get it sorted soon!
Your salads always look so similar to mine – delish! That butternut squash risotto looks heavenly too, you are SO fully of good ideas!
Great minds think a like! I do love a tasty salad! 😀
That frothie drinks maker is SO cool!! and I’m looving the sound of that spiced hot chocolate!definitely something I’ll be trying out 😀
I couldn’t live without my microwave tbh…it does everything! oh and kettle…can’t go a day without tea!!
oh what do you think of that yoga DVD?I want to get into yoga but don’t know where to start..!
The yoga DVD is awesome it contains so much content and flows quite quickly through all of the poses. It also showns how to do the poses at a beginners, intermediate and advanced stage too. I highly recommend it! 😀
Mmm hot chocolate! I love all of the colors in yur food! So pretty.
Whitney
Mmmmm hot chocolate indeed! So tasty and comforting!
Yuuum!!! That drink machine look really awesome!!! I loove my blender!!!
I love my blender too!
Yogurt bowls are always my go-to breakfasts when I’m rushing too! Your eats all look so yummy! I don’t think I could live without my skillet haha!
Actually I think a skillet is another important piece of kitchen equipment. It’s so underrated!
That frothy drink maker looks great! I have a little milk whisk that I sometimes use, so good! I could not live without my blender, its the one thing that if broke I would immediately go out and rebuy no matter the cost!
I have one of those frothy drink makers!! I love to put cardamom and soy milk in it and make frothy soy lattes!
I love the taste of cardamon in drinks. So good!
My favorite kitchen gadget is simply my small, nonstick skillet. So quick, light and wonderful! My hubby, on the other hand, loves his espresso machine. He is kind of crazy about “the froth.”
I’m with your hubby on the froth. It’s the best part! 😀
You have such a healthy diet. Everything looks so good
Thank you!
Frothie drink maker!!! Wow (:
The hot chocolate looks delicious!
My vitamix is definitely the kitcheny thing I couldn’t live without!
Beautiful, beautiful food as usual xx
I’m so jealous of your vitamix. They look amazing!
That first shot is gorgeous! Such beautiful strawberries. 🙂
And the cherries look delicious too! Maybe I’m just on a red fruit kick, haha!
Ha! I love cherries too! 😀