I’m really getting into the 7 smoothies, 7 days challenge, with one more smoothie left to complete the challenge I know it has to be epic!
Wednesday started with an awesome Carrot Cake Green Smoothie:
Ingredients
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1 frozen banana
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1 head of batavia lettuce
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3 carrots grated
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1 tsp of ginger
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1 tsp of cinnamon
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1 tsp of all spice
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1 tbsp of peanut butter (walnut or pecan butter would be good too)
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1 1/2 of vanilla rice milk
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water (to desired thickness)
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maca powder
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xanthan gum
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wheat germ
Topping included omega mixed seeds and Dorset Cereals super tasty muesli.
This tasted just like carrot cake- dessert for breakfast definitely wins in my book! I LOVED it!
Following on the dessert theme smoothie number 6 in the challenge was this morning’s Mint Chocolate Green Smoothie:
Ingredients
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1 frozen banana
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1 head of batavia lettuce
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2 tsp of cocoa powder (I used Green and Black’s)
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1 tsp of peepermint extract
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maca powder
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ground flax
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Biotherm Vegan chocolate protein powder
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Sweet freedom sweetener
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vanilla rice milk
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water (to desired thickness)
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xanthan gum
Toppings included cranberries, almonds, omega mixed seeds and more cocoa powder.
Lunch yesterday was a huge salad topped with my Mediterranean Hummus.
The salad included courgettes, olives, mixed leaves, tomatoes, feta and carrots. I’m always craving salads when the sun is shining and event thought this was really simple and just thrown together (literally!) it really hit the spot. The hummus took it to another level- who needs a salad dressing when you have hummus?
I also ate a pear, 2 plums and a banana. I’ve been eating do much fruit recently an a lot of the time I have way more than my 5 a day in one sitting!!! I guess it cannot be a bad thing. My fibre levels are definitely above average for sure.
Pre-workout snackage came in the form of a 9bar…flax and an orange. At the gym I did 1 hour of interval training on the treadmill, adaptive motion trainer and the bike followed by some ab work. It was so hot in the gym-sweat fest doesn’t quite cover it. In fact I was feeling a little bit sick because of the heat and saturated air…eugggh! My spinning class was cancelled this morning so I did another intervals session consisting of 30 minutes on the treadmill 15 minutes on the cross trainer and 20 minutes on the bike, followed by some ab and core work.
Today’s lunch was another delicious and huge salad using mixed leaves, yellow peppers, olive tofu and olives…
Who knew that a huge plate of veggies could taste so good? There was a time long ago where I would have answered, “are you kidding?” to that question, but not anymore.
I made a dressing for this salad instead of topping it with hummus. Mixing tahini, lemon juice, sweet freedom sweetener and water made for a delicious dressing. Errrm… maybe I will take back my last statement about not needing a salad dressing when you can have hummus- this dressing was pretty tasty!
I had a lovely banana a peanut butter smoothie this afternoon for my afternoon snack outside in the sun.
This was velvety, thick and extremely filling-YUM!
Dinners have been the same on both days a Thai Butternut and Broccoli Curry served with sesame soba noodles:
As well as broccoli and butternut squash the curry also contained red peppers, onion, and mushrooms. The noodles were dressed in sesame oil and black sesame seeds.
This tasted amazing and was made using the Thai Taste red curry paste that I have been asked to review. It has a lot more flavour than some of the other red curry pastes that I have used in the past. I’ve found some great recipes that I hope will bring out the flavours in the paste even more.
Well the end of March is here already and what a great month it has been! In light of April looming I think it’s time for an end of the month review.
March goals:
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run outside once a week;
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include more arm exercises in my toning work out;
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include yoga into my routine;
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attempt to fit in another exercise class;
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30 minutes of interval training into every cardio routine to make it more challenging;
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repeat my toning workout twice to make it more intense;
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finally choose a half marathon to take part in this summer;
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carry on with healthy eating, lots of fruit and veggies, whole grains, little meat and unrefined sugars.
I’ve achieved pretty much all of my goals that I set for March. I’ve been doing my long runs at the weekend and even fitted it an extra short run this week, which I hope to do more of as the weather gets even better. The arm exercises are well and truly incorporated into my workout. However, I don’t think my weights at home a re heavy enough so I may have to increase the repetitions to see some results quicker. I’ve also signed up to run in the Race for Life 10K in my area. The yoga has let me down a little as besides some yoga stretches and an attempt at doing Yoga for Runner’s I haven’t really done much…boooo!
April goals:
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Yoga, yoga, yoga! I really want to incorporate yoga into my routine. I’m thinking of adding at least adding 2 half an hour sessions on my toning days;
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Do one short run a week to work on my running speed;
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Bring running speed to below 10 miles/minute;
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continue to eat healthily and intuitively.
Health and fitness wise I think these goals are very attainable, but I have may other personal goals that I want to achieve too. One of which is getting this blog to be a proper self hosted site. I’ve spent all day playing around on bluehost instead of studying with no success- a waste of a day me thinks! A late night studying…NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Another goal is to have all of my experiments finished for my own project so then I can start writing my thesis. My submission date is the end of September with an unfunded 3 month extension. I really don’t want to be writing without any money coming in so I want to leave enough time to write, write and write away.
Do you have any goals for April?
Do you eat way more than your 5-a-day? I think I’m a little excessive in this department, but what can I say? I love my fruit and veggies.
Don’t forget there is still time to enter my giveaway!
Peanut butter and banana smoothies are the bomb! Simplicity is sometimes the way to go 😀
And that olive tofu is like my favourite thing in the entire world! I’ve recently discovered the olive/basil/smoked tofus you can get in health food shops, and I don’t think I can EVER go back to regular old tofu now! The flavoured ones are so firm and the flavours are spot on! Plus they save the trouble of having to marinade etc!
But, to move on from my tofu rant, good luck with your experiments 🙂
I love Taifun Tofu. Have you tried the basil one? it tastes exactly like pesto…YUM!
Yeah I think 5 a day is unrealistically low for me! I am usually up near the 10 mark. There was an article in the independent this week about them possibly upping it from the recommended 5 a day. It was interesting but some of the quotes in it from the other side of the argument were just plain ridiculous!
I think 5-a-day is very unrealistic for most healthy living bloggers. I’m the same as you and eat way more than the recommended amount.
LOVE these smoothies!! ihvnt thought about my goals yet- i will be thinking about them soon though!! you have done so well! and yay on self hosting! that would rock!
The self hosting thing is a nightmare. I haven’t given up yet though. I’m gunna make it happen! 😀
God I gotta think about March’s first leave it with me I’ll defo have some I need to get through! x x
I know you will do great Tam! x
Great goals! I definitely need to think about making some..
This post has so many GREENS. I love it 🙂
I love my greens! 😀
Nice work on the goals 🙂
My goals are really continuing with the marathon training. I like the idea of yoga, and googled the yoga for runners podcasts, but that is as far as I got!
Thanks! The yoga for runners podcasts are great for beginners. I think I may invest in some DVDs too.
Your smoothies always look so good! I have some xantham gum that should be arriving in a few days- I can’t wait to use it. I hope my smoothies are as thick and delicious as yours!
Xanthan gum is a God send. it makes them super creamy and thick- gives them such a lovely texture! 😀
All of your smoothies look so good! I am all over that carrot cake flavor!
Thanks!:D
The smoothie challenge sounds like a lot of fun. I love smoothies so it would be perfect for me! I’ll have to give that carrot cake green smoothie a try sometime! Yum! 😀
The carrot cake smoothie was great. there are so many different flavour combinations! 😀
That PB banana smoothie looks DELISH!! And congrats on achieving most if your goals!! I bet you’ll achieve this months too!! 😀
It was amazing. I should make them more often!
I think I blogged the other day about my excessive fibre intake and the fact that nothing makes me happier than a large bowl of veggies, your a girl after my own heart! Glad you’ve been enjoying the smoothies – have you found that you’ve had more energy? Its really made a difference for me this week 🙂
Yes I have so much more energy than ever before. Doctors should seriously start perscribing green smoothies on the NHS. There benefits are abundant!
Do you eat the tofus cold straight from the pack?
Do you eat the tofu cold straight from the pack?
Yes or you can grill/bake it etc. 😀
Love that banana pb smoothie! Looks so creamy, yum 😀
It was delicious!!! 😀
sorry for the double post – I was having a computer malfunction episode at lunch 😉
I massively exceed the 5-a-day and sadly I know I really shouldn’t as I’m not the best at handling lots of fibre. But I’m such a volume eater and adore the taste of fruits and vegetables…it’s so hard to restrain myself, darn IBS!
I’m always so jealous of other bloggers and their huge salads or veggie plates, but usually wondering if anyone else has to face the same ‘consequences’ of eating them that I do.
Fab goals: I’m sure you’ll be ticking them all off as successes come May 🙂
xxx