Happy Sunday you lovely lot, I hope your first week of January has been good and treated you well. I was ill in the middle of the week, which put a downer on things, but thankfully I recovered quickly and I’m feeling much more like myself.
Alfie came home from work with these lovely flowers and a truckload of soup to help cheer me up – I’m one lucky lady! Despite feeling crappy, it’s been a great week of getting out and about with Aiden, we went to our first baby massage class, a baby music class and our regular BabyCafe too. Socialising with the other mums and babies is so lovely, I’ve started to create a network of mums who I really get on with.
This week I had my first green smoothie in what feels like months. I whizzed up in the blender a banana, spinach, unsweetened almond milk, vanilla protein powder, lucuma powder and cashew butter. I’m going to try to have these a bit more this month as they’re so nourishing for the body, especially because nourish is my word of the month.
At the weekend, I made a huge batch of this slow cooker chickpea chilli soup for healthy lunches during the week. I have the recipe post planned for this later this month because it’s really delicious and deserves to be shared. When topped with avocado and crumbled feta cheese it’s such a healthy and filling dish, yum!
Leftovers are one of my favourite things to have in the fridge, food always seems to taste better the following day. I teamed these leftover brussel sprouts with pancetta and chestnuts with quinoa and crumbled feta for a speedy lunch.
I’d actually batch cooked a huge saucepan of quinoa earlier in the week and it’s been perfect to make lots of satisfying salads. This one was mixed salad leaves, quinoa, blueberries, avocado and crumbled Wensleydale with cranberries that were leftover from our Christmas cheese board.
Salmon is one of my favourite foods, not only is it tasty but it’s also enriched with lots of healthy fats. I had this pan-fried sweet chilli salmon fillet with buttered new potatoes and salad for a healthy, balanced and nourishing mid-week meal.
Simple plain yoghurt with fruit is always a winner in my book. I always buy plain full-fat organic yoghurt rather than flavoured yoghurt to cut out the sugar and additives. I had this bowl of plain yoghurt with a mix of grapes, blueberries and cherries with honey and coconut as a light breakfast during the week and it really hit the spot!
Not only am I excited to still be wearing my festive/winter themed leggings, I was equally as excited to finally wear my new fitness gear that I got for Christmas. There’s something about new workout clothes that gets me motivated to workout. I went to the gym yesterday rather than doing my planned jog because of the bad weather with a spring in my step. I got a decent strength and cardio workout and I’m hoping to go again today or for a walk if my body doesn’t feel up to it.
If you haven’t already, remember to enter my current giveaway to win a VonShef Professional Juicer.
Do new fitness clothes make you more motivated to work out? What cheers you up when you’re ill?
I love those leggings! x
Thanks Lily, I love them!
Really looking forward to seeing the chickpea chilli soup recipe. Sounds like it has quite similar flavours to a tortilla soup only more filling. Sounds yummy!
clementinebuttercup.blogspot.co.uk
It’s coming on the blog later this month, so watch this space! 🙂
I think that new fitness clothes which flatter your figure and look good are definitely helpful when working out. It just gives you that confidence and some extra motivation (if you don’t already have it) so buying some new fitness gear is definitely a good idea. Saying that, I think I need some new fitness clothes actually! 🙂 Can you suggest any good places to buy comfortable, good quality and affordable fitness gear?
Thanks,
Petra
You’re so right Petra! I’ve been loving Fabletics at the moment and Sweaty Betty is always good. Nike tends to be my go to brand and they always have some funky prints.
I forgot to mention TK Maxx and H&M too for affordable fitness gear – they have some lovely things sometimes!
Thanks Jemma for all the shop suggestions, I will definitely have a look at them all and see whether I can find anything that I like!
You never fail to make me feel hungry with your delicious foodie pictures! Loving the crops, are they from Fabletics? I recognize the print! 😀
New fitness gear and beautiful prints always gets me excited and motivated to workout! I don’t know what it is.. but it just makes you feel more confident and you kinda want to show them off! 🙂
Hi Laura! Yep, you guessed right, I’m loving the things on Fabletics at the moment. I’m with you on the confidence boost thing. I always feel great in new workout gear.
Love the leggings!
I’m really in love with them!
I don’t actually own any fitness gear! I think I am so disgusted with my weight, I won’t buy any clothes in the size I actually am at the moment.
That food looks delicious and super healthy!
Laura x x x
Aww…sorry to hear that you feel that way about yourself. I hope that you feel inspired to feel happier about yourself soon – you’re more than just a size, don’t let it define you!
Very nice post. Love the food!!!
I feel a bit hungry now!!! hehehe
Ha! Thanks Paola!
love your new fitness bottoms
and your green smoothie looks lush
i must buy a blender soon
good luck x
Thanks Linda! I woukd be really lost without my blender because I use it so much.
:O I love your leggings! Hope you’re feeling much better!
I’d love it if you might be able to check out my blog and let me know what you think! 😀
http://www.alittleblogbynatalie.blogspot.co.uk/
Thank you,
Natalie 🙂 xo
Thanks Natalie! I’ll have a look at your blog, thanks for stopping by.
Fab leggings! Glad you are feeling better, there are lots of bugs still going around- we need a proper cold snap to kill them all off.
I love getting new workout gear- I got some new running tights- nothing as funky as those but they are purple, and one pair are blue, so a step up from my usual black!
Thanks Maria, there’s definitely something going around at the moment. It’s crazy how exciting getting new workout gear can be – it’s nice to change it up a bit, hope you’re loving your new colourful leggings!
the crumbled feta makes me want to grab a bowl , best of luck
Ha! I love crumbled feta too, yum!
I totally agree with you! New workout clothes gets me so motivated – I just can’t wait to take them to the gym haha.
Ha! It’s nice to know that I’m not on my own with this one. 🙂
Love the leggings. So nice. I’m trying to find some funky leggings myself right now – but don’t want to go too crazy you know?
Glad to hear you’re no longer ill. I was ill over the weekend and it just ruins the day. I was so tired and couldn’t motivate myself to do anything. I just drank a lot of liquids and watched movies!
It really puts a downer on things doesn’t it, hope your feeling better. A huge duvet and lots of movies sounds so perfect when you’re ill.
Yes! New clothes definitely get me to the gym, haha. It sounds crazy but it’s true! I bought a new workout dvd last night and that’s been helping me get in the swing of things, too!
The effect that new workout clothes can have is crazy, but definitely worth the expense to keep you motivated.
I love new fitness clothes and I definitely need to invest in some now I’m doing more running especially when it’s dark, I’m the perfect example of what you shouldn’t wear..all black! I need some neons that’s for sure ha x
Those leggings are fab! Those meals look gorgeous – so bright and colourful – how food should be!
Love the flowers! you picked a good ‘un! 🙂
Also loving that you’ve got lots of salads in your eats for his week. I can’t get enough salads at the moment despite the weather being more suitable for soup.
It’s great to see the change you’re making in your life! And BTW. Amazing shoes. I need to get new shoes myself for running. lol