It’s Monday again! I hade such a lovely weekend spent relaxing and cooking in the kitchen, but more on that later. I thought it would be best to catch up on my eats Friday through to Sunday. Here it goes…
Friday
I started the day with a fab cardio session in the gym that included 20 minutes on the treadmill, 15 minutes on the step machine, 15 minutes on the bike and 10 minutes on the cross trainer, followed by some ab work.
For this breakfast smoothie I mixed hazelnut and almond rice milk with handfuls of spinach, 1 cup of raspberries, 1 cup of blueberries, 1 banana, and 1 tsp each of xanthan gum, acai berry juice, maca powder and ground flax.
No explanation needed for my mid-morning snack…yum!
For lunch I had a lovely soup with fruit, the soup wasn’t homemade! Shock horror! I picked up a Glorious Skinny Soup in the New England Butternut Squash flavour as I was rushed for time to make anything the night before. Half of the pot was only 152 calories, which I thought was really good for a ready made meal. It completely saved the day, so I didn’t have to go and raid the vending machine as I had no time to have a long sit down lunch in one of the many restaurants on campus.
My afternoon snack was a Yeo Valley Vanilla yoghurt pot topped with blueberries and raspberries.
For dinner I raided the freezer and dug out these vegetable quarter pounders. Another ready made meal to save the day and I was too tired to cook. I one vegetable burger with some parsnip chips, roasted sprouts and some Red Pepper Hummus.
Saturday
For breakfast I had a lovely bowl of Rude Health Early Bird Muesli with some extra oats, which I warmed in some hazelnut and almond rice milk topped with some raspberries.
For lunch I whipped up a huge salad monster made with mixed salad leaves, a red pepper, green split peas, spinach and avocado in a simple lemon dressing.
This was followed by a fruit pot of mango, kiwi and blueberries…
My afternoon snack was a Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Larabar with an orange and an apple…
Dinner was a portion of my cottage pie with red lentils and pumpkin and sweet potato mash.
This was followed by a few sneaky pieces of organic vegan chocolate…yum!
Sunday
To kick start the day I had a cup of green tea with some brazil nuts and dates before going to the gym for a cardio workout. I did 15 minutes on the treadmill, 10 minutes on the step machine, 10 minutes on the cross trainer, 10 minutes on the bike and 10 minutes on the a new machine that I thought I would try out…
Source
It works exactly like an elliptical trainer, but gives you a freer range of movement. It felt quite strange at first, as if you are suspended in the air trying to do the running man, but I eventually got used to it and worked up a sweat. I will be definitely using this in my cardio workout in the future.
It was time for breakfast when I got home so a mega green smoothie was needed to refuel. I mixed Kara coconut milk, spinach, a banana, mango, xanthan gum, ground flax and some acai berry juice. This was topped with some granola and some Bear Cherry Berry fruit nibbles, so good! As my breakfast was so late I just had an afternoon snack rather than lunch. I had a slice of Biona Quinoa and Amaranth bread with almond butter and a sliced apple, later followed by another apple and a pear.
For dinner I made a delicious salad, which is the first salad in my Sex Up Your Salad challenge…
…sexy don’t ya think? 🙂
I had two portions of this salad and will writing up the recipe in a separate post.
I spent most of Sunday afternoon in the kitchen cooking. I made a batch of my Healthy Chilli, Pearl Barley and Green Lentil Pilaf, a Moroccan Casserole, a Aubergine and Kale Coconut Curry and experimenting with my sexy salad. I cannot wait to get stuck into these goodies over the course of this week.
Speaking of goodies on Saturday night I had a bundle of parcels waiting for me when I got home from work. I was totally overwhelmed…
First up was a package of energy bars all the way from America that a lovely reader has sent over for me:
I recieved a lovely selection of goodies to review from Windmill Organics:
This little lot included some Biona Coconut Water, Biona Organic Wasabi Style Horseradish Paste, Amisa Organic Spelt Muesli Crispbread, Raw Health Accacia Honeyblossom Honey, Raw Health Truly Juicy Apricot and Almond energy bars, Raw Health Zingy Lemon and Ginger Raw Rolls and a box of Raw Health Organic Sprouted Sunseed Mix Provencale.
The Raw Chcocolate Company also sent me a bundle of treats to review:
This included some Pitch G-Dark, Twilight and Vanoffee raw chocolate and also their new range of raw chcolates The Darker Side of Delicious in three flavours: Loaded Plain Dark, Lavish Dark with Orange and Minted Dark with Mint. I also recieved some raw chocolate covered golgi berries, mulberries and raisins…
I also recieved some delcious looking handmade raw chocolate to review from RAWR:
I recieved some RAWR Intensity Dark Chocolate, RAWR Cashew Power and a RAWR Zesty bar.
My giveaway win also arrived on the same day!!!!
Thank you Carrie! All of these American goodies look amazing.
I can’t wait to try all of these new foods.
I’m definitely one lucky lucky lady! 🙂
oh my days – so jealous of your food haul! I need American readers that send me that kind of stuff, how generous! lol. Enjoy!
My favorite go-to meal is Quorn and veggies. Boring, but easy!
Boring and easy are the best for when you cannot be bothered or have no time to cook!
wow, i am soo envious of you.
how i wish i could get me hands on all those amazing vegan goodies from the states.
do you know of any websites that ship over to us in the UK?
my life would be so much easier xx
Have you tried iHerb.com is a great American website that ships to the UK. They have Lara Bars and Sun Warrior protien powder and a whole load of other great products too.
ahh such a grea haul girl!!!! yay.. hope you enjoy the treats!! my fav go to meal is veggies and cottage cheese!! i just dip each bite into the cottage cheese- YUM!!
Wow, what an amazing selection of new products to try! How on earth do you manage to be so lucky?! I purchased some RAWR chocolate just before Xmas and I’m still working my way through it, it’s delicious though. Looking forward to reading all the reviews you’ll be doing 🙂
Thinking about it, I don’t keep any ready meal options in the house at all – I’m much more of a “just grab whatever random ingredients are within arms reach, combine, eat” kind of girl. Usually its something involving eggs because they’re so easy and versatile. It can lead to some rather odd dinner combinations but it’s always quick to prepare and saves me when I don’t have time to cook a proper meal.
I can’t wait to try the RAWR chocolate it looks divine! 😛
I think you should be sharing all that yummy food out!! lol!
I seem to raid the freezer when i dont have much in, and when im off i do a kitchen day like yourself and freeze half for when i cant be bothered cooking. i really should label my stash cos i havent a clue what some of it is!!!
please can you post your cottage pie recipe? sounds delish
Sure I will try and post the recipe later this week. I try and freeze batches of food too, but sometimes I don’t make enough too eat in the week and freeze too. :/
Wow – what a fantastic haul of goodies, I can’t wait to read what you think of them.
That new cardio machine look terrifying … but interesting. I love the elliptical trainer, so maybe its something to try. Also, that salad looks extremely sexy and very colourful – looking forward to the recipe – anything with broccoli gets my vote.
Ready-meal wise I’m often saved by home-made meals I’ve stashed in the freezer, ready mixed veggie stir-fry that takes 5mins to fry up, Glorious soup and occasionally Quorn cottage pie (its a bit salty so don’t have it too often, but it is nice).
I’m loving the Glorious Soup, there are so many other flavours that I want to try in the future.
Goodness, that’s an awful lot of goodies! I must admit to being greener than Shrek and twice as ugly right now. Do these companies just randomly send you things? I wish I was popular enough to be begged to review such wonderful (and expensive!) products.
Soup looks good ~ I’d be hungry as heck after all of that cardio and just 150 cals worth of soup and a bit of fruit though. I wish they’d make more convenience foods without onion and garlic in them, as with my IBS everything ends up being made from scratch as a result.
I would also like to put out an advert online! Wanted: one mysterious benefactor from the US willing to send Larabars and Raw Revolution products over to me 😉
xxx
Haha! Love the advert. Have you tried iHerb.com they sell Larabars on there and they ship to the US too. x
Well, you certainly won’t have to go shopping for a while! 😉
I think those Glorious soups are really great for something that is ready made and quick to prepare. I love them.
I need to stop reading your blog..I’m now starving!!! lol x
Wow fab haul of goodies! the raw chocolate company must like you more than me to send you all that stuff, haha! 😉 I love having a good weekend cook up too 🙂
Wow your sorted for a while! x x
Wow great haul!! 🙂
Haha my go-to is a microwaved sweet/jacket potato and baked beans! Takes less than 10 mins and delicious every time! 😀
My favourite ready meal saviors are either eggs or a toastie, not really ready meals, but quick and easy!
Wow all that food is so good! Do these companies just randomly send you stuff, or do you contact them? You’re lucky either way!