Hi lovelies! I’ve definitely got that Friday feeling!
This week has been pretty amazing with the bloggers meet up on Tuesday and just a 2 day week at uni too- no complaints from me! The past few days I have been writing my thesis and making some progress with my first results chapter. I even had a light bulb moment yesterday, doncha just love those?!? It was one of those moments where a small missing piece of the jig-saw just clicked into place and made everything that much more clearer. 🙂
After doing a hip opening yoga session from YogaDownload.com I headed to the gym to do my 40 minute strength workout. I’m really not finding it challenging enough anymore, so for next week I’m going to devise a new plan using my NROLW book to really make those muscles burn! Once I finished at the gym I had this waiting for me:
Overnight oats made with 1 tbsp of chia seeds, 1/4 cup of oat bran, 1/4 of oats, 1 cup of rice milk, 1 cup of water, 1 tbsp of peanut flour, 1 tsp of agave nectar. I mixed in some raspberries and blueberries and topped it with sunflower seeds and Hershey’s chocolate syrup…delish!
Lunches on both days have been the same simple and huge salad made using spinach, curly lettuce, chopped carrots, courgettes, cherry tomatoes, chilli and lime olives and basil tofu. I also added some roasted edamame beans for some extra crunch. I love my huge salads and the basil tofu tasted amazing. I did find myself nibbling on chunks of it when I was preparing the salad. 🙂
For a quick and speedy meal I raided my freezer stash and dug out a vegetable and dhal curry that I made a while back. I love taking food straight from the freezer as all I had to do really is cook the brown rice and wash the spinach leaves for a gorgeous and quick meal.
This morning I hit the gym nice and early for a 55 minute cardio workout which included a 30 minute hill climb on the cross trainer and 25 minutes across the cardio machines plus abs and core work.
Breakfast was a lovely bowl of bircher muesli that I made by mixing vanilla soya yoghurt with Whole Earth’s Organic Swiss Muesli and topped it with a plum compote that I made the other day and cacao nibs. This was such a simple breakfast, but tasted like heaven!
Tonight I made a really tasty layered Buddha Bowl using spinach and cos lettuce and topping it with whole wheat cous cous with chickpeas. The dressing for the cous cous included sweet chilli sauce, canola oil, apple cider vinegar and dried mixed herbs. On top of that went a pile of mixed roasted veggies- courgettes, red onion, red and yellow peppers, cherry tomatoes. AND on top of that was THAT hummus! Sabra hummus of course. I just love it! How they get to be so thick and creamy I have no idea- answers below please.
I’ve also been enjoying some lovely desserts:
Chocolate peanut butter swirl protein ice cream topped with Bear cherry and cocoa granola
Raw chocolate covered mulberries and Lindt dark chocolate with orange-too good!
I’m so excited to announce my first ever blogger to sponsor my blog:
My gorgeous friend Gina writes a super cool blog called The Seventh Letter where she posts about her inspirations and thoughts, outfits and fab shopping hauls. I love Gina and her blog so make sure that you go and check it out!
If you are interested in sponsoring Celery and Cupcakes then you can read all about it here or you can contact me at celeryandcupcakes@gmail.com for more information
I’m really excited about this weekend as it’s one of my best friends Mendhi party. In Indian cultures it is tradition for the girls to have a pre-wedding mendhi party where there hands and arms are covered in intricate and beautiful designs using henna. I’ve never been to one before so I’m really looking forward to seeing what it’s all about.
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I can’t believe that my friend is getting married…eeek! A lot of my other friends from school and university will be there that I haven’t seen for a few years too, so it will be like a little reunion. It’s funny how you can loose contact with so many people that you once spent every single day with. It’s actually quite scary!
I hope you all have a great and fun filled weekend!
Have you lost contact with friends from school and reunited years later?
Have you experienced any traditions form a different culture recently?
What are you up to this weekend?
Chocolate mulberries? I need to try these 🙂 Enjoy the Mendhi party! I love those designs x
The mulberries are gorgeous. Very addictive!!! 🙂
A lot of my friends have also got married lately and it feels so strange 🙂
I have lost contact with many friends from school, unfortunatelly the reuniting part hasn´t happend yet…
Your meals look amazing as usual, especially those breakfast bowls!
I hope you get to reunite with your friends soon it’s so great to catch up and go over old memories together.
Mmm, That curry looks delish!
I’ve a trip to the local farmers market im quite excited for first thing in the morning.
And it’s a 3 day weekend here, so who knows what’s in store.
I hope you are having a fab weekend!
Yum, always so jealous of your food babe! Everything looks delicious!
This weekend will be all work, no fun for me:) But Im actually ok with that because my job is fantastic and actually really fun 😀 YEY!
Wish you a wonderful weekend too<3
Its so great to hear that you love your job so much. It’s really refreshing as I know a few people who hare their jobs but too scared to change them.
If you think it’s scary that your friends are getting married just wait till they start having babies. Makes you feel really old!
I haven’t tried Sabra hummus yet but the way to make it creamy at home is to peel your chickpeas. It takes about 10 mins to do a whole tin but is worth it.
Next time I make my own hummus I will be sure to use your tip. Sabra is delish and definitely my fave shop bought hummus. It’s so addictive though.
Funnily enough, one of the only two friends I had at school recently found me via my University e-mail address, and I discovered that she had moved to Denmark! We lost contact because I became a recluse after I left school, so although she did try her best with me I rather pushed her away inadvertantly. It turns out we’ve shared a lot of the same mental health problems in the 8 years since we last spoke, and it was wonderful to catch up with her, if only via e-mail.
I’ve never really had any experiences from different cultures but I would surely like to! I love henna art: I have allergic reactions to the stuff but the intricacy of the designs is absolutely stunning. I hope you have a wonderful time!
xxx
That was great that your friend found you like that! What a lovely surprise 🙂 I have a few friends that do Bridal Mendhi for a living and the designs they come up with are stunning.
That sounds like so much fun! Cannot wait to hear about the Mehndi party!
It was such a great party!
Have a lovely time, the patterns they make are beautiful.
And I just tried that hummus yesterday and I am in love! It is amazing you are right, so creamy.
Isn’t it the best! I’m in love with it! 🙂
Umm so your pictures are making me want to reach through the screen and grab that oatmeal right out of your hand! Yum to say the very least! I love the idea of the syrup on top
Have a great time tonight, can’t wait to hear about it!
Hehe! If only grabbing food from the computer screen was possible. I would be doing it all the time. 😀
I hope you have an amazing time!
All of your eats are making me drool–they all look SO delicious!!!!
Ahhh thank you! 🙂
I bet that wedding will be beautiful. I recently bumped into an old school friend in Ikea of all places, it was so lovely to see her. Enjoy catching up with your friends!
I had such a great time. I love randomly bumping into old friends and going down memory lane. 🙂
The Mendhi party sounds amazing. One of my best friends is Indian, and quite selfishly, I can’t wait for her to get married so that I can experience an Indian wedding (she has to find a man first though!)
My mouth is watering looking at your salads – I haven’t had salad in a week and it’s high on my list of priorities to change that tonight!
The party was awesome and everyone looked lively in their beautiful and colourful outfits.
I’ve lost contact with many of my friends from my first high school. But whenever we see each other again, it’s as if we just talked the day before!
It was exactly like that last night-loved it!
Oh yummm everything looks so good.
I have to try mixing in peanut flour to my over night oats. And I’ve always wanted to put together a Buddah Bowl.
You should try it! It tastes really good! 🙂
I accidentally stumbled upon an India Festival yesterday. It was interesting, but it mainly involved food. As for your eats, I’m really admiring how many olives you got on that salad. 🙂
I’ve lost contact with a lot of friends from college, but mainly just because we live across the country from one another! Thank goodness for Facebook, email, etc to stay in touch!!
Aww, yeah, thanks to Facebook I actually got back in touch with one of my childhood best friends. Love that sort of thing!
I need to try that sabra hummus after hearing everyone talk about it at the meet 🙂
How did you make the plum compote by the way?
The foods you make look delish! I love foods with lots of colors and flavors…I’m getting hungry.
Anyways, facebook has brought me back in touch with old friends and i’m grateful for that.
I just stumbled across your blog this morning and I love finding new blogs to read. I will be adding you to my google reader.
My weekend was all about both being productive and relaxing – getting school & blog stuff done but with no schedule!
Yum, yumm, yummy!
health and delicous, who would have thought!