Brighton buys and baking

And some chilli, but that does not fit with the alliteration you see.

But first a little update- today is the final day of my antibiotics, and I am finally beginning to feel like my normal self (touch wood). On Thursday I was feeling optimistic and hoping that I could go to body pump (new release), but after a day at work I was not feeling great. I decided to have a walk after dinner instead, and that made me feel awful. It was about 3 miles I think but still hardly taxing. I then decided to have a little run after work Friday, but again I was still feeling bad- I am fine when sat down, but when I get up and move about for a while it seems to make things a little sore. So that was cancelled, and I decided to not even bother taking my running things with me to Brighton- I was planning on a run on the Saturday morning but I decided that more rest would do me good. Luckily as it turned out, as after walking around all day I was so tired on Saturday evening. I then thought I might have a run Sunday evening when we got home, but I was still not right. And it goes on! I was not sure if I was feeling a little paranoid, but really after that walk on Thursday I realised that I am still not right. Anyway, today after work I came home and rested, and am hoping that tomorrow I will have a short run instead of the usual aerobics- I think that I can always cut a run short, and it is more gentle than the super high impact stuff we do in the class. So fingers crossed please!

Anyway, on to the buys! First up I was super excited to visit the Montezuma shop! I could have bought so many things in there- they do giant jars of buttons but they were £20! Even I could not justify that. I settled on 2 bags of dark chocolate buttons and some Gourmet Gorilla (not just because of the name)- dark chocolate with almonds and hazelnuts- I have never seen this bar in Waitrose so decided to give it a try.

I also bought a couple of new books in Brighton- I had a WHSmiths voucher for my birthday and finally spent it.

I have wanted Sweet Vegan for ages (I actually found it in a Waterstones on the weekend of my cousins wedding, and nearly tried to buy it with my vouchers until Andy pointed out I was in the wrong shop- that would have been embarassing!), and then they had the National Trust Teatime Baking book (so many good words for me!) for £3.99! Bargain! 🙂

I have already made the Pumpkin spice cake from Sweet Vegan.

And then topped it with cream cheese frosting (although I think I made about 1/4 of the recipe).

Yummy 🙂

Then today I got on with making an autumn chilli for my dinner. Partly because I thought I ordered frozen butternut squash slices, but they were chilled ones, and partly because I fancied using up some tins.

So, follow the steps for some Autumn Chilli (serves 4- me plus 3 for me freezer).

So- get together the ingredients- butternut squash, carrots, pepper, chilli, molasses, tinned tomatoes, kidney beans and chick peas.

Fry the veggies in a pan- I used a tsp coconut oil for this, but any veg oil/ spray would be fine.

Add tomatoes, 1/4 tin water (e.g. refill the tomato tin and pour in) and 2 tsp lazy chilli (this made it quite spicy enough for me, but I am a little bit of a wimp with spice although I am getting better).

Drain and add the chick peas and kidney beans.

Then add a tbsp molasses, and leave to simmer for a while- maybe 25-30 mins.

Dish up (just look at that steam- mmmm)

I had mine with nutritional yeast and some food doctor seeds. It was super tasty and even better because the next 3 times I eat it I don’t even have to cook!

Oh, and the best thing today- Andy thought I was a little weird (understatement alert) for collecting stones on the beach and said I would be crazy to take them home with me. I did leave them there, but this morning at school a little girl in my class gave me some stones that she collected from a beach over the weekend! She must have known haha! 🙂

Random question- what is your favourite chocolate at the moment?