WIAW-recovering (and cheese free)

Hey guys

It’s that time again- thanks Jenn for sorting out the WIAW party!

The day I chose this week was Tuesday. I was still getting over the little bug I had- I think I had some kind of virus as all day Monday and Tuesday I had a sort of headache (when I moved, a bit like a head-rush) and my neck was really stiff. Picking up bugs from the children is a hazard of the job. I was still avoiding dairy as after being ill I always have it in my head to leave that for a little.

Breakfast– apple, rude health muesli and almond milk (unsweetened and it is amazing).

Snacks all packed up;

Nakd bar for morning snack, and Eat Natural mini bar for the staff meeting.

Lunch:

Hummus and roasted pepper sandwich, nectarine and pear. And my big water bottle. 🙂

Dinner:

Roasted sweet potato (in the microwave, sorry!) with hummus (I meant to try it with almond butter but turned out I must have finished my jar), and some veggies and basil tofu with tomato and a tsp pesto. I was supposed to have some salad too but it had gone all squishy.

Plus some tea:

(Mainly an excuse to put on a photo of my teapot as I have not had one on here for ages! And our cute cups- mine is the chicken one)

Pre-gardening snack;

A row of Mint Rawr chocolate (soooo good- the perfect amount of mint)

And an evening snack;

Alpro dark chocolate, some of Lizi’s granola and a little white chocolate wonderful (which on reflection was not needed as it was very sweet and a bit too sweet for how I was feeling).

Mint tea always makes it better 🙂

I usually go to aerobics on a Tuesday, but I was still feeling so tired from being ill, and my neck was very stiff so I thought all the jumping about would make it worse. Plus I lead a row so I can’t really hang out at the back and take it easy. So instead after work I walked up to the allotments to plant some leeks my Dad gave us, and to cry at all the weeds growing back! It was nice to get some fresh air but only gently!

Oh and why the cheese free I hear you all wonder (and if you don’t well tough, I am going to explain it anyway). On holiday I felt like I ate a lot of cheese, as it was often the veggie alternative. I also can have a bit of a cheese overdose feeling, where I get really sick of it and start to hate the smell and everything if I have it too much. So I decided to have a few weeks without cheese to focus on other forms of protein. I often put cheese on pasta, but (even with Andy having it on his) I have avoided it and my meals have still been tasty. At lunch times I was getting in a rut with my cream cheese and roasted pepper sandwiches, so going without cheese has meant I have had to get a bit of variety with salads, hummus, nut butters, quinoa and things like that.  I don’t think I would go vegan, but it has made me realise that actually I would manage alright. I would miss goats cheese though- I don’t have it very often but I do love it.

Any cheese lovers out there- what is your favourite cheese? Vegans- do you miss cheese or have you found good replacements? (Or never liked it in the first place? I never liked meat so never feel the need for a meat replacement as I don’t tend to like those either).

Flutterby

Hey peeps

Thanks for the well wishing yesterday- (possible TMI…) the immodium kicked in quickly anyway, and I basically spent yesterday sleeping in front of the TV, occasionally checking on blogs and hotmail, and eating toast. Oh, and watching Tangled which I thought was fab. So not all bad.

Anyway although I felt better, I felt today like I had been punched in the stomach- sore in a weird way. I did not fancy eating much, and so decided to skip my run in exchange for leaving work as soon as possible, and relaxing at home. I did have a walk (in the wind!) after dinner, and am nearly back to normal I think.

While reading blogs this evening I saw that Sarah had tagged me in a blogger survey thing. I love reading these as I like random facts, and so you get to see my answers now, you lucky lot. Be warned I am very indecisive!

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Favourite colour;

At the moment, green. I think green suits me, so I think I gravitate towards it. Plus lots of natural things are green.

Favourite song;

Gosh, I have so many songs I love, this would change all the time. I might go for Build me up Buttercup, as I just love it. But I love loads!

Favourite dessert;

I should say cupcakes, but that is not my answer! I think today my choice would be a squidgy chocolate brownie with a little blob of vanilla ice cream on top. Yes, that is what I choose today.

What really annoys you;

I get annoyed by people who do not pull their weight. But mostly idiot drivers! The ones that go in the left lane when they need to take the third exit (I got cut up by a van doing this today- what an idiot), or motorcyclists who squeeze between cars and lorries on busy roads, or people who do not indicate at roundabouts. Yeah, idiot drivers because it is annoying but also dangerous.

When you are upset you:

I try to hold in my tears! I hate people seeing my cry. If I was at home I would have a cuddle with Andy and he would cheer me up.

Your favourite pet;

I have not had many pets, and I am not really a pet person. Although I have always wanted a rabbit, but was never allowed(and now I think of the practical things- who would look after the rabbits when I am on holiday, what about the winter when it is cold outside and I have to clean it etc). I did have a dog (well it was my Mum’s from before I was born) and he was the most gentle little dog ever. We had a cat which was never interested in playing and ran away to some neighbours who put out cat food in their garden. Oh, and we had a stick insect once. Actually, my best pet was a school pet- a squirrel! Our teacher used to rescue animals and we had a baby squirrel in our classroom (it fell out the nest when it was a baby)- we called him Nutty, and drew pictures of him and things. So yeah, I will have the squirrel.

Black or White;

I choose white. I love white cardi’s and tops. They go with green you see. And I hardly ever wear black trousers.

Biggest fear:

Spiders, for sure. I am terrified of them. It is one reason that puts me off Australia.

Best Feature;

I think I am a very cheerful person. I try to greet everyone with a cheery smile and greeting, and I am mainly optimistic I think.

What is perfection?

Can I say gum? Just because I was watching Friends the other day 😉

Hmm, really, I am not sure if anything is perfection unless you are happy with yourself, because then whatever you are is perfect to yourself. Does that make sense? And if it doesn’t, then I choose gum again. (But I don’t even chew gum).

Guilty pleasure:

Easy! Reality TV! Top Chef, The Amazing Race, The Biggest Loser, even Jersey Shore (yeah, sorry). I just love it! And singing songs to High school musical, Hairspray, Disney songs etc! Love it!

That was fun!

Now I need to choose some peeps to answer the same questions. This is hard as I have seen a lot of people answer this over the last few days. I had better be quick!

Laura @ Box, Run, Eat

Ffion @ Chocolate and Raspberries

Meri @ Meri Goes Round

Lucy @ Porridge and Parsnips

And sorry if you already did it 🙂

And everyone else- How decisive are you?

And my job for the next week is to update my recipes page, as a few people have asked me for different recipes and I am having to use the search button to find them.  🙂  Night

The good and the bad

First of all the good.

I have been loving bircher muesli for breakfast lately.

This one is nectarine, 25g oats, 100g soya yoghurt and 100ml soya milk and a lot of cinnamon, all left to mingle overnight. Yum.

And the same but with 80g frozen cherries instead of the nectarine, and sprinkled with coconut in the morning.

I had my sweet potato and kidney bean burgers again and they were yummy (with some rocket and some quinoa cooked with tomatoes, beetroot, spinach and courgette).

I found out that Ocado now stock Rude Health Multigrain thins 🙂

I got up super early on Friday to fit in a little run, and it was great. I only did 2 miles but I did that in 20 minutes and I was feeling like I am getting faster again.

I went to the Waffle house on friday! That is always good!

I opened my Starbucks chai and had a cup. Yum.

When I was tidying out my cupboards I found a whole box of Teapigs rooibos creme caramel! I thought I had finished the last teabag ages ago, so it was a lovely surprise! 🙂

I had my hair cut again (and in fact nearly forgot- I noticed it on the calendar when I went to add the shopping delivery time!). I feel I leave the hairdresser with a normal amount of hair!

And I made something fun in the microwave. Guesses? Answer at the end!

And now onto the bad.

I missed body pump on Thursday due to a late meeting at work (I got home at 8 whereas it starts at 7.15).

I had a rubbish run today. I think I am in fact under the weather. My tum felt a little weird before I left, so I waited around a little longer. My whole run was such hard work, I stopped a few times to re-tie my hair and I really appreciated the walking. I was not that much slower than before- it was a while since I had run that route, but it just felt so bad. And all day I have had a sort of tummy ache, so not sure if I ate something bad yesterday, but I think on reflection I should have not gone out this morning as it made me feel worse.

I am almost out of Rude Health Multigrain thins (but no need to worry- see the good points above!).

At least I have more good than bad.

Oh, and I made play-dough in my microwave- did you guess it?

(Add on)-

After dinner on Saturday I felt really bad, and when Andy got back from football (at about 12) we ended up turning the house up-side down looking for the immodium he bought to take to Stockholm, but never used, but to no avail. He did go out Sunday morning to get me some, and so I spent Sunday laying about, drinking water and nibbling on dry toast. But anyway I feel better now. No idea what that was.

WIAW- back to school edition!

Hey peeps, how fast Wednesday has come around! Thanks to Jenn for hosting the party!

So this is my what I ate, for Monday (my first day back at work).

Breakfast was delicious – an alpro peach yoghurt (I decided to try these again as the last time I had them was a fair few years ago and I wasn’t keen, this time I love them!), with a pear, nectarine and some rude health muesli. Very summery 🙂

Snacks all ready! Cocoa mint nakd bar for morning break, and a clif z bar for before my run. I LOVE these kids clif bars, so chewy and yummy!

Lunch was delish- a salad with chopped apple, beetroot, peppers, spinach and sabra hummus, plus a sandwich thin with hummus and spinach.

For my post run Dinner I made some seedy bread- I added some food doctor seeds to my normal bread recipe.

And served it with veggie and cannelini bean bake, plus nutritional yeast flakes (still off the cheese). Don’t you just love the platter all over the plate haha!

Plus some cherries for dessert.

Later in the evening I had a little snack with some mint tea.

Dark chocolate alpro with some plain alpro mixed in (mainly because I wanted to see if I liked the plain stuff- I do), Lizi’s original granola and a spoonful of white chocolate wonderful. The pb granola combo was pretty amaze!

So back to school (work!) was pretty good, and made better by yummy food. Do you like to pack yourself something to look forward to? I was looking forward to my Clif kids bar all day!

Bye!

On a side note, the lovely Rachel from Rachel’s delicious journey is doing a sponsored walk and is raising money for a fantastic charity. She has also gathered together some amazing goodies for a giveaway, which you get entered into if you sponsor her. So check out her post all about it here, and let’s help her raise some money. 🙂

Getting back to routine

Hello

I love my routine, I am someone who really likes to know what they are doing and I like the way I do similar things on the same day each week. After 6 weeks of no real routine (due to holidays etc) it has been great getting back into it.

On Monday after work I was really looking forward to my run, and did my 4 mile route and picked up the speed towards the end (9 something per mile 🙂 ). It was the first run where my legs felt normal (before that they had been feeling tight and not really flowing properly) and I am hoping that soon I can re-start with the audiofuel, which I was really enjoying before my routine stopped.

(By the way, we never made it to the allotment on Sunday, as it was such heavy rain, and I found out that I got sunburnt on the saturday-boo. Honestly I am so obsessive about suncream when I am on holiday, but I didn’t realise that my dress had a lower back, so I have a nice red circle on my back).

Today I am really looking forward to aerobics, as I have missed (I think) 5 weeks. Shocking! I know it is going to be hard work though, but I like the fact that I do the same class each week.

When I got home today I was most excited to have a parcel waiting for me;

The lovely Elise at Kallo foods has sent me a parcel of goodies to review for my blog. Smooth and crunchy organic peanut butter, smooth and crunchy peanut butter, dark chocolate spread (how good does that sound?), chocolate and caramel swirl spread, and organic cola and elderflower. So much peanut butter!

I also had a bit of a shock the other day. I was having a couple of squares of ghirardelli chocolate after dinner, and just by chance glanced at the ingredients (they are on the tiny wrappers) and noticed gelatin. Now as soon as I turned vegetarian (I think I was about 15) I stopped gelatin too. I felt horrible having eaten it, but it was too late to spit it out as I had already eaten it. Anyway, I went through the bag (it was a mixed bag) and found that 2 flavours contain gelatin.

Mint (which are just like after eights, I never would have expected it to be in there) and raspberry ones. So I have taken them out now- no danger of unexpectedly eating them.

Onto the weather (we love to talk about the weather here) how windy is it???? This morning when I was trying to get my car out of the garage the wind kept blowing the garage door shut. It was crazy! I am glad I am not out running and instead am working out in a wind free studio!

Finally (and only because I took a photo) I have been getting a little hummus obsessed! I got some more from Ocado (it was listed as another brand, but in the pic it also said Sabra on it, and it is smooth and delicious and garlic free)- so my lunch has been a sandwich thin with hummus and spinach, plus a salad of chopped apple (on the bottom so I have the sweet apple at the end), spinach, beetroot, roasted peppers and hummus. Yum 🙂

So, do you like routine or do you love to change things all the time?