Hi guys, errrrm how is it 21st November? I’ve been married now almost two months. That is mind-blowing!
I’ve really being feeling Christmassy. I love Christmas – it’s my favourite time of year. I love how everyone has that Christmas feeling; that expectation and excitement. I love the music and the decorations. And, obviously, I love the food.
What I hate about Christmas is this sudden fear of the dreaded holiday weight-gain. All these articles start appearing about “How to avoid the Christmas bulge” and “What foods to avoid at a Christmas buffet” etc. It sort of takes the fun out of it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to throw myself into a giant-sized box of Celebration chocolates with abandon. But I’m not going to sit here and deny myself the treats that I so look forward to. Mince pies? Yes please. A slice of stollen? Ohhh yes. I just wish the media could tone things down a bit and stop making people feel so damn guilty about eating the food of the season. Come on people, let’s relax a little shall we?
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m working at the customer site at the moment. It’s quite a good team we have; there’s only seven of us and it’s nice and relaxed. The work is tough as the system that’s being developed is fairly complicated but we’ve got a good atmosphere. However. Outside our little bubble the normal business-as-usual life of the customer is working around us. And I don’t think they like us. They practically growl at us when we laugh. Raise their eyebrows when we have moderately loud conversations. And the worst part? They have the radio on. And it’s the same station. All. Day. Long. If I hear Skyfall ONE MORE TIME I might cry. Whew, sorry about that. Got that outta my system.
Right, so it’s What I Ate Wednesday – though this is Sunday’s eats. Let’s get started, shall we? Thanks to Jenn as usual!
Breakfast: I’ve been experimenting with breakfast. OK, still my usual porridge/oatmeal. But I’ve jazzed it up with my new favourite ingredient: coconut flour.
OK, it doesn’t look any different. But let me assure you, this has a heaped tbsp. of coconut flour added to it. It adds a lovely subtle coconut taste and makes it very thick and stodgy. Perfect porridge consistency in my books. And it’s added a lovely smooth texture to it now. So with this at 7am I’m good to go until midday (with coffee as well, obviously).
Lunch: during the week I either have a mixed bean chilli or a salad, but at the weekend I can be a bit more exciting. Usually in the form of something eggy. As enticing as that sounds…
I whipped up three eggs, some chopped cherry tomatoes, chopped onions and half a cup of pumpkin puree. The pumpkin was a great add. Really thickened it up. And made the eggs a lovely, er, colour And I’m obsessed with Brussels’s sprouts at the moment. Might need to tone that down before I overdo it before Christmas – and what’s Christmas without sprouts??
Dinner: I decided to try a Thai-style coconut curry. Unfortunately I didn’t have any coconut milk but I thought with my new favourite ingredient I could attempt it anyway. I didn’t really follow any recipe. I just threw things together.
Coconut Chicken Curry(serves 2)
Blob of coconut oil
Clove garlic, diced
Inch of fresh garlic, grated
2 chicken breasts, diced
2-3 mushrooms
1 cup of frozen mixed veg
1 white onion, diced
1 cup Greek yogurt
2 tbsp. coconut flour
1 tbsp. unsweetened shredded coconut
1 tsp. chilli powder
1.5 tsp. dried coriander
– Heat a pan with the oil, then add the onion and fry until the onion is golden. Add the mushrooms and fry for 1 minute before adding the garlic.
– Add chicken and brown.
– Add the yogurt and mixed veg. Cook for 3-4 mins.
– Add the coconut, herbs and spices.
– Once the chicken is cooked and the sauce has thickened up serve.
It was really tasty. The coconut flour helps to thicken it up and the yogurt makes it very creamy. Perfect. You can add other spices to make it more interesting if you fancy – I was just using what I had to hand.
Snacks: yeah…I might have had some Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Brownie Frozen Yogurt. My favourite flavour and it was brilliant to have alongside watching Erin Brockovich. Anyone else love Julia Roberts? Brilliant film!
Fitness: I ran on Monday and though it went really well in terms of speed it really didn’t agree with me.
I finished the run feeling like I was going to be sick. It really wasn’t fun. I wasn’t sick, thankfully. I think it was a mix of pushing myself a bit too hard and I’m thinking the ice cream the night before didn’t help things.
I plan on running this lunch time with Mr Ego so we’ll see how that goes. He’s toned down a bit now which is nice. We motivate each other but I’m still finding the runs a bit too easy as his pace is slower. But you know, I’m not too bothered as it’s just good to get out. I like to have the company and it’s so refreshing to get out of the office. Though we tend to chat about work while we run which isn’t so good!
Important question: too soon?
Oh, also – check out Ffion’s blog (Chocolate and Respberries) for a great Christmas-themed giveaway! Delicious Hotel Chocolat Advent Calendar 🙂 Hotel Chocolat do amazing chocolates…toss up between them and Lindt for my favourite.
Well, it was meant to be my day off today but work got too critical and I had to come in. If I’m honest I’m not too annoyed as work is really interesting at the moment (how sad do I sound??). But it’s Friday so weekend soon!
This week in the UK the Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2 premier happened in London and it was Twihard mania. I mean seriously, over 5,000 people waited for over 32 hours in Leicester Square to see the cast. Unbelievable. My dad was in Leicester Square the day before and girls were camped out ready.
Jeeze. I work with an older guy (let’s call him Fred) who really isn’t in touch with current happenings in terms of new music, films, trivial celebrity happenings etc. Fred’s super smart and has an immense knowledge in history and things like that, but ask him about a TV programme or a film and he knows nothing – we’re talking, no knowledge of the X-Factor or Harry Potter.
So, it was around this time last year when the premier for Part 1 was going on when Fred was at our current customer’s London site (Leicester Square) and (I won’t say who I customer is) but they often interview famous people. Anyway, Fred only got into an elevator with Robert Pattinson and Kirsten Stewart. He had absolutely no idea who they were and clearly was nonplussed with sharing such a small space with them. And (this is an absolutely true story) R-Patz turned to him and said “You have no idea who she is, do you?” and Fred replied “No, sorry I don’t work here”. He was dutifully informed of who they were when he got out of the elevator though by another one of my co-workers who was gobsmacked by who he was stood next to.
How funny is that? I love that Fred literally had no idea who they were. I mean it must have been a reality shock for them that someone in the whole universe didn’t know them. Don’t get me wrong, I love Twilight and R-Patz is a hottie but I like it when celebs get their egos shaken a bit.
Now, this might surprise you but I love my salads. I know, I know, this is crazy talk. OK, well no it really isn’t. But I thought I’d do a post focused on my beloved salads as I have them so often, but mix it up with different variations.
I always start with a simple base of some standard veggies:
Lettuce, chopped cucumber, sliced tomatoes, chopped mushrooms and diced beets. Simple, cheap, easy flavours that go well together and are cheap.
Then I always have some protein. This is usually in the form of a cheese (goat’s cheese, mozzarella, halloumi or feta).
If I’m feeling really hungry or the cheese isn’t that calorie dense, I’ll add either chicken, egg, hummus or chickpeas to make more of a proper meal.
And I’ll always have some kind of fruit chopped up in there as well for sweetness, like plumb, peach, mango, figs, pomegranate, or peer.
Sometimes I’ll drizzle balsamic vinegar onto the salad, sometimes I’ll sprinkle nutritional yeast, or some toasted pumpkin seeds.
This might sound like a boring meal but I honestly love it and I never get bored because I can switch up the ingredients to whatever I fancy. Like randomly adding roasted pumpkin!
It’s great for using up food. My salads are usually fairly massive and they fill me up nicely without making me feel uncomfortable, which is great for the evening when I get in at around 7ish after work and don’t actually eat until 8. I tend to go lighter on the carbs at dinner just because I don’t think I need it. I need my carbs in the morning to get myself going.
I’m always on the look out for new flavour combos, so I’m open to new suggestions
Hi guys, hope you’re week is going well. It’s official. It’s cold. The heating has been put on at home. It had to be done. We held out as long as we could.
Aren’t the weeks are flying by?! I have less than four weeks left working on the customer site so can then go back to a more reasonable commute. It’s not too bad as I drive in with my dad (yes I work with him, yes he sometimes drives me mad) and we listen to podcasts (love the movie review ones). Any recommendations for podcasts are welcome I want to find a good health and fitness one but haven’t found anything I like yet.
So it’s WIAW as per usual. Thank you Jenn – check out her blog to catch all the other blogs involved and of course her own blog which always has some great recipes on.
This is what I ate Sunday.
Breakfast: I didn’t have pancakes (*sob*)…as I couldn’t be bothered and fancied porridge – but slightly different (I stress the word slightly here as I struggle with change…baby steps!) I had my usual oats cooked with almond milk but I added a heaped tbsp. of unsweetened coconut.
It adds a lovely coconut taste to it. I sprinkled some more coconut on it after it was done. It was a great change (OK fair enough, not massive but, like I said, small steps).
Yum. I’m really not keen on sweet porridge (sacre bleu I know) so it’s hard to find ways to jazz up porridge in a savoury-ish way, if that makes sense.
We didn’t do much on Sunday to be honest. Just the usual cleaning of the bathrooms, ironing and hoovering. We watched some Grey’s Anatomy as well. If you’ve never seen it then I can’t stress enough how much I love this programme. We watched the last two episodes of Season 6 and it was AMAZING. Literally Ben and I just sat there gripped. Even Alfie was gripped. OK that’s a lie, Alfie was asleep. But I’m sure he would have been gripped if he’s been paying attention.
Lunch: a fairly standard meal. A three egg omelette with half a tin of tuna and some fried veggies, with Brussels Sprouts of course.
One of my favourite easy meals. Not as good as Saturday’s omelette obviously, but I can’t eat that all the time…somehow I don’t think it’s that good for me!
Dinner: I was at a bit of a loose end for exciting recipes this week but I decided to try making my own Caprese chicken. It’s a very simple meal but I’ve written the recipe below anyway.
Caprese Chicken (serves 2)
1 tbsp. oil
2 chicken breast fillets
4 large tomatoes, sliced
1 large ball of mozzarella, sliced
Bunch of fresh basil leaves
Lemon juice
Season the chicken and then heat the oil in a frying pan and add the chicken. After golden on both sides and cooked through, put on a plate. Then just pile the tomato slices, mozzarella and basil leaves on top. Season and squeeze the lemon over.
It’s a very easy recipe (as you can see) but it was delicious. I loved the simple and fresh flavours.
Alongside this I made my cauliflower mash potato with some cheese thrown in and had some roasted root vegetables. I really enjoyed this.
Snack: obviously my usual million apples, a banana and some Snack a Jacks. And I’ve been enjoying some Greek yogurt for a change.
Total Greek Yogurt is my favourite brand for Greek yogurt. I love this side pot of honey! Scrummy.
I also dabbled in a bit of baking on Sunday. I decided to try THIS recipe. Don’t get me wrong, I love big fat unhealthy cookies, but I saw this healthified recipe, had the ingredients to hand and thought might as well give it a try.
I just decided to make four larger cookies, rather than 16 tiny bites. They’re quite crumbly and fall apart fairly easily, but they’re not bad! Ben enjoyed them – and that, people, is the deciding vote.
Fitness: just my usual really. I ran Tuesday morning as I was meant to run Monday at work but it was tipping it down. I avoid washing my hair at work as it takes forever to a) wash b) comb, and c) dry. I tend to just tidy it up a bit and carry on. However, rain is a game changer. Rain = Anna looks like a drowned witch at work. So I thought it best to avoid, for everyone’s benefit really. I did enjoy the morning run though.
And managed a good time so I was chuffed. Usually it’s easier to get a good time during the day rather than the morning so I was pleased. I just need to get myself back into longer distances soon…my half-marathon training will start late December and I just know it’s going to be a shock to the system.
My strength training is still going well. I feel that it’s getting easier so it should be soon time to change things up again…The worst routine is the lower body workout though. I hate lunges. I like strength training because it really does shape my body nicely, whereas running has never really done that to a great extent. But it’s deadly dull, isn’t it? At least with running you can look around or zone out. Using weights is just so damn repetitive and boring. Just my personal observation!
I also can’t wait for the Pilates class to begin – two weeks time!
And here’s what I’m wearing today:
I really like this top, I got it in American Eagle when I was in America. I LOVE that shop. I bought a ridiculous amount of clothes from there. And blazer is from New Look, and jeans from Top Shop.
Not much else to report really. I’m feeling a bit boring lately, sorry!
How’s Wednesday treating you?
Oatmeal/porridge – does it always have to be sweet for you?
Brrrrr it is cold! Though it’s actually quite nice in a weird way. To be snuggled up inside nice and warm and for it to be chilly outside. Though getting out of bed in the morning is not fun – nor is taking Alfie out for a walk first thing. Winter coat: check, Uggs: check, gloves: check. Result = a happy Alfie but a cold Anna.
And Christmas seems to have suddenly appeared out of nowhere. One minute we’re all vigorously carving our pumpkins and admiring the autumnal colours of the trees when suddenly, boom! hello tinsel, hello Christmas adverts on the telly! Now don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas so as far as I’m concerned this is brilliant. HOWEVER, I have now been thrown into a state of stress. When am I going to bake our Christmas cake? When will I have time to go shopping? What do my friends and family even want??
And breathe. Anna, it’s the beginning of November. But I am getting excited. I love Christmas. I love the food (who doesn’t?), I love how everyone is just more merry than normal, I love the Christmas decorations, the time with the family…the never ending boxes of Celebration chocolates (I don’t love that Supermarkets seem to think that they’ve put them on offer at the moment…erm, weren’t they always that expensive??) It’s without doubt my favourite time of year. So the sooner the better!
As usual as it’s Wednesday it’s WIAW. A big thanks to Jenn for hosting this as usual. I’ll show you a selection of different meals from the week as my best eats were spread rather than an individual day if that’s alright!
Breakfast: OK, OK you’ve seen pancakes a fair few times now if you’ve been reading my blog for some time…before you fall asleep, I did try a new topping to jazz things up a bit (and use some of the mass of fruit I have sitting in our freezer…)
As it was too difficult for me to work out how to defrost my pumpkin purée from the freezer (yep I’m that person) I decided just to stick with the standard recipe I use (find it HERE). The topping I decided to just have fun with.
I thawed some frozen blackberries, then sprinkled them with quite a generous amount of cinnamon and a few drops of Stevia. Then I zapped it in the microwave for maybe a minute. Basically so the fruit turns a bit mushy and is warm. Then I poured it over the pancakes. Bliss!
Lunch: During the week I always take food with me to save on costs. I used to have chilli using Quorn mince but I’ve gone off that mince a bit now and much prefer using mixed beans.
[Apologies for seriously bad photo]
I used a yellow bell pepper, onion, courgette, mushrooms, chopped tomatoes and mixed beans (like butterbeans, kidney beans, chickpeas, etc.). I also added chilli powder, paprika, cumin, a little bit of sugar and some mixed herbs. To spruce it up I added a large tablespoon of Philadelphia cheese. This made it so creamy and delicious – definitely adding this again! Along with this for lunch I have two Baby Bells and an apple. Maybe not the prettiest lunch, but it works for me!
I’ve set myself a little target for November to make a new recipe every week as I was finding myself in a bit of a food rut. You know what’s it like…getting in from work, being tired, you don’t want to whizz up some all singing and dancing dinner. But I’m pushing myself to try – at least on Friday and Saturday nights! So far this is going really well. I made coq au vin the other day and that was deeeelicious. But I also made another meal this week as well. And I probably say this about everything I cook I cook but it was such a good meal! Filling and sneakily nutritious.
I used THIS recipe. Basically it’s chicken coated in a ground almond coating and then baked in the oven. Crunchy and spicy!
And alongside that I cooked some cauliflower and then mashed it with some mozzarella cheese (well I blended it with a hand-blender).
I LOVED this. Seriously easy and a good alternative to mash potato if you fancy a lighter dinner. With all the ground almonds and chicken, this was a very filling dinner.
Snacks: I sponsored Maria for her Great North Run a while back and she very kindly sent me some baked goods (Swedish Apple Muffins) as a thank you. How sweet is that?? (Due to me going on my honeymoon she sent them to me now – I’m very chuffed):
PICTURE
[Please don’t judge the photo too harshly, they have travelled via post to get to me!]
So I have been happily tucking into these this week. They are so moist and yummy. Perfect evening snack. I thoroughly recommend Maria’s blog, she always has such yummy recipes and ideas!
Oooh and I’ve also been indulging in a few squares of these in the evening:
I can’t always be snacking on apples after all I guess!
Fitness: I’m still following my strength routines three times a week. It’s not quite as difficult as it was originally so I feel I’m making some progress. I’ve got my plank back to 3 minutes. Does anyone else get bored doing the plank? I mean, it’s tough and painful but so boring. I just end up staring at my stopwatch…
I’m thinking of getting a resistance band – has anyone tried this? Is it worth it?
Running is going well. The only problem I have at the moment is that now I’m running at work it means that if I have a busy day I can’t always run. I’m quite a structure, routine person (have you noticed??) so I find this really frustrating. I hate pushing workouts to a different day. But it’s one of those things I guess.
Outfit of the day:
[Can you spot Alfie hiding in the background?]
I can’t actually remember where I got this dress from, whoops. But the cardi is from New Look!
Have a great Wednesday!
Do you hate it when you have to postpone a workout?
Hello! Refreshed from the weekend and ready to go? Yep me neither. I’m manically busy at work and wanted to do a post on Monday but time just disappeared…
This weekend was good fun. I went to Pilates on Saturday morning again. It was once again brilliant. It’s tough but in a completely different way, you know? I tried out the Hundred move this week so I was chuffed as that’s the only Pilates move I’d heard of! And it was tough. I think I struggle mostly with the technical aspects of inhaling/exhaling at the appropriate moments and making sure my spine is where it should be while tensing my stomach…It hurts my muscles and my head!
I decided to run there as it’s only 1.5 miles away. Well, it’s only 1.5 miles if you don’t get lost that is. I thought I was being all cunning by taking a short-cut. I was so sure of where I would end up after going down this long, long road. Only to find I’d added another mile on to my journey! It meant my lovely leisurely paced run turned into a fast dash as I was in danger of being late. Whoops.
On Saturday evening we went round our friend’s house for a murder mystery evening. It was brilliant. Everyone got into their character that they’d been set and we just had such a good laugh. It was a 1920s theme which was brilliant.
All the girls in their flapper dresses and all the guys in there suspenders and hats.
I wasn’t the murderer but I guessed correctly
Then on Sunday Ben and I went skiing at our local dry sky-slope with some friends.
I was nervous as I haven’t been for a year and I’m still very much a beginner. I can snow plough and that’s pretty much it. But we’re kicking it off again as we’re planning on going skiing next year so I need to be able to not fall over all the time (I’ve never actually been properly skiing before!)
It was great fun as I’m beginning to learn parallel turns. OK not very well but I’m getting there! And I didn’t fall over which, considering I’m the most clumsy person known to man, is a great accomplishment.
So it’s the last WIAW for October. Thank you Jenn for hosting (check out her blog for more information). This is my what I ate Sunday as it’s probably my most exciting eats.
Breakfast: Sundays are pancakes day. It just seems like such a perfect day to spend that extra effort into creating something that is quite magical.
Pumpkin pancakes! I know, I know, how original. Almost getting as boring as my green porridge… But I made my own pumpkin puree from a mammoth of a pumpkin so I’m really chuffed with these (on a slightly related note – I now have so much pumpkin I’m set for the next few years! Ben thinks I’m more crazy).
It was amazing. I used 3 tbs rolled oats, 1 heaped tbs of wholemeal flour, 1/2 cup of egg whites, 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp pumpkin spice, few drops of Stevia. I got three chunky pancakes out of that. Then some peanut butter thrown on top.
Lunch: after skiing we were famished and wanted to grab something quick. So I made a three egg omelette with more peanut butter inside. And some avocado alongside.
OK it does look like the omelette and avocado aren’t speaking at the moment. Maybe a smaller plate would have been better… Regardless though I love this. Why haven’t I ever had this combination before? The avocado addition I could take or leave to be honest but the omelette itself was so good. And very filling. A nice change from my usual tuna omelette.
Dinner: as you know, I love my salads. They rock my world. And this was a new combination.
My usual salad of leaves, cucumber, beets but with some fabulous added extras. I added some roasted pumpkin (like I said, I have so much pumpkin at the moment it’s laughable). I also finely chopped some red onion, sliced cherry tomatoes and pomegranate seeds and mixed them with diced garlic and lemon juice. Then I topped it all with a chunk of grilled halloumi. I’m new to this cheese and though it’s verrrry rubbery it really is very tasty. The sweet (pomegranate, tomatoes) and salty (cheese) of this salad were perfect.
Oh and I sprinkled some pumpkin seeds on top too. Mega variety salad. Definitely going to happen again some time!
Snacks: Completely out of the ordinary, I did some baking on Monday night. Usually anything I bake turns out rubbish or looks nothing like the recipe picture. In some shape or form I do something wrong. I’m better at throwing things together randomly rather than accurately following a recipe…HOWEVER! These cookies turned out exactly like the photo.
Pumpkin cookies! [OK yes I might have a bit of an obsession. It’ll pass one I’ve gotten through my twenty container-fulls of pumpkin puree.] I’ll post the recipe soon! The cookies are for any trick or treaters who come knocking tonight. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. Fingers crossed no one will knock…
Fitness: Obviously Pilates on Saturday. And I’ve been sticking to my new strength routine which has been really good but quite tough. I did the upper body routine on Thursday and the lower body on Friday and basically woke up feeling verrry achy on Saturday morning. Perfect for Pilates…whoops. And I’ve been running three times a week as usual. I’m enjoying running at lunchtimes far more than dragging myself out of bed in the morning. Though it’s harder to motivate myself when my lunch is sat there waiting for me…but no quitting yet! And it feels great coming back into the office after a run. I don’t feel the afternoon dip.
And here’s my outfit of the day:
Scarf from mum, jeans from Top Shop, top from Dorothy Perkins, necklace from Mango.
That’s all from me! Hope you’re having a great Wednesday.
How are you celebrating Halloween? Any scary treats to enjoy?
And I’m obsessed with Brussels’s sprouts at the moment. Might need to tone that down before I overdo it before Christmas – and what’s Christmas without sprouts??
I want to find a good health and fitness one but haven’t found anything I like yet.
