Vegan Marshmallows

Today I've spent a good chunk of time in the kitchen making a mess some vegan marshmallows to contribute to Katie's vegan bakesale for Japan! So if you'd like the chance to taste these soft, creamy, delicious clouds of whipped sugar make sure you keep an eye on Katie's blog on Tuesday 5th April and bid on some of the vegan goodies she'll have for sale. It's all for a good cause!

Orange and blueberry smoothie

I've been on a massive smoothie kick lately. They're a great way to get extra fruits and veggies into you, and they can actually be suprisingly satisfying! I've been making a big effort to eat more vegetables over this winter, and it's paid off to the extent that I've only had one cough/cold this year! Last year, I was ill pretty much all of the winter! In fact, I'm just getting over said cold right now and I think it's because the week before last I didn't get a chance to go to the market and didn't eat hardly any fresh fruit and vegetables. Coincidence? I think not! Here's what I was drinking this morning:



Orange and Blueberry Smoothie

2 medium oranges

Half punnet blueberries

Half cup apple juice

Half cup water

Throw everything into the blender, and off you go! Looks weird, but tastes delicious! The smoothie I made was based off this one by Kristen Suzanne.

What's your favourite smoothie recipe?

Something to read:

While googling what are the most nutritious greens to add to my smoothies, I found this list of the top 10 most nutritious greens, and was suprised that dandelion is the most nutritious! I have loads of this growing in my garden as a weed, but at least now I know what to do with it - rip it up and throw it into my smoothies!

Have your cake and eat it!

Hello! How was your weekend?

Mine was kind of low key, but fun nontheless! Spent most of it hanging out with Adam and Izzy! It's nice to be able to get some time with Adam, he's been working crazy hours lately as has recently started a new business!

On Sunday, my parents invited us round for dinner. It was delicious! I didn't snap any photos but we started with a turnip soup my sister had made which was SO NICE! I'm going to attempt to make it at home myself sometime soon. We had a roast dinner made by my Mum (also delicious! Is it just me or does anyone else think you just can't beat your Mum's cooking?!) and then for dessert I brought these:



They were so good! I love to make desserts but myself, my parents and my sisters are all on health kicks. I was going to bake a cake at first, but I know how hard it is to control your portion size when presented with a gorgeous looking dessert. Then I remembered my Auntie had given me a square cupcake pan for Christmas, so I decided to make individual cakes. I just used a regular sponge mix, sliced them in half, added some sliced strawberries and a little whipped cream, then dusted them with icing sugar. They were really nice, and it was so easy to just have one! (Well, my Dad had two, and Adam had about four!) We all felt like we'd had a treat, without derailing our diets.



I hope you all had good weekends too - what's on your agenda for the upcoming week?

Hi! Happy Weekend!

My weekend has been pretty good so far! Last night, Adam and I went to the supermarket to get half of our weekly shopping. We do half of our shopping on a Friday night (oh yeah, we're wild!!) at the supermarket, and the rest at the local market on a Saturday morning. I got some more amazing deals on fish from the shop yesterday, which led to me to last nights dinner:



Hot and spicy smoked mackerel with salad (I went back for another massive helping of salad!) and a few pieces of an organic baguette. We weren't sure what we wanted for dinner last night but I saw the fish and bread which were really cheap, and knew I had some salad which ideally wanted using before today. It was delicious! I enjoyed it with this:



Which was also delicious! I don't drink very much, and haven't had any wine since probably Christmas so I really enjoyed this glass last night. That's Adam's pear cider in the background, and we also munched on the grapes while we got everything ready.

This morning we were up bright and early and headed into the market, and came back overloaded with two huge bags of fresh fruit and veggies! Didn't manage to get a picture today before I started throwing things into the fridge, my mouth and the blender! I'd run out of fruit yesterday, and really missed my daily smoothie! So I whipped up this:



It had 2 kiwis, some chunks of frozen pineapple, about one cup of apple juice and a small bunch of watercress. It was gorgeous! I finished putting the shopping away while Adam headed off to work, and did a bit of tidying up. Then I had a repeat of last nights dinner for lunch! As we still had some of the mackerel left over. It was still nice the second time around but it was nicer with a glass of wine

What do you have planned for the weekend? I'm going swimming now and have Zumba and a long walk with Adam and Izzy tomorrow! Apart from that I'm taking it easy

Asian inspired pasta

I love picking up reduced items when I go shopping! There's nothing better than feeling like you've got a bargain! When I went shopping last weekend, I picked up a piece of salmon for 60% off! I ate it in this Asian inspired pasta dish:



Asian inspired pasta for one!

Salmon

Three brocolli florets

Four mushrooms

Garlic clove

Half chopped chilli (optional)

Spaghetti

Handful of spinach

Soy sauce

Chop chilli and garlic, add to a bowl with about half a cup of soy sauce and stir to combine. Cut the salmon into bite size pieces and add to the bowl, stirring well and leave to marinate in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. Chop the vegetables. Cook the spaghetti according to the instructions on the packet, while they are cooking spray a pan with cooking spray, add the salmon (reserve the marinade), brocolli and mushrooms. About halfway through cooking, add the reserved marinade into the pan. Drain and rinse the spaghetti, and mix everything together. I don't cook the spinach, I just stir it into the hot pasta so it doesn't wilt too much but feel free to add it earlier if you prefer!

My first green smoothie!

I haven't posted for a while, and I've been really missing it! Things have just been a bit hectic around here lately, but hopefully now I can get back to a semi-regular posting schedule!

This weekend I visited my local market to pick up some fruit and veggies. We used to buy them from the supermarket, but they are much better value for money from the market, not to mention tastier! They also aren't packaged as much as they are at supermarkets either so less waste! Here's what I got:


Cauliflower, carrots, broccolli, sweet potatoes, spinach, iceberg lettuce, mangoes, tomatoes, mushrooms, apples, cucumbers, pineapple, blueberries, chillis, grapes, strawberries, red pepper, limes, bananas and butternut squash. I felt a bit bad about getting the more exotic fruit as I prefer to eat at least somewhat seasonally and locally but I really feel like I needed them! I've already frozen most of the fruit to use in smoothies over the next few weeks. Smoothies a bit like this one:


This smoothie was so delicious, and it had:

• One kiwi
• Pineapple
• Half a lime
• Big handful of spinach
• Apple juice
• Four grapes

This was my first time trying spinach in a smoothie and to be honest I couldn't tell it was there! This was really delicious, definitely going to be making it regularly!