Cupcakes and Almond Milk

Last night involved -



Trout with roasted veg, quinoa and spinach (my first time trying quinoa - I really liked it, but it was a bit hard to taste with all the other flavours in the bowl!)



Green juice made with cucumber, spinach, apple, celery, lemon and ginger



a DVD (if you can see the spongebob squarepants DVD peeking out underneath, it's my flatmates I promise!)



and a 'yoga for newbies' vid on yogaisyummy.net


Today started with coffee and a yummy bowl of Doves Organic cereal, with flax, cinnamon, honey berries and homemade almond milk.



Almond milk is seriously easy and cheap to make!

To make about 1 cups worth -

- soak a small handful of almonds in water for a few hours first (I usually leave them overnight), to make them more digestible and easier to blend.



- then blend with 1 cup of water



- strain through a sieve (or nut milk bag if you have one!)



- and that's it! - you're left with a yummy healthy milk



and left over pulp makes a great natural exfoliator



(Oh and p.s. yep I do only have one half of my nails painted - I never seem to have time to do them all at once!)


The rest of the day so far has included walk along the beach to the marina (with a bag of grapes),




- past the nudist beach (just part of the main beach, behind a not that discreet pebble hill!) -



drinking a green smoothie made with frozen banana, spinach, flax and hemp,



and baking honey and banana cupcakes :)

Brighton Marathon

So I had planned to spend a couple of hours sitting reading on the beach, but when I got to the seafront at the end of my road I saw the runners going past and remembered it was the Brighton marathon today.



There was such a nice atmosphere, with loads of people standing at the sides and cheering people on, calling out 'go on _ (name on bib!) to people they didn't know. The volunteers near me were shouting out 'only two more miles!', so I decided to walk on to the finish line.



- some parts of the race seemed pretty casual, with nothing to separate the runners and spectators





Not long to go!



a great quote on the wall -



The finish line!



I was so glad I got to watch part of it, it was so inspiring and motivating to see all the runners - especially people of all different sizes, ages etc. Everyone watching seemed to be having a great time, it was the first ever Brighton marathon, so I think people were really excited about it.


I walked back along the busy beach



Grabbed a handful of grapes as soon as I got in



Then made a big batch of roasted veggies - red onion, yellow and green peppers, cherry tomatoes, brussel sprouts, courgette and sweet potato - with olive oil and lots of herbs



While the veggies were roasting I snacked on a bowl of yogurt, berries, cinnamon, nutmeg, date syrup, flax, hemp, cacao nibs and a crumbled cereal biscuit



Then had a very late lunch of spinach and roasted veggies and a big blob of hummus, simple but very tasty!

Sunday

Last night was spent catching up with my flatmate, who'd been staying with family over the easter school holidays (she's a student teacher.) We've lived together since August (and been friends since we were 13), but actually don't get to see each other that much as we're usually both so busy - so it was really nice to just spend the evening together chatting and laughing.

Food was trout with brown rice, leeks and cherry tomatoes - with olive oil and herbes de provence, spinach and steamed broc



+ a organic whole milk - I don't usually drink much moo milk, but I had a massive craving for it, so thought I'd just go with it!



This morning I slept in til 10:00 (very late for me), which I think was just another sign from my body telling me to take it easy at the moment - I've got a bit run down lately after being stressed about a lot of things, so right now I'm just really trying to relax a bit.

Breakfast was organic weetabix type cereal



with blackberries, homemade almond and hemp milk,



flax, cinnamon, nutmeg and agave



+ coffee and o.j.



Now hopefully another relaxing day ahead - I think the beach is calling to me again!

Beach walking

Gorgeous - perfect blue sky - sunny days don't happen every day in England, so when they do you have to make the most of it!



Morning was spent walking across the seafront into Brighton past the piers, the bustling beachside cafes, the colourful stalls and little arty shops



Then home for lunch - asparagus dipped in a runny egg, eaten sitting in the balcony window and soaking up the nice weather



After lunch was back to the beach - but to the quieter chilled part near me, with a pile of books, notepad and pen and a bunch of grapes.



Now I'm sitting sipping a mango, orange and cinnamon tea, writing and pondering the big question (what to buy for dinner tonight), so far a great relaxed start to the weekend!

Saturday Morning

Breakfast today started with a mug of hot lemon and ginger



made with a few slices of ginger in warm water, juice of half a lemon and a little squeeze of honey



- Then later coffee, unpasteurised o.j.,



and a yummy bowl of yogurt, oats, seeds and fruits -



- made with a layer of goats yogurt



then oats, flax, hemp, almonds, cinnamon and honey



and a big layer of strawberries on the top :)



. . . So after reading and being inspired by so many food and healthy living blogs over the last year I've finally decided to start my own. I've always been really interested in healthy eating and nutrition, but haven't always found it so easy to put in to practice and struggled a lot with disorded eating in the past. In the last year I've mostly been able to much better balance in my life and started to get really excited about food and cooking again. Recently though, due to things happening in my personal life (especially to do with boring money and job problems), I've found it more difficult again. I'm doing my best to stay on the right track for me though and I hope starting this blog can only help that more. :)