Health store spree and salad monster

Hi guys!

How was your day? I'm feeling really inspired today.....I love those days when nothing gets you down and all the little things in your daily routine fill you with happiness :-) I just had a pretty normal day at work, a great pre-work run and a great workout post-work. I saw my friends, my colleagues and then came home to a hot bath and dinner. I was a salad monster tonight!

I also managed to pop into the health store tonight....they had some great offers on so I bought a few new things to try

1) Some hemp protein powder - with my marathon coming up in October, it's tiime to up the mileage and add a bit more protein into my diet. I thought I'd give this veagn version a try :-)

2) Pumpkin seed butter

3) Almond butter

4) Flaxseed with cocoa and berries - I thought this might make a great addition to my post workout/breakfast smoothies

As for my salad bowl, it was full of soya beans, orange plum tomatoes, little gem lettuce, yellow peppers, alfalfa sprouts, sundried toms and a vegannaise dressing - not raw but yummy all the same!

What are your plans for the weekend girls? I'm totally excited because "Eclipse" is released in UK cinemas tomorrow!!! Yey!!!

Love and hugs xoxo

Socca special :-)

Hi guys!

I would like to dedicate this post to the Pure2Raw twins who inspired me to make socca. I managed to find some chickpea flour in my favourite health store - it's hidden away from the main shopping area in Newcastle....it's like a little gem tucked away :-)

Anyway, having just finished my dinner all I can say is that I'll definately be having socca again soon. Yummy! I sprinkled it with vegan chive cheese, chilli flakes and served with green salad, orange plum tomatoes and salsa.

I'll need to perfect my socca skills, however, I loved it as a first try. My attempt was slightly dry but the salsa sorted that out :-)

Another great gal - Heathy Pace - has just released her new ebook and raw dessert challenge. Can't wait to have a go at the raw parfait challenge :-) Check it out at http://www.sweetlyraw.com/ Now.....all I need to do is hunt down some irish moss.....hmmmm.........

I love the "hunt" involved in being raw. Searching far and wide for ingredients - love it!

Love and hugs x x x

Spanish adventures

Hey :-)
I'm just sitting in the car after disembarking from the ferry. Current location -Devon. Our twenty hour crossing from Santander to the uk was pleasant. Only a little bit of rocking thank heavens! I'm really not good with bobbing boats! We saw dolphins by the dozens, watched "valentines day" in the little cinema and I munched on salad from the salad bar, whilst slurping on my new addiction -peppermint tea :-)
I feel a little sad as I type this blog because already I am missing the mountains and glacial streams that surrounded our magical campsite. Every morning I went for a run, surrounded by beautiful scenery, listening to water gushing in waterfalls down the mountainside......
....of course I have missed being at home at times. Mainly at night when zillions of bugs descended upon us! I love nature but I hate mosquito bites! :-) I also found it impossible to maintain a raw diet whilst in Spain. Even veganism is pretty tough, however, I took plenty of porridge, crackers and salad ingredients to keep me happy.
One of my favourite nights was spent in some nearby meadows, doing some macro photography. Photos to follow :-)
I hope you are all well. Has anyone got any exciting summer trips planned?
Wishing you all a wonderful day xxx

Late to bed, Early to rise

Well I didn't think I'd be able to wake up this morning, after my spell of late nights and yet here I am having woke up an hour before my alarm, sipping a cup of hot water with lemon slices :-)

Here's the painting I was inspirerd to paint earlier this week. A sunny seascape for my surgery. It reminds me of a little scottish island called Iona that I visited a few weeks ago. Happy times :-)

After reading "Raw Magic" I decided to purchase some Dulse. I'm normally a bit funny with sea vegetables because I think they taste like the smell of fish! On this occasion, however, I quite enjoyed the mild salty taste....not fishy at all so a great addition to future salads.
Right girlies.....gonna add 30mins onto my morning run....
With love xoxo

The Raw Magic Cupboard :-)

It's really late again and I've just finished tidying my kitchen cupboards. Man! Why do I always get the urge to clean so late at night?! Here's my raw magic cupboard...it has lots of magic things inside it ;-)
Recent additions to my raw food kitchen have included: raw oat groats, buckwheaties, raw pumpkin seed butter and chia seeds. I am looking forward to playing around with chia creations :-) Oooh and I picked up some amazing looking Eternitea tea from www.rawmagic.eu - coplete with reishi mushrooms, gojis, cinammon and schizandra berries, it'll make a wonderful warming treat - reviews to follow :-)
Lots of love to you all xoxo

Zzzzzzzzz.....

Hi all :-)
It's just past midnight and I really should be getting to bed....just wanted to say a quick hello. I'm loving reading everyone's blogs each day....the world really has some wonderful people in it :-)
I've been experimenting more in my raw kitchen and the dehydrator has been on a few times in preparation for my holiday to Spain. I've just picked up a great idea from the twins' blog - the mason jar salad. Fab! That way I'll be able to carry a healthy lunchtime salad with me each day :-)
I must head to bed but I'll post some piccies tomorrow
With love xoxo

Christmas comes early!

Hey there! I can't believe it's Sunday night again....well actually Monday morning! How time flies. I hope you've all had a great weekend.

I've had a lovely day. I had a great workout this morning, a gym session followed by the best aerobics class ever! It was brill!

After that I was buzzing so decided to use my new found energy to tackle the shops and hunt out some holiday clothing. I usually hate holiday shopping - I know - strange for a girl - but today I loved it! I had so much fun trying on new things :-)

I also finished the mince pies that I started a few days ago. I know it's not christmas yet but I saw the recipe on www.coxetersfayre and thought my boyfriend would love them. He could eat mince pies all year round! I haven't had one yet but I've tasted the filling and it's delicious :-)

I made a few modifications to the recipe:

Crusts:

- ground buckwheaties

- soaked and dehydrated cashews ground into a flour

- leftovers nut pulp from almond and sesame mylks

- raw honey

Fill silicone moulds with the mixture, and dehydrate overnight

Filling

-raisins

- gojis

- juice of 1 orange

- juice of 1 lemon

- peel of 1 orange

- lots of cinammon!

leave for all the fruit to absorb the juice and fill the cases with the delightful mixture once they are removed from the dehydrator :-)

Just been painting....feel so relaxed now.

Goodnight everyone xoxo