What I Ate Wednesday - Making Time For Healthy

Sometimes finding a theme or topic for What I Ate Wednesday is a bit of a tricky one but this week it's been easy.  Thanks to Jenn for hosting.

 

I always struggle with 'healthy eating.' It's something I tend to think I do but in reality if and when I document what I eat over a week it's full of crap.  The last few weeks have been particularly bad and I've stuffed my face with far too many bags of crisps, heavy carb laden bread and pasta meals and even chocolate sweets, and I'm not normally a chocolate person.  The more I ate the rubbish, the more I craved it and I didn't even really enjoy it.  Even as I was taking the crisps out of the cupboard I knew I didn't really want them, I just couldn't be bothered making myself anything.

 

This week I made sure I went shopping and stocked up on a ton of veggies and fruit and healthy grains and pulses.  I enjoy eating healthier and I feel so much better for it but I know it's something I have to make time for.  Healthier meals tend to take more preparation time and definitely require more planning and organisation.

How do you organise yourself to make delicious, nutritious meals on a daily basis?

Pre-breakfast

The benefits of drinking lemon water are not a new thing.  Lemons are packed with nutrients, including vitamin C, B-complex vitamins, calcium, iron, magnesium and potassium. So, with that in mind I've been adding a hot lemon drink to my morning routine.  I don't drink coffee and only have an odd tea so adding this warm drink to the cold mornings we've started having is really nice.

Breakfast



 Oh how I've missed my Breville Blend-Active Blender! It's been in my cupboard for the past month or so for some reason and I'd forgotten how much I love having a smoothie for breakfast.  This smoothie was a banana, frozen melon and grapes, almond milk, spirulina powder and some water as it was too thick.  I think the spirulina powder is a plant based protein but I haven't looked in to it in detail yet.  I bought it a while ago when I was working in a gym at the recommendation of a fellow gym instructor.

Do you know anything about spirulina powder?

Lunch

 

There's nothing I can say about my avocado on toast that I have for lunch that hasn't already been said. I'm such a creature of habit when it comes to my lunch.  I wonder how many #WIAW this has featured in?  I might have to go back and check...

Tea

 

 

This tea was delicious! It didn't really take that long to make - just a lot of chopping.  It was spinach, cucumber, tomatoes, feta cheese, quinoa and a small sweet potato.  I topped it with a drizzle of my favourite home made chilli oil which added a yummy heat to the dish.

 

 

I've loved eating more healthy this week and I hope I can keep this up and continue my optimism for all these tasty dishes.

 

I'd love any inspiration for healthy, vegetarian recipes I can try so if you have any please link them down below in the comments.

 

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What I Ate Wednesday | Erratic Eating

So my What I Ate Wednesdays have now returned from the sunny skies of Spain to the slightly grey skies of Northern England. But that's ok. (Really did I just say that that was ok??) 

We're still kinda on our holidays in the Greenoid household. I don't go back to work and Mini Greenoids not back at school until Monday. It's been lovely getting back off my hols and having a week to get back in to the whole swing of normality.

I have been working slightly - catching up on paperwork and getting organised for the start of a new term but nothing major.

So, on to this weeks WIAW. I've been struggling since getting back off holiday to get back into what I would call a 'normal' eating pattern. 

 

On holiday, breakfast isn't till around 11:30am, lunch could either be a big lunch at a restaurant around 2ish or a small snack of tortilla round the pool around 3:30pm and tea? heck knows what tea could be from night to night from nibbles at a friends house to a 3 course restaurant meal.

 

My body isn't quite used to eating early in the morning yet so I'm eating kinda erratically.  I figure once I'm back at work properly though this will all just fit back in to place so I'm not too concerned.

 

I also haven't been for a big shop since getting back from holidays so the choice of recipes is rather limited.   

Breakfast 

It's pretty much a given now I'm back home that breakfast is some form of smoothie using my Blend Active. I've mentioned it before, but I really can't recommend the Blend Sctive enough, it's simply fantastic.

This mornings breakfast was 2 bananas and frozen cherries. Cherries are pretty much the only fruit that I'm not really that keen on but I did enjoy them in this smoothie.  I'm going to look in to some different recipes for smoothies this week so I can vary my usual of banana and some form of berry!

 

Do you have any good smoothie recipes?

Lunch

 

Lunch was a non starter today.  Like I said my eatings erratic at the moment.  I didn't have my smoothie till around 12pm as I was lazing around in bed for a while then did a bit of work on the computer.

 

I'm a big believer in trying to listen to my body and my body didn't tell me I was hungry until much later on so I didn't eat any lunch.  I suppose you could say my smoothie was my lunch and I skipped breakfast, as I did have it at lunch time.

Tea

 

  As lunch didn't happen i was pretty hungry come tea time! And as I've already mentioned I haven't really been shopping yet so... what else could I do but order pizza! 

 

Looking at the pictures now it looks all greasy, unhealthy and horrible but at the time is was yum.  We decided to have a movie night.  Mini Greenoid picked the film of Casino Royale and I ordered the pizzas.  Mini Greenoid had, of course, a margarita and I ordered a spicy vegetarian.  We also ordered some garlic bread to share but somehow I only got 1 piece.

 

I love pizza and movie nights!  Pizza is my favourite unhealthy food. I eat it topped with loads of veg though so I tell myself it's half healthy. That's ok right? :) 

 

Not the most healthy of days eats but there we go.  I've started running since I got back off holiday so I'm thinking I deserve a little treat here and there - considering the fact I can hardly walk and every muscle in my legs and even sides are aching! But more on that another time.

What is your favourite unhealthy food?

 

Do you find it easy to get back to 'normal' eating after a holiday?


 

What I Ate Wednesday | A Day In Barcelona

Guess what? I'm STILL in Spain for this weeks #WIAW. I've relocated slightly from our beach house to a friends apartment in Barcelona for a few days. I love Barcelona. It's currently rivalling London as my favourite city.
I've had a wonderful time in Barcelona visiting many touristy sights such as the Olympic Statium, Camp Nou, Montjuic Castle and many more.
I'll share the photos when I'm back home in rainy England.
This weeks eats are from my first day in Barcelona and it's definitely a 'pizza day.'
Breakfast

Breakfast was a delicious pineapple pancake at a little crepe place. It was delicious. I figured I'd have a pineapple one to offset the badness of all the sugar.
Snack

Wandering around Barcelona is hungry work so I had a mid day snack of 2 chocolate chip cookies.
I've kinda given up being healthy for the last few days of my holiday and am indulging in a fair few treats.
Lunch

I've mentioned in previous #WIAW how hard it is for me as a veggie to find food in Spain so I was again 'forced' into my stable of pizza. 
Myself and Mini Greenoid shared this delight of a margarita pizza and the only veggie tapas dishes we could find of pimientos and patata bravas.
As I'm in Spain it was, of course, washed down with lots of water and a little glass of vino.
Tea

  I met up with friends around 5 o clock and the plan was for us to share a bottle of vino in the square whilst the kids played in the park. Then move on for an early tea.
Inevitably, this didn't happen as more and more friends joined us and another and another bottle of vino were ordered.
Eventually myself, a friend and our kids (1 each) decided we really should go and feed the children.
My friends child is celiac and I'm a veggie so you can imagine the headache we had in trying to find somewhere to each.
Eventually we were kinda forced into the decision to go to a pizzeria as everywhere was heaving.
The pizza I ordered was called La Madonna and honestly, after the vino, I can't quite remember what was on it. Is that bad? I think it was asparagus, artichokes and various other veggies. 
I have to say, it was one of the best, if not the best pizza I've had in a long time (and believe me, I've tried a few!)
I'm not normally a dessert person but there was a lemon sorbet, prosecco and vodka mix on the menu and I just couldn't resist. Unfortunately in my hast to eat / drink it I completely forgot to take a photo.
Do you like desserts?
Do you eat differently on holiday than you do at home? 
Do you like experiencing the local cuisine or do you stick to what you know?

What I Ate Wednesday | Family Fun or Food?

 

Ooo my head hurts this morning. It's my own fault and entirely self inflicted so I ask for no sympathy but more on that later.

 

This #WIAW is on odd mix of healthy, new recipes and a plate of random stuff so lets crack on with it.

 

 

 Breakfast

 

I recently bought the Breville Blend Active which I'm absolutely loving btw. It's just so handy and convenient which is not something I've tended to think about smoothie makers in the past. My breakfast for the last few mornings since I bought it has been a delicious mix of fruits.  This mornings smoothie was 2 bananas, a splash of almond milk and 2 handfuls of frozen blueberries. O how I love them so and I find they really fill me up for a long time. There's something about smoothies and juices that just make me feel really wholesome.

 

Do you have smoothies for breakfast? What's your favourite concoction?

 

 Lunch

 

Now I love, love, love a pizza! But as part of my 'trying to cut back on carbs' thing I'm always on the lookout for things that kinda have the pizza flavours and concept without all that heavy doughy base. So when I saw this recipe the other day I knew it was something I had to make myself. Ooo it was delicious. Props to Jenn for the idea.  You'll have to go and check out her page for some much nicer photos of how this recipe can look. It's simply a pepper chopped with a spoonful of tomato salsa inside, topped with some cheese and beautiful sliced yellow tumbling tom tomatoes that I hand picked from my greenhouse. There really is nothing like picking and cooking your own veg in a recipe.

Tea

Ok I admit tea was a shambles. My sister arrived with my niece (see this adoption party post) to spend a few days with us and my mum cooked tea. She made a chicken casserole, jacket potatoes, cauliflower cheese and veg. A typical British tea. As a veggie, I would normally have made something for myself in place of the chicken casserole but I just couldn't be bothered. I was enjoying spending time with my niece and food just wasn't on my mind. If I'm honest I was enjoying (ahem) one or two cheeky vodka and cokes and a good chin wag. Which is where the sore head comes from.

Do you ever do that? Catching up with friends or relatives and kinda forget to eat. 

Tea consisted of half a jacket potato, a bit of cauliflower cheese and a few peas. Kinda a weird tea but tasty none the less.  When I look back at these photos I realise I didn't really eat a whole lot so it's no surprise my head hurts this morning!

 

Do you have any special dietary requirements? (I'm a veggie) Are you catered for at family gatherings?  I always feel that as a veggie I'm such a pain for people to cater for and I feel awful that they have to make a whole other thing just for me.

Why I'm No Longer Weighing Myself

Let's talk about The Scale. Argghhh nooooo. Stay. Stay. I promise it's not that bad.

 

Are you a slave to the scale?  How often do you weigh yourself?  

 

Way back in May I started a Shape Up For Summer feature in which I weighed and measured myself each week in a bid to get my 'bikini body'. After a few weeks I decided to stop the whole shape up for summer idea. I don't want to shape up for summer. I want to be fit, healthy, eat clean, enjoy exercising for life, not for summer. 

 

What do I need for a bikini body? A body. Check. A bikini. Check. I already have a bikini body and so do you. Is it the best bikini body I could have? No. Do I love the idea of walking around in a bikini for all to see my lumps and bumps? No. But that's kinda ok.

As women we all have body issues/hangups/things we'd like to change. I am currently the heaviest, most out of shape I've ever been in my life and I don't like it and I'm consciously making an effort to change that. 

We give the scale so much power. Getting on a scale and seeing that number alters how I feel about myself. My mood, my happiness, hell even my self worth. The crazy thing is it doesn't really matter what the scales say - I'm never happy with it. I have never been a body confident woman. I scoured through my personal facebook and old photo albums and could find only 2 photos of me in a bikini.  In these photos I was 116lbs (I know that because I weighed myself everyday). Was I happy when I stepped on the scales and saw 116lbs? No I wasn't. 

They were taken 4 years ago on my annual summer holiday to our family villa in Spain. I was around 30 lbs lighter in these photos than I am now and hell, I look ok in my bikini. I vividly remember that holiday and period of my life. I was still trying to deal with a relationship breakdown, I'd quit my job, I was desperately unhappy, had incredibly low self esteem and, if I'm honest, really hated myself. I looked in the mirror and saw a big, fat whale of a woman.

My point being, rarely do we look as bad in a bikini as we think we do.

No longer will I allow that number on a scale to dictate how I feel about myself. I will wake up every morning and take little steps towards being a healthier me.

I want to be the best version of myself I can be.

Do I want a flat stomach, inner thigh gap and lean, toned arms? Of course I do. But most of all I want to be happy, I want to laugh with friends and family, I want to enjoy every precious moment with my son and I don't want to be a slave to The Scale.

What I Ate Wednesday | Mixing It Up

Hola Sparkly1s

Check me out and my WIAW that doesn't include anything I've eaten in a #WIAW post before. Oh yeah - I'm branching out!  If this is the first time you've joined us for a What I Ate Wednesday, let me bring you up to speed - I'm in a food rut, or should I say, was in a food rut.  I ate virtually the same thing everyday.  I've really made an effort this past week to look through recipes and get new ideas for ways to cook things.

Breakfast 

I am consciously trying to cut a bit of fruit out of my diet and replace with veggie snacks but I definitely feel I need some fruit in my breakfast.  I've tried alternatives throughout the week but I really crave and miss the sweetness from some fruit.  This morning I had a Triple Berry Smoothie, originally made for the 4th of July but I loved them so much I've been making them ever since.  It's really filling and gives me my sugar fix for the day.

Lunch

O.M.G I hear you cry - it's not avocado and tomatoes on toast! In my quest for variety I discovered this baked egg and avocado recipe which I thought I'd give a go.  I don't like egg yolks so mine was just egg whites inside the avocado. No recipe I saw prepared me for the effort it took to actually get the egg inside the avocado and into the oven without the egg tipping out all over the place. There's definitely a nack to this - I had to open my oven, carefully balance my avocado on the edge of the tray, tip my egg white in, then ever so carefully close the oven door. It was hard work! I ate it with a small salad and a kind of ratatouille that I always have in the freezer. It was tasty.

Tea

Tea was a scrumptious quinoa 'thing'. Quinoa, fried veg (onion, bell pepper and a chilli) and watercress. 

Do you have certain dishes you always make? 

What I Ate Wednesday {2.7.14}

It's that time of the week again - #WIAW.  I'm loving doing these posts more and more each week.  What I love even more is nosing in on other peoples What I Ate Wednesdays.  It gives me so many ideas for new foods to try as, as I've said before, I do get kinda stuck in a rut with my food.  Do you go through phrases of eating the same foods too or is it just me? 

 

 

 Breakfast

 

My breakfast was yummy this morning.  I hadn't had fruit for breakfast for a few days and it was so nice to have it this morning.  It was oats soaked in almond milk over night in the fridge, topped with frozen summer fruits (blackberries, raspberries, cranberries and blueberries), half an apple and cinnamon.  This has definitely become my go to easy breakfast in the past few months and I love getting in a healthy breakfast before I start the day. 

 

Something that I noticed in a few blogs was the additional of Chia Seeds in their breakfasts so I've ordered some of them to try in the coming weeks.

 

 

Lunch

Lunch was the rye bread amaranth / quinoa that I'm loving so much at the moment, topped with avocado, sliced tomatoes, mature cheddar cheese and chilli flakes.  As usual it was delicious!  I'm struggling to find a lunch that I enjoy as much as this.  I served it with a small side salad of watercress, celery, mushrooms and red onion.  The salad was simply whatever veg I had in the fridge - I think I need to go veg shopping.

 

Tea

 

After a gloomy start to the day, weather wise, it brightened up later on so I sat in the garden reading.  Time flew by and by the time I realised what time it was it was 7:30pm.  By that time I couldn't be bothered cooking anything so opened the fridge down and found this garlic bread in there.  It doesn't really fit with my low carb, healthy lifestyle I'm going for at the moment but hey.  I've gotta say though, I didn't really enjoy it.  Well, the first 2 slices were delicious, but that was enough really.  Anything after that made me feel kinda heavy and bloated.  I don't know how I used to eat this stuff as regularly as I did. I left 3 slices as I was just eating it coz it was there, not because I wanted it or was enjoying it.

 

That completes my What I Ate Wednesday for another week.

Post the links to yours in the comments. 

What I Ate Wednesday {18.6.14}

Hola Sparkly1s

I hope you've had a lovely today.  The weather has been glorious here today and I've eaten all my meals outside. We've had the paddling pool out for the kids, I've been to a Sports Day at school and sat soaking up the sun while it lasts.

I definitely think the warm weather encourages me to eat healthier as I think I'm more inclined to make a yummy salad instead of fatty, comfort food.

Breakfast

I just had to instagram this photo of breakfast. It was delicious, especially with the warm, morning sun peaking over the house. 

It's pretty similar to my normal breakfast but today I had natural yoghurt, topped with frozen forest fruits (blackberries, blueberries, raspberries and cranberries), finished off with a sprinkling of sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. I prepared it 30 minutes before eating it to allow the fruit to thaw slightly. It was sooo scrummy!

Lunch 

A rare treat of going out for lunch today. We took the kids to The Derby Arms, a local pub, as they have a nice outdoor play area for them to play.  I always struggle when I go out to find something semi healthy but on this occasion the only vegetarian options were egg sandwich or cheese and beans on jacket.  As I knew I was having potato for tea I decided to opt for egg sandwich with no butter (this isn't a health thing, I just don't like butter on sandwiches), on brown bread. It could be served with salad, coleslaw and tortilla chips or greasy, yummy, homemade pub chips... I was good and opted for the salad.  I have to say it was really nice and if you're ever around Ormskirk call in for a lunch.

Tea

 

 

I wasn't hungry at all really come tea time. So I cooked the smallest sweet potato I had to serve with my special beans. You can find the recipe in this post.

What did you have to eat today?  I love checking out the #WIAW on Twitter.



 

Even Healthier Jacket Potato With Beans

I love a jacket potato with beans, sometimes I add grated cheese to make it even more yummy, but I'm on a bit of a health kick at the moment (see my Fitness Friday posts and my What I Ate Wednesday posts) so I'm trying to find healthier ways of cooking the food I love to eat. 

I discovered sweet potatos a few years ago and I love them. They're full of fibre and a really good source of vitamin A,D and B6.  I'm unsure if they're necessarily healthier than normal, white potatoes, (there's more info on Precision Nutrition if you're interested) but I do like the slightly caramelised taste you get when you bake them.

Ingredients for the 'beans'

Serves 4

 

400g tin cannelini beans in water drained

400g chopped tomatoes 

1 onion chopped

1 courgette chopped

1 chilli chopped

1 bell pepper chopped

Cup peas

4 cubes frozen spinach

These are the ingredients I used today but realistically you can use whatever veg you have in your fridge.  I tend to empty my salad tray once a week and whatever veg needs using I throw it in.

Before you prepare your beans place your sweet potato in a preheated oven at 180C until cooked (mine took an hour)

1. Chop all the vegetables into small pieces.

2. Heat your pan and pour in some oil.

3. Sauté your onions on a medium heat for 5 minutes.

4. Add the courgette, bell peppers and chilli and cook for around 6 minutes or until your veg have softened.

5. Add the cannelini beans, chopped tomatoes, spinach and peas.  Leave to simmer on a low heat for 8 minutes.

6. I added some worcester sauce and tabasco sauce to add a bit if a kick as my chilli wasn't hot but you can leave this out if you prefer.

7. Spoon your beans over your jacket and ENJOY!

Any leftovers I spoon into one of these handy freezer bags and pop it in the freezer so next time I want a quick, easy meal I can just grab one of these and heat it up.

Let me know if you cook this, I'd love to see any variations of different veg you come up with.