Personal Challenge

Since I got back from my skiing holiday with my family a few weeks ago, I decided to set myself a challenge of running three times a week. Last summer I was running pretty regularly and was able to run quite far but I let it slip a bit over the winter as I've been concentrating a bit more on toning than cardio.

My first run after my holiday was really hard - I felt like I was running through quicksand. I've heard that you can lose your fitness after three days, so having not been to the gym in 1 and a half weeks I was really struggling. I kept at it anyway and in the first week I did three 3.5 mile runs. The next week running suddenly felt so much easier. I found that I could keep running for much longer and was starting to enjoy it again. I believe the more you do something, the better at it you become and then the more you enjoy it so you continue to do it.

Yesterday I ran 6 miles (I know it doesn't sound like much especially to any amazing people who ran the marathon last weekend!!) and I felt great after. This morning I have just been for a run with my little sister who is a really good cross-country runner. I definitely think running with someone who is a little faster/better than you really helps to push you out of your comfort zone and improve - it really helped me anyway! At the moment I'm running 9 minute miles which is a whole minute quicker than when I started a couple of weeks ago. I'm also gradually building up my distance - this week I'm running between 5.5 and 6 miles and next week I will run between 6.5 and 7.

I really think setting yourself simple challenges like this can help to improve any aspect of your life, whether it's exercise related like this one, or eating 100% healthily during the week, or challenging yourself to read more instead of watching TV - the feeling of succeeding at your challenge and seeing improvements in yourself is one of the best feelings out there.

So, set yourself a little challenge and enjoy it! x

Eat Your Breakfast!

Hi hi!

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while.. Just thought I'd take a little time to write about my absolute favourite meal of the day: BREAKFAST! I literally go to sleep thinking about what I'm going to have for breakfast and it's the first thing on my mind when I wake up!

Eating breakfast is so important for staying healthy because it fuels your body so it can do all the amazing things you need it to do throughout the day. It not only fuels you physically but eating breakfast has also been proven to help improve memory and concentration levels - so in the run up to this busy exam period breakfast can be your best pal. I have so many different breakfast ideas that I love so for now I'll just tell you my standard one and follow up with posts about different breakfast ideas soon.

I always start my morning with a big glass of water (sometimes with a little slice of lemon in) before I've even had anything to eat. This is really helpful for your body as it flushes out toxins, purifies your colon and speeds up your metabolism.

My standard breakfast is usually almond milk with granola and berries. At the moment I'm obsessed with Lizi's Granola - it's so delicious and uses agave syrup which is the lowest glycaemic sugar, I love it! For an extra health kick I add Linwoods ground flax and goji berries and half a teaspoon of Organic Burst maca powder. This breakfast is great if you're in a bit of a rush because you literally just throw it in the bowl and it's ready - no excuses to skip breakky!

No matter what I'm having for breakfast, I always have a green tea, lots of water and my daily vitamins with it.. and then I'm all set for my day.

Enjoy your breakkie! x

Vegan Gluten-free Banana Bread Squares

Hey guys!

Yesterday I looked in my cupboard and realised I had some very overripe bananas that I wouldn't have been able to eat in time... so I decided to make these little treats for my housemates. They were really quick and easy to make - I literally just whipped them up whilst I was cooking some soup.

Here's the recipe I used:

Ingredients:

• 150g brown rice or buckwheat flour
• 120ml pure maple syrup or honey (if you use honey they won't be vegan, but I'm not actually a vegan so I'd use either)
• 2 tbsp chia seeds
• 2 tsp cinnamon 
• 2 very ripe bananas 

(feel free to double the quantities - this only makes a small loaf as I only had 2 bananas)

Method:

1) Preheat the oven to 150 degrees C

2) Mix the flour, maple syrup, chia seeds and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl.

3) Mash the bananas and add them to the mixing bowl.

4) Mix everything together to make a sticky mixture.

5) Grease a baking tin with coconut oil and spread the mixture evenly into it.

6) Bake in the oven for about 50 mins.

Once it was baked, I then cut it into small squares, cut these squares in half horizontally and filled the middle with peanut butter and melted dark chocolate - but you can fill it with whatever you want. It's Friday, anything goes!

Enjoy!!

Big Bowl of Goodness

Hellooo!

Just thought I'd quickly share with you what I made for lunch today because it tasted so good!

I chopped one small avocado, a quarter of a sweet red pepper, and a small handful of cherry tomatoes. Then I baked some kale in the oven (just popped a few handfuls in a small baking tray and drizzled with olive oil and a bit of salt) and steamed some tender stem broccoli. Then there are some puy lentils from one of the Merchant Gourmand packs (really quick and useful).

I made the houmous earlier by blending 1 400g tin of chickpeas, 2 teaspoons of tahini, 5 tablespoons of cold water, 1 teaspoon of cumin, the juice of 1 lemon and a dash of paprika and salt - I definitely prefer making my own houmous rather than buying it from a shop because it tastes better (if I may say so myself) and you know exactly what has gone in it (some shop-bought dips contain so much unnecessary sugar or other nasties that it's definitely worth making your own). 

To top it off, I sprinkled on a little bit of feta and some sunflower seeds.

This simple but delicious salad kept me full all afternoon and is full of vitamins and other goodness.

Happy Friday everyone! x

Quinoa Flour Pizza

Hi!

I was back in Oxford today so I just had to make another little trip to the Organic Deli Café that I blogged about a few weeks ago. I bought some quinoa flour so when I got home I decided to make a pizza with it.

I was really excited to use this flour for my pizza base as quinoa is full of protein, which pizzas are often lacking. It is also gluten free, dairy free and suitable for vegans.

It was fairly easy to make but there's definitely room for improvement on mine! I think I made the base a bit thick so it was very filling but still tasty. I recommend rolling the dough as thinly as you can to avoid this.

Here is how I made it...

Ingredients:

For the pizza base:

•  300g quinoa flour
• 3 tbsp ground flaxseed
• 60ml hot water
• 60ml extra virgin olive oil
• 11/4 tsp baking powder
• 180ml water
• A pinch of salt

For the tomato sauce:

• 1 clove of garlic - crushed
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon of tomato purée
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Toppings:

I used red peppers, mushrooms, green olives, feta cheese and spinach - but anything goes really!

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius. 

1. Mix the ground flaxseed and hot water in a small bowl and leave it to set for 5 minutes.

2. Combine the quinoa flour and baking powder, then stir in the water/flaxseed combo, olive oil, and salt.

3. Fold the cold water into the mixture and knead until it forms a ball of dough.

4. Leave the dough for 30 minutes to allow it to set and for it to get some air in it.

5. Drizzle a pizza tray with olive oil and place the dough on the tray.

6. Spread the dough into a pizza shape (remember not to make it too thick!)

7. Bake the dough for 20 minutes.

8. Make the tomato sauce by combining all the ingredients and heating in a saucepan. 

9. After the dough has baked for 20 minutes, place the tomato sauce and toppings on it and put it back in the oven to bake for about 15-20 minutes (until the toppings are sufficiently cooked to your liking).

10. Remove from the oven and enjoy your yummy, healthy pizza!

Hope everyone's having a great weekend!

Blueberry and Banana Muffins

Hello!

I have come home from uni for the weekend so yesterday my brother and I decided to have a day of healthy baking. I decided I wanted to make these yummy treats using a recipe inspired by Deliciously Ella (I changed it a little according to the ingredients/equipment I had).

The muffins are seriously good and the blueberries make them lovely and gooey. What made me want to make them is that they don't contain flour - you essentially make your own flour by blending almonds, oats and ground flaxseed.

Anyway, here are the ingredients I used to make 15 muffins:

• 85g oats
• 150g almonds (or ground almonds could be easier)
• 85g ground Flaxseed
• 4 ripe bananas
• 85g raisins (I used dried cranberries as I have an irrational hatred of raisins)
• 250g fresh blueberries 
• 180ml apple juice 
• 240ml water
• 6tbsp organic honey
• 2tsp cinnamon

Method:

If you have a food processor, put the almonds, oats and ground flaxseed in it and blend until it is nice and smooth. I don't, so I ground the almonds in a pestle and mortar (so old school, you might want to buy ground almonds instead) and then put those, the oats and the flaxseed in a blender and it worked just fine!

Add your homemade flour (be proud) to a mixing bowl, then slice the bananas into it. Next add the water, apple juice, honey and cinnamon and whisk into a smooth muffin mixture.

When this is done, stir in the raisins/any dried berry and the blueberries, pour into muffin cases in a muffin tray and bake for about 40 minutes.

Hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

Happy baking x

Gratitude

Treasure the people you love in your life!

I feel so blessed to have an incredible family and amazing friends.

Nighty night x