If you think a salad is a spare bit of lettuce and tomato slices, then think again!!  Salads should be BURSTING forth with all your favourite veggies and all those essential vitamins and minerals that we all need.

Try roasting some potatoes, cherry tomatoes and artichokes on a bed of leafy green with a lovely balsamic dressing.  Artichokes are FANTASTIC for aiding digestion and boosting your good cholesterol (HDL)levels (or what we like to call "Heroes").  

You can even add a fruity twist by mixing it up with some pineapple, which is a great vitamin C source too!

Remember, you don't have to saturate your salad with processed dressing such as mayonnaise, mustard and thousand island dressing (before you ask, I am referring to the vegan version of these condiments!!).  Instead, for for fresh herbs such as Coriander, Thyme of give it that zing with grated ginger and garlic (yes I said garlic!!  It is great for your heart and try eating an apple afterwards to take out the strong taste from your tongue!!)

How do you like yours?

Happy Mother's Day to all the Yummy Mummys celebrating Mother's Day in the UK!!(traditionally us Brits celebrate Mother's Day 3 weeks before Easter Sunday)  I hope that you are all being treated with that extra bit of TLC because in the words of Loreal - You're worth it!!

Speaking as a Mum too, I know the great pains that Mother's go through.  You  go through nine months of preparing your baby for the world.  You have the stretch marks, loose skin and stitches to prove it!!  You never stop worrying or striving to ensure that you do your best to raise your children in a loving, nurturing environment.  You try your best to make it to every school play, class assembly (and make the loudest cheer!!), graduation and reluctantly join in with every parents race at sports day.  You take your child to every swimming lesson, dance class or sports club and stay up all night when your child is ill.  You feel as much anxiety as your child does when they go into exam hall and you do an even bigger victory dance when they exceed their targets.  You never sleep until your teen comes back from their first party or trip with friends without you.  You always remind your child to say please,thank you, make your bed, tidy your room, say your prayers and wash your hands!!  You are a manager,budget holder, counselor, detective (looking for that missing sock!!), nurse (whether you like it or not!!), chef, super mum - so much more than a "stay at home Mum"!!


Mother's are exceptional women of excellence.  You may not get all the thank you's that you truly deserve but know that you are so fearfully and wonderfully made that you were the last thing that God created before He rested!  Celebrate the mothers that you know today


x

Hi Everyone!!

I hope you are enjoying your weekend so far?  I was inspired to write this blog following a recent shopping trip to Stratford Westfield with my sister and her new baby girl!! (shout out to Erhi and Stacey-Rose!!).  It was actually on one of my "vegan raw food days" and we were looking for a place to stop for a drink.  Since the usual coffee was not an option, we came across a little juice bar called Boost!
 
We LOVED it!  Now Boost have been around since 2007 in the UK and there are only a handful of bars in London.  It is always a pleasure seeing things made in front of you, so that you know what you are getting, rather than the bottled up varieties (I will name no names!!).

What was our favourite product?

There was so much to choose from and you could even make your own, but I went for The Energiser Juice which contains fresh orange, strawberries & banana.  Now I loved this because you could also choose from an array of boosters to add an extra kick to your drink.  I added the Protein Plus booster 
which contain a healthy mix of vegan raw proteins, superfood powders and fortifying herbs.  So this was a great post training drink which really lived up to its name.

Erhi went for the Perky Pine, which was a wonderful blend of pineapple, oranges, spinach and mint.  "I liked the way that it wasn't too sharp on the tongue and that you couldn't really taste the spinach.  So yes it was really nice".

Why  not try one of their other blends and let us know your favourites!!

xXX

www.boostjuicebars.co.uk

Our Ab Friday move of the week is Toe Touches!

This is an excellent exercise which targets all the abdominal muscles and serves as a good addition to y our daily exercise routine.

Toe Touches


Once you get into your starting position (as shown), you want to make sure that your core muscles are engaged (pulling your belly button towards your spine and breathing naturally)

Slowly reach your arms towards your toes for 2 counts and lower for 4 counts.  Make sure you are lifting your shoulders off the floor as you reach up towards your toes.

To make this exercise more challenging, try lifting your bottom off the floor as your shoulders come up too.  Or at some hand weights to make it harder still.

The aim is to do 3 sets of 8-12 Toe Touches (yes you can have a quick rest in between!!).  Once you have mastered the sequence, gradually increase the number of repetitions.



XxX

I LOVE this West African rice dish!!  It was a staple in my house growing up and still in now.  Today's inspired dish is.....Jollof Rice!!


Jollof Rice 
For the Stew...
In a bender, whizz up the following ingredients




                                                     -1 can of chopped tomatoes
                                                      -1 Onion (chopped)
                                                     - 1 Red Pepper (chopped)
                                                     - 2 cloves of Garlic 
                                                     - 1 Scotch Bonnet Pepper (This is optional, but you can add more if you like it hot)
                                                     - 1 can of Tomato Puree
                                                     - 1 Tablespoon of Curry Powder
                                                     - 1Tablespoon of All Purpose Seasoning
                                                     - 8-10 Crushed Maggi Cubes
                                                     -1 Tablespoon of Cayenne Pepper (if you are not using Scotch Bonnet)
                                                     -3 Cups of Rice (I used Basmati, but you can use Easy Cook Brown Rice or any                                                              rice of your choice)



-Add 1 tablespoon of oil to a large pot (you can use one of those spray oils instead) and pour the blended mixture into the pot.  Keep on a medium heat for 20mins and set aside to cool once cooked.

- Whilst the stew is heating up, wash the rice in hot water (this is an off-the-stove version of parboiling the rice) and add a little bit of salt and a tsp of melted margarine (or olive oil) to the rice once the water is drained.

-In a separate pot, add the stew mix to the rice and stir together until evenly mixed.  I usually do this off the stove first, to avoid the spluttering and splashing!


- Return the pot with a lid on back to the stove and leave on a low/medium heat for at least 20 minutes, or until the rice mixture is cooked.


- Now you can gradually add a little bit of water of you find that the rice is still hard.  Or put a sheet of foil in between the top of the pot and the lid to help generate some steam


- Serve with some veggie of your choice (I had a Green Stir fry with Mushrooms with mine)
 


** I usually bulk cook, so Jollof Rice is suitable for freezing!!



xXx

 Today's blog is all about herbal teas!

Tea consumption and production started centuries ago in China and has taken the world by storm ever since (and not just the British contrary to popular belief!!).  Now I know we all like to add milk and sugar to our morning cup, but the best way to indulge, is just with classic hot water.  Here is my run down of my favourites!!! 

 

Camomile Tea - This tea is GREAT for helping you to feel more relaxed and calm 
Green Tea - Filled with antioxidants, so great healing properties, as well as boosting your metabolism!!
Sorrel Tea - Has been known to lower blood pressure in people with Type 2 Diabetes (and tastes great with a touch of ginger)
Nettle Tea - Helps to remove toxins its naturally cleansing properties
Mint Tea - Soothing and aids stomach cramps and boosts concentration!

What's your favourite morning cup?

xXX

Hello Everyone!

We are going back to the Stairs Workout which we started a few weeks ago, but this time we are changing up some of the moves to keep it fresh (go back to Day 7 for the original Stairs Workout)

The Stairs Workout 2

Run up and down the stairs 10 times

30 Alternating Lunges 

Run up and down the stairs 8 times

                                                     30 Spiderman Push ups

                                                     Run up and down the stairs 6 times

                                                     30 Back extensions  

                                                      Run up and down the stairs 4 times

                                                      30 Front raises and squat

                                                       Run up and down the stairs 2 times

                                                       30 Bicep curls and knee raises

                                                       Run up and down the stairs once

                                                      30 Tricep Kickbacks

                                                       Run up and down the stairs once

                                                       30 Bicycle Crunches 

Don't forget to stretch at the end and let me know how you get on.  If you are unsure how to do any of the moves, just type the moves into Google or You Tube for pictures and videos.Remember all of these moves can be modified to be made harder or easy - so there are ZERO excuses!!!

This weeks Meat-Free-Monday challenge is to follow a raw food nutrition plan for the day!!  A step too far? Well lets look at what this really means

Raw foods include all fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and sprouted grains that are uncooked and have had zero chemical  processing involved. Now this is still under the vegan umbrella and plays a HUGE part in the building, cleansing and healing of our body, keeping it in a happy alkaline state :-)

And now for the science bit.....

A lot of the essential enzymes which aid the digestive process are destroyed when we cook our food above 40 degrees Celsius (or 112 degrees Fahrenheit ) and this hampers the bodies ability to absorb the food into the bloodstream and increasing the acidity in the body

Food not absorbed = Waste in the bloodstream = Toxins!!

Toxins are never a good thing and the result is usually skin problems, constipation, irritability, sinusitis and sleep problems (to name but a few!!).  Our bodies were made to be in an alkaline state (a PH of around 7) and having sugary, processed, wheat and yeast based foods put our bodies out of balance, resulting in our bodies constant battle to maintain an alkaline state.


So what could I possibly eat or drink?

Many things!!  I love my morning smoothies and green juices, lettuce wraps for lunch and fruit platters for a sweet treat (believe me this totally worked for me when I was experiencing a bad case of stressed out skin!!). Don't forget your water infusions of course!! You CAN get creative, but here are a few helpful websites to get you kick started!!


http://www.acidalkalinediet.com/

http://www.therawfoodschool.com/

http://www.thebestofrawfood.com/raw-food-diet-recipe-index.html



 
Let me know how you get on

xXx

We are almost at the halfway mark on our 40 Day Vegan series and today's motivation is all about perseverance.  I saw this beautiful picture on another blog (http://www.bluemarblegod.com/2012/10/27/do-not-grow-weary-day-27/ )
and it was a great encouragement about not getting tired about doing good.  Your "good" could be reaching your goal to live a plant based lifestyle for 40 days, losing weight, increasing stamina, sharing your faith etc.  Whatever it the promise is that we will get results if we not give up.

So you may have false started a few times along the way and that is OK, because we can never be too lost.  Just like the SatNav can recalculate when we miss the road, we too can choose to get up and return to the right path.  


Happy Sunday xXx

Ok this is my time to rant!  One of the hardest things about being vegan is the lack of choice!!  Pop intolocal supermarket and you will deffo find vegetarian options with ease.  Vegan, well, you have to add another 30mins on your shopping time! 

I remember finishing work late a few nights ago and was desperately hungry.  I was in an area of London where it seems all the good sandwich shops close early and the ones that were open all had dairy and other non vegan friendly fillings!!  It took 20mins before I could find anything and in the end I had to settle for a packet of Popchips and a Soya Hot Chocolate (hardly a meal!!).

It was a reminder to me that I need to be organised and really make time to plan for my snacks.  So with that said, here are some snack ideas that you can easily prepare in advance and pop in your bag when you are out and about

Quick Snack Ideas

-Popcorn!!
-Tortilla Chips with Salsa (I LOVE this combo, especially with v-friendly Guacamole!!)
-Homemade Chapattis (great with a nice cup of tea too!!)
- Hummus, Carrots and Cucumber sticks
-Alpro Soya Yogurt with chopped Banana and Pistachio nuts 
- Rice Cakes and Raisins

What are your favourite snack ideas?


 

x