Blueberry and Banana 'Nicecream'

All scream for Nice Cream!!

I think Nice Cream is one of the best things invented ever. If you haven't tried it, or heard of it, where have you been! You are missing out. Nice cream, is an ice cream made of blended frozen bananas. It is super yummy. You can mix in any fruits that you want to flavor the nicecream, or add chocolate powder, and dates for a chocolatey flavor. 

I find that the bananas are quite hard to blend when frozen. But i don't have a super duper high speed blender. I find adding a little coconut water helps the mixing process, but it does create a wetter mix. You can refreeze after you have blended to make a scoopable ice cream. 

It is best to wait until your bananas are very ripe, black spotted, before you freeze them. This is a great way to use up any uneaten bananas, although i personally only eat really raw bananas anyway as they are easier to digest. 

Blueberry Nice Cream

4 Frozen ripe Bananas

1 cup frozen blueberries

A dash of coconut water

Any toppings you like ie cinnamon, fresh fruit, raisins :)

Blend frozen bananas, and coconut water until icecreamy texture. Either add the frozen blueberries and sir in with a spoon to create a 'ripple' or blend to flavor the ice cream. 

You can re-freeze the nicecream if you want it to be scoop-able, or it straight away. 

Fruit island - oh and i have vegan tees!

 Helloooo chickpeas. It has been such a lovely day today, really hot and sunny. Although the sun has started to go down now, and it has become a little chilly, i am still lounging on the grass attempting to soak up the last few rays! I always feel much better when it is sunny.

The last couple of days i have been focusing on an island diet as previously mentioned. Which, simply is a mono diet. You are strictly meant to only eat one fruit, normally bananas, watermelon or oranges. But loads of that fruit in order to get enough calories in.  The idea of this, is a high carb, high natural sugar but low fat diet. I personally have combined a few fruits. I am eating bananas, oranges, melons and blueberries. I occasionally nibble the odd date too if i need an energy boost.

It seems like a lot of sugar. From the standard 'recommended daily amount', yes, you consume way over the recommendation. But here is the clever part. But cutting out all fats, including nuts, avocados etc, your body uses the sugar as energy. If you were to eat the fats as well, they would block the sugar from entering your bloodstream and the excess sugar is then turned into a fat store. Pretty neat.

So as long as you cut the fat out, you can eat as many bananas, oranges, dates and berries as you like. Drink wise, i have tons of coconut water, lemon infused water and green teas. I occasionally make a black coffee too ( but that is normally if i am stuck in the office and it has been a long day!)

I have been trying to drink a lot of my bananas, by blending into smoothies with coconut water. The oranges, i just eat tons of! And the blueberries i add to frozen bananas to make a 'nice cream' which is amazing and i will post a recipe up tonight :)

To some, a pure fruit diet may sound crazy, I have to admit, it did to me before i tried it. But i actually feel fantastic. So i deffo recommend giving it a go. I am going to keep it up all summer, but lay off if i go out for a meal with friends etc, as otherwise it would be ridiculously tricky. It is hard enough finding anything vegan on menus as it is!

In other news, I have vegan t-shirts! I have wanted some for ages. I found some really cute ones on Etsy, but they were from the US and delivery costed a fortune. Luckily, one of my friends recently went over to the US and he bought them back for me. :).

I don't like to force my veganism or beliefs on others. But a few slogans on tees doesn't do any harm.

I am off to eat some yummy Blueberry Nice cream and i willl post the recipe up too. :)

For the love of Fruit

I am soaking up the Vit C tonight with a huuge bowl of oranges covered in deliciously yummy cinnamon. This morning i went for a run before work and swallowed a little fly - ( bad vegan? ). EEk. Anyway ever since then my throat has been really itchy and tickly. Now it could be because of the little fly, but most likely i am coming down with a bug, or cold and i really cant be doing with that right now! I would like to think with all the fruit and veg i consume my immune system is pretty good. So i am hoping i will beat this tonight and wake up fine and dandy tomorrow morning.

My brother sent me a book in the post a few weeks ago which was a nice, yet strange surprise. Strange as i don't read. It is not that i cant physically read, but i cant seem to concentrate on a book long enough to read more than a page. Or i have been telling myself that for years to the point that i believe it, and even picking up a book feels odd. The book he sent me was 'Swallow This' by Joanna Blythman. It is all about unraveling the food industry, and finding out what is in foods, even ones labelled as 'fresh' and untouched not just processed. It really seems like my kind of book so i am going to give it a go and i will report back!

I have a new motivational quote, or line i guess to keep myself upbeat and moving forward. I say it to myself when i am running, and feel like i want to stop and walk for a bit. ( which i dont actually allow myself to do!) 

'What is the point of giving up. What would it achieve?'

I am not sure where this came from, or why it suddenly popped into my head but it did, and it works. Say i have run 4 miles, my legs are pretty tired but i have told myself today i am running a minimum of 5 miles. I want to stop, but what would i gain? If i give up now, i would only regret it and wish i hadn't. What would i actually achieve? Nothing. Then i carry on, finish my 5 miles and often run a few extra because i have motivated myself. 

I used to be extremely good at giving up and failing. I have an extremely black and white personality. I either do something, and nail it to the point it is incredible and perfect. Or i sack it in, give up completely and never go back. It can be a good trait to have. I have achieved so many great things. But also failed at, and lost many too. It means i get highly addictive, i have an extremely addictive personality. That is why i have never and will never gamble! Haha that wouldn't be a good move. 

Mono Mealing! Mono meals mean eating meals of single items, specifically fruits as it is easier for the body to digest. You may have heard of banana island, or watermelon island. Where you simply just eat that fruit, in various forms ie smoothies, frozen, etc for a specific period of time. Well right now i am half islanding! I am having about 4 bananas for my breakfast, often in a smoothie form or frozen and blended into a 'ice cream'. Then for lunch either a mono meal of melon, or oranges - or  a Litre of orange juice or coconut water. And for dinner a mono meal of bananas, melon or oranges again. It doesn't sound like a lot but the idea is that you eat a vast amount of each of the foods, and make sure you make up 2000-4000 calories per day. So you are no way starving. Fruits are full of sugar, water and carbs - And so far i feel pretty great.

I am not being too strict. I am allowing myself the occasional actual meal if i go out or just fancy something different. You have to listen to your body after all. But i am really keen how this fruitarian mono meal plan turns out. I have heard of loads of people who have had great results - health wise.

I had real funny looks in the supermarket today. I don't think people are used to seeing so much fruit in one trolley. I bought about 2 x the amount of oranges shown in the picture too, plus a load of green tea :) .

Fruit is just the best.

Real, clean, healthy fresh foods heal your body. 

<3

Liquid Fast Day!

Liquids seem to suit my digestive system, and i used to have smoothies and juices for most meals except dinner. I am not sure why i stopped really - but i became more bloated and i am now back on the liquid wagon. I do miss solid foods, and am not against having solid snacks and dinners. I just feel i need a few days of pure liquids to detox right now

This morning i was in a rush! I got up a little later than i had planned, so quickly did a few core exercises and rushed to go prep my breakfast and lunch to take to work with me. 

Breakfast was a hydrating and cleansing green smoothie. With shock horror - coconut water. Haha. I love the stuff. When cleansing, you want to increase the water. So in juices and smoothies you want to choose fruits and veggies with a high water content.

Cleansing green smoothie

2 Stalks celery

1/4 cucumber

1/4 rhubarb

2 handfuls spinach

200ml coconut water

  

Lunchhh was delicious. It is unusual that i have fresh berries around as i normally buy frozen for cost / convenience. But my mum has been staying with me for a few days and went shopping - Result :) 

A stable for most my smoothies is Bananas. They work as a blending agent but also help you to carb up. Grapes have a high water content and lovely natural sweetness so they needed to join the gang.

Strawberry, Banana & Grape Smoothie

1 Large Banana

5-10 strawberries

1 handful red grapes

100ml coconut water

100ml almond milk

I am unsure what to have for dinner tonight. And pudding! ( or i will make a big mother of a smoothie and have a dinner / pudding smoothie all in one). That sounds like a plan.

Maybeee i will make miso soup, and then a small cocoa & chia smoothie. 

Far too many options. Whoever said vegans have nothing to eat!?

I have a long day at work today so i better get busy. 

<3

Carrot & Apple Juice, Berry Smoothie & Sprouted Quinoa Pizza

The aim today was to start a liquid fast. Purely for the fact that i feel my body needs some rest and a little detoxing as i have become quite bloated recently and feel a little sluggish. I need to get my energy back and kick-start my body again.

I had liquid meals for breakfast and Lunch, but remembered that i had some quinoa sprouting which needed to be used today otherwise i would have had to just through it away. Which i wasn't okay with doing! So i made myself a non liquid dinner tonight, which was a really tasty pizza. Full on liquid fast starts tomorrow!

Breakfast was Carrot & Apple Juice. I love the taste of carrot juice, it has to be one of the faves. To properly detox, you are meant to cut all fiber out from the diet. Hence why i am liquid fasting, rather than juicing as i still want to keep my fiber. However, when it comes to juices such as carrot & apple, the pulp isn't that great to drink. I do have an actual juicer machine, but it is at the back of a cupboard and a nightmare to clean. I ended up blending the ingredients, and then putting it through a sieve, so only the juice came through.

Carrot & Apple Juice 

2 Carrots 

2 apples

50ml coconut water

1tsp ginger

1tsp turmeric 

For Lunch i made a fruity & creamy smoothie. It was immense. I now stick to using coconut water as a base for most of my drinks.

Beautiful Creamy Berry Smoothie

2  Large Bananas

1 cup of mixed strawberries, raspberries, blueberries

200ml Coconut water

1tsp vanilla essence

( i wanted to add some mixed spice too but i didn't have any )

Now THIS is a pizza. Pizza is something i would not normally even imagine eating, but a friend on instagram uploaded a picture of a pizza using a Quiona base. So i thought i would give it a go. Unfortunately i had started to soak my quinoa long before i decided to liquid fast, but, i have to say it was worth the fast fail!

I couldn't believe how crunchy and tasty the base was. I will deffo be making this again in the future :)

Sprouted Quinoa Pizza

150g Quinoa - soak for 8-24 hours

2tsp Cider Vinegar

salt

pepper

2 tsp mixed herbs

Topping 

Tomato pasata

veggies of your choice - i used mushrooms, olives, sweetcorn, tomatoes, spinach & nutritional yeast

Soak your quinoa in water for 8-24 hours. Drain, and blend with cider vinegar, salt, pepper and herbs. It will for a thick white looking paste / dough. Place the mixture onto a lined baking tray, and shape into a large circle. You want it to be about 1cm thick. 

Cook in the oven for 10-15 mins, then carefully flip over and cook the other side for 5-10 mins. Put the tomato pasata, and the toppings onto your pizza and cook for a further 5-10mins.

Edamame Bean Spaghetti, Cinnamon apple oats & Fresh Fruit salads

I thought i would post some of my meals. Below is my breakfast. I always start my day with a green tea and occasionally have a coffee afterwards. I had a long cycle so felt i needed a little extra pazazz yesterday. I have a real thing for oats now too, but only raw :). They are full of great carbs, protein and a little bit of healthy fats. Great to start the day with. I had 1 cup of oats, 1 chopped apple, almond milk and topped it off with some yummy cinnamon.

A few weeks a go i was up in London to get my hair done. Even though i am actually a qualified hairdresser myself, getting my own professionally done have never been a huge priority of mine. But i decided it was about time i went and got it sorted, rather than doing it myself! I have had dark hair for ages, and i wanted to lift the colour a little ready for summer. 1/2 head of highlights and 3 hours later, my hair was sun kissed and just as i imagined. Result.

I popped into the Wholefoods Market on the way back, and found these Edamame bean spaghetti packets! I used to love pasta, but very very rarely eat actual pasta these days. I only do if i am at someone elses house for dinner. Edamame beans are soya beans, so full of protein and fiber. The spaghetti is purely beans and water, nothing else. And you can soak them in water for 8 hours instead of boiling them if you prefer. The process to form edamame beans into spaghetti shapes happens just over the allowed 'raw' temperature. So depending how strict you are on your raw foods, you could soak and have these on a raw diet.

Taste wise they are great. I love courgette and carrot noodles, but they really lack the texture of spaghetti. These bean spaghetti shapes mimic real pasta perfectly and if you didn't know it was beans, you would never guess. I mixed my spaghetti with some veggies, cashews, toasted sesame oil and seeds.




Annddddddddd a beautiful bowl of fresh fruit. I love fruit. All fruit. Especially bananas :) I seem to munch handfuls of raisins throughout the day too because i am greedy. There are far worse things to snack on though!


I am trying to decide if tomorrow i should start a 3 or 5 day detox. i will do 3 days, and then see how i go. A liquid detox is basically, just liquids. You can juice detox, where you cut out all fiber too, ie pulp in smoothies. But i think a liquid detox will suffice for now. I will be just having smoothies, juices, lots of water, green tea and possibly make some veggie soup or broth for dinners if i am craving something a little warmer.

 <3

Mini RAW Carrot Cakes [ with a coconut cream frosting ]

Wow it was a beautiful day today. I drove down to The New Forest to visit my parents and sister this weekend. Today was so sunny that I sat outside on their balcony and sunbathed most of the morning. It was Lush. My sister and I went of a 4 mile run across the open forest and i was pretty pleased that at the end, Laura was totally out of breath and i could have carried on for miles, still. I don't think i have ever been fitter than her before. I remember the last time i drove down, possibly only a month or so ago, i couldn't even keep up. I am amazed how my fitness has improved and extremely proud at myself for sticking to a routine. 

Now onto these incredible little treats. They taste soo bad for you but are ridiculously healthy!  Before going vegan, i loved carrot cake. I have previously tried one raw carrot cake before, using an online recipe, but honestly i wasn't keen. I thought I would give it another go, making up my own recipe and adding in various ingredients by taste to create the perfect raw carrot cakes :) And they were perfect. So tasty and completely satisfied my craving!

Now, i realised the key to these cakes was reducing the moisture in the carrots. Ideally, you should use the left over carrot pulp from a juicer. Or, grate you carrot, and try to squeeze out as much juice as possible using a cheese cloth, or sieve. If the carrot contains too much moisture, the mixture will not hold or stay in shape. Another good tip is to not to over blend the mixture. If you blend the mixture too smooth, more water will be released for the ingredients and form a wetter mix.

Mini Raw Carrot Cakes

• 3 cups grated carrots (about 3 or 4 carrots)

• 1 cup soft dates

• 1 cup walnuts

• 1/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger

• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

• pinch of salt

• 1/2 cup raisins

Mix all the ingredients in a blender until well mixed, but not smooth. ( over mixing will result in a mixture that is too wet)
Place the mixture into cup cake moulds, ideally silicone, or shape into small round cakes. Place and keep in the fridge. 

Coconut Cream Frosting

160ml can coconut cream
1tbsp Lemon juice
1tbsp Agave Syrup

Whip the coconut cream with an electric whisk. The coconut cream will thicken slightly. Fold in the lemon juice and Agave syrup.
Place the frosting in the fridge to set. ( this will take approx 2 hours).