Back to Basics | Days 6 & 7: Ending the Week

The last few days were all about making yummy food that was still clean, as well as upping my green tea intake and remembering to take all my supplements for the first time in months. I've now made it so that I've got a little tupperware pot on the side in our kitchen next to the kettle, which has a range of three or four different healthy teas (green, strawberry green, detox, lemon and ginger etc) in it as well as my supplements to remind myself to have both with meals.

After my mammoth gym session on Day Five I was struggling with post leg day and post post leg day pain - my bed = life saving. So, Sunday morning I sorted out a bit of a mood dip with my vegan, clean pancakes, which are divine when topped with a bit of fresh lemon juice and cooked in coconut oil. I'm not the greatest coconut fan, but this really adds something to the flavour of the pancakes.

Overall my detox helped me to remind myself of where I came from on this journey, and start to remember that I can eat clean and still enjoy myself. Plus the bloating I'd gained from eating dairy products - not brilliant when you're intolerant to lactose - as a means to avoid essay stress the week before.

Thanks for sharing this journey with me!

Love and Light

Steph 

Vegan Nut-Free Chocolate Easter Nest Cakes

Since I can remember, me and my sister have made chocolate nest cakes for Easter every year and it's part of our traditional Easter time. So, this year I decided to consider making a clean variety as well as the recipe we normally make so that I can enjoy the holiday without going overboard. The bitterness of the dark chocolate on these is nicely complemented by the sweetness of the dried fruit, and combine to make a really yummy snack. 

Ingredients:

1 bar organic dark / vegan chocolate

Organic bran flakes / sticks

Dried apricots

Dried cranberries

Cacao powder

1.) Break the chocolate up and put it into a bowl. Heat in a bowl over a pan of boiling water until the chocolate has melted. Keep a careful eye on it as chocolate burns so easily!

2.) Put a couple of handfuls of bran flakes into a bowl and pour the chocolate over them. Add more bran flakes if you need to. 

3.) Place spoonfuls of the mixture into cupcake cases.

4.) Chop up a couple of dried apricots. Place a few segments and a couple of dried cranberries in each.

5.) Finally, sprinkle a little dusting of cacao powder on each and put in the fridge. Once they've hardened they're ready to serve!

As always, comments and questions are always welcome

Love and Light

Steph

Back to Basics | Day Five

Yes, there was no Day Four post. I fell off of my detox bandwagon a bit and wanted to secure today's health before writing a blog post. Today was really a day for hitting things hard and boy am I exhausted. Currently fighting the urge to write this in a foetal position under my favourite fleece blanket is a challenge.

I am loving how vibrant my fruit bowls are at the moment. I have a major sweet tooth, so fruit really helps me manage to stay off of the artificial sugars and forms a fairly large part of my diet. I have at least three portions of it in my morning smoothie and will most days have a fruit bowl like the one above.

Finally, I hit the gym for probably the longest time ever today. Let's pray that I don't have to walk anywhere tomorrow. The fact that the only bathrooms in my student house are upstairs is probably going to result in me crawling around pathetically. Anyway, the second picture is a couple of gym essentials for me: my water, shower gel & body spray and spare socks (hey, no one wants to be re-using after a hard workout am I right?!).

Love and Light

Steph