a day in my life

13th May 2013

This year I am starting these posts with a photograph of the trees just outside our garden. For the first four months they looked much the same but now in May, spring has finally reached the UK and they are bright and green.

I like my garden in spring, the plants all mingle in together and there is so much fresh new growth.

Today has been a fairly normal uneventful day. I got up at six to drop my husband at the station and then eldest son at work. I was back home for seven to have coffee and breakfast.

Breakfast was a mixture of oats, chia seeds, cinnamon, ground flaxseed and blueberries soaked overnight in almond milk and topped with raw cacao nibs and walnuts.

I don't usually work Mondays but I have increased my work hours recently to cover for a colleagues illness so I was at work today. I don't have any photos of the rest of the day apart from my lunch. Rice with beans, pomegranate, avocado, chopped dates, herbs and tahini dressing with carrot and raison salad.

At home after work I had a cup of tea with eldest son, did some housework and cooked dinner. My husband was later home from work than usual so I have just picked him up from the station. Time for a little knitting then I will be tucked up in bed in about an hours time.

lunch

I realise that blogging about what you ate for lunch is considered a bit boring, but I liked the colours of my lunches at work this week and took photographs to help me remember what I made.

I take lunch to work on Thursday and Friday so on Wednesday I base our evening meal around some sort of grain which will also form the base of my salad for the following days. This week the grain was black rice to which I added borlotti beans and pomegranate.

The dressing was tahini lemon dressing.
1 tsp tahini
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp olive oil
0.5 tsp maple syrup

I added a salad of mixed leaves and sprinkled pumpkin seeds on the top - simple, nutritious and full of flavour and colour.

at home today

1  peeling almonds to make almond milk
2  lunch
3  spinning in the garden

for the August Break 2012

Vegan month update

vegan packed lunch

I am now a third of the way through the "30 Day Vegan" workshop so time for an update. This workshop is excellent and the course materials are very well presented. Already I have lots of new recipes to try as well as nutritional information and ideas for taking care of yourself.

I don't eat meat often but still I am surprised at how easy it has been to stop eating both meat and dairy produce. I have also chosen to cut down on caffeine, replacing tea and coffee with Redbush tea. After ten days the main change I have noticed is that I seem to have more energy through the day and I don't have a slump in energy levels in the afternoon.

I have been eating mainly vegetables, grains and beans so far which might sound boring but with sauces and dressings everything tastes really good. I am cooking vegan just for me (couldn't persuade the rest of the family to join in) but I usually cook enough for two meals so I have something already prepared for lunch the next day. Many of the meals taste just as good cold so I have packed lunches for work all sorted the night before . Eating properly at lunchtime rather than just grabbing a snack may be the reason my energy levels seem to be more constant throughout the day.

I am looking forward to the next batch of recipes to try out this weekend.