Smoked Tofu...

... is divine! But more on that later.

First up, exercise (I nearly forgot about this and jumped straight to breakfast!) Today I managed to get to the gym first thing (well, ok, after dropping daughter off at school at 9am...but before breakfast counts as first thing, right?!!) It was so much quieter than when I last went, only 3 other people in there, bliss! I warmed up with 10 minutes on the rowing machine, then did 20 minutes on the cross trainer, changing levels up and down every few minutes (is this like interval training or is that the wrong word?! I'm so clueless! Definitely made the work out harder though!) and then 10 minutes on the arm cycle machine before some free weights and stretches. Not the longest work out ever, but having not really eaten much since yesterday's big lunch. I was hungry!

So, home for breakfast. Porridge made with Kara coconut milk and frozen blueberries, topped with peanut butter and flaked coconut...

excuse the slightly grey colour...

this was really tasty! I didn't feel the need to add any extra sugar either which was a bonus considering my sweet tooth. Good start to the food-day :)

I didn't end up having lunch today. I'm not really sure why. A big dose of laziness really - because I went to the gym, I therefore had breakfast late, so wasn't hungry when Liam and baby had lunch, and then couldn't be bothered to make myself anything when I did get hungry later!

I had a huge latte mid-afternoon though, my new pear mug holds almost twice as much liquid as my normal mugs! One of the things we bought yesterday was some coffee syrups - caramel for Liam, cinnamon and gingerbread for me...

so I decided to try out the cinnamon one this afternoon...

when I smelt this syrup, it smelt way too strong, I can't remember what it reminded me of, but not overly pleasant! Weird because I love cinnamon. Luckily the taste was surprisingly mellow, providing sweetness more than anything, with just a hint of cinnamon. I like it :)

Having read about it on other blogs, I have been wanting to try smoked tofu for quite a while now, but the price has always put me off! Today was my lucky day though - my Mum asked me to make a couple of batches of cupcakes for guests she's got coming on Sunday, and as a thank you she bought me a pack of almond & sesame seed smoked tofu! :)

I did point her in the right direction, she's not psychic! Great present though - I get to enjoy it without the guilt of having spent yet more of the food budget on "my" foods!

I had half of it with tonight's dinner. Rice fried with egg, peas and sweetcorn, topped with the tofu that I had sliced and fried separately (mainly so I didn't have to share it!!)

This was gorgeous! I love egg fried rice as it is but the tofu made it extra special! A much firmer texture than the regular tofu I have bought previously that comes vacuum packed with liquid...this one, not surprisingly I suppose, was much firmer and less prone to falling apart! (that may just be my cooking with regular tofu though!) I love the nutty taste it had too, and no need to add extra sesame oil to the dish, bonus!

Do you like the new plate/bowl?? Another purchase yesterday, I also got small plates in purple and blue...yep, I've got to the stage of buying things based on the hope that they will look better in photos for my blog!! I always find white crockery catches the light really badly. Also, how long can I store the other half of the tofu for? It's currently in the fridge, still in its (now open) vacuum pack, and also in a sandwich bag to try to keep the air out...

To make up for my lack of lunch, I treated myself to a portion of Jemma's chocolate pudding again tonight...I love this! It was also great motivation as well - normally I just slump on the sofa/in the bath on Friday nights when Liam's at work, but tonight I put the children to bed, whizzed up the pudding in the blender then tidied and did the washing up while it chilled in the fridge for an hour. Then it was time for my "reward"...

Delicious! I think I liked it even better tonight than the first time I made it! Slight changes - last time I used smooth peanut butter, whereas this time I used Meridian crunchy peanut butter...my blender obviously wasn't given enough time to work it's magic as there was still the odd peanut bit in it, worked really well and gave a bit of variety to the texture! I also put it in the fridge with cling film on it this time (no idea why!) so it didn't set as hard as last time, still rich and fudgy but with a more gooey texture to it...a perfect healthy but delicious treat! :)

Right, off to read my Kindle now, I love the peace of Friday nights to myself! Hope you're all having a good evening! :)