Catch-Up From Yesterday

Sorry for the missed post yesterday - my laptop has broken! :( luckily it is insured, so I phoned them this morning and they are coming to collect it tomorrow. It's likely to be 14 days before I get it back though, nightmare! So I'm writing this post from Liam's Mac laptop, hopefully it will work - last time my laptop broke and I had to use his it only let me post one photo (!) so we'll see.

I'll write another (hopefully longer) post later, but this is just a quick catch up on yesterday so I'm up to date - got to take daughter to ballet soon. Plus I'm hoping the Mac might cope better with shorter posts!!

Unusually for me, I didn't really fancy breakfast yesterday morning. I'd had a latte before taking daughter to school, but by the time I got back, sorted baby out for his nap etc, it was 10am and I hadn't eaten anything. I didn't fancy yet another smoothie (every other meal recently seems to have been a bowl of blended berries!) and I wasn't in the mood for porridge. I ummed and aaahed about just snacking on almonds to keep me going, but luckily decided against that too as that would no doubt have led to a morning of snacking. In the end I turned to my freezer for help. And was reminded of the existence of peanut butter and banana muffins. Perfect. I just quickly defrosted/slightly heated one up in the microwave...

...and topped with blueberry jam...

this was just as tasty as I'd remembered. More like a bread than a cake, it was not too sweet but perfect when spread with the jam. I loved the taste of banana and the chunks of peanut. So good. Great for a quick easy breakfast when I don't have the time/inclination to make something more elaborate :)

Liam was only in uni yesterday to hand in a project, so he was home earlier than usual. I took advantage of that to go to the gym before it gets busy. Because I was going over lunchtime, I had a pre-gym snack first...medjool dates stuffed with PB&Co Dark Chocolate Dreams...

Delicious :) and I was extra glad I had them as Liam got delayed in traffic so I didn't end up going to the gym until 1.30pm!

When I got there it was totally empty - bliss! I decided to be brave and make the most of the empty gym to go on the treadmill for the first time ever! So after a quick 5 minute warm-up on the rowing machine, it was time to brave the treadmill! Now for all you runners out there (Mum/Sister/pretty much everyone else!) please don't laugh - I am not a runner!! Liam laughed when I told him my speeds - according to him I was barely above walking! But hey ho, this is what I did...

Treadmill attempt 1: (5 minutes total)
2 mins at 8 km/h
1 min at 7.5 km/h
30 secs at 7 km/h - fast walk to catch breath!
30 secs at 7.5 km/h
1 min at 8 km/h

This nearly killed me!! I was bright red, sweaty - way more so after just 5 minutes on the treadmill than 20 minutes + on the cross trainer!! I then did some free weights, leg weight machines etc before going back on again...

Treadmill attempt 2: (5 minutes total, 1% incline this time)
2 mins at 7.5 km/h
30 secs at 8 km/h
30 secs at 6.5 km/h - walking
1.5 mins at 8.5 km/h
30 secs at 6 km/h - walking

Again, exhausted, I couldn't run for the final 30 seconds!! I clearly don't know what I'm doing at all, so any advice re speeds/incline etc would be very helpful! :)

After this I did some more weights, 10 minutes on the cross trainer and then stretches before going home. So a shorter workout than usual (I was hungry for my lunch!) but I worked hard (for me). I can feel it today - my legs, especially my calves, are in agony!!

Once I got home, it was time for a (very late) lunch - I didn't eat til 3.15pm! A pepper and a courgette roasted in coconut oil, plus brown rice, 2 chopped boiled eggs and a little drizzle of sweet chilli sauce filled the gap...

This may sound like a bit of an odd combination, but it worked really well. The roast veggies were gorgeous, the eggs were my craving, the rice bulked it out and the sweet chilli sauce brought it all together! The only thing I would change is next time I would make my own sauce - there are loads of really nice ideas floating about blogworld at the moment but I didn't think about a sauce until I was plating up!

Despite a late lunch, I was still ready for dinner at the same time as everyone else. After seeing everyone's recipes for Cinco de Mayo, I fancied baked nachos! I used pre-cooked chicken in the dish for Liam and the children, so I made a meat-free individual portion for me. I simply mixed a can of chopped tomatoes with some salsa, and poured it over some tortilla chips. Topped with grated cheese and put in the oven for about 10-15 minutes. Topped with guacamole and sour cream dip...

This was super quick to make/throw together and really good. Liam especially loved it as his family apparently used to often have baked nachos when he was growing up, so it reminded him of them all watching rented DVDs together!

Good timing - off out the door to take daughter to ballet now! Very relieved Liam's Mac allowed me to post more than one photo, so hopefully I'll be able to post again later. We got lots of foodie wedding issues sorted out today that I want to talk about :)