Sunny Weekend

Today is miserable. The weather is grey and rainy. The forecast predicts sunshine for the next 4 days, and then rain again on Saturday. Sigh. And I've eaten way too much food already and it's only 4 o'clock as I start writing this. So I'm going to ignore today and look back at the weekend instead, which was much better!

Saturday got off to a great start with the arrival of my iHerb order!

PB&Co White Chocolate Wonderful and Cinnamon Raisin Swirl, plus a bottle of coconut extract. I also got a random freebie...

has anyone had this before? It seems to be some kind of coffee with mushrooms...I'm a bit dubious to try it to be honest!

I did however get straight on to the very important job of peanut butter testing! First up, White Chocolate Wonderful...

This was super smooth, and super sweet. It reminded me of the fluffernutter sandwiches I used to have as a child! Delicious, but only for those with a sweet tooth!

Next, Cinnamon Raisin Swirl...

This was quite gritty, as if it had brown sugar in it (it doesn't). I've developed a bit of a love-hate relationship with this one...I'm not entirely convinced I love it (it also has a bit of a claggy/sticking to the roof of your mouth texture from the cinnamon) but I keep going back to it - I basically love the taste, and the raisins in it, but am not overly enamoured with the texture of the peanut butter. Shame.

My iHerb order arrived just as I was about to have breakfast. But after numerous spoonfuls of peanut butter (and a latte flavoured with coconut extract) I was rather full! So I had breakfast closer to lunch time instead... Cocoa-banana "porridge" made with quinoa flakes, sweetened with agave nectar and topped with White Chocolate Wonderful...

This was...interesting. I was quite surprised when cooking the quinoa flakes that they opened/spiraled out in the same way that quinoa does. But having said that, I quite liked the texture, and loved the fact they had so much volume - less flakes than I usually use oats produced much more in the bowl...this should have been like a lovely breakfast pudding. The problem was the taste - despite the cocoa, banana, agave and sweet peanut butter, the quinoa flakes still had an overpowering savoury taste that I just couldn't get past. I finished the bowl, but it wasn't particularly pleasant. So any savoury recipes that feature quinoa flakes?? I'd imagine the texture is too liquidy to use in place of regular cooked quinoa, so not really sure what to do with the rest of the bag!

Saturday afternoon, we went to a family fun day out which is sponsored and run by one of the local churches - aside from the alcohol and ice cream van (neither of which we needed) everything was completely free!! The sun came out from behind the morning's clouds so a great afternoon was had! There were so many things for the children to do - three different bouncy castles...

bracelet making...

biscuit decorating...

balloon animals...

face painting...

as well as colouring, free cakes, soft drinks and bacon rolls (Liam was happy as he got to eat mine!) and organised races/tug of war etc. There is also a little play park right next to the field, so baby had a go on the swings before we went home...

Such fun. By the time we got home it was almost the children's bedtime, so quick dinners were in order. I had brown rice pasta with sweetcorn, creme de st agur and chunks of goats' cheese...

Not the most attractive photo, or indeed meal, but it was rich and flavourful, just what I fancied.

Sunday got off to another good start with a yummy breakfast. Gluten-free sweet bread rolls (from my Goodness Direct order), one with PB&Co White Chocolate Wonderful, and one with Cinnamon Raisin Swirl...

with some frozen grapes on the side - the sunshine was out already!

For lunch, the others had leftover tuna sweetcorn pasta so I could have whatever I wanted...that'd be a whole jug of cold smoothie then!

200g frozen berries, 150g frozen pineapple, 250ml milk and some coconut extract... you bet I drank this straight from the jug, with a straw of course to be civilised!! :-p

I then made the most of the sunshine in the garden while the children napped. It was so hot out, bliss! I made sure to wear a strapless top to avoid any more silly strap lines before the wedding day, sensible, see! :) I had some more frozen grapes to cool me down...

I find I eat so much better when the weather is warmer - I naturally want to eat lots more fruit & veggies!

By the way, does anyone into gardening want to identify this tree for me? I'm guessing some kind of plum...

presuming it is a plum tree or something similar, will they be ok to eat? I remember last summer we ignored the tree and eventually the fruit went all sticky and attracted loads of flies...annoying as well as wasteful!

Anyway, back to the food! After a while in the sun I came inside to cool off, and eat of course. More peanut butter...

and mushrooms with houmous...

Once Liam got home from work, we went to a BBQ at his Auntie's house. No photos of my food (they thought I was weird enough not eating meat!) but I ate lots of salad with a few vegetable kebabs they'd made, and some basil tofu I'd brought with me. Plus several plastic cups of Pimms! Liam's Aunt has a huge garden, which the children loved, especially as it included a trampoline!

There was also birthday cake for Liam's cousin, baby was getting a bit tired by this time but still managed to eat cake!

Phew, another good day and another late bedtime - we didn't get home until gone 8pm when the children are normally in bed by 7pm! All good fun though, nice to make the most of the sunshine :)

And with that, I will finish this post. As I've mentioned, today hasn't been so good weather or food-wise. I'm off to circuits in an hour or so though so hopefully that will help to get me back on the healthy track! How have all your weekends been? Favourite thing you've done? From a selfish point of view, mine was probably the time in the sun by myself when the children were sleeping, bliss! Both afternoon outings were good too though, the children had so much fun which is great to see.