WIAW - Meal out at Herbies Vegetarian Restaurant

Happy What I Ate Wednesday everyone! Thanks as always to the lovely Jenn :)





Today's WIAW is actually what I ate Monday as my laptop broke on Monday night (grrr!) and I seem to have stopped taking as many photos since! Monday was a yummy day anyway so it's worked out well :)

Breakfast was a light one as a) I was running late, and b) Liam and I were going out for lunch. So I just had a chopped nectarine drowned in peanut flour sauce! (Plus the usual unpictured iced coffees)

This was so refreshing! I'm going through a major peanut flour sauce phase at the moment, but I keep messing up the consistency - this had too much milk splashed in again.

On Monday, I had a hospital appointment. My Dad, who was looking after the children, agreed to have them earlier so Liam and I could go out for lunch, bliss! We went to Herbies Vegetarian Restaurant, which I had been to once before with my Mum. This time, we learnt from my previous visit, and didn't order starters. We still had no room for desserts though - the portion sizes are huge!

Liam ordered nachos with bean chilli...

and I chose to have a wrap with houmous, tandoori daal and roasted vegetables...

I couldn't really taste the houmous in the wrap, but it was filled with lots of daal and loads of veggies - mushroom, courgette, aubergine (which I don't normally like but was nice in this), peppers etc - delicious! Both meals also came with the house salad - Liam's came separately in a bowl but mine was on the plate. Monday's salads were a Chinese noodle salad, green salad and red cabbage, apple and walnut salad. Yum. No wonder we were too full for dessert!!

After my hospital appointment, we treated ourselves to Starbucks before driving home. I had a vanilla iced chai latte...

and two mini square treats - chocolate torte and caramel pecan...

These were really good, and just the right size! My stomach was already quite full of liquids as I'd already had 2 unpictured lattes at the hospital as when we arrived they told us they were still catching up on the morning clinic so we may as well go to the cafe and come back in half an hour!

I also did a bit of food shopping on Monday. Before lunch, I was very excited to spot an Oriental Grocery...

I'm not sure why I was so excited as it was only small, but I still managed to pick up a few things...

I haven't tried any of these yet, but apparently the sesame bananas are crunchy, the "magic creams" at the top look like peanut butter sandwich biscuits (I almost squealed when I saw these, haha, anything peanut butter excites me!!) and the shopkeeper recommended the mixed nuts.

We also quickly stopped off at Waitrose on the way home - I haven't been drinking enough water recently so I bought some new cordials to encourage me to drink more...

I haven't tried the blackcurrant & ginger one yet, but the pear & elderflower is delicious with sparkling water, and the raspberry & pear great with just plain tap water, yum!

Monday dinner was very simple. Just leftover potato insides from Sunday's potato skins heated up with sweetcorn,  and then mixed with blue cheese and goats cheese and grilled for a little bit...

Perhaps not the most attractive meal, but comforting, filling and yummy is good enough for me! :)

What is the favourite thing you've eaten today/this week? My daal and veggies wrap on Monday was definitely a contender, and I also I had some sesame smoked tofu nachos last night which were great! Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Successful Day

I intended to write this post last night, but I was just too exhausted – things have been really hectic around here the last few days! So this post will mainly focus on Thursday – yesterday – as that was my “successful day”.

My Mum and I went shopping in Exeter, on the hunt for summery clothes for me to wear on honeymoon! Sadly no trip to Starbucks as Mum always likes to start a day shopping with a coffee in Marks & Spencer. I had a latte with no sugar or sweetener, and didn’t even notice until after I’d finished drinking. Success #1! I have such a sweet tooth and usually add so much sugar/agave/sweet freedom to hot drinks!

Rejuvenated by our coffees, we hit the shops! To be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of clothes’ shopping – normally getting worn out after an hour or two – but I managed to buy quite a few items! :)

We first went into Burton to buy Liam a suit for the wedding (he had already bought a dark grey one, but now is going to wear a light grey one…long story!!) and ended up buying a hoodie for myself!

A men’s shop I know, but the hoodie looks and feels great (so soft!) and was on offer at £15, bargain!!

We then went into Next, and I came out with a black skirt (good for evenings as well as daytime) and a navy top (not to go together!)…

as well as a bright pink cardi that I love!

I really needed something to wear over tops if the evening gets cooler, and this is perfect!

I seem to have bought from all the shops that my teenage self would have thought of as non-trendy or “sad”. However the clothes in the younger shops no longer suit me. I’m a 25 year-old mother of two. I’d rather wear clothes that suit my body shape than try to pretend to be something I no longer am. And hey, being 15 wasn’t all that great anyway!!

So with that out the way, next up was Debenhams, where I bought two tops.

As you can see, I mainly bought tops yesterday. I already have a couple of pairs of linen trousers and a couple of skirts, as well as jeans and some dresses I can borrow from my Mum for the honeymoon. Tops are what I needed desperately as all mine either fit but are way too short (i.e. from my younger days!) or are too big and/or stretched out of shape…not attractive…I feel so much better when I’m actually wearing clothes that fit!!

The final shop we went into before lunch was BHS. I wasn’t expecting to find anything in here, but I actually ended up buying another two tops…I think I’ve got enough to last me the 6 day honeymoon now!!

The white top is just a basic. The pink top is a nice thin fabric that will be perfect if I end up getting slightly burnt and need to keep cool! Hopefully won’t happen but best to be prepared!!
I also couldn’t resist buying a plate and bowl that were reduced…

Summer’s almost here!! :)

It was then finally time for lunch…we were starving!! We went to a vegetarian restaurant, Herbies, that Mum goes to quite a lot but I’d never been to. All the food is vegetarian, and a lot of it is marked gluten free…perfect! We shared a starter of nachos with cheese, guacamole, salsa and sour cream…

Mmm, so good. I loved the guacamole especially! Herbies was the busiest Mum had ever seen it, which was lucky really as it meant we had a 5-10 minute wait for our mains – needed as our tummies were already a little full from the nachos!

Mum ordered the soup of the day – broccoli and ginger – which came with a huge loaf “roll” of bread…

and I went for the Spicy Vegetable Satay – baby corn, mushrooms, green beans, pepper, courgette and sugar snaps in a spicy peanut sauce, with rice…

both meals came with huge salad bowls containing green salad, spicy rice salad and homemade coleslaw…

I was already really full from the spicy vegetables, so only ate the coleslaw and green salad. Plus I had a small taste of the rice and it tasted like it contained soy sauce, which often contains gluten, so I thought it was best to avoid as much as possible.

There were also some amazing gluten-free desserts on the menu – fruit crumble, chocolate and chestnut terrine (this sounded great!), flapjack and some others I can’t remember (!) but we were both way too stuffed to even consider order dessert! Next time we’ll skip the starter so we’ve got room left for something sweet! All the food was really delicious and fresh tasting, we’ll definitely be going back again! They also have a really good value children’s menu with things like jacket potatoes on it, so will possibly take the family next time…although daughter would probably want something “exciting” from the adult menu!! As we were leaving, a man came in on his own to eat, as he’d been recommended the restaurant as the best vegetarian in the South West, so it sounds like Herbies is well known!

Soon after lunch we headed home, happy, full and worn out! The day was a really good one :) I also purchased some sets of underwear, both for the honeymoon and the actual wedding day (exciting!) but I’ll save them as a surprise for Liam!!!

When we were at lunch, we got a phone call from the hairdresser saying she’d had a cancellation, so could either me or my sister come in for our second hair trial at 5. We’d decided we needed 2nd hair trials as neither of us were happy with our hair in the first ones and didn’t want the stress of it on the actual day!! My sister was busy so I rushed to the hairdressers. Glad I went. Compared to the last trial of 2 hours +, this one only took half an hour and both me and my Mum love it, yey! Another success!

I love that the front has kept my parting this time – felt much more “me” and natural. I think we’re going to aim to use one medium-sized fresh flower in my hair on the actual wedding day, but tried both clips in to get an idea…

I’m so relieved to get this sorted! My sister has her second hair trial next week, so I hope hers goes as well! I think the hairdresser understands the natural look we’re going for now, phew! :)

Things are going really well on the wedding front actually. I got quite a few things checked off the list today (Friday). This morning we met with the florist at the venue, and then went for coffee to discuss the flowers she’s going to use in the bouquets etc. She’s an old colleague of my Mum’s but also works in a flower shop that specialises in local, seasonal flowers, so we’re going to try to keep in season as much as possible.

Speaking of flowers, these are not the one’s we will be having at all (ours will be purple and cream for starters) but I’ve been wanting to post a photo of these all week! This is what they looked like when we bought them on Tuesday…

and this is what they looked like a couple of days later…

They’re all pointing upwards now! I love having bright flowers around the house, they make everything seem more cheerful even when it’s grey and rainy outside (HELLO weather?! It’s June – we should be having sunshine!!)

I also spoke to the caterer today, to discuss the food requirements in more detail – we have 7 vegetarians coming, one of whom is vegan, and one gluten-free (me!) so we’ve had to re-think the options a bit. I think it’s fine though – she was going to do couscous stuffed peppers, so is now going to do rice or quinoa (my preference) in them instead, without cheese, so they should suit everybody at least. Bulked up with bread and/or new potatoes plus salads…hopefully nobody will go hungry!

Liam and I are off to see the registrar on Monday to go through all the finer details of the day. We have to take with us print-outs of the readings plus details of the music we’re going to play in the ceremony for approval (as none of it is allowed to be religious) so we’re going to go see Liam’s family tomorrow to confirm what reading his Mum would like to do (Liam’s sister didn’t want to do a reading so his Mum is instead). My sister has already decided on the reading she’d like to do so that one is sorted.

Phew, wedding talk over for now. I can’t believe the wedding day is 3 weeks tomorrow!!

Today’s food has been pretty random, and I haven’t even photographed it all – a couple of days “off” and I’ve got out of the habit! I do want you to show my delicious dinner though…

Smoothie In A Jar!! Banana-Blueberry-Peach smoothie in a Dark Chocolate Dreams Jar no less, yum! Sadly this was the last of my last PB&Co Jar…sad! Luckily I placed a small iHerb order today…just got to wait the 2 weeks ish for it to arrive by Airmail!!

Right, that’s me done for the day. Hope you’ve all had good Fridays…any plans for the weekend?? We haven’t got many plans at the moment…a relaxing day or two is needed I think! Oh, also don’t forget to enter my giveaway!! Thanks to those that have entered so far!