Happy Friday!

Hope everyone is having a good friday.

Mine started with a veggie cooked breakfast. I veggie sausage. Toast, chopped tomatoes, egg and beans and mushrooms. So good.

After that had gone down I did a workout on the biggest loser- very hard but felt great after. Had a coconut water to refuel after.

As I had a big breakfast I had a banana smoothie for lunch. I put in 1 banana, tablespoon of peanut butter, drizzle of honey a few oats and milk. Lush!

In the afternoon I went to see my nan and then popped to my sisters.

Then for dinner I decided to cook Phil I nice meal. I made pumpkin soup ( with the pumpkin I carved) with bake croutons and seeds and then cod fillet wrapped in serrano ham served with mash and roasted parsnips and carrots. Yum!

I don't have a cupcake class tomorrow now as the 2 ladies cancelled so plan on doing more unpacking as our spare room is a mess!

Then off for drinks and nibbles round Cat and Tylers.

I've been looking through one of my new cookbooks by Sally Bee and it's fab, I want to try all of the recipes. I hate getting a cookbook and only finding a handful that I like.

What is everyone doing this weekend? Love to hear from you.

Jess xx
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Happy Hump day!

Hi guys, hope everyone has had a good week so far.

I was glad it wasn't raining today as we have had loads! And living on a farm there is mud everywhere- I still need wellies!!!

Breakfast this morning was a vegetarian cooked breakfast, with toast, tomatoes, quorn bacon, veggie sausages and an egg- lovely!

My snack was at lunch as I knew I would be home way after lunch so I had a bowl of puffed brown rice and rice milk.

Lunch (at 3.30pm) was courgette fritter made with wholegrain spelt flour.

I then did cleaning round the house and read a bit of my magazine then it was time to get dinner ready. A quorn fillet in breadcrumbs with half corn on the cob, romanesca cauliflour and sweet potato fries. Lush. Phil loved it, I waited until he finished until I told him it was vegetarian and not real chicken :-0

This evening me and Phil caught up on some TV and then I made a batch of peanut butter cupcakes. Yuuuuuuum.

I'm still on the job hunt. Been out of work since July and money is a serious issue at the moment, we are really struggling. Fingers crossed something comes up really soon!!

Right i'm off to bed!!

Veggie's!

Hi guys,

Sorry I didn't post yesterday. My sister came out of hospital late in the afternoon so had to pick her up and sort a few things out. Glad she's back home though bless her.

My first veg box cam yesterday from Kelly's Veggie's! Super excited.

This week I got:

Avocado
Green Romanesco Cauliflower
Onions
Purple Sprouting Broccoli
Sweetcorn on the cob
Sweet Potatoes

Citrus Fruits (Clementines, Satsumas, Jaffa Oranges, etc.)
Grapes

Lots of nice things to try.

This morning for breakie was scrambled eggs on wholegrain toast and organic coffee. Needed a filling breakfast this morning.

Lunch I had tofu with stir fry veggies. Bit of TLC food. I'm fling really exhausted at the moment.

Dinner was grilled chicken with sweet potato wedges, corn on the cob and purple sprouting from the veg box :-)

Sorry for short post again. Off to watch Miami Vice with Phil.

Jess xx

Long night

Hi guys,

Crapberry post so sorry for pics being at the top!

Today I started with a choc cherry smoothie- missed that bad boy!!

Then lunch was a hot and sour soup I made for me and my sister. In the afternoon I went to my sisters and made halloween decorations with my nephew connor. Such fun! I miss being a kid!!

Then I made avocado and salmon sushi for lunch. Not bad for my first ever try!!!

Snacks have been some seaweed snacks and a few squares of dark choc.

I planned a night reading and chillaxing and at 10.30pm I got a call from my sister as she needed to go to hospital so I'm now sat at her house looking after connor. I won't go into too much detail but she had a coil fitted a few weeks ago and it's got infected so she needs to have it removed urgently as it can make you infertile!!

I've got The Kind Diet with me so I can read some of that. No idea how long they will be.

Right sorry for short boring post. Catch ya tomorrow.

Jess xx
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Lol- quick update

I know I've just posted but just looked on the stats for my blog and here are some of the search terms that have led people to my blog- love the flab one!!! And my post about the electra bike has obviously bumped it up a bit! On a good note I had no idea I get about 800 views a month! Much more than I thought!!

electra gypsy cruiser

"amai udon wagamama recipe"

electra bike

cutiedaisy

electra gypsy bike

moderngirlsguide

beach cruiser bikes with basket

bike flower basket

can pinch my flab

cruiser gypsy

Do you sushi? I do!

Hi guys, hope you are all having a fab day.

Today I had lunch at my fave place- yo sushi. Little bites of pure heaven. I could eat there every day no problemo!

Breakfast was oats with Agave Nectar and a cup of organic coffee and rice milk

After a few appointments this afternoon I was feeling pretty drained so treated myself with a chillout watching Sex & the City Movie for the 200th time :-)

The lovely guys at Mule Bar sent me some free sample to taste. So far I've had the Hunza Nut and Mango Tango energy bars. These guys pride themselves on 100% natural ingredients so I couldn't wait to try them. The packaging is cute and looks fun so that was a thumbs up. The 2 I tried are kinda like a flapjack and both were so scrummy. You can really taste the mango in the Mango tango and they were much moister than I thought they would be, some cereal bars are like sawdust! But the Hunza nut was my fave so far. Really yummy flavours and really hit the spot. Phil tried the Liquorice one as I cannot stand it! He wasn't a fan. he said the creal bar consistency was nice but couldn't get it head round the liquorice in it. But he isn't a massive fan of it anyway. I've got a few more to try which I'll update you on as I eat them. But so far i'm impressed.

The nutritional breakdown is:

Hunza Nut 65g bar

Kcal 233

Fat 4g

Sat fat 0.6g

Fibre 3g

Protein 4g

Carb 44g

Mango Tango 65g bar

Kcal 241

Fat 5g

Sat fat 1g

Fibre 2g

Protein 6g

Carb 44g

Dinner was satay prawns with brown rice pad thai noodles for me and Chicken satay for phil. Yumness! And sorry for no pic!

As you know I'v been looking at vegan/veggie diets a fair bit and want to dabble in them and see what I like. Next week I've decided the following breakdown:

Mon- Veggie

Tues- Vegan

Wed- Vegan

Thurs- normal day

Fri- Veggie

Sat- Veggie

Sun- Veggie

That being said even on non vegan days I'm going to try and eat like a vegan where possible i.e. still having my rice milk and vegan butter etc but it means I can be a bit more adventurous with my meals.

Right I'm off to do some meal planning!!!

Jess xx

Happy Friday

Hi guys,

Sorry blogging from the crapberry so pics are all at the top!

Hope everyone has had a fab day. Mine started with a feeling that I had something important today but couldn't think what it was so I went on with my day. Toast for breakie and then picked up my sister for a look round town and we shared this seafood platter for lunch. Amazing! Mackerel, prawns, crayfish, anchovies, salad and granary bread. We couldn't finish it though! I got some bits from the health food shop- organic coffee, dairy free choc, organic rocksalt and oatmeal.

Anyway driving home I had a call on my carphone. The kitchen inspector was waiting at my house to check my kitchen. Because I run a cupcake business at home they have to check it. That was the something important!! Well I left washing drying in the kitchen, including pants! A random pumpkin that my gramp dropped off and my breakfast dishes left on the side! Nightmare. My kitchen is always clean but I'd left this stuff out! IDIOT!! Anyway it was all ok!!

So after that I prepared for my cupcake class tomorrow and tried a new cupcake recipe- banana and chocolate cupcakes filled with caramel..enough said!!

Then my gorgeous Phil came home. Missed him last night. And we had dinner of chicken wings and homemade oven chips. Not healthy but not too bad as they were baked.

Then we watched Spooks and I had a nice hot bath. Lush!

So now I'm off to read The Clean & Lean Diet and then off to Bedfordshire.

Another pic of Muffin getting up to no good!

Jess
Xx
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Tired

Hi guys,

Quick post tonight via blackberry as can hardly keep my eyes open!

Breakfast today was wholegrain toast and honey again. Yummy!

Lunch I made a prawn curry from zest magazine. Served with brown rice udon noodles but I didn't eat them as I didn't cook them fully #fail.

It's getting really cold here now and I was hungry this afternoon so I had a bowl of miso soup.

Phil is away tonight so I thought I'd treat myself to a chinese takeaway but as always wish I hadn't. It's made me feel really heavy, sluggish and yuk. Really need to take notice of my body that it doesn't do well with these foods. So am feeling disappointed with myself. But tomorrow is a new day.

I'm loving The Kind Diet book. Off to read some more in a mo. I hear Bob Harper has come out as Vegan. Must be something in it.

Any of my blog readers vegan?

Couple of pics of Molly in her new sleep place and some chillaxin bunnies!

Right I'm off to bedfordshire as Bridget Jones would say.
Jess
Xx

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Happy Hump day!

Hi guys,

Sorry I didn't post yesterday. My bad.

Today I had a nice lie in as didn't have a cupcake class to do. For breakfast I had 2 slices of wholegrain toast with honey. Sorry no pic!

Lunch was Thyme-roasted Gem Squash I missed out the cream though as wanted to make it a bit healthier.

I watched cupcake wars and then chillaxed on the sofa and watched Bridget Jone's diary as I haven't seen it for ages and it fit in perfectly with my chill day!

My books came yesterday- The Kind Diet and Clean & Lean Diet. Last night I started The Kind Diet and I couldn't put it down. I got to Chapter 7 before I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. I'm thinking about eating a more veggie/vegan diet. And this book was recommended to me. I was a vegetarian when I was a teen and then just gave it up. But I miss it. I'm not sure how I'm going to approach it yet and may not follow it as strictly- e.g I love eggs, prawns, fish and honey but a more of a flexitarian diet combining vegan/vegetarian with a day here or there with lean milk or fish. I'm just rambling! I'll let you know once I've figured out what i'm going to do. The good thing about The Kind Diet is there are different levels to follow. You can start as a "flirt" and move to a "superhero".

I also baked some cupcakes today. Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes drizzled with maple syrup- yummy!

Here are some Christmas cupcakes too

Dinner was roasted pumpkin speltotto (spelt risotto) it was pretty good actually!

As it's freezing tonight me and Phil fancied oatmeal with walnuts, PB and choc as pudding- delish!!!

Question for today:

What goals did you set for 2010 or still want to achieve?

Mine are:

• Lose another stone which will take me to 4 stone lost this year.
• I want to find a job! I've been out of work since July and money is getting seriously tight! I want something close to home and for a bit less money so I don't have such a stressful job as before. Just doesn't seem to be a lot about
• Seriously up my exercise. As you've probably read i've been a bit slack since my operation and with moving home and i've still not got back into a routine.

Right off to read some more of The Kind Diet before bed!

Night all

Jess

xx

Happy Monday!

Weekends go by sooooooo quickly!

Today I had a cupcake class with a lovely lady who is setting up a cupcake business in Stow on the Wold. We did a lot of xmas style cakes as that's what she wanted. Great fun and got me in the xmas mood!!!

Breakfast this morning was oats with peanut butter, choc spread and some seeds. After reading lots of fellow bloggies having theirs I was craving it!!

After my class I went to see my friend Lydia for a cuppa and then popped to the farm shop and got these goodies.

Pumpkin and mascarpone for my pumpkin risotto i'm making, a gem squash which i'll do something with and some Speltotto- an organic spelt risotto so have to try it!!!

Lunch wasn't until 3 but worth the wait. Brown rice udon noodles with veg and teriyaki tofu.

Dinner was egg fried quinoa with prawns. Yummy.

A few other eats where a few squares of dark chocolate, some ginger nut biscuits and some vanilla rice milk.

I've got another cupcake class tomorrow so need to bake some cuppies for that and then I think a chillax with Phil on the sofa is in order :-)

Love Lazy Sundays

It's been such a nice day here! Sun has been shining all day.

After a nice Sunday lie in we had some scrambled eggs on wholegrain toast and 2 slices of lean breakfast. AMAZING!

Then a quick trip to the pet shop and supermarket for supplies before going back home.

I baked my Christmas cake. I used this recipe by the queen of Baking Mary Berry. The house has been filled with wonderful Christmas smells :-0

For lunch I made some tofu and vegetable brown rice. Yummy. Did a bit too much though so had to throw some away- hate waste!!!

For dinner I made lemon chicken and served it with some brown noodles and salad.

As it was Sunday and I've been craving it all week I made a mini apple and blackberry crumble for me and Phil and served it with some light vanilla ice cream- perfect!!!!

Don't forget guys you can leave a comment at the end of each post. I love hearing from peeps- don't be shy!

Question for today: What 3 foods can you not live without?

Mine would be- prawns, wholegrain bread and honey I think. Bit of a tough call!

Bedtime reading: 15 Minute Stress Busters

Fluff monstor

Here's another pic of the fluff monstor Poppy! Cheeky little bunny.

Today me and Phil had a nice lay in, did a few things round the house. I mowed the lawn which was tough!! Sweating my ass off!!!

We went in to town so Phil could have his hair cut and I had a mooch around and picked up this little treat :-)

Snackage today was pineapple. 2 whole pineapples for £1 at the market. Bargin!!

Lunch on the go was a sarnie and a very nice sarnie it was too!

Saturday night snackage- hummous, pitta and olives and sun blushed tomatoes. Yum! We then had pizza for dinner. So that part wasn't healthy.

My sister, Ryan and Connor came round in the afternoon and Connor had loads of fun climbing the trees. He loves coming to our as they live in a flat so they don't have a garden and ours is massive!

Tonight we've pretty much chilled out and watched Strictly Come Dancing. I want Matt Baker to win :-)

Now we pretty much all know we should be getting 5 a day of fruit/veg but do we know what a portion is. This guide tells you what's what.

Tomorrow I plan to make my xmas cake, plan for my cupcake class on Monday and unpack some more boxes and that's pretty much it. What are everyone elses plans?

Jess xx

Recipe post- Breakfast Burrito

I bought The Biggest Loser Cookbook last month and there are some fab recipes in there. Here is one of my favourites:

ENERGIZING BACON & EGG BREAKFAST BURRITO

Ingredients:

Olive oil cooking spray

3 large egg whites

1 strip nitrate-free turkey bacon, chopped (sometimes I use normal lean bacon)

1/4 cup chopped onion

2 tablespoons seeded, chopped fresh tomatoes

2 tablespoons whole wheat flour, 96% fat-free tortilla (8” diameter)

2 tablespoons (1/2 ounce) finely shredded Light Cheddar cheese

2 teaspoons red taco sauce (sometimes I use Ketchup)

Instructions

Coat a small microwaveable bowl with cooking spray. Add the egg whites. Set aside.

Set a small nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until it is hot enough for a spritz of water to sizzle on it. With an oven mitt, briefly remove the pan from the heat to coat with cooking spray. Set over medium-high heat and add the bacon. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 2 minutes. Add the onion. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the bacon is crisp.

Add the tomatoes. Cook for about 1 minute, or until just heated. Remove the bacon mixture to a bowl. Cover to keep warm. Place the tortilla in the pan and return to medium-high heat. Cook for about 30 seconds per side, or until just warm.

Meanwhile, microwave the egg whites on low power for 30 seconds. Continue microwaving in 30-second intervals until they are just a bit runny on top. Stir them with a fork, breaking into large pieces. If they are still undercooked, cook them in 10-second intervals until just done. Stir in the reserved bacon mixture.

Place the tortilla on a serving plate. Sprinkle on the cheese leaving about 2” bare on one end, in an even strip (about 3” wide) running across the center. Top with the reserved egg white mixture and drizzle on the taco sauce. Fold the bare end of the tortilla up over the filling, and then fold the sides of the tortilla over the middle. Serve immediately.

Makes 1 serving

Per serving: 251 calories, 24 g protein, 30 g carbohydrates, 5 g fat,

TGI Friday!

Hi guys, it's been really nice weather here for the past few days. October is looking better than our summer!!!! Hope it stays nice for the weekend :-) Planning to go chestnut picking with my sister and Connor to get our stash for christmas!!

Breaky this morning was a Breakfast cookie. Delish.

I then had a mooch round town, popped to see my Nan and then my sister. Nice to catch up with them.

For lunch I had some steamed dim sum as a treat ans then snacked on some spicy sea weed- love this stuff!!!

Dinner was a salad of chicken and bacon, so so yummy. I never buy croutons now, so easy to do your own. I just cut some granary bread in cubes, sprtiz with fry light and put in a medium over for 10 mins. Easy!!!

Plan on making my christmas cake this weekend. The dried fruits have been soaking in sherry the past 3 days so they are all ready to go. Also got a few other bits to do around the house but plan to have a pretty chilled weekend as I don't have a cupcake class to do.

I've just ordered 2 books from amazon. The Kind Diet and The Clean & Lean Diet. I'll let you know how they are. Anyone read them?

Bedtime reading: I've been try to eat a lot healthier and one thing I'm keen on is organic but in the UK organic means "push the price up" and with me and Phil struggling financially I have to buy as much as I can at the value end. But this article from ZEST gives some good info on what's worth buying organic.

Right I'm off to read a magazine before bed :-)

Jess xx

10 things you might not know about me

I seen a few blog peeps do this post so I thought for a bit of fun I'd do the same:

1. I cannot stand peppers. In my house they are called dirty peppers and must not be near any food that I consume.

2. I went to a boarding school from age 13-18. It is not like Harry Potter but still a lot of fun. One christmas we hung tampons on the christmas tree and our house matron went craaaaaaaaaaazy. Sorry Mrs Steenkamp!!!

3. If I win the lottery I'd set up a bunny sanctuary to look after unwanted bunnies.

(Source)

4. When I was 8 I had a rabbit and my sister had a guinea pig. They lived together and one day we married them. We got my dad's wheelbarrow dressed it with mums net curtains and that was their wedding car. I was the vicar.

5. I run my own cupcake business www.jesssicascupcakes.com and one day i'd love to have a small shop front selling coffee, my cakes and have bookshelves of books for people to pop in and chillax.

6. My favourite films are The Wizard of Oz, Breakfast at Tiffany's and The Muppet Christmas Carol.

(Source)

7. Me and my sister thought we could fly like Mary Poppins so would jump of our climbing frame with an umbrella hoping to fly. I think I broke a toe.

(Source)

8. Me and Phil are weird. Yes we usually make up random words and use them for various things. The thing is they catch on and our circle of friends and family now use it in their vocab. The best one is one of Phil's. "Shabady bab bab" Or "shab" "shib shab shoo" "shib nab" and on. Yes we are weird...

9. If I could visit anywhere in the world I'd go to see Father Christmas in Lapland. I'm a serious christmas freak. I love it. Love it love it. I suppose I best wait until we have kids to visit Father Christmas thou...

(Source)

10. I admire bloggers like The Fitnessista, CarrotsNCake, HEAB who blog multiple times a day. Wish I could. I do try to do a post once a day but it's more like a few times a week.

logs on the fire

Hi guys,

Posting from my blackberry again so sorry about the pics all being at the top!

As you know I had my breakfast cookie for breakie this morning. Missed those bad boys, so made another for tomorrow :-) Check out fitnessista.com for details on the breakfast cookie.

First this morning I chased another mouse round the house- 4 in 24 hours!!! Molly is bringing mice in but alive so the little things are running around! Nightmare. We now control the cats going in and out so they can have a "search" before they come in!!!

I had a reflexology session this morning which was nice a relaxing. I've never had it before so wasn't sure what to expect but I really enjoyed it.

Then I had cuppies to deliver then my mum came round for a cuppa and a chat. Nice :-)

For snackage I had a protein bar and lots of herbal tea- a moment of calm.

Lunch was long due and I hadn't sorted anything so grabbed some honey on granary toast. Sorry no pic.

Dinner was healthy but a nice treat- pork belly with balsamic onions and scallops. Yum!!! Pic came out too dark on the crapberry!

We lit the fire tonight and it was nice and toasty and I roasted some marshmallows too :-)

One of the other pics is my new snazzy lunch box.

I'm just planning next weeks meals then off to bed!!!


Jess xx
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