Fitness Fridays: Soups!

Good afternoon!

I hope you're all looking forward to your weekends, not many hours to go now!

The last few weeks I've been trying to incorporate soup into my diet as much as possible.
I'm not sure if I've told you much about my diet but I eat breakfast at 6am, have a break at 11am, lunch at 2ish, snack at 5 whilst driving before the gym and my evening meal at 8 when I get home. Its a very long day and I need constant grazing to get me through.

I work in a lab so grazing at a desk isn't something that I can do. I'll be writing about my breakfasts and lunches in future, but my 11am break is currently dedicated to soup. I'm lucky that my mum is super amazing and makes soup weekly, if not twice a week because we all love it. Here's some recipe and flavour suggestions:

My mum is a very big fan of cooking and we rarely have evening meals that aren't 100% prepared by her. We have a slow cooker that is perfect for casseroles, curries, chilli and pasta sauces and if not its freshly cooked stir fry, pasta bakes and fish and veg.

She absolutely loves her Creuset dishes though and most soups are prepared in these. As a general rule, the veg is prepared and chopped, sweated in the Creuset dish on a high heat with 1 cal spray for 5 minutes and then vegetable stock is added. This is then brought to the boil and then simmers for 20 minutes before being whizzed by a hand mixer and ta dah, a home made batch of soup. We normally add in an onion and some garlic to every recipe so these get added in and cooked in the 1 cal spray first and I can tell you it smells AMAZING.

It's super easy and I wish more people would make their own. It's much healthier than tinned soup with preservatives and cream etc thrown into them to make them taste better.


The photo below shows Pea and Courgette soup, its super green and therefore super nutritious with lots of vitamins and antioxidants. When my mum first made it I was a bit worried I'd hate it....but actually its amazing and it's now one of my favourites.

For this recipe you need 3 courgettes with the garlic and onion, and then add a load of frozen peas at the same time you add the stock. My amounts are a little vague I'll admit...measuring in my house is rarely done unless its cakes so just add 2 mugs or so and go from there. They don't take long to cook in the stock so you can always add more!

Another favourite of mine is Sweet Potato and Butternut squash, you can also substitute the butternut squash for carrot as well. I love that it's bright orange! Using squash and pumpkins in soup is a great way to try new vegetables that you haven't tried before, just add them into a soup that you know you like already and the bigger the variety the better.
I think for this one it's normally 3 sweet potatoes and a whole butternut squash.

Leek and potato was my favourite when I was younger as my nan always used to make it. Now though I much prefer my mums recipe (the horror!) as she makes it without any cream, milk etc and I find it tastes much better. For this recipe its a packet of leeks, normally 4 I think? And then 2 medium sized potatoes.
If you feel you need the creaminess you can add milk instead of cream to save on calories, but I find that it's completely pointless and it tastes much better without!

At home we tend to eat soup from these really cute sets from Ikea, thought I try and forget the plate underneath is for bread.....

For work I have one of these pots which you can buy from Asda. They're so handy and you can put any hot food in them, put them in the microwave and depress the button on the lid to allow some steam out.
They're also great for salads especially as you can shake them up and ensure the dressing is equally distributed.

Most of the soups on this page, as they contain only veg and stock, are only around 100 calories per portion. Although I do eat a lot throughout the day (and some people at work definitely made a few comments at me having soup on my 'tea break') by the time I get to 11am I've been awake 5 hours and need some more sustenance. A 100 calorie portion of soup is a great way to fill you up, get more of your 5 a day in and its lovely and warm on these current rainy days.
I follow it up at 2ish with a salad and a yogurt, so i am unlikely to go over my calorie intake!

Do you like soup? What's your favourite flavour? Do you have any recipes you can link me to?

I looooooooove soup and think so many more people should get involved!

L xxx

Hip and Healthy Box

Hey lovelies!

I've got an awesome post for you today. I'm sure you love beauty boxes just as much as I do....but Latest in Beauty have recently brought out their Hip and Healthy* box featuring a whole host of products including organic skincare, free from foods and interesting teas and powders.

They were lovely enough to send me a box to review after they loved my post on their Glamour Beauty Edit box before Christmas so I was very excited as I was already considering buying it when I got paid.

I love the presentation of these boxes, the tissue paper is always gorgeous and its always a feelgood thing to open these boxes with the pretty presentation.

There's a huge and varied selection of items in this box and you can see how tightly packed in they are!

There's a photo below of the full size products so you can see and even an example of a recipe:

Starting with the sachets below we have Teapigs Matcha Green Tea at the bottom, Aduna Baobab, Organic Super Blends Omega 3 powder and Together Health Multi Vitamins.

Teapigs Matcha Green Tea is green tea leaves ground to a fine powder. Just 1/2 a teaspoon has the same benefits as 15 cups of normal green tea.....FIFTEEN!!! That's unbelievable! This means it gives you a natural energy boost for up to 6 hours, has 70 times the antioxidants of orange juice and can boost your metabolism. The also claim that 60% had improved skin, hair and nail condition in just 2 weeks.I cannot wait to try this!

Aduna Baobab is created from the African Baobab and contains 14 essential vitamins and minerals. It is 50% fibre and has one of the highest antioxidant capacities in the world. Nickname the 'Feel Good Fruit' it can hlep with energy, immune system and a reduction of tiredness and fatigue. Not only all this plus it helping your skin look great on the outside it also helps sustain 6-8 million households in rural Africa. You can mix this into shakes, smoothies, yogurt and porridge for a boost your day.

Organic Super Blends have been created to suit different purposes and all are soy, dairy, gluten, wheat and sugar free (woo!). The main ingredient was Chia and then each of the blends; Omega 3, Skin Food, Alkaline Greens or Energise, have their own individual ingredients. These powders can be added in to smoothies, porridge etc for a nutritious boost.

I've just added both of these powders to a smoothie (recipe coming soon!) and can tell you they're both very tasty.

Together Health Multi Vitamins are made from the highest quality natural foods and contains no hidden nasties, not even preservatives, sugars, synthetics, wheat, gluten or lactose. They really are super pills! My sample only contained 4 capsules so I'm afraid I won't be able to comment on the effects of these too much.

As part of the beauty product offering the Neom Organic Hand Cream is packed with antioxidant extracts including Acai and argan oil to aid collagen production and tighten the skin. It's very absorbent and feel thick and luxurious.

Balance Me Cleanse and Smooth Face Balm is an oil based balm with a combination of oatmeal and Arctic cloudberry (never heard of this!) to cleanse and smooth your skin just like a facial would.

Nourish Golden Glow Face Shimmer is a really nice product, a tiny bit goes a long way as its so moisturising. It's totally organic and whilst it's moisturising and helps reduce the appearance of uneven skin tone and age spots it also contains golden mineral powders for a healthy and vibrant glow. The shimmer particles in this are so fine that you can barely see them which I find is best in a highlighter, I don't want a glittery look!

Rude Health Ultimate Granola is a blend of oats, spelt, barley and puffed amaranth bked with honey and date syrup  and roasted nuts to create a breakfast cereal to keep you full until lunch time. My plan is to try this in the morning with Greek yogurt and some blueberries so I'm really looking forward to it! There's no added salt or sugar so you can rest assured that what you're eating is completely guilt free.

Jax Coco is 100% coconut water and is only 50 calories for the whole 250ml. It is allegedly one of the best ways to rehydrate after a workout and give you a natural boost. I mixed this in with the smoothie that I made with the above powders and it was really tasty. I'd definitely mix this into more things in the future!

I have previously posted about Bounce balls before and I'm already a huge fan. I have tried all flavours apart from the Walnut one and would recommend them all. The peanut and almond balls are great for filling you up with protein, the coconut ball is perfect for a sweet snack and the spirulina and ginseng ball is a great pick me up for your immune system.

This box was a great way to try new products as beauty boxes always are, but this box was even better with the new food products and so many different ways to try them out.

I've already made a smoothie with all of the powders and coconut water and will be posting a recipe soon.
Are you a smoothie fan? Do you like clean snack such as granola and bounce balls?

This box can be bought from the Latest in Beauty website for just £9.95 (plus £3.95 P&P) but is worth over £50. You also get a free days pass into a Virgin Active health club which would be a great way to try a new gym.

Do you like beauty boxes? Would you like to try the Hip and Healthy box?

L xxx

Antipodes Spree

Hi!

If you're a regular reader of our blog or our tweets then you'll know that we are both big fans of skincare and particularly organic skincare. I've previously posted Antipodes Divine Oil after receiving it in the Selfridge's Beauty Box (review here)

After seeing an offer on Naturisimo where if you bought 2 Antipodes products you received a free Hand and Body cream I couldn't resist. I'd just almost finished the Divine Oil and knew I wanted to repurchase it so that was added to my basket straight away.

As for my other purchase...I was stumped because my initial choices were of either the Aura Manuka Honey mask which I'd heard SO MUCH about and wanted badly and the Reincarnation Facial Exfoliator. Unfortunately both of these were out of stock, at the time I'd just finished a cleanser so I snapped up the Juliet Brightening Cleanser to complete my order.




The Divine Oil is an absolute must have for me. After using it for the first time 18 months ago it has been a complete life changer and I wouldn't be without it now.

Even the week without it between it running out and the new one arriving was torture.
I increased my water levels to flush out toxins from my body and obviously this caused my skin to break out and nothing would help it at all.





I can't use this oil in the morning because it's too greasy to apply to skin before make up (I only get 10 mins to sort my face in the morning) but in the night its amazing and absorption doesn't take long at all. I'm just impatient in the mornings!

The Juliet Brightening Cleanser has been a great addition to my skincare wardrobe. It's a brown plastic bottle which allows the product to be dispensed easily. The cleanser is a brown gel which looks a little odd initially, I wasn't expecting it to be the same brown colour as the bottle!



You apply this to wet skin and it melts make up straight off your face. I was really surprised this was so easy and it even melted off my mascara which is pretty impressive.
Not only is it amazing at removing make up it also contains kiwi fruit and manuka honey which are both New Zealand.
Kiwi fruit contains Omega 3, Vitamins C and E and ALA - alpha-linolenic acid, which are all super products for skincare.
Manuka is anti-bacterial, anti-wrinkle and its also an astringent which means its another great ingredient in skincare products.



I've loved using this cleanser and would definitely buy it again.

The GWP was a Hand and Body cream called Joyful.



It's a 120ml cream that can be used at any time of the day on hands and body. It's suitable for most skin types and is fragrant with wild blackcurrant and also contains hibiscus flower and avocado oil.



This smells divine and doesn't leave an oily residue on your skin at all. It's great for rough elbows and knees and I find is best applied after a bath/shower on my limbs as it sinks in and smells lush!





I have to say I was a huge fan of Antipodes having only tried one of their products. It was only a matter of time before I picked up more of them and this order was just the start of a slippery slope.....having loved them so much and 'accidentally on purpose' noticing that the mask and exfoliator were back in stock i swiftly placed my next order....oops!

This time I gave the free Joyful hand and body cream to my mum who was very grateful for a present from me....shame it says free gift with purchase on the box eh?!

Have you tried Antipodes? What's your favourite product?

I would love the try the Kiwi Seed Eye Cream and either the Joyous or Apostle serums, they both sound amazing. In fact lets be honest at this rate I'm bound to be buying the entire range over the next ye


L xxx

Current Reads

At the weekend I was travelling back from my parents and decided I treat myself to some new books. When I was in WH Smiths I couldn't decide so I thought I'd share the books I've recently been reading. I was really surprised how cheap the books were on the kindle app on my phone. Books that were £7.99 were around £3-£4 on the kindle. I'd definitely recommend downloading the app.

James Patterson is easily my favourite books. I love his writing style. It's easy to read and always grips me straight away. I love that his books are in short chapters meaning it's easy to pick up for the commute. This book is a relatively new release and was only £3 on the kindle. I've already read 50% since Sunday! I love that you can pick up any of his books and understand what's going on but if you are a crime thiller fan I'd definitely suggest some of his books for an easy read.

I've seen this book everywhere and after reading Mission Me's review I'd been wanting to pick it up. For years I literally only read James Patterson so part of my 101 things in 1001 days was to expand my literature. I've only heard good things about this but I've heard it's a tear jerker so I'm waiting till I have time at home to start this one.

As part of my list I set myself to read 5 classics. I loved the sound of this and had been recommended to read it. Although it was hard to adjust to the language I was hooked for the first 50% of the book but have since struggled with it. I really need to get myself back into it. I find the trouble with classics are you need to have a free hour to really get into it each time to read it. I will stick it out and get to the end though.

What are you currently reading? Any recommendations?

Love M

xxx