Summer Bean Stew and Home Made Head Wear

Hi Everyone, I’m super happy tonight as I am now officially finished work for the weekend!
This morning I got up, did my Davina Top Fit DVD and made a luscious breakfast – Chocolate Cherry Green Monster (loads of spinach, frozen cherries, chocolate whey, soy milk, maca powder) topped with Dorset Cereals Berries and Cherries Muesli and some cacao nibs.

This was just perfect, so thick and creamy and the muesli and nibs gave some great crunch and chew.

Lunch was another serving of last nights Chilli Turkey Salad followed by the most juicy nectarine and a large clemintine.

Mid afternoon I snacked on a large apple and two babybel light.

My snackiness has continued, throughout the day I have snacked on about 4 or 5 fun sized apples (I lost count!) and a couple of handfuls of these roasted soya nuts I picked up on my break.

I really like these soya nuts, they aren’t too bad for calories and fat and have a really good amount of protein. I think I’ll try adding these to salads in the future. I’m beginning to think that today’s snackiness has been down to the fact that the food was ‘just there’. I think if it hadn’t been available to eat I would have been fine! At least all of these snacks have been very healthy.
I had an early evening meeting then rushed home to make this creation:

Mediterranean Summer Bean Stew (inspired by this recipe) makes 4 servings

• 1 onion chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic chopped
• 2 small courgettes chopped
• 1 yellow pepper chopped
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon of tomato puree
• 1 small tin (300g) of haricot beans
• 1 small tin (300g) of cannellini beans
• 1 small tin (300g) of pinto beans
• 1 handful of baby spinach
• 1 teaspoon of dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon of dried basil
• 300 ml Vegetable Stock

Sauté the onion and garlic in a little oil until onion becomes translucent. Add the chopped courgette and pepper to the pan and continue to fry for a couple of minutes until slightly softened. Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, beans and vegetable stock. Allow to simmer for 15 minutes on a low heat until the courgette and pepper are cooked and the beans have warmed through. Add the herbs and spinach and cook for another 30 seconds until the spinach has wilted. Serve.

I had mine with half a RAW cracker crumbled on top. This was fab! I was actually surprised how good this tasted, really filling and full of flavour, gorgeous!

For desert I whizzed up some frozen strawberries, a heaped teaspoon of cocoa powder and soy milk to make chocolate strawberry soft serve. I popped it in the freezer to firm up a bit before eating as I had to add a fair bit of soy milk to get the strawberries to blend.

Tomorrow we are off to the hubby’s cousins wedding. As I’m on my Big Budget Challenge I decided to make myself a head band / fascinator. I found two pieces of black ribbon in my sewing box and managed to come up with this design.

What do you think? (please excuse the dodgy photo of me, and obviously I’ll be wearing my hair a bit nicer!) I don’t think its too bad for half an hours sewing and the fact that it cost nothing! I quite like the simple design too.

I’m looking forward to the wedding, especially the meal! ;-) I shall be back tomorrow with a full run down and a pic of my outfit!

I was also happy today to receive this box of goodies from 9 Bar.

I will be reviewing each type of bar and then including some of them in my mega Giveaway at the end of my Big Budget Challenge.

Well I’m off to do my nails ready for the wedding, hope you all have a great Friday! x

Tagged as: 9 bar, snacking