What I Ate Wednesday - Week 7

It's that time of week again when I posted what I've eaten in a day. I took photos of all the food I ate on Sunday since I was trying out a new mac and cheese recipe for the first time.

For breakfast I crammed all my favourite foods into the one bowl. I had cinnamon oats topped with frozen blueberries, raspberries, mixed seeds, and coconut and almond butter. 

I had a smoothie for lunch made with frozen mango, banana and coconut water. Then in the middle of the afternoon, I made a bagel with houmous, salad and some tofurky. 

For dinner, I made low fat Mac and cheese using a recipe from Nina and Randa Nelson. I've started watching their videos on YouTube and they follow a HCLF vegan diet. The sauce was made from a potato, sweet potato, tomato, almond milk and nutritional yeast and it was so good.

Aside from that, I just snacked on some fruit and way too many dates.

Eating Out - Steak, Cattle & Roll

Is this not just the most epic vegan burger you have ever seen?

It's all down to Steak, Cattle & Roll who are really starting to make their mark on vegans in Glasgow, and those willing to travel to Glasgow to taste the burger that everyone is talking about right now. I really like to go to restaurants where all the food is vegan, but it's great to have places like this that my meat eating friends can enjoy too. 

The vegan burger comes with mayo, slaw and the best vegan mozzarella I've ever tasted. I'd also heard great things about their milkshakes, so I figured it was only right to try one.

I opted for the maple mocha shake with kraken rum. Not only was it delicious, but it was also the first milkshake I've ever had. I've only been vegan for two years but I've never liked milk, so always assumed I wouldn't like milkshakes. After trying this one though, I'm going to be ordering vegan milkshakes whenever I find them from now on.

The thing I really liked about Steak, Cattle & Roll is that the staff were great. I wish I could remember the name of the man that served us, but he went through all the vegan options with me and kept coming over to check if everything was okay. Just as we were about to leave, a woman who I think was the manager came over and we had a chat about how great the vegan burger is going down with people.

If you're in Glasgow, then you definitely check out Steak, Cattle & Roll for a vegan burger like you've never had before. 

SourcedBox - February Box

My second SourcedBox arrived last week, and it was even better than the January one.

My favourite item in the box was the Conscious Chocolate. I've had a few types before, but never this one. It's one of my favourite vegan chocolate bars because it's so smooth and truffle like, and there's not one flavour I've not loved.

I've been a fan of the Nakd bars for a while now, but the salted caramel nibbles are new edition and my favourite yet. I also really enjoyed The Protein Ball Co vegan balls which I took on my Munro climb at the weekend, and they kept me going for the first part of the climb.

There's still a few products that I've not tried, but I am genuinely excited to taste them. There's only been one thing I didn't like and that was the Dilly & Wolf sea salt and cider vinegar roasters. I imagine I'd like them if I liked vinegar, but anything with a hint of vinegar is just not for me.

So that's February's box of goodies. I just wish I didn't need to wait so long on the next box.

I CLIMBED MY FIRST MUNRO!!!

I DID IT!! I climbed my very first Munro at the weekend. This picture was taken at the top of Carn Gorm. We set off from Edinburgh at 7am and parked the car to start climbing about 9.30am. The conditions were great at first with clear skies and snow that wasn't too deep. It didn't take long for the snow to become really deep though, and at some points we were trying to make our way through snow that was up past our knees.

The worst bit of all was the wind. It got stronger as we climbed higher, and I had to dig my ice axe into the snow at points to stop myself blowing over. I almost cried because my hands were so cold at one point too, and I did think I could lose a finger to frost bite. I know it might seem like an exaggeration, but my fingers were FREEZING, even with gloves on.

We had also planned to climb Meall Garbh, but the conditions and visibility was so bad at the top of Carn Gorm, that we decided just to head back down. The walk back down was so much easier, especially when were sliding down as if we were sledging.

I'm hopefully going away to climb another Munro in a few weeks, and then I'm planning a weekend away climbing in May.

1 Munro down, and only 282 to go.

Karma

I had planned to publish a bigger post this week about some of the things that have been going on during the past few months. It was about someone who for the past two years has messed me around at every given opportunity, but everything came to a head a little while ago when he did it for the last time. I think even worse than him breaking my heart last summer, was the fact that he just kept chipping away at my confidence even when there was barely any left to chip at.

I guess I wanted to post my side of the story because I hated the fact that no one knew what had really went on. While I've avoided the comedy club we both worked in like the plague since last summer, he's continued to hang out with everyone and not had to watch from the side-lines. I've missed so many shows and comedians I've wanted to see, and let some friendship slip away because I was simply not around to see people.

Earlier this week, I caught up with some of the people from the club, and they were quick to inform me that I'm not the only one who he's hurt recently. There's a few people there who are really upset by his actions, and those who haven't been hurt are sticking with those who have. I didn't realise that everyone had noticed how much his behaviour had affected people, and how people's opinions on him had dramatically changed. I don't want to speak for other people, but hearing how angry they are at him was really surprising. Sure all my friends hate him, but I didn't realise everyone has been caught on too.

I guess I just finally feel this weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I can start to hang out there again with people who I haven't seen in months. In fact, I've already made plans to go and watch a couple of shows next week. And in the spirit of hanging out in place I've been avoiding, I've also joined a climbing club. I had a couple of really good climbing sessions last year, but it was easier to avoid the climbing centre so I wouldn't need to see him there.

Maybe one day I will publish the full version of events, but for now it feels like karma is finally coming around, and that's enough for me.

What I Ate Wednesday - Week 6

It's Wednesday which means there's only one kind of post I'll be doing today.

Breakfast

I thinking about doing Raw Till 4 this summer, but since it's still freezing in Scotland just now, I really need a warm breakfast. I had my usual cinnamon oats made with almond milk and topped with fruit, seeds and coconut and almond butter. I also made myself a smoothie with just frozen mangos and banana.

Lunch

I didn't take any photos of my lunch because I completely forgot until after I had eaten it, but I just had a bagel with hummus, 2 bananas and then some of this delicious popcorn that I got in my new SourcedBox. If you're intetested, then I'll be posting a review of the box up at the weekend.

Dinner

For dinner I had coconut rice with Sriracha, vegetable spring rolls and some veg. I also had a can of my favourite lemonade. I used to be a HUGE Irn Bru fan, but I've pretty much cut it out since I started drinking around 3 litres of water a day instead. I do still like the odd can of lemonade, but it's no where near as much fizzy juice as I drank before.

Snacks

I only discovered medjool dates a couple of weeks ago. I'd know about them for years, but always assumed I wouldn't like them. Well I couldn't have been more wrong because they have become one of my favourite foods to snack on. I also just put some bananas in the freezer, so I'll be making some ice cream once they've frozen.

Eating Out - Las Iguanas

Okay, so technically Las Iguanas isn't a vegan or even vegetarian restaurant, but they do a specific menu for those of us who don't eat meat. There's nine vegetarian main courses on the menu, and five of them can be adapted so they are suitable for vegans. There's also a wide range of starters and side dishes, and there's puddings on the menu too.

I chose the Chilli Con Verduras which was made with sweet potato, butternut squash and chickpeas with spiced tomatoes, spring onion rice, and pink pickled onion. It's usually served with sourced crème and tortillas, but the dish becomes vegan if they miss them out.

Since they had desserts on the menu that I could eat which is practically unheard of at a restaurant that's not primarily vegan, I had to have one. I went for the Tembleque which was a creamy coconut pudding with mixed berries and mango puree. I think I managed to finish it within about 10 seconds because it was that good.

The restaurant also had some great cocktails, some of which were only £3.90. So if you're vegan and going out for food with non-vegan friends, then Las Iguanas is definitely a good shout for somewhere to eat.

What I Ate Wednesday - Week 5

I'm back with my regular What I Ate Wednesday posts. I took last week off because life happens and I was emotionally not really eating much food at all, but I've been at the gym every day, so I need to be eating enough to fuel myself.

Breakfast

Can you tell that I love my new Nutribullet? This was just spinach, frozen pineapple and mango, banana and water. It's my favourite combination, and one that I'm having most days right now.

Lunch

Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day. If I could eat breakfast food for every meal then I would, which is why I had this for my lunch. It's cinnamon oats made with almond milk, and topped with banana, raspberries, frozen blueberries, seeds, and coconut and almond butter.

 Dinner

The lights in my house aren't that bright at night which is why my dinner photos always look so dull. I picked up a quinoa and sweet potato cake in Wholefoods and had it with potatoes, salad and sweetcorn. And yes, I did take a bite of it before I took the photo.

Snacks

I got to try Jackfruit for the first time last week, so I ate this whole tin. I've not been able to find any fresh jackfruit in Edinburgh yet, but this will do for now. I also had two of these chocolate and coconut energy balls.