What I eat in a day as a vegetarian

In order to stick to my new found vegetarian diet I need to eat food that is appetizing, healthy (with the odd treat or two thrown in here and there ;-) and easy to make.

Coffee mmm

Today is Saturday, ah I love the weekend! My first act of the day was to watch youtube videos in bed and make a lovely cafetiere of ground coffee! I had two coffees in bed while watching Charles Gross and Trisha Paytas on Youtube- I love watching those two.

At midday I was meeting a friend so I dragged myself out of bed, got dressed and we walked down to a local coffee/lunch place in Dubai. Its called Taste Kitchen and does some really lovely food.

I went for avocado on toast, wow it was amazing. So much avocado and lovely sourdough bread, sprinkled with pink pomegranate seeds! Is it just me or does food taste much better when its well presented- I love it when food looks pretty and is presented on nice plates. I got another fresh coffee, along with a fresh orange juice.

Avocado on toast with pomegranate seeds - adds a bit of freshness I recommend it!

I do probably drink too much coffee- but did you know coffee beans have masses of antioxidants and can help to protect against Parkinsons and liver disease?!

So, three hours later after chatting and more importantly booking a holiday (woohoo!) we ordered another drink and this time I went for a non alcoholic Pina Colada. This was yummy and it had a kick to it!





On our route home we called in the shops to do a food shop. I picked up a range of fruit and veggies to help me on my vegetarian diet, along with raisin and oatmeal cookies - yum sooo good!!!

When I got home I made my favourite smoothie.

Recipe:

• Half an avocado
• Milk of your choice - cows/almond/soya
• A small peeled chunk of ginger (crucial ingredient!)
• Spoon of honey makes the medicine go down :P (can substitute with maple syrup/sugar)
• A squeeze of lime
• A handful of frozen mango chunks 

Non alcoholic Pina Colada Smoothie

 Whizz it up in your blender/bullet and voila you have a lovely, creamy vitamin packed smoothie. 

For my next meal, I've put half a butternut squash in the oven. I'm going to cook it until its soft and then scoop out the flesh and mix in a saucepan with spinach and soft cheese with herbs in and a slice or two of goats cheese on top. I will then repack the squash and oven it for about five more minutes. Yum can't wait! What are your fave veggie meals??

Well, it will be time for coffee and biscuits later and another dose of YouTube!!! Tomorrow is Sunday - the first working day of the week in Dubai, so I'll be setting my alarm for the ridiculously early time of 5.30am! Tonight is chill time, chocolate and maybe a film or knowing me just lots of YouTube!! I'll be having a nice hot shower, putting on a facemask and make sure all my work clothes are ironed ready for tomorrow.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend :-) And if you're off tomorrow - I'm jealous!! Bye for now! :-)

Welcome to..a new me?!

A new year a new me?!

Well, you may be wondering who I am and what my blog is all about. So I'm a 31 year old teacher living and working in Dubai...at least for now ;-) I enjoy life, travel, food, reading, being creative and doing new things.

Like most people, I decided to make a few 'New Years resolutions'...or at least improvements to a 'better me' or something like that haha.

Am I currently happy? To a degree, but I definitely don't feel fulfilled and happy in all areas of life. Can I change those areas or at least try to change them? Yes. So what am I going to work on?

Goal one- Become healthier (health goals :P)

Well what does this mean? For one person it might be to lose five stone, for another it might be to run a marathon, for another it might to eat a piece of fruit once in a while. For me I decided to focus on January changes towards my long term health goals. 

Change 1 - So my first change was to stop eating meat. I will go into the hows and whys in more detail later in the blog. 

Change 2 - I also decided to start the couch to 5k to get myself running -  and ensure I complete it by the end of March which gives me a little extra time if I miss a run here and there which takes the pressure off slightly! Another great thing about this is it is free unlike the gym or exercise classes. If you get a partner or a friend to do it with you then you can motivate each other along the way.

Change 3-  No alcohol in January. I drank soo much alcohol over the Christmas holiday period and I realised I really could do with giving my body a break from it. I've never done a 'dry month' before so it will be interesting to see if I can last. It will also help my bank balance as alcohol is so ridiculously expensive over here (ten quid for a glass of wine, yes really!)



So its now the 13th, argh Friday 13th and I have so far stuck to all of my health goals yay! I haven't faced too much temptation on the alcohol front yet as I haven't been out on a January night out yet. I have also managed to avoid eating meat. Today I went to a park in Dubai with some friends which has market stalls. At lunch time instead of getting my usual cheeseburger I went for a veggie quesadilla which had mushrooms, peppers and onions and cheese in. I've been enjoying my vegetarian meals although I have been relying far too much on cheese for added flavour and substance.

Ripe Market, every Friday at Zabeel park :-) A great place to relax in the sun :-)

Mmm..any other coffee addicts out there?