Mushroom & Rosemary Quinoa Risotto

I’m finally getting over this bug I had last week – yay! I was absolutely miserable by Friday. I was feeling awful, couldn’t go to work, or exercise, my appetite was non existent, and even going outside for a walk left me really tired. Feeling much better now, and back at work. Still not 100% but I feel pretty great in comparison to last week.

One think I like to do to pass the time is cook and bake, but since I didn’t have much of an appetite I cooked for BF instead. On Tuesday evening I made him quinoa mushroom risotto with rocket. I had seen something online previously about how adding a parmesan to Quinoa can be eaten as a healthy alternative to Macaroni & cheese, which I love. I tried it and thought it just tasted like risotto, so while it didn’t stop my craving for mac & cheese, it gave me an idea for a recipe.

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Oktoberfest

After shaking off our tequila-induced hangovers, we put on our dirndls and headed for Oktoberfest! This was my nutritious breakfast of a salami roll, chips,  and a half litre of beer…. My first beer of Oktoberfest!

The festival itself was huge, much bigger than we expected. There were 35 tents overall, 14 biggies and 21 smallies – with the biggies having the capacity for over 6,000 people. Inside each of the tents are rows and rows of long wooden benches where you just plonk yourself down and get to know the people sitting around you. I had read online that it would be extremely difficult to get into any of the tents without a reservation, so we were prepared for a lot of queuing. Luckily this wasn’t the case, we didn’t have any trouble getting into tents or finding seats. I wouldn’t recommend that you book seats if you go as this will just tie you to a tent and there is a lot to explore.

Stopping off for a bite to eat, Mozzerella and tomato flatbread with Basil – I went back to this stall 3 times over the weekend because the food was so good!

Gabbs had her eye on something larger…

And Stephen went for the pork knuckle with potato dumplings, a speciality in Germany.

 

A quick ride in the dodgems before we headed home for the night…

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43…Unwell

I am not feeling great today. Apparently nausea is a side effect of the antibiotics I am on at the moment. Currently on my 4th cup of peppermint tea in the hope that this makes me feel a bit better. Another side effect is sensitivity to sunlight which means that although it is 23 degrees in London today, I can’t go outside unless I’m completely covered up.

I have a feeling there is going to be very little to blog….but on a brighter note, my PB2 parcel just arrived at my desk! Will try it when I feel a bit better and report back.

BF here… Steph has asked me to keep the blog going in the absence of her appetite! There will be less celery and more steak while I’m in control! Had a burrito for lunch – Steph called me a beast for ordering this…

He is a beast! You should have seen the size of that burrito,  it was family sized. Anywho, so Holland & Barrett are doing a ‘buy one get one half price’ sale at the moment,  so I popped in to stock up on healthy snacks; Bear Yoyos, corn crackers, agave nectar for my morning toast, and some vanilla & camomile tea. I love these Bear nibbles, they’re made from 100% fruit and just 27 calories each so I get one of my 5 day from something that tastes like sweets!

PB2 Review!
It is DELICIOUS! I tried the chocolate peanut butter flavor first, because it sounds the tastiest. I mixed 1 tablespoon of powder with 1 tablespoon of water and mixed to form a paste. The powder isn’t very fine so you still get the crunchy texture of real peanut butter.  I ate some on a corn cracker for my dinner (seriously, my appetite has copletely disappeared). I have a feeling these two tubs aren’t going to last very long, I definitely recommend that you try.

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42..PB2

That wasn’t meant to rhyme, honest! A friend of mine who is a fitness instructor recently posted a status about something called PB2. This is ‘powdered’ peanut butter that is made by slow roasting peanuts then pressing them to remove the oil. Basically it’s for those who love the taste of peanut butter but not the large amount of fat and calories that comes with it. It apparently contains 85% less fat calories than regular peanut butter (45 cals for 2 tablespoons) and no artificial sweeteners or flavours. I tried peanut butter a few months ago, and included it in some of my baking recipes but the high calories and fat are a major turn off. I have just ordered a tub of regular PB2 and chocolate PB2 from eBay. Total bargain at £15 for the two, with free postage. I will post again once I have tried and let you know if it is as good as the real thing!

I have another interview at 1.30 today…eep! I need to try to find a healthy, energizing lunch as I have an advanced (gulp) asana yoga class after work.

Interview over…it’s time for some lunch. I’m pretty sure the interviewer could hear my stomach rumbling the whole time we were talking. I decided to try something new and hopefully healthy today; pangasius! Has anyone heard of this before? I hadn’t, but it’s a white fish that’s quite like cod but the flavour is less fishy. Very good for those who have just started adding fish to their diet. I had pangasius cooked in lemon and herbs and it was absolutely delicious. Along with the fish I ate baby potatoes and a side salad. I hope this is enough to get me through 60 minutes of sun salutations later.

UPDATE: I just checked online and according to LiveStrong, pangasius is quite good for you. There are 90 calories per 100g and 13g of protein, I will definitely have to eat this on the days that I work out.

My boyfriend is a very bad influence….

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34…Training

I am in training for most of the day – learning some very exciting Visual Studio debugging techniques. I had tea and a cereal bar for breakfast and I have been munching on Twizzlers for the whole morning. I think I am over my RDA of sugar already…. Must find a healthy lunch!

It’s a beautiful day in London so I went for lunch in the sun with my ‘unemployed’ BF. He’s taking a week of between finishing his current role and starting his new one, I’m quite jealous of his week of leisure. We picked up some food to go from Pret A Manger. I dont usually tend to eat here, the nutritional information on the food turns me off. I know Pret say they create healthy food from natural ingredients but packing an average of about 20 grams of fat into a baguette does not sound healthy or natural to me. On this occasion though I spotted a super healthy chargrilled chicken salad, and I ordered a cup of miso soup on the side. The salad was delicious, I dont think that soup was a particularly good idea in this heat though.

Met up with my friend Nikki for some Pimms & Paralympics in Canada Square this evening. Had a very substantial dinner of falafals, hummus, and whole grain pittas.

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14..On a sugar high

Breakfast: Oreo, raspberry, white chocolate cheesecake cupcake. My teeth hurt from the amount of sugar in these things. I cannot seem to get a good picture of them. Basically, they are mini cheesecakes but the base of each is a whole Oreo, then poured on top is a basic cheesecake mixture with chopped Oreos and raspberries. I melted some white chocolate and drizzled that over too.

Went to Tortilla, a mexican restaurant for lunch with BF. I walk past here most days on my way for food and always love the delicious smells wafting out, but I’ve never eaten there for one reason: Food Pressure. I suffer from this so badly…basically when I have to decide what I want to eat in a rush or in front of people I become a ball of indecision and generally end up eating nothing, or making the WORST decision. I waste so much money and food by just pointing to things I know I won’t eat. If I could just order my lunch online, where I have all the time in the world then I would be much happier, and richer too!

In Tortilla you join a (massive) queue and once you reach the servers it’s like a burrito production line – you tell each server what you would like in your burrito/salad, they add it and pass it to the next server for the next set of ingredients. I took the plunge today, mainly because it was that or Itsu veggie sushi for the third day running and I need some variety on this blog. I ordered a vegetarian salad bowl with guacamole, sour cream and tortilla chips. I would have gone for meat but food pressure kicked in, triggering my stammer, and vegetarian is a lot easier to say than chicken! Definitely not regretting my decision, it was so fresh & delicious, and filling too. It looks just like a lot of lettuce in the picture but there are a lot of other tasty things at the bottom. They also sell frozen margaritas, if it wasn’t considered unacceptable to drink tequila at lunchtime I would have been right on one of those bad boys….

I ate a fruit salad from Waitrose for dinner, fresh pineapple, pomegranate and grapes. Had planned to cook something but got home late and spent a few hours Skyping my two sisters. Love you guys!!

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