I have lost my voice 😦 . I have looked everywhere and can’t find it. Which is so frustrating because there is so much I want to chat to Lara about but I can’t. Plus I feel very grotty too and just want to lie down and sleep. So my objective today is to mega dose on vitamins to help my immune system along.
Berry smoothie to start with: raspberries, blueberries, marionberries, coconut milk, Greek yogurt and a banana. Blitzed until smooth. Delicious and easy to drink with a sore throat.
I didn’t feel very hungry today and certainly not up to cooking much, so I kept lunch simple. We had pesto chicken with baked sweet potatoes and salad.
To make the chicken you just cover chicken pieces in pesto and bake in the oven at 180 ° C for about 40 minutes or until cooked. I didn’t have any vegan pesto (pesto usually contains cheese) so we covered Harvey’s chicken in an olive paste.
Baked sweet potatoes are delicious and have become a favourite of mine.
I put one tbsp of olive oil and one tbsp of maple syrup in to a bowl and mix together. Slice the sweet potato in to rounds and then add to the bowl and stir to cover in the oil and maple syrup mix.
Tip in to a roasting tray, sprinkle with salt, paprika and cayenne pepper and bake in the oven at 180 ° C for about 40 minutes or until cooked.
Some pieces come out chewy and others soft. Some spicy from the Cayenne pepper and others sweeter, tasting of maple syrup. Delicious. This is a very quick and easy lunch to make, it’s full of flavour and has a lovely variety of colours and textures.
I was home alone for supper as everyone else has gone out. I couldn’t be bothered to cook at all so I put together a platter of fresh fruit (cherries, blueberries and black grapes) which I served with a naughty treat of date and fig brandy cream. WOW! This cream was amazing. I like brandy cream anyway but having the dates and fig in there for sweetness is absolutely brilliant. I bought it in Marks & Spencer and might have to get some more as it is so lovely.
The fruits were not seasonal or local but they were what I wanted and were juicy, sweet and delicious.
Still looking for that voice though.
Lose Weight and Gain Health 
Feel better soon Zoe. Having an 8oz glad of warmed water with 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne (you might want to start at 1/8 teaspoon) and 1/4 lemon squeezed into it will help your immunity as well as help your throat. Plus, it is great first thing in the morning to boost your metabolism for the whole day as well as the lemon helping to detox your liver! My mornings have been started with this since just before I met you in Barbados. When I returned I bought powdered Vitamin C to add to it as well to bring up my Vitamin C intake during the day.
Now, where is that voice? I lost mine for a week two years ago at Christmas time after breaking my wrist and having to be at the hospital too many times in December as they kept rebreaking it.
Merry Christmas to Lara now that she is home.
Hi Laura, thank you so much for all your kind comments and support. i really enjoy all your comments and emails. I hope you and Bob have a very merry Christmas x