I am still on my unwanted trend of eating too much sugary food amongst the nourishing food which I am disappointed with myself about.  Exercise has been quite poor lately too but I did manage to play tennis on Wednesday for the first time since Autumn so I was really pleased with that.

Out in the garden life is looking glorious.  Our garden has some stunning Azaleas and Rhododendrons. They thrive in our slightly acidic soil and have grown in to these huge hedges.  Look at the left hand side of this picture – you can see my car to provide some scale. The small blueberry plant is looking very promising this year.  Have you ever seen blueberries growing?  Well the flowers are pretty little white ones.  These still have some rain on them. The flowers die and the blueberries grow from the base of the flower head. You can see better in this picture which I really like as the little blueberry cups are filled with rain water and you can see the cobwebs too.  All signs of the myriad of life in our garden. Some of these blueberries, which are green, are now the right size and shape so I hope they do turn blue and that I get to them before the birds. This shot is looking down in to the cups where the flower petals have recently fallen and the blueberries are just beginning to grow.  When you see how long they take to grow, how few there are on a plant and how long they take to pick, you stop feeling resentful at the high price of them in the shops. They look perfect – just the wrong colour. I made a chia pudding this week so I had something healthy to take to work for breakfast.  I got the recipe from Healthy Happy Life, a vegan blog I dip in and out of.  It is really easy to make – just remember to think about it the night before.

Chia Pudding

Ingredients (serves 2)

• 5 Tbsp chia seeds
• 1 cup + 1 Tbsp almond milk or other milk of your choice
• pinch of pink salt
• pinch of cinnamon
• 1 scoop of protein powder
• 1/2 tsp acai or pomegranate powder (optional)

Method

1. Place all the ingredients in to a large container and mix well for about 1 minute
2. Cover and leave in the fridge overnight
3. In the morning, add yogurt, fruit and nuts

Overnight the chia seeds absorb the milk and it ends up with a thick custard like consistency. I added half an orange and some chopped almonds and pumpkin seeds. I ate one portion yesterday like this.I fancied something different today though so this morning I tipped the chia pudding, yogurt and half orange in to the blender with a banana, 1 tbsp peanut butter and some additional milk to make a smoothie.  It was delicious. One evening this week I made a lovely lentil and butternut squash soup.  I used up the last of the leeks from the garden. Which I fried with carrots and onions in some butter.  I made it in to a soup with home made chicken stock, puy lentils and butternut squash.  We like blended smooth soups so I blitzed it in the Vita Mix for about 5 minutes.  It loses the lovely bright orange colour of the vegetables but tasted lovely and is a pleasure to eat as it is so smooth.  Healthy comfort food. Harvey and I have enjoyed this for supper in the week and today I had the last of it with some Cheddar cheese for lunch.  It was really good and next time I make it I will write down quantities so I can share the recipe.

I do love Friday evenings and the anticipation of a weekend ahead of us.  Have a good one.