I was full of beans when I woke up after another goods night sleep and very organised today.  I finished sorting out the study and made lots of tasty and nutritious food for today and the week ahead.

Within an hour of setting foot in the kitchen this morning I had made granola for tomorrow, breakfast for today and roasted vegetables for lunch.

The granola recipe needs tinkering with before I share it.  I didn’t have enough oats for the recipe I was following but I had already mixed up the runny ingredients so the mixture clumped together more than it should have so I want to try it how it should be.  It was easy though as it is made with just peanut butter, maple syrup, vanilla and salt.  Plus oats. After combining the wet ingredients in the blender you pour them over the oats, mix everything well together and spread it out on a baking tray and bake it in the oven.  Very easy. This was more like a flapjack than granola. It was yummy anyway and had a great texture as it was chewy and crunchy.

So that is now packed away ready to be eaten as granola or sprinkled on fruit this week.

Since the blender was already dirty from making the granola I decided to have a smoothie for breakfast today. I made a banana ice-cream with peanut butter, 1/4 of an avocado, a handful of pomegranate and a splash of coconut water.  I felt hungry so I had 3 medium sized frozen bananas.

After a couple of minutes in the blender everything is smooth and creamy. Served with a few pomegranates on top.  It was divine.  Completely divine.  Peanut butter and banana go so well together I could eat this every day. It was even better with a few chunks of still warm from the oven granola added in!

Before lunch we walked in to Cranbrook along the route Annette showed us yesterday.  Today we had Lara with us which was an unexpected treat as she came home late last night.

Apart from the sections of road walking, this is a lovely walk. We had left a car in Cranbrook so we could drive home – we thought it might be a bit cheeky to ask David to come and get us as he did yesterday 🙂 Before we left for the walk I had roasted a tray of vegetables in the oven with salt, pepper, zat’ar and a sprinkling of olive oil.  I roasted them in the oven while I baked the granola to make good use of the oven being on. Just red and yellow pepper and courgette. I popped in some cherry tomatoes for the last 10-15 minutes and then left it on the side while we walked. When we came back I added 1 tbsp of pomegranate molasses to a simple vinaigrette dressing. I placed a variety of salad leaves and the roasted and chopped up vegetables in a large bowl and added the dressing.  I tossed the vegetables so they were evenly coated in the dressing and then added some of the couscous I had left over from yesterday plus a few raisins for sweetness.  The final garnish was a handful of pomegranate. This was excellent.  Harvey declared this salad to be so tasty that he could eat it every day.  Now that is a huge improvement on yesterday’s verdict of “disgusting” on the squished salad!  I really enjoyed this too. My dinner photos came out badly but it was a really tasty meal of bombay potatoes with kale and red lentil dal.  The blob in the middle is a lime and pepper jelly I really like.  I have a portion left over so can hopefully provide a better photo tomorrow.

So a good day again.  Lots of very healthy food and another decent walk.  Back to work tomorrow but at least I am working from home and not back in London until Tuesday so I can ease my way back to long hours working and commuting.  I have loved my three weeks off and can’t believe it is all over.  Back to the grind but at least I have a fridge full of nutritious left overs which will make meals next week easier.