Budget Busting Meals 5

It was such a beautiful day on campus today…

Being rewarded with such beautiful weather and scenery really made up for being stuck in a lecture theatre invigilating an exam where every other student seemed to be spluttering, coughing and sneezing.  Bless them, Fresher’s flu is never good but I did have a little giggle when it almost sounded like they were all trying to harmonize with each other.    With exam invigilation, teaching, my thesis and the Cosmo Awards it really has been a busy week so I am really happy that the weekend has come around again.

This weeks moves:

Monday: 30 minutes of intervals on the machines, strength workout 1, 5 minutes cool down.

Tuesday: Yoga Download.com podcast, 10 minute warm-up intervals and a 1 hour Body Pump class

Wednesday: 5.6 mile run in 54 minutes and abs and core workouts

Thursday: 15 minute warm-up intervals, strength workout 2, 5 minutes cool down

Friday: 30 minutes of high intensity intervals on the treadmill and 30 minutes of intervals on the step machine, bike and cross trainer. 

Recent tastiest eats:

Simple banana oats made with water topped with jam and crunch peanut butter

Cherry Bakewell Granola with a chopped persimmon and soya milk

Carrot and sweet potato soup with plain soya yoghurt and maple syrup

A Buddha Bowl made using peal barley, green lentils, raw chestnut mushrooms, kabocha squash, brussel sprouts in coconut oil, green pepper, courgette, cos lettuce and mixed nuts and raisins.  I made a lovely sauce from tahini, lemon, apple cider vinegar, ginger and fresh basil…yum!

Chocolate Cookie Dough Chia Seed Pudding with a chopped apple and pear and dried cranberries.  Although I had to add some oats to thicken it a little as I added way too much soya milk.  It was still fab! 🙂

Most of this week for dinner I have been eating a curry that I made at the weekend to stock up my freezer.  It was so delicious and so easy and cheap to make I’m going to make it part of my Budget Busting Meals challenge, you can catch up in my previous post here. 

*Sweet Potato and Chickpea Curry*

Ingredients (vegetarian, serves 4)

• 1 medium sized sweet potato cubed
• 400g of prepared or tinned chick peas
• handfuls of spinach
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 green chilli chopped (optional)
• 1 can on light coconut milk
• 1 inch of grated ginger
• 1 clove of grated garlic
• 2 tsps of hot madras powder
• 1 tbsp of tomato puree
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp of dried coriander
• 1 tsp of mustard seeds

In a pan heat some oil and fry the onions on a low heat until they become soft.  Add the spices and tomato puree and cook for a few minutes until the spice become aromatic.  Next stir in the garlic and ginger cooking for a further 2 minutes and then add the sweet potato.  Pour in the coconut milk and stir in with the other ingredients and allow to simmer for 10 minutes until the the sweet potato becomes tender.  Add the chick peas to warm through and then stir in the spinach and the heat from the curry will wilt the leaves.

I served mine with brussel sprouts stir fried in coconut oil, wild rice and mango chutney.

Enjoy! 🙂

I’m off to for a little mini break to Bath this weekend, but keeping the Big Budget Challenge in mind I’ve printed off a huge pile of discount vouchers for restaurants that are in the are to save money.  Also, this week to keep my budget in check:

• I’ve been making the most of my leftover and freezer stash so I have only had to shop for fresh produce
• Lidl is still my favourite best friend!
• Huge pans of soups have been made to make use of any vegetables that need using up, meaning no waste
• selling unwanted items on eBay
• I’ve gone back to Asda instead of Sainsbury’s and Tesco to pick up additional items for Alfie as it is much cheaper.

It’s just been pretty much of the same to be fair, but it seems to be working.  Hopefully our trip to Bath won’t hit my bank balance too hard, I’m going to try and keep it in check, but I think it’s going to be tough.

I’ve now got the next two Saturday’s off from work and I have some lovely things planned. I’m going to use tomorrow to visit my family and friends and generally just chill.  Next Saturday I have a wedding to go to in London and the fact that it is on Bonfire night is making me so excited for it- it’s going to be lovely!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

How is your budget keeping up this week?

What is your favourite curry EVER?!

Are you up to anything nice this weekend?