LITTLE GEMS: A week of bowl food fun! Plus eating out at Bents, The Garden, Fox, Village Cafe and Porta

So this week started off so well. I had a great yoga session and a very productive day on Monday. Then unfortunately when the news broke about the bombing on Tuesday my heart broke and I guess although I have not had a bad week as such, I've felt a lot of pain for all those that have been suffering. I have also felt so much gratitude for everything I have in my life. For anybody who has been affected (which I guess could be said for all of us in the UK - especially locally here in Manchester) my heart goes out to you. However, I have never been so proud to be from Manchester and as the world has been put into perspective a bit more, I am even more grateful for every day and anytime I get to spend with friends and family. Luckily, I have had a fantastic weekend full of that. So, on a lighter note, here are my foodie adventures this week...


The most delicious breakfast from The Garden in Hale on Monday post yoga. This is their harissa hash and OMG, it's heaven!


Protein smoothie is week with some greens and chocolate protein powder (plus all the usual bits!)


Delicious avo toast


My fav pasta. This is super quick on a weekday night. The brown rice pasta takes 7 mins to cook and then I just bung in the peas towards the end of the cooking. Stir in my basil dressing and some spinach leaves - then you're good to go!


First acai bowl of the week!


I think the theme this week has to be 'bowl food'. This is brown rice with teriyaki aubergine and home grown baby gem lettuce! I absolutely love this dish, I really need to make it more often!


Second a acai bowl of the week... can't get enough of these in Summer 


This was a really yummy lunch. I pretty much emptied out my cupboard for this. Black beans, hummus, more home grown baby gem and a charred aubergine (leftover from the other night) and brown rice. I love bowl food so much, anything that can be eaten with just a spoon is so comforting


So not had a frappe in years and for some reason I was craving one! I know how bad they are but I tried my hardest to make this the best option possible. This is a mocha frappe made with almond milk and decaf coffee (it was late a afternoon and caffeinated coffee would have sent me over the edge ha ha!). Ok, so not something I would have regular, but now and again I treat myself. After all, it's all about having balance right?


Friday night I had a super yummy dinner at Porta. I've taken some pics but to be honest they are the exact same dishes that we have every time ha ha! We had the toasted corn this time too which was yum!


Potato tortilla


Padron peppers


Tomato and mozzarella salad


Tomato bread, calamari and grilled prawns



Finally the yummy chocolate mousse. I literally have two spoons of this as a treat but it's so worth the tummy pangs after


Had a lovely lunch out on Saturday at The Village Cafe. I've not actually eaten here before but the salad was quite tasty - plus I was super hungry!


So I went for the chicken salad without the chicken ha ha! I asked them for avocado instead and it worked quite well. It's basically like a Caesar salad with tomatoes 


Had a bit of an experiment with some baking on Saturday. I had a play with some Cinnabons without wheat or dairy. They were not too bad actually considering I thought they would be a disaster. 




I was in some kind of experimental mood on Saturday! I decided to try and make a fattoush salad but with a twist. I'm not a fan of raw onion or tomatoes that are not cooked.... so I made a roasted version! Roasted onions and tomatoes with crispy oven cooked pitta crisps! It turned out so so well I think I will be doing it again soon!


I cooked some butternut squash and did a Harrisa sea bass to go with it. It was all so yum and nice and light too. The weather was so warm I didn't want anything too heavy so this hit the spot perfectly!


Then on Sunday I went for a delicious brunch with my Mamma to Fox in Hale Barns. I went for the waffles and Mamma had the eggs florentine and it was actually really good. I was a little disappointed that the waffles weren't freshly made like Piccolinos but they were really tasty all the same.


Entry of maple syrup too! They were really sweet but it was all washed down with a lovely cup of Earl Grey tea.

Then finally today I decided to indulge ha ha! What can I say, it's all about balance right? I know I talk about this a lot but it's true. I love my healthy eating, but if I don't allow myself a treat now and again I will end up resenting it. Just for the record, when I do eat more 'unhealthy' foods, I still try and make sure that they are freshly made and not processed.


I ventured out to Bents today - possibly one of my fav places on earth believe it or not. They do some delicious homemade soups so I went for the vegetable and lentil and an egg mayo sandwich. This was so filling and comforting, just what I need for a Bank Holiday Monday :)


Yep, I did it! I had a piece of pecan pie! Ok, so it was mahoosive and I literally managed to finish only half of it but it was goooood!! Super sweet though mind you, think my teeth might fall out by morning ha ha!


Then to finish off my weekend of comfort eating I thought I would have some more bowl food! My fav brown rice pasta with basil dressing, kale and peas. I am officially stuffed and I think I just want some food off plates next week ha ha! Need to formalise my meals by eating with a knife as well as a fork! ;)

I've had such a lovely weekend with friends and family. I felt like I needed it too, it's been a bit of a hard one to take in for me and so many other people. I hope wherever you are you had a lovely week and were not affected by the terrible atrocities that took place in Manchester.

Sending lots of love and well wishes to you all.

Thanks so much for reading

Big love,


Em x
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