2014 – The Year of Change!!

Happy Christmas to you all! I can’t believe a year has passed so quickly and we are fast approaching 2015. I don’t know about you all but my 2014 has been eventful and life changing in so many ways. This post is a brief over view of my year outside of the blogging world – events, announcements and explanations! As you may know from previous posts early this year I made the hard decision to end my marriage and move on. This was probably one of the scariest moves I have ever taken. Not knowing what the future may hold made the beginning of this year a mixture of dread and hope. I feel very blessed to have such amazing support from my family and friends!!

Me and my girls having fun in the sun!

I also moved house after the breakup and for the first time ever I lived alone. This was actually really fun and I found lots of joy in cooking whatever I wanted. I spent a lot of time reconnecting with friends and became a bit of a social butterfly for the summer! I explored hobbies and watched ALOT of films!

My food shop for the whole week on the challenge

During April I took part in the Live below the line challenge, living on £1 a day for a whole week. This was a very enlightening experience, yes I was seriously hungry, but it opened my eyes to the cost of food and how unnecessary some food expenses are in our lives. I ate mainly porridge, rice and beans, soup and some frozen veg but felt I achieved a fairly balanced diet on the budget. I raised £500 for Concern Worldwide which was just so amazing! Thankyou to everyone who sponsored me and encouraged me.

The Chicago Bean

I managed to go on some holidays with friends and family and even visited America again, something I never dreamed at the beginning of the year I would be doing! I will post some photos soon!! I visited the zoo in Minneapolis and then Chicago, we got some great photos!

Sarah and Baba on their wedding day!

My nephew Sebastian

My amazing little sister Sarah married her childhood sweetheart Baba this September and then gave birth to my gorgeous nephew Sebastian on the 4th December. He is the absolute light of our lives and I am so proud of her and her husband for being such fantastic parents.

And some news for me… I have met someone! He has turned my life upside down and helped me end the year on an absolute high. I approached with caution since I was just getting out of such a serious relationship but quickly fell deep and we have had so much fun. We have slotted into each others lives with total ease and I am so happy to announce that we are having a baby together :)

Exciting news! Baby on it’s way… coming in May! :)

Veghotpot went very quiet from September onwards and I can now explain that this was due to some morning sickness phases! I was quite lucky because I wasn’t actually too sick however I completely went off any food with flavour!! Spices, herbs and seasoning became repulsive and I basically lived on cheesy potatoes, plain sandwiches and porridge! When I did start to do some cooking I would quickly have to go sit down, dizzy with nausea and thinking of recipes became hard.

I also have to confess that around week 10-12 I started becoming overwhelmed with meat cravings and I eventually gave in after trying to eat different substitutes for what I assumed was a protein craving. I feel bad to have let my vegetarian self down but I feel comfortable with my decision to give the baby and my pregnant body what it wants. The cravings have been quite funny really, I even spent a good half hour smelling ham in the fridge (weird right!). But by far my weirdest food discovery so far has been pickled onions dipped in fiery hot sauce….. yup! I did eat that lol and lots of it.

My inability to keep cooking for that period of time lit a desire to still continue writing though and I am really excited because I have started a monthly food column for my local paper and I have had an article published in a local magazine. I enjoy it so much and am keen to use this experience to keep building my food writing career and hopefully take it to bigger and better heights!

Going forward I don’t know whether I will go back to being vegetarian or not but I am keen to keep veghotpot going because I know that vegetarian food is not only a great way to be creative but also great for your body and the planet! So don’t worry January is a clean slate and I’ll be back with recipes and articles.

I am also excited to announce (another announcement) that I am starting a new blog focusing purely on breakfast recipes, if you have enjoyed Veghotpot then please look out for the launch date over at http://www.beyondtoast.co.uk. I am still perfecting the details but you can follow me on twitter @beyondtoastblog , Facebook @beyondtoast or instagram @beyondtoast to see any sneak peeks and breakfast inspiration! What a difference a year makes aye!! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy Healthy New Year! Tell me about your year, what events have happened for you? Did the year turn out how you expected?

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