Food prep Sunday

Yesterday, after writing my meal plan for the week, I decided to pop to Aldi and pick up the food we would need. There were a few things that would involve me spending a little extra time on them before they would be ready for the upcoming week. With my Sunday afternoon, I got stuck into the kitchen and started preparing some grub.

First up was granola. I've made this simple granola twice now and it has been delicious. Just as good as store-bought but with the simplicity of just being oats. This recipe is from Southern in Law and is super cheap, quick and easy to make!

Next up was a new recipe that I'd not tried before. I always struggle to have a healthy, nutritious breakfast and recently I've been wanting to get more protein in my diet. Whilst browsing Pinterest I came across this Strawberry Cheesecake Chia Seed Pudding. From The Foodie and The Fix, this recipe involves putting everything in a blender (except the chia seeds, oops) and then putting it in a jar to set overnight. Doesn't seem too difficult, does it? I put this into My Fitness Pal and with the cheeky extra of cottage cheese (which you can't taste) each serving has 18g protein! It does have quite a bit of sugar due to the strawberries and sweetener (I chose honey) but its all-natural... Tried this for my breakfast today and it is lovely!

Whilst cooking up all my treats I also put together a big tub of fruit salad. We tend to buy lots of fruit but never manage to eat it all. To combat this, I cut it all up into a tub and stick it in a fridge. I find if it's already prepared for you, you tend to eat it.

Now on to a little bit of savoury. I've made roasted chickpeas before but hadn't thought much of them. Recently I was watching Healthnut Nutrition on Youtube and she was preparing some chickpeas which she really seemed to love... We have many abandoned tins of chickpeas in the cupboard so I thought it was about time to let them see the light of day. Using Healthnut Nutrition's recipe I whipped up these tasty crunchy chickpeas to snack on. The key to these is definitely leaving them in for quite a while to ensure they get the crunch. I put garlic powder, paprika and cayenne pepper on mine, kind of like flamin' hot flavour monster munch.

Last but not least was something I made up last minute due to the fact we didn't buy any treats to have with a cup of tea. I knew I wanted to make these so bought plenty of bananas and two bars of dark chocolate. I split six bananas in half and coated them in melted dark chocolate. When they had set, I stuck them in the freezer and we were able to enjoy dark chocolate covered frozen bananas. They are so good! I would insert a picture but they aren't the prettiest. You imagine a banana covered in chocolate... 

So that was my afternoon of food prepping, what do you like to make for the week on a Sunday?

My favourite foodie gals - The Hemsley Sisters

Before Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley burst on to TV this year, I'd really not given them a lot of attention. Yes, I had heard of Hemsley and Hemsley but never had I taken the time to delve in deeper and see what they were about.

I saw an advert for their TV programme a while back and decided to have a watch. It seemed like they would be making some meals that I would find appealing. I watched the first episode and I was hooked. Both Melissa and Jasmine have vibrant and friendly personalities that keep you glued to the TV. It does help that the food they are making looks delicious and is made with all good stuff.

Now I still haven't read into their philosophy about food, but how I see it is that they are making great food with healthy ingredients. They use lots of fruit and vegetables along with meat which can't be bad! As well as mastering savoury dishes they've also tackled dessert, making everyone's favourite with good wholesome ingredients.

After the show, I decided to invest in their two cookbooks, The Art of Eating Well' & 'Good + Simple', so that I could try out their recipes for myself. The sisters' books are filled with lots of great recipes and tonnes of bright inviting images. From the books, I decided to make;

- Pablo's Chicken. Involving covering chicken with blitzed almonds and spices to create a pretend KFC. Unfortunately, I wasn't too keen on this as I'm not a fan of chicken on the bone but I do think this coating would be great on a chicken breast. Matt absolutely loved it!

- Chia Pudding. A great breakfast recipe which is dairy-free. Using coconut milk, chia seeds and berries, this little pudding is super healthy.

- Cream of Tomato Soup. A great tomato soup recipe which is easy to make and full of nutrients!
- Courgette and Quinoa Bread. I made this and was excited to try it but in the end, I didn't manage it. It smelt really weird with the quinoa but I do think this would be pretty tasty.

- BB Brownies. Filled with black beans, these brownies looked great and tasted okay. I used coconut oil in these and you could taste it which I wasn't too keen on. Next time I think I'll use butter which is an alternative they specify. I also didn't have enough maple syrup so they weren't as sweet as I would have liked. However, with a layer of Nutella on top, they tasted great. A perfect fudgy texture!

I love trying recipes that replace naughty, unhealthy ingredients with goodness. I've still got so many recipes marked up ready for me to try out. Even just following their recipes makes me start to think about what I could be creating in the kitchen! All the ingredients needed to make the recipes are either in your fridge/cupboards or easy to get hold of which means creating these recipes at home is easy peasy.

Of all the healthy eating cookbooks I've bought, I would have to say this is my favourite. Melissa and Jasmine know what people like to eat and have given them a way to eat it but also be healthy. I can't wait to see what they come up with next.

A berry good way to start the day

Breakfast, the most important meal of the day. I'm a lover of breakfast and I'm always excited to eat my first meal of the day. When I was younger it was always a meal that I skipped as I thought it was too early and I just didn't feel up for it. Now that I've gotten into a routine with breakfast I've become a lover. I always try to eat a healthy breakfast but most of the time I end up with cereal or on special occasions, Pop-Tarts!

One day when I was watching one of Niomi Smart's vlogs I saw her making a berry sauce for her pancakes and I decided I could adapt this to use on yoghurt. I also made a batch of this Healthy Homemade Honey Vanilla Granola to accompany it.

To make this sauce you'll need to pick which berries you'd like to use. I chose blueberries, raspberries and cherries. You can use frozen or fresh, it doesn't really matter as they break down the same way. Put them in a small pan with a dash of water and a squeeze of honey then put on a low heat. Keep stirring to ensure they don't burn and squash the berries softly as you go. You'll know by the consistency and how it looks when it's done but I'd say it takes 5-10 minutes.

Let it cool and then store it in an airtight container. I usually get around three uses out of it depending on how much I put on my breakfast. It's super tasty and relatively good for you. It's nice to have something a little different that you've made yourself which looks, and tastes, like it, came from a posh restaurant!

Let's make Mexican fajitas! Easy spice mix!

Do you ever really fancy fajitas but don't want to pick up a ready-made spice mix? Fancy trying to make your own but don't know what spices to use? Well I'm here to help! With the assistance of Pinterest and a few at-home trials, I've got a great recipe for great fajitas. This recipe uses spices that you will, hopefully, have lying around the house. I don't know about you but I much prefer to know what I'm putting in my food. The mixes that are available to buy in the supermarket can have all sorts of nasties and unknowns but with this recipe, you will know exactly what you are eating with no sneaky added extras.

Now I don't want to tell you what to put into your fajitas as that is your call. I usually put in chicken, mushrooms, pepper, onion and if I'm feeling crazy some tomatoes (with the juicy bits left out).

The spice mix is as follows, and please feel free to add extra if you want a bigger flavour of one spice! I'm very lenient with my mix and it ends up just an approximation of the below with me pouring all the spices in, still tastes just as good!

Serves 4

1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
3 tbsp olive oil

- Cut your chicken (or other meat) into chunks. Put in a bowl with the above to coat and then cook!

Now you know what you have to do... Organise a Mexican night and get these fajitas rustled up! I hope you enjoy the recipe. Let me know if you try!

#CurrysIntroJuicing - Joe Blogs Juicing Event with Currys & PC World

A while back I noticed a tweet from Joe Blogs asking for anyone who'd like to attend a juicing/fitness event in the North. As I'm trying to get healthy and active I thought this would be the perfect thing for me to attend to keep my motivation up. I attended with one of my new blogging friends, Sammi, and we drove up to Leeds on a very chilly afternoon in her little yellow Fiat 500. We went prepared for yoga in our workout gear and got some funny looks as we walked to the venue.  When were got there it was packed full of bloggers! The Joe Blogs team had planned the session for Currys & PC World with five different activities around the room. There was Rocket Yoga, a play-station (for trying different juice combinations), gourmet soup (where we could fill up and have some savoury food), a mocktail making session and Shakela a nutritionist there to help us better our health.

Each station provided us with lots of useful information that we could take away and put into practice at home. As we went around the different stations I discovered:

• Rocket yoga is not relaxing like I thought it was going to be. It is very fast-paced and takes lots of effort and concentration!
• I really like juices. I don't mind drinking vegetable ones which aren't too tasty as I know they are good for me. I've started using my juicer more following this.
• There are so many supplements and natural things that you can add to juices and smoothies to make them much better for you.
• If you aren't too keen on vegetable juices you can add some pineapple or an apple to it sweeten it and make it much easier to drink.

Joe Blogs held a great event with lots of exciting things do and many people to meet and chat to. Thanks to Joe Blogs and Currys & PC World for the invite.

Tortilla Pizza - A Healthy Idea

I love pizza! Get me an Asda make your own stuffed crust pizza with mushrooms & pineapple and I'll be happy. Since I've taken a step over to the healthier side I've stopped picking up my weekly pizza as it was very stodgy. I don't usually eat pizza now but recently I've fancied it so put one of these tortilla pizzas together. They are so easy to do and so satisfying!

This is the simplest pizza recipe you will ever see...

Ingredients

-Tortillas (you can use white or wholemeal)

-Tomato paste or pasatta

-Cheese (any pizza cheese like cheddar or mozzarella)

-Any toppings you fancy!

Method

First preheat the oven to an average cooking temp (I use 180 degrees). When that is warm, pop your tortilla on a tray and in the oven to toast slightly before adding the toppings. Bring it out and slather it with tomato paste as your base. Sprinkle cheese over this then add your toppings.

Be mindful not to add anything too large or wet as it will mess up your pizza!

When you are satisfied with how your pizza looks sprinkle a little cheese on the top and pop it back in the over. Depending on how crispy you'd like the base to be I'd say leave this for 5-7 minutes whilst watching closely.

Then wallah! You have pizza! You can cut it up like you would a pizza or fold it up like a calzone. The choices are endless but it tastes pretty darn yummy.

Also, the possibilities for this creation don't end here! You could change up the tomato paste for BBQ sauce or garlic butter to make a totally different pizza. If you fancied you could also try a sweet version with chocolate spread. Seriously guys get experimenting.

Let me know if you make this and what you think.

UGOT Food Review - Newcastle Train Station

ÜGOT kindly invited me along to try out their Newcastle Train Station shop for some lunch. As I don't live in the immediate area I tagged this on to a trip up to Newcastle for a different blogger event. I got there early so I had enough time to pick my food, sit and enjoy people watching.

When I got there the guys were super helpful as they explained what all the different options they had and what extras they provided. They didn't have the whole selection left to pick from as it was around 5pm when I visited but there was still some tasty meals which I struggled to pick from.

I finally decided on a falafel & kale wrap and a nettle ice tea with fresh berries. I took a pew outside the shop and munched away at my wrap. It was super tasty with all sorts of healthy bits inside including kale, couscous, lettuce and tzatziki dressing. The taste of the falafel was a bit dry but it was definitely not lacking flavour.

I was dubious at first about the ice tea as I'm already an avid drinker of peach black tea. As it was nettle tea I thought it might taste bitter but I think the infusion of berries certainty helped and it tasted lovely and refreshing. They also have earl grey and elderflower ice tea which I'd love to try.

After my wrap, I went back inside to take a few more pictures for this post and the guys offered me some frozen yoghurt to try. I was given a mix of normal and chocolate. It tasted lovely but I swear it tasted fruity, I was very confused but assured they were the right flavours! They also offer pomegranate & raspberry and carrot cake flavour. I want to try these so bad.

Overall I had a really great experience at ÜGOT. The food is such good quality and what they serve is super healthy and good for you. It's nothing like you'd find anywhere on a normal high street. The service was friendly and helpful and the interior was really creative and cool. I really wish they had an ÜGOT in Middlesbrough as I'd be going there every day for lunch! If you pass this place on your journey in or out of Newcastle Station I'd recommend it. They also have a few other locations in the UK including York Train Station.

*this meal was provided free of charge but all opinions are honest.

Healthy Chilli Con Carne Recipe

Recently I've been trying to eat clean with fresh ingredients and no added nasties, which means store-bought sauces have been removed from house! Instead, I've taken to Pinterest for healthy versions of our favourites. I'm a huge lover of chilli con carne, whether it be with rice, in a wrap, or with a lovely salad - it is just a yummy dish. I found this recipe on the Southern-In-Law blog and I've edited it to add some extra goodness! This has become a firm favourite in our house because it is tasty and such an easy recipe to whip up.

Ingredients - serves 4

- 250g beef or turkey mince

-1/2 onion chopped (I use frozen to save time!)

-1 medium carrot, grated (with skin on for more nutrients)

-5 mushrooms, chopped

-1 or 2 tomatoes, chopped into chunks (optional to add more freshness)

-1 clove garlic, crushed (I use lazy chopped garlic)

-1/2 tbsp cumin 

-1 tsp oregano

-1 tsp paprika 

-1/4 tsp chilli powder

-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (add more or less chilli and cayenne depending on how hot you like it)

-2 tins of crushed tomatoes (800g)

-1 tbsp tomato paste (I usually use more!)

- a cube of beef stock powder

-1 bay leaf (optional)

-1 medium can kidney beans, drained and rinsed (about 450g)

1. First cook your mince until browned off, if using turkey mince add the beef stock now to add more flavour. Move your mince to one side of the pan so you can cook your onions. When they start to soften add your spices and garlic and combine. Give that a few minutes then mix the mince and the onions together.

2. Next add your chopped mushrooms, tomatoes and grated carrot. Mix together and leave to cook for a few minutes making sure to stir.

3. Add your tinned chopped tomatoes, tomato paste and beef stock (if you are using beef mince), stir through and bring to the boil. Turn down to a simmer and add your bay leaf. Leave for around 30 minutes to an hour depending on how thick you like it.

4. When it has reached your preferred consistency remove the bay leaf and add your kidney beans and stir through. Leave to cook for around 5/10 minutes longer before serving.

Serving suggestions - I like to eat mine in a baby gem lettuce leaf with a dollop of Greek yoghurt and a sprinkling of cheese. Mmmmmm!

Do you have any good Pinterest recipes you can suggest?! *I left out the mushrooms and kidney beans by accident in my haste to get these pictures done! Oops!

Graze Breakfast Boxes

I've been a fan of Graze for years now, choosing to opt-in and out of my weekly deliveries when I get a bit bored of them. Graze have really upped their game adding new snacks and different box types to their growing range. Right now I'm opting in and finding lots of new yummy treats including flapjacks, cakes, blends of tea and savoury bites. Now Graze has branched out and are now providing breakfast boxes full of granola and porridge.

In each breakfast box, you receive four packets each the perfect size for your morning bowl. Just as you would with Graze snacks, for the breakfast box you can go on to the site and choose what you like the look of and what you definitely don't want them sending you. I've enjoyed trying some granola I wouldn't normally pick up such as a rocky road one with bits of cherry and a chocolate orange one with chocolate curls and dried orange. I've received two boxes so far but haven't had a chance to eat them all so I think I'll get this box once in a while rather than every week. If you'd like a free breakfast box (new or existing customers) use this code - DanniY29