What's the story of your home?

I've only just moved out this year into a house of my own my boyfriend. We are pretty similar in our tastes and want our house to look very sleek and simple yet stylish. At present we have only fully redecorated two rooms in our house but we've put our stamp on the others in many different ways. We have a good-sized two bedroom semi-detached house in the North East that we picked because of the quiet location, lovely garden and the potential we saw for each of the rooms. I've already done a tour around my living room and bathroom in previous posts but I've not touched on our bedroom. Your bedroom is somewhere you come to relax, snuggle and have dreams about anything and everything.

I've come to have a real love for the colour blue and it seems to appear in all my interior design ideas. For the bedroom, I didn't want it to be too girly so we went with a deep dark blue for our accent wall. The other walls are painted a creamy colour rather than white because of the stark contrast this would have created. I brought my bed with me from my old house but we bought new furniture. All from Ikea, but all beautiful and sleek in white. I think the white bedside tables and set of draws look great against the dark blue wall as it provides a bit of brightness.

In addition to the main items in the room, we also have little knick-knacks such as a stand to present my perfumes, a little vintage flower bowl to hold my rings and our two matching white touch lamps. What I like most about this room is our canvas that sits on the wall above the bed. I got this canvas made for my boyfriend last Valentine's day and it has been packaged away until we got into our house. I feel like this is the perfect place to for it to be as it quotes one of our favourite songs - Arctic Monkeys, I Wanna Be Yours. So there you have it, the inspiration for my bedroom and the explanation behind all the little things in it. Hillary's Blinds are asking everyone what is the story behind their home. Get involved and share your stories!

Recipes I've tried and loved

I've been cooking up a storm recently, stalking recipes from here, there and everywhere - but mainly Pinterest! I wanted to share a few recipes I've tried and loved so that you too can try them and know they've been tested!
 First up is Carrot and lentil soup. It is such a filling dish with some great depth of flavour. It's super tasty and really easy to make. If you are into making soups I'd definitely suggest this one for the autumn/winter months. Next is a gorgeous substitute to ice cream that is totally milk-free! Banana, chocolate and peanut butter 'ice cream' is made with a base of frozen banana blended with peanut butter and chocolate chips to add flavour. The recipe that I've linked to is for a coffee version but you can add whatever you like or eat plain banana flavour. Trying new chicken recipes is something I like doing as the same can get really boring. When I saw a recipe for Pesto Chicken it gave me the inspiration I need. However I didn't follow the recipe, I simply covered the chicken in pesto and put it in the oven. It did get a bit greasy as the pesto heated up but it tasted amazing. As I want to get into healthy breakfasts whilst trying not to get boring I came across these Healthy pancakes. A lot of recipes for healthy pancakes you come across on Pinterest either don't work or they include too many nasties. This recipe works perfect and tastes good too. Last up was something I adapted from the usual chicken stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon, instead I wrapped it in chorizo. It is made by cutting into the chicken to create a pocket in which the cheese can be piled into, scoop the cheese in then close it back up and wrap in chorizo making sure to overlap to ensure it stays wrapped in the oven. So yummy but not very healthy... Have you tried out any Pinterest recipes recently you can recommend? Follow my healthy eating pinterest board to see what I've been pinning!

The Brownie Bar - Newcastle

On one rainy Saturday, me and my friend, Jen, hopped on a train to Newcastle in search for brownies. We'd come equipped with a Groupon for The Brownie Bar in Eldon Garden Shopping Centre which entitled us each to a brownie with a scoop of ice cream and a drink. After browsing the shops we were both pretty worn out so we sat down to enjoy our brownies with a cold drink.

After a bit of deliberating over their vast selection, I decided on a chocolate orange brownie with vanilla ice cream. I've had a brownie from The Brownie Bar before and I wasn't really their biggest fan. They weren't soft, gooey and chocolatey enough for me but then I'm just fussy. Having said that I did enjoy having the brownie with a scoop of ice cream. The ice cream was definitely a nice addition and it made me enjoy it more. For £6 it was a great Groupon which provided value for money. What do you think of The Brownie Bar?