I’m on a roll

I’m cooking on gas today people. Figuratively speaking of course, we’re actually all electric in this house, bit of a bind during a power cut to be honest but now I’m just babbling!!

 

So, today I’ve made blueberry and cranberry muffins (recipe up soon), I’ve been liaising with the designer for the labels for the cosmetic company that my mum set up and I’m now on board with, we’re so close to getting everything launched in a huge way, I’m so so excited! Even our logo makes me smile! Thursday we go to see the web designer, eeeeeeeeek! Of course I’ll be sure to keep you all in the loop because, well, I guess a shameless plug never did anyone any harm, and I genuinely love what I do and think it’s nice to share with the world 🙂 and, WE CAN SHIP INTERNATIONAL BABAAAAY!  We’re hoping to sort an Etsy shop out soon too. Whoop!

 

I’ve been hunting out cosy soup recipes too, you know the kind that makes you all warm and fuzzy inside. My mum made me the most amazing green lentil soup yesterday, which was red oddly enough, and I’d finished it by the time she’d sat down for hers haha next time she makes it I’ll be sure to post the recipe for you, I know you’ll all love it as much as I did. I had the blended version because I can’t eat the skins on things but mum had hers chunky.

 

Well, there’s no stopping me today, I have some energy from somewhere and I need to get as much done as possible before I crash haha

 

XOXO

 

 

Mini Emergency Kit

Now, we all know my now that I am a serious Pinner and also adore Lauren Conrad’s blog so this post is really dedicated to her post about mini emergency kits.

Before Christmas LC posted a blog about last minute stocking stuffers (see link above) and I thought it was fantastic! Such a simple idea really, extremely useful, and yet, I’d never even thought about something like this. This is certainly on my list of possible gifts to make a person that has everything!

This post got me thinking though, I think I should have an emergency kit of my own. What would you all have in yours? LC’s personal recommendations were in the pic she posted below…..

The exact list of her items can be found here http://www.laurenconrad.com/post/beauty-911-locked-and-loaded.

 

This basically is just an excuse for me to go out and buy a cute little beauty case and fill it with lots of supplies haha

 

XOXO

GOOD MORNING!!

Do you ever wake up some mornings when the sun in shining and think, yep, today’s gonna be a good day just because the sun is out! Sunshine makes me feel so much better about everything. I mean, the trees are blowing like crazy so I’m guessing it’s actually really cold out but, just the sun coming through my window made me happy!

 

Today is gonna be productive (she hopes!) I’ve been up an hour, had my breakfast, which was THE SHIZZLE by the way, taken my steroids, poured a pint of juice to have with my glucose powder (the docs want me to fatten up so I can fight the relapse), had a quick look on Pinterest ready to return again for recipe ideas, fed my cat and now I’m blogging! All before 9.45am! HIGH FIVE!

 

Now, because I’m on the steroids I’m eating like a monster, seriously, my mum says I’m just like Pacman when I’m on them, if its sat in my path it will be eaten. So yesterday we did the mother of all shops. £130 later, we have the fullest fridge and cupboards in the land. But how depressing is it that you have to spend so much money on food to be healthy. It was reading VodkaandMotherhoods blog this morning that made me think hell, healthy eating costs a s***load wherever you live. But, and I’m sure she’ll agree, why would you wanna eat any other way. She’s an amazing example in my opinion, too many people in the UK cop out and go buy really cheap and nasty freezer products, I’m sure it’s the same in the US. There’s enough diseases going round without adding heart disease/diabetes to your list. Just saying. So, I devised a plan to help me with my snackage issues, yes, I’m that lame, but it really helps me to make lists, I’m kind of a list fiend and like to check things off all the time, though this list may be the future if you ask me……

 

 

I also get really bored really easy with the same old boring breakfasts, so this morning I had a pot of yoghurt, a couple of tablespoons of blueberries, some agave drizzled on top, and, wait for it, 2 crushed ginger nut biscuits! The biscuits just added the crunch, texture and extra pizzaz if you know what I mean? And now I’m full without feeling stuffed, bloated or, heaven forbid, STILL HUNGRY!!

 

Shrimps and rice for lunch today, I’m off to Pinterest some possible dressing recipes, and probably Google too if I’m honest, though my Pinterest addiction is getting out of control haha

 

Wish me luck!!

 

XOXO

Quick and easy – 10 minute pasta

You’ve probably all realised that I have a thing for pumpkin at the moment. The truth is, yes I really do love pumpkin but I also have 4 cans sat at the back of our cupboard screaming use me use me!!

When I made the Pumpkin Muffins on Sunday, I still had half a can of the puree left so tonight I figured I’d make a quick pasta dish for tea. It was amazing!

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• Dried Spaghetti pasta
• 1 cup of pumpkin puree
• 60ml single cream
• 1/4 Cup grated parmesan (plus extra to serve)
• 1 Tbsp tomato puree
• Salt

1. Boil the kettle, fill your pan and pop in your pasta. Portion sizes are usually mentioned on the side of your packet.
2. In a small bowl, mix your pumpkin puree, cream, salt and parmesan with a fork or small hand whisk.
3. Drain the pasta and place back in the pan.
4. Empty your pumpkin mix into the pan then add the tomato puree and stir.
5. Empty contents into a dish and grate more parmesan over the top.
6. EAT!!

Excuse the poor quality pic!!

Now, I was greedy tonight and ate the whole pan of pasta. I wouldn’t really recommend eating so much pasta, I’m actually sat here typing barely able to waddle into the kitchen haha it was just too tasty to leave though.

 

Hope you enjoy this as much as I did

 

XOXO

Made my night!!

This video was on Facebook tonight, and it absolutely made my night! So, being the generous blogger that I am, here it is…….

 

http://jezebel.com/5886053/man-dances-to-lmfao-in-speedo-has-a-great-fucking-time

 

Pardon the language on the link, not my fault, but the video is user friendly and a very happy, none sweary video.

 

Enjoy 🙂

XOXO

Have you ever thought about sayings….

Sometimes I tend to have really random thoughts. Not like, why is the grass green, or what is the meaning of life, that’s far too deep to be honest with you!! So, I thought about the thoughts that I think about the most….confused?! You will be hahaha I just sometimes wonder where on Earth sayings come from, or just why on Earth we say such stupid things anyway. If anyone has any answers to these then please do let me know, I’m always happy to learn random bits of information, I’m like a mine full of crappy knowledge usually!!

 

 

• Losing out hand over fist – huh?
• I was up at Sparrows Cough – do sparrows actually cough?
• It’s all gravy – as oppose to what, jam??
• It’s raining cats and dogs – no it’s not, it always has been and always will be, WATER
• What’s on the gogglebox – is this an English/Northern thing??
• I’ve got eyes in the back of my head – weird
• Grass is never greener on the other side – of what??
• You can’t polish a turd – just gross!!
• You can take a girl out of the city but not the city out of the girl
• An apple a day keeps the doctor away – wanna bet!!
• Every dog has its day – to doooooo?
• You’re as keen as mustard you – I just don’t get it.

 

The list could really go on but, you get the general idea. I would just like to know who the hell creates these things?! Any why, really, why would you even want to polish a turd. Vile.

 

I guess sayings make for an pleasant world but (you see, again, why would it make for a pleasant world, I’m sure David Cameron isn’t thinking, if only I could think of some sayings dammit then I know we could have world peace).

 

I’m beginning to rant now. It has been a long day, I’m gonna get my ass to bed before I start driving myself crazy! Until tomorrow 🙂

 

Xoxo

Pumpkin Muffin update

I’ve just had this in the oven to warm it through (ended up finishing it off in the microwave though due to my lack of patience), popped a small scoop of ice cream on and a drizzle of maple syrup and OMG…..I have no words, I’m in actual heaven. I ready to go put another in the oven but, you know that moment when the second time around just makes you feel ill and you start to regret even the first dish!

 

I had to let you all in on this though, for those of you that are going to make these, this is a great little tip, especially a couple of days down the line when they’re going a bit moist in the tin or a bit stale. HEEEEAAAAVEEEEENNN.

 

Xoxo

Best Pumpkin Muffins EVER – FACT!

I use The Post Punk Kitchen for a lot of recipe ideas because I can’t have eggs, and it’s a completely vegan website so I love looking for alternative ideas and inspiration to help me along when I get sick of the same old food. Thankfully, I also love tofu too, especially the firm stuff, oo oo and the kind thats got basil in it, so tasty!

So, this recipe is one I used last year when I was selling cupcakes at a local market, people in the UK tend to be quite wary of pumpkin, I have no idea why. I love me some pumpkin though, and today I had 4 tins of pumpkin puree tucked away at the back of the cupboard and just thought, what the hell, I’ll make the muffins again today. They are perfect for a snack, but best of all, breakfast or dessert! I’m always struggling for breakfast ideas, cereal never fills me, toast gets so boring and bloating, Ready Brek is nice and all but there’s only so many times you can eat porridge, especially on the rarer warm days and fruit and yogurt, again, get a little boring for me.

SO, here I go, handing you this very special recipe that I know you will all love as much as I do because frankly, if you like pumpkin and the warming spices that go with it, then there is no reason that you shouldn’t like this. I’ve adapted it ever so slightly just to my taste.

Makes 12

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground or freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup pureed pumpkin NOT pumpkin pie mix
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons dark corn syrup/golden syrup

1. Preheat oven to 180c
2.  In a bowl place all the dry ingredients. You can either sift them together or, like I did, use a basic hand whisk and just mix them together until they look well blended.

Dry mix

3.     In a seperate bowl mix together the wet ingredients.

Wet ingredients

 

4.   Add the wet mix the dry mix then whisk until just combined.

 

Pumpkin batter

 

5.      Fill the muffin liners 2/3 full and bake for 18-20 minutes.

 

YUMO

 

Now, firstly I have to apologise for the first post that posted by complete mistake, I have no idea what WordPress it trying to do to me but it did not amuse!! Mainly because this was my tomorrows post because I’m a lazy ass haha oh well, happy days peeps.

 

XOXO

What a week!!

Wow, I can honestly say this week has been crap! The boyf and I decided to boycott Valentines Day in the end, we bought cards but it just seemed stupid to go buying something for the sake of it, plus most things in the shops are literally pure cheese and really cheap looking. I still want to do the envelope idea though…..maybe for his birthday.

So Tuesday came and boy was I ill. Like, I literally thought I was dying. Ok, maybe I exaggerate there, but I honestly thought a hospital visit was imminent. The steroids cause all kinds of nasty side effects, one being night sweats/high temperatures but I woke up Tuesday with an awful fever. I literally had to crawl out of my bed to the bathroom, hunt out some old bottled water from my dresser and crawl back in to bed again. Mum had to grab me some fresh water so that I could actually function, food was not an option unless I wanted to be in agony because the emptiness in my stomach was too much to bear (steroids also cause serious munchies, you’d think that’d be fun but when hunger hits you don’t have time to waste, it’s agonising). Eventually I made it downstairs and throughout the day I took paracetamol to help my temperature. Back in 2010 I ended up in A&E because of the steroids, I had the same fever but I was shivering too, the started to treat me for meningitis as a precaution because my immune system was so low but luckily, it was an infection with the Crohn’s and the steroids had just made me crash after a boost. This meant that this time I had an idea of how to handle what was happening, luckily, because this was the third time it had happened.

All I wanted to do was sleep Tuesday night, just a nice nights sleep, but at 1.41am it was time for full on projectile vomiting (I’m really sorry if you’re eating!) This time I was convinced I’d end up in A&E again, so curled up around my shower until the world stopped spinning. Luckily I dozed and come morning I felt much better, I just felt like I’d been kicked around my local town.

You’ll all be pleased to know though that I’m getting back on track now, it’s still a nightmare having more side effects than ever with the steroids but hey ho, as long as my throat calms back down again I’ll suffer for the cause, I doubt I’ll be on them for more than another couple of weeks now so. HAPPY DAYS

 

XOXO

Preparing for Pancake Day/Shrove Tuesday

Pancakes have always been a huge part of my life, for a British girl I take my pancakes seriously! Usually on Pancake Day I try to have pancakes at lunch or for dinner, Marks and Spencers do them that you can pop in the microwave and SMOTHER in Lyles Maple flavoured Syrup. Now, part of me feels that this product is the work of the devil because it’s so addictive and delicious and…..I’m drooling now, I should stop!! It got to the point though that I was having this on EVERYTHING, porridge, pancakes, honeyloaf, rice pudding. EVERYTHING.

Since I had to do the whole liquid diet thing just over a year ago though I tend to have some trouble with eggs, so where possible I do try to eat cakes etc without egg, those that are homemade anyway, I don’t see there being that many eggs in supermarket cakes given the size of the cake batter they must use in the mass production! This is a slight problem though where pancakes are concerned as you can imagine. Until now. I have just discovered this recipe by the blog Art of Dessert and it sounds pretty good. Also, it sounds like it would be pretty easy to make the dry mix in advance and just add the liquids on the morning you’re wanting to make the, how simple!

Makes 8-9 pancakes

2 Cups Plain Flour

1/4 Cup Sugar

1 1/2 Tbsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

2 Cups Milk

1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil

1/4 Cup Orange Juice

1/4 Cup Melted Butter

• Sift together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, oil and orange juice. Slowly add in the melted butter.
• Pour about 1/2 cup of batter onto a hot nonstick pan. (This batter is tends to bubble up and thicken due to the baking powder. You can gently stir it to break down some of the bubbles to bring it back to a pourable consistency.)
• Cook until you see a few bubbles rise to the surface and it’s dry around the edges, then flip over to cook the other side until lightly browned.
• Serve!!

Now, I haven’t tested these myself yet, but if you do please let me know how you get on. As soon as I make them I’ll post pictures, if they last that long! CAN.NOT.WAIT.

The amazing IHOP!

Dennys Pancakes, en route to Lake Tahoe

Butterscotch Pancakes from IHOP, Lake Tahoe! And yes, I ate the lot 🙂

I really do love pancakes.

XOXO