Week Recap

Yet another foodie week- of course!

 



 

 

Mid-week I had an after-school craving for yoghurt and granola that I had to satisfy. I also had a go at 'overnight oats' but with granola which was super tasty the next day.

A hard day resulted in my first 'Papa John's' which was yummy.

A Saturday shopping trip with a T-shirt theme. I love this 'happy' one from Primark but not as much as I LOVE the vintage ice cream one.

I also got a polka dot shirt from New Look and an adorable giraffe T-shirt.

 

In an attempt to be more organised I got this meal planner and shopping list set from the Paperchase sale.

 

I topped my shopping trip off with a trip to Pret and a yummy Avocado and herb wrap with pine nuts and parmasan in!

Sunny Weekend

This weekend the weather has been really lovely. I was fancying a picnic in the sun so me and a couple of friends popped to M&S to get some goodies and spent a lovely afternoon in the park.

 

Then me and another friend went to go and see Malificent at the cinema. My review is that it was quite good, not as clever as I'd hoped and I didn't like the casting of Aurora and the Prince.

 

 

Today I decided to whip up one of my favourites, Banana Bread but with added naughty chocolate chips. It is absolutely delicious, if a little wide due to the silicone mould instead of a tin.

 

 

I was also treated today to an epic roast cooked by a friend, she never skimped on the trimmings and it was amazing.

 





Pretty much the making of a perfect weekend- sun, friends and yummy food. What have you been up to?

Peanut Butter Cookies

You may have noticed by now that I love peanut butter, especially when it's with chocolate! I adapted this recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook.

Makes 12

110g margerine
200g caster sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
100g peanut butter
160g self raising flour

-Preheat the oven at 180 degress
-cream the butter and sugar
-add the peanut butter, vanilla and egg and mix
-add the flour
-*optional* add 75g dark chocolate, chopped (I had less).
-Bake for approx 10 minutes or until brown on the edges.

Mine turned out a little undercooked so they were chewy but still very yummy.

Vegan Nottingham

This weekend my Mum came to visit me, my favourite thing about her visiting me is that we always find new places to go. My Mum is Vegan and living in a city is great for finding alternative places to eat.

Friday night-

 

On Friday night we went to Las Iguanas who actually have a seperate Veggie and Vegan menu if you ask you it. As a meat eater myself I had the chicken flatbread with curly fries and a side of Nachos. My Mum had the Vegan Gringas which is a tortilla with refried beans and butternut squash, she had a side of Cassava Fries which I have to say were nice, slightly potato and cheesy tasting.

 

 

Saturday midmorning-

 

 

On Saturday we stopped for a coffee and cake at Cappuchaino and I was so surprised that pretty much all of the cakes were vegan, we shared a Vegan brownie.

 



Saturday Lunch-

For lunch we stopped for lunch at Broadway Cinema who had a lot of Vegan choices. I opted for the 'not dog' with vegan sausages and it was really yummy, as were the wedges. My Mum had the 'Veganwich'- Houmous, carrot and spinach.

It was really nice to eat at some new places and my Mum was so pleased that it was so easy for her to eat what she wanted as I know it can be quite tricky. If you are Vegan, I would also highly recommend Alley Cafe and Annie's Burger Shack.

Fathers Day Gift Idea

I've noticed that when it comes round to Fathers Day the gifts seem to fit with particular interests- football, gold, cars .etc. My dad doesn't fit in with any of these and doesn't particularly want for anything, doesn't really cook, isn't a jewellery wearer or whiskey drinker, so he's always found him hard to buy for. I've done the fun joke presents before but they soon loose appeal and stay at the back of the cupboard. I've done vouchers before but it's hard enough to get him to go out and spend them so this year I thought I'd try something different.

I decided to make a 'Boy's Night In' kit- my mum sometimes sees friends on a Friday night when my Dad is pretty knackered from the working week and he usually watches a film/TV, drinks beer and has some snacks. So I thought I would provide him with those!

In the 'kit' I put-

-a DVD
-a magazine
-chocolate
-beer
-crisps

and it's as simple as that! Of course there are lots of different variations of kits you could do- a BBQ kit, a football match kit .etc. I really hope my dad likes it and I hope you all have a good Fathers Day.

Tried and Tested Pins

As you can probably tell from some of my recent posts, I'm a pinterest lover. Over the past year I've been very tempted by many recipes that I've pinned and I thought I'd share some tried and tested recipes.

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 When I found the recipe for these healthy pancakes made with just banana and egg I had to try them out. The first time I made them they were yummy but I've made them since and found they are much nicer when made with a brown banana.

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 In the summer I really got into making homemade pizzas and by putting grated courghette on them they stay really moist and yummy.



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I showed this to my Mum for my birthday last year- It turned out really well! The only tricky patt was that the malteasers on the edges kept falling off so it would have been impossible to do it on the edges too!




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I had a go at this yummy looking corghette tart but I added mozerella and pesto and took the squash out- it was lovely.

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I really loved this avocado pasta, it was lovely. The only thing I would say is maybe to add more garlic to make it a little more strong tasting (I love garlic!).


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I made these apple enchiladas with a friend but with the syrup we found them to just be too sweet, I think we added too much.

101 Things Update

I have 1001 days to complete the 101 things on my list which takes me to September 2015. Here's how it's going-

Completed-
-Send someone a surprise gift for no reason- I did this with my friend Leanne and she sent me one back!
-Pay someone a surprise visit- I surprised my Dad with good news when my Mum was away.
-Go Veggie for a month- I did this back in 2013, it was surprisingly easy as I used to be veggie.
-Buy a house decoration from Next- My chicken egg jar is my favourite.

-Make the perfect baked cheesecake- vanilla chocolate chip- yum!

-Have gel nails again- a friend bought the kit but if I'm honest it wasn't great for my nails.
-Swim 30 lengths in 30 minutes- I used to love swimming and got back into it in the summer. It only took me about 5 visits to complete this so I think I possibly needed a more challenging goal!
-Go Ice Skating- I fell dramatically.
-Give up chocolate for a month- I did this in January 2013, the first month of my list, and it was really difficult!
-Travel in 1st Class on a train- my Mum treated me to this one and we got a nice little snack pack.
-Go on holiday with friends- it was only one friend to Barcelona but it was great.
-Go speed dating- it was great fun!
-Eat the tomatoes on my plate/sandwich for a month- this was easy enough but I quickly went back to taking them off my sandwiches!
-Visit the beach- Inglemells and Skegness.

In progress-
-Make the perfect macaroons- I tried once but they weren't perfect!

-Rewatch 10 Disney classics- (3/10)
-Read 15 new books (3/15)
-Try 5 new fruits (2/5)
-Try 10 new foods (6/10)
-Have a plant that lives longer than 6 months- I planted some strawberry plants in April that are actually growing!

To do-
-Take my parents out to dinner to say thank you
-Go to Rome
-Walk into a bar and make a new friend
-See Kelly Clarkson again- come on Kelly come to the UK again!
-Do race for life
- Have a pedicure- my fear of people touching my feet is getting better
- Make mince pies
-Go strawberry picking
-Make someone a birthday cake
-Have a picnic
-Don't wear make up for a week (go out as normal)
-Host a dinner party
-Go to Brighton
-Go to Loch Fyne.