Breakfast Jars of Heaven

If you follow me on Instagram, you will know I seriously love breakfast. It is my morning motivation to jump out of bed, and my current obsession is making beautiful, healthy breakfasts in mason jars. (Don't mason jars make everything look so much cooler/taste better?!)

The best thing about these are that they are even easier than my usual microwaved-porridge-and-fruit, perfect if you have early mornings and even better if you need to eat breakfast on the run. I ate mine on the bus and everyone glared at me jealously hehehe. They also taste literally out of this world amazing!

First of all, find yourself a jar (this is non compulsory, but will make your breakfast very Insta-worthy). There are so many kinds out there, for super duper cheap. Mine looks a little like this.

Then, the night before your desired breakfast-eating time, fill your jar with your base. I usually put in 30-40 grams of porridge oats (roughly 150 calories), goji berries (my other current main obsession) and chia seeds. You can add anything you want, but oats are usually a good place to start followed by nuts/berries/raisins/fruit/other healthy things like flaxseed etc. Then add a reasonable amount of milk or water - I use almond milk as it is really healthy and tastes amazing - give it a stir round and pop it in the fridge. Overnight, your ingredients will double in size and become incredibly tasty.

In the morning, you will find your breakfast ready and waiting for you! Now comes the fun bit of toppings - you can use whatever you want, but usually I just pile on as much fruit as will fit in the jar. Generally a mix of chopped banana, strawberries and blueberries.

Maybe take a photo if you are feeling particularly proud (I become very overexcited at this breakfast every morning and take pictures, because I am quite a geek), mix it up and tuck in!

Let me know what you think!

xx

Throw it all together Thai soup

It's Winter, so healthy eating just got about 100x harder. Who wants to come in from the freezing cold and sit down to a limp salad?! My friend Nicola inspired me a few weeks ago by making this incredible vegetable soup, and taught me how to do it. I had always steered clear of things like this because I would imagine it's quite difficult, but it literally could not be easier. Even better, cook up a gigantic broth and you have healthy, cosy and delicious meals for the rest of the week sorted!

Because this is a 'Thai' soup, I'll tell you in a nutshell how to make a thick, vegetable one (like I did a couple of weeks ago!) Basically collect your chosen vegetables together (broccoli, leek and potatoes work well), boil them for an hour, then whizz them up with a food processor! Hey presto - soup that fills you up but is unbelievably healthy.

Today, though, I went a little more adventurous and tried to make a sweet and sour soup. It was one of those throw-everything-together days, and it came out amazingly! (After my boyfriend Dima intervened, I may have put a little too much chilli in the start).

Recipe for Throw it together thai soup 

• 2 Peppers
• Mushrooms - every type you can find! I used big 'ordinary' ones as a base, then added a pack of mixed dried mushrooms which was amazing (shitake, oyster etc)
• Sweetcorn - I used the baby sweetcorn you find in packs.
• 2 Pork steaks, finely chopped
• 1 Chilli
• Lemongrass stick
• Ginger
• 1 Onion
• 2 Cloves of Garlic 
• Zest of Lime
• Coconut Milk 
• Fish Sauce - splash 
• Rice/Wine Vinegar - 1/4 cup
• 1/2 a teaspoon of white pepper
• Cornflour
• Coriander
• Stock cubes (1 per 250ml water)

1. Chop everything up, and set a BIG soup pan of water and stock to boil, depending on how much you want to make. I made about a litre of soup, but it will last me all week! 

2. In a pan, fry together the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli. 

3.When done, throw it in the hot stock. Add your finely-as-possible chopped pork.

4. Then add all of the other vegetables - pepper, mushrooms, sweetcorn whatever else you decide to add. Throw in the rice wine vinegar, lemongrass and pepper too.

5. Leave to all boil together for 20-30 mins, then add 1/3 of the coconut milk and a splash of fish sauce. Mix a bit of cornflour and cold water together to make a paste, and add that too to thicken up the soup.

6. Finish it off with coriander and grated lime zest. Tuck in and enjoy! 

Hope you like it, let me know how yours turn out! Remember this is a 'made up' (yet exceptionally good) recipe so just follow your own instincts when measuring/adding things. 

Russian dumplings!

Something you might not know about me is that my dad has lived in Russia for the past 25 years, for work. I visited him when I was about 15 (that age is scarily getting further and further away!) and had incredible Russian food, which I didn't expect at all! As Lisa and Dima are both Russian as well, I have pretty much been surrounded by such food ever since but have yet to find pelmeni since visiting my dad. However, as Dima's parents are currently staying with us there have been new hearty Russian dishes everyday made from scratch, and I was so happy to see Dima's mum making pelmeni! I sat down and helped her for the afternoon, a strangely therapeutic way to spend a Saturday..

Dumplings with meat in them are called pelmeni, and SO GOOD. We also made ones with cheese and with potato fillings, which are called Vareniki - also incredible! These are super homely and filling, perfect for October weather.

Probably better than I could tell you are recipes here and here - my idea of cooking tends to be sneakily eating everything as someone else does the important parts (like measuring!) but I can show you the dumplings I helped to finish off, and tell you how fantastic they are! 

Once you have your dough ready you roll it into a line, and chop off little sections ready to be rolled out into little flat circles, ready to embrace their fillings.

These ones, with the edges simply pinched together are Vareniki 

And these chubby little things with the sides sealed together (by simply crossing over the edges and pinching) are Pelmeni 

It helps to distinguish them so you don't accidentally eat raw meat (errr I may have eaten a few cheese/potato ones raw, bad habits and a taste for dough!)

Pop them in the fridge until they are ready to cook, where you will place them in boiling water for twenty minutes..

 

Then tuck in! The Russian way to eat pelmeni (and potato vareniki) is with a scoop of butter and sour cream, and for the cheese Vareniki, slightly more dessert-y, they are eaten with a generous dose of jam and sour cream. I know it sounds odd, but it works! 

Enjoy your dumplings!

P.S - I have also started learning Russian this week, finally doing something about not being able to understand everyone around me! I would definitely recommend this book, it's amazing :) 

Food phase of the moment.. turkey?

When I think of turkey, I instantly think of the giant bird that has been cooked to perfection for the Christmas roast. So when Dima decided last week to buy some turkey breasts I was all like 'is this a cheap version of chicken yo' but it was actually really ridiculously good. Then I found out a turkey breast has 90 calories with 10 from fat (as opposed to chicken which is 165 with 35 from fat) - low carb and low fat!

 

Generally I have been making the above - a mix of rocket, cherry tomatoes, sweetcorn, avocado, turkey and a spritz of lime = so good! You won't even realise it's salad ;) 

Or another really good way of eating it is with a poached egg (and avocado on the side, because avocado is just awesome.)

How I make it is just:

- spray a little low calorie oil into a pan, let it get nice and hot

- throw some seasoning over the turkey breast and pop it in the pan. Cook for 3 minutes per side until it's no longer pink in the middle - careful not to overcook! 

- take off and eat away!

Poached egg is easy: just boil up some water in a frying pan and crack your egg in. Leave it to cook for 3 minutes then take out and eat! :)  My kind of food - ridiculously easy, fast and good! 

I have also got really into snacking on frozen fruit lately...

At 30 calories per two handfuls of frozen berries, you can afford to eat as much as you want! I also freeze grapes and chopped bananas in a food-bag, they taste like sorbet/ice cream and in great bitesize pieces to keep you going throughout the day! Also if you blend them all up with a bit of milk you are left with 'ice cream' :) 

I leave you with an awesome piece of work by David Chihuly.

Exams finish in 11 days! Literally never been more excited!  

Aritchokes

Today I made a fabulous 'London Discovery' (aka when people ask you where to go in London, and you feel like you should know more secrets than the best burger bars) - it has only taken me three years! Strolling along Holborn in the sunshine, the massive fruit and vegetable stall caught my eye '4 Avocados - £1' 

It couldn't be true - could it? More likely 1 avocado for £1 - even that would be a bargain. 

Alas no, it was true and I got all of the above (4 avocados, 1 huge mango and 2 artichokes) for £3 - precisely the amount of cash I had on me (probably a good job I didn't have more or I would have cleared them out!). They had SO much fresh fruit and vegetables, and so ridiculously cheap so if you are around Holborn GO! I didn't manage to take a picture of the stall but it's on the main road towards Covent Garden, complete with the traditional 'y'alright darlin?' sellers. 

I haven't been able to find 'whole' artichokes anywhere, only the (delicious) canned hearts, but my friend Katherine is always going on about them so I decided to give them a try! 

I had no idea what an artichoke even looked like, so to cut it in half and find a punky purple hidden centre complete with furry bits(?) staring back at me was quite suspicious. Off I googled and found a recipe from here.

Here is a quick summary of the (arguably more torturous yet delicious) recipe above. 

ingredients

1 whole artichoke

1 cup of chicken stock 

1 lemon

Couple of garlic cloves 

butter 

a bit of cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees, and set the stock to boil. 

2. Whilst you wait, chop your artichoke in half, snip off the top leaves, peel the stem and finally carve out the pesky hairs with a spoon! (don't try to eat them, they don't taste good :( ) 

3. When the stock is boiled, transfer to a baking tray with the garlic and lemon juice, and lay the artichoke halves on top. Sprinkle a dash of salt, pepper and olive oil and pop it in the oven for half an hour.

 4. After half an hour, flip them over on to the other side and re-season. Pop back in for another 15 minutes. 

5. After 15 mins, sprinkle some cheese on the artichokes 'centre' - I missed out this step due to healthiness obligations but I bet it tastes pretty great! Put them back in the oven for a final 15 minutes.

5. Take them out - the leaves should be peeling off easily. Put the stock into a small bowl and add in some butter (up to you how much, obviously the more butter the better but it is optional).

Your artichoke will look all pretty like this. Now for what you will not find on the recipe linked above - if you are like me, an artichoke newbie, you now face the problem of how to eat it. 

I just assumed you gobble up the whole thing as nothing in the recipe said otherwise, but apparently no. Spitting out the leaves which I had tried to chow down, I returned to google. 

here are some instructions for eating! 

1. Place the artichoke face down on your plate. Peel off each leaf separately and dip the bottom into your bowl of fabulousness. 

2. Bite the bottom of the leaf where it is fleshy and scrape off with your teeth (quite weird to instruct but so good!) 

3. Continue to do this until you reach the elusive 'heart' - I had no idea what it looked like but presumed this was it: 

Looks sort of like a baby cauliflower - tastes INCREDIBLE. 

4. Eat the stem - it is almost good as the heart!

You will be left messy and flustered, but satisfied. Because artichokes are actually amazing, and you worked for your food! You will be left with an insane amount of leaves as such:

So that was my first delve into cooking/eating artichokes, but I was pretty impressed by the end of my trial/error period! They were worth all of the effort and at around 70 calories per GIANT artichoke, seriously low calorie and good for you as well as being an amazing tasting vegetable :) 

A couple of other random health foods I have discovered this week are :

Chia Pods

literally incredible, the most delicious chia pudding I've ever had!

and Coyo

Coyo is the creamiest yoghurt ever - yet it is vegan?  New love, if only it was a bit easier to find!

Hope you all have a great Easter! xx

staying healthy during revision

I am in a revision funk. My facebook password has officially been changed for exam period, meaning I have had to resort to other ways of procrastinating... food! It can be difficult whilst revising all day not to reach for the chocolate, or whatever is easiest but I have tried to separate my days with cooking healthy meals, so that doesn't happen! 

I bought some green tea from Amazon (maybe or maybe not because I really liked the mango lychee flavour and couldn't find it anywhere else), here I found four 'variety' packs for £10 - now reduced to £7.50! At 25 bags per box, you basically get 100 bags of tea to work your way through. This was probably quite a good buy as I now drink about ten cups of green tea a day - I just refill the cup with the bag in it over and over again! (you can't over-do green tea right?!) 

My favourite is mango & lychee, but the others are all amazing so it is definitely worth buying if you are trying to up your green tea intake and think regular GT is boring! 

Ok I did technically also buy the years supply of tea because I wanted to buy coconut oil, and amazon have a really irritating new policy where they don't give you free delivery unless something is over £10 :( 

But all's well that ends well - this coconut oil is amazing! The benefits are endless, and as a coconut-obsessor I use it on everything and even as a body moisturiser! 

This is the superfood buckwheat, or 'Kasha' (I stole the pack from my Russian boyfriend muaha - but it is pretty easy to get hold of here.) Buckwheat is really reminiscent of my childhood for some reason, I think my mum used to force us to eat it with everything! 

Apart from tasting really great, it also has endless health benefits. It's not even a wheat, despite the name, it is a fruit seed coming from the rhubarb family! So you are basically eating a giant portion of fruit :') It's also chock-full of proteins and has antioxidants that make it great for regulating blood sugar, to stop you from craving snacks! More health benefits can be found here but it is basically great for you whilst being a great comfort food. 

I ate a massive portion of buckwheat (at an average 150 calories per serving), grilled salmon and spinach and mushroom salad. Can something be called a salad if it was lightly fried in coconut oil?!

 whatever, the 'salad' was pretty incredible for a salad and I definitely recommend making it. To make you simply fry a chopped onion and mushroom together in a little oil and then add spinach at the very end to soften it up! Amazing! 

This deserves a second picture because it was SO GOOD and lifted me out of my unmotivated revision day, even if I am now procrastinating from studying by writing about it! 

xxx

healthy treats!

Incase you hadn't noticed, I am sort of on a major health kick. After three weeks of this 'healthiness' and pretending to enjoy salads and running daily, salads are beginning to wear thin. I truly believe that I have used eggs to their most extreme limits, and desperately need to eat something else! Easter around the corner means that there is chocolate everywhere I look and this makes me very very sad that I can't eat my favourite treats :( 

So the result is searching instagram and food blogs for a very long time to find healthy 'desserts!'  

'Protein' Balls 

The word protein is still quite scary to me, I am still equating it in my mind with butch muscles and lifting 100kg. Probably from cheerleading, where big tubs of protein powder was present at every session. So these are basically just really delicious balls which taste like cookie dough (disclaimer: a little imagination needed). 

Ingredients 

Basically, you can use whatever you find in your kitchen, mash it all up (preferably in a food processor) and add dark chocolate chips to it. (aka a great recipe if you are really not a recipe-sort of follower, and prefer to make it up as you go along... guilty!) 

However, what I used on this particular day was the following:

•  Pinhead porridge oats - I did NOT know these were a thing, but apparently they are. Tiny balls of porridge oats instead of the usual flakes (my boyfriend has an extremely random collection of food in his cupboards!) He claims they are healthier and keep you fuller for longer, any thoughts? Just toss an amount in depending on how oaty you would prefer your balls 8) 
• Organic Peanut butter - I used a tablespoon, but probably the most you use = the more delicious your balls will be because peanut butter = happiness 
• Dessicated Coconut - DELICIOUS. on everything. use LOADS if you are obsessed with coconut like me. 
• Chopped Dates and Walnuts  - most recipes use dates as a good replacement for something sugary and delicious. Basically use any tasty fruit (banana I'm looking at you) and some chopped nuts.
• Sesame Seeds - another thing just lying about, but actually turned out to be a very good addition. 
• Coconut Milk - this is probably also not a requirement, and only use a bit if you are going to add milk, but I found this 'Koko' milk in Tesco's and got wildly excited (and erm.. drank the entire thing in one day)
• Vanilla Essence - note: do not overuse the vanilla essence, tempting as it smells. it will make your balls taste like alcohol. 
• Dark chocolate chips - these are the most important ingredient. Basically just because they are chocolate, and I miss chocolate dearly so will take whatever I can get. Dark chocolate apparently has antioxidants blablabla but they taste FAB <3

As you can see, my ingredients were largely based on what was in Dima's cupboards at the time. Basically you need some form of oats, nut butter, fruit (dates or bananas), nuts and chocolate chips. 

- 

Now for the process.... BLITZ everything except the chocolate chips together! If you don't have a processor just mix by hand! 

Then spoon it into a bowl and add chocolate chips.

 With your hands, shape the amazingly-delicious mixture into balls and place on a plate. When finished, put the plate in the fridge and leave it for however long you can wait, then proceed to eat....

Top tip: DO NOT EAT ALL OF THE BALLS IN ONE GO. Depending on how much ingredients you use, they can probably be quite calorific (probs around 100 calories per ball) and one at a time is the perfect bite size amount of tasty heaven to give you a mid-morning/afternoon energy boost! 

Of course, I made a batch and proceeded to eat all five straight away. Then I decided to make some more to last me for the week... they lasted me until the evening :'( So a disclaimer, these are seriously moreish - but seriously amazing whilst being healthy! 

Chia Seed Pudding 

Chia seeds are AMAZING. I was extremely shocked to find them being sold in Tesco (for about £5 average - not the cheapest superfood but good quality!) and proceeded to force my boyfriend to buy me loads! They have properties in them which absorb liquid, making the teensy seeds expand to double their size and make you feel super full up, so a great snack! 

Another one of my make-it-up-as-you-go-along recipes, this is easy. You will need:

- chia seeds

- milk (preferably almond/coconut) 

- vanilla essence/chocolate chips/cocoa powder/banana

To make, all you do is mix the ingredients in a bowl (around 1/3 seeds, 2/3 milk) and pop it in the fridge for an hour or two! You then take it out and eat to your heart's content! 

If you add cocoa powder, it comes out fabulously chocolate-y as my friend Katherine achieved, however I am trying to wean myself off chocolate again after this weekend's relapse so stuck to dark chocolate chips. Also, if you add chopped banana it makes it extra-thick and filling :) 

Perfect to add to porridge - especially porridge that has been slow-cooked for twelve hours! 

Enjoy! Any more healthy dessert ideas, I would LOVE to hear them! <3

xxx

happiness

Over the past couple of weeks something miraculous has happened. I have stuck to my fitness plan (below) and feel really, really great as a result. Even though my final exams ever are hurtling towards me at a terrifying speed, and I have no real plan of what to do when they are over except hope that my life stays fun and carefree, I wake up everyday feeling happy and grateful to have another day where those are my biggest concerns.



Here are a few things I have managed to do, most of which I never thought I would be able to!

1. Run everyday for 20 minutes. I asked my boyfriend who can exercise all day (even though he doesn't!) for tips on running, because it is something I have always hated/been really bad at and he said there isn't any. You just have to force yourself to do it. So that is what I have done everyday, just literally forced myself to make time, go to the gym and run.
When you fully commit to doing something you don't like, even though you know it will be beneficial for you in the long run (hehehe see what I did there) it becomes more of an achievement than a challenge. By forcing myself to do it everyday I manage to focus better on my work and plan out my day - I'm already out of bed!



2. Eaten Healthily 
I have had a major addiction to chocolate. I ate it at least once a day and found it literally impossible to give up, being able to eat whatever I liked when I was younger with a great metabolism set really bad habits in me  which I really doubted I would ever be able to get rid of. Being given motivation though, as in an actual goal to get into shape for somehow has made me give up the thing I loved so much and realise that I don't actually need it. I haven't eaten chocolate for two weeks and I can honestly say that (most days) I don't miss it.

Instead I have spent a looong time thinking of healthy replacements, and found some really great recipes in the process. Here are a few:

Two Ingredient Pancakes
Mix two eggs and a banana together; fry (preferably with coconut/low fat oil!). This is the easiest and healthiest recipe I have found so far and it has resulted in me and my best friend tweaking it until we found a truly amazing concoction today of adding cinammon, raspberries, coconut and maple syrup. Tastes like normal pancakes but leaves you way more energised.

Eggs
I have literally been living off eggs for two weeks. Boiled, scrambled, poached - they are literally so good for you and at 74 calories each, so easy to incorporate into each meal. Also a really good source of protein for poor students who can't afford(be bothered) to buy/cook meat every night. (Also I just really hate touching dead animals!)

Fruit
Fruit has also become a super massive part of my day, replacing the sugar highs that chocolate once gave me. Lemon water is a really great appetite suppressant, strawberries have become my new addiction, apple and cinnamon (baked, microwaved, raw), an orange on the way to uni, and obviously bananas (for my new 'pancake' addiction) have basically become my staple. I know some diets say you should avoid fruit because of their fructose - but this is good sugar. It isn't going to hurt you, its a natural alternative to processed 
3. Being kind
I thoughtlessly left my Michael Kors watch (21st birthday present) on a treadmill the other day and was absolutely convinced it had gone forever. By some act of pure kindness, someone handed it in the next day. This has made me really believe in the good of general people - Londoners get a bad reputation for scowling and rushing to work, but if you ever actually need something there will be someone there to help you. Every time I'm lost in the middle of nowhere looking for a casting, someone always helps me. Every time I drop something in the street - oyster card, sunglasses, ID - it comes back to me in one form or another.

Maybe I am just really lucky, but the great majority of what I have seen in London is kindness and it is really nice to give it back. Just complimenting strangers, telling them you like something they are wearing, because you actually do can make their whole day and makes you feel good. If I want to compliment a random person or help someone out, I just make myself do it before thinking about their reaction or how weird they will think I am, because 99% of the time they are really happy and grateful too. Make the world a nicer place!



I also really love reading the daily 'good deed feed' in the Metro! :)

4. Seeing/talking to people I love 
This is the most important. I have spent time with most of my best friends this week, and am seeing the rest later on in the week. I was moaning about people not contacting me, when my friend asked 'have you contacted them?' - she's right. Spending time with my boyfriend and seeing my cousin audition for a massive drama school (and getting through to the finals!), seeing my family and going for lunch with my dad all make a massive difference to my general mood. I am really lucky to have some truly amazing people in my life, you probably are too!


 Coming up is massive change in mine and pretty much everyone I know's life - I'm not too worried because I know it will all work out just fine :)



what has made you happy lately?


- all corny pictures shameslessly lifted from pinterest, the internet's prettiest, most entertaining form of procrastination - 

Lasagne

This is for Lisa who came over on Monday for Made in Chelsea, Revenge and Lasagne. (and chocolate cake because chocolate cake is just a necessary part of life). She asked me how to make lasagne and i told her it was literally the easiest thing ever (because I am a cheat and do not slave over my white sauce or whatever for hours stirring it every 30 seconds because THIS IS JUST AS GOOD) and she asked me to write a blog post about it. As she is the only person who reads my blog I can do her this favour ;) 

Ingredients
- 500g mince 
- 1 onion 
- Dolmio Red Lasagne Sauce
- Dolmio White Lasagne Sauce
- Lasagne sheets (mine are from Tesco)
- Cheese

the above I think costs under £10 so it is a very good/cheap meal to cook for a group of friends, who assume that you have put loads of expense/effort into it when it actually takes like 20 minutes top to cook and 30 in the oven. 

Set your oven to warm up at 200* (that * is meant to be degrees)

basically,  you need this 

 ok I will put it into steps because for people like me, who cannot cook, steps are good. 

Step 1: cut your onions (try not to cry) and put them in a big frying pan (I use a wok) 
Step 2: put your (preferably NOT FROZEN like mine was meaning that I had to awkwardly scrape off the cooked bits of meat.. as it cooked) mince into the pan and brown it 
Step 3: put the RED sauce in the pan with the meat
Step 4: put your meaty-oniony concotion into an ovenproof dish in a not-too-thin  but not-too-big layer. 
Step 5: place the cute little lasagne rectangle sheets over your meat, try not to let any sauce come through 
Step 6: cover this pasta layer with lots and lots of white sauce yuuum (and also add some cheese if you love cheese, i put some casual mozarella balls in here) 
Step 7: repeat the process over again (so meat ontop of your white sauce etc) 
Step 8: when the dish is full up COVER IT WITH CHEESE (if you like cheese)  
Step 9: put it in the 200 degree oven for half an hour
Step 10: remove and EAT 

SO THERE YOU HAVE YOUR EASY PEASY LASANGE. And it tastes great. meat covered in cheese and pasta is pretty hard to not taste great. 

  



the optional last step is to eat this whilst watching crappy tv like Made in Chelsea (And then instagram a picture of your food and tag MIC and Jamie Laing will like it, worked for me) because you feel all fuzzy and warm inside knowing you are not a complete dick like spencer who probably never eats lasange. 

Enjoy! xx