Peanut Butter Blondies (Healthy, Easy, Delicious, Bosh)

Getting a Spring Back in The Step

Easter’s around the corner chickens!

And with Easter comes the start of spring!

And with this changing of the seasons comes warmer weather!

I know, it’s beyond British to already be thinking about the possibility of sunshine but as I’ve spent the winter working in what can only be described as a spell of grey misery, I think it can be justified. We’re on the way up folks; yesterday it was only cloudy for 8 hours as opposed to the usual 8 hours and fifty minutes.

Baby Steps.

Feed Me Seymour Friday! (Travel edition)

TGIF

It's time for another 'what I eat in a day' post and this time I did something slightly different as I recorded the day that Tasha and I were making the 5 hour long voyage from deepest darkest Devon back to mahogany twinkled Essex. Oh so Mahogany twinkle.

Now, whilst visiting the parents in the West Country, there was at no point a shortage of food related highlights.

I could have shared the black bean chocolate orange brownies I made whilst we were down there (which even my 'more old fashioned than spam' Nanny liked).

I could have shared the trio of vegan apple crumbles that mum and me whipped up. Mum + Crumble = Mumble. Ironic as she's actually quite loud.

I could have shared the fantastic three course meal of complete food porn from the parent's local pub featuring seared scallops, mustard crumb coated sea bass and marmalade brioche bread and butter pudding.

But I haven't.

Instead I have chosen to share some things packed into ugly tupperware containers that were consumed in the car park of Reading service station...

You're welcome?

St Paddy’s Day Shamrock Shake

The Makeaway (kind of) Chronicles: Episode 2

Dis dhuit! (Hello in Irish/Gaelic) or for the more stereotypical among you, top o’ tha morning to ya!

Yep, today’s recipe is Irish themed in honour of St Patrick’s day this coming Thursday.

Am I Irish? No.

Do I have Irish Family? Not that I’m aware of.

Have I ever been to Ireland? Never.

Am I fond of Leprechauns? Not especially – bit violent for me.

So why am I celebrating this public holiday? 

Well my lucky charms (mmmmm lucky charms), I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before but a lot of the people at the company I currently work for are none other than of Irish heritage, including the boss, the manager, the foreman, a lot of the yard workers… in fact the business is pretty much Irish dominated. Nothing wrong with that, although sometimes when the foreman gets angry and speaks really quickly, I’m reduced to having to rely on someone else to translate or just smiling, nodding and chiming in the occasional ‘hmm, yes I completely understand’. Lies.  

Feed Me Seymour Friday!

(On a Wednesday)

Ok so I realise that my timing may be a little off and I'm pretty sure that even a snail would be able to tell you that it isn't Friday yet but before you ask 'well why the hell are you posting a full day of eating post on a day that isn't Friday then?'  Please allow me to explain myself.

Because...

There we go, I'm glad you understand, I knew you would ;)

It's definitely cool seeing what you eat as regular parts of your diet - well maybe 'cool' is a bit of an overstatement but it definitely is eye opening. Now, as I'm only doing these type of posts once a week, anyone who reads them will probably not get an actual clear view of what I eat from a day to day basis; so to provide a more transparent view into my nomming habits I have been monitoring myself a little more closely lately and have spotted quite a few recurring patterns. Some of these things I already knew but I have to confess that there are some foods that I eat way more often then I thought I did.

The foods that tend to make more public appearances than Queen Elizabeth herself include: Oats (big surprise there), potatoes (mainly the sweet variety), spinach, legumes (I like to say this word fancily like a posh person would say 'eeww whacko' - think Nigel Thornberry) such as chickpeas and kidney beans, wholemeal bread/wraps/pitas/rolls, nuts and nut butters (all of the nut butter), eggs, fruit - mainly bananas, apples and pears, broccoli, cucumber, peppers and peas... Peas? Yes, oddly enough it turns out that I actually eat peas most days of the week - who would have thought?

Honestly, I know that you probably have better things to do with your time but if you can, just keep track of what you eat in a week, the results may surprise you.

Anyway, here is what I ate on one of the days last week - ooh and as a fun little game see how many of the above foods pop up. I should note that I also drink around 2 litres of water a day usually along with some hot beverages like green tea etc and I would like to mention that today was a rest day in terms of exercise or rather it was a 'I can't be bothered to get off the sofa and would rather stretch out over it like a complete slug all evening'... day. As a result I don't think I ate as much (calorie wise) as I would normally but who hey, if the appetite's not there, it's not there.

Happy munching. x

Breakfast 

Possible one of the weirdest meals I've ever had first thing in the morning. I would say don't jusdge me please but:

a) I don't care and

b) I'm sure nobody will because the Internet never judges anyone ever right? ;) 

Any who, yes that is a bowl of peas on the right, topped with black pepper because apparently I like to start the day giving myself a gentle kick in the throat. Next to the peas is one of my more regular staples - chocolate orange porridge (two portions worth of course) with cocoa powder, some orange extract and sweet freedom fruit syrup. Taste's just like Terry's - Bang.On.

Two of my baking favourites - especially the syrup, it's just... it's just freakin good stuff - like crack but less heady-messy.

Because I felt that I needed some more calories, I also munched on a small handful of walnuts. Some very good omegas there, plus I like to feel like a woodland squirrel in the early hours. In fact had it been warmer outside, I may have eaten these in the chestnut tree in the garden. 

Snack 1

A pretty basic bitch snack consisting of some black pepper ryvita crackers which were smeared with low fat cottage cheese and topped with cucumber, some celery sticks which were dipped into natural peanut butter (winning combo) and some big beastly strawberries. 

Lunch

I fancied something Mexican on this day it seems and so attempted to create a vegan burrito that could rival even Chipotle. It's not all visible but pictured above is a mixture of brown rice, avocado, leftover bean chili and spinach all on top of a wholemeal tortilla wrap. I also had a pear on the side because I'm all about that pear, about that pear. This lunch was set to be brillo-pads, however I overstuffed the tortilla and as a result it fell apart on the chopping board. Hence I ended up not with a burrito but...

This. Tip: when a burrito fails, throw it all into a bowl.box, add more chili on top and say its a burrito bowl and that's exactly what you were going for. 

Dinner

Dad was round for dinner today so Nan prepared one of her and Grandad's latest go-to meals. Rice with kidney beans and green beans in a mango, honey and lime sauce topped with Jamaican jerk spiced lean pork chops. Very, very tasty but by this point I was quite riced out. 

Snack 2 

The last thing I ate were two organic oat cakes by the brand Nairn's. These were the super seeded variety (sounds like something off of Pokemon) and contained flaxseed, chia and sunflower seeds. These are a very nice biscuit substitute for me at the moment and do a great job at satiating hunger due to all the protein and healthy fats from the seeds. There's also no added sugar which is a bonus as although they don't have a very strong flavour - I like them. I do have a soft spot for blank canvas type foods hence my love for things like oats and pasta - they're just so versatile. 

Anyway, that was everything I ate on this particular day.Take from it what you will or take nothing from it at all. As I said last time, I don't make these posts to tell anyone what to eat but rather just to share ideas...

...And clearly because I maybe have too much spare time on my hands...

...I should get a budgie. 

See you later. :)

Creamy Curried Coconut and Sweet Potato Soup

Errrm, Winter is over. WHY is it still cold?

Hello and a very merry March to you I do declare.

About bloody time as well! I know that it's leap year and therefore we had an extra day in February but I didn’t realise that meant that the world would literally stop turning and Father Time would effectively bugger off to Venus. Never in the History of the world has a month taken so long to pass.

Also speaking of Venus I would quickly like to mention that that is where I am going to move to if Donald Trump is voted America’s next President. Incinerating temperatures, a toxic atmosphere, sulphuric acid filled cloud formations and a bone-crushing atmospheric pressure comparable to walking under 3000 feet of water… It just makes much more sense.

Sorry, I don’t mean to be a moaning myrtle. Maybe it’s just me that thinks February has dragged but it’s true what they say; time most certainly does not fly when you’re not having fun and life has been by no means fun over the last couple of weeks. Amidst the numerous power cuts at work that cause me and my colleagues persistent displeasure (26 in one day ensures that the emotional response goes full circle from frustration to fury to dismay to hysterical laughter to not caring and back again) and the cold conditions (that resulted in me having to place a heater under my desk, between my legs and dangerously close to the crutch vicinity) you would think that at the end of a long day, getting home would be a godsend right?

Nope.  

Back at the bungalow you see, the corner of one of the wardrobes was recently invaded by a large patch of mouldy damp (who was most definitely not invited). This resulted in me and the grandparents having to spend some time spraying fungicide up the wall and applying multiple layers of anti-mould paint – activities of which I don’t really find an appealing way to spend time at the weekend.

It’s not all been doom and gloom however, as it was my friend Katy’s birthday last week and in celebration we went out clubbing and got down with our bad selves… it’s been a while. We did have a really great time but I knew I may be getting a bit passed the whole thing when I began throwing about phrases such as, ‘let’s paint the town red’ and ‘oooh, it’s a bit loud’. Combine these with a slut drop attempt that went down to floor and didn’t come back up and I can honestly say that for the first time in my life I felt a little like my mum (and as a 23 year old male, this isn’t really ideal).

So to quickly sum up:

I’ve been constantly cold, feeling a little bit old and to top it all off have had to wage war over mould.

What a lovely poem. I’m basically Sylvia Plath. Well not really…

Anyway, after all of these shenanigans I was in need of something warm and comforting (inside mah belleh) and so unsurprisingly soup was in order. This recipe has a similar taste to the creamy coconut pumpkin curry I made back in October during my pumpkin addiction phase and is smooth, thick, creamy and nutrient dense. It’s great to make as a big batch with leftovers being perfectly eligible for storage in the freezer for at least a month and up to a week in the fridge. This soup is very healthy but it doesn’t taste ‘skinny’ by any means and is sure to leave any taster very satisfied.

Warm up your stomachs and begin to defrost yourselves for spring, Easter is on the Horizon!

Mange tout!

(I know it’s a vegetable but it also sounds like a fancy French way of saying good bye so I just went with it)

 
Curried Sweet Potato and Coconut Soup

(Serves 4)

Ingredients:

2 large or 3 medium/small sweet potatoes,

1 can of butter beans or other white beans such as chick peas

½ can light (or full fat if you fancy) coconut milk

2 cups (500 ml) vegetable stock

1 onion - diced

1 garlic clove - diced also

¼ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp ginger

½ tsp garum masala

½ tsp cumin

Optional ingredients: 1 cup sweet corn and some milk of choice to alter consistency.

Instructions:

Peel and chop the sweet potatoes into rough cubes (I use the word cube lightly here - my chopped potatoes usually resemble the kinds of shapes that Toddlers attempt to draw around age 3 - point being just chop the potatoes and don't worry about the shape too much).

Steam for 5-10 mins until fork tender.

Meanwhile add some coconut milk to a pan and fry the chopped onions and garlic along with spices for couple minutes until fragrant.

Add in the stock and the rest of the coconut milk and stir around before reducing heat to a simmer.

Once potatoes are done add them in to the rest of the ingredients along with the beans and the sweet corn (if using) and allow to simmer for 5-10 minutes more.

Blend with and immersion blender or transfer to blender/food processor in batches to blend.

Thin with a milk of choice (I used some almond milk) until a desired consistency is reached. I like my soup thicker than Paris Hilton so I actually only used a little extra milk, however do what works best for you.

Soups up!

'Feed me Seymour' Friday!

What I Eat in a day

'Getting used to the norm'.

It always intrigues me as to how quickly us humany-peeps fall into routines throughout the numerous stages of our lives. It’s almost as if we constantly look for patterns in everything, particularly in the ways in how we understand others. After a certain amount of time we can even learn to read between the lines enough to know what a person is saying without them even speaking - that's pretty impressive (well it is for me). For example, I’ve lived with my grandparents for well over a year now and whenever I’m recipe testing in the bungalow, at some point Nan will sneak up behind me (in a way eerily similar to something off of Assassin’s creed) and say ‘ooh that looks… interesting’. I know what she‘s really saying is ‘oh that looks like it’s just crawled up from the bowels of hell, is that.. Is that black beans with cocoa powder!? God Forbid!’

On top of such occurrences I’ve realised that it doesn’t always take as long as a year to become overly familiar with people; when my manager of four months walks into our office porta cabin at work and says in a seemingly innocent manner ‘Brrrrrr, haven’t you got your heater on? Oh, you have. Well I’m sure it will warm up soon’, what is actually being vocalised internally is ‘it’s amazing that none of these people have taken legal action for being forced to work in these conditions yet – shit the power’s about to go out again’.

Anyway, you may be wondering what any of this has to do with food. Well dear chums, as easy as it is to get used to the people in your everyday life, it is also very easy to become accustomed to a routine diet. It appears that despite trying to eat a wide variety of things day to day, I may have gotten a little too ‘used to’ my current living situation. Yes, I’m sorry to say that despite my best attempts to keep an exciting food profile under my belt (and inside my belly), the daily rhythms of work life, home life and everything in between have resulted in me becoming one of those people who wakes up in the morning and feels that they simply can’t function less they are wearing the same obnoxious tiger slippers and have extremely quick access to green tea and porridge. Christ!

Now routine and predictability aren’t bad by any means, in fact they usually make life much easier, however when it comes to food, I know that it’s probably a good idea to broaden the horizons a bit. I always try to make sure I’m eating lots of different nutrient dense treats on a daily basis but I am not one for tracking what I eat (as established in a previous post, I’m just too Hufflepuff for that sort of thing) and as a result calories, macronutrients, micronutrients and all the other numbers end up more unpredictable than Kanye West’s behaviour at award ceremonies. However, I quite like it that way. I don’t really want to become one of those people who obsesses about what they eat, I don’t think that’s very healthy and I’ve kind of been there, got the t-shirt, wore the t-shirt, realised it looked shit, threw the t-shirt away and then ate a cheeseburger (using said t-shirt as a napkin).

I am curious though, more so than that monkey George. I’m interested to see if my diet does change from week to week and as a result whether or not I appear to be giving my body what it needs. Therefore in the ultimate food blogging cliché, I’m going to start posting every ‘Feed me Seymour' Friday (guess the movie reference!) keeping a record of all the stuff I ate from one day in the week.

Do I follow a ‘norm’ diet or do I switch it up and get enough variety?

Ooooh the suspense. :/

Maybe you’ll find this interesting, or maybe you’ll think this falls well into the realms of subnormal but whichever the case I just want to verify that this is NOT me preaching to you a ‘right way’ of eating or how much you should be consuming. It is merely an example of what I ate in a single day of the year. Our bodies are all different and all need different things to perform at our best…Yada yada yada… more disclaimer type stuff.

Hopefully this will also show my Nan, who has recently started reading this blog (Hi Nan!) that I do actually eat throughout the day, despite me often looking like something that’s just been dug up. On a some what related point, I would like to note that I am trying to put on a bit of weight at the moment (healthily) hence I do eat quite a lot of food. Body builders call in ‘bulking’ but again I’m too puff for such a phrase. ‘Biggening’ that’s what we’ll call it. So, by eating a bit more and incorporating some strength training I’m sure I’ll soon be on the way to becoming the next BFG (Big, Flamboyant, Gay). 

Wish me luck. 

Oh and here’s what I ate Last Tuesday...

Breakfast

I should make a quick point that since deciding I would like to get a bit bigger I now have two breakfasts. Yes two, I don't get how people struggle with one. Today's double whammy consisted of some low fat cottage cheese on wholemeal toast topped with a sliced up pear and cinnamon and for afters was a huge bowl (bordering on being a double serving) of banana, coconut and chia seed porridge. 

As always breakfast was consumed in bed because THERE IS NO OTHER WAY. 

Snack: 1

Next up were some slices of carrot, cucumber and red pepper which were all happily dipped into some reduced fat Hummus before having their heads bitten off. I chased these down with purple grapes, plain popcorn which I popped from kernels I bought from Asda and some hazelnuts. 

Lunch

Since beginning the 'Make-away' series I have been testing a lot of Chinese inspired recipes and as a result I have now managed to take over 1/4 of the Freezer space with leftovers. Today's lunch comes stright from said Freezer and is a take on a chicken and Broccoli stir-fry - it was good but it needs some tweaking. I had this alongside some brown rice, kidney beans and peas. 

Dinner

Nan was responsible for today's culinary delight which consisted of a classic fish pie. I know it had prawns, smoked fish, basa and egg inside. The sauce was made from milk, corn flour and the secret ingredient - the reserved water that the fish was cooked in (very economic is my Nan). She topped it with some tomato slices, leek/potato mash and plated up some peas and sweetcorn as a side.

Snack: 2 (post work-out) 

This day I trained upper body and as a result my arms were crying out to be fed and what they wanted were CARBS. Naturally I obliged and dove head first into not one but two bowls of wholegrain puffed rice cereal. This brand is by Kallo and contains no added sugar so it comes as not surprise that the taste is a little bit lack luster but its a great alternative for a cereal addict like myself. I topped the first bowl with three torn-up dates and some hemp seeds for protein whilst the second bowl only got the hemp treatment. Both were christened with some Alpro Almond milk, both were devoured in very quick succession and both managed to satisfy my achy muscles and hangry belly (at least until morning). 

As mentioned earlier, this is just an example of how I ate on one single day. Sometimes I don't eat any meat, sometimes I go vegan and sometimes I face plant into cheeseburgers. I would like to say that I try to maintain a mostly 'plant based' diet but for me balance is also key and I won't say that I'm not tempted into slightly over indulging every now and then. Am I the 'healthiest' person? No. But I would like to think that this blog is documenting a journey, one both myself and maybe some of you are on whereby it's not so much about becoming the next Gillian McKeith and preaching a 'superior way of eating' to others but more about finding a healthy lifestyle that works for us individually and that manages to replenish the body, feed the mind and nourish the soul. Eat happy, be happy, that's all there is to it.

See you next week. 

;)

Craving Chinese? Satay Chicken

The Make-away Chronicles: Episode 1

So it was Chinese New Year back on February 8^th.  Apparently I missed it.

Whoops.

That’s a bit of shame, I love Chinese food and the New Year would have been the perfect excuse to go balls to wall hard on some take-out.  Curse my lack of global awareness!