EAT A RAINBOW

Recipe: Rainbow Salad

Time taken: 20 minutes tops

Ingredients: Some leaves, some cheese and some seriously colourful veg. I leave it up to you!

Hi readers,

Sunday’s come! The last and best day of the week… the day of rest. Have you been having a restfully festive day? I do hope you have! It’s now only four (YES FOUR!) days until Christmas, readers. How did that happen? Where did the days go?? Have I really eaten twenty one advent calendar chocolates already?! I know all old people say it but really I swear December goes faster every year. Not at all in a funny way. It’s dizzying.

So today HAS been lovely, I’ll give it that. I endured a visit to see my grandparents and was rewarded with only minor racism to deal with in conversation. Love them really. Next, me and the Father Bear attended a family get together over pub lunch and ate some gorgeous, really interesting food. And caught up with lots of lovely relatives from afar as distant Nottingham. Presents were swapped! Then it was off to the cinema with the Mother Bear. And this was a real treat.

Readers, (don’t be too jealous!) we went to see a live screening of a matinee performance of The Nutcracker, by the Bolshoi Ballet Company in Russia. !!!!!!! Can you believe it? You can really do that now! This is one of the biggest, oldest classical ballet companies in the world. They’re INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED. And we got to go to Cineworld in Sheffield and attend the premiere of their Christmas performance, as if we were in Russia. Like, I was clapping along with the Russian audience at the end of each scene. It’s mind blowing.

As was the show! The ballet was, literally, breath taking. I can’t enthuse enough. Just for so many dancers to be so synchronised and polished, and to be able to do the things that they do! It was unreal. Should you get the chance to attend the cinema screenings of their Swan Lake performance in January, or the chance to go to bloody Russia, definitely do not turn this down. It’s something you DO NOT want to miss. Whether you take an interest in ballet or not (or even dance!), I fail to see how anyone could not be impressed by what they do. It’s like… HOW DO THEY DO IT?! Just unreal.

Buuuut, as festive as my wonderful day may have been… the countdown to Christmas is starting to scare me a little, readers. I don’t want it to end! And you know what’s even scarier than this? The countdown to the New Year! Bet you hadn’t even though of that one yet, eh? Well, now you have! (Sorry!) In ten days’ time it’s going to be 2015!! Unbelievable.

Suddenly life’s all about a fresh start with new horizons and unknown adventure. The next twelve months could hold anything. Just anything! And the prospect is… daunting. I’m sorry to have reminded you that if the days of 2014 were grains of sand in an hourglass, time is almost up. I am. But, to make up for this, I have one positive thought for you to hold with you and carry into the New Year. This is it: Summer will come. Without fail, unless something awful should happen to you (touch wood not!), in the next six months you’re going to be feeling warm sun on your skin. The wait for this is heart breaking, readers, but it will come.

It’s going to be like this, I promise

Thinking about this, I read a news article earlier today which said ‘Tis the season for comfort food!’ and I thought… really?? Like, obviously, IT IS. We eat more shit now than at any other time of year. And there’s nothing wrong with that! But, surely, tis the season also of so many better things than comfort food! Like spending time with family, giving gifts and taking some time off work. And you can still do all of those things while enjoying healthy food a little of the time, right? This way, you enjoy the comfort food so much more too, because it’s still kind of a treat to you, not just your everyday menu for a fortnight.

So, readers, I made a salad. Last night, I was sick of the festive conveyor of comfort food we’re all stuck on, and I was thinking ahead about 2015 and dreaming of summer. And I really fancied a salad. Wanted one! Not to be good. Not to deprive myself ahead of the big day. I JUST WANTED SALAD. And I made a really good one! I poured a summery rosé wine, just like in the photos, and chowed down on some seriously healthy stuff.

My gorgeous tea!

Rainbow coloured stuff! I read online, readers, that colourful food lifts the mood (healthy food does this too!) and it’s FUN so I want to inspire you all to…

a)      Think positively about the New Year. There could be twelve incredible months ahead of you, starting in ten days’ time. How exciting!

b)      Make a salad EVEN THOUGH IT’S DECEMBER. Because I bet you’ll really enjoy it and your body will literally LOVE YOU for it.

And…

c)       Make your salad into a rainbow! There isn’t any reason not to. Do you have a reason why not? No, you don’t. Raaaaainbow tiiiiime!

HOW, you ask? Well, the way I did it. I got a bag of mixed leaves and chopped up some cucumber, celery and spring onion. This is the standard stuff: the usual culprits. Then I ALSO added to my salad some cherry tomatoes, yellow pepper and radishes. Red, yellow and pink!

Can you see all the colours?

I normally love a balsamic dressing to jazz up a summery salad but we didn’t have any in at home, so I flicked a little salad cream over my rainbow and this worked a treat, as a substitute. Oh, and feta cheese! I crumbled some tasty feta cheese on top of this salad, for a taste of Greece. And it was delicious. This was a true taste of summer, in bleak mid-winter. So go make one!! Really, get your bum in gear and treat the inner you to a rainbow of goodness. Not to guilt trip you all so close to Christmas, buttttt remember the quote I wrote of the other day? “Love yourself enough to live a healthy lifestyle”. Yes sirree.

And, if you fancy a taste of adventure, go CRAZY with your salad. This could be your last of the year! Throw in sunflower seeds! Walnuts! Pomegranate seeds! I personally loooove to make a salad with grilled halloumi cheese and black olives, readers. These are my ULTIMATE salad ingredients. Squeaky and salty they are but GOD they’re good. It made me a sad that we didn’t have any in at home because nobody else likes them. On Earth, maybe. Do ANY of you like them?? Anyone out there?

Throwback to an olive-packed halloumified salad of mine!

Whatever you choose to include, I challenge you to fit one more salad into your 2014, readers. Can you cram in as many colours as I did?? Bet not! I ate that rainbow to the groundddd! And here’s a thought, I bet there’s a big chance that over in Russia the whole Bolshoi Company of ballerinas (hundreds of them!) are tucking into salads tonight. And every night, I bet. You’re eating the food of ballerinas. Does life get better? Ummm... hell no!

Get jazzy with it. And let me know if you have any salad tips! Which cheeses do you include? Do you add fruits to salad? I’m not convinced about this, but I could be persuaded to give it a try! I welcome all salading tips, please. :)

Ride the rainbow safely,

Hayley

09/01/2015 Note:

Readers, I'm entering my salad into a 'No Croutons Required' competition!

Check the competition out here:http://foodandspice.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/no-croutons-required-soup-and-salad.html

This is run as a joint project between the following two lovely lady bloggers:http://foodandspice.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.tinnedtomatoes.com/

Check them out and wish me luck x


 

EAT YOUR GREENS

Recipe: Broccoli al Spinach Tortellini con Pesto (it’s Italian!)

Time Taken: 15 mins

Ingredients: Broccoli, green pesto, spinach & ricotta tortellini

Readers!

It’ssss the WEEKEND. And it’sssss WINTER so it’s 8pm and it’s been dark for HOURS. Readers, literally hours. Daylight’s suddenly become this luxury. Did it go dark this early last year?? I don’t think it did. And where have all the leaves gone? Who MOVED the leaves? What is happening?

Today, my throat has STILL BEEN SORE. But (touch wood) I’m on the mend! Also today readers I BOUGHT MY CHRISTMASS DRESSSSS. So much excitement! I bought it I bought it I bought it. I seriously bought that thing, I did. I bought it good. BIG STYLE. I shopped!

My baby <3 <3 <3

This is the dress that’s going to carry me through multiple Christmas do’s with family and friends and coursemates and flatmates and goodness know who else. It has a lot of work to do. This dress has to define my Christmas 2014. No doubt, this dress has got a lot of eating and a lot of drinking to endure and a lot of me wobbling about Northern England in skyscraper heels!  I wish it luck.

After so much shopping today I was knackered. I needed a dinner that would give me a boost. But I lacked any motivation to cook. Hmm. AND THEN GENIUS STRUCK.

I chucked some stuff together and, for once, came up with something that I really enjoyed eating. And this was a dish that took under 15 minutes to whip together, it counted towards my 5-a-day, it was filling and indulgent, it cost about £1.25 to make a portion, and it was SO GREEN.

 

Read all about it…

1. Take your head of broccoli and cut off half of its little stalks. Put the rest of the broccoli back in the fridge for another day. Put your chopped broccoli pieces into a sieve.

2. Boil a kettle of water. Shallowly fill the bottom of a saucepan with water and place over a heat.

3. Rest your sieve-full of broccoli over this saucepan of boiling water and place a saucepan lid over the top of your sieve, covering your broccoli. Leave to steam for ten minutes.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: Make sure the bottom of your sieve rests above the boiling water and isn’t submerged in it. Otherwise, you’ll boil your broccoli and it will turn soggy. Steamed broccoli has more of a crunch. Far superior.

4. After a five minute break, boil the kettle again. Tip half of your pack of tortellini into a saucepan, pour boiling water over this and heat on a hob for two minutes. Heat a plate in the microwave.

5. Drain your pasta using a colander and return it to its saucepan. Stir a tablespoon of green pesto into the pasta. Serve onto your warmed plate. Add the broccoli from your sieve to the plate. Tuck in!

Here’s how mine looked…

And a close up of the goodness!

I know this recipe isn’t moving mountains, readers. It’s very simple and has probably been done a million times. Maybe you’ve done it yourself a million times! But I just enjoyed this so much. And it cost barely anything and filled me up to the brim. I think this is the perfect way to finish off a day of rugby-scrum Christmas shopping.

Give it a try? See what you think? In my opinion, never has an entirely green plateful of food tasted so good. In your opinion, ….? Comment what you really think! Can anyone make anything tastier for this little money?? Can it be done?

Eat your greens safely,

Hayley