FEED YOUR MIND AND YOUR TUM ON FRIDAY

Recipe of the week...
Avocado Carbonara!

Ingredients: 1 avocado, 1 tablespoon plain yoghurt, ½ a lemon, 1 teaspoon chilli flakes, 2 platefuls of wholemeal spaghetti, 2 dozen cherry tomatoes, a courgette, a pack of mushrooms, cooking oil, salt and pepper.

Time taken: Half an hour.

Serves: 2 decent plates of spaghetti. 

Hi readers,

How are you on this fine Friday?? Is it pissing it down with rain where you are, like it is in Sheffield?! I hope it isn’t and you’ve found somewhere sunny to live! Enjoy the sunshine for us sodden Sheffielders, please. I hope too, readers, that now you’ve blasted through a kick arse kind of week at work, with highs and lows and everything between, that you have a well deserved alcoholic bev lined up for this evening.. now it’s the weekend! Holllllaaaa!

This weekend I plan to drink wine. Eat lots of tasty food. Sleep well. Run (if it stops raining). Read my book in bed. Shop – as I’ve been paid. And, hopefully, go see the animals at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park. A good plan for a weekend, I think. If I manage even half of those things.. I’ll be happy. How about you, readers? Much planned for the weekend?? You’d better make it fabulous!

So, recently I’ve been thinking that – although I write a blog – I could make a much bigger effort to read other people’s blog posts. Both as a way to find interesting articles to read (which is always good!), and to learn things from them that I might use to improve my own blog (we live in hope!). This week, I decided to put this plan into action. I read some cracking blog posts and thought.. what a great idea it would be to link my own readers to these!

 Maybe you read lots of blogs already?? Or perhaps mine is the only blog that you follow? Either way, in the spirit of introducing you to some other great bloggers out there (and expanding your minds, y’know) here’s a blow-by-blow of the top three articles I read from blog-land this week. You should definitely take a look at one or all of them. Some top reads..

So, the first fab blog post I read this week is entitled The Key Steps to Making a Food Budget That Works for You, written by Jessica Fisher (which you can read HERE). I found this article reeally interesting as I’m of the opinion that the best food isn’t always the most expensive, and that you can eat well and still spend low overall by only purchasing a few high cost items. Which you’ll really appreciate more as there are only a few of them in your basket!

Plus, a recommendation within this article, for a strategy to help get your shopping under-budget, is to eat more meatless meals. Which – of course – I think is a brilliant idea! I’m always hopeful that the recipes on this blog will be taken up by meat eaters and veggies alike. So, if you’re looking to spend less on food and enjoy your meals, then I thoroughly recommend you give some tasty vegetarian recipes a proper go. And eat with an open mind.

The second blog post I read this week is entitled 22 Ways To Empower Yourself, compiled by Jessica Sletmo (which you can find HERE). I clicked to read this article because, as a girl, I am of course always on the look out for ways to steal power from the boys. I wasn’t expecting world domination from one blog post but I think this article does hold great potential.. as a Tool of Empowerment!!

The post links you to five documentaries, nine quotes from successful women, and eight powerful books, all written by female authors. The five documentaries I definitely intend to watch throughout March, as I don’t watch too much TV but when do it has the habit of turning my brain off… this will be a habit no more. The eight quotes – you have to read these! They will make you laugh and fill you with hope for the course of ageing, I promise.

 And the eight books, I’ve ordered online. Will read and feedback on these soon. Last year, I came across an article listing the ten (I think) favourite books of the actress Emma Watson. I ordered immediately, read them all over the year, and gained a lot from this reading. I’m hoping these eight empowering novels, now on their way to me in the post, will be a similarly meaningful project to have on the go throughout 2017.

Then, the third blog post I read this week is called How To Make Learning A Habit For Life, also by Jessica Sletmo (which you should read HERE). In a similar spirit to the last post, this article links you to three others. The first article is aimed at those of us who have finished with school now and are searching for ideas on: quote “how to keep that curious mind fed”. This post is filled with ideas for ways to continue learning after you’ve left school – something I firmly believe we all should do! Take a look, have a read – this has encouraged me to both join a book club and ‘get into podcasts’ (will report back on how that goes).

Next, the second article you’re linked  to recommends places to learn outside of school. This post advocates reading and writing – the pillars of my existence (along with eating) – and proposes an action plan for discovering where you can learn outside school: you figure out what interests you, and then there will be a workshop or an online resource that you can find to pursue this. So, do it. The third and final article follows up with similar advice on how to keep learning outside of school. Focus: self discipline. And quote: “While the pressure of a grade may not be there, it’s up to you to make it happen!”.. a very good point, I think.

Anyways, I’ll leave it there for now as I don’t want to overwhelm anyone. But, if you have the time, do take a look at these articles. They might surprise you, readers. And I’ll try to come back with some more great blog posts for you to try next week.

BEFORE THEN.. my recipe of the week, this week, comes to you from a lovely little freebie recipe booklet that I picked up while at the Union Street pop up café in Sheffield. This is the SLAAW healthy, colourful and wonderfully delicious recipe taster booklet, written by Sophie Lane, and gleefully thumbed through by me as I waited for coffee at the counter.

Filled with a simple-sounding recipes and photos of delicious-looking foods, this booklet is a gem and all recipes are accredited by a Nutritional Therapist so you know they’re good on the insides as well as the eyes. I’ve had the booklet for a few weeks now and finally had the opportunity, and the ingredients, this week to try out a recipe inside.

I went for an Avocado Carbonara on the basis that I loooooove avocados and, quote: “This ‘carbonara’ is so much better for you than the one we’re used to which contains lashings of butter and cream, with the healthy fat of an avocado instead. Courgettes are wonderfully high in vitamin C too, helping to give that extra TLC to our immune system”.

Feeling like some healthy, colourful and wonderfully delicious food is EXACTLY what you need?? Treat your insides! Here’s how to throw together an avocado carbonara for two, in just 10 easy steps…

1.     Pour a glass of vino and set some smooth tunes playing. Heat the oven to 200C.

2.     Cut your courgette into bite-sized chunks, and halve your tomatoes and mushrooms.

3.     Tip all your med veg into a baking dish and drizzle with cooking oil. Season with salt and pepper, and safely transport into the oven to roast for around 20 minutes.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: After your med veg have been in the oven about ten minutes, I’d get them out and drain away any excess oil. Then give the veg a gentle stir about in the dish to flip them over, before returning to the oven.

4.     While your veg roast, you can set the kettle boiling and tip enough spaghetti into a saucepan to feed two mouths. Set your spaghetti boiling for 10-15 minutes.

5.     Next, turn your attention to the avocado. Slice this in half and remove the stone from the middle, then scoop the inside flesh out of the avocado into a bowl.

6.     Squeeze the juice of ½ a lemon into the bowl. Add the yoghurt and chilli flakes, and season with salt and pepper.

7.     Use a fork to mash the contents of the bowl together, until they form a creamy green sauce.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: At this point, I’d pop a couple of plates in the bottom of the oven to warm. Set the table for two and top up your wine. Light a candle – why not?

8.     Once your spaghetti has boiled, drain and then return to the pan. Add the avocado sauce, and heat over a low heat, while stirring, to warm the sauce through.

9.     Remove the roasted med veg from the oven, along with your plates and turn the oven off.

10.  Spoon your spaghetti evenly between the two plates and top each with a shedload of med veg. Serve your spaghetti. Et voila!

And that, readers, is all there is to it. Ten simple steps and you’ve whipped up two platefuls of healthy, colourful and wonderfully delicious spaghetti. You star! I think this makes a great recipe to have up your sleeve.. maaaybe for a date night?? As it’s a pretty impressive recipe to have made from scratch, in my eyes, and spaghetti is the food of love – is it not! Mhmm!

What do you think, readers?? Does this recipe sound do-able? Does the pic look appetising? Are you open to the idea of avocado as a pasta sauce?? Let me know your thoughts! And, if you try your hand at this and give the recipe a go, please let me know how you get on in the kitchen and what you think of your Avocado Carbonara.. do you like it??

I will leave you now, readers, to go frolic and enjoy your Friday night. Drink safely, party wildly, and live as though today were your last day alive. Take care.

And spaghetti safely,

Hayley

 

The food.. of loooove

NEW YEAR, NEW RECIPES!

Recipe of the week ... Deliciously Ella veggie lasagne!

Ingredients: 1 large butternut squash, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 dozen cherry tomatoes, 2 red peppers, 300g mushrooms, 4 lasagne sheets, ¼ of a 400ml tin of coconut milk, oil, salt & pepper.

Time taken: 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Serves: 2 generous portions.

Good evening readers,

Happy New Year!!

As I write, huddled in my armchair on a rainy Sunday evening in January, we’re officially one week into 2017. We’ve survived a whole week of the New Year, everyone! And there are 51 more to go with, no doubt, many great adventures lying ahead. It’s exciting. Are you doing okay, readers? Feeling upbeat and getting into the spirit of a fresh start?? I hope so!

This last week has been the week that many people have made it back in to work, decided on their resolutions, and started out with new diets and crazed exercise plans. The slate has been wiped clean. It’s been go go go! The phrase ‘New Year, new me’ is rife. And ‘summer bodies are made in winter’. People are launching better versions of themselves.

And, you know what, I am fully on the bandwagon, readers. Are you? What do you think?? Cut to a scene of me in December (before Christmas had even got going) at cheese and wine night, merry with a glass of white in my hand. Dipping a cheese and onion roll in the melted camembert and asking everyone… ‘Is this okay?’

Face palm

No. No it is not, Hayley. OBVIOUSLY it isn’t you fool, not if you’re wanting to feel remotely body confident in January. But – alas – I dipped away and here I am! Munching on carrot sticks and swapping wine for water like a trooper. I’m one of the hordes of dieters binning carbs. A furied attempt to shift some of my Christmas weight in January.

A cliché but hey! There’s so much support around at this time of year, and hopefully I will battle on and achieve wonderful results. It feels like everyone at this time of year is either on the weight loss brigade, or having a go at Veganuary, or giving up drink for a dry month. People are motivated and inspiring. Encouraging of each other’s efforts. It’s a great vibe.

And, generally, there’s a real sense of hope and potential when people talk about 2017! There are holidays and romances and surprises ahead. Suntans to be had and spontaneous decisions await us. Big moves in the making. Anything could happen, anything in the world. And I have the feeling that this will be a good year.

For now, readers, I hope that you’re feeling good about the new beginning and taking on 2017 with gusto. Batteries all topped up after Christmas break, and energy levels restored. You can do this! You really can. You can do so many great things (whether or not you’ve resolved what they might be yet). It will all be fine.

It's exciting not knowing what it will be

Today, readers, I made the great decision to fish out the Deliciously Ella recipe book that I got last January. It’s been hidden away for a whole year. I’m pretty sure, last January, I had a go at some sweet potato brownies and then resolved to buy all of the superfood ingredients you might need for the savoury recipes.

But I was broke (and WEAK) and so I never got that far. Shelved the book and forgot about it… until today. If my diet is going to last long, I know I need to mix up the foods I eat and try out new tastes and give fresh recipes a go. Stop it getting boring. Stop it slipping back to normal.

And what better to help me that my stealth health weapon – a Deliciously Ella recipe book?? For those of you living in a bunker – or under a Wi-Fi blocking rock – who somehow don’t know who Ella is, get on Instagram now. She’s a lovely, inspiring, beautiful lady with an arsenal of healthy recipes up her sleeve! Seriously. Go look her up.

Lots of great, healthy recipes to try!

Today, in need of inspiration to stop me Sunday snacking, and having been more or less carb-free for a whole week, I found a recipe in Deliciously Ella for a Veggie Lasagne. This is a special lasagne. One which doesn’t have cheese and doesn’t have red sauce or white sauce. Instead, it replaces them all with a squash puree.

Readers, I sense you shaking your heads here. But don’t doubt this! You get to eat REAL PASTA. And Ella’s squash puree, I’m telling you, isn’t bad at all. Better than I’d expected, for sure. It’s one of your 5-a-day (high five!) and it’s a rich and creamy orange sauce. If you didn’t know what it was made of, I don’t know if you’d be able to guess.

Just give it a go. If you can source a butternut squash and you have the time to spare to attempt a proper recipe, then roll up your sleeves and take a chance on this lasagne. I promise you real pasta in a generous portion size. And – just maybe – a newfound appreciation for squash puree.

SO want to try your hand at this lasagne-with-a-difference and cook up a storm in the kitchen?? ‘Course you do! Here’s how to make your own Deliciously Ella veggie lasagne in just 14 easy steps…

1.     Chop up your squash into bite-sized cubes.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: If you dare, I’d recommend using a big knife as your chopping up quite a big vegetable here. Careful, though, watch your fingers!

2.     Steam your squash for 20 minutes until it’s soft and tender.

3.     While your squash is steaming – you can prep your other ingredients. You want to cut up your cloves of garlic into tiny pieces, chop your cherry tomatoes in half, slice up your mushrooms, and cut your red peppers into small pieces. And open your tin of coconut milk!

4.     Take your tender squash off the heat and then tip into a blender, along with a quarter of a tin of coconut milk. Season with salt and pepper, then blend until smooth and creamy. Set aside for later.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: If – like me – you don’t have a proper blender (you just have a smaller smoothie maker instead) … do not fear! Just blend your squash in 2 batches, each with a few spoons of coconut milk and light seasoning, then combine them in a bowl afterwards and stir together to form one sauce.

S'all gravy baby

5.     Turn on your oven and heat to 200C.

6.     Heat a little oil in a large frying pan, and then add your garlic, tomato and pepper.

7.     Cook on a low heat for a few minutes and, meanwhile, put the kettle on to boil.

8.     Break four lasagne sheets in half and pop them in a saucepan.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: To stop your lasagne sheets sticking together as they cook, add them to the pan one by one and brush a little oil on top of each before you add the next one.

9.     Add your hot water to the pan and leave the lasagne sheets to boil for ten minutes.

10.  Add your mushrooms to the frying pan and then sauté your vegetables for ten minutes, making sure to keep everything moving around the pan so that nothing can burn and it’s all cooked through.

Here's the ChefBeHere kitchen in action!

11.  Finally, it’s time to assemble your lasagne! Spoon a layer of veg into the bottom of a baking dish, then add a layer of the squash puree, a layer of pasta, a second layer of vegetables, a second layer of squash puree, a second layer of pasta, and then pour the remaining squash puree over the top of your lasagne.

12.  Place the lid on your baking dish or (if it doesn’t come with one) cover with tin foil, and carefully transport into the oven. Bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown.

13.  This gives your plenty of time to sort out your mess! Sort your washing up and then, once the dishes are cleared, pour yourself a well-earned drink.

14.  Time to plate up! After 20 minutes, gingerly lift that lasagne dish out of the oven and then turn it off. Admire your bubbling beauty of a lasagne, and scoop out two hot steaming portions of healthy, Italian greatness! Tuck in.

Fresh from the oven!

And that’s all there is to it! Readers… what do you think?? Honestly – do you like it?? Because I really do like it! It’s a bit of a slog in the kitchen and tastes, of course, quite different to regular lasagne. But I’d say it tastes good! Would you?

I’d really love to hear your thoughts, readers. Shout them aloud and bounce them around. Let me know what you think – please do. And keep up the good work with your fresh starts! I hope you’re all embarking on magical adventures and enjoying wonderful food.

Squash safely,

Hayley

A good plateful of actual PASTA - do it!