Life ¦ Livening up lunchtime with Haywards

 

Recently I've been in a little bit of a lunchtime rut so when this parcel turned up I was pretty excited.  (Can we just take a minute to appreciate the fact that I carried this for about half a mile from the post office and it weighed just under 6kg) For a start I have always had a mild obsession with Piccalilli so I was pretty excited for cheese and piccalilli sandwiches. However I have to say I was excited to receive the veggies as after look on the Haywards website there are so many recipes including their products to add a little twist to very traditional dishes, like the welsh rarebit below. I also definitely need to try adding some piccalilli to my potato salad which is another of the suggestions on the website.

 

 

 

Haywards have recently extended their product range massively and they now have four different types of onions ranging from sweet and mild to hot and spicy meaning that you can choose the products to suit how much tang you like.

 

I'd highly recommend heading over to the Haywards website //here// if you are looking for a little lunchtime inspiration, I'm especially looking forward to making the Goats cheese and caramelised onion tart and the cauliflower burgers! (also eating the gherkins straight out the jar but that's not half as fancy looking)

 

Haywards products*  are available to buy from most supermarkets in the UK.

Lifestyle ¦ What I ate #1

 

I absolutely love reading food posts however they are something that I really haven't posted many of on my blog recently. However I am hoping that that is going to change. Hopefully in the next couple of months you should see some recipes, graze box posts and more what I ate posts as at the moment my blog is super beauty heavy which I like however just want to mix it up a little. I've been on a massive health kick recently and I've been trying to eat as healthy as possible as well as going to the gym (My gym update post is coming soon) I've also been trying to force myself to eat breakfast as I have a very bad habit of skipping it.

 

So without further ado lets get on and see what I ate on this particular day.

 

Breakfast

 

Plain porridge, seeds of one pomegranate, 5 strawberry's and a teaspoon of honey to sweeten.

 

Lunch

 

Veggie noodle salad - Half a nest of noodles, celery, cherry tomatoes, spinach, mangetout, yellow pepper carrot, cashew nuts.

 

Dressing - Soy sauce, Sweet chilli sauce, Olive oil

 

Kettle bites Mozzarella and pesto lentil twists (If you like pesto you need to try these!)

 



Dinner

 

Veggie Fajitas (Peppers, onions, tomatoes, lettuce) with sour cream and cheesy nachos.

 



Life ¦ Foodie Friday - Graze box 4

So I'm back again with another Graze box post I absolutely love these boxes and I'd suggest everyone gave them a go! I actually have a code which means you can get a free box so if you'd like a box enter the code VKQMGNGKB

So without further ado lets get on with talking about the snacks. I was really happy to find this month that my box contained 3 of the savoury snacks as I've been preferring savoury over sweet in the past couple of months.

Starting with the sweet snack, Salted fudge and peanut cookie was something I wasn't sure about I found that I enjoyed the salted peanuts and the fudge as a combination however I wasn't sure about the cookies with the salt on them. I also wasn't a big fan of the plain red skin peanuts.

Verdict - Bin

I absolutely love pretzels so when I saw I had the Brooklyn bites snack in my box I was very excited. I also loved the cheese flavoured cashews however it did included some sunflower seeds which I wasn't convinced about however with the cheese powder of the cashews I actually really enjoyed them.

Verdict - Like

Next up we have Habas tapas which I absolutely loved this snack includes roasted corn, jumbo chilli corn and chilli broad beans. I absolutely loved these. I love anything chilli and these have a really lovely kick, I would say if you aren't a fan of spice to avoid these.

Verdict - Love

Finally we have my favourite snack out of this months box Olive and rosemary bruschetta. I absolutely love and of the graze snacks which have the croutons, mini breadsticks and flavoured cashews in them and this one is no exception. At only 115 calories it's not to be sniffed at either.

Verdict - Love

So that's it for this months box, don't forget to utilise the code at the top and claim your free box!

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Foodie Friday ¦ Earlybird Taste box (and a free box code)

When I saw this snack box pop up on someone else's blog (I can't remember who's #badblogger) I was super excited and headed straight over to the website to order my free box. I love the idea of this box, it combines food, music, art and tea which I think is brilliant and a little bit more interesting than your average snack box.

So the box actually came with loads of stuff in the top we had a little booklet with all the information in, a booklet telling me all about the company and then a card with a discount code on for family and friends (and blog readers) to get their first box free.

So onto possibly the most important bit the snacks. In each box you receive five snacks (They suggest one for everyday of the working week) They are each in a little plastic bag with the name of the snack on them. The only thing I wish they did have was a description of what's in them on the front of the packet.

I'm going to be honest here I liked the snacks but in the back of my mind I was constantly comparing them to graze and I don't think they are quite a nice. Don't get me wrong they aren't unpleasant but I think Graze hits the ball out of the park when it comes to snack boxes.

The box also included two teabags which I thought where a really lovely addition to the box and something I really wish other snack boxes offered too. Overall I did really enjoy the taste box. If you'd like to get one for free go onto the website and enter the code Jaffa-2266 for your first box free.

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Life ¦ Foodie friday - The German candy post part 3

So today I'm back with my third and final German candy post. I really hope you've enjoyed these posts as much as I have enjoyed writing and trying all the different sweets and chocolates, so without further ado lets get onto the third and final German candy instalment.

I absolutely love Percy pigs and these are pretty similar they have a little more apple flavour and they aren't quite a jelly like they're a little more foamy. They're also vegan so If you are vegan they are a nice little treat.

I absolutely love this one at first I thought it was dates but it's actually salted almonds and honey which is just an absolutely delicious combination as usual with Ritter sport the chocolate is really lovely and smooth. I am actually going to be really sad when this one is finished. I love that the addition of the salt means it isn't too sweet. The only problem with this is I think I could easily eat a whole bar!

Next up from Ritter sport we have the nougat flavour, I love nougat at the best of time but this one is just amazing. It's almost identical to the nougat you get in a toffifee. It's not too hazelnutty but it balances perfectly with the chocolate.

I hated this one i'm going to be honest, it tasted a lot like if you'd eaten a strawberry chocolate then had some chewing gum and then you put more strawberry chocolate enough said.

Finally we have choco Nippon which is Milk chocolate filled with puffed rice. I expected the rice to be much more a rice crispy whereas they are more like the texture of a sugar puff. I personally wasn't a fan of this but I could see younger children really enjoying this.

So that's it I really hope you've enjoyed these posts!

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Life ¦ Foodie Friday - Graze box #3

 

So it's that time of the month again and I'm back again to review my august Graze box. I really enjoyed this  months box and I think it's been my favourite so far. This month I had two sweet and two savoury snacks which I like as it means there is a little variety in the box.

Caramel and peanut track and field - 214 Cal

I really enjoyed this one, it was a mix of plain peanuts, fudge, raisins and salted caramel buttons which were absolutely delicious. They were a super smooth milk chocolate filled with a slightly salty gooey caramel. The fudge was nice and creamy and the peanuts and raisins were a nice little addition to make it feel a little healthier.

Herby Bread basket - 90 Cal

I think this was my favourite out of this months four snacks which is a bonus considering it's the least calorific one! The basil breadsticks are in a couple of the snacks and I absolutely love them so I was super happy when I opened my box and discovered that this snack contained them. Also in this snack was the garlic crostini which are super yummy as the garlic flavour isn't to intense or over powering. The final component to this snack was the oregano rice crackers which I found had a little bit of a spice to them. I wasn't sure about these after having the rice crackers from the chilli jam in a previous box but I actually really enjoyed them.

Wild Rice and beans - 143 Cal

Again I wasn't sure about this snack as it contained another of the rice cracker type things however this one was also yummy. I enjoyed the rice crackers as they had a little bit of the coating off the chilli broad beans on them so they had a nice subtle chilli flavour. My favourite part of this snack was definitely the chilli beans though. They were much crispier than I imagined they would be and the chilli flavour was actually quite strong and had a little bit of a kick to it.

Cookies and cream - 206 Cal

I think if I had to pick a least favourite snack from this box it would have to be this one. I'm not a massive fan of sunflower seeds and this was packed full of them. It also contained white chocolate buttons, cocoa cookies and cocoa fudge which were all really nice. This wasn't one that I'd shout about however if you do like sunflower seeds I can see you getting on much better with this than I did!

Do you have graze boxes? If you do i'd love for you to let me know what are your favourite snacks!

I've also got a code for you to receive your first box free enter VKQMGNGKB at the checkout to get your free box!

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Life ¦ Foodie friday - The German candy post Part 2

So I'm back again with another German taste testing post. Today I've got another four sweet treats to talk to you about.

 

 

 So first up we have Yogurette which are little bars of super smooth chocolate filled with a creamy strawberry flavoured filling. I really like these, because the filling is yoghurt based it has a slight sharpness to it meaning that it isn't sickly, these are really yummy and I imagine that small children would absolutely love them.

 



 

These are pretty much identical to our Jaffa cakes however I find that the jelly in them has a little more orange flavour and there is also a little bit more than there is in our Jaffa cakes. The base is a little sponge-y and a little biscuit-y exactly like English Jaffa cakes.

 



This was so delicious. A beautiful white chocolate which balanced beautifully with the tartness of the smooth lemon filling. Once again like the yogurette the filling made sure that it wasn't to sweet. This was a super summery flavour and I really enjoyed eating it.

 



 

I think this has been my favourite Ritter sport flavour I've ever tried. The milk chocolate was beautiful and sweet and the vanilla filling inside didn't add too much more sweetness it just added another layer of flavour. This bar contained extra mousse so the texture was really obvious which I absolutely loved! 

Life ¦ Foodie friday - The German candy post Part 1

 

First off a massive shout out to my lovely German friend Theresa who bought all these treats over for me to try so I could write this post. There's about 8 million posts and videos lie this floating around at the moment but I thought I would do one as I do love a good sweet treat. I actually think I'm going to split this post up into three as I don't want it to end up being to long. I really hope you enjoy and I'd love for you to recommend me some more treats from around the world that I need to try.

 

Knoppers are one of my all time favourite snacks and it breaks my heart that I can't get them in the UK. They are a wafer based biscuit with a chocolate and hazelnut filling followed by another wafer then a cream filling finally followed by a chocolate covered wafer. They are really hazelnutty so if you aren't a fan of nuts you are not going to like this.

 



Reisen are a super simple treat. They are a hard chewy caramel covered in a rich slightly bitter dark chocolate. One thing I will say is that these are super chewy. The slightly bitter chocolate balances out the super sweet caramel so overall they are not to sickly.

 



Nimm 2 literally translates from German to English as take 2. They are hard boiled candy sweets with a sort of gooey filling like you get in the filled haribo in orange and lemon flavours. These are really lovely and the citrus flavours are super intense and yummy. I'm going to be really sad when we finish these.

 



Vitraletten Kirsche are teeny little circle of a cherry powdery sweet. They kind of remind me of tiny cherry flavoured love hearts. These are perfect for if you fancy something a little sweet but you don't want anything that's going to fill you. I imagine that kids would absolutely love these.

 

I think these are the only thing that I have to try that you can get in the UK. Toffifee are caramel cups filled with a nougat cream and a hazelnut and topped with a very smooth milk chocolate. I absolutely love these. The texture for me is perfect as they are very smooth but there is a little crunch from the hazelnut.

 

I really hope you enjoyed this post!



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Life ¦ Foodie Friday - Graze box #2

So my last Graze box post went down so well I've decided to do another one. If you haven't read my first post yet it's //Here//

 

My first comment on this box has to be the packaging! It's so adorable and summery and I absolutely love it. I presume this is just the summer box design that is getting sent to everyone but I love the fact that they have changed it up a little to fit the seasons. Enough about the packaging lets get onto the contents.

 

 

Hot pepper Jam with Multigrain soy rice crackers - 67 calories per punnet -

 

I have to say I think this was my least favourite of the 4 snacks I tried. The jam was lovely it had a slight sweetness to it and just enough heat from the chilli's however I wasn't a big fan of the rice crackers. I usually love rice crackers but I found these to be very bland which would have been fine so they don't overpower the jam however I found that they had a really strange aftertaste which wasn't pleasant. I think this will be one of my binned snacks!

 

Tuscan pesto kern pops - 125 calories per punnet -

 

I was a little dubious if this one as I wasn't the biggest fan of the barbeque kernels in my last box however these were completely different. The cheese flavour wasn't to overpowering and I found the kernels were slightly more popped than the ones in the hickory barbeque snack. The little basil breadsticks were super crunchy and delicious without the flavour taking over the kernels.

 

Black pepper pistachios - 109 calories per punnet -

 

These were something I was like ok these will be nice but nothing to exciting but I actually ended up loving them. There is something so satisfying about getting pistachios out of the shells. These were slightly salted but most of the flavour came from the black pepper. I wasn't expecting the amount of flavour I got, they had a slight heat to them but nothing to over the top.

 

Sour cream and garlic crostini - 133 calories per punnet -

 

This was my favourite snack from this box. Cashews are possibly one of my favourite foods ever and the fact they were sour cream flavoured just made it even better. They weren't flavoured overly heavily so the natural flavour and sweetness of the cashew was still detectable and balanced out the saltiness of the flavouring beautifully. The garlic crostini were so crispy and I really enjoyed them the flavour of garlic once again wasn't to overpowering.

 

So that was my latest Graze box do you enjoy foodie Friday posts?

 



Life ¦ Foodie fridays - Graze box

 

I've been wanting to try a graze box for forever and when I got a voucher code the other day I decided to go for it and order one. They usually cost £3.99 however with the voucher code this box cost me nothing.

 

Rough blend peanut butter with pretzel sticks

I liked this one but I think it was probably my least favourite out of the four I received. The peanut butter was really tasty and the pretzel sticks were nice and crunchy and had a good amount of salt on them.

 

Cherries and Berries

These were so delicious, they were the perfect mixture of sweet and sour. The cherries had a slight sourness to them and together with the sweet raisins complimented each other and it was the perfect fix for a sugar craving.

 

Billionaires' shortbread

This was definitely my favourite of the four, I wasn't sure about the combination of almonds, cranberries, chocolate and fudge but somehow it works. The cranberries were slightly tart which balanced out the sweet richness of the fudge and the chocolate.

 

Hickory smoked BBQ

This was the one I was most looking forward to however despite the fact I enjoyed it, they didn't quite live up to what I expected. They had a fairly subtle barbeque flavour but I found the corn kernels to have a slight burnt taste to them. I'd have much preferred this if it was just the cashews and the peas. Despite this for under 150 calories it was a nice snack.

 

Life ¦ Sweet and sour recipe

Sweet and sour is one of my all time favourite meals, I also really love cooking it so today I thought I'd share my recipe with you! It's super simple and super quick whilst still being really tasty. This isn't the prettiest of meals I must warn you but what it lacks in the looks department it makes up for in general yumminess! 

Ingredients 

1 pepper (I prefer red or yellow)

200g baby corn 

150g beansprouts

Small tin of bamboo shoots

3 medium carrots

1 pack of mushrooms

(All of the above veggies are completely optional I swap things in and out all the time other things I love in it are broccoli and pineapple!) 

3 Garlic cloves 

1 bunch of spring onions or 1 large onion 

A couple of chilli's

A thumb sized piece of ginger (Grated)

For the sauce 

5 Tbsp soy sauce

5 Tbsp white wine vinegar

3 Tbsp soft brown sugar

3 Tbsp tomato sauce

3 Tbsp corn flour

Heat the wok and stir fry the garlic, ginger, chilli and onions for a minute then add whatever meat and brown. Then add in all your other vegetables. How long the veggies need depends on how much you've got in your wok and how much you want your veg to be cooked. I personally like my carrots still a bit crunchy so I add them in after about 2 minutes of stir frying all the other veg.

Mix all of the sauce ingredients in a jug and make sure the cornflour is fully dissolved. Pour the sauce over the ingredients in the wok, sometimes I find it needs more sauce so I just make up a little bit more if it needs it. 

I then serve it with either rice or noodles and it's done! 

What are your favourite chinese dishes?  

Lifestyle ¦ Baker days letterbox cakes

 Baker days letterbox cake £14.99 //Here//

Some mums are super hard to buy for so when it comes to mothers day it's not so easy to get her something that she's going to love and that is a little bit original. That is where baker days come in! You can surprise your mum/other important women in your life with one of theses cakes straight onto her doorstep. I wasn't sure if the cake was going to get here in one piece and I was a little bit skeptical however the cake arrived in perfect condition and it was very well packaged. Onto the actual cake it was really delicious it wasn't overly sweet which was what I expected. It was really moist and overall a really tasty cake. 

There are so many patterns to choose from and there are some that can be personalised with text and photos. In the box came a packet of love hearts, a little card and the cake in this really beautiful pastel tin. Baker days don't just offer letterbox cakes, they also offer larger cakes and small cupcakes //Here// The cakes stay fresh for 14 days and they can be delivered the next day if you order them before 2pm. You can also design your own cake if you don't like any of the designs. 

This week... #5

                                

So this week has been a manic one, why does no one tell you that year 11 is this hard. Anyway without any more moaning here's what I got up to last week.... 

Ps. Apologies for the fact there was no this week post last week but we went away for the weekend and i had no time to get one up in time for monday! 

   

Oh business coursework how I hate you! 

This picture pretty much sums up my whole life! 

I'm really loving daughter at the moment! 

We had a delicious roast dinner at my nanas which definitely made my week better! 

Sweet treats - Apple, Cinnamon and Ginger muffins

Now these are by no account the prettiest things I've ever baked but they were super delicious and fairly simple. 

Makes 12. 

You will need...

115G Flour 

115G Butter 

115G Sugar 

2 Eggs

2 Medium sized cooking apples (Peeled and chopped into small pieces) 

1 1/2 Tsp Cinnamon 

1 1/2 Tsp Ginger 

For the icing 

200G Icing sugar 

4-5 Tbsp water (You may need more this is just a rough guide)

1/2 Tsp Cinnamon 

1 Tsp Ginger 

Step 1 ..

Put the sugar and butter into a bowl and cream together until light and fluffy. 

Step 2 ..

Add the eggs into the butter and sugar adding a tbsp of flour to stop the mixture from curdling. 

Step 3 ..

Sieve in the flour and spices and fold into the liquid mixture with a metal spoon. 

Step 4 ..

Coat the apple in a dusting of flour so that they don't drop to the bottom of the muffins and fold evenly into the mixture. 

Step 5 ..

Fill the muffin cases and put into a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees celsius or Gas mark 6 for 15 to 20 minutes. Once baked remove from the oven and leave to cool for an hour or two. 

Step 6 ..

Make the icing by the packet instructions and add the spices. Spread over the cakes. 

Step 7 .. 

Enjoy! 

I really apologise for the single photo but by the time I realised all the others were blurry they were long gone! 

What I ate Wednesday #3

 I'm not sure if you guys even like these posts but I really love writing them so I'm going to carry on! I'd love to know if you do enjoy posts as I'd love to make them a weekly thing! 

I had an apple and peanut butter breakfast muffin for breakfast. If you fancy knowing how to make one of these check out the recipe post I put up //Here// I also had the other half of the apple that went into it and some extra peanut butter! 

For lunch I decided to have some mini pizzas, I used a warburtons wholemeal thin. Which I spread on a little bit of tomato puree and topped with sweetcorn ham and some cheese and popped them under the grill until all the cheese had melted! I also had some lettuce, carrot and red cabbage.

For dinner we had Chinese chicken and mushroom curry with pasta (as my dad doesn't like rice) I think the sauce for this was from tesco, and it was super yummy! 

So that's it for today. Please let me know if you enjoy these posts?