My adorable cousin Hugo on Christmas Day. Goodbye Christmas tree, see you next year. Mexican on New Years Eve. There is nothing better than a plate full of Enchildas and Nachos.
This week has been a good week so, I hope this is a sign of what's to come in 2013, that would make me very happy. I spent New Years Eve having a nice girly evening with my Mum and my sister Pepsi; having a few drinks, some enchiladas and nachos and watching The Vow and Serendipity, which are both incredbly sweet, romantic films which you should deffinately watch if you love a good love film and haven't watched them before. I then spent New Years day with the family again and had a nice relaxing day with my Mum, my Dad, my sister and my little nephew Charlie and we all tucked into a lovely meal cooked by my Dad. It was just like Christmas dinner all over again which, is always good in my books.
My lovely nephew Charlie getting ready for his New Years Day dinner. Thankyou very much Dad! Mum's pretty but, very expensive handmade wreath.
On Wednesday I got to meet up with three of my best friends; Jamie, Tom and Ben for the first time in months and we went Bowling which, was fun and really nice as they are all at Uni this year so I don't really get to see them so it was lovely to have a nice catch up.
Thursday was another very relaxing lazy day and in the evening I didn't have to go to work which, felt amazing. I only work two nights a week anyway which, I know isn't many at all but, it was just really nice to be able to climb into bed on a Thursday night instead of having to wait until 10' o clock on the Friday morning, and to feel wide awake on a Friday for the first time in months felt amazing too. I even woke up at 3am and just thought to myself, I'd normally be half way through my 10 hour shift of non-stop shelf stacking now but, instead I got to snuggle back down to sleep. Sleep is very underrated.
Mum and Dad on the train to Plymouth. Charlie enjoying his Jelly Tots. Topshop pants. They've got Paddington and Pugs on!
My Dad has also been on holiday from work this week too so, I went shopping in Plymouth on Friday with the family which, anybody from little old Cornwall knows is a huge treat as Cornwall offers very few shops including no Primark which, is terrible. Ofcourse, I natually picked up a few bargain bits from Primark and then got a cute new dress from Topshop too which, I really like as it's very simple and loose and easy to throw on and it is just like a big t-shirt really. I got my right size but, I am a bit worried now whether I should have gone for a size smaller so that it was a bit more fitted. Nevermind.
Maple Pecan Plait for breakfast? Yes please! Maccy D's for lunch! Yes, vegetarian's probably shouldn't go to McDonald's for lunch but, their veggie wrap is delicious. New Topshop dress.
Then yesterday I got to see another of my friends George which, was also great as although he still lives close by, I rarely get to see him either as he's still at college. I am determined to see him and my friends Charlie and Michelle more this year though as I love all of them and they all still live here in Cornwall. I just need to put in more effort to see them as these last few months have been quite dull with only seeing my friends on rare occassions whereas this week has been amazing in comparrison.
Got my Hillsborough Charity single. R.I.P the 96! Best Vanilla milkshake EVER! Nachoss for dinner at Zaffiros. I was in heaven.
Today I made some very yummy Pistachio Cream Cupcakes and just listened to the Liverpool Mansfield FA Cup Game on the radio while, munching on some gnocchi. My chubby days are now officially over now though as starting tomorrow the January health kick begins! Maybe...
If the rest of 2013 is filled with weeks as good as this I will be a very happy girl!
I do hope you have all had a lovey start to 2013 too.
I made this rather yummy pizza a fair few weeks ago now and as such have been my usual disorganised, 'I lose everything' self and cannot find the pictures I took of it anywhere. Luckily though I posted this picture on facebook the day I made it so I can at least show you a picture of the almost finished product.
I actually came up with this recipe myself as part of my Food Tech course at school and I'm really pleased with it. Roast veg always has a really lovely flavour so provides a great topping and the bread is really soft and flavourful with the addition of sundried tomato pieces. The sundried tomatoes also give the bread a really nice peachy colour which, looks quite cool and attractive too. Finally, the BBQ pizza sauce is delicious and goes perfectly with the veg and pizza dough.
This recipe has quite a few ingredients to it and does take a bit of time to prepare as you obviously have to chop all of the vegetables, make the bread from scratch and then make a homemade pizza sauce but, I would deffinately reccommend giving it a go if you are a big pizza fan as it has a delicious flavour and is deffinately worth the preparation time at the end. It also makes a great alternative to the shop bought pizza and provides vegetarians in particular with a nice new, unique flavoured pizza not available in the shops, as often the pizza flavours available to vegetarians can be quite limited. Still, this pizza is very much for anybody who likes the sound of it, so give it a go if you like and if you do I hope you enjoy it!
Recipe
250g Bread flour
50ml olive oil
150ml warm water
5g dried yeast
3g sugar
5g salt
25g Sundried tomatoes
1 400g tin chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp. tomato puree
1 Onion
2 tbsp. BBQ Sauce
75g Cheddar
50g Mozzarella
1 Red Onion
50g Mushrooms
1/2 Courgette
1/2 Red Pepper
1/2 Yellow Pepper
Dried Mixed Herbs
Method
1. Place the bread flour in a large mixing bowl and add all of the other base ingredients: salt, dried yeast, sugar, warm water, olive oil, sundried tomatoes. Mix to form a dough and then knead on a floured surface until even textured, springy and no longer sticky.
2. Roll the dough into a circle to fit a large round pizza tray. Cover and leave to rise in a warm place.
3. Meanwhile, prepare all the topping ingredients: peel and chop the red onion into 8 wedges, peel and dice the onion, grate the cheeses, wash and slice the mushrooms, chop the peppers and chop the courgette.
4. Roast all of the prepared vegetables (except the diced onion) in a tray with a bit of olive oil.
5. Prepare the pizza sauce by frying off the diced onion in a little olive oil. Add the tin of chopped tomatoes, BBQ Sauce and tomato puree and warm through. Puree the sauce.
6. Spread the base with the pizza sauce and sprinkle with the grated cheddar. Add the roast vegetables to form an attractive finish and scatter with mixed herbs and grated mozzarella.
7. Bake at 200C for 15 to 20 minutes until the base is crisp and the cheese is starting to brown.
Sorry for my very late post of the festive meal I made over two weeks ago now. To be honest though the ingredients aren't all that festive, it just somehow managed to have a festive, sort of special feel to it at the time which, was very nice. I found this lovely recipe for Vegetable Strudel in last month's Morrison's magazine and I instantly wanted to try it. I'm very glad I did as well as it turned out lovely. It has a quite unusual, unique flavour but, it is very tasty and although, I am well aware on the 1st of January 2013 noone is considering what they will be eating for this years Christmas Dinner but, it honestly would make a great option for Vegetarian's at Christmas as an alternative to the normal nut roast. You could also really have this dish at any time of the year though and you could make whatever alterations you wish to it to fit more with what ingredients are in season when you make it.
There are lots of ingredients but, they all somehow manage to work really well together. It is the goats cheese though which, really makes this dish, it is delicious and works perfectly with the other flavours of the dish and the filo and it just brings everything together. I found that everything cooked perfectly following the recipe and timings however, the apple was still a little crunchy which, I was fine with but if you wouldn't like that you could always maybe cook it a little in some boiling water beforehand to soften it a bit.
I have never worked with filo pastry before either which, I was quite excited about and I think I managed to actually do an alright job of it. The pastry was cooked perfectly as well so I know Paul and Mary would be proud. (Great British Bake-Off Superfan here, I do apologise). I served the strudel with some roast parsnips, cranberry sauce and brussel sprouts as I was being festive at the time and I also served it alongside some Creamed Leeks. Oh my, creamed leeks are incredible. If you have never had them before you have to try them, just sweat some chunks of leek in quite a bit of butter ;) and then simply add a good drenching of single cream. Very healthy ofcourse, it was Christmas afterall. Now you could just serve it with anything really, cous cous, roast vegetables, carrots, cauliflower cheese. Anything.
Recipe (Serves 8 people apparently, mine served 4 :/, I'm a bit chubby with my portion sizes though.)
125g butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 leek, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 red pepper, deseeded and finely chopped
200g cooked fresh chestnuts, finely chopped
150g fresh breadcrumbs
2 eating apples, peeled, cored and diced
small handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
2 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
3 eggs, beaten
220g filo pastry
125g soft goat’s cheese
1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC fan/Gas 6. Heat 25g of the butter and all the oil and cook the onion, garlic, leek and red pepper for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened but not coloured. Remove from the heat and stir in the chestnuts, breadcrumbs, apple, herbs and eggs until well combined. Season.
2. Unroll the filo and cover with a damp cloth to stop it drying out. Melt the remaining butter. Brush a sheet of pastry with butter, cover with another sheet and repeat until you have six layers. Spread half the stuffing across the centre of the filo, dot over the goat’s cheese, cover with the remaining stuffing and wrap it all up. Lay seam side down on a baking sheet, tucking the ends under. Brush with melted butter.
3. Brush 3 more sheets of pastry with butter and scrunch on top of the parcel. Cover the strudel with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for a further 20 minutes until golden. Serve with whatever accompaniments you like.
If you are making it around Christmas or you are just a big Cranberry fan you could also serve it with the Cranberry and Orange Sauce it suggests on the website. I only didn't as I thought with the million different ingredents I was already buying for the actual Strudel I ought to cut back somewhere, else my weeks wages would all be spent on cooking one meal. If you would like to try it though you can find the recipe here.
I am absoloutely, head over heels, in love with this song. I literally don't think I ever stopped listening to it yesterday, I must have pressed repeat 1000 times. The lyrics are just stunning and it is such a cute, lovely song. Ed sure knows how to write a good love song. I also love Fall at the moment too, it's very sweet. Are you a Ed Sheeran fan? I think you have to be.
Happy New Year to you all as well! I hope you had a great night last night and I hope you have a lovely new years day today, whatever state that may be in I hope you find a way to enjoy it. I plan to spend time with the family and play with my incredible little nephew Charlie and then have a yummy dinner for lunch so, other than that I think just a normal, lazy day for me which will be nice and as such hopefully I will have a bit of time to do some much needed blogging as I have been pretty terrible throughout December at posting anything but, the occassional Christmas song. Which reminds me, I hope you had an incredible Christmas, I miss it already. It really is the most wonderful time of the year. Cheesy. Although, very truthfull. But, no in all seriousness I love it and it goes far too quickly for me but, I hope you enjoyed yours while it lasted. I have a few recipes that I could post of meals I made a few weeks ago so I will probably post those today if I can. They are a little festive though so I hope you don't mind. I've got a Festive Vegetable Strudel recipe, a BBQ Roasted Vegetable Pizza recipe and some Chocolate Crunchy Cupcakes to post about. All very yummy.
Anyway, as today is new years day, do I have any new years resoloutions or plans? I haven't actually thought about it to be honest, I guess they're just the same as always so this year I'll try to get them done which is something I never manage. In a way I guess I'd kind of like to achieve more or accomplish more as odd as that sounds, not necessarily in terms of like academic achievement, I just want to look back at the end of next year, actually this year, and think wow how did I manage to do tall of that, that was a good year. I often find myself missing out on certain things because I'm not brave enough to give them a go. I've always been quite shy and nervous about things which, often stops me from trying new things and meeting new people which, I hate about myself. I wish I could be braver and not worry so much, I get it from my lovely, worrying mum and I know I'll never be able to get rid of my nervous nature or my shyness but, I just want to have less fear I guess and to be braver and to just get out and do things even if I am nervous. That is again my plan for this year, be more outgoing. And I will actually be thrown into the deep end with that come September when I head off to University as I will be surrounded by new things and new people but, it's just something I have to do to grow up and I'm sure I'll love it when I get their. I have to admit I'm a bit more excited about going this year which is good as last year I was terrified which, makes me think my gap year was a good idea. Finally.
Other things I'd like to do. Lose weight. That's always near to the top of the list. I don't think I'm fat, I have so many people telling me off and telling me I'm not fat and that I'm being stupid but, it isn't that I think I'm fat, I would just like to lose a bit of weight for myself so hopefully I can do that. Get a nice bikini body for the Summer. I'm not going to stress about it though. I'd also like to get my nose pierced and to dye my hair purple. I love Kelly Osbourne's hair at the moment, it looks amazing and so does she. She's lost a lot of weight and she looks great and she also dresses amazing at the moment.
I'd love to do my hair like hers although, being a Sainsbury's worker currently I'm not sure how well they'd react to lilac hair or a nose piercing come to think of that. Even if I am a night shift worker who is locked in the store for 9 hours of the night and is only let loose on the customers for for 1 hour in the morning I don't think they'd be too forgiving. Afterall, I did almost get fired when I first started for not wearing my name badge for that one hour where 3 customers wander in. I am only working until this summer though as I will then be jetting off on holiday (or in my case driving for endless hours in a cramped car as my Dad loves a challenge) and then heading up to Uni so I might try the purple hair out then. Who knows, Italian guys might love purple hair although, on a holiday with your parents I'm not sure what use that would be.
I would very much like to find romance in the year of 2013 too please, as would every single girl I would imagine. I watched both Serendipity and The Vow yesterday which, are so cute and lovely but, it makes you so sad to think that those guys either don't exist or it will take you more than a lifetime to find them. I still believe that one day I will find the fairy tale romance though, I haven't lost hope just yet. Suso the beautiful Spanish footballer who plays for Liverpool FC would be just great :P but, to be honest I would be happy with any sweet, lovely, funny guy. A scouser, spaniard or irishman would just be a huge bonus.
Also, this year I am determined to finally get a tattoo. I love tattoos and I have wanted one for ever. I haven't been holding off because I'm scared which, is surprising for me. Infact, I'm actually more nervous about the nose piercing, it's just something about stabbing and punching through your nose which, screams agony to me although, I don't think it's quite like that. I had to fight back the tears when my ears were pierced after my mum and sister told me they didn't feel a thing. Maybe I'm just a huge wuss which, makes a tattoo a great idea. I'm not actually too nervous about it at the moment though, I know when that needle touches my skin though I will wonder why I would ever possibly want to put myself through so much pain but, for now I'm not too bad. I've just been holding off because I want to make sure I get the right thing, I don't want to have it inked on my body and then regret it instantly or even 30 years down the line if I can help it. The tattoo I have always wanted and will probably eventually settle on is a compass. I love compass tattoos. And for me a compass would symbolise direction and finding my direction and my way through life. Finding the right path but, never forgetting your way home when you need it or where you come from. Without sounding cheesy ofcourse :P. Also, I think a compass would look really vintage and classy too.
Finally, I would like to blog alot more and perhaps find a way to make my blog look more professional. Mine still looks a bit poor but, I'm no whizz with technology and still have no real idea how to use blogger. I have a huge wardrobe crammed full of clothes, granted only a third of them get worn, if that but, I'm sure I can squeeze out a good few outfit posts. Already, looking back at the ones I've posted I cringe and think why did I wear that? And that's only two months ago. My style changes all the time, I'm dressing quite simply at the moment and in a lot of black. At the moment, I seem to get up everyday and pull on a pair of black leggings or skinny jeans and then one of my beloved Topshop geek t-shirts, yes I have two. I love them though. That's all I wear at the moment, I think I should be a bit more adventurous again. I'm also trying to be a bit more girly again and pop on some cute dresses with my brogues which I quite like at the moment. I'll always love vintage style. Other than that just lots of baking and recipe posts I think are needed and I really need to get writing the story I started months ago again as I now have a functioning laptop again. I love writing and sometimes wonder if I shouldn't have gone down the English route for studying but, I do love my food and cooking and I'm only 18 so you never know in the future. Still, I would like to post some of my story on here eventually aswell.
Another plan I'd like to start working on is to somehow become a minor celebrity, god knows how with my very few talents but, if that is possible that would be great, purely so I can appear on Strictly Come Dancing within the next few years.
Well that was far longer than I had planned, I guess that's December's posts all stored up and crammed into one.
Again a very Happy New Year and I hope you have a lovely day and an amazing year!
Another late Tuesday Tunes, what am I doing?I literally spent the whole afternoon yesterday making a festive vegetable strudel for tea which, was actually really lovely and very christmassy which, was nice. As such I had no time to post my Christmas Song Of The Week during the day yesterday and then by 8 o'clock I had fallen asleep on the sofa after having very little sleep the night before at my friend Jamie's Christmas Party. I'm not used to these late nights anymore, bed is calling me by 9 o'clock. What a life. I love this Christmas song, it is very traditional, sweet and heart warming and it is actually my favourite Christmas song this year. It just makes me smile. I think that it is always nice to listen to some old school Christmas classics so, I hope you enjoy this one too! Only 6 days until Christmas now!
Merry Christmas Everyone!
Song of the week : Nat King Cole - The Christmas Song.
A Tuesday Tunes on a Wednesday and Two Favourite Songs of the Week. I'm not doing very well this week. It's just I was planning on choosing Step Into Christmas by Elton as I love it and it's a classic Christmas song which, everyone knows and it is really cheery and upbeat which is perfect for Christmas however, then Kids In Glass Houses released their new Christmas song, Secret Santa and I love Kids In Glass Houses so I thought I'd choose that one too incase you haven't heard it yet. I really like it. So, now we have a Christmassy classic and a fun festive new song. You rarely get really good Christmas songs released these days either so I think it's really nice when bands do write songs, especially when it's someone like Kids In Glass Houses who you love and don't expect to. Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End) was a brilliant song by The Darkness but, other than that X Factor always take the Number One spot now and thats not Christmas. Also, whoever decided to put Mad World at number one the other year I am not a big fan of you. One of the lines is the Dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had... Fantastic christmas song. It's so depressing. These two Christmas songs deffinately are not though so I hope you enjoy them both! And the video for the KIGH's one. I never realised how good looking a band they are. Especially, Andrew and Aled. Oh my, they are beautiful. So, enjoy that too (:
