Thursday Thoughts

I am so unamused…

I had wrote this post, clicked publish and wordpress went and deleted it all…arghhh I swear I could scream right now..
Anyway, breath, sigh, never mind. Got through another exam today, I was quite pleased with how this one worked out and I managed to leave an hour early, which meant I had time for a coffee/read the paper before I met up with some friends.
Yes I probably was that annoying person that everyone hates in exams waltzing out an hour before the end because I’ve finished.

Oh well..at least it meant coffeeee time!

1. I am absolutely addicted to this drink at the moment; I only tried it for the first time yesterday but safe to say its what I’m going to be ordering every time I go, I first saw it on Accidently Delish’s Instagram and boy oh boy is it good!

It’s an iced americano with sugar free vanilla syrup and then you ask for it all blended up. It tastes just like a frappuccino!
Safe to say that the man serving me thought I was slightly odd.. I quote ” I have worked here for 12 years and never have I made that drink before”.

Oh well..who cares..it was strange..strange but good!

2. Is it too late to be buying Easter Eggs? I’d had my eyes on these little gems for ages, just waiting for them to be reduced down. Hotel Chocolat is one of my favourite chocolate companies and I knew the price would come down eventually. £27 down to £6.75, of course I picked one up for my Mam, it would have been rude not to!

I can’t wait to get started on this as a treat one night; no doubt it will last me a while though. YUM!

3. I am far too easily amused by oddly shaped vegetables…nooo not ones shaped like that…

Onion swan!!

I did chuckle to myself a bit when I saw this..maybe I should have sold it on ebay and made a fortune…

4. I am loving the Big Bang Theory at the moment…not that I never used to like it but I just can’t seem to get enough of it at the moment;  I swear I could watch it constantly and Sheldon just cracks me up so much!I am so unamused…

5. I have such a collection of nut butters in the cupboard at the moment; I swear I have like 91291092109 jars..ok maybe not that many but I certainly did bring a lot back from L.A., I would estimate I probably have around 20-30 at the moment. Which means that I tend to not really want to use the ones that I’m not too fond of…

I bought this from iHerb a while back thinking it would be really good. To be honest I’m not a huge fan; the chia seeds give it a weird texture and its just a bit bland. Peanut butter should be creamy and sumptuous!

6. Around stressful exam time periods I tend to revert back to childhood..I don’t know why but I find myself wanting to do things a 5-10 year old would normally do.
It happened a couple of Christmasses ago when all I wanted was colouring/activity books. At the moment its manifesting itself in me wanting to watch The Lizzie Mcguire movie that I’ve had in my DVD collection since I was a kid.

I swear Disney don’t make programmes as good as they used to.
Can’t believe this came out 10 years ago?! How time flies.

7. I really need to get round to printing my L.A. photographs off; I have my scrapbook and all other necessary items ready but I just haven’t managed to find time to get myself organised to print them off..when my exams are finished definitely!

Can’t wait to get creative!

8. Another thing post exam that I really want to do – try out a new restaurant! I’ve had my eyes on Pan Haggerty for ages, after drooling over their sample menu online I can’t wait to try some of their dishes!! It looks go good and will definitely be worth the wait.

9. I bought a new gym top that I am in love with! I swear I enjoy shopping for gym clothing more than I do normal clothing!
It’s so suitable for me : cute & appropriate for the gym!

Cookie Monster on Muscle Beach!!

I love it!
However I suck at taking selfies..I’m so awkward!

10. Has anyone been to see Great Gatsby yet?! Hopefully I’m going this Saturday – I’ve heard mixed reviews about it..but I guess I’ll just have to wait and see what I think when I go to see it myself.

On a side note I went and saw Star Trek last week..loved it! I’m such a nerd haha!

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What were your favourite programmes as a kid?
Do you love a good bargain?

WIAW : One Down 4 To Go

Happy WIAW everyone!

Sorry I’ve been a bit MIA for the past few days; I had my first exam yesterday – biochemistry. Definitely the hardest exam I’ve got so pleased to have gotten it out of the way with first; I think it went ok…hopefully..the essays were all on stuff that I knew quite well, but the multiple choice was negative marking, cruel or what!!
I’m looking forward to next year when I get to do a lot more nutrition based stuff rather than pure science; I find it interesting and everything but I’d rather be learning about stuff that affects me rather than how germinating oil seeds produce ATP…  

Anyway the past few days have been extremely hectic, but of course I couldn’t miss WIAW!
All those tasty food pictures to look at; I mean come in..its procrastination at its best haha!
Make sure to head over to the lovely Jen @ Peas and Crayons if you are in need of some serious procrastination material haha!

This week’s eats have been delicious as always; although I think I am in serious need of some meal inspiration – I want some really different things for dinner?! I’m getting sick of the same old same old…ideas anyone?!

Breakfasts

{Banana split style oatmeal – I’m on a major oatmeal kick at the minute and have been enjoying it with a couple of cubes of chocolate I’ve had lurking in the cupboard..it goes oh so melty and delicious! Anyway this is banana flavour egg white oats, healthy chocolate sauce & some fresh chopped strawberries topped with some Askinoise White Chocolate..um yum!}

{Spiced Chocolate Egg White Oats + chocolate PB2 sauce + Askinoise White Chocolate..I can’t imagine my oats without egg whites now..they make them go so fluffy!}

{Peanut Protein Pancakes layered with banana greek yoghurt topped with a small scoop of peanut butter, toffee & vanilla ice cream!! It went oh so melty..and I am so pleased to see peanut butter ice cream in the UK eventually!}

{Orange Cream protein pancakes layered with a vanilla cream greek yoghurt…you can tell I was on an oatmeal/pancake kick again haha}

Lunches/Dinners

{Bombay Curray Innocent Pot with some extra chicken and broccoli + cauliflower – it has been far too long since I had an Innocent Pot, I swear I was once addicted to them; they’re so tasty, convenient and one of the healthiest ready meals out there..I collected something like 100 of their pot lids and wrote to them and ended up getting £30 worth of coupons to use! Love it when companies reward their customers!}

{Chicken & tarrgaon sausages, egg white omelette seasoned with mustard, cholula, basil, oregano and some roasted kale all topped with some low sugar + salt ketchup}

{Omelettes always hit the spot!! Anddd I think I have eventually mastered the folding over haha! Egg White Omelette + mozzarella + chicken + salad with sriracha}

{Homemade Chicken Chilli – um yum, I should definitely make this more often, because it gets cooked for so long the chicken goes all shreddy and the carrots soften..I have left over sweetcorn + kidney beans so this will probably be a meal again for next week}

Desserts/Snacks

{Cookies n Cream Protein Cheesecake based on this recipe here, but using cookies n cream protein powder, topped with some crushed chocolate snackimals}

{Peanut Protein French Toast dipped in a mixture of 2 egg whites, 1 tbsp peanut flour + cinnamon + sweetener fried up and then topped with some healthy chocolate sauce, greek yoghurt, 1tbsp better n pb and a strawberry}

{Grasshopper Pie Style Fro Yo, grasshopper pie used to be one of my favourite desserts when I was a kid..it is so delicious, the minty, moussy filling with a chocolate crumb crust..! This is a mint greek yoghurt fro yo topped with 1 tbsp dark chocolate dreams pb, 3 crushed chocolate snackimals and 2 sugar free marshmallows}

Definitely some delicious eats for the week right there; I mean food is fuel hey..so obviously yummy goodness is needed to power me through my exams
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Any ideas for meals I could use?
What was your favourite dessert as a kid?

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pancakes

Chocolate & Peanut butter
..such a delicious combo that are just meant to be together.

I remember the day when Reese’s eventually made it over to the U.K. market; no longer would I have to stock up when I went on holiday or pay extortionate prices online.
It was a day of joy.

However no one can eat Reese’s every day! So my peanut butter & chocolate kicks need to be fulfilled in different ways..enter pancakes.

These were another batch of pancakes consumed late at night; I’m on such an oatmeal kick for breakfast at the moment that the thought of anything else just doesn’t hit the spot..I hope I don’t sicken myself..Hey who I am kidding?! Will I ever get sick of oatmeal?!

Anyway these pancakes are super thick and make perfect little circles, so they’re great for stacking and layering up with things.

I layered mine with some chocolate greek yoghurt and topped with a little white chocolate jazzie.

If I was making these again I’d probably omit the cocoa powder in the pancakes and add a tbsp of coconut flour instead; just so you get a bit more of a peanut flavour…but hey ho these still tasted pretty darn good!

Chocolate & Peanut Butter Pancakes

by Natalie @ Lift,Sleep, Eat

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

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Ingredients

Pancakes

• 2 tbsp wholewheat flour
• 2 tbsp peanut flour or pb2 chocolate (if you want them extra chocolatey)
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 egg whites
• 1/4-1/2 cup almond milk
• 1 tsp baking powder
• sweetener
• vanilla extract

Chocolate Greek Yoghurt

• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 50g greek yoghurt
• sweetener
• almond milk

Instructions

Pancakes

Whisk egg whites until fluffy; add remaining wet ingredients.

Fold in dry ingredients, adding more milk/water if desired, depending on how you like your pancakes.

Cook in a pan over a medium heat, for about 3 minutes each side.

Chocolate Greek Yoghurt

Mix together and use to layer pancakes.

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Chocolate & peanut butter – milk/white or dark?

What is one thing you wish they would stock near you that you love?

Amour for S’mores

I can’t believe the UK market never really caught onto the whole S’mores idea, biscuit, marshmallow, chocolate…I men what’s not to love?!
I remember multiple times when I was younger trying to make S’mores, many a burnt finger/mouth, exploding marshmallows and all round disaster normally ensued, but boy oh boy did they taste good!

I use the whole S’mores combo for quite a lot, pancakes, oatmeal, I’ve even used it in a greek yoghurt concoction. Safe to say I’m addicted and what makes it even better is the new Sugar Free marshmallows my store has been selling!

After baking a kabocha chocolate chip peanut butter cookie a couple of weeks ago I realised that in fact it had been a while since I’d baked any cookie experimentations of my own…enter the S’mores cookie!!

Made with wholewheat flour and banana it has the wonderful chewy gooey texture and the melted marshmallow and chocolate in the centre…um wow!

If you wanted to make the overall cookie more chocolatey you could add some cocoa powder to the batter or add some chocolate chips just before you pop it in the oven, but for me I loved that satisfaction of biting into the centre!

Thankfully no fingers/mouths were burnt in the process of making this cookie.

S’mores Cookie

by Natalie @ Lift,Sleep, Eat

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

6047589

Ingredients (1 cookie)

• 40g wholewheat flour
• 1.5 tbsp coconut flour
• 3/4 banana, mashed
• 2 tsp egg substitute/ 1 egg white
• 1 tsp baking powder
• sweetener, to taste
• 1 cube of chocolate
• 1 sugar free marshmallow

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180C/360F.

Whisk egg white/substitute until frothy and then whisk in mashed banana.

Fold in the flours/sweetener/baking powder. You can add a bit of water/almond milk if you think your mixture is too dry.

Spread around 3/4 of the batter onto a greased baking tray and pop in the oven for 15 minutes.

Take out of the oven and poke in the chocolate cube + marshmallow, top with the remaining batter and bake for a further 5-10minutes until cooked.

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What’s your favourite type of cookie?
S’mores – milk or dark chocolate?

WIAW : Farewell Kabocha

It’s Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday time!!

Which means its time to ogle pictures of tasty food; I always feel that its a slightly cruel torment that all these delicious food posts come on a day when I fast pretty much all day..looking at all the pictures of the tasty goodies you’ve been enjoying throughout the week certainly doesn’t help haha!
Nevertheless by the time dinner comes around safe to say I am ravenous and always tastes AMAZING!

Make sure you head over to Jen @ Peas & Crayons to see other delicious and mouthwatering food!

Unfortuantely I have some sad news this week…
Beloved kabocha, we have only been together for a short time..
Until you have been ripped away from me..
I don’t know how I will recover…

Yes the one and only store near me that I have ever been able to buy Kabocha squash seems to have stopped selling it. Not only are there none left but they have taken off the sign containing the description + pricing information which only ever means one thing, its not coming back!! This also comes at a time where my local supermarket has discontinued and stopped making my favourite greek yoghurt, no joke this always happens to me!! They always stop selling the foods I love!! A cruel stab to my foodie loving heart, all I can hope is that my sweet kabocha squash will return in the winter..

Until then other tasty eats will have to be consumed…

Breakfasts

{Frappuccino Style Oats - Coffee Egg White Oats, Vanilla Greek Yoghurt + Caramel Sauce, I’ll post the full recipe up for these later this week}

{Neapolitan Style Oats – Strawberry, Vanilla + Chocolate Egg white oats layered up with healthy chocolate sauce}

{Spiced Pear egg white oats topped with healthy chocolate sauce + more pear slices..that kinda look like a smiley face haha}

Lunches/Dinners

{Chicken sausages + egg whites with a bit of low sugar + salt ketchup & salad}

{The final kabocha squash bowl…wahhhh..sweet cocoa cinnamon kabocha squash + peanut butter puffins + chocolate PB2 sauce}

{It has been farrrr too long since I’ve had any pasta; this was one of the new meals from Sainsbury’s Delicious Nutritious range..chicken,broccoli & tomato marscapone pasta with extra cauliflower + broccoli}

Snacks/Desserts

{Banana Split a la protein style – half a banana with some cookies n cream greek yoghurt “fro yo” with cocoa powder + strawberries all frozen up for about an hour}

{Healthy S’mores Cookie – another recipe I’m planning to have posted up later this week}

{Cinnamon Apple Pie Mug cake baked with 1/2 apple pie quest bar & topped with quark + extra cinnamon}

…..That’s all folks!!
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Do your favourite foods often get discontinued?
Do you still have kabocha where you are?

Marvelous Musings

Why hellloooo! Hope you all had a brilliant weekend!! Mine was filled with pretty much the same old, same old…especially when it comes to revision.
I am drowning in mountains of it and the thought of my first exam being a week tomorrow isn’t a particularly welcome thought…
I cannot wait until they’re over and the summer can properly begin!

All that could make it better is the prospect of going away somewhere hot and sunny; after my Mam got made redundant at work we thought we weren’t going to be able to afford a holiday this year but thankfully she’s just been told she’s got a job and will be starting on Tuesday..so perhaps I will be getting some summer sun in the end on hopefully a nice mother/daughter break away somewhere!

So this kind of got me thinking and with today’s theme what would make this summer even more marvelous?

Firstly it’s gotta be….

A trip to Rome!!
If we could afford it this is where I’d absolutely love to go, it’s definitely near the top of my places to visit…

Plus…that Gelato..I will quite happily run up and down the Spanish Steps multiple times in order to sample every flavour going haha!

Getting a 1st in my uni exams

Ok given this picture was taken a while ago when I was getting matriculated at Oxford..this seems like such a long time ago now and definitely wasn’t the right path for me, so glad I am now actually studying something I enjoy & am passionate about (Food Marketing & Nutrition)..I only wish that they’d offered a course I’d like.
Hey Ho, I still set myself pretty high standards & am aiming for a 1st even if it doesn’t really count for the rest of the degree with it only being my first year it will make an impact when I come to apply for internships.

Buying a waffle maker!!

Haha I know this seems completely random but its something I’ve been wanting to buy for ages and I just keep putting it off and off and never end up actually getting round to buying one! This summer for ultimate protein waffle experimentations whilst I have the time!

Having the opportunity to read more

I never really have the opportunity to read much during term time so I look forward to getting through some books this summer. I really want to read Dan Brown’s new book – Inferno, even though I haven’t read any of his so far..maybe I should start from book 1. Has anyone else read them?

If Britain had a nice summer for once…

Newcastle is actually such a pretty place when its sunny if we actually had some heat and warmth so I wasn’t milk bottle coloured all the time then that would be great..as frankly it usually looks like this…

Ok..maybe that’s a bit extreme but you get the picture..

Catching up with friends + family

Loads of my friends will be coming back from their universities around the country so its going to be great to catch up with them + my cousin is planning to come and study up near me so will be nice to have him around; he’s planning on going to Northumbria..kind of the rivalry university that I go to haha!

Continued food experimentation

There’s so many different recipes/things I want to try still so when I’ve got a bit more free time, safe to say that lots of experimenting will be getting done in the kitchen!

If I could hit some new gym PRS

I really want to be able to squat x2 my body weight by the start of next year…getting there slowlyyy! Squatting is definitely my strongest point but massive increases in weight seem to have slowed off at the minute though..just gotta keep pushing through!

Getting a job

Hopefully I’ll be able to find something to earn me a bit extra money over the summer; I did some work as a temp over Christmas  and one of their staff is leaving soon so fingers crossed I’ll be able to go back there..and can spend all my well earned cash on food + food gadgets ..oh and any spending money that may be needed for a holiday.
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What would make your summer marvelous?
If you had to choose one place to travel over the summer where would it be?

Salted Caramel Chocolate Protein Pancakes

Sometimes pancakes shouldn’t just be for breakfast; sometimes they should most definitely be dessert..I mean they’re kinda cakes right..pancakes.
So therefore are totally acceptable!

I’m one of those type of people who can’t be satisfied with flavour combinations that I’ve already tried; virtually every pancake I flip or every oatmeal bowl I make I want the flavour combination to be different to any I’ve tried before..which starts to become a bit of a struggle to think of ideas as time goes on.

Then it hit me..

(No not the pancake flying out of the frying pan)

How about some salted caramel pancakes?! Salted caramel is still somewhat of a craze going on in the chocolate market so why wouldn’t it work in pancake form?!

WF caramel syrup, a dash of salt, all fried up and packed with protein.

Drizzled with chocolate syrup…

Then I decided that wasn’t enough..it needed more caramel & more salt! So on went some more caramel and a sprinkling of salt.

I cannot describe how good these were and the fact they’re packed with protein means that you can go to bed with a lovely full satisfied feeling in your belly (or if you decide to be normal to have them for breakfast then they’ll keep  you going til lunch time!

The saltiness works really well with the WF caramel syrup and has a lovely tang at the end of every bite. Obviously you can adjust the amount of salt you want to add down to personal preference..or hey if you don’t like salted caramel then just omit the salt completely and go for simple caramel & chocolate!

Does this count as Strange but Good? I guess so? I mean at one point salt + caramel together would be considered strange, and I guess eating pancakes at 10pm at night probably isn’t the most “normal thing” either .

Either way make sure to head over to Sprint 2 the Table for other Strange But Good delicious delights.

Salted Caramel Chocolate Protein Pancakes

by Natalie @ Lift,Sleep, Eat

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

6047124

Ingredients

Salted Caramel Pancakes

• 3 tbsp oats, blended
• 3 tbsp coconut flour
• 1/2 scoop vanilla casein
• 2 tbsp quark
• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tbsp Walden Farms caramel syrup
• 1 tsp baking powder
• salt

Healthy Chocolate Sauce

• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• sweetener
• 1 tbsp almond milk
• 1 tbsp water

Instructions

Salted Caramel Pancakes

Whisk egg whites until frothy; add remaining wet ingredients.

In a separate bowl mix together dry ingredients. Fold wet to dry. Add more salt to taste if desired.

Cook over a low to medium heat for around 3-4 minutes per side.

Healthy Chocolate Sauce

Mix together and use to top pancakes along with some additional WF caramel sauce + salt!

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For the whole recipe it’s only  252kcal, 27.5g protein, 23.6g carbs, 5.5g fat!! So therefore its totally acceptable to go eat a salted caramel chocolate after if you get the craving .
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What’s the weirdest chocolate combination you’ve tried? I never thought I would like chocolate + bacon together but it really works!!
Salt & chocolate together? Yay or Nay?