Summer Breakfast

Hi everyone! How are you all? I always find that as the weather improves and the sun begins to shine most days that I eat a lot more fruit. This post is some inspiration for a light summer breakfast but could also be a quick snack or dessert. You could use any fruit but I find these to be the most readily available and good value for money.

To make, I used:

• 3 tbsp of 0% fat Greek yoghurt
• 3 strawberries (sliced)
• A handful of grapes
• A handful of blueberries
• A handful of sesame seeds

Thanks for reading!

Garden Wishlist

Hello everyone! How are you all today? We are very lucky (considering where we live) to be able to have a little private patio outside of our flat. However, having only moved in at the end of last summer, it is looking very bare! I've started buying a couple of plants but hopefully we will be able to make some purchases over the coming weeks to spruce up our outside and enjoy this lovely sunshine and the warm summer evenings.

I thought I would put a little list together of some of the items I have spotted and added to my wishlist. I have added the links too incase you like the look of anything. Let me know if you have any other recommendations!

Homebase - Folding Garden Bistro Set

I love the colour of this table set and as our patio isn't the largest, I think these fold away chairs would be perfect.

notonthehighstreet.com - White Lantern Fairy Lights

I think these fairy lights are adorable and would look lovely if you were sat out in an evening!

Homebase - Owl Garden Planter

We could really do with repotting a couple of our current plants and I love these little owl garden pots. I think they look a lot prettier than your bog standard pot. 

Oliver Bonas - ZigZag Cushion

My boyfriend would probably tell me we do not need any more cushions, but you can never have too many right? 

Homebase - Pagoda Bird Table

Seen as we aren't allowed pets in our flat (sob), I am thinking that a bird table would be a nice little addition to our patio area. 

Thanks for reading!

10 thoughts all Teachers have...

1. You often ponder what life was like back when you actually had 'free time'...

2. You frequently feel like hitting your head against a brick wall when you spend an hour teaching the children something you spent days preparing for, to open their exercise book to find a doodle of a zombie gorilla.

3. Would you like a cup of tea? Shall we have a coffee? Biscuit anyone? 

4. School plays. You WILL be singing those catchy songs for weeks and weeks. Even your dog will know the words by the time Christmas arrives.

5. You can't go shopping without seeing at least two items and thinking 'Oooh I could use that in the classroom'. If you don't find any items, you WILL see a child you teach and try to hide.

6. The dread that fills you when you open your curtains in a morning to rain - please no wet play, pleeeease. 

7. When you are not at school, you can be found in a zombie-like state wandering around covered in marker pen, PVA glue and glitter. 

8. You will always meet at least one person who tells you how great it must be to work 9-3. Restrain from hitting said person. 

9. When you meet your 'teacher friends' outside of work you will agree 'not to talk about school' before proceeding to talk about school non-stop.

10. Even when you are having the most terrible day, you only need to look at those 30 little cheeky faces staring back at you to realise you really wouldn't want to be anywhere else. 

What do you think? Any you can relate to? :)

Thanks for reading!

Italian Style Stew

Hello everyone! How are you all? Today's recipe is for an Italian style stew. I tend to do a vegetable option of this but you could easily do a meat version too. I also vary this recipe a lot depending on what vegetables I have in - it really is a very versatile dish but delicious and so nutritious.

To make (2-3 portions), you will need:

• 1 large courgette (chopped)
• 1 large onion (peeled and chopped)
• 2 handfuls of curly leaf kale
• 1 can of chopped tomatoes
• 1 clove of garlic (finely chopped)
• 1 tbsp of tomato puree
• Seasoning as desired (I use salt and pepper, oregano and a splash of balsamic vinegar)

1. In a pan on a medium heat, gently fry the onion for 2-3 minutes.
2. Add the courgette and kale and continue to fry for another 3 minutes.
3. Add the chopped tomatoes, garlic, tomato puree and seasoning.
4. Leave to simmer gently for 15-20 minutes until it reaches the consistency you like.

I like to serve this with fresh bread or pasta! 

Thanks for reading!

MOMA! Breakfast

Hello everyone! The lovely people over at MOMA! foods were kind enough to send me a parcel full of breakfast goodies to try out* and I couldn't wait to give them a go. Breakfast is by far the most important meal of the day for me and anyone who knows me will know I am always absolutely starving in a morning! Here are the products and what I thought about them:

MOMA porridge pots

I love the convenience of these little pots - you simply add hot water and allow to stand for 5 minutes before they are ready to eat! These would be perfect for work or a breakfast on the go and really do fill you up! My favourite flavour out of these was the Golden Syrup and I was surprised at the sweetness that the raw cane sugar provided.

MOMA smooth oatie shakes

I must admit that before trying these shakes I was a little bit apprehensive. The thought of an oatie shake instead of a bowl of cereal was not necessarily something that appealed to me as I like quite a substantial breakfast to start my day. Flavour-wise I was pleasantly surprised, they really were tasty and creamy! I still don't feel like I would be able to have one of these as a stand-alone breakfast though but this could just be because I am always so hungry in a morning. I would happily have one for breakfast again but I would have to have one with an extra portion of fruit.

MOMA porridge sachets

Maybe I am easily amused but I was so excited that you make these cute little sachets in a mug! Again you simply need to add hot water to these oats for a lovely porridge - I find this a lot easier than the milk you have to add to a few other brands I have tried and I don't personally feel it alters the taste that much. One of the samples MOMA sent me was there Super Seeds porridge. This includes linseed, pumpkin and chia seeds and was personally my favourite because it had a different texture to the other porridges and made me feel incredibly healthy!

Overall, I was really impressed with my samples and would highly recommend. I am just a little bit sad that so far I can't find anywhere near me which seems to stock them.

Thanks for reading!

London Zoo

Hi everyone! Hope you are all okay. At the weekend we decided to take a trip into London for a wander through Regent's Park and a visit to the zoo! We had a lovely day and the sunshine appeared after a rainy morning. Here are some pictures (credit to my boyfriend for a lot of these, he is quite the photographer it seems teehee). I hope you like them.

Thanks for reading! 

Oatie Cinnamon Biscuits

Hi everyone! How are you all on this sunny Sunday? Today's recipe is for Oatie Cinnamon Biscuits - the recipe is fairly similar to flapjacks, however, the cinnamon adds a different flavour to these yummy, crunchy biscuits. They are so easy to make and last a while if stored in an airtight container.

To make 12 biscuits, you will need: 

• 5oz plain oats
• 3oz demerera sugar
• 4oz butter/margarine
• 2tsp of cinnamon (and some to sprinkle on top if you like)

1. In a pan, gently melt the butter and sugar on a medium heat.
2. Once melted, add the mixture to a bowl with the oats and cinnamon and stir well.
3. Place small mounds of the mixture onto a lined baking tray. 
4. Bake at 180c for around 15 minutes. Leave the biscuits on the baking tray until cooled.

 Thanks for reading! Lauren x

Vegetarian Cassoulet

Hi everyone! I hope you have been enjoying the sunshine - it has been so lovely here so it has been great to get out in it. I'm also starting to get very excited as I will hopefully be back to uni in the next week or so after being signed off sick since January. It's been a hard couple of months but I am looking at it as a positive thing, especially for my health and general outlook on things.

A few weeks ago I posted a recipe for a chorizo cassoulet (you can find the link here) but I thought I would have a go at a vegetarian option. This still uses butter beans but instead of the chorizo I added kidney beans and lentils. It makes the perfect hearty and nutritious dish.

To make (3-4 portions) you will need:

• 1 can of chopped tomatoes
• 1 can of butter beans (drained and rinsed)
• 1 can of kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
• Half a mug of lentils
• Half a mug of boiling water
• 1 tbsp of tomato puree
• 1 tbsp of oregano
• Salt and pepper (to season)
• Fresh basil (optional garnish)
  

1. I simply added all the ingredients (aside from the basil if you are using that) into a pan and simmered on a medium heat. It took around 15-20 minutes to reach a nice consistency.
2. Perfect served with garlic bread, pasta or cous cous.

I love hearing your comments so let me know what you think!

Thanks for reading! Lauren x

Tunbridge Wells

Hello everyone! How are you all? I'm sorry for the lack of food related posts - we have been busy having little day trips out while Tom is off work and have been enjoying some yummy food out instead. We took a visit to Tunbridge Wells after hearing a lot of positive things about the place. I can't say it was all as pretty as I thought, although the Calverley Gardens and The Pantiles were lovely so I would definitely recommend paying those a visit if you were in the area. 

Here are a few pictures I took:

What have you all been up to?

Thanks for reading! Lauren x

A day in Chichester

Hello everyone! How are you all? We decided to take a little trip to Chichester on the train for the day at the weekend. The weather wasn't great but it stayed mostly dry which was good! We began with lunch at Prezzo before having a wander around the Cathedral, the Novium museum and the shops. We also stopped at a lovely cafe called Artie's Kitchen for tea and a brownie! It was a great day out and I would recommend a visit.

(My mum's bookshop, teehee!)

Prawns in a Tomato and Chilli sauce - yummy!

Modelling a helmet in the museum...

Thanks for reading! Lauren x

Seven Sisters

Hello everyone! How are you all? For Bank Holiday Monday we took a trip on the train and bus to the Seven Sisters between Seaford and Eastbourne. We really were so lucky with the weather (I got sunburnt though, oops) and the views were amazing! We will definately be back again next time the weather is fine. Here are some pictures:

Thanks for reading! Lauren x