Avocado Mayo (Discovered From An Unexpectedly Healthy Recipe Book)

I received several cookery books for Christmas, but one particular one has rapidly become my (surprising) favourite. I like Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall as much as the rest, but I expected any book of his to be one that I would reach for in a few weeks time – when I had had enough of the January eating regime and was ready for something more hearty. But I was completely wrong! Only the fact that it is titled ‘Light & Easy’ lead to me giving it a chance.
On closer inspection I discovered that all the recipes are wheat and dairy free, in which Hugh explains his rationale behind this decision very eloquently within the Introduction - well worth a read! He is clear to state that this book is not intended for those who are in to ‘dieting’ and counting calories, but that he hopes it will change the way people eat – forever, and for the better. Well I am a convert HFW!

Every dish I have made so far has lived up to its promise of being healthy, well-balanced and straightforward to put together, as well as being truly delicious.  And even if I don’t follow each recipe to the letter, it is also a wonderful source of inspiration. (I also love that there is a whole chapter dedicated to ‘treats’)
A recent discovery was the avocado ‘mayo’ with chickpea salad. Made by my mum (yes, she has the book too. In fact, it was she who gifted it to me)

 

For the mayo:

1 large ripe avocado
2 tbsp cider vinegar
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
½ tsp English mustard
½ garlic clove
Sea salt and black pepper

Simply whiz the ingredients in a food processor and drizzle over salad leaves. We stirred in chickpeas for this recipe, but on tasting I think it would work for many salads, particularly ones containing a salty element (bacon, anchovies) as the ‘mayo’ has a rather mellow flavour.

I'm rather excited to keep trying recipes from this wonderful book. I'm thinking something from the 'Treats' section will have to be next!

Wedding Series - Mirror Table Plan

The table plan was one of my favourite projects and actually didn’t require too much time, artistic ability, or even many materials - especially if you use a mirror that you already own (yes, I did have a huge mirror-shaped space on the wall in my lounge for several weeks before the wedding).

 

Materials:

2 cans of matte white spray paint
Ruler
Sellotape
4 sheets of A4 card
Liquid chalk pen (bought from a small DIY store)

 

Method:

Begin by making sure that the mirror is large enough for the amount of guests you are seating (I had 84 guests seated in a horseshoe shape but you could easily do this with circular tables). One tip I could offer is to use a mirror that matches the shape of your actual venue space.

*My mirror was originally black so I spray painted it white, covering the edges of the mirror with masking tape. I left this to dry for a few hours and then began making the template for the tables.

 Create your template using thick card. For me this meant piecing together one 30cm x 7cm rectangle and two 64 x 7cm. I needed 32 names along each length of the template so 64cm was enough for each name to take up 2cm.

Lightly stick the template to the mirror using a few pieces of rolled sellotape (majority of stickiness removed on the back of your hand) and make sure it is positioned correctly before you begin drawing.
Draw round the template with liquid chalk (I also used a ruler for this) and peel the template away. If you make any mistakes, the liquid chalk can be removed with glass cleaner and a rough cloth.

Before you begin to write your names on to the mirror, map out where each name will be. I simply placed a little sellotape at each space as a marker (and to check that they would all fit) then copied each name over from a plan I had drawn in a notebook. 

 I loved how it looked so much that even now, some five months after the wedding, I just can’t bring myself to scrub it off! The mirror is now back in its rightful place in my lounge...still resembling a table plan, but not planning on reverting any time soon. 

Coming Soon - The Wedding Series

We are quite a while away from it being full blown wedding season, but I thought of all those lovely couples who got engaged over the festive period and realised that a bit of inspiration can never come too early... Cue the wedding series!

I thought it would be nice to share some DIY ideas with those of you looking to get a bit ‘crafty’ for your big day. First on my list for this coming Wednesday is an antique mirror table plan - watch this space...

My husband and I tied the knot in August 2015 in our beautiful hometown, London. The whole day was pretty laid-back and relaxed, and included lots (and lots) of DIY details. Some I made myself with the help from my wonderful bridesmaids, and others, including my veil and flower girl’s dresses, were made by good ol’ mum (who is amazingly talented, and a pro with a needle and cotton).

I will admit that it was so easy to get caught up in ‘wedding fever’ that once the day was over, and we had returned from honeymoon,  I began to feel almost redundant – you know, that feeling when you should be doing something but you’re not quite sure what?! And then one a rainy Sunday afternoon - just as the wedding blues were setting in - I received an email from our amazing photographer, Matt Ethan, to inform me that our big day was going to be featured on the website I once regarded as my ‘bible’ – rockmywedding.co.uk. If you want to check it out, head over there and have a read of my interview where I explain a bit more about the planning process. But for now here are just a few of my favourite images...

 

  

 

 

All images - Matt Ethan Photography

The Best 2016 Planner – The Mindfulness Colouring Diary

Have you heard the hype about adult colouring books?  No?  Oh, you’ve been living under a rock too then. It’s a hobby I had heard others talk about but one that I never really understood...until now.

I received this adult colouring book for my birthday in early January. My immediate thought was “when on earth do I have time to sit and colour?” but what makes this particular book so clever and unique  is that it is masquerading  as an ‘oh so grownup’ yearly planner. How many times do you sneak a peek at your diary each day right? So there is always opportunity (and sometimes even an excuse) to reach for this book.

‘Mindfulness’ has become somewhat of a buzz word lately, and for very good reason; it’s about time we all got on board with this notion of caring for our own mental and emotional well-being. The purpose of these books is to offer ‘a daily window of peace and calm’ whilst filling the pages with colour.

I have fond memories of colouring as a child and when I found out that in some parts of the world, adult colouring books sell faster than cookbooks I knew that I had to give it a try. I’m not quite at the stage where I’m comfortable to whip out my colouring pencils on a busy train but I have really enjoyed the whole ‘ritual’ of making a cup of tea and spending 10 or so minutes colouring whilst I ‘diarise’ (great word!).

I am confident that colouring will become the new doodling - and no one judges a doodler do they? Maybe soon we will all be colouring on the train home.  And who knows, maybe someday colouring will even take the place of smartphones ...

or maybe not.

Nut-Free Raw 'Pad Thai'

I have enjoyed this type of salad for a while, and what with it being January and feeling as though I need to detoxify and cleanse my body, I have turned to it once again.

I originally made my own version inspired by this recipe from ‘Lips so facto'- recommended by the lovely Lily Pebbles – and as with most other recipes of this kind, it is particularly heavy on nut butter. With both my best friend and mother having nut allergies, I was very aware that there must be others out there looking for an alternative which they could also enjoy. In this new version, I used sesame in place of nuts but this could just as easily be made with any other seed butter.

And yes, I have used a spiralizer, but this one is small and easily stored away when I’m not using it. I couldn’t bear (slash wasn’t allowed) to buy yet another bulky gadget that would just be squirreled away in a cupboard somewhere, taking up much-needed space. It works much like a giant, double-ended pencil sharpener and takes only minutes to clean.
 

Serves 2 as a side or 1 as a main meal

 

Ingredients

1 large carrot
1 courgette
½ avocado, sliced
Sprinkle of fresh herbs (coriander and mint)

For the Dressing

2 tbsp sesame seeds, ground
2tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp raw honey (I used Manuka 15+)
1 garlic clove minced
1 tsp liquid aminos (or low sodium soy/tamari)

juice of 1/2 lime

Method

Finely grind the seeds using a pestle and mortar then add the remaining ingredients, mixing to a paste. Simply cover the spiralized vegetables and herbs with the dressing and serve. If you don't have a pestle and mortar, you can use a small blender instead.

Optional extras

- Other finely sliced vegetables such as onion, pepper, chilli
- Edamame beans, sliced avocado, or tofu for added protein


To make this recipe even easier, you could use 2 tbs light Tahini in place of the sesame oil and seeds. And if you’re like me, and not on a totally raw vegan diet, you could have grilled fish or chicken with this as a healthy side (making it more appealing in the coldest January weathers).

Gingerbread Fizz - The Perfect Post-Christmas Tipple

If you are one of the few people not on a post-Christmas detox, you may appreciate this recipe for the perfect winter cocktail. It still has the fun and sparkle reminiscent of Christmas, with the warmth and spice needed for this cold, dreary time of the year. And come on, who doesn’t love the taste of gingerbread?


1 part gingerbread syrup (bought from a local coffee shop)
1 part spiced rum
3 parts champagne (or any other choice of fizz)


I made these for a party I hosted this winter and they went down a treat! And yes, it was mainly the female guests who opted for the bubbles, but I defy any burly man not to also love these - especially if it’s served with a gingerbread cookie on the side.

The perfect Heat Protection for Naturally Curly Hair

It’s not often I get this excited about a hair product but I feel that this one really has ‘Holy Grail’ potential. It’s by Umberto Giannini and has an extremely wordy name; ‘Glam Hair Princess Purrfect Hot Styler Spray’.  It doesn’t exactly role off the tongue does it?

I use this on days when I am going for something glam and sleek, such as a vintage wave. The reason I found this to be the best on the market is because it is a dry spray, much like a traditional hair spray, making it perfect for in between blow-drying and curling with a heated wand or tong. All you curly girls will know that once you have blow dried your hair to a smooth finish, the last thing you want to do is add anything with a high water/moisture content back on to the hair (can anyone say frizz ball!).

The product claims to ‘hold like a hairspray, smooth like a serum and protect against heat damage for hair as perfect as a princess’. It does all of those things as well as being quick-drying and easily brushed out, meaning that you don’t feel as if the product is building up on your hair. I must confess that because of its dry and lightweight texture I have been known to get my full three (or four) days of smooth waves before I need to wash my hair, returning it to its natural coiled glory.

I must also say that because of its sleek, monochrome look, it is a ‘purrfect’ dressing table product. I just wish that I had found this product sooner as it would have saved me a lot of frizz-angst...and time spent hair-washing. 

New Year, New Furniture

I have a huge love of teak furniture. So much so, that I cannot walk past a piece without stopping and admiring (and sometimes even stroking). So when I saw this beautiful filing cabinet in a ‘throw away’ pile at work I just couldn’t let it happen. I wasn’t exactly in the market for a new piece of furniture but I simply knew that I had to make it work! It is just my type of thing; a mix of mid-century modern, shabby, and industrial.

When I rescued it, it lay flush to the ground with no legs or stand. It could have worked equally as well as a low coffee table with some casters fixed to the bottom but I decided to opt for (yet another) sideboard.

During a visit to Sweden in early 2015 I noticed many pieces of furniture with hairpin legs and - as often happens - once they were on my radar, I saw those bloomin’ hairpin legs everywhere.

After some unsuccessful hunting at local vintage markets, I decided to turn to good ol’ eBay and of course they had exactly what I needed. I opted for unfinished stainless steel legs with three-rods as opposed to two as I needed the stability for such a heavy unit. And at 14” it made the cabinet just the right height for my room dimensions, but I could have also gone up to 18” if I wanted a taller unit.

My very helpful handyman - otherwise known as ‘the husband’ - attached all four legs with sixteen screws (8 x ¾) using a Makita Cordless drill.

I think it makes a nice addition to my entrance hall, and has proven to be extremely useful as the drawers are the perfect size for keys/wallet etc; basically, all the little ‘bits’ that normally get left lying around, looking unsightly.

Follow Me On Bloglovin'

Bloglovin' is a site that I have enjoyed for a long while now (can anyone say #procrastination) so I thought I would jump on board. It's extremely easy to use, and even has a nifty 'blogs you might like' feature, meaning I am constantly discovering new and interesting bloggers that I would never have stumbled upon otherwise.

I also see that the lovely Victoria from inthefrow has posted a roundup of luxury post-holiday sale items for the bloglovin' shop. There goes another hour of my life spent procrastinating browsing!

http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/14622869/?claim=7sqrzmrr69r