Etsy shop of the week: Halo and Meme

I really love this Etsy shop Halo and Meme who do vintage book stack centrepieces. I’ve seen this at quite a few weddings and is a great piece of decor for the book lovers among us. The books are bound and hand stamped with a message of your choice and layered with vintage lace or a doily. They are then tied with jute and a tag that can include your wedding date or initials. What an amazing idea!

What I've been eating this week!

 I think these recipe posts are becoming quite regular! I get so bored cooking I have to try out things all the time. 

One of the first things I cooked this week was a broccoli and spinach quiche from Carrots'N' Cake found via The Corrie Anne Blog. I used 3 tortillas instead of 4 and I skipped the onion and bacon. I also brought it down to 820 calories for the whole thing by using egg whites instead of eggs. It was really nice, it tasted mostly of feta. The edge of the tortilla got a little burnt in the oven but I just snapped it off.

 
I so loved this chickpea and chorizo stew from BBC food. I used breasts instead of thighs (I really can't handle dealing with chicken if it’s not breast) and I didn't use onion or sherry (I really hate onion; notice how I remove it from every recipe!). One portion was about 650 calories and it was so filling, real comfort food when it was raining!

 I made this Mac N Cheese recipe from Florence Finds, mine doesn't look that pretty because I had to skip the breadcrumb topping due to having no bread around. As I was only cooking for the boy and I and the original recipe was for 5-6 I cut down the portion size and cooked with 150g macaroni. I had to skip the spinach as the boy doesn’t like it but it was very nice, I halved the cheese going in as we were making the recipe for just us but I wish I didn't, I would have liked it a bit cheesier!

My recipe of the week! This spinach bake from Channel 4 food was so delicious!  It worked out about 400 calories a portion so a healthy dinner (would also be a perfect side dish). I didn't soak the rice for 7 hours, I just cooked it straight away and I made a few changes to the recipe by using chicken stock instead of vegetable and I missed out onion, pine nuts and Worcestershire sauce. I also added some ricotta cheese as I needed to use some up. The portions were big (just how I like them!) and despite being bright green the taste was very cheesy. Against all advice (I once got food poisoning from rice) I had to warm it up the next day, it was just too good not too, I survived!

Another yummy dish using chorizo, this recipe for Jambalaya from BBC Good food was so easy and filling. I didn't use any onion or pepper and I added some more chorizo.  It was only for the boy and I so I halved the amount of rice suggested (but kept all the rest of the measurements the same) and it worked out about 600 calories a serving. It smelt amazing! I used a Jamie Oliver Cajun rub for the seasoning and that was lovely, it gave it just the right level of spice. I really recommend this for a filling meal.

Ok so it doesn’t look fancy but what do you expect, its soup! I could have drizzled cream on it I suppose but I didn't have any. This broccoli soup was a perfect super low calorie super filling mid week dinner as it was ready so quickly. The recipe,from BBC Food, was very simple. I used chicken stock instead of vegetable and I found the soup a lot tastier than I thought it would be (I did add a bit of seasoning).The best part? The whole thing (which they say serves 2 but I ate myself) was only 70 calories!!! More calories left over for lots of bread hehe.

I loved this raspberry oatmeal bake from A Cozy kitchen. I didn't use bananas or cinnamon or nutmeg or almonds simply because I didn't have them around but I did add some marshmallows. A quarter of the bake was about 350 calories so it was a really good dessert. It was amazingly tasty, the raspberries had baked into a lovely jam and the oats made it a very comfort food type of dessert. We had it with cream but it would have been delicious with custard as well. 

What gorgeous brides!

http://www.lovemydress.net/blog/2012/06/1950s-inspired-polka-dot-candy-anthony-afternoon-tea-wedding.html

http://greenweddingshoes.com/handmade-barn-wedding-tara-nick/

http://www.snippetandink.com/photo-features/real-weddings/medium-format-vintage-wedding-photos/

http://greenweddingshoes.com/handmade-vintage-australian-wedding-jess-leon/

http://www.lovemydress.net/blog/2012/05/polly-alexandre-eltham-palace-wedding.html

http://whimsicalwonderlandweddings.com/2012/06/inglewood-manor-wedding.html

http://www.100layercake.com/blog/2012/06/07/australian-tea-party-wedding-amy-tristan/

http://www.beforethebigday.co.uk/2012/06/real-crochet-lace-themed-wedding-meagan.html

Blog shoutout: Advanced Style

 

I thought I would do something a bit different today and talk about a blog that I’ve seen in a few newspapers and magazines recently and I love it. Advanced style is a blog showcasing the style of the mature lady and I think it’s such a great positive blog. Ageism is something I feel really strongly about, in a world that seems to be more politically correct everyday it seems ageism is still something that is so explicit. It may not be Rosa Parks or Martin Luther King but a blog that shows that the older person can be more glamorous, sophisticated and gorgeous than any of us is a step in the right direction for me!

Sunday catch up: Olympic party!

Hey everyone!

Today the boy and I find ourselves recovering from our Olympic party which we held yesterday. To be honest I’ve not got so much a drink hangover as a food one, I ate so much! We had some friends around and headed out to see the Olympic torch!

How happy does the boy look???

The torchbearer holding the torch in our area was a guy called Dougie who was 83! Can you believe how good he looks? I read his little bio on the relay page and he cycles 10 miles a day!! Well now I feel really unfit.

So what did I serve at the party? Well for savoury bits I picked up party food from the supermarket but for the sweet stuff I decided to make my own things as I had lots of recipes waiting to be tried out in my favourites. I made Oreo Rice Krispy treats (recipe from Rae Gun) which were so quick and easy, great recipe if cooking with children!

I also made chocolate and blackcurrant shortbread. I followed this recipe fromraspberri cupcakes and instead of using cherries I used blackcurrants. You have to be careful about overcooking though, when I took these out of the oven they were really soft but they went pretty hard very quickly!

When life gives you lemons make lemonade...when life gives you crappy cakes make trifle! I made these Jaffa cakes (recipe found on Florence Finds) and it went a bit wrong. Instead of using the traditional orange jelly inside I decided to use a packet of bubblegum jelly I had brought a while ago from an American style shop. I made the biscuit section of the Jaffa cakes and they were PERFECT but when I went to cut up the jelly to place on top of them it was really difficult to lift the jelly and it all split apart and I tried to cover it with chocolate but it just went runny so in the end I put it in a bowl, covered it with custard and glitter sugar and voila, an AMAZING trifle!

 
I made these cheesecake muffins from Chef in training and I am a huge fan! Def a recipe I will be keeping in the bookmarks because they have that perfect balance of being impressive and fancy while being incredibly easy! They tasted gorgeous and went down a treat.

I followed a recipe from Skinny Taste for these angel food cupcakes. I wanted a light option in case I scoffed a few too many shortbreads! These probably ended up going down the best at the party! The cake was just so light and fluffy; I’m never going to make normal cupcakes again!!

 
I got creative and made mini torches! I filled these wafer ice cream cones with a chocolate chip cookie dough dip (recipe from how sweet eats) and then stuck some toffee popcorn on the top for 'flames'. Too cute right? 

I also made bread for the first time! Well I didn't really make it from scratch, I brought a 'Parmesan and sundried tomato' mix but it was lovely and the apartment smelt heavenly afterwards. Anyway the party was amazing, everyone had so much fun and the weather stayed lovely for us!

So what else did I do this week? Well last week it was Fathers day and we always celebrate it because it coincides with my Dad's birthday as well! This year I put him together a big hamper of his favourite foods and we had a lovely BBQ. While I was visiting home my parents presented me with my graduation pressie, a kindle touch!!! I was so pleased, I haven't found any time this week to read and I’ve still got a few actual paper books to get through but I’m so excited to play around. I did manage to find some time this week for a little 'me' time though. Beth and I went swimming mid week and I also had a full body massage! I got a voucher from Wowcher a few months ago and I redeemed it this week. I went to the wellbeing centre and it was such a nice experience. The masseuse was so nice I actually ended up chatting through my whole hour massage haha. I've never had a professional massage before but I’ve always wanted one so pleased to be able to cross that off my 'to do' list.

Plant watch: So a few weeks ago I talked about how I had put some planters on the balcony. Well we had some really positive sprouts coming through, especially the vegetables, and then this whole week it rained and the pots got totally flooded! The boy was out on the balcony today screwing some holes into the sides so we're hoping this might make a bit of a difference, I’m hoping the plants will survive the flooding but to be honest I think we might have to replant. Stupid rain!!

Anyway hope everyone had a lovely week too :D

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Etsy shop of the week: Artenclv

$99/ £65.78

 Something to brighten up any home! I love these gorgeous painted tables by Artenclv on Etsy. Of course the skull one if my favourite however I love so many, such good graphics!

$99/ £65.78

$99/ £65.78

$99/ £65.78

DIY!

Some of my favourite DIY projects that I’ve seen on the web recently! First off this origami paper flower bouquet from Capitol romance which I’m sure is very labour intensive however you would end up with such a unique bouquet and totally affordable as well!

I recently brought a heart shaped fan like this from Accessorize so I can be sure that these things are super effective. I just adore the pastel shades used in the pictures as well, in this tutorial found on Love my dress. If you’re planning a summer wedding these should be a ceremony staple, so adorable!

Bohoweddings hosted this great tutorial from their Boho Bride Laura of personalised groomsmen’s ties. It’s a really great idea and truthfully you can use the tutorial to accessorize all kinds of things, I’m sure your bridesmaids may have something that can be personalised as well!

Paper lanterns are such a big wedding trend and this Green wedding shoes tutorial just blows me away, who knew they could look so damn pretty!

If you’re going to have confetti at the wedding this confetti tutorial from Emmaline bride is so perfect, easy and effective! Just too cute!