Alcohol Free Lifestyle

'I don't drink' ... 3 words that when put together seem to strike the most interesting reactions. I wanted to share this blog post because having not touched alcohol for nearly 8 months now, I still find people's reactions to this to be extraordinary. So, I thought I would share some of my experiences & stories here with you.

Chewy Raisin & Oat Cookies

Once again, it's bake off day and I've made these deliciously comforting batch of chewy raisin and oat cookies. Perfect for a rainy morning for breakfast with a cuppa or to help cure those afternoon munchies. These take very little time to make and the smell of these baking is quite frankly, heavenly!

Carrot & Quinoa Salad

This vibrant and colourful quinoa dish is so tasty and is really easy to throw together - it makes for the perfect side dish to any meal, or simply enjoy a big bowl on its own. I served this up with some oven roasted chicken thighs for dinner but it would also be great for on the go lunches.

Paella Hot Pot

I seem to have acquired a serious love for paella inspired dishes since returning from my holiday in Spain. So here's a paella inspired dish that my friend & I decided to cook up; we fancied something quick, easy and comforting for lunch today as it was looking rather glum outside. Here's the recipe:

Something Different!

First off, Good Morning! I hope you've all had a lovely week and are now enjoying this beautiful sunny day.

So, although this may not be massive news I thought I'd share with you all a decision I've taken; which is to start including (in moderation) foods that contain small amounts of egg. I will still continue to avoid eggs in their most purest form - so, no fried, scrambled, poached eggs as they tend to disagree with me. But recently, I've discovered that I don't seem to have a problem eating food items that contains egg in its ingredients.

Courgetti, Salmon & Greens

On the odd chance of a lovely English summers evening I always feel like I need to make the most of it and by that I mean making something really light and delicious that I can enjoy outside. This courgetti dish is exactly that.

I have to say this is one of my favourite courgetti dishes (so far) - I'm sure I will continue to create courgetti dishes that will out do the other one and the one before that! I hope you like this as much as I do, and what's great is it requires very little time & effort. So here it is:

Cherry Tartlets

As I'm sure you may recall I posted some strawberry tartlets on the blog a few weeks back (recipe in archive). Since then, my family requested to have them again so I decided to mix it up with a cherry version. Perfect for summer as cherries now are so ripe and juicy. Although the recipe is similar to the strawberry version there are a few differences so I thought I'd post it again.

Simple Pesto Pasta Lunch

Sometimes all I fancy is a big bowl of pasta, made simply and quickly but with delicious ingredients and of course suitable for me to eat. Sacla do a delicious wheat free, gluten free, dairy free, egg free pesto which is perfect with pasta or even drizzled over salad with a little olive oil. It tastes exactly the same as the original pesto they make. I know this is an easy one to make but it's always nice to share the simplest of recipes that taste so good and require very little effort. Of course you can make the pesto fresh (I have a recipe for this on a courgetti/zoodle dish which you can find in the blog archive).

Green Greatness

Recently I invested in a Nutribullet and I am so glad I did. I have made some delicious smoothies since getting it, including this green jar of goodness which just tasted so unbelievably fresh and healthy.

What you'll need:

-2 ripe bananas
-About 2 handfuls of fresh spinach
-Some ice
-Water/Almond milk/Soya/Coconut Water

Spanish Paella

I recently returned from the most relaxing and lovely holiday in beautiful sunny Spain. But before heading out there I was starting to worry that I wouldn't be able to find anything to eat whilst I was there. Luckily, we chose to be self-catered and had an amazing kitchen with a gorgeous view over-looking some hills, so cooking was a pleasure there. So, being in Spain it would've seemed silly not to try my hand at making a big paella dish and i've always wanted to use one of those big paella pans to cook with so it seemed like a great excuse. I was surprised at just how easy it was to make and the way we cooked it took less time than imagined as well. So, here's the recipe for this delicious dish. We made it for a family we became friends with whilst on holiday and they seemed to enjoy it so I hope you do too!