Cutting Down On Sugar

After indulging in far too many chocolate treats and easter eggs during March I made a decision to try and cut down on my sugar intake throughout April. It's quite a challenge to cut out sugar altogether as there are so many different kinds of sugars to consider! I decided to start off with a simple solution, banning chocolate (expect dark), sweets, ice cream, sugary cereals, spreads and to check ingredients for unnecessarily high levels of sugar. Here's 10 things I've learnt from my sugar free month:

1. Sugar is everywhere, hidden in everyday items like juice, peanut butter, sauces even some soups and bread! Simply switching brands or making your own versions can be a good fix. I made the switch to Meridian Peanut butter which is 100% blended nuts and still as delicious. Soups are so easy to whip up and then freeze in individual portions, sauces with tahini, lime, garlic and ginger are divine and so easy to make from scratch too - great to accompany noodles, rice or stir fried veggies! 

2. Finding breakfast meals that are low on sugar is hard. Breakfast foods are my weakness. French toast, croissants, sugary cereals and pancakes my downfall and I'm not really one for savory breakfasts like eggs, potatoes and avocado (although I'd eat them for lunch any day!). I found it quite hard to avoid sugar in the AM and so I stuck to a fail safe meal of hearty Porridge made with oat milk. Add a sprinkle of cinnamon, fresh raspberries and maybe a dollop of almond butter for flavour, it's delicious! 

3. A square of dark chocolate can help to keep chocolate cravings at bay. Lindt Excellence dark mint intense is my flavour of choice, it's delish!

4. I feel better. In general, happier and my skin looks so much better.

5. But, I'm pretty low on energy, I need to keep snacking on nuts and fruit to keep my energy levels up.

6. My Spiralizer and NutriBullet have been my best friends. Spiralized courgetti, ribboned carrots or potato curls, blended nut butters, smoothies or hummus - the options are endless. They're ideal to help to change things up a little and keep things interesting.

7. If you do cave, dont give up. Don't let that krispy kreme/cadburys/ice cream moment of weakness be your downfall. Don't feel too guilty, pick yourself back up again and carry on!

8. Almond butter spread on a rice cake is my favourite mid-morning snack. Ever.

9. Cook books like Deliciously Ella's are great to flick through for meal inspiration.

10. When you want to use/reintroduce sugar, find healthier alternatives like coconut sugar, maple syrup or honey.

In the end, aim for a healthy balance, my aim was to find better alternatives and new staple meals. Realistically I'm never going to be able to give up chocolate or pancakes but if 80% of the time I'm eating well and making better, healthier choices, then I think that's ok.

8 EASY WAYS TO CUT DOWN ON DAIRY

Whether it's for health reasons, skin concerns or ethical reasons, going dairy free can be quite a big lifestyle change. For me, I started to avoid dairy for health reasons around 5 years ago and aside from the occasional bar of dairy milk & sprinkling of goats cheese I'm now around 90% dairy free. My skin is so much better and I feel a lot healthier, I'm so glad I made the change.

Here's 8 things that will hopefully help if you're considering cutting down on dairy:

1. Discover what you will miss the most and find a really good alternative. For me it was Macaroni cheese, my favourite comfort meal. Luckily I found 'Amy's Dairy & Gluten free Mac & Cheeze' whilst I worked on recipes for a homemade version. It hits the spot, I can pop it in the oven for an easy meal & it keeps my cheesy pasta cravings at bay.

2. Find out which milk is best for you. There's a huge range of dairy free milk options around now meaning that you won't have to miss out on your morning cup of tea or bowl of cereal! Take your pick from Rice milk, Soya milk, Oat milk, Coconut milk, Almond Milk or Hazelnut milk (to name a few!). Hazelnut milk combined with Green & Blacks cocoa powder makes a delicious hot chocolate, Soya Milk is slightly creamy and so good in tea and Alpro Almond milk is my favourite everyday milk for cereal, baking and everything else.

3. Keep frozen bananas at hand to blend with raw cocoa powder & maple syrup to make 'nice-cream', or, if you want something a little more indulgent, try Almond Dream's divine salted caramel ice cream or Booja Booja's incredible Hunky Punky Chocolate Ice cream (made from creamy cashews!).

4. Read Deliciously Ella's Cookbook for meal inspiration, recipes & an awesome alternative to Nutella!

5. Replace Milk chocolate with dairy free Dark chocolate.

6. Check out Gem and Lily's youtube channels, I've discovered so many amazing Vegan snacks (Oreos, Biscoff caramelised biscuit spread, dairy free cream cheese) and got incredible meal inspiration & recipes from their blogs and channels.

7. Create a few favourite, staple dairy free meals. For me it's nourishment bowls with Quinoa, roasted butternut squash, houmous, lettuce and stir-fried cashews, homemade chips sprinkled with chilli & paprika, jacket potatoes loaded with warming vegan chilli (my recipe here!) and pasta with vegan basil pesto.

8. Whether it's pizza, cheesecake or cupcakes that you're looking for, there's normally a great dairy free option available. Pinterest is a great resource to find recipes, #whatveganseat on instagram has so many food inspiration & ideas and amazon has a tonne of incredible recipe books.

8 WAYS TO EAT SEASONALLY THIS AUTUMN

At the beginning of each new season I pull out my copy of Eat Pretty, click open a new tab on google and make a list full of the best and most beneficial foods to feast on in the month's ahead. Eating seasonally is not only good for the environment, it saves you money and helps your body to get the best nutrients and support for each season. Here's a few ways to eat seasonally:

1. Visit farmers markets for affordable, local, organic produce.

2. Check for the best prices - Seasonal fresh fruit and vegetables are often a lot more affordable as they are so abundant.

3. Do a little research - I love the Eat Pretty book, it's organised into seasons and so all the information is easily accessible and readily available. It's great to learn about seasonal food, their properties and benefits.

4. Make lists - I save each month's seasonal produce list on Pinterest, it's easy to refer back to and helps you to keep track of what's in season.

5. Snack on Apples - Crisp apples contain pectin and anti inflammatory flavonoids that help to detoxify the body and work to cool your body after the summer's heat.

6. Plan your Meals - My autumn meal repertoire includes, roasted butternut squash and warm kale salads sprinkled with cranberries, chestnut and mushroom puff pastry pies, balsamic roasted parsnips, leeks and courgettes and oven baked sweetcorn wrapped in foil, dripping with melted butter and sprinkled with salt and cracked black pepper.

7. Incorporate spices to add nutrients, enhance flavours and add variety. Cinnamon helps to regulate blood sugars, ginger is anti inflammatory and nutmeg is antibacterial. Added to apple crumbles, hot chocolates and blackberry porridge it makes everything taste delicious and autumnal.

8. Pumpkins and squash are rich in restorative vitamin A, try roasting with a few sprigs of mood boosting rosemary and pair with quinoa, houmous and chard for a warming nourishment bowl.

Do you like to eat seasonally?

A FRIDAY CATCH UP – WEDDING PLANNING AND COLDS

I've spent the most part of this week ill in bed, drinking endless mugs of lemon, ginger and honey teas whilst watching Netflix and wedding planning. It's actually been quite nice to switch off for a while, I've felt a little lost with my blog and with life in general and being sick really forced me to take a well needed step back. I've spent hours reading some of my favourite lifestyle blogs including CiderWithRosie, ARosieOutlook and TheLondoner (three Rosie's!) and have fallen back in love with blogging all over again.

As for wedding planning, I'm not much further on than my first wedding planning post. I've poured through magazines and holiday brochures to get an idea of possible locations and honeymoons. I've been browsing for the prettiest bouquets and dreaming of the perfect vanilla sponge cake.

Following an Ocado food delivery on Tuesday and at the joy of having a fully stocked fridge again, I've been making steaming bowls of vegetable chilli topped with jalapeño lime guacamole to help fend off mine and Alex's colds and to build our immune systems back up. I throw in as many vegetables as possible (courgettes, green beans, sweetcorn, leeks) along with a tin of chickpeas, half a tin of kidney beans, a jar of passata and a chilli spice mix. It's lasting us the rest of the week and can be topped on jacket potatoes with heaps of cheese, wrapped in tortillas with rice and salad or enjoyed in a bowl with guacamole and brown rice.

I'm finally venturing out of the house today, I'm on the hunt for a window sill herb garden and have plans to browse Topshop's make up aisles. I've popped on a few of my favourite pinks (Sleek Rose Gold blusher, Nars Satin Lip Pencil in Yu & Maybelline Color Tattoo in Pink Gold) and I'm ready to go.

EASTER MARS RICE CRISPY NESTS

I've made these Mars rice crispy cakes at Easter for the past 4 or 5 years now. It's become a bit of a tradition for me to make them every year as they're so delicious and perfect for Easter!

The addition of the caramel and nougat from the Mars bars make them so heavenly, they're sticky, chocolatey, sweet and so unbelievably moorish!

Here's how I make them;

3 Mars bars

85g Butter

2 tbsp Golden syrup
4-5 cups of Rice Crispies

Makes around 12 rice crispy cakes.

1. Chop the mars bars into small-ish chunks, pop into a pan with the butter and golden syrup and melt at a low heat until well mixed and almost smooth.

2. Remove from the heat and stir in rice crispies, I add enough for them to be evenly coated, around 4-5 cups.

3. Spoon into cupcake moulds pressing them down lightly so that they stick and hold together.

4. Pop on a few cadburys mini eggs and leave to set!

5. Enjoy!

FEBRUARY'S ORANGE FAVOURITES

February passed by in a blur of pancakes and roses. I spent most of my February days eating lemon and sugar pancakes, celebrating valentines day and practising yoga!

My lifestyle favourites are mainly food related this month, the tiny pumpkin represents my love of roasted squash (this little guy is so much cuter than a giant butternut squash!). It's so easy to chop up the squash and then toss with some olive oil, garlic and rosemary before throwing in the oven for a while. It tastes amazing on its own, mixed into a salad or even scattered over pasta with a generous sprinkling of goats cheese. I've also been enjoying soft boiled eggs with buttery toast soldiers for a lazy Sunday brunch. Crunchy nut cornflakes have been my cereal of choice this month, sweet honey and salty peanuts, is there a better combination?!

Moving onto beauty, these have been my favourite this month:

Lip Products: Soap and Glory A Great Kisser lip moisturiser has been giving a peachy hint of colour to my lips whilst keeping them feeling soft and moisturised. I've also really enjoyed wearing Revlon Tutti Fruitti this month for a sheer, subtle orange lip. It's so great to pop in your bag for application on the go, you can see it swatched here.
I'm still in love with my Nars digital world lip pencil coffret set and this month I've been wearing Iberico, a beautiful bold orange red (swatched here). Lastly, I've been loving Revlon Audacious. A bold, matte coral orange that looks so pretty for the run up to Spring, see me wearing it here.

Soigne permission: Soigne nail polishes are vegan, not tested on animals, 5 free and contain plant based and natural ingredients. The packaging is beautiful, as are the shades available. I've been loving wearing this burnt orange shade this month and I have my eye on a couple more shades from them as the formula is so lovely!

Real Techniques Expert Face Brush: This brush blends liquid foundation so seamlessly into the skin leaving a flawless base. It's such a great shape that allows you to buff just a small amount of foundation around the contours of your face, giving a natural finish.

Bourjois healthy mix: I've been wearing a light dusting of this orange toned blusher this month (swatched here) to warm up my complexion. It gives a lovely glow to the skin and looks so pretty paired with a golden highlighter.

What were your favourite products in February?

HALLOWEEK DAY #4 - PUMPKIN SPICED CUPCAKES WITH GHOSTLY BUTTERSCOTCH BUTTERSCREAM ICING

These little ghost cupcakes are perfect for halloween. The combination of warming pumpkin spice and sweet butterscotch make these cupcakes a perfect autumnal treat! I made six large ghostly cupcakes but you could also make 12 small ones with the recipe.

You will need:

For the cupcakes-

70g Brown Sugar

75g Butter, softened.

2 Large Eggs

150g Self Raising Flour, sifted.

1 tsp Vanilla extract

2-3 tbsp Milk or milk alternative (I used Almond milk)

2 tsp Pumpkin spice - (I used this recipe to make a batch but added a little more cinnamon than the recipe states as I love cinnamon!)

Pinch of salt

And for the buttercream Icing -

250g Icing Sugar

75g Softened Unsalted Butter

2 tsp Lyles Butterscotch Syrup
2 tbsp milk

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius (160 fan oven)

Place all of the cupcake ingredients into a mixing bowl and beat until well mixed and smooth with an electric whisk. Add a little more milk if needed so that the batter is of dropping consistency. Spoon the cupcake batter into your cupcake cases so that they are  half to 2/3rds full and then place in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until they are starting to turn golden brown and the middle is cooked (check with a skewer). Once they are cooked, transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the buttercream: Add all of the buttercream icing ingredients above to a clean mixing bowl and beat until thick and smooth. 
Add the icing to a piping bag and then to make little ghosts hold the bag steady and pipe down onto the cupcakes until it spreads out to make the base of the ghost. For the head, stop squeezing and lift up slightly and then pipe a smaller amount. To get the point, pull sharply up as you stop squeezing and then pop in two little chocolate drops in for the eyes.

I've made these twice now as they taste so good. I only like to add a small amount of sugar to the cupcake batter as the butterscotch buttercream icing is pretty sweet, but add more if you like super sweet cupcakes!

Let me know if you give these a go!

FIVE THINGS THIS WEEK: A SICK WEEK

1. Tea: Mint, ginger, lemon and honey tea - A saviour for sick days. Lemon is antibacterial, antiviral and immune boosting, Ginger and Mint are soothing and contain antioxidants and Honey is antibacterial. Sipping on tea also makes sure you are keeping hydrated!

Recipe - squeeze a wedge of lemon, a teaspoon of honey, one or two sprigs of mint (to taste) and peel and cut a chunk (I use a brazil nut size) of ginger into sticks and place in your mug. Top up with boiling water and leave for 10 mins to infuse. Enjoy!

2. Hand cream: I wash my hands a lot more when I'm ill to stop any germs spreading so I always use a good hand cream to keep my hands moisturised. Instyle magazine currently has a free Neals Yard Geranium (which is lovely and uplifting) and Orange hand lotion which is worth £10, perfect!

3. Rest: A week spent in my Pj's watching Disney films, catching up on blogs, browsing pinterest and getting some extra sleep has been just the rest I needed to get me on the mend.

4. Food: Oreo's and marmite on toast is all I've been eating this week...although I'm not complaining!

5. Having someone around: Alex bought me some lovely white roses, Instyle magazine (for the hand cream) and some more lemon and ginger yesterday, he's chopped me up some vegetables for me to snack on today and I've been ringing my mum non stop. 

What helps you to feel better when you're unwell?

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies