12 days of Christmas: Day 12, The Healthy Recipe

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It's day one of sticking to New Years Resolutions so here is a healthy juice recipe to keep up with my goal: 'Be More Healthy'. This one is full of antioxidants which boost your immune system... no I'm not lying, Google it. I'll keep this one brief as I'm sure you're all tired and/or hungover. And also I don't think I need to tell you how to slice fruit.

You can also substitute the water with milk (skimmed for a healthy option) or fresh orange juice - but in case you missed the post on Day 10, I can't have milk any-more - and we didn't have any fresh orange juice in the house - so I'm using water. Ingredient measurements will vary depending on the size of your cup. I used a small Nutri-bullet container and this is what I used:

Ingredients:
1 banana
1/2 reed grapefruit
1 satsuma
100ml water/milk/juice
Ice (optional)

Method:
1. Cut it up, throw it in, blend and drink.

I hope you've enjoyed 12 days of Christmas 2015. Should I do it again next year?

Merry Blogmas and a Happy New Year!

12 days of Christmas: Day 5, What's Really Important

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Today's blog is a little different from my other posts. One of opinion, I attempt to share with you why the commercialism of Christmas should be taken advantage of and what it really means (besides the birth of Jesus, obvi). As mentioned yesterday, Christmas marketing focuses on giving and receiving gifts and Santa Claus or Saint Nicholas. The biggest holiday of the year, celebrated around the world with billions of Pounds, Dollars and Euros spent year upon year - Christmas also appears to expand each year with new 'sub-holidays' being introduced in an attempt to encourage you to spend more money. Yes, I'm talking about Black Friday and Cyber Monday (who even invented those?). 

Black Friday and Cyber Monday have wiggled their way over from the United States in recent years with some companies even giving time off as paid leave. This is exactly why Christmas is a time to be taken advantage of. With paid holiday increasing around Christmas time each year, you're ultimately given more free time - not to spend money but to spend time with your loved ones. Because "it's not what is under the tree that matters the most, but who is around it". With the John Lewis advert highlighting how isolated Christmas can be, use this Christmas to show your loved ones how much you truly care with the gift of time.

With bank accounts suffering and stress levels increasing around the holiday period, it's easy to become a little selfish. While I'm not saying that you are not the most important person in your life, it is important to consider those less fortunate at Christmas time. While in some ways the commercialism of Christmas can benefit one, it can also emphasise what others don't have. Did you miss the deadline for this years Operation Christmas Child? Never mind. Fill your own shoe box with snacks, goodies and toiletries and take it to your local homeless shelter - or take it with you on your Christmas shop, you are bound to pass someone less fortunate on the street. It doesn't have to be for children. Not meaning to be crude but think of the ladies living on the street - what happens when mother nature comes to visit? These women would be grateful to receive a pack of tampons for Christmas while others are demanding a glorified skateboard for £500. 

Our generation can influence the selflessness of the holiday season for years to come.These are just a few ways you can improve Christmas for those around you. Will you change the way you perceive Christmas next year?

One last thought: 
photo source: christmasquotesrest.esy.es

Happy Holidays! xo

12 days of Christmas: Day 2, The Christmas Bake

Love Christmas but not a fan of the Christmas pud? No problem. These no-bake Oreo cake pops are just the thing you need to tingle those taste-buds! Because Christmas is a time where we all have the lowest bank balance, with just two ingredients, these scrummy cake pops won't break the bank either. AND because Christmas is also a busy time for all of us, these cake pops are one of my quickest 'bakes' yet - ruling out the chill time, they take less than 30 minutes.

ALTERNATIVES:
If you don't have the cake pop moulds, sticks, or holders, don't worry, you can leave them as they are for the perfect Christmas party finger food. There are other alternatives for this recipe too - I usually make them with cream cheese but as these were for dessert for my boyfriend and I - and as Adam doesn't like cheese (who doesn't like cheese?) - I substituted the cream cheese with double cream. Another alternative is that I separated the Oreo biscuit from the cream in an attempt to make it a little less messy - it's not totally necessary if you don't have the time. Finally - you can put the Oreos in a food processor or blender - but for me 'it was my moms in the eighties' and the noise it makes terrifies me.

Here are the photos from this weeks bake:

Separate the cookies from the cream (optional)

Bash the cookies into crumbs

Add the crumbs to the Oreo cream before adding the double cream or cream cheese

 Mix into a paste

WARNING: It gets MESSY

Tah-dah!

RECIPE:
Ingredients:
24 Oreos 
100ml of double cream (or about half a pack of cream cheese)

Icing sugar
Water

Method:
1. Separate the Oreo biscuit from the cream. Place the biscuit in a strong clear bag - like a freezer bag - and seal (or in the blender). Put the cream into a mixing bowl for later.
2. Using something solid - I used a rolling pin - bash the biscuits up into fine crumbs (or blend into fine crumbs).
3. Pour the crumbs into the mixing bowl with the Oreo cream and add the double cream or cream cheese.
4. Roll the mixture into small balls and place in the fridge to chill - if your balls are too big they will fall off the cake pop!. They should chill for a minimum of two hours but probably best to do this overnight.
5. Once they have cooled, use the icing to replicate a Christmas pudding - for the holly leaves I cheated and used Regal Icing - you can make your own or similar to my blood-filled Halloween cakes - use an inedible decoration.

12 days of Christmas: Day 1, The Pintertest

WHY DID I THINK THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA? I am currently covered in hot wax... and so is my phone... and my jeans... and my carpet (sorry mum!) Why? Because I decided to 'customise' a candle - something that I'd seen on Pinterest.

After deciding to blog '12 days of Christmas' and seeing a number of DIY Christmas Crafts pinned all over the internet, I thought I would try one for myself and share my (non-existent) success. The first craft I clicked on - a snowman 'countdown to Christmas' decoration was apparently NOT A CRAFT but thrown in the crafts section to advertise someone's Etsy page (rolling eyes emoji). Moving on, the second craft I thought I'd try my hand at was a rustic-looking hanging Christmas-tree decoration and it was beauuuutiful. "How pretty is this Christmas tree?" It said in the description. "Very" I said to my iPad as I began to sing "oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree..." receiving bemused looks from my dog. "Get the instructions here" *clicks* WHAT? The instructions to make this lovely lovely decoration were GERMAN. Although I studied a little German at school, my proficiency is somewhat elementary - definitely not good enough to follow a set of instructions. Disappointed and ready to give up, I trudged on with the thought "third time lucky" running circles round my head...

Indeed, the third click was a lucky one and I found a set of instructions to create a 'personalised' candle - something I had a lot of! The post originated from hometalk.com and my final craft was promised to look something like this:

I think you already know it didn't quite turn out as planned...

The instructions seemed pretty easy:

You first have to print your pattern onto some tissue paper (I chose a Christmas tree - in loving memory of click number two). To do this you need to Sellotape the tissue paper to a sheet of regular paper to carry it through the printer... so far so good!

Once it has printed you cut out your pattern and position it onto the candle. Then over the top of the tissue paper, wrap some greaseproof paper round the candle before heating. Still so far so good!

I chose to heat mine with a hair-dryer and put it on the highest heat... It burnt my fingers, ouch ouch ouch! So I put it on my knee - protected by a pair of jeans - and held the paper in place between my legs. Before long the wax started to melt... and it got EVERYWHERE. Persevering, despite the state of my room, I continued to burn myself (and the image onto the candle). 

The final outcome looked like this: 

basically it looked like a picture that a child has Pritt-Stick-ed onto the candle...

If I wasn't so frustrated I would have maybe attempted to heat it further - I also think it would look better on a candle that is pure white but I'm going to rule today's Pintertest as a FAIL.

Think you could do better? Try it for yourself:

http://www.hometalk.com/5992638/how-to-add-images-to-candles?utm_source=editor&utm_source=editor&utm_medium=pinterest&utm_medium=pinterest&utm_campaign=featured&utm_campaign=featured&crlt.pid=camp.wxR0oW6UvNOp

Hoping tomorrow's blog is one of success - a Christmas bake!

Ciao for now xo

8 Benefits of a Long Distance Relationship

After spending weeks - sometimes months at a time moping around feeling sorry for myself because my boyfriend lives 132 miles away and I can't spend every moment with him, I decided last week that enough is enough. We actually have it better than a lot of long-distance couples: at least we're in the same country! Being happy for the things I have, rather than uber mardy for the things I don't, I have taken it upon myself to write a list of benefits to cheer up both myself and any readers in the same boat as me by reminding ourselves that it's not that pants.

1. There is ALWAYS something to look forward to. 
Working in retail, I have recently seen customers get excitable over Christmas and parents telling their children 'put it on your Christmas list for Santa' - we even had our Christmas card and wrap items delivered earlier this week! Of course, Christmas is exciting but it's August - by the time Christmas gets here you will all be very very bored. Not me. Every day I see Adam feels like 1,000,000,000 christmasses in one day. I always have something to count down to and get excited about... other than Christmas.

2. Travelling. 
This doesn't mean travelling the world. In my circumstance, it means travelling 132 miles. Nevertheless, it means there are new sights to see and at 'just' 132 miles apart, new foods to try and different activities. Adam probably thinks Henderson's Relish is really gross and I'd probably want to whack that big stick thing over his head after going 'punting' in Cambridge but they're both something that without each other, we would never experience.

3. More time for 'me time' - guilt free!
As much as I love to spend time with my boyfriend, time alone is also fabulous. With Adam being so far away it means I can have girly nights in and paint my nails and pamper myself and watch Frozen without anyone telling me to shut up for singing 'For the First Time in Forever' at the top of my voice for the next few days.

4. 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder'.
The realest thing anyone ever said. Our relationship remains in the 'honeymoon period' thanks to the distance - do you think I'd be writing this post outside the honeymoon period? Probably not.

5. There is less pressure to constantly look after yourself.
This can be a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand I eat so much junk food because I'm comfort eating when he's so far away and 'Adam won't see if I get fat'... on the other hand if I don't see him every day, I don't have to shave my legs every day either! 

6. There are no awkward moments with the in-laws.
If you don't see your partner very often, you don't see their parents very often either - which is 100% a good thing even if they like you (unless they're reading this in which case it totally sucks!)

7. You treasure every moment.
Not seeing your partner so much makes you appreciate it so much more when you do. I know I went off on a tangent about Christmas earlier and silly people getting excited because X Factor is back on and that means it's Christmas - but even the little things like shopping are so much more exciting when Adam is carrying my purchases.

8. The sex.
I'm sorry to be so crude (and right now praying that his parents will never see this) but even those who aren't in a long-distance relationship know the sex is better when you go a while without it. Although it's frustrating, the distance between you keeps that lustful spark you had on the first date with late night skype sessions and suggestive text messages to keep things interesting  - about half an hour ago Adam texted to ask 'what's the new blog post about?' - I told him 'something pants' - to which he replied  'your pants or mine?' I won't tell you how the conversation continued...

                         

          


    














I once attended a wedding where the best man's speech included some advice for us all: 'treat every night as though it's your first and every day as though it is your last'. I'm proud to say that despite the distance, me and Adam do just that. My darling, I love you beyond the stars xxxx

Help! It's the Twenty-First Century

Confession Time: one thing most people don't know about me is that I am pretty old-school when it comes to technology - I don't even know how to work the family TV!

At 20 years of age, I have a DVD collection of over 150 and am probably the only person you know who doesn't have a Netflix subscription. No, I am not a techno-phobe, but what happens when you're old and grey and you can't keep up with the latest Apple innovation? Or you lose your marbles and can't remember your password? Coming from a very close-knit family, I feel it's extremely important to have something tactile to tell your story or to show your grand-kids when the time comes. Technology has advanced so rapidly recently that many children grow up with a kindle as opposed to an actual book (yes,those things still exist!) and they have 'photos' saved on their phone rather than a genuine photograph you can hold in your hand. This leads to companies like Max Spielman struggling to make a profit which increases the price of having these genuine photographs developed... it is now £8 for less than 30 photos! As a student, and a self-confessed hauler when it comes to photographs, I can't really afford the cost to have my photos developed any more so what do I do?

I recently came across an app (yes, I have an iPhone) that makes life so much easier for the haulers like me: 'Free Prints'. Free Prints allows you to submit photos from your apple device to be printed AND sent to you for a delivery cost of a mere £1.49. What's the catch? You can 'only' print 500 photos a year... that is pretty tricky even for me. The app also allows you to easily crop photos to a size that suits you and alerts you if your photo has been cropped to an extent which might affect the quality of the photographs... You can even upload old photos from your Instagram page (with a filter that makes you look even more fabulous).

Make the memories last forever and get your marbles developed before you lose them. You no longer have the excuse for cost: make sure you have something to show the grand-kids! (...and something to burn when you break-up with your ex lol)

Ciao for now xo

P.S. Sorry Max Spielman

PETA: The Great Vegan Bake Off - Chocolate Chip Coconut Cookie Jars

Peta are running the Great Vegan Bake Off for the third consecutive year and after succeeding in making my own recipe for Orange and Cranberry crinkle cookies (see this month's posts) I decided to try it again to demonstrate my support for the radical animal rights charity! 

As an avid chocolate lover, plain chocolate was the first thing I could think of when pondering vegan foods and after finding Lindt Coconut Excellence on the chocolate aisle, I decided to base my recipe around the little bar of lusciousness. To further emphasise the coconut flavour, I added coconut oil as a substitute for butter - I even made my own flour by putting oats in a food processor my parents received for their wedding 25 years ago (can you believe it still works???)

I chose to make the cookie jars individually as in a rush of excitement I bought (non-oven-proof) glass jars... oops! So to check that the glass wouldn't explode in the heat, I made them one by one. If you want to try them for yourself, the recipe below provides ingredients per jar so if you want to make one for an evening snack you can... or if you want to make 50 for a party you can just multipy the measurements by 50.

Ingredients (to make one jar):
1 tsp. baking powder
3 tbsp. caster sugar
45g ground almonds
85g oats
2 tbsp. coconut oil
40g lindt excellence dark chocolate coconut squares

Method:
1. Mix together the baking powder, caster sugar and ground almonds.

2. Weigh the oats and pour them into a food processor to grind into a flour consistency and add it to the mixture.

3. Stir in the coconut oil to make into a sticky dough and add the chocolate.

4. Put the mixture into oven-proof jars or make into teaspoon size cookies (optional).

5. Bake in the oven at 160 C for 20 minutes. Eat up!

                  

Orange & Cranberry Crinkle Cookies

'Lemon Crinkle Cookies' aren't really my thing but when I came across a recipe for them on cookingclassy.com they sounded too delicious to ignore... so I switched a few of the ingredients and made my own version - Orange and Cranberry Crinkle Cookies.

Aside from the obvious changes to the recipe (lemon = orange and cranberry) I also switched from granulated sugar to brown caster sugar. This is mainly down to personal preference - but I'm going on holiday in 3 days and will be wearing a bikini most of the time so brown sugar > white sugar (every little helps).

This was the first time I have ever used 'cups' as a form of measurement - it didn't go as badly as I first imagined... but a little bit of the ingredients were lost each time you transferred containers and I used the same 'cup' each time so I had to clean it each time I added something - it was a lot of faffing basically! For this reason, I think I'll stick to more precise measurements and a weighing scale in the future - or maybe purchase some proper weighing cups so I don't have to keep washing up? Mason Cash have some really cute ones, hmm...

Here are a few snaps from this week's bake - add me on snapchat to see more baking blunders: oh_annah.

I made sure I took a photo before they went into the oven because my 'cookies' always turn into 'cookie pie'. 

As well as turning into a cookie pie... this time the 'pie' also went a little crispy round the edges -  so I attempted to save the soft centre while still making them look pretty with a heart shaped cutter.

Ta-dah! Despite the many dramas, while baking, these cookies made the whole house smell like Christmas (the cranberries were coated in cinnamon). 

Give them a try for yourself... do you know how to keep your cookies 'cookies' and not 'cookie pie'?  I have translated the measurements from cups to grams to hopefully make it easier for you to follow.

Ingredients:

160 g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

150 g unsalted butter

250 g caster sugar

5 tsp orange extract

2 eggs

1/2 vanilla extract

10 g cranberries (approximate)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C (160 C fan oven) and lightly coat your pan with low-fat butter

2. Separating the 'wet' and 'dry' ingredients: in one bowl mix together the plain flour, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl mix together the butter, sugar and orange extract until the mixture becomes pale and smooth.

3. To avoid curdling - add one egg to the 'wet' ingredients, and one to the 'dry' ingredients before stirring the two mixtures together. Add the cranberries.

4. Using a teaspoon, scoop the mixture onto the baking tray to make little cookie dough balls. Bake at 180 C for 20 minutes until golden. Eat up!

'Skinny' Cookies & Cream Brownies

'Skinny' isn't something you often see in the same phrase as 'brownies'  - so when I came across this recipe on Pinterest - I had to put them to the pintertest. A lot of the ingredients are 'reduced fat' or 'non-fat' which is what makes them so low in calories - personally, I stuck strictly to the recipe, with a beach holiday on the horizon - but for a cheaper and 'fatter' option you can also go for full fat alternatives!

Although I'm not completely convinced at the 'skinny' claim, I was genuinely surprised with how well these mini treats turned out. Usually my baking tastes pretty gurrrd (if I do say so myself!) but it comes out the oven looking like a tiny monster has stomped all over it. My mum was the first to comment on the better presentation of my cookies & cream brownies, noting the shiny glaze on top. Seeing as this recipe has just 1/4 of the sugar I usually use, I think the glaze is from the natural yoghurt -  I'm not quite sure - but I'll be sure to incorporate more yoghurt into my baking in the future for sparkly treats all round!

Give these brownies a try yourself and tag me in your photos. Let me know what you think.

To make 15 scrumptious brownies you will need:

90g plain flour
60g cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
28g unsalted butter (melted)
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
96g granulated sugar
60g non-fat greek yoghurt
90ml non-fat milk
9 reduced-fat oreos

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 160 C (140 C fan oven) and lightly coat your pan with non-stick cooking spray or low-fat butter

2. Separating the 'wet' and dry ingredients: whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together butter, eggs and vanilla. Stir in the sugar before adding the greek yoghurt and milk. Stir until smooth. Add the dry mixture and stir before folding in two thirds of the crumbled oreos.

3. Spread the batter into the pan and gently press the remaining oreo pieces into the top. Bake at 160 C for 15-20 minutes. Carefully cut your brownies into squares and leave them to cool on a cooling rack. Eat up!

10 Things University Taught Me

1. Tap water in the UK can still give you chronic diarrhoea (I feel you Charlotte York)

2. Raw chicken is more lethal than a great white shark 

3. People really don't care what your curry smells like

4. You can be £1,000 overdrawn and still be more financially stable than 75% of campus

5. Budgeting is the most pointless thing you will ever do

6. Its okay to have pizza for breakfast, lunch AND dinner... all on the same day

7. Paperchase is practically heaven on Earth

8. 90% of the things you see on the Pinterest 'crafts' tab are not as cheap as they seem

9. Nobody gives a damn what you wear... if you want to wear last nights outfit to your lectures then GURRRRL you go right ahead. At least you turned up

10. In the end: life takes you to unexpected places, love brings you home