I lost my Mojo

I’m ill. It’s just a cold but I can hardly talk. It has forced me to stay at home, away from work.

We recently got Netflix and I’m watching Chef’s Table, the one with Christina Tosi and I’m cooking. Because I want to cook, not because I need to cook. This feeling has been lost for the past month and I feel a bit more like my old self.

I backed away from social media, finding the pressure of posting perfect looking food stifling. It was taking away the fun and evaporating the enjoyment of cooking. I haven’t been able to come back until now. I didn’t have anything to say.

Christina says that you are allowed to be anything you want to be and no one gets to tell you any different. This show has re-ignited my love for cooking and made me remember what I love about it or maybe it’s the fact that I’m ill and impressionable.

I am currently making roasted tomato soup, with fresh tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and herbs to which I will add shop bought tomato and mozzarella tortellini, agave roasted bacon and parmesan crumble. Experimenting with new flavours and pushing my boundaries in the kitchen.

I have been cooking some Chrissy Recipes too but even that has started to feel fake and I seem to have forgotten all the reasons I am doing this challenge. I will still continue cooking my way through the book, but am not sure whether I will make my target of finishing the book by the end of the year.

The point I have come to realise is that if you are not doing something for yourself then there is no point in doing it at all. Your heart won’t be in it.

I will be taking it easy in the social media world, keeping a healthy balance of real life and the perfect reality which we all create and share with the rest of the world.

Remember, it’s the simple pleasures in life, finding the extraordinary in the mundane and being true to who you that count, rather than the amount of likes you get on a picture from strangers.

Chloe

xoxo

The Ultimate Mac & Cheese

There are few foods like the humble Mac and Cheese which has magical powers which has mood altering properties. It is one of those deliciously beige meals that has the ability to lift you out of a slump, brighten your mood and instantaneously make you feel more alive. If your Mac and Cheese isn’t making you feel this way, then you have got to try my recipe. All these feelings guaranteed or your money back!

I know for some, it reminds them of dodgy school meals but my school didn’t have a cafeteria and the dodgiest my lunches got, were the peanut butter sandwiches I would make before having to rush out the door to run and catch the bus.

I found that the secret to making a great mac and cheese comes down to two things: butter and a good amount of cheese. I like to use a mixture of cheeses to bring a bit more complexity to the dish. I use Cheddar for sharpness and that kick of cheesiness required for ultimate satisfaction and then Comte for a nutty kick of flavour.

Since making the Mac and Cheese in the Cravings cookbook, I cannot make this dish without a sprinkling of toasty, buttery, garlicky breadcrumbs. Which are so easy to make and just elevate the whole meal to next level perfection. We don’t often have bread in the house, but when we do and it’s starting to go, I just pop a few slices into a food processor and blitz it up until you have a fine crumb and just keep them in the fridge until I need to use them.

Onto the recipe. This feeds two as a main meal but you can double or triple up on the ingredients to make as much as required.

The Ultimate Mac & Cheese                                                                                    Serves 2

Ingredients

1.5 Cups of Pasta (I use Spirali but any pasta with ridges is perfect)

30g (2 tbsp) Butter

1 tbsp Flour

250ml Whole milk

100g Cheddar, grated

50g Comte, grated

Salt

Pepper

Method

Boil a pot of heavily salted water and cook pasta one minute less than package requirements. Drain and reserve some of the pasta liquid. Set oven to 200°C

In another pot, melt the butter over a medium high heat. Add the flour and cook until golden brown. Next add the milk, all in one go, and stir until thickened.

Add the cheese a handful at a time, reserve a bit for the end, and stir until melted. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add in the pasta and add a bit of the reserved pasta water to help combine, if necessary ad sauce is too thick.

Portion into two bowls (we use those Charlie Bingham bowls you get from their pies) or one small baking dish.

For the garlic breadcrumbs:

Ingredients

15g Butter (1 tbsp)

2 Cloves garlic, finely chopped

60g (4 tbsp) Fresh breadcrumbs

1tsp Grated parmesan

Method

In a small pan, melt the butter over a medium high heat until it starts to froth. Add in the garlic and cook for one minute, do not let it burn. Add in the breadcrumbs and cook until fully coated in butter and golden brown, add in the parmesan.

Scatter the breadcrumbs and reserved cheese on top of the mac and cheese and cook for 10-15 minutes in your pre-heated oven until the cheese is melted and bubbling.

Et Voila, serve, enjoy, feel good.

Chloe

xoxo

Blackened Cajun Hake with Turmeric Coconut Rice

We have a state of emergency, after 4 months of near constant heat, the sun has retired for the next 9 months. Instead, we have been greeted with cold, wet rain and grey skies. This crisis has lead me to bring sunshine to the plate, imagining being somewhere tropical, with palm trees, bright white beaches and azure waters. Naturally with a cocktail in hand served with a tiny umbrella and perhaps one of those glace cherries. Ahh bliss. Instead I am writing this post from my bed, warm and toasty, while the clouds chuck down 4 months worth of rain on us. At least the herbs are getting a well deserved shower, I’ve been working them hard, they deserve some R&R, especially the Thyme.

I’m on a bit of a Turmeric kick at the moment, whether it’s in food or in a latte, I’m all about that glorious golden powder. According to studies, turmeric has anti-inflammatory properties, increases the antioxidant capacity in the body, helps to fight viral infections, eases menstrual cramps and helps relive IBS symptoms. Everything I eat nowadays bloats me and I basically look like I’m 5 months pregnant. It can be really uncomfortable and at times painful and I find that by having turmeric, it helps to ease the bloating.

Back to my quest for sunshine, I have been recipe testing turmeric coconut rice and I am ready to unleash this tasty number on to the blog. It’s basically like if rice and beans and sticky coconut rice had a turmeric baby. Man, is it good! Not only does it taste delicious. It’s neon yellow and radiates nuclear happiness onto the plate, bringing instant warmth and happiness.

I’ve made it here with blackened Cajun spices hake but you could serve it as a side to anything of have it on it’s own. Let me know if you give it a try and what you served it with.

Blackened Cajun Hake with Turmeric Coconut Rice

For the Rice

1 cup (250g) White rice

1 can (400ml) Coconut milk

1.5 tsp Salt

1 tbsp Turmeric

1 Medium red pepper, diced

230g Black beans, rinsed

1 Bay leaf

500ml Water

2 tbsp Toasted unsweetened desiccated coconut

Method

In a pot, combine the rice, coconut milk, water, salt, turmeric and bay leaf and bring to the boil over a medium high heat, stir occasionally.

Once boiled, reduce heat to a simmer until rice is cooked (20-25 minutes), stir every so often as you want the rice to get sticky.

Remove the bay leaf and stir in the red pepper and black beans, 5 minutes before the end.

 

For the blackened Hake

2 Hake fillets (100g each) or any white fish, pork or chicken would work well here too.

60g (4tbsp) butter

2 tbsp Cajun spice

Method

Pat fish dry and rub Cajun spice into both sides.

In a pan, melt the butter over a high heat, until it gets frothy and a warm golden colour.

Place fish, carefully in the pan and cook on each side for 2 minutes, basting constantly with the butter. The fish should be cooked on the inside and the spices should have blackened on the outside. Allow fish to stand for a couple of minutes and serve.

*Note do not put spoon used for basting in your mouth, you will burn all the skin on the inside and outside of your lips off and it hurts.

Lastly, you just need to serve the rice, top it with the fish and sprinkle some of the toasted coconut over the top. I promise, you will be instantly transported to a dessert island, cocktail in hand and glorious sunshine.

In other news, I have made another Chrissy recipe, the mushroom soup and while it tasted amazing, it wasn’t a pretty looking dish and for that reason alone, it doesn’t deserve a post of it’s own which leaves me with 34 recipes down and 68 more to cook!

Chloe

xoxo

 

 

 

Chicken Soup for the Soul

When I was a teenager, there was a book called ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul’, I think it was full of stories to make you feel all warm and good about life, I never read it nor had I ever eaten Chicken Soup. I still haven’t read that book however yesterday we had Chicken Noodle Soup and I can tell you this: It made us feel warm and good and nourished, so much so that we polished off the entire pot of it. My point is, don’t read the book eat the soup instead.

With the weather being a bit dazed and confused, quickly switching between sun and rain, it’s the perfect time to plough my way through the ‘Soupmaster’ chapter in the Cravings cookbook. I don’t know about you but I just don’t crave soup. I crave bread and chocolate and alcohol. Chrissy Teigen craves soup. I get we are all different but I can’t be alone with my Cravings? Maybe I should write my own Cravings cookbook and I can fill it with carbs, cheese, chocolate and booze. Would anyone buy that? I couldn’t promise that there would be pictures of me in a pair of hot pants, feeding Charles a hotdog but the recipes would be simple and I could do an offer and get local gyms to do a ‘free trial with the purchase of every book’ or I could pair it with a kitchen work out DVD to do while you are cooking ach recipe. Think I’m onto something here… This idea is trademarked do not try and steal it!

I must also inform you that I am currently writing this post with one eye as I woke up this morning with a swollen left eyelid, most likely punishment from consuming too much delicious soup. Karma comes at us in funny ways.

Right, onto the soup. My thoughts: obviously delicious. Both Charles and I remarked, pre-soup, that having pasta in soup is weird and that neither of us had ever had this before but we both ate our words and the pasta once we tried it. It’s pretty tasty. She calls for us to use ‘Roto Chicken’, you know that shop bought chicken that they cook in store on the rotisserie. My dad used to buy this for us sometimes and we would eat it on fresh rolls with mayo, which is in fact rather delicious. However, let’s be real here, I had some chicken breasts in the fridge and cooked these up instead. I just shredded them up after they had cooled and added it to the soup and I really don’t think it made such a significant difference. I am a great believer in winging it in the kitchen but I appreciate that not everyone is as aloof when it comes to cooking and like to do it by the book, that’s ok too.

So all in all, soup gets a tick and will probably make again. Also highly recommend getting this book. Honestly the recipes are so easy even the most inexperienced cook could cook their way through the book and be pleased with the results.

Did I tell you I messaged Chrissy on Instagram the other day? Very complimentary etc. and thought I had an in as she had liked a couple of my pictures in the past. Clearly we didn’t have the beginnings of a beautiful friendship as she didn’t respond to my message. Maybe she was Julia Child-ing me and isn’t impressed with the fact that I am trying to cook all her recipes (see Julie & Julia for reference). Who knows, I will just keep cooking. It’s for my enjoyment anyway!

33 recipes down, 69 still to cook!

Chloe

XOXO

Sweet Chilli and Mustard Salmon

I am writing this while I sit in a grey and desolate car park, which is located behind a movie theatre, eating my lunch which my dad would describe as ‘rabbit food’ aka chicken breast and vegetable sticks. I would rather be eating a deliciously satisfying burger or, to be honest, anything with bread. Instead I have dry chicken and a few sad looking sticks of veg. What a poor life decision.

Anyway, moving on from this sad lunch story, I wanted to tell you all about the next Cravings recipe I made but in order to that, I need to start at the beginning of the story: the great sambal oelek debacle! Samba what you ask? I know, I didn’t have a clue either. After much Google research between myself and Charles, we discovered that it was “a hot sauce or paste typically made from a mixture of a variety of chili peppers with secondary ingredients such as shrimp paste, fish sauce, garlic, ginger, shallot, scallion, palm sugar, lime juice, and rice vinegar or other vinegars.” Thank you Wikipedia.

Our adventure to track down the legendary sambal oelek begins one sunny Tuesday afternoon where I frequented an ASDA near my office, I know it’s an awful shop, I thought to myself if any place would have this mystical ingredient it would be here. After becoming very lost I stumbled across their World Food section, scanning the shelves I found nothing, in fact I looked on every conceivable shelf and left empty handed. This happened again in Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Tesco. I even sent out a plea for help on Twitter, which was duly ignored.

We came so close when we were in China Town, in London, where we found a Chinese supermarket but they had the wrong sambal. Eventually we stumbled across a WholeFoods, which we have never been into and looks amazing! Bring to Berkshire, and low and behold, there in the shelf was the sambal oelek. The heavens opened and I actually heard angels singing. We had found the lost ingredient!

Ok, I bet you are wondering why I rambled on for so long? It’s a core ingredient for the Sweet Chilli and Mustard Salmon I wanted to make. It’s a bit on the spicy side but the flavour is immense and I’ve already thought of a number of ways to use up my sambal, maybe with chicken or in a stir fry. Who knows?

Chrissy has an unorthodox way of cooking her salmon, skin side up (shock horror) but it works in this recipe because you are cooking the salmon in the sauce. You then stick it under the grill to crisp up the skin and to be honest, I’m not sure why we aren’t always cooking fish this way? The fish stays juicy and the skin is crisp and let me tell you, I’m not a huge fan of fish skin, unless it’s coated in batter and deep fried.

I served this alongside the cutest little hassleback potatoes (also from cravings) and voila, a delicious supper was served. Much better than this dire lunch I’m having.

It’s a bank holiday weekend which is very exciting!! What are you all up to this weekend?

32 recipes down, 70 more to go!

Chloe

Xoxo

Roasted tomato soup by a non-tomato lover

Hey Everyone,

I’m back! Probably about a stone heavier from the amount of food I’ve consumed over the past week but it’s fine, the calories were totally worth it! We had a lovely time celebrating Charles’ birthday over the course of 4 days, eating, drinking and generally being quite happy with life.

On Saturday, we went up to London and looked around all the art galleries and then had lunch at Kricket, which was awesome. Kricket is an Indian restaurant specialising in small, sharing plates. Between the two of us, we had four plates and 2 breads and we were super stuffed! If you haven’t been and are in London, I would definitely recommend giving it a try. If you had to have only one thing, have the fried chicken. It. Is. Amazing.

Last night we had my sister over for supper and it was a good, chilled evening. I obviously had to break out the Cravings cookbook for the occasion and whipped up her Roasted Tomato Soup. Now I need to let you in on a secret, I really don’t like tomatoes, in fact I have a vivid memory of being 5 years old, at crèche and gagging on a slice of tomato we had with our lunch. Disgusting. I think it’s mostly the texture that I’m not a fan of, the gooey, pulpy gross inners. However, in my later years, I have been getting more on board with the humble tomato and do have it from time to time. Obviously only fresh tomatoes have this affect on me because I’m fussy with tomatoes like that.

So, the Roasted tomato Soup was the bomb diggity, I used up all the tomatoes I had in my fridge, classic, beef and cherry and roasted them in a baking dish with olive oil, salt and pepper. You then cook down some onion and garlic, add in the tomatoes, stock and fresh sprigs of rosemary and thyme (out of the garden of course!). You simmer the soup for 25 minutes and then blitz it up. It turns into a delicious hearty bowl of happiness with an almost creamy mouth feel. So simple, yet so delicious, which is beginning to become a growing trend with this cookbook.

Tonight I’m making another Chrissy recipe, slowly ticking them off! Happy hump day peeps!

30 recipes completed, 72 left to go!

Chloe

xoxo

Vegetable Things, Duck (Breasts) and Chocolate

Hi Everyone (Anyone?)

So after I totally psyched myself out by crunching the numbers on how many Cravings recipes I have yet to do before the end of this year, I got hard to work in the kitchen cooking up all sorts of delicious vegetable things from the cookbook.

I had some duck breasts out for supper tonight, which I think I have cooked a grand total of 2 times (including tonight). Thank god for YouTube and Gordon Ramsey, dare I say, as without them I wouldn’t have known what the hell I was doing and they would have ended up dry and disgusting. There is much work to be done in the duck cooking department as the skin wasn’t crispy, probably due to the fact that I rested them skin side down after cooking which, in hindsight, isn’t the smartest idea. Oh well, life goes on.

To pair with the luscious breasts, my main girl Chrissy was there for me. I knocked out 3 recipes tonight (4 if you include the garlic olive oil, which I need to do again for a dish later down the line). Firstly I made thyme roasted carrots. You start by taking the carrots, which I sliced lengthways as they were quite thick, coat them in olive oil, salt and pepper and fresh thyme, which I got from our garden that Charles lovingly tends to. The carrots are then roasted for about 40 minutes and come out tender and juicy, the thyme giving the apartment a wonderful fragrant aroma.

Next were smashed potatoes with roasted garlic. Now let me just say something about the roasted garlic, which is kind of like confit garlic, it’s super easy to make, just add olive oil and garlic together and warm it over a very low temperature. That’s super simple HOWEVER, peeling the bloody garlic was a NIGHTMARE. I don’t know if I’ve bought shit garlic but honestly it took me forever to peel 15 cloves and the skin was sticking to my hands. Ugh, horrid. Anyway that aside, to make the potatoes you boil them up with lots of salt, then when cooked you add the garlic and smash it up with a masher. You then heat up some cream and butter with salt and pepper and add that to the potatoes. Seriously, let me tell you, these are delish, I could have eaten the whole lot but then my jeans wouldn’t have fit me and I’m already in my work out leggings (I’m not planning on working out, they’re just stretchy).

Finally I made buttery glazed green beans. This, I will admit, I found a bit strange. You basically make a sugar syrup, add the green beans and then cook them until the green beans are tender. You then finish it with butter and flaked almonds. I’m not a massive fan of sweet vegetables, back home in South Africa, they make glazed carrots and I just don’t get on with them. However, I will admit that the green beans added a sweetness that paired well with the duck so it was a happy marriage of flavours.

I finished the evening meal with a bit of bang and made a cheeky chocolate fondant. I came across the recipe on YouTube, while Charles was watching one of his boy movies and I had some chocolate in the cupboard so really, it was meant to be. the recipe makes 6 but I split the quantities in 3, and it worked perfectly for the two of us. I was, still am, pretty chuffed with myself. I will link the recipe here, I highly recommend. It took me about 20 minutes to make! I whipped up some leftover cream I had from the potato recipe and made a red berry sauce which I cobbled together by throwing a handful of frozen berries with some sugar and water and cooked until it became almost jammy and then strained it through a sieve to get rid of the pips. I usually find my ideas while doing mundane tasks, like the dishes, they don’t always pay off but thankfully this one did and my chocolate fix was satiated.

Like I mentioned in my last post, I have my grandparents over this week and then it’s the birthday celebrations for Charles so we won’t be seeing much of Chrissy this week. Until next time friends.

29 recipes completed, 73 left to go!

Chloe

xoxo

Cravings Challenge Update

Hi Guys,

I was watching Julie & Julia last night, again, which was the inspiration behind me starting my Cravings Challenge. I must admit that as of late I have been lack lustre in the Cravings Challenge department, partly due to the fact that I was lazy and also because I could feel my waistline expanding at a rapid rate and I wasn’t loving that. So now that I have my waistline back to normal, I need to really pull my finger out and get busy cooking if I want to meet my deadline of completing this cookbook by the end of the year. Watching Julie & Julia gave me the jolt that I needed and I’m raring to go again!

It’s Sunday morning here and after what feels like an eternity of sunshine, the weather in the UK has gone back to grey and sombre clouds. I’m sitting in our living room/dining room, listening to jazz tapping away at this keyboard, while I should be cleaning our apartment as we have my grandparents coming to stay this week. I must admit that the cleaning side of being a domestic goddess is not my strong point and I do it rather begrudgingly.

So while I procrastinate, I thought it would be a great idea to do a check in to see where I am up to with my Cravings Challenge and what the long road ahead looks like until completion. So far I have completed 26 recipes out of the 102 which are in the book, some of these recipes are sauces and I can definitely make meals out of what is left by adding the sides to the main courses. We have 141 days left of this year so 76 recipes to do. Easy right??? (Say yes!!) My plan of action is to see what we have in the house already and what I can make from the book using the ingredients we have and then plan in the rest of the recipes into coming food shops. Let’s face it, buying little bits here and there is expensive and this girl is on a budget! I also need to find a skillet pan to make the dutch baby pancakes, which I am beyond excited about, if you have any recommendations of where to get one, please let me know.

It’s also Charles birthday this week and he has requested the Capon burger, onion rings and mac and cheese. He has explicitly told me that the Capon burger is the best burger he has ever eaten in his life so I’m looking forward to making that one again for him. He’s amazing and deserves all of the carbs for his birthday.

I’m going to finish off this post with images of the recipes I’ve made but haven dedicated full blog posts too (mostly out of laziness!). I apologise for the quality of the images they are raw and unedited as I lost them all when I reset my phone and can’t download them off of Instagram (rookie error!)

Caprese Salad with Crispy Prosciutto

Lemony Rocket Spaghetti Cacio E Pepe

Super Tuna Melts

Pad Grapow Chicken

Shrimp Summer Rolls

Risotto with Porcini Mushrooms and Peas

 

I hope you have a fantastic week, whoever you are reading my blog 🙂

Chloe

xoxo

The Isle of Wight

Hello Lovely People,

If you are in the UK or anywhere in Europe, you will be in the same sweaty situation as us! I don’t think I’ve ever drunk so much liquid and eaten so many ice lollies in my life, we smashed 4 ice lollies in one sitting the other day! Can you believe! Anyway, it’s seriously HOT right now and we are not geared up for it, cue sniffing out air conditioned places or, if all else fails, standing in front of an open fridge.

Charles and I recently spent a wonderful long weekend in the Isle of Wight and I thought it might be useful to map out all the amazing things we did and what we recommend doing, if you ever take a trip to the island, which you totally should.

First things first, you will need somewhere to stay, we like to go self catering, which I would really recommend. You get the freedom to come and go as you please, you aren’t constrained by meal times and you can bring as much food back as you like. Some useful tips we use when looking for places on Airbnb, because there are loads, are:

• Look at a map of which area you want to stay in, based on landmarks you want to see and places you want to eat at etc.
• I would suggest selecting the entire place, in the filters, there are so many places you can get at very reasonable prices.
• Look at reviews, we have been caught out before by just looking at images and the accommodation was like a crack den!

On this occasion we stayed in Fishbourne, which was right near the ferry terminal. It was super quite and off the beaten track. The interior was quirky and had all the touches you would ever want or need from Netflix to baking trays it had it all! Click here for a link to the accommodation, the hosts were absolutely perfect!

Next on our list is ‘things to do’. This is quite broad and covers seeing landmarks as well as scouting out some fantastic local produce. The first thing that Charles and I did when we got off the ferry was drive to the needles, it’s £5 for parking and you can then walk up to the Needles battery, which gives you a great view of the Needles as well as the stunning coast line. If walking isn’t your thing, there is a chair lift and boat ride or a bus. We opted to walk and it only took us about half an hour.

Another great place to go and see is Osborne House which is in East Cowes. This house was built between 1845 and 1851 and used to be Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s Summer Holiday House. Set in vast grounds and with beautiful sea views it is well worth a visit. You can go into the house itself, which still has some rooms set up as they would have been. Highlights are the dining room and the golden drawing room. Entry is £17.20.

If you are after a great coffee in a place that has an amazing vibe and is independently run, check out The Freshwater Coffeehouse. I found them on Trip Advisor before we went on our holiday and had to stop by. It is run by a family who gave up the rat race in London and moved to the Isle of Wight to follow their passion for opening up a coffee shop. The coffee is great, they have fantastic dairy alternatives and tasty home baked cakes to choose from as well as having a very well priced menu. They are also giving back to the community through various mental health initiatives.

As we were only on the island for two and a bit days, I had to source some Isle of Wight tomatoes which lead us to Uncle Jack’s Farm Shop, they have an incredible selection of organic vegetables, a vast cheese counter and an amazing butcher. If you haven’t gathered from my blog, I love to cook, so made some delicious meals to have Al Fresco on the patio at our Airbnb. Another great foodie place to check out is The Garlic Farm where we picked up some incredible smelling, and tasting, oak smoked garlic as well as black garlic, which I have always been intrigued by.

In true Chloe and Charles fashion, we hopped in the car everyday on a new adventure to see what the island had in store for us. As with all holidays, I recommend planning a few activities which you really want to do and then for the rest of the time, going on a drive to see what adventure unfolds for you that day. It may be an actual 99p ice cream, a walk on a beach you found along the way or just watching a red squirrel crack nuts while you sip of a glass of something cold and fizzy while the sun goes down.

If you’ve been to the Isle of Wight, let me know what your favourite things to do there are? We will most definitely be back!

Chloe

*Disclaimer: All of the opinions above are my own and this post has not been sponsored in anyway. Although if any of the above establishments would like to sponsor me, send me an email :)!

Recipe: Bacon and Broadbean Risotto

One of my favourite dishes to make is Risotto. It can be quite a daunting meal to make but once you get the hang of it, it’s easy. You just have to stir stir stir! My mother-in-law gave us some broadbeans from her vegetable garden a few weeks back and what better dish to use these in than a fresh and bright risotto, with some added bacon of course!

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup of rice, this made two healthy sized portions

1 onion, diced

Knob of unsalted butter

Glug of olive oil

½ a glass of white wine, this can be left out but it adds a lovely flavour

1 litre of chicken stock, you can use homemade but I just use a cube

1 cup broadbeans, shelled

6 rashers streaky bacon

½ cup grated parmesan, or any hard cheese you have

Method:

1. Get your stock nicely heated up and leave on a low heat so that it stays warm throughout.
2. Next, fry up the bacon in a hot pan so that it gets a bit of a crunch, this is a personal preference but I think it adds texture.
3. Add your butter and olive oil to your pot on a medium high heat. Once the butter has melted add your onions.You want to cook them so that they are translucent, but not discoloured.
4. Once the onions are ready add your rice and stir so that all the grains are coated in the butter and oil. Then add the wine and stir until all the liquid is gone – I love this stage, it smells great!
5. Once this is done, turn the heat down a bit and start adding the stock, a ladle full at a time, each time stirring until the liquid is absorbed by the rice.
6. This takes about 15 – 20 minutes, you want to cook it so that the rice still has a bite but is not crunchy in the middle.
7. About 5 minutes before this is done, I add the broadbeans so that they can cook in with the rice but still hold their shape. Season as required.
8. Lastly add the bacon and cheese give it a stir and put the lid on the pot leaving it for 2 minutes, I learnt this from Jamie Oliver, it makes the Risotto creamy, oozy and delicious!

Let me know what your favourite risotto is? I love mine like this or substitute the broadbeans for peas or I just make a ‘Bianco Risotto’ and top with roasted seasonal vegetables!

Hope you all have a great week ahead.

Chloe

Body Confidence in a Harsh Society

We live in a superficial society. Everyday we are judged on how we look, what we say and how we think. Not only are we judged in real life but we are also judged online by those pesky keyboard warriors. Everytime you put yourself out there, you are opening yourself up for judgement and ridicule. Sounds awful but you can’t let this sort of narrow mindedness stop you from living the life you want to live. Don’t let the judgement of others stop you from being who you are. Often, it is too easy to let this judgement seep through to your core and become a part of who you are and you n turn become the judge of yourself.

I’m 27 years old, I have been on 4 FAD diets. I’ve weighed 8 stone and I’ve weighed 11 stone. I’ve been a size 8/10/12 all the while never loving the body I was given. I always thought that being skinnier was the answer to happiness. What I’m trying to say is that it’s not about how little or large you are that determines whether you are happy with your body and your life. I belive body confidence is directly linked to a healthy positive mind and if you don’t have that then you will be hard on yourself and have a negative outlook on your body and who you are.

I found a quote today, it read: ‘I’m not going to sacrifice my mental health to have the perfect body’ and I would like to explore this a bit further. I think there are two sides to this quote. I agree with it in the fact that we as woman put so much pressure on ourselves and sometimes each other, to have this pseudo ‘perfect body’ that society and the media deem to be ideal, which in turn can have such a negative impact on how you think and feel about yourself. However, it makes me question why everyone talks about this ‘perfect body’. There is no one type of perfect body only a perfect body for YOU. We weren’t made in a biscuit factory coming out of the same mould. We are all different and unique so why are we striving to be the same? We live in a society that is becoming a lot more accepting to different races, genders and sexuality but I feel that we are still so close minded to different body shapes. In the renaissance period, curvy woman were seen as the height of beauty, now curvy woman are made to feel fat and ashamed of their voluptuousness (anyone say varied clothing sizes from store to store or those horrific changing room mirrors?)

Think about the words confidence, self-esteem, self-respect. They are like a little word family, if one is out of kilter they all are. It’s taken me a long time but I finally realise that body confidence is not about how you look, its about how you feel. If you feel that you should lose a few pounds, do it but the key is that you have to do it for yourself. It never works when you are doing it for someone else, your heart’s not in it and eventually your old bad habits will come creeping back in, like a bunch of unwelcome relatives.

I’m still on my journey of body confidence and I have no idea how long it will take me to get to a stage where I love my body 100% but I have implemented a few things which have helped me love myself a bit more every day and I think could be useful to you too

1. Take time out for yourself each day to do one thing that you love. In order to have body confidence you need to love who you are. Think of it as a relationship, you need to spend time with yourself to get to know who you are and what you like.
2. Stop criticising yourself. How can you love yourself if you keep being negative towards who you are? So what, you have cellulite, even Chrissy Teigen has cellulite, or stretch marks or a belly. Stop finding fault in who you are and what your body looks like. Instead make positive changes and try and adjust your thinking to point out parts of yourself that you love rather than parts that you dislike. You are a work in progress and if you don’t like something you can work on it.
3. Stop following triggering sites on social media. Do you know how many posts I see on Instagram where people write #goals on a picture of a tiny girl who has her ribs poking out. Why is this goals? Surely #goals is to be happy and I’m sure as hell that the #goals girl hasn’t had the sweet taste of a cheeseburger for a really long time.

I challenge you all to have a little re-think about how you asses yourself and what or who you measure yourself against. If there is anything causing you negativity or blocking your path to body confidence and self-love, get rid of it or if it’s your mind, try and look at the good things you love about yourself, look in the mirror and give yourself a compliment. You only have one life and you should live it in the happiest, best way you can. Just be you.

Chloe

 

Food for Thought: Self Worth in a Virtual World and Spicy Tomato Skillet Eggs

I was looking at some successful foodie blogs this morning in a bid to soak up some professional inspiration to better my blog and make it feel a bit more clean cut and less waffle-y. While I respect everything that these bloggers have achieved through their work, none of it really felt like me and it got me thinking, why try and change who you are when the best thing you can be in life is yourself.

We live in a world where social media surrounds us and we have all the information we could ever possibly need at our fingertips, I can’t help but feel that our generation and generations to come are missing out on the simple things in life. We spend so much time comparing ourselves to others and self-criticising and with all the social media Apps at our disposal, it’s so much easier to do when your ‘self-worth’ is judged by the amount of followers you have or the number of likes you get on a picture. This sort of ‘cyber world’ that these platforms create are unrealistic and I fear will have a detrimental effect to some further down the line, when the social adoration fades away and you become irrelevant to the masses.

I’m totally guilty of the mindless scrolling on my mobile, when I should be focusing less on what’s going on in the virtual world and focus more on being present in the moment. I think we should all try and take a break from these little devices, put them away when we get home in the evening from work, where most of us stare at a screen all day, and take time to relax and spend time with yourself and the people you love. Spend time making memories.

I have been trying to be more mindful, focusing on my personal health and well being and working on loving myself. We are our own worst enemy and biggest critics. It’s awful when we should spend our time being our biggest supporter, the inner you should be wearing a killer cheerleading outfit and waving those pom poms so fast they become a kaleidoscope of colour! If you are like me and you like to be chilled, I highly recommend taking some time out for yourself and do the things you love. To work out, I like to do a yoga session, I’m not big into gyms or public displays of exercise (PDE – Is that even a thing?) so follow routines on YouTube, my favourite being Yoga with Adriene, I obviously like to cook and take photo’s (with my husbands guidance as he’s the photography expert) and if it’s all a bit much and I need to zen the f*** out I meditate. There are loads of guided meditation podcasts on Spotify to listen to. I find even just 5 minutes of breathing work helps me out. Seriously guys and girls, this modern world that we live in can be tough.

I think I will park that thought there for the moment and move on to a bit of something I worked on yesterday morning to relax me and get me into the weekend groove. Charles and I are going on a killer detox next week and I wanted to have a sort of food blow out this weekend and cook some good old comfort food from Chrissy Teigen’s cookbook Cravings. If you have been reading this blog for a while now, you will know that I am on a mission to cook every recipe in her book. A daunting task and not great for the waist line but super easy and tasty to boot.

This morning I woke up and made her perfect tomato sauce (at 8am no less), so that I could make this beautiful Spicy Tomato Skillet Eggs with Proscuitto. Honestly, it was like heaven to our tastebuds, a little bit spicy and a little bit salty, with Charles’ homemade bread to mop up the sauce. Amazing! It’s kind of like an Italian Shakshuka.

I’ve also been working on my food styling and with all the natural light from the beautiful sunny weather we are having in the UK, it makes for amazing shooting conditions. I’m really happy with how these shots turned out.

So that’s all for today but I hope that what I wrote about the pitfalls of social media and being present resonates with you a bit and you are more conscious of living in the moment and try not to be so dependant on the little devices for self love, that you work on finding it within yourself.

Chloe