Curry Chickpea Loaf and other interesting snacks!

I'm thinking of starting a collection of posts called 'Unusual Loaves' series, because recently I seem to be doing a lot of baking of this shape and ilk. Very much like the lemon couscous cake recipe I posted last month, the curry and chickpea loaf is another excellent Slimming World recipe that packs in tonnes of flavor and is mega simple to make. I wouldn't like to put on here the Syns that the loaf contains, but the recipe is freely available at Slimming World meetings. It's just one that I cook even when I'm not dieting. It makes an amazing lunchbox snack, to change things up from sandwiches or salads.

Curry Chickpea Loaf

4 medium eggs

1 packet of Batchelor's Golden Vegetable rice (or the supermarket equivalent if you're on a budget!)

1 tin of chickpea dahl (I struggle to find this sometimes, it's usually available in Tescos. This is also the bit of the recipe that can have hidden Syns in if you buy a certain brand, but as stated above, if you're following SW your best bet is to ask your group leader!!)

1 tsp curry powder or similar (cumin, coriander, chilli flakes...)

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees c. Cook the rice packet as per the instructions written. Try to cook it leaving as little of the water as possible, as otherwise it will make your loaf quite soggy!

2. Once the rice is cooked and drained, spoon into a mixing bowl and mix in the chickpea dahl and the 4 beaten eggs. Mix thoroughly.

3. Pour the mixture into a lined and greased loaf tin and place in the centre of the oven for 30 minutes, or until the top is golden and firm, and a knife comes out clean.

4. This loaf makes a great dinner hot, but you have to trust me when I say let it cool down and go cold - it tastes even better then!!

Tuck in and enjoy... Guilt-free!!

This week I also stumbled across quite a fantastic Buzzfeed page that lists 17 low fat and healthy studying snacks to try... again, as a change from junk food and sandwiches! You should go and look at the post HERE and try some out for yourselves, but I just wanted to show you what I made yesterday - Frozen Yogurt-covered Blueberries:

Quite fiddly and time-consuming to make, but they're really tasty and again makes a nice alternative to ice cream (which I can't stand!!) Kind of like really icey popcorn...?? Anyway, check out the page and see which ones tempt you off the sofa!

Have a lovely week everyone. I will be back with a clothing upcycle before the weekend, in preparation for my Hen Do on Saturday!! Yaaaay!!

Lots of love,

BB xx

Make Do and Hen Do!

So, if you haven't been around in a while, here's a quick update for you...
4 weeks yesterday until our WEDDING DAY!
1 week today until my 2nd Hen Party in Camden!

Squeak!!

*Calm...* So, quite a small amount of time now in which I still have plenty to do! But tonight on my to-do list was to make myself an apron to serve as the main focus of my hen party costume, which has to be themed around 1950's housewives. This is because, among my friends, I am the Ultimate Housewife! And I have the perfect book to inspire me. 

'The Vintage Tea Party Book' by Angel Adoree (yes, I know, what a name!) is home-made jam-packed with traditional tea party eats and drinks recipes, but the most brilliant part is the Style section; step-by-step tutorials in how to make fascinators, style your hair into Victory Rolls, make up guidance and party decor to make sure your party has that 1940's edge to it.
I am following her guide to making an apron - there are three styles to choose from in the book, all slight alterations on one basic pattern, so you could easily make all three if you wanted!

I've decided to go for the classic vintage Patisserie apron. I'm making it out of a 2nd hand tablecloth that I picked up in Oxfam a few weeks ago - £4.00 with four napkins in the same material, and loads leftover even after I made this tonight.

I'm so chuffed! It was really easy to follow, and I love the shape of the main apron. Apologies for not being able to post a better picture, there's no one else here to hold the camera for me! I added the little heart appliqué as I ended up using red thread on the machine by accident, so decided to put the heart on and make a feature of it!
I will be wearing a pencil skirt I have already and some sort of top tucked into the waist band as the rest of my costume. It would be wrong not to try and do a Victory Roll in my hair too, but I'll attempt that on the night with the girls around me to help me pin them in!

If you would like to try this apron make or read the rest of Angel's fabulous book, get yourself a copy of the book, and have a go at this and the other scrummy recipes!

Have a lovely weekend, everyone!

BB xx


(PLEASE NOTE: I am under no obligation to endorse products on this blog, and receive no recognition for this mention. Many thanks.)

Stamp Duty Part #2

A little while ago I blogged about my love of printing stamps and the role they've played so far in my wedding stationary... It seems I continue to get my money's worth!

Without giving the game away too much, here is what I've spent my evening stamping on... Paper bags:

These are the same stamps that sorted us out for our Save The Date cards, our invites and for place settings. We had one personalised with our names and the date on which cost us a little more, but as I say, they have been used a lot. The ink pads bought from Hobbycraft have just about managed to ink stuff up, although I think they're probably finished...

A worth while investment, I'd say.

BB xx

Lovely Lemon Couscous Cake

I have had this recipe for a very long time. Years ago when my Mum and I first joined a slimming group, this recipe was given to us at one of the meetings and we made it weekly after that, as it was one sweet treat we could eat without guilt or shame! It's sweet enough to stand as a worthy substitute to a biscuit with your afternoon cuppa, and stodgy enough to serve as a post-dinner treat that's nice with a small ball of ice-cream maybe. I found the recipe, printed out and decorated with felt tip pen, inside some old school work that came with us when my family moved house last year, and before I lose it again, I'm going to put it up here so I can always refer back to it. I am also confident that once YOU try it, you'll be hooked too! As a plus, it's also very cheap to make and lasts about 5 days kept in an air tight container.

Lovely Low-Fat Lemon Couscous Cake

200g (7oz) plain couscous

6 fluid ounces boiling water

2 large eggs, beaten

2 fresh lemons

2 tbsp lemon curd

2 tbsp granulated sweetener

1 tsp vanilla essence

1) Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Lightly grease a 1lb loaf tin. Set aside ready.
2) In a mixing bowl, pour the boiling water on the couscous and leave to soak in for about 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork, then add the beaten eggs, lemon curd, sweetener and vanilla essence. Stir well until all mixed.
3) Add the grated zest of both lemons, then squeeze the juice of each into the mixture (avoid letting pips in there!) Stir well again.
4) Add to the loaf tin and cook in the center of the oven for 30 minutes. The top of the loaf should be dry and firm to the touch, a knife should come out clean. Turn out on to a wire rack and leave it to cool.

Once it's cooled it will cut very easily into clean slices. The outside should be slightly crunchy and inside lovely and stodgy! We went to the gym after making this and leaving it to cool, and a slice of it with a cup of tea was the perfect refuel.
Have a go - even if you're not a big fan of couscous normally, this will hopefully sway you...

Have a lovely Sunday, everybody.

BB xx

Something Old, Something New

Only one month and fifteen days until our wedding!! 
It's coming around so quickly, and all the bits and pieces are now finally coming together. We've been busy gathering things for the day and making stuff, but I don't want to put all of it up here as otherwise I'll spoil the surprises for those going! I am, however, prepared to just show you all what I've come up with for my bridesmaids to carry all their essentials in on the day.
Charly and Alex are two of my oldest, bestest friends from secondary school, and will be keeping me calm on the day! Alex married last year, and Charly and I were honored to be bridesmaids to her also. We had these clutch bags on the day, which compliment Alex's purple thistles and white roses theme in our flowers:

It's a nice clutch, and a good size. But I own nothing cream and can see very few occasions when I'd use it again. I've been looking for clutch bags for the girls on the day, but wondered whether we might be able to give these a second lease of life by including my peacock feather theme. The girls have white roses in their bouquets also, so it should compliment it perfectly.

First I removed the flowers, which came off without too much effort. There was a lot of glue residue though, so the peacock feather needed to cover some of that up.
Cut your feather with enough of the stalk remaining so that the glue has something to bond to.
AWESOME TIP: To make your feather look extra beautiful and fanned out, simply boil your kettle and hold the eye of the feather over the steam. It will open out and look gorgeous!

Add a dab of all-purpose, extra strong glue to the front of the bag and position the feather to your taste. In this case, I needed it to cover the old glue, which the fan of the feathers does beautifully.

Then get out your BUTTONS!!! (Because this wouldn't be a Button Brown crafty-make without them!!) I've picked out three smallish buttons that compliment the colours in the feather's eye. Dab on your glue and press them slightly so that they bond with the feather and bag.

And that's basically it! It was that simple! Something Old transformed into Something New, which cost me absolutely nothing. Peacock feathers can be quite expensive to buy from shops, but I got these smaller 'craft' bunches from Ebay for a competitive price for 100 of them. Worth checking it out.

I have one more of these to make and then I can put them away into my Wedding Bits Box. I have not one, not two, but THREE fabulous hen parties organised for next month, so I will no doubt be back with more little projects involving feathers before then!

Until then, stay happyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!

BB xx

One Man's Trash...

I am absolutely BUZZZZZZZZING right now!! You will all be familiar with the following scenario: You've filled up your car with all the stuff you are going to take to the dump, maybe you're having a clear-out or just have leftover rubbish that needs to be dumped. You arrive at the dump and rid your car of that all 'junk'... only, as you throw it on to the top of the skip, you notice maybe a piece of furniture or useful item that you simply Can Not Believe someone has thrown away!! But... You can't have it! Because they be the Rules of the Dump. UNTIL TODAY...

Aston Clinton's Household Waste and Recycling Centre have now opened an area where they are selling useable and decent quality items in aid of raising money for South Bucks Hospice, a local charity, in order to rebuild the hospice building. They not only re-sale furniture items like chairs, cabinets, tables and office furniture, but also some toys, photo frames (some with the photos/certificates still in them! Very interesting!) and unbroken crockery. There were an array of bicycles for sale, all in good condition, as well as large containers with shelf upon shelf of tvs, computers, laptops, hoovers, electrical goods (all PAT tested) at seriously low prices.

Not sure who would want the weird squeaky deer toy...??

 I have no idea why EVERY DUMP doesn't do this!! It's absolutely genius! As a country we generate about 177 million tonnes of waste that goes to land refill every single year, which causes environmental damage and is a poor use of resources on our part. There should be much, much more of this kind of thing. Especially as it's SO CHEAP:

Dressing table stool - £3!!

Two large photo frames, to be used as a table plan and information boards at my wedding - £1 EACH!!

I've been searching for a vanity table stall since I got my charity shop vanity table. I have seen things, but for quite a bit of money, and I also wanted something individual to me. I am so pleased with this, and got right on to 'upcycling' it when we got home. This was my first ever attempt at doing this sort of thing, but it's already given me the confidence to go ahead and supe-up my dining room chairs. Have a look... whatcha think?

The finished article! Well proud, innit.

The fabric was actually an old scarf of mine that I don't wear as it's not quite long enough to wrap around my neck. I had to pull out the staples and take off the green carpet on the top of it, and then used a staple gun to put the scarf square on top. There are lots of tutorials on YouTube, I would have logged a better explanation here but I was too excited!

We also bought a dart board which needs some serious TLC - it's filthy!! - but we also only paid a rock bottom £3 for it. Tom plans to put it up in the garage for boys night's... of course.

It's literally just been such a great day, it's made me remember why putting the effort into looking for this stuff is so worth it, as now I have something that is unique to me, and will put me on a creative path to trying even more out. Love it.

What have you done that's creative this week??

BB xx

Dedicated to my Hero of the Hour

For those of you who tuned into Channel 5 this week you will have witnessed the somewhat lively debate about the welfare system in this country called The Big Benefits Row... and a row it was indeed! If you haven't watched it, get it on Catchup and have a look. Whatever you think about people on welfare and using food banks, you can't blame anyone trying to make our lives easier by coming up with some money-saving, healthy ideas to keep us going through these hard times.
Enter Jack Monroe (www.agirlcalledjack.com) who was there to fight the corner of those who find themselves really needing those services. Now she has a successful blog, recipe book and column writing about how to get the most out of your food, and is now appearing - well deservedly - in Sainsbury's adverts, with delicious recipes on a budget. Makes a change from seeing Jamie's smug face on there! Jack was on the Big Benefits Row with an aim to making people aware that those using the food banks don't want to be using them, but needs must. When you have young children to feed and have to survive yourself on so little, why wouldn't you use them? Edwina Currie, however, sees it differently, and admitted live on tv that she felt no shame that this country has been reduced to being so reliant on such resources. Instead of letting Jack explain how they work, she attacked her newly earned success and her family - with hilarious results - and made herself look like an utter fool. It just proves how out of touch she and her party really are with The Real World.

Jack, complete with tattoos!

Since this programme, I have talked about Jack to pretty much anyone who will listen to me! I just think she's wonderful - Jack, You Are Wonderful!! - and so I decided to make one of her recipes this weekend to share with you all as a toast to her campaign and what she stands for.

Funnily enough, it's getting to the end of the month and money is quite tight this weekend. Jack's carrot, kidney bean and cumin burgers require ingredients that tend to hang around in your veg draw or in your dry store cupboards, and to my utter delight I had them all!
Follow the recipe in the link above, and this is what you get:

The photo's don't do them justice, but they are so delicious! I sadly didn't have salad left to have with them, but in a wrap with a little spread of mayonnaise they made a great option for a light Sunday afternoon snack.

The recipe states to use 1 carrot, but I had 2 hanging around so I used them both up, making 6 burgers from the mix. I plan on freezing these 4 for another time. They're reeeeally yummy, give them a try!

I hope this post doesn't come across too gushing! But whilst in the middle of a social work course, where all my original beliefs and morals are being systematically turned on their heads, this woman and her cause just make so much sense to me. She is one of many people out there who understand and recognise what it's like to work your damn butt off for what feels like so little back sometimes. I also completely believe that if poverty-stricken families were given vital education around how to cook and eat nutritiously and on a budget, we wouldn't be in as big a mess as we are. Bear in mind that a majority of Jack's recipes were created out of what she got given in those food bank parcels, and having worked with food bank recipients quite recently, I know that the parcels are put together to give as nutritionally balanced a meal as possible. They include the important food groups, but it's about knowing how to use them.

Spread the word, spread the love... and Fight The Power.

BB xx