Missing yolk

In the selection of trashy mags we have on offer, I see far too often the case of celebs swearing by egg whites. I  always assumed it was some sort of myth where everyone follows suit and more than likely with the case of celebrities, need a long over due visit to rehab. Not the case. It seems that egg whites are a lean protein and a fat burning food. And who said trashy magazines weren't educational?

Always curious to scrap the yolk, I scrambled my egg whites solo and was a little dubious when my scrambles had a snotty texture (if I ever gave you a reason not to try this, it was the previous comment.) 

Almost ready to retrieve the yolk from the heap of egg shells in the bin, I gave the whites one last chance to redeem their selves. One minute later and situations were looking, well... less snotty. I had fluffy light egg whites.

I blanched chopped broccoli and sprinkled with crushed almonds .

Chopped apple on the side.

Check out the apple cutting tool. Knives, say no more.

Calories: 127

Pink milk

Went to the effort to set an alarm this morning expecting to see sunshine and blue skies when I rose from my pit. Instead I was awoken by a rude knock at the door from Posty Pat and the same old rolling grey skies. Hard luck. Needed something for breakfast that spelled out summer, as my high expectations of good weather (fault of the weather man) was no where to be seen.

Lover of Kate's blender, I whizzed up this pretty as a picture pink milk to eat my cereal with. Cows milk and cereal is a faux pas of the past after enjoying this. Not too sure how I feel about getting up half an hour earlier just to get a dosage of pink milk. Maybe batch produce? Or maybe abandon this pink milk love affair while your ahead? Either way it's good and very pink.

Add strawberries, 1/2 frozen banana, ice cubes and milk to the blender.

Blitz.

Pour.

A palette of pink in your breakfast bowl. It was a bit too sweet at this time of morning so I added peanut butter with my Crunchy Nut Cornflakes, but this is probably just an excuse to eat peanut butter with anything edible.

Calories: 318

The spinach smoothie

A juice filled with spinach sounds too healthy. Illusive images of green slop were filtered into a quick Google search and I agreed it would be a crime to drink greens in your juices.

That is until I saw this purple chocolate spinach smoothie recipe. Purple is an averagely decent colour, everyone loves chocolate and spinach is my preferred leaf in a salad. What is there to lose?

Everything when you blend the ingredients and it looks like this! But to my shock and horror, something that looks surprisingly like dog doo tasted rather nice. I'm just a little curious as to why mine didn't turn out purple but I didn't question it too much as it was liquidized spinach after all.

Add 2 handfuls of spinach, 3 chopped dates, 1 frozen banana and water to a blender and blitz.

Add blueberries, ice cubes and 1/2 tsp of coco powder and blitz.

I sprinkled mine with goji berries, more blueberries and added a few springs of spinach. 

To say it was a smoothie, the idea of drinking it wasn't working in my favour so I served it in a bowl with a spoon and was easily won over by the green juice that was in my case, very brown (still not over the fact it wasn't purple.)

I ate every last bit and I'm officially a spinach smoothie convert. It was refreshing, healthy and didn't actually taste of spinach.

Proofs in the bowl.

Calories: 186

Detox day

I woke up this morning feeling like a shadow of my former self but probably twice the size. Lack of fruit and veggies has made me feel under the weather. Detox sprung to mind. Three days of cheatings and food binges has had a disastrous impact on the old gut.

My porridge infatuation flourished through this strawberry and peanut butter jelly combination.  

I took full advantage of the strawberry stocked fridge, a rare but necessary occurrence. Halved and mixed in with the oats whilst cooking, it added a natural sweetness to wean me off the sugars.

It was like a hot summer pudding on a cold and miserable nearly summer morning.

Calories: 364

Lunch was a simple fruit salad from Cafe Nero. Getting my fruits in by the bucket loads I forgot how much I enjoy a munching of pineapple and mango.

Slurped on a SKINNY latte with SUGAR FREE vanilla syrup and I was like a dog on heat shopping in Leeds.

Calories: 193

Ok, so this isn't actually detox material but giving a girl celery and carrot sticks after so many naughty treats is just cruel. Slow and steady wins the race and this prawn masala definitely won my appetite round.

Compliments to Kate for dishing up this curry packed full of veggies and spices.

Ate with naan bread and onion bajis because every curry deserves it.

 

Calories: 460

Newcastle dining

Oh wow. These past couple of days I traveled to Newcastle and morphed into a piglet in the process. You would have thought I was a calorie collector. From pizza to cake to alcohol fueled with skittles, I have had it all and more. Much more.

This included a whole 18 inches of subway. One could say that it was for medical purposes to cure my sickness, in other words hangover from hell. I went for beef with all the salad (extra jalapenos and gherkins of course) smothered in south west sauce.  

Lunching at Nancy's Bordello I feasted on chilli con carne with chips and rice.

Being the healthier of meals on this little mini break, I went the extra mile and ordered a side salad. So proud but my taste buds were less than impressed when a small bowl of grass arrived at the table. Nevertheless, I ate it all.

Got back and nibbled on sweeties, whilst eagerly awaiting the night out that followed. By now I can see my thighs getting thunderous.

Lots of sambuca shots later...

I am home in bed recovering with ice-cream and cake. Uh oh.

Calories: TOO MANY TO COUNT

Lemon, blueberries and CAKE

Being home alone for the past two weeks having nothing else better to do with my time and of course being the best friend ever, I dedicated a whole day to slaving away in the kitchen baking a birthday cake for my nearest and dearest. With lemon cake being the desired preference to cake flavour I searched the internet high and low until I came across this lemon and blueberry cake recipe.

The final product looked a little like this, but due to a three hour journey of bumps and wobbles the travelling cake looked a bit rough around the ages when it arrived in all its glory. The taste however was just as lemony and sweet with its blueberry infusions and moist texture. Moist being the key compliment for this cake so I was told.

The cake recipe is from Sweetpolita and I highly recommend it to anyone who is partial to a little lemon and is a fruitful baker with plenty of time to burn. This is the one.

Sift all dry ingredients into a bowl.

Combine all the wet ingredients with the lemon zest in a separate bowl (here comes the moistness.)

Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.

Beat in the eggs and alternatively combing the wet and dry ingredients.

Wash and fold in the blueberries.

Pour the mixture into three cake tins. Bake. Assemble.

There we have it. The triple layer lemon and blueberry cake. Super moist and a super pain to travel with.