Easy Savoury Breakfast Muffins

I have always been a bit of a non conformist, not by my actions necessarily, but by attitude! I don't like being told what to do so sometimes I do things backwards just to prove that I can- yes I was a difficult child... One of the things that I naturally don't like to conform to is meal times. I love Breakfast for Dinner and Dinner for Breakfast. I would happily sink my teeth into leftover pizza in the morning and eat scrambled eggs or a bowl of cereal for dinner. I'm not really one for granola or fruit in the morning but I don't ever really have the time to whip up eggs or pizza. So when I was very bored one evening waiting for washing to be done, I decided to whip up a batch of these savoury muffins. I was pleasantly surprised that these hit the spot for my weird morning pizza cravings but also are healthy in terms of kick-starting your metabolism for the day and getting in some nutrients. I was rather creative with the recipe so wanted to jot it down in order to share with any fellow backwards Breakfast lovers and to save it for future references.

So you will need

A tin of sweetcorn drained

300g wholemeal self-raising flour

2 tsp baking powder

3 finely sliced spring onion stems

1 large tsp siracha or hot sauce

salt and pepper

150g cheddar grated

175ml milk or alternative

1 egg

60g cooled melted butter

150g greek yogurt 

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius

In large mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder, yogurt, siracha. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Add the egg, butter and milk and mix until you have a thick sludge! Pour in your tin of sweetcorn, grated cheddar and spring onions. Mix until combined, adding a little more milk if required. 

Fill muffin cases on a baking tray (I spray a little non stick into each one so they pop out more easily). These do not rise hugely so I would recommend about 3/4 full. 

Bake for 20 mins until golden and a knife comes out clean. These should make about 14. I tend to have two each morning and then frozen you have two weeks of breakfasts! 

They are probably best hot out of the oven with a little sour cream if you are entertaining but work perfectly well cold too. They would also make a great snack for toddlers. 

10 ways to be the happiest you have ever been

Sometimes I (and many other bloggers) write posts that they have no authority on. Beauty bloggers who have never trained in anything to do with beauty are suddenly explaining why painting coconut oil on your skin will change your life or fashion bloggers sit around in sweatpants with a law degree tapping away on the importance of smartening up your wardrobe. It can be frustrating sometimes for those who have trained heavily in their field to read. I was speaking with a professionally trained make up artist on the weekend and she was venting her frustrations at the fact that so many beauty bloggers are pushing things that may have worked for them but how skincare and beauty is so unique to each person. Someone else's perfect skin saviour may wreak havoc with yours or the perfect lipstick shade may make you look washed out. I think the reason we all become so fascinated with these men and women giving us advice is that you feel as though you are getting insider tricks. I know that when my friend tells me about a little bistro that opened up on the corner or about this new highlighter that makes her look like a filter, I personally love it. We spend so much time asking people 'wow you look so good how did you get in shape?' or 'where is that coat from?' and blogging invites the world into an individual's tricks and tips. I think my best posts have come from when a lot of friends have asked me for my tips on something and I have thought I'll do a little post. However, just because something works well for me it doesn't mean it will work for anyone else and there are so many topics I love to discuss that I am by no means an expert in. I wanted to write a small disclaimer that happiness is one of those topics for me. I have no authority on this subject. I have been very, very happy and I have been very, very sad. However, these are some things that work for me, I hope they may help someone else too.

1. Hey Sweaty 

So my number one and probably the one that will get the most eye rolls is exercise. This for me was the most intolerable and inexplicable way to get happy until January this year. I finally for once in my life actually stuck to my new years resolution and I am now officially one of those annoying people who love exercise. So unlike the way I would cringe when my year 7 boyfriend used to text me hey sweaty because he couldn't spell sweetie, this kind of sweaty is the best kind. The endorphins you get from exercise are undeniably the best shortcut to happiness. I know it might feel painful and like you are dying but there is nothing like the feeling you get from a hardcore workout. I think I'm going to do a separate post on how I forced myself into exercise but for now just trust me and give it a go- it's scientifically proven!

2. Embrace your inner Bookworm 

I have a very weird relationship with reading. I absolutely love it but I rarely find the time for it and when I do I finish the book in two seconds flat. There is nothing that can transport me away from my worries more than getting involved in a really good bit of fiction. When you're reading about whatever traumatic events are plaguing the main character it tends to put your own worries into perspective. Plus, it's a great way to digital detox a little. If you're not into fiction, my other favourite thing to do is to read cook books and salivate over the recipes or a self help book. I personally recommend Chrissy Teigen's book Cravings or Melody Beattie's Letting Go... Very different topics but the perfect non-fiction for feeling a little happier nonetheless.

3. Pig out

I have a theory that there are two types of people in the world. Choc lovers and the crisp compadres (not 100% sure what that word means but alliteration). I very firmly am a believer in the importance of both food groups but I am a choc lover. Whatever your poison, even if you are a clean eating machine, grabbing a big bag o' tortilla chips and some dip or a giant Dairy Milk can greatly improve anyone's day. You know that scene in No Strings Attached with Natalie Portman eating donuts and listening to Bleeding Love? Yeah sometimes you need to just delve into a bag of whatever your poison is and have a good cry. It's cathartic.

4. Just Breathe

Calming your breath is probably the most important life skill for anyone who gets anxiety. After a traumatic experience in 2015 I used to suffer quite badly from panic attacks. Whilst there is little in life that is as annoying as someone telling you to 'just breathe' it really was life changing learning this skill. Anxieties.com has a really simple three step for calming breathing:

1. Take a long, slow breath in through your nose, first filling your lower lungs, then your upper lungs.(I always literally imagine this happening so you want to first fill your chest and then your stomach.)
2. Hold your breath to the count of three.
3. Exhale slowly through pursed lips, while you relax the muscles in your face, jaw, shoulders, and stomach. (This should definitely be a loud breath out)

5. Positive Affirmations

As silly as you may feel just repeating to yourself something as simple as 'I am happy' or 'I am so grateful' can do wonders for your mood. It is literally according to science. Positive affirmations create positive connections between nerves in your brain. When you think positive thoughts, your brain releases chemicals related to those positive emotions. The same happens when you think negative thoughts.

6. Netflix and chill out

I feel like no explanation needed. Binge watching a classic improves your mood. Even the Gilmore Girls theme tune improves my mood.

7. Soak away that negativity 

I recently took a meeting at work on positivity and one of the questions I asked everyone was what are you most looking forward to this week. One of my colleagues answered 'having a bath' and whilst we all had a good laugh, it is true. Having a bath with a bath oil and candles and maybe a book/ wine is pretty unbeatable for improving your mood. Soak away those negative feelings a la Chandler (if you don't get that reference, we can't be friends).

8. Drink your feelings 

Whether it's a cup of tea or a glass of wine that makes you feel better it's all acceptable. I switch by season, in Winter it's a hot cuppa and in Summer it's a cold rose.

9. A little retail therapy 

It's called therapy for a reason. Is there anything more satisfying than taking a new dress out of a shiny bag and unfolding the crispy tissue paper. And hey if you spend enough, complaining about being poor might take your mind off your other worries and at least you can do so stylishly.

10. People (furry and otherwise)

Sometimes picking up the phone and being around people is exactly what you need and if you just want to be alone then pick someone furry because no one is sad when they're with a dog.

All images taken from Pinterest and not my own 

How to stay healthy when you’re exhausted

Has anyone else noticed that a huge part of adulting is being exhausted and then going around talking about being exhausted? I’ve even noticed a game of sorts that we seem to play. ‘I’m so exhausted I only had three hours sleep last night’ says co-worker number one ‘well I’m so exhausted I’ve only had about three hours the entire week’ co-worker number two retorts and then co-worker number three chimes in and we’ve got ourselves a little competition that no one really wants to win. This all seems to coincide with the resident gym bunnies hopping around the office and the smoothie slurpers eyeing the exhaustion party with resolute stares. So how do you fake it till you make it? Is there a happy medium between the wheatgrass waifs and the Waitrose ready meal weaklings? Well yes in my opinion, not that I always follow it.

Domestic Sluttery is a term coined by blogger Sian Meades and is pretty much a lifestyle I live and breathe. This involves shortcutting your way to what appears to be the highly organised life of the Nigellas of the world. Think Betty Crocker and frozen canapes. I take exactly this route when it comes to health on planet exhaustion. I watch Netflix in bed until I fall asleep whilst slathered in This Works lavender pillow mist and sleep balm. I eat prepared salads and my smoothies are from a packet. I recently finally cancelled my gym membership after three months of routinely cancelling inductions and now walk for an hour or two a day and do a home workout three times a week. I save money on parking at the station and can’t blame traffic for lateness- although this hasn’t stopped me- people traffic is a real thing, you try pushing through a herd of tourists snapping their cameras around your face! So below I have outlined my little tips and tricks.

1. Ready meals can be ok

If you know you are getting home late and you’ll need a bit of creamy comfort. Ready meals are okay if you choose wisely. If you read through the ingredients and don’t spot too many unidentifiable letters and numbers it’s fine and keep it under the 500 calorie mark. I tend to stab H E A L T H Y  R E A D Y  M E A L into the Ocado search bar.

2. Walk to and from the station and do home workouts.

For some of us the gym is a whole performance we are not ready to break a leg for- quite literally in my #klutzlife experience. I love Lauren Conrad’s skinny jeans circuit it’s kind of easy ish dare I say but will still make a difference:

100 jumping jacks, 20 crunches, 20 squats, 10 push ups, 25 bench dips (you can do this using a chair), 60 second wall sit, 60 second plank (repeat two times)

3. Spruce up pre made salad and invest in snacks.

You can order huge ready made salads to take for lunch that have pre chopped veg and you can just add things like pumpkin seeds, feta, halloumi, salmon, chicken and keep a dressing at work. I tend to bulk buy from Costco things like cliff bars and seaweed snacks and nuts- not amazing for your waist line but better than the cake from the office back table. I often bring fruit and granola bars for a breakfasty snack if I haven’t had anything mid morning.

So there you have it, trick your way into the gym/ yoga bunny tribe whilst still being able to join the exhaustion competition.

White Chocolate almond butter cups

My favourite food 'genre' is a pretty odd one. I am obsessed with healthily unhealthy food, be that in the form of chocolate covered salted almonds, deep fried and tempura sweet potato- and pretty much anything with peanut butter or avocado!

In January, we are all a bit freezing and a little bit blue but also on a mad detox afer the festive season. So considering that gruelling combo, right about new seemed the perfect time to showcase my most recent discovery- white chocolate almond butter cups truly is the perfect blend of  Reeses-decadence and health.

Quite frankly January is calling out for some guilty treats disguised as a superfood. So here's my recipe...

Source: Blissful Basil

You will need:

175g white chocolate 

1/2 teaspoon of coconut oil

2 big tablespoons of almond butter

Sea salt flakes

Melt the white chocolate and coconut oil to liquid, I do this with short burst in the microwave but a bain-marie is probably the 'proper' way 

Spoon equally into small cupcake cases, leave about a quarter

Dollop in equal amounts of almond butter to the chocolatey mixture

Make sure the almond butter dollops are covered with the remaining chocolate

Put in the fridge to set for about 30 minutes and top with sea salt flakes

If covered and stored in the fridge they will last weeks.

There you go, easy peasy... January blues be gone! 

How to hygge

Scandi has now long been an ongoing trend, particularly in the interiors world, but a more recent side to this has been the discussion of the Danish word ‘hygge’- pronounced something like ‘hooga’. As the trend shows no sign of dwindling, we are not being encouraged to let it take over not only your home but also your state of mind. Let me guide you through it...

I guess, first thing’s first, what does it mean? Well it means something like cosying up but it is a lot more complex than that and incredibly difficult to dissect into English. To me, it brings to mind log fires and animal skins, a distinct smell of pine and that sharp difference between warmth from a fire and icy rattles. However, apparently Hygge is also for the summer and manifests itself in the form of picnics and lemonades with friends in the garden. Hygge encompasses the daily pleasures of living ‘cosily’: a cup of tea, candles, books in the sunshine, friends a family and fleecy blankets

How can we bring Hygge into our everyday lives? What Hygge really is, is taking a pause in our busy lives to make a dinner with your family, sitting with a cup of tea, lighting a candle or sinking into a really comfortable sofa. It is something that we all take pleasure from, yet struggle to find the time to do. The Danish must know what they are talking about because they are regularly voted the happiest people in the world. So this evening, pull on your woollen socks, light a candle, put on the kettle and take a minute of ‘hygge’.

These little purchases may help you along on your hygge journey.

Cashmere Socks, £32, Brora

Danish candle, £12

Giant chunky throw, £250, Wool Couture

Milk chocolate with dates and pink salt, £3.50

Easy Overnight Oats

My small overspending on food habit during the week is slowly becoming a not so small habit. I really have tried but I truly am incapable of making breakfast in the morning. Despite my best efforts, I am the sort of person who has to prise their eyes apart at five-to-time-to-go. Even the idea of making something the night before fills me with soggy sandwich dread and is time better spent watching Orange is the new black in my opinion. However, these oats are a happy problem solver. They take minutes to make and taste completely different with only a few adjustments. They keep for up to two days so you can make two at a time meaning you only have to whip them up two or three times a week. 

Base Recipe

- Half a glass (around 125 ml) of almond milk

- 3 rounded Tbsp chia seeds

- 45g rolled oats (preferably gluten-free)

- 1 Tsp of maple syrup

1. Add into a mason jar almond milk, chia seeds, maple syrup and give a good stir 

2. Add the oats and push down well 

3. Mix in the rest of your ingredients

4. Cover and leave for at least 6 hours

Peanut-Butter Jelly 

- 2 Tbsp peanut butter

- Sliced strawberries

Apple and Cinnamon 

- Large grated apple

- 1/2 Tsp cinnamon

Berry

- Handful of raspberries, blueberries and any others to hand

- Drop of vanilla extract 

Banana

- 2 Tbsp almond butter

- 1/2 Banana sliced

- 1/2 Banna mashed

4 ways to wake up beautiful

1. Night Mask

Night creams are definitely not exclusively for older women (or women for that matter) and if you haven't been using one already then that should be your next purchase. A night mask is the new form of a rich and hydrating moisturiser which means your skin is working up a glow whilst you sleep. Make sure you thoroughly remove your make up first!

2. Healthy Dinner

There is nothing worse than that feeling when you wake up the next day after stuffing your little face the night before. You wake up feeling sick, puffed up and bloated. Having a healthy but not neccessarily small dinner is the perfect way to wake up feeling flat stomached and ready for breakfast. I recommend fish, greens and sweet potato or brown pasta with chicken and vegetable as my two favourites! I also love a jacket new potato with cottage cheese and salad or butter and cheddar for the cottage cheese haters. New potatoes are also lower GI so leave you feel less heavy and you can have several or get large meaty ones. If you love a treat after nosh on some dark chocolate and strawberries with a mint tea or I love Lindt sea salt dark chocolate.

3. There's an app for that

Here’s how it works :

1. Create a sleep mix by selecting sounds and music that you like.
2. Slip naturally into a relaxed state or a deep sleep...!
3. Awake, feel refreshed and happier
4. Do it again, anytime!

Plus they also have a range of articles and yoga poses that are good for inducing a peaceful nights sleep.

4. Silk Pillowcases

There are so many benefits to this and it calls itself 'beautifying' and 'anti-ageing'. It is meant to be cleaner and kinder to your skin, help your hair stay in tact which is great for preserving blowdrys. But if the best thing it does for me is make sure that I am not waking up with huge red creases down my face then I'll be happy. Use slip for an easy slip-on pillow case from home to your boyfriend's to a business trip. 

Lazy girl slim recipes

Courgetti with avo pesto

You need

One courgette
Good squeeze of lemon
An avocado
Bunch of washed basil
2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs pine nuts (plus extra for sprinkling)
25g Parmesan (plus extra for sprinkling)
1 clove garlic
Sliced baby tomatoes

Blend  together all ingredients bar the courgette, season well.
Peel or spiralize your courgette into long strips and tip that and your tomatoes into the microwave for 45 seconds on high.
Drain the excess liquid and top with your pesto and your extras and hey pesto! (Get it?)

1 minute gluten-free blueberry mug muffin

Recipe adapted from Thebigmansworld.com

You need

3 tbsp coconut flour 

2 tbsp granulated sweetener 

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 large egg 

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 tbsp almond milk

Handful of blueberries

Mix all ingredients, pour into a microwaveable ramekin and microwave for one minute, to enjoy steamy coconutty, bluberry goodness!

3 ingredient peanut butter fudge

Recipe adapted from blissfulbasil.com

You need

1/2 cup coconut oil melted

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

2 tbsp maple syrup

Mix all ingredients, pour into a tray and freeze. Keep it in the freezer, cut and enjoy.

What the A-listers eat for breakfast

Jennifer Aniston 

Aniston had three go-to breakfasts which range from 'Sometimes it’s a smoothie—bananas, cherries, a protein powder of some sort, almonds, cacao powder, and all sorts of other weird antioxidant stuff I can’t remember—with almond milk,' to 'avocado toast sprinkled with olive oil and salt and pepper.' or oatmeal with whipped in egg whites. Will this give us her arms?

Source: Bon Appetit 

Taylor Hill

Taylor sticks to high fats for breakfast to kickstart early mornings. On an example day she had “eggs, bacon and potatoes and some orange juice and a cup of coffee.”

Source: In Style

Millie Mackintosh

Millie has an asparagus fritatta on shoot days as it is a diuretic, she sometimes also has smoked salmon and avocado with poached eggs.

Source: Telegraph

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley

Rosie keeps things as Paleo (The Caveman diet) as possible. 'I'll have scrambled eggs on toast or yogurt with a handful of granola—preferably paleo—with some mixed berries, and maybe a breakfast muffin (also paleo) with a green juice.' She also noted that she couldn't function without a coffee- join the club!

Source: Harpers Bazaar

Jessica Alba

Jessica Alba started the successful children's company The Honest Company and she makes her children things like cream of wheat and gluten-free pancakes. Herself, she has unusually 'egg tacos', the hotter the better or yogurt with berries and granola.

Source: The Huffington Post

Kourtney Kardashian

Oatmeal or her famous avocado pudding! To make: Mix organic cane sugar to taste, half a ripe avocado and 1 cup of almond milk in a blender then enjoy... I think.

Source: Life with EC