This is my take on spicy rice. If you've ever had it at nandos, it is possibly the best thing since sliced bread. It is the ultimate comfort food but without any guilt. Everyone should try this, you won't regret it.

Ingredients (per person):

2 oz of brown rice

½ a pepper

½ an onion

Chilli powder

1 crushed clove of garlic

1 egg

1 chicken breast

Olive oil

Soy Sauce

Butter

Method:

Start by weighing out your rice, you don't want more than this otherwise you will lose all the other ingredients and basically just eat rice. Cook the rice according to the packet instructions. Also cook the chicken breast with a bit of seasoning in the oven for 25 minutes on 180C.

Melt the butter in a pan. Then turn down the heat and crack the egg in the pan, then scramble it. Cook it for about 4 minutes or until it is to your liking.

 Chop up the onion and pepper and crush a garlic clove in with the onion.

Put some olive oil in a pan and add the onion and garlic. Let it cook on a medium heat for about 5  minutes so the onion softens. Make sure you keep stirring so that it doesn't catch.

Add the pepper and cook for a further 2 minutes, then add in the rice and soy sauce (as much to your taste) and chilli powder (again to your taste, depending on how much spice you want). Mix it all together and cook for about 3 minutes, make sure you keep stirring so you don't burn the rice.

Shred the cooked chicken so it is in smaller pieces. 

Add the egg and chicken and mix in with the rice mixture and cook for a bit 3 minutes to heat it all through.

And here's the delicious final dish! I could eat it all over again, it was that good. I could give nandos a run for their money :) 

Next time I would probably add carrots but we didn't have any in the house at the time. And maybe a bit more chilli powder!

Lemon and Garlic Chicken

This is yet another recipe from The Londoner but with my own take on it again. Although this was only because I didn’t have any oregano in Kingston, only basil.

Ingredients (per chicken breast):

1 Chicken breast

½ lemon

3 or 4 cloves of garlic

a glug or two of olive oil

1 tsp dried basil (or oregano like the original recipe)

Salt and Pepper

Method:

Put a bit of oil in a baking dish with the garlic whole. Put the chicken in the dish, along with wedges of the lemon. Sprinkle the dried basil over the chicken with some more oil and the salt and pepper. 

Place in the oven at 180C for 45 to 60 minutes, but obviously keep an eye on it and take it out when it’s to your preference.

As you can see I served mine with spicy sweet potato wedges, of which the recipe will come soon!

Weekly Update

It’s now been a week since I got back from being on holiday and I feel so much healthier already. Before I went on holiday and when I first got back from Greece, my work trousers were slightly (or actually a lot) tighter than when I first bought them a couple of months ago. It was one of those things that I tried to ignore but my mum commented on it so it was clear I wasn’t maintaining my weight and evidently gained some of it back.

However, even in just a week I almost need a belt to hold my trousers up and my work top isn’t as tight around my stomach now. I already feel like I’m making better decisions on the food imp buying and when I’m eating out, basically a lot of salad. I also can’t get enough of nandos spicy rice! Plus I’m still trying new food; I tried no-carb spaghetti few days ago, which was surprisingly filling and tasty. I’ve also been working quite a lot which does distract me from thinking about eating food, even though we mainly sell food and drink there!

I’m just so proud that in a week I can see that much of a difference in my work clothes! It really helps with motivation and keeping me going when sometimes I honestly want to pack it in and give up. However, I then think about my health and all the confidence issues that come with it and realize that it actually is very important to carry on for myself.

This is quite a “bits and bobs” post today, really an update of the goings on of the past week.

When I was at work on Tuesday, a lady came in while it was quiet so there’s often time for a little chat, normally about the weather or the news. Although this one took a turn towards weight loss. At the time there were a load of “lads” across the road from the shop and she said that she was often self-conscious about her weight and her looks, I was shocked she would be so open with a stranger!

It’s nice though that some people can be comfortable enough to trust me with something so personal. She then told me about how after she had her children, she gained several stone and tried every diet out there to try and shift the weight but nothing seemed to work until she got proper advice from an exercise class she started going to at Salisbury hospital.

I must say she looked good for her age considering she had had children and it was clear her confidence had boosted.

The one thing that really struck me during our conversation was that she had a similar view that I did, that some people cant help but be nasty about the ay you look. So I told her about the time that I got up the courage to go for a run but as I was running, some “lads” shouted out the window at me, not the most encouraging experience vie had. Once id finished, she was very shocked at what happened.

I think it really goes to show what the community can sometimes be like and it really is a shame that people feel like they have to stoop so low and make comments to people. I feel quite sorry for them to be honest (!) but whatever makes them feel better!

This "weekly update" has turned into a complete essay and if you've made it this far, well you're an absolute star! ⭐️ I promise there's only a little bit left to go. 

So my diet is going well as I said before, I've been eating less and drinking more water and it is starting to really show! I've also noticed that I'm not as hungry as I normally am, I haven't figured out whether it's down to stress or drinking more water to suppress my appetite or what but something is going right!

I'll leave it there till my next recipe (yes, there's another one coming soon!) or my next weekly update. 

You're all so great, much love! X

"Courgetti"

It feels like it's been ages since I've written a blog post, but it really hasn't, work seems to have just taken over this week and getting back into a routine after being on holiday has to be one of the worst things...

Anyway, let me introduce you to "courgetti". Yes, it is a real thing, 100% credit given to my mum for the name because it simply is courgette spaghetti.
Yet again, I was apprehensive about trying something new but I had a good feeling about this one and just writing about it now makes me want it (though it doesn't help that I've barely had time to eat today).

It is probably the most basic recipe ever and it takes simply minutes to make.
All you need is a courgette, some butter and a clove of garlic.

First of all, you need to get the courgette like spaghetti. At home we have a special peeler that cuts it into fine strands when you peel it. But if you don't have one of these (I suggest investing in one!) then use your standard vegetable peeler to get slices of the courgette then use a knife to thinly slice them.

So you've got your courgette all ready, put a bit of butter in a saucepan with some garlic. Let the butter melt and the garlic soften a bit, just so your breath doesn't smell really bad once you've eaten it...

Once the butter has all melted, add in your courgette and toss it around in the garlic and butter and let it soften a bit, I reckon about 4 minutes should do the trick.

"Mum wait I need to take pictures!" 

Obviously drain away some of the juice or you'll end up with puddles of it.

I may have cheated with the sauce I put with it, I was tired and too hungry to want to make something! These are handy little pouches though and taste great. I heated it up then mixed it in with my courgetti and added some leftover chicken for a bit of protein. 

And the final dish! It tastes a lot better than it looks, and is way more filling than you would think. Plus there's no carbs, I mean how much better can it get than that?

You know it's true!

'Healthy' Double Chocolate Chip 'Cupcake' Muffins

These are just way too good, like you wouldn't believe. Make them, right now, and eat them. Trust me, it is so worth it and obviously the more chocolate chips the better, I definitely put in more than I should have.
And my housemates love them so much they polished the lot off, there's only two of them!

Ingredients:
200g Wholemeal Flour
75g Plain Flour
50g Chocolate Chips
25g Cocoa Powder
1 tsp Baking Powder
½ tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
1 Egg
2 Egg Whites
200ml Semi-Skimmed Milk
100g Low-Fat Natural Yogurt
50ml Maple Syrup
50ml Sunflower Oil

Method:
Preheat the oven to 200C, ready to put the muffin tray on the middle shelf. Line a muffin tray with paper cases.
Place the flours, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda in a large bowl and make a well in the centre. 

Beat the egg and egg whites briefly in a large jug, and then beat in the milk, yogurt, maple syrup and oil until smooth and well combined. Mix this wet mixture into the dry ingredients with as few stirs as possible to give a wet, sloppy mixture.

Pouring the mixture using two spoons, divide the mixture among the 12 cases. Pop the tray in the oven to cook for about 20 minutes (mine took a bit longer than this) and the cupcakes feel spongy to touch.
Remove from the oven and once cool enough to handle, transfer them out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Though I must say they are amazing warm!

Response

A few weeks ago I got my first negative response (that I know of) to my blog. To say the least I was shocked. To be honest, I didn’t know how to react. The fact it came from someone I could trust, or so I though, made it a little bit worse and they clearly hadn’t been reading it.

This really goes to show how judgmental society is these days and the quote ‘never judge a book by its cover’ could not be any truer in this case.

I’m sure that this isn’t the only person who has jumped to conclusions about my blog, and when I started, this is very much what I anticipated. I have put my story out there for everyone to see, which has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done and for those who are judging me, they are clearly not worth being a part of my life!

However, that aside, to all of you who keep reading and offering me an unbelievable amount of support, my family, old school friends, I could never thank you enough and its really keeping me going right now.

So as another little update, I’m keeping positive (despite negative comments) and lining up a load of dishes I want to tr. I’m also going to go cold turkey on crisps, my real true weakness, and this will be my biggest challenge yet and I will let you know how it goes.