A Healthier Grocery List

I'm writing this article to prove that eating a little healthier doesn't have to be hard and more importantly doesn't have to be expensive. Being a student the cost is always an important factor! Snack-A-Jacks Caramel 4 pack and Kallo Blueberry and Vanilla Rice Cakes are both available from Pounland. Whenever I see the Kallo ones in stock I always buy at least 3 packs as they are quite hard to find. It's also very hard to find plain rice cakes, often they are salted, chocolate or yoghurt topped and are resultantly not quite as healthy. However what I love about these is that they are deliciously flavoured whilst still being under 1% of my recommended fat, carbs, sugar and salt per rice cake. In fact the only place I have peen able to find completely plain unflavoured rice cake is the 99p store by a brand called Natural Foods. Aldi Everyday Essentials Porridge Oats this huge 1kg bag is only 75p at Aldi and is great for my breakfast porridge  I always prefer to make my own porridge from scratch so that it doesn't have all of the artificial and unnecessary sweeteners and preservatives in it. Plus it lasts for ages, unless of course I make flapjacks! Often I add a teas spoon of Asda Stevia Sweetener Granules to my porridge but it can also be used in baking or drinks. This tub was only £1.89 which is a great price though the same size tube is only £1 at Morrisons. It makes a wonderful alternative to cane sugar as it contains no calories and is 300 times sweeter in it's refined form than sugar, so a lot less can be used. Holland & Barrett Chia Seeds were on offer last week, this 275g bag was only £4.45 however they're on buy one get one half price now which is still great value compared to most supermarkets I've seen. The cheapest place you can find them at the moment is Tesco where they are £1 for 150g. I also try to keep a few packets of plain nuts in the house to snack on such as these Aldi Roasted Pistachio Nuts. Poundland also do great value on nuts and dried fruit, though with the fruit always read the label to make sure there is no added sugar! I really love the yoghurt covered banana chips, though they really aren't very healthy at all! Nak'd Bars are my absolute favourite shop brought healthy snack though I of course love rice cakes, Yoyo bears and ProperCorn/ Metcalfes skinny Topcorn too! As snacks go they are kind of expensive but make a nice treat every now and again when they're on offer. Even buying them wholesale the cheapest you can get them is 50p a bar which isn't bad really, especially when you consider what you would pay for a chocolate bar or packet of crisps. They're all-natural and vegan bars made just from fruits and nuts. Morrisons have the boxes of four on offer atm so it's £3 for 8 bars, which is the cheapest I've ever seen them. I love the cashew cookie and bakewell tart flavour, though I'm not so keen on the chocoate ones. I really don't know how they manage to flavour them so well! I've never actually tried plain green tea but I drink lemon green tea daily, at least one mug and I love the Tetley and Cipper Lemon Green tea. I have tried out the cheaper own band stuff at Tesco but to be honest it really doesn't taste as nice as the branded stuff.Tetley is cheapest at Sainsburies at 2.5p a tea bag for a box of 50. Green Tea has loads of health benefits including speeding up your metabolism, burning fat, regulating blood sugar levels and has caffeine in healthier amounts than coffee. Tetley Green Tea Boost are on offer at the moment at Sainsburies so it's £1 for a box of 20 which isn't the cheapest but I wanted to try them out, I'm really not sure if the health benefits they claim are anywhere near true but they taste great and even if it has a placebo effect of making me less tired I'll be happy. I also enjoy tropical flavoured green teas such as pineapple, peach, passion, lychee and lime so I'm also loving this Aldi Green Tea with Mango. I hope that what you take from today's post is that eating healthily doesn't have to be hard or expensive! All of the prices are correct on the day of posting.

Gifts for the Foodie/Baker

At the more expensive end of the scale is a Stand Mixer, though these can be bought for between £50 to £300+ depending on the brand you choose. Kitchenaid mixers are very popular because of how pretty they are but Kenwood mixers are just as good for a fraction of the price from what I hear. To go with that, you could also purchase a Recipe Book or two to start them off. If your friend has a specific diet or allergy such as vegan or gluten free then finding them a recipe book designed specifically for this will be much appreciated I'm sure. For someone who's planning on moving away from home in the new year essentials such as Tea and Coffee Canisters, Mugs or a set of Mixing Bowls would be a lovely practical but also pretty idea. A Cute Novelty Timer would be a useful present and would look lovely in a set with some Cookie Cutters and a Cake/Display Stand to make a little baking themed hamper for a young child. Alternatively a ready made Macaroon Making Set is a simpler way of doing that. For a coffee lover a Cafetiere is a good option as it allows them to make freshly brewed coffee from real beans rather than instant coffee. For those that love the smell of freshly baked goods in their home how about a Food Scented Candle, loads of these can be found at christmas time. A more novelty idea such as a Donut Maker would be a nice gift too as it's not really the kind of thing someone would buy for themselves. 

Two other ideas I've just had whilst writing this are 1) a gift card for a cooking masterclass/experience type thing or 2) Put together a ready made mix (loads of recipes are available on pinterest) so that all the recipient has to do is add butter etc and bake.

This is the final of my gift guides, so I hope I've sufficiently inspired you to find beautiful and practical gifts within your budget no matter what it might be!

Graze Box Review

Popcorn and The Walking Dead // Pretzels and Maths HW // Yoghurt with Granola for dessert // I ate the flapjack without photoing it :(

I've been considering ordering a free Graze box for a while now and finally got round to it just before Halloween, so thought I'd write a review. The site is lovely and it's super easy to set up an account and go through the snacks and rate them as 'Bin', 'Try' 'Like' or 'Love'. There's even a 'send soon' box to tick if you really want a certain snack.  Each snack also comes with little badges such as 'Light', 'High in Fibre' or 'High in Protein'. These features all make it super easy to really tailor the box to your likes and your dietary needs. Each month you get three of these snacks for £3.99, including delivery.

The box arrived very promptly after being dispatched, on the Monday as they said it would, which impressed me to begin with. The next thing I was impressed with was the packaging, it's secure for your food whilst being efficient and not wasteful, plus how gorgeous is the box!  It's just so autumnal and pretty that I've added it to the wall above my desk. 

In my box I received the Black Pepper Popping Corn, Pretzels w. Chocolate dip,  Strawberries and Cream Granola Topper and  Original Protein Flapjack. Also included were some flyers introducing me to Graze, some free box codes for friends and the nutritional information of the snacks.

The Original Protein Flapjack was my favourite of the four snacks I received because it was simply delicious. The slightly crunchy texture of the seeds in the sweet chewy flapjack is literally so good. I also found the portion size for the flapjack very impressive, especially considering that the  portions are specifically designed to be light.

I really wasn't sure about the Black Pepper Popping Corn when I first opened the box, but I love salt and pepper flavoured crackers (Jacobs cracker thins are amazing) so got quite excited for it and was not disappointed when I tried it. It's a really interesting flavour and definitely something different which I'd recommend. I love the fact that you pop the corn yourself as well, I'm not really sure why, but I think it's because it means that you get a nice big portion; which once again surprised me at how light it was.

I took the Pretzels w. Chocolate dip to college with me and ate them in an effort to avoid doing my maths homework during my free period (it worked perfectly, for about 5 minutes) and really enjoyed them. They were delicious and crisp and there was plenty of chocolate dip even though I wasn't sure there would be. The dip itself basically tastes like nutella which was great and the portion size was actually really filling.

My sister had her eye on the Strawberries and Cream Granola Topper and I told her I'd let her have it, but then completely forgot and ate it myself, so she wasn't best pleased! It was very nice, especially with some strawberry, it made a great light sweet treat in the evening or would be great for breakfast.

Overall my experience with Graze had been brilliant, my favourite thing about it is that they provide healthy, portion-controlled snacks that aren't simply fruit and nuts, they also have cakes, flabjacks, popcorn etc that taste delicious.

If you too like what you see, use the code 4CWXTC7HB to get your 1st, 5th and 10th box FREE! 

GBBO Inspired Mille Feuille

After watching the GBBO final a few weeks ago I really wanted to try out the Mille Feuille as they looked so delicious. My first attempt did not go well at all, but the second attempt went a lot better as you can see. The most important bit which I forgot the first time was to put a tray on top of the pastry whilst it baked to stop it rising too much. The consistency of the icing second time round was a lot better too, though could still have done with being a little thicker.

The recipe I followed for the pastry cream is here and for the whole things is here, it was a lot easier than it looks once you read the recipe (I made it up as I went along the first time I did it), the videos are particularly useful. I made a couple of tweaks to the recipe, mainly adding in strawberries between tiers, plus I piped the pastry cream and put two lines of cocoa icing on top rather than one. I also found it easier to cut the pastry into rectangles prior to cooking rather than baking it as one sheet and then cutting it up.

I don't really watch many cooking programmes anymore, but I wanna get back into them, it's finding the time to try out new recipes rather than just sticking to the same old ones that's the issue really. What shows would you recommend, what recipes do you wanna try?

Smoothie Bowls

I'm like a year late to the trend now, but how pretty are smoothie bowls? It's the kind of food that you just have to instagram before eating. I'm not really a huge fan of smoothie's generally speaking but I think this is a great way to eat them, especially with some yoghurt swirled through them then topped with loads more pretty fruit, seeds and granola. Over the summer I made a couple using whatever fruit my local Tesco had reduced which often included pomegranate seeds, mangos and kiwis. Tinned fruit like peaches and pineapple also work really well. I always try to add chia seeds to my diet wherever I can to give a protein boost so usually sprinkle a few on top too. Then I try to add some other super foods such as dried goji berries and blueberries. The important thing really is to vary the texture in my opinion, using crunchier toppings works best, such as granola and seeds.

I'm really not sure what this post was meant to be, I think I just wanted to show ya'll pretty pictures really, so enjoy the aesthetics guys.

Sweet Potato Fries Recipe

 
 
Not only are sweet potatoes high in vitamin A, vitamin B5, thiamin, niacin and riboflavin, they also have a low glycemic index which means they release sugar slowly into the bloodstream rather than giving you a short spike of energy. So basically, Sweet potato Fries are perfect because you need more sweet potato in your diet and who doesn't love fries? 

To flavour mine I use the classic combination of sea salt and garlic because to be honest I just put garlic seasoning on everything. If you want your fries to have a bit of a spicy kick to them you could add paprika or cumin but you can pretty much flavour them with whatever seasonings you have to hand.

All you have to do is cut up a sweet potato into thinish slices (I prefer to keep the skin on but you can peel it too), spray with some oil, turn them over and spray some more oil, then sprinkle whatever seasonings you're using over the strips and bake for about 30 minutes, turning them over about 15-20 mins into that time.

If you have a go at this recipe, let me know how it turns out, I'd love to hear what flavour combinations you come up with!

Kale Chips Recipe

All you need for this super simple recipe is some curly kale, oil and some spices of your choice, I chose salt and some taco seasoning cus I love Mexican food. All you have to do is toss the kale and oil in a ziplock bag until the kale is coated, then lay it out on a baking tray, sprinkle with seasoning and bake in the oven till crisp (It took me about 15 minutes at 180). They make a great, light, post workout snack and are perfect for when you're craving crisps.

Tweet me a pic at @KatieCorbett98 if you try it out!

Day 22: Chocolate Peppermint Candy Cane Hearts

All you need for this quick and easy recipe is mini peppermint candy canes and a chocolate of your choice, yet they make a beautiful addition to any gift. I used a 100g milk chocolate bar and 18 mini candy canes to make 9 hearts though white chocolate would also look fab!

All you have to do is  lay out two candy canes facing each other to make a heart on some parchment paper then melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30 second bursts till smooth and pour into the little heart shells. I then put mine in the freezer for 10 minutes till solid (though you could put them in the fridge) and then peeled them off the parchment paper.

If you try out this recipe, please tweet me a pic @KatieCorbett98, I love to hear from my readers!