Forgive the Bad Blogger

So sorry I’ve been a bad blogger lately, not posting or commenting, work has taken over my life again, but I’m happy to say after next week I have a weeks holiday and I cannot wait.

On a happy note I was joyful to receive a blog award from the beautiful CaSaundra at A Pinch of This, A Dash of That. Thank you so much girly you are too kind and too cute (check out her beautiful tattoo)

I now need to list 7 things about me and pass this on to 7 beautiful bloggers (this is going to be hard)

1.  I too have a tattoo, on my foot.  I got it on my 21st Birthday. It says “Perfect Insanity” it reminds me of the insanity of striving for perfection, which I know I’ve been guilty of in the past and reminds me of my journey of recovery.

2.  Winter is my favourite season and I love the snow, although we don’t get much of it nowadays.  This photo was taken a few years ago and shows my joy at the sight of snow

3.  Christmas is another reason why I favour Winter.  I just love the decorations, the songs, getting together with your family and over indulging.

4.  I’m a hoarder and I love clutter, but organised clutter.   I collect all sorts of things from trinket boxes to vintage perfume bottles, from jewellery to make up.

5.  I’m a bit of a Sci-Fi, Fantasy DVD nerd, I love Dr Who, Torchwood, Roswell, Lord of the Rings and many, many more.

6.  My Mum likes to sketch, here’s one she did of me and my friend, I think she’s really good and am very proud of her (I hope you can tell which one I am )

7.  I hope to go travelling next year.  I’ve never been out of the UK as I have a phobia of flying, but I’d love to go to France and other European countries.

I’d love to pass this award on to the following beautiful blogs and I look forward to reading their “7 things”

 

Jolene @ Everyday Foodie

Valerie @ College Girl Eats

Allie @ Live, Laugh, Eat

Low and Behold

VeggieGirl

Sophia @ Burp and Slurp

Lele Lurves Plants

PS. check out this amazing giveaway at The Healthy Diary (but please don’t enter cos I wanna win )

Repeats Can Be Good

This week is going slow, as soon as I start counting down to my week off work, time drags.  I’m trying to wait till then to get all excited about Christmas, doing my Christmas shopping, putting the trimmings up with Christmas songs playing in the background oooo now I’m excited.

Breakfast was inspired by the Muller rice tasting oats I made in this post I added mashed banana, cinnamon, peanut butter and strawberry jam.

You probably remember the dinner from yesterday’s post, I saved some for today’s packed lunch and added some broccoli and quinoa.  I also took some of the Pesto I made to mix into the quinoa when I was ready to eat it.

Today’s exercise it was way too cold for me to even think about getting into a swimming costume and jumping in a cold pool so I went home to do my Nell McAndrew Peak Energy DVD.

For Dinner I made a black bean burrito repeated from this post including black beans, kidney beans and sweet corn, red pepper and this time with avocado instead of chicken YUM!

And then I ate this fruity snack of kiwi fruit, blueberries and mango.

WEDNESDAY’S WARDROBE – WINTER WARMERS part 2

Heather did a post about how much she loves jumper dresses and gave me the idea for today’s wardrobe post.  As the weather is getting colder I’m looking for clothing that keeps me warm, comfortable and looks good too.

I teamed the jumper dress with a fur body warmer, tights and ankle boots and a chain belt.

Wow it’s late (10:00) I’m off to watch Sex and The City on TV and then beddy byes.

Veggie For a Day

I woke up this morning craving everything and decided on scrambled egg with tomato ketchup and a slice of toast with blackberry jam, perfect and satisfied those cravings.

I needed a bright colourful breakfast plate after waking up to a dull, dreary day.

For lunch, I took a falafel burger to work, to add to this salad I bought in the canteen.

Today’s exercise  Badminton.  It’s been a while since my Mum and I played, what with my neck and then being busy at work. We really enjoyed whizzing around the court pretending to be the “Williams Sisters” (I know that’s tennis but I don’t know any famous Badminton players)

When we got home I had a quick snack of sliced apple with peanut butter and then made dinner for me and Mum.

I talked my Mum into trying tofu.  I know there’s no way my Dad would try it being the meat lover he is (remember the steak) so I thought as he’s out, this would be a great time to convert her. So I marinated the tofu in soy sauce, ginger, garlic and chilli powder and then pan fried.

I used Simply Life’s pesto recipe to go with the tofu.  How can something so simple taste so good, I recommend everyone to try this if you like basil, nuts and cheese (and who doesn’t )

And added it to some tofu pieces served with sweet potato and broccoli.  I’m pleased to say she enjoyed it very much and hopefully will be joining me in “Veggie for a Day” at least once a week.

I saved some tofu for tomorrows packed lunch.  I love it when I can make a meal on an evening and use the leftovers for my work lunches.  Sometimes I plan it that way too.  Do you make more so you have leftovers for another day?

Soaps and Scary Movies

I’m happy to say my neck is a lot better today.  At last I feel like normal again and can turn my head without turning the rest of my body

I started this horrible, rainy day with some glorious oats with mashed bananas, chopped dates and honey.  Very yummy and perfectly sweet (just like me )

For work lunch I took a homemade burrito with mixed beans including black beans, kidney beans and sweet corn, also roasted red pepper, cream cheese and chicken.

I’ve been wanting to attempt black bean burgers, so I thought I should make sure I like black beans and I do, so look forward to more appearances of these beans. 

Today’s exercise I chanced doing some swimming, I wasn’t sure how my neck would bare up, but I was ok.  I haven’t been for a while so I really enjoyed.  When I got home I snacked on a banana then did a 30 min Yoga lesson.

For dinner I performed the tricky task of heating up some soup.  Yes it was tinned soup, Baxter’s low salt, split pea soup, I really wasn’t in the mood for making anything else.

Later on M. came round with some DVD’s for me to borrow.  He’s trying to get me into scary movies like “Jeepers Creepers”, “Resident Evil” and anything else with zombies or monsters. I’m the type of person who hides behind a pillow when watching these types of films. (I’m embarrassed to say this but I watched “Jaws” behind a pillow) Do you like scary movies? Anyway in return I’m trying to get him interested in Soaps, he doesn’t mind “Eastenders” but that’s about it.

We ordered a pizza, I had one slice and let him eat the rest (I wasn’t that hungry anyway)

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I’ve been asked a few times what sort of camera I use and as photos are an important part of my blog I thought I’d share with you.  I use the Canon EOS 450D digital SLR camera.

This is actually my Dad’s camera he got for his 40th Birthday last year, but as he hardly ever uses it (you know men and their gadgets, the novelty soon wares off) I have “borrowed” if from him indefinitely

I don’t know much about cameras, I do know it’s 12 mega pixels and has a view finder and LCD screen and I love using it.

 

Taylor

Lunch with the Family

It’s been a very short weekend for me this week.  I worked yesterday from 8:00 till 2:00, which was over time, I don’t normally work the weekends.

Today my Mum and Dad took M. and I out for lunch.  M. has met my parents a few times, so this wasn’t their first time meeting.  Him and my Dad get on very well, their both mad on football and support their beloved Leeds Utd.  I think my Dad’s just so happy to have some male company (he’s just stuck with me and Mum at home) he’d be happy who ever I was dating.

We went to a lovely restaurant called The Midnight Bell which does amazing guest beers that my Dad loves.  My Mum and I shared a bottle of red wine and the “men” stuck to their beers.

I was even comfortable enough to take photos (they all know about my food blog) so here’s the food.

Dad ordered the steak cooked medium rare, served with peppercorn sauce and hand-cut chunky chips

My Mum ordered the fettuccini pasta with sundried tomatoes, snow peas, chunks of chicken, bacon and mushrooms in a creamy sauce.

M. ordered the traditional fish and chips with a salad and tartar sauce.  I was tempted by this, I love battered fish, but after seeing it I’m glad I didn’t I would’ve never been able to eat all that, plus the chips were rather anaemic.

And finally I ordered a chicken caesar salad, just look at all that chicken. I love these salads and they always seem to taste better from a restaurant than homemade.

Well it’s back to work tomorrow ( ) the good news is I have a week off work booked in two weeks time.  My friends and I have a week of Christmas shopping, lunches and pampering planned and I absolutely can not wait.  At last I see the reward for all that over time I did

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Taylor

And the Winners Are

DRUM ROLL PLEASE

 

Noel – Cadbury’s Heroes

Kelly – Mars Celebrations

Email me with your mailing address and I’ll get them in the post.

 

I also received this blog award from the wonderful Simply Life 

 

I’m going to pass this award onto the following blogs.

1. Taste of Living

2. The Healthy Diary

3. Determination

4. Taydor Tott

5. Pursuing Balance

I’ve been working some overtime today, so haven’t got a foodie post for today, but I’ll be back tomorrow with a post.  Enjoy your weekend everyone

Taylor

My First Boat

Thanks for all your lovely comments in my last post.  My neck is getting better, it’s still sore, but I was able to get a normal night’s sleep last night, which was a big relief.  The cold seems to make it worse, so I’m constantly wearing a scarf to keep my neck warm.  Luckily I have a nice collections of scarves.

I must have looked very odd walking around at work wearing a scarf, but at least it helped with the pain.  Anyway this morning I made myself some oats for breakfast with banana and cinnamon.

For work lunch I got some tomato soup in the canteen and a couple of slices of bread for dipping.  I always have to have something to dip when I’m eating soup, my favourite would be warm, crusty bread with loads of butter just beginning to melt (not the healthiest of choices though)

I snacked on some kiwi fruit, tangerine and pear through out the day.

Today’s exercise I tried the Office Yoga from yoga download.  These are poses you do sitting down and is great for stretching my neck, shoulders and chest which I thought would help with my neck situation.  I think this helped but if my neck isn’t better after the weekend I’ll visit the Doctor. Anyway enough of me moaning about my neck, I don’t wanna be a Debbie Downer So today had turned out to be one of those “veggie days” without my even thinking about it.

FOODIE FRIDAY – ZUCCHINI BOATS

First of all hollow out the zucchini.

Cut a sliver from the bottom of the zucchini so they will sit level on the baking tray and place in the oven to bake for about 15 minutes or until tender.

For the filling I combined cooked quinoa with tinned tomato, red onion, red pepper some of the zucchini, chili powder, soy sauce and herbs and spices.  I then stuffed the zucchini and baked for another 10 minutes.

I served with broccoli and cauliflower.

Taylor

Spread the Blogging Love

Sorry this is a a quick post.  My neck has been really painful.  I hardly got any sleep on Tuesday night, I just couldn’t get comfortable however I lay..  I ended up not going to work on Wednesday and spent most of the day dozing with a hot water bottle on my neck.  I’m feeling a bit better today and went back to work.  It feels worse when I’m just sat still, so I have to keep getting up and move my head around (very attractive) at least M. tried to make me feel better with a massage.   Hopefully everything will be back to normal by the weekend.

I did receive something that really cheered me up.  A blog award from Priyanka at The Healthy Diary. Thank you so much.

And now I want to pass this on to all the blogs I love, so if you’re on my blog roll, consider yourself  awarded, I just couldn’t decided between you all

PS Don’t forget you’ve got till Saturday to enter my chocolaty giveaway.

A Pain in the Neck

I woke up this morning with a horrible stiff neck, I think I slept funny.  As the day went on I could hardly move my head.  It doesn’t help being sat at a desk all day not moving.  I ended up wrapping a scarf round my neck to keep the draft off.

Breakfast today was inspired by this beautiful girl from the other side of the world.  Seeing cornflakes on her blog brought back memories of my childhood and decided I should try some again.  I ate them with some skimmed milk and sliced banana.

 

For lunch I got a gorgeous crayfish and avocado salad from Pret a Manager.  It looked so cute in it’s box I didn’t wanna disturb it, but I did

 

I’ve tried the crayfish and rocket sandwich before and thought it was amazing and a great taste combination, so I leapt at the chance of tasting this salad.

 

This was a wonderful salad, the only downside was the price.  I have to try recreating a cheaper version at home.

Today’s exercise, well I couldn’t really do much with my neck still in pain, so I had a day off from exercise, I didn’t want to make things worse.

After all that exercise rest and relaxation, I wanted to make something quick and easy for dinner. I’d bought some portabella mushrooms that I’ve been dying to try (I adore mushrooms) so made this burger.  I marinated the mushroom in some lemon juice, garlic, ginger and chilli powder and then grilled.

I then served with some boiled egg and salad on a wholemeal bun.  I loved this and can’t wait to try the stuffed portabella another day

For after I was craving some vitamin C in the form of this delicious orange.

TUESDAY’S TREAT

Check out my sweet, chocolaty giveaway here.

Taylor

A Day of Reflection

Last week’s challenge was a great learning experience for me. I guess I didn’t realise how much the thought of trying new foods still scared me.  During my eating disorder I would stick to the same foods, my “safety foods” and then during my recovery I started learning how to eat properly, and (over a long period of time) it was like introducing new foods and I remember the fear that came with that.  I know I don’t fear foods anymore, but that feeling did rear it’s ugly head on a few occasions.  Anyway I came to a couple of conclusions over the last week

Conclusion 1 I love eating meat (sorry vegetarians) I have missed my chicken and fish, so I won’t be giving it up completely, although I will have more meat free meals from now on.  I still have a few recipes to try out.

Conclusion 2 I did the challenge to firstly see if I could give up my “comfort food” as it were, food I can rely on and secondly try new foods.  Well I succeeded and found a few new vegetarian and vegan blogger friends while researching. (Hi )

Onto today’s eats.  This morning was another cold, windy, rainy British morning, so I started it with my favourite way to eat eggs, scrambled and topped with a good helping of tomato ketchup, also a slice of toast with strawberry jam.

I went to Subway on my way to work and picked up this

and snacked on grapes throughout the day. 

A friend at work brought me some herbal tea to try.  She saw that I started drinking it during the afternoons and we got talking about our favourite flavours.  She brought me a jasmine green tea to try and she had the camomile.  I loved the jasmine green tea, it had a lovely flowery taste a little like camomile.

Today’s exercise was 40 minutes swimming and then 40 minutes with my Yoga DVD.

For dinner I made a peanut, soy sauce chicken stir fry.

For the sauce I just heated up some peanut butter, then added some low sodium soy sauce, ginger and pepper.  I poured some of the sauce over a chicken breast, then placed under the grill. Meanwhile I prepared the noodles and stir fry veggies and added the rest of the sauce. YUM.

Enjoy your Monday

Taylor