Blog Lovin'

Is there too many Blogs for you to follow? Join Blog Lovin' to find all of your favorites. <a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/13081143/?claim=7etzw859zsb">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Eat...Cooking with Sam

Cooking with Sam.

Last weekend I went to help one of my good friends prepare food for the week ahead.

She is a Fitness Instructor and teaches many classes a week. But has always ate whatever she wanted.

For the month of October, she decided to eat clean and see what happened.

Here's how our evening went:

APPLE SLICES:

Get some apples, carefully slices them finely. Then place on a lined baking tray. Place in the oven at around 150*C and turn after 20 minutes or until golden. Please keep checking they're not burning.

 Roasted Chick Peas: 
For the easy option use tins of chick peas The harder version would be to use dried and follow the instructions on the packet.
You will need:
-2 tins of chick peas.
-2 table spoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
-1/2 tsp of paprika
-1/2 tsp of cumin
-1/2 tsp of salt.

Method: Place all ingredients on to a baking tray and mix up. Put them in the over at 150*C for around 30 minutes, shaking regularly.

Seeded Nutty Flap Jacks:

We made this up on the night with the ingredients we had, but used:

-1 Banana

-1 pot of Honey

Nuts

Dried Fruit

Enough oat to make a flap jack consistency.

All the ingredients went in to a pot on the cooker to combine together. Then on to a lined baking tray and placed in the oven until golden brown,

Bean and Quinoa Burgers:

These are one of my favourites which I wrote about last week. Take a look HERE

Chocolate Muffins:

Ingredients:

-1 ¾ cup of Oats

-3 Egg whites
-3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
-1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
-1 tsp. Vanilla extract
-1/2 cup Plain Greek yogurt (or regular plain low fat yogurt)
-1/2 tsp. cream of tartar (or 2 tsp. vinegar)
-1 ½ tsp. Baking powder
-1 ½ tsp. Baking soda
-1/4 tsp. Salt
-1 cup Hot water
-1/2 cup Baking stevia OR 1 cup sweetener of choice that measures like sugar
-1/2 cup Semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method:

In a blender or food processor, mix all of the ingredients together, except for the chocolate chips. Blend until oats are ground and the mixture is smooth. Place mixture in a bowl and gently stir in ½ of the chocolate chips (set the rest aside). Scoop mixture into prepared and lined muffin tins. Place muffin tins in the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove muffins from the oven (but don’t shut the oven off), and distribute the other half of the chocolate chips on top of each muffin. Place the muffins back into the oven for an additional 2-5 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. *Note: you could skip this step and put all the chocolate chips into the batter at once and bake the muffins for 12-15 minutes straight. Cool muffins before removing from pan.

Chocolate Quark:

Serves 1:

-1 tbs of Quark

-1/2 tbs of Cocoa Powder

-1/4 tbs of Honey

Method:

Put it all in a bowl and stir. Then eat!

She has found that the muffins and quark help to sort the sugar cravings and the snacks help her to staty away from the convenience foods. 

Why don't you give it a go too.

Eat...Tuna Burgers

High in Protein, healthy, fresh and home made. Customise to the way you want, use it as a treat or as an evening meal. You are going to love this.

This is my favourite meal right now. The mixture can make either two chunky or three slimmer burgers. So I'll have one that night for dinner, one for lunch the next day (usually cold in a lunch box) and freeze the other for another occasion. Of course you could add to the mixture if you are cooking for four.




































 

1x tin of mixed beans. 1x tin of tuna. 3x table spoons of quinoa. 1x medium bowl. 1x masher.

Pour the beans in to the bowl. (I used spicy, but plain is fine also) and mash them up.

Add the tin of Tuna and stir it all together.

Cook the Quinoa as per the instructions on the packet. Mix it all together.

Put the bowl containing all of the ingredients to to the fridge for a minimum of one hour. Add spices such as cumin and paprika with onion at this point if you wish. If you have used plain beans, adding spices will give it more flavour.

When you are ready, cover your hands with flour and make burger shaped patties. Or if your lucky, use a burger press.

Place the burger in a warm and oiled frying pan until golden on each side. Be careful when turning as sometime it can fall apart a little. (you get the hang of it after the first one).

Serve with Avocado, Hallumi cheese, salad, seasonal veg or even a bun if you wish and enjoy.

Enjoy...September

This should be a month of definite temperature drops, not in Cornwall, it's been lovely. Meaning for a lot of fun activities. I'll try and keep this as short as possible.

As well as a crazy, hectic time working I've managed to pay a visit to London...twice actually three times. Plus, visit some beautiful scenery in the homeland through walks and bike rides.

I kicked off the month with a brother, sister bonding weekend in the big smoke. We both love to visit new places so wanted to go where we hadn't been before and it had to include time to watch a family member perform in The Crucible, a west end show at The Old Vic.

Box Park is a truly awesome place within Shorditch. Downstairs homes unique pop up shops displaying everything cool, from clothing to cosmetics. Upstairs showcases such a wide variation on food it's hard to choose which part of the world is tickling your taste buds. We lunched at #Pieminister, which served pies and sides with even a lighter and healthier choice to choose from.

London Tube to Canary wharf. 

Canary Wharf

The M&M store, Leicester Square.

The Old Vic to see The Crucible.

These Tall Ships, we had seen leave Falmouth the weekend before and just arrived in London.

The Emirates Sky Line took us over a part of the city I had never seen before, The Docklands.

...

The end of the month meant more family time, this time including the rents. We ventured back up north to Kent for a cousins wedding. (By the way, everything is 'up north' when in Cornwall) The warm weather meant summer clothes could still be worn and there was no need to faff around with tights, I hate those things. 

I rarely get to spend time with my whole family, so it was a nice change. and the lovely weather made it even more enjoyable.

A three course meal, cake, champagne, wine and buffet was provided through out the reception. After the long wait between breakfast and lunch, it definitely filled all the gaps and more.

I wore a Top Shop Petite dress, Florence and Fred Blazer and River Island Cork Heels.

...

In between these dates I paid yet another flying visit 'up north' to just south west of London, to High Wycombe. This was to attend my boyfriends graduation. The sun was out, the smiles were on and it was a very proud moment for me He had worked so hard to achieve his degree. It was the first graduation I had ever been too and I don't think I have ever clapped so much, but it was a great day.

Here I am wearing a Lipsy Dress, Leather heals from New Look, Gold long heart chain from New Look and a short gold chain from a Roy Doble Jewelers.

...

The following weekend I had a visitor come to stay with me in Cornwall. I love times like this because it is the perfect excuse to explore my own county. 

The Minack Theater, This place and the story behind it is just awesome. Musicals, theater groups, musicians, comedians all come here to perform and the set changes roughly every weekend. A lady named Rowena Cade built it mainly by herself, with the occasional help from family members for her theater group to provide entertainment to the community during the war. I wont tell you anymore and just urge you to go and see it!

Sennen, South Cornwall

Lands End, the very tip of Cornwall.

Portreath, my favorite place to watch the sun set!

I'm looking forward to more adventure in October already.

Make it a good one!

Explore...Barcelona

October began to get a little chilli and my feet were getting itchy, so I decided to go exploring, to Barcelona.

If you follow my snap chat (rebeccauterhark) then you will have seen my journey leaving Redruth to arrive in Reading just under five hours later.

I was picked up by a handsome sight after three weeks of being apart, to eat, sleep and prepare for the early departure in the morning.

The 10am departure meant we had time to have breakfast and could still enjoy the afternoon in a beatiful new place.

The heat on arriving at the airport was glorious and really warmed the bones, you know that feeling? It made us both smile. We caught a local bus to the hotel, and was greeted with a tall, modern and smart building. Really close to the bus route and metro station.

Our first afternoon was spent on 'La Rambla' a famous street bustling with markets, artists, buskers and beautiful colours. Actually, as we were both hungry, we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe before exploring.

I couldn't stop looking at all the buildings, each one an individual and eye catching in its own way.

 

The locals Market called 'Mercat de la Boqueria' Is also very famous and known as a must visit place. I can see why. Fresh fruit, ones I have never seen before, chocolates, nuts, sweets, dried fruit, fresh fish and meat. This is where we bought food and drink for that evening and breakfast the following day.

Sweets. 

I thought these were Cornish Pasties, in fact they were Calzones.

Fresh Fish

We continued our walk down street and followed Christopher Columbus, telling us to go the way he pointed and ended up in the port area. A very clean, decked and sparkly area. Filled with boats, smartly dressed people and laughter. The still water, warm air and odd music being played while locals danced was a real holiday treat.

Sunday was a day of exploring suggested sites. First to 'Sagrada Familia'. I don't really need to say much about it, you can see what a magnificent building it is. I looked at it for ages and still don't think I picked out all the tiny details hidden within the architecture. This medieval cathedral, designed initially by architect  Francisco de Paula del Villar (1828-1901) and later commissioned and carried on by Gaudi, has taken over 100 years to build so far The old from the new is so defined and there is still more to build. It is expected to be finished in 2024 with 18 towers: 12 dedicated to the apostles, 4 to the evangelists, one to Jesus and another to Mary.

From here we went to discover more of Gaudi's work at 'Park Guell'. Eusebi Güell gave Gaudí the assignment of drawing up plans for developing an estate for well-off families on a large property he had acquired in the zone known popularly as the Muntanya Pelada (bare mountain). It was a healthy location with views over the growing city and of course of the sea and landscape. He wanted to recreate British residential parks,which is why 'Park Guell' is named in English.

After a long day of walking and climbing hills we headed to the beach, to relax and sit down to enjoy the sun for a while. We stumbled across a little band, playing exactly the type of music that I love and also what you want to hear when your on holiday. Happy and bouncy, the musicians made it a performance to watch and not just listen to. 

A further walk along the boardwalk lead us to Pacha, among other bars where locals were dancing, singing and having a great time, on a Sunday. It can only make you feel good inside. We finally sat a beach side restaurant to indulge in a Spanish special...Tapas.

Monday and our final day, we were off to Camp Nou. I am not a fan of football, but this experience was interesting, for two hours, then it gets tedious (my opinion)! I learnt a lot actually. For example how and why the team was created and then how the stadium came about. Along with Technology Development of the boots, balls and kit. I found it interesting that the team was actually created by a Swiss man, Joan Gamper, in 1899 and the rest of the team were foreigners visiting the Catalan Country. These days, the stadium that seats 99,354 people is the largest in Europe and the 6th largest association football stadium in the world. It's planning an extension, which I saw the plans for, it's insane. Do that many people really go and watch football?

Trophey Room

Away team changing room.

Steps leading on to the pitch, used by the players.

Our holiday finished with a stroll back down Las Ramblas and finding a street Tapas restaurant for dinner.

Barcelona is my idea of a perfect place. A large and beautiful city, right by the beach. There is plenty to do and to look at. The only thing that does put me off a little is the amount of smokers around, the buskers and people begging for money and the risk of pick pockets. I would suggest to everyone to go and visit and I probably would go back again if I was offered. But like to try and visit somewhere new each time.

We flew out of the country before the sun came up and landed in the UK welcomed by the cold wind and thunder. I spent fourteen hours travelling home and it was a very depressing time. Saying goodbye always sucks, holiday blues, busy trains and traffic every where.

I was happy to be home, showered, fed and in my onesie. Already planning the next adventure. Where will it take me?