There is no Cosmetic for Beauty Like Happiness

Serves 5

Ingredients

My dad makes this and its sooooo yummy!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Low fat cooking spray

6 shallots or 1 large onion chopped

1 garlic clove sliced thinly

200ml reduced fat coconut milk

1 veg stock cube dissolved in 425ml boiling water

3-4 teaspoons of thai curry paste (green or yellow)

350g butternut squash peeled de seeded and cut into chunks

1 red pepper de seeded and cut into chunks

125g fine green beans halved

2 tablespoons coriander(fresh , half if dry)

1 tablespoon Thai Fish sauce

1 teaspoon ready prepared ginger

1 teaspoon lemon grass

1 fresh green chilli sliced thinly

200g white fish (haddock or cod)

200g cooked large tiger prawns

salt and pepper

Instructions:

Heat a large wok and lightly spray with cooking spray. Add the shallots or onion and garlic and cook over a medium heat for about 4-5 minutes until softened

Add all the remaining ingredients apart from the haddock prawns and coriander. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer gently for about 20-25 minutes until the butternut squash is tender.

Add the fish to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the prawns and cook for 2-3 minutes. Check the seasoning adding salt and pepper if needed.

Ladle the curry in to four bowls and serve garnished with fresh coriander if you have it.

Remember curry is to your taste so you might want to add some more paste! But add what we say so far and then add extra if you need it.

 

so….enjoy and sorry for the lack of photos, he hasn’t made it for a while!

I am not a huge drinker, I would much prefer a big bottle of water to anything else during the day. Having said that I prefer fizzy water to still if I want to be different! And I drink a lot of coffee (to me it is a lot, around 2 a day, though thinking about it I havent had any today and feel fine!)



Night Night :)

The most amazing tea ever!

My second favourite is the Tea Pigs Liquorice and Peppermint Tea. Perfect for a sweet kick especially if you are on a diet and cant drink too many hot chocolates. I discovered a version of this when I was at Uni and ill, I had to go to lectures and could barely swallow because my throat was so sore. I asked for lemon and ginger tea but they gave me this instead, and oh boy was that a good idea. It soothed my throat and I have been addicted ever since. A Little on the expensive side considering the amount you get in a pack these babies come in small decomposable tea bags and inside you can see the leaves. Its pretty cool!




After that we get to cold drinks

Great for a hot summers day

Robinsons Peach squash with lots of ice is perfect. in the old flat over the summer we would fill a jug of squash in the morning in the fridge so when we got home there was always loads to drink that was refreshing and peach is my favourite. When I was younger my mum mixed some awful medicine with orange squash and since that point I have hated it!
Tesco does an amazing Diet Cloudy Lemonade which we used to buy quite  a lot last year at the weekends. It doesnt have that kind of strange off taste that normal Diet Lemonade has as its covered up by the Cloudyness!!! Or some rubbish. Its well worth a look at if you get the chance


Just a quick mention for two recent additions to the hot list, alongside usual coffee (with froth prefarably) I have discovered a love of Apostrophes Chilli Chocolate Espresso, which again was ordered by accident. It hits you with the energy of a normal espresso (I would expect as I have never had a normal espresso) but the chocolate is creamy and there is a sharp hit from the chilli. Well worth a try. And then there is their hot chocolate. It comes in two forms as a usual hot chocolate and then as a thick mess than can only really be described as melted chocolate. It is AMAZING! I had one at a meeting with my boss once and we sat there and ate it with spoons. Not good if you are expecting a normal hot chocolate though!

Peach Bellini

Finally onto the more fun things alcohol. As I am 24 I have been legally able to drink for 6 years (terrifying that I left school 6 years ago!) But I wasnt really fussed about alcohol until I went to University the first time. Now I like the odd glass of wine but if I am really pushed I would say my favourite things are Pink Champagne or Peach Bellinis. There is nothing as lovely as a glass of champagne with peach juice. Yum. Though obviously you have to watch how much you drink because this beautiful concoction can you get you quite tispy very quickly. It is champagne after all.


So what is your favourite drink? or drinks?

 

 

Macaroni Tuna Bake is the first thing I ever learnt to cook. Its easy and a favourite of mine. So I wanted to share it with you. I make this when I am looking for something quick and easy, generally when I have been at work and not prepared before I left for work!!!

My boyfriends mum makes an even tastier version with a different sauce and crisps as a topping, I will try and find the recipe at some point.

 

 

What you will need:

Pasta (my favourite is penne tubes or little bowties)

Tuna (the best is in brine or water not oil as this is fatty!)

Sweetcorn

Peas

Hollandaise sauce mix with milk and butter to make it up

Grated Cheese

breadcrumbs for the top

Green Salad to go alongside.

A Dish to grill it in,

 

Cook the pasta according to packet instructions, and then just before the end add the peas to cook through, drain. Drain Tuna and canned sweetcorn.

In a saucepan mix the hollandaise sauce mixture together. In the pasta dish pour in the pasta and peas, mix in sweetcorn and tuna, when the hollandaise sauce is cooked pour over the pasta. Top with breadcrumbs and cheese (at this point you can add herbs should you choose such as parsley) place under the grill for a few minutes to crisp up and serve.

Enjoy, boy its making me hungry!

So in the last post I was talking about the books left on my list to read this year. Below are the books I have read so far, in no particular order and then I am just going to run over a few favourites at the bottom.

1) All of Me- Patsy Palmer
2) Let Him Have Justice- Iris Bentley
3) Victorian Murderesses- Mary S Hartman
4) The Accidental Father- Greg Williams
5) The Tavern on Maple Street- Sharen Owen
6) The Book of Tomorrow- Cecelia Ahern
7) The Pillars of the Earth- Ken Follet
8) The Interpretation of Murder- Jeb Rubenfeld
9) Sister- Rosamund Pike
10) Wedlocked( How Georgian Britains worst husband met his match!)- Wendy Moore
11) Wife Interrupted- Amy Molloy
12) Picture Perfect- Jodi Picoult
13The Queen of Whale Cay- Kate Summerscale
14) A Town Called Alice- Nevil Shute
15) Harvesting the Heart- Jodi Picoult
16) Patchwork Planet- Anne Tyler
17) House at Riverton- Kate Morton
18) No and Me- Delphine de Vigan
19) Down Among the Dead Men- Michelle Williams
20) Snowman- Jo Nesbo
21) The Virgin Suicides- Jeffrey Eugenidies
22) A Walk to Remember- Nicholas Sparks.
23) The Luxe- Anna Godbersen 
24) Marked- PC Cast
25) Vampire Academy- Richelle Meed
26) The Other Family- Joanna Trollope
27) Second Hand Heart- Catherine Ryan Hynde
28) Betrayed- PC Cast
29) Chosen- PC Cast

 

Of these books the following deserve a mention:

The Pillars of the Earth- This book in an epic.... around 1000 pages in total it spans the history of a part of England including in the last couple of chapters the murder of Thomas Beckett. Something I would definitely recommend if you like history but it is really hard going, next year I intend to read to much anticipated (ten years in the making!) sequel

Sister- This book has you in its grip from the first word it tells the story of a lady returning to the UK in search of her semi-estranged sister who has gone missing. Worth a read but absolutely chilling in places.

The Queen Of Whale Cay- the first book by one of my favourite authors Kate Summerscale whose only other novel The Suspicions of Mister Whicher Murder at Road Hill House I have read 3 times! This is a biographical account of a fantastic lady Joe Carstairs who was a successful motor boat racer and cross dresser who spent most of her later life on an island she bought called Whale Cay....

A Town Called Alice- Not something I would usually have reached for but fantastic nonetheless the book is about a British woman in Malaya during world war two and the Australian outback post war, it is fundamentally a love story and one I would recommend!

Down among the dead men- This is an hilarious account of a lady's first year as a mortuary technician, it will make you laugh but it will also probably make you cry!

The House at Riverton- This book by Kate Morton I just simply could NOT put down its fantastic a real mystery from start to finish it begins with an old lady telling a story her memories of a great British house where a poet has committed suicide but all is not what it seems.... A long read around 600 pages but worth it.

Now just a few more points I am the kind of person to read series of books, or books by the same author and I will scour shelves to find more authors to read if I have exhausted the possibilities of my previous favourites.

 

I Love… 

Jodi Picoult Books I have read every one currently about to read House Rules and have her latest on order, the only one I have never finished Songs of a Humpback whale I just didn't feel a connection to the characters, I believe this is one of her first novels though so this may be why.

Kate Summerscale (YOU NEED to write more, Suspicions of Mister Whicher is SUPERB and Queen of Whale Cay so interesting.

Kate Morton after having ready House at Riverton I have already ordered Distant Hours and a further book of hers!

Teen/Young Adult books such as the House of Night Series by PC and Kristin Cast, I cant help myself there's just something so easy about reading about teen vampires! I am on number 4 in the series now with one more at home and 3 on order at the library. Through this love I have also found the Luxe series by Anna Godbersen set in 1920s New York teen high society enthralling!

Anyway if there's anything you couldn't live without reading let me know! xx